Monday Happenings

Returning from our meeting yesterday we spotted a sign advising us that tomorrow the fire alarms of our condo complex would be tested. We were told not to worry about running to safety. There is of course a level of assumption in such an instruction rendering it slightly dubious, but we got the point.

It was around 10:00 a.m. when the alarm went off for about 15 seconds. A short while later a man rang our bell to ask if our own alarm had sounded and I was pleased to report it had, and resoundingly so. He left content.

Fifteen minutes later the alarm blasted again and persisted. We went outside and saw the man who rang our bell hurrying along with a couple of white-jacketed technicians. He held up his index finger for me offering the traditional "Just a minute!" message.

The alarm was too loud to endure for what we knew

would be much more than a minute.

We waited downstairs in the parking lot. The alarm howled on and on. The Just-a-Minute man and his white-coats scurried about, failing to inspire an impression they understood the problem. Carol and I distanced ourselves from the pandemonium by going for walk down by the river. When we returned twenty minutes later the uproar had stopped.

We went to sit and read by the pool. After a few pages I looked up to see a transformer moving in the sky. It hung on a cable from the lofty arm of a crane. Here are the photos ...

 I got my iphone into camera mode just before the

transformer descended out of sight.

The crane was stationed in front and swung the

transformer over the roof.

I must confess my confidence in the stability of cranes has long been less than zero but this operation proceeded without mishap. But why was this done so soon following the fire alarm problem? We were not notified this was going to happen. Did the desperate fire alarm technicians fail to find any way of shutting off the abominable noise? Did they have to resort to firing a bazooka at the local transformer? We may never know.

Visiting

Yesterday Carol and I stopped by the condo of Pietro and Lina Graziosi (for those unfamiliar, they are our son Robin's mother- and father-in-law) and they boarded our Toyota for the ride to Santino and Nina Salvadore's condo. (For those unfamiliar, they are publishers in our congregation back home).

The ride was over an hour and brought us to a condo complex in a very pleasant area.

Carol and Lina approaching the complex with Pietro taking the lead.

We received a warm welcome. And took a few photos as souvenirs of the occasion.

Santino holding open the door poses with Pietro.

Santino insisted on taking a photo of me "so you can show everybody you were up in the treetops in Florida."

Edwin and the treetop. 

I could have come up with a better caption for the above photo if the palm tree had coconuts on it.

The four of us were joined by another Witness couple living a few condos removed from the Salvadore's, Francisco and Carmela. They are also from the Montreal area. Some of us spoke English, most spoke Italian, and everybody spoke French. The afternoon was an ongoing mix of all three.

We were treated to a wonderful and abundant lunch. First came lasagna and wine, then meat, potatoes, vegetables, and wine, accompanied by a large bowl of salad, and followed by two deserts with espresso.  After a lunch like that one can forget about supper. The conversation also was stimulating and rich.

From left to right, Santino, Pietro (standing), Lina (seated in

front of him), Carmela, Franciso, Carol, Edwin, Nina.

For those who wonder who took the photo of the whole group the answer is, 'Edwin has his methods.'

After lunch Francisco insisted we take a look at his condo on the same floor as Santino's. Variations in design are minor. From the condos I've seen so far they all appear to have the same basic layout. 

And that is the story of yesterday.

Yesterday

Today is a quiet day so I'll report on yesterday.

We spent the day at the zoo in Miami. The weather was perfect, the park was beautiful, and seeing such variety of creatures is inspiring.

 I read a book about elephants a short while ago

and got to like them more than before.

The park required much walking but there were

abundant resting places.

We sat and watched the lions do likewise.

A sign informed us that lions spend most of their life lounging around, but when they attack prey they are extremely strong and agile. It would be wonderful to know their secret for keeping in shape.

We also discovered a couple of giraffes who were very fond of one another. Well, it's Spring isn't it? Close enough anyway.

An opportunity to photograph them side by side.

We stopped for lunch at one of the several picnic areas ...

... and competed for turf.

I even ran into a gorilla I knew.

I am pleased to report that, on the whole, the animals all seemed content, relaxed, well-fed, and at home their environment. Since it was a Monday the presence of fellow humans was unusually sparse. This added greatly to the charm of the park.

I call it a park because the real zoo is on the 10-lane expressways you have to travel to get there and back. One cannot go from point A to point B here without passing at least one fender-bender with attending police cars. The ratio is low considering the daring vehicular maneuvers one witnesses on the road. Those loud, whining buzzes that shoot by are kamikaze motorcyclists trying to break the sound barrier. You want to see rational behavior? Go to a zoo.

