Constantly Changing

My boss likes to say “the only thing that is constant around here is change”…and he likes to say it often.  Now, more than ever, he is right.

We finally found a new location for our warehouse, and have begun the process of moving in.  Not that we’ve actually moved anything, but we are preparing to move in.  Our current warehouse is pretty much a piece of junk.  The roof leaks like crazy whenever there is a light rain, and the layout is less than ideal for operating a real warehouse.  The new building that we just signed a lease for is only ten minutes away from our current location, doesn’t have a leaky roof, has tons of office space, and is easily ten times the size of the old warehouse.

In addition to my role as shipping manager, I have been named the project manager for the moving process to the new warehouse.  So far, that hasn’t meant a whole lot more than sitting in on meetings and taking inventory of assorted warehouse goodies.  Soon, I’ll be conducting all sorts of business and hobnobbery with building crews, movers, shakers, candlestick makers, and the like.  I’m looking forward to the task, not only because it will get me out of the office a bit, and allow me to add my input to the warehouse build out, but also because it is a bright and shiny star to put on my resume.  I have no doubt that once it is all said and done, I’ll be more confident as a manager, as well.

In other news, Brianna is doing pretty well with being pregnant…in my estimation, at least.  She seems to be nauseous on a daily basis, but is being a good little trooper and making sure that she gets enough nutrition for two.  She is doing quite a bit of prenatal research and finding out what types of vitamins and supplements she can and cannot ingest.  I’m very proud of her diligence, and am more than confident that she will be an awesome mother.  We are both extremely excited about being parents, and eagerly await the arrival of our new addition to the family…and I’m convinced that we are having a boy, which is even more cause for excitement.

For the next couple weeks, I’m playing bass as a replacement on a couple different prayer room teams.  This week alone, I’m playing one set a day, Saturday through Wednesday, plus an extra set at Rivercity Church on Sunday morning.  This will likely be my last set at Rivercity for a while, as the regular bassist is almost completely healed from his elbow injury…praise the Lord!  My regular Saturday sets with Tiffany Larson’s “keep the fire burning” team is going very well.  We have been focusing on Psalm 23 for about two months, and it seems to get better every time.  In addition, I’m playing a set on Sunday afternoons as a substitute for a friend who is in Thailand, as well as Monday thru Wednesday for a co-worker who is out of town.  The latter team is composed of a group of students at our music academy; needless to say, they are excellent musicians.  I’ve had a lot of fun playing with each of the teams, and am hoping that I’ll find a regular gig one of these days, rather than having to be a substitute bassist.

Until next time…

Joyful Tidings

My wife has been acting a little strange lately.  She’s been constantly craving chicken wings, and crying for strange reasons.  We’d pretty much decided that she was pregnant.  Saturday night, we went to the store and picked up some pregnancy tests, just to be sure.  At about three thirty in the morning on Sunday, she got up to go to the bathroom, and when she came back to bed, announced that…she…is…pregnant.  As you may surmise, we didn’t get much more sleep that evening.

We weren’t exactly trying to conceive a child, but we weren’t trying too hard to not conceive, either.  That being said, we are totally stoked about being parents!  For many years, I wanted to start having kids around the age of thirty, and now it looks like that might become a reality.  According to our estimation, Brianna is five weeks pregnant, which puts her due date pretty close to my thirtieth birthday on June 30th of next year.

As you may imagine, the pregnancy has brought us a lot of attention.  By noon on Sunday, our facebook friends had posted nearly 100 replies to our statuses (stati?) of parenthood…and the comments keep rolling in.  Our respective coworkers have showered us with congratulatory praises and embraces, and shrieks of joy (mostly Brianna’s friends).  My favorite, however, came from my friend/co-worker/ex-roommate Monica’s daughter, Lana.  When Monica told Lana that I was going to be a father, Lana said, “aww…he’ll be a good dad.”  I shared a house with Monica and Lana for a year, and was blessed to be a part of their life for that time.  Her compliment was my favorite of them all.

Where to go from here?

Several of our friends have recently had children, and several have mentioned that the state of Missouri has excellent pregnancy coverage for families without insurance.  This comes as quite a relief to Brianna and I, as neither of our jobs offer decent insurance plans.

It looks like our plans to move to Florence, Alabama will be pushed back at least a few months as we eagerly await the birth of our child.  We were hoping to buy a house and move southward at the end of next May when the lease on our apartment is up, but the prospect of moving to another state with an extremely pregnant woman sounds rather daunting to me.  We thank the Lord and His great wisdom and provision that we didn’t commit to buying a house already!

Chances are, I’ll be looking for a new job.  Brianna is currently bringing in the bulk of our income, and that can’t last forever.  I’ll need to either find a second part-time job, or another full-time job that pays a lot more than the one I’ve currently got.

Brianna and I ask that we would be in your prayers now more than ever.  We are in very high spirits, and are very gald to have the love and support of so many friends and family members.  We know that the next eight months will be exciting, interesting and challenging, and feel that we have been equipped to handle the rigors and rewards of pregnancy and parenthood as much as any young couple, if not better.  We are thankful to have had wonderfully loving parents, as well as excellent role models for parenthood in our families and spiritual mothers and fathers, and we are looking forward to each and every one of you to join us as we celebrate the life of the newest addition to our family!

Approved!

This past Monday, I auditioned to play bass in the IHOP prayer room.  I’ve been playing as a replacement bassist for almost nine months now, and decided that I should make it official by going through the process to become approved for my position.

The process was quite enjoyable.  I got to sit with a bunch of other musicians and singers while we waited for out turn to audition.  The group was quite amiable, and very encouraging and supportive.  When my turn came, I plugged in my bass and let ‘er rip.  I got to choose from four songs, and selected “Holy and Anointed One” by John Barnett, as it holds a special place in my heart.  John was the worship leader at my church when i was a teenager, and I know the song pretty well.  There were some big names (among the IHOP community) in the room, especially Cassie Campbell, our resident bassmaster extraordinaire.  She makes me a little nervous, as she is one of the most talented bass players I’ve ever seen.  All in all, I think it went pretty well, and I left with a feeling of satisfaction.

Today, I was pleased to find out that I was approved!  Next Monday, I get to go to my first worship team meeting, and will be introduced to the other musicians and singers as a new addition.  Hopefully, someone will ask me to be on their team, and I’ll get to start playing more often.  I’m really enjoying the team that I play with on Saturday nights, but I’d like to play a few more sets per week.  In any case, I’m pretty proud of myself for making the cut!

Double Duty

My coworker Justin is on vacation this week.  He is the Receiving Manager for our warehouse, as well as the mail pickup/delivery driver.  Since he is out of town, I get to do double duty for six business days, running his department as well as my own.  Technically, it isn’t such a bad deal, since I’m usually only busy for half the day.  After juggling our combined duties for eight hours, I feel like I’ve done a decent days’ work.  The weather has been nice this week (except for today), and I get to enjoy the sunshine when I’m out on delivery.  Plus, I get a chance to talk to people in person instead of replying to their emails and phone calls.  There is a lot to be said for the value of face time.  Let the reader understand.

It has been at least a week since my last post; let me do a little catching up…

Last Thursday, I tossed a bunch of spices and some citrus juices in a bag with a sizable chunk of pork, then put it in the fridge overnight to marinate.  While home for lunch on Friday, I dumped the mixture into a crock pot and put it on high for about six hours.  By the time I got home, our apartment was filled with the delicious aroma of roast pork (semi-Cuban style).  After letting the roast cool for a bit, I shredded it up and put it in a jumbo sized ziplock bag with some of the juices, so that it would stay moist.  That evening, I had my first homemade Cuban sandwich…and it was pretty stinking good.  I had procured some relatively thin bread from our church’s food ministry (which wasn’t quite Cuban bread the best substitute I could find…and the price was right), which I layered with deli mustard and sliced pickles.  Then, I laid down some pork, topped with ham and swiss.  After closing up the sandwich and pressing it down as much as possible, I stuck the whole thing into my electric sandwich press (not quite traditional), and…PRESTO!!!…Cuban sandwich.  I was quite pleased with myself.  I made one for Brianna, and she liked it so much that she asked for another the following night.

Also on Thursday, I went to my first Kansas City Royals game.  I hadn’t been to a MLB game in years…not since I lived in Phoenix.  I’m not a huge baseball fan, but I enjoy the sporting event experience.  Apparently the Royals have Ladies’ Night at least once a season, and Brianna’s clinic was doing 10-minute chair massages for the event.  For me, that translates into free tickets and parking passes.  She even managed to get a free ticket for my buddy Cory so that I didn’t have to sit by myself until she was done working.

After loading myself up with plenty of ballpark foodstuffs, I sat down for what was the least exciting baseball game I’ve ever seen.  The Red Sox were in command of the game, and the Royals must have been revisiting their Little League years, making plenty of errors and showing poor batting skill.  Even worse, their best pitcher and one of their managers got thrown out for arguing a strike-call.  The KC squad made a little run in the eighth inning, and managed to load up the bases.  Unfortunately, the Sox rallied in the ninth, making the final score 10-3.  By that time, we were already home.

Saturday morning, I had a meeting with several members of Rivercity Church’s Pastoral Care Team.  They are a prayer ministry team, designed to help people seek God for repentance and healing through encouragement and exhortation (my description).  We spent a couple hours getting to know each other, and it looks like I might be joining the team.  Our hope is for Brianna to join as well, but since she works on Saturdays it may prove impossible.

