Seven Special Days

Days can be "special" for many reasons, not always good ones. It may be a holiday we love, it may be an anniversary or birthday, or it may be the day a loved one died or tragedy struck. They are all moments in our lives to remember, whether they remind us of a cherished memory, or strike a chord of sadness in our hearts. I've tried in this list to avoid just listing a bunch of holidays, even though many of them truly are special days to me.

1. 9/11/01... a day that truly redefined infamy
2. The day my dad died, 1/22/05...I lost a hero, but not memories.
3. The day my grandmother died, 9/10/01...she was 98, and passed away just about 10 hours before tragedy struck our entire nation...
4. The day I became a Christian, 11/10/91...the BEST day will be when I see Jesus face-to-face!
5. The day my mother nearly died, 9/12/88...she collapsed in a courthouse waiting to be calling for jury duty and was taken to the hospital...they shocked her heart numerous times, and were about to declare the time of death when the ER Dr. saw her blink and insisted on one more try...she's still here, nearly 20 years later!
6. The birth of my sons (okay, it's cheating a bit, there's two dates involved...12/7/90 and 10/28/92...but NO WAY was I gonna list one ahead of the other, even though the list isn't in order!)
7. August 27, no particular year...this day is my mother's birthday, and it was also my grandmother's birthday, AND my great-aunt's birthday. It is also the anniversary of the day one of our church youth suffered 3rd & 4th degree burns over much of her body but miraculously survived...today she is a very dear friend of mine, and I'm sure glad she's still around!

Seven Things I Like About My Hometown

First, a note about yesterday's blog--never, ever talk too much about how much you like your job! Friday ended up being one of those days you wish you'd just stayed in bed!
I still like my job, but perhaps I should keep quieter about it!

I could probably come up with seven things I dislike about my hometown too, but on the whole, I love it here enough to put up with what I don't like about it...

1. It's home to the Tennessee Volunteers--football, basketball (now that Bruce Pearl's here!), you name the sport, we love our Vols!! They lost to Cal in their first game, they're behind right now to So. Miss, for goodness sake...but we still love our Vols!! And that leads me to:
2. Orange--where else could you go out shopping, or to a nice restaurant, dressed in what amounts to Hunter's Orange...and not even get noticed?! And while I'm on the Vols:
3. Rocky Top--I was at Walmart this morning for about an hour, and "Rocky Top" must have played over the loudspeaker at least 3 times! I lived in Atlanta for years and never remember stores playing the Georgia Tech fight song...
4. The Great Smoky Mountains--it's the most visited national park in America, and I can drive there in about 25 minutes. I don't go as often as I should; it would be such a great way to get a little "mini-vacation" when I need it!
5. The Climate--I complain bitterly about the cold, but the fact is, we have a pretty good mix of weather. We have definite seasons, unlike some of the even warmer climes--but summer is good and hot (which I love) and winter is, usually, at least not horribly long...
6. The People--oh, we can be a surly lot, no doubt about it, and backwards, and ignorant, and even mean...but overall, we are Southern...polite, friendly, helpful and easygoing.
7. The Pace...this is also, I think, very much a "southern" thing. There is just a different pace to life here than I have seen a lot of other places, and it suits me just fine.
   

Seven Things I Love About My Job

Too many people just don't like their jobs; they don't look forward to getting up every day and facing one more day in the office (whether that is a literal office, the great outdoors, or sitting in your own home staring at a computer screen).

Okay, I admit, I don't much enjoy dragging myself out of my nice, comfy bed in the morning, but it has nothing to do with my job.
And no, this list is not an attempt to earn brownie points either...so far as I know, my boss doesn't read this, nor does anyone else I work with...okay, so far as I know, the only person who has ever read this is ME!! That's okay, I'm pretty used to talking to myself!!

