I’m praying for Ken Rivera, who is going to have surgery tomorrow to fix his heart, his liver, and a bunch of other stuff. His wife Kim works in our tape library, and we have been praying for her as well.
He will get to really enjoy March Madness as he recouperates. Lucky.
I was musing on how many emails i’ve written in the last 10 years. While I’ve had many memorable ones from some great friends, and I’ve written many to my wife and others, where are they?
now, if you go upstairs at our house, you can pull two shoeboxes: one is full of letters that I wrote to Amy when we were engaged, and the other is full of Amy’s letters to me. We can hold them, read them, remember the place and time when they were written. There is something about holding something physical (imagine if the Constitution was electronic first…).
I have letters from my mom, who is in Heaven now. My grandma, who poured into my life.
I remember what triggered this. No one wants to check the USPS now. It’s only bills and junk mail. When I was a kid, and we moved to Alaska, I couldn’t wait for the mail to come. We lived off of the main highway from Anchorage to Fairbanks. No telephone, not even electricity or running water. Each day, we would drive to the highway, and there were a line of mailboxes right off the highway. We were box 113 or 139 or something like that. I remember always being excited to look and see if there was any mail in the box. Typically, I would get something if I wrote something (my Grandma Helen reminded me of that).
Anyways, we need to write letters. bottom line. more later.
Well, it’s now the end of February. I’ve basically been at the office until at least 6pm everyday since January first. Except the days I was traveling. Crazy busy time. I thought things were supposed to slow down.
Well, I keep telling myself I’m running a marathon. And to pace myself. Until I hit the wall (which I don’t think i’m near), we’ll keep going. Amy and the kids are being really patient and understanding. They are the best.
Heading to the NRB at the end of the week. Should be fun to catch up w some old friends and do some techie work. My friends Dan Castor and Ken Porter will be there, plus many others.
I worked on a new audio console in a Mobile TV Group truck last Friday night. Euphonix. nice truck; engineer’s name was Sean. Good guy; kinda intense, but the truck was in great shape. Survived the night w/ only a couple of mistakes; which is good in live TV. Which is also why I love live TV. You can make a couple of mistakes and still be called back. But only if they are minor mistakes.
ok, i’m done venting. until next time.
Am up early to head to team devotions in downtown Montevideo. We are staying on the outskirts of the city, in a nice, smaller hotel. Last night, our production manager, Diego, who lives in Buenos Aires, fed us at 11:00pm when we got back from the dedication service.
See, Diego is a master “parrilla” (which i think means grill) man. He set before us about 10 different kinds of meat, and had them grilled in the traditional Argentine manor. Salad, rice, tomatoes, pork, steak, livers….quite a feast. I will post some pictures later on my facebook page. Sorry, no link here.. i still gotta re-remember how to do all of that.
for now, you get my thoughts. have a great day.
Blogging is just…a bunch of work. Well, not really. But after looking at my last post (September 2008), I began to feel guilty that I haven’t written anything on this page for quite a long time. So, here I am again.
I guess most of my blogging time has been taken up w/ newer technologies like facebook and twitter. Well, facebook is almost passe, and I can’t afford the unlimited texting to make myself keep up w/ twitter. So that makes me a “dinosaur.” Or at least that’s what my kids say. Hope everyone is well, and I’ll check in later.
Her name means love, and that’s what she is
the love of my life.
Her touch brings life and rhythm to my soul:
the love of my life.
She shows her strength in the joy of our kids
the love of my life.
Our home is the refuge I long to enjoy
the love of my life.
Her kiss is the sweetest and only one I know
the love of my life.
Our love runs stronger and deeper than I can ever imagine
the love of my life.
Our kids know that their mom is the best
the love of my life.
Next to the Creator, she is the one I desire most
the love of my life.
I love you Babe.
…Alaska’s flag, what it means to you…” That is what I remember of the opening line of the pledge to the Alaskan flag. I lived there from 1973 until I left for college in 1983. My folks left Anchorage in 1991, and my sister in 1995.
As most of you know, our small frontier state is now front and center in the national spotlight (and it’s not because of Senator Ted Stevens this time!). Governor Sarah Palin has been named as John McCain’s running mate for the Republican ticket for president of these United States! Way to go, Mrs. Palin!
