LIve and Learn

Here's my journal entry for today, unedited. I hesitated sharing it because I made such a stupid judgment error, but maybe by my sharing it, I can help you keep from making the same mistake, I hope that it might be beneficial to some of you! 

December 9, Friday

I learned an expensive lesson today. I got scammed $500.

I am shopping for a macbook for Mrs. Cornelious (I'm not buying it, I'm simply doing the shopping, and she'll pay me back), and there was one on craigslist up in traverse city that looked pretty good, not too good to be true, but a good deal. So I was in contact with the seller via text message, and decided to buy it. He said that how I we needed to do it was for me to buy a moneypak card, and then we’d use an escrow service to hold the money, until I received the computer, and then it releases he money to the seller. Well, that probably would have worked, but I didn’t follow the directions exactly. I followed his instructions, figuring that he’s done this before. I gave him the number on the back of the card, and that was the last I heard from him. I should have seen the signs, there were quite a few. He said that he was out of minutes, so I couldn’t call him, He told me to give him the number on the moneypak card, and I did, even though it says not to do that right on the back of the card, I asked for his address before I gave him the number, which he did, but once I realized I’d been scammed, I looked the address up online, and it’s a house that’s for sale. Then I called the phone number, and it’s a pay per use phone, so no contract, no address, no nothing. 

So I’m out 500 bucks. 

But you know what? I’m ok with that. I mean, not that I wanted to lose that money, I still feel like an idiot (maybe that’s a little strong, foolhardy perhaps) for not seeing all the red flags, but I learned an important lesson from it. God is sovereign, so he’s in control right? So who allowed/made that man steal my money? Well, God did! And I’m thankful for it!! Because it says in James 1:2b-4 ...count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. So I can either chose to be bitter, and angry at that man for scamming me, or I can rejoice, and be thankful to the Lord for this lesson. I mean, 500 dollars for a lesson that will last me a life time? Quite a deal if you ask me! Because I know I’d learn it at some point, so better it happen now when there aren’t as many zeros on the end of the price tag. Well, I’m back in the market, and I’m going to be sure that I can hold the macbook before any cash changes hands. I won’t make this mistake again! So I’d say it was worth it. Thank you Lord!

Courtship Interviews

Ross and I had an amazing opportunity to participate in a documentary that it currently being filmed about courtship! I won't give you all of the back story, because it's not particularly interesting, but in summery, Ross was put in contact with this family (the Wrights) by one of his other friends in the area, and when they found out about Ross's views on courtship, told him that they were in a documentary that was being made about courtship, and asked if he'd like to come over for a visit and be interviewed for it! Well it just so happened that around this time, I came out to Michigan, so I got to come along and participate.

I was expecting to be interviewed by the producer, and have my responses video taped. But what actually happened was that as Ross and I walked in the front door, and they all greeted us, off to the side, hiding in the shadows, was the camera man filming us. I immediately realized that this wasn't going to me an interview driven documentary, but more of a reality TV style, where it looks like all the people aren't even aware that there is a camera in the house. So after I saw the camera, I did my best not to look at it, even though it was a really nice camera. Throughout dinner, and the conversation afterwards, the camera was floating around us, sometimes close up, sometimes off in the corners. It took a little bit of focus at the beginning to act normal, and resist the temptation to look at the camera, but after a little while, it wasn't such a distraction, and the conversation flowed naturally.

Now before I go any farther, you all would probably like to know who this mysterious family is that we were visiting. They look like a pretty normal homeschooling family on the outside, but on the inside, they're much more! It became apparent after just a short time that they all love each other so much, and they have so much fun together. They laugh and joke together, often telling us interesting (and occasionally embarrassing) stories about the different members of the family, as well as deep, heart touching stories about they're life, how Mr. and Mrs. Wright met, the trials they'd had in they're marriage, and how they got saved. They have a website called "Before the Kiss" which is a compilation of books and recourses on courtship! They have two daughters, as well as a 'somewhat' adopted daughter. (I say 'somewhat' because her parents are still living,but in another state). Read their story on they're website here:

http://www.beforethekiss.com/about.html

So for most of the filming we sat around the dinner table, eating a delicious meal, and talking about home churches and courtship. They're working on starting a home group, so we talked for awhile about our experiences with our home church, it's strong points, and it's weak points, and then we moved onto courtship. It was mostly an ongoing dialog between all of us, rather then them simply asking questions, and us answering them. It was a great time. The producer and camera man left at about 11pm, but we kept talking until about 1am. Ross had originally planned on driving back home that night (about 2 1/2 hours), but he decided that it was a little late for that, so he asked if we could sleep on the floor and leave in the morning. They said that would be fine, so we got to spend the night. Ross was planning on being out the door by eight the next morning, but after they got up, we started chatting again, and then they made breakfast (eggs and hand made sausage), and we kept talking until we finally left a little behind schedule, about noon.

