Well, what a difference a week makes. Last week at this time, the rain was pouring down and the cars outside were slipping and sliding along on their way to work or school. This week has seen the weather gradually improve as a high pressure system settled over the western coast of California and the temperatures slowly rose to the point where yesterday saw shorts and winter white legs in abundance at the park across the street from our house. We had a high temperature of 79 degrees and it is supposed to hit eighty today. I played golf on Saturday morning in shorts for the first time this year. It was a nice change from the bundled up winter wear that restricts a full body coil on your golf swing. It was about 74 degrees on Saturday and a wonderful weekend all told.

I had my new rims installed on Saturday afternoon. As mentioned in my last episode, I had ordered a set of aluminum alloy clear coated wheels, but the company had delivered the chrome wheels. The difference in price was $105 a wheel for the alloys and $195 for the chrome. The manager of the shop hadn't realized that the wrong wheels had been delivered until I showed up for my Saturday appointment. He had signed for the shipment but had not looked at the invoice. The wheels wholesale to him at $142 a wheel and he agreed to charge me his cost and deal with the supplier at a later date. So, I paid more than I had intended, but the wheels are so nice. Again, they are a five spoke diamond design and they really shine. I could have waited until next weekend to get my wheels, but that wouldn't have been any fun. As I told Darla, I didn't spend $37 a wheel more, but saved $53 a wheel off of retail.

Darla and I went to see The Passion of the Christ this weekend and the hype for this movie is more than deserved. Mel Gibson has made a true recreation of the last twelve hours of Jesus' life. It is a brutal replay of the scourging and crucifixion. While I was watching it horrified by the brutality, finally the scourging ended and Christ lay in his own blood in agony, when the Roman soldiers rolled him onto his back and began to whip him again. It made me wonder if my sins were so bad that Christ had to endure that pain for me. I highly recommend this movie. For the critic who ask , "Where is the love? If Christ was such a compassionate soul, why is the movie so violent?" The critics don't get it. The love is so powerful in that Jesus willingly was tortured and crucified so that I could be saved. What greater love is there?

I talked to Jennifer on Friday. I tend to sleep in on Fridays as the traffic is so light and happened to catch a call from her. She had received a couple of packages from home and was enjoying Freetos and Pringles and the simple foods that she can't get in Iraq. She also had many books, games, candy and DVDs to help while away the hours.

I had mentioned that Jennifer is working with General Dynamics on the wiring infrastructure of the palace communications network. General Dynamics is the general contractor and she is actually working with a group from IMG (Information Management Group), a wiring and communications contractor. She is making some good contacts and I suggested that she get business cards from some of the managers and ask to use them as references when she leaves the military. She liked that idea and was going to talk to several of them. The civilian contractors really like Jennifer and her work ethic. They are working from 8 a.m until 8 at night six days a week. It is tiring, but rewarding work for our soldier.

Did you see the story on television Friday night about the fire crew from Florida that left the station house abruptly to fight a fire and left the stove on and burned down the fire station? Now that pretty well defines irony.

We had a guest speaker at church on Sunday. He is a well known pastor from a church in Kentucky. He talked about friends of his who visited Kentucky from California. They said that they knew Kentucky was a little backwards, but didn't realize how much so until they went to the zoo. They said in California at each enclosure there is a sign that lists what the animal is and in parenthesis the name of the animal in Latin. In Kentucky, they have the name of the animal and then a recipe in parenthesis.

I hope all are well and living a Godly life.