Tuesday

  • Surveyed the 80 possibilities in this week's task queue and selected 12 for possible accomplishment today. Eventually crossed off eight, with four kicked down the road.
  • Brief catch-up with the Archdeacon, after both of us have been absent from the office for a while.
  • Morning Prayer in the cathedral.
  • Since so much of my ministry requires automobile travel, the dioceses purchases, owns, and maintains the YBNBmobile. The current iteration, a 2011 Hyundai Santa Fe, has accumulated nearly 80,000 miles on the odometer, so the Treasurer informed me a few weeks ago that it's time to start looking. (He socks away a certain amount each year toward this purpose.) If I had the sort of staff that some of my colleagues in other (larger) dioceses have, I could say to one of my minions, "Please go buy a car for me." But, alas, I have no minions. So I've been doing my research and preliminary shopping and have pretty much decided on what I'd like. I shared the info with the Treasurer, then spend the rest of the morning at a dealership trying to make it come together. With the access to pricing information that consumers have now via the internet, there isn't nearly as much haggling and gamesmanship as there used to be; it's all pretty straightforward price-wise. Availability, on the other hand, is trickier. There wasn't a vehicle with the specifications I need within a three state radius. So we're going to have to either order one from scratch from the factory, or intercept one already on the assembly line destined for another dealer. Tomorrow should tell the tale which way the breaks out, but, in any case, I'll have to wait 2-4 weeks for a new vehicle ... which is no big deal, since I'm pretty content with what I've got. Now, I need to own the fact that the car I'm getting bears a "status" nameplate (BMW). By default, I'm averse to such things, so an explanation to the faithful of the diocese is in order: It's all about safety, reliability, efficiency, and comfort--more or less in that order. Some of the technology that is available now on "luxury" makes (like blind spot detection) could help save my life, so I'm going to say it's worth it. BMW also has excellent ratings for VOC (volatile organic compound) emissions ("new car smell"), to which Mama Askofu Brenda is extremely sensitive, so there's a health concern as well. But I'm still probably going to be slightly embarrassed pulling into church parking lots in that sort of car. 
  • Lunch from KFC, eaten at home.
  • Dealt with a couple of administrative/pastoral issues, one pertaining to an upcoming ordination, and other pertaining to a potential aspirant to Holy Orders.
  • Reworked, refurbished, and printed a homily used in a prior year for use this Sunday at Redeemer, Cairo.
  • Took care of some Nashotah-related business.
  • Processed some emails that arrived after I established the task queue. Some elicited an immediate response; others were assigned a place in line.
  • More thorough debriefing with the Archdeacon on some pending matters.
  • Evening Prayer in the cathedral.
  • Nice long walk after dinner and before regular financial chores.

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