After a long absence...greatness returns...

So I had a good friend let me know a couple of days ago that I failed at blogging. This struck deep into my heart like a searing knife of hurt and disappointment. It filled me with a bitter sense of disillusionment. A whirling tornado of confusion and despondency if you will. I realized that I have let everyone down. I know that all of you had come to count on me to bring class and dignity to the blogging world. I have failed. But now I am returning with a vengeance. So here we go...I'm bringing back all that is right and good to the blogging world. Class, dignity, first rate writing, quick wit, social commentary, and last but certainly not least...a little bit of David Levin.

So I guess I could start off by reviewing everything that's happened since I last blogged but that's probably going to be to long and boring for anyone to read and for me to type...I'm falling asleep just thinking about it...ok so I'll hit the highlights in bullet point format for those of you who like lists. If you don't like lists...stop reading now.

-School=done, finito, finished...except...no

-NCSU=pathetic at sports and at letting me finish my freakin degree

-Tutoring=busy...need more time to fit everyone in

-Camp=I love the Storm. Period. (Oh and we are going to rock Lighthouse today by the way...its at 6:30 p.m. if you want to come watch)

-Weather=Interesting...probably will snow today just enough to disrupt everyone but not enough to be impressive or to sled down falls dam like I really want to!

-Christmas= No this needs its own paragraph...

Christmas is a time that I really detest. Well let me preface this by saying that there are parts of Christmas that I do like...such as the whole celebrating the birth of Jesus thing and the fact that I'm off school/work for a couple of weeks/days. But the reality is that Christmas combines many of my least favorite things in all the world:

1. Decorating...I hate it. It's like putting a piece of furniture together. You can never do it exactly like it supposed to be and there's always a piece missing and the whole thing ends up taking HOURS when it should just take a few minutes.

2. Shopping...Stab me with a fork. Once again, this is something that should not take long but ends up dominating your life. I mean I know its the thought that counts but if that was really true then we would get to Christmas morning and say "Hey mom, I got you a...thought". Don't think thats going to work there buddy. So the result is that you spend hours looking for the perfect gift...the one that will make everyone else's gift look like a perfectly wrapped turd...and of course you don't find it because its CHRISTMAS EVE and all the good gifts have already been bought by the people who started shopping the day after Thanksgiving. You also ever notice how NO ONE is ever happy when your shopping? Maybe everyone else feels the same way I do...hmmm. Well the end result is that you just don't care anymore and you end up getting a gift card...haha which I actually like getting so maybe its not that bad. So if any of you are out there shopping for me a perfect gift (which I know you all are), for me that is a gift card because I understand your predicament.

3. Christmas music...Forget waterboarding and Guantanamo Bay. Let's just sit the terrorist suspects in a room by themselves and have them listen to 30 days straight of Christmas music. Guarantee that you would find Osama. They would give him up. NO HUMAN BEING can endure that. So why do radio stations think its a good idea to start playing non-stop christmas music right after Thanksgiving? I mean there are only like 15 Christmas songs and of those 15 only 2 or 3 are above the musical level of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Seriously I think if I hear Little Drummer Boy one more time I may have a mental breakdown from the sheer monotony.

Well I think I will stop there for now. It feels good to be back. I promise to be more regular...wait...that doesn't sound the way I meant it. I promise to write more often....there that's better! Hope you enjoyed this literary masterpiece I composed for you.

Shout-Outs:

Ashley McGarvey--Thanks for inspiring me to post again.

Andrew Miller--Thanks for graduating...you inspire me to graduate sometime

Robbie Wible--Thanks for completely falling for the whole "Sam switched the numbers in your phone" bit last night. That made my night.

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Lamar Valley

Today was what I like to call a "postcard" day. Perfect sunny blue skies, light wind, perfect temperature...all I can say is wow! I took a short drive up to Falls Lake today since I am on fall break and spent a little time with God by the lake that was much needed. I don't know about you but sometimes you just get to the point where you just feel tired of life. Not tired like "I'm going to kill myself" tired (haha) but just kinda worn down and wondering where the heck you are going. I know that means that I haven't spent as much time with God as I have trying to "make my life work". Isn't it funny how the more time you spend with God and the less time you spend trying to figure everything in your life out, the more peaceful you become?

