Hey! Want to Climb a Mountain?

One of the "philosophies" I've developed during this whole process is the one meal/one workout philosophy.  Anybody can eat healthy for one meal.  Anybody can go exercise one time.  So I just worry about the next meal and the next workout.  Put a string of these "one-at-a-times" together, and you get results.  I know that this isn't some big revelation, but it is the way I'm approaching it.

If you're waiting to get started on getting healthy "until Monday", or "after the holidays", or "next week"...don't wait.  Start right now!  Eat healthier at your next meal.  Plan a time to get more active.

Just think, if you had started making changes at the same time that I did back on July 1st, you'd be 3 months closer to your goals.  For some of you, you might have already reached your goals!

Because I'm healthier, today the family and I were able to go to Pine Mountain outside of Clarksville and hike about 1.5 miles up the side of the mountain to an incredible overlook point.  We then ran back down the mountain.  In June, I literally could NOT have done this, even if I had wanted to.  Today, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I can't wait for our next adventure!

I Don't Expect Much

You know, I don't expect much from my co-workers. But there's one thing that I just have to say something about.

We have an ice-maker in our breakroom. It's a nice ice-machine. I like it. I like ice. I like cold beverages in general. It even comes with its own scoop. There's a nice little holder built in to the right side to hold the scoop.

Every time I use the scoop I put it back where it goes. Every. single. time.

And every time I open the ice-maker to get some ice, I find the scoop laying in the ice. Every. single. time.

Why can't people just put it back where it goes!?!?!!!?! It's not hard. Why? Why?!?

Okay...I'm done complaining.

A New Post

I haven't really written anything (original) since November 16th. That's a long time. I did a bunch of re-runs through the holidays, and my last two posts were about my sister Teresa passing away.

I said in my last post that I might share my thoughts about her. You know what? I've changed my mind. I think I'll just say this: She was loved, and even though she's gone from this earth, I still love her, miss her, and I expect to see her again someday. My other thoughts I'll just treasure and keep close to my heart.

Superbowl Sunday....go Cowboys!!

Do You Feel the Same?

Quick question:

If you are on a road trip, and you stop at a McDonald's or QT, or maybe even a generic Chevron, just to use their restroom, do you feel any onus to purchase something?

I do. Every time. I've tried to even convince myself, "Hey, I eat at 'McDonalds' all the time," but I know they are mostly franchises and the Mickey D's that I eat at in Smyrna doesn't send any money to Monroe, Louisiana, so I can't completely convince myself it is okay.

Am I strange? Insane? Have an over-developed sense of responsibility?

How about you, has the thought ever even crossed your mind?

Like My Lunchbox?

Last year, on November 20th, I celebrated my 15th wedding anniversary (as did my wife). I am not one of those guys that jokes about "the ole ball-and-chain", etc. I know how incredibly blessed I am to be married to the woman that I am incredibly blessed to be married to. ( That last sentence was on purpose. I'm that incredibly blessed.)

Anyway, my incredible blessing of a wife got me a great present last year for our anniversary. A lunchbox. But not just any lunchbox. No! It's a Captain America lunchbox! It's awesome.

Now to answer the obvious question. Do I carry it to work? You bet I do. Usually it contains some chips, a sandwich, maybe some yogurt. It can hold all kinds of great things. After all, it is a lunchbox.

Now here's the interesting thing. At least, interesting to me. In high school, even Jr. high, I would never, EVER, have been seen carrying a lunchbox like this. I was way too worried about being cool. Well...trying to be cool. I never actually managed it.

I was in the worst of situations. I was a smart, slightly (at the time) overweight kid that ended up excelling in band of all things. I collected comic books, read a lot, played D&D and Risk, and loved computers when computers weren't yet cool. (I am sure I would have been picked on more if I wasn't bigger than most of my teachers.)

Of course, NONE of this was mentioned at school. Most of my best friends were nerds, but, of course, being the lame, self-conscious, peer-aware person that I was, I tried not to associate too much with them at school. (one of the few things I truly regret from high school.) I was too busy trying to impress the "cool kids". I know it sounds like an After School special, but it's true. It wasn't the "cool kid's" fault. They didn't know that the very reason I often acted like a jerk and a dweeb was because I was trying hard not to act like a geek and a nerd.

Then I went to college. Something happened. Suddenly, I was immersed in a culture where the things that I did best (musically, scholastically) were highly esteemed. My peer group respected me.

Then something else happened. I became a Christian. I had always sort of considered myself a Christian, but had never really read the Bible or felt like God had any active participation in my life. (But that's an entirely different story.) One of the changes this brought in my life was a sense of freedom. I was no longer worried about what other people thought. I was able to be myself.

