And The Word Of The Day Is....

I'm back up in Fishkill, New York again this week for work. Normally when I come up here I go to work, go to the hotel, go for food, repeat as necessary. You know, I'm here to work. This time however, I have decided to take a few side trips and go see all this historic stuff that I happen to be surrounded by.

Today I took a thirty minute drive from my hotel to the town of Hyde Park, NY and visited the country mansion of the Vanderbilts. It was amazing. Hence, the word of the day is "opulence".

The mansion (preserved by the US National Park Service) is a part of probably one of the greatest estates preserved from the Gilded Age of America. I learned this from our tour guide. Some other things I learned:

- The term "Gilded Age" was actually a snub of wealthy society types by American author Mark Twain.

- The Vanderbilts only stayed in the house a couple of weeks each Spring and Fall. (They had a bunch of houses and yachts they also visited.)

- The Vanderbilts preferred the English Service System where men did all the serving and women did all the cooking and behind the scenes work. (As opposed to the French Service System where women do all the serving and men do the cooking and work behind the scenes.)

- Mr. and Mrs. Vanderbilt slept in separate rooms. Mrs. Vanderbilt's room was a copy of Marie Antoinette's bedroom at Versailles.

- All the beds in the house are very small.

- There was a very strict protocol around the turn of the century and a visitor's social status was considered always when it came to assigning bedrooms for them or even where they were to sit at dinner.

- Most of the exceptionally wealthy people during the Gilded Age in America gave away almost all of their fortune to charity. (They also paid a fortune in taxes.) The reason they didn't give it to their children was the belief of the time that their children had all the advantages of being raised with money and were expected to go out and make their own money.

In a word...Opulence....

Front of the Mansion

Rear of the Mansion

View of the Hudson River

101

How often do you resharpen your saw? Author Stephen Covey (the "7 Habits" guy) uses the term "Sharpen the Saw" to describe the process of self-renewal. It's true that we all become dulled from time to time and a quick resharpening is often just the thing to put thing in perspective and get us back on track.

Last Sunday, the small group that Daleen and I lead at our church provided the food for a church class entitled PCC 101. All of the small groups take turns to provide the food and child care for the class and this time was our turn. No one in the class brought children so Daleen and I just had to bring dinner. After everyone ate, we asked if it would be ok for us to sit in on the class since it had been several years since we went through it. I can honestly say that being reminded once again of the mission of our church has had quite an impact on us. It almost feels like we were growing a bit dull lately at our church and have now been resharpened.

For those of you who don't know, PCC 101 is a class that introduces people to Powhatan Community Church and basically tells them all the ins and outs of who we are and what we do. The class is led by our senior pastor and he spells out everything about our mission, how we are organized, what we do, what we don't do, and why we do it. It's actually a requirement for church membership and I think it's great. How often have you wished that before you signed up for something, a senior member of the organization sat down with you and told you absolutely everything so you could make a membership decision based on all the information?

The best part of the meeting was when we went around and folks explained how they found our church and what keeps them coming back. All the stories we heard were really interesting. We even got to tell our story which made for some fun reminiscing. All the people in this particular class, including us, had come from some previous church. But everyone in the room had come to PCC looking for something.... something they hadn't found until they came to us. Some people had positive experiences from their previous churches and some had very negative experiences. However, what struck me the most that night was the part of each person's stories where they talked about their initial experiences with coming to PCC. While there were differences in how people found our church, what they experienced walking in the door was all very similar. The folks we met at the 101 class all experienced some great things about PCC from the moment they first arrived. They all felt welcome and liked there wasn't any pressure. They loved the music and Brian's messages, and since their initial visits, it seemed most had been growing into our church community.

There is a saying among a lot of the people who make our church go. "It's not about you." I think it's a good reminder. However, last Sunday I got to see up close who "it is" about. These folks left the churches they were attending for a variety of reasons. They could have simply stopped attending church and fallen away from Christian community. Instead, PCC and the people who make it happen, worked together and were used by God to create the right environment where these people could come and be met right where they were. I think about the other people who show up every week who have never been to church, feel they are broken or lonely, and are looking find some purpose and experience God. They are all who "it is" about.

