2023 Year in Review: Tough breaks, but it’s all right
11 months ago
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Moving back up-hill
Special call-out to Tom for his “Life on Mars” blog series – made me think and brought some cool facts to the surface that I didn’t know.
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I feel like things have been picking up for me lately.
- Nicole took some steps before my trip
- I'm getting a mostly-funded trip to the Caribbean and am leaving in less than 3 days
- Work is stable and not too stressful
- I got to talk to Lisa 2X during her trip
- I got to see Martha AND Kathy AND Angie who I NEVER see on Saturday
- We’re making some small steps on the house – the garage might wrap up this week, I painted most of the living room, I'm about 80% done with my picture project, I have the paint AND art bought for the spare room and already know what I'm making curtain-wise
- We’re setting in at church and I got a call to be a grade-school mentor yesterday (which I'm not sure if I’ll do)
- We’re selling the Sentra this week!
Exhale….
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
One of the three "off limits" subjects - Politics
The election is obviously a big deal and it's been both cautiously and eagerly brought up in conversation with me recently. I'm a registered Independent and have voted both Democratically and Republican in the past. In general though, there's no doubt I'm more Republican (especially on issues such as welfare, affirmative action, taxes, gun control, death penalty, and typically national security).
I read an article on Yahoo! this morning that summarized Independent view on the two candidates, Obama and McCain, regarding their views on national security and the war. The
article concluded that more people in the general public, across all party lines, feel McCain would do a better job, even some Democrats. A quote:
Republican pollster Neil Newhouse calls these voters "nose holders."
"They don't like the fact that were over there, they don't think the decision was the right one, but they understand that if we simply withdraw our troops, it would leave things worse off," he said.
This is pretty much how I feel too.
I don't recall if I've mentioned it in this blog or not, but Lisa (very Democratic) and I had what i considered a great conversation about this on our way back from Akron. I explained that i have a lot of reservations about Obama as our head military leader because he has no military experience at all versus McCain who has. I justified this by stating that the world is becoming less peaceful and having someone with a strong background in this area is more and more important. She agreed with my logic but commented back that expecting our President to have military experience is a nice hope but she suspects this will be one of the last elections where a military leader is even running. With no draft, an aging generation of people who have gone to war (WW2, Vietnam, etc.) and, compared to the size of the general population, not many have been to Iraq, the pool of military people is small in general and those in that group political aspirations is even smaller.
She's right.
That makes me worried.
I read an article on Yahoo! this morning that summarized Independent view on the two candidates, Obama and McCain, regarding their views on national security and the war. The
article concluded that more people in the general public, across all party lines, feel McCain would do a better job, even some Democrats. A quote:Republican pollster Neil Newhouse calls these voters "nose holders."
"They don't like the fact that were over there, they don't think the decision was the right one, but they understand that if we simply withdraw our troops, it would leave things worse off," he said.
This is pretty much how I feel too.
I don't recall if I've mentioned it in this blog or not, but Lisa (very Democratic) and I had what i considered a great conversation about this on our way back from Akron. I explained that i have a lot of reservations about Obama as our head military leader because he has no military experience at all versus McCain who has. I justified this by stating that the world is becoming less peaceful and having someone with a strong background in this area is more and more important. She agreed with my logic but commented back that expecting our President to have military experience is a nice hope but she suspects this will be one of the last elections where a military leader is even running. With no draft, an aging generation of people who have gone to war (WW2, Vietnam, etc.) and, compared to the size of the general population, not many have been to Iraq, the pool of military people is small in general and those in that group political aspirations is even smaller.
She's right.
That makes me worried.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Big News!
Nicole took 5 steps over lunch!
I went to see Nic over lunch like normal and they said she took a step that morning. I was a bit skeptical as picking up a foot and putting it down is hardly walking, but after coaxing her with a cup of water and a straw (which she also mastered over lunch by the way!) she took not one but 5 steps towards me to get it.
