http://www.pleonast.com/user/billiam recent pleonast.com entries by user billiam en-us http://www.pleonast.com/user/billiam?l=5&entryID=603922 i am thankful for GOD'S WORD. sometimes i don't even feel worthy of being allowed to read it, and yet it's there faithfully. i am thankful for THE REVELATION TO JOHN and the teenagers helping me study it. we've talked about angels, demons, and the real battles...great stuff i wish i'd talked about at their age. i am thankful for a lovely, patient, intriguing wife that makes home a haven of rest. i am thankful for this job, even if i haven't had a 2-day weekend in three months. i am thankful for this job, even if i have to be at work the last thursday and friday of november. go titans. go state. time to go eat. heaven's getting closer by the second... 2008-11-27 http://www.pleonast.com/user/billiam?l=5&entryID=583001 Here's the update...quick style: HURRICANE IKE Personal: Julie and her sister evacuated to Memphis for 10 days; I evacuated to THE Starkville, MS to the MSU v. Auburn crazy football game...came back the next day. House OK, one shingle bent upwards and some fence fell over. Had power, cable, and internet less than 14 hours after hurricane...must be living right. :) Work: The opposite. Our levee at the plant is 10' tall. We had a 10ish foot surge. The levee was breached and topped, filling the plant with a nice riverwater/seawater mix for 3 days. Result...a nightmare mechanically, and I'm only getting every 14th day off (plus a few hours every Sunday morning). The destruction is amazing, but so is the current restoration effort. Ridiculous. Work will be crazy probably until Feburaryish...sorry if you don't here much from me. How many times did your company get trashed during the VP debate? Mine got five...woo! My main problem with the Bailout situation is this: Where is "overs... 2008-10-03 http://www.pleonast.com/user/billiam?l=5&entryID=573425 For those interested in the potential destruction of Europe, the Large Hadron Collider will be launched for the first time tomorrow morning. Short version: This machine is 27km; the goal is to get protons up to 99.9999% the speed of light, run them into each other, and see what happens. Full Story. Favorite quote from the full story: "The great thing about this experiment is that we know we must find something new because our current theories don't explain what will happen at LHC. We have some guesses which may or may not be right, but whatever the results, the LHC will herald a new age in our understanding of physics." Translation: We. don't. know. what. will. happen. Awesome. Ike's kinda coming this way. I upset a Catholic visitor in Bible class Sunday...but we studies for 15 minutes b/w it and worship, and he's going to come back. Win win. Work is busy, but fun. A new job is always tough but fun I guess. I've already started on one of my 2009 New Year's Resoluti... 2008-09-10 http://www.pleonast.com/user/billiam?l=5&entryID=555661 - I think I've lived here long enough to make a blanket statement: The best restaurant in Beaumont is Rockin' A Cafe. It's classic friendly people serving a meat, two vegetables, brownies, and sweet tea. It's a good way to end a week, start a week, whatever. - Rockin' A Cafe has a sign above the register that reads as follows: Fat People Are Harder to Kidnap. I'm not sure how long this truism has been out there, but I laughed out loud...hard...when I saw it. - Julie and I bought a 42" LCD T.V. last week. I'm not a huge TV watcherer until it comes to sports. ESPNHD + CBSHD + college football = one excited Bill. - Starting a job transition this week. I'll be training a guy to take my spot, then I'll be moving to a Machinery position supporting about half the plant. It's something COMPLETELY different, which I like. You only live once, might as well try to learn everything. I also like how this company moves people around... - I think my next Bible class project will be writing s... 2008-07-28 http://www.pleonast.com/user/billiam?l=5&entryID=547617 Hi. I’ve been to Italy since we spoke last. It. Was. Amazing. A few highlights… - Driving a manual transmission in rush-hour Florence traffic is unwise…and fun. - Don’t partake of the fruit of the vine in “quick-gulp” formation, especially if you’ve never tasted wine. It will burn and create a scene. - The Vatican is very bizarre. It’s amazing how much the Catholic church bought and stole in the name of religion. At one point they even began destroying things seen as idolatry. Twas only a fad though... - Venice was very cool…didn’t seem real. - “Mandy” on our Tom-Tom GPS is one smart woman, even though she MADE me go against the grain on a one-way street once. Forgiven 70 x 7. To quote Jeremiah Wright, “IT’S IN THE BIBLE!!!” That’s enough. See Julie’s blog for picture links. 