Nate => Permanent Resident

The short of it all is that on December 26th, 2007 I became a Permanent Resident of the United States much to the joy of all concerned. The long of it is the adventure Jenee and I had during the process. I have mentioned before how our final immigration appointment was on the day after Christmas, what follows is the adventure that Jenee and I had on Christmas and Boxing Days.

We initially planned on leaving for Florida at about 10am but decided that we love our family time and Linda and Eugene offered to drive us back and forward from the Airport so we were able to stay with the family for another few hours. Now according to those in the know, Christmas Day is meant to be the quietest traveling day on the calendar. When we arrived in Atlanta (the Worlds busiest airport) it was, no surprise, really busy. We had an hour for our connection so we decided to get some dinner. A quick stop at Chilly's and an encounter with Ken the server who introduced him self as "Ken, as in Ken and Barbie" we had some good food and rushed of to the gate to find that the incoming flight had a sick baby. We had to wait for the paramedics to come, but it was good to see that both Mom and Baby were ok in the end. We got to Jacksonville and rented our car to drive to Gainesville. We decided that we needed some Christmas dessert so we found the only place open (Friday's) and got some cheesecake. Christmas night was spent watching Josie and the Pussycats and playing with the cats who were happy to see us.

We got up early, well I got up early while Jenee slept in for an hour. I went over the files one more time and played with the cats. We had calculated that we needed about 2h 30m to get there allowing for traffic. We got there an hour early (typical Nate over planning) and waited in the parking lot until we could get in. Our appointment was for 1pm, we waited, waited some more and waited and waited. Nobody said anything to us, and the sign on the door said that if we approached any of the interviewers we would be escorted from the building. After nearly 2 hours of waiting, Our interviewer came and got us, apologising for the wait. It turns out that the couple before us were "questionable" and required extra investigation. As we were bing told this, we slapped our 4" / 12cm thick folder of documents on the desk. Seeing this our interviewer proclaimed that we shouldn't be a problem and probably should only take 30 minutes. We ended up taking about an hour. Why? we were having so much fun talking and sharing stories. The intervewier was telling us that some couples submit explicit photographs, descriptive personal letters and even matching tattoo's as evidence of a marriage. The good news is we got all of our questions answered and now I can freely travel in and out of the USA as if I were a US citizen! We are planning for a trip home sometime soon!

After the interview we were so happy that we could barely contain ourselves. We got into the car and headed straight for the airport, hoping that we could catch an early flight home to get back to Christmas. We got the last two seats on an earlier flight (thank you Lord) and took of for Texas. Between Jacksonville, FL and Atlanta Jenee and I were separated and found oursleves engaged in conversations with interesting characters. On the second flight we were able to get seats next to each other, all the way at the back of the plane. As luck would have it, I had someone sitting in front of me who thought she would retract her seat on me. What she didnt realise was that I was on top of things. As she tried to push back she was met by my knees. Apparently annoyed, Big Red turned to face me. I looked at her and informed her that My knees were getting crushed. Irritate she turned around defeated. Big Red continued to be rude to other people, refusing to get out of her seat when the lady at the window seat needed a bathroom visit. Anyway, we got to Texas safely and as I write this I am sitting in our cabin in Angel Fire NM. Its absoultly beautiful here, the snow is white, the sky is blue and we are all loving it.

Downtown Disney

How's this for Nothin' Sus Cousin Love; After work Jenee and I took Eugene down to the Orlando Outlet Malls for a bit of a shop fest and then we had dinner on International Drive followed by a tour of Downtown Disney, Disneys shopping complex. These are some of the pictures I snapped using Eugene's camera.

I accidentally engaged my hyperdrive in the Virgin Mega Records store! Had to use my air brakes to avoid colliding with Eugene.

Euge in the Lego Mega Store! We were truly kids in heaven!

The infamous 5,145 piece LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon

More Star Wars LEGO

A wall of LEGO men

LEGO parts bins

We had a great time and before we knew it, it was midnight. We got home by 2am, thanks to Eugene for staying up with me and talking to me.

Stephen's Graduation

One of the graduate students I have been working with for the last two years has finally graduated. Congrat's mate, well earned, well deserved. Here are some pics from the ceremony.

The Adventures of Eugene, Jenee and Nate

Last week I probably worked 55+ hours so I got slack about posting here, but here are some pictures for you to see. Euge has been here for a week and so far he has been to Paines Prairie, NASA and work with me. Here are some of the pictures. I am sorry, as I write this I just dont have the energy to write some anecdotes of some of the funny stuff that has gone on, and its been non-stop laughs among the three of us, but enjoy:

At the first Gainesville Water Works

Sunset at Paines Prairie

Kennedy Space Center

Glimpse of the future through the past. This was the Launch Pad 34 where NASA astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee perished during a full dress rehearsal for Apollo 1.

Inside a space shuttle

Exciting News for Middle Earth Geeks!

"After publicly feuding for more than a year, "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema have reached agreement to make J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit," a planned two-film prequel to the blockbuster trilogy.

Jackson, who directed "Rings," will serve as executive producer for two "Hobbit" pictures. They will tell the story of how the young hobbit Bilbo Baggins originally came to possess the nefarious One Ring that Frodo, his adopted heir, needed three films to dispose of."

Source: Yahoo News

You can read the whole story by clicking on this link!

And Nate says:

Wooooo Hooooooo! 6+ more hours of Middle Earth on the way!

And in an earlier email to Brandon, Nate also said:

"And when all is said and done, you can bet I will be there dressed up like an elf or troll for the premier and then I will buy the DVD"

Also, there is a trailer floating around on the internet for the next Narnia Movie, Prince Caspian. I am so happy that they are making these movies, but I wonder, is the underlying message that C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien intended getting through or are they just fantasies of amusement...

Prayer Request

Well, its only a few weeks and Jenee and I will be in Jacksonville for the final interview (at least for a little while) to get my permanent residency. And this means that I have to get all the required documents one last time. I am starting to stress out about it, I find it daugnting, there are alot of things that I need (most of which we have) and a few things that are being finalised like pictures of us.

