I mispell things!
i just found out that stevens point won the national best of the best water taste test. that’s right stevens point has the best tasting water in the nation for 2010. so there! your water stinks and our water is amazing. here’s the proof.
i hope this doesn’t wound some of you non-pointers to the extent that you no longer feel like you can live in your town. i’m sure your water is at least bearable.
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i’ve been training for grandma’s marathon in duluth, mn for about 4 months. i was pretty excited about it because i have been consistently running personal best times with each of the last 4 races i have run. i was convinced that i was going to break 4:30:00 for this marathon. this is not fast but it is better for me. for the first time i really trained for a marathon rather than just a half marathon. unfortunately auto trouble has killed my excitement.
i was driving from point to duluth tonight to pick up my race packet for the race 
tomorrow. i stopped for fuel just outside the thriving metropolis of spooner, wisconsin (population 2,653 – SALUTE!). up until this point everything had been running fine. my car had not indicated any trouble. the problem occurred when i tried to start the car back up. nothing happened. well that’s not actually correct. all the power came on which indicated that the battery has plenty of juice. but the starter didn’t even budge. no sound, no rotation, nothing. so it is either starter trouble or ignition trouble (i’m guessing ignition because the wheel suddenly doesn’t lock). all i know is that the tow truck operator says there is no one in town who works on mazdas and he can’t take me to a town large enough to have a mechanic that does work on mazdas until later tonight.
so i am now sitting in the schmidt’s economart deli waiting for 8 p.m. when the tow truck driver will take me to chippewa falls which is a little closer to home. the good news is that schmidt’s has wifi in addition to its greasy food and thankfully perry and andrea polnaszek are going to put me up for the night. i’ll make plans for tomorrow.
i am very thankful for my friends in chippewa falls but my feelings about the general situation are ARGH!!!!!
SIDE NOTE – if there is anyone in duluth who would like my bib number contact me and i will gladly give it to you so you can go all bandit on the race.
if you are going to be at tapestry’s sunday night worship gathering this week (6/20/2010) it would be really cool if you brought a tea cup or a coffee cup with you.
i just got through talking with a good friend of mine who love nicaragua – in fact jim wallace is the one who introduced me to the baltodanos and first fostered my love for diriamba. it is now possible for us to help build houses for some of the people that we have been building relationships within the kilumbo area of diriamaba. i’m pretty pumped because tapestry can provide a good, safe house for an family in kilumbo for around $1,800. we’re a small church without a lot of resources but i think we could swing several of those with constant giving. the best part is that like habitat for humanity we will work along side the family that would be living in the house. anyone interested?
SIDE NOTE – please bring a tea cup to tapestry this sunday night (june 20, 2010). if you don’t have a tea cup that’s cool … bring a coffee cup that you can use as a tea cup. if you don’t have a coffee cup then you probably need to seriously consider the priorities in your life 🙂 don’t worry you can use one of the tapestry coffee cups.
i spent a little bit of time with a new pastor today. he has come into a church where the old pastor had been there for 25 years and the taken A LOT of vacation over his last 3-4 years. apparently the church members felt like they could never find their minister because when he wasn’t on vacation he wasn’t anywhere near the church office either. the church’s response was to get this young minister to sign a contract of what is expected of him. i think this is a good idea. i like knowing what people expect of me and i like them knowing what i expect in return. part of his contract is that he will spend a certain amount of time in the church office and those hours will be published for the church members to see.
this is where the problem arises. this church needs new members. these new members are either going to come because of the old members inviting people or the new pastor meeting new people and inviting them. since this pastor is new in town he is going to find it hard to meet anyone outside the church when he is required to be in the office. now i understand that it is important for people to know how they can reach the pastor but i’m not sure the answer is sticking the pastor away in an office alone. i’m real thankful that people in tapestry consider my “office” to be emy j’s coffee house. i would rather be in the public than in a closed off room.
