Friday-Day 1
Flight was scheduled to land at 5:25pm and then we were going to head over to the Rangers/Seattle game since it was the last home weekend for them.  However, I misread my flight info and showed up at the airport 30 minutes before takeoff.  This would have been fine, but since I had to check a bag, I had to wait for a ticket agent to help.  It took 20 minutes before someone finally talked to me, by then, all they could do was put me on the next flight that was at 8pm.  So I obviously missed the game, but did spend the rest of the day sitting at the bar.  So it wasn’t all lost.

Saturday-Day 2
My cousin was running in a 5k early that morning, so her husband got the kids ready and then we met here over there just a couple minutes before the start.  As the race was going on, we walked around the street side farmers market with the kids and spent time listening to other kids scream about not being allowed in the jumper.  Finished the morning playing some phone tag with a twitter friend that was planning on driving up from Houston for lunch on Wednesday, grocery shopping for a cookout that night, traveling to CoinStar locations to empty buckets of change, kid gymnastics, and finally lunch.  By the time we got back to the house it was 4pm and it was time to start the cookout and watch some afternoon football.  And that’s pretty much how the night ended, we didn’t start eating till after 7, so by the time the food was gone and we had all chatted about everything, it was late and time to call it the night.

Sunday - Day 3
This was tourist day really.  We went down and visited the JFK memorial, the grassy knoll, the building where he was shot from, and walked down the parade route to the spot marked on the road where he was when the fatal bullet hit.  After that, we walked over the JFK Monument and the Sheriffs of Dallas Memorial.  We took a walk down to West End to see where all the partying used to happen, apparently it has toned down a lot, but it still looked like it could be a cool place to hang out at night.  After the trip downtown, we headed over to the State Fair.  Pretty much exactly what you expect from a State Fair, so not really anything to report.  Except I guess I should mention I saw Big Tex.  That seemed to be a big attraction.  After the State Fair, it was back home for the night.  I was pretty beat after that and ended up watching a little bit of football to end the night.

Monday - Day 4
Monday was game day.  I was really excited to go to the game, but first my cousin’s husband had to take care of some house hold duties and so went to Lowes to pick up some Green Fiber insulation to spray in the attic the following day.  We went out and did that, brought back 60 bags of insulation, 22 12′ boards of base moulding, took it all upstairs, and was pretty much wore out.  Quick showers, got ready for the game, and then off to Bone Daddy’s for lunch.  Food was ok, scenery was better, our waitresses service left some to be desired.  But the beer was cold, food was hot, and the wait staff was easy to look at, so I wasn’t complaining.  After a few very tall beers, it was time to head down to the stadium for the game.  We got to Jerry Land about 90 minutes before kickoff, walked about 6 blocks to the stadium, had a drink in the ‘courtyard’ and then walked inside to find our seats.  I won’t comment on the game since the Panthers lost, but the fans were pretty good to me and they were pretty excited for the game.  You could tell everyone was getting restless after the first half when it was 7-0 Carolina, but they got really loud and into as the the Cowboys came back.  I chatted with a few fans the entire game and afterwards shook hands and congratulated them on the win.  I wish all road team fans were as nice as me.  After the game it was back to the house.

Tuesday - Day 5
This became a work day.  I helped spray the insulation in the attic, which was a very dirty job that took several hours.  Afterwards, we got cleaned up and was going to go out, but we didn’t have much time before my cousin got off work and we were planning on all meeting out for dinner.  We ended up at Cabela’s for a bit and had a quick snack to carry me over until dinner.  We met up with my cousin at the Cotton Patch for dinner, did a little shopping, then headed home.  We briefly debated on going to Oklahoma for the casinos, but ended up a sports bar Flips to meet someone for some drinks.  At about 11pm we decided to head out, and was going to go to strip club, but decided against it since and headed home.

Wednesday - Day 6
This was the final day there and I had made plans to be at the airport at 9am so I would have the day in Dallas to meet the twitter friend for lunch, maybe catch one or two more tourist attractions, and then get back for my 5pm flight.  I couldn’t get a confirmation from the twitter friend, so I kept putting off what time to leave for the airport until almost 10am.  After that I kind of figured it wasn’t going to happen so we decided to return the unused insulation and blower back to Lowe’s and then meet my cousin for lunch.  After lunch, we headed over to Bone Daddy’s for a few beers and then off to the airport.  I got to the airport about 430pm, and didn’t have to wait long to board and get on my way. 

