Tuesday Briefs

It’s been a busy few months around Casa de Blundell!

We’re both heading back to work after an extended weekend (3 days for Jonathan – 5 days for Laurie!) so I thought it might be time for another brief.
Continue reading Tuesday Briefs

it consumes my life

I talked with a co-worker today about social media, networking, new media and the like in the classroom and church setting. She had just returned from a conference and was amazed at all the things available to academics – usually at no additional costs to the users (i.e. professors or students). She mentioned that we needed someone who could evangelize (my word) all this new technology to folks across the district. Someone who could explain what it means and how to use it to professors who are fed up with being forced to use “technology” (typically antiquated technology at that).

I wanted to jump up and down and say, “Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!”

I didn’t. We were in a semi-public environment and I didn’t want to cause a scene (so instead I just post this in a very-public environment).

I mentioned this scene to Laurie and she made the point that I’d be good at a job like that because, “it consumes your life.”

I think she’s pretty dead on. I just have a passion/fire/drive for connecting people. Whether its online or offline (or a combination of the two) I love to see people making connections. I want to see a distributed Christianity and world – rather than a mainframe world. I want to see crowd-sourcing rather than scholarly opinions. I want to see people understanding others in new ways and thus building newer, stronger relationships.

So as a side note: if you know someone wanting/needing a social media guy (like the job Chad just got) let me know. Let’s talk!

And — all this to say — I know I typically turn to Twitter or micro-blogging to share what’s going on in my life — but figure I owe all the readers here an update on my weekend as well.

weekend roundup

Each and every Saturday I do my best to meet with Josh to discuss life, faith, church, families, friends etc. This week was no exception. Due to a few schedule changes, we made plans to meet at 8 a.m. I arrived at his house and he fixed some great BOBs (breakfast on bread). We ate and chatted for an hour or so and then I was off to event #2.

Another friend had a deep freezer his mother wanted to donate to Daniel’s Den in Waxahachie. Brad met me at Josh’s house and we headed to Duncanville to pick up the freezer and then back to Waxahachie to deliver it. As soon as we finished I rushed back to Red Oak to make it home before event #3. I had hoped/predicted I’d back home by 11. I didn’t make it back till 11:38 :-(. Laurie had said as long as I was home by 11:30 things would be fine and even though I was “only 8 minutes late” it really irked me that I didn’t make it by either time.

After I arrived home, I quickly changed shirts and we were off to take Presley to the dog park and the vet. We spent 30 minutes or so at the dog park before Presley got to “enjoy” her visit with the vet. Seems like more and more we’re realizing she doesn’t like men. Not sure what it is – but she doesn’t like em. After the vet we headed to the doggie wash – where she got a nice warm bath with shampoo and conditioner.

Presley would rather sniff than play

Getting a wash

We stopped by Sonic on the way home. And then I was off to a birthday party for Juston. Had a good time and got to play some ping-pong with his younger brother Andrew. We did a cool thing at the party – in that each “man” gave words of advice to Juston as he turned 13. I shared 3 things I wish I would have known — (or actually paid attention to) when I turned 13.

  • find a group of guys/friends that will stick by you no matter what — and stick by them no matter what
  • find a mentor who will be honest with you and be willing to set you in the right direction when you’re going the wrong way
  • have fun! and don’t worry what others think except for your family and the guys mentioned above.

After the party I headed back home to finish cooking the dinner we had planned to share with Josh, his wife Shalyn, their baby girl, and my sister Kara and my brother-in-law, Tim.

They arrived short time later and we enjoyed some chicken tacos, rice, beans and assorted fixings along with some fun stories and conversations.

One thing I truly love about Laurie is that she loves hosting people at our house. She’s not near as outgoing as I am and usually doesn’t “thrive” in group settings like I might – but she still loves serving others by inviting them over and enjoying dinner with them. We both love doing that and I hope its something we continue doing for years to come.

Sunday was a whole different day but just as fun (other than the annoying sunburn I got).