Now don’t go asking me questions about her politics or track record. I am embarrassed to say that I haven’t quite kept up w/ Alaskan politics in the last 200 years, except for the occasional sighting of Don Young or Ted Stevens in the news (I saw from a distance Sen Stevens at the Rotunda for former President Gerald Ford’s service. He didn’t look too good…). Now, Alaska is back on the map.
I’m guessing I’ll be seeing more of Mrs. Palin in my local Charlotte newspaper over the next 67 days. Imagine my surprise when I saw the name of Andrew Halcro, who went to my high school for a short time in the early 80′s. I remember his sister more; she was really cute! I was about 5 years too young, though. Oh well, my Amy is happy for that.
Andrew is a force in state politics in Alaska. He has a blog href=”http://andrewhalcro.com/”>http://andrewhalcro.com/ where he keeps up w/ local politics. He’s not very fond of Mrs. Palin, so I’m told.
Guess I’ll have to go and check it out myself. Nice to connect again w/ you, Andrew. Say hello to Damon when you talk to him.
This week was a shocker and a sleeper.
The shocker was my admin, Melissa, has taken another job w/in BGEA at the Billy Graham Library. It’s a promotion for her, and I’m glad that she is able to move up in the organization. The library is getting a great admin, and a great person. We will all miss her work, her personality, and her great cooking (she always brought lots of goodies!)
The sleeper was that I didn’t get much, but I’m not too upset about it. My brother in law Eric Boutieller and his family were visiting, and they love to have a lot of fun…. all the time. I’m not a night owl, and had to still work each day.
One fun thing Eric and I did was attend the Church Basement Roadshow, hosted in Charlotte by my friend Steve Knight. Doug Padgitt (who is really tall!), Tony Jones (who went to seminary!), and Mark Scandrette (who lives in San Francisco!) were entertaining and thought provoking. As I’m not an articulate writer or even an articulate thinker, that’s all I’m writing about it so far. Thanks Doug for letting me shine on the trombone. Mark, I’m probably a traditionalist that wants to be a creative thinker. Tony, I liked your comments best; especially the idea about coming down from 30,000 ft and touching the ground.
Oh, I went shooting w/ my dad and son at Uwharrie National Forest outside of Albemarle. We enjoyed a great 100yd range. I’m glad my dad taught me about firearms at a young age.
that’s all for now. Two weddings this weekend, and I love weddings…
Yesterday, my in-laws said goodbye to their cat of 16 years: Sonny Boy. He was a Himalayan cat w/ sass and attitude. Over the last years, his life became a series of spit up, late night whining, and a bladder that couldn’t hold its water. He gave my father in law a great deal of company, and was greatly loved.
Good bye, Sonny Boy.
Well, what a week. Arrive home safe and sound from Romania on Saturday, July 12; waited for my luggage for 1.5 hours. Nothing better to do when you want to get home….at least I didn’t have a connection in Charlotte. Came back to work and hit the ground running w/ a vengeance. Then, got an email that my friend Paul Hendrix’s mom had passed away. Had a bunch of projects pop up toward the end of the week, then I drove to Atlanta on Friday to attend Jackie Hendrix’s funeral, and give some support to Paul.
As the funeral ended (which was so inspirational and truly glorified God; way to go, Steven), a side door opened at the front of the chapel, and the funeral home attendees began to move flowers out of the way; I was presuming to move the casket outside, and onto the burial plot. As the pianist was vamping on the song, “if you could see me now…”, I kept hearing the words “Saying goodbye, saying goodbye..” over and over again in my head. Paul and his family were saying goodbye to their mom, who had fought a good fight and finished the race and was already celebrating w/ Jesus.
And then it hit me….I needed to say goodbye to my mom. During the week of her funeral, and even after it, I was so into “take care of Dad” mode, and trying to keep things going, that I never got to say goodbye… Tammy, Dad, and I were all by her bed when she went to be w/ Jesus, but it just didn’t seem like good bye. So, I said good bye to my mom, my wonderful, loving, awesome Mom. I feel and felt gypped, that she only moved her to Charlotte to move on to heaven. Why couldn’t she be around more? Now, I’m feeling some feelings for her, and missing her. But, I needed to say good bye, and I did.
My prayers will be w/ Paul, Patty, and the whole Hendrix family over the next few weeks. I know they will be saying goodbye to Jackie… and I’m grateful for an opportunity to say goodbye my own Mom.
