Checking In...

Hey folks,

It's been awhile since I've posted, but Christa and I are in the middle of packing and getting things ready for the transition. We are getting close and we are looking forward to hopefully getting the keys to the parsonage on Thursday. Other thoughts for the day:

• I had dinner with Peter tonight. It was great to touch base with him again. :)
• The Brewers are struggling...wow, this is getting tough to watch. I hope they can turn things around.
• I forgot how empty our apartment can look.
• Changing addresses over can be a real pain in the butt.
• We came in on the losing side in our softball game this week: 18-2. Nothing was going for us. The bats were silent and our fielding struggled...again. I managed to draw a walk and get on base with a fielder's choice.

Post-Conference Updates

Annual Conference
I attended my first Wisconsin Annual Conference for the United Methodist Church. Having never been there before, I was not sure what to expect. It is essentially a business conference, full of reports and legislation. It was like being back in the NCC/WCC boardroom :). It was really wonderful to have an opportunity to meet all of the district superintendents and the bishop. It was also an amazing experience to have my licensing as a local pastor be made official at the Commissioning Service.

Softball
Our team has now won three in a row! We did not make it easy ourselves, squandering a big lead but pulling out a victory 22-15 on Monday night. I witnessed one of the more bizarre abuses of a rule at the game. In the rec. leagues in Oshkosh, if you are caught swearing during a game your team receives an automatic out. Games are scheduled for 60 minutes and games are 7 innings long. If times runs out, the inning that is currently taking place ends and the game is over. It was the bottom of the sixth inning and there was one minute left.

Our opponents had one out and the batter at the plate had flied out. Seeing the time left, he purposely swore giving them three outs. It left enough time for the seventh inning to start, so we had to keep playing. Time ran out before our batter was called to the plate. The game should have been over right there. In fact, the game should have been over when the team abused the swear rule to extend the game. We ended up scoring 10 runs in the seventh inning to bad the lead. That seemed appropriate.

For the record, I had an on-base percentage of 1.000. I walked four times and had a nice single. Too bad I was forced out at second all five times. Grrr...

Movies
I saw Terminator Salvation yesterday. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It is a good summer sci-fi movie. You have to allow for some bad dialogue and some completely lame moments. Otherwise, it was entertaining and worth seeing. They even leave the possibility of a sequel. We'll see.

Remote Post: Appleton, WI

My apologies for not posting much in the last few weeks. Christa and I have begun packing in ernest for our move to Oakfield, WI. When you look around the apartment, it is amazing how bare it already is. We shouldn't have too much left to pack when we officially move on the 29th.

Other than that, last week was also a busy social week for us as well. We attended my little brother's middle school graduation, Robby's (Christa's brother) graduation, and the wedding of two of my old staff members. *whew* Needless to say, I have been a little behind in my posting. I hope to be posting more regularly at this point.

From today until Wednesday, I will be at the Wisconsin Annual Conference for the United Methodist Church. As this meeting, we discuss legislation and talk about the business of the church. Sorry NACURH and WURHA folks, there is no cheering at this conference :). This is the first time I have been to the Annual Conference, so I am definitely taking it all in.

Other News:

• I have a softball game tonight. It has been two weeks since our last game and we are currently on a 2 game winning streak. What will happen?
• Christa and I have finally ordered all of the initial furniture for the house. We look forward to placing it in the pasronage soon!

A Triple!

Can you call two games a winning streak? I say so. Compiling 14 runs in seven innings, Strikeforce United managed to withstand a nine run effort by the other team in the last two winning to take the victory: 14-10. There were a few not so solid fielding moments, but the team managed to put together a solid effort, capped by another impressive offensive performance.

I was happy to get a triple during the evening's events, coupled with a walk. All total, I contributed an RBI and a run to the score. It was a good game. Most of it has to do with being patient at the plate and waiting for good pitches. The rest of it has to do with just relaxing and having fun. It's amazing how that works.