That's MY Church!

Central Heights Church made national headlines when a section of the sanctuary floor collapsed and sent 50-60 teens into the basement 12 feet below. I was in Abbotsford at the time and got a call from my friend around 1/2 hour after it happened. A few friends went down there to see what we could see and also to offer help if they needed it. But they had called every emergency crew in the area and they had the place under control.

We praise God that no one was killed.

Central Heights is MY church. I've been a faithful attender and member there for over 10 years. I moved to Victoria last fall but when I am in Abbotsford, you will find me at Central Heights on Sunday morning, just to the right of what is currently a gaping hole.

At the time of me writing this, there is no investigation results released yet and no engineering report. But I'm an engineer (albeit and Electrical Engineer), and perhaps I can offer a little church history and my best guess as to the cause.

Central Heights Church is of the Mennonite Brethren denomination. It is a mainstream protestant denomination (not to be confused with Old Order Mennonites). The types of services vary between churches, but for the most part, MBs have been known to be conservative in their services. In fact the early service at Central Heights sings almost exclusively hymns, and has no "rock and roll" type instruments such as drums, electric guitars and bass.

Over the years, a new generation has been replacing the old generation at Central Heights. The difference can be seen between the worship styles of the first and second services. The second service is much more lively and almost charismatic (we even have flag wavers now during the worship). Anyway, I would say that where we are now as a church is not where we were when the sanctuary was built in 1985.

In the time that I've been attending CHC, we have allowed worship bands to use/rent the sanctuary for concerts. Doxa had a weekly praise and worship night for several years, which was often packed out with young people, not unlike the Starfield concert. My friend and I snuck down into the basement under the sanctuary during one of the lively Doxa songs. We watched the ceiling as it flexed/bounced several inches. Looking back, I'm sure the Doxa crowd was using the floor beyond the designed limits.

Basically it comes down to this: When they designed the sanctuary for our conservative Christian church, no one was thinking "mosh pit".

The engineers probably designed for what would be considered the worst case loading. More specifically: the pastor has an alter call and the entire congregation comes down to the front. That is a reasonable maximum load to design for.

But this was a different kind of crowd. In a mosh pit the people are packed much more tightly than in an alter call. And what if the people suddenly start jumping around (in sync no less)? Those two factors combined is a different kind of load altogether. If enough people jump in unison, you suddenly run the risk of pounding the floor until it just breaks apart under the load. Another possibility is that you may hit the resonant frequency of the floor structure and essentially "double bounce" the floor (as you would on a trampoline). In either case, you end up with structural failure.

The section that collapsed was being held up by wooden trusses that ran between two main wooden support beams under the aisles of the sanctuary floor, hence the "cleanness" of the break in the floor. It is likely the trusses were connected to the beams using metal hangers which were nailed into the beams. The force of the moshing crowd likely sheared off the nails or simply broke a few truss hangers. Other trusses probably failed in quick succession due to the weight of the crowd.

This is a shot of the concert before the accident. Note the size and height of the speakers and the lighting truss that ended up on the floor.
Here is a closeup of the lighting truss.

I too find it amazing that no one was killed. But not because of the floor, but because of the way the lights and speakers came down on the crowd. Look at the way those speakers crushed the pew. It was a sold out concert with lots of people and little room to move. Someone could have easily ended up under that pile of speakers (and those things are HEAVY). Also, the lighting truss is strategically sitting right on top of two pews (see first photo). There are some important things to note here: 1. The truss is preventing the right pew from falling into the hole, thus preventing injury to people below. 2. Had the truss come down even 6" farther back, it would have hit people on the head who were in the row behind. 3. Had the truss come down slightly ahead of the pews, it would have hit people standing in the row in front of the pew. 4. Depending on the order of events (not sure), the floor collapse may have actually saved some people from getting hit by the lights and the truss. The fact that a lighting truss (with all those speakers) was able to fall that hard into the crowd that big and not kill anyone is a miracle in itself. There had to be a whole lot of strong guardian angels working that night.

Missions Fest

I went to Missions Fest again this year. Thanks Bill and Louise for a place to stay! Chris, Tobias, Vu, Benz, it was a blast!

I like to see what's happening in the world of missions, and to be challenged in my faith. Truth be known, that is not the only reason I go. Part of it is to run into people that I haven't seen in a while, and in some cases, a LONG time.

