I have friends who scoff at Twitter. They look at it and then send me text messages because they feel like participating in the process would lower them socially..
I have friends that have avoided it..well for no good reason.
Well my wife Donna.. who is the adult in our relationship.. she actually reads the paper and looks at news web sites while I'm editing video or updating my fantasy baseball team pitching rotation..found this site.
The mustang is gone... an auto transport truck and trailer met Donna and I at the old Albertson's shopping center this morning around 10:00. (Monday July 28th)
He did a walk around, documented the damage on it, handed us a copy of the inspection, I gave him the keys and said goodbye.
Donna took me back home to get my truck and I drove back up Lufkin Ave to see if he had it loaded yet and sure enough it was already on his trailer.
Sorry I didn't think to take any pics of the event.. It would have been appropriate.
I don't have a ton of pics from this trip as it was raining a lot...or on the river etc. Not bringing my coolpix out on the river.
Anyway. We left Tuesday afternoon and drove to Conroe to drop off Donna's car and then on to New Braunfels.. actually Gruene because we were getting in so late. We ate at The Grist Mill.. it was a very good experience.. we ate outside, it was nice enough that we did not sweat.. maybe it was because there was a lower humidity than what we were used to. Whatever the reason it was nice outside under the trees. A little tree debris flying but still quite nice. We also hung around and did a little sight seeing and wandered through Greune Hall.. oldest dance hall in Texas.. I've been there a few times in the past.. not to wander but to dance.. I love the old place.
Went on to the T bar M resort , checked in and chilled for the evening.
Did a little tubing on the Comal the next day..wow the tube chute sure looks smaller than I remember from 1978. Also did a little reading and napping. That night went to Mamacitas and had wonderful enchiladas verdes. I hear the ritas are good too but not on this trip. Also had some fabulous cheese cake and starbucks coffee... went back to the resort and crashed.
Next day nasty weather but were not sure what to do. We decided to brave it and head to Schlitterbahn. We got about an hour and a half in then the bottom fell out. After the lightening died down we headed back to T bar M. After lunch a group went back.. they came back after another lightening event but then it calmed down again and another group went back and enjoyed the afternoon there. Me, after the first run I chilled on the porch, read, played brick-break on my blackberry and visited with my lovely bride.
We went to eat at Gatti's that night and then back to the room.. watched a new episode of burn notice and then to bed.
You saw "My Friday" post so you know the rest.
Overall.. very relaxing.. very nice time. Nikolee our youth intern pretty much handled all the details while we were on the trip and did a great job. I just drove and hung out. Nice!
While we were on vacation with a group from Church in New Braunfels I received full payment for the mustang via wire transfer from Australia. That's a first for me.
Got a call from a transport company while I was driving back from New Braunfels Friday that I would be contacted by a car carrier company..I forget the name.. but they should be by Monday to get the car.
I guess things just didn't start out right.. things calmed down later and we had some very civil communications and all went well.
I got up this morning.. I drank a cup of Starbucks coffee... ate some frosted mini wheats and some biscuits and gravy.
I loaded my luggage and the luggage of several people that were with me on to our church bus. We then left the T bar m resort in New Braunfels TX and drove across Texas back to Lufkin. On the way I dropped my son and my wife off in Conroe so they could go to a baby shower tomorrow.. ewwhh.... not for me. Hannah came with me because she has to work tonight.
I'm now sorting damp clothes and washing them so they don't mildew.
If I get enough done I might go see The Dark Knight tonight.. if not oh well. I do get to sleep in my own bed tonight.
I got to preach last Sunday. I thought the sermon went pretty well. I got some great feedback, on the presentation, on the use of various forms of media, on how the scripture was used, on how people were motivated, how it was their closest to Christ..
I have to say, it felt great. I was energized doing it. I was excited to do it and blessed to be able to give this message. I thank God for this opportunity. The music Sunday was very enjoyable as well. We had a small group but I think we sounded great. Sometimes less is more.
Anyway, I thought I'd share the message with you. This isn't it verbatim but if you would like to see it you can go here in a few days. It started with the reading of this scripture.
Matthew 5:48 Be Perfect therefore, as you heavenly Father is perfect.
Then this video...
Ok, what we have seen here is many things that we see or perceive as perfect.The perfect body, the perfect husband, the perfect wife, the perfect family, the perfect car, the perfect smile..lots of perfects.Lots of things I’m perfectly NOT.
The definition of perfect that we tend to think of is “To be entirely without fault or defect”.“Flawless” is another term that comes to mind.
