Well, I’m still recovering from Sarah’s wedding this weekend–man, it was a great time. I wish I could be with my cousins more often. Speaking of, my sweet cousin Jennifer left us a lovely comment on our web page last week and was HARASSED for it! Do you believe that!? Shame, shame Lorie! Someone please give that girl a massive wedgie! Jen is at the top of the awesome list now because the rest of our extended family reads our updates and never comments. Makes me wanna cry in my root beer. Love you Jen!

At the reception I got to two-step with my brother for the first time and that was hilarious. We were dancing to the “Road Goes on Forever” which was very interesting considering the shoes I wore. Anyway, during our dance I thought Paul said, “I have to poop!” I laughed so hard and replied, “You have to poop?!” But it was so loud in the hall he thought I said, “I have to poop.” We were laughing SO hard we could hardly keep dancing.

And I loved the fact that most of the St. Pierres wore black hats and the Kenworthys wore white hats, like a duel was going down. Then there’s me with my small head, so I got a kid’s hat (in pink).

In other news, I am now famous… or at least the folks who came into the 4th St. McDonald’s think I am! I got to shoot a television commercial this morning for the Supernationals Auto Show. The people in McDonalds were shaking my hand and everything–it was too funny! I played the part of a drive-through girl taking an order. This mom and kid drive up in a drag-racing car and the building shakes from the noise and I look surprised. It was so much fun! I got to keep the uniform too, so I’ll put it in my office with the other props we have. It’s just running locally, but I’m getting a DVD copy of it to keep. So, I’ll try and post it when I get it!

After we shot that commercial, we shot another one using the original Batmobile car (not the Val Kilmer car–the Adam West car from the TV show). I wasn’t in that one, but got to help a little bit. MAN! God has provided me such a FUN job!

Til we meet again–same bat time, same bat channel….

From Renée:

So here I am, designing graphics for a DVD at work, when the UPS man walks in the door.

“Oh, a package,” I said.

He replies, “I need someone to sign for it.”

I said, “okay, I can sign for it.”

Then he says, “Well, the signer has to be 18 or over.” HOLY COW! How young does he think I am!?

I laugh and reply, “I’m 25.”

He looks shocked and unsure, but gives in and apologizes.

I just laughed my butt off because this kind of thing happens all the time, but usually people at least think I’m 18! Well, I guess I “still got it!” Ha!

I ask this question as I realize that my desk at home and at work slowly degrades to a more cluttered state as the week has progressed. I wish that instead of making entropy the norm, God had said, “Let everything tend towards order.” Just think of the time we would save—we wouldn’t have to sort papers or stack them (they’d do it automatically), our coffee cups would automatically be full, and everything would be in nice, neat right angles to each other. Yeah, that’s nice.

It has been an insanely busy week for Renée and I, and the moments when it isn’t insane, we stay as far as away from computers as possible (that is, in the next room). I have been struggling with trying to figure out multi-threading and socket communication in Microsoft’s .NET framework this week, since I am writing an application in C#. Unfortunately, I’m not having too much success. Renée has been designing faster than a speeding bullet. TGIF—especially since we have the time change this weekend! Don’t forget!

Tim Hurst and I have been hanging out a lot together lately (well, that is, every Tuesday for several hours). Right before that, I meet with Kurt from church. So, Tuesdays are really great spiritually-filled days o’ fun. (Renée meets with Mary while I’m meeting with the guys). It has been a huge blessing for me to learn from these men, as well as to offer some wisdom to them.

As of late, we (all of us) have been studying about Paul telling others to “imitate” him. The question posed to me was, “Can you tell someone to imitate you?” Uhh, no. “Well then why not?” Blank stare, no answer.

Why can’t I tell someone to imitate me? Is it because I am doing something wrong? If it is, then why am I doing it wrong and not right? My prayer over the past couple of weeks has been that God would reveal to me those things in me that are preventing me from telling others to imitate me. Of course, Paul (and consequently, I) am not wanting to tell others to imitate me because I am perfect or because I know it all or even for my own glory. Rather, I want to glorify Jesus by telling others to do what I do because I am living a life submitted to the Lord and am on my way to holiness. Yes, I mess up, but to be able to have others follow in the way I have will be a testament to God’s grace in my life, and ultimately will credit the one responsible, namely the Lord.

Other than that, Renée and I are seeking donations for the “Help-Mark-And-Renée-Buy-A-New-Information-Delivery-Apparatus” (aka “Help-Mark-And-Renée-Buy-A-New-TV”). Wanna help?

I’m sitting on the couch in my apartment right now. I am typing this entry on a laptop with a wireless network card that is tied in to a wireless access point in the office. Also connected to that wireless access point is my main computer, via Ethernet cable. That computer is on the Internet via 56k modem (yeah, I know, but we can’t afford broadband here). And, I’m listening to some of my favorite music through my wireless headphones, which are playing MP3s from my main computer. And I have the cordless telephone right next to me.

But I still miss Renée a ton.

Man, it has been a grueling week at work this week. Besides mail server problems and database problems up the wazoo, I have also had to deal with updates not working correctly and firewall rules being outdated. I spent a total of maybe an hour at my desk today. But it went fast, and that’s good. Now I can relax.