Sometimes I go past the booths and wish that I was a missionary type person. I wish that I had a desire to tell everyone I met about Jesus. But I "test drove" the missionary life (see Jan-May 2006 blog entries) and I know that I am not cut from the same cloth as those that I met in the mission field. So my calling is a little less exciting. It is to be a "light" in Canada. But I will always support those who are in full time ministry. Those who have committed their life to going into the world to tell those who have never heard about the life that can only be found in Jesus Christ. (And if you are one of those people and would like to know more about my faith in Jesus Christ, please send me an email.)

If I could change conventions

In order to represent concepts in math and science, we use definitions and conventions that just "are". Nobody questions them because it's all we have come up with. But there are a couple of things that I was taught where I said "wait a minute, this is not a good convention!"

Take for example pi, aka 3.14159. It is the ratio of the circumference of a circle vs. the diameter. And we give it the unit of radians. But it takes 2pi radians to make one circle. Why didn't they make pi = 6.28?? That way, one pi would represent one circle (or pie if you will). So pi should really be 2pi. Wouldn't that make a lot more sense?

My other pet peeve is the fact that it was arbitrarily decided that protons would be "positive" and electrons would be "negative". This has caused all sorts of confusion, particularly when we talk about electrical current flow. Electrical current is the flow of electrons from one point to another, more specifically from a negative point to a positive point. So you would assume that the electrical conventions would be set up to support this. But everything is the opposite! Conventional current flow is positive to negative. So what exactly is flowing positive to negative? It's not electrons, but rather the absence of them! Now, if we said that electrons had a positive charge then everything would make sense. Electrons would flow from positive to negative (as we would expect) and a collection of electrons would mean a greater positive charge which would in turn produce a greater positive voltage. Electronics would make a lot more sense and this engineer would be happy.

Powering the Human Body

In the electrical world we talk a lot about how much power it takes to run things. But have you ever wondered how much power it takes to run YOU? I did the math.

1. Find out the Caloric intake for an average person (number of Calories of energy consumed per day). Say around ~2200 Cal (depends on a LOT of stuff but let's pick a number).

2. Convert to Joules (the standard unit of energy). This gives us 9204800 J.

3. 1 Watt is 1 Joule per second, so divide the number of joules consumed in a day by the number of seconds in a day. 9204800 / 86400 = 107W

So how much does it take to run you? Around 100W.

That's pretty good efficiency, considering what little you can do with 100W of electricity. You could run a light bulb, but little else. In my computer the CPU alone takes 95W. It really makes you think about how amazing our bodies are. Have a great day.

Fighting the Packrat

I come from a line of packrats on both sides of my family. Over the years our family has bought stuff and been given stuff. But as packrats, we do not get rid of old stuff. This leads to eventually packing it away in spare cupboards, drawers, shelves, closets or putting it in boxes and storing it in my parent's crawlspace.

A packrat's motto is "I can't throw it away because I might need it someday." Experience dictates this is true, but you will never need it UNTIL you get rid of it. My grandfather also had to deal with an additional problem: "Hey it's on sale, I better buy two."

I spent my early years accumulating stuff and "saving it for later" without realizing what it would eventually lead to.... clutter!! I would save things like it was being taken off the market. Our crawlspace always had room for one more box. Nothing really brought this issue to light...until I had to move. Oh MAN!!! Years and years of stuff is not easy to downsize, so I never did. But after moving I was determined that I would sort through all my stuff rather than just store it, because I had just moved into a condo with no crawlspace. And if I wanted a roommate, I would have to move my stuff out of the spare bedroom.

Thirty one years old and I decided to fight the inner packrat. Some people have a one year rule (if I haven't used it in the last year, it goes). I think I needed to set a 10 year give-or-take rule. Not great but it's a start. I sorted my post secondary education notes and threw out a stack of notes 3 feet high (and I still kept eight 3" binders of notes). There were boxes of comic books, wires, $26 in pennies, brand new packages of oragami paper from when my dad taught Japanese exchange students in the '80s, more wires, floppy discs, pictures, miscellaneous electronic junk, and boxes and boxes of miscellaneous trinkety stuff. Everything was sorted to one of 4 places: garbage, recycling, MCC or a new box of sorted stuff. I have never gone through that much stuff
in my life. It is VERY time consuming, so I might add that my recent job termination was very timely.

After all the sorting that I've done I've come to realize that life is too short to hoard stuff. We need to be generous and give it away or else we end up with more stuff than we know what to do with. If I haven't used it in 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years then I probably never will. And if I really need it again, I can always buy a new one.

