The other morning as I was driving to work I noticed a big sign on the side of a building. It read, “Help support our homeless by donating your car.” While I knew that they would sell the donated cars to raise money for the homesless, it still sounded like the homeless might be taking up shelter in the donated cars.

In the parking ramp of the old state office building in Detroit someones car caught on fire. Since the car was an old beater and only had PL&PD for insurance, the owner of the car abandoned it. He wouldn’t even pay to have it towed. So, the car sat there for several years.

The people in charge of the ramp tried to get the car removed. They first called a tow truck to have the car brought to a salvage yard. But, when the tow truck driver got to the ramp, he told the state that the salvage yard would not accept the car unless the owner signed over the title. The owner did not know where the title was at and didn’t really care if the car sat there in the ramp.

Next, the facilities people tried the State Police to see if they would impound the vehicle. The State P0lice said that they only impounded cars left on the expressway. And even though the State Police post was only a few hundred feet away, they wouldn’t even go out and look at the car. They suggested calling the city police.

The city police were a little more helpful. They promised to send someone out to put an impound tag on the car. Great! But as the days turned into weeks and the week into months, the car remained in the ramp.

Since the fire was contained to the engine compartment, the interior of the car was intact. Eventually, a homeless man moved into the vehicle. He lived there through one winter and then he disappeared as suddenly as he first appeared.

It was several years before the car was removed.

When we lived in the trailer, our water heater had to be replaced. Rather than go the hardware store and buy one, I went to Sears. After all, Sears does have a service department and the hardware store doesn’t.

After selecting a 50 gallon gas water heater, we loaded it into the car and headed home. A few minor adjustments on some fittings and we were back in business. Hot water!!

Then, one Saturday morning in February, we went to take a shower only to discover that we didn’t have any hot water. I checked the pilot but it was fine. Ah, Sears has a 24 hour emergency number for service. But, when I called the number, I was told that hot water heaters don’t fall under the emergency classification. Rats! Whats more, I was told to call back on Monday. So, we heated some water on the stove and did the best we could with a wash cloth.

Bright and early on Monday, I gave Sears a call. I knew that they probably wouldn’t make it out on Monday but I figured they could certainly get someone out by Wednesday. To my dismay, they told me that they only go to Lowell on Thursdays. Well, I guess I can wait until Thursday.

Then, they told me that someone needed to be there when the service person arrived. When I asked why, they said to let the service person into the trailer. But when I told them that the water heater was accessed from the outside, they agreed that no one had to be there.

We arrived home on Thursday evening expecting to have hot water. Instead, we found a tag on the door instructing us to call the service department. When I called, I was told that no one was home so the service person could not work on the water heater. I told them that access to the water heater was on the outside, but they said that someone needed to be home as they had to shut off the gas. When I told them that the gas shut off was also on the outside, they agreed that no one needed to be home. Great! When I asked if some one would be out on Friday they said that they only work in Lowell on Thursdays. Drat.

We arrived home on Thursday evening expecting to have hot water. Instead, we found a tag on the door instructing us to call the service department. When I called, I was told that no one was home so the service person could not work on the water heater. I told them that access to the water heater was on the outside and so was the gas valve. But they told me that someone needed to be home so that they could relight the pilot lights. Fine!

Come Thursday, I had to miss work so that I could let the service man in to light the pilot lights. I patiently waiting not knowing when he/she would arrive. Around 10AM, the service van pulled up out front and a man came to the door. I took him back outside to the access panel.

When I opened the panel, he took a quick look at the water heater and declared that the burner was bad. Great, he knows what the problem is. He then turn the knob on the water heater to the off position and removed the burner.

He didn’t have to shut off the gas, he didn’t have to relight the pilots. He could have done the very same thing weeks ago. Oh well. That no longer mattered. I would soon have hot water!

The man then announced that he didn’t have a spare burner and that he would have to order one. What!? The man told me not to worry that he would put it in as an emergency order. Great! When I asked how long it would take to get here, he said about 6 to 8 weeks. 6 to 8 weeks for an emergency order?! I hate to think how long it would take for a regular order.

Since it appeared that we were going to be without hot water for a length of time, we came up with an alternate plan. On Fridays, we packed soap, shampoo, towels and hair dryers when we headed into work. Then, after work, we headed over to Calvin Seminary to take advantage of their shower facilities. After showering, we would go out and get something to eat.

