uvageek

Recently I took my Nissan Maxima on a long road trip on the roads of the Southeast and have to say that I was impressed with the drivers along the way. How so you might inquire? Quite simply – they were paying attention to the wheel, they were being courteous and they actually stopped for pedestrians at crosswalks.

That’s right, they gave pedestrians the right of way.

So here I am back in Northern Virginia and I was pretty ticked off by the number of drivers that either

• a) drove with their high beams on
• b) weaved in and out of traffic aggressively and
• c) texted while driving to the point that they were having difficulties controlling their driving at 55 mph.

Seriously people, pay attention to the road and get over yourselves – you’re not doing yourself any favors by getting stressed out about getting somewhere more quickly – take a chill pill and leave earlier. If you don’t have time to leave earlier, consider some hard conversations with your manager to change times.

Bottom line, it would be nice to actually live here if it weren’t full of folks that while driving aren’t thinking about driving…

More and more I wonder to myself, “What’s next?”

Both in my life, my work, and in the society in which we live.

I continue to press forward toward excellence as my parents encouraged me to do, but to what end when it becomes fruitless and merely a struggle?

In this society, I only ask what has happened to common sense, personal responsibility and thinking of others before yourself.

Living in the Washington DC area, there are a few things that you tend to know about happening… for instance WTOP News is your friend with traffic and weather on the 8’s… the Marine Corps Marathon in October is a pretty big deal… the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on the National Mall is also a pretty big deal…

So now imagine the collision of two of these three items – WTOP News and the Susan G. Komen Race for the cure. Over the past couple of years I’ve always chuckled when the radio announcers / broadcasters / news desk folks talk about Sleeping in for the Cure, always wondering if it was just something that WTOP News did or if it was legitimate.

After a little thought and analysis, and a visit to the Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure web site, sure enough it’s possible to register for Sleep in For the Cure. Initially I thought, “Maybe I’ll get a group together to go and walk the 3.1 mile hike, that’s a nice hour long walk.” But then I started thinking about it… 45,000 participants on the metro on a Saturday morning in DC… hmmm. Maybe I need to relax a little.

So while everyone else is out for the fun through DC, I’ve registered to sleep in on 5 June, and I intend to

Similar to runners, we get race shirts and bibs, but the bib is a little different

And if you’re interested in contributing to the Race for the Cure and looking for someone that’s registered, wander on over to:

http://globalrace.info-komen.org/goto/usher

Better yet, sign up and enjoy sleeping in

So what would you say if you had one last call?

Would you remind the person of how much they meant to you or would you merely just mention that you look forward to talking to them soon and leave things open ended? Would you give them a word of encouragement and something uplifting in this world of stress and bad news we live in?

I know for me, I hate goodbyes and in some cases avoid them so as to soften the emotional blow on myself. However, I’m starting to see more and more what Michael Easley meant about being a man and taking the blows rather than ducking – however that’s a discussion for a different day.

Nonetheless, do you wonder at times, when you listen to a message, do you delete it immediately thinking you’ll see the person later in the day or do you just hold onto it and remove it later when your phone becomes full of messages?

I urge you to think when you’re leaving a message for someone, whether a friend, a loved one, your boss or a staff member, if that was the last contact you had with them, how would you be remembered?

My heart still is healing from losing a loved one a year ago, every so often feeling the wounds heal over, only to be torn open again. But I’m fortunate, what started as memories of sorry have turned to smiles, albeit with a tear running down my cheek at times thinking how proud Mom would be. I still listen to the voice message she left for me, a few hours prior to the car accident that took her away from us a month later. The message was uplifting, up beat, encouraging and caring.

It was a model to remind me how to care for others so that they’d know that someone does care about them and for them.

Thanks Mom for the valuable lesson.

So I probably should stay away from Amazon.com so as to not have inadvertent spending splurges, but I have to say that I’ve been waiting for the Bourne Trilogy to come out on Blu-Ray and of course procure it through good ole Amazon.com.

At any rate, the trilogy is out, both in a boxed set format and also individually. Now here’s the kicker though, the individuals have a lower price than the entire box set. Not quite sure if the box set comes with anything extra, but to me it would seem that buying the Bourne {Identity, Supremacy, and Ultimate} individually would be the smart thing to do.

Now of course, if you want the real story, pick up a copy of the books from Amazon and read the “true” Bourne Trilogy.  While the movies started off somewhat inline with the books, they quickly diverged and got rid of Carlos (no, I’m not referring to the Hangover) which in my humble opinion was detrimental to the story line – but hey, Hollywood seemed to like the new story line they created…

Why is it that we stress about the future? Why do we not just sit back and relax knowing that the Lord is in control? I know for me it’s more being anxious that things will turn out a particular way… putting that aside and just realizing I don’t have to be in control is actually extremely comforting.

“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Matthew 6:34

Surprise, surprise, Christmas seems to have caught us all off guard once again – how it seems to do this every year I’m not quite certain.  This year of course we experienced a significantly large amount of snowfall this past weekend effectively closing the local school systems and the federal government for a day as well.

Looking back over the past years, I’ve noticed little by little that presents don’t have much meaning but rather the closeness of family and realizing what Christ’s means for all of us.  Now, is that to say that gifts and presents shouldn’t be exchanged and given, by no means! The gleaming joy in the eyes of my nephews is priceless and something that I would not trade for the world.

For those of you like myself, single but with family nearby, chin up and draw close to your friends and family and celebrate Christmas.

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