California days

When Charisma and I talk about my job, we agree that sometimes it's not as tough as many other jobs even though they pay less than my own. She likes to poke fun at me a little that she feels "so bad!" for me because i'm spending a weekday alone in a comfortable hotel room reading a book or pecking blogs and letters on the keyboard...and getting payed for it. For example: presently, i am writing a blog at 3 in the afternoon on Thursday when i ought to be out flying and helping transform millions of dollars of client resources into a marketable product in the form of aerial photos. However, a low pressure system is sitting next to the Pacific coast and transferring moisture to the sky above us on a day-by-day basis. The weather is... bleak. So what's a captain, his first officer (yours truly) and three clients to do? Sleep in, go to breakfast together, have a late lunch at In-N-Out Burger, and take a nap in the afternoon as we await our next endeavor out to eat. No flying means hangout time for the guys, wedding planning with Charisma, and free time for me to sit and type away at my computer in peace and quiet, and to enjoy the nourishment of my delicious and frothy In-N-Out chocolate milkshake.
Did i mention i'm getting paid for this too? 8 hours a day plus the best per diem of any project yet: $61
I do feel guilty now because I know that my beloved is working for $6.50 an hour for 6-8 hours a day, and i'm here making free money, and lots of it for doing what's only fun and enjoyable. Charisma acknowledges that I worked hard in school for this, so that redeems my conscience ;-)
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The proejct The project i'm working on this week involves flying our camera-equipment-outfitted KingAir 80R over a certain military base in California. (A lot of what we do at Dynamic is confidential until the customer authorizes us to publicly announce where we are and what we're here for, so i can't say anything besides generalizations.) The mission should take only about 11 hours to complete once we get there, but right now the weather isn't permitting us to even get out there and do anything profitable. So we've been stuck here in Salinas doing some calibration and experimental flights and hanging out with each other. Now, we have profited from the time to some extent. Tom Anderson (Captain) and i programmed our GPS with 96 GPS points between which we'll fly for our photo shoots. We've also familiarized ourselves with the customer's pilot display which tells us where we are and the area that the cameras have captured along the sortie (mission). Hopefully i'll get an update on here or on Facebook when we finally have gone on a sortie.
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I'm simply relishing my time in California! Despite the overcast and rainy weather, the mountainous terrain and fertile land gives me the impression of an Edenic environment, while the proximity to the coast makes me feel in some exotic little place on the country. From the air, this area is particularly gorgeous. The sun glistens off the rippling sheet of the Pacific ocean water, and the craggy coast accents the lovely teal waters hugging broad, white beaches. I hope to drive out to the beach for an afternoon getaway (and make sure to get my seashell this time), but for now i'm appreciating my privileged position from 3,000 feet up.
The acclaimed California restaurant In-N-Out Burger is a mile from our hotel, and it's just as good as advertised! It's a unique burger joint in that everything is fresh and never frozen before it's cooked and served. They slice up raw potatoes into fry-sizes with a special hand-operated machine and cook them in trans-fat- and cholesterol-free oil and sell the product for $1.20, so i felt good about eating restaurant fries for once. Even their sandwich bread is preservative-free. and the chocolate shake i'm still sipping on is SO good!

more later on my little vacation in California!

What three years can bring...

This entry (probably published two years ago), reflects where i was in 2005, as I, a young college graduate, attempted to get my feet on the ground and find where God was leading me.
It's hard to beleive that all this happened so recently, yet i do feel eons away from it all. Life is so different now. It's a great reminder of the transformational power of God's grace.

January, 2006:
As the earth previously passed this point in orbit, I had this to look forward to:

Early January 2005: I believe i've spent my last days living in Bloomington

January 17: Glad to escape Longview for 28 hours, visited Brandon and Heather in Plano; watched a movie, slept over at Brandon's aunt's house, ate half a quiche

January 19 and later: One word--- Kelli. Still dealing with the "desert" of our friendship. She double-minded-- sometimes charmed, sometimes complacent when it comes to me--me, confused and unwilling to give up on the relationship. Brandon's opinion of her: "Daughter of a syphelitic camel." That relationship still traumatizes me today, as i fear i am probably repeating my mistake of forcing a relationship to any ends. if it doesn't come naturally and "without hassle (as Usen wisely declares)", is it really worth having?