I am really looking forward to going back to visit them some time soon, they're such a great family to be around!

~Paul

P.S.

The Producer is about 6 months into this project, and she said that ones of this length usually take about three years. So I'll keep you updated.

Reflections

I've now been in Michigan for over a month, coming up on a month and a half, I am starting to feel a little (more) homesick. I don't regret being here what so ever, but I do miss the fellowship of people back in Oregon. They're just so one of a kind. If any of you are reading this, I miss you all! I won't be coming home until Christmas Break, and even then, it will probably only be for three weeks or so, and then I'm hopping that I'll be able to come back. I am learning so much here from Mr. Parunak it's unfathomable. I can't imagine a better person to thrust me into the engineering world. This is just sort of a reminiscing post, and I don't have any deep theological lightbulbs for you this time (not that I usually do). If I were to encourage you all to one thing, it would be this: Love and cherish those around you!! Relationships are so precious! Guard and protect the ones you have. They are more valuable then you can imagine (at least, then I can imagine, though I don't have the most creative imagination, so maybe you all can imagine how valuable they are). All the cars, houses, power, fame, and riches pale in comparison to relationships, especially our relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus. So, if someone you love is near you right now, go give 'em a big bear hug, and tell them how much they mean to you!
~Sir Paul

The Next Chapter (Or Two)

So for the last year or so, I've been trying to decide weather or not I really want to be a Mechanical Engineer. I competed for two years in a robotics competition, and I loved it! My main question was "Is what I did while competing going to be only a minor part of an actual engineering career?" I've been praying about it, and looking for an internship, or an engineer that I could shadow for awhile. I wasn't having much success, as I hadn't found any, so I basically decided that for this fall, I was going to take a class or two at our community collage, and do some heavy studying at home. But the Lord had other things in store for me. One day, a Thursday if I remember correctly, after Dad came home from work, he and Mom went out on the front porch to talk, and wouldn't let any of us listen. In walking by (maybe a little more slowly then normal) I heard my name come up, as well as Ross's, and Gene Parunak's, one of Ross's friends back in Michigan. I knew that something was up, because after "The Meeting" neither one of them would say anything! It was sheer torture! Dad said that he would fill us in sunday afternoon. 

That was a long weekend.

Sunday evening finally rolled around, and not a minute too soon. Dad called me out to the back deck, and handed me a piece of paper. It was an offer to intern with Gene Parunak at his company: In2Being!!! I had heard before that he helped people with medical device development, but I never really gave it much thought for a couple of reasons. One is that medical engineering didn't really catch my fancy, and that I wanted to be actually working on a product, not just giving advice, as I thought Gene did. Boy was I in for a surprise. After talking with Mom and Dad, I gave Gene a call to get more information, and we talked for an hour or so about the various aspects of what I'd be doing back in Michigan (that's where he lives), and how many hours I would be working a week, Etc. I also found out  that, should I accept, I'd be leaving that Friday. My first (or maybe second) thought when I heard this was "Phooey, that Means I'm going to miss Fiesta night." But I put that behind me and took the job! The next four days were a flurry of activity, buying my first suit, getting new shoes, and packing.

My flight was rather uneventful, for which I'm thankful, and Ross and Gene picked me up at the Detroit airport at 10 they're time on Friday. The next morning, after a plate of only slightly overdone eggs at my bro's house, people started arriving for bible study, which Ross was hosting. That went for about an hour, and then Gene and I went to his office so that he could get me up to snuff on his business, and sign the employment papers. We talked for several hours and looked at designs that he was working on for his clients. At lunch, his wife brought the family over, as well as enough Pizza to feed us all!
But enough of me rattling on. To the trip!

I spent sunday night at Genes house, so that we could get an early start the next morning. We got on the road at about 9am (hey, that's what happens when you have a bunch of kids, as he does) and I drove the first 5 hours, after which we stopped for lunch, and then Gene finished off the last half hour of driving through Chicago to get to the McCormick Place Expo Center. We set the booth up and then headed off for our hotel, which was (thankfully) bed-bug free!
The next three days were a whirl of activity, not that there weren't slow points, but in general it was very enjoyable. We talked to lot's of people, and it looks like Gene has four or five good leads. So it was a grand success! On the third day we got to do some walking around to look and the other expo booths. There was some pretty incredible machines, let me tell you! Here's some pictures! 

This robot is an assembly line cart mover. It could push a cart weighing over 10 tons!

This pictures just makes me get all dreamy. This would be so much fun to design and build.

Here's Gene and his booth. That's where we spent most of our time there. Loads of fun. 

 

For this event I got to purchase my first full suit! I felt pretty professional! I guess I'm not your standard male, in that I like getting all suited up for an occasion, be it biking through the woods, or manning a booth and the Medical Device and Manufacturing Expo.