Thursday, July 31, 2003  

Well, now i'm wide awake.

I was closing manager tonight. I just realized as i am laying in bed trying to fall asleep that i never "closed the store" on the computer to reset the financial totals. I am not sure what i am supposed to do. Am I supposed to go back there and re set the alarms and fix the computer so it resets everything? How will that work for tomorrow? I have to open the store... and be there at six. I will probably just call the help desk when i get there. I am sure it's not the first time someone didn't do it. But i also hope that it 's not going to trip off some alarm because I am not on the call list, and Izzy would have to drive in from Eagan or where ever he lives. This really stresses me out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know if i can sleep now. I even thought to myself to remember to do that before we left, when we were putting freight away. I am a dork.

I found out that Mike has an interview at Chaska schools on Monday. This means if he gets this job (which is sort of along shot but anything is possible) that i am next in line to take his place. And it also means unless i have a brain transplant, that I will turn it down... It's bad enough being a supervisor. I can't handle the pressure as it is. Just because situations like that come up, does not mean i have to take them, right?

   [ posted  @ 10:34 PM | ]

Tonight at Alpha, Pastor Geoff asked if would like to be a Zone teacher for the fall. I am so relieved/excited/happy! I will be teaching a class/group of either freshman, sophomores or juniors. So... of course i said yes! Whoo hoo!

   [ posted  @ 6:56 PM | ]

My online paltalk buddy Michael has the privilege of being a member of Raul Ries's church, Calvary Chapel out in California. He shared this webcast link with me. It's a little choppy but it has some good performances on it from the "Somebody Loves You" crusades they are doing right now... Sixpence, Tait, Tree63, Out of Eden and others were performers and Raul gave the messages.

One thing i was challenged by was that Raul... you know he's an amazing evangelist... simply one of the best... huge heart for God. He preaches, and it's almost total scripture... And he uses some other version (sounded like NIV or NKJV) other than the New Living... I tried to listen with non-believing ears. It is hard for me to believe this generation can understand what he's talking about... He talks about the cross, the blood, the sacrifice, all this hard stuff. Not tickling the ears at all. And still people respond at the altar. There goes another one of my theories.

Then again, i'm not a big fan of mass evangelism. I think conversions made at "crusades" (or what the p-c term "festival" you want to call it) are more often than not very hollow and more based on emotionalism than "taking up your cross" but God can use anything He wants. I know this. I was just challenged by the whole crusade idea... still alive and well... thinking of the amt.'s of $$ it cost to put on these huge productions and all the lights and all that... paying for the seating... and thinking, what if the church would use that $$ to train the laity so that they are effective in relational and friendship evangelism... Instead of the outdated and non-biblical idea of having ONE MAN do all the talking... what about the church being mobilized to talk too? I don't know... I know everyone has their own calling and gifting. So I should just shut up.

Or should I?

   [ posted  @ 1:49 PM | ]

I am glad i get to go to church tonight. I am big time in need of getting away from here, especially work.

Izzy and I were at it again today... He had me nearly in tears and i made him so mad he had to bite his lip and walk away shaking his head.

First of all, I have to tell you that God answers prayer... because my Copymax chick, Barb called in sick... and i didn't think we had anyone else coming in. It was just going to be the pidly morning crew again... And that really stressed me out because i didn't want to spend my whole day in CopyMax because I don't know it that well. Right away at eight, we started getting calls for CopyMax and i had to just take messages. And i sent up a prayer asking for help because already i was having to go into my deep breathing relaxation techniques!

Lo and Behold, Shannon says that Dan is here! Dan is my favorite worker, and he is our 2nd copymax dude. He's very good and fun to work with. I was so relieved. Finally i could smile! Maybe he would help take some of the heat off of me when Izzy gets there... and starts his endless talking to me over and over and over and over... never stops barking ideas and orders.

Luckily, Izzy had a conference call to go on, that lasted about an hour or more... i think about 90 minutes. After that he was right on my case... mad as could be... telling me everything that needed to be changed. I raged right back at him (literally), being sarcastic, raising my voice, shaking my head, telling him none of what he wants to do will work but i told him, "i'll just keep saying 'ok' to you because you are not listening to anything i say... As long as i've worked here what you propose to do has NEVER WORKED and it never will. You can run your store, but when Jim is here, he runs a totally different game..." Thankfully at that point i got asked to pull a copy of Windows XP out of lock-up for someone, and i got to escape!

Later he came back and was asking more questions and i wouldn't look at him and he was laughing at me and chiding me and saying how if he were the logistics manager he could make it all work, because he had done it before. (I'm not the logistics manager, i'm the supervisor, which is a lower position and blah blah blah.) And he said he knows Mike is responsible for it but if we are not "green" by week's end we have to start coming in at 5 a.m. to catch up.

And i slammed my foot down and put down what i was doing and said, "Fine go ahead, make it 5 a.m. I'd come in here at 4 if someone would come in here with me but i guarantee if you make this morning crew come in at five, none of them will do it. Hector already told me he won't be coming in... So then what is that going to solve? You won't hire any more people."

And he said that it would have to be just me and him coming every morning at five. And i said, well if that's how you want to run your store, just having the managers do everything like i told you last week, fine.

He wanted to do an evaluation on me for our boundless selling program, and i hate doing those, and thankfully he got tied up with a customer and it was two o'clock so i could go home and i snuck out and left before he could catch me again! Actually he did say he would see me again Monday and that was as i was sweeping up in back, so I guess we did end on a somewhat non-mean note. But i think i got his number today... He's not going to push me around. No' mo'!

All day it seemed like he kept leaving and coming back and making more stabs and jabs and i just kept throwing them back at him. I had totally had enough. Now i just laugh in his face. I think he was totally suprised by me, but i've had enough of it. They want me to work making less money than some normal floor associates, pile up demands on me, not give me anyone to help, tell me i can't work over time, praise all my ideas and then shoot them all down the next day... I'm done. I basically am just going to keep playing the "nod my head" game with them and start praying that we get someone else in there who knows what they are doing, or that God will re-locate me.

(The reason i say "God" is because anytime i've tried to find work on my own it hasn't been happening, so i am going to start blaming God for this mess I'm in even though I know it won't change anything. Whatever lesson I'm supposed to learn in this hell-hole is just making me more bitter and cynical than i already was.)

Anyways yeah... It's been a rough two days and the good news is that I won't see Izzy the Hutt again until Monday. I'm sure he'll have a lot to rag about then ... I can only wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   [ posted  @ 1:10 PM | ]

Here is a commercial for everyone...

EAT BREAKFAST.

Want to hear my office max story of the day? Yes good ol' #1220 brings us to life again.

