Out With the Old....

This last weekend I, among other things, finally got off my behind and replaced the very old speakers in my car. I had been wanting to do this for quite some time but just didn't want to spend the money. Then I had a review at work (i.e. raise) so I decided to have some fun and buy some electronic toys. Among these new speakers. Now I know that my car is a twelve year old car but that isn't something that I think about often. However when I took out the factory speakers, I was reminded just how much technology has changed in that period of time.



For example this is what those twelve year old speakers looked like.














Yeah, that's right, paper! Practically the same as what you would have your groceries bagged in at the store. On the other hand these are what the new ones look like.
A factory airbrushed picture I know. However even in hand these are a far cry from the old ones. The one downside is that they are installed in the back of my car (which is rather noisy) so the audible improvement isn't quite what I was hoping for. Next up, the front pair of speakers!

Things That Start With 'S'.

Seeing as how I'm going away for the first part of this weekend, I thought I would write up a quick post so you junkies can get your blogging fix. :) Actually a lot happened and I want to get it written down before more happens. Oddly enough, I can make almost all of start with the same letter. Try and see if you can tell what it is :)

Skating. Last Saturday I was invited over to a fellow church goers house (unfortunately I don't have the time or patience to insert the links to show you who) where there was a large skating party happening. I got there about 30 seconds before the rest of the party-ers and then spent the next two and a half hours having a great time remembering how to balance myself on two tiny pieces of metal. There was also hockey, races, lots of fun, and food in there too. I along with a couple of other hard core skaters stayed out well after sunset.

Unfortunately this led very directly to my next subject. Sickness. Yes that's right I woke up the next morning with all the symptoms of a cold. However true to my young, rash, impulsive nature I completely ignored it as long as I could, which ended up being Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. By the end of Tuesday I was feeling quite blah.

However I was saved. No, not by the bell but by the Snow. Wednesday the Northeast had a large snow storm pass over and between that and my cold I decided to call in and not go to work. (I found out the next day that only two people out of the ten at our job came in). I made full use of this snow day sleeping, reading, cooking, watching tv, and generally taking it very easy. I also drank over two hundred ounces of water, thanks in no small part to this big monster.

52 ounces of insulated goodness! :)

As I mentioned I cooked while relaxing. It's kind of interesting how pressure and desire can totally change how cooking is either stressful or relaxing. This time I made Scrumptious treats. The pastor's sister at my church is hosting a game night this weekend and in her e-vite she put in a very large hint that I should bring good eats. Since I didn't have anything else to do I pulled out the cookbook and ended up making Peanut-butter Chocolate Fudge and White Chocolate Cheesecake Bites. Both of which I've never made but turned out great if I may say so myself. I also made a Key-Lime Chiffon Pie for some friends of mine that just had a baby yesterday. ( No, I didn't know it would be for them when I made it, I'm not a pyschic) I'm not really sure why it is a chiffon pie but that is what the recipie called it, so who am I to argue. Not to mention it sounds way more impressive that way. :)

Finally am I just Screwed up or does anyone else check the mailing list on emails to see where they are placed? I just got an email this afternoon from a woman in my church and my name was on the very top. Needless to say it made me feel quite proud. I wonder if it is something like having a high place on speed dial. A denotation of importance :)

And that is about it for this week. Have a great Sabbath all.

God's Timing is Impeccable

I just got home from talking with a friend of mine and came away with the renewed realization, that God as the creator of time, has complete Mastery over it.
When he invited me over, I didn't know exactly what he was going to say, though I had a general idea. After talking a bit about the general subjects he started bringing up some very hard (but needed) challenges that he felt God wanted him to talk to me about. Now the timing part comes in because for the last several weeks, the pastor at my church has been doing a series on Hebrews and the subject of 'Better'. It has been a very well done, encouraging, and uplifting series [he occasionally reads this, so I want to be nice to him :)] I haven't felt much of a personal challenge coming away from the services. And frankly I missed it. When I mentioned this to my friend he sort of laughed and said,'Well I guess you got it with both barrels tonight.' God knew it and tonight answered that need in a way beyond anything I could have thought of or expected. That's example one of God's control and timing.

EDIT: I talked with my pastor today and told him about the lack of challenge. He smiled and said he was glad to hear that, as he wasn't aiming for that in the current series of sermons. He went on to tell me what he was thinking and it made sense, so it is all cool now.


Example two also happened tonight. There has been a relationship in my life that I haven't been able to do anything about to move it forward for a long time. Then back in December things got switched, so instead of me waiting on them, they were now waiting on me. I thought this was a great thing and was all excited to get things moving, but instead I just seemed to spin my wheels and continue to go nowhere.Even though I wanted to move things along. Now my friend knows all this and the subject also happened to come up tonight when we were talking. Even though he has encouraged me in the past, tonight he told me that if anyone asked, he wouldn't recommend things go forward right now. That sort of opened my eyes and made me see/wonder if it wasn't God Himself delaying things until it matched His timing. He saw and knew that there were more pressing needs that needed to be dealt with first before what I thought was important was gotten to. So though tonight was hard, and I came away a little ashamed and saddened, I also came away renewed at the wonder and loving-kindness of the God I serve.

The Leprechaun's Gold

One of the foremen at the company where I work has the nickname of 'The Leprechaun'. As far as I know he is actually the only current foreman who has a nickname. Even though he's not short, he isn't Irish, and he certainly doesn't wear only suits of green there is a good reason for this nickname. He guards the tools and supplies on his job as jealously as a leprechaun guards his gold. If you've been using a tool it absolutely-no questions-asked goes back into the office trailer at night. If you need some piece of stock, you check every place it might possibly be before he gives you a new piece.

Normally this isn't a problem; you just know things are done a little differently when you are on one of his jobs. However the one area where this is a problem is in regard to the locks and keys for our storage trailers. Currently we have three storage trailers on our job and they all have the same lock. Since I've been working on this job (week after thanksgiving) there have only been three keys to the locks. This maid it so whenever I needed something out of one of the trailers, I would have to hunt down one of the key holders, ask to borrow his key, and then make sure I returned it to him afterward. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but when this happens practically every day, it gets old quick. Not to mention whenever the foreman wanted me to do something, I would have to remind him that I didn't have a key and would need to borrow his.

After two months of reminding him that I still didn't have a key, he finally seemed to get the idea. A few weeks ago after reminding him again, he paused for a minute, and then said, 'I might have an extra key in my truck. I'll have to look for it and get it to you.' Even though this did make me perk up my ears, I figured after two months of nothing happening, what were the chances? Apparently better than I thought, as two days later, as I was getting ready to leave for the day he called me over and handed me a key. I had caught the leprechaun and made him show me the pot of gold.

Little did I know just how well his name fit. I got the gold but I also got the price that came along with it. Now that he knows I have a key, I have become the go to guy for anything concerning the trailers, loading or unloading stock, and taking care of the storage truck at the end of the day. I should have known it wouldn't be that easy.