Now Accepting Generous Donations

I have an exciting announcement: I am going on a mission trip to Tanzania this summer! The trip costs $3500. Which I need soon. There may or may not be a fee for not having $2000 in by April 2 (yes I know that's this friday, and no, I did not wait till the last minute to start fund raising) and there is definitely a fee for not having ALL of it in by May 15. Pray for the money to come in. And if you have any fundraising ideas, please share. And if you feel you would like to give a generous donation, feel free.

much love!

The Demise of Theta the Beta

I regret to inform you all that Theta the Beta has passed away. I know he was dear to all of us. He passed away at around 6:00 Monday night. I fear we shall never know the cause of dear Theta's death. For over a week he just sat at th bottom of his bowl, he never ate, he didn't respond to the mirror I put in front of him, nothing. Poor Theta, he was such a good fish. He loved peace, he never attacked anything except his food pellets. My desk feels quite empty without him. He shall never be forgotten.

Hiking

Since I moved down here I have been wanting to go hiking. I love hiking and I've wanted to get to know the mountains in this area. Each morning I see them, so majestic, so close, beckoning to me. I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to plan a hiking trip, but it has.

I tried going with a friend a couple months ago. I forgot the map and neither of us knew where we were going so we gave up and just took a walk in Garden of the Gods and got Starbucks.

Today a friend and I planned to go hiking. I found a place that looked good, studied at the map and wrote down the directions (also, my car is armed with an Atlas)- this time I did it right! We were both very excited. Unfortunately we had some time constraints; she had something to do at work (which took longer than expected) and needed to be back at around 4. This was OK, the place I had chosen didn't appear to be very far away. After lunch we headed off, armed with my book of hiking locations, directions and an atlas. After driving for about 40 minutes (which felt more like 20) we reached a town and as my turnoff was in the first town we ought to reach-Manitou Springs we both began looking for the road we needed- Manitou Avenue. Instead, to my chagrin, I noticed that all the shopping centers and such were named Woodland something-or-other. Woodland Park is another town deeper in the mountains and far past Manitou Springs. We pulled off onto a residential road and took a moment to look at the maps and figure out where we need to go. Indeed we were far past Manitou Springs, which turned out to be much, much closer to Colorado Springs than I had originally deduced. It would seem that while reading the map I had confused the streets a little- we needed to exit at Fountain Creek which then turned into Manitou Avenue, and Manitou Springs did not straddle the highway as I had expected so I never saw it as we passed it. Knowing our error and how to correct it, we set off. At least we now knew where Woodland Park lies and how far away it is, plus we had gotten the privilege of seeing Pikes Peak from a different angle.

We drove 15 minutes and exited at Fountain Creek. Upon entering Manitou Springs we were held up by construction (keep in mind we had a time constraint). We passed through the construction and on to a cute little town. Only at this point did I remember that our next turn, Ruxton, was BEFORE entering the town. Since I was sick of driving around and the town was so cute we decided to put a raincheck on the hiking and just walk around the town. We saw a cool music shop and spent a considerable amount of time in there talking with the owner (who makes his own instruments) and playing with the instruments. I wish I could remember what the instrument we played with was - dulc-something (it was a stringed instrument, it's from ancient Persia and it was the precursor to the piano). Totally awesome.

So we never got to hike but we did have a lovely adventure, and we learned a lot! We learned where Woodland Park is and how long it takes to get there, we learned where Manitou Springs is and how extraordinarily close it is, we learned about awesome stringed instruments and we learned where that trail is so we can find it next time!

http://graphjam.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/song-chart-memes-smoke-detector1.jpg

I think I told you all about how my freinds and I set off the smoke alarm while making pancakes.

Vacuums and Dragons

Saturday (which was already an epicly awesome day set in the midst of an epicly awesome weekend) was made all the better by a long awaited adventure exploring, what else, Vacuums and Dragons! One of my best friends, Jessie, and I long ago noticed a sign in a shopping center that read "Vacuums and Dragons". We were, of course, intrigued and highly amused. We made it our goal to visit that place and on Saturday we finally accomplished this. We drove around the parking lot looking for this store, hoping that it actually existed and the sign wasn't just a typo. We nearly gave up hope but while driving through the last corner of the parking lot we spotted it- Vacuums and Dragons! Ah! Sweet day! Our lives were complete! We parked and entered the store, trying to figure out what to say when we encountered an employee. It is quite the store. They sell and repair vacuums as well as figurines of dragons and other mythical creatures, incense, swords, and plants. A strange and intriguing store, it did not disappoint. We left with hearts brimming with immeasurable joy.

