Jackson Meeting

Well where should I begin.... The Jackson meeting of course was a very blessed meeting. Great sermons, great food, and wonderful people to socialize with, and even meeting a few new people was a blessing. I rode down there Friday afternoon with Ryan, Lydia, Seth, and Eleanor and we stayed through Saturday night, then Ryan, Seth, and I rode back and got back into Memphis around 2:30am last night. One of the parts of the meeting I really feel the need to comment on was when all the young people gathered around to sing, and we were able to sing one of my favorite songs, Hide Thou Me. The reason for my interest in this song, besides just the beautiful way the tune flows, is that it is just so encouraging, especially when I get discouraged. And after some of the rough times I have faced in the past few months, and being just so discouraged to some very low, and horrible-feeling points at times, being able to hear songs like that (which are just so spiritually encouraging) gives me motivation for life. I was very touched to hear everyone sing that particular song so beautifully.

Also Ryan, Seth, and I had the pleasure to stay at Lacey Madden's house where we stayed up into the wee-hours of the morning (11:30pm) playing some of the all new, high-tech video games (on Super Nintendo), and that was definently a blast.

Well anyway, thats all I have to comment about for right now, I'm still looking for more comments so anyone (perhaps someone I might have met at the meeting and mentioned to them about my blawg) that comments are definently very much appreciated.

God bless yall.

Survey

Well first of all I'd like to ask everyone to visit my friend Gabbie's new blog, which you can do by clicking right here. If you know her then go comment on it and say hi, if you don't then please be friendly and say hi anyway. Thanks yall.

So anyway, here's my post, its this survey that everyone is taking now. I apologize that I could not get the link to work to allow anyone else to take the survey online, but I put the entire thing into a Word document, so if you have Microsoft Word on your computer, you can take it by clicking on BlogSurvey. Once filling everything out on the Word document, hit "ctrl & a" then "ctrl & c" and then go back into blogspot and hit "ctrl & v" in your blog post to post your survey. If you have any problems email me at joe444477@gmail.com or joe444477@hotmail.com.

TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF - The Survey
Name:	Bob... (what do you think my name is?)
Birthday:	May 30, 1984
Birthplace:	South Memphis (Whitehaven representin')
Current Location:	East Memphis (Cordova)
Eye Color:	Hazel
Hair Color:	Light Brown
Height:	5'11
Right Handed or Left Handed:	Right mostly (I shoot a basketball left-handed though)
Your Heritage:	no clue, and I'm not that eager to find out
The Shoes You Wore Today:	my Nike running shoes (not sure what exact kind)
Your Weakness:	my knowledge, and understanding things that are difficult to read
Your Fears:	God
Your Perfect Pizza:	Pepperoni
Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year:	to be a better member of my church
Your Most Overused Phrase On an instant messenger:	lol
Thoughts First Waking Up:	what time is it? do I have time to sleep a little longer?
Your Best Physical Feature:	no clue... I guess my chest (dont laugh)
Your Bedtime:	whenever I get tired
Your Most Missed Memory:	playing out in the streets with all the neighborhood kids when I was 11 or 12
Pepsi or Coke:	Pepsi, although Coke has better products
McDonalds or Burger King:	Burger King, though I'm eating healthier now-a-days
Single or Group Dates:	if the girl has a strong view either way I'll go with her choice so she'll be more comfortable, if she doesnt care, well it depends on the situation
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea:	Lemonade!!!!!!
Chocolate or Vanilla:	Vanilla
Cappuccino or Coffee:	Coffee, though I prefer Frappuchinos
Do you Smoke:	no
Do you Swear:	no
Do you Sing:	yea, when my dad is leading I'm the only Tenor voice at my church
Do you Shower Daily:	no, more like every 8 hours
Have you Been in Love:	yes, in an unhealthy way too
Do you want to go to College:	no, I just spent the last 4 years lieing around doing nothing
Do you want to get Married:	of course
Do you belive in yourself:	no, I'm not really here!!!!
Do you get Motion Sickness:	hardly ever
Do you think you are Attractive:	if I say "yes" does that make me "full of myself?"
Are you a Health Freak:	yes I try to be
Do you get along with your Parents:	most of the time
Do you like Thunderstorms:	yea I love them
Do you play an Instrument:	I used to play the trumpet, and tried out the guitar, but right now: nothing
In the past month have you Drank Alcohol:	yes
In the past month have you Smoked:	no
In the past month have you been on Drugs:	no
In the past month have you gone on a Date:	no
In the past month have you gone to a Mall:	yes
In the past month have you eaten a box of Oreos:	uhhh no
In the past month have you eaten Sushi:	no
In the past month have you been on Stage:	does behind the pulpit at my church count?
In the past month have you been Dumped:	nope, thankfully
In the past month have you gone Skinny Dipping:	does taking a bath in my jacuzzi count?
In the past month have you Stolen Anything:	no
Ever been Drunk:	no
Ever been called a Tease:	no
Ever been Beaten up:	no, but have come pretty close
Ever Shoplifted:	no
How do you want to Die:	anyway as long as its to God's honor
What do you want to be when you Grow Up:	a servant to Christ, and possibly a Programmer or doing something in Networking
What country would you most like to Visit:	Antartica
In a Boy/Girl..
Favourite Eye Color:	doesnt matter
Favourite Hair Color:	blonde or brown is nice
Short or Long Hair:	long
Height:	doesnt matter
Weight:	below 140
Best Clothing Style:	as long as it ain't FUBU
Number of Drugs I have taken:	none (or if any, you must be very well reformed from a dark past)
Number of CDs I own:	as many as you want
Number of Piercings:	nothing except for the ears
Number of Tattoos:	none
Number of things in my Past I Regret:	lots of stuff

