From the Desk 5/8/2008

Today I woke up feeling a bit of fatigue from the longer hike yesterday. It quickly faded as I got ready for work. I made a banana, orange, raspberry smoothie for breakfast and it was delicious. I got to work and today seemed to drag on. Probably because I didn't have any meetings or big projects to work on.

I did get a chance to play around with iMovie for Mac. Dave had called me last night and asked if I could help him with a project in the realm of video editing. He gave me more details today as I was exploring the potential of iMovie to accomplish what he needed. I will be creating a picture slideshow that will be shown at the "graduation ceremony" of the 8th Grade class at Mount Paran Christian School (where Dave's son Michael attends and is in the 8th grade). There are about 300 8th Graders that will participate in this ceremony and I will compile 3 photos of each student, one baby, one childhood, and one current picture that will also display their name. It will be set to music and then a copy of the DVD will be given to each student. The new theater/production building has the capabilities to mass-produce the DVD I will create. I worked on some graphics for the new loyalty program card and chatted very briefly with Aimee about when we might get together to go into the details from their previous meetings on the topic. I ran to Best Buy on my lunch and picked up some supplies for this weekend's celebration of The Day of Mothers.

After lunch I worked on some wording for a future letter/blast email to the teachers and bookkeepers concerning the rules for the Georgia Governor's Gift Card that each teacher in the state will receive in July. We are offering the option for teachers to pick out and take home the supplies they want and then schedule payment from their gift card from the state or with their own personal credit card. This will help cut down on the crazy rush during the 9 days that the Governor's Card is active for use, and allow teachers who start back right at the beginning of August to have their classrooms set up without fighting through the crowds. The phrase I came up with was: "Take it home without delay and pay for it another day". Aimee and Vickie loved it. I also met briefly with a woman from Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church to get some information about their Road Race in October that we are participating in as a sponsor. She was very nice, and also very gracious for our support. I worked on a few odds and ins for the rest of the day and decided, as I was getting a headache, to have a day of rest from hiking. Mike and I will go tomorrow after work before I leave town.

I went by the post office after work to mail out Flat Stanley for Tausha. The line was about 15 people deep at 4:40pm (since I left work early to beat the rush) and there was only one window open. The worker was doing his best to move people through quickly, however, the people in front of me didn't seem to know simple things like that you must write an address on the envelope or package you wish to send. I finally left the post office at 5:15. Ironic how I was there later than I would have been if I had just stayed at work. I got home and was about to fix some dinner when I got a call from Stacy. She was going to fix dinner and wanted me to join her. I went over there and while she was finishing up some work stuff on her laptop I put together an organizer for her garage. I cooked the chicken with some tasty seasoning while Stacy made macaroni and cheese from scratch. It was a simple dinner, but was delicious and filled me up. We then competed at Jeopardy while eating some ice cream for dessert. I took out the trash while Stacy gathered up a goody bag for me of the foods she knew would go bad next week while she was in Miami visiting friends and family. I got to take home some bread, milk, cheese, muffins, and crackers to avoid them going to waste. Before I left I helped Stacy test out Cooper's new travel carrier. She figured it would take two people to coax him inside the carrier for the first time. Cooper wasn't really keen on the idea, but soon warmed up once he realized it wasn't a death trap. (see the semi-dark picture of Cooper's head popping out of the bag). I returned home and watched the new episode of Grey's Anatomy. After the show ended (which it was a good one) I packed for the weekend in Knoxville and the wedding on Saturday afternoon. I went to bed hoping the rain would stop soon so the ground would have time to dry if we choose to hike tomorrow.

Meditation for the day: John 6:12 " When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted."