I'm feeling pretty crappy (my dad hates that word) today so I'm going to be taking off in a little bit. Anyway, I thought I'd post this pic in honor of Major League Baseball's opening day.
I know the Metrodome has a few places like that in the upper deck but at least they don't actually have seats behind the pillars. It's just empty. Obviously the guy took the picture to make a point but it's still funny.
Go Twins!
—b
As you could probably guess from my lack of quality posts, I've been busy here at work. We are gearing up for STEM's annual Short-Term Mission Leaders' Conference (STMLC). I won't even attempt to describe all of the roles others have taken to get this conference up an running, but here in the STEM Press department, it has become number one on our "to do" list.
STEM has been hosting the conference for several years now and the attendance continues to increase every year. Off the top of my head, I believe we were at or near 160 attendees from three different countries last year. And despite the recent "recession" here in the U.S., we hope to increase our numbers from last year.
Back to what STEM Press has been up to. The STMLC is an ongoing process. Even though it only happens once a year, we are already brainstorming themes for the next years conference. The initial 2008 advertising (which includes ads and postcards) went out to the public in October of 2007.
For the conference itself, there is the 40 page notebook which everyone receives at the door. It includes a schedule of events, different speakers bio's, maps of the surrounding community in case a visitor would care to get a bite to eat, a place for notes for their individual workshops, and sponsors ads. Multimedia is another area which needs attention. PowerPoints need to be compiled and readied to go. On screen announcements need to have this year's branding done to them. And that was only STEM's internal media. We need to produce our sister's STEM Share display and brochures as well for the conference. I could go on but you get the picture.
Thankfully there are two designers here. Dena (bigD) Swenson is taking the lead on the production side of things. Her plate seems to grow with projects almost every day. As for me, I am dealing with the immediate IT needs in the office. ie. Email's not sending, computer's crashing, and other random "quick" fixes. Busy, busy, busy.
I can't end this topic without at least inviting you to the conference. If you are interested in missions, this is always a great conference. No matter how long people have been in the missions business, we continually receive comments on how much they learned and how much they enjoyed the event. There's still time to register, and without trying to be biased, well worth your time.
POP QUIZ:
Who is she?
CLUE: She'd like to teach the world to sing. (No, it's not Simon Cowell's sister.)
I'll have the answer for you next week.
—b
I was kinda torn as to have this as my "Easter Post" since it's completely missing the entire point of Easter. But since it's pretty obvious of where I stand concerning the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, I didn't think I needed to post about that.
I have always wondered how we get the Easter Sunday date. Thanksgiving and Christmas are easy, they always stay the same. But how do we fall upon the different dates of the Resurrection?
Answer: Easter is the first Sunday after the first fourteenth day of the moon (the Paschal Full Moon) that is on or after March 21 (the ecclesiastical spring, or vernal, equinox).
If you were to take those numbers further, here are some useless but interesting facts:
And by the time 2228 comes around, assuming Christ hasn't returned by then, we will be up to sequel number 57 in the Rocky series. It's the same old story line. You know, the one where Apollo Creed's fifth generation clone teams up with Adrian's super-robot to defeat the transforming tank/dragon made from Ivan Drago's DNA. (Oh and the never-say-die Sylvester Stallone will still be alive and will assume the roll of Apollo's and Adrian's coach.) :)
Thursday, March 20th is "National Sweater Day: In Memory of Mr. Rogers" Now I don't know if it technically is "National Sweater Day" but a group on Facebook is at least deeming it so. I'm pretty sure the group was started after "Won't You Be My Neighbor Days" being held in Pittsburgh March 15–20. In fact, the very own Mr. McFeely is the official spokesman of the event. You can watch a two minute clip below:
Anyway, Facebook allows people to create events and this is one of them. It's fun, innocent, and...well...nerdy. But who cares. So I thought it would be fun to participate in. Last night I told Erin I need to remember to wear a sweater tomorrow. She obviously wondered why. So I was able to tell her about the event. Her response:
So you'll willing wear a sweater in honor of Mr. Rogers but when it comes to wearing one for me, it's like pulling teeth.
—b
Being it's St. Patrick's Day and Erin's name means "Ireland" (Anglicized form of Eireann), I was wondering what other people's name meant. Using BehindTheName.com, I was able to come up with the following results.
March 31st, 2000, marked my debut at Alan Furst, Inc. Not too long after I met Dana Bromley. At about the same time I started working for Al, Dana started working at STEM Int'l. Our paths first crossed due to a 32 page magazine called Commissioned. The magazine had been done by STEM since their first team went out in 1985 and was now coming to us since their in-house designer was no longer with them.
