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This would have been a more appropriate post for yesterday, but I guess we all have to deal with disappointment in our lives, so there you go.

It was Dave & Angie's anniversary (9, I think). Big day. In honor of it, here's a story kind of about Dave.

In the summer of 1993, I traveled on a singing/drama group for Maranatha. There were 3 guys - Dave, Caleb, and myself - and four girls - Betty, Kerry, Hope, and Miss Senn. We generally stayed at people's houses after a concert, and more often than not, one family might take 2 guys and another family would take the leftover guy. We worked out a rotation so one night it might be Caleb & I at a house, the next night Dave & I, and the next night Caleb & Dave.

I learned pretty quickly that, on the nights I stayed with Dave, if I didn't do a "run-through" before we left a house, he wouldn't have anything left by the end of the 12-week tour. I'd generally find a shirt, a razor, a shoe - something. Dave's a creative type, so it was always assumed something was on his mind and he couldn't be bothered with petty details like making sure he was completely dressed.

Well, one night we were at a church in Illinois and Dave and I stayed with Pastor Jerry Silver and his family. I recall we had a pretty good time at their house - we played a little Sonic the Hedgehog 2 with his son and then played Rook with his two daughters. I remember staying up later than we should have.

In the morning, as we were getting ready to leave, I did my customary run-through. Sure enough, I found Dave's travel-sized shaving cream in the shower. Normally I would take the found item to Dave and say, "Here, pack this, too," or some such thing, but I was feeling cantankerous, so I didn't say anything. I was going to bring it up when he realized he had left it, or at the moment I felt it would be funniest to bring it up.

We drove to the next church that day (usually a few hours away, but it's been long enough ago that I don't remember), and when we got there, I said to Dave, "Hey, did you forget something back at the house?" "No," he says. "Yeah?" I say, "Not even your shaving cream?" "Nope. I've got it right in my bag," he says.

"Umm, what?" I say.

Turns out, he did have his shaving cream. The identical can of shaving cream (Edge Gel, if I recall correctly) that I had grabbed belonged to Pastor Silver.

How embarrassing.

So I called Pastor Silver and explained the situation and apologized profusely. He acted angry for about two seconds and then laughed about it. He went on to tell me that he got cases of that particular shaving cream for either nothing or practically nothing and that I shouldn't worry about it.

So it all turned out okay, but I learned a valuable lesson that will always stay with me:

Well, actually, I didn't really learn any lessons, but it's a funny story to remember. 0 comments

Did ya'll watch Josh the other day? There he was, right on the TV.

Well, my morning started off great, how about yours? I tell ya, I just might be turning into a "morning guy," you know? I used to be "night guy," but I'm thinking about giving that up to be "morning guy." This morning was one of those mornings that you wish all your mornings could be like. If every day started just like today, well, my friend, you'd have something there! Yes, indeed, a good morning it was.

And then I got to work...

Ha! I kill me! Oh, man! I tell ya, if I amuse only myself, I'll have died a happy man.

I have been putting in some late hours at work. I was there until 10:30 last night, entering in 4th grade accounts. Sounds fun, doesn't it? Well, the big job today was to hit every major PC to update/install antivirus stuff. We've been getting slammed pretty hard lately, I guess. Unfortunately, there's no way currently for us to set the AV stuff up to update automatically. Major bummer. There's plenty more on my plate at work, too, but I hope to get caught up, slowly but surely.

I need to go to bed, but I just got done doing bills, and I'm bothered by something. I've always been bothered by it, really, but tonight I got bothered by it within hand's reach of my blog, so here you go. Here it is: I hate that I have to mail in a bill to a magazine I wanted to see if I liked with "Please cancel my subscription" on because I ended up not liking or wanting the magazine. Okay, really what I don't like is that I have to put a stamp on the bill. I don't mind mailing them something, but they could at least cough up for the return postage, couldn't they? That has always really bothered me.

Okay, that's the big rant for today. Remember to read every other letter in reverse in today's blog for a secret message. First one to decipher it and get back to me wins a big prize.

And there's bonus points for anyone who got the ALF reference earlier, too. 0 comments

My brother's brother-in-law runs TheForce.net, the biggest Star Wars fansite on the Internet. Weird, huh? Well, he's always been a doer of big things, this Josh. Anyway, I got an e-mail from my sister-in-law this evening that says he's going to be on the Today show tomorrow. It's all got to do with this "Star Wars kid" mania that's sweeping the nation. If you aren't aware of it, here's a link that will get you more info than I could do justice to in this here blog.

This Josh has already been quoted in USA Today and The Wall Street Journal (not about this topic, but about the website) and he's been out to Skywalker Ranch for a preview of the Episode I DVD and he met George Lucas.

Have I mentioned I used to go to school with Josh, and even did some improv with him? Big deal, but that puts me 2 degrees of separation from George Lucas, and 3 from Harrison Ford. Think about that for a minute, wouldja?

