10 Most Memorable Moments of the Last Decade...

I took this idea from BT over at trappster.com. This is a look at my life in the two-thousands(?). Which brings me to a different idea... What do you call the last decade? I'm almost glad it's over, because noone in the last 10 years could answer that question. I grew up in the 80's and 90's, but then the millennium/century turned and everyone was confused. I digress...

Here's the list:

2000. This was the year I turned 16 and got my drivers license. This is one of those proverbial coming-of-age events. THis was also the year that I became an Eagle Scout which is one of my proudest moments.


2001. I went on my first mission trip in 2001. My high-school youth group took all of us to Colorado Springs for a week during this summer. It was particularly memorable, because we drove to Colorado, stopping in Oklahoma City to see the bombing memorial.


2002. In February of 2002, I had the worst day of my life. I was involved in a car accident that totaled my mom's car. I walked away thankfully, but it was by far the most traumatic experience I have ever had. I learned a lot from it, and I grew a lot because of it. If anything else happened in '02, I don't remember it, because this trumps it all.


2003. 2003 was a transitional year for me. I graduated high-school, got my first car, went on a trip to Ecuador (which BTW is an amazing country), and started college with strep throat.


2004. This is the year of "The Flood." I was in the Million Dollar Band at Alabama, and I woke up early on the Saturday of the Iron Bowl to find that my dorm room was 'puddled' with water. Needless to say, I was late for practice that morning. Not only did my room flood, my brother's room (which was located below mine) also flooded, and the basement of the dorm flooded. Turns out there was a pinhole leak in a pipe next to my sink inside the wall.


2005. In the spring of 2005, I finished 5th in Mallet Wargames. Wargames is a one-shot-one-kill game played on campus at Alabama starting the Monday after Sprig Break. Everyone in the Mallet dorm plays all over campus 24-7 until one person remains. I killed myself during finals week, because I was too stressed out. In the fall of 2005, I took too many lab classes at the same time. I had 4 tests, a presentation, and 5 finals within the last two weeks of class. Those two weeks I lost 10 lbs. due to stress.


2006. The summer of 2006 my friend Tyler and I played NHL Hitz on X-box every day after work. My nickname was "Skeeter," and I was good. It's an extremely addicting game. Not very difficult, but when you play with someone else, it is impossible to stop playing.


2007. This was another transitional year. I graduated from college, got married, started my first job, quit my first job (a story for a later date), started my second job, and attended 12 weddings. Yeah, it was a busy year


2008. In 2008, my wife and I bought our first house and got a dog. We love both of them


2009. Earlier this year, my wife was involved in a car accident that totaled her car that we both loved. Thankfully she was not injured, but the whole experience was in itself tedious. I dread car shopping, much less being forced against my will to go car shopping. Nevertheless, we found another car that we like.


I'm sure there are many more examples I could use, but these stick out in my mind. I'm looking forward to the next decade because, I have a chance to write it. I have a clean slate. What will I do? I don't know, but I do have a list of things I want to do. Check out my post tomorrow for what I plan to do in 2010. I don't like the use of "New Year's Resolutions," because it is overused and cliche. So, I will call it goals, aspirations, or something like that. At the end of the next decade I will be 35.

What will you do with your next 10 years?

Time Flies

Wow... Where did August, September, October, and November go? I guess school got in the way. Nevertheless, I have lots of good blog information stored in my $1000 butterfly catcher also known as my phone. So keep watching the blog for some cool updates coming by year end.

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.

=

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