I don’t know why, but I’ve been in a terrible mood for about three days now.
You know, sometimes bad moods can be a good thing. It shakes you up and makes you realize just how blessed you are to have good friends and family around you. Several months ago, I hit one of these bad days where I felt like knocking people’s blocks off. But I didn’t. I worked through it and by the time I was heading off to bed, I was feeling a lot shinier in my disposition.
However, these past three days have been the pits.
On Monday, I ticked two people off, one of whom didn’t deserve it. When I realized that I made rather crude and inappropriate remarks to her via an email, I just felt really terrible. She didn’t deserve it. When I’ve been down, especially when a number of friends of mine died this past year, she’s been a good friend and has helped me through my fits of tears.
As I re-read my email to her, I really got sad. Why in the world would I write something that could hurt her feelings? She should be the last person I would unload upon when I get in these moods. It hurt when she wrote back wondering why I would say the things I wrote by asking me if I fell off the wrong side of the bed. Ugh. I really did step over the line.
I wrote back to her asking for her forgiveness. After writing the email, feeling that my email wasn’t enough, I ended up ordering flowers for her, hoping she would accept my apology. I could have gone overboard, sending flowers and a cute stuffed animal or Godiva chocolates. No, I went with a nice three red rose bouquet with a card.
The other person who I angered on Monday has been rotten to me for a while, so I let him have it. But did my outburst make me feel better? Not in the least. It just dug my "bad mood hole" a little deeper.
Even after sending my email and the flowers, I still felt bad. It wasn’t a good rest-of-my-Tuesday (hence my inability to write yesterday after I said I would). And today? I am still in a bad mood.
To prove it — in the autumn and winter, my office in church is usually cold Monday through Wednesday. I’ve been saying for a while I wanted to get a portable heater since I wasn’t going to have my office second as a meat locker this year. When I came in for Morning Prayer today, my office was cold … and I got angry. I punched the wall, which didn’t make my hand feel good.
Why in the world am I feeling this blue?
Nothing bad has happened to me?
Why do I feel like I want to crawl back into bed and start the day over?
I will be probably be posting a bunch here at the website today. There are a lot of things that need to be updated and I have to get this done.
This morning, I continued my “paring down of expenses” here at the parsonage. Maybe it is the psychology of the current economic situation that we all find ourselves in. I’ve been paring back on some expenses just to make my checkbook not smoke since money went in and out of it so fast during the past several months.
For example, I use a one-cup coffee maker, a Senseo. They sell their coffee pods for about $4.39 for 18. Since I drink 2 to 3 cups per day, I go through at least one package of these pods per week. A couple of weeks ago, while reading a review of newer Senseo pods offered at Amazon.com, I noticed that one of the reviewers complained about the cost and had devised a way to stop paying for these pods. Essentially, she made her own out of a regular coffee filter and whatever coffee she purchased for her home.
I did the math — a regular Senseo pod costs about .24 per cup per Senseo bag. After doing a little calculation using the cost of coffee filters and an overly-expensive can of coffee, it would cost me about .05 per cup if I used the normal 11 ounce can of coffee, which would make 90 cups. To equal this 90 cup offering, I would have to spend over $22.00 on Senseo coffee pods, while I would spend less than $5 for coffee and filters for 90 cups.
OK. This sounds stupid. But it will save money.
Other areas I have cut down on:
1. Entertainment I got rid of DirecTV’s “Premium” movie package since I wasn’t watching it. Why should I pay for those movie channels if I only watch sports and those TNT, FX, A&E channels anyway? That saves about $40 a month.
2. Satellite Radio: I picked up Sirius Satellite Radio’s new “ala-carte” plug-n-play radio and have cut my radio expense from $16.99 per month to $7.49. I basically picked a package of 50 channels I actually listen to instead of paying for a ton of stuff I don’t. XM is history, also saving $12.99 per month. In fact, I may even cut the Sirius out since a friend of mine told me of Slacker – an Internet radio/portable radio company that gives rather good radio for nothing. And if you haven’t already guessed it, I am not a fan of our local terrestrial radio stations.
