Stump the Pastor

Facebook is killing this blog

2009-02-20T16:19:00.002-05:00

I used to update this blog frequently. For years, it was the easiest way for my friends and family to know what was going on in my life. Now that I have been using Facebook (for the past 18 months), I find that I don't feel the need to update. It's a shame. I have kept this blog going for over four years. There were some weeks where I updated it nearly every day.

Facebook has changed everything.

The internet killed the newspaper. Facebook is killing the blog.

Living Colour and my new favorite singer

2009-01-20T17:16:00.004-05:00

So, I was looking on YouTube for the video to the song "Cult of Personality" by Living Colour. The song was popular about twenty years ago and something reminded me of it the other night. Instead of finding the real video for that song, I came across this alternative.

I think we can all agree, that Living Colour might want to consider this man as a replacement for their original lead singer.

300th post

2009-01-16T14:13:00.004-05:00

It can be difficult to stand for principle when we live in rather "unprincipled" times. I was encouraged by this article about a British bus driver who risked his source of income when he chose to remain true to his convictions. Thankfully, it appears that his employer isn't going to punish him for it.

Christian refuses to drive "No God" bus.

By the way, I have been posting to this blog for over four years now and this is officially my 300th post. Time flies. I'm glad there are still people who check it out, even though I haven't been posting as often as I used to. I need to get back in the routine.

Do me a favor and leave a comment after you read this post. I would love to know who's out there and where you're from. I know that a few readers are from Australia, but I would enjoy learning where some of the others are from.

Plumbing

2008-12-18T14:36:00.003-05:00

flexible pipe coupler

I have the utmost respect for plumbers. Plumbing is a difficult job, ... a fact which is confirmed to me every time I have a plumbing issue.

On Sunday afternoon, my wife was preparing food for a church dinner and using the sink / garbage disposal to discard the food scraps. After a little while, she began hearing the sound of water splashing in the basement. She ran downstairs to discover unhealthy amounts of water pouring from the ceiling in the back corner. At that point, she called for me and I came down to investigate.

At first, I couldn't figure out where the water was coming from. All the copper pipes seemed to be intact and the flow of water seemed to be gradually decreasing. Once it slowed to just a trickle, I asked Andrea to slowly turn the kitchen sink on so I could observe what happened. Within seconds of the sink turning on, the water began flowing again. I correctly surmised that there was some sort of problem with the drain.

I won't bore you with every last detail from this point, but I will highlight a few things.

Because I realized (from past experience) that it would cost at least $300 if we called a plumber to fix this problem, I decided that I would do the best I could to try to fix it myself. I started by taking apart the drain pipes under the sink / garbage disposal. After doing that, I looked down into the drain in the floor to see if I could see anything. From what I could tell, the pipes seemed clogged with food.

I tried to use a drain snake to clear the lines, but that didn't work. It was then that I realized that this wasn't going to be an easy fix.

In the end, I ended up cutting all the clogged drain pipes out of the section of the basement that was right under the kitchen sink. Then I installed new pipes, along with a removable section of flexible pipe. That way, if this ever happens again (which I'm sure it will), all I will need to do is remove that section of pipe with a flat head screw driver, and clear the line of any food.

My total expenses for this project were:

$59 (reciprocating saw)
$40 (flexible pipes, pvc pipes, fittings, pipe glue)

The total cost was less than $100 and I ended up with a new saw. I think I can live with that.

Fly

2008-12-09T16:35:00.002-05:00

I don't have a fly-swatter in my office, but I think I need one. I don't know where they come from because the windows and doors are closed, but I always seem to have a fly in my office that won't go away.

Last week, I had a fly and it rested on my windowsill, so I killed it. A few days ago, another fly got caught in my ceiling light and after languishing inside the light, it finally died. Now there is another fly that keeps banging its head off the light. Every time I think my office is "fly-free," another bug shows up.

Apparently the fly must be reading over my shoulder because as I type this, it has stopped buzzing. I think the fear of experiencing a fate like that of its friends may have caused its heart to stop.

Odd decorating choice

2008-11-06T13:22:00.002-05:00

Being that my family just moved to a new home, we have made many recent trips to home improvement and department stores to buy a variety of things that we needed.

A few of our trips have been to Target. One of my favorite purchases from Target has been my new tool organizer for the garage. I have also noticed a few things at Target that I cannot imagine anyone buying.

