T-248 : Go-lf Karts

Today we had our department retreat.  We left work just after lunch.  The first stop was the local go-kart track.  It was fun racing and passing.  That's one of my favorite participatory sports.  My leg was starting to cramp up a bit after three 4-minute rides, though.

After that we golfed 9 holes.  I'm not very good at that at all.  I played in a foursome with a couple of guys who really tried to help me learn and tweak my swing though.  Plus, we played "scramble"; which meant that each stroke we took the best ball and then all hit from that spot.  That saved me a lot of frustration of trying to beat 10 shots per hole.  In fact, playing that way, we were -1 for the 9 holes.

We finished up the day by having dinner at the country club with our wives.  It was pretty comical all the mistakes the waitress made -- including bringing us all the bleu cheese steaks when many of us had ordered the onion/mushroom ones and also telling me that they were out of salmon only to find that my co-worker's wife, who had showed up late, got what was supposedly the last piece of salmon.  It made for a good laugh.

So, what do you do at your work for fun?

T-249 : Temple Timeout

Many things have changed recently.  Yesterday I wrote about our van that we sold after nearly 12 years of ownership.  I also wrote a letter to my nephew on a mission recalling how it had been about 2 years since we moved into this house; long enough for a missionary to complete his mission. Now just this morning I got a call from the volunteer coordinator at the temple telling me that the request to have someone else take our weekly Friday 5-8pm shift at the Temple Clothing Issue desk has been fulfilled.  We'll go tomorrow night for a short time to train the new ladies and then that obligation will be fulfilled.  We've done it for just over 2 years.  We're of mixed emotions.  We'll miss the regularity of being in the "place of holiness".  We'll enjoy having more Friday nights nonobligatory, though.  We've also asked them to let us be substitutes so that we can get back occasionally, too.  Plus, now we can dedicate ourselves to getting back there to actually go through sessions.  We'd gotten away from that habit a bit since we were going up there once a week as volunteers.  Going a second time was beyond our scope somehow.  So, do you attend a temple regularly?  How does it affect your life?

T-250 : Van Go

We sold our van tonight.  We originally bought it in 1999.  We probably put over 150,000 miles on it in those 12 or so years.  It's like a part of us is gone.  It's a bittersweet feeling.  Do you get emotionally attached to your vehicles?

T-251 : Punctuated Penning

Do you ever feel like people blog just to get a reaction without even making a point?

T-252 : Vouch Safely

I came across a new word a couple of different times today, "vouchsafe".  I don't know that I'd ever heard it before.  I googled it and here's what I found:

vouch·safe

verb /vouCHˈsāf/  /ˈvouCHˌsāf/  vouchsafed, past participle; vouchsafed, past tense; vouchsafes, 3rd person singular present; vouchsafing, present participle Give or grant (something) to (someone) in a gracious or condescending manner - it is a blessing vouchsafed him by heaven Reveal or disclose (information) - you'd never vouchsafed that interesting tidbit before

The "gracious or condescending" part makes sense since the first instance I heard of it was from The Iliad, which I'm listening to as I exercise at lunch time.  I read it again tonight in another Newbery Award winner that I'm reading for my bedtime and brush-teeth time Gay Neck - The Story of a Pigeon.  So, now I've vouchsafed to you something you didn't know.  What have you got for me?  Do you think we as a society vouchsafe too often or not often enough?  How about you yourself?

T-253 : Quench Not

The other day at church someone share the scripture in 1 Thes. 5:19:

"Quench not the Spirit." 

That thought really struck me.  The point was twofold:

1. We should allow the Spirit to work in our lives and not do things that would suppress it.
2. We should memorize scriptures -- this being a short and, thus, easy one to memorize -- so that we can recall them at times when needed.

I not only mark my scriptures for ease of recall but I also keep track of what I call proverbial truths -- I think they can be found in many sources -- on my account at Evernote.  Click through if you'd like to see some that I enjoy.  How do you keep yourself reminded of the good truths out there?

T-254 : Sacramental Attentiveness

This past Sunday I was sitting in Sacrament Meeting and decided to get out my scriptures and follow along.  I found that it was easier for me to pay attention when I was engaging the multiple senses of listening with reading/studying.  I guess it could be called multi-sensing, if not multi-tasking.  I think that the ability to multitask can differ from person to person and even from situation to situation.  I've found myself sometimes trying to do too many things at once and not doing any of them very well.  Like many things, balance seems to be the key.  How balanced are you?