Steve and Barry's

Lori and I decided to visit the new Steve and Barry's store that now occupies the building Target was formerly in on McKinley in Mishawaka. We've been to the Steve and Barry's in Orlando a couple of times so we thought we'd check this one out.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Steve and Barrys is a university and collegiate apparel store that also includes jeans, t shirts, sweats, jackets, polos and collegiate wear. Their prices are incredible. I don't think I saw anything over $15. If you want more info on the store check out their website www.steveandbarrys.com.

So we had perused the store for a while and were ready to check out. Course they have one of those fun 'heard the cattle' roped off line that you have to follow with 50 other people in line until the next available cashier calls you.

Earlier while walking around I had noticed a couple of guys shopping and the reason they stood out to me was because one of the guys had a leg brace that covered his entire leg. I dont know if it was broke but it made walking a challenge for him.

So we get in cattle line to make our purchase and a squirmish starts to happen not far from us. When I turned to look it was the guy with the leg brace shouting at the top of his voice "I didn't take anything, leave me alone" with another guy chasing him down with hand cuffs. The guy with hand cuffs kept trying to get the guy with the brace to put his hands behind his back so he could cuff him but he kept resisting and saying he didnt do anything wrong and he didnt take anything. However, the guy with the hand cuffs kept insisting he was beyond the 'point of purchase' and was persistent in trying to cuff him.

Not long after there were more store employees on the scene and trying to help get the hands of the guy with the brace behind his back. The guy with the brace was pretty irrate by now and was yelling pretty loudly and kept fighting back. It wasn't long before a knife emerged from the guys pocket.

My heart beat had increased a little when all the yelling and struggle were going on but when I saw the knife it majorly increased. Fortunately, because of all the struggle that was going on the guy with the brace couldn't keep hold of the knife and it fell to the floor. About that time they had gotten the guy with the brace to the floor but still didn't have both of his arms behind his back and there was the knife lying within his reach. Ok, my heart rate increases again so fast that I'm sure if you had looked at my chest you would have seen my shirt moving.

Then I heard the snap of the hand cuffs and saw that they finally cuffed the guy and had him back up on his feet again. Still the knife is laying on the floor. Three people hauled him off to the back of the store.

I found it interesting that with all that going on, people continued to shop as if nothing was going on. Cashiers continue to ring up purchases as if nothing was happening. And the people standing in line waiting to make their purchases continued to stand in line as if everything was normal. Course then again, maybe they were all like me. There hearts beating so fast they thought a coronary was just around the corner, paralyzed by fear, eyes popping out like a cartoon character after and 'ahhhoooga' sound. I guess I should stop before word gets out what a chicken I am...(LOL)

I never saw any merchandise that this person was being accused of shoplifting. There was a rather large display that was beyond the 'point of purchase' and I'm not sure what the rules are to look at or obtain those products for purchase. I have to wonder though that if they guy with the brace really didn't do anything wrong then why the struggle?

I can't say that any of our visits to the Steve and Barry's in Orlando has been quite that exciting. I'm sure we'll visit the store again, however I hope the next time we go it will be a little less exciting.

Christmas Day 2006

Christmas morning came early, but in the back of my mind I think I knew it would. Lori and I were both serving at church for Christmas Eve services and didn't get home until about 1 am Chirstmas morning. 'Course, I had to wind down some once we got home so I surfed on the TV for about 30 minutes before dozing off.

Our old and senile dog has had this tendency to wake us up very early on the weekends and apparently getting woke up early also applies to holidays as well. About 5:30 am he started his whining. You never knows if that just means I want you to get up, or I need to go out. You don't want to risk the going out thing so one of us usually springs out of bed, (oh ok, stumbles out of bed) and takes the dog downstairs and lets him out.

It's kind of become a tradition for us to have cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning. Last year I went to the mall and bought a box of Cinnabon's rolls. It was my intent to do that again this year but it ended up being Pilsbury's Grands Cinnamon Rolls from Martins. Our oldest son was suppose to be at our house by 9am for breakfast. I drank about a pot of coffee from the time I got up until the cinnamon rolls were finally baked and ready to eat. Usually I have a serving (1 cup) of Kashi cereal for breakfast which has 1 gram of fat and 13 grams of protein. I had not one, but two cinnamon roles today which were 9 grams of fat each and maybe 1 gram of protein. This was just the beginning to an onslaught of extreme food indulgence throughout the day.

I love to watch our boys open their gifts. I can hardly stand it until we get to give them to them. Although we've always spent the same amount of money on each of them, when they were younger we always tried to have the same number of gifts for them to open. We always made them alterate between each other when opening a gifts, never letting them just tear into them. As they've grown up their lists have grown up too and the price tags have increased. It's not so easy to have the equal number of gifts any more. I'd rather get them what they want in a few items than what they don't want in numerous packages to open. This morning Adam had a few more boxes to open than Josh did because Josh's requests had higher price tags than Adams. There was a day when that may have mattered but today it didn't. They even made some jokes about it. They both seemed really pleased with all that they received and we had a really good time together.

Not long after we finished opening gifts at our house we packed up and headed over to my mom's house in Niles. Not exactly an 'over the river and through the woods' kinda trip, but hey this is Michiana suburbia.

My mom made a feast. We gorged ourselves on ham, sweet potatoes, baked beans and desserts that seemed to be neverending. I felt pretty good about myself before I started in on the dessert. I'm a sucker for pumpkin anything and of course when there is pumpkin cheesecake and a pumpkin cream cheese roll I had to have both. I think it was when I finished the last bite of my piece of cheesecake that the bloated feeling overtook me.

Opening gifts with at my mom's house is quite the frenzy and different from the sedate gift opening session at our house. My sister and I distributed the gifts. Once everyone has all gifts that belonged to them its a free for all. Paper is flying and bows are bouncing as gifts are torn open. My poor 80 something year old grandmother is slowly tearing the wrapping paper of hers and all along saying I can't see what anyone else is getting. By the time we're finished there is a mound of shreaded colored papper about 5 feet tall in the middle of all of us.

The pattern seems to be the same year in and year out at my moms. Once the meal is over and the gifts are opened. The party seems to just fall apart. My grandmother wants to go home and take a nap. My kids and my sisters kids have places to go and leave. My sister and her husband take off. And Lori and I usually head over to her mothers house. It almost leaves me feeling empty or greedy. We eat, we get stuff, we leave. It's the same pattern year after year.

Christmas at my mother-in-laws is yet another different experience. There is always an abundance of food left from their big meal and its strewn across my her entire counter top. Even though we just finished eating an enormous meal at my mom's house I'm popping a couple of buckeyes in my mouth and entertaing the idea of cutting into that pumpkin pie that we brought with us. The grazing seems to continue throught out the late afternoon into the evening when we decide it must be time to sit down and eat again.

Gift opening is by far the least public event of the day at my mother-in-laws house. My mother-in-law never buys gifts for the adults. Its always a card with cash that she passes to you like a secret agent passes a code to an operative. There is never an hoopla over gift exchanging and its always done in a very quiet as you arrive kind of fashion.

Three different celebration styles all in one day, but I wouldn't trade the experiences of anyone of them. I don't think I'd want them to all be the same because variety is the spice of life. I'm so grateful that I have family to spend the holidays with and count my blessings for just that. Each party, unique in its own way, providing memories in my heart that no one can ever take away.

Food Drop

In the many years that I have been attending Granger Community Church, the creativity in which we reach out to the community not only in the Christmas season, but all year long, never ceases to amaze me.

For the past few years we at GCC have been partnering with the Feed the Children organization in December to help feed the less fortunate in our community. You can read more about this event at www.gccwired.com. This year I believe our congregation donated enough money to purchase 7 semi truckloads of food and personal care items.

Our videographers document this event from start to finish so it can be shared with the congregation at our services. There is video from the early morning when every one arrives to unload the trucks to actual delivery of the food to various families in the community. Its a heartwarming and inspiring thing to see in action.

This year the media team at GCC worked very hard and delivered a media to be used in the weekend services the very Saturday of the event. While the offering bags were being passed the congregation was able to view a media depicting the work they did to uplift someone elses life this holiday season.

As we were watching the media, I noticed that one of the recipients of a food box was the mother of someone we know. I thought to myself how cool was that. The next day I phoned her son to let him know that his mother was in video and if he wanted he could log on to the GCC website, watch the weekend service and see the media.

I hadn't heard back from her son and was curious to get his reaction to the media so I sent a quick email to see if had had an opportunity to view it. I cannot tell you how devastated I was by his response. I don't know if I was more angered, diappointed or saddened by his comments......

"The intentions were good – but it probably would have been better to leave here alone. I realize, obviously, that no one knew who she was, and that it was random. You have to realize that that kind of stuff throws her off the deep end, actually, and then we have to hear about it for days and weeks.

It caused her to go into defensive mode. Unable to grasp the concept of a free-will gift for the holidays, she ended up putting all but just a few of the items back in the hallway. (Don’t ask me to explain how a couple of items made the cut and others didn’t.) I presume other tenants, who must know she’s a loon, simple took it for themselves. Either way, old people got stuff provided by well-intentioned people.

The fact that it was video taped grieves me because a crazy person was video taped without her consent and then broadcast. I don’t like that part, but it means nothing, really, because the intent was innocent and, again, well-intentioned. Nevertheless, it is my request the video be pulled (at least the part with her edited out, if possible) from future public display.