So, I would like to ask for a few prayer points:

• Peace and acceptance of God's sovereignty and provision for us
• Calm my mind to stop worring about all 'worst case scenarios'
• Safe travel on Christmas Day back to Florida

Thanks everyone for all your support, I am sure that in a few short weeks we should have some great news to share!

And then there were five...

Our little home is packed in with Jenee, Eugene, the two cats and of course myself, so in case you were wondering, no, we are not pregnant with triplets.

Eugene arrived early on Friday morning on the 7th and it was great to see him. Already we have been having a blast. So far we have made 156 visits to Hibbett Sports Store around the corner, 30 visits to Best Buy and one trip to Paines Prairie. Poor Jenee is getting a double dose of cousin love, there have been none stop jokes and quotes and general shenanigans, all of course specific to sci-fi, cartoons and the internet, Euge and I are such techno-geeks. All of this and I haven't even mentioned the Japanese anime cartoon watching (stupid Chinese cartoon's as Jenee calls them).

This weekend we are off to NASA to do the NASA: Now and Then tour followed by shopping at the outlet malls and then Downtown Disney. Its all gewd :-)

Christmas Lights Mania

40 meters of lights, one minature Christmas tree with lights and one sleeping wife. Priceless.

Bound to happen...

Well, if you either (1) grew up with me or (2) were at our rehersal dinner, you probably know of the story of how I cut my hair when I was 10. Mum likes to think that kids cut their hair when they are younger, I feel that to make it worth while you need the motor skills you have by at least 10. Anyway, on Sunday I looked in the mirror and felt that I was looking scruffy, thinking 'really how hard is it to cut your own hair anyway?'.

So I got my clippers out, put on the No. 2 attachment and fired them up. I ran the clippers up the left side of my head, watching in the mirror and then stopped with quiet 'Oh'. Jenee was standing close enough to hear it and came to investigate, laughing once she had seen my handywork. So I didnt check to see how short the attachment really was, it was much shorter than I was expecting.

With no turning back, Jenee helped me finish the job off and well, you can see the result below. Does any of this sound familliar Helen and Danny?


Ok, so I am posing for the pic, I'm not really upset about it, but really I think I am one handsome hunk, if I do say so myself.

People of Sophistication

Last Saturday Jenee and I put on our finest jeans, t-shirts and flip flops, and drove our chauffeured car to the Curtis M. Phillips Grand 'ol Concert Hall. There we joined many other fine citizens in similar attire in the annual viewing of the wonderful ballet of The Little Match Girl.

Opening sequence

The Little Match Girl. She was really good in her role.

Nobody loves her. She's cold and hungry.

Supprise!

Ballerina, Little Match Girl and Ragdoll

Alley Cats

Carousel Ponies

Ragdoll and Toy Soldier

Toy Soldier and Fancy Ballerina

Closing scene (Oh von Hilda, your so wovely...Stevens Family Joke.)

It was a fun night and we really enjoyed it. So now we know it's there we are going to frequent it more often.

Christmas is in Full Swing at the Stevens'

Yup, last night we went and bought our first Christmas tree. It was so much fun to pick out decorations and then to get home, put it up and decorate it how we wanted to. We also have stockings with our names on them. Jenee is so smart, she used glue to write the names and glitter to make them look pretty. Sable also looks pretty, this morning I noticed that somehow she has a nice coating of glitter also.

Here is our first Christmas Tree!

Jenee is putting up garland


Some of the kids in the extended family

Our Christmas Stockings, I am hoping for something BIG! Com'on Santa!

Stay tuned for more pics over the next couple of days!

What Happened on Our Anniversary?

For a couple of weeks now I have been thinking about what to do for our first year anniversary. Traditionally the first anniversary is meant to be a paper anniversary. That was easy, I figured I would get tickets (paper) to the Dallas Mavericks basketball game and then take her somewhere fancy. Well that idea got canned because the Mav’s were playing an away game. The next idea was to take her to a symphony, or an opera or a play or something. Again and again each idea was nixed for one reason or another. So I figured I would have to rely on my amazing charm and charisma *cough* and come up with an original plan. So this is how it went down.

I dropped Jenee off at Dallas Baptist University for the last day of her week long course. Once I had dropped her off I went into overdrive to get everything ready. First things first, I stopped at Target to get supplies. Cake mix and flowers. Jenee doesn’t believe in expensive flowers unless it’s the Gardenias and if that’s the case I can ‘go crazy’.

I got home and then booked a hotel in Ft. Worth for the night. I stumbled upon the Hilton when there the night before and checked it out while Jenee wasn’t watching. So much sneakiness. I made the cake and then did a couple of loads of washing. I think I make a good househusband sometimes…

So why the cake? Well, traditionally you are meant to eat the top layer of your cake when you have your first year anniversary except our cake didn’t make it to our 1 week anniversary, it was so good that we decided to eat it while it was still good, no point wasting good cake. So I decided that we should still have cake on our anniversary so I made Jenee’s favorite, white cake with white icing, which also resembles our wedding cake. Perhaps one thing I did underestimate was how hard it really is to the little black squiggly decorations that we had on our cake. My attempt, well, you can see it below…

So, I was ready by about 1pm and spent the rest of the cold, rainy day on the couch with Linda and Joe relaxing and napping. I was at DBU at 5pm to surprise Jenee with flowers (white roses) and then I took her to dinner. We went to Bobby Valentines, a sports restaurant, and for those of you about to baulk at the choice, I chose this place because this is where Jenee took me for dinner after one of the first dates we ever had. As luck would have it, we even sat in the very same booth that we shared all those years ago.

After dinner we headed into Ft. Worth for the next part of the evening. Jenee had no idea where we were staying and I wasn’t about to tell her, she had to wait. This of course is absolute torture for her and she kept on asking me questions, trying to get a clue. We pulled up to the Hilton and she was very surprised and excited. After checking in, we went to our room and settled in for one more surprise. I told Jenee to close her eyes and when she opened them there was our cake and a bottle of champagne from the wedding that we had saved. It was just so much fun to string her along and see her surprised by what had been planned.

