From the Desk 7/26/2008

This morning I managed to sleep in until about 9:45, which was wonderful as I needed the extra sleep. I almost immediately began working on the reception video and was making fast progress on the project until I hit a snag. The video files that I had pulled over to my computer were not complete. For the last half of the clips I had transferred lost their sound or picture about half way through the reception. I was worried at first that the original miniDV tapes might have been corrupted or damaged, but I quickly determined that they were fine. I re-pulled the footage for the last half of the reception for both cameras. While that was transferring to my computer I went over to Stacy's to mow the grass.

While I mowed Stacy got out her clippers and gloves and went to work on cutting down the monster weeds that had overtaken her flower bed in the back and along the fence too. I was particularly glad that she removed the thorny vine from along the fence as no matter how much I tried I couldn't avoid getting scraped by it as I pushed the mower along the fence. It took me longer than usual to mow as the grass had grown a ton since the last time I mowed. I had to empty the bag 4 times by the time I finished, and what normally takes 20 minutes took 40 minutes! I had a bottle of water before returning home to try and finish the video. I ate a quick snack and then got back to my computer. I worked on the video until I finally finished all the editing and menu preparations around 8:00. I then realized that I worked on the video for almost 7 hours and was very glad when Christina called and she said she would come over. She stopped on her way and picked up food for us from Chick-fil-A. I had told her to surprise me with something from wherever she stopped. She chose wisely (read: Indiana Jones movie reference) as she selected a chicken sandwich with fries.

After we ate we watched the movie "Accepted" starring Justin Long and Lewis Black. It was a hilarious comedy that I had enjoyed many times, but this was Christina's first time viewing the feature. She enjoyed it and afterwards I showed her some of the DVD from my latest completed wedding reception. She enjoyed the band featured at the reception, The Max. They were a very talented band that played a stunning rendition of "Smooth" by Carlos Santa. After that we ended up watching the tale end of "Father of the Bride II" on ABC Family. I walked her out after that was over and we said goodnight. I was really looking forward to tomorrow as not only were we going to His Hands, but we were eating lunch at Red Lobster! I went to sleep after duplicating the reception disc and printing the labels.

Meditation for the day: Hebrews 12:1 “[God Disciplines His Sons] Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”