Of course she wouldn't cooperate for the camera once we pulled it out.... : )
Friday, June 20, 2008
These are a few of my favorite things
In case you were wondering, here are a few of my favorite things in general:
Book: Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
Song: Sway by Bic Runga
Holiday: Christmas
Number: 5
Color: Midnight Blue
Day: Saturday
Season: Autumn
City: Cincinnati, OH
Animal: Elephant
Leisure Activity: Reading
Gemstone: Sapphire
Alcoholic Drink: Lava Flow
NA Drink: Root Beer
Clothing: Pajamas
Food: Turkey with Mashed Potatoes and gravy on everything
Fruit: Raspberries
Movie: Ocean’s 11
Person: Jim
Job: Waitressing
Website: BabyCenter.com (for advice)
If I had a million dollars – Trade my stressful job for a fun one, invest the money and live off the interest
Book: Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
Song: Sway by Bic Runga
Holiday: Christmas
Number: 5
Color: Midnight Blue
Day: Saturday
Season: Autumn
City: Cincinnati, OH
Animal: Elephant
Leisure Activity: Reading
Gemstone: Sapphire
Alcoholic Drink: Lava Flow
NA Drink: Root Beer
Clothing: Pajamas
Food: Turkey with Mashed Potatoes and gravy on everything
Fruit: Raspberries
Movie: Ocean’s 11
Person: Jim
Job: Waitressing
Website: BabyCenter.com (for advice)
If I had a million dollars – Trade my stressful job for a fun one, invest the money and live off the interest
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Yeah, he's pretty cool
I'm really lucky to have Jim. We talked about another “million dollar idea” of mine (a board game) and he made some good suggestions/improvements and then did some research on how we could get it in a toy manufacturer’s hands. Some people have a significant other (husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend/best friend) that would say “oh that’s nice” but Jim always makes me feel like my ideas have merit and are worthwhile. I never feel embarrassed about brainstorming with him as a result. I really love him for that.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Weekend of 6/14/08
This weekend was one of those that feels like it went by fast because it was full but then I think, “what in the heck did I do the last 2.5 days?”
A few highlights:
1) Friday night we went to Kettering to meet Mackenzie who was very little, has a FULL head of hair, and was quite content to sleep through our visit. Nic was very interested in her and kept trying to touch her. Sarah, who went all natural and had the kid within the hour she arrived at the hospital, looked amazing.
2) we watched Tom P get his black belt in Kung Fu (same test and belt Jim got 2 years ago) – it was neat to see the moves that I watched so many times being practiced in my living room or front yard. Jim, who would know, said Tom’s weapon kata was the best in the class!
3) on Sunday, while I ate my lunch, I watched dozens of butterflies flutter through my back yard. The unsold lot behind us is overgrown with weeds and wildflowers and attracts the little critters like crazy. It is very meadow-like and very relaxing.
4) we went to the fire station and had Nicole’s car seat installed in Jim’s new ride. She seems pretty indifferent to the new seat but rear-facing it’s able to be in a very good position for sleeping (she’s too vertical and her head drops far forward).
5) father’s day was nice – Jim bought himself a ping-pong paddle and Nicole gave him a card. We had a picnic at my aunt and uncle’s and Nicole had fun crawling through a tube.
OH, and completely unrelated to the weekend... I'm going to do some research on the religious views of the Methodist church as a few folks have asked questions I don't yet know the answers to. More on that when I get to it!
A few highlights:
1) Friday night we went to Kettering to meet Mackenzie who was very little, has a FULL head of hair, and was quite content to sleep through our visit. Nic was very interested in her and kept trying to touch her. Sarah, who went all natural and had the kid within the hour she arrived at the hospital, looked amazing.
2) we watched Tom P get his black belt in Kung Fu (same test and belt Jim got 2 years ago) – it was neat to see the moves that I watched so many times being practiced in my living room or front yard. Jim, who would know, said Tom’s weapon kata was the best in the class!
3) on Sunday, while I ate my lunch, I watched dozens of butterflies flutter through my back yard. The unsold lot behind us is overgrown with weeds and wildflowers and attracts the little critters like crazy. It is very meadow-like and very relaxing.
