DW's uncle called me at work today, which isn't all too weird considering he's an alum of the University where I happen to work in alumni relations, and he got on to me for not having posted anything to the ole' blog in a while.
He also offered me a couple tickets to this Saturday's football game, making the part where he complained about our lack of blogging activity a little easier to take, which, if I may say so, is a great strategy for giving people criticism or bad news. Start off with the bad news or the criticism and then finish with the good news or an exciting offer. A lot of people try to do this the other way around, and it's just not as effective.
When delivering bad news or criticism to a friend, family member, co-worker, or employee, you want them to get the point, but when it's all said and done, you also want them to walk away from the conversation or hang up the phone with a good taste in their mouth about what's just transpired.
All that's to say - Richard... thanks for the free ticket offer, I'm sorry we had other plans, and you've inspired me to blog today. Without further delay, read on for another one of our adventures in life...
The other day, we re-arranged our living room and moved everything around so that the TV is no longer the focal point of the room. We really don't watch a whole lot of TV with the exception of The Amazing Race, 24, The Office, My Name is Earl, and the Biggest Loser (OK... that list might qualify as "a lot of TV") but anyway... we really just wanted to have a good seating area for entertaining friends and family.
I feel like the new arrangement, while not perfect, makes really good use of our long narrow living room.
Apparently long narrow living rooms are a pretty common problem. A Google search of the phrase, "long narrow living room problem" reveals 9.7 million results... if you take away the word "problem" the number of results increases to 13.8 million. I love the internet. It sure is good to know that there are millions of other people out there just like us who have long narrow living rooms that they don't know how to arrange.
Based on the picture above, if you have suggestions or ideas on how we could better arrange our living room, please comment and let us know. The only rule is that the two couches, the red chair, and the TV all have to remain in the room. I wonder if there are any interior designers out there reading our blog.
This post is for my wife's cousins...
Got up at 6:45. Ironed my clothes (white dress shirt, black pants, and brightly colored tie). Brushed my teeth, shaved, showered, and got dressed. Grabbed two peaches and cream oatmeal packets and leftovers for lunch then left for work at 7:30. The weather was cool this morning. It felt nice.
Got to campus at 7:45. Parked in a different parking lot than usual. Walked through the Student Center to get to my office. It was empty then. Got to my office at 7:50, put my lunch in the fridge, and microwaved my oatmeal for breakfast.
Started responding to emails at 8:05. Scheduled a few meetings about homecoming and other areas of importance for the university. Caught up on email by 9:30. Worked on homecoming stuff until chapel at 10:45.
Went to chapel at 10:45. Sat with one of my old RA's. Lots of praise songs, scripture reading, and prayer... no sermon this week. Came back to office at 11:30. Responded to more emails. Edited a press release. Ate lunch at noon. BBQ chicken sandwich leftover from b-day party, cheetos, chocolate pudding, and ice water.
Put a survey together after lunch and emailed it to alumni. Went to a meeting at 2:00 (didn't start until 2:15) about some important stufff with another department on campus and got a lot accomplished. It was a good meeting... they have comfortable furniture and cool paintings on the wall in that office.
Back in the office by 3:00. Read and responded to emails. Enlisted the help of a friend to come up with a Top 10 list to use for a project at work. Met with director from another department at 3:45 to discuss his agenda. His agenda does not align very well with the university's agenda. Too bad for him.
Visited with the president at 4:15 about a program that he thinks I should look into starting. I tend to agree with him and think it could end up being something really positive for the school.
Finished writing two letters (that should have been finished last month) and submitted them to the appropriate people to be sent out. Got an email at 4:34 that made my day. Wrote an email to some important people about some important things going on and called it a day at 5:20.
Got home at 5:40. Checked the mail. Threw away the junk mail. Got a b-day card in the mail... made me laugh. Two movies from NetFlix that I've already seen but will be fun to watch again. Logged on to computer at 6:00 and started blogging.
6:18 - Grabbing a bite to eat and heading back out to church shortly.
DW's uncle called me at work today, which isn't all too weird considering he's an alum of the University where I happen to work in alumni relations, and he got on to me for not having posted anything to the ole' blog in a while.