I need your help, call Crime Stoppers if you have any helpful information!!!

Twas a lovely Thursday morning. I wake up around 9 or so to the sound of my alarm clock. I turn it off, get up, still half-asleep, and make my way to the bathroom to take my morning shower. So as I walk into the bathroom, I open the door to the closet to get my towel and washcloth, and LOW & BEHOLD!!! A mysterious beast is holding all the towels and washclothes captive, what was I to do!!!!!

I did manage to capture live footage of the beast (pictured below) so if anyone is able to identify this mysterious creature, please call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-Joe-4444.

Closing the Smith lab

First of all a thank you to Andrew for being the only one to actually comment on my last post. Yall should try to follow his lead.... Now on to the post.
___________________________________________

Sunday night was a fairly interesting final shift of the fall semester for me, as me, and my boy KT were supposed to close the lab once we left at 10pm (instead of keeping it open 24 hours, like we normally do, in waiting for our overnight relief to arrive). We closed the lab for MLKJ Day. You see, closing the Smith lab is harder than yall think. We had numerous hardships and struggles in getting the lab closed, like getting all those stubborn students out, but we finally managed to do it. O what hard, stressful work our boss puts us through. Here's footage of how our struggle went down:

ITS BIG FOOT!!! (hey we had to get the students out of the lab some way...)

KT gives his sign for errbody out there.

I does the same

No comment, just a lousy pic...

Good news/Bad news for Sping Semester

So here's my schedule for the Spring 2006 semester at the U of M:

Course	Days Time Location			Credit			Instructor
MIS -3745-001 APPLCTN PROG DEVELOP I	MWF 11:30-12:25PM FCB 267			3.00			ZHANG, XIHUI
MIS -3775-002 DATABASE MANAGEMENT	TR 07:10-08:35PM FCB 267			3.00			BROOKS, LLOYD D.
MIS -2749-015 INTRO BUSN MICROCOMPTRS	TR 05:30-06:55PM FCB 373			3.00			BURKS, TOM D
MGMT-3110-002 ORGANIZATION & MGMT	MW 12:40-02:05PM FCB 369			3.00			CHEN, JIUN-SHIU

Great!!! 2 Chinese instructors, won't this be fun...

