Kikkert bought it for $10. I feel happy. I also beat Tanton in ping pong yesterday. Here comes the Boon.
The other day I had a record of records day for my other website, www.garrettsbridges.com. I had over 5100 unique visitors in one day. That is more than double my previous record. Over 13000 pageloads across the site. I was pretty stoked. I made more through Adsense that day than I had any other day, despite the CTR being low. I also saved $200 by paying for school now through the nice exchange rate. That paid for my ticket home. I am also way ahead on my homework, at least for now.
I had a sweet talk with Dustin last night. He introduced me to a “steamer,” which is basically heated and frothed flavored milk drink. It was pretty good. I would buy one again.
WordPress 2.7 is going to be released on the 10th. I am actually super stoked because it has some sweet new features. It will be useful for my main website, garrettsbridges.com and also fun to play around with here. I wasn’t excited to upgrade to 2.6, but 2.7 is way better. Two of the new features are actually two things that I had thought of suggesting to add, which is kinda cool.
It has been a while since my last real update. This is partly due to the fact that I have been staying busy. It is also partly due to various amounts of processing I have been doing in my life these past couple months.
The semester is already half over. It has really flown by. The weeks seem to come and go as quickly as the candy I get from the ARC. I just finished a major step in this semester, a 19 page paper for my Old Testament class. I had a 30 minutes presentation with a friend to do in class, as well as a group paper of 2500 words on open theism. Group papers are so difficult to write.
Coming to this year, I was excited for my classes, but not in the same way that I was excited for what we will get to do second semester. It has taken all this time for me to shift my attitude to greatly appreciate my classes for what they are, and try to take full advantage of them.
Team Sherpa, the name for the 2nd year Explore team, definitely has created opportunities to grow in many different ways. Most of us know each other really well from last year. However, two people, in particular one of the guys, did Explore two years ago. This means I do not know him very well. Because he is a 3rd year student, he is in completely different classes and has a completely different schedule than I do. So it was naturally harder to establish a friendship. This created some conflict within the group. Some people were feeling left out, almost rejected by the others, some really didn’t know where they even fit into the team. This is something we had to deal with (and are still dealing with) as a team.
Coming into Explore, I had to deal with a lot of uncertainty in my previous choice of career. At the end of last year, I had thought I wanted to become some sort of camp director. However, I began to question that after coming back this year. So then I had to wrestle with the question, “why am I even here at Prairie and in Explore?” If this has nothing to do with what I am going to do for a career, then it almost seems like a waste of time and money.
Part of why I wanted to figure out what I wanted to do with my life comes from my goal of someday being the head of a family. I had to resettle my convictions on starting this process. Now I have come to a place of peace, and am patiently (for now, at least) awaiting a day when it will be right. It is funny though, how God sometimes answers prayer. His knowledge is above mine, His thoughts higher. Still it is funny when God doesn’t answer prayer the way you think He would.
Throughout it all, I have felt a much deeper connection with the LORD God. At times I cried out to Him in desperation, and He was faithful to comfort and calm my weary soul. I praise God for He truly incredible greatness and goodness, that His lovingkindness endures forever. That He is a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness. His love endures forever.
Perhaps tonight, the first fruitset with the 1st years, is a good picture of what is happening in my life right now. A fruitset is where we go out to the train tracks and watch the sunset. We all have a piece of fruit which we eat in unison. These sessions are rated on four separate, 1-10 scales: the beauty of the sunset, the uniqueness, the group (attitude), and the fruit. This one was rated 8, 5, 8, 9 respectively. That brings an average of 7.5, which is decent. The group was Dustin, Beth F., Anna, Samantha, and I. Hopefully more of the first years will join in later.
This summer I have had the incredible opportunity to work at Historic Banning Mills running their canopy/zipline tours. I first heard about the tour over Christmas break last year. I wanted to go on it with my bro, but it didn’t work out. I applied to work there as soon as I got home for Christmas break, and the rest is history. Because of the skills and training I had in school, I was readily accepted as part of the facilitator team.
