Inappropriate Ads

Gotta love European advertisements. :)

Longest Day of the Year...Really

Today is the longest day of the year. It's true. Even longer than December 21st. Why? Because today will be 24 hours and 1 second long. "They" are adding an extra second onto the atomic clock today to compensate for fluctuations in the Earth's rotation. It's the 24th time it's happened since 1972, and the last one was in 2005.

How crazy is that? How can you just add a second onto the day? Talk about power. Who are these people that they can do this? This isn't just America here, this is Global! That's nuts. I think "they" should take this power of theirs and put it to good use. Not just adding seconds onto the Atomic clock. I mean, if they have the power to make the day change from 24 hours, think of the things they could do? They could create World Peace. They could make it so that there are no more hungry people in Africa. Seriously. What a waste of power to spend it on changing the clock by 1 second.

I hear about this on the radio this morning, and got more info on my newsreader from slashdot.

chrisandjoinwinnipeg blog

we've been negligent in updating the blog we created to keep family and friends updated now that we don't live in calgary anymore. i had forgotten the password, and hadn't gotten around to rectifying that situation. so today i got it figured out, and it is up and running again and updated. i will keep it updated, and hopefully get jo in on it as well. since it is supposed to be from the BOTH of us.

it will mostly be for stuff to keep people updated on life here in winnipeg, and will have no relation to this blog. :) because this blog is for the ranting and raving and thinking and musing. that one is merely for show. well, not really. it's a nice way to keep people informed with what's going on in our lives, things that i wouldn't necessarily write about on here.

Chris and Mama Bean in Winnipeg

Red Sex, Blue Sex

Red Sex, Blue Sex
Why do so many evangelical teen-agers become pregnant?
by Margaret Talbot

"Social liberals in the country’s “blue states” tend to support sex education and are not particularly troubled by the idea that many teen-agers have sex before marriage, but would regard a teen-age daughter’s pregnancy as devastating news. And the social conservatives in “red states” generally advocate abstinence-only education and denounce sex before marriage, but are relatively unruffled if a teen-ager becomes pregnant, as long as she doesn’t choose to have an abortion."

An amazing article from the New Yorker that Mama Bean sent to me back in October. I finally got around to reading the entire thing. It's fairly lengthy, but well worth the read and brings up some interesting points and ideas.

Dino Jesus

This is for the folks from the Creationist....errr...Christian Research Institute who believe that man lived alongside the dinosaurs (they have an ad that runs regularly on the christian radio station here in town). Not that I think it really matters whether or not it's true, but I find it difficult to believe. Especially since it is followed with the argument that the Earth is only 4000 years old, and that God invented carbon dating or that He placed the fossils in the earth when he created it, and any number of other arguments. It isn't an important part of my faith, so I tend not to dwell on it.

I want a t-shirt with this on it. I'm trying to think of a witty caption to go below it though.

Twisted Christian

My buddy Neil started calling me "Twisted Christian" a few years back because of my penchant for things like knives, guns, and my potty mouth, among other things. It suits me. I'd love to get it tattooed somewhere in graffiti style.

Today I purchased twistedchristian.ca, and hope to one day be able to have an email like revchris or pastorchris@twistedchristian.ca. One day. :)

I'm thinking of putting my blog up on there, or linking it to my blog anyway, but in the meantime I just own the domain and will setup an email for it.

It's exciting and I wanted to share.

looking for new blogs

I follow too many mom blogs. Why can't I follow blogs of dudes (or dudettes) that are not hipster moms? Are there any out there? Are there dudes out there writing blogs that aren't pretentious? Because most of the ones I've found are, and I'm not sure a huge fan. I'm just looking for real folks, with real lives. :) They are fun to read about, to compare and contrast my life with and against.

I've been reading a number of blogs for a few years now, but they are either about waiters and stuff, which I know absolutely nothing about, and thus find fascinating, or mom blogs. Like this who used to write lots of stuff about pregnancy and shit and I was suddenly all opinionated about things like having your baby at home instead of in the hospital, or using a midwife and all that sorta stuff. Stuff that normal 26 year old guys aren't interested in. Who could I have a conversation with about the merits of a water birth with a midwife over the cold sterile atmosphere of a hospital? NO ONE. Even my wife looks at me funny when I have opinions and views on this kinda stuff. I read about it on a blog, did some further research and formed opinions. Nothing wrong with that, EXCEPT THAT IT IS ABOUT CHILD BIRTH. Which, although it is very important, shouldn't be something I am researching online when a baby isn't in our near future.

So yeah. If you know of any cool blogs that might interest me, I'd be happy to hear about them. I'll still continue to ready my "mom blogs," because I like following their lives, even though it's kinda weird in a stalkerish sort of way, but not really because it is totally innocent and shouldn't be at all creepy. That and I usually comment on all the blogs I read so people know that I am there. That makes it less creepy right? Well, whatever, I enjoy following the ones that I do read.

To sum it up: I'm looking for new blogs to read/follow that aren't "mom blogs." :)

First Sunday playing at Central

I got to play at our new church today. And it was awesome.

A few posts ago I wrote about a shitty worship experience due to lack of practice. I would like to append that post by saying that it depends on the situation and people you are playing with. Mama Bean and I played at Central Baptist today and it was awesome. They picked the songs this morning (4 of them) and we ran through them a couple of times before the start of service. We played them, and everything went off without a hitch. My playing was actually pretty good too. I was slightly more adventurous in my playing (staying away from just root notes), and came up with a cool little groove for "I will call upon his name." All in all, it was awesome and I can't wait to play with them again, and continue to play with them. They are a tight group, and I've never really played with a group enough to get pretty tight with them, so that'll be cool.

It would be cool to play in a band that plays something with a little more musical substance than church music. I really love country bass lines, they are so much fun, but playing country for hours at a time, I'm not sure about. :) I also really like new pop music, but Winnipeg isn't big in that scene. There seems to be a huge metal presence out here, but as much as I love metal, I'm not really a metal bassist. lol

Another cool thing about playing at Central is that they are pretty plugged into the music scene here in Winnipeg. They have a band that they do weddings and stuff with which is pretty cool. I'm hoping, within the next year, to get into a band and actually do some real playing outside of church. I've only really played in church, with the exception of playing at our work Stampede BBQ a couple of times, so I think it would be great to get into some real playing. I've been putting in some serious practice time as of late, and I've figured out some of the road blocks I have been encountering and need to overcome. And actually worked on that this morning. :) See I have a problem standing out. I'm not big on being noticed. I'm shy. So when I play, I like sticking to the root notes and just playing in the background. Laying down a foundation, but otherwise not donig much. So what I need to work on is creating lines that add more to the song than just the foundation. I want to be able to add some groove, some funk, to the song. This involves playing notes that other people aren't playing to complement the song, which is what I'm working on.

A little Saturday afternoon drive

So I went for a little drive today. Well, it should have been a little drive anyway. I went to pickup some wall-mounted guitar holders. I want to hang my basses on the wall. It's artisticish and it keeps them off the floor, and easily available.

I call a number of music stores and everyone is sold out. This place at the other end of town calls me back and says they do have some in stock. So I start the trek out there. I've never been there, but I figure I'm getting comfortable with Winnipeg's roads so it shouldn't be a problem. I look it up on google maps and head out. After driving for half an hour or so I determine I am not on the right road. See the music store is on Henderson Hwy. To get there I needed to take Portage, then Main, then the Disraeli Freeway and then Henderson HWy. From the map it looked liek Main turned into the Disraeli which turned into Henderson, which would be par for the course here in Winnipeg where it isn't uncommon for a road to change names 8 times as it stretches across the city.

So I reach the end of town and haven't found the place. I take a guess at where I went wrong and get to the store 5 min before closing. And they are sold out. I get back into my car, and hop on the perimeter to come home. Driving on the highway relaxes me, so it was a welcome change of pass from the Winnipeg drivers I'd been dealing with for the last 45 minutes. (I am now convinced I can break off that little stick on the left side of my steering wheel. Nobody here uses them, so I may as well break it off and get it out of the way)

Now I don't have my guitar hangers, so my house isn't going to start to resemble any time soon. Though along with not having the hangers I don't have nearly as many instruments. :)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

We miss our family and friends, but it has been a good day. I hope you had a great day with your family and/or friends.

Title

When you write a blog entry, do you write the title before or after you write the post part?

Old Diaryland Entries

So I'm going to attempt to import all of my old d-land entries into blogger for the sake of keeping everything in one place. I was skimming through some of the older ones today and it makes me laugh. I've been posting since November of 2002 when I was at bible college, which is kinda cool. So we'll see how this works.

