He's going the distance! He's going for speeeeeed!

In my most recent travels, I had the opportunity to visit parts of Indianapolis for a very short time. Now I didnt see the downtown area, but this is the week before the Indy 500 race and you could tell that people were getting "revved up" for the weekend (sorry I couldn't resist).

I was told by the Finance Director from Community Hospital of Anderson, IN that it was "Community Day" at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Of all days to be in the Indianapolis area, this was the one day that they allowed people to drive their cars around the actual racetrack! I was also lucky enough to have rented a Mustang for this trip!

Although I was only allowed to go 30 mph around the track, it really was a great feeling to be behind the wheel of an American muscle car (well it was an V6 automatic, so just barely) going around the famous Indy 500 racetrack. The only benefit to the slow speed was it let me take many pictures without running into the walls...

Just click on the picture below to see more photos!

The Office Season Finale

I was glad that my long time buddy Mike was able to come up and hang out with me in Newton last night in between his graduation from Norwich University and hopefully going to flight school for the Navy. I was even more excited when we both realized that the 1-hour season finale of The Office was that night!

Without ruining it for people who did not watch it... Wow! There were so many things going on with all the characters all at the same time. It wasn't the absolute funniest episode I've ever seen but it was definitely the most action-packed of the series so far. If you didn't get the chance to watch it last night... drop what you're doing and immediately and watch this episode!

Now I'm just sad we have to wait till September for Season 5. I havent been this dissapointed since I stopped watching 24...

Revelation

I have the new Third Day album Revelation on my MP3 player.

You do not.

You cannot until July 29.

Be jealous... be very jealous!

Keeping Perspective

As I am now actively looking for a new vehicle to replace my dying mode of transportation, I am trying to find a way to fit a car payment into my budget. I have never had to do this before because my first two cars were paid in cash. Where's this money gonna come from? What do I need to cut back on or how can I shift the numbers around?

This all has very bad timing. Not really for me because I've been anticipating my car's eminent demise and have a few grand saved up. This is bad timing from a global perspective.

Huh??

I've been trying to put my life in perspective lately - the significance of relationships, the insignificance of my daily inconveniences, my part in the larger global economy. Watching the evening news really helps to put these things into perspective. I am trying to figure out if I want a standard or an automatic, while half way around the world people have lost all of their loved ones in a devastating cyclone or earthquake.

Cyclone Nargis - at least 23,000 fatalities

Sichuan Earthquake - at least 10,000 fatalities

Can anyone really put their mind around those numbers?

I remember after the tragic Virginia Tech shootings over a year ago, there was a vigil set up in the center of the UMass Dartmouth campus for all 32 victims. You hear numbers on the news all the time, but I looked at each glowing paper bag as an individual life. One bag was business student excited to graduate and start working towards their MBA. Another was an art student struggling to say a thousand words with nothing but a blank canvas and some paint.

I began to put faces, names, and stories to each bag. The callousness that I had developed from daily media reports began to fade away. But that was only 32 people! I imagine that if there were a bag for every victim of the two latest natural disasters it would cover the east coast from Bar Harbor to Miami.

All of these numbers come at a very bad time for thinking so self-centered. Instead of thinking "how much can I afford to pay for a car?", I am starting to shift to "how much does God want me to keep and how much can I afford to give away?" Being a typical middle-class American I get so caught up in how to please "Number One" and have the best of everything. This new perspective is completely rattling my comfort zone and I hope it brings real change in my life, and in turn, the lives of people thousands of miles away.

Post #100 !!

Not sure if this is the sort of thing to be celebrated, but I just realized that this will be my 100th post here in Blogger. It originally started as a place for me to vent and express my inner most feelings, but I have recently been inspired by other bloggers to write about material with actual substance that would sound more like an editorial piece than the notes from one of my visits to the therapist.

That being said, its funny to see the evolution of this web log (or "blog" I believe you kids are calling it these days). Now that I am beginning to travel for work, I hope to mix some of my personal experiences and business experiences now. In fact I am leaving this morning to go to Nevada, Missouri. You may remember my previous entry about this epicenter of boredom and hick-ness. Well this time around its going to be much warmer, which means thats there is still absolutely NOTHING to do in this town. Hopefully my supervisor and I can take in a Kansas City Royals game on one of the nights. I'll try to write about it if it actually happens!

I hope that some people have enjoyed the material that I've written in the last 100 posts and I hope my readership increases to double digits over the next year!

Hello May

The next month might just be the busiest month ever. Let me explain:

1. Back to back trainings for work (just finished Phase 1 - in MO on Monday for Phase 2)
2. Going to M.C. Flynn's commissioning ceremony in VT weekend after next.
3. Spring retreat in NH with people from Grace Chapel the following weekend.
4. UMD graduation the next weekend.
5. Brendan's banquet last Thurs of the month
6. Brendan's graduation that weekend
7. Family visiting from FL
8. Cousin's wedding first weekend in June

I was complaining a few months ago that I was bored out of my mind. No more! I do love springtime though...