Well, I haven’t even looked in here for 6 weeks or more. Seems I’m not alone! I spent June in a whirlwind. Our MMI organization put on a 3-day Worship Conference in Nashville. Kind of last minute for a $100k budget…but, we pulled it off and didn’t lose our shirt financially. After that week, I had to go to Redding, CA for another week (for another Worship Conference – I should be an expert on the subject). It was quite HOT out there. Came back to Nashville and have had a few quick little trips but, nothing major.

We had a good 4th of July hanging out at a “block party” on our cul-de-sac. I was able to watch middle class rednecks drink beer and set off fireworks (no one was injured). There were so many fireworks going off around our house we didn’t feel the need to go see the big fancy ones in town. I more felt the need to stay home and protect the property from incoming mortar rounds. Boys had a great time…lying on their backs with about 10 other kids…with their heads on the curb…legs in the road…watching the fireworks fly. Hotdogs, potato salad, hamburgers, coleslaw, and every other bad-for-you American dish was present.

Adam wanted to turn 11 on July 12th but, we felt like holding him back a year. He insisted so, our 11 year old sixth Grader (who is 5’3″) is officially not 10 any more. Adam took a “summer camp” day class for a week. It was at the Viking Culinary Institute. He paid for half of it by mowing three lawns – which I have mentioned in previous posts. He had a great time! Theoretically, he will be cooking those 5 meals for us soon.

Following close behind him, Samuel turns 8 tomorrow…he’s 4’3″ (we measured last night). When I told him straight faced that we weren’t going to let him turn 8 until next year…he started to cry. So, much for dead-pan humor. (I have a way with children). He’ll probably need counseling for that one.

Our church continues to grow. After 16 months of Sunday morning meetings we have about 275 regular attendees and growing steadily. Yesterday I cut a check as a deposit on a potential land aquisition for the church -$535k for 10 acres which is a steal around these parts – but a darn lot of money nonetheless. We have 120 days of due diligence ahead of us to figure out if we really want that spot of land or not.

Marilyn is spending time gearing up for the upcoming Home School year. She’s reading all manner of curriculum, been to curriculum fairs, buying stuff off of Ebay, and in general cramming all manner of info together to make some purchasing decisions for school. We’ll be working on a “self-teaching” approach which focuses in on teaching the boys how to teach themselves…or at least to begin to foster and encourage that mindset. Of course, we will have all manner of Internet, CDROM, Book, Parental, and Fieldtrip teaching to do it….but, there will be an underlying push to get them to teach themselves. Should be interesting. Note: These are some really sharp boys! Marilyn has done a great job.

That’s all I have time for right now. We have NOT been able to get a vacation in and it’s too darn hot anyways…so, we’re hoping maybe this fall.

Larry

Cy….you’re sweating in that photo. I thought women only glistened. Great to hear that you’re really really really good at this tennis stuff, though, because I plan to bring my racket (that’s racquet for the Nova Scotia people) and attempt to thrash you before I have a stroke and fall down.

Anyway, I’ve finally pretty much finalized my vacation plans for the summer, so I’ll put them here. If I disappear during the first week of July, please call the RCMP.

I’ll be leaving Duluth sometime on Friday the 30th and taking the short route to Canada (up 75, crossing at Detroit). Will probably stop somewhere around Toledo on Friday night and either camp or hit a hotel. On Saturday, I’ll continue northeast and hope to his Oshawa, Ontario, sometime Saturday afternoon, where I’m hoping to grab lunch or dinner with Bill Doten, with whom I’ve been exchanging emails for the last several months. I haven’t seen Bill probably since we were both about 10, so it should be fun – with any luck, we can start a grass fire with smoke bombs (not that we EVER did that in North Reading, mind you).

After Oshawa, I’m heading north to Algonquin Provincial Park, which I believe is Canada’s largest national park. I have a campsite reserved at Pog Lake in the park from Sunday the 2nd until Saturday the 7th and I’m really looking forward to spending the week looking at moose, swimming, wearing lots of Deet, drinking Canadian beer, and taking my blood pressure every hour just so I can watch it decline.

I’m sure that doesn’t sound overly exciting to most of you, but I’m REALLY pumped about it. If all goes as well as I expect it to go, I may talk a friend of mine into trying out the park’s interior this winter – snowshoeing and all that good stuff. The two of us have been camping three times so far this year (last weekend we canoed down the Chatooga River – where Deliverance was filmed), and we have a great time being mountain men.

On the 7th, I’ll make the relatively short trip over to Magnetawan to join Cy, T, Karl & Dianne (Neuse) and I’m anticipating having yet another excellent week there….I *think* this is my 14th year there. Is that right, Cy? Cy and T have informed me that the perfect woman that they’d lined up for me will not be in attendance, but T has promised to be on the lookout for a suitable replacement.

