25?!

Sonja and I are getting pretty excited! On March 11 we are starting FPU (Financial Peace University) at our church (class details here). This past Sunday was the first time that it was announced in church and Sonja and I couldn't be there (we were in Oregon). Since it was the first Sunday the church was hearing about it, we had no idea how many people were going to sign up. We knew that Pastor Mark and his wife were going to be in the class and that he had encouraged some of his staff to sign up as well, but beyond that we had no idea. Especially since it was such a short notice! The class requires a 13 week commitment and were only giving people two weeks to make that choice and sign up.

So, Pastor Mark emailed us today and said that after last Sunday there were 25 families signed up! 25? Wow! That's like 40-50 people (depending on how many of those are couples)! And, we're still pitching it next Sunday, too. Sonja and I will get to give a 4 minute commercial about how much we learned from the class and then we'll show the orientation video again - so we might get even more people to sign up. The only part we're worried about is how to keep our commercial under 4 minutes. If you've ever heard either of us talk about Dave Ramsey or Financial Peace University, you know that we could talk about it for hours!

So, yeah, we're totally excited. If you can join us for the class, please do! Sundays 4-6pm starting March 11. If you can't join us (because of distance or schedule), then find a class you can go to! We hear there's one that might be starting at Edmonds Open Bible...(hint hint!)...

We'll post an update with the final numbers after next Sunday. Stay tuned...

A good reason to get a YouTube account

This was the funniest thing ever. This dog is my parents'/grandma's dog, Apollo. He is the coolest dog - well behaved, smart, a great protector, etc. And, when I first saw him doing this, I though "dumb dog". But then I realized he's just playing. See, when my dad would get in the backhoe, Apollo would sit and stare at my dad (in the cab)...then as soon as Dad revved the engine, Apollo would look at the bucket and get ready. If Dad waited, Apollo would look back at him as if to say, "come on! let's play!"

Dad was telling me that Apollo will sit on the front porch and whimper for him to come out and play with him. I can understand why - Dad has the biggest dog toy ever!

Click here for part 2. (the sound and video quality isn't great on these - stupid camera phones)

"Math and Journalism Don't Mix" -or- "Orcas Have Longer Days Than Humans"

See any funny math in this article? Here's a little hint:
"The orcas can travel about 3 miles an hour, and cover 75 miles a day."

Just up in the attic

Part of my new job has been driving around to different Red Apple and Thriftway stores and getting them ready for a conversion to a different network (for ordering and inventory stuff). If you've heard of AG (Associated Grocers), then that's the old network and the new network is called Northwest Grocers. It's been kind of fun...last few weeks I was in Marysville, Granite Falls, Kingston and Bremerton (via the ferry), and Renton. The other day, I went to a grocery store about 5 blocks from our house...best commute ever. Next week I'm headed to Poulsbo and Olympia. They also have stores in Eastern Washington, Oregon and Alaska (I already volunteered for the Alaska stores). But I digress...


Last week I was at a Red Apple store in Bremerton. The DSL company had already installed the DSL modem, but according to my notes, the store still needed to arrange for a cable to be run from the "telco" area to the office. I needed to put ends on either end of the cable and we would be good to go. Sure, no problem. I get to the store and the manager tells me that he DSL modem and telco area is up in the attic...let's go have a look. We headed out to the warehouse/loading dock area. I knew I was in trouble when the manager grabs a ladder.

I got even more nervous when he leans the ladder up against the side of the building and turns to me and says, "you aren't bothered by heights are you?" Well, luckily I'm not, but I can't help thinking what if I had been. I think the pictures say it all, but it was a bit of an adventure.