return to sender

This summer, I opened up my credit card bill to find an important message on my statement:

I thought this to be a really good idea, because I usually just throw out the envelope every month along with any other non-statement items that come in the package.  But lo and behold as I take the rest of the items out of the original envelope, I find a payment return envelope.

I figure this was ok, maybe it would take a month for them to catch on that they told me this.

One month later, I excitedly opened up my Credit Card statement to find the statement saying I owed lots of money (which I wasn't excited for), and another payment return envelope.

Something's been lost in translation, or they're not doing a very good job of keeping up on their commitment to reduce their Environmental Footprint.

I'll probably call them to help them remember to keep their promise.

advent-ure is out there

Advent is upon us.  I know what some of you may be thinking:  I was raised in a tradition that didn't bring the Christian year to the forefront, so why am I thinking about Advent.

When I got to high school, I gained friends.  Yes, I didn't have many in the years before that - maybe one or two that changed every few years as people moved, and the loss of the "friends" of childhood as they became more mature and realized that I wasn't as cool as they were.  But in high school, at the coming together of hundreds of innocent 13/14 year olds from around St. Clair Township, Sarnia, and Point Edward, there were people who had similar interests and could appreciate each other for who they were.  It was a glorious time. 

But back to the original dialogue.  Some of these friends had grown up in different Christian traditions than I had.  They were Anglicans, and Pentecostals, and Missionary Church, and even *gasp* Baptists.  Many of these churches that they had come from did things differently than I was used to, thus making me consider that they were all weird.  But one day, one of these friends asked me what I was giving up for Lent.  Lent?  What's that?  I asked.  They proceeded to tell me some definition regarding it's the season where you give something up.  Useful, and not completely correct.  But every year around this time they decided to give something up for 6 weeks for some reason.  I didn't quite understand, so I just stuck with the staples: sex, drugs, and alcohol (I'm pretty sure I gave up on those before I was born and haven't seen a reason to go down that road since - except for a few sips of wine in various locations around the world before remembering why I don't like it). 

But they also talked about Advent.  The only thing I really knew, or at least somewhat knew about Advent were the calendars that gave people chocolate every day leading up to Christmas.  Not being someone who loves chocolate, I didn't feel the need to get into buying the calendar and therefore ignored Advent until I went to Bible College.

There I learned more about what Advent was.  And I actually like the symbolism behind the candles, the meanings of what each candle is and what the season is about.

At church yesterday morning, we were given a box and were told that we should use it to help represent something about Advent / Christmas to us.  I originally had huge dreams, like carving a different image of the nativity into each side of it, or creating a jumbled Rubicks Cube of what Christmas is actually about, but then the practicality of actually creating it evades me, the non artistic type.  I think the largest thing is that there's more than just presents and large men in red felt pyjamas to think about during this season.  And I think I need to find a way to reconcile these thoughts with everything else, which could be somewhat hard to do...

I guess I'm in for an Advent-ure.  (sorry, didn't originally intend the pun, but I'll keep it because I like being punny.)

taking donations

The car went in today, and surprise!  They couldn't replicate the issue.  So they suggested the next most likely fix: replace the coils and wires.  This has been on the list of potential causes, in the next most likely position.  The repair cost a lot more than I'd hoped for, but with the stupid problem, it figures that it would cost a stupid amount of money.

For those interested, here's a list of possible causes of Random Misfire:

Camshaft Position (CMP) sensor malfunction.
Crankshaft Postion (CKP) sensor malfunction.
EGR system malfunction.
Excessive air leak in intake-air system between Mass Airflow (MAF) sensor and dynamic chamber.
Fuel line leak.
Fuel pressure regulator malfunction.
Fuel pump malfunction.
Ignition coil malfunction.
MAF sensor malfunction.
PCV valve malfunction.
Plugged or restricted fuel filter.
Plugged or restricted fuel line.
Poor connection or wiring problems.
Poor fuel quality.
Purge solenoid valve malfunction.
Secondary ignition system malfunction.
Vacuum hoses damaged or improperly connected.

I hope it doesn't happen again, but no guarantees seeing as they have yet to find the cause.

and again...

After having my car's EGR valve replaced for free last week, I was hopeful that the shaking and engine light flashing would disappear on me for good.  All seemed well this week, until I got in the car after getting groceries this evening when lo and behold, start up, RPM's drop to low and the car starts shaking.  I turn off the ignition and start again and it's still doing it.  This time the engine light starts flashing, so I turn it off and leave it for a few minutes and try again.  The engine starts fine, but the check engine light is solid.  Same as the previous three times it's happened in the past 6 weeks.

I really wish it would do it for the mechanics so they can figure out what's going on rather than giving a vague code and only happening once every 50-100 km (60 km since the last one).

