WANTED

Tonight I went to see the movie Wanted and let me just tell you, if you don't mind a little blood and profanity, than this is the movie for you! Great actors, great storyline, great unexpected twist and great soundtrack! I left the movie wanting to drive fast, dodge in and out of traffic, race down the highway, pull out my pistol and instantly turn into an assasin.



Go see it...it's worth the $7.50! Movies I will be seeing very soon: Mama Mia and The Dark Knight.

Round 2 to California

It was close to this time last year that I lost one of my best friends to Modesto, California. Lindsey left Abilene in July 2007 to pursue her career in the wine industry. Well, July and California has yet again taken a best friend. Caddie left a little over a week ago, Uhaul trailer in tow, heading west towards her future. It was one of the toughest partings I've ever experienced. My saving grace was that on the day she left, I headed home for the 4th of July and spent the next 5 days with my family.

Of course we'll keep in touch...we actually talk every day. But, it's not the same. I'm used to constantly having someone to run with, eat with, travel with, etc. It will take some getting used to.

After several job possibilities and interviews, she signed on today with Pepperdine University. I wish her the best of luck and know she will succeed at everything she does.



Rangers Game and we obviously had too much fun!


Rangers, second time around!


The first time I met Caddie was at the Warehouse...here we are at the Warehouse 1 year anniversary.


Our trip to San Francisco

The Night the Lights Went Out In Plano

It was something straight from a horror film...or a Reba McEntire song! Caddie and I went to Plano this weekend for a few site visits for some upcoming events and decided to stay in one of the hotels where we had set up a visit. We've stayed in this area before, but never in this hotel. In fact, when we're in this area, we usually stay in one of our favorite hotels, the Westin Stonebriar because I get points for every stay. But, I've recently started acquiring points for another hotel chain, so we decided to branch out. First impression of the new hotel...its located in a great area, a somewhat posh neighborhood. We valeted the car, checked-in and went to our room. The view is spectacular (I'm writing this post from my hotel room). Our room overlooks a nice little pond with a great fountain and well manicured lawns. Definitely an area I'd love to live in!

So...back to when we arrived to our room! We got a late start on Sunday heading to Dallas, so we didn't arrive at the hotel until around 9pm, which meant if we wanted to make dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, we needed to hurry! So, we quickly re-grouped, had our bags brought to the room and prepared to head out. Caddie called her mom, told her we had arrived safely and in the middle of her conversation...BAM! BLACKOUT! No lights! No lights in the room and no light coming in from outside. Pitch black. I quickly stumbled across the room only to hear Caddie calling out my name and telling her mom she'd have to call her back. I got to the door and opened it out to the hallway and let a little light come in. "Hum...there's lights on in the hall." Just as I opened the door I heard a women in a somewhat panicked voice saying "get back in your room. I said get back in your room!" She was yelling at her kids. Another women stuck her head out the door and said "Do ya'll have power?" I said "No mam, but we're headed out anyway so I'll stop by the front desk and let them know." No big deal...I figured someone on our floor tripped a breaker or there was a small power glitch. We'd head out for dinner and make sure the front desk knew the situation on the third floor. No big deal. Right.

