Lessons from the past

In chapter 4 of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar, became arrogant and took credit for all that he was accomplishing. God banned him to the wilderness for 7 years and when he returned all of his authority was returned and the King praised and honored God, whom was the source of everything in his life.

Fast forward to chapter 5 of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar son, King Belshazzar throws a party, gets drunk and uses sacred chalices to drink wine from. During the party God sent a disembodied hand to write a message on the wall and it terrified the King. He called in mystics to interpret the message but they couldn’t. So the queen reminded the king about Daniel and so he called him in to decipher the message.

Daniel laid into King Belshazzar about his conduct. Belshazzar well knew how his father Nebuchadnezzar had behaved and the outcome of that situation. Yet Belshazzar decided to openly discredit God for everything. It seems pretty obvious to me that Belshazzar would have known the consequences his father faced and would have conducted himself better, but he didn’t.

Daniel interpreted the message for Belshazzar and it confirmed from God that the time of his rule was limited and Belshazzar was murdered that night.

Selfishness destroys. I’ve seen it over and over in scripture and in my life. Whenever I put myself above God, thinking I know better, the outcome is never what it could been. I’m enticed by selfishness to be built up, but in reality, it only knocks me down. Selfishness stagnates growths

Why is it that we can be so blind to stop ourselves from repeating the behaviors of those who came before us? Is it because we rely too much on experience but don’t learn to move forward from it. Sometimes we only learn how to repeat the habits learned from within it. What does that say about our potential for growth? What does it take to make an experience something to from which we can build upon and pave the road for a positive outcome. Are the failures of the past so ingrained into our beings that it takes too much effort to get beyond them (or we’re unwilling to exert the effort) so we either settle into a pattern of repeating them or totally ignoring them? What if a sinful pattern in my life could be used to help someone instead of drag them down into a self-serving outcome.

Belthazzar chose to follow the original selfish path that his Father had been persuing prior to God’s revelation to him. Where was Belthazzar when Nebuchadnezzar had his change of heart? Was he at boarding school and didn’t know what had transpired in his life. Why didn’t Nebuchadnezzar share the revelation with his son, or did he? Either way. Belthazzar chose to ignore it. Why?

I see habits formed in my own children that I possessed at the same age in my life. Spending money and not saving it. No identifiable goals for the future. A minimal involvement in church or relationship with God. It clicked finally clicked with me, though. I got it and give God credit for everything I am, can do, and have. I thought I’d demonstrated that to my boys but perhaps what they saw in me in earlier years was stronger than what they see in me now. Why didn’t Balshazzar see the change/growth in his own Father

Who's getting cheated?

I have pretty much the same routine every day. One thing I do nearly every day, without a hitch, is growing in my relationship with Jesus. I accomplish this through reading, journaling and engaging in 'life conversations' at Panera Bread early each weekday morning. However, something struck me about my attitude as I was driving to Panera Bread this morning which led me to writing this post.

I think it was the road rage I was suffering from as I was driving to Panera this morning that caused me to stop and examine my disposition today. This, accompanied by my checklist, my daily to-do’s, seem to be causing me more stress than they should and I don’t know why I’m letting them do that.

My list of what it takes to just 'get out of the house' in the morning seems to be ever increasing. I find myself waking up before my alarm battling with decisions that I need to make before I even roll out of bed.

Do I go work out when I get up or after work? I wrestle with the pros and cons of that nearly every morning. What about breakfast? How will that be affected by my choice in work out time? Then there is getting my lunch packed and not forgetting it. And what about all of the paraphernalia that I drag along with me every day. The papers, the reminders, and the bag they all get put into.

Then there is the actual getting ready for work. The showering, all the teeth maintenance, and the hair goop. Then you have the whitening gargle followed by brushing and flossing. I have to lotion my legs and feet or they get dry as the desert. Getting everything to the car is a challenge in itself. And don't forget the contacts. Of course they never cooperate, always folding up or not going in my eye right the first time.

Toss in the dog. He's old and he's blind (and looney I might add). Sometimes he stays asleep upstairs when I get out of the shower and other days he's up. When he's up he wants to come down with me. I usually do my crunches, have some coffee and watch the news. The dog will sit by my chair and just stair into the kitchen, never budging. But let me decide to have my breakfast and sit down to eat it and he has a crisis and needs to go outside right then and there. However, he just can't go out and get his business done. No he has to pace up back forth about twenty times to find just the right place to go. Once he's done, remember I said he was old and blind, he can't find his way back to the door. In the meanwhile, my cereal has now turned into 'sog city'. Not a pretty picture.

Then the gym bag, my laptop, the bag with all the papers, and my lunch all have to find their way to the car. And the fact that its winter, doesn’t make the situation any more pleasant. Not only do I have bag after bag strapped over my shoulder and in my hand, I look like the Michelin Man in my poofy down filled coat. And try to maneuver between the two cars in our garage with all these bags is not an easy task. Oh yeah, don’ t let me forget the cup of coffee I’m juggling in on hand and the car keys in the other. Everything in one trip equates efficiency. By the time I finally sit down in my car to leave I’m exhausted.

Inevitably, I get ½ way down the road and realize that I’ve forgotten something. Just last week I had gone as far as the stop light at Bittersweet and 23 (about a mile from our house) and thought I’d forgotten my lunch. I whipped the car around and fumbled for my cell phone (that’s buried far beneath my seat belt and layers of the Michelin Man coat) to call Lori to see if it was still in the fridge. She said that she saw me carry it out with me. It was then that I realized that I had dropped in the trunk when I put my gym bag and my laptop in there. So I whipped the car around and started back towards Panera.

Is my routine so pathetic or what! The more I have to do the more I get stressed. And throw any unforseen obstacle in my path, such as the driver 3 cars in front of me today that wouldn't go faster than 35mph, and the stress-ometer often often goes up a few more notches. I race to get to my destination so that I can spend time with God, but there are days when I find that the attitude that has evolved in me on the way there could be putting up a wall that is lessening the intensity with which I want to have with Him.

I don't want my God time to just be a slot in my day just so I can check it off. More often than not, my time with Jesus is so awesome. But when I find myself with an attitude such as the one that had developed in me today because of all of the things that I do to try to meet all of the thngs I think I need to do, I have lessened the experience on my side of things.

Routine is my nature but it doesn't have to be accompanied by self inducing tension. I need to remind myself that God is with me 24/7 and not just for the 40 minutes that I spend with Him at Panera. Don't get me wrong. I've had some incredible experiences with God in those 40 minutes and have no intentions of eliminating that from my regimine. If I could only remember that I can talk to God anytime. And although our standing appointment is awesome, I shouldn’t be getting uptight just to make it on time. Optimal time with God isn't about checking it off on my list of things to do, its about the quality.

Crowned

Friday I had an appointment to get the perrmanent crown on a molar that I broke the side off of two weeks ago. It took nearly an hour to get the temporary crown put on but the hygenist assured me that it would only take less than 30 minutes to put the permanent one on the tooth.

I took the first appointment they had so that I could get the whole process over and get on with the rest of my day. Best laid plans! I got right in when I arrived at 7 am and it wasn't long before they hygenist had the the temporary crown off my tooth.

Although I've never really had any pain during this whole time, the tooth, or what was left of it was very sensitve to hot and cold. They hygenist was scraping and digging to get all of the cement off my tooth from the temporary crown. I'm laying there in the chair and here it comes that 'tube thing' that sprays water and then the 'sucking thing' that gets all the water out. I about went through the ceiling when she sprayed the tooth and then sucked it dry. I said man, that was cold. She was definitely more kind the next time she had to swoosh it out.

Next came the fitting of the shiny "gold" crown. I hadn't been too crazy about having gold in my mouth since two weeks ago when the dentist recommended it. He said he could put a porcelean crown on but he was fearful that it might crack. The last thing I wanted was to have to go through this rather expensive process again so I succumbed to the gold crown.

The metal was freezing and once again when she put it over my remaining tooth I about went through the ceiling. The crown wasn't fitting like it was suppose to and the hygenist kept taking it out turning it and putting it back in but it just wasn't dropping into place. Finally she gave up after I endured several repetitions of the unbearable cold on my remaining tooth, and said the dentist was going to have to come look at it.

Shortly thereafter, the dentist was at my side. I don't know what he did differently but the crown was not nearly as cold as when the hygenist was putting it on and taking it off. The dentist as well would put it on but when he took it off he was drilling or something to make it fit better and then trying it again. This process went on for quite some time. I was just relieved that the drill was not on my tooth as I didn't get any novacaine this time.

Finally the dentist was satisfied with the way it was fitting and said he was going to go polish it and then they's cement it on my tooth and I'd be on my way. Why it had to be polished when it was going to be way in the back of my mouth was beyond me but I figured for nearly $1000 it probably should be polished, maybe even once a week!

It seemed like I'd been laying in the dental chair forever and no one had come back with a tooth. A few minutes later the hygenist showed up and said, "we have a problem." I asked what happened. She told me that when the dentist was polishing the crown it slipped from his hand and they can't find it. I just looked back in disbelief.

I think there must have been 3 or 4 other hygenists and the dentist looking for this crown. I had to go to the bathroom so I got up and walked past the front desk with that little bib thing still haning around my neck. I heard one of the receptionists say to the other, "what is Bob still doing here?" I just chuckled to myself an went on to the bathroom

When I got back to my chair the hygenist had returned again and said that they might have to put the temporary crown back on and re-order another permanent crown. I really didnt want to wait another two weeks to get this tooth fixed but I was obviously at their mercy.

I continued to lie there in my chair listening to the comments from the search going on in the next room. A few minutes later I heard the dentist shout "I found it!" The hygenist came hurrying back into my room to tell me it was located. Yeah, like I didn't know that! She assured me they would repolish it and steralize it and then they'd put it on my tooth and I'd be on my way.

It wasn't long after that that the hygenist and the dentist were back with crown in hand. The cement they put on the crown to attach it is not only the worst tasting stuff but it also extremely extrememly cold. At this point however, I didn't really care how much pain I had to endure, I was ready to be done with it.

What was supposed to be a 30 minute process had turned into a 90 minute parody of errors. Funny thing is that the next day I got a check in the mail from the dentist. Hmmm.....were they reimbursing me for the for the very strange appointment I had the day before. No such luck. It was just a $17 overcharge on the price of the crown.

Titles aren't what they're cracked up to be

Last May we sold my son's car and getting the title for this car has been an absolute nightmare. It has been a perpetual process that I'm hopeful has finally, almost a year later, come to an end.

Because I was co-signer on the loan for my son, the title was in both of our names. When the car was sold I went to the bank and paid the loan and the teller advised that the title would be mailed out within a couple of weeks to my son. During that period my son moved out and changed his address.

I had assumed that the title was forwarded to my son's new address and had pretty much put the entire transaction out of my mind. About a month later the mother of the young man who purchased the car called our house and said they still hadn't received the title to the car. I contacted my son and told him that he'd probably have to go to the BMV and apply for a duplicate title. He advised he would so I again assumed things were taken care of and moved on.

Probably around September we had another message on our home phone from the mother pleading for us to do something about getting the title work completed but she didn't leave a phone number so we had no way to contact her. I called my son to see if he knew how to contact her and asked what the deal was with the title. He had no explanation. I asked him once again to please go apply for the duplicate title and considered myself, once again, done with the ordeal.

The phone rings at the end of November. Mind you its now been 8 months since the car was sold, and its the purchasers asking for help because they still had no title for the car. By now I decided I had better intervene. I probably should have months before but I was trying to give the benefit of doubt that the problems would get resolved.

I went to the bank and explained how we had sold the car in May and never received a copy of the title and these poor people who had purchased it had been unable to plate the car for all of these months. The representative at the bank advised that when my son and I took out the loan with them they had never received a title from the dealership that the car was purchased. However, they never told us that after we had taken out the loan. They suggested that I go apply for a duplicate title at the BMV.

I felt so bad for these people who had bought the car so the next week I went to the BMV and explained what had happened. By now its the first of December. The BMV clerk advised that it would take 6 to 8 weeks for the title to come and that that was the best that could be expected. What could I do? I now had a phone number for the people who had bought the car and I called and let them know the title had been applied for and that I would let them know as soon as it came, but it probably wouldn't be for at least another month.

At the end of December I still hadn't received anything from the BMV so I left a message on the purchasers phone as I felt it was the least I could do to keep them updated with as much as I knew.

Its now the end of January 2007 and 9 months since the car was sold. The young man who purchased the car phoned me and said that he had spoken to the BMV and they told him that the title had been sent to the bank on January 4th. I said I hadn't gotten anything in the mail from the bank nor the BMV and I would contact the bank.