The next morning, we met up with Linda and Joe and Cory for a hearty breakfast at Old South, the bestest pancake house in the world. So there you have it, we had a wonderful anniversary and I have a wonderful wife!

1 Year Already!

I can hardly believe it. Jenee and I have been married for a whole year! 365 days! In hindsight, it seems to have gone extremely fast, it feels like a month ago we were having Thanksgiving at the Masri’s with Mum and Dad and all our friends and family and now here we are, and old(er) married couple.

So what are some of the shared highlights for one year? Lets see…

• WE GOT MARRIED!
• A trip to White Fish and Big Mountain, Montana
• A trip to Angel Fire, Red River and Taos, New Mexico
• (1 trip to the Taos Emergency Room)
• 8 trips to Texas
• A trip to Denver, Colorado Springs and St Elmo, Colorado
• An unplanned layover in Alexandria, Lousianna
• 1 new cat
• 6 trips to St. Augustine
• 1 shuttle launch
• 1 trip to NASA
• 1 wrestling match with a gator
• A trip to dive with Manatee’s
• A trip to dive for scallops
• 1 Nintendo Wii (+ Guitar Hero, Jenee)
• A road trip to South Carolina
• A road trip to Tennessee
• 5 visits to Zoo’s (Alexandria Zoo LA, Denver Zoo CO, Jacksonville Zoo FL, Dallas World Aquarium TX, St. Augustine Alligator Farm FL)
• A minimum of 36 plane rides (and you wonder how I know which restaurants are in which terminal in Atlanta)
• 7000+ miles / 11,200+ km worth of road trips
• 3 x 12,000+ ft mountains conquered (Pikes, Flag Pole and another one that slips my mind)
• And well the list goes on and on and on…

I have to say that we have been extremely blessed. Through the goodness of Jenee’s parents, much of our travel to see them has been enabled via airmiles. In one year we have had countless adventures and as a result have hundreds of new memories. I have in excess of 10,000 photo’s to prove it. If you don’t believe me you are welcome to sit down and look through them with me. And while I wrote this on the last plane on the way home to Gainesville I was reminded how good God is to us. Ultimately we recognize that God has indeed given us all these things and more, and through his love for us He has provided over and abundantly for us. I have only touched on the obvious things but its sometimes hard to describe in a few words how God has been there for us during some tough times this year, how he as kept us together through thick and thin and made us closer and stronger as a couple under his rule. I wonder and guess that this training if you will is readying us for the next plan he has for us, what ever that may be. I am excited to see what it is (and a little nervous, such a worrier I am, something else God is helping me work on).

I can’t wait to see what is in-store for year two!

Immigration News

Well, we had some very exciting news on Tuesday. We received the letter for the final interview for the immigration process to make me a permanent resident. The only catch was that the date for the interview was a little, shall I say, unexpected? Have a guess when it has been scheduled, go on...

I'll tell you. The day after Christmas. Yup, you read that right. So Jenee and I will be flying out to Texas for Christmas on the 21st, and then we will be flying back to Jacksonville, Florida, for the interview and then after the interview we will fly back to Texas to meet up with everyone and drive to New Mexico, hopefully with me as a lawful permanent resident.

I have had a bit of a hard time with the interview date and I have been thinking about it. I don't think my initial reaction was very Christlike as I was kinda annoyed that the interview was the day after Christmas but I have since realized that I should be rejoicing because the Lord has been providing for Jenee and I in all things and I should be greatful that He has made this whole process manageable and that we have an interview date so soon.

If you could remember to keep us in your prayers it would be appreciated. I have two prayer points that I have thought of:

1. Jenee and I are busy pulling all the necessary documents together for the interview so prayer that we would be diligent and thorough would be great and,
2. Prayer for me to stop worrying about all the scenarios that my imagination keeps coming up with and to trust in God with a more child-like faith, i.e. trusting that God has and will take care of me and I don't have to be in control.

In our Bible Study Fellowship we have been studying the book of Matthew and just two weeks ago we covered Chapter 6, part of Jesus' "Sermon on the Mount". I love this chapter because a few of my favorite promises from God rest in these pages. I have been drawing comfort from these and I would like to share them with you.

1. Matthew 6:25-26. God will feed us
2. Matthew 6:28-30. God will clothe us
3. Matthew 6:30-34. God is going to look after us because he love us. Stop worrying Nate...
   

The La Chua Trail

After living here for nearly two years, I finally made my way to the infamous La Chua Trail. This trail makes its way through Paine's Prairie where there are alligators, birds, puma, horses, bison, snakes, turtles, fish and stuff.

So, along with Jenee, Dr Powers and Greg, we went for a 2 hour walk this last Saturday to take in the sights. We say about 50-60 gators, one which was at least 15ft (± 1 ft), he was a sight to behold. Check out the slide show below.



The coolest part was that you could get very close to some of the gators. You will see that Dr Powers and I got to with in 6ft of a 6-7 ft gator. We had no intention of getting any closer, but it did allow us to look at these amazing creatures up close. Remember kids, don't get too close to the water because its the gator that you don't see that will attack you.

Guitar Hero III

Some of you know that Jenee and I have a Nintento Wii and last week we bought probably one of the funnest games I have ever seen. Its called Guitar Hero III. The idea of the game is to play your little plastic guitar by pressing the buttons and strumming according to what the computer shows you. Its a lot of fun and it makes you work hard with hand eye coordination. We have completed the easy level and as a reward you get to play a bonus song called "Through the Fire and Flames" by "Dragon Force". I had a hard time on easy, have a look at the video below. This guy is my new hero. He is playing the song on the hardest level and he hits over 95% of the notes, something very very impressive...

Meagan in St. Augustine

Here we are in St. Augustine. The Alligator Farm was great, well worth the entry price. They have more than 800 Crocodillians and here's your random fact for the day: alligators are highly intelligent, they actually respond to their name one keeper could make a gator wag its tail like a dog when she mentioned food!

