Europa Series: Wien

Yeah, I didn't plan on spacing these out so far apart, but I haven't really been able to sit down and write. But, as promised, this one will be short and sweet.

After Prague we took a 5 hour train ride to Vienna (Wien). We had heard rumor from some people that Vienna was a smaller town and easier to get around. That was a bold face lie.

When you ride into Vienna's main train station, you think to yourself, "Why in the world did we come to Vienna?" The station is located in something similar to a ghetto. So we immediately started walking towards what we thought was the inner city. When we grabbed a map, we realized that Vienna is not a small, relaxing town. The map kept unfolding, and unfolding, and unfolding, until finally, we were staring at not just a town, but a metroplex.

I don't really know why we expected the city where the U.N. building is located to be small. Once you get into Vienna's square, you really start to notice the beauty and history located in the city.

We also met up with some fellow backpackers that we met in Prague and went out to explore Vienna's night life.

Europa Series: Praha

This is going to be the first of a series about my travels through Europe. I don't know how long it's going to take for me to finish the entire series because I rarely get to sit at my computer and write. I can already tell that I'm extremely rusty because it has taking me forever to write this first paragraph. My plan is to take you through each city, one blog at a time.

If you have never been to Europe, I highly suggest that you make it one of your top priorities for the future. Chad Harris and I just got home from backpacking for two and a half weeks across Europe. Our original (slight changes were made) itinerary was to fly into Amsterdam, then head to Prague, Vienna, Venice, Florance, Rome, Interlaken, Paris, and then fly back out of Amsterdam.

Chadly and I both agree that Prague (Praha) was one of our top 3 favorite cities (probably number 2). If you are making any plans to visit Europe, make sure that Prague is on your list. I don't know if we liked Prague so much because it was our first city to visit, and we hadn't seen much of Europe yet. Or if we liked it so much because it was just an awesome city. Either way, Prague was a blast.

Located in the Czech Republic, Prague is one of the only famous European cities that still has a lot of its original architecture in tact. Only one building in Prague really suffered from the World Wars, so most of the old sculptures, buildings, and castles can still be visited. We did take the typical walking tours and saw the old town, the St. Charles Bridge, the Prague Castle, and the square. But one of the coolest things about Prague is that any random street you walk down, you are bound to run into a huge, Gothic, elaborately sculptured building.

Another thing that puts Prague at the top of our list is the atmosphere. The friendliness of the locals, the insomnia night life, the safeness of the city, and the eagerness to attract tourists all contribute to making Prague an easy favorite to any one's experience. We never had a problem with language barriers because most of the locals speak English. Czech is only a language spoken in the Czech Republic, and if you only speak Czech, you are confined to the small republic, so most Czech citizens are bilingual.

I could write a book about the people we met and the memories we made in Prague, so instead, I'll just highlight one of our favorites. Isaac is a history major from California that started a very successful pub crawl (pub crawl - you pay about $15 and they give you free drinks and take you to a lot of popular nightclubs). He used to be a free walking tour guide that would make up stupid random facts about Prague and pass them as truth during his tours (look up "Isaac Prague Tour Guide" on YouTube, hysterical). Since they run a pub crawl every single night of the week, he rarely stays past the first two bars. Long story short, he liked Chad and me so much that he hung out with us until 6 am in the morning, taking us to random hole-in-the-wall "locals only" bars. We had to show ourselves around the Prague Castle because we missed our walking tour time, and you'll rarely see us smiling in any pictures of the second day (and I'm holding a Redbull in every 2nd-day picture), but it was definitely worth it. We had so much fun that we did the pub crawl both nights we were in Prague. One of our favorite memories of the entire trip.

I know this is getting long, so I'll end with what makes Prague so safe. While we were hanging out with some locals during our all night venture, we were given a little inside information from one of the bar patrons. He is currently a street magician, but in is youth, he was a gypsy; a kid who ran around pick-pocketing people and begging for money. You will rarely find any violence in Prague. The last shooting in Prague was somewhere around 3 years ago, but it didn't involve any locals. The worst crime that plagues the city is theft; mostly pick-pocketing. At it's core, Prague is run and protected by the Russian mafia. There's a very old agreement and understanding between the mob and the gypsies that allows the gypsies to continue there thievery, as long as, there is no violence during the process. If you catch the gypsy after they've stolen from you (unlikely because most are pretty fast), they are not aloud to fight you back and have to endure whatever beating is given to them. If violence ever occurs and the mafia finds out, that individual "disappears," along with his friends and family. Rumor is that the individuals involved with that shooting were never seen again.

