Saturday, August 19, 2006

Beale Street

Tonight after work Sherry and I decided to head down to Beale Street for a drink and a bite to eat. Now this was my first real (I’ve gone running through Beale St.), and I was curious to see what a Friday night there was like. I really wanted to check out BB King’s Blues CafĂ© and Sherry agreed to check it out. We go in and sure enough it was a pretty sweet place. It really reminded me of this small bar in Kalamazoo called Wonderful’s. That bar is actually in the basement of a bowling alley, has no sign out front, and the ceiling is so low that some musicians that come to play have to sit because they’ll hit their head. Now obviously BB King’s place is nicer, but it still served your beer in jars, food was simple and good (just as if it was homemade), and had sweet live rhythm and blues music playing. I suppose the only difference is that everything is twice expensive, but if it wasn’t for that I would love to have that place be a regular bar for me (actually for BB King’s bar on Beale St. the prices weren’t that bad).

Anyway, what really made the night interesting was when I see this guy walk in and right away I knew it was Justin Timberlake. I actually thought it was kind of cool how quietly he came in and went to the back of the bar without anyone even noticing. I told Sherry that he had just walked in, but she didn’t see him and after I told her he was out of view. About five minutes later I see him walking back into the bar, but this time has a camera following him with a spotlight on him. Well there goes the whole impressed with coming in unnoticed. This time tons of people in the bar are pushing towards him trying to see him, and Justin now has a few bodyguards close by. Perhaps there was some point that I’m unaware of for his two entrances, but man it seems like he wanted to make sure that everyone knew he was there. I then got to see him do some dancing as well as sing a song, which I would have to say he did a pretty good job with (even though his voice really isn’t best suited for soul music).

I’ll admit that it was pretty neat to being just hanging out in a bar and have a celebrity walk in. This may surprise some people, but up in Pigeon that kind of thing just doesn’t happen everyday. Actually that wasn’t my only great experience of the day. It would be a crime to leave out that I finally got a taste of the best barbeque in Memphis…Rendezvous Ribs. Seriously those ribs were awesome, and I’m not even a big rib lover. We got them because a VIP from DARPA came for a visit so Steve and him went out to lunch there, and then ribs were brought back for Sherry and me. I had heard this placed talked up for awhile, but it still exceeded my expectations. I now see why President Bush took the Prime Minister of Japan to eat there after visiting Graceland.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Brokenhearted

Proverbs 18:14:
A man's spirit sustains him in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?

Psalm 34:18:
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Romans 5
(3) Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; (4) perseverance, character; and character, hope. (5)And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.


In the midst of trials we must hold tight to the truth...it is truly our only hope.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

I Miss My Life

I just completed my day of work, which started at 5:30am and finished at 10:30pm. I managed to work 17 hours today on only 2 hours of sleep…I couldn’t fall asleep the night before because it is about impossible to get my brain to stop thinking about the only thing that consumes my every waking moment. The really sad thing is that it honestly didn’t feel all that much different than any other day of work down here in Memphis…basically I think I’m just constantly exhausted and overworked so what is the difference how extreme the exhaustion becomes.

Me after a day at the LCC - note the red marks from when I almost got stabbed in the eye with a screwdriver...good times

The worst thing about all of this is that in spite of all my hard work and best efforts the results are not looking all that good. It seems like every time we manage to get a problem solved three more appear. I’m not a quitter but sometimes it certainly sounds good. I’ll be the first to say that problems in life make the successes so much sweeter, but right now I feel that there won’t be any successes to be made sweet. Perhaps I’m just over reacting due to the lack of progress and the deep desire to be back to my own life. When I’m in Memphis I never carry my normal set of keys (they only have my apartment, car, and office keys so no need for them in Memphis), but today I needed my jump drive that is on the set so I carried them. Just having my keys made me feel a little better because it felt like I was at work but in Michigan.

I know even when I’m in Ann Arbor I work long hours and don’t get to be at my apartment or visit friends very much, but the little bit makes all the difference. I’m a simple man that just likes to be able to sit and hang with some friends every once in awhile. Heck even just the possibility that someone could call me up and want to hangout is very comforting. However while in Memphis I’m either at the LCC, my hotel room, or a restaurant with no possibility of a friend stopping by or a quick visit to one of them. (I do have Sherry down here and it helps but there really isn't much time for anything but work). I really thought that I could just grit my teeth and get through this like pulling a Band-Aid off, but the test just drags on and is slowly breaking my will.

I’m sure I’ll feel better after a good night sleep…we’ll see.

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Nothing But a Towel

I haven’t written in awhile due to a severe lack of time as well as interesting topics. I’m literally getting up in the morning, going to work, work all day, eat food, and sleep. I really don’t have any desire to write about anything related to work since it is all I can think about…it is so bad that when I get to sleep I just dream about what I need to do for the next day.

In spite of this I feel the need to give my readers something of good to read. Well I guess I’ll share the only story that comes to mind when I think of this test and want to laugh. The one night Sherry and I were talking in my room when I heard a knock at the door. I opened it to find a fellow worker in nothing but a towel. He asked me if I could go to the front desk and get his key because he had locked himself out. I told him that they probably won’t give me his key since they know who I am. He then asked if he could just come into my room, but at that point he spotted Sherry and didn’t know where would be more comfortable. So I went and got one of my t-shirts, gave it to him, and told him to put it on. I said people will just think you were at the swimming pool and it won’t be a big deal. He went down there, got his key, and then returned my t-shirt. At this point I just had to find out what happened.

He started to explain how he was in his room getting ready for bed while listening to some music, but then stopped the story. The pause made it almost seem like he felt the rest of the story was self explanatory, and of coarse I’m just racking my brain trying to come up with a scenario where listening to music results in you being locked out of your room with only a towel. After my dumbfounded look made it clear that I was in need of more information he went on to explain that he was concerned that the music was too loud so he decided he should go outside to check if it could be heard outside. I’ve got to give it to the kid that he is much more considerate than I would be…man that was the funniest moment of this trip.