But now I go off to church. More fun when I get home.

“Why, dear ‘blog’, are you such a hassle to update?”

Lots of stuff has been going on, too. Let’s list just a few things:

I worked on Tuesday night. I went and hooked up broadband internet for a couple in the northeast heights. I enjoy working for them, and they have a very lively little dog. Good times.

I noticed I had a coolant leak after work. After walking out the front door of their house, I looked under my car and noticed a nice big green puddle. “Not again,” I said to myself (for like the tenth time). I filled up the Gov’nah with coolant and decided to stop by the parents’ house so that I might have some tools and ramps to diagnose the situation.

Several weeks ago, my coolant reservoir outtake connector had totally disintegrated inside of the rubber hose that connects to the tubing. So, Dad and I went on a little scavenger hunt to see how we might fix it without having to buy a new tank. With about $3 worth of gardening parts from Lowe’s and some J.B. Weld epoxy, we thought we had the problem solved.

The epoxy cracked. Because of the extreme temperatures and pressure regarding my cooling system, the epoxy actually came off of the plastic to which it was supposed to stay on. So, I had to break down (no pun intended) and spend the money for a new coolant reservoir.

God provided the job just to pay this bill. When all was said and done, I had three dollars more than when I started, and a new coolant tank. God had provided the job on Tuesday night to provide for this would-be “catastrophe”. He knows what He is doing.

Renée and I got to Bible study last night. We have really been enjoying our young marrieds’ Bible study. There are ton of us there and it is a great time of learning and fellowship. It definitely addresses us where we are spiritually and socially. We had a barbecue last night, and boy were we hungry.

The interview. Renée has an interview this morning, and she is stoked. This will be for her first job out of school in the graphic design market. If you haven’t seen her portfolio yet, I would recommend you visit.

More news coming soon, hopefully!

“Introducing the next version of Windows, Microsoft Windows Server 2003!” chimed some announcer-dude to the applause of a conference-room full of IT staff, administrators, and techies. I clapped alongside everyone else, because… well, I was invited to the event, and I wanted to see what it was all about.

Unfortunately, it turned out be a very boring seminar. You see, I got this invitation in the mail to be a part of the official launch event for the latest version of Microsoft’s server product. I thought it would be neat and interesting to go and evaluate whether that particular product would be beneficial to my company at this time. Turns out that’s a big no. But I learned a lot more than just about server technology. In fact, I probably learned the least about server technology. Here is, however, what I did learn:

I don’t want to be a stereotypical nerd. The dominant demographic at this conference was: middle-aged male; overweight; facial hair that’s scruffy; unkempt hair; huge, thick glasses; and a high-pitched, nasal voice. Gosh, I don’t want to become like that.

Nerds don’t know how to communicate. The number of um’s, er’s, and uh’s that came from the speakers’ mouth was nauseating. Plus, it was just plain cheesy. Silly dialogues between two people who know each other but pretend not to in the name of creativity is just plain dumb. Don’t memorize speeches; try communicating and interacting with your audience. And, if things don’t go right (see below), try not to make a stupid joke.

Even Microsoft can’t have a flawless presentation. The spotlights went off once for about three seconds, some of the videos didn’t work, the slide show got messed up, and then someone else’s audio was interfering with the presentation, so we were hearing random comments throughout the entire show. But the funny thing was that it was a Microsoft guy who was interfering.

Technology can be made to be super-boring. Super boring. I read a magazine throughout one entire session. At least be entertaining.

Nerds tend to isolate themselves. I talked to one guy save the Microsoft registration folk for maybe one minute, tops. Other than that, it was a pretty quiet time.

So I’ve decided to pursue non-nerdness and instead focus on trendy geekness.

Whatever.

Man, life has been incredibly busy lately. I don’t have time to upload those pictures yet. Work hasn’t given me a moment to think, because we just got a new president and I’m trying to make things work all around the office (Ed.: four people came to see me during my lunch hour alone yesterday. That’s out of a company that’s only 11 employees large!).

Now, I must return. But yes, things are going! Happy Maundy Thursday (I think).

Yesterday at work was a hard day. It felt like a Monday. Several Mondays combined, even. Where I work, users kept having problems and computers kept failing all day long. Three machines mysteriously crashed for three hours and then came back up, seemingly of their own accord.

The worst part was that earlier this year, I made a computer configuration change that I didn’t have express permission to do—I just considered it in the best interest of the company and part of my job description to make the change. It made sense to me as network administrator, so I did it. Well, I shouldn’t have, and I got reprimanded for the decision I had made.

Well, I didn’t have a problem making the change back, but I think I just ended up confused and disappointed. There are definitely some issues that make work difficult. It got me down for the rest of the day, partially because I didn’t have time to process it with all the other problems going on around the office.

Last night, I talked it over with Renée and we watched “My Wife and Kids” together. And here’s what I was reminded of: it’s who I am that’s important, not what I do. Everyone will make mistakes. But who you are through it all is what really counts. Renée believes in me, considers me her hero, and that makes life awesome. Better still is knowing that Jesus still loves me and believes in me. He’s continuing to refine me, praise the Lord.