4th of July weekend was nice. Drove 1100 miles round-trip to Memphis. Ate some BBQ, dominated at Mexican Train, visited the site of MLK’s assassination, and pinch-hit in the... 2008-07-07 http://www.pleonast.com/user/billiam?l=5&entryID=535539 Update on the birds: They hatched, they grew up, and they’re gone. My house rules: you’re old enough to fly, you’re old enough for me to take your house and make you build your own. Gas prices have risen a bit since we last talked. As a member of “the problem”, let me share some thoughts for your consideration. I’d like to hear what you think as well. - Oil prices fell sharply. Hmm…and there were some that saw it coming. The apparent culprit is supply AND demand…weird. It’s interesting that ~90% of us have started making changes. I know we have. What changes are you making? - Who profits? A very interesting stat: The government has made 3 times the profit off of gasoline as the top 5 oil companies have made on gas, jet fuel, plastics, rubbers, etc. One of the senators asked our VP how much he makes a year. Proper response: “With all due respect, Senator, that ain’t none yo beezwaxx.” - The government’s big idea . They are adding 70kbd of supply to a countr... 2008-06-04 http://www.pleonast.com/user/billiam?l=5&entryID=523176 Night shift work is over. 41 nights straight with two nights off sprinkled in the middle. Here's how you know you've been gone too long from your normal job. Julie and I are headed to Tampa tomorrow for President brother-in-law's mini-graduation at FC. I think I'm gonna need to ride a rollarcoaster or two while I'm there. Trip to Italy is a little over a month away. Can't. wait. I think I'm going to preach Sunday on my favorite "Sunday School" story in the Bible: David and Goliath. What's yours? Bring on the weird return to FC... Heaven's getting closer by the second... 2008-04-30 http://www.pleonast.com/user/billiam?l=5&entryID=520904 Straight 12-hour shifts coming to a close soon. Mental fatique setting in, but an overall good experience. Crocs showed up at the house two days. Already by second favorite pair of shoes all time next to my old New Balance 900's. NB900s and my feet go together like two things that go together REALLY well. Seeing Christian brethern once-a-week is not enough. If you're one of those people who only attends one service a week, you're an idiot. My wife went to a Brian Regan show in Houston with some friends last Saturday whilst I worked. Grr... She did bring back a DVD and a "Cup of Dirt" t-shirt. Love it. One minor benefit of working nights has been the chance to see the quarterfinals/semifinals of the Champions League on ESPN2 in the afternoons. Trying to figure out what to teach in the High School class next quarter. I'm becoming a fan of reading several materials, books, resources, sermons, etc. and writing my own material so it flows through a topic/book like my brain do... 2008-04-24 http://www.pleonast.com/user/billiam?l=5&entryID=515692 25 12-hour night shifts...one day off...about half-way complete. I cover for 4 people on nights, so every evening/morning during shift change we go over what's happened, what needs to happen, etc. We all keep a running Word document to facilitate this exercise. One guy and I have similar humor tastes, so we leave each other something funny from a comedian, website, etc. Highlights from the ALKY/GP5W/MTBE/MEROX Shift Log... - Google “High school simile contest”...hilarious!! I think I stumbled upon this from staci. - Steven Wright quote: “Right now I'm having amnesia and deja-vu at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before.” - Demetri Martin: “I like video games, but they’re really violent. I’d like to play a video game where you help the people who were shot in all the other games. It’d be called ‘Really Busy Hospital.’” - Zach Galifianakis: I have a lot of growing up to do. I realized that the other day inside my fort. - Demetri Martin: Last week... 2008-04-11 http://www.pleonast.com/user/billiam?l=5&entryID=509794 I always liked climbing as a kid... I still smell a little like kerosene tonight. This stuff is great. Just an FYI for the next time your dirty...really dirty. Heaven's getting closer by the second... 2008-03-28