Weekend in Review

Well, we survived. Friday One Ring and I trudged down to Huntsville, AL in order to attend a UCC meeting. The purpose of this meeting was to see about getting the denomination to endorse my application to be a full time "real" chaplain at the VA. Mostly it's a formality, and didn't involve a whole lot of stress, but I still wouldn't mind having the 6 hours it consumed back!

The bottom line is that they streamlined to process for me - now I just send one application to them instead of three copies all over the country. So that was unexpectedly good. The bad news is that I realized that the application demands an absurd level of work. Seriously - essay questions? photos? It's needless, in my mind. I'd much rather focus my efforts on getting the application for the VA done rather than having to work on this.

Got word on the car Friday afternoon. Apparently there's a cheap bolt that Hyundai used in the 2000 models to connect a linkage system from the outside of the transmission to the inside. This bolt apparently sheared off and went flying down the transmission, bouncing around and causing havoc. So we're going to be out around $1500 or more after all is said and done. Yesterday I phoned my family to tell them that we would not be coming out this summer as we had hoped. And my trip out in August for my 20th class reunion is equally in jeopardy. Hopefully, we will have recovered by October, when we are planning a trip to Disney World with Tigger, Pooh, and Boo (it's her first birthday, and Tigger and Pooh are insane enough to want to spend it at WDW. Works for me!). But only time will tell.

I also finally saw Sweeney Todd on DVD. Loved it, and will comment on the film in a later post. Right now I've got emails to send out as I beg and plead for I mean, calmly request letters of recommendation for my applications.