Recovering Baptist

Perhaps the best Christmas song from a non-Christmas album is You Gotta Get Up (Christmas Morning)>”You Gotta Get Up” by Rich Mullins. It perfectly captures that moment when a child wakes up on Christmas morning, but there’s a line that I now understand a whole lot better.

Mom and Dad stayed up too late last night
I guess they got carried away in the Christmas candlelight
You’ve gotta get up, you’ve gotta get up, you’ve gotta get up
It’s Christmas morning.

As the kids get older these lines make more sense. Christmas is a lot of work for parents, especially for procrastinators like us. This was my first year putting together a bike (Ok, so it was actually a Big Wheel, but to the boys it’s a bike) for Christmas. Between that and some touch-up work I did on another “new” toy, my garage felt like a northern workshop. Meanwhile, our guest room looked like a bunch of elves invaded it since my wife wrapped all of the presents for the kids. We got very little sleep the two nights before Christmas, but it was all worth it that morning. The four year old got up first, and we let him wake up his little brother. The look on his face when he saw the room full of presents was worth every minute of missed sleep.

Of course they loved opening the presents. And they stopped to play with each one as it was opened. We actually took a couple of breaks so we could eat. You know there are a lot of presents when you take two breaks!

There’s a large part of me that wishes Christmas as we know it would go away. The pressure to find the right present is high, the money spent is ridiculous, and kids know they’re the center of attention to the point that they are nearly unbearable. But despite all of that, the moments of magic when the boys walk downstairs are worth it all.

This year marked a second experience in my nearly 35 Christmases - we had a wintry mix on December 25. One year while I was still in college I spent Christmas with my parents. The temperatures were supposed to drop Christmas Eve, but no one expected there to be a very fine layer of snow on the ground the next morning. By 10:00 am it had completely disappeared, but for a few hours it was beautiful.

We didn’t have any snow this year, but we did get a few moments of sleet. Everyone I know thinks I’m nuts, but that was a big highlight. Any sort of wintry weather makes me happy, but getting it on Christmas morning makes everything extra special.

But the coolest thing about Christmas this year (not counting the boys’ new toys, which is a whole ‘nother post altogether) also has to do with snow. Lots of it. My second to last present from my wife was a really cool North Face ski jacket with a removable fleece liner/jacket. “Cool!” I said when I opened it. But then there was one more present. I opened the small box and under the tissue paper found a few pieces of normal paper. It took a moment to realize what was printed on the pages; my wife bought a pair of plane tickets to Utah to break in the new jacket! Turns out most of my friends, family, and even my boss were in on the surprise, which just makes the trip that much cooler.

Here’s hoping everyone else got something almost as cool as a surprise ski trip.

Taking Arthur Blank at his word, just six hours before calling Blank to give his resignation, Bobby Petrino told him that he was going to remain as the Falcons’ coach. I lack the words to describe such a man. At least we’re rid of this incompetent never-do-well.

I think I’m the only person I know who grew up as a Falcons fan. How could I not? My neighbor, who was like a grandfather to me, was the ticket manager. His house was covered with Falcons gear; his basement was even carpeted in red and black shag. I miss the days of sitting on the 48 yardline in the last row of the bottom section of Atlanta Fulton County. Once I started having to pay my own way I realized that the product the Falcons put on the field just wasn’t worth the price, so I watch the games on TV or radio. But when a friend called last night to ensure I heard the news he said I was the biggest Falcons fan he knew. That’s a very bad sign for the home team.

Petrino wouldn’t have worked out here even if Vick had been the angel that Blank wanted to believe he was. From day one it was clear that he didn’t know how to work with professional athletes and that he was never going to earn their respect. And Vick’s absence only exposed the poor talent in the locker room. There was no way that Petrino would win here anytime soon, and it was clear to everyone that he needed to leave town.

Our franchise has hit a new low, but I, for one, am glad it’s come now. We lost Vick too close to the start of the season for the GM to find a decent replacement. At least with Petrino leaving mid-season we can start looking forward to the 2008 season. Yes, Petrino left in the least classy way possible, but I’m trying to figure out which was worse - Petrino, who deserved no respect, leaving after 13 games or the team firing the very respectable Dan Reeves at the same point in a season? Karma’s a bitch, and the home team is cursed.

You know your trip to Hawaii wasn’t very good when the 9 and a half hour flight in each direction is the highlight of a trip. Between the unusually rough weather, the problems with the rental car, and the death of a customer, I was happy to leave the island. I didn’t even mind going straight from the airport to a 9 hour meeting on Thursday.

