The Quest

Making Hay

2008-08-03T15:45:00.001-04:00

Yep, we are having a baby. We have created a blog to track the progress, so I will probably be spending most of my blogging time over there for the next several months. Please visit us at that site:

http://makinghay.wordpress.com/

Proud Papa-to-be,

-Robert

Lazy Thursday on youtube

2008-07-13T16:00:00.001-04:00

Check this video out that Nick and Jeffrey made to advertise the Thursday rec event. It is a parody of the Lazy Sunday SNL Digital Short that Samberg and Parnell did on SNL:

Montreat Articles on PCUSA.org

2008-07-13T15:36:00.003-04:00

MacBook and XP

2008-06-21T13:23:00.003-04:00

Well, I have finally joined the MacBook cult. After ordering and receiving two broken Dell's (one had a bad video card and the other a bad network card) and not getting any sympathy from Dell for it, I have vowed to never buy from Dell again (which means my organization will never buy from them again since being the IT guy is part of my ever-expanding job description).

So, I looked at HP, Lenovo, and Mac and finally decided on a MacBook. I have purchased the regular MacBook with a 2.4 ghz processor and 4 GB of ram. It is smaller than my 15" Dell, but I think I am going to like being able to carry it more places more easily.

The new Mac OS (Leopard) comes with a utility called Boot Camp. Boot Camp allows you to easily partition part of your hard drive for another OS and to run another OS on your MacBook. So, since I have a few applications that I use that I must use on Windows (accounting package and medical billing package), I installed Windows XP in a Boot Camp partition. So, I can either boot to Leopard or XP. This is a great feature, but what I really need is the ability to access Windows while in Leopard. So, I have also purchased Parallels (actually I haven't purchased it yet, I am still in the trial period). Parallels essentially creates a virtual machine in a window within Leopard. The new version of Parallels allows you to use your Boot Camp version as the virtual machine. So, now I can either boot directly to XP or Leopard OR I can access XP from within Leopard.

I am still trying to figure out all of the different nuances of this configuration, but so far I love it. I am also trying to get used to the Mac OS and having only one button to click. And I am trying to figure out how to share documents between my Office 2007 setup in XP and my Office 2008 for the Mac in Leopard. So, anyone out there with advice or other ways to make this configuration work better for me, please let me know.

So, I am not a total MacBook convert, but I am now living more in the Mac world and only visit XP out of necessity.

"Hi I am a PC AND a Mac"
-Robert

PS- Anyone have tips on how to move Outlook 2007 .pst files into Entourage 2008?

Golf (and BEER)

2008-06-09T20:12:00.002-04:00

This past weekend I went to Myrtle Beach with a group of 27 other guys for a golf trip. This was the 7th annual golf trip, but this was my first time to attend. The trip was started 7 years ago by some fraternity brothers from VA Tech. They started with 5 people the first year and have reached 28 this year by adding friends and co-workers over the years. My friend Steve invited me this year.

So, we left on Thursday morning with 2 cars with 7 people headed to Legends Golf Resort in Myrtle Beach. We arrived around 2 pm and immediately began a round. This was the "practice round" and was not included in the group package but almost everyone played. I think we had 5 or 6 foursomes. Being the practice round there were no set rules for this round. My foursome played "wolf". I shot a 112 and finished 9 beers. It was about 105 degrees.

After the round we checked into the condos at the resort. We had 7 condos. 4 guys to a condo. Each condo had 2 bedrooms and 2 baths. Each bedroom had 2 queen beds. We ate dinner at the Pub in the resort. Great burger (not that it mattered because I was so hungry).

The official "group" rounds began on Friday AM. Tee times started at 7 AM. We all headed to the clubhouse and ate the included breakfast buffet and then headed towards the course. This round everyone played with their condo roommates and each person was required to keep their individual score so most groups played "wolf". I shot a 105 and finished 6 beers (it was early). Temperature started at 85 degrees and by the end of the round it was 100 degrees.

The scores from the first round were then used to seed 7 teams for the second round of golf so that the teams would be somewhat even. So a quick bite to eat at the clubhouse and then we started the second round with the seeded teams. Format for this round was Captains Choice with mandatory beer shotgun holes on #4 and #17. Also if anyone in the group didn't hit it past the ladies tees then everyone on the team would have to do a shotgun. The entire team must finish a case of beer before the round is over. Must use each person's drive 3 times. And each team was allowed 3 mulligans but taking the mulligan required taking a shot (Beam for a tee shot, Captain Morgan for a fairway shot, and Jose Cuervo for a putt).

My team was a perfectly matched team. Our A and B players both shot 90 on the first round and our C and D(me) player both shot 105 on the first round. Our rankings in the 28 were A-7, B-8, C-21, D-22. We were a perfect team for a best ball tourney and it worked out for us. We finished 7 under and won the round.

The final round was played on Saturday with tee times starting at noon. In this round everyone had been drafted to either one team or the other (2 teams). Each foursome was made up of 2 players from each team. So, the foursomes decided what formats to play and then which ever pair in each group won would then get a point to the team they were on. The team with the most points won and got their names engraved on the "Donkey Cup". Again, my pair won my foursome and my team also won. Similar rules to the previous round about mandatory shotguns on holes and mandatory shotguns for not passing the ladies tees. I lost count of how many beers I had during this round.

So, that was my weekend. Lots of guys being stupid. Lots of beer. Oh yeah and we played some golf too...

Movies (and BEER)!

2008-06-04T13:04:00.005-04:00

Yeah, I know I have been a slacker updating this blog. 2 years ago when I was updating my blog all the time I was doing it because I had nothing better to do at work. However now I actually like my job and stay busy (for most of every day). So, you are just going to have to be patient with me as I try and get back into this routine (and try to find time to do it).

Morgan and I have been really busy since my last post and I have thought several times "I should blog about this". There was the weekend in Memphis (highlight was ribs from Rendezvous and the piano bar Silkys). There was Morgan's birthday (yes she has joined the 30s club). There was moving my brother into my house (he doesn't have a job yet so he is living with us). But, what I really want to share is my experience at the Movie Tavern.

The Movie Tavern is a new movie theater near our house in the Northlake Mall area. Morgan and I went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. I dont' want to spend a lot of time talking about that movie because I think people built it up in their heads too much and so they were disappointed. However, if you watch it right after watching any of the other Indy movies then you will quickly realize that it is exactly on par with the other movies. I enjoyed it.

We also went to see the Sex and the City movie. Okay, I know you are thinking to yourself, "This guy is a big wimp if he went to see this movie. I should take his 'Man Card' away!". You are probably right and I would say the same thing about any of you men out there reading this. However, let me defend myself with two very important points:
1- I am leaving tomorrow (Thursday) for a golf trip with 27 other guys (From what I can tell from what the friend who invited me has told me about this trip the golfing is just an excuse to go act like college frat students again. I will post about this trip when I get back) so going to the movie was a preemptive way of avoiding the guilt of leaving my wife home alone while I was off being stupid.
2- They serve BEER at the Movie Tavern!

Point 2 is the important thing here. You see the Movie Tavern is a great concept. Why didn't I think this up. It works like this; it is a movie theater that also has food and BEER. SIMPLE!

First of all the ticket prices are cheaper than anywhere. It is $7 to see a movie. If someone can find a cheaper new movie ticket price in the ATL area I would like to know about it. Since I am a cheapskate they get me with the ticket prices. Then you walk in and they have a snack bar like any other theater; candy and popcorn and soft drinks. BUT WAIT, they have burgers and pizza and cheese dip and chicken wraps and french fries and BEER! So, you order what you want and they give you one of those table flags (like you get at Jason's Deli) and you go into your movie theater.

Once in the theater you will see that every row of comfortable and reclining chairs has a long table in front of it for your food. As you watch the previews and gulp your "tanker-sized" beer (more on this below) the wait staff delivers your food to you. The food prices are reasonable; $4-8 for an entree (ie. burger and fries). And the beer is reasonable; $3 for a domestic or $4 for an import.

But wait, there is more. They also have the "TANKER". It is a 38oz glass mug that you can purchase for $9 (that doesn't include the beer) and then you can fill the tanker with whatever domestic draft beer you want for $7. You get to keep the mug (you bought it for $9) and you can bring it back with you every time you come and refill it for $7. The only way to beat this price is to head back to the Plains for $5 pitchers...

So, as you can see the Movie Tavern is my new favorite place to go to the movies. I will even go see stupid chick flicks at this theater because I can eat cheese dip and drink beer (and score brownie points with the wife)!

Peace and Cheese Dip,

-Homer

Whew!

2008-05-19T10:18:00.003-04:00

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!!!!

What is with the +/- indicator?

2008-05-05T18:49:00.002-04:00

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

Back in the saddle

2008-05-01T16:48:00.002-04:00

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

On my first flight

2006-08-07T08:08:00.000-04:00

Today is my first of many flights to kansas city for my new job. I woke up at 5:15 and was at the airport by 6:30 am. After checking my bag and going through security I was at the gate by 7 am. Chris (a co-worker whom I also worked with at my last company) and I grabbed breakfast and then we boarded the plane. It is now 8 am and we are waiting for everyone to get seated. Let's hope this travel job isn't as bad as I have heard. More updates later in the week.

"Somebody's got a case of the Mondays"
-Peter Gibbons

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New job

2006-07-12T14:40:00.000-04:00

Well it is my third day at my new job and I have officially done nothing. In the consulting industry everyone is assigned a project. When you are not on a project, then you are waiting to get on a project. Every company has a name for the waiting time. My old company called it "on the bench" which is a common name in the industry. My current company calls it "on the beach". Well, I was actually on the beach last week and this cubicle looks nothing like it...

Wishing life actually was a Corona commercial,
-Peter Gibbons

Sent via BlackBerry from Cingular Wireless

A quick recap

2006-07-04T18:32:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I know I have been dormant for a while. And I am sure that every morning you all click with excitement to my blog just to find disappointment due to my lack of blogging. Well, I apologize. I have been pretty busy the last few weeks. Let's see if I can give a quick recap...

Jury Duty ended after 3 days with a guilty verdict and the defendant receiving 15 years in jail for two different counts of 'aggravated assualt with a weapon (gun)'. Basically it was a gang shooting between the 18th street gang and the Laraza gang. These are both hispanic gangs. For those of you familiar with ATL, the shooting occured behind the Advanced Auto Parts store at Clairmont and Buford Highway. The defendant basically shot at 2 different people and shot one of them at point-blank range in the chest with a 9mm. The shot went straight through the guy and he lived and showed us his scars in court.

So court ended on Wednesday and then Thursday was my last day at CGI-AMS. It was un-eventful... Just like any other day. I did nothing all day, went to lunch with Steve and Warren, and then packed up and left. I am going to miss the people at CGI-AMS and I owe a lot of them for the knowledge and experience I have gained over the past 5.5 years. However, it is time to move on.

Friday through Tuesday was spent running errands, cleaning the house, doing laundry, etc. Morgan got back from Montreat on Saturday and we spent some quality time hanging out and getting ready for Montreat West.

Wednesday we headed to the airport (via Ryan, thanks). Our plane had some trouble. End result was we were on the plane for 5 hours for a 2.5 hour flight while they fixed the plane. It sucked. After the flight to Denver and the 2 hour shuttle to Ft Collins, we finally arrived only about 1 hour late for the meetings.

Wednesday through Sunday was spent with the Montreat West Planning team getting things ready for the conference. Finally Sunday night arrived and we started the conference. I dressed up as Nacho Libre for the opening skit (will share pics later)and we were off...

The conference was awesome. Jeffrey Harper (Music), J Herbert Nelson (Preacher), Cindy Edwards (Keynoter), and Kenneth Slifer (Recreation) all did a great job. Our planning team (made up of 4 adults- Rick, Kari, Chris, and Myself, 4 youth- Missy, Rex, Alyson, and Matt, and 2 co-directors- Lita and Leslie) did a wonderful job. It was one of the best teams I have worked on/with in the past 10 years of volunteering with Montreat. It was a great conference and in the end, the 4 hours of sleep each night was worth it...

The conference ended on Friday night with worship. Saturday was spent packing up and flying home. We got back to ATL at about 11pm and after the taxi ride were in bed by midnight. We slept in and then started doing laundry and then packed up and drove down to PCB (that is Panama City Beach, aka "Redneck Riviera") and we are staying at Gulftreat (the church camp my dad is in charge of). Just Morgan, Miller, and Me. We will be here until Friday and then we will head back. I have been sitting in the shallow end of the pool and throwing a tennis ball and Miller will swim and get it and bring it back. A much needed vacation!!!!!

I start my new job on Monday morning. I am sure I will have more updates after that.

Gotta go get my airbrushed t-shirt,
-Robert

Planes are great, when they are working

2006-06-21T11:39:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the delay since my last post. I will catch you up once I am at a computer again. Right now I am sitting on delta flight 1487 which was supposed to leave at 10:35am. It is currently 11:30. The flight was initially delayed for an 11am departure. We boarded and pushed away from the gate and got to the runway and then the pilot said that some computer wasn't working so we would have to go back to the gate to get it fixed. So we are sitting on the plane at the gate while they "fix" the plane. Hopefully they will get it fixed soon.

Ryan, thanks for the ride this morning.

Montreat West (ft collins, co) or bust!
-Robert

Sent via BlackBerry from Cingular Wireless

My Civic Duty

2006-06-12T18:05:00.000-04:00

As you are aware, this upcoming Thursday is my last day with my current company. But instead of packing up my cube, transitioning my responsibilities, and trying to steal trade secrets and office supplies I am performing my civic duty. That's right, I was called to jury duty this morning.