So it was a good trip, I have pictures I will post up in the next post tonight as I pull them off the camera.  Only 3 minor setbacks on a 6 day trip, so I can’t complain about any of it.  So now I’m home for 1 day before heading to Phoenix for work for a week.

Well that got me thinking about how far I’ve come in the 8.5 yrs I’ve worked the company, so I decided to put a little run down together.  I’ll change the titles and not mention the company, but hopefully it will still illustrate the journey.

March 01-July 01 - Paper Pusher (sorted through mail, prepped paper for scanning, then store)
July 01-Jan 02 - Report Analyzer (reviewed reports for accuracy and review)
Jan 02-Oct 02 –Business Applications Developer (created small application to enhance functionality of larger applications)
Oct 02 -Mar 03–Business Applications Team Lead (managed team that I previously worked on)
Mar 03-Jun 04–Business Process Analyst (job role that just encompassed the managing of my previous team and participating in all business reviews.  managers thought it deserved a new position)
Jun 04-Dec 04–Business Analyst (moved to IT team that supported larger applications for the LOB I was working with
Dec 04-Aug 06-Business Analyst Sr (begin supporting all applications that my team supported)
Aug 06-Jun 07–Test Data (worked on project for new app creating all the test data for users to test with)
Jun 07-May 09–Business Applications Consultant (switched groups and begin analyzing current applications for process improvement)
May 09-Current–Vendor App Developer –(working with code writing vendor app to design company wide application)

So that’s it, I probably missed one or two in there along the way.  The earlier years got a bit jumpy with a ton of realignments.  But in 9 years, it looks like I’ve come a long way since pushing paper.  And all this started with a conversation at the beach in Cancun over spring break, but that’s another story.

Hasn’t been a feeling all day, actually its just from the last couple hours.  And here it is just after midnight, I’m trying to get more work done, but yet I’m drawn to write down that I’m feeling lonely.  Maybe its the hours I’ve been working lately, maybe its the lack of response to a few emails, or maybe its just me taking a look at myself.

I don’t know the answer, I know the feeling will quickly pass, but at 12:20 AM on Wednesday morning, I feel lonely.

I found myself in tears several times, some in joy, some in sadness, and some in total desire to trade places with Mack.  The idea of God appearing to him as a big black lady sounded just perfect to me.  And the explanation of why God choose this particular image at the time made me nod in amazement of how God knows what we need, when we need it, and in His own way provides it.  I also found it likely that all of our preconceived notions of God and His image have no bearing on what God actually is or how God wants to reveal Himself to us.  He did show up as a burning bush once, so what prevents Him from choosing a big black lady?

The defining of relationships and our human instinct to label everything spoke to me in a way that made me proud of where I think I am as a person and sad for the same reason.  I like to think I have a ‘oneness’ with my friends, but I am lacking that in my personal life and with God.  The book gave a message of relationships of not two people interacting openly, but as two people acting as one.  And not just in a ‘marriage’ relationship, but all relationships, including with God. 

The book spoke of forgiveness and how it doesn’t mean you excuse or forget what someone did, but how you forgive it.  I’ve always heard the forgive & forget line, but this seems more likely.  By forgiving I’m allowing myself to get away from the burden or hurt that was caused, but that doesn’t mean I have to build a relationship with the person I’m forgiving or give that person a second chance.  Now that might not sound so ‘godly’, but it does sound like I’m no longer judging that person, or letting that person have an affect on me, instead I’m turning that person over to someone else.

I’m not sure if the book speaks of Heaven or more of a heavenly place.  I’m not sure what I think of Heaven, as in what I expect it to look/be like, but kind of expect it to be something I’ve never dreamed of.  But I couldn’t dismiss the idea that was conveyed in the book.  And if you give it a moment of open mind thinking, you might find yourself loving the idea and anticipating to see what colors you are and more importantly, what colors Jesus is. 

In short, the book is simply about a man with some faith, troubled with several great burdens because of past events, getting the chance to do what everyone that has walked the earth (save one) wishes to do, gaining understanding, making amends, and moving on to the next stage of life.  I say the book is a great read and if you go into thinking only of what God can do, I think you will be moved. 

All that being said, if you haven’t read the book and would like to, I will gladly send you mine copy.  I only ask that once you are done, you send it on to someone else.

