I shot a shot gun!

Tonight I went skeet shooting with the college group at the church I've been attending. Now, I haven't shot a gun since I went to church camp in 4th grade, and I was TERRIBLE! At camp I shot at still targets which were attached to big ol' boards, and I couldn't even hit hit the board let a long the target, and tonight I had to aim at a moving target!

I was all excited about it before I went, but once I got there and saw those big guns I got really nervous, I mean, those guns can do some serious damage! I was also scared of the kick back, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. So I took a break and shot again and that kick back was a lot worse and hurt my shoulder a lot!

I didn't hit any of the moving targets, but at the end of the night the guy whose house we were at, asked if any of us didn't hit anything. Everyone did except for me and this girl Randi, so she and I got a personal little lesson. After a couple of failed attempts, he put a skeet on a pile of bushes and limbs for me to aim at. All I kept thinking, is "if I couldn't hit a giant board in 4th grade, how the heck am I going to hit a little orange skeet?" Well, with the help and advise of three guys, and the entire group of about 20 staring at me, I FINALLY hit one! It took about 3 or 4 tries, but I did it! I didn't understand what they wanted me to do, but someone standing behind me and aiming with me said it was good, so I shot. According to them all there, I was aiming too high. Apparently, you are supposed to look down the barrel of the gun and keep aiming until all you see is the little ball at the end of barrel, but the lower I kept aiming (which they kept telling me to do), the more and more of the skeet I could see, which is so weird to me because it wasn't pointing at the skeet anymore, it was below the skeet. To me, when aiming, the barrel of the gun should be pointing right at the target, but they said it's all optical illusion, or something like that.

I had some good bonding time with the girls and got to know them better. All in all it was fun, my shoulder hurts REALLY bad, I could hardly take my zip-up hoodie off when I got home, but it was well worth the pain. I have a feeling I am going to be very bruised tomorrow.

Time spent in Dallas

Someone asked me recently if weekends were getting better for me here, and the answer to that is yes. I still don't do anything with my time, but that's o.k. with me. This weekend is actually flying by fast, which might have to do with the fact that I slept till 12:30 today... it was wonderful. I woke up at 9ish, and fell back to sleep, and the next thing I new it was after 12, but my body needed it. I came home from work Thursday evening, and the second I walked into my house my nose got all stuffed up, and yesterday at work it got really bad, but I woke up today with hardly a sniffle or any stuffiness.

When I was driving back from Coprus Christi the other week it dawned on me, I'm living my dream. I've always wanted to travel, and now I'm getting the chance. I still want to go to Austin and San Antonio before I leave. And when I was at a coffee house in town last week the owner told me I had to go to Jefferson, TX, so I've added that to my list.

It's kinda weird to think that I have a little over a month here left. I wouldn't want to live here forever, but I'm just beginning to feel really comfortable here. I think that's going to be the hardest thing about the traveling job, is getting to know people and then have to leave.

Last weekend was a good weekend, but long... which I think contributed to me getting a cold. A friend of mine is a nurse at an HIV clinic in St. Paul, and there was some AIDS conference in Dallas. A doctor from the clinic was supposed to go, but last minute backed out, so it was decided that Kari would go instead, which I'm so glad they decided to have her go! After work on Friday I came home and packed, and drove to Dallas to spend some quality time with Kari. Neither Kari or I had eaten dinner yet, so we went out to dinner. It was between Indian and Cuban, we decided on Cuban (Cuba Libre Cafe), which is fitting because Kari is my salsa dancing friend. We had planned on going to Pete's Dueling Piano Bar after dinner, but we didn't. It's pathetic, it was not even 10:00 and we were both too exhausted to go out... I'm getting old!

It was cold in the room, but Kari did not want to turn the heat on, but I convinced her too. WELL! I turned it to "heat" and "auto" but nothing happened, so I tried turning it up all the way to see if it would turn on, still nothing. So I switched it to "fan" and it worked! BUT, and this is a BIG "but," you know how heaters smell the first time you use it, this one stank, it smelled like something was burning. The next thing I know our smoke alarm is going off! I Instinctively start putting my shoes on to make a mad dash thinking the entire hotel would have to evacuate. In the meantime Kari rips the smoke alarm off the wall and takes the battery out, at least someone was thinking smart.

Kari had to head back to MN in the morning, so after leaving Kari I went to visit a friend from high school (she was actually my brothers grade) that went to college in Dallas and ended up living here after graduation. This friend was Carrie... so first I saw Kari, then I saw Carrie... my brain was so confused with which name to say! Anyways, she just moved into an apartment in Plano, which is about 10 minutes from where I lived last winter. We spent the day decorating her apartment, then we went to a store that sells jewelry, hats, scarves, purses etc... for really cheap. I bought 3 scarves, a pair of earrings, a necklace, and a purse, all for about 30 bucks! I thought it was a good deal! The day went by really fast. The next thing I knew it was 8:30, and I had to start my hour and a half drive home.

