Very Cool!!

Something very cool happened to me today!  I was named the “Customer of the Week” at the Starbucks that I visit every weekday morning.   Wow.  How cool is that!  Let me explain, every morning I roll into this place between the hours of 4:30 and 5:15 AM.  I’ve been out of bed for about 25 minutes at this point which means I’m barely human.   I’ll  pause a moment for the requisite jokes………. Ok, did you get them out of your system?  Let’s proceed with this fascinating tale!  I order a quad grande mocha.  That is 4 shots of espresso in my cup and then I top that off with a morning bun!  A morning bun is basically a small cinnamon roll with less sugar.  Trying very hard to be health conscious here!!  So when I walk in this morning Liz, one of the baristas, said “Nathan, (that’s what I go by during the business week.  It’s just to hard to explain Than to everybody.  They think I’m Vietnamese and then I have to explain that my Dad is actually Nathan and my full name is Nathaniel but I go by Than and…….. So I just go by Nathan!!) there is a sign over there for you!”  So I walk over to the area where you pick up your coffee and sure enough, THERE IT IS!!  “Nathan, our customer of the week, suggests a quad grande mocha.”  How very cool is that.  So all this week I get my coffee for free.  I really like this Starbucks, and I did even before they named me their Customer of the Week, the employee’s are always so friendly.  They call me by name, ask how my business is going, and wish me a safe journey to work (54 miles one way so I need all the help that I can get!)  Super cool guys and girls!! 

 On a completely separate topic, my hair has decided to revisit 1993.  That was the year that I was 12.  During this time period the “spike” was the coolest hair do of all.  Well, if exclude the mullet and the rat tail, it was the best for sure.  Now for all of you who can’t remember this time period this is what a spike is.  On the side of your head, where you have your natural part, instead of the hair laying down you spiked it into a giant rooster tail!!  It made you look like a lopsided porcupine!!  But we all thought it was the best!  Anyway after I got to work I was in the restroom and I noticed that my hair has betrayed me yet again and the “spike” has returned.  In the paragraph above I referenced the time that I do my morning ablutions.  This usually means that my eyes are closed!!  If I didn’t lay out my clothes the night before I would never match.  At least this way I get it right about half of the time!!  So my hair is being held hostage by the year 1993!!  I’m sure that when I get home my dad’s bouffant will be back in full glory, held in place with Consort hairspray and my mom will be teasing her poof into perfection!  If Danelle shows up in her “little pink glasses”  I will know for sure that time machines do exist. 

Must run!  Talk to you soon.

A few things….

I finally posted an “about” section.  It’s directly above and it’s titled, very cleverly I think, “It’s Me”!!  In it you will find a a few things that I like and dislike.  I know that it is difficult to imagine that someone as sweet as myself would ever have anything that they dislike, but alas…..  You won’t find many pictures as they are something that I’m not fond of at all!

Secondly, (my high school English teacher would be so proud that I’ve finally learned how to segue don’t you think?),  I always comment back in the comment you leave.  For all of you Mensa candidates that ask why I don’t comment back here’s what you do.  Do not assume that just because it said 6 comments yesterday when you posted your comment, and it still say’s 6 comments,  that I have not replied!!  You know what happens when you assume, right?  Good!  Now, click on the comment link.  Did you?  Good, we’re making progress.  Underneath the comment that you left there will be an addition added in bold face!  That would be my comment!!  It was not something that your other personality did  or that you did while sleepwalking last night.  It was me!!  Wow, that was difficult.  Please stop e-mailing me asking me why I don’t like you and I never comment on your comments!!  Thank you, thank you very much!

I’ll post later to tell you about our communion service this Sunday!  Little sneak peek……..Dad at 9:30 Sunday Morning “Uh, Than, I think that you’re going to have to preach!!!”  “Are you kidding me?!!!” 

 Talk to you soon. 

Things that I love!

That’s quite the mouthful, huh?  Of course, it’s difficult to just say “things” when there are people, places, and things.  But hey, YOU try writing all of those things in the title line.  See if you can actually get it in there!! 

We all have certain “things” that we love.  We all have people that we love.  We all have places that we love.  These are just a few of mine.  Enjoy!

God-Couldn’t make it through a single day without him.  Truly the best friend that I’ve ever had.