I got a JOB

Mere hours after I announced to the facebook world that I lost my job, my friend Michael informed me of some engineering positions opening at his company in Victoria. I had visited this place last year and I was very impressed by what I saw. It really looked like they had their act together as a company, and I really wanted to work there. But that never panned out, and I ended up landing a job in Langley. Uh, then I was let go (see previous post).

I immediatelly applied to the place in Victoria, and after two rounds of interviews, they offered me a position in engineering!

So looking back, I see that God has a plan. Working at the job in Langley was a great stepping stone. It gave me confidence in my abilities, and enabled me to buy a place in Abbotsford and live away from home but not far from home. Had I moved to Victoria last year, it would have been a lot harder on me. Now I'm ready to take on living farther from my friends and family. That's God's timing. Ya gotta love it.

Canned

Well, after 10 months of faithful service, my employer decided to trim the fat off an already lean staff, and eliminate some positions. Mine was one of them. This termination had nothing to do with my performance, as I was relieved to find out. It was the weak US dollar that is mostly to blame since most of the products are sold to the states (and paid for in US dollars--all of a sudden it was very unprofitable to accept payment in US currency). Perhaps my jumping up and down yelling "in your face America" (as per the previous post) was a little premature.

Nobody likes getting canned, and I had just bought a condo in Abbotsford a mere 5 months prior. But I've totally felt at peace, and have been confident that God had something else planned for me.

Ya Dollar

I typed "1CAD in USD" into Google today and got this...


1 Canadian dollar = 1.006948 U.S. dollars


Booya! Take THAT United States of Not-Worth-As-Much-As-The-Canadian-Dollar!
I should probably take this opportunity to buy something from the US.

Roadtrip 2007

So I took a week and a half off of work and went on a roadtrip halfway across Canada to visit some friends that I hadn't seen in a while. The "while" ranged from a couple of months to 10 years. Thank you facebook. I've posted some pictures here, and facebook has more.

I discovered how devestating the pine beetle is. The green forests are turning red, as mountainsides of trees are dying. eeek!I drove through a lot of prairies....they're still flat.


As soon as I got to Winnipeg Myron, Don and I left on a camping trip on the Mantario trail.
The logistics required that we would have to do some night hiking.
The only thing about that is the trail is less obvious at night. So we got lost.
Actually it wasn't our fault. A beaver flooded the trail. Thank you beaver. Oh well, it was late so we hiked up a hill and camped on a giant mossy rock. It even had a half decent view (the other half was not a decent view--trees). AND as a bonous, we saw some awesome northern lights!!

What was not obvious at night was the fact that the trail did a jog and then crossed the beaver dam.
After a couple more hours we reached our destination, and our source of water, Caribou Lake.
When I asked about water purification before the trip, Myron and Don told me they had a "system". What I didn't know was part of their system involved using a sock as a filter--which later I found out was a sock that Myron had been wearing all day. But it was ok, Myron assured me, because he only used the leg part of the sock.
The second part of their system was adding 2 chlorine tablets to the water, which put the flavour somewhere between swimming pool and hot tub. But I wasn't complaining, I was too thirstly for that.

Our lunch attracted attracted whiskeyjacks. And so to affirm their presumption that humans=food, we fed them.
We had perfect weather. A wonderful hike.
-----
I visited the Lussier Hot springs on my way back. On the way out I met some mountain sheep on the road. The experience didn't have a very natural feel to it though, since all the sheep were wearing giant tracking devices around their necks. Must we tag everything?

When I think back on this trip...
This was the first time I had a place to stay every night of the trip. I'm so glad I went to Bible school, cause it's great having friends all over the place! Thanks to Fat Tony, Lyndon & Anita, Don & Steph, Steve, and Cory & Lisa for putting me up for the night. And honourable mention to Myron and Cyndi who fed me (steak!). It was good seeing you guys, and Michael, Andrew and Joel too.

I think it will be a long time before I take the crowsnest highway again. By my watch, it took me 15 hours from Lethbridge to Abbotsford. It's only 10 from Calgary to Abbotsford. So when travelling West from Lethbridge, as counter-intuitive as it seems, it's faster to go North to Calgary, then West, then South, than it is to go straight West. I think the problem lies in the fact that the crowsnest highway is anything but straight West.


