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No Greater Treasure

12/30/2004 / RHonda

It is the middle of the night. A storm is brewing over the mountains and the occasional fighting of two wind currents is taking place. This, of course, causes WIND! Here, that means BIG gusts! I am still adjusting to all the sounds of the city when the wind blows so hard and howls down the streets. Not like the wind of the Iowa landscape, blowing mightily through the hollows and over the cornfield. The neighbors garbage can sliding haphazardly down the concrete street has a different affect on the senses. So I find myself here, awake, thinking ‘outloud’ about life and relationships, tomorrow being my last day at CHICO’S. Atleast for now.

I think of many of you whom I have not spoken with for sometime and wonder how you are. How was your Christmas? Are you well? How is God pouring into your lives and growing you? I ask God to richly bless you and bring you closer to Him and His plan and purpose for your life. I wander over to see if my lovely daughter has written any recent thoughts on her blog. I have seen her very little of late as we are both working retail and until three weeks ago, were both working two jobs. Time together has been precious but sparse. Her blog often helps me keep my finger on her heartbeat. Continue reading

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

12/25/2004 / RHonda

Amidst the shopping, the food preparation, and all the arrangements that have to be made as you travel or accept guests and family, I hope that you will pause and remember the “reason for the season”. We are such a blessed people and nation through the saving grace of Jesus Christ! Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Working in retail has temporarily eroded some of my own beliefs about this season as we focus so much on how much to spend and what to ‘get’. I see people in a panic and people over spending constantly. The fever of it all can get to me as I am sensitive to the needs and desires of others. It hit me yesterday as the reality of what day it was truly set in. I still had all the things I wanted to do to bless my friends and neighbors, cards I had not sent, and the shopping that I wanted to do but couldn’t. It was a meltdown time. My husband in all his wisdom, brought me back to the reality of Who this season is about and how we are to give of His love and gifts EVERYDAY, not just one day or season a year. Praise God for wise and loving husbands. Matt truly is God’s gift to me. God pours His love, wisdom, and grace through this man and I am honored beyond words to be his wife. Continue reading

Job Opportunities – Update

12/24/2004 / Matt

Got some bad news the other day. The job offer I had with Booz Allen Hamilton (the one I got back in July that I’ve been waiting on) finally went down the tubes. The govt. ultimately decided not to fund the project. The thing about these “research” projects is they depend on discretionary funding and with the high operations tempo over in Iraq there is not alot available. This made me sad because it would have been an exciting project. But, on the other hand, I’ve gotten really tired of waiting and I’m glad to have a final line in the dirt.

There are several other possibilities in the works but most everyone agrees that nothing will happen until the first of the year. In the meantime I’ve been doing a little consulting work with Gilcrest Jewett Lumber (back in Iowa) upgrading their wide-area network and also taking a serious look at starting up an Internet-based business.

While researching my coffee hobby I realized there was a gap that I could fill. Everyone in the specialty coffee industry knows that freshness counts. Everyone knows that only your neighborhood coffee roaster, who sells a limited variety of beans roasted in small batches daily, can truly claim to offer fresh coffee. All that whole bean, vacuum-packed stuff at the supermarket is the result of large centralized roasting companies attempting to cut into the sales of the neighborhood roaster.

Yet, no one seems to be deliberately marketing these folks. So, I am building a website that will showcase the local Colorado Roasters and take orders for their products. I’ll let you know how it goes…

Email Subscription Now Available

12/17/2004 / Matt

I have added a new feature to Mistycastle. You can now subscribe to the site. This means that you will receive an email notifying you whenever a new post is made to the site.

I think this will be helpful if you want to stay abreast of what’s going on here but keep forgetting to look.

Over on the right side you will see a new “Subscribe:” section. Just enter your email address in the box and click on the Sign Me Up button. You will then need to check your mailbox for the “confirmation” message. Click on the link inside the message to confirm your desire to subscribe. That’s all there is to it.

Fall Term – Finished

12/16/2004 / Matt

WhooHooo! Completed my last final exam today. This marks the end of the Fall term and I’m happy it’s finished. Anyone want to buy some ridiculously overpriced used textbooks? I am simply in awe of the prices they get for textbooks these days. The last one I bought was priced at just over $100. And it was a skinny little thing too.

It seems the comment spammers have finally found my website. I’ve started getting a few trying to advertise their online gambling sites. Just what the heck is “comment spam” and how did it become such a huge nuisance? Basically, spammers have been using blogs to help boost their standings in Google searches by posting massive numbers of comments that include links to their pornography sites, scams and get-rich-quick sites. If your site is linked by a top-ranked site or blog, then Google will often raise your site’s ranking — at least that’s the thinking of spammers.

Fortunately, there are a few tactics that can be used to reduce (but probably not eliminate) this problem. If it becomes unmanagable I will have to turn the commenting function off.

Winter Hike

12/14/2004 / Matt

Ronda and I decided we needed to get out and get some of that mountain air again. The forecast was calling for upper 50’s and clear skies so off we went for another hike down Gold Camp Road. Abby had to tag along as usual.

Some of the road was 100% snow covered but most of it was clear. The stream coming down from St Mary’s Falls was pleasant sight. The surface had frozen over in most parts but there were a few holes here and there where the water was gurgling along. I had forgotten what a funny noise water makes as it runs along under the ice.

We stopped for awhile in our little “rest area” and soaked up some sunshine and snacked on some trail food. We then pressed on to see if we could find the second tunnel but had to give it up as the ‘ol legs were starting to complain. We’ve not been out for awhile and it showed.

All in all, a very refreshing experience.

Windy Night

12/8/2004 / Matt

Wow… the wind is really howling tonight. It seems to do that here from time to time, gusting up to 50 mph or so. I suspect it is the transition from mountains to prairie that causes it. Makes it hard to sleep at night sometimes.

I finally picked a winner in my espresso wars. I am keeping the Gaggia. It will be a better machine for me in the long run and it has the matching grinder and stand. I listed the Estro Vapore on Ebay last night and had sold it by morning. Got all my money back on that deal.

No news on the job scenario. I hope to hear something by the end of the week.

Finished up one of my term projects, one more to go and then final exams. I am looking forward to the Christmas break.