So it's back to the shop on Wednesday.  Here's hoping it's an easy fix (ha!).

random

About a month ago, I turned on my car and felt a few shudders that were different than I was used to.  So I turned it off and turned it back on again and all seemed well.  A bit later that evening, I was driving along a street and it seemed to be shaking a lot more than normal, but there were no lights or warnings going off, so I kept going when all seemed to be well.  5 minutes later, I was on the expressway heading home for the night when the RPM's dropped and the car started shaking violently and the check engine light started flashing.  Not long before, I had learned that a flashing check engine light means stop immediately because the engine could be getting damaged.

After having it towed to the Mazda dealership, they checked it out and said it was giving the code for Random Misfire, and then proceeded to tell me that there wasn't any specific information and it could be any number of things.  They suggested a fuel line flush as a potential, so I said sure and then a few hundred dollars later, I got my car back.

5 days later, I was pulling out of my driveway and the same thing happened again.  This time I didn't have time to get it to the dealer, but I looked under the hood and found a loose vacuum hose, so I tightened it and hoped for the best.  The next time I turned it on, the check engine light was solid, so I drove it around town gently and then earlier this week, the light turned off, so I figured it would be OK for a while.  Yesterday morning I was about to head out for a shopping run from work when it started doing it again.  So I took it to the dealership last night.

Tonight I got a call that says that it's showing the same problem as last time and they did some digging to find out that there's a special bulletin regarding the EGR valve and sticking in my car and Mazda's extended the warranty for another 2 years to replace it.  My car just happens to barely fall under the warranty, so they're replacing it for me.

Hopefully this helps.  If not, who knows what it could be.

Out.

eurotrip 3: the one with the girls

I'm back from my third trip to Europe within the past 8 years.  Some people won't get the opportunity to go that many times in a lifetime, so I can say I'm fortunate.  Not much to report for tonight as I'm severely sleep deprived and am looking forward to my hopeful first full night's sleep in 2 weeks without having to wake up every hour to ensure no one's rifled through my bags in the sketchy hostel rooms...

There's many stories and reflections to come as I process what's just happened over the past 12 days.  But for now, time to go to bed.

eurotrip attempt 3

Next month I'll be off with a group of students from the school on a learning tour of France.  Here's the map of where we're going:

Paris - Taize - Marseille - Carcassonne - Paris - Chatres - Paris

It's about 2000 km, just a bit more than we did the last time (1800 km in 2008), but less than half of what we did the first time (4500 km in 2002).  I didn't really like Paris all that much the first time I was there, so I'm not quite sure how I ended up going for a third time, but c'est la vie.  (that's French.)  We'll be going to many other new spots, so I'm not concerned about not being very diverse in my European adventures.  The next trip won't go near France at all (I say that now...)

more elevation

Out of curiousity, I got the elevation tracks for two other hikes I've had my GPS on for: the May long weekend hike of 2009 and Blaze A Trail 2009.

Blaze A Trail 2009

 May Long Weekend 2009

tracks

Here are the Blaze A Trail Tracks and Elevation Profiles for those interested (which may be no one, but I think they're cool.)

blazes

Yesterday was Blaze A Trail 2010.  I don't know how successful it was this year, but I do know that it was more than last year.

It was a fun time had by the group - 5 of us from KW went up, leaving at 6AM from the school and getting back to the school at 9pm after stopping for dinner on the way home. We hiked with 3 others from the church we met at in Stayner over the 20.5 km section which encompassed part of the section that I hiked last spring.

I'll have the GPS track up in a day or so, but for now, here's two of my favourite pictures.

blogging is cool

I'm not sure if it's the lack of things to say or the lack of things to say in some level of public forum, but I haven't felt like reminiscing about life, the universe, and everything in this fashion recently.

I've been doing some thinking recently about motivation: what motivates us?  How can we remain motivated?  Is goal setting really useful when the future is uncertain?  How can I reach goals I've previously set for myself when the landscape has changed and will continue to do so?  And the list goes on.

I'm not really sure what the answer to any of these questions is at the moment, but perhaps it is a good opportunity to consider them over the coming weeks and months.  But for now, these remain vague in this format.

Tomorrow's Blaze A Trail.  Looks like we'll have at least double the participants that we had last year and will cover at least 2-3 times the length of trail.  Last year was 20 people over 175km of main and side trails.  I'll let you know totals as they come in for this year.

Out.

insurance payments are worthwhile

I always hoped I'd never have to go through the Insurance claim process.  It seemed tedious and annoying, and would mean that I'd have to have something terrible happen to me.  In my world, things are supposed to be perfect because I'm perfect.