Edit:
So I have to create a new entry for each d-land entry. So I have to open each d-land entry, copy it, paste it into blogger, adjust the date, post it, and repeat. That and I stop and read little bits so it takes awhile. :) But it's fun. I'm sure it'll bring up lots of things for me to post on as well. They start in 11/02 and run until Mid-05 when I switched over to blogger. So for those of you who didn't know me back then, it's a rather amusing read. :)

Frustration

Sometimes I just want to throw my bass down in frustration (but I don't because it is expensive).
I'm working on learning the bass line for Paul McCartney's "Silly Love Songs." (see video below) It is a solid bass line and really drives the song along. I love it. It isn't a terribly hard line, but it is fairly quick with alot of moving around. I've gotten the main groove down pretty solid, but my tone is VERY muddy and I"m not sure how to fix it. It's frustrating. I don't understand tone very well yet. This morning I played in church, and while it went really well, I was having an off day with my rhythm and I just could not come up with anything with any sort of groove to it. It was just some boring ass shit. Not to mention ending a song on the 6th instead of the root and letting it hang thinking, "This doesn't sound quite right, why doesn't this sound right?" Not something to do on stage. Things just were not coming together for my playing and it was just so frustrating. I was so impressed with myself for learning the groove for "Silly Love Songs" yesterday because it was one of the songs that got me interested in playing bass in the first place, but was beyond my limited skills when I first started learning. I remember attempting to play it shortly after I started and failing miserably.

So some days I just want to throw in the towel. I still love it, but it just frustrates me. I would benefit greatly from lessons, but those don't come free. :) I have the basics, I just have trouble with the groove.

On the other hand my day ended on a high note because we spent the evening at a potluck and playing Settlers of Cataan with new friends, which I enjoyed immensly.

Paul McCartney and Wings - "Silly Love Songs"

Irrational Fear

I wish I wasn't scared of the dark. A grown man shouldn't be scared of the dark, and that which is (not actually) in it.

I need to find a way to solve this problem.

Identity?

How do you define who you are? What is it that makes up your identity? I've been struggling with this alot lately. I've been struggling with the concept of identity lately.

I lead a pretty nomadic life for the first 10 years of my life, living in 3 provinces and 2 territories, and 7 different cities across western Canada.

I spent my formative years in Yellowknife. I finished elementary school up there, and continued on to graduation before moving again. So I know what cold is, I know what it is like to watch the northern lights every night all winter, and to snowmobile to school, and for the sun to go down at 3 and rise at 10. I know what it is like to go fishing at 3am with the sun just below the horizon, and what it is like to be carried away by giant mosquitos. But I left after I graduated and I haven't gone back; to visit or otherwise. I also wasn't born up there. Over half of my graduating class moved back up there when they finished University or otherwise. How can I define myself as something that they are?

My mom is from a rural Mennonite background. A family of 15 kids, grew up on a farm in small town southern Manitoba and spoke low german. I can resonate with these people, but it is not me. I picked up a lot of the customs and ideas and such from my mom just by virtue of growing up with her as my mom, but being back here again...it's just not me. It has that sense of familiarity, but while I used to say I'm Mennonite, I can't do that anymore. These people out here are Mennonite, they know what that means. I don't think I really do.

My dad grew up pretty blue-collar nomadic, and that part sits really well with me. Except that I'm now in a white collar job, associate with white collar people and married an educated woman who is a chiropractor. When I was growing up, I wanted to be just like my dad. He worked in the mines, and had perma-dirty hands. They were big, and rough and had permanently grease stained hands. He carried a big aluminum lunch kit that was covered in union stickers and worked shift work. This is what I wanted to be, and even was for a little while until I got tired of having my hands dirty all the time because I'm a bit of a priss. So now I feel like I can't even call myself bluecollar anymore. I don't want to be this white collar dude, it doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel like my identity.

I know many other things make up ones identity, but these are the things that I get hung up on.

I define myself as a husband, a Christian, a bass player, an introvert, a computer geek (who sucks at computer games but loves them anyway, and who has a techy job but is totally not nerdy enough), and a pastor-wannabe. I am patient, and loving, and blunt, and sometimes lacking tact, and loyal, and stubborn (but learning to pick my battles), and quiet. I tell myself I don't care what people think, but I really do. I love the outdoors and wish I spent more time out there. I spend a lot of time wishing I could be a better person, and thinking of ways to improve myself but being too lazy to act on alot of it.

I also have a bit of a martyr complex, but we won't get into that right now.

So I can define myself with all of those things, but it's the more cultural stuff that I get hung up on, yet find really important. I am not a patriotic person by any stretch of the imagination and take no pride in being Canadian. My parents have a mix of countries that their ancestors come from, namely Prussia, but I can't go around having Prussian pride since it doesn't really exist anymore. I just wish I had that cultural pride that people with a specific ethnic background have. Like the Irish, or the Scottish, or what-have-you. I don't know why I find that to be so important, and maybe I need to just get over it but it seems like it should be an important part of my identity.

Sunday's Service

Following last week's dismal worship experience, Sunday's service at Central Baptist was a wonderful change of pace. It's the first time in a long time I've sat through a sermon that was truly thought provoking and had me stop and think. The music part wasn't really up my alley, but it really added to the service. The part that really brought it home for me was the prayer time. Part of it involved a prayer and response, like we used to do at Catholic Mass. The priest (or whomever is reading the prayer at the front) reads the prayer, and the congregation answers with some form of, "Lord, hear our prayer." we just did "Hear our prayer," and it was so nice. I find I pay more attention during communal prayer when there is a response instead of drifting away.

Suffice to say, it was an amazing service, and I can't wait to go back.

Britney

Taken from STORY BEHIND THE SONG: Bebo Norman’s “Britney”

Britney I’m sorry for the lies we told
We took you into our arms then left you cold
Britney, I’m sorry for this cruel, cruel world
We sell the beauty but destroy the girl

Britney, I’m sorry for your broken heart

“Britney” is a song about what our culture says and does to young women these days. It’s a collective apology for the struggle girls face growing up too fast in today’s overly adult-oriented world. The song confesses, “I’m sorry for the lies we told… We took you into our arms then left you cold/I’m sorry for this cruel, cruel world… /We sell the beauty but destroy the girl.” It’s about the lies we tell them about fame and money and what’s beautiful and what will give them life. It’s an apology for those lies. But more than that, it’s an invitation to the truth about a God who is bigger than the pain this world so often leaves them in.

I was up late, couldn’t sleep, watching some news channel, when yet another story about Britney Spears came on. My first instinct was to scoff and write it off, but then there was this freeze-frame shot of a look on her face of utter and absolute despair and confusion and brokenness—a look that I recognized. And I remember thinking “This girl is a child of God.” Suddenly, I saw her story not as something to mock, but as a real-life tragedy that is desperate for redemption and hope—a story not so different from any of our stories. Take away all the lights and cameras, and it’s really just a narrative of a girl so clearly in need of love, so clearly in need of the redeeming love of our God.

And suddenly, all I wanted to do was just apologize, over and over. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry...on behalf of this fallen world, on behalf of our consumerism that so consistently devours what it wants and leaves the remnants in the wake of the search for the next fix, on behalf of believers, like myself, who mock and hurl stones rather than scribbling a message in the sand.

I think that night I saw her through the eyes of Jesus for the first time. I imagined what Jesus would say to me in my darkest hour and realized that those are the words we should speak to this world, to this culture, and even to Britney Spears in their darkest hour. “I’m sorry. Hope is here.”
–Bebo Norman.

Worship

Not adequately preparing for worship should not happen. It is unacceptable. It is like saying to God that He isn't worth it. He isn't worth our time, or our effort. We are supposed to give God our all. Always. He IS GOD! He doesn't deserve, or even want, our second best. He wants our best, and we should give it to Him. Nothing else should even cross our minds. We should want nothing but to give Him our best.

We are instruments in His hands. We are vessels that he speaks through. Be it our playing hands, our uplifted voices, our raised hands, or our open spirits. He is the potter, and we are the clay. He doesn’t make half-ass shit, so why do we act like it? Why don't we give it our all?
I'm getting tired of shitty worship. Shitty worship that I am a part of. When you sign up to play on a worship team, you are making a commitment. You are saying, "I will show up to practice. I will show up on time. I will make sure I am ready." Why do we find value in our other commitments, but when it comes to worship practice, it takes a backseat to the rest of our lives? Where is the respect?

And now I'm not without fault either. I often don't practice as much as I feel I should, but without a practice as a band, things can't come together. Having 20-30 min before the start of the service in which to run through 4 or 5 songs as well as do a sound check doesn't cut it. I'm one of those people that will ALWAYS run through the songs a few times before Sunday morning. Be it between rehearsal and Sunday morning, or preferably before rehearsal. I hate sounding like shit on Sunday mornings, so I'll make sure I know what I'm doing beforehand. As a musician, I take pride in my playing, and maintain a certain level of professionalism. I'm by no means an amazing bass player, but I'm growing and improving and practice to continue on that path. I want to play my best, both for Him and for me.