On with the list:

1. Creativity--I am nearly always busy, and have projects going that MUST get done, NOW; some that I have a few weeks to work on; and some that seem to be eternally on the "backburner." But in the midst of it, there is often time to just get creative...to let a little "hey, wouldn't it be cool" idea wander about in my head for awhile until I'm ready to take it out and play with it on the computer...fun graphics, cool ideas for the website, clever marketing lines, none of these things can ever really be "planned." But when they happen, it's great.
2. Because English makes me smile--Part of what I do makes me, essentially, a professional nitpicker. I get to point out the typos and other mistakes, some of which are quite humorous. I love the English language and I love finding new ways to express the same old thing, or just fixing the little errors that can make a public flyer or brochure look totally unprofessional. (Not so crazy about the constant reminders, vis a vis typos, that remind me that nobody's perfect...)
3. Never boring--One day I may be sitting in my tiny closet/office (it really IS a closet, or was, until they hired me), just straining my eyes and adding material to the website. The next day, I find myself out at our local university, opening one of our display kiosks with a spoon (well, the front was stuck because it'd been so long since it was opened, and I was in the company car, and all I could find was a spoon...I could've gone back for some tools, or just called Maintenance, but I'm too stubborn for that...didn't want to let the kiosk win!). It's just always something...
4. The Experience--I have gotten to learn so many things here that I simply had no experience with before....I've learned new software (Flash and Fireworks, mostly), I've learned how the electronic signs on public buses work, I keep thinking maybe I'll even decide to learn how to drive a bus! Yes, I think I need to do that, just to say I did.
5. The People--almost ALL of them are why I like this job. Some of them are people I really enjoy, some not so much, and some could really use some medication, but they ALL make the job interesting. Hey, if nothing else, they provide material for the rest of us to talk about!!
6. The Area--I'm a Southern Girl, born and bred, and while there's lots of places I'd like to visit, I have NO desire to live anywhere else but right here in my hometown. So, while some go chasing "better opportunity" across the country and around the world, I'll just stay here and thank God that He made this little chunk of space in East Tennessee.
7. The Purpose--I took my first job at a non-profit agency about 10 years ago, and I've never looked back. I could probably make more money somewhere else, but I absolutely love having a job where you know that what you are doing matters, at least a little. I may not be feeding the starving children in Africa, or getting the orphans adopted into loving homes, but what I am doing DOES matter, it DOES make things just a teeny bit better for our little corner of the world. And THAT is enough reason to do it WELL. Which reminds me of a song by Jimmy Buffet, so I'll close with the first verse and chorus of it:

"It's My Job" Jimmy Buffet
In the middle of late last night I was sittin' on a curb
I didn't know what about, but I was feelin' quite disturbed
A street sweeper came whistlin' by, he was bouncin' every step
It seemed strange how good he felt, so I asked him while he swept

It's my job to be cleaning up this mess
And that's enough reason to go for me
It's my job to be better than the rest
And that makes the day for me

Seven Stupid Things I've Read Online

These are all things I've come across online, either in articles, emails, or even Ebay descriptions. I have all sorts of these things up on the wall in my office, because they make me smile...

1. An email about a bus driver who, according to the complaint, only thought he had the "right away" This is one of those very appropriate errors, because in fact he probably did think "Hey! Get out of the way; I need to turn, right away!!" and it had nothing to do with whether he in fact had the Right of Way.
2. An online article about a man who broke into a park ranger's home and stole his uniform and his "fun." I know I HATE it when people steal MY fun...but I didn't know it was criminal.
3. A "chain" email that said this guy was "in fatal condition, but now has been upgraded to stable critical." Wow, pretty remarkable fellow to be upgraded at all from dead...
4. Found when trying to determine when an item I'd purchased would be delivered: "Please note: shipping status may not be available until the item has been delivered." Somebody please explain how it could possibly be useful to me to know when the item has been delivered, AFTER it's been delivered.
5. From seller's information about paying for an item: "I ONLY ACCEPT PAYPAL. However, ....I can also accept money order or checks." Evidently he has a different definition of the word "only" than I do.
6. From a survey letter: "Your number was picked at random using scientific methods." So, does random become More or Less random when done scientifically?
7. From an online ad: "Sell your home for as little as $1,000" I know the housing market has tanked, but good grief!! What they really meant that you could pay as little as $1,000 in realtor fees, etc to sell your home.