Anyways, at the lake sitting there on the shore with no one in sight on this perfect sunny day, I couldn't help but think of the most perfect place in the world. In case you were wondering that place is called Lamar Valley. It's in Wyoming on the NE side of Yellowstone National Park. It's a wide valley surrounded by some of the Rocky Mountains and cutting through the middle of it is a crystal clear river of ice cold water freshly melted off the glaciers. Off in the fields you can see wild buffalo grazing on the emerald green grass. It is just awesome...words can't really describe it but I could just sit there for days and drink in the view without ever getting bored. I've always thought that's what heaven will be like. Take the most beautiful place in the world, the place where you just feel at peace. Then imagine the most perfect day (like today) and imagine you are in your "Lamar Valley" and then multiply the beauty and the "perfectness" by 10000000 and you get something that doesn't even come close! This is what I was thinking as I was sitting by the lake and longing to be at Lamar Valley. It was also when I turned to Psalm 84. You should read it so I won't spoil it for you but basically it talks about how lovely God's dwelling place is. It's like God was telling me that I wasn't really longing for Lamar Valley. I was longing for Him! In Him is where we find everything that makes us whole. He is our "Lamar Valley". When you see God for who He really is (and days like today help) you can't help but be in awe and praise Him. He is the summation of all of our longings and desires. He is that thing that you just...want...you know....that thing that if you had it would make life all you dream of...that thing you can't exactly put your finger on but you would know if you saw it? That's Jesus for you!

Well I thought I should blog this because it was just one of those amazing days...perhaps you may think I am a little out there but that's why it's my blog and not yours haha.

In other news...

1. Tutoring is taking over my life. It would be no problem for me to go full time in this. I'm not sure I want to as right now my schedule is crammed full. It's a good problem to have though and I thank God for the response to my flyer.

2. First upward games this weekend...my team got destroyed in scrimmage this week so maybe back to the drawing board for practice next week.

3. School is going better...haven't seen my last test yet but I'm pretty sure I did alright. Now if only I could get my committee to approve my schedule then maybe I could set up my final exam!

Fun Stuff...

1. Flash Forward is a sick nasty show!! I wasn't sure whether I would like it or not so I watched the first few episodes on hulu. Now I don't miss. There's more going on than just everybody blacking out and seeing the future....I'm just waiting to find out more. I don't even know if the date April 29 is even significant...I think that may just be a rabbit trail!

2. NC State football is doing their usual thing of getting your hopes up with a great comeback against Pitt and then losing to Wake Forest. Well at least they are better than at this time last year...although we now know that Russell Wilson is human. I was beginning to wonder but yep...two picks vs. WF...he's human folks!

3. The Carolina Panthers are probably the worst team in the NFL.

4. NBA season is coming up in less than a month! Can't wait to see the completely revamped Magic team!


Shout-Outs:

Bristol Lowder--Ok I will admit Va. Tech is not completely over-rated but I will also say that watching them play is not exactly visually exciting. Perhaps they will win the ACC though for whatever that's worth these days!

Sean Hefner--Have you taken your "vidacin" yet today? Haha you get beat up more than any person that I know...get better and no more "touch" football for you.

Jacob Suffridge--Buy more protein for Robbie.

'Till next time...

-D-Lev

Another week, another blog :)

Wow so this week has been busy to say the least! I finally got my tutoring flyer out and the first day it went out I had around 30 emails and 5 phone calls about it. In fact, I'm still at this moment returning email and setting up my schedule. This is a good thing but honestly I had no idea that there would be this much demand for a math tutor. I mean, people even want to meet on Saturday! I don't want to do math on Saturday! Haha oh well, it is a good thing I guess because I had been praying for God to provide for us financially and then within a week, this happens. I think I may be getting over-booked though and am considering hiring another tutor to work for me to take some of the load off. We shall see I guess.

It's amazing to me how quickly I can get distracted from what is really important. I was reading yesterday in Matthew the "sermon on the mount" I started reading it because in BLAST we are covering the Beattitudes this year and I really don't understand some of them to be perfectly honest with you. As I read the whole thing in it's entirety it just seemed like God was telling me to stop sweating the small stuff and just focus on seeking Him. I mean, we are called to be salt and light! We can't reflect Him unless we are close to Him. We can't be close to Him unless we seek Him. But as we seek Him we are not to "worry about tomorrow, about what we will eat or what we will wear" (paraphrase). Why not go hard after Him and after His business and not worry about stuff that God already knows I need? Not exactly what I planned to get out of reading that passage (I still need to figure out the beattitudes) but God has a funny way of showing me exactly what I need at the time. I have been trying to figure out what to do after December (since hopefully I will be done with school at that time) but I have been trying to figure it out all by myself. I realize that that's not my job. My job is to seek God hard. That's it. He will show me everything else and provide everything I need along the way. I mean, isn't that what I was created for in the first place? To have a relationship with the God of the universe?

Some random observations:

1. ACC football--BC=down year, Maryland=should be an FCS team since they seem to lose to them quite often, Virginia=who cares, Virginia Tech=it hurts me to watch their offense and their run defense looks like a spaghetti strainer, therefore they are over-rated, Wake Forest=missing all those defensive starters from last year, Carolina=good defense, offense...ummm we shall see, NC State=well at least we can crush FCS teams Maryland!, Duke football=oxymoron, Clemson=decent but will lose to South Carolina this year so that will mean a bad season for them, Georgia Tech=like their running game but they have a hard time stopping anyone, Florida State=good team and I like Christian Ponder but aren't quite good enough yet to win the ACC, Miami=class of the ACC and I believe a national championship contender...Jacory Harris is the man...yes I have jumped on the bandwagon...I like how they have stepped up and aren't afraid to play a tough early schedule! I mean their first 4 games are #18 Florida State, #15 Georgia Tech, #11 Virginia Tech, and Oklahoma (whatever they will be ranked next week). Kudos to them!