This tends to cause us to either do one of two things when we see this scripture, this command from Christ.
1.To be inspired
2.To be depressed
Inspired… motivated to live a Godly life.
Depressed… we know we can’t fulfill it.So we can’t fulfill the command of the gracious and loving Christ to be perfect, then we know we can’t live in His will, in God’s will.
So, what does that say about God’s will for our lives?
There are many that feel that God has a perfect plan for each and every one of us and if we live our lives in his perfect will we will be greatly blessed.
In the late Kyle Lake’s book “Understanding God’s Will”He calls this the God of 100%... He actually got it from JB Phillips book “Your God is too small”.
God of 100% is a God of performance… perfect standards for us to follow… perfectly.
We realize we can’t fulfill this and it hurts our relationship with God, with Christians, with The greater Church.
We as Christians and churches perpetuate this feeling by laying out ad campaigns or discussions like this.
SLIDE OF ENGINEERS LOOKING AT BLUEPRINTS WITH THE WORDS "FIND OUT THE PLANS THAT GOD HAS FOR YOUR LIFE"
We say things like..”oh it was in God’s will”
This can’t be right..what about dating, fiancées marriage, mom
What is God’s will for us?
How did God intersect Gods self in to our lives?
How did that person show us to live?
It was a process.. Disciples were learners.They didn’t just live like they were told, they lived as they were shown to live and they had interaction and they discussed and they tried and they failed .. Disciple examples of selfishness, failure etc.
Yes, they had hard lives too.Living in God’s will does nothing to promise you that you will have an easy or blessed life.It may mean that you handle whatever junk comes you way in a peaceful and graceful way as Christ would have.
The word perfect in the Greek differs from the original definition. The Greek word is teleois, which means to be complete and mature. Instead of trying to be flawless, Christ desires for us to grow up, to become mature and complete in Him.
The message version of this scripture does a very good job of making that point.
Matthew 5:48 (The Message)
48"In a word, what I'm saying is, Grow up. You're kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you."
There is a segment of a movie that I think is the best move speech of all time.It’s the half time speech by Coach Gary Gaines to his Odessa Permian football team in the movie Friday Night Lights.Ithink it really brings home what being perfect is.
Let’s take a look at it.
Coach Gaines video…
You’ve done everything you can do.
Love in your heart
Joy in your heart
For your brother..
But when we go back and re-examine this scripture..let’s look at the scriptures leading up to this.
Matt 5: 43-47 says: 43 "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor [h] and hate your enemy.' 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
So really.. to be perfect, we are to be learners, followers, try and fail and try againpeople that want to live like Jesus.. and we are to be gracious and generous to others and we are to LOVE.PERIOD.
No judgments, no qualifications.
Love
Be Perfect.
Let us pray…
And in case Jody Anderson reads this..yes we did and invitation after the prayer..
Thanks to my lovely wife Donna for creating the slides and the videos for my service. She always does a wonderful job.
This is the latest communication with the bloke from down under..
i will go to me shipper here in melbouren OZ .& confirm that he can get it transported it out of lufkin,texas to carson L.A. 90745 . i will need ur exact address from where its to be picked up & a pic of title & bill of sale if possible ... now i prefer to pay / wire in the 2000$ usd if u wish... that way it saves being hit by banks etc with transfering money my end & you recieving money your end twice . i'd rather just pay you the once & its all done ...when u recive the money your bank will deduct 2-3 % per cent just for u recieving it so ..even tho i give u 2000$ wheter bank wire or paypal.. u still will get that 2-3 % shortfall...so let me know exactly wat your happy with regards ettoray
So he wants me to incur bank wire fees because he doesn't want to send $1500 via cert check or money order.. Terms of the sale were $500 in 48 hours via PayPal and the balance via cert check or money order or cash in person.. Always trying to change the deal, always pushing for something else.
Not happy.. I have a headache..
This is my reply
Hi, There is no bill of sale.. if you mean from when I bought it. I'll take a pic of the title and post in in the same place as the other info. Terms of sale were $500 pay pal in 48 hours and the rest ($1500 in this case) via certified check, money order or cash in 7 days. We are a little more than 48 hours away from the deadline and of course I would prefer to receive the balance in cert check or money order $1500 US to avoid bank fees and charges. After 7 day are up an unpaid item dispute will be filed. Thanks.
We wait and wait to see if the $500 deposit money is showing up in our paypal account...then we get this.
hi sorry u may have to sell to second chance offer underbidder hard to get shipper out to los angeles sorry
Not happy my wife replied that perhaps he should at least pay the deposit or receive negative feedback.. He should have researched shipping before bidding and winning the car.
