Have you seen this? What are your thoughts?

Ten years ago, on November 18, 2001, my life changed forever. Other than the day that I asked Christ to be my Lord and Savior, this is the most important day in my life. This is the date when God showed me without a doubt that He answers prayers. In March 2001, through my job as a textile buyer, I met a salesman named Andy. One evening in April of 2001, during a business dinner with Andy and his wife, Angela, at Brookstone Golf Club in Acworth, Angela invited me to their church. I wasn’t attending a church at the time, so I took her up on the offer. I was living in Gwinnett County at the time, so each Sunday I made the 45-minute drive, each way, to AUMC for church and Sunday school.

During the first week of November 2001, I had surgery on my right foot and ankle and was in a cast up to my knee with pins coming out of the ends of my toes covered by a plastic grill/bumper (keep this in mind for later). The Sunday school class that I attended planned a dessert get-together at the home of two class members, Tony and Lisa. I volunteered to bring, not make, a key lime pie, since I had no pie baking experience. I stopped by Publix on the way to Tony and Lisa’s and picked-up a key lime pie. I am not sure how I managed to get the pie from the bakery section to the register, from the register to my car, and then from my car into Tony and Lisa’s house without destroying it, since I was on crutches at the time.

When I arrived at Tony and Lisa’s, with the pie intact, I had a seat on the couch, and Johnny put my crutches out of the way in the corner. The rest of the class was already there and they informed me that they had invited the youth minister to the dessert get-together. I replied, “That sounds cool. What’s his name?” They looked at me, started laughing, and said, “It is not a him it is a her, and her name is Megan.” I do not ever remember seeing Megan before that night, even though she played the guitar during the contemporary church service that I attended with Andy and Angela each Sunday. Megan later told me that she used to stand at the back of the stage near a plant and the piano. That made me feel a little better about my observational skills.

Around 8 o’clock, Megan arrived after the Sunday youth activities at the church. Wouldn’t you know it, the only place for her to sit was to my left, right beside me on the couch. I did not notice that she had arrived because I was talking with Tony, seated in a chair to my right, beside the couch. After a little bit, I did notice two things: 1. Lisa, Tony’s wife was urgently trying to get him to go into the kitchen, so that, later I found out, she could tell him to stop talking to me so I would notice Megan, and 2. Johnny kept repeating over and over, “Has everyone here met Megan?”

After Lisa got Tony into the kitchen and I heard what Johnny was saying, I turned to my left and saw the most beautiful woman that I have ever seen in my life! She was wearing a T-shirt, jeans, and flip-flops, and her toenails were painted alternating colors. I introduced myself and started talking with this angel. We talked about where we were from, where we went to school, where we worked, and how we ended up at AUMC. We talked about sports; WOW did she know about sports! She told me about being on the University of Memphis Lady Tigers basketball staff in college. I told her about rowing and the friends that I rowed with. I think she missed the first part about rowing because later she told me that she thought I was telling her about friends that I “rode” with, not “rowed” with and was not impressed because she “rode” with a lot of people during college. We talked about playing music, and then we talked and talked and talked some more. I felt like I had known her forever. I felt calm and I didn’t feel nervous, although I did have this voice in my head saying, “ I can’t believe this beautiful woman is sitting here talking to me.” After talking for a while we looked around a saw that everyone else had gone, except for Tony and Lisa, since it was their house.

We said goodbye to Tony and Lisa and left. I walked Megan to her car, asked if she minded if I gave her a call, then asked her for her phone number, which unbelievably she gave to me. As I walked to my car I was floating on air, but made sure to look as cool as one can look with a knee-high cast, pins in one’s toes, with the plastic bumper, while on crutches. On my way back home, my mind started going through my checklist of things that I would look for in a wife. Christian. Check. Kind. Check. Beautiful. Check. Athletic / Loves Sports. Check. Plays Music. Check. Tall. Check. Megan matched them all.

My life is infinitely better since God brought Megan into my life. It has been a wonderful ten years of dating, marriage, and Emma. I look forward to many, many more years together with my angel.

