From Friday To Father's Day... Fantastic

Picture if you will the beginning of a movie or TV show that begins with the main character in a place or situation that seems very strange, unusual and possibly perilous. You are confused and not sure if you missed something.  How did he or she get there? What happened? 

All of a sudden the scene ends; fade out. A graphic comes up that reads:"3 days earlier". You then see what happens to create that initial scene. 

For me, as I sit here typing this on the night of Sunday, June 16 I want to stop and go back.  Return to "72 hours earlier" What a great 3 days it was. 

This past Friday morning was the last day of VBS at Oakland Baptist Church. I've already explained what that meant to me in the previous post. 

That afternoon I drove into Bowling Green, paid some bills and did some grocery shopping. But my biggest purchase was a new gas grill. More on that later. 

Of course, Friday night was the closing ceremonies for Oakland Baptist's VBS. The biggest part of my night was spent counting that evening's offering. It needed to be counted quickly to determine if the week's total added up to $3000 or more. Because it did our pastor, Tim, true to his promise got a Mohawk hair cut. 

On Saturday morning I went to our local Best Buy and had my new car radio installed. It's a JVC and a Father's Day present from my very generous wife. 

I now have the means of listening to my XM radio and my Ipod, through my car speakers, by plugging them directly into the radio. I can say "good-bye" to my FM transmitter and trying to find a frequency that doesn't have a local station or gets bleed over from one. You have no idea how happy this makes me. 

The real surprise of the morning made me even happier. I was invited to go to breakfast with James, Brandi and, the delight of my heart, Aria Nicole. 

We went to Waffle House along with Brandi's mom & sister. Aria had a bit of a tummy issue (I won't go into details) but otherwise was her usual delightful self. 

After breakfast, I did some more grocery shopping (Sam's Club & Kroger) before I went home. 

When I got home my beautiful granddaughter was there. Her "mommy" and "daddy" went on an afternoon movie date so "Nana" and "Papa" got to spend time with her. 

I shared a chocolate coated vanilla ice cream snack with her. At first it was a bit too big for her little mouth. She didn't like the feel of the cold on her cheeks. I broke off pieces of the coating and fed them to her. She liked the chocolate. Finally, she was able to enjoy it like any kid should; by licking it with her very own tongue. 

Sharing ice cream with my granddaughter for the first time is one of the best memories of the year so far.

Saturday night Paula and I watched the first 2 parts of a 7 part miniseries from Netflix: Top of The Lake. It originally aired on the BBC America and is very hard to describe. 
Oscar winner Holly Hunter plays a very strange character. 

Even after 2 one-hour episodes we're not sure if we like the show or not. But whether we consider it compelling or a"car wreck" we both agree, we want to see more before passing our "final judgement". 

Sunday was Father's Day and I got the chance to honor my own father by showing the kids of my church the display I had made earlier this year. I used it as an illustration during the Children's Sermon. 

The framed documents include:a picture of my dad at his drafting table; the bill sent to the American League office from when dad measured out the field in Yankee Stadium on April 7, 1968; a picture of the umpire he helped at the stadium; and a panoramic shot of Yankees Stadium circa 1968.  I'm very proud of that framed display and of my dad's "15 minutes of fame." 

I spent the afternoon one of the ways I love to spend a Sunday afternoons: with my family. 

Michael, Heather, James, Brandi and Aria came to spend Father's Day with me. I got a Lego Empire State Building kit (thank you Michael & Heather)  and yet another afternoon with my the light of my life, Aria (thank you James & Brandi) for Father's Day. 

Of course any get together with the kids always has to include food and this day was no different. I promised grilled hamburgers for dinner. 

These burgers would be special. They would be the last  cooked on our first family grill.  This last cookout ended in a very poetic way.

 After the burgers were cooking for about 20 minutes. I planned on keeping them going for another 5. But when I went to turn them for the last time I discovered that flames had gone out and the propane tank was empty.  

Perhaps I'm being a bit too sentimental but the demise of that grill has significance for me. It is has been part of many many good times here at our home. But it was 10 years old, rusty and  had shown signs of not being safe to use anymore. It was time to let it go. 