So i'm the opening manager... with a pidly crew. I was left a list of things to do that practically filled up our 4x6 whiteboard in the office. I can't go in the building alone, so i had to wait for Hector, who was 15 min. late. That set us back awhile. Blah blah blah. He and i were the only ones. Mind you i should have a crew of at least 4 ... grr. Dave comes late and his pants are ripped thru the butt, so he asks right away if he can go home and change. Comes back an hour later. Just in time to watch our training video and open the store. Stupidity.

My store manager, Izzy comes in at 8:30 and as usual starts barking orders at me, telling me what we're doing wrong, how far behind we are, how mad he is at everyone, all this problems and woes. By the way if you didn't click on Izzy's name, you should do that now. OK? OK.

After he's only been there one hour, he tells me he has to stay until close bc he's training Jodie, which is fine, and then by 10:00 he starts saying he wants to take his lunch. Mind you, i don't get breaks when he's there... if i ask for one he pouts. I know i could take one, but then i'd be even farther behind and have to stay late to make up for it. And if i'm there by myself, i can't take a break or a lunch because no one is there to cover the floor or answer manager's calls. So it really sucks. Call it Wal Mart if you want to.

So anyways, Izzy (click that link too please) starts saying how he'll need his lunch at such and such a time. I am getting pretty upset by now bc it's 11, i'm hungry and i actually ate a decent breakfast. It is obvious to me that he has not eaten his breakfast bc he can think of nothing but food. So he says i need to cover the floor bc at noon he's taking his beloved lunch. GO AHEAD LOSER! Golly.

So my sweet revenge. You're going to love this... I was upset of course i spent the whole day pretty crabby to begin with. Just overloaded and all i had to fight it was my peanut butter and jelly sandwich on wheat in the fridge which i couldn't get to bc it's all the way in the breakroom and i already said i don't get a break LOL... So. Izzy takes his lunch. Beloved lunch. And five minutes into it, i got called up for someone wanting to see a manager.

GUESS WHO IT IS?!!!!!!!!!

Of all things, it is the FOOD INSPECTOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Who can drop by any time they dang well please... and so I call Izzy up for that one, and he has to get off his lunch and go looking for our licence to sell food and such... which he can't find! Took him another 30 minutes with the food inspector... haha and it was not a pleasant visit. I was SO HAPPY!! Such revenge i had on him... and i didn't even plan it. So all morning he wanted his stupid food, and he gets inspected instead. Dude. You can't have a better ending.

   [ posted  @ 1:13 PM | ]

Had yesterday off of work.

Looks like the MTV VMA's are set to have a lot of repeats in the catergorys. That'll be on Aug. 28th...
Avril's up for two awards... female video for "I'm with You" and pop video for Skater Boi. I have a feeling she won't win. LOL
In almost every other catergory the nominees repeat themselves one after the other... 50 cent, White Stripes (one hit wonder if there ever was one, sorry), Johnny Cash for "hurt" (weiiiird. why is that in there?!) appears in almost every catergory, and Kelly Clarkson whom i wouldn't mind taking a few awards. Also Eminem i predict will sweep it for "Lose Yourself" which is a grrreat song and anything having to do w/ 8 Mile which i still have not seen.

   [ posted  @ 12:55 PM | ]

Here's my post.

Nothing new here.

   [ posted  @ 7:19 PM | ]

Cue music, " I wanna rock with you " by Michael Jackson.

OK

I couldn't get the controller to print our financial sales so i was way late at work tonight and have to work an 11 hour day tomorrow. I do too much for these people. I should get a RAISE, don't you think??????????????????????????????????????????????? Man.

Did you know the human body has enough fat to produce seven bars of soap? Where do these people come up with this stuff? And the human brain is about 85 % water? Yeah. Useless facts.

My brain is about 19% office max, 22 % sugar, 45 % music and 54 % water. And yes, i never was good at math.

Cue music, " Complicated " by Avril.

Good night. I have a headache. All that caffiene i was high on during my overnights has gripped my body and i've had a massive headache for two days. Get me some alieve. I need to try to sleep so i can do this all over again tomorrow.

   [ posted  @ 8:40 PM | ]

Your trivia for Friday:

The term, "It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye" is from Ancient Rome. The only rule during wrestling matches was, "No eye gougin." Everything else was allowed, but the only way to be disqualified is to poke someone's eye out. Ouch.

The term, "The whole nine yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the South Pacific, when arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all of their ammo at a target, it got "the whole nine yards."

The term "honeymoon" is derived from the Babylonians who declared mead, a honey flavored wine, the official wedding drink, stipulating that the bride's parents be required to keep the groom supplied with the drink for the month following the wedding.

Lastly,

The term "dog days" has nothing to do with dogs. It dates back to Roman times, when it was believed that Sirius, the Dog Star, added its heat to that of the sun from July 3 to August 11, creating exceptionally high temperatures. The Romans called the period dies caniculares, or "days of the dog."

Which reminds me to remind you:
I HATE SUMMER...
and Christmas is only 5 months away!

   [ posted  @ 8:17 AM | ]

Here's this week's FRIDAY FIVE.


1. If your life were a movie, what would the title be?
Surrounded by Idiots: the Wisdom, Life, and Faith of Kt Rocks.

2. What songs would be on the soundtrack?
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! "Wanna be starting something" by Michael Jackson!
The whole Avril Lavigne album... i want her to do the soundtrack. She can write the songs. Skip Skater Boi though, because that doesn't apply to me.

3. Would it be a live-action film or animated? Why?
Live-action, see answer to number 4. Although I could see a good animation of my life as well.

4. Casting: who would play you, members of your family, friends, etc?

Me: Sandra Bullock. I love her!!! She has the best sense of humor... However in order to play me she'll have to gain some weight. She's a twig and i'm just not. (I'm just knot.) ha.

My dad: Spencer Tracy. And you can't have Spencer without...

My mom: Katherine Hepburn. (OK this is fiction any way so i can use dead people if i want.)

My brother: Eminem. Just kidding. I'd say Tom Cruise, but Tom Cruise has such a girly voice i can't stand him sometimes. He's the first person i thought of to play my brother. The next person i thought of is Michael J. Fox, but MJ would have to be more macho and stuff. Then i thought of who-ever is the drummer guy on "That Thing You Do." How about Sly Stalone? Actually Eminem could play the Jon-Paul of his pre-teen and teen years. So much anger... so much rage. But all the ladies want him. But you'd need the Tom Cruise or MJ Fox to be the charming nice guy for all the rest of the scenes.

(What a family... and to continue...)

My sister Amy: J-LO for sure. Pretend Amy's puerto rican and everything's fine.

My sister Terri: Maybe Meg Ryan, but we'd have to put Meg on a caffine fix... or maybe Amy should be played by Meg. They kind of look a like... OK Meg would not make a good Terri at all. The other person i thought of is Julia Roberts but what would we do with Julia's hair??? She's got wayyyy too much of it for Terri. Maybe Faith Hill? No idea on this one. I'm sure e-mails will be pour in.

