Year: 2004

TMielonen: Heeey.

alexiskoho: Hi

TMielonen: How’s your day going?

alexiskoho: Um…Ok so far

alexiskoho: You?

TMielonen: its’s been good, just got back from teaching… which went well… we finished Sleepless in Seattle 🙂

alexiskoho: You watched the movie?

TMielonen: yeah we started it before Christmas, then finished it today, now they have to do a movie review.

alexiskoho: Do they like chick flicks?

alexiskoho: Only nerds do

TMielonen: Well all of them are chicks, except one, and i think he enjoyed it.

TMielonen: uh huh.

TMielonen: 😉

alexiskoho: I meant for a guy

alexiskoho: You?

alexiskoho: He he

TMielonen: oh I see…

TMielonen: did you click on the link in my blog entry?

TMielonen: http://digitalwaffle.livejournal.com/1703.html

TMielonen: it will tell you the difference between a Nerd and Geek.

alexiskoho: No

alexiskoho: You are such a NERD!!!!!

alexiskoho: For knowing that sight

alexiskoho: Boy…..:-P

TMielonen: I searched for it, w/ google… its called “using my resources” its not like I just knew it out of my head.

TMielonen: Then I copy and pasted it into this…

alexiskoho: Thank you for explaining the process…..

alexiskoho: Im smarter now

TMielonen: lol… your welcomed… see, geeks always win =-O

alexiskoho: Who said you won?! >:o

TMielonen: I did :-!

alexiskoho: Of course

alexiskoho: Ego problems suck

TMielonen: yeah don’t they… O:-)

TMielonen: who said they had pride issues?

TMielonen: I hope i’m not ruining your day…

alexiskoho: No of course not

TMielonen: good

alexiskoho: 😉

alexiskoho: I love butter

alexiskoho: In fact i love fat

TMielonen: yeah you’ve told me that before… I do to… but is it Butter or Margerine?

TMielonen: the taste? not the look? 🙂

alexiskoho: In eating it right now

TMielonen: are you like licking it?

TMielonen: I’ve heard of people that do that…

alexiskoho: Ha ha butter is better

TMielonen: yes it is!

TMielonen: yay

alexiskoho: Your sick!!!

alexiskoho: And i love garlic!!!!

TMielonen: okay good, because I don’t.

TMielonen: Garlic rocks too… so you like Garlic bread eh? Butter and Garlic…. yummy

alexiskoho: you dont?!!!!!!

alexiskoho: Oh

TMielonen: No I don’t like licking butter like some people… they actually bite chunks out and eat it… GROSS.

alexiskoho: family? O:-)

TMielonen: no… just some friends.

alexiskoho: Wierd friends sweetie

alexiskoho: But i still love you :-*

alexiskoho: I need to go

TMielonen: bye

TMielonen: love ya

alexiskoho: 🙂

Alexis knows I am a geek (well she says nerd, but I object), I love just getting information. Right now I am very intrigued by the whole Mars rover thing; did you know they have a plaque dedicated to the crew of Columbia? I wish I had 3D red/blue glasses so I could view the 3D Mars images that were released a couple of days ago, doesn’t that sound cool? Also, as of early Tuesday 15 Terabytes of data has been downloaded from the NASA/Mars websites, as they say that is enough data to stack more than 20,000 CD-ROMs without cases, that’s over 100 feet high! Heck if you wanted to you can also see the time on Mars, and see which parts of the planet are in sunlight. You can get a great overview of the rover and mission from NASA’s website. So there you have it, all the geekese on the Mars rovers.

Back to this topic of being a geek, I have no problem with that label (Alexis and I have inverse definitions of geek and nerd). I very much still have a life, and I do not get absorbed in the geekdom, but when I am bored and there is no one to go out and play with, I will scour the internet for information, all kinds, doesn’t matter. I do not really know if any of this information has ever been useful, but its fun and I am sure, someday (if it hasn’t already) it will be useful, maybe even I’ll save a life!

