hushed gray: the Kevin chronicles

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Back to the future
I had a pretty good Sabbath. I slept absolutely terrible last night so I've felt tired all day, but I can't complain. We had a sermon on cooperation and conflict resolution, both in the Church and in the world in general.

After services a good-sized group went out to eat. We were split between two tables, and I couldn't even hear what was going on at the other end of my table, but I was sitting directly across from Mr. J and had the chance to talk with him some, which was most definitely good.

Devon came over for a bit after that, then I did some Bible study and took a very brief nap. Have also gotten a bit more work done on the Web site and updated the speaking schedule on the UCG Jacksonville site.

Last night I spent probably two-and-a-half hours on the phone talking with a friend who called and then with my folks. And I was on IM--actually chatting--for a couple of hours, a rare occurrence in recent months.

I wonder when Amos 8:11-12 talks of a famine of God's Word whether that refers merely to world conditions being such that the Church can no longer proclaim the gospel, or whether it refers to world conditions being such that we as individuals can no longer share our beliefs with others because of persecution. Perhaps it's both.

posted at 10:22 pm | permalink | 0 comments

Friday, October 27, 2006

God speed that day
And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away" (Revelation 21:3-4).

posted at 10:52 pm | permalink | 1 comment

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Police cars and fire trucks, oh my
My morning started about an hour earlier than I'd planned when I was awakened by what sounded like a fleet of police cars and fire trucks with sirens and horns blaring. They quickly moved away, but since I can be a heavy sleeper and my apartment is set back from the road a fair piece I figured it must be something big for the noise to rouse me from my sleep. And since there was little chance of going back to sleep at that point, I decided to get up and find out what was going on.

It didn't take me long to figure out there'd been a bad wreck within a 15-minute walk of my place. (I would have ridden my bike, but when I hopped on it I noticed the back tire rubbing against part of the bike frame; I've since fixed that little problem I think.) Anyway, I decided to walk down there to see if I could get anything for the station.

The state troopers wouldn't talk on tape, but they confirmed one person was dead and four others hurt after a garbage truck and a tree-trimming truck crashed. The cabs of both trucks were messed up. I did feed some reports to the station, including a live hit at 8:30. It wasn't my best work, but it was passable. The morning reporter had actually shown up just before then, too, so I was using the Marti. (That's a transmitter with a microphone hooked up to it, much better sound quality than a cell phone.)

So anyway, that was my morning. Dramatic, huh?

On an unrelated note, if someone fainted while driving a car down the road, would that be considered a rolling blackout?

Hank stopped by for a visit on Monday. I had the door open because it was a really nice day in terms of temperature; it has since turned significantly cooler, though it's quite pleasant during the day. Anyway, Hank just walked right in and checked the place out.

I should probably explain that Hank is one of several cats that seem to have taken up residence in the neighborhood of late. I don't know if Hank's name is Hank; I don't even know if Hank is a male cat, but he's the biggest of the bunch. And the friendliest, too, just walks right up and flops down and lets people rub his belly. I guess he might have just stayed with me had I not had to escort him outside so I could finish getting ready for work. But it was nice of him to stop and visit.

posted at 9:50 am | permalink | 1 comment

Monday, October 23, 2006

Marching to the beat of a different drum
What a morning. The routine visit to the dentist took over an hour--every time I've been to that place it has taken a long time, and there are never that many patients in there as far as I can tell. Anyway, I apparently have the beginnings of two cavities, and the dentist wants to go ahead and tackle those before they potentially become problems, so I'll get to spend another morning there next month. Joy.

On a happier note, I found out getting the heater core in the wagon replaced would cost several hundred dollars since the mechanics would have to remove the dash. That obviously isn't good; the good news is that the heater core can be bypassed very, very inexpensively. Granted, I won't have heat in the car, but this is Florida. Besides, I already have no AC, so as the shop owner said I'm kind of returning to nature.

I wish this nagging cough would go away.

posted at 10:23 am | permalink | 1 comment

Sunday, October 22, 2006

No turning back
There are still a few items on my "to do" list that aren't yet done, but overall I'd have to say it was a fairly productive Sunday. Put a new tire on my bicycle, caught up on several more e-mails, took care of a sizable stamp trade request, and so forth. This week looks busy enough that I wanted to knock as much as possible out of the way right off the bat.

There was enough to do at work tonight. Not necessarily "oh wow did you see what happened?" stuff, but enough to do.

I am for some reason sleepy, and I have a dentist appointment first thing in the morning, so I'm going to call it a night.

posted at 11:58 pm | permalink | 1 comment

Friday, October 20, 2006

Big screen
I just learned that Pakistan is not landlocked. I'm not sure why I thought it was, but that bit of trivia came as something of a surprise.

I'm not going to make any attempt at a day-by-day review of the Feast. Such a detailed tome would, I suspect, be rather boring to read. It might be boring to read anyway.

(If you've not yet discovered them and I neglected to send you an e-mail, you can peruse my Feast photos if you like.)

Our trip to the Alamo was pretty neat. It was a much smaller building than one would expect given all the "Remember the Alamo" talk and so forth. The scale models indicated there was at one point a lot more to the place at least in terms of the area the walls encompassed; there's really little left besides the main building. And it's smack in the middle of what I would call downtown San Antonio. Go figure.

