Thursday morning, must be time for the Thursday Threesome, brought to us this week by Edgar Allen Poe, your local music store, and The Back Porch.

Onesome- Sound loves: What’s your favourite song? Is there a history behind it or do you just like it because it’s great?
Any faithful reader of my blog knows the answer to this one. “Learning to Trust” by David Meece is by far my favorite. It’s a great reminder to me that I need to trust in God, but that trusting in Him is a process that I will grow into all my life. And the plea at the end to trust more is a great prayer. A close second, and becoming more so all the time, is Rich Mullins’ “Hold Me Jesus.” Just a simple prayer of surrender to God.

Twosome- To revel: What’s your idea of the perfect party tunes? Some jazz to keep things jumpin’? Rock to keep everyone dancing? Or a mix of everything to make everyone happy?
Probably something instrumental. Background music that won’t interfere with conversations or whatever else is going on.

Threesome- In a summer night: It’s a mellow summer night, you’re on your own and you’re ready to load the CD player. What’s on your playlist? Remember, there's no one around to say "Ewww, gross!" *grin*
Whatever sounds good to me at the time from my collection. Although, right now, sticking some Christmas music in sounds good to me. And I’m late getting started this year since it’s August and not July.

In my long post from yesterday, I never actually posted about yesterday. Oops!

We got hit by the worm virus going around yesterday. Kept shutting my computer down every 5 minutes of so. If it wasn't annoying, it would have been funny. But the MIS department was able to fix mine and the others in the department that were affected and work proceeded as normal. Just later.

And one of our donors went through his closet and gave a bunch of clothes to be given to employees. Fortunately, I'm the right size, so I got three very nice suits out of the deal. They'll need to be shortened a tad, but that's not bad at all for the price! And they look practically brand new. I really needed a suit. I may only wear one once a year or so, but it'll be nice to have one that fits now.

The trip to the beach went well last night. Just got back about midnight, much later then we had intended to. I guess the person they had filling in for me as worship leader (who had left by the time I got there) wasn't very good at guitar at all, so everyone was thrilled to see me back. Then we tried to play capture the flag on the beach. Don't ever try. First of all, jr. highers can barely play the game anyway. Second, there was way too much space for them to get lost. The fact that we got all the kids back was a major miracle. It works at church, but doesn't really work in that much area. But the full moon was beautiful.

Ok, as promised, I'm now doing Mary's Tuesday Two.

1. What is your all-time favorite joke?

Well, there are two I've been telling for years. Don't know if I have a favorite, but they did come to mind.

An alien lands in front of a gas station. (At this point, I'm often interrupted several times. But moving on....) Addressing one of the pumps, he says, "Take me to your leader." He repeats the command three of four times. Finally he yells, "I think you could hear me better if you took your tail out of your ear."

Henry Ward Beecher received a note after one of his messages. It had one word on it - Fool. The next week, he commented on it to his congregation. "I've received many notes where the person wrote the note and forgot to sign their name. But this is the first note I've received where the person signed their name and forgot to write the note."

Just thought of a third. As a pastor was closing his message, he told his congregation, "I want you all to read Mark 17 as background for next week's sermon." When he got up the next week, he asked who had read it. Every hand went up. "Good. You're the people I want to talk to. My subject is lying, and there is no Mark chapter 17."

2. Be honest now…have you ever laughed so hard you’ve pee’d in your pants?
I've laughed so hard I couldn't breath. I've laughed so hard I cried. I've laughed so hard it hurt. But I've never laughed so hard I pee'd my pants.

Do people even think? I mean, really?

I have just made a decision. I am not going back to the Amazon customer review board. Not only is my friend banned for life, but I'm sick of the arogant attitudes displayed over there. There are so many know it all, better then thou liberals it's sickening! They don't agree with me, that's fine. They have that right. But I have the right to my own opinion. And they don't respect that. Someone (and a top review) has decided to start political discussions every day. Hello! This is supposed to be about customer reviews. Then he wonders why they get deleted when they are so far off topic. Then there are the people moaning because of all the problems we've been having this year. Yes, things are bad. Yes, the new system to post reviews faster has actually made things worse right now. Yes, we do help Amazon's profits. And authors (they've told me.) But, Amazon doesn't owe us anything. If they decided to take down reviews tomorrow, I'd be upset, but it wouldn't be the end of the world! Anyway, if there seems to be a problem with the site, I might check in. But I won't be posting there ever again.

