From the Desk 6/3/2008

This morning I made a smoothie using my own ingredients and amounts instead of following the recipe I've been using. (sometimes you have to have variety) I used non-fat vanilla yogurt, orange juice, and frozen raspberries. I must say that the flavor was overwhelmingly raspberry, but that was the intention since it is one of my favorite fruits. I packed up my hiking stuff and my small camera for a project with Mike and then headed to work. I arrived and began to respond to proof that had been sent to me for new entrance rugs for the stores, for the lanyards for the new name badge holders, etc. The office was also slightly distracted as Aimee had brought her dog to stay in Mike's office while she was out at another store for a mini-managers meeting. Her dog, Stella, looked terrified, but you would too if you had been spayed and had baby teeth pulled all in one day! I decided to leave the animal some dignity and not post a photo of her in her recovery stages. I spent more time today on entering names into our mailing list. (me thinks we need a better plan for entry than whoever happens to decide to do it...I'll have to work on that)

For lunch I had some Smart Ones Ravioli, which would not have been filling enough but Mike gave me a few of his fries from 5 Guys. I resumed entering names and came across an entry slip that made me stop and think....it was kind of eerie. The woman's name was Amy Taylor, and she lived in Tucker, Georgia on Smithsonian Ln. It struck me an unusual for not only the name, but also a place where a good friend used to work before trying to get a job in Knoxville again. What does it mean? I have no idea, but it seemed coincidental enough to mention. Later in the afternoon I followed Mike around with my small camcorder and filmed him demonstrating the way that Sum/It can be used with card access security in both a retail and warehouse/receiving environment. Once I have the link for the video that is posted on You Tube I'll let you know so you can see my extraordinary filming talents. (read: incredibly strong sarcasm). It was nearing the end of the work day so I changed into my hiking clothes and then Tausha, Carmen, and I loaded into Mike's car and we were off to go hiking.

We decided, since it was Tausha's first time, to do the loop at Burnt Hickory Rd. since it was less strenuous than going straight up Kennesaw Mountain. It was quite hot before we entered the shade of the trail as the temperature gauge read 93 degrees! It took us about an hour and fifteen minutes to hike the 3.5 mile loop. Along the way Mike and I had some fun such as throwing things into the woods to sound like animals moving about. I should probably tell you that Tausha is terrified that some creature will attack us on the trail and we will all be killed and eaten. This did not happen as I am still alive and writing this blog. However, it did give us some motivation for playing jokes along the way. We loaded back up in Mike's car (which was by now 103 degrees) and he dropped us off at the Box to pick up our cars and go our separate ways. I went home and had some dinner. I then showered, so I didn't smell like a bag of rotten garbage, and went to Super Target to do some grocery shopping. I talked to mom on the phone most of the entire time I was there, and amazingly I didn't forget to get anything I needed...food wise that is. I still forgot to pick up some sunscreen and supplies for the beach, but I will get those Saturday morning before we head out. I returned to the apartment, put away groceries, and then decided to go to bed a little early as I will be hiking tomorrow and Thursday.

Meditation for the day: 1 Chronicles 29:11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.”