The Cave We Talked About

Here are some photos of the cave that Rachel and I mentioned in our video clip:

It was black black black in the cave. I tried using my cell phone light to see anything but to no avail, so I decided to take a photo because the flash would brighten it up. One photo above was normal distance, the one below is zoomed in as far as I could.



I turned around to get a shot of Rachel and she was comment on the interesting surface of the cave. There is a tiny bit of green in the background, that is the great outdoors, the small opening where we entered the cave.


Really, really really wish I had a flash light. I need a mini mag light to carry in the hiking backpack.

See Below

So I finally was able to add the final video clip but I guess since it was a draft I started on back on August 25th, that is where it was posted. So you have to scroll down to August 25th entry to see the video. Sorry for any confusion.

:D

Back to School

So today I consider my first regular day of school, even though it technically started last Thursday. So here is what I did on this exciting day (approximations on timings):
7:30am Woke up to Spanish radio alarm
8:30am Called Math Dept to check on how things were going with the first day to add the Math Computer Lab
8:40am Walked onto campus to use the weights in the Sports Center (my second time, I might be getting better at this but for the most part I am pretty clueless)
10:00am Read Chpt 3 of LIBR 285 textbook
12:30pm Ate lunch (leftover spaghetti)
1:00pm Finished LIBR 250 Introduction paper and posted to Blackboard
2:30pm Printed articles for LIBR 250 and LIBR 285 (possibly also some putzing around the Internet-oh! that reminds me I need to read For Better or For Worse at gocomics.com)
4:30pm Read LIBR 250 article
5:22pm Talked with Amanda on the phone (heard Mekdes in the background)
6:00pm Ate dinner with mom
7:00pm Read another LIBR 250 article and talked with a Math professor about our Math Ed Info Lit project
7:45pm Here I am writing this...

I'll probably close out the night reading Galatians but I have to be in bed early since I have discipleship time with Luann at 7:30am. It is so weird to be just doing school. I haven't done this since Fall 2004, three years ago!

Good night all!

So good (and slightly frightening)

I just sent this email to a few of my friends and then I thought, why not post my little tale? (though this may lead some of you to be ashamed to say that you know me or are related to me)

I was listening to K-LOVE (a Christian radio station) on the way to church this morning. As I was listening to one of the songs, I began to realize that there were multiple artists performing. And as some of you out there know, I am always trying identify the singers (to some people's annoyance - no names will be mentioned here). Well, I became quite certain that one of the singers was a Backstreet Boy. I checked it out right now and guess what? I was right, Brian Littrell sings a verse or two. Ha! What do you know? My BSB radar still works! ;D I thought I would share this delightful news with you.

Here is the song in case you were curious:
http://www.hughchou.org/ccm/byhiswounds.html

In other news, I have been trying to post the last Kentucky video clip but it keeps giving me an error message that I don't understand. I'll keep on trying.

Final Clip (Rachel and Jeffra)

Our Last Report from Kentucky.




It worked, finally!!! Enjoy our last moments together. I love you, Rachel. Thanks for being an excellent host.

Clip # 8 (skipped # 7)

I wonder if I will run out of of blog posting space? Anyway, Rachel is the narrator on this clip.




Unfortunately, I was cut off because I ran out of room on the memory card. I deleted some photos and video clips that were not needed, and we made one final clip (soon to be posted).

Clip # 6 (on the Natural Bridge)

Yes, we made it to the top! What a view!

Clip # 5 (skipped 4th)

Surprise! How did we do that?




Apparently God had a different plan for our hike than we did. We were quite amused. Can you tell?