as many of you know pam is presently in brazil leading a study abroad course. this means i am briefly playing the single parent role (5 mores days and then she’s back). a part of this is cooking all of our meals. pam is the more creative cook of the two of us. she joined a a csa this year (community supported agriculture) and she has been making incredible things with the products that we have gotten each week. last thursday she picked up another batch of of fresh produce and she was very concerned that i use the vegetables that we had picked up. i’ve made some salads with the produce but tonight i used the beans, green onions, and basil that we received to make supper. it’s not really as good as the stuff that pam makes but it was decently tasty and filling.
tonight’s menu was grilled green onion and basil pork chops, green beans (the csa lists them with some specific name but i don’t remember it), steamed broccoli (not from the csa), and pudding (obviously not from the csa either).
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the terrell family eats very well. among her many wonderful attributes pam is an excellent cook. just ask anyone who has ever eaten at our home. my wife knows how to cook and brings a great deal of variety to the terrell family menu. this is yet another reason that i am a very blessed boy. i on the other hand require an open flame to cook. i’m not helpless. we will not go hungry while pam is gone. still, i realize that most of my cooking is specialized in it’s nature. it is event cooking. it is meal preparation for when we have guests coming to join us. basically this means grilling out.
i can grill a world of things. i have entire meals (except for dessert) that are cooked on one of my weber grills (i have three so there is plenty of grilling space). pam would tell you that you don’t really know what corn should taste like until you have tasted my grilled corn – it really is good. i love cooking on a grill but it is a good bit of work and not something that i want to do every night until next weekend.
once i start cooking in the house i am a little more limited. years ago, thanks to a start from my father-in-law, i worked on perfecting a chilidog recipe. my father in law taught me a recipe that was from a chili dog place in Alabama. I continue to adapt it little by little. it’s pretty good and the whole family loves it but i don’t want to eat chili dogs for 7 days. i can cook some other simple things but i don’t have as much variety as pam.
so here’s where i need your help. since pam is gone to brazil for a week the boys are depending upon me for sustenance. as a family we try to avoid processed foods because they are not as good for you and they are relatively expensive. do any of you have easy recipes that you would like to share with this single dad for a week?
thanks.
the police came to our house to get me today.
as the father of a 16 year old son the first thoughts that run through my head upon seeing the village of plover police parked in my driveway are not typically good. once they assured me that they were not their to report an accident or any trouble with adam i felt better. instead of being their to break this parent’s heart they had driven to my house to ask me a few questions. the officer’s first questions was had i gotten any fuel at our local quicktrip today? that was easy, the answer was no. the office looked at his report and rephrased his question. had i obtained any fuel at the quicktrip yesterday. yep i had. i bought fuel, a diet coke, and two donuts. the officer’s next question was, “do you remember paying for the fuel?” i thought i did. i definitely remembered going inside getting a diet coke and donuts and paying for them. yet i wasn’t as sure about the fuel.
you see i usually pay for my fuel at the pump. i try not to go inside if it can be avoided (this is just for fuel stations – ironically i prefer avoiding fast food windows). the problem is that goes inside can’t be avoided when i have decided to get a diet coke. while it would be a brilliant idea to place diet coke machines beside the gas pump no one has been brave enough to do it yet. i hope that one day a promising entrepreneur will have the fortitude to place diet coke fountains outside by a station’s gasoline pumps but until that day i will have to walk inside the store when i stop for fuel and a diet coke.
yesterday i did walk inside to pay for my diet coke, donuts, and fuel. unfortunately i only paid for 2 of those 3. that is frowned upon by most businesses and municipalities, especially when you forget the most expensive item. the officers directed me to go back to the store and pay for my fuel as soon as possible (i.e. immediately). i thought that while i was there i would also buy a diet coke and two donuts. it seemed only right that i accomplish the purchase i was trying to make yesterday.
SIDE NOTE – pam is gone to brazil to lead a study abroad course for uwsp. this will be a long week.
SIDE SIDE NOTE – i enjoy scott mcknight’s blog. one of his many posts for today concerns tithing within american CHRISTianity. it is an interesting and short read.