Saturday Night Post

I haven't updated the Pokemon of the week in a very long time, so I fixed that tonight.

The leaves are starting to change here. For some reason, the tree in front of my neighbor's house turned a bright vibrant yellow, and all the leaves fell off this past week. The tree in front of my house is still green and hasn't even started to change yet.

Church was really amazing tonight. I feel like I'm growing a lot spiritually lately, or have been for the past few months. Doing the study through Matthew with Dan is really helping me a lot. I'm learning a lot about Jesus as a person, and really examining his life and his teaching style is helping me to learn about who he really was, and what his intentions were. It's pretty amazing, because you learn new things about him that you weren't always taught. One of the biggest suprises is that he had quite an attitude, and didn't put up with BS from anyone. Church tonight was amazing because at the end of the service, they played a choir version of Amazing Grace, and had actual people walk out on stage, one by one, with black posters. One one side was a problem, and the other side had what was happening now because of it. Some examples that stuck out to me were:

Side 1: "Our son was born deaf"
Side 2: "What a beautiful boy God blessed us with!"

Side 1: "Because of promiscuity I had two abortions"
Side 2: "God has forgiven and healed me - I now have twins"

Side 1: "I became a Christian at 59 years old"
Side 2: "Life is just beggining!"

Side 1: "We are barren"
Side 2: "We have adopted 5 amazing children"

Side 1: "My husband a three children were murdered on Christmas Eve"
Side 2: "I will see them again in Heaven!"

It was pretty powerful to see how God works in others. Those were just a few of the ones that stuck out to me.

I think this week at work will be pretty busy. I will be leaving for training in Germany October 25th, so I have a lot of things to do before I leave. This past week at work kicked my butt...to the point I was ready to just quit. Pretty much everything that could get messed up did, and the work kept piling on and on. E-mails flodding in with "I need" or "I'm requesting". I'm just going to take it one day at a time and keep doing the best I can. Wish me luck

Case of Mondays

I lost my temper at work today. I'll be honest, the "newness" has worn off after a little over a year now. I still like the job a lot, but the politics are a little clearer now. I'd say ignorance is bliss is a true saying, because once you learn more...you start to form an opinion on certain things. I felt like a ping pong ball today, being bounced between our manufacturing plant and the design center. Over something superficial and downright petty.

When I had enough, I raised my voice and told a few people I was pretty sure there are 3rd graders out there with more maturity, and I'm done dealing with petty garbage. I'm just ready for a vacation - or get away for a while because I want a break from some of this.

Anyway, I'm done with that for now. The weekend was really nice having mom and dad visit. I think we got a lot of great work done. They were also nice enough to get me a grill, a patio table with chairs, an area rug, and some yard tools for the garage. They were all very much appreciated. We landscaped the front and side of the house, and mom painted the living room and dining room. Saturday dad and I went to the Woodward Cruise, which is an event with around 1 million people (seriously) driving classic cars up and down Woodward Avenue from Detroit to Birmingham. It was really interesting to see all the people and all the cars.

I go to Subaru in Indiana Wednesday and Thursday this week. I'm looking forward to it actually. Getting out of the office for 1.5 days is what I'm looking forward to and dealing with a good customer is nice.

Oh, and another thing I just remembered. Tomorrow night I start going to a small group through church. I'm looking forward to doing that. It's a group of 6 guys, ages 21-28 who meet once a week to do a Bible study and hang out. I'm really hoping it will be a good opportunity and praying that it's a good group for me to fit into. I suppose I'll have more on that later.

This video is a good rendition of what my day was like.

Thawing

Walter is adjusting nicely to his new home. The first few days you could tell he was still learning. He wasn't eating as much, and acted like this apartment wasn't his. Now he's walking around like he knows the place, and he has learned outside pretty well. He also goes in his crate by himself when he gets tired. He's being a very good boy. Katey came over last night and she said he is very smart and well behaved. I'm proud of him.

Today warmed up to 43 degrees, which feels very nice. The snow is melting and tomorrow is supposed to be 57 degrees! I assume it will be down to be arctic like conditions soon though.

At church today they were talking about some of their goals for 2008 and what they had done in 2007. I never used to think back on the previous year, what I had done, and what I had learned, but I did this past year. I think I posted about it. 2007 was very interesting and probably the most changing year in my life.

