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Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Thankfully 2009

Last year, I wrote a little post called "Thankfully...". This year, back by popular demand (not really, I just decided to do it), is this year's "Thankfully" post. Come to think of it, only one section changed. Interesting.


My thankful lists, by category:

Biggees:
My wife
My son
My family
My friends
My church
My job
My home
My health


Random:
Laptops
Pimento Cheese
Gas Grills
MS-SQL
Rebooting
Droid
Good books
Prolific authors
Pickles
Recliners
Elastic
Comic books
Netflix


(last, but not least)
Spiritual:
The Cross
Grace
Mercy
A God Who Loves Me

Monday, November 16, 2009

Would You Believe $1?

So we had a huge, gi-normous church-wide garage sale on Saturday. When I say there was a LOT of stuff, it is only because I am at loss of how to really describe it adequately. You know the old saying, "Everything but the kitchen sink?"...we had TWO sinks. It was awesome.


One of my goals was that at 2:00ish, when it was officially over, was to be down to a small enough amount of stuff that it could be taken in one trip to Goodwill. And, I am happy to say, we did it! If you were there all day (which some were), you would have heard the "language" of the event change as the day progressed. I've created a timeline below for your reading enjoyment.

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7:30 AM - "We officially start at 8:00, so we'll still be bringing some great stuff out for the next little bit, ma'm."

9:00 AM - "Anything in particular you are looking for?"

11:00 AM - "Are you interested in that? We'll make you a great deal..."

1:00 PM - "Just make us an offer, we'd love for you to have it..."

1:30 PM - "Everything must go! Everything must go!"

2:00 PM - "Take a box, fill it up. Anything you can fit in that box is yours for $1."

2:15 PM - "Take a box, fill it up. It's yours. Make a donation if you would like."

2:25 PM - "Ma'm, I'll move the orange cones so you can pull you car over here by this table and I will put everything on it in your trunk."

2:40 PM - "How much, you ask? Tell you what...how about $2...unless you load it yourself, then its free."

2:55 PM - "You can take any item you'd like, as long as you also take a couple that you don't."

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We had a great time, raised some money, and made some new friends. It was a lot of work..and fun!

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Starbucks vs. Chik-fil-A - And the winner is...

So a few weeks ago me and my fam went on vacation back to Texas. We visited friends and family, took in a Cowboy game (Go Cowboys! - that's for you, honey), and even got to take part in the Fall Fest at the church we attended when we lived in Tyler.


We stayed with my in-laws for a few days. My mom-in-law doesn't even email. My dad-in-law emails and surfs the web, etc., but he uses a cellular card to do it. I didn't want to mess with trying to install the drivers for his card or take up his laptop (after all, I brought mine with me), so I drove a couple of miles down the road to Starbucks. I even blogged about it.

I don't have AT&T Wireless, which is what Starbucks offered, so I ponied up $4 to use wireless for 2 hours. Oh, and I also bought a $4 coffee.

I thought the pricing was reasonable. It was simple, easy to get connected, and I didn't mind paying for it. I didn't even mind buying the coffee. I like Starbucks coffee. I just considered it part of the cost of having a comfortable place to sit, sip my coffee, and have access to the world wide web.

I enjoyed it so much, that two days later I went back. However, the second time I went, things were a little different.

I bought my coffee (even though it was getting a little late, I always feel like I should spend a little at a place that allows me the use of their facilities), paid my $4 to AT&T and got connected. I had been checking email, etc. for about 20 minutes when one of the young gentlemen employed by Starbucks came around to everyone and said, "We'll be closing in 5 minutes."

Hang on a second. I looked at the clock: 5 minutes until 10:00 PM. I could have sworn that the hours of service lasted until 10:30. I didn't want to waste my precious last few minutes going to the door to check so I just kept on doing what I was doing.

About 4 minutes later they turned off the lights. I decided that was my hint to leave. I packed up and headed out. As I was going out the door, the same young gentleman came right behind me to lock the door. I glanced at the glass as I came though: closing hours on Sunday? 10:30 PM.

I mentioned it to the young man.

"The posted hours are incorrect," was his only explanation. No "sorry", or "we'll get that changed".

I mentioned to him that if I had known that the store was closing 25 minutes after I had arrived I wouldn't have purchased a coffee (that I didn't really want that late) and paid for 2 hours of wi-fi when I was going to only be able to use less than a quarter of that.

He just said, "Goodnight," and closed the door.

I have to admit I was more than a little disgruntled.

Looking back, I think they just closed early on me. There was a REALLY bad thunderstorm blowing in from the west, and only about 3 customers in the store. I think they just decided to close.

And in the other corner: Chik-fil-A

Today I went to Chik-fil-A, got some breakfast (can't eat there any other time - allergic to poultry), and connected my laptop to their FREE wi-fi.

I was asked not once, not twice, but 4 times if I would like to have my "beverage refreshed", which was promptly taken care of and brought back to my table with a smile. Oh yeah, each time they asked if I wanted more ice and told me it was their pleasure whenever I thanked them for the refill.

Wow! What a difference.


So here I am, listening to All-Star United, blogging away, drinking a free refill of Dr. Pepper and appreciating Chik-fil-A.

This is the same Chik-fil-A that my wife and 3 year-old came to a few weeks ago. My son has decided that he now wants to order for himself. He ordered some chicken minis and an airplane. The gentleman behind the counter took his order with a smile.

When he brought them their food, there on the tray, was a paper airplane. My son, and probably even more so, my wife were extremely appreciative.

I really appreciate good customer service. Jesus came to serve, you know...

Friday, November 6, 2009

Incredible Imagination

Some people's creativity just blows me away. I stumbled across an article the other day on Popular Mechanics website titled "The World's 18 Strangest Bridges". It was fantastic. Some bridges were included because of their beauty, while others were included because of their innovation. Here's a couple of pictures.


























If this kind of thing interests you at all take a minute and read the article. Even if you don't read every word, just check out the pictures. Incredible!