Probably sometime on the 14th – possibly early on the 15th – I’ll head south via the eastern route through Kingston, crossing near Niagra Falls and heading back to Atlanta through Pittsburgh. Audrey will be moving to Philly next week, so she and I may try to hook up somewhere in PA (possibly Gettysburgh) before I make a mad dash for home, arriving sometime on Sunday the 16th.

By the time I get home, I *might* have a housemate – none of that’s really been finalized yet (as far as the dates go). Her name is Maria Garza, she’s a career Army major stationed at Fort MacPherson, and she promises me that she’s an excellent cook and I will be *expected* to partake in her Mexican dishes (she’s Mexican, if the name didn’t clue you in to that). In case any of you are wondering, Maria is in her mid-late 40’s, has two grown children and a boyfriend, and this cohabitation is strictly economically-driven. She’s getting a place to stay for cheaper than she could ever find with an apartment and I’m getting a pretty nice chunk of change every month. Her plan is to leave Atlanta in the next 6 months or so, at which point I’ll probably start looking for another tenant.

Work continues to be incredibly boring – most of my projects were cancelled when AT&T announced their intention to buy us – and I really don’t see how I’ll manage to stay with the company if the merger actually goes through. Yet another reason I’m thrilled to have that extra income for the time being. If any of you know of job openings in your area – not necessarily computer-related, but I’ll consider that if the money is right – please let me know.

Larry and Mar – Jenny and I are coming to Nashville on August 11th and 12th to see some sort of Egyptian (?) thing at a museum there. If you’re going to be around, we’d really like to do dinner on the night of the 11th – call it a birthday present. I’ll be in touch with you in early August to nail down the details.

And that’s pretty much all the news that’s fit to print on my life at this point. Hope everyone is well and happy.

I just wanted to see if Greg was wrong. Been trying to figure out how to do this stuff on my website anyway.

Yup. He was wrong. Greggy, you need to embed the video in an HTML object and point back to the source. Sort of like:

<OBJECT ID="MediaPlayer" WIDTH="192" HEIGHT="190" CLASSID="CLSID:22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95"

STANDBY="Loading Windows Media Player components…" TYPE="application/x-oleobject">

<PARAM NAME="FileName" VALUE="http://www.theuffp.com/superfirepittest.wmv">

<PARAM name="ShowControls" VALUE="true">

<PARAM name="KIOSKMODE" VALUE="true">

<param name="ShowStatusBar" value="false">

<PARAM name="ShowDisplay" VALUE="false">

<PARAM name="autostart" VALUE="false">

<EMBED TYPE="application/x-mplayer2" SRC="http://www.theuffp.com/superfirepittest.wmv"
NAME="MediaPlayer"

ShowControls="1" ShowStatusBar="0" ShowDisplay="0" KIOSKMODE=TRUE autostart="0">
</EMBED>

</OBJECT>

Well yes, it’s been awhile since I’ve bored you with my adventures, but that’s because once again, I had the incorrect password (NOT) and finally conceded to giving in and requesting a new one. It’s been forever I think since my last blog so I’ll give you the abridged version.

Thomas went to a friend’s house a few weeks ago, (no he was not allowed to, but that doesn’t stop Thomas) Left friend’s house to walk home, met some stranger, smoked two joints, drank a forty ounce beer and passed out under a street sign. He was discovered the next morning by the friend who was walking to school. The friend took Thomas to his own home, put clean clothes on him and dragged him to school. Friend was thanked, Thomas was grounded. Again. Two days ago, the same friend was not in school with problems of his own. Seems his 18 year old brother Overdosed on Oxycontin (Thomas’ former drug of choice) and died. In front of his younger brother. Thomas and some buddies went to console the firend (not with permission from us, but at least he called and told us he was going over) and SEEMED distraught about it. MAYBE he will learn that drugs are not the way to have a good time. He also had surgery during spring break to remove a VERY large chunk of bone that was growing in his right shoulder. He looks human again not alien, the bone was sent for a biopsy and all is well.

Zack just finished his sophomore year. He was among the honorees at the year’s awards banquet with the highest average in Biology of over 100 students in the five biology classes. His average for the year……100!!!! He’s beooming proficient in my five speed Saturn and is planning to get his license prior to July 8th when I’ll be picking him up for the remainder of the summer. Last night I collected him from Camden for a VERY long weekend visit. (He will go back on June 11th) Among the fun activities planned are the celebration of his 16th birthday on Monday.