I look forward to Sunday morning all week long. Church is the highlight of my day, so when it starts off with lousy worship, it ruins it all. I feel frustrated and annoyed and it ruins the rest of the service.

New Church?

Mama Bean and I, along with our friends Nancy and Brent (who recently moved here from Calgary) went to check out a new church, Central Baptist Church. That's right, their website is coolbaptist.com; their pastor helps it live up to its name. He's the Rock n' Roll preacher (www.rocknrollpreacher.com). A larger-than-life lead pastor and lead-guitar-playing worship pastor. He's quite the character, and I think he probably does a good job. It's a small church, of only 40ish or so people, but the community was noticeable the moment we walked in the door. I haven't found anything like this since leaving Journey. Journey was amazing, and we were really spoiled there and I think that setup some unrealistic expectations when we came out here. I'm not sure what Nancy and Brent thought of the church, or Jo. Mama Bean said she liked it, but that was after my obviously excited bubbling about it. We are committed to play at Grace for the month of December, but I would really like to start attending Central come January.

I've spent my day listening to K-LOVE, a national Christian radio station out of the US. The announcers in the morning drive me nuts, mostly because the guy refers to his wife as his "lovely bride" even though they've been married for years and it gets annoying. But Christian radio is something I enjoy; though I get made fun of for it. It's nice to immerse myself in the happiness that is Christian radio (with the exception of the obviously conservative, ass-backwards ads that occasionally come through).

i don't get it

how can the promise of so much yield so little. i just don't understand. we moved out here to get ahead. why then does it feel like we are just slipping deeper into this hole?

oh, and too much internal screaming will give you a headache.

Christmas Time is Here!

Yesterday was December 1st, and I woke up to the sounds of Christmas music on the radio. What a perfect start to the Christmas season!

I love Christmas. It is my favorite time of year. I know lots of people love Christmas, and I'm just one of them, but that's quite alright with me. It's my favorite season. I think it's because it is this super happy time AND there is snow on the ground. Christmas in Calgary was always lacking, and I think it was because of the brown grass everywhere. I think there was 1 white Christmas in the past 8 that I have spent in Calgary. That's not Christmas. Christmas' are supposed to be white. And that's what we get here in Winnipeg. There will never be a brown Christmas in Winnipeg (or there better not be in my life time). We've had snow since the first week of November, and it should be here until Aprilish. Yay Winter!

Mama Bean and I aren't doing presents this year. With the move and buying the house and starting her own practice, we are going to pass on the tradition of presents this year. I'm not terribly broken up over it, because while I love presents, they aren't essential. It is a bigger sacrifice for Mama Bean since gifts are her love language. So yay my wife for making the sacrifice.

WholesomeWear

"WholesomeWear is a modest line of clothing for 'wherever.' Our WaterWear is the first to be introduced because the need for medesty in swimwear is greatest and the supply is almost non-existent. Swimwear that 'highlights the face, rather than the body' includes an undergarment with bright colors at the neck and shoulders to draw the eye to the face. The spandex undergarment limits cling and adds modesty and style. A single zipper unites both garments for swimming ease."

That's right. WholesomeWear

The Quest to Become a Better Writer

I want to become a better writer, and I have 2 years in which to get a good start. The thing is that I don't know how. How does one become a better writer? I surf through a large number of blogs everyday and they are all well written. This is part of the reason I read them. Someone could have great ideas, but if they don't know how to express them in a coherent structured manner, it becomes lost in the mess. I think this is what happens to me. I just sat down to write a bit about how Judas has been unfairly demonized for his part in the betrayal, and subsequent killing of Jesus. And how by vilifying the Jews for killing Jesus, people are missing the point. Jesus was SUPPOSED to be killed. It was part of the prophesy. And besides, how could he have been he ultimate sacrifice if he wasn't killed?

But I struggle to express myself with words. I have all of these ideas running around my head, but I don't have the words, or ability, to put them to paper (or screen).

My goal is to be back in school in 2 years and get my degree. I'd like to be a better writer by that point so I can focus on the other aspects of my schooling and not have to worry so much about my writing.

Jesus is my Friend

Best. Video. Ever. Period. :D
Seriously...it's friggin awesome. I can't find the music anywhere though. So I'm transcribing the bass line. Much to Jo's chagrin I'm sure. I think I've listened to it 100 times already. Enjoy.

Useless Associations

Sometimes it feels like I'm just starting to get up and I get kicked back down. Things have been going pretty well. As I said in my last post things are getting going with Mama Bean and her practice, and I'm enjoying work, and we are getting settled here in Winnipeg. Then Mama Bean gets a letter today saying that she has to pay a mandatory levy to the chiropractic association to help cover legal fees for some bullshit case against the chiro assoc. Now the whole suing chiropractors over stupid shit is a completely different rant for another day. Mama Bean became licensed as of Oct 1st so that she could find a job, and use the resources of the association to help her achieve that. It's now the middle of Nov and she isn't working. She isn't a practicing Chiropractor right now even though we paid over a thousand fucking dollars to get her licensed until the end of December. And I am fine with that. This is what we had to do to help her get a job and start practicing. The fees are a little exhorbant but whatever... Now another $500?!? Are you fucking kidding me? She isn't practicing. She isn't making any fucking money, and we have to pay another $500. Oh, and it's due in 2 weeks. Go sodomize a dead goat. Umm...excuse me? Yes you over there. You dumb fucks who think that all chiropractors are made of money. We don't have it. we can't just afford to give you guys another fucking $500. Oh, and come January, she'll owe them another 2 grand or so, give or take. lol, not give or take. Give. It won't be less than that.

I think there should be a disclaimer for chiropractic student prospects. **Warning: You will be charged exhorbant fees to practice and then they will randomly charge fees throughout the year.***"

Now don't get my wrong. Chiropractors are great. Stupid fees are not.

Progress

So Mama Bean is going to be starting a practice out of our house. Yay! She hasn't had much luck on the job front here, so we figure it's time to take charge and go ahead with doing it alone. She's a little scared, but also quite excited. We are going to turn our dining room into an exam room/office for her. We'll buy a table and get the room setup nicely for her. I'm excited for her. It'll be great for her to move ahead with her chiropractic career, get out of Starbucks and immerse herself in what she loves. Working as an associate in the clinic in Calgary really drained her and made her start to second guess her love for Chiropractic. I think this will help her find that love again and allow her to do things her way.
It won't be profitable enough for her to do just that to begin with, so we're thinking she'll get a part time job doing clerical stuff or something and have other hours set aside for clinic hours. It's an exciting step forward and one that I think will really pay off.
Right now she's working on getting all the specifics figured out like licensing, paperwork, etc... and I'm going to give her a hand getting a web presence.
Exciting!

Cutest. Little. Girl. Ever. (until I have one)

Once upon a time... from Capucha on Vimeo.

11/11/08

Today is Remembrance Day. A day to remember those that have fallen defending... lol... defending. Not our country. Even WWI, WWII, the Korean war, they werne't defending our country, they were helping defend other countries, and that is an honorable thing to do. Worth remembering. We remember them, and we remember and give thanks to those that didn't die on the battlefield, but came home with all the other scars that the participant in war receives. Serving maybe, but not defending.
We are also remembering, and thanking, those that have served since those wars. Those that serve in a Peacekeeping capacity; those that served, and are serving in places like Afghanistan and Iraq.
we show our support for the troops. The Army. The Navy. The Air Force. I have a number of friends stationed in various places serving our country. It's pretty cool. My little brother did it to. He put in his time in Afghanistan.
So I am thankful for those that serve, have served, and will serve.

My favorite poem as a kid:

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Prop 8 is bullshit

Ummm...what's going on? I thought we were moving forward, not backwards. We being society in general. What is this proposition 8 bullshit? Coming from a Christian background, I understand where conservative Christians are coming from, but I don't think that excuses inequality. Saying someone doesn't have access to the same benefits and rights that I have being a heterosexual male because they are homosexual is bigotry. Now I know it goes both ways, the tree-hugging hippy leftists are just as bad when it comes to slamming religion, as the bible misinterpreting right-wing nutjobs are when slamming anything that they think threatens to oppose their religious beliefs.

I understand that the religious right is upset because they think that allowing "the gays" to marry is defiling the sanctity of marriage; that marriage was set forth by God to be a sacred bond between man and woman. But didn't defiling the sanctity of marriage happen when 50% of married couples started divorcing?

And it goes both ways. There are ads on TV saying that same-sex marriage will bring ruin to our world, and there are ads showing religious people as psycho-nut jobs that are all intolerant and insensitive.

It's also upsetting that they group abortion rights into gay marriage rights. They have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with each other. There are so many news companies that are just clumping the two issues together in one story.

Now Proposition 8 is only affecting California law, but it will set a precedent that will sweep across the US.