I was reminded once again that the first part of the mission of our church is to reach the unchurched people around us. When we first started attending PCC, I was excited about working on Sundays and seeing that part of our mission happen. Seeing God use me to carry out that part of His work was what really got me pumped. However, over the years of attending PCC, I felt my enthusiasm start to dull a little. I started to see the work I did with the church as simply "work". I think attending this 101 class has fixed that. Talking with people who have been affected positively because folks in our church put their spiritual wellbeing ahead of their own set me right back up again. I feel like I have had my saw resharpened.

You know, it really isn't about me. It's about God and the unchurched people and helping to get them connected up together. A spiritual matchmaker if you will.... with a boss that is willing to take anybody. I think my level of spiritual growth is beyond what just sitting in the seat on Sunday mornings alone can offer to me. I have been reminded that where I am personally going to get the most bang out of my Sunday mornings is to put the people and God, who it is all about, ahead of myself and do what I can to help the church with it's mission.

There are still a lot of people in our community that are looking for what we are offering and want to experience God, and I'm recommitting myself to working with our church to make that happen. My saw is resharpened and I am ready to get to work. What's happening with your saw?

John, I'll email you this week to give you all the dates I am going to be in town and available to serve.....

Hate to Paint

I was home from New York last week. It was great being back. As you can expect, I had missed Daleen, Colin, and the rest of my family and friends. My time at home was busy as well (didn’t have time to write a single blog posting). While at home I was driving back and forth to Manassas, VA where I have been doing a lot of work. In addition to travelling locally, we spent a lot of time working on the house. This time I installed some new lighting, did some drywall repairs and getting ready to do some interior painting.
We have a lot of small drywall cracks, nail pops, etc. My friend Josh is a structural engineer so of course I showed them all to him, expecting him to tell me my foundation was starting to come apart and the house was going to fall over at any moment. (I always expect the worse when it comes to my house.) But alas, Josh said everything looked fine and there was nothing a little spackle and mud couldn’t fix.
Personally, I hate doing drywall work almost as much as I hate painting. I think my drywall repair work isn’t as easy because I lack the proper tools. I watched a guy at work do it the other day and he used a really big, very clean, metal drywall knife to get his mud smoothed just right. He also did very thin coats of mud and in the end, didn’t need to do any sanding. I need to get the right tools for the job. Mmmm… new tools….
Then there was the electrical work. This is the part I actually do enjoy. The hallway by our front door has always been very dimly lit by one light that is too far away. We remedied this by installing two new recessed lights just inside the front door and replaced the old hallway fixture with a larger and brighter one. Unlike my drywall work, this job went very quickly and turned out perfectly. Unlike working with sheetrock, I have all the right electrical tools and the experience to actually use them.
Now it’s time to do some painting. I’m back in NY working this week and Daleen is going to try and do some of the painting on her own. I secretly wish she could just do all of it before I get back. I rate painting my house right up there with waterboarding as things I would rather not be subjected to. If you ever want information from me, no real torture is required. You could just threaten to force me to paint my entire house and I’d tell you whatever you wanted to know (even if I didn't know anything.)
We have a lot of work to do on our place this year. We’re going to need to buy some more paint and tools. That’s the cheap part. Our ancient heat pump and air handler is also probably going to die this year and that’s going to be the expensive part. There’s a lot of stuff in between that also needs to be done. We’re in no hurry though. We’re going to get it all done eventually and we’re going to do it right. By then a whole new list of things to do will come up. I just wish we didn’t have so much painting to do…..

The Last Hour

I’m looking at my watch and it’s 5:00AM. I’ve been at work since 4:00 yesterday afternoon. Everything is humming along as it should now and I can finally relax for the last hour before I can head out the door and go to my hotel for some much needed rest.