All in all, it was a good weekend. I didn't get enough sleep, which I think led to my cold, but that's o.k., I had a good time, so it was well worth it!

Seriously!?

So two days in a row I've driven right past my house! I've been taking a side road to avoid all the stop lights on the main street, and because of that, I drive down my street for less of a distance that I drive right past my house. It's especially embarrassing when there are cars behind me since I'm driving a car with MN license plates... it looks like I'm lost when I have to do a U-turn, but I'm not lost! I know exactly where I'm going! This shouldn't be happening after living here for 6 weeks!

I went to the grocery store after work today to get Olive Oil to make dinner and I used the self check out line. Well, these two guys using it just kept standing there waiting to pay, they forgot to select the type of payment, so I pointed it out, to which their response was "we're new in town." They're new in town!!! Here they are telling me this when I'm technically new in town myself. It made me smile... of course I didn't tell them this little bit of info, I'll let them keep believing I fit in! ; )

Corpus Christi Day 2

I was fortunate enough to have sunny weather today, although I didn't experience as much of it as I had wished.

I woke up to what I thought was a cloudy day, turns out, the curtains were just really good at blocking out the light. After checking out of my hotel I headed across the street to the beach and was there for about an hour and a half to two hours. It was supposed to be sunny till about 3 or 4, so I decided to head to Ocean Drive, which is where the guy from Duluth said was really nice. Well... in the parking lot there were these flower boxes or something about the height of a curb, and I accidentally drove over it... whoops! The funny thing is that the Duluth guy did the same thing last night and I laughed at him as he drove away... now I did it! After that my car started making a thunking noise every time I turned, so I decided to run to a mechanic. Some peice had broken off by my front left tire, but I don't think today caused it, I actually started noticing it right before I drove down to Texas, but it got really bad today. While I was sitting at the mechanics it started getting really sunny out. But it turns out it was a good that I had to sit inside for awhile, I got FRIED in those 2 hours I was at the beach. I didn't totally didn't expect to get that burned concidering it wasn't all that sunny yet.

After the mechanics I finally drove to Ocean Drive, turns out that is where all the rich people live, and the marina is there as well. I was surprised by how dirty Corpus Christi is, but Ocean Drive is completely different, it's actually pretty nice.

I went to dinner, alone, at a Mexican restaurant. I used to always feel bad for those people who dine alone, but now I'm one of them! It's actually not that bad, I'm getting used to it.

I then went to Starbucks to use the internet to find a hotel for the night, but I needed to verify my email address by going to my email, which is impossible when you don't have internet access! I decided to just drive and look for a hotel. I found a La Quinta, so I checked in. They are usually nice... not this one. It smelled like mildew and must... I would take my roaches over that stank. I took a chance and asked if I could get my money back and go somewhere else, and they let me, so now I am at a different hotel, and they have a hot tub that works!!! Unfortunately, after being in the hot tub for a couple of minutes I noticed lightning in the distance, and I know better then to be in water when there is lightning.

Tomorrow I'll head home. It's supposed to be rainy/stormy tomorrow, so hopefully driving goes ok. The roads around here are really bad when it rains, it brings out oil or something, which makes it really slippery. When I was driving home from the airport the other week it was raining and I could hardly control my car going down the highway at 40 mph.

Corpus Christi Day 1

I was supposed to fly to MN to go to Duluth with the family, but I decided against it, instead I drove down to Corpus Christi for a long weekend. I woke up bright and early (in and out of sleep from 7-8) and then I left my house at 9 and started my adventure. Up until last night I hadn't decided where I was going. The weather in most of Texas is supposed to be rainy, but I decided to take a chance. Once I got here I went to a Starbucks to look at hotel pricing online.

I found a hotel on Padre Island, it's not bad. It's actually a nice room, but the walls are thin and the people next to me are loud. As I drove today it was sunny the whole time, but around 6:30 it started getting cloudy, I thought for sure a storm would roll in, but it didn't, so after going to get dinner, I went to go sit in the hot tub and it was broken! The pool was warmer than the hot tub. My one hotel criteria was that they had a hot tub and it didn't even work! At least I got to swim in the pool for a bit.

I've already met two people from MN that are now living in TX. One when I was walking into Starbucks... he lived in the Minneapolis area, and the other guy I met when I was heading to the beach, he's from Duluth.

Here are some pictures from my first day here.

I know it's hard to see... but it was the greatest feeling to see that wonderful massive amount of blue on my GPS, knowing that soon I'd be there enjoying it!

The picture above and below were taken about 20-30 minutes east of Corpus Christi, there was a pull off on the side of the road that I stopped at.