I called the bank the next day and they said that the they received the duplicate title on January 5th and mailed it out right away. I said we had not gotten anything in the mail. She said it was mailed to my son at our address. My son has moved about 2 more times since then so with all the change of addresses he's put in at the post office who knows where it might be floating around. The bank said there wasn't anything they could do and that we'd probably have to go to the BMV and apply for a duplicate title again. That was not the answer I wanted to hear. After a little more discussion the bank said they could give me a lien release that would enable the purchaser to go to the BMV and apply for a title. I wanted these poor people to be able to get the title they needed and I didn't want to be in the middle of this anymore so I asked the bank to send the lien release to the branch I normally bank at and I would pick it up on Saturday.

Chaos continued when I stopped at the bank branch to pick up the lien release this past Saturday morning. When I arrived at the bank both the manager and the customer service rep were busy with customers so I sat patiently waiting. Only a few minutes had passed when the branch manager came over and introduced herself and asked how what she could do for me. I explained why I was there and she invited me into her office. Her desk looked like a tornado had just whipped through it before I got there. She said she recalled seeing an email that I would be in and she was frantically going through her in-box looking for the form. She couldnt find it so she dimissed herself to look elsewhere for it. A few minutes later she was back but had no form. She continued to look around the 'cycloned' desk and was on the phone with the main office. Not long after that she was off to look in other areas of the branch but was back in just a few minutes, still with no form. She then apologised for not being able to locate it and said she could just type something up for me. I said that was fine as long as it was good enough for the BMV. She assured me it was and completed it, signed it and sent me on my way.

I went home after that and hadn't been there for more than 10 minutes when the phone rang. It was the customer service representative from the bank branch that I had just left. She advised that the form had been her desk all along and she wasn't sure why the manager hadn't checked with her for it. The customer service rep wanted to know if I could come back and get before they closed at 12:30pm. It was already 12:10 and I said I didn't think it would be possible. She advised that the person who purchased the car could come get it instead if that would work better for me but I needed to give her his full name. Unfortnuately I didn't know his full name. I knew his phone number and first name but that was it. She said that would be ok as long as he brought the purchase agreement that we had signed when they bought the car with him when he came to pick up the lien release.

I called the young man and of course I got his voice mail. Perfect. I was just getting ready to call the bank back and tell them I couldn't reach him when he called me back. I got his last name and told him that he needed to take the agreement we signed with him to pick up the information and called the bank back. The customer service person apologised over and over for the confusion and thanked me for getting the purchasers information.

I'm worn out just typing this whole ordeal. I can't imagine how worn out the people who bought the car must have felt. Out of courtesy and concern I called the young man today to ensure he'd gotten the lien release on Monday and was on his way with getting the title, but of course I got his voice mail. I'd like to say that once again I've washed my hands of this ordeal but I don't think I'll be comfortable in saying that until I get a call back from him saying that he's applied for a title and then I'll know that the case is closed.

Mouse Hunt Bob and Lori style

We've had telltale signs of an unwanted visitor in our house for about the last month. It's hard to get rid something you never see. However, we were determined and strategically placed Decon throughout the attic, house, basement and garage. Be very quiet, we're hunting a mouse!

It seemed as though it had been a few days since Lori had reported finding any of our unwanted borders 'calling cards.' I was hopeful that it had either left or died. I hadn't been real excited about putting the DECON anywhere in the house (especially the attic) because I figured if the stupid thing ate it and died up there who knows if we'd ever find it. The snap of a trap is music to my ears cuz you know exactly where it's at and the disposal is cut and dry.

We had gone out to dinner Saturday night and arrived back at the house around 9 pm. Lori said she'd feed the dog if I'd go upstairs and turn the bed back. I ventured upstairs but after just finishing two very large diet cokes I thought visiting the bathroom was a better idea than turning the bed down.

I went into the bathroom and reached down to lift the seat. Obviously I wasn't the last one to go the bathroom or the seat would have been up. I looked down I saw something brown and thought to myself 'how gross, who didn't flush?' but then the brown thing moved. I did a double take. When I looked back into the bowl, what I thought was, excuse my french, a turd, looked back at me! It was a fat little brown mouse with the biggest eyes you've ever seen. I dropped the seat and lid to the toilet and walked back out into the hall. I called to Lori come upstairs right away.

While I was waiting for Lori to come upstairs (to save the day) I began to wonder how this rodent got in the toilet. Earlier that morning I had removed the cover to the ceiling light in our bathroom. Lori had been convinced that the mouse was living in the attic and when I removed the cover that was confirmed. 'Calling cards' were in the plastic fixture. I began to envision what must have happened to the mouse....

