Tag / Friends

by Greg

Holding Pattern

It would seem the the operative word for me this moment is: Wait.

For quite a while there’s been a stirring in me that something is going to change. They have never been wrong so far, these inklings, and so I’d guess this one will not be either. And in fact, I have good reason to believe that thanks to some developing events. But for the moment … they have not completely unfolded. In fact, at the moment, I can elaborate no more than that.

But there’s more on hold than that.

I have several new web projects brewing, but for one reason or another all of them remain “on hold”. For a while we were “on hold” with several expected payments as well, but those have been coming in of late. (That’s good!)

Everything around me seems to be at a point where I just have to wait. I’ve caught myself actually thinking, “I’ve got nothing to do right now!” (Then I do quickly think of ten other things I need to tend to… but usually the List of Urgent is so dominant that I don’t get a chance to even breathe, much less think how I might have “nothing to do”.

And perhaps that’s it.

I tend to be “fidgety” when I have nothing to do. I am a Doer. I do. But perhaps God is allowing me some time to breathe? Maybe he knows what’s coming. Obviously I can not, and do not. But he does.

In the waiting, I’ve had some time to pray for people. (And there are definitely some people who are “waiting” on much more serious issues than I am dealing with. I am praying for God’s peace for many folks right now…) I’ve had some more time to be with my family. I even worked on a personal project today that I hadn’t been able to in … well, I don’t know how long!

But at the moment, there’s really nothing I can do other than wait. I am tempted to feel as though I am not doing all I can do when I reach those times, but perhaps as I get a tad older I realize the fruit that can come from the holding patterns, too. Perhaps.

However, I do admit to some pretty great “antsy-ness”. 🙂

This season will pass. For now, I wait. But soon I’m sure we’ll be back to doing.

Till then maybe I can make a dent in my next-to-read list…

by Greg

You’ll Be Seeing More of Me…

Yesterday was the last class day for a home school group that we’ve been part of this year. Every Monday a couple dozen families or so come together for three classes, a talk about life with God, and some extra time in the gym. (The kids love that part!) It’s a place to connect with lots of other families who are also not sending their kids through the public school system, which is really nice.

If you’re a regular reader of GregsHead.net, you’ll already know this about me, but for those who may have just happened by, or are new here…

I’m very weird. 🙂

So, I notice funny things. One such thing was from a conversation yesterday that seemed to suggest that because it was the last day of Monday classes, I would not be seeing a particular person from our group again, presumably until the classes resume again in September!

That was actually so odd to me (since I am, in fact, the one who is odd) that I didn’t even understand that possibility! But after thinking about it a bit, I replied, “But… we’ll still get together…”

What struck me about it afterwards was that I know I used to think that way. I totally did. The sadness (if there indeed was any) of a school year coming to an end was that you wouldn’t see your friends again till the next year. Same with any other programs we are part of. We wish they wouldn’t end, because it means we won’t see those people any more for a while… at least, not regularly.

But why? Why do we live that way? Is it our culture? Our very individualistic society? Are we intentionally only allowing relationships to happen through structures that we have created? What about dropping by a neighbor’s house just to say hello? What about inviting those friends over for dinner? What about inviting them to meet you at a park, or out for a walk with your family, or at the ice cream place?

How about just a friendly phone call for no particular reason at all? Might find out about something that’s going on that you could help with, or just join in on. (With mutual consent, of course… not recommending “crashing” someone’s party.) 😉

I’m fascinated by the way we relate to each other in our society, our culture. We have forgotten the days of knowing and doing life beside our neighbors. We drive to every social club/event/gathering that we do, because they are often not in our local community. And our social interactions are nearly all “scheduled”. Schedules aren’t bad, necessarily, but where’s the freedom to just be friends? Does every interaction have to be for a reason?

Sadly, I think somewhere along the way, I learned that to be true.

Thankfully, somewhere later along the way, I unlearned that.

One thing we try to do as the Campbell family is be available. We really try hard not to plug in to too many things because it will just drive us crazy. Sure there will be fun parts. Seeing lots of people on a regular basis is one of those parts. But the drawbacks are too great. Do you ever feel like your days are all about getting to the next thing or getting the next thing done? Where are the moments to enjoy life? Alone, with God, or together with family and friends?

Not that events are not part of life. That’s not at all what I am saying. But our tendency (at least, speaking for our family a few years back, and even now when we don’t pay attention!) is to say “yes” to every fun opportunity, or even seek out things to be doing. I won’t go into all the possible reasons we busy ourselves so, but it is certainly true of most everyone that I know. So, I’m guessing it is true of you, too.