My first task was to learn how to receive people coming into the end of a zipline. As a guide, I must judge their speed and tell them when to break. As I watch them coming down the line, there are several factors I must consider: Weight, form, gender, and previous experience. Guys typically go faster than gals. Some people react faster than others when I give them the signal to apply the breaks. Some don’t react at all. Heavier people go faster but also slow down faster. To make matters more interesting, the four ziplines are all different. This is an art I was still perfecting at the end of the summer.
Then I got to learn how to send people off down the zipline. To do this, one must be skilled in dealing with extremely scared people. You have to talk them through hooking up the gear, and sometimes must hook their gear up for them. Getting people to jump off the very first platform is especially difficult. Most people are scared of heights and don’t have a lot of trust in the gear. It doesn’t make it easier that they must step out onto a little platform 60 feet up in the air with nothing much to hold on to.
I met some really neat people over the summer. I got to be on TV and had a radio interview through Banning Mills. I met people from Sweden and Germany. I met engineers who would study the design and construction of the course, pointing out the possible failure points. I also met “Big Nerd Ranch” folks who spent their days writing C++ code for Mac programs. I met people who had done a canopy tour or ziplines in Costa Rica, Belize, Mexico, Alaska, and other places. The youngest person I took was 11, and the oldest was 78. I had adrenaline junkies and scared-to-death middle aged ladies, all in the same tour. One day we had a group of debutantes. The very next tour was the Atlanta chapter of Women on Wheels.
It was very interesting to see how all these different people reacted to the challenges of the canopy tour. The basic tour consists of 3 ziplines and 6 cable and wooden bridges. Some people liked the ziplines and hated the bridges. Others loved the bridges. Some people left the platform screaming. Others stopped in the middle to take pictures. People would ask if the job ever got boring. No, there is no way it could. Every tour was completely different because of the people in it.
Today I ran my last tour, at least my last one for a while. I head back to school up in Canada in a couple days. It was a little hard to leave the place that had blessed me in so many ways over the summer. Not only did it provide me with a way to make some money over the summer, but it also helped me improve my people skills and gave me contacts for the future.
It was a drizzly winter day. Most people stayed indoors, but 4 men had a mission to accomplish. Names have been changed to protect the innocent, or in this case, the guilty.
Each man knew the mission would be hard, and there was no telling when they would return to the base camp. Silently they prepared for departure. Each one packed enough food for a week, and warm clothes to survive in the harsh winter temperatures. Their mission would take them far out in into the wilderness and they had no one to rely on but themselves.
The gear they packed into the 2.5 ton, 1986 army truck was specific to their mission. Stealth would be required rather than force. When everything was ready, recon team Alpha loaded up and headed out into enemy territory.
At first the going was easy. The snow on the mountain pass had begun to melt into a slush. This helped to reduce the noise from the truck. The pouring rain also helped mask the noise.
Joe drove while Dave navigated. Sometimes Dave had to stand on the driver’s kickboard and tell Joe when the truck was getting too close to the edge. A two hundred cliff to the left demanded care be taken on this narrow pass. Ryan and “Bulldog” Sam rode in the bed of the truck, awaiting their turn for action. They were not worried at all about running off the cliff because Joe was a trusty driver. They had been in situations like this before.
As they traveled further up the mountain, the rain turned to snow. The temperatures decreased, and Ryan and Bulldog put on extra clothes for warmth. The truck began to have difficulty on the road, and the snow chains were tested to the max. While those in the cab enjoyed a relatively smooth ride, the two in the back had it rough. The truck bounced up and down so much Ryan and Bulldog had to stand up and hold onto what they could to avoid being knocked about everywhere.
Going went slower and slower until finally the truck came to a standstill. It was effectively stuck in the snow. But this was expected, and this is why the men had packed shovels. When they had dug enough snow that the truck could advance again, they loaded back in and started up the mountain once more.
But after this point the stops became more and more frequent. The truck would only move 20 feet or so before more digging was required. Ryan and Bulldog eventually started walking beside or behind the truck with shovels in hand. Every time the truck was stuck, they would rush to the front and start shoveling snow.
And so the hours passed. It became a race with time, as the hour of darkness was approaching. The snow on the side of the road was waist deep or deeper. It became deeper as the men shoveled the snow drifts out of the road, if it could even be called a road at this point. In some places the men digging in the road could not see over the piles of snow to the side. But this did not stop them, and they plodded on.
