Blain's World

My First Junior Achievement Program Completed... It was a BLAST!

2012-02-06T17:30:00.000-05:00

Last week, I wrapped up my first ever JA experience, where I spent 5 sessions in January delivering the Our City program to Mrs. Dubin's 3rd graders at Green Hope Elementary School in Cary, NC. It was a BLAST!

Being that I've always had a passion for teaching and wanted to give back to some local schools in some way, I had been interested in JA since the intro breakfast I attended in 2011. But when I attended an orientation session in November, and saw the quality of materials available for the program, my motivation and excitement kicked into a higher gear! I wanted to get started!

The Our City program helps teach elementary school kids about how a city is created and operates. Students learn basics about zones, construction concepts, opening a restaurant, publishing a newspaper, and how a bank operates. The materials are all packaged in a "briefcase" and professionally designed and organized with a volunteer guide that tells exactly what to do in each session. There are plenty of hands-on activities and the guide gives some latitude for the volunteer to bring his or her own experiences into the discussion. The importance of education, study, and hard work are reinforced throughout the delivery of the program.

There is a colorful city map that is used for all of the sessions. The map is divided into zones and we discuss why we have zones, and what the role of a city planner is.

Students build buildings using cutouts which form 3D figures, and also do some basic construction measurements and talk about the importance of quality in construction.

The restaurant session was my favorite, as I got out the dry-erase marker and conducted a pretty interactive discussion on different aspects of being an entrepreneur and restaurant owner. The funniest moment came when the students had to name their restaurants. One group wanted to have an Italian style restaurant like Maggiano's which also offered massages. The ring leader of that group proclaimed it would be called Massagiano's!! (By the way, that particular ring leader was my son Luke). Other richly diverse teams compromised and decided to have mixed-culture menus, such as "Chinese-Mexican". It was enlightening to see how well they worked together. We were all pretty hungry after this session was over!

The newspaper journalism session was fun too. Students crafted outlines to their own made-up stories, some of which included Mrs. Dubin opening her own restaurant, or other students becoming sports champions!

The banking session involved the students dividing into 2 groups - customers and workers - and demonstrating capitalism in action. You earn money... you put it in the bank... the bank stewards your money... you buy stuff using a variety of methods like checks and ATM cards, and at the end of the week, you reconcile your expenses. Basic stuff, but we can all learn a lot by twenty 3rd graders standing up, walking around, and conducting business in a "city" called a classroom.

I prepared about 60-90 minutes for each session, and that was mainly because each was my first one. I took notes and made highlights in the volunteer guide, and used that more as a general outline than a script. The kit is truly "turn-key" and ready to use out the box. Mrs. Dubin was helpful in making connections to what they were teaching in class, and rightfully so. The JA programs are intentionally mapped to grade level subjects in the Department of Education's subject taxonomy. Mrs. Dubin also helped keep the kids in order and helping with many of the activities. She has a great class, and I will surely miss them!

It was truly a pleasure serving these kids. I knew most of the names by the 3rd session, but the JA tent cards helped where my memory failed me. As I got to know the students, I encouraged them more and more - helping the shy ones get engaged, helping the outgoing ones learn about humility, and helping everyone to act professionally, courteously, and speak up confidently when talking. There's certainly more to this than just learning about "our city".

Before this session was complete, I had already booked my next Our City gig, to be done with some 5th graders later this spring. I can't wait. I encourage anyone with a passion for service to kids and our educational system to consider making an investment in Junior Achievement. You'll have a blast, too!!

To volunteer for Junior Achievement, please contact your corporate volunteer coordinator, or if you are in the Triangle area, the JA of Eastern NC office.

How We Occupy Wall Street

2011-10-20T22:29:00.001-04:00

When my oldest son Seth turned 13 last month, I wanted to use the opportunity to teach him the best way to Occupy Wall Street, and that is to learn at a young age how to successfully invest in the stock market. My dad got me started at age 14, and so I figured I'd give Seth a one year head-start. So, yesterday I scheduled time with him after school and presented to him a Stock Market Basics tutorial, made up of material from the Internet, and some of my own advice based on my own successes and failures at investing.

I told him about how many large companies started out as small mom-and-pop's - like McDonald's, Apple, and Dell, and how these entrepreneurs raised money by going public and selling shares. And when you own stock, you actually own a small piece of the companies in which you have invested. We also talked about how investors share in the profits, losses, assets, liabilities, and even decisions of the company. It was a great father-son discussion about the wonders and beauty of Capitalism.

We then studied some charts and reports from Investors Business Daily, my favorite source of investment wisdom. He then settled on deciding the first 2 stocks he would buy with the savings I had set aside for him over the years - just as my father had done. I bought Virginia Electric & Power Company (VEPCO) when I was a kid, and between the dividends and steady increases, I had doubled my investment within a few years. Seth picked Apple (3 shares) and Dollar Tree (10). We placed limit orders last night, which executed this morning. So he's now a stockholder.

This afternoon, after school, he texted me... "The stock market did horrible today." I checked. Dow was up 37. But AAPL was down $3.31 (0.83%) and DLTR down $0.20 (0.25%). Guess it's all about perspective... He lost nearly $12 his first day in the market. Let's hope the other days are better.

Funny Things My Kids Say - Poppie's Heart

2011-08-07T23:25:00.004-04:00

Today Caleb had a memorable observation. He was playing in the ocean and noticed the odd shape on Poppie's chest. Poppie has a pacemaker, and you can see the shape of it from outside Poppie's skin.

Caleb noted, "I now know that the heart is NOT shaped like this..." (and drew the shape of the heart - using his two index fingers - as seen in Valentine's cards and graphics icons)... "...it's shaped like THIS..." (and drew a rectangle with the same two fingers)!

Vista Networking Issues Driving Me Crazy!!!

2011-06-08T23:54:00.000-04:00

Since installing a new DLINK 632 router this weekend, the only Vista computer in the house cannot access internet. Of course, this is Lori's computer, so mama ain't happy, and therefore no one is happy.

It gets an IP. It can ping internet sites all day long. But can't access any of them via web browsers or other apps.

I've tried all these things one by one and get same results.

ipconfig /release then ipconfig /renew also threw in a flushdns
powered off and let computer sit for a while
powered off router and DSL modem and let them sit
disabled Norton AV
I've used every "diagnose and repair" button there is - and it keeps saying all is well.
Windows firewall not enabled
deleted the network device and rebooted allowing windows to reinstall it
tried all the stuff on this page: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299357
uninstalled Norton AV.
Disabled TCP v6 in the Networking properties (leaving only TVP v4)
plugged the network cable from PC into laptop and confirmed that the cabling is fine (the laptop connected wired OK)
took the new router out of the picture and went directly from Vista PC to DSL modem. Logged through DSL broadband connection successfully. Same results: Could ping internet, but not browse.
hard coded an IP address
When I look at "Network and Computer sharing"... it has the nice little graphic of the PC connected to the network, and the network connected to the Internet.

I have not reinstalled windows nor have I removed and reseated the network card. I also have not thrown the PC out the 3rd floor window of our office, but it's crossed my mind.

I am stumped.

Any ideas?

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-11T22:50:00.000-04:00

Had a great time over Mother's Day! Event Roxie was smiling!!

Kids First Train Trip - Cary to Richmond

2010-10-14T09:54:00.001-04:00

I am taking boys to Mimmie and Poppie for the weekend while Lori and I go to Ridgecrest for the Fall Festival of Marriage. This reminds me of the time when my grandma took me on a train trip. I guess trains are a little faster now.

Happy 13th Anniversary to The One I Love!

2010-09-28T02:47:00.001-04:00

Today, I am celebrating the 13th anniversary of marriage to my best friend Lori. We are very blessed to have a great marriage and 3 wonderful boys. In lieu of a $5 card from CVS, I made this video for her tonight. Hope you enjoy. To the one I love, Lori... Happy Anniversary!

Song credits: "One I Love" by Coldplay

Carpenter Coyotes Trip to Hanging Rock Park, NC

2010-09-26T22:34:00.009-04:00

Caleb and I just returned from our Indian Guides tribe's 24-hour camping trip (photos) to Hanging Rock Park.

We left home Saturday around 2 and arrived around 4:30pm. We pitched our tent after finding a spot high enough off the ground since we were expecting rain. Once camp was set, we hiked up to Hanging Rock. That was quite a long hike, mostly uphill. I took many pictures of the boys along the way, and then we finally arrived at the top. It was quite a beautiful view, overlooking the valley and across to the Blue Ridge Mountains. We took a bunch of pictures, and then headed back to camp. It was dark for most of the hike back, and we had to use flashlights. It was fun talking about all the bears and creatures that must be in the woods ready to pounce on us.

When we got back to camp, we grilled hot dogs. I put on the pot of chili I had brought from home, and also provided some diced up onions. It's the little things like that that separate a good cookout from a great cookout! After dinner, we gathered around the campfire and told scary stories. By then it was around 10:30pm, so we turned in.

It was no later than 10:45pm when it started raining - and raining hard. It was really nice, since our tent was properly positioned, and did not leak. It had also cooled down into the low 70's and was an excellent night for sleeping outside, especially with the rain going on and off all night long. I had a good night sleep thanks to a new foam bedroll I used, and also the sleeping pill I took before bed. :-)

We awoke around 7:30am. I grilled donuts on the grill, and they were excellent, probably thanks to a little residual flavor from the prior night's hot dogs. Russ Hemingway made some great coffee using his signature old tin coffee pot. It was a good meal for men and boys.

Then we dismantled the tents, and packed the cars. We drove to the next hiking event, which was Tory's Den and Tory's Falls. The Den was pretty cool, but the Falls were not too impressive. The den is a cave supposedly used by Tories during the American Revolution.

We had had enough of hiking by this time, and were able to convince the boys it was time to leave and seek ice cream on the trip home. We arrived home around 2pm, a mere 24 hours since we originally departed. It was a fun "day" spent with Caleb and the other Carpenter Coyotes.

Caleb's Two Wheeled Lego Tractor

2009-12-21T13:10:00.009-05:00

Caleb made this without any directions. Pretty cool, huh? Be sure to watch the video below.

Caleb's Photo Story (3rd Grade)

2009-12-11T21:24:00.002-05:00

Caleb read a book, and retold the story in his own words along with these pictures.

November Bike Ride

2009-11-29T16:14:00.001-05:00

After being off work for the last 8 days, I should have been trying to catch up for the upcoming home stretch to Christmas. But instead, we enjoyed the nice weather with a bike ride. Back to real world grindstone tomorrow.

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Fall Outing Year 2

2009-11-08T17:34:00.001-05:00

Here we are at the Y Guides Fall Outing. This year is our 2nd and so we hold torches while the first year dads and kids march through. Right now we are waiting for the lighting of our torches.

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And the Shirts Go to...

2009-10-21T17:27:00.008-04:00

Well not everyone had the same answers as me (see comments in post below)... but some were close. To solve this riddle, we need to start with what we know about the boys.

Luke hoards money and is frequently making deals to get more money. He thinks he should be paid for getting out of bed in the morning. He will go to the store to buy a $30 item, and will leverage parental equity to pay for the sales taxes. He also is giving and has been known to give money to parents, grandparents, and brothers. B-School for Luke.

Caleb... Legos... Legos... Legos... Never concerned too much about money. Likes to read intricate Lego procedures in his spare time. A little eccentric and not concerned about what he wears. Focused on the task at hand (when it's something he wants to do). Strong in science in school - to heck with everything else. Likes to help people. Med School for Caleb.

Seth... Could do anything, I think, but there is a sense of justice and logic to him. Having two younger brothers who tend to cause him some issues on occasion, Seth has to argue his position often, and is usually pretty calm and level-headed. Often is able to identify how brothers have wronged him in some way, and convincingly proclaims his innocence in the matter. Law School for Seth.

Of course, I would not be disappointed if I have all this wrong. All of these are tough fields of study followed by time-consuming careers. I just want each of them discover God's will on their own, and to make the best of their lives by living that out.

So where's the engineer and jewelry designer in the family? I guess that is Dad and Mom! And I'm still thinking about opening that hot dog stand in the shallow waters of the Keys in Florida.

IBM Business Insights at Harvard

2009-10-20T17:48:00.003-04:00

This week I am at the subject class in Boston. Today we got done a little early so I got over to the main campus - pictured here at Harvard Yard. This is a great experience, the likes of which I hope someday my boys can receive. Tonight, however, I have a lot of homework!

While at Harvard, I went to their "Harvard Coop" store which is where they have a bazillion shirts and other logo merchandise. I accomplished my mission buying shirts for my boys. Since I don't "really" go to Harvard, I guess it would be pretentious for me to wear their brand, especially since they are certainly not known for their sports teams. However, buying shirts for the kids allows me to live vicariously through them, as well as encourage them to strive for making the grades to go to such an extravagantly expensive, but distinguished, school. I guess every parent wants their kids to accomplish more than they did, so I guess I'm settling into that mode myself. So while I would shudder to think about paying for that sort of college for 1 to 3 children, I would try to find a way if that challenge ever presented itself.

So I bought 3 shirts... one was Harvard Business School, one was Harvard Law School, and the other Harvard Medical School - each one carefully selected to fit the personality of one of our boys, though perhaps not their bodies due to the lack of child sizes. So for those who know Seth, Caleb, and Luke: Who gets which shirt? Post a comment here with your guess (and why), and I'll answer later with my choices.

Carter Finley Stadium... NCSU vs. USC

2009-09-03T19:28:00.001-04:00

Been a while since I've been here.

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Mario Cart Wiiiiiii !

2009-07-05T09:10:00.001-04:00

Luke & Justin playing the Wii at the beach. Fun vacation for everyone!

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Chinese Jewelry Maker FUQI

2009-06-14T15:28:00.007-04:00

Last week was pretty blah for my investing strategies. My biggest frustration was Chinese jewelry maker FUQI, which I had bought last Friday 6/5 at $14.90, and watched climb $18.70 (25%) by noon Wednesday. Then it started a dive that lasted into Thursday. My trailing stop loss order kicked in and I got out with a nice 18% profit after 4 days, selling out at $17.64! The stock retreated all the way down to $16, then started back up. (This is when you usually yell at the horror movie actors, "DON'T GO BACK IN THAT SCARY HOUSE, YOU FOOL!") So... I got back in at $17.35. Minutes later... the stock took another turn, and headed down. It waffled the rest of Thursday, and then started a dive Friday again... all the way down to $14.81 where I sold out again around noon. Minutes later, the stock turned back up and closed at a respectable $16.80. Jason Jason Jason Jason... Kill kill kill kill.... I made about 100 bucks, after commissions for 4 trades. That's 2.8% for a week, which in retrospect is not bad.

For the week, the Dow was up 0.4% and the NASDAQ up 0.5%. I got into several top IBD "top 10" stocks this week, and the only one that ended the week up after I bought it was Neutral Tandem (TNDM). There are several of the top IBD stocks which have experienced pull backs this past week. One that is closest to its 10 week average is World Fuel Services (INT). When a growing stock tests and holds up at its 10 week average (chart arrow), this is a sign of strength that the stock may follow through with a breakout. So I will consider getting into this one this week, as the fundamental data for this one is pretty good. And if FUQI drops back in the $15-$16 range... I may jump back into that one as well. It's #1 on the IBD 100 list this week (6/12).

So that's all I know this week. I'm still relatively clueless, but I am enjoying learning some new analysis techniques.

Investor's Business Daily 100

2009-06-07T17:46:00.017-04:00

I have been catching up on some long-needed investment analysis these last few weeks. After reading William O'Neill's "The Successful Investor" I have since subscribed to a 4 week trial of the paper he founded, "Investor Business Daily", and have been studying that along with the numerous resources on their website at www.investors.com. I've also purchased and am reading his newest, and 4th edition, of "How to Make Money in Stocks". Someday I might write more about what I am learning, but right now, I'm just going to talk about a few data points I've seen.

First of all, several of the stocks I've purchased in the last few weeks, based on finding something positive about them on IBD, have done OK since I've bought them. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) and Tessera Technologies Inc (TSRA) have particularly done well, wheras I've got one loser in A-Power Energy Generation Systems (APWR). Here are the results thus far as compared to the DJIA over the same period through end of day June 5.

Bought	Symbol	Days Held	Change	DJIA
27-May	ASIA	8	3.99%	3.42%
27-May	TSRA	8	22.74%	3.42%
28-May	VRX	7	1.70%	5.58%
29-May	GMCR	6	9.42%	4.28%
3-Jun	APWR	3	-7.32%	0.25%
5-Jun	FUQI	1	4.04%	0.15%

So I've got 2, maybe 3 winners, and 1 loser. That's not bad... and yes I know this is a small data point over a short period of time.

