I've had staff birthday celebrations and staff potlucks, and enjoyed going out with my coworkers to lunch, but this was the first catered staff birthday potluck that I've ever experienced ... and it was good.  Our evening custodian also runs a Philippine food cart during the summer.  To help give her some business, and to get us an amazingly tasty buffet of food, we all chipped in an had her cater our monthly birthday potluck.  It certainly was easier, although perhaps a bit more expensive, than trying to figure out what to pick up from the store to bring.  My greatest difficulty was in not heading back for seconds.

We saw another house today and came away unimpressed and a little concerned about basement flooding.  It's a moot point until we sell our house anyway, but going house hunting has always been fun for me.  Up here it has the added bonus of making us more familiar with the area too.

I ended up eating any calories that I avoided at lunch after dinner.  Janelle​ made some "monkey bread," and I certainly went back for seconds ... and thirds.  I had to celebrate my earlier self-control, right?

Trevor​ and I had choir practice today.  This was his first time walking from the school to the church (two small blocks) and he made it just fine.  We've already lost one choir member to "snow-birding" and are going to lose another this weekend.  Trevor and I are now about half (and more than half on some Sundays) of our choir for the winter.

Katie Holton​, my youngest sister, rewrote my house listing and sent it to me yesterday.  At Courtney Plybon​'s suggestion, we advertised the house on Craigslist using Katie's description.  While Katie was a little concerned that her write-up might have been a little too lighthearted, I think it had the perfect vibe:

"Tardis-style house (bigger on the inside) commonly referred to as "ranch." 4 rooms devoted completely to sleeping. 2 full renovated bathrooms. A hide-and-seeker's paradise with closets in every room/walkway/available space. Open floor plan offers ample opportunity to watch the T.V. while cooking in your kitchen with island and included appliances. Separate living room or office in the front and bonus room off kitchen offer a place to escape from prying eyes. Entertain on the spacious deck when it's too messy to have guests inside (no excuse to be messy, see comment on closets). Walk out basement or roller skating rink -- you decide. Heat pump helps reduce heating costs. New roof, furnace, a/c and water heater and all included appliances. Desirable Northwest Schools, easy access to I-94 and US 127. Make yourself right at home; this house is move-in ready. Contact DeAnn Gumbert at RE/MAX Mid-Michigan Real Estate (517) 783-6687 for a showing."

We haven't told our realtor yet.  I really hope that she gets some calls about the "TARDIS house" before I talk to her this weekend.  

The actual listing can be found here: http://jxn.craigslist.org/reo/5246055049.html.  

I was told today that Soldotna's record was 36 consecutive days with some sort of rain.  The past few days have been plenty.  Now, I like rain for a good number of reasons, but the size of the "pond" growing in the driveway is becoming a bit concerning.  The good news?  It's been changing over to snow today.  Now, I know that the snow won't last, but seeing those flakes fall did bring cheer to my heart.

The younger boys did spend some time outside today.  Both dressed up in coats and rain boots and then ran around the house jumping into puddles.  Both came back into the house drenched, but obviously quite happy.

I am a little concerned about the roads being icy in the morning as the low is supposed to reach below freezing tonight.  Tomorrow is supposed only get to 40 degrees with the temperature dropping into the 20's at night.  Thankfully, the clouds are supposed to part, so I'm not quite as concerned about icy roads on Thursday morning.

Today, I embarrassed myself with my inability to do sit-ups.  Thankfully, the instructor gave me a modification (a band around one of the many poles in "the box") to help me with them.  Still, there was a time when I could get through a hundred sit-ups and still think I could do more.  Oh, how the mighty have fallen ... and they can't get up.  (Well, without a weight band).

So, guess what we did at Cross Fit today. The boxes (in my case the step) can be arranged so that they are between 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 feet off the ground (my stool was about 2 feet up). The workout is twenty minutes long. In the first minute, we had to do one box jump (up on the box and back to the floor, or vice versa for the more advanced). We must completely stand once on the box (or stool). In the second minute, we had to do two. In the third minute, three ... etc. This continues until one can no longer do the required number of jumps in one minute's worth of time. This becomes especially more difficult as the rests between starts become less and less and the challenges become more and more. I made it through minute seventeen and got seventeen jumps in on minute eighteen.

Still no buyers for the house. The price is already $10,000 lower than I wanted it to be. I don't know what steps to suggest or take to get more people looking at the place. I really think that it takes being actually in the house to truly appreciate it. My mother and sister suggest a better description and pictures might bring a better draw. I really feel powerless about this, and I don't want to still be living in this rental come Thanksgiving, let alone Christmas.

The first of my thoughts from today's readings is from the Gospel and first reading. In both, people come to Jesus and Moses telling them that other people are out healing and prophesying. Rather than condemn them or hunt them down, Jesus and Moses both seem to be okay with this. Moses is not concerned about losing his position, but instead wishes that all people could prophesy. Jesus also says that healing is healing; although, He does warn against those who would offer false healing or prophecy. I would like for our religious leaders and people today follow these same philosophies. It's another reason that I like the current pope.

