A couple of Highland stories

The news from the Highland Church (I was there the day they took the "of Christ" portion of the sign off the building) is that they are undergoing a major renovation of the auditorium, a facility that has remained essentially unchanged for nearly 60 years.

While the building is being gutted, the congregation is moving to the Civic Center downtown for Sunday services. Shades of AMC.

Here's a link to a nice time-lapse photo of the chairs being removed this past Sunday that Rob sent me. If you have any history with the building, you might want to check it out.

 http://vimeo.com/93148364

It's interesting that Rob sent the link; he does have a history, from the Sunday after he was born until we moved to Austin in 1970 (and other times when he was living in Abilene as a student).

Story one: I'm off behind the scenes somewhere, recording the sermons (we ran a tape duplicating service for Highland at the time). Barb, pregnant out to here with Julie, is alone, herding two-year old Rob during services, and for some reason (she swears she does not know what possessed her to do so) she was sitting in a section waaay down front. 

She's sitting on one aisle in an otherwise empty row (wisely people are avoiding this area) and after only a mere moment's distraction, she looks up to see Rob at the far end of the row, one foot into the aisle, looking at her with what any mother would recognize as the "Let's play a game. You make a move toward me and I'll run down the aisle screaming while you chase me" expression on his face. Every mother has seen this look.

Lesser women would have failed this challenge, but Barb calmly reached into the church bag and took out a toy and placed it in the seat next to her. And waited. Rob, ever one to be easily distracted, came trotting back down the row, and into his mother's loving, iron-clad embrace.

Story two: The opera-style chairs at highland folded up if there was no one sitting in them. I daresay every child that has ever attended that church has been partially swallowed when his or her chair folded up at some point during a wiggly sermon. In fact, the term at Highland for that event is "the whale swallowing Jonah." 

Yes, it happened to our children, even though we, like most parents, jammed a songbook between the cushion and the armrest. After so many songbooks were destroyed in this manner, they begged folks not to use them in that fashion, so Barb covered a short, songbook-sized piece of wood with fabric and stuck it in the church bag. Problem solved. Usually.

When word got out on Facebook that the chairs were coming out, people began saying, "Hey, can we buy a chair? That church was significant in my journey, and it would be great to have a chair." Evidently, one can buy chairs, so my recommendation to Rob is that he ought to get one. It would go nicely with the pew he already has. He could claim (and probably rightly) that it was one of the ones he got stuck in.

Monday Meanderings - 4.28.2014

At last some good comes from the countless orders placed with Amazon. I'm going to get some of that money back!

 I'm still planning on how I'm going to spend my 73 cents. I'll let you know.

Article in the paper this week said that on average, restaurant alcohol sales in Austin total $480 per person per year. That means a couple of people are spending twice that to cover our share. Cheers.

There is a promotion that runs on the Longhorn Network, promoting viewership of all things Longhorn. The promotion features a teacher calling roll in what appears to be a 2nd or 3rd grade class, and every student - boy or girl - is named "Ben." I mentioned to Barb that this promotion did not make any sense to me; what was the deal with all these kids named Ben. She looked at me and said, "Vince. All these kids are named Vince."

And on the subject of the University of Texas, someone has come out with new fragrances for Longhorn fans.

Now the scent for the ladies may be just fine, but I'm not sure I want to wear a fragrance for men that has a reference to a steer on it.

You had one job and one job only!

Actually, if you have to cut down on coffee, maybe this is not such a bad idea.

Doctor visits and blog stories - gotta love 'em

What would I do without Doctor visits? No, I don't mean in terms of curing ailments and staying healthy - I am talking about the source of good blog stories. For instance:

Yesterday I was in a medical office and they needed to draw blood. Andy, the friendly paramedic who was assisting me asked if I would mind if he used this occasion for a teaching moment for two new medical assistants. That was fine with me, so he introduced me to Melissa and Emily. Melissa was actually their X-ray technician and had the least experience, so she was picked to do the deed.

Andy discussed the best way to get a vein to present and had Melissa tie off one, then a 2nd tourniquet, and while I was squeezing the little rubber ball they checked each of my veins and discussed the pros and cons, and the directions of the veins and a lot more that I didn't follow, but everyone was paying close attention and they all agreed on the vein.

Melissa tells me that this is going to "stick a little" and slides the needle in very easily with almost no pain. Good job, Melissa!

So I am congratulating Melissa on the lack of pain and everybody is all smiles until Andy says, "Melissa, do you notice anything about this IV?" Melissa looks puzzled, and Emily steps up and looks, and I look, and we're all pretty clueless until Andy says, "Melissa, where's the blood? You missed the vein, dear."

By the way, Emily drew blood on the first try (while poor Melissa was in the corner, going, "Ohhh, I'm so sorry. Oh, noooo!").

Monday Meanderings - 4.21.2014

I hope the Easter Bunny brought you happiness this past week. In addition to the road-side vendors selling baskets and stuffed animals, we noticed vendors offering bags of cascarones this year. Remember, the rule is that you must ask if it's okay for you to smash the confetti-filled eggs on someone's head!

Okay, Mr. gnaw-through-the-plastic-birdseed-bucket Squirrel! Chew on this!

Oh, and the all-metal Finch feeder is on the way, so you can cross that snack off your list as well.

After sitting as a burned-out shell for the last eight or so months, there is finally some activity at the house the next block over. This is the fire we slept through after returning from the Lake, you might recall. For months, absolutely nothing happened, but finally crews have cleared out the debris and they are rebuilding on the existing slab. Much to the neighbors delight, I know.

We noticed a woman casually shopping in Central Market this past week, while her Guatemalan nanny trailed behind, pushing the cart with the twin babies strapped in. Barb said, "Why didn't I think of that when our kids were that size!"

And you might correctly assume that I found this for sale in Central Market.

I'm just not sure what this product is. Help me out here.

The Passport Stories

While renewing our passports, I wandered back through the old, expired versions recently, and here is what I found.

1978

No wonder Customs always wanted to chat with me.

Mexico and Guatamala, July 1978, June 1979

1994
A little better, but I still get pulled aside.
Every time.

I can't figure out the dates from this, but we made 10 trips altogether; 

most of the time together, sometimes just one of us.

Including one train trip to Austria.

And another to London.

And often, home through Atlanta, 

where I would get to visit with immigration.

2004

How could you not trust that face?

Needed Visas to get into El Salvador.

Medical Mission trip to El Porvenir - "The Future."

Into Peru for a clinic at the La Comunidad de Niños Sagrada Falilia.

And while we were in Peru

Back to Lima and left Peru about 3am for Atlanta.
I approached Customs and Immigration with a gigantic case
of medical supplies and equipment that we were bringing back,
 and for once, they could could not care less!
Next!

2014
Where shall we go next?