weekend review...June 28-29

My weekend was a lot shorter this week, thanks to having this coming Saturday off (4-day weekends rule!). Even so, Sunday was a busy day, and I felt like I accomplished quite a bit.

- I finally bought an external hard-drive to back up my laptop. I've been toying around with this for a few months now, fearful of losing everything--including hundreds of pictures we've accumulated--to a crash. It's happened something like 3 times in the past 5 years, so you'd think I'd have done this a long time ago. Experience is the best teacher, I guess. Anyway, got a pretty sweet deal on a Seagate 500GB drive at Circuit City--only $100--and had a blast moving stuff over Sunday afternoon. After all was said and done, I cleared out more than half of my laptop and optimized it pretty nicely. Next project: burn all of our music CD's onto it, and get rid of the actual discs themselves in a garage sale we're having this weekend. After that, we plan on taking all of the magazine articles we've saved through the years--interesting pieces, recipes, etc.--scanning them, and saving them in PDF form. Not only will this help with physical space around the house, it will help us be far more organized. I'm really looking forward to it, and I'll let you know how it goes.

- As a follow-up for our DISH problems...well, I did it again. Last year (probably right around this time, I believe) we were having the same issues we were having lately--intermittent signal outages at odd times. I expected it when the weather was nasty, but it seemed it was happening on sunny, clear days, too. So, as I explained last week, I finally booked a service call. The guys came out on Thursday evening (in drizzly weather, no less) to check things out and weren't here 10 minutes before they found the problem. It was familiar to me, because it was the same thing as it was the last time: our palm tree simply needed to be cut back. So, we did. And, as expected, the signal is fine. I remember looking at the dish, measuring it against the tree, thinking there was no way a branch could be getting in the way...but, of course, I was wrong. Only cost me $29 to find that out, though. I've asked my wife to beat me across the head next time I mention this problem. And then hand me the clippers.

- You can eat a pretty good meal at Sam's Club. I finally got my membership from work (which was a saga in and of itself), so we went to look around and get a couple of things. Turns out it was "Demo Day" and there were at least 10 different booths with some pretty good food items. All for free. Not having to buy lunch was a nice addition to our Sunday.

- Does anyone else think it's nuts that it's July already? July 4th weekend is at our doorstep (and, as I mentioned, I've wrangled it into a 4-day weekend!), and our California vacation, which seemed an eternity away, kicks off in just 3 weeks. Next thing you know football season will be there...not that that's a bad thing, at all!

weekend review...my first Father's Day!

Hard to believe it's been a full year since Becki and I discovered she was pregnant. And how cool that it coincides with Father's Day! (Which means I just missed it last year...if only she had tested just a few days earlier, I could've scored more gifts. Oh, well...)

Anyway, had a very nice day on Sunday. Spent the whole afternoon at my in-laws, where we gathered, along with my brother-in-law, Brent, and his family, and my folks for lunch and cards. It was a lot of fun to have us all together again, and I'm looking forward to doing it again this weekend for Becki's 35th birthday.

Earlier in the morning, Becki and Jacob woke me up and presented me with my very first Father's Day card, pictured above. As I understand it, the little guy had a bit of help from Mommy and some of her friends...but it's still darn impressive, ya gotta admit! I'm really proud of it, and, as always, I am so thrilled to be a Daddy!

Because I had to work on Monday, it was a rather short weekend, so, other than the Father's Day festivities, nothing much went on.

However, here is what's been on my mind lately:

- Just got back from a trip to Barnes & Noble. My folks gave me a gift card to reward me for all my hard work as a new Father, so I went and spent some time picking out a few good books for the summer. They're all along the theme of completely abandoning ourselves to Jesus, something that's been really capturing my heart lately. Here's what I got:

- Searching for God knows what by Donald Miller
- Desire by John Eldredge
- The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian D. McLaren

I'm really excited about diving into these, and I'll be giving a full report after I'm done.

- Speaking of abandoning to God, I've been spending quite a bit of time over at Seth Barnes' site lately. Seth is the founder of Adventures in Missions, which, among other things, facilitates short-term missions trips to South America, Africa, etc. I'm absolutely positive I will be writing much more about this in the near future, as I believe God is starting to stir something up in me with regards to this, but, for now, spend some time looking around his sites. Very thought-provoking, poignant, and, most of all, challenging.

