It's almost over

Well, Christmas is just about over for another year.  One more day of family & too much food & gifts, and then we close the books on 2009.

It's been a long Christmas season this year; a good Christmas season.  Family & friends, church, gifts, video games, festive drinks, chocolate - too, too much chocolate!  Far too much food.  (We should really consider renaming 'December' something a little more appropriate.  I'm thinking 'Gluttonuary'.)  Time off, staying up too late, getting up too early....

And now, I'm about ready for a long winter nap.  The poor ol' immune system has been put through the ringer over the past week, and I'm pretty sure I'm about to explode in mucusy ickiness.   Oh yeah, and I just found out that one of my little cousins happens to have the chicken pox - which means that he was most likely contagious on Sunday when I saw him.  To the best of my knowledge, I've not had the chicken pox.  Wouldn't that be a grand way to begin 2010!


Speaking of the end of the year, Check out this blog post: 1000 Awesome Things.  I don't think I could say it any better myself!

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!

Christmas starts for me today.  It's a good 6 days long this year  :)  Good times.

My Christmas cactus is blooming.
The thing is probably 30 years old; first time it's ever actually bloomed at Christmas.  Woo!

That is all.

Merry Christmas!

I promise, this isn't how I cook! ...well, not all the time anyway

Christmas Cookies

Christmas Cookie Ingredients:
1 cup of water
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup of brown sugar
Lemon juice
4 large eggs
1 cup nuts
2 cups of dried fruit
1 bottle Jack Daniels

Sample the Jack Daniels to check quality.

Take a large bowl, check the Jack Daniels again, to be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink.

Turn on the electric mixer...Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl.

Add one teaspoon of sugar...Beat again. At this point it's best to make sure the Jack Daniels is still OK, try another cup ... just in case.

Turn off the mixerer thingy. Break 2 leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit, Pick the frigging fruit off floor... Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers just pry it loose with a drewscriver. Sample the Jack Daniels to check for tonsisticity.

Next, sift two cups of salt, or something. Check the Jack Daniels.

Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table. Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink. Whatever you can find. Greash the oven.

Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over. Don't forget to beat off the turner.

Finally, throw the bowl through the window, finish the Jack Daniels and make sure to put the stove in the dishwasher.

CHERRY MISTMAS!

Makin' Tracts

I had never even seen a Christian Tract until I was in my 20's; they're not really something that mainline church denominations use.  Typically, they're tools (booklets) handed out by Evangelical churches to neatly package up all the reasons why you should 'be reborn' and 'give your life to Christ'.

I personally think they're kind of cheesy.  Pre-packaged Christianity doesn't usually work so well.

But anyway, the point is this:

Being that I work in a church, I sometimes actually enter the sanctuary to clean things up or whatever.  Yesterday I happened to be in the church, and found two tracts left by somebody after a mass.  These are not tracts the church gives out - I've never known a Catholic to hand out a tract - so I don't really know where they came from.  They were just weird enough that I thought I shouldn't leave them sitting in the pew though, so I took them.

The first one was a comic strip retelling of A Christmas Carol.  Marley tells Scrooge that he'll be damned to hell unless he repents and finds the saving grace of Jesus Christ.  It doesn't take Scrooge much convincing, and then he's running around telling everyone 'God bless you!'

The second one was unlike any other tract I've ever seen!  It starts at the main character's, (Charlie), funeral.  Charlie goes to heaven.  Then all of Charlie's friends die, and they go to hell.  The friends are some PO'd that Charlie is in heaven and they aren't, and even more angry when an angel tells them that Charlie believed in Jesus but they didn't.  "But, we didn't know Charlie was Christian! He didn't tell us!!"  Charlie then gets a massive guilt trip from an angel about not telling his friends about Jesus and how he could have used tracts if he was too shy or scared to talk to his friends.

So this tract publishing company is using tracts to advertise to people to use that brand of tracts to tell their friends about Jesus, otherwise their friends will surely burn in hell for all of eternity.  Wow.  Them's some good marketing skillz!

