Update and Announcing "What You Might Miss by Taking The Freeway Through Life"

Dear Visitors, Readers and Fellow Bloggers,

Thank you for your support and encouragement through this time of my graduation and birthday. I appreciate all of you immensely. I know that God will richly bless me in the coming months and years.

Love,

Jonathan

(The above is a modified transcript of my thank-you cards that some of you may or may not have recieved, and I believe the current record holder for the most formal language on this blog. :-)_)

And now, for what I've been doing all these months away from the blogosphere:

I've graduated. But you knew that. I had an 18th birthday, but you knew that too. Those are the major life events that have happened.

At the end of June, I went on tour with our band/orchestra/choir, and had a marvelous time. We played at some really neat places, stayed and a family's house (all 53 of us, in their old high school) for two nights, had a van (pulling our trailer of stuff) break down, had some very generous people fix it, made some new friends, learned a few new musical tricks, and encouraged a bunch of people who listened to us. Some of our contacts beforehand were quite worried that we wouldn't play very well, but by the end they were completely blown away and requested that we come back next year. Which would be a ton of fun. :-) On the bus ride, we were entertained at the microphone with various re-arrangements of songs, tales of valor and of stupor in various events from the last half hour (the time since the teller was last speaking) from all attendees, and my personal favorite, stories written by the entire bus. Once we got home, I typed them up (which was fun)(all 11 of them that I had, two more came through cyberspace later, and one is still at large). Here's a quick sample:

"Once upon a time, a DXS (Department of External Services) agent was flying an F-16 fighter jet through the starlit skies of Pakistan. Then Timothy was released from the plane to attack. He landed in a coma. When he woke up, he went to save Joseph (of the shattering violin) from Ruth, but she hit Timothy with the pillow, sending him into another coma." (names changed to protect privacy, but if you were on tour you know the real names!)

In other news, my businesses have been doing quite nicely since their inception at my graduation. Of course, printed literature is a must for a graduation, as well as for business. Thus, making friends with you local do anything printer (Carrie at Allegra Printing in Charlotte, MI) is a good idea. However, I was caught completely off guard when she offered to put an 11x17 advertisement for me on her wall. For free. All I need to do is design the flier, which means I need a logo. I have some ideas, and may use y'all as a sounding board. :-)

For anyone who is wondering what I do at PotterVilla Applied Technology and PotterVilla Accoustics, let me elaborate.

PotterVilla Technology specializes in helping you "get" technology. We can repair, replace, program, upgrade, basically whatever you need done on your computer. Websites are a specialty--check out aingerbible.org for an example. Soon, we hope to offer data archival services, like converting VHS, VHS-C, Hi-8, Cassette Tapes, LP's and other records, Slide film and printed pictures to digital files.

PotterVilla Acoustics is here to help with all your musical needs. We can rearrange a song to fit your specific group, play for your special event (including Taps at veteran's services, funerals and weddings), or sooth and encourage with recorded music.

Sometimes, both businesses work together, like in a musical slideshow. :-)

I have started taking piano lessons from a guy who actually knows how to play the piano. He's got me working on some really cool arraingements, like Jesu, Joy of Mans Desiring with 'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus, and Jesus Loves Me with Clair De Lune. Hopefully, I'll be playing real Gosple style hymns soon. :-)

This morning, Mom and I went to a technology sale down to one of the local public school districts, where I purchased: 3 Computers (running Windows XP Pro, and including free 17" monitors, keyboards and mice), 2 VCR's, 2 Cassette Decks, 3 Wireless access cards, 1 Wireless access point, 1 Overhead projector, and 1 automatic boundary mic, all for only $128, about the price of a new copy of Windows XP Professional Edition. Most of that will be used for my business, with some for the church.

Why this school district had the capital to purchase ~400 computers to use then sell at $25 each is a topic for another day. As is the current economic system, and why college shouldn't be necessary. As is the KJV and NIV Bible issue. As is decentralization (which I'm in favor of, by the way, just call me a independent agrarian anti-federalist). And on and on--you get my picture. Subjects abound, time does not.

The other main thing I've been doing over the past two weeks is writing a blog post. A really long one (for me). It's about 4500 words, 8 pages. It all started when we took an alternate route along the back roads (which Matthew tells me is really a main drag [It's not as main as the freeway, which we didn't take {it still used to be a major US transit, though}])...

Stay tuned: the first post in this four part series is set to publish at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow!