Building Progress 13

My brother came in for a couple of days to continue framing my apartment in the new building. My nephew Josh came down from Cookeville today to help him finish up the main wall that runs the width of the building. I've attached a couple of pictures of Bob and Josh at work. Hopefully tomorrow morning we'll finish up the framing for the ground floor.

Fall Schedule

This Fall is going to be a time of travel for me. Since the crack-down on travel here in the USA I have kind of lost my love for travel. Each time I transit an airport I get mad and let the full body search just tick me off. I feel like I am being arrested each and every time I travel by air. Now, if I really felt it was doing any good I might sing a different song. But, since I know it is mostly a show for the public and really doesn't enhance our safety it just ticks me off. The reason I always get searched is that I can't get through the metal detectors so they do a body search each time. Anyway, enough complaining.

In early October I am heading to Little Rock for a Taiwan mission family reunion. So far it looks like there will be about 130 of us at the event. Most of the those attending were missionaries in Taiwan at some point but there will also be some other missionary kids (MKs) who I grew up with. It is always great to catch up with everyone and just have fun and fellowship with all of them.

In late October/early November I will head to West Point, NY to meet up with a bunch of guys and gals I flew with in the Air Force. We try to get together every other year for the AF - Army game at West Point. We meet up Friday evening for dinner and then hang out all weekend catching up and carrying on. It is always lots of fun and many lies are retold and our feats grow larger and more daring as the years go by.

The last scheduled trip for the Fall is a trip to Paris for an academic conference. I try to travel to 2 major academic Information Systems conferences each year and this is the main international conference for my teaching discipline. I usually have a paper to present and since that is what drives my profession it is expected that all of us stay active in research. The main reason I enjoy going to these conferences is that I get to catch up with friends from graduate school. There were about half a dozen of us (Scott, Pete, Pete, Andrea, Alexandra, and I) who hung out and were inseparable through our 4 years at Pitt. Most of these individuals are also who I do the majority of my research with. So, travel to the conference helps my research and allows me to catch up with friends in person.

The conference will last about 5 days and then some of us are going to head on over to Vienna and stay with Andrea's parents for a few days. Andrea's childhood was similar to mine in that she's lived all over the world. She was born in Africa (Kenya) but lived most of her growing up years in Montreal, Canada. Anyway, her parents now live in Vienna and we are going to do a hospitality check on them for a few days. It should be fun and for the first time in years I am excited about traveling (hopefully I can keep a good attitude going through security). So that is the Fall in a nutshell.

Of course mixed in with the travel is my normal academic calendar of classes and meetings. Since I can no longer fly for a living, this teaching thing has to be the next best gig imaginable. What a life, what a country!!

Reacting to anti-Christian labels

While I would never compare being labeled "ignorant" or a "freak" real persecution, it does however present an opportunity to either stand firm on the Rock (Christ) or to cut and run (compromise). Recently I heard someone label all of us who believe that God created us, loves us, and sent Christ to die for the remission of our sins, religious creationist freaks. Regrettably my first thought, as usual, was to turn and attack (God is still working on me and I understand fully that I am a stubborn work in progress) and point out all of his stupidity and illogical beliefs and to try to defend my God and His abilities.

Thankfully I didn't react quickly, but as i thought about my desired initial reaction ... I realized that selfish vanity was at play, and that I really didn't want to defend God so much as to prove to my critic that I was not a freak (by defending and trying to prove that God was, is and will be). God tells us of His glory and might with the simple words in response to Moses as written in Exodus - "I am that I am". I have no concept of the vast scope of the glory and majesty of God because I see through a glass dimly but I do know that God does not need me to defend Him. He does however require me to stand up with Him and to not be ashamed.

This week my church is having revival and today was the first day. This morning the pastor brought a great message on the fact that Jesus and Jesus alone is the way!!! We need to hold fast to that fact and then proclaim that fact as a message of hope and love to a dying population who is daily bombarded with messages of tolerance, open mindedness and other false doctrines. God demands that His gospel remain pure and true and for us to boldly proclaim that Jesus is the corner stone and foundation of His salvation plan. When we compromise that fact, we show nobody any love. The popular relativist idea/message that all roads lead to God (and God would never allow people to go to hell) only aids people on their journey to eternal separation from their Creator who wishes all to follow Him. As outlined in John 3:16-17 God loves us so much that he sent Jesus to save us and not to condemn us. He then strengthens His message to us in I Peter 2:3-4 when He tells us that He wants no man to perish but for all to be saved and know the truth.

We can't worry about what others say about us we just need to make sure they hear the Truth. As believers we are promised in John 8:31-32 - If we hold to His teachings ... , we shall know the truth and the truth shall set us free. Praise God for His mercy.

Building Progress 12

I decided to show a couple of pictures from a slightly different angle. The first picture below shows the front South facing porch. As you can tell there is still some dirt moving work being done. The guys are still smoothing out the ground around the building to facilitate drainage to ensure water doesn't pool around the building. The porch is 112 feet long by 20 feet wide and has a concrete floor. I plan to add an outdoor kitchen in the middle of the porch on the outside edge. It will incorporate a sink, counter area and of course a cooking surface (grill ??) of some sort. I'm hoping my brick guy will brick the counter area and any support columns to match the brick on the building.



