From the Desk 8/21/2008

This morning I woke up feeling sore from the hike and workout the day before, but overall woke up easily, ready to take on the day. I got to work and began making the last minute adjustments to the cover for the Holiday catalog so we can finally get a complete proof and approve the catalog for press. I also was working on creating the ad that we would place in the Atlanta Parent Phone Book. We normally submit this ad in early July, but somehow we weren't notified of the deadline date so our rep managed to still reserve us a spot if we got the artwork in by 5:00 on Friday. Naturally, I didn't want to wait until the last moment to submit the file as something would go wrong, so I got the ad completed and sent for proofing to Chris, and Stacy. I worked on that until it was close to lunch time. Our lunch destination had been selected at 8:15 this morning when Tausha exclaimed her craving for a Buffalo & Blue Cheese Burger from Taco Mac. It didn't take much persuasion from anyone else to unanimously become to restaurant of the group. I met briefly with Chris about the ad for the Atlanta Parent Phone Book and showed her the changes on the catalog cover. We wrapped up that meeting and then "the family" piled into Blair's car and headed to eat.

We were the only people sitting in the restaurant to eat when we arrived, yet somehow the hostess knew to seat us in the far back corner. (perhaps we are becoming infamous for our lunch gatherings) We all ordered our food and ate while watching replays of several Olympic events on the many TVs hanging near our booth. I received an education and lost respect for the Olympics all in the same sitting. Let me explain. We ended up becoming mesmerized by an even that could only be described as Olympic hula-hooping. This "event" was a dance routine that incorporated the use of a glittery hoop to accentuate the flexible movements of the competitors. The routine was performed to music although the TV's volume was turned down to hear the commentary on the basketball game being shown on the TV next to it. I am thankful for there being no music to accompany the dancing as I am certain there is no song that could convince us to consider this as a real "event". It was followed by Olympic Ribbon Dancing and finally a synchronized team version of ribbon dancing. I know that athletes train for lifetimes to earn the honor of competing in the Olympic games and I have no doubt that these women trained equally as hard, but I'm just not sure that an event that could also be viewed at a elementary school dance recital should be included with the Olympics. But I digress.....

We returned to work and I spent a good majority of the rest of the day filling out a sample of the Marketing Worksheet to demonstrate in the marketing meeting, tweaking the ad for the Phone Book, and sketching out a new design/layout for the Gift Cards page on our website. 5:00 rolled around, after what seemed like an eternity, and I headed home to do my workout for the day. I have modified my routine to run/hike 3 days a week and do my push-ups, sit-ups, stretching routine the other 3 days, leaving Sunday to rest. After completing my workout, and realizing that my abs were more sore than I realized as I was only able to complete half of the routine from Tuesday, I fixed some creamy tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner. After eating I began reading Jimmy by Robert Whitlow. I had started this book quite a while ago (as evidenced by the coupons used as a bookmark that expired on 4-16-07) but suddenly had the urge to pick it back up. I made it through about 3 chapters before Christina showed up from her class at KSU. We watched "Blue Harvest", a Family Guy spoof of Star Wars, on my computer. I then subjected Christina to viewing the 3 remaining videos I had produced. You may remember them from their huge success in the independent film festivals: "Searching for Lisa Metzer", "Star Wars - A UT Graduate's Tale", and "2005 a Fontana Odyssey". We then ended up watching part of "Dude Where's My Car?" on FX before it got late and Christina had to leave for the night. I walked her to her car and said goodnight, then returned inside to crash on my bed until morning.

Meditation for the day: Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”