Roadtrip Stats:
Total distance: 5800km
Total fuel bill: $337.68
Farthest destination: the Mantario Trail (on the MANitoba-onTARIO border).
Most expensive gas: Golden, BC 115.9
Cheapest Gas: Abbotsford, BC 91.4

Sandcut Creek

Despite Bronwyn's obvious pregnancy, Peter, Bronwyn and I went camping. We were trying to get into the interior of the southern island backcountry, but the logging companies have completely gated off the area (BOOOO!!!) citing it is too much of a liability to have people in there. (I say it's crown land and you can't sue for hurting yourself on crown land.) So our only alternative was to camp at the beach, which isn't a bad alternative.

Sandcut creek is named for the creek that has carved it's way through relatively flat sandstone. There is a waterfall onto the beach (which I forgot to photograph) and then it flows into the ocean. A great getaway for a quick camping trip.

Our cat is on the pill

Ok, well not THE pill, but a pill, about the size of a capital O. Our cat is a teenager in human years, and in his declining years he was diagnosed as having Hyperthyroid. I don't know exactly what that means. But basically, if he doesn't get his pill twice a day, he starts meowing a LOT, and that becomes very annoying. So we must feed him this little pill to keep him from going crazy. I call it his sanity pill.

A tip for those who have to medicate their cats: My brilliant mother, determined that our cat likes strawberry yogurt. So twice a day we crush the pill and mix it into the yogurt (a very small amount of yogurt mind you, it barely covers the surface of the spoon). The cat thinks he's getting a treat and we know that he will be sane for at least 12 more hours.

Reg

A tribute entry to my good friend Reg (don't worry, he's not dead).

Reg has been good friend and buddy since Myron went to Bible school back in 1995. We all went to the same high school, but I only knew Reg through Myron up to that point, but with Myron gone, I decided to make an effort to get to know this guy. A move I have never regretted. Reg has been a close friend, a confidant, and a guy I can do stuff with. Reg and I both like an adventure. We both like hiking and camping. We both like to do stuff spontaneously and it has been SO nice to always have someone to be able to get together with, either to go mountain biking or to just to kick back and talk about life, love and the pursuit of happiness. We have been able to challenge each other in our Christian walks.

Indeed our personalities are as different as night and day. Our interests only intersect in a few key areas. No doubt there have been difficult times of conflict (road trips :-P ), but fortunately the conflicts are short lived and we are able to move on and keep our friendship going. The fights are forgotten and the memories of good times live on. I have learned a lot from Reg. The things he values are VERY different than the things I value. He sees the world from a completely different point of view. I struggle to understand that point of view and struggle even harder to accept it. But it has taught me patience and endurance as we keep our friendship going despite our differences.

As I write, Reg is in Thailand. He is now a full time missionary, currently studying the Thai language. He is a gifted people person, and missionary work fits him like a glove. This is one place that I can't join him. He was called to Thailand, I was called to... well...Abbotsford I guess. His people skills and leadership skills have impressed me. It's one thing that he does naturally that I struggle to do. For crying out loud, he can be program director for an entire camp with one hand tied behind his back. I wouldn't even know where to start. It is those skills that God is going to utilize, to win souls to Christ in Thailand.

I miss ya man.

Why I haven't Blogged

Well it has been a time times half a time* since I last blogged. It's not as if my life has been so dull that there has been nothing to blog. Quite the opposite, which is actually one of the reasons why I haven't. As Stephen Colbert once said "Being me is a full time job, and I haven't missed a day."

I have blogged very little since I got home from Thailand, mainly because I talk to a lot of people in person. So those who really need or want to know what's happening, already know. Not to mention that it is a burden to know in the back of your mind that everytime you do something fun, you need to write about it (with pictures). Blogging can start to feel like homework.

I'll admit that facebook (a.k.a. "crackbook") has taken up some of my precious blogging time. And when there is the choice of sitting on the couch watching Simpsons, or blogging, well...Simpsons takes less effort, and therefore wins. TV is indeed a blessing and a curse. Not to mention that most of my adventures were with Reg, who is a very faithful blogger. No point in double blogging. (for more of my adventures see regisonamission.blogspot.com)

Another reason I slowed down on blogging is that it is no longer the latest craze, and in my opinion, it is slowing down (there are several blogs that I have read who's last entry was in 2006). Now people just use facebook.

BUT now more than ever, I have a lot of my friends are not within arm's reach. I don't see them on Sunday anymore, and timezones make phoning an exercise in coordination. My friends are peppered across Canada, and now the world. So suddenly blogging is actually an easier way to keep them up to date.

