So, it's just a couple of months shy of a year since I last posted on here. Over that time I have had several requests for me to start back up, but I just never got around to it. I think the biggest reason was that I had gotten into a habit of telling rather long detailed stories of things that happened out here, so when I got a little behind, the prospect of catching up just seemed like too much, so I would just keep putting it off. Now, ten and a half months later, I'm back. A super quick overview since my last post... I'm now working on my teaching certificate from Siena College, I should be done in May. Alicia and I have been back to Nebraska twice, for Christmas and for Stephen and Ali's wedding, which was absolutely amazing! Also, we bought a house. We are currently in the process of unpacking, decorating, and fixing all the little surprises that we keep finding... Pictures and details will hopefully be coming over the next few weeks.
Max, I hope you will forgive me for my very long and unexcused absence. I don't really have any excuses for you, just my apologies.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Spelunking
Spelunking - The hobby or practice of exploring caves.
Although, as I was looking up this definition, I discovered that the correct term would be 'caving' since 'spelunking' has a bit of a derogatory connotation among people who take caving seriously. Then again, since I've only done it once with a couple of friends, I don't count as a serious caver so I can call it whatever I want.
So I'm still sore from my adventures on Monday. I went on what was supposedly a fairly easy hike with Kyle and Brad to the top of Chimney Mountain up in the Adirondacks. Once we got out of the car, I think it only took us about an hour to reach the summit. This makes it one of the shorter hikes that you can take to the top of a mountain, but the trail basically goes straight up the side instead of winding back and forth, so there's really nowhere to catch your breath if you happen to be a bit out of shape and you are hiking with one person who runs 9 miles for the fun of it, and another who just climbed one of the "High Peaks" last weekend. Thankfully I was able to avoid a heart attack and I made it up into the clouds at the top. You couldn't see very far (obviously) but the cool mists felt great, and gave the mountain this 'otherworldly' feeling.
We were surrounded by huge angular boulders. They looked like they had simply been dropped there because there were large gaps in between them. There wasn't a lot of vegetation up there either, just the moss that grew wherever it was able to take hold, and spindly little trees that were somehow able to find a way to grow between the boulders.
Once we had rested a bit from our assent, we began to search for the caves that Brad had told us about when we chose this as our destination. Now, as I said before, there were large gaps between most of the boulders, so what we would do is stick our lights into the hole to see if it just ended, or if it was worth exploring. While most were nothing more than a small hole, we found several that we were able to climb down into, and in many cases were able to climb through to another location.
One of the most interesting that we discovered was a cave called the 'Ice Cave'. It was much larger than our first few discoveries because it actually had larger rooms that would in turn lead to other rooms. It would have been very easy to get lost, but someone who had gone before us had painted bright orange arrows pointing toward the entrance of the cave. While it was much cooler down in this cave than the smaller caves, we didn't realize why it was called the ice cave until we were on our way back toward the entrance and realized that some of the flat rocks that we had been crossing were actually large chunks of ice.
After the 'ice cave', we went on to find and explore the two caves that Brad had known about and had explored before. Both were larger and more complex caves like the ice cave, but the biggest and most impressive was the one that we explored last. To get inside, we had to slide on our backs between these two huge flat pieces of rock that were maybe 18 inches apart until we reached the opening on the other side. After sliding down and crawling under a couple more large rocks, I found myself standing in what was by far the largest chamber that we had explored that day. It was so large that it was dizzying and disorienting. On my left was what appeared to be a smaller mountain that was contained within the big one that we had just climbed. On my right was a massive wall/ceiling that arched up and over my head before connecting to the top of the mini mountain on my left. It was almost like the mountain was a giant Russian nesting doll and I was somehow standing in the gap between the dolls.
After we made our way across this room, we climbed over some rocks to find that the room just kept going with the second side being nearly as large as the first. I should probably say that these caverns were approximately 30-40 feet from the floor to the roof and the rooms had to be at least 100 feel long.
