Remember when?

Remember when Cracker Jacks had actual prizes in them? I know, kind of a pointless post, but I have been running around the heat today so my mind is not cooperating. Sermon at church this morning was really moving, and really pointed out things to me in my life.

Mascot for a night

Last night at the ballpark was one of the craziest yet for me. Turns out the guy who plays our mascot was going to be out on family business, and since they really wanted the mascot to make an appearance they started to size up different workers. I was approached and told I would fit, I told them I would do it if no one else could do it. Well, no one else was found, so I was the mascot for the evening. I was carted out onto the field in the middle of the first inning and dropped off by home plate, I got to wave at the crowd and try to get them pumped up. The rest of a game was a mixture of high-fives, hugs, handshakes, dancing around, squirting people with a water gun, running in a race on the field with a fan, and tossing a bag of peanuts into the crowd. It was different, a little fun, and a lot of work. I wish I could say that because I was dressed up no one would ever know it was me, but Wendy was there last night with a good amount of family, and once she found out almost the whole section knew it was me in the suit, lol. It was a different experience, but I highly doubt that I will ever fill in like that again. Here is a picture I found online to give you an idea of what I looked like:

Reloaded

Welcome to what I like to refer to as Version 4.0 of my blogging. Version 1.0 was basically me posting things on a geocities account with no way for people to comment, and I had to handle all the archiving. Version 2.0 was moving to Blogger, and 3.0 was tweaking everything and getting it to perfection. Now I am using a slightly different version of the same template, and I was able to save some of my defaults, as well as make some new changes. I guess there was a lesson to be learned in having to reconstruct everything: saving your work is your friend.

Strange times

Last night at the ballpark was both funny and strange. To start with, they could not locate the person who was to sing the national anthem, so after stalling for some time they finally went ahead and just played an instrumental. The starting pitcher had 3 balks over the 5 innings he pitched, and was later ejected for yelling at an umpire. The mascot lost one of his hands, so he came in later then usual, choosing to cover up one of his hands with a foam #1 finger. The on-field promotions where getting flipped flopped around, so not even the people working them knew for sure what promotion was next. All in all a very strange, yet humorous evening. Something not so funny is the fact that I wanted to edit something in my blog layout, but when I pull up my html template for it, I am only given about half of it. I think internet gremlins ate the rest of it, but my page still displays correctly. If I had to reconstruct it all it would take about an hour or so, because the layout I use came from a pre-made template, but over time I have added stuff and deleted stuff to arrive at what you see here. Maybe the gremlins will hand it all back over after they have had their fun with it.

Update: Grrrrrrr, after I made my new post I noticed my blog looks a little different. Looks like Blogger lost all the code that I couldn't find. Hopefully it is found, if not then I have some work ahead of me :-(

As I float on

Not much new to talk about. My pastor talked about something that really hit home to me yesterday. Sometimes in life things are going to come up, maybe its a situation or an attitude, but the key question is what are you going to do about it? He highlighted one of his own situations and reminded us that how we choose to face something can make or break your day. Sometimes when I allow myself to get into a bad attitude or a situation comes up that I didn't want to happen I can possibly turn into a very angry person, sometimes acting purely on emotion. I am a work in progress, and will continue to be until it is my time to go, I just pray that I take this kind of wisdom that is offered by God and actually learn to apply it to my life.

Shameless plug time! Be sure to check out a cousin of mine from Nevada, he started up his own blog to have something extra to do. Visit him here.

Career Success, LLC = Idiots

So I got in contact with this company, and oh man do they know how to cover their butts. The lady I spoke with told me I should have received the information about getting a refund, and that she was the lady who took my order. I had to tell her (like I had to tell the other lady yesterday) that I did not get it, why can't they get it through their thick skulls that they goofed up on not including everything? Then, I was told that the only way I could get my refund was if I failed the exam or did not get hired in the first year. I laid out the facts to her that I am not going to take the exam, I was told when I called that I was paying for a test, and the ad in the classifieds said that the Post Office was hiring (what a load of manure that was, I got a few inside connections with my local post office and was told there have been no new openings for several weeks). I told them the whole thing is shady how they claimed to be the post office and sold me a lie and a worthless book. You want to know this lady's response? Since I don't plan on taking the test, then I can't plan on getting my refund. Now this means I need to sign up for a test that I have no hope of passing, walking in like I am going to take it, walking out after it starts, then probably paying for shipping to send their worthless book back to them in order to get my money back. I bet if I do all of that they will still tell me no because I didn't send back the CD-Rom or CD's, I can't send back what they screwed up and forgot to send me, their incompetence, not mine. Stay as far away from this business as possible, they misrepresented themselves in their ads, I wonder if the post master general here would love to inspect the classified ad and see what he thinks about the so-called hiring going on at his post office. And one final thing, I hope one of their employees finds this webpage and tries to tell me to delete this post. All I can say is if you don't plan on giving me back my money sooner, then you must not plan on having this post removed, freedom of speech all the way.

