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Friday, October 14, 2005

What kind of car would you drive?



I was sitting at the light yesterday on my way home, and it struck me. Why do cops get a car for work? If your job is a policeman, fireman, busdriver, etc. you know exactly what you'll be driving for the rest of your life.

What if other jobs did that? What if the government made each profession drive a certain make, model, and color of car?

Unfortunately, people think (probably rightly so) that my occupation is bland, boring. This '94 white nissan (above) would probably be given to each of us. Very boring, very safe.

What car would your profession get? If you had known this in the beginning, would you have picked a different major in college?

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

The Work of 3 Men, the Fun of 100



I had a ton of fun yesterday, so of course, I'll blog about it. Unfortunately, we've been forgetting to take our camera a lot of places. To start us off, here's a related Biblical passage:

"On the day the LORD gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel: 'O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.'

So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened to a man. Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel!"


Joshua 10:12-14


I feel this happened to me as well! Half a day was created yesterday.

Let me explain. Like Joshua against the Amorites, I was up against a formidable foe. Most the schools in Dallas get out on Columbus Day, they call it a Fair Day. Melissa even got out of her school. Meanwhile, I have a huge IRS deadline on October 15th (this weekend!). How unfair is that?!?!? So, instead of sitting through another regular day of work, I decided to shake things up a bit.

I invented half a day.

I'm always the first person in in the morning. I usually work from 8-4 or so, and everyone was going to the fair at 1:30. My boss wants us to be there 8 hours a day, so I was...

This meant starting early. Very early. Like 4 am early. Why not?!? I'm young. I work very well when it's just me in the office, much better than most. I enjoy it, probably not all the time, but it's a nice change of pace.

My boss left tons of work on my desk. He came in at 8:10 that morning. Do you realize how bad that looks if all that work is still on my desk? If I had come in at 8, it would have been. However, I had had 4 hours. I finished that stuff up by 5:30 am! I left huge piles on his desk. Needless to say, he was surprised.

I had already worked half a day by the time anyone came in, and I was on a roll. I can't think of a more productive day I've ever had... it was ludacris! I really think in one day I did what I usually get done in a week. What would take 3 or 4 normal men to accomplish... I did in one day. In fact, I was worried about being able to go to Abilene this weekend, but with today and yesterday, I think we could almost be done by Thursday.

So I left work by 1, went to the Williams by 1:30, and we all went to the fair!!

The State Fair is a lot like other fairs in smaller towns, just much more grandiose in scale. The Williams went, Allison, Billy, and of course, my homegirl, Melissa.

We went straight to the rides. Always overpriced, but we didn't really care. We were there to have fun! And we did. The rides were pretty cool. We did the starship, the sleighride, love bug, etc. Pretty good. I almost had a rib pop out on the love bug, oddly enough. Molly and Melissa wouldn't stop shoving me into the side bar! Ouch.

The main reason to go to the fair, besides the pig races and car show, is the food. Need I say more? We tried it all- funnel cakes, fried ice cream, fried potatoes. But nothing can compare to...

Turkey Legs!!

These things are huge! And tasty. Are these even real turkey legs? Why do turkeys have bigger legs than we do? Anyway, you feel like more of a man just eating one. Not that I need to feel like more of a man, but if you do, start with a big, juicy leg. Growl as you rip the flesh from the skin.

Obviously don't start doing that to people. I hate it when people try to bite my legs.

So... no pig races for us. We tried twice, but both times the place was packed. Apparently you can put money on the races. But why stop with pigs?? Why not race random animals? Even against each other? That would be awesome to see.

Then we went to the auto show. Pretty much the same as other years. This isn't a car show with prototypes and such that you may see in Detroit. Just kinda a huge car commercial, where you can check out cars now, get inside, see how they feel, etc.

And let me tell you, not many cars felt as nice as the Mazda RX-8. Whew... even lower to the ground than the Protege, this thing had speed written all over it. And only $24,000. They wouldn't let me take it for a spin, for some reason. I love cars that are low to the ground. I love the feeling you get in a go kart. So cool. Almost like you're part of the road.