The men knew they would fail this mission if they could not move faster. At any moment an enemy scout might spot them and they would be trapped. And with every inch further along the road, their chance of getting caught increased.
Then it happened. The wheels of the truck caught in the snow and jerked to the right. The steering wheel whipped around several times and caught Joe’s hand. AAAAAAAHHH! A scream of pain shot through the air. Joe’s thumb was broken. Unfortunately the men did not have a medic with them, so they had to send Joe back. They radioed down to the base camp for someone to bring another vehicle as far up the road as they could to meet Joe.
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But the mission was not yet complete. The three men left knew they had to go on. They continued moving the truck forward, inches at a time. The fear of the enemy hung heavy on each of the three men left and they worked as fast as they could.
Now darkness was setting in, and they had to turn on the truck’s headlamps. This only increased the chance of them being discovered. In desperation, Bulldog began to work in a frenzy. He worked his way up the road ahead of the truck clearing as much snow as he could. Sometimes the truck’s wheels would sink low into the snow and the truck would be suspended on its axles. Ryan kept his shovel close to the truck to lend assistance when this happened.
But they seemed to be getting nowhere, and the deadline for turnaround was approaching. Yet the road was too narrow to turn the truck around, so they had to keep going. In a burst of momentum the truck roared up the section of road Bulldog had cleared. The men felt like cheering. But then disaster struck.
The back end of the truck slipped off the track and swung the truck around till it was almost perpendicular to the road. Then the engine coughed and died. Despite Dave’s best efforts after restarting the truck, the truck would not budge. Tired Bulldog and Ryan both agreed that there was no way the truck would go anywhere without more help. They quickly discussed the situation, and Dave made a decision. “We have to turn back. I will radio to tell them we are on the way.”
But unfortunately they were not able to communicate with the base camp. This left the men in a dilemma. Stuck, without a vehicle in enemy territory. It was now very dark, and the cold air penetrated the clothes of everyone.
Dave, the highest ranking officer of the group barked out orders. “On the double, men. We have to catch up with Joe before he rendezvous with the medic. If not, we will have to hike all the way out ourselves.”
So they set off at a trot. But it readily became apparent that Dave was slowing the group down. He was having trouble running on the icy snow with all their gear. Ryan stopped and called a meeting. He suggested that they send a man ahead while the other two keep on at a slower pace. This was agreed to, and Bulldog started off again. Once he met with Joe and the medic, he would keep them from leaving until Dave and Ryan showed up. At least that was the idea.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, and indeed it was, all the men arrived safely back at base. Joe was able to get medical attention, and he ended up not needed surgery. However, he was out of commission for a while.
The first afternoon back most people went on a gear trip. Just a handful of us stayed. I wanted to finish my lost and found paper, and repair some gear (sewing plus gluing). There was a men’s retreat going on this weekend at camp, so we weren’t supposed to hang out in the Lodge. A section in the office was set up for us to hang out in instead. After lunch, I met three former explore students, Andy Peckham, Katie and Tim. They are hanging out at camp for the weekend. Katie lives in Plains. Also Aaron was visiting for the weekend (former camp staff). After lunch we sat around a table and talked. Pam was also there, and she explained the changes to the explore program to the others. She went into a lot of depth, and I learned some new things.
It was fun to watch the interaction between there former students, all of whom had been interns. It made me really want to stay for the reunion. But I really don’t think that is a possibility. There is another former explore student here, John, whom Dwayne says I remind him of. Evidently we both play frisbee the same way. John and Josh went to shuttle some people around so I haven’t had the opportunity to talk with him much.
It is good to be back. Right now, until the retreat is over, all team Burgundy guys are sharing Black Team’s room. Tomorrow night Dylan, Kyle, and I will hopefully move back into Red Team’s old room. It is kinda hard, because I can’t really unpack everything right now because I am just going to move it. My packing job was kinda rushed because of the excursion Brad and I went on Thursday night.
It is kinda sad to see that a lot of camp staff are no longer here. Aaron, Bethany, Jenna, John Curry, Nate, and Christa are gone.