I’m glad that there are those who reach out to the elderly. Frankly, I don’t know what to do with my mother. It is a constant burden"

I have to wonder if its about the inconvenience he claims was made to his mother or if it's just that his mother is an inconvenience to him and therefore chose to make these statements.

This is a a well orchestrated event that has no random-ness about it as alluded to in in his first paragraph. This was intended to be a blessing and not a character evaluation. Does it matter if she was confused and put some of the items back out in the hall. I dont think so. Does it matter that perhaps she knew for even just the briefest moment that someone cared about her. I think so.

When Jesus fed the 5000 with a loaf of bread (John 5-15)I dont think there was anyone singled out as unworthy to receive His bounty.

IPOD challenged.

With the advent of my recent Anytime Fitness membership I have been salvating over IPOD's. I bought an FM radio so that I could tune into the various televisions that are mounted around the gym but there isn't a whole lot of rhythm in the evening news. My wife has had her IPOD for quite a while and sings it's praises constantly.

From what I've determined IPOD's don't go on sale. I wanted the 30 gig but the Nano's were less expensive...what to do, what to do! Well, IPOD's do go on sale, sorta. I was at Best Buy this past weekend drooling over the 30 gig Black IPOD and a clerk approached me. The IPOD wasn't on sale but the store was having a promotion of 20% off and a $20 gift card on purchases over $200. It was as if the sky opened up and a bright light beamed down....can you hear the chorus....it was a sure sign it was time to make that purchase.

Since I already had ITUNES on my laptop I thought this will be a piece of cake to set up. I fired up ITUNES and connected the IPOD to my laptop. I had already downloaded about 900 songs into ITUNES so I figured it would take a while to transfer them so I sat the laptop on the floor and went to do some other things. About 10 minutes later I decided to check on transfer progress and found an error on the screen. I didnt have the most current version of ITUNES and it needed to be downloaded onto my laptop before I could proceed. So I downloaded it and of course that meant rebooting and more time that I had anticipated. I fired up the transfer again and went about my business. I came back down and found another error that set me back another few minutes from getting this task complete but eventually everything was uploaded to the IPOD.

I could hardly wait to get to the gym on Monday. I get to listen to music, my music, while I'm working out. I even made a special playlist and named it 'workout music' (because I wasn't any more creative at that momment).

One thing about listening to music, especially upbeat music with lots of rhythm is that it can make you pick up your pace without even realizing it. The elliptical machine gives you a target heart rate to maintain for optimum results and it yells (well its a display but it seems like yelling) if you go over that target rate. I was so getting into the music that I was flying along and had to keep reminding myself to slow down. 'Pump up the Volume' didn't mean pick up the pace.

I've teased my wife about about singing outloud when she's listening to her IPOD. Ironically I have found myself singing along as well. It's really hard not to do that. At least people know that she's singing along because she is actually singing. I, on the other hand, must look like I'm a little 'off my rocker' because I don't actually sing, I just mouthe the words. Call me the Milli Vanilli of IPOD singing.

Yesterday when I was done working out I decided to continue to listen to my IPOD rather than shutting it off. I went into the locker room, gathered my stuff and made my way out to my car. I got in the car and was getting ready to back up and I realized I told my wife I'd call her when I was on my way home. I pulled my earbuds out and they fell to my lap and I pulled my seat belt across my lap while the phone was ringing. Yes I can multi-task. When we finished our conversation I reached for the earbuds to put them back in my ears and I realized that the wires were under the seat belt strapped across me. I pulled them from under the seat belt and got them back into my ears. Yes, all this while driving too. I was once again jammin.

I got to our subdivision and was pulling into our drive and detached my seatbelt. Somehow the wires to the earbuds got tangled in the seat belt and I found myself having to tilt my head down because the wires were pulling down. Of course I could have just pulled them out of my ears but that would have been too easy.

Today I was back on the elliptical machine and lip syncing away. My time completed and I was stepping down off the machine and the wires from the earbuds got hooked on the arm handles and my head got a severe yank to the right.

Don't get me wrong, this IPOD has been the best purchase I've made recently. However, its pretty obvious that I'm either going to have to get better acclamated to it or its gonna do me in!

Credit DENIED!

My credit card was denied today and it was a good thing. It reassured me that the VISA does check the validity of the charges being made.

Each year I put all of the Christmas gifts we purchase on one credit card and then pay the entire bill when it comes. It eliminates the hassle of carrying a lot of cash around and we get beaucoup points towards free nights at a variety of hotels.

Over the course of the past couple days we had been doing some intense shopping and using the same card repeatedly. We were at our last stop today which was a local gas station to purchase gift cards for gas. It almost seems a shame that one would give gifts of gas but at todays prices these gift cards recieve beaucoup appreciation.

We needed to get several gas gift cards of varying amounts. The gentleman behind the counter who was apparently new to his position was reluctant to execute the transaction and called a more experience co-worker over for help. Although she new how to process the gift cards she didnt know how to do more than one at a time and apologized for that inconvenience. I think she thought we would leave after she said that be we were on a mission and weren't about to give up.

I ran my card through a 4th time with 3 more cards to go and the attendant behind the counter said it was denied. I knew very well that I had more than enough credit left on my card so I pulled out my cell phone and called the credit card company. We had gifts to buy and I wasn't giving up that easy.

As I mentioned earlier, we get hotel points towards free stays on this card. I had turned the card over and dialed the first 800 number I saw. Well that was the reservation line for the hotel line so after apologizing for dialing the wrong number I canvassed the back of the card again for the correct 800 number to customer service. I found it and dialed.

Why do you have to go through a never ending barage of computer voice driven options before you can actually speak with another human being. The first recording says to make your transaction more efficient please enter your card number. More efficient, yeah right. When you finally do get to speak to a live person they ask you for it again. After you enter your account number you requested to enter various other information and given a variety of option, none of which ask you if you want to speak to another human.

I was tired from shopping all day and I fat fingered my account number not once but twice and had to call back. I was getting a little frustrated now because I just wanted to be done with this whole process.

Finally I got through to a living, breathing human who, but of course put me on hold and transferred me to someone else. Meanwhile the line behind us was getting to be longer. Eventually I was taken off hold and things finally started to happen.

The bank card representative asked me questions about my account that only I would know. One of which was a number I had used at one point that I had no recollection of. Fortunately I was able to respond to all of her other questions with the correct answers.

Although it was quite a time consuming process once I finally was able to speak to a customer service representative I was quite impressed with all of the degree of 'fraud' protection that they went to to ensure my protection. It very well could have been someone else with my card and I could have been up a creek without a paddle. Hats off to VISA and the persuit to protect my credit today. Credit denied isn't always a bad thing.

December 11, 1982

Today is our wedding anniversary. 24 years amazing and incredible years. Some would consider it quite the milestone in this day and time. I consider it a blessing and honor.

It was snowing and really cold on that Saturday 24 years ago. I remember shivering as we stood outside for some pictures as snow flakes came drifting down. And the hall for our reception, it was a walk in freezer. Apparently there was some miscommunication about when the reception was to take place and the heat didn't get turned on. I recall walking into the hall and seeing the majority of our guests wearing their coats awaiting the cake and "ice cream" reception.

Our wedding night plans began with a just the two of us going to dinner at the Carriage House restaurant. After the wedding we drove to Lori's parents home where we going to change out of our wedding garb and into some regular clothes, and then on to dinner. There were several family members at my in-laws house for a post-wedding get together. When we arrived I just assumed we'd go change clothes together and then be on our way. Not so much. With the house full of relatives and her parents, Lori wouldn't let me in the bedroom where she was changing and sent me to the bathroom to change my clothes. The rest of the evening was much better, and no, you don't get those details!

We went to Chicago yesterday for the day to celebrate. We have a favorite Asian restaurant there called "BIG BOWL" and had an awesome lunch there before doing what we've come best to do as a couple and that is shop. On the drive home we popped in a couple Christmas cd's settled in for the long haul ahead of us.

It wasn't long before the hustle and bustle of the day caught up with Lori and she dozed off. I looked over and saw her sleeping and was once again blown away as I am so often. How did I get so lucky to have someone so beautful, so loving and so caring in my life. I'm just in absolute awe of how God has blessed me.

December 11, 1982 seems like just yesterday. They say time flies when you're having fun and it must be true because the last 24 years have been the best years of my life. I'd rather spend time with her than anyone else. She is my best friend and always will be and I love her so very much.

I can only give you love that lasts forever,
And a promise to be near each time you call.
And the only heart I own
For you and you alone
That's all,
That's all...
I can only give you country walks in springtime
And a hand to hold when leaves begin to fall;
And a love whose burning light
Will warm the winter's night
That's all,
That's all.
There are those I am sure who have told you,
They would give you the world for a toy.
All I have are these arms to enfold you,
And a love time can never destroy.
If you're wondering what I'm asking in return, dear,
You'll be glad to know that my demands are small.
Say it's me that you'll adore,
For now and evermore
That's all,
That's all.

I have no excuses....

A week or so ago I was requested to do some training during an online training session that we were conducting for some people at our hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland. The trainee's dial on a conference call number and log on to a centra session website so that they can view what we are doing on our laptops at the corporate office. Our objectives were to train on some of the features of the old version of our decision support system as well as some of the functionality of the new version.

Earlier that week I had done some training on the grouping function of our old system at our South Bend hospital but had been asked to only do a demo of the grouping function in the new version today. This is probably more detail than needed but grouping allows the user to roll the detail data up into groupings of data such as service lines (cardiology, orthopedics...etc.) or other types of groupings and report on the data.