However all this Mars stuff does have me thinking, do we not have the most awesome God ever? I mean when you look at pictures of Earth, and of Mars, or any of the other planets, it is amazing. I know many people can explain away the mystery, but in my opinion, without the mystery (and I am glad there is always some) the amazingness is less. I have always wondered what are the other planets all about? Why has God stuck these apparently barren worlds with in our scope of discovery (which I also find amazing)? What I find even more interesting is that we still have not explored the depths of our own planet, we have been here for thousands and thousands of years, and still we are discovering strange new life forms on our own planet!

The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display his marvelous craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or a word; their voice is silent in the skies; yet their message has gone out to all the earth, and their words to all the world. [PS 19:1-4]

All honor, glory, and power, to our Lord, Jesus

I remember one day back in sixth grade my teacher accused me of lying, and gave me an “infraction slip”, it was the first time I ever was in “big” trouble, in front of the class; one other time in elementary school I got a “white” slip for not doing homework. The thing is, I did not lie, I had accidentally written the wrong date in my “book log”, it appeared I had read a book in one day, instead of the week it actually took, but the teacher insisted I was lying. It upset me so much I actually was visibly shaking and tearing up, but he did not care. A half hour later, when I was able to cool down and explain myself, he said this remark “your family must never trust you for you to act this way” thankfully he never sent the slip to “the office”. I am still not sure what he meant by the remark, but I was an emotional wreck the rest of the day. That day I did discover something though, I hated confrontation, I was wrongly accused and I wouldn’t even stand up for myself when I knew it was wrong.

Today I am not the same, I have this strange thrill with confrontations, not the “screaming and yelling” kind, which thankfully do not arise much in my life, but the “this is not right, so I am going to do something about it” kind. This clicked a few years ago when I was still figuring out who God was and who he wanted me to be, so my reaction was not God honoring. On a rather strange day, back in band class the music instructor and some of the upperclassman (which included myself, it was my junior year) were having a disagreement about how a piece should sound. Our instructor wanted to play it one way, while we felt it sounded better the way it was written to be played. He basically said to our senior trumpet player “Tim, do you think their’s a problem?” and he replied “no, not really, but

Not much of an entry today, Carol came back from Seattle with all kinds of goodies. She got new DSL modems for their condo, and our apartment, along with wireless hubs and wireless cards for their laptops (mine already has one). Everything was going along all nice and neat, until I tried to get the new DSL modem to work at my place, and it simply will not work, I do not know about theirs yet, although I fear it will not either. For anyone who might want to help out, I am attempting to setup a Zoom X3 ADSL Modem/Router, and I have done everything I can think of, I used the old DSL settings from my USB modem, with the correct encapsulation and VPI/VCI numbers, but still nothing! Now I hate little blinking “link” lights.

It is driving me nuts, and as with most technology, when it just does not want to work, I get very frustrated, and not so nice words come out of my mouth (no one is around of course, except GOD). So that’s been my day, other things that were planned were canceled because Chris is sick with the flu, so please pray for him and maybe me too, that I do not lose my head.

Don’t ya think I should have something nice to say? eh? Well, right now, I don’t, yep it happens. However, now that I’ve written it all down, I’m actually in a good mood! Off to bed. [Me]

Darling did you know that I

I dream about you

Waiting for the look in your eyes

When we meet for the first time

Darling did you know that I

I pray about you

Praying that you will hold on

Keep your loving eyes only for me

I am waiting for

Praying for you, darling

Wait for me, too

Wait for me as I wait for you

I am waiting for

Praying for you, darling

Wait for me too

Wait for me, as I wait for you

Darling, wait

Darling did you know I dream about life together

Knowing it will be forever

I’ll be yours and you’ll be mine

And darling when I say

‘Til death do us part

I’ll mean it with all of my heart

Now and always, faithful to you

I am waiting for

Praying for you, darling

Wait for me, too

Wait for me as I wait for you

I am waiting for

Praying for you, darling

Wait for me too

Wait for me, as I wait for you

Darling, wait

Now I know you may have made mistakes

But there’s forgiveness and a second chance

So wait for me darling

Wait for me

Wait for me

[Rebecca St. James: Transform: Wait for me]

And in other very heart breaking news, Seattle lost 🙁

Although I don’t avoid confrontations , I only avoid yelling and screaming matches.

