Tuesday – 18 January 2011
Back in the work-a-day groove.  It’s sunny and… clear today. And it’s relatively warm, too.

Yesterday was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. For the past couple years, I’ve wanted to do something for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, but for reasons that pretty much come down to neglect and procrastination, I haven’t. But, this year, I did. I worked at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

When I got there, I met Bill Huntzinger, the manager of the ReStore. He gave me the overview of the store’s mission and told me to get familiar with the place. Twenty or so minutes later, I had the rough lay of the land and went back to find out what Bill wanted me to do. There was a plethora of doors and windows that needed to be sorted and moved into sales areas. That was going to be my job. To that end, I was introduced to Mike, another volunteer and I was put in charge of a group of volunteers from The Bennion Center at the University of Utah: Brandon, Drew, Jason, Ken, and Miguel. The guys were great – I explained what we were doing and they jumped right on it. There wasn’t any “Aw, man… I don’t want to do that” or slacking. A little later Dalton and Blake, a couple more volunteers, as well as Andana and Sam (both from The Bennion Center) joined our merry little band and the work just flew… as did the time.

After the Bennion group left, I worked with Mike, Dalton and Matt (more on him later) to clear out a couple of work areas and sort through some donations. Part of the fun of this was piloting a pallet jack – and I didn’t drop a pallet on anyone’s foot! Part of the “not as fun” was going through some donations from the former Roberts Arts & Crafts Store — there were LOTS of scrapbooking and crafting material. LOTS.

I left the ReStore about 3:30 or so. I had a great time and got to meet a number of interesting – and fun to work with – people.  I will definitely be going back there to volunteer… and I won’t be waiting until next year to do so.  I would recommend it to anyone.

On the way home, I stopped at The Train Shoppe. I asked about getting an older engine and a boxcar repaired; I’ll be taking them in on Friday to see what can be done. I also managed to walk out without buying anything new. (Besides, it’s only 10 more days until the train show at Thanksgiving Point…)

Last night, after dinner, SaraRules! surprised me with a trip downtown to see the Preservation Hall Jazz Band perform. It was part of the JazzSLC 2010-2011 season. It was a fun – aside from the 10-12 year old kid with a bad case of the fidgets – and a fantastic way to end a good day.

Back at home, I wasn’t quite tired enough to hit the rack, so I played a little LEGO Universe. I completed a couple of missions and also started building my property before calling it a night.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
As I mentioned before, one of the guys I met yesterday was named Matt. His full name is Matt Livermanne. He’s the guiding force behind TransWalk, the Transcontinental Walking Association. Matt became a volunteer at the ReStore after one of his walks (Wendover, NV to Salt Lake City) ended there. He told me stories of some of his encounters while walking – he’s met some really interesting and good people, as well as a few “less than savory” people, including one who got a Super-sized dose of “instant karma” served to him.

If you should find yourself at the ReStore, as either a volunteer or a customer, see if Matt’s there and have him tell you a tale of his travels.

Stray Toasters

Namaste.