2nd Term...New Plan!

Guess who's back for a second year ya'll:

That's right. I am on my third week of my 2nd term here in New Windsor, Maryland. Still in the same department of Information Services, working with Francie. I am excited about it, but also going about the second term in a different way. My first term was about learning the ropes, learning how to do things around the center, IS, and learning about how my life will be for this next year. This year is about proving myself that I want to be apart of the company for good. I am going to be more focused, more dedicated, and more ready to take on more responsibility. I already feel like I am part of the family here, now I want to take it to the next level. I feel really great about this because I got a year under my belt and the second year should be even better.

My first week went well. I stayed busy. I had a lot to do. It was a great week to start out. One of the things I did was make sure that just about everyone is on the new server. And then I prepped a couple laptops for other staff. One of the cool things and touching things that happen that week was the IS department hooked me up with a gift certificate to the local pizza place and tw0-6 packs of Dr. Pepper, just to say "thank you for all you done so far". That meant a lot to me with that special gesture because they appreciated my work. And I hope to return the favor with a great second year. My second week though went a little slower. For the simple fact that I got sick in the middle of the week and had to take last Friday off to heal up. I don't like taking sick days off, but if I have to I will. I don't want to make anyone else sick. I feel pretty good right about now so I will return to work tomorrow to start the third week.

I don't think this year, nothing to big will pop up. The one thing I am looking forward to most is the Fall BVS unit coming to New Windsor. I'll get a chance to meet different people, and hang out with them. I always enjoy meeting other BVSer's, whether they are older or younger, BVSer's are good people to now. The BVS 60th Anniversary is coming up, the end of September, which is here at New Windsor. I don't think I want to go into detail about my feelings about this weekend, but at one point I was really looking forward to this weekend. But now, it just feels like any other weekend. I am going to meet some folks there and hang out with the new unit, but it doesn't have the same feeling like it did two months ago.

The last three weeks I have been watching some of the most incredible moments in the Summer Olympics. They had so many sports going on, and it was fun to watch things that I don't normally watch on a yearly basis. Such as the women's gymnastics. That is probably my second favorite sport to watch underneath the Men's USA Basketball. What those young girls can do with their bodies is incredible. Every event that they do is amazing. The next thing I enjoyed watching is Michael Phelps. He is freakin incredible. The best swimmer I have ever seen in my life. Winning 8 gold medals in one Olympic is...sweet. Phelps is an inspiration to any Olympian or future Olympian. Then I had the pleasure of watching the women's beach volleyball finals. The US team kicked ass, but then again they kicked everyone's ass for like year straight. I enjoy watching volleyball because I think it is fun sport and I think it should be a bigger sport than it is. Last but definitely not least, basketball. The sport I enjoy the most, along with football and baseball. I got the chance to watch both the men and women's teams. Both are so great. I loved watching Lisa Leslie, Diana Taurasi, and Candice Parker do their thang. And then you got the best players in the whole fuckin' on the same team: Kobe (MVP) Bryant and LeBron (Bad Ass) James on the same team. It doesn't get any bigger than that. I had the pleasure of watching both teams take home the Gold Medals. It was something else. Especially for the men because they wanted to prove that they were the best in the world after falling short in 2004. Kobe, LeBron and Dwayne Wade ripped it up and it was a pleasure to see everyone win a gold medal; especially Kobe because of falling short of the NBA championship this year. This years Summer Olympics was awesome. I look forward to 2012 in London.

Right now I am about taking care of business here in New Windsor. My overall goals is to get employed here as full-time technical support in Information Services, working with Francie and Mark. However, if that doesn't seem like thats going to happen next year, I thought about another year in BVS someplace else. I thought about working with kids and doing something may a little out of my field, just to try something different. I got a lot of options to think about here in the next 6 months or so. I just want to say once again that my number my goal is to stay putt here in New Windsor. I like the people, I love my job, my boss is the best boss I ever worked for and my living situation is awesome. Wish me luck on the second year.

Oh yeah. My website is coming soon and I will continue to keep writing in this blog. Keep checking every now and then. Peace.





