Valentine's Day

Hello all,

I just wanted to write and let everyone know that things here are going well.

The real reason I got on to write was to tell everyone about the REALLY GREAT gift I got for Valentine;s Day from my WONDERFUL wife. She got us tickets to see Terry Fator at the Mesa Arts Center in 2 weeks. For those of you who have no idea who he is, he is a ventriloquist that won "Americas Got Talent" last year. He is amazing, and I have been wanting to see him ever since I saw him the first time on the show. I was very happy when he won, and then I started looking at his performances across the country on his webpage. This how slipped by me the last time I looked, and I am So EXCITED that Beverly saw it and got us tickets.

I will let you all know how it went afterwards. Check out his webpage: http://www.terryfator.com/

God has blessed me so much with a wonderful wife that listens to me and tries her best to make me happy.

The New Toy

Hello all, I got a new camera for my telescope just before Christmas. I have gone out a couple times and taken some images with it, and finally have compiled them and done a little processing on them. Now you get to see the results.

Here you have the Pinwheel Galaxy, M101. This galaxy is similar in shape to our Milky Way Galaxy. This is 60 frames at 15s each.











Here you have the Owl Nebula, M97. It gets its name because it kind of looks like the face of an owl. This is 52 frames t 10s each.











Here is M79 which is a globular cluster. A tightly bound grouping of stars. This is 30 frames at 1a each.











Here is the Leo Trio of Galaxies, also called M66. These galaxies aren't that close to together in actual distance, they just appear in the same small field of view. This is 20 frames at 3s each.










Here is the Whirlpool Galaxy, also called M51. This is 2 galaxies that are combining due to gravitational attraction. This is 60 frames at 10s each.









This is an open cluster of stars called M37. This is 30 frames at 1s each.











This one is a little harder to see, but it is called the Little Dumbbell Nebula. It is right in the center. This is 10 frames at 10s each.











Here is the Flame Nebula. It is in Orion and near the Horsehead Nebula (which you will see later). This is a complied image of 60 exposures at 3 seconds each.










Here is the Horsehead Nebula, and you can just see the Flame Nebula off the the side. This exposure is 10 frames at 30s each.










Isn't God amazing!

Sorry it's been so long

Okay, so my brother gave me a hard time about not updating this in a VERY long time. So, you will get the quick info session about what has been going on since the last posting.

In May, Beverly and I went to Germany for our big vacation of the year. It was a lot of fun. We spent the first week in the Munich area and Berlin. Then the second week we spent in the Bonn/Koln area where my brother is at. IT was a blast hanging out with him, and visiting more of Germany. We went to the fairy tale castle in Germany.




Later in the summer we went the Albuquerque to deliver the church hand bells to a place that does work on them. On the way there we went to the Very Large Array. And on the way back we went the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park. All of that was a lot of fun. Even though it was a quick weekend trip.

After that not much happened that I can recall until November when Beverly and I went to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park. Beverly wanted to see the leaves changing colors, and so that seemed to be a good place to see it. Neither of us had ever been to the North Rim and I thought it was much nicer than the South Rim, but it is much farther to get to. In the Zion area there were leaves changing colors which was nice.


The other big thing in November for me was that I got my Christmas (and the next Valentine's Day, Anniversary, Birthday, Christmas, etc., etc., etc.) present down in Tucson when we went down for a day to get dinner and dessert for Beverly's birthday. I got a CCD camera and new edition Hyperstar from my telescope. I have used it a couple times so far and am trying to learn how to use it. I had a trial version of a program that I need to use to take my first images, but it expired, and I cannot afford to get the full version yet. And regretfully, I cannot access the pictures without the program due to the type of ile they create. So, once I get that program (eventually) I will post images from that.

Then the holidays came, and David was home from Germany. It was cool seeing him. He purchased my old laptop and I got a new MacBook Pro (GO MAC!!!!!!!! and those comercials rock! Check them out at apple.com/getamac/ads).

Finally, I just remember that a few weeks ago I got a 1965 quarter as change when I bought something at a post office. It sounded funny as te lady was getting the change out. I was very excited when I saw it, but to make sure I called my good friend in Tucson, Ben, and asked him for confirmation, he is a numismatists. He confirmed that it was a solid silver quarter (1965 was the last year of solid silver quarters), and informed me that just in silver it was worth $2.25.

So there you go David, and anyone else that was wondering what has been going on. God Bless!

New Switchfoot Video

Okay, I like Switchfoot, and I haven't posted in a while, but I went to their webpage, and they have a new video. It is really funny.