It is an interesting process. I showed up at 8:15 AM as requested. By 8:45 AM I was in court room 5D with 47 other suckers. The lawyers for both the prosecution and defense proceeded to ask what they called "general" questions where were asked to raise our hands if we answered in the positive. This was followed by individual questions where each juror was asked to stand up and then the prosecution and defense asked individual questions to gain more knowledge of each juror. At 11:30 AM we had gotten through 12 of the 48 jurors. The judge let jurors 1-12 (who had already been interviewed) and jurors 25-48 leave for lunch while they continued with jurors 13-24. I was juror 26. We came back at 1:30 PM and they finished the individual interviews at around 2:40 PM. At 2:45 PM, I was one of 13 lucky jurors to be picked for the jury. They let the other 35 jurors leave and the 13 of us got new instructions and were sent to the jury room. When we came back (with our notepads) we had to be sworn in as jurors and then the lawyers gave their opening remarks.

I can't tell you any specifics about the trial until it is over, but I can tell you that it is a criminal case and the defendant is charged with 2 counts of aggravated assault with a gun (they have eluded that it may be a gang related shooting, but that is yet to be determined). I will update you when the trial is over, but it should be interesting. The judge and lawyers said that they anticipate the trial to run through at least Thursday.

A lot of the people at the courthouse were complaining about having to be there today. I can see where if you have children that you are responsible for or if you are really busy at work how this could be really inconvenient. However, for me, considering I really have NOTHING to do at work this week, I actually am excited about the opportunity to see how our judicial system works and to be a part of it. Hopefully I will do a good job and hopefully justice will be done.

God Bless America,

-Juror #26

"Me Church"

2006-06-05T10:18:00.000-04:00

Resignation is bitter sweet!!!!

2006-06-01T15:43:00.000-04:00

Well, it is official. I officially resigned from my current job this afternoon. My last day here will be June 15th. I have accepted an offer at another IT Consulting firm and I will begin there on July 10th. The reason for the time in between is that I have to go to the Montreat West Youth Conference during that period as a planning team member.

Resigning is no fun. I was nervous and wasn't sure what to say or what the reaction would be. However, fortunately for me, my boss was out of the office today, so I had to resign via a phone call. The fortunate part was that allowed me to write down exactly what I wanted to say which made me more relaxed and confident. I believe she was surprised, but when I told her my reasoning she understood.

So, now you are asking why I quit one IT firm to go to another. Well, as you know I have been struggling for about a year now with what career path God is calling me to. I have yet to determine what God's will is, however I believe that this is a step in the right direction. I believe that before I just give up on this IT consulting gig that I need to get another perspective on this industry. There have been moments that I have loved my job and so maybe what I don't like is my current employer. Or maybe I will get to the new place and realize what I don't like is the industry. Either way, I feel like I need to go and try before I make a drastic change in my life, particularly when I don't know what that change would be to.

So, I am taking a step towards figuring out what this 'Quest' is all about. I haven't figured it all out yet, but I am praying to God and I am trying to listen and right now this is the step I must take.

Family, food, and heritage!

2006-05-30T11:00:00.000-04:00

Memorial day is to honor and remember all of those who have died to protect the freedoms that we hold so dear. But for me, Memorial day has always been more. It has always been a time to enjoy the company of those that you love. So, this Memorial Day, Morgan, Miller, and I headed up to Montreat to visit with her parents and to participate in Montreat's Kirk'n of the Tartans. Here is recap of the weekend:

Friday night: Dinner at the mexican restaurant with my brother and Morgan's mom.

Saturday: Big breakfast on the porch with Morgan's parents. Morgan's parents then had to go to a wedding, so Morgan and I went into Asheville and saw 'The DaVinci Code' movie. It was good and had some twists that were not in the book. After the movie and the wedding, Morgan's dad had cooked a pork butt and we had their famous potato salad (YUM YUM).

Sunday: The Kirk'n of the Tartans is a celebration of Presbyterian Heritage that mainly surrounds around the presentation of all the different Scottish Tartans. I carried in the 'Hay' tartan, my cousin Lisle carried in the 'Craig' tartan, and Morgan's mom carried in the 'Anderson' tartan. In all, there were 60 tartans presented and probably around 1000 people in attendance at the worship service that included the Montreat Scottish Society Pipe and Drum band. It was a great service. It was followed by a huge lunch at Assembly Inn with Nana (my grandmothers), Andy (uncle), Lisle (cousin), Emelyn (cousin), Kevin (brother), Debbie (mother-in-law), Mike (father-in-law), Morgan (my bride), and me. Sunday night, Morgan's dad cooked steaks on the grill and Kevin joined us as we ate dinner on their porch looking at the mountains and trying to get the dogs (Fred, Barney, and Miller) to behave.

Monday: We headed home with full bellies and vowed to stop eating forever!!!!

One step closer...

2006-05-23T17:00:00.000-04:00

I just completed a step along 'The Quest' that may take me closer towards figuring all this stuff out. Can't share details now, but I will when I can.

Let Thy will be done!!!!

Morgan is old!!!

2006-05-23T10:00:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday Morgan!!!!!

Morgan's birthday was yesterday and she is now officially 28 years old which is like the late twenties which is like almost 30 which is like over the hill (sorry, for all the likes, it is an inside joke between Morgan and I about when Jessica Simpson turned 23 and how she explained how old she was...)!!!

So, you ask, what did we do to celebrate? Well, we went to the GA Aquarium, had dinner catered by Wolfgang Puck, and spent the night at the Embassy Suites across the street overlooking Olympic Park!!! Sounds romantic, except that the dinner at the Aquarium was actually a work party and celebration and we spent 2 hours listening to managers talk. Good thing they had alcohol...

The hotel room was a gift from Uncle Jeff and was awesome!!!!! Thanks Jeff!

Happy Birthday anyways, Morgan!!!!

Charleston in May

2006-05-21T23:45:00.000-04:00

This past weekend my friend Greg got married (finally). So, we made the trip up to Charleston for the weekend. Stew and Sue rode with us and we arrived early enough Friday afternoon to head downtown and have a few drinks. We then got all pretty and went to the Rehearsal dinner. It was really nice and the food was wonderful.

Saturday we slept in and then headed out towards Kiawah Island. We stopped at the shops right before Kiawah and had lunch at the old timey drug store. Then we headed to the church for the service. This was my first Catholic service experience. I was totally lost the entire time. As much as I know about Presbyterian and Protestant traditions, I am very uneducated about Catholic polity and process.

The reception was back at the hotel we were staying in. It was a buffet meal with a full bar and pretty cool band. After food, drinks, and dancing, we bid the happy couple farewell as they drove off in Nicole's (bride) dad's Rolls Royce. Then the party really started. We all headed downtown and closed down the bars. What I learned on this trip is that I am no longer 21 and I cannot drink drink after drink in smokey bars and then feel fine the next day. I woke up on Sunday and felt like a train had hit me and then I had to drive us all back to ATL. Whew, I am tired.

War Damn Eagle!!!!

2006-05-14T20:47:00.000-04:00

Our new State of Georgia license plates arrived this weekend. As you can see, Georgia has added Auburn University license plates. I think it is the best thing the state of Georgia has done since adding the education lottery. War Damn Eagle!!!!

I have joined the iPod cult!!!!!

2006-05-01T14:55:00.000-04:00

Yep, I finally have joined the dark side. I asked for and received a 30GB Video iPod (in black, as shown above) for my birthday (which was Saturday, I turned 28). I have basically spent every minute since I opened it playing with iTunes and my iPod. I am an "iPod Virgin" so if anyone has some advice, I would love to hear it. I am looking for advice on iTunes, helpful iPod software, and any tips and tricks you have picked up along the way.

-iRobert

PS- Also, any advice on the extended warranty that 'Best Buy' offers would be appreciated. My wife bought the extra warranty, but we have 30 days to return the warranty if we don't want it. Still trying to decide.

Fun at "Wedding Picardy's" Wedding

2006-04-25T13:14:00.000-04:00

IMG_4888
Originally uploaded by rshayjr.

This past weekend, Morgan and I attended our friend's wedding. Thomas (the groom) is one of my fraternity brothers. Over the past 5 years, he has watched as all of his friends have gotten married. He normally is a very calm and controlled person, however at wedding receptions he opens up and gains some 'liquid courage'. It has been at the weddings over the past 5 years that we have come to know Thomas' alter-ego. We refer to his alter-ego as "Wedding Picardy". This past weekend we sadly laid to rest "Wedding Picardy" and welcomed a new chapter in Thomas' life; marriage.

You're my boy blue,
-Frank the tank

Calling all bloggers!!!!

2006-04-20T15:54:00.000-04:00

As you can see I have a pretty nice list of friends on the sidebar that have blogs. Unfortunately, many of those people's blogs have been dormant for quite sometime. So, this blog is to thank those who have been blogging and to chastise those that have not.

Thanks goes to the following people for actually posting in the month of April:
Warren
Andy
Andrew
Alan
Sarah

And now to the chastising. The following people need to get on the ball and post some stuff so that I have something to read while at work (the last time they posted is in parenthesis):
Ryan (03/30/06)
James (03/18/06)
Amy (03/16/06)
Jeff (03/12/06)
Davis and Julie (03/06/06)
Melanie (03/03/06)
Elizabeth (02/24/06)
Morgan (01/15/06)
Chris (10/24/05)
Nick (07/13/05)

Thanks to those who help me get through the work day by posting. To those of you who haven't been posting, get on it. I am getting sick of reading CNN.com and the Presbyterian News Service.

Peace,
boredatwork

The Da Vinci Code Quest

2006-04-19T14:48:00.000-04:00

Google, in cooperation with Sony Pictures, has started a game based on The Da Vinci Code entitled 'The Quest'. Essentially everyday between now and the day the movie premieres, you can try and solve puzzles and answer questions based on the book/movie. If you make it to the end of the game, you will be entered into a drawing to win prizes. Since I just finished the book and it is still fresh in my mind I thought that I would give it a shot. So, click here to go to the home page for the game.

Good Luck,
-Robert Langdon

PS- Yes, they did steal the name of my blog for the name of their game and I will be suing for copyright infringement!!!!!

Easter isn't about a bunny, it is about Jesus...

2006-04-17T15:59:00.000-04:00

and the following video shows you exactly why no one should ever celebrate the Easter Bunny:

Thanks to Warren for the video link!!!!

Napa Valley

2006-04-10T17:04:00.000-04:00

Wine Cellar at Robert Mondavi.

Regusci (where we had picnic).

Terrace at Sterling.

Mumm (duh).

After playing Bocce at Rubicon.

Mud Baths at Golden Haven.

Before dinner on Friday night.

Muir Woods

2006-04-10T16:59:00.000-04:00

San Francisco: Golden Gate Bridge

2006-04-10T16:54:00.000-04:00

Robert driving (note: my hands are at '10 and 2') across the bridge.

What it looks like from the car.

After we conquered it.

San Francisco: Barnes & Noble

2006-04-10T16:51:00.000-04:00

Morgan doing some research and travel planning while we tried to get out of the rain and warm up with some Starbucks in the local Barnes & Noble.

Wine Part II

2006-04-10T16:09:00.000-04:00

Here is the much anticipated recap of the last few days of our trip in Napa Valley (see previous post for the first 5 days).

Wednesday Night: We did indeed eat at Rutherford Grille. I had the best steak I have ever had and Morgan had a wonderful French Dip sandwich. We also brought a bottle of Merlot from Goosecross that we had purchased that afternoon and had it without paying a corkage fee (other than the food, that is one of the biggest pros for this restaurant).

Thursday: After another 'cooked to order' breakfast, we headed to the wineries. When we had checked into the hotel, Reynaldo (the General Manager at the Embassy Suites) had left us a bottle of wine (again, thanks to the Embassy Suites Uncles) to welcome us. It was from a winery by the name of Turnbull. So, we felt we should check this place out. The wine was okay and the winery was unimpressive, but we felt obligated. Next we went to Rubicon (formerly Niebaum-Coppola). This winery is owned by the famous Francis Ford Coppola who keeps his permanent residence on the back of the property. Although the entrance fee was steep ($25/person) it was my favorite stop of the entire trip. They do a very good history tour of the property including the caves and some Godfather memorabilia. The tasting included 5 very good wines and the entire property is exactly like what you think a wine Chateau should be. Thanks to the Umphletts (Lorinda and David) we knew to ask about the bocce ball set. It took them a few minutes to find it (apparently we were the first people to ask about it in months), but when they finally did, we had a blast playing bocce while drinking some really good wine. After Rubicon, we headed to Lake Berryessa and had another 'Tourist Lunch'. Then we went to Mumm to try the Sparkling Wine (aka. Champagne but since it isn't from Champagne they call it Sparkling Wine). Most of the wineries close at 4:30 or 5, but we had heard about Peju which stays open until 6, so we headed there for our final stop of the day. It was crowded (I think other people had the same idea about going there last as we did) but we tasted some interesting wine that was presented to us by a white man in his 60's who was either rapping (yes, like a gangsta) or reciting Monty Python movie quotes while telling us about the wines. Needless to say it was the most interesting delivery of wine tasting that we recieved the entire trip. Dinner tonight was from Joy Luck Chinese delivery which we ate as we watched 'The O.C.' in our suite.