BVSer Unit 275

Ray Lewis authenticated signature

A good buddy of mine, Alva Lee Moses hooked me up with this real signature of Ray Lewis on the cover of the EA Madden 2005 video game. Ray Lewis is the only Defensive Player to ever don the cover of the EA Madden games.

My first term in Information Services, BVS

Hey People:

Well I finished my first year of my first term here in New Windsor. Last time I wrote about being here in New Windsor for a year including BVS orientation, was about being away from home for a year. This time it is about concluding my first year at my project, Brethren Service Center in the department of Information Services. To me this is the more special of the two because it symbolizes that I had worked at a job for one year, with better things to come. There is so much to take from this one year. I was reminiscing about my life earlier this week and realized that I have done a lot. I remember last year when I was interviewed by Mark and Francie, right then and there I knew I was going to be here in New Windsor working in the IS department because that was my first choice. When orientation ended, I just chilled in my apartment all weekend. I didn't even leave the apartment because for the first time in my life I had my own apartment. I was living by myself and it felt wonderful. After 27 years, it was time. I remember my first day at work, I went into Francie's office and talked with her on some things. Things like what I expected from this job, what are my goals, and what she expected and some of the things that IS was planning on doing. This was a whole new level for me because not only am I living outside my home (California), but I am also working outside my home too. I loved it. At first it was about learning the system, just like any other job. Learn about what programs to use, what was my role as the sidekick, what I can and cannot do, who I'm working for, the types of computers we are using. The hardest thing about this process was migrating my knowledge of IT to this job because the one thing I learn from the field is that everyone does things different. As time goes on, as I was getting more comfortable with my position in the Information Services department, I was able to use a lot of my talents and knowledge to some of these PC's and programs. And as I did that, for the most part, I have the confidence to do what I want to do on a PC. What I love about this is that I have input in a lot of things we troubleshoot. And as time goes by, month after month, Francie and I started to become more of a team. She is a great Administrator and I am the sidekick tech that loves his job. Another thing I like about IS is we work with this guy name Curt. Curt is our consultant. This guy is really smart and knows a lot about networks. He reminds me of Aaron Cornwell, my tech mentor in tech school. Not only does he know a lot and helps us out so much, but he is one of the coolest guys that I met ever, which is another reason why he reminds me of Aaron, because Aaron was that way as well.

Being at the Brethren Service Center has its pros and cons. The pros include having my own apartment, which I had mentioned above, the quietness of the small town of New Windsor, and most important is the people. I have met a lot of people here at the center. The staff is great. And we work with a lot of volunteers such as myself. Most of the volunteers are older people and work on a monthly basis. I have worked with 4 older BVSer here. The 4 other BVSers are Dave and Maria Huber, and Phil & Joan Taylor. 4 people who I have gone very close with since being over here. There are other people who I have gone close with: Art & Lois Hermanson, Adrian & Elaine Sayler, Ed & Betty Runion, Ric & Jan Martinez, Roland and Voletta, Dick and Erma Foust, Catheren and Collin, Bubbles, Hazel Hill, Josh and Cecil, Emma Moses, Alva Lee Moses and Liz, Aaron, Danny Simon, Diane Gosnell, David. Just so many people here at the center. The staff I have gone close with include: Terry Riley, Jane Bankert, Connie Bohn, Kathleen Campanella, Wolfgang Spreen, Barbara Watt, Joan McGrath, Loretta Wolf, Zach Wolgemuth, Judy Bezon, Roy Winter, LethaJoy Martin, Felix Hill, Ron, Mary Miller, Terri Meushaw, Dana Weaver, Darlene Johnson, Ed Palsgrove, and more. The last person I want to mention is Cori Hahn. Cori is probably my best friend here at the center. It helps that she is around my age and can relate with me more. Of course we don't agree on abou 70% of our conversations but it just makes it that more interesting to talk to her each day. The people are the best here and I couldn't ask for a better group of folks to work with each and every workday.

