Weekend Review

Greetings. Its been a busy weekend for me. Let me recap.

Yesterday I went to the nearby Chase bank all on my own--well almost. I had been shown how to get to the bank by one of my coworkers that lives in my complex. I suppose it was a little gutsy of me to think I could go to the bank after only being shown once, but I tried. At one point, after crossing a street and looking for a side street, I got lost and couldn't find the side street. As it turned out, I was probably only a few yards from it. Anyway, after going back and forth looking for the darn street, I finally frustratedly pulled out my cell phone to call someone from the apartment office to help me out. When I didn't get them, I do what I always do when I'm hopelessly lost and/or frustrated: pray and ask for God's guidance or an angel, whichever comes first. I should say here that whenever I've done this, 9 out of 10 times, someone approaches me anywhere from when I'm in mid prayer, to about a minute or two later. This time was no exception. Shortly after I stopped praying, a nice man came up to me and offered his assistance. He said he saw me walking back and forth and thought he'd help. I gratefully accepted and we began to talk about the immediate area. To make a long story short, he ended up walking with me to the Chase bank, which was not far away. When we got there and went inside, he asked me if I wanted him to wait for me and walk back with me. I started to say no, but then I remembered that this was my first try on my own, and figured, "Why not?" So I asked him if he'd mind, and he said no. While he waited, I was able to setup several bank accounts and take care of other business. 40 minutes later, we left Chase and made it back to my apartment. So, from this experience, even though I got lost on my first try, I made a new friend. We exchanged phone numbers and said we'd keep in touch.

Early in the afternoon, I went grocery shopping, which was interesting. By the time I had returned and put all my groceries up, it was 3 and I had had enough of running around. Not much else notable happened yesterday.

Today I visited a local church, Grace Covenant, which was interesting as well. I had called the church last week to request a ride with someone, and I got a call a few days ago from another single guy who offered me a ride. I liked the church all right, but was a little confused by the pastor's presentation style. In my opinion, if you don't like the presentation style of the minister, then its not very likely that you'll listen to the sermon. This man made some great points, but I thought he left some of them loose and didn't tie them back into his main theme. Plus, he used some PowerPoint slides during his sermon. I have no objection for using technology to complement one's sermon. This pastor though seemed to struggle or wander a bit with the slides. It didn't seemed like he mixed the slides in very well to me, not to mention his method of covering the content on the individual slides. I'm not an expert on this presentation stuff, but after hours of listening to professors in college use PowerPoint, some that did it well and some that didn't, I'd like to think that I've picked up a few things of what you do and don't do when making a presentation. And, just because I can't see the presentation, doesn't mean that I'm at a disadvantage. A good presenter will cover everything on the slides, no matter if there's a blind person in their audience or not. A good presenter does this by accommodating all the learning styles (visual, audio, and kenesthetic). I could go on about learning styles, but I won't. Also, for those interested, a blind person can make a PowerPoint presentation. I've done it for many of my classes and got good grades because of it.

These are just my own thoughts. Anyone who wants to dispute me or bring up constructive counter points is more than welcome to with the under utilized comments feature of this blog.

Anyway, I'm going to visit another church next Sunday. If I can arrange a ride, it will be First Evangellical Free, which is another large and popular church in the area.

After church, I went with my new church friend to one of those once a month luncheons that introduce people to the church. I thought that some of the people here did a better job of explaining the church's purpose and structure than the pastor did. After that, we went to get me some new shoes. I don't know why it is, but every time I go to buy lots of clothes (which isn't that often) or shoes, I always get the ones on sale. Not that I'm complaining. But, God watches out for me. Today was no exception. The shoes I ended up getting are usually sold for $69, but they were marked down to $49. Actually though, when I went up to pay for them, another discount was applied which brought the price, before tax, down again to $39. My friend said the shoes looked good, even though they were cheap, which you don't see that often when buying shoes. Also, I have flat narrow feet, so buying shoes can often be stressful. This time though, the shoes I got were the first pair I tried on. The store didn't have anymore in my size. I did try on another pair, but rejected them.

So, there's my weekend. Eventful but productive. Now, my only task is to learn more about my neighborhood and where things are, so I can do more things. But that will come in time. Stay tuned for further updates.