Friday: Well, the chinese didn't sit too well with Morgan, so we got a slow start Friday morning. We finally made it to Calistoga around lunch time where we ate lunch at a little restaurant called Checkers (not the fast-food place) and we had a peperoni pizza. We then headed to Sterling Winery which is on top of a mountain and you have to ride an aerial tram (which is worth the price of admission alone) to get to the winery. Once there you do a self guided tour to an amazing terrace that overlooks the entire valley. I enjoyed the tasting, but Morgan turned a little green at her first sip. Good thing this was the only winery planned for today. After we came down from the mountain, it was time to be pampered. Morgan had been dying to have a couples 'spa day' so we booked a couples mud bath treatment at Golden Haven Hot Springs. We enjoyed a mud bath, Hot Mineral Spring Shower, Hot Mineral Spring Jacuzzi, and it completed with a blanket wrap. Morgan says her favorite part of the trip was seeing my face when I started to get into the Mud Bath (yes, I was very terrified). After the couples spa day, we headed back to the Embassy Suites for complimentary drinks and then got ready for dinner. Dinner tonight was at Mustards where I had an amazing Prime Rib and Morgan had very good pork chops. It was all followed up by some amazing dessert that I can't remember what it was except that it had lots of rich chocolate in it. Yum Yum.

Saturday: We headed to the Airport, turned in the rental car, scarfed down lunch, ran to the plane (carrying 11 bottles of wine), and arrived at the ATL airport around 9 PM. Kevin picked us up and we headed home to our dirty house (which we spent all day Sunday cleaning). Dinner tonight was Taco Bell (thank goodness the boycott is over) and then we tried to go to sleep around midnight (which was like going to bed at 9 PM Napa time).

So that was our trip. I will post some pics.

Rain, wine, wine, and more wine!!!!

2006-04-05T21:20:00.000-04:00

Here is a quick recap of our first 5 days of our 8 day trip:

Saturday: We arrived to the airport (after riding Marta) over an hour prior to our flight. Much to our dismay, the AirTran line at the Marta entrance had about 50 people in it. So we opted for the main ticket counter. As we got closer to the main counter, we realized we had made a bad choice. Quite literally the main ticket counter line was close to a mile long wrapping around the corridor. We promptly headed back to the Marta entrance line. After waiting about 30 minutes we started to get nervous that we would miss our flight. Morgan used her charm and good looks to get us expedited to the front of the line where our bags were promptly checked in and we headed to the gate. We got to the gate after everyone else had boarded and we were finally on our way. (Note to self: NEVER FLY ON THE FIRST SATURDAY OF SPRING BREAK AGAIN)

After arriving we got our rental car (Dodge Durango) and headed to Fisherman's Wharf. We checked into the hotel (the Hilton in Fisherman's Wharf) and headed out to the Wharf where we had a hot dog and a beer while being attacked by seagulls. We strolled the shops and then decided to do a driving tour. We drove down Lombard Street and to Union Square. Finally, we headed back to the Hotel where our 'Amenities' (a nice bottle of Champagne and some strawberries, compliments of the hotel since it was our anniversary) was waiting. We ate and drank and watched the end of the semi-final games of the Final Four. Then we headed to an Irish Pub for dinner and called it an early night.

Sunday: We ate breakfast at a cute little place called Pat's Cafe that overlooked the Cable Car line. Then we headed to Alcatraz in the rain. After seeing Capone's cell we did a driving tour of Chinatown and then a walking tour of Chinatown (also in the rain, so we finally purchased a second umbrella) and then we at at the R & G Lounge (a local Chinatown favorite). Again we retired early.

Monday: Rain again (we are getting used to it). We finally actually rode the cable car to Union Square. After walking all over the place we settled in for lunch at a soup and sandwich place. Then we acted like we have a lot of money and walked in the nice stores around Union Square. Morgan tried on expensive designer jeans in Saks and we looked at jewelry at Tiffany's. Then we headed to the Cable Car Muesem (there is a reason it is FREE). We checked out of our hotel and despite Morgan's navigational skills, we did driving tours of Golden Gate Park, Haight-Ashbury, and Sausalito. We also did a walking tour of Muir Woods National Park. We arrived at the Embassy Suites in Napa just in time for the complimentary cocktails and then went to dinner at a local sports bar so we could watch the National Championship Basketball game.

Tuesday: After a 'cooked to order' breakfast at the Embassy Suites, we headed to the wineries (finally). Although it was still raining, that didn't stop them from pouring us all sorts of wine to taste. Today's wineries included Robert Mondavi, Plumpjack, and Clos du Val. Dinner was at the Bistro Don Giovanni where Morgan had a Pizza Margarita and I had a Pan Fried Chicken with Mashed Potatos.

Wednesday: After another 'cooked to order' breakfast, we headed to Copia (the museum for food and wine in Napa). We saw trashy art, I mean, uh, art made of trash and tasted a few different wines and cheeses. We then headed to a local grocery store where we picked up a typical 'tourist picnic lunch' (cheese, crackers, and summer sausage). Thanks to the wonderful people at Clos du Val (one of the wineries from Tuesday) we had free tasting coupons for several other wineries and, as you all know, we can't ever pass up anything free. Today's wineries included Hagafen, Regusci, Goosecross, and Cosentino. At Regusci they had picnic tables, so we ate our tourist lunch (see pic below) and then drank wine while admiring the two well-behaved yellow labs and the view. While we were there, the hogs got out of the pin and so the owner had to run off with a few farmhands to chase them down. Tonight we are headed to Rutherford Grille which comes highly recommended from ALL of the locals. Plus, we can bring our own wine without paying a corkage fee.

More to come later...

5 years??? I need some wine!!!!!

2006-03-28T11:12:00.000-05:00

According to the engraving on the inside of my wedding band, March 31st is my wedding anniversary. Upon further investigation, THIS March 31st (which is Friday) is my 5 YEAR wedding anniversary. It is hard to believe that I have been married for 5 years. And even harder to believe that in June of this year it will be 10 years since I started dating Morgan. Of course, we had our hiccups along the way, but essentially we have been committed from day one!

So, what does a couple do to celebrate 5 years of marital bliss? Well, it was a hard decision for us because we are a single income relationship currently due to Morgan's "Call to Seminary". Morgan really wanted a trip and I gave in pretty easily. We started out thinking we would do one of those 'all-inclusive' deals at some exotic beach location. After many hours of searching the entire internet, we decided that was a lot of money to just sit on the beach. So, we started to think of other places. DC, Skiing out west, NYC, Chicago... Finally, we settled on San Francisco and Napa Valley.

Fortunately for us, Morgan's spring break is next week which makes it the perfect time to celebrate our 5 years with a trip to San Francisco and Napa Valley. Here are the details:

We board an Airtran flight on Saturday morning and arrive in San Francisco around Noon (Pacific Time). We are then spending Saturday night and Sunday night and most of the day Monday in San Francisco. On Monday, we will drive our rental car up to Napa and spend Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights in Napa. Saturday we fly back to the ATL.

And so here is the point of the post. All we know about San Francisco is that Rice-a-Roni is the city's treat and that it is the home place of Uncle Jesse, Uncle Joey, Danny, DJ, Stephanie, and Michelle (Full House). Further, all we know about Napa is that they make wine there. So, if you have tips or suggestions about what we should do, please leave them in the comments.

"The San Francisco Treat",

-Uncle Joey

PS- The ONLY thing we have already booked is the Alcatraz tour. I am really looking forward to seeing the secret passage-way that Nick Cage and Sean Connery sneaked in.
PSS- I will of course have pictures and posts from our trip (hopefully during the trip).

Finally, a sabbath day!

2006-03-20T16:26:00.000-05:00

Well, the last few weeks have been crazy around the Hay house. Before this past weekend, our last 4 weekends were:

Thurs Feb 16 - Sun Feb 19: Morgan at Montreat Planning Team meetings while I helped her dad do his 'honey do' list at their new home in Black Mountain. Nothing like doing chores at someone else's house.
Fri Feb 24 - Sun Feb 26: Morgan in Plymouth, NC with her 3 best friends from highschool while I was in Highlands, NC with all my buddies for a double-bachelor party. Details of both trips to be withheld to protect the innocent (and the guilty).
Fri Mar 4 - Sun Mar 6: Morgan and I co-hosted a wedding shower for a friend (one of the bachelors from the party) in Birmingham. We also went to church at SHPC on Sunday with my family (see here for post about the sermon).
Fri Mar 10 - Sun Mar 12: We went on a confirmation retreat with the youth from St Lukes Pres. Actually, Morgan helped lead the retreat and I was the "Cabana Boby" (cook, maid, driver, and anything else that they needed done). Then, when we got back on Saturday, Morgan and I spent a couple of hours in the yard. Then, on Sunday while Morgan was at church, I spent another 8 hours in the yard. I hate yard work more than anything!!!!!!

This past week wasn't much better. Morgan drove to Birmingham on Monday to meet with the CPM (Committee for Preparation of Ministry) for her annual review. Afterwards she drove back and had to work on papers (I think she had 3 due last week). By the way, her review went great!!!! Tuesday night and Wednesday nights were spent cleaning the house and getting food ready for the Dinner Party at our house on Thursday. My dad (one of the Presbytery Execs) and the new Presbytery Exec were coming over to Columbia for a tour and to eat dinner with all of the candidates and inquirers from PSL (Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley), so of course our house got volunteered to host that shindig. So, we hosted that dinner party Thursday night and then the Columbia St Patty's day party was also at our house on Friday night. This was a fun party complete with Green Keg Beer. Thank goodness the Juniors know how to party, because the other two classes (the middlers and the seniors) were not well represented and those that did attend don't know how to party as well as the Juniors.

So, that gets us to Saturday. Morgan and I finally had a day to sleep in (not sure if I was really sleeping or if I was passed out, but either way I didn't get up until noon). We spent a couple of hours cleaning up our house. We have decided that keg parties are easier to cleanup after than BYOB parties because there is much less trash. After the house was respectable, I got on the couch and watched March Madness while Morgan went to the mall. We cooked a nice dinner together and watched a movie. Sunday was a typical minister's family Sunday. We went to church, went to lunch, went home and rested, and then went back to church for youth group.

I know that we are supposed to rest on the 7th day and it only took Morgan and I almost 5 weeks to find time to rest. Thank God for rest!

The Luther Burger

2006-03-09T10:00:00.000-05:00

Luther Burger: "a bacon-cheeseburger served on a Krispy Kreme doughnut bun"

To be a little more specific, they take the doughnut and slice it down the middle like it is a bagel and then they put the glazed side of each half on the grill and grill it for a quick moment. When they put the doughnut bun on the burger, the middle (non-glazed side) is facing out so that when you hold the burger you are holding it with the middle piece of the doughnut. They serve it with your choice of fries, tots, onion rings, or hush puppies.

I had mine with a side of tots AND fries. I mean, if you are going to have a coronary, might as well enjoy it.

So, yes, I went to Mulligan's with my friend Stewart last night and we both had a Luther Burger. It has an interesting taste. Amazinginly, it tastes exactly like you would guess; like a hamburger with a sweet bun. It is like having your entree and your dessert at the same time.

Stewart and I also had a couple of pitchers of Stella beer (which was also a first experience for me). After the Luther Burger and Stella beer, we headed over to The Corner Pub to join the CTS team as they competed in Team Trivia. To be honest, I can't remember if we won or not. I remember that we were in first place before the final question, but I don't remember what the final outcome was. Needless to say, Stewart and I had a real good time!!!!

For more information regarding my obsession with weird fried foods, please see these links:

"Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son."
-FatDrunkStupid

Why do we confess?

2006-03-06T11:12:00.000-05:00

I am no theologian (I leave that up to my dad, my wife, and my brother), but I did enjoy the sermon I heard yesterday. Morgan and I were in Birmingham this weekend to help host a wedding shower for a good friend of mine. We, of course, stayed with my parents and went to church with them on Sunday morning at South Highland Presbyterian Church. SHPC had a guest speaker named Wil Willimon who is apparently a well respected theologian.

Anyways, he preached about why we confess our sins. He referred to some churches who preach how 'good' people are and that their services are full of reminders of how 'good' the church goers are and the service is meant to build them up and make them feel all warm and fuzzy inside. He then wondered why Presbyterians (and many other reformed churches) start out our service with such a downer like openly confessing that we are sinners. He said that that type of openly admitting that we are not good is not part of our human nature. That we as humans always want to appear confident and in control and not focus on the bad things that we do, but to instead to focus on the good things that we do. So, why is it that we always confess our sins and admit how bad we have been.

As I said, I am no theologian, so I am sure that I cannot relay his sentiments exactly, but the jist of his sermon was that we admit our sins because we are sinners. We have been sinners "since Genesis, Chapter 3" as he said. But that the good news is that despite our sins, God still loves us and forgives us. God sent Jesus to be with the un-Godly and to save us. So, we confess our sins so that we can humbly go before God as sinners and then accept the divine Grace of Jesus Christ as our Saviour.

I am not good at putting these things together or always getting the exact right point, but I do believe that what he was preaching is exactly what I believe. I KNOW that I am a sinner and I KNOW that because of God's grace and through the love of Jesus Christ, that I am saved.

Thanks be to God!!!!!

