Farewell, Its been fun!

As most of you have probably noticed, I haven't been updating my blog at over the past few weeks. This is due to a number of reasons: concerts, work, illness. I did want to thank all of you (3 people) who claimed to read my blog at every posting. I'm sure you will find something to fill the void this announcement will undoubtedly leave in your lives. I am officially shutting down my blog and ceasing to add more posts as I have run out of time to maintain this journal up to my standards. I will call more often and try to update you all on my happenings in GA to offset the lack of communication in this medium. Thanks for reading, it has been fun!

Pip

This Week in Pictures

Foreword: I know I have been terrible about posting updates, but things have been crazy busy at work and are looking to increase even more! Things have also been a bit hectic with my friend Leslie's wedding and the hassles and problems that have arisen because of things not happening as they should have have kept me scrambling at the last minute and away from my computer. I apologize to those of you who have been awaiting an update. As I do not remember the dates that everything happened I will just post pictures with descriptions and leave out the specifics.

Hiking picked back up and I actually hiked the 2 mile trail up to the top of Kennesaw Mountain and back down 3 times in one week! It is a part of my hiking at least 20 miles a month program. So far in the month of October: 14 miles (I'm gonna have to step it up next week)


I finally found a Frisbee golf course nearby and someone to play with, Leslie's (now husband) Brian! We played 18 holes one Saturday and then the morning of his wedding we played 36 holes with his friend from Birmingham, Ray. It was amazing weather both times we played and this course has a good mix of clearings and trees with moderate distances.

Christina and I spent one Sunday evening with Leslie, Brian, and Ryan (their son). We met at Monster Golf, which is an indoor putt-putt course that is decorated with scary pictures and characters illuminated by black lights. The course was fun, but poorly designed as there is no divider between the holes so if you have children this isn't the best place to take them as focus and staying in your section of the course is essential. I was especially disturbed by the picture of the dog holding its own head...really, who are the people that came up with this? We ate some dinner at Mellow Mushroom and then played some Wii back at my apartment. Definitely a fun day!

On October 18th, Leslie and Brian were married. The ceremony was beautiful and the weather was perfect. I was limited to my involvement in filming this event as I was a groomsman in the wedding. I was able to capture very little of the reception, but it will have to do. I managed to coerce my boss, Dave, into operating the one moving camera that was mandatory for the recording to be even mediocre. I was glad he was able to fill in on such short notice, but still felt bad having to keep him from enjoying the festivities. This is my last wedding I will film as PAT Entertainment is being retired. It has become too much of a hassle for me to drive to Knoxville to film and increasingly difficult to find dependable help for other projects. The two photos you see here were taken by Dave during the reception time of the evening. (A side note, Christina was in another wedding that same evening and managed to catch the bouquet at that reception...the jokes have been flowing from my co-workers ever since)

On Wednesday night, Christina and I went to The Hotel Cafe: Concert Tour at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta. This tour was kind of like a Storytellers Concert in that no one artist played all their songs in a row. One artist would play a couple of songs and then another would come out. They also frequently performed songs together. It was a very good show and we had a great view as we were standing only 10 feet from the stage. I had heard of a couple of the artists before, but enjoyed them all. Here is the list of who we saw preform that night: Samantha Crain, Katie Herzig, Erin McCarley, Ingrid Michaelson, Meiko, and Priscilla Ahn. Their music was beautiful and demonstrated the versatility of each artist to sing various styles of songs. One of my favorites was the song "Forevermore" by Katie Herzig as it used the children's song "playmate" as the chorus. I highly recommend all these artists.

This Week In Pictures 10/1

Wednesday 10/1: Christina, Leslie, Brian and I went to the Maroon 5, Counting Crows, Augustana concert at Lakewood Amphitheater. It was an amazing show where we lucked out and got tickets BOGO (buy one get one free) and still managed to be sitting in the center section with a great view. It was a little cool that night, but Counting Crows stole the show with songs such as Hangin'around, Long December, Mr. Jones, and The Rain King.


Saturday 10/4: I played Frisbee golf in the morning with Jubin and Chris. After attending the rehearsal the night before we made our return trip to Ridge Valley Farms located 5 miles past nowhere in Maryville, TN to film the wedding of Amy Chandler and Aaron Fraley. The weather was perfect for an afternoon, outdoor wedding. This picture you see here is a rare glimpse of Ryan Walker dancing. It was good to see these friends that I always seem to miss connecting with when I'm in town.

Sunday 10/5: As you can see from the photo progression on the left, I left around 6:15 am from Amy and Jon's house in Knoxville. My intentions were to drive back early and then pick up Christina and go to church. I got to see many beautiful changes in the colors of the sky during my drive. It seemed as though the sun was chasing me and was determined to catch me. It eventually did, and I realized once I got back into town that I was too tired to go to church so I did the responsible thing and caught up on a couple more hours of sleep. I relaxed the rest of the day and ended up eating a late lunch with Christina at Ihop around 3:00. (I suppose this might classify as an early dinner, but I'll let you decide) We watched the last of the Bourne trilogy movies and then called it an early night as I needed to unpack and play catch up from my weekend trip.

