Black Friday Wins Again

Yes, I enjoy a deal. And yes, I like the thrill of the hunt early Black Friday morning. But I have this friend...who will remain nameless....no he won't....JAC loves Black Friday.

Him: Coming over to plan out our strategy?
Me: Yes.
Him: Don't forget the ads.

So I show up after two Thanksgiving dinners with my arms full of ads for stuff I don't need.

Him: You know...Compusa opens at 11:59. That's in two hours.
Me: I don't know. I'm really tired. There wasn't a lot I wanted.
Him: Come on. We've got to.

So, I found myself riding along on some sort of suicide mission. I thought I heard the Imperial March playing somewhere in the distance...naw....couldn't be. I laughed at the line. No way am I getting out and standing in the cold for 10 minutes. Oops. Wrong again. We were about 150 people back and they finally open the doors just before my face goes numb. JAC and I shop for about 30 minutes. I picked up some printable DVDs, clipart software, and a wireless mouse. JAC has his wireless keyboard and mouse but (sigh) no Bluetooth thingy-ma-bob that I still don't understand.

We were pretty happy and despite the redneck guy pushing the Asian guy, the crowd seemed pretty tame. We got in line with our goodies....and stood there....not moving...for oh....15 minutes. No worries, folks. After all, there's a lot of people and we can all just take our turn to check out. But then, well, things didn't seem to be moving at all. An hour later, we had only moved a couple of feet....if that. I decided to go investigate.

Four open registers. Four flipping registers were open. Are you kidding me? There were 500+ people in the store and only four flipping registers were open. One of them, register #5, was broken.

I tried to be cheerful. "At least we're warm." "At least we have the money to buy this crap." "At least we got a good deal." But by the time hour #2 rolled around, my patience was spent. I was sitting on the floor trying to think of something to be thankful for but man, I was tired. We pleaded with the management to do something. They laughed at us. Some people threw their baskets of essentials at the management and walked out. We applauded them for "sticking it to the big guy" and then ran to the basket to see what they left behind. Scavengers.

I was downright insane when 3:00 rolled around. The line inched slowly to the register #4. We were so close... Then, some lady had a problem with her credit card and while she was checking out, took a 20 minute phone conversation with the credit card company. I had had it. F-bombs started flying out of my little, Christ following mouth. All the while, register #5 mocked us.

We left at 3:30 a.m. I was spent. JAC thought we should just head over to Best Buy. I looked at him with a growl. "Okay....time to take you home." I wanted a bagel though so we headed to Meijer. Their sale was going to start at 5...which was in an hour. I was blindly led around the store while my friend searched under the covered sale merchandise. Finally, around 5 am, my head hit the pillow. I missed the rest of Black Friday but clearly, it had won.

Our award winning pumpkin (Bill Lumberg). The radio was playing drops from Office Space.

Before the long walk around Lake Lansing (and before the blister (that was mile 2)).

I've been meaning to post these pics of Suzanne and I before our 8k walk. She's such a mom.

Let me just tell you...I'm not complaining when I say it sucked driving 2.5 hours from Livonia to Lansing today....another statement, not complaint when I say at certain times it felt like I was going negative 4 mph....another statement, not complaint when I say....at least I wasn't in a ravine because it could have so easily been me. I feel bad for the people who did go off the road. I saw so many of them. Remember what happened last year at this time? Go back and look. Too sad to recap. I pray for his family still...as they acknowledge he's been gone a year. And for everyone else who is feeling a loss because a place at the Thanksgiving table is empty...my heart goes out to you. Joyful Thanksgiving, friends.

Just saw an interesting billboard while driving in downtown Lansing.

"got faith?" but then there's a water pipe with a wine glass underneath.

Me: okay. I don't get it. Is this about drinking? Do you have faith in drinking?
Friend: Hmmmm....its a water faucet.....with water coming out of it....but its turning to wine!
Me: (classic Christian response) Shit, that's cool.

Me: What would you do if you suddenly looked over at my desk and the only saw my clothes and shoes sitting in a heap?
Brian: I'd be bummin.
Me: Is it wrong to pray for the rapture...right now...just because today SUCKS SO BAD?
Brian: I already did.

Bird Flu

Tornado warnings on Tuesday....Snow showers on Wednesday...and I'm fighting a cold. Grrrrr....

