Tonight I thought I would share with you all something that recently caught my attention while working out in the condo unit facilities. On the th
ird floor, the entrance to this room is right outside the elevator. You can see the picture to the left. Nothing too odd except for the little note above the door knob. What could it be? Take a look to the right...its the standard 'Please keep this closed as we have the AC running overtime in here' note. Seems fair enough to me, had I not seen this note I would have never guessed they had different thermostats between the hallway and the work out room. Okay...lets take a look inside...
When you view the inside of the workout room it is pretty standard stuff. A bike, StairMaster, Elliptical machine, universal gym and a treadmill you can not see behind me. Actually pretty nice given how small this condo building is - the stair master is in great shape and works well. Nothing unusual right? Take a closer look...on the door, abo
ve the light switch and by the thermostat. What could those things be? Lets take a look....above the light switch you see the 'no children under 18 sign' Again, this sign seems to make sense to me from a liability standpoint. You have to at least make an effort to stop children who could hurt themselves from working out in this place (although most likely this sign would not hold up in court after anyone, above 18 or not, dies while working out). Either way...the attempt is safe and I think it makes sense. However, this is where things get a little crazy....You can see below the close up of the thermostat. The only thing I can guess here is that all these things happened in progression. First, I would think the 'DO NOT change the temperature' sign went up. People, unable to follow the instructions, necessitated the condo management to place the large plastic guard around the thermostat to let everyone know they were not kidding - they really didn't want the thermostat touched. Next, someone in an intense workout must have popped the guard open and turned the temp down - but managed to break the thermostat. That's when 'the man' started getting a little upset. You can see the tone of the note clearly get snappy in the middle picture. But wait...there is more.
This next sign to the left can be seen above the light switch. Although good intentioned, it seems flawed. If you are going to leave someone a reminder to do something before they leave the room, best to leave it next to the last thing they see before they leave said room. If someone was intentional about looking at the light switch before they left the room, don't you think they would naturally turn of the lights? Am I blowing your mind? Well, agree or not, management must have felt this 
was adequate, and that everyone would see it. Problem solved, right? And they were even able to do it with a friendly 'thank you' - no problems here. Uh oh...look to the right and you can see the most recent sign that was posted on the door leaving the room. So... clearly someone still forgot to turn off the lights even with the reminder above the light switch so 'the man' had to up the ante. That being said, this note kills me for so many reasons...which I will try to address here1. This is a note with someone clearly upset while writing, but woefully unable to convey their thoughts in an adequate manner.
2. Given the lack of success in the past for leaving instructions to be followed (e.g., the thermostat) I'm surprised that 'the man' thought that THIS TIME a note with instructions will work.
3. The shear number of notes is funny in and of themselves, this is simply the icing on the cake
4. These are just lights, right? What is this really costing the condo association? 20 dollars a month I would guess for the extra time? Just bill everyone and extra dollar. Or, buy a motion sensor switch...I'd even install it for them.
5. Its awesome that the best leverage management has is not just posting this note, but declaring that it is PERMANENT
6. The ! on the end
I'm hoping to get time to type up/print out/hang up my response to the note in the next week. I'll fill you in when I do. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that as much as I have over the last week. Onto something more serious...Christy and I are both doing well. We had a chance to catch up with my aunt, uncle and cousins out in St Charles this evening, and to make things even better, my brother and his wife were able to come as well. Seeing family is one of the great perks about being in the Wheaton area a bit before we head down to Costa Rica.
One thing that not everyone is aware of yet is that I have been accepted to Covenant Seminary to pursue a Masters in Arts in Theological Studies through a distance program. The format of the program is great: You take one class at a time and it can take no less than 2 months but no more than 4 to complete it. There are lectures to download online and lots of reading with each class. You have a mentor and are paired with other people in the class to share thoughts/ideas and generally keep you accountable. After the class is done, you sign up for the next class whenever you are ready. It usually takes between 4 and 9 years to get a degree depending on how ambitious you are. I've already registered for my first class (Apologetics and Outreach) and have started reading some of the material to get a jump start on the work. I'll keep everyone informed on how it is going.
I mentioned earlier, I finished the John Piper book 'Let The the Nations be Glad' and I thought it was great. In summary the book is broken into two sections. The first is making the case that God is supreme in missions (makes sense) and that our primary goal should be worship. So, missions isn't a final goal, worship is. Missions is happening because worship is not. He then details out how prayer is a valuable tool in furthering God's power while working in missions. Lastly, he shows that suffering (in many different ways) is a very real and powerful model to help advance the final goal of missions. The second part of the chapter clearly lays out how Hell does indeed exist, it is eternal, Christ is the only way to salvation and people do need to hear about Jesus from believers or else they will be lost. This in total makes a strong case why all Christians should be interested and actively engaged in missions efforts. Each part of the book is accompanied by passage after passage of scripture backing up each point which is helpful - and it is done in a way where a lay person like me can understand it easily. In general, its a great book and I would recommend it.
Anyway, its pretty late so I'm going to get some sleep. Hope everyone is doing well. Until next time.
I'm hoping to get time to type up/print out/hang up my response to the note in the next week. I'll fill you in when I do. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that as much as I have over the last week. Onto something more serious...Christy and I are both doing well. We had a chance to catch up with my aunt, uncle and cousins out in St Charles this evening, and to make things even better, my brother and his wife were able to come as well. Seeing family is one of the great perks about being in the Wheaton area a bit before we head down to Costa Rica.
One thing that not everyone is aware of yet is that I have been accepted to Covenant Seminary to pursue a Masters in Arts in Theological Studies through a distance program. The format of the program is great: You take one class at a time and it can take no less than 2 months but no more than 4 to complete it. There are lectures to download online and lots of reading with each class. You have a mentor and are paired with other people in the class to share thoughts/ideas and generally keep you accountable. After the class is done, you sign up for the next class whenever you are ready. It usually takes between 4 and 9 years to get a degree depending on how ambitious you are. I've already registered for my first class (Apologetics and Outreach) and have started reading some of the material to get a jump start on the work. I'll keep everyone informed on how it is going.
I mentioned earlier, I finished the John Piper book 'Let The the Nations be Glad' and I thought it was great. In summary the book is broken into two sections. The first is making the case that God is supreme in missions (makes sense) and that our primary goal should be worship. So, missions isn't a final goal, worship is. Missions is happening because worship is not. He then details out how prayer is a valuable tool in furthering God's power while working in missions. Lastly, he shows that suffering (in many different ways) is a very real and powerful model to help advance the final goal of missions. The second part of the chapter clearly lays out how Hell does indeed exist, it is eternal, Christ is the only way to salvation and people do need to hear about Jesus from believers or else they will be lost. This in total makes a strong case why all Christians should be interested and actively engaged in missions efforts. Each part of the book is accompanied by passage after passage of scripture backing up each point which is helpful - and it is done in a way where a lay person like me can understand it easily. In general, its a great book and I would recommend it.
Anyway, its pretty late so I'm going to get some sleep. Hope everyone is doing well. Until next time.
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