God’s Dominion

Ever have something happen that was good, but seriously complicated your life?  Some people would say that about life events like winning the lottery, having a baby, or getting married.  If you take one look at my February calendar and compare it to December, you would see that.  My life become very complicated almost overnight, and no I didn’t marry or have a child (no, seriously….I didn’t).  Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t change a thing (except maybe my income!), but it certainly has made things more difficult.  So, if I skip days or ramble….it’s because my mind’s elsewhere.   Laterz!

Have you ever thought your life would make an interesting book?  Yeah, me neither.  If you’re like me, you probably think you live a pretty ordinary life.  I actually think it’s humorous when people react to some of my stories like they’re so amazing.  I’ve traveled quite a bit (been to 12 foreign countries), but most of that travel was when I was in high school.  I’ve been on TV twice (and my church was once on TV, but I didn’t make the cut for that one), but it was probably a grand total of about seven minutes.  I’ve lived in three states, but visited roughly 1/3 of the states.  Guess that’s about it.  Did you enjoy my book?  Yeah, me neither.   Laterz!

Sorry for the delay.  I’m much better now, thanks for asking.   I had a really busy weekend between church training, church itself, a pinewood derby, and a trip to Key Lime Cove.  I had a good time, but it probably wasn’t the best idea after being sick!  This next weekend I’ll be at the jr. high winter retreat.  It should be fun, but I’m hoping it warms up at least a little bit.  Well, I’ll continue my regularly scheduled posts tomorrow.  Laterz!

No real posting today.  I’m still sick.  My sore throat is a bit better, but my nose is leaking, I have a fever, and I have a headache.  Hopefully you’ll get a real one tomorrow.  Laterz!

Well, I woke up with a sore throat and….uh, other illness symptoms, so I decided to stay home.  Of course, I’ll be awaiting the inevitable “You get sick too much.  You should go to the doctor.” from my mom (despite the fact that I’m sick as often as the average adult male in America).

Meanwhile, it seems that Thursday may come and go relatively quietly this year.  This may be the first time in awhile my mom hasn’t tried to throw some huge bash for my birthday.  I might actually get to enjoy a nice quiet birthday this year.  I don’t mind when we just go out to eat (the same thing we do for my mom’s, dad’s, and brother’s birthday every year).  I just hate it when she turns my birthday into some big production and invites 30 people over even though she knows I don’t like it.  Of course, I’ve purposely kept my January as busy as possible (with plenty of help from CF) in order to make it hard for her to do anything.   Well, I’m going back to bed.  Laterz!

So, some of you may know that I lost my license on my way to Buffalo last weekend.  Well, the other day I received an envelope from the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport (probably “international” because Jacque flies a prop plane to Canada once a week) from United with my license inside.  Imagine that.  I lost it there, not here.  Go figure.  Well, keeping it short tonight.  Laterz!

On days like this (the wind chill is supposed to be around -25….the high is supposed to be -1) it takes a little more effort to remember why I moved from Southern California to northern Illinois.  Of course, when one of my nephews randomly walks into my room just to say, “Tio, I love you.” I remember.  (“Tio” is Portuguese for uncle).  No matter how cold it gets, it makes it worth it.  Of course, there have been other relationships that have happened since I moved that make it worth it (including you CF), but I didn’t know any of those people when I moved so that obviously didn’t play into my decision.

I’m not sure if this is the coldest weather I’ve ever been in (remember that I also lived in Boston for 6 1/2 years), but I bet it is.  They’re talking about -40 windchill later tonight.  I’m starting to wish I had a fireplace in my room (speaking of which, anybody wanna come help me clean my room?).

Well, I’m supposed to be paying attention to this meeting I’m in, so I guess I’ll keep it short today.  Laterz!

Well, the storm finally arrived.  It’s not a blizzard (not much wind), but still a storm.  I’ve found that there are three types of drivers in storms (the same thing held true in So. Cal., so it must be a national thing, not a regional thing).

You get those who actually try to drive safely.  They slow down their speed and drive a safe distance from the car in front of them.

Then there are those who think they need to drive 5 miles per hour everywhere they go (including the fast lane of the highway).  I think they cause more accidents than they prevent.  Today I saw a guy who kept hitting his breaks, even when nobody was in front of him.  He clearly didn’t know that hitting your breaks in slippery conditions is what causes most spinouts thus should be avoided unless there’s a reason to hit your breaks (like traffic stopping), not just because your foot is getting bored on the gas and wants to try something new.

Finally, you get those who don’t adjust their driving at all.  Those are the ones who weave in and out of traffic to get to the 70, 80, or 90 miles per hour they’re used to driving.  My boss was passed by one of those this morning…a few minutes later he passed the same guy after the guy ran into the center median.  Hmm, driving fast in slippery conditions causes you to slip.  Go figure.

The roads were pretty bad today (took me almost 2 1/2 hours to get to work rather than my normal 1), but not the worst I’ve seen.  After all, I could see past my hood today.  That’s always a good thing.  I could’ve worked from home today, but I was afraid he wouldn’t let me work from home again on Friday when I’m scheduled to.  I’ve got something going on Friday night that’s important enough to me that I don’t want to be late for it.  So, here I am at work, wishing I was home, dreading the drive home (to small group, actually).  Seems to snow every time I try to get to small group….I think I’ve been late for the past two or three, and I’m usually the first one there.  Some of you may know that I hate being late, probably because I grew up around Brazilians who are always late!

Well, this is the longest post I’ve written in awhile, so I’ll sign off before it turns into a book.  Laterz!

Well, apparently I survived the first blizzard of ‘09….or maybe I slept through it.  All I know is that the blizzard warning which was in effect until noon today seemed pretty lame when I woke up this morning and saw a sunny sky and no wind.  Before you tell me that you can’t see wind, remember that my backyard has an acre full of trees.  It’s pretty easy to see the effects of wind!  I was sort of hoping to be able to work from home today so I could go to a basketball game, but I also figure if it was bad enough for me to work from home, then his school would probably be cancelled and so would the game.  Alas, none of that happened, the game goes on, and I sit 40 miles away unable to watch.  I’ll try again next week when I don’t have to go to the Secretary of State in the morning to replace a lost license (the entire process took like 10-15 minutes and was entirely painless….except for the 50 minutes it took me to make the 20 minute drive there.  Go figure!) so I can come in early, and I have an extra 30 minutes to get there as his game is 30 minutes later.

Anyway, I got a new license (with the new design with a big red bar across the top).  It cost me a few minutes of my time and $5.  I didn’t even have to take a new pic.  My passport and social security card were good enough.  I’m still supposed to file a police complaint, but I have to do that in person, which probably means it will have to wait until Saturday….when I will also be changing my tires, replacing my breaks, and getting my inspection (again?!?!?!?).  I should be able to get an early start as I have a feeling I’ll be giving somebody a ride to a 9:00 appointment, then I have to be at church at 5:00.  The inspection is quick.  The report…not so sure.  The tires shouldn’t take long, if they’re not busy.  The breaks are the wildcard.  We’ll see what happens.  Laterz!

The way I see it, God must have something pretty awesome in store for me this year.  As some of you know, 2009 hasn’t gotten off to a good start.  I started the year by having my check engine light come on and this weekend lost my ID on my trip to Buffalo.  Getting back was plenty of fun.  I got to go through “extra screening”, which wasn’t nearly as bad as it sounds.  Oh, and my flight back was delayed, then we got to sit in the plane for like 20 minutes because there were no gates for us.  About the only good thing so far this year has been CF (I know only one of you will know what that means).  Well, I’m hoping and praying 2009 turns out to be a great year which propels me into an even better 2010.  Laterz!