Take Two

It has been a very busy weekend (and previous week).  I had Sunday School Board meetings this weekend in preparation for meeting with the district board in a couple of weeks.  I have a full post regarding that which I will put up next week.  Let me just lead into it by saying it is a good thing to be surrounded with folks you can count on to help you when you are buried and who “have your back” so to speak.

Anyhow, I’m going to head to bed.  I’ll expand this thought more tomorrow.

Rather than opine about the tumultuous stock market (it has been crazy today), I thought I’d share a video.  Either you laugh or you cry.  You might as well laugh.

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• Chrysler, Pessimism and the Stock Market

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I will do a full post tonight.  Allow me to say that the University of Akron was great fun and so unlike when I went to The Ohio State University (you must add the “The”) where we lived like POWs and ate food that was rejected by the hospital patients.  Rock climbing wall?  Kayaking pool?  Stir fry, pizza, or eggplant parmagana for lunch?  No siree bob, we did not have that.

The night at the opera is deserving of its own post.  We saw Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers.  I absolutely loved it!  More on that later.  Now, off to Columbus for a meeting and lunch.  Thanks to Opera Columbus for that event.

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• The Pearl Fishers

Last week is a blur.  I left Monday morning and got home Saturday afternoon.  I spent the night in three different states, ate incredible food, met great new friends and caught up with old ones.  I also had a four hour nap yesterday and still slept fine last night (apparently the body needs time to recover).  It was a great week.

This morning, I was back to the grind, kind of.  I sent a number of emails for potential business partners I met at Stetson SNT X and also got some emails from the UPCI General Conference.  But as a whole, I spent today catching up on work.  And tomorrow, I will likely do the same thing.  It is a great thing to sleep in my own bed again and start the day at my own desk.  In a few weeks, I’ll be ready to travel again (got trips lined up for the first quarter of next year to Orlando and New Orleans).  But for now, I am gladly back to reality.

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• On The Road Again
• Greetings from Greensboro
• Greetings from Saint Pete Beach

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Yeah, I’m aware that Washington wasn’t part of my itinerary but apparently United felt I needed to spend some time in our nation’s captial.  Apparently my plane from Tampa last night was coming from Chicago to Tampa.  Any semi-frequent flier knows that nothing comes out of Chicago O’Hare on time, especially on Friday night.  As such, the vast majority of my plane missed their connections.  United was good enough to put us up in the Hyatt Dulles which sure beats staying at the airport.  Anyhow, I am now in Washington (or Northern Virginia to be more precise) and will hopefully get home today.  It should be noted that it is significantly colder in DC than it was in Tampa (by about 25 degrees).  Not real thrilled with that.

There were about a dozen Marines on my plane from Tampa who were supposed to fly  to Qatar from Washington.  I talked to a couple of them last night.  They will go to Kuwait from Qatar and then half will deploy to Afghanistan and half to Iraq.  This is the first time I have ever put a close up face on the wars in the Middle East.  Whatever your thoughts on the war, it’s difficult to not think of these guys safety as they go into harms way.  I told them all to be careful over there and come home safe.  They seemed to appreciate the sentiment.

For now, I’m going to work on my lesson for Sunday and head to the airport in a couple of hours.

Don’t even ask how I came to have this just enjoy!

This afternoon, I am catching a plane to Greensboro, North Carolina for the 84th General Conference of the United Pentecostal Church.  It’s like going to a family reunion where you actually want to see the people.  You can read my thoughts on conference here.

On Wednesday afternoon, I am flying to Tampa, Florida for the Special Needs Trust X Conference which is put on by Stetson University’s College of Law.  I am looking forward to this for a couple of reasons.  First, our firm does a ton of work with special needs trusts and, as this is the premier conference in the country on this subject, I hope to learn a lot of new stuff.  Second, the conference is being held here.  As you can see, this is right on the beach which, if you have to be at a conference, wouldn’t you rather be on the beach?  Me too.

The only bad part is that I will be away from my family and my bed for four nights (I get home very late on Friday night).  Outside of that, I’m looking forward to a very busy (but productive) week.

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• Working My Other Job

A very wise man once said that worry is paying interest on a note that never comes due.  I wish I had been smart enough to come up with that one myself but alas, I didn’t.  I have not slept well in four nights.  It’s not because I am not tired, I’m exhausted.  It’s because there is a file I have been looking for for over a week and it is no where to be found.  I literally dismantled my office over the last few days looking for it but to no avail.  I need this file because it is part of a project that has not gone terribly well and losing the file would cause it to go less well than it already has (or hasn’t).  Understand?

This morning, at about 5:00 AM, I shot an email to the person we’re doing the work for fessing up that the file is MIA and could you please resend the information.  I’m quite certain there is an unpleasant email or phone call in my future today.  I deserve it.  I messed up and need to take my medicine.

I talk to and see a number of people who live a worried life.  They are stressed about everything.  To admit that there is a problem and that they need help is so inconceivable to them that they continue in the spiral of stress, sleeplessness, and irritability when what they really need to do (in the words of Don Imus) is to let go and let God.  I know I’m going to get blasted (maybe not but probably) for losing this file but because I have decided to fess up and move forward, I can now get on with my life and be productive and a little less dyspeptic.

Why halt ye between two opinions.  Take your medicine and get back to living your life.