Apparently I was the only one in our group who has touched the grouping in the old version of the system and was asked to demo it in an impromptu fashion. I was hesitant but agreed. Rather than connect my laptop up to the centra session that the trainees in Maryland were dialed in to, I just used the laptop already connected and logged in with my logon and password.

Shortly after I started demo-ing the tool I heard a very loud beep. At first I just ignored it and continued on. Not long after I heard another beep. I looked across the table at Elizabeth because it was her laptop I was using. With raised eyebrows, she shrugged her shoulders so I just continued with what I was doing. A few more minutes passed and I heard the beep again. I asked Elizabeth if the AC plug in the back of the laptop had gotten disconnected as it I thought the laptop was beeping like it was running out of power. The odd thing was that I wasn't getting a message on the screen that the battery was running out. Elizabeth said it was plugged in so I just continued on with the demo.

"Beep" There it was again. I said that I was fearful that were going to loose our connection and the presentation because it appeared the laptop was loosing power. Elizabeth popped up out of her chair and came to my side of the table. She couldn't see anything wrong either. We cautioned the people signed in on centra that we might loose connection and to bear with us. As I continued the demo, Elizabeth was crawling around the floor underneat the table pushing on all the plugs and connections ensuring that everthing was connected. The beeping continued to happen and even seemed to become more frequent as she was doing this. I was becoming increasingly fearful that we would loose our connection. I felt like I was talking faster and faster to get through the materials. Elizabeth surfaced from underneath the table and said everything was connected.

Finally the demo/training was complete and the laptop kept power despite the the continuing beeping sound that we kept hearing. After everyone had disconnected I logged off the laptop. As I was moving toward the end of the long confernce room table where my laptop was I heard the beep sound again, and it seemed to be following me. Elizabeth looked at me because she too could sense that the sound had moved. I put my hands on my hips as I was baffled, but then I knew what it was.

Clipped on to my belt was my cell phone. Sheepishly I pulled the phone off my belt and opened it up. There it was, screaming at me from the display, in bright lumenescent letters.....LOW BATTERY!

Probably the saddest thing about this whole thing is that is the second time in a meeting that this has happened to me. I have no excuse.

Return of the office invaders

I was certain that with the onslaught of the colder weather that we would finally be rid of the black and red bugs that invaded our office this fall but it seems as though a new batch has hatched. And they're back with a vengence.

I've had at least two or three of the little buggars on my desk this week. They're into flying more this time and dive bombing you when you least expect it. Yesterday I went to the printer and there was a couple of the bugs on it. Just as the rollers started feeding the report that I was printing through, one of the bugs ventured into the inside of the printer. I have to wonder if he got crushed or set up home in there because I never saw him come back out.

They seem to be dying more easily and more quicky this time. Its like a battlefield on top of a couple of filing cabinets. You can usually see several strewn across the top of them, belly up.

One of my co-workers is convinced this new strain of these bugs are canibalistic as well. She called me over to the filing cabinet yesterday where some of the belly up dead one's were and it appeared that the live ones were actually eating some of the dead ones.

There was a big green plant on top of this filing cabinet as well. There seemed to be several in the plant well. April said that she was convince that the plant was attracting them so I said lets move the plant around and see if they move too. We laughed but April actually moved the plant. As turns out there were none where the plant was placed today.

I'm was wondering if they were going to have to have the exterminators come out again and spray until I heard this swatting sound late this afternoon. April was walking around swatting and killing the bugs. Who needs to hire an exterminator...we've got April!

I guess I should be glad that no more snakes have been found!

Travelers Gift

Recently I finished reading a book entitled "The Travelers Gift" by Andy Andrews. I heard from a couple people that it was a must read. The cover indicated that it contained 7 decisions to personal success. I thought ok, its one of those books that tells you if you do this, this, and this you'll be successful. But since it was recommended by people whose opinions I value I decided to give a try.

I was expecting it to be like the usual self-help kind of books. I was certain that as I started it there would be a laundry list of things that I would have to do and then measure my progress in some way. It wasn't like that at all. I was captured from page one.

"The Traveler's Gift" is written like a novel and I was captivated from page one. The story resonated with where my life was about a year ago when I was laid off from my job. The things that go through your mind are unimaginable until it happens to you. Your emotions are on a roller coaster along with your self worth.

Andy Andrews has done a stellar job of telling an outstanding story of how one man copes with an unexpected life changing event. Your taken from total hopelessness to absolute optimism. Intertwined in the story are the 7 decisions that are designed to reveal the hope that we have.

Learning to accept responsibility for our past and our future, seek wisdom, willfully serve others, take action, be decisive, chose happiness and a grateful spirit, greet each day with a forgiving spirit and persitency are key the success of life of personal success.

I found this book highly motivating and inciteful. It restores your hope that you can turn around the bleakest situation. I've even found myself reviewing the principles even after I've completed the book. It's a must read on my list.

Weigh in day

I was one of those 'husky' kids when I was young. Not obese, but not thin either. Chubby is probably a good word for it. My Grandmother worked at a farm supply store and my parents always purchased my jeans there because they had a husky size (and probably because Grandma got a discount too). I hated those jeans for two reasons: first because the leather-like label on the waist said husky so everyone knew, and second because they were stiff as a board.

I finally slimmed down some by late junior high and high school but after getting married it didn't take long for the pounds to creep back on. Before I knew it I was buying a waist size I never thought I'd ever wear.

About three, maybe four years ago I decided to get a grip on my weight. Several people I knew had joined this weight maintenance place called "Thin and Healthy" and I decided to give it a try. The program basically taught you how to eat correctly and boost your metabolism through portion control. It wasn't one of those 'buy and only eat our food' programs. I actually ate regular food in controlled portions that were increased in the various stages of the program. I think the only time I really got a litte cranky was durning the fasting stage. Portions were cut way back and snacks were taken away. It was a very long week!

As part of the program I had to keep a log of the food we ate and how many fat grams were in what I consumed. Additionally I had go into Thin and Healthy and get measured and weighed weekly. Thursdays were weigh in days and I've weighed in every Thursday morning at home since I completed the program.

Thin and Healthy's program also suggested that you work out a minimum of 3 times a week which was also recorded on the log. I often got reprimanded for my working out because, pretty much, I didnt.

Its been probably 4 years since I was on the Thin and Healthy program and despite my lack of initiative to work out I still dropped 30 lbs while on the program and another 10lbs after I stopped. I've kept this 40 lbs off for 4 years now.

I've thought about working out off and on since completing the program but have never taken the initiative to start a program. I'm really comfortable at the weight I've been at for the last four years and don't want to do anything to jeapordize it. I know that muscle tissue weighs more than other tissue so I've been aprehensive about weight traning. Gaining weight is the last thing I want to do. However, recently I've been giving joining a gym some serious consideration.

With the advent of winter coming and the fact that I'm turning 45 this Friday I'm concerned about getting stagnate and my metabolism slowing down. I started a regimine of crunches at home in the morning and have been committed thus far. Lori and I walk from 3 to 5 miles in the evenings during the warmer months but that activity has come to and end because its....November!

A new 24 hour fitness center opened up not far from our home. I stopped a couple of weeks ago to check it out and was pretty gung ho for joining when I left. But, as I said that was a couple of weeks ago, and I still don't have a membership. A friend of mine who is quite atheletic had razzed me ever since I lost the weight because I don't get any regular phyiscal activity. She reminds me over and over that I'm atrophy-ing away.

With 45 facing me at the end of the week and the stagnation associated with the upcoming winter months I've decided to give some serious consideration to joining this 24 hour gym. 'Course it is winter, maybe I could just hibernate...if it were only that easy!

Fall back one hour....

We,actually I, was unmotivated to change all of the clocks in the house before going to bed Saturday night and decided to leave them until Sunday morning.

Some of them are such a hassle. Like the Anniversary clock with the chime thing that's on the top shelf of our tv cabinet. First of all, you gotta reach way back and pull it out and try not to knock down the brik-a-brack in front of it. Once it's out, you gotta take the glass dome off and pry the back off so you can turn the wheel to change the hands. After resetting the hands you have to put the back cover back on and of course it keeps popping off. By now the glass dome has my finger prints all over it so I have to Windex it. Once it's all reassembled then you have to play 'negotiate the brik-a-brak' again to get it back to where it belongs. Like I said it's a hassle.

Course the Anniversary clock isn't 1/2 as bad as the clock on stove. I can never remember how it gets reset and I end up either starting the pre heat timer and the oven kicks on before I finally give up and recruit my wife to do it. I'm not much better with the microwave.

Anyway, we I went to bed Saturday night and didn't reset any of the clocks in our house. During the middle of the night I woke up and had to go to the bathroom. We have this LED clock radio in our bedroom that I think I bought when I was 12 years old with its big 'ole red LED display. Hey, it still works even if it is 33 years old. So I look at the clock and it says 3am. I got up and staggered off to the bathroom, still 1/2 asleep. I came back to bed, glanced at the clock again, and pulled the covers up and went off to la la land.

What didn't seem like much later, I heard the dog whining and doing his usual morning antics so that he can get fed and be put outside. I cracked open one eye to see the illuminated red numbers on the clock and it read 12:38. I'm thinking to myself, didn't I get up at 3am to go to the bathroom or did I just dream that? I laid there and tried to make sense out of it. The dog never gets up at 12:30 am. Why does he want to eat at such a strange time. It was still dark out. What time was it? Am I dreaming now?