4) we went to the fire station and had Nicole’s car seat installed in Jim’s new ride. She seems pretty indifferent to the new seat but rear-facing it’s able to be in a very good position for sleeping (she’s too vertical and her head drops far forward).
5) father’s day was nice – Jim bought himself a ping-pong paddle and Nicole gave him a card. We had a picnic at my aunt and uncle’s and Nicole had fun crawling through a tube.
OH, and completely unrelated to the weekend... I'm going to do some research on the religious views of the Methodist church as a few folks have asked questions I don't yet know the answers to. More on that when I get to it!
Friday, June 13, 2008
Mackenzie Nina
This is the picture Sarah W. sent to my phone this morning!
Mackenzie Nina
Friday, June 13, 2008 @ 2:56AM
6.75lbs. 19.5in.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
News!
My new plant from IKEA. I named him David. He was $7.99 and well worth it! He has a knot in his trunk!
Our house at night with the new landscape lighting. I really need a night mode on my camera...
Jim's new Altima in "pebble beach". We bought it tonight!Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Nicole is 11 months old!
Nicole is quite the busy these days. Since last month most of her accomplishments have been physical – she’s learning to associate activities with names and her hand-eye coordination is getting much more exact.
Some cute things she can do upon request (or randomly whenever she wants attention):
- Wave bye-bye
- Blow kisses complete with the “Mmm-ahh” sound effect
- Clap
- Respond to “how big is Nicole?” by raising her hands over her head (“so big!”)
- Give kisses
- Dance (by holding on and bopping up and down)
And some things she does because she likes to be in control
- Push dribbled food into her mouth
- Point at what she wants
- Shake her head “no”
- Take the brush away and comb her own hair
- Rub the toothbrush on her 4 teeth
- Turn light switches on (but not off)
- Open lids (like on this bobble-head toy)
I look forward to next month perhaps getting a word other than “mama”, “dada” or “no” out of her!
United Methodism
Now that I’ve completed the “Social Principles of the United Methodist Church”, here is a summary of the positions the religion takes on social (not religious) issues:
The Natural World – I was pleased to see this was the very first subject mentioned in the book. As you can imagine, the Methodist stance is that God created all things and therefore all things deserve respect and care including our water, air, soil, minerals, plants, energy resources, animal life, and space (all specifically referenced in detail). Special mention was made that food safety should be encouraged with proper handling and labeling.
Family- marriage and the ideal of raising children with a mother and father is held in high regard. Divorce is stated as an unfortunate byproduct of society and while counceling is encouraged, the Church recognizes that permanent separation is sometimes necessary. All divorced persons are to be supported and can marry again in the Methodist church.
Gender- women and men are equal. Though not mentioned in this book, women are open to be religious leaders, including pastors.
Human Sexuality- a) This book is very candid that sexuality is “God’s good gift to all persons” and their official stance on extra-marital activity is that “sex is only clearly affirmed in the marriage bond.” b) As you can imagine, they are strongly against violence, harassment, abuse, pornography, exploitation, and trafficking of anything sexually related. c) Homosexuality is not condoned in the Methodist fait and they consider the practice of it “incompatible with Christian teaching.” HOWEVER, God’s grace is available to all persons and they will not reject or condemn any gay or lesbian persons. Note that there is an openly lesbian bishop in the Church that has been accepted and continues to hold her stature.
Abortion- “Our belief in the sanctity of unborn human life makes us reluctant to approve abortion. But we are equally bound to respect the sacredness of the life and well-being of the mother, for whom devastating damage may result from an unacceptable pregnancy. In continuity with past Christian teaching, we recognize tragic conflicts of life with life that may justify and abortion, and in such cases we support the legal option of abortion under proper medical procedures. We cannot affirm abortion as an acceptable means of birth control, and we unconditionally reject it as a means of gender selection. We oppose the use of late-term abortion… and call for the end of this practice except within the physical life of the mother is in danger and no other medical procedure is available, or in the case of severe fetal anomalies incompatible with life.” They also make special mention that they are called to minister and support women and men whose lives have been touched by this difficult decision.
