Thinking: I am enjoying my vacation from work, SO relaxing!

How to Annoy Me: People who stop in the aisle at the middle of the store and as soon as someone decides to go around them, they move again… getting in the way. LOL.

How to Make Me Laugh: Hmmmm… I dont’ know today.

Quote of the Day: “I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.” – E. B. White

Today I was walking around the building, making my rounds and touching-base with my co-workers when my phone beeped. Typically when this happens, I pull it out, take a quick glance at the e-mail message and put it away. But this time was different, I pulled out the phone and the message had the words “Sad News for Our Community” in the subject line. Even then, I didn’t suspect anything was wrong, so I casually glanced over the e-mail until I read a line that stopped me in my tracks, “. . . . decided to take his own life on Friday night.”

Did I read that correctly? I sat down and read through the entire message. On Friday night, one of our group members from church took his own life. Sometimes I think things like this shock us because we almost assume that we’re going to see that person tomorrow, or the next week. And then it hits, “that person is no longer around.”

For some of us, we’re left wishing that we would’ve done something different… maybe we would’ve reached out more or noticed the signs. I noticed that he was acting differently when I saw him on Thursday, I regret that I didn’t say anything about his change in behavior. And then I wonder, would that have made a difference? The truth is, we’ll never know. And in my opinion, dwelling on those things won’t bring bring that person back.

Well, I don’t really know what else to say. I’ve walked alongside several people who have lost someone to suicide and rarely does it get any easier. My thoughts and prayers are with his family tonight.

So I click on the little link and go to see who’s been looking for me. Out of the three people that requested to add me as a friend, I know one person. The other two? I may know OF that person, but I don’t KNOW that person.

Facebook, my friends, is not a popularity contest. Adding everyone in the world doesn’t make you more popular, nor does it create any real meaningful friendships.

So what are my criteria for adding you as a Facebook friend?

• I must have met you in person at least once and have had some meaningful dialogue with you.
• I will occasionally add you if you’re a friend of a friend… even then I’m still pretty picky.

I know that in the grand scheme of things, Facebook “friends” don’t really matter. But I use Facebook to stay in touch with people I know and to keep them posted on my life. If you don’t know me personally, then there’s really no benefit to being my friend on Facebook.

Who will I de-friend on Facebook? I have had to remove a couple people from my Facebook account, here’s my main reasons:

• If you cuss entirely too much in your status. Seriously, there are various different words to express your frustration.
• If you spam me with a bunch of garbage.

Okay, well, there you go. Now you know what grinds my gears today.

My usage for the month of July went down a little, mostly from the shock of receiving my bill for the month of June… notice how it shot up? So I’m conducing a little experiment here:

- Change all light bulbs to Compact Fluorescent Lighting (CFL)

- Use my air conditioner only when I’m home

- Power off my computer when I’m not home and when asleep

- Use more fans and less air conditioner

I’m hoping that I can bring my usage down to 600 KWh by next month. So stay tuned!

Well, It’s now four hours after my appointment and now one pupil is bigger than the other… quite cool if you ask me. Although it does makes it hard to see occasionally.

What was really cool was leaving for work today and seeing half the park next to my apartment flooded! There was even a duck floating around there, it was pretty sweet. So here are pictures of “The Great Flood” of Carmel.

But as the campus pastor at Crossroads told me, there comes a time when the baby bird has to move out of the nest. So how appropriate for me to mark this occasion of moving out of the nest by getting myself a new friend… of the feathered kind.

His name is Milo and he’s a cockatiel. After work I headed over to PetSmart and bought the cage, the food, the toys… the whole deal. And then I went across the street to PetLand to pick up Milo (since PetSmart didn’t have the specific type of cockatiel that I wanted). I pimped out his cage with a lot of cool little things to do and I think I’ll introduce him to Friends during the day while I’m gone… I’m sure the bird will love getting acquainted with Joey, Chandler, Ross, Rachel, Monica and Phoebe! “How you doin?”

My sweet new bike

I’ve slowly been packing things up in preparation for the move (which is in 14 days). The last thing I really have to pack up is the stuff in my room, which isn’t a lot. I am also excited for it to warm up because I bought this awesome Schwinn at Target the other week and have been eager to take it on the Monon… in fact, I have spent a lot of money at Target in the past month… they should reward me!

So yeah… in a nutshell… that’s what’s new. I feel like my life is finally moving forward in a good way. The past couple of years has been a big time of growth for me, but I didn’t feel like I was really getting anywhere. Now I have a job, new place to live, some awesome friends… I feel very blessed.

Well my friends, that’s all for now. I tried to cover up Milo’s cage as best as I could so I can play Call of Duty 4 online while he tries and sleeps (can you believe that they need at least 10-12 hours of sleep?!). I hope all of you are well!

My adorable niece on Easter Sunday