On Monday night, Brianna and I celebrated three months of marriage over buffalo wings, beers and Monday Night Football.  It was a great evening…only slightly marred by the Cowboys’ victory over the Panthers.  We really, really hate the Cowboys.  Is hate too strong a word?  I think not.  I love my wife for many, many reasons.  One of them is her hatred of Dallas.  What a woman!

The rest of my week has been dominated by lots of work, parcel delivery, and end of the month accounting reports.  Not much to tell there.

Brianna and I are trying to finish up the audiobook version of Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls, but it is a lot harder now that we’re listening at home, rather than in the car.  I get distracted too easily to give it my full attention, and when I try to just be still and listen…I end up falling asleep.  Only three CD’s to go!

Job Hunting

If any of my coworkers are reading this, don’t be alarmed!  I’m not leaving my current job any time soon.

In order to continue with our house hunting in Florence, Brianna and I have decided that we should start scouring the market for employment, as well.  So far, I’ve applied for four positions, in fields ranging from shipping/receiving/warehouse to medical.  I’m excited to see what prospective employers have to say about my resume.

In other news, I made a bargain basement purchase of bike pumps the other day.  They were marked down 75% of the original price, and they are some of the best frame pumps you can find on the market.  Being the schemer that I am, I promptly listed them on ebay.  So far, I’ve sold two, and nearly made my money back!  If I end up selling four of them, I’ll probably keep the fifth, plus some decent profit.  I already have a good frame pump, but this one comes with a lifetime warranty.

That’s all for now.

To Alabama and Back…

This past weekend, Brianna and I made some tough decisions.

Wednesday evening(maybe it was Tuesday), Brianna found out that she was pre-approved for a home loan.  That was pretty exciting news.  Sadly, I have no credit history, and they wouldn’t let me put my name on the loan.  Instead, our lender based our pre-approval solely on Brianna’s credit and income.  Even so, we’d be able to afford a pretty good size house.  She and I talked it over for a bit, and agreed that we have some big some decisions to make before the pre-approval expires.  Sadly, that meant that we’d have to cancel our trip to Mississippi, and go to Alabama instead.  Don’t get me wrong, we had a great time in AL…but we were both looking forward to MS.

I don’t have time to get into all of the details this morning…it was an action packed trip.  We looked at about a dozen houses, received some excellent home-buying advice, went to a UNA football game with the in-laws (GO LIONS!), saw my brother-in-law play some excellent tunes at a show, drank some awesome Rivertown coffee, were blessed by our church family at Calvary Fellowship, and managed to get some decent sleep.  It was a great weekend, and it definitely helped solidify my love for Florence, AL.  I’m really looking forward to living there.

As a result of our house shopping, we’re looking into other loan options…preferably ones that will allow me to use my “unconventional credit records” to secure a loan.  If it all works out, we could be buying a house in the near future…in the South!

Satisfaction

A few months ago, I had a craving for a Cuban sandwich.  There is something about a hot sandwich that makes me really, really happy.  Sadly, I only know of one place in the Kansas City Metro area that makes a decent Cuban.  One afternoon, I drove out to said restaurant (in Olathe) only to find that they had closed!  I was completely distraught.  Weeks later, I tried a torta Cubano at a Mexican restaurant in Martin City, but was pretty disappointed.

A couple weeks ago, I was looking for the perfect hydration pack or water bottle for hiking and biking, and drove past Atlanta Bread Company…another location of the store that had closed in Olathe.  I was overjoyed!  …but I’d just eaten.

Today I got paid.  It is my payday custom to take myself out to lunch.  I thought about what I wanted to eat all morning, but hadn’t thought of anything…until I remembered the Cuban.  Although it was a fifteen minute drive each way, and likely busy with the lunchtime rush, I knew that it would be worth it…and it was.

HELP!!!

My lovely wife thinks that I need a new title for my blog. Originally, it was entitled “Boring Life of Gabriel (BLoG)”. Due to plenty of exciting things happening in my life, I changed it to “Basic Life of Gabriel (BLoG)”. Apparently my life is more complex than it used to be, and I may have outgrown “Basic”.

Please help me think up a good name…be as creative as you like…just keep it clean!

Lets not do that again.

What a busy weekend (see previous post for approximated agenda)!  I’m so glad its over.

As it turns out, I didn’t really have a meeting at church on Saturday morning…I’d forgotten about it…then remembered…then showed up and found out that I was two weeks early.  All in all, that worked out great.  I didn’t have enough time to go golfing, but Cory and practiced putting for a bit.