So as I start this new week, I decided to try to pick some other choice IBD stocks to take positions in. To do this I was looking at the Investor's Business Daily (IBD) weekly papers from 5/29 and 6/5... I downloaded from their website a spreadsheet of the 6/5 IBD 100... then I went back and added in some data from the 5/29 week just to see if the list has any merit. Note that last week, the Dow went up 3.1% and the NASDAQ 4.2%... so even a monkee could have done well picking stocks last week.

As it turned out, 17 out of the top 20 (from 5/29) were positive for the week (6/1 - 6/5). Thirteen out of 20 beat the NASDAQ's 4.2%. Eleven of the top 12 did. The average gain of the Top 10 was 8.5%, more than double that of the NASDAQ.

I highlighted in yellow the stocks I'm going to keep an eye on. And there were two that I plan on buying this week, shown in green. Newmarket Corp (NEU) and Ctri.com (CTRP). Both moved up in position in the IBD 100 rankings, and had nice gains for the week. Both exhibit that there is a lot of institutional investors (ie mutual funds) accumulating positions.

So let's see how well I do.

Backyard Campout 2009

2009-05-22T23:21:00.002-04:00

Tonight was campout in the backyard night. Supposed to be low of 61 so that should be nice. This time we brought out a DVD player and 24" TV. About time to go to sleep now. Goodnight.

Caleb Completed a 5K Race!

2009-05-03T09:30:00.008-04:00

Caleb and I ran/walked a 5k race this morning at the Y Guides Spring Outing. I was extremely proud of him! He made it the whole way.

The race time was at 8am and at 7:45 he was still in bed and refusing to get up. With bribery of a donut in bed, I coaxed him into agreeing to at least walk to the race start. He vowed the entire way that he would not do the race. He wanted to swim, play on the playground, or anything other than walking or running for 3.1 miles.

On the way to the flag pole, the meeting place for the racers about 300 yards from our cabin, Caleb fussed and dragged his feet. On the way, I was polling other dads to see if they were planning to run, and if not, perhaps Caleb could hang out with them and their sons (thus defeating the whole purpose of this father-son weekend). I really wanted to run (or walk) in this race myself. I originally had my iPod ready to go, to fade into my own world of run-tertainment, especially since I had barely put 5 miles on my new running shoes in all of 2009. But doing this alone didn't feel right. So we proceeded to the flag pole, with Caleb in tow, while I was still trying to reason how I could have my cake and eat it too. The raceway was essentially 3 times around the trail which encircles all of Camp Seafarer, with each loop being 1 mile. My plan was to just get him to start the race, and then perhaps I could let him take a break at a playground, while I made another lap around the campground.

Several other dads in our tribe were also participating in the race. Brown Bear, the camp director, gave us instructions. Dads and sons must stay together, whether walking or running or stopping. She moved us over to the real starting point... the giant boat anchor in the road over there behind that building. That would be the starting point, mile marker, and finish line. Humans who complete the race get a cool 5k race patch for their Y-Guides vest. There were only about 40 dads and sons participating in total, out of about 400-600 in the whole camp - so this would indeed be a special accomplishment for those who braved the 72 degree May morning by the slightly breezy North Carolina intercoastal waterway (read, "perfect morning").

We pinned on our race numbers and then the race started. All the boys took off at 100-yard dash pace, while dads hollered, "Slow down! Pace yourself!" repeatedly. Caleb was right behind them trying to catch up to the speedsters. Eventually he slowed down as did the many other boys, and the race was underway at a more reasonable pace.

Caleb was wearing Crocs... and, get this... with NO socks. I had a pair of socks in my pocket in case he changed his mind. I asked him many times if he wanted my pocket socks for his Crocs, but no Croc pocket socks - Caleb was happy with his sock-less Crocs. So at that point I had resigned myself to run or walk as far as Caleb wanted, and then quit whenever he gave up or fussed at an unbearable level. But off we went. He would run for 20-40 yards, and then walk. And I was right there with him. I actually appreciated the fast/slow pace he was setting.

Soon we discovered that Craig and Kyle, another father-son pair, were travelling at about the same pace as us. Caleb seemed to want to stay ahead of Kyle. Everytime Caleb would walk, Kyle would catch up. Then Caleb would start running again - long enough to put 20-30 yards between him and Kyle. This seemed to be motivating to Caleb, who typically does not have a competetive bone in his body, at least not when it comes to sports. It also kept Kyle going.

After 10 minutes of this cat and mouse game with Kyle, I started to think Caleb might make it the whole first lap. I encouraged him to keep it up, and told him how great he was doing. He just kept going and going. Craig called him the Energizer Bunny for his persistence. I kept asking, "Are you OK? Anything hurting? Do you want my pocket socks for your sock-less Crocs?" and Caleb just said "No" and kept on going.

Well, we made it through the first lap, and I was just so amazed, as we had far exceeded my wildest expectations! Brown Bear commented over the loud speaker, "Here comes someone with Crocs!" I thought maybe Caleb would want to stop, but he kept going, and Kyle was right on his tail. He confirmed that there were only 2 more times around like this one, and so we kept on going. Back and forth he and Kyle went, with Caleb mostly staying out front. I thought about throwing in a $20 bribe. "If you make it all the way, I'll give you $20." But I decided not to play that card unless necessary.

As we got near the 1.75 mile point, we were near our cabin. I signaled to our fans (Russ and Jack) that we needed some water. So they ran and got several water bottles. Then I showed Caleb how you get to pour water on your head to cool off when you're running... So we did that.

As we got near the 2 mile mark, back at the anchor, Caleb's right sockless Croc fell off. Since Kyle was nearby, he didn't stop to put it back on, but instead carried the right sockless Croc in his hand, and ran barefooted with one Croc on the other foot. He maintained his lead over Kyle, as he crossed the 2 mile line as Brown Bear said "You can even run this race with ONE Croc!" (There were people hanging around the anchor watching the race drama by this time.) Caleb's determination and focus was amazing. He did put his Croc back on at the start of lap 3.

So we kept on going, and going, and going. I asked many times about needing a sock for his sockless Crocs, but he declined. He said that his side was hurting some, but otherwise, he kept on going. Near the 2.75 mile mark he took a big shortcut, which was perfectly understandable, but Kyle kept going on the main trail. Caleb eventually tired out and actually sat down on the trail about 30 yards short of the finish line. He said his side was still hurting. Kyle ran on past, and finished the race. Then Caleb got up and ran on across as well. He didn't seem to care that Kyle edged him out at the end. But he DID IT. And got the patch. And so did I.

Relaxing and Reading

2009-03-25T21:51:00.010-04:00

On our recent 2-day weekend beach trip, I actually got some time to read in peace,
during the daytime, and while not half asleep. It was Sunday morning before breakfast. The sun was up and so I made a makeshift screen using a chaise lounge chair, to block the brightness from my face. It was still a bit chilly, but a sweater was all that was needed to keep me warm. Lori brought out some coffee, and I found a way to combine the function of my reading glasses and my sunglasses. I kicked back to read my new ESV Study Bible - without rushing, without an agenda, without a time constraint, without a study guide, without a bible study lesson to prepare for my Life Group, and without being exhausted after a long day at work. The waves crashed continuously, as I read 1 Timothy as it was written - as a letter from one person to another. I wrote notes in the margins about things I wanted to investigate further. I underlined key passages. Then I started back over and made some progress in reading the study notes. I could have done this for hours. With a family inside, and breakfast cooking, the quiet time didn't last long, but it was nice while it did. Later, Caleb decorated my coffee table with sea shells and rocks, and Luke left a partially eaten apple. I thought that scene made a nice memory - one that I hope to recreate many times in the future. I love the beach.

Things You Miss When You Don't Go To Church!!!!

2009-03-23T10:40:00.001-04:00

Topsail Beach, NC

2009-03-21T17:26:00.001-04:00

This is where I like to be. Down the stairs, onto the sand.

Leading NJ 2-1 in 2nd Period

2009-03-18T20:28:00.000-04:00

This time we're in the IBM booth. Currently leading 2-0 but with 2 man disadvantage... nevermind... now we're leading 2-1. Having fun!

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Hat trick for Ray Whitney!

2009-03-06T21:04:00.001-05:00

Canes leading the Calgary Flames 6-0 in the 3rd period.

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ABC Channel 11

2009-02-17T16:58:00.002-05:00

We're at channel 11!

This afternoon, our Y-Guides gang got to go to WTVD Channel 11 and take a tour of the studios and watch them do the 5pm news. We met Larry Stogner, Steve Daniels, and the weather dude. Will post more pictures later.

Golfing at Knight's Play

2009-02-08T17:33:00.002-05:00

Starting to get a little chilly. But we're still having fun. Seth just had a par on #10.

72 Degrees in February, #1 Par 3, 93 Yards, First Shot

2009-02-08T15:07:00.002-05:00

... and yes, I made the birdie putt.

Disney Photo Links

2009-01-25T12:39:00.007-05:00

Our Future (according to Epcot Center...)

2009-01-25T12:14:00.006-05:00

We were able to produce these little videos after the Spaceship Earth ride....

Disney Tips I Want to Remember

2009-01-24T21:31:00.023-05:00

I am leaving myself this blog post in the event we ever go to Disney World again....

We finally got back from our week long journey today. Let's see... To go from Cary to Orlando took 11 hours and 2 tanks of gas and two meals, totalling about $100. To return from Orlando took 29 hours and 2 tanks of gas and one hotel night and several meals, totalling about $300. Note to self: Use the same strategy and planning for the return trip as was used for the arrival trip.

For the trip TO Orlando, we left at 3:30am, everyone slept until about 8am, and we arrived by 2:30pm. For the return trip we left around 11:30am, decided at the last minute to NOT visit another park, and hit the road with intentions of making it home by 11pm, after visiting a family friend in Daytona. We had to stop several times as our bathroom cycles were all out of sync. And after 8 grueling hours and 300 miles, we were barely in Georgia. We decided to stop in Savannah for the night, went to Tony Roma's for one last nice vacation dinner, and then left this morning. It pains me to recount how much it felt like rowing uphill into the wind for the remaining 5 hours with 3 wide awake restless boys in the car. The Xbox, DS, and endless videos did little to keep the peace, as there was always something to argue about.

While at Disney, here were the "logistical" things I want to remember...

There are about a dozen Disney hotels on their property. They provide bus transportation between all of them and all the 4 Disney parks (plus Downtown Disney). At the place we stayed, Fort Wilderness Campground Cabins, they have 3 bus lines that run a continuous loop around the neighborhood and the "outpost" where you connect to the 4 park buses. Our wait time for a bus was anywhere from 0 to 25 minutes. The average was probably about 10-15. Parking for cars at the parks was $12 and we wondered if cars staying at a Disney resort had to pay. I bet they would.
There is also monorail transportation between some of the resorts (The Contemporary, for example) and Magic Kingdom. There is also monorail between MK and Epcot.There is also boat transportation from some of the resorts (Fort Wilderness, for example) and MK.

Therefore, to go from FW to Epcot, we could go FW neighborhood bus - to FW outpost - to Epcot. OR... FW bus to FW marina - marina to MK - monorail to MK main station - then other monorail to Epcot. The transportation possibilities are endless, and the variety is nice.

Getting from one resort to another is a bit challenging. There are some cases where the monorail or boat will do the trick. Otherwise, you will have to go from resort to a park (any park - perhaps one in between would be best) and then from that park to the other resort.

At Downtown Disney, there are 2 bus stops. One at one end, and the other at the Pleasure Island end, which is closer to the middle, and Planet Hollywood. Decide ahead of time which stop you need.

Each park offers lockers so you can store your bag of snacks or different clothes. The cost is $10 and there is a refund of $5 when the key is turned in. After we went to the same park 2 days in a row, it occurred to me that I should have kept my key and used the same locker for 2 days. I asked if the deposit would still be given and I was told YES, but they don't like to advertise that.
Be sure to use the Fast Pass. Here are the rules: Go to a popular ride and insert each admission card into the kiosk. The current time may be 3:05pm and the standby wait may be 70 minutes. The Fast Pass return time may be 5:30pm - 6:30pm. So by getting a Fast Pass, we can come back at 5:30pm and do something else fun from the current time until then - instead of waiting in line for 70 minutes. The catch is that you can only get one Fast Pass per ticket. At that point, you must WAIT for 2 hours OR until the Fast Pass return time, whichever is less. So in the example above, I would be able to get ANOTHER Fast Pass for each ticket at 5:05pm. If the Fast Pass return time was 4:30pm, then I would have been able to get another Fast Pass then (1 hr 25 min after the first Fast Pass). The key is to time it well so that you always have a Fast Pass in hand, AND are prepared to get ANOTHER Fast Pass as soon as you're eligible.

We are late sleepers, and we had a hard time getting into the parks by noon on most days. (Hey, taking it easy is what vacation is all about!) Anyway, on several days, after arriving at a park between 12:30 or 1:30pm, I would immediately rush to the best ride with plans of getting 5 Fast Passes. Several times, I would find that the ride had distributed all the Fast Passes for the day. So arrive early in order to get the best Fast Passes.
The Fast Passes always are for a 1 hour block of time. I asked, and an attendant confirmed, that the end time is actually open. The will let you use a Fast Pass AFTER the expiration time, and this comes in handy when you are on one end of the park when you need to be on the other end for a ride.
I asked if I alone could come to the park early in the morning, and get Fast Passes for my whole crew. Several people told me that all the tickets had to be IN THE SYSTEM in order for the Fast Passes to be distributed. Ie. we all have to be in the park. I never did verify this, but I wouldn't doubt it.
Another Fast Pass opportunity is as follows. I was not able to take advantage of this, as I wasn't thinking at the time. On one occasion, I tried to get a Fast Pass for a ride. The card jammed, and I had to call an attendant. I will say that overall, the cards fail to work about 5-10% of the time. In this case, the kiosk will print out an error card saying that the Fast Pass is not eligible at this time. Then, they usually work on the 2nd try.

I only had about 2 jams (out of probably 80-90 attempts) where my card got stuck. In this case the attendant has to open the machine and pull out the stuck card. On this one particular time, the attendant asked, "How many Fast Passes do you need?" and then proceeded to click off 5 Fast Passes for me in seconds. Well... what didn't click (in my head!) was that all my 5 tickets were still eligible for Fast Passes! I could have used them again right then on that same ride (different kiosk, and perhaps a few minutes later), or another ride altogether.
Regarding the ticket itself. We purchased five 7 day tickets. After about 3-4 days, each additional day is only $3 per ticket. THEN, they also offer a "Park Hopper" which allows you to go to multiple parks in the same day. Given all the buses, monorails, and/or boats we had to take, and the subsequent wait time, we never found this to be a useful option, and so we didn't purchase this. The Park Hopper is additional $30-50 per ticket. It occurred to me that if we had paid for a 7 day ticket, then could we not use that for 1 park each day for 5 days, and then use our 6th and 7th day ticket both on day 6? I asked about that, and they said that would not work and that we would have to get the Park Hopper to be able to go to more than one park in a day. I never verified this, but I guess that is a loophole they have closed.

If you want to get picked for anything, get near the front row and act like a maniac so that the "volunteer chooser" sees you. This worked for Luke (Jedi Training) and me (Indiana Jones cast member)!

That's all I can think of for now. Overall we had a very fun vacation, though the trip home was not much fun.

Day 4 at Disney World - Jedi Luke

2009-01-20T23:32:00.006-05:00

Today we went to Hollywood Studios. The highlight was Luke's training as a Jedi. He got picked along with a few other kids, and got to learn a few light sabre moves. The trainer was really funny, and all the kids loved it. Then Darth Vader came out and each "youngling" got offer to join the Dark Side. Then they got to use their new moves on Vader. It really thrilled Luke, and his family as well.

Disney's Hollywood Studios

2009-01-20T19:01:00.001-05:00

Today's highlights included the Tower of Terror, the Aerosmith Rock N Roll Roller Coaster, lunch at the Sci Fi Diner, and Luke getting selected for Jedi training.

Splash Mountain

2009-01-19T16:53:00.001-05:00

WET!

This message was sent DURING THE RIDE!!

First Day Highlights

2009-01-18T10:06:00.009-05:00

We had fun yesterday at Animal Kingdom. The one mishap was that I ripped my pants while rushing through the park trying to get a Fast Pass for an upcoming ride. I ducked between some guy and a shrub, and the shrup won. It's not a problem... I have one more pair of clean jeans that I can wear for 6 days.