3. Newspapers: I am switching over the electronic edition of the New York Post, saving approximately $45 a quarter. I stopped my subscription to The Record – I rather read that rather bad newspaper online. My deal on the Wall Street Journal extends to May 2009; essentially I am paying less than $10.00 per month currently for a newspaper that costs $48 a month on the newsstand.
All money that is saved is being pushed into savings, either I am buying up stock, pushing it into a mutual fund, putting it in my online savings account, or into an annuity.
This Sunday has been busy. Of course, there was church this morning. Then, this afternoon, I had a funeral over in New York – well, more like a memorial service. But it is now a bit past 5pm and I am home watching the Red Zone Channel on DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket trying to catch up on what has happened (just watched the Giants come within 1 point of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who are wearing their ugly old uniforms; thankfully the G-Men are wearing their normal white uniforms).
But as I sit here, I was going through my email and noticed one from a buddy who happens to be an Islanders fan (yes, apparently there are a few of them). He was all hot and heavy, complaining that some people were making too much of a Doug Weight hit last night on Carolina Hurricane Brandon Sutter.
I’ve watched the hit. It wasn’t illegal. Watch for yourself.
You never put your head down in hockey. I know. My head is still ringing from a similar hit years ago, though my head got crushed up against the boards. There. I defended an Islander. OK, he’s a former Ranger.
A contest called Marriage for a Lifetime is offering $10,000 and a host of wedding-related freebies to an engaged couple. All the lovers have to do is write a 600-word essay, and — oh yeah — agree not to have sex before their wedding night. So far, no one has entered.
No, this isn’t a joke. In a society where NOT having sex is looked down upon, the inability to find “contestants” shouldn’t be a surprise. Or maybe the essay is scaring people off?
What makes this story even more unbelievable is that we taxpayers are forking over the money for this “contest.”
[via - The Inquisitor, Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
I’ve been away from my fat blog for a few days. This morning, I challenged myself to get back to it – and I did. Of course, it was after I read a story in this morning’s NY Post that kicked me in gear. My updates from over there:
And I must admit, my posts here have been a little lacking, as of late. Oh, yesterday’s little missive on that teenaged moron I met at the hospital, notwithstanding. I’ll be more attentive to the blogs … I promise.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I love baseball. But the way FOX and Major League Baseball ran Game One last night, I don’t know if I am going to watch any more. Why?
TOO MANY DARN COMMERCIALS!!
In the past, diehard fans could bear up under the heavy dose of commercial interruptions. We could sit through a seemingly endless (and worthless) pre-game show. But last night — how many commercials can a television network stick in between half innings? It felt like they forgot about the game.
And the game?
I laughed when I turned on the tube when I got home from church last night – I was actually happy that the game hadn’t started; but when it did, my goodness!! I was worn out by 10:30. I couldn’t keep my eyes open. If fans like me are getting fed up with the endless commercials — fans who fork over lots of money for MLB’s “Extra Innings” television package because we love baseball — then how can a casual fan get into the game?
This morning, my home phone rang at 3:27. It was an attendant at a local hospital who informed me that a member of my church was at the emergency room. Of course, they use the line “we can’t give out a patient’s name and illness” to me when I asked the logical question: “Who is it?”
So I get dressed and drive over to the hospital’s emergency room where I find out that the attendant called the wrong pastor at the wrong Saint Matthew’s Church.
I could have been angry, but what’s the sense?
As I was walking out of the hospital’s emergency room area, I noticed that a rather large group of teens were sitting around looking rather sickly. Or should I say “stone cold drunk and high.” I just shook my head thanking God that I wasn’t going to be them first, when their parents arrive, and second, when the hangover kicks in.
There was one girl who looked really bad. She wasn’t long for a run to the bathroom, but in her visible condition, it didn’t look like she’d make it. I grabbed a plastic bin that was on a cart near this group of dopey teens and I handed it to her. Queen Pukey looked up, grabbed the bin, and thanked me.
Thinking that my work was done, I turned to leave. However, from behind me, I heard someone cry out, “Hey, stay away from girlfriend.” As someone who loves these types of arguments, I turned around to see the two male combatants square off.
