'Twas the night before Christmas

Grandma and Grandpa have two Great Danes. They call them Samson and Delilah. Seems like that oughta' mean something.
Seeing as my aunt and uncle named them, perhaps it does.

//
It's a white Christmas for Illinois. Brr.
\\
All the radio stations sound the same right now.
Christmas tunes are Christmas tunes. And by tomorrow night, they'll be gone.
///

I need your grace
To remind me
To find my own - Snow Patrol

YAH HOOOO!

Wow! I'm like so chipper right now. I'm about to freak myself out.

Don't know why. Maybe its the fact that I've been spending more time in the Bible, or the brother that took time out of his day yesterday to help me sort some of life problems out. Or maybe it's the weather. The last two days have been insanely nice. Or perhaps it was the 7 am mountain bike ride with the shop guys. That was pretty incredible. Fun. Awesome. Beautiful. Endorphin-inducing. I had a perma-grin the whole time. Had to floss to get the mud out.

Or maybe it's all the time spent with friends. Gotta' love Christmas-time for that. Or perhaps it's the upcoming road trip to Illinois.

Or it could simply be that I got a paycheck yesterday. Paychecks always make me happy.

I'm a lucky guy. Life's good.
["\/"]
An older customer was buying a present for his wife. We got talking on how they met. Freshman year of high school. She was a year older. They dated all through high school, married at 18 and stayed together for the following 47 years. They have three kids.

"I always told my kids to stay away from salesman and PK's," he said. "All my kids went to business school; my oldest son married a pastor's daughter, my daughter married a pastor's son, and my youngest daughter married a salesman."

Both the son and the son-in-law salesman are now pastors. Too cool.
/;/;/;/
Time to finish my Christmas shopping. Toodles.
:::::::::::::

I prefer a good poem. But this is whats in my mind:
Col 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

the good times

Man, it's been good having Buc around the shop. Totally dig the beard, man.

The dear little song "Christmas Shoes" was playing on the radio. Buc's like, "why didn't the store owner just give the kid the shoes?"

whoa. hang on. I've been getting all sappy over this song for years. Now you're saying I oughta' be mad at the store owner? C'mon, man!

"I mean, he didn't even give the little guy a discount. Scrooge or something."

I can no longer feel sappy about the song. Agh! The crimes of greedy entrepreneurs!!! Down with the shoe guy! Off with his head!!!
,,,
Have I mentioned Kay and the girls are vacationing in Florida? Hopefully the shop will still be standing at their return.
//
Thursday, the Schweitzer Methodist Church donated 115 bicycles to kids of the Boys and Girls Club. So I left work a little early, grabbed the shop vehicle and some tools and headed over there. Tim and Greg also showed up to lend a hand.
It was so cool watching these kids working with strangers to build these bikes. Some of them have a pretty hard go. The organizer, Tim, was telling me about a little kindergarten-aged girl who gets picked up from Missouri Hotel every morning at 6:30 (Heck, most mornings I'm not even awake before 7.), and then dropped off at 9pm. That's her life. She's raised by volunteers.

Does anybody hear her?
><><>|<>|
Great party at Naterz tonight. Pity it snowed. Ah well, we shall use that as an excuse to party again. Reparty, anybody?
----
I love living in a corner apartment on the fourth floor. Downside is the radiator heat has lost some of its radianceness by the time it gets up here. And, well, a corner apartment does catch a lot of wind.
But the views are awesome....
+++++
Cory has just informed me he's figured out how to download stuff from Limewire without getting caught. He lost me somewhere around the required bandwidth splitter...
/\/\/\
Ooh, new believers gettin' baptized,
Momma's hands raised up high,
Havin' a Hallelujah good time
A smile on everybody's face.

That's what I love about Sunday:
Cat-napping on the porch swing;
You curled up next to me,
The smell of jasmine wakes us up.
Take a walk down a back road,
Tackle box and a cane pole;
Carve our names in that white oak,
An' steal a kiss as the sun fades,
That's what I love about Sunday,
-Craig Morgan

And Life stops. But the Music Doesn't.

Brother Ron was sporting glasses at church tonight. Either its a new development or I'm slow at noticing things. Either way, they are quite classy and he's already using them to add some flair to his preaching. A little more gray hair and he's gonna' look so distinguished.

Of course Josh is moving out, so that may slow down the rate of graying.


///
Co-worker Josh has decided to ride the unicycle.
Why? Who knows. Maybe it's his mid-life crisis . Maybe he just feels the need to break an appendage. Maybe he thinks it will help sales.

Really, who cares? Just enjoy the really fuzzy video clip. And weep. There's no way your job is this much fun.
(May require Quicktime)

,,
I slept in yesterday until 11. Got up and wasted some time. And ran some laundry. Then wasted more time. And ran some errands. Then - yeah - wasted more time. And studied. Then proceeded to watch some TV. But the house suddenly lost all of its power. Bummer. So I called the landlord who turned the power back on so I could waste more time.

