I have a question for those of you who read this blog. Do you like watching the slide shows of 10-20 pictures that I post, or would you rather I post only 2-5 pictures on their own, no slide show?
I'd like to know so feel free to go ahead and click on the link below called 'comments' and let me know what you think. You don't have to be a member, just use the 'anonymous' option (Leave you name if you want, I like to see who reads this).
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Congratulations Eugene!
My most excellent cousin Eugene has had a picture accepted for publishing! The ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), a.k.a. as Channel 2, invites viewers to submit photos that are used as a background for the weather presentation during the evening news. Should a photo be good enough, the photo enters the short list to be used on the annual calender. Well, Eugene got an email today stating that he is going to be Mr. June 2008!
Eugene's Picture, Sunrise over the River Murray at Goolwa, South Australia
Congratulations Bro! Eugene will be here in December to sign copies of his calender photo and give seminars at coffee shops to people wearing berets :-p (I also heard that a few high profile womens magazines have contacted him for an interview and a photo shoot... such a stud).
Eugene's Picture, Sunrise over the River Murray at Goolwa, South AustraliaCongratulations Bro! Eugene will be here in December to sign copies of his calender photo and give seminars at coffee shops to people wearing berets :-p (I also heard that a few high profile womens magazines have contacted him for an interview and a photo shoot... such a stud).
Found It... 15 Minutes Later
Right where I left it. Next to the computer, underneath my headphones. I am going to sow it on with steel sutures today so that I can't lose it on in the future.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Lost My Wedding Ring...Again
Seems as though I have lost my wedding ring in the apartment yet again. I remeber having it on Sunday. I remember taking it off after Church and putting it next to my computer, and now I cant find it. Oh why can't I just put it in my "designated safe place"...
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Ichetucknee River Riding
Florida is famous for many things, including being the home of NASA, Disney World, the Florida Keys and more but there is one thing that often gets forgotten, the beautiful natural spring fed rivers. On Friday, Jenee and I joined many of the staff from work at the Ichetucknee River for a 2 hour tubing float down wonderful 22oC water.
The deal is that for $10 a piece you get your own tube and access to the park. All you have to do is get on the tram that takes you to one end of the park, get in your tube and float downstream at about 1 mph/ 1.62 kph. We had a great time.
That is until the halfway point when Greg informed us that he had lost his camera, a digital point and shoot in a underwater case, about 150 meters upstream. Of course I offered to go back with him to look for it. That doesn't seem to bad, but you'd be wrong. Swimming upstream against the flow of the river was no easy task! AND I had my scuba fins to help. In fact, the only way I could make any progress against the drag of the river was to swim freestyle as fast as I could. It took us nearly 15 minutes to travel the stones throw up the river (Does this sound like a not-so-well-thought-through Chris and Nate kinda thing to do to you?).
Sadly after about 15 minutes we couldn't locate the camera, along with the fact that we were both physically spent fighting the current. What follows next illustrates how little we thought this through, being that now we had to swim back downstream to catch the others... who were now more than 30 minutes downstream!
Now, when you have large scuba fins you can really move fast and thats exactly what we did. So fast that we were diving about a meter down and swimming under huge rafts of a dozen people or so, probably traveling up to 35-40 meters underwater. It still took about 20 minutes to catch the others... Still, it was a great adventure and we got to see lots of fish of all sizes, turtles, birds and apparently there are even otters, but we didn't see any... maybe next time.
The deal is that for $10 a piece you get your own tube and access to the park. All you have to do is get on the tram that takes you to one end of the park, get in your tube and float downstream at about 1 mph/ 1.62 kph. We had a great time.
That is until the halfway point when Greg informed us that he had lost his camera, a digital point and shoot in a underwater case, about 150 meters upstream. Of course I offered to go back with him to look for it. That doesn't seem to bad, but you'd be wrong. Swimming upstream against the flow of the river was no easy task! AND I had my scuba fins to help. In fact, the only way I could make any progress against the drag of the river was to swim freestyle as fast as I could. It took us nearly 15 minutes to travel the stones throw up the river (Does this sound like a not-so-well-thought-through Chris and Nate kinda thing to do to you?).
Sadly after about 15 minutes we couldn't locate the camera, along with the fact that we were both physically spent fighting the current. What follows next illustrates how little we thought this through, being that now we had to swim back downstream to catch the others... who were now more than 30 minutes downstream!
Now, when you have large scuba fins you can really move fast and thats exactly what we did. So fast that we were diving about a meter down and swimming under huge rafts of a dozen people or so, probably traveling up to 35-40 meters underwater. It still took about 20 minutes to catch the others... Still, it was a great adventure and we got to see lots of fish of all sizes, turtles, birds and apparently there are even otters, but we didn't see any... maybe next time.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
I Think I Nearly Popped!