We explored a couple of the caverns that went further down and further into the mountain (which were themselves about the size of some of the larger passages that we'd explored in previous caves) before we came back to the main room, went over to the left and descended about 15 feet of rope into the bat cave. This was like going down into yet another of the Russian nesting doll layers of the mountain because this room was also huge, and was shaped much like the room we had just come from.
This was actually the first time that I started to get a little freaked out. Unlike the previous rooms and the previous caverns that had only a small amount of dust in the air, this room was full of haze. This was only the second room where I couldn't see the other end (the first being one of the rooms that we had just explored) but this one also was supposed to have bats in it, and I couldn't see any. I think not seeing them was the part that worried me the most because I had no idea what to expect, or where they might come from. After we spent a while looking we finally realized that the bats here were very small, about the size of my two thumbs when I put them together, and I suspect that most of them were much higher up on the wall/ceiling where we weren't able to see them.
At this point we decided that we had pretty much done enough exploring for the day and that it was time to go. All we had to do was climb back up the rope, make our way across two very large rooms, squeeze our way out of the cave, climb back down the mountain, and make the two hour drive back home.
When all was said and done, the entire trip had taken just over 10 hours and I couldn't wait to take a nice hot shower, but I have to say; it's been a long time since I've had that much fun in a single day.
Although, as I was looking up this definition, I discovered that the correct term would be 'caving' since 'spelunking' has a bit of a derogatory connotation among people who take caving seriously. Then again, since I've only done it once with a couple of friends, I don't count as a serious caver so I can call it whatever I want.
So I'm still sore from my adventures on Monday. I went on what was supposedly a fairly easy hike with Kyle and Brad to the top of Chimney Mountain up in the Adirondacks. Once we got out of the car, I think it only took us about an hour to reach the summit. This makes it one of the shorter hikes that you can take to the top of a mountain, but the trail basically goes straight up the side instead of winding back and forth, so there's really nowhere to catch your breath if you happen to be a bit out of shape and you are hiking with one person who runs 9 miles for the fun of it, and another who just climbed one of the "High Peaks" last weekend. Thankfully I was able to avoid a heart attack and I made it up into the clouds at the top. You couldn't see very far (obviously) but the cool mists felt great, and gave the mountain this 'otherworldly' feeling.
We were surrounded by huge angular boulders. They looked like they had simply been dropped there because there were large gaps in between them. There wasn't a lot of vegetation up there either, just the moss that grew wherever it was able to take hold, and spindly little trees that were somehow able to find a way to grow between the boulders.
Once we had rested a bit from our assent, we began to search for the caves that Brad had told us about when we chose this as our destination. Now, as I said before, there were large gaps between most of the boulders, so what we would do is stick our lights into the hole to see if it just ended, or if it was worth exploring. While most were nothing more than a small hole, we found several that we were able to climb down into, and in many cases were able to climb through to another location.
One of the most interesting that we discovered was a cave called the 'Ice Cave'. It was much larger than our first few discoveries because it actually had larger rooms that would in turn lead to other rooms. It would have been very easy to get lost, but someone who had gone before us had painted bright orange arrows pointing toward the entrance of the cave. While it was much cooler down in this cave than the smaller caves, we didn't realize why it was called the ice cave until we were on our way back toward the entrance and realized that some of the flat rocks that we had been crossing were actually large chunks of ice.
After the 'ice cave', we went on to find and explore the two caves that Brad had known about and had explored before. Both were larger and more complex caves like the ice cave, but the biggest and most impressive was the one that we explored last. To get inside, we had to slide on our backs between these two huge flat pieces of rock that were maybe 18 inches apart until we reached the opening on the other side. After sliding down and crawling under a couple more large rocks, I found myself standing in what was by far the largest chamber that we had explored that day. It was so large that it was dizzying and disorienting. On my left was what appeared to be a smaller mountain that was contained within the big one that we had just climbed. On my right was a massive wall/ceiling that arched up and over my head before connecting to the top of the mini mountain on my left. It was almost like the mountain was a giant Russian nesting doll and I was somehow standing in the gap between the dolls.
After we made our way across this room, we climbed over some rocks to find that the room just kept going with the second side being nearly as large as the first. I should probably say that these caverns were approximately 30-40 feet from the floor to the roof and the rooms had to be at least 100 feel long.