The routine of heating water on the stove in the morning for washing and shaving with a full shower at Calvin on Fridays seemed to work quite well. It wasn’t nearly as convienent as having running hot water, but it served the purpose.

Not wanting to trust Sears, I called the service center weekly to check on the status of my order. And as promised, 6 weeks later the part arrived. Great!

The service center scheduled a service person to arrive on Thursday and told me that someone needed to be home. When I told them that they didn’t need to shut the gas off and that the water heater could be accessed from the outside, they agreed that no one needed to be home.

We arrived home on Thursday evening expecting to have hot water. Instead, we found a tag on the door instructing us to call the service department. When I called, I was told that no one was home so the service person could not work on the water heater. Realizing that I was not going to get any hot water unless I took another day off work, I once again rescheduled the service person for Thursday.

Thursday arrived as did the service man and the part. The three of us walk to the side of the trailer and opened the service panel. I was expecting to see a 5 minute install of the burner. Instead, the man announced that he couldn’t install the valve without the gas shut off. I told him that the gas shut off was at the meter. That’s when he threw me a ringer.

He told me that there needed to be a gas shut off valve at the water heater. I asked him why the other man didn’t have a problem with that when he took the part. He lold me that code didn’t require a gas valve for removing the part but it did require a gas valve for installing the part. What ever!

The man packed up the part and his tools and told me to reschedule when I got the valve installed. Since I had taken the day off anyway, I decided to install the gas valve that very day.

Once I had the gas valve installed, I called the service center for an appointment. The person on the other end told me that I needed to be home when the service man arrived. I told them that access to the water heater was on the outside and that the gas shut off valve was installed next to the water heater so there was no need for someone to be home.

We arrived home on Thursday evening expecting to have hot water. Instead, we found a tag on the door instructing us to call the service department. When I called, I was told that no one was home so the service person could not work on the water heater. Realizing that I was not going to get any hot water unless I took another day off work, I once again rescheduled the service person for Thursday.

Thursday arrived as did the service man and the part. The three of us walk to the side of the trailer and opened the service panel. Seeing that I had installed the gas shut off valve, the service man announced that he could now install the part.

I expected him to shut off the gas at the newly installed gas valve and install the part. Instead, he installed the part without shutting off the gas. Once the part was installed, he lit the pilot and the burner kicked on. 3 months of waiting to do a 5 minute job.

I will never buy an appliance from Sears again.

The biggest thing to happen this week is Daylight Savings Time. Those in the know (geek) refer to it as DST. And those who don’t know, ie management, are trying to make this as big as Y2k. Yessery Bob! Come Sunday morning, all those computin machines ain’t gonna know what time it is and stop working. And because of that, the bureaucracy is in full motion.

We’ve got a core DST team and on that core team are primary DST tester, the assistant DST tester, the backup DST tester and the alternate DST tester. Did I leave anyone out? And these teams exist for every device that keeps time, including the clocks on the wall.

We also have a disaster recovery team in the event that DST didn’t happen and a back up plan which calls for manually changing the time. Plus, we have a back out plan which calls for changing the time back to EST if DST doesn’t work. Even the National Guard have been put on alert. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

What people around here seem to be missing is the fact that the computers, clocks, etc. don’t know what time it is. They only know what time we tell them it is. If we tell them that it is 8AM, they think that it is 8AM. They don’t look at the clock on the wall and say “But the clock on the wall says it is 7AM. Who do I believe?”

Reality check! DST has been happening twice a year since the late 60s. This is a non-event. But, since we had so much fun with Y2K and Y3K won’t be happening for a few years, we need a reason to hold high level meetings, appoint committees, put together project plans complete with Gantt charts and call out the National Guard. Yippy Ki Yeah!

The simple solution to DST is to leave the clocks alone and require every one to get up one hour early. After all, it will be just as dark at 5Am EST as it will be at 6AM DST.

This morning, I grabbed breakfast in the cafeteria. Getting food from the cafeteria is truely a culinary event. My favorite is scrambled eggs with veggies and cheese and a half order of links. I always have to have some kind of meat in the morning and I have found that the sausage links are best choice. I have tried their bacon and even though they cook it up crispy, it is too salty. Likewise with their sausage patties. But, their links are pretty good.

