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.”

From the Desk 9/7/2008

This morning I was apparently more tired from moving and traveling than I realized as I woke up looking at my clock ans seeing that it was already 9:45 and too late to make it to His Hands. I talked with Christina, who had overslept as well, and we decided to grab some breakfast at Cracker Barrel before she had to be at work. We met at 11:00 and were seated after a few minutes of waiting. While waiting we browsed the country store and discovered that Cracker Barrel has caught the Webkinz craze as they had a large assortment of both the pets and the new clothing line to compliment the original toys. We also were listening to the old-timey gospel songs that were blaring though the speakers overhead. We were seated and it took a while for us to decide what we wanted. I usually have 3 favorites that I rotate between, but I wasn't in the mood for any of them this morning. I settled on Grandpa's Coutry Breakfast (2 eggs, grits, bacon, biscuits & gravy, and fried apples) and it was really too much food. (but I figured that I could eat big for this meal and not much else the rest of the day) After eating, Christina went to work and I returned to the apartment.

I spent the afternoon being fairly productive. I made the DVD insert for the Dave Matthews DVD I produced, printed the inserts, copied the DVDs, and printed the labels. I also duplicated the picture disc for Elizabeth's wedding as both her mom and Dustin's mom wanted their own copy after viewing it. I then did some laundry and general straightening around the apartment. I took a nap for a couple of hours while the House marathon was running on USA. I woke up and then went to update mt blog from my weekend adventures in Alabama. I also cleaned up some files that have now consumed almost all 750 GB of storage space on my computer. Christina called around 8:00 to let me know that she was done with her homework for the night and wanted to come over. She arrived and we continued to watch the House marathon, ocassionaly checking the score of the Indianapolis Colts game and Family Guy. We called it an early night and said goodnight and I walked Christina to her car. I went to sleep early (well..earlier than usual) hoping to motivate myself to run the following morning.

Mediation for the day: Luke 12:19 "And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."

From the Desk 9/6/2008

This morning I woke up feeling the effects of little sleep from the night before. I changed clothes and then Brian came back with some coffee from Starbucks. We all slowly woke up with help from drinks and snacks once Brian's parents arrived to help. One of Brian's friends, Jeremy, also came to lend a hand. We made quick work of loading the truck. There was minimal pieces of furniture and a lot less boxes than the week before. It took about an hour to load the entire truck and it was packed from floor to ceiling, which meant that things should remain stationary and we will find no surprises when we re-open the door in Georgia. Leslie and Stacy headed out in Leslie's car a little ahead of everyone else so they would be ready for us when we got to the new house. I was going to accompany Brian in the truck and his parents followed us. We hit the road back to Georgia about 11:00 central time. We drove for quite a while before stopping to stretch our legs and refill on drinks and snacks. We talked a lot on the way back and Brian and I are going to be pretty good friends. It will be nice to have another guy friend that lives nearby to do things with.

We pulled into Leslie and Brian's driveway around 3:00 eastern time. We took a break and relaxed inside for several minutes before even thinking about unloading the truck. We made a list and Brian's mom went on a food run to McDonald's. While they were gone I decided to take a power nap on the couch while football was entertaining everyone else in the room. I was awakened by Brian who was holding a quarter pounder with cheese for me. That is the best way to be woken up; with food. We all ate quickly and then decided to get the rest of the work done. We unloaded the entire truck in about 30 minutes and then started re-arranging some things inside the house. Leslie's parents had come over and brought her son, Ryan. Stacy and I determined it was time to leave once Ryan began contemplating using us as target practice for his Transformers Disc Launcher. I drove Stacy home and then went home myself. I didn't realize how tired I was until I sat down and almost fell asleep in a matter of minutes. I called Christina and she was going to come over to watch a movie. I showered and then unpacked my bag from the weekend.

Christina arrived and we decided to watch "Stranger Than Fiction". It was the first time I had seen it all the way through and it was really good. If you have the opportunity I highly recommend it. I'm not a Will Ferrell fan in most roles he portrays, but his character is completely different in this movie. The movie also has a really good theme that I will sum up in this quote: "The hero in my books always die, but if your character knows that he will die and still does what he know will cause his death, isn't that the type of man you want alive in this world?" After the movie we watched some old TV shows and then it was time to say goodnight. We made plans to go to His Hands in the morning, and I went to sleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Meditation for the day: Titus 2:2 “Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.”

From the Desk 9/5/2008

Today I worked mainly on a new template for the blast emails we will send out to our mailing list. It took a bit longer than I had hoped to learn some more tricks on Dreamweaver to manipulate the background and header images that I wished to alter. I went through several concepts and designs for the header, from which I was going to base the rest of the design upon. I soon realized that I was working the process backwards and needed to create a theme/idea for the whole appearance before creating any graphics. I soon came up with an idea and then altered the background image first to put in place the foundation for the look of the rest of the pieces. It will look like a piece of notebook paper with the information boxes overlayed on the page to notify our customers of what we are promoting at that time. I set the new header in place and it didn't look quite right, but I decided to leave it for now and I would re-visit the design next week. I was going to eat lunch that I had brought, but instead decided to delay my lunch to eat with Mike, Blair, and Carmen for a cheap lunch at Ted's. I met with Chris at noon and we planned out the entire rest of the year's blast email schedule and themes. We were finishing up on some donation requests when Mike asked if Chris would like to join us. She replied with a big smile and said yes. Apparently Dave isn't a fan of Ted's so she doesn't get to go very often.