Groups and events and scheduled gatherings are super great. There are good memories made, and often, good relationships developed. But it just doesn’t end there. In fact, if it does, I contend that you don’t have good relationships (with those people). A friendship is more, deeper. Through good and bad, in meaningful and completely meaningless times. It’s always on. There’s no summer break.

So, to any of our home school group friends who may be reading this… I know that our last day of classes was yesterday, but, I’m fairly certain that if our families have connected, you’ll be seeing more of me. 😉

by Greg

There Are More Important Things…

I had to double and triple check to make sure this video was real… it is.

How can we really think this way? The language this woman uses to describe her “problem” (which was … until two months prior to the speech you see in this video—from the “Digital Inclusion Summit” on March 9, 2010—her family only had dial-up internet in their home, because they could not afford broadband) makes it seem as though they were in dire straits, and in danger of losing their lives…

Like these people.

Friends of ours uprooted their lives in Australia to live in Thailand, helping the Karen refugees of Burma just have the basic necessities of life as they flee from people who want to kill them!

But we want to have free (to us) broadband internet in our homes. And it’s unfair if we don’t.

Wow.

by Greg

Why Does Everyone Hate Glenn Beck?

Glenn BeckI am a Glenn Beck fan.

If you weren’t immediately turned off by the title, I’d imagine that at least a handful of readers are now completely done with this post, and—quite likely—done with GregsHead.net entirely.

That seems to be the current climate in our country, especially in the political world, and especially surrounding the man Glenn Beck.

What I don’t get is why we decide certain people aren’t worth listening to, without really listening to them. I had a conversation with a friend not long ago who said something a bit “off the cuff” about Beck, and, me being an actual long-time listener to his stuff—and, thinking this friend to be a thinker, rather than just a spewer of recycled words—I decided to initiate a dialog with him about some of the misconceptions about this much-maligned media personality.

I am not writing this to defend Glenn Beck. You’re likely an adult, and you can decide who and what you want to listen to, and agree or disagree with. That’s certainly not in question.

What I am so puzzled by is (and I’ve mentioned this often here) why we say things—often at least skewed, if not untrue—about other people (or other “sides”) instead of listening to each other. We just are not listening to each other.

And sometimes, it’s just because of a name.

I started listening to Glenn’s radio show before the 2000 presidential election. A few things caught my ear. First, I did agree with most of what he said, and even though he was a Republican then, he seemed more independent thinking, not just a Republican party supporter. (I am not a supporter of any party.) Second, his stuff was really just funny then. It was pre-9/11. Third… he told a story about his daughters that was intriguingly close to how I think as a parent.

And so, I began to listen.

The strange part is, until just recently, Glenn Beck was fairly irrelevant. 🙂 He was just a funny guy on the radio. But then, as he has changed over the years, and his focus became more on “educating” the American people on the parts of history we’ve not been taught, or been taught perhaps differently than actually happened… all of a sudden, it became not only unpopular to say you are a listener or a fan of Glenn Beck, but it’s downright evil! You must be stupid!

Really?

Here’s the thing. Sometimes I wonder why people think what they do. I bet you do, too. Obviously, mostly when they see something completely differently than I do. “How can they think that???” I wonder. Well… because they have brains, and they have put the pieces together slightly different than I!

The biggest problem in our country currently—probably in the entire world, actually—is that we do not allow others to be different. I mean, we say we do… but we really don’t.

If so, it would be OK for people to like Glenn Beck.

Glenn has been talking this week about the attacks on him. There are attempts to boycott his advertisers, discredit him, etc, etc. Even the president called him out by name. There is also a process in the works to limit and filter content on the internet in our country. (See “Net Neutrality” page at Wikipedia. Primarily a technology thing, but opens the door for censorship.) In a lot of ways, people want to “shut up” Glenn Beck.

Same goes for the Tea Party Movement. (Which is often associated with Glenn Beck.) But I actually know many people who, if they are not part of this “movement”, are sympathetic to it. (Even some who don’t listen to Glenn Beck!)

Granted, there are some people out there who are just joining the latest trend or fad. Whatever “side” that may represent. But I’m guessing, based on the people I know on both (or all?) sides of the political spectrum that nearly all of us have good reasons for what we believe. They may be misinformed in some cases, but I’d say mostly we’ve had some reason or opportunity to form a worldview and a set of values and principles with which we align ourselves. Our choice. Not a “party line.”