My husband will be played by my real-life husband... as everyone knows... that is Ben Afleck.

Brother in Law Tom: Sean Connery. Send the hate-mail my way. Bring it on.

Brother in law Dan: Bruce Willis. Hands down, that was an easy one. Bruce is everyone's best friend... a guy who would move the earth for you... stunningly handsome and quick-witted. Even though I'm sure Amy wants it to be BonJovi.

Sister in law Tracy: Joy Behar from ABC's The View. Of course, a younger Joy. Joy is the first person i thought of and i'm sticking with her for Tracy!!!

My boss, Izzy: Satan. Just kidding. I'll think about this and add to it later. How about, Chewbacca?

5. Describe the movie preview/trailer.
Just think about a movie that would have all of those actors in it (besides the fact that my brother is played by about 9 different men...) I can only imagine... Do you think Sandra knows how to sing and play guitar? Who cares. She'll do great!

   [ posted  @ 8:11 AM | ]

I just want everyone to know that it is only ONLY ONLY ONLY 5 short months until Christmas. That's right. I am already dreaming of snow and putting up my tree and decorating and i can taste the peppermint and smell cookies baking. I can already see the twinkle lights and hear "ho ho ho" and see the glistening of the snow in the moonlight. I can't wait to start watching all my Christmas movies and when it starts getting dark at 4:30 p.m. and we start getting all the cheesey Christmas junk at the store that no one buys. I imagine myself walking from my car in the parking lot to work, hearing the snow crunch under my feet, and the freezing sting ice in the air... getting in the car again after work and turning on the heater only to feel the freeeeeeeezing air blow out at me. Listening to my Bing Crosby christmas tapes and all my other favorites like Amy Grant and Vince Gill and muppets and Dean Martin and maybe this year (hint) my mom will get me the Glen Campbell album she got Terri a few years ago!!!!!!! "Little toy trains, little toy tracks, little toy drums, comin' in a sack..."

JUST FIVE MORE MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!

That's right folks, just FIIIIIIIIIIIIVE more months. :)

   [ posted  @ 6:51 PM | ]

Office Max #1220 NIGHT TWO

I smell like a cardboard box. My hands are sore at the joints from grabbing boxes. My back hurts. My feet hurt. I love my job.

Mike & I unloaded the truck at 1 a.m. - there was about 680 cases... which is a normal size. Izzy worked since 1 p.m. on Wed, stayed until 1 a.m., went home (he lives like a half hour away, i think) took a shower, ate, and came back at 2:30 a.m. and is staying there until Jim (another manager) comes in at noon. Dude that is like a 36 hour shift with no sleep. What a guy.

Our two baffoons who were supposed to be working these overnights with Mike and I still are no-call, no-shows and one is for sure fired, the other one is most likely fired if he doesn't show up tonight, which I doubt he will. HOW STUPID to lose your job all because you wouldn't pick up the stupid phone and call in sick! I can't believe how dumb people are. All it takes is five seconds to call in sick, even if you aren't sick, there isn't anything we can do about (well, if you call in 3x in a row, we need a doctor's note.) And is it worth it, in todays economy to lose your job?? STUPIDIY. I AM SURROUNDED BY IDIOTS.

We not only unloaded the whole truck but we put it away in only like 4 hours, and then spent the next two cleaning up. That is record timing. I am very thankful to a fellow named Dave, a high schooler who came in at midnight to help us, and he stayed until 7:30 a.m. wow. See that's what i 'm talking about. Work ethic. I think i've only called in 2 or 3 times in the 2 1/2 years i've worked there. See?

OK.

It's funny when you work an over night because you have to trick your body to sleep. I'll wake up and look at the alarm clock and it will say 6:07 but you think yourself hard... ok is that A.M. OR P.M. ???? Go back to sleep. Wake up at 7:15... ok... is this the morning? Did i sleep for 18 hours? What day is it???? Ha ha. Actually i'm so smart i really don't have that problem but i do sort of wonder. I only have one overnight left... I can do it! I suggested we begin an overnight crew and i would run it, but we don't have anyone else who wants to. OH well. I could get used to this schedule, being as i basically have no life outside of work anymore.


On a different note,

I LOVE CUPID!!!!!!!!!! Totally the best reality show i've seen since Survivor (which can be very predictable too.) CBS has really improved itself in the last 5 years or so... and this is proof. I am so glad i've been watching it since the beginning!!!! WHOO HOO. I'll tell you who i vote for next week.

I watch too much tv. I know.

   [ posted  @ 7:14 AM | ]

Office Max #1220 Logistics report...

My first of 3 overnights this week went good. I was wide awake... worked 12 hours straight. Only took about a 15 min. break to eat my cold cut trio Subway sandwich i bought on the way to work. I hardly left my desk back in receiving. Had over 25,000$ worth of re-calls to process, box, ship, and do paperwork on. That is a lot, if you don't know. Corporate always piles them up right at the end of the period.

That's the good part.

Mike and I (my supervisor) were the only ones who showed up. The other two guys called in sick. No suprise. They don't have as much reason to show up and get the work done bc their jobs aren't on the line (well, yes they actually are, but they don't realize that yet... bc we're going to be making their lives miserable in the next couple weeks, either forcing them to quit or changing their work ethic.) Not that you can help it if you are sick, but it's interesting that people are only sick on the days they have to work odd schedules. Hmm. I have no mercy, because i am rarely sick and even if i am, i still go to work.

We are so incredibly behind deadlines for plan-o-grams (that is what you call the set up of the aisles and merchandising)... and a million other things. Mike told me the guys have not been showing up for the other overnight shifts eithier... Which sets us back even further. This whole week is not going at all like we had hoped it would. We have until the 25th to get our store "green." What that means is we are graded red, yellow, green in all areas of the store. Red is the worst, etc. It is the highest of high standards to get green. Getting green is one thing, maintaining it is another problem. All stores were told that if we are not completely green by the 25th, the management staff would be written up... with some possible terminations as a result. They have really cracked down on this and last week a few people got fired and other managers got shifted to other stores. I'm only a supervisor so i don't know how that would affect me, esp. since i'm only a month into the new position. A visiting guy came from another store and gave us an immediate all store RED yesterday... which is a huge hit because we were near green last week... but it only took one truck load and we were way behind again. That is a huge problem for us right now, and there is not much we can do about it...

When all these people supposedly keep calling in sick. Part of me knows they might be sick. We are working them harder and asking more of them... which is why part of me thinks they've been trained to be LAZY and now that we want more out of them they are just lazy. It's all i can do just to keep up with the over due stuff, let alone get ahead. If they'd let me have overtime i'd work my butt off all the time, because i know what needs to be done but am not being given the time to get it done.