Ma Bell back together again

2006-03-06T10:30:00.000-05:00

As most of you are aware, I work for a large IT consulting firm. In our ATL and BHAM offices, we basically have 1 client; BellSouth. We have a few other small clients in these two offices, but the majority of the 350+ employees in these two offices work on BellSouth projects. Further, BellSouth is the single largest US based client my company has. So, you can understand why the acquistion of BellSouth by AT&T could cause concern around my office. See this article: AT&T agrees to buy BellSouth for $67 billion

What does this mean to me? Well, I am not sure quite yet. Most of you know that I haven't exactly been happy in my job and so this may be God working in a really weird way to help motivate me to determine what it is that I should be doing with my life (Warren and Steve, please remember that what I say here stays here and shouldn't go to our bosses). But would God really cause a $67 billion merger just to make me go do something more with my life? Probably not, but God may work through this to help kick me in the butt to go do something better.

I have a feeling that there will be an office-wide meeting (imagine the scene from Office Space when the 'Consultants' show up) this week to discuss what impacts this has to my company's business and bottom line. I will keep you updated on the company's solutions and my solutions (or I guess I should say, God's solutions for me).

"Mr. Watson, come here, I want you!"
-Pa Bell

Sorry to have been idle for so long...

2006-03-01T14:40:00.000-05:00

Hey all you Quest-fanatics,

I apologize for the lack of posts in the past few weeks. My last post was right before I went to Montreat for a long weekend. Then I got back and the internet at my office went down (yes, that is right, at the Global IT Consulting Firm). It has only taken them over a week to get it fixed. I guess I could have posted from home, but by the time I get home from work, I don't really want to sit in front of a computer anymore. So, I am just now getting back into the swing of reading blogs and surfing the net. Hopefully, after I catch up on my surfing, I will have something worthy of posting about. Till then, peace out!

-Seacrist, out!

Who do I look like?

2006-02-16T10:52:00.000-05:00

I found a link to My Heritage on another blog. On My Heritage you can upload a picture and they will use their face recognition software to search a database of 3,200 celebrities to tell you which celebrity you look like. So, here is the results of my test:

This is the picture I uploaded

My celebrity matches

My favorite match! - Matt Damon

Ok, a super-baseball star! - Babe Ruth

Um, a liberal movie producer? - Michael Moore

WTF? - Martina Navratilova

Morgan's celebrity matches

I love the OC! - Rachel Bilson

Me likey! - Eva Longoria

Well, not a huge fan, but I wouldn't kick her out of bed? - Demi Moore

Well, Morgan is a liberal, female, seminary student. - Hillary Clinton

Well, I guess I was wrong...

2006-02-15T18:05:00.000-05:00

Well, my friend Warren felt it necessary to point out to me that my suggestion about Conan and Tarja (see "Conan O'Brien vs Tarja Halonen") being the same person was proven wrong today. See this article for more information: Finnish President Meets With Conan O'Brien

I guess everyone is wrong ONCE in their life. Don't expect it to happen again.

For me to poop on,
-Triumph

How many Weight Watchers points is a Taco Town taco?

2006-02-15T18:00:00.000-05:00

If you haven't seen the "Taco Town" Saturday Night Live commercial parody of the fast-food industry, then please follow this link and check it out: "Taco Town"

If you know me, then you know these two things are true:

I think this commercial is freaking hilarious.
I would sooooooo eat that taco if I were given the chance.

For those of you who don't know me, let me address these two facts separately so that you may have some insight into the sick and deranged mind of me.

First, I like to laugh (see my profile). I appreciate all types of humor, particularly smart humor and 6th grade humor (most of the time, these two types of humor are mutually exclusive, but there are a few instances where these two types of humor come together). This commercial exemplifies both types of humor. It is funny cause it is like something a 6th grader would come up with, but it is also funny 'cause it is true'. It in general just makes me laugh out-loud every time I see it. The subtle sarcasm used by the announcer and the immature facial expressions used by the actors all get to me. It is like watching Will Ferrell. The guy just makes me laugh by looking at him. He doesn't have to say anything, he just has to make a funny look and I laugh. And it isn't that fake laugh I make when my boss makes a stupid joke and I laugh cause he is my boss.

If you are a new reader at 'The Quest', then I will point you towards my post titled 'The Hamdog', which recounts my trip to eat a "hot dog wrapped by a beef patty that's deep fried, covered with chili, cheese and onions and served on a hoagie bun. Oh yeah, it's also topped with a fried egg and two fistfuls of fries".

I love Mexican food, so any kind of mexican food sounds yummy to me. Further, I love the Chalupas that Taco Bell makes. Why, you ask? Because they are FRIED!!!! The PCUSA boycotted Yum! Foods (parent company of Taco Bell) and did I participate? Hell no! Why? Because I love fried mexican food!!!!

And I am a sucker for the marketing scams that is the "New combination..." My wife makes fun of me every time a Pizza Hut commercial comes on that is advertising the newest weird pizza because she knows the next time we order pizza, I will fall for it. We have tried all of them; the pizza with cheese in the crust, the pizza that breaks into bread sticks, the pizza that is cooked square, the pizza with dipping sauces, the pizza with extra cheese, the pizza with a taco cooked into the crust (ok, they haven't done that last one, but if they do, I will order it).

And finally, why would I eat that Taco Town taco? Because I am on Weight Watchers and anything that fattening looks REALLY GOOD to me right now!!!!

Peace and bacon grease,

-Fatty McGee

My new "cubice"

2006-01-23T16:46:00.000-05:00

Well, today I finally got an office, but it isn't really an office. It is more of a cube. Well, actually it is an office with 2 cubes in it. So, I finally get an office and I have to share it with someone else. It is better than a cube, but not quite as nice as an office. Therefore I have deemed it the 'cubice' (cube + office).

In my office, an office is reserved for those members who have been promoted to 'Senior Consultant'. I was promoted to Senior Consultant a year ago, but never received an office. I just recently changed to a new project and, simultaneously, the entire office was being renovated, so everyone is changing locales. Over the weekend, everyone moved from wherever they were sitting to a new location. So, I received a 'cubice'. At first I was a little frustrated that I wasn't receiving an office when all of the other Senior Consultants were. Then I realized that I am the least 'senior' Senior Consultant on my project. Although I was promoted to Senior Consultant at the same time as many of the others, I have been working here for 5 years and all of the other Senior Consultants have been with the company at least 6 years. Also, with regard to the new project, I am the new kid on the block (please, no jokes about NKOTB-cause if you know what NKOTB is, then you are in no position to mock me), so I am also the least 'senior' person on the project.

So, yes, the grass is greener in the real offices, but I am content with what I have been dealt. I could be one of the 175 people in a cube or one of the 50 people in offices, but instead I get to be one of the very few select people in a 'cubice'.

How does killing a guy in a frozen pond make people want to buy a Chevrolet or watch the Olympics?

2006-01-19T22:56:00.000-05:00

Have you seen this commercial? You know the one where the three guys have painted 'U' 'S' 'A' on their chest and are at the Winter Olympics cheering on the USA Olympic team. Then, the 'S' guy walks out onto a frozen pond as he is cheering and falls through the ice. The 'U' and the 'A' then use their Chevrolet SUV to pull him out of the pond. They then wonder if they should take their friend to the hoospital because he is frozen stiff with his hands straight up in the air, but they decide they still need an 'S'. So, they strap their friend on the top of their Chevrolet SUV and go to another Winter Olympic event. At the next event the guys are cheering on another event next to some attractive girls with the 'S' guy still frozen. The girls ask what the deal is with their frozen friend and say "he's kinda cute". The guys then strap their friend on top of their Chevrolet SUV again and follow the girls (who are also driving a Chevrolet SUV) to another Olympic event. The voice over tells you that Chevrolet is a proud sponsor of the Winter Olympics that will be on NBC.

So, how does killing a guy in a frozen pond make people want to buy a Chevrolet or watch the Olympics? Now, I appreciate comedy as much as the next guy, but I just am having a hard time finding the comedic appeal of this commercial. I just don't find any humor in this. I believe that I have that immature sense of humor that begins forming as a 6th grade boy and doesn't fully develop until your senior year in college. However, despite that frat boy sense of humor, I just don't even crack a smile while watching this commercial. I am honestly confused about the approach the advertisers are taking in this commercial. I just don't get it.

Can someone explain this to me?

-Cornholio (see, I have an immature "Beavis and Butthead" sense of humor)

PS- I searched diligently for this commercial on the internet and could not find it. If anyone knows a URL that has this commercial, please let me know.

Conan O'Brien vs Tarja Halonen

2006-01-16T16:25:00.000-05:00

Is Finland laughing at Conan O'Brien?

So, do you think Conan looks like Finnish Presidential Candidate Tarja Halonen?

I have a theory: Conan isn't just poking fun at her, but that Conan IS her and that he is poking fun with fake campaign ads so that she (he) will actually win and then be successful in his plot to take over the world.

What do you think?

Actually sounds like something Conan might do.

For me to poop on,
-Triumph

"The most powerful booster in college sports"

2006-01-12T11:12:00.000-05:00

So, I called out Ryan's alma mater because one of their wealthiest alumni members is supporting another school (see 'This one is for you, Ryan'). I guess what goes around comes around. Today, the cover story on ESPN.com is a story about how Bobby Lowder is "the most powerful booster in college sports." It is not the cover story on the College Football page of ESPN.com, it is the cover story on the main page of ESPN.com. That makes me soooooo proud to be an Auburn Tiger (note my sarcasm).

Anyways, here is a link to the article: A Tiger of a trustee

War Damn Eagle,

-Coach Dye

This one is for your, Ryan...

2006-01-10T13:13:00.000-05:00

Riding the Trojan Horse

Story on ESPN.com about the head of Movie Gallery (and a Mizzou grad) who donates all of his money to Troy University and helps them become D1 so that they can embarrass his Alma Mater on ESPN Thursday night in 2004.

Why doesn’t he give his money to Mizzou?

Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmm

War Damn Eagle,
-Robert "Cadillac" Hay, Jr.

The Book of Daniel

2006-01-07T01:19:00.000-05:00

So I just finished watching NBC's newest drama, The Book of Daniel. In case you didn't see it or haven't heard about it, the show centers around an Episcopal Priest named Daniel and his family. Of course with clergy being the 'family career' in my family, I was interested to watch this show.

So there is Father Daniel, who is a pain-killer popping Priest. He's wife is very fond of the martinis. They live in a very nice home that we learn is a family home of hers. Daniel's father is the Bishop and Daniel's mother is suffering from Alzheimer. Daniel's father is also having an affair with another female Bishop who works with Daniel. Daniel's brother-in-law is a thief and his sister in law has been having an affair with a woman whom is suspected of helping to kill her husband.

And we haven't even started on the children yet...
The oldest son is gay. The daughter is selling drugs to support her animation habits. And the other son is an adopted chinese boy who is having sex with the most influential man in town's daughter.

Oh yeah, and then there is the Jesus figure. Probably the only character that I really liked. He was a very laid back Jesus with a sense of humor.

So, I am not sure what I think of this show yet. On the one hand it has the potential to show that clergy are just people like everyone else. But, on the other hand it seems to be playing up all of the vices of humans and almost making the church and clergy look very bad. I think I need to see a few more episodes before I form a complete opinion. Like I said, I like the Jesus figure and I liked the interactions the main character had with the Jesus figure. But I am not sure those few moments outweigh the negative picture that is being painted of the church.

The jury is still out.

What do you think?

-PK Hay

Thanks, Pat

2006-01-06T10:50:00.000-05:00

Robertson suggests God smote Sharon

Thanks Pat for being the voice of Christians!

I wish someone would put one of Sharon's sweaty socks in Pat's mouth and then use those 700 clubs to beat some sense into him.

Peace
-Robert

Disclaimer- Please don't read this as me in support of Palestine or Israel or in support of physically beating someone. Read this as me thinking that a public Christian figure shouldn't say such stupid things and give the rest of us Christians a bad name. I don't really want to beat him with 700 clubs, but I would enjoy sticking a sweaty sock in his mouth...

What the hell is Scientology all about???

2006-01-03T15:51:00.000-05:00

So, Moose (aka Governor Bryson) made us watch this episode of South Park about Scientology. The Episode is called "Trapped in the Closet" and it features such famous Scientology members as Tom Cruise and John Travolta. I think the funniest parts of the episode include the scenes where 'Closet Expert Analyst', R. Kelly "pulls out his gun". You will have to watch it to understand.

Anyways, the episode essentially was calling out Scientology for the fraud and cult that it is. Before watching the episode, I didn't know much about Scientology, and I still don't. However, I spent the better part of my day today (yes, at work - I am very bored) researching it online. I have read websites controlled by the CoS (I learned that stands for Church of Scientology) and I have read websites that are controlled by critics and 'defectors' of the CoS.

My opinion... It is a cult that brainwashes people into believing mythical science fiction. They use 'fixed donations' to provide quack 'services' to rid your body of 'thetans' (alien souls that are in everybody that were put on earth by Xena 75 million years ago). The whole farce is a well-designed scam to make some people very, very, very rich. I am ashamed to live in a country that allows this cult to hide behind the protection of a 'religious institution' for tax fraud. I am ashamed that we allow this brain-washing organization to exist and to prey on people for their money. I wish there was some way to stop it.

Some quick resources for your own research:

You can download the South Park "Trapped in the Closet" episode here *This is a 174 MB download that will take a long time to download* (If the video doesn't show up after you have downloaded it, then you will need the XviD codec to play it which you can download here)
The official CoS website is here
Operation Clambake can be found here (a website dedicated to telling the 'Truth' about CoS)
A 1991 article from Time magazine about CoS can be found here
"The Truth About Scientology" website here and its sister-site "Scientology Lies" here

So, what do you think?

You're my boy, Blue!

