Busy weekend

We had a rather busy weekend.

Friday night: Bob Dylan tribute concert

Saturday AM: New tires on Sean's car and a baby shower

Saturday PM: Party at the Hoffman's

Sunday AM: Sleep in!!

Sunday PM: Photo shoot for the Wingert's 40th anniversary

Sunday afternoon we drove up to Messiah College and took some photos for our friends, the Wingerts and company. All manner of family and friends were there so we took the opportunity to get some nice family shots. It went great and we had a blast. It's always east to take great pictures when you have lovely surroundings and good weather. I enjoyed every moment.

It feels really good to have total digital control over all my pictures. Gone are the days of film. My new camera is starting to feel like an extension. I just imagine, point, compose and press the shutter. Click. And there it is.

Anyway here are some of my favorite pics: Click Here

To see the whole gallery of pics: Click Here

Have a great evening..

New Do

Well, I finally did it. I got it chopped off. What a relief! I am actually happy with the results. Less hair and no more gray. What do you think? Only nice comments please. If you don't like it, lie!

"We came to smash the Americans"

Did you hear this statement in the past 2 days? The now famous words uttered bombastically by the captain of the french swimming team. The same team that was defeated by the American swim team during the 4 x 100 men's swimming relay at the Olympic games in Beijing.

Ok, so I may not be the world's foremost authority on international diplomacy but I know this, no matter what country you come from if you are going to talk trash you better be able to bring it.

Even more classic was the comment of one of the guys from the American team.

"I don't want to hear any of that, I'll just take care of business when we get to the pool"

I watched the conclusion of the race in utter disbelief, as the fate of the "frenchies" was sealed by one hand's length. I was on my feet, both hands clutching my hair when Marci and I saw the glorious sight of the words "United States" flash first across the screen.

I think I was screaming as loud as Michael Phelps was. Even more tasty was the sight of the french swimmer (the same guy who claimed he was there to smash people) wallow in the water in a stunned shock.

So here's to you frenchy. Yes you helped us defeat the British all those years ago, and yes you gave us a very nice statue of a big lady - but let this be a lesson: never underestimate the power of a bunch of ticked off Yankees.

Au revoir'

Sean.

Final Product

Poor Sean. He just wanted to hang a few shelves and make the study beautiful. After some trials and struggles he did just that. Here's the study during shelf hanging . . .


And after . . .

Not bad, huh?

Sunday Ramblings

I tried to hang some of those fancy "floating shelves" in our study.
This did not go according to my plan. All I ended up with was 4 holes in our drywall. :(
I felt rather ticked off after that - especially since the wall is covered in red paint and touching it up is going to be a pain. (See attached picture for details.)
It's my fault, for once I didn't read the directions and I used the wrong wall anchors to hang the shelf. Turns out they were actually a lot stronger than I thought and removing them trashed our wall.

My war with Value City has come to an unceremonious end. I managed to fix our furniture and you would never even know that it was damaged. I have decided not to drive all the way to Harrisburg to exchange it again. Now they just keep calling me to let me know that the replacement stuff is here. Oh well, I think I will let them sweat it out for a little.

We are enjoying a day at home today. Marci and I just needed a day to chill at the casa.

Did you watch the Olympic opening ceremony? Amazing. Marci loves the Olympics.
She keeps saying loudly, randomly and with great exuberance "I love the Olympics!"
This is very cute, even when it catches me totally off guard.

Have a great Sunday.

Raw

A really wonderful friend of ours came over for dinner last weekend. We had a great time, and the whole week we were looking forward to her company. As the evening sun drifted lower in our kitchen window, and the evening's conversation spun it it yarns around our meal we approached the topic of God.
Our guest has lost someone very special and dear to her recently. A tragic accident resulted in the loss of a good friend. Marci asked her how she was handling things, and how she was doing.
One thing I love about our friend is the openness of that big warm heart she has. She openly talked about her emotions after the accident and how the whole situation had made her feel.
My heart was feeling sore for her as I recounted in my mind what I felt like the moment I heard the news. We spoke about God and how she had struggled in her mind to reconcile this whole event and still believe in a merciful Lord.
Then she said something that made my thoughts stop so suddenly I could feel myself breathing.
" I had to realize through this situation that I serve a God who would allow my friend to die"
Wow - did you get that.
I did. Very suddenly. Understand, that our friend still loves the Lord, very much so. But what she said was real to her, and certainly justified. But how can you possibly resolve this? Because it's true, it happened.
That made me stop and think. Once in a while you hear something that makes you do that. This was one of those moments. Stop and think about the realness, and the weight of that statement.
It wasn't said in any sense of anger or bitterness, It was said in all Godly respect and honesty.

Do I always see the bigger picture? How small am I? How on earth can something like this happen? I tried so hard to process this information last week. My limited conclusion is this: God is a merciful God, yet we live in a world corrupted by sin. I am convinced that as humans, we sometimes expect that God's mercy is lived out in the flesh when we ask for it here on earth. We expect it. Why wouldn't we? We are flesh and bone. I think that God's mercy exists in the fact that He died for us already and has bridged the gap we created between us and Him. That is where true mercy is displayed, on the cross and the fact that every day that we live in sin and we are forgiven. There is no account held against us who trust in Jesus.

