Let's Watch For Birds, Ok?

If you read Joanne's weblog at all, you know about the game her kids play when they're driving. They keep a daily tally of how many "punch buggies" they can spot and it's the three kids against their papa.

Anyways, our car broke down. When, at first, it wouldn't start we thought the problem was with the starter so we thought, 'well, who needs a starter anyway?' because we could jump start the car virtually anywhere in Halifax (provided we park facing downhill). So we kept using the car.

Last night Janelle and I went to the waterfront with Daniel and Katie, we parked our car on a hill and after a delightful walk along the harbour, we returned to our automobiles. It was then that the horrible realization sunk in that the problem with the car was in the alternator, or the battery, or the wiring in between. The car started but could get no power. It only made a little gurgling noise. We coasted down the hill and then Janelle and I pushed the car into a parking lot.

Thankfully, Daniel and Katie came back to give us a boost, and an inebriated stranger walking past also stopped to help. It turned out that was a good thing because he got the car started when I couldn't. He wouldn't tell me what he did though, and then he just disappeared. He was probably an angel or something.

Anyways, as a consequence, Colin picked us up for gospel meeting tonight and on the way there the girls played the punch buggy game. I was on Colin's team. As we neared our destination and enthusiasm for the game lapsed, Laurie turned to me and said, "Don't forget to look for punch buggies ... um, I mean birds."

dreaming of sakeji

last night i dreamed that patrick and i went to sakeji. in my dream, janet was showing us around newly renovated dorms, and showed us our room, right in the spot between janette's room and the boys' dorm - in my dream, this space was janet's living room, and she was giving it up for us. we put our stuff down and went back to the main sitting room, where we had snacks and chilled with the staff, and could see the kids playing outside. more and more staff kept coming into the room and i was thinking - oh no, there are so many people here, we should have saved our money and bought tickets when there was a shortage! i wonder if we can return them? but then i realized, having already used the tickets, there was no way we could return them (thinking in dreams is a whole other ballgame). i noticed that the kids playing outside had all become really fat - had all gained a hundred pounds at least and i couldn't recognize any of them, except for busiwa, who was still skinny, sitting by the window of the main sitting room, begging for snacks. margie was trying to share with her, without making it obvious. then patrick and i went to bed, and i actually woke up from my dream, but looking at the closet doors in our new apartment couldn't figure out what they were - my brain was still back at sakeji, and i really really thought we must have actually gone to zambia, and it wasn't a dream after all, and at that moment i must have drifted back to sleep and thought i had a conversation with patrick about really being in zambia, and he assured me that, yes, we really were there.
it was pretty surprising, and disappointing, to wake up for real when the phone rang.
boo.

More From Little Caeser's

I dropped a large pizza on myself. I was trying to get it into a box, but the pan was sticky and the pizza wouldn't slide off it and into the box, so I gave it a vigorous shake and the scalding hot pizza landed on my apron and the front of my pants. ugh. I tried to catch it, save it with my hands, but it was still very hot and the sauce burned my fingertips. It slid down my apron and plopped face-down on the floor, except for a few slices that fell into the box. We get to eat these mistakes but I think that if, every time we make a mistake, we get rewarded with free pizza, the mistakes won't stop happening.

Last night I waited on a lady who wanted two sets of wings. Generally we only keep one set of wings ready in the hot box (at least, as far as I know) so I neglected to check and told the lady that it would be a five or six minute wait for the wings because they needed to be prepared. This upset her because she didn't have five or six minutes (to me, she probably would get stuck in traffic on her way home and lose at least that much time anyway, but that's inconsequential). She pointed to our sign that advertised Little Caeser's Wings as Hot and Ready, complaining that it was false advertising. I thought of explaining to her the economic reasons for keeping only one set of wings Hot and Ready, but instead I apologized and offered to let her talk to my manager about it. She said, "Just give me my money back," which I did.

Later Joanne told me that there was actually two sets of wings in the hot box. I guess I learned to make sure and check every time instead of assuming.

We had a fund raiser on Wednesday and the store was packed out. It was crazy, Kerri and I were on cash, taking orders. For the whole two to three hours I had a stiff panicky sensation in my gut. I was SO glad to be finished.

Colin and Joanne are Awesome

I was working an afternoon-evening shift today, from two to ten. It's pretty long, but we were busy pretty much the whole time and even exceeded projected sales by three hundred, which is a rare occurence.

Anyways, it's pretty common knowledge among the staff of Little Caeser's that our delivery company, Niteflight, is terrible. Joanne says they're evil. They lie to us all the time, and they're always late.

Tonight, just about the time when Colin was leaving, a Niteflight driver arrived to take a delivery but he wanted to carry the delivery in a Swiss Chalet bag. Colin wouldn't allow it, so the driver angrily returned to his car to fetch a plain red bag. He dropped it on the counter and said something like, "Is this one okay?"