We also sat in a Lincoln truck for a while. Very nice. Not such how "heavy duty" it is, but if you're a car lover that wants a truck, this is for you. It even felt like a car on the inside. Very smooth. Grant wouldn't like it, too luxury for him (me too), but it was unique.

We even saw the butter sculpture. Booyah. It was elvis this year. And hound dogs.

Nothing beat the turkey leg, though. Incredible.

Then after we got back to the Williams, Mel and I went to life group. Let me say that we've had 6 of these new format life groups, and I've gone away from every single one of them with something spiritual on my heart, something to ponder, something to gain. Pretty cool feeling. It really helps me and makes me look forward to the next time we meet again.

Till next year!! It's fun telling our big deadline to stick it for a change, instead of the other way around. We should make it a tradition. I'm in.

Last comment: One of our clients emailed me at 6:22 that morning. Jeremy before 6 am. I never realized there were so many creatures of the night!

Monday, October 03, 2005

Update, Brown Sugar Style



In memory of our dear friend, Brown Sugar, this update will have a brown sugar theme.

here's what's been going on... melissa is in her pysch rotation this month... she's at the hospital right now... i need to be studying... that seems to be the theme around here... somehow every little thing gets in the way... i can't focus on it right now... november should be when we move to the new office... that's all i can say right now cause that's all i know... we are in our deadline rush to the finish line at work right now... i'm pushing out retirement plan tax forms like women push out babies... a lot of heavy breathing... but it's worth it... then i can relax a little at work... take some days off and study like it's 1999... sometimes i feel i've forgotten how to study... i think it'll come back to me like it never has shortly...

life's been going good... this weekend was fun... helped out at a car wash at church... it was for luekemia and lympoma... i'm usually a better speller... i should have won our elementary school spelling bee... but i didn't... misspelled comfort... if you say a letter then you have to use it... i said ca... oops... i fell flat on my face... kinda like the patriots this weekend...

then 5 of us went to play racquetball... if you have never played you should... good workout... fun to do... you get to see guys in go-go boots and sports bras (at least we did!)... it was the most bizarre thing ever... 12 black guys... choreographed music on a racquetball court... sports bras... no women... you do the math... anyway, we had a great time playing...

went to see corpse bride with some of the coolest kids on the planet... that was fun... the movie was aight... just different enough to be kinda cool... never seen nightmare before christmas though...

melissa just got a new alarm clock for us... has a cd player you can use for the alarm... also has 2 different alarm times... so we can each have our own... i already made a cd for us to wake up to... not sure the weave will like it... some reason i don't think she wants to wake up to "Eye of the Tiger", "We are the Champions", "Let's get it started" or "The Happy Song"... i'm listening to it right now... seems like more of a workout cd... i like to pump myself up in the morning to where i'm pumping fists after i finish my first plan in the morning before everyone else gets to work... i'm listening to u2's beautiful day now... it's on the cd... it'll be a beautiful day...

i led our life group tonight at rick and bethany's house... it was pretty cool... i had a good time there... we talked about love and how it's the basis of all spiritual gifts... all life really... how it helps us live for others and not ourselves... how we need to show the ultimate love to each other... not sexual love... but the kind Jesus showed us... the pure, infectious kind of love... patient love... the kind that hold no grudges... has no hidden motives... is genuine... that's hard for me to do... but it is getting easier... maybe not easier, but more concrete... less conceptual... more life...

melissa's parents were in town this past weekend... we cleaned our apartment... they helped... i feel bad that i didn't get to see them more... somehow things always get in the way of us playing cards with them... we usually play things like spades, bridge, skat, or pitch... grant and mollie taught us a few new cards games last weekend... we might start playing those as well...

that's about it... this is weird... i can't use caps... i can't even touch the shift button... not sure how he does it...


Sugar Brown always gets the ladies


brown sugar is dead... i'm officially pulling the plug... it's just not working... up from where brown sugar lays... dying... stand a new superhero of sorts... sugar brown... the kind that doesn't care what people think... he'll get the lady cause he doesn't try... he's just a superhero... that's what they do...

long live sugar brown...