Mindless Juices

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

That's how long it took for something bad to happen to our wonderful new car. Here's the thing, whether you believe in this or not, I believe this is a spiritual thing. You see, Sabrina and I are embarking on several aspects of our lives that, I believe, God is very happy about. We're trying to get our finances in order and we're both spending time working on bills and finances. We're watching less TV, but still getting our TV watched. (It helps there have been numerous repeats on lately). We're trying to be good stewards. Taking care of our car is one way I planned on being a good steward. We've upped our tithe trying to get it up to the Biblical 10%. We've managed to increase it about every six months. I'm feeling good about it and I feel that God is blessing us as we continue to increase our faith in Him. We're also trying to redo our entry area's floors. We were lucky or blessed or both that Lowe's is having a 20% off on their Pergo (what we want). Then, a credit card offer said they would give us 10% back on a purchase from a home improvement store. Saving 28% should help us out significantly financially with this project. Sabrina and I have been getting along particularly well lately, in my opinion. I've really been trying to focus on loving her like she deserves. So, for all of this, I think our car was hit because we're trying to do things right. Both of us are working hard to make sure our lives our good and Our lives are good and we're trying to make it all even better. Our car was hit because we're either being tested or we're being tested. Either way, I can't change the car being hit. I can't change the way it all went down. All we can do is handle it from here.

So, we begin by having to wake up early. Not a good start. We wake up and head to newhope for the WAM training day. The guest speaker Will talked for a while. I think he went almost 30 minutes over. So, that cut into our training time. Lucky for me, none for the lighting techs showed up. We spent the whole time swapping knowledge and having Angela teach us about the compressor. We also decided the next big knowledge hole in our equipment is the FX processor. I'm confident we have a lot more that we're capable of doing. Right now, we're just limited by the number of I/O's on the sound board... Correction, fully functioning I/O's. After that, we headed home we're God and the NHL planned an afternoon game for my Hurricanes to play. The DVR had already recorded half meaning I could fast forward through commercials. I watched the game and then promptly took a nap. I woke up and we headed to my party. We headed to Moe's with Funfetti cupcakes in hand. Nick & Kelli were the first to arrive. I didn't know they were coming!?! My wife wondered how I didn't see the Evite she sent everyone that she left up on our computer for the past three days. It was at that moment that I realized, I haven't touched the home computer in three days! Yes, not only have I not played video games, I haven't even touched the computer. Anyway, many, many people showed up and I felt loved. I had no idea how many people would show and I expected a weak turn out. I was truly, pleasantly surprised. As the gifts go, I got some car care products and some cash and some cash vouchers. I got very awesome cards. But, the highlight of the night was when Josh and Mamie decided to let me convince them to come over and play one game of Settler's of Catan. Even Sabrina played just so that we could have a fourth. I won, and, since it was my birthday, I didn't feel bad about the losers. It was a long game because Josh tended to take a little extra time to make his decisions. The girls would also sometimes forget to pass the dice to end their turn. The game ended a little later than I expected, but still with enough time to have a decent night's sleep, even for Mamie who had to be up early for church. I would like to say thanks for everyone who came to Moe's and thanks for birthday presents and thanks for good times.

I didn't get the job. It's OK. The first time I applied for a supervisor position, I didn't get it either. I think maybe I need one interview to figure out what I need to do. So, maybe the next time a position opens, I'll be more ready. Meanwhile, I am now going to try to be a contractor for a local company in town. It has nothing to do with cable and I already verified that it is not a conflict of interest. I'll just help them out when they need it in my time off. So, if you want, please pray that I get a meeting with the company next week and it works out. They do a lot of work with both secular and Christian organizations. Hopefully, God's plan for this is to help out a company who glorifies Him rather than move my career forward. Meanwhile, I haven't had a chance to play video games or wash the car. I've been staying up until midnight for TWC and I am tired. I could really use a day off, but it doesn't really look like there's one coming up... not even my birthday. Unfortunately, the WAM Tech Training day fell on my birthday. Moreover, we weren't able to get anyone smarter than me to teach the tech team something. So, we have to utilize my limited knowledge to try to teach the rest of the tech team. Unfortunately, they think I know a thing or two. I used to think I did, but I was humbled when we met professional A/V people a couple of years ago when we moved newhope Church into it's current Gimghoul residence. Relatively speaking, I know nothing. The rest of the tech team might say, relatively speaking, I know a lot. They simply underestimate themselves. I think every sound tech has surpassed me in knowledge. I pretend like I know something, but they are all better than I am. The only thing I might be good at (and this is why they THINK I'm better than I am) is figuring out what the problem is. But, that's because that's what I do everyday. I troubleshoot... I am a troubleshooter. That's my natural skill. It's a good one to have. It's applicable to just about every job, but, again, after seeing some professional troubleshooters, I am nothing. FYI, the professionals are very good about saying, "oooooh, you're smart" and making me feel like I figured something out when they probably knew what the problem was 10 minutes earlier.