The bathroom is pitch black and then some twine drops from the light fixture. Moments later a ray of light no bigger than a pin shines through and the mouse, with a mouse-size flashlight in his mouth, begins his covert mission down the twine. He's almost reached a point where he can drop to the floor without injuring himself when we get home and he hears the door open from the garage. Not being a mouse experienced in espionage, and kind of clutsy as well, he looses his grip and falls into the toilet. Plop! Thinking he wouldn't be seen if he kept himself near the inside edge of the bowl, he forgets that he needs to be perpendicular with the edge and realizes that when the light goes on and 1/2 of his body is exposed....calling on his method acting classes...he begins to think I'm a turd,I'm a turd....

Lori came running upstairs and came into the bathroom where I was standing with a dumfounded look on my face. I shook myself back into reality and my first words to her were 'how are we going to get it out of there?' Of course my first thought was to flush the little bugger, but was quick to rationalize that that would probably just plug up the toilet and we'd have a worse mess.

Lori wanted to see the mouse so we slowly lifted the lid and there he was, big as life staring right back at us. Then he started to run around the inside edge toilet trying to escape, slipping down into the water and then back around the edge again. We closed the lid and just looked at each other. How are we going to get it out of there?

Per Lori's suggestion, I went down to the kitchen and got a trash bag. When I got back to the bathroom Lori had gone into 'take charge' mode. She said close the bathroom door and she'd roll up the bathroom rug and stuff it along the bottom of the door so if it escaped the toilet it. I wasn't sure if I was suppose to salute or ask what she wanted me to do with this trash bag? I opted to ask about the bag. She said lets slide it under the lids but over the top of the toilet. So we start to do this and I'm thinking 'do you think it's just going to jump into the bag for us?' I said 'just how are we suppose to get it into this bag?'

I saw the toilet brush and grabbed it thinking I could push the mouse into the bag with the brush and pulled the bag back and stuck the brush in. Well, not so much. It was like the thing was on a mini race track. It was going around and around the bowl at the speed of light. I pulled the brush out and said that wasn't going to work.

Lori spotted the a box from my contact solution in the bathroom trash a pulled it out and folded the flaps in. I looked at her and asked her what she was going to do with that? She pulled the bag back and was trying to scoop up the mouse with the box. But I think the speed of the mouse and the fact that she's a girl freaked her out and she couldn't catch him. Being the man and protector (yeah right) I took the box from her and chased the mouse around until I had finally scooped it into the box. I shoved the box into the bottom of the bag and closed the bag at the top. Lori looked at me and said....'so that won't work, huh!'

"What are you going to do with it?" asked Lori as I was leaving the bathroom. "You aren't going to kill it are you? It has the biggest, cutest eyes!" I said no, I'll just take out to the back of the yard and let it go. "Oh no, you can't do that it will just find it's way back into the house" she said. "Ok, what then?" I responded. She didn't say anything so I made my way downstairs. I decided to just put it in the trash can behind the garage. I didn't think it could get out of the very deep trash can and figured it was the only option I had. I came back in and told Lori what I'done and that was that.

This morning Lori confessed that she had to fight the urge to not go get the bag out of the trash and drive it out into the country during the night. Girls!

Twenty Four and in control

Our church started a series of messages entitled "24" in which we're taking a look at the kind of life that is available to us 24/7. We borrowed the series title from the television series called "24" where each episode is an hour in the life of the main character. You can check out more about this series at Granger Community Church by clicking on this link www.gccwired.com.

Two weeks ago the weekend message was about how we so easily compartmentalize our lives. We have a box for family, a box for work, a box for our social life, a box for the multitude of other things going on in our life including a box for religion. We put the box for religion in the middle of all of the other boxes so that it appears we let God touch all areas of our lives when, in fact, what we're doing is just giving God a slot and allowing us to remain as the "majority stockholder." Appearance is everything, not.

The thing is though, is that God wants to be the bigest part of our life, surrounding all of it, not just a slot in the compartment. But we won't let him. Why, because often we think we know what we need better than He does.

I never really thought about whether I 'compartmentalized' my life too much until this past weekend at the gym......

I mentioned not long ago that a couple of months ago that Lori and I decided to join Anytime Fitness. It's open 24 hours (hence the name, duh!) so there is essentially no excuse to not be able to find time to workout. We have been going faithfully 6 days a week.

This past Friday I knew I wouldn't be able to go to the gym after work because we were having dinner with friends. However, I was too lazy to get up and go before work to compensate for the change in routine. Yes, I was breaking the 6 day rule and the bad thing that dinner was going to be at Hacienda. I knew that I wouldn't be able to resist the chips. And I didn't!