Having a great boss does make a week like I had a lot easier. We talked on my way home on Thursday, and he told me to take Friday off. I never logged in, and my phone was off. So now that I’ve had a full three day weekend I’m ready to start work bright and early. I fully expect to work 20 hours of OT this week, but at least it will be here at home.

I’ve managed a few projects and worked on several others, but today my team faced something new. We were at the customer’s site when the news broke that one of their employees died. It’s sad, and it’s surreal. No one really knows what to do in a situation like that, and it’s even stranger being a vendor and in the middle of it all. We spent a lot of time in our meetings today talking one on one with the director over our project, and he mostly talked about his now deceased friend. Needless to say, it was a sad and very unusual day.

The Sugar Bowl has a long history, and an invitation to play in New Orleans on New Years Day has been the highlight of many a college football player. There are two Sugar Bowl teams’ whose stories are similar, and they will be playing each other for the first time on the first day of 2008.

Twenty-seven years ago the Bulldogs ended the regular season while the fans cheered to Munson’s call of “Look at the sugar falling from the sky.” They faced the storied Fighting Irish and capped a season that will never be forgotten in our state (much to the chagrin of us Techies). This year UGA is the national powerhouse facing Warriors - a team which, despite its undefeated regular season, has garnered little respect. But don’t tell that to the fans in the Aloha state.

The locals just can’t stop talking about U of H football. Just the mention of it these days makes them stand a bit taller, and everyone is a fan. I think I’ve met more season ticket holders than the stadium has seats! And while they appreciate the entire team and its coach (former Falcons’ coach June Jones), Colt Brennan’s status here far surpasses anything Herschel Walker reached. Colt may have been born in California, but he has been adopted as a true kama’aina. As if breaking passing records and putting his school on the national radar weren’t enough to endear himself to the locals, he is also studying the Samoan and Hawaiian languages. He makes time for any fan who wants his attention and, to hear some talk, starts his day by jogging from island to island.

The 2008 Sugar Bowl marks only the second time that the Warriors have been to a bowl game on the mainland. Win or lose, it’s something their fans will never forget. 2007 has been one of those years here where the sport becomes bigger than what happens on the field. It’s a source of state (or, as some here would say, national) pride the likes of which the islanders could never experience any other way.

When doing business in a place, it’s always important to get an understanding of the customs and persuasions of your clients. Proper attire is critical to success. So if you don’t want to look like a malihini, then here are two fashion tips.

Do wear Hawaiian shirts. The kama’aina do not wear golf shirts or button downs, not even for business. And they certainly never wear a suit or a blazer!

Avoid most Hawaiian shirts. It may come as a surprise, but while the natives may be comfortable with the near nudity that surrounds them at times, they prefer conservative attire. Muted colors with patterns from nature, or possibly surf boards are favorites. But if you want the locals to snicker, then pick the brightest shirt you can find, and plaster it with cars, motorcycles, and hula girls.

I’ve had great luck on my flights from Atlanta to Honolulu. The first time I had a bulkhead seat and sat next to a disgruntled platinum medallion member who had countless free drink coupons to hand out. This time one of the flight attendants happened to be my neighbor, so I basically had all I could drink on the way out and was presented with even more on my way out of the plane. But once I got here things started to go downhill.

As I was unpacking last night I realized that I left the power supply to my laptop at home. As it turns out, the super powerful, extra special HP/Compaq 8510 laptop that my company ordered to replace my Thinkpad also requires a super special and very powerful power supply. I found this out after driving all over the island looking for something to power my pc. Despite the fact that I was enjoying the tropical rain, I decided to head out to try more stores, and that’s when I found out that I left the lights on. What kind of company rents cars that don’t automatically turn off the lights??? And since when did Chevy start building cars that won’t let go of the keys when the battery is drained???

I wasted an hour and a half waiting for a jumpstart, and as soon asI pulled out of the deck I knew something was wrong. As I drove around trying to charge the battery, something wasn’t right - the transmission just felt completely wrong. So it was back to the airport to swap cars, and that led me into construction traffic on H1. Five miles an hour would have been fast on the H1 today.

Let’s hope that the rest of this trip is an improvement, because so far things on island haven’t gone that great.

The one good thing is that LSU made its way into the Championship game. My relationships out here have made me interested in Hawaii football anyway, but now I can enthusiastically say Go Warriors and to Hell with Georgia!!!

Only business travelers can really understand why I’m not excited about another trip to Hawaii. There’s no point in trying to explain it to everyone else. But I’m heading out. The good news is that I get to see my family two days earlier this time. The bad news is that I won’t get to see them until the end of the day on Thursday because I’ve got an all day business meeting in Suwanee right after I land.

Remind me to shoot my project manager next time I see him. Oh wait, that’s me. Hmmmm