Anyways... yeah.

   [ posted  @ 7:55 AM | ]

Weekly death notice at the apartment building. It seems like at least once a week, the ambulance and cop car show up... taking away yet another ancient person who lives here. You know it must be death when they are not in a real hurry... and the people pacing in the door way on channel 6 (the closed circuit camera channel for our building) are pacing real slow.

I guess that sounds kind of morbid, me keeping track of the deaths here. But i'm no different than the 80 year old women peeking out their blinds. I just write about it on the internet.

   [ posted  @ 8:10 AM | ]

That's it.

I'm checking myself into rehab.

I took a long nap this afternoon to start to force myself onto a different sleep schedule to prepare for the overnights starting tomorrow, and i'll admit i normally dream about work scenarios... work work work all thru my dreams. Usually it is a bad dream, or just chaotic and being pulled in 90 directions.

But this time, my "dreams came true" -- in that the best possible thing i desire right now in life happened in my dreams! No kidding. I was actually given time and space to work back in receiving, cleaning, organizing and get my recalls done for deadlines.

Call the doctor. I need help!

   [ posted  @ 4:25 PM | ]

Imagine,
If you will,
a football team... with about 5 players... Or let's say a normal size foot ball team with enough players but the owner tells the team only 4 or 5 can play at a time. And let's say the owner/manager of the team tells them if they don't win every game by July 25, they will all get written up... and they have to have everything perfect... Only playing with a limited amount of players at a time.

That is what i 've been dealing with at work. We're in trouble for the payroll end of the business and we have enough staff but not enough hours to give them... which means there is no training taking place, and nothing is getting done. It is literally all piled up in carts and pallets back in receiving. I hope to GOD the fire marschall doesn't come thru, bc we don't even have our exit ways clear incase of emergency. That is how bad it is. Don't tell anyone!! haha! And we have until this saturday to fix all of the problems in our store, otherwise the management staff is getting written up. La di da.

And i still have not got a raise. I've had to sap about 1/2 my savings just to pay bills. It was a bad decision of me to quit my temp job before i had a paycheck with an actual $$ increase in it... but i had been told it was coming so i banked on that, literally. And then i wanted to do this internship at Crystal but i have a sinking feeling that won't even work with the hours they are giving me. It was a very hard morning... we didn't have enough people to properly run the store and i've missed so many deadlines. The rest of this week i am working overnights and am just going to do my own thing... even though it won't be what we wanted the overnights for in the first place. I've got to get my own stuff done.

Setting boundaries... yeah. Need to work on that. It's hard in the work place though.

Our new Operations Supervisor started today. She is very good! I'm impressed. She has been properly trained and is going to do a good job. She is a neat freak like i am... so she was really cracking down on our cashier not to leave messes everywhere.

PRAISE GOD! I am not the only one who is going to be harping on the crew anymore!

   [ posted  @ 12:45 PM | ]

Was reading this by Mathetes, an early church father from one of the first centuries. It was one of the epistles not put into the biblical canon, the Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus For what it's worth to you, I really got a lot out of it...

Chapter V.-The Manners of the Christians.

For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking18 method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring.19 They have a common table, but not a common bed.20 They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh.21 They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven.22 They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life.23 They are poor, yet make many rich;24 they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless;25 they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.

Chapter VI.-The Relation of Christians to the World.

To sum up all in one word-what the soul is in the body, that are Christians in the world. The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the body; and Christians dwell in the world, yet are not of the world.26 The invisible soul is guarded by the visible body, and Christians are known indeed to be in the world, but their godliness remains invisible. The flesh hates the soul, and wars against it,27 though itself suffering no injury, because it is prevented from enjoying pleasures; the world also hates the Christians, though in nowise injured, because they abjure pleasures. The soul loves the flesh that hates it, and [loves also] the members; Christians likewise love those that hate them. The soul is imprisoned in the body, yet preserves28 that very body; and Christians are confined in the world as in a prison, and yet they are the preservers29 of the world. The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle; and Christians dwell as sojourners in corruptible [bodies], looking for an incorruptible dwelling30 in the heavens. The soul, when but ill-provided with food and drink, becomes better; in like manner, the Christians, though subjected day by day to punishment, increase the more in number.31 God has assigned them this illustrious position, which it were unlawful for them to forsake.

   [ posted  @ 2:25 PM | ]

Milk. Good. I like milk.

I also like cheese.

I made scrumptious roast today... put it in the oven before i left for church.................. mmmmmmmmm. Lots of leftovers... Here is how i make it. I got the recipe from my mom and i love it. So easy. You don't even need a roasting pan (because i don't have one!)

You get really nice ground chuck roast from the butcher. I go to VonHansens. You smother it w/ a can of cream of mushroom soup and one packet of lipton onion soup mix. You have that wrapped loosely in tin foil... and surround that with baby carrots and onions - I use yellow onions cut into pretty big hunks. If you had room, you could also put your red skin potatoes in there too i guess. I never have room so i just make them when i get home from church and mash them. Seal that up tight. I do that the night before. Then you bake it at 325 for four hours. It will smell very nice.

I make my mashed potatoes the way Steph taught me... use red skin, don't peel off the skin. Cut into small chunks. Boil for about 14 minutes until they are soft enough to stick a fork thru easily. While that is happening, i put about 3/4 stick of butter in a bowl. You could use a whole stick but that is all i had left. I put a bunch of salt and pepper on top of the butter and mince some garlic probably about two cloves worth bc i like garlic! When the taters are done, add about i don't know... a half cup or more of milk (use 2% !!) and mash with your beaters. MMMMMMMM. So yummy.

Home-made bread would go good w/ it too, to soak up the gravy. What a meal.

Church was nifty... Pastor Geoff spoke (he is my supervisor guy) on the Uncomfortable Church... about taking risks. He had some very funny stories... Awesome speaker. I like it when pastors get animated and share personal stuff.

The worship part was a little not my style... some other guy led worship today than is normally there. Who ever was playing lead guitar is SOOOO good. Wow he is really talented. I wish i could play lead. I have no talent for it at all.

Did you know that since Hindus don't eat beef, the McDonalds in New Delhi makes it burgers with mutton? It's true.

Did you know that "the pound cake" got its name from the pound of butter it contained? That would be some cake!

And your last trivia for the day... "Rhythms" is the longest english word w/ no vowels.

   [ posted  @ 2:19 PM | ]

Today at the party, i tried to crack some "kt jokes" about the world being owned by the antichrist ... and everything being owned by disney and ABC. The lame Christians i was sitting by didn't get the joke and were almost offended when i said that office max got bought out and now we buy our pencils from the devil.
I don't miss them much! haha! It's hard to be around stodgy Christians... hmph.

