It's been a good week and I'm now enjoying my day off which gives me some time to catch up on blogging. Currently enjoying listening to Mike's new tunes on My Space (you can also listen here - www.purevolume.com/liketheracecourse).

 We just had a really enjoyable lunch with a guy from El Paso, New Mexico who is here in Summerville with his wife visiting family. He runs what sounds like an excellent youth ministry program on the border with Mexico. Interestingly he actually lives in Juarez in Mexico, but commutes on his motorbike across the border to his office! They need to run that story on the American news instead of all the ones about Mexicans 'commuting' here... on a side note, how do you 'accidently' allow 12 million illegal immigrants into your country?

We recently signed up for Blockbuster's online rental scheme as our local music store very sadly closed down. They also rented DVDs at a dollar a time (maybe why they ended up closing!), so we had to find something cheaper than the crazy prices Blockbuster stores now charge. For $18 a month we now get 3 rentals at a time, plus one free in store rental a week. As a result I have been watching a bunch of old and new movies recently as well as ploughing through West Wing Series 5 (which has actually been very good despite losing Aaron Sorkin's skills). I've watched Tristam Shandy, Flightplan, Four Brothers, Billy Connolly Live, March of The Penguins, and Brokeback Mountain. Probably the worst of these had to be Brokeback, which for all the fuss actually was pretty dull and poorly acted. March of the penguins was actually probably the most interesting (how do the Penguins do it?!), and Tristam Shandy certainly had its moments, but mainly just wanted to make me go and watch Alan Partridge! A-ha!

 I've also acquired some new CDs. The Eraser - Thom Yorke, Dashboard Confessional's new one, Passion - Everthything Glorious (Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin etc), Smashing Pumpkins - Adore. Haven't really had the chance to listen to them enough to decide if I like them or not, but so far I think Eraser wins the prize for being most interesting, although as with most of the newer Radiohead stuff we'll see how much I listen to it in a month or so. Passion and Dashboard are fairly predictable and I need more time for the Adore album. Has anyone heard the new Keane album?

Work is winding down for the summer as all the trips are done. Currently I am tidying up from the summer and planning the next year's trips and programs. It has been a great year and I am looking forward to the next 12 months and seeing what God has in store for us. The Apprenticeship program looks like it is going to grow this year and I am excited that we have hit a groove with our programs and trips. It makes it less stressful to think about what we are going to as we are not constantly seeking to invent new things. One of thebig things this year is going to be developing youth ministry at Holy Cross' newest location on Daniel Island (15 minutes drive) from the Sullivans Island location. There are loads of opportunities here as it right next to both a High School and a Middle School. One of our apprentices (Jonny Keys) is going to be living within half a mile of it so it should be interesting to see what happens.

 We're going to take a weeks vacation starting next weekend but we're going to stay right here in Mount Pleasant and, for once, enjoy all that is on offer on our own doorstep!

Tonight we have some friends coming round for dinner before heading out so see our local 'soccer' team, the Charleston Battery. They're on a winning run, so hopefully we'll see a good game tonight. Apparently the Miami team they are playing features Romario and one other ex-Brazilian star. Any way, it's about as British an experience one can get around here, although the temperature will be about 30C. But then there is a heatwave in the UK at the moment...