Charlie Lehardy

I feel as though I’ve gotten into a rut and I just can’t get myself out of it. I keep trying to push out on one side or the other and keep falling back into the middle again. The problem is that I just don’t have the energy I need to push myself further along. Well, lets back up a bit because that sounds very melodramatic and it’s not really like that at all.

The truth of the matter is that I’ve been doing quite well lately, in most areas. I’ve been hanging out with old friends some more and also making new ones. I’ve been going to Church a lot more, but beyond that I’ve started going back to a Bible Study that I really am getting a lot out of so far (both spiritually and in friendships). So all of that is going well. But that’s during the week when I’ve got regular work and don’t have time for much else.

The weekends however have been another story. I’ve felt depressed, lonely, and overall just felt useless. I’ve not been doing the things I’ve wanted to (clean up my room, the house, fix the TV, my car, my dresser, etc, etc…) and been doing the things I’ve NOT wanted to (slept in, played around on the computer, lazed around, basically, done nothing). So I changed this weekend up. I went to my parents on Friday night and then Saturday, woke up and worked with my Dad on my car.

That was a really good thing and I got it mostly done (finished it up today… just was installing new speakers and a stereo). I also went to a friend’s going away party and generally had a good day. Then today comes and I can’t even get myself moving in the morning to get to Church on time. So I’ve just felt kinda blah all day. Not good, not bad, just ok. Which is NOT good in my eyes.

When I think about it of course, I know that there’s a lot of good things going on in my life and that yes, there’s a few bad things, but that’s just the way it goes. However, being a perfectionist I tend to focus on the bad and not the good. So here we are. Another weekend where I feel like I just missed everything and I’m on to another week a work.

I am quite certain that this all comes down to me trying to get closer to God and really figure out what God wants from my life. I have not been sure for a long time, but I’ve been working at it and trying to do what He wants. I just recently finished up Wild at Heart by John Eldredge (Audio-Book version… really easy to do while driving to and from work) and I’ve started Waking the Dead (again by Eldredge). Like I said, I have also started going back to a bible study with some great people, but more than both of those… I’ve been looking at my life and God’s been showing me areas that I need to give control over to him.

A long while back, he told me to give him control of my job situation, and so I did. For the most part. I did keep some control (or maybe most?), but even with me keeping that control, God still used the bit I gave him and has been blessing me in that area a LOT. I love my current job and I truly believe it was completely a God thing that got me the job in the first place (read some of my previous posts for more info on that).

But there’s other areas that God has been nudging me about. One major one is girls. I have ALWAYS taken control of that part of my life into my own hands and so far, things have not gone well at all. I know it’s because I’ve not given control over to God but it’s not easy, so I’m resisting and continuing to fail. Do I think God will provide for me? Probably… but it’s that doubt that has kept me from giving Him the control.

But I AM working at it and I know it’s a process that will take time. Thankfully I do have time, but… I’m also tired of waiting, so here I am. Unsure of what to do in this area of my life. This is just one area though that I’m not sure about. There’s plenty of others. But right now I think that this one is the “biggest” for me because I’ve struggled with it the most.

So I guess I’ll keep trying to wait and see what God says. They say patience is a virtue, but it’s certainly not my strongest one. So, I’ll let that be my prayer to God. Give me patience and show me the way.

Well, this rant truly is quick and more a complaint. This time it’s about FedEx vs UPS. Which do I prefer? Brown of course… The reason is simple.

If I order something from say… Amazon. It will generally be shipped from California (Los Angeles area to be exact) and I live in Tucson, Arizona. So, that’s a 7 hour drive between the two. Pretty quick. Now, lets say I were to choose standard ground shipping (which is 5-7 business days for both carriers) and had it shipped via UPS. Guess when it’d get here? That’s right 2, maybe 3 business days. Because it doesn’t take very long to ship between two adjoining states.

However, if I were to choose the same ground shipping with FedEx, guess when it would get here? 5 business days. Even better is that I get to watch it sit in some storage facility (well, watch b/c of the tracking) while the days tick by. Granted, I AM getting the service that I paid for. But really, does it do FedEx ANY good to hold the package for a few days and therefore annoy customers? I think not, but apparently they do.