The highlight of the day, if it was not the Mt. Everest ride, was the Lego Store at Downtown Disney. The kids really loved that, and I have many pictures stored at this link. Caleb managed to spend all of his fortune on 4 Lego toys... Go figure... we come all the way to Orlando to buy stuff we could have bought at home or online. That's what he's into these days.

This day was Lori's 29th birthday. Diney gives you a $75 merchandise gift card so that was nice. Today is Caleb's b-day, so we will be going to Epcot and probably taking the other birthday option of getting 4 Super Fast Passes.

Having Luke along has been fun this time, though we have been reminded several times why he didn't come last time. Somehow, he is the catalyst for arguments with his older brothers! All in all, we're having FUN!

Our cabin is pretty nice. Not elegant or luxurious at all, but functional and homey. We have about figured out the Disney bus system here, and hopefully our average wait time will improve over time. I'll post some more pictures later.

You can subscribe to this blog by filling in your email on the right at the bottom. That's all for now.

Disney's Animal Kingdom

2009-01-17T16:57:00.002-05:00

Today's visit was to Animal Kingdom. This is Mt. Everest, and was the favorite ride of everyone. We also liked the Dinosaur ride. Weather was nice - about 61 degrees.

On the way to Disney World... IN KID STYLE!!

2009-01-16T20:41:00.002-05:00

Here we are on the way to Disney World. We left at 3:30am and so the kids and Lori slept for a good 4 hours. After that, we had the X-Box and videos and their Nintendo DS's. Tough life for kids these days.

Imperial Star Destroyer

2008-12-27T20:38:00.002-05:00

1366 pieces and 2 days later, we finally completed Caleb's prime Santa gift.

Black Friday

2008-11-28T05:58:00.001-05:00

Already been to Circuit City and came up empty. Now I'm at Target at 6:55am.

Attention College Basketball Recruiters...

2008-11-24T21:53:00.004-05:00

Please see the following video of my 10 year old son Seth. We will be accepting invitations to visit ACC schools offering full scholarships. There is also a teammate and 5 year old brother whom you will also want to consider to round out your back court. I'm sure they will provide you years of conference superiority, as well as raise your scholar-athlete rankings. Unlimited XBOX and PS/3 access will be required, as well as an account on iTunes paid for by your booster club. Their agent and deal-maker will be the 7 year old brother. He usually gets what he wants.

If Caleb Could Vote...

2008-11-03T20:30:00.009-05:00

Tonight, I was helping Lori by setting up a temporary tent at the school - and voting location - to raise money for the PTA on election morning (via coffee and donut sales). I took Caleb with me, and was assisted by some other friends. Also at the school were some folks putting up a sign right next to our tent. It said To Vote for Change...
1. Vote Obama
2. Vote a straight Democratic ticket
3. Judges
I bit my tongue and did my PTA spousal duties.

Caleb didn't. He read the sign over and said in his usual loud powerful voice, "OBAMA! Why would anyone vote for OBAMA?! We're going to vote for the OTHER GUY!" to which I said "We've ALREADY voted for the other guy."

To point #2... I would question how voting a straight Democratic ticket in NC would result in any change. This state is largely controlled and run by the Democrats and has been for the length of my adult lifetime, as best as I can remember. And each year there is more and more corruption, much of which ends up in prison sentences for high-profile politicians. So not sure what kind of change would occur with a straight Demo ticket. Maybe different Democrats can go to prison in the future.

http://www.wral.com/news/local/politics/story/2693731/

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1090028/

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1105197/

To point #3... Judges. Where's the verb? Is the sign-maker suggesting that we do away with verbs and just use nouns to change things? You've got to have verbs, no matter what party you're with.

Pictured is Caleb voting for change in the fish acquarium at Marbles Childrens' Museum.

Vote!

2008-10-31T14:55:00.001-04:00

I AM VOTING EARLY!

This election will certainly go down in history as historical. It's great to see soo many people interested in the process. I am still shocked that I can go in and vote by just telling my name and address. No ID required.

At the NC State Fair

2008-10-24T13:03:00.001-04:00

Here we are at the NC State Fair. We just had some footlong dogs and now we are going to ride some more and see if we can get sick!

Remembering Dwayne Cross

2008-10-12T14:33:00.008-04:00

Last night I heard the very sad news that a friend of mine and brother in Christ, Dwayne Cross, had tragically been killed in a car accident on the way home from work. According to the news report, Dwayne was 35, which is much too young to lose your life, but reminds us that each and every day is precious, and tomorrow is never promised.

Dwayne and his family attended church with my family for several years starting around 2001. They moved to Indiana a few years ago and Dwayne worked as a security guard at the University of Notre Dame.

I didn't know Dwayne very well when we attended church together. I took a lot of photos for the church, and as I looked this morning for images to remember Dwayne, I found him in the background more than the foreground. He was a quiet guy who was not out in front of the camera very much. But even more so, I think Dwayne was a guy who was just humble, and who worked very hard to provide for his family.

In the years I knew him, I remember him as a new Christian, whose faith was growing year after year. We attended Promise Keepers together in 2005, and I remember Dwayne growing in his desire to know the Lord and serve others. One thing in particular that impressed me about Dwayne was his focus on keeping things simple and on what's important. He wasn't a lofty theology teacher by any means. He was plain-spoken and matter-of-fact. He was secure in his relationship with Jesus, and had a sense of "realness" about him, imperfections and all.

In one particular instance, Dwayne and I were in a men's group together. I'm not sure what the connection was, but Dwayne was very instrumental in our group adopting an orphanage one Christmas and taking gifts to the children. I recall that because the orphanage was associated with an organization that some did not agree with, and because it was 30+ miles away from our church, some argued that we should not take on this project. I remember Dwayne being vocal and adamant about supporting the project, and saying basically (I am paraphrasing)... "It doesn't matter how far this is or who ELSE supports these kids - WE need to do something here, and help them." And so we did.

Dwayne was a tough guy. He was strong. He worked as a guard at the prison for a while, and I'm sure his life was often in danger. But he could handle it, through the strength God gave him. I know he used those hard environments to share his faith. While the rest of us stayed in the comfy suburbs, Dwayne lived out his faith in a very hostile world.

I believe Dwayne was a big teddy bear inside. I'm sure he wasn't the perfect husband and father, nor are any of us. But I am sure because of his faith in Jesus, that he is with Him now and for eternity. So maybe I knew Dwayne more than I thought.

Every moment is precious - let's not forget it. Goodbye Dwayne. We'll miss you.

Backyard Campout

2008-10-12T00:10:00.001-04:00

Tonight we bought a tent and had our first big campout in the backyard. I remember my dad camping out with me when I was about 6. The tent was green and canvas and had wooden stakes and room for I guess 2 small people. We didn't have power in the tent with a DVD player, lights, a cell phone with a camera, and room for 7 people, but I still remember it. I think my dad's feet stuck out of the tent and we went in before the night was over, but it was still memorable. Time for bed now. Good night.

Seth and Me at NC State

2008-10-07T13:07:00.014-04:00

Today I took off work and will be attending my accounting class in person. Seth came with me so he can get a taste of real college life. Here we are outside of my old dorm, Tucker Hall. The top left room was mine ... 359 Tucker... "Corner room at the Y." The dorm looks to be co-ed now.

We were walking past Reynolds Coliseum and Seth noticed and asked about some man-hole covers. "What's in there?" he asked. Ironically, from my memory, the one he had asked about was one of the entrances to the steam tunnel system underneath the campus. I had told him about the days when we would climb down underground and then wander the maze in the "otherworld" beneath NCSU. So I guess he found it. Upon searching the web, I found something that indicated the tunnel entrances have been secured since after 9/11. So I guess he'll never know the fun (or fear) in running through the tunnels after midnight.

Then we went to the brickyard area where we had lunch in the "atrium." Back in the old days, the choices includes burgers, hot dogs, and fries. Today, they have Chick-Fil-A, some pizza vendor, and of course, burgers, hot dogs, and fries. I was tempted to get the burger, just to hear some person say "Want cheez on that?" but I opted for the CFA stand-by, as did Seth.

Out in the brickyard, there was what was known as "the brickyard preacher." Not sure if it's the same person year after year, but the message is the same, "Turn or burn, you worthless evil drinking sleeping-around college-aged sinners!!" (click on picture to read the sign) The crowd usually stands clear of the guy, but in this case, I think an athiest was getting into a shouting match with the Most-Righteous One, and so the audience moved in closer. I have to wonder how effective this method of evangelism has been over the years. Perhaps they should try actually meeting people and telling them "You know, none of us are perfect. We all screw up and do the wrong things sometimes... Even so, God loves each and every one of us, and wants us to know him." Nah... that would just fill up our churches with a bunch of sinners and people with problems.

Then we walked around the brickyard some more and got the picture with the upside down NCS brick logo. We went into the incredible DH Hill Library, which was alive with students and collaboration and computers and studying... It was amazing to see the bustling and lively environment. It was peak season on campus.

We then walked down "engineering row," passing the buildings for nuclear, mechanical, industrial, and electrical engineering (at least that's what they used to be in the 80s). Then, when I pointed out the chemical engineering building, Seth commented, "Yea - I thought I smelled something." So that was a good laugh for me. Those Chem-E's and their noxious experiments.

Hopefully all my boys will make it to college somewhere, perhaps even to NC State University.

Caleb's Big Ice Cream Cone

2008-10-05T13:19:00.001-04:00

This is what happens when Caleb makes his own ice cream cone at Jason's Deli. Everyone in the restaurant was amazed as he walked back to the table.

Made it to 64

2008-10-04T14:36:00.002-04:00

We made it all the way to highway 64 in Apex!

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

American Tobacco Trail Bike Ride

2008-10-04T14:13:00.004-04:00

Here we are on the American Tobacco Trail enjoying a nice Saturday bike ride. That is Brandon, not Luke, along with Caleb and Seth.

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

Luke and Me at Lunch Last Week

2008-09-27T12:13:00.001-04:00

This is a test from my cell phone directly to my blog. I like learning a new technical trick every weekend. Hopefully the picture will show. That is Luke and me at his lunch last week. He's in kindergarten now.

It's 1:48am...

2008-09-27T01:35:00.007-04:00

... and I don't want to go to sleep. I feel like my work weeks are so laid out for me. Up at 6:15am. On a call at 7. Try to get to work before 7 or soon after. Back to back calls all day - even through lunch. Back home around 6 or sometimes later. Then back online after the kids are in bed - 10pm or later. The weeks like that are flying by. Right past all of summer. So I don't want to go to sleep - because I don't really have to. I need some time to myself and I guess this is it. I really need a decent vacation. But it's just not in the budget. Things were so much nicer when we didn't have a budget.

I can't imagine if I ever did get to go to Duke for my MBA. How would I possibly do that? I don't think you can work 12 hours a day, AND do that program. It's probably a good thing that my division is not supporting me in this. So that leaves me in a job which is pretty interesting, and perhaps some good reward can come from it. But what's next? I will have to play my cards extremely well to avoid a travel job after this project is over (YE09).

I guy I work with expressed some interest in commercial work, and right away, he got sucked into a role in Colorado. He lives in Boston, and will have to travel Mon-Thur each week. His kids are grown so it's not so bad. But is that my future, too? I really need to find some niche areas that are "home based".

I've been listening to Boz Scaggs lately. Not sure why. I think it reminds me of when we first moved to Charlotte and I had no friends and all I had for entertainment was to look for golf balls (we lived on the #8 fairway). I can remember the Lido Shuffle song, and going to 6th grade across town to University Park Elementary, and then going home and looking for golf balls... hoping to exceed the record of prior days. Was 56 my record for one day? Seems like it. Some bad golf on that course.

The diet has floundered. I have started to run a bit more since returning from Manila. After slacking off for just a few weeks, my running times are off by about 2 minutes (24 min vs 22 before), so that is significant. I am surprised how quickly I lost that momentum and gained back a few pounds (back to 242 now). I still am determined to make 225 by 12/25. I will always remember this summer as the time when I ran at nights and listened to podcasts from MBA Podcaster and from Duke and online executive summaries of business books. I really was over the top there for a while... And I'm still encouraged, but certainly I can't be but so excited, with no prospect of going.

Now I'm actually getting sleepy. I really would like to leave my alarm set for 615, just for the pleasure of turning it off and sleeping through. But what will happen is that I will be wide awake at 5:45am and will struggle to get 6 hours sleep tonight. How's that for optimism?

Accepted to Duke

2008-09-16T11:21:00.002-04:00

I am back in the U.S. The flight home was uneventful, which was good! It's great to be home.

I got the call from Duke today. I got accepted. I'm really honored and happy that I went ahead and applied. They are FedEx'ing me the official letter (all the way from Durham 15 miles away). If I understood correctly, I have 3 weeks to respond. I have a meeting with my next VP this Thursday. I've accepted the fact that my group is not going to support me on this. But I am meeting with him anyway, just to get coaching on the future steps. It was very timely that I got accepted this week.

I have my first Accounting 210 test tomorrow night. It's really weird studying again!

Somewhere Over Canada

2008-09-07T12:34:00.003-04:00

As I write this, I am in air over Canada, having recently passed a town called Yellowknife. The seats in business class are equipped with displays which allow selection of movies, games, music, or an informational map showing the plane's progress. The "follow the plane" view is always my favorite channel to watch.

It's nothing short of a miracle that I am on this flight, much less sitting in business class. I am traveling with 2 other people, Avon and Joe. Due to me trying to outsmart the weather, ie. Hurricane/Tropical Storm Hanna, I had changed my flight earlier in the week to leave Raleigh 3 hours earlier than the other. When I made that change, I instinctively thought, "I bet I am going to regret this." And I was right. What I didn't realize is that my travel agent had changed me from the 12:38pm Raleigh - Detroit - Nagoya - Manila to the 8:55am Raleigh - Detroit - Tokyo - Manila flight. I only wanted to change the RDU-DTW departure time, not the whole route. Joe and Avon were still on the later Raleigh - Detroit - Nagoya - Manila flight, with the RDU-DTW leg being 3 hours later at 12:38pm. I didn't discover that we were on different international legs until yesterday when I changed back to the 12:38 flight. Attempts to get back on the Nagoya flight were failing, as that plane was, by then, full in business class. So as we all got to the airport this morning, our hopes were that either they could get on my flight, or vice versa. We would fly together to DTW, but then separate.

Unfortunately, when we checked in at RDU, we were met with a ticket agent that couldn't possibly have been there more than a week. He told us our flight was not even going to arrive to RDU until after 3pm, and therefore there was no way we could meet our connection in DTW. And both the Nagoya and Tokyo flights are the last ones out of DTW for the day. He checked various options, including, rebook for tomorrow, fly via Amsterdam, which would put us into Manila about 10 hours later on Monday morning - but that would be 2 grueling international legs in COACH. Business class was sold out. After trying to come up with more options with him for about 20 minutes, we had decided that we would just head home and rebook everything for tomorrow. We asked if we could take the 8:55am flight tomorrow (Sunday) and he said that the earliest flight was the 12:38pm one. There was no 8:55am Sunday RDU-DTW flight. So as we prepared to rebook everything, we overheard the next agent say "Can I help anyone else going to Detroit on the 1pm flight?" And so we asked, "Is there a 1pm flight?" After a few keystrokes and confirming with the other agent, he concluded he had read the screen wrong, and our flight was just slightly delayed, not delayed by HOURS as he'd told us. So we checked our bags and went to the gate, thinking that with a little luck, we could catch our connection(s) in Detroit, and if not, we at least would be that far, could get a hotel, and for sure get out of Detroit on Sunday. Did I mention that the status board for the RDU-DTW flight was still showing "on time"?

So we got to the gate, and waited. Our connections in Detroit were at 3:30 pm (me) and 3:50pm (Avon and Joe). The RDU-DTW flight was 2 hours, and by leaving at 12:38 or even 1:15, we might have enough time to catch our connections. For sure Avon and Joe would have a better chance. Well, lo and behold, the RDU-DTW flight finally got posted as delayed with a departure time of 1:24pm. So I headed to the gate desk. I was told right quickly that I was out of luck. I would miss my connection. She said that when I arrived I would only have 10 minutes and you have to have 30. Joe and Avon would be OK, as they would have the minimum 30 minutes. I said, well I'll take my chances. I would just go to DTW and if I made my connection, fine, and if not, I would get a hotel and go tomorrow. At least Joe and Avon would make it. Nope. Can't do that. They will not let you on a flight if they know you will miss the connection. I pleaded to let me go anyway. Surely the DTW-Tokyo flight would be delayed a FEW minutes to allow me a 50/50 chance to making it. NOPE. On international flights you cannot be separated from your bags, and so they cannot let me go and stay in Detroit while my bags continue on. Whatever. There were no options. We discussed the coach route to Amsterdam again, and I declined. I wanted to get there soon, but not that bad. She checked Joe's flight and there was no availability. Not even in coach.