Yes, there's a reason I didn't post that on the board. If I did, I'd be called a whiner, looser, and my points would never be heard. I'm tired of trying.

So, what else is going on in my life?

Went down to Santa Monica to play ultimate frisbee again Sunday. Tommy and I had a great time. Just wasn't long enough because Dave planned a SNYF for Sunday night and announced it at the very last minute! I'm getting tired of these last minute youth things. But I came back for it like the good staffer I am, especially since I wasn't able to go out to the beach retreat that's going on right now. I am heading out there with my guitar tonight, but just for a few hours. Man, I wanted to go!

Tommy and I decided to take full advantage of the last week of summer pick-up and went to play ultimate again last night. But I've done something to my elbow because it gave out on me and was really hurting. I'm hoping if I take it easy, I can make it through our last game Wednesday and the tournament on Sunday. What a week for it to give out on me!

And, in condo news, I found out on my own (not disclosed by the seller) that the complex is taking bids to repipe the place. That's good news because it really needs it, but bad news because it will cost me more money, unless we can get the sellers to pay. (After they give me a million dollars, of course.) There's a HOA meeting about it Thursday night, so looks like I'll be skipping out very early on youth group to go to that. At least it's close to church.

And now, for the quiz that everyone else seems to have done.


Lord of the Rings!


What movie Do you Belong in?(many different outcomes!)
brought to you by Quizilla

Not sure if this is me or not, but I really don't like that movie. :)

And, just for kicks (and in case this is a new version)


YOU'RE CHARLIE BROWN!!! You're lonely and you worry
over little things, you put yourself down much
of the time and usually the but of everyone's
joke


What Peanuts Gang Character Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Yep, this is a different quiz from the one I took ages ago. And I definitely think it's right. I've always said I was just like Charlie Brown.

Got to run. Leaving for the beach retreat in 30 minutes and I need to go home and change first. Guess I'll do Mary's Tuesday Two on Wednesday. :)

Remind me never to be starting escrow while getting ready for our annual audit. The last couple of days have been extremely busy.

But I've survived. All my accounts are in the official audit binder and everything is ready to go. I'm not even officially working today, which is a first in all the years I've worked here. And that means that Monday I get to start on the bank reconciliations for July!!! That's what makes getting to the audit worth it. I just love doing nothing but that for a week or so.

Which gave me a chance to read through all the escrow instructions I got on Thursday. Took me all morning. The worst part was the articles of incorporation for the condo association. Boring! But I made it through. Unfortunately, I got the inspection report, so now I need to take a look at that. It never ends!!!!!

My guitar is in the shop right now. Thursday night, Becky pointed out to me one of my tuning bars was about to break. I took it into one of the music stores, and they're fixing it as we speak. Should be done before they close tonight. Getting an all new set, so they should last me for a long time.

My new Shaun Groves CD finally shipped yesterday. I thought it would never leave the company. Can't wait to get it.

Do you ever look at the hits your blog gets? I find some of them quite interesting. Occasionally, they can be educational. Right now, for example, I seem to be getting lots of hits under a search for "Angelique for CA governor." Didn't even know someone named Angelique was running for governor. Of course, if as many people as they say are stepping up, it doesn't surprise me that I don't know everyone.

I'm getting a kick out of how much publicity this is getting us. It's being covered all over the place on Fox News. I'm sure something will come along and dump this before Oct. 7th rolls around, but for now, I'll enjoy getting local news from a national channel.

And, for the record. Arnold can run all he wants, but he will get my vote based on whether or not I think he is the best canidate to lead our state. Granted, anyone would be better then Davis, but I will probably be voting for someone else.

It's about 100 degrees out right now. Think I'll head home and jump in the pool.

Hope your Saturday is plenty relaxing.

Good morning. Unfortunately, it's not nap time. (I need to go to bed early tonight! Inspite of the last minute guys jr. high event.) So, since I can't sleep, it must be time for the Thursday Threesome, brought to us this week by you local department store and The Back Porch.

Onesome: Two- Hey, we did 'threes' last week; let's try 'twos' this week. When you think of pairs, what comes to mind? ...and 'Bartletts' is the only wrong answer !
I think that last comment was just for me. :) Let’s see. Turtle Doves. Hands and feet. Binders I take to church all the time.

