Living Newsletter

Date: 01/08/99

Greetings to everyone:

Back in the saddle again! My wife and I returned from Montana where we spent a few days closing up our house for the winter weather. When we left to come to San Diego we left in such a rush that I did not take time to drain the water pipes and otherwise winterize the place. In December our neighbors informed us that the temperature fell to -30 degrees Fahrenheit -- very dangerous temperature for the plumbing in a house which is not occupied! Our neighbors turned up the thermostat so that the heater would keep the house warmer, and thankfully the pipes did not freeze and burst. I spent a day adding insulation around the pipes, then drained them for good measure just before we left.

We are in the process of taping and duplicating sermon tapes and developing our Video System again. Most of you realize that we were without proper addresses and a proper fulfillment mechanism for quite a time, and are still working out of some deficiencies. We expect to have everything in hand by the end of this month. Please notify us if you are not properly serviced, as that is how we will know our oversights.

After looking at a number of office facilities we have signed a lease with the owner of "The Courtyard" on Rancho Bernardo Drive. This is the building we leased four years ago last May. The board leadership has vacated the upstairs offices of the courtyard for monetary reasons, so we have decided to lease the space which contains the recording studio, private offices, and a large work area which we will compartmentalize with work-stations.

Mr. Meredith and Mr. Mario Hernandez recorded two programs each this week, and Mr. Meredith was very pleased with the professionalism of the staff. It now appears that we are going to derive considerable savings by utilizing this means of taping the telecasts. Mr. Meredith seems very excited about this and other developments and is in the process of writing to the membership. I expect that his letter will be mailed early next week.

I will conclude with an amusing anecdote which someone passed on to me this week. It seems two autos collided at an intersection. The driver of each car crawled out of their totally mangled vehicles - one a woman, the other a man. The woman opined that since they were both uninjured, and she was a woman and he was a man that God must have intended that they meet -- even by such a terrible accident. The man agreed. Then the woman reached into her car and found a bottle of wine -- which had survived the terrible crash unbroken. "Here is a bottle of wine -- we should celebrate our new relationship," she said, handing the bottle to the man. He obligingly drank half of the bottle, then handed the remainder to her saying, "you are absolutely right -- we should drink to our new relationship." Where-upon she replied, "Well, I think I'll wait until after the police come to investigate the accident."

Moral of the story? People who are "too generous and nice" do not always have your best interest at heart!

Have a good Sabbath.