- OK, NBA, I really tried. Lakers-Celtics in the Finals seemed like the perfect way to draw my interest back to you. After all, I spent much of my early teens watching Larry Bird, Robert Parrish, Kevin McHale and the gang take on Magic, Worthy, and Kareem in epic battles at the old (and better) Garden in Boston and the old (and better) Forum in LA. So it was natural to at least hope for something similar this time.

No dice. I spent maybe five minutes watching the whole thing. Today's game is way too glitzy and "me" oriented for me to care much. I just couldn't do it. I guess I'm glad that Boston won it all, but, to be honest, I couldn't really care less.

Oh, and if you expect those of us who have a passing interest to tune in to watch, maybe it would be a good thing to start scheduling games where us "regular" folks can watch it...as opposed to 9pm every night (including two Sundays where tipoff in the afternoon would have been welcomed with open arms). Even with a start time 2 hours earlier it would be a hard decision whether to watch...but a later start makes the decision easy for me. So, uh, thanks.

- I can't help but think this Tiger Woods kid will be pretty good someday. As much as I love golf, I don't watch too much of it (it's not really a great sport to follow on TV), except during Majors. Even this year, I didn't really catch too much of it until Tiger's late Sunday afternoon charge. And, of course, the one Monday I have to work just happens to be the US Open playoff. But I still managed to catch quite a bit of it in our break room at work. What an intriguing battle. Glad I could watch. Shame Tiger's pulling out for the rest of the year with a bum knee.

It's a good thing he won the tournament, so he's got the cash to pay the doctors... :)

weekend review...May 31-June 2

Somebody asked me why my "weekend review" posts included Mondays. Well, I actually work Saturdays right now (although "work" is a relative term--I actually find Saturdays at the office fairly relaxing and get a ton of personal stuff done), so Monday is my usual day off. Which still feels kind of weird. I almost feel guilty for not going to work. Almost.

Anyway, had a great weekend with Becki's family. Her brother, sister-in-law, and 3 kids are back from Macedonia after a 5-year stay! They flew in on Friday and, despite being dog-tired, still managed to have dinner with us that night. Sunday afternoon we headed out to Toni's condo (which she graciously allows us to use from time to time) for some beach action. Had a blast body surfing with Brent and the kids. But I forgot how tiring being in the ocean can be! Anyway, Jacob got his first taste of the beach, too! He looked adorable in his lobster-festooned swimsuit and hat, and seemed to have a pretty good time with his feet in the wet sand and the waves. Those are the pictures above. Cute, ain't he?

Beyond that, it was a fairly typical weekend for the Waltons. Here are a few things on my mind, though:

- Please keep us in your prayers as we deal with some difficult situations at church. We are leaders of a Small Group and, while we enjoy it immensely, it puts us in some tough binds sometimes having to deal with "issues". Before I get into specifics, I'll just leave it at that, and ask for prayer that God would rejuvenate and re-inspire us, while giving us the wisdom to know what to do in these situations...

- On a related note, I'm beginning to shop my resume around a bit in hopes of finding a career closer to what I would like to be doing. I have a great job right now that comes with a pretty good paycheck, but, to be honest, I'm bored and feel like I'm not going anywhere there. So, it's time to test the waters a bit. Something in business/project management would be great, and I would be THRILLED to work from home. Really, I would like to find some sort of a semi-regular speaking gig in a church or two, also. I really miss that, think I'm good at it, and, who knows, could God be calling me back? All in His time...I pray that I can recognize it, though.

- My Dad turns 69 tomorrow! Happy Birthday, Dad! With a son of my own now, I am so much more appreciative of your role in my life, and I hope I can be half the father to Jacob that you were to me! I love you!

- As I've mentioned before, I've become slightly addicted to the Discovery Channel show, Deadliest Catch. Our DVR is now brimming over with episodes I have yet to watch, even though it seems like I'm getting 2 or 3 in a day. As I told, Becki, though...it's probably time to cut back. I'm finding myself on those boats every night in my dreams!

weekend review...Memorial Day Weekend 2008

Well, first off, I'm feeling much, much better. Thanks for asking. I'm still coughing a bit, but nothing like I was before. I'm guessing I had a version of the flu, but, whatever it was, it knocked me around for a couple of weeks. I even missed about 3 days of work. Which my checkbook hates.

