Hiatus

Hi Friends,

Due to a crazy electrical storm on Thursday night during which our house was struck by lightning at least once, my blogging has been temporarily held up. The lightning strike took out our cable which also removes our internet access, as well as zapping our microwave into permanent death. The cable company said that they won't be out until Wednesday at the earliest, and it could be even longer. Since I leave the following Sunday for camp, it's possible that there will be few blog posts between now and August. I'll try to get back with y'all before camp gets in full swing, though.

All's well here at home. I've been pretty busy with work, but it's great. I really love my job. I'm wishing I could take the shop with me to Nebraska in the fall. I'll miss the people there a lot and I'm sad that I don't have enough time to learn "wrenching" (fixing bikes) between now and next week. I told them that whether they have work for me in December or not, I'm coming in for bike building lessons. I'm really getting a good deal when it comes to purchases. Due to employee purchase programs with Trek and PearlIzumi, my bike accessory collection has grown hugely. With the EP program I get 20% off dealer cost; effectively a 70% discount from what you see in stores. Yesterday I came home with clipless shoes and pedals, which I'm doing much better with than I expected to. It's a little scary to know that you're actually attached to your bike. :)

This is my first experience in the "real world" of non-church-jobs, and it's been interesting, mostly in a good way. It's hilarious to me some of the things they say, like "Don't look!" when my boss walks by with a beer after we've closed. The other day a customer brought in donuts, and our manager offered me one. "Maybe later," I said, to which he replied in a conspiratorial whisper, "They don't have any meat on 'em." A few minutes later he walked by me with donut in hand and said to our sales guy, "Hey, you know what these donuts are missing? HAM!" with a grin in my direction. They're really all great to me. I brought in cookies the other day, which was a big hit. I'm thinking next time of bringing tofu, and see what they think of that!

That's about all that's going on. I don't get to see anybody anymore, so I thought I'd keep you all updated!