FL Day 1: May 23

One thing to help you stay entertained in the car on the way south is to count the number of "South of the Border" billboards that advertise this weird place south of the border between the North and South Carolinas.

We planned on staying at Skidaway Island right outside of Savannah, GA, but by the time we got there, it was all full. We called around and ended up staying at a KOA right off of I-95.

We got rained out early the next the morning as the tent floor was getting everything wet. The propane tanks for Cindy's camp stove were empty, so we ate sandwiches for dinner. We also neglected to bring a hammer for our tent stakes, so we borrowed one from the nice man from the next tent.

They had a "bird sanctuary" as they set out a pile of bird feed in the morning. In a cage, they were actually raising baby mute swans. These swans are originally from Europe and are an invasive species here in the U.S. as they are competing against the native tundra swan. This place is actually raising an invasive species.

We went to a Waffle House for breakfast the next morning. From a nearby Walmart, we bought some propane, a hammer, and some milk. Steve found a tree frog on the floor. I set it free in some nearby trees.

Florida Trip

As we were leaving home, I extremely excited to be on vacation.

Summary:

Receipts totaled to $592.66:
camping: $182.90
fast food: $51.83
food: $45.27
fun: $153.62
gas: $159.04

Stay tuned for more details.

Florida Anticipation

Stay in tuned in June for our Florida itinerary and pictures!

Yay lakes! Yay rivers! Yay beach! Yay greenery! Yay canoes! Yay camping! Yay aligators! Yay freedom! Yay Florida! Woohoo!!!!

By the way, I'd never heard of such a thing as chili on a potato until I met Steve! The chili potato was his!

Also, if you didn't already know: I am now off the pill. Though, I don't know how fertile I am since I've never been pregnant before. My cycle is 38 days long, which is way longer than the normal woman's. Does this affect anything? FLORRRRIDA!

Potatoes

There are trees growing out of the potatoes!

Steve made me eat it anyways. Guess which potato is mine!

Happiness at Work

Usually, I drive home from work feeling bored or anxious. I make progress on many things in a day but finish nothing. Sometimes when I actually finish something and it works, I feel like a genius for the rest of the day and night until the next day when I find a bug and realize that I'm not a genius after all. It wasn't really like that today though.

I have my own office and I usually work by myself. But today, I spent most of the day training one of my coworkers. It was a break from my norm and I really enjoyed spending time with another human being at work. I think that from now on, I want to spend more time hanging out with my coworkers at work instead of being by myself the whole day. It will give me a happier work day.

Another thing happened that made me happy today. On my way home from work, a lady asked me through our car windows for the way to New York Avenue. I actually could answer her question and it helped her. It made me happy. I love helping people! Let me know if there is anything I can do for you! Florida!

Luck o' the Irish

Yes, this clover has 5 leaves. Steve spotted it on our latest walk around the lake. He's got an eye for weird clovers. Irish!


He picked up a four-leafed one the next day at another park. Cute!

My Job

The following is an example of what I do at work. This small screen shot shows a function in C that takes the coordinates of a satellite and the coordinates of the receiver antenna to calculate the elevation and azimuth angles of the satellite with respect to the receiver.

Florida

We're vacationing to Florida soon! Comment this blog post with some ideas of good campgrounds!

Also: see our photos from Goshen, VA for some more pictures of the family members.

Visiting Teaching

Emily and I are now visiting teachers! So far we have both visited Wanda and Kelly. Emily is a blogging maniac, so I've created my own blog to help feed her pregnant appetite for blogging and to encourage others' unhealthy internet habits.

Anyways, visiting teaching is great! I love visiting people! I love listening to all of the interesting events that happen to them. The more I listen, the better I can understand their feelings and the more connected I can be to them like I would be to a family member.

It's interesting to imagine myself as other people. I know how well I know myself and how I feel in this body and how my environment is in my little apartment with my handsomely thin, intelligent, and funny husband that I love so very much. It's crazy to imagine for a second that I'm that wrinkly black guy that I'm driving past and that he's an actual person with a real spirit and that he's having some sort of feelings about something at some moment.

I need to remember that that wrinkly black guy not just some person-shaped figure that my eyes see. Just because I'm the only person that I really, for certain, know actually exists, I tend to think that there are not any others like me. I know that this is false.

The closer that I become with other people, the better I know them and love them and the closer I get to experiencing what Christ and Heavenly Father feel for each person.