Seeking, seizing the Kingdom

Joy and I were heading to church two weeks ago Sunday afternoon after a long weekend in western MN. It was a grey-ish rainy day, and I had ridden my Nighthawk home from Willmar, passing a couple rain showers along the way. We were running a bit late, but I really needed some coffee to make it through the afternoon without dosing off.

We pulled in to Caribou in Monticello and stopped in the drive-through to order. I asked what they were brewing today. They had a good dark roast, so I ordered that. Joy got an iced coffee drink. It was cold and rainy, so I asked, “Why are you getting a cold drink?” She replied, “So I don’t have to wait for it to cool down.” Her temperature tolerance is less than mine, so I could understand her logic. Pulling around, they took our money, and gave us our drinks. Hers was just as you’d expect an iced coffee to be, icy cool and ready to partake. My coffee was so hot, it nearly seared my hand just getting it to the cup holder, steam nearly pouring out of it.

I was quietly upset. I knew I wouldn’t be able to even sip on this cup for at least 20 minutes, and I was already tired, and “cranky” crossed my mind. It was over 45 minutes before I could start drinking my mildly addictive drug.

I rant all this to say this: People who get gourmet coffee by driving through are probably wanting to enjoy their not-too-hot beverage soon after they drive away. It seems that the consumer should at least be given the option to have some ice added or something with a similar effect.

All I know is that come July, you’ll find me frequenting the new Dunn Bros. rather than Caribou.

10. Caribou doesn’t serve real food.
9. Elk River is too far to go when your wife gets off work in 2 hours.
8. I like the French onion soup.
7. The bread is good too.
6. The endless cup of coffee.
5. Monticello seems to have just about everything else.
4. They don’t give you dirty looks if you stay all afternoon… and evening… and after they close… and…
3. I spend too much time at home.
2. I now have a computer that doesn’t throw my back out.
1. Jerrid would be livid.

Something great happened today. The notebook computer my boss sent me came via FedEx. It’s a Sharp Widenote M4000, and it’s working very nicely. I spent the day getting her set up. My old notebook is a tank (6 lbs. compared to a sleek 3.7 lbs.) and was giving me problems when using the wifi. I tend to travel a lot, so the hassle factor was quickly increasing. I pointed him to this machine which was on an Ebay auction, and he was able to snag it for just over 6 bills. It’s used, but outwardly, I couldn’t tell. Inwardly, I naturally installed Ubuntu.

For me, this draws an interesting parallel to how God sees and works on us. He’s less concerned about the hardware (our body), after all, he was the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) and he did a really good job (just ask my wife or any nurse or doctor), but he’s more concerned about reloading our software which has become corrupted through sin. I think there are a lot of euphemisms I could draw from this concept. Just need some time to ponder and expand a bit.

For those who may not know, procmail is a email processing program, very fully featured, very powerful, not user-friendly in the slightest.  Why use it?  Because it processes and sorts your mail before you go to read it, which is a fantastic thing.  But why in 17 years hasn’t someone come up with a better, less cryptic syntax for such features.  Writing my procmailrc is such a pain, getting the little-known syntax just right.  Most of the guys who write about procmail “recipies” on the web are just trying to show off their sheer “geekness”, that they have somehow come to understand a mystery thought equal to that of the female psyche (but at least there is some documentation for procmail).

When I am rich (God, please not famous), I would like to write a procmail alternative, written in Ada, of course.  Don’t hold your breath for this one.

Maildir is *much, much* faster than mbox using IMAP.  Snag yourself a copy of Courier IMAP and stop waiting for your e-mail!

Joy won a ticket to a Twins game tonight for Nurse’s week, so we’re off to the ballgame.  We’re gonna sock it to those sox!

If you find her, tell her and May and I are looking for her.  Thanks.

Be afraid, be very afraid.  After a year and a half on the impulse budget, we started a Financial Peace University class in the north metro.  “Dave says” we have to live by the budget.  It’s not fun, but it’s wise… and I (the free spirit) will survive.

Today I delivered and set up my mom’s new computer. First real upgrade to the hardware in 7 (count them, seven) years, amazing. Anyway, after moving the power, telephone and data infrastructure, I started the beast up. After some fiddling with the X server settings, I was able to get the HDTV lit up. The beauty, the sheer largeness of the Ubuntu desktop on a very large screen. Mom wanted to stream christian videos to the TV. A very nice setup. Now we just need to get over the “my-goodness-everything-is-different” phase. Wish us good times!