Happy Birthday from PlaneT3rry

Last Thursday night I was in the Knoxville area again and I got to meet up with PlaneT3rry for the third time. We are starting to make a habit out of this.

This time was special though, I had to be on my best behavior. He was finally going to let me meet his wife. Actually, we had to prove to her that I was really a man so she wouldn’t think strange things about us.

The plans were that I would pick up Terry after the two of them drove to a meeting she had. Then Terry and I would go have dinner and do some general running around with me as his chauffeur for the evening. After we painted Wal-Mart and the Post Office red, then I would take him home and meet Jen, his “lovely and talented wife.”

As is often the case, plans got changed. This time for the better. Jen was able to leave her meeting early and join us for dinner. We had a great time eating and talking. Then, all of a sudden, we all geeked out together. Jen pulled out her Palm Centro, while Terry was on his Palm T|X. I had my iPhone and we all silently conversed through text messages, Facebook exchanges, Twitter comments and verbal snide remarks.

We finally parted ways with Jen going home to get stuff together for a weekend trip while Terry and I set out on the mission.

For Terry the goal was to get the gift cards that he was giving away prepared and in the mail before his trip. My responsibility was to help him spend the extra money on 2 separate gift cards. He needed $2.32 on each card, but Wal-Mart would not let him buy the exact amount. He had to buy $5 cards and I had to spend the extra $2.68 (exactly) on each card as my birthday gift (coming up December 15).

Immediately I knew that I wanted some snacks to help me with my 11 hour drive from Knoxville to Pensacola the next day. The trail mix I picked out got us to within $1 per card. Fruit was the best way to make up the difference. I decided on Apples and Bananas. I had to pick just the right size to make up the extra dollar without going too much over.

The fun part was explaining to the cashier what we were trying to do. We did a little profiling and looked for a cashier that might be able to understand what we were doing. Needless to say, Terry and I don’t have a future on the FBI: Behaviorial Analysis Unit. The cashier we chose was just one step away from clueless.

We made a math error on the first card which ended up deleting $2.32 and leaving $2.68. The second card did not work at all. So our attempt to be clever failed to give the desired results.

The good that came out of it was I got the coolest spontaneous birthday gift. The trail mix and fruit was only a small part of it. The best part was acting like a couple of college kids trying to play a prank at the expense of Wal-Mart. It was fun acting half our age for a short time.

Road ID sale

I got an email today from Road ID. They are asking that we help take the load off their elves. They are offering a 15% discount to those who shop early for Christmas. When I bought mine a couple of years ago they were offering just a 10% discount during the early shopping time. This is good from now until December 5, 2008.

When you check out use promo code: PCHelpElves5

This will save you $3 on a regular Road ID and shipping is only $1.50.

I am considering getting a new one this year. Mine is a couple of years old and has my Mexico address on it. But, I always had my parents phone number listed on the ID as the emergency contact. So it is still valid. I would like to have the US address on one though. My current one is yellow. I can’t decide if I want the blue or the red for my next one.

New shoe: New Balance 1222/1223

I got another new pair of shoes today. It seems like I am buying these too regularly these days. This time it was due to two cosmic events happening at one time. Well, maybe not cosmic. Saturday I ran my final race in my current NB1222. Secondly, I happened to see a New Balance store in a strip mall when driving home from my race.

Yes, this is November, 2008. I know that the 1222 and 1223 models have already been discontinued. But, that is the way I buy my shoes. I find discontinued shoes in the models I would have bought anyway and get the older version on sale. Sometimes a crazy cheap sale.

When I stopped at the shoe store on Saturday they did not have any 1223s in my size. They only had a few left since the 1224 model has been out for a short time. But, they did have 992s that they were clearing out for the new 993 model. The 993 shoes are not available in most stores yet. I checked a few places online that I have bought from before and they don’t have the 993 ready to ship. That line of shoe, 992/993, are the ugliest shoe that New Balance makes in my opinion. However, they are extremely popular. The older shoes have a memory foam that conforms to your foot and is supposed to be top of the line in comfort. The memory foam was heavy though and they tossed it out in the newer 993 to save weight. They are still a very heavy (and ugly) shoe.

Weight and yuck factor don’t bother me as long as the price is right and they fit well. The price was right, but they did not fit well. I tried on several pair of the 992s in different widths and lengths. Nothing quite fit right. The one width/length combination that would probably be perfect had been bought out. Someone recently came in and bought all their 992 shoes in 11 4E in each of the 3 colors they had. I guess that is someone who really loves the shoe.

Lamenting my situation, I asked the store owner to pull out what 1223 shoes they had that might fit. Surprisingly I landed on a size that is totally wrong, but it fit like a loose glove (I like my shoes big). She got me into an 11 2E shoe. These shoes were $140 regular price. I bought them for $59. I think that is the best shoe deal I have gotten so far. The 992 that I originally went in for was $69. So I got a shoe I like better, looks nicer, fits great and weighs less for $10 cheaper than I planned to spend.