I think I'm taking Walter to Terissa's house today so he can play with Teenie Weenie and PJ. I'll have to take some pictures if I go.

An Update

Today I decided to go back and visit NewSpring. I'm so glad I did. The 2 hour roundtrip drive was definately worth it. I can't believe how well the church is doing. Today's service was sort of a reflection time on the past year and how much God has blessed the church and the community with. Attendance now is hovering around 7,200 people every Sunday. When I started NewSpring back in 2003 I'm wanting to say it was around 2,500 or so? That growth is amazing in just 4 years. This past Christmas Eve they had over 12,500 people at 6 different services.

I love that church and it's one of the things I really miss from South Carolina. I miss my family most though.

I had a good time being back. I'll leave to go back to Michigan on the 1st. I guess I'm ready to go back. I like being with family, but I miss my routine. It feels weird just not having work, or no routine. It makes you feel sort of weird after a while.

Paul and Matt were able to come over and we played about 7 solid hours of Smash Brothers and Mario Kart which is always so much fun. If Melee provided this many hours of entertainment Brawl should be even better.

Walter is growing up so fast, but like a typical young thing (child, dog, whatever) he knows how to manipulate already. Not in a bad way but a bratty sort of way sometimes. He's cute when he does it though, unlike some kids who are just obnoxious and deserved to be spanked. Walter and Bear will be playing, and as soon as Bears gets Walter in a position where he can't move, or is not in control, he will yelp/scream very loudly, just to get a human to say "Beeear, stop!". He knows it. Now we just don't do anything and Walter keeps going back for more. Walter overall though is wonderful. He's crate trained, house trained, and knows how to sit on command and he's 12 weeks old now.

I guess that's about it. I haven't been posting because, well, it's vacation and I've been lazy. No routine, remember?

Domingo

Katey and I rode to church together today. She had to substitute the K5 Sunday school class. She asked me to help her so after church we met another person, and started. They actually put all children K5 - 5th grade in a huge room and do an hour worth of skits, Bible verses, and songs and we basically "watch" the children, ask them to be quiet, help them find Bible verses, and escort them around. It was fun. I was in charge of signing kids in and out. We had 15 children, all around the age of 5 so it was a zoo. After being with Walter for a week (he's like a baby) and then all these kids, it makes me realize it will be a LONG time before I have my own children. Walter is my child.

After church Katey came back to my apartment and we had lunch before she went to work. I changed into warm pajamas and watched a movie, played a video game, and now I'm cooking dinner. It was relaxing. It's way to cold to do anything outside. The high today was 40 and there was snow and ice everywhere so I wanted to stay indoors.

Tomorrow I'm going to go talk with the apartment attendants about the whole pet thing. Hopefully they can help me out with the transfer fees and be understanding of the situation. I'll let you know after tomorrow how it turns out.

Monday - Week Start

Tonight I went to a small group Bible study from the church I've been going to. I thought it would be a small group, studying the Bible but it looks like it's going to be more of a financial Bible study which I really do not want to do. I guess I will go again and give it a try. It can't hurt, but I don't think I need any financial guidance since I don't have any debt or other things financed.

I have to give a technical presentation Wednesday at the GM Tech Center so I have been preparing my powerpoint for that. I have to do a practice run for one of my bosses tomorrow, so I'll have to finish up the presentation in the morning.

Not much else has been going on...just went to work, came home, went to the Bible study. I bought a new suitcase for Japan yesterday that is really good. It has a lot of expandable compartments which I really like. I'm really looking forward to going to Japan!

I'm going to go eat some chicken I made last night.

Big Events

I have so much to write about over the past few days. So Lindar, you're going to have an EXCELLENT Monday morning. Get ready, because I here I go:

The work week ended Friday, which was a good thing. I have really been enjoying my work because I feel like I know what I'm doing more, and didn't have to ask too many questions this week. I worked pretty much until 7:00 pm everyday trying to meet a date someone decided on for me, but that's ok because it's almost done.

