Lay Liturgist, Top Golf, Iowa Football Chili Bowl, Bethany Voters Meeting

Lay Liturgist
On Sunday, November 17th, I served as the lay liturgist for the second consecutive Sunday.  On November 17th, I had an expanded role.  I chanted quite a bit, along with reading a lengthy gospel reading.  During communion, I served distributed the wine and gave the dismissal.  I am not sure the next time I will be lay liturgist because I am not currently scheduled on the schedule through December 1st and there currently is no other schedule.

Top Golf
On Thursday, November 21st, a Lutheran Young Adult Group and I played Top Golf in Alexandria. Top Golf is a point scoring golf game where players attempt to hit a golf ball with an embedded microchip as close as possible to a target from a driving range type structure.  The pin has concentric rings   The closer the ball was to pin in the concentric rings, the more points a player received. We could order food and drinks from tee box.

Iowa Football Chili Bowl
On Saturday, November 23rd, I went to the Capital Area Iowa Club to watch the Iowa vs. Michigan game at Crystal City Sports Pub.  There was all you could chili.  The chili tasted great!  It was a lot of fun watching the Hawks win and meeting fellow friends of the University of Iowa in DC!

Iowa Game Watch

Iowa Game Watch 

Bethany Voters Meeting
On Saturday, November 23rd, there was a Voters Meeting at Bethany Lutheran Church.  The Voter Meeting was held to discuss Bethany's mission and ministry for 2014 with respect to the budget.  The Voters Meeting went well and it appears 2014 will have a surplus.  The Voters Meeting was held in conjunction with a Soup and Pie Night.  I brought a chocolate pie.  I made the pie using a family recipe from my Grandma.  People seemed to really enjoy it!  Below are some pictures of the chocolate pie.

Pudding in Crust

Chocolate Shavings

Chocolate Pie

Chocolate Pie

Lay Liturgist and U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

Lay Liturgist
On Sunday, November 10th, I was the Lay Liturgist for Bethany Lutheran Church in Groveton, VA.  I performed the prayer section of the service including the Kyrie, Collects, Benedicamus, and Benediction.  The Benedicamus and Benediction were chanted.  Many people told me I did well for the first time.  There was a wardrobe malfunction before my part in service where my microphone box on my hip fell off.  I had to put the microphone box in its place before going out in front of the congregation.  I had some nervousness because I was doing something new in front of an audience, but the nervousness was small because of my training and preparation.  I was actually a little more nervous at the second service because I knew more people in the pews because the second service is the service I normally attend.

U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
On Veteran's Day (Nov 11th), I went to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum right next to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.  This is one of the places if not the last place on my list of things to see or do in Washington D.C.  When I arrived 15 minutes before the doors opened at 10 AM, there was no line to get into the museum.  Part of the reason is this is now the off season for tourism.  I really enjoyed this museum!  The size of the museum was just right, not too big and not too small.    I also enjoyed the history presented and how it was presented.  There were a few places for video watching.  There was a theater that showed recounts of Holocaust stories by Holocaust survivors.  There were also many artifact or pieces of history throughout the museum from Europe that had significance for the Holocaust such as shoes and clothing from concentration camps, pictures, typewriters, fence posts of concentration camps, Torahs, and the like.  There were also plenty of pictures and words for people to read to get a sense of how the Holocaust came to occur, what happened during the Holocaust, and what are the take aways from it.

Trip Home to Iowa, Georgia BBQ, and Meal of the Week

Trip Home to Iowa
I went home to Iowa to see my family.  On Friday, October 25th I saw Jake and Gabe play football in Eldridge against North Scott.  Both teams lost.  However I was excited to see Jake and Gabe play well.  On Saturday, I went to see Josh and Zach with the rest of my immediate family.  We all had breakfast at the engineering building for Parent's Weekend at the University of Iowa.  After eating, we played bags/cornhole and life sized jenga in the engineering building.  Zach is the worst jenga player who played.  He lost at least 2 times in the limited amount jenga games played.  While in Iowa City, I bought a new cell phone, i.e. Samsung Galaxy S4 to help Zach who broke his phone the night before I arrived.  On Saturday evening, I went to a benefit for Dave Casad who has stage IV cancer at Trinity Lutheran Church.  Sunday was travel day except for church for my Dad and me.  My Dad and I visited law schools at the University of Michigan, University of Chicago, and Northwestern.  On Wednesday, October 30th I traveled back to DC.

Georgia BBQ
One of my coworkers at the Patent Office attended the University of Georgia and is a big Georgia Football supporter.  She invited me over to her and her husband's new house for a Georgia BBQ for the Georgia vs. Florida football game.  There were about 15 people and 2 dogs at the house for the Georgia BBQ.  Last year, my Dad and I went to this person's Georgia BBQ last year for the Georgia vs. South Carolina game.  We had a great time and the food was delicious!  Before the game, some of the people at the party were breaking up a concrete slab and removing rebar from the ground in the backyard of the house.  This year there was chicken wings, beans, and pork butt.  The pork butt was some of the best pork butt I have ever eaten.  The hosts also make their own beer.  It was a fun to place to enjoy a college football game.

Meal of the Week
This week I made pudding made from scratch.  I needed to practice making the pudding for when I make chocolate pie for other people.  Sugar, cocoa mix, and cornstarch were mixed together dry in a bowl.  Milk was added to the dry mixture.  The solution was stirred continuously over heat from a stove until the solution thickened and boiled.  After removing the boiling solution from the heat, vanilla was added to the boiling solution.  After cooling the pudding for some time, the pudding was ready to eat.  It was delectable!