So she re-booked me on a flight for Sunday. She put me on the 8:55am Sunday flight out of RDU - the flight that the agent downstairs said didn't exist! All first class. So at least I got an upgrade. I felt like there was some consolation. So I took my tickets and walked away. She had my checked luggage sent back to the front ticket gate, where I could pick it up on the way out. The line behind me had gotten pretty long and the agents were helping other people deal with their various upcoming missed connections. I was talking to Joe and hatching a plan for meeting up with them a day later in Manila. As I was about to walk away, the agent ran to me and said, "Wait - Don't go yet!" She ran back and finished up the guy who was behind me. Turns out he was in the same predicament as me. He was trying to get to Manila, and was on the same Tokyo route as me - the connection that we would miss by 20 minutes. Turns out that when she checked again, she WAS able to re-book HIM onto the Nagoya flight. So she put my data in again, and sure enough, there was now availability on the Nagoya flight - even in business class! So she booked me there, and then had my luggage returned to the plane. Wow. Apparently what had happened in the 5 minutes from me to the next guy, was that other people had been indicated as missing their connection on the Nagoya flight, so several seats must have freed up. So I was very thankful and amazed at all the close calls that made this a lot more dramatic than it should have been - all because I changed one leg of my flight to try to miss the storm.

The incoming flight arrived around 1pm, and they got the people off and us on, right away. We took off - probably before 1:24pm - and it only took ONE HOUR to get to Detroit. We landed in Detroit a full hour before the connection was to leave. Indeed, I could have made the Tokyo flight, but as it turned out, I got on the flight I wanted. We even had time to grab food at McDonald's. When I went to the gate to see if I could get my seat in the upper deck of the 747, the agent said, "You're already there - In fact you're in my favorite seat - 80K!" She said it's on the back row of the upper deck, and is somehow better than the other 29 seats up here. OK, whatever. I really gotta think that God helped me out here today. So here I am... on the way on the right flight, and with my colleagues, about to enter the great state of Alaska.

Here are some other boring pictures of the flight enroute. Total was about 13 hours from Detroit to Nagoya, then another 3 1/2 to Manila. I'm in the hotel now: 12:45am Sunday night. Ready for some sleep.

Off to Manila, Philippines

2008-09-06T09:44:00.002-04:00

About to take off for the airport for a 1 week business trip to Manila. It will be a long flight through Detroit, to Tokyo, then Manila. Almost 24 hours total trip time. Should be a tiring busy week. Will try to post more as time permits. I'm taking plenty of Accounting work to read and homework to do. Plus 800+ emails I'm behind on at work. Plus 5 episodes of Seinfeld on my iPod. The long flight will be somewhat nice to relax and disconnect, and catch up on work, rest, thinking, praying... not necessarily in that order.

Is There an Online "Free Expression Tunnel?"

2008-08-27T23:50:00.006-04:00

First of all, updates on the diet. The diet is on life support. Due to my consuming work schedule of late, I have been able to run only about once in the last 10-12 days - and that was right after buying NEW running shoes! I am still not eating terribly bad, but I know I am at risk of falling off the wagon. I have stabilized around 240 pounds. I still have my "225 by 12/25" goal... and I think that if I can get work under control and then back to running by fall, I can still make that goal. I still have some level of motivation and will power... but my schedule is not helping. I think I called that a skipportunity a while back!

I must be crazy. Amidst a new job that is taking every waking non-showering hour, I now have something else on my plate... Accounting 210. To continue to get myself ready for entering MBA school (in the event that miracle occurs), I concluded that I needed to shore up my accounting skills. This is actually not a bad idea, even without the MBA aspirations. This class teaches about reading and preparing financial reports, which is something that I could have used when we had our business.

So here I am taking the online version of ACC 210 from NC State. So while I don't get to walk through the Free Expression Tunnel on my way to class daily, I can still remember the sights, smells, and sounds of rushing to class through the tunnel, or back to the dorm for a quick break.

By the time I got online to the course this week, I found that I needed to purchase an online book, read 2 chapters, and turn in homework within 2 days. So while I didn't need the added stress this will invariably bring to my life, it will certainly be preparatory for going into an MBA program, both in knowledge, and study discipline. I figured that if I couldn't handle this undergraduate class, then there would be no way to handle 4 graduate classes. So this is a test... but not only a test.

So when do I get my student ID so I can camp out for basketball tickets?

Mentally Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon

2008-08-17T15:32:00.008-04:00

I'm tired. I just feel blah. I feel like the summer has passed me by, and without nary a true week - much less day - of rest. I guess that will be the story of my life for the next few years.

Right now, I'm uploading a huge file on our work teamroom so that is tying up the Lotus Notes application I need to do everything else I need to be doing today.

I feel like the diet has plateaued. I drop down to 235-ish, and then back up to 240-ish, over and over. Running is becoming more difficult it seems, though I have run just about every other day for the last 2 weeks. I feel like my endurance should be getting better, but it's not. The weather hasn't helped. It's still usually in the 70s when I go, which is not bad, but the humidity is often not good. And the air quality just seems poor. It's like I can't get in a full breath of air as a normal course of breathing.

Yesterday I took Seth & Caleb to the Styx and Boston concert at the Carolina Crossroads "amphitheatre?" in Roanoke Rapids. This was both the first concert I've ever been 10 minutes late arriving to, and also the first concert that has ever had the opening "name" act start promptly on time. By the time we got through the parking line, the ticket gate entry line, and the "assigned seating only - wristband required" line, Styx had already performed about half their set. Anyway, that place could have been run by the DMV, and gotten us to our seats quicker. The weather was nice, and I was close enough to get some decent pictures (Tom Scholz of Boston shown). The show was OK, as each band only had 1-2 original members and sound-a-like lead singers. Makes me all the more keen to catch another Rush concert before they finally retire. They're still the originals.

Anyway, I got my official GMAT scores. No change in the 620 I had, but I was pleased to get 5.5 out of 6 on my analytical writing assessments. This is scored on a 0.5 scale, so the next highest score is 6.0. I am starting a business case on determining if it's worth paying for the MBA myself, as if we could have a few yard sales and raise $103k. The thought of ever getting into and out of that program seems like a distant vapor now. I just feel like without making this move, my career future will be relegated to unwanted excessive travel doing something I'm not interested in but qualified for, an inability to move laterally to other divisions or companies, and experience-based learning void of academia. While that may marginally pay the bills, it doesn't sound very appealing for the next 20 years.

GMAT is DONE!

2008-08-07T21:42:00.004-04:00

Well, that was humbling. After scoring 650 on the practice test last week, and feeling like I did better today while taking the GMAT this morning, I was a bit disappointed to end up with a 620 (out of 800). This puts me in the 72nd percentile. I was really thinking I could get near 700, but I didn't make it. Surprisingly, from a percentile basis, I did better on the verbal than on the quantitative (66 vs 63). It's not that I couldn't do the math problems. It's that I couldn't do them fast enough. I guessed on many of them, realizing that I could either spend 5 minutes and possibly be wrong and guess on other problems later... OR guess on the super hard ones, and spend time on the others I could do quicker. I guess that was a bad strategy. Anyway, it's over. It will take a few weeks to get the AWA scores back. I feel like I will do well on one and average on the other. We'll see.

So, having done that, I completed my Duke application tonight, and submitted that online. Maybe I'll get an acceptance letter from them, suitable for framing, and I'll just hang that on my wall for the next few years while I figure out how to get to actually attend and pay for the program.

All I know is that I am tired and glad to be through these 2 hurdles. To some extent, I've done all I can do now. Now I have to wait on Duke, and my job situation.

Weekend Update

2008-08-03T21:51:00.007-04:00

This was a long, but productive weekend. First... I hit a new low in weight, thanks to bringing home leftovers Friday night (versus eating it all), and then a Saturday morning run, I captured a weight of 235.4 yesterday (nearly 44 lbs from the beginning). I'm not able to run as much as I would like due to the weather. Right now it's 10pm and 84 degrees. Can't run now.

Then I worked quite a bit Saturday preparing for a big meeting I have at work this Mon-Wed. This is the first big event of my new job, and so I hope that I am able to facilitate the meeting well, and establish some positive momentum.

Come Wednesday, I will be fully exhausted, just in time to take the GMAT on Thursday AM. I studied during the balance of my time this weekend, and took the official practice test. Surprisingly, I felt more comfortable with the verbal section than the math. I got stuck on a few math problems early on, and that caused me to have to guess at many math problems because I was running out of time. My practice score turned out to be 650 (out of 800) which is about 80th percentile. I will be pleased to get that on Thursday, though I would like to get closer to 700 just to feel like "I still got it!" I think I'm much improved in the verbal sections now than I was some 25+ years ago taking the SAT. I still need to study for the AWA (analytical writing assessment), but I will wing that to some extent.

I did manage to make it to the pool a few times this weekend, changed the flood light bulbs, and mowed the weeds, uh, grass. I ran that one time on Saturday, and rode my bike a bit today. While in the pool I threw, tossed, flipped, and launched my kids and others between 20 and 75 times. I posted some new pictures to picasaweb. I watched half a movie (College Road Trip), and went to church. Had a church picnic and a bunch of baptisms. I also watched an Andy Griffith episode from the color post-Barney era. I even kept the kids a bit while Lori hit the Saturday AM yard sales. But she kept the kids entertained the rest of the weekend. Then I wrote this blog post. And now I'm going to bed. Tomorrow is the 2nd first day of school for Luke. This time it's for real.

"Prospective Student" Visits Duke

2008-07-25T22:50:00.014-04:00

Today was the big anti-climactic day for me at the Duke Fuqua School of Business. Today was the "prospective student" campus visit. I also had my application interview. I say "anti-climactic" not because I came away disappointed (I didn't), but because I knew that instead of this step being a few steps - and months - away from actually entering the program, it was instead still very much an uncertainty, with no definite path to fruition.

I was hoping that I would leave today with a sense of "belonging" or not. Did I fit in? Or would I feel out of place? Knowing that the chances are slim and none that I will be entering school in the next cycle which begins March 2009, would I still be interested in Duke? Would Duke still be interested in me? How patient am I?

Undoubtedly, as of today July 25, 2008, I believe that I will someday attend Duke's business school and work towards an MBA. Two months ago I would have never thought such a thing. Not because I didn't think it was possible, but it was not even a consideration then.

Today I experienced many unexpected things. First of all, SHY and QUIET me... as I sat at my table with the construction business owner from Asheville, the entrepreneur from India, the young executive from Wake Forest, and a Vice President of a brick company in Charleston, I found that it was me that was initiating the conversation and asking the questions of others. I also got out of my shell long enough to approach total strangers who were current students, and start talking to guys who looked like alternative band members, but who were so articulate and intelligent, I could not help but be engaged by what they were saying. I attended an actual class on Negotiations. I took in the material and answered in my head some of the questions the professor asked, as they discussed a film clip from the movie Wall Street.

I was impressed. And I felt at home. I felt like there was challenge there. Earlier in my education life, I sought more depth in Computer Science via advanced education at Ga Tech. The MBA is an advanced degree where I would broaden my scope and knowledge. I want that. I am eager for it.

My interview went very well, and I think I would be accepted should I apply. I showed my colorful business case charts to the interviewer. He seemed surprised - or perhaps flattered - that I would spend so much effort on a case to get myself into Duke. He complimented my "consultant" deck of charts, and then we were done. So I hope that showed my level of due diligence. At this point, my essays are done, and I have 2 of my 3 recommendations submitted. The last one should be posted this weekend. My plan we agreed to was that I would apply, without the letter of company support, and without any means for paying. And then they would send me a letter of conditional acceptance, provided I was accepted.

So I have done my homework. I will get the GMAT out of the way in 2 weeks, then I will leave it to God and IBM to decide what comes next and when. I am beginning to contemplate the thought of paying my way 100%. After buying DUKE shirts and/or shorts for everyone in my family, I can't possibly not go.

So what about the picture shown? While I would say that is "how I felt," the reality is that is Caleb (age 7) minus 2 front teeth, superimposed on a cellphone photo I took today at the student center. And right now, he and I are both just prospective students.

Time for Some Campaignin'

2008-07-25T01:43:00.001-04:00

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A Disappointing 24 Hours

2008-07-22T22:50:00.003-04:00

Bottom line. My line VPs will not take my case forward because it is weak in their opinion due to my division's opinion that only a person clearly demonstrating himself as an executive would be under consideration. And since I have not had that level of exposure, the point is moot.

On the bright side, my VP offered me a new job reporting to him and leading a highly visible project. So, provided that goes well, I hope they will have a different opinion of me next year.

I still have the GMAT on August 7, and those scores are good for 5 years. I have the campus visit and interview this Friday. If, come January, I still have fire in my belly for the MBA, then I will consider applying into the last round (due Jan 15). I then may inquire again about sponsorship, or perhaps I will strike it rich by then and can pay my own way. I think the odds are slim that I would get company sponsorship AND be in a position to start in 2010. But maybe I'm just not patient enough.

A Setback

2008-07-17T00:44:00.002-04:00

Talked to my VP today. Not the one that has to approve, or the one below her who I think will be supportive... but the first VP in my mgmt chain. His assessment was that our company would only send someone to a program like this if they were already an executive with high potential to be a senior VP. It was a very discouraging conversation. Basically the message was, "are you crazy?" The fact is that all the people I know from my company who've gone into this program, with one exception, have been 1st line managers.... One guy was not even a manager yet. That's the difference in being in my division and the other. Anyway, I knew this would be a fight and so it is.

Hopefully, I will look back on this day as the day I had 2 flat tires. This was one. And the other happened 2 miles from home on a bike ride. I got back on track and made it back home in the latter case, and intend to do the same in the former.

Funny Things the Kids Say: Seth at the Swim Meet

2008-07-10T23:03:00.003-04:00

At the swim meet this week, I noticed that Seth (and many of the other kids, for that matter) spends a lot of time looking around at the competition while he's swimming a race. That evening, I gave him some advice. "You shouldn't look around while you're swimming. Just swim hard and don't worry about what everyone else is doing," I said.

Seth said laughingly, "Yeah. I was swimming, and I looked around and I didn't see anyone in front of me, so I thought I was in first place! But then when I got done I realized everyone had already left the pool!" He's such a good sport.

For the record, he was 5th place. Out of 6. He's got a good build for a swimmer. So he'll get better if he practices.

Busy Week

2008-07-10T08:11:00.003-04:00

Just a quick update. I picked up a few pounds during my week off, despite exercising every other day. Trying to get back down to the "new low" range again.

I've gotten all 3 essays for Duke application nearly completed, and all 3 recommendation invites sent out. Duke has given me the green light on pre-qualification.

I am worried about company financial support. Specifically, my organization is not the organization that tends to spend money around here. Ironcially, we are the ones who carry the comany when it comes to revenue and profit. Go figure.

I've yet to find a person in the last 9 years from my org who has been supported in such a program. I found one from 10 years ago, but we have changed quite a bit in 10 years. And that person said they knew of one person in my org who applied for the Duke program a few years ago but the org told him they would not pay for that, and to go somewhere cheaper, and so he went to UNC. I checked online, and UNC's b-school is about 22% cheaper, which is not that much of a difference, honestly. My next plan of action is to make a case that I can use to convince my vice-president to support me.

This has been a rough week back at work. I've not studied for the GMAT at all. I worked until 2:30am Tuesday night, then was up at 6:30am for a shower and 7am call.

Off This Week, But Busy

2008-07-02T23:48:00.007-04:00

I took off all this week, and have been trying to move forward the MBA ball. Here are the main planets (aka dependencies) on my list that need to align:

Conduct discussions with trusted colleagues (done)
Convince myself that this is the right thing to do at this time in my life and career (done)
Need sponsorship from my company (application submitted)
Do well on the GMAT (scheduled for August 7 - I'm studying now)
Get 3 letters of reference (3 people identified and informed)
Write 3 essays (I have topics in mind)
Transcripts ordered and sent to Duke (done)
Resume updated and sent to Duke (done)
Pre-qualification by Duke (pending review of resume and transcripts)
Campus visit (July 25)
Interview (TBD)
Get my application in on time (August 13)
Get accepted (4-6 weeks later)
Get my job restructured so that it can be done in 40 hours a week starting in March, not 60
Last but not least, get spousal support (I think I have that)

I have been studying the GMAT math portions the last 2 days, to brush up on some of the basic geometry and algebra needed. I've taken many practice questions, and have gotten to the point where I'm not missing questions because I don't know (as was the case last week), but because I am being careless. And so, I can fix that.