After all, if I hand out just 3 tracts each day, I could 'reach over 1000 people every year!'

*Sigh* No wonder so many people think Christians are lame.

You ever notice....

That when you run into the grocery store really quick to pick up one or two things, that upon entering the store, there is not a person at any of the checkouts?  And yet, exactly 32 seconds later (when you are ready to leave), no less than two dozen people have come out of nowhere and clogged up ever single checkout.

Every time.  Every single time.

Just for future reference...

A 'pinch' of salt is much less than a 'dash' of salt.

Oh, and if you want more info on that sled... they sell them at Crappy Tire, and they have a website.



Gotta admit, watching this video makes me think of the fun-ness which could be had at Harrison Park.  There's also a video where a bunch of crazies ride a helicopter to the top of a mountain and sled down.

Oh S#@& !

(SNOW)

What's the difference between a 'heavy flurry' and a 'snow squall' anyway?

And what's the deal with a 'Snow Squall WATCH'??

Caution: You live in Canada; it is no longer construction season, it might snow.  Hard to believe, I know, but it happens.

And speaking of snow, have you seen these things?:

I think I'd like one!  However, they're $40!!  A concussion really isn't worth that much to me.

On another note, notice anything different on the ol' blog today?

:D

Got those youth group videos converted!  Thanks Dave  :)

Return of the youth retreat video

There was a time when I used to play a fairly crucial role in running an annual weekend retreat for my youth group.  It was a TON of work, kept me up late at night, consumed my thoughts for MONTHS, was incredibly stressful, and the absolute HIGHLIGHT of my year!

Our retreats always had themes that sort of kept things flowing throughout the weekend, and linked our games & activities with our bible studies and sessions.    One year, 2006, the theme centred around superheros.  This rather gianormous undertaking involved me making a few videos (with the help of some of the youth) to show at the retreat.

2006 technology not being what it is today, and my personal technology at the time lagging WAY behind anything available in 2006, I patched together something pretty awesome, and the kids loved it!

I then burned the videos onto a 'VCD' (I did not own a DVD burner at the time) so that the videos could be watched on a DVD player.  Erased the files off my computer, had an awesome retreat, and promptly lost the VCD of the videos.   I have litterally been looking for that disk for years!  I have looked everywhere humanly possible, and given it up as a lost cause.

Today, looking for an empty jewel case, what do I find?  THE VCD!!!

Moment of truth: Does it even work anymore??

YES IT DOES!!!

BEST. CHRISTMAS. EVER.

Now... all I have to do is somehow rescue the files off this mysterious VCD formated disk, convert the files to something that is actually playable, and upload to YouTube for all to enjoy!

Yay!

Dunk Rye for Me!

My 'supplier' of Pearls Before Swine comics has been having computer issues and hasn't been posting daily comics lately.  It's one of my more favourite comics, so I miss not starting my day with it.  Anyway, today was a good day and all the comics from the past two weeks have been posted.

I like this one specifically:

Eh? *poke*poke*  Get it??  Evita... "Don't cry for me Argentina."
Ok, well, I thought it was funny

I should watch Evita again sometime, it's a good movie - well... if you're into musicals about the lives of political figureheads...

Lists

Well, it's December 2009.  You know what that means, right?
The best & worst lists of the first decade of the new millenium are starting to trickle in.

I read one from the Toronto Sun today; it was pretty pathetic.  The journalist tried to argue that the 2000s were the 'meanest' decade, and then included the fact that Charles Schultz died to make his point.  Not sure how Snoopy's creator dying has anything to do with the decade being labeled as mean...  But maybe what's on the list doesn't really matter as long as you're the journalist who publishes a list first.

 Maybe writing a list isn't such a bad idea though.  Taking time to reflect on the past 10 years of your life has some merits.  For me, this past decade represents one third of my life - a lot of adventures, a lot of growing up; plenty of stuff I can't remember, some things I'd rather not remember!