In actuality, I know that not so nice things will and do happen and I'm far from perfect.  The world is broken, and some people will do whatever it takes to save some money, hence why I've had to go through this experience.  I would guess that I've been fairly calm about it with the low points being when I found out that I lost my solenoids (meaning that the individual targeted me specifically and wasn't causing mischief), and when I couldn't sleep that night for fear of every noise outside being someone trying to get into my apartment.  Otherwise, I've taken it all in stride.  The lady working at the car rental place said I seemed so calm about it, and then proceeded to say "I'm mad for you!" and then went on a rant about how people can do stupid things.

But for this week, I get the opportunity to take a break from being in the office and help out with the VBS team, and in the afternoons and evenings I can relax and sleep. 

Insurance is covering the damage less deductable and I'll hopefully have my car back on Friday afternoon or next Monday.  I miss my car.  The vehicles I've been in recently are missing the clutch.  I'm not sure how the transmission's still in once piece, but that's how it goes.

Out.

blaze a trail 2010

I am writing to you today to ask you to consider supporting me as I participate in the second annual Blaze A Trail event on September 18th, 2010 in which I will be part of a collective effort to hike the entire length of the Bruce Trail in one day. The money raised through this event will go directly to supporting the Student Aid fund at Emmanuel Bible College, which helps students in financial need. Would you prayerfully consider how you can support me in this event?

To sponsor me, please go to my CanadaHelps GivingPage by visiting http://www.canadahelps.org/GivingPages/GivingPage.aspx?gpID=6814

If you prefer to sponsor me offline, you can contact me or mail a cheque to EBC with Blaze A Trail and my name in the memo line:

Emmanuel Bible College
100 Fergus Ave
Kitchener, ON N2A 2H2
Attn: Blaze A Trail

Thank you for your consideration and I encourage you to pray for the success of the event as well. If you are interested in participating with me, more information can be found at http://www.emmanuelbiblecollege.ca/trail.aspx

Blessings,

Tim

the saga continues...

The best guess of a car guy is that the missing parts are the "Control Solenoids", which I understand to be part of the fuel / air mixture conglomeration.

The car's getting towed to the shop tomorrow morning after which I'll get a rental until it's fixed and all parts are back.

This is a great process in which I've called the police 3 times, the insurance company 4 times, the shop once, the Mazda dealership a bunch, and lost quite a bit of sleep last night thinking about it, and perhaps again tonight.

For reference: Never get your car broken into. It's not fun.

really? REALLY?

Usually I don't use capital letters in my blog post titles, but this one warrants it.

Continuation of the previous post. I came home and dealt with insurance and the police report, and all seemed to be going well until I thought it would be a good idea to go out for a drive. So I got into the car and started down the street when the Check Engine light comes on. I thought that to be weird, so I stopped, screwed on the gas cap and tried again. It didn't go away. So I opened the hood and noticed that there seemed to be a gap in one section with some hoses that weren't connected to anything and an electrical connection that looked as though it had been forced off of whatever it was connected to.

Not knowing much about the inner workings of automobiles, I went to check the owner's manual to see what it could be, and that wasn't much help. So I went to the service manual. That wasn't much help either. So here I am not knowing what's missing from my car, so I can't really be helpful to the Insurance or Police until I find out.

I've sent e-mail off to a Mazda dealership with photos to see if they can help, but perhaps someone may know Mazdas better than I. See the pictures (area of note is between blue thing and red bar):

Just when I thought my day couldn't get any better.

what?

I was about to go for a shopping trip this afternoon when I got in my car to notice that the front driver door wasn't closed completely and the odometer was blank. I thought it to be weird, but figured I was light on closing it this morning and the odometer had timed out to save battery life. Then I realized that there were a few things from my glovebox on the floor. That's when I realized that something wasn't right. Someone had broken into my car. I looked around and the back seats were down, but nothing seemed to be missing. That is until I went to put the seats back up. The headrests on the rear seats are gone and the cover for the trunk (hatchback) is gone too. And that was it. No credit card receipts, no CD's, no GPS paraphernalia (The GPS is at home safely), no Keens or UNO.

I went for a walk to share my findings with my boss who happens to be the facilities manager, and we went for a walk in the nearby woods to see if they had been dumped in there. No luck. Upon getting back to the car I realized that the lock button wasn't working on my fob anymore. I figured it was the battery, but it unlocked just fine. Then I noticed that the lock cylinder was mangled on the driver side, leading me to understand that it wasn't my negligence that caused this but someone really wanting to be a pest and break into my car. And probably upon discovering that I didn't have anything good in it went ahead and took things that would be a pretty penny to replace from the car itself rather than the stuff enclosed.

I'm waiting for the police to call me back, but after a phone call to a Mazda dealership nearby, it turns out that it'll cost me over $700 to fix / repair everything. Insurance is getting a call once I get this fun stuff dealt with.