The interesting thing to me is how different the 1223s are from the 1222. In the pictures you see a 1222 (the dirty one) and the new 1223. They look nothing alike. Not as far as shoe models go. I am wondering how NB justified calling this an update when it is really a different shoe. Whatever the justification, it should still have the same basic properties.

The store owner flagged my name with the fact that I want stability+ (or strong stability) shoes. In the future when they change models and start clearancing out the current ones, she should give me a call. That is service. I just hope I am home to be able to take advantage.

Observations from a week with missionaries

Monday through Wednesday of this week I was in a conference with other missionaries and pastors who are closely associated with our mission board. While we are independent Baptists, we depend greatly on one another to accomplish our work. It was great getting together with a group of friends whom we had never met, but because of association, are immediate friends.

Preaching
We had some great preaching during the week. We had a main speaker and several other men who preached during the time there. One of the preachers was the doctor who spoke on gluttony that I posted previously.

Singing
We had some great singing primarily provided by Evangelist Bill Blount. I have always enjoyed his company. He is a generation or two older than me, but out of all the guys in our group, he is one of the most technologically advanced in our group. He was sporting a Samson Zoom H2 that he set up for recording our sessions. I told his son that when Bro. Blount makes his exit from this world that I wanted to be in the will for the recorder.

Reporting
One of my frustrations of the week came from the missionaries when they spoke. Having spent so many years in camping ministry, I see the need to keep things moving on schedule. We had one session where the missionaries were given 5 minutes each to give an elevator pitch of who they were, what their ministry is and what they are doing to accomplish that.

Remember that we were missionaries in a room full of pastors. These pastors are men who are there partially for the purpose of seeing which missionaries they would like to align themselves with and financially support. The missionaries needed to do everything they could to make an impression on these pastors. While support will not be determined on this 5 minute speech, it could affect whether the missionary got a meeting in churches for possible support.

Every missionary went over his 5 minute limit. Some went over by as many as 3 minutes. Pastors are very jealous of their time in the pulpit. When a missionary can’t stay within the time limit imposed on him, a pastor is going to be less interested in having the missionary in his church. I have been told by some pastors that if I went over, by one second, the time limit I was given that it would instantly mean I would not be supported.

One of the missionaries proceeded to talk about how he has been in churches in which the pastors have lied about their willingness to support missionaries. Also how some pastors have put on a show in front of other pastors to look good, and then privately told the missionary he really was not interested in missions. Basically he spent his 5 plus minutes disparaging pastors across the board. Not real smart when you are in a room full of them. Those are things you may experience and think, but you should never say out loud. And certainly not to a group of pastors that you want to support you.

Fellowshipping
I had a great time getting together with other missionaries and pastors. Many of these men I have known for 8 years. They have become friends by association.

Though I was there as part of a conference of missionaries, I was able to see PlaneT3rry again. He was “in the neighborhood” and took time out to drive down to the meeting area and take me out for dinner. (Thanks again for supper!) This was only the second time we have met in person, but it seems like we have been friends for years.

Driving
When it was all over on Wednesday night I loaded up my stuff and started the 11 hour trip from Pigeon Forge to Pensacola. I left about 10:30 at night and was able to drive until 2:00 AM. When I am alone, I am somewhat of a minimalist. Hotels are over-priced for just one person. I slept about 5 hours in my van while shivering myself awake occasionally. I had on 2 shirts, a sweatshirt, 2 jackets and a suit coat. I misplaced my sweater, which would have been my best defense against the cold. But, I got the rest I needed and made the trip home without any problems.

Magnets and iPhones

I was preparing this post in my mind and did a little googling last night to get some information on the problem. I was very surprised by what I found.

I previously mentioned some problems I was having with my phone. If you read the update I wrote at the end, you will see that I traced the problem to a phone case I have which has a magnet in it. The phone has absolutely not locked up since I stopped using that case. The only thing I can trace the phone problems to is the magnets which hold the flap shut.

I have read pages that talk about how AT&T employees are telling customers to not use cases with magnets. Some of the reasons are bizarre and totally impossible. Such as the magnets messing up the video or erasing the hard drive. There is no traditional hard drive in an iPhone. Magnets will effect a CRT monitor but not an LCD. I think these are reasons made up by the individual employee to explain why not to use a magnet in the iPhone cases.

I have also read where people have said there is no way a magnet could negatively affect the phone. There were some reports of problems, while not the same problem as mine, which are consistent when magnets are involved. I can verify that the magnet is definitely the culprit of my phone locking up.

All that to say, while there is inconsistent data, it does appear that magnets can affect the phone negatively. How strong of a magnet? What will the symptoms be? How long of exposure to the magnet? Those are questions I cannot answer. But I can say that if you are having problems with your iPhone and you have a case with magnets, then try some testing to see if the case is indeed the problem.