As I write this letter, I am sitting at the kitchen table eating some Oreos and drinking milk. We have been playing a lot this evening with your Fisher-Price cash register and watching Muppet Show clips on YouTube. Mommy is upstairs lying down in your bed with you; talking with you as you go to sleep in your pink cat pajamas with sparkles and a top with buttons. Before I came downstairs, Mommy and I received your big hugs and your variety of kisses (big, tiny, side).
This past year, like the first two, was wonderful. You continued to grow and learn. You love school. You have no fear when it comes to jumping off of things. On school mornings, your favorite breakfast at home is a bowl of apple cinnamon oatmeal, a tube of Gogurt, and a glass of 2% milk. When I ask you, “Emma what are you going to do at school today?”, your usual reply is, “I am going on the playground to JUMP.”
You have learned all of your letters, your numbers up to twenty, and can recognize your first name when you see it. You love to ask Mommy and Daddy, “What’s your name?” (you know both of our full names), and you have picked up on the humor of having the last name Strange. You love books. Some of your favorite books are: Llama Llama Red Pajama, Christmas Star, Goodnight Moon, Goodnight Gorilla, and the Bible. You like to “read” to Mommy and Daddy, telling us to “Sit on the carpet”, just like your teacher does at West Georgia Children’s Academy.
You had a great time seeing all of your relatives during Thanksgiving and Christmas. We had Thanksgiving Dinner at your Nanny’s house the Sunday before Thanksgiving and had Thanksgiving Dinner at our house on Thanksgiving Day.
You got to see Santa Claus at NCCS Night at Barnes and Noble Bookstore at the Avenues, and you noticed that he looked a lot like your Daddy. Daddy filled-in as Santa, for Mike Corbett, and had a great time. One of my favorite pictures is on of you sitting on Santa’s knee, looking at his face, trying to figure out why he favored Daddy. On Christmas Eve, we went to Granna’s house in Summerville, for the annual gift-opening sprint, that is Christmas time with Granna’s side of the family. You had fun playing with your cousins Jenna Mosley and Linkin Farrar. They are about 5 years older than you, but you always enjoy playing with the “big” kids. We opened presents at our house on Christmas morning, then we loaded-up our black, Ford Expedition sleigh and headed toward Memphis for Christmas fun with Mimi, Aussie (dog), Uncle Kevin, Aunt Katie, Uncle Deedle, Buddy (dog), and Grandma. We saw lots of snow on the trip to Memphis and left our house just before a lot of snow fell here in Dallas. Just after the New Year started, 8 inches of snow fell here at our house. Mommy and I bundled you up and the three of us went outside and played in the snow. We set you on a boogie board, and then an air mattress, and let you ride down the hill in the back yard. Since no cars were on the roads, because of all of the ice, we let you ride the boogie board on our road, Lakeside Terrace. Mommy walked about halfway down the road, toward the cul-de-sac, to catch you, while Daddy placed you on the board and gave you a gentle push. Since you the boogie board was riding on ice, you began to pick-up speed, so much so, that Mommy had to dive to stop you before you headed into the Jones’ garage at the end of the cul-de-sac.
You enjoy going to your Sunday school at Cedarcrest Church, which meets at Allatoona High School, where you color or make a craft (a lot of the time the crafts involve cotton balls) and listen to Bible stories, while eating Goldfish and drinking water. Your favorite thing about church is getting to ride the “Alligator” (your name for the elevator). Back in April we stayed at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Nashville; Mommy was running in the half-marathon. During the days leading up to and including the entire trip to Nashville all that you talked about was, “I’m going to the hotel to ride the alligator.” The elevator inside the Sheraton is glass and goes up 28 floors. When we got on the elevator after checking-in, you grabbed on to Mommy with a grip that would make a python green with envy, while saying loudly, “Hold me Mommy, hold me”. When we got off of the elevator at our floor you started walking toward the room, looked up at me and Mommy, and said proudly, “I rode the alligator.”
You improved a lot with swimming (still with arm floats) and you love going out on the lake on your boat. You say often say the prayer at meals and at bedtime with either “folding hands or holding hands” and you always end your prayer with, “Be with Eli, keep him safe, and let him know we are coming to get him. We love you. Amen.” Eli will be the name of your brother that we are in the process of adopting from Ethiopia.
During this past year Aussie (dog) passed away, and then on October 11, Grandma passed away. When you first asked where Aussie went, we told you, “He is in Heaven.” You misunderstood us and thought that we said, “He is in Kevin.” Once we got the “Heaven / Kevin” misunderstanding cleared-up, you would tell us, “Aussie is in Heaven, not Kevin.”  At Grandma’s funeral you fell asleep in my arms and snored liked a bear throughout the entire service.
Emma, your Mommy and I love the fact that you love to learn and are very kind and helpful. We want to help you continue to learn and be happy; discovering what God has in store for your life and how He will use you to impact the world. You are a Blessing and a Treasure; a gift from God. We will love you forever.

What are you thoughts?

Just imagine, you walk into a dealership, and it has one of each model of vehicle that it sells, on display, in a clean, well-lit area. You can sit in the vehicle and even take it for a test drive. When you get back into the dealership, the salesman hands you a pair of computerized glasses that allow you to see the vehicle in any color that you desire. You select the color, along with the desired options (heated seats, wheel type, etc.), and your order is sent directly to the factory where your vehicle will be manufactured. You pay a deposit, and the vehicle is produced and shipped to the dealer for a final inspection. You pay the balance, pick-up your vehicle, and hit the open road.

Dealers do not have to carry any inventory, other than parts for servicing vehicles, and you get the exact vehicle you want. Win-win.

What do you think?

I wonder why the leagues or TV networks don’t provide fixed cameras, in addition to the typical camera set-up, that monitor the line of scrimmage, the end zone boundaries, and the sidelines, at high and low angles. The technology exisits to get the call correct, so why not use it.

What do you think?

I wonder why playground equipment manufacturers do not mix-in phase change materials (PCM) when creating the plastic used in the slides. The PCMs are tiny spheres of a substance (we’ll call it wax) that help to regulate temperature. They currently are used in some outdoor apparel applications. They work by either pulling heat from the surface and using that heat to turn the wax into a liquid within the sphere. That’s where the name phase-change material comes from. As the temperature of the surface decreases, the PCM gives off heat and the wax changes back into a solid.

What are your thoughts?

I do understand that there could be delays due to weather, but why doesn’t the OT adopt a all hands on deck planning mentality to get a project knocked out as quickly as possible, instead of spreading itself thin, and taking forever to complete a project.

When projects are in the planning stage, the scheduling (equipment and manpower) and distribution of funds should be planned so that the project can be completed as safely, correctly, and quickly as possible.

Think about the stories on the news detailing the loss of power and sometimes loss of life that results from cars crashing into the poles supporting the lines, and/or storms where either the wind or ice has caused the lines to fall, causing a hazardous condition with live wires on the ground.  What about the man-hours and risk to life for the linesmen who are called out to re-string the lines onto the poles?

To be sure, there are economic and inconvenience costs associated with burying the lines.  Can these costs be offset with the decrease in the potential for pole-car crashes, electrocution from live wires, and the life and cost savings from fewer linesman calls?

I look forward to your thoughts.