We explored a couple of the caverns that went further down and further into the mountain (which were themselves about the size of some of the larger passages that we'd explored in previous caves) before we came back to the main room, went over to the left and descended about 15 feet of rope into the bat cave. This was like going down into yet another of the Russian nesting doll layers of the mountain because this room was also huge, and was shaped much like the room we had just come from.
This was actually the first time that I started to get a little freaked out. Unlike the previous rooms and the previous caverns that had only a small amount of dust in the air, this room was full of haze. This was only the second room where I couldn't see the other end (the first being one of the rooms that we had just explored) but this one also was supposed to have bats in it, and I couldn't see any. I think not seeing them was the part that worried me the most because I had no idea what to expect, or where they might come from. After we spent a while looking we finally realized that the bats here were very small, about the size of my two thumbs when I put them together, and I suspect that most of them were much higher up on the wall/ceiling where we weren't able to see them.
At this point we decided that we had pretty much done enough exploring for the day and that it was time to go. All we had to do was climb back up the rope, make our way across two very large rooms, squeeze our way out of the cave, climb back down the mountain, and make the two hour drive back home.
When all was said and done, the entire trip had taken just over 10 hours and I couldn't wait to take a nice hot shower, but I have to say; it's been a long time since I've had that much fun in a single day.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
An appology
Now it's been long enough since my last post that anyone who was still following has probably long given up, but I'm going to try to get back into a routine of writing here.
My excuse is that a lot of stuff happened shortly after my last post and I didn't ever get up the effort to write about it because I thought it would take a long time. Then of course more stuff happened; then even more stuff. Before I knew it, I had gone more than two months without updating anyone on life out here in New York.
So, to avoid the problem of writing a ridiculously long post, I'll just give a really quick overview.
Alicia's parents came out for almost two weeks in early July. Her sister Amanda also came, but she wasn't able to fly out until the last few days of their visit. We did some sightseeing together, but most notably, we went down to see the Bullards at a cabin that they were renting somewhere near Woodstock, NY. They are not hippies themselves, but there was definitely a strong hippie presence in the area.
My mom came out to visit around the middle of August. My parents were going to come together in late September, but my mom was going to be starting a new job and would not be able to use her vacation, so she came out separately. Because of her schedule, she was only able to be out here for 4 days, but we tried to make the most of it. It was really great to see her because her work schedule didn't allow us to see each other very much when I was back in Nebraska for graduation.
Alicia is still plugging along with her job. Of course it is still tiring and frustrating, but she is at least nearing the point where she will finally be qualified. Once that happens, she will most definitely have earned a vacation where she can sit on a beach and relax. Although, if we do go to a beach, she'll need almost as much sunscreen as I will because her job has prevented her from seeing very much sunlight for basically the last year.
And last, but not least, on my list of big stuff that's happened these last two months... I got a job! I'm the new youth director at Northstar Church in Clifton Park, NY. Now, this is very very far from being a full time position, and it's even further from paying a full time salary, but I had to fill out a W-2 so that means that it is a job. As with any job, there are of course a number of hurdles to overcome before I start to get more comfortable with what I'll be doing, but the volunteer leaders are amazing, the pastor is very supportive, and the kids are great. I've talked with some of the parents and they seem to be pretty happy as well, but I guess I'll find out tomorrow when we have our first parents meeting. I'm a bit nervous because I really want to make a good impression. At least, at this point, I seem to be getting the benefit of the doubt since I just started.
Well, that's my relatively quick overview of the last two months out here. Hopefully my next post will come more quickly.
My excuse is that a lot of stuff happened shortly after my last post and I didn't ever get up the effort to write about it because I thought it would take a long time. Then of course more stuff happened; then even more stuff. Before I knew it, I had gone more than two months without updating anyone on life out here in New York.
So, to avoid the problem of writing a ridiculously long post, I'll just give a really quick overview.