January 28: "You're in." To Alaska, that is. Dwayne King met us guys interested in going to Alaska for what sounded like a career but ended up being just a summer. We had ice cream at LeTourneau University's President's home, looked at pictures and discussed our little mission up there. The details of the plan were not carried out in reality, but as I discovered in my time up there, plans were indeed made for the purpose of getting broken.

February: big month spiritually. Journal on the topics of security, personal worth, failure, discouragement, kindness, thanksgiving, God's beauty, will and Word.
February 17: Provide piano music for our school's Etiquette Banquet at Pinecrest Country Club. Receive many compliments and praises from among the 150 who attended the banquet.

March 5: Day of The Ride. Pedal my bike from school to the Texas/Louisiana border. By the day's end, got a picture of my bike and I by Louisiana's state sign and had 100 miles on my trip meter.

March 8: recruited as Mr. Foulk's carbs lab grader and lab assistant

March 10-20: visit Egypt, Sanai, Israel and Jordan and everywhere in between. Wrote 23 typewritten, 11-font, single-spaced pages of journals from that trip.

March 29: "No more arduous hours in the simulator! No more cramming! No more restless nights! No more burden!" I am donned Flight Instructor at 2:30 in the afternoon

April: journal on themes of loving others, living such that beautifies the gospel, death, time with God, truth and...girls.

April 3: write year's first letter to my future, unknown wife

April 6: mom accidentally overdosed our cat Peanut on tranquilizer, and he died.

April 8: Nancy Ortiz, a bright young student loved by all who knew her, died of a fatal disease. See my last Hootenanny as a student at LU.

April 13: Greg Buchanan, our favorite harpist in the world, visits again and inspires 2 1/2 pages of journal reflections.

April 15-16: take my aviation mechanic's practical test and pass. the test was overrated.

April 23: see Ginny Owens in concert

May 2: begin last Finals Week-so i pray!- at LeTu.

May 4: memorize 1,000 multiple-choice questions in prep for my written aviation mechanic's test.

May 5: take threee written tests for my aviation mechanic's license. Become a licensed A&P mechanic.

May 7: "The miracle came; Grace met me; You, God, got me through!" Graduated from LeTourneau University as a Bachelor of Science, flight instructor and aviation mechanic.

May 15-17: put together a neat scrapbook of keepsakes and memorables from the last four years

May 25 - September 29: Alaska!!
-build a handsome professional resume with my experiences in Alaska
-train three private pilots
-make some of the best friends ever
-first lessons on the violin
-fall in love for Daisy Delay and learn to cry again
-see the most beautiful places my eyes will see on this side of eternity
-learn a ton about relationships, flying and God
-and about 3/4 of my Mead notebook of journals

Post-Alaska weeks: reflect on the tangles of materialism rampant in these Lower 48

October: themes of sufficiency, risk, relationships, eternity, grace

October 9: interview for coveted flight instructor job in Peoria; lose it to another guy

October 16: called with another job offer as an aerial pipeline surveillance pilot

November: themes of Abby, love, answered prayer, covetousness, nearness to God

November ?: Best friend Jonathan Dassow gets engaged to Jennifer Kerr

November 18: talk to Abby for the first time, who has, thanks to Rachel, gotten to know me a little already

November 20: pray specifically for financial stability by this time in 2006

November 26: "Little threads in my life - Abby, Bible study, Tim, are stitching a message for me, I'm seeing. All this tells me that I'm sought after - pulled alogside a holy Pursuer whose ambition is for me to like Him and be like Him. He wants my life to stream from our relationship. He wants me to be a beneficiary of His love and to stand openly and honestly in His presence. He wants me to heal, to change my ways, to mirror Truth and to relax in His care"..."When was the last time I counted as loss what I gained because it took the place of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ?"

December: themes of relationship with God, Abby, money, ambitions, variety, inter-personal failures, flying, fatigue, faith, marriage, death

December 2: turn 23 years old, Abby is the only one in the world to call and wish me a happy birthday.

December 9: Dr. Bowers informs that no surgery needed to correct my bite, shovel snow for 17 hours.

December 10: for the first time, ask a girl's father for blessing to date his daughter

December 11: for the first time, ''ask a girl out''

December 23: fall into despondency that i'm so far from the person i wanted to be at this point

December 24: family leaves for Arizona until New Year's. enjoy an evening with a best friend Jesse Rimshas

December 25: Best friends Jesse Rimshas and Robbie Heindl both get engaged to their respective lucky women.