So this whole Prop 8 bullshit pisses me off. It saddens me that the religious fanatics are sullying the love of Christianity with their hatred and mistrust. Not all Christians are against same-sex marriage and want to outlaw abortion. It doesn't make them any less of a Christian, or anymore likely to go to hell. It's what is in your heart people. It's the love for everyone, and your trust in Jesus. Why can't people understand this most simple of ideas?

Politics

So today is election day to the south of us. I know it doesn't directly affect us, but indirectly it does, and the thought of what is going on down there does still scare me. I'm quite divided when it comes to things of a political nature. I'm opposed to things like the Canadian Gun Registry, a fan of social programs, pro-choice, a strong supporter of our Armed Forces, not particularly patriotic, despiser of protesters, and the list goes on. So I sit on the fence when it comes to voting. But for today's election, it's a pretty clear choice. Vote for Obama. McCain is right-wing crackpot who will die half way through his term leaving the country to be run by...by...her.
So yeah, everyone has an opinion, I just don't get to vote with mine. So lets hope our neighbors to the south make the right decision.

I listen to the Christian radio station, which most people don't seem to understand, but I like the music. I despise Dr. Dobson and the bullshit that spews from his mouth, and the majority of the programming that is not of a musical nature, but during those times I have a whole lot of other radio stations to listen to. But as of late the ads have been getting increasingly disturbing. Like one about how there is no "missing link" because of the flood. And that the weight of the water over the entire earth caused a great amount of pressure skewing things like carbon dating making it an unreliable method to determine the age of something. And ads from the Christian Heritage Party going on about how the conservative government isn't conservative enough, and that if you really want a conservative government then you should vote for them. Seriously. This is the shit that comes out of my radio...and it makes me sad.

The Finger of God

You see a lot of videos with people getting hurt, or breaking things but you rarely see videos of good things. Of near misses. So here's one. It's like God just puts his finger down and stops things or redirects them with a breath. Cheesy, I know, but watching it that's what I felt.

Signature Oops

So yesterday I decided I would join the ranks of coffee drinkers at work, and since we only have a little hotel sized coffee machine, I volunteered for bring in one of the 4 we have at home from our wedding. I also said I'd bring in a pound of Starbucks coffee since Mama Bean gets a pound a week from work. After all of this they started calling me coffee wench, so I added it to my signature and then sent myself a message at home to remind me to bring coffee. Having my the line under my name read "IMAC Services - Coffee Wench"

This morning I'm fiddling around with some email settings and mistakenly copy the coffee wench signature into a bunch of emails I'm sending out to end users and send it away to about 10 people.

I get an e-mail back shortly thereafter saying they are glad the IT department has a sense of humor. It took me a min to figure out what he was talking about, at which point I was more than a little embarrassed. Do I let it slide? Do I send an email apologizing? What if someone takes it the wrong way? Shit, am I screwed?
So I decide to send out a quick little email just saying "Please disregard the signature in my previous email. My apologies." A couple of people wrote back with a "no problem" but otherwise I haven't heard anything. I was just scared I'd get someone bitching at me, or worse sending it to my higher-ups.

So that's my embarrassing story for the day.

New House!

We took possession of our new house today! Yay us! I'll post pictures for y'all to see tomorrow!

Lonely

I'm lonely.

Mama Bean is sick with an ear infection.

It's weird working for a massive corporation. It's weird starting a new job where I don't know anyone.

I don't like not having friends around. I miss my people.

I miss care group.

I miss my old worship team.

I miss my family.

I do love it out here though. I'm just craving more meaningful relationships.

Another Day, Another Dollar (well, more than just one dollar)

So today we went a little better than yesterday. They guys I work with are pretty good, and actually helped me with stuff today. So I learned some stuff, and think I'll do alright. The bar isn't set very high though, so impressing them won't be too hard. The other term guy, who started in July, messes up continuously. He's been there 3 months and screwed up almost every day. I'm pretty sure I shan't dissapoint. It's not a terribly difficult job, and it's only the process that I'm unfamiliar with. I'm a smarty though, so I'll do wonderfully.

I've started playing with a church here as well. The first service playing with them is on the 28th. It's weird playing with different people. There isn't much respect for the worship leader, the guitarists are a bit immature, and the drummer has been all over the place with his tempo. They have another bass player, but she's only been playing for about a month now and really shouldn't be on stage. I'm not saying that because I don't think she's very good, I'm saying that because she'll learn lots of bad habits, and won't have the time to learn the basics first before learning songs and playing with a band and performing. We'll see how it goes though. Lots of praying and patience. It really is nice to be able to play again, and I'm looking forward to Sunday to see how it is live.

First Day

7:45am
I start my new job today. I'm an IMAC Technical Specialist for Great West Life. IMAC = Install/Move/Add/Change. So when someone moves offices, wants some hardware changed, needs a new computer, wants a new monitor, etc, we do it for them. So it's a pretty basic job, but it's with a great company, and there's lot of room for growth. Pay is about the same as I was making in Calgary minus the bonuses which is actually pretty good for out here.

I had an interview with Princess Auto on Thursday for a PC Technician position. It's actually an amazing job. It would be similar duties to some of the stuff I did in Calgary without nearly the amount of stress. Problem is the pay is 10k/yr less than GWL, and on the opposite end of town from where we live. :( But that's okay, because I have this GWL job.


6:45 pm
So the job isn't quite what I expected. It isn't technical at all. It'll take about as much technical expertise as working at Convergys. But...it's with a great company, and there is room to move within it. I can put in my time, and move to something a little more my style. It's also only until December 31st right now, so we'll see. What I have to remember is that I'm not in this for the long haul. It is a means to an end. I'm going back to school to be a pastor. It might not be as soon as I would like, but it will be one day. The sooner the better. :) So yeah. Not what I dreamed of but definitely a decent job with decent pay.

Things in Winnipeg have been good otherwise. We take posession of our house next Wednesday, and move in the following weekend. I'm really excited, I can't wait. Things feel like they are starting to come together. Just gotta get Mama Bean a Chiro job now. :) I'll post pics of our new place when we take possession. Let y'all get your jealousy on. Then maybe we'll get some visitors.

We aren't sure if we'll be going home for Christmas this year. Money's a little short, so I'm not sure what's going to happen. I do get 4 days vacation, so we'll see. I'd like to see my family and friends, but I'm worried about the whole "where to stay" business. I don't want the parents counting hours and nights that we spent at the other family's place. Ideally staying with one of our siblings would be the best course of action, but again, we'll see. We are sitting in a really topsy-turvey place right now, and the only thing we can do is wait.

Shaving

A couple of months ago I overhauled my shaving regime. I went from using a Gillette Mach 3 and shaving cream in a can to shaving with a straight razor. It's friggin awesome!

I bought this little start kit from Vintage Blades. It's was their Classic Black Straight Razor set, and came with a Dovo razor, strop, Colonel Conk's Soap, mug, and badger hair brush. I got the almond soap, and have added a scuttle to my collection.

Wet shaving is amazing. It gives me a chance to have quality "me" time. I get my stuff together in the bathroom, turn the music on, heat up some water, strop my razor, soften my face, make my lather, and shave. It gives me a good 30 min of uninterrupted time to be with myself. To let my mind go wherever it wants. To contemplate life. To think. To just be. I love it.

Now the biggest complaint I hear against it is that it takes up too much time. That they hate shaving and don't want to spend any more time in the bathroom then they have to. But that isn't the point. Sure you'll get a better shave that you ever would with a safety razor, and you'll have far less ingrowns, and that's really important for some people, but for me it's all about the experience.

The sound the blade makes as you slide that razor-sharp blade across your face. The feel of the warm lather on your face, and the exfolliating action of the brush as you lather up. The smell of your favorite soap. The knowledge that with a flick of your wrist you could open your throat up. The cooling sensation of aftershave, unlike anything you'd feel after a normal safety razor shave.

It's just awesome.

AND I recently received a wonderful birthday present from my lovely wife! It is a scuttle! It's for keeping your lather warm while you shave, b/c you'll often have to lather more than once. It's a bowl inside of a bowl. You pour hot water in the spout and it keeps the inner bowl and contents nice and hot. Amazing. And mine's pretty awesome looking to boot.


In other news, I have an interview on Friday. I applied for it shortly after moving here, and got a call yesterday. The interview is tomorrow afternoon at 2. It's with Great West Life, which is pretty awesome. They are a large company that is great to work for. Lots of room for movement/advancement and WAY better pay then the paltry $10/hr I'm making in the call center. So if you remember, a little prayer would be great. Not that I get the job, but for calmness and peace and the right words during the interview. :)

Oh! And it was my birthday last weekend! My parents weren't sure what to get me, so I bought myself something with the money they sent.

Isn't it awesome??



My dad had one when I was growing up, and I always wanted one. He worked in the mines and alot of the guys used them. It was actually designed by a miner in the 50's who also worked for Inco (the mine my dad worked for). He put his lunch box on end one day while waiting for the lift to take them underground and flattened his lucnhbox, so he decided he needed something a little more reinforced. It's made out of aluminum and reinforced with rivets.