Now, the grill is on the back wall. Between the customers and the cook is a food prep area with a steam table. In the morning, they use the steam table to keep the meat and hash browns warm. The table is also where they take your order.

Now, when I place an order for scrambled eggs with veggies and cheese and a half order of links (2) the cook puts the eggs on the grill and then throws a couple of links on the grill to “freshen them up”. Then, when the eggs are done, they are all loaded up into a Styrofoam container and handed to me.

Well, the grill cook got promoted and a new cook was hired. The operative word here is “new”. And being new, there are a few things that he has to learn. One of which is that a half order of links consists of only two links and not three.

This morning, he threw three links on the grill. A food prep woman who has put her self in charge immediately came over and grabbed that third link off of the grill and threw it backwards towards the steam table. That poor little link bounced off of the sneeze shield and landed in the hash browns.  Well, at least it didn’t fall on the floor.  But, if it had, I am sure that she would have picked it up and thrown it back in the tray.

Yum!

My wife was surprised that I haven’t blog about my accident on Monday. Valid point. So here goes.

I was on my way to the carpool lot Monday morning when I was rear-ended. I wasn’t going very fast as I was slowing down to make a right turn into the parking lot. Just as I was turning into the lot, I was hit from behind. The guy behind me wasn’t going that fast but the road was slippery that morning and he just couldn’t stop.

Actually, since he was sliding sideways at the time, he hit me with the back end of his car. He, of course, went into the ditch and I completed my turn into the carpool lot.

A half hour later the Sheriff arrived and filled out reports. Another half hour later, he gave me a report number and sent me on my way.

Since I was now late for work and knowing that I was going to have to call the insurance company and visit the local body shop, I decided to declare the day a total wash. I went home, changed my clothes and called the insurance company.

The insurance company asked if I was OK and if the car was drivable. I told them yes to both. They then told me to get an estimate and so I headed for the body shop.

The body shop folks were having a slow day so they gave me a estimate right away. A new tail light and bumper cover, $1,100.00. He then faxed the estimate to the insurance company and told me that they could probably fix it yet this week.

Fortunately, I have rental coverage on my insurance policy so when the car does go in, I will still have transportation.

As a side note, I received a check for the repair from the insurance company on Tuesday.  Very impressive.  My insurance company is Auto Owners.  I do like working with those people.

I went through the drive through at Arby’s today. It has been a few years since I have had one of those tasty little sandwiches so I thought that I would grab a couple of them and eat them in my office.

I pulled up to the order entry box and when prompted, announced that I wanted not one but two of those tasty little sandwiches. “$5.49 at the second window” the man reply. Thinking that he had made a mistake I told him that I didn’t want the combo meal, I just wanted the sandwiches. He said, “Thats right. Two regular Arby’s, $5.49. Please pull around.”

Wow! $5.49 for two regular Arby’s. Those little sandwiches better be as good as I remembered them to be. I guess I am too used to those $.99 double cheese burgers at Mickey Ds. Come to think of it, those Rally burgers across the street are pretty tasty too. But, I convince myself that the Arby sandwiches are healthier even if they are pricey.

I got back to my office and unpacked my lunch from its bag. Four packages of horsey sauce. Great! Only one napkin. Bah! For the price of these sandwiches, they should have given me a couple of napkins. Oh well.

The sandwiches had quite a lot of meat on them so I guess it wasn’t such a rip off. And the sandwiches were as good as I remembered them to be.

Several years ago, I started having strange problems with my body. Mainly, I would get unexplained blisters or rashes on my skin and on occasion, my hip joints would start hurting.

My first outbreak came shortly after a trip to Cedar Point (amusement park). I developed a rash on the calves of my legs. Since we had visited the water park while there, I attributed it to a lot of chlorine in the water. When it reoccurred a couple of months later, I suspected that something else was wrong. A visit to my doctor got me a referral to a dermatologist.

The dermatologist reviewed the meds that I was on and questioned me about changes in diet, soap, fabric softeners, etc in order to determine if there was an environmental factor. After I had answered all of his questions, he suggest that perhaps my skin was sensitive and needed special care.

He suggested that, while I was using a non-allergenic soap when I bathed, perhaps the water in the shower was too hot. The water, he suggested, should be lukewarm and I should apply baby oil to my skin. A lukewarm shower falls into the same category as lukewarm soup; if I have to, I’ll do it. And so the lukewarm showers began. Along with the lukewarm showers came the change to Borax laundry detergent. After a few days, my skin cleared. Wonderful!

