There is not much that can be said about the occurrences that took place five years ago today. I distinctly remember where I was when I learned of the attacks.

During my senior year of high school I had first period off and that morning I came into school around 7:55am. At this point the north tower had already been hit and above the library entrance the news was covering the situation live. I stood in the hallway with a few other people watching the news and at 8:03am, Flight 175 entered the screen and crashed into the south tower right before my eyes. At first I thought it was a replay of some sort but then slowly realized that it was live and I had just seen an unbelievable event. I did not know what to think. I know that I did not think terrorism at first but I was definitely confused.

The bell rang and I made my way to class. Up until that point no one in class knew anything about the attacks. As I entered second period the principal came over the intercom and told teachers of the events. They asked them to turn on the televisions and stay in the classrooms. By this time, it was 8:35am. The entire class watched the replays of the south tower being hit and the billowing of smoke from both towers.

At 8:44am reports started coming across the screen that the Pentagon had been hit. Everyone just stared at the television. The principal announced that we would stay in the same class through the next period. At 9:05am the south tower collapsed live on television. At 9:22am the north tower collapses.

The rest of the day was spent watching the different news stations. The halls were somber and we moved from class to class just catching a glimpse of any updates.

In 6^th period a girl who I was friends with was crying hysterically. Come to find out, her uncle was in the north tower when it was hit, he had not been heard from. We later learned that he perished in the attack.

I usually have a poor memory when it comes to events, but that day and the way I spent it are still very vivid. My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those who lost friends and family that day and to those who have fought and died to ensure that this never happens again.

May we never forget.

After traveling this weekend I can firmly say that the policy of not allowing planes that you buy in the “secure” area is extremely stupid.

The fact that you cannot buy a cup of coffee and take it on the plane with you makes it seem that maybe the terrorists have infiltrated every airport restaurant in America. I can somewhat understand the giving up of our drinks before you enter the terminal but not being able to buy them inside is very frustrating. I do not know of a substance that, when mixed with a latte makes a bomb.

The terrorists have won on that level… They’ve scared us into submission.

I am leaving for Columbia, South Carolina at 6pm to take break from Dallas and to get some work done. I will have internet while I am there.

I return to Dallas on Saturday, September 2nd.

As of late I have been writing less and less. This is not intentional, it is just that finding the time to write and a subject to focus on has become more difficult.

I was going to write a large entry on Iraq and oil and some of the problems with those two words but I have lost some interest in discussing politics with people. It seems that no matter what facts are presented on certain subjects there will still be those who keep their close-minded views (no matter how open-minded they claim to be). Instead, it easier and less stressful to write about topics that make me happy.

My time constraints have been brought about because of my recent focus on work. I may not be the biggest fan, but I will give one-hundred percent till the end.

So what am I passionate about and wanting to write about? Christianity and religion. I know what you’re thinking and I can tell you it’s not what you think. I am not going to post about repentance or damnation. Instead, I would like to occasionally write about some of the things that I have been experiencing at church. A lot of these things have to deal with the current problems with the Christian church, how we live in a somewhat scary world, and things of the like. I will try for it not to be a downer (but no guarantees) and keep it in the context of current events.

Stay tuned…

I have been slowly phasing out an e-mail address that I have had since high school and I think I am finally ready to dump it and never look back.

From about sophomore year in college I have received an extremely large amount of spam at this particular address. I found out my junior year that Texas Tech had given a lot of student addresses (read: all) to third party companies to send out mass communications with the student population. As a result, these companies sold our addresses to other places which in turn sold them to spammers. Since my @ttu.edu was tied to this e-mail account I received an even larger amount of spam.

So, over the past month or so I have been going through and changing all of my communication e-mail addresses on sites to my Gmail address. I think I have been able to get most of them, though I’ve stumbled on a few that I completely forgot about.

It will be really nice to never have to look at this e-mail account ever again.

I have no idea why Dreamcatcher did not have a bigger following. It has an awesome cast, it’s a Stephen King novel, and the story itself is great!