The grill I bought on Friday has a bigger cooking area and twice as many burners. It's going to make grilling my special stakes for the family a lot easier. 

I was worried that the burgers were a bit under cooked, but they were very good. The family devoured 10 of the 14 I grilled. 

After dinner we sat in the living room and talked. Michael and James watched a really weird movie, Silent Hill: Revelation, on Netflix and napped. The rest of us talked and played with Aria. 

By 7 o'clock the kids had left. Paula and I spent the rest of the night just watching TV and chillin . 

And that brings me back to where I started. Sitting on the couch writing this post. 

My recollections of the past 3 days may not seem very exciting to you but for me they were fantastic. I got to spend time with the people who make a difference in my life and doing the things that I love. I am truly blessed. 

VBS Week: No Vacation; But Still A Blessing

Over the past 5 days, for the 2nd year in a row, I participated as a volunteer worker in Vacation Bible School at Oakland Baptist Church. 

Last year I was a "jack of all trades". I went to the individual classrooms to perform ventriloquism, counted the offering, and anything else that needed to be done. 

In 2013 I had a more specific and bigger responsibility. I taught the children the words and choreography to the music written especially for the VBS program. 

Now I'm no music expert, to say the least. But I have had some experience. In 2010, I taught music during VBS to a handful of children at a church started by members of Oakland Baptist that same year. 

Last summer I taught music to the children in a small church in Moorehead, Kentucky as part of an OBC missionary trip. 

But this was different than those experiences. You see the highlight of the closing ceremonies of OBC's VBS each year is the musical performance by the children. 

I say "the highlight" because it's where all the parents get the chance to get out their devices (cameras, mobile phones, tablets, ect.) and make a video of their child singing on stage. 

So the "pressure" was on. This was an important part of an important event in my home church. 

Also different this year, was the fact that I had to be at church by 9AM, teach until 11:30, and then had to go my job and work from 1 to 10PM.

All the other years I've been involved with VBS, I've not had to work for one reason or another. This week wasn't easy but it was worth it. 

The VBS curriculum the church used this year was called "Colossal Coaster World". It used the fear of riding a roller coaster as a metaphor to teach the children about trusting God no matter how they feel or what happens in their life. 

The songs helped to reinforce the points of each day's lessons and were all very good.  

I decided to teach the children just two of the five songs. My helper for the week was a young man named "Eli". He did his homework and knew the songs much better than I did. 

Over the course of the week I had a total of just a little over 2 hours to teach 3 groups of children (4th, 5th & 6th graders; 2nd & 3rd graders; and 1st grade & kindergartners) the words and motions to a pair of 3 minute songs. 

I used the promise of a pair of passes to Beech Bend, the local amusement and water park to the most "fearless" participant as a way of keeping up their enthusiasm and encouraging their participation . 

The children's degree of interest in the music and the videos was in reverse proportion to their ages. The oldest kids were a bit "too cool" to be totally into it. But the youngest more than made up for it. 

The 5 &6 year olds were the last class of the day and they always left me feeling like I was being an effective teacher. I "thanked" them by letting their pal Cecil the turtle, my most popular ventriloquist puppet, visit them on Thursday.    

After one final day of rehearsal on Friday, I still wasn't convinced the kids were ready for their presentation to their parents that night. 

I guess I did an adequate job of teaching them because at the closing ceremonies the children gave a performance that made me proud. And, yes, there was a plenty of parents and grandparents pointing phones and "making memories."  

As I write this post I'm just starting to feel the effects of keeping such a busy schedule this week with less than adequate sleep. But I'll be okay in a few days. 

Another year of VBS is history. I guess I did a good enough job (even though I think I could have done better) being the OBC VBS music teacher. 

Being around the kids was the best thing about being involved.  I just hope I managed to give them even just a small degree of the joy they gave to me. 

I can't help but entertain the possibility that maybe one of them will one day share their memories of the Colossal Coaster World songs with their children. Realistically, most, after a few days, will not give the music another thought. 

For me, every time I listen to "Ride Of Your Life" or "Change My Heart" on my Ipod, I will remember what a blessing this week has been. 