Then, about six weeks later, it happened again. Only this time, it was a rash under my watch band. Assuming that my watch band was too tight, I loosened it and left it off my wrist until the rash had cleared.. A week later, the rash was gone and I went back to wearing my watch, though not as tight as before.

I read that sometimes nuts can cause strange allergies, so I quit eating cashews. Sure enough, no skin problems. Simple solution.

With high gas prices and a need for meaningful exercise, I purchased a 15 speed mountain bike and decided to ride it to the local grocery store (meijers) which was about 3 mile away. The trips were not record breaking by any sense of the word, but they did afford me some exercise none the less.

My pace was leisurely and confined to the sidewalks. I felt that leisurely was appropriate since I was on the sidewalk. Riding on the highway did not appeal to me because there were way too many road hazards to avoid. And while riding on the sidewalk had it’s own set of hazards, at least I didn’t have to deal with truck traffic.

Then, one morning, as I was getting in the car to headed for work, I bumped my right knee on the steering wheel. “Ouch”, my right hip hurt. But from lightly bumping the steering wheel? Perhaps it was from riding my bike last weekend. So, biking to the grocery store was put on the shelf.

The final straw came when I started having problems with my private parts. For some unexplained reason, every now and then, my private parts would develop hives and then a water blister a few days later. Sensing that something was wrong, my wife went in for a Ph check. When the tests came back negative, the doctor suggested that we use “Astroglide”. While the stuff was on the pricy side, I decided to give it a try.

A few weeks went by with no problems. So far so good. But then came the day when I had another outbreak.

Frustrated, I called the doctor for an appointment. After giving me the usual exam, I explained to him my symptoms. When I got the “deer in the headlights” look, I knew I was on my own for this one.

A woman that I work with had suggested that perhaps I was having a reaction to my meds. I had long ago reviewed the side effects of my blood pressure meds, my cholesterol meds and my blood thinner. None of the side effects matched my symptoms. But I did have another med; my antibiotic, Tetracycline!

I would, on occasion, take some Tetracycline for my Rosaceae, a facial skin disorder. The doctor, several years ago, gave me a prescription for Tetracycline for use on an as needed basis. When I asked the doctor about the side effects and reaction to other meds. he said that Tetracycline has been around since the 40s and was as harmless as aspirin.

So, when I would get a facial flare up, about every six weeks or so, I would take my Tetracycline twice a day for a week. This would clear up my outbreak.

On a whim, I decide to check out the Internet for the particulars on Tetracycline. Low and behold, skin rashes, joint pain, blisters, hives, hairy tongue, Lupus like symptoms; doesn’t sound harmless to me. So, I quit taking it. And guess what? All of my problems disappeared.

While I could do a final test by taking the drug again and prove once and for all that the Tetracycline was the cause of my strange problems, what would be the point? I have been symptom free for 2 years. The problems have already been identified and documented so the best I could do would be to tell my doctor of the my findings. But, I doubt that he would believe my findings as it wasn’t done in a lab. After all, the dermatologist blew off the Tetracycline, and he, if anyone should have suspected Tetracycline as the cause to my problem. “Luke warm showers” Ya, right. Easy money!

The church that I presently attend is dying. The average age of the members in the church is around 60. There are a few young couples but the majority of the members are retired.

Since retired people are not really interested in the same things as young couples and since the retired folks are in the majority, they squash anything that might interest young couples. Eventually, the young couples leave either because they have had a confrontation with an oldster or because their spiritual needs are not being met.

As I see it, the two biggest problems in this church are the style of worship and the lack of leadership. Since the style of worship is traditional, it relies on the organ or the piano for singing. But, we now only have one organist and she is semi-retired. This means that when she is not there, we have to bring in someone from outside of the church.

Of the three substitute organists, two are over 50 and one of them has to walk with a cane. The third organist, while in her 30s, can only play in the evening as she plays for another church in the morning. It is only a matter of time before the church runs out of organists.

Every now and then, we get a guest worship leader who uses a guitar. I personally like it and find it to be very uplifting and spirit filled. But, of course, the oldsters are horrified. For them, it isn’t a worship service if the organ isn’t used. Personally, I think that it would be easier to find a guitar player than an organist. But, I guess it’s not my problem.

