Home again in Plymouth.  The weapon hike really is on my agenda.  Hopefully I will get to do that with Duby within the next week, and maybe even again with Sheehan whenever he gets back to town.  He has a better video camera, so that could be really cool.

Also on my to do list is the "The Green Revolution" rebuttal post.  It may be on the list, but it's not high in my priorities.  I have been away from the Internet a lot, so if the trend continues, I probably won't feel the need to write it.

Troy

"I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense . . ." -Thomas Paine

Paine wrote Common Sense in 1776 as a pamphlet to stir the hearts of Americans to the cause of revolution. He was actually born in England and moved to America later in his life.

Today is a new age. We are now faced with the problems of overpopulation, pollution, and the enigmatic threat of global warming. The solution is the same as it always has been when it comes to overthrowing the mainstream mindset in favor of a more practical way of doing things or thinking: revolution. This will be known as the Green Revolution, in which we decide the fate of our own planet by either passive igornance or active prevention.

Like Paine, I too was born on the wrong side of the issue. When gas was routinely right around $1.00 a gallon, my family drove with no thought of miles per gallon, pollution, or anything. My dad drove a Ford pickup and my mom drove an Explorer, both of which I'm sure were gas hogs by today's standards. No one really cared back then. It was the early 90's and people just didn't have to worry about it. Gas was plentiful and prices were stable.

Also like Paine, I've tried to turn from my ways. However, for me it's not the same as moving from one place to another and preaching about change; I have to live it each day. I've always been conscientious of waste. Ironically given what I just said of my parents, it was probably my mom that influenced me the most to not waste. Here in Indiana, the summers do get hot. My mom would almost always wait until either the humidity in the house was unbearable or the inside temperature rose above 85 before she would close windows and turn on the air conditioner.

I was watching the David Letterman Show a couple nights ago, and the actress who played Elaine on Seinfeld was on talking about being green. She had some really good ideas, but I think she was giving Americans options that are too easy in hopes of not scaring them away.

I'm not worried about scaring you away, I feel strongly about this and I want you to realize what effects you have on the environment.

She talked about turning your thermostat down two degrees in the winter and up two degrees in the summer in hopes of conserving energy. Two degrees?? Are you telling me that you're only willing to give two degrees off your comfort level to not only help save the environment but also save money? What she said actually took a moment to sink in for me when she said it. You see, I grew up in a house where the internal temperature completely depended on the season. There was no such thing as a set temperature. It would vary day to day, season to season. When the furnace was on, it would never get above 70 degrees. When the A/C was on, it would never drop below 80 degrees. Of course it was hot sometimes! Of course it was hard to sleep sometimes! But we saved hundreds of dollars on our electric bill by not being completely comfortable. Step outside your comfort zones and encourage others to do the same.

Another issue isn't really one that we can directly effect, and that is one of public transportation. I live in Indianapolis right now, one of the most car-dependent places I've ever been (another that comes to mind is Detroit for obvious reasons). Indiana is a state which has definite centers of interest scattered throughout the countryside: Fort Wayne, South Bend, Evansville, Muncie, Terra Haute, Indianapolis. People like to travel between these spots, and many people travel between several of them quite frequently. Wouldn't this all be easier if we had a train route? I mean seriously, Indiana was one of the first states to work on good transportation. It began with canals in the 19th century (though a couple of those were never actually finished; i.e. Broadripple canal). It continued with trains, where we originally got our state's motto: "Crossroads of America." It's in our heritage to be on the forefront of good transportation.

Imagine, if you had 20 people on a bus going from South Bend to Indianapolis, you would be saving 20 cars-worth of gas. 140 miles, 20 people, one bus. Let's say the bus gets 20 mpg and each person's car would have averaged 25 mpg. Each person would end up using 5.6 gallons of gas, and for all 20 people, that means that 112 gallons of gas would be used to transport them to Indianapolis. By all of them using the bus, only 6 gallons of gas is used. Imagine the possibilities if instead of a bus, it was a train, which gets even better mileage! Write to your Senators, Representatives, Governors, and even Federal officials if you are adamant about this.

