Birthdays? I almost have forgotten about mine. I know what day it is on, but it seems just like any other day. I almost forgot. But it's a nice surprise. So I am 21 now! It introduces a few changes... 1) I can legally drink (which I WON'T take advantage of), 2) I must renew my driver's license (just did that today), and 3) I must renew my debit card (which I got in the mail today).

I didn't feel like celebrating my birthday on Tuesday. The day was very long at work and I just wanted to crash. We finally celebrated my birthday yesterday. We went out to eat at Long John Silver's. Anna and Philip got me a book with nearly all models of Mustangs! It's a really cool book. My parents are going to get me some comic books. I want "Pearls Before Swine". This has to be just about the most funny comic I read. I like Calvin and Hobbes (all-time favorite, though the strip is retired), Foxtrot, Dilbert, and Pearls Before Swine. You can read these daily comics at my website (http://stephen.calvarybucyrus.org/comics/comics.php)

This past week has been tiring. I only worked 45 hours this week, but Tuesday was over 12 hours! I liked getting my paycheck today. It was my biggest yet! I am just about bill-free. I sent in my last payment for my truck today. I have a few more bills to catch up on, but I will be debt-free in a week! How exciting.

This week saw both extremes in excitement and tiresome days.

Last Saturday was the most fun day of the past week. I went to Cedar Point with Stephanie and her sister. I got to sleep in all the way until 6:15 . (Normally I get up at 4:20am.) The lines were terribly long on a blistering hot Saturday. The high was in the 90's. Sweat was more plenteous than water it seemed. Anyways, we rode the Dragster first. The line was 1-1/2 hours long, as were many of top rides. It was nice to have someone to talk to for that length of time. The lines were long, but the time passed much quicker. And it was pleasant to be with such a person as Stephanie.
She got so sunburnt on Saturday. Sunblock didn't even stop it. I escaped without a burn at all. hehe.

For the first time, I rode the Iron Dragon and Disaster Transport. I'll have to wait until next time to ride the Millenium Force and the Magnum.

On Sunday, I preached in the evening service. I'll be posting the messages from the Lord's Day services sometime soon :) at http://calvarybucyrus.org/sermons/2006/ ... 006-07.htm.

This past week was busy, and involved 51 hours at work (very physically taxing, but nice paycheck :). It was SO hot! The heat index reached 100+ Monday and Tuesday. I also cut the grass and got the yard ready for our youth rally on Saturday (tomorrow). It will be a great time. Dr. Dan Sunde, youth of the Massillon Baptist Temple, will be speaking. He is a phenomonal Spirit-filled preacher. I can't wait to here the message! BTW, that message will be posted on the church site as well.

I felt so bad for not getting burnt at Cedar Point that I got burned at work on Monday. I had a red shirt on and didn't know, but got some red chemical on my shirt. This is one of the strongest chemicals in the plant. That's MEKP (Methyl Ethyl Ketone Peroxide) for you chemists. It was on my shirt for about 4 hours before I got help. It's healing quite well now.

Anyways, I'm in a fantastic mood right now. Listening to godly music makes such a difference to my disposition, especially when compared to the garbage I have to listen to at work. Just getting off the phone with Stephanie might also have something to do with it. LOL. Goodbye for now.

Wait... Home Alone 4 wouldn't be too exciting. You probably won't want to see it.

Anyways, I'm home alone this week. No movie crews at my house, though.
The rest of the family is at camp (Mount Salem Revival Grounds). Everyone will be home later today.

I had to stay home in order to keep my job. That tends to happen when you start a new job. Actually, if I miss two days in a 60-day period, then they let me go.

Everyone left on Monday. That was the long day at work. Work started at 5:00am and ended at 4:45pm. When I got home, I didn't do much besides clean my room a little and spend time on the computer.
On Wednesday, I had to leave work at 3:30 to get to the dentist. I couldn't go with the rest of the family because of work, so this was the re-scheduled appointment. Glad to say, I had NO cavitites There is one cavity I got about 7 years ago that was filled poorly. It should be redone in order to prevent major problems in the future, so I'll probably have that done soon. After the dentist, I got ready for church. A man in our church led the Bible study as we looked at Romans 12.
Yesterday after work, I played the piano for a while and got a phone call. A couple in my church invited me over for dinner. She prepared steak, potatoes, corn, salad, and many desserts! It tasted great and I got some to take home. That was a blessing. He could really play his guitar. He's not just a guitar player -- he's truly a musician.

Then today, I have much work to do. I have to clean the house (it's not that messy with just me around), mow the yard, clean my room , and several other little things.

Hope you're having a great day,
Stephen

It took about a month after graduating from college to find a job. I had a promising job lined up that was part-time. The interview went very good, but I never heard back from them. A few weeks before all this, I went to a job fair. It was pretty dumb! A whole bunch of places were there that weren't hiring. I turned in my application to Acloche. I had no idea who they were, but they called a few days later to schedule an interview. Turns out, they're a temp service. They called me back a few weeks later about a job making boats.

So, I recently got a job. I started on June 19 at Baja Marine (website). They make performance boats and some Sea-Ray boats. I am currently working in the lamination division, which is the sticky, stinky, and hot section. But it's a job that pays pretty decent - $9/hr. for the first three months (with the temp service), then around $10.38/hr to start. I'm working 40+ hrs/week.

So, I'm happy that God provided a job for me. There are some witnessing opportunities that I've had already. They think I'm weird! I've never smoked, drunk alcohol, or cussed. So they ask me a lot of questions, of which I'm happy to answer.

This week is vacation week. It's been quite relaxing, adventurous, and crazy!

Yesterday, we left in the early morning for the Cleveland Zoo. The first animals we saw were the elephants. One of them had its back legs criss-crossed!

After the zoo, we went to Stephanie's church for prayer meeting. Pastor Raynes preached about salvation, stressing the need to communicate the severity of sin to the lost. It was a good message.

After church, we went to McDonald's to get ice cream. My dad was in such a hurry that he left the keys in the ignition. My mom decided to lock the doors because her purse was in it. So we were locked out until a parent of one of the workers let us have a coat hanger. It was chilly outside!

Then we stayed the night in a camper on a campground. It was so quiet! In the morning, we left for Mohican State Park. They have several hiking trails. We went on one of them that was two miles long. With Abby and Little Guy, it seemed like 5 miles! We saw some waterfalls, uprooted trees, and plenty of tree roots sticking up on the trail. The neatest part was at the bottom of a waterfall. There were several carvings of names. One name had a date next to it - it was from 1871! We finished that trail and went on to another before we finished. Then we ate lunch at yet another fast food restaurant.

Then we headed home, and now I'm writing this entry in my blog...