Friday someone also went postal which was a lot of fun to listen to. It was like being on Jerry Springer, in the audience. I was doing some drafting on my computer and listening to music on my iPod when I heard someone scream vulgar words...really vulgar words that start with F and end with K. So, being conspicuous I turned my iPod off, but kept my earphones in so it looked like I was not listening but I really was. Basically a guy was screaming at a manager about how he's sick of them not listening to problems. A computer program we have to use (it's a database) has a flaw in it and he had lost 2 weeks of work. He had been complaining about it for a long time but nobody would listen. My favorite part was when he yelled "I'M JUST GOING HOME, BECAUSE IF I DON'T I'M EITHER GOING TO SMASH THIS COMPUTER OR PUNCH SOMEONE IN THE FACE". I heard a lot of people start snickering to themselves in their cubicles and I almost spit out the water I had in my mouth. It was good entertainment for a Friday. They took him in a conference room and calmed him down.

Friday I was also asked if I would volunteer to be a key user of a database that they use in Germany now and I trying to start here. I guess basically I would be one of the people in charge of it and be responsible for helping others get information from it. I thought maybe I would get to go to Germany for training but I think they're going to bring someone here to train me and others instead.

I was really ready to relax this weekend after so much work, so I consumated the weekend by going over to Alex's to play some games. I left there pretty late and came back and went to bed. I slept until 12:00 today...that was nice and refreshing. I went to Jimmy Johns with Erica for dinner then we went to chruch. Church was REALLY great tonight. They had good songs and the message was a good one. I also found out they take a trip to Isreal each year so I want to get information on that. I have always wanted to go to Isreal.

I also got to talk to Kiki about the anime convention. I realized getting from the airport to the convention center was going to be harder than I expected. I was thinking about MARTA, but there's something not appealing riding subways and buses around Atlanta at 10:00 pm at night. So I found a shuttle service that can take me to the convention center from the airport for $25, so that's worth the peace of mind of not being robbed to me.

...start your Monday morning, Ms. Fleming.

Goodbye Dazed Raccoon

Last night it was rainy, and I got to fall asleep listening to the rain hit the tree leaves outside my window. Those make for the best night's sleep. In the morning I woke up, and it was still raining and dark outside. I did not want to get out of bed, but Jesus died for my sins so the least I can do is get out of bed on a rainy Sunday and go to church. I'm happy to do that. Well, it was cold outside, for August atleast! Today it stayed 63 degrees and overcast and rainy all day. It doesn't feel like August at all.

When I came home from church I saw this little raccoon walking in cirles in the road in front of my apartment. He looked very confused and scared. I bet he was spooked about the weather because this is weird. So when I left my apartment again today, he was dead in the road. I looked on Wikipedia for information about raccoons, because I figured I don't know enough about them. Well they're nocturnal, so I wonder what he was doing out in the road, in the middle of the day?

Tomorrow starts a new week of work. I'm in full swing now, and there's not really anymore "find stuff to do" time. I have stuff to do and it takes the full 8 hrs each day, usually more. I'm not complaining though, I like it.

I'm thinking (I have to make a decision this week) of taking German 101 at a community college this fall. It meets twice a week and I think it would be a good way to meet people my age, have something fun and new to learn, and it's free! My work will pay for all tuition, I think up to $5000/yr. It includes all books too, so I might as well take advantage of that. I wish I still got to use Spanish because I really love that language. German sounds so mean and demanding.

I'll go to Schoolcraft College tomorrow and see what I need to do to enroll. Then Alex and I are supposed to play some Smash Bros. which I have been dying to play.

Awkward!

Today the weather was really weird, almost like fall or winter. Right now it's 63 degrees and raining. This morning I woke up at 9:30 then fell back asleep until 11:30. I decided to take my bicycle to the bike shop I bought it from because they do a free "tune up" for the first time, after everything gets broken in. So I dropped it off, went to a Christian bookstore to get a daily devotional book, and then went back and picked it up.

Carmela invited some people over to her house for dinner and I went, then we all went to church. Katey and Erica were there. After church we were talking and I found out that Erica is pregnant. That's a whole other story. They said something though that made me feel very awkward, and I a little annoyed. I had told Erica I could babysit if she ever needed someone (not that I necessarily wanted to, but I thought it was something nice to offer). Apparantly that must be something her and Katey feel strongly about because they told me how it's NEVER a good idea to leave your child with anyone but a relative, because you never know about people and you can't trust them. Basically I felt like I was being told I was not trustworthy enough...and it just felt weird. I wanted to leave because it just felt too strange to even be around them after what they said. I really wasn't even that serious about my offer...I pretty much just said it to be nice...and it was made into such a big deal about how it's "not a good idea". I just felt like saying "Can we just stop talking about it, because I didn't even mean it...I don't want to watch your kid, ok?"