Alicia's parents came out for almost two weeks in early July. Her sister Amanda also came, but she wasn't able to fly out until the last few days of their visit. We did some sightseeing together, but most notably, we went down to see the Bullards at a cabin that they were renting somewhere near Woodstock, NY. They are not hippies themselves, but there was definitely a strong hippie presence in the area.
My mom came out to visit around the middle of August. My parents were going to come together in late September, but my mom was going to be starting a new job and would not be able to use her vacation, so she came out separately. Because of her schedule, she was only able to be out here for 4 days, but we tried to make the most of it. It was really great to see her because her work schedule didn't allow us to see each other very much when I was back in Nebraska for graduation.
Alicia is still plugging along with her job. Of course it is still tiring and frustrating, but she is at least nearing the point where she will finally be qualified. Once that happens, she will most definitely have earned a vacation where she can sit on a beach and relax. Although, if we do go to a beach, she'll need almost as much sunscreen as I will because her job has prevented her from seeing very much sunlight for basically the last year.
And last, but not least, on my list of big stuff that's happened these last two months... I got a job! I'm the new youth director at Northstar Church in Clifton Park, NY. Now, this is very very far from being a full time position, and it's even further from paying a full time salary, but I had to fill out a W-2 so that means that it is a job. As with any job, there are of course a number of hurdles to overcome before I start to get more comfortable with what I'll be doing, but the volunteer leaders are amazing, the pastor is very supportive, and the kids are great. I've talked with some of the parents and they seem to be pretty happy as well, but I guess I'll find out tomorrow when we have our first parents meeting. I'm a bit nervous because I really want to make a good impression. At least, at this point, I seem to be getting the benefit of the doubt since I just started.
Well, that's my relatively quick overview of the last two months out here. Hopefully my next post will come more quickly.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Update on Alicia
Well, Alicia passed her board so I want to say a very big 'Thank You' to all of you who have been keeping her in your prayers. We're very relieved to have gotten past that hurdle, but of course there are quite a lot more that she'll have to clear before she is finally 'qualified'. One really good thing that she heard about her job is that they'll be going from '4 crew' to '5 crew' starting next week I think. I'm not completely sure how to explain it since I still don't really understand their scheduling, but they will now have 5 crews rotating through the shifts instead of 4 and they will also have a week in their rotation where all they have to do is get checkouts.
What this actually means for me is that she'll only be working night shift for 7 days out of every 5 weeks instead of 7 days out of 4 weeks. That part is nice, but best of all, somewhere in the rotation, she'll actually get a 4 day weekend! It seems like it's been a very long time since we have gone anywhere or done anything other than going out for dinner or a movie. We went to a park a couple of weeks ago, but it'll be nice to have a chance to actually go somewhere and do something.
Please continue to keep her in your prayers though. For some reason, as they're transitioning to '5 crew' Alicia's going to have to work 9 days in a row and over the next 3 weeks she'll only get like 2 days off. Then, I believe that she gets a four day weekend, and I think her parents might be coming at that time... but I'll have to get back to you on that. Anyway, her job still has very long hours and a lot of stress and it's been very difficult for her to continue finding the motivation to keep going. I guess that when you think you're going to get fired and you manage to keep your job, it can turn out one of two ways. You are either so thankful to still be employed that you work much harder than you had been, which I guess would imply that you had been slacking off before, or if you had already been doing your best you might get disillusioned with the whole thing and just want to walk away. My prayer would be that there would be something like a third option where the company realizes that they are driving their employees into the ground and that if something doesn't change they are going to find themselves desperately short of staff.
I don't really have much to say about what I've been up to other than the fact that I'm currently awake and it's after 3 AM. Don't worry though, I have a really good reason for still being up. Alicia is currently working the night shift, so since I'm done with substitute teaching and Alicia has said that she is able to sleep a lot better with me lying next to her, I am on her sleep schedule. It's actually kinda rough to sleep through the majority of the daylight hours, but Alicia gets to sleep better and I don't have to worry about disturbing her while she's asleep.
