The Man-Purse or "murse"

So, I have been contemplating this for a while. The question at hand is the following: "Is a briefcase a murse?" I sent this out on Twitter (which forwards to Facebook). I got some interesting responses and discussion some of which I will share here.

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I think I'm man enough to say at occasion my briefcase can be considered a murse but for good reason. Unlike a colleague of mine who blatantly admits that his attache case is a murse without question. It contains asprin, cleaner for his glasses, etc. So, it brings us to this. What makes a briefcase a murse? I think there are two distinct categories: 1) what it contains 2) how it is used.

Contents:
If your briefcase contains your keys, wallet, lipgloss, etc., then it is a murse. However, if it contains your laptop, calculator, business cards, etc., then it is not. Umbrella... Maybe. Top Secret Files... definitely not. Mirror... purse all the way.

Use:
If you use your briefcase in a certain way, it can be called a murse. Obviously it is a murse if you have more than one and color-coordiate with your outfit. If it has a padded shoulder strap, you may be on the fence. I think this point is moot, but it's up for debate. It may be best to lose the strap all together. If you take it with you to any place other than work or home, it is a murse (as in Walmart).

The bottom line is that you have to be careful not to turn your briefcase into a murse.

Ways to de-feminize your briefcase/murse:
1. Carry a Crocodile Dundee knoife (that's the Austrailian spelling of knife)

2. Put your keys in your pocket
3. Leave your briefcase at work (you don't need to work at home)
4. Lose the shoulder strap (If it's too heavy to carry in one hand, it's a murse.)

Other Suggestions... What are your thoughts.



P.S. I have to give credit to my Facebook friends who added input to this. They supplied some of this debate: Madison P., Steve S., Amber S., and Jessica B. Thanks for the great input.

#moonfruit

This is pure marketing genious at work. Moontweet is giving away a Macbook Pro every day for 10 days (today is day 4) to a random person who Tweets "#moonfruit" that's it no catch.



MoonFruit is a website builder that has been around for 10 years now. To celebrate their existence, they are giving away computers. What could be more perfect than spreading your brand (for free) on Twitter? Think about it, those who are on twitter are most likely to be young adults who are tech savvy and either have a website or have thought about having their own website. This is free advertisement for their company and brand. Furthermore, "#moonfruit" is the number 1 phrase on Twitter currently. That's huge.

Dinner at Pensacola Beach

I had dinner tonight overlooking Pensacola Beach. I thought I would share some photos.



(photos taken from my iPhone)

Kurt Cobain - Smells Like Ecclesiastes

Harm and I awoke this morning just like any other morning, but this wasn't just like any other morning. Harm went to the kitchen and let out a shrieking scream. I'm pretty used to this, because we had lots of strange bugs when we lived in the apartment. I thought she found a bug, but no... Goldilocks had fled the coop. The storm the night before must have been too much for her, and she jumped ship. She jumped out of the fishbowl into the sink where she met her end. Unfortunately, she must have thought all drains lead to the ocean. This one led to the disposal, but she never got that far. She was removed to take the porcelain express.

This event reminded me of a Bible Study I led a few years ago in college that discussed different aspects of suicide. Here are some excerpts and thoughts of mine on this subject. This study was in a series of lessons surrounding the book The Rock Cries Out: Discovering Eternal Truth in Unlikely Music by Steve Stockman. It is a very good book if you are familiar with the artists he writes about. If not, it is still a good read, but you may need some supplemental information to help with what he doesn't explain.

So from this book, I took Chapter 3: Kurt Cobain - Smells Like Ecclesiastes to analyze suicide.

Some Background Information:
Kurt Cobain and Nirvana rocketed to the most popular band on the planet. Less than 31 months after Nevermind was released, Cobain was dead. Several things have been attributed to his demise. At age 7, his parents divorce impacted him big time. “Since the age of 7 I have become hateful of all humans in general.” His music was detrimental to his health. The anger and screaming caused an ulcer to form in his stomach. Furthermore, he suffered from scoliosis. Thus, his guitar weight made his back pain worse. Experts have speculated that four major components attributed to his death. 1) Hopelessness of heroine addiction, 2) stomach pain, 3) emotional pain, and 4) delusion of the drugs that he was on. We must be careful not to associate this demise with Cobain’s lack of religious belief. It is wrong to assume that non-Christians are unhappy. Success is an addictive rush. So what is the point?