I’m in Fishkill, NY this week, working out of my company’s office at one of IBM’s semiconductor plants. Unfortunately, my work this week is all at night, usually between 6:00PM and 6:00AM. Needless to say, I’m very tired. There are a lot of folks here who have been working the night shift for years. I have no idea how they do it. I’m simply not made to work that kind of schedule.

Regardless of my difficulties with working at night this week, I am very thankful to be working. Many of you know the plant I was working out of in Richmond closed a few weeks ago. The consequences of that closing including the closing of our company’s office at that site and shipping all of our parts and equipment back to our factory. Since that time, I have been sort of an engineer-at-large, working on some projects from home and doing a lot of travelling to some of our other field offices.

In these recent economic times, many of my friends and coworkers have been let go and are having extreme difficulty finding work elsewhere. Seeing long-time employees of my company get laid off has been hard, and I see myself in a tough situation with no real place to call home right now. I’m not the only one in this situation either. Some other folks in my company have seen their sites close and are also floating around, waiting. For me, being in NY right now is a good thing. And I am being utilized which is a very good thing. However, these trips are only temporary. We are going to continue going around and around for a while like this, but nobody knows for how long. I am just hoping that when the music stops, I won’t be without a chair.

I’m still not all that worried about what the future holds. I firmly believe that whatever comes, it’s going to be great, one way or another. Life really is too short to go around making yourself sick over what might happen. We’ve chosen to be optimistic. We are still hoping to stay in Richmond and I’ve started to shake a couple of trees to see what might turn up to allow us to stay. However, we have also started to prepare for having to relocate with my work. So, you’ll get to hear all about our painting and remodeling projects to get our house ready to sell, just in case.

I’ll be sure to keep you informed as this all unfolds. However, I think I have blogged about this more than enough lately and haven’t really had anything new to say about it. Right now, we’re good. Really good. But man, am I tired…..

The Crazy Life of Colin J

My son is a whirlwind of activity these days.


We recently celebrated his 3rd birthday and since then, he has been a man on the go. For starters, his 3rd birthday parties were great (both of them). We had one for him and his pals and a family one. As expected, he got a ton more toys that we found room for by getting rid of older toys he had outgrown. This of course we had done in secret because if he knew those older toys were going away, they would suddenly become his new favorite toys. His birthday was also a little different this year because we added in some games we could play as a family. He got a game where these little plastic fish open and close their mouths and you have to catch them with these little plastic fishing poles. He also got the game "Don't Spill the Beans", which consists of all these little plastic beans which have now ended up all over the place. The best game he got has been "Candyland". It has been something fun we can do together and it's neat to watch him work with his colors and do some counting. He even wins the game more times than me! He usually stays focused in the beginning of every game. Now if we can just find a way to keep him from drifting away near the end.

After his birthday came his buddy Luke's birthday party. Luke also turned three. His mom and dad are good friends of ours and it was a fun party. They had it at the YMCA here in Powhatan. It was a pool party.....in February. Luckily the Y puts a big bubble over our pool in the winter so it was nice and warm for the swimming. (I think it also helped that it was 70 degrees outside.... 70 degrees out.... in February....that's going to be a whole different posting.) Luke's mom and dad put on a great party. Pizza, cupcakes, and lots of apple juice were on the menu and it just so happens that those are Colin's three favorite food groups. Then they did some awesome crafts (the party was a beach theme). On the way home, after all that sugar, I figured if the car were to break down, Colin would have enough energy to tow the car back to the house. However, the swimming must have worn him out because after we got back, he crashed out on the sofa. He never sleeps on the sofa so I know he must have been really tired. I'll have to remember to get him over to the pool the next time I need him to get some sleep.

The latest thing Colin has been doing is soccer. There is a local indoor soccer club for small children. Daleen took him for his first game the other day and I got to watch the video afterward. What fun. Colin did pretty good actually. We have a soccer ball at home that he likes to kick around, so he knew that part. The only bad part is that Colin would randomly just run off and go do his own thing. He would be standing in the circle, doing what the other children were doing and then he would just run off for no reason. Hey, it's his world. We all just live in it. His buddy Luke is also on his team and more or less did the same thing. Together they are sort of like the Thelma and Lousie of the 3 year old soccer team. Colin hasn't changed his name to Pele' just yet, but we're glad he's into sports.