So if you happen to find my missing headrests or trunk cover in the near future, you can let me know or quietly bring it back and put it beside my car and I won't judge you.

in your face

The purpose of this entry is to make Matt jealous that he wasn't able to go to Cedar Point this year as of yet despite being within kilometres of it in the spring. I'll probably get my comeuppance, but for now, in your face Matt.

Yesterday was a beautiful day for Cedar Point. We arrived around 9:30, got a decent parking spot near the gates, and then waited around in the park for it to open. At 10, the crowds were allowed entry and we walked toward the first coaster of the day: Iron Dragon - a lot like the Vortex at Wonderland, but a bit longer with two lift hills. Rides that followed were the Mantis (stand-up), Millenium Force (ridiculously tall and fast - side note: The line was about 45 minutes, but it was extended by about 30 minutes due to a rain delay. After getting in line, I realized that I had to shove my bag into a locker for $2 US, so I left my friends thinking I'd be back in about 30 seconds or so, but the ordeal took about 5 minutes. Thinking they would have waited for me, I looked around and couldn't find them, so I got in line anyway, only to see them much ahead of me. Refusing to be a line jumper, I tried to convince them to come back, but they were losers and didn't do that. So I waited it out. When the rain delay came, I was fortunate enough to be under shelter, thus not getting wet at all, but they were not as fortunate as I and got their comeuppance for leaving me behind. In the end, I was only 3 trains behind them), Corkscrew, Magnum XL 2000, Maverick (awesome!), Cedar Creek Mine Ride (scariest coaster ever... in actuality, the Ghoaster-Coaster at Wonderland is scarier), and Gemini (racing coasters). My friend did Wicked Twister, but I sat it out due to not feeling so hot. The line for Rapter was too long and we both had about 3 hours of driving ahead of us, so we left.

The border guard was much nicer to me than the American one, even when I had stuff to declare. 30 seconds in and out.

Good weekend, good friends, and this time I purposefully tried to get reasonably good food (ie. not 100% grease).

Again, probably.

hi - o hi- o

I'm currently in the middle of a trip to Cedar Point, although we haven't made it there yet. I drove down last night. During that, I spent 1.5 hours in line at the bridge. The customs officer was suspicious of me - a guy going to Cedar Point by himself only bringing clothing and some snacks into the country, so he asked me a lot of questions, searched my bags and trunk, and even asked some of the questions twice. Maybe I just was answering awkwardly or something, but he didn't like me.

Once into Michigan, the drive was fine until Detroit when the traffic slowed down. I was trying to figure out why, but the next thing I know, it's pouring and I can hardly see. I deal with that off and on for the next 30 minutes, but then　I had to pull off the highway into a gas station parking lot until the weather subsided a bit. I went into the gas station to use the washroom and came out to find that the entire area was under a tornado warning. That didn't surprise me as I was seeing lightning and the wind picked up quite a bit and was blowing the branches on the trees nearby all over the place. Once things calmed down, I got on my way, only to slow down on the highway to drive through a few inches of water, deal with the branches that were strewn on the road. I arrived in Sandusky 5 hours after departing Corunna, when with no delays it should have been 3 hours.

Today the weather was looking warm, so we skipped the park and went to Cleveland to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and have lunch at the Tower City Mall. It was HOT out and windy and humid. We were thankful that we didn't have to wait in line today. This afternoon we came back, walked around downtown Sandusky and then had dinner at a local pizza place.

Tomorrow's plan: Cedar Point, drive to my parents house.

No camera this trip. Just enjoying it.

still cool

I still think blogging is cool. I just haven't had anything to rant about for the past month or so.

I'm going to Cedar Point next weekend to start off my vacation and who knows what wonders will happen afterwards? Maybe I'll have some bloggable material by the time I get back.

a new record

I just clued in that I've lived at my current place of residence for 13.5 months and counting, which is a new record for the longest I've been in one location since starting at EBC in 2003. The previous record was 13 months at the last apartment, and prior to that was 11 months at the one before that. Before that it was on an 8 month-4 month rotation.

It's nice to be able to stay in one location for longer than a year.

conflict resolution in real life

This morning I had the opportunity (read: had to go) to the board meeting at work to give a presentation on Student Life at EBC to them. Afterwards, I decided to stick around and see what's going on until either a) lunch, or b) they kicked me out. Lunch came first. In the middle of the time that I was paying attention, they were talking about a decision they had to make and the question came up about alternatives if that first choice didn't work out for them. Immediately, I was reminded of Interest Based Negotiation where one of the steps is Alternatives - find the Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA) in case what you're trying to do doesn't work out the way you'd hoped.