Bargain & A Surprise

Yesterday, Saturday, June 8, was a very productive day for me. I accomplished a lot. I purchased a component for my car that will make a difference in how I listen to music and podcasts while on the road. I'll be writing more on that later.

In the late afternoon, I went to Bowling Green that included: some grocery shopping, stocking up on our supply of vitamins and supplements, and buying a new home answering machine system. 

But the thing I will remember the most about yesterday has to do with Legos. I made two very unexpected additions to my collection. One was a bargain and the other a very pleasant surprise. I'm very excited about them both. 

First the bargain. Early Saturday morning I made my way through the yard sales that were set up in Smiths Grove. It was the annual community yard sale day. 

I'm always on the look out for an interesting toy, collectible, or vinyl record album cheap. But on this day I was coming up empty. That is until I got to the plethora of tables set up at the far end of town. 

Among a group of toys which at one time were organized but now mostly scattered on a blanket on the ground I found a plastic brick kit of a Transformer robot. I'm very familiar with these. 

The series of "Lego like" toys are made by Kre-o; a division of Hasbro. They're that company's answer to Legos. There are 5 robots in the Transformer series. I already have three. This kit of "Ratchet" would be my fourth. 

I checked out the brief case shaped box. It was no longer sealed and there were a couple of pieces of cardboard torn off. It had obviously been opened but a look inside made me smile. 

The nearly 200 pieces were all still sealed in 3 plastic bags and the instruction book was like new. I knew I had to have this toy. 

There was no price on the box so I approached the woman who was selling the stuff. I asked her how much she wanted for "this open box robot toy." I tried my best to sound as disinterested as I could hoping that might influence her response. That's when I heard her say "25 cents". 

I couldn't believe it. I had expected $5 or $10. I wanted to jump for joy but did my best to be "matter of fact." As quick as I could I got out my cash. Within a minute I had my new Transformer brick model robot in a plastic bag and was heading home.

Later in the day I drove into Bowling Green with a "to do" list to work on. My course I needed to take led right past the front door of one of my favorite places: Toys R Us. 

I was stopping just to look and see if there was anything new on their Lego shelves. But on my way down the aisle to that area of the store I saw something on an endcap that made the hearts of both the Lego and the Star Trek geek in me skip a beat. It was my 2nd Kre-o discovery of the day. Here's what I saw:

It was a plastic brick model of the original Starship Enterprise. Being a real "Trekkie" I was a bit weak in the knees as I picked up the box to get a closer look. Even in the midst of my elation the price (a bit over $50) required further investigation. I had to determine if spending that much money on a "toy" could be justified to my wife. 

I read the big and small print on the box. It was "motorized" and could be powered with just 3 AA batteries; the "cherry on the sundae". I just couldn't leave the store without this thing. 

I searched my mind for the logic that Paula would understand. I simply came up with the "I saw it and just lost my mind" approach. I would not be looking for acceptance I would be asking for forgiveness. Sometimes that's better and my wife is the best at granting that in our relationship. 

So I got in line at the checkout, put down the plastic, and left the store with my new plastic brick model. 

I will be assembling the Transformer first. I'll probably start working on it sometime this week. 

It will be a few weeks before I start working on The Enterprise. But when I finish it, I will post a picture either on this blog or on Facebook. I'm excited about going where my Lego building has never gone before. 

Confetti Creator

I must confess I have developed a very unusual habit while I'm at work. I mean one beside putting together Lego kits. I cut paper. That's right. I cut paper, any paper, into tiny little pieces, for about 4 to 5 hours a day. 

A lot of my job as customer service representative gets extremely routine.Performing computer trouble shooting basics over the phone is at times excessively passive. You have to listen to the caller, complain, explain, and then do the things you instruct them to do.   

Many of the problems my customers call in with are very common and have easy solutions. About half of them require a transfer to another department. I have a preliminary protocol I follow to get them prepared for that transfer. 
So most of my job is done on "auto pilot".  

To keep from being bored throughout the day I keep myself busy with various activities I can do while my mind and mouth go through the basics with the customer. 

Among those activities are: playing cards, Yahtzee, and a small travel version of the classic game "Trouble". 

