Face forward - even if not moving forward

Today I went to the bank. I usually go when there are actual people staffing the counters. I try and avoid bank machines and ensure I am keeping people working. A number of Canadian banks tried getting rid of staff people altogether in the 1990's - now they have gone full circle and encourage their staff to address people by their first names when the information pops up on their screens.

But there's a problem with that.

As an older person, it is disconcerting to be addressed by a 20-year old by my first name when we have never met before. Something like, "Sir" or "Mr. Van Weeren" is more befitting of respect when there is such an age gap between two people. I understand it's company policy to be friendly, but a healthy dose of courtesy wouldn't hurt.

Just sayin'....

A number of gifts have come to me of late from different people for different reasons. All are treasured. Or eaten. Or lost.

The first is a lovely sampling of fine chocolate from Gavin. No jelly beans. Canadian postal system and machines. ‘Nuff said.





The next is a cute little building collection from Pisa, Italy. It is only about 4 inches long. A couple from our church went to Rome for a holiday in the fall of last year. They purchased this along the way and brought it back as a “thank you” for regularly helping them with computer things and other odd jobs.



Debbie purchased this desktop ornament display. Just because. A clock, compass and lovely personal note. So thoughtful.




Debbie also bought me a tin of sardines. I do enjoy them and she saw them on sale; so the first thing that popped into her head was, “What Would Jesus Do?” And so they were given to me with a cute note and decorative snowflake.



Lastly is the gift of Debbie’s middle child and youngest daughter. About the day after announcing our engagement, Stephanie has deemed herself to be our wedding planner – and has been doing a good job of scouring around for lovely deals (she did much the same when doing her own wedding last summer). Decisions, decisions, but the items presented to us have been lovely – and delectably cheap.

Very likely reception place: Ancaster Old Town Hall (includes photo permit and easily handicap accessible for our parents) …

Mistakes happen.

Most of the time, mistakes negatively impact your life.

On rare occasions, a mistake can positively impact your life.

I would like to tell about a mistake that is providential, or serendipitous, or perhaps miraculous. But it's not complete, as yet.

It all began about a month ago when I signed up for a purchaser rewards program at my favourite computer store. The assistant manager suggested I sign up since they have some decent items that can be redeemed with points collected through purchases. I have spent close to $1500 there over the past year. The company website says that 1 point is given for each dollar of a purchase, taxes excluded. She said to give her my receipt numbers and she would backdate the applied purchases, then let me know what the total points were. Fair enough, I thought.

A few days later the assistant manager sent an e-mail advising me my rewards account had over 125,000 points!

"Surely this is a mistake," I thought, and so I called her up.

Indeed, she thought it strange, but that's what the company software applied. After a bit of figuring, it seems a point was given for every penny of my purchases, not every dollar! Hence the additional zeros to the amount. At the same time, another customer had a similar error applied to his account, so the assistant manager told me. But we were the only two of her clients, it seems; yet she would ensure that the points would remain since we were both good customers and would certainly continue to buy at that store.

Then there was a flash of inspiration: why not take their top reward item and sell that to finance an engagement ring for Debbie? The top reward item is a 46" flat screen LED HDTV with a retail value of $1100. If I sell it for $800, everyone wins! I certainly don't need a TV like that! But if I were a sports fan, it would be awesome to watch games on that with a room full of friends. Or a really good Blu-Ray movie.

So I put in the request to get one and have anxiously awaited it's arrival for almost two weeks (extremely slow interstore transfer - especially after the other store's grand opening). Yesterday I had a van available for other errands and went to the store to see if it had arrived. It did! Just that morning! The staff on duty took it to the checkout and began processing the transaction. I kept checking over my shoulder fully expecting someone to jump out from an aisle and nab me for theft, or something like that. It was carefully put in the van and promptly taken home. Now to continue hocking this thing to prospective purchasers and get Debbie's engagement ring fully paid for. I did put a deposit on a lovely round-cut Canadian diamond solitaire just before picking up the TV.

Next week will be the official "pop the question" time - but I already know the answer.
A word of caution: Debbie does not have a Facebook account, but many of her friends do. Please don't say anything about this on that forum until after I ask her. You will know it's OK when the status of this post changes from "Friend Access" to "Public".

...everything's a nail. So goes the old adage about people who perceive the world from only one perspective - their own. I had an opportunity this week for my ego and pride to be slammed at work. Hard.

It all started with a special order of radios with which we had to drill a hole in the front portion at a specific place. I knew we had a jig around the office somewhere and when I set it up I noticed most everything about it was welded together - because the person who designed it and built it was a welder. He knew of few other ways to put something together. But there was a problem: some radio fronts had speakers in them, rendering this jig useless because one support was right at the spot where the speaker should be. I sniggered at first and then had a great idea to create my own jig.

I would design a custom jig in the CAD (computer assisted design) software and then make it out of hard nylon with the CNC (computer numerical control) machine we have. We had hundreds of them to drill, in my estimation. I feverishly worked all afternoon to design this jig. It was beautiful.

One fellow at work saw what I was doing and then suggested clamping a couple of simple stops on the drill press since it was only going to be a few hundred pieces. I rejected that suggestion by telling him it was for alignment of the part and safety for the operator, whoever that was going to be. I kept working on it and when I was finished, I sent it up to the head of R&D so he could create the CNC code and then - BAM! - my work of computer-assisted art would be done and all would be impressed at my idea.

Wrong.

The head R&D guy came to my desk and looked over my proposal and then suggested clamping a couple of simple stops on the drill press since it was only going to be a few hundred pieces.

I cannot describe the crushing feeling of hurt and disappointment at realizing that he was right. And the other fellow too. And the amount of time I wasted trying to impress others at work. And the realization that my "hammer" is the use of computer software to do what really was a simple short-term project. When I began drilling the case fronts the next day (since we were short staffed and we needed to get these done), it seems only about 20 case fronts on the top layer of the box had speakers, not the rest of them. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

It doesn't feel so bad now. I'm glad I didn't follow through with my original plan. But I do have to be careful.

Last night, my famous co-worker, Michelle, came over for dinner with her equally famous husband Dan at Debbie's place. Debbie and I made a nice meal and then all four of us sat around and talked about anything and everything, but mostly swapping "how we met" stories. I've heard Michelle and Dan's story many times, but I still love to hear it. Early on, Michelle said I was a romantic. In front of Debbie even. So not fair to just lead Debbie on like that with potentially false impressions.

The interesting aspect to the evening was that the women were telling most of the "how we met" stories. It was funny to watch Michelle recall her feelings and timeline and see Dan sitting beside her smiling every now and again, knowing an event or person wasn't quite right. After a few small corrections, Michelle began turning to him once in a while and asking, "That's how it happened, right?" Dan would usually say yes, or add a little comment. After Michelle was done, Dan added a few other background stories; things Michelle didn't know even after almost 2 years of marriage. They were so cute and adoring together. I want that.

Then Debbie recounted her side of our story. I just sat in the other chair and watched her tell the tale. It was so impressive to hear her keep in the story how God knows the right person and the right timing for a relationship to happen. That even with life's missteps, it is amazing how two people can be drawn together after learning from those heart-wrenching things.

I suspect Dan and Michelle left thinking, "Yep; those two are next year's wedding."

Here are the recipes of last night's dinner:
Chicken Broccoli
Uncle Ben's Natural Select rice (olive oil, roasted garlic and wild rice)
Fruit and Nut Salad
Apple Brown Betty for dessert with Ben & Jerry's ice cream