What Was That?

At about 3:45 EDT on 25 July 2010, a storm system came through and within a few minutes, the temperature dropped about 30 degrees Fahrenheit.  As such, there is still some damage in the area.  The National Weather Service has teams out today surveying damage to see if a tornado hit.  (We've already had an earthquake, so why not a tornado?)  But, I have learned a few things as a result of this storm.

1. My apartment has strange wiring.  Right now, I have power in the outlets on the south and east walls of my apartment, the lights in the kitchen and common room, the ventilation fan in the kitchen, the range, and the smoke detector.  The AC, outlets in the kitchen, outlet with the TV and such, the hall light, and the entirety of the bed and bathrooms have no power as of yet.  And before you asked, yes, I checked the fuse box; and the maintenance staff at the complex said this is normal after a bad storm.
2. Once power comes back, I have to buy some more milk, salad dressing, carrots, bacon, eggs, and lunch-meat.  Fortunately, the apple juice has not yet been opened, so it is still stable.
3. Having any water during a power outage is still weird to me, even if there are restrictions since the power was lost at a water treatment plant.  I guess growing up with a well will do that to you. 
4. Contrary to popular belief among some of you, I had nothing to do with this.  And Nick and Laura: my sympathies with the leak.
5. Thank you Adam and Jon for refuge last night.
6. Fortunately with this cool down, next weekend is supposed to be nice.  So it won't be a big deal that my church doesn't have air conditioning.  (Do remind yourselves of point 4a.)  And if any of you want to skip Otakon and go to the service, let me know.  It'll be your last chance to watch me possibly screw up at the pulpit for at least a few months.

Okay, time to get some work done.

Spare Tire = Holy Grail?

Pray you never need to get a replacement spare tire.

After checking my car (tire pressure, fluid levels, etc.) on Saturday, I noticed the tread on the spare tire in the trunk was coming off.  "No problem," I thought.  "I'll check around with some of the tire stores in the area and get a new one."  No luck.  "Okay, I'll check with the guy from my church who owns a tire shop."  His supplier doesn't carry the size my spare tire is.  In fact, the only place I've seen on-line that even recognizes that this tire size exists in the Chevy dealership in Taneytown my parents use.  Unfortunately, they have no tires of that size in stock.

So, on Tuesday, I go see the guy from my church and find out what he recommends.  I'm hoping that if he can't do anything, the Chevy dealership can order the tire.

But if anyone knows where to obtain a tire of size T115/70R16, please let me know.

Round 4

It happened.  I get to preach again on August 1st.  The church finally has a supply preacher for a while, but she can't start until the middle of August.  So that means no Otakon trip this year.  Sorry to those of you who will be there, but I will have to miss it.

For those who won't be attending Otakon (and those that are), I'd love to have you at the service.  For those who haven't been there, it's fairly laid back.  Just be warned that there is no air conditioning in the church.

So if you want to attend, drop me a line.  I'll give you directions and such if you want to go.

Reunion Weekend

For the first time in over a year, I visited the St. Mary's College campus.  The reason: Reunion Weekend 2010.  The time between my last visit to the campus, for graduation last year, until this weekend is the longest time I have gone without being on the campus since I first visited the college (unless you count the time from when my family visited Historic St. Mary's City one summer when I was in middle school until I formally visited the campus the summer before my senior year of high school).

So, the highlights of the weekend:

• Best part of the weekend: seeing friends.  While I have seen many of them already this year, I did get to see Oscar for the first time in over two years.  And while there were some differences, most of the LQ 1 group from junior year was there, in the same suite this weekend, joined by some of our other close friends.
• I went sailing for the first time in my life, necessitating me wearing swimming trunks for the first time in almost eleven years.  Add this to the list, albeit short, of things I wish I had done differently in college.  (That list may be the topic for a later, more than likely EC-10, blog post.)
• Note to self: avoid putting down an entire bottle of wine by myself in one weekend.  Especially when the division is one glass Friday night, the rest of the bottle Saturday night.  However, I think I was more uncomfortable because of all the snacks I ate to compensate as opposed to the amount of alcohol I drank.
• I am running on about ten hours of sleep since 7:30 a.m. on Friday as of the time of this post.
• Ice >> broken refrigerator.
• I need to keep an eye on any pictures of me posted on Facebook in the near future.
• I may end up with a scar on my elbow from this weekend.

In short, especially to those who spent the weekend with me, I enjoyed myself immensely.  So, thank you.  While I don't know that I'll be up for this every year, I would want to make this a tradition for every few years.

Twenty-five?

Well, I have somehow survived for a quarter of a century.  While this does not look like the most interesting birthday I have had (which is a good thing), it so far has had its moments.

• The alpha draft of Sunday's worship service is finished.  I have also decided to lead the time with children myself.  Hopefully, this decision will not blow up in my face.  At least I get $125 for this, since the church doesn't officially have a pastor as of tomorrow.  Also, those who want to are more than welcome to attend.  Just let me know soon so that transportation and lodging arrangements (if necessary) can be made.
• Lots of time spent with people.  Saturday with the family, yesterday with college friends, and this evening with grad school friends.  At some point I am going to have to get the two groups together.
• Apparently, the boiler that heats the water at my apartment building died on Saturday.  This means no hot water until Tuesday at the earliest.  It would have been nice to let us know so that we didn't have to call it in.
• Something is wrong with the AC at my apartment.  It cools, but actually makes the air more damp.  This has been remedied with a dehumidifier, although I think the humidity is reaching an asymptote of 65-66 percent.
• Less than two weeks until reunion weekend!  It has been a while, so I think I will be doing some drinking that weekend.

Okay, back to reading math and physics books.

Frederick County Three Times in a Week

The title says it all.

After going home for church on Pentecost and my pastor's last service, I found out that I will be going back on Wednesday for the council meeting in addition to going back Saturday to celebrate my birthday with my family.

Wednesday night, the church council is meeting with the conference minister who will be helping the church find a new pastor.  Yesterday, the council president asked me to attend this meeting.  I also found out that as of now, the council has not lined up anyone to preach this summer.  I'm thinking Wednesday's meeting is to get approval to let me preach at least once this summer.  In fact, I have all but been asked to do so.  I believe the final answer comes Wednesday night.  Stay tuned, as I may be asking people if they want to attend if I preach again.

Here's to hoping the church's search for a new minister goes well and quickly.

Free Time? Who Needs It?

I just made my summer more interesting.

Not only do I have that research thing to do to prepare for my preliminary exam in the fall, a trip to St. Mary's in June, a wedding to attend in July, a Hersheypark trip probably in August, and the potential for serving as a preacher for the better part of the summer (the church council still has to get back to me on what they need me to do), but today I added helping with the new student orientation for the incoming first-years to the list of things to do.  Oh, and I decided to join a Bible study group with a few other math people from UMD.

I could have said, "I passed my qualifying exams last summer, so I can take it easier this summer," but instead, I decided to give myself more work to do.  It'll be good for the CV, at least.  I hope.

Again, I have no idea why I volunteered for this.  Maybe I'm subconciously trying to put off something else.