What's New With Me - Part 2

So I thought of a few things I intended to include but forgot so here is part 2.

First, as Suzanne pointed out we went to Europe last summer. We met one of my friend's from Denver in Vienna and went on to do a whirlwind tour. In 10 days we saw Vienna, Salzburg, Paris, London, Oxford, Stonehenge, did lots of random driving, Bristol, Liverpool, Chatsworth House, and back to London. It was a lot of fun but on the next trip to Europe I hope to spend a little more time in each place but going to fewer places. Not that I have any idea when that will be.

Also, 5 years ago I bought a townhouse. I have learned that not only do I not like white, I can't just pick a paint color and paint a room. Each room I have painted has involved at least 4 different paint colors. This is a time consuming process for me but I enjoy doing it and I have loved the rooms when I get done with them. The downside to the townhouse is that it was built in the early 60's and still has the original bathrooms and kitchen so are they ever stylish. I would like to gut both bathrooms and the kitchen and do something more modern with them but I need to stop traveling half across the world every year to come up with the money to do this.

And on Friday I will turn 30, which I have been dreading since I turned 29. This summer I have realized my real problem with that is that I always subconsciously thought I would be married by now. And so now I hate the idea of turning 30 and still being single. I realize I just need to be content with where God has placed me and I know that he is in control and it will all be in his timing. But it's still a struggle. And don't bother to tell me that 30's are the new 20's or the best time of your life. Plenty of people have told me that but it has yet to help. So there's an honest answer on how I am feeling right now.

So enough about me, how are you?

What's New with Me

Since joining Facebook a lot of my college friends have asked "What's new with you?" or some variation of that. Seeing that it has been 7 years I don't really feel like that question can be answered on a Facebook wall so I decided to do this instead. These aren't necessarily new, but new since the last time I talked to many of my college friends.

Two months after graduating from Calvin I took a job in Denver and moved there. I love living in Denver. And although I haven't gotten into skiing, I love the mountains and all the fun things they have to offer. I enjoy hiking and camping and this winter I went snow-shoeing for the first time and I hope to do more of that next winter. I also love the weather in Denver. I didn't know that it was possible for the sun to shine every day ~ the first month I lived in Denver I was constantly amazed that the sun was out every single morning. That is something I have gotten used to and I don't know if I could go back to never seeing the sun. And although I miss having lakes around I don't miss the humidity. So there are no plans of moving back.

I ended up hating the job that first brought me to Denver and for a long time I felt stuck and didn't really know what I wanted to do. After 5 years I decided to leave and attempt a career change to which God responded "Sorry I don't think so." So I returned to engineering but the job I now do is much different than my previous job so it fits me and my personality much better. I now design heating and cooling systems in commercial buildings, and in the last month I have started to learn a little plumbing. In addition to the job itself being better I really enjoy the people I work with and the guys I work for.

I started doing Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) in the Young Adults Class in Denver when I first moved to Denver and have absolutely loved it. Now I am a discuss leader which is a role that I am not a natural at because I don't really see myself as a leader but I have really enjoyed it and God has used to it challenge me and help me grow.

And lastly, the thing that really is new. In October I am going on a mission's trip with my church to Zambia. We are going to work with a children's orphanage there. The goal is use what we do for a living there but seeing how electricity isn't reliable there isn't the need for heating and cooling so I am not sure what exactly I will be doing. But I will see Africa and the impact of AIDS first hand.

Oh, and don't worry - I am still a Detroit Red Wings fan and I am not afraid to show my true colors. The two times the Wings have won the Stanley Cup are the only two times I wish I was back in Detroit.

So what's new with you?

In Over My Head?

The other day I was talking to a co-worker about those situations where you find yourself in over your head. And he said I was in over my head with my next world adventure. And I wasn't sure how to respond to that because I knew that this was God's will but I did feel that I was in over my head. This weekend God showed me that I am not in over my head, I am following in obedience but I do need to focus on trusting Him that I am suppose to do this.