2. This hurricane season=sucks. I was planning on getting in some good hurricane chasing this fall but it's hard to chase hurricanes when they don't happen! I can't even remember a season with this little amount of activity. Perhaps that means nothing to you but it stinks for me...therefore I am posting it in this blog.

3. I am running out of time to write.

Shout outs:

Chris Williams--Those were some sick nasty shots you were making in open gym last night sir. My hat is off to your basketball skill.

Jake Delhomme--You did not throw 5 interceptions this week. Good job.

Rebecca Carlson--I have not given you a shout-out yet and this is bad. Rebecca, even though you always "have to go home" and never do anything fun, you are awesome! You are one of my favorite people.

That's all for now...'till next time!

-D-Lev

Epic Fail.....

First of all, many apologies for not posting in so long...wait why am I apologizing...it's my blog I can post whenever I want to dang it! Anyways, I was trying to think of an appropriate title to accurately describe my day yesterday and the words "epic fail" came to mind. Ever had one of those days where absolutely nothing seems to work right and you begin to wonder if you have completely lost any and all ability to do ANYTHING???? Well that was yesterday. It all started two weeks ago when I got a homework assignment from my professor. Now this professor likes to give "homework" assignments that in any other class would be considered semester projects. This one was no exception and without going into all the boring detail about it, it basically involved writing a program to calculate how big a raindrop can grow by collecting other raindrops on its way through a 3 kilometer thick cloud (yes that is the short version of the problem...). Well I have never taking a computer programming class so I have oh...um....ZERO knowledge of how to code this problem. I would like to point out also that this is a METEOROLOGY class and NOT A PROGRAMMING class so WHY IS MY GRADE DEPENDENT ON MY ABILITY TO WRITE A PROGRAM!!!!??? Perhaps I am just a little bitter. Well I actually got a program written that semi-worked. It made the drop grow over time...unfortunately by t=50 seconds, the drop was bigger than the earth. Yes that's right, I created the biggest raindrop in the universe. After checking all my equations etc...I still could not figure out why the program was blowing up the drop size so i thought to myself, "I should go ask my professor about it". A logical thought right? Well this was on Wednesday and so I go all the way to NC State and knock on my professor's door only to find out that "she's not in on Wednesday". Perfect. After trying to get the program to work for another 3 HOURS, I email the file to my professor and ask her why she thought it wasn't working. 3 HOURS later, I recieve a reply telling me to do a bunch of stuff THAT I HAD ALREADY TOLD HER THAT I HAD DONE!!! By this time, I had had enough for the day and headed home...planning on getting up early on Thursday and coming in to work on it before class. So I get up early Thursday and go all the way to NC State again...only to find out that my professor hadn't come in yet. Again, perfect. I tried working on the project myself once again with no results until about 12:30 p.m. when I decided to go check and see if my professor was in again. This time I actually made contact! By making contact I mean that as soon as she saw me she said and I quote, "I have another meeting right now" and shut the door in my face. Jerk. (Other words which I won't say in this blog). Ok so I had worked hard on this stupid assignment for a week and failed, tried to get help, failed, and now it was time to turn it in. So I printed out my program and the graphs of the drop that was bigger than the earth, title it "This really sucks" and handed it in. Actually I titled it while I was working on it in a moment of frustration and then forgot to change the title before I handed it in. I believe that it accurately sums up my assesment of the problem however in hindsight I probably would have wanted to change it before handing in the load of crap that was my homework. Guess what grade this guy will receive on that homework? You guessed it...and F--.

So to sum it all up, this project has been the main reason why I have not posted in the last week. Now that it is over I have some sense of relief but I still want to finish that program and have it work right just for the principle of the matter.

Things I'm Looking Forward To:

1. Upward practice tonight...I like my team a lot. They may not have the most talent but they listen and work hard which makes coaching enjoyable! They will be pushed hard tonight haha!

2. NC State vs. Gardner Webb (football)--One thing you can always count on, State will schedule the worst football teams to play early in the season. The second thing you can usually count on is that they will find a way to lose to at least one of those teams. However, after last weeks BEATDOWN of Murray St. (65-7) perhaps there's hope for this season after all. I know it was just Murray St. but 65-7??? We NEVER do that, not even against bad teams.

4. Having healthy wrists--after barely being able to move them on Tuesday and Wednesday, I could finally shoot a basketball again yesterday. Lifting weights still kills but at least they're getting better. Here's a tip, when you fall from a great distance its best just to go ahead and take it. Don't try to catch yourself with your hands. Just thought I would throw that out there.

