Well, I know I haven’t posted much lately, seems there really isn’t much going on in my life. I still am bummed I can’t find a job and am felling broke. I don’t know what I am going to do if I can’t find a job by the time my car payment is due. Since I lost my job, it’s been really boring lately. However I have had a bit of fun with John McCranie and starting the new church (The Gathering Church of Christ). I was going to sing on the praise team, in fact I did for a couple of weeks, but now I am just handling the sound system. My Sundays are getting pretty busy, with Gateway church in the morning, then The Gathering church in the evening, and hanging with family in between, but it’s been real fun.

Lately, my grandma has been having problems with her knee, she has a hard time getting around, so I’ve been helping her out occasionally taking her out to the doctor, the grocery store and tomorrow to get her hair done. It’s been nice spending time with her.

So, I just turned 28 years old yesterday. It doesn’t feel any different! But I do feel weird that it’s only 2 years away from turning the big three-oh. Boy does time seem to fly. I remember turning 23, as if it was last year. Where does the time go?

I have been thinking about going back to school to learn something new and get into a different field of work. Some ideas have come to mind, such as computer and internet security, criminal justice, forensics, or learning to be a pilot. Anyway this has sort of been put o the back burner since I have to find a job, any job, to pay the bills and raise money to go back to school.

Well that’s my post for October 6, 2009. Will write again later.

Best Regards,

Richard Rowland

You might notice several changes and posts in the coming days. This is for 2 reasons:

First of all, I thought it was about time I changed some stuff up. From looks to content and more, I feel like showing a different side of myself.

Second, I just lost my job and since I am looking for a new one, I need to work on stuff to show my skills. I will be working on my portfolio, resume, and current profiles. I am also going to be spending some time learning some other things to make my skill set a little more rounder.

If anyone has any suggestions as to where I can find some work or what other things I might like to get interested in, please let me know. Also please pray I find a job soon so I can pay the bills.

So I guess I won’t have much time to watch TV shows for awhile. But while I look for another job I will be listening to podcasts and audiobooks. If anyone has a suggestion on some excellent content, please send it my way.

<>< Rich

I don’t like to watch many shows playing on network television these days. It’s not that I don’t like the shows, but I hate all the waiting. I like watching them when they are on DVD. TV shows are designed to work around the commercials. It’s 5 to 10 minutes of show leading to a tense scene and then a commercial break (small cliffhanger). Then they have the shows like Alias, and 24, where there is a cliffhangar at the end of the episode, and the next episode is next week (long cliffhanger). I can’t stand watching these durring the current season. So I wait till they get put on DVD, then I get to watch the show without the long waits (no commercials and the next eposide is just a click away or just takes a minute to change DVDs). Not only do I have to watch them on DVD, I have purchased some shows through the Apple iTunes store and watched them on Apple TV as well as streaming the shows on HULU.com and Netflix.com and internet video through Boxee.

Hello all,

Well I am going to be taking the next year to concentrate on myself. For the past decade I have been overweight and had little energy. I will be setting a new scheduled routine that I have to adhere to the strictest sense. I encourage those of you who know me to help me out with this and keep me accountable. 

Every day after work I will be going to the fitness room at my apartment complex and walking on the treadmill for a certain period of time. I am going to try to start off walking a mile a day then gradually work my way to 2 miles.  Right now at 283 lbs, I am definitely overweight and out of shape. I am hoping to lose 100 lbs by this time next year. My goal is to get to 180-190 lbs. 

Another factor in losing weight is a diet. I am cutting out a lot of high fat and high calorie foods and drinks. I am not really counting calories, but I am in a way. I am choosing foods carefully at the grocery store. I need to be working towards keeping a meal down to about 350-400 calories. This means no more fast food for lunches, except Subway® every once in a while. I am getting my food advice from my dad who has had real success in this sort of diet. Again please help me stick to this. 

So hopefully in a year, I will have changed into a whole new me. Again I ask all of you for your prayers and encouragement. Please help me stay accountable to this task. I pray that in time, you will see me again and see how much I’ve changed.

In God’s Love,

<>< Rich

On Sunday, November 2, 2008, Mesa Church of Christ had their annual Mission Sunday, where they collect funds for mission work planned for the next year. During the service, the congregation gets to watch a video of the past year’s mission trips and reports on the mission works. We have had several great themes since I’ve been involved in the creation and planning of Mission Sunday (“The Touch of Jesus”, “The Whole World in His Hands”, “Everybody Needs Jesus”, “The Time Has Come”). The theme of this year’s Mission Sunday was “Shout To The Lord” For the past 5 years, I have put those videos together. Now we are making a DVD of the Mission Videos to insert into the “New Member Packets”. I have been working in iDVD, and have constantly had problems with the video. This weekend I’ll be making a Raw DVD with just the video, no menus or slideshows. Hopefully next year will be better because we will be using Final Cut Pro for the video editing and DVD Studio Pro to make the DVD. Next Year’s Mission Sunday Theme is: “Light the Fire”.