2006-01-01T19:53:00.000-05:00

Some memorable quotes:

Mitch: Who's this guy?
Beanie: Oh, that's Blue. An old navy vet who hangs around my store a lot. Don't worry. He's legit.
Mitch: He looks like he's one hundred years old and he wants to pledge?
Beanie: You kidding me? Old man river can't shut up about it.

Frank: *Spanish*! Do you trust that we have provided you with enough rope so that your cinder block will fall safely to the ground?
Spanish: Y-Yes sir.
Frank: Blue, do you trust that I do not want to see you die here tonight?
Blue: Yes, sir.
Frank: Blue, you're my boy!
Blue: Thank you, sir.

[two girls are topless in the pool of KY jelly]
Frank: Are you sure you're ok with this, Blue?
Blue: Just ring the fucking bell, you pansy.

Frank: I see Blue, He look's glorious.

Nicole: I heard one of your pledges died. Is that true?
Mitch: Well, yes but Blue was really old. And I feel pretty confident when we get the autopsy back it'll say natural causes.

Blue, thanks for the laughs. We will miss you!!!!!

View the story here.

Love,
-Frank

PS- You're my boy, Blue!

Outsourcing...

2005-12-20T10:06:00.000-05:00

WorldNetDaily: Housing officials 'cancel' Christmas

2005-12-16T16:44:00.000-05:00

WorldNetDaily: Housing officials 'cancel' Christmas

My friend Warren sent me this link saying that if he had a blog, he would blog about this. I can't believe that we live in the land of the free, but people are not allowed to celebrate their religious holidays because they live in government subsidized housing.

Land of the free, my ass
-Robert

I love Montreat and Auburn

2005-11-17T10:36:00.000-05:00

I do! I really, really do!

I had a great time in Montreat last Thursday through Monday. My planning team (Montreat West 06) is awesome and our leadership team rocks. I am so excited about the conference we will be putting on this summer and I know that God will be praised and worshiped and will recreate with us.

The meetings were over on Saturday at 7:45 PM. Perfect timing because the Auburn at Georgia game started at 7:45 PM. As worship ended, I sprinted down the hall to the lobby to watch the game. I think I had 3 heart attacks during the game, but in the end our kicker redeemed himself and the Tigers were victorious. Next up - UAT (that is the University of Alabama at Tuscaloser).

So, I came back from a wonderful trip and now I am back in the funk. Work sucks and I can't get motivated to do anything about it. Good thing Auburn has a football game this weekend and that I am going back to Montreat next week for Thanksgiving.

War Eagle and I love Montreat,

-Junior

Home Sweet Home

2005-11-09T15:19:00.000-05:00

I am headed to Montreat tomorrow. I am serving as a Planning Team member on the 2006 Montreat West Youth Conference team. I love going to Montreat. Just the thought of being in that place is enough to calm my anxieties. I wish I could have that feeling everyday. I will update later with how the meetings are going.

Seacrest Out

The Grind

2005-11-01T11:15:00.000-05:00

No, I am not referring to what you may do to coffee beans, or to a provocative dance (although that would be an interesting post), or to an MTV dance show. I am talking about the same ole crap that we do every day because we have to. For me, it is getting up and going to work. As you may have read in earlier posts, I really should have NO reason to complain about my job. I am rewarded, recognized, and compensated for my hard work. But, that just isn't enough sometimes.

I am in the process of switching roles at work. My new role will be much more leveraged and influential. I will learn a lot and will be depended on for my strong opinion much more. I will be self-directed and self-managed and will be responsible for dealing with many outside groups and clients. All in all, this new role will be very challenging and will be 3 or 4 steps up the proverbial 'corporate ladder'. But, I still don't think that is enough.

Although this new role may feed my ego and may cause me to be more highly compensated, I am not sure that it will make 'The Grind' any less painful. I hunger for something more. I still haven't found it (cue the U2 music), but I am patiently waiting for God to show me the door so I can open it.

-Samir Nagheenanajar

Living River

2005-09-12T10:56:00.000-04:00

Thursday night while I was sitting at Gulftreat thinking about all of my memories of camping at Gulftreat, I felt the need to share my story. So, I typed the following email and sent it to the Fundraising committee for the new Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley camp 'Living River'. I thought I would share it with all:

From Elementary Camp to Hurricane Katrina
Camping in the Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley

My first memories of camp are as a young elementary aged kid at Gufltreat. My dad was the Youth Pastor at FPC, Selma and he was leading a Work Camp of Senior Highs while my little brother, my mom, and I tagged along and called it a ‘family vacation’. A few years later, we moved from Selma to Atlanta. Even after we moved I attended Elementary and Middle School Summer camp at Gulftreat instead of attending Cherokee Presbytery’s Camp. My dad also began to bring the youth group from Marietta to Gulftreat for weekend retreats and spring break trips. During college, I worked at Gulftreat as a camp counselor and helped lead day camps in Wilcox County, Anniston, Montgomery, and Tuscaloosa. I also helped plan and attended many college retreats at Gulftreat. After I married Morgan, we began to bring her youth group to Gulftreat for Presbytery retreats and we even had a ‘family vacation’ of our own here. Now I am at Gulftreat helping victims of Hurricane Katrina live here and start to put their lives back together.

As you can tell, Gulftreat holds a special place in my heart. I have a lifetime of memories in these old cinder block buildings and I am only 27 years old. I have cried, laughed, sang, shouted, worked, prayed, and played here. I have spent the last week helping to fixing all of the hundreds of things that are broken and not working in these old, old buildings. Even though I see the state of this camp and my head tells me that everything is broken and beyond repair, my heart still hurts to know that it is time to move on.

I know there are many other people that have similar stories about Gulftreat and have similar feelings about how hard it will be when the time comes to lock it up for the last time. I also know that there are many other people who are ready to shut this place down and build a brand new camp that has everything in the world in it. And then there a lot of people like me who hurt for the loss of Gulftreat but are excited about the possibilities of the new camp on the Cahaba. And this brings me to my point…

All of these people are right. We are ALL right because we (the Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley) has for generations made camping a priority in the mission of our church. We have volunteered at camps, given money to camps, built camps, lead camps, attended camps, and prayed for camps and that is truly an amazing thing. There are hundreds of thousands of people who remember Gulftreat or Covenant Mountain or a Day Camp in their own church all because WE have made camping a priority. It is not the place that makes a camp special, regardless of how many good memories you have in that place, it is the people and the presence of the Holy Spirit that make a place special. That is exactly why I KNOW that the Living River Camp on the Cahaba will truly be a place full of the Holy Spirit. We have been given a wonderful opportunity to build a camp in our own backyard that can serve us and our kids hundreds of times more than Gulftreat ever could. So, I challenge you to not only give money to help build this camp, and to not only pray for this camp, and to not only tell more people about this camp, but when this camp is built to send your kids to this camp, send your grandkids to this camp, attend this camp yourself, volunteer at this camp, and make sure you bring the Holy Spirit that is SO alive in our Presbytery and our camping!

Peace,

Robert Hay, Jr.

Gulftreat - Day 4

2005-09-10T10:38:00.000-04:00

Well, I finally had to leave Gulftreat to head home. I got up Friday morning and tried to take care of all the little things I needed to and made a list of items to hand off to the Shelter Director and the Pastor. I said goodbye to several of the volunteers and to some of the guests. They all were very appreciative of my time and hard work.

As I drove away, I couldn't help but feel like I was running away from people in need. I know that I just spent the last 4 days working my butt off and using my vacation time to do it. I know what I did was a good thing. However, was 4 days enough? These people will be living this nightmare for the next several months and I get to go home to my wife and dog and house after only 4 days. I get to go home and watch football all day on my comfy couch. I get to go back to my job and my friends and act like this devastation never occurred. The logical side of my brain tells me that there will always be more people I can help, but that I must get on with my life or I will spend the rest of my life volunteering. However, my heart wants to help as many people as I can as much as I can.

At work, we have this concept of 'Work/Life Balance'. Basically our bosses tell us that they want us to work hard, but that they also expect us to balance that with a life away from work so we don't get burnt out. How do I balance my life with a life of helping others?

slackers

2005-09-08T22:58:00.000-04:00

I interrupt this regularly scheduled broadcast of my experiences at Gulftreat to announce that all you bloggers out there that are reading my blog and aren't updating your own blog are being a bunch of slackers. If I can find 10 minutes at the end of a long day of manual labor to write a blog, then you folks can find 5 minutes to at least make fun of me or something so that I have something to distract me from all of the grief around me. So, snap to it!!!

We now return to our regularly scheduled broadcast...

Katrina and Families - Day 3

2005-09-08T22:41:00.000-04:00

Last night a lady who is probably in her early 60's checked into Gulftreat. Her son dropped her off. She is from Bay St. Louis and her apartment complex is completely gone. At dinner tonight I started talking with her and we had a pleasant conversation. It was like talking to one of my grandmother's friends. I learned that she used to be a medical transcriptionists, but she got bored of that life and decided to become a casino dealer. She has spent the last 10 years of her life as a dealer or pit boss in a variety of games. We talked about how all that worked and I learned some interesting information about gambling.

As the conversation progressed we began to talk about her family. I learned that she had a son and two daughters. The son and his family were staying at another shelter down the beach but that shelter didn't have room for a single woman so they sent her to us. One of her daughters was in a shelter in Destin. Her other daughter was not in a shelter. Instead she was staying in her vacation home right here in Panama City Beach. I wanted to say 'Why aren't you staying at the beachhouse with your daughter?' but the answer to my question came pretty quickly. She proceeded to tell me that she hadn't even talked to that daughter yet which was no surprise since they hadn't spoken in several years.

My heart hit the floor. Here is an older woman who has lost everything and she is staying in a shelter less than 10 minutes away from where her own daughter is living comfortably in a vacation home. My family isn't perfect, but I don't think anyone's family is, but I immediately was thankful for my family. Tonight, I am praying for this lady and her family and giving thanks for my family.

Gulftreat - Day 2

2005-09-07T23:01:00.000-04:00

Well, I wish I could tell you that helping people during this disaster is uplifting and rewarding, but the truth is that it is emotionally draining and frustrating. I don't know how my friend Amy does it. She has been working at a homeless shelter in Atlanta and she sits for hours and listens to sob story after sob story. I know in my heart that what I am doing is the right thing. And I can tell on the faces of the evacuees (clients, guests, refugee, we haven't decided what term to use yet)that they appreciate me and all of the other volunteers. It is their stories that drain me. It is turning away people because we can't verify that they are actually from an evacuated area that drains me. But the 'guests' aren't the ones that frustrate me... it is is the other volunteers. Especially the retired Red Cross man who thinks he is God's gift to crisis management. But that is a story for when I am drunk and pissed off and right now I am only pissed off so I can't share it.

For all of you liberal, 'Save-the-(fill in the popular item/species/race of the day)', Wal-mart Haters, you will love this part of my post. So, I am drained physically and emotionally and I just need some time to experience something normal. So I get in my car and head to Wal-mart. I don't need anything particular, I just need some time alone. This is no normal Super Wal-mart, nope. This Super Wal-mart is close to the Beach and it has a liquor store in it AND an Air-brush store where you can get you own personalized PCB (that is Panama City Beach) air-brush t-shirt or any other item that they sell in the store (including sand-dollars). If you have never been to the 'Redneck Riviera', anything airbrushed is cool.

So, I just walked around Wal-mart looking at items I had looked at a million times. It was strangely refreshing and familiar. I am sure some of you are thinking to yourself that it is quite ironic that I would find so much spiritual renewal in such a heathen filled corporate mega-store. But to you I say "Always low prices, always!" And to you Presbyterian Seminary nerds who hate Wal-mart more than any group of people I have ever meet, remember that Sam Walton was a good Presbyterian who gave lots of money to the denomination that you are about to work for. You may have your issues with how he made his money, but I don't and I personally would like to give a shout out to Mr. Sam Walton (who is also a frat bro of mine) for building such an American store that it has made me feel better just for walking through it.

Thank God for Wal-mart,

Robert

Hurricane Katrina - Day 1

2005-09-06T22:42:00.000-04:00

It has been a while since my last post and a lot has gone on in my life, but I will have to share that stuff at another time...

As you all are aware, Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Gulf Coast (AL, MS, and LA) early last week. Not only did the winds do tremendous damage as the Category 4 storm hit shore, but it also made a near direct hit on New Orleans, which we are all aware of now, was surrounded by levies that would only protect it from a Category 3. The devastation and the number of people who have suffered is greater than any tragedy that this country has seen in a long time and it is definitely the greatest tragedy of my lifetime. As I watched this tragedy unfold on every news channel, I wondered what it was that I could do. Morgan and I spoke about it several times, but felt that the only thing we could do was give money (which is not a little thing to do, they need lots of money). So, when my dad called and said that he had opened his camp in Panama City Beach as a shelter and needed some help I felt that was someone (upstairs) trying to tell me something. Fortunately for me, my managers were very understanding about the situation on such short notice and allowed me to take the time to come down here and help.

For those of you who don't know, my dad is a Presbytery Executive for Nurture for the Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley. Basically that means he runs all of the camps, conferences, and retreats for the Presbyterian Churches in the middle portion of the state of Alabama. The Presbytery that he works for owns a camp, Gulftreat, that is located 2 blocks from the beach in beautiful Panama City Beach, Florida. I grew up coming to this camp, have worked at this camp as a counselor in college, and have attended this camp as an adult chaperone for youth groups. The camp backs up to a Presbyterian Church called Gulf Beach Presbyterian Church. The Presbytery that my dad works for is in the process of raising over $20 million to build a new camp on the Cahaba River closer to the churches in Alabama. As part of that process, Gulftreat has been sold to Gulf Beach Presbyterian and the presbytery is currently leasing the camp back from the church until the new camp in Alabama is built. So, the church down here owns the camp, but my dad runs it. This makes for a unique dynamic as both parties wanted to open the camp as a shelter for Katrina Victims.