So, the moral of the story is that every time I can ship UPS, I do. FedEx is the bane of my shipping existence (ok, well… USPS would be if I shipped anything through them). Which is why I prefer Brown

Hmm, that’s a song actually, but I won’t bore you by typing the words here (especially since I don’t know all of them). But it HAS been a while since I’ve last posted. This is mostly because not much has really been going on. Well, a lot has been happening, but not much that I care to talk about anyway.

Not that it’s been bad really, I just am not done with dealing with everything and so I don’t want to talk about it yet. Something along the lines of going out with my gun half-cocked or something like that. Anyway, the point is that there’s various things going on in my life. Some good, some not so good (I wouldn’t go so far as to say bad though). However, through everything God is trying to teach me to be more reliant on him. So that’s a good thing.

It’s kind of funny actually because right now as I’m writing this, two of my “problems” are fairly close to me and it’s not really an issue to me. I mean, I’m able to just ignore it and go on. So I guess it’s not really a problem, huh? Bah, enough of that crap. How about some quick updates and then we’ll call it a night (for the blog-writing anyway).

First off, I’m still in training. ALWAYS in training it seems. That’s a good thing though because I don’t have a lot of work to do still (and won’t for a bit) and so it keeps me busy (sometimes). I took the second class for MSHA (Mine Safety and Hazard Administration), so that means I just need to do 8 hours of on-the-site training at a mine and I’m legal to work in an open-pit mine for the next year (then I’ll have to do a refresher course). So I’m getting there, it’s just taking a while.

Nothing else going on in the work area really. Everything else is about the same too. Friends, Church, etc… Well, I’m getting to know some people at Casas more, so that’s a good thing (you know, more friends and such). I went to a fund-raiser for a China missions trip that the college/young adult group is going to on the um… 18th of May through the 30th. The food wasn’t all that great, but I didn’t expect much either so it was perfect. I did donate to the group though. Not something I typically do, but I’ve felt God pulling on my heart to donate to a few groups like that.

Another one is the KICY radio station up in Alaska (www.kicy.org). They’ve got a great mission up there and so I’m planning on giving a bit of support to them. They’re having a salmon dinner on Friday night for that at my Church (Grace Community Covenant Church) and are flying the salmon in fresh from Alaska just for this deal (or that’s what I’ve been told). So it should be VERY good. They’re actually charging $15 for the dinner and then doing a silent auction for donated food baskets during the thing too. Plus of course taking straight donations (I think). All of which (well, paying for the dinner up-front) was what Casas should have done for their China thing (makes for a better meal when you have money for it already instead of “borrowing” it against what you plan to get). But I guess that’s just one of those things that you’ve gotta learn the hard way. Maybe I’ll mention it to people there for the next dinner fundraiser they do

So yeah, that’s about it. Pretty boring really, which is why I didn’t write before now. Hopefully something fun and exciting will happen soon, but we’ll see. I think it’s about time for another rant though. Probably tomorrow since I’m tied up with a concert Thursday. Until then though, have a great time!

Yep, it’s that time again and this time it’s about my favorite topic… Driving!

First off, lets start with the basics. I consider myself to be a fairly good driver. Agressive, yes. But good anyway. I’ve never caused any accidents, have avoided numerous people who have tried to hit me (having a small car like I used to and driving on the interstate lends to people NEVER seeing you and trying to pull into the space you’re occupying… SCARY!), and have not had any driving violations for 5 years (I have had two tickets since then, but both were due to my registration being expired so… not driving issues).

I have hit one car once and unfortunately it was parked. In my defense, it was a dark night, black car and I was in a bad mood and NOT paying attention. So pretty much, it was COMPLETELY my fault, I admit that, but it was also an isolated incident that had never occured before and has not since.

