Time Flies

It has been almost a week since my last post and I am not sure where the time has gone. Heck I am not even sure I know what all has happened during that time.

The most memorable event in the past week was my little Geocaching adventure on Saturday near Monksville, Texas. It was my first long hike (nine miles) Geocaching and has to be one of my favorite trips ever. It ranks right up with my caching trip to WV a few weeks ago. You can read more on that over at my geocaching blog.

Work as been tolerable. There are always little things that irk me (like changing processes and not telling anyone) but over all things have been pretty good. My colleague is on call this week and we are both covering for a colleague in Brazil who is on vacation. I am not sure how other countries can afford to let employees take two to four weeks off at one time (we could never get by with that here in the States) but I am glad he can get some time off. He is a very busy man.

Our weather here has been warmer lately than I would have expected. We had a cool snap that kept me in long sleeves at night for a few days but that is gone now...we are back to normal later summer temps which is causing two problems for me: Allergies and the tempurature of our office.

Rag weed is heavy right now and since I am allergic to the stuff, I have been stuffed up so bad I can hardly stand it. 24 Claratin only lasts about 12 hours or so at best (one day it lasted about 6) and I hate to mix and match meds just to get some relief. Thankfully this should end soon and I will be back to "normal"

With the late summer temps comes the HVAC's system at work becoming "confused" on what to do. Right now it is blowing ice cold air into an already cool office. Not only is out office ice cold but the restroom closest to my office is bitterly cold. This happens every fall and it really is annoying. It is so bad my office mate wears a jacket in the office. It is about all I can do to tolerate it.

My wife got an e-mail from our pastor the other day. He is a young pastor, with the majority of his experience coming from pastoring youth. He also is very likable and somewhat boyish, but I digress. The reason for the e-mail was to have my wife and I pray for him as he delivers a sermon on Sunday on tithing. The subject of giving is always a touchy subject. Many who feel they do their share are offended and feel singled out. Those who do not give a tithe or give one regularly think the church is greedy. I used to feel like the latter until I decided to give tithing a try.

It was not easy but after a few years I was able to gladly write out my tithe (10% of my income) check to the church. And while things have been tight, we are still eating, have a roof over our head, and employed. Besides, if your budget is so tight that 10% will make or break you, then you need to reexamine your priorities.

A lot of people look for a way to lower their tithes like some people try to lower their taxes. They bicker over tithing on the net or the gross, on re-embursed funds, tax returns, bonues, etc. I think it is silly to do that. The rule is in my house, that unless you have already tithed on it, you will tithe on it! And sometimes we will tithe on something like a tax return as an offering to God. Yes, since we tithe on the gross, we have already tithed on that money, but what the heck, it all belongs to God anyway.

Franticly Seeking Cellular

Well, today has been eventful! The nice thing is I also learned a lesson: When God speaks, listen and obey.

I mowed the yard last night (as well as our MIA neighbor's, Pam) and came in tired. I watched a little TV then grabbed a shower and went to bed. I woke up this morning and had coffee and decided that I would go Geocaching in the morning before I did any housework. My wife was going to church to help clean the parsonage for the new pastor and his family. I figured that there would be enough help so I decided to follow my original plan and geocache.

Before I left I felt that God was asking me to help the women at church work on the parsonage, but I became greedy and went on to spend my time on me. That, was a mistake.

I left at 8:30 and grabbed the first cache, "Spot" at a secluded wood right off Main Street. I had my phone in the truck and thought I had lost it until I got back and noticed it clipped to my visor. I popped in the coords for the next cache, 9key's "Faceless Multination Utility Company" and started my search. I found stage one quickly and that led me to stage two, which again, I found quickly. It led me to the final...an ammo can. No problem. Wait a minute...it has a padlock on it. Where is the key? I figured the key was close by, so I looked. I found nothing so I called 9key. He did not answer (I get the feeling he is not a big phone conversation person) so I left a message. I walk back to my truck and sit down and then I figure out where the key is. So I go back and get the key and unlock the ammo can. I sign the log, put it all back in hiding and move on.

My next stop was an easy one off of North Allen Heights...it took longer to walk from the parking lot than it did to find the cute plastic owl container. I signed the log and moved on to the last two...both 9key specials.

I found "Marble Falls" quickly and even though I was on the wrong side of the creek (a rarity for me most of the time), I was able to cross because I had my combat boots on. I found the small Lock-n-Lock container, signed the log, and headed out to "Brer Rabbit's Fun Boxes".

"BRFB" was a multi stage just north of "Marble Falls". I found the jump off point and headed into the woods towards stage one. Even though I had no idea what to look for, I found the cute redirector and the clues to get me to stage two. I decided to bushwhack to stage two, but came to a creek and since I had taken off my boots, I decided not to cross it. I hiked east toward the road and then north along the road until I got directly across from stage two. I found stage two and noticed that I was missing my cell phone. I had the case still clipped to my belt, but it was empty. I began to panic and started back tracking but realized I was never going to find it. Well, I figured I was at stage two, I might as well go after the final. I eventually found the final (which was SWEET!) and then headed back, attempting to find my phone along the way. That was pretty much useless so I headed home, hoping to find my wife there so we could go back and hunt for the phone by calling it and listening.

I got home and my wife was not there so I washed the dishes and then ate. After about 1.5 hours or so she made it home so I told her what happened. She was very understanding and offered to go with me to look for it. We got ready to go and headed off to "Faceless" to see if I left the phone there. Nope. It was not there. So we headed north towards Brer Rabbit. We eventually found it thanx to my wifes keen hearing.

Lesson learned. When God tells you to do something, do it.

And, put your phone in your fanny pack!