Anyway, that annoyed me because I think I'm one of the more trustworthy people out there personally, and even though those things weren't said to me directly, they were implied and I didn't like that.

Grapes of Wrath

Those are frozen grapes. I ate that entire tub in 1 day. Is that bad? I got them on sale at Walmart for $0.77 per pound, so I think that makes it ok. And it's a fruit, not sweets. Frozen grapes are the best. Luckily I have one more of those tubs in the freezer, for Monday...maybe Tuesday if I'm full.

Speaking of Walmart, a Walmart Supercenter opened last week in Livonia. I thought that would be good, because Walmart does have cheap groceries, and Meijer can be expensive at times. So Saturday afternoon, I decided to go to this Walmart Supercenter and get some groceries. Big mistake. I think of the 5.5 million people in the Detroit Metro area, around 5.4 million were in this Walmart, maybe more. All I know is I couldn't move in the aisles, but I saved money! Really saving the money just isn't worth putting up with those people, it was like a cattle herd. The lines suprisingly moved faster though than they do at Meijer, which I can't explain.

Today I went to church with Carmela, and we went to lunch at a Greek place afterwards with her mom and dad. I did my 2 loads of laundry I do every week, then went for a bike-ride tonight. When I was at a crosswalk, I saw this Nissan with a missing rear hubcap pull up next to this tiny little Indian lady struggling to see over the wheel. She looked so sweet, like a little munchkin in her car minding her own business. There were two young kids in the Nissan, and they pulled up and revved their engine really loud, and then held the brake, and started to lurch the car, while looking over at her. They wanted to race her. When the light turned, they floored the gas and took off, and she just putted forward, struggling to see over the dash. You get to see all of these things while bike riding, which is fun.

Nunya

There's a a TV channel I've caught in the morning sometimes, and I'm not sure what it's called, but it's a Nun channel. It's nothing but a camera panning around an old nun praying and reading The Bible. It's the strangest thing. Yesterday when my TV alarm went off, I got a suprise because it was her and a whole sanctuary full of nuns, praying in Latin. It's pretty weird.

Cancelled

The EV1 get together got cancelled because someone from GM didn't think it was a good idea. It's too bad because I was really looking forward to it.

On a brighter note I took a 9 mile roundtrip bike ride today from my apartment to work and back, so see if I could do it on a regular basis for work. No. First of all, it took 30 minutes and I was booking it. By the time I was at my work I was sweaty, worn out, and felt like not doing anything. Then I had to go BACK home. That was hard. The Detroit area is very flat, but Northville is actually hilly and gives you a good workout. The other reason I don't want to do it everyday is because there is a 1 mile strech of road that has no sidewalk, and people like to drive very fast and I'm scared of getting hit...not really but it could happen. It was neat though to see how far I could go. By the time I got back home I just laid down for 30 minutes and didn't move I was so tired.

Erica called me after I got home and asked if I wanted to go to church with her and Carmela. I have a lot of fun with them. Afterwards we went to Big Boy and ate dinner. They said they're going to look for a girlfriend for me. I bought more grapes tonight too.

Atleast the decision of buying a Saturn Aura or Honda Civic as my next car was made for me today by GM. Honda it is.

Weekend End

Well the weekend's over but it was so nice. I pretty much just was lazy with Friday evening. I slept until 10:00 on Saturday which was so nice. The best part was waking up at 7:00 am, looking at the clock and just thinking to myself "nope...goodnight!" and sleeping 3 more hours. I love doing that.

Saturday afternoon I went to an outdoors mall with Erica, Katey's sister. We ate lunch there and walked around and were going to meet Carmela at church Saturday night. Carmela was at her dad's house and couldn't meet us in time so we ended up just watching a movie instead of going to church. Today though I went to church twice, once at 9:15 and then to another church at 11:00. The one I went to at 9:15 is called Community Bible Church and is the church my boss invited me to. This is also where I met some people in the AXIS group. The church I went to at 11:00 is called Northridge and it's enormous, very similar to New Spring back in Clemson. However, I like the messages at Northridge better so I want to keep going there.