The lack of leadership is probably an even great problem. After all, if the church had good leadership, it could move the worship style away from the organ. Anyway, most of the old generation of church leaders are now retired and refuse to serve any more. There are a few that haven’t retired yet but they will retire in the next couple of years.

Most of the leaders from my generation and the generation after me have left the church for greener pastures and I can’t blame them. The oldsters have managed to kill any attempt at life in the church. In short, there are barely enough people to serve in church office.

Money is a concern at the present time but it will soon become a real issue. While the operating costs of the church are pretty much the same, the amount of money given to the church varies from week to week. Part of this is due to the fluctuation of the income of the givers.

If business is good or the farm did well, the money given to the church increases. But, if business is bad or the crops are poor, the money given to the church decreases. And if people leave for other churches, that money is lost.

Eventually, the pastor will leave and the church will be vacant. Since fewer and fewer men are entering the ministry, getting another pastor may be difficult. Guest ministers are fine for awhile but if the church is vacant for any length of time, people will start leaving. And, it is hard to attract new members to a church that doesn’t have a minister.

As financial problems increase, it may become impossible to hire a full time minister. The church may only be able to afford a part time minister. Usually, a part time minister is someone who has retired but still wants to pastor a church. Retired ministers are, well, retired. They will do some preaching and visits to the members but they are usually there just to sustain and not lead.

In its final death throws, one or several members of the congregation will attempt to seize control of the church. Conflicts will arise as tension increases. People will cut off financial support in an effort to fight back. Church assets will start to disappear as members decide to reclaim part of their contributions. Some member will just give up and leave while others will vow that they won’t be driven off.

In the end, the bills won’t get paid and the utilities will be shut off. Special locks will be installed on the doors and no one will get in without court authorization. The grass will no longer get mowed, graffiti will appear on the walls and windows will get broken by vandals. Eventually, the building will be sold. Perhaps it will be to a young and growing church but it could be sold to someone who is only interested in the commercial value of the property.

ECC 1:9 What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

Over the past couple of days, I have gotten about 2 dozen responses to my blog from Russians.  They say stuff like, “Nice site for you” or “Please read”.  Of course, enclosed in their posting is a link to a porn site.  The idea is that if I post their responses on my blog, I will also post their link to the porn site.

My blog is set up so that I have to approve every reply to the blog before it gets posted.  Initially, I wasn’t sure if I liked the idea of approving every response, but I can see that it really is needed.

The company that hosts my blog provides good statistics on what is happening with my blog including the country where my readers are coming from.  I had noticed that I was getting a few hits from Russia and I suspected that they were up to something besides practicing their English.  Now I know.  I also got some hits from China and suspect that they are up to something similar.

A few years back, I needed a new pair of shoes.  Since the mall had a bunch of shoe stores, I thought that it would be the perfect place to go.  However, when I arrived at the mall, I discovered that there was only one shoe store left; Hanover shoes.   Apparently there was not much money to be made selling shoes so all of the other shoe stores closed.

When I entered the store, the clerk asked me what I was looking for.  I told him that I was looking for a pair of black wing tips.  After measuring my foot, he headed for the back room.  Moments later, he emerged with a pair of black wing tips.

When I tried on the shoes, I noted that the right shoe hurt the top of my right foot.  When I mentioned this to the clerk he responded that they needed to be broken in.  This sounded reasonable to me so I paid for the shoes and left.

I wore those shoes every day for a week and every day the right shoe hurt the top of my right foot.  After a week, I returned to the store for a refund.

When I arrived at the store the clerk told me that the shoes needed to be broken in.  When I told him that I had worn the shoes everyday for a week, he said that a week was not long enough to break in a pair of shoes.  He said that it might take up to a month for shoes to get broken in.  So, I decided to give it a few more weeks and left.

Having worn the shoes every day for a month, they still hurt my foot.  So, I headed for the mall to return the shoes.  And this time, I was not going to accept the “broken in” line.  But, when I got to the mall, the store was gone.   Drat!  Looks like I am going to be stuck with a pair of shoes that hurt my feet.

Well, I wore those shoes every day for a year and every day for a year, they hurt my foot.   Finally, when the lace on one of the shoes broke, I threw them out.  I was not going to invest any more money in a pair of shoe that hurt my foot.