Prior to the birthday (but just as much celebration) will be our last load to the house in Easley. Tomorrow we will actually have our beds there, and will sleep in comfort in our new home henceforth and forevermore or until Thomas graduates and we get a condo on the beach. (Which may be LATER than hecnceforth and forevermore)

Bill’s working hard except for when Zack or Thomas is helping in which case he just drives the boys from stop to stop and buys lunch and writes them a check. I have noone to help me at work, but that’s fine cause on my salary, I can’t afford to pay the boys.

So that’s it. Some ups, some downs, more downs, and an up once in awhile. Everyone is still alive amazingly, so thank God for that! Hugs to all!!!!

Adam’s Mowing Service. It seemed like a good idea. Educational, money making – and the opportunity to learn about work. That was all good theory. The reality is his mowing service is gonna kill me. Adam is 10. He wanted to make some money. (For a 5 day class at the Viking Culinary Institute – I have no idea where that came from, but that’s the goal). So, he hustled up three lawn clients. So, I decided since he took initiative, and was brave enough to sell himself that I would help make it happen.

Yesterday morning…three lawns had to be mowed. I had to take the seats out of the mini-van (they’re heavy!) Pack up the lawn mower, gas, weed wacker, leaf blower and head out to his “landscaping customers”. I was tired before we started. My job was supposed to be quality control. But, since the weed wacker is a little big for him…I weed wacked…and since the leaf blower is kinda heavy…helped with that too. And then, I ended up picking up trash out of people’s yards and working like a slave. Adam made $25. I got some exercise and blew my Saturday morning. But, the joy of seeing a young entreprenuer in the making was….priceless. I hope it rains next Saturday.

I am trying to post video. That is because my life is slow right now.

But the green water in the pool is now clear and blue.

The grass is cut

the garden is growing, and we enjoyed our own brocolli yesterday (I don’t know if the kids will use the word enjoy…)

So I will now try to post video. We will see..

………………… (a few moments later)…………………………………….

It appears that I cannot post video, so you will not be able to watch Riley smack the ball and race, untouched, around the field for her first ever home run.

Actually, if I could post the video, you would still not see that, because all I got was her fouling it off. That was good against this very fast pitcher, however. And she eventually walked. Sort of like a home run.

Maybe I will draw a picture, and scan it in.

Oops, the pool water is turning green again. Gotta go

That guy from Fox News would be ashamed. I mean MORE ashamed than he was when he got caught with that intern newschick.

But no politics here.

So what’s going on in my life? I’m sure I’ll go into it in more detail on my own little blog, but I’ll flesh it out here, too. If I were forced at gunpoint to make it quick, I’d have to come up with something witty like, “My life sucks. How’s yours?” But I’ll try to give some highlights here.

Over Easter weekend, I had a gig, which is always cool. The orchestra blew big hairy chunks, but I’ve gotten used to that over the last ten years.

The Georgia Brass Band won a North American championship without me, which sucks.

My lil buddy Audrey closes on her Philadelphia (actually Lansdale) townhouse in 30 days, which also sucks.

My worthless company president has decided that on-call pay is too much and is fervently trying to work things so that I have to take UNIX calls every three weeks, which (number 1) ain’t gonna happen during football season and (number 2) sucks – please see my own blog from about 6 months ago when I pretty much begged my co-workers not to get involved with this.

My little girl cat has decided that she doesn’t like her new litter box and would much prefer to take dumps on my shower mat. That – for those of you who don’t own cats – that kinda sucks.

Gasoline is now at $3 per gallon in Atlanta. That…uh….sucks.

AT&T is making it pretty clear that, once they take over, my job is history. That sorta sucks.

But, hey. Cool news! A friend and I went camping this past weekend just outside of Murphy, NC. Gorgeous place. While there, we made several jokes about how close we probably were to Eric Rudolph’s (the Atlanta olypic bomber) hideout.

Today, my friend did a little research. “Close” ain’t the word. Eric buddy had his “Winter camp” about 700 yards – straight up – from where Brett and I camped. I attempted at one point to climb the hill next to our campsite in order to take a “from above” picture of it. I kept sliding down the hill. Apparently, Eric wore boots and was able to traverse it regularly.

Seriously…..if the guy was still out there, he could have thrown a rock into our campsite.

So I’m thinking I’m gonna find his little hideout when I go back up there on Memorial Day weekend. Really REALLY pretty place.

Dad – your cruiser could POSSIBLY make the climb to the campsite, but it’s not easy. I was worried all the way.

I am now counting the days until Canada. Are any of you worthless people (Cy and T being excluded, of course) going to make the trip this year?

And that pretty much says all that I have to say. For those of you interested in more of my fascinating writing style, look for an update on my own blog in the next few days.