I couldn't deal with the confusion and the more I thought about it the more awake I became so I decided to get up. I grabbed my robe and swooped the dog up in my arms and headed down the stairs.

Much to my relief I wasn't losing my mind. Apparently somewhere between 3am and the time I had just gotten out of bed we lost power. So every clock in the house that was ran by electricity had a differnt time on it. My sanity was redeemed when I saw the Anniversary clock and it said 6 am.

....time keeps on slippin' into the future!

....at the mercy of the pump

Obviously I'm going to have to get on a new schedule for filling up my car with gas. I've noticed a pattern in gas prices over the past few weeks and it's not coinciding with my need to fill up.

For instance yesterday was Tuesday and on my way to work I noted that most stations were in the range of $1.99 to $2.09 per gallon. I wasn't quite at the point where I wanted to get gas so I made a mental note of what the prices were and motored on. When I got off work yesterday I saw that the Meijer gas was still at $1.99 but as I got closer to Granger I saw that some of the stations had gone from $2.09 to $2.29. This morning all of the stations in Granger were $2.29.

First of all how can the price jump 20 cents in a matter of hours and why does it always seem to happen right before the weekend. I have my own theories which probably mean nothing. One being that its the nearing the weekend so there is the potential for more leisurely driving so lets jack up the price. My other ufounded theory is that there is an ND home game so let's sock it to all the people coming into town. Like I said, my hypothesis are unsupported but these things run through my mind when the prices increase near the weekend.

I don't buy into the notion that the upcoming election has caused prices to plummet. And what's up with the inactive hurricane season also having an affect on prices. I've never heard anything about the hurricane season regulating the price of gasoline. I don't quite get the supply and demand theory either. Do people really drive that much more in the summer? I guess if the price jumps dramatically after the election I'll be proven wrong.

In the meanwhile, I guess I need to look at my cycle of filling up my car and adjust accordingly. Buy low and use high. Or more simply put, buy before Wednesday. It's beyond me how the price of gasoline can fluctuate as they do but it's either pay the price or walk.

It 7:46am and I had to log back on and post this. Meijer was still at $1.98 a gallon this morning and every pump had a car at it!

Death of a mailbox

Last Thursday night, well technically Friday morning, I awoke at 3am to a loud crashing noise. I was only 1/2 awake and wasn't really sure what I heard. My first thought was someone was smashing pumpkins on the street in front of our house. I was a little alarmed by this thought because a couple of years ago someone smashed a pumpkin on the side of my son's car that was parked on the street. I feared that some prankster had done that again. But the fear wasn't great enough to cause me to get up and look.

As I started to drift back to sleep I heard the water softner running. Sometimes it makes some really strange noises. I thought perhaps since I was only slightly aware of what was going on that that must have been it, so I just wrote the noise off as coming from the water softner and fell back to sleep.

About 30 minutes later I woke up again because nature was calling. After taking care of business in the bathroom I decided to stagger only 1/2 awake to the window and look out to ensure that I didnt really hear something outside earlier. Just as I had suspected there was nothing out there and it must have been the water softner that I'd heard. I crawled back under the warm blankets and was out like a light.
Unfortunately I get up between 4:30 and 5 am so I my slumber was short lived and I was up and getting ready for work.

Friday morning is trash pick up day at our house but we always put the trash can out front on Thursday night. The kitchen trash can was pretty full so on my way out I decided to take the bag of trash in the kitchen out to the trash can. When I got out to the trash can, there it was the answer to the noise I'd heard at 3am in the morning. Our mailbox was laying on the ground with the side bashed in.

I figured someone must have ran into it and drove away. I picked it up and jury-rigged so that it could be used on the cracked plastic post and came in to tell Lori what had happened.

On my drive to work it occurred to me that the mailbox couldn't have been hit by a car because the trash can would have been hit as well. Someone had to have intentionally smashed or hit it with something, perhaps a baseball bat. But who would want to destroy our mailbox? Who had a vendetta out for us?

Of course our home owners insurance didn't cover such malicious destruction. Why would they, we only give them some astronomical amount every year to keep our home insured. So off to Menards we went this past weekend to purchase a new post and mailbox. It's amazing how expensive or inexpensive a mail box can be. You can spend $5 or $90 on a a mailbox. Well, you can bet that I didn't buy the $90 box.

Well after carrying the new mailbox and post around in my trunk for two days now I decided to get it out and put it together. Handy man I am not, hence me "driving miss mailbox" around for 2 days, trying to avoid having to deal with it.

Well, I got as far as getting our name and house number put on the mailbox. Tomorrow my goal is to actually attach the box to the the post and yes, even get it put into place at the curb.

I guess I'll just never understand what thrill there is in destroying someone else's property. Is there really so little to entertain these days?

Office intruders

The office building I work in is out in the Blackthorn Golf course office complex area. Its a beautiful area, especially right now. The trees are filled with a panorama of red yellow and orange leaves. They lawns are manicured and fall flowers are blooming everywhere. Sometimes the deer even come into the courtyard of our building. It's really awesome.

However, aweseome has it's downside. We've had our share of insect issues this fall. There has been this plague of these flat black and red bugs that were virtually everywhere you turned. They were especially bad in our entrance way. I'm not kidding they were so thick that you could virtually scrape them into piles. Some people were referring to them a stink bugs. I just know that it stunk because they were everywhere you went.

Not only were they crawling on everything but they could fly as well. There's nothing like sitting at your desk and getting dive bombed by these things. A week or so ago I think I spent more time swatting the things away then I got actual work done.

I think there was two at my desk late yesterday that thought they wanted to be my own personal pets. They wouldn't leave for anything. Every now and then one of them would be crawling across my computer monitor. After seeing it there a few times I wondered if I could get it to follow the mouse so I'd put it arrow right in front of it and try to get it to follow. Needlesstosay I didn't have much luck but it was entertaining for a brief time.

They won't die either. I know for a fact that 3 times I put one of the things in the trash can at my desk and it wasn'tlong before I saw it crawling over the edge and flying back up onto my desk top somewhere.

Theres a girl in my department who is in charge of the building, so to speak and extermination of these things fell within her realm. She finally arranged for the exterminators to come out and spray to get rid of our black and red menaces. The morning following the exterminator's visit our entrance was a sea of dead black and red bugs. I guess it was beyond the cleaning people to sweep them up. And I mean beyond them for days. It was as if we ended up having a path in this sea of dead bugs from the traffic pattern of people coming in and out of our office building.

The plague of the red and black bugs had virtually come to an end. I still see a few here and there. I think there was one making its way down into the printer just outside my cube the other day, but for the most part they've gone.

Although the bugs are gone we had a new problem on Friday. Our administrative assistant came into work last Friday morning and had a surprise waiting for here in her cube, a snake.

Whats next!

what happens when you dont have a media operator?

This is over a week old in getting posted. I created the post title last week and then realized today that I never posted anything. What would you call that, blogheimers?

It was my weekend to be the service producer at GCC last weekend. From a producers standpoint it was a pretty low key weekend. Well, on Saturday anyway. Sunday was a different story.

I arrived Sunday morning around GCC. It was pretty chilly so I opted to ride the shuttle in from the parking lot. Just as I had sat down, Dustin, the programming director, entered the shuttle and said that he had bad news. I couldn't imagine what kind of bad news but I bit and asked what it was. Stephanie, the media operator for the weekend was sick. I'm not sure who put them there, but the words I can run the slides for worship and the song special fell from my lips. It was like one of those out of body experiences where you see yourself saying or doing things. Apparently Dustin didn't see me float up and separate from myself and was good with me running the slides. I just hoped I was good with it!

Not long ago we changed from a pc and Power Point to an apple computer and a new program for song slides called ProPresenter...or something like that. I can get around in Power Point pretty well. I hadn't done much with ProPresenter. We were about to see what I could do, however.

Fortunately we had rehearsal to go through first so at least I'd get a trial run before going live. I know our worship songs really well so running those slide went well. I had only heard the song special we were doing once on the radio (and of course twice the night before at the Saturday services) and wasn't really sure about the flow of the song or the tempo. It was time to rehearse the special and Trace started singing and the words I was running didn't match what he was singing. I panicked at first. I thought the slides were in the wrong order and Stephanie just knew the song well enough to click on the right slides then night before. I finally got caught up to where Trace was in the song and was able to follow through the rest of the song.

When they finished rehearsing the special the band was going to do a run through of the prelude so I was writing down what I thought the first slide was and was getting ready to run down and see Trace to find out what the correct words should be. For some reason I clicked on the screen and the song jumped to the top. It was there I saw the words Trace was signing at the start of the song and realize that when I brought up the word ProPresenter was brining the song up 1/2 through. I was so relieve that the song was right and I made a mental note to make sure to scroll to the top of the slides when that song started.

Everything went pretty well for all three services. I only made two errors that I was aware of and both of those were during the worship songs that I claimed to have known so well. The song special gave me no problems at all.

Having to step in and run these slides may sound like no big deal but to be quite honest I was a little worried when the first service began. Running the slides takes a lot of concentration, especially if it's not something you do regularily. Not only do you have to pay strict attention to the words but you have to know the timing to advance to the next slide all while listening to other operators talk in your headset and the IMAG director communicate to shots to the camera people on the floor.

I guess it could have been worse for me. There could have been medias to run and message slides to work through as well. I had it pretty easy really. Just the same
I was pretty tense the first service because the potential to screw up was looming over me.