Check out the pretty sunset at the end of the slide show too!

Megan in GNV!

Yup, Megan, one of Jenee's friends is here in Gainesville for the weekend. She flew in on Friday which was a holiday because it was homecoming for the UF Alumni. We picked Megan up, showed her around and went to the Butterfly Museum on campus. Check it out below.



Tomorrow we are off to St Augustine (surprise, surprise) and we are going to try something new, the Aligator Farm.

4 More Exciting Road Rules!

Last night Jenee and I learned another road rule and this morning while driving to work today Jenee and I witnessed 2 all-new road rules and were reminded about another, all in 15 minutes! Check it out below.

Also, happy Reformation Day. Today, in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door at Wittenberg. (Thanks Mike M.!)

The Unofficial Road Rules of Gainesville

I have been in Gainesville for nearly two years now and its a year for Jenee and together we have observed that on the whole there are some special and unique road rules here that I never saw in the DMV handbook and no official ever told us about, we just had to learn them as we went along. Here are some of the newer rules:

1. Stopping at a stop sign is optional.
2. If you stop second (or third, or fourth) at a four-way stop you are entitled to enter the intersection first.
3. Better yet, follow the car in front of you through the intersection.
   
4. If you are talking on your cell/mobile phone you have right of way under all circumstances
   
5. If you wish, you may drive in more than one lane at a time and preferably talk on your cell phone.
6. One second is ample warning time that you wish to change lanes, if you choose to use your indicator...
   
7. One blink of your indicating lights is enough warning for the following driver.
8. The Campus speed limit is 20 mph so you should probably do 40 mph.
9. Bicyclists are a nuisance so harass them, try to cut them off when turning right (A cyclist knock down is worth 20 points, 10 on campus because of the higher cyclist density).
   
10. Only pull over for an Emergency Vehicle as a last resort on Archer Road because otherwise you will lose your place for getting through the traffic lights, and definitely do not come to a complete stop, thats just inconvenient.
11. The actual speed limit is the Posted Limit + 7 to 20 mph.
    
12. At a campus pedestrian crossing, you should accelerate through the crossing so you don't have to stop.
13. In a lane designated as "Right Turn Only", you CAN proceed in a forward direction, straight through an intersection.
    
14. When lining up in a dual-lane "Turn Left" lanes as a stop light, you should only fill the outside lane so that the inside lane is empty AND inaccessible, as a bonus you will cause a traffic jam because people will block the on-going lanes trying to get into the turn-left lanes...
15. When waiting to cross on coming traffic to enter a car park, it is acceptable to undercut the cars in front of you and make a b-line for the car park entrance.
16. Bicyclists do not need to wait for the crossing light, especially where oncoming traffic is turning, just enter the intersection and the traffic should stop...
17. There is no need to stop for a vehicle reversing out of a car park, they will slam on their brakes when the see you.
    

So I have started it off, feel free to send me a message about your favorite Gainesville Road Rules and I will add them here.

Finally New Phones

Yup, after more than two years Jenee and I have upgraded to new mobile phones. Now ordinarily I wouldn't make a fuss about something like this however our phones are somewhat a little different than normal. For the last three years I have had a Motorola Razor (I had one in Oz too). It's a nice little phone thats served me well but for the last 6 months the battery has been a little on the thin side and I have only been able to talk for about 5 to 10 minutes before the low battery beep chimed in my ear and I had to run for a charger.

Well take a look at our new little phones. These are Samsung Juke and we love them. Now if someone would just call me so that I can use my new phone...


(Just for interests sake, my old phone had logged more than 833 hours of talk time in about 22 months...)

The October 2007 Texas Visit (aka Zade's Birthday)

Well after flying back from Tennessee to Gainesville for one day of work, Jenee and I flew to Texas. Why? For a family catch up and to celebrate Jenee's nephew's first bithday. Brandon and Krista also came to Texas with us. They are interested in moving to Texas to live. I showed them around the Dallas Fort Worth area Thursday and Friday and on Friday evening they travelled to Waco to catch up with some of their old friends from Gainesville.

Saturday, Jenee and her mom offered to help organize the party for Majedah and Zade, and as a result Linda and Jenee spend most of their saturday shopping for the party, Joe and I spent most of the day mowing and we all spent the evening making foam fish for one of the party games that Jenee had invented.

For the party, we had "catch a fish", a sand pit, coloring center as well as the highlight, a real deal tractor pulled hay-ride.



The party was a huge hit! We all had a great time and Zade had a fantastic time. As you can see from the photo's he rather enjoyed his birthday cake and decided that it was better to wear it rather than eat it. He also found it entertaining to feed the family dog cake who later suffered a small stomach ache. Fishing was pretty good but I have to admit putting 60cm polls in the hands of 2 and 3 year olds is not necessarily a great idea and i don't know how we didn't lose an eye. And finally the the Hay Ride was awesome, so good in face that we put a couple little partier's to sleep.

I know that Jenee had a head time leaving Texas, but I am noticing that it is becoming harder and harder for me to leave too, I just love it there.

Fun Pictures

I was just going through my picture library for some 'Gator pics for our new work website and I came across some funny pics of Jenee and I. Thought I would share them.

I don't remember why the silly glasses, I think we got them from the movies but as you can see, we were hamming it up.

Neverending Plane Flights

I have learn't another valuable lesson. Flying out on your birthday is not a great idea and neither is driving home at 1:30 am after flying home, sleeping for a few hours and then working a full day only to catch another plane.

Well, I am in Texas with my wife and Brandon and Krista. I think we have all enjoyed relaxing a little. The Wilson's are here because they are seriously contemplating moving here for some Post-Doctoral research. I have been chauffeuring them around the place and God has been great giving them some positive answers to some of their questions.

I haven't taken any photo's as yet because I haven't had time but I will try. Hope you are all doing really well. Send me an email!

Nate

I'm The Birthday Boy!

Yep, I am the Birtday Boy and I am not of the right ol' age of 28! Oh my goodness, I am nearly 30, I don't have a house, 2 cars, a holiday home in the mountains, 2.4 kids and a dog. Ahhhhhh! Panic attack!