For the first time ever, I helped out on the parking crew, and there's more that goes into it than I would have ever figured. Saying that it's just a bunch of people waving their arms around may be technically accurate, but you could probably say the same thing about songleaders.

There was one day I wore jeans to services. (You may gasp here.) Apparently that passes for acceptable church-wear in Texas, but I did have a somewhat legitimate reason for doing it. It was pouring down rain Tuesday morning and once I got through with parking I simply did not have time to go back to the room and change into slacks without missing all of the sermonette.

And it was a good thing I wasn't wearing dress pants when I went to buy an umbrella that morning. The floor was slick inside the first set of doors at the store, and I slipped and busted my backside. My lower back is still sore a week and a half later, so I don't know if I've messed something up permanently or if it's just all the sitting I've been doing at work. I went down very quickly, though.

Had several opportunities to spend time with other young adults, mainly at meals but also bowling one night and a sort of game night another evening when we skipped the official "family day" activity. (Kerrville was not a young Feast site by any stretch of the imagination.) The names I mentioned in my Sunday post were some of the folks with whom Rachel and I spent a fair bit of time.

I don't know how long it had been since I got as much sleep at a Feast as I did last week, probably at least seven or eight hours every night. I guess I needed the physical rest.

I don't really know what else to write. There are many anecdotes I could share about turtles, "a good time," and teenagers trying to adjust their pants, but they wouldn't make sense or be particularly funny except to the few people who were around at the time, so I won't go into great detail there.

I am glad, though, that I had the chance to meet the folks I did. It's nice to feel my circle has expanded in some way, and hopefully I'll see some of those folks again in the coming years.

posted at 9:57 pm | permalink | 1 comment

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Hope has a place
Just found out that one of my stepcousins was killed in Iraq yesterday. We weren't close friends or anything, but I'm sure prayers would be appreciated for his sisters and his mom (my aunt).

posted at 10:05 am | permalink | 0 comments

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Back to the mess
Kerrville was excellent! I enjoyed being with my family, and also getting to meet and hang out with Sarah, Kevin, Corbin, Katie, Karla, Emanuel, etc. There'll hopefully be much more in a future entry as well as pictures, but I don't feel like doing anything other than going to bed right now. My throat has been icky all day--I'm praying it's just allergies. Feel great mentally, not so hot physically.

Laundry in the morning. We'll see where the week goes!

posted at 11:30 pm | permalink | 1 comment

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Maybe I should play the lottery
I've made my first of what could be many trips to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

No, I was not in the back of a patrol car.

I got sent out to cover the announcement of an arrest in a murder case from last October. A fellow got shot while trying to defend a coworker who was being robbed at gunpoint. The guy who's accused of shooting that "good Samaritan" had since been arrested and sent to prison for some unrelated crime.

Anyway, long story short, I was again a producer/anchor/reporter. Didn't really mind, though, I did what I could and for once left around when I was supposed to.

I had another encounter with a very..."interesting" woman at the laundromat. I'd run into her once before--very well-educated, speaks either four or five different languages, I forget which. And about as flagrantly anti-Bush as a person can get, I think. Trips to wash clothes are never dull.

I'm hoping the next couple of weeks will be very enjoyable. Obviously, the Feast next week, but then the weekend after, that could be quite fun, too. I do look forward to seeing how some things work out. This week has been just as terribly busy as I expected, but with some nice surprises.

Bedtime.

posted at 1:23 am | permalink | 0 comments

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Don't rock the boat, baby
I'm restless. Laundry, packing, work--all merely obstacles standing between me and the Feast. I guess it's a sign that I'm excited!

Philosateleia is now "complete" through 1997, which coincidentally is where Volume IV of my stamp album ends. It's a nice clean break. I really think I can "finish" that project by the end of the year, and when I do there shall be great rejoicing in the streets of Philosateleia.

Just two more days!

posted at 12:45 am | permalink | 1 comment

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Some guys have all the money, fame and fortune
The milk smells like it's in the process of turning, but I can't complain. It lasted several days past the supposed "expiration date."

One interesting side effect of having to be at work just a few minutes after sundown is that I had no chance to overeat. I had my salad with grilled chicken from McD's, plus some saltine crackers and lots of apple juice and water, and that was it.

One of the evening's more challenging stories to write up was a police-involved shooting. The cops confirm there's a guy dead, and they think it's a murder suspect from out of state, but they hadn't confirmed that yet. So there were all sorts of qualifiers in what I wrote up because there were so many "if's." On one hand it's good to see somebody like that who may be responsible for a whole string of crimes taken off the streets, but how can you rejoice in death?

Interesting stuff going on...but that'll have to wait for another time and place. I'm feeling sleep coming on.

posted at 12:38 am | permalink | 1 comment

Sunday, October 01, 2006

And the countdown continues
This is going to be the longest week of the entire year. I'm talking length of a football field. I think I've got everything booked solid except for Tuesday morning, so I'll probably wish I had more time to take care of stuff.

I don't remember ever being "relieved" to get to Atonement before. The last couple of days I've been thinking, "It's coming it's coming it's coming...it's here!" I'm guessing I'll be really relieved to get to the FOT!

My new personal business cards (there's an oxymoron for you, "personal business") are off the chain, yo. They're also somewhat off-center, but I think future printings will turn out better. And no, I'm no longer using used stamps on the cards, though there is still a philatelic connection of sorts.

posted at 8:00 pm | permalink | 1 comment