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Well, I HAD a nice post, but something goofed up and I lost the whole shebang. Phooey. Short version: Got a fishing pole. Darn Minnesotans. Can't concentrate during prayer. Narnia.

Doldrums

Nothin' to report but a boring week. Saturday was nice, as I went to the living history demonstration at the Kernstown battlefield and saw "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory" that evening. Starting Monday, though, it's been really dull. Long workdays, hot and humid outside, and little to do but read at night. Oh well, it should get better this weekend.

Me! 

That all you got?

Feeling much better after several decent days of rest. Nothing profound today, which reminds me that I haven't exactly been praying or studying much lately. It's a little depressing to think about how easy and how often I forget about God going through day-to-day. You'd think an all powerful, all knowing God would be the equivalent of a pink elephant in ones life, but he stays in the background amazingly well. Leaves it to us to seek out him. I often wish that God WOULD knock me around more- make me look for him, instead of leaving me in this easy life where I'm content and not having to rely on God daily.
~Screw my comforts!

Swallow Falls, Youghiogheny(sp?) River, Garrett County Maryland 

Weekend

Spent the weekend at Deep Creek Lake state park in western Maryland. Beautiful place, but a bit overdeveloped for poor ex-college students like myself. The trip out to the lake was... interesting, especially through the center of West Virginia boonies. Romney, Keyser, and especially the Piedmont/Westernport/Luke was so different- mountainside towns nestled on the steep slopes along the North Fork Potomac. I wish I knew what that huge factory we passed by at Luke manufactured. Anyhow, I'm still tired. I'll try to add-on tomorrow afternoon.

Narnia, among others

Finally finished reading through the Chronicles of Narnia for the first time yesterday. I've been thinking on the possibility that most people can't "see" God because in their hearts they've already made up their mind that they either don't want God to exist, or they don't want to face the consequences if God does exist. As a result, they make up every possible excuse they can find to prove to themselves this fact. Oh, we want proof, but we are mostly unwilling to take a serious look at God for ourselves, and decide for ourselves on the evidence we can easily find. Me? I'm lazy when it comes to God. I ought to be praying WAY more than I do, for starters. I hope I can stick with it this week.

Also thinking about that last chapter in the book, and imagining Grandma there. Pretty cool...

In other news, my RvB Season 3 DVD finally came today. Still hooked on Naruto too...

Grandfather (lower left) and his 14 children, in order of age (1st row, l to r, 2nd, r to l, 3rd, r to l.) 

Schmidgall

The same day I last posted, I discovered later on that my grandmother had died early that morning. On Wednesday afternoon, I took off with my Dad to drive the 24-hour grind up to MN for the funeral. I just got back, and I am exhausted. I'm glad that I went, though:

Seeing my mom through the viewing.
Being a pallbearer (along with 5 other grandsons) at the burial.
Seeing all 14 of grandmother's children in 1 place.
Going fishing with grandfather and a few my uncles the night after the funeral.

She was an amazing person. Simply amazing.

The daily grind

Bleh. Back to work after a great weekend. The survey department's looking a little thin this week - one of our two survey crew chiefs quit last week, and one of the techs had called in sick again (3rd straight - I'd like 6 days off in a row too...) So today, it was only myself and my boss in the office today, covering all the computer work that needed done. The situation is really not suprising - it happens on a regular basis every few months. Most surveyors seem to always be drifting around between companies, looking for better benefits, pay, or less work. And they're always grumpy at work; its too hot, or too cold, or too rainy to get much work done, or the boss expects too much. Living for money, for self, never content- miserable.

In other (major) news, my grandmother currently has stage 4 lung cancer, and isn't expected to live more than another month. My mom (her first child, out of 14!) has been with her in rural Minnesota for the past several weeks, as well as several of her brothers and sisters. I'm not too worried about grandma - I know she's a Christian. I'm more worried about mom, and how she'll take it.

Jake 

Great weekend

Where do I start? I brought the family dog Jake over to my place last night - cocker spaniel, 7-ish-year-old male. No particular reason, I just figured he could use the change in scenery and I'd like a pet around the house for a while. My brothers might not like it, but oh well. My only problem with him so far is that he's a HUGE bed hog, as I found out last night. He'll be sleeping on his own doggie bed tonight.
Went into Winchester to see the fireworks with my roommate this evening. I hadn't been to a fireworks show in years, and I realized what a fool I was tonight. We need to have more good reasons to use pyrotechnics around here- 15 minutes a year isn't gonna be enough for me anymore...
And finally, the pastor this morning gave a GREAT sermon on prayer, which he's been doing a series on for the past few weeks. The timing was amazing- several of my friends from church were already planning a small prayer meeting at my place this evening. Job problems, family sickness/deaths, and just stuff that's been on our minds this past week. The power of prayer is awesome- so I'm told. I've been terrible at keeping up a good, constant prayer life by myself so far - hopefully this'll be a great help. Anyhow, hope you have a great 4th!

Where is he now?

Hello and welcome to my first weblog! The name's Randy, and I'm a land surveyor working in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. I'm 2 years out of college (BS, Elec. Engr.) and am quickly becoming bored outta my gourd at working for a living. Still, I don't mind my job at all, even if land surveying wasn't exactly what I was looking for. For free time, I frequent the city library, go hiking, and pester my family who lives nearby (2 younger bros, 18 and 21, and my parents.)

I started this blog for several reasons:
1) As I said before, I'm getting bored and needed something extra to do.
2) I thought that having a weblog would help me sort out all the crazy thoughts that pop into my head during the course of the day.
3) It may be a good way to keep in touch with old friends (*cough4Bcough*) and distant family.
4) I needed an excuse to use my camera more.
And I'm sure that I'll think of more.

Anyhow, for the 4th of July weekend, I went backpacking (for the first time this YEAR finally...) into the George Washington Nat'l Forest. Spent the night on top of the Massenutten Ridge. About 8-9 miles loop hike, hot (85) and humid but no rain.

Next time: 4th of July thoughts (maybe).

Took this photo yesterday evening during an overnight on top of Massanutten Mtn.
-Luray Valley, looking east towards Shenandoah Nat'l Park.

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Message test... 123? Welcome to Randy Edwards first weblog! I'll put up a decent intro in the near future.