blog.arathald.com

So, I’ve been slowly working on getting a new website up, one that I think I’ll be holding on to pretty much forever. It’s hosted through a company called HostMonster, which gives me tons of space and transfer for very little money. The main page at http://www.arathald.com doesn’t have anything up on it right now. I haven’t decided exactly what I want on my main site yet. It’s likely going to either redirect to a blog or be a main page that hosts links to all my different sites, but I’m not sure yet, and I definitely don’t have time to set that up right now.

This, however, is my personal blog. I’m not going to say I’ll update it every day or twice a week with some clever, interesting story from my life; I’ve tried that before, and it just doesn’t work. I will however, at least try to resurrect something I had on my old Xanga blog: I want to post a challenge once a week that I hope anyone who takes the time to read this will take to heart. I have a highly multifaceted personality, so it could be a physical challenge, a mental challenge, a spiritual challenge, or something else entirely. I will also commit to doing my own weekly challenge, because what fun would it be if I didn’t try it as well? Every week, I will ask readers to post a comment if they accept the challenge, and to update it or add a new one when they complete the challenge, unless the challenge gives other instructions. I do realize not every challenge will pertain to every reader, so please do not feel obligated to complete a challenge that you do not feel comfortable doing, but I do strongly encourage you to at least try every one. These challenges are designed to stretch you in many different areas of your life, and often will take you outside of your comfort zone. I will make no promises as to the effects of completing the challenges, but my goal is to design each challenge to help you grow as an individual.

Enough for now about the challenges, though. Since this is my first post here, it is going to be a little long, so please bear with me.

I mentioned that I’m not sure about the front page of my website, but I have decided a few things I will be putting in my site. I will be starting out with two different blogs: this one, which is my personal blog, and one dedicated to my experience as a consumer. The one about my experience as a consumer will chronicle any notable experiences I have with companies. I have been an avid reader of The Consumerist for a while now, and I have read a lot about how different companies treat their customers. I have had some interesting interactions with several companies, and I am always evaluating virtually every company I interact with, so I thought it would be appropriate to keep a record of these interactions. Look for more on that coming soon; the link will be posted along the right hand side of this blog when it is put up (likely tomorrow or next week).

This has been a tough couple of weeks at work, putting in late nights to get everything done for the Texas Christmas Lights Workshop, but it’s going to be worth it when we show off our lights down there. I’m leaving for Nova Scotia for a family vacation this Friday, so the time I had to work on it was cut a little short, but we’ll definitely have something good going for that. I do need to make sure I get a bit more sleep, I probably shouldn’t be staying up this late working on my blog, but this is the only time I have, and I’ll be going to bed immediately after.

I recently went back and read my old blog on Xanga, and a couple things about it made me sad. The picture and most of the posts remind me of the great time I had running cross country. The picture up on that blog looks nothing like I do now. While I was running cross country, I weighed 154 pounds, definitely a bit less than I do now. I need to start exercising again; after we get back from Texas at the end of July, I think I am going to try to get a gym membership for the month I have left here, maybe spring a little more to work with a trainer sometimes, because I could use someone to motivate me. During cross country, Coach Bickhart and the rest of the team did a good job of that, and I have been trying to figure out how to get that back. It’s definitely hard, so I think a gym membership might be the thing to do. I’ve heard that a couple of the gyms here in Indianapolis have the first month free, so that might be a great way to get a membership for this month, and to try out a gym here since I’ll likely be back here subsequent summers, and even after I graduate.

Another thing that makes me sad about this blog is the community I had back then. I really miss Wheaton Academy and the friends I had there. I think the church I found here, Common Ground Christian Church, will provide an envirnoment like that, but I’ve been so tired lately from work that I haven’t really gotten a chance to make good connections there. They have something called house churches that seem to be designed to provide that kind of environment. I really want to get connected to one here before the summer ends. It looks like I’m going to be taking it easier and working more normal hours after Texas, for the sake of my physical, spiritual, and mental health.

That brings me the the last thing I have to say about my old blog: I miss the weekly challenges. And as I mentioned before, I will be doing the challenges here as well. I will be posting them in their own posts to make them easier to find, so that should be up shortly after this does.

As a great man once said, Peace. And love each other.

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