So anyway its not the class schedule thats really the good or bad news for me, but rather the work schedule:

Tuesday ------- 8am - 1pm -------- Smith
Tuesday ------- 1pm - 5pm -------- Smith
Wednesday ---- 5pm - 10pm ------ McWherter

So there it is, a meager 13 hours a week. Good news: I no longer have to work 5-10pm Sundays!!! Bad news: I now have to work 5-10pm Wednesday, which will hinder me from a regular attendance at Grace Chapel on Wednesday nights. And giving up the Wed. night shift isnt really an option right now, seeing as how I am working that shift alone right now, they're still looking for someone else who can work Wed. nights.

Solution: Well I've posted my 5-10pm Wed. nights for the last week in January and first week in February, so far, but yet to have any takers. If I cannot make it Wed. nights to G.C. I may start attending on some Sunday nights.

Anyway someone please comment!!! I am becoming quite discouraged from the lack of comments on my blawg. It doesnt have to be all guys that comment either....

Thanks yall,
God bless,
Joe

A poem from boredom

So whats going on.... well its now been exactly 9 weeks and 4 days since my last haircut. I also have about 4 more days of freedom (counting today) before returning to the dreadful school with a semester filled with the enjoyable Programming and Database Management. Anyway I was at work yesterday in the computer lab, bored (as usual) so I decided to type up a (corny) poem in notepad while I sat there at the workstation, send to myself in email, and post it on my blawg whenever I felt the need to make another post. So here it is, please try to enjoy it yall.

A quiet day at work

Boredom, while sitting here at work,
on the computer I play;
a quite small crowd of students lurk,
on this not-so-busy day.

So a poem I have decided to write,
reflecting thoughts on this book;
Sense and Sensibility seems just quite,
a confusing story from the look.

So absent minded I have amounted to,
confused and dazed is now my mind;
what the story is, I wish for just a clue,
nothing more I can seem to find.

While I sit here searching online,
looking for something just to bring about;
what more can I seem to incline,
besides to what writing this poem can amount.

As I sit here on this computer so light,
and so comfortably my mind shall lay;
Simply nothing more can I find here to write,
in this lovely boring poem today.

Pride & Prejudice, Part 2 (The Movie Analysis)

So now that I've read the book, I decided to watch the movie (the 6 hour one), and it did change my opinion quite a bit about my analysis of the characters. I watched half of it Thursday night, and half last night. Please, again, DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK OR SEEN EITHER OF THE MOVIES!!!

I did gain a little more respect for Mr. Darcy, but he still seemed a rather negative character, he should have smiled more towards the end. Interesting how the original title of the book was "First Impressions" before it became P&P, seems to make perfect sense based on their situation. I loved Pemberly though, the "fancy golf course look" is what I want for my ideal home.

Mr. Bingley and Mr. Bennet were probably my most favorite characters. I just like that sense of charm Mr. Bingley puts on without any sneakiness covered up by it. And I like Mr. Bennet's sensibility, although he obviously had horrible taste in women. I could never be able to stand a mother like that like those girls did. Some of the girls I found to be most attractive in the movie were actually Mary, Kitty, and even Darcy's sister Georgiana. Oddly enough, I'm attracted to the more shy and innocent type. Elizabeth and Jane didnt seem to be all that attractive, to be honest. And no comment about Lydia as far as that subject is concerned.

Mr. Collins actually turned out to be quite a bit more of a klutz than I originally figured of him. I actually felt bad for the guy a little bit, but he turned out happily married so I guess he was fine.

Well time to go run to the library and return this P&P movie before I get hit with a late fee, so I will leave yall with a beautiful intellectual quote to always remember.

"OWW police OWWW dont beat me, OWWW!!!!"
~Rodney King

Pride and Prejudice

Well just before the GC meeting I finished reading my first Jane Austen book, Pride and Prejudice, so I think I'll discuss it here. If anyone has not read the book or seen any of the movies, please DO NOT read this post. I'll try not to give away too much of the ending, but no guarantees.