Ok, with that out of the way, here’s what my major problem with many drivers (especially older ones…). I HATE it when they drive on the fast lane, otherwise known as the left lane. If they’re making a turn in the next 1/4 mile, ok… I can understand. Or of course, if you’re passing people, then by all means drive in the left lane. But for goodness sake, do NOT drive the same speed as the people in the lane next to you. ESPECIALLY if you’re driving at or under the speed limit. (oh yeah, that’s another thing I should have said up top. I do speed… but still I don’t get tickets for it so I guess it’s OK

This behavior is what causes people to get mad and start doing the whole finger-flipping, getting out of the car to pummel you kind of thing. NO, it’s not your fault they’re hot-heads (for the record, I don’t get mad like that, I just get annoyed and wait until I can get around while calling you nice names… ), but if you’re driving badly, then you’re certainly not helping the situation.

I was in Colorado a while ago and found out that they passed a law in Denver area that basically states that you can’t drive in the left lane. It’s reserved for passing ONLY. No ifs, ands or buts. I LOVE this law and I wish it would be passed everywhere else. Because that’s the point of multiple lanes. Letting the faster traffic move along faster than the slower traffic. Not so that the slower traffic can take both lanes and block everybody else up!!

So yeah, that’s my rant for today. If you’re one of those “bad” drivers, please think about it this way… If you were behind two people going under the speed limit next to eachother and couldn’t get past, what would you be thinking? Well, that’s what the people behind you are thinking about you… Just remember that!

God is truly amazing and I feel sorry for the people who don’t know Him. Where else do we get such unconditional love and forgiveness? Not from each other… We’re pitiful beings who would sell ourselves for the right price and don’t deserve anything from God, but yet here He is. Giving us the gift of life with HIS.

There’s nothing else like it. We don’t deserve it, but yet it was given to us freely as a gift so that we might live and have eternal life. For the longest time I didn’t want that gift. I refused to accept it and wouldn’t let God’s grace and forgiveness surround me. This was because I didn’t forgive myself for my transgressions and didn’t consider myself worthy. But I was missing the point. I’m NOT worthy, not ever but yet God has given us this gift. Yes, it’s ours to accept or not, but if we want it, it’s there for the taking and life is GOOD when you accept that gift.

So today I will be thanking God for the gift He gave me. For the new life He’s offered and remembering that He loves me no matter what I do. Yep, there’s those times He’s wondering what the heck I AM doing, but He loves me anyway and is just waiting for me to jump back into His arms and follow His plan again. God is GOOD. Thank you God for everything you’ve given me. I don’t deserve it, but I need it. So thank you.

EDIT: Just to be clear, I am in the same group of Christians I describe below. I really try to be good, but there are those times I fail and am NOT good. I’m no better than most Christians, but that still doesn’t make it right…

AMAZING! Two blogs in one day. Well, two in one day if I finish this in 15 minutes that is and I should since this one is pretty quick…

What’s it about? Well, it’s another rant and it’s about Christians and cussing. Call me a prude, but I consider your normal four-letter words to be taboo still. And I think that as Christians, we should ALL consider them taboo too. Do they mean what they used to? No… But they do still cause people to take notice and are considered offensive. Movies can still be rated R because of the language in them (although, it does take more now than before), so why do so many Christians think it’s OK for them to cuss?

We’re meant to be the salt of the Earth. The seasoning if you will. That means we’re supposed to be DIFFERENT. It DOESN’T mean we’re to act the same as everybody else. Am I in that boat? Sure, I cuss at times. I know this, but the difference is that I don’t WANT to and I try hard not to. Sometimes it slips out (especially when everybody at work cusses all the time), but that’s just what it is. A slip, not something I do on a normal basis. Is that good? Nope, but I think that’s the best anybody can expect from anybody else (it’s all I expect from my friends…).
Anyway, just something for you to think about.

So, a lot of things have happened since my last post. I guess I’ll start with the beginning and go from there! April 1st was a very good day (really, no April Fools!). That night was Stomp in Phoenix at ASU Gammage Theatre with a bunch of friends, but first my Dad and I went up early to look at a car (again, in Phoenix).

Well, a few hours after looking at it, I had purchased it and drove it off the lot! So, I’m the new owner of a 2002 Honda Accord Coupe. It’s just the 2.3L 4cyl engine, but that also means that it’s pretty fuel-efficient (good with the way the gas is going) and cheaper (guess that’s good so I can pay off debts and the car quicker). This did unfortunately mean that I couldn’t join my friends for dinner before the show, but that was ok because I had a new car!

