From the Desk 5/30/2008

Today started out an uneventful day at work. It was Friday, and payday so everyone was in a pretty good mood. Tausha was especially cheerful as she came in this morning demonstrating her ballet skills (or attempts at them). These crazy antics continued throughout the entire day which was good in the sense that it helped the time pass quickly. I spent some time before the website committee meeting, answering some emails and emailing last minute questions to Chris and Dave before they left on their vacation. The meeting went well, with some great ideas that we will work on after the back-to-school rush. I went home for lunch so I had some extra time to pack. I loaded half of my stuff in my car and then headed back to work. On the way I bought half a tank of gas for $30.00 ($3.96 per gallon)! I spent the majority of the afternoon working on printing and dividing out packets of signs to send to the stores next week. We did get to see some more dancing antics from Tausha and then she decided to see if she was taller than me when she stood on top of the desk in Stacy's cubical. 5:00 came quickly and then I headed home.

I packed up the last of my things and then headed to REI to buy a new frisbee golf disc to use tomorrow at Victor Ash Park in Knoxville. I got the disc and then hit the road to Knoxville. The drive was the usual mix of traffic and no traffic, but I did manage to avoid any rain along the way. I dropped my things off at the Tuckers and there I had my first try at Guitar Hero III for the Xbox 360. It was a blast and I picked it up rather quickly. I will certainly be playing that every chance I get when I'm in town. I met Jared, Hickey, and Chan at Applebee's for some dinner. We ate while watching the final game of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals where the Boston Celtics won their chance to play the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals next week. We left there around 12:15 and I headed back to Amy and Jon's to spend the night. I watched Jon play some Call of Duty 4 before turning in for the night.

Meditation for the day: Exodus 15:20 "Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing."

From the Desk 5/29/2008

Today I woke up (always a good start to each day) and gathered up all my video stuff to lug to work. It was lightly misting which meant that traffic was terrible getting to work because we Georgians aren’t used to seeing rain and have forgotten how to drive when we see it. (though I’m not entirely sure that people knew how to before the drought either) I arrived at the same time as Stacy and Blair, which was good because they were able to help me carry everything inside. (Just for reference, I’m not a pansy…I was lugging my camera case, my sound equipment bag, a tripod bag, my work messenger bag, and a backpack with a change of clothes for hiking) I left all my extra equipment in Mike’s office until it was needed. I did some last minute research on loyalty programs and then added a cover page to my proposal to present to Dave. I had Aimee and Mike look over it first since I had sought their input with some of the details before I approached Chris and Dave about implementing this program. Aimee couldn’t say enough kind things about my efforts. In fact, she sent me an email later in the day to once again express her excitement about this finally being brought up. Mike said it was ready to present and I should do it when Dave and Chris get back from vacation.

I set up my filming stuff to video Dave giving his speech for the Summer Training Seminar class that will be taught by the regional managers. Aimee assisted us as she held the cue cards for our medieval teleprompter. It only took a couple of takes before we got everything we needed to finish the filming part of the project. I then ate my leftovers from Marietta Diner for lunch. I also decided that I would throw away the remaining leftovers as they were approaching the week old status and would probably be a good substitute for a science fair project. I ended up spending a good deal of time on the phone throughout the afternoon as it was time for media reps to call back and try to sell me spots for Back-To-School. I graciously told them that they could feel free to send me information and a media kit, but that we were already planned through this quarter and had spent our budget. I entered a few names into our customer mailing list database while Taylor, a young lady that Chris had brought in for extra hours, sat out at a computer on the retail floor entering as fast as she could. We probably have about 3,000 left to enter so there is no rush, as it will just take time to manually enter. Before Mike left early, he, Stacy, and I confirmed our hiking plans for after work.

I left work and Stacy followed me to my apartment where we dropped off my car. We then headed up to Cartersville to meet Mike and his 2 dogs for a hike on Pine Mountain. We arrived slightly before Mike, which gave me time to stretch before our trek. (something I didn’t do on Monday and regretted it the next day) Mike arrived with his dogs, Cheyenne and Bruno. We had already met Cheyenne and were glad to see her again as she was gentle and very intelligent as far as dogs go. Bruno, on the other hand, quickly established himself as the “special” dog of the two as he could be likened to the cartoon character that always said, “Which way did he go, George? Which way did he go?”. Suffice it to say, not the brightest crayon in the box, but a heart of gold nonetheless. We hiked the 3.2 mile trail in 1 hour 15 minutes which was about 15 minutes less than last time so we felt like we had accomplished enough for one day. Stacy drove me home and I ate some dinner while watching an episode of Two and a Half Men on TV. I decided to get as much prep-work done as possible for my trip to Knoxville this weekend, and put the reception video on hold for a night. I did laundry, changed all the batteries in my wireless mics , and charged the batteries for my camcorders to be ready for the wedding on Saturday. I also packed my garment bag with my “formal attire” for the wedding and church on Sunday. By the time that was done, I decided to try and catch some extra sleep and went to bed while watching the Lakers battle with the Spurs in the NBA Western Conference Finals. I hope the extra sleep will carry over into Saturday so I’m not so drained after the wedding.

