Having just spent nearly $600 to replace a hole in one of my AC hoses, I am going to take a moment to chronicle the sequence of events that led to this repair bill. Before you read on, I want you to think really hard if there is some way this can somehow NOT be my fault and somehow be blamed on someone else.

Ok, here’s the full story. Nine years ago, Lish and I purchased a 2002 Honda Civic and that car has been fantastically reliable…knock on wood. Two years ago, the battery died and I proceeded to Costco where I paid $72 for a new battery. Mistake #1: Looking at the reference guide at Costco I failed to realize the difference between the 2.0 Liter and 1.7 Liter 2002 Civic. The 2.0 required battery 51R and the 1.7 required 51. Really? There’s a difference? I had no clue which engine I have but in retrospect, I have the 1.7 but of course Costco only had 51R so that’s what I bought. Aren’t all 2002 Civics the same? No they aren’t.

I got home and proceeded to install my brand new battery. Mistake #2: I found that the terminals on the battery were in opposite order in comparison to my old battery. No problem, I’ll just turn the battery around. Sure it was a little difficult to fasten the cables on the terminals but I got it to work. The only problem was the arm that props the hood did not quite fit properly. No problem. I was able to bend it slightly to fit it in the holster. Great, apparently batteries can be slightly different and still fit. In retrospect I can hear my mom saying “Never force things!” That life lesson is applicable in so many situations.

A year or so later (I do get oil changes more frequently than that) my mechanic pointed out that I had the wrong battery. Of course mechanics are always trying to upsell things and I have conditioned myself to deflect any and all upselling attempts. Six months later, same story, same result. I honestly don’t remember him warning me about the battery but I checked my receipts and sure enough, it’s on the receipt. By the way, ignoring the mechanic was Mistake #3.

Fast forward to Wednesday, August 24 where my AC was no longer cold. Very distressing but the car has 140,000 miles so I stressed about it for a few days before a couple colleagues convinced me that recharging it was easy. I proceeded to O’Reilly’s (formerly Kragen) to buy the can of Freon and found that the process of recharging really was as easy as my friends described. The cold air lasted all of four days at which point it left and I knew I had a problem. I guess this could be considered a mistake. That was $30 I didn’t need to spend.

Wednesday, August 31 I proceeded to the mechanic to ask them to take a look at my AC. I suppressed the urge to tell them I thought rats had probably chewed through an AC hose. Good decision. The mechanic called me later that day and said “I told you this was going to happen.” The hood arm had finally rubbed against an AC hose long enough that it wore a hole in the hose. This is an aluminum hose not a rubber one. Total repair for this was $575!

The good news is that I have AC in my car again. I also learned that you can return a battery to Costco for any reason within three years and they will give you a complete refund. Of course they don’t carry the battery I need and I had to pay $50 more for the right battery at O’Reilly’s. At Costco, I was convinced they sold me the wrong battery and I needed to write a letter to the powers that be at Costco to let them know they are misleading their customers. I mentioned this to the returns people at Costco and they got all confrontational with me saying “Why did it take you two years to know you have a problem?” I then proceeded to take photo evidence and get the broken hose from the mechanic until I got home and reviewed my picture of Costco’s battery guide. Crud! I am totally to blame and had at least four opportunities to avoid this $575 bill. Anyone see a way I am not to blame here? I didn’t think so. Mom, I think I finally learned the lesson you tried to teach me 25 years ago and it only cost me $575 to accomplish that.

For those of you who know Zack know that he loves Stevesongs as well as Garage Doors, Garage Door openers and CDs. Well we got to meet Steve last night and hear him in concert. Rather than saying anything else, I think this picture says it all.

In my last post I talked about my friend Todd and his chemotherapy.  One of the ways we are showing our support for him is to participate in the Relay for Life with the American Cancer Society on May 21.  Our company has formed a team and I would love for you to either join us or sponsor Alicia and me.  You can do so by going to:

http://rfl.tierra.net

One of the ways I’ve been raising money is by having a “typo” jar at my desk and dropping a quarter in every time I fail to find the typos in my emails.  Someone at work used it as a swear jar and another anonymous donor put $100 in.  I doubt any amount of swearing or typos warrants a penalty that steep but it’s for a good cause.  Anyway, for all 5 of my readers I would love to have you partner with me as I raise support for this worthy cause.

I am very, very careful in life about giving God credit for certain things and blaming God for other things.  For example, you will rarely hear me praise God for a parking space or a free meal and you will never hear me blame God for my mom dying when I was 6.  If I believed God allowed my mom to die at age 37 I don’t think I would want to have anything to do with God.

Maybe that kind of thinking is too deep for my regular Wednesday morning tempo run but I guess it is what it is.  Around mile 2 of 6 I found myself thinking about college friends I hadn’t seen in a while and wondering where they are and how they are doing.  Long story short, I thought of a good friend Todd who I heard a while back had moved into the same pocket of San Diego that we live in.  I thought it would be really funny if I found out what his address was and just knocked on his door and surprised him.  Keep in mind I haven’t seen him in 5-6 years.  Fast forward 3 miles.  I’m on the home stretch.  I see this guy pushing a stroller and walking a dog and I kind of had a feeling it was Todd.  It TOTALLY WAS!  We shared a sweaty embrace and briefly caught up on the latest in our lives.  It turns out we live a few blocks from each other.  I’m still in shock that this happened.  Surely this wasn’t a coincidence?!?!

