Run Tom, Run

Why, yes actually

Okay, so work has been a bit crazy the past couple weeks and its going to be a little more for next week as well. BUT..... the worst was over with today! I had to do a quarterly business review to our national director today and I've working on the deck for it for the past week. Tomorrow I get to live, eat, and breathe performance reviews. Good times. I've got 6 to write, and about 40ish to read and review. At least it will be one more thing off the list after that. I'm hoping things will calm down a little after next week. I've got to go to Austin on Tuesday and Wed for a planning session and then I think its going to let up some.

The weather has not helped me any in this time of stress. Its been staying in the 40s and a constant state of drizzle. Normally I would try and run everyday when I'm this stressed, but 40 and raining doesn't scream go outside and run. So, haven't been running much. However, I did get 5 miles in tonite which was good because I finally got to clear my head and think some. Running is my release and where my best thoughts, conversations with God, and quite moments happen. So, tonite was good.

Last night was Coffee & Culture (the community group I attend). For those who don't attend UBC, I'll explain briefly. Its a very diverse group that gets together once a week to discuss current events, cultural/social issues, etc. We've been meeting for about 2 years now and I absolutely love this group! The main reason it is so great is because we have such a wide variety of backgrounds and opinions in the group. Its a great place to discuss, hear new ideas, challenge your own views, change some thought, reinforce others. This spring the idea is that we will all write some length of essay on something we are passionate about. Craig and Gabe did the last 2 weeks and then asked for volunteers for next week. Chris tried to volunteer me and I declined. Lately I feel like I've been to busy to think once I get home. I just want to be a veg. But, also because I'm not much of a writer and don't pen my views very often. In our group I'm passionate in my support of business and capitalism and I somewhat know what I want to say, but not sure how to approach. So, I thought I would start it here (my appologies in advance if this starts to get long)......

In reading the mission statement of UBC you'll see the following point: we desire to utilize and value ART, BEAUTY, CREATIVITY, and DIVERSITY as coming from the Creator. Where I want to focus on is creativity. I truly believe that our creative abilities is one of the greatest ways that we see God at work. However, I feel like sometimes the view of creativity, or our definition of it is limited. We think of a stirring painting, an eloquent poem, a consuming novel, or an impassioned song. But, what about the teacher who finds a new way to reach a student, the doctor who changes their approach to their patients, the quarterback who scrambles and makes a play that leaves you in awe, or the entrepenuer with a new idea that could change our everyday lives? They take that idea and form a company around it. A new product is provided that makes a part of our life easier. Starts off small, running the business in a small location in a small town. Next thing you know it gets a little more popular and the business grows. The entrepenuer thinks of new things, better ways to produce them, and begins to provide less expensive products to consumers. Starts with 10 employees, a year later 100, two more years down the road there's over a 1,000 working there. All of the sudden unemployment is down in this small town. People are moving there for the job opportunities. New business are opening to support the growth and old businesses are revitalized. Many people working for this company are seeing new opportunities and beginning to think past the idea of "job" and more towards "career". The company starts to produce revenue in the millions, and then billions. The tax dollars genorated from the revenue, sales, and paychecks starts to flow back to the community. Schoools are better, roads are improved, parks are built. This is creation at its finest. I believe God has called some us not to be Christians who work in business, but to be servants who perform God's work directely through the WORK we do, not by being a witness what many view as secular vocation. Some of this may seem like an exaturated statement, but its really not. Communities have been thriviing around corporations for decades. Corporate America today seems to have a stigma from the scandels from the likes of Enron and WorldCom that has been branded across all coporations. At times I feel like many view it as the scapegoat for the nations problems. However I would encourage you to think about what would life really look like without business, specifically without major corporations. Get rid of AT&T, Proctor & Gamble, GE, Dow, Boeing, GM, Citigroup, Kroger, Target, and Ford. Can you really fathom what would happen? What would our economy look like without the combined $850 Billion dollars that these 10 companies generated into the US economy? What would we do with the 2.25 million jobs that would be lost that these 10 companies provide? Oh, and I haven't even begun to mention the millions of products and services that we would be without, or the other companies that fold as a result (more revenue and jobs). To me this IS creation, or at least one of many forms.

Thanks for reading if you've made it this far! Feel free to leave any thoughts. Cheers

Will There Be More On The Way???

Tragically, I haven't really had time to just sit and enjoy the album yet, so I can't offer too sound of an opinion yet. Work was crazy, so I had it playing in the background, but that doesn't provide for a good listen. I can tell you that I like what I hear so far. There's definitely no disappointment in her Sophomore endeavor.

Speaking of giving an album a chance - when was the last time that you just sat and listened to an album? I'm talking truly doing nothing besides soaking in an album in its entirety and enjoy as a piece of art on its own. Seems like too often we just enjoy our music as a background to our lives. We never pause to really focus on the piece itself. I recommended this for Damien Rice's "O" and would highly advise it with this album as well (I'm about to do just that). Have we become to busy, too preoccupied with the day's events, and tomorrow's worries to clear our heads and just relax and absorb an album? Hopefully not... So, grab one of your favorite albums, turn your phone off, unplug the tv, forget your day, and enjoy the art.

Question of the day: What album would you recommend? What album screams, shut everything else out and just listen straight through? Here's my first 3 (not ranked in any order):

1 - U2 - Joshua Tree
2 - Damien Rice - O
3 - Johh Coltrane - Blue Train

The Blessed Day Has Arrived!!!

That's right kids, Norah Jones' new album, Feels Like Home, has just released today. Quickly run to your nearest store to pick a copy up!! She'll also be appearing on The Tonight Show this evening followed by The Today Show on Thursday morning.

More to come after I pick up the album today! Cheers!

People - The comment board is LONELY!! Its days like these that we should really celebrate as a community!

Yeaaaaahhh, I'm Gonna Need You To Go Ahead And Come In On Sunday.

Okay - bossman didn't actually ask me to come in on Sunday, however the current workload did. NO BUENO! I enjoy my job for the most part, but sometimes it definitely gets to me. I think the past week (and the upcoming one) are examples of when it starts to drive me nuts! By Thursday afternoon I seriously had so much work to do that I really had no clue where to start. I had to spend about 30 mins prioritizing my work and figuring out what needed to be tackled first. I wouldn't mind it so much because I can catch up on a lot of stuff at home, however on Thursday night my remote access program ( how I contect to the office from home) stopped working and our IT guy couldn't get it fixed on Friday. So - can't catch up at home right now.

All that said, I do enjoy my job - but it definitely has its moments.

Friday night - the final night of Ed. A support group formed out our house to help Craig through the final episode. Check out his blog for the Ed tributes on Friday and Sat. Good stuff. We followed up the show with a trip to the bowling alley for a few games - only fitting thing to do. It was definitely good times. Sat was pretty uneventful. Went to Ninfa's for dinner and got the worst service I have ever received there (which is saying something because over the last 9 years I have had many a meal at Ninfa's). I almost asked our server if he was stoned because he just didn't seem like he was with us. After that we went to Common Grounds to check out A Few Cards Shy. I haven't listened to any of their recordings, but they're a pretty fun band to watch live. After the show I heard some girl yell "Tom". I turned around to see some girl that I didn't recognize at all. She refreshed my memory and realized this girl was in my church's youth group back home. I was the intern for the youth group before my senior year at Baylor, she was in like 6th grade..... and now at Baylor. I'm officially old now.