great weekend

I visited my cousin Katrina, her husband Paul, and their cute daughter Anna this weekend in State College, PA. Also met up with an old friend from back in the day Fords who's now getting her PhD. at Penn State. Overall a really fun time.

I drove over with two others - one a friend from college with whom I'd planned this trip weeks before, and one an acquaintance from work who asked if she could join us the night before. We set out rather late, and stopped for dinner at Cracker Barrel.

Our waitress was very nice... maybe too nice. She came to check on us relatively early on; so early, in fact, that we only had water at the time. So because she stopped at our table looking like she was gonna say something, she had to say something, but since we had only water, that's all she could ask about, so she asked us how our water was. And unfortunately, that made the rest of the night's interactions with her sort of awkward. I tipped her pretty well, though. A for effort!

My niece Anna is so cute, and so smart! At one point, we were at a park, and her parents got on a balance beam and were trying to push each other off. I was carrying her, and before long she started crying hard. She's only just turned one, but she understands what's going on. I think that's just amazing.

Good times. Great weekend. Tomorrow I start my new full-time position at work. Well, actually I'll be in training. But my salary will be bigger :)

that was short-lived

I did that few-things-a-day thing for two days and then fell off the grid with it. I'm determined to make this stick, though, so I'll start again. Today, pay credit cards and file stuff away (again). Rest of my time will/should probably be filled up with studying.

Went to see a friend this week who installed my bindings onto my snowboard, and saw his daughter again... last time I saw her was probably Christmas, and she was just starting to crawl. Now she walks (correction - runs), and talks. Amazing how fast kids grow up.

Next weekend I'm visiting my cousin in Pennsylvania, gonna see her daughter again. Can't wait. Also gonna get to see an old friend from Fords back in the day.

I hope to finish studying for this (hopefully) last part of the CPA by the end of the month (ambitious, I know), so I can take the exam perhaps toward the end of October.

I also have to really get working on planning my trip to the Philippines. Figure out where I want to go and when. That has to get taken care of real soon.

Pastor Lloyd's message this week was great as always, but something he mentioned toward the end of his message kinda hit me. Sometimes he'll talk about the influence that we, the body and the laypeople, can have on people, because we so often to an extent "delegate" the "task" of reaching souls for the gospel to pastors and other Christian leaders. This week, he talked about taking someone under your wing, befriending them and getting to know them, all the while leading them gradually towards Jesus.

For a while now, I've been wondering why God has me where I am right now. But recently, I had the opportunity to share a bit about the Gospel with a friend at work. Since then there have been a few times that we've spent some time together one-on-one, and I've started to see that maybe God wants to use me to reach out to this friend. This message was the most recent of the signals that I've been getting. I guess I kinda knew that God had orchestrated me to get this job in particular for a reason, but didn't really see what the reason was. I'm starting to see now that until I finish what God wants me to do in this office, I'm not going anywhere.

to-do today

Yesterday's tasks went well. My desk is a good deal cleaner than it was, and my shoes look pretty good. Only thing is my left shoe must've hit something at some point, because there's a small mark on it. Nothing I can't fix in a few minutes, though.

Today's tasks:

• Finally write the check to pay my parents back for the CPA classes and registration that they paid for
• Vacuum my room
• Finish half of the homework for Lecture 1 for the part of the CPA I'm studying for (perhaps not so attainable)

Going to happy hour with some people from work in a few minutes, as a last hurrah for the summer. Starting next week, it's back to suits and ties for gents, and whatever qualifies as business dress for the ladies.

I've already brought most of the ties I intend to wear to the office, and they're in my drawer; I'll wear the tie when I get here. After all, I typically go to the gym in the morning, and how many people walk into the building wearing their gym clothes? Also, that way I'll never forget my tie. And if I find that the tie I chose earlier is not to my liking, easy remedy.

Now to remember how to tie that backwards tie from the Matrix....

daily goals

Starting today, I want to make and meet at least one goal in my personal life each day. Might be a small thing, but just something to achieve each day.

Why? There's too many things that I've left undone or partly done, and this will give me a manageable plan of action for tackling these tasks, which include cleaning my room, re-stringing my guitar, and planning trips I intend to take in the near future. By taking a few small things each day, it should be manageable yet effective.

Tasks for today:

• Shine my brown shoes (maybe while watching Leverage)
• Pay my credit card bill(s)
• File away old credit card bills, pay stubs, bank statements, etc.

There. That's pretty manageable. Before next week, I want to re-string my guitar, plan out my trip to State College, and gather some clothes to get tailored.