As David has things to do with his “man-friends” every Monday and Tuesday night, I’m normally left to myself. Tonight, rather than watch TV or otherwise veg out, I decided to run to the local wifi hotspot coffee shop and get some things done. I was rewarded (just because I was here) with a free piece of some kind of oreo creme pie. It was pretty great. =)

I have no idea how to spell that, but that’s basically what I have: a swollen, inflamed tonsil. (Only one, but man, is it making itself known!)

I woke up yesterday with a sore throat, knowing that my normally big tonsils were a little bigger than normal - I had trouble swallowing. As the day wore on, though, I felt better.

This morning, I woke up unable to swallow at all. Literally. I swallowed, and everything I tried to swallow was still there when I was done. I panicked…

Swallowing is one of those few things you’re born knowing how to do, and I couldn’t. The last time I felt like this, I had strep throat AND mono at the same time. All in all, not a great way to wake up.

After dropping David off at the seminary, I drove on to my doctor’s in Indy. They did a throat culture and pronounced me clear of strep, but told me if I didn’t feel better in a week to come back for mono blood tests. Then the doctor told me to take Tylenol or Advil… which is what David told me to do early this morning.

Check out my math skills: So, by the transitive principle, if Dave says to take Tylenol and the Doctor says to take Tylenol, then David is the doctor. =)

Anyway, I was hoping that they’d be so shocked about the size of my throat-blocking and uvula-sticking tonsils that they’d tell me it was time to have them out. That should have happened (imho) when I was a kid.

No such luck. At least I don’t have strep.

… my foot! Today, we’re getting 3″ of snow. Indy’s getting up to 8. Some first day of spring!

http://www.uxmag.com/

Life is back to normal today. I already miss Melissa - she’s good company, and doesn’t mind just hanging around! Some people, when they visit, like to constantly go and do things (I tend to be like that) to take advantage of time together, but not Melissa. This visit, anyway. I was sick and she let me be sick.

I’m better now, so things are back to normal there, too. I stopped throwing up almost as suddenly as I started, but I was still feeling badly until Saturday. I ate my first real meal on Saturday, which, incidentally, was the day my closest girlfriend got engaged. =) I got to be in on the plot.

Melissa and I drove to Indy on Saturday to kidnap Bethany from the Work Day at church and take her to a garden at the Art Museum where James surprised and proposed to her. She asked me to be her matron of honor - I’m so excited! She did all the work of a maid of honor for me, even though she was a bridesmaid. I get to return the favor - hopefully, I’ll be able to come up with some really great ideas.

I’m back to applying for jobs and submitting unemployment claims today. The interview last week went well, I thought, though for the first time I came away feeling very young. Working with people older than I am doesn’t intimidate me, but something about the way the interview ended made me feel like a kid. Anyway, after the interview, I was given a project to see what I could do. I had a hard time finding time to do it… I wanted to spend the time with Melissa, and Shawn (who came to visit for an evening), but I had to get that finished and turned in. At least it’s finished.

Now, my task is to finish Elayne’s church’s website. I have about 7 emails from the pastor and Elayne with pictures and ideas and things to do, and have yet to get started on them… So here I go!

Melissa’s coming again! She’s actually on her way now from Pennsylvania, and will get here tonight about the time we eat with Dave’s parents. I’m glad for her company - these last couple of weeks have been lonely. Anyway, she’ll be staying for a week or so, so if I don’t post, please forgive me. I’ll be having fun with my sister. =)

I have an interview on Wednesday. I’m not sure how I feel about it. I was excited about the Taylor interview because I knew I’d love the job and the people and the environment… I don’t know any of those things about this place. I imagine I’ll find out on Wednesday. Still, I want something that is more than a temporary job. I want something I’ll be able to do for 5 or 10 years… Not something that will end in 3. Small companies make me nervous.

Whatever the case, I know that I have something to offer this company I’ll be interviewing with. It will challenge me, and perhaps give me the means to learn some new things (languages) that will help me in the future if this doesn’t work out. I guess what I learned from my last company (among many other things) is to have a backup plan, and something going on the side.

I’ve been sick! Man, I had a 10-year-no-puking streak, but it ended abruptly Sunday.

We had friends over Saturday night and cooked out - somehow, I think I managed to get some of that raw meat in my mouth, because I went to bed with an awful stomach ache Saturday night. I woke up with an even worse stomach ache on Sunday morning. Dave went on to church and I stayed home sick all day. I didn’t eat anything until yesterday, when I had an english muffin and some water.

I think I’m okay now - I’m pretty sure it was food poisoning of some sort. I haven’t been around any sick people. Dave hasn’t been feeling well, but I think it’s a different kind of sick, the same he’s had for a couple of years. Thankfully, he seems to feel better today, too.

Anyway, that’s why I’ve been incommunicado. I have literally been in bed for the last couple of days.

Two more site designs I did:

Click on them to go to the demo pages. They validate as XHTML Transitional and the CSS validates (except for my newfound method of hacking IE). It’s a revolutionary thing for me…

Sometimes you just wish you could get Internet Explorer to display things the same way as Mozilla, Firefox, etc. - browsers that observe the standards. I learned a new trick that makes it so so easy… just add an underscrore before your IE-specific css. The validators don’t like it, but I think it’s WAY worth it. =)

Last night, I went to our monthly deacons’ meeting at church. Usually, the meetings last 3 hours and are so filled with issues and details that they’re exhausting. That’s not a complaint, though. It’s an honor and a privilege to serve my church by being a part of the board.

Last night’s meeting was… refreshing. Instead of the normal scheduling and building details and general concerns, we spent a lot of time dealing with a particular issue. Here’s the situation:

We’re an inner city church. Inner city churches struggle, most often openly, against drug addiction and substance abuse. A group of members of our church are engaging in drug and substance abuse. Despite repeated attempts to have them even acknowledge the sin involved, this group continues in their behavior, even defending it as something good.

One of this group is of particular concern - this person is gifted by God with an amazing natural ability to lead people, and regardless of this person’s intent (or even desire), people are following. This person’s defiance and justification are being adopted and echoed by every one in that group, and families already broken are being severely affected.

I imagine that some churches would turn the other way - especially when a confrontation gone wrong could end in a large group of members leaving the church and families of children being abandoned to the neglect of using parents… Maybe others would follow the Matthew 18 guidelines to the letter (one-on-one, group-on-one, church-on-one, then removal from church) and say they did their duty.

At the deacons’ meeting, we of course talked about the biblical models and about what will be our church’s approach to these people. There will be no condoning of sin (a little yeast)… But that said, it was amazing to see the love that the deacons have for this member and this group that follows… and how evident our desire for their complete restoration.

It amazes me how fervent prayer about something so potentially deathly to the momentum of the growth of our church, something that could spark cynicism in all of us, unites us and gives us hope.

We know that the draw and the hold of sin is so strong… but the power of God is so much greater. =)