It's almost as if these classes I'm taking at Waterloo can be applied to real life. Who would have thought I'd be paying for more than just a credit?

you're going where?

Today we found a deal we couldn't pass up for flights, so we booked the first group of students along with myself (so they'd have a staff member on the same flight as them) going from Toronto to Paris via Reykjavik, Iceland. We'll only be on the ground for about 75 minutes in each direction, but still, that will be country number 12 on my list, which means that I'll be able to legitimately go first at Ticket To Ride European Edition with my friends.

More on the trip later as we figure out exact itineraries, but at the moment it's looking like Paris, Taize, and some cities in Southern France, which I'm not complaining about.

For now, I'm on vacation. Dentist appointment and exam. Great combo to spend my time off with.

social media

In recent weeks, becoming more involved with Social Media for work purposes has shifted towards me. So I started an EBC Twitter account (We have no followers yet, oh well.) And I became a "Fan" of EBC on Facebook, thus violating my policy of not becoming a "Fan" of anything. And I also created an EBC Youtube Account and put a few videos up there.

But the worst part of this shift so far has been Google Maps. On their maps, they have businesses labelled with links to whatever information is available on the web for them. So I looked a few weeks ago and we were Emmanuel Bible College with a link to the Wikipedia Article on EBC. Then a new map update came out and somehow we became University of Toronto - Emmanuel Bible College despite having no affiliation with U of T. So I got that straightened out after a few requests and at least one We don't know how to fix it from Google. The most recent issue is somehow they went in and changed the website link that was listed when you click on the map from www.emmanuelbiblecollege.ca (the correct address) to Great Lakes Bible College (the incorrect address) and there seems to be no easy way of fixing it apart from waiting for a few weeks for a post card to verify identity.

The Internet was supposed to make things easier and better, but it seems like Social Media's just messing things up... sigh.

brush up your shakespeare

I had the chance to go to Stratford today to see "Kiss Me Kate" at the Festival Theatre. It was a musical comedy that I hadn't heard of before this weekend. The premise is a theatre putting on a musical version of Taming of the Shrew, but with more fun back-stage stuff going on too. I thought it to be well-written and full of wit.

Here's one of the songs near the end:

yyz

I spent a lot of time driving back and forth to Pearson Airport this week in Toronto. It was a thrilling experience, let me tell you. I even got to the point where I now have CBC Radio 2 programmed into my favourite radio channels for both Kitchener and Toronto. The conference we hosted went well, even after discovering that our organization's website had been hacked right before I was going to show it at the Annual General Meeting on Wednesday. And after all was said and done, there is a replacement for me on the organization's executive when my term is up July 31.

Last Sunday I went on an adventure to Cambridge to try and find a waterfall which supposedly exists. We got to where it was supposed to be but couldn't find it. After walking through a nice park that I didn't know existed and doing a loop through the woods, we got back in the car and went to Webster's Falls in Dundas instead. Sort of out of the way, but it was a nice day for a drive and a walk. Supposedly I was very close to the Cambridge waterfall, but went the wrong direction. Next time.

No other hikes this week. Maybe Monday or tomorrow afternoon if I'm up to it.

I'm currently avoiding studying for my Conflict Resolution midterm coming on Tuesday evening, but in the process, I came across this quote in my notes which I thought to be interesting:

"The power to create requires more energy than power to destroy
The power to build; more time than the power to demolish
The power to do more; investment than the power to delay
The power to change; more engagement than the power to maintain the status quo"

just keep swimming

Firstly, if any one who reads this would like to advertise in EBC's student Handbook for 2010-2011, let me know.

Now that I've gotten my blatant soliciation out of the way, onto other matters.

I think I've only been in radio silence for the past 3 weeks because I lead a boring life and haven't taken any adventures recently. Tomorrow morning I may go for a quick hike at Crawford Lake to kick off the summer hiking season (always looking for hiking companions - makes it seem less anti-social). We're having the CACSD conference at Emmanuel next week, so I get to drive to Pearson Airport twice on Tuesday and then again on Friday. I look forward to that.

And I dropped German and picked up Conflict Resolution for my summer class. It's twice a week for 3 hours each evening, which means I'll be finished the course on June 17th, but it also means that I'm fairly busy for the first half of the summer.

Still deciding on what to do with vacation. May end up going to Indiana for a weekend with a side trip to Chicago in the middle, but we'll see when it gets closer to that time.

And that's about it.

Out.

choir videos

Here's the video of our choir performances at the EBC Commencement on Saturday.

Down to the River To Pray (from O Brother Where Art Thou)



Baba Yetu (The Lord's Prayer in Swahili - also the Civilization IV Starting Song)

they just won't stop rocking

There's some pretty cool pictures and stories coming out of Iceland today with the volcano. My theory is based on Journey being at the centre of the earth, but that's just me.

trees and the irish

This week has been full for me with exams still yet to come. I haven't had much time to study - that will come tonight and tomorrow.