Things I'm Not Looking Forward To:

1. Watching Jake Delhomme play football. Jake Delhomme=suck. Why do the Panther's have to have the WORST quarterback in the NFL? In the last two games, Jake has amassed the amazing totals of 9 interceptions and 3 lost fumbles. Pretty sure I could go out and throw 9 picks in two games.

2. Ending this post...this has been the longest post in the world and it's time for it to stop. 'Nuff said.

Shout-Outs:

Polar Bear at the NC Zoo--Thanks for staying out in the heat to play in the water for us last Saturday. I would have been a little upset if you hadn't and that's an understatement.

Drew Claybrook--You may not read this blog but if you do, thanks for spending hours helping me with my crap assignment this week. You were a lifesaver.

'Till next time...

-D-Lev

Blog Schmlog...

Yeah so actually I just wanted to write "schmlog" to see what it looked like...kinda interesting but it has nothing to do with the content of this post.

Random thoughts:

1. I have decided that the show Man vs. Wild is quite possibly the manliest show on television. I will admit, I have gotten a bit hooked on it lately but it's such an awesome show! First of all, the show is this guy who gets dropped off in some of the most hostile places in the world with nothing but a backpack with a rope and a knife and then has to survive for several days while trying to find rescue. This guy has survived in places like the Vietnamese jungle to the frozen tundra of Alaska. He has to create his own shelter out of whatever material he can find and eat and drink whatever is available. I have seen him do things like crawl into a camel carcass to shelter himself from a dust storm in the sahara desert or eat a meal of grilled scorpion for dinner! Pretty hardcore. Plus the guy's name is Bear! I mean...with a name like "Bear" you pretty much HAVE to be manly don't you? Anyways, you should check the show out...it's pretty intense.

2. There's no way that computer programming has ANYTHING to do with the dynamics of cloud formation! So why was I given a homework which is going to be graded on my ability to code a program when I am supposed to be learning about the processes that form clouds? By the way, you can skip this section...I am just ranting about school and it feels good to just let it out and have a good cry (single tear)....whew that's better...ok now I'm embarrassing myself and I need to stop. I will just add that my ability to write a computer program is about the same as Brett Favre's ability to stay retired. 'Nuff said. Homework failed. Nothing learned. Boo NC State.

3. Speaking of NC State, we have our first football game tonight vs. South Carolina. Now last year, we lost 30-0 which was the start of a very long season in which if Russel Wilson played we won and if he didn't play, we lost....well....30-0. Hopefully this year will be better but I am excited about football season starting up again. Also looking forward to the VaTech/Alabama game on Sat...not a better way to begin the season than with a Hokie loss (hehe that's for you Bristol j/k). Actually I'm more of an NFL fan and once again this promises to be a long season for my team (the Panthers). Our defense gave up over 30 points in the last 3-4 games of last season and now our two best players on defense are injured! So I can only imagine how many touchdowns we are going to surrender now. Plus, Jake Delhomme is great at getting your hopes up to where you believe that the Super Bowl is possible and then dashing them to pieces by throwing 5 INTERCEPTIONS in a playoff game verses the "worst playoff team in NFL history". Ahh well...I will still cheer for you Panthers...I can't help it.

4. On a more serious note, it's funny how God reminds you when you become to prideful or entitled. It's not like I do it on purpose but it seems like everytime God blesses me with something good and undeserved, I eventually get to the point where I either rely on the blessing instead of the One who blesses or I begin to think that I am entitled to continue receiving that blessing. This past week I got a wake up call about that...pretty sure it was God reminding me that He is my source and not anything else. God has blessed me beyond what I can ever imagine but why should I think that He owes me anything? If He sees fit to give me an abundance, I should praise Him and use the abundance to bless other people. If He sees fit to take that abundance away, it shouldn't change my attitude as long as I am trusting in my Source instead of my stash. I will still praise Him for providing all we need and more!

5. Schedule for the rest of the week: Today I am trying to finish up some Storm scheduling. Since the late great Fayetteville Crusaders folded (again for the second straight year), I now have 3 more games to schedule and let me tell you it is like pulling teeth to get athletic directors to call you back. I also have my class this afternoon and then tonight and upward prayer partner meeting and then ballin' it up at open gym. Tuesday I shot 400 game speed shots and had storm practice and then yesterday I did a speed workout so not sure how the old legs are going to hold up tonight hehe we'll see.

Friday, more scheduling calls and grocery shopping. Storm practice in the afternoon and then I am going to try to make it to the Milbrook football game in the evening. Also will try to get some homework done and my tutoring brochure printed.

Saturday...hmm...not sure but I know I will think of something before High School Hangout Broomball starts in the evening! Should be fun.

Well that's all for now...till next time!

