Chris's Musings

Once all of the parties, the gift buying, the wrapping, and the manic rushing around is finished; we all have a chance to sit back, relax, and finally enjoy spending time with friends and family for Christmas.  In Texas with "the fam," life slows down and I do have some time to relax and reflect on things; which is a good thing considering January 1st will be here soon and I always set a few goals for each year. My current read right now is a book called "Born to Run," which was recommended by a few of my runner friends, and I have not been able to keep it down.  I'm in the middle of the book and I've just got through the part where the Tarahumara have just won the Leadville 100 (an extreme ultramarathon in Colorado), beating ultrarunning legend (do these exist?) Ann Trason in what was described in the book as one of the harshest, most unforgiving ultras (as if running the distance of four marathons in a single stint isn't harsh) in the year she set th...

I'm flying home for Thanksgiving on Tuesday afternoon, and I am really looking forward to spending some time down in Houston (or "H-Town" as we native Houstonians call it).  I know from the outside looking in, this city is a huge flat sprawl of concrete and is hotter than Hades in August (it's true!  I don't complain about the summers in Atlanta), but I love this city. Now, I am looking forward to the challenge of trying to convince someone that this place, and the State it calls home, is actually a great place.  It really doesn't help that our beloved baseball team lost 106 games this year and is selling out to the AL, or that the Texans' season is once again at risk with Matt Leinart under center after Schaub got hurt and is out for the year.  But, here are some things I love about it... We have the best Mexican food on the planet! And yes, that includes Mexico :-).  And I know we have the infamous designation of being the "fattest city in Amer...

If you're in any way interested in sports, or follow the news, or know someone who does, you have probably heard Joe Paterno's name mentioned this week.  During our dinner club conversation last night, talk about "Joe Pa" got a lot of airtime...  But why? Is it because he's 84 and was still coaching a successful Division 1 football program? Is it because of his D-1 record 409 victories as a head coach? Is it because Penn State has a real opportunity to play in the first ever BIG (Big Ten) Championship this season? Um... not exactly. It is because, for several years, one of Joe Paterno's assistant coaches... ahem - his heir apparent at the time.... Did something SO horrible that I can't really mention it on this blog.  The thought of it disgusts me and makes me want to vomit. And yet several people around the Penn State football program knew this was going on, and apparently.... Nothing... really...  was done. Joe notified the Athletic Dir...

Anyone who knows me, or pays attention to my goings on, knows that this weekend was my second half marathon weekend.  Yes, I did the half insanity again, beat my first half marathon time by 16 minutes (easy to do if you had the foot issues I had last year :) ), and had an absolutely fantastic weekend touring Savannah, St. Simons Island, and lots of traffic jams.  I really felt truly blessed this weekend (maybe not for the traffic jams, but for everything else :) ). Thinking through the weekend, a couple of deja vu conversations got me thinking.  The first one was at the McDonald's in Dublin, GA.  I was ordering a snack wrap and a coffee drink, and this woman behind me in line strikes up a conversation like this...  "Are you running the full or the half?" This person happened to be traveling to her home in Savannah and knew about the race (it was a pretty big deal for Savannah), and her husband had just completed the Marine Corps Marathon the week before and ...

In my time with God this morning, I ran into a familiar story that we've all heard.  In fact, I thought about "familiarity" a lot when I was noodling it, http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2021:1-14&version=NIV Which produced a, somewhat unfamiliar, epiphany.   Jesus had just been crucified, and had risen from the dead but the disciples by and large did not accept this fact at the time.  Peter and John had been to the tomb and saw it empty, but Peter didn't believe yet that Jesus rose from the dead.  Peter, probably in trying to figure things out, likely out of the shame of having disowned Jesus, and possibly out of disillusionment - decided to go back to the thing he knew... He went fishing.  He had a  fishing business before meeting Jesus.  It was familiar.   And then, Peter hears this guy on the shore. Guy on shore:  "Caught anything yet?" (my translation into "Southern") Guys on boat:  "No"  ...

I just got back from spending time at Taco Mac with a buddy of mine; watching the demise of the Phillies in Game 5 (in which I'm sure all of Atlanta rejoiced!).  Wrapping up some home chores I took a look at my blog and realized that I haven't posted since August! Shame on me!  I guess even a great writer (in my own mind) needs to take a break every now and then.   But, given that I've been away from my blog, can you imagine the pressure of the "first next" post... is it going to be awesome?  That's a lot of pressure for someone who likes to write.   So... to take the pressure (sort of) off... and because I've had blog thoughts in my mind... I'll break the ice by providing a short synopsis of some thoughts I've had over the last 6 weeks... so my next post, whether snarky or serious... will be a little more pressure-free.   (Thanks to my groups director Mark Shull - the man - for giving me this)  Yes, Peter sunk in the water when he took h...

