How time flies!

Well, folks, another Christmas has passed and we are fast approaching the end of another year. What happens to time? I can remember when I was a kid and the school year seemed to last for years and Christmas took forever to get here! Now it seems January hardly passes before it's July 4th and then you blink and Christmas has arrived. Sometimes I don't like getting older.

In spite of the speed at which the holidays have passed, I must say I'm glad it's over. This past week has been hard. I think I spent too much time alone. At times, I didn't even like myself, but that, too, is passing. :)

On a lighter note, there were several things I did during the holidays that were some of my own favorite traditions: decorating the tree, watching my favorite holiday movies - "It's a Wonderful Life", "Holiday Inn", "White Christmas", and baking pecan pies. I didn't get to watch Charles Dickens', "A Christmas Carol". My favorite version of that movie is the one with Patrick Stewart as Ebenezer Scrooge. George C. Scott is my other favorite "Scrooge". I did, however, see it live at the local theater. That was cool.

Should God allow it, I can't wait for the day when I have a family and we establish our own holiday traditions. To me, the family traditions are the best part of the holidays.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and enjoyed yourselves immensely! Most importantly, I hope you were able to think about the One who is the Reason for the season.

I'm back in business!

I got my laptop back!!!!! Woohoo!!!! I am so excited to have it back.

The speed at which Apple repaired my laptop has restored my faith in this company! I shipped it out on Thursday of last week and got it back on Tuesday. They totally replaced all of the outer casing - so my laptop looks like new! Except that my battery is a slightly different color, but I won't be picky about that! :)

Now I will try to get back in the groove of posting. I think not having my computer worked out for the best anyway - I wouldn't have had enough time to post anyway.

I'm going to sign out now, since I have some things to do before tomorrow, but I hope you all will have a blessed Christmas. Be sure to hug all those folks you'll be with this week - even the ones you might not like very much. We never know if this Christmas will be the last one we have with those we love.

Blessings to you and yours!

'Tis the season, to be jolly....

But sometimes it's hard! My laptop was fixed and returned to me - only to be sent back today! It is a long story. But here it is in a letter I wrote to Apple and sent with my computer:

To Whom It May Concern:
...

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, my laptop stopped working correctly. I took it the next day to a local Apple repair shop and they determined the logic board was bad and that it would have to be shipped to Apple for repairs. It was shipped on the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving (November 24). I understood that with the holidays, it would be the following week before my computer would arrive at the repair center. The local repair shop was awesome at keeping me apprised of the status of my computer, but was at a loss as to why it was taking so long to get repaired. After a week and a half, the status on my computer indicated that the part was backordered. One of the guys at the local shop talked with someone at the repair center on Thursday, December 9, and was told that if the part had not arrived by Monday, December 15, he would put me in touch with Apple and they would talk with me about replacing my laptop. I called the local shop on Monday and they told me the part had been found and my computer had been repaired on Saturday, December 11 and that I should have my computer back by Tuesday, December 16 – almost three weeks to the date it had been shipped in the first place. Needless to say, I was just happy to get my laptop back.

I called on Tuesday, December 16, to see if my laptop had made it back, and sure enough – it had. I went to get it and was very dismayed by what I found. After I had checked to make sure the data on the computer was mine, the guy from the store closed my laptop and I was treated to the first view of the outer casing on my laptop. First of all, some tape had been applied and removed and in its place was a huge spot of tape glue. Not only that, there were other scratches and marks on the outside that were not there when I shipped it for repairs. They guy used some “Goo Gone” to remove the tape glue and then cleaned the top of the laptop, however, there were still many marks on my laptop that were not there the last time I had seen it. Unfortunately, I was running out of time on my lunch hour and had to leave before giving my laptop a detailed once-over. When I got back to my office and was able to really look at it, I was even more dismayed by the overall appearance of my laptop.