A couple other things from last week, I went to the Dodgers/Diamondbacks game, ended up spending $56 on two (2) drinks,  and flew first class out there. 

Rest of this weekend was spent with the family.  I went to see my nephew’s football game and enjoyed the disorganization of pop warner football.  Rest of the night was spent at a family reunion at my aunt’s house that used to be my Grandparents.  I think it was the first time in 7 years this many people from my Granddad’s family were together.  In fact, its probably been since my grandmother passed away.  It’s amazing how many kids there are now. 

My brother and his family didn’t attend as they were apparently protesting the fact no one on my dad’s side of the family showed up as his daughter’s birthday/communion.  I’m pretty upset with the whole thing, but I guess there is nothing to say to him.  

But for the next few weeks, is all busy for me.  This coming weekend I head up to Asheville for the Brewgrass Festival.  Then next Friday, I fly out to Dallas for the Panthers/Cowboys MNF.  The following week I am heading back out to AZ for work, but I’m thinking of flying out early to either hangout in Arizona, Grand Canyon, or fly up to Vegas.  I will be flying back in on the 9th, so on the 10th I’m heading up to Chapel Hill for the Tarheels/Georgia Southern football game.  And then just a few days after that I’m heading to South Dakota for my first hunting trip.

So a lot of travel surrounded by a lot of work.   I’m tired just thinking about it.  I’ll try to get some photos up from the last week in some upcoming posts this week.  I’m sure I’ll have some time I need to get away from work.

Today on my way out of the office, a quick little comment led into a much deeper conversation.  This is not something I would normally share, but I wanted to write this down so later I could look back on it in case I ever needed to remind myself of how I good I feel.

I guess a little background, I’m the only guy on my team.  I also the youngest by a few years and I am also the only never been married/single person (there is one other older lady that is single but she has been divorced twice).   The running ‘joke’ in the group is how everyone wants to adopt my attitude about work because I’m very seldom rattled by work. 

Well, on the way out, I was discussing my new found ‘problem’ of having 2 big screen tvs and not really a place to put one.  I made the comment that I guess I’ll be ok if that’s the biggest problem I have at the moment.  A lady asked, “Goodness, how will you make it through the day?”  My response was; “The same as all other days, one step at a time, one breath at a time, try not to get ahead of myself.”  Well, that led into a big conversation of how I am living right now.  So instead of trying to repeat exactly everything that was said (no way that could happen), I’ll just give the rundown of my description.

Anytime someone asks me how I’m doing, my normal response is “Wonderful Today”.  The key to this is believing it every time I say it.  I’m amazed by how much better I feel anytime someone asks me that.  I truly feel wonderful every time I say it. 

I try not to get ahead of myself.  I try to focus on what I’m doing at the moment without looking to far ahead.  It’s the one thing that I think has helped me stay calm regardless of how fast the world is spinning.  Ask anyone that has worked with me or spent a lot of time around me, and the one thing they all would say about me is that I always seem calm, relaxed, laid back, whatever word you want to describe that.  I attempt to take life one step at a time, one breath at a time.  It’s not to say I don’t look ahead sometimes, but a majority of my time is spent right now.  That keeps me in the present.

I can’t remember the last time I got angry over anything (not counting my favorite sports team of the season losing).  I have somehow conditioned myself to just accept things as they are and work with it.  I’ve had two major incidents over the last 4 yrs that have really had my friends/family worried/concerned.  I on the other hand, was fine.  I didn’t get down over what was going on and I didn’t let it affect me and my daily attitude.  I accepted the situation for what it was and just worked through it.  In the end, both things worked out (one good, one bad) and I moved on. 

The last thing I have is everyday I laugh and I find something that touches my heart.  One of my all time favorite quotes is this
“If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.”  Jimmy Valvano
Everyday I try to do that. 

So that’s it really.  I try to live in the moment.  I hopefully learn from the past.  I cherish every second I have here.  I laugh everyday.  I find something that moves my heart.  When I pray, the first thing I do is give thanks for the struggles/hardships I’ve had in my life.  I would not be who I am without them.  And I really mean it every time I answer “I’m Wonderful today”. 

So to tie up the convesation at work, one lady said “Well that’s a guy who is in total control of his life”.  And now that I’ve had time to think about it, I say no, I’m not in control.  I have given control to a higher power, and because I truely believe that higher power will take care of me, I don’t let this world get to me.  That allows me to be me, for better of worse.

