the weekend that was: it was a nice, fairly relaxing weekend at home. i sure do like those! jeannie went to a seminar kind of thingy friday night and most of saturday, so the kids and i got a chance to hang. friday night, i took liesl and max to see bride wars. i didn’t really expect to like it, but i didn’t expect it to be as relentlessly boring as it was. the few nominally funny bits were all in the trailer. otherwise, it was attempt to be sweet. of course, i am not the target audience, and liesl (almost 15) really liked it. saturday, i slept in a bit, got caught up on a bunch of tv shows i had on the dvr (including 24), and chilled. then max and i went out to see his movie pick: mall cop. this one was actually pretty funny. sure, it’s no oscar contender, and totally formulaic as movies go; but kevin james is funny, the whole segway thing works, and max and i both laughed out loud a lot. then we went shopping for books (max HAD to get the new “diary of a wimpy kid” book), and to rent a wii game he wanted to try (mario strikers charged — a soccer game), and we played that a bit, until my thumb couldn’t take it anymore (and because max was creaming me).
sunday morning, we signed loan docs (we refinanced our house with the great low rates right now, and dropped our monthly payment an additional $200!), then went to church. had a fun middle school ministry volunteer staff meeting in the early afternoon. then, in the late afternoon, i had a fun visit with a guy who was a middle schooler at the church i grew up at when i was an intern there. a few years later, in the first church i worked in as a junior high pastor (in wheaton, il), he was on my volunteer team while in college. since then, we’ve had occasional contact (every few years, it seems), and he’s been a youth pastor for a bunch of years. funny thing is: i still think of him as a kid from my middle school group, but he’s something like 38 years-old! i’m just an old fart!
sunday evening, we worked on getting our christmas decorations down. jeannie’s rule is: everything has to be down by the end of january. the lights got off the house yesterday, and the tree is down. just a few more things to pack up tonite. this is my last chance this month, so we’re committed to having it done by tonite (monday night).
where i am at the moment: home. yeah! and, not just home like, home-in-san-diego-but-in-the-office. i’m home as in at my house! (today is a holiday for ys)
on my to-do list this week: busy day tomorrow, with meetings and prep for my trip to puerto rico this week.
procrastinating about: preparing for my trip to puerto rico! i’m doing a general session, a seminar, and a super-seminar; and i haven’t prepared a thing yet.
book i’m in the midst of: two of ’em. i’m still reading the know it all. and i picked up jack handy’s new book the other day — what i’d say to the martians — and am halfway through it. funny, funny stuff.
music that seemed to catch my attention this past week: newly appreciated ysmarko commenter, cal, commented on my monday morning update last week that i should check out the sufjan stevens’ produced jewel, welcome to the welcome wagon, by the band the welcome wagon (seriously, three uses of “welcome” in one album title!). such a cool album. almost more like a collection of hymns than anything else, but with a quirky sufjan-y sensibility (both lyrically, and sonically).
next trip: i leave for san juan, puerto rico, on wednesday, for our spanish ys summit (the country event for puerto rico). here’s the online event brochure.
how i’m feeling about this week: really looking forward to puerto rico. lucas, our spanish director, and i will spend 36 hours together on the front end, prior to the event. i really love lucas, and always have fun with him dreaming about the future of our spanish stuff. then, the event should be a kick also.