Bike to Work

I have to say I love biking to work. Some days like today, I'm struck anew by how much I enjoy peddling in. I just moved in to Steph's parents' place, which is another 3 miles farther from work, and the roads are a little busier. So I've been hesitant, knowing it will take a little longer and I'll have to deal with more traffic. But I hopped on the bike and road in this morning. Oh, it's just such a good feeling to get in to work after having a good workout, not dealing with the stresses of driving and stoplights and freeways. No radio or unnecessary noise to irritate my sensitive just-woke-up ears. Just peace and quiet and riding as fast as I can.

Sold...tentatively...

The year of waiting is finally over. We have a buyer for our house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Count the exclamations--that's really how excited I am about this.) The purchase agreement is all signed by both parties, and the buyer's inspection is complete but we have to wait 2 days to see if they have any issues with the inspection. And we now find out that our Truth in Housing report never got filed with the city. In fact, we never received a copy of it ourselves. Thankfully we have proof of payment, so the inspector is going to re-inspect ASAP. It's quite strange that after 13 months of selling the house, we're the ones holding up the process.

And by the way, we're planning on loading up a U-Haul Saturday morning May 10 and will be looking for volunteers to help. I know I can't carry a queen-size bed by myself and won't be expecting much help from my 6-month pregnant wife.

2008 Update

Well, it's been over a month since my last post. Shame on me! Here's a quick summary of what's been going on:

• Moved out of the condo we were staying in and back in with the in-laws in mid-December. Steph's grandma came back from Florida for Christmas, and she wanted to live at her place. We decided a 2 bedroom condo with 3 adults, a toddler, and a dog would be a little crowded. This move happened right around the time of my last blog post.
• We're expecting our second child in August. Steph feels rotten most of the time--so we're still staying with her parents. We've had fun battles with our insurance company trying to get them to pay for medicine to keep food down. Twice I've been at Walgreen's picking up a prescription only to be told insurance isn't covering it. The first time they said they would only cover 9 pills every 21 days. At $25/pill and 2 per day, that didn't make me happy. Eventually we got it worked out so insurance paid it all and we're down to one per day. The second incident was after the new year, when our prescription insurance company changed behind the scenes. That was a fairly painless issue since all I had to do was print out new insurance cards.
• I took the plunge into home brewing. I bought fermentation equipment and an ingredient kit to make a 5-gallon batch of Oktoberfest. I bottled the beer Monday, and it's currently carbonating. Hopefully I will be able to celebrate Groundhog Day with a nice bottle of home brew. Mmmmmm.
• No bites, no nibbles, no sign of any activity whatsoever on our house. We had 1 showing in December. We have 2 open houses scheduled for this weekend. I'm skeptical, but trying to be optimistic. Someday the tundra will thaw, and Minnesotans will crawl out from their frozen cocoons and want to buy my house. Hopefully we'll get it sold and get settled into a new house in Milwaukee before the baby's born.

Holiday Greeting

"Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." -Jos 24:14-15

This verse jumped out at me because of how relevant it seems to me in these days of "Happy Holidays." Is it evil in your eyes to serve the LORD and say "Merry Christmas"? Christians, we should not be saying "Happy Holidays." Which holiday, and which God are we serving and encouraging others to serve? Do we really want to wish people a Happy Hanukkah and encourage their celebration of denying Jesus as Messiah? Or Happy Muslimness? Or Happy Kwanzaa? Or maybe Happy New Year--go get drunk? The fact is, unless it is serving the Lord, it is not a holiday.

But the problem is that we Christians have become so like the world, serving the world's God (money), that the world has hijacked our celebration of the Lord's birth, and reclaimed it as its own. So when you're out shopping and the cashier says "Happy Holidays" what he's really saying is "These days are holy to our money god. This is our month-long celebration of how rich and materialistic we are. Thank you for worshiping money with your Visa."

Oh, Lord, come quickly before my cynicism makes me explode.....

2500

Today I hit 2500 miles on my bike for the 2007 season. Back in March when I first hopped on my bike, I never would have guessed how many miles I would ride. Last year I was excited to break the 1000 mile mark, and I wasn't planning on going much beyond that this year. Then I started training for a century (100 mile) ride, and started a bike-to-work contest, and continued to ride even as the temperature began to drop. So today, here I am, just hopping off my bike in 5 degree weather, bundled up in neoprene shoe covers, running pants, balaclava, and ski goggles, 2504 miles under me....and 10 to go before I get home tonight...and there's still 3.5 weeks left of the year!

100% Chance of Precipitation

The weather people are even gutsier than ever. Can they really forecast 100% chance of precipitation?

The Minneapolis forecast:

Saturday: Periods of snow, mainly after noon. High near 28. Wind chill values between -1 and 9. East southeast wind between 9 and 18 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 5 to 9 inches possible.

Lay Aside Every Weight

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us -Heb 12:1

There are many things that slow down our spiritual run that are not sin. I often think that sin is the only thing that keeps me from living the life God wants. I think this is the point of Jesus' parable on the different soils where the one doesn't produce fruit because it is choked out by the cares of this world ("As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares ofthe world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful." - Matthew 13:22). I don't want my usefulness to be choked out by cares of the world. So what weights do I have that are keeping me from running the race?