"Yes, it is," Colin replied. "Why didn't you bring that one in the first time?"

The driver just said, almost shouted, "Just give me the food."

Colin doesn't take attitude from anyone. He pointed to the door and said very evenly, "Get out of my store."

The driver put up a bit of a fight, but Colin insisted, "Get out of my store."

"Come on outside, then!" the driver said.

The man just wouldn't leave the store, he kept asking Colin to come outside so they could fight it out in the parking lot and Colin kept asking him to leave. Finally Joanne came around the corner and pointed to the door, "Get out, just get out!"

When the man resisted, she said, "Get out or I'll count to five like I do with my three year old!" And the man left.

Did I mention that there were customers in the store? A lady remarked that Colin and Joanne handled that very well.

Colin and Joanne are Awesome.

Earlier this evening a lady came in while Kerri was on cash and told her, "You guys need a serious attitude adjustment; you're so rude to your customers!"

We get all kinds of weirdos.

Little Caeser's

So, Good Morning.
I now work at Little Caeser's Pizza and it's quite the trip. For the past week or week and a half I've been learning how to run the cash register. I can't say I enjoy it but it makes time pass pretty fast and I get to see all kinds of people.

My funniest experience was on my first day when three greasy men came in together and the first came to the counter and put in his order. Before I could take it in, the second man came behind him and started ordering too. I said, "Wait, is this all for one bill?" and the second man said, "No, he's paying for his own," gesturing to the first man dismissively. "Well, I have to take the orders one at a time," I said. "But you already took his," the second man whined. I laugh about it now but it was crazy at the time. I ran back to Joanne: "Can you come help me?" I wailed, "I'm really confused and I don't know what to do!"

Joanne is really helpful and great to work for. She likes showing me how to do things and that's pretty awesome. Colin is helpful too, he likes to show me how to do things too, but something tells me that he's mainly just showing off. He's a little bit crazy. But in a good way because yesterday the store had an inspection and we scored 99%. The inspector said that's the highest score he ever gave out. Colin was dancing around the store for the rest of the night.

One day Marcella and Laurie were there and poppa was going to let them make their very own pizza. How exciting! Laurie looked proudly up at Janelle, smiling like a little nut job, showing the massive gap in her front teeth, she said, "We're gunna make our own pista!"

So anyways... maybe you've noticed the small changes to our blog system thing. I've added two blogs: Janelle and I have consolidated our 'deep thoughts' into one blog called "Thinkings by Patrick and Janelle." I've also added a blog that I will update whenever I am inclined to, on which I will post, for your pleasure and criticism, whatever I happen to be working on. This post is called: "A Work in Progress."

Have a good one.
-Patrick

september 11

finally, after much dashing around, i registered for classes and went to two of them! (at first i thought i couldn't attend this term, turns out i can, so i registered late). it's so nice to be back at the mount, hanging out with old friends and meeting new ones - this is a happy, friendly school.
i just got out of a class called contemporary moral problems. i'm interested already. my prof isn't a proponent of moral relativism, for which i am truly thankful. i just couldn't handle a year of swallowing (or debating) that. it's so ridiculously unsupportable.
the staff in the registrar's office are so nice, i hang out up there just for fun. the ladies always decorate it, have dishes of candy, and share their jokes. i'm so so happy to be here.
last night, a bunch of us got together to listen to hell's best kept secret - it's a great message, easy to download and listen to ... it really helps you know how to share the gospel, the relevence of the gospel, and to focus on the core of the good news - we're saved from our sins! not saved in order to get a happy life, emotional fulfillment, and no hard times. Jesus came and provided salvation because when our sins are judged, we'll go to hell without Him. if we have Him, He took the punishment already, and we're forgiven. it's a really great message - ray (the preacher) is funny, and realistic. we snacked afterward - katie and daniel brought yummy crackers with crab & cream cheese dip, and laura helped me decorate a cake. esther donated apple pie and nachos, sniech brought ice cream ... mmmm yummy. it was a great night.
well that's the latest!

we're back!

we've landed in halifax, nova scotia and moved into a nice little two bedroom apartment near the container terminal and mount saint vincent university. we're loving it. (the second bedroom assures we have room for visitors!)

our apartment is on a hill overlooking halifax. we can't really see the ocean from here but we do have a fair view of both the macdonald and mackay bridges. we can also see some construction on the waterfront and a stack from the oil refinery across the harbour. aside from that, almost everything else is trees. it's a very nice view.

janelle will be commencing classes this fall at msvu while i upgrade my high school diploma, since i'm now eligible to graduate from lakehead university with a degree in english. i'm also working at little caeser's pizza with brother-in-law colin.

that's all for now, i will post more later.