I'm switching gears to study verbal sections now. Hopefully, I've gotten better since my SAT days! Fun fun.

We just got back in town tonight after being in Richmond and/or Danville since Sunday. So the vacation is half over.

The New Goal: 225 by 12/25

2008-06-26T23:47:00.005-04:00

In keeping with the "goal" by rhyming "date" model, I have looked at the data and see that I have averaged about 1.6 pounds per week from the beginning of this diet, and 1.2 pounds per week over the last month. I don't see that pace continuing, but I want to set a motivating goal. So I am looking for about 15 more pounds, bringing me to 225 by 12/25. That gives me enough buffer to cut that 1.2 average in half and still make 225 over the next 180 days til Christmas.

Click on graph for larger view.

I Did It... Minus 40.6!!

2008-06-26T09:01:00.003-04:00

I guess my metabolism kicked in yesterday, since I didn't eat particularly well, and had not run since Sunday. I woke up this morning at 240.0 and knew that was within 0.8 pounds of my goal... So I went for a 2.5 mile run, had a shower, and then tipped the scales at 238.6, which is 40.6 pounds less than when I started on January 4 at 279.2. That's about 7 bricks (6 shown in picture)!

I made my July 4 deadline by a week and a day! After a trip to Taco Bell to savor my reward for this past 6 months of Lean Cuisine and unsweet tea, I will establish a new goal, so that I don't fall off the wagon. Stay tuned!

Why I Want an MBA

2008-06-25T22:27:00.009-04:00

That title sounds so definitive. It should say, "Why I think I want an MBA." Today I found out that in order for my company to pay for this, it would have to be funded by my business unit. That will be tricky as my business unit is rather adverse to spending money. On a brighter note, I talked to someone in a different business unit, who is in the program at Duke, and he commented that several other people in his organization have also been through the program.

OK so here goes. I began my career with a B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science from NC State and Georgia Tech, respectively. I was very technical then, and I did well in my career early on. I enjoyed solving hardcore technical problems, and developing strategic and tactical solutions. It wasn't long before I was a team leader, a role that I performed with enthusiasm and vigor. I began studying creative ways to motivate and lead teams. After a significant international deployment of a solution I architected and helped develop, I changed jobs to a position where I was an engagement manager for a program product. In this capacity, I got to work directly with clients worldwide, building relationships with both clients and the product developers. It was clear that my skills were evolving to be more relationship- and management-based and less technical-based.

After that stint, I became an official project manager, and went through the Project Management Institute certification process. I subsequently was certified in my company's rigorous Project Management Professional program. Soon afterwards, I left my company on a leave of absence for 3 years to run my wife's stay-at-home-mom business Celebration Cottage which ultimately became a 14-employee company operating in 2700 square feet of prime office space. In this capacity I served as president, CEO, CFO, CIO, IT department, marketing manager, graphics department manager, printer repair technician, and building maintenance services technician, all in one. Oh, the joys of entrepreneurship.

So here is where I first realized I needed an MBA. I knew how to run that business - just based on common sense and my PM training. What I didn't know was how to MANAGE that business, or GROW that business, or OPTIMIZE that business, or TRANSFORM that business. After 9/11, our sales slumped, as our product line was exclusively a high-end discretionary expense. The technical barriers to entry into this type of work were also becoming fewer and fewer. We weathered the 9/11 downturn, but in 2003 I decided to return to work after my 3rd year of leave. I wanted the security of a constant paycheck over the flexibility and thrill of running my own business. There were other factors, but indeed, our business had grown to the point where it would require a more advanced set of business skills to maintain or grow, and I simply did not have those skills or confidence. So, I went back to my corporate job in 2003, and then we sold the business in 2004, at what I would say was its peak in value. All in all, it was a good thing.

I've been in first line management ever since, but most recently have a position as an operations manager for a large portion of our internal IT work. In this capacity, I am involved in strategic initiative rollout, overall financial management, and organizational strategic planning. I am being exposed to and have influence with larger and larger aspects of our business, including many global programs. I have continued to build relationships with people and hone my communications skills.

With the business we had, I experienced a taste of true end-to-end business management, though on a small scale. In my current role, I am working with senior managers and executives in influencing global business decisions and activities. I believe that I have the interpersonal and communications skills to succeed at many organizational levels in my company. What I lack is the technical business foundation that would allow me to think and lead strategically, to optimize and grow a business, and to manage an organization. I believe that an MBA will give me the formal knowledge and confidence to tackle greater career challenges.

I liken myself to the amateur golfer who never had any golf lessons, but excelled in baseball from T-Ball through college. He knows the physics of golfing, how to swing a stick at a ball, and has studied "How to improve your short game" articles in various golf magazines. He has played many fine courses over his lifetime. He scores OK, but that is really more on natural talent than anything else. It's time to go to golf school. How much better can he be if given proper instruction with the right experiences? Quite a bit, I believe.

FORE! I'm playing through!

Moving Forward

2008-06-24T23:54:00.004-04:00

The progress towards the MBA consideration continues. I haven't had much time to study for the GMAT in the last few days, but I do have transcript requests for NC State and Ga Tech ready to go in the mail tomorrow. I also have found my company's website where I can apply for the "Degree Work Study Program."

I initiated an online application at Duke. It's quite involved. There are 3 essays along with lots of other material. I've been listening to some MBA podcasts and they say to spend 60-100 hours on your essays, and 2 months studying for the GMAT. The application initiation prompted a note from the admissions coordinator, who said "We see you have started an application, though we have not met... won't you please give us a call sometime." So I wrote back and said, "Sure!" and gave them a little info about me. The the response was, "Send us your resume and transcripts and GMAT scores and then let's talk." So, hence, I have initiated my transcripts, and will work on my resume update this weekend. GMAT will be later - but I will take it soon.

Between my company's application, and Duke's application and/or interview, I know that I am going to have to address WHY I am wanting to do this. So I think I will write about that here, though it is a bit late to write about it tonight.

Random Updates This Weekend

2008-06-22T23:29:00.008-04:00

Right now I am running in import in Hyperion and figured I would blog something while it ran.

Caleb's front tooth is hanging on a thread.

This AM I weighed and was 2/10 (3 ounces) from my "40 by the 4th" goal of 239.2 pounds. What's 3 ounces? A piece of toast? So close.

I have been studying for the GMAT. I can handle the math. The Critical Reasoning is blowing my mind. Haven't gotten to the other stuff.

How can I change career directions, study and pass the GMAT, and complete my application to MBA school (including 3 essays by me, and 3 lengthy written recommendations by others) by mid-August? Only God knows!

Back to School?

2008-06-16T00:05:00.009-04:00

Last weekend I had this crazy thought. Without sharing too much personal information here, I have recently, and very quickly, been transformed from someone who was not so concerned about his salary, to someone who is. So I am now contemplating what I can do in my career to make sure I am competitive and paid well. And while I sort of like what I am doing right now, the simple fact is that I am going to need to become more aggressive in planning my work future. Formerly, I don't think that I was very driven. I got my job done and did it well. I didn't, however, aspire for greater position. I think I need to change that mindset, or I will be henceforth stalled. I am almost 44 years old, and I have at least another 15-17 years I need to work to get the kids through college.

Over the past many years, I've struggled with my career choice. A Computer Science B.S. and M.S. served me well for the first 5 years of my career when I was in technical roles. Since then, it's been leadership, project management, management, and most recently, operations & program management.

I've been content in my recent positions, though sometimes bored. That has changed in the last year as I've had more orgnizational scope and executive visibility. I was recently working closely with my director, who was an outstanding leader who has taught me a lot. He has now changed jobs, and I'll be helping the new guy get used to his new turf.

My "next moves" are potentially to get promoted and stay in my same role. Or promote to a 2nd line management position in my same division. Or I could craft a position for myself as a part of a global program I am involved with. Or move laterally to a management position in another division. Or I could leave, which is always the biggest unknown. I think there are plenty of opportunities at my company, and going elsewhere would entail riding on my current credentials more so than my "potential" that may be valued higher where I am.

So the crazy idea was this... What if I went back to school? Specifically, what if I went back to school in Duke University's Executive MBA program? Afterall, they have the #4 ranked Executive MBA program in the nation, and they're local.

On a whim, I mentioned this to my manager. She was encouraging and thought I would do great in such a program. But did I want to be an executive, she asked. Huh? Why would I want to do that? Oh... It is the Executive MBA program. Her words encouraged me a lot. She said "I've always told you - you can do anything you want to do." It comes down to "What do YOU want to do?" she told me. That conversation has haunted me all weekend long.

So I have been pondering and contemplating this for the last 4-5 days, and for the first time in many years, I am starting to feel excited about my career. For years, when I had to define my "individual development plan" I had a hard time conveying anything of interest 3-5-10 years in the future. I have been ambivilant and indifferent about my future career options.

So with such a career comes some challenges I fear. One, the time commitment. Well, I'm already working 10-11 hour days doing my current job. It's not that bad, and I don't know that I could do more than that, if needed. Also there's the travel fear. I don't mind occasional travel, but I don't want to get into any role where travel is expected 50-100% of the time. I want to put my family first. I don't want to wake up at age 50 in some significant job on the road and not know who my kids are. I discussed all this with Lori today, and she was very supportive, and even seemed a little excited. She would be a key element to anything I do.

The way the Duke Weekend Executive MBA program works is this: For 20 intense months, you will strengthen core business skills, be exposed to different perspectives on current business issues and build a strong network of peers. Beginning in March, you attend classes all day Friday until 5:30 pm and Saturday until 3pm on Duke’s campus on alternating weekends. Friday night stays are included in the tuition and are considered part of the weekend residency.

So that sounds like a lot, but also sounds like it would be a great experience. Registration for 2009 ends mid-August, so I have about 2 months to decide if this is something I want to pursue this round... and to find out if I can get IBM to help pay for it.

So that's what's on my mind. I will certainly be in prayer about this decision, and I will be consulting several people for their counsel, all of whom are leaders and trusted friends or colleagues.

I guess it wouldn't hurt to go to school at Duke. If the MBA doesn't work out, I still have 4 years of eligibility to play college basketball.

The Moon as Seen from Our Front Yard

2008-06-13T23:36:00.002-04:00

Seth had some school homework assignment this week that involved drawing the moon each night. I decided to use the tripod, and after 3-4 nights of experimentation, I got this photo tonight. I am pretty shocked that our little amatuer Kodak Z12IS digital camera can zoom this much and get such a nice image. I think I see the flag! Now i'm interested in when the next eclipse is!!

3.5 More Pounds to go!

2008-06-03T22:21:00.002-04:00

This last week has been very good, as I recovered from the Memorial Day run-up in weight to achieve a couple of new lows in the past few days. Now down to 242.6, leaving 3.4 pounds to go to reach the MINUS 40 goal. Looking pretty good on the graph. Running is really making the difference, as I typically will knock off 2-4 pounds of water weight with each run. Also the temperature is increasing, which drives even more sweating.
The nice part of this diet is all the new (old) clothes I get to wear. I now have 7 pairs of shorts that are too big for me. I have replaced them with about 13 pairs of shorts that previously did not fit at all! Many of those were brand new, received over the past few Christmases. I have none that are too small. I have about 4 belts that are too big, and 2 that fit, and none that are smaller. I have many pairs of blue jeans that are too big, about 4-5 that fit great now, and about 7-8 pairs that are smaller that I can shrink into. About half my dress pants are too big, half fit just fine, or are almost too big, and one pair is too small. I have many nice XXL shirts that are too big now, some of which are Tommy Bahama (argh!). So if I buy any new clothes it will be from Goodwill or yard sales and will be shirts and dress pants. All my shoes still fit, except my running shoes are about ready to be replaced. Doing good on socks. iPod earbuds still fitting OK.

Once I get to 239.2, I may post some of those silly pictures like you see in the diet ads of someone wearing their huge pants.

Wilson!!!!!

2008-05-27T22:10:00.006-04:00

Five weeks and three days remaining until July 4, and it's looking a little too close for comfort. But first, let's talk about Wilson.

Last week, while drawing water before giving the kids a bath in our master bathroom over-sized garden tub, I turned on the jets. Unfortunately, the jets were not aimed downward, and the water was not up enough yet. So a large stream of about 128 ounces (1 gallon) of water promptly shot from the tub, all the way across the bathroom, and as far as into our bedroom. It only took a second, before I shut the water spraying engine off.

Later on that evening, Lori commented about the wetness of the bathroom, and noted that my beloved digital scale was pretty soaked. I wiped it off and gave it a test. "Err," it replied back to me. After repeated tries, and even replacing the battery, I still got the same thing. Suddenly this feeling of loneliness and abandonment set in. I immediately connected with Tom Hanks' character in Castaway, when he lost his only company - Wilson - a volleyball decorated as a person. I felt like the scale and I had been through so much, and now, just about a month to go to achieve "our goal," my Wilson was gone! Sure I could buy a new scale, but would it be as accurate and dependable as Wilson?

The next morning, I fiddled with it some more. It got beyond the "Err" message and then showed me a weight of 625.7 lbs. Now we're making progress. Next, it was in the 500's. Later in the 300's, then the high 200's. Lori commented that perhaps it was wrong before and was right now. Well I kept coming back until it gave me an answer in the ball park of where it was the day before... around 245.0.

So that's where I am. Actually, at this moment, I am probably up a few from there, after 5 days of working on the deck and eating not so well and not running. So I have 5 weeks, and 3 days to drop about 6 more pounds from my low of 245. It's going to be close. I may have to plan a road race on July 4 - the Great Raleigh Road Race. That would be a fitting finale since (I think) that was my first race some 22+ years ago while a junior at NC State.

At least Wilson is ready for it.

My Top 10 Keys to Weight Loss

2008-05-09T21:50:00.000-04:00

I spend some time thinking when I'm running. When I'm not thinking about the liklihood of stepping in a hole or tripping over something while running in the dark of my neighborhood, I'm thinking about what song is next on my iPod, or when a dog will unexpectedly appear from the shadows of their owner's picket fence and bark ferociously, scaring the living crap out of me. It's pretty much those 3 things. Lately, I've also been thinking about the key things that have made the weight loss and exercise effort of 2008 a success so far. People do ask me, "How have you done it?" So here's my Top 10 list.

God: Before I started this, I knew I needed to lose weight, and I knew how to do it. I just wasn't motivated. I prayed that God would motivate me, and get me started. I think God has given me a new perspective on diet and exercise that complements my strengths, carries me through weaknesses, and encourages me like never before.

Family: My family certainly pleaded with me to lose weight for many years, when I have been in my off-diet cycles. And of course they have encouraged me along the way. But I do have to give my wife Lori a lot of credit for encouraging me and never giving me any excuse to skip a run. It takes time to exercise, and she has sacrificed some longer hours with the kids so that I can go do a run or work out.

Alli: This pill seems to have helped me lost about 40-50% more than I have lost in the past.

Blog / humor: Writing this blog has allowed me some humor vents and self accountability. Trying to examine myself from outside of myself gives some new perspectives and motivations that were not there before.

Unsweet Tea & Frozen Lunches: I buy a gallon of tea every Monday morning, and use it all week at work. I switched to unsweet, which I enjoy with Splenda and my frozen lunch from Lean Cuisine or Right Ones (Weight Watchers). I've tried Healthy Choice, but didn't find those to be as reliably good. Exchanging trips to the cafeteria for frozen diet food has had a significant impact. I still have the buffalo chicken wrap on Wednesday.

iPod & Bose earbuds: Being able to run while listening to a random mix of 5000 of my favorite tunes in high-quality full range audio is a beautiful thing.
Elliptical - I didn't start running on this diet until about 10 lbs into it. I think that building up my leg strength from 0 to -10 lbs really helped me in running, and has helped prevent injuries.

Weather - Being able to run at night during the winter and early spring was a bit cold at times.... but it beats running in summer heat. The summer is a terrible time for a big guy to start working out outside.

Goal setting - Setting a goal and measuring progress has surprisingly been a good motivator for me. "40 by the 4th!"

mapmyrun.com - This is a website using the Google maps system which allows mapping of the various routes I've run around the neighborhood. It beats trying to drive it like I used to. And it's fun to use too!

