On a sad note...

Jr's Barber Shop is permanently closed for business. After 30 plus years of grooming and shaping the heads of Manhattanites and K-Staters, Jr, at the age of 78 has officially retired from the hair cutting business. This means for all of us whose heads have been graced by Jr's scissors there are no more soothing shoulder rubs after a long day at work, no more monthly doses of second hand smoke, no more dirty jokes, and most of all it means hundreds of us will be on the streets looking for another good barber. And just for those of you (Amanda) who don't know what the big deal is; a good barber is like a good bartender. He is someone you can confide in, someone who will always pretend to listen to you no matter what you are saying, and someone who will always respond to you with some of the best generic advice you'll ever hear. A good barber makes a haircut personal. It will be hard finding another barber I trust as much as Jr.

So here's to you Jr. It's been a pleasure getting my hair cut by you and I hope you enjoy your retirement and I hope its filled with lots of fishing and lots of time with your grandchildren. Aggieville won't be the same without Jr's Barber Shop.

Learning from Life

The other day Amanda and I were eating at Carlos O'kelly's, one of our favorite restaurants and I happened to mention that I would like to read a book...so we quickly asked for our check and ran over to Hastings. When I have these moments I've got to jump on them because they fade fast. I'm not normally someone who has the desire to read.

I picked out a book called "Choosing to Learn from Life". I have no previous knowledge of this book or its authors it just looked like an interesting book, plus its relatively short (170 pages) and has big words. I think its actually something that is meant to be a small group discussion type book. Anyways, the point is that this book is about how God uses moments in your life to teach and provide opportunities for growth and how we should try to recognize these moments and learn from them.

I'm sure it's no coincidence, but this book seems very fitting for my life right now. Not that there is anything profound in it (I'm only half way through it). It's just that lately my life has just seemed to be so busy and hectic, mostly at work, that I haven't taken time to think about what God could be trying to do in my life. This book as helped me, at least lately, to try to slow things down and observe and listen to what is going on, what God might be try tell me.

We all have those moments in our day to day life that seem to drag on, whether they are good or bad. Well the new prespective that I'm trying to use is this: think of life like you are studying film for football or basketball game and you slow the film down, maybe even pause it, so that you can get a better look at what is going on. I think that is what God does for us and its up to us to recognize those moments and observe and listen to what He has to say. So my charter for the next couple of weeks is to keep this in the back of my mind throughout the day and to try and be more observant and to take advantage of these learning moments.

Here we go...

After church today, for some reason I feel really motivated. Not sure why. God's is probably trying to tell me something. And of course I feel motivated now, on Sunday, when the weather is crappy and its a perfect day to stay inside and nap all day (as Amanda is doing). I practically wasted a perfectly nice day yesterday.

Anyways, not sure if it was the sermon today at church or what, but I feel motivated/moved to organize/start a fundraiser. Its not the first time I've thought about this. In fact as recent as last Friday a friend was telling us about a fundraiser she is organizing and it kinda got me thinking again. Originally, this thought popped into my head a few months back when I saw a blurb on TV about Hoops of Hope started by a 13 year old kid. Hoops for Hope would be a fun one to organize, however, other than the basketball side of it, not sure if I feel that passionate about children orphaned by AIDS in Africa (I know that probably sounds bad).

I tried brain storming this topic with Amanda and after about 30 minutes I think I frustrated her enough with my random, unorganized thoughts that the conversation was beginning to get heated. However, before we reached the boiling point, there was one idea that seemed to stick out above the rest. Providing a vacation for families affected by cancer. This was something that was given to Amanda's family when her mom had cancer. Not personally being through a situation like Amanda's I really can't relate to what it would have been like for their family. I can only imagine how it would be nice as a family to escape the lifestyle and monotony that occompanies cancer, even if its only for a little while.

Thats an idea anyway. A start. Not sure when or how this idea will mature, but I think God is definitly trying to work something out with me. For now I'll just continue to pray on it and we'll see where it goes.

For those of you who know me, you may be use to me coming up with ideas like this. Or saying I'll do something and then never follow through, well I agree and that is one reason why I've decided to restart my blog. I've also decide, with a little persuasion from Amanda, to start a 101 Things To Do in 1001 Days list. This is all an attempt to hold myself accountable for the things I say.

So to close this entry, I'll apologize for my rambling, but I'll warn you there will probably be more entries like this.