Happy Birthday!

On Sunday, most of late morning and afternoon large snowflakes fell from the sky. Not much accumulation, though it was nice watching the snow fall.

Dan Seaborn spoke in church that morning, talking about how easily we see the "fixable" flaws in others while ignoring the flaws in our own lives that we ought to be working on. But how can we change? We need wisdom from God. But we might doubt it'll work because a) we're human, b) we believe God's let us down before, c) people have let us down, or d) when we ask God for help, we already know what the best solution is. (Or so we believe.) Wisdom (application of knowledge) can come from time along with God/the Bible, others (we need to be willing to ask for wisdom, and willing to listen), or from our observations of life.

Sarah and I got lunch from Subway. I got their limited-time pastrami.  So, so good.

Tim was unsuccessful in his attempt to cut off part of his finger while slicing bread. Sometimes it's good to fail. :)

Later that evening, I attended the next meeting of a creation writing fellowship committee. Very interesting, though due at least to weather, only three total people showed up. Dave gave a presentation of his views of how chance possibly plays a part in God's design.

The roads were delightfully icy this morning, at least in Holland and Zeeland. I almost slid through a "T" intersection near our house. Glad I have anti-lock brakes!

Sarah holding co-worker's baby

After supper, Sarah and I visited her co-worker... she'd just given birth to her daughter earlier in the day. As you can tell from the picture, Sarah loves holding babies. :)

Swagger Wagon (video)

The Sienna Family sings about their super-awesome swagger wagon (Sienna SE).

Commute Collision

Just over a week ago, a deer decided that the best time to run across a rural county road was while I was driving home from work.

(Note: the deer picture here is not the same deer I collided with.  At least, I'm pretty sure it's a different deer.)

The good news is that I was not injured.

The bad news is that my SUV was pretty injured, though I was able to drive it home, and later drive it to a repair shop.  We'd paid off the loan a few months ago... very glad I hadn't changed its insurance coverage.

For those who don't remember what my SUV looks like, here's a picture of someone having a lot of fun driving an SUV like mine:

I don't drive like that very often.

Here's a slideshow of the damage done to the SUV by the collision:

SUV LUV

For the first time in about two years, my SUV finally works correctly and no longer hates me.



What was wrong with the vehicle?  The main thing was its EGR valve needing to be replaced.  According to Wikipedia, an "EGR valve is an imaginary part name commonly used by auto mechanics when they don't know the correct name for a part."  [Editor's note: the EGR valve is a real part]



The picture in this blog post is of me celebrating after getting back my now perfectly functioning SUV.  I love it!!!  [Editor's note: it's really some random picture borrowed from another post on this blog.]

My Vehicle Hates Me

Well, gentle reader, it finally happened. My vehicle's exhaust pipe completely detached itself from the undecarriage, dragging itself along the ground. The exhaust pipe, not the undercarriage, as that would be silly. The best part is that it is the front end of the exhaust pipe that is dragging on the ground.

Remembering that an RV owner had once been fined for starting a forest fire due to a dragging exhaust pipe, I decided to call for a tow truck. Whereupon I discovered that a cell phone doesn't work very well when you are standing directly underneath 5 - 7 power lines.

By the way... Yes, that's a picture of me driving my SUV, pre-problems, off-road in some desert. It was a lot of fun! (Editor's note: No, that is not David.)

On the plus side, I got a lot of great exercise walking to where I could get a good enough cell phone signal to call for a tow truck. But, as I'd already mentioned, that was also when I discovered the deal with cell phones and power lines.

So remember, kids... if you ever need to use your cell phone, don't bother if you're standing directly underneath a bunch of power lines. Just walk across the street to where there aren't power lines, rather than half a mile down that road but still under the power lines. Staying under the power lines does not help, no matter how far you walk.

And knowing is half the battle. G.I. Joe!

Slip and Slide

(Editor's note: What follows is a true story, as reported to Spike the Wave.)

When I was a little kid growing up in a non-rural area of Florida (officially called the Florida Suncoast), one hot humid summer (which is really what ALL summers in Florida are like) I played on something called Slip 'n Slide. It was a lot of fun to run then intentionally slip and slide on the watery, slippery plastic sheet.

Not long ago, I participated in a grown-up version of Slip 'n Slide.

I was driving to work, as I do on most weekday mornings. The roads were rather slippery that morning, as ice had formed during the night. And I had already slid one or two times, but no big deal.

While driving on a back road through Allendale, I realized, "Hey, that vehicle in front me isn't slowing down... It's already stopped."

Due to reasons I'll not bore you with, it's often a little difficult to slow down with my vehicle, a Mazda Tribute SUV. (Note: I'll never buy another Mazda for reasons unrelated to this little story.) Especially when the roads are icy. As they were this particular morning.

Quickly, I realized that it would not be possible for me to come to a complete stop before impact. However, I noticed that there was a little bit, a tiny bit, of space between the right side of the vehicle in front of me, and the snow bank.

I activated my vehicle's stunt driver mode and aimed the SUV for that small amount of space. I missed the stopped vehicle with room to spare (maybe two whole inches!) as I glided past it on its right side.

Then I saw it. The telephone pole (immovable object) about to be impacted by my vehicle (irresistible force). Yes, I hit that pole! And bounced off it like a pinball machine ball hitting one of those crazy bumpers. The SUV's back end swung 90 degrees clockwise right in front of that stopped vehicle. Boy, did it's two occupants look surprised!

I continued on my way and drove into a nearby park to check for damage. There was NO damage! Woo hoo!!! (Unlike the time I hit a deer...) And since my vehicle's air bag system currently isn't working, the air bag hadn't deployed either!

So, all in all, it was a good day.