Actually I am quite ok and I am so blessed to be working towards those kind of things with a wife who shares the common goals. A part of my birthday celebration was to go to NASA. We got up early after the beach trip and drove down to Cape Canaveral. The weather was forecast for thunderstorms and as we were approaching Orlando the clouds rolled in and after we had passed the Orlando Internaitonal Airport the rain came down. I think I may have seen rain this heavy once before in my life when I was driving in the Adelaide Hills and it was so heavy that the convoy of three or four cars I was in slowed down to a crawling pace. This rain was probably equally as heavy and I felt that it was severe enough to pull off the road. After a few minutes the rain lifted and we continued in hope that the weather may fine up. By the time we got to NASA headquarters, the clouds were gone, the sun was shining and we had some of the nicest weather anyone could wish for.

Jenee had bought tickets for us to go on the NASA up close tour. This was a guide tour on a coach that took us around the NASA site. We got to see the launch pads for the shuttles from fairly close up, the crawlers for the shuttle, the Vehicle Assembly Building that has the same internal volume as 2.5 Empire State Buildings as well as what was a real highlight for me, a walk through simulator inside the room where they launched the Apollo series rockets to the moon where you could see all the original instrument panels that were useds in their original locations and after that you walked through to the hanger for one of the Apollo Rockets laying down on its side. I have to tell you, I had no perception as to how big the rockets were until I got to see this one. As you will see from my pictures, each of the four main engines were more than twice my height. Its just awe-inspiring to see.



Anyone for NASA?

Visit from Zeina

Last week Jenee and I had a visitor in our home from Texas. Zeina, Jenee's cousin, came and stayed with us for a whole week. It was fun to have her and I know we enjoyed her company. While she was here we took her around Gainesville, to St. Augustine Beach and we even went to NASA! I will post about the fun at NASA separately.

While Zeina was here, I learn't first hand about her special gift of making, how shall i put it diplomatically, "special comments". When being shown around a Gainesville friends home (who have finches in a large cage in their home) the owners were questioned as to whether they thought it was cruel to keep birds in a cage... But my favorite 'Zeina comment' happened at Jacksonville Zoo while looking at (along with a group of mom's with strollers) a very pretty but endangered jaguar, I hear over my left shoulder, "Wow isn't it beautiful! That would make a beautiful coat". Yup, a beautiful coat. LOL, I was so embarrassed that I had to walk away.

We did have fun with Zeina though and it was fun for Jenee to have her around.

So I lied...

I actually did the last post a day later than it actually says. The reason? Well being my birthday all you wonderful people were calling me and I want to say thank you, your calls made my day and I am truly blessed by God to have such a wonderful family and friends. So again, thanks for calling.

I am now going to work on the next post... I promise, and if you are really lucky you might get a couple of posts if I have the energy to work on the plane on the way home tomorrow. We just worked a 13 hour day at this workshop and I have to admit, it's not as bad as you might be thinking, there are only 14 people taking the course so the atmosphere is quite intimate and the course lecturer knows his stuff and is very approachable and really eager to teach you what he knows which has made this whole thing worthwhile.

I have learned one lesson though. I am never, EVER going somewhere without my camera again. I am so ticked at myself, the location for this workshop is on an old 1900's mill that uses a waterwheel to power grinders and crushers and so on and the scenery is nothing short of breathtaking. Today we walked down to a large waterfall and I was very disappointed not to have my camera on hand. So I apologize, I will carry my camera so that I can share photo greatness with you at every opportunity.

An Update on Immigration Proceedings

Well, I am sitting in my room in Tennessee and I am 1000 km away from my wife on my birthday. Not overly happy about the whole situation. Oh well, I am in Tennessee to take part in a 2 day workshop for "Powder Flow", a topic that I am constantly gaining knowledge in.

I have noticed that I have about 3 drafts for Blog posts that I haven't even touched in the last couple of weeks so I need to sit down and do some writing. I will start with an update on the fun with the immigration proceedings and then later tonight after dinner I will try and fill youse all in on some other things that have been happening like our visit to NASA, a visit from Jenee's cousin to Gainesville and some of the fun for my birthday.

Enough of the fluffing around, here is whats happening with my immigration; as of the Thursday prior to the date of this post, I have done all that is required of me for my immigration papers. This includes submitting large amounts of paperwork and going to a Certified Doctor to have a medical. Now I have to elaborate on the 'medical'. I was expecting to have lots of poking, prodding, blood tests, psychological evaluations, MRI and possibly a rubber glove inspection, mostly because I was expecting the worst case scenario.

So what was the real experience like? Well, I went to my local GP/Family Practitioner to have my immunization updated and she told me that I should have a blood test to prove my immunization to MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) which most children are immunized against from birth. I also got a painful Tetanus booster for my trouble. A week later the blood tests showed that I had no immunity to the strains of MMR common to North America so lucky me got to have those shots too.

The actual immigration medical was performed by a certified physician in Jacksonville, 2 hours away. We got there early and I was ready to be violated in every way imaginable but when it was my turn a nurse took by statistics (height, weight, blood pressure and blood sample) and then after a small wait the Dr. came to see me. With me clenching tight, he pulled his stethoscope out and listened to my heart and breathing and poked my stomach twice with his thumb and forefinger, finishing with, " Go have your x-ray and then your done". LOL. I was almost breathless from the shock. That was it?

All the tests came back negative so I can confidently say that I don't have HIV/AIDS, syphilis, tuberculosis, rabies, diarrhea, MMR, tetanus, hepatitis, influenza or even a rash, I all clear! Now all we have to do is mail the results off to the Department of Immigration and wait for our final interview.

Its a huge relief to have all of this done and I have to thank Jenee for motivating/encouraging/harassing me to get everything done. With out her I would proably be still procrastinating filling out the documents.

Update Coming Tomorrow

I am working on an update for tomorrow. We have had a week long visit from Jenee's cousin and I feel like I have been burning the candles at both ends a little bit. It's been fun though, we have been to NASA, Jacksonville Zoo, St. Augustine, Down Town Disney and probably more that I cant remember right now.