This weekend, I was able to get home and enjoy my fill of great Texas food, and yes I'm watching my calories and making sure to work out a little extra this week.  Needless to say, I've had some Mexican, some Greek (there's a famous place in Montrose called Niko Niko's that's crazy good - and was on Diners Drive-ins, and Dives), and of course some Goode Company BBQ :-) I do miss Texas BBQ.  I really do.  Not that my new home doesn't have good BBQ - it's just not the same and that's okay.  I'm sure that you know some folks that when you say the word "barbecue" automatically think about something that may or may not be foreign to your experience, so having been around I'll give you a little lexicon. "Southern" Barbecue (Tennessee/Georgia variety) This would be slow smoked pulled pork with a sweet sauce, most often served with macaroni and cheese, french fries, collard greens, or a plethora of other sides.  Those just happen...

If you are like me in this new post-recession (whether you believe we are really out of it or not) world, you are looking out for a deal when you shop.  As you know, there are a number of new companies and ventures out there attempting to take advantage of this mentality, the most famous of them now being Groupon. If you're following this emerging cluster of ventures, you know that recently GroupOn had talked about going IPO and they were bragging that their initial sale would rival any company that has gone IPO before... that is, until they had to restate their books. http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/08/groupon_doomed_by_too_much_of.html I am a "deals site" consumer so I do pay attention to what's going on here.  I am also a business marketing professional so I'm also very fascinated by this new tactic for attracting consumers and the retailers' ambitions when choosing to do business with these companies.  I do, in some way, tend to agree with the HBR blogg...

My parents are in town this weekend.  We are chilling right now, and planning to get some Stone Mountain laser show action in tonight. Last night, we went through the "where do you want to go to eat?" question, and we decided to go down to the Colonnade.  I organized my dinner group there a few months ago, and they have great, aka - amazing - Southern "down home" goodies.  Mom and Dad were pretty down with that. We get to the restaurant around 7:30pm, and it is PACKED, the smells of fried chicken is in the air (mmmmmmm), and there's a 20 minute wait to get a table.  Given that I've waited over an hour for tables in Houston before, I didn't see this as a big deal.  After about 5 minutes of standing, we find a table in the bar/lounge area where people are hanging out and waiting for tables. Oh, I should give you this detail... The Colonnade is an Atlanta landmark, it was showcased on Guy's show "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" (a Food Net...

In the last couple of weeks, partly because of the study I'm working through with my small group but also through a lot of conversations within my community, I've really been thinking about what it really means for me to live Gospel-centered. One thing that I heard tonight that's really got my brain churning is how we as human beings can even turn the truths of this good news of unconditional, unmerited grace given to us at the expense of Jesus Christ somehow into a moral improvement code. Several years ago, a guy at Second Baptist gave a talk about the "two sides of the gospel" that has really stuck with me and I've gone back to often.  It also explains why we are, in many of our Christian circles, so quick to jump on the "performance bandwagon" - when we only embrace one side of the gospel and not the totality of what God has offered to us. If you think about "it" in terms of Accounting, consider that we human beings have a balance ...

I have been watching the news with baited breath... as negotiations occur in dark rooms in which the fate of many will be decided... and the clock is ticking to an eventual doomsday deadline. Yes, my friends. I'm talking about the July 31st baseball trade deadline. I am, sort of, watching the market for who may be traded to my current hometown team, who has been somewhat crippled when Brian McCann went on the DL just recently.  With the loss of his bat, the Braves really need to pick up some offense, especially against left handed pitching (where they were recently quoted as batting a measly .227 as of about a week ago). But more so, I'm nervous and watching the biggest seller on the market.  After all, I am from  Houston and I am a Houston Astros fan. And yes, I know.... They really stink.  Actually, that may be too kind. That's why we are the biggest seller now, because we own the most marketable player that is being talked about as a trade target. ...

Some of you know that I organize a once a month dinner club for friends and friends of friends to explore new restaurants in the city, meet new people, and have interesting conversation.  I am somewhat of a foodie and started organizing these dinners a few years ago because I wanted to go out to nice dinners but was on a dating fast at the time (and usually you go to restaurants like these on dates), so why not organize a "dinner club?" For this summer, I have themed my picks as the "Summer of Celebrity" and am picking restaurants that are owned by well-known celebrities or have been featured on a national program.  For whatever reason, this month I felt lazy (I say this, because I usually never choose restaurants that are part of national chains) and picked Ted's Montana Grill as it is owned by one of Atlanta's most famous (or infamous) celebrities, media mogul Ted Turner.  I organized for last Thursday night.   On the way from my office to the restauran...