So there you have it, in case you ever ask...

I'm a Clydesdale!

2008-04-27T22:08:00.008-04:00

I have joked recently that if there was an age/weight division in a 5k road race, then I could win the 250 lb / 43 year old division due to lack of competition. So as I was signing up for the Highcroft Hurricanes 5k next weekend, I noticed they actually have a division for "larger" runners! It's called the Clydesdale and Athena divisions and is for men over 200 lbs and women over 150 lbs. So I'm going for it! Two hundred pounds is not that big for a man, so I'm sure there will be plenty of guys in that bracket faster than me. But it's fun to know there's a division based on weight. Apparently this is not uncommon, as I found many references to Clydesdale / Athena on the web.

The diet is going well. I finally crossed into the 240's this past week, so I'm 30 pounds down to 249-ish. Two more months to make the final 10 pounds and meet the "40 by the 4th" goal. I need to lose some more quick. I have very few clothes that fit me now, but if I can lose another 1/2" I have several more pairs of jeans that will fit me. If I can get down to 38, I have a TON of jeans, most of which are 12+ years old!

As for exercise, I've cut back on elliptical use in favor of running. I'm trying to get to where I can run on consecutive days. Waiting 2-4 days in between, whether by choice or by schedule, is not working, as I am having a hard time recovering when I start each time. Last week was very hard to run at night as I had so much work to do, and so little sleep. So yesterday (Saturday) I ran 2.7 miles, and then today, about 1.5. Felt pretty good except that my ankle was having some pain yesterday, along with the sun warming up and beating on me some. Today was just fine, however. The endorphins are kicking in.

I dread the summer. I just cannot run in hot humidity. I remember back in college I would come home from my co-op job and go running around 5pm in the heat of summer. I was living at Avery Close on Avent Ferry Road in Raleigh. It is a wonder I didn't die of heat stroke. Of course, then I was pushing a svelte 220 lbs.... Still a Clydesdale, however.

GOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLL!!

2008-04-20T22:00:00.008-04:00

Until now, none of our kids have shown much interest in soccer. I remember entering Seth in a league at age 4, and he just stood on the field and looked around or cried. Caleb cried on the way to the first practice, after we had signed him up to play. At least he got a shirt out of it. Luke, on the other hand, has been through several soccer camps at age 4, and now at age 5 is on his first team, The Raptors. Each "game," they practice for about 20 minutes, then they play a 40-minute scrimmage game with the team on the other side of the field. There is no goalie in this league, so as to allow as much soccer self esteem to build as possible.

We are in soccer mecca for the U.S., where the Capital Area Soccer League (CASL) rules the schedules of many families. We also have the SAS Soccer Park, where the last several men's or women's NCAA Final Four championship games have been hosted. Other than hockey, soccer is probably the other main sport I've never really played, or enjoyed, though I do enjoy watching hockey.

In this particular game, Luke got to show off his offensive skills, scoring at least 4 goals. I think I missed 1-2 additional goals on the video footage I gathered this past Saturday. Others on his team scored about 4-5 combined goals. Though they don't "keep score" at this age, the other team scored one goal, I think. I don't think they had many shots on goal either. It was tough getting past The Raptor defensive wall.

In prior games, where the opponent has had more shots on goal, Luke typically does well to play defense and guard the goal by anticipating shots and sweeping around to block the shots, usually with a diving slide, much like in baseball. This day, he was all offense, though he was playing with a skinned knee from the day before. You will see that he injures the knee further on a slide into the goal, and then limps off towards the camera. He sat out a rotation while I bandaged him up, then he was back in the game, and did well.

I edited the video together, but then had fun adding in some audio clips from various international soccer matches. There are some audio problems at the 3 minute mark, and that goal was the one with the announcer saying "GOOOOOAAAAALLLL".... but I'll have to work on that problem another day. It's quite funny! Enjoy!

I Made It in 31:45!

2008-04-12T22:32:00.013-04:00

I made it. It wasn't really a "fun" run. Next time, I will enter the competitive race instead of the "recreational" one. Subtracting out the 30 seconds or so it took to get to the starting line, I crossed the finish line with a time of about 31 minutes 45 seconds.

After Thursday night's butt injury, I was pretty sure I would be able to, at best, walk this event. But I prepared as well as I could this morning. I was already taking a daily anti-inflammatory pill due to an injury from last summer that is still plaguing me. I added a hydrocodone (aka Vicodin) to that. I stretched for about an hour before the shotgun start, and ran a few slow sprints to test out the pain endurance. I prayed God would carry me where I wasn't able to.

I did feel a dull sense of pain throughout the race, especially going up the huge hill that dominated the first mile. However, I took it slow (as evidenced by the 10+ minute miles I "ran") and the pain was not too bad. In fact, by the time I was done, I felt well enough to come home and mow the lawn!

It was a great feeling to stand in the pack, waiting for the start with hundreds of others, most younger, smaller, and more fit than I am now. The sights and sounds of a simple local 5k road race brought back a lot of memories. The occasional cheers from observers. The erratic running of some people weaving in and out, jockeying for position. The water cups being offered near each mile marker, and resultant litter being run over by the pack or blown away by the wind. The undesired head winds and blazing sun. Even in a 72 degree morning, the direct sun was warm. Trying to coordinate the key, the ID, the music, and the stuff you pick up from the vendors, such as pamphlets for future races. The souvenir race shirt which more often than not does not fit well or has crappy artwork. It's all good, and I'm pleased that it's over... and I made it. Now... to schedule the next race...

Pain in the Glute!

2008-04-10T23:51:00.004-04:00

Dolt!! Well tonight I did something probably stupid. I'm 2 days away from the big race, and it was kinda late for a long run so I figured I would do a shorter, more fast-paced run. So I stretched a bit and decided I would run hard to the end of Carpenter Towne Lane (0.7 miles) and then rest and stretch again, and then do the same back.

Well within 1/10 mile of starting I starting having a pain in my right buttimus maximus. So I kept going until the 7/10 was up, and by then I was in enough pain such that I had to walk back.

I need to figure out how to stretch that and hope it doesn't hold me back from victory lane on Saturday.

On a positive note, I am down about 28.5 pounds. That is about what that change jar weighed! That's a LOT of weight. I keep thinking about that when I'm running. Thank God I'm not carrying around $307 in coins stuck to my body. It makes me all the more keen to lose another 30 pounds.

First things first... I've gotta get my butt back in gear! Hopefully, tomorrow it will be fine.

The Great Coin Jar Experiment

2008-04-04T19:35:00.018-04:00

Not sure when we last counted the coins in the family coin jar... but it was time this week. The jar was full, nearly to the top, and was at risk of injuring someone or being tampered with. So I made it into a mini-experiment for Seth.

First of all, everyone in the family guessed. Dad: $285, Mom: $375, Seth: $217, Luke: $240, and Caleb (future contestant on The Price is Right): $242. Hopefully, by using a scientific method, we could made an educated guess and get closer than any of our wild guesses.

The approach was to weigh a sample of coins, count the amount of the sample, calculate the $ per pound, weigh all the coins, and multiply. So we scooped out a cup of coins and weighed it to be roughly 1.75 pounds. Subtracting out the weight of the scoop, we were left with 1.65 pounds. Then Seth counted those coins and it contained $18.97. That worked out to about $11.50 per pound. We dumped those coins back in the big jar.

Next was the weighing of the big jar of coins on the family scale. It was a whopping 30.2 pounds. We dumped the coins into 2 pillow cases, then we weighed and subtracted out the empty jar, leaving a net of 27.7 pounds of coins. That's a lot of coins!

So with 27.7 pounds of coins at $11.50 per pound, we have a mathematical guess of $318.47.

The next day, off to the bank the family went. They have a machine that counted all the coins, which amounted to $307.37! So the winners were:

1. Math: ($11.10 difference)
2. Dad: ($22.37)
3. Caleb: ($65.37)
4. Luke: ($67.37)
5. Mom: ($67.63)
6. Seth: ($90.37)

MATH WINS AGAIN!!

Two Weeks to Cary Road Race

2008-03-26T21:44:00.005-04:00

Only 2 more weeks to train and prepare myself for the big day. Yes, I have entered the Cary Road Race as a "5k Recreational Runner". I still plan to compete and win my age weight division. I can't imagine there will be many other 255lb 43 year olds out there!

When I used to run races when I was in my 20's, I would mainly do so to collect the T-shirts you get featuring the race's logo & artwork. I remember the first race shirt I ever got. It was the "Old Reliable Run" which was put on in downtown Raleigh by the News & Observer (the old reliable).

Anyway... back then, I could go and run 4-6 miles daily without a problem. These days, I have to plan days in advance to run 3 miles. I think about the 25 pounds I've lost so far. That's like 4-5 bricks... or 2.5 10lb bags of potatoes... or one Systematic Theology book by Wayne Grudem. So I am hoping that the more I lose, the easier the runs will become.

Last night I ran the 3.4 trek around Carpenter Village. This was, by far, the best run I've done during this era. I started out strong, and felt great through the first mile, which is largely uphill as I make my way to the center of the neighborhood. Usually, the first half mile is treacherous and I want to quit right from the get go. Last night, I was probably over 2 miles before I wanted to quit, but was too close to the end to stop. I finished strong after about 37 minutes, and felt I could have gone further. But running is soooo boring to me. I just hate it. But it for sure is a great exercise, and I usually drop to a new weight low the morning after.

Today I had to drill new holes in my belt, and then couldn't take it off at the end of the day due to an equipment malfunction. Guess I just need to find a smaller belt. I am able to wear some vintage 1988 Dockers now, so I am uber-cool with those and my 2008 Sketchers. All my really cool Tommy Bahama shirts (all 3 of them) are almost too large. (Father's Day - It's just around the corner - hint hint - now I need an XL, not an XXL).

It's been hard to find time to work out AND have a life. I'm working quite a bit at Big Blue, then coming home, having dinner, getting kids to bed, and THEN, after 9:30pm, I can work out (either elliptical or running). Then I need to do about 2 hours of work. So I usually skip the work and go to bed because I have to be up at 6:30am for a 7am call with India almost every day of the week. It's exhausting, and I have very little time to just relax and decompress.

So I am almost 3 months into the Diet of 2008. So far so good. The weight loss pace has certainly slowed the past month compared to the beginning.... but steady progress is still occurring. Based on my complex statistical data analysis, I am about 1 month ahead of my goal of 40 by the 4th. Even so, I am at the point where I have often fallen off the wagon. The kids are about to track out and we might go somewhere, though I don't know where. Travel always disrupts my diets. Also, the slow pace of the pounds coming off is frustrating. But I'm trying to look at the big picture. After all, 30 days ago, I was exactly 7 pounds heavier. That's another brick in the wall I don't have to carry around any longer.

A New Low

2008-03-12T23:07:00.002-04:00

This morning, after the 3.4 mile dash last night, I weighed in at 255.8, a new low (for this diet). That's down about 23.5 lbs since the starting date of January 4, 2008. Only 16.5 more pounds to go to Taco Bell!!

I Made It... 3.4 miles

2008-03-11T23:00:00.000-04:00

I finally made it past "5k range" without stopping... I got real tired around mile 2... but I kept going and was reenergized once I was in the last 3/4 of a mile. It's been probably 10 years since I ran this far without stopping.
CV Dog
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My Big Fat Ears

2008-03-09T22:38:00.002-04:00

This week I came to the conclusion that I am actually losing weight in my ears. A few weeks ago, I began noticing that my iPod earbuds kept falling out. They used to fit just fine. This week I tried the larger size ear buds and they worked great. Conclusion: my ears are getting smaller, thereby making my ear canal larger!! Sounds great to me....

Mid last week I ran about 2.8 miles without stopping. Tonight I travelled 3.7 miles total. I walked about 0.5 miles of it when I was feeling a little too much pain about half way through. I think I probably need to run more than 2x per week.

I finally gave in and registered for the Cary Road Race which is in April. It's a 5k.

3.7 Around CV
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Watch the Video: A Journey to Remember

2008-03-01T22:49:00.001-05:00

In recognition of the friends we made and kept these last 2 years at The Journey and Vintage21, I put together a video using a song Mitch Pons wrote when we closed the Cary V21 site.

This video is just a sampling of some of the fantastic memories and victories we've experienced these last two years, by the grace of God. Check it out.

Runnin' Down a Dream

2008-02-29T22:21:00.003-05:00

OK I had to use a song title... I wasn't running on empty, at least not until the very end. So tonight I exceeded my earlier in the week run of 1.6 miles, with a decent run of 2.24 miles. Woo hoo. Oh, for the days when I was a 225 lb. 22 year-old running a 5k or 8k, but I digress.

Tonight I went around the outside of the neighborhood. There was a pretty stiff head wind as I ran around the main streets where there were no homes to shield the effects. It really was a big difference once I turned back into the neighborhood. There was not a lot of muscular pain, and aerobically, I felt good. The main factor causing me to stop was fatigue - and of course, boredom. But my endurance is certainly building up.

Around Carpenter Village
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I Think Alli Works!

2008-02-24T15:47:00.006-05:00

I have noted already that this was going to be a pretty well documented diet. I'm keeping score pretty closely using those little index cards I keep in the bathroom drawer.

Today marks Day 50 of the Diet of 2008. So far I am down 21 pounds, and over half way to my goal of losing 40 before July 4! Being over the top in nerdness, I have graphed my 2008 data (cyan) with data from my diets of 2002 (dark blue), 2004 (magenta), and 2006 (yellow). The red line is the straight line goal from 0 to minus 40 in 180 days, so I am well on track there.

In general, this diet is not much different than previous diets, in that I can pretty easily eat well and exercise for 3-4 months, and knock off 20-30 pounds. I don't think I've eaten any better or exercised more on this diet than some of these previous ones.

What I have done differently is try a new product called Alli™. Alli (pronounced al-eye) is a GlaxoSmithKline product, and is the only FDA approved over the counter "weight loss aid." Alli prevents your body from absorbing about a quarter of the fat you eat. Supposedly, you can lose 50% more weight if you take Alli while on a diet. You have to be on a diet for this to work, as there are very nasty "treatement effects" if you aren't. I have been using this since about week 2 of this diet and have noticed NO side effects at all. So after 50 days, I think the data shows... this stuff must actually work!!! The bad thing about Alli is it is quite expensive - about $2 per day for the 3 pills required (one for each meal).

In the first 50 days of my previous 3 diets, I averaged 1.8 pounds lost per week in 2002, 1.7 in 2004, and 1.7 in 2006. Pretty consistent. For the Diet of 2008, I have averaged 3.0 pounds per week! Without doing the math behind it, I think that is statistically significant. Pretty cool, huh? So anyway, I'm about out of my most recent refill, so it's time to head to the drug store for a refill!

Happy Heart Day + 2

2008-02-16T17:21:00.013-05:00

This past Thursday, Valentine's Day, was my followup checkpoint 6 weeks after the physical I had back at the new year when my doctor told me my cholesterol was 248. That was a new record for me, that I was none too pleased with. So I was happy that the 6 weeks later number was an amazing 140. Yes, 140. I wish I could say it was all my diligent dieting and exercise, but my doctor had also given me sample packs of Vytorin to take. So what ever it was... It worked. So I got more samples and will hopefully maintain the dieting and exercise.

Speaking of... I just don't understand diet & exercise science. I work out daily and eat well for like 7 days straight, and my weight fluctuates plus or minus a few pounds, but basically, at the end of the week, I've not gone into any new territory. THEN, I have a hectic schedule for 2 days, miss working out for 3 days straight, celebrate my low cholesterol with a sausage and cheese croissant from Burger King, go out to eat Japanese food Thursday night, and end the week at El Dorado, where a basket of chips and fresh salsa await me, followed by The Michael Jordan - aka combination dinner #23 - One taco, One burrito, rice and beans. Then this morning, the scales surprise me. Down to a new low, surpassing the new low from 8 days ago by 1.5 pounds. I guess that salsa had a lot of water in it. It's as if my body was like - "OH NO - The diet is over! Here comes the food! Make room!"

Inspired, and feeling rewarded for my early-week patience, I bypassed the homemade Belgian waffles Lori was making for the kids, and went out for a "run" also known as "a fat guy appearing to jog through invisible Jell-o." I have been working my way up through the stages of running, starting about 2 weeks ago. Run pain walk run pain walk walk walk run pain rest run run walk. Followed by walk run run pain walk run run run walk. And today... walk run run run run slow finally at top of hill run run run pain run pain run walk walk walk. So getting more used to it. It was difficult, but today I was able to get a self photo of my legs as I was running (see left). It's good to get back into good leg shape.

