Monday, April 7, 2008

Where we are...

For all who care to know:

Brittan and I have now been married for one year, ten months, five days and approximately twelve hours. These have been the happiest and most fulfilling one year, ten months, five days and approximately twelve hours of my entire life, and I believe that Brittan feels the same. In the last one year, ten months, five days and approximately twelve hours, a lot of things have happened -- and yet, not many things have changed. For this reason, it has been a somewhat difficult time for me to convince myself that a blog is worthwhile. In the end, however, I do believe that we owe it to ourselves to try.

I will have to be upfront and honest with all of those who are reading this: I will be doing most of the blogging myself. I will try to involve Brittan as much as I can (mostly to screen what I type so I don't embarrass myself and to screen what pictures I post because you know how women can be), but I can give no guarantees. Out of respect for her, I will simply say that I love her with all of my heart and soul and I am grateful for everything that she does that makes me want to be a better person.

The greatest change to occur in the last one year, ten months, five days and approximately twelve hours actually just happened last week -- Brittan quit her job at a local Chiropractor's office in order to pursue her dreams of working in the fitness industry. She is currently working as personal trainer and a general manager through a locally-based fitness company at a gym just a few blocks away from our apartment. She is also preparing herself to finally return to school after far too long away from her studies. I take the blame for that personally, since she has been working to support me through school for the last one year, ten months, five days and approximately twelve hours. Finally I am making enough money at my job during school to cover most of our bases while she studies. This is a great relief to me since I know how important it is to her to complete her schooling.

I (Vernon) am currently one semester and one month of school away from completing my bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering at Utah State University (Interesting aside here -- yes, I do commute from Bountiful to Logan and back -- all 150 miles of it -- every school day. While that may seem like a lot, the only part that really seems to hurt me is the gas money. I have a $40 fill-up in my Mazda Protege about every other day. Imagine making that commute in a truck, and it is sure to give you the shivers to compute the costs.). This is a very exciting time for me. In just under 8 short months I will be done with the B.S. Of course, then I will just be starting on the M.S. since I can't sell myself short, but I prefer to think of it a step at a time. I'll also be doing the Master's on a part-time basis while working full-time, so it's not quite the same, is it? Currently, I have a great job with an engineering consulting firm very close to our apartment. The pay is great, and they really love me. I have no doubt that they will give me a good offer after I graduate, but we'll just have to wait and see how bad they really want me.

Well, here we are. I think I have properly introduced us to the blogging world. If you disagree, just let me know, and I will be more than happy to attempt to please your more discerning palate. In future posts, I believe I shall attempt to address our interests, hopes and dreams a little bit more. If ever I seem too methodical, just forgive me -- I'm an engineer.

A New Blog is Born...

To Whom It May Concern:

Brittan and Vernon Black do hereby establish a new blog. More on this later.