Before I headed over to the Poker Tournament, I stopped and tried out the new resturant in my subdivision.  Main Street Steak and Seafood opened last week and has been pretty busy.  This will be the 3rd business to open up in that location, so I’m hoping it sticks.  Food was good enough that I would give it another try, though this time I will pass on the Crab & Cream Cheese Purses. 

After dinner I went up to Huntersville to play in the Poker Tournament.  There were 14 players for this monthly tournament and it was the first time I had played with most of them.  I started off with a couple bad beats and was getting dangerously close to going home within 20 minutes.  But I picked up a couple good hands and managed to make the final 9 before getting sat down on the following hand.
Blinds= $500/$1000
Chips on Hand: $1900
Position:  Beginning Action
Pocket Aspades/10clubs
My Bet:  All In @ $1900, big blind plus $900
Two Calls, both blinds fold
Flop: 3diamonds/Ahearts/9diamonds
Bet:  Last Position goes all in with $7200 and is called everyone turns to show this
Chip Leader: A/Q off suit
All In Bet: A/2diamonds flush draw
So we all have a pair of Aces, so I figured I’m dead.  But then in the cruelest of fashions this happens:
Turn: 10 diamonds
River: 9 diamonds
So I would have won with the A/10 2 pair, but the 10 that comes out is the diamond and I lose to the flush.  I could have moved up to $7200 and had a chance at pulling out the overall win, instead I spent 3 hrs and won nothing.  But that’s cards.

Saturday I spent most of the day setting up the tv, some light computer work, and cleaning before heading to Charlotte for the birthday party.  8 of us went to Cajun Queen for dinner and then headed over to Jackalope Jacks for drinks.  The food at Cajun Queen was great.  I had shrimp etouffee and a half order of cajun fried oysters.  I could have asked for seconds on both.  The 4 people that ordered shrimp & grits had to send there’s back for a new dish because the blackened shrimp smelled and tasted like ‘bong water’.  I’ve never tasted or smelled bong water, but there was a definite foreign object smell to it.  The waiter seemed to agree with the description and after everyone received some bbq shrimp instead, all were happy.

Jackalope Jacks was so loud inside it was hard to hear anything.  I ordered whatever was on special and hated it.  I wish I knew what it was so I could make sure not to order it again, but no one at the table heard what she said.  We sat outside as soon as there was a table available and chatted for the next couple hours.

That ended the night and pretty much my weekend.  Sunday I lounged around all day looking for things I apparently do not have.  I’m pretty sure I didn’t eat all day.  And I’m not sure if I even turned on my pc or tv.  It was a quiet day in house. 

Next weekend is Labor Day weekend and I wished I had much better plans.  So far nothing is scheduled for Friday night, but I have to work at Dick’s Sporting Goods Saturday night 5-9:30, then I fly out to Arizona again on Monday for the short week of work.  Only good thing is I ‘m going to get to see a baseball game while I’m out there.  So I’m looking forward to that.

Well, I didn’t find a place until this morning.  Which is basically one day late (it always works out that way) since last night I bought a new 50″ Samsung Plasma.  Got it home, found someone to help me carry it in, hooked up, and WOW.  It has either been way to long since I had HD TV in my house, or this TV kicks my DLP in the jimmys.  Awesome picture with right out of the box settings.  Sometime over the next week I’ll get it dialed in for the room and I’m sure I’ll even be more amazed.

Downside to buying the tv, it probably just took the place of my October Vegas trip and might have put my Monday Night Football trip to Dallas in jeapordy.  Vegas I can pass on, but the MNF is almost impossible to pass up.  I might have to live it thin for a month if I still plan on doing that trip.

I made it to his apartment around 8pm and we quickly headed out to grab some food before going out on the town.  We ended up going to Firebirds since McAlister’s Deli closes at 9pm (kind of early for a Friday night for that location.  Ton of people still out).  Had a great steak and a few beers as we patiently waited for one of his ‘dancer’ friends to show up.  She gets there about 20 minutes before close, orders a huge meal, eats a third of it, and then decides to bail on us.  All that after saying she was taking us out, kind of disappointing. 

We head downtown and attempt to get into Solas, but mistakenly forgot we both had on tennis shoes.  So right after the guy checks my id, in his best surfer voice he says “Oh man, Dude, sorry, got a dress code here.  No sneakers.”