It's an issue of personal freedom, and ultimately it comes down to whether Americans would really choose to be green and leave behind what they're comfortable with in a real effort to do what's right.

A few of you seemed to be more knowledgeable than I about the windows down vs. A/C argument. It makes perfect sense that, given the insane amount of emphasis carmakers put on aerodynamics that windows down would be illogical. In fact it is, but only at speeds above 50 miles per hour (keep in mind that these figures are also variable on the vehicle being driven). Below that, which I believe constitutes the typical daily driving situation of almost all Americans, windows down makes more sense. So those of you who get in your car to drive to work across town and turn on the A/C, shame on you. Unless it's ridiculously hot, roll the windows down and take the heat. You'll save money and gas.

In conclusion, I urge you all to go out there and research on your own for more ways to become "green" and help our environment. All of these things I've mentioned would also help ease our dependence on foreign energy, a critical issue affecting the price of gas. Work toward it. It will take some time to adjust, but don't give up. Don't be passive, it's too late for that. It's time for action.

Troy

After nine grueling months of unemployment, I am about to leave Indianapolis, move home, and get a job! Yes, the months were grueling. Some of it (ok, a lot of it if you really think about it) was my fault because I was a nonsocial bum, but I spent A LOT of time in my bedroom doing... well pretty much nothing. I got some interesting things accomplished and learned a lot, but there were hours on end of absolute boredom. There were times when my body was overflowing with energy, but I couldn't think of anything to do with it without having to drive like 10 miles.

Anyway, that's about to change. I'm considering applying for a job with Ball Auctioneers. They're the people who are going to be managing my great-grandpa's auction, and they have job opportunities. They pay $15/hr. to clean out people's houses/garages/barns/whatever and get stuff ready for auctions. So I might do that, 'cause even though it sounds like a lot of work, that's fantastic pay. They said they don't usually hire kids because they're not willing to really work and commit, but I've had a full time job that was a lot of work, so I think I'll be decent for it. The thing that I'm not sure about is when I'd start working. They want me to work for them to clean out my great-grandpa's garage and I'm thinking that would be a great time to show that I'm capable of the work, but that's in mid-June. I kind of want a job before then. I've only really given this a couple days of thought, but I think it sounds great and I'm considering applying before June so I can have some income. Having income makes me feel a lot better about spending.

For my first job, I worked for my cousin in an automotive shop. We worked on the interiors of cars, airplanes, boats, etc. My primary job was to paint the outside of the building, but I also worked in the shop, removing the staples from upholstery, taking the metal parts of the seats apart, cleaning the shop, and pretty much whatever my cousin needed me to do. Being a summer job, it was almost always brutally hot. Temperatures were regularly 90+ inside and outside the shop, and hotter inside the cars we worked on if they weren't in the garage. It was a lot of work, and since I was capable of that 2 years ago, I think I could be capable of harder work now.

In other news, I told my mom about Shani and showed her pictures on Facebook and she thinks she's pretty. I wasn't really concerned about my mom's approval because even if she disapproved, she wouldn't really say anything. I got to hang out with Shani Saturday night. We watched Everything is Illuminated (great movie!) with Duby and his girlfriend Nikki. It was fun, and I think things are headed in the right direction. Her mom "doesn't like the idea of me" but Shani hasn't actually told her that we're going out. I keep trying to tell her to just do it, but she thinks it would hurt things. I'm not sure though, I think it would be better to build up trust and just tell her. Maybe her mom would even like me if we ever met! I hope so. It would make things a lot easier.

I practiced my archery this weekend quite a bit. Friday I shot for an hour or two, and then Saturday it rained, so I repaired some arrows so I'd have more to shoot. Then today, I was out for a while, but my right index finger is really hurting, so I took it easy. I have a blister on the inside edge of my index finger that makes it kind of hard to grip the arrow and string, and both fingertips (index and middle) are a little swollen. It's kind of good news though, because hopefully some of this will result in a callus that makes it easier to withstand the string. Because my fingers were hurting, my form was getting sloppy today and the string was hitting my left wrist, so it's a little red. Other than that, it's all fun!