Weekend

Regarding the continuing tale of Larry, the man I met in the house to house ministry, Carol and I returned to see him Saturday morning. We spent an hour with him. A Bible study has been started. It will take some effort on the part of this man because he works at both a full time and part time job. When Saturday morning finally rolls around he's tired, but he has chosen then as his best time to study.

Later in the day we stopped by a mall for a few things and had supper in the food court. I left Carol sitting at a table to preserve us a seat and went to order two Teriyaki chicken dinners. I told the girl at the counter which meal I wanted, then said, "And I'd like two of those please." This struck her as funny and loud laughing followed.

This is not what I ordered but

it does resemble the person

who served me.

Then she asked, "But of course you just want one drink, right?"

I said, "No, I want two drinks. I am ordering for two people you know. I'm not planning to eat the two meals myself!"

With this realization the loud laughter started up again. It was enough to give new meaning to a "Happy Meal." 

I took a tray in each hand, looked around to see if the path to Carol was clear and without risk of bumps from others, and I walked away. Of course my balancing act produced another round of loud laughter from behind me.

I am pleased to report the two meals made it to the table without the slightest disturbance. I am not pleased to report it was kind of bland tasting. Teriyaki normally has a tang. On the other hand, if our Saturday food court meal did nothing else, it cheered up a server in a big way.

Back To The Beach

Another gorgeous day moved us to explore a different beach. There is beach after beach after beach here so why not? We struck out for Pompano Beach and arrived to find the main section overpopulated. Wending our way a short distance north we discovered a convenient parking spot near the shore and set ourselves up on an excellent beach with sparse population, as the following artsy photo indicates.

That's Carol on the left in a beach chair sunning herself.

A period of repose upon a seashore is a great inducement for meditation. Since today featured some clouds along with sunshine I refrained from the rigors of installing the beach umbrella. This part of the beach was a serene and happy place, although I know of at least one fish who would beg to differ. Not long after we lunched on sandwiches I noticed a bird, possibly a hawk, flying toward land gripping his own lunch. I did not have time to take a photo but the sight was practically identical to the artified picture shown below ...

 Not all fish get treated to

such a fabulous view.

On the road back bells rang, red lights flashed, and barriers descended as we approached a railroad crossing. We stopped with a front row seat to watch the train go by. To our amazement, drivers continued to dart across the tracks under the lowering barriers and despite the rapidly approaching howl of the engine's horn. You don't have to be crazy to drive in Fort Lauderdale but many folks think it helps. Fortunately we witnessed no collision.

The front of the train appears to be equipped and prepared

for daredevil drivers. Isn't that a car scoop in front?

Edwin Versus The Beach Umbrella

We arrived at Lauderdale By The Sea around 10:40 a.m. and staked out a spot on the beach. Perfect weather crowned the day with success.

The sign says, "Relax" and we happily complied.

We relaxed so much we didn't even bother to walk on the pier.

Our Spot of Shade.

The umbrella comes with the condo. I confess I have never installed a beach umbrella before in my life, not that the concept is complex. There is a large plastic screw at the base complete with grip handles to twist it down into the sand. Of course a Bible student remembers what the scriptures say about objects established upon sand.

You may notice a dark-colored tag on the left edge of the umbrella. It displays the brand name, "Wings." The product lived up to its name. A half hour after set up, it took flight. Fortunately the flight was short. Unfortunately it's race further south continued over sand, obliging me to give chase.

The solution appeared simple: drill the screw much deeper into the sand. To make this procedure manageable requires disconnecting the two poles holding up the umbrella. I discovered that a period of rocking and twisting in the breeze is a bonding experience for the two segments. I pulled and twisted and tugged to no avail. A kindly man ambled over and offered to help. He held one segment, I the other. Eventually we managed to dislodge their embrace.

It was now a question of whether it was prudent to set up the umbrella again. Would I be able to disassemble it? The kindly man had gone. The poles had to be separate to fit in my car. With the pieces reposing on the sand I mulled over the situation for fifteen minutes until a decision was imposed upon us by the sub-tropical sun.

I am pleased to report that (1) the second anchoring of the umbrella enjoyed complete success and (2) later, with Carol's no-nonsense help, the poles came apart far quicker than last time.

Other than that it was a beautiful beach day.

Lucy's Back

Lucy, our car's GPS device, was resurrected today. Snapping to life as soon as electrical current buzzed her microcircuits, she started spouting directions even before being fully booted up. She's making up for lost time. For the past two days she could not find a signal until a half hour elapsed. I had visions of giving her a decent burial near the duck pond, but no, she's back. Could it have been a temporary satellite problem?

Since they too are electrical devices

I wouldn't be at all surprised.