Monday 10/6: After work today Christina, Stacy and I went hiking to the top of Kennesaw Mountain. The weather has become ideal for these little adventures and I hope to take advantage of the closeness of the trails in the upcoming weeks. This picture is from the other overlook that covers the West side of mountain. The hike was refreshing, except for the odd encounter with a strange individual (either a boy scout or the next uni bomber) who asked us if we had any questions about the mountain. We didn't really stick around, we just ran away!

Wednesday 10/8: Today I spent a majority of my day at a marketing seminar sponsored by WSB-TV the ABC affiliate in the Atlanta market. We had a speaker talk to us about the dying media and where those users are going. We set out a sample advertising schedule and will be working closely with our Account manager to follow the plan and accomplish some exciting goals over the next year. My quote I had after the meeting concerning what we should be using and what we shouldn't sums up the meeting: "I've never felt more excited about being told I was doing something the wrong way" The WSB building was beautifully decorated and I will probably be going back there to finalize our ads and schedule sometime in the next month.

This Week In Pictures 9/30/2008

Friday 9/26 - Leslie and I worked a booth at the GA Aquarium teacher event sponsored by Barnes & Noble Booksellers. There were over 2500 teachers there, but that paled in comparison to the 18 ft. Whale Shark you see pictured here. After leaving there I went to Leslie's parents' house to help Brian move some furniture around in preparation for their wedding that will be held there.



Saturday 9/27 - Christina and I journeyed up to Fall Creek Falls in Crossville, TN where we met Amy and Laura for a backpacking adventure. Little did we know that the trail we selected was longer than expected (6 miles total!). We arrived at the campsite tired, but still enjoying ourselves. We ate our dinner and watched the campfire die before admitting that we were tired and then we went to bed. It was perfect weather (68 - 53 degrees) and it didn't even rain.


Sunday 9/28 - As we were still tired from hiking yesterday, we looked at the trail map and decided that once we reached the first road crossing we would hike the road back to our cars. This was not really a shorter distance, but we were able to keep a more steady pace on the pavement vs. the trail. We arrived at our cars and parted ways. Christina, Amy, and I went to Knoxville, cleaned up and ate lunch with the parents and Jon at Calhoun's. Afterwards Christina and I joined the Tuckers for some Rock Band 2 playing where we were eventually joined by Charlie, Hickey and Chan to add the the fun. Christina and I hit the road back to Georgia around 4:45 and then arrived home just before 8:00. We were both exhausted, but a milkshake from Hardee's helped to ease our fatigue. I went to bed around 10:00 as I could no longer keep my eyes open. I also slept like a dead person, not stirring or even dreaming until Monday morning when my alarm interrupted my slumber.


Tuesday 9/30 - As you probably noticed I have skipped Monday because nothing much other work took place. Work today was filled with meetings, malfunctioning computers, and blast emails that wouldn't work correctly. The funny picture you will notice to the right was taken from the label of the Papa John's pizza box that Stacy and I shared while catching up on each other's previous week. In case the photo is unclear there is a line that reads: "This pizza prepared by Christ" I like to think of it as our own little Lord's Supper (even though I know it was short for Christopher)

From the Desk 9/23/2008

Weekly update:

Friday morning (9/19) I worked at home on the video I filmed earlier of Leland teaching a workshop on the CRCT Test and how to raise test scores. We will hopefully use this video and slides as a training tool to better educate our employees on what books will help on certain subjects/types of questions. I had to run into the office on my way out of town to adjust the margins on a Fall Product flyer that we were sending out to get printed. I made the adjustments, and then headed to Knoxville. Once I arrived, I visited with my friends at the Knoxville School Box, got an oil change (about 2,000 miles overdue!), and then cleaned my car interior at my parents' house. I met Hickey at Movies for Sale and we went to film the rehearsal of Elizabeth's wedding in Maryville. After filming we ended up at Applebee's from 10:00pm until they closed (literally we were the last customers out the door) at 1:45am.

Saturday (9/20) I got a haircut, met Chris and Jubin at Farragut Admiral Park for 9 holes of frisbee golf, and then got ready for the wedding. I picked up Hickey and we made our way to Mt. Carmel Baptist Church. We filmed the few shots we needed before going to eat lunch with Chan at Mr. Gatti's and stopping at Walmart for batteries. The filming of the wedding went great as I was able to film from an angle that I normally don't have as an option. The video should turn out really well! After filming Hickey and I met Paulette and Roger Chandler and Paul Walker to get pictures for the slideshow for Amy's rehearsal in 2 weeks. I stopped off by my parents house and then after dropping off Hickey, I headed home. I got home around 9:30 and was exhausted as it seemed that I had done nothing but drive all weekend. Christina came over for a little bit and then I went to bed, falling asleep very quickly.