But instead of covering mine with union stickers like the miners, I'm going to cover mine with computer stickers. Because I'm a big nerd like that. I'll have pics when I get it started.

Work!

So I start my new job today. It's my first winnipeg job, how exciting. Well, not really. I'm going to be working in a call center doing technical support for Comcast business customers in the states. So it's the "techiest of the tech jobs" at Comcast, according to the HR lady there.

Training starts today, runs Monday to Friday, 4:00-11:30pm and lasts 5 weeks. 3 weeks(ish) of training and 2 weeks of on the floor training. On the "production floor" as they call it. Not sure what it'll be like, so we'll see. The pre-test was a whole lot easier than anything I've ever done before, and they didn't mention anything about needing to pass a test when the training was done or anything, so...

The downside is the pay. $10/hr is less than half of what I used to make, and far to low for someone with my experience. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I can do better. But it's quite alright, it's just until I find something better.

I currently have a placement agency looking to place me with an engineering or architectural firm. Somewhere that can take advantage of my extensive Autodesk product experience. I had an interview with them last week, and they were pretty excited about my skill set. Now the market isn't booming in that area, but they figure they can get me something in the next couple of months, which is awesome.

There is also lots of room to grow with this company, so should things progress here, there is lots of room to move up. Maybe the pay too?

So that is what is up on the job front.

And we're watching Syndey White, which is great. Amanda Bynes is teh qtness.

Truck Update

I still advise against renting from Universal Truck Rental for one-way truck rentals, and will continue telling everyone I know.

I sort of sorted things out with them. They are charging me for 68L of fuel at 1.50/L and a $50 fee. So they can pretty much go fuck themselves. I get 2/3 of my deposit back, which is bullshit, but I'm tired of this shit, so I'm done.

And will continue to say..."Do not rent from Universal Truck Rental."

Letter to a House Owner

Dear Retarded Fucking House Owner,

So your house has been on the market for over 1 month. You've had 1 offer for $5k under your asking price that you flat our refuse, though they wanted posession in 3 weeks and you'd prefer 2 or 3 months.

I put in an offer for $185 with a 2 month from now posession date. While en route to deliver the offer I find there is another offer being presented. I up my offer to 189 before dropping it off.

2 hours later I get a call. You have flat-out rejected both offers and are upping the asking price to over 200.

Are you fucking kidding me? You fucking tool! Yes, there are lots of people in town listing their houses a little lower in order to start a bidding war over their place, which quite frankly is retarded. But They have their place on the market for less and 2 weeks and get multiple offers for far over their asking price. I've but in offers of over 10 grand over asking price and have lost it to people paying 30-40k over asking price. But when your house has been on the market for over a month, and you've only received ONE FUCKING OFFER, then there is a problem. The interest in your house obviously isn't there. And it's not going to be. You're in Transcona for fucks sake. On the very outskirts of the city, you never even used to be in the city. Nobody is going to start a bidding war over a fairly nice property that's way the fuck out there. Get over yourself, get a fucking clue and stupid wasting our time.

Sincerley,

Christopher

Stupid Fucking Truck Company

Do NOT rent a truck from Universal Truck Rental. At least not until they get their shit together. They are a small 1-way truck rental company based out of Ontario. Comparative pricing to U-Haul, but without the U-Haul problems...or so I thought.

All the booking was done via e-mail and phone. Steve, the guy I talked to, was super informative and very helpful. He e-mailed me a quote, we setup a time and all was good.

The day before I called and arranged a time to pickup the truck from their location at the truck stop. It managed off-site, so they had to arrange a time for someone to be there. We arranged for 10 am. I show up at 10 and no one is there. We wait until about 10:25, when the lady working there shows up. It is her first day on the job and she has no idea what's going on. The fax machine and phone aren't working in her little office, and to accept a fax at the main truck-stop office it's 7 dollars. She doesn't know any of this. She has no paperwork for us, just has the key to the truck. She doesn't ask us for any ID, or anything. We finally get the shit sorted out in the office, still with no paperwork, and go out to the truck. It's a big 24' 2004 International, nice truck. We do a walk-around, check for damage or anything, check the oil and fluids and start it up. She has no idea about any of this. How to do the walk-around, what to check for, or even how to start the truck. My dad and I are pretty handy with this kinda of stuff and have done it before, so we are fine. If some normal Joe Blow came along he'd be lost.

I fill out an inspection sheet that she has (but had no idea what to do with), and she took a copy for herself and I kept one. Again, she took no id, no drivers license numbers, nothing. She had no idea who we were, or if we were the right people.

So off we go. We load the truck and lock it down and all is fine.

The next day it doesn't start after lunch in Medicine Hat. My dad calls the number on a piece of paper in the truck for service. The guy that answers has no idea what's going on. My dad gives him the truck number, and it isn't even on file. He gives my dad another number, which he calls, and gets pushed through to another number. After an hour of fucking around with calling ppl a service guy is dispatched. He shows up about an hour later and it turns out the problem is a loose connection between the battery box and the transmission and started. Apparently this is a problem with all International trucks of this type, and will continue to be a problem until the wiring is replaced. My dad knows enough to have the guy show him how to jiggle the cables each time it doesn't start. This happens another 5 times throughout the trip, so it's a good thing he showed my dad, otherwise there would have been alot of service phone calls.

Upon arrival in Winnipeg, we unload the truck and go to drop it off at the drop off location 2 days early. Nice right? Well the guy there has never received a truck before. Apparently we are the first people to do this. I ask him where the nearest gas station is that has diesel, at which point he tells me that it's a gasoline truck. No, it isn't. Now tell me where a fucking gas station that has diesel is. He hums and haws and another customer at the counter tells me where one is. I go down, fill it up, and come back. He comes out and has no idea what do to to inspect for damage. All he checks is the gas guage, which is reading 6/8's. Now I just filled it up. Both tanks. $300. I KNOW they are full. I open the caps on both tanks and SHOW HIM that they are full. He says okay, and then writes on the form that the tank is only 6/8's full. We park the truck and leave. He has no idea how it works for charging me or any of that and that Universal Truck Rental will take care of all of that.

I come home and write an e-mail to my buddy Steve at Universal (the guy I dealt with in the first place) and said pretty much what I've said here so far. I dont' hear anything back. It's been over a week, and nothing. I even asked him to send me my receipt via e-mail or mail. Nothing.

So I check my credit card statement today. $2796.50. WHAT THE FUCK!?! I was quoted $2330, with $150 deposit. This would have left me with a remaing charge of $2180. Ummm...what? That's over $600 MORE than they should have charged me. AND it was charged back on the 31st...before I returned the truck, so there was nothing about the gas or anything. They just plain over charged me.

So I sent another e-mail, and left a phone message, but this is fucking bullshit. That's 1 month's rent.

Bullshit motherfuckers. I'm pissed.

Winnipeg begins

So...Winnipeg...

It's been good so far. We're all moved into our little apartment, with the rest of our stuff in storage. Only a few hiccups with the move; nothing we couldn't take care of.

Mama Bean and I each drove our cars out, while my parents drove the truck. After stopping for lunch in Medicine Hat the truck wouldn't start. So after 2.5 hours of phone calls and waiting for the repair guy to come, it was fixed and they were on the road again. We stopped in Regina for the night and continued onto Winnipeg on Friday. We got to spend a great night with Kari and James in Regina and check out their awesome new house.

The rest of the drive was rather uneventful.

We met my Aunt and Uncle, and they along with their kids (our age, so not really kids) we unloaded the stuff into the apartment, had some dinner and went to unload the stuff into the storage facility. After unloading a bunch of the truck, we found that ther unit was padlocked...:( So we broke out the hacksaw and cut it off. We filled it up but still had stuff left over, not much, but a little. So we left a bit at our relatives and packed a few more things into our apartment.

Mama Bean and I have been enjoying Winnipeg though. It's quite a nice little city. We've gone exploring some of their parks, and went down to the Forks the other day (kinda like what Eau Claire should've been) and even went and checked out their zoo.

We've been trying to find a church that could possibly come close to Journey, but have been unsuccessful so far. The first was a little MB church right next door to our apartment, but it's very much geared to university students (seeing as how we are just north of the university, that makes sense). The one we went to on Sunday was more than a little nuts. Now I've never been to a charismatic church before, but those ppl were fucking crazy. Like more than a little off their rockers. So much clapping and cheering. I mean it's good that there is a church like that for ppl like that who worship that way, but it's really not for me. I really enjoyed the music part of it, performance style worship, but that's what works for me.

We've also been doing some house hunting, which has been enjoyable. We put in an offer on a place tonight, but were outbid. It was an amazing little place, but that's how it works.

I kept meaning to update this, so thanks Stacey and Tasha for your perserverance. :)

Moving!

