RadioShackin’

So I know this has been covered by every church seminar, book or conference dealing with first impressions but it still amazes me every time it happens. I get a grande vanilla latte at my local Starbucks at least once a week (twice if the Holly isn’t looking). Anyway… one of my barristas somehow knows my name and has moreover truly committed it to memory. Now I know one of the tricks is to ask for someones name, write it on the cup with his or her particulars, and then call them by name when their drink is up… however I can remember distinctly the moment she first called me out by name and I am sure she never asked for my name. (Pretty sure she lifted it from my debit card… clever)

Now… I have not been to Starbucks in quite some time recently but found myself being magically led there this morning to grab my usual on ice. She was there and quickly called for my order from across the room… I was a bit disappointed that she had forgotten my usual order but quickly got over it as someone else ran my card. She called out “iced grande vanilla latte” and there it was written on the side of my cup. Matt. She had remembered my name… she didn’t ring me up, come to find out she hadn’t even mixed my drink, she just asked what I was having and simply wrote it on the cup along with my name.

I’m writing now because I can remember just what I felt when it happened… important. Seriously, it made me feel important and kinda cool, like I was somebody worth remembering. I wasn’t thinking… man she’s got some killer memory or anything like that. I was really thinking… that’s right, they know who I am in there.

Anyway… that’s about it… just thought I would share.

In honor of Wilson’s post here… I feel compelled to pull out on of the greatest music videos of all time in preparation for one of the most electrifying events in all of human competition…

So I’m not quite sure how it came up today in the office, but somehow we were talking about the Andy Griffith show and I made a comment that if my mom started a blog it would be called “winkin’, blinkin’ and nod”. (That’s Episode number 96 “Opie the Birdman”for those who are counting) So of course when I got home tonight and flipped on the TV, just guess which episode was on… no joke.

So this will be probably the the corniest post you’ll ever catch from me… but here goes….

I remember watching Andy Griffith so much with my mom growing up. Seriously, if it was on any station at any time we were watching it. It of course got to the point that where I kinda started to dread when I heard the infamous whistling intro. Black and White, Color, even the R.F.D. episodes were all a part of the education. I freakin’ felt like half of our immediate family probably lived somewhere in Mount Pilot. But as I’ve gotten older I have to admit that part of me from time to time has thought that life in Mayberry doesn’t sound too terribly bad. Now I know that probably sounds ridonkulous from somebody like myself who definitely enjoys his share of technology, but here’s the thing. I think I would be willing to trade all the modern musings that fill my life and have even come to characterize a large portion of my personality for the opportunity to live in some mythical place where life seems so joy-filled and content.

Cheesy to the core… I know.

But I really am compelled to think about George’s message from this weekend about Joy, the choice we have and how often I am probably given the opportunity to choose Joy over any number of emotions like Jealousy, Contempt, Envy… you name it, and I can almost guarantee that I generally choose that over Joy.
I think for me it’s so much a perspective issue like George talked about. I simply don’t see that if I choose Joy over my other selfish responses, just how its gonna produce the kind of results and outcomes that I want. Choosing Joy in many situations means letting go of my sense of control over the situation. If I can simply maintain the perspective that God is really in control over every aspect of my life, how can my response be anything but Joy and contentment… Joy in fact that the God has actually chosen (and continues to choose) to take care of and love someone like me… even if I don’t live in Mayberry.

Opie: “The cage sure looks awful empty, don’t it Pa?”
Andy: “Yes son, it sure does… But, don’t the trees seem nice and full.”

Now thats perspective.

I love when ideas, concepts, patterns, chaos are visualized in unique ways by really creative people. This week while doing some personal research on our SYNC series about business, clutter and time management I came across this guys slick visualization program he wrote for his email archive called MyMap.

“My Map allows me to explore different relational groupings and periods of time, revealing the temporal ebbs and flows in various relationships. In this way, My Map is a veritable self-portrait, a reflection of my associations and a way to locate myself.”

I am on the lookout for unique ways to visually compute truth through patterns and practices in our lives and will ‘hopefully’ be sharing them here throughout the series.

What ideas, patterns or relationships in your life would you like to see ‘visualized’.

Actually got into work a bit early this morning and was greeted with a loud snap… followed by a louder crash. A second or so later… power failure at the office. The lights came back on in a couple of minutes and as I looked out on my beloved Charlotte Ave. this was the scene…

car drives into telephone pole… snapping it off like a twig…

then car proceeds approx. one block east on charlotte until it finds the side of a building…

Pat and I are not too proud to admit that we took a little stroll down Charlotte to check it all out and snap a few pics. The gentlemen driving the car appeared to be in good condition following the mid morning stunt show.