My second thought is from the second reading. While the entire reading speaks against the hording of worldly treasures, one line really stood out to me: "Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers who harvested your fields are crying aloud." To me, this doesn't just mean not paying someone, but not paying them a living wage. Many christian (lower case "c") business-people and corporations have made their profits at the expense of their own workers. Again, the pope has spoken out against this as well.

This was my first mass as cantor, and I'm happy to say that it went well. I love singing for both my own enjoyment and the pleasure that it seems to bring to other people. I need to find the tuner for my guitar and get some practice in with it as well.

Tomorrow, much of the Western Hemisphere will have the chance to view a total eclipse of the "super" moon (when the moon is closest to the Earth and thus appears larger).  Sadly, we will not be able to see it here.  Even if the weather was clear, which it will not be, at most we would only be able to see the moon exiting the Earth's penumbra as it "rises" on our eastern horizon.

This event emphasizes for me just how far away we now live from friends and family.  While this move has been positive for us in so many ways, there are certainly some large downsides to it as well.  Some of them, such as communication with friends and family, can be mitigated through modern technology.  Others, such as being able to hop in a car and go help someone out, are now out of our reach.

I miss my friends and family terribly.  I know that it will probably be a little while, perhaps a year or even more, before I will get to visit with them.  Hopefully some of that intervening time will be filled with electronic "visits" and people coming here (once we have a place for them to come to), but I know that all of that is a shadow of what we were able to do in the past.

As wonderful as it is up here, there are people, places, and events that we are missing.  Please keep us in your prayers and thoughts as we are keeping you in ours.

I spent a good deal of the day with high expectations for this evening as one of my fellow teachers (also new to the district) agreed to come over and play some Catan with us.  She even brought our entire evening meal (home-made burritos and guacamole), including disposable plates, cups, and silverware so there would be no mess for us at the end.  

The boys loved having a guest.  Rowen got her to read several books to him and even showed off his ability to count to 100.  Connor showed his newly acquired skill of riding his bike around the house.  Trevor​ showed off some of his buildings in Minecraft.  Janelle​ showed off some of her art.  Even Ranger sought out her attention.

We played a game of regular Settlers Of Catan​ without the Cities and Knights expansion, as she hadn't seen it yet (Janelle won).  We then overwhelmed her with Carcassonne and all of the expansions that we have for it since we didn't feel like picking out the original tiles.   Janelle made brownies, which we ate with ice cream.  All-in-all, my already high expectations were met and exceeded.  It was a great evening!  

Sure, we've been watching episodes of Deep Space 9 and a few other shows on Netflix over the summer (we enjoyed The Quest), but there's something special about watching new major shows come back in the fall.  We've already started watching a few and are looking forward to the return of others.  

Even though I was disappointed in the season premier of The Big Bang Theory​, past history has shown that there will be plenty of fun as the season warms up.  Unfortunately, CBS refuses to let Neflix or Hulu stream this fun comedy, forcing us to use its low-grade and cumbersome website to watch it with subtitles.  It's a sign of how much we like the show that we're willing to put up with the Internet equivalent of poor reception.

The series premier of Minority Report was promising as a replacement for the too-soon-cancelled Almost Human which we enjoyed.  There was plenty of near-future tech and some interesting concepts even if the writing and acting were a little stilted at times.

We have to delve into the quasi-legal realms of the Internet to watch Downton Abbey​, but the premier of its final season is well-worth it.  The British versions of the shows (which thankfully come to American DVD) are longer than the U.S. PBS showings.  I don't know how they can possibly cut anything from such an amazing show.  This first episode left us eagerly wanting more.

The Muppets also had a great series premier.  It appealed to my wife and I as well as our sons.  I think I might be looking forward to the next episode even more than The Big Bang Theory.

We are still waiting for the premiers of the Flash, Arrow, and Once Upon a Time which we know we will follow.  Legends of Tomorrow arrives a little later to complete our superhero shows.  We are still not caught up on season two on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.​ and we really aren't sure about the upcoming Supergirl.  However, based on how good Daredevil was, I am eager for Netflix's upcoming Jessica Smith series.

I'm not sure if I want to watch the previous season of Game of Thrones​ or continue watching The Walking Dead or Outlander as all of these push my boundaries a bit too far and can't be watched with any of the boys around.  I really don't want to watch them in this small rental.

That's a lot of television, yet I can't help but think that I missed something.  I'm just glad that the Internet here is now working better so we can watch these shows as the days get darker.

The equinoxes are the only two days of the year where everyone on the Earth receives the same amount of direct solar exposure (assuming no cloud cover).  After the autumnal equinox, any point south will have more total daylight than any point north of it.  For us in the northern hemisphere, it means that our nights are now longer than our days.

I like it.

Don't get me wrong; there are problems.  One of the big ones in this area are that darker roads plus more animals foraging equals a higher number of traffic accidents.  Children have less light to play outdoors after school.  The vitamin D deficiency due to lack of sunlight can cause, let alone exacerbate, issues of depression.  It also is terrible for people who are afraid of the dark.

Yet, I still like it.

It brings on the winter, which is probably my favorite season.  It makes it easier to put children to bed sooner.  It increases the chances of seeing the Aurora Borealis.  It makes us appreciate the lights from our technology even more.