I finished our taxes yesterday. I woke up and I felt like I was on a mission to have an eventful Saturday. I was going to wash and wax Felix and do some other things that I needed to get done. So, I woke up and headed straight for the office. I started working on bills and then headed for taxes. I finished 'em!!! Woohoo! And, for the first time in a few years, we're getting a refund, which is greatly needed to help pay for Felix and other things. Also, starting yesterday was my birthweek. I'm excited as I suspect I will be having a get together at Moe's. I'm looking forward to having a little Steve time where all my friends are gathering for me. I used to not really care about that, but lately, it's become apparent that I really want that. That and car care products. Speaking of, I've been looking at Mother's car care stuff. They had a great website with tips and tricks and it looks like they have some great products. Yes, that's a hint. Lastly, I'd like to tell you that my wife got motivated by my Saturday morning get-up-and-go. She cleaned our office (well, as best one can). It looked great until I made a mess again. She also worked on some other things and then went shopping.

So, the day after I wax the new car, it rains, leaving little water spots all over the car. "Well, that's not so bad, I'll wash those off this weekend. It's supposed to be in the 80s." However, the next day, Sabrina comes home and her car is covered in bird droppings. OK, ok, "covered" may be an exagerration. But, there were a lot of droppings. It required me to wash the car again. This time, it was about 40 degrees out, so it wasn't too pleasant. Meanwhile, I've been reading up on car care. I've learned some tips and tricks and even used some. Here are the keys to cleaning & protecting a car: 1.) Clean your wheels, tires and wheel wells first. This minimizes dirt from them splashing up on the car. 2.) While this may be common sense: start at the top and work down and start at the front and work back. The back of your car usually has the most dirt and you want to keep your sponge/rag clean so you don't scratch your paint with a dirty rag. It also minimizes swirl marks. 3.) Remove the nozzle on your hose and run it over the top of the car. The sheeting action of the water will grab many of the water beads and reduce water spots, make drying easier and you'll use less towels to dry your car. 4.) Wax your car monthly or bi-monthly at least. 5.) Polish/Glaze your car when you wax it. Yes, it's different from waxing. And it's important to protecting your paint. I've gotta go. Conference call... ooh... big shot. Yeah!

As some of you may know, we got a new car. Felix got a nice wash and wax today. It took me almost 5 hours to detail the car, but I wanted to get a coat of wax on it sooner rather than later. Neighbor Steve lent me some plastic cleaner/protectant. I hate waxing cars, but I know it needs to get done. Hopefully, I can keep up with it and keep the car in good condition. Speaking of, my birthday is coming up and I was thinking about what I wanted. I decided that what I really wanted was car care products. "Why?" you ask? Because I haven't kept up with what's the good stuff. I know there are a lot of you out there and I'm sure some of you have some good ideas for what's good to use. I have been using Meguiare's Wax. I think they're very good. I may start using Meguiare's car wash, too, just to insure my wash doesn't clean off the latest wax job. I went to their website and they had a little thing that helps them market their products in a more personalized way to you. Link to my results. So, I figured, for the friends that thought, "I would get something for Steve, but I really don't want to spend a lot of money (or can't afford to)," I thought a less than $10 gift of leather wipes or hose protectant might be something someone would get. So, if you were thinking about getting me something, car care care products would be an excellent choice. Also, it looks like we may have some car audio details to work out. I've already got a Circuit City gift card that I haven't used. If you were looking for something simple to get me, a Circuit City gift card would do just fine, any amount... I can pool them together to help pay for the installs. This is all assuming that my friends would even get me presents for my birthday. I don't normally say anything or have a big party, but the whole car care idea had me thinking that maybe I could ask for some gifts that wouldn't really be asking for too much. Oh, my birthday is on March 18.

Some of you heard about my cousin making it to Hollywood on American Idol. As my first set of pictures to be posted, I got some shots of John Munro at his audition and some in Hollywood. I'm not sure of the formatting at this point, so I'll number them: 1.) At his audition (not singing) 2.) At his audition (getting into it) 3.) At Hollywood (recognize the doors?) There are several other pics, but they could all just be my cousin anywhere with a group of people. There was no finalists in any of his pictures for you to recognize. Regardless, this is the scond cousin of mine to be on national TV for a few moments. My cousin Stuart was on the Real World. "The Miz" was drunk, beat him up (sort of) and threw him in a trash can. I'm a little prouder of John than Stuart. John is a very cool cousin of mine. He's got a good head on his shoulders and he was raised quite well. He used to play the piano. He's definitely got a voice. Most of my family does. In other news, Sabrina's out of town and I'm staying up MUCH too late watching sporting events and blogging. I have to be at church VERY early tomorrow and will be climbing ladders and working at great heights. It should be fun.