Anyway, after that I went to the show and it was awesome! Lots of fun and I was really glad to go. Tried to take a few pictures but… they were all blurry in the end so I deleted them. *sighs* Oh well… Sunday I went to Rocks & Ropes (an indoor rock climbing gym) with some friends and then of course volleyball afterwords. Good end to that weekend.

So then that week (the week of the 3rd) was more training at work (actually in classes). Everything went well until Wednesday night (a week ago exactly!) when I went to play raquetball with a friend at Gold’s Gym. I hadn’t played for a LONG time (years) and hadn’t been to Gold’s for a while either (months). And I don’t think I’ll forget the experience for a while

What happened you ask? Well, really, nothing all that much. I just got hit in the face with a raquetball racket while playing with two friends. Of course, it bled pretty well and cut me pretty deep (I did get hit pretty hard) and so I went to the hospital (my right eye, where I got hit, was a bit blurry which was not making me too happy…). I did drive myself and went to my place beforehand to get some contacts and glasses JUST in case they (the people at the hospital) wanted me to change them.

Got there around 9:30 PM or 10:00 PM and by that time, my eye was not so blurry and the cut had stopped hurting a LONG time before that (about 10-20 minutes after I got hit really…), but I still decided I needed stitches. Well, after getting in and waiting for HOURS, I finally talked to the Doctor who wanted to give me a CT Scan (lovely…) and then stitch me up. Long story short, I was there for a total of 7 hours or so (actually went home and then found that my cut was under my eyebrow which the doc didn’t see and didn’t stitch and so I went back) and didn’t get to bed until 6:00 AM or so.

They gave me a total of 10 stitches (nine the first time, one the second), plus of course some anti-biotics (well, got that at Walgreens on the way home) and pain medicine. I took the next day off (well, really that day which was Thursday) of work (after notifying them of course) and slept most of the day. So yeah, that was great fun. But I’ve had no pain from it all so I guess I can’t complain too much

Then on Saturday night I had a BBQ at my place and I guess about 25 people showed up. Quite a large number for the size of this place (two bedroom, two bath townhouse), but it was a lot of fun. A number of us then went to a local park for a night hike since the moon was fairly full and the weather was nice. Then on Sunday the 9th, I played Ultimate frisbee and just today I stopped being sore from that. But I had a LOT of fun. We had 20 some odd people in all (maybe closer to 30) so it was a good game for sure. Just tiring! Then again, volleyball of course

And now we’re here at today. Still doing training for work and all that. I’m due to get my stitches out tomorrow (could have gotten them out yesterday but… I couldn’t get a doctor’s appointment in time) and I’m actually thinking about playing raquetball tonight with the same guy who hit me last week… Guess I am crazy after all!!

Why do I say that? Well, I’ve been searching for a new car to buy. No, not a brand new car, I don’t want to mess with the depreciation. But a good used car. What I REALLY want is a Honda Accord Coupe V6 with a 6-speed manual. However, those pretty much don’t exist used so I’m mostly looking at 4-bangers with the 5-speed manual transmission.

But finding one in Tucson or Phoenix that’s a good price and certified used is REALLY hard. And some of the people I’ve dealt with are, shall we say, less than honest at times. For instance, there’s a large dealership here that has a 2003 Honda Accord Coupe 4-cyl with a 5-speed manual for sale. I first looked at the car a little over a week ago and test drove it and it wasn’t too bad. However, it has one of those big-ass mufflers on it that (sadly) my generation typically put on them. You know the ones, they make a bunch of noise and piss everybody else off.

Anyway, the dealer’s story on the muffler is that an older (well, not 20′s) person owned the car and hit the original muffler and punctured it while backing up. Where he was, he couldn’t buy a normal one, so it was the choice between a chromed-out one that was really annoying, or the one that’s on the car now.

Ok, fine, I guess I can deal with that. But at $17,123 (well, I think they quoted me $17,233, but it was listed on their website for $17,123 so I was going to push that price to start with if/when I started bargining), I wanted to wait a little bit (just didn’t like that muffler and there are a couple scratches on the back bumper).