-D-Lev

Shout outs:

J-rod/David-insulter--I don't usually give a shout out to the same person two posts in a row but I would just like to congratulate J-rod for taking the shout out I gave him last time and going WAY above and beyond! I would expect nothing less from him so kudos to you J-rod.

Emily J--Miss seeing ya around. Maybe I'll *67 you sometime soon! Nothing like a good call from a restricted number to start your day off right!

Vacation...

Yeah so I realize its been a rediculously long time since I blogged! I just love saying the word "blogged". It's such a fun word. It kinda just rolls off your tongue...kinda like the word "crusty" or "fondled" (haha just ask Dmoney about the first word and the Shellster about the second one). Anyways back to what I was saying...

I'm officially on vacation now in Beaufort which is pretty awesome. Drove down last night at 12:30 a.m. and got here at 2:45 a.m. Now I don't want to brag but it's normally a 3 hour drive to get down here and...I made it in a little over 2...yeah i know what you are going to say and you're right...some people just are born with a natural talent for driving. I was just blessed with a great ability in that area so thank you for your compliments...you're too kind...really...stop ok now you're just embarrassing yourself (hehe) Looking forward to sleeping in everyday and relaxing on the beach or on the dock outside the house...eating LOTS of good food and watching a good stor....no wait Tropical Storm Danny is the most MISERABLE, PITIFUL, excuse for a tropical storm I have ever seen! I was getting pretty excited about having a tropical storm or hurricane making landfall on the NC coast this weekend and getting some good footage of waves/wind etc but NO...of course not. It would have been to perfect (haha) Storm chasing never works out like that. You have to work for a good storm. I wouldn't have it any other way though and there's still plenty of hurricane season left. I know it may not seem like fun to you...but to a weather freak like me there's nothing like being in the middle of a good hurricane. If you have ever leaned your full body weight into the wind and had it hold you up without any help from your legs then you haven't truly lived!

New things this week:

1. School...normally I would say bummer about this but it's my LAST CLASS EVER! I'm kinda pumped about graduating and I can't wait to see what God has in store for me after that. We had a long talk about that the other day and...let's just say I'm excited.

2. Tutoring. I am developing a sick nasty flier for my tutoring business. Once again, I'm not a bragger but this flyer would make Albert Einstein's parents think that he needed a tutor! It's poignant, heartwarming, and suspenseful all at the same time...ok well just so it gets the point across.

3. Workouts. Yeah so after 7 straight days of working out...I realized last night playing b-ball that I need a couple days rest badly! I felt like I was running in mud. If any of you were on my team last night I apologize for the missed jumpers because i was only getting 2 inches off the ground. Good thing I'm on vacation so i can get out of shape again.

Ok this post is quite long enough...I promise to update more frequently now (what a relief right? haha)

Till next time...

-D-Lev

Shout-outs:

Courtney Williams--You are my first blog follower and I commend you for that. May you be the first of many haha

Jarrod Davis--J-rod I have not insulted you in a while. Therefore let me be the first to say that you stink so bad that you smell like roadkill. And not just any road kill...I'm talking about a skunk, hit by a garbage truck carrying a load of crap, which then died and then came back to life just long enough to fart and then died again. There, now you have to read my blog just to get your insult.

OH BABY YOU!!....

Ok so I'm sure everyone gets songs stuck in their head but why can't it ever be a song that I actually like? Right now, I have that stupid song from the commercial (I don't even know what the commercial is for) stuck in my head...OH BABY YOU, YOU GOT WHAT I NEEEEED! Haha maybe if I type it out here it will go away because its driving me crazy!

This has been an interesting week so far. First of all, I thought I was going to be starting school this week, but yesterday I received an email from my prof telling me that he was out of town this week and so our class actually wouldn't be starting until next Tuesday (WOOHOO!) Last night, we had another goodbye dinner for Chris and had steak (really I need to find more excuses to cook steak). It was soooooo good even if I do say so myself. I used "The World's Best Steak Rub" to season it...if you ever find it in the store get it. You will not be disappointed. Tomorrow I am supposed to be looking into getting a job at the Y as a fitness consultant. I'm not sure whether I am going to take it or not because honestly if I can find a few more students to tutor I would be making a good deal more money tutoring than at the Y. The upside to the Y though is free membership (woot) and garanteed money. Hmmm....decisions decisions.

