Well, long story short . . . I was finally able to update WordPress to a version that’s not two years old. 

Lots of other stuff has happened since my last post as well, but we wont go into that just yet.

Needless to say, it’s a new year and I’m revitalizing the blog.  Though Twitter has just about killed my blog, I think I have the time (and the drive) to post an update at lest once a week with content other then ‘nothing happened this week’ or the like. 

So, now that the web server is un-broken (I’ve been working with it all day long because I, apparently, broke it when I uploaded a picture to the church site) I can finally go home. 

New posts, and a new look, coming soon !

So my sister (Amy) got married this past Friday.  Dad, Grandma, and I got in a rental car and traveled down to Destin Florida to be there for the festive occasion . . . and it was actually quite fun.  The car was a nice size, but still . . . after 8 hours any vehicle is gonna feel cramped. 

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So, Old Timers Day went well.  The combined sound system worked pretty well, a few issues plagued us all day long . . .  but it got done and we didn’t get rained on too badly.  All the equipment came back in working condition, so that’s a win in my book.   

The missions services today went very well.  The videos got done and everyone seamed to like them.  There are two of them, about 7 minutes each, and you can find them HERE and HERE.

Last, and more important, I am now (officially) on vacation !  Tomorrow afternoon I’ll be leaving for Arkansas to help Matt and Mel move to their new place.  Then I’ll head back and concentrate very intently on doing nothing in particular. 

See you on the other side !

     Well we didn’t get sequestered this Monday either.  We sat through several cases as they came before the Judge: a few people in chains came up to ask for lower bond, a couple of people pleading guilty to possession (with intend to sell I believe) of a schedule 2 drug, and one guy with a walker and IV tubes hanging out of him was pleading guilty to the same charge, and one very VERY tall young man (maybe 18 or 19) pled guilty to possession of marijuana (over one ounce I think), as well as a few other people coming forward.  In fact, everyone that came before the Judge that morning plead guilty in exchange for probation. 

     The Judge asked all of them several questions before accepting their plead of guilty (did they understand that they had the right to a trial by jury, did they talk with their lawyers beforehand about this, did they understand that violating even one rule of their probation just once meant that they went to jail, etc.).  They all said they understood and wanted to ender the plea of guilty in exchange for probation (which the Judge granted for all of them).   Then the lawyers for the case that required a sequestered jury came forward. 

     By this time, I was sure that I was going to get picked for jury duty.  I realized that my shirt tails weren’t tucked in (which the Judge admonished a defendant for earlier, making him leave the court room and reenter with his shirt tucked in).  So, while sitting on the front row, I tried to tuck my shirt in with out being noticed by the Judge.  Then the lawyers asked to approach the bench and began talking with the Judge.  After a few minutes they returned back to their desks and the Judge announced that, due to some new evidence just being submitted, the trial was pushed back to February so that the other side had time for Discovery (Discovery being the time given for both sides to see all the evidence being presented, not the TV channel with whales on it).  And with that, the Judge dismissed us. 

     We were reminded to call back Monday night and Tuesday night after 5 to check the ‘Jury Machine’ to see if we were going to be needed (we weren’t needed today). 

     And as stupid as it sounds, I was actually looking forward to serving on a jury.  Maybe not a sequestered one, but I think it would be a good experience to serve on a jury.  You hear all these horror stories about people having to serve (mostly due to work interruptions), but I want to experience it myself.  Plus, as corny as it sounds, it’s our civic duty to serve in that manner.  I dunno, I just want to do it.  Maybe Wednesday we’ll get called to do something and I’ll get picked. 

     In other news, the kids play went incredibly well.  None of the microphones stopped working, all the lighting worked well (including the spotlights), only a few lines were bungles (but no one noticed), and everyone loved seeing their kids up on the stage singing and dancing lol. 

     My dad went in for a minor surgery this morning.  He’s out of the operating room now and in the recovery room. I’m going to pick him up at 11 from the hospital to take him home.  So that went well.