The In Between

As a break between the clips, I wanted to tell you about the Prayer Retreat I went on. On Saturday 8am, 11 other women and I arrived in the Santa Cruz mountains to a day away from crazy San Jose, a day with our Heavenly Father. We started with an artistic endeavor to sort of loosen up our creative juices. Then we moved over to the chapel for some focused prayer time. At this point, I still had a lot of my mind that I was trying to leave behind. After the chapel time, it was free time to spend with the Lord. I took a nature walk through a trail in the mountains. I felt so joyful to be there, absorbing in the different aspects of the environment as I walked by a creek and the darks greens of the forest to top of the hills with the dry grass and oak/walnut trees. It was lovely. At lunch we discussed what we had experienced thus far. We had another two and half hours after lunch to be by ourselves. I chose to carry chair out into the forest, off trail, to a more secluded location. Here I journaled about all the sounds I heard, wrote out some of the issues I was having at the time that were keeping me distanced from God, and just took time breathe in and out the air and observe the beauty of God's creation. Have you noticed how forests are filled with life and death, growth and decay? It is an interesting contrast. We had another intimate time in the chapel, and then ended with dinner at a small Italian restaurant in Los Gatos. What an excellent day!

Anyhoo, more movie clips will be coming soon (I think there are at least 4 more).

Third Clip (skipped 2nd)

Rachel and Jeffra at lookout point.

A Clip (testing)

Rachel and Jeffra at Natural Bridge Park, KY.

My Visit with Rachel the Ruthless (my cousin)

Well, I just returned from visiting my cousin in Kentucky. I plan to post some video clips of our adventures but I don't know how to do this, so it will have to wait. But here are some spiffy photos to hold us all over.

Friday morning treat: Eating waffles at the Waffle House (one of my favorite parts of the Eastern/Southern US, we went here when we were in Missippippi).

The staircase the Shaker village we visited on Saturday.

After the uphill hike at the Natural Bridge park. Good times.

Video Clips to come...

Precious Time with the Babies

This is a photo of me with Elodie Ann and Sara Amanda-Kate (daughters of my best friend's sisters, who are all pretty much family to me). Aren't they beautiful? Although I was not able to see Amanda's daughter (see photos at her blog), spending time with these ladies was well worth the trip.

New Car?

So it looks like my van (1995 Chrysler Grand Voyager) is at the end of the line (lose bearing in the differential of the transmission-does that make sense?). Jonathan said I should "run it to the ground." He might be right.

Anyway, it seems like I will have to go car shopping. Here's what I think would be best but feel free to post your opinions (you guys are so verbose, it is hard to keep you down): I want the car to last for the next 10 years with only a few repairs; decent gas mileage; at most 2 years old; and somewhere in the cost of $10,000 - $20,000.

So what car should I buy? *help* *help*

Walk the Grand Prix

If you live in South Bay, please consider registering for and donating your time to walk around the Grand Prix track, bringing awareness to the Prevention of Cancer.

Here is what is said about it:

This is the first year public access will be granted on the track before Champ Cars! Be the first to walk one lap around the Redback Raceway as soon as it is closed to vehicular and through traffic on Wednesday, July 25. Tell your friends you were on the same racetrack the Champ Drivers will whirl down at speeds over 180 mph on Race Day!

This twilight memorial walking lap will symbolically “Light The Way” as we recognize the strides being made in the early detection of cancer.

Learn how the Canary Foundation is affiliated with the San Jose Grand Prix, and the urgency of supporting this important work.

Preliminary Event Flow (subject to change)

7:00 – 7:45 pm Check-in, Registration

7:45 – 8:00 pm Canary Foundation Introduction

8:00 pm Enter track at Chavez Park gate (Market Street & Park Avenues)

8:00 – 8:45 pm One Memorial Lap walked on the Redback Raceway

8:45 pm Event officially ends

Sign up here! I'll be there and I hope see some friends.

Adventuring through iTunes ... again

So last April 2006, my hard drive on my PowerBook died totally. I had a three year warranty that allowed me to get it replaced with a new one for free (yippee!) but I lost everything that I had collected during the three years that I had it, including over 4,000 songs on my iTunes. Now I am trying to bring my iTunes back up to speed. Today I broke 2,000 and I still have over 200 CDs in the basement to bring up and copy. I think this will take the rest of summer. I also might copy some of my dad's CDs.