Today was truck day.

Tomorrow is moving day.

Tomorrow I take a one-way trip to Winnipeg and don't look back.

It's kinda cool. And kinda sad.

I've made more meaningful relationships in the past year of living in Calgary than I have in the previous 7 since moving here. :(

I will miss those people. They are the greatest! They even threw/attended a going-away party for us. It was awesome!

Tomorrow is moving day.

Friday is moving-in day. :)

Bye till then.

Sucking

If a band is on the radio, that generally means it doesn't suck. If a song comes on, and you really don't like it, or the band that plays it, say as much. Say, "I hate this song," or "I really can't stand these guys." But saying "These guys suck" doesn't work. Because they don't. That's why they have a record deal, and get radio play. You might not like them, and that'd fine. But they don't suck.

Little Victories

At the ball game last night, the pitcher of the other team intentionally walked one of our biggest hitters. Which was bullshit. And I told him so. What I didn't say though was "What kind of fucking bullshit is that?" I was going to. But I decided not to. Because of little victories. They feel nice. All I said was "bullshit." Oh, and I called it unsportsmanlike behaviour. But that's still good.


Things have been getting a little hectic around our house with the move moving ever closer. Boxes are everywhere, and we are doing our best to stay motivated and keep packing. I'm getting excited at the prospect of moving. It's an exciting adventure we are setting out on. We sent in our application for the apartment yesterday, so we should hear back from them soon. We are subletting for 3 months, which should give us enough time to find a house. So many cute houses out there for such cheap prices compared to Calgary.

So life continues. :)

Shot down

I got the biggest shot to me self-esteem today. Lawrence told me that I was going to be doing these menial little tasks while Jordan helped him by moving the ladders around for him while he was spraying the top half of the roof, because I am not quite strong enough, and Jordan is stronger than me. (Jordan is a linebacker on the U of C football team) It wasn't so much the reference to Jordan being stronger than me, but the fact that I was being delegated to the shit jobs b/c I wasn't strong enough. WTF? I haven't been told that since grade 10 when I tried out fro wrestling and got my ass kicked b/c I wasn't terribly strong for my size. It was like a kick to the nuts. I realize I have lost some size and strength since I have not had enough money to go the gym, but... it just sucked. I think that it was a sign to start kicking my ass into shape, gym or not. I can do enough stuff at home so that by the time I go back to school and use the gym there I will at least be in decenter shape than now. It just really hit me. I guess I have gotten comfortable with my strength enough that it hasn't really bothered me that I have been letting it slip. Quite the wake-up call.

Well I have determined that my boss considers me a disappointment. How sad is that? I think he was expecting me to have more experience than I actually did. Whenever he tells me to do something, he gets all pissed off and yells and me or whatnot. When Jordan does something wrong, or he has to tell him something, he is polite about it. Well semi-polite. It is rather annoying.

I have self-diagnosed myself with an attitude problem. When Lawrence got made at me the other day because he didn't think I was doing something fast enough, "Quit screwing around Chris, you are taking way too long doing that. Just tape the stupid thing. Not there, over there." Immediately slowed down. Not consciously. I sub-consciously told him to fuck off and slowed down because I didn't like his attitude toward me. *laugh* It sounds so childish when I actually write it out. I found it quite amusing, after-the-fact. Jordan just told Lawrence today that this will be his last 2 weeks. He has decided to go on this trip through U of C, to Sweden for a month or so. *laugh* I wonder who he will hire, if anyone. That is going to suck. I hope I don't have to work with Lawrence by myself.

It's Official!

Waivers came in to satisfy the 2 conditions yesterday. We have now sold the house! July 31st is possession, and I will be a little sad to say bye. It was "our" first place.

So today marks the 4 week mark until possession date. This means we have 4 weeks to update resumes, find jobs, pack, arrange for movers or u-haul/ryder, clean and get our asses out of here. And for Mama Bean to move there site unseen. She's never been to Winnipeg, but I'm certain she will love it.

We are not going to be buying a house right away, rather we're going to try and find a month-to-month rental and start looking for a house then. This will allow us to go out there, find areas we like, get settled a bit, and not be so rushed with the whole process. It'll open up so much more for us.

Yay!

Congratulations!

For some reason I tend to follow mom blogs...not sure why. But I want to say a HUGE congratulations to Miss One Smarmy Mama over at times and places. She is the most "most crunchy-granola working mama/wife/reader/geek " I know, and I have learned so much about parenting and pregnancy and whatnot, that I think will really help when Mama Bean and I have kids.

So YAY!

Also, on a slightly sadder note, my friend skippymom seems to have disappeared. I’ve been reading her blog for quite some time now, and she has commented on mine on many occasions. She’s the one who made me think about relationships that develop in the “blogosphere” and how she’s become a part of my blogging friends. So I’m not sure where she went, but I really hope she’s okay. And if you are reading this Skippymom, I miss you and I hope everything is okay.

It Sold!

Well, conditionally anyway. Tomorrow is the house inspection, and as long as there isn't more than $3000 in repairs, it's official! Possession is July 31st. This gives us just 5 short weeks to find jobs, find a place to live (be it rent or buy), pack and move! Whhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeee! So exciting! It's actually real now.

I sent an e-mail to Malcolm (our worship leader) letting him know that we will be done at the end of July and it kinda hit. I'm really going to miss these people. I'm not going to miss anyone like I do this church (family aside). Our care group, our ball team, our worship team....everyone. Miss Stacey, Fred and Tasha, Mr. Nelson, Jesse, Corey and Crystal, the little kidlings, Malcolm...so many people that I've developed a relationship with. I've lived in Calgary for 8 years, and have developed more meaningful relationships in the past year than the past 7 combined. It has truly been a blessing to find this church and these people. I love them so much, and am amazed at just how much I'm going to miss them. The love and support we have received has been overwhelming, and will be truly missed.

So thank you guys. I'm gonna miss you all.

God is Bigger Than...

My wife and her two best friends wrote this amazing article for a liberal Christian magazine, "Geez." They entered a contest called "30 Sermons you wouldn't hear in Church." Mama Bean took a blog post that she had written previously and Kari and Heather added to and edited it and sent it in. And they got in! Their sermon/article/whatever was published! Yay them! It's all about how God is bigger than...EVERYTHING! It's cool. Read it. Comment on her blog and let her know what you think. And try to find love for the first guy that posted a comment, he's in need of some.

You can read it online here. It's pretty friggin awesome.

Mama Bean wrote a bit about it here.

Following that entry she received a comment. A rather lengthy one I must say, and one that spews nothing but vile, hate filled words under the guise of Christianity. His profile talks about love, forgiveness and peace, and yet writes shit like, "And the “strongest thing” in the evil one’s worldly systems? “Woman”…" and "Now “the ground was cursed for Adam’s sake” because he “hearkened unto the woman”. Adam listened to a woman rather than obeying The Only True GOD."

This guy trolls the internet (i've found him in multiple places) and sullies the name of Christians everywhere. He is what is wrong with Christians today. How are we supposed to show people that Christians are loving, forgiving, and selfless when there is so many people like him?

It makes me sad. And yet Jo's article gives me hope. And the fact that he responded, must meant that he read some of it at least. This is good. Maybe just reading that added another chink in his armour. Another spot for God to work on him, and show him what love really is. Isn't that what Mama Bean wrote about? God is bigger right? He's bigger than this guys smallness. And that gives me hope. It gives me joy. It helps me not want to not cut his fucking balls off and stuff them down his throat and choke him to death with them for writing shit like that about my wife.


(psst...no profanity...you should be proud of me miss stacey)

Sleep...dreams...bad

I should be in bed. I should be sleeping. I don't want to though. I don't want to go to bed, nor to sleep. Sleep bring bad dreams. Dreams that I don't want to deal with. Dreams that disturb. But that wonderful feeling just before falling asleep, that peaceful bliss, of being halfway between the world or reality and that of uncontrollable strangeness. That feeling alone is worth it.

I shall go, and hope my sleep is peaceful and refreshing.

g'night

A great end to a great week :p

So, so cap off an awesome week *puke*, I had one final thing to cap it off.

Someone made a copy of my credit card when I was in Edmonton last week. Today they started using it. Early this morning they bought $100 worth of pizza, then went on a spending spree with over $350 at Save-On-Foods, and 3 $200+ bills at Shoppers Drug Mart before the bank suspended my card and contacted me. I got back to them a few hours later and the assholes were still trying to use it at various places.

When I travel for business I use a card that I keep stricltly for business use for ease of expense reports. I made the mistake of using my personal one when I took the office out to Swiss Chalet for lunch. A $91 bill for the 4 of us, with a decent tip on top of that. For the rest of the trip I used my other credit card. And today I found out the shitty news. The charges will show up on my statement, and I'm just supposed to make sure I don't pay for what I didn't spend, and and investigation will take 4-8 weeks.

