1.59 - The One where September Ends

What a month...when it started there was much optimisim...a fresh start to the new school year (even though I'm not in school...it DID mean a new season of youth group). Many plans were implemented with high hopes...some were achieved...some were not...many were postponed or just not carried out. Unexpected changes happened...mainly for the good...some...not as good. Good times were had...and some noy so good times as well. It's just been one of those enotional rollercoaster months...oh ya...they finally fixed my interent @ home

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
wake me up when September ends

like my fathers come to pass
seven years has gone so fast
wake me up when September ends

here comes the rain again
falling from the stars
drenched in my pain again
becoming who we are

as my memory rests
but never forgets what I lost
wake me up when September ends

Now that I still have your attention...please pray for a couple of my friends...one of them...her father has just been diagnoised with Parkinson's...pray that their family would be able to come together in this time. And the other...well I got a phone call today...apparently she went missing last night in TO...pray that she's safe and will be able to come home.


****UPDATE****

my friend is home safe...

1.58 - The One with the same time slot

I don't watch a lot of TV...besides SportsCentre and almost any professional sporting event that happens to be on TV. But there are only a handful of shows I like to watch in primetime. Now you'd think that they would be on different nights...different times and on different networks? But of course...nothing is really THAT easy. I have to pick 3 shows that are on different networks...on the same night...and on the same time. It's a good thing that I have a satellite dish and a VCR...too bad you can't get TiVo in Canada...

1.57 - The One with the rollercoaster weekend

What a weekend...Friday night we went up to Dave n Buster's to party is up for Chris' 26th birthday. Dave n Buster's was fun as always...but dinenr at Sam and Pete's...wow...the food was good...but the service was just ridunkulous. The only other time I had service this slow was at Rebecca's birthday party earlier this year. What's with a big group of 20 something's a poor service? We ordered drinks, aps, tons of food and we had lots of money to spend...the waitress got a pretty measly tip.

Oh...and my internet situation...went from bad to fixed to worse...now my cable modem went offline...and they're not coming until Friday to fix it...I called on Saturday...I love this service.

1.56 - The One with the extra security

I picked up The Longest Yard on DVD today...and I had a little more trouble openning it than usual. As you know when you buy a new DVD they are shrink wrapped...plus they have those annoying stickers on all sides of the package for "security purposes". Oh and they have those magnetic things inside that need to be demagnetized in order for you to walk through the doors. Now I'm taking off the plastic wrap...then the stickers...and I notice the one on the side where you open the DVD case is Red...it reads SECURITY DEVICE ENCLOSED. and in small letters underneath: To Open: Remove this Label, Tabs, Twist off & Discard. It was arrows pointing to the tabs that are on the side of the DVD case. I'm not sure why they put them there...its just another thing to remove from the package...how secure do they need to make the DVD case? If someone was wanting to steal the DVD...I'm sure that they would find a way to do it...do they think that by adding 2 tabs that are part of the case will deter a potential thief? Or...perhaps its a child proof DVD case....whatever it is...to me...its annoying...

for those who are keeping track...my internet is still buggy...waiting until Friday....

1.55 - The One where the packet is lost

I’ve had a pretty frustrating week with my ISP…my internet connection has been dropping in and out like fish out of water. When you pay $50 for cable internet…you expect to have cable internet speed…and the stability of having it on all the time. You can browse…download…upload…whatever...at cable speed. But for the past week I’ve been browsing at 56k speed and when I’m in the middle of something…the connection cuts out. So I call my ISP…they run a couple remote tests and say that I’m having a problem with my connection…YOU DON’T SAY…they send someone out to take a look…he fixes something outside of the house…saying that a cable was loose and that should fix it. Ok….the connection seems to be fine…but the next day…same thing…so I call them back…they run the same remote tests and give me the same stupid answer. Uh sir…there’s a large packet loss and that shouldn’t be happening…NO KIDDING…the earliest we can have someone out is Friday…all of our techs are booked until then. WHAT!?!?!? I live in a 15,000 population town…how can you be booked up so much? Whatever…this is RIDUNKULOUS…I love paying for a service that does work.

1.54 - The One with the Phantom purchases

Credit card fraud happens everyday…and I am now an official member of the credit card fraud victims club. I purchase stuff online on a frequent basis and use my credit cards for those…I rarely whip out my card and pay for stuff in the real world with it…but is that where I was victimized? Nope…figures…the time I pull out my Visa and physically use it…I’m a victim of credit card fraud. Some yahoo decides that he/she wants to use my card to buy gas in Ottawa…problem is for me…I’m not in Ottawa…haven’t been there since July. So they get my Visa number and hold onto it until September 6, where they spent $67.02 on gas. Then they used it the following day to buy another $74.04 worth of gas. I know the gas prices have been really high…but suck it up and spend your own money. Well I called Visa to report it and they ask me about 10 verification questions…to make sure I am who I claim to be…they cancel my Visa number…take those purchases off my card…and tell me that they will investigate it. I hope they catch them…

1.53 - The One with the bubble

Wow...you know when they say so and so can sleep and even if a train came through the room they would never wake up? Apparently that's me...and everyone else that lives at the Ranch...last night...my neighbour across the street had a fire in their garage...and I guess there were about 3-4 fire trucks there sirens blarring at about 3:00am. Me and the rest of my clan sleep right through it...mind you all of our rooms are at the back of the house...but still...those fire trucks are pretty loud. I suppose we live in a bubble...

The family is safe...they are staying in a hotel nearby...but their garage had a lot of damage to it. It didn't help that there were vines all along the outside...I was tld they had to make a hole in the roof to let all the smoke out. D-Ray and I didn't even know until this morning when we looked across the street...again...it must be the bubble.

1.52 - The One with the spur of the moment

Yesterday is was Staff Appreciation Day for our district...fellow workers from Kingston, Peterborough and Cobourg gathered for day of fun, games, speakers and of course...food. We aslo had a time of worship through music...and this is how it went down...

Di called me on Monday as I'm coming off the 18th green at Ashbrook Golf Course in a panic. "Hey T...I need a favour...You're going to be there on Thursday right?" I'm thinking to myself...great...whenever Di asks for a favour I know she's in way over her head. "The worship band that's supposed to be playing on Thursday can't do it anymore... "Uhhh...ok...so what does that have to do with me? "Can you play?" Ummmm...I suppose "Great! But there's a catch...you need to put a band together...."

So now I have this impossible task of putting together a band in under 72 hours...so like an agent I get on my phone and start making calls. The hardest thing to do is to find people that can play music, feel comfortable playing in front of people...and also have to be good enough to do it with next to no time to practice...oh ya...and they SHOULD be employees that will be there at the appreciation day. I already had a pianist that could sing...thanks Jen...the drummer I wanted couldn't be there, no lead guitarist...no bassist. So you can imagine I'm getting a little stressed about this...Lesley found me another singer...but still no drummer. I can handle no other guitarist and no bassist...but I really need a drummer to put it all together. Wednesday rolls around and still nothing...I made a call to the place where we were to play to inquire about what equipment I needed to rent...the sound guy Josh said nothing...everything is there that I needed. Then I asked if there was anyone there that could play drums...he replied, "I play drums...I can play for you." SWEEEEEEET...I now had my band.

As we got on stage on Thursday I addressed the crowd and introduced ourselves as 'Spur of the Moment' and went on to lead worship...it was a God moment for sure. Although we didn't get to practice much (I think 15 minutes) I thought we sounded pretty good...and to see the crowd sing back and engulf themselves in worshiping God, it was awesome. It's amazing what God can do when you think it is impossible.