*Happy 4th of July!*

"It is interesting, as someone has pointed out, that every single religion known to man is a religion of works -- except the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Hinduism tells us that if we renounce the world and relate ourselves to the 'spirit of the universe,' we will at last find our way to peace. Buddhism sets before us eight principles by which man is to walk and thus find himself on the way to salvation. Judaism says we must keep the Law absolutely and inflexibly and then we will be saved. Islam says that a man must pray five times a day and give alms and fast on the month of Ramadan and obey the commands of Allah. All are ways of works. Unitarianism says that man is saved by having good character. Modern humanism says salvation is by service to mankind. But in every case salvation is said to be achieved by something we have to do. But the good news of the Gospel is that Christ has done it! He alone has done what no man can do for himself and thus has set us free.... True freedom is to be expressed in loving service for one another. This is truly life."

Ray Stedman, Galatians: Don't Submit Again to the Slave's Yoke (DP #249)

I love my life of freedom in Christ. I love being free and empowered by the Holy Spirit to love people even when my own nature challenges this blessing. It is a worthy cause and I am most honored to pursue it.

New Baby in the House

My friend, Elizabeth and her husband, Dave, had their first child on Monday night. Elizabeth had similar problems to to her sister, Katie, and so also ended up having a C-section. But the best part is, both mom and baby girl are doing well!!! After several days of deliberation, a name was finally chosen: Elodie Ann House. In case you are wondering, the first name is pronounced like melody but without the m. Lovely, lovely. I can't wait to meet her, which should happen in early August. Yippee!

Democrats and "Faith"

I read an transcript from a Presidential Forum on Faith that included the upcoming 3 Democratic candidates (Edwards, Obama and Clinton). It was enlightenling and darkening at the same time. I had no idea what their relationships with God were like. Now I at least have an inkling. However, it wasn't really possible to compare the candidates because they were each given different questions. I would have been curious to see how they answered some of the same questions (I think poverty might have been addressed by all three candidates in some way - I favored Osama's answer because he tied the issue to education, which I think is key. Educated people tend to be more thoughtful and careful in their actions because they have a broader understanding of the world around them. Nonetheless -You know, I am going to say a little more in this parathetical moment because I can- when people talk about poverty and homeless, I don't know if they realize that there are some people -many of those I meet regularly in the homeless shelter- that are not mentally capable of getting themselves out of being homeless or keeping a job. For whatever reason -perhaps through their own fault but I don't think that should matter- they are regular residents of the homeless shelter and seem to be incapable of keeping a job. How do we help these people? I'm not even sure). Anyway, I am glad to have read the transcript since I am not a Republican or Democrat but I would like to have an understanding of both sides' perspectives. I agree with each in some ways and vehemently disgree in others. Thus, it can feel like when I vote that it is a lose-lose situation because I am never truly represented by my vote.

November 2008 is still some time away. Good to be up on the news but not necessary to have a decision made yet. (Okay, since this isn't the most elegant or thought-out posting, I suppose my opinions could change tomorrow but so it goes...)

Jello Arms

After my fifth visit to the chiropractor, I have jello arms. This is because I had to lift 10 pounds of weight and sometimes less than that (3lbs). This only confirms what I already know: I have NO arm strength.

I guess the theory is that at some point I will be able to lift more than that. We will see. I think the only time I have ever strengthed my arms was when I was swimming.

I don't really have anything more to say than that. Hmmmm, Heroes was very sad last night. Poor pitiful Gabriel.

Forced to Gmail

Well, I avoided it for as long as I could but Blogger forced me to do, so now I have a gmail account. Whoopee!

Wish I could have had jeffra@gmail.com. Nice and simple. Oh, well, I guess settling for second best isn't too bad. At least this way it should be clear that I am female and my name is not Jeff.

Anyway... not a very exciting blog.

You know what I realized? (I stole your phrase, Kevin.) I have NOT seen a movie in the theaters since Pirates of the Caribbean 2. Oye! Maybe I will see Spiderman 3 but that hasn't gotten the best reviews. Perhaps I should wait for Pirates 3 but that doesn't look much better.

Movies I want to see in the theaters (not in any order):
Spiderman 3
Oceans 3 (just because)
Pirates 3 (just because, probably go with CP friends)
Bourne 3 (liked first director better & books are better)
Penelope
Ratatouille
Enchanted (maybe?)
Nancy Drew
Hairspray
Stardust (maybe?)
maybe a few more that I can't think of at the moment

confession: I watch the trailers as they are released on iTunes...