Memories

I talked about reflecting the other night. I seemed to be really tapping into this wierd period I find myself in. The last couple of days have been really reflective. I've talked to a number of friends about the past and have had an urge to tell people what they've meant to me. It's been good - you don't really realize what people mean to you in the present, so looking back and remembering situations in which someone really helped you out, or maybe called you on something can give you a whole new perspective.

I had a great day at work today. Things are really starting to come together and I felt like I know what I'm doing and my boss told me that he thought I did very well in a meeting I was running. It's great to get feedback like that. I'll do another one tomorrow and we'll see what I can build on, but this field is definitely where I belong. It feels so natural to walk around the hospital. Anyway, more to come on that later.

So, onto the song. It's by Switchfoot if you didn't know. I can write a whole eassy on why I like Switchfoot, but I'll just sum it up and say that they are awesome. This song, On Fire, is one of my all time favorites (partly because I can play the piano part). I could also talk about this song forever too...but two parts tonight:

Cause everything inside looks like

Everything I hate

You are the hope I have for change

You are the only chance I'll take

This is the cry of my heart so often. There are time when I like who I am. But there are many times that I look inside and everything I see is where I've fallen short of my calling and fallen short of God's glory. But that last line "You are the only chance I'll take" gets me every time. When I'm feeling down, I know where to turn.

The other part that fascinates me is the bridge in the song:

I'm standing on the edge of me,
I'm standing on the edge of me,
I'm standing on the edge of me,
I'm standing on the edge

I've often wondered what that was all about. What does standing on the edge of oneself really mean. I'm still figuring it out, but I think what the song is getting at is that our lives are no walk in the park. It's not a fairy tale for us to live out. Instead, it is an adventure that we are on. One that will force us to stand on the edge of ourselves - always wondering what we will do and what will come our way next. I want to stand on the edge of me, but I'm nowhere near there yet. What do you think about it?

Yeah, so Duke sucks

First of all - I just have to say that it's incredible that Virginia Tech is excited about it's basketball program. The students and alumni are cheering this team on and are really vested in their success. That being said, tonight was one of the worst displays of a game I've ever seen. I've heard the stories about Duke, but hadn't experienced any of it first hand. All I have to say is that Cassell will be rocking come Feb 17th when Duke travels to the burg.

The weekend went by so fast! I can't believe tomorrow is Monday already. It's insane. Oh well, I guess it happens. I think I'll leave you with another song. I'll comment on it tomorrow night.

Tell you where you need to go

Tell you when you'll need to leave

Tell you what you need to know

Tell you who you need to be



But everything inside you knows

Says more than what you've heard

So much more than empty conversations

Filled with empty words



And you're on fire

When He's near you

You're on fire

When He speaks

You're on fire

Burning at these mysteries



Give me one more time around

Give me one more chance to see

Give me everything You are

Give me one more chance to be... (near You)



Cause everything inside looks like

Everything I hate

You are the hope I have for change

You are the only chance I'll take



When I'm on fire

When You're near me

I'm on fire

When You speak

And I'm on fire

Burning at these mysteries

these mysteries...



I'm standing on the edge of me [x3]

I'm standing on the edge



And I'm on fire

When You're near you

I'm on fire

When You speak

(Yea) I'm on fire

Burning at these mysteries...

Really late...

Ok, so this is officially the latest I've been up in a couple of months. If tomorrow was a school/work day I'd be getting up in 3 1/2 hours. Luckily it's not, so I'll be sleeping until noon or so.

It's really great to reminisce and reflect on the past. I've been up with a special friend tonight just remembering things about my past. The good times, the bad times. All of it. I think that most people forget to do this once in a while - myself included. I've never been very good at journaling my personal life, so I don't revist the past very often. I do think however, that much can be learned - especially about how we change - from doing so.

Job Report

I thought I'd post an update about my new job. It's going pretty well. Everyone's first week is always akward because you don't know what you should be doing and everyone else doesn't know what to tell you to do. You don't want to seem too dependant on your boss (all the while having no clue about what's going on) and your boss doesn't wants to give you independance. I'm not sure if anyone will ever solve the "first week" paradox.

But things are coming together now. I have a ton of meetings next week. Most of them I'll be "tagging" along, but by the end of next week I'll be setting up meetings on my own. I also get to go to this corporate meeting which should be a good experience.

The good thing is that I feel very comfortable in the hospital. The more I explore the career I've chosen, the more I know that I'm doing the right thing. It's pretty cool actually.

Go Hokies!

