Fred Hammond and the Grizzlies

A couple of weekends ago, the College/Career group did a 'Friday Night Out' night in Memphis, TN. We all left work about an hour early or so...thinking that we would all meet at the church by 4:00 and be on our way. We should have known that that was wishful thinking. The majority of the group that went got there on time...my vehicle did not get there until around 8:00, when it started at 7:00. But it was all well.

We went down for a Fred Hammond concert and a Grizzlies basketball game. The game ended up being a bit grizzly, in that the Grizzlies lost. But from what I hear it was one of the better games, the point spread was only by eleven points.

Fred sang at half time and then did a concert after the game for about thirty minutes...I was almost expecting more, but it was more of a 'here's a taste of Fred, come back in February for more' type thing.

I had a really good time...though we did not get home until around 3:00 am. Everyone did except for a car load of guys that missed their exit and did a tour of southeast MO, and came home through Sikeston...about two hours out of their way, but hey.

We walked Beale St. The first time I have ever been there. It was pretty cool. Every step took you into a different genre of music. Some of it was a little rough...but we're talking about art. (grin)

On the way home we stopped in East Memphis at a Taco Bell/KFC. The people behind the counter laughed at us when we came in...let's just say that we were pretty much the minority there. And make a note to self...West Memphis is not a place to go alone. All in all, it was a good night. One of the highlights of the evening was that the lead singer for Alabama, Randy Owen, was in attendance (we got to see him on the big screen). I got to try out my new camera, it's not a bad little machine. Now just to plan our next outing...

I'm the Manager!

K...in order to 'really' get the title you would need to hear my friend A and D say it. Most of the time it's said in a voice that makes one think that you 'are not' the manager, after doing something rather 'bright'. Unfortunate for me, I am the manager...and recently I have a rather large headache that goes along with it. I had to 'Pluto' someone (which is the word of the year according the Webster Dictionary), it's never fun. Then we had some belt tightening that happened around the office...the natives are getting restless. I have to smile, answer the questions to the best of my ability, and then pretend that everything is A.O.K. Gotta love being in management.

What amazing me though, is that people that aren't in management think that it's the best position ever...and it's what they are striving to get to. Trust me...sometimes it's best to be a clock puncher. You come in, do your job, and go home. Granted your resume may not look the best in the world, but you can sleep at night and you don't have to worry about headaches...did I mention yet that I currently have a headache, and have had it since yesterday.

I got a survey response from a customer today, basically telling me that I'm a poor example of a person and she couldn't believe I conduct myself as I do. I'm the Manager!!

Well, I'm going to sign this rant/vent off before I say more than I should (I may already have).

Until later...

ERM

Resolutions

It's that time of year when everyone makes resolutions for the year to come, now whether or not they stick with them is to be seen. I'm blogging partly about this because a church in my local area put on their sign the following: "Resolutions: More to Heaven in 07". Now being a church member, and growing up in church, my hope is that they meant to get more members this year. To do visitor drives and get more people saved...but the way the sign reads, will they be calling Uncle Vinney if you're not at church and call a hit in on you? I mean, just how many do they want to go to heaven in 07. Who likes funerals anyway (except for the funeral homes, because that's how they pay the bills).

Things here are going good so far. Except for the fact that I've actually gained weight the past week instead of losing it. I've been eating healthy, not late at night, and I've been walking and going to Curves. Makes one want to SCREAM. There are some others in my church that are doing a weight loss contest, by the end of the year the person with the most weight gone wins. The money pot will be around $1300 at that time, and the person with the most weight gone wins the dough. I say GOOD LUCK to them!!!

I played darts the other night at a friends house. I played once before when our company put a dart board in the break room, about two years ago. I'm not bad...I won three of the games, my arm is a little sore. I thought I had dart elbow instead of tennis elbow, it's amazing what muscles get used to throw a dart.