   [ posted  @ 7:14 PM | ]

The Birthday party was fun.............. very hot out, and i wore jeans. We were in the garage so at least not in the sun. I played SkipBo with Sandra and Jackie and stayed for almost 3 hours. We had food leftover from Adam's graduation and over all it was a nice time. Roy is 50!!! wow! He doesn't look like it at all. Well, maybe he does, bc he IS 50!

   [ posted  @ 7:11 PM | ]

Disappointment.

Dude. If you have an inkling to go to Northwestern Bookstore, save yourself the trip. I went there to get a birthday present for my friend Roy who has a party tomorrow, and perhaps age has made me even more cynical, or it just sucks that bad. Northwestern is a Christian bookstore here in the area... big chain... A very comfortable place to find gifts but i went there hoping to pick up a CD or two to listen to in the car... and I've got to tell you... there is NOTHING GOOD OUT THERE for Christian music! Correct me if i'm wrong... dude. I listened to all the samplers... (they have very cool digital listening stations) -- and went from one bland band to the next. Know what I ended up buying? An old Caedmon's Call cd that i had the cassette tape for... it's from like the mid 90's. That's how far back i have to go. It irritates me when bands (worship music is especially guilty of this...) put out a "new" cd and have re-makes of their old songs on it... or just copied on the new cd. Seriously... write some new music or don't make a CD. (Hillsongs / Vineyard are very good for this... "ooh, this was performed in Anahiem instead of Vancouver... listen!")

I was standing there shaking my head... looking at all the stupid cd's on the shelves... It's not just Christian music ... pop music in general is pretty sucky right now.

And it frustrates me because i am so sick of all the cd's i have in my car... and can't stand listening to the radio bc if you find a decent song to listen to, it's over in 2 mintues and then you have to listen to five more dumb ones, and then 20 minutes of commercials. UGG.

Maybe i'm just in a bad mood because i was left alone at work today... there were a whopping total of 4 of us running the whole store, including CopyMax, and the other supervisor who was supposed to work called in sick. Which means i got no breaks, will get yelled at for having overtime, and got NONE of my work done. Had to be on a zzzzzzzzz conference call at noon, in which they informed our district that we'll be staying open one hour later on Sunday nights (usually we close at 6 p.m.) but do they give us the payroll for it? I doubt it. And next week we get to do a week's worth of overnights... grr.

One good thing. Let's see if i can find one good thing to say... OK yeah. I saw Paul Hutchen's "Sugar Creek Gang" on audio cassette at Northwestern. That was cool! Of course i would never get it but that is cool it's out there. Good stuff.

   [ posted  @ 4:35 PM | ]

I met our new Operations Supervisor today. She is blonde. No. I mean she is the stereotypical blonde. Good stories to come, I'm sure.

   [ posted  @ 5:07 PM | ]

The porch bird is still on the nest. Now i really don't know what is going on but she should clean up her mess because there is a pile of sticks and nest materials on the porch and i sure the heck ain't going out there to clean it... First of all, i could sweep it and then it will fall thru the cracks to my downstairs neighbor's balcony. That would be bad. Especially if they are sitting there drinking their morning tea or whatever (there is at least one older person who liveth down there.) My plan is to leave the pile of nest materials there until i move. And if i die living here, then i NEVER have to clean it. Cool.

Second reason i don't want to clean it is because yes, i am afraid of spiders and i bet there is at least one spider out there.

There was a lonesome frog in the entrance way of my store today... when we opened the building. Where did he come from? I shoo-ed him out (is that word? Shoo-ed?) and hopefully he is home free.

I'm not really afraid of frogs.

Last year me & my friend Carrie found a huge toad outside of the receiving doors out where we take the garbage, and we boxed it up, put air holes in the box, put an interstore transfer label on it, and roughed up a Fed Ex shipping label and put it to "attention Monica (insert last name here)" who was our logistics manager at the time. We put the box on her desk in the office. I guess when she opened it she screamed so loud! haha!

   [ posted  @ 5:05 PM | ]

So guess what i did, to satisfy yes, YOUR curiosity! I am sure this has been done before but as i reminisced about the # of "beeps" in an average episode of The Osbournes, in a previous blog, I decided to actually COUNT them! So i got a tally sheet and omy there was a lot. Ha ha. And the funny thing about it is, that the show is rated G. Just goes to show you the rating system is stupid.

Are you ready for the total?

It is a 30 minute show. I tallied 58 beeps in 30 minutes. If you discount the commerial time, you actually have about 22 minutes of programme. So that's like what... 2.63 beeps a minute? Funny. Or... not.

   [ posted  @ 4:58 PM | ]

I LOVE the new Cupid tv show. Good job! Very funny but also interesting... i liked the guys they picked so far.

Youth Alpha was good last night! Fewer and few kids are coming... but more and more are going to the 180Degrees bible study next door... So it's kind of a take your pick thing. Youth Alpha is designed for the inquisitive and those who haven't made their minds up about God, but 180 is for the committed kids. I stuck around a little to see what they were doing, and the guy / college student who was speaking was... very new at it... let's put it that way. :) His content was good... a little impersonal, but choppy! :)

Hector was a Nocall, noshow today at work... was a hard day. It's been a very rough week. When my store manager is there he literally follows me around all day giving me orders and telling me what needs to change blah blah blah... and i'm like DUDE SHUT UP! I am not allowed to work over time to get it done... go complain to your salaried managers... they could stay late but they won't work extra. There's nothing more i can do. I sorely dislike the level of responsibility... but whatever.

   [ posted  @ 1:02 PM | ]

And how about that Groovy M&M's commercial!? I don't think i've EVER heard an original jingle so awesome! I love it! If you don't know what i'm talking about, you can hear a computer-sounding version on here and if you dig thru the links you can view the commercial to see what i am talking about.

The site

Follow the links to the Music Flash back and Sunny Day Band to see the commerical!

It is the one commercial i will rewind as i'm FFD thru my shows!

   [ posted  @ 3:42 PM | ]

I'm trying to remember what was so important that i wanted to write in here today about...

Oh yeah. Are you watching WHO WANTS TO MARRY MY DAD? It seems so hurried and rushed. The other reality show i like now is FOR LOVE OR MONEY 2. What a bunch of hotties on there... :) Those are two NBC shows that i watch... otherwise i usually pick CBS stuff. Big Brother seems kind of a snoozer but i never watched that show before.

On "Who wants to Marry My Dad," the four kids are picking a spouse for their dad. But on the first episode they were down to like 7 or 8 women already... I don't know. Seems kind of hurried! Cupid was funny last week... Also a good idea for a show. You gotta admit the networks have a good thing going bc there is not a lot of expense involved with this set up.

