Cell Phone Fun and Fury

We were at the mall yesterday and passed the Rogers Store. Mark hasn't gotten a new cellphone in about 4 or 5 years, so we went in to see what they could do for us. He picked out this cool Motorola, the Motorokr E8:

I noticed that cellphones seem to be getting bigger again. Now that they play videos and tv, the phone has to be larger to have a big enough screen to see anything.

~

While we were there, the guy looked at my phone, a Samsung with a memory card. He wanted to know how many gigs my memory card was and I couldn't remember. So he popped it out - with the phone on. I was shocked. "Is that safe?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, it's fine," he said.

But then my phone was frozen. It wouldn't turn off or on. It was stuck on the loading screen. He had to send it away to be fixed and he gave me this 'classic' Nokia 2660 as a loaner:

New Nokias are 6000 something.

I didn't even get the cool earbuds. I miss my phone!

And he never once thought that he might have caused what happened to my phone. Am I wrong, or shouldn't a phone be turned off before you start messing with memory cards?

KFGT Picnic

Every year, our church, Kamloops Full Gospel Tabernacle(KFGT), holds a picnic in the park. This year, we even had our service there. It was practically perfect weather: mostly sunny and warm, with clouds drifting across the sky and a slight breeze. The clouds and breeze were refreshing after the heat we've been having this summer so far.

Here's Mark hanging out with Rick, Anne, & Dwight.

My dad

They have a petting zoo at the park.
Mark really liked the llama.
We couldn't pet this guy, 'cause the fence wouldn't let us get close enough. Maybe he bites.

This is Teka.

Nerd Alert!

Guess what we did last night? Yeah, we're nerds. Esther has read the books about 4 or 5 times.

Esther's brother Ben came with us to the movie, but he wants everyone to know that he is not a Harry Potter nerd.

The movie was enjoyable, but rather confusing, as they left out a LOT that was in the book.

On the Road Again

Esther was walking home from work yesterday, when she ran into a lady from our church. She offered Esther a ride and they started chatting about how things were going. Esther mentioned that Mark's car had broken down and we were now looking for an inexpensive used car. She said, "Well, I'm looking to sell mine."

For $400 we got this Chrysler 5th Avenue:

It's funny how things cycle. Once again, a Jones is in a Chrysler. We've moved out of the town and country, and are living large on Fifth Ave. Yes, we're moving on up.

Mark even has a deluxe apartment in the sky--or in the trunk.

V8

Power

This God appointment served to remind us that we have the keys to the Kingdom, that all things work together for good for those who love Him.

Prayer is the key to the power of the Holy Spirit, the storehouse of God, and many Victories (V8).

Magic Ride

star wars- imperial march songs
Mp3 download | Music download

I'd spent the morning busking at the Farmer's Market, so I was forced to carry my backpack and guitar as well as a heavy keyboard stand I use as a music stand all around the park. The stand was strapped to my guitar which was strapped to my back in a backpack-style guitar case. This made me another awkward foot taller. My heavy backpack thus needed to be carried in my hand.

Jackie and Esther were nice enough to meet me where I was busking, and we proceeded to Riverside Park. It was crowded and hot and, because of the time limit the buses forced on us, we didn't have time to linger.

Finally, we made it over to the international food booths. Even with the money I'd made busking, I was a couple dollars short but Jackie was nice enough to help out.

Suddenly we realized we had about 10 or 15 minutes to get to the bus exchange and it was about 6 blocks away. Jackie and Esther decided to take a cab, and I ran for the bus.

Well, I didn't exactly run. I speedwalked with the Imperial March in my head.

I made it to the end of the transit exchange and could see my bus about 2 bus lengths away. They were just starting to pull out. I awkwardly jogged toward them while my guitar banged against the back of my head. I was screaming, "Stop! Stop! Wait! Wait! Don't go!" but they went.

Then I heard the Dark Side say, "Use the anger, Mark. We have cookies." Wanting to get the driver's attention, I grabbed an empty plastic apple juice bottle and flung it at the bus. As it left my hand, I realized it wasn't plastic -- it was glass. Like my dreams of catching the bus, it shattered on the ground, missing the bus by a few inches. Still they ignored me.

I chased them for a couple of blocks, and almost had them at a red light, but it turned green. I was already halfway to Columbia Street by now, so I decided as a penance for my act of vandalism, I should walk home.

~

I got as far as the Starbucks across from the hospital and decided to sit in the air conditioning for a minute. When they heard my story, they were nice enough to give me a big glass of ice water, even though I had no money to buy anything.

There was nothing left to do but climb the very steep hill before me. I was about halfway up when someone yelled at me: "Mark!" Unfortunately, he was heading downhill. Moments later, the same car came up behind me, honking and pulling over by me. It was none other than ex-Williams Lake magician Clint W. Gray and his wife.

"Get in before someone hits us," he said. I dived in. He made me disappear from the road. And poof! In a cloud of smoke, I was home. Where my watch and my underwear went, I'll never know.

My Canada Day Adventure

It was a beautiful day and we went to Riverside Park to see Art in the Park, a kind of outdoor marketplace kind of thing they have every Canada Day. This dress made of mirrors was the weirdest thing this year:

Since Mark's car is dead, we had to take the bus. Unfortunately, Kamloops Transit and the City of Kamloops decided Sunday service was enough for a statutory holiday. They were wrong. The buses ran one per hour from about 10am until 6pm. The last bus left the downtown exchange at 5:30pm.

~

My friend Jackie and I met Mark downtown and we spent a little while walking around the park, then had supper at the international food booths. We had barely started eating at 5pm, and we had a little bit of a hike to get to the transit exchange. Jackie decided she didn't want to rush, and she had some money, so she and I would share a cab home. Mark, however, was going in the opposite direction, so he rushed off to catch his bus. He'll tell you his adventure in another post.

~

It was such a nice day that Jackie and I started walking. "We'll see how far we get, and then call a cab when we can't walk anymore." Well, it was beautiful out, and we didn't walk very fast, and it was all level ground, so we decided to cross the bridge at least before we gave in and called.

I took these pictures from the path leading up to the bridge.

We crossed the bridge and still felt like walking, so we did. By this time, we were only about 10 or so blocks from my place. So we just walked all the way there. Of course, Jackie had a little farther to go, like about 10 or so more blocks. But then my dad called from his cell phone on his way to work (he works a night shift), and said he was stopping by to drop something off here. I asked if he would mind taking Jackie home before work, 'cause otherwise she'd have to call a cab, and he said of course he would take her home.
So all in all, quite a fun day. Although, I didn't get to spend as much time with Mark as I would have liked.