Our church/tribe gathered outdoors at the Tucker’s house for our normal celebration time as well as BBQ and games. I was there outdoors from roughly 8 a.m. till 2 p.m. No wonder I got a little red ;-).

Some folks even took a ride on the Tucker’s 4-wheelers before it was all said and done.

Carl and Brian 4 wheeling

I came home and crashed on the couch before mowing the yard and pulling some weeds in the front.

All in all a tiring weekend but one I’d gladly do all over again (minus the sunburn).

So there you have it (if you’re still reading).
Be sure and click over to Laurie’s blog for her take on the weekend as well.

Weekend update

Well, I’m about to wrap up another Monday at work. It will be nice to be back home.
Laurie and I started the day off today feeling like we had just left work on Friday. Tired, exhausted and looking forward to a weekend. Too bad the weekend was all over.

She of course has it a bit rougher because she has to leave a full hour before I do and usually takes a good 30-min to an hour more than me to get ready. So while she’s having to drag herself out of bed at 5 a.m. – I’m still hitting snooze on my alarm clock and probably annoying the heck out of her (even though she won’t admit it — to me).

This weekend was a blur for sure. Friday night we enjoyed dinner at Bennigans and thanks to my membership in their e-mail club or whatever they call it I had a coupon for buy one entree’ get one free. So while we usually stick with the basic menu there we both enjoyed their mix and match meal. I had steak and salmon and Laurie had steak and chicken. Although after several broccoli bites (a must) and her baked potato, Laurie had little room for the main course.

After dinner we came home and watched Premonition with Sandra Bullock. A good movie. A number of twists to keep it interesting and not too predictable.

Then around 10:30 I had to rush off to meet Brian to set-up for the encounter 9 event, which was scheduled for 11:59 p.m. on Friday night. We had a great turnout and a great time. We finished the event around 1:30 a.m. and then a bunch of us made a stop at What-A-Burger for late night breakfast and more fun.

Saturday Laurie cleaned house and I headed to the “Jesus Dome” for a CWF show in Rockwall. We had a HUGE crowd Saturday night with close to 200 people in attendance and I would estimate that 60% of them were first timers. It was a great show and everything seemed to go without a hitch.

Sunday was church in the morning with Laurie having to work in the nursery. Sucked sitting by myself on my birthday – but whatcha gonna do? Luckily I had plenty of friends to sit with.

Laurie had 21 women from the church over Sunday afternoon for a Bible study kick-off so I took the dog Geocaching with me. Not much luck, but I got one done and Presley had a good time running all over the place.

After a full afternoon we headed to Mesquite for dinner with our parents. My mom made some of my favorites, Kings Ranch Casserole and Dump Cake for desert. We had a great time and Kara even stopped by before the evening was over.

After a full day we headed back to Red Oak and crashed not long afterwards wondering where in the world our weekend had run away to.

The beat goes on

Is it only Tuesday? Wow!

I feel like we’ve been going non-stop since last Wednesday, if not before.
We had a super busy weekend with four parties (three Christmas parties and one birthday party), we enjoyed each one and everyone we got to spend time with but we both feel like we need a weekend to catch up from the weekend. Laurie’s got more thoughts on the weekend over on Vertigo.

Last night Laurie picked me up from work after a check up at the doctors for her inflammation in her shoulder. We drove to Mesquite to do a little shopping and then enjoyed dinner and entertainment at our parent’s church with Smiley, Shari and the After Hours Improv gang. Another great show guys. We’re sorry we’ll miss the final show of the year this Saturday in Waxahachie, thanks to another dinner party.

To top it all off, Laurie’s had trouble sleeping the last few nights. Don’t know if it’s a noisy snoring husband, a restless mind or a restless heart but it’s adding to her already drained condition. I’m hoping and praying she can get some good rest tonight to help get her through the rest of the week.

You can bet we’ll be sleeping in Saturday morning.

So that’s it for now – the beat goes on.