For example, in their home-decor department, they sell the item pictured above; a wall hanging with the tired slogan, "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." I can understand why people would decorate their homes with the other slogans they have available, like, "Faith, Hope, Love" and "Live, Love, Laugh." Those make sense to me. But who decorates their home with "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." Does that saying really convey the kind of atmosphere people are trying to create in their homes? And just where would you hang that kind of art? Above the garbage can in the kitchen?

If this is the direction Target is moving in, I would like to offer a few additional slogan suggestions for them to consider turning into wall art:

1. "Stop, Drop and Roll." Maybe that could be hung over the bread box.

2. "Stop, Look and Listen." That could be placed over the TV or radio.

3. "Give a hoot, don't pollute."

4. "Knowing is half the battle, GI Joe!"

5. "Busy moms choose Jif."

6. "By the power of Grayskull, I have the power!"

7. "Only you can prevent forest fires."

8. "Two wrongs don't make a right."

9. "Stand in the place where you are."

10. "Dance with the one who brung ya."

11. "Are you working hard, or hardly working?"

12. "You're in good hands with Allstate."

Surface Day

2008-10-24T15:24:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was Surface Day. Several "surface" projects were completed at our house; the deck, doors and driveway.

Andrea and I decided that our goal is to have our house finished by Thanksgiving. We have been using much of our free time to tackle as many projects as we reasonably can.

Last week, I borrowed a friend's power-washer for a project at church. I was inspired by that experience to buy one of my own. Yesterday afternoon, I came home early and power-washed the deck. It took about three hours, but I got it finished before I lost sunlight. I took the picture above after I had finished the first two sections. I thought it made a noticeable difference. Sometime very soon I will stain/seal it.

Andrea and Sara worked on priming and painting doors. Many of the doors in our house were unfinished. Some had hundreds of surface scratches that look like they were from a dog. After finishing the first coat, Andrea commented, "Now I actually feel like I'm at home."

While this was all taking place, I was having the driveway sealcoated. They repaired the cracks as well. It didn't look like that had been done before, so I will probably have it done next Fall as well to build up a good base.

It was a productive day. I feel good when I can scratch a few more projects off the list.

Pyramid

2008-10-15T16:18:00.002-04:00

I think I need to stop going to Lowe's so often. Strange things keep happening to me there.

Last week, while making my daily trip to Lowe's, I noticed that they had spring water on display right as you entered the store. The price was cheaper than at the grocery store so I thought I would grab two cases to keep at my office.

I put the first case in my cart.... without incident. Then I grabbed another case from the top of the stack and two-thirds of the giant water pyramid tumbled to the ground. I have no idea how that happened. I immediately faced the woman who was working at the customer service counter and said, "I have no idea how that happened." She didn't seem to care. Another employee came over and immediately began rebuilding the pyramid. I offered to help, but she declined my offer.

I felt like I was on some sort of hidden-camera TV show. It seemed like someone must have been hiding behind the water, waiting for some goof to walk through the door and grab a case, while they pulled the display down with a rope. That's still my best explanation.

Trip to Lowe's

2008-10-08T20:43:00.003-04:00

Since the end of August, Andrea and I have been working our hardest to get as many projects as possible completed in our new house before we actually moved in. The house needed a lot of work (nothing structural, just cosmetic-type repairs).

The bushes outside the house were extremely overgrown and needed to be removed. I spent quite some time cutting them down and then hired a tree service to grind out all seventeen stumps. Then I began the process of planting some new, more manageable shrubs. This involved multiple trips to Lowe's.

One of the major differences between living in the Poconos and living near Philly is the temperature. September days in the Poconos are extremely comfortable and almost never muggy. The same cannot be said for this area. It was over 90 degrees and very humid for most of the days that I worked outside. (Maybe I should have timed that better).

Anyway, during one particular trip to Lowe's, I realized that one of the employees in the garden section was staring at me funny. It seemed quite odd to me. He kept staring and I was puzzled at how overt his staring seemed. I couldn't think any obvious reasons as to why he would be doing this, so I just ignored it, paid for my plants, and pushed the cart out to my van.

As I was loading the van, I realized why he was staring at me. I was so sweaty from working outside that the sweat seemed to pool on my shorts. It looked like I had surely wet my pants.

I wonder how many others saw me in that state, but were more discreet in their response.

TV

2008-09-24T14:40:00.003-04:00

Sorry that I haven't been posting very often. I will get back to my regular routine sometime in October. We're in the midst of moving to a new home and I haven't been able to get online with any regularity.

One of the most difficult aspect of this moving process is the fact that football season is well underway and we keep missing games. This past Sunday, the Eagles were playing the Steelers and I was dying to see the game. After church, I was working at our new home, but we don't have cable set up yet. I tried my hardest to invite myself to other people's homes, but that didn't pan out.