I think my body is slowly reverting back to its high-school time clock. In high school I consistently functioned on about 6 hours of sleep. Once I hit college, I could barely get by with8 hours. While I have been tired at night, I'm finding that I'm getting to bed later and later, yet getting up at the same time. Ah, who knows - I'll probably crash tomorrow night and not wake up until Dinner time on Saturday. :-)

I don't have a lot to report tonight. Really, there is just one major thing (in my mind that happened) - the HOKIES beat UVa tonight. I wish I could have been in Cassell tonight because that place was rocking. The UPN affiliate in Richmond had some satellite issues so we didn't get the first half, but we got to see the 2nd which was great. It is so cool that our basketball team is seeing some success and that people are excited about bball in Blacksburg again! Yeah, yeah - I am aware that there were many other notable news items that happened today, but I'm pretty biased.

Lets see, I received a record number of comments on my last post. Not really because of its content, but because of people - namely my good friend Ryan - have put links to my blog on theirs. I'm going to get around to doing that too.

Ok, and for the serious stuff for one to ponder...I sort of posted that Casting Crowns song the other day and didn't comment on it. So here goes. That song is just awesome in my opinion. It constantly reminds me of what I'm doing and - here's the corny side of me - really who i am. While my profession may be in healthcare (at least hopefully), that's not who I am. Yes, my birthdate designates me as a twentysomething, and I happen to be a single male living in a city. But that's not who I am. Who I am, is very simply a child of God. The rest of it, well that's what He wants me to be. And that, my friends, is very cool.

Ok, so back to sex

I mentioned the other night about a promo I saw for this Katie Couric special Teens and Sex. Well, tonight as I was perusing my Medical Terminology book so I can sound intelligent in class tomorrow, I had the program on in the background. Let me just say that I was amazed at what some of the kids on the show were saying. There were a couple of 13 year olds in the group that had no problem engaging in intelligent debate about the sexual trends of their generation. It was astounding. I wasn't naive at that age to say the least, but I wasn't "trading tips" with the guys during lunch either. Anyway, don't want to write a whole thesis on the sexual habits of young teens here, but all I can really say is wow.

Other than that, I'm still pretty tired so I'm heading to bed. Those of you who know me well should most definitely call and ask me about my new class. It was quite an experience and I'm sure I will have many stories to tell. :-) (And if you are a classmate - two words summed up that class for me - "boyish charm")

[P.S. for those of you not in my class, please do not assume the boyish charm comment has anything to do with me. I think I have proven that I have no charm whatsoever. None.] ;-)

Short one tonight

This getting up early bit doesn't sit well with me. So, it's 11 pm and I'm spralled out on my couch falling asleep. So, I'm gonna head to bed early.

I leave you some lyrics from a Casting Crowns song:

Who am I?

That the Lord of all the earth,

Would care to know my name,

Would care to feel my hurt,

Who am I?

That the Bright and Morning Star,

Would choose to light the way,

For my ever wandering heart,



Not because of who I am,

But because of what You've done,

Not because of what I've done,

But because of who You are,



I am a flower quickly fading,

Here today and gone tomorrow,

A wave tossed in the ocean (ocean),

A vapor in the wind,

Still You hear me when I'm calling,

Lord, You catch me when I'm falling,

And You've told me who I am..

I am Yours.

A tropical heatwave

The big story - it's supposed to be in the 40s tomorrow! This is wonderful news to me. This morning, it took me about 10 minutes to chip the ice off my car doors so I could get into my car and to defrost the windshield enough so I could clear it. I was almost late to class because of the inch of ice the engulfed my car.

Something I forgot to mention the other day. It's really great that Viktor Yushchenko has been offically inaugurated in the Ukraine. It was quite encouraging watching the people of Ukraine stand up and fight for the freedom they had been granted. It is something like that which can remind us all of our very precious freedom. Republican, Democrat, Green- whatever party - we can all agree that our right to vote and our right to live a free life is a wonderful thing.

Ok, so I needed to get a little political rant in my blog eventually! :-)

And then there were two...

Well, we now await the superbowl. Today was great, just relaxing some and watching the championship games all afternoon and evening. Turns out I predicted correctly, but since I wasn't predicting anything too crazy, I don't put much weight into it. :-)

Tomorrow morning marks the beginning of my crazy weeks. Everyone knows my lack of excitement for waking up early, so we'll see how it goes. I also start my new job, and am excited about that.