The only problem, Queen Pukey’s boyfriend, a rather disgusting looking human being since he had vomit all over his shirt and on the side of his face, was spewing his vomit-breath towards …. me.
Kind of surprised, King Pukey starts walking towards me, cursing and saying I must stay away from his girlfriend.
When I saw him, I wanted to laugh. All I said to him is to sit down and shut up. That’s the best he was getting from me at 4am. And then the amazing thing – this dope throws a punch at me. Considering he was drunk, all I had to do is lean back a bit and the punch missed me.
Now, I wasn’t going to grab him and physically sit him in a seat. He had vomit all over his shirt and face. Instead, I grab the plastic bin I just gave to his girlfriend and whack him across the face. He stumbles to the floor and I, in a Christ-like way, call him a “moron.”
Received an email from a friend who asked me a very important question:
have you picked up the new AC/DC album?
My answer: No. It is not that I don’t want it. But I would have to go to Wal-Mart and pick it up. Not that I have anything against Wal-Mart (I love the store). It is just that I am not happy that AC/DC is not “with it” when it comes to iTunes and digital downloads.
A couple of weeks ago, I downloaded Metallica’s latest album via iTunes. It took moments to download and load up on my iPhone and on my Apple TV. Simple. Easy. Fast. In the end, a good album that I am happy I purchased.
Yet AC/DC is opposed to digital downloads.
So is Kid Rock, whose new quasi-country song is a great. And I haven’t plunked down the cash at a store to pick that album up, either.
I’ll buy the new AC/DC album when they come into the 21st Century.
Well, apparently they think that dead goldfish in Illinois can vote. The state, famous for their Chicago-tactics of somehow getting dead people to the polls on election day, is now facing this dopey election scandal.
The paperwork sent to a “Princess Nudelman” likely came from the “Women’s Voices, Women Vote” project, which sent nearly 1 million mailings to Illinois households in August using a list that mistakenly included some pets, said Sarah Johnson, a spokeswoman for the not-for-profit group that encourages single women to vote.
The mailing list, purchased from a vendor, included names from warranties, magazine subscriptions and other sources, Johnson said. The group attempted to screen out obvious pet names.
“Fido’s not going to be left on there, but if a cat is named is Polly, she may be,” Johnson said. Princess could be a person’s name, she insisted. “I went to high school with two Princesses.”
I wonder who Princess Nudelman would vote for? McCain or Obama?
Maybe the little fishy would write in Stephen Colbert?
Now that the Red Sox have been vanquished by the Tampa Rays (don’t ask me just how tempted I was on Sunday to pray for them in church), the World Series has lost something.
No, not that a Tampa-Philadelphia series doesn’t have a lot of baseball “gravitas,” (to resurrect a word from the presidential campaigns of the past).
It is more that I am too happy the Red Sox lost.
I am more in the camp, “Who cares who wins? The Red Sox lost. This pastor is happy.”
Last evening here in New Milford, a 10-year old girl was killed in a high-speed crash. Moments before the accident, a thug (I’m not feeling very pastoral this morning) stole a car from a house in Bergenfield. The owner of the car left his keys in the car to run into his house, only to see the thief get into his car and drive off. Then the owner got into another of his cars and sped after the thug in his car.
It was during this high speed chase, the stolen car crashed into a sedan where a 10-year old girl sitting in the backseat was killed; a 14-year old family friend suffered severe internal injuries, along with a number of broken bones; and the dead girl’s mother and brother both suffered injuries, but none were life-threatening.
The thug is in the hospital – none of his injuries are life-threatening. But he will face felony murder charges and if the justice system is just, will lock this waste of humanity away for the rest of his miserable life.
Tonight, our Bible class following our Divine Service is going to be cut short by about 15 minutes. The reason? Tonight’s presidential debate. I was asked if we could shorten the class so people could get home and watch the third and final match-up between the two top presidential contenders.
I said, “OK.”
But I figured I could get home in time to watch the Third Period of the Sabres-Rangers game on MSG…
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