2000 - started working part time at the church
2001 - graduated from college with honours in business (whatever that means)
2002 - worked answering phones at a car dealership for a couple months.  That sucked.
2003 - went on an epic road trip with friends (Nova Scotia).  filled up my time babysitting a couple kids
2004 - went to bible college
2005 - worked at a summer camp
2006 - Started working full time at the church.  Spent all my free time volunteering at the summer camp and hanging with friends
2007 - another epic road trip with friends (Alberta).  The last of my grandparents passed away :(
2008 - yet another epic road trip with friends! (Tennessee)
2009 - Lots of hiking & camping this year.  My bro got married.

Lots of stuff happens in 10 years: Jobs, education, evolving faith, building friendships, new vehicles, weekend trips, volunteering, inside jokes, crushes, dating, drifting friendships, rekindling friendships, family events, babies & marriages, accidents, illnesses, death, ...  Good times and bad, all experiences which shape us into the people we are today.


What about you?  10 years is a long time, what have you done with it?

Letters to Santa

It was a big deal in my house at this time of year to carefully flip through pages and pages of toys in the Sears Christmas Wishbook to pick that one thing to ask Santa for.  Carefully write it down on a piece of paper, (always remembering the manners with thanks for last year's gift), scrawl your name at the bottom, and confidently mail it off through Canada Post knowing that Santa would answer.

Of course... one year he didn't answer...  I hold no grudges though; he still managed to guess what I really wanted anyway.  (That letter was returned to me some 20 years later - it had fallen behind a desk at the post office and was found when doing some renovations.)

One year, not too long ago, I took it upon myself to mail some letters to Santa on behalf of some of my bible college friends.  Some of these friends had never received a letter from Santa; some of these friends didn't even know he would write you back!  2006 was a good year for them I tell ya!

Here are the letters I wrote and mailed on their behalf (don't worry, none of the addresses are current).  And yes, they did all get replies!:

 

Santa Claus
North Pole Canada
H0H 0H0

Keep up the good work Bill!

It's too bad that Bill Murdoch didn't stay as an Independent when he was booted from his Conservative caucus last fall.  Otherwise, I might vote for him once in awhile.  Yeah, he's got a loud mouth that gets him into trouble once in awhile, but at least he sticks up for us!

If you haven't heard what his current shenanigans are, you can read about them here.

-------------------------------------

Mr Murdoch,

It never ceases to amaze me at what lengths you will go to in standing up for the people of your riding.  Thank you for being our voice!

HST concerns me, and it concerns me because I don't understand it.  It's like a dark cloud slowly looming in the distance, but I for one don't really understand the implications of it, or the reasoning behind it.  Now maybe that's my own fault; there's probably plenty of information about it out there on the internet if I so choose to go looking for it.  But there seems to be a lot of rumbling about it with no clear picture as to how it is really going to affect the average joe.

Aside from this HST adding to the costs of a number of our goods which currently aren't taxed, my greater concern is from the viewpoint of a non-profit organization.  It's all well and good that the government is going to send us all $300 cheques for the next two years to make up for it, and that there will be a drop in income tax, but an income tax reduction doesn't do a thing for a non-profit.

I am the bookkeeper of a group of churches in your riding.  As a charitable organization, we are refunded 50% of all GST we pay throughout the year in regards to the general day-to-day expenses of the church.  That rebate averages about $7,500 each year.  We are also refunded for all PST we pay on building materials and renovation expenses.  Our PST rebate averages about $2,500 per year.

Now, what's going to happen to that $10,000 worth of rebates?  $10,000 is no small chunk of change for a church!  That's the difference between running at a deficit or a surplus for the year.  We rely on that money; we expect that money.  Am I going to have to go tell an entire church congregation that we're going to come up $10,000 short next year??

I've already heard that our PST rebates are going to become defunct, and that there is a whole office full of people in Kitchener (who specialize in PST rebates) who are going to lose their jobs because of this.  Are we going to lose our GST rebates too?

This whole HST thing might help out the big guys, but it sure isn't doing much to help us little guys.

Thanks for sticking up for us little guys