European trip planning with Google MyMaps May 24, 2007
Posted by Patrick in : Travel , 5 commentsI finally checked out Google’s My Maps feature to try and plan a tentative Europe trip that two friends and I plan to do in August. We’re not sure about the time frame (or if we’re actually going or not), but I thought the sooner we devise a plan, the sooner we’ll purchase a ticket. I also hope to garner some wisdom from the blogosphere. None of us have seen much of Europe, so we’re not sure where to visit. Our current thoughts are Eastern Europe, and it would hopefully span two weeks.
Here’s the map. Let me know if anyone has any thoughts.
Why I have not been blogging in more than a month May 14, 2007
Posted by Patrick in : Friends , 8 commentsYou, one of my ten loyal blog readers, have probably got into the habit of humming the tune Where have all the Blogposts Gone? when you have visited this site. And you probably won’t believe the answer if I told you.
The reason is a ladyfriend in San Diego and her name is Chelsea. The mindful reader will notice that my previous post was about a last minute visit to a friend in San Diego. At the time of that writing, I didn’t want to say more and compromise my real intentions of visiting San Diego.
Chelsea is a friend of a friend and we met at our friend’s 2007 New Year’s party in Allentown, PA. It’s funny because we barely talked at this party. It was probably less than fifteen minutes and neither of us had an interest in each other. She even jokes about that when I was leaving, she said goodbye and put her hand on my arm as a friendly gesture. I apparently took on a look of semi-revulsion and looked away. While this still remains to be disputed, I thought she was a sweet, godly gal, and that it was nice meeting her, and that I’d probably never see her again.
But before I left, I asked if she would send a draft of the book she was writing. It was one of the things that piqued my interest about her. She liked the idea so I sent our mutual friend my email address a few days later to pass on to Chelsea.
This email started a three month email correspondence. It started off at a weekly frequency talking about all sorts of stuff. And around middlemarch, the frequency of emails picked up until it reached a daily rate. On March 23rd, a day after my birthday, I asked if I could call her on the phone. She said yes and we talked. The first phone call was 4½ hours. The next one was 1½. The next one 5½. Needless to say, the intensity level of the cross-gender friendship kicked into a higher gear and something needed to be said.
And that’s what happened on my last blog post. I was sitting at work on Monday morning and thinking how the upcoming weekend would be the best time to visit her - the friendship’s at the right place; it was her spring break (she’s a teacher); and it was her birthday weekend. So I talked to a couple friends to make sure that I wasn’t crazy and that I wouldn’t freak her out, and then called her up a few hours later. I surprised her as she ate mixed nuts at her kitchen table. Though a little shocked, she gladly gave me the go ahead. I flew out there five days later. It was the trip that started us to refer to each other as “us”.
A lot has transpired in a month and a lot has been learned. There’s more to tell of prayers being answered and the gospel changing hearts, but I need to save those stories for another day. I just want to say that God’s really good and I really like this woman.