As soon as the election of 2010 started, you had to know this was going to happen... The national debt, which was already bad, is starting to get out of control.  The Obama/Pelosi "stimulus" package did nothing more than to throw away several billion dollars in funds and produced *ahem* higher unemployment (well, not really, but it didn't perform as promised and unemployment is conservatively at 9.2% today, double what it was during the heyday of the Bush administration). The "Obamacare" health care overhaul was passed.  This was a very bad piece of legislation by most people's counts and the greatest government encroachment on the US healthcare system in our history.  Applauded by people on the Left, demonized by people on the Right, and controversial all around. And a very vocal group of average citizens, empowered by fear over the economy and the government's seemingly unbridled approach to spending and power grabs over the private sector, rose ...

Well friends, I had my final visit (I hope) to Dr. Peebles today and got the go-ahead to start ramping up my running. Good thing, because on June 1, 2011, otherwise known as National Runners Day, I registered for the inaugural Savannah Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon on November 5th.  A $13 discount from Competitor.com had something to do with my getting signed up then :-).  My goal is to start going into "training mode" for the race in early-to-mid August. Interestingly enough, when I was at the L.A. Rock and Roll (also an inaugural), marathon record-holder Deena Castor was speaking to a group and encouraged everyone to think of the "next goal" you have... to have something greater in front of you. For me... it is to finish this next race without any injury, without walking, and to bust my PR of 2:32 wide open. Now this will be the third race I've run so the third time is a charm, right? My goal:  2:10 - stretch, under 2 hours. But for now, I am going to c...

I've been thinking about this recently, and a conversation I had with a married friend of mine about this topic got me thinking about the "F-word" in relationships.  You know it. "Let's be..."  (I can see you cringing now :-) ) Friends. My friend told me, "You know that once you're friends you never get back."  That may be true, but sometimes when you're interested in, or have gone out with a great girl a couple of times and "something" is not right which you can't put your finger on - sometimes surrendering the romantic is the right thing to do.  Obviously, there is risk to it, but it is in my opinion the most honoring thing to do for the other person too. Even if it may be the "kiss of death."  Perhaps this is why I'm still single.  Ha!  I'll get to that in a second. Being an expert on being friends with women (in my own mind), in my opinion there are four or five "friend dynamics" (from...

Several years ago, I had made fun of a friend of mine that, on our group ski trips would insist on going snowboarding even though for three consecutive years she would get injured.  From my recollection, the injuries were: A foot broken in several places An ACL tear (and I can't remember what the third was, nor can I perfectly recall the order) And this girl was a pretty good skiier, but she insisted on going boarding despite the ribbing and the, as I can imagine, frequent trips to the hospital. Well, I can understand it now... Guess what friends?  I've signed up for my next Half Marathon. This is after, Silver Comet race - torn miniscus... surgery.  L.A. Rock and Roll - painful achilles tendonitis... finally able to run after 7 months and a lot of chiropractor and pediatrist visits.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can finish this year injury free?   But am I a glutton for punishment?   Maybe.   But I get what my friend (who still boa...

I don't know if you saw this post from Tyler Stanton, but I thought it was pretty hilarious.  Not only because of it's obvious snarkiness, but also because it's pretty obvious that I'd probably not impress Tyler (me being the movie line quoting, Android phone carrying, theologically minded guy that I am).  But I laughed, so I gave it the fanfare that a great post is due.  Here is the link, in case you haven't seen it. http://www.tylerstanton.com/2011/06/06/16-things-that-dont-impress-me/ I've actually thought about posting my own, but I think I'd rather ponder what actually DOES impress me (even though in Henry Cloud's "Nine Things" chapter about "hating well," what we dislike (aka - doesn't impress us) is an indication of what we value).  If you don't really care about impressing me, then you can ignore the rest of this blog, but in case you're curious then you can read on... :-) Things that impress me in general 1...

I really can't leave my last post hanging.  You have to be wondering by now, whatever came of your "Bad Apple  Experience?"  Are you a Windows guy now? The answer is... No!  I'm still a Mac guy.  And I'm happy. After noodling over the situation and soliciting the advice of friends over Facebook, I decided to try to get to a customer care person and explain my situation.  A buddy that had worked for Apple for 3 years gave me some advice that if I can get to the right people they can make some things happen. So - I tried, and tried to call.  The support line was strictly a computer, and it didn't really lead me anywhere.  Funny thing about a large company with a lot of raving fans... they think no one complains.  Funny, huh?  I tried three times to get past the computer bouncer, to no avail. So when you want to complain to a person, what do you do?  You tell the computer that you want to buy something. Salesperson is now on....