Stay tuned!

A Long Overdue Update...at 3 AM

Well it is 3am where I am, I can't sleep. I have been laying down for a while now and I just cant pass into the land of dreams so I got fed up with trying and decided that I would get up and post here. I think this is what I get for taking a nap this afternoon.

Why would I take a nap, I never take naps? Well, I guess the story starts a few weeks back when the pre-IAB rush started. It came to a point where I realized how quickly the Meeting was coming and how I had plenty of work to present, but this work was for one of the PhD students that I am working with to present at IAB. So, I made a plan, drafted some help and since then have been working even harder to get some extra experiments done. Last week I was working hard finishing off all my experimental loose ends and trying to work on my presentation which was due on Friday so that CD's could be made. Well, some how every time I had literally 5 minutes to myself, with out fail, someone would come around the corner, poke their head in my cubicle and ask me to do something for them. Now I don't have a problem helping, in fact I get paid to help people, but when its all day, all week and I can't do my work it eventually gets disheartening.

I worked all Saturday, Monday and Tuesday finishing off the presentation for IAB. I got it done, and I got all my other duties done, but by Tuesday night I was feeling way overspent. IAB was actually a very good and productive two days. Many conferences last more than a day and this one is no exception, it lasts 2. Two days that start at 7:30 and finish at 9pm on the first day and 6 on the second. Thats a lot of conference for anyone and I really didn't get much rest Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday nights.

Jenee's cousin Zeina arrived on Thursday to visit for a week and because I am leaving for Tennessee on my Birthday, Jenee wanted to use this weekend as a Birthday weekend which meant that I got my Birthday present early! I love birthday presents, I cant lie, what I love even more is when I am supprised and get something that I really would like but in no way would I spend the money on my self. And thats exactly what I got, Jenee had been scheming and collaborating with Brandon and Krista, her brother Cory and probably some other people to try and get me a Nintendo Wii. If you don't know what it is, its game machine, like a PlayStation, only instead of tapping buttons on a controller, you have to swing the motion sensitive remote to play the games. It's a lot of fun and I was totally surprised when I opened the present! The Wii is really more fun when you play with someone else and the girls entertained me for an hour but weren't really interested in playing with me after that - meh...

Friday was a crazy day for me, I got to work at 7am and it didn't stop until I forced myself to leave early at 4. Not only was the day crazy but it prety much rained all day after lunch time, and not just a gentle rain, but pouring down so that the carparks were under water, lawns looked like pools and the stream through campus was more like a river, I think it finally stopped raining about an hour ago. Which brings me to now, sitting on the floor in our bathroom with the doors shut so as to not wake up either of the girls as they slumber on. I was smart/stupid enough to take a two hour power nap when we came home and I think I am paying the consequences.


Well it's nearing 3:30 am and my I feel disgusting. I want to sleep, I thing I may go try again, I guess if I don't I'll be back to write more?

Woo Hoo!

Well, it's Thursday evening and IAB is over. It has been a long week and I am very tired. But who cares?

The exciting thing is we have had 2000+ visitors to our blog since it started and it's all thanks to you guys and gals! (I was #2003)

I promise to write a long post to fill youse all in with whats been going on and stuff.

Roach's, Apples and NASA (Jenee's First Post!)

Nate and I had an adventure last night. Right before bed I had to take a tablet, and it typically upsets my stomach, that is why I take it in the evening. So I had a midnight snack of watermelon when I took it. I set my plate down by my bed (because I was very bad and was eating it in bed) and not a minute later I looked over and there was a huge ROACH! (Nate - at was at least 3 inches). They are doing construction down stairs and the weather is changing so I think it is the season for them. Well of course I yelled and Nate, the hero on a white horse he is, came running in to my rescue and tried to kill it. Well the cunning roach got away. We tore the bedroom apart trying to figure out where he went, so I immediately went into the kitchen, cleaned all of the dishes and Clorox'd all of the counters. After about 20 min. of looking (Nate is such a good man) we decided he was gone. So I proceeded to strip the bed of all of the blankets and make sure he wasn’t hiding in there. When my fear was satisfied I covered my mouth and ears (I watch entirely to many gross movies) and tried to sleep. I woke up this morning with a queasy stomach and then I saw the roach dead on the carpet. Nate swooped in and cleaned it up and now my only BIG task is to call the apartment and have them spray again! Oh it was horrible yet so funny to see us both.

Helen has sent us a DVD of pictures and a great letter telling us all about what they have been up to. I look forward to getting home tonight and looking at them. Nate has gotten a computer from my Aunt Paula and Uncle Craig that has a simple scrap booking program so I will scrapbook them while Nate is working like crazy this week. Zeina my cousin is also coming on Thursday for a whole week! We are taking Nate to NASA for his birthday and spending a day at the beach as well. I have gotten him a birthday present that is very exciting. He is sitting here with me right now making a doctor’s appoint for his immigration so I will have to let you know what it is later. I think I am more excited than he is.

Its been a long, long week...

The moon over Lowes

As the title suggests, its been a long week for Jenee and I. The week before IAB usually is because everyone at work is going crazy trying to get final results, make presentations, organize things an so on so that they are ready for the two day sponsors meeting.

I have had some extra curricular fun because I have had to get two new undergraduate researchers started on projects, co-organise a Young Researchers Forum, host a representative for my project from the Army and finish building a new apparatus. So needless to say, I have been a little frustrated this week. Jenee has been vary busy too, and to add insult to the fact that she hasn't recieved a long promised raise, she had to fill out and submitt an application for her boss, which in her bosses words, "so that someone would read what she has done and she could use it as leverage to get a raise". Behavior like that makes me very annoyed.

Sable and Marble sleeping yesterday.

Anyway, we have spent this weekend at home pretty much. Jenee has been cleaning in preparation for her cousin's arrival next week and I spent my time working on my presentation and catching up on my Bible study homework. Just a few more days of crazy and I can take a breather...

