Palm Sunday Purloining

I was not very happy when I went to my apartment’s parking lot this morning. When I rounded the corner of the building, my eyes went straight to my car — and noticed that my rear license plate was no longer there. Someone apparently stole it overnight, maybe as an April Fools’ Prank, who knows. (They didn’t steal the front plate, though.) At any rate, I was on my way to the church to get a little more piano practicing in before the pre-service rehearsal with the rest of the worship team, so I decided I’d just deal with it after I got back from church. So earlier this afternoon I called the State College Police, and an officer came out to take a look and write down my information and whatnot. The cop said they haven’t had a report of a stolen license plate, but that they usually come in spurts, most likely the result of some stupid frat prank where they’re supposed to collect plates from as many states as possible. He said he’s report my plates to the NCIC (Nat’l Crime Information Center) as being stolen, meaning my tags are now “dead” and I have to get new plates, either from Wisconsin or Pennsylvania. The officer said I could still drive my car around as-is though and that it’d be fine, just that I should probably try to get new plates on it within a month or so.
So now I’ve been spending some time since then checking out what sort of rates I could get on auto insurance, if I do indeed decide to switch my registration to PA. That’d also mean I’d have to get a new driver’s license, and have my car inspected (and no, we don’t have mandatory annual auto inspections in either Minnesota or Wisconsin, unlike Pennsylvania and most of the rest of the eastern states). I probably should take it somewhere to find out if it’d pass, before I go through that whole process. If I elect to stick with Wisconsin, I still have to pay for replacement plates to be sent to me. I wasn’t exactly wanting to deal with any of this hassle right now, but whatever.
I managed to get the first draft of my first chapter (intro/background/lit review) of my thesis done on Friday afternoon! I didn’t think I’d make it by my self-imposed goal. Now onto the next step of my research or writing, while steeling myself in preparation for the sea of red ink that will no doubt grace my draft when Joel & Sue give it back to me.
Did anyone else catch part of the American Gladiators marathon yesterday afternoon on ESPN Classic? I let my brain rot for an hour or so watching it, it was awesome to be taken back to Saturday mornings when was 8 or 10 years old. Such cheesy 80s music and cheesy names (Lace, Malibu, Zap, etc.) of the steroid-enhanced gladiators, as well as cheesy bright-colored spandex, it’s great! Oh, the memories…
I’m in a 12-person fantasy baseball league with a couple people from church (“The Sid Bream Fan Club”), and our draft was yesterday afternoon. I picked 6th in the first round, and surprised some people by taking Justin Morneau (Johan Santana got picked 2nd overall, drats), and then following it up in the second round with Joe Mauer (I think that gave it away that I’m a Twins fan, haha). I’d say the M&M boys are a pretty solid foundation to build a real or fantasy team on. 🙂 I only took two other Twins though, Luis Castillo for a third middle infielder in the middle rounds, and Boof Bonser with my 23rd and final pick, to round out my 9-arm pitching staff. I had to wince when I picked up Jermaine Dye (OF, White Sux) and Mike Mussina (P, Yankees), though. I really didn’t want to be forced to cheer for anyone on my two least favorite teams, but they were probably the best players available at the time, sigh. And as long as they’re doing it against teams not from Minnesota, Justin Verlander and Joel Zumaya (P, Tiggers) better rack up strikeouts with their 100+ mph filthy stuff (Zumaya should also probably avoid playing Guitar Hero at all this season…). I can’t wait for baseball to start, MLB’s opening pitch is tonight!
The AFL (Australian Football League) also got their season underway this weekend. Unfortunately my team is 0-1-0, after the Western Bulldogs defeated the Geelong Cats 113-93. Bummer. But not as much of a bummer as not being able to watch any footy on the telly (curse you ESPN for no longer carrying the sport that made your network successful initially!). I really should look into buying DVDs of the 2005 and 2006 Grand Finals, I’ve been meaning to do that for awhile. I miss Australia…
The music for church this week had me a bit nervous. First, as I mentioned in my last post all six (not five) songs were new to me on the piano, and unlike other weeks, the music just wasn’t clicking with me this time; I was having a difficult time trying to learn it. Second, at rehearsal last night they gave me a seventh song which they hadn’t had the sheet music for previously (also hadn’t ever played that one before). Third, rehearsal last night really did not go well for me (partly from unfamiliarity with the music, partly from some of the songs going much faster than I’d practiced), I was irritated at myself that I was playing poorly. We were meeting at 8am this morning for another rehearsal before the first service, so I decided to get up early and get into church around 7am (I made it at 7:15, close enough, haha) to practice a bit more by myself. I still made plenty of mistakes during both services this morning and was kind of unhappy with my playing, but at least it was a bit better than last night… And thanks to those of you that visited my church to hear me this morning, I always appreciate it! Sorry y’all were disappointed with a distinct lack of palm fronds, though. Oh well.
With this being Holy Week, here’s some suggested reading each day (trust me, it’s not much), to help illustrate what the real point of the Easter season is (it’s not eggs, bunnies or candy!):
Palm Sunday: John 12-13
Monday: John 14-15
Tuesday: John 16
Wednesday: John 17
Maundy Thursday: John 18
Good Friday: John 19
Resurrection Sunday: John 20
Happy Palm Sunday, everyone! Hosanna to the King of kings and the Lord of lords!