“It is the chiefest point of happiness that a man is willing to be what he is.”

You are Desiderius Erasmus! You have great love for others and will do just about anything to show it to them. You are tolerant and avoid confrontations, so people generally are drawn to you. You are more quiet and reserved in front of strangers, but around some people you open up. When things get tough, you like to meditate alone. Unfortunately you often get things like “what a pansy,” or “you’re such a liberal.”

What theologian are you?

A creation of Henderson

Grrr. No one wants to play today. Okay, no one can go out to play today. Times like this are when I really long for home, back home I had no problem finding someone to do something with, even if it was just sitting around and talking, here that’s like a waste of time or something. I have always struggled being alone, but I really think I am doing better now, I have been alone since Monday, except for New Year’s Eve, and until today, I have been very happy. However, now I am ready to do something, go somewhere, I’ve haven’t left our apartment since Sunday, except for New Year’s Eve and we only went about a block

It is nearly half past three in the morning here, but there I was in my bed reading Elisabeth Elliot’s “Passion and Purity” and this passage completely jumped out at me.

We went to Oregon’s magnificent coast for a day. We walked down through the thick fir forest to an isolated cove where we explored sea caves and swam in the frigid Pacific. We built a driftwood fire. Sitting close together, watching the sun sink into the gleaming sea, the temptation to express ourselves, to do what we felt like doing, was nearly overwhelming. Because the final choice had been made long before, by the grace of God we were not overwhelmed.

I write this for one reason. To show that it is possible for two young people, full of all the juices that youth is endowed with by the Creator, to resist temptation.

They can’t do it unless they have a motive that makes it worthwhile.

They can’t do it alone.

“If you feel sure that you are standing firm, beware! You may fall. So far you have faced no trail beyond what man can bear. God keeps faith, and he will not allow you to be tested above your powers, but when the test comes he will at the same time provide a way out, by enabling you to sustain it.”

He enabled us.

A word of warning here. It is not a good idea to go into caves or to sit by driftwood fires in lonely places if you are not yet sure of your God. Paul advised the young Timothy to “turn from the wayward impulses of youth

What do you do with excess passion and excitement? I have an incredible amount of passion for Jesus I want to share with others; I am so excited, I am afraid I am setting myself up for disappointment. In some ways I feel like I am underutilized, but I am sure it all apart of something big that is about to happen here in Zakopane. Since I arrived last September, I have had a thought at the back of my mind that things would really start to burn, brightly, after the New Year. Already I see the opportunities arising, people are asking questions, and there is a hint of optimism and excitement throughout our friends here. I am very excited to see what God has in store for all of us here. The enemy is quickly losing ground, and soon a fortress for Jesus will be in Zakopane Poland.

When Alexis arrives (on February 12th) I know all the girls here will be clamoring to talk to her, and I know God is going to use her, and she knows it to, to speak straight to the heart-needs of these young women! I am very excited to talk about what our relationship is founded on, the passion, and the purity involved in our happiness, and of course, how it would be impossible if we didn’t both have God at the center of our lives. This web log stuff is increasing my vocabulary, but at the same time it is very frustrating when I can’t think of any words to describe how excited and passionate I am right now. Either way I want people to see how much I (at the very least attempt to) adore Jesus, and that is the bottom line.

You must worship no other gods, but only the LORD, for he is a God who is passionate about his relationship with you. [Exodus 34:14]

Do you ever feel like a freak? The last few days I have had some great opportunities to talk to people, here and back home, about Alexis and I and why I am halfway around the world from home. Most people’s reactions, including other Christians, are “oh, that’s nice, I couldn’t do that”, and “good for you, won’t work for me”. Excuse me? As if I am some kind of foreigner