We get:
every one keep cool.........i was promised that more pix of underneath were put up to show areas of my concern the frame rails & torque boxes (immeadiatly under where front of doors & rear front fenders are ..... right underneath sill panels . i am trying contact my shipper in l.a he gives me conflicting costs one is 800$ other is 1800$ i have to wait for his confirm... worse case senario u can 2cnd chance offer it which wont cost u a thing .. i need those pix please
I had taken pics all over the underside of the car and got no feedback about needing more.. we told him that and got..
those photos didnt show areas of concern ..once i get those pix and allay concerns of rust in those front frame half areas ....no probs
but I went and took more pics. We posted them with questions as to if this covered it..
We get:
underneath where drivers & passengers feet rest ,right under neath all that front frame area that looks at the road
By this time pics were posted between communications because I was very frustrated..we were past our required deposit date and still no resolution to this thing.
We get this:
and left clear pix of vehicle
Donna tells him we've posted all the areas of his concern then we get this...
ok will check thanx
Then this:
left front under 5 & right front under 9 those 2 pix need more area of that photoed
To see what he's talking about go here... http://www.flickr.com/photos/olderbutnotup/sets/72157606075933842/
So Donna is set to take pics of every freakin' thing under the car... but we then get this Friday ..
latest update::::its satdy morn here ..this monday i should find out shipping details /price to carson L.A. cheers
So Donna takes a pile of pics.. runs the car up on ramps and takes like 40 pics of the underside and says..you need to pay..... or not. Just let us know.
This is taking way too long.
No response as of yet...
Now aren't these all questions and issues that should have been resolved before he made the bid?
I'm thinking..yes.
So, tonight around 9:00 p.m. I'll be either getting some deposit money or initiating whatever processes ebay has in place to smear this guys good name.. and hopefully finding another bidder.
Saturday we took a trip to Arlington TX for Austin to participate in the state Youth Bowling Tournament. This is just a little of what happened on Saturday.. also went to the Incredible Pizza Company in Euless TX.
OK, the mustang sold last night with very little fanfair or excitement. No last minute late bidding or anything.
$2000 was the final sale price.
The buyer is in Victoria, Australia.
This may prove to be better blogger fodder than the auction. I hope it's not. 48 hours to get us $500 on paypal and the balance within 7 days of the sale. Not sure how this buyer in Australia is going to handle this. Haven't heard anything from him yet. The buyer is a 99.2% positive score with 400 and a pretty blue star next to his ebay name.
We shall see what will happen.
BTW the pic above is one that I posted on flickr for people to view. It is of a 200 cid straight six motor in the mustang. I was asked to post all kinds of pics and I posted everything everyone wanted to see because I wanted full disclosure on this sale. I don't want there to be any question about what I was selling and what condition it was in. Pics of all over the underside showing the condition of things. The pic you see here was the most visited pic on my flickr mustang set. Thought that might make it worth sharing. Everyone's got to open the hood and look at the motor even when they don't know what they're looking at.
Yes there is a new hope for the Anderson financial situation. We are just under 2 days away from the close of the auction and we have achieved a certain sale. The reserve has been met.
Current Bid: $2000 # of Bids: 8 # Watching:37 site hits: 995
Posted more pics on flickr of the underside of my car. A person from Ft Worth is new to the area and wants to know how far away Ft Worth is from Lufkin. They would like to see the car before bidding on it.
Maybe, just maybe I'll be able to pay off one of my freakin' credit cards and get a little pad in my monthly budget after the purchase of Hannah's Kia. But then Austin's BMW has A?C blower issues and needs the heater core replaced.. (Heater Core alone is around $750 to repair... ahhh).
Whatever happens, happens but I am glad we will be selling the car. I knew we would have gotten around $500 for it as a trade in so this was a good decision.. I don't have any money in my account yet but again..there is HOPE!
Bid has not changed... I now have 27 people watching the bid...ah no.. 28.
I've had .. you won't believe this.. 666 people visit my ebay selling page. For those of you that know my cell number this is way too strange.
I posted more pics on my flickr account of the front driver side of the car since I had a question from a potential buyer about the head light surround.
Now I get another question.... hi any pix of the 2 frame rails that are directly underseats area ,,where u jack car up from also torque boxes under car where beginning of front doors meet under near sill panel thanx ....Is this too much? Should I just do a full video of the car up on a rack..post it on this blog and direct the bidders to this site? I'm not even sure where some of this stuff is. I'm not a mechanic..and I don't pretend to be.
