They never grow up

I'm start to learn that even at an old age, its capable of finding a male that hasn't developed into a man. After allowing myself to be hooked up by a young lady from church I was somewhat leary but decided to relax and see where things went. After talking to her cousin, I acknowledged that there were some things about him that were on my "must not have" list but because we had so many things in common, I decided to go with the flow. After talking a few times, sending him a photo, and making plans to meet for lunch/ dinner, I was really optimistic.

However, on the day of our outing, he never called, returned my call or text. Then I didn't hear from him for 2 weeks. When I finally did hear from this fool, it was a text saying "sorry for taking so long to contact you but you hurt my feelings". What the heck?!?!? All of our conversations had been extensive, laid back, and full of humor. I hurt your feelings?!?!? When? How? And why aren't you man enough to pick up the phone and tell me what you're talking about?

I know that what I'm saying may offend some. But I'm talking about a 39 year old man with two teenage children sending a text saying "you hurt my feelings". That has to be the most immature thing that I have ever heard of. Then, after I apologized (for what, I still have no idea) this jerk still didn't have the common courtesy to call and say anything.

I know that people think that a woman should have a man by a certain age...and believe me, I do want one. But if this is any example of what I have to put up with, I'd rather be alone.

Weary weekend

It was a pleasure to have an empty calendar for this weekend. However, I wanted to get a lot more accomplished than I actually did. I'm excited to proclaim that I finally made a huge drop off to the Salvation Army. It was mainly a bunch of clothes and other miscellaneous items that I have been sitting in the middle bedroom for months. Besides that, I took care of getting the signature card signed for the family reunions bank account. Those two items alone made this weekend a success.

Besides that, I had hoped to make it out to my cousins to help her clean the new house. But I severely overslept on Saturday morning and by the time, I was prepared to get going I would have been caught in massive traffic. Totally reminded me of why I despise the suburbs. Since the holiday is Monday, I'm just going to see if she wants me to come out help this coming weekend.

My bad habit showed its ugly face again this weekend. I've known for 2 weeks that I needed to complete a 500-600 word essay for this ministerial program that I'm attempting to enroll in. Everyday after work, I attempted to focus on writing it, with no success. Finally, it was due on Sunday. Once again, I overslept on Sunday and woke up rushing to start/ finish it. When it was all said and done, it was exactly 600 words and I still felt as if I didn't say enough. I guess I'll find out what they thought of it soon enough.

***Which reminds me that I need to contact Aenon and find out where my other materials are.

Retreat '08

This years retreat was absolutely awesome. The Word went forth and I got to find out what a really cool person one of our guest speakers is. Although I didn't perform my normal "responsibilities" when it comes to this annual event. I did get to help out with getting our speaker to and fro. Considering my recent absence, due to school and work, it felt great to actually be involved and able to help out.

My goal was to make a deposit for myself and one other person for next year but in my haste to get the speaker to the airport, I totally forget. Hoping that when I call TJ tomorrow, she'll still let me get in on the deal.

Besides some awesome Word, I had an opportunity to hang out and meet some new people. Again, with my lack of involvement over the last few months, I hadn't had an opportunity to meet some of the new saints at the church. But with no television, cell phone, or computer for 3.5 days, you definitely get a chance to learn about people and get some great rest...which I truly appreciated.

Now that I'm back, I just pray that I can put what I got to good use. My one major prayer and goal over the next 6 months is to develop a balance in my life. Often times, I can get so bombarded with one task that I let other responsibilities slip to the side. I don't like that about myself. So I really want to work on developing a balanced life so that when I do start a relationship with someone, I won't be disproportioned in that as well.

As for my hope of a chance encounter with "Steve" (that's not his name)...it didn't go as I had hoped. So if he is what I believe that God said he is, it'll happen another time.

Time to head off to bed...til' next time.

No mommy

This has to be one of the saddest stories. I can't imagine being a parent expecting to bring home a child, only to find that I can't.

The plot:

A Japanese couple unable to have children, go to India for a surrogant who will carry a child. The child is a combination of the husbands sperm and an unidentified egg. Just months before the child is born, the parents divorce and the mother wants nothing do with the child getting back to Japan, although the father still wants her. The father goes to India but is forbidden from taking the child because neither his ex-wife or the surrogant mother want anything to do with the child. Additionally, India's law prohibits men from adopting daughters. This is a total mess for dad and his mother (the baby's paternal grandmother).

Having considered adoption, I couldn't imagine going through such an ordeal. Because many countries, including the US make it legal for surrogants to make a profit for their work, many couples flee to countries like India. But then they run into complications such as this. It has to be disturbing to learn that you can't bring your own seed home, especially after spending thousands of dollars and your own country's embassy won't get involved. Apparently this is not an uncommon occurence. According the article the US deals with many cases of this nature but have nothing in place to help these couples.

And to believe that we spend money on things like war, when people in our country want children and can't have them. UGH

What a weekend

What a weekend?

Friday night was spent enjoying the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. I was truly intrigued by the parade of countries and kept thinking to myself how people all over the world are so beautiful. All the different shades, hair lengths and textures, and eye colors...but all beautiful in their own way. As much as I enjoyed watching it, I could only imagine the excitement in the atmosphere for those experiencing it in person.

It wasn't until then that I developed mixed emotions about the possibility of Chicago getting the 2016 Olypics. On one end, I would love to be apart of such an exciting event. Seeing as how the city's plans include building the Olympic stadium within walking distance of my front door, this would be the best opportunity for me to take part. On the other end, I'm concerned that Chicago isn't ready for the Olympics. Our transit system needs expanding, highways need repair, and our public safety needs improving.

I woke Saturday morning to the news of Bernie Mac's passing and by the end of Sunday morning service, I had recieved the notice of the passing of "Shaft". Yes I know his name is Isaac Hayes but he'll always to shaft to me.

So with the highs and lows, I just spent Sunday evening finishing my cleaning and relaxing. I did manage to get all the laundry done and got my tires listed on craigslist.org. I surely hope that someone purchases them this week. I still need to get the stuff together and dropped off for Little Rock and get packed if I'm going to my church retreat.

Oh, I have to remember to post something about....let's call him Ray.

Back to basics

I admit that since leaving home, and even moreso over the last couple of years, I've gotten very laxed with some of my normal routines as far as my housekeeping tendency's. After careful consideration, I realize that as I get older, I appreciate the way that way that my parents did things and I need to re-establish some of those old habits. In an effort to get on track, here is my extensive list of things to accomplish this weekend.

(1) Wash, iron, and put away all laundry
(2) Clean both bathrooms
(3) Pack & deliver items to go to Little Rock
(4) Put rims for sale on craigslist
(5) Wax hardwood floors
(6) Finish painting master bathroom (this is a big ???)
(7) Organize bookshelf, movie & cd racks
(8) Add remainder of cd's to Itunes
(9) Take measurements of laundry closet (preparing to add shelves)
(10) Check tires on bicycle

Lord, help!

Hump Day

As typical a Wednesday as it could be. I made it out for a 5:45am run this morning. I love the way they get your blood flowing. A 30 minute devotion to get me mentally prepared for the days challenges....and I'm off to work. I can really appreciate that it was a relatively slow day. Although we're getting tons of calls about how this merger will affect accounts, I'm really trying to take each day in stride.

My attempts to catch the Dark Knight have been dashed once again. I'm thinking of maybe taking a half day at work so that I can catch it before it leaves IMAX.

I finally got the family website up and running. It's a great accomplishment although there is still plenty that needs to be done to make it fully functional. We've definitely decided on Orlando so we'll need to make a trip down there in the near future to finalize the hotel arrangements and things of that nature.

I'm off to bed. I have a dentist appointment tomorrow so I have to work the early shift to make up my time. Ugh...next job must have more flexibility.

Hello Charlotte?

Today was my phone interview with an HR representative for the internal position that I applied for in Charlotte. It was quick but apparently went well since she scheduled me for an interview with a Senior person that does what I'll be doing. This relocation thing is weighing heavy on my mind. It's much different when you're an owner instead of a renter. But lets not get ahead of ourselves. It's still just phone interviews and I guess we'll see how interested they really are as the process continues.

In other news...I found out that two people that I admire are now involved in some very nice "marriage potential" relationships. In fact, the one gave me the courage to try something that I've been somewhat leary of doing. Especially since the one time that I tried it was a truly regrtful situation.

Meanwhile, in family reunion planning-ville. The website will be going up today. There is still plenty of construction going on but at least it will be up and running with basic information. I do believe that we have decided on a location...by process of elimination for the most part.

The plan for the rest of the week:

(1) Look for second job
(2) Study for the 65
(3) Clean both bathrooms
(4) Go running

Family Reunion

This years family reunion was held in Lafayette, LA. As usual, I arrived the night before the events began taking place. Instead of going directly to Lafayette, I spent the night in New Orleans. Because of our late arrival (my cousin DW came with) there wasn't an opportunity to do much of anything. Besides that, it had been a long day at work and mamma wasn't up for checking out the cross-dressers on Burbon Street.

Rising early on Friday, we began the 1.5 hour drive to Lafayette because the rental car had to be turned in by 4pm to avoid being charged for an additional day. Of course, my cousin, in true nature, had an attitude about everything from her seat on the plane, to the hotel room, to the fact that we didn't get to do much in New Orleans before heading to Lafayette. This, despite the fact that we had already determined that we would come back to New Orleans on Saturday with other family members.

After arriving to the hotel, she had yet another complaint. We had anticipated sharing a room with my mothers (dad's wife) mother. But my other cousin, who happens to be in a much worse financial position that either of us, needed to share a room with her because he couldn't afford a room and she requires physical help getting around. It was no big deal to me since my mom got a discounted room and instead of spliting the cost 3 ways, it would only be 2 ways. But, of course my cousin complained about that. I could go on but lets just say she found several other things to complain about before we landed back in Chicago.

Despite her constant gripping, I'm the primary planner for the 2009 family reunion. I'm making several adjustments that include a new family website, bank accounts, and rate changes. We haven't made a definite decision on the location but I'm happy with the choices that we have before us. I pray that I'm able to set a new standard for future reunions.

This has gone too far

While browsing today's financial headlines, I came across the article below. I can't believe how far airlines are going to make a buck. I, probably better than most, understand how the financial markets work and the strain faced by most sectors at this time of rising gasoline prices. However, the fact is, firms, just as individuals should be preparing for financial hardships. History has shown that prosperous times don't last indefinitely, and thus, like the wise ant, we should constantly be preparing for those times of economic downfall.

Back to the article. JetBlue has decided to charge $7 for a pillow and blanket on its flights over 2 hours. The article doesn't specify, but it suggests, the pillows and blankets may not be available on shorter flights. This has gone too far. Ticket prices have risen, you're charging me to take luggage, a cup of water costs 2 bucks, you've crunched your seats together, and now you want to charge me for a pillow to rest my aching neck and a blanket because you're freezing me.

Next, they'll be charging for the oxygen masks and the seats that turn into a floatation device in the event of a water evacuation. An intelligent firm, instead of paying hefty bonuses to top executives, should have been hedging against the possible rise in gasoline costs and other unknowns. But noooo...now they want us to pay for inability to prepare and forecast.

NEW YORK (AP) -- JetBlue Airways Corp. said Monday it is now charging customers for pillows and blankets. The carrier has done away with the recycled blankets and pillows used on its flights, and has started offering an "eco-friendly" travel blanket and pillow that can be purchased for $7 on flights longer than two hours. The pair come in a kit with a $5 coupon to home furnishings retailer Bed Bath & Beyond.

The carrier claims the pillow and blanket feature a fabric technology, developed by CleanBrands LLC, that blocks pesky critters like dust mites, mold spores, pollen and pet dander.

JetBlue already offers free "Snooze Kits" on overnight flights from the West that include an eyeshade and ear plugs.

But the blanket and pillow kit is the latest in a string of a la carte items the company says are providing a revenue boost to help offset the soaring price of jet fuel.

A JetBlue spokeswoman declined to predict how much the sale of these kits will bring in, saying that the company only provides revenue details for specific items in its quarterly earnings conference calls.

The carrier said last month it expects to collect about $40 million from customers buying seats with extra leg room this year. Its $15 fee for a second checked bag is expected to translate into about $20 million in additional revenue. A ticket change fee, which doubled to $100 in the second quarter, is part of a "basket of fee changes" expected to produce about $50 million in extra revenue in 2008.

Shares rose 22 cents, or 4.2 percent, to $5.48 in midday trading.