I didn't realize it had been so long!

It's been a while since I posted! Time has been flying lately and I need to get on the ball and do some blogging! Well... I'm in Cleveland again. This is becoming my second home. I know where the nearest Target and Wal-Mart are. Oh, and the nearsest Dairy Queen (love those Peanut Buster Parfaits!). I sure miss being home though. I miss getting to put Jasmin to sleep at night. She and I usually sit in the sleepy chair around 8:30 and within 30 minutes or so she's conked out for the night. Tiffany said that she stays up late and doesn't want to go to sleep when I'm gone. We've had the same routine since she was about 3 months old, so I guess we both miss it! guess when they move back to their house, I will have to go over there every night so I can put her to bed.



Jasmin had a great Halloween and an even better first birthday. Yep... she's no longer a baby, she's officially a toddler! I'll include some pics so you all can see how big she's gotten. She had a birthday party on Saturday. She had so much fun. She played and played and fell asleep in the car on the way home. We had it at my mom's house and all of Tiffany's family came except her grandpa, but he just doesn't get around very well anymore. But Jasmin went to see him on Halloween, so he was able to see her recently.

Mamaw had the flu while I was home this last week. Mom said that she thought Josh was getting it yesterday! Yuck! But I guess it is the season for it. Speaking of season... can you believe that Christmas is just around the corner.... again? Wasn't it just here? I swear it was just here. I haven't bought a single present and I have no ideas on what to get everyone! I guess it's really no different from any other year... it just sneaks up on me and then I end up fighting the crowds vowing that I will never again shop on Christmas Eve, just to turn around and do it again next year.

Well... I guess I'll head back to the hotel (I had supper at Denny's and they have free wi-fi) and finish up some work. I have to get those billable hours in so I can afford Christmas around the corner!

I can't believe I've already been home a week! It goes by so fast! I'm sure that it will be nice and chilly this trip to Ohio... better pack my heavy coat! I've been thinking about my friends from DaySpring a lot lately. I miss getting to talk to them every day. You work with someone for several years, you learn a lot about each other and I just miss talking to them or laughing and joking. We did a lot of laughing and joking! Once I'm back from this trip, I'm going to try to go visit them and do a little catching up.

I'm not really sure what to write about this time. I have so much that I want to say and get out of my head, but I just can't seem to put it all into words right now. Maybe it will come easier soon and you will be reading novels on here! I guess until then, I'm going to go ahead and close this post.

Before I leave this post, I would like to ask you to please pray for my Mamaw. She just isn't doing very well. Her health seems to decline more every day. She fell the other day, thank goodness she didn't break any bones! She has such a hard time getting around any more. It's very hard to watch her decline the way that she is. She's always been so strong and taken care of everyone else, and now we're taking care of her.

Traveling A lot

Sorry it's been a bit since I've posted. It's been pretty busy lately. I've been to Cleveland every other week since I've started this job and it looks like I will be doing the same until the first part of December. I actually enjoy getting to travel. I've met a lot of interesting people along this journey. Heidi from Boundless Flight called today and she has another prospective client for me to meet. She's going to set something up the next time I'm here in Cleveland, which will be the last week in October, and the class I'm going to teach the week of Nov. 17th is filling up fast!

I've decided to head back early on Friday Oct. 31st, tho because it will be Jasmin's first Halloween! I know she's not going to know what the heck is going on, but she'll have fun. She's just going to visit family so they can see her all dressed up in her little pink tutu and ballerina slippers! How cute is that? I'll have to post some pics of her.

I finally broke down and had to get a smart phone. I decided on a Blackberry (it was the cheapest, believe it or not!). I can finally answer the blasted thing now, but surfing the net or reading e-mails....that's gonna take me a while! It always annoyed me when the flight attendant would say to "put away all cell phones and two way pagers" and here were people still clicking away on their phones and digging them out as soon as the wheels touched the ground! Well... I am officially one of those annoying people! Oh, well... I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. You spend several hours on a plane and once you land you just have to know right away what you missed in those few hours. Did we send someone to mars yet, what happened on the Presidential debates, Are Meredith and McDreamy still together or did she run away again (c'mon... seriously, get it together girl!)?

Well... I guess that's all for now. I'm going to go to bed, so I can head to work tomorrow, then to the airport to fly home.

Weather

I had to go buy a jacket today. Last time I came up here, I brought one and didn't need it and this time I didn't bring it and I need it! It's in the 50's which isn't bad, but the wind is terrible!! It's been cloudy and rainy, which is fine with me. I love the rain. I wish there was more thunder though. I like to hear the thunder.

I got some good news today. I stopped by the first company I worked for when I was up here in July (I've still been working for them on a part time basis from home) and they want to extend my contract until at least June 2009! And they want to at least double my work load... maybe more at times! Wooo Hooo! I'm excited! God is good... all the time! Isn't it awesome how He just works it all out? I don't need to worry, He's got it all mapped out and He's a much better mapper than I could ever be.

Sorry this has been a boring post. Maybe I'll have something more exciting by the end of the week.

Cleveland

Back in Cleveland. I really enjoy this city. It's big, but not too big. Interesting flight... had to connect in Chicago. Our plane was supposed to leave at 2:40. We're all situated getting ready to taxi out to the runway, when the pilot comes over the p.a. and says that he thinks there is a problem with the air conditioning and he would like to have maintenance take a look at it. The guy sitting next to me says a couple of expletives one of them being the "F" bomb! So, we wait about 30 minutes and the pilot comes back on and says that maintenance said that it would take more than an hour to fix the problem, so we are going to deboard the plane and they will find us another one. The guy next to me then pops off with "M.F". Sheesh mister... it's not that big of deal. I overheard a lady make a great statement once we were back in the terminal. She said "This is something that I can't control, so why should I let it bother me, I can't change the situation." I've heard people say that before, but for some reason it really stuck with me today. I'm sure my blood pressure would be better if I could use her philosophy! Maybe I'll try it and see how it goes...