Sunday (9/21) I picked up Christina and we went to His Hands. After the service we went to Stacy's to check on Cooper as Satcy was out of town. He seemed quite happy to see us and after about an hour of hanging with him, we went to Chili's for some lunch. After lunch we stopped by the apartment to get the Wii and a movie. We watched Robin Hood: Men in Tights at Stacy's while keeping Cooper company. After that we stopped by Krogers and got some hamburger patties and then went to Leslie and Brian's housewarming party. It was a blast. We played Guitar Hero and threw around the frisbee for a bit before grilling dinner. Leslie, Brian, Christina, me, Shannon, and Vincent were in attendance. We hung around the fire pit outside in the perfect weather as Brian manned the grill. We ate hamburgers, baked potatoes, baked beans, pasta salad, regular salad, squash and zuchinni for dinner. It was a grand feast that was delicious. After dinner we played more Wii and then eventually got into Wii sports. We stayed longer than I realized and ended up leaving around 11:30. I left the Wii at LEslie and Brian's so Ryan, her son who was too tired to play when he arrived, could play some this week. Besides, I have video work to do and could use the elimination of that distraction. I crashed into my bed after dropping Christina off at her apartment.

Meditation for the week: The message of this week's sermon at His Hands:

Matthew 7:7-12

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

From the Desk 9/16/2008

As you have undoubtedly noticed I have been less than frequent with my posts about life here in Georgia. Things at work have simply been too busy to write each day as unfortunately I have brought my work home with me several evenings recently. I also have been more social with helping people move, hiking, running several mornings, and generally hanging out with friends. As is the case there is not always time for blogging among the craziness. I will be trying to post each weekend some of the highlights from the week to keep you all in the loop. (is it necessary to "all" when addressing 3 people?)

This past weekend was the Wells' family reunion at Frozen Head State Park. My family seemed to like Christina and she liked them too! I think she will be joining us for our winter trip to Fontana in December so they will get a chance to get to know her better there. Other than that the week was filled with lots of deadlines at work one evening of mandatory organization work at home until 8:00pm to get caught up. I have done good, running at Kell High School's track the past two mornings and intend to run tomorrow (needed to give my legs a rest) Other than, not much going on. Hanging out with Christina and loving every minute of it, spending time watching football with friends and trying to catch some sleep when possible! I'll be in K-town for a wedding this weekend, but will be heading back to GA after it is over on Saturday night. So, see you soon!

From the Desk 9/8/2008

This morning I spent a good deal of time trying to schedule the next blast email to go out. The actual process of scheduling it was not the issue. That process only took a few minutes to complete. My hang up came when I sent the test out and none of the images appeared, only the alternate text descriptions of what was in the boxes appeared. I re-linked the images and made sure that the files were in the correct folder on both our end and on the mail server. I sent another test email out, but never received it. I figured we could fix it tomorrow since it wasn't scheduled to go out until Wednesday at midnight. I then turned my attention to resizing and re-spacing the information on the Bright From the Start workshop flyer to squeeze it into an 8 1/2 x 11 front and back flyer. It took the rest of my time before lunch to complete that and then it was time for a much needed break.

I drove Carmen and I to REI so she could register for a trail maintenance day on the 27th. I was going to sign-up, but since I'm going backpacking that day, I thought it wise to conserve both time and energy for later in the day. I did, however, browse their selection of some supplies I needed to pick up before the trip. We stopped by Chick-fil-A and after what was an uncharacteristically long wait Carmen got her food and we returned to the break room. We ate and laughed over everyone's crazy stories from the weekend. Once I returned to my desk I decided to learn a new trick on Photoshop having to do with Actions. Actions are pre-made effects that people have created and made available for free on certain websites to help create stunning effects with ease if you are not a pro at Photoshop (cause I'm not). I wanted to create a spiral binding on a notebook paper background to sample for the background of our new look of blast emails. After a little bit of frustration I figured out what I was doing wrong and was able to create the desired effect. I will have to put it in place tomorrow to see if it comes across the way I intend. I spent the rest of the afternoon with Chris in the warehouse re-rolling the window posters that were used during the Back-to-School sale. We rolled and re-packed around 30 posters, hangers, and suction cups to save for next year. I also contemplated changing clothes and hiking the loop at Burnt Hickory Rd. by myself after work, but those thoughts quickly vanished as I heard a terrible crash of thunder that matched the dark sky looming over the area. 5:00 came and I wasted no time in getting to my car as it was beginning to rain.

By the time I left the parking lot, it had ceased to sprinkle and had begun a mimi-tropical storm of wind, rain, lightning and thunder. I talked with mom on my way home to properly welcome her back home from her trip and then once I was home I ate some dinner. I worked on some laundry and typed up a few notes from the marketing meeting as I'm really trying to have that done by week's end. I paid some bills and then went to Target to buy a few food items to get me through the next week of lunches at work. I shopped wisely and managed to keep my purchase total much lower than usual (not buying a month's worth of food probably helped too!) I had finished putting away the groceries I bought when Christina called to let me know she was out of class. I invited her over and when she arrived we spent a good deal of time watching some old video footage on my computer. We watched everything from pranks at th old P&S building to footage of an actual good snow in Knoxville. It was fun remaniscing on time spent filming at all hours of the night with Hickey. After watching more footage than should probably still be on my computer, I walked Christina to her car and said goodnight. I went back inside to go to bed early so I could have the energy to get up tomorrow morning and run before going into work.

Meditation for the day: Isaiah 46:4 “Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”