In addition to the scratches and marks on the top of my laptop, there were scratches to the bottom of the case and some of the seams of the laptop – the places where the different parts of the case come together – were warped or had gaps. For example, looking at the front of the laptop with the top down, near the clasp, the seam where the top of the keyboard meets the bottom of the case has a gap and looks like it was forced together. Also, when looking at the front of the laptop with the top down, the screen is warped, and does not close like it did prior to being “repaired”.

From a consumer’s perspective, it seems that when talk turned from repairing my computer to possibly having to replace it, the part suddenly appeared and my computer was “thrown together” to get it back to me. I feel that I am a reasonable person and that I was very understanding about the amount of time it took to repair my computer. However, I am severely disappointed in the treatment of my laptop. In my opinion the technicians should have treated it with more care than it was afforded. Now, I have to send my laptop off again for who knows how long to fix what wasn’t broken in the first place.

...

Well, that about sums it up. Can you tell I was/am frustrated? I don't think I'm being unreasonable.

I must admit, though, after dealing with this yesterday, I was quickly reminded of how stuff like this isn't really that important when there are people who are hungry or homeless or family-and friend-less. I have been so blessed in every other way, I truly cannot complain.

So.....my holiday will still be jolly and happy because I have family and friends who love me and whom I love. I hope you do, too!

Holiday....whatever?

Is anyone else feeling like you just wish you weren't at work? Not because you don't like the job or the people you work with (although I do have some friends in that situation) but simply because the holidays are drawing near and you'd just rather not be in the office.

I'm telling you, it is a struggle for me. I do love my job and the people I work with, but I do not want to be sitting here at this desk working. I feel like I need to be "out there" doing something other than what I'm doing. I think it is a result of years spent in school, counting down the days until the Christmas break, which lasted for two weeks. Two whole weeks of doing nothing. Then once Christmas break was over, you knew it was back to work. It's funny....once the new year rolls around and I put up the Christmas ornaments and clean the corner where the tree now stands, it will be back to business as usual. Just like when I was in school.

Part of my apathy this time, is a strong desire to go and be somewhere where God and I can be together. I'm working through some things in my mind and I'd like to just go away from everyone and read the Word and talk to God. Maybe I should take a day off and do that anyway. Hmmm.....

Anyway, thought I'd post something during one spell of apathy here at my desk. Still no news on the iBook. It could be the end of this week or even next week before I get it back. *groan* I'll survive, I suppose.

iBook Update

Well, it could be the end of next week before I get my laptop back. *sigh* They are having to replace the logic board, and apparently, many other people's as well. Seems like they had a generation of bad logic boards and now they are on backorder. All I know is, I miss my 'puter!

In spite of being Mac-less, life has been busy. As I said, I knew this week at work was going to be crazy, and sure enough - it has! The only reason I'm getting to post something is because no one else is in the office right now. I finally finished our newsletter and other items we have to get printed to mail out. Whew! I need a vacation!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours was fantastic! We had 10 people at our house on Thanksgiving. The food was great, but the fellowship was even better. I'm just so thankful to God for all of His blessings in my life.

Last night, me and Deedee picked out our Christmas tree. I know she probably wanted to kill me. I'm so picky and all she wanted was a tree. We did meet in the middle and found a really cute tree for only $30!!! She was excited to find one cheap and I was glad to get a tree I actually liked. Her boyfriend, James, helped us get it to the house. He is just an awesome guy. I'll be sure to post pictures of the Christmas tree. (I know I missed getting pictures of the pumpkins at Halloween, but the tree will live longer than our pumpkins did!)

Anyway, this weekend is going to be crazy - oh the holiday season! It's Christmas-time in the city! I'm leading worship at a church "lock-in" tonight, but then I'll have to leave around 2am to make the hour-long drive home so I can grab a couple hours of sleep before I have to get up and be in a Christmas parade (with our motorcycle ministry) first thing in the morning. Needless to say, tomorrow is going to be interesting! I'm already tired thinking about it. On top of that - we have to decorate our tree sometime!

I hope your weekend is fun for you! Until next time.....