Dying Persons- In summary, they support the individual’s decision to proceed with medical treatments or the decision not to. Suicide, assisted suicide and euthanasia are opposed, as is the condemnation of the victims and families of suicide. No mention of the deceased’s “permission” to enter heaven is mentioned.
Differences- people of different cultures, handicaps, races, ages, religions, genders, and sexual orientation are to be respected. There are separate sections that call out the good that both rural and urban life can bring.
Drugs, Tobacco and Alcohol- not good.
Birth Control – All methods, including voluntary sterilization are supported. Interestingly enough, they justify this by talking about the strain on “the world’s supply of food, minerals and water and sharpening international tensions.”
Science- Highly respected. This includes voluntary medical experimentation, organ donation, treatment and research of AIDS (and support of those inflicted).
Politics- an average sized paragraph affirming that state and church should be separate. Another note that it is the responsibility of elected officials to protect those they’ve sworn to serve.
Education – Highly supported with 2 call-outs that persons deserve sex education. Continued learning throughout life is encouraged.
Death Penalty – Though they recognize that in America over 2/3 of the community support the death penalty, the Church feels that to do so prohibits any chance of rehabilitation and that the sanctity of life in general is not valued in the action.
War- The church respects those that have chosen to be pacifists, however, they are realistic enough to recognize that some times war is an unfortunate necessity. They only support war after all other peaceful means of resolution have been attempted and failed. Further, they state that the goal of war should be peace and not destruction.
The Natural World – I was pleased to see this was the very first subject mentioned in the book. As you can imagine, the Methodist stance is that God created all things and therefore all things deserve respect and care including our water, air, soil, minerals, plants, energy resources, animal life, and space (all specifically referenced in detail). Special mention was made that food safety should be encouraged with proper handling and labeling.
Family- marriage and the ideal of raising children with a mother and father is held in high regard. Divorce is stated as an unfortunate byproduct of society and while counceling is encouraged, the Church recognizes that permanent separation is sometimes necessary. All divorced persons are to be supported and can marry again in the Methodist church.
Gender- women and men are equal. Though not mentioned in this book, women are open to be religious leaders, including pastors.
Human Sexuality- a) This book is very candid that sexuality is “God’s good gift to all persons” and their official stance on extra-marital activity is that “sex is only clearly affirmed in the marriage bond.” b) As you can imagine, they are strongly against violence, harassment, abuse, pornography, exploitation, and trafficking of anything sexually related. c) Homosexuality is not condoned in the Methodist fait and they consider the practice of it “incompatible with Christian teaching.” HOWEVER, God’s grace is available to all persons and they will not reject or condemn any gay or lesbian persons. Note that there is an openly lesbian bishop in the Church that has been accepted and continues to hold her stature.
Abortion- “Our belief in the sanctity of unborn human life makes us reluctant to approve abortion. But we are equally bound to respect the sacredness of the life and well-being of the mother, for whom devastating damage may result from an unacceptable pregnancy. In continuity with past Christian teaching, we recognize tragic conflicts of life with life that may justify and abortion, and in such cases we support the legal option of abortion under proper medical procedures. We cannot affirm abortion as an acceptable means of birth control, and we unconditionally reject it as a means of gender selection. We oppose the use of late-term abortion… and call for the end of this practice except within the physical life of the mother is in danger and no other medical procedure is available, or in the case of severe fetal anomalies incompatible with life.” They also make special mention that they are called to minister and support women and men whose lives have been touched by this difficult decision.
Dying Persons- In summary, they support the individual’s decision to proceed with medical treatments or the decision not to. Suicide, assisted suicide and euthanasia are opposed, as is the condemnation of the victims and families of suicide. No mention of the deceased’s “permission” to enter heaven is mentioned.