The major events - the fun parts anyway - came last night and this morning. Last night I had the opportunity to attend a Ceili (Irish dance). It was fun. I've been sick all week, so I was exhausted and sore by the end and couldn't really talk anymore, but despite my lack of coordination, it was fun and I spent much time counting and doing sevens (a step).

This morning, after not enough sleep, I got up and went to the college to help plant some of 130 trees across campus. It was an enjoyable time. I don't remember how many trees I assisted in putting in the earth, but they're going to make the campus look so much better over the next few weeks as they bud and flower and do whatever else they do.

Now it's off to studying for the first of two exams on Monday morning. This one's the easy one of the two, so I should be OK, but we'll see how it goes. I'm more concerned about the second exam which I don't think I'll be prepared for no matter how much time I spend in study mode.

Oh well, off to read about Music in Film.

And on another note - no wife yet. Although a few offers to set me up with people did come. Good to see other people haven't given up on me yet.

no life without wife

I had an interesting question from my boss when she returned from Maternity leave a few weeks ago: "Do you have any secret girlfriends that I don't know about?" I gave the honest answer and said no. She's not the only person that seems to wonder that. Family has wondered in recent months after me not really saying anything about the last girlfriend I had in the public spectrum until late in the relationship, for reasons that are my own. But there's seemed to be phases where the push to get me off and married is stronger than at other times. We're currently in a slow period (and you don't need to take this as your cue to start pushing) and I'm OK with that.

For a while after my best friend got married last year, he kept telling me that I need to get a wife. Pretty much exactly like that: "Tim, we need to get you a wife" was what I got every time he got in the vehicle. I said "Sure, but you're not doing much to help with the process."

The process of finding someone who I'd like to spend the rest of my life with seems to be more difficult than others I know have made it seem. It's almost like it's my grail - the ever-elusive prize of my collection. I know while I say that there are others like me who have not found "the one." How do I know this? Enter the Internet.

The Internet has spawned a global network of people who feel that they can't find anyone in person because their communication skills suck, they're in a remote town or village, or they have odd hours of work / school. They then go to sites such as PlentyOfFish (free) or in the Christian Circle ChristianCafe (only free for up to 10 days. I haven't tried any of the other ones because you have to pay, and I'm not going to pay for something with a low probability of success.) On the sites, they browse around the profiles of strangers to see if there's any basis for connection and send messages off hoping to get a response, any response. It's a sad cycle. One that I'm going to admit that I've participated in more than once over the past few years.

Really, it's painful to first find profiles of people nearby who have something (almost anything in common with you while still remaining in the range of shared faith and interests - in my case anyway), write up a message that doesn't seem tacky, and wait and hope for a response other than "Read - Deleted". Then you have the conversation back and forth via e-mail, and then via Instant Messenger of some sort. And eventually, maybe you'll get together. When you do, you don't know what they really look like. Pictures tell only part of the truth. And then you meet up for what you expect to be 30 minutes at a coffee shop and it turns out to be 3 hours over dinner where everything is awkward and you have no clue how to get out of it. (The first time I met up with someone from the Internets in recent years, this is what happened... I've only met up with one other person since.. that one went better, but by halfway through the second meeting, I knew it wasn't meant to be.)

So really, the Internet is supposed to be this resource that is helpful in everything and anything you could ever imagine. But it's not.

So really, if I can't have a life without a wife, then the Internet's not doing what it's supposed to be. And friends who are currently in a relationship of some sort tend to hint that I need to get into one too (to which I'm not vehemently opposed to) but they don't really seem to want to help. My social circle has been dwindling in recent months due to various factors that aren't anyone's fault, but it's becoming more obvious to me that I need other people to help me stay social or else my introvert side becomes very strong and from what I've seen, significant others are useful in aiding this process.

Now I need to clear the air - I'm not actually looking for a wife from this. I'm just writing down my thoughts. Currently I'm OK with my situation. It takes a lot to say something like that and mean it. I can say it, but do I mean it? Not sure, but for now I press on to try and prove the title false - that there is life without wife.

upcoming work-related events: march edition

My March is crazy at work. For some reason I decided that I'm willing to do a lot of things, and they all happen to end up being within one week. Le sigh.

1. Art Show Fundraiser was on Sunday. It went well. The Choir sounded good. If you missed it and would like to hear us, come to EBC Grad on April 24th at Bingeman's.
2. "Curling Attempt 2: The one where we curl" is happening on Sunday (hopefully). We lost about half of the participants due to the change of date. Sad, but it happens. Gord's coming but he doesn't realize it yet. This is his reminder. He's forming a full team. It'll also more than make up for skipping the art show last night. Sick wife my foot.
3. Not one, not two, but three chapels I'm either planning or involved with over the next week. Tomorrow is communion in the style of the Plymouth Brethren. I've billed it as Communion with a twist. Thursday is relaxed Taize. Next week sometime I faintly remembering offering to help out with a Tenebrae service.