Well, we have finally done it. After months of setbacks, procrastination and fluffing about, today, Thursday the 12th of July I sent my immigration papers on their way. These papers have been a major source of stress, but now sitting here and reflecting, I can only conclude that the Lord has had his hand on me every step of the way.
Since I first applied for my visa to come the the States and work, to this moment (and for the rest of my life), God has been looking over me. He has been there to make sure that I filed the correct papers, the correct (up-to-date) version of these papers, made sure that I had all the correct supporting documents and even the correct address to send these documents to.
Wednesday night Jenee and I spent over 3 hours putting the final paperwork together, and today we spent another 2.5 hours with my immigration expert, Donna, who has oh-so-kindly donated her time and patience to help us with these documents. I have no doubt that God has put Donna in my life. This woman knows all the ins-and-outs and has a wonderful calming effect on me, she is just wonderful and if she ever does read this page, I want her to see this: Thank you from the bottom of my heart Donna, Jenee and I really appreciate you.
So how much work was it really? Well, there were at least 3 drafts of each of the 3 forms that I had to fill out, countless walks to see Donna to ask questions and dozens of photocopies of supporting evidence. In the end we ended up sending a package that was more than 1 inch / 26 mm thick!
So for now, its time for me to leave these things in the Lord's hands.
Since I first applied for my visa to come the the States and work, to this moment (and for the rest of my life), God has been looking over me. He has been there to make sure that I filed the correct papers, the correct (up-to-date) version of these papers, made sure that I had all the correct supporting documents and even the correct address to send these documents to.
Wednesday night Jenee and I spent over 3 hours putting the final paperwork together, and today we spent another 2.5 hours with my immigration expert, Donna, who has oh-so-kindly donated her time and patience to help us with these documents. I have no doubt that God has put Donna in my life. This woman knows all the ins-and-outs and has a wonderful calming effect on me, she is just wonderful and if she ever does read this page, I want her to see this: Thank you from the bottom of my heart Donna, Jenee and I really appreciate you.
So how much work was it really? Well, there were at least 3 drafts of each of the 3 forms that I had to fill out, countless walks to see Donna to ask questions and dozens of photocopies of supporting evidence. In the end we ended up sending a package that was more than 1 inch / 26 mm thick!
So for now, its time for me to leave these things in the Lord's hands.
Monday, July 9, 2007
July the Fourth Texas Style
For the actual Fourth, Jenee and I got up early and caught a plane back to Texas to spend Independence Day with the Fam. To my delight, the airlines were running on time and we suffered no delays and only one screaming child who, in his defense, had earplugs in his ears and couldn't judge his own volume while calling "Mommy! Mommy!".
Majedah picked us up from the airport and Jenee went into baby overdrive with Zade. Meanwhile poor Maj got several science lessons from me. Poor Maj, but thats what you get when you confuse the definitions of steam and water vapor.
We met up with the fam at Jenee's parents house and lounged around and waited for 8pm to roll around for the Rangers game to start.
Talk about patriotic, people were wearing red white and blue in every direction you looked. I started to wonder whether the purpose of this annual celebration was to remind the general populous of what the national colors, flag and anthem were, especially those rednecks, give them an inch and they take 3 wives. I do admire the spirit of the people, Australians could do with being a little more patriotic and maybe learning the elusive second verse of our national anthem.
The rest of the trip was spent hanging out with family and friends. I took an afternoon off with Greg Buckles, the pastor who married us. We were having a lovely time taking pictures (see below) in Downtown Fort Worth when we got stopped by a rent-a-cop who questioned our motives. I appreciate that the world has changed and you have to be cautious but it really did make me feel like a criminal. To add insult to injury, he told us that he "wasn't profiling us", however he and his buddy continued to follow us around for the next hour. Whatever helps them sleep better at night, gooses...
What else happened? Hmm, well of course Jenee tried to spend every waking moment with Majedah and her baby boy, Zade (see slide show), Joe bought a 1975 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 with a Chev 327 and 4 in lift kit (see slide show), I finally got to see Kelly and Derek (She is due in 2-4 weeks, also see the slide show), Matt, Landon and I build a killer Thomas the Tank Engine train track (and then Landon wouldn't let us big boys play) and Joe and I mowed acres of grass so that I could get a quality redneck tan.
Majedah picked us up from the airport and Jenee went into baby overdrive with Zade. Meanwhile poor Maj got several science lessons from me. Poor Maj, but thats what you get when you confuse the definitions of steam and water vapor.
We met up with the fam at Jenee's parents house and lounged around and waited for 8pm to roll around for the Rangers game to start.
Rangers Stadium Baseball
Talk about patriotic, people were wearing red white and blue in every direction you looked. I started to wonder whether the purpose of this annual celebration was to remind the general populous of what the national colors, flag and anthem were, especially those rednecks, give them an inch and they take 3 wives. I do admire the spirit of the people, Australians could do with being a little more patriotic and maybe learning the elusive second verse of our national anthem.
