Truer Words - A Journal

Happy New Year, One and All

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 16:22:11 GMT

2006 was a good year for me and mine, in many ways.

To all of my family near and far, to my ecclesia here and worldwide, to all of my friends new and old, close or distant:

Happy
New Year!

Hoping 2007 will be even better, for all of us...

2003 ACS Relay for Life

seth@macrobyte.net — Sat, 31 May 2003 17:14:43 GMT

To everyone who sponsored me in the relay last night: Thank You! I really appreciate it. You know who you are.

This was my third year, and it was definitely the best so far, mostly because there were even more people. Our team was bigger (more from the ecclesia decided to participate this year), and there simply a lot more people there. Also, Ellyn and family really did a nice job of setting up the team "camp site," so there was food and nice chairs.

Two years ago it was very hot. Last year it was very cold. Last night there was a chance of rain, but it never happened (surprising, considering the rain we've had this year). Temps were in the upper sixties, with no breeze, which is perfect for walking.

I walked from 10:10 to 11:10 PM, and went around the track eleven times. Afterwards, I made myself a steak-and-pepper sandwich on the grill, and hung around chatting with Ellyn, Mark, Jed, Eric, Avonlee, Jasmyne, Bonnie, Mandi, and Katie (listed in the order I remember them sitting around the circle) until 1 AM.

Eric was threatening to fall asleep in his chair, and I was feeling a little too comfy in mine, so I went home when he started setting up the tent for he and Av (daughter). Bonny was home with the boys, she was going to walk this morning.

Really had a great time, I wish we could have get-togethers like this (with or without the teeming masses of strangers) more often.

Next up: my first century is next Saturday (one week), and then there's the PMC on August 2nd, for which I still need to raise at least $1100.

Surprise Party!

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 01 Sep 2002 17:05:26 GMT

After meeting, Corinne and I came home to change our clothes then went to Gary and Ellyn's for a cookout. Gramma and Grampa are going back to Florida now that Summer is over (mostly), and they were leaving right after the cookout.

We walked into the yard, and Corinne yelled "Surprise!" then everybody else yelled it. I thought she was yelling "surprise" because we weren't extremely late (a bad habit we definitely have). Took me half a minute to realize that they were yelling it at *me*, and that the yard was decorated with "Happy 30th Birthday" decorations. Heh.

(My birthday is on the 9th.)

To make it even funnier, I'd just told her (on the way over to the cookout) that I'd like to have a family cookout next week for my birthday, but probably on Sunday so that I could still do a long ride on Monday as I've planned. We even joked that I'm the only person who could literally plan his own surprise party, because I'm so forgetful. (Get it?)

Wow, I can be so clueless sometimes. Corinne gets upset with me for figuring out secrets way ahead of time, but I had absolutely no idea this party was for me.

They had a cake for me, and on it was a photograph (inkjet printed with food coloring, a technology that is very cool) of a two-years-old Seth riding his first tricycle. My Mom said, "those were your first wheels." Very appropriate.

Presents included: a very nice Cuisinart coffee maker (the same one that everyone else in the family has), a bunch of coffee, a bean jar, a large mug, interesting hot sauces, a gift certificate to Bombay Spice & Grill, money, and lots of funny and/or sappy cards. Oh, and my parents gave me a silly little bell for my Bicycle, just as a gag. (They also gave me a new suit a couple weeks ago!)

The best present of all, though, was just having (almost) everybody together, happy, and relaxed. With all the travelling over the last couple weeks, I haven't seen most of them in awhile, and I'd missed them. I really appreciated this. A few people coudln't be there for various reasons: Mark was visiting his girlfriend in NH, Heather's in Canada, etc., but it was still a lot of fun and a great surprise.

(Most of the credit for the party apparently goes to Corinne, Ellyn, Mom, and Art. Thank you!)

New Year's Eve 2001

seth@macrobyte.net — Tue, 01 Jan 2002 18:00:33 GMT

Last night Corinne and I went to Jim & Dee Burns's house for the ecclesial New Year's gathering/party/devotional/shindig. The devotion, run by John and Heather Woodward, was based on a talk I gave in the first half of the year (that was a pleasant surprise, sometimes I wonder if anybody's still awake... I have the same problem here!).

A little exercise they devised for us all was picking someone's name out of a hat, and then writing on the piece of paper (with the name) something positive about that person. Very much a feel-good activity. Corinne and I were spooked at first because we both thought they were going to tell us to write down what we'd want for that person. We'd considered suggesting that, but hadn't, so it was weird that they even came close to it. (Incidentally, Bonny Pride and I usually pick each others' names for these little activities. Strange.)

Later, Ken Willis and I were talking in the Dining Room (near the chips and dips, of course), and he asked me about our financial situation. I told him that 2001 was horrible. It was like we (Corinne and I) were "walking hand-in-hand through the valley of the shadow of death" for most of the year.

Nobody warned us ahead of time that there was a monster in the valley called "financial woes". That beast tried very hard to pull our hands apart while it was also beating us each over the head with a club and making a lot of noise.

It almost beat us, honestly. Life was pretty dark for awhile, but we're still hand-in-hand (and heart-to-heart) and the monster seems to be shrinking. Finally. (Though he never really goes away, does he?)

For the first time in my experience, Ken didn't have much of anything to say. ;-) I don't think he expected such an honest and visual answer.