Just a little bummed, but laughing over the surfer dude, we went over to Tobacco Road for a few drinks to figure out the next place to go.  Tobacco Road is a favorite of mine since being there for the UNC Final Four earlier this year.  Crowd was way down this night, but still love the bar. 

After finishing my $7.50 beer (Blanco Diablo by Big Boss Brewery), which I hated (I love the Hell’s Belle by them), we decided to go to 42nd Street Oyster Bar.  I wish I would have known that would have been an option before eating at Firebirds, because I love oysters.  They had a blues type band there that night and a few people were out dancing, so we hung out a bit hoping to talk to a few people, but it seemed to be a couples only night so we decided to head out after a Corona.

Its 1am and we have yet to find something worth talking about, so we head over towards HI5 sports bar hoping to end the night on a good note.  On the way however, we pass a guy who apparently had to much to drink and we took that as our sign as we should probably go home.

Saturday brought rain, so golf was cancelled.  We decided to go catch a movie with his sister, well more like we were going to watch a movie and invited her along really.  The option was between District 9 and GI Joe, with a quick search on my new pre, reviews for GI Joe have been horrible and District 9 have been ok, so District 9 it was.  Pretty solid film, and I would recommend it to most.

Had to rush back to the apartment after the movie so I could attend a quick work meeting from 4pm-530pm.  Afterwards, we went up to Lifestyles Fitness Center (apparently they bought out most of the Peak Fitness locations in Raleigh where he had a membership) where I was able to get a free day pass as a guest.  2 hours later, we walk out as the place is closing behind us.  First time in a while I had worked out in a gym, for the last 2 yrs I’ve been ‘using’ the Bowflex at home and running.

After getting cleaned up and heading out for a bite to eat, we went to his ‘dancer’ friend’s place of employement.  And that’s all we will say about that, as we never talk about things that happen in those places.

Sunday was another late morning as we didn’t get back in till about 2:30AM the night before.  Typically I would just head back early, but since I really didn’t have anything pressing to do at home, I decided to hang for most of the day.  We went to Firehouse Subs for lunch while there decided to go watch Megan Fox run around in Transformers 2.  I had heard the movie wasn’t that great, but I liked it and would watch it again.  And not just for Megan Fox.

After the movie we headed over to Crabtree Mall to pick up a travel charger for my phone and then look around.  They have a Belk’s store for men there that usually has pretty good sales on high end brands, so I was hoping to score some new jeans and maybe a few shirts.  Oh, but I was sorely disappointed and walked away very bummed.  Apparently I am too big to find good clothes for in the ‘regular’ people section and too small to find clothes for in the Big & Tall section.  So apparently I either have to work harder or just let myself go, I’m struggling with that decision.  Because really, I’m not that big of a guy…atleast I don’t think I am.  Apparently, designers think differently.

Only other stops were into a camera store to see if there are any good deals, and nope.  I’m really wanting to upgrade to a serious camera before heading out to South Dakota in October, but I have no clue what I want yet.  Or if it is even worth it for me, since I don’t take a ton of photos.

Mall closed at 6pm, so as we were walking out I finally found the travel charger I needed from one of those small stands in the middle of aisle, quick $20 later and I’m out the door and on the way to the car.

We make one final stop on the way home at Sweet Tomatoes for dinner and then I dropped him off at his apartment and headed on home.  I decided to take the ’scenic’ route home, to kill a little more time and apparently a few extra gallons of gas, but still manged to make it home at 10pm. 

So all in all, it was a great weekend trip.  I still think Raleigh is a better place for me right now and I would love to move there, but I don’t think the housing market is going to let me do that.  My house is just not going to sell for what I ‘need/want’ out of it to make me feel like I made a good deal.  Maybe with my work from home status, I can just spend a week or two up there at a time and have the same benefits of living there.  But that’s for another day I guess.

But things are getting better, my new Bose radio is being delivered today.  I have an ‘executive’ office chair being delivered tomorrow.  And a speaker phone being delivered Friday.  I still need to buy a printer and I’m thinking a small tv, but I might pass on that since I am supposed to be working.  I would like to get a whiteboard though.

But after two days, the most impressive thing has been getting up at 6am, running, working out, starting laundry, shower, and being logged on to work by 8am.  It’s amazing how getting all that done frees up my entire evening.

So at the moment, life is good!