Here it is:

Southern Arizona Fun

As I mentioned in my last post Beverly and I recently went to Wilcox. The first full day was planned as an off road day. So, we used an off road book we got from Beverly's brother and found a few roads that weren't considered very difficult, and headed off. We were on this dirt road, and there was a sign that said, "Road closed" But the road really didn't look that closed. We decided to continue on and see what was ahead that would close the road. Well, we started climbing the mountain and all of a sudden we were in snow. Yes, snow in southern Arizona in February. We thought about turning around, but decided we had a 4x4 vehicle and could keep going. So, we did. The snow at times was 7+ inches deep and in one spot it was more than 9.2 inches because that is the cars clearance and we were scraping the snow. Once we were at the top of the mountain we chose to turn around and hit another trail on the way back.

That trail was more rugged. The brush was scraping the side of the car on both sides the entire time. Well, what could make the day more adventurous you may ask? Well, aparently we hit a nail along this road. I found out when Beverly wanted to take a picture so we stopped. I got out and heard a hissing noise. Sure enough there was a nail in the tire. The area we were in at that point was pretty awful for tire changing, and since the sensor in the car to tell me a tire is low wasn't on we kept driving. Eventually, we found a flat spot and I changed the tire. 12 minutes from stopping to going again. Not too bad for a first time on this car.

After the off roading we passed by Chiricahua National Monument, and decided to go there till it got too dark. That was cool. There were more hoodoos. We saw them in Bryce Canyon in December and there are pictures of those in an earlier blog.


We did some hiking and that was nice.




Beverly took this picture of a tree at Chiricahua National Monument that I didn't know about until I started looking through the pictures. I really liked it and wanted to share it with everyone.










The next day we went to Katchner Caverns. That was really cool to see was. I really like caves/caverns. I find them quote interesting to look at, and it is just another great wonder that God created just right to show us His majesty and forethought. I mean, He knew that people wouldn't discover it fully until the 1970's and then not really be seen by lots of people until the 1990s, so He did everything JUST right to develop its beauty from creation until then.

Our last day we headed back through Tucson so that we could eat at a Mexican place we really like (Rosa's on Fort Lowell and Campbell), and so Beverly could go to Beyond Bread again (we also went on our way down to Wilcox too). While in Tucson we drove around the loop at Saguaro National Park (the one on the east side of Tucson), and have decided that we may venture back there and do some hiking later this year before our national parks pass expires at the end of the year.

Sorry Everyone

Hi Everybody! (Hi Mr. Mike)

Sorry that this has taken so long since my last post, and now I will be trying to post a few things all at once. Since my last post a few things have happened. School has started for me again, and that is going well. My classes seem to be enjoying themselves for the most part. Beverly is enjoying not having class for the first time in a LONG time.

Over Presidents Day weekend we went down to Wilcox, Arizona for the weekend. We went off road driving the first day, got a flat tire that I had to replace on a dirt road. Then we went to Karchner Caverns the next day, and then through Tucson on our way home. Overall it was a good weekend, and I will post some pictures with explanations in the next few days I hope.

Currently Beverly is in Japan on a business trip. She is doing some tours of Japan on the weekends she will be there. So far she has done a tour of Tokyo that she said she enjoyed. She will be there just over two weeks (right now just under two weeks left). Everyone keeps asking me if I miss her like there is no tomorrow, and the answer is yes and no. I miss her a lot, but we have been apart before and made it through it and this is like those time to me, except this time I am not going away for work she is. we are talking every morning (well morning for me, evening for her) via Skype, and that helps us stay in touch.

About a week and a bit ago Beverly and I bought a Wii at the advice of our good friends Aaron and Kylie Griffy. They said it was a lot of fun, and well worth the money, and so far I must agree. The sports game that comes with the system is a lot of fun, and Beverly and I have bowled a game already and that was a blast. I am not so good at tennis or boxing, but I am sure will get better as time goes on.

Bryce Canyon National Park

The last real day of the vacation was spent at Bryce Canyon National Park. What Beverly and I both remarked on was that you are surrounded by mountains, and trees, and then all of a sudden you are at this canyon with these hoodoos (those rock formations that are sticking up are called hoodoos). So, to the right is a picture of the amphitheater. There are hundreds of these hoodoos all over the place in this big bowl. It was a cool sight.

Something to note, it was COLD! I mean really, really cold. The temperature thing in the 4Runner said the temp was 20 degrees when we got there. I will admit that it did get up to 27 degrees, but the wind was strong and with the wind it was at least 10 or below.
In the picture to the right you see us all bundled up in hats, gloves, coats, etc. and I was STILL COLD. If you look closely you can see icicles in my mustache.