So, anyway, this was the first weekend in a while that I've felt pretty good. Beyond having our Small Group and some friends/family over Monday night to grill some hamburgers, though...nothing too exciting happened. I'd love to say here that I worked on the lawn like I said I was going to, or cleaned my office like I had hoped to, but, alas, I did not. Chalk it up to just wanting to relax, I guess.

I did catch quite a few episodes of Deadliest Catch on Discovery yesterday. Good stuff. At first, every episode looks the same. "Hey, we caught crab. Pay us." But, after a while, you start to get hooked (ha!). It's a pretty fascinating look at a profession I never even thought about before. And, like most shows on Discovery, it's very intriguing.

Beyond that, though...pretty boring weekend. Oh, I did clean the grill in preparation for Monday evening's cookout. REALLY cleaned it. I had no idea that several month's worth of drippings from Stubb's chicken marinade would be that hard to clean. But it apparently is. By the way, don't let that stuff go down your disposal (the residue--not the marinade). If you do, make sure you're prepared to do a bit of plumbing.

Back on Thursday with a new list of cool stuff. See ya then.

weekend review...May 3-5

So, again, not an overly thrilling weekend...but a good time was had by all. Here's what went on:

1. We had a picnic for our company (Percepta) on Sunday afternoon, at which we enjoyed some great sliced pork BBQ sandwiches and baked beans and hung out with everyone from my department. Later that evening, we had a Small Group dinner, at which we enjoyed pulled pork BBQ sandwiches and baked beans and hung out with everyone from our Small Group. I guess you can never get enough pork BBQ!

2. I finally got to watch my Cardinals play some baseball on TV this weekend, a three-game set against the rival Cubs. And they didn't disappoint, taking two games and opening up a 2.5 game lead for first place. That's significant in that all of the "experts" said St. Louis would be in the tank this season. But this is just the kind of team that Tony LaRussa likes, a lineup he has to tinker with every night to get the best out of. He's the best in the business at it, and it's showing this year. 'Course, it's only May 6. I'm aware that the MLB season runs until October. Still, I really like what I see from this club so far.

3. Summer has arrived. I don't care what the calendar says. It's hot out there.

4. I'm secretly praying for a close brush with a hurricane this year, if only so we can have a vacation without costing me time at work. But I'm also praying it doesn't happen between July 23-30....when we're on vacation (taking real vacation time) in California. That would suck...

Also, I need to have more interesting weekends...

weekend review...April 26-28

Welcome to another regularly-occurring feature I've come up with...a no-holds barred review of the two (or three, in some cases) days that is my weekend.

Not too much to report this week, I'm afraid.

I "worked" all day Saturday--I say "worked" because I'm not really doing much on Saturdays except setting up our systems, running some reports, and then, well, uh, watching the clock. Seriously, I'm in at 8:30, have everything done that I have to get done by 9:15, and then sit and read, watch TV, surf the internet, etc., until I go home at 6 or 6:30. I used this week to get some online Microsoft Office courses done and catch up on my reading. At least I get paid for it.

Sunday...our normal visit to our church at 9am, breakfast, and then mostly relaxing all day, except for the couple of hours I worked in the yard. The good news is our lawn looks pretty good, except for a couple of mysterious brown patches. The bad news is, I found out why. Looks like the sprinkler system is on the fritz. So, I'll either be watering manually, asking my father-in-law for help (but he's in Nicaragua until Saturday), and/or praying for rain. It's actually clouding up a bit now, but, trust me, it's not gonna rain. Just 'cause I need it to.

Today was a pretty good day. We picked up the in-laws (mine) and headed to Orlando for a visit to Ikea. Becki and I went a few weeks ago and were in awe of this place. We both agreed it would be something her folks would enjoy, and I think they did. We picked up a few things for our kitchen and got some good ideas on how to do some future organization projects. I'm always amazed at the cool ideas that place has, and I hope one day we can head in there with a wad of cash and go nuts (with a plan in mind, of course!). Anyway, after a quick lunch at the food court at Mall at Millenia and a stop by the Apple store, we headed home...and here we are.

Small Group in T-minus two hours. I should probably go clean the house. See ya...