Still in Singapore

Well, it has been another busy day. Worked all day, then took a boat trip (1 hour each way) to Indonesia. Had to go through customs on each end, both coming and going (4 times total). Indonesia is incredibly 3rd world. It was like detroit with all of the delapidated buildings and empty areas.

Have had quite a bit of success on the business end of this trip. Things are going well. We have a much better schedule than Mike and Bryan had last time when they came over.

The Pasmas have been great. Andy has done something with us every night. Last night we went into Chinatown and I picked up some gifts for Cherith and Mara.

I'm beat. Time to call it a night. (as it is 11:09 pm over here and I've been up since 6 am)

Aloha.

Singapore/Travel

Well, I'm in Singapore. The family I am staying with is great. Nice big place and wireless Internet. As good as home.

Except for the whole my family is not here thing. I really missed them today. Just the thought of travelling for over 24 hours to go half way around the world from the people you love seems crazy. But, here I am.

Anyway, I will be glad when we can get this project done and get back to where we belong.

The 24 hours of travel was as brutal as I thought. I think the only thing that will make it better on the return trip is that it is the return trip and I am coming home. That still feels a long ways away (over a week).

All for now, as it is after 1 am on Saturday morning here.

Aloha.

Aloha

I have been asked why I sign off with Aloha and not something else, like Shalom. Well, it's my blog and I'll sign off however I want. It is a Magnum PI thing.

Also, thanks to my wife who asked the question and pointed out the grammatical error with the original its, now it's, in the middle sentence above and the proper spelling of sentence.

Also, thanks for calling my sentence weird.

Aloha.

Singapore

Well, I leave for Singapore on Thursday, Oct 21. I have a leadership conference happening at Cornerstone that I am responsibile for the satellite feed for. Ironically, our University Leadership Team is scheduled to be at a retreat away from campus during this leadership conference. Take that for what that's worth.

Singapore. 20 hours of flight time, 12 times zones away (read, half way around our 24 hour world). Leave at 9:30 am Thursday, arrive 10:30 pm Friday evening. Looking forward to seeing new place. Not looking forward to all the rest. Also not looking forward to being away from my family for 10 days. :-(

Anyway, going to keep this short. Hopefully, the world keeps spinning until I get back.

I will try to post while I am over there, but we'll see how that works out.

Aloha.

New Hires

Choices. Life is full of them. One of the most interesting to me is who to hire for a job. I have the opportunity to hire a student worker. I interviewed 4 candidates. Only 2 really have any chance. As I look at the 2 potentials, I see the differnet strengths and weaknesses of each candidate. I anticipate the different paths they will take and the different training and style of trainer each would need. It is a little like chess, but significantly more complicated.

Aloha.

Today

I just finished watching the movie Starship Troopers 2. While it was a good movie in its own right, the only connection to the book or the original movie, really, was the setting. It is like those Star Wars / Star Trek alternate universe books, where they create a good story and set it in the universe, but there is no connection to the original books/movies/TV shows.

So, I enjoyed the movie, but it missed a lot of the universe feel, in the same way the original did. There wasn't much of the political/philosophical, other than trite, single-dimensional Fascist overtones at very specific points (which completely misses the theme of the book).

I spent some time over at my grandparent's house tonight. Cherith and I went over with Mara and visited. We had a good time. Mara didn't sleep well today, I don't think she deals well with atmospheric pressure changes. She tends to get gassy and that makes her fussy and that makes her wake up during naps.

Got my hair cut today.

Got the demo of Rome:Total War that I need to take into work for Scott.

I really dislike it (nearly hate it) when movies fail to capture the flavor of the book. Black Hawk Down, LOTR, and Gettysburg all did well capturing the author's intent. Starship Troopers the movie did not. I could read the book over and over. The movie is OK, but lacks the depth of the book.

My wife and I have been talking about starting a couple's ministry for our church. I think it would be a good thing to do for a number of reasons. We've wanted to for a long while. We 've been married for 11 years and have had the opportunity to work through normal marital issues. Now would be a good time to add something positive to our church, as our pastor is called up to active Guard duty for the next 18 months or so. Don't know.

Thinking about joining the Guard myself. Have to work out officer logistics there, but age limit is higher and commitment wouldn't take me away from family unless called up (which in this climate is likely, but less family away time than full time active duty service.) We'll see what the recruiter says re: officer status.

Well, need to get to sleep.

Aloha.