Monday, February 27, 2006

Bad Place for a Blood Drive

So we hosted a blood drive today at work, and we were wondering what the turnout was like. Someone made the comment that an overseas missions agency is probably one of the worst places to host a blood drive. The rules stipulate that you can't donate if you've been in a country with malaria in the last 12 months, or lived in a country with malaria in the last three years.

Considering that a large portion of our building has violated at least one of these guidelines, I doubt the turnout from within the building was very high. :-)

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Snowman in Orlando!


snowman in orlando
Originally uploaded by Chris Winkler.
And you thought my first weather-related post from Orlando would be about 80 degree, sunny weather...okay so maybe my previous post included some of that, but this is quite the contrast.

A few weeks ago, there was a "cold" front that came through Central Florida, which left frost on our cars for two consecutive mornings. My roommate Nate, who is from New Hampshire, wanted to have a little fun with it. So he took all of the frost scrapings from on top of his car and made a little snowman, pictured here.

FYI, that is our house in the background (complete with palm tree).

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Settling In

Two weeks after arriving in Orlando, I'm finally starting to get my feet on the ground. The first week and a half was a whirlwind, but now I've got a real bed to sleep in, a dresser to put my clothes and am starting to unpack. (Also, I'm finally able to update this blog.) I just got back from an ultimate tournament today. For those of you in the Midwest right now, this might be a little hard to believe, but it was 80 degrees today. I was sweating profusely after my warm-up lap, at 9 a.m.!

It has been interesting to make the comparisons between Orlando and my time in Chicago and San Francisco. Orlando is one of the fastest growing (if not the fastest) cities in the nation, and there is building everywhere. Some schools are housed entirely in portables, because the school system can't keep up with the kids who keep moving in to the district. I could go on and on about these differences, but I'll save some for a later date.

One of the best things about being down here so far is that I have made several friends rapidly. One young married couple has already had me over for dinner twice (followed by a game night) and the two guys I live with are great. This is quite a change, after going nearly a year in SF before making a non-CSM friend.

Here is a prayer request before I get back to unpacking. Many of my friends and colleagues from work are currently in countries (or will be soon) that are in the news because of the cartoon violence. Pray for their safety and for the Lord to somehow be glorified through it all.