As the day went on the weather was WINDY AND COLD, but at least it was clear and sunny. So it was very scenic, and I would definitely like to go back some day. The trails were all too icy to hike very easily, and so we didn't get to see anything other then what you could see from the canyon top and lookout points.












The day was all but over, and we were walking around one last area, and Beverly saw this tree with snow on it and thought it looked like a Christmas tree, and in a picture a Christmas card. So, if we do Christmas cards next year (well later this year) it may be the picture below.
The trip was a blast, and I would highly recommend it to others. God Bless!

Zion National Park

The next day we headed to Zion National Park. It was a nice hour and a half drive. Once there we decided to purchase a national parks pass for the year since we were going to 2 back to back and basically just need to go to one more "kinda big" national park to pay for itself and then some. So, sometime in the next year we will be going to at least one national park.

Once inside it was very snowy, and the road was pretty icy. So, it was slow driving into the park. But once in to the base of the canyon we got out and walked some. To the left is a picture some that first walk. It was a nice clear day which was a blessing from God, because the day before it was snowy, cloudy and just plan nasty.







Then we went on another hike that took up up the side of some of the canyon, and it was a nice hike. There was a waterfall that we had to cross that I don't know how you would cross it if it wasn't low water season. Maybe they close the trail in high water times. But from that waterfall we took the picture you see above. As you can see the snow level was high up on the mountains, but that was basically where we started from at the beginning of the day.


We hiked some more, and it was a splended day over all. We were staying in a hotel right outside the park so we didn't have to leave until sunset. To the right is a picture of us at sunset on our way climbing out of the canyon.









When we were almost out of the park the sun was just about totally down when we looked behind us and saw the sunsetting, and decided to stop and take a few more pictures. Since we had the tripod (so I could take large format pictures) it was easy to get the long exposure pictures of the sunset.

We made it to the hotel, which was nice, and then got a good night sleep so we could get to Bryce Canyon as early as possible the next day.

Page, Arizona - and the surrounding area

Sorry for the delay. I wanted Beverly's opinion on the pictures to put up here.

So, we went up to the Page, AZ area right after Christmas. Beverly wanted to get to somewhere cold for a few days. She had never been there and I hadn't been there in a long time. Also, I know there would be opportunities to go off road a little bit with the 4Runner. We got up there and it was cold. We checked into our hotel and got some dinner, and that was it for that day.

The next day we headed out to an outlook of Glen Canyon, Glen Canyon Damn, and Lake Powell. It was quite nice and we took a few pictures. WE walked along a path, and found this nice place to take a picture of the two of us.











Then we headed north, over the bridge and towards a dirt road I wanted to take for the day. There was another nice pull out, and Beverly took the above picture of Lake Powell. Also at this location while I was standing around and Beverly was taking lots of pictures she took a picture of our 4Runner. She said it just looked too much like a Toyota commercial. So, here is that picture as well. What do you think?









We then got to the dirt road I wanted to drive along, and it was a nice drive. We got out and hiked once, but mostly just admired the scenery. It was a very nice day which was good, because there was a good chance for rain and possibly snow that day. The picture I liked for this section is this one to the left. I really liked the clouds, and the way the light was hitting the mountain.

That was the whole day. We got back, and decided to change our plans for the trip. We decided to drive to Zion National Park the next day, and sleep somewhere near there, and then go to Bryce Canyon National Park the following day, and then head home the day after that.

A Full Update till Now

Hello all,

I know it has been a while since I have written so I will update you all on all that has been going on.

Beverly GRADUATED from ASU!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She now has her Master's Degree in Chemical Engineering. We are actually having a graduation party for her on January 20th at our house from 3-5.


The Christmas season went well. We got to see family from all sides. God is so wonderful to provide us with the ability to see everyone. Celebrating Jesus' birth is so awesome.

Right after Christmas Beverly and I went on vacation for a few days. We went to Page, AZ, Zion National Park, and Bryce Canyon National Park. Then next few posts will focus on that trip.

New Car and then off the road

So, Beverly and I took the big plunge and bought a new car. There it is a 2006 Toyota 4Runner SR5 - 4WD. We have been talking about it for a while, and then the VW (in the background) had an oil seal go, and that seemed to be God telling us that it was time to buy a new car. I wanted a 4WD vehicle, and also something that will work once we have kids (not any time soon so stop that talking). So, I did some research and I liked the 4Runner. So, we bought it a few weeks ago on a Friday, and immediately took it to Flagstaff and Sedona for the weekend. We were already planning to go up to Flag for the weekend, but in the new car made it that much better. The car ran great, and I am getting just over 20MPG around town.

