Sunday, on the way home from Asheville1, we stopped for gas in the booming metropolis of Whitsett, NC. After filling up, I decided to take US 70 into Burlington2 as opposed to getting back on I-40. This route took us by Alamance Memorial Park, which happens to be the cemetery where my dad3 is buried.

I mentioned this fact to Kim, and she suggested we stop. The thought had crossed my mind, but I had not committed to the action, yet. She reminded me that I had stated previously that I would like to stop by some time when we were in town, and that we had not yet done that. When we pulled into the cemetery, Kim asked if I knew where to find his grave. I was like sure I do. Later, I realized that I didn't. I also realized that I had not been there since the funeral. That was in January of 1999.

After about 15-20 minutes of walking around, I started remembering a few things that pointed us in the right direction4, and eventually, I found his grave; by a tree, close to water, by a long road where people parked for the funeral. I have to say, it was a wierd experience. When I finally found the marker, I was alone. Kim and I employeed the divide and conquer approach to finding the grave. As I was walking around, I thought of things that I would say when I found the grave, but when I finally found it, I felt like I didn't have anything else to say. I had already sort of "said" everything in my head.

Eventually, Kim made her way over to where I was standing. She asked me if I wanted to say anything. I was like, "Uh... Maybe... Uh... We're gonna have a kid. I'm gonna be a dad." I think she was less than impressed with my emotional outpouring. She however, was surprisingly moved by the experience. She was sad. She said she wishes that she would have gotten to meet him, and wished that he could be here to see his grandchild. She's so thoughtful.

Well, after a bit of an awkward silence, I said something like, "This is wierd, huh?" To which Kim replied, "No." I think maybe I am just wierd. Then, we decided to head out. I did say goodbye before we left, and commented that we should come back sometime, probaby sooner than eight years from now.

I left feeling pretty good, and as I write this, I feel pretty good, too. The problem is, I don't know if that is how I am supposed to feel. I hear people talk about loved ones and they get all sad, but I have nothing, but fond memories of my dad. He was an awesome dude, and a great dad. I probably don't think about him enough, but when I do, it's never anything bad.

I miss him from time-to-time. For example, when I need to know how to fix something on my car, or when I am working on some project around my house, I wish I could just call him up. He just seemed to know how to do things like that. I bet he'd be shocked that someone as lazy as I used to be picked up on some of the things that he used to do. I love you daddy5. You're the best.

Well, thanks for listening.

1. back Kim and I went to Asheville to visit the Biltmore Estate. We wanted to get away one last time before the baby comes. We had a great time.


2. back We had to stop in Burlington to pick up some food from Longhorn, we had dropped off at the Smiths' after dinner on Friday night.


3. back Okay, so he is/was really my "step-dad", but the dude raised me and though we do not share any chromosomes, he's my dad.


4. back I remembered having made a joke about my dad having water front property. I know, this is not something people typically make jokes about, but that's what I do. I make jokes. I think I get a lot of my sense of humor from my dad. He would always kid around and make jokes.


5. back That's pronounced like deddy.

When people find out you are expecting a child, the first question is always, "When's [he|she|it] due?" This is usually followed by a litany of questions that include, "Do you know if it's a boy or girl?", "Do you have names picked out?", "Do you have the nursery ready?", etc.

I thought I would post today in an attempt to give some answers. The doctors predict that our baby will make it's debut on July 2, 2007.

That's in:

However, only around 5% of all babies are born on their due date. So, it could be any time. The other answers go something like, "No. We decided to be surprised.", "No. We have some candidates, but I'd rather not hear your opinions on them.", and "No. I have gotten a lot done, but we are not quite finished."

I have to say, I am getting really excited about the baby. Everyday, it gets more and more real.

Labels: baby

It took me a little longer to get back to this than I had planned, but nonetheless, I have returned.

So, I left off saying that I went to class with a huge hole in my pants. Like I said, I went there thinking something along the lines of "The whole in my pants will probably bother other people more that it will bother me."

Remember, the class was two days. I go there on day 1 with a big hole in my pants. On day 2, I decided that I would go a different route and I wore a pair of the more dressy black slacks1, that may have been more business than casual and didn't have any holes in them. I sat in the same exact spot in the class. The same people were in attendance. The same teacher was teaching. We were talking about the same product. My point is that pretty much everything was the same except my garb.

So, here's why I am writing what has thus far seemed like nothing more than a chronicle of my week with detailed descriptions of what I wore. At some point during the day I went to the bathroom, and as I was washing my hands, I noticed my appearance in the mirror. I thought something like, "Hmm. Don't I look all corporate America." And, then, I laughed thinking about the holey pants I wore the day before.

Later, back in the classroom, I made another realization. I noticed how much I was talking that day. The fact that I was talking and interacting in the class wasn't all that surprising, it was the realization that I had not said more than 25 words the day before that was shocking. On Tuesday, I was speaking up give my opinion on how the class was being presented, and answering people's questions. However, on Monday, I had failed to give any opinions or answer anyone's questions2.