Feel free to add your own observations of stupid things you've read online!

7 Great Words

This may be one of the toughest lists yet, because there are about a gazillion cool words out there, and naming just seven is really about words that just happen to be on my mind recently. Most of these are words I have actually used, or heard someone else use, this week.
So, without further fanfare, seven great words:

1. Blatherskite--foolish gibberish; a noisy talker of blatant rubbish
2. Logorrhea--excessive and often incoherent talkativeness or wordiness
3. Impecunious--having very little or no money usually habitually
4. Discombobulate--to confuse or upset
   
5. Lollygag--fool around, dawdle
   
6. Prestidigitation--sleight of hand (magic)--A football color commentator actually used this one!!
   
7. Malevolent--intense often vicious ill will, spite, or hatred

7 Things I'd Like to Do in My Lifetime

So, I'm approximately middle-age (we never REALLY know when middle age IS, until we're dead...if you live to be 110, you're not middle age until 55, right?)
Anyway, I've done quite a few things in my life, some I've enjoyed, others not so much. I would say I live a pretty ordinary, "boring" life, but when I really start to list some of the things I've done, there is at least an interesting variety (skydiving, biking the VA creeper trail, being held at gunpoint...like I said, they weren't all fun!).
But, there's still SO much I'd like to do--picking just seven could be hard, but these are, at least, the ones that come most easily to mind. This idea may just expand into a longer entry on another blog, so I can have a record of those things, and maybe actually start to DO them. Also, these are things that I COULD do, given the health and money to do them...in other words, they don't depend completely on someone else; I'd like to see both my kids marry good, godly women...but that's not something I get to personally choose (but I'm praying and God is watching for the right ones!!)

1. Learn a foreign language well enough to be conversational in it--I took several years of Spanish, and can usually fumble my way through written Spanish and at least get the idea of what it says--but when someone for whom Spanish is a native language starts talking, I get totally lost!
2. Learn to play a musical instrument--the main thing that hampers this is that I can't sing, I have no rhythm, and I can't read music. Our choir director once told me that very few people are truly tone-deaf; I told him MY problem is that I am NOT tone-deaf...I can HEAR that I'm singing off-key, out of tune, and out of rhythm, I just can't seem to fix it...anyway, I have managed to join the choir and learn to at least hold my own, and now I'd like to just learn to play something well enough for my entertainment...my preference would probably be guitar or dulcimer/autoharp.
3. Visit a foreign country--my top picks for this would be Ireland (where my ancestors are from; we still have distant relatives there) or Jerusalem (I would just love to go to the Holy Land and see the places where Jesus actually walked around on the earth...but I think I would intensely dislike being shot at). I'd also like to go to Guatemala, which may be the first place I actually GET to, since our church sometimes goes there on mission trips, and my best friend's family is actually moving there pretty soon. I almost went there two years ago, but it didn't work out at the time, and since then I haven't really been able to travel because of a weird, unknown illness...
   
4. Write a book--probably non-fiction, maybe about my life and how I have seen God work in it to "finish the work He started" in me.
5. Go to the Super Bowl--I am a HUGE football fan, but I've actually never been to a professional football game at all, never mind the Super Bowl--stuff like that is just generally not in a single mom's budget, especially when she has TWO hungry teenage boys! Actually, I've only been to ONE college football game, even though I'm pretty much a fanatic about UT (that be the REAL T, Tennessee, not Texas...) AND I'm an alumnus!!
6. Visit all 50 states--doesn't have to be all at once, just make it to every state in my lifetime. But, I'm only up to about 13, so I think I need to pick up the pace a bit!! I'm defining "visit" as not just being IN the state at some point, but actually going somewhere specific (besides the airport--I could add several more then) At my current rate, I'd be about 201 by the time I got to state #50...
   
7. Memorize at least 10 verses from every book of the Bible--I'm not sure, but I think I probably know at least one verse from every book right now...I need to write down all the references so I can see if I'm missing any. I'm sure I know lots MORE than 10 from some books, but probably only one from quite a few.
   

I'd love to hear what others would put on their list!