And then I went to bed at 9. Really, I am a reproach to young adulthood.

||
I'm confused. Sunday afternoon I was sitting here listening to the TV in the other room talk about these shootings in CO. And how the gunman was on the loose. Last night Larry King was interviewing the church security guard that shot and killed the shooter as he was attacking.

But I thought on Sunday after the shooting he was still at large. Maybe he's like a zombie or something.

My prayers to the families. I suggest we stock a couple shotguns at church.

}}

They said boy you just follow your heart.
But my heart just led me into my chest.
They said follow your nose,
But the direction changed every time I went and turned my head.
And they said boy you just follow your dreams,
But my dreams were only misty notions.
But the Father of hearts and the Maker of noses
And the Giver of dreams He's the one I have chosen.
And I will follow Him! -- Rich Mullins

{{

Snapshot

I just wanna know who would name a band Sixx:AM. I mean, there is a band named 4 A.M., a song called 2 AM by Anna Nalick, and one called 8 AM by Summer Obsession.
Musicians must have a habit of staying up all night.
Maybe I should learn to play something.
//
I was downtown the other night. (I'm actually down there a lot these days. There's this cool little place called mudhouse that is just perfect for studying at.) And I noticed they got the Christmas tree up on the square. I thought last year's display was pitiful. This year it is utterly depressing. It looks more like a big bush. So I guess you could say we put up our Christmas bush. It's kinda' leaning to one side with the lights dropped down it. My little brother decorates better than this. I mean, honestly? This bush thing is sacrilege. I weep for Christmas.

Here's a box of tissues:

,,
Last January we had this wicked ice storm. (Completely heathen-- we even sent missionaries.)

Bro and I spent the day out at the Burks where a bunch of us boys started on this completely geeky board game consisting of a board, plastic pieces, closed door discussions (diplomacy), and overall intergalactic take over. (And lots of caramel popcorn, if I remember right, thanks to the Burks women.)

Unfortunately the real world ran out of power and shut down the galactic empires. I guess this is why the amish never strive for world domination.
I got a call from Daniel the other night who was reconvening the council this weekend. So we all piled onto the the church and, after my late arrival and the consumption of large amounts of Cheezies began our manly domination of the universe.

I'm pleased to say that after 9 hours of playing I finally I tied with Josh for second. Daniel took the win with Bro. Ron finishing third. Still don't know how those kids got their dad to stay up so late.

]]
In other news. I'm actually doing some studying. Maybe I'll graduate one of these days. Christmas season is rocking at the bike shop. If you need a bike come see us. If you're just wanting free stuff or somebody to solve your life's problems, forget it. I can suggest a nice bike, a Bible and some quiet trails for sorting your own life out.

Co-worker Josh hung some mistletoe above the shop door. Yeah, awkward.

Good thing it's fake.
///
When you walk away
I count the steps that you take
Do you see how much I need you right now? -Avril

Rollin on

When a long time elapses between posts I have to fight this urge to state the obvious: "It's been a long time since I have posted on here." Like everybody can't figure it out by themselves. There's this plethora of dates and timestamps and stuff.

I went for a ride today (sat.) with one of the new juniors on the OCC cycling team. He sent me an email last night stating that he'd "gotten alot faster than when I saw you on the ms150 so i'll be able to keep up with you now."

I guess the crosswind finally took it out of me 'cause a couple of miles from home I blew up like the little steam engine that couldn't. I hate it when I do that. The world turns psychedelic colors, there's this tunnel vision thing going on, and I get this disgusting taste in my mouth that makes me wanna' puke every time I sip water.

Ah well. Hopefully it was a boost to his confidence....
*Shout-out to Richard Huddleston who was headed back to Lebanon as we were getting back. Rumor has it we're both doing Froze Toes...
.....

Well, a new year is upon us. I've fallen way short of my goals for this year. But I'm a much better man for trying. I recognize specific areas of weaknesses that have held me back. Destructive habits and thought patterns that hinder my progress (and my communication with God). And, more importantly it's not all about what your do, but who you are.

And that my family and friends are the dearest things I'll ever have.
...

I was a little late for work the other day... I had to sit in the car and enjoy this song. Excuse it's length.

I had big plans for our future
Said I'd give you the whole world somehow
I tried making good on that promise
Thought I'd be so much further by now
Never could build you a castle
Even though your the queen of my heart
But I've had the best of intentions from the start

Now some people think I'm a loser
'Cause I seldom get things right
But you make me feel like a winner
When you wrap me in your arms so tight
Please tell me you will remember No matter how much I do wrong
That I had the best of intentions all along

Ch.
I gave you a ring
And I promised you things
I always thought we'd do
But my best-laid plans
Slipped right through my hands
To show my love for you
And if you could read my heart
The you'd know without exception
It was all with the best of intentions

So here I am asking forgiveness
And praying that you'll understand
Don't think I take you for grantd
Girl, I know just how lucky I am
Though you deserve much better
You won;t find devotion more true
'Cause I've had the best of intentions
Girl I've had the best of intentions
Yes, I've had the best of intentions loving you.
-Travis Tritt, Best of Intentions