10 · 01

Let it snow, let it snow, let it.....oh, it snowed!

Well, this week's been a bit on an oddity. The UK saw a huge amount of snow. More than I can remember, and it meant I had to work from home, rather than risking the drive in to the office. Given that we have a VPN with which I can use RDP, I wasn't too affected (apart from not being able to call any customers).

Given the schools were also off, and my wife is a teacher, it gave us time to be together during the week, while I carried on with my work. It was interesting to see some of the articles she was studying on Dyslexia (I'm Dyslexic too), and other special needs.

I had a thought today about TV shopping channels: it's funny how in a world of web based shopping, we still have many thriving TV shopping channels. I guess there is just a different market out there who are comfortable giving their credit card details over the phone to the people on the telly, but not over a secure internet connection, if they go online at all!

This week was quite a big one in the world of technology, with the Consumer Electronics Show taking place in America. There was quite a lot of talk about 3D technology. I'm not sure how many people are actually going to want 3D in their home. I think they have a few more years left to get the technology usable before widespread adoption. Given that many people might have just splashed out for a new TV, I don't see many, especially in this economic climate rushing out to get another new one, just for the 3D effect!

A funny thing happened yesterday: back in October, when I got married, a bag of cards was hidden in our house for us to open when we got back from Honeymoon. Only trouble was, the person who hid them for us forgot where they hid them, and when we searched the house, we couldn't find them either. But yesterday, they finally emerged from the one corner of the house we wouldn't have thought of looking in! So it was with surprise, fun and relief that my wife and I finally proceeded to open about 50 cards from the wedding. We must have seemed quite ungrateful to all those who had put gifts inside the cards and who we haven't thanked yet - but we just didn't know they'd given us anything to thank them for.

Oh, and my wife and I have decided to really go for it in term on weight loss. You'll be able to track my weight online if you really want, but there isn't much to look at yet, as I've only done one reading. I'm using an online service, Skinnyr, to track my weight. I actually signed up back in 2007, but didn't keep it up to date. Maybe this time - now I have someone doing it with me, I'll have a better chance.

I've received a message to say that the roads are clear enough to go back in to work tomorrow, so at least I'll be able to give customers a call as well as email them, which is handy, as I need to speak to quite a few of them.

Have a great week. Keep warm! 
3 · 01

Things I've done since my last blog post

It's been a while, but I now intend to be back. Here's what I've done:
More to follow in the coming weeks.

Any questions?
2 · 06

Almost there

I've almost finished uploading all my photos from India and the DTS course. Once they are all on, I'll start highlighting some of them here.
Other than that, I'm getting on well at work, and plans for the wedding are steady.
I hope you are well.
24 · 04

Energy Efficiency

I've started listening to podcasts again, and one I listened to today (the Glocal Family Podcast), had a feature on new cars vs old cars, which reminded me of a series of talks on Energy Efficiency given by Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute that you might like to listen to:

Quite a lot to think about!
13 · 04

Still Alive!

I'm still here! Sorry I've not posted for a while: when I got back to Portsmouth I was a little busy trying to get a job. Now I've got one, so I'm a little busy getting to and from work!

I am happy to say that I was offered the full time position I mentioned in my previous post.

I've also managed to get on and upload some more photos of India. There will be more (photos and posts to this blog) later.

16 · 03

Job hunting update

Well, for the last couple of weeks or so, I've pretty much concentrating on getting a job back in the Portsmouth area. I've had a few interviews, which have gone OK, but I'm yet to hear back from any of them. However, it doesn't really matter, as I've been able to secure a weekly-rolling-contract temp job at a good company that is not too far away. I like this approach: I'm able to work, and be paid for it, and when they see that I can do the job and they like me, they can employ me as a full time employee. I consider this better than an interview, as I can see if I like the job as well as the company likes me.

The company delivers online messaging services for companies all over the world. It is funny: in my last job I set up accounts for new customers, and set about transferring ISAs for them....in this job I'll be setting up accounts for new customers and setting about transferring domain names for them!

I've managed to upload quite a few more of my photos from the lecture phase now, which you can view on my photo site. I've not had the time to add details to all of them yet, but you might enjoy looking at the photos and wondering what was going on! Outreach phase photos will be on the way at some point, and then I plan to feature some on the blog with more detailed explanations of what was going on.

I hope you are well. Thanks for reading.

28 · 02

Looking for a job!