Differences- people of different cultures, handicaps, races, ages, religions, genders, and sexual orientation are to be respected. There are separate sections that call out the good that both rural and urban life can bring.
Drugs, Tobacco and Alcohol- not good.
Birth Control – All methods, including voluntary sterilization are supported. Interestingly enough, they justify this by talking about the strain on “the world’s supply of food, minerals and water and sharpening international tensions.”
Science- Highly respected. This includes voluntary medical experimentation, organ donation, treatment and research of AIDS (and support of those inflicted).
Politics- an average sized paragraph affirming that state and church should be separate. Another note that it is the responsibility of elected officials to protect those they’ve sworn to serve.
Education – Highly supported with 2 call-outs that persons deserve sex education. Continued learning throughout life is encouraged.
Death Penalty – Though they recognize that in America over 2/3 of the community support the death penalty, the Church feels that to do so prohibits any chance of rehabilitation and that the sanctity of life in general is not valued in the action.
War- The church respects those that have chosen to be pacifists, however, they are realistic enough to recognize that some times war is an unfortunate necessity. They only support war after all other peaceful means of resolution have been attempted and failed. Further, they state that the goal of war should be peace and not destruction.
Monday, June 09, 2008
Weekend of 6/6/08
Nicole's doctor visit yeilded a diagnosis of croup and an ear infection- #5). I’ve determined that having plans on a Friday night instead of just hanging out at home like any other weekday night makes the weekend feel longer. Nicole was feeling much better by the evening after a steroid dose around 4:00pm so we kept our initial plans and had a full house of my high school friends over for a game night. The last group didn’t leave until 2am!
Saturday Nic was back to her normal self, playing and exploring. We ran a bunch of errands and Jim brought the Murano home for me to see/drive. He drove an Altima while he was at the dealership and combined with giving my mom’s a whirl that night I think that’s now his front-runner.
Our neighbor stopped by to tell us how unreasonable the land developer was in negotiating the purchase of the lot behind him. A few months back he offered $25K and the developer countered at $50K. They reached and impasse and tabled the conversation. This time around the developer offered to sell for $62,000. David’s response – “remember when I wouldn’t buy at $50,000? What makes you think I’ll be interested in paying $62,000?” I'm sitting tight on “our” lot – not nearly as worried about it going as our neighbors should be about “theirs”.
We got to babysit Ryann on Saturday and she and Nicole played and got an impromptu visit from my parents. After the girls went to bed I introduced the Wii to Mom and Dad who bowled like champs and got very into it.
Sunday Nicole was back to coughing so she got a second steroid dose in the morning. I took her to the Girls Lunch and then to Brandy’s baby shower were she was clearly allergic to something as she sneezed up a storm. The first part of the evening was rough sleeping for Nicky as she continued to cough and hack. By 10:00 she was sound asleep and hasn’t coughed since, so hopefully this thing is fully kicked.
I finished my Methodist Social Principles book as well as the pleasure-reading book I had been going through. I’ll post on the religion book this week.
Saturday Nic was back to her normal self, playing and exploring. We ran a bunch of errands and Jim brought the Murano home for me to see/drive. He drove an Altima while he was at the dealership and combined with giving my mom’s a whirl that night I think that’s now his front-runner.
Our neighbor stopped by to tell us how unreasonable the land developer was in negotiating the purchase of the lot behind him. A few months back he offered $25K and the developer countered at $50K. They reached and impasse and tabled the conversation. This time around the developer offered to sell for $62,000. David’s response – “remember when I wouldn’t buy at $50,000? What makes you think I’ll be interested in paying $62,000?” I'm sitting tight on “our” lot – not nearly as worried about it going as our neighbors should be about “theirs”.
We got to babysit Ryann on Saturday and she and Nicole played and got an impromptu visit from my parents. After the girls went to bed I introduced the Wii to Mom and Dad who bowled like champs and got very into it.
