Storm Chasing, School, and Friendly Help

I was thinking about the blog today and thought that I didn't have much to write about, but then I got thinking about some things and decided that maybe I do have some things I could tell you about.

First on the list is storm chasing. As fun as it would be, it really isn't chasing at all. I just sit at my window with my camera when a thunderstorm comes into the valley. I have a feature on my camera that lets me take up to 30 consecutive pictures, but only keeps the last five. Unfortunately, I forgot that it only keeps the last five and unknowingly deleted some really cool shots. Here is a few shots that I took one evening. I thought it was a little interesting to see a slight sequence of night fall, even though the shots aren't always at the same view.

Today, another storm rolled in. Once again, I didn't get any really good shots. The last strike of lightning in my view was about 30 seconds before I decided the storm might be worth watching. After that, all the lightning was on the other side of the building or behind a tree.

At one point, something flashed across the screen so I saved it, knowing that it was only a leaf.

Some light flashed from a strike out of view, so I saved it to see if I could see any difference in the pictures. I looked and didn't think I had anything, but then I noticed something in the bottom right hand corner of this picture... (click the picture to make it bigger.)

Success! Not very clear, and certainly not the best I had taken before unknowingly deleting them, but this was my first successful lightning capture. I zoomed in and cropped it so you can see it better.

After that, the storm went away, but it left some nice looking cloud shots and panaramics.

Someday I will get some really good pictures of lightning, but until then, I have other things keeping me busy... such as summer classes.

I am currently taking Business Statistics, a 4 credit class required for my new Accounting major. Friday we had our first quiz. I was very happy to find that I got 86.5 points out of a possible 80. Only 2 kids of 34 got 100% with out the extra credit, and I was one of them. It made me feel smart again after my encounter with engineering classes. Hopefully, I can keep it up.

The last thing to report is the "friendly help" part of the title. In the last post, I mentioned a co-worker telling me that she is going to talk to girls for me. That's what the friendly help is about, although not from her. I've had 3 different times this week where people weren't necessarily forceful about it, but rather, were actively involved.

Over a week ago, I was at my sister's and brother-in-law's house visiting again. After my Dad and brother left, they strongly suggested that I marry a girl from my hometown. The discussion went on for 2 hours until my brother-in-law called her on my phone. Lol, I wasn't surprised when he did that, but it was a bit awkward when he talked to her and then handed me the phone and I had to explain who he was.

The second time someone was active in trying to help me was after my first girlfriend's Dad stopped by at work to say hi. When he asked my co-worker to pull me away from the dishes to get me, she mentioned that I was a good kid. After that she spent the next hour telling EVERYONE how "she is surprised that I'm not married" or "if I was younger, he wouldn't be on the market anymore" or going on and on about how good I am and how I will be a good father and husband because of this quality or that quality. I had to help her with the large line we had, so I'm sure I was red from embarassment. Everyone was smiling, especially a group of teenage girls who noticed how embarrassed I was. I was glad when we whittled the line down enough so I could go back to the sink while she kept on advertising my availability.

Now I didn't have a problem with what she was doing, but I couldn't figure out how she was going to help me when all the people she was telling about me were as old as her. I thought that until one lady spoke up. I over heard her say say has a niece who isn't married either and that I would be perfect for her (even though the lady doesn't know me at all :-P ). She said the niece would be visiting soon and that she would bring her in to see me at that time. At that point, I was soooo glad I was doing dishes and not helping with the line. I know I was beet red.

The third time someone was "helpful" was today when my first girlfriend caught me online as we talked about her dad visiting. Just so you know, we were still friends after the break-up, but don't talk much if at all now that she is married. That's how it should be. She just wanted to get more info from me about what her dad and I talked about and to tell me how he mentioned my co-worker to her. After telling her the story of my co-worker, she mentioned that she knows a girl who was in her husband's mission who is in town as well. She told me that she has already mentioned me to this girl a long time ago and that she was willing to go on a blind date. We talked a little more about her and I agreed to let her set us up.

What an interesting week. I want to see myself get married. I also know that my friends and family want to see me get married. I am grateful that they care about me, however, I do believe that this is the first time anyone has actually tried to do anything about it. I think it's funny that all of this happened around the same time. Maybe Heavenly Father has decided that I've had enough time to find someone on my own and now he is sending in the support units to see if things can move along faster. Lol. Who knows.