Business Lunches

I recently just started a new job at a very corporate organization - meaning there are several people on staff. As the new kid I get taken out to lunch a lot. It is strange to have people buy me lunch and yet it's nice. I thought it would end after awhile, but I get invited to lunch and then someone offers to pay. Let me also throw into the mix that we usually go as a group. I try and pay sometimes. Some people are easier to share the bills with than others.

So my question is since these folks are buying lunch and they say "get whatever you want" do you really get whatever you want? I had lunch with someone for the first time this week and they mentioned that they were getting a salad and a dish. I ordered first, I got a salad and a dish, then when they ordered they only got one thing? Was it because I spent too much? I'd rather buy my own lunch then wonder what to order.

Thoughts are welcomed and appreciated...


Some little known numbers about eating out (according to Forbes Magazine, Sept 2006)

$200 billion Amount spent at fast-food restaurants in 2005.

$476 billion Amount spent at all restaurants in 2005.

According to Forbes' guide to a business lunch you are actually supposed to order more than you can eat so the person you are with can take it back to the office. Who knew?

Frequent Flyer Miles

What's the deal with these supposed deals? I recently just checked on Northwest Airlines for a flight and it was just a coast to coast flight. 100,000 miles to get a RT ticket? The advertisements I have seen are 20,000 miles. Am I missing something? I have been saving up for a trip to Europe what is that going to take? I know that credit cards can give you points, but I have heard that credit cards aren't that great because of blackout dates.

Anyone have any tips for making airfare more affordable?

Project Runway

Okay so there is going to be a new season of Project Runway, but WHEN oh WHEN will it start? Come on Bravo. Give us a scrap of information...because sorry to say Top Chef is no match for PR's fashion fabulousness.

Well, speaking of fashion, our puppy power got a very fashionable haircut today. She is a cutie already, but when she gets her summer cut she's adorable. She has dalmatian spots and a huge head. Come on, you have to admit that our dog is cuter than yours.

Marathon running...

Ever since I was young I wanted to run a marathon by the time I was 40. I also hope to be able to run a marathon after 40. The first test of my ability to achieve this task will come this Spring at the Breast Cancer Awareness Marathon. Not only are we doing a good thing for ourselves and our health, we are helping other women. 26.2 miles of goodness. It is exciting to think of running that far, even if it takes us 4+ hours. Maybe by the time I am 40, it won't take quite as long. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

If you are interested in running events near you, check out http://www.active.com/running.htm


Little known fact about women and marathons:

The first woman to enter and run a marathon was Katherine Switzer in Boston in 1967. After she began to run the race and the judges realized she was a woman, they tried to have her removed from the race. The first olympic marathon for women was not until 1984. Men have been running the olympic marathon for over 100 years. Now women run marathon times that are only 10 minutes slower than men. Aren't women amazing?

I'll order a Presbyterian, please...

Okay, I work at an Episcopal Church that thinks people of all sexual orientations, races, classes, languages, ages, you get the picture, should be able to be ordained. It is a good church and hey, they hired me. So you'd think I'd be Episcopal by now.

Nope. I am still working on getting ordained in the Presbyterian church (USA). That last part in paratheses makes a difference in the south. As I study for this last exam for my ordination at the end of the month, I know why I am presbyterian. I have learned more about why I am presbyterian from working in an Episcopal church. While I enjoy the smells and bells of episcopal worship, I want the flexibility of changing worship that comes from being reformed and presbyterian. Sometimes I think we need bishops in our system of government, but I still keep believing that our connectional nature as church will help us seek justice for all.

WHEN I pass this test (positive thinking) it will still be a journey. I am doing ministry right now in the Episcopal Church and to get ordained PC(USA) you need to be doing something presbyterian or at least affiliated/non-profit. So even if they decided that I can be ordained in the church I gotta find another job.

To use words from one of my favorite frogs, Kermit, "someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers and me." Someday I will look back on all this and see grace, but right now I still sometimes think about what the father of a friend said, "why do you want to be apart of something that hurts you?" I hope that the love of the church from those working for change always out weighs the hurt, but I also hope that someday that the church stops hurting people.

Well, one of my friends recently commented that my blogs are not as random as my spouse's. In honor of her comment I did find something that I know she will enjoy. Check out this video on youtube.com and read the comments on how the "Presbyterian" got it's name.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmiTlaZd5Yg

Maybe I can order this after I pass my exam in honor of the great church that I am a part of (at least for now). Hey, there is no drink named after the Episcopals or Methodists.

DVR

I can't tell if we watch more tv or less with our new DVR. I love to be able to watch shows and fast forward through the commercials. I think we may actually watch more shows, but less of them. We almost completely fast forward through an entire episode of "So you think you can dance."

I am looking forward to a new season of Project Runway. The fall will be wonderful with Ugly Betty, Project Runway, Studio 60 and there is one more I am missing, oh yeah Gilmore Girls, which ended. What will Rory and Lorelei do now? Lorelei is doing cookie ads, I mean where do you go from there?

Whether or not we watch more or less tv, the DVR makes our tv watching experience more enjoyable because the flipping of channels during commercials is no more. ahhh... modern convenience. Now if we could just get our dishwasher to actually clean our dishes not just santize them.

Fourth of July

YAY! It's almost time for fireworks. I love fireworks. I can remember as a kid everybody in the neighborhood getting out their lawn chairs and lining the street for a heck of a show. Complete with kids using sparklers, the pre-show for the little kids of whisling petes and fountains and always the big grand finale of every illegal firework that was bought going off at once. It was beautiful. I am looking forward to passing on this tradition to our kids.

This year's show will not the three ring circus of the bay area (we sat up in the hills of marin watching shows in berkeley, 2 shows in San Francisco and Sausalito all at the same time) or Thunder over Louisville, but this year we have a lawn and a grill. BIG upgrades.

This year will be like the good ol' small town celebration of Montreat, NC complete with the parade and crepe paper decorated little red wagons with kids being pulled by their parents. Oh and Alexis' just mentioned I travel alot.

The funny part about the Fourth of July is that for me it is about fireworks. As I sat around the staff meeting last weekend preparing for worship, it became clear that for others it is about much more. The decisions about how many patriotic hymns to put in? do we put them in as a faith organization? what kind of language do we use?

Both Alexis and I have family in the military far away. Even one is unable to communicate with his wife who is pregnant and will deliver before he is scheduled to come back to the US. People all over this country will be celebrating the people who are serving this country, but I still like the fireworks. It is a celebration of freedom for me.

As people of faith what does the 4th of July mean? What does it mean to be patriotic?



Little Known Fact about fireworks shows:

The Macy's Show in New York (named as one of the best shows in the world)

Number of shells: 30,000 (55 times more fireworks than any average US fireworks show)

Speed of explosion: over 1000 shells bursting per minute

Miles of wiring needed to synchronize the show to music: 10

Feet of steel and fiberglass to launch shells: 63,000

Cost of average show: $75,000++

That's a lot of money to just have it go up in smoke.