1 November 2009 Update
Sun Nov 01, 09 10:36 pm
Well since I wrote my last update I have been travelling more than I have been in Carlisle.
***Past Travels***
I started my travels with an overnight trip to Birmingham to do some training. That went really well I think based upon the outcomes I am seeing. The one guy has really run with the training and put it into practice.
I was back for one work day and a weekend in Carlisle before I left for Brussels to prepare and teach OM’s IT systems administrator course. I was one of three trainers. The participants went away sobered on what has not been done in the past in their country and with a lot more knowledge on how OM’s IT systems operate. I feel that we come close to overwhelming them with critical information. It quite often is a steep learning curve for those that have no real background in IT and have become the go-to-guy for their countries. The Sunday of the training was a day of rest and relaxation. I borrowed some cycles and a participant and I cycled to a nearby town on Sunday afternoon. That was a real highlight for me doing the training. Otherwise each day of the training I was kept busy from morning until late in the evening.
I am passing out assignments for the lab. I am about to start teaching about WPKG.
Teaching data destruction.
I cycled to Leuven with Trev.
I was pretty tired by the end of the training. That was why I decided to schedule a holiday afterwards so that I could be fully rested from the training and the busy summer months I have had. I knew I was going out to the Doulos in late autumn so I wanted t be fully rested before I went there.
I went on holiday directly from Brussels to Venice and Rome. My getting to Venice was very much a miracle as I should have missed the last train to the airport for my flight, but for the fact that my connecting train was late by 5 minutes. Even so, I dashed up the stairs to the platform and onto the train as the doors was closing. I was that close to missing the train. Thank you for your prayers during my travels.
Venice and Rome are two very different locations in so many ways. I was able to get some nice time with God and really relax and refresh during the holiday. I returned to Carlisle for 2.5 weeks of work before I head out to the Doulos. The holiday was done alone which was not exactly what I would prefer but how it worked out. Because I was alone in a country that I don’t speak the language I find myself doing a lot of introspection and reflecting. Venice is a very picturesque place and there was lots of time to just sit and enjoy the scenery. Rome was much more a sightseeing place. I felt more compelled to see the “sites” in Rome whereas in Venice there were no really big places you have to go see. It was just beautiful and interesting everywhere I looked.
Venice sunset
Coliseum
Rome Photo Gallery
Venice Photo Gallery
Belgian Photo Gallery
***Carlisle Work***
I have been working to sort through a lot of various bits and bobs at work before I leave again.
On the email side of things I have been testing a commercial spam filtering solution. It is critical for our organization to have an outsourced solution because we need the anonymity that is provided by routing our email through a system where thousands of other organizations also route their email. So far the testing is going well. We need to make a decision this week on whether to go forward with the solution I have been testing. Since we moved all the email to the US last month we have already grown by 100 to 1300 the number of mailboxes being used on the centralized email solution.
Since last year I have been doing most of the IT support for OM’s Ireland office. I have someone there who is pretty competent but I tend to do the more complicated things remotely. They recently purchased 2 new computers and I have been working the last week to get them all up and running.
***Doulos Trip***
But the major milestone in my life is a trip out to the Doulos for 6 weeks to return just before Christmas. The second OM ship is in dry dock in Singapore where I will join her in a week’s time. I have a number of IT projects to work on for them. They are without any fully skilled IT personnel at the moment and those in their IT department need training. I will be doing the training and working on trying to get through a good number of the IT projects that have been queuing. The IT department has some personnel issues that I will be walking into as well.
After dry dock the ship will be sailing to Phuket, Thailand and then across the Indian Ocean to Muscat, Oman. I anticipate the time to be quite a tiring trip even though it will be good fun to visit some of these countries.
***Carlisle Life***
My ankle is all better from what I can tell. Thanks to all who have been asking and praying. I have been unable to attend Ultimate Frisbee that much this autumn mostly because of my travels.
Last weekend I spent contacting those who financially supporting me. It was encouraging to see those that are committed to continue their support of me. I have a few more people to contact before I head out on this next trip. This weekend was spent mowing, raking leaves and clearing out all the garden beds of this year’s dead and dying organic matter.
Church is going well. People at church notice when I am away and are so nice to say that they miss me when I am away. We moved into new facilities at the beginning of the school year. Since the move we seem to have many more new people than normal each week showing up at the Sunday service. The Saturday I fly out to Singapore will be our church’s 5 year anniversary.
I am also in a new home group but I have yet to attend because I have been away so much. In the new home group I have been asked to work as an assistant home group leader. I am not really certain what my title actually means though. I am certainly not setting a good attendance example.
***Prayer Requests***
- Safety in travels and that I draw closer to God during this extended time away from home.
- Wisdom for all the difficult things I anticipate to have to work on when I get to the Doulos.
- Endurance to get through the large work load I will have on the ship in addition to some work I will still do remotely back in Carlisle.
Trackback URL: http://www.homeschoolalumni.org/trackback.php?e=32798