 After the meeting this evening a brother I had not spoken to before approached me and said, "Hello, Edwin." It puzzled me. I introduce myself as Ed Sheppard. How did he learn my name was Edwin? Well, he didn't. What he really said was, "Hello.    Edwin." He was telling me his name, and was waiting for me to tell him mine. I said, "Hello.    Edwin." As perhaps you can imagine, it's always a great pleasure for me to meet another Edwin. This is about the third time in my life it's happened. Edwin found it a pleasant surprise too.

And I've made a real friend with Qis. He comes over to speak with me at every meeting. He's a smart little fellow and very likeable.

Sunday Developments

Today was the day I was scheduled to give the public talk as visiting speaker. It was a very fine privilege the local brothers extended to me and naturally one hopes to do well.

The title was

"God's Eyes Are Upon Us." 

During the opening song I noticed something I had been hoping for. On Friday evening I had spoken with Larry, referred to in a previous post. He's the fellow I met in the public ministry fixing his car and who told me he wanted to study the Bible. I had invited him to the hall to hear the talk and he came in during the song accompanied by his 13-year-old daughter.

She looked older and some

mistook her for his wife.

After the talk I hurriedly found them each a copy of the Watchtower so they could follow along. It was a genuine pleasure to converse with this man after the meeting and Carol and I made arrangements to visit with him next Saturday morning and get the study going.

Sundays don't get much better than this.

Opportunity Day

This afternoon we stopped in a shopping center to check out a few things we were interested in - successfully. It was a matter of "Presidents Day Specials" ... worth a poke.

Outside Macy's a DJ played recorded music, loudly. At first I found it annoying but then I noticed parts that I liked and before I knew it I was into it. Not sure what happened to me there. It moved one young fellow to dance. I post a video that captures the spirit if not the likeness of the dancer. I "posterized" the video to preserve his anonymity.

The music sample here was NOT one of my favorites.

Postal Service Part II

What a mighty struggle and what an ending! Ten days ago I ordered something from eBay and had the pleasure of following its voyage across the continent online using the United States Postal Service tracking number. Finally it was reported as being locally "out for delivery."

Alas, it was not to be. At 4:00 p.m. tracking information read, "Not deliverable at this address. To be returned to sender." Had I made a mistake detailing the address?

I went to the local Post Office to see if I could intercept it. "You have to go to the bigger Post Office, 3 miles east of here," I was told. Off I went. After waiting in a long line for half an hour I was told, "You have to go to our customer service counter, next door down. And it closed at 4:00 pm."

At 8:00 am next day I was back at the customer service door with my remaining scraps of optimism. "Oh, that mail has been returned. The only thing you can do is see if you can intercept it online." I was given a card with a Web address on it.

Sitting before my laptop I brought up the Web site of the United States Postal Service. It directed me to enter much information and, with patience and hopeful sense of purpose, I complied. I clicked "submit" and received the response, "Your address does not qualify for redirection of mail."

The site provided a general customer service telephone number and, on my ever hopeful quest, I dialed. An interchange with a computer-generated voice ensued. In the end it said, "This mail was not deliverable and is being returned to the sender." I said, "The point of this conversation is to fix that." The computer responded, "I'm sorry. I didn't get that. To hear the instructions again please press 3." I respectfully declined.

I spotted another telephone number. It was for the local Post Office. I dialed. No answer.

Finally acquiescing to The Great Communications Wall of The United States Postal Service, I emailed the supplier to let him know his mail was returning to him and there was absolutely nothing in the world I could do to prevent it.

This morning we heard a knock on our door. Guess who was there. Guess what he had for me.

US Postal Service

We had business at the Post Office again today. A Post Office is a popular place in the USA. You might think they were giving away money. A line up of 15 or 20 persons is not uncommon and the customers do not come with mere envelopes. They carry cartons. And if the cartons are too heavy they shove them along the floor by foot. Clearly there is an abundance of things in the USA that people want elsewhere.

There is no shortage of Post Offices to choose from.

No need to poke about in the back of a Pharmacy.

As Yogi Berra reportedly remarked, "You can observe a lot just by looking." Some folks arrive with dilapidated cartons needing a new one, some need a pen, some require packing tape.

Things slow down when people mail boxes. Details like the sender's address, phone number, and the recipient's address must be entered into a computer. The hunt-and-poke method is frequently used with greater time devoted to the hunt than the poke. 

Whether one is dispatching a box or simply a letter, the purchaser of postage receives a surprisingly lengthy receipt with almost as much information as a house deed. 

In other news, Monday evening we had a visit by Santino and Nina Salvadore, their daughter Linda, and her husband Nello. We enjoyed a supper together as well as stimulating conversation about how each one learned the truth and what aspect was decisive in each case. Salvadore's are staying in their own condo about 40 minutes from us.

