Vacation Summary

Well, my week of vacation was fantastic! I've already told you about the first half of it two posts ago, so I'll finish up about my time in Pittsburgh. I went to Pittsburgh to visit my assisstant manager from when I worked at the family bookstore. I haven't seen him since he moved out there about four years ago. We've talked a couple of times on the phone since then, but haven't really had any time to catch up. It was so great to finally be able to visit and find out what's been going on in his life, to see where he is with God. I have really missed the fellowship with him, since he was a great guy who has always encouraged me in my relationship with the Lord. It was a triply (is that a word? meaning three times) blessed trip since I was able to visit a lot with his mom and dad also. I got to know them when they lived back here for a while as well. We spent a lot of time talking and catching up, but we also just vegged out (like staying up till one or two in the morning watching M*A*S*H). Saturday he took me into downtown to show me the stadiums and the sites, it's such a beautiful city, a lot of history. The north hills, where he lives, is so awesome. It has a lot of trees and a really big city park, with hiking, running, swimming, games, etc... I would have to say the best part of this half of the trip was just really hanging out and talking about God. Will update more soon.

Finally!

Well, it's been three and a half months! We finally have hot water again, thankfully before it becomes cooler outside. But should we be praised for finally getting on the ball and asking the maintenance people to come out and fix it, hardly. Let me tell you what happened. Saturday morning, our neighbor, Virginia, comes knocking on our door because she has water leaking into her apartment from ours. She originally thought it was her hot water heater that had gone bad, but when the maintenance came over they discovered it was ours. He then came in and took a look at ours and said he would come over first thing Monday morning to have it replaced. I apologized for the apartment being so messy, but he understood how bachelors are. All he asked was that we have a path cleared from the kitchen to the door and to have the counters cleaned off. I told him no problem. Well Andrew and I got up early this morning and did some serious cleaning for about an hour and fifteen minutes. That's all it took to get it cleaned up enough for us to feel comfortable having them in. So here we are three and a half months later taking cold showers when all it had to take was a combined two and a have hours. So I end this post like I did the one on April 26th; are we bums?

Traveling...

So let me start this one by letting you know that I will actually be writing about what's been going on in my life lately. I know, I know, it's totally unlike me! I normally like to have some "deep thought" to expound on. So if you're expecting something "big", you better wait till next week when my article about shoe polish and the decline of a moral and ethical society will be released !)

Currently I am sitting in a Panera in Pittsburgh PA. Gotta love the free WiFi! I have been so blessed this week of vacation, not that I didn't enjoy my last one (lying around home doing absolutely nothing constructive). This time around I went down to Tennessee for a couple days to visit some awesome friends. The one I thought I'd be visiting didn't work out very much, because of work schedule (had some good fellowship anyway). So I ended up spending a lot of time with some of her friends and getting to know them a lot better. It was so awesome, we had these great talks about God and life and stuff. I really love getting into deep conversations about that kind of thing. Ended up heading into Nashville twice on Monday (two hour trip each time). One of those trips I found out that my good buddy Richard also hates it when guys use the word "fabulous", 'cause you know guys that use that word are a little, you know, well, uh huh (get my drift). I told him I could really use some more support with that type of thinking back home! We ended up going to an Indian (as in India) restaurant Monday evening in Nashville (I ate at the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch). I have got to talk my friend's back home into trying some new types of food, it's so great. Went to a couple of church services where the worship was just incredible, I always love P&W, it helps me get outside of myself and focus on God.

You might be wondering how I got from Tennessee to PA, well lets take a slight detour to the Ohio river valley area first. I was in Tennessee from Saturday evening till Tuesday. Then I headed back to Indy and picked up my brand new laptop, it is incredible! Wednesday morning found me in St Paul, IN at my brother's parent's-in-law's (is the first apostrophe appropriate?). I ended up spending the day with my sister-in-law and her dad driving around southern Ohio along the river on the trail of Ulysses S. Grant's formative years. The driving was really incredible 'cause it was such a beautiful day. The trees and the river were incredibly awesome, I have a thing for nature. We ended up going to where they have some locks along the river and watched a barge go through one, that was fun. The first historical place we stopped was Grant's birthplace, then his boyhood home and finally his school. I had a lot of fun learning about his life.

Thursday morning I headed out for Pittsburgh, making a very slight detour in Columbus, Ohio to kill some time. Wendy's very first restaurant is there, which I stopped by and sampled their brand new vanilla frosty, pretty good. I spent a lot of time walking around downtown looking at their architecture and monuments. Downtowns are really a lot of fun for me, I guess because it's where everything happens, a lot of the business and finance, the art's, it's just so much fun. To tell you the truth their downtown is more scary to me than Indy's, maybe 'cause I'm just more familiar at home...

Finally arrived in PA Thursday evening and looking forward to some great times hanging out with my assisstant manager from the Family Christian Store. I will update more about that after my vacation.