And then big things on the Horizon:

September 18: Blaze A Trail - Help us raise money for EBC Student Aid by collectively hiking the entire Bruce Trail in one day.

October 19 - 31: We're planning a Learning Tour to France this fall with the theme of Monasticism and are offering it as a course for students. Non-students are welcome to come too. Major sites include Paris, Taize (you knew it was coming), Avignon, and Southern France along the Mediterranean coast. Two weeks ago, this wasn't going to happen. Now there's an itinerary, cost breakdown, and the syllabus is almost complete. The joy.

And that's what's keeping me busy.

action

I think I'd rather the Conservatives run these commercials about their "Economic Action Plan" than the fluff ads that they're wasting our money with... It would be more entertaining at least.



Oh, and another update: Curling's been rebooked for March 28th.

And if you're in town, come out to the Art Sale Fundraiser on Sunday the 21st at EBC. The Choir's going to sound good, at the very least that's a great reason to come. $10 at the door. $5 for EBC Students.

they missed us again

Tonight was supposed to be Curling. But unfortunately, someone with the club forgot we were supposed to be there and didn't show up to let us in. So we waited around for an hour to no avail and then headed back to the school to eat the food and play some games. This actually happened in the fall, but I was able to get ahold of the club manager and she contacted someone to let us in.

Of course one person comes in later and tells us that someone showed up about 10 minutes after we left, but I don't think it was the right person, and they were at least an hour late if it was.

Oh well.

I'm annoyed, sortof.

ponderings in the wind

A few random thoughts I've had rolling around my head:

I watch way too much TV, or in the absence of clear signal, downloaded TV shows. Comments on a few of them:

Chuck - Hadn't seen it until the fall when I caught myself up on the first two seasons. Wasn't too bad, so I continued into the third season. It seems to be slowly losing its appeal to me. We'll see where it goes, but it doesn't really have the same gusto now that he can fend for himself if he flashes.

Lost - One word: "What?". And a thought that came up last week... I find it somewhat disturbing that two of the most redeemable characters - in my mind at least - have lost their marbles and are now following Flocke around (Fake Locke if you didn't get that). And I'm really not sure who to believe anymore. Is Jacob good or is he bad? Or is there no good in the island that's supposedly under the sea now? I don't know... Only a few more weeks left and we'll still be confused by the end of it.

Scrubs / Better Off Ted - I've seen rumours online that ABC's decided to cancel these two shows. I've noticed that there's no set return date on either of them on IMDB. Scrubs, yes, it was finished after 8 seasons but it came back. It's had a few good moments this season, but overall it needed to stay done. Doesn't surprise me that they decided to cancel. Almost like sequels to blockbuster movies. Lots of hype, little payoff. Better Off Ted on the other hand, it seems as though it hasn't been so great this season anyway... The first season was great, I guess it's just hard to live up to the super high expectations everyone had for the second season. Oh well.

--

Off of TV, onto a continuation of a thought I had a few months back: In the past month, one friend has gotten married and another engaged, meaning it's still depressing to think about. Sigh.

--

I had something on my mind for a few months and this week I came to a conclusion about it and it seems like a weight has been lifted. It may come back in the future, but for now I can be free of it.

--

I miss Olympic curling.

--

That's all. G'night.

upcoming

This month is one of my busy months at work for events I'm planning:

13th: 8th Semi-Annual curling bonspiel.
21st: Lumen Ex Anima - Art Sale Fundraiser. Come to the college to spend an evening browsing art from various members of the EBC community. Snacks and entertainment in the form of some pianists and the choir that I've been involved in organizing this semester. $10 at the door.
23rd: Taize Chapel
25th: Communion Chapel that I'm organizing in the style of Brethren breaking of bread services

In other news, Midterm 2 for Soundtracks was Thursday. I think I did fairly ok on it. I'll find out in the next few days. Midterm 2 for Social Psych is on Wednesday. I've read 2 chapters and 3 articles today with another 2 chapters and 1 article to go tomorrow and then I can start going over the 15+ pages of notes I have.

abnormalities

I think I'm going crazy. Or more crazy. Over the past few weeks, I've woken up to some strange things a few times. The first time I remember having a dream where the shelf by my bed was over crowded with clothing and had become a fire hazard and I had to pull a bunch of the clothes off the shelves to stop it from blowing up, I guess. When I woke up, I looked over and my shelves were less empty of clothing which had been pulled onto the floor. I figured that was just an anomaly, so I laughed at myself and carried on with life.