All of that is a long way of saying that essentially the church (Gulf Beach) is running a shelter out of the camp (Gulftreat) that they own but that they have no experience of dealing with or running. The buildings are old and there are all sorts of things that need fixing and that is where I come in. My dad needed someone here that knows the camp and that can keep the camp programs in mind as decisions about changing the camp are made. So, essentially I am dealing with all of the things that are broken at the camp; hot water leaks, broken showers, broken toilets, broken A/C, broken refrigerator, broken sprinkler system, etc. I have become the 'handy man' and general contractor of the shelter. Tons of fun.

Anyways, most of the people who are staying here are from the New Orleans area. They are mostly blue collar, working class people and each of them is either actively looking for a job here in Panama City or is helping around the camp. These people have lost everything, but they are all motivated individuals who will survive and will get through this tragedy. Some of them were staying in hotels previously and either got kicked out for Holiday weekend reservations or were maxing out their credit cards. I haven't had much time to interact, but they are all very thankful for what we are doing and most of them are feeling thankful that they are alive. Their courage during this tragedy is amazing. I can only hope that if I ever have this kind of tragedy in my life that I can handle it with half as much courage and optimism.

More tomorrow, now it is sleepy time ...zzzzz

Distance makes the heart grow impatient

2005-08-12T21:43:00.000-04:00

Well, it is almost over. Morgan is 2 days away from completing her 12 week internship. I knew this distance thing would be hard, but I don't think either one of us realized how hard it would really be. Morgan and I dated 'long distance' all through college, so I thought this would be a breeze. Boy was I wrong.

I guess once you get used to seeing someone everyday it is hard not to see them everyday. It is weird what you miss when someone is gone. You would think that you would sleep better when you have the whole bed to yourself, and I will admit, I did the first couple of nights. But then I got to where I wasn't sleeping well because I didn't have her cold feet near me. I miss arguing over what stupid show we are going to watch tonight or who gets to lay on the couch with their feet in the other's lap. I miss her smile and her frown. I miss her cooking and our conversations during dinner. I miss her eyes and her dumbo ears. I even miss her nagging. I guess I discovered this summer that I am not me without her. She completes me ("Mini-me, you complete. You had me at hello.").

Ok, enough of the mushy "Jerry Maguire" stuff. Anyways, I am flying down to Jacksonville in the morning to see Morgan. Her last internship duty is to preach on Sunday, then we will head to the beach for some much needed time together. We will be returning on Wednesday night. So, I fully expect all of you bloggers out there to update your blogs several times so that when I get back to work on Thursday I will have something to read.

Peace out A-Town,
Usher

Google your friends

2005-08-11T16:25:00.000-04:00

So. I was at this SOS thing the other night (SOS stands for Spouses of Seminarians) and we started to talk about blogs. The SOS stuff is already better than it was last year, thanks to the new co-presidents. However, the only reason I go is to hangout with a bunch of hot, married, female spouses of seminarians (there aren't too many male spouses, which makes me a popular guy at the mostly all female events).

Anyways, I digress. As we were talking and sipping on our wayyyyyyy to expensive coffee (we were at a hip coffee bar named Java Monkey), we began discussing blogs. Julie said she had started a blog, but being a virgin blogger, she couldn't remember the URL to the blog. So of course this became a challenge to me to find her blog. Well, I can't find it, but I did find this instead: Julie and Davis' wedding pictures. So since I didn't find the blog, I thought I would share this with everyone. Maybe Julie will post her blog address as a comment responding to my post, then I will know how to find her blog.

Moral of the story: Google can find just about anything, so google your friends. It will make you chuckle.

Seacrest, out!

The Hamdog

2005-08-09T22:39:00.000-04:00

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am not one to be concerned with my health. Yes, it is true I have gained around 60 pounds since highschool and yes it is true I was once a sexy man with a 4-pack stomach (not quite a 6-pack). However in recent years I have become a little more fluffy. Ok, ok, ok, I am freaking fat. But it is things like the 'Hamdog' that keep me that way. I enjoy fried foods, read meat, chicken fingers, and all things potato. And even though I once played two sports in highschool, I can't motivate myself to consistently go to the gym.

So, what is the Hamdog, you ask. The Hamdog is a local celebrity. A bar in Oakhurst (Mulligan's) serves the Hamdog along with the Luther Burger and has recently made national press (and Jay Leno) for doing so.

Hamdog: "hot dog wrapped by a beef patty that's deep fried, covered with chili, cheese and onions and served on a hoagie bun. Oh yeah, it's also topped with a fried egg and two fistfuls of fries"

Luther Burger: "a bacon-cheeseburger served on a Krispy Kreme doughnut bun"

See this AP article for more information or you can search on google for 'Mulligans' and 'Hamdog' for all sorts of reviews on the fattening foods.

Anyways, back to the point of my post. My friend Stewart called and said his wife was out of town for the week and that he had heard about this place on Jay Leno and wanted to try it out but it sounded like a guy place (it is definitely a guy place since his wife said she would never go there), so we headed over there. After a Hamdog and fries and 2 pitchers of beer, I probably need bypass surgery, but this is not the point of my post. Tonight reminded me how important our friends are to us.

I feel so blessed to have had such a great group of friends before we moved to ATL. The hardest part about moving to me was leaving our friends. Then we got here and quickly made great friends. Had we not made such good friends when we moved, I probably would not have made it through the past 14 months, so I guess God knew what he/she (that is for you 'inclusive language seminary liberals') was doing by blessing me with friends here in Decatur. The great thing about good friends is that no matter how long it has been since you have seen them, you pick up right where you left off. And that is what Stewart and I did tonight. God has blessed me with great friends and although the Hamdog almost gave me a coronary, it reminded me how truly blessed I am.

So, to all of you out there who are my friends, thanks for being my friend even when I am jackass.

Love,
Frank

'The Frozen Chosen'

2005-07-24T21:25:00.000-04:00

Ok, so this might hit a little close to home for some of us 'True Blue Presbyterians'. I am about as 'True Blue' as they come. My dad, my uncle, my grandfather, my great-grandfather, and my great great-grandfather all are Presbyterian Ministers. My wife AND my brother are in a Presbyterian seminary. Those are just in my immediate family. There are plenty other clergy in my lineage which would take too long to list here. I believe that God lives in Montreat and I believe that everything should be done decently and in order. So, please understand that I know what you Presbyterians are going to think when I suggest what I am about to suggest.

I went to church this morning (well actually it was this afternoon at the 1 PM service) at Buckhead Church. Buckhead Church is what they call a 'satellite' campus of North Point Ministries. Their mission is to "lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. We accomplish this by creating irresistible environments led by skilled staff and volunteers." And let me tell you, they have perfected it.

At first glance, this church seems to be an evangelical organization that accomplishes its mission using 'Christo-tainment'. They have lights and video screens and a hi-definition video playback of the sermon. There is a band with 3 guitars, 2 vocalists, a drummer, a keyboard player, and a percussionist. The sound system rivals that of the Georgia Dome. Before the service begins they even have announcements running on the screens like they do at the movie theaters. If you close your eyes long enough, you can almost smell popcorn (j/k).

However, after sitting through the entire service I have a different perspective. What they have accomplished at North Point Ministries is they have figured out that the church most evolve to keep up with the people. They have figured out what people in the year 2005 want in a church and they are doing it. Now, I am no theologian (that is why I am supporting my wife in seminary instead of attending seminary myself) and I am sure there are some issues with their theology that just weren't apparent to me in the 1 service I attended, but they are making disciples of people while the 'Frozen Chosen' is cutting programs.

I believe that we (this 'we' being the PCUSA 'we') need to take a closer look at how we do church. Look around and tell me what part of our church seems successful right now. Some of you may say 'no part'. I may be biased because I am so deep rooted in the youth part of our church, but I believe that the youth programs of our denomination are the most successful parts of our church. So, if we are bringing so many youth to places like Ghost Ranch, Montreat, and Triennium, why is it that the number of members is dwindling?

I suggest it is because we do great worship services at those places and then these youth come back to their churches after college and it is like they have traveled back to the 1820s when TVs didn't exist and especially things like 'sound boards' and 'powerpoint' and 'praise bands' weren't in worship. Now, I am not suggesting that we put a powerpoint screen in every sanctuary, nor am I suggesting that a traditional service is bad. What I am suggesting is that we (again the PCUSA 'we') should be building some churches like Buckhead Church in big cities and give this new style of church a try. We can even preach our own reformed theology and have umpteen committee meetings if we want. What we cannot afford to do as a denomination is stand by and watch as our members die and do nothing about it. God called us to be fishermen of people. He didn't tell us that it had to be in a sanctuary with an organ and stained glass with a person in a robe reciting creeds that no one really understands. He simply said go make disciples. We should do that anyway we can.

Honda Accord LX

2005-07-20T19:45:00.000-04:00

Morgan and I purchased a new vehicle this past weekend. Yep, you guessed it. It is a Honda Accord LX (how did you figure it out?). I currently have a Ford Explorer and Morgan currently has a VW Passat. We have been leasing the Passat for the past 42 months and I will never do that again. The Passat's lease is up in a few weeks, so while Morgan was home this past weekend, we went and purchased the Accord.

All in all, we had a pretty pleasant experience, but I have been through the dealership buying/leasing thing a couple times before and so I feel pretty comfortable doing that whole negotiating thing. However, that doesn't make me like it anymore. Why is buying a car sooooooooo difficult. Why can't a car be like everything else we buy? Why can't they just put the price on the car?

The dealership in Hoover that I leased my first Explorer from and am currently buying my second Explorer from, had the prices on the windows and didn't haggle. It was so much easier. The salesman were still paid in commission, but it was $150/car sold regardless of if it was a $60K or $10K car. They dealt in volume. So, it was easier because you knew what you were buying and how much it would cost, but they still pressured you into buying quick and probably before you were comfortable.

The dealership here (Curry Honda, for those who care) does haggle and it is not a fun thing to do. I had to play the other dealerships against them and show them proof of what others were paying (thank you Edmunds.com). The salesman was polite, but I never believed a word he said.

So, why is it like this?

If it's in the game...

2005-07-19T23:32:00.000-04:00

It's in the game!!!

Yes, I made an impulse purchase tonight. Morgan probably will try and make me feel bad about it and tell me how she never buys anything (which is just not true), but the truth of the matter is that I have been home alone all summer and I need something to help me get through the lonely nights (Not PORN, for the perverts out there). I have purchased NCAA Football 2006 for the XBOX and it is sooooooooo worth the money. I have been playing it since I purchased it just 3 hours ago and I am so ready for football season to begin.

So, if you are itching for the best season of the year to start, come join me on the XBOX and we can have some good ole fashioned gridiron battles.

War Damn Eagle,

Robert

PS- Only 45 more days until the National Champion 13-0 Auburn Tigers take the field against the ACC team from Atlanta...

My $Million Idea Slogan

2005-07-13T13:41:00.000-04:00

See post below ('My Million $ Idea') for more information about my company idea.

But here is my slogan for the company:

'Changing the world, one bottle of water at a time.'

Peace Out,

Captain Agua

My Million $ Idea

2005-07-11T23:20:00.000-04:00

I have been working in Corporate America long enough to know that everyone thinks they could retire if they had just one million dollar idea. Like the guy who invented the post-it notes, I bet he ain't still working. Or the guy back in the 80's who invented the Sticky Wall Walkers. The only thing that guy is doing now is getting interviewed by VH1 for 'I love the 80's' episodes. And there are a lot of days that the idea of retiring sounds like a good one.

Peter Gibbons: What would you do if you had a million dollars?
Lawrence: I'll tell you what I'd do, man, two chicks at the same time, man.
Peter Gibbons: That's it? If you had a million dollars, you'd do two chicks at the same time?
Lawrence: Damn straight. I always wanted to do that, man. And I think if I had a million dollars I could hook that up, cause chicks dig a dude with money.
Peter Gibbons: Well, not all chicks.
Lawrence: Well the kind of chicks that'd double up on a dude like me do.
Peter Gibbons: Good point.
Lawrence: Well what about you now? what would you do?
Peter Gibbons: Besides two chicks at the same time?
Lawrence: Well yeah.
Peter Gibbons: Nothing.
Lawrence: Nothing, huh?
Peter Gibbons: I'd relax, I would sit on my ass all day, I would do nothing.
Lawrence: Well you don't need a million dollars to do nothing, man. Just take a look at my cousin, he's broke, don't do shit.

Although I love "Office Space" (mostly because it is exactly what my office is like) and although this is one of my favorite exchanges in the movie, I don't think I would do two chicks at the same time or do absolutely nothing if I had a million dollars. I have always thought that if I were rich enough to not work, that I would be rich enough to start a foundation to give money away. I dream of being a philanthropist. So, what is my million dollar idea that will allow me to be a philanthropist?