I made spaghetti tonight for dinner. I made more than I thought, so I have leftovers for lunch. I think I'm going to make some videos with my camera of some stuff. Michigan stuff I guess?

I got neat mail this weekend too, a bib from Aunt Lindar to help my drooling problem while sleeping (that was fun mail!).

07/07/07

Beetlejuice is on TV!

Today I went out to two bike shops in Farmington Hills and Livonia to look at bicycles. I really want a nice bike like the Trek one my dad has. I found out that type of bike is called a "hybrid comfort". Comfort means it's a multi-speed bike used for riding on sidewalks and paved surfaces, and not so "mountain-y". The "hybrid" means it has skinnier tires like a road bike, but not quite. The idea is the skinnier tires keep it fast and a hybrid is not to be used off road. So I want a hybrid comfort bike. Prices range from $209 - $349. Giant is a brand of bike I think I'll get, they are the parent company of Trek. A bike shop in Livonia had a sale going on with some older 2006 models they hadn't sold. They had a 19" bike, a hybrid comfort, in blue for $209. I really liked that one and it was the last one they had.

I want a bike because this weather is amazing. I know it's not going to last, and it's short. I can tell because you see all these people out in convertibles and sports cars, with tans, and with their windows down and sunroofs open. They take advantage of this weather because starting in October it will be Arctic for 6 months. So, I want to get a bike to ride to work (since I'm only 4 miles away) and to go on bike rides around the area in the afternoons and weekends since there are so many bike paths. I think it's a good investment because a) it will be forced exercise and b) it will save gas. So, I want to get one soon.

I bought a camera last night online from circuitcity.com. I have wanted a new camera for a while and this one in particular. It's a Casio Exilim 7.2 MP. I want to take more pictures, and my older camera has horrible quality. So when I get my camera, I'm going to do a "photo tour" blog post on my apartment, work, neighborhood etc.

Tonight Katey's sister Erica invited me to a large church here called Northridge (I went there once already) with her and her friend Carmela. It was a lot of fun and afterwards we went to La Shish, a middle-eastern restaurant. Erica and Carmela were a lot of fun and I think we'll do more stuff with each other.

Now...the checkbook is still $0.20 off, I told you it'd bother me, didn't I?

Bang Bang

Yesterday I went to a shooting range...I know I can't believe it either. Dan, one of the people at the AXIS gathering asked me to go with him and his brother. Dan's last name is Smith. Guess what his brother's name is? David Smith. So, there were 2 David Smith's there. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't what I'd go out and do for fun either. It's just too loud, and shooting guns is just not for me. The range was run by Michigan's Department of Natural Resources, so it was very safe and they were very strict about what you did. They had about 3 workers monitoring people, checking to make sure you were following procedure. Every 15 minutes, they made you stop, step back, and they checked your gun and changed your target. It was nice of Dan to invite me though.

After that I went to Meijer to get some small things like milk, salt and pepper, and fish food. I really don't like that store. Imagine Walmart, and then multiply that X2. Granted, it doesn't have the same caliber of people, as in, at Meijer you won't find people riding adult tricycles around picking through the ashtray for used cigarettes to smoke, but it is crowded and unorganized. Since Farmer Jack, the other grocery store just closed Meijer pretty much has a monopoly now. Luckily I found a Kroger about 2 miles from me I'll go to now.

This morning I went to church at Community Bible Church. After the service I went to the same Sunday school class as Dan. It was pretty good, but they have about 6 different Sunday school classes for adults to choose from so I want to try some of the other ones.

I called my dad to tell him Happy Father's Day. The church service was about Fathers, ofcourse so that made me miss my dad. He got my card and giftcard though before today so I was happy about that.

I have to share this with you all. It's a wonderful dish called Haggus It's on TV right now as I'm typing this. Sounds good huh? I remember at ZF in Duncan my boss was from England and he told me about it, but I actually watched them make it on TV just now. When I was in England I actually ate Black Pudding which is the weirdest thing I've ever had.