Interestingly enough, I found out I liked me. And strangely enough, other people did, too. I found that I had a gift for making friends and hospitality. You might ask, "You?" Yep, me.

I discovered that my quirks are what makes me who I am. I love comic books. I wear shorts in the winter. I love to laugh at really stupid movies. I get loud sometimes. I say what's on my mind. I love people and really mean it when I tell them, "The first time at my house you're a guest, if you come back, you're family." When I tell people, "Come to Atlanta, you can stay at our house," I sincerely hope they will.

What you see is what you get. The guy sitting in the cubicle next to you singing the Speed Racer theme song? That's me. If it bothers you, I'll stop, but I'm not embarrassed to be doing it. I've embraced my geek-ness and idiosyncrasies, and I'm loving life.

Do you like my lunchbox? I do.

Labels? Schmabels!

Just to clarify, this is not the same post my good friend Jeff wrote entitled "Label Schmabel". I mean, it's obviously not exactly the same. My title is plural and has punctation. You ought to take a few minutes and read his when you have a chance.

My thoughts aren't crystal clear on this subject yet, but I thought writing about it might help. So, here goes.

If you've ever watched The Breakfast Club, a movie about a group of high school kids that spend a day in Saturday detention, you know it deals with stereotypes. At the start of the movie, their judgemental supervising teacher gives them an assignment to write an essay about who they think they are. At the end of the movie, you hear the essay read as a voice over.

Dear Mr. Vernon,

We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us...

In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain...

...and an athlete...
...and a basket case...
...a princess...
...and a criminal...

Does that answer your question?

Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.

Very interesting, huh? Like Mr. Vernon in the movie, we all, in general, define people by the "groups" that they belong to. A few examples immediately come to mind:

teacher
Texan
musician
liberal
adult
environmentalist
biker
geek
Christian
professional
father

Whether it is because of a person's profession, gender, political leaning, age, or socioeconomic class, we all tend to view people through those stereotypes/labels/paradigms. But, also like in the movie, the reality is that no one is only one of those things, or a perfect representation of any particular group.

You might ask, "Aaron, if a movie from the 80's has already explored all this, why are you re-hashing it?"

I might answer, "I don't know." But I won't. Instead I'll answer by saying that the thing I wanted to remind myself (and you, if you are reading this) is that when we let labels define people, we ascribe faults and strengths to people that they may or may not have. I have one friend who always says (only half-jokingly) that anybody with dreadlocks smokes dope.

When I met my wife in college, I volunteered to tutor her in trigonometry. I'm a big guy, and in college I was in (much) better shape. My (future) wife's response internally to my offer was, "How can he tutor me in trig? He's just a big dumb jock."

You know what they say...don't judge a book by its cover. (But you may not know what I say...don't judge a book by its movie. )

Though I may have looked it, I, of course, am not a big dumb jock.

What do you think people might assume about you? Who do you tend to "pre-judge"? It's worth thinking about.

There you have it...told you I didn't have my thoughts organized very well on this.

Opposite Ends of the Spectrum

As many of you may know, I deliver pizza as a second job. You can learn a lot about people by delivering them pizza.

• Some people answer the door while on the phone, never look you in the eye, say not one word, hand you the money, take the pizza, and close the door.
• A LOT of people don't turn their porch light on, then when they realize that they haven't they apologize.
• Most people don't seem to realize that if I stand there for 5 minutes waiting for them to find their money that they just A) potentially made someone else's pizza late and B) cost me money.
• Alert to customers: I usually don't carry change for $100...sorry. Especially when your order is $11.45.
• Teenagers don't tip. In fact, they usually want the exact change. To the penny.
• 1 out of 10 houses either have A) mailbox numbers you can't read, B) mailboxes with missing numbers, or C) have NO mailbox at all...and this fact does not seem noteworthy to people when they place their order.

So last night I had a couple of interesting experiences:

First:
I delivered a medium pizza to a woman. Her total was $14.30. When she opened the door, she handed me the coupon she had used, a $20 bill, and said "keep the change". Think about that for a second. She went through the trouble to use a coupon to lower the price a couple of bucks, and STILL gave me the entire twenty. Very thoughtful.

Second:
I was trying to deliver a pizza to a lady who lives in a particularly difficult apartment complex to deliver to. (I won't bore you with why it is difficult.) The instructions on the ticket said, "TELL DELIVERY DRIVER TO CALL WHEN HE ARRIVES." So I did...about 5 times. I then called the Hut, and asked them to call her.

She immediately answered and told the person them, "Oh...I saw his calls coming in, but I didn't recognize the number."

What? She must have thought every delivery driver was issued a special "Pizza Hut Cell Phone", so when we call customers it shows Pizza Hut on the caller ID. Sheesh!