From the Desk 7/23/2008

This morning I woke up easily and for some reason didn't feel very tired even though I'm still a bit behind on my sleep quota. I headed into work and apparently my curse of influencing gas prices has returned. I bought gas yesterday morning at $3.99 and this morning when I drove by the same station it had dropped to $3.97 per gallon. So make sure to check my blog before buying gas and when I mention my oil-based purchase know that if you wait a day you can benefit from lower gas prices as they always drop after I purchase some. I got situated at my desk and then had a brief chat with Stacy about the 2009 catalog. We will be joining Dave for lunch today to discuss more of the details and I have been invited to join them as I will be helping Stacy with certain aspects of the catalog this year. I worked on converting the template for our new employee name tags from Microsoft Word to NeoOffice (an Open Office product) so customer service can handle the incoming requests for new employees' name badges. I also was caught by Dave and he asked me for the rest of the week to dress in shorts and t-shirt so I could help him working in the warehouse. I played catch-up on phone message responses that I had received from the past two days and that took longer than expected. Stacy and I piled in Dave's car around 11:30 for some lunch at Mellow Mushroom.

We discussed options for the 2009 catalog and conversed about a possible new specialty catalog for distribution in August of 2009. Once we returned to work I began sketching out some brainstorming ideas for a creative catalog cover for next year. I used the method of a word list that Professor Blakeman taught me at UT for how to come up with creative ideas that didn't stray too far from the product. (If you're curious I will explain it the next time I'm in town). I came up with 5 fairly solid concepts and sketched them out on my drawing pad. I also made a quick run down to Atlanta Business Circulators to pick up a box of the new catalogs to see how they turned out. I mainly wanted to put to rest a little paranoia that had crept into my brain over lunch about potential problems with the latest cover. I was not disappointed when I opened the box. I took a picture of the two covers (the one on the left I didn't design, the one on the right I did) to demonstrate the different direction I am hoping to guide The School Box in creative endeavors. I worked the remainder of the afternoon helping Stacy update the items with sale prices from the BTS flyer on our website so they would reflect the sale prices when customers were shopping. This was a slow process as I managed to finish one page in 2 hours. I have 3 more pages to go, but hopefully they will go faster. I headed home once 5:00 came about.

I ate a quick bite and then set the ceremony video I finished yesterday to render and burn. I also apparently took a quick power nap as my phone ringing woke me up after a quick 30 minute snooze. It was Leslie (from Howell Mill) calling to catch up since we haven't been able to get together for our usual "weekly dates" with Stacy due to the busy season. We talked for a while and then I got my daily workout in as I did about 30 minutes of Wii boxing. Christina called when she got out of class and she came over to hang out. We ended up watching "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" on USA. Once the movie ended I knew that I needed to say goodnight to Christina and go to sleep even though I didn't want to. But I knew that she had to work a full day tomorrow too so it was better for both of us to get some sleep. I walked her to her car and then said goodnight. I walked back into the apartment and crashed on my bed after a few minutes of checking emails for the last time tonight.

Meditation for the day: Psalm 112:5 “Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice.”