Hello Hello! 

I am the (in)famous M you’ve been reading about on occasion.  This is my first guest blog post and in it I get to tell you a bit about the reason we moved to San Antonio.

I was extremely fortunate to accept a position as a Test Engineer with Cooper Tires at their Tire and Vehicle Test Center this past Fall.  The facility is about 50 miles South of our home, so I have to deal with a bit of a commute.  It's totally worth it to live in the city though, as anyone who's followed this blog should be able to deduce.  The fact that I'm commuting to a fantastic job certainly helps too.

I got an opportunity to show Eryn and her Mom and Grandma around when they were here for a visit, so what follows are some of the highlights from that day.

To lead off the tour, here’s my office!  I spend about half my time in here, so I'm slowly making it more and more my own.  You can just barely catch a glimpse of my obviously grown-up collection of model cars in the picture below.

 Welcome to my lair.

Naturally, there’s a lot of tires...

 

We test a wide range of tires on a wide range of vehicles.

We have pretty awesome off-road testing capabilities.

 

30 Degree Hill Climb.  We normally run this wet.  There are 3 different surfaces; brushed concrete, smooth concrete, and embedded rock.

 

Rock Crawl

 

The Rock Garden.  Entered from the left, the driver goes through water before climbing and out.

I know the pictures are what everyone cares about, but I’m sure someone read above and wondered what exactly a Test Engineer does.  Well, that changes from day to day, but my responsibilities generally include calibration, test support, some test driving, event support, and basically making sure our testing runs smoothly.  If an issue pops up, I try to figure out why and fix it as quickly as possible to avoid downtime.  I continuously look for improvements we could make to current test methods while also doing research on new tests to be developed as well.  I have loved every minute of it so far and am extremely fortunate to get to spend my weekdays around cars with a great team of people.

That about covers it for a very basic introduction to my job.  I look forward to providing more updates about cool happenings there in the future.  Look out for another post from me, as I will be occasionally hijacking E's blog when it strikes my fancy.

------FITNESS FRIDAY UPDATE------
E: Ok, so it turns out, not too many people wanted to join me on my Fitness Friday endeavor. I haven't given up and in fact, I am about to ramp it up! Starting in February, M&I will be killing it with 5 days a week workouts that consist of agility, speed & quickness, and weight training gearing up for tryouts and Worlds in London. #fitnessfriday

Tabula Rasa. Clean Slate.

While I absolutely love the idea of a fresh start that we are blessed to have every January, I am not sure that I want one for 2015. I grew so much in my faith and character in 2014.

I moved across the country. 

I encountered God through a wonderful community in Florida that jump started my ever growing relationship with Christ.

I took the reigns on my our finances.

I feel empowered and fulfilled by the goals M&I achieved and even those that we didn't quite make. While many of them were terribly daunting, I knew that God had my back through every single endeavor. So that being said, I don't think I want a fresh start. I want to continue on this awesome path that is in front of M&I. Instead of focusing on what we didn't accomplish in the last year, I will congratulate what we DID succeed at; I will experience the growth of yesterday's weakness into today's achievement through God's perfect strength.

II Corinthians 12:9 says, But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

Rachel Cruze, Dave Ramsey's daughter, does a wonderful vlog several times a week. She suggested breaking down her goals into seven buckets. So, with purpose, plan, and intention, I present to you: M&I's Goals for 2015.

Financial:
1. Be debt-free by EOY 2015, with the exception of M's student loan.
2. Save enough cash to afford WFDF Team USA WORLDS in London, England and 2015 SCCA National Run-offs. (These are huge faith goals. In order to achieve this, we need to save over $10,000. I firmly believe that if we tithe first and give first, God will come through. Please pray for us!)

Intellectual:
1. E: Take the ABM DSLR photography lesson to learn the basics on my new camera. (eek!)
2. E: Read 5 books this year. I know that isn't a lot, but it is a lot for me!

Physical:
1. E: Be able to do a shoulder stand against the wall.
2. Complete 12 weeks to game time beginning in February to be ready for Worlds and Try-outs.
3. Compete at the National Level of Club Ultimate Frisbee.
4. M: Complete 50 sit-ups and push ups every evening.

Spiritual:
1. Read the Bible everyday. I've said this 1000x but She Reads Truth studies are my Rock. M is currently studying a John MacArthur study of Matthew.
2. Pray for specific things to better see God's work in our lives.
3. Join a small group at our new church.
4. M: Continue to seek the truth.

Career:
1. M: Become indispensable.
2. M: Solve my company's water issue through study and testing.
3. E: Be more creative with my work to stand out to potential clients.
4. E: Outperform my set goal by 125%

Social:
1. Attend occasional Young Professional Society meet-ups to be better connected in our community. Also, this will help spread His kingdom in San Antonio.
2. Volunteer in our community at least once every three months. I feel that God is calling me to soften my heart toward the needs of my local community. I was fortunate to grow up in a very blessed family and have been fortunate to never experience "really tough times of need." That being said, I honestly struggle with thinking of those in need. I know, that is terrible and selfish. I want that to change and I think volunteering in my community will help soften my heart to serve others.

Family:
1. We both want to walk the River walk and back together.
2. E: Face Time one friend or family member each week. This feels ambitious as time seems to slip away each week, but it is important to spend time with my closest loved ones.
3. Prepare for our future together as a couple.

So there you have it. I'd like to keep track of these through monthly goals, in addition to those that pop up on a month-to-month basis. I wanted to share these personal goals with you because your community to me is so important. It helps to keep us accountable. By sharing these with you, you can now ask us how this is going.  I hope that you do!

With love,
Eryn and M