This is on Padre Island near my hotel. My hotel isn't beach front,
but it is across the street from the ocean. :-)

Texas Update

Texas, and my house are beginning to feel more like home, but I am still missing Minnesota A LOT! I have to admitt I've been discouraged over the past few days. The weekdays aren't bad, I like my job, and the people I work with, the weekends are what make my time here difficult. I sit around most days since I know no one here, so it gets lonely. Yesterday and today, and then some days last week I have been going to the local park and reading Jamie's book "Fully Alive" and then having a nice relaxing swing on the swingset, so that's been enjoyable.

I wish I could say I'm spending more time in the Word and with God then I am, I definatly have the time, but yet I don't. I always found it easy to make excuses when I lived at home with my parents because I didn't have any personal space to do my thing, but now I live on my own and I still don't make the time. Now my excuse is the bugs... I don't relax all that well at home... whenever I enter a room I carry my can of raid and turn on the lights before I enter, or look at the floor before I get out of bed or a chair.

I did find a collage group at a local Baptist Church, but to me it feels like a high school youth group for collage students who aren't ready to move on yet, plus I'm not a collage student any more, but I'm still going to go for the fellowship. I went to the church service this Sunday and it wasn't bad, so I'm going to continue to go there.

Last night I talked to my friend Patty for what seemed like only 2o minutes or so, but when I hung up my phone it said "1 hour and 1 minute!" I was shocked, but it was good to catch up, she's having a baby in March, and she's a nursing student, so that will be interesting to say the least. She'll have the baby, stay in the hospital for 2 days and then go right back to school!

Work is going good, but today I was convicted of not having patience and being a little abrupt towards one of my co-workers. One of my alzheimers patients has the most difficult time staying awake and following directions. I'm constantly shouting his name, and tapping his leg, or snaping my fingers... anything to get his attention to open his eyes and stay awake. I've discovered he's a Bible man, so I'll ask him Bible questions to keep him stimulated. It really is quite hillarious, but at the same time so frustrating. I need to get 72 minutes with him a day, and half that time is spent trying to keep him awake!

This past weekend I dog sat for the PT I work with while she and her husband went to a wedding in Houston. They have a 6 month old Doxin (Emmett)... FULL of energy. He'd jump up on the coffee table and all the furniture, at one point he even started eating a gecko that found it's way into the house. And then they have this BIG dog (Buddy) that stays chained up in the backyard so that he doesn't get out through the and holes he digs under the fence, he actually makes me think of the dog from the movie "The Sandlot." And then Emmett needs to be let out on a leash to go to the bathroom... so I got eating by mosquitoes... I have about 20 bites between both legs... they itch like CRAZY!!! I've never had so many bites in my life!

I feel like parts of this blog have been very depressing, but it's not as bad as it sounds... I'm just having a little bit of a mental setback... it's really all the bugs fault... I hate the bugs! I'm really hoping a praying for good weather this weekend along the gulf coast so that I can lay out by the beach and relax, and hopefully make good use of that time and spend it with God.

Sad Day

Sadness... I don't have internet set up yet! :( I was supposed to get internet set up on Tuesday, but Monday evening I came into the living room from the kitchen and I saw a roach poking it's head out from the chair I always sit in and I said to myself enough is enough! I went to Wal-Mart and bought Raid. Just as I was walking into the door I there was one three feet from me in the kitchen. Then I walked into the livingroom and saw another! I killed both of them. The bottle says it "kills them on contact," but what it doesn't tell you is that after you spray them they run like crazy to get away... then they die like 30-45 seconds later, so of course for those 30 seconds I'm running for my life too!

Well, I had had it... maybe it was the extreme tiredness that got to me, but I called my company to see if there was anything that could be done (like maybe finding new housing). Sarah (the woman who sets up housing) emailed my landlord, so in the meantime I canceled my installation in case I wasn't going to continue to live there. Later that afternoon my landlord emailed back and supposedly they had the house sprayed right before I moved in... obviously it isn't doing the job. Last night I killed one more, and this morning one must have walked through the left over 'Raid' from the night before, because it too was fleeing for it's life before it died.

I am going to continue to live there, I'll just have to keep my bottle of Raid handy! I called last night to reschedule the installation, and they can't come till October 9th! And they're coming between 8 p.m. to midnight! I can't stay up past 10:30, let alone midnight!

I think I mentioned last in my last post about going away next weekend to the Gulf of Mexico, but look at the weather between Houston and Corpus Christi, it's supposed to be raining every day for the next two weeks. Austin looks like they'll have good weather, so if it doesn't look like it's going to get better, I guess I'll have to go there. I'm really hoping for laying at the beach, so I'm crossing my fingers and toes!

Here are some pictures from my drive here. The first two are at a rest stop in possibly Kansas and the last one is in Oklahoma on the Indian Turnpike (that one I took while driving so it's a bit blurred).