(NOTE: I am not applying this to the politicians in Washington. I’d say people with principles and actual well-thought-out beliefs in DC are the rare exception, rather than the norm!)

We have a tendency to lump people together. Especially those who do not think like we do. (Though, sometimes we assume someone who thinks similarly on one issue, will think as we do on all issues, too.) It’s just not true. We are individuals. There may be some—even many—similarities, but we are not automatons merely following our marching instructions. None of us. Your side, or their side.

So let’s allow people to express themselves… for real. Not just say that we do. If someone thinks differently than you, let him speak. There is a notion that people are not smart enough to filter through all the “stuff” out there … and so those who are saying things that are completely opposed to what we think should be “silenced” … but perhaps that is the scariest thing we could say. Once we silence one voice, who’s to say you’re not next?

I’ve said here a bunch of times that this blog is not a political blog, and that’s really true. But lately I’ve just been amazed at how divisive the name “Glenn Beck” has become and it made me think that we’re still not listening to each other.

And so I ask you… why not? Are you?

I hope so.

And, if you are turned off by the name Glenn Beck, and have never actually listened to Glenn’s show, perhaps you could listen for a few days. (One day would not be enough, I don’t think, to get past any prejudice that has been built up.) Or you can read his very short book “Common Sense“, get a copy from the library or a friend. Then, if you still don’t agree, rock on. But we just can’t make judgements without listening. Without doing proper research. We all deserve a chance to be heard.

And we all need to just listen.

by Greg

Mastering Money or Money Is Master?

Dave Ramsey - Total Money MakeoverA couple conversations of late have reminded me of a book I read a while back (at the recommendation of a friend who had really loved it) regarding the management of money.

It was (and is) particularly relevant as we are facing mountainous debt (accumulated over many years, and some the result of “questionable” business practice by others…) and God convinced us that trusting him even more—by only spending money when we actually have it—that life would go even better for us. Or perhaps better stated, that life would continue to get harder if we didn’t do that.

(If you like reading, see this post, and this one, too. Good historical accounts of God’s direction for us.)

So in recent conversations, I’ve been very encouraged that people are getting smarter about money. Maybe not everyone. And maybe the people I’ve been talking with recently have always been smart. But either way, it’s so nice to see the results of diligence and wisdom in money management.

A friend of mine told me today that their house would be completely paid off this year, and both of their cars by next year. Debt free. All by the age of 35. That’s awesome. Other friends tell similar stories, and almost always it is a result of being smart with the money you have.

Our culture has for too long thought that you could spend money you’d make later. (Just look at how our government, from federal down to local, handles money and budgets!) That just doesn’t really work. In a way, it seems there’s no other way to purchase something as large as a house, but we’ve heard stories of young adults who have saved up to purchase their first home with cash (and did!) so we’re already starting Ian (our oldest) on such a savings path. Rather than instant gratification—enjoy now, pay later—Ian is learning the value of saving, which in the end means you keep much more of your money, and usually get to enjoy the things you wanted to anyway. And more!

We are coming up on three years of not adding any debt to our existing debt. That means that the overall amount is coming down. That’s fantastic. And it’s fun to hear real-life examples along the way.

Do you have one? Feel free to share it here. Hope you, too, are your money’s master, rather than the reverse.

by Greg

Basketball Solitaire?

Everyone is talking basketball these days. It’s March Madness time. Most brackets have been thrown in the trash. Four teams fans are still happy for now. (Including me! Go State!)

Well, I guess I’m getting in on the action. After a couple years “off”, I found another friend (with at least a slightly flexible schedule) who can play basketball with me some mornings. We’re getting a very slow start to our new routine (we’ve only actually done it once in the past three weeks) but it is going to be a good thing once we DO get to it! 🙂

Today, however, my friend wasn’t able to make it, so after 15 minutes of shooting around I decided that since I came to get a workout, I would to do try my basketball solitaire game. It’s quite tiring, actually! Full court, one person … non-stop running.

I could definitely tell that it’s going to take a few more weeks to get back into any sort of (good) shape!

But, next time you have a gym to yourself, perhaps you can get a good workout and try to beat today’s score? (51… not too shabby after a few years on the shelf!)

by Greg

Wet

As you may recall, I mentioned about a week ago that our basement was beginning to flood. I say beginning because I now know that what I saw last Saturday was truly only the beginning.