I, obviously, don't know if any of that is true, but I can attest that one night while walking back to our hostel, we met two girls walking down the middle of the street without a care in the world. They were passing drug dealers (legal in Prague), random men, and homeless people completely oblivious to any sense of danger. They were Americans living in Prague and said that they've never had trouble, nor had they ever heard of any acts of violence caused by the locals. I thought that was pretty interesting.

Like I said, Prague was one of our favorites, so there is a lot of things I wanted to say about it. The rest of these won't be so long. Bottom line: go to Europe, and go to Prague.

Same Ole Momma D

Well, Mother's Day was just last weekend and I wanted to dedicate another blog to my mother. I know that this might be considered taking a short-cut, but I really like what I wrote about Momma D last year so I am just going to copy and paste.

Mom, sorry this is late, but I know that it means a little more to you since I'm staying true to my character of always being fashionably late. I LOVE YOU!!!

Momma D:

Since this weekend is Mother's Day, I figured that I would tell you some of the wonderful things about my mother that I am thankful for. My mother, Marilyn Davis, has to be one of the all time greatest mothers in history. My entire life she has always been extremely supportive of everything that I do. Whether I was playing in a sporting event or performing in some play, my mother was always sitting in the crowd. I don't use the word always lightly; I can't remember one event that she ever missed. She never complained about being there, and I always knew that no matter what the outcome (even if I was getting thrown out of the game she came to watch) she was pleased with me and proud to call me her son.

It was never a question in our house if something was right or wrong because my mother made sure that my brother and I always knew how to behave and what was expected of us. That's not saying that I never screwed up, but when I was doing something wrong it wasn't in ignorance. She was a firm believer in corporal punishment and exercised her right to do this on a daily basis; whether it was a paint stir-stick, a fly swatter, or her high heel shoe (only happened once, and I deserved it) we were disciplined appropriately. I know there are some who might look down on this sort of parenting, and to them I would say, "You are not smart (in this case, I would use another word but because of Mom, I know that it is impolite to call someone retarded)." I am a much better man today because of the way that I was parented in those situations.

She is known to all of our friends as Momma D, and it fits her perfectly because she is just as much of a mother to each and every one of them as she is to her own children. Our door was always open to anyone who wanted to walk through it, and anyone who came in, wasn't going to leave until they were miserably full and loved. She only had one rule and all of our friends knew it: if you're going to stay in her house on Saturday night, you're going to church with her on Sunday morning.

I could ramble on about how amazing my mother is to me and how much I appreciate her, but I will leave you with the most important lesson that I learned from her. My mother is one of the most God loving, God fearing people on this earth. She has always made it clear to us that we should make God the number one priority in our lives, as He is in her life, even before her own children. At an early age, she was forced to be the mother and the father to my brother and me, and she never once blamed God. Seeing her reaction to such a devastating event has taught me more in life than any lecture or sermon could ever do. She has a passion for the Lord that surpasses any desire or addiction known to man, and through the way she lives her life, she motivates me to want to do better.

When it comes to that unfortunate point in my life that I have children, I never plan on missing one of their events, they will know right from wrong, they will be spanked, their friends will be loved, and they will know where God fits in their priorities.

Welcome to the Future

If you're reading this, please send someone to Tulsa, Oklahoma to save me. I'm sitting through some sort of training class for a new computer system that NOV is switching over to. If you're wondering how I'm making it; not well. Don't get me wrong, I'm taking in all the information and comprehending every word, and I will be able to apply everything that is being taught. The problem lies in my neighboring classmates. 20% of this class is designed to teach us about our new system. The other 80% is designed to teach the Baby Boomer generation and older how to use a computer. It's like pulling teeth having to sit through all this again; the first time I sat through this was in Mrs. Bowen's computer class in elementary school. Anyways, my break is almost over (yes, NOV Tech nerds that are forced to read this blog, I'm writing this on my break), and I have to get back to my intense games of Words With Friends while they teach everyone else how to use the "clicky button thing, that moves the arrow on the screen".