Grrrr

Ever have that feeling you are about to be ripped off? I am feeling that right now, and I don't like that feeling. There is this company called "Career Success, LLC", located somewhere in Tennessee, that ran an ad in my local paper a few weeks ago. The ad said that the post office was hiring, gave an 800 number to call, and near the end of it they put their company name, I guess it was partly my fault that I didn't realize it was their company name and not part of the advertisement. I called the number, and how convenient, they never said anything about who they where or if it was the post office you where calling, just took my name, info, debit card number, and charged me for what I thought to be the test and told me I would receive instructions on where to go to take it. What I got in the mail was the following: an application for federal jobs, a booklet telling me about federal job opportunities, and a Postal Exam Study Guide (which advertised that it came with a CD-Rom and two audio CD's to help you study, I guess they must have gotten stolen out of the mail because they sure didn't come with the book). I decided today to give this book a good look, and two things came to light. First, there is no way I could pass the exam, it relies a lot on memorization, sometimes I forget what I had for dinner 2 days ago. Second, there was no address, phone number, or anything on this book, but they say a few times "money back if you don't pass the test". What I want to know is how in the world would they know if I don't pass the test? How do I contact them? The more I thought about it, the more I thought "SCAM". I searched online, and only found 3 websites that contained their name in them. One of them had the 800 number, I called it and spoke to someone (who by the way informed me that I did receive the CD-Rom, and quickly changed the subject, so I quickly reminded her she was wrong), got told the customer service number was in the info I received (wrong again, looked through several times), and got connected to customer service. Surprise, surprise, customer service was busy, but I got their phone number, and I plan on calling them bright and early tomorrow. I get free long distance on my cell phone, and I am currently on vacation from the school district, I got nothing but time to get this matter fixed, and I don't take lightly to having my money taken.

Aww snaps, I be rollin'

In plain english, I got my car back, fixed up and done ahead of schedule. Felt good to get back behind the wheel of it and start it up. Wendy and her mom graciously let me have use of her car while mine was in the shop, so I have decided to do a write up about my 3 day test drive of the 2004 Honda Civic (attention Car & Driver and any other car magazine, feel free to hire me out to test drive anything). Well, for starters its a 4 door model, and for its size it is a great car for what it was built to do: get you around. 4 Adults can sit comfortably, the seats hold you well, and the trunk space is nice. The look of the car seems a bit bloated from recent years, and while there are some style changes you can easily spot it coming from a mile away and know it is a civic. Hopefully in the future they might try to jazz up the appearance like they are doing with the Accord, which looks sleeker and sportier. Gas mileage is nice, and extra rewarding to a driver who has a light right foot, but obviously the power from the 4 cylinder is less then spectacular. While I may make fun of its lack of power, the gear ratios help keep the car moving along through traffic, and it was built to be an economy car, not a drag racer. One major drawback is rear-viewing. For starters I noticed a big difference in the perceived depth between the side mirrors and the rear view mirror, the side mirrors made it seem like I was far away, the rear view made it seem like I was within inches, after parking a few times I learned that the side mirrors where telling more of the actual story. Also, could the back window be any smaller? The distance between the rear deck and the top of the window is very short, that combined with the fact the back glass does not wrap around makes for very nervous lane changing, even with looking over your shoulder. One thing that helped this situation was removing the rear head rests. I would rate this car a 7 out of ten, and would only buy it if the rear window offered more of a view.

Updates and stuff

My car gets moved today for the first time in about 3 days, going to a local shop for a new alternator and wiring harness. Once all that is in place it should purr like a kitten again. I don't mean to sound really pathetic, but every time I go outside or I am near the back door of the house, I find myself looking or doing a double take, like I expect to see my dog there like I had for the past 13 years. For being a creature that didn't take up that much room he seemed to be a very big presence in our back yard, and I didn't realize exactly how big of a presence he had in my heart.

In Memory -- "Freebie"

He was half German Shepard, and half what we believed to be Alaskan Husky, and for 13 years he was our faithful companion and watchdog. From sunrise to sunset he watched over his yard and looked out for us and let us know about any strangers that where nearby. He was amazing at what he did, and loyal to us up to the last day. His senses where starting to fail him, and his aggressiveness that used to be kept in check was now coming out at all the wrong times, and he was in pain due to arthritis. Me and my parents watched this morning has a mobile vet came over, gave him a shot to relax him, then finally gave him something to release him from his duties and the pain he was in. I miss him so bad right now it hurts, and every time I walk outside I expect to hear his collar like he is walking to the door, or see him laying down on his rug. Rest in peace buddy, I loved you and I will miss you.

Burn baby burn

Disco inferno! Actually, I am not going to write about disco music, but I will talk about burning. Today my car caught on fire when I dropped Wendy off at her house. The alternator shorted out or something, when I popped the hood to look at why I had smoke coming out I saw the alternator in flames. The alternator, some wires, and some insulation from the underside of my hood are toast, and it all sits dead in Wendy's driveway until Monday. I learned first hand why electrical fires are trickier to put out, but thank God that it all happened at someone's home, and neither me or Wendy where hurt, and the car was not lost (had it happened on the road I think it could have all gone up in flames).