TWD

I remember when they had “blue laws” that kept the big stores from opening on Sundays, and people didn’t work too much on that day, and I was a “lay-person” in church. Now, Sunday is a really long day! With no rest. Started the day at 5:30 a.m. did a couple of minutes on the computer to see if there were any last second cancellations over the night via email from my Church volunteers (I call them “civilians”). Hit the showers and prepared for departure at 6:45a.m.

Arrived at McDonalds at 7:15a.m. for a last minute study of a Children’s Church program that I had to teach…one of the “Civilians” was not gonna make it. “Sick” she said. (yeah, right). Okay…it was Marilyn, sometimes these things strike close to home.

Undaunted, I prepared for church like any other pastor; wadding up paper and stuffing them in garbage bags, – hey it’s for games…and it had a theological premise! (Someday I’ll get called up to the major leagues…)

At 8:00 SHARP I met my ragtag band of special operatives (the schlepping crew – they help me cart everything we need for church from a warehouse near the Church – actually it’s a gymn at the YMCA….).

We arrived at the Y (AKA Grace Church) at 8:20 and met the audio specialist (who had never actually done audio before but, I would train the raw recruit into a lean, mean feedback machine), and the set up crew (they specialize in chair distribution and placement).

By 9:15 it was clear the audio guy was in peril, the chairs were okay, and that the rain was gonna make things nasty getting in from the parking lot. But, we pressed on…stealing umbrellas so that our “Greeter” could walk people in who didn’t notice that it was POURING and left home without any way of staying dry.

10AM – service begins. I’m still trying to get the Bass Guitar’s direct box to work when the band start’s playing. I’m working under fire…intense pressure to get the bass online before he starts playing at the chorus. Mission accomplished.

10:15 band is playing, people still coming in, I’m not in the gymn now…running from little minor problem to little minor problem…and tyrying to remember where I put my garbage bag of wadded up paper for my game in Children’s Church.

10:45 Band is done…announcements being made…I run up and make one that I had forgotten about.

11:00 it’s “Covenant Sunday” we welcome 35 new members who completed our 8 week basic training ( I mean Equipping The Saints class) to our small fellowship.
This takes longer than we thought so when all is said and done…I call an audible and cancel children’s church…and we just sorta coast into the noonish finish time.

12:15 tear down. What goes up….must come down. Then, be moved back to the warehouse…takes until 1:15 to finish this.

1:30 Decide to eat lunch at a Chineses place. Mar is sick…the boys had spent the night at friend’s house…I’m by myself.

2:15 Finish lunch. Can’t go home…cause I havre to be back in 2 hours. So, I go to Border’s Books and read a book and drink coffee.

4:00 Leave Borders and go back to YMCA.

4:15 begin to set up for the “Potluck Dinner” that will occur at 6:00. No civilian in sight. Finally, help arrives in the form of two girls and one guy…I’ll take it…they can be molded into professionals.

5:15 Set up complete. Begin trying to find out where my boys are who were supposed to be dropped of at the Y at 4:30

5:45 people begin to arrive…need MP’s to keep people away from the food.

6:10 Stand on chair…tell people to watch their own kids…to eat, drink and be merry, bless the food, and old people can eat first if they can get past that Usher fighting his way to the front of the line.

6:15 Begin pastoral schmoozing.

8:15 Halt pastoral schmoozing.

8:30 Begin tear down of room (have to leave the camp site better than how we found it).

9:30 Depart YMCA

10:00 Arrive at home. Put Kids to bed, walk the dog, check email, get ready for Monday.

11:00 Wonder….what ever happened to the “day of rest” thing…??

Hi gang. Nothing going on here in the big city of TR. Had to wash my car again; that’s 3 or 4 times now. Don’t know what’s gotten into me. Today I broke down and mowed the lawn but then had to go get some more gas. Cost $5 for less than 2 gallons. Used to be you couldn’t spend $5 all summer. This might be a good excuse not to mow at all . . . well, maybe a couple of times. Memorial Day and Labor Day perhaps. Sang with the Greenville Chorale last Saturday night at the Peace center. Pretty good concert from all I’ve heard. They put all the good singers toward the front. I was in the back row. One step back and I’d disappear. Planted my garden today; 2 tomato plants! Every year I’ve tried to grow tomatos and the squirrels steal them. I noticed that the squirrels never go near the roses, so this year you guesed it I planted the maters in the rose bed. I’ll either have strange tasting tomatoes or odd smelling roses. Or maybe, the squirrels will be like Ferdinand and just sit there and smell the flowers. As Bugs Bunny says, “that’s all folks.”