Cold December Night

     I was outside this evening playing a challenge tennis match at the Cary Tennis Park. The wind was gusty and the temperature must have been around freezing. With a new grip on the tennis racquet and good lights, I played good to win the match. It was the final week in this fall challenge ladder and I finished with a record of 10-0, but now the tournament week starts. In the background my new Sony HDTV is showing SNF in 1080i HD video. The digital channels like 17.1 and DVD's played through my laptop, connected with an HDMI cable look super sharp. PowerDVD and Windows Media Center will upconvert the movies when played through the HDMI output connection to the 32" HDTV. I like the various features like wide zoom and scene modes that are available with this TV. Besides watching movies, sports, and news programs, I created several greeting cards to send to family and friends this year. I upgraded my software to the 2011 Deluxe version and printed out a card for my sister and sent it out. This weekend, I took two vacation days for a break from my regular schedule. My schedule includes spending about an hour each day staying updated with the latest computer and network technology to offer excellent computer repair services. In addition, I try to complete a small electronics project or practice flying my new RC helicopter outdoors in an open field once a week. Saturday, while hiking a trail it started to snow. On the drive home, it was heavy snow and sticking to the grassy surfaces. I got this slavation bracelet for Christmas from Mom and it has six different colors on it. The white or clear color beed represents when we become a Christian, we are clean and are sins are forgiven. This bracelet is a good way to share the salvation message with strangers if they ask about what the colors mean. This afternoon I did some shopping around town and used a gift card that my parents gave me for Christmas. I browsed in outdoors, electronics, office, and  discount stores at Crossroads and the Kildare Farms areas. With temps in the 30's most of today, it sure felt like winter and was a good day to hang out inside. Well, it is getting late tonight, so without any more words, here are some select photos that I took with my phone camera last month and the descriptions:

RC Helicopters for some flying fun.

Hours of studying computer technology books.

Home for Thanksgiving with Family.

The trees changing colors and falling behind my apartment.

October Arrives

     Today is the first day of October. In a few minutes I will walk down to the apartment clubhouse to pay my rent for the month. I am thankful for a new paycheck the other day in my bank account from Fastteks. It has been a busy week with my on-site tech support job. I had to clean up several Windows machines from infected malware files. One site that I read some articles from about computer security and removal instructions is at www.2-viruses.com. I use Open DNS for my internet connection servers and it works great to keep I.E. from being re-directed to rogue anti-virus and spyware websites. I also setup a BIOS supervisor password today on my Vista desktop, just another way to increase the security level. In the news today I read about a worm that is infecting computers in Iran, called the Suxtnet worm. However, this one targets industrial computer systems, not home PCs, like the ones that I deal with often. I enjoyed playing a new puzzle and concentration game that I got for my Windows 7 laptop, called Brain Games2. The jigsaw puzzle game is my favorite so far. There are alot of birds outside my window this morning, enjoying the bird seed in the bird feeder. Small, fast birds, red cardinals, gray colored birds, and brown ones. At one point, it looked like five or six birds flying around. Yesterday I went in a PetSmart store at Beaver Creek to look at the fish and birds. I saw a beta fish that looked very similar to my ECU fish I had for a few years. A couple of other activities I did last week, attend the SAS golf tournament at Prestonwood on the free day to walk around, and take pictures, and go to a tennis meetup group at Pullen Park. Thankfully, this area got some much needed rain last week. It finally stopped raining today, after two full days of heavy rain, over 6" in Raleigh, and over 22" at the coast, and is now sunny outside. This weather and my reading on a Christian prophecy website, reminds me of Noah's Ark. In fact Noah entered the Ark during this time of year, thousands of years ago, which is late October to November. After safe in the Ark, the 40 days of rains began, which maybe is a foreshadowing of the final seven years of Jacob's trouble or the tribulation that may begin soon. After those seven years I expect the Lord to return to the Mt. of Olives along with the church to start the new millenium. I downloaded some Christian mp3 files to my sansa clip player and listened to them while walking on a greenway in Apex yesterday. The songs are positive and encouraging for the challenges I face each day. Here are some pics from my various travels the last few weeks:

Fast moving water after lots of rain



Driving range at Prestonwood CC




Tennis meetup group at Pullen Park



September Journeys

This month has about ten days left in it. Although it is late September the weather is still like hot summer days. The high temp today and for most of the week will be in the mid 90's. Tough weather for staying active and cool at the same time. I rode my bike after work this evening at Bond park, and it was still hot and humid. It gets dark earlier each passing day and I used a bike headlight to see the trails and get back home safely. Going to a gym that is air conditioned and lighted helps out when it gets darker earlier. My journey in the gym started with a one hour workout on September 1st. They moved the fitness equipment around in the gym and there was a new tread mill machine. They also added a nice 32" HDTV so people can watch sports or news while running or riding the exercise bikes. I usually see the same faces working out each time that I use this apartment gym. Most of this month I have been fairly consistent in using the gym about one day a week. I am still playing tennis at least once every two weeks and I attended an RDU tennis meetup the first week in September at Lion's park. It was the advanced singles group, and I won all the sets that I played. I played one or two additional evenings of singles as well as doubles. On Saturday mornings this month I have been attending a disc golf meetup group that plays different courses in the area. I got an "ace", hole in one at the Cornwallis course on September 11th. However, I lost another good driver disc at Harris Lake park trying to clear the lake on hole #10 from the pro tee. Last weekend I played a new course with the meetup group near Fuquay for the first time. I purchased a headlight for my bike and since have been riding more often. This month I have rode about two days each week, at parks such as Harris Lake, Lake Crabtree, the ATT, and Lake Johnson trails. I am thankful for my good health and the beauty of God's creation that I can enjoy while outdoors. The fall season is just a few days away, this Wednesday is the first day of fall. There is also a full moon this Thursday and the start of the Feast of Tabernacles for the Jewish people. I am hoping for the rapture to possibly happen this week or early next week. I was reading lots of articles that point to this time of year as the Lord's return nears. I hope that my journey will take me to heaven sometime before the end of this month. I attended the journey single's worship night at HCC on Friday and won a door prize, a devotional book for Men. Now I can read through the Bible in a year. It was a good evening of fellowship, singing, and listening to a sermon about how women think. I hope this will help me to get some more dates and better relationships in the weeks ahead. Last Thursday there was a single's social night with pizza and small group discussions at a friend's house a few minutes down the road. I wish I would not have to work so many weekends so that I can enter tournaments and win a prize or trophy. But then I think that rewards in heaven are better to achieve then earthly rewards. I chose this orange color type font because it is getter closer to that "Harvest" time of year. Even at work, lots of the displays are changing to orange color as the marketing guys know that fall is in the air. But I don't want to fall I want to rise up into the clouds someday. Here are some photos that I took with my phone camera on this September journey, enjoy: 



By Harris Lake, tall reeds growing, and lily pads in the waters.



Driving on I-40 at night, view from driver's seat with night mode on.





That's a "hole in one" ace at Cornwallis DGC, hole #4.



Yellow sunflowers off the trail on a September bike ride.