From the Desk 5/6/2008

I slept well after my elaborate, but not late into the evening, Cinco de Mayo celebrations. I remembered as I was about to walk out the door that a group of us was leaving right after work to go hike Kennesaw Mountain. Apparently there is a group that goes hiking at least once a week after work so I am excited that the "hiking season" has officially begun (although Jubin would agree with me that there is no off season for this outdoor activity). Before Vicki arrived for the day we needed to move 2 tables out of the workshop room so we did the only logical/humorous thing that Mike and I could think of. We stacked the tables in front of her door and placed a sign on the that read: "Office Space For Lease. Call Vickie for details". She kept the sign on her door all day, which made me feel accomplished at 9:00am.

I worked extensively on brainstorming names/themes for the new customer loyalty program. I explored everything from "Operation: Education" to "The Hall Pass" and "Extra Credit". These last two were probably my favorites and the last one came with some assistance from Aimee, one of the regional managers. These two options were definitely the most marketable in terms of putting on paper and generating interest, but they have a long way to go as I must compare them to the rules I have established for making this program successful to see if they fit. I ate my left over Nachos Tostadas from Friday's last night for lunch along with some tortilla chips. Does it seem odd to anyone else that I ate Mexican food the day after Cinco de Mayo? Well, maybe its just me then. I also worked on new name badges for all the employee as we are wanting to re-vamp their appearance and add an element of history of the company at the same time. I hit a creative brick-wall around 2:00pm and did not recover for the rest of the day. I resigned myself to work on less creative tasks such as updating the marketing calendar and making notes on certain events that need to be planned earlier next year. 5:00 rolled around and it ended up that only Carmen and I could go hiking (Mike aka. dad couldn't come and Stacy was busy), so not to let the others spoil our fun we went.

Kennesaw Mountain State Park is located about 10 minutes from The School Box so I feel that I will be exploring the park after work quite often. We parked and Carmen warned me that she was not in as good of shape as she used to be so we might have to take some breaks. I said I was just glad to be hiking so we could go at whatever pace she desired. It was good to go with just Carmen. I got to learn more about her, her kids, her husband and the office politics system. We made pretty good time climbing up the steep path toward the peak of the mountain. It only took us 26 minutes to reach the summit and only took 22 minutes going back down. The views from the top were breathtaking. Looking one way you could barely see Stone Mountain off in the distance, but downtown Atlanta was clearly visible. The other direction you could see McCollum Airfield and if you looked carefully the School Box shopping center. I have determined that when you people come visit me we should go hike this some time. It isn't the most difficult trail, but it is all up hill to the top, but that makes the descent that much easier. We got back to the visitors center and I discovered a poster seeking volunteer to help on the second Saturday of every month from 8:30 -1:00 to help clear and maintain the trails in the park. Perhaps I will join the nice and elderly looking men in the pictures one time. Carmen dropped me back at my car at work and I went home for some food.

I ate some dinner while watching a couple of episode of Two and Half Men. I then finished up my last load of laundry for the week and sat down to pay some bills. I was sifting through emails when I got one from Carmen saying that Mark, her husband, had cleared her to go hike again tomorrow and this time Mike would really try to be able to join us. That news alone made me look forward to tomorrow (too bad work gets in the way of hanging out with friends, huh?). I paid some bills and then went to work on catching up on sleep that I missed this past weekend in K-town.

Meditation for the day: Exodus 19:17 " Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain."