Looking on the brighter side

• At least I was wedged into the window instead of sitting between the two people that needed seat belt extenders
• At least the crying child was a few rows back instead of right behind me
• At least said child was only crying for half the flight instead of the whole flight
• At least the flight was only two hours
• Most importantly, at least I made it home safe and don't have to fly out until the latter half of next week.
  

Relaxing on the porch

If I had to pick a perfect evening that I could recreate most of the time, this would be it. The temperature is in the mid 70's and slowly dropping. I am drinking a fine belgain style beer and smoking a cigar. The only thing puzzling me as I write this is how there can be so many flying insects without their being any bats around to eat them. It would be an all you can eat buffet for the bats if they just showed up. Anyway, all my troubles (besides the flying insect kind) just seem to melt away when I'm here in the porch.

It has been a great few days. I have not thought about work, relationships or anything else that could cause me stress. My only stress has been what I have put on my legs in hiking 30 miles. Four of those miles were killer. They felt like they were close to straight up and ended with me being close to 6000 feet above sea level. The view from the top was amazing and made the struggles to get there worthwhile. I need to keep that in mind with struggles on a daily basis, regardless of the type.

Getting my church on

I'm so thankful for TV while I'm in the mountains, I can get my church on without even leaving the cabin. Today I decided to watch Joel Osteen. Amazingly I made it almost 10 minutes before I had to run out of the room to vomit. On the plus side, I now know that as long as I am faithful (which was never defined) and live a life of integrity, God will pour out his blessings on me. I will become partner at the firm or I will go on to start my own company or become wealthy in some other way. I am so glad that the only time I will struggle or face hardship is when I am not faithful. Forget that whole relationship with God.... it's all about being a good person and I'm set! And some people wonder why Christianity is dying in this country......

Mountain Man

Day two in the mountains. Yesterday was pretty exhausting. I am not conditioned for a thirteen mile hike but I did it anyway. I woke up this morning to a thunderstorm nearby which is so relaxing, just hearing the thunder rumble as it echoes through the valleys. Then as I was drinking my coffee on the porch, I see a turkey walking down below. I went inside to get my camera but the thing saw me and flew off. So much for people saying the turkey is a flightless bird. Maybe the ones mass produced by Butterball can't fly because of all the crap they feed them. This one though.... flew very well. I'm off to do a few more miles of trails.

Checking in

I know it has been a while since I have written anything and I will make an effort to post something of more subtance soon. However, I just had to post this link as it is a great article on the impact of racial bias in sports. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=granderson/080401

It's the most.. wonderful time of the year

This past Friday was the official start of the holidays for me. Too bad we have already been experiencing the ads, the displays and in some places, the songs for close to a month. I guess I'm still burned out on Christmas after working retail in high school and college. All the marketing people that think it's a great idea to get a jump on Christmas advertising in stores need to work in their own stores during that time and subject themselves to their own water torture. After hearing Feliz Navidad for the fifth time in an hour people begin associating "I want to wish you a Merry Christmas" with "I want to wish you life of torture". Not having worked for a church, I can only imagine it's the same way there. Well, the same but without Feliz Navidad, unless the pastor is a sadist. Actually, I kind of know it's that way. My mom is in charge of the children's choirs at her church and she always seems on edge until they are finished singing on Christmas Eve. I know other who work(ed) at churches and it sounds like all the additional work drives the Christmas spirit out of them as well. It's not like any of us WANT to be annoyed by the holiday, we just are. What is sad to me is that even though I am no longer working in retail, I am still jaded about the holidays. Part of it is a conditional response after the six years of retail. The other part is just a growing sense of bitterness towards the commercialization/exploitation of such a wonderful day. So far this year, the bitterness has been relatively tame, I am hoping it stays that way.

Huh?

A couple of months ago, a magazine I received had an article about a high profile environmentalist that was hired by Wal-Mart to do some consulting for them. Obviously it was to help them in their sustainability efforts, but the guy is catching all sorts of crap from his supposed friends for "selling out". I read the article, pretty interesting stuff on some of the things they're trying to do. But that's all beside the point. Last week I received the new issue and there were some lettors to the editor about the article. All but one were positive. I just couldn't fathom the negative one. The writer seemed ANGRY at Wal-Mart for pursuing a good sustainability. Their main issue was that they weren't doing it because it was good for the planet, but because it was good for their profit margins. Now, if they were acting evil like they normally do to increase profits, it would be understandable for anyone to be upset. This isn't the case this time. In fact, I believe that anyone that cares about the planet, regardless of their feelings towards Wal-Mart, should be celebrating what they are doing. Why? Because they are showing that doing the right thing can be a win-win situation. The environmentalists should be happy with less pollution and the shareholders should be happy with increased profits. What do I know?