This next picture shows the porch area through the side doors (from the inside looking out). The doors are each 12 feet high and 10 feet wide and will be my primary entry doors for the building. I'll drive right in and close the door and be inside as I exit the vehicle to go into my "house". It'll be nice because the entire building is well insulated and will be cool in the summer and warm in the winter.



Bob started work on the "home" framing today. He got the basic layout worked up and started to cut 2X6 lumber to proper lengths for the ground floor walls. We'll use 2X6 lumber for all ground floor walls and 2X4 for the second story walls. It should give me right at 1080 SQ FT of ground floor living space and another 1080 (plus a little since it has thinner walls) of storage on the second floor. The 2nd floor will basically be 2 large open rooms. I'll probably set up a guest bed or two so when I have visitors they have a place to crash.

Building Progress 11

The building is almost complete. Today they guys poured the large 20' X 80' pad that is in front of the hangar door (apron area). They still have to install the garage doors and pour the sidewalk that will allow me to go around the building. I decided the sidewalk would be a good idea so that I can check to make sure the building stays in good shape and can catch problems early rather than waiting for the problem to show itself in the building (through the walls). Here are 2 pictures I took today of the progress to date.





My brother Bob has once again been convinced to help me with a building project. He is going to frame in the apartment for me. On September 11, 2001 Bob was in Pittsburgh "helping me" rebuild my front porch (I watched and he worked). He has a long history of helping me with "my" projects. So far he and my dad have built me a garage, a front porch, a rear deck or two, and now framing in a complete apartment. Boy do I owe them big time!!

Van decorations

I've had some Fred 2008 window decals on my van for over a year now. Well, it seemed like it was about time to remove them (it's only been 6 months or so since Fred Thompson stepped away from his Presidential bid) and replace them with new decals. Yesterday afternoon I drove out to Robinson Racing Products (RRP) and had Lisa install some new Constitution Party decals for me. I designed a sticker that I think looks pretty sharp that incorporates an American bald eagle, an outline of the USA, and an American flag. It looks good with bright red stripes, dark blue field of stars, and dark blue lettering. I'll try to remember to post a picture of the side of the van.

I had pretty much decided to vote my Constitution Party candidate this Fall but with McCain's VP selection he has given me pause. I really like the fact that Mrs. Palin is a strong woman with a Christian worldview. I also really like it that she has not been tarnished by Washington DC and the political dirt that tends to make all leaders begin to compromise fundamental values (if they ever had them). I just pray that she will not surround herself with Washington insiders and will remain true to her values and continue to seek the Lord as she helps lead this great nation. Anyway, it could prove to be an interesting election with decidedly different worldviews reflected by the 2 sides. One promoting a culture of moral and social relativism and death while the other seems to be promoting a culture of life and traditional family values. Given the choice of protecting the lives of unborn babies or ignoring their cries, I really have no choice. I just pray that whatever the election results are, we as believers will continue to fight for the unborn who's God given rights aren't even recognized by those on the left (and to think they wouldn't even be around if their mother's had chosen the murder that they staunchly defend).

Upward Football Season

Today was the first day of the 2008 Upward Football season here in Sparta. We had 4 games today starting at 9AM and running until 1PM. The League is divided into 2 divisions with 4 teams in each age division. The younger group has kids from K through 2nd grade and the older division has kids from 3rd through 5/6th grades. I'm not too sure about the team names this year. I know if sound kind of silly but I kind of thought the teams could be named after cities found in the Bible. This year's teams are named the Vols, Crimson Tide, Volunteers, Boilermakers, etc. It works but I'm not sure I would have named the teams after existing college teams.

The kids are excited and the games went well today with no injuries or fatalities. Last year it was kind of cool to see how the players got better throughout the season. You could see some of them develop and begin to take advantage of weaknesses they saw in the other team's defensive set. I expect to observe the same thing this year as the season progresses. The only downer is that my neighbor's son will not be playing in the Upward league this year so I won't get to see him tear up and down the field.

If you read this and live in Sparta come by the front lawn of FBC some Saturday during the Fall and cheer on the kids and visit with those of us coaching or volunteering at the games.

Silver and Gold

Well, with the rapid price decrease of crude oil on the world market gold and silver has taken a similar hit. Less than a year ago gold hit a high of more than $1,000 an ounce and silver saw a peak of more than $20 an ounce. The past few months gold and silver prices have been steadily falling. Yesterday gold sank to less than $800 an ounce and silver crept under $13 an ounce. While the prices are still significantly higher than the lows we saw 5 years ago when gold was around $300 an ounce and silver could be had for around $6 an ounce it still hurts if you have any money invested in precious metals.

With the price at such a low point I decided to purchase a few more pounces of silver. I think silver is the most beautiful of the metals with an incredible patina and an even smoother audible tone when struck by a hard object. Anyway, the Austrian mint has been minting a 1 ounce gold coin for several years called the Philharmoniker and pictures several musical instruments on the reverse side and the grand organ from Vienna's Musikverein on the obverse.



This year they introduced a silver 1 ounce Philharmoniker with similar visual cues as you can see from the photo shown below.