The biggest drawback though is pretty much complete confusion over what I should eat and when I should eat it. Breakfast in the evening isn't much of a stretch because you can eat breakfast at any time, but it seems very strange to cook dinner in the morning. And, while morning and evening are at least normal meal times, I have no idea when I should eat lunch. What happened last night was, I completely forgot to eat altogether, so I was super hungry when Alicia came home, then I just couldn't bring myself to eat a very big meal in the morning. I'm probably going to find myself loosing a few pounds while Alicia's on night shift, but that might actually be good for me. Anyway, I'm hungry right now, so I think I'm going to go give lunch a try.
What this actually means for me is that she'll only be working night shift for 7 days out of every 5 weeks instead of 7 days out of 4 weeks. That part is nice, but best of all, somewhere in the rotation, she'll actually get a 4 day weekend! It seems like it's been a very long time since we have gone anywhere or done anything other than going out for dinner or a movie. We went to a park a couple of weeks ago, but it'll be nice to have a chance to actually go somewhere and do something.
Please continue to keep her in your prayers though. For some reason, as they're transitioning to '5 crew' Alicia's going to have to work 9 days in a row and over the next 3 weeks she'll only get like 2 days off. Then, I believe that she gets a four day weekend, and I think her parents might be coming at that time... but I'll have to get back to you on that. Anyway, her job still has very long hours and a lot of stress and it's been very difficult for her to continue finding the motivation to keep going. I guess that when you think you're going to get fired and you manage to keep your job, it can turn out one of two ways. You are either so thankful to still be employed that you work much harder than you had been, which I guess would imply that you had been slacking off before, or if you had already been doing your best you might get disillusioned with the whole thing and just want to walk away. My prayer would be that there would be something like a third option where the company realizes that they are driving their employees into the ground and that if something doesn't change they are going to find themselves desperately short of staff.
I don't really have much to say about what I've been up to other than the fact that I'm currently awake and it's after 3 AM. Don't worry though, I have a really good reason for still being up. Alicia is currently working the night shift, so since I'm done with substitute teaching and Alicia has said that she is able to sleep a lot better with me lying next to her, I am on her sleep schedule. It's actually kinda rough to sleep through the majority of the daylight hours, but Alicia gets to sleep better and I don't have to worry about disturbing her while she's asleep.
The biggest drawback though is pretty much complete confusion over what I should eat and when I should eat it. Breakfast in the evening isn't much of a stretch because you can eat breakfast at any time, but it seems very strange to cook dinner in the morning. And, while morning and evening are at least normal meal times, I have no idea when I should eat lunch. What happened last night was, I completely forgot to eat altogether, so I was super hungry when Alicia came home, then I just couldn't bring myself to eat a very big meal in the morning. I'm probably going to find myself loosing a few pounds while Alicia's on night shift, but that might actually be good for me. Anyway, I'm hungry right now, so I think I'm going to go give lunch a try.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
So much that I don't know
There have been many times that I've wanted to sit down and talk about what's been going on out here, but I either didn't have access to a computer, or I just didn't know what to say.
I'll start with my job. The schools around here seem to go really late into the summer before they're done, but by the end of next week the kids will finally be free for the summer. So while there are definitely a number of things that I'd change, like seeing the same kids more than once, or knowing what exactly I'd be doing that day when I walk through the doors, or finding out at least the day before where I'd be going or if I'd even get a call the next day, I actually do enjoy it. I've gotten to meet a lot of really great kids, I've found out that special ed classrooms really aren't that bad, and I've gotten experience being in charge of a classroom which is very very different from being a student in a classroom. It's also nice to be able to make a little money, though substitute teaching is very far from a steady income.
I believe that the last time I wrote a post I said that Alicia and I were fairly sure that we'd found a church. I suppose I could actually read my last post, but my point is that we've definitely found a church here. It's a very young church, both in the sense that the meet at the high school because they don't have their own building yet, and in the sense that most of the people who go there are roughly our age, and there are a ton of little kids. I actually went of a men's backpacking trip that they had several weeks ago and as a result of some of the conversations that I had with the pastor I've been asked if I could help out with their youth group. The only reason that I hadn't asked already to be involved is because I didn't want to come in right at the end of the year. Anyway, tonight was the first youth group that I've been to and I had a great time. It's small enough that it shouldn't take me too long to figure out their names, yet still big enough to have a couple of small groups and the ability to play most any game that you'd want. They're still trying to establish establish themselves, which is a challenge since they meet at the community senior center, but there are some great kids there, and the leadership team is amazing. I'm actually really excited to see what God has in store for this church, and also how Alicia and I might be involved with that.
