Well it was Columbia Theological Seminary Graduation weekend this past weekend. My brother received his MDiv (or as he said, he has now "Mastered Divinity"). So, of course the whole family was in town. Staying with me was my parents, my cousin Lisle, and my grandmother (Nana, my dad's mom). My cousin Douglass who just graduated from App State also came and stayed with his sister (and my cousin) Rebekah who lives here in Atlanta.
So Friday night we all headed to the Baccalaureate service at Columbia Presbyterian Church. Will Willimon preached a very good sermon. He was funny and irreverent, but I think he got his point across. For those of you who don't run in the preacher circles, Will Willimon is widely known as one of the best preachers in the world. Although I have to agree with my Nana that his delivery was not the best, but that his content is exceptional. Here is a link to his wikipedia entry and a link to his blog.
Saturday AM we all headed to Peachtree Presbyterian and were joined by my grandmother on my mom's side and my Uncle Joe (mom's brother) and Aunt Ann. We sat in basically the same place we sat last year for Morgan's graduation. It was a very similar service. One major difference is that after Kevin received his degree and hood, he headed back to his row and gave everyone on the row behind him a high five. Morgan didn't do that.
After the graduation and the pictures in the lawn and the reception in the fellowship hall everyone headed back to my house for a cookout on the new deck. We had a pleasant afternoon and the weather was wonderful.
Then Saturday night Kevin, my dad, Lisle, Rebekah, Douglass, and I headed to the TED for a Braves game. Despite the loss, fun was had by all!
Sunday morning Morgan preached and so everyone came to church! Morgan did a great job leading the service without the other pastor who was out of town.
Finally about 2 PM on Sunday afternoon everyone left and Morgan and I both sat down and relaxed. It was a wonderful weekend and it was great to see everyone and to honor Kevin. However, my introverted self was soooooo ready for some quiet time.
Next weekend we head to Memphis for Morgan's Nanny and Pap's 60th wedding anniversary and a family reunion. Another weekend of family, here we come!!!!
Monday, May 19, 2008
Monday, May 05, 2008
What is with the +/- indicator?
No! All you folks out there reading this blog who have children, are expecting children soon, are trying to have children, or who just think that it is time for Morgan and I to have children, THIS POST IS NOT ABOUT the +/- indicator on a pregnancy test!
Nope, this post is about a stupid system at some institutions of higher learning. Yep, I am talking about the +/- system of grading. On the rolling plains of Auburn, we only had letter grades A, B, C, D, F, and occasionally if you tried really hard you could get an XF (failure due to not completing all requirements) or a WF (failure due to dropping the class too late). We didn't have pluses or minuses. We just had letters. If you got an A, then you got an A. It couldn't be demeaned into an A- just by adding a - after it. It was an A and that is all that it would ever be.
So, now I am back in Grad school at Georgia State and they use the +/- system. So, I got a 92 in my Microeconomics class (YEAH) and I was proud of myself because at Auburn that would have been an A, but at GSU it is an A "Minus". Okay, so an A- in grad school is good and considering the amount of time I actually put into the class it is actually really good, but still, I feel like an A "Minus" is bad. I think a B "Plus" would have felt better than an A "Minus". Maybe it is just the negative connotation that goes along with the negative sign. Maybe it is the arithmetic that occurs when you see the subtracts sign. Mabye it is the sound of the word minus that makes me feel less. Whatever it is, I don't like it. Matter of fact, I think I am not going to use that sign to proceed my signatures anymore. I am going to use a more positive sign.
Peace,
+Robert
Nope, this post is about a stupid system at some institutions of higher learning. Yep, I am talking about the +/- system of grading. On the rolling plains of Auburn, we only had letter grades A, B, C, D, F, and occasionally if you tried really hard you could get an XF (failure due to not completing all requirements) or a WF (failure due to dropping the class too late). We didn't have pluses or minuses. We just had letters. If you got an A, then you got an A. It couldn't be demeaned into an A- just by adding a - after it. It was an A and that is all that it would ever be.
So, now I am back in Grad school at Georgia State and they use the +/- system. So, I got a 92 in my Microeconomics class (YEAH) and I was proud of myself because at Auburn that would have been an A, but at GSU it is an A "Minus". Okay, so an A- in grad school is good and considering the amount of time I actually put into the class it is actually really good, but still, I feel like an A "Minus" is bad. I think a B "Plus" would have felt better than an A "Minus". Maybe it is just the negative connotation that goes along with the negative sign. Maybe it is the arithmetic that occurs when you see the subtracts sign. Mabye it is the sound of the word minus that makes me feel less. Whatever it is, I don't like it. Matter of fact, I think I am not going to use that sign to proceed my signatures anymore. I am going to use a more positive sign.