Both the cats sleep like this...?

Fantastic Soccer Pics!

On Wednesday night Jenee and I went to cheer on some of our friends play in their intermural soccer match. They did a great job especially considering they had no substitutes and were also one man down. I took the camera along and took a few pictures. Because of the lighting I put the flash on. Now I know that my flash is pretty bright up close, but apparently it's pretty annoying far off because Jay, who was playing goalie, got a little annoyed and yelled at me to stop using it. LOL, I felt pretty bad, I had no idea that it was so bright. Maybe I could use this as reason to invest in some highend, low light optics Jenee? Anywho, here are some of the pics!

Krista. Enjoying the cheering from "her people".

Jay fending off the ball!

Brandon. Breaking out in his Riverdance routine mid-game to distract the opposing team.

We've Been Busy

Hi you fantastic people. Have you been wondering why you haven't had a new post for a while? Well if you have, it is because everything has gone into overdrive for the last week and it will stay that way for about another week. Why? Well, next week is my work's 2 day Industry Advisory Board Meeting (IAB) and we take it pretty seriously.

I have been flat out trying to finish off a large 2 week experiment that has actually taken 3 weeks, co-organizing a Young Researchers Forum, one of the IAB activities, making my presentation, writing abstracts, working on a journal article to be published, starting two new undergraduate researchers working for me, building two supercritical dryers and cleaning up my projects samples because we apparently are having an EPA lab inspection and the fine is $10,000 for every mis-labeled sample!

Jenee is in a similar boat, she is busy fighting to get her work done. She has taken all the required training courses associated with her position but the powers that be wont grant her the appropriate permissions so that she can actually do what she needs to. It's very frustrating for her and as a result the duties she can't do get placed on an already over burdened worker. It makes no sense, all "they" have to do is grant Jenee permission via computer and Jenee can do what she needs to but instead, the administration in question procrastinates and plays tough and in doing so, makes things harder on itself. Talk about nonsensical.

What we are going through is insignificant compared to what our friends Brandon and Krista are going through right now. Though I can't reveal much right now, Krista is having an extremely tough time with her PhD supervisor yet she continues on with a godly attitude and gets things done. A real trooper.

Well, its time for me to wash my breakfast bowl and head to work. I hope everyone is doing well and things should be back to normal in a week or so.

Nate

Painting Adventures

Just a cool photo.

Our lounge room has been looking a little lifeless for a while now. It goes hand in hand with the yellow-tinted depressing wall paint that all apartment complexes seem to think is a pleasurable color, marks that we have put on the wall from putting up pictures, clocks and even bikes. Jenee and I decided that the best plan of action was to paint the walls a cleaner shade of white and paint an accent wall with some kind of weaved texture.

Well, lets just say that the weaved texture wasn't working so we opted for a texture effect done with plastic bags. Pleased with our efforts we stepped back to discover that the wall hadn't been properly sealed where one should do the "cutting in" and the paint was adsorbing by different amounts into the wall. This resulted in a rather special border due to different paint thickness on the wall, as well as random markings and general ugliness. We thought we would solve this by cutting in with the white paint we had, then re-painting and re-texturing the edges. You can see our efforts below...

Wrong:Ugly wall color that induces feelings of nausea.

Lets just say 5 minutes after we had finished there was a unanimous vote that the wall looked like it belonged to a very low quality 70's hotel and it had to go. However we had friends coming over so we would have to bear the ugliness for at least one night.

Right: Autumn Breeze walls and nice curtains induce feelings of happiness.

The pain the wall caused to my eyes was so great that before church I got up early to re-paint it in a nice, more tasteful "Autumn Breeze" to match the rest of the room. Instead of paint we have decided that our color is going to come from some nice colorful curtains and potentially some matching new pillows on a possibly new sleeper / couch.

It Be Talk Like a Pirate Day! Arrr!

It be national 'Talk like a Pirate Day'. T' celebrate I be talkin' like a pirate for t' whole day, be it t' me professor, me undergrads or t' silly sales rep who didn't send me lab supplies.

It be a rainy day here and I really feel that it be addin' t' t' whole pirate theme. Tonight we be goin' t' have a pirate celebration, and me and me first mate Sable be goin' t' make our sea dog prisoners Jenee and Marble walk t' plank. Ha Ha Ha!

(Can you tell I don't want to work on my presentation?)

Fun With Nate in the Lab

Well this morning we woke to gray skies and a gentle drizzle of rain. Rainy weather is the norm here in Florida so needless to say it doesn't phase us, unless I am wearing my well worn work shoes which after 2.5 years of wear, now have some sizable holes in them. Therefore by the time Jenee and I had reached work my feet were rather damp.

Now I am not one to suffer such inconveniences, especially with a whole building of equipment at my disposal. So what did I do? Well I replaced my shoes with cleanroom boots and put my shoes and socks in one of our stainless steel drying ovens at 65ºC for 45 minutes.

Ahh, the fruits of my efforts, I had toasty feet for a good hour after all that. Meanwhile poor Jenee is sitting upstairs in her office with my jacket on because the air conditioning up there is so stinking cold.

Scalloping in the Gulf of Mexico

How are all my favorite people? That's you I am talking to, how are you? Good!

This weekend Jenee and I were invited by Brandon and Krista to do something that neither of us had done before. What could that possibly be? Well what else could it be but scalloping! Yup, Jenee and I, along with Brandon and Krista, Brandon's dad and sister and two of their friends went to the Gulf and hit the water for some intense action snorkeling and duck diving. You can see the high action slideshow below.



There are so many story's to tell like how I missed taking a picture of an Osprey holding a fish in its talons twice, how I got bitten by a dragonfly after slicing my finger on a fishing knife. Yep, got bitten by a dragonfly. Krista caught about 36 fish each of which was 30 inches ( 76 cm) long (small exaggeration), Brandon showed me what a real hair style looks like and Jenee found two scallops on her very own but decided to retire her from scalloping days after one scallop moved around too much in her hand, lol.