The two most memorable moments this year happen to be when I went to Elgin, Illinois for the first time and when I went back to Washington DC for the first time since arriving here in New Windsor. Elgin was a blast the first time I went because it gave me an opportunity to do a couple things: vist with some of my unit members who I haven't seen since orientation. And find out about other projects there in Elgin. Even though I went for the GB board meeting, I felt like this was a learning experience for me. I got a chance to see what the General Board meeting was like and meet different people. The main people I met was the field staff. The field staff was the reason I went because I needed to do some updates on their laptops. I liked all the field staff people who I met. They seemed real nice. When I went to DC the first time since being here, I went to visit some of my unit members who were serving in DC. The main person I went to see was Jillian Baker, who was leaving to El Savador for two years. Jillian just happens to be one of my best friends from my unit. Going to DC was a trip. The most awesomest trip in a long time. I got a chance to hang out and chill with them, went to a bar and had a couple, went to their favorite kick it place to eat. I also got a chance to meet a few new BVSers over there. Even some people that aren't BVSer's that were living in the house anyway. One thing about DC I learned about was the Metro system. You can go anywhere in DC using the metro, without even using a car. I think that is awesome.

Next up the BVS retreat. I spoke about this in earlier blogs and the one thing I can say now is that when I got up the retreat, I was coming off a major cold. I haven't gotten that sick in a long time and it prevented me from doing a lot of cool things that I wanted to do. Even though I was starting to get better from a week earlier, I still wasn't at 100 percent that I wanted to be. I got a chance to meet some new folks from the other unit that went, 277. 277 was a huge unit, but also a very cool unit my unit 275. I could tell that the developed a closeness like we did. And we just hit it off. Even though I had somewhat of a cool time at the retreat, I was so glad to be home. I guess after a long trip and was glad to come back to New Windsor, New Windsor could be the home away from home, LOL.

The next thing I wanted to bring up was that Information Services bought 3 new servers for the department. 2 in Elgin and one here in New Windsor. We have been working on adding all the users (employees and volunteers) to each server. This was an awesome job that we started back in May and just about to finish up our part in New Windsor. Elgin has been working really hard non stop to get everyone one so we can start are next step. I really enjoyed this project because it was a hands on project that I felt I was heavily involved. Curt had came in a lot days and helped Francie and I out so much. I really appreciated his work with us. I learned so much from this project that I take with me wherever I go.
In May, my Mom came out to visit for 3 days. Her and I planned the visit sometime last year. It was great to see her but she only had a short time here, not enough time to do a lot of things. I didn't even get a chance to show her around the campas. We went to Virginia the next day to visit our cousin Frank and his wife. We had a good visit with them. Her and I stayed the night over there and came back the following evening. Early morning the following day, my Mom left. Was a good visit, but I prefer to visit her when I am in California again.

Ever since after my mom visit, I felt like I was getting into a small slump. What I mean by that is like everyday seem to be the same. During the week, I wake up and go to work. When I get back from work, I just spend the rest of my time either resting or chillin on my laptop doing different things. It as been like that for the past few months. When I accepted the position here in New Windsor, it was explained to me that I may not have much of a social life. I agree with that statement now that I have been here for a year. I love my job though. My job is the one that that gets me up in the morning and be happy for what I am about to do that particular day. Weekends are good to chill, but I have been chillin a little too much lately. Every now and then I will go get some groceries, and maybe I will hit up Wallmart to get some clothes but for the most part, its work and go home. I was telling my Dad about that and he said that it was pretty much what I was going through at home except I didnt have a full-time job. Don't get me wrong, I would't change a thing, I just need to step up my game a bit and try to have some sort of social life outside the center.

With everything that had gone on over the year, I wouldn't change a thing. I still believe that this has been the best year in a long time. Working in the Information Services department has been so much fun and exciting. I love this department, the people I work with, the things I do, and will hopefully continue to do, and the over life. I seen many things, met a lot of people, and did a couple of things on way to a year. Awesomest first year ever, and I look forward to even a better 2nd year here in New Windsor, representing Information Services and the Brethren Volunteer Services. "Peace".

"Todos Amar"

BVSer, Unit 275