I finished reading thru the Gospel of John today while eating my Honey Nut Clusters and a bagel for breakfast. I have read it a million times but what a wringer of emotions... So much to go through. I like it that it ends with the big catch of fish, and Jesus is cooking fish on the beach before his band of apostles even get back to shore... and they weren't even catching anything. Where'd He get the fish from ? Kinda fun.

   [ posted  @ 3:13 PM | ]

Frank Baum named "OZ" after a file cabinet in his office. One cabinet was labeled "A to N" and the second was labled "O to Z."

Here are some fun websites to check out regarding movie mistakes ...

Movie Mistakes.com

Nitpickers.com

   [ posted  @ 4:46 PM | ]

Baker park was fun... was very good to see Steph again. Though we didn't get to talk much. Everyone was so fun and we all had good talks, catching up. I stayed until like 10:30ish and then headed back home. I think it was an hour drive. Maybe a little less. Had to work yesterday most of the day.

One thing i have to report is that the mosquitos are getting worse in the world. This year they had camo on, plus army helmets, and swords and spears. The female mosquitos even have steel toed boots with chunk heels. They are fierce and almost immune to bug spray. I like to use Deep Woods Off. Little did i know i should have sprayed myself BEFORE getting out of the car, because they were just nasty when i opened the door... i got like 10 bites i think. Yuck. Takes all the fun out of camping. And i was only there for a few hours.

It was my day off today. I went grocery shopping and cleaned after sleeping in and getting some exercise in. I made some really good angel hair pasta with chicken, brocolli, garlic, basil and carrots. Gave me enough left overs for at least one or two more meals.

Did you know that Americans consume about 1.2 billion pounds of potato chips a year? They are Amercia's favorite snack food. Just a little trivia for you. Also, did you know the first ring donuts were produced in 1847 by a fifteen year old baker's apprentice, Hanson Gregory, who knocked the soggy center out of a fried doughnut. No lie... i play trivia and i know these things now.

Also, research shows that only 43% of homemade dinners served in the U.S. include veggies.

   [ posted  @ 4:41 PM | ]

Greetings earthlings.
Or, earthlinks... depending on which ISP you have.

(I can never rave enough about earthlink service. It is so reliable, and has great customer support and that pop-up blocker is awesome!)

I may be headed to Baker State Park to go visit my old church family... if Steph ever calls me after she gets off work. I won't be spending the night but they are camping... and i haven't seen Steph for a few months and REALLY MISS HER! So hopefully that will work out. I ran into Joyce & Bill, two of the River of Life crowd at office max today... we hugged and had a good talk. They are non-campers though so that's cool. Bill is in his 70's and used to play in bar bands in the 50's thru the 70's i think. He's a talented blues/old timey rock bass player... And it looks as though he's still healthy, even though he's had a few hospitalizations in the last few years.

Work was good today... i had the crew really cranking on the back to school set up, and the day went by real fast. I like it when that happens.

   [ posted  @ 2:49 PM | ]

Everyone at work decided today that i am a much funner person when i've had little to no sleep! I only slept for about 2 or 3 hours last night bc of being at work till 11, then when i got home i could not sleep because i had so much on my mind and had to be up at 4:30 to get to work. I was so hyper today! Of course i got home and stared at the wall because i was so wiped out. So i slept for a few hours on my little two-seater couch.

I got to talk to our new operations supervisor on the phone today... her name is Jodie, and i think we'll be good friends. I haven't met her yet, but she called to tell us her hours for this week so we could punch her in. She's right out of college (don't ask me why you would graduate and come work for office max... gag.) but she sounds really fun and it will be nice to have another female in the leadership team... right now it's just me. We talked for awhile... almost like we've known each other for awhile. It was funny.

I was reading John 11 today. The New Living puts it so good! I actually even started crying at v. 39 where Jesus was like "roll the stone away" when he raised Lazarus from the dead... if you have that translation you should read it because it's very well written... makes you feel like you are there. (And don't say i was so moved because it was 5 a.m. and i had not fully woken up yet before heading to work!) It was one of those moments for me where i just knew not only was God was real, but with Him nothing is impossible.

   [ posted  @ 7:10 PM | ]

What is the deal?!!
The porch bird is back.

She / he(?) seems irritated and mean. I miss last year's bird. Isn't it a little late in the season to be hatching eggs?

   [ posted  @ 9:52 AM | ]

OMG! A fellow youth pastor posted a link to an extremely COOL idea that i 've never heard about before and i wish i had a way of doing this YESTERDAY! Geocaching is a techno-savy world wide scavenger hunt... fully interactive if you have a GPS device. He said he's taking his youth group camping and they are going to do some of this. I wish i could do it! I spent some time on the website this morning learning about it. There are even many caches in my area!
If you go to the web page, type in your zip code, and you will find embedded caches near you. Then you can check how many times that cache has been visited... and what visitors said about it. What a cool idea!

   [ posted  @ 9:44 AM | ]

Today was a better day than the day's i've been having.

I finalized talks on giving a co-workers 8-yr-old daughter guitar lessons. She will ROCK! Her name is Katesali - so sort of like "KT!" I hope i am spelling that right; it is Mexican. I met some more cool teens tonight at Youth Alpha, and talked to one girl about giving her guitar lessons too. Her name is "Bethany but people call me Beth." That is how she introduces her self so that's what i'll call her. Maybe it will work to give a few ppl at Crystal guitar lessons before Wed. night meetings, and then i could do that too since i'll be in town. But the days i have to work until 3 p.m., that might be cutting it close. I don't know yet. I like to think about it anyway, bc it is another reason for me to get out of the house more. I mean the apartment.

Why do they call them apartments when they are together? Well maybe they are apart. Who knows. It depends on how you look at it.

Are you watching CUPID? I am taping it. It is probably stupid but with all the hype i guess i'll see what all the fuss is about. I'm a sucker for Reality TV shows. I even watch the Osbornes! But that's a different twist on reality. Jack's "back from rehab" special was on last night... and Melinda is pregnant. I think Melinda is funny and cool. She's the nanny! I think she's like the ideal nanny... someone anyone would want for a big sister. She really has no control over the kids but they still sort of respect her.

The only thing I don't like about the Osbournes is all the swearing. I think one episode i will keep a running tally of the beeps. I hate the beep. Why can't they just have a silent spot then? It get so annoying. One reason i find the show interesting is that it is not unlike any family (except probably all the cursing) -- and in some respects they are more "together" than most. It's a definite window on our society; well, at least i think so.

I got invited to help my friend Brandon do a contemporary church service on Aug. 24th up in Lena, WI. If i can get the time off work, i'm going to go! Then i can swing by family and visit all the kidlings too. He is interested in having me lead worship, and he's also doing an interactive sermon. It's at a United Methodist Church (where he grew up) and they are not used to this sort of thing! So it ought to be interesting. We met in college and have kept in touch (limitedly) since we both graduated and now he's working as an EMT down in Chicago before he settles on his plans to go to Dallas Theological Seminary. He's worked in politics, the medical field, and all sorts of stuff. But i really know he's called to ministry of some sort. But of course we do ministry where ever we are.