Speaking of decisions, I'm really not sure about what I'm going to be doing once I graduate. It's so hard to believe that I am actually going to be done with school forever at the end of December. That's a relief but also a bit of a burden because I really don't want to have to move away. Unfortunantely all the "weather jobs" tend to be in remote places like Idaho or Montana (perhaps because NO ONE wants to go there). So I am at a crossroads. I LOVE the people I am around here in NC and I know that Shelley really enjoys working at good old NLC. Shoot I would miss NLC as well even though I don't work there. I just don't know what I would do unless I got a "weather job"...kinda seems like a waste of a degree and $10,000 if I don't at least try to find one. If you get a chance, pray that I will make a decision that will allow me to maximize my God-given potential. After all, I should realize that this life is not all about me anyways. It should be about following my Lord and Saviour and investing in the lives of those around me. I feel like I am in a great place to invest in people's lives here but at the same time, investing in people's lives doesn't always allow me to pay the bills! Gosh I just don't want to turn into one of those people who work all there lives for the "American Dream" (a house, car, two kids and a dog...etc...) I don't want a "normal" life. I want extraordinary. I guess I'm just waiting for God to give me a dream that is impossibly big. Sometimes I think I expect to little out of God. Like I dream big but the kind of big that I could actually see myself doing. That's not really faith I guess because if I can see myself doing it, then it's not God doing it but me. I need a BIG dream. One that only God can accomplish. That's a little scary though. Hmmmm....decisions once again. To settle or not to settle. I feel like God wants me to be a pioneer. To go farther and do more than I could think possible. I would rather be a settler. Find a comfortable place and build a comfortable life. I also know that to settle is dangerous. When I settle, I cloister myself off from the world and ignore the hurt that is going on around me so that I can build my life. God help me to be a pioneer but also perhaps give me a little nudge in the right direction! I don't need to see the whole path...maybe just get me started?

On a lighter note, my refridgerator just pee-ed itself again! I don't know why it does this but every 4-5 days I will walk into the kitchen and there in the middle of the floor is a little puddle of refridgerator pee! I know its just water but still...I think it's doing it on purpose because theres just nothing like walking through the kitchen in my socks and stepping in a puddle of ice cold water...YAY!!! Anyone know how to house-train a refridgerator?

Till next time,

D-Lev

Shout-outs:

Josh Munroe--We need to come up with a cool nickname for you...hmmm I'll be thinking. It was good to see you at the house last night. Kick butt and take some names on Friday!

All you Appalaichian St. People-I will miss all of you a whole lot (except the ones I never see and don't even know)! You seriously need to transfer to State...but I can't really blame you...App's just cooler (literally).

Assorted thoughts...

So the last week has been one of the most fun weeks in recent memory for me! This past weekend we John Blanchard's going away party (and then another impromtu one on Sunday as well) where we had an epic game of ultimate spoons. If you don't know what that is, basically it is the game of spoons where the spoons are hidden in a different room of the house. In other words, you have to both find the spoons and make it back to the living room before someone....um...takes it. So, its pretty much an all out brawl once somebody find them. Sometimes things break. That's all I will say about that. If you want to know how to play the right way, I reccommend talking to Ashley...she's basically the Tiger Woods of spoons haha

Wednesday night, Shelley put together a suprise b-day party for me over at Chris Hughes' house. I have to say that it was the best birthday party I have ever had...so thanks for all of you that came! We ate chicken enchaladas (yum) and played catch phrase etc... I will miss all the guys that are going back to school next week (Chris, Eric, Nathan, Ryan...although you're a girl haha). It was an awesome summer hanging out with everyone...best one in recent memory!

Now school starts next week and it is supposed to be my last semester EVER! The one thing I am dreading is taking my final oral exam. What this consists of is me in a room with three professors who get to ask me whatever they want to ask me about any of the classes that I have taken in my NCSU career. I talked to my advisor to ask him what I needed to be studying or at least focusing on for my final and he replied with these words: "Oh, it's going to be kind of open-ended". What the heck is that supposed to mean? The other member of my committee replied with: "Just know that I plan to test the depth and breadth of your knowledge of meteorology" Once again, what the heck? I think in translation that means: "Your butt is mine!" but I'm not sure. So it looks like my study plan will consist of...oh I don't know...EVERYTHING!!!! Geeze I think all my professors took "Vague Language 101" followed by two semesters of "How to Say A Whole Lot and Not Really Say Anything at All 201" Oh well, if you find some time, pray for my final...I definitely need it.

So it has struck me recently just how "domesticated" we have become as Christians in this country. It's like when we accept Christ, we either expect to live a life of peace and tranquility, or we do it just to escape going to hell when we die. It's like we have a set of rules for what a "good Christian" should look like and as long as we follow them and are a little different from the world, we are pleasing God. That's not what the early followers of Jesus were like at all. In fact, I was just reading about John the Baptist today...talk about a barbarian! This guy was crazy! But at the same time, his entire life and everything he did was to direct people to follow Jesus. He did whatever it took to point people to Christ...even if it made him look like a fool. The part that struck me today when I was reading about him was when John was in prison (not a safe and tranquil place) and sent his disciples to ask Jesus if He was really the One who was to come. Even John had doubts. I mean...I can definitely understand...here is the guy John was preparing the way for...the one who was doing all these miracles and people were flocking to Him and here's John now thrown in prison. Perhaps John was thinking: "When is Jesus coming to get me out of this place?" It is interesting that Jesus replied (paraphrase) "look at all the miracles...the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are healed, but don't fall away because of all this!" Why would anyone fall away because of hearing about Jesus' miracles? I think maybe what Jesus was telling him was: "John, I have a different path for you. I'm not going to get you out of prison. In fact, you are going to have to give your life. But you will be blessed if you do not fall away because of me." God doesn't always call us to lead a life of peace and safety. Sometimes, our path is uncertain, dangerous (maybe even barbaric...like John). Maybe our path is not always understood by the mainstream. But at the same time, following Jesus is the only way that we can live fully alive. We are called to an adventure. Not to a life of domestication. I'm not sure exactly what that is for me yet, but I pray that God will an adventure to live. A dream that is so much bigger than me that only He can accomplish it.