On October 24th I am leaving on a mission's trip with my church to Zambia (south-central Africa). A little over a year ago I decided that I would like to go to Africa and when the church announced the trip I was really excited about it. Then as the trip started to turn into a reality I got scared and wondered if this was something I was really suppose to do. Finally I couldn't come up with any reason not to go and prayed about that and when God didn't say "No" I said yes.

Since saying yes I keep hearing the importance of obedience. It showed up in daily devotions, the Bible study I am doing this summer, in church last weekend and then last night in the book I am currently reading about Moses. And I wanted to yell, "I am being obedient, I am going, what else to you want?" Then I kept reading and realized that it's not just about doing it but also about trusting Him no matter how illogical or scary it may seem. I don't believe going to Zambia is illogical, actually I think at this point in my life I think it is totally logical. But I have come up with a lot to scare me about this trip and it was the point at which the trip became real enough that I started to realize those fears that I started to pull away from the idea of the trip.

So I am going and I am not in over my head and starting to manage the fear enough to start to get excited about this. But still a little scared that I have no idea of what to expect from it.

I have also been hearing a lot about prayer lately. I wonder what that is suppose to mean? Hmm...

I have finally started...

My Europe Scrapbook!

I have only been talking about starting it for about 6 months. So finally over the 4th of July weekend I officially started. Here are the 3 pages I have so far.

Inspired of course by Suzanne's (and now mine as well) crazy tradition of taking pictures of our feet.

Here are a few observations on the scrapbook so far. First, scrapbooking is far more time consuming than I remembered. Or maybe it's just it has been so long since I have worked on a scrapbook that I spent too much time agonizing over the little details. (It being being me this is entirely possible.) Also, I discovered I enjoy shopping for the stuff more than I enjoy doing it. I do enjoy scrapbooking but I really do like looking at all the stuff you can buy for them now. And my third observation, I discovered this as I started to layout my next page - I printed WAY too many pictures to possibly use. (For details see my post "An Overwhelming Task" published in January.) I knew I wouldn't use all them when I printed them but wanted to give myself options. Now I have firmly decided that I gave myself way too many options.

But now that I have completed 3 pages and used 15 pictures I am so close to done that I should start working on my next adventure. Oh wait, I actually have. But more on that later...

My Comcast Afternoon

As I said in my last post concerning my Internet saga my next scheduled appointment was July 21, which was Monday. On Monday I called to make sure someone was actually going to come and I was informed that when they are scheduled to bury a cable they have 7 days to complete it. Once she said that I realized that one of the about 20 people with Comcast that I have spoken to had told me that. And she couldn't really hear me because of my sucky cell phone so there was no point in yelling at her.

So then today I decided to call and remind them they were running out time. The poor guy that answered my phone call. He first told me that it could 4-6 WEEKS because the city had to come out and mark where water, electricity and gas are. At that point I went off about how I had already been without service for a month and if it going to take that long to take care of it I should have been told that upfront. He didn't bother to read enough of my account to see that I had been without service for a month and then went back to work. So he agreed to send a "high level" tech this afternoon. This tech called my cell phone when he got to my house and it was actually the same guy as the last time and he still couldn't do anything. The big problem is that because I am in a townhouse there are 3 sidewalks between me and the cable box. He seemed annoyed that they hadn't done it yet and when he called dispatch he was told they 72 hours from the scheduled appointment to complete it. Notice this is different than the 7 days or 4-6 weeks I have been told. He told me they would be contacting me to bury the cable and to keep his cell phone number and call him if I didn't hear from them and he would harass them to do it.

At that point I was really frustrated because then I didn't even have any kind of time frame of when it would be fixed. Not that it had mattered up to this point but still I was frustrated with that idea. And I gave up on the idea that I was going to have it back in time for the Olympics so I was wondering which of my friends I could crash for 2 weeks to watch.

So I imagine my surprise when an hour and twelve minutes later I received another call from a different Comcast tech who called to tell me he had buried a new cable. I was in shock. He offered that I didn't have to come home and he could tell from his laptop that my modem had a signal. I definitely wanted to come home, I almost didn't believe him - not that I thought he was lying to me but it seemed so unbelievable. I came home and saw that I did in fact have cable and Internet service. YEAH!! What he really did was just bury it under the sidewalks and then did the hid the cable in the bushes the rest of the way. He said they would come out and finish burying it in a few weeks. I am not holding my breath but I don't really care when they come.