     I returned the rental spotlights back to Bradfield yesterday.  On the way back home, I stopped at PetCo in Bellevue and found some fish that had been returned (for being too aggressive with the owners other fish).  They had been back for a week or so and didn’t have any sign of sickness.  I also met an old College friend of mine who was working at the store now.  We were in the Fantasy Literature class together (I think it was that class at least).  But he offered me his store discount on the fish if I could take them.  Since my tank is full of already aggressive fish, they should do fine (you just have a problem with aggressive and passive fish being together).  The fish were all impairs: a couple of red finned sharks (basically sleek looking algie eaters with red fins, I don’t think they are actually ‘sharks’), a couple of sliver finned sharks (larger then the red fins, but with short whiskers like cat fish), and two catfish of some kind (with long whiskers).  All were three or four inches with an adult size of less then 6 inches. 

     Also, mom is in Nashville for a nursing meeting for the week.  Hopefully Thursday evening we’ll get together with dad and do something. 

      So all in all, it’s been a busy but wonderful few days.  Plus it’s raining today, and I love the rain . . . so relaxing.  I’ve actually had time to relax a bit today and recover from the busy past week.  Tomorrow after service we move all the instruments back on stage and Thursday I’ll hook everything back up and make sure it works. 

     That is all.  You may continue about your day. 

No Jury Duty this week !

That’s right boys and girls !  I called the ‘Jury Machine’ (as the clerk called it) as we were instructed to do the evening before coming in . . . and the trial has been delayed to the week after this !  Meaning that the Christmas play will be OVER by the time I have to report again !

I wont mind being sequestered that week . . . though not everything will be put back from the Christmas play chaos yet . . . but it’s SOOO much better then being out this week !

Thanks to all the people who prayed for me !

Well the picture I took with my phone is garbage (you can see a streak of a flame and then darkness) and while I tried to take some pictures from outside . . . the firemen told me to go back inside. 

So I snapped a few pictures from my upstairs bedroom window.  They are all after the flames are out . . . when the car was burning I was in the back yard keeping the apartment between me and the burning car (incase it decided to go all Hollywood and explode bigtime lol).  By the time I got back into my apartment, and remembered that I had an actual camera to take a picture with, the flames were out.

Anywho, here is the picture.  The car that was burning was second in (see arrow) . . . the hood blew open but the trunk was opened by the fire dept. I guess to check and make sure no hot spots were left. 

I’m sure there is (at the least) paint damage to the cars next to it as the flames were (at one point) taller then my townhouse apartment. 

Sorry for the poor picture quality.  I tried to adjust the exposure on the camera to get a clearer picture of the car . . . but it was late and I was tired and didnt feel like messing with it . . . so I decided to go lay on the couch and watch CSI: Miami and fall asleep

No for real.  I heard this sound, like a bottle rocket taking off only MUCH louder . . . I looked outside and what do I see ?

Flames coming out from under the engine of my next door neighbors car.  Not like a little flame . . . a lot of flames and black smoke . . . and it’s getting bigger by the second.

I called 911 (the first time from this cell phone) and they told me the fire department was already on the way . . .

The flames got a lot bigger until the entire front of the car was in flames.

Now understand . . . this car is like 20 feet from my living room picture window . . . so all I can think about it all that glass flying toward me when this car explodes.

So I get some pants on, get the dog collored up, and we go out the back door.  I knock on the neighbors door (no answer) and then procede to the back yard keeping the apartment between me and the rising column of falmes . . .

There is this concussive thud along with a small boom that ripped through the air.

It wasn’t anything like in the movies . . . I didn’t expect a huge fireball or anything . . . but I was expecting a bit more

The fire department arrives 3 minutes later and start spraying water on the car and it goes out with out further incident.

They are still sparying water on it now.  I took a picture with my phone but a fireman asked me to move back . . .

I don’t have the adapter to upload the picture now . . . but it’s not much of anything anyways. 

What an adventure tonight has been . . .

UPDATE: I found the digital camera in the laptop bag and snapped a couple from the windows (as the police were asking the neighbors to stay inside).  Not sure why we had to stay inside (as the fire is out) . . . I supose to stay out of the way . . .