Till next time...

-D-Lev

Shout-outs:

John Blanchard--I really think you need to choose a Korean name now. Like John Kim maybe haha j/k. I miss you man! Who am I going to play disc golf with now?

Daryl Munroe (DD, derizzle...geeze you have so many names)--You are finally getting your shout-out :) Now I want my watermelon shake from Cook-Out! Triple K forever...you KNOW!! haha

Welcome to.....Moe's?

Ok so I just feel like I need to blog on this story because there is something about Moe's that has been bothering me for quite some time now. First of all, I would like to preface this by saying that Shelley and I are VERY regular customers at Moe's...I mean we are as regular as they come...as regular as turbo lax you might say. Yet to my knowledge, I have never, EVER received a "Welcome to Moe's!" when I enter the restaurant. I mean, aren't these people paid to say the words "Welcome to Moe's!" over and over again? It's not that hard. Trust me. I've tried it (under my breath...to myself...after walking in the door and not being greeted in the aforementioned way...it kinda makes me feel better). So after all these years, I can only assume that I am actually NOT welcome at Moe's and that in reality they would prefer that I eat at another place. This thought was confirmed last night as Shelley and I ate there for the second time this week.

It all started (yes the first paragraph was only the begining) when Shelley decided that she wanted the chicken nachos (or the Billy Barou for all you Moe's connessuers). Let me add that it was about 7:30 in the evening and that Moe's closes at 9:00. As it turns out, the girl behind the counter informed us that there was not enough queso dip for an entire plate of nachos. This was true because I saw that there was only about enough for one of the side cups of it (it was also a sickly yellowish color). I was a bit annoyed because it was 1 & 1/2 hours before they closed and they were out of queso and it did not look like they really wanted to heat up some more either, but I could live with that. I'm not an argumentative guy for the most part. So Shelley ordered something else and we got to the register to pay for our meal. Shelley requested that hers be made a combo (which means she gets a little cup of queso dip) and I asked the guy for the side of queso. I was then informed that they were completely out of queso. This was interested because no one else was in line ahead of us and I couldn't help but notice that there was the SAME AMOUNT OF DIP IN THE CONTAINER THAT THERE WAS WHEN THEY REFUSED TO MAKE THE NACHOS! I was good though and held all this in and did not make a big deal over their obvious lack of desire to provide good customer service. Well Shelley and I sit down and as we do, over my shoulder I see the next guy in line get their food. It just so happens that he also asked for queso dip with his meal to which the guy behind the counter PROMPTLY PROVIDED HIM! Ohhhhhhh.....you do not want to even know how....um....we'll just use the word "upset" I was at that action! So many words and phrases went through my head at that time (none of which I will use here). Shelley tried to be my voice of reason but I would not be denied my queso dip. I marched straight up to the counter and simply asked them (very nicely I might add) why they saw fit to deny me something and then turn around and serve it to the guy behind me. I also asked them how they proposed that we fix this obvious problem. In the manager's defense, he was very apologetic and in the end refunded us our entire meal as well as gave us a coupon for a free meal next time we came in! Although I probably would have settled for a simple "welcome to Moe's" when I came in, this did make me a lot happier!

In conclusion, I still think the people at Moe's have something against me. Maybe they can sense that I'm jewish? I don't know. Maybe I'll never know...but the food is just so darn good!

Till next time...

-D-Lev

Shout-Outs:

Emily Jackson--Glad you perused my blog at least once...I hope I can keep it interesting for you.

Eric Herbert--Although you never send me any uber long text messages...I still love you haha

Tired...

So today was a very long day....which tried my patience to the max. I have been working at the North Ridge Basketball Academy over the past several weeks and up until this point had been working exclusively with high school age kids. This week I have had the opportunity to work with a group of 7-9 year-old boys and girls that seem to want to do everything they can to cause me to go prematurely bald. I was trying to think back to when I was that age and I really don't think I was that ADD. I mean seriously...these kids cannot even focus on what I am saying for two seconds (not even joking about that). And up until now, I considered myself pretty good with kids...maybe I should rethink my high opinion of myself. I had to come home and work off some frustration and pray about how God wants me to approach the next two days I am there.