This perplexed me. Could it be that my participation in the class was effected by my outfit? I mean, everything else seemed the same. Maybe I thought I didn't care about the hole in my pants, but I really did?!? Maybe all my confidence and expertise leaked out through the hole in my pants.

Has anyone else ever experienced anything like this3?

1. back These pants were not mentioned in the first post, but they fall in line with the pants I wear with my suits. I also wore a red golf shirt. Daniel jokingly said I looked like Tiger Woods on Sunday.


2. back Don't forget, I'm an expert. That's what experts do. I think. I'm sort of new at the job.


3. back I don't expect many people to have stories about how they made the decision to wear pants with holes in them, according to Kim people don't do that, but maybe you've split your pants before. I'm just wondering if anyone has ever had their outfit, hair style, outward appearance, etc. effect their personality.

Labels: indiscriminate

For the past two days, I have been in class for work. The class is the "dress rehearsal" for a class that will be taught to people outside of SAS. I was asked to attend the class, to give my input on the material covered and how it was presented.1

Okay, to the point. I got invited to the class. I found out that I had to dress business casual to attend the class. To them this means "jeans, sweatshirts, t-shirts, shorts, and athletic shoes are not permitted." This is a problem. I own about six pairs of pants. Two of them are jeans. (Out.) Two of them go with my suits. (Probably more than business casual.) One pair are big baggy cargo pants. (Probably less than business casual, at least in their book.) The final pair is a pair of khaki-ish slacks. (We have a winner.)

It is worth pointing out that these were nice slacks; "were" being the key word here. The last time I went to play golf, I split these slacks in the crotch.2 So, even though these slacks had a tear, I decided to wear them. I thought, "I don't really care that my pants have a hole in them. Other people will probably be more concerned than I am."

I am going to cut this off, now. I plan to follow-up on it in a few hours, but I need to do some other stuff, and I don't like when posts get really long.

Stay tuned for part 2, which should actually contain the point.

1. back I sort of laugh to myself when I think of me being an expert on any subject, but that's why they wanted me to attend. I am considered an expert on the product I test, which I guess makes sense, but for some reason I find it humorous. Maybe I should get business cards with expert as my title.


2. back I think this may have been the first time I have ever typed the word crotch. I misspelled it, I forgot the 't'. The blogger spell check leprechaun underlined it for me. That may have been the first time I typed the word leprechaun. I spelled it correctly on the first try. Since I am on a tanget, I will point out that the blogger spell checker does not recognize "Okay" as a word. What's that all about? I guess it is fair because it does not recognize "Ok" either.

Labels: indiscriminate

I'm reading Banker to the Poor. If you have never heard of it, it is the story of Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank. Yunus and Grameen won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts to create economic and social development from below." The Grameen Bank is founded on the belief that credit is a fundamental human right. The bank provides minuscule loans to the poorest of the poor in order to help the loan holders break out of the cycle of poverty for good. The concept is simple: loan poor people money on terms suitable to them1, teach them a few sound financial principles, and they will help themselves.

Thus far, it has been a great read. I came across this paragraph the other day that I really liked. He noticed the land around the university where he taught was vastly under used, and the people living in the nearby village suffered because of this. Here's what he said...

I thought we should do something about the unused fields. It was a shame to let the land around the university campus remain barren. If a university is a repository for knowledge, then some of this knowledge should spill over to the neighboring community. A university must not be an island where academics reach out to higher and higher levels of knowledge without sharing any of their findings.
Muhammad Yunus, Banker to the Poor, page 34

This is how I think about the Church. Here's my version...

I [think] we should do something about the [world]. It [is] a shame to let the [world] around the [Church] remain barren. If [the Church] is a repository for [God's blessing], then some of this [blessing] should spill over to the neighboring community. [The Church] must not be an island where [we] reach out to higher and higher levels of [blessing] without sharing any of [our blessings].

Thanks Dr. Yunus for showing that one bank, one person, or one idea can change the world.

Shalom.

1. back The loans are made for small amounts, i.e. less then 100 USD. Loans are made for one year. Payments are made weekly.

Labels: activism, books, church

I watched Blood Diamond with some friends1 on Friday night.

Wow.

If you haven't seen it, you should. You may find the first thirty minutes a bit disturbing2, but that's probably not a bad thing.

If you've seen it, please, share your thoughts.

1. ↩Jonathan, Patrick, Traci, and other people without blogs, namely, Kim, Mandy, Daniel, Meredith, and Matt.


2. ↩...or, you may find the entire thing disturbing.

Labels: entertainment

For the third year in a row, Kim and I have signed up to participate in the Komen NC Triangle Race for the Cure®. It is a 5k Walk/Run to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer and breast cancer research.