Attack of the Church Folk

I've been church hunting with a couple friends of mine. Last Sunday we visited a new church. It was small and most of the people there were middle aged or older. I didn't much enjoy the service, the pastor was very difficult to follow and wasted probably 15 minutes on a very strange demonstration which represented I'm not sure what. I also had difficulty figuring out how he got his message about Resurrection (he did have some good points) from the passage he was using- the two seemed only vaguely connected.

After the service finally ended (it wasn't even a long service) all I wanted was to book it out of there as fast as possible. On our way out, however, we were waylaid by a very freindly woman who thought we must be new since she had never seen us before- a correct assumption. She spent a few minutes chatting with us and rather impressed me by remembering throughout her entire dialogue with us what each of our names and majors were.
She told us that their church unfortunately didn't have many college age kids (thanks, I already noticed that) and didn't have a college group.
"Not a problem", thought I, "We're not going to come back here anyway".
She told us some more about the church and the small groups they had and then said that she'd go find the leader of her small group and bring him to meet us.
"Ugh, I'm hungry, I don't care, I want to leave" thought I as I smiled politely.
She returned shortly and informed us that she couldn't find the man she had set off to find but she had brought this other man to meet us (who he was I have no idea).
He chatted with us while the energetic woman disappeared again. After a couple minutes she returned bringing with her two people- a college age boy and a man who turned out to be the leader of the "non-existent" college groupn. She and the other mysterious man left us with these two.
They told us all about the college group. The man, after saying many times that he didn't want us to feel pressured or overwhelmed ("Thanks, too late"), invited us to their meeting that evening. Neither of these to knowledgeable though amiable individuals knew the location of the house where they meet every Sunday. The boy went off to call the young man who resides in said house. Then who shoudl come walking by but the young man's parents! who also didn't know his address. Helpful. Finally the boy returned triumphantly with the address in hand. This was entrusted to my care ("oh thanks, I'll keep this safe, since a certainly plan on attending").
"Don's feel pressured to come, but it's going to be a lot of fun", they told us. "But we don't want you to feel pressured"
Finally after being told several more times how we shouldn't feel pressured to come and how much fun they had hanging out together, we were allowed to leave.

I can say this for them; they're very freindly, if not a tad overbearing. I think it goes without saying that we do not plan on going there a second time.

The Departure of Arch-Nemesis Lauren (and other tales)

First of all, I must apologize profusely for having not blogged in over a month (i have a life, and homework). That is why we must mix various tales into one.

Part I: Amy vs Arch-Nemesis Lauren
One day I was in my apartment taking care of various chores. As I was cleaning our living room/kitchen I noticed an oddity; there was a suitcase in the room. Though I did not recognize the first name on the suitcase's label the last name I recognized immediately- Hart- the last name of my arch-nemesis. I then noticed another oddity; there were dishes stacked haphazardly on the nefarious Lauren's black swivel chair. An idea came into my head too good for me to even put into words in my own head for fear that I might be mistaken. I rushed to our bathroom to discover all of the articles that Lauren had provided gone. I sat on my bed for hours working on my homework, trying not to think of that too-good-to-be-true idea and finally I was rewarded with an overheard conversation between another roommate and my enemy. My hearty leaped within me as i listened clandestinely to the words of that conversation. It was true! Praise Jesus, it was true! Yes, dear freinds, she's leaving, my arch-nemesis is on her way out! She's not completely out yet (the actual date of her departure is "up in the air") but she is indeed going to leave. In the meantime she is on her best behavior because she is aware of my vendetta against her and my roommate and my plan to turn her in at the least sign of trouble.

Part II: Rid of Another Bother
I must also tell you all the other most annoying person in my life; Joe the one who was awkward, and sorta creepy and asked me out in a text message, will no longer be around to bother me. Are you prepared for the hilarity of the reason? He is planning on leaving the hobo gang he's in and finding a job. Yes folks, he was in a hobo gang. "What is a hobo gang?" you may ask. Well, I don't know but apparently they do in fact exist.

Part III: Many Adventures
The past weeks have been filled with many glorious adventures, and I am pleased to say that I now feel completely comfortable and normal being in the Springs even during the weekend. One of my friends and I have been exploring the city each weekend. So far we have figured out how to get to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, explored a palatial hotel (the Broadmoor), and found the cutest little coffee shop. Another friend and I managed to almost burn down my apartment (I use the phrase loosely) twice within the course of 24 hours. One of my roommates decided it would be a good idea to store a flammable pizza box in the oven-a fact which I did not discover until AFTER preheating the oven, and apparently chocolate pancakes cook faster than regular pancakes and hence burn sooner. My freinds from the swing dance team and I have gone to Denver 2 saturdays in a row to go dancing- insane? probably. And the next adventure on my list- changing the headlight by myself.