"Cooter" sounds off

In a post I did a short while back I talked about some movies I had seen, and ones I want to see. I talked about how the "dukes" movie might be pushing it and I was unsure if I really wanted to see it. Well, I think I made up my mind today, Ben Jones (a.k.a. Cooter from the original series) spoke out against the movie. Here is a little bit of what he had to say:

Ben Jones, a former Georgia congressman who played the wisecracking mechanic on the popular series from 1979-85, said profanity and sexual content in the film make a mockery of the family friendly show. "Basically, they trashed our show," said Jones, who now lives in the mountains of Washington, Va. "It's one thing to do whatever movie they want to do, but to take a classic family show and do that is like taking "I Love Lucy" and making her a crackhead or something."

Lamest post ever

When a miss a day or two of posting something I start to feel obligated, like I am letting down a large group of fans if I fail to create something interesting and/or funny and post it here. Has I sit and type this out I still have nothing worthwhile to say.

Renewal

"Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is." Romans 12:2 (New Living Translation)
That verse came up today on the radio, and it stuck with me the rest of the day. Maybe because I am trying to renew my thinking, and trying hard to completely break free of worldly behaviors that I was so good at before I knew Jesus.

Ability vs. Want

I heard a new term today: "want-itude". Basically it goes along with aptitude. Aptitude is your abilty to do something, but your wantitude is how much you really want to do it. Sometimes I think we have the ability to do more then we think, but we simply choose not to do it for one reason or another. I recently found myself in a situation where I was certain I was not the right person to be involved with it, but I was chosen. Only one thing to do in a situation like that: pray hard. God said that He gives help if you ask for it, I asked and so far I am pleased to say that I have been receiving.

You're holding me

When I feel You close to me it's easy to believe. To the depths and back again to find that I'm still needing. Feel the fear dissipate when You are everything You are. Feel my soul come awake, You carry me away. When I hurt, when I bleed, You're holding me. Feel You scratching at the surface under my skin.
"Under my skin" by Skillet. I love that song, and it is nice to know that even when we are down and hurt God is not that far away.

The fire within

"There is a candle in every soul, some brightly burning, some dark and cold. There is a Spirit who brings fire, ignites a candle and makes His home. Carry your candle, run to the darkness, seek out the hopeless, confused and torn. Hold out your candle for all to see it, take your candle, and go light your world."
It is so true that when Jesus comes into your life a fire is ignited inside of us. Sometimes it is so bright we feel we can accomplish anything and people can see that light inside of us. Other times it can be so dim we question if it is even there. Well friends, for about the last month or so I was in a time where it felt like that fire was all but gone or put out. I struggled getting myself to read, I was excited to be at church but wasn't getting into it like I had been, and it felt like my prayers where just half hearted and whenever I felt they had to be done. After being able to open up to someone about it all I am starting to make progress back to where I once was before, back to when I knew that fire was alive and burning for everyone to see. Praise God.

Happy 4th of July!

Hope your celebrations have been fun and safe. And remember, freedom isn't free, if you know anyone who has served in the armed forces or is currently enlisted, give them a thank you for all their hard work.

More Power!

Seems like that is always the answer for guys when there are working in the garage. The more power they have, the easier things would be. Well, I jumped on the bandwagon yesterday. I decided the next step for my rat-rod themed beach cruiser is to sand down the paint, but preferably I would like to get it down to the bare metal. I was at Lowe's to get me some good 'ol reliable sandpaper, but as I was walking out I happened to look at some of the drill bits there. I saw what looks like a wire brush in the shape of a cup, and it was made to fit into drill chuck keys. So I quickly weighed the options: hours and hours of sanding until my arm falls off, or cut the time down and be able to go crazy with a power tool. It was no contest, bought the attachment and have been using it for the past few days. So far I got most of the front fork and head tube down to bare metal, slowly starting to work on the main top tube. I want to name this creation, but no good names are coming to mind. I want to challenge all my readers to think up a name for this bike.

May I see some ID please?

Some people say that they wear different hats. They have different skills and responsibilities, and each time they switch to a different task they are said to be wearing a different hat, and all the things they do are all counted as another hat. Well, I say that I am a person who doesn't wear different hats, I wear different lanyards. I have 3 in total at this point: One I wear with my ID badge for the school district, one I wear with my ID badge for working at the ballpark, and the last one I wear is for church, it holds a little plastic rectangle that says "Usher" on it.

Something, anything

Has I sat down and told myself I wanted to make up a blog post, I had a few ideas come up of things I wanted to talk about, but none of them seemed really good or worthwhile. I was about to give up but then decided to write about something that is very close to home for me: temptation. I have heard sermons before and read all the different verses from the bible, but for some reason the other day I heard a pastor on the radio talking about temptation, and while it may not have been any new info for me, it was like I was getting a whole new revelation out of it. Being faced with a temptation is never easy, but whenever you can face a temptation and make the right choice, you become more and more Christ centered, instead of focusing on what your flesh wants and making the wrong choices to go after it. Lord, I want to make the right choices, forgive me when I don't, and take joy when I choose Your way.