Sunday Nicole was back to coughing so she got a second steroid dose in the morning. I took her to the Girls Lunch and then to Brandy’s baby shower were she was clearly allergic to something as she sneezed up a storm. The first part of the evening was rough sleeping for Nicky as she continued to cough and hack. By 10:00 she was sound asleep and hasn’t coughed since, so hopefully this thing is fully kicked.
I finished my Methodist Social Principles book as well as the pleasure-reading book I had been going through. I’ll post on the religion book this week.
Friday, June 06, 2008
All about Nicole
I leave her alone with Uncle Greg for a car ride and this is what happens... Nicole stayed home sick from daycare today. Last night she was okay during dinner with Jenny, but had a cough that sounded questionable. When I got her home she had a 100.7 fever and went to bed. This morning the fever was still here and the croup-y cough had set in. Poor girl laid in bed with her dad most of the morning and would only willingly eat 10 cheerios and 2 oz of formula from 6:30 on. Jim forced her to eat 1 cube of banana and I got 3 more oz. in her when I got home at 12:30 to switch off child-care responsibilities. She’s headed to the doctor at 2:40. After some Dr. Suess I put her down for a nap and she was out in about 2 minutes cuddling with her "Sleepy Bear".
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Last night I started creating her first birthday party invitations! It’ll be a family-only event and probably doesn’t merit invites, but I thought they were cute and I got them on clearance at Hobby Lobby for $1.60.
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I lost a month off my life on Wednesday night. Kid was eating green beans in her high chair and I got up to go get her some pineapple. 30 seconds of being gone and when I return she had climbed out of her chair and was crawling across the adjacent kitchen table. OH MY GOD. I yelled “HEY!” and startled her. One leg dropped off the edge and I was certain she was going to fall. She just froze and I picked her up but my breathing didn’t return to normal for about 10 minutes.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Another model in the running...
So the Enclave was all but bought. Literally we were going to pick up the phone and tell them to order one for us, until I looked around a parking lot and saw lots of other cars and thought “all these people got here safely and didn’t spend $37,000”.
And so began our search for a used car.
Strangely it didn’t take too much convincing Jim even though I’d agreed to the Buick and it’s his car. My key logic in getting a used car this time around is mainly that we don’t need the space or the luxury that the Enclave provides right now. For the next 6 years we’ll have at least one kid in a car seat who can’t physically (or legally) use the space a full-sized SUV would provide.
Our new goal is to find something that is still an SUV but has less than 10,000 miles on it (basically we want a newer car (2007+) where the depreciation adjustment is already built into the price). We went to the Toyota dealership first and since they didn’t have anything that met our specs we agreed to look at a RAV 4 that was new. $22,000 bought you cloth seats and 2 measly airbags. Not the safety we had in mind.
We next headed to Nissan where I bought the Sentra we’re replacing and we met the Murano. They had a ’07 demo (there was
no Murano in ’08) with under 5000 miles selling at $6500 below the invoice cost. We looked at it, an ’05, and checked out the ’09 for good measure. Jim seems to really like it and he’s going back to drive it tonight (it was in the showroom and we were short on time by this point) provided his softball game is cancelled.
We will see!!
And so began our search for a used car.
Strangely it didn’t take too much convincing Jim even though I’d agreed to the Buick and it’s his car. My key logic in getting a used car this time around is mainly that we don’t need the space or the luxury that the Enclave provides right now. For the next 6 years we’ll have at least one kid in a car seat who can’t physically (or legally) use the space a full-sized SUV would provide.
Our new goal is to find something that is still an SUV but has less than 10,000 miles on it (basically we want a newer car (2007+) where the depreciation adjustment is already built into the price). We went to the Toyota dealership first and since they didn’t have anything that met our specs we agreed to look at a RAV 4 that was new. $22,000 bought you cloth seats and 2 measly airbags. Not the safety we had in mind.
We next headed to Nissan where I bought the Sentra we’re replacing and we met the Murano. They had a ’07 demo (there was
no Murano in ’08) with under 5000 miles selling at $6500 below the invoice cost. We looked at it, an ’05, and checked out the ’09 for good measure. Jim seems to really like it and he’s going back to drive it tonight (it was in the showroom and we were short on time by this point) provided his softball game is cancelled.We will see!!
