Strangely-Normal.com

My father’s day weekend started off quite sadly, with the loss of neighbour who was more than a neighbour. Marg and Claire Sutton have lived next door to our family for over fifty years. Marg and my grandmother were best friends, and Claire was the closest thing to a gandfather I’ve ever had, as both of mine were gone before I was born. My dad grew up with Marg and Claire’s kids, and my brother and I grew up with their grandkids. She was a strong and witty woman, who was always there for you, and at times knew more of what was going on at my high school than I did. I have very fond memories of sitting around the round kitchen table where Marg would hold courth.

She will be missed greatly by my family and remembered fondly forever. I always considered Marg my extra grandma, and every time I went home to see my family, I made sure to visit Marg as well.

But in happier news, my cousin Laurie had a baby boy yesterday, and Leanna is about to have a baby as well. I got to visit with my aunt Annetta, my uncle Dougald and my cousins Frankee and Leanna and her husband Everett yesterday at lunch. Since I left my car in Guelph on Friday and carpooled with Dennis, we also got to visit with my cousin Robin and her husband Paul, as well as my aunt Linda and uncle Gordon. It was a busy family weekend and I’m quite tired.

It’s hard to think of Marg not being next door, but I feel extremely blessed to have had her in my life for 28 years, and I’m excited to meet my cousin’s kids.

This weekend, I once again trekked to the annual meeting of London Conference. This year, the event was in Aylmer, and I was attending as a YATS participant, but also had been asked to be part of the tech team, comprised of myself, Chris and Gord.

I’m simply going to make my comments as bullets, I don’t have a lot of insight into the theme and such.

• Presentation software: One person did all the worship slides in Corel Presentations, an uncompatible piece of software. It was a pain, because her computer didn’t take to projectors as well as the other laptops we had on hand, and we didn’t have time to re-do all those slides.
• Presentations in general: People need to stop using ridiculous text and transition effects in PowerPoint, or anything else. They detract from your message. Also, they often don’t port well to OpenOffice
• Our unwillingness to use Office: Bad idea. Sometimes you can’t fight the system. Open source rocks, but most people have yet to join the revolution.
• The theme: Enh. Good in theory, didn’t really translate into awesomeness unfortunately
• The facility: Really nice but didn’t work. The lighting was too dark and put us to sleep, the arena was too large for the plenary. Food was awesome.
• The music: I didn’t feel it. The songs were fine but weren’t delivered with enthusiasm. Music breaks were used by the delegates as coffee breaks and everyone just walked out in the middle of them
• The overall mood: People are scared of the future. Churches closing and numbers shrinking. It’s sad.
• YATS: We had new people this year which was cool. I’m not sure if we were welcoming or not, and I’m not sure if we’ve gotten too serious over the years.
• YATS II: I’m not feeling the leadership the last couple of years. They’re sweet people but don’t really know what to do with the group. I’m not sure if WE know, either.
• The Kairos Video: I’m so sick of seeing it that I walked out while it was playing. Was apparently well-received. I’m not sure we did a good enough job being enthusiastic about the event.

More to come possibly…

Last weekend Alan, Matt, Fran and I went to see Spencer Gorge/Webster’s Falls Conservation Area in Dundas, ON. It was a very nice, warm day, and it was very pretty. Some photos are attached

Yesterday, Alan and I went to Forest for a friend from high school’s wedding. Other than some really crappy driving, it was a fun day. Adam and Kathie successfully wed, and I got to see lots of high school people that I haven’t seen since Lem and Brad got married.

Fun bullet points of the evening include, but are not limited to:

• Maggie getting stuck in a snowbank, then having the Forest police circle the block until after the ceremony to make sure everything was okay
• Trying to come up with Adam stories that were embarrassing to only him, and yet appropriate for mixed company
• Eating dinner with fun people from high school
• Watching Alan play photographer
• Playing with my new camera
• Mocking the short
• Falling asleep after 10pm