An idea came to me several months back as I was drinking a glass of water late at night right before I went to bed (that is my nightly ritual). As I finished the glass, I said to Morgan, as I do often "God knew what he was doing when he created water." I say it so often that Morgan just kind of ignored me as she does often when I say things over and over (like she does when I tell her my joke about the town of Roswell being renamed-Ask me later and I will tell you). It hit me that moment that we Americans spend an awful lot of money on bottled water when we have perfectly safe water coming out of our taps. We are 'Water Snobs'! We buy water for an average of $1.19 a 24 oz bottle at the QwikEMart and lots of time we don't even finish the bottle. I think of that scene from the "Three Amigos" when the amigos are riding on camels across the desert and Lucky Day and Ned are dying of thirst. Ned even has sand coming out of his water bottle instead of water, all the while Dusty has so much water that he gurgles his throat and spits it out and then throws an almost full canteen of water onto the ground. We Americans are like Dusty with Bottled Water while the rest of the under-developed world is like Ned and Lucky Day just hoping someone will give them a drop.

I thought a little more about it and realized that maybe there was a way to let us Americans be 'Water Snobs' while at the same time helping the people of the world. So here is my million dollar idea. A bottled water company named 'Living Water' that sells water at the same price as Aquafina and Dasani, however ALL PROFITS from the company go to the Living Water Foundation which is a non-profit that spends all of its money helping to get clean water to people who need it. The Living Water Corporation would be a profitable company whose only mission would be to give all profits to the Living Water Foundation. No 7 figure salary CEO and no stockholders to make money for. Just a corporation who uses Capitalism to make a difference in the world.

So, what do you think?

Dude, I'm tired

2005-07-10T16:45:00.000-04:00

So, it has been a while since my last post. Previously on 24 (man, i want to be Jack Bauer) I had a great week at the Montreat West Conference. The on-stage leadership (Maggi Henderson, Steve Wild, Beth Watson, and Meg and Jarrett Mclaughlin) were awesome. From a visual standpoint, all of my powerpoint and video clips went great. I made some new friends and got to know some old friends better. I even had discussions with some people about my life journey. All in all, it was a great conference and a great week.

Saturday morning I woke up and hung out with people as they waited for their airport shuttle. Finally we left. Once we got to the airport, we were officially 'OFF COVENANT', so me and a few others (not to be named in order to preserve they identity) had a few beers at the airport bar. We boarded our flights and headed home. After a week of averaging 4.5 hours of sleep each night, all I wanted to do was get home and crawl in my bed. When I finally arrived home, my parents and my brother were there. My brother just started Columbia Seminary, so they were at my house for the night because they had been moving him into the dorm room. So, I had to play nice with them and didn't get into bed until around 12:30 AM. I tried to sleep in, but I just couldn't sleep (besides, Miller had to go to the bathroom and he started doing the pee pee dance in my bedroom) so I got up and spent the day helping my brother move into his dorm room.

I was going to call it quits at about 6 and take a shower and chill finally when out of nowhere Morgan appeared. I was overjoyed to see her. She made a surprise trip home because she missed me and I really missed her. It was great that she came home. So we spent Sunday night and all day Monday catching up. Needless to say, I didn't get the rest I desired, but seeing Morgan was worth the sacrifice. I'll sleep in next weekend. WRONG.

Of course Tuesday came around (Monday was the 4th of July so it was holiday) and I had to go to work. Morgan headed back to Jacksonville. Now everyone knows that vacation is actually a catch 22. You do get time off, but that doesn't mean you aren't responsible for the work. So, as usual, I spent the entire week trying to catch up at work after being gone for over a week. Meanwhile I am in charge of planning a Braves game outing for 300 people for my company. Now, since it is work-related, you would think that would count as work. NOPE, I have to do that on my own time. I hate corporate america. So I spend my week catching up and trying to make sure all of the loose ends for the braves game outing are tied up.

Then comes Friday night. The 2nd annual 'Greek Week 1 Keg Party' at mi casa. We hosted this party last year and had a great time, so I told my brother we would host it again. This new class of seminarians sure knows how to party. Last year we didn't even come close to floating the keg. This year we floated the keg at around 11:15pm. Those future preachers know how to party. Peppermint Patty shots and Flaming Dr. Peppers and a couple of Jack and Waters and I was in the perfect frame of mind to go to Waffle House at 2 AM. So, me, Tom and Ashley, Ryan and Amy, and Steve (Tom's brother) headed to the Waffle House and had a great time. Long story short, I crawled into bed around 2:45 AM and Morgan claims I called her around 3 AM (I have no recollection of that and cannot be held responsible in a court of law for anything Jack Daniels made me say).

So, I can sleep in now, right? NOPE. I got up Saturday AM and cleaned up my fraternity house and took care of some more loose ends for the braves game. Then me and my brother headed to Turner field to start setting up for the outing at around 2:45 PM. Game started at 7 and the tailgate (with a caterer cooking burgers, dogs, sausage, etc and 3 kegs of beer) started at 5. Since I am in charge of this shindig for 300 people (my coworkers from ATL and BHAM and their families) I have to make sure everything gets packed away before I go to the game. I finally made it into the stadium during the 6th inning. I was soaking wet (from the rain) and probably not walking straight (from standing too close to the kegs). When it was all said and done, I was showered and in bed by around 1:00 AM. The Braves lost, by the way.

God rested on the sabbath and today is my sabbath. I have done absolutley nothing today other than eat lunch, lay on the couch, and watch hurricane coverage and I Love the 80s (great mix of funny and dramatic).

Peace Out A-town,

Your friendly neighborhood party planner

Montreat West

2005-06-25T15:54:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post from Colorado State University in Ft Collins, CO where I am shadowing the planning team (cause I am on next year's planning team) and running the powerpoint and a/v stuff for the conference.

The weather is hot but there is very little humidity so it is comfortable. Everyone here is so nice and things are going so smooth thus far. The conference starts tomorrow afternoon and I am sure it will be a whole different level of excitement when all the youth are here.

Thursday was quite a long day. I worked a full day and then rode Marta from Dunwoody to the airport. I caught my flight to Denver (which of course was running late). Once I arrived in Denver I then had to catch a shuttle to Ft Collins. When I got to the dorm, it was 12:15 Moutain time (2:15 AM eastern time to me). The lady at the front desk couldn't hear me banging on the door and the only phone number I had, no one was answering. I finally broke in (climbed in an open window). Then I went to find my room and my roommate was already asleep. He didn't know I was coming that night, so he had stuff all over my bed so I had to turn the light on, which woke him up, make the bed, brush my teeth and then climb into bed. I quickly realized there was no A/C, so I lay there trying to think cool thoughts. We got a fan on Friday and it made it sooooo much cooler.

I really love being here. This is the kind of stuff I most enjoy doing. I feel like this is what I am supposed to do with my life. The theme for the conference is 'Called by name'. Maybe I will hear God saying my name this week.

Love,

Frank

Now they know...

2005-06-21T21:51:00.000-04:00

I have been miserable for the last few years while I have been trying to hear God's calling. At first, only Morgan knew about my struggles. After we moved to Decatur, most of our new found friends learned of my struggle. I got more and more frustrated and finally I went to see a funny farm specialist (that is what I call a counselor). Then I started this blog to help me in this struggle so many of you learned of it. Finally, after many teary conversations with my counselor, Morgan, and with God, it was time for me to face my dad.

This may sound cliche, but I honestly was worried that by telling my dad that I hated my very successful job that I would in some way be letting him down. My dad should understand, more than anyone, because he quit his successful job and brought me and my mom and my brother to the village apartments so he could follow his calling just 24 years ago. However, I think it was the fact that he had done this that scared me most.

All my life, as most kids do, I have strived to make my parents proud of me. Deep inside I know that they could not be prouder of me, but for some unexplainable reason, I still have that childish need to please them. My dad calls it the 'first born curse'. That my role in our family is to please everyone, no matter the sacrifices I make for myself. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't believe I 'sacrificed' anything, but I know that my dad isn't too far off in his psychological analysis of my behavior. I always have and still do try my hardest to make my family proud of me. Further, I go out of my way to 'not rock the boat' and to try and make everything easier on everyone else but me. I believe it is one of my many gifts. I have always enjoyed, not only with my family but also with my friends, being the person who does the organizing and logistics so that no one else has to worry with it. In college, I was treasurer of my fraternity and I gained the most satisfaction from standing at the back of a band party and watching everyone have a good time at the best band party on campus partly because I had been so fiscally efficient. I am normally the person who organizes family logistics at holidays. Most recently I even planned the spring break trip for all of our friends to Montreat. It is in my nature; 'First born curse' or is it a gift.

Anyways, I digress. So, I was at a breaking point and I could barely function I was so caught up in trying to discern Gods path for me. And to top it all off, I was scared to talk to my dad about it. Finally, last Tuesday I sent him an email (several pages long) highlighting (or lowlighting depending on if you are half-glass full or half-empty kind of guy) my past few years and what I have been struggling with. I spoke of how hard a struggle it was to leave a good JOB to do something GOOD as a job. I then asked him to email that he received the email and to tell me a good time that we could chat that night so I could call him. I emailed him first because I wanted him to have time to think and digest before just saying the first thing out of his mouth or, even worse, not saying anything at all. When I told my parents I wanted to ask Morgan to marry me, my dad was silent and couldn't speak. Also, when we told my parents that we were moving to Decatur so Morgan could attend seminary, neither of my parents could speak. At the time, I felt as though their silence was disappointment. I later learned that it just caught them off guard and that they needed time to digest these 'life changing' events. My parents love Morgan (sometimes I think more than me, j/k) and they absolutely know that Columbia was the right thing for Morgan. So, the email was to give my dad some time to digest so that I didn't hear silence on the other end of the phone.

That night I talked to my dad, and he quickly took control of the conversation. Surprisingly to me, he knew that I had been struggling with this and he knew that the day would come when I would decide to do something different in my life. He was fully supportive and loving and proud. That phone call has gotten me through the last week and it might keep me going for some while now. Most of the things he said, I had already come to on my own, but the one thing I knew already but was ignoring whole-heartedly was that no matter how hard I prayed and how hard I tried to listen to God, whatever it is that is supposed to happen will NOT happen on my time, but will happen on GOD's time. I know this, yet my 2 years of struggling and impatience had gotten the better of me. I wanted to know NOW! I wanted Morgan to go to Jacksonville and for me to have some alone time with God and for God to tell me NOW what it was that I am supposed to do. I wanted it on my time and now I know I must continue to wait and probably at the moment I least expect is when God is going to sneak up on me from behind and whisper in my ear.

So, what is the moral of this story? Look both ways before you cross the street.

Sorry, that is the punch line to my 'Purple Passion' joke. If you ever care to hear it, get a few beers in me (and you if you want to find it funny) and I will be happy to tell it.

The moral is two fold: 1)Your parents love you and will support you, but you won't know that unless you talk to them. 2)Your time is NOT God's time, so be patient, pray, and enjoy the life you have been given.

Peace Out,

Wormser

PS- 'I didn't say she was crazy, I said she was...'

Am I scared?

2005-06-09T23:59:00.000-04:00

Am I scared? What is it that I am scared of? Why can't I make the leap? I tell myself that it is because I haven't heard what leap to make. Maybe I have heard it and I have just ignored it. Maybe it isn't time for me to hear it yet. Maybe all of this pain and sadness is going to make that leap even better when I figure out what leap I am supposed to make. I still have faith that God has a plan for me, but it gets harder every day. I know God has a place for me to go. I am standing here with the car packed and full of gas. I just need a map. Actually, I just need a destination.

Lord, my life is yours. Use me.

What a day!

2005-06-05T22:44:00.000-04:00

Well, my day started off just how I had planned it. I got up, went to the Y and worked out. When I got home, I made myself a sandwich and ate lunch. I then took Miller on a walk and then put him on the porch so I could start cleaning.

My mom is coming into town tomorrow, so I was trying to get the house all clean and get all of my laundry done before she got here. I started laundry and cleaned the den. I unloaded the dishwasher and cleaned the kitchen. I cleaned the bathrooms and cleaned the bedrooms and the living room. All I had left to do was put my brother's computer in the attic and put the sheets I had just washed on my bed and the bed my mom was going to sleep in. Then I was going to get in the shower and start workin on my resume and a cover letter for a job I want to apply for.

So, I am minutes away from finishing and pick Kevin's old computer up and head into the attic. I take the monitor first; no problem. I come back for the tower and then head up the ladder with the tower. Once I get into the attic, I begin to hold the tower with my hand inside the tower in the hole where the power supply used to be. I begin to walk over to the area where I am going to store the tower and my day takes a turn for the worse.

WHAM!!!!! My foot kicks a piece of ply wood and all of the sudden my foot goes into a hole and through the insulation and through the drywall. SHIT!!!!! I am laying on my side with my foot dangling through the huge hole I have just put through the ceiling when I notice that there is a lot of blood on my hand. Then I realize that my hand hurts. I sliced a 2 inch gash in my right index finger on the sheet metal on the back of the computer. Blood is gushing, so I put pressure on it and run down the ladder and start to go into the bathroom. WAIT, I just cleaned the bathroom, go into the kitchen. But, the attic stairs are in the way, so I lift them out of the way and begin to drip blood on the hardwood floors and finally make it to the kitchen sink.

At this point I am beginning to shake and feel light headed. I run coldwater over it and see the huge gash. This doesn't help my shakes or light-headedness. I grab some paper towels and wrap up my fingers and grab my cell phone. I call Ryan on his cell and home numbers. No answer, what a jerk (he makes up for it later). I calm down enough to realize that I can probably drive myself to the doctor. So I grab my keys and wallet and start out the door. WAIT, there is blood on the floor and the radio is on and I have zit medicine all over my face because I have 2 huge zits that wont go away (I am 27, when will the zits stop!!!!). So, I go wipe up the blood on the floor, turn off the radio, and wash my face to get the zit medicine off. I feel a little bit better abut my appearance now that the zit medicine is gone although I am sweating like a dog and wearing gym shorts and the same t-shirt I worked out in. I smelled pretty good.