I finally cleaned my house and got my Christmas decorations down this past weekend -- WOOT! I've been putting off the house cleaning because it's been very busy for me the past couple of months (CAOH, ect) and when I would get a day off I wanted to do something besides clean house. I would keep the kitchen cleaned and my bathroom, and my house doesn't get 'really' dirty, but this weekend was a SCRUB weekend. It took forever...but I'm loving my house right now because it's CLEAN.

Well, I think that covers it for me for awhile...until later.

ERM

December 27, 2006

Wow! This year is almost over. Christmas went really well this year. I got a cordless drill from my dad, I think he was giving me a hint that he wants me to start doing stuff around my house. I also got some other stuff I wanted...I got a wok skillet, some knives, and some other kitchen utensils. I told mom she purchased some kitchen weapons for me, the knives are a little lethal and the wok skillet weighs about five pounds. But all of it has came in handy so far. :) We did Christmas on Christmas Eve at my brother and sister-in-law's house. The kids enjoyed their presents, and then we had a seafood meal for dinner. It was AWESOME!! After having turkey and dressing for seven nights at CAOH, we decided to do something different and the seafood was different and very good. We had crab legs, fried and cocktail shrimp, shrimp and crab fettuccine, cheese biscuits, and salad. It totally hit the spot!

I'm back to walking and exercising, or at least attempting to. I've walked twice the past five days...which is a start. I'm trying to get the five pounds I gained in October back off. I know that it's a daily thing, and I need to totally change my lifestyle in order to keep the weight off, but sometimes you forget and you start feeling good because the weight is off...back to the daily grind of watching what I eat and trying to get the walking in. Luckily it's not that cold here, and I'm able to walk outside...though after being out there for about 40 minutes it does get a little chilly. It's all good though!

I received some disturbing news this month, some really good friends of mine are getting divorced. I don't know the 'why' of it all...but you think you know people and that everything is good, then a wrecking ball comes out of nowhere and it's like...'oh yeah, by the way, we're getting divorced'. I am glad that I found out from one of the parties involved and not through the gossip grapevine, but it still totally surprised me. I just pray that things work out for them and they find the peace in the midst of this storm.

Well...not sure if I'll be writing by New Years Eve or not, so I'll sign off with 'Happy New Year'. I hope that this year brings things into your life that will make everyone happy and fulfilled. And may God bless you throughout the coming year!

Until later,
ERM

CAOH CRAZY

"I call myself on the telephone, just to see if I am home. Ask myself out on a date, pick me up at half past eight...I'm a nut, I'm a nut, I'm crazy."
"I like myself, I think I'm grand, go to the movies I hold my hand. Wrap my arm around my waist, get to fresh I slap my face...I'm a nut, I'm a nut, I'm crazy"

This is going to be my motto pretty soon...things have been a little CRAZY around my world lately. I'm part of the cast of my church's dinner theater, Christmas AT Our House (CAOH), this year. It's a sequel to last years play, so everyone that was in it last year is involved again plus three new additions. For the past two months we've been having practice and getting ready, then last week we had practice every night starting at 6:00 till whenever. Then this past Saturday, Dec 2, we started the program. We're going seven nights this year with anywhere from 280-300 people showing up each night to participate in the program. We have a pre-show that starts at 6:30, dinner at 7:00 and a play at 8:00. Therefore for the past two weeks I've been leaving my house around 7:15 am every morning and not returning till 10:00 pm or later. It's been a little hectic, but CAOH is always a lot of fun. We have people from all over (Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri) that come in for the production. It's awesome getting to see everyone from the community that comes out, and a lot of them come every year so it's like a huge family reunion each year.

Other than CAOH not much is happening in my life currently. Kicking back and relaxing when I get the chance. I did purchase myself a Christmas present...a digital camera (Canon SD800). The one I received was messed up, therefore I have to wait for a replacement one, but I think it's going to be an awesome camera. Merry Christmas to me!! (smile)

Need to run...I'm at work and have things that I need to get done. Until later...