This year, the race hits a lot closer to home. Late last year, my aunt, Helen, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Since, my grandmother, Ma'Maw, passed away several years ago, Aunt Helen has been the matriarch my mom's family. My mom was the youngest of eight children, and Aunt Helen is old enough to be her mother. She has been someone I have looked up to and respected all my life.

Before, this race was just another cause, but now the race has a face attached to it. It's amazing the difference that makes, when it stops being about an issue or a cause, and starts being about a person, or in this case a lot of people. I have started to realize that this race is about aunts... moms... sisters... friends... wives.

So, please (seriously, please) join our team and come walk with Kim or run with me. I know it may feel like I ask for your money all the time, but if you can't come and participate, please think about about making a contribution to our fund raising.

Thanks for all you do.

Shalom.

Labels: activism

I just wanted to let everyone in on how things turned out for the AIDS Walk+Ride.

As you may know, we had goals for getting 25 people involved and riasing $2,000. Well, we ended up having 21 people sign up on the web site.1 We had 10 people show up for the bike ride Saturday morning2, and several do the walk that evening.

Our fund rasing goal of $2,000 seemed a bit daunting in the beginning, but turned out to be a little conservative. At last count we raised $2,975.02. Awesome!

Thanks to all that participated and to all who contributed. It was more successful than I ever imagined. I look forward to continuing to serve this community and to participating in the Walk+Ride annually.

1. ↩I think that number may be a little low given what I heard from Aimee Spino, who was doing a lot of the organizing for the walk portion. I know she had 7 people come walk with her, some of which had not signed up.


2. ↩Photos

Labels: activism

I was going to write about today's Dilbert comic, but I never really got around to it. Basically, I found it extremely funny because I find myself thinking/saying some of those same things pretty regularly.

I know I posted about my dislike for lengthy posts before. It is safe to assume that I feel the same way about emails. Yes, I realize that I am a hypocrite because I have been known to send out lengthy emails. However, I have also been known to put an abstract at the top of the email for those who only want the facts

Signing off before anyone gets to the point of "email schmemail blah...blah...blah".

Labels: blogosphere, humor, indiscriminate

Yesterday's Dilbert comic made me chuckle to myself, and today's comic made me laugh out loud. They both addressed things I loathe in email communication.

The first is when the original message is removed from the response email. This bugs me because I like to save emails, but I don't want to have to save every email in the thread. I would rather be able to save the final email in the thread and have it contain all the communication. However, the bigger problem is when you get an email that has answers to questions, but you don't remember exactly what you asked in the original email.

Let's say you get this email:

Subject: RE: Tonight...
Let's meet at Benny's before we go get Tony. I'll bring the knife.

Is this about the plans to meet your friend Gino at Benny's place before you go pick up your friend Tony on your way to a birthday party where you are bringing the knife to cut the cake? Or, is this in response that other thing you are planning?

Now, I realize that there are email systems out there that remove the initial message from the response1. Those email systems should be destroyed and not given a reason why. Maybe somehow we could send them a message like this with no original message attached.

RE: System Update
That's why we are decommissioning you.

I think that would be appropriate.

I'll discuss today's comic later.

1. ↩Wake County, could you please take some of my tax dollars and get a new flippin' email system. And, while you are at it, can you get someone to update your web server so you can serve wcpss.net with out me having to tack on www. to the front. Thanks.

Labels: blogosphere, humor, indiscriminate

When I set up this team, a few months ago, I sort of randomly selected goals of raising $2,000 and getting 25 people to participate. They seemed kind of lofty at the time, but now I am glad that I chose such high goals.

We are two days out and we have raised $1,750 and we have 18 people signed up to participate. That's pretty freakin' amazing since we last week we only had about five people signed up and we had only raised 20 bucks. This is incredible.

On a personal note, I am now losing in my competition with Megan Remmers to see who can raise the most money. She currently leads me by $30. She has surprised me with her efforts. Given that I had to nearly force her to sign up in the first place, I didn't expect that I would have to work this hard to out do her in fund raising. She has really pushed me to work harder than I would have without the competition, which is probably a good thing.

Thanks to everyone that has contributed thus far. You guys are awesome. Let's keep the funds following in.

Labels: activism

Blake Mycoskie spent time in South America and saw the field workers wearing alpargatos, a durable traditional slip-on shoe. He was inspired to come back to the States and found TOMS, bringing the shoes to Americans with fashion sense and bringing more shoes to those in need worldwide.

From the TOMS web site:

Inspired by a traditional Argentine shoe and challenged by the continent's poverty and health issues, I created TOMS with a singular mission: To make life more comfortable. TOMS accomplishes this through its unique shoe and my commitment to match every pair purchased with a donated pair to a child in need... no complicated formulas, it's simple... you buy a pair of TOMS and I give a pair to a child on your behalf.
-Blake Mycoskie

Check out TOMS Shoes.

Labels: activism