Sunday Public Talk

Today's Public Talk was about Christian marriage and I will share here a couple of counsel points I enjoyed.

When contemplating a potential marriage mate a person of course has to consider more than merely looks. "What happens when he drives you home? Does he just drop you off and drive away, leaving you there in the dark?"

The scriptures say to "marry only in the Lord." But sometimes we may hear a person is getting married, and ask to whom? And we're told "to Brother So-and-so." But he just got baptized last week. "Don't you think you should let him dry off first?"

I also learned who next week's speaker is going to be.
Me.

Lucy

 Last night I spoke on the phone with the man I called on last Saturday morning, the one who expressed interest in a Bible study. Let's call him Larry.

Larry suggested we visit him around 11:00 a.m. today. At 10:30 a.m. I began punching address details into our car GPS device that I call Lucy (Lucy in the sky with directions). With information carefully entered I double checked the destination with Google Maps on my iPhone. All looked good. Next, we departed.

Soon Carol felt Lucy was leading us astray. I began to feel this way too, but maybe Lucy had just chosen a different route.

Lucy announced arrival at our destination at 11:00 a.m. Alas, it was clearly not where we wanted to be. I looked at Google Maps again and this time we were way out of sync. I telephoned Larry to let him know we'd be late. Unfortunately I was unable to get through to him, but I left a message.

GPS is a great idea but why, every once in a while, does it go bonkers and lead one seriously astray?

Okay, I didn't need helicopter

rescue like some folks, but it

was deeply annoying just the

same.

By the time I got to Larry's door it was 11:30 a.m. There was no answer and the car he had been working on last week was gone.

Now we all understand the paramount purpose of an electronic device is to streamline things. When they mess up things instead it can be, and in this instance certainly was, highly frustrating. I could envision a trip to a hardware store, the purchase of one steel head sledge hammer, the placing of one GPS device on a large rock, and the transformation of it by kinetic means into a smooth, fine powder.

So far this has not happened. We simply drove back home while Carol coached me in singing the song, "Don't Worry, Be Happy."

How I Bought A Watch

Out on errands this afternoon we stopped at a store we knew from a previous trip to Florida, usually good for bargains. I was interested in a watch of a specific design. I not only like to keep abreast of the time, I like to do it in a color-coordinated way.

I found a table display of men's watches. Many designs qualified as candidates. The percentage of discount beckoned. Some watches ticked, keeping fictitious time, others were in a state of catatonic paralysis. Among the latter I found a specimen I would buy. I had merely one question. And it was a core question: Why is it not ticking?

I liked the blue face, the round dial,

and the metal mesh band.

No, the above photo is not the actual watch, but is a reasonable, not to mention handsomely photographed, facsimile. I asked a sales clerk for assistance. "Can you arrange for me to buy this watch ticking away like the others?"

She said she didn't know but would check with the store manager. She returned to report that pulling out the side button would start it working. I said, "Good. Would you mind doing that?" 

"Oh no," she replied. "You can do that only after you buy it."

"If I do that," I said, "and it does not work, then I will have to go through the process of returning a defective product before I even leave the store, won't I?"

"Yes," she said. "Those are the rules."

"But half of these watches are in fact ticking," I said. "How about if we just get this one to tick like his brothers?"

"The manager won't allow that, sir."

I replied, "I wish to have the pleasure of speaking to your manager, please."

Following a substantial wait the clerk returned with the manager in brisk march and in full business dispatch mode. "How can I help you?" she asked.

"I would like to buy this watch if you can get it ticking like its peers. Would you please help me with this?"

She took the watch, pulled and pushed the side button once and handed it to me, ticking. I said, "Thank you. I appreciate this," and proceeded to the check-out counter.

It's a fine store, but when it comes to delegating authority one can only wonder what makes them tick.

Sunday Monday

After the meeting yesterday I was waved over by two elders on the other side of the hall. I went over to them, curious what this might be about. They asked me if I had any public talk outlines with me and, if so, would I be willing to give a Sunday talk here. There are organized procedures for this of course but it seems they do want to put me to work here.

Today we went out to replenish some food supplies. In many stores there are warning signs that the shopping cart wheels will lock if you take it out of the store.

One front wheel is equipped with an

electronic device.

It implies that stores have been losing their shopping carts. It makes me wonder. Who would steal a shopping cart? Would they jimmy it into their car? Would they tow it away with a rope like a trailer? And what on earth could anyone do with a stolen shopping cart? I suppose there are those who would figure out something, huh?

Seen these on eBay?