It's been just over a week since my last post, so here is what I've been doing:

Last weekend I said my goodbyes to the other students and staff at Holmsted Manor, and then set off to Portsmouth on the Monday to go to my church's Vision Night, start the job search and start the process of moving back to Portsmouth. I stayed for a couple of days, then came back home again for my Sister's birthday. I'll be going back to Portsmouth for good on Monday.

When I applied for the DTS course, it was with the intention of working for YWAM afterwards, which is still a possibility, but that was before the very special events of the day I left Portsmouth:

On that day, the lady of my life asked me out. This was a big step for both of us. I'd liked her for about four years, and she was taking a big risk as she didn't know that. Anyway, As you should know if you have been reading this blog, I said "yes", and we are now engaged. This is mostly why I'm now trying to get back into life in Portsmouth, rather than working for YWAM straight away.

So the question is: do you happen to know of any jobs in Portsmouth (UK) at the moment? I'm interested in any suggestions. I've set up a special email address you can use to let me know about any jobs you know of: findedajob@googlemail.com

I am very competent at IT support, and have also performed various administrative functions in a busy office environment. I'd also like to explore any ministry opportunities available. If you know of anything at all, please email me on the address above.

20 · 02

G Day

Today I graduated from my YWAM DTS course. This has been a fantastic
time in my life.

 Praise the Lord!

20 · 02

Looking Forward

This was the last full day of my YWAM DTS course! Tomorrow I graduate.
It has been a fantastic time in my life. I am so happy I found this
course and decided to do it. If you are considering any sort of
outreach work, I would seriously suggest taking a DTS course too.
 
Today we started off with a talk about how to describe our experiences
 to people 'back home', and how to answer their questions (and cope
when they say things like "I didn't know you went to India!").
 
I also went to another talk about long term mission work/raising
support (funding) for outreach. This was quite useful to go to. I have
no idea what I'm going to be doing in the future (apart from getting
married), but more missionary work is not out of the question.
 
In the evening I helped edit and produce a video showing the changes
in us as students on the course over the past 5 months. It was fun to
get back to video editing.
 
Thanks for reading. I still plan to add more posts after this week. I
want to say more about what I couldn't while on outreach, and
highlight a few photos and other things of interest.
18 · 02

Vulnerability after victory

After a fantastic full English breakfast lovingly prepared by the DTS staff, we continued our debrief week with a talk on "Vulnerability after victory". The subject covered the idea that after great victories, such as in war, sport, or outreaches like the ones we have been on, it is easy to let your guard down and let the enemy attack you. We all need to be alert to this possibility, and keep pursuing God after this course has finished.

As an aside, the leader mentioned an interesting sounding book, "The best question ever". It apparently talks about how we shouldn't consider if something is right or wrong before doing it, but instead ask "is this a wise thing to do?". There are many things that are not wrong to do, but may not be the wisest thing, because of the consequences later on.

Things suggested that we could do to help defeat any attacks against us in the time to come  were:
  • Pray
  • Study the Bible
  • Continue in mentorship
  • Continue in accountability
  • Avoid temptations (for example, if you are tempted to take drugs, don't go and visit your drug dealer!)
  • Find a place to serve others
  • Be intentional with your relationships - make the effort to go and see people
  • Don't over fill your timetable - leave room for God
After a break, we shared our "memory stones" - something from the course that has stuck out to us. Mine was attached to the pair of sunglasses I wore in India. My "Golden nugget" of truth from the course was regarding the Biblical Christian world-view. All of us have a world-view: a way of looking at the world and interpreting what we see. I am convinced that the only world-view that is actually consistent with what we see in the world is the Biblical Christian world view. It explains how there can be such beauty in the world, while there is such pain and loss. It explains science as well as art, and love and much as hate. It was the cornerstone of the West's advancement, and what made so much of what we have now a reality.

A couple of phrases the other students said during their sharing time stood out to me: "to be a leader in my lifestyle" and "God gives us many choices, they are all right - we just have to choose one".

In the afternoon Team India came together to put together a slide show of photos and videos of the trip for a presentation we gave this evening. The presentation went quite well and we were able to talk more about what we have experienced in India. Talking of photos - I'm having some difficulty getting some of my photos off the portable hard drive I took with me (ironically to try to make sure I didn't loose any photos!). Please could you pray I manage to get all the photos off the hard drive?
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