Anyway, just wanted to let you know that he'd be on TV tomorrow morning, in case you wanted to see him. 0 comments

You know how you can build up an immunity to things? That's how vaccines work, you know - they give you a little bit of the disease and your body learns how to fight it so when the real thing comes along, your body can beat it. It seems to be kind of the same way with other things, too. I don't know first-hand, but I'm told that your body gets used to alcohol after you've been drinking for a while, so it takes more of it to affect you.

So what I'm wondering is, why can't my body build up a tolerance for, say, Oreos? You know, where once it would take me 10 in one sitting to get fatter, maybe now it should take, like, 25 of them. Any scientists out there want to answer that for me? 0 comments

Not that you were worried, but I am still alive.

I feel I must apologize to my most faithful reader(s). I know you've come to rely on this blog to be a constant source of foolishness and ridiculosity, and I really feel like I've let you down. I hope you can find it in your heart(s) to forgive me, and please, give us one more chance. This time will be better, I promise!

If you haven't seen "Pirates of the Caribbean" yet, I'm not sure why you're waiting. If it's because you're wanting to see it at my house, then you're forgiven. Otherwise, you need to get crackin'! It's got a little it of everything you want in a movie: action, romance, sword fights, skeletons, treasure, humor, and Johnny Depp. I'd like to make some sort of joke about it being rated "Arrrrrr!," but other people have already done it, and done it much better than I would, so I"m going to let it go.

So why am I up so late tonight, you ask. As I write this, I'm working on a computer and watching Letterman. The only way things could be better would be if I were sleeping. The computer is taking longer than I expected, and I'm trying to get it done so I can return it tomorrow. I was watching "Alien" earlier, but the DVD I got from the library was scratched badly enough that it wouldn't play past 1 hour into the movie. Grrrr.

I've been fighting some sort of illness these last couple of weeks that involves me coughing a lot - but only after 9 p.m., Indiana time. It's strange because I can go through the whole day feeling fine, but once 9:00 hits, I'm coughing like my lungs want to see the outside world for themselves. Weird. I probably ought to go to a doctor, but I'm more inclined to whine about it.

School is in full swing now. Little kids are hopping all over my building. Along with the kids come any number of problems: logins not working, printers jamming, network drives being lost, and all manner of other things. *sigh* Summer came and went too quickly.

Nutmeg (the evil kitten) turns 1 year old tomorrow. I don't know why, but I figured she'd have mellowed out by now. No such luck. She has moments of sweetness, but she's mostly rotten. Rotten to the core. Anyone in the market for a cute but evil cat?

In case you're wondering, yes, I am engaging in some stream-of-consciousness writing here. Late night blogging sessions tend in that direction.

I'm toying with the idea of switching blogging hosts to one that allows readers to post comments. I wish there were some way to add that functionality to this service, because I like what this one lets me do. I think it would be fun to read what some of you have to say. And, with my inflated ego, I'm sure I could stand to be knocked down a few pegs.

I recently hooked my webcam back up to my computer. Now here's a completely worthless piece of equipment. I mean, what good is it? Having one means you think people want to see you. I'm here to tell you: most people don't want to see you. Really. I've toyed (again with that word?) with setting up a page where you could view my webcam if you wanted, but it seems incredibly difficult, and I don't understand how to do it. As a geek, it hurts me to admit that, but it's true. Webcams are fun, though, I will admit. But let me warn you - if you get one and you have it on, please don't forget you have it on. Nobody needs to see you without your shirt on, especially if you don't get out in the sun much, okay? So just be careful, is all I'm saying.

Okay, I'm really getting frustrated with this Office install I'm trying to do. For some reason, it's taking forever. This second CD has been going for a half hour now, and it's not half done yet! Sheesh! I'm getting tired here!

Okay, I'm going to head out before I say anything that might embarrass me. Or you. Thanks for coming by. I really appreciate it. I frequently check the stats on the ol' blog here, and I'm constantly amazed by where some of the hits come from. People from Canada, France, Germany, and The Netherlands have come by (though, noticeably, they haven't come back...), and I think that's kind of neat. But you know what's more neat? The fact that YOU came by. Thanks for doing that. I hope you come back. 0 comments

I think I've hit on the secret to great friendships. No, not what you're thinking - I haven't discovered the secret to gaining or maintaining great friendships, I think I've hit on one of the signs of great friendships.

I'm willing to help people out all the time - call me up when you have run out of gas, because I'll be there with a can full as soon as I can. Lock your keys in your car an hour away from here? No problem, I'll get your extra set and be there in an hour. If I could be a superhero, I'd want to be "Favor Guy." It's what I like to do. I really, really like it.

But I don't think that's the sign of a great friendship. As much as I would like it to be, I don't think it is. In fact, I think the opposite is true.

You know you're in a great friendship when you feel comfortable asking for favors. When you get to the point where you don't mind asking your friend for help because you know that they don't mind helping - that's a great friendship. Please don't call me and start the conversation with "I really hate/hesitate to ask you this, but..." I much prefer "Hey, I need some help doing ___________. Can you help?"

Maybe I'm not getting those kind of calls because I'm not the friend I thought I was. That kind of rots. Hmm. Phooey. 0 comments