Life is really hard sometimes. We are faced with sorrow and the question "why did this happen?" Amidst all of that I was reminded last week that we are all mortal beings. We forget this sometimes. This planet is truly only temporary. The young lady that lost her life in this story was a believer. I thank God for that. She is in a place with no suffering, and no pain.
Perhaps a way to settle this terrible tragedy in our minds is that she has now experienced the full extent God's grace. She has been reconciled to the Father through the death of his son and now lives and his heavenly kingdom.

I still don't fully understand, but for all of us I hope the following.
May you stop, slow down and breath this week. Don't miss your life going by.

Sean.

Quick update

Well, after a nicely crafted email to Value City Furniture's corporate website I got a call from a customer service rep today.

The result - Nothing.

"Sorry, I spoke to the store manager, and they wont deliver or pick up from your address"

Thats it, I am done fighting with these people.

Obviously they have no concern for customer service - even when they sell you damaged goods.

I shall return this furniture, get it replaced and go on with my life.

I make a solemn vow never to purchase anything at this company again.

I learned a very valuable statistic a long time ago.

For every satisfied customer you create, they tell at least 2 - 3 people.

For every dissatisfied customer, they tell at least 10-15 people, who then tell another 2-3 people each.

You do the math.

So Value City, I'm done with you.

Annoyed

I'm tired and grouchy tonight. Tired because I've been going non-stop for 2 days, and grouchy since I had a really bad customer service experience this week.
So, since this is America, and this is our blog, I am going to share my opinions on this matter.
We have been waiting for almost a year now to buy a nice desk for our study, I work at home when I am not in the office, and Marci being a teacher needs a place to get paperwork done.
We finally found the right desk at Value City Furniture in Harrisburg, The price was right, and it was the ideal desk for us. So, last Thursday I made the decision to buy it and bring and end to this endless search.
I went to pay for it, and the sales person informed me that "we don't deliver to your address."
"What?" I asked. This seemed odd as, they have delivered furniture to us before, and we lived further away. Not wanting to argue, I just asked to see the manager.
Out walked this man, after making me wait a little, and I informed him of my problem.
"I'm sorry" he told me, "I have to draw the line somewhere, we don't deliver to your address"
I explained how absurd this was since, they have before, and they do deliver to other places that are further from us - this was clearly marked on their map, pinned up on the wall next to the cash register. The conversation went like this:
"I cant believe you wont deliver to my address - we live 4 miles away from East Petersburg, and clearly you deliver to that location, its on your list"
"I have to draw the line"
"This is crazy"
"We'll with the price of fuel....."
To cut a long argument short - I walked out ready to use some special words on this man.
I called my wife, and she calmed me down. I agreed that we could just rent a U-haul and get the furniture ourselves. So we did this over the entire evening last night, only to get most of it home, to find it badly damaged.
That's right. Are you mad yet? Can you feel my pain!!!
So I saw another manager today, and let her know that she needs to come and get here damaged furniture since I was not renting another u-haul, only to hear the same thing.
"I'm sorry sir - we don't deliver" So, now I have to organize more transportation, and more time out of my life to return their damaged crap, which they promised was good for delivery. "it will all be inspected before you pick it up sir" I was told last week. Right.
What do I get for this: $50
That's right, the desk cost over $1300, and I get $50 for my wasted time and gas.
Nice.
So now I have a delivery for Value Sh!@#y Furniture.
You suck.

Sean.

Man shoots lawnmower.

Well, it finally happened.

MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee man was accused of shooting his lawn mower because it wouldn't start. Keith Walendowski, 56, was charged with felony possession of a short-barreled shotgun or rifle and misdemeanor disorderly conduct while armed.

According to the criminal complaint, Walendowski said he was angry because his Lawn Boy wouldn't start Wednesday morning. He told police quote, "I can do that, it's my lawn mower and my yard so I can shoot it if I want."

A woman who lives at Walendowski's house reported the incident. She said he was intoxicated.

Walendowski could face up to an $11,000 fine and six years and three months in prison if convicted.

A call to Walendowski's home went unanswered Friday morning.

Stupid lawn boy.

A day in the life...

Marci and I took a little road trip yesterday. Not because we wanted to, but because I had to see a customer, 4 hours away from home. I knew it was going to be a long day in the car by myself (This happens a lot in my job) so I asked her if she wanted to come along for the ride. Originally, she turned me down, as the prospect of sitting in the car for that amount of time I'm sure wasn't that appealing, I could hardly blame her. We woke up the next day, and she told me that she had thought about it and decided she wanted to go.
Great! I was glad, we get to spend the day together, and I don't have to be all alone.

A funny thing happens to Marci when she goes for a long ride in the car. We usually start out chatting, listening to the radio. Then after about half an hour, she gets really quiet, and this straight ahead stare seems to creep its way onto her face. As I glance over occasionally, I can see that her long eyelashes are starting to slowly bob up and down, getting gradually lower and lower. I smile to myself. I know what is happening, I've seen this before time and again.
Then I offer the usual "Are you getting sleepy sweetheart?"
I always get the same response: " I'm getting sleepy, I think I need a nap"

Then, she pushes her seat back, folds her arms, takes a deep breath and lights out.
Invariably, her head falls to the right side and she's fast asleep.

This past trip yesterday, was a true testament to the power of the "sleeping car"
We left at 8 AM, and she was out by 8:30.
I took a picture.


Do you fall victim to this phenomenon?
She woke up around 35 mins. later, and told me I had to pull the car over at the nearest rest stop for a potty break. (That is another event that seems to happen on all our road trips)

Anyway, we had a great time. I helped fix a customers 140 ton crane, and 2 hours later we turned around made the trip home.