Now, as far as Alicia and her job, we could really use your prayers. I'm not going to go into the details right now, but she has a meeting with an academic review board tomorrow morning at 8. She is very nervous about it because it essentially determines whether or not she will continue in her program. If she does not stay with the program, they have said on a number of occasions that there is no guarantee that she would still have a job there.
I've been asked the question by several different people, what happens if she looses her job? The short answer is, I have no idea. It doesn't really make sense to move somewhere without having a job first, but at the same time, substitute teaching doesn't pay well enough for us to be able to stay here. I'm hesitant to leave here because I think God brought us here for a reason and I'm just starting to put down some roots. But I miss my friends and family back in Nebraska and would love to be able to move back.
When we left South Carolina, I thought that this feeling of transition would finally go away, but if anything, that confusion and frustration are even stronger now. I know that God has a plan for us, and I know that all we have to do is make the best of whatever situation we are in and leave the rest up to Him, but that's a lot easier said than done, and He doesn't seem to give us much of a heads up before changing stuff on us. At this point, I just want to know what's going on.
I'll start with my job. The schools around here seem to go really late into the summer before they're done, but by the end of next week the kids will finally be free for the summer. So while there are definitely a number of things that I'd change, like seeing the same kids more than once, or knowing what exactly I'd be doing that day when I walk through the doors, or finding out at least the day before where I'd be going or if I'd even get a call the next day, I actually do enjoy it. I've gotten to meet a lot of really great kids, I've found out that special ed classrooms really aren't that bad, and I've gotten experience being in charge of a classroom which is very very different from being a student in a classroom. It's also nice to be able to make a little money, though substitute teaching is very far from a steady income.
I believe that the last time I wrote a post I said that Alicia and I were fairly sure that we'd found a church. I suppose I could actually read my last post, but my point is that we've definitely found a church here. It's a very young church, both in the sense that the meet at the high school because they don't have their own building yet, and in the sense that most of the people who go there are roughly our age, and there are a ton of little kids. I actually went of a men's backpacking trip that they had several weeks ago and as a result of some of the conversations that I had with the pastor I've been asked if I could help out with their youth group. The only reason that I hadn't asked already to be involved is because I didn't want to come in right at the end of the year. Anyway, tonight was the first youth group that I've been to and I had a great time. It's small enough that it shouldn't take me too long to figure out their names, yet still big enough to have a couple of small groups and the ability to play most any game that you'd want. They're still trying to establish establish themselves, which is a challenge since they meet at the community senior center, but there are some great kids there, and the leadership team is amazing. I'm actually really excited to see what God has in store for this church, and also how Alicia and I might be involved with that.
Now, as far as Alicia and her job, we could really use your prayers. I'm not going to go into the details right now, but she has a meeting with an academic review board tomorrow morning at 8. She is very nervous about it because it essentially determines whether or not she will continue in her program. If she does not stay with the program, they have said on a number of occasions that there is no guarantee that she would still have a job there.
I've been asked the question by several different people, what happens if she looses her job? The short answer is, I have no idea. It doesn't really make sense to move somewhere without having a job first, but at the same time, substitute teaching doesn't pay well enough for us to be able to stay here. I'm hesitant to leave here because I think God brought us here for a reason and I'm just starting to put down some roots. But I miss my friends and family back in Nebraska and would love to be able to move back.
When we left South Carolina, I thought that this feeling of transition would finally go away, but if anything, that confusion and frustration are even stronger now. I know that God has a plan for us, and I know that all we have to do is make the best of whatever situation we are in and leave the rest up to Him, but that's a lot easier said than done, and He doesn't seem to give us much of a heads up before changing stuff on us. At this point, I just want to know what's going on.
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