Jordan Rippy

This weekend, Kristin and I took a little trip to Montgomery to see my family. I have not seen them since the wedding and since my sister is pregnant I really wanted to go for a visit. We decided to leave as soon as Kristin got off work on Friday. The trip to Montgomery usually takes right at seven hours, but…

Yup, flat tires. “Tires? I only see one flat tire.” Please allow me to take you through the twenty-four hour period that led to this infuriating experience. Thursday I decided that it would be necessary to get all new tires on my car before we left on Friday. We had already planned to get new tires this month as mine were extremely bald. I decide to take a little trip to the “tire professionals” at Wal-Mart. They change all four of my tires in a very timely manner and I am very pleased with both the tires and the price.

Fast forward only twenty-four hours. We’re on I-75 heading north toward Alabama when a guy pulls up to me and shouts, “I think your tire is going flat”. I have not yet felt or heard anything when suddenly the steering wheel began to shake as though the car were responding to the trucker’s claim. I pulled over and began to assess the situation. The tire was completely flat. I popped the trunk and began unscrewing my spare. I would like to interject at this point to say that whoever invented the “donut” spare tire is a moron. The donut can hardly even be considered a temporary fix. —Okay, back to the story. so I unscrew the spare and pull it out only to be horrified by the empty space under the tire where the jack is supposed to be. I have never had a flat in this car and had no idea that the jack was missing.

Enter nice (but clueless) cop. He pulls up and I explain that I have no jack and ask if I can borrow his. He gets into his trunk and hands me the jack and then says, “Give me a second and I’ll find the rest of it.” To which I reply, “This is all of it.” To which he then replies, “You think?” At this point I’m kind of wishing he would just drive away. So I use his jack to change the tire. The whole time he is making comments like, “Wow, I can’t believe that my jack works on your tires.” Trust me, I am no automotive genius but I do know that jacks and lug nuts…standard. Anyway, we get the tire changed and we’re on our way at a top speed of 45mph (the highest speed the high-quality donut can handle). What luck! A tire shop just off the ramp! They get my car up in no time and replace the tires. Tires you say? I though you only blew one. Well, when they got the car up they noticed several nails embedded into my other rear tire. Unrepairable. They were in the sidewalls. So, let’s just say that I spent more that night on two tire than I had less then twenty-four hours earlier on four.

Update: I went to Wal-Mart and they refunded me for the two rear tires!

That’s pretty much the one word that can describe the last ten days or so. Last weekend I led worship Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at out-of-town locations. It made for some really early mornings and late nights in the road (as pictured below). I know all of you regular readers have been on the edge of your seat wondering what could possibly be keeping me from blogging over the last couple of weeks. Life. It’s been busy.

Things are starting to slow down. It’s exam week, so while the stress is not completely gone, the class schedule is decreased. I “triumphed” in my first of several exams today. It was class Piano II and it was crazy hard. Yesterday I practiced for hours upon hours. This whole semester has been a complete whirlwind. Not a whole lot going on right now.

Kristin and I had our first laundry-mat experience. We are in the market for a washer and dryer, but have yet to find one. While we’re on that subject, we’re also (still) in the market for a car…Kristin totaled hers a couple of months ago and we have been a one car family since we’ve been married. It has been very manageable since our schedules are fairly similar and Kristin works at the school. However, that will soon change when school ends this Friday.

Back to the laundry mat…It was good fun. It was very hot. Interesting how the laundry mat is like a community. The lady who ran the place said that she had known many of the children who were there since they had been born. Everybody knew everybody. Except us. That’s okay though. We accomplished our #1 goal which was: do laundry. Kristin had a separate goal which was: hold stranger’s children. She succeeded.
Here’s a bit more information about my Class Piano II exam if you care. If you don’t, stop reading. My class piano teacher is nice-ish. She’s not nice but she’s not mean. She takes piano very seriously. More importantly, she takes class attendance seriously. Even above that, she holds practicing the piano as close to personal holiness as one can. Anyway, she doesn’t believe that I even deserve to have hands because I don’t spend enough time practicing…SO yesterday I literally spent hours and hours and hours practicing only to fall painfully short of her standard of perfection in any of the areas in which I was tested. The good news is that it was my last piano class… …

More updates on life and exams to come. More pictures too. I am a firm believer that a blog without pictures is like a traffic cop with no arms. It’s there, and it’s entertaining, but it just doesn’t quite have what it takes to get the job done.

Kristin and I recently returned from a trip to Gatlinburg with some friends and family. We had a great time.

As a child I had a fascination with throwing eggs over the balcony at my Grandparents’ mountain home in Hayesville, NC. I guess I thought I would grow out of this tradition at some point, but I was proven wrong this weekend as me and the guys spent a good amount of time throwing eggs and produce off of our balcony. I am sure the management didn’t mind as it seems the guests before us had thrown over an entire rocking chair in what was no doubt an “impaired” decision if you know what I mean (Alcohol).
Below are some pictures from our trip. I know this post is long long-awaited so I hope you enjoy it. To all of you “everyday readers” of jordanrippy.com I apologize for the lack of blogging lately. I know many of you probably thought that I had died, or worse, lost my internet. Let not your heart be troubled. I am back.

THE FOOD

THE FUN

THE PEOPLE

*** OH YEAH, there was also this fearless raccoon who, despite the lack of opposable thumbs, managed to break into our garbage container each night.

Kristin and I have been busy moving all of her stuff and our wedding gifts into our new home in Lakeland. It has been busy/fun/draining/funny/frustrating and rigorous, but we have been having a good time. The journey started last night when Kristin and I filled a 6′x12″ U-HAUL and made the trip back to Lakeland. It was my first experience driving a trailer long distance. The trip took a little longer, but we didn’t run into any trouble at all. Today is all about unpacking and decorating. Getting all of our stuff into (one) place has really built the anticipation for our new life together :-). It’s hard to believe that our wedding is only eight days away. Well, I’m off to HOME DEPOT to pick up some screws and bolts.

…Friday…

I will be in North Carolina for the next couple of days on a last minute snow skiing trip with my brother-in-law / father-to-be, Bobby…