Author Archives: Jeff Whittle

No Snow

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I was right. There was no snow around here yesterday. Apparently Cookeville and other areas east of Nashville got most of the limited amount of snow. I have to wonder about those school kids in Fentress and Pickett Counties in northeastern Middle Tennessee. Anytime there is an inch of snow, their schools get closed for an entire week…sometimes longer. After a few good snows, the entire county shuts down. I’d imagine these kids don’t get out of school until mid July usually.
We had out meeting about the ski trip last night after church. Basically what could have been said in 2 minutes took 20 minutes to go over and over. It included what to wear, how much money to take, where we’d be staying….etc. We had about half a dozen first time skiers, but the majority of these people have been before. Some decided to go, even though they are not skiing. I’m of the opinion that any teenager who decides not to go skiing, yet just wants to go in order to “hang out” at the lodge, should not be allowed to go. They will just be taking up space and we’ll have to have extra cars to drive up just so we can haul them around. Pay attention: THIS IS A SKI TRIP. If you are not skiing, then you should stay home. Apparently they have some extra money laying around….$50 to just drive up to middle of Nowheresville, Indiana, and sit around a ski lodge all day.
While on the ski trip this weekend, I’m going to earnestly make my pitch for a different location next season. Paoli is definitely getting old and useless. Here are the arguments in regards to staying with Paoli:

  • Paoli is small enough to keep up with skiers.
  • Paoli is easier for first time skiers.
  • Less driving time to Paoli
  • With North Carolina you have to pay a non-refundable hotel fee.

I’d like to counter these arguments in regards to going to North Carolina:

  • There are smaller ski resorts in North Carolina….such as Appalachian Ski Mountain which are comparable to Paoli. Let the first time skiers go there, while the experts go to Ski Sugar or Ski Beech. Or go to a big resort and tell the first timers to stay in one area.
  • Again let the first time skiers go to a smaller resort. However if skiers cannot learn to read signs that say “This lift goes to a black diamond” then they probably should not be skiing in the first place….or operating heavy machinery.
  • Driving time to Paoli vs. North Carolina is irrelevant. It is just 94 minutes longer to Boone, NC, verse Paoli. Boone is just 1 hour 4 minutes longer than French Lick, IN, which is where we stay usually.
  • Apparently our organizers got burned by one particular hotel in North Carolina last time we went and don’t want to go back. Keep in mind this is JUST ONE HOTEL. There are plenty of places to choose from in NC.

Ok I will get off of my soapbox about why Paoli is just inadequate for skiing. I guess what bugs me the most is that the planners of the ski trip are just unwilling to even consider another destination. We’ll see how things go after I make my pitch…..

It’s Snowing in Memphis

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The snow is on its way….supposedly. The weatherman is predicting 1-3 inches tomorrow morning. I am going to go on record right now as saying there will be no snow….no noticeable snow that is. Anytime they predict 1-3 inches, it usually means that there will be a dusting of snow at the most. I remember some days in school, especially junior high, the weatherman would predict snow. During the morning hours, everyone was saying there would be 1-3 inches. As the day wore on, the snow rumor would increase to 6 inches. By the end of the day, the rumor was saying there would be a blizzard headed our way. The next day? Absolutely no snow. Such disappointment jaded me about snow predictions. I just don’t believe anything anymore.
I saw Lord of the Rings today. I didn’t care for it. Too much hype. Too long of a movie. The movie could have cut an hour off from it and still kept the story line. It ended on a down note too. I thought they were going to get rid of this nasty ring which was causing them all the trouble. Next I find that it’s going to be the 3rd movie before they get rid of the ring. What gives?
I guess this dislike of the movie stems from being forced to read The Hobbit in 5th grade. I didn’t care for fantasy movies and novels back then, and I certainly don’t now.

That Invisible Snowstorm

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Supposedly there is a major snowstorm going on down south, but isn’t it our luck that none of it hit Tennessee. Not even a flurry. Down south, anytime there is even the hint of a flurry in the forecast, everyone runs to Kroger and gets bread and milk. Happens everytime. If there is an inch of snow on the ground, everything shuts down – schools and businesses close, and Snow Bird has a heyday. I remember a while back when a snowstorm happened on a Saturday night. The next morning the snow watch were announcing all the churches that were cancelling services. The problem was that EVERY church was calling in…probably for the free publicity. It didn’t matter if the church only had 50 members and all of them knew that services were closed. Every church called in. I think the next time it snowed on Sunday, the TV stations decided not to announce church closings.
Let’s hope this cold weather holds out for another week. I don’t want a spell of hot weather to melt the snow in Paoli. Paoli is well known as being a great big ice patch in the middle of Southern, Indiana. I’ve been to Paoli about half a dozen times. My love for Paoli stopped once I went to North Carolina to ski in 1997. Paoli may be a good place to learn to ski, but I’m ready for some better places. Total driving time to Paoli from here is 4 hours 42 minutes. Total driving time to Boone, NC, is 6 hours 15 minutes. That is just 93 minutes longer for much better skiing. I’ve been trying to convince the planners of the ski trip to go to a different location, but they will not even consider it. Their argument is that Paoli is small enough to keep up with everybody. Also it is easier for beginners to learn to ski and less likely that they will accidentially go down a difficult ski slope. I figure if people cannot keep from going off a black diamond, then they shouldn’t be on a ski trip.