Meditation for the day: Psalm 56:4 “In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?”

From the Desk 5/28/2008

This morning I woke up feeling a little tired, but much better than the day before. I ate some yogurt and bagels for breakfast before heading out the door to work. I took some more leftovers from the Marietta Diner for my lunch today in an attempt to not let good food go to waste. I worked more on my secret project of a loyalty program for The School Box since I had been too busy lately to work more on it. I got quite a bit accomplished and I started looking at the bigger picture of how much I had left to do before presenting it to "the bosses". I have roughly 6 pages of data, plans, and creative renderings of the program and its marketing pieces to accompany its launch. I will most likely talk to Dave about it for the first time when he gets back from vacation in a couple of weeks. I met with Chris around 10:30 to discuss some donations and a few other printing projects that I wanted to plant in her mind before things got too busy with back-to-school.

After I met with her I joined Stacy, Tausha, Blair, and Carmen at Rafferty's for some lunch. I had the chicken finger salad and it was delicious as always. We noticed that restaurants tend to do the same thing even though to the patrons it doesn't make any sense. They always cram everyone they can into one small seating section of the building before opening other areas up for dining. This was particularly annoying as we got seated away from everyone at first, but by the end of the meal we were sitting next to a baby who did not want to be there. We got our checks and after I cleared up a mistake with the waitress (they tried to charge me $2.10 for water!) we paid and returned to work. The rest of the afternoon was mostly uneventful. I was given two projects for designing some packaging for products we will carry that do not come with any eye-catching labels to tell people what is in the pack. I also was able to make, with the corrections I have up to now, the New Teachers Letter for 2008-2009. The School Box mails out a letter to all the new teachers in the state of Georgia to welcome to the field and to offer a one-time discount to help them get started on their classrooms. It is also a great marketing tool for us to reach new members of our target audience each year.

I left work and went home to start working furiously on the reception video. I had contemplated going to hike, but due to the weather (it was looking quite threatening for thunderstorms) I decided against it. My goal is be done with everything on the video and have a master disc burned by Thursday night when I go to bed. Then I can focus on the other projects I have going on and make that list much smaller. I accomplished a lot on the video, completing the slideshow, cutting of the cake, first dance, dance with parents, toasts, bouquet toss, and garter toss. With that being done all that remains to be edited is the dancing that occupied the rest of the night. I should be able to finish that in a timely manner tomorrow night. I checked my email, Facebook, and Myspace before turning in for the night. I also got my video equipment together as I have to do a little more filming tomorrow at Town Center before I can finish the video project for The School Box.

Meditation for the day: Romans 12:15 “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”

From the Desk 5/27/2008

It was hard for me to wake up this morning as I knew that work today would pass very slowly and everyone would probably be grouchy, longing for the 3-day weekend to still be going on. My predictions were right. It seemed that time stood still all day as I got lots of work accomplished, but it seemed that every time I looked at the clock it was earlier than it was the first time I looked. I ate my leftovers from the Marietta Diner for lunch today and will take mom's leftovers for lunch tomorrow. I ate while watching That 70's Show on my Mac. The plan for everyone to go hiking after work today seemed to be unraveling as most people were having a bad day. Luckily for me, Mike had a pretty good day as the new gift cards were launched in all the stores today and were working without problems. He was still on for hiking which is good because I was kind of having a blah day as well, but knew that if I did something active that it would probably make me feel better. It did.

Mike and I headed off towards Kennesaw Mountain to hike a different part of the trail. We did the loop at Burn Hickory Road near Pigeon Hill. The trail began with gentle rolling hills and nicely kept paths that were ideal for running so we ran for a little bit of that part. The trail then turned into a more narrow and winding style that we were used to seeing on the way up to Little Kennesaw. We did very good, not really stopping for a break at all. The scenery was very different as we crossed several bridges and had to cross a couple of creeks. We did not encounter any wildlife on this trip, but Mike assures me that we will eventually see some deer. I hope that we go hiking this Thursday with the group from work as it would be the fourth day in a row that I will go as I am going tomorrow, with or without anyone.

It took us a little over an hour to hike the 3.4 mile loop. Mike dropped me off at my car and I headed home. I ate a surprisingly healthy dinner of raisin bran cereal with skim milk. I watched part of a movie while I ate and found that I actually dozed off for about half an hour, which was just enough to refresh me. I woke up when Stacy called me to ask a wardrobe question for her "coffee date" tonight. I guess I have really been grouped in as one of the girls in the office, or maybe (as I like to think of it) she values my opinion as one of the only guys in the office. I'll let you decide. I gave my input and then went to work on the reception video. I worked on that until it was time to go to bed. I feel asleep quickly as the last sounds I heard before slipping into my nightly coma was the theme music from an episode of Law & Order: SVU.