So while I'm running, I get these great ideas like "I should enter a 5k race sometime this spring, and that would motivate me to continue this madness." It's a nice thought, I guess. I really do hate running.

The Diet of 2008

2008-02-09T00:33:00.000-05:00

The Diet of 2008, like any of the 13 prior diets I've been on, started out with an index card. The index card is where I write down my daily weight, sometimes erasing and rewriting it if my weight drops a fraction of a pound further during the day. This is different than The Diet of 2002 when I only wrote down my weight when it went down. I should probably have stuck with the 2002 method... That year I lost 29 lbs over 234 days. For the Diet of 2008, henceforth known as D'08, I have to lose 29 pounds just to get to the point when I usually start a diet.

There are other differences in this diet and previous ones. I have a motivational slogan this time, whereas previously I did not. I'm going to lose "40 by the 4th." For D'02, there was no slogan, just bad food and a lot of water.

To me, diets are like relationships. That's why I'm so reluctant to start each diet. Why start this new diet, when the last one just didn't work out? I really thought the previous diet would be my last. I invested time into it. I loved and cared for it. I had the right intentions. But then, I fell out of diet-love. Me and the diet went our separate ways. Perhaps I made some mistakes, but the diet did too. Will this new diet be "true diet", or just a "rebound diet" started too soon after the last diet ended, and after one feel-good night of better eating and a little casual exercise? Indeed, diets are like relationships.

For prior diets, I went into them with high expectations. Like when I did D'04, I was going to forever change the way I ate... I would change my lifestyle. I'm going into D'08 with a different perspective. I plan to lose my weight and then go to Taco Bell and gorge myself on all that which I desire. At least I'm honest with myself.

To more efficiently expedite this diet, I'm also working out about 5 days a week now. Working out is such an appropriate phrase.

"Working" - doing something you don't want to in order to receive some reward that is barely a fair exchange for the effort and time required to accomplish the aforementioned work.

"Out" - not in.

So not only am I doing something I don't want to do, I'm doing it somewhere I don't want to do it. Working out is the dieting trajectory accelerator that can be sustained or squashed depending on which of these 3 variables trumps the other first.

Endorphin rush... Endorphins are endogenous opioid biochemical compounds, which is a fancy chemical way to say "runner's high." The runner's high is the good feeling you get when working out, to the point where you crave the feeling, and in my case, even get irritable if I go through withdrawals for a few days. Endorphins are obviously a workout sustainer if you can get into that zone. The brainiacs at my alma mater Georgia Tech likened the runner's high to marijuana. I do know that there is a lot of inhaling when I work out, so maybe there's some truth to that theory.

Skipportunity... A skipportunity is a one-time opportunity, usually inadvertently offered by the non-dieting friend or spouse of the dieter, which ultimately leads to the dieter skipping an already planned work out, and all future workouts for that matter. For example, "Honey, I'm going to work out while you're relaxing there watching Oprah." Then Honey says, "Oh, I didn't realize you were going to work out again this weekend." Which really means, "You never spend any time with me anymore," which is a skipportunity, and the beginning of the end of the diet.

Injury... Nothing kills a working-out-filled diet like a real injury. Fortunately, this is a real excuse, and sometimes a badge of honor. In fact, if not for the "Running Injury of 1986," D'85 would have been my first, last and only diet.

So here I am, blogging about my stupid diet - The Diet of 08. Again, I'm trying to do this one differently. Not differently in a way that Dr. Phil or Weight Watchers would endorse. But just trying to mix it up a little bit. In all of my prior diets, I did NOT blog about them at all. So, I am on Day 34, and I've lost 15 lbs. Hang on, let me go re-weigh and see if that has changed any since this morning.

Funny Things... The Kiss

2008-01-14T20:50:00.001-05:00

Last night at the dinner table, out of the blue, Luke proclaims, "I kissed Claire before." Claire is the adorable little 5 year old girl next door. They hang out, but we didn't know it was serious. An older woman. Go figure. Luke will be 5 next month. "When did that happen?" asked Mommy. "In 2006," replied Luke. So that would make you, uh, like 2? 3?

So then Caleb comes clean. "I've kissed someone too," he said. "Did you kiss Claire, too?" asked Mom. "Noooo," Caleb says with a grin, knowing Mom is one guess away from getting it right. "Anusha?" asks Mom. Bigger grinning Caleb says "Yes." Then after the laughter dies down... "We were watching Harry Potter..." More laughter. Caleb grinning even more. "at her house..." Pause. Grin. ".. under the blanket." Big laughter from everyone. Mommy and Daddy are wondering if their legs are being pulled.

So Mom asks, "Seth, have you kissed anyone?" "No," replies Seth, a little surprised he's such a ladies man but has been beat out by his younger brothers. Caleb gives him some fatherly advice, just as serious as can be... "Don't worry Seth... You will."

The "Game" of LIFE

2007-12-29T22:13:00.000-05:00

One of this year's hot Christmas gifts was "The Game of LIFE Twists & Turns". I don't remember playing the original game much as a child, but we've sure played this one a lot in the last 5 days.

For anyone not familiar with the game, players earn LIFE Points and dollars (which are converted to LIFE Points at the end of the game) by experiencing careers, lotteries, job promotions, marriage, kids, cars, houses, vacations, education, and, of course, catching lucky breaks by leveraging your grandmother's cookie recipe for big bucks. The game is divided into quadrants of play called Learn It, Earn It, Live It, and Love It. This new LIFE game even takes VISA! Just what I was hoping to teach my kids at the ages of 4, 6, and 9! At the beginning of the game you determine how many years (turns) you will play, and then once you're done, the one with the most LIFE Points wins.

The first time I played, I severely lost to both Caleb (6) and Seth (9). Seth refused to buy a house or car or take any risk whatsoever. Caleb took the maximum risk at all turns and it paid off every time for him. Having never played the game before, nor having experienced much of "real" life, Caleb won that first game. I made the mistake of getting an education before going off to work. I also steered clear of marriage and kids, trying instead to maximize my earnings in the 10 years we had decided to play. I lost subsequent games with a similar strategy. That $500,000 island I had to buy really sunk me in one game.

Upon reading the detailed rules mid-week, I formulated a new strategy for winning. It turns out that getting married earns a lot of LIFE Points that continue to accumulate year after year. So do kids, but they cost 10% to 40% of your salary each year. (It seems as though marriage does not cost anything.) I also discovered you could forgo moving the number of spaces spun, and instead opt to jump to the starting point of any of the 4 quadrants of the game. The downside is that you don't get to draw a LIFE Card, and therefore don't get to experience any of the fun (or disappointment) of entering numbers into the little computer the game supplies that keeps track of your dollars and LIFE Points.

So I finally won a game with this strategy: I picked a career that earned a decent amount of money after 3-4 promotions without requiring a degree. I started in Love It, and got married first. I got 3000 LIFE Points and 1500 each year thereafter. Then I jumped to Earn It (lost a turn because I jumped instead of taking the spin amount). Got promoted, increased salary. Then jumped back to Earn It again and lost a turn. Got promoted again, increased salary, etc. Continued cycling through Earn It until the years nearly ran out. Towards the end of the remaining years, I had earned all the promotions and salary I could get without a degree, so I jumped to Live It and took a big vacation. By then, I could afford it, and I earned 5000 LIFE Points at the end of the vacation (my last turn). I won big time when I played with this strategy. My opponents tried the same Earn It strategy once they saw what I was doing, but they forgot to get married, and instead just earned a lot of money. My poor virtual "LIFE Wife"... We got married early, never had kids, I worked all the time, lived a boring life, and didn't take a vacation until I retired!

So being that I'm into metaphors, this game has really caused me to reflect on my own life and career. I don't want to win in real life the way I won in the game, but it almost seems inevitable. I've got the wife and kids and do abundantly enjoy many real life aspects of being a husband and father. But my career... While I don't currently "work all the time" pursuing one promotion after another, there is a great deal of melancholy in the way I am in this real life Earn It quadrant. I guess the 40's are the "earning years" and that's where I am. I don't play the lottery (which in the game you have at least a 50% chance of winning!). And I don't do business ventures - maybe I should. I don't have any living grandmothers with cookie recipes.

I am thankful for my job, and I am qualified to do what I do, and I can do it relatively well, and am relatively successful at it, and I've enjoyed it a lot more lately. But it's not my life's passion. It's not what I want to do when I don't have to do it. I don't know how many spins I have left in real life, but it seems like it is going by as fast as it does in the game. I don't want to look back as a 65 year old retiree and not have lived life to the fullest, and fully enjoyed the work I do.

Funny Things My Kids Do

2007-12-28T09:01:00.000-05:00

Last night about 45 minutes after the kids had gone to bed (around 11:30pm), I was sitting in the bed typing on the computer. I heard the cat (CoCo) under the bed... quietly making a sound... YACK YACK YACK... complete with some slight wheezing... sounded just like a hairball coming up. This was our new cat's first hairball, and I was trying to recall the cat medicine you give them to help with hairballs. So I jumped down and began to look under the bed. I wanted to see this. I looked under my side and didn't see her. Then I looked under the foot of the bed and didn't see her, but I could see some movement underneath Lori's side of the bed. I called to CoCo, hoping to coax her out, "Are you OK?" Caleb replied in a soft voice, "Yea. I'm OK." Apparently, he can be light on his feet when he wants, but can't hide that little cough he's had recently.

Good 'Ole Country Comfort in My Bones

2007-10-28T14:47:00.000-04:00

As I look at the archive for my month old blog, the tally is telling... September: 10 posts... October: 1 lone post. I guess the blogging honeymoon is over already. Since the Hilton Head beach trip, it's as if there's nothing to write about. But that's not really the case. This month has been pretty eventful.

After the beach, we went to the NC State Fair. We went through 9 books of tickets, which we bought in advance to save almost 50%. The Fair has about 6 fun houses, and every one of them has the same layout, and same slide at the end. That was where most of the tickets were spent. The other popular ride, and ticket consumer, was The Crazy Mouse, which is basically a combination Tilt-a-Whirl and roller coaster. Imagine spinning in a circle while riding a roller coaster. Once was enough for me. The kids rode again, with complete strangers.

Then we went with my parents and my family to Aunt Beverly's mountain home outside of Stuart, VA, for a Saturday afternoon visit. This was our first trip there since Lori and I have been married. The kids had a ball. They enjoyed getting BB-gun-shooting lessons from Bev and then shooting tin cans and a personalized bulls eye. After lunch, they got to check out Bev's tarantula, and look for insects in the yard to feed the tarantula.

As a kid, when I used to go to my sister's in the summertime - for what seemed like months at a time - there was no gun shooting (well maybe some) or insect searching (any insects found were unwelcomed). This was back before computers, the Internet, and GameBoys were invented. What on earth did we do?

What I remember is not necessarily entertaining or fun-packed, but good nonetheless. I remember honing my stamp collecting skills by going to the only post office in town to see if there were any new releases. I remember doing nothing in particular during the day, but riding back home after sundown in Bev's yellow Jeep CJ-7 with the top removed. Though it was summertime and miserably hot during the day, it was cold in the evening, especially as you left the bright lights and big city heat of Stuart - with its one traffic light - and headed to the real back roads and cool dark sky of Patrick County. We would have the heat on, and would listen to the 8-track tape of Elton John's Tumbleweed Connection, which, to this day, is still my favorite Elton John record. It was worth being cold.

Back at Bev's house, there was little to watch on TV, as this was pre-cable and pre-satellite, and her mountain antenna reception wasn't that great. We would play Bach records and play with the crazy Siamese cat Moo Moo to the rhythm of the music. We would play guitar some, as Beverly would self-teach herself to play lead to some song, and I would strum along the chords. Not sure if that was the "camp song" - or not - that our parents have fondly reminisced about ever since. We both wished we could play like John Denver.

Sometimes we would venture up onto the Blue Ridge Parkway or beyond. We visited the home of our ancestors in Grayson County and would go look at old tombstones, searching for our great-great-grand-something or another. We took pictures of things, and developed and printed in Bev's home darkroom.

There was no home cooking of vegetables, beef roast, or pork chops... but really good tacos, spaghetti, hot dogs, and Hamburger Helper. During the stay, we would easily eat a whole pack of 100 cookies - half chocolate and half vanilla. It was all good.

I would never trade the times at the NC State Fair with my family, braving the crowd, tolerating the noise, and riding The Crazy Mouse. But as I have grown older, and gotten busier, I often crave the quiet and simple and seemingly humdrum days that I experienced as a child, spending my summers with my big sister in the mountains of Virginia, doing nothing in particular. Those were great memories, without a lot of technological entertainment. It's a rare time these days when there is solitude, with time to think, and quietness, with time to listen.

Our Trip to Hilton Head, SC

2007-10-08T08:35:00.000-04:00

This morning marks the end of our "summer" vacation to the beach, this time to Hilton Head - three nights and four days in what was predicted by esteemed meteorologists as 4 days of "severe thunderstorms, lightning, 80% chance of rain, up to 1/4" of rain." What we got was occasional white puffy clouds, frequent blue sky, mild temperatures (80s), and the usual dose of beach humidity. We may have turned the wipers on for 30 seconds one day, but that was it! That's the unpredictability of beach weather.

For me, there is nothing like the beach, and seeing and hearing the ocean. It just keeps on going. I see the beautiful homes here, many along the beach, and just imagine what it might be like to live there. Not necessarily in the home - but on the beach. To be able to sleep on a screened-in porch and hear the real ocean, not the fake ocean as played by my sound conditioner back home. I can dream... and if that day never comes, we still have vacations. Our first night here at the Marriott was a nice view of the entrance road and parking lot. After some confusion and gnashing of teeth, we moved to a beach side room for the last 2 nights.

The most distinctive thing about this beach trip was the environment. Hilton Head is more low key than Myrtle Beach. There are no big lighted signs pointing to the Dixie Stampede just ahead. There are dark unlit roads weaving through quiet neighborhoods in gated communities leading to a marina where a restaurant and its T-shirt store are located. The have putt-putt here, but no NASCAR Speedway Fun Park. They have pools, but no splashing sliding bucket-dumping water park. Lori and I compared this place to Bald Head Island, but with cars and a competitive free-market economy. (Note: Bald Head Island, SC has golf carts for transportation and few restaurants and stores, which seem to be run and/or tightly controlled by the government of BHI - as it probably has to be - otherwise, you would need cars, and that would spoil the point of BHI - which is to RELAX. But I digress.)

We brought 2 bikes here from home and rented 3 from the local bike rental store. Then we became cruel parents and forced our children to ride bikes around the community and on the beach. I really hated putting them through that as it was very traumatic to have to participate in recreation not involving the pool, beach, Cartoon Network, Nikelodeon, Play Station, Nintendo DS or Gameboy. I expect that when we get home, they will fondly talk about riding bikes on the beach, in and out of the edge of the surf, and will look forward to that on future beach trips. I know I will.

Caleb & Seth enjoyed the ocean probably more than anything. They would stand in the water up to their belly, and get smashed by waves, over and over again. I think they would do it for hours if we would let them. But that is a very stressful activity for a parent - maintaining focus on the 2 little bodies playing in the water. So we did that for about an hour each day, and I'm sure that is what they loved the most about this whole trip. Luke's thing was playing in the indoor pool and hot tub. That's a lot easier to manage. And we all watched The Lord of The Rings movies at nights (we had never seen them), as Luke and Caleb fell asleep... and then the rest of us... and the room became quiet. And the ocean kept doing its thing outside.

Happy 10th Anniversary to Us!!

2007-09-28T00:35:00.000-04:00

Ten years ago today, Lori and I tied the knot after an amazing 6 month relationship and 6 week engagement. My best friend from high school, who was a legal pastor I believe, married us at the NC State University Arboretum in the presence of our parents and my favorite aunt and uncle. It was a cheap wedding, but has been a richly rewarding marriage.

It seemed like a risk to get married so suddenly, but we both felt God made us for one another. The time has amazingly flown by. If we did not have a 9 year old son (who just turned 9 last week!), I'm not sure I would believe this! She has also given me 2 other boys as pictured to the right (and a cat, the only other girl in the house).

We didn't have a honeymoon right away. I spent 2 of the first 3 weeks of our marriage on a business trip in Ireland. It was tough being apart so soon after getting hitched. We finally took our honeymoon trip in December to Australia. Seth was actually "Made in Australia." The other two came as great surprises along the way, and we stopped after Luke.

