From the Desk 7/31/2008

I woke up and even though I was sore and tired I managed to drag myself out of bed and go to the fitness room and run. Today was my last day (this week) packing orders in the warehouse so I once again put on shorts and a t-shirt as the warehouse has been getting warmer each day with the weather outside. I arrived and had to work with Mike for the first part of the day to update the header on the website since the countdown clock to the kick-off of the GA Classroom Gift Card had reached 0:0:00 and then began to count backwards. Mike didn't get in until 9:00 due to his checking on his home computer that all the stores were operational for tax free sales. He came in and we almost got a chance to update the header, but it seemed that every time we started to sit down he got interrupted by a computer emergency. We eventually used the time machine function on the Mac (which literally allows you to go back and access the files and settings you had from up to 6 months ago) and restored the original file, then updated the graphics and made it work correctly. I then went to the warehouse to help them pack orders. When I showed up to pack there weren't many orders ready, but I stayed and packed a few orders up before realizing that I probably was taking work away from someone else as there were people waiting to pack when an order arrived. I returned to my desk in time to join Stacy, Tausha, and Blair in the break room for lunch.

Leslie (from Town Center) and Dave went together and got Chick-fil-A for everyone for lunch. They soon realized that there wasn't enough chicken to go around so pizza was soon ordered to supplement the missing food for the hungry people that had yet to eat. I had a couple of pieces of chicken and the other half of my burger from Friday's. After relaxing briefly I went back to my desk to work on finishing the final page of item updates for the BTS sales flyer items on the website. That took about an hour to do the remaining page, but I was glad to get that off my plate. I also updated the sign posting the extended hours for Town Center as due to crowds they have decided to open at 8:00am instead of 9:00am. Since I mentioned crowds, I was truly amazed at the amount of customers we had in the store at one time. It was difficult for me to move form the back of the store to the front without having to stop and wait for people to move/get out of the way so I could pass. It was truly a crazy scene, but the employees seemed to be handling the rush with smiles and confidence. I worked on fixing another page (the About Us tab along the bottom of the website) that had been broken for about 2 months, but wasn't high on the priority list. I fixed it in a matter of minutes and then went to work on one more update for the website. I added a blurb about the Carson-Dellosa Create A Winning Classroom Contest to our bonus savings section as the contest is accepting entries until September 15th. I finished that up around 5:15 and decided it was time to go home. As I made my way out the front of the store, hoping to say hi to Christina before I left, I saw that she was running register and there was no end in sight for the lines so I passed as it would only slow things down. I sent her a text that she would get later, and I figured I would see her when she got off work.

I drove home and promptly crashed for about half an hour. I woke up and called Amy to discuss the plans for Saturday. After that I talked to Dad so he could relay the information to Mom and let her know when I would be around to visit. I took another 30 minute nap before checking my email and finding that Mike had captured the new report the featured The School Box and tax free shopping. You can watch the report here. I spent some time burning some mix CDs for Hickey so he will have some new music to listen to when he drives down to GA over Labor Day weekend and then to Myrtle Beach in October. I finalized my plans with Jubin for Saturday and then ate some dinner. I watched/snoozed to episodes of "Burn Notice" on USA until 8:00. I then took a shower and decided to go set up a surprise for Christina when she got off work. She had mentioned the other day that she liked Sonic's Peach Tea so I decided to find the nearest Sonic and around 9:30 I drove there to pick her up a tea for when she got off work. I also got a cranberry slush for myself. I took them back to my apartment and Christina called me at 10:05 to let me know she was leaving work. (Side note: remember that the store closes at 9:00, but people didn't finish shopping until 9:30!) I knew she was exhausted so I told her if she stopped by briefly that she had a treat waiting for her. She came over and was happy for the tea. I didn't keep her long as we both had to work at 8:00 tomorrow morning. I went to sleep listening to a song Christina recommended for me, "The Luckiest" ~by Ben Folds. Look it up if you have a chance.

Meditation for the day: Psalm 119:114 “You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.”