This Sunday is Rich Birch's last day on staff with The Meeting House. It's definitely bittersweet. Rich is making a move to another church up north (www.trinitycommunity.org), and he and his family are excited about it! It's a great opportunity for him. For that - I'm happy. But for us... I'm sad. We are losing an incredibly gifted man. Rich brings so many strengths that it's hard to imagine working without him.
I will miss working with you, Rich.
Thanks for believing in me 4 years ago when you hired me... and thanks for continuing to believe in me. You have been the best manager I've worked for.
I will not only miss your skills in leadership and creativity, but I'll also miss working with you.
Keep birchTV alive and kicking so that we know what's going on up in Orillia. (But perhaps you shouldn't do the dancing at the desk thing anymore!)
I consider it a privilege to have worked with you and to be your friend.
Friday, August 3, 2007
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
A few recent things....
It's been an interesting couple of weeks.
Last week we both took the entire week off work. The girls went to Mom and Dad Albrecht's on Tuesday morning... we painted for the rest of the week. If you've seen our house, you know that we have a second floor loft... which means the first floor has approx. 18 foot ceilings. Yikes. You also know that it was mustard yellow. Yikes again.
So after several days of prepping walls (MANY MANY holes to fill and sand and prime) over the few days beforehand, we started the huge paint job. I brought in scaffolding, extension ladders, poles, and lots of paint. And we painted, and painted, and painted. It ended up taking 3 days straight, 18 hours each day. That was actually faster than we anticipated. It looks great. I must say... Arja's good at picking colour, and she's good at painting. Yes - our marriage DID survive the experience (and we even had our 9th anniversary WHILE painting!).
So we finished painting and cleanup by midnight Thursday.
Friday we slept in, then had a really nice day together. Coffee at "the Bucks", then relaxed time shopping. Arja found a really cute new swimsuit, and I got some very needed shorts and shirts. It was nice to just hang out together.
Mom and Dad treated all three of us couples (Arja's brothers/wives) to a night without any kids Friday night. That meant dinner, and a hotel, and Saturday to hang out. Dinner was at The Keg - my new favourite restaurant!!
It was a very good way to wrap up such an intense couple days of painting. Thanks to my wonderful wife for such a great time together.
Sunday - back at church... then over to our great friends the MacDonalds (Dave and Julie - not Ronald the clown!) for a swim in the new pool and a BBQ. The coolest thing is to see the girls really developing a love for the water and getting more bold - especially little Miss Kanah! Jumping off the diving board and swimming to the side without help from me and without her life jacket. Pretty good for a 5 year old! Taly is getting much bolder, too. I only wish I'd had the camera.
Another highlight was time spent in the kayak last night. Up to this point all summer, my time in the boat has been just paddling for fun - rather than intentionally developing skills. But I thought it about time that I actually learn how to re-enter the boat in the water if I ever am forced to wet exit.
I read about a technique that doesn't require a partner or a paddle float to help you... it's all based on using your centre of gravity and that of the boat. So I headed to Christie Lake to work on this, and my high-brace technique.
The water was incredibly warm (warmer than the air temp), which made it a pleasure to be in at 8:00 at night. Within a few minutes, I had the wet re-entry down, and had some good high braces (and some failures that required a wet exit). After an hour, I simply paddled the lake and watch the sunset. As the air cooled, I could feel the warmth radiating up from the lake. It was awesome.
Tomorrow evening I join up with the paddling group from the area for a late night paddle in the river... it's full moon this week - so it should be fun. I picked up a WAY COOL head lamp on the weekend to help with that.
I will certainly miss the summer when it's gone. And it's going QUICKLY. *sigh*
Last week we both took the entire week off work. The girls went to Mom and Dad Albrecht's on Tuesday morning... we painted for the rest of the week. If you've seen our house, you know that we have a second floor loft... which means the first floor has approx. 18 foot ceilings. Yikes. You also know that it was mustard yellow. Yikes again.
So after several days of prepping walls (MANY MANY holes to fill and sand and prime) over the few days beforehand, we started the huge paint job. I brought in scaffolding, extension ladders, poles, and lots of paint. And we painted, and painted, and painted. It ended up taking 3 days straight, 18 hours each day. That was actually faster than we anticipated. It looks great. I must say... Arja's good at picking colour, and she's good at painting. Yes - our marriage DID survive the experience (and we even had our 9th anniversary WHILE painting!).
So we finished painting and cleanup by midnight Thursday.
Friday we slept in, then had a really nice day together. Coffee at "the Bucks", then relaxed time shopping. Arja found a really cute new swimsuit, and I got some very needed shorts and shirts. It was nice to just hang out together.
Mom and Dad treated all three of us couples (Arja's brothers/wives) to a night without any kids Friday night. That meant dinner, and a hotel, and Saturday to hang out. Dinner was at The Keg - my new favourite restaurant!!
It was a very good way to wrap up such an intense couple days of painting. Thanks to my wonderful wife for such a great time together.
Sunday - back at church... then over to our great friends the MacDonalds (Dave and Julie - not Ronald the clown!) for a swim in the new pool and a BBQ. The coolest thing is to see the girls really developing a love for the water and getting more bold - especially little Miss Kanah! Jumping off the diving board and swimming to the side without help from me and without her life jacket. Pretty good for a 5 year old! Taly is getting much bolder, too. I only wish I'd had the camera.
Another highlight was time spent in the kayak last night. Up to this point all summer, my time in the boat has been just paddling for fun - rather than intentionally developing skills. But I thought it about time that I actually learn how to re-enter the boat in the water if I ever am forced to wet exit.
I read about a technique that doesn't require a partner or a paddle float to help you... it's all based on using your centre of gravity and that of the boat. So I headed to Christie Lake to work on this, and my high-brace technique.
The water was incredibly warm (warmer than the air temp), which made it a pleasure to be in at 8:00 at night. Within a few minutes, I had the wet re-entry down, and had some good high braces (and some failures that required a wet exit). After an hour, I simply paddled the lake and watch the sunset. As the air cooled, I could feel the warmth radiating up from the lake. It was awesome.
Tomorrow evening I join up with the paddling group from the area for a late night paddle in the river... it's full moon this week - so it should be fun. I picked up a WAY COOL head lamp on the weekend to help with that.
I will certainly miss the summer when it's gone. And it's going QUICKLY. *sigh*
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