My Best Friend was a Fish

Work. Work. Work. Work. Work. Work. That's what you've been missing out on in my life lately. I did get to go to the Arkansas Derby a few weekends back and came out about $10 ahead! That's been about the highlight of my life the last couple of weeks. This week has been pretty hectic. I started out in Oklahoma City, and drove to our Fort Worth location on Wednesday; which is where I am now. I am staying in Dallas through the weekend because I have a bachelor party for one of my oldest friends, Casey Fisher.

One of my oldest friends? He IS my oldest friend. Casey "Fish" Fisher and I grew up together. I'm not talking about going to the same school and living in the same town. I'm saying that we had pretty much the same parenting, same childhood, same religious teachings, same battle wounds, and same punishments (mostly Charlotte making us go pick out and clean a switch off of the tree in his back yard). Without question, he is my childhood best friend; my oldest friend.

We went to the same high/middle/elementary school. Before that, we were having sleep overs (some not so successful because we would end up fighting over who won a game or the rules of the game, and we would have to call our parents to come get us in the middle of the night because no other conclusion would be made except for the fact that our friendship was over... until tomorrow). Before that, His mother babysat us when we were not old enough to go to school. Before that, we were playing with puzzles and jungle gyms at the nursery of the Gunter First Baptist church. Before that, we were laying in cribs right next to each other in the same nursery.

I don't want to say that Fish and I grew apart as we got older, but we did start hanging out less as we both established new friendships. I say we didn't grow apart because through our childhood and upbringing we established a bond that was closer to brotherhood than friendship. Fish and I could (and have in the past) go years without speaking to each other, but every time we do speak or see each other, it's genuine. There's no uncomfortableness often experienced by old friends; it's as if a day hadn't gone by since we last saw each other.

I'm looking forward to this weekend because this is one of those instances when Fish and I haven't seen each other in a long time. He has decided to take that giant leap into adulthood and get married. I couldn't be happier for him, and I cannot wait to hug him and tell him congratulations in person.

Tonsilminus

I have another day of sitting in front of a computer, so I thought I would take the time to say Hello. I mentioned in a previous blog that I'd write more about my experience with tonsil surgery. A few weeks ago I had my tonsils taken out...

My entire life, I've always had problems with Strep Throat. Ever since I can remember, I was always hit at least 2 or 3 times a year with some sort of throat related illness. It has always been suggested that I should look into getting my tonsils taken out, but I never gave the idea a second thought until recently.

Almost like clockwork, I could predict when I was going to be hit with Strep. The past few years, the number of occurrences started increasing, so I finally decided that I would get on the offensive side of things. While I was still on antibiotics from this last wave of Strep, I went to an ENT specialists and plead my case.

He informed me that for older patients, the entire experience tends to tip towards a painful outcome. I told him that surgery has never really bothered me and that I wasn't worried about it. He was the first of many to tell me that I should be worried. Really worried, actually. With my stepfather being the only person saying that the surgery wasn't going to be that bad (he was 55 when he had it done) and everyone else telling me it would be one of the most painful experiences of my life, I decided to take my chances and get the little devils removed.

I am happy to report that the surgery went well and that the recovery process wasn't bad at all. With the support of my mother, my aunt, Dave and one of the coolest gift baskets ever from Tara, I recovered faster than expected... AND not to mention, a fine helping of liquid codeine!!!

I was on a strict liquids and soft foods diet for about a week. I only had one incident where I thought the pain was going to get the better of me. I took a customer out to eat about 5 days after the surgery and was a little too tempted by the Cajun Seafood menu. I ended up tearing off a scab and bleeding (this also happened to be the day that I decided to stop taking the codeine; I took a double dose right before I passed out... for a LONG time).

Needless to say, I would recommend the surgery for anyone. Being down after tonsil surgery for a week, compared to being down with strep for a week a couple times a year is a no-brainer.

For your viewing pleasures:

BEFORE

AFTER

Where Have YOU Been?

Where have you been? I've been writing almost every day, sometimes even more than once, and no one has said anything about my posts.... OK, I'm lying. So maybe it has been somewhere in the vicinity of 2 months since I've written anything. I have a new life now, and (THANKFULLY) it doesn't involve sitting at a desk for 9 hours a day, staring at a computer screen. I don't have all of the extra time to write what's on my mind.