I remember watching it for the first time and thinking to myself that it was one of the best sci-fi thriller movies I had ever seen. It came on TV tonight so I had to watch it and post something.

Apparently, Pluto is no longer a planet. I wonder if it [Pluto] actually cares.

The only upside to this is that when I accidentally say there are eight planets or something and forget to name Pluto and some little kid says “You forgot Pluto!” I can look at them and go, “Your parents lied to you! Pluto is not a planet!” and I won’t be lying.

I recently changed the company I am consulting for and have found myself in a scene out of Office Space.

It’s an open concept type of office, with half cubicles. The lighting is awful, with a lot of people enjoying the dark, dank feeling that a programmer usually does. A lot of the overhead lights are actually disconnected.

Before I talk about the next part thing I am going to post a disclaimer. I have no problem with foreign workers, I have no problem with them working here. I do have a problem when they do not speak English within the walls of the company. I consider this place a place of “Code Pushing”. Most of the developers here are foreigners who are just staying here long enough to save up some money to go back to their countries of origin. What does this lead to? Crappy code. These programmers do not care about code quality, the design of their work, etc. Instead, they care about getting their paycheck and rolling out the software.

As a result of all of this they have hired me and four others to fix all of the bugs in the multiple systems that the company has. Frustrating. It is an inadequate working environment. I have a 15″ monitor which is horrible for looking at stored procedures that span across multiple pages.

Today marks the 61st anniversary of the first day of no combat after WWII. If you see a veteran, tell him/her thanks.

Lately I have been going to different churches in the Dallas area trying to find a place to settle down. Yesterday I visited The Village Church. At first glance it looks like a small, tight-knit, community church, but when I walked in the door I knew there was something different. First, the age demographic of the church is definitely younger than what most people are probably used to seeing. Most of the congregation is in their mid-20’s and 30’s with a few older than that. Secondly, the dress is casual. At first this struck me as a downside because I have always been taught that church is a business casual (minimum) occasion. After sitting through the service and looking at the congregation more I realized that there were some who were dressed up a bit more and they were not getting looked at as out of place or “weird”.

The sermon is what made me decide that this is more than likely the church I will continually attend. The pastor is youg(er), energetic, and honest (more on that later). His opening remarks were about a mission that the church has setup and the philosophy behind it. These remarks started with what the money was going to do. He explained that the missionaries are simply advisors to the people where they are placed. They do not take on an administrative role or try to run things, they are simply there to offer help where it is needed. The reasoning behind this is that the churches and projects that are being worked on need to survive long after the missionaries are gone and there is no way to ensure that if the missionaries are there holding the hands of those running the operation or doing it themselves. The pastor continued and talked about how a meld into the local communities is needed for any of these projects to succeed and said that this was why they built things like schools in villages that did not have them, hospitals in cities that desperately needed them, and churches in those that wanted them. He said that as he sat in a coffee shop a woman approached him and quietly asked him “You are the one who can tell me about Jesus right?”. The people who want to know more know where to find the right people.

After the discussion about the missions the actual sermon began and the topic was all of the new visitors that this particular church receives this time of year. The pastor remarked that the sharp increase in attendance over the past few years in late-July and early-August was an oddity but he had finally figured that with school starting sooner and people getting back from vacation earlier, they were getting back in the “groove” of going to church and this was happening in these months. So he continued, stating that today would merely be about what the church stood for and the way things were done there. “Perfect”, was the first thought that came to my mind. He offered a disclaimer at the beginning, saying, “This is the way we do things here, it is not necessarily ‘the’ way, it is merely ‘a’ way. If it is not for you, I am not offended, there are churches out there that will worship the way you want to and have service the way you want”. The sermon continued and he talked about some specific verses in the Bible and discussed how had come to this particular church. He made some funny remarks, had some great analogies, and stated his points very well. I am going to save his points for a later date because I feel they deserve a post of their own, especially since I very much agree with them.

My point of this post was to say that I think I’ve found a church that I would love to attend on Sunday. One where it is not a “punch my timecard” type of atmosphere.