I talked to my boss about my "raise" today and he said it's still in negotiations with some guy at corporate... my district manager is seeing what we can do. I told him i will need more money (more than a 20% raise like he suggested) or i would have to go back to being a regular associate so i can pick up another part time job. We'll see what happens. You never know. But at least i know he's going to bat for me. My whining at least has me closing less, on the new schedule he posted. (When i close, i can't work in the back... so i prefer to open the store.)

Today i had a tuna sandwich. Ok, two.

   [ posted  @ 7:20 PM | ]

Guess what! It is my mom's birthday today! Can you believe she's turning 33 ? Wow. So young and so smart! And she has such a cool daughter. I talked about her at work today... announced on our walkie talkies that she no longer is 32 now she is 33. Same age as Jesus' last year. Very cool!

(Happy birthday MOM!)

   [ posted  @ 12:40 PM | ]

Who knew the model father would be... Ozzy?

For Ozzy, who said he has tried to keep an open dialog with his children, the news of Jack's involvement with such a dangerous substance came as a shock. "One thing I noticed is that he never cried," Ozzy said. "He never showed. He just locked it in, you know. I think what families should do more often is have family meetings and talk: get around the table and say, 'What's up? How you doing?' Every day I say to my family, 'I love you,' you know. And I do love my family. People forget to say 'I love you. I care for you. Are you OK? Is there anything you need?' "

   [ posted  @ 2:55 PM | ]

It's one of those days. I'm kicking myself... and had my self talk revolve around "what have i gotten myself into NOW?"

Had seperate conversations with two of my co-workers today about the economy and particularly the high cost of living here in Minnesota. None of us have any money and we all want to be somewhere else. I keep asking Hector "Will we still be working here at Christmas?" And we both laugh our butts off bc we know we're stuck!! Terrance laments leaving a 75,000K job to come here from Ohio and now he's stuck too. I found out my boss switched our manager schedule without telling me and now i have tomorrow off instead of Friday, and have to work the truck on thursday night until we're done (probably until about 1 or 2 a.m.) and then turn around and come back in at stupid 6 a.m. to open the store and work until three. What have i gotten myself into? And they haven't raised my pay yet.

Complain complain.

I know. I'm never satisfied.

   [ posted  @ 2:46 PM | ]

Here's one for ya... Why did New Radicals disband after their first album release? It's not like they were destined to be a one-hit-wonder bc there were three solid top hits on that album. I know it's old news but i'm kind of sad about it bc that dude had some major talent. I watched "A Walk To Remember" yesterday again, and Mandy Moore & Jonathan Foreman (from SWITCHFOOT) did a great re-make of New Radical's "Someday We'll Know" -- a great song... and both versions are so good. Now if Gregg Alexander would only find what he was looking for... the truth. Hmm. I think i read somewhere he's doing production work. Here's one of their hits. If you haven't heard it in awhile, it's worth downloading. (And the other song i just mentioned by Mandy Moore would be worth a listen too... very good.)

You Get What You Give

Wake up kids
We've got the dreamers disease
Age 14 we got you down on your knees
So polite, you're busy still saying please
Fri-enemies, who when you're down ain't your friend
Every night we smash their Mercedes-Benz
First we run and then we laugh till we cry
But when the night is falling
and you cannot find the light
If you feel your dream is dying
Hold tight
You've got the music in you
Don't let go
You've got the music in you
One dance left
This world is gonna pull through
Don't give up
You've got a reason to live
Can't forget you only get what you give
Four a.m. we ran a miracle mile
were flat broke but hey we do it in style
The bad rich
God's flying in for your trial

[chorus]

This whole damn world can fall apart
You'll be ok follow your heart
You're in harms way
I'm right behind
Now say youre mine

[chorus]

Fly high
What's real can't die
You only get what you give
Just dont be afraid to leave
Health insurance rip off lying FDA big bankers buying
Fake computer crashes dining
Cloning while they're multiplying
Fashion mag shoots
with the aid of 8 dust brothers Beck, Hanson
Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson
You're all fakes
Run to your mansions
Come around
We'll kick your ass in!
Don't let go
One dance left

[unsaid lyrics from liner]
Championed by a soulless media misleading
people unaware they're bleeding
No one with a brain is believing
It's so sad you lost the meaning
Never knew it anyway
Human natures so predictable
I'm a fool to do your dirty work whoa, whoa

   [ posted  @ 2:41 PM | ]

Heyyyy happy independence day and all that stuff. What a great country we live in... right?!

Just got out of a fun Bible Trivia game on PalTalk. Made some new friends and i even played on the boys team to help them win. Oh yeah. Gotta love me.

Wimbledon ends up being kind of zzzzzzz to me. Serena won over Venus... but you know... that was sort of predictable given Venus' stomach injury... I did start crying when the two of them sat by each other after it was over and Serena was asking Venus q's and it was so sisterly... you can tell they are best friends and i don't know why i got all choked up. It doesn't take much w/ me. She had to be so concerned about her the whole match.

And the men's finals are kind of zzzzzz to me because neither of them are my favorites so i don't even know if i'll watch it.

But i do have tomorrow off. I didn't find out when the young adult's group is meeting so i think i'll just go to church at 11:15 and see if i can find them. Other than that i'm going to rest tomorrow bc i have another long work week ahead of me. I need a vacation.

   [ posted  @ 10:14 PM | ]

I am thankful for tonight @ Crystal. I met w/ Pastor Geoff and i'm on board! Now it is a matter of fleshing out my schedule and deciding where i want to fit in. He gave me several options.

1. Jr. high small group leader on Wed. nights
2. Jr. high youth worship team leader - they need help organizing the band and teaching on worship... even though i won't be able to be there every Sunday they need someone to keep the team on track
3. Sr. high teacher for the Zone on Wed. nights during the school year - this would be a larger group setting
4. Social activities coordinator, worship leader, or small group leader for the college age group
5. Book work / fundraising / paper work when their person who is doing starts working on the Web page more in a few months.

When he said that list to me, it was like someone pouring water down a desert-dweller's throat. It all sounds very appealing to me. Hopefully i'll fit into at least two or three of those areas. He said they would hire me part-time if they could afford it, and that my resume is very impressive, and he's passing it on to Pastor Dave (one of his superiors) and it's all good. So I'm glad of that.

My main prayer right now is that we get another key-carrying supervisor at Office Max, so i can push them to be scheduling me mostly in the mornings... so i can reserve at least two nights a week for church. I'd also like to get involved in one of the affinity groups just as a participant, that they have for the 20-something crowd.