Of course my favorite means of occupying myself is building things with Legos. But I only do that for a couple of hours during the 2nd half of my work day. 

Initially, I began my cutting habit as a way of getting rid of old credit card statements, last year's utility bills, and purchase receipts that I no longer needed. I cut them up because I don't think a shredder does it well enough.

I've seen too many CSI episodes where they just put strips from a shredder back together enough to make them readable. I don't want even there to be even a remote possibility that the papers I discard would enable someone to steal my identity and abuse my personal financial accounts. 

Initially, I would put my clippings directly into the trash can under my cubical. But I realized I couldn't do that after observing the paper squall created when the janitor emptied the can into his trash bin. So I decided, as a courtesy, to put all of my clippings into the plastic soda bottle. It makes almost no mess at all. 

The process of being a human shredder took me a couple months to complete. But after I finished, I found myself so wrapped up in the routine of cutting up paper; I just had to keep doing it. It was now my compulsion and it kept me calm when talking to difficult customers. 

One day on my lunch hour, I went to a dollar store and bought a pack of college ruled notebook paper. For a buck I had cutting material for another couple of weeks. 

After looking around my house, I found some index cards, I no longer needed, and a package of colored paper that I used in my yearbook 10 years ago. More things to cut up. 

Now I know this sounds strange but it's just my way of coping with my job and my OCPD. 

But you're not alone in questioning my unusual habit. I get questioned from at least 3 or 4 of my coworkers each week. They're curious about about why I'm doing it. I answer them honestly; telling them that it's just something I do. But I also try to have a little fun with them. 

If the person asking seems to be the least bit gullible I tell them that I take the bottles of confetti home and store them in my garage until the first week of December. 

That's when I box them up and send them to the "Times Square New Year's Eve special events committee" in New York City. They pay me for it by the pound. They need it to drop at midnight on December 31st. I point out that the confetti that creates the paper blizzard every year in Times Square has to come from somewhere. 

If they buy into my story I let them think it's true for a minute or two; even answering specific questions about the process.  But then I let them in on the joke. And they act embarrassed when they realize the laugh is on them. 

Oh, yeah I also give them another reason as to why I cut up paper. I can't afford to buy enough Lego kits to keep me busy for the entire day. 

So there you have it. I admit. I am a compulsive cutter. Perhaps "Confetti Creator" is a better title. 

Do you have a compulsive habit? I'd be interested in knowing what it is.  

Puppy Purification Process

For the last couple of months my dogs have needed a bath. But I have been putting it off, because like most things for me, getting Angel and Dory clean and smelling good is a process. It takes the better part of a day. 

With nothing going on for us this Memorial Day weekend I decided it was time for a "doggy dunking."

The steps include: taking their crates out onto the car port and washing them down with the hose; vacuuming and wet mopping the dog room floor; washing the covers of their pillows; taking the pillow cushions out onto the deck and spraying them with Febreeze. 

After that it's time to take the dogs, one at a time, into the bathroom and bathe them. 

As soon as I take their collars off they know what's coming. Angel always goes first and she has to be forced into the bathroom. 

While she's getting her bath, Dory usually finds a place to hide. She's usually under Paula's feet in the living room. I end up picking her up and carrying her to the tub. 

After each of them are rinsed off they are toweled off so they're as dry as possible. Finally, they are sent to their crates to dry completely. 

The room where we keep their crates smells like "wet dog" for the rest of the day; but by tomorrow they will be completely dry, fluffy and odor free. That's the goal of the whole process.

Here they are eating their lunch & drying off.

There's a bit of clean up including washing all the towels I use and cleaning up in the bathroom. 

Today, I started about 11AM and was done by 3 in the afternoon. Once it's over I'm glad that I did it. But I have to really get motivated to get started. 

Finally, after 3 months of putting it off my dogs are clean again; at least for a week or so. 

So how did you spend your Sunday afternoon?

Moment of Appreciation

For my first post of February I'm going to write something that may seem a bit like bragging but it's not. This post is written with a spirit of awe and a humble heart. I am truly thankful for all special people God has placed in my life and all the blessings he has given me. 