Our basement does get wet every now and again (see related posts), but this time it was different. Usually the water recedes fairly quickly on its own (unless there is a ridiculous amount of rain for days upon days) and for reasons unknown, it was not only not receding, it was getting deeper!

The rise was slow, so we kept hoping that once all the snow had melted, the water would all leave and we could begin the clean up. Little did we know, that the melting snow was not the source of the flood!

By Wednesday (March 10th, about five days after we first saw water in our basement) most of the snow had melted, but the water level continued to rise. In fact, it rose so much that it extinguished the pilot light on our water heater. Jen noticed there was no hot water, and figured that’s what it was. She was right.

I waded through the swamp and discovered that the water was just under the place where it would do the same to our furnace, so I went outside to see if there was anything I could do to stop this crazy, relentless flow of water!

As we studied the flowing river that our front sidewalk had become, we just could not figure out where the real source was. Especially since the snow was gone. We figured it was coming down the hill to our south, but couldn’t see the water streaming from anywhere else, and well, most of the snow had already melted. It really seemed like the water was just coming from the ground!

Turns out… it was.

I finally took a much closer look, and discovered a nice little “spring” welling up from the ground. Lovely.

So, turns out, not only was our ground being saturated by the melting of about one foot of snow… it was also being aided by a “faucet” running for more than five straight days.

Lovely.

All of this after I just got back from having some maintenance work done on our van to the tune of several hundred dollars. Not that it was in any way an unfair price, or even a shock … just saying. All I could think was how much the clean up from all this was going to add to our expense line this week…

I made all the appropriate calls, and the appropriate people jumped (well, kinda jumped) to action. The town’s water guys were out and found the problem right away. They shut it off at the source of the leak, but then about 10 minutes later, they turned it back on. When I asked about this, they said that the tenants in the apartment next to us (where the leak was) didn’t want their water shut off, so…

Um… seriously? Meanwhile, our basement water level continues to rise???

Yep.

So, the fire department (who at first was unreachable…) finally got there (actually, was nice to see an old friend was part of the team of guys sent out to respond) and when they found that our basement has no sump pump—or drain of any kind—informed me that they could not help.

Lovely.

So, with the water still running… and the water level in our basement still rising… I took matters into my own hands. I got our 8-gallon wet/dry ShopVac out and started sucking!

50 trips (400 gallons, 3,340 lbs) later, I felt like I had barely made a dent! Really! It was only maybe an inch or two lower! Ugh.

Thankfully, we have good friends. One of those good friends heard of my trouble and offered to bring over his portable pump. (He heard of our trouble because he is also a web client of mine and we were talking about his website being hacked and all the files being deleted that very day! Yeah… fun day…) 🙂

He arrived just after my 50th trip to dump out more water, and was a very, very welcome sight. That tiny pump was awesome! We drained it into the washing machine drain, and within a couple hours, we could see the floor again.

Now that the floor was visible, so was the source of water. I could see the places the water was coming in, and astoundingly, it was coming in just as fast as the pump was pumping out! My goodness! So, I wasn’t sure what to do. It was very late in the day at this point, and I was completely exhausted. I decided not to leave it pumping all night, and would just run the pump again in the morning.

Believe it or not, with the water still flowing outside—yes, the town left the leak leaking all night—the basement had another FOUR INCHES of water in it (on the deeper side). Ugh. Ugh Ugh Ugh.

So, I got pumpin’.

They finally shut off the leak just after 9am. As soon as they did, the pump finally caught up and I had fairly dry floors. Under an inch of standing water (in the lowest spots). A plumber came and repaired our water heater for us. (They gave us a break on the price, too, which was nice. Felt bad for the crazy week we were having. And likely won our business for as long as we’re in this house.)

All was getting back to normal.

BUT… there was still the washing machine.

The day prior, I had tried to empty the water I was pumping by putting it in the washer and running it on spin cycle to pump it out into the drain. When I did this, the washer made some weird noises and did NOT pump anything out. Great! But, now that stuff was beginning to settle down, I got a chance to look at the washer.

I hoped that a sock was stuck in the tubes or the pump or something. What I discovered was that the motor just was not going to work anymore. It was making a strange sound as it struggled to turn the barrel. And then it just couldn’t. I reluctantly chalked it up to one more thing the flood had claimed.

Do you know how important a washing machine is to a family of eight? 🙂

This was not good news.