Fast forward to my friend and coworker Todd.  We have worked together 10.5 years and at least 8 of those he has battled cancer.  He’s only a year older than me.  He just received news that his cancer isn’t responding to the current treatment and his doctor is starting him on full blown chemo therapy in a little over a week.  That’s the kind where you lose your hair.  I tell him that I am praying for him and I will be there for him any way I can but that still doesn’t seem like enough.  What I really want to do is take that wretched disease away from him.  I really want him to win this fight once and for all.

So that’s what I’m wrestling with this evening.  In one instance I see one Todd at mile 5 after thinking about him 3 miles before that.  Things like this don’t just happen.  I have to believe that is a God-ordained moment and there’s a reason that’s bigger than me.  I guess that reason remains to be seen.  So then what about the other Todd?  Where is God in this situation?  Why is this cancer hanging around?  Is there anything I can do?  That remains to be seen as well.

From Ephesians 3:

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Thanks to my good friend George, I have been in the mountains near Lancaster leading worship for a men’s retreat.  I didn’t realize it until I got to this camp that I HAVE been to this place before in what was easily one of the most memorable and formative summers of my life.  It feels like yesterday but really it was 14 years ago.  Am I really that old?

I came to The Oaks camp with my traveling music group In Pursuit or “Impersute” as one of my fans once called it back in the summer of 1997.  We often hear “hey wasn’t that the year the travel group recorded a CD?”  Yes but that was the other group.  Let me tell you about this group that I was a part of.  We were raw and unpolished musically.  Seriously, I have heard some of our recordings.  We weren’t very good.  We did however, have genuine chemistry and love for one another and a deep desire to worship God and have others join in.   We didn’t get along all the time but we were certainly committed to putting in the work to make this group the best it could be.

Today as I ran in the snow (6 cooooold miles), I looped by the amphitheater for old time’s sake.  I remember a particular alter call night where I was given the opportunity to lead whatever songs came to my heart as kids shared testimonies and spent time in prayer.  I recall George falling asleep behind the drum set.  I remember this camp (LA District Senior High) was toward the end of our summer when it’s so easy to look forward to going home.   Regardless, I really felt God was revealing new aspects of Himself that I didn’t know before.

I loved leading worship and worshiping with these 7 other college students.  I remain close to a couple of them and have drifted from others but make no mistake, Angela, Stacy, Jenny, Amy, Jim, George and Erik are friends for life.  That’s one thing I still don’t understand in life.  Why do people have to be in our lives for a season and then so often those seasons pass?  There are so many friendships I have had that I wish were still vibrant and alive.  Apparently that’s not real life.  People move, jobs change, we fall out of touch, etc…  Regardless, the summer I spent with those 7 people is something I can only smile about.  I consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to return to The Oaks and think about my friends.  I love each of them and I hope for the opportunity to see them again.  If we get to worship together again, that’s just icing on the cake.

Check out today’s Runner’s World quote of the day:

Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired. When you were younger the mind could make you dance all night, and the body was never tired…You’ve always got to make the mind take over and keep going.

George S. Patton, U.S. Army General and 1912 Olympian

With a marathon less than two weeks away I wonder to myself, can I run at 8:30 pace or better? I did it for 20 miles on a training run and felt I had something left in the tank. Something I will be pondering over the next several days.

Z got a drum from his aunt Jenny for Christmas and we had no clue how much his skills had progressed in just 24 hours.  He seemed to know what he was doing on the drums trying out each drum and cymbal.  I’ll take a reality check here though and say I’m sure my son is musically inclined but I’m not declaring him a musical genius…yet.  Let’s face it, if this was any other kid I would be shaking my head and telling them to stop banging on the drums.  Isn’t this picture fantastic though?

This picture says it all but I’m really appreciating all of the firsts we’re experiencing with Zack. They are moments I will always cherish with this kid. I haven’t been on a Carousel in 20+ years because they’re lame but somehow sharing that with Zack and Alicia made it fantastic. Speaking of, we are enjoying the “First” of driving through the neighborhood and ooing and ahing at all of the Christmas lights. I love it! This IS what I signed up for when I became a dad. Bring it on more but please don’t let this kid grow up too fast.  I don’t want to miss any of it.

I just made a long overdue picture upload from about August to the present.  Enjoy.

I got out this morning just after 5am and did 18 miles.  I eased into a great pace and feel like if I can make that my game plan for Carlsbad in 2 months I will have no problem breaking 4 hours on my second ever full marathon.  Around mile 10 the sun broke through the rain clouds to reveal an amazing sunrise and I was so happy I had my cell phone cam to take a lousy picture and capture the moment.  I said to another runner “This is the reason we get out of bed early in the morning to go for a run. “  Indeed.  Sunrises are fantastic.

In other news, as I was writing this blog post, Zack and I were listening to Chris Tomlin’s version of Joy to the World really, really loud.  I was holding his hands as he jumped up and down with the song.  It was a terrific moment and I have so much to be thankful for!