I'm glad my friends are looking out for me. Thanks, Kelly:
Symptoms of the BIRD FLU...
The Center for Disease Control has released a list of symptoms of Bird Flu. If you experience any of the following, please seek medical treatment immediately:
1. High fever
2. Congestion
3. Nausea
4. Fatigue
5. Aching in the joints
6. An irresistible urge to crap on someone's windshield.

Dan, were these the symptoms you had?

Walk The Line

I'm walking the line tonight. That's my final decision. I'll see Harry Potter soon enough but I need to see the other movie first. Can I have a prayer request? Thinks aren't well at work for anyone. Looking at major cutbacks for the end of the year. This is scary stuff. I feel like I'm ALREADY walking the line. Please pray for the employees here that if we do get let go before Christmas, God will give us strength to get through and still manage to provide our basic needs. How was that for good news?

Mega-80s were Sa-weet Friday night! You missed out but don't worry (Peter), because they play again on Dec 2. :o)

Random Thoughts

You have no idea how much I miss being able to check blogs and write in my own. Ah!!! But now I probably get more done which is what VAL wants and deserves. Now I have to go back to Laptop lunches...which I don't mind. Panera is packed today, though. When I walked through the door I was mobbed by a bunch of Livonia teachers. One of them even cut in front of me in line. I had to laugh. I wanted to say something like, "it's not nice to cut. I want you to write that on the board 400 times." Really, though I bet she wasn't paying attention. What's that line teachers always say...I need your undivided attention? I never understood that one until a couple years ago.

Things have calmed down in the past couple of days. My "undivided attention" has been focused on giving God my problems and let Him worry about them.

Friend: Does God worry?
Me: No...
Friend: But you're going to give Him your problems to worry about...?
Me: Well...since He doesn't worry, I don't have to, either.

I think I'm past the self pity stage. I'm also past the "intensely seeking Christian council" stage. This has benefited me more than anything else. I love it when people pray for me over the phone. I'm not good at it but I want to become better because it is so awesome. No one has condemned or judged me. They have listened, been empathetic and are willing to be soldiers with me during this spiritual battle. I feel so protected...like the prayers and love have wrapped around me and are keeping the demons at bay. And now...to be less dramatic....I'm coming out of the survival stage, too. Its been pretty shaky this week but the more focused I am on Christ, the more strength I have to continue. How could anyone get through this stuff without Him? It makes me sad. I find it fascinating that God is using me even now to help someone else going through it. Serving Him is what I want. Serving me ends up hurting me. Don't you just love trials? They teach us about ourselves, about God and how to serve others.

There is a song that came out last year. I heard it just before I walked into Panera. Tears came to my eyes as I smiled. My focus right now is to just be. God is working on my heart and helping me get better. I don't want to fall away from Him ever again.

And now...the song :)

Gravity
Written by Shawn McDonald and Chris Stevens

The ways of this world are grabbing a hold
Won't let me go, won't let me fly by
It takes its toll down on my soul
Cause I know what I need in my life

Don't let me lose my sight of You
Don't let me lose my sight
I don't want to fall away from You
Gravity is pulling me on down
I don't want to fall away from You
Gravity is pulling me to the ground

This world keeps making me cry
But I'm going to try, going to try to fly, going to fly high
Don't want to give into the sin, want to stay in You 'til the end

Don't want to lose my sight of You
Don't want to lose my sight
I want to fly Into the sky
Turn my back on this old world
Leave it all behind
This place is not my home


The tears...ah...they are slowly going away. The exhaustion is being replaced by peace. Anxiety, almost gone. It's like I had the spiritual flu or something. Coming out of the dark and into the light...and only happy blogs now as they will be few and far between.

Now....do I get that Chai tea or not? Hmmmmm......

The aunties (my dad's sisters). They're a fun time.

Uncle Lynn and his new toy. Yeah, I could live there...and I just might.

The boat and I.

The boat.

Uncle Lynn and I living it up.

At the Cleveland Browns game with my cousin's wife. "Look at me with my $10 caramel apple dipped in fudge! Ha ha..." "Holly, it probably costs more than that." "Oh." It was good and I ate the whole thing.

Dad and Yi. This picture is just classic...if you knew what was going on. "Texas or Texas Tech?" Ha! Love you, Yi but we suck.

My pops holding Yi's favorite beer.

Andy and I. This is the same costume he wears every year except the mustache is new. "Couldn't find the blond mustache from last year." "Why not, Andy?" "Must have swallowed it." He also ends up swallowing the "gold tooth" but apparently is able to reuse it. Yuck.