Flying!!

Finally... I was able to fly this weekend! My friend met me at the Hanover Airport on Friday evening for an hour flight around the area. It was great getting back into an airplane and flying. I got to taxi, takeoff, fly and land the airplane (For the most part)!! We flew over my house and places of work. We also flew up the James River for a while. We had been planning this flight for a month or so. Due to the violent thunderstorms lately, we have had to cancel a few times.

Tiffany and I also spent time at Busch Gardens and Smithfield, VA this weekend. We had a great time with friends on both trips. It was HOT HOT HOT at Busch Gardens. The good thing about HOT HOT days at BG is that everybody stays home or leaves early!

Smithfield was also neat. It has a great small town Virginia feel to it!

It was nice having one last weekend to enjoy Virginia. This is our last week living in this great state (edit: Commonwealth instead of state...)!

Satirical Look at Craigslist

My wife and I have been using craigslist.com for a while now. With our move to Phoenix looming, I thought it would be fun to create a "tips and tricks" list for navigating craigslist. At first, I wanted to create a serious list that people would find on Google and praise me for.. But then I thought that it would be even better to create a satirical view of this topic in the form of a top ten list. You need to have a sense of humor when using this site. If you do not have a sense of humor, stay away...

Ladies and Gentlemen, I now present the top ten tips to buying and selling craigslist.com:

10) Always post your items for sale and then leave on vacation for a week...
9) Delete your item every morning and repost it to stay at the top of the list...
8) Line up 3 appointments for the same item... Somebody is bound to buy it!
7) Do not notify the other 2 people that the item sold...
6) Pay for your item on PayPal and then never show up to pick it up...
5) Post your email, phone number, address and social security number on the ad...
4) Never delete your ads, even after an item has sold...
3) Send an email to every poster asking "Has this item sold?" Then, when they reply saying, "No, are you interested," do not ever reply...
2) Always assume that people are honest, nice and helpful...

Drum Roll...

1) Send 48 emails telling how interested you are in an item and then never show up for your appointment(s)!

Long Night

So... I was supposed to go flying last night with a friend from Richmond. I was very excited about the flight. We planned to fly around the Richmond area and I was going to take a bunch of pictures.

About the time I was supposed to head to the airport, a storm started rolling in... So much for flying...

For at least 8 hours, that storm pelted Richmond with rain, lightning and thunder. It was an AMAZING act of God. I do not think I have ever seen so much lightning in my life. It was constant for hours and hours. We stepped outside during parts of it to watch the bolts flying.

I didn't sleep a wink last night as a result of this storm. Just about the time I fell asleep, another bolt would hit nearby and... BABOOM... I would be awake again.

Just after the storm started, we drove by a local Target. They are in the middle of adding onto the store. The fenses around the store and scaffolding had fallen... That must have been some wind!

I will never forget standing outside watching the lightning... What an amazing Creator we serve!

Who says you can't go home?

Whew... Another quick trip is in the history books. This past weekend, Tiffany and I drove up to the GORGES Ithaca, NY to visit family. On the way up, we picked up my mother. Friday evening, we went over to my dad's house for a yummy roast and to catch up. On Saturday, Chad, Matthew, Dad and I went down to the lake to go Kayaking. We had a great time! At the same time, Tiffany and the ladies had a baby shower for April. Later that evening, we all enjoyed summer with a little cookout. On Sunday, we made the long trek home.

Tiffany and I opted to camp at Buttermilk Falls this time. We set the tent up in record time (Thanks for the help Chad) while it was RAINING. The evenings were cool, so it was great sleeping weather. The rain was easy to clean out of the tent...

Ding... On to the next trip...