So I guess we have officially opened the Mom and Dad Taxi company for business. Our taxi company has not yet acquired the necessary minivan vehicle, but Daleen assures me there is one in our future. In the past Colin used to just go wherever we were going with the exception of the occasional doctor's visit, play group, or trip to the park. But now he has places to go and people to see. It's all a part of growing up I guess. The next big thing is going to be potty training. We sort of have been messing around with this, but this weekend the gloves are coming off. Daleen has a plan and is on a mission. I'm just going to get out of the way and just do whatever she tells me. It's just safer that way.

The Facebook

As usual, it's been a crazy week. Well, maybe a little crazier than others.

As I mentioned in my last posting, my customer whose site I work at is closing their doors. It was a very sudden move on their part and caught a lot of folks off guard. Imagine walking into work on Monday morning and being shuffled into a room to be told you were out of work, effective immediately, and you were not getting any kind of assistance, severance package, or anything. Needless to say a lot of folks were upset, and now most of them are already gone.

Since I work for an equipment vendor, when they shut down, we had to kick into overdrive and get all of our things out of there before they decided to cut the power and chain the doors shut. My boss was working at a site on Oregon one time where this happened. He showed up for work and all the factory doors were locked and everyone was standing out in the parking lot. No notice. No anything. Since my boss had experienced this before, he wanted all of our equipment and parts out of there as soon as possible. I don't think I've had to work that hard in months, but yesterday, the truck pulled away with several neatly organized pallets.

This week at work, it's been like a big party breaking up. Everyone has been shaking hands and swapping details and making promises to keep in touch. Normally these have always seemed to be hollow promises. You keep up with email for a while and eventually that trails off. However, this time, because of technology, things have proven to be different. Enter LinkedIn, Skype, and Facebook.

People all remember many of Pres. Bush's funny sayings. Bushism's I think people call them. One of my favorites was when he said he had been looking up stuff using "The Google". I can't tell you how much I laughed when I heard that. I still laugh when I think about it. Unfortunately, now I can't stop adding "The" to the front of all my favorite computer applications.

I've had LinkedIn and Skype accounts for a long time but never really did much with them. Skpe is awesome if you have relatives who live overseas like we do. It definitely helps with the phone bills! However since the party has ended at work, those "We'll keep in touch" promises have been kept and my contact lists on those accounts has grown considerably.

Then the other night, I did the unthinkable. I got an account on "The Facebook". Initially, I was very reluctant to do this. I really don't have time for another thing to keep me in front of my computer. I was always getting Facebook invitations but just could never get around to doing anything with it. Then last Christmas, my sisters started harassing me about it. "It's so great", they would say. "You have to do it."
"What's so great about The Facebook?" I asked.
"Ohhh, you can keep up with everyone from High School!", they gleefully replied. Their answer was, in my opinion, the number one reason I wouldn't want to get on-board. I already keep up with everyone from High School that I was friends with. Sometimes we go awhile without seeing each other or talking, but we can always pick back up right where we left off.
But I got the account anyway, because of all the people I had been working with, I was probably the only one not on The Facebook.
So far so good. I do like that instead of emailing my pictures to everyone, I can just post them in one place. We had been doing them on The Snapfish, but since everyone is on The Facebook already, it will be easier. The only thing I haven't had fun with is filling out my profile. I figure I'll eventually get that sorted out, but I never know what to put down. I want to be honest about myself while still trying to maintain some tiny sort of "cool" factor. It's a tough tightrope to walk.
So the only other thing I have noted in the past couple of days is that The Facebook sure sends you a heaping helping of email. I have it tied to my home email address that until recently was hardly ever using. I check it once a week or so but have realized that I need to check it daily now to keep the mail from piling up.