What a great fucking week...

vacation

We are going on vacation this upcoming week; 7 days in beautiful Fairmont. Jo's parents have a timeshare up there, so we'll be spending the time with Jo's immediate family.
I'm nervous and excited at the same time. It'll be wonderful to take a week off of work and just go out there and relax. I'll get to see Jo's brothers and families, whom I don't see much of, which will be nice. I'm worried about all the time Jo's parents will have with us, and the things they inevitably say. I can deal with them fairly well, but that's because I can detach myself from it, whereas Mama Bean isn't so good at that. It's her family, so the things they say effect her a little more. That's what I'm worried about. Though I figure with all the little grandchildren running around, her parents will be occupied for the most part and things should go smoothly.

It should be a good week. I haven't gotten to talk to Dave so much, and I'm looking forward to that. He's a pastor out in Vancouver. He's very much a big brother, and I can seem him pastoring the same way, which I find pretty cool. I'll also get to see my nieces and nephews and play with them. Kids are so much fun.

So yeah, it'll be good times. I'm looking forward to the relaxation. I'm gonna bring some books and my bass. I figure I'll have some time to noodle around, which I'm looking forward to. Maybe learn some new things.

Oh, and thanks for the loving e-mails following my last post. The love and support really goes a long way. :)

shitty week...:(

Alright, so this week fucking sucks. I woke up so pissed off yesterday morning that listening to Meatloaf all the way in wasn't enough to shake it.

Monday we dropped the price of our house by 6 grand to $338,900. We'd been on the market for 23 days with not a single offer. A decent number of showings (2-3 a week, which is good for this market), but no offers. On the bright side, we had two showings in two days immediately following that drop, and even an offer. Too bad the offer was shit, but I'll get to that.

Tues we get word that Jo's last day at the clinic is this Saturday. WTF right? Exactly. WHAT THE FUCK?!? Jo, being the considerate person that she is, let the doctors know a month or so ago that we are thinking about moving this summer, as she is in a 2 year contract that ends next June. They were cool about it and said to give them a few weeks notice when we nail down a solid date, and that she could work until the end of the summer. They said they'd be looking for someone new, and not to be insulted if they asked her to help train the new person. Okay, so these guys are assholes. We know this, I've mentioned it before. On Tuesday they pull Mama Bean into a meeting at the end of the day and say that they've found someone new, and that she will be starting the following week. Since Mama Bean is on vacation this works well, and Saturday will be her last day. What?! Umm... WHAT?!? So Jo, being the amazing individual that she is, takes it gratiously instead of telling them to fuck off as I've been known to do, and leaves for the day. Oh wait, she doesn't leave just yet. They tell her she's been let go, and then has her adjust the last few patients of the day so they can leave.

Now these guys have treated her like shit from the getgo, but it was her first chiro job, and they've been her doctor's since she was a kid. So she has stuck it out. She's had more perserverence and patience than I though humanly possible. There's no way I wouldv'e put up with the amount of shit they put her threw. They see 100+ patients a day, of which she gets to see 4 or 5. They tell her to bring in more patients...why? So they can adjust them, and she sit around? The patients she did get were the ones the other guys didn't want to deal with. The fat ones, the stinky ones, the mean ones, and assholes.

She is also due 10 days vacation per year under her contract. She isn't technically an employee, more of a sub-contractor, but the contract is really fuzzy about the details, and ambiguous about the shit we are dealing with now. So next week we are on holidays, and they weren't going to pay her for it since she'd being let go before she leaves. She asks them about that, and they tell her today, "Okay, so since we aren't paying you for next week, today will be your last day and you can have the next 2 days off with pay." ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!? And we can't say anything because they are Jo's only professional reference, and we can't burn bridges. Burn bridges? Fuck, I'd like to burn their fucking building down. Seriously. What a bunch of useless fucking assholes. For fucks sake. Who the fuck pulls shit like this? It's a professional fucking office. THEY ARE FUCKING DOCTORS! But I guess that doesn't matter when you are an asshole at heart.

So that was our Tuesday.

Wednesday brought the joy of an offer for our house! Joyous occasion right? Well, it started off that way, except that the buyer's realtor was a FUCKING TOOL. Or, as my dad said it, a dingbat. She was acting as the other couple's realtor and morgage broker (and probably life coach). It seemed like she was trying to offer them the world and help them make all their dreams come true. They came in with an offer of 335, which is 4 less than the asking price, and what I found to be acceptable. The problem was that their deposit was only 2 grand, and they had a condition that their house had to sell. Nope. In this market, I'm not waiting on someone else's house to sell in order to buy mine. If you are that interested, sell your own house, then come back and make a serious offer. And as for the 2000 deposit, we wouldn't get it until their house sells. So a 2000 deposit is tiny. The norm is $5000. 2000 you can walk away from if there's problems or you find something else and screws me over. 5000 is a little harder.
So I countered their offer asking for then to drop the clause that requires their house to sell, and to raise the deposit to $5000. When my realtor presented that to the buyers they weren't too pleased, but whatever. So we wait for their response...and we wait...and we wait. 45 minutes later we notice her car isn't outside anymore. So my realtor calls to ask what's up. And this lady is all insulted that we would possibly counter offer, that it was such a good offer, blah blah blah. Ummm..how about you FUCK OFF, and don't be so fucking rude and tell us that you are declining our counter-offer and that's fine. But to leave us sitting there wondering? That's not cool. Her name was Lynn Lamb, a realtor for Coldwell Bankers, and morgage broker for whomever. I wouldn't recommend her to no-one. She was rude, and over invested in her client. A bad combination.

So yeah...this week has been sucking the big one.

Bitter

I'm bitter. It's a foreign emotion to me. I'm not quite sure how to deal with it, and it's making me a little sick to my stomach.

We hired a new guy at work to replace me. I sent out ads, I interviewed the candidates, and recommended the guy to hire. He's a great guy, lots of knowledge, quick on the draw, good attitude; a joy to work with. He's 5 years older than me, with 3 kids at home, and plenty of life experience to draw from.

Here's the problem...well not so much a problem, as something I don't know how to deal with. I'm bitter about money. He is starting with less experience than me in the computer industry, and making more than 50% more than me and I've been here almost 2 years. Over 15 grand a year more than me. That's bullshit. I couldv'e threatened to quit over more money and still not gotten that. So I'm bitter about it. Though in all fairness, it is due to me that he is making as much as he is. I told Claire that she'd need to offer the next guy more money than she pays me. And I was really happy when I found what she offered him.

Until today. Payday. And he takes home more than $500 more than me, and does a helluva lot less work. (it's because he doesn't know as much as me, and I'm working on transferring more of the workload to him but still...)

I don't know how to deal with this, and it's ripping me up inside. I know my bitterness is justified, because I should totally be making that kind of cash, more even, but I don't want to be bitter. I should be happy for him. It's like the parable of the planters. Where some guys are hired first thing in the morning, another at noon, and another with just a short period left in the day and they are all paid the same amount. The guys that worked all day got paid the same amount as the guys that worked an hour because when they were hired, they said they would work for that wage. Same thing here.

I'm still bitter though. I'm going to go find that passage in my bible and read it and think on it, and REALLY hope it helps. Prayers would be appreciated though. :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's day to all my favorite blogging Moms out there!

Anniversary

A couple days late...but that's okay.

Mama Bean and I celerated our 1st Anniversary as a married couple on Monday! It was such an awesome day. We both took it off work and had a wonderful time. We got to sleep in a little bit, then went for breakfast. Then it was off to the mall to hit up Kernels to use our 2for1 coupon for some popcorn to eat at the Zoo. Then it was off to the zoo where we spent the entire afternoon. We saw it all. The best part, I think, was the baby elephant; she was so cute! And they have this new Ray exhibit. It's a big oval tank with a shallow lip around the edge. You put your hand in and place it flat on the bottom and the rays swim around and "pet" you. It's so cool! And we saw the hippos, and giraffes, and lions. The wolves were out and about playing with each other, and even the snow leopard was stalking around his cage. It was amazing! I love the zoo. I'm excited to see what the one in Winnipeg is like.

We also went to Jubilations dinner theatre on Friday with Fred and Tasha (friends of ours from church). It was a lot of fun, and they put on a good show there, with some really good food.

So yay us for our first year! It went by suprisingly fast, and I'm excited to see what the next year brings.

Funny Stuff

I read this once a few years back, and it was recently forwarded to me again. :)

A new priest at his first mass was so nervous he could hardly speak.

After mass he asked the monsignor how he had done.

The monsignor replied, 'When I am worried about getting nervous at the pulpit, I put a glass of vodka next to the water glass. If I start to get nervous, I take a sip.'

So next Sunday he took the monsignor's advice.

At the beginning of the sermon, he got nervous and took a drink.

He proceeded to talk up a storm.