The first official meeting of Dana and me was just that, a meeting. It was a Monday morning and some of the STEM staff (CEO Roger, COO Julie, editor Dana) had a pre-arranged meeting set-up to meet with Al. The Saturday before, I remember dying my hair blonde. The only reason I remember that was it didn't turn out blonde, but bright yellow. So when I came in Monday morning and found out we were to have a meeting, I asked Al why he didn't tell me (as if I would have done anything different.) His response was classic Al, "Why didn't you tell me you were going to dye your hair yellow?" (We had a great relationship. Seriously.)
Anyway, my first encounter with Dana and STEM was with big, bright, yellow, spikey hair. I remember Roger commenting how it was nice that I was young enough to pull it off. Little did I know that he would be my future employer. I don't remember much of that meeting only that I wasn't looking forward to tackling a redesign of their magazine. Thankfully Al knew what he was doing and took charge.
Throughout my three years with Al, we did several ads and Commissioned's. So much so that he turned the magazine over to me. Dana, being the editor, was my main contact and we had a great business relationship those three years even though we had only met face to face (or should I say, lovely brown hair to anime-ish golden hair) that one time.
After the events of September 11th, business started to and continued to decline. Not only for the advertising industry but for the printing business as well. It makes sense, when the economy is severely hit, you get rid of what isn't essential...advertising.
Alan Furst, Inc. permanently closed their doors in 2003 do to lack of work. I was able to make ends meet by first doing odd jobs (being hired by Holiday gas stations to attempt to purchase cigarettes and see if I was carded, working at PBS, cleaning up an Eddie Bauer, and taste-testing at General Mills) before working three months loading trucks at FedEx.
Erin and I were about a month from being married and I was working 11 pm to 7 am. Not the shift I want to start married life. That's when I got a call from Leif. He noticed a job posting on the campus of Northwestern College for none other than a graphic design position at STEM Int'l! He asked me if I ever heard of it and told me the contact was a lady named Dana. Thank you God!
Calling for a potential job interview was never easier. Talking to Dana was almost like talking with an old friend. After the interview, I was offered the position as long as I would support raise a percentage of my salary. After discussing it with my future wife, I obviously took the position.
During my tenure at STEM, Dana has technically been my boss but more of a friend. We have tackled several projects, both big and small together (including Commissioned).
Skipping a few chapters lands us at March 14th, 2008...Dana's last day at STEM.
She has a great story of a broken marriage brought back together only by God authoring her life. She is/has moved to Tulsa, OK with her original husband and will only be five minutes from her aging-gracefully mother.
Two nights ago, Erin and I invited her over for some chicken off the grill (gotta love the warmer temps), salad, potatoes, and corn on the cob. Excellent! She loves Brevin, and Bella loved them both.
We are going to miss Dana more than we realize. She stopped being a co-worker and became a good friend a while ago. Which is why I feel the need to have a post centered on our relationship with her. It hasn't hit me yet that I'll walk into work Monday morning and Dana won't be there.
It was fitting that the project which initially brought us together, also came to an end this year, Commissioned. It had a great run and served it's purpose wonderfully but in the end, God saw to complete it...just like Dana's time with STEM. It was time to put an end to that chapter.
As Dana left the office today, tears were being shed by almost all. God used Dana to bring glory to His name and all of us got to be apart of that chapter in her life. So while those tears may have looked painful, they were filled with happiness knowing we get to experience many more chapters in our life authored by God.
We love you Dana!
—b
Click here for pictures of Brevin and Kayle from last weekend. (This is mainly for the grandparents.) ;)
—b
STEM has gotten the rights to publish the updated (third version) of Daniel Rickett's book Building Strategic Relationships. It was up to Dena (bigD) Swenson (my fellow designer) and I to come up with a new cover. Below are two choices, one of which was chosen and now at the printer. Which one do you like? Which one do you think "won"?
(Arguably everyone's favorite time—Time to go home!)
Malls stay the same, the way we use them changes. The variable is the users age.
A mall is:
I ran outta time today but this poor excuse for a picture is a preview of tomorrows post. (Dontcha just love Erin's expression.) ;) Love ya babe.
—b
This obviously happened a few years ago, but I thought it was funny.