This morning I woke up and my laundry basket wasn't in the bathroom where I'm sure I left it last night, but it was in the living room instead. This is more concerning. I don't remember having a dream about moving that. If I've started to sleep walk, I think I have good reason to be concerned.

I know I talk in my sleep, which isn't anything new. But walking?

After doing some research, it seems that the most probable cause is stress, and I've had a few things going through my head recently which could cause this, so hopefully once these issues resolve, I'll get back to my regular scheduled program of staying in my bed while asleep.

Until then, maybe I should use some duct tape to strap my blankets overtop of me at night.

sauerkraut

For years I've had the theory that Kitchener-Waterloo was planned by a bunch of drunk Germans who spilled a bowl of sauerkraut on the table and decided that it looked like a good design for city roads.

Well, an article in today's Kitchener Record tells me I'm not far off.

the power of ewe and eye

I'm not going to complain long. Only for a few seconds:

1. The CTV Olympic Song "I Believe" is horrible, even after the first time I heard it.
2. Why are you advertising a 5 disc commemorative DVD in the first week? So I can remember the time that Brian Williams said CBC instead of CTV? Or I can see the snippets of the sports with a larger coverage of Ads by RBC or Bell?

Sigh. I should really be reading, seeing as I'm on Reading Week, but that doesn't seem all that interesting to me right now.

In other news, life's going well. Curling's filling up. Choir's sounding good. And I'm not dead yet. I went out for a 7 km hike on Sunday at Crawford Lake with thoughts of doing another one this weekend if the weather's good.

family abroad

Here's an article from the KW Record about Dan and Faith's current trip to the Czech.

the 'lude

Before the fall, I cannot remember a time where I'd been to Ottawa. My mother says we were there during the early years, but it's not ranked high in the information bank unlike the time I fell off the stairs at our old house because Dan stole a toy from me, or the time that I failed Red repeatedly in swimming, or the time spent halfway up a mountain in Banff with the family (and having to go to the bathroom on a rock). So, the conclusion that I've come to is that I'd never been to Ottawa. But all that has changed and I've been there two times in 4 months, the first being a short jaunt at the end of October and the second being this weekend for "Worshiplude" - a United Church youth gathering that I got suckered into driving for.

It wasn't too bad. The car ride was pretty much silent for 8 out of 12 hours in the car, the 4 teenage girls that rode with me were good and banded together and bought me a new winter hat. Moo is all I'm going to say. I had fun heckling the youth despite only meeting some of them on Friday, and those that I'd met before probably didn't remember me. It was a joyous occasion (especially since I found a room where I could sleep in peace at the church we stayed at).

We drove up Friday night - left around 4pm and got to the church at 11pm. Saturday was spent skating on the Rideau Canal in the morning - I walked almost 2 km to the rental shop and got some size 13's for an hour, skated around a bit, and then dropped off the skates and walked back to the church. The afternoon is where we dropped the youth off at the Byward Market and then Gord, Vanessa, and I disappeared for a drive around Ottawa for a few hours. It was relaxing. The evening was the United Church Youth Gathering, which was decent. Lots of people there from all over. Sunday consisted of church and then driving home. Left Ottawa at 1 and got back to Waterloo at 7:15. 1154km approx.

I have a few pictures from skating on the canal, but overall I just enjoyed the time to get away after the week of the midterm - (one in both classes... the first one I did great in, the second one... I did reasonable considering the amount of panic that appeared after reading through it.)

One more week of class then it's reading week. Woo.

That's it for now.

Out.

show your teeth

For those who have questioned my ability to smile genuinly (and more than likely rightfully so), here's a new theory: I haven't been taught properly... until now.

Behold: How to Fake A Smile

statistic

I realized something while scrubbing my toilet this evening:

Out of 11 people that I consider to be close friends, only one of them either does not have a significant other or is in the process of pursuing one.

The 10 year plan I had in high school definitely did not look like this.
Even in at college and then at Bible College I hoped for something different that hasn't come together as of yet. (No, mom. No girlfriends at the moment. Honest.)

I'll be OK. Things are just going at a different pace than I once may have hoped, which could be for a reason. Where's a flashing neon sign from heaven when you need one?

a new word

A few weeks ago, some friends were over and we were playing Scrabble. Near the end in the rush to get rid of letters, Gord put down the word "Chag", which I challenged, expecting it to not exist. It doesn't exist in the regular dictionary, but it does in the Urban Dictionary.

Chag: Someone that you do not know, but presume is a jerk. (urbandictionary.com)

Useful.

an alternative perspective

I heard this in CBC this morning. I like it.



(for the first few lines, watch this one)