Eleven days, fifteen pages of essays, and four final exams left until I return to Plymouth.

Troy

Great, thanks for asking!

It's been a very God-oriented day. I checked Xanga as usual and saw that Eadie (a relatively popular blogger) had recommended a post by JesusOfWatford. I read the post and it turned out to be a criticism of Christianity. It raised some very good points, and I was faced with the decision of whether I should respond to the questions raised and risk being wrong or simply pass on by. I chose to respond, and it turned out to be a pretty good response in my opinion. I was happy with it, and the poster responded and seemed to agree for the most part. Though it was a criticism of Christianity, it seemed to be more of a criticism of the body of Christ rather than God's Word. I think we deserve the criticism as a whole.

The second experience came when I was visiting my friend Brittany at University of Indianapolis. We were eating supper in the cafeteria area and a couple of guys walked up to us and asked if we'd like to take part in a survey. They sat down and were very friendly to us and we talked about our backgrounds as they asked questions about our faith. It was really interesting. The most puzzling question was "On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you desire to know God?" For some, this would be easy. For me, it took some thought. I decided on 9 or 10 which was an acceptable answer. I explained that I always want to desire to know God, but the actual desire fluctuates. I know of no one who can say that they desire with all their heart to know God 100% of the time. However, it was convicting. It made me acknowledge the fluctuation, and now I'm conscientious of it.

Ok, well the third part of my day will probably come as a surprise to most, if not all of you. I asked a girl out. No, it wasn't Brittany as the previous paragraph would seem to indicate. Here's my new girlfriend:



She'd probably hate me for putting this picture up, but I like it. Her name's Shani.

I'll have to be on my guard for this though. Many of my closest friends know that a contributing reason as to why my last relationship failed miserably was the lack of God. I had never been so far away from Him as I was during those months. It's interesting though because she was raised Hindu, but also claims to be Christian. I think we'll be able to help each other grow.

And so far, that's been my day. Back to work!

Troy

This past weekend, I was home again and spent two of the days cleaning again at my great-grandpa's old house. The first day wasn't very eventful while cleaning, but it was my grandma's birthday. So, later on, my mom and sister met my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and I at a tavern in a little town called Woodland to have supper. It was one of those dinners that I'll always look back on and think of as "the good ol' days." The restaurant was so busy that it took us an hour and twenty minutes to even get our drink orders in, but no one seemed to mind. Once our drinks came, we ordered appetizers and later on, the food. We probably spent three hours there, but the conversations kept rolling and everyone seemed to be in a great mood.

The next day, my mom and I met my grandparents at great-grandpa's house in the morning. Later that day, Jason (a second or third cousin of mine) met us there and helped out. Then gradually throughout the day more and more relatives kept showing up until we had 10 people! I'm sure the great weather had something to do with it. We cleared out the whole attic and parts of the downstairs part of the house all in one day.

When we were working on the attic, I was the one up in the attic dragging things around and handing them down to people on the ground floor. It was a pretty good system, but definitely tiring!




Views of the attic.


Fishing equipment by the entrance to the attic.


Some cool old container.

After the attic, we had to have a place to put the stuff. So we started the truck and moved it out of the garage.


View of the garage with both stalls open. I had never seen the left stall open until this time.


Great-grandpa's car. 1963 Oldsmobile Super 88 Holiday. Probably hasn't been driven since the mid-80's.


Oldsmobile Sky Rocket V8 394 in³ (6.5 L) with 330 horsepower.


Path through the garage connecting the two stalls. Everywhere around it is filled with stuff.






My great-grandpa's workbench, pretty much exactly as he left it.


The truck's stall after we moved it out. I'm surprised that it even fit in there in the first place!


My cousin Jason was driving the truck. The rest of us worked on getting it running.


The engine. Ford 390 V8, 8.6:1 compression with 201 horsepower. Lower horsepower due to lower compression ratio.


To the left of the truck, you can see part of the back of the house.


My grandpa talking to Jason about the truck.


Great-grandpa's truck in all its glory.

All in all it was a beautiful, productive weekend.

Troy