Thats just the beginning. On the way home we got caught in a thunderstorm (once on the boat, once in the car) and then when we got home we showered and went to B&K's to clean and trim about 150 of the little muscles. That was a fun experience, made me reminisce of all the fishing I used to do as a kid.

More pics can be found here: http://www.bkwgator.blogspot.com/

As a reward for the hard work Krista, Brandon and myself all have sore throats, we are so lucky :p

Climbing the Ranks at Work

Yes it is true, I have climbed another rung of the ladder here at work, I received a promotion of kinds if you will, but not in the usual way. You see, here at PERC we don't judge rank by salary or recognition of research, rather we judge rank by the type of keys you have been issued.

When I started here in 05, I was already off to a good start because I was issued a key to "The Cage" which is where we keep our lab supplies, along with the standard lab and office keys. That little beauty earned me some respect.

A few months after that I managed to talk my way into being issued the highly coveted "001" key. The 001 is a sub master that first and foremost gets you access to the workshop. This is a big deal on its own, but as an added bonus all of a sudden you can open certain office doors and gain access to chocolate and soda supplies after hours or even to the tech office where all sorts of wonders are kept.

Well last night I stepped up another rung. Upon me was bestowed the often rumored but never seen "Building Key". With knee's shaking, hands trembling I received the key in an official ceremony last night where Gary held his hand out and said, "Here you go." Apparently the rumor is if you lose it or it gets stolen you have to pay for the building to be re-keyed, wonderful. Remember who lost his wedding ring for 2 months?

Anyway, Jenee and I are doing well. We are still tired from the trip to Tennessee, or at least I am. Last night we went to the Hammersma's home for dinner and socialized with them for the evening. Apparently Jenee and Sarah are going to watch the 5 hour version of Pride and Prejudice. Lord of the Rings: Extended Edition Marathon anyone?

Early Morning Roadtrip

Between the two of us, apparently neither Jenee or I really slept last night. Apparently we were both having nightmares about things that could possibly go wrong. Why I hear you ask? Well at 5 am this morning I got up, hopped in the car and drove 2 hours to Jacksonville to get my finger prints taken as a part of the immigration process.

The drive was fairly quiet for the most part, I just sat quietly, thinking in the dark, while Jenee slept on at home. Everything was going well, that is, until I reached I-95 and my irritable bowel syndrome kicked in. I got that special feeling, that feeling that tells me that I should find a bathroom at my soonest convenience or else I will suffer the consequences. Praise the Lord that there was an exit to a petrol station with in sight. Now, when I was younger this kind of thing was the norm, but I still suffer when my diet is poor or I am stressed. As a bonus for being a grown-up now, my adult symptoms are much better (being only mild to strong stomach pains) than what I went through as a child. 5 minutes back on the road I got the special feeling again...

It turned out to be nerves. Once I was where I needed to be, everything calmed down. The finger printing experience turned out to be quite pleasant. I only had to wait for about 15 minutes, and once I was in the printing room, I realized something quite funny, the two ladies who were taking my prints were of Mexican origin, speaking Spanish, in a US Immigration Office.

So all in all, there was nothing to worry about, God had already taken care of everything for me, both little and large. It's a constant struggle for me to day-by-day TRUST the Lord, I think some of it is from my Melancholic personality which hopes for the best but prepares (and worries) for the worst. Me and my stupid worrying nature, when will I learn? (My two favorite passages that the Lord has given me in times of stress are Matthew 6:30-34 and Isaiah 43:1-6)

Now I am at work and it feels like its about home time. My clock says its 12:34... I wonder if I can change the time on the University Server?

Rain, Rain Come Agian

Well its Labor Day weekend in the US. I did a little homework, and what do you know, once again the world should be gratefull to Australian's leading the way. On the 21st of April, 1856 Stonemasons and building workers on building sites around Melbourne, Australia, stopped work and marched from the University of Melbourne to Parliament House to achieve an eight hour day. Their direct action protest was a success, and they are noted as the first organized workers in the world to achieve an eight hour day with no loss of pay, which subsequently inspired the celebration of Labour Day and May Day.

This weekend we have been recuperating from a busy week and travelling to Tennessee. On Saturday we rode onto campus to so I could show Jenee what tailgating during football season is all about. After her eyes were awed be all that is the crazyness of Gator School Spirit, we went home and had lunch be the pool. I could tell how worn out we both were and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and lounging around the apartment. For the evenings entertainment, we watched Pride and Prejudice, which wasn't nearly as sappy as I was expecting, in fact, one might go as far as to say that I enjoyed the movie.

With the weather changing down a gear, which means that it is still hot, just not as hot as July/August, I was welcomed to a beautiful still and "cool" morning. Actually, I was welcomed by Sable's head poping over the horizon of the bed as she reached up to wake me up, then I saw how nice it was outside. On the way home from Church I was thinking how nice it would be to put the top down and enjoy the sun for the drive home. For some reason I didn't follow through, and 2 minutes later I was rather happy about the whole deal. You see, even though the sun was out and there were only a few clouds to be seen, it started to rain. And not the wussy light rain, I am talking about big heavy drops that can render a man unconscious. Ok, so thats a slight exaggeration, but the drops are pretty large on my scale.

Well it kept on raining, raining after lunch, raining on the way to the mall, in the mall, in the car park, on the way home and finally finished about 4 pm. We went to the mall because our fancy can opener didn't open cans anymore so Jenee threw it out and we went out to get a new one. I also bought a cast iron frying pan with tall, sharpish ridges that we can use to "BBQ", as we cant have a BBQ on the second floor.

Sunday evening we took Brandon, Krista and Jay out to see the Bourne Supremacy. If you liked the first two you will love this one. Its just as good, if not better. I found myself literally on the edge of my seat much of the movie and enjoyed all the little plot twists and moments of "wow" along the way. I won't say anymore, other than it was fantastic!

Tomorrow is a new day, and since its a holiday, I don't know what we're going to do. Sleep in is definitely on the check list. More apartment painting is a possibility as well as a trip to the butterfly museum. Who knows what tomorrow may hold

N