I know that my arguments probably won't convince those who don't agree, but they are why I like this time.  

... As long as I have access to vitamin D supplements ...

The mountains which were bare on my trip into Soldotna are now coated in snow.  It's almost a pencil-perfect line that denotes the snow-zone on their peaks.  While they've probably been this way for a week or more, today was a perfectly clear day which gave me the chance to sit for a moment and just enjoy the majesty of them.

Our two-bedroom rental is nice enough, but having two little boys spend their time home trying to irritate each other was enough for Janelle​ to finally shove them out the door.  Rowen was terrified for a little while because he thinks there are bears in the nearby woods and Connor was encouraging that fear.  However, both of them stopped fighting the time outside when Janelle brought their bikes into the back yard.  Perhaps because he wasn't as afraid of falling on the grass as he was on pavement, Connor rode his bike without training wheels for the first time.  They were quite content to ride their bikes until dinner was ready, providing all of us with some peace.

We really need to get into a bigger place before it gets too much into winter, but there is still no word on our house sale (It was gremlins, not a showing), and a snow/rain mix is in the forecast for next week.  All will be well; I need more practice in enjoying the moment and leave the worries of the future in God's care.  (I am a little happy about the snow, though).

The Internet was actually stable enough for my brother and I to play a couple of games of StarCraft II online.  It's been the first time we've done so since July.  While there are still a number of things that we still need (like our own house) before our lives can fall into a "normal" pattern, it was nice to have this small piece back.

Janelle​ goes in to get her foot checked by our new doctor tomorrow.  Her foot started hurting on her trip up here and it's been getting better, but we still want to get it checked.

Meanwhile, Rowen has been trying to convince me that he's been reading chapter books at school "every day."  One of our requirements before our children can play any non-educational video games is that they have to prove that they can read a regular chapter book.  Connor kind of slid his way through the requirement, but has caught up a bit since.  Rowen just wants access to the games.

I "ran" 1600 meters today and did at least 120 modified push-ups (against a training bar), 40 modified pull-ups (with two bungee-like straps), and 140 squats (not modified).  Everything still seems to be working, but my arms felt like they were floating for a little while.  I'm holding steady at near my lowest weight in over a decade, but I'm supposed to lose another 50-70 lbs to get out of the "overweight" (let alone "obese") category based on my BMI (I don't trust the BMI).  Today, it felt like I was breathing in fire towards the end of the workout.  I'm looking forward to feeling better as I continue this course.  It will get better ... right?

Today's Gospel and sermon were focused on the idea of being servants to others.  Jesus showed us that the greatest among us are not those with the most servants, but those who have served the most (I'm assuming that MacDonald's "billions served" isn't what He had in mind).  I find that this idea is also true with the best of businesses in the world.  There are those which are just about profit and the bottom line, and there are those that are truly most interested in making something great for the betterment of humanity.

I can't help but wonder where I fall on this scale.  Do I pray more for the sake of my own pleasure or in the hope of making the world better?  Actually, I probably don't want to probe that question too closely.

The younger boys had their first faith formation classes after school today.  Rowen was reluctant at first, but seemed to have enjoyed himself by the end of it.  Connor also said it was fun.  In the mean time, Janelle​ was getting roped into either preparing or giving suggestions for next week's ministry booths and I was on the phone with our realtor finding out that the open house has been delayed to next week.

A few hours of my day were spent grading quizzes that I had put off from earlier, but we still took the time to go to the park downtown.  The boys played in the marvelous play area there while Janelle and I walked along the river.  It's a beautiful place.

Today, we cleaned house, played video games, and watched television. Trevor and I made a dump run and checked the post office, but otherwise we pretty much were shut-ins today. It was supposed to rain more than it did, otherwise we would probably have gone to the park today instead of waiting until tomorrow.

Janelle made a wonderful pot roast in a cake pan (her normal roast pan still being MIA). We had planned on having company, but that fell through due to miscommunication. Hopefully, we'll be able to get some Catan and Carcassonne time in next week.

Tomorrow, our realtor is hosting an open house for our house in Michigan from 12pm to 2pm (Eastern Daylight Savings). We haven't heard anything yet about people being interested in the place, and in this case no news is not good news. Hopefully, the people who will buy the house, whoever they are, will start that process soon.

In much sadder news: Penny, my parents' dog, passed away last night.  She was a faithful shih tzu whom I kept thinking of as a puppy, even as the cataracts grew in her eyes and we had to become more careful about her joints.  As my parents' only child still living at home, they spoiled her as she deserved.  Unfortunately, this made her stays at our house when they were on vacation that much more difficult for all of us.

She was an affectionate dog, often resting comfortably on somebody's lap.  She and our cats came to agreements of peaceful coexistence.  When she was over, she could often be found on Janelle​'s lap, facing the opposite of whatever direction the cat on Janelle's lap might be facing, often putting the two pets butt to butt.

She was also terrible about going out when we wanted her to, while always expecting a treat once she got inside.  This included times when she was sent outside because she messed in the house.

Still, troubles and all, she was a good dog for my parents and will be missed.