So, over this weekend I found out that they still had the car and so I went over to look at it again. I test drove it again and started talking to them about actual prices and stuff. Brought up the $17,123 and we started from there. But I found out that it’s NOT certified used (despite them being a Honda dealership) because of the muffler. Of course, THEY claim that the ONLY thing that kept it from being certified was the muffler but I’m sure that the guy doing inspections saw that muffler and said no and moved to the next car without checking anything else. I mean, would you see something like that muffler that is an automatic rejection (not a factory install, not a Honda part), but continue to do the rest of the check for the heck of it? I didn’t think so…

Anyway, that made their price about $1,000 too much because it didn’t have the warranty. I told them that and they said they couldn’t drop that much and so I said bye (well, I actually said it was $1,500 too much because it had a new paint-chip taken out of the passenger door and so that combined with the scratches on the rear bumper amounted to $500 to me).

So now we’re at yesterday (Monday). I did a search for more Honda’s in the area and that car is still available but guess what? The price is NOW $16,188 (was $17,123 if you remember). Amazing! They dropped the price by $1,000 (or close enough). Wonder why that is… But I didn’t call them or get ahold of them at that point because I figured that it didn’t hurt to wait a bit (getting bad feelings about the car as time goes on).

So last night I get an email from the salesman. He said that he’s willing to take another $495 off of the price of the car (in addition to the $400 he originally said he’d take off) because that’s how much they paid for the certification and so that would make it (according to him) $16,338 (do the math by the way… $17,123 – $400 – $495 != $16,338) .

So I was then pretty happy to email him back and ask a simple question: I’m confused… I was just looking at your website and the price quoted is $16,188. But you just quoted me $16,338. What’s the difference between those quotes?

No, I have not heard back from him yet (to be fair, I did write last night at 6 PM or so). But I’m hoping I’ll hear back from him today to see how he responds. But it makes me realize how much I really can NOT trust salesmen. This whole experience has shown me a LOT of ways that they play with the figures and try to get the most money from you (or me I guess) as possible. Yes, I knew they did that before, but I guess I didn’t realize the extent that they’d go to try and rip you off!!

New experiences. Guess those are the best way to learn

I just saw Switchfoot at the Rialto here in Tucson and I loved it! I had a great time and really heard God speaking to me through the show. But especially the first couple songs (first one was The Shadow Proves the Sunshine which is a GREAT song and a perfect start). They really put on a good show (saw them in Phx too which was very cool).

I also got to see some friends from The Xchange that I didn’t expect to see which was very cool. And some other friends of mine got to come who LOVE Switchfoot (they’re really the ones who started me on Switchfoot years ago…). So yeah, it was a great time. However, this also means that I’m REALLY tired and have to get up fairly early tomorrow to help a friend move so…

I’m outta here and going to bed! Cya!

Over the last year or so I’ve been trying to keep up with world events and how they are progressing as time goes on. But what I’ve found is that no matter WHAT organization you choose to read the news from, there’s some sort of a slant to it.

This of course doesn’t come as a surprise to me. What DOES surprise me is the number of people that don’t know this themselves, or at least don’t think about it. Journalists are people (duh!) and as such they are not perfect. This means that they can make mistakes and also report events and write articles in ways that slant things in a way that makes more sense to them. OR so that it benefits the people that they support more.

Usually, this is done without the reporter even knowing it happened. Those times are of course understandable. But there are those that will do it on purpose and without any system of checks to ensure that the information is at least valid. And THOSE are the times that the industry scares me. Whenever I am reading up on a topic that is fairly large, I ensure that I read multiple papers (online generally) to get a wider viewpoint.

I also try and get an understanding of who the paper is and what their viewpoints are overall. This gives me a better idea of what way they might slant. Put all of that together with a large handful of salt and I’ve got my unslanted viewpoint of what’s going on. Well, that’s not true because through the entire process, I’m putting my OWN slant on things because I’M human and I’M not perfect and I do have an agenda of my own.

Anyway, I guess my main point is that WAY too many people take what they read and see on TV at face value and don’t think for themselves. I guess that’s just the way the world is going these days, but it’s REALLY frustrating to see. So yep, that’s my rant. Pitiful I know, but I’ll do better, I promise!