The rest of the trip was spent hanging out with family and friends. I took an afternoon off with Greg Buckles, the pastor who married us. We were having a lovely time taking pictures (see below) in Downtown Fort Worth when we got stopped by a rent-a-cop who questioned our motives. I appreciate that the world has changed and you have to be cautious but it really did make me feel like a criminal. To add insult to injury, he told us that he "wasn't profiling us", however he and his buddy continued to follow us around for the next hour. Whatever helps them sleep better at night, gooses...
Downtown Fort Worth
Of course everyone else thought that our little encounter with Zachary the Bicycling Security Guard (BSC) was hilarious and proceeded to tease Greg and I about it. I was sure that I was going to get a rubber glove inspection, followed by a long holiday in a small room with a man named Beef.
Of course everyone else thought that our little encounter with Zachary the Bicycling Security Guard (BSC) was hilarious and proceeded to tease Greg and I about it. I was sure that I was going to get a rubber glove inspection, followed by a long holiday in a small room with a man named Beef.
What else happened? Hmm, well of course Jenee tried to spend every waking moment with Majedah and her baby boy, Zade (see slide show), Joe bought a 1975 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 with a Chev 327 and 4 in lift kit (see slide show), I finally got to see Kelly and Derek (She is due in 2-4 weeks, also see the slide show), Matt, Landon and I build a killer Thomas the Tank Engine train track (and then Landon wouldn't let us big boys play) and Joe and I mowed acres of grass so that I could get a quality redneck tan.
Family Pictures
Gainesville's Fireworks
It get's a little backwards down in the South sometimes and we tend to not quite catch onto things as quickly as everyone else. Independence day is no different, instead of celebrating this on the fourth of July, Gainesville decided to one-up everyone else and do their fireworks on the evening of the Third.
Who cares I guess. To enjoy the City of Gainesville's gift, a few of us set up camp on the roof of our building at work and waited for 9:40. I was excited because I have never had the chance to take firework pictures. I used my trusty tripod and set my camera for 30 second exposures. Here are the best shots I took.
Good stuff...
Who cares I guess. To enjoy the City of Gainesville's gift, a few of us set up camp on the roof of our building at work and waited for 9:40. I was excited because I have never had the chance to take firework pictures. I used my trusty tripod and set my camera for 30 second exposures. Here are the best shots I took.
Good stuff...
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Cool MS Paint Artwork
Transformers is causing a craze! Here is some cool Microsoft Paint Artwork that my cousin made for me.
Click to make me bigger!
As you can see, I am Eugene's hero. He often sends me his artwork. Maybe I'll share some more as time goes on ^_^
Realm of the Uber-Nerd...and a General Update
Ahh, its good to be a nerd. Last night I lined up with Rob, Sarah, Micah, Whitney, Casey, Krista and Brandon along with about 500 other nerds to go and see the super-early premier of TRANSFORMERS. I have to admit I was skeptical that it was not going to be very good, but all things considered, I really enjoyed the movie. The script was decent, the acting was believable and had some great funny moments, and the sheer size of the Transformers was amazing.
Today I finally got in contact with my immigration representative here at UF and praise the Lord's name that He put this woman in my path because she is so patient and so very helpful. At the moment I am preparing all the paperwork to file for permanent residency and I have to tell you that its quite a daunting challenge. Well, today I received all the answers that I needed to do the final preparations and I have an appointment on the 12th to get all my forms notarized and then submitted to INS. If you remember, please pray for me as for some reason I get easily very uneasy and worried (for no good reason) when I have to do these types of things and distracted from finishing the task. God has paved a clear pathway thus far, and I have no reason to doubt Him now.
Tomorrow Jenee and I are off to Texas and we will be back on Sunday evening so there probably wont be any posts until then. However, as always, my trusty camera will be coming along for the ride and I will post pictures when I get back.
(Australians: Hope you are all doing great, I love you and I miss you all!)
(Texans: I love you too)
(Floridians: Not to be left out, I love you guys as well)
Optimus Prime
Today I finally got in contact with my immigration representative here at UF and praise the Lord's name that He put this woman in my path because she is so patient and so very helpful. At the moment I am preparing all the paperwork to file for permanent residency and I have to tell you that its quite a daunting challenge. Well, today I received all the answers that I needed to do the final preparations and I have an appointment on the 12th to get all my forms notarized and then submitted to INS. If you remember, please pray for me as for some reason I get easily very uneasy and worried (for no good reason) when I have to do these types of things and distracted from finishing the task. God has paved a clear pathway thus far, and I have no reason to doubt Him now.
Tomorrow Jenee and I are off to Texas and we will be back on Sunday evening so there probably wont be any posts until then. However, as always, my trusty camera will be coming along for the ride and I will post pictures when I get back.
(Australians: Hope you are all doing great, I love you and I miss you all!)
(Texans: I love you too)
(Floridians: Not to be left out, I love you guys as well)
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