From the desk 6/20/2008

This morning I woke up after sleeping very restfully all night. I guess a good hike will make you tired enough to sleep well. I got up and finished packing everything I could until Saturday morning before leaving to go to Knoxville for the weekend. I answered a few work emails before I left for my detour on the way to work. I arrived at the Tag Office and was the 13th person in line when I arrived about 10 minutes before they opened. Their system at this office was much like the one I found at the driver's license office: extremely efficient and expedient. I only had to wait about 2 minutes before being helped. I did manage to get the title transferred over to my name, but due to a lack of insurance data in their system, obtaining the license plate and registration would have to wait until Monday. I felt accomplished even though I only reached half of the goal. I then drove into work and shot a quick email to my Allstate agent to see if they could re-send that info into the Georgia database. He responded not too long after that and informed me that after the policy is first in effect, the information is only in the system for 25-30 days and if the tags, etc. are not obtained during that time, then they have to re-submit the info. He told me I should be good to get the plate on Monday.

I got to work and then began working on some notes before our website committee meeting began at 10:00. It only lasted about 30 minutes but during that time we set out an idea for the website header concerning the GA Classroom Giftcard. We adjourned the meeting and then each went to send emails and reminders to the appropriate people to get some of the bugs with the website fixed before BTS. I worked setting on up the printing of the new teacher letters to be distributed to each county at the end of July. Once I got all the printer settings configured and the paper trays loaded with the colored paper, it was time to go to lunch. I heated up some creamy tomato soup for lunch while watching That 70's Show. After lunch, I spent the remainder of the afternoon printing, grouping, and packing the new teacher letters up for distribution. I only printed half of the flyers needed because I didn't want to monopolize the copy machine and get yelled at by my co-workers. I spent the last hour of work compiling the 112,858 names on our customer mailing list. On Monday morning I will have to de-dupe the list and sort it for preparation to send to the mailing house. On my way out the door I got directions from Chirstina on how to get to her apartment since I was picking her up for dinner and a movie tonight.

I picked Christina up at 7:30 and we went to the Tuscany Grille for dinner. It was a quaint little Italian restaurant with delicious food, dim lighting, and a cozy atmosphere. I had some pasta shells stuffed with ricotta and garlic seasoning while Christina had the Ziti. We talked a lot about work and past jobs, music, and friends. After dinner, which ended more quickly than I thought it would, we returned to Christina's apartment to watch some TV to pass the time until the movie started. We watched Dirty Jobs and part of The Longest Yard. We went to Cherokee Cinemas to watch The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. It was an awesome movie with lots of new characters to enjoy and lots of battles. I walked Christina to her apartment and then headed home to grab what little sleep I could before driving up to Knoxville in the morning.

Meditation for the day: Psalm 91:1 “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”