In Conclusion

(shooting the ball at pick-up soccer this fall)

Fall Quarter has come to an end. I decided to start a new tradition this academic year by writing down what God has done in my life at the end of each quarter. As always, this one was a crazy one with many crazy stories to tell.

What God has taught me: That everything I have, He has given me. Seriously. Everything!

The Backpack Story

Just before midterms, I was waiting for Jon to get out of class (we carpool), and was long boarding around F and J lots. I noticed that there were pedestrian paths between the lots that could be used as a chute straight down the hill of the lot. I set my backpack down in the lowest lot and went up to fly down the chute. I looked for Jon at the top and rode down, only to find my backpack missing. My laptop and all my textbooks were MIA the night before midterms. Awesome. It turns out a computer scientist in Jon's class (that I was waiting for) had scooped it up so it wouldn't be messed with and contacted me to return it. In the 24 hours I didn't have anything I usually relied on as a student, God taught me to rely on Him and the people He's put around me.

Power Cords

At the start of finals week this quarter, I had to stay up all night to finish a paper due Monday morning. I was happily working at 137B Saturday night when my power plug light flickered off. I felt the power adapter: it was molten hot! I let it cool fully, but the same thing happened again. I know! I thought, I'll put some ice on it. So I spend the next 48 hours straight working on my paper (thanks 305A). 45 hours in, my ice-cooled power adapter went *POP* and I smelled the dead electronics smell. It had sent it's last electrons to my lappy. In the middle of my freaking out, I remembered that I have an old power adapter that I found in my house. I almost discarded it like 10 times over the years, because who needs 2 power adapters? Who even has two power adapters? Well, it turns out God knew I would need it at a desperate time (no one in the world has the correct plug for my old lappy) and provided for it perfectly. God taught me that he has our back even when we don't know it or ask him to.

iBook

While preparing to write up a final exam (in class during finals week) that we had 2 hours to type our responses to, I felt like I should throw my memory stick in my computer and back up what I was about to write. I had never done it before, and was worried the ridiculous flashing light would be a distraction. As I worked, I saved my file to the memory stick, kind of subconsiously, the whole time thinking I must be paranoid, because I am the only one in the class doing this. Well one sentence from the end of my work, my computer screen goes blank and I listen in horror as the hard drive spins down. My computer had crashed and would not restart, but I happily handed my prof the jump drive with all my work on it. He let me add the last sentence on HIS computer. God didn't want me to fail the final, He wanted me to get a new computer :-P it was getting pretty slow. He is the great provider kids.

Troy

Latest Fad: The Wegmans Diet

I wanted to plug the fast emerging Wegmans freebie craze that is sweeping through RIT's social circles. It's pretty awesome in fact.

Wegmans has started giving out coupon sheets to college students with free food coupons on them. This week is a free frozen pizza and instant Asian noodles. Unfortunately for Danny Wegman, the terms of use on said coupons are quite vague. This has lead to Perkins freezers full of frozen pizzas, and many cabinets full of noodles. Pictures will be posted soon!

But if you would like some free food, and are a college student, hit up the Henrietta Wegmans sometime. (Coupon sheets available at the customer service desk)

Cheers!

Short days, Long Nights

Tonight is the second night in a row I have been awake for every single hour of darkness. Darkness gets pretty lame after a while, but it is quite peaceful. There are a number of things I could do to prevent this cycle, but I am well aware of them and will be wary of them next time around. Right now my only problem is I am nocturnal. Like an owl is nocturnal. I need to rotate my sleep schedule from Noon to 8pm to midnight to 8am... which will probably not be easy. Either that or create one of these.....



I do have an old case laying around.... Now I just need some sweet LEDs and a few days off.


Troy

Tunnels

Recently I heard about this car game that is played when going through a tunnel. You're supposed to see if you can hold your breath from one end of the tunnel to the other.

While driving down to Philadelphia to see Jill this last time (April) I went through the Lehigh Valley Tunnel and tried it out.

As I arrived in Philly I was really excited about the tunnel game, and said to Jill: "Jill, I did it! I held my breath through the entire Leighigh Valley Tunnel!"

She looked very concerned, and responded. "Geez Troy, you're not supposed to play the game while you're driving!!!!"

I had no idea... but luckily I did not pass out.


Troy

The Craziest Saturday in a While

Today was the most fun I have had in a long time. It was well-placed, too, because after a rough week I really needed it.

Here's a brief synopsis of my day:

9:45 am - wake up to Stefan Bukowski pounding on my door. We eat breakfast (Vanilla coke and yogurt) and get ready to go biking.

10:00 am - We go over to 189 to retrieve my old helmet. It's locked. LOCKED. we couldn't believe it. We checked windows until we found one that was open, and when we threw it open were greeted by an very unhappy-looking Brendan Lenz.

10:30 am - I went mountain biking at Dryer Park with three of my good friends. The trails were closed, so we rode around the recreation facilities, as well as a neighboring quarry.

2:00 pm - We grad some lunch at Wendy's. Three of us dare to take what we called the "Super Value Menu Challenge." This entailed three of us ordering the entire dollar menu for ourselves. The cashiers were in shock. Little old ladies came up and said "Are you really going to eat all those hamburgers?" Someone offered to take our picture. In a Wendys! Two of us finished the 8 elements of the value menu in the restaurant.

3:00pm - I pick Ed up to go get a bike off craigslist. Before I put the car in gear the owner calls to tell him it has already sold...

3:30 pm - Played CounterStrike: Source for an hour or so with my neighbor (I am not very good)

4:30 pm - Eric Parmland shows up for help working on his bike, and we screw around with that for a while.

5:30 pm - My neighbors in 137B invite me to go biking with them, and I cannot refuse! We went through multiple 1ft deep puddles (actually small lakes) and soaked our shoes, covering our bikes in mud. We came back, hosed them off, and lubed them, having good conversations.

8:00 pm - My neighbor all the way over in 139 brings me a single fresh-baked chocolate chip cookie. I couuld not have been happier.

8:30 pm - I am able to sit down and write on my blog, something I have wanted to do for MONTHS.

Praise God for each day he gives us! On days like this that is so easy... But let's make it a point to praise him on the days that is it so hard to do. Even on those days, we are so blessed.

I hope you have enjoyed the stories of the day. Imagine how many stories I have over a week! The picture is not of today... I will change it soon though!

Troy

If Everyone Cared

I was listening to If Everyone Cared by Nickelback. It's a great song, but this time the lyrics really hit me:

If everyone cared and nobody cried,
If everyone loved and nobody lied,

If everyone shared and swallowed their pride,
Then we'd see the day when nobody died.

It made me think about how much we care. A lot of us, if asked, would say that we care about just about everything: world hunger, AIDS in Africa and Asia, inequitable distribution of water, baby pandas, black footed ferrets, etc. It begs the question, does compassion = caring? Or is compassion even real if doesn't change the way we live our lives? 

There are many Christians who do genuinely care about issues, people, and problems, but there are also many who are fooling themselves as to what caring is all about. This is what I have been learning lately.

Ghandi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." This is not easy! In the song, it mentions caring, loving, caring, and swallowing pride. I know I don't do all of these, but I want others to do them, because it will further the Kingdom of God, and bring generally good things to this world. 

The other thing the song addresses is dying because of need. I can't imagine not having enough food and water to survive, or not having access to desperately needed medicine. It is truly a worthy cause to do something about this.  I agree with Nickelback that if everyone cared for the needy and loved them, throwing their pride aside, there would be significant change and lives would be saved. 

I'm tempted to say "and that would wonderfully complicate our overpopulation problems," but I suppose that would be insensitive, considering God did create each person that would be saved, and wants to know them just as much as anyone else. I think I just changed my mind on overpopulation :-P

P.S.     10 Points for the first person to comment with what the numbers and letters on the rainbow are.

If anyone wants more about caring, and needs to get their daily dose of nerding out, check this out: