I have great friends

My bday was last wk, and my friends showed me lots of love -- they always do. Went to a pub with the guys one night, some of whom I hadn't caught up with in awhile -- always good to do that.

And one particular young lady treated me especially well with some unique and special gifts over several days.

Isn't this little photoshop wonder awesome? It came with the caption "I would jump out of a cake for you anyday!" cracked me up...had to share it with ya'll.

Thanks Rachel and everyone for all the gifts and birthday wishes.

Big Red Commercial

Here's a blast from the past...remember these commercials?

Proverbs for Sanford

So we've all heard about the drama swirling around South Carolina's governor, Mr. Mark Sanford. I must say I was bummed out hearing that, especially because he's a Furman Alum...

but what was interesting last week was that as I watched all of this play out, I just happened to be in my Bible study around Proverbs chapters 5-7. Don't know if you've read it lately, but it's all about warning again the "strange foreign woman" and her scandalous eyelids. It's pretty strong language, and rightfully so...Sanford's probably wishing he had hidden it in his heart instead of these lies about his Argentenian mistress, who was also married, i think. Anyway, check it out yourself...first from Chapter 5:

For the lips of an adulteress drip honey,
and her speech is smoother than oil;
but in the end she is bitter as gall,
sharp as a double-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death;
her steps lead straight to the grave.
She gives no thought to the way of life;
her paths are crooked, but she knows it not

and...what Sanford must be thinking now...(from Chapter 5, starting at vs 11)

At the end of your life you will groan,
when your flesh and body are spent.
You will say, "How I hated discipline!
How my heart spurned correction!
I would not obey my teachers
or listen to my instructors.
I have come to the brink of utter ruin
in the midst of the whole assembly.

there's no larger assembly than a nationally televised press conference...

Then another stern warning from Chapter 6, vs 25

Do not lust in your heart after her beauty
or let her captivate you with her eyes,
for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread,
and the adulteress preys upon your very life.
Can a man scoop fire into his lap
without his clothes being burned?
Can a man walk on hot coals
without his feet being scorched?
So is he who sleeps with another man's wife;
no one who touches her will go unpunished....
But a man who commits adultery lacks judgment;
whoever does so destroys himself.

I told you it was strong...but fitting isn't it? Didn't Sanford's weepy, bumbling, press conference (in which he first apologized to his mistress, then South Carolinians, THEN his family) make him look like a fool? He truly had been reduced to a loaf of bread.

But what I also noticed there and in some of the news coverage was the destructive nature of adultery...obviously it destroys the marriage and lives involved around it. But one psychologist interviewed mentioned how men involved in adultery have lots of deeper issues of self-hatred, and cheating is one of many destructive habits they have. Think about that, and take for instance Ephesians 5 that speaks of healthy marriage and love...quite a juxtaposition to these verses and habits in Proverbs. There Paul writes, and God says "He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church..." So does it follow that if one is not loving his wife, and even committing adultery, it's because he doesn't care for and love himself? I don't know, just noticing these things...what are your thoughts?

I'll leave you with one final admonishment...
God says, and Solomon in Chapter 7 writes:

Do not let your heart turn to her way,
or stray into her paths.
Many are the victims she has brought down;
her slain are a mighty throng.
Her house is a highway to the grave,
leading down to the chambers of death.

Sadly, we must add Sanford to her list of victims...

On Twitter

As I mentioned in my MJ post the other day, this has been a big week for the intraweb...specifically twitter. Check out what the creator of twitter said about it;) I'm especially interested in this because I've been thinking about it some for work and how we can use it to stay connected to clients; but also I just signed up for my own account; you can follow me here. Let the tweeting begin!

A Day in the life

I need to vent.

Every week (sometimes a few times each week) I'm required to go pick up a check from some of my clients for their ads. It's just part of the job. Well, as of late (you might've heard something about the state of our economy on those news stations) most folks are not especially excited about paying their bills. Also, because the economy's in the crapper and hardly anyone is buying, we greatly reduced rates and increased options to encourage people to buy. Some have...but often the smallest ad at the best rate, which is great for them, because their marketing payment is smaller...but it's not so great for me. We've helped them out that way, and you think they'd repay us, well...by paying us, quickly, or on time at least. Not the case. This little situation usually leaves me trapesing all over town for these measly little peon clients and then waiting and waiting to get them to give me a check.

You'd be amazed at how people act when you come in to get money....they'll scoot out the back, hop in the car and drive away! What...have I got the plague or something? Or worse, they'll make you wait and wait forever til they "find their checkbook." My favorite thing to do then is walk around their store "shopping," feigning interest in their birdseed, or cat litter, or whatever widgets they are selling. Eventually I get a check though, and then I'm on my way to sell another little ad to another little client.

Oh for the good ol' days of big ticket clients who were billed and paid their bills on time; and if they didn't they were our accounting department's problem.

I'm too young to be wishing for the good ol' days....

the pursuit continues...

got this little gem of a resource today from a client's son of all people. Click around there; great idea because those Hollywood execs are looking for good scripts too, and this site is connecting the dreamers to them. The client's son actually got a call from an agent! I need to look into this once I've got a script written.

nice gift on a special day.

If you were thinking about flying in an Airbus...

don't. Looks like another one has done a disappearing act.

Barrett & Jessa's slidesho'

This is why I haven't been blogging lately...spent some time working on this with Rachel for our friends' wedding rehearsal dinner last week. And I had a great time creating this with her...the best parts of it were her idea, including the photoshopped pictures...plus Barrett and Jessa are fun folks with fun lives so we enjoyed working on it and doing this for them. Hope you enjoy!

The Curious Case of Michael Jackson

So, I know you've all been waiting for it --my reaction to Michael Jackson's passing. (or just my return to blogging --it's been too long) Well, in all the news coverage (which has been quite sad that a pop star's passing can distract us from more pressing issues like what's happening in Iran, what does that say about us?... but also strangely fascinating at the same time -- I've watched/read more of it than I care to admit:) there's something I noticed about him: the enigmatic way in which he aged.

There's of course always been a lot of talk about his lack of childhood, and the problems that caused...but I've heard a couple of industry people's perspectives on that that knew him early on and they said that was his own choice. His talent, passion, and ambition drove him to want more than most kids want and to do something with the gifts he had, so he pursued it, and with much success because he was dedicated and smart and savvy about it. I even heard one of his producers say that as a boy he seemed like a middle-aged business man; and I heard a quote from Michael himself on the radio yesterday alluding to people saying to him when he was young that he seemed like a 42-year-old man trapped in a boy's body.

Fast forward to when he actually was middle-aged, and we are all familiar with who he had become; buying Neverland, hanging around children, acting irresponsible with his finances and impulsive spending. Even his voice and the types of strange things he did as he got older, from wearing masks for no reason to palling around and throwing water balloons with Macauley Culkin; it was all so childish and backwards. He became a child now trapped in a grown man's body. He was the original Benjamin Button, curiously aging backwards...

But why did he digress so? He must have regretted the choices he made early on to not be a normal child but rather pursue success, and thinking he missed out and sought after it. Or the world and it's success was not all it cracked up to be and he longed for that simpler life that alluded him now that the spotlight of fame was on him. But whatever his motivation, these bizarre behaviors later in his life were his choice; he was not a victim. It's still sad though because he was a man searching for more from life, and along with his ambiguous age, his sexuality and race also seemed to be ever-changing and morphing. This is fascinating because although he was seeking so desperately to be fully human and alive, he changed the most naturally human things about himself.

In other thoughts, MJ's death along with the Iran situation made for quite a week online and with social media. Searches when his death was announced nearly brought the internet down, which is crazy in and of itself. But these two events alone have shown the capacity of social media, twitter specifically, to help disseminate news and even rally a revolution...fascinating stuff. That's all for now