Two Questions:
If success can make me happy why do I need God?
If success can make me happy why did Kurt Cobain commit suicide?

Suicide
Here are some interesting demographics from the National Center for Health and Statistics



Some additional thoughts and reading material on this subject.

Is suicide ever acceptable?
10 Commandments - Thou shalt not kill.
Jesus - “Love the Lord your God…”
Numbers 11:12-15 - Moses asks God to kill him.
Judges 16:29-30 - Samson commits suicide
I Samuel 31:4-6 and I Chronicles 10:3-7 - Saul
Matthew 7:25 - Judas
Philippians 1:20-26 - Paul

A permanent solution to a temporary problem.

What should we do?
II Corinthians 4:18 - Fix our eyes on Jesus
Matthew 6:19-20 - Store Treasures in Heaven
Luke 12:19
Hebrews 4:15

Smells Like Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 1:2 - Everything is meaningless
Ecclesiastes 12:13

Everything under the sun is meaningless

Everything without God is meaningless

We need the vertical in order to make sense in the horizontal.

What do we learn from Kurt Cobain?


Let me know your thoughts.

2nd Annual ASME Skeet Shoot

Today was the second ASME Skeet Shoot. We were able to raise enough money to give out three scholarships this year to a student from The University of Alabama, UAB, and UAH. Each student is a Mechanical Engineering Junior or Senior. This year's recipients received their scholarships at the event and all of the donors were able to meet them and congratulate them in person.

Our venue was Selwood Farms near Childersburg, AL. This has been our location both years, and it has gone very well. The course is challenging and the host is very hospitable. We hope to continue our relationship in the future. One interesting thing about Selwood is the restrooms. I have posted pictures that designate the male and female restrooms. See if you can figure out which is which... Some people actually had trouble with this.

Uncle Bryan and Aunt Harmony

Harmony and I arrived to see Miriam and the proud parents around 5:00 pm on Thursday just about 24 hours after she was born. She has no problems so far which is a huge blessing. Mom and Baby came home Friday at noon, and both are recovering well. We are still helping the parents put the changing table together, fix dinner, hold the baby, etc. while they are getting adjusted to their new life. We plan on leaving today (Saturday) after dinner so we can get on the road. It is a long 15 hour drive for Harm and I back to Moody. We'll have to change vehicles in Huntsville tomorrow while also seeing Harm's family for Mother's Day.

Here's a few more pictures for your viewing pleasure.

New Picture of Miriam Elizabeth

I'll get to se her today. We're leaving Knoxville in a few minutes.

On the road again....

B

I'm an Uncle!

Miriam Elizabeth Coley

7 lbs. 10 oz.

20.5" long

Born 4:42pm

May 6, 2009

Run for the Reason: Final Thoughts

1 Pair of Running Shoes: $110
2 Pair of Running Shorts and 5 pair of Socks: $16
2 months of training and 2.5 days of running every twelve hours for a total of 23.8 miles with very little sleep to help fund a cure for cancer: Priceless



This event has been very rewarding for me to honor those who donated to help me reach my fundraising goal. So, to my sponsors, I say thank you for your support. I ran for you and/or your loved ones that you donated for. I hope that I get the chance to do this again in the future. I am thankful I had the opportunity to raise money for such a good cause.

B

Run for the Reason: Final Run

We decided to all run the last four miles into Plant Wansley to make up time, and so we can all run into the plant together. This turned out to be a major blessing to all of the teams. We were able to eat much sooner and get home sooner than expected. Of course to top off the finish, we all got silly stringed at the finish line. This was one of many pranks pulled by each group during the race. Usually, we did something to the baton that we would pass to the next group. Hand cream, maxi pads, faux road kill, water bottles, etc. all were adorned on the baton at one point or another to prank other teams.

All in all, it was a very rewarding event. We all were on edge by the last run and were ready to be done. It would have been easy to get testy and argumentative, but we kept to the schedule and just remembered why we were out there. I can safely say that I will do it again in a heart beat, but I'll need some time to recover first. On that note, I made it home, and I'm about to hit the bed for a nice long nap.