So I head to the Doc-in-a-box near the Kroger. On my way I leave Morgan a voicemail letting her know that I am on my way to get stitches. I pull into the Doc-in-a-box and the sign says they are open to 6 on Sundays. Maybe my luck is changing, it is only 3:50. I park and head to the door and as I get closer I realize that it looks dark inside. Then I see the hand-written note that is taped inside the door that says they had to close early today, sorry. DAMNIT, this means I have to go to the ER.

Dekalb Medical is just around the corner so I go to the ER. ER's on the weekend are NOT the model of efficiency, but I think that I might get expedited because I am coming in with a bloody paper towel. WRONG!

I walk in and they ask me to fill out a form. Well, since I sliced the index finger on my writing hand I ask if they can fill it out. The nurse reluctantly agrees to. She gets my name and address and that is it.

I go sit down. It is 4:05. At 4:10 they call for 'Kay'. I assume it is me (Hay) and walk up to the counter. It was me that they were calling, but they had my name wrong. I explain to the nurse that it is H A Y and she says 'Well the form is wrong, it says K A Y' like I had filled it out wrong. So they tell me they have to fix it and reprint the form before they can triage me. They sit me down in the triage area and go back to the computer to fix it. She comes back a moment later with the form and shows it to me... KHAY. No, it is HAY. So, she goes back to the computer and reprints everything and brings it back to me...KAY. No, it is Hay, H A Y like for horses. Do you want to see my drivers license? They finally get it right and they take my temperature and blood pressure. The nurse removes the paper towel from my finger and then covers it back up with my paper towel and then hands the paperwork to me and tells me to go down the hall to FASTRACK.

Yeehaw, I am getting Fastracked. That must mean it will go fast. WRONG again. I get to Fastrack and hand the nurse my paperwork and she looks at the cut and then covers it up with the papertowel that I came in with again and then asks me to sit in the waiting room.

It is now 4:15. I sit and sit and sit. I hear a lady threaten to kick her kids asses if they misbehave once again. Then a lady with a baby that is crying comes into the waiting room. Finally the baby stops crying. Then the kids that were threatened begin to argue and scream The lady with the baby politely asks them to be quiet because her baby is asleep and the baby hasn't been asleep for 3 days. Oh, no she didn't. The mother who threatened to kick her kids asses, then lays into the mother with the baby. 'Don't you tell my kids what to do...' It quickly turns into a welfare bitching session and both ladies are cussing at each other, the baby is now awake and crying and the kids are fighting and screaming. Calgon, take me away.

Finally the nurse calls my name. It is 5:20. She takes me into a room and gets more information from me, my insurance card, my credit card, and my drivers license. She then sends me back to the waiting area. About ten minutes later she comes back out to me and asks me to sign my credit card slip and my consent form. Then she hands me a sheet of paper that says my name and patient number and says 'Admission process completed'. Are you kidding me? I have been in the ER for over 1.5 hours and all I have to show for it is a sheet of paper that says all my paperwork is complete.

Another hour goes by and I watch more and more people come and go. ER waiting rooms are an interesting place to watch people. At 6:30 they call me back. A numb finger with 8 stitches and 30 minutes later and I am finally walking out of the ER with Ryan (Ryan showed up right after I got called back and sat in there while I got stitched up. Told you he made it up to me.).

Ryan and I head to the pharmacy to get some supplies (bandages and such) and then to BK so I can get a whopper for dinner. I eat the whopper while Ryan takes Miller on a quick walk. Then Ryan helps me duct tape the sheetrook back in place and helps me sweep up. At some point in the cleaning up process, I go to throw something away and realize that there is pipe leaking under the sink. Ryan graciously cleans up the water and fixes the pipe and helps me clean up the drywall mess then he heads home (Thanks again Ryan for all of your help!!!).

I then finish vacuming and straightening the house and am about to get in the shower when the drywall tape jop falls apart. I cut all the drywall down and then clean the floor again. I take a shower (with a glove taped over my right hand) and then finish folding the laundry and put the sheets on my bed so I can go to sleep (my mom is going to have to put her own sheets on tomorrow).

So that was my day. It is very hard to type without using my right index finger, but I am figuring it out and the pain is worth getting all of this onto my blog.

A couple of questions to ponder:

I have never been one to ask 'why do bad things happen to good people?' but this is one of those days when I wonder that. I normally stop wondering that real quick and begin to focus on the opposite of that question 'why do good things happen to bad people?'

And was my falling through the ceiling God's way of telling me to not apply for this job?

Things that make you go hmmmmmm....

Work, so confusing

2005-06-02T23:10:00.000-04:00

So, here I am trying to ask God to tell me what it is I am supposed to do with my life. I pray every night for God to open my eyes so I can see the path that God wants me to follow. I do this because I am so miserable in my job. I am not fulfilled and it is not rewarding.

Then things happen at work happen as they happened today. I essentially was rewarded once again for my hard work. Ever since I started working for my company, I have been constantly rewarded, recognized, promoted, and compensated. Why is it that I am so miserable in a job I am obviously so good at? Why do I want to quit a company where I have been very successful and have a bright future?

Maybe I am supposed to continue working for my company. They do pay me well, rely on me, and recognize me. I have flexible work hours and working conditions. I get at least 3 weeks of vacation every year and most years I take closer to 4 weeks with my comp time (overtime). With all of my vacation and flexible hours, it has allowed me to do the volunteer conference work that I want to do on my vacation. But is that enough?

My best week each year for the past 3 years (would be 4 years but my best week 4 years ago was my honeymoon) has been the week I have volunteered at the Montreat/PYC 3 middle school conference. I haven't really done anything super important at those conferences (i just run AV equipment), but that week really makes me happy. Why can't I have that happiness for 52 weeks a year instead of 1 or 2 weeks?

So, my confusion continues. Do I continue to work a job that I am very successful in but hate just because it affords me the ability to volunteer 1 or 2 weeks each year AND still have vacation time? or Do I try and find a way to have that 1 or 2 week feeling of happiness for more of the year? I think the answer is not what I want, but what God wants for me.

So, God, the ball is in your court. I can be reached by email, voicemail, or through the words and works of others (although, email is the easiest way to reach me).

My little jar

2005-05-31T23:57:00.000-04:00

My wonderful wife Morgan mailed me a copy of a sermon by Anna Carter Florence that she thought I might want to read. Last night I could not fall asleep (which is part of my nightly ritual of tossing and turning as I think about and ponder what it is that God wants me to do with my life) so I read the sermon. Tonight I am pondering the same thing so I am going to blog about the sermon.

The sermon is on the text where the woman pours perfume on Jesus. Anna Carter goes on to describe that the perfume, that was kept in a little jar, was very expensive perfume that, in those days, would be used for when the lady died. It was her little jar of death perfume. She smashed her burial perfume jar and poured the perfume on Jesus in an act of selflessness and an act of faith. With her act she was giving everything to Jesus, even the perfume that was to be used at her burial that she had been keeping in a little jar.

Anna Carter continues by challenging us to think about the things we put into jars. The thoughts and the burdens we put into jars because we can't deal with them. The feelings we ignore and the dreams we brush off that we put in jars on shelves that are slowly killing us. The little jars that cause us to toss and turn at night. She charges us to take those little jars of death and pulverize them and offer their contents to God.

I wonder what is in my little jar. Is it my job? Is it my desire to do something more meaningful than IT Consulting for a profitable company? Is it my desire to see people happy in the fellowship of God? What is it that I am putting in the jar? I prayed to God last night for him to give me the strength to smash that jar even though I am not sure what is in it, but I am positive that I have that jar and I am sure that it is what has been causing me so much pain.

And the Quest continues...

It's Tuesday but it feels like Monday

2005-05-31T15:06:00.000-04:00

I find myself walking to meetings real slow and lethargic. I sit at my computer and try to think of things to surf on the internet instead of doing my work. I go to meetings and sit there and think about why the meeting is useless. I have work to do, but I know I can do it later and still receive fantastic reviews, so I procrastinate. Especially after last week when I worked my ass off. I have become apathetic about my job and I just don't care that I don't care.

'Sounds like somebody's got a case of the Mondays' (except it is Tuesday and I will probably feel like this again tomorrow since I dread my job)

My relaxing weekend

2005-05-30T22:10:00.000-04:00

Well, this weekend was supposed to be a weekend for me to relax and get my mind right so I could focus on the Quest. So, on Friday night I was on my way home from work and my brother called and wanted to know if he could come visit for the weekend. He was supposed to go to Memphis to see some friends, but that fell through and he said he really needed to get out of the house (my parent's house - he still lives there). Being the wonderful big brother that I am, I of course told him to come on over.

It ended up being a great weekend and I still got accomplished some of the things I wanted to get accomplished. I cut the grass and got my haircut on Saturday morning. Then we went and played golf on Saturday afternoon. Found a great rate on LMTT.com, so if you are ever looking for a last minute tee time, check it out. We went to dinner at Taco Mac and then watched Star Wars Episode II.

Sunday, we were planning on going to the Braves game, but it was raining so we decided to go to the Georgia Force arena football game. We hopped on Marta and were planning on buying $19 tickets at the ticket office, but a scalper offered us VIP tickets for $25. Being the suckers that we are, we bought 'em. They ended up being Suite Tickets. So we sat in a suite. It was very nice.

Let me pause my story while I get on my soapbox for a moment. So, we rode the elevator up to the entrance of the Phillips arena and there are security guards checking people as they go into the game. They have baskets and are asking everyone to empty their pockets into the baskets. Not thinking anything of it, I grab my cell phone, keys, and wallet and throw them in the basket. The security guard quickly tells me that I can't go in with 'that'. What? My keychain Swiss Army Knife? My 1.5 inch knife? My keychain accessory that I use for the toothpick more than I use it for anything because the blade on the knife is too small to even cut a straggling string off my pants? I can't take 'that' in? Have we gotten so scared as a society that we think terrorists are going to take over the Arena Football game with a 1.5 inch Swiss Army Knife? So my brother and I had to hide our keychain knives in the pinestraw near the entrance so that we didn't have to throw them away to go into the arena. Stupid!!!

Back to my weekend, we had a great time at the football game. It is quite an experience. There was never a moment of calmness. When the game wasn't being played there was either a fan competition, the dance team dancing in sexy clothes (very nice), fireworks, or army rangers rappeling from the ceiling throwing t-shirts to the fans. They really have something great going on down there. Need to remember to go to some more games next season.

Another funny moment occured at the game. During a time out, the big screen did 'kiss cam' where the cameras look around the arena for couples and the couples kiss while they are on the Big Screen. Well, after several couples had done this, the screen showed an old couple. And wouldn't you know, it was Jimmy Scarr and his wife. They of course saw themselves on the screen, but just didn't get the concept of having to kiss each other, so they sat there like old people looking like silly old people. The fans even started chanting 'kiss kiss kiss' and they still didn't get it. The man sitting behind them even tapped Jimmy on the shoulder and told him they were supposed to kiss and they still didn't get it. Of all places to see Jimmy Scarr. He hasn't changed a bit.

After the game, Kevin wanted to see Star Wars Episode III so that is what we did. It was even better the second time and I caught some things this time that I didn't the first time. Kevin got up this morning and left around lunch time. I messed with my computer (put Kevin's old hard drive in it so he can recover his data the next time he comes) and rearranged all of my entertainment system stuff.

So, it wasn't the relaxing weekend I was expecting, but it ended up being a great weekend. Kevin and I had a great time together, and when you get a few beers in us we will even talk about stuff more important than Auburn Football (although there isn't much stuff more important than that). I am very lucky to have a brother that I can hang out with. I hope that Kevin and I will get to be better friends the next couple of years while he is here for seminary. There is a level to Kevin that I see every now and then that I hope he can learn to share more often and with everyone, not just a few people. He really truly cares for people, he just has a hard time showing it. He still has his moments of stubborness, but they are fewer than before.

Well, maybe I can relax next weekend. Or maybe someone else will come visit and make me have a good time.

Introductions

2005-05-27T02:55:00.000-04:00

Since I am such a big tech nerd, I am sure it comes as a surprise to you that I have never 'blogged' before. So, I am still trying to figure out how this stuff works. I guess I write things here and you read them. That leads me to my first question; who is my audience? Who are 'you'? Who am I writing to? I guess it doesn't matter. I am not doing this for you. I am doing this for me.

So, you may ask, what is the Quest all about? Well, this is my Quest to determine what my purpose in life is. See, for a long time now, I have been struggling with what it is that I am supposed to do with my life. I am currently in a good job, that pays me well, that gives me lots of vacation and flexibility, and furthermore, I am good at it. So now you are thinking, what does this guy have to complain about? I am finally starting to realize that there is more to life than a good job. I want to do something more fulfiling with my life. Further, I believe that God has a plan for me and that God has been trying to tell me what that plan is and I have been ignoring it or not listening. So, this Quest is about me trying to sort through my thoughts and maybe, hopefully, I will hear whatever it is that God is trying to tell me.

This is my Quest. I hope you enjoy reading and following along. I just hope and pray that I will hear God soon. For the longest time I thought maybe God wasn't speaking to me. I am now realizing that I have been too busy to listen.

'Open my ears'