 My Family-Starting with my parents.  The best set of parents that I could have ever asked for!! Well, I mean my mom is pretty much perfect but then there’s my dad.  HAHA!!  The older he gets the more ornery he gets!  He’s turning into Billy Joe Junior a little more everyday.  A funny story that I like to tell involves my dad always saying NO the first time you asked him a question………”Dad, can I breathe……NO………Dad, can I give you a million dollars………NO………Dad, can I…”  Oh well, you get the picture.  Then he would go, “Ronda, what do you think?” And then she would say, “Well, I think that you should let them breathe at least a little bit!!”  Dad, “Ok, Ok,  do whatever you want!!”  Of course that is a little dramatized and I love to tease my dad a lot.  However, he’s a really great dad, a friend, and my pastor all rolled into one person.  Oh by the way, dad, Happy 49th Birthday, I hope you enjoyed it.  I’ve got a present on the way;)  I also love my baby sister, Danelle, and her husband Matt.  They are both great people who are really a great asset to our church and my parents.  And then there is the extended family.  I love all of ya’ll and you have helped me so much.  I wish that I could see the Layne side of the family more often but I guess that is how it goes.

Friends-Last year I posted a blog regarding my two best friends, Jared and Dewayne.  I’m too lazy to add a hyper link so you’ll have to dig through the archives yourself if you want to read it.  However, I have a great group of friends that really mean a lot to me.  I am separated by distance from most of them.  I miss seeing them as often as I used to but “true friends” don’t have to spend a lot of time together to remain friends.  I often wonder about people who can only be friends with people who they spend every day with. I call it the teenage girl syndrome!! OMG, WE ARE LIKE TOTALLY BFF.  I HAVE TO SEE YOU FOR 27 HOURS, LIKE EVERY SINGLE DAY.  UMMMM, I’m sorry, there are very few people in the world with whom I can spend large amounts of time with and then I’m ready to “hermetize” for a few years. 

My iPod-I really love music.  In fact, I love it so much that my dad says God will never speak to me because I’m always listening to something?!  HUH?  Anyway, you can get musical whiplash from listening to music with me!! I love almost any style of music.  Isn’t iPod shuffle the greatest?  You never know what’s next.  You can go from Frank Sinatra to Bishop Noel Jones to Dave Koz.  FANTASTIC!

My Church-The Pentecostal Church.  A very cool group of people with heart for revival and God.  If you want to see true worship you should come to a Sunday or Wednesday service and watch these people worship.  They only know one way and that is with everything that they have!!  I can’t wait to see what else God is going to do in our church!!

My Life-It’s really cool.  I have  a great job, family, friends, my iPod, my church and so much more.  It is amazing the twists and turns that my life has taken over the last 7 years or so.  It’s been a little bit of a roller coaster but I can honestly say that I’m very happy and that I like where I’m at as a person.  I’m a little more mature than I’ve ever been.  I would say that I’m at least at a 4th or 5th grade level in the maturity department!! I’m so proud of myself.  Just think, mom, I’ll be in high school in no time!!

Please note: sarcasm included!  There was no particular order to the way that I listed things!  Please don’t get offended for my father.  He’s a big boy and he gives as good as he get’s!!  If I neglected to include anyone it was probably intentional!!! Ha, just joking, it was not intentional and a quick phone call or email will persuade me not at all to change this post!!  Thank you for your time. 

MORE random observations! (some serious, some not!)

All of our FA’s and PCM’s are out of the office today which means that we are able to get a very large amount of work done in a short amount of time.  It’s amazing how much you can get done when nobody is bothering you!!  You know that whole “A lack of planning on your part does not necessarily constitute an emergency on my part” thing.  That’s who I was talking about.  One of the reasons that I come into work so early in the morning, besides the obvious “that’s when the market opens here on the Left Coast”, is that when nobody is here I can get 10 hours of work done in about 5.  Point in case, I’ve been here since 5:15 or almost six hours and I’ve plowed through enough so that I can have my four day weekend and not feel guilty.   Which leads me to my random observations!

~Why do I feel guilty for taking time off?  I mean I work hard and I deserve my days off so why do I feel guilty about it?  It may be because I don’t want to burden other people with my workload which is what happens because invariably some sort of crisis will arise that only I can take care of.  Oh well, I have my BlackBerry if things get to hectic!!

~Is OJ Simpson the dumbest person alive?  I mean seriously!! How many chances does this guy deserve?  You’ve got to listen to the judge in his latest case blister him in court today!! It’s fantastic.  She asked him if he was arrogant or ignorant or both?  Very cool.  There are a stunning, stunning, absolutely mind boggling amount of dumb people in the world but this guy has got to be close to the top of the list!

~Have you heard about the latest ACLU line?  It’s actually a little much to be written here in a family type blog but it is incredible.  These people must be so disconnected with reality that they think their cars are UFO’s!. It’s crazy.  If you need a good laugh google what they are saying now.  I’ll give you a hint…..Larry Craig…….I’m sure that the last people the Republican Senator of infamy from Idaho expected to take up his battle was the ACLU.  “People have the expectation of privacy for “personal acts” committed in public bathroom stalls!!”  There I said it.  Can you believe it!!?? I have no way to express my incredulity!!  There aren’t keys on this keyboard to express the way I feel about these idiots!!