The balance is almost fair now... the 3 boys and me combined are almost as much a man as she is a woman. She is lovely, and sexy, and witty, and inventive, and caring, and creative, and nurturing, among other things. And she can cook, which proves she is also teachable (thanks, moms!). She has a smile and charm that wins everyone over, especially me. She has patience to love me unconditionally, and I am thankful she appreciates me and encourages me. She is giving and sacrificing to others, volunteering at a local women's shelter, to bring a smile to someone else's face. Every time our kids cry "Momeeeeeeeee!" I am especially thankful for her, and that they know her soft comforting hugs and love, just as I do.

I think the secret to our marriage is that we allow one another space to be ourselves. We don't so much try to change one another, as we have grown to appreciate the unique qualities and attributes God made in us, and that any individual problem or issue is not a deal-breaker.

I credit Lori with bringing me back to God. We talked about our faith when we were dating, though mine was questionable at the time. Later, we joined a church, and she encouraged me in Bible study, sharing of my journey with Christ with others, and giving. We have had many special times praying together and living through our faith challenges.

In hindsight, we probably have an improbable relationship. But by God's grace we have made it this far, and I love her more each and every day. This has been, by far, the best 10 years of my life.

Funny Things My Kids Have Said #2

2007-09-23T23:12:00.000-04:00

On the way to Danville yesterday, Luke kept asking "When are we going to be there?" I asked that he watch the clock (which said 11:20), and that when the 20 became a 55 then we would almost be there. I'm thinking he would watch the numbers increase, and learn to tell time through this exercise. Caleb then said to Luke in his usual animated, cut-to-the-chase way, "LUKE, look out your window. If you see a Wendy's and we're going up a big hill, we're almost there."

On the way home from Danville, which is mostly rural country roads, Luke asked, "Are we in the middle of somewhere?" That one was tough to answer. I think I said, "Yes, but not for long."

Today in Sunday School, Lori said they were naming animal sounds. What does a duck say? What does a dog say? Etc... When they were asked "What does a cow say?" Luke answered, "Eat mor chikin."

Today, Caleb had a "date" with a girl/friend in the neighborhood. I gave him the big lecture beforehand about being a gentleman, and using manners, etc. When Lori picked him up, the mother told her about how wonderful and nice Caleb was! Said he was much better than any other child who had visited before. As Lori was telling me this on the phone on the way home, Caleb heard the bragging about him, and promptly asked his mom, "Can I have a dollar?" (I guess he's considering an allowance again!)

Acts29 Bootcamp - The Center Focus

2007-09-22T23:45:00.000-04:00

I spent 2 days this week at the Acts29 Raleigh 2007 Bootcamp. I wrote earlier that I heard the words “Jesus” and “gospel” quite frequently during this conference, and that I was stirred up and mesmerized. Why? It took me a few days to put my finger on it. This may sound like a cliché, but the result of this conference for me was to reorient my attention not so much on how churches compare to one another, but how well they compare to Christ and uphold the gospel.

The whole strategy and foundation of Acts29 is that church planters need to be gospel-centered and preach such that everything that is said or done through and by one’s church ties back to the over-arching story of Jesus. That story is simply this: Jesus was God’s son, sent by God to live and walk among people 2000 years ago. Jesus was fully God and fully man. Yet, he suffered the punishment of death on a cross, which he did not deserve, taking our place instead, as we deserved to be there because of our own sinfulness. In return, we get eternal life and his holiness, which we did not deserve – because three days later, he arose from being dead and is alive today. It is through faith in this man & God named Jesus, not through any effort or qualities of our own, that we are redeemed and have life to the fullest, as we are now sons and daughters of God.

It is the challenge of Acts29 that every bit of everything we do as a local church point back to that storyline. Based on my understanding of church history and my own experiences, this is not new. This is how churches are supposed to have been operating all along. But this is not just a formula for success, as Acts29 expects this to really be engrained in the DNA of the people who lead and participate in the church. It’s not just that preachers preach about the gospel, but that they are humble men, who submit themselves to scripture, and live it out themselves. They even encourage pastors in this network to voluntarily establish accountability circles where they are regularly challenged to be faithful and pure in their relationship with their wives, families, and Christ. Acts29 paints a high-standard for the local church and her pastors, and that’s how it ought to be.

Mark Driscoll challenged these 200+ men who attended this conference that being a church plant pastor is going to be extremely difficult, and only those with intestinal fortitude and fervent gospel-centered leadership qualities will survive. And he’s so right. Even before the going gets tough, there will be temptations. At the conference, Driscoll talked about the typical temptations that bring down many people, regardless of vocation, such as sexual immorality, greed, addictions, or neglecting family to achieve career success. Pastors are far from immune, as there is an adversary in Satan working against them 24 x 7, and building the church seems like a higher calling than being a husband and father. (It is certainly not, Driscoll states.) Succumbing to those types of temptations typically leads to failed ministries, and often busts up marriages and families.

What I worry about for these young pastors is something perhaps as bad as a social moral fall, and that is when familiarity begins to breed contempt - when you remain in ministry, have the appearance of success, and yet somehow have distorted, compromised, avoided, or added to the gospel. I think there is a spectrum of ideology that exists in the Christian church today. In the center is the gospel as it was, is, and is meant to be - relevant, available, helpful, convicting, correcting, connecting, graceful, merciful, and loving all at once. But on the left is a concept often referred to as “watering down the gospel,” and on the right is a concept often referred to as “cultural irrelevance.”

Where church leaders think they themselves are on that spectrum will determine how they assess and compare themselves to other churches and pastors, and vice versa. The center leads to humility, the left, compromise, and the right, pride. There certainly are cases where churches water down the gospel, where they abandon conservative biblical principles in order to appease culture or church plurality, or preach a “prosperity gospel” where the listener learns how to get rich quick in the name of Jesus, or temporarily avoid the existence of the Trinity, in favor of a more widely-accepted, cross-cultural, international, United Nations-approved “God.” Likewise, there are churches where culture and the people in it are ignored unless they conform to the religious practices and traditions in the church. And where hellfire and brimstone and good works are preached, and love and mercy and grace are absent. I think both of these are the extremes, and I believe are the exception to the rule in the Christian church today. What I now believe to be mostly a waste of time is evaluating and wrongly pigeonholing other churches or pastors into either of these extreme groups based solely on reputation or out-of-context information marks.

One type of pigeonholing is this: When a person critiques a church or pastor to the left of where he or she is, it is often evidenced by surreptitiously rebuking the church or leader, sometimes while piously quoting scripture out of context. I have heard many Bible-quoting brothers and sisters automatically equate “watering down the gospel” with any and all of the following: drinking beer or wine, using secular resources in church, being "seeker-sensitive", using business principles to operate a church, serving coffee in church, having a mega-church of thousands of people, advertising, holding attractional events, not having an alter call every sermon, playing rock-style worship music, not using hymns, not having a choir, using resources from other churches or pastors, not saying “Jesus” or “sin” enough in a sermon, using resources from the Internet, not affiliating with a denomination, having church services on December 24 but not December 25, having fun in church or enjoying church in any manner (lest it be branded entertainment), preaching that is topical and not expository, preaching that only uses one verse per sermon, preaching that uses many verses per sermon from different parts of the Bible, preaching a topic that addresses a felt need of the congregation, preaching with a goal of life change (ie. transformation) over Bible knowledge transfer, not having Sunday School, having a church that is culturally “hip” or “cool,” and last but not least, playing cards. It’s as if there is a scorecard, and once you meet 3 of these criteria, you’re automatically a “cult” that “waters down the gospel.” In these cases, in the heart of the critic, the gospel has simply been enhanced with legalism. Critiques like this are often prideful, and serve only to attempt to set oneself apart from “that church” by "out-gospelizing" it.

The other type of pigeonholing, which I confess I have been guilty of, is being critical of churches to the right of the gospel that are irrelevant and inward focused, that hold to tradition and avoid change like the plague. These are churches that are potentially not on mission. It’s convenient, and probably incorrect, to automatically brand these churches as irrelevant just because they have a choir but not a praise band, play an organ, display Jesus pictures on the walls, sing from a hymnal, won’t use Powerpoint to display lyrics, dress up for church, use the King James Version, preach only expository, have a Vacation Bible School program, proclaim drinking beer or wine as sinful, belong to a denomination, hold evangelism fairs, have a steeple on the church building, have Sunday School classes, leave gospel tracts at restaurants instead of tips, or teach information from the Bible without tying it to today’s application. Again, it’s not necessarily a “3 of these and you’re guilty” scenario. There are good churches with good traditions that are reaching people and helping to transform lives in the name of Jesus. And while I don’t personally prefer some of these traits, it is true that tradition without substance can be a significant deterrent for non-believers, just as style without substance can be an inhibitor for truth, conviction, and real transformation.

Lest anyone think I am a heretic, it does disappoint me when pastors and believers miss opportunities to knock a home run in the name of Jesus. Jesus and the gospel is the distinctiveness of our faith. It is the key that unlocks doors and answers life altering questions. Jesus and the apostles spoke challenging and convicting words to people in sometimes gentle and creative ways, and sometimes pointed and unfiltered ways. We need a balance of both in our churches and relationships. We are Christ’s ambassadors here on earth. Some will do it better than others. Some will be more or less accurate and pure than others. Some will get it wrong sometimes. Some will avoid hard truths and preach only love and mercy. Some will avoid love and mercy, and preach only wrath and judgment. Neither of those alone is right, but it doesn’t mean that Christ can’t or won’t use the “fruit” of those churches. It is not our obligation to avoid being like those churches, or to tear them down in public blogs and at conferences. It is our obligation for ourselves to focus on being like Christ and our own churches to be gospel-centered churches. Jesus says in Matthew 16:18 that he will build his church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it! That is a HUGE promise. Perhaps not every product of an imperfect church will be for naught! Let’s stop spending our precious ministry time comparing ourselves and our churches to others, and compare only to the One who is incomparable. And I’m saying this not only to others, but to myself.

Mark Driscoll has said, “The benchmark of what we do is, ‘Is it faithful to scripture and fruitful for people?’ What matters is people meeting Jesus and Him changing their life.”(1) I think that hits it spot-on. Driscoll also said, “The best way to have unity – is to have a bunch of people who are repentant and humble.” That is my prayer for all pastors and believers, not just those at the Acts29 conference. Let’s develop ministries that are faithful to scripture and fruitful for people, and be people who are repentant and humble. That’s the center.

1. Mars Hill Church Sermon Audio, 1 Corinthians 1:10-17, Jan 22, 2006

Acts21 Raleigh 2007 Bootcamp - Random Notes

2007-09-20T18:42:00.000-04:00

Today was the end of the 2-day bootcamp held at my home church Vintage21. This is a conference for prospective church plant pastors and their wives. I am no pastor, nor do I feel I am called to be a pastor. But I enjoy good church leadership conferences. I thought this one would give me some insight into the DNA of my new church, Vintage21, as they are an Acts29 regional hub for church planting. I am certainly not worthy to debate, add anything to, or comment intelligently about what I saw or heard. I'm just a regular guy, called by God to serve him in the local church in some capacity.

The speakers at this conference were several Acts29 network pastors, including Scott Thomas, Chan Kilgore, Daniel Montgomery and our local pastor, Tyler Jones. Additionally, we had the Acts29 founder and church plant hero second only to Jesus, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Mark Driscoll (pictured), as well as renowned missionality author and LifeWay staff member, Ed Stetzer.

One distinctive of this conference is that I probably heard the words "Jesus" and "gospel" more times in the last 2 days, than in my prior 42 years combined. It was a good thing, and I will blog more about that later. I've walked out of other conferences fired up and energized. From this one, I walked out stirred up and mesmerized.

In this post, I am just going to include some funny and/or clever comments I heard today from Driscoll and Stetzer...

Mark Driscoll (MD): I am a functional charismatic with a seatbelt
MD: Elder should be able to teach and connect everything to Jesus.
MD: Elder likes his bible - that's his default source for answering questions
MD: pastor should not touch the church secretary or church money
MD: discouraged use of website sermons - should study bible until it convicts you, and then preach out of your own experiences - this will show church body that YOU too have applied the scripture to yourself.
MD: preach not for information, but transformation
MD: church planters are not wusses
MD: church planters are farmers who yell at the dirt "GROW!" (2 Tim 2:6 The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops.)
MD: key characters of church planter: patience & humility
Ed Stetzer (ES): Churches should be biblically faithful, culturally relevant, countercultural communities
ES: churches should be "seeker-comprehensive" because sometimes the gospel is not "sensitive"
ES: preaching against culture is like preaching against a house - it's where you live - it has sin and it has righteousness
ES: if a pastor rejects (or does not embrace) accountability, it is a mark of immaturity, not leadership
MD: First things a young pastor should do: 1. get a wife 2. read the bible 3. sleep with wife 4. get her to read the bible.
MD: key attributes of a church plant core group: leaders, servants, givers, gatherers. Don't plant a church with needy people such that they consume the church's resources (like all the pastor's time, for counselling)... they need to be leaders, servants, givers, and gatherers.
MD: roles of a pastor in priority order... Christian first, then husband, then father, then pastor.
MD or ED (can't remember which): every sermon needs to include some tie to the over-arching theme of the gospel... the gospel is the storyline of the bible

Funny Things My Kids Have Said

2007-09-17T23:07:00.000-04:00

This is one list I should have been documenting from the beginning. Here are some recent ones...
Caleb is my middle son, and is full of personality. He's the one in front in the beach picture. He's 6 and is not easily bribed. I have been offering him an allowance for over a year, but he never wants it. I have previously thought that he just didn't understand capitalism. Recently, we were at a store where Seth (behind Caleb at beach) was spending the allowance he had saved, and was buying things he wanted. Caleb wanted something too, but I told him that he didn't have any money. I asked him again if he wanted to receive an allowance like Seth. He agreed that time. So as we were driving home, he asked, "Dad, when do I start getting my allowance?" I said, "Well, the first thing you have to know is that in order to get your allowance every week, you are going to have to mind your mann-" Caleb interrupted, "That's OK," sensing the strings attached. In other words.... "Nevermind." To this day, he still doesn't receive an allowance. I have to give him some credit for not selling out to the man.

Tonight as I was putting Luke (photo of Luke eating taken by Caleb) to bed, he asked, "Did Jesus make everything?" "Yes," I said, and so I started to read the first few verses from Genesis 1 - as much as I could see from the ambiance of a night light and no reading glasses. A moment later he asked, "What does Jesus do when..." (and I'm thinking this is going to be a huge theological question) "... when I fall on the sidewalk?" "I figure he's probably sad when you fall and get hurt, but he knows you will get better," I answer. Then he says, "Does Jesus make costumes?" The key to answering this question is pointing out that people make costumes and God makes people, so for the purposes of this discussion, the answer is "yes." Then, "Does Jesus make... feet?" "Yes... Time for bed, Luke."

Music from Jr. High & High School

2007-09-13T22:33:00.001-04:00

I have been in a mood lately where I've been downloading songs from iTunes from my childhood... It's funny how some songs just remind me of something way back when. Here are some of my old favorites I've recently grabbed...

Don't Misunderstand Me - Rossington Collins Band
Ridin' the Storm Out and 157 Riverside Avenue - REO Speedwagon
Boom Boom Out Go the Lights - Pat Travers

The whole Cheap Trick Live at Budokan album
On the Loose and Wind Him Up - Saga

I also got a Captain & Tennille song, but please don't tell anyone!!!

I wrote my friend Scott and he helped me remember a few more of my favorites...

Blinded Me with Science - (I've got all the Thomas Dolby CDs!)

Boomtown Rats - (Tell Me Why) I don't like Mondays
Train, Train - Blackfoot (good ole' southern rock!)
Molly Hatchet - Flirtin' With Disaster

Rubber Biscuit - Blues Brothers (Elwood!)
ELO
Asia - Only Time Will Tell, Heat of the Moment (ah those trips to Myrtle Beach!)
Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf - NCSU Wolfpack '83 National Champions!!
Flock of Seagulls - I saw them in concert... nice hair!
Men at Work
Jefferson Starship - Jane (of course!) Scott wrote that, not me.
RUSH - I am the #1 Rush fan (in my house)
Steve Martin
Supertramp
Weird Al -- if you haven't heard it yet, download, "The Saga Begins"
Chris Cross - Ride Like the Wind (for old time's sake)

So I had a lot of that, but I did download Train, Train and a bunch more!!!

Man I remember in 8th grade (I think)... some guy playing that in the back of the room in English class, and the teacher couldn't figure out where those harmonicas were coming from!