My brain is overwhelmed and scrambling. Sometimes I think there's too much stuff in the world and keeping up is a lost cause. So at 6:30 a.m. I'm starting a blog post in hopes that by hitting "publish" tonight I will have purged some of it from my head."
I was up and working at 2:30 a.m. yesterday, but I got 90% of the garage packed. One of the problems for DIYers is the accumulation of tools and equipment they amass over the decades. When our plans for the future include building a house, rehabbing a cabin, and misc. other projects I can't throw that stuff out, but where am I going to put it up in OR? We don't have that kind of room.
I heard a pundit on Meet the Press say that the gun problem in the U.S. is beyond solving. He attributed this to competing dynamics. Measures as benign as more stringent background checks, waiting periods, licensing, etc. aren't potent enough to prevent the kinds of events we saw in Roseburg last week. But more drastic restrictions will violate the 2nd amendment. The U.S. is unique in codifying in its founding document the right to bear arms, so that standard rises almost to ipsisima verba; you ain't gonna change it.
So, does that mean we shouldn't enact as many of those lesser measures we can get passed? I don't think so. I had to pass a written and driving test before they'd let me drive a car so why is something similar for owning a gun considered anathema?
I contracted with Four Corners Transport to ship the truck up to OR. I've used them three or four times before and they've always come through finding a hauler to do the job. They're just brokers who take a cut of the fee and find a trucker who will take the job. I signed up a week ago and so far they don't have a trucker signed up. Four days left. Hmmmm.
BTW, if you pack up any of your tools and bury that box in the pile of boxes now stacked in the living room the tool you need to complete some essential task will be in that box.
Go here.
But not unless you've got at least 30 minutes to explore. And you're gonna want to bookmark the page so you can go back. So far I've looked at Lane Co., Oregon, but I'll go back for Seattle, Grand Rapids, and probably places like New York.
Hubcaps for a '59 Chevy truck are expensive. Stupid expensive.
I flipped back and forth between Sunday night's NFL game and 60 Minutes on CBS. They did a story on the millions of Jews who were killed by the Nazis during WWII as the Germans invaded towns in central Europe. A French priest has spent years carefully documenting these slaughters and his work, endorsed by the U.N. and other international organizations, indicates more Jews were killed this way than died in the concentration camps. Very powerful story.
I like what I hear from Marco Rubio. He's getting more attention as his numbers rise and he handles questions with clear-speak and skill.
Pam and I have the same (cheap) phone, a Samsung something-or-other. We got the same notice that it wanted to download updates to its OS so, being the compliant persons we are, we both did. After downloading, which took a lot longer than I expected, it gave the standard "click to install" message.
Why?? Can't they assume that if I downloaded it I want to install it?
Then I got a message saying there wasn't enough room to install.
Uhm, why didn't they check and tell me that before the download? It's not like they couldn't look around the inside of my phone and see I had too little available memory at that point.
Oh well. I went through and deleted a bunch of apps I didn't know I had and will never use, plus a bunch of photos I don't need anymore, and got the req'd amount of available memory, making the install possible.
I'm not sure I like the results. The interface is all different. Maybe I'll decide it's better than what I had, more convenient and/or informative, but right now it's just different. And I have enough things going on right now that my brain doesn't have the space to process a new interface. Kind of like my phone, except I don't know how to go into my brain and delete stuff.
Facebook tells me Pam and I have been friends for seven years. Seems like a lot longer than that.
We met this morning with Chad, our financial advisor. It was brief and primarily just an opportunity to touch base one last time before we head to Oregon. As we parted we acknowledged how blessed Pam and I feel for having "found" Chad. In truth, Someone was in control of arranging that initial connection. I was at Starbucks working on my sermon and eavesdropped on a conversation between two guys who were both obviously in the financial business, knew each other, and were having that, "hey, how you doing?" exchange.
I don't remember exactly what I asked, but on my way out a few minutes later I stopped at the table where Chad was sitting, interrupted his work, and asked something about financial advisors and what they do. He reached in his briefcase and gave me a Forbes article to read about the different kinds of financial advisors (it's brief and really good) and his business card. I read the article, called to set up an appointment with Chad, and the rest is history.
We're about to do something we never imagined could be possible - moving to 3 acres in the woods of western Oregon for "retirement." (see below) That is due entirely to God's great grace and provision, but we're doing it with cautious confidence because of Chad's good and helpful counsel re. our finances.
That he's a brother in Christ means he's much more than our financial advisor, and we add to that the term friend.
Re. retirement (see above), This morning I got an email from Jeremy, the director of Grace Ministries International, the mission organization that facilitated my trip to Costa Rica. He's also got me headed to Puerto Rico for a week the end of February. This morning he asked what I thought of going to Tanzania in April and Bolivia later in the year.
A little scary and a lot exciting.
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