~We have a business meeting at our church tonight.  One word, UGH!  I know that they are necessary and needful(I think that is the same exact thing) but does that mean that I have to like or enjoy them.  Having teeth pulled without Novocaine sounds more enjoyable.   I’ll be there in my hangman’s noose, errr tie, with a smile on my face. 

~Does anybody know that we used to preach against ties in Pentecost.  I’m all for going back to those days!!! 

~Being a receptionist has to be the most boring job in the entire world.  What are you supposed to do if the phone’s not ringing or people aren’t walking in?  Sudoku?  I think not!!  Sorry Grandpa!

~I hope they find Cesar Armando Laurean soon.  There is not a punishment that would be to cruel or unusual for this creep!

~I love California, at least the part that I live in.  Right here in the middle of the most liberal people alive.  You should hear what they talk about on the radio.  It makes the commute almost fun sometimes.  Who knew that people this smart could be so dumb!!  The people that live where I’m from would look at these people like aliens!!  Sometimes I think they might be from a different planet as well.  It’s called ILEFTMYBRAINANDCOMMONSENSEONSATURN.  It’s in a galaxy far far away. 

~This is a really long and rambling post!

Have a good day and a great MLK weekend.  Do something fun if you have the day off on Monday! 

Sackcloth and Ashes!

The world is a brutal place!!  Here I sit this morning wearing sackcloth and with ashes smeared over my face.   This is the biblical way to show that someone is in mourning.  In fact the definition of sackcloth read, a garment made of coarse sacking; formerly worn as an indication of remorse!!  Why you may ask have I resorted to such extreme measures?  The Dallas Cowboys have ripped out my heart once again!!

I was born and raised in Texas and for as long as I can remember my blood has been tinged with the silver and blue of the aforementioned Dallas Cowboys!  In the 90’s Cowboy fever ran extremely high.  They were the first team in NFL history to ever win 3 Super Bowls in 4 years.  Alas, they have fallen on hard times.  A franchise record 12 seasons has now passed since they have even won a playoff game.  Surely, oh surely they would end the drought this year and whip the hapless New York Giants, that hated team from the Big Apple.  It was not meant to be.  They controlled the game, the clock and still could not muster a victory!!  Was it a product of the bye week, T.O’s balky ankle, Tony Romo’s vacation in Cabo or Wade Phillips “light touch” coaching style?  We may never know the answer to these questions!!  All I know is that the world was a much darker place today!

It is hard to survive such catastrophic events.  One must look to the heavens and trust that God knows what he is doing.  Even in these hard times I still place my trust in the Lord.  He is my strong tower and my refuge!  But, it is a long road to recovery.  Training camp doesn’t even begin until August and the playoffs are a year a way.  I’ve been listening this morning to the song “I Will Survive”.  I am playing it like a mantra and hoping that there is something in that song that will resonate and allow me to continue on with my life.  Right now it’s just one foot in front of the other.  I’ll take it one day at a time and see what happens, although I have already been told that the mourning period must be completed by Thursday. 

As the little boy who was being dragged out of church by his mother to receive discipline said to the congregation, “Pray saints Pray”!!

P.S.(post script for all of you who have never actually known what it means)

A little tidbit that has be circulating in my office.  “A lack of planning on your part does not necessarily constitute an emergency on my part!!”  

New Years (Things I might do)

What’s that word??? Oh yeah, resolutions!! Right?  I think so.  So here goes nothing

Lose weight:Yeah right!!.  Why do I need to lose weight?  Have you seen me?  Rail thin I tell you, rail thin.  No Dad, no.  That’s you that needs to lose weight.  I know, I know you used to look just like me!! We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.  Yes we, me and all of my other personalities!  Come to think of it I might be losing weight anyway with this 30 days of prayer and fasting that we’re doing.  Bro. Haney, was this for revival or just so the UPCI can be a little healthier!?.  Maybe we won’t need such a big arena for next years General Conference. (Of course I’m just joking.  Don’t get all offended on me people!!! Can’t you take a joke?)

Save money:Yes this one is actually very important.  Must save money, must save money. I’m thinking that if I can repeat it like a prayer mantra that I can do it.  Must save money, must save money, must save money!!

Be more friendly:Okay, so no one will believe this but I’m going to say it anyway.  I’m actually a very shy person.  Yes, I heard all of your jaws drop in unison.  It’s true I promise!!!  Because of this shyness I sometimes don’t engage people properly and then they think that I am some stuck up, arrogant snob.  To anyone who’s been on the receiving end of that I apologize and will try to do much better!!! 

I’m hoping that all your dreams will come true this shiny New Year.  I believe that 08 is going to be great(It rhymes and it’s pure cheese!.)  There I go being a silly optimist again Ryan.  Oh well have fun and enjoy the New Year everybody!!