Here is a picture of us in Sedona on that fun filled weekend. We went to relax, and Beverly wanted to get somewhere extra cold, and it was. We did some dirt road driving while there, and some hiking, and it was all a lot of fun.

New Phone, New Phun

Well, my wife has been asking me to take notes so I don't forget things for quite a long while now. I try it for a while, and then I always forget to carry the note pad, or forget to look at it, or something. Beverly mentioned one day the concept of a Palm Piolet. I said I didn't want carry something else in my pockets. She then suggested a Palm Treo. It has a phone and palm piolet abilities all in the same thing. So, I went to look at one. It was pretty cool. I thought at first it wasn't for me, but then I started looking and reading more about it, and I liked it more and more.

The clincher was the ability to do ringtones from MP3 files. Now I can have real songs as ringtones, and reminders and alarms. So, I got one. I got the Palm Treo 700w. It is a great phone. I like the speaker phone ability, and I have started taking notes in it, and checking them daily. It is really working well. I have already remembered to do things that I wouldn't have remembered otherwise.

The new problem now is that I have to decide what ringtones I want associated with which person. I have a lot of music, and trying to decide who gets which song is hard. Oh well! I can't complain. I have to thank my wife once more for a greaat idea.

Light from Distant Stars

My father and I were talking a few weeks ago about the creation of the universe. I was talking about a book I had recently read that tried to explain that the universe may have been created in 6 days like the Bible says, but also went into how scientific data that seems to contradict that is not wrong due to the expansion of the universe (long story). If you are interested in reading more I can tell you the name of the book, just ask, it was a good book.

My father brought up an interesting thought. First, God may have created the universe exactly the way it is now (size, shape, etc.). But then how did the light from those stars get here since it would take 13+ billion years to get here to us. That must prove that the universe is at least 13+ billion years old, right? Well, my father said, why couldn't God have just placed the light from those distant stars already in space between us here on earth and the objects that the light appears to be coming from?

Well, why not. God is great, all powerful, infinite, sovereign, and so much more. Not believing that it is possible puts limits on God that aren't correct, right? I like this thought. I am not sure if it's right. I do believe that God created the universe and everything in it in 6 days, so the light must have gotten here somehow. Whether science is right, and the book I mentioned before has it right, or my father's thoughts are right, it doesn't matter, but just don't limit God!

Back from Germany

As some of you knew, I was in Germany for 10 days. I went over for PhotoKina - the largest photography trade show in the world. I occurs every other year in Cologne, Germany. I went with my father and brother. We went a few days early so that we could settle in, and do a little looking around. I will hit the high points.
Saturday we didn't do much. Sunday my dad and I went to the chocolate museum in Cologne, and that was really neat. You get to see the chocolate go through the entire process of creation to packaging. Also, you get to see how multi-colored (on the same item) chocolate is made. That was really neat. It is done by painting one color in, say white, when it is slightly hard, then they pour in the other kind then put it on a machine that rotates and the chocolate adheres to the outside. The show started Tuesday and ended Sunday. The show was a lot of fun, and it appears that we picked up at least one dealer and maybe 2 others. The show was busy, which was good. Not much else to say about the show really. Ate food, talked to people, laughed, wandered, the norm from 9:15-6:20 everyday.
One thing that happened was that the booth we were in had a kitchen and servers. Well, one of the frig's had the door setup so that the girls couldn't get into it very easily due to the way it opened, and a shelving unit. So, I was able to get a set of tools from my brother, and switch which side the door was on. That worked well. The girls were very happy about it, and it made things a lot easier on them (at least for 4 of the 6 days).
I also got a few pictures of mine printed on 2 of hp's big printers. They both came out pretty well, and I am looking forward to framing and hanging them. Although I cannot afford those printers, and I will be looking into an Epson instead. I am going with the Epson, because I met a guy on the plane back that does a lot of fine art printing, and he didn't even have to think, he said Epson before I finshed asking. He tests them all and was able to explain it was the best (at the moment) for what I wanted to do. Now I just have to save the moeny to get it.
I got to eat at the Hungarian resturant I really like there with dad, brother, Mike Walker and friends, a couple others, and a fashion photographer named Urs. Apparently fairly well known, and a great, funny guy.
Overall one of the best part was getting to eat at my favorite ice cream place. When we showed up there the first Saturday night they remembered us. It was cool. We ate there every night except one, and the night after we missed they asked us where we were, because they were waiting for us the night before. We missed it because we were at the Hungarian place until late, and didn't get back to Bonn until midnight, an hour after the ice cream place was closed.

Overall, it was fun, but it was great to get home to my loving wife and my own bed.

