It Snowed...

Yup. White, fluffy, freezing, wet, miserable snow. Unfortunately, this isn't Vermont and I'm not Bing Crosby. Additionally, my roof leaks. So over night, my providentially purchased and strategically placed plastic luggage box (a foot locker thing) managed to catch 3 inches of water that would otherwise have flooded my floor and probably ruined more than $2000 worth of electronics. Oh yeah, this is in my bed room, not at work. So I fell asleep to the lullaby of two massive leaks in my ceiling. Providentially, it turned out significantly better than it honestly should have. I stayed extra late at work and as a result, it was raining (and snowing) on my way home, which meant that I knew to look for the two leaks that we discovered last year. Also, I had just bought this big, plastic box which managed to catch all the water from the biggest leak, and we had another can that caught all the water from the other, smaller leak. And neither of the leaks were over any of our beds. So like I said, it turned out well.

Also, Helen and I have updated our plans for taking vacation to come down to Texas. Since all of my pay for the month of Feb will be tax-free (as well as all my pay while I've been out here, yay!, we will take vacation in March because all of the vacation days that I've earned while I'm out here are ALSO tax free. That means that when I take vacation in March, the pay that I earn while I'm on vacation will be tax-free in addition to all of my pay for the month of Feb. Anyhow, it's a little complicated, but I'm hoping that it will save me about 12% of my paycheck that would normally go to taxes. I don't mean to complain, but doesn't it seem silly that I have to pay federal income tax (I don't when I'm out here, of course)? I dunno... The point is, look for Helen and me in Texas for probably the first two weeks of March.

In the mean time, Helen is still trying to line up a place for us to live once I get home. She's cataloged and ranked every single rental property in the greater Jacksonville area, but none of them knows if they will have a spot for us yet. Helen has also put together plenty of contingencies so that once I get there, we WILL have somewhere of our own, even if it's a temporary beach house on Camp Lejeune. At the risk of insulting every other woman, Helen is absolutely, hands-down, the single most loving, most supportive, most beautiful, most sacrificial, most delightful, most diligent, most gorgeous, most tender, most attractive, most helpful, most stunning, most industrious, most good-looking, most intelligent, most understanding, most lovely, most hilarious, and wisest wife in all of human history. She is by far the greatest blessing that God has given me since He saved me. She gives me such calm and such peace. I've never rested as peacefully or slept as deeply as I did in those four months that we were able to live in the same house before I left for here. In the past year, I've not slept for more than 5 hours at a stretch, not once. I'm so very ready to get back home to my beautiful and wonderful bride.

In other news, I've been watching several newly released movies and I've decided to post my reviews of them. I will give a brief synopsis in which I will avoid spoiling the story for anyone who hasn't seen it, and provide information about the themes and appropriate audience for the movie (again, without spoiling the story), and after that I'll offer a more in-depth analysis of the technical and moral/ethical aspects of the movie. My first review is of "I Am Legend" staring Will Smith. I'll post it today and you can find it at my other blog, "My Thoughts About Everything" (<--- click). Coming soon are "National Treasure 2," "Charlie Wilson's War," and "Beowulf," probably in that order.

Lastly, but most certainly not least (we save the best for last, don't we?), thanks Gail for reminding us that someone reads ;-) We know that there are hundreds of people out there who love us and pray for us, but it's always good to be reminded. Thank you.

More later...