It's interesting to see how technology has changed how we do relationships. We never really permanently say goodbye to one another anymore. It's possible, and very likely, that most of us have friends or know people we haven't and will never meet in person. Also, I have single friends who use The Match.com for dating and they tell me that dating for them is so much easier now. They just spend some time online and make it happen without having to go to bars or have those awkward moments of trying to get around to asking someone on a date.

I'm into this for now, but who knows for how long until I begin to feel it taking over and I gain another temporary seething dislike for technology. I'm still not ready to get on The Twitter though. That is a whole other animal and I just don't think I can be that plugged into the grid right now. But who knows what's going to happen down the road.

So, for those of you who are curious about my job...
I have a job now. My company right now says they have enough work that I can stay based out of Richmond until at least this summer. By then someone will be operating the Richmond plant again and I'll go back there, I'll find a different job in Richmond, or I'll be ready to relocate with my current employer. All are possibilities. I've updated my resume and am sending it to a couple of friends/contacts this week to start doing a little networking and shake a few trees. My aim is to stay in Richmond but we're going to be ready for anything.
In the meantime, while I'm going to be based in Richmond, I'm probably not going to be in town a whole lot. We have an office in Manassas, VA where I'll be spending a lot of time and they already have me scheduled for a couple of trips to NY.
It's going to be an interesting ride and I'm sure something good is going to come out of all this for me and the family.

But don't worry. No matter what happens, it will never really be goodbye for us. I'll see you around...... on The Facebook....

Sailing the Sea of Uncertainty

It's been a crazy week at my work.

Last Friday, Qimonda, the customer who's manufacturing facility I work at, filed for bankruptcy. They are a European company so they filed in Germany. Since that time, things here have just been surreal. I'm still waiting for someone to pinch me so I'll wake up.

Prior to Friday's announcement, there were no indications they were planning to file. Was I completely surprised? No. I didn't need Dionne Warwick or her Psychic Friends Network to tell me the company was doing really bad. They were bleeding money at an unbelievable rate and there was no way they could just go on without additional financing.

Since they've announced their insolvency, they are under credit protection and are currently trying to reorganize and get some funding from investors. It's hard to believe this is going to succeed, but they're giving it their best. In the meantime, since they are insolvent, they can't buy materials to manufacture their products (DRAM memory chips), so they have completely ceased all manufacturing and lots people are just standing around not doing anything. It's just freaky.

They are trying to get it together. What is even more freaky is that there are a lot of folks here who are in denial of the situation and believe wholeheartedly this place is going to get bailed out and be back to running production (and losing money) within the week. That may happen. But there's a really good chance it won't.

So how has this affected me? Well, with our equipment shut down we have been able to get caught up on a lot of work we were putting off. And starting today, I'll get to leave work early. We've already brought our property and equipment down from their factory floor. Now we're just waiting to see what happens. Either we are going to go back to work here, or they're going out of business. They're having a large employee meeting this afternoon. I wonder what they are going to say. Regardless, we're prepared to wait until next weekend to give them time before we pull all our parts from their stockroom, gather our things, and walk out. It may happen sooner, but we just don't know right now. My customer is happy we haven't walked out yet. A lot of their other vendors and equipment suppliers already have. Qimonda owes a lot of folks a lot of money, including us.

I don't work for Qimonda. I work for one of their equipment suppliers so I am somewhat indirectly affected by this. Am I concerned? Yes. Am I really worried? No. Strangely, I feel sort of calm about the whole situation. I figure really only one of four things is going to happen:
1. Qimonda gets financing and we go back to work here.
2. Qimonda gets bought and we go back to work here.
3. Qimonda goes out of business and I quit my company to stay in the Richmond area.
4. Qimonda goes out of business, there aren't any good jobs in the Richmond area, and I stay with my company and relocate to somewhere else (somewhere probably not as nice as where I live now).

All four of those options are equally probable. I've updated my resume and have made a few calls just in case. We'll just have to wait to find out which one it will be. Right now I'm sailing on a sea of uncertainty. God is at the wheel and only he knows where I'm headed. I'm good with that. This is going to work out one way or another. Whatever happens, I know things are going to be ok and I'm going to be thankful. I already am.