Pudding in a Container

Pudding in a Bowl

Redskins vs. Bears, Lay Liturgist Viewing, and Meals of the Week

Redskins vs. Bears
On Sunday, October 20th, my friend Andy and I went to the Redskins vs. Bears 1:00 ET game at FedEx Field.  This is the first NFL game I have ever attended.  The closest metro stop to FedEx Field is about a mile away from FedEx Field.  While walking around the stadium before the game, we saw the owner of the Redskins, Dan Snyder when he taking a picture with the ZTA sorority.  I got a picture of him below.  Our seats were in section 215, obstructed view.  Part of one of the end zones was blocked by a cement pillar.  However there were 2 TVs within our view.  One TV showed the game being broadcast on Fox and the other TV showed what was on the jumbotrons.  There were many Bear fans in our section.  The game was exciting!  The score was 45-41 Redskins.  There was a pick six by Brian Orakpo and a punt return touchdown by Devin Hester.  Every time the Redskins scored, which was often, the fans sang Hail to the Redskins.  I am glad I was able to go with my friend.

Andy and Me

Andy and Me

FedEx Field

Dan Snyder

View of the field near our seats

View of the field near our seats

Lay Liturgist Viewing
If you would like to see be Lay Liturgist on November 10th and/or November 17th at 8:00 AM and 11:00 AM ET, click the next link.  You should be taken to a site that will show the Bethany Lutheran Service.  It may take a little time to load.
http://24.249.248.178/view/index.shtml

An alternative is to go to the following link and then click "Click here for Video (will open in a new window)."

http://www.bethany-lcms.org/video.htm

Meal of the Week
This week I made a savory pot roast.  I made the pot roast in a slow cooker.  First I put the boneless chuck in the slow cooker.  Then I added chopped potato, carrot, celery, and onion to the slow cooker.  Next I added a mixture of water and seasonings to the slow cooker.  After 8 hours on low heat, the pot roast was done.  It was delicious!  You can tell from the pictures.

I am made chicken wings with sauce made from butter and hot sauce.  They were great!

Pot Roast in the Crock pot

Pot Roast

Chicken Wings 

Chicken Wings in Sauce

Iowa Bar, Lay Liturgist, and Patent of the Week

Iowa Bar
A few weeks ago, I went to the Capital Area Iowa Club game watch at Crystal City Sports Pub.  The Capital Area Iowa Club is a group of University of Iowa alumni in the DC area that allows the University of Iowa alumni in the capital area to keep in touch. There were about 50 people in Iowa gear in a room with many TVs with the Iowa game on.  During the game a person would play a trombone.  The person playing the trombone would play the Iowa fight song after every Iowa score and when Iowa stopped the other team on 3rd down.  This was the first time I had went to a game watch with the Capital Area Iowa Club.  I enjoyed it.  I plan on going back, but not today because the Hawkeyes are off.

Lay Liturgist
This morning I had training to be a lay liturgist led by my Bethany Lutheran softball coach, Randy Lucas.  A lay liturgist assists the pastor with running the Sunday worship service including serving communion.  I learned some tips on how to run the service as a lay liturgist including how to run the microphone.  The first time I will serve as lay liturgist will be in the middle of November.  As a lay liturgist, I got my own personal hymnal with my name on it.  Yes, it has my full name for those who are wondering.

My Hymnal

Patent of the Week
USP 6,293,874

User-operated amusement apparatus for kicking the user's buttocks
This is a patent for an apparatus for self-infliction of repetitive blows to the user's buttocks by a plurality of elongated arms bearing flexible extensions that rotate under the user's control.  This is truly a butt kicking patent.

Figure 2 of USP 6,293,874

LSAT, USPTO Operating Status, and Patent of the Week

LSAT
The LSAT is on Saturday, October 5th.  I look forward to doing well on it!

USPTO Operating Status
Earlier this week I received an email from the Acting Director of the USPTO about the operating status of the USPTO in the event of a government shut down.  The USPTO is not an essential government agency like the military, so a government shut will effect the USPTO.  The USPTO has reserve funds for a reason unbeknownst to me.  The USPTO reserve funds will be able to fund the USPTO for a couple of weeks starting October 1st in the event of a government shut down.  If the government is still shut down after the reserve funds run out, I will be put on unpaid administrative leave until the government reopens.

Patent of the Week
U.S. 4,605,000
Abstract:  A greenhouse helmet is provided and consists of a dome containing plants secured within the dome worn completely over the head of a person so that the person can breathe in the oxygen given off by the plants.

It is interesting the plant that was chosen to be the plant inside.  The plant that was chosen was a cactus.  If the plants ever come loose from its base, you will have a lot of spines in your face or head.  OUCH!

Law School Application Update, LSAT, and Patent of the Week

Law School Application Update
I have applied to nine different law schools in the past few weeks.  I will apply to a few more law schools in the future.  The date some law schools, including some of the law school I will apply, start accepting applications has not occurred.  I should start receiving admission decisions in December.

LSAT
The LSAT is in a couple of weeks (Oct 5th).  I am working diligently towards my goal to do my best.

Patent of the Week
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is filled with many interesting patents and patent applications.  To help you know more about the interesting patents and patent applications, I will post some of the interesting patents and patent applications on this blog.

First is U.S. Patent 6,699,778.  Fig. 1 a flow chart of an embodiment of the inventive method wherein a person performs a first step 1, a second step 2, a third step 3, and a fourth step 4 in sequential order.