Happy New Year!

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Happy New Year! I stayed up all night a church lock-in. Got home at 7:30AM and slept until 2PM. Not much happened at the lock in. I did go to the Golden Gallon at 4AM to pick up some milk and juice for the kiddies. I go back to work tomorrow, after being off since December 22.
Since 2001 was such a bad year, I would have to expect 2002 to be much better. We’ll see….

My New Years Resolutions

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This time of year people tend to make promises to themselves to better themselves in the new year. In the same manner, I’ve come up with a list of goals that I’ll try to strive for in the upcoming year. Many people make the mistake of making New Year resolutions which are impossible to keep. Either the goal is set to high or the person has no intention of keeping them. These particular resolutions are attainable.

  • Live each day as a gift from God.
  • Be more positive toward life.
  • Listen to and respect older people more.
  • Make a difference in the life of a young person.
  • Start teaching a Sunday School class at church.

Technical Issues with Video Tapes

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Well the wedding went off without any problems. I had a slight problem with the video tape. I ran out of tape right before the bride came in, but I was able to change it very quickly in time to video tape the bride. The wedding was enjoyable. I only knew a handful of people there, so I spent much of my time taking digital pictures of the wedding guests. I used up my memory card (that’s 84 pictures). I’d like to wish James and Miki many years of happiness.

Weddings

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Tonight I’ll be attending a wedding rehearsal for some friends of mine. It is my job to video tape the wedding. This is the first wedding I have taped. I’ve done some work with video taping other events, but I wouldn’t say I am an expert at it. My friend’s video camera, which I’ll be using, is very nice. It has the option of night vision.
Speaking of weddings, there’s a totally separate wedding going on at my church tonight. Since we built our new church building in 1997, our church has become quite popular for weddings among members and non members at church. I’m part of the audio visual team. Anytime someone schedules a wedding in the building, an audio/visual person has to be there to run the music and other things. Lately it has become a real pain to have to work the weddings. We do get paid for it, however it is not the most popular thing to do on a Friday night and Saturday afternoon. This one is particularly inconvenient since it comes at a bad time of the year – after Christmas and right before New Year’s. I’m not even sure who is working it. It’s been said before that our church should not be in the wedding business. Weddings, especially for non members, are secondary to our work of the Lord.
I had hoped to do a overhaul of the church’s webpage. I was planning on converting the HTML to php for easier updating. However I’ve been doing so many fun things this week, I haven’t had time to sit down and do it. Plus I am a bit apprehensive about changing it since all of these pages are already indexed by search engines. Changing the extension from .html to .php would cause a bunch of broken links, unless I put in some redirects. It is a big project, but I hope to get it done soon.

The Year in Review

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Nowadays news organizations tend to take a look back at the year and post highlights and lowlights of the year. In the same manner I would like to do the same from a personal perspective.
Lowlights:
September 7, 2001: Finding out that my friend Elizabeth had passed away due to a brain tumor. When she found out in April about her tumor, she had been given 5 months to live. Somehow in the back of my mind I knew it could happen at one time or another, but I was holding out hope that she would get through this….and that somehow a revolutionary treatment could prolong her life. She was a fighter the whole time she was going through treatment. I regret that I did not see her during the last few months of her life. The last time I saw her in person was in June. I’ll remember her smile and positive attitude. It is a shame such a wonderful person had to be taken away so early in life. This was the first time I knew a young person who passed away in life. I hope I never have to experience it again.
September 11, 2001: At first I thought it must have been some dreadful accident. Then I saw the 2nd plane crash in to the 2nd building. At that point I knew something else was happening. September 11 changed all of our lives. I get an incredible sinking feeling in my stomach everytime I hear a “Breaking News” banner on the TV. In the back of my mind I know that there could be another terrorist attack in the near future, but I don’t have any control over it. I try not to think about it.
Highlights:
June 14, 2001: Seeing 3 young people become Christians at church camp. It was the last night at camp. Our camp director had been avoiding giving any type of invitation requests for people to become Christians during the sermons. However, on this particular night of camp, he did give an invitation. One of the campers in my cabin came forward to be baptized. It was a joyful time to watch a young person baptized at camp, especially when it is someone that you got to know over the past few days.
May 1, 2001: The most unusual day I ever had this year. I was riding for 24 hours on a train ride from Shanghai to Xi’an, China. During this extremely long trip I got to see the Chinese countryside. Everywhere there were farmers out picking rice and tending to their fields. I supposed that this was truly a time for knowing my place in the world. Many of these farmers I’m sure knew nothing about the outside world and probably had never seen a foreigner. From my window in the train I was really seeing China. Through this trip I found that I’ve been granted alot of opportunity in my life and I hope I never take it for granted.
All in all, I’d say that 2001 will be a year I will never forget. I did get to visit China for a 2nd time. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to go back. Unfortunately, due to the intense nature of it, I’ll probably remember the lowlights of the year: experiencing a young friend dying; and hearing of the terrorist attacks. Yet, I think I’ve learned from it. I’ve found to take every day as a gift from God. Make the most from what you’ve been given.