Upon his return to his office after the mass, he found the following note on the door:

1) Sip the vodka, don't gulp.

2) There are 10 commandments, not 12.

3) There are 12 disciples, not 10.

4) Jesus was consecrated, not constipated.

5) Jacob wagered his donkey, he did not bet his ass.

6) We do not refer to Jesus Christ as the late J.C.

7) The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are not referred to as Daddy, Junior and the spook.

8) David slew Goliath; he did not kick the shit out of him.

9) When David was hit by a rock and was knocked off his donkey, don't say he was stoned off his ass.

10)We do not refer to the cross as the 'Big T.'

11)When Jesus broke the bread at the last supper he said, 'Take this and eat it for it is my body.' He did not say 'Eat me'.

12)The Virgin Mary is not called 'Mary with the Cherry'.

13)The recommended grace before a meal is not: Rub-A-Dub-Dub thanks for the grub, Yeah God.

14)Next Sunday there will be a taffy pulling contest at St. Peter's not a peter pulling contest at St. Taffy's.

Calgary

So this is what Calgary looked like a couple of weeks ago. Such great April weather.







And HERE is our house! :) Wanna buy it?

Taking Christian Back

Why should the "Christian Right/legalistic Christians/conservative Christians" get the word "Christian" associated with them and all the negative connotations that go along with them?

Why should liberal/non-legalistic Christians have to find another way of calling themselves Christians without using the word "Christian"?

I'm sick of this. I want the word Christian back. I don't want to say that I'm Christian in fear that people are immediatly going to think I'm this conservative, biggoted, fear-mongering, conservative nut-job.

I'm taking Christian back. If it means explaining myself every single time I tell someone that I am Christian, then so be it. If it means writing to the editor everytime I see the word Christian used to describe right-wing, conservative Christians without qualifying they mean right-wing, conservative Christians, then so be it.

My name is Christopher Neufeld, and I am a Christian.

insulting

Someday's I wonder why I even bother.

At the end of March my boss stops me in her office and lets me know that I'll be getting a little raise next month because of all the extra work I've been doing, and because I do a good job. I didn't realize she literally meant "little."

120 bucks a month. 1440 dollars a year. 75cents an hour. That's fucking pennies. Lame.

So I'm annoyed and don't feel like doing anything. Except I have lots to do, so I better get to it.

Preggers! (no, not us)

Lately, for some reason, pregancies make me super happy. Maybe it's because they are people that I love and appreciate.

Like Kari. We found out about Kari's pregnancy a month or so ago, and it just made me so happy. When Mama Bean and I went out to visit her and James and heard that they weren't not trying, it made my stomach do a little flip. It's just that they will be the most awesomest parents ever! Kari's going to turn into this beautiful pregnant woman. Mama Bean said to me the other day that she'll cry when she see's Kari's pregnant belly, and it kinda hit me again. Kari's preggers! When I think about it, it's like everything is coming together. Happiness in people's lives. This is what life is about. Happiness.

And I just found out that my friend Abby is pregant! We met playing EQ2. Her and her former boyfriend played together all the time and they were always on when I logged in. So I got to talking to her in-game, and when I quit she sent me her e-mail and we've kept in touch ever since. So she is pregant!

Her new boyfriend (well, not new, but not the guy she played eq2 with), Jason I think his name is sounds really awesome. He is quite the blessing in her life, and it makes me so happy for them. It's so nice to see her happy.

So yeah, pregnant friends are awesome! Stacey is due in November, I can't remember when Kari is due.

So much happiness!

Current Read

Because I like Miss Stacey's idea...

Current Read:

Piss-Bag Protestors

So we got a huge dump of snow today. And I mean huge. Like 8 inches on my car in 3 hours. An hour and a half to get to work in what normally takes me 20 to 25 in rush hour, 12-15 off peak times. And of course all the smart people have their summer tires on already even though we ALWAYS get a huge dump of snow mid-April. This should be the last one for the season though. *fingers crossed so that I don't have to deal with retarded Calgarian drivers and this will be my last snowfall that I deal with here*

So...my piss-off for the week.

WHO THE FUCK ARE THESE RETARDED FUCKING PROTESTORS THAT ARE RUINING THE START TO THE FUCKING OLYMPICS? OH RIGHT, THE SELF-RIGHTEOUS, NO-GOOD, USELESS FUCKING SORRY EXCUSES FOR A FUCKING HUMAN BEING PROTESTORS??!??!

Alright, so I'm not a fan of protestors on a good day. Sure they have their purpose, andmake a difference and blah blah blah...whatever. But the Olympics? The olympics are off limits. The Olympics are non-partisan, they are non-governmental, they are a world amateur sporting event where everyone puts aside their fucking differences and competes on a level playing field.

Who am I kidding? The only reason that China got the Olympics was b/c the world powers put pressure on the IOC to give China the Olympics so maybe they would smarten the fuck up, and clean up their act. The games are riddled with selfish fucking athletes that can't look past the end of their own nose to understand honesty and honor. And judges that can be bought. What has happened to what used to be the pinnacle of athletic games?

The olympics are about the athletes. The honest athletes. The honorable athletes. The men and women that work their fucking asses off for the honor of competing against the best in the world for the glory of their country.

It's not a time to bitch about all the injustices that are happening in the host country. So China is oppressing Tibet, and they are harvesting organs from the Falun Gong (sp?), and they have a human rights violations list a mile long; boo fucking hoo. Deal with that on your time. Not on Olympic time. Don't ruin what should be the highlight of a young athlete's career for your own personal agenda.

So fuck off protestors. Wait until after the games to continue complaining, please.

Aside: Skippymom, I tried sending you an e-mail (the one on your profile page), but it bounced back.

Second aside: This is my 300th post on blogger.

Bye Reagan

You know how I know I hae a great care group? B/c when I told them about Reagan the first thing out of their mouth wasn't, "Was he saved?" Which makes me immensly happy. (they didn't even ask it at all) I was dreading someone asking this. Mostly b/c I knew it would push me over the edge, because it really doesn't matter and the last thing I need to hear is that bullshit. So a big thank you to my awesome care group.

Reagan's memorial service was on Sunday, up in Edmonton, but I didn't go. It was a huge event, with lots of people for all 3 of the folks that died. And I understand that it's a memorial service, and that they all need to be remembered, but I would lose my patience after sitting in a 3 hour service for people I don't know. Cold? Heartless? No, I just wanted to go to a funeral for Reagan. It's okay though, I have my memories, and they'll be there forever, and that's what counts.

Reagan's favorite story to tell us was from when he was at Olympic Trials. He was on the starting block, getting ready, and as he bent over he split his suit right up the middle showing his bare white ass for all to see. Moral of the story: Don't gain weight in the off-season/christmas break. :) He was awesome, and will live in my heart always.

Blog About The Move

So things have started rolling on the moving front, and we've decided to start a blog about it. Partly to keep family and friends update, and partly so I don't have to give them the address to this one. ;) My mother-in-law asked for my/our blog address, but I just didn't feel comfortable giving it to her. I thought this would be a nice compromise.

So without further ado...
Mama Bean and Chris Move to Winnipeg!

AND...there is even a RSS subscription thingy at the bottom of it!

Blogs I Read

So Jo's cousins Ann and James adopted our little Gibson. We are sad to see him go as he is so awesome, but it is for the best. Mama Bean took him over on Wednesday and he had a blast playing with their dog, and hanging with the family. So it is sad, but I'm really happy for him.

AND!!! I even got a little section for me on someone else's blog. Granted it's b/c she couldn't comment on mine... but still. :) It made me feel special.


While mentioning other blogs I enjoy, here are the ones I check out on a daily basis:


Barista Brat - the rants and raves of a barista at Starbucks (no, not my wife, though I get to hear all of her rants and raves at home)

Clublife - a bouncer in NY, he recently released a book. used to be alot better than it is now, but still occasionally entertaining

My friend Tamara's blog, rarely updated.

Tamara's husband Tyrel's blog. He's a conservative, redneck, tin-foil-hat-wearing, gun-loving kinda guy. (nothing wrong with the gun loving ;) )

My wife's...well it was. She hasn't updated in almost a year :(

A blog from some dude that is a nurse in an ER. Usually pretty interesting

Stories and Experiences of a Red Lobster Employee. Quite enjoyable, updates in spurts

So You Own A Swimming Pool One of my favorite blogs! Written by SkippyMom. She's an excellent writer, and always has some interesting story.

The Insane Waiter. Another waiter blog that I read. I seem to enjoy waiter blogs.

My friend Kari's blog. Hasn't been updated in awhile but...I keep hoping

times and places. Written by One Smarmy Mama. Been following it for quite awhile. Quite enjoy it.

Waiter Rant. One of the originals, and by far the best. Former priest wannabe, and now a waiter in New York. Amazing writer with a book coming out in the next couple of months.

This was the entry I started earlier today...then I found out about Reagan.