An Article I Just Read

So, I just had a little time before my class starts, and I like to read through the articles on msn.com, and there was one about God and money. So, I decided to read it. Apparently this week's Time magazine has an article about God and money.

It talks a lot about Joel Osteen, you may have heard of him. I have never really ahd anything against him, but also have never really read or heard anything from him before. It seems as if he is an advocate for the "prosperity gospel." Yep, that is right God wants us to be rich mentality. I now have a lesser opinion of him. The Bible never says God wants us to be rich. But, according the the article, 61% of Christians beleive that God wants them to be rich. Where does this come from?

Well, it may come from the fact that Mr. Osteen never finished college or went to seminary. So, he may not have as good of an understanding of scripture as others who have gone to college and seminary. I am not saying that those that don't go to seminary cannot become good pastors through the hand of God, but I beleive that since we have good institutions in this country to provide deep theological learning and understanding, why not use them.

One of those Life Things

Just over a month ago I found out that my mother was going to have her kidney taken out. It was certainly a shock, because I didn't know anything was wrong. What happened is that the doctors did an MRI/CAT scan on her, because she was having some pain, and they saw a lump in her kidney. Well, the options were to cut her open and:
1. take a biopsy and see what it is and if it were to be bad then go back in a take it out.
2. take out the half of the kidney that the lump was in.
3. take the whole kidney out.
Well, after talking to a few doctors my parents learned that the best and easiest was to just take the whole thing out. So they did. That put my mother out of commission for a month - yes school started in there.

I got to sub for her math classes. I did that for 2 weeks, and I can say that teaching math is hard. I like the flow and time allotted in my physics class.

Well, they found out that the lump was cancer, but it was fully contained in the kidney and therefore everything is OK. It was a little scary for a little bit of time. All the doctors said it wasn't a big deal, and it was routine, but still a little scary.

Thanks for all the prayers.

Links to what we did

I also wanted to provide links to the things we did and places we stayed (where available) in both Australia and New Zealand. OK, I am just providing the ones I thought were worth mentioning that I still had at easy access.

Australia - Brisbane Area
http://www.carinyabandb.com.au/ - B&B in Brisbane
http://www.kooroomba.com.au - lavender Farm
http://www.crocodilehunter.com/ - The Australia Zoo

New Zealand - North Island
http://www.ezirentcarhire.co.nz - Car Rental agency
http://www.hobbitontours.com/ - Hobbiton
http://www.waimangu.com/ - Geothermal Park
https://www.iserve.co.nz/users/spider01/theloftnz.com/htdocs/index.htm - B&B at Lake Taupo - VERY NICE room and people
http://www.sharella.co.nz/ - cheap, not bad, in day may be nice because it is across from Botanical Garden

South Island
http://www.thecamelot.co.nz/ - Right downtown, no parking included (have to pay to park)
http://www.jadecourt.co.nz/ - Surprisingly nice. LITTLE TOWN. Good stop over between Christchurch and the glaciers
http://www.franzjosefglacier.co.nz/ - Glacier Tours - BLAST!!!!!
http://www.okurubeach.co.nz/ - Little B&B, kind-of hard to find, but nice people
http://www.willowbrook.net.nz/ - VERY NICE B&B. Outside of Queenstown about 20 minutes.
http://www.thestation.co.nz/default.asp - Milford Sound Day Tour - May decide to drive instead, but it is 4 hours each way from Queenstown so it was nice to relax in bus instead, but other people with you that are not necessarily as great.
http://www.nzhomestay.co.nz/pages/Canterbury/HO_79.html - Nice B&B between Queenstown and Christchurch. It is called Tekapo House so if html doesn't work then just do a search for it.


Overall we liked the B&B's more than the hotels, but you of course pay a little more for that (most of the time). The gondola rides in Queenstown and Christchurch were well worth it.

Overall Australia & New Zealand

I have uploaded a lot of pictures with brief descriptions today. They are in reverse order if you start at the top (Sorry, I didn't think of that first). This trip was great. It started off in Australia, getting to see one of my best friends getting married to a wonderful woman. The wedding was nice, and Beverly and I were very happy that we could make it. The weather was great (well a little rain wasn't always occuring at the right time for our liking). The area was gorgeous, and Beverly and I would love to return sooner rather than later.

One thing we did learn is that 12 days in all of New Zealand is not nearly enough time to really enjoy it. If and when we go back I think we will either have to spend a lot more time there to see both islands, or take two trips one to each island exclusively. I would advise everyone to go there at least once in their lives. Both islands have a lot to offer.

I can say that we will return someday. God definitely went all out in beauty when he created New Zealand. Thank you God!