In 2001, 26-year-old Jodee Berry had bested the other servers at her restaurant in a competition to see who could sell the most beer in a month to that eatery's customers, with the winner to receive a new Toyota. When the day came for her to be presented with her prize, Berry was led blindfolded to the restaurant's parking lot to receive her award, but when the blindfold came off she was devastated to learn that the promised jackpot was not a Toyota automobile but rather a toy Yoda, a Star Wars doll. She quit her job and sued Gulf Coast Wings, Inc., the corporate owner of the restaurant, alleging breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation. In 2002 the suit was settled for an undisclosed amount of money, which one of the attorneys involved in the case said would enable her to go to the local car dealership and "pick out whatever type of Toyota she wants."
Statement from Packers General Manager Ted Thompson:
Brett Favre has informed us of his intention to retire from the Green Bay Packers and the NFL. He has had one of the greatest careers in the history of the National Football League, and he is able to walk away from the game on his own terms - not many players are able to do that.
The Packers owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude. He has given Packers fans 16 years of wonderful memories, a Super Bowl championship among them, that will live on forever. Brett's many accomplishments on the field are legendary. He leaves the game holding virtually every career passing record, plus his consecutive starts streak, which may never be duplicated.
The uniqueness of Brett Favre - his personality, charisma and love of the game - undoubtedly will leave him as one of the enduring figures in NFL history.
Details of Brett Favre's availability to discuss his decision are still to be determined, and will be announced once set.
Read more here.
—b
(Click to enlarge)
Today's post topic comes courtesy of Erin. After the following events, she said "You need to write about this on the blog". So I will do my best in not only honoring my wife's wishes, but doing justice to the portray the event as humorous as it happened.
We had a few errands to run after church yesterday and Brevin was getting hungry. No, I take that back, Brevin was already hungry. So instead of driving the 35 minutes back home just to feed him and leave again, we decided to hit up Baker's Square. The decision was more for a place we could cure his hunger than for us to eat. But hey, why not kill two birds with one stone. (I've always wondered as to the origin of that saying.)
The aforementioned (that was a big word that I had to look up how to spell) Baker's Square has a reputation for housing the elderly. It seems whenever we go there, which isn't all too often, we lower the average age by 75%. Yesterday was no difference. In fact, it seems as if it were an elderly infestation. They were everywhere! We wondered if we were walking into a retirement home by accident.
After potential parking places were taken (twice), I was already a little anxious to get in and get our name down. As I was waiting in line (or what I thought was the line) to tell the hostess party of two plus a high chair, an elderly man (who was also apparently anxious to get his name in) shoved his way in front of me all-but bowling me over. Literally! I immediately looked at Erin to see if she saw what just happened. She had a look of shock and laughter and went and hid in a corner.
After the man got through me, he stood parallel to the couple in front of me. They looked at him and said they had already gotten their name and were waiting. So of course as the hostess asked who's next, the elderly enforcer lunged at her to get his name in. Fair enough, I was next anyway, no big deal.
As I made my way back to the corner Erin had found to take refuge, I felt as though I had Harry Potter's cloak of invisibility on. I kept getting run into. Mind you it was packed in the waiting area, but there is typically some sense of order as people usually hug the walls to get out of the way. Not so with the advanced in age. They were old and had rights. Barry Sanders would have had difficulty escaping them. They were relentless. They had canes, carts, walkers, and came they came in two's. There was no getting around them.
As I finally made it to Erin's Fortress of Solitude, we were both laughing at the situation. As if we needed any more blog fodder, another elderly couple walks through the door and spies two recently vacated spots on a bench. The wife then asks the lady who was sitting there to move down to the other end of the bench so she and her husband could sit down. The funny thing is, the couple could have just taken a few more steps to get around the lady and sit down. Nope, they had her slide all the way down to the other end so the couple didn't have to walk around her!
Not long after we heard "Erin, party of two." Excellent, we get to leave this madhouse. As we were making our way up to the front, "ERIN!" was said loudly by an old man who apparently thought we were taking too long. Ironic huh? The elderly telling us to hurry up.
We were laughing all the way to our booth. Who would have thought a trip to Baker's Square could be so entertaining.
Finally seated and amidst feeding a very hungry Brevin, we hear a loud "GONG!" I look behind Erin to see an old lady had struck the suspended glass bowl looking light above her table with her cane. Classic.
Thank you Lord for the little things in life which makes us enjoy it.
I'll leave you with a quote from the great theologian Lloyd Christmas of Dumb and Dumber.
"Hey! While though slow and dangerous behind the wheel, the elderly still can serve a purpose."
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