I went there very tired (had to stop at Caribou for an expresso cooler to get my heart pumpin') and almost kind of depressed. I left there content, energized, and reminded of what i'm all about. Youth Alpha went very well... the sr. high students seem a little more distant (or perhaps the word is "settled") and less talkative to me but i picked a good table to sit at when we were having dinner and we had a great conversation. Tonight's topic was about why faith is important, and what we base our faith on. Pastor Geoff gave the message and the students led the small group discussions afterwords.

So... it was a good night!

   [ posted  @ 7:42 PM | ]

Well well, congratulate me, I picked the winner! Justine Henin-Hardenne is on to the quarter finals!!! She played great against her opponent today and advanced easily. But now Caprioti got knocked out - Serena Williams pulled it out at the very end. Oh well. Both are excellent players.

Beyond Wimbledon, what else is there?

I need new work shoes. I'm taking a collection for some new Doc Martens.

   [ posted  @ 3:47 PM | ]

POLL QUESTION: Which of the following musical
instruments can you play (at least
well enough to get through a whole
song and keep time!)

CHOICES AND RESULTS
- Electric Guitar, 3 votes, 3.75%
- Drums, 2 votes, 2.50%
- Bass, 3 votes, 3.75%
- Keyboards, 1 votes, 1.25%
- Synth, 0 votes, 0.00%
- Organ, 0 votes, 0.00%
- Piano, 2 votes, 2.50%
- Mandolin, 1 votes, 1.25%
- Violin, 0 votes, 0.00%
- The Radio, 8 votes, 10.00%
- Well, I sing , 10 votes, 12.50%
- Acoustic Guitar, 6 votes, 7.50%
- Those shaker egg things, 6 votes, 7.50%
- I can bang a tambourine, though some have told me it's rudely obnoxious, 4 votes, 5.00%
- If i jump up and down is that considered music?, 6 votes, 7.50%
- Something in the woodwind family, 1 votes, 1.25%
- Something in the brass family, 2 votes, 2.50%
- Harmonica, 1 votes, 1.25%
- Banjo, 0 votes, 0.00%
- I can clap, 9 votes, 11.25%
- (also) I play mostly by ear, 4 votes, 5.00%
- (also) I play mostly by reading notes on a page, 3 votes, 3.75%
- (also) I play mostly by reading chords, 5 votes, 6.25%
- I don't have a musical bone in my body, 3 votes, 3.75%

   [ posted  @ 3:44 PM | ]

POLL QUESTION: Which of the following best desribes
the denominational background you
personally adhere to (may or
may not be different than that of the
church you serve in)?

CHOICES AND RESULTS
- Just Christian, thanks, 4 votes, 17.39%
- Methodist, 4 votes, 17.39%
- Presbyterian, 2 votes, 8.70%
- Charismatic, 0 votes, 0.00%
- Pentecostal, 0 votes, 0.00%
- Anglican, 0 votes, 0.00%
- Baptist, 4 votes, 17.39%
- Lutheran, 0 votes, 0.00%
- Catholic, 0 votes, 0.00%
- I think i made up my own religion, 0 votes, 0.00%
- Evangelical Free, 1 votes, 4.35%
- Foursquare, 1 votes, 4.35%
- Assemblies of God, 0 votes, 0.00%
- Christian & Missionary Alliance, 0 votes, 0.00%
- Church of God, 0 votes, 0.00%
- Nazarene, 0 votes, 0.00%
- Reformed, 2 votes, 8.70%
- Congregational, 0 votes, 0.00%
- Vineyard, 0 votes, 0.00%
- Orthodox, 0 votes, 0.00%
- Calvary Chapel, 0 votes, 0.00%
- Non-denominational, 3 votes, 13.04%
- Word of Faith, 0 votes, 0.00%
- Messianic Jewish, 1 votes, 4.35%
- Something else, 1 votes, 4.35%

   [ posted  @ 3:43 PM | ]

This poll is intriguing to me... (i let us vote for more than one option, by the way) - over half of us became dedicated in our teen years... and now we're in youth ministry. Hmmm.

POLL QUESTION: How did you initially come to a
decision to follow Christ?

CHOICES AND RESULTS
- Loved God from birth/childhood, 3 votes, 10.34%
- Family member/parent, 4 votes, 13.79%
- Friend, 0 votes, 0.00%
- Altar call at a regular church service, 1 votes, 3.45%
- Music concert/revival/ special service, 3 votes, 10.34%
- Decided all by myself with no outside influence, 1 votes, 3.45%
- I haven't decided yet..., 0 votes, 0.00%
- Enemy, 0 votes, 0.00%
- Youth pastor's influence on my life, 1 votes, 3.45%
- Camp, 1 votes, 3.45%
- TV / radio evangelism oriented , 0 votes, 0.00%
- some freak knocked on my door one day, 0 votes, 0.00%
- When I was in college, 0 votes, 0.00%
- When I was a teen, 7 votes, 24.14%
- When I was a pre-teen, 3 votes, 10.34%
- In my mid-late 20's, 1 votes, 3.45%
- In my 30's, 3 votes, 10.34%
- In my 40's+, 0 votes, 0.00%
- In the car, 1 votes, 3.45%
- In a home, 0 votes, 0.00%
- At a Bible Study, 0 votes, 0.00%
- While eating Pizza, 0 votes, 0.00%
- After i fasted 40 days and 40 nights and thought what the heck, i'll give it a whirl, 0 votes, 0.00%
- After reading some great book, 0 votes, 0.00%

   [ posted  @ 3:42 PM | ]

POLL QUESTION: How did you find your current ministry
position?

CHOICES AND RESULTS
- Was placed here thru my bible college/ seminary contacts, 3 votes, 16.67%
- I started this church/ministry from scratch so i'm here by default, 3 votes, 16.67%
- Dang, now that i think of it, I have NO idea!!, 0 votes, 0.00%
- Was hired thru my denomination, 0 votes, 0.00%
- Just the grace of God, I guess, 2 votes, 11.11%
- I used to be a student in this ministry, and came back after I graduated college and they hired me, 0 votes, 0.00%
- Some other weird answer, 2 votes, 11.11%
- I was part of this church, and after getting involved, I got hired, 1 votes, 5.56%
- Internet (youth specialties or something like that kind of a job bank), 4 votes, 22.22%
- Knew someone who knew someone who knew someone..., 1 votes, 5.56%
- Ad in the paper, 0 votes, 0.00%
- Sent my resume to them randomly, 1 votes, 5.56%
- Was an intern here and then got hired, 0 votes, 0.00%
- I'm still looking for a ministry position, 1 votes, 5.56%
- Joined up with a friend who was already doing this here, 0 votes, 0.00%

   [ posted  @ 3:41 PM | ]

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