(Before I get much further, I need to tell you that the hall to the elevator has the ability to be closed off...closed off with huge steel doors...doors that look like every other door in the hallway so one would easily miss them if they were closed...and the doors to the elevators on the 2nd and 3rd floors were closed. This is important for you to know.) We headed out into the hall, turned the corner, encountered the lady who was yelling at her kids who quickly asked if our lights were out, to which we replied "yes." We kept walking down the hall...and all of a sudden a slight feeling of uncomfortableness (if that's not a word, it is now.) swept over me. By now we were at the end of the hall and the lady yelled "Are ya'll gonna tell someone the lights are out?" I turned and looked back down the hallway and suddenly felt as if I was experiencing something from The Shining. I said "Yes, we'll tell someone." We turned and headed down the hall...passing the doors leading to the elevators for the first time. As the room numbers continued to grow, the halls felt as if they were growing longer and smaller. We turned back, passed the elevator doors again(still not realizing they lead to the elevators), and saw an exit sign for the stairs. Every bone in my body yelled "Are you stupid?! People die in stairwells all the time in the movies!" But, my little friend who was quickly becoming impatient with the hall search pressed on through the door marked EXIT STAIRS. Down the stairs we went to the first floor. One door marked FIRE EXIT ALARM WILL SOUND and the other marked FIRST FLOOR. We chose the latter...locked. Back up the stairs we went. Walking through the third floor halls again...passing the elevator doors again, to find another stairwell. And yes, we enter to find the same two doors and the one leading to the first floor was locked. I was at this point telling myself and Caddie to stay calm. No big deal. There's bound to be an elevator somewhere. We decide to try the 2nd floor. We come out from the stairs, pass the 2nd floor elevator entrance (cause the stupid doors are closed on this floor too!) and see people walking through the hall. Surely they know where the exit is. Wrong! They're going to the pool...or some dark, damp hallway that said it lead to the pool. There was no way we were walking amongst the massive plants and workout equipment to get to the pool...which was on the 2nd floor anyway...its not like we could exit from the edge of the pool! We press on to another set of stairs. Same thing. Dang it! Who locks the doors to the first floor?! What about the people who can't take elevators?! We pass several people in the hall...all looking confused, looking to us for an answer. Mind you, the lights are out on the 2nd floor too. Then, a voice on the intercom says there's been a power outage on the entire block and they would have things back and running as soon as possible. All I want to do is get to the lobby!!!! The halls start to look the same. We've passed the dang elevator doors at least 10 times now and Caddie is looking distressed. These doors look like maintenance closet doors! Why not have a sign saying ELEVATORS?! At any moment I fully expect a man with a chainsaw to come around the corner and chase us down. We pass a room, see a woman standing in the doorway with nothing on but her underwear and a bra, then we see an old couple wandering through the hall. Doesn't anyone know how to get out of here?! We trek back to the 3rd floor and run into a man that says "Hey, the elevators are still working." Great! Can you tell me where the freakin' elevators are?! We walk, and at this point we have people following us who were also searching for the elevators, hoping we knew where we were going. But we didn't. We head down a hall, only to come to a dead end. I turn to look behind us. The people following us have vanished. There's no one in the hall. At this point, I've prepared to die. I expect to see little twin girls walking down the halls or REDRUM smeared on the wall somewhere. We start walking the other direction and simply by shear luck, I reach for the unmarked, steel door. PRAISE THE LORD! It's the hall to the elevators! Why the $%&* was the door shut?! We ride the elevator down to the first floor, enter the lobby and see what looks like a small riot breaking out. Hotel staff are running around with glowsticks. Guests are standing in the lobby, looking helpless. At this point, all we want is our dang car! We stop valet, get the keys and head to the Cheesecake Factory. Which, at this point is now closed. REALLY?! What else could happen?! So, dinner at Friday's was sub-par, back to the hotel where the lights were now on. Let's hope the rest of the trip is uneventful! Our first night was fun enough!

You Want Nail?

Is it just me or does everyone have the same experience at a nail salon?!

Lifter of My Head

I don't normally write about emotional or spiritual things on my blog. I usually like to keep it to light-hearted stories, surveys, updates, movie critiques, etc. I guess today I feel different. I just thought I would share a moment from my day.

Have you ever had a moment where you're thinking about all the things you have to do, all the stresses of the day, all of your problems that you're currently dealing with, all of the things you worry about...and in one instant, all of that is taken away, you feel wrapped in a love much stronger than the problems you're analyzing, the stresses that are causing you to worry?

My office is in the concourse of a coliseum. In that coliseum, everyday at 11am, a chapel service is held. With around 2,500 people in attendance, the service generally involves a few songs, a prayer or two, a scripture reading, and a short devotional. My office is right by one of the entrances to the coliseum, so I can clearly hear everything, and I mean everything, that goes on in chapel. Not that this bothers me, but I generally try and tune out the noise while I'm working.

Today was different. I came back into my office from an appointment towards the end of chapel, so my first thought was "I'm not going to get too involved in a project because pretty soon I'll have 2,500 people walking by my office and I won't be able to focus." So, I sat down at my desk and started reading my to-do list. Then I started thinking about all of the things I had to do today, the rest of this week, this weekend, doctors visits, money, upcoming events...that feeling of tension began to rise and at that single moment when I almost felt overwhelmed, I heard a familiar song. It's a song they've sung in chapel for years...my friends and I sung that song in chapel, we've sung it at church and devos and it's always been one I've loved. But today was different. I heard the words "Thou oh Lord, are a shield about me. You're my glory, you're the lifter of my head. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, you're the lifter of my head." I heard nothing else, I felt nothing else but complete comfort and safety. As if someone was saying "Calm down, things are fine. None of that matters right now. I've got this."

I've got this.