It's really funny that this should have happened because recently I have been convicted that I do not rely on God enough. I was reading a couple of weeks ago about faith and how most Christians in America have only a very small understanding of faith simply because we have so much. This statement jumped off the page at me: "What are you doing right now in your life that requires faith?" Honestly, I had a hard time thinking of anything that I was doing in which I had to COMPLETELY rely on God. I'm such a control freak and it's sad but most of the time I rely on my stuff instead of on the Source of all my stuff. When you read about people of faith in the Bible...it always changes peoples lives drastically. Abraham had to pick up and leave everything he knew and go to a place that God hadn't even told him yet. Peter, James and John left their livelihood and immediately followed Jesus. Now that is faith. And I feel good about myself when I tithe? Maybe my faith is not a strong as I thought. I've asked God to help me trust Him completely and to rely on Him even when it may seem like I do not need to. I have been looking for ways to exercise my faith in places where I can get out of my comfort zone (kinda like NRBA!). I'll tell you that it has been scary and I'm not quite there yet. At the same time though, I don't think I have ever lived as exciting a life as I am right now. I don't know where I'm going yet and I don't know what I am going to be doing even as early as next week, but I do know that every day is an adventure. I just pray that every day I can set my mind and my focus on using everything God has given me to make Him look good. Yeah some days are an "epic fail" but on other days even though I'm tired and ready to poke my eyes out with a sharp object because kids aren't listening, I can feel God pushing me to maximize my impact for Him.

'Till next time!

-D-Lev


Shout-Outs:

Chris --Harry! We need to play disc golf soon and eat some burgers with seasoned salt on them.

The Guy in the 1988 Izuzu Pickup Who Pulled Out in Front of Me and Cruised Along At 25 mph on Falls Of Neuse Today--God bless ya! Just remember to turn on your headlights when you have a gray vehicle and its 9:00 at night...you kinda blend in with your surroundings there buddy!

The First

So I have done something that I never thought I would ever do. I've joined the ranks of the bloggers. Not that I think blogging is neccessarily bad...I just generally don't like to write and ergo blogging and David don't mix. But since everyone else is doing it, naturally I felt the need to show everyone how a proper blog is done. Ok so maybe that I am being a little sarcastic...

Basically, I've decided that blogging is the only writing that I actually could enjoy doing because there really aren't any strict writing rules that I have to adhere to. I kan mis spel, uze bad. puntuation and even Capitalize werds that r in the middel of a sentens!!!! I won't get a bad grade for it or even get my blog back with red marks all over it kinda like my english papers used to be. I may get some comments about my lack of general knowledge of the English language but of course I can always ignore them. It may annoy people to read a bad grammaterized blog (is that a word?) but to those people I simply say...you can go...read someone else's blog haha.

I am going to try to be serious at times here because while a lot of people probably think that I don't really give much thought to life, I actually do think deeply (occaisionally) about what I am doing and where I'm going. Just a little background on me real quick: I am 27 years old (wow that's freakin' old) but I don't feel like I am that age. I am in graduate school at NC State and just registered for my last class ever (woohoo!). God willing I will graduate in December with a MS in Meteorology. I hate it when people ask me what I'm going to be doing with that degree because I feel pressure to make something up that sounds cool but in all honesty I really have no idea. My main sources of income are tutoring, selling juice (haha I know sounds lame but as long as it pays the bills...I don't really care), and trading stocks on the NYSE. Btw one of those is a lie. But enough about me...

Random observations:

1. Today I discoved that VISA is NOT everywhere you want to be. It is false advertisement. I was trying to pay for my semester at school with my debit card which of course is a Visa (are there any debit cards that aren't?) Well as it turns out, NC State accepts Mastercard, Discover, and even AMEX but not Visa!!! I mean, who doesn't accept Visa???? Just another reason I will never pull for NC State again in anything!

2. Staying on the school topic, now that I am paying for my own school I realize that failing a class is even more stupid now than ever. First of all, you can usually tell very early in the semester if you are going to have a hard time passing the class or not and if it is too much for you there is that great drop/add feature that most schools have and of which I have taken advantage of many times. Therefore it is your fault if you fail a class. Secondly, if you are paying for your own school and you fail a class you basically paid well over $1000 to receive a big fat F and the knowledge that you just wasted part of a semester. Ouch. No pressure or anything.

Shout-Outs:

1. Ashley (Ash-Mac)--For supporting this blog from the get-go (and by supporting I mean constantly asking if I was ever going to post). Thanks Ashley!

2. Robbie Wible and Jacob Suffridge--For believing in me...haha just kidding but I did promise them a shout-out in the first post. Thanks guys for helping me to be consistent in my workout schedule...can't have you guys beating me although you probably will eventually.

Whew! I'm done. Hope you enjoy reading...if you didn't...too bad. Like I said, there are plenty of other blogs out there so I want no complaints about mine. Till next time....

Shalom,

D-Lev