You know that friend you have that isn't your closest friend but is still a good friend? Then, you move away, or you get super busy, or something big changes in your life and you start feeling guilty because that friend gets put on the back burner. To me, that friend is blogging. I'll try to start doing better, but really there isn't a whole lot of stuff to write about.

My job has consumed my life and my time. Don't get me wrong, I love it! I'm finally doing what I enjoy. I don't mind the long hours or the hectic schedule at all. Anyways, there's not a whole lot to do in Arkansas besides work. I would bore you with stuff about work, but I'm pretty sure that all aspects of my life are being monitored, so I would rather not write about anything like that for fear of getting in trouble by the "higher ups" (It is funny to think that people other than friends and family are having to read my blogs. Hello NOV-IT Department! FYI, Y'all need to fix our website, there is an error when you try to open up the catalogs on centrifugal pumps.)

Just to catch you up on my life over the past 2 months: got my tonsils taken out (I'll try to write a blog on that later), I've found a church in Conway and I've started getting pretty involved, I'm dating Tara again, I'm addicted to Words With Friends (scrabble), and I love my job (just in case my boss is forced to read this because I wrote NOV).

I'm in OKC today helping with inside stuff, so I'm actually getting some computer time. I will try to make sure the next blog isn't another 2 months!

Well, It's Arkansas

Well, it's Arkansas. That's my usual response when someone asks me how things are going. It's the truth though. It's everything you would ever imagine Arkansas being. Not much to do other than work, the scenery is absolutely breath-taking, and there aren't a lot of people. I've been here since last Monday, and I have been working nonstop.

If I'm not actually working for my job, I'm working on the apartment. Although, I'm at a stand still with the apartment right now because I am waiting on my couch and chair to come in. This also limits me from putting decorations on the walls because I need the couches in place before I start hanging stuff. I have entirely too much space, but I love it because it lets me get super creative with my OCD.

The community around the apartment is nice. I live about 2 miles from a Wal-Mart (just found this little gem the other day), I live on a golf course, and I'm surrounded by nice people. I just met the man that lives in the apartment below me today; his name is Bob. Bob and his wife (both around 70) sold 95% of their worldly possessions and moved out here so that Bob could retire and play golf everyday. Awesome!

I haven't really gotten a chance to get too lonely yet. I went to Dallas last weekend. I'm going to Dallas this weekend. And it sounds like I'm going to have to go to Dallas next weekend. It seems like it's going to be a while before I can report back what Conway is like on a weekend. I still haven't had a chance to make any friends because of this same fact. However, I see all of my Dallas friends quite frequently, and Dave is actually asleep in my bed right now (he was passing through from Nashville so he decided to hang out for a while).

Anyways, don't worry about me in Arkansas. I'm pretty sure I'll be alright...

(The view from my balcony)

What A Wonderful Life

During these last few days of my Oklahoman citizenship, I am becoming more and more reminiscent of my time here. I moved to Oklahoma City on May 9, 2007 (2 days after graduating from Texas Tech). I worked for the Hershey Company until April 2008, bartended full time at the Deep Deuce for 6 months, and all the while, I was helping run a college ministry. Then, I hired on with National Oilwell Varco in October 2008.

When I moved to Oklahoma, my first goal was to make a few friends because I didn't know anyone that lived in OKC. My plan was to join a church and get involved with their college group so that I could meet some people that were my own age. The church (if you haven't heard the story, read up; it's quite comical) ended up having more of an impact on my time in Oklahoma (on my entire life, for that matter) than I had ever imagined.

I ended up making a lot of good friendships in OKC. Some of the relationships that I've formed aren't just the acquaintances that you make and then forget about. I will always have someone to visit and a place to stay anytime I am in the area. I never met Pocahontas like I had originally intended, but I did meet a few girls that have, and are continuing to, impact my life.

I have no clue what lies ahead in Arkansas, but I'm not worried. Even though I'm 3 years older than when I first moved to Oklahoma, my plan of attack will be the same. I plan on finding a church and getting involved with their college ministry. I like to think that 24 isn't far off from the college life (lucky me, I still look like I'm 13). I plan on concentrating on my job most of all. Hopefully, I can succeed well enough in this position and another door that leads somewhere else will open up soon(somewhere in Europe, Africa, or Asia would be nice!).

Either way, God will take care of me; He always does.