Twosome: Day- Which day of the week do you live for? Is it getting back to work on Monday (right!) or maybe Friday, so you're gone! One of the weekend days? Which day works for you?
Saturday. It’s my day for fun and relaxation. Most of the time anyway.

Threesome: Sale- Are you one of those people who will wait until something is on sale before you buy it? ...even if it's like forever? ...or do you just haul on down to the store whenever the urge hits? Hmmm? Planner, immediate or impulse? What type of buyer are you?
For big items, I wait for the sale. Smaller items or fun items, I’m immediate or impulse. That’s a great thing about my condo. With the washer and dryer being included, I can wait until there’s a sale if I want to replace them. :)

The last 36 hours have certainly been interesting here in cyper space. Of course, there was the blow up at Zap's over planning next year's convention. The only thing I want to add to that is to echo what Kathy said. I honestly can't believe that someone who delurk to post on something like that and call for a person to be banned who is a regular part of the community.

But then there's Amazon. We have a discussion board that's supposed to be used for talking about reviewing. One of the members, who follows that rule very closely, has been banned. It's a huge loss over there. Yes, he's probably a little too public with his accusations of cheating, but it seems he's always right. They could have just given him a warning and let it go at that. Told him to e-mail his suspicions directly to them instead of making them public. Anything like that. It hit me hard because he's a friend and, frankly, one of the only reasons I still go there.

Of course, with all this stuff happening, it's been hard to concentrate on work. Which is a very bad thing when I need to get things done. Of course, this morning, I did get two deposits done since Jim is still out and Elizabeth is out sick.

Had an interesting encounter last night. About 7:15 my doorbell rang. I answered to find some guy I'd never met before standing there. Asked if I was Mark and if I worked at Master's. When I told him I did, he introduced himself as a neighbor trying to organize some help for someone moving out Saturday and wanting to organize a community network to help each other out. When I told him I'd be working Saturday (weekend before the audit) and would be moving myself soon, he wouldn't take that for an answer. I realize this is a CA thing, but I don't want to have people I don't really know knowing that much about me. I don't know, it just feels weird. We help out peole we know, not relative strangers. And since no one has made a point of getting to know everyone before now (and I've been there two years), just seems weird. I might have felt differently if I were going to stay longer.

Anyway, off to worship team practice and my ultimate game this week. Hardly going to be home the rest of the week. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Man, I need to get some sleep. Not that I've gotten into the passenger side of my car or anything. :) Still, I feel asleep watching TV at lunch time and I've been having a hard time getting up in the mornings.

I actually had a productive night last night. If you count doing fun stuff productive. I read for a while (and dozed), watched Mary and Rhoda from last week, and went and played pick-up ultimate. That didn't go so well, but I went and did it. And, I didn't like the movie any better this time around then last time around. But I'm reading The Gatehouse Mystery, so that part was good. :) Four chapters left, so hopefully I'll finish tonight so I can get the review written this week.

I'm getting frustrated with on-line ordering at the moment. I have two items that I can't tell if they've shipped or not. One is a CD released today that, by ordering on-line, I could get autographed. That I'll wait impatiently for. I was going to cancel my order for Rocky and Bullwinkle season 1 since the place I ordered that from says it doesn't release until next week even though it comes out today. But when I tried to do that, they said it shipped yesterday. No e-mail notice and no change to my on-line order status, so what's a guy to believe. At least I won't have it distracting me tonight.

Mary's Tuesday Two is back!

1. If you won a buttload of money in the lottery/powerball, what would you do with it?
Buy a house. This whole thing is getting to be nerve wracking! I'm really not sure what else I would do with it because I know it's not going to happen so I don't tourcure myself thinking about it. Something about not buying tickets.

2. What song have you been listening to the most this week?
"Learning to Trust" by David Meece and "He Reigns" by the Newboys

And, from Aleta


Killed by Orcs
Picked one fight too many, eh? Well, at least you
took a few of them down with you, right?
...RIGHT?


How would you die in LotR?
brought to you by Quizilla

Looks like we have something in common. Now, to avoid those pesky things as long as possible. :)

I think the high is beginning to fade. Only took a couple of days. Now the waiting can begin.

Got an inspection scheduled for Thursday.

