#1 And #9

Elliott came back home tonight from a state-wide DECA competition with the first place prize!  DECA is a marketing and business association.  DECA used to stand for Distributive Education Clubs of America but is now international and they just kept the DECA name.  So now he goes to Salt Lake City to represent Delaware!  There were five other kids from his school that competed in different categories so he will have some company.  Some time in March.  (Of course Lucie wants to be a chaperone!)

And what about #9?  Oh, he is #9 in his class of 320...

Raising The White Flag

I got beat on a few projects this week.  The most frustrating one is captured in the black box to the left.  You might notice the tiny white underline cursor in the top left.  That is what I saw when I rebooted Lucie's computer...  Just after the BIOS POST and before Windows starts. Now there is only one or two files that are accessed to kick off Windows. I fixed them, replaced them, edited them, everything.  Nothing would work.  I could restore a Ghost image and get her computer to work for a while, then on the next reboot (after 8 or 9 successful ones), this would happen.  For the first time ever, I had to re-format and re-install.  Fortunately I am a back-up fiend so I had backups stored in multiple locations.  What I actually did was restore a back-up of Elliott's laptop (which is essentially the same as Lucie's) and then re-customized it and restored her pictures and documents from one of her backups.  Frustrating.  Never been beat before.

But that wasn't the only thing to get me.  I couldn't find a cheap replacement wheel for the elliptical even though I went to bike and skateboard shops, other mechanical places, scoured the internet, and even tried to epoxy it.  I wound up having to buy one from the manufacturer.  But Lucie and I use it every day, five days a week and its the first problem we have had in over 4 years so it was worth it.

The Tivo remote went on me as well.  The down button stopped working.  I cleaned it and did all I could.  So I had to get another one of those.  Fortunately, the remote was VERY cheap on Amazon and the computer repair didn't cost anything (but time - and I have plenty of that...).  So I looked at it as God keeping me busy during this time.

More "random" things keep happening which at the very least remind me that God hasn't forgotten me.  There was an interesting development today that I am very encouraged about.  Hope to share it soon...

Q: What Goes Step, Shudder, Step, Shudder?

A:  My elliptical.  To the left is a picture of one of the four guide wheels on my elliptical.  It is under the right foot and rolls along a track.  Lucie and I are on the elliptical every day and the other day it was vibrating with every other step.  Elliott and I got under it and he watched while I stepped.  He found this wheel is cracked and when weight is on it, it flattens.  Stupid thing is hard to get to and wicked expensive to replace.  I am going to pull it today and see if I can replace it with an in-line skate or skateboard wheel.

It's funny, there have been a lot of little issues come up lately that have been resolved pretty inexpensively.  My cholesterol medicine is about gone and I remembered I had a bottle of 80 mg pills (I take 40's).  So I grabbed a pill cutter and halved them.  The Tivo remote was driving me crazy as the down button wouldn't work (press it and it would select every other position but down.  A&E found it very funny to see me get so frustrated with it.).  I fixed that with a tiny screwdriver.  And the washing machine was fixed with a $9 part.  There have been a bunch of other little things too.  It seems God is giving me little projects to keep me busy and my mind occupied while I wait on His timing.

Below is a bonus picture of the Ravens missing a game tying field goal which sent the Patriots to the Super Bowl.  Elliott and I just about lost our voices watching the game.

I Am All For A Good Deal But...

I got this in the mail today so I scanned it and sent it to Consumer Reports Magazine.  On the back page of every issue they print bloopers like this.  We'll see if I get published!!

Putting The Pieces Together

Last night I was cooking up some pork chops on the grill and found my grill light wasn't working.  I love that light.  It has a flexible neck so I can aim it right on the meat and has magnetic feet so it doesn't slide or move around.  So while the chops were cooking, I took the light apart.  One of the batteries in the cartridge that holds 3 batteries corroded and the whole thing was a mess.  I took it inside and pulled it all apart and cleaned it up.  Put new batteries in and fired it up:  nothing.  So I took it all apart again and wiped everything off, made sure the batteries were aimed in the right direction and tried again.  Nothing.  As I was taking it apart for the third time, I dropped the cartridge.  The batteries went everywhere and little connector pieces came off the cartridge.  I thought I would never get it back together but I got all of the pieces and fitted them back in and voila;  the light came right on!  As soon as it lit up, I had an illumination myself.  Looking at my situation now, all I can see is a bunch of separate pieces that used to fit together nicely.  I cannot see how it will all come together and how life will come around to "work" again.  Seems like no way that can happen.  But of course it can and will and I believe that.  I just had to smile and thank God for that little life lesson.  It will work out and be as good or better than ever!

By the way, the pork chops were fantastic!

Christmas 2011

Thanks to the generosity of a lot of people, we had a Merry Christmas this year.  Lots of stuff but more importantly, lots of thoughts behind the stuff.  We are very grateful and humbled.  Made what could have been a disappointing day into a very happy one.  You will notice one big brown element managed to work herself into just about every picture...  (I even covered her up in the Ashleigh picture!)  She and Britni eventually got busy on their stocking bones and stayed clear.  Though a few of the later presents got an "anointing..."

Following up on my last post, my feet are doing much better.  The orthotics came in and immediately added a lot of relief.  Not 100% yet but doing a lot better.

Golden Arches

They aren't golden in appearance but they are in cost...  After many months of battling with heel spurs and plantar fasciitis, I finally decided to get my feet casted for custom orthotics (shoe inserts).  I have done the night splint thing, icing twice a day, stretching, meds, "regular" shoe inserts, taping, elastic supports, cortisone shots...  you name it.  The doc was great and took all sorts of measurements and observations.  Turns out the Achilles tendon in my right foot is very tight and the arch in that foot flattens when standing (it is fine when resting).  So the inserts will position my foot and hopefully take some pressure off the Achilles (which reduces the constant pulling and subsequent pain).  Should be about 3 weeks before the inserts are available.  Of course my insurance doesn't cover it...  But I couldn't take it any more.  He gave me a bonus cortisone shot today which hurts going in but provides immediate (albeit temporary) relief.

In my last blog I mentioned the theme of God creating something out of nothing.  Well, we are at the "nothing" point now and are anxious to see what develops.  It seems every lead has dried up but we know that can change in 30 seconds.  Still searching online, networking, going to my required Unemployment classes and doing what I can.  And God keeps providing.  Just waiting for the big breakthrough...