On Saturday's we've been getting to the gym about 7:15am and then going out for a bagel and coffee aftewards at Panera. But this particular Saturday, Lori seemed to be sleeping in longer than usual and she came downstairs about 6:15am.

We waivered back and forth for a few minutes on whether we could be showered and ready to go to the gym and still have breakfast by no later than 9:30. But we did. We walked out the door at 7:55.

So I'm thinkin' you're probably thinking by now, "who takes a shower before they got to the gym?" I don't wear hats and there is no way that I'm going out in public with bed hair! Now, back to the story.

We get to the gym and I am ready for this workout! I had already skipped a day and that was wackin' me out. On top of that, I pigged out on chips at Hacienda and was emersed in deep regret over that. I was ready to burn calories!

Not long after we started going regularily to "Anytime" I had mentioned to the owner/trainer that I was getting incredible side aches on the elliptical machine. She offered 2 pieces of advice: one solicited, one not. The solicited piece of advise was that I was probably going to fast and not breathing correctly which could be leading to my side aches. The unsolicited was that if I was going to fast and my heart rate was over the range that the machine said I should be within, I was burning muscle and not fat. Not that I'm a weakling (well I might be but let's not go there)but, I really don't have any muscle to be wasted!

Why is consistency such an issue with these confounded cardio machines? Why is it that one day I can go at a pretty good speed and stay within my heart rate and the next day my heart rate sky rockets and I have to go at a snails pace (or so it seems) to stay within the heart range. Stupid heart range!

Saturday morning was one of those "snail" days. At first it seemed like I was good to go. I was clippin' along at pretty good speed and my heart rate was within the range it should have been within. I was getting into the music on my IPOD and watching the TV in front of me. It was all good. I happened to look down and noticed my heart rate had rocketed way past where it should be. So I slowed way down to decrease my heart rate and ended up being stuck at that pace. I couldn't get my heart rate to stay down unless I keep my speed way down as well.

Is it possible to have "ellipitcal road rage" as I think I was about to have it. I wanted to go faster but was being restricted by the machine. I was convinced I needed to go faster because in my mind faster equated more calorie burn and more calorie burn means more fat loss. And I ate so wrong the night before. Why didnt this machine understand this?

I don't typically eat much beef nor fried food either. Saturday night we went out to dinner again to a place called "Between the Buns" and I ate food I wouldn't normally eat again. Yep, I scarfed down a burger and fries and didn't think twice about it. Off the deep end again on eating!

Sunday is the day we've decided to take off from going to the gym. But since I'd missed Friday I told Lori that I wanted to go on Sunday this week to make up for lost time.

Lori was the early riser on Sunday morning, at 5 am, and I didn't come wandering downstairs until 6:30. I told her I was pretty sure I wanted to go to the gym but she opted to stay home and clean the house and do laundry. I got ready and took off, all psyched up for a power work out.

I arrived at the very unpopulated gym (apparently a lot of other people take Sunday's off from working out too, at least at 7:30 am anyway) and took my place on an elliptical machine. I selected the cardio workout and started pedaling. I don't think I was on the blasted machine for more than 3 minutes when my heart rate was already over the top. How could this be? I wasn't in the mood to just "putt" along so I took control and switched over to manual. I took the and hand towel that I'd grabbed on my way in and covered up the display. I was going at the speed I wanted to go at today, and this machine wasn't stopping me.

I felt like I was going at a pretty good pace and that I was getting a good work out. About 30 minutes into the hour I had planned to be on the machine I decided to remove the towel and just see how outrageous my heart rate was from my decision to take matters into my control. I was surprised to see that was going along at a speed I thought was adequate and my heart rate was within the acceptable range.

If the machine could have spoke it would have said, "Ha Ha,I won. You can't cover me up and pretend I'm not there. I'm still in control even when you try to pretend I'm not."

Tieing all of this back to the message on comparmentalizing our lives, I wanted to control the machine and make it conform to what I wanted. I have to wonder where and when I do this same thing in other parts of my life, especially when it comes to my relationship with God, without even realizing it? Where do I try to hold onto control and only give God the corner of the box? Where do I think I know what's best for me?

But just like the elliptical machine that kept my heart rate within the healthy range it needed to be in, despite my attempts to take control of my life, God is really in control of it and He is caring for me even when I'm too selfish to realize it.

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.