New Clothes

I was looking foward to this Saturday, mainly looking foward to sleeping in. For some reason this entire past week, I have naturally been waking up at 5:30 am even though my alarm doesn't go off until 6:30. I have noticed over the past few years I have an internal alarm clock. If I think to myself about 3-4 times before bed "I have to get up at X time" I will generally wake up way before that time, on my own. Now, I would never trust it and not set an alarm, but it's funny that it happens.

Today I woke up at 5:30, as usual and then fell back asleep until 9:30. I got up after watching 30 minutes of some murder mystery on TV, and called the gas company because I thought I had a small gas leak in the water heater. While I waited for them to come I got ready. It was pretty embarassing when the gas guy came, because he must have thought I was stupid. I told him several times "I'm from the south, and I've never dealt with gas before, only electric". He looked up at me confused and said "oh...ok". He said the slight gas smell was normal, especially since the vent goes to the roof. I feel better now atleast. Gas is scary. I like electric things better.

I drove out to Howell today to the Tanger Outlets. It took me around 30 minutes to get there, but it was worth it. I got some great work clothes. Banana Republic has these odd sizes, but they work for me well. A 36/30 has gotten a little too big for me, a little baggy. The 34/30 is still too tight. Well, Banana Rebublic makes a 35/30 which feels like it was tailored just for me. Not only that, but all things in the store were 50% off. So, I ended up getting 3 pairs of pants, 2 shirts, a belt, and 4 pairs of socks for $150 which I thought was really good. It's really nice stuff too, all dress clothes. At work, the human resources generalist after telling us the dress policy said "You're working at the Headquarters for North America, how do you want to represent that?". I get the idea, and I like it. I used to hate wearing dress clothes, but when I bought a suit and started interviewing for jobs I liked it. I think it helps my self confidence.

After I got done with that I went to Wal Mart to buy milk and a fire security box for my important documents, all 4 of them. Passport, car title(s), birth certificate, and social security card. I don't have all the bonds, stocks, and jewels, and gold that adults do yet, but I'll try. I put my apartment lease and renter's insurance policy in the box though to feel special.

Apparantly I do have family in Michigan, near Flint that I've never met. It's my grandmother's sister's daugher. I emailed her to introduce myself and mentioned possibly meeting. Her response: "David, we go camping a lot so I don't know if we can meet". I guess they must do a lot of camping. How strange.

I also got a $2 car wash today in Novi. There are two car washes within 2 miles of me, a $2 car wash and a $3 car wash. I saved a dollar, but used it to vacuum out my car. Those places are so great, it's a really long automated wash and they have attendants that wash the front and back of the car off. I know I'll love that place in the winter time, I'll probably go there everyday to wash the salt off. There are still cars here with salt all over them...and it's June! Wash your car! It drives me crazy. Especially when I see a salty Saturn.

I went to a church tonight. I'm going to another church tomorrow that Jeff, my supervisor, goes to and recommended. The church I went to tonight was called Northridge and was pretty much a mirror image of New Spring that I went to in Clemson. Actually, it was a little smaller. The worship style was very similar and it was pretty nice overall. I'll probably go back. It's really close to me also, only 5 miles away. I'll see how the church is tomorrow too, so I can compare them. The service tonight was on communion and baptism. I don't know what it is, but New Spring and this church, Northridge have soapboxes about "full immersion" baptism. You HAVE to be fully immersed. New Spring says so because it's the closest you'll come to death, symbolizing your old life before Christ "dying". Northridge says immersion is the way to go because that's how everyone in the bible was baptised, by immersion. I personally think it's a baptist thing, but who can tell. New Spring in Clemson and Northridge are non-denominational churches, but I think they are baptist inspired.

After that, I went to IKEA to look around and get a few small things I wanted. And dinner. $2.50 for 2 hot dogs, chips, and a drink is amazing. I ended up buying $130 worth of "small" things. I bought an end table, 2 pillows, 2 lamps, bamboo, and some other small things. One of the lamps was broken though in the box, so I need to take it back and exchange it. IKEA still doesn't have my bedside table in stock yet! I want to get it because I'm tired of sitting my alarm clock on the floor.

I'll post tomorrow about the other church. It feels so nice outside now. It's around 70F and clear skies. I think I'll like the summers here.