EM

One, Two, Three...He's down!

So this past weekend was opening weekend for firearm deer season in Missouri (Nov 11). As tradition we went out to our 'camp site' to camp opening weekend. We had about seventeen people there, eight of which actually hunted, that camped out on Friday night. By Saturday afternoon, seven of them went home due to it being cold and the kids were about to go stir crazy. Or maybe the kids were driving the parents crazy...anyway, when I returned from hunting Saturday afternoon camp was 'much' quieter. We all had a good time...we weathered rain, wind, frost, and below freezing temperatures but we made it. (Woo-Hoo!!)

I took a friend out with me this year, she wanted to experience deer camp and hunting. I've told stories about the 'hill' that I had to climb one year to come up out of the 'draw'...I think everyone thought I was exaggerating, but T found out Saturday morning around 10:30 exactly what that hill was made out of. She refused to go back down that night. So I gave her my tree stand (which was on top of the ridge, not very far from camp), and I went down by the river with my dad. Needless to say by the time Sunday night rolled around I had plenty of exercise in.

Now to the good part...I GOT MY FIRST DEER!!! I killed, with the help of my cousin E, my first deer ever. It was a five point buck. What a story I have....me, dad, and E were heading out Sunday afternoon to hunt. We were walking along talking about where each of us were going to be sitting, when I looked up and there was s a deer walking through the woods ahead of us. I told them I saw it, they said shoot it...so I took a chance on a chest shot and let the gun fire. The deer took off running, dad fired off two shots and we watched as the deer ran on. So we start looking for it, E said that the deer hunched up when I shot...so we knew he had been hit. They jumped him in the thicket right under the hill. So dad decided to give the deer time to lay down and die and we went for a walk to the other ridge while E sat and watched the thicket...he decided not to go hunting. We found where the deer was standing when I shot, there was a pile of hair on the ground...dad told everyone we were looking for a deer with a fresh haircut. (We use walkie-talkies) About an hour later we come back through on the backside of the ridge, along the draw, and E comes down off the ridge where I shot the deer...we're boxing it in. Dad tells E to take a shot at it if he gets the chance, because we didn't want to have to track it forever. E was following it down the hill, giving us a play-by-play on where to expect it to come through; Dad and I are coming up along the sides looking for it. E takes a shot at the deer, then another...blowing it's back leg off. The deer is down, I see it crawling around on the side of the hill and E and Big E are coming up to it. Thinking about taking off another shot, I tell them that I'm below them behind the stump and not to fire a shot. The deer finally stays in one place, I finally make it up the hill (mountain), and then I put the final shot through the deer's neck (after failing with one attempt...I could barely breath after my climb up the hill). High fives all around, the deer is down with a group effort, S comes down to save the day with the four wheeler (so we don't have to drag the deer all the way out), and we go back to camp to clean the deer.

The people that were left at camp had a walkie talkie and had heard the whole scenario that was playing out on the hill side. We supplied the afternoon entertainment. I was happy to finally have a deer, though my cousin did help somewhat. The weekend was a lot of fun, and another memory to go down about opening weekend at deer camp.

Audio A and Mercy Me

I had the opportunity this past weekend to go to an Audio A/Mercy Me concert in St. Charles, MO. It was AWESOME!! I was given four comp tickets by the manager, Scott Brickell, to the concert. He's friends with my boss, and I also worked as a nanny for his kids over New Year's weekend in 2005. I got to see one of the better concerts I've been to in awhile...I went to Switchfoot the weekend before. The light show at Mercy Me was subdued, did not blind you, and very tasteful. Audio A rocked the house...I'm more of an AA fan, their music has a little more pep than Mercy Me (though MM has picked the tempo up a little bit). It was a great time, and I'm glad I went, even though the drive home was crazy...I got in around 2:00 am. The joy of living in the middle of nowhere.