It happened in the middle of a routine day. I was just going through my typical daily work day routine. The moment passed quickly. It was an almost immeasurable amount of time inhabited by a cluster of thought. But the emotions that the moment invoked will stay with me for, what I hope will be, a long time.  

I was parked in a space in front of a convenience store about to go in and refill my 23 oz. plastic container. Because it would be a quick "in and out" venture I wondered if I needed to lock my car. 

I looked to the right at the front passenger side of the car and saw my back pack which had my new Kindle Fire HD safely tucked away in one of it's pouches. Down on the floor was the padded brief case with my laptop computer. On the seat beside me were my cell phone and my Ipod Classic. They were only a few inches away from the XM Radio receiver mounted on my dashboard. I decided to lock my car.  

As I went about my business inside the store I realized something I had, somehow, come to take for granted. I had more electronic technology in my Saturn Vue than the Apollo astronauts used to go to the moon and back. By the way, the Vue's odometer had just turned over 148,000 miles that day. I've had it since there was 19,000 on it.

It was in that moment I realized what a blessed life I've lived over the last 15 years. It's not just the possessions. They are just collateral benefits to what I'm referring to. 

If 20 years ago someone from the future would have appeared and told me that at the age of 52 I would have the wife, family and life I have now I never would have believed them. 

The people who love me, the things I'm fortunate enough to have, and the list of places I've been (a pair of trips to Walt Disney World tops that list) since moving to Kentucky are all amazing to me.

God has bestowed me with a life I don't deserve. I am absolutely humbled by the overwhelming awe I feel when lay in bed at night and count my blessings. 

As egotistical and self-absorbed as I am most of the time, I am often preoccupied with situations with which I am unhappy or things I want but can't have.

I need to be more thankful and appreciative of all that I DO have. It could all go away just as easily as it came. 

With this post I am making the commitment to humbly and continuously be aware of my blessings. I don't ever want to  take the life I have for granted. In addition, I will do my best to give more of what I have to bless others. 

I guess realizations like this are the lessons God intends me to learn when he gives me moments like I had this week.

Dory's Special Day

Nine Years ago today I did something that I was extremely apprehensive about doing at the time. As it turns out it's one of the best decisions I've made since my move to Kentucky. 

On January 31, 2004, after James and Paula has spent a couple of weeks trying to convince me, our family adopted a beagle/hound mix dog from the local animal shelter. 

She was a stray dropped off at the Bowling Green Humane Society after she was found wandering along  interstate 65 by a woman from Connecticut, who was passing through the area. 

Her shelter name was "Queenie" but we wanted to change that. I guess as a means of having me "buy into" the idea of being a dog owner, my family allowed me to name our new pet. 

It was 2 weeks after we had gotten back from my dream vacation in Walt Disney World. So with Disney still fresh in my mind I decided that the pup's new name would be "Dory."

Although she was not a puppy, according to the vet at the shelter, she was less than a year old. After being on her own for who knows how long she was a bit under weight. Here's what she looked like the day we brought her to her "forever home". 

Initially, Dory wasn't too keen on the idea of being "held captive" in our house and backyard. She almost immediately began trying to escape under the fence. Eventually, though she decided she like the comforts of our home. 

Soon she was eating and sleeping well. A year later she was happy and healthy. Here's my favorite picture of her taken in 2005. 

It's now been 9 years and life with Dory has been terrific  She's a well kept pup with a doggie sister named "Angel". 

Dory loves her crate, her pillow in the living room, her dinner, snacks, and especially her walks. 

Now considered an older dog, Dory is as happy and healthy as she has ever been. 

Like all of us over the last 10 year, Dory has aged a bit but there's still a spark in her eyes. As you can see she's gotten a little gray in the muzzle but she's the doggie sweetheart of my life.

 Everybody loves Dory, especially the "leader of her pack", me. She has made as much of a difference in my life as I have in hers. 

This morning I gave her a special treat for her special day. It was a cupcake shaped treat made especially made for dogs. 

Dory is one of the richest most treasured blessings I've ever had come into my life. I love my Dory with all my heart and I don't care who knows. 

Happy Adoption Day Dory.