Besides I'm going to be gone to Dallas for Austin's bowling tourney this weekend. I can't get it done till Sunday late.
It just seems like the more info I give them the more they want.. but then again.. I guess that means they are interested and want the car...maybe .. I hope...
More to come..along with blogging the state bowling tournament.
Hey, I've got 4 bids and the price is up to 1525. Still has not cleared my reserve but still 4 days + to go. 24 people watching it. Question about the head light surround..if it is damaged.
Encouraging.. You know my buy it now is 3 grand. We're up to 1525 with 4 days left and after participating in a few of these in the past I know the real activity will occur in the last 24 hours... the last 8 hours... even the last hour.
Just thought I'd go ahead and blog the ebay experience. I've purchased several things on ebay. Austin's bmw, this mustang you see above, jewelry, Dell computers, power cords (which are way cheaper on ebay than from dell)..
Anyway. This is my first selling experience. Donna has sold something on ebay before..and I'm using her account to sell under since she's already set up.
Setting the page up was a little confusing because I started setting up a page and then found out I was supposed to do a special page for autos.
Finally got it set up and added quite a few pics. Here are a few of them.
Put in a nice description but was very honest about the issues this old car has. I don't want anyone to purchase this without knowing what was up with the car. Body damage from hitting the big yellow pole at the parking lot at Lufkin HS.. some additional damage from when she bumped in to a work truck.. the rear windows that never worked, the passenger window that someone jacked with one night and many other things you can see if you go to the site
Not much happened at first but then I got a bid and a question..someone wants to know more about the frame and stuff. They'd like pics if possible so I post some more pics of the underside of the car (exciting stuff) on flickr. (doesn't cost me more money to put pics there.. it does on ebay. I hope this is ok).
I've received several more questions and one more bid. I've also got 23 people watching. Some people have asked for my phone number but then have not called??
Some want me to "Sell it Now" for less than my sell it now price??? ah the auction doesn't last that long as it is you know?? Just politely said No but thanks for asking.
I'll keep you guys posted on the sale as time goes on.
This weekend was an eventful weekend. First I have needed to replace the turn signal bulb on the left rear of my truck for a while now... surprised I haven't gotten a ticket yet.. on top of I have to get an inspection done..
I knew it would be a little different. I hadn't had to replace one on my truck before and I didn't see any immediate ways to get to the bulb. I looked it up on the internet and it looked pretty simple except I didn't have a star wrench. So I head to Advanced Auto parts and pick up one of these.
and a bulb..but of course it was the wrong one.. oh I checked the reference book in the store and it wasn't easy to tell which bulb I was supposed to buy so of course I get the cheaper one and of course it's the wrong one.
But I made my repairs in the auto parts store parking lot so frustration levels were very low because I wasn't driving back and fourth from Mantooth St and Gaslight Blvd.
Exchanged the bulb, made the repair and all was well.
After Hannah got home from working at JYF camp we headed to Conroe to have a 4th dinner with family and shop for her a car. She now drives a 2006 Kia Spectra..
Yeah, she used to have a 67 mustang. Well I still do but I'm gonna sell it. She needs safety features not found on 67 mustangs. No more need be said. Learning experience for me..costly one.
We now have 5 cars in a 4 person family.
Came back Saturday and got up early Sunday and lead worship with Melissa Smith at church today. It was great. She sings so beautifully. Many nice things were said about how we sounded today. It was just great singing with my old friend and worshiping our God together.
Took a nap after having lunch with Mike and Enid..thank you again for lunch Mike. I enjoy our times together.
Then joined the rest of the adults to beat the kids of our church at softball and had some great grilled burgers and dogs after. And a grapette grape soda..mmmm mmm good!
Now I'm tired and about to go to sleep. It was a really good weekend.
Artie: Todd's blog is updated! Todd's blog is updated! Oldfart: Boy, I wish I could get that excited about nothing. Artie: Nothing? Are you kidding? Bottome right hand side of the blog- Artie! I'm somebody now! Millions of people look at this blog everyday! This is the kind of spontaneous publicity - your name in print - that makes people. I'm in print! Things are going to start happening to me now.
I've been in the transportation business for 26+ years. I've been a follower of Jesus for 15 years. I have a beautiful wife of over 25 years named Donna and I have 2 great kids. I work, watch a little TV and I love supporting my kids in their endeavors and spending time with my family.