All three of the Comcast people I talked to today acknowledged that I had been a victim of poor customer service. Yeah, no kidding, I think I noticed that. Tomorrow I am going to call and tell them I am not paying my current bill because the dates it covers I didn't actually have service. And I am working on the cell phone issue.

And now I can move on to posting about real things without going into work to do it.

Updates on Rain and my Internet Service

So first on the rain, we get three days in a row where it rained for 15-30 minutes and apparently that is our raining season. This week I heard a radio DJ say that were headed in a dry spell and we weren't going to be seeing any more rain for a while. I realize DJ's aren't really the authority on it but it made me laugh that she was implying that 3 days of a little bit rain was a wet spell.

On to my Internet and Cable woes. I still don't have any service at home so I am reduced to staying at work late and coming in on the weekend to check my email and make sure the world around Denver hasn't exploded. I am adjusting to not knowing what is going on in the world but I will would like to be able to know.

You probably don't care but here is my current situation with Comcast and my internet woes. Three separate Comcast techs have been to my house since this started - 2 this week. And the next one is scheduled to come out July 21. Tech #2 should have been able to fix it and he was scheduled to put in a new cable from the box to my house but he apparently left without doing anything (I was at work but the tech called me while I was at work with a question so I know he was there) but didn't bother to tell anyone at Comcast why he didn't or schedule any else to come out. When I got home from work and it didn't work I called Comcast and they have no idea what he did or didn't do or why he didn't fix it. So they scheduled Tech #3 and told me he should be able to figure out where the line was broken and splice it. I didn't believe this - it sounded like a line to prevent me from yelling at him. But it was a good thing I didn't believe him because he tried to find out where it was broken but no luck. So Tech #4 is scheduled to come out and do what Tech #2 was suppose to do.

So far a couple of decisions have arisen from all this. One, I love having the internet in home. I have been reminded over and over how much easier it is to find information with the internet. But I am going to be more responsible in how often I use and how much time I send on the computer. I don't need to check my email as often as I did, I am not going to self combust without it. But then going to the opposite way I have decided to join Facebook. I am really not sure when and how I came to this conclusion but I have been toying with the idea for about a year now and apparently 3+ weeks without the internet is going to throw me into it. Again, I don't know why.

But if Comcast doesn't get my TV working by the time the Olympics start (still several weeks away) they are going to start getting several nasty phone calls from me. They are already guaranteed a letter about how poor their customer service is.

Getting Older

My grandmother is always telling me not to get older. And I always remind her that there is nothing we can do to stop it. Well this weekend I was reminded of why I don't I always like the effects of getting older.

On the 4th of July I was at a friend’s house for a BBQ and during the time that fireworks were going on around the city we found our way to a park close to her house. Because Chrissy lives on the west side of town we could see firework shows from all across town – including the ones from Coors field in downtown Denver after the Rockies game. (For those who don’t live in Denver and this isn’t obvious the elevation on the west side of town is higher as you get up next to the foothills so from that park you could see a over most of the Denver area.) The park had swings so we got on the swings and started swinging while watching fireworks. Initially I was reminded of Suzanne’s list of the 10 things she wants to do before she dies and one of the things on her list being running outside and playing in the rain. Swinging is something that is fun that you loved as a child and it is easy to as an adult but you rarely find yourself in a place to do it. But then after about 15 minutes I found the chains digging into my hips and it made them hurt enough to bother me and make me consider stopping. (Chrissy’s theory was that they are now just making swings smaller rather than our hips now as adults being much larger than they were when we were kids. And then I realized that was feeling a bit sick to my stomach and realized it was from swinging. Which I find very weird because I don’t suffer from motion sickness at all. Hopefully this doesn't become I new thing that start to experience.

I don’t like getting older and I don’t want to turn 30 in a few months but like I tell my grandmother we don’t have a choice so I guess I just have to deal with and hopefully with a positive attitude.