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.”

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.”