So I found an old antenna TV and began playing around with it to see if I could pick up a signal. I struggled with it for over a half-hour and I was eventually able to get a very grainy picture of the Eagles game. Unfortunately, I couldn't get sound. So I turned a radio on and found a broadcast of the game. I had picture and sound, but the TV and the radio were off by about 10 seconds. As I watched every play, I had to wait ten seconds to hear it take place. It made me laugh.

The picture above is a glimpse of what I stared at for 3 hours on Sunday.

Too young to drive

2008-08-07T14:22:00.002-04:00

On Monday evening, I spent quite a few hours at the hospital during my Grandfather's surgery. Thankfully, things went well. After visiting with him, several of my family members grabbed a late night meal at Denny's.

Andrea was home with the kids and I called her to check and see how things were going. I didn't foresee her answer to my question.

The conversation began something like this,

"Guess what your son did while you were gone?"
"Which son?"
"Jay."
"I don't know. What?"
"He decided to drive the van while I was in the process of unloading groceries."

To put this in context, Jay is 6 years-old. He just started losing teeth. I was all excited, last year, when he learned to ride his bike at age 5, but I didn't anticipate him making a jump to motor vehicles this quickly.

Apparently, he drove the van about 20 feet with his younger brother and sister still inside. Then, when they panicked, he stepped on the brake and waited for Andrea. Andrea heard the sound of the brakes being applied too hard and came out to discover that the van was gone. You can figure out the rest of the story from there.

We both talked to Jay and I feel reasonably confident that he will not attempt this again. I'm hopeful that Daniel doesn't get any similar ideas from his big brother.

Matinee

2008-07-15T16:43:00.002-04:00

On Wednesday afternoon, I took Hannah to the movie, Kit Kittredge. It's based on one of the "American Girl" books. I enjoy taking Hannah to movies, although it only happens once every year or so.

The movie was completely geared to her age group. I thought it was fine, but she thought it was amazing. She laughed and cried at different points in the movie. When it was over, I asked her what she thought and she said, "I loved it."

It was nearly time for dinner when the movie was over, so I let her pick where we went to eat. She thought about it for a second and then asked me if we could go to the restaurant we ate at after we saw the Polar Express. I was shocked by this request. I couldn't believe she remembered that. We saw the Polar Express in December 2004. You can read about it here.

So I took her to the restaurant and bought her another strawberry shake, just as I did nearly four years ago. I am very impressed with Hannah's memory and I hope she always likes strawberry shakes.

Jay's tooth

2008-07-14T16:48:00.002-04:00

The other day, Jay lost his first tooth. He was extremely excited about how loose it was getting and he kept telling us about it as often as the topic would come to his mind.

Jay is much braver than I was at his age. I don't know where he gets his courage, but I'm glad he has it. The other night, he came up to me and requested that I pull it out with a set of pliers. I told him that I would be happy to do it if he was certain that he wanted me to. He was certain.

So I grabbed a set of needle-nosed pliers and make my first attempt. The pliers slipped off his tooth, so I had to try again. The second attempt was successful. Jay didn't cry, complain or even flinch.

I must admit that I was quite impressed. He deserved the dollar that we left under his pillow.

Daniel rides his bike

2008-06-21T15:11:00.002-04:00

At age four, my son Daniel has learned to ride his bike without training wheels. This picture was taken yesterday as he drove away. He is great at navigating corners and he loves that he can go much quicker with the training wheels off. It's fun to watch.

Better gas mileage

2008-06-18T12:32:00.003-04:00

Sorry for my lack of consistency with posting. That always seems to happen during the Summer months.

Last November, you may remember that I purchased a 2005 Honda Civic. What a great car. I realize that it isn't flashy and it doesn't make any sort of a "statement" when I drive it, but I love it anyway. This is my second Civic. I drove the first one for nearly five years and then went through a "truck phase." I have since repented of my budget-busting ways and I'm back to driving a more economical vehicle.

One of the main reasons I bought a Civic was for its excellent gas mileage. When I first drove it off the lot, I noticed that I was only getting around 29 miles per gallon. While that was much better than the 16 mpg's I was getting with my FJ Cruiser, it was still far less than I expected to get.

Since November, I have tried a few things that have truly helped me get better mpg's. The first thing I did was change the oil to an "all synthetic" option. Then I spent a month or so using 89 octane gas exclusively. I checked the air filter to make sure it was clean and I regularly check to see if my tires are inflated at the correct pressure.