Went over there a couple of times on Sunday and parking is a nightmare. I may have to work out some kind of arrangement with the tandom parking so that three guys with wildly different schedules can all have a place to park. Or at least two of us. Any ideas?

Speaking of which, I figured out how to fix my comments so they once again announce when someone has left me a comment. Always a plus.

Didn't do much yesterday. Between church services, I watched the new VeggieTales and dozed. Quite a fun DVD. Also started the reprint of Trixie #3. Got quite a kick out of Jim calling them Moll Dicks. I have never seen that in print before, so it took me aback. And this is in a book I thought I had memorized. :)

Today's been a quiet day at work to make up for Thursday and Friday last week. Nice for a change. But I know it won't last. With only four working days before the audit, things will speed up again soon. Can't wait until it starts so I can get back to bank reconciliations. Being 5 weeks behind bothers me, but mainly it's so fun to do them. Probably my favorite part of the job. Yes, I'm weird, but if you're just figuring that out....

BTW, seems everyone wants me to have a housewarming party. I wasn't even planning on having one. Although, I could always use more towels. :)

As I've been telling everyone I can think of, I GOT ONE!!!!!!

My realtor called last night about 6:30 to let me know I wouldn't know anything until tonight.Their realtor wasn't going to meet with them until tonight sometime.

But this morning she called me at 9 to let me know that they'd accepted my offer. She decided she needed to put more pressure on the realtor since we ran the risk of more offers coming in while she waited until tonight to present them all. All the offers were really close, but they decided this one was best. So, I get to start escrow on Monday and start worrying about all that kind of fun stuff. It's one in the complex I really wanted and is in excellent shape. I might throw a quick coat of paint on it, but other then that, it's ready to move in.

Now, as long as I have a couple roommates, everything will be fine. Otherwise, it's going to get very tight money wise. But if I have a couple roommates, I might not have to change my current lifestyle a whole lot.

In other news, Donald got here fine last night and we talked until almost 2. We were both dozing when Linda called at nine, but I'm so happy I don't care. (And probably wouldn't have gotten much more sleep anyway.)

By the end of September, I should be in my own place!

What a ride the last 48 hours have been!

Phil has been, and I have been a little bit, working on reconciling an account. I thought when I finally posted yesterday I had everything figured out. Came in this morning to discover that things weren't any better after all. But Phil had a break through this morning and between doing deposits for two people out on vacation, we got the problem solved.

Yep, I got to be a very busy me and Jim and Elizabeth this morning. And, for whatever reason, I was half asleep. Can't figure out for sure why.

That all changed when I finally went to lunch about one. And it involves condos, so I guess I should start with last night.

Yesterday, I had called my realtor to talk about taking a place that didn't have laundry in unit. We agreed to meet after work at look at several units in a complex here in Newhall. I like the complex and the layout is fine, I just kept having problems about them. First, I think I was really disappointed with the loss of washer and dryer. Second, there are currently six units on the market from that complex, and I just couldn't see for sure why. After Bible study, I went over and signed the papers to make an offer, offering several thousand below asking (a first!) But I just kept worrying about it.

So, when my agent called and told me we'd had a counter-offer, I wasn't exactly disappointed. But I was in a real bind not knowing what to do. I was on my way out the door to lunch, so I went home. I'd been there all of about 5 minutes when she called to tell me that a unit had opened up in the complex I really like. Complete with garage and washer and dryer. So we rushed over there. Then she spent the rest of the afternoon waiting to talk to the lender while I worked. Signed an offer about 4 PM, so we'll see what happens. Already in a multiple offer situation. Meanwhile, I've let the offer on the other condo go (didn't sign the counter.)

I think the adrenilen rush is leaving as I'm suddenly getting tired. Meanwhile, I have to stay up tonight because Donald is coming to town and staying with me, and is probably just now leaving the Bay Area. He and Heather are coming down for a wedding and won't be getting in until late.

I don't think I'll be able to wait until tomorrow to find out about this offer. I hate this pins and needles stuff.

Going to finish off with a quizz from Aleta.

What magazine am I? I am Book: There is nothing better then the written word. Nothing engrosses me more then a masterpiece on paper. If you want to watch COPS you can always dig my TV out of the dumpster. What magazine am I?

Why does this not surprise me?

Have a good weekend. I'll try to pop in and let you know what happens next in this saga.