Media operators I've always had respect for what you've done to help make each service the success that it is. But after being thrown into the trenches I have a new respect for what you do.

The Men's Room

So....Lori and I both had Friday off so we decided to eat lunch out at one of our favorite places, Jimmy Johns. We usually go the the one located on Main Street in Mishawaka but today we opted for the on the corner of Ironwood and South Bend Avenue because we wanted to stop in and see our oldest son who works at the Martin's Supermarket accross the street after we ate.

Not only does Jimmy Johns have great sandwiches for a resonable price, but they have the best kettle cooked chips I've ever ate. So of course I always 'combo' my meal. Gotta have those chips and Diet Coke. Bad thing about caffienated diet pop is that, for me anyway, about as quickly as it goes in it wants out. And of course with free refills on pop, I get usually get my moneys worth.

We wrapped up our lunch date and headed out to the car to drive over to Martins. When we got back to the produce area where our son works it hit me. I had to go to the bathroom, NOW! One of the other store clerks was trying to locate our son so I told Lori that I was going to go use the bathroom while they were looking.

This is not a small store when you have to go to the bathroom really bad. The public restrooms were way up in the front of the store and the store was packed with people. So here I am trying to get to front of the store weaving and bobbing around people as best as I can without knocking them down. Of course, I'm detatained about every 10 paces by these 'foodies' who are oblivious of my far more important issue of needing relief.

I finally reach the front of the store and see the the sign for the restrooms. I quickly push open the first door I saw only thinking of how badly I needed to go to the bathroom. As I entered I thought it was odd that the mens room didnt have a urinal but shrugged it off and went into the second stall as the first was occupied. When I finshed my business and walked out to wash my hands there it was as big as life, the MAXIPAD MACHINE. You ever see one of those cartoons where the cartoon characters eyes bug out of its head and you hear the 'aahhhoooga' horn sound. Well thats what went off in my head. I'm in the womens room!!!! I freaked!

Just about then I heard a noise and my eyes turned to the latch on the occupied stall. Life went into slo-mo! The latch turned on the occupied stall was turning. In a slow and slurred manner the words "IT'S OPENING..OOOOOOOHHHHH NO! were screaming in my brain. My mind quickly reverted from slo-mo to realtime and I bolted from the 'womens' room not knowing if they saw me or not.

After I was in the clear and about 1/2 way back to where I left Lori I bent over and just started cracking up. I couldn't believe I had just used the womens restroom and didnt even know I was in there.

When I got back to Lori I said you won't believe what I just did. She guessed a couple of obscure things but I told her she was wrong. I told her I just used the womens rest room and didnt even know I was in there until I saw the maxi pad machine. Her jaw hit the floor and she cracked up.

We spent the afternoon shopping and of course whenever we ran into someone we knew Lori would be sure to have them ask me about the bathrooms in the Martins Supermarket. The more that I told the story the funnier it got.

As we were driving home after dinner, Lori turned to me and said "Think about the next woman who must have went into that stall at Martins and wondered why on earth the lid was up!"

Cell Phone Violations in Church

I've never quite understood why people don't turn their cell phones off when they go to church. I can't remember a weekend that's gone by that I haven't heard at least one cell phone go off during the middle of a service at GCC. It seems like they never ring at a good time either. They either go off at a very poignant moment or during a prayer. Cell phone violations in church, what 'cha gonna do!

There is often a reminder on the announcements that scroll on the side screens as people enter the auditorium at GCC reminding them, as a courtesy, to turn off their cell phones. Yet it doesn't seem to happen. I think our announcements are very dynamic and creative. Does that mean they're not getting read?

What's even more frusting to me is the phone that rings and rings and rings. Is this person thinking that if they ignore it maybe it will stop? Or is it just buried so deep in a purse that it can't be retrieved. Guess that sounded a little sexist. Let me rephrase and say....or maybe it's buried so deep in a purse or pocket that it can't be retrieved. There, hopefully I've redeemed myself.

Little did I know that this past weekend I would become a cell phone violator in the 5:30 service at GCC. Usually I don't even take my phone with me to church. I figure thats one hour of my life that I can miss a call. I don't know why, but my phone was hooked to my pocket when I walked into GCC this day, so I just turned the volume down to vibrate and shoved it back on my pocket.

We met some friends and sat with them near the back of the auditorium for service. Mark's message was captivating as usual and the offering song special had just finished. The house lights came back up and Mark ascended the stairs to the stage to pray and dismiss us. All of a sudden I'm hearing something that sounds like Christmas music. I think I'm losing it. Then I realize its coming from none other than my own pocket! How could this be? My phone was on vibrate.

"March of the Sugar Plum Faeries" from the Nutcracker was blaring from my pocket. I was absolultely mortified! I reach down to my pocket and the phone clip is hooked on something and I can't get the phone out of my pocket. I've got a ballet going on in my pocket and I cant get the main dancer out. Finally I get the phone out and for a moment my mind went blank as to how to get it to stop. My wife and our friends are looking at me and just cracking up. I was just staring at the phone and the music just kept blaring away. Finally I came to my senses and opened and shut the phone to turn it off, hanging up on whoever was calling. I had become one of my own pet peeves, a cell phone violator in church!

When service finished, I held my head low so as to not be recognized as the one who's cell phone was ringing during the ending prayer, and made my way out to the atrium. Where are those dark glasses when you need them! I flipped open my phone and found the recent received calls to see who I'd hung up on. It was a friend of ours whom we were suppose to meet between services to talk about our picnic arrangements for the baptism on Sunday. Yes, they knew we would be at the first service! I pressed re-dial and when they answered the first thing they said was "you hung up on me!" I replied "because we were still in service!" I told them how I was freaking out and recounted the whole embarassing story. We laughed so hard.

Its Tuesday and I still don't understand what happened and why my phone rang. My regular ring tone is the theme song to "I Love Lucy" and if anything we should have heard that little jingle. Oh Yeah, I have my holiday ring tones, doesn't everybody, but they definitely were programd to be on now. And furthermore my phone was on vibrate, it shouldn't have made a peep.

I think I now have a little more compassion for the person who's cell phone goes off in church. I doubt that everyone who's cell phone goes off in church experiences what the trauma I did, but I now firmly believe that its very possible that when cell phones go off it is beyond our control! But believe me...I'm not relying on the vibrate setting on my phone anymore....OFF or left in the car is the only answer.

Cell phone violators in church, what 'cha gonna do!

A "How to" on prayer

Our midweek, New Community church service was a continuation of the “Mastering the Art of Living” series that is currently being taught. Corey Mann stepped up to the plate and hit it out of the park with an incredible message on how God wants us to pray last night as described in Matthew 6.

Corey began with a discussion of the things that we don’t think we can do well.
Unfortunately I cannot remember anything from his list (honesty can be brutal). But I do know that I’m not a big risk taker. I like the ‘sure’ thing. There are so many things that I know probably I shy away from because I feel ill-equipped to do them. Corey's litany of ‘incapable things’ ended with prayer. His premise being that we don’t pray because we don’t know how or we don’t have the time.

Corey broke the up the scripture in Matthew 6:5-15, where God instructs us how to pray, in to consumable nuggets. He illustrated each verse with applicable life situations that allowed us to digest what we were being taught. His overall theme for the evening was “go to your room and close the door…’ from verse 6.

In the next segment of his message, Corey reaffirmed verse 7 ‘And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words,’ with Hollywood and real life applications.

In a movie clip from “Meet the Parents” the epitome of babbling on is found in the scene in which the boyfriend is asked to bless the meal at the dinner table. It’s a very funny clip and really nailed Corey’s statement about not knowing how to pray. The guy just goes on an on trying to be impressive in his words, but really not knowing what or how to say his prayer. Then, from a story from his own personal life Corey recounted how at one point in his life he determined that following a prayer with ‘yesssss!!!’ or a gutteral sound would confirm the importance of his prayer. Each of these examples proving that many words or impressive sounds a good prayer does not make.

Throughout his allotted message time, Corey made reference after reference to verse 6, ‘But when you pray, go into your room and close the door.’ At one point he even had everyone repeating that outloud in the auditorium. However ‘go to your room’ wasn’t to be translated literally but figuratively. It means to escape all of the distractions that would take your full attention away from God. We need to disengage from our cell phones, our tv, our computer, our family, our Blackberry….etc. and focus totally on God.

One of the hardest things we have facing us today is time. Time management is a top priority everyday, not only in work but personal life as well. At work we have deadlines to meet, meetings to attend, and calls to make among the abundance of other responsibilities. At home we have family time, mowing the lawn, doing the laundry, cleaning the house, and the list goes on. When do we possibly have time to ‘go to our rooms?’

The next portion of his message was two-fold. He expounded on an illustration on being intentional in our lives and using that in connection with 'going to our rooms...'

In January Corey set some exercise goals for himself in which he incorporated a daily regimen of walking. He had a goal to walk so many miles by a certain date and he was intentional about his goal. He faithfully rose early in the morning, sometimes as early as 5am to fulfill his goal. His premise being that we have to be intentional about the things we want to accomplish in life. We have to be intentional about making time to pray.

Not only was Corey’s walking illustration about being intentional, it was about ‘going to our room.’ Earlier I mentioned that we need to take this ‘going to your room’ statement figuratively. While Corey was walking early in the morning, he discovered that there were no distractions. No cell phone, no TV, no other people, he was virtually alone with God. He had gone to his room and shut the door without even realizing it. He was alone with God without lifes distractions and he seized the opportunity. We don’t have to literally go to our room to be alone with God. We can create situations in which we put ourselves in a place where there are no distractions, such as walking early in the morning, and we have basically gone to our rooms and closed the door.

