31 December 2009

Up at 2 a.m.?!? It's going to be a long way to the new year, that's for sure. A good morning of quiet time and prayer. God greatly blessed our family in 2009. There was much to thank him for. We do not follow the Lord because of his blessing, we simply thank him for what he does of his own choice. We will not turn away when hard times come, nor will we complain (hopefully!). God is still God in the difficult times. We will still worship. We follow him because he has changed our heart from a heart of stone to a heart of devotion. In other words we can do nothing else but follow him. We want to do nothing else but follow him.

We will go help Tiffany feed and water the horses this morning, then lunch with Lambertini, then maybe some cross country skiing...or a nap. We shall see. Andy K. and I went cross-country skiing in the dark last night—beautiful, not to mention fun.

19 December 2009

We flew the Washington Wizards from Oakland to Phoenix last night. It was like a redeye for me—leaving at 11.45 PST and arriving at 0220 MST, which was 0420 on Laingsburg time. At least a got a whopping four hours of sleep before springing wide awake at 0715! However, it IS sunny in Phoenix and I'm not here for long, so its off to the pool for me to soak up some rays before I head for the blizzard in LGA.

18 December 2009

I got into SFO at about 9.45 pm last night...then the caliope music started. The transportation guys who were supposed to take us from SFO to OAK said that they had no record of us. I called Delta Crew Accommodations. They put me on hold. They called the transportation company. They talked. Eventually, it got sorted out. Now I'm wondering if they have room for us in the inn. I'm a little worried. Good thing. I call Crew Accommodations again. Kristie agrees to check. Oops...no record of you there either, but don't worry, it's all taken care of. Then I wonder if we have any transportation tomorrow night from the hotel to OAK to fly out the Washington Wizards. I call the transportation company. Nope. No record of you. I call Kristie again. She sorts it all out for me. Hopefully, they will be here to pick us up tonight. I'm a little skeptical.

A day off in Oakland for me before we fly OAK to PHX at 2300. I went to bed at midnight EST and was wide awake at 0410. Ugh...it's going to be a long day. I'm not a very good pilot. Good pilots can sleep 8 hours any time, anywhere. Not me...

14 December 2009

A day off!! Yippee! Off to swimming for me. Then who knows. Maybe some gift shopping. Some Bible study. Stuff like that.

Not too much else to report today. I'll try and think of something to write for later.

Kelly Off the Road!

A nasty day here yesterday. First snow, then sleet, then wind gusting to 50 mph. Wouldn't you know that BOTH Matt and Kelly had to work last night. Kelly had to brake for a deer on Alward Rd. She promptly spun out and off the road. Fortunately, a Good Samaritan came along before we could get there and helped her get the truck out. Praise the Lord for Good Samaritans.

Matt got home safely sometime around 1 a.m.

Another day on short call today. I'm off until 11 am, so I'll go swimming this morning, then be on call the rest of the day. Not as much snow today, but windy.

8 December 2009

Last day off for me. I'm so happy we're getting 3 to 5 inches of snow tonight. That should be a lot of fun since I'll probably get called into work tomorrow. I've got that going for me at least.

What a day yesterday. I did a pretty tough swim workout (for me anyway...1 x 500 free; 5 x 100 IM). I came home and did some study on 1st Peter and could not stay awake. I ended up laying down for a nap at like 11 am!?! Got up and watched a BBC thriller, then dinner, then Campus Life, then home and to bed.

Today I'm going to swim, then maybe get an X-ray of my knee, then to the library, then home. Then probably make sure I can get my snow blower running since I've got a feeling I'm going to need it tomorrow.

7 December 2009

68th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor today. As Franklin Roosevelt reminded us on the 8th of December: Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a day that will live in infamy. True enough.

Sunday stuff yesterday. Morning church but we didn't go to Sunday school because Kelly was working and I had a meeting with Pat Sauer, to talk about Campus Life stuff.

Pat and I had a good meeting (hopefully). I just tried to point out the importance of his position as Campus Life club leader and the necessity to be above reproach in his actions and words. No one is perfect. No one is sinless, but due to the sensitivity of working with underage teens, he needs to have a life that leaves no room for accusation. Hopefully, he listened.

6 December 2009

Another day off for me. Yippee! Off to church, then I meet with Pat from Campus Life at 1 pm, and then evening church. It will be a busy day.

Yesterday was a day of accomplishing a lot around the house. I did some computer work in the morning, and then started in on the kitchen and bathrooms. After completing those I headed downstairs to clean Cujo's cage and the downstairs. By the time I had all of that accomplished, it was time to watch the SEC championship between Alabama and Florida. Alabama kicked serious rear end. If they play like that in the BCS Championship, they will be national champions.

We headed off to Riverview church for their Saturday evening service. We are starting to go there from time to time because there are some girls from Laingsburg that we want to get involved in a church and the Saturday evening service at Riverview allows us to attend with them. Noel Haikkenen spoke on forgiveness. Other than the fact that he looked like he crawled out of bed after sleeping in his clothes and headed straight for the pulpit, the sermon was fine. LOL.

They do communion in a weird way. They have stations around the auditorium that you walk to and then just eat the bread and drink the grape juice when you get back to your seat. The music was excellent. Very good drummer.

4 December 2009

Another day off for me today. Yesterday I spent the morning clearing out the mountain of paperwork on my desk in the morning. I went to church to meet with and talk to Mike, and then came home for lunch. After that I went back to church to talk with Bob Karr, then picked up Kelly, and then off to Badger and Kristen's to see Commander Kian. Played for an hour or so with Jack and then home to celebrate Matt's 19th birthday. After that I ran up to Laurel and Bonnie Painter to help them hook up their new television. Then home to read for a while and bed. Quick day. Good day.

Off to swimming this morning, then we're going to hit Panera's for bagels and coffee.

3 December 2009

A normal day off yesterday. Up early for devotions, then Cherie and I hit the pool at Haslett to swim. I did a warmup of 500 meters freestyle, then 3 x 50 meters backstroke. Then I worked on butterfly—my area of focus right now since I'm just learning it. 2 x 50 meters and then 2 x 25 meters with backstroke on the return 25 meters. My second 25 meters on the way back I suddenly felt like I was going to blow chow so I got out of the pool to rest. I decided to throw in the towel then and there, since I'd also swum the day before anyway. I love butterfly. Fun, but difficult stroke.

After that I came home and worked on finances; almost blew a gasket with Cablespeed since they did not credit me for a payment I made 3 months ago—their error! Cherie and I went to see the movie "The Blind Side," with Tim Lambert, very good movie, the best I've seen in a long, long time.

The Blind Side manages to hit a lot of themes very well without being preachy about it: racism, the gap between rich and poor, the value of the individual, the importance of family, the soul-destroying nature of the projects, the place of faith in the life of southern culture, etc.

Sandra Bullock is fantastic as the peripatetic mom who decides to take in Michael Oher on a whim and then sticks with him when she realizes that he is homeless. Tim McGraw is laid back and great as her husband. Their son (don't know his name) almost steals the show as a fast-talking motor-mouth who gladly accepts Michael as his older brother.

My favorite line from the movie is when a relative gets their Christmas card and calls up and says, "I've already had 5 beers so I'm just going to come out and ask you, 'Did you know you have a big colored boy in your Christmas picture?'"