Home...

Well... I'm home from my last trip. I enjoyed the trip and learned a lot of new things. The company that I'm working with sent me home with an IBM Thinkpad... so I had that and my regular laptop. Getting through airport security was FUN! Two laptops, shoes with laces (what the heck was I thinking!!) and two laptop bags. It was crazy. I made sure I left early enough to get to the airport in time to deal with all of the crap I had to carry on! Sheesh! I really think I'm going to enjoy getting to travel. I've met so many new people already. It's just really a lot of fun. God is good! Very good! I leave out again on Sunday, to head back to Cleveland. Hopefully this time I will be able to visit the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame! I checked their schedule and they're open late on Wednesdays.... so maybe...

What's with all the fire alarms in this town?

Well... I had a nice little blog typed up, but got in a hurry and deleted everything that I'd written. So... you're going to get the readers digest version, which isn't nearly as funny, but I'm tired and don't feel like writing all that again. My first day on the job, we were sitting in a meeting and someone comes over the loud speaker and states that they will be testing the fire alarm and for everyone to remain calm and not to evacuate the building. No one jumped up and ran out of the building screaming when the alarm sounded, so I'd say that their little test was successful. The next day, someone comes over the loud speaker again and says that everyone needs to evacuate the building immediately, and meet with their group in the assigned location. I don't have a group and I sure don't know where my assigned location is! So Prasanna (he started the same day I did) and I look at each other and wonder where the heck we're supposed to go! We hooked up with some lady who decided this was a good time for a smoke break, so we at least made it out of the building ok. People were everywhere! Pouring out of the building onto the sidewalk and into the parking lots. After about 30 minutes, they gave the all clear and we headed back inside. It turns out that this was just their yearly fire drill. Lucky me!
Yesterday morning, I'm getting ready for work, when the alarm here at the hotel goes off! What the heck? I thought they were just doing their yearly fire drill too and decided that they would not want me to come downstairs looking the way I did! Plus if it were a real fire, don't those handsome, well muscled firemen break down your door to rescue you? I sure wasn't gonna pass that up! Well... no handsome firemen broke down my door, and after what seemed like an eternity the fire alarm finally stopped. Later, on my way downstairs, someone in the elevator told me that there was an air conditioning unit on the third floor that had started smoking and they had to sound the alarm. Hopefully... I won't have to deal with any more fire alarms while I'm here!

First Blog

Well... I've been trying to get this site up and going and have determined that I have no clue what I'm doing. So I decided if I'm going to get my first post up before Christmas, then I'd better just get started and I can fine tune as I go along.

This is my first week on my new job. I still feel like I'm on vacation and I'll just head back to work at DaySpring on Monday. Weird. I guess it will just take a while.

My new adventure is going well. I'm updating this blog from the hotel room in Cleveland. It's pretty nice here. I'm hoping to get to go to the Rock- n- Roll Hall of Fame while I'm here, but it may have to wait until next time.

I have to tell about my dining experience tonight. It's a hoot! I decided that I was tired of fast food and wanted to go to an actual restaraunt for dinner tonight. I have no clue what's good around here and what isn't, so I found a restaraunt that had lots of cars around it and figured it couldn't be too bad. As soon as I walked in, I could tell that the food was going to be good... the atmosphere wasn't! Now most of you know that I like kids... most of the time, so don't take this as a kid bashing story. As soon as I walk in, little Johnny (probably about 4 years old)whizzes past me, with a binky in his mouth and trying to talk at the same time. Shortly behind little Johnny comes Grandma (she was no small grandma either... I would have listened to what she had to say if I was little Johnny!) yelling... "Johnny, you get back here". Well grandma couldn't move as fast as little Johnny bless her heart plus she had Johnny's little sister in tow, hanging upside down from under grandma's left arm. So she's haning onto little sister, trying to catch up with Johnny, who continues to run amuck and duck under poor grandma's one armed grab attempts. Little sister starts to squirm, I'm sure that it was because all the blood was rushing to her little head and she was starting to see spots. She starts saying hi to everyone they run past while trying to catch up to Johnny. By this time, he'd made at least two full trips around the restaraunt eluding grandma and giggling all the while. Somewhere along the way, grandma lost little sister and finally caught up to Johnny. Then she must have realized that little sister was no where in sight and let go of Johnny and went to find little sister. So... it started all over again. Except this time, you could tell that grandma was a little out of breath and tired of trying to catch Johnny, so she just tucked little sister under her arm and started yelling "JOHNNY" "You get back here" So then Johnny decides he's going to taunt grandma by running all around her legs but just out of arms reach and giggling and talking with the binky hanging out of his mouth. I wanted to just go grab him and hand him to her, but by this point, I was becoming quite amuzed at this situation. I know that's terrible of me, but I just couldn't help it. This was better than those big screen tv's that you can watch while you eat. I guess at some point Johnny, grandma and little sister must have went back to their seats, because there was about 5 minutes of peace before I see Johnny on the run again. This time someone else is chasing him... his mother? Where the heck was she when grandma was pushing a heart attack trying to chase this kid around! I guess momma has magical powers because Johnny came back by, walking normally and with no binky in his mouth.

Well... I have tons more stories from my trip but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to hear about them. I just had to post about my quiet evening at the fine dining establishment. I sure hope Johnny's asleep by now!!