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
UD's Future
Watching the video of what my alma mater is planning for the future of campus makes me excited, nostalgic, and jealous. This video shows current and future campus and WOW the plans it shows.
Makes me wish, for yet another reason, that I was 17 years old and ready to start college. Sincerely, why would anyone want to go to school any place other than UD?!
Makes me wish, for yet another reason, that I was 17 years old and ready to start college. Sincerely, why would anyone want to go to school any place other than UD?!
Monday, June 02, 2008
Weekend of 5/30/08
Friday: I had the most beautiful picture sent to me- it was black and white and Erdahl all over. That night I dropped Nicole off at my aunt’s while I went to the Reds baseball game (thank you, Cincinnati Bell for the box seats!) with my co-workers. Free food! + Free beer! + We won! = GREAT night!
Saturday: Jim and I started the process of becoming church people. As I have mentioned, we decided to make HPCUMC our new “home” and signed up for the official new member class. It went from 9-3 and I found it both interesting and educational. Jim and another member in our class were baptized in the morning (Jim has already been confirmed Methodist but somehow skipped over this first step), and we learned about the history of Methodism and HPCUMC specifically. There are over 100 groups to join and they are very eager for you to become an active member, not just an attending member, of the Church.
Following church class we went to go see the Saturn Outlook again and decided that due to the close cost of it and the Enclave we’re going the Buick route. (Note that my previous post said that the Saturn was significantly less, turns out that it was a lot less after a $5K down-payment that the salesguy factored in already. So, in reality, it’s only $1500 less, not $6500 less. IRRATATING). We aim to have this new purchase wrapped up this week!
I also went to IKEA for the first time – 3 hour trip. All the same general stuff/style, but I can see how it’d be ideal for apartment dwellers. It was WEIRD to look into their displays and think that everything I saw was for sale.
Sunday: I became an official Methodist! Not the original intention, but that’s okay. They gave us a book to read about the Methodist position on social issues and I started reading through a bit and in general I like what I see. Only thing so far that I didn’t care for was their position on homosexuality (I wish they were more open-minded), HOWEVER, this specific church (versus the religion) IS so that makes me happy. I'm going to read the whole pamphlet cover to cover and I'm eager to see what other things I'm encouraged to believe in. If you’re interested I’ll compile a short summary of the faith’s position on these (and more) issues.
Saturday: Jim and I started the process of becoming church people. As I have mentioned, we decided to make HPCUMC our new “home” and signed up for the official new member class. It went from 9-3 and I found it both interesting and educational. Jim and another member in our class were baptized in the morning (Jim has already been confirmed Methodist but somehow skipped over this first step), and we learned about the history of Methodism and HPCUMC specifically. There are over 100 groups to join and they are very eager for you to become an active member, not just an attending member, of the Church.
Following church class we went to go see the Saturn Outlook again and decided that due to the close cost of it and the Enclave we’re going the Buick route. (Note that my previous post said that the Saturn was significantly less, turns out that it was a lot less after a $5K down-payment that the salesguy factored in already. So, in reality, it’s only $1500 less, not $6500 less. IRRATATING). We aim to have this new purchase wrapped up this week!
I also went to IKEA for the first time – 3 hour trip. All the same general stuff/style, but I can see how it’d be ideal for apartment dwellers. It was WEIRD to look into their displays and think that everything I saw was for sale.
Sunday: I became an official Methodist! Not the original intention, but that’s okay. They gave us a book to read about the Methodist position on social issues and I started reading through a bit and in general I like what I see. Only thing so far that I didn’t care for was their position on homosexuality (I wish they were more open-minded), HOWEVER, this specific church (versus the religion) IS so that makes me happy. I'm going to read the whole pamphlet cover to cover and I'm eager to see what other things I'm encouraged to believe in. If you’re interested I’ll compile a short summary of the faith’s position on these (and more) issues.
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