Spontaneous trips:

-Sometimes things you do on a whim turn out to be some of the best memories.... even if things don't go as smoothly as you would like.

Yesterday was one of those days. We made PB&J's, fruit salad and then grabbed some chips and waters for each of us. I grabbed my camera and we all piled into Val's car, for a quick adventure to Charleston. By quick I mean left Charlotte at 4pm and arrived back in Charlotte around 1am.

Destination: Charleston, SC

Estimated time of arrival: 7:50pm              Actual time of arrival: 7pm

We arrived at Marion Square and found a metered parking space on the perimeter of the square. We immediately put coins in the meter enough for our estimated 2 hour visit.

Red Bull Illume @ Marion Square, Charleston SC

 

 

 

 

  First thirty minutes we spent perusing the exhibition of Action Photo's from around the world. The photos were pretty awesome. you can view them here:

https://www.redbullillume.com/gallery/final-images-2010.html

 We then used my phone as a GPS to navigate our way to Market Street and then on to Waterfront Park. 

Pretty much my favorite author...so far.

---DONALD MILLER---

So far I have read two of his books:

BLUE LIKE JAZZ 

A MILLION MILES IN A THOUSAND YEARS

I am currently reading:

SEARCHING FOR GOD KNOWS WHAT

 

New (Temporary) Job

This is where I work.

Welcome to the Real World!!!

Graduation:

UNC Charlotte's PM Graduation

Me handing over the Degree change card :)

The relieved 'rents and I

Josiah, Val, and I

We are family

Jonathan, James, and I

 PROOF that I actually did indeed graduate. Took 4.5 years but I got the paper. Now on to the "real" world!

Circa De 4 years

Fall '06

Summer '10

Star Gazing...

Tonight, after dinner with my parents, we headed back to the house on the rural country back roads. As I was riding in the car I could not help but notice the vast number of stars in the sky.
 My sister and I, not long after we moved here noticed how different the night sky was here from where we lived in SC.  We started having nights where she and I would lay back the front two seats in the camaro and watch as the night sky declared it's vastness on us, through the tee top windows. Most of the times it was quiet, but some times we would listen to music or just talk about life in general.
Tonight I went outside and lay on my car to soak in the vastness of the night sky here in the rural Frederick County Maryland, alone, as my sister is away for the weekend. I went to lay down on my car and the motion light came on so I ended up laying in the driveway. Even though the light was on it seemed like there were immeasurably more stars in the sky than previous nights before this back in CLT. When the motion light finally went off, I remember thinking, how do you describe the vastness of the night sky in a rural area other than AWESOME: inspiring awe.  It seemed like the more time that passed as I was gazing the more stars that came into view or that I thought I could depict against the black background.
I don't just stare at the stars, I ponder life, God, and my place in this Universe that He has created and given me the chance to live in. It's a great reminder of God as creator of the universe and to think that we are his most precious creation. Hard to believe he would choose us but, he does.  I will leave you with this: Psalm 147, says "He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name."....Jaw dropping, right?!?!


I took pictures towards the end of sky gazing and that is what I have posted. These are not my first night sky shot's and will not be my last (still have much more to improve upon)

Resume, job application and Deadlines

Two days ago marked a big step in this thing we call life for me. I completed and submitted my first Professional real world job application. How it all came about was quite strange. I randomly thought between two my classes to check the USAjobs site and see what jobs were being offered for meteorologists. I scrolled down looking at many different jobs that came up. My eyes then immediately went to a job posting for the National Weather Service.

Not only was it a NWS position, it was dictated as an intern position (All NWS meteorologists start as an intern). On top of that the location was great as I would get to stay in the great state of NC.  I just happened to find it two days before the closing date and was able to complete everything required to apply. I am not getting my hopes up, as everyone I have talked to says that it's very uncommon for an intern to end up in a non-podunk office in the middle of nowhere. I am mostly excited, because it feels great to be able to know that I will be fully qualified for this position in a little over 2 months from now. My professor also informed me when I went to ask her questions that it's not easy to get in but that it was well worth it once you were in. So we will have to see what happens.