Wow I really don’t know how to do work.

I’ve posted some photos that were taken this past weekend, some from Friday right before the Drum Circle outreach that Jill was putting on. Some fantastic photos of the old building Massey Hall as well. And then there are a lot of the photos taken from the trip to Sudbury. I had gone up to help lead worship at my friend Kevin’s church on Sunday night, but we also had a chance to visit the Big Nickel (first time!!), relax at his mom’s home, and BBQ up some burgs.

Check out the new gallery in the photos section. I realized I’ve almost maxed out my online space again, and will need to get some more if I want to continue putting photos online.

Some of my favourite photos from this gallery:

A dilapidated piano in Massey. Totally out of tune, but it looks so fantastically worn out. Usually this means it was put to good use.

Schuster breathing out a mouthful of smelt exhaust.

Leaving a bit of ourselves at the Big Nickel.

The view from the dock at Shuesty’s mom’s house. How idyllic.

I’m back from the Sudbury Trip #3. I had a blast and a very relaxing weekend. In fact, on Sunday afternoon, I read through absolutely all of “For Men Only” in about 3 hours. I never have time for leisure reading usually, and I frequently don’t even do the course readings. So this was a tremendous pleasure.

More on Sudbury shortly, although there wasn’t much to blog about. The main thing is I’ve been thrust back into a really fast-paced environment where I’ve realized that there are way too many things on my mind at once, and I can’t think clearly. I need to focus.

My desk is also a mess. I say desk because the rest of the room is fine, but the mess is starting to encroach on my couch, admittedly. I’ve been meaning to put up a whole set of bracket shelves on the walls so I have more space to organize, but I haven’t gotten to it. Summit details, Men’s Min, schoolwork, amongst a lot of miniscule things. I feel like when I’m checking my email, I’m just putting out small fires and not tackling the main issues/tasks I need to confront. All of a sudden, it’s almost October and there’s not enough time!!!

Over the past couple weeks, I’ve had a few chances to share about various topics for various groups. This includes Upper Year BBQ, Servant Team meetings, Summit sharing, and discipleship group leader training, to name a few. It is something that I am beginning to really enjoy. I really enjoy getting to talk in front of a group and share about something I am really passionate about. I enjoy being honest with how I feel about certain topics, and making it known clearly to those who are listening.

I never thought I would come to this point when I would call myself a communicator. I’ve always believed that communication is the most important thing when dealing with groups and relationships, and it helps to reduce conflict and increase trust. Vision can be cast. But I didn’t think that I would be doing it this often in such a manner (a leadership manner).

When I’ve been sitting in class these past two weeks, I’ve realized that there have been so many classes in my whole past three years that I totally didn’t enjoy or feel interested simply because the professor is not a good communicator. I’ll fall asleep if someone doesn’t keep my attention. If the prof, however, is talking to the class because he/she personally feels that the topic is truly important, it is noticeable and I listen up. However, many of the courses I take in physical sciences are taught by professors who are not great communicators. They are better researchers and technicians, but they do not excel at communication. This is a tremendous disadvantage.

My attention span is very short. Usually only about 20 minutes. If something is going to keep me interested for more than that amount of time, it better be worth that time and focus.

I spent all of this afternoon working on my bike. I bent the axle when biking home last Friday from East Side’s, so I took the bus or walked this whole week. I really enjoyed the time that I spent walking, because it gave me space and time to truly think about some important issues. Now I’ve gotten around to fixing the bike, so I’ll see how I spend my days either biking or walking or bussing. I took some photos of the bike and the garage that we’ve kind of fixed up and organized.

My newly fixed and overhauled rear hub singlespeed on a 6-speed freewheel. Old rear derailleur as a chain tensioner (single pulley used), bolt-on rear wheel.

The old hub that the rear axle was taken from. That old wheel has a bent rim but the axle is fine.

The bent axle. You’ll notice the right side is slightly bent. Bent enough to need to be chucked out.

My only set of brakes on this bike, on the rear. Running a road lever through the bar tape to Shimano Deore V-brakes, installed this summer. A combination of new housing, new v-brakes, and some brake cable that was given to me for my birthday gift earlier this year.

The time has arrived. I am planning on getting a cell phone. It has been a long fight, but I have finally thought it over and I think it will be important for me to get a cell phone.

I am beginning to get a few jobs doing freelance design work. I anticipate it to pick up through this semester, instead of working for Black’s part-time or something similar. Oh if you know anyone who needs some design work, feel free to forward them my contact info. But I think getting a dedicated cell phone will be better than using the Fort Superior land line as my main contact phone.

I am looking for a cell phone plan that is suitable for a small amount of calls, but longer calls, frequently long distance. It might be better to get a 416/647 phone number if that is more strategic for clients in Toronto. Do you have any tips on cell phone plans and providers?

Some people have told me stuff like network coverage inside buildings, pay-as-you-go rates, specific cell phone model strength and weaknesses. I will mainly be in Guelph but possibly talking to people in other cities frequently.

I don’t want an expensive cell phone. I just need something that is easy to use, simple, without a camera, mp3 player, or even colour screen. Just a trusty communication device.

Tell me your experiences!

Becky told me today about a lot of the people who were in London asking about where I was… I mean Katie V, Becky, Ashley, and Rebecca Schermel took a road trip down to London to visit RMP peeps from ‘05, and then I’m sitting in Guelph and I don’t get to see RMP’05 peeps or the NAP’06 peeps at all. And then I would have visited Ben as well.

Part of me wants to apologize for not visiting Western (I’m sorry). I really wanted to come. I wanted to see everyone. I wanted to especially see Tim, who I haven’t seen since NAP ended. And I wanted to check out Ben’s new pad.

Oh well, but the main reason that I didn’t go was that I had already committed to helping to lead worship on Sunday at the Priory Park. Of course if I had gone to London I would have missed hosting Nick Orford Saturday night (which I don’t regret whatsoever). I also would have missed totally rocking it out with The Tom, Alex, and Kent Fisher-Price. And I probably would not have spent all of Sunday afternoon and the early evening taking a super-long nap.

I don’t really regret, I’m forcing myself not to. When I’m committed to something, I’m trying my very best to be totally there and not letting my mind be wandering off somewhere else.

In other news, on Friday I bent my rear wheel axle and will need to fix it before I can use my commuter bike. I tore out of the house late this morning and hammered it on my road bike to the nearest open bike shop to buy a messenger bag that fits a laptop. The laptop sleeve ended up being slightly too small and now I need to order another size. However, I did receive a free road rear derailleur that I can use as a chain tensioner so that I don’t keep busting rear axles.

It has been raining for most of the afternoon and evening, shifting between downpour and drizzle. I found out that my rain jacket is not waterproof anymore, which means I just might need to look into purchasing a new jacket also. My main issue is that because I bike almost everywhere, including through the winter, I put so much abuse into my clothing and outer layers. It’s difficult to find products that will stand that abuse but won’t cost a fortune because I go through them every two years.