So I'm back in the blog world. And for the sake of chronologically documenting my life (for those that care), I will be retroblogging (writing about some past events).

*A biblical phrase, found in Daniel 7:25, Revelation 12:14 (NIV)

Kenyon Lake

I took a trip to Kenyon Lake on the August long weekend. This lake has an island on it, and it has a couple of campsites. Unfortunately a family was using it for the entire weekend and pretty much took over the entire island (grrrr). I was left with one small corner. But a private corner with a view, so I was happy. The one thing I've noticed about Kenyon lake at night is that it is QUIET. Dead quiet. The lake is in the bottom of a valley, so there is plenty of room for noise. But at night I'm sure I could have heard a pin drop from across the lake. There was not a whisper of wind, not a cricket, bird, frog or bear. So quiet it makes your ears ring. Yes I'm going on and on, but it's just amazing to think that a place that large can be that void of noise.

In the morning I went boating around the lake. Good times had by me.

Hillsong United

My new favorite Christan band is definitely Hillsong United. Their music is well written both musically and lyrically. And all their song's are worship songs and very singable. I realized the other day why I like their music so much. The musical style actually reminds me of Matthew Good's music (my favourite secular artist). So I was thrilled when I found out they were coming to Vancouver.

In May they had an outdoor concert. It was awesome. Great music, and a great message. These guys are all about praising God and seeing people come to Christ. Earlier this year I was at a Jars of Clay concert. That concert was very much about Jars of Clay, who acted like they were all that and a bag of chips, which they weren't. The Hillsong people do not have that arrogance. It was cool to see that.

Sumas Mountain

Reg and I conquered Sumas Mountain with our bikes. Ya we walked up most of it, but the way down was awesome!

BTW you can't drive up the whole thing like you used to. The gate at the bottom is open but they put a second gate half way up, which is before the lookout (in the picture) and is WAY before the old parking lot for Chadsey lake. (Booo!!)

Jon's Web Junk

There's just too much crazy stuff on the internet. But that's the internet, not my life. So I've created another blog just for the stuff I find on the internet.

Visit Jon's Web Junk and waste some time watching the best videos that I have found.

Oh. You may notice that the first posts were a few months ago. I retro-posted them so they show up in my blog around the time I SHOULD HAVE posted them.

Ember Updates

Better late than never. A brief update to the life of Jon for all the EMBER months.

SEPTEMBER
Returned from the New York roadtrip, and would do it all over again.
Hiked up to Chadsey Lake, first with P&B, then solo. It was so beautiful and peaceful, and I have no pictures to prove it.

OCTEMBER
Bushwacked quite literally for over 1/2 a kilometer with nothing but a GPS that was always cutting out because of the trees. But we made it. Our destination: Wye Lake.
Featured in this photo is yours truely, B and P.

NOVEMBER
Hot Sproings
Went to some hot springs with some friends and friends of friends. heh heh.
I'm way to lazy to be the 3rd person to write about it when Jess and Reg did such a good job of writing about it (more pics here).

Snow!
We gots the snow. 13 5/8" to be exact (I don't know what that is in millimeters, like a million). Didn't go to work for 3 days. Woohoo. Then again, I get paid by the hour (so doh!)

It was beautiful and poetic...
Abby had a little snow, its flakes were white as sheeps.
And everywhere Jon usually went, he couldn't because the streets
(were icey and Jon didn't have snow tires on his car).

More Snow!
A couple days after the first dumping we got 4 more inches, and there was much rejoicing.

DECEMBER

Jon made a new friend and updated his blog, and there was much rejoicing.

(bonus points to whoever knows the obscure rejoicing reference)

Hot Springs

Our final stop on the roadtrip was a visit to Lussier Hot Springs. They are outdoors, hot, and FREE. A nice ending to a long drive.

Ontario Tourism

We made sure we visited the most important Ontario tourist traps: Niagara Falls and the CN Tower.I was at the falls 10 years ago and I'm happy to report that they are still falling. Very beautiful. Reg and I paid the $11 to go in the tunnels behind the falls. For future reference, save your money. This is what you will see--not worth it. They give you a plastic poncho before you go down. I think the poncho cost $10 and the view from the tunnel was a dollar.
The CN Tower was nice I guess. We were up there during a storm and at night so visibility was not great. I walked on the glass floor. Man that's a weird feeling.