So there you have my synopsis of an outstanding message on how God wants us to pray.

Thursday night New Community. WOW! So life enriching! Why would you want to miss it?

To Flush or not to flush...

What's up with the price to get your septic system pumped out? As preventative matenance, I have our system pumped out every year because the alternative, a new septic system, would cost far more, or so I thought.

We've built our home about 8 years ago and at about year 5 I started having the septic pumped out once a year. I was motivated to do this because 3 of our neighbors had to have their systems replaced and I didn't want to have to pay that astronomical price.

I think last year was the most I'd ever paid and that was just over $100 to get the poop sucked out. Today I called 3 places for quotes and was blown away by the increase in cost. The first place I called quoted me $155 to $175 depending on the size of the tank. I asked if there had been a price increase and they attributed some of the cost to the price of gas. Ironic huh...."septic pumping prices increase because of gas"...I can see the headlines now.

On top of the charge to "pump out the poop" would be an additional charge of up to $55 charge to dig down to the lid if I didn't do that myself. Can you believe $55 to dig a circle 5 inches deep and a foot in diameter! Whats up with that!

Of course, last year (as all prior years that I've had this done) I opted to dig down to the lid myself. However, my frugal-ness added some additional stress to this process. In previous years I used a trowel to find the location of the lid under the ground and then would dig with a shovel or spade. Last year I figured I've done this enough, I know where the lid is and I'll just start with the shovel. Not such a smart move. As the second stab of the shovel went into the ground I hit something that didnt feel right. I pulled the shovel out and dropped to the ground to see what I'd hit. It was the cable for cable TV. And it was severed complete into two pieces.

I have some experience with splicing cable so I thought to myself, I can fix this. Not so much!

I hopped in the car and drove up to the local radio shack and bought a splicer and the connectors I thought I'd need. By the time I returned it was dark out but I was on a mission. My wife held the a flashlight why I attempted to perform 'cable surgery.' Good thing I'm not a doctor cuz the cable didn't live and we were without cable TV until the company could come out and repair it.

Like anything else that needs to be done, I'm at the mercy of those who are qualified to perform the task. I think I'll peruse the yellow pages and get a few more estimates before I commit. I never imagined a flush could cost so much....but a back up would be far worse! The joys of home ownership.

The Graduation Party

Joshua's graduation party has finally come and gone. Despite some challenges with the tents, the promise of rain, and an uncertainty about the amount of food we needed, it really turned out to be quite nice.

Knowing it would cost a small fortune to rent them, we decided to purchase two tent canopies at Big Lots early on in the summer. Being an "engineeringly challenged" man who has a minimal amount of patience, the first big party challenge was consructing them. The box they came in said it was a two person job but it most definitely took three of us!

Quite honestly I was dreading this little project and wishing we didn't have to do it but we did. Amazingly enough, the first tent went up with virtually no problems in a short amount of time. Yeah! This was going much better than I anticipated, or so I thought.

Tent #2 was exactly the same as tent #1 however I think the "cloud of stupid" passed over us inbetween the contruction of the two. Everytime we lifted the poles up one or more of them would disconnect from the it's corner connector and the whole thing would come crashing to the ground. Talk about frustrating! I just kept thinking it can't be this hard.

We took the corner pieces and tried to match them up to the canopy that was already up thinking we could get it right, but by the time we walked back over to the collapsed canopy our photographic memories failed us and we forgot what we just saw. We must have looked like Larry, Moe and Curley to our neighbors. Eventually the "fog of forgetfulness" moved on and somehow we mananged to figure it out and the second tent was up. I was so glad that was over! Now if the weather just held out.

Local TV stations had been advising all week that rain and/or possible thunderstorms were going to be a threat all weekend. Only small metal anchors held the tents to the ground. As we were building them I kept looking in the sky thinking the slightest strong breeze would probably send these things flying and we'd have to relocate the party to OZ! Please God, don't let it storm!

We rose the morning of the party, not to rain, but to some pretty thick fog. I didn't hear any rain over night, but my first thought was of the tents when I got up. I went to the window and was so relieved to find both of them still standing. That was good sign.

Lori and I both have a little "Martha" (see Luke 10:41) in us and are a little anal about the house being "just so" before anyone comes over so we dove right into cleaning shortly after we got up. Since our "Martha" syndrome is pretty much an ongoing thing it didn't take too long to tidy up the house. So with time to spare, we decided to treat ourselves to a bagel for breakfast and took off for a quick trip to Panera for breakfast.

Upon returning from breakfast it was time to set up the table and chairs we'd rented. The fog was still eminient and the lawn incredibly wet, but we had to get it done. We'd rented 5 eight foot tables and there was only room enough for one table under each tent so I opted to put one table in the yard and one on the patio. I'd no more than finished putting the paper table cloths on them when it got very dark outside. Rain clouds. I freaked. I just knew it was going to rain! I heard Lori come out into the garage. I called to her to the back yard, telling her that we needed to move the tables not under the tents into the garage. So here we go, fast as we can, (as fast as you can shuffle) going around the house to the front of the garaged before the rain comes pouring down. It never rained a drop all day!

A week or so ago when we ordered food for the party I thought perhaps we were ordering on the light side but was hopeful we wouldnt run out of food. A few people started to arrive and it seemed like the food was disappearing quickly. Panic again started to set in! What if we run out of food! How embarssing would that be! We decided to call Martins and order more chicken and hope what we had held out until we could get more. About 40 minutes later I jumped in the car a drove up to Martins to pick up the chicken. I figured out, all on my own, that if we were running out of chicken we must be running out of potato salad too. I thought I'll be the hero and save the day...da da da dahhhh!!! and decided to get another 10lbs of it too. We never even opened the potato salad!

It was as if people quit eating after there was an abundance of food. We had chicken coming out our ears. As the last few family members and friends were leaving it was a "blue light" special on chicken in the garage. I don't think there was anyone we didn't ask if they were sure they didnt want to take some chicken home with them. And even after they responed "no", we followed it up with "are you sure, cuz we got more than we'll ever eat!" which was quite true because neither I nor Josh eat fried chicken.

Salesmen apparently we're not. Although we did manage to 'unload' some of the leftover chicken we still ended up with quite a lot left over. So if you know anyone who wants some fried chicken, send 'em our way!

As the last few people began to leave I started tearing down the rented tables and chairs as I was certain the rental company was coming to pick them up at 3:30 and it was already 3:15. I heard my aunt jokingly say that it must be time to leave because they're taking the chairs away. I really didnt mean to be rude nor did anyone have to leave. I just had a deadline! When there's a schedule to follow it has to be followed.

3:30 came and went and no rental company. At 4:10 I decided to call them as I didn't want to get charged even more for a late return. It was a good thing I did as they had forgotten and were there by 4:30 and I spared myself any further charges.

Despite the challenges of putting the canopies together, the pending threat of rain and storms, our panic over not having enough food and the actuality of having too much....all in all I would say the party was a success. It was a great time with family and friends with good food and decent weather. However, I am relieved that Josh was our last child to graduate high school.

Motivation

A couple of Thursdays ago Mark Waltz delivered an impactful, inciteful and enriching message at GCC surrounding Matthew 6:1-4 which says...

"Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don't make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won't be applauding. "When you do something for someone else, don't call attention to yourself.

The message evolved into an amazing look at what we are motivated by when our goal is to do something good for someone else. It was quite eye opening and humbling, maybe even somewhat embarassing. When I thought about some of the driving things that are motivated by selfishness that lurked behind them I was stunned.

I think it can be really difficult for people in general to not have ulterior motives at work, the major one being reward. I guess if you have a job that you really love perhaps this isn't such a huge issue because what you're doing is rewarding enough. But I think for the "average Joe" reward is the major issue surrounding the motivation to work. After all, you get a performance review once a year,and aren't you hopeful that the work that you've done will bring you recognition, praise.....and a raise! Shouldn't your goal be to do the best you can for the company without wondering what you'll reap in the end. Can a job be fulfilling enough that reward isn't the major motivator? What kind of job would enable that to happen in your life? What needs to change in a current position to change what motivates you in a current position?

"I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine." This familiar saying emits expectation. I'll be motivated to do something for you if you'll do something for me. Where do you find the "unpretentious-ness" in this. I think motivation can be seen in a myriad of life, business and political situations to name a few.

I have my own issues with recognition motivation. Even though my best intent is to just do for others in various areas of my life, I think there lurks within me a wanting to hear "job well done." But if thats true why is my response often "oh it was nothing." What does that mean? Obviously it was "something" if deep down I wanted to be noticed for it. Do we say things like "it was nothing" because thats the time when we're finally faced with the selfishness that may have driven us to perform. Interesting concept, huh!

I think Marks message at GCC last night was as good reminder for me that I need to be aware of the things that I may unconsciously do for which I secretly expect recognition. It's not about me and when it comes down to it there's only ONE that I want to hear "job well done" from when I get to heaven.

Seasons and Sign On's

A while back, June to be specific, I went to the ART's conference at Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago. The conference was split into two parts: ACT I and ACT II. Because of my work schedule and that green stuff called money, I opted to only attend ACT II.