I must say I probably wasn't as fond of Mr. Darcy as most. Granted he did turn out to be quite a genuine character, I still don't think he fully explained out all of his pride and arrogance. And really I think I would have gone to more of an effort to gain family approval before requesting Elizabeth's hand in marriage (eg. the situation with his aunt, Lady Catherine, and of course Mrs. Bennett wasn't too fond of him either). Funny how all the girls, assuming any read this, will be down my throat about this particular opinion.

One character I did like was Mr. Bingley. Of course he was a little boring, and didnt take much of a role in the book, but I liked how he had more family support as far as his marriage with Jane. The only problem, I think, was Bingley's sister, but of course that could easily be forgived within time. And she didnt even have a problem with Jane, it was Elizabeth she didnt like.

Everyone is so quick to criticize characters like Lydia and Mr. Collins. Personally I made an effort to look at the brighter aspects of these characters. Lydia I still cant stand, when she was bragging about her "good fortune" of her marriage to Mr. Wickham, I just wanted to smack her and tell her to shut up and that she's thrown her life away. As for Mr. Collins, I really think he made an effort to be a good person, but I lost a lot of respect for him when he proposed marriage to Elizabeth, and even more when he proposed to Caroline. But still, he seemed to remain a good and friendly character threw the book despite having a very unusual taste about him.

So now I need to go watch the movie (the 6 hour one), which I'll probably do in the next day or two. Following that I'll probably start reading Sense and Sensibility.

God bless,
Joe

2005, A blessed year

I actually wanted to make this post within the year of 2005, but did not get an opportunity to do so before Grace Chapel's meeting, and didnt have time to get to a computer and type out all my thoughts during the time of the meeting. So anyway I'd like to talk about everything that has happened in the year of 2005 for me that has made it a truely blessed year. In 2005:
-I started attending G.C. on Wed. nights regularly
-began taking a bigger role in my church, and started annoucing the prayer list, as well as making my first open prayer in front of the congregation and have since been called on regularly to pray
-built my church a website which will hopefully encourage new people to attend in the future
-attending Camp Moriah for the third time and started making many new friends (unlike the past year)
-started a regular routine of bible reading and frequent praying

...there are so many more things that I could list. But on top of all the wonderful things God has blessed me with the desire to do, there have been things that have made this year fairly difficult for me. Getting involved in something that I will not name (not ashamed, but out of the respect of privacy for some people that may not want me going into detail openly about some of the things). They have caused me a great deal of stress and grief, as well as much happiness and joy, which has made it a rather impacting year for me.

It has also been a great blessing to make new friends at GC upon my regular attendance, as well as becoming much closer to some of my current friends there. I certainly hope they are not annoyed by my regular attendance, it has been a great blessing to my life for God to have given me such good friends to be close with. I feel like I have been rescued from the Joe of my High School days when I, even though never cussing or doing many of the things my peers did, was a very worldly person in my thoughts and the language that I used, and even encouraging worldly behavior among others.

I certainly do look forward to a new year of establishing even closer friendships with many of my fellow Primitive Baptists, as well as taking a bigger role in my efforts for my church (and doing so without pride or feelings of self-worthiness). Thank you to all my friends in Christ for all your support, encouragement, and love you have shown me this past year, as well as all the time you have known me before then. May 2006 be an even more spiritually blessed year.

Also, I want to mention the GC meeting. I didnt bring a camera so unfortunantly if anyone wants to see pictures they will have to visit some of my friends' blawgs and blogs. The meeting was a blessing, there were excellent sermons preached, and so many good friends in Christ that were there. And congratulations to 'Drew and Nawill for winning the 2-on-2 basketball tournament Sat. night. Hope everybody has a wonderful 2006 and may the Lord richly bless you all.

God Bless,
Joe