Making those changes caused my mpg's to climb to 34 mpg, then 35, then 37 and 38. On my last tank of gas, it had climbed to 39.4 mpg. I just changed the oil again so I'm hoping that I will be over 40 mpg on this tank.

I had no idea that gas would be over $4.00 / gallon when I traded my FJ for the Civic, but the timing couldn't have been better.

Elliptical

2008-05-28T16:20:00.003-04:00

Last night it dawned on me that I haven't been exercising as regularly as I should for the past few weeks. I got out of the habit earlier this month when I attended a week-long conference. Since then, we have hosted company at our home and a large retreat at PMBC over Memorial Day weekend. In the midst of being busy, I have fallen out of my routine.

This morning, I lifted weights, spent 30 minutes on the elliptical and then used the Total Gym. I want to continue this pattern and spend at least four mornings a week following this routine.

I'm hoping that the warmer weather and the schedule that I have to keep during the Summer months will allow me to lose the rest of the excess weight that I haven't been able to shed.

Wavorly - "Part One"

2008-05-20T16:00:00.003-04:00

I really enjoy this song and thought I would share it with you.

Markers

2008-05-07T16:32:00.004-04:00

Several days ago, Andrea told me that she was asked to substitute teach the 2nd grade class at the Geneva School today. That meant that I would need to watch three of our four children for the day. "No problem," I thought. "This will be fun."

The day started off nicely. The kids had Apple Jacks for breakfast. Then they played for a little while. They cleaned their bedrooms and the toy room before we sat down and had lunch together.

After lunch, I put Julia in the stroller and took her for a walk, with the boys riding behind me on their bikes. The weather couldn't be more perfect. Upper 70's with a slight breeze.

After our walk, we played catch with a football for a little while. Then we came inside and waited for Andrea and Hannah to come home.

About five minutes before Andrea came home, I got a call on my cell phone. My reception in the house wasn't so good, so I stepped outside the back door for a few minutes. As I was finishing my call, Andrea pulled up to the house and the rest of the kids walked into the doorway - trying to get my attention. Apparently, while I was on the phone, Julia decided to color her arms with a blue marker and OF COURSE she had to do that two minutes before my wife came home.

Part of me is convinced that Andrea had this pre-arranged with the kids just to make me look bad. She wants me to be 100% certain that this place will fall apart if she's gone for more than half a day. I'm pretty sure the conversation went something like this:

Andrea: "Dad is going to try to make today a nice day for you. Please feel free to work against him. If everything is going well and you can't easily mess things up, make sure you give this blue marker to your sister just before 4:00. She will know what to do."

Kids: "Yes mother. We fear your wrath so we will obey."

You know and I know that this is EXACTLY what took place.

Birdie

2008-05-05T20:40:00.005-04:00

Picture of ball before I took my second shot

Every year around this time, when Spring has been around for a few full weeks, I get the itch to get back on the golf course. If a good golfer watched me play, they would find a lot to critique, but now and then, I have a true moment of glory.

Today was the first chance I had to play golf this season. I was golfing with Tyler, a friend of mine. Both of us would admit that we were a little rusty seeing as neither of us had golfed since last August. I didn't do too well on the first two holes, but things changed on hole three.

The third hole is a par 3, 180 yard hole that has a slight dog-leg to the right. As I stepped up to tee off, I said to the ball, "Come on Pinnacle, do something good." Then I raised my club and swung. The ball flew high and far and curved toward the right just as it was approaching the green. It was almost as if there was a magnet in the flag that was drawing my ball in.

I couldn't see where the ball landed, but both Tyler and I knew it had to be close to the green. When we got a little closer, we could see that it had landed on the very edge of the green and I would have a chance to putt it in for a "birdie."

I wanted to sink that putt so bad. I drew a line in my mind between the ball and the cup and gently putted the ball. The ball only had about six feet to travel and it rolled nice and straight before falling slowly into the cup. It was a great moment. I even asked Tyler to sign our score card to attest to the fact that there was at least one time in my life when I sank a birdie putt.

Stretching

2008-04-29T16:54:00.003-04:00

God wants me to be flexible. I have been learning this lesson all over again. Without going into the details, I have realized that God is stretching me. He's causing me to rethink my old plans and replace them with new ones. He's encouraging me to step out on faith and embrace a little "risk."

The funny thing about it is that you would think I would dread this kind of experience, especially after enduring the faith-stretching that was a major part of my life for the past few years. I don't know what to say about that, but in a strange way, I'm coming to truly enjoy experiences like this. I think I'm becoming addicted to having my faith tested and my plans altered. It's weird, I know. But it's good.

