Thoughts on Becoming a Thirtysomething

Posted on by

Reaching a new age that ends in a 0 can prompt a wide array of reactions: introspection, celebration, pride, angst, despair, or many others. For me, turning 30 is certainly no cause for alarm. I am thankful that I’ve been allowed to live this long. I am thankful for the wonderful blessings that God has given me over those 30 years: my wonderful wife, my new son, my great extended family, a job I enjoy at a company that treats me well, good friends, a good church, a comfortable place to both live and serve others, good health, and being right with the God of the universe thanks to the blood of Jesus.

Naturally this birthday makes me look inside a bit, at what I’ve done with the 262,800 hours I’ve been here so far. If my life expectancy is 75 years, I am approaching the halfway point of my short time here. I’ve done some good things so far I suppose, but I know I could have done much more, especially from a spiritual perspective. Although I can’t change the past, I can make better choices in the future.

At 30, I am now qualified (by age, at least) to run for the US Senate. In Jewish culture 30 was the age of spiritual responsibility, the age when both John the Baptist and Jesus began their public ministries. I feel the need to accept more responsibility, to be more assertive, to stand taller without baking down in the face of opposition.

My hairline is starting to thin and recede. I have a few gray hairs, even though my shaved head might make them hard to see. I have a few wrinkles near my eyes. But those things don’t really bother me. This is an exciting time. Thank you for joining me on this journey, both through my blog and through your friendship in the real world. I look forward to seeing what God has in store for all of us in the years ahead.

Secret Trip to Granbury

Posted on by

Sorry it’s been so long. I’m on “normal” schedule right now, waking up in the morning and going to bed at night. Strange as it might seem, it’s harder to blog this way because there’s always something else going on.

Anyway, our secret trip was a blast! As many of you already knew, our destination was Granbury, a small town about 1.5 hours southwest of the DFW area. After dropping Brenden off with my parents, we started with a donut breakfast in a park in Irving and then drove to Glen Rose. Since we’d made good time, we took a detour to visit Dinosaur Valley State Park, which has fossilized dinosaur tracks in the riverbed. Some were easy to spot while others were easy to miss if you weren’t looking hard.

Then we hit Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, a drive-through animal park with about 65 species of antelope/deer-type critters, giraffes, emus, ostriches, cheetahs, and rhinos. From our open-air fan we got to feed many of the animals, some by tossing and some by hand. The giraffes and ostriches used their long necks to stick their heads far into the van and all up in your business, so you really had to watch your cup of animal food or they would try to steal it all.

After Fossil Rim we headed to Granbury and hit D’Vine Wine, a great winery that offers both premade wine for sale or tasting (we did both) and the chance to make your own wine in batches of 20-30 bottles. They offered several excellent wines, some of which they enhanced with fruit nectar to create fascinating flavor combinations.

Next we checked into our bed & breakfast, Angel of the Lake near Lake Granbury. Owned by a fun Australian couple, it’s a luxurious and very comfortable B&B on a beautiful property at a reasonable price. Our room, Gabriel’s Room, included blue marble, a jacuzzi tub with separate shower, king-size bed, and free M&Ms. How can you not love a place that gives you free M&Ms? Judy the innkeeper also provided us with a delicious 2-person birthday cake, which we enjoyed with some peach-flavored chardonnay from D’Vine. Breakfast was delicious, which meant I drastically overstuffed myself Thursday morning, but it was all good.

Finally we hit Bluff Dale Vineyards, about 15 miles west of Granbury up on a hill among beautiful scenery. They also had some excellent wines that focused more on the grapes and craft of winemaking rather than trying to add flavors from other fruits. If we were to open a winery someday, we’d want it to be similar to Bluff Dale – very casual and relaxed, with plenty of space for people to hang out, talk, enjoy a meal with friends, and listen to live music sometimes. After Bluff Dale we shopped a bit in the Granbury Town Square before enjoying some excellent barbecue at Chop N Block on the way home. I took lots of pictures and hope to post them soon. I’m now working on my new MacBook, so I want to learn iPhoto and use it to create a gallery for you. Check back soon!

Vacation is Here!

Posted on by

Every year I use vacation days to take off a large chunk of time in the second half of October. In 2005 we went to Seattle and Vancouver. In 2006 we took a cruise to the southern Caribbean. Last year we spent a week at Disney World. This year our situation is obviously much different, with a new member of the family, new Bible studies, and a new role as a CARES team. So I’m still off duty for the next 10 days or so starting Monday morning, but we’ve altered our plans compared to previous years.

First, we have our normal Monday night men’s/women’s Bible studies and our every-other-Tuesday home group at our place. On one of those days we plan to vote early for the Nov election. Wednesday morning we plan to drop Brenden and the dog off at Grammy’s house and go on an overnight adventure. The location and itinerary are a surprise for Jenny, but I’m very excited and think we’ll have a great time. All I’ve told her is that we’re driving, staying at a bed and breakfast, and spending some time outside. Email me if you want the details.

Thursday is my birthday, my 30th. I’ll address that issue in another post. =) We plan to meet at Crystal’s Pizza in Irving at 7:00 to celebrate like 10-year-olds in case you’d like to join us. Friday night is our CARES Fall Festival, a fun carnival for all the CARES teams, families, and apartment managers. Saturday is our monthly CARES breakfast. Sunday morning Lisa and Phillip are dedicating Reagan at church. So we’ll be plenty busy as usual, but at least I’ll have some time off work to relax and play.

Random Facts for Oct

Posted on by

More random facts about me:

  1. Coworkers and family members often assume that I know more about computers than I really do. I try to set the bar low, but it