Meditation for the day: Exodus 15:2 " The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him."

From the Desk 5/26/2008

I slept in this morning until 9:00 (which was nice for a change) and then woke Hickey up. We had some breakfast and then put together a list of songs I could put on CDs for him. We gathered up some drinks and snacks and hit the road to Cartersville. We arrived at the parking lot for the Pine Mountain trail and it was actually crowded for a change. We managed to find a place to park and then started up the trail. We were going at a fairly quick pace and only stopped once for a break on our journey to the top. We arrived at the top and took a short break, just taking in the view and enjoying the beautiful weather. We began our descent and along the way we encountered some wildlife. We saw several frogs, no doubt in search of the endangered Georgia animal (water) and we also saw a snake slithering its way off the trail.

Once we made our way back to I-75 we began to realize that we were growing quite hungry. My phone rang as we were nearing the apartment and it was Stacy. She asked what we were up to and I invited her to join us for a late lunch. After a quick discussion we settled on meeting at Mellow Mushroom. Hickey and ran by the apartment and changed since we were quite odoriferous from our hike and then we drove to Mellow Mushroom. Stacy arrived shortly after we got there and we got seated at our table. For the record, Mellow Mushroom is not very crowded at 2:45pm on Memorial Day. We split a large cheese pizza and Stacy and I spent a great deal of our meal coming up with all the reasons why Hickey should move down and be my roommate in Georgia. We ate while watching part of a Braves game and then went our separate ways. Hickey and I returned to the apartment and watched about an hour of American Pie presents Beta House before Hickey had to hit the road back to Knoxville.

After Hickey left I straightened a few things and started a load of laundry. I also took a nap as I realized that our fast paced hike took more out of me than I realized. I got everything prepared for work tomorrow and laid out a video editing schedule to help me stay on top of my now 5 on going video projects. (It can get confusing and overwhelming very fast). I got cable hooked up on the TV in my bedroom and then decided to turn in early as it will be hard to get up and go to work after having a full 3 days off from work. It was good to see everyone who visited this weekend and I will see most of you next weekend while I am up to film a wedding on Saturday the 31st.

Meditation for the day: Acts 20:24 “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.”

From the Desk 5/25/2008

This morning I woke up in the twin sized bed in my guest room in my apartment. I let Amy and Jon stay in my bed last night, and I didn’t sleep all that well. I think it had to do with the fact that the length of the bed led me to dream about falling since my feet stretched off the edge of the bed. Mom and Dad arrived at the apartment to pick-up myself and Amy and Jon to go to church. This morning we visited North Star Church just down the road off of Cobb Parkway. This was a very casual church (I felt slightly overdressed wearing dress pants and a dress shirt with no tie) and the service was very contemporary. The music was very powerful and it was an amazing time of worship. The pastor gave the message on 1 Peter 3:8-15. It was on how to have good days during hard times. The message was very sound and was something I needed to hear as well. The service was great overall and I will definitely go back to visit again. We returned to the apartment and began determining where we were going to go eat lunch. We went through several suggestions and eventually settled on Cracker Barrel as our lunchtime destination.

We had to wait for a few minutes before being seated, but once we sat down the service was excellent and quick. We got back to the apartment and then loaded up my guests into the van and they hit the road back to Knoxville. I was able to do a few things and take a quick nap before I had to prepare for my video shoot at the Box later in the evening. I also heard from Hickey and he had gotten a late start so he would be a little later then planned for his arrival. I headed out to the Box and gave Hickey directions along the way so he could meet me there. He arrived and we began shooting the various scenes to be used in the Summer training seminar. Everyone got their spots filmed, some taking longer than others. I will edit them down to the appropriate length and then burn them to a disc for Aimee to place into their class.

After we finished filming we headed out to The Right Wing Tavern in Woodstock to celebrate Leslie’s birthday. We got there a little late due to the filming, but when we arrived we found Stacy, Leslie, Brian, and Leslie’s friend Anna already there. We ordered some food and then the trivia games began. Our team maintained the lead for the entire game, but then lost due to a technicality of the wording in the final bonus question. Who among you would know the total amount of time that a single individual can serve as President of the United States? (If you want to know the answer, just look here) We hung out until Anna’s boyfriend, Sean, who was running the trivia could join us for a little bit. Hickey and I headed back to the apartment and caught up on what was going on in each other’s worlds. We watched a bit of Terminator 3 on TV before we turned in for the night.

Meditation for the day: 1 Peter 3:9-11 “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For, whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.”