I cut up a bunch of fruit.  I think the final count was eight canteloupes and a dozen limes.  Brianna’s friend Jalise is an amazing baker; she designed and directed the assembly of six desserts for the wedding we attended on Sunday.  Not only did they look amazing, but they tasted great as well.  Our friend Janna oversaw all of the food, and did a great job of presenting it.  We also put together a sort of fruit tree, consisting of skewered fruit stuck into a bunch of pineapples that were, in turn, stuck onto a larger upright pole.  It was a new idea for me, but it looked great when it was all done.

Just as I did the week before, I took dinner some friends who had just had a baby.  Last time, I was running late, and got them a frozen lasagna and some garlic french bread.  This time, I let them choose…and they opted for Buffalo Wild Wings…one of my favorite restaurants.  Sadly, I didn’t have enough money left over to buy myself dinner.  I was forced to savor the aroma of chicken wing awesomeness all the way to their house…without the satisfaction of consuming any.

After delivering the food, I rushed over to the prayer room to play bass.  We had a decent jam on one of the progressions, but the session didn’t go as well as the week prior.  Even so, I was glad for the opportunity to play along with some of my favorite musicians.  As an added bonus, Brianna showed up for the set!  I love having a supportive wife =)

Since we were both starving and not in the mood to cook, Brianna and I went to IHOP (pancakes, not prayer) for dinner.  They had some interesting seasonal items on the menu.  I ordered one, but ended up getting the wrong item.  Rather than complaining and having to wait for the correct meal to be prepared, I ate what they gave me.  It wasn’t all that bad, but I was really looking forward to my stuffed french toast.

That night, I went to bed with a tummy full of blueberry pancake goodness.  A great end to a long day.

Sunday was a blur.  Brianna and I had a decent breakfast at home, went to Jalise’s house, loaded up our vehicles full of wedding food, drove to the ceremony/reception site, assembled ample desserts for two hundred guests, watched some dear friends get married, served food and drink to the guests (ourselves included), did all of the dishes, said goodbye to the newlyweds, took Brianna to work for a quick meeting while I perused Barnes & Noble…and then relaxed with our buddy Chad at his new house for a while.  By the time we got home, we were pretty exhausted.

…and next weekend could possibly be even more intense.

Beef

Every American seems acutely aware that a terrible event took place eight years ago today.  One would be hard-pressed to find an American citizen who would readily admit that they weren’t affected in some way by the September 11, 2001 events.  I do not disagree that it was a horrible moment in our countries recent history that will undoubtedly be remembered for centuries.  I am not what would consider a patriot, but I am definitely not un-American.  That being said, I have some gripes.

There is a great deal of mystery surrounding the 9/11 attacks.  Despite all of the conjectures by conspiracy theorists and viral youtube videos, the American public and the world at large still do not have a clear understanding of what went on at the World Trade Center or near the Pentagon.  I do not presume to know all the facts, either.  I do, however, think that it is irresponsible to jump to conclusions without a factual basis.  We do know that there were four commercial airliners, hijacked by nineteen individuals (reportedly affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Taliban), two of which were flown into World Trade Center towers, one into the Pentagon, and the last crashed on the way to Washington DC.  Nearly 3,000 people died as a result of the attacks, and countless others were injured…and the false sense of security in our great nation was shaken.  The US government, particularly the FBI, CIA, and the 9/11 Commission, launched a wide scale investigation into the 9/11 events, the terrorist hijackers and their motives, and the organizations that spawned the attacks.  The major consensus among Americans would ultimately place the blame upon Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, and the Afghani Taliban regime.  The political machine of then president George W. Bush would end up using the aforementioned events to increase military efforts in Afghanistan and the Middle East, playing on the overwhelming sense of fear among Americans to muscle up support for his cause.  That being said, many American citizens, myself included, were and continue to be stymied by the facts surrounding the terrorist attacks.  Each of us has a right to feel threatened, to be concerned, or even fearful.  It is our duty to be vigilant, to be informed, and to pray that justice be served.

I do not presume to tell people how to feel; I only ask that each person be aware of the available facts, ask questions, and seek truth.  The 9/11 tragedy was very real, and hit close to home for all of America.  It is still a relatively recent event, and has changed the way we travel, shaped our political foreign policies, and, quite possibly, affected our values of life and the freedom to live in peace.  Absolutely, we should remember 9/11.  At the same time, let us not forget other great and terrible world events, such as the Jewish Holocaust, the Darfur Conflict, and the Bosnian Genocide.  Consider other events that occurred on our home soil, like the American Civil War and the Pearl Harbor attack.  Our Declaration of Independence famously states that “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are three inalienable rights of man.  Let us secure these for all men, women, and children, of all races and creeds, through protection of life, diligence in prayer, and the remembrance of and thankfulness for those who have come and gone before us.