We all rode in Mike's car and found that it was a bit more crowded than it usually is at 11:00am when they first open. We were seated quickly and also received our food quickly. I had a bowl of New England Clam Chowder that was close to the best I've ever tasted. I also had two mini-bison burgers from Mike's 4 mini-burger plate. It was a good and filling lunch for only $4.55 (Mike picked up the burgers) We returned and I said hello to Christina since she had arrived while we were gone to lunch. Chris and I wrapped up the donation requests. I then began working on typing up some more notes from the marketing meeting. I didn't get too far on that as I had to re-work the coupon offer on our next blast email to better define the exclusions of the coupon and to change the date as we decided to push it back a week from the original schedule date. I worked on some various things until it was 4:30 and then I asked Mike if I cold leave early to go home and pack for my trip to Birmingham later tonight. He said of course and I stopped off on the sales floor to say bye to Christina until tomorrow night when we got back.

I went home a quickly packed a change of clothes for the moving day and then a few items to get ready the following morning at Brian's townhouse. I drove and picked up Stacy at her house around 6:00 and we then drove to Leslie's house where we would leave my car. We piled in Leslie's car and hit the road to Birmingham. I was the elected navigator, being in the front seat, and directed us with Google maps directions to I-20. We drove for what didn't seem like very long and we were in the state of Alabama. We arrived at Brian's place around 8:30 (Central Time). We rested briefly before going out for the evening. Brian drove us to Papa ??? restaurant (I can't remember the exact name). Stacy and I split a sampler appetizer and we all ate and conversed with one of Brian's friends Ray who joined us shortly after we arrived. We listened to the live band play an eclectic selection of music that was in the range of their female lead vocalist. We laughed ate and drank until we were tired and then we returned to get some sleep before moving early the next morning. Stacy ended up crashing on the love-seat as her air mattress had mysteriously developed a hole. I crashed on the couch for the night and went to sleep quickly once I could lay still.

Meditation for the day: Psalm 143:10 “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”

From the Desk 9/4/2008

This morning I decided to work on typing up the notes from the marketing meeting. I made a final count of the cards that we collected with ideas on them and we went through 225 cards! No wonder it took so long to get through the ideas themselves without discussing anything extra. I managed to type out the notes that were specific to 1st - 4th Quarter ideas. That information alone occupied 5 pages in a regular document. I will tackle about 4 categories a day until I am finished. Most of the information is still fresh on my mind, but I can only stare at note cards for so long before starting to lose focus. I then worked on an idea with Mike to correct a problem with links on our homepage. At the time they only worked if you were using Firefox as your Internet browser. (something about the code using image mapping as hotspots not being recognized in Internet Explorer or something....very technical junk) So I broke the large image containing all the boxes as one into 4 separate images and just linked the image as a whole to solve the problem. Now the site works equally as well for Internet Explorer as well as Firefox. After putting out those fires, it was time to eat some lunch.

After a brief debate on where to go, we ended up going to Guido's Chicago Style Hot Dogs for lunch. Carmen, Tausha, Blair and I ate there and then brought Mike back some food when we were finished. I had 2 Corn Dogs and they were just as good as ones that you might find at a country fair. (that's a compliment) They had a variety of fixin's for the dogs as well as offering regular dogs, Italian sausage dogs, bratwursts, and pizza pockets. They had a choice of fries, onion rings, or chips for sides. I had never eaten there before and will probably go back if I am ever craving a hot dog as theirs are top notch. We picked up Mike's order and then headed back to the office. Mike had ordered 2 Chicago dogs, which were hot dogs (I think there was one under there) a pickle spear, tomatoes, peppers, etc. Basically it was a side salad on a hot dog. Too many flavors for my liking. After lunch I typed up an email and sent it to everyone who participated in the marketing meeting, thanking them for their ideas and participation. I also ended the message with a request to meet again in about 4 months to discuss the upcoming events at that time to get every one's input and plan everything 3 months out as thoroughly as possible. I received a reply from Alison Brown, who we are following her journey to Africa to teach, giving me information to type up a welcome letter to people who want to follow her travels through our website. I used that info to finalize a letter and then got it in a format that I could post on the website. I hope to have everything with that project up and running by the end of next week. I will let you all know so you can let me know what you think of the idea and how well it was executed on our website. 5:00 came around and I headed home to crash briefly before running an errand or two with Christina once she got out of class.

I was working on the DVD label and insert for the newly created Dave Matthews Band Stoytellers DVD. I managed to create the label and will probably base the design of the insert off of the label images. Christina came over after a brief stop off at her parents' house. She also came bearing gifts: cake that her mom had made and wanted to share with me! We drove out to Target so I could buy a Birthday card for Papa as it is his 85th birthday on Saturday. I had a hard time selecting a card as I usually don't buy cards for any occasion just on principle of saving trees (or something that is a valid excuse). I finally selected a card while one the phone with Amy discussing the hiking trip and various things. I then drove to KFC to pick up a gift card. For those of you have kept track over the years, I have a hidden talent for going to a fast food establishment with the intention of purchasing a gift card only to find that my first stop, not matter the type of restaurant, is always out of gift cards. I thought that perhaps my talent would not transfer across state lines, but again I was wrong. They told me that they don't carry them in the stores down here in Georgia so once again I was forced to create a certificate and then attach cash for true usability. Once we returned to the apartment and I had made the fake gift certificate we watched a re-run of "Grey's Anatomy" to continue hyping up for the new season. We watched part of "The Addams Family" before I walked Christina to her car. We said goodnight and I returned inside where I went to sleep shortly after checking email.

Meditation for the day: Matthew 28:18-20 “Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”