Ok, well while I'm sitting here typing this, a commercial just came on about Katie Couric's report on Teens and Sex. Evidently a poll was recently conducted that shows that almost 1/3 of young teens (under 16) are sexually active. I also read in one of my economics textbooks today that the invention and proliferation of the different contraceptives has decreased the "cost" of sex and induces more to engage in it. It makes me sad to see many of these youngsters (wow, I feel old using that term) finding themselves in a position to have a child before they even have a chance to graduate high school. Without getting into a sex debate, I think that most would find the trend for more and younger kids being sexually active slightly disturbing.

Oh - and Johnny Carson died today. I didn't really watch the Tonight Show when he was the host, but was definitely aware of his contribution to late night television. Alright - well that's probably quite enough for one night.

Saturday Night Live

As a longtime SNL fan, I have to say that I've thoroughly enjoyed this season's "Weekend Update" sketches. Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon did a great job the past few years, but they were sort of hit and miss. Tina and Amy Poehler, however, have been hilarious every episode I've seen. This new Angelina Jolie bit is most excellent. Anyway, I just thought I'd mention that.

Lets see, today was pretty quiet. We didn't get as much snow/ice/etc as predicted, but it was nasty enough that I didn't care to venture out anywhere. So, I stayed in and did some reading for my classes next week. I've never been big into reading for class, but I feel very proactive when I do. So, I felt like I accomplished something today.

Oh, and lest I forget to mention this - I also was fortunate enough to watch my VT Hokies take care of business in Atlanta, GA as they beat Georgia Tech on the hardwood. While I know the team is still young, Seth Greenberg has really done a tremendous job at turning the program around and I think that VT Basketball will be something to watch for quite some time to come. Oh yeah, and how great is it to be in the ACC??? :-)

On another sports note, there is another big VT sports connection on Sunday. That is of course Michael Vick and the Falcons in the NFL playoffs. The NFC and AFC championship games are tomorrow. My superbowl prediction? I'm gonna have to go with the Patriots and the Eagles. I'd love to pick the Falcons, but I don't see them getting it done - especially in the horrid conditions that are predicted for tomorrow.

Growing Old

Something I've found over the past few months is that I'm starting to feel old. I don't mean aching muscles and a lapsing memory. It's just the exhaustion. At the end of a day, I am exhausted - I have sucked up every amount of energy I had during the day. Perhaps that's a good thing. Perhaps it means that I'm not wasting my time. On the other hand, is it too much? Should we fall asleep watching the 10 PM drama on TV? Well, I guess I am getting older, so I should get used to it.

One of the things I did tonight was put all of my assignments and readings for class in my calendar. Added to my classes, meetings, trips, and work this semester is going to be tough. I typically pride myself in my ability to manage my time, but I can see that it is going to be a challenge. Anyway, I'm sure I'll be blogging about my lack of time quite frequently in the coming months.

Well, we're supposed to get snowed/iced/freezing rained in this weekend. Looks like snow on top of freezing rain on top of sleet and ice on top of snow. Looks like a recipe for disaster. So, tomorrow I will wake up, get into some sweat pants drink some coffee, and then begin knocking out some school work!

Over-achiever

So, maybe I'm an over-acheiver, but I had some more revelations after I posted earlier tonight. It's kind of funny how these blogs can really free someone's thoughts and challenge our ideas about things. It's a neat phenomenon. (This aside was not my revelation).

After I posted tonight, I started reading a couple of blogs that belong to some friends of mine - friends that don't live near me and some of which I haven't seen in months. I found that what they are saying, what they are going through is still very relevant to my life. Eventhough they live 200 miles away from me, it's almost as if we're still living just a mile or two apart - even just down the hallway.

I'm bad at keeping in touch with people. I don't know why, really. I usually have some time free during any given day, but I'm just bad at calling someone or stalking them on IM. I would like to get better at this. Being genuinely interested in someone's life should mean taking an active role in communicating with that person.

Well, the snow has stopped falling for the time being. This is the latest I've been awake in quite a while, so I think I'm going to go to bed just in case I do have to go to work (old job still) in the morning. I'm not sure that many people if anybody really knows about this blog yet, but that's alright with me.

My First "Real" One

So, here we go. Today was a good day. I got through my first week of classes (however, one class was cancelled thanks to yesterday's snow-induced traffic nightmare). I also got a new job. My new job is not all that glamorous, but it should be some really good experience for me and should look pretty good on a resume when I try to get that residency next year.

On a seperate note, I'd just like to say how much I love being in Richmond. Yes, it seems lonely sometimes because the city is so big and people are spread all around. However, the River City is great and I'm glad I'm here. Grad school is grand. My apartment is awesome. Oh yeah, and my church here, Exile, rocks too!

I'm a slacker

Yeah, so I only really created this blog to try something out, so I haven't really "blogged" at all. Perhaps in the near future though...