Now I'm going to sit back and watch as everything falls into line and God's will is done. This should be interesting.

Big fat update - 14

2008-04-26T16:10:00.002-04:00

Date I started trying to lose weight: 7/8/07
Starting weight: 215-219 lbs. (revised for new scale)
Goal weight: 150-155 lbs. (revised lower)
Current weight: 170.5 lbs.
Total pounds lost so far: 44.5 lbs.

--

I made a mistake a few months ago and bought a digital scale. It cost around $30. The scale I had been using was a cheap $5 adjust-the-dial scale. Unfortunately, the digital scale registers a full 10 lbs. higher than the old scale.

My previous "big-fat-update" had me at 164 lbs. Using the new scale, I registered in at 174 lbs. I have stopped measuring by the old scale all together. Now all measurements will be digital.

For the past three months, I have been stuck at 174 lbs. Even though I have regularly exercised and watched what I was eating, the scale refused to budge. That gets old after a while so I have been on the lookout for something that would help me break through this plateau.

A friend of mine told me that he was trying a 3-day diet plan that seemed to be working. It involves eating things like vegetables, eggs, tuna and hot dogs as well as dry toast and crackers. It didn't sound too bad, so I thought I would give it a shot. I am in the midst of the third day and I will admit that I am hungry, but as you can see, the scale is finally budging.

If the scale changes again, I may post another update tomorrow.

Pens in your pocket

2008-04-19T14:43:00.002-04:00

I don't like to keep very many things in my pockets. I don't like to wear a watch. It took me a long time to get used to wearing a wedding ring. I don't like clutter. Other than books and CD's, I don't collect or stockpile very many things.

My father, on the other hand, prefers to collect pens and keep as many as possible with him at all times. Observe the unaltered picture above. I believe he had a total of six pens in his pocket when I took this picture, but there may have been a hidden seventh behind the others. Sometimes he also keeps a few business sized envelopes in his pocket as well. I'm assuming that's because his desk and file cabinet are too heavy to carry around.

My father guards these pens with his life. One of my favorite things to do is to sneak up on him, swipe a few, and run. When I was a child, he used to chase me. Now that I'm 31 and still doing this, he's pretty much given up hope that he'll ever teach me to stop.

Taxes

2008-04-05T17:08:00.003-04:00

I finished filing my taxes early this year. Believe it or not, I filed them about a month ago. I enjoy paying taxes. It makes me feel great to know that the money I send the government is never wasted. Here's a good example of my tax dollars at work.

According to a federally funded study, "men create more housework for women." (Click here to read the report.) Now that's a productive statement that doesn't reveal bias of any kind. It's good to have another example of how men are bad and women are good.

I'm glad that the study didn't waste our time by noting how much time men spend building houses, repairing them, fixing the sump pump when it fails, mowing the lawn, trimming tree branches, fixing leaks in the roof, getting rid of pests and bugs, installing new light fixtures, replacing the toilet, cleaning pine needles and leaves from the gutters, shoveling snow, fixing the furnace, installing a new dryer vent, removing long hair from sink and tubs or any of those other pointless chores that really don't contribute to making a house nice to live in.

I think I should send the government an extra five bucks next year to help fund a study that reveals the fact that men directly and purposely cause women to be emotional and unpredictably moody. We already know it's our fault, we just want to know what we're doing to make their lives so bad so we can fix it once and for all.

Hannah's hand

2008-03-16T14:55:00.002-04:00

First of all, let me apologize for my lack of posts over the past few days. Let me get back in the swing of things by sharing this photo with you.

While we were waiting in line for a ride at Sea World, the temperature became noticeably warmer and Hannah started fanning herself with her hand. I snapped this picture with my phone and got a kick out of the results.

Hannah doesn't like this picture. I thought she would find it funny, but she seems a little embarrassed by it. Therefore, I am a bad father for posting it, but I can't help it. It's too cool.

Acquiring the Eagles

2008-03-04T16:54:00.003-05:00

Football season has been over for almost a month. Each year, it takes me a little while to get used to its departure.

At my age/height/experience level, it is unlikely that I will ever have the privilege of playing for the Eagles (unless David Akers wants to take me under his wing and help me become the next kicker). So I have altered my plan slightly.

I don't know how and I don't know when, but at some point, I plan to own the Philadelphia Eagles. I read that the team is valued at somewhere between 600 -700 million. That seems like a reasonable price to me.

So, get in good with me now and when I own the team, I may let you watch a few games from the owner's box.