The first session that I attended was called "Seasons of the Soul" and it was led by Nancy Beach. The session sounded vaguely familiar, but I had decided to register for it anyway. The premise behind this breakout was the different seasons you go through in life. Winter being a season of sorrow or discontent. Perhaps a loss of a job or maybe the passing of someone dear to you occurs when you find yourself in winter. Spring depicts a season of new hope and new life. Things like starting a new job or something similar occurs when in this season. Summer, the season of fun and where life is good and you never want it to end. Life is just good. There is no dispair to be found. And lastly fall, a season of change in your life. A job relocation or moving on after a divorce are some of the things that may cause you to be in a fall season in your life.

I was logging on to my computer this morning and it occurred to me that my various passwords are reflective of the various seasons I was in when I created them. Its interesting that over the past few months I've never changed them.

Take for instance when I purchased this laptop. I had just been laid of from my job with an employer that I had been at for nearly 15 years. I was flooded with a myriad of emotions at that time. I was worried, angry, scared and somewhat depressed. I couldn't believe that I was that naive in thinking that I would never have this happen to me. When my laptop arrived of course I had to create a password for logging on. Today, ironically, it occurred to me that my password reflects that winter season of my life.

Interestingly enough, as I continued to navigate around my computer this morning I clicked on the favorite I have stored to take my to my work email. About 2 months after getting laid off I was re-hired by the parent company, or corporate office of the business I previously had been laid off from. One would have thought at the time of my re-hire I would have been in a spring season of my soul. But as I entered my logon and typed my password I realized that it too was reflective of the winter season I had been in. I wouldn't say that I'm still in that winter season now in my work but apparently getting the job wasn't enough to pull me out of it when I started.

I have an email account for personal emails as well and decided to hop on to that account as well and see if anyone had sent me anything fun there. My wife will often drop me a little email note during the weekend just for fun and I'm always delighted to get them. My personal email is where I get most of my emails from my family and friends as well. You never know what I might get and its always fun to check and see who might have emailed me and what changes they might bring.. Fittingly, my password here was reflective of spring.

Finally this morning I wanted to check the final email account that I have thats at my church. I don't get many emails here but I do get some. They usually pertain to things going on in the ARTS ministry where I serve. I love my church. I always feel at home there. It's where I want to be. The people I consider my closest friends are there. It's no big surprise that my password for my church email account is reflective of summer. It's there I have the times of my life that I never want to end.

It seems as thought I always have some type of change going on in my life but apparently one of those changes has not hit me when its been time to select a new password. Who'd thought as the seasons of my soul continue to ebb and flow that that something as simple and unconscious as setting a computer password would have been the result of that going on in my life.

Leadership Summit - a producers view (pt 2)

I don't think that every speaker at a conference is going to appeal to every participant and I had my favorites. Among my favorites were of course Bill Hybels, Andy Stanley, Jim Collins, BONO and Wayne Cordiero.

Bill Hybels, Senior Pastor of Willow Creek is and has always been one of my favorite speakers. Bill speaks from his heart and it is conveyed in the words that come from his lips. Although I've previously heard some of what Bill had to say in the sessions he led, there is always something, even if just a nugget, that impacts me tremendously.

I've read some of Andy Stanley's books and I think I've seen him speak, perhaps once or twice before. Much of what he said has resonated with me either now or at some point in my life. It reminded me once again of being true to the things that are most important in life and not letting the combination of progress and fear to drive us away from those things. We definitely need to press forward but not because we driven by the fear that someone else may pass us up.

I think I took most of my notes during the Jim Collins session. I was captivated by much of what he had to offer. Some of his worthwhile and memorable comments to me were...."the moment you think you're great, you're not!", "when you're captured by the vision, you wake up motivated every day" and "If you can't be passionate about it, you're never going to be great at it". These comments and this session gave me much to contemplate about myself and I anticipate some lengthy journaling to flow from it.

BONO, what can I say about this interview. I have a good friend who was, and might still be for all I know, very into U2. She would try to get me to listen to their cd's but I just wasn't interested. One thing in particular that resontated with me from BONO was his statement about churches today and how they need to meet the needs of their immediate communities. He said "if they need a clinic, then be the clinic!"
Isn't that what Jesus is about. He meets people where their at. I think sometimes church as an institution gets caught up in being just that. Often finger pointing to what's wrong instead of reaching out to the need. I admire BONO for his efforts. Oh yeah, I bought a U2 cd this weekend. Not bad.

Wayne Cordeiro brought a fresh perspective on getting burnt out. His analogy on what fills and drains our tanks caused me to once again revisit that in my own personal life. I think its easy to set that aside and just let the draining process continue to happen without considering what it will take to get refueled. I can easily identify the things that drain the very life out of me but I cannot so easily identify the things that refuel me. My goal is to consciously identify those over the next few weeks so that I can be better prepared the next time my tank starts to run dry. One of the things that stuck with me from Waynes session was his statement "..sometimes only radical change happens through radical pain." I think I've seen this in action more often than I'd like over the past few years, but despite the pain, good things have always seemed to evolve. Wayne also noted that "we mess up not becuase we're evil, but because we're frail." Once again the need for God in my life was affirmed.

There you have it. My list of favorite 2006 Leadership Summit speakers.

Leadership Summit - a producers view (pt 1)

Just finished up 2.5 days of an awesome leadership conference that was put on by the Willow Creek Community Church (www.willowcreek.com) My church, Granger Community Church, aka GCC, (www.gccwired.com)is and has been a satellite church for this conference for the last 4 years. We're just one of many churches worldwide that provides a satellite connection to this incredible conference. It's focus appeals to not only church leaders but has application for business leaders as well. The list of speakers at the Summit includes not only well known people from churchs across the world but also leaders well known in business and acedemia.

I have been the producer at GCC for the Summit for the last 4 years. What does that mean? In some aspects its like being a project leader. Pre Summit responsibilites include a myriad of administrative tasks including a retreat at Willow Creek, lining up technical people at our site, ensuring that we have vocalists for live worship, printing and distributing copies of the order of events among others. Additionally, I am in ongoing email contact with the lead technical person for the Summit, Shana, to ensure that this variety of tasks are done our side I'm one of many "go to" people for GCC on the satellite side of things.

During the Summit my role transitions from the administrative to more of the producer side of things. I call cues to lighting people to ensure that the lighting effects match the mood of the current conference activity. For instance, when Willow Creek is showing a media we want our shades down (which I control anyway) and lights to be minimal in our auditorium so that the picture is clearly visible. But when a speaker is on we want house lights up, not full, but enough so that participants can take notes. I also am in contact with media operator and cue them for things like powerpoint slides that go up on our screens directing people to break areas at the designated break times throughout the conference. Because most of the sound is coming directly from Willow Creek I don't have much direction to relay to our audio board. I am periodically in contact with them when our host needs to be on the stage to ensure that the host's microphone is functioning as it should.

In conjunction with performing all of what I just mentioned above, during the Summit I am also in constant contact with Willow Creek. We're required to be on a confernce call with Willow 10 minutes prior to the start of every session. I think there were nearly 100 satellite sites for the conference this year...talk about a confernce call! During the call we're walked through the elements of the session (intro music, medias, speaker introducitons...etc) and advised of any schedule changes to that session. During the sessions we are also required to be on Instant Messenger to Willow Creek so that any unexpected events can be communicated.

What unexpected events could possibly happen you may wonder..............W E A T H E R! A wide band of severe storms worked its way across the midwest the first day of the conference this year. I believe at one point there were 8 midwestern satellite sites that had gone down because of weather. One site on the Indiana/Illinois line was even preparing themselves for a tornado evacuation. Instant messaging allows us to have quick communication with Willow in just these situations. Fortunately there is a back up plan, web downstreaming, for the times when the satellite does go out. And although it is delayed it still permits those people who paid for the conference to continue to reap the benefits of it until the satellite comes back up.

I'm not much of an instant messenger at home. But when you get people from around the country in a chat room the conversations seem to be unending, including mine. This year, and I think last year as well, Willow instituted another chat room 'summitchat' so that the representatives from churches around the country could talk to each other without clogging up the 'summitcues' chat where important things needed to be communicated.

About 2 years ago, I made some friends while chatting during the Summit who were from a church in Grand Rapids. We've stayed in contact during the year and often will meet for dinner or just infrequently email. I always gear up with Gail and Paul a few weeks before the Summit via email. We always have a ton of fun instant messaging back and forth. Because 'summitchat' can get so conjested with chats going on from around the country, we always make our own chat room so that we can talk and discuss the Summit while its happening.

So this year I had two screens atached to the laptop on the producers desk, with at times, 4 different chat rooms scrolling down the pages. I had to pay attention to 'summitcues' for any vital information that may come through from Willow. 'Summitchat' is often very entertaining and catches my eye. And, I'm always watching for a update from my friends in Grand Rapids. This year I had yet another individual chat going on with a person from a church in Ohio who had questions about how we do church at GCC and was talking with him about that. All of this in addition to calling the cues when needed, being on a the phone when required and trying to get value from the speaker who was currently on the screen.