However, we have good friends. We were heading out that night (oh yeah… it was our daughter, Julia’s, 4th birthday… not the most fun way to spend a birthday…) and asked our friends if we could do a load of laundry (or two), not knowing when we’d get a replacement part, or washing machine. They agreed … and more than that, did two loads for us while we were out celebrating Julia! Even folded it!

We do have good friends. 🙂

We’re still not done with the clean up, but in the “good news” department, there is no more standing water in the basement. There are even dry spots! AND… as I was putting the washing machine back together this morning, I decided to give it one more try…

It worked!!!

Apparently it was just not dried out enough when I was trying to get it going yesterday. That, or God decided to give us something to smile about?

Maybe both.

by Greg

Pizza Makers

The kids got to be pizza makers for a night!We decided, sort of last-minute, to head out to one of our favorite places last night (Leo’s Pizza) and take advantage of the kids eat free Tuesday special ( …we have a lot of kids!!) We also got to drop by and celebrate a birthday with some friends, so it was a fun night out!

But the bonus for the night was, just after we were served our food by the guy who runs the place. He has taken a liking to our family, especially our cute kids. As he served the pizza he said to the boys, “As soon as you’re done, I have a ‘special mission’ for you, so let me know when you’re done.” We didn’t have any idea what he meant, but couldn’t wait to find out!

Once they were ready, the boys—and Kirsten—went over to “report for duty” … and that’s when the fun began!

They were outfitted with aprons (Kirsten’s needed a bit of help as she’s still a bit short…) 🙂 and then they proceeded back to the kitchen. He showed them around a bit and then got out a ball of dough for Ian to pound, Alex added the sauce, Kirstie added the cheese, and they all chose and added their own toppings! They threw the pizza in the oven and got to take home their first made-by-themselves pizza! 🙂 It was really cute, and so fun!

Click the picture of our little pizza chefs above to see the larger version (though, it’s a bit fuzzy since it was just from a cell phone). We already liked Leo’s Pizza, but I think we might like it even a bit more, now!

by Greg

Drop By For A Visit

Last night as we were closing down for the night in the Campbell home, I shut off the light and said aloud, “I guess I can turn this off now. I always turn our front and back lights on, in case anyone wants to stop by for a visit. Never seems to work, though, does it?” The other Campbells around me agreed.

This is something I have been lamenting for quite a while. (Note: I chose the word “lament” because I don’t mean complain. I mean lament.) Our American busyness has nearly eliminated face-to-face, unplanned interaction with our neighbors.

Yes, we do see each other. We even get together now and again with friends. We Campbells really enjoy spending time with a couple different families who both live about a 45-minute drive from our house! (Definitely hard to “drop by” there.) We even see our friends who live within walking distance of our home, but usually in passing as we both continue with our to-do lists.

I actually completely understand. We’re some of the least busy people that I know, yet, with all of the very young people in our house, everyday life is full enough to allow us very little “down time” in our days. Now add to that every social, athletic, spiritual, community, academic, and assorted other schedules (for every person in the family) and most of us have lives so chock-full that we don’t really get to just “drop by” anymore.

Partly our culture is to blame. We are very individualistic. It’s the “American way” to the core. It starts with the notion that you can (and should?) be responsible for yourself, earn your living, and have a you-can-do-it mentality. (Note: that seems to be slowly eroding with passing generations, though. Current trend seems to be more toward allowing others to be responsible for your living … but I digress…) Wherever it starts, it certainly continues to the point that we rarely even see our neighbors, let alone interact with them.

And so we text. We “Facebook”. We email. (Does anyone besides me still email?) All ways to stay connected despite our disconnected lives.

Sure, we see each other. Most of our busyness is with other people. We are together in our busyness. But moments of just dropping by for a visit—at least from my vantage point—are a relic from another era.

It’s OK to move on, for sure. Everything changes. But have we lost too much? It’s amazing to me sometimes that I really don’t know most of the people around me. (Note: I intend no accusation or placement of blame by any of these comments, merely stating observations. If anything, I can actually take much of the “blame” for this. I could perhaps make more of an effort to just “drop by” for a visit … but am often feeling too overloaded myself!)

Perhaps it’s a winter thing. We do see our neighbors more in the summertime. Perhaps it’s just a “me” thing? (Do you fraternize with your neighbors more than we do?) Perhaps it is a cultural thing that just won’t go away any time soon.

For now, I’ll still leave the lights on.