2011 is Here, but looking back at photos from the last two months of 2010:

     Well, I am hopeful that this will be a great year, with lots of opportunities and fun times in store. I need to stay focused and determined to change my lazy lifestyle starting on Monday. I think it is important to live a balanced lifestyle, and not have all fun and no work. So far the weather has been mild these first few days of 2011. However, it has been a few rainy days and been only good for staying inside the apartment. However, with the weather getting brighter on Monday, I've got some plans to play sports outdoors the next two days. I need to stay active, which helps lose some weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle. I also resolve to increase my skills and training by taking a couple of certification exams this month or next. I may build and or upgrade a new desktop computer this winter if I have enough cash in the bank, and the parts are on sale. I was challenged today at church to start attending a small group at least once a week. The name of the church is New Horizons Fellowship, which is a great name for starting out the new year looking ahead at my new horizons. Don't know exactly what this year has in terms of economic and prophetic, but I can adjust to any horizon that is visible in the far off sky. Shades of red, blue, gold, yellow, and orange are the spectrum of light that I want to see and work with in 2011. I left 2010 behind while attending a party with other Christian singles at the Herbert Young Community Center. We had a nice dinner, then I played ping pong and foosball for an hour. Then I put on a hat and as the year changed I toasted others and made noise with a paper horn. I would rate my last two months of 2010 about an 8 out of 10, and would say that the year went out with a bang and like a Lion. Here are a few photos and descriptions taken with my phone camera in November and December 2010:

Mom and Dad Visit Early December

Setup Toy Display for Christmas Sales

 

Pharoah's Hotdogs near North Hills

Bright Lights of a Christmas Tree at Church

Photo taken while riding with Dad passing Charlotte Motor Speedway

Playing a round of disc golf with a meetup group

On a pier at a small lake at Umstead Park, my bike is on the bridge in distance

Snapped this photo while driving, and noticed my ODO is on 180,000 miles

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