Weekend Roundup

• Finally took my Pontiac into the shop to listen to that rattling noise it  makes when she starts up cold.
• Had lunch with a good friend of mine.
• Quality time with Katie – Saturday, mom took Megan to a violin concert while Katie and I kicked backed and played video games, watched MythBusters and chowed on some stove-popped popcorn.
• Sunday worship at ASBC was really good. Alicia sang “Something About that Name.” From my perspective in the orchestra, it is really a blessing to see how God moves in people.
• Dave continued his series on Men and Women communicating.
• Said goodbye to the Shrodt family as they prepare to move to the holy land (Columbia, SC). Dave will start as worship leader at Northside Baptist next week.
• Took the girls to see “Monsters Vs. Aliens.” Not that great, but good for a few laughs. Is it me, or is Seth Rogan in every other movie?
• Last night, around 9:30, something made a really loud noise. I thought it was the wind, but obviously, it was not.
• Thought about the Lizard Man for the first time in years.

Town Hall for Hope

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Punctuate This Sentence

Here is an example from sunday's sermon. The pastor put a sentence up on the screens with no punctuation:

A woman without her man is nothing

So, if you are included, please punctuate the sentence to give different meanings.

A Box of Nothing.

At ASBC, we are doing a topical series on Men and Women. What is great is that our interim teaching pastor is bringing fresh perspective and presentation to this topic.

He used a great metaphor to illustrate how men think. Our brain is subdivided into little boxes. In one box might be work, in another there might be family, and in another sports. The main point is that these boxes are fairly separated, and generally do not mix when compared to women. Their brains are like the World Wide Web in that there are soooo many touch points between their boxes. But men have one special box, that women do not have. It's the nothing box. So, ladies, when you ask the guy, what are you thinking about, and he says nothing, he ain't lying.

Relaxing-ish Weekend, too

The title of the post refers to a similar one posted on MMMM, That's Good Coffee. Seems like we both had an extended date planned.

Cindy and I met with our pals, Ron and Sheila, for an overnight stay in "downtown" Virginia Beach. Unlike SC, the cities of the Hampton Roads are more the size of counties. Virginia Beach is the about the size of Richland county, so I usually differentiate between the Resort area, the municipal section and "downtown." Again, with the quotes. About ten years ago, Va Bch decided that it needed a downtown area, so they took some land that had been woods and built large Sky Scrapers there. It is almost funny to drive by and suddenly you are in the middle of these tall buildings, then...boom, they only have two or three.

But the area is really, really nice. Ron's job has him traveling a bit, and he wracks up a lot of points from the Hilton. He was gracious to share those points with us.

We had a late night dinner at the Cheesecake factory, talked for hours, and finally said our good nights. The next morning (a sleep in kind of morning), we met and had a three hour breakfast. Not that we ate for three hours, but we stayed at the table for three hours enjoying the company.

The date seemed to be over too quickly, but, like they say, time flies when you are having fun.

BSG - End to a Good Series.

Battlestar Galactica completed its mission and finally found earth. I am happy to report that I predicted the nature of the end (if not the exact ending) over two years ago. Not hard to do.

I like when a show has a definite story to tell, and knows when it is time to finish up the story. In the case of BSG, Cylons chasing the humans can only last so long, right?

Waking up at the Hilton

Saturday Morning. Just finished brewing a pot of coffee in the mini-coffee pot here in our room. Cindy is watching the morning news while I type this out.

This was our overnight get-a-way. Sure, it is downtown Virginia Beach in the Pembroke area, but, it's some good quality "us time." Something that there has been not quite as much of late due to busyness.

Busyness. It can be a real downer on your relationship with your spouse. Once schedules get spinning, sometimes it feels like you are passing ships, exchanging pleasantries. It reminds me that relationships aren't accidental, and requires effort. Otherwise, you start to get a "something's missing" feeling.

After work, Cindy and I left the kids with our friend and then drove to meet out Financial Peace Buds, the Beards, at the Hilton Garden Inn. We relaxed in the lobby, just catching up, and then walked over to the Cheesecake Factory. I've never been there before, but WOW, it was so good. We left there around 11:00 and headed back to the hotel for more fellowship. An episode of The Office, and 30 Rock, then off to bed.

Sleeping in for me, means that it is after 5:30 am. So, at 7:00 am, I declare that I actually got to sleep in. Yes! Getting up slowly, making coffee and posting on my blog.

A good morning, indeed.

DST and Simple Pleasures

How has your week gone? Getting up an hour earlier with DST and all that? I use to get up at 5:45 am, but, now my body feels like it is 4:45 am. It takes us a while to adjust, right?

It has been especially hard for our girls. I usually get them up around 6:30 am so they are ready to begin school at 8:00. However, there bodies are still telling them that, regardless of what the clock says, it is still 5:30 am.

The first day, Monday, I was going to be a nice guy. Open their doors and with a tender loving voice say "Girls, it's 6:30, time to get up."

The reaction that I got from my oldest was, well...it was rude. And, it only encouraged me to crank it up to 11.

On Tuesday, all pretenses of gentleness were gone. I brought my trombone up stairs a blew morning reveille. Oh, that went over very well.

This morning, I brought up a Raffi track, "Rise and Shine." That prompted the eldest to come out of her room looking for blood.

"Look" I said, "I wanted to do this the nice way, you made it hard."

So, I have two more days and am open to any suggestions to harass the young'ns.

Still Here.

I guess that this hits most of us at one point or another: we stop contributing meaningful content to our blogs. For me, one reason may be that, despite once declaring Facebook useless, it has become my new email: I am compelled to check it.

I do not post many personal items on Facebook. I reserve that for this spot. For my pals.

Although I will not be as bold as Rick to ask for questions that need deep spiritual thoughts, I will try and begin posting more. I may not have a single topic, and it may still be a virtual grab bag of the good, the bad and the ugly.

See ya soon.