On Saturday, the final day of the conference I arrived much earlier that I needed to mostly because I am a morning person. It was a beautiful morning. The sun was shining brightly in a cloudless blue sky. I went and got some coffee from our cafe and came back to the production booth to get my chats logged on and my service order laid out for the morning. I got 'summitcues' and 'summitchat' up and running fine. Not much later I got my chatroom invite from my friends in Grand Rapids and when I brought up the window for their chat I lost 'summitchat' and couldnt get it back. I decided that the best thing to do was to re-boot the laptop I was using and start over. However, it was almost time for the first conference call so I elected to wait until that was over and then clean things up. (Take note that the laptop on my producers desk is, I'm fully convinced, the SLOWEST laptop ever made.) We were released from our call so I started my re-boot procedure. I had no more than just clicked on restart when our satellite feed went out. "Whats going on!" I thought, theres no bad weather. Of course, now I had no instant message to Willow because the laptop was only crawling its way back to being fully functional. One of the things we're suppose to do is immediately let Willow Creek know if we lose our satellite feed and the most efficient way is to instant message. Not for me now! I picked up the phone and scrambled through the papers I had laying on my desk for the emergency phone numbers to Willow. I never thought I'd need to use them so I didnt have them in a convenient place. I finally found them and dialed with desperation. In the meanwhile, our AMAZING tech guys has sprung into action, and about the same time that Willow answered my call web downstreaming was on our screen. Willow advised that it was a glitch on their side and at that all sites had gone down. "Didn't you see the message in 'summitcues?" the Willow rep inquired. Sheepishly, I replied that I was re-booting my laptop because I couldn't get into 'summitchat' an essentially non-essential chat room. It was all good though as moments later the satellite feed was up and all systems were go.

Temptations to chat and all the other things that you have going on when you're
a satellite Summit producer can often make gleaning things from the speakers a
real challenge. I know for me, I have to be intentional about doing that as I can be easily drawn away into cyber chat land. I enjoyed many of this years Summit
speakers and you can see my comments about them in my post entitled "Leadership Summit - a producers view (pt2).

Ground Hog Day meets Tough Love

Have you ever seen that movie "Ground Hog Day" with Bill Murray. In the movie Bill keeps repeating the same day over and over and over. Humor was the premise behind "Ground Hog Day." Not so much in the 'over and over and over' surrounding the repetition of destructive behaviors.

Our senior pastor has said time and time again, when your feet are pointed in the wrong direction and you keep going that way, you're never going to find yourself going the right direction. I think that when your feet are constantly pointed in the wrong direction, not only will you continue to make bad decisions in your life but you likely to repeat your bad decisions over and over.

Just yesterday I, well my wife and I, were faced with making one of those 'do the next right thing' decisions concerning one of our adult children. And like the deciding punch in a boxing match, it just knocked us flat.

How are you suppose to respond to another (the 4th to be exact) call of desperation when you haven't seen any change in the behaviors that have repeatedly led to the same results....especially when its your own child!

It's so hard when the decision, the right decision, isn't the most easy and accomodating choice when it comes to your children. Where as a parent do you draw the line? When do you know its time to say "I love you" but I not going to enable you and let continue down the track that you can't seem get off. How many times do you fix them? Tough love is not easy love.

Over the course of a year or more we worked side by side and made countless attempts to help rectify the habits that inevitably led to his path of destruction. Regular appointments were kept and accountability was in place. However tenacious our efforts may have been, they weren't enough to cause a change that would carry over into his living on his own..

There are a rollercoaster of emotions flowing through me today. I peak with hope and plummet with dismay. What twist will the next corner bring? He's my son. I want no more than the absolute best for him. I'm sad. I'm terrified. I'm worried. I'm angry. Emotions, however, can no longer rule what I know in my heart is the right thing to do.

Other parents we know have had to deal with situations very similar to ours. We've consulted and we've prayed. We knew we had to make one of those decisions where your head is telling you to do one thing but your heart is telling you to do the exact opposite. As difficult as it was we weren't bailing him out this time. It hurt, but it was right.

Feet pointed in the wrong direction and make the associated habits with that direction hard to break. We'll be there if he wants to discuss his issues. We'll be there for guidance and direction. But, no longer will we enable to travel the the path he continues to follow.

We haven't heard from him in days. I don't know what his plans are for the future. I have no idea how he feels about us. My heart aches for him. But most of all I love him.

No Plates but still driving

Monday I found out about a used car for sale that I thought would be perfect for Josh, especially since Josh has been with out wheels since May when his Jimmy bit the big one. Tuesday I took Josh to see the car. It was in great shape and had been given great care by the owner.

Of course we wanted to drive it as well. The owner was a small woman and had the driver seat forward as far as it could possibly go. When Josh got in she mentioned that there was one problem. The seat seemed to be stuck in that position and wouldnt move back. She said that it had been in that position for 7 years it must have just gotten use to it. Both Josh and I tried to move it but it wouldnt budge. It would definitely have to be repaired. By reclining the seat somewhat I could sit in the drivers seat. It was 5 speed stick, and though Josh could drive a stick he hadn't for quite a sometime so I got behind the wheel first. Have you ever driven with your knees in your chest. Thats what it felt like at first but once I got use to the limited space it was ok. We drove up Main Street to GCC to show it to Lori. Josh got brave enought to drive it in parking lot and tooled around while Lori and chatted.

On the way back I asked Josh what he thought and he said he really liked it and was interested in purchasing it. We made an offer when we returned the car and she countered back. I countered back again. She asked if we couldnt come up to her first countered back offer. I told her that I would if she would see that the drivers side seat got fixed. She didn't want the fuss so she accepted our offer and Josh had a car.

All of this transpired on Tuesday. There just hasn't been anytime this week to go to the license branch to get the care titled and plated so its been sitting on the street in front of our house. Josh has had a couple of his friends stop by and he's asked if he can drive to the corner and back to take them for a ride but that the extent to which its been driven since it came home with us.

Fast forward to today, Friday. We had just returned from going out to dinner and were sitting in the living room chatting with Josh. I was sitting near the front window flipping through the TV guide when movement outside caught my eye. Josh's car was going up and down the driveway over and over. I cracked up and told Lori what he was doing. She said he must want to drive it awfully bad. Then it occurred to me what he was doing. When I was driving him back home Tuesday morning after we made the offer on the car he said he was concerned about having to stop on a hill because it was a stick. Our driveway is on a slight incline. I'm pretty sure he was hill testing..over and over and over and over and over!!!

I decided that I was to take advantage of the nice weather and go sit out on the patio and enjoy it. I had taken my laptop out to check emails as we'd all left the office early today to go to a co-workers house for a pool party and I wanted to check my emails. Again, out of the corner of my eye I sensed some movement. Josh was now driving down to the corner and then backing up all the way to our house. Again over and over and over and over!!! You have to know that someone is pretty hard up to drive their car when the resort to going back and forth in front of their own house. The next time I looked he went forward but he never backed up. Ok maybe a little to adventurous for a car with no plates now. I'm so paranoid! I said to Lori, "where did he go?" I just hoped he hadn't gone far.

The mosquitoes were horrible on the patio so we decided to retreat back inside. I walked past the dining room windows and his car was sitting in front of the house. Ok Houdini, how'd you do that? I never saw him come back yet the car was there and he was standing in the drive way talking on his phone.

We're scheduled to go to the BMV at 8am tomorrow moring. Once we get through the wait there he'll be free to drive beyond the front of the house. I'm not sure I can take watching him go up and down the driveway and back and forth in front of the house another day!

A Light in the Neighborhood

There are times that I get extremely frustrated with my boys and I'm sure they get extremely frustrated with me. I find myself always wanting to protect them from all the things that I already know the outcome of because I've experience it at some point in my life. But it always seems as though they have to find out the answer themselves.

It's rare that I'm content just doing nothing. I usually get pretty restless pretty fast. I like to be going somewhere or doing something. I believe this gene was passed off, especially to my youngest son. Sometimes it seems as though the only time he's home is when he's sleeping, and sometimes he doesn't even do that here.

I find myself often getting upset when he's rarely home. Maybe its jealousy, maybe its envy, I'm not sure. It's not that I expect him to be here 'round the clock. We all need our space. It just seems like, as his parents, we're often pretty low on his priority list.

There's one particular friend that he's spends a lot of time with. At times I wonder if the family is going to claim on their taxes as he's with them that much. This past weekend the grandmother in this family passed away. Josh was at the hospital with the family and spend much of the weekend with them afterwards. He ran errands for them, created a DVD of photos that could be played at the funeral home, and was there for general support for his friend and his family.

When Lori and I learned of her passing we drove down to their house with some food to help feed all of the family that had arrived. The parents couldn't say enough nice things about how Josh had helped them out. In my own mind I thought Josh should probably come home so they could mourn as a family but kept my thoughts to myself. Josh came home later to get a change of clothes and said that he wasn't going to be going to work until Thursday and the funeral was over. Again I was a bit surprised but refrained from commenting.

Tuesday Lori and went to the funeral home after dinner to pay our respects. It was packed. Josh was introducing us to various family members and everyone of them said what a good kid he was and how much they enjoyed him and appreciated his support and help. We watched the DVD he made and it was an awesome tribute to the grandmother and something the family could treasure after the funeral was said and done.

It wasn't until this morning that it was finally clear to me and I think the jealousy and envy, if it was that, has departed from me. I realized that Josh was being Jesus to this family. He was compassionate. He spent hours, no days by their side, just being there for them. He stayed up until the early hours of the morning creating a DVD of memories that the family would have to cherish long after the funeral was over. He arranged for thier lawn to be mowed. He ran countless errands for them. But mostly he was just there for them, demanding nothing in return.

Josh was, or is the true friend and loyal friend that everyone wants to have. I admire him for who he was to this family and only hope that I could be that kind of friend to someone in my life. Whether Josh realized it or not I think he was a reflection of Jesus to this family.