Peace,
+Robert
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Back in the saddle
Well, it has been a really long time since I posted on here. My last post was on August 7, 2006 as I was getting on a plane for my first travel assignment with Amdocs. A whole lot has changed in my life since then, so let me see if I can catch everyone up:
For those of you who are new readers to this blog, "The Quest" was my very long struggle with trying to find my calling in life (if you are interested you can read the archives). If you read the few posts prior to this one, you will see that I quit my job at CGI-AMS which was my first job after college and where I worked for 5.5 years and I took a new job with another IT Consulting firm called Amdocs. My reasoning for the change was to determine if I was sick of consulting or if I was sick of CGI-AMS. Well, God answered my question real quick.
4 weeks into my new travel job with Amdocs, I got a call out of the blue from Chuck. Chuck is the Executive Director of the Care and Counseling Center of Georgia, which is a nonprofit located in Decatur, GA. He asked me to interview for a new job he was creating. This was the answer to my years of struggle and prayer. Long story short, I took the job in October of 2006 and have been the Director of Finance and Business Operations ever since.
This career shift wasn't easy. It meant a big paycut and it meant limiting Morgan's job search to the ATL area. However, with much prayer and consultation, Morgan and I both agreed that this was what God was calling me to do.
It all happened so fast that I kind of felt that my "Quest" was over and so I stopped blogging. So to those of you that I know used to wake up every morning looking for a new post from me, I apologize.
Well, since October of 2006 I have really lived into this new calling. And this past January of 2008 I started a masters program at GSU to further this career calling. I am seeking an MPA (Masters of Public Administration) with a Nonprofit Management concentration. Taking classes part-time while I continue to work at CCCG full-time I hope to complete the degree sometime in 2010.
To catch you up with Morgan, she graduated from Columbia Theological Seminary with a Masters of Divinity in May 2007. She then accepted a call to St Andrews Presbyterian Church in Tucker, GA as the Associate Pastor for Youth. She has been working there ever since July 2007. In August of 2007 we moved from Decatur to Tucker so as to be closer to the church.
So, that should catch everyone up with what is going on in our lives. Several of our friends started blogs and that encouraged me to shake the dust off this old blog and get it going again. It was very therapeutic for me during a tough time in my career and so I am hoping that it can continue to be therapeutic and a good place for me to goof off (along with Facebook).
Peace Out,
-Robert
For those of you who are new readers to this blog, "The Quest" was my very long struggle with trying to find my calling in life (if you are interested you can read the archives). If you read the few posts prior to this one, you will see that I quit my job at CGI-AMS which was my first job after college and where I worked for 5.5 years and I took a new job with another IT Consulting firm called Amdocs. My reasoning for the change was to determine if I was sick of consulting or if I was sick of CGI-AMS. Well, God answered my question real quick.
4 weeks into my new travel job with Amdocs, I got a call out of the blue from Chuck. Chuck is the Executive Director of the Care and Counseling Center of Georgia, which is a nonprofit located in Decatur, GA. He asked me to interview for a new job he was creating. This was the answer to my years of struggle and prayer. Long story short, I took the job in October of 2006 and have been the Director of Finance and Business Operations ever since.
This career shift wasn't easy. It meant a big paycut and it meant limiting Morgan's job search to the ATL area. However, with much prayer and consultation, Morgan and I both agreed that this was what God was calling me to do.
It all happened so fast that I kind of felt that my "Quest" was over and so I stopped blogging. So to those of you that I know used to wake up every morning looking for a new post from me, I apologize.
Well, since October of 2006 I have really lived into this new calling. And this past January of 2008 I started a masters program at GSU to further this career calling. I am seeking an MPA (Masters of Public Administration) with a Nonprofit Management concentration. Taking classes part-time while I continue to work at CCCG full-time I hope to complete the degree sometime in 2010.
To catch you up with Morgan, she graduated from Columbia Theological Seminary with a Masters of Divinity in May 2007. She then accepted a call to St Andrews Presbyterian Church in Tucker, GA as the Associate Pastor for Youth. She has been working there ever since July 2007. In August of 2007 we moved from Decatur to Tucker so as to be closer to the church.
So, that should catch everyone up with what is going on in our lives. Several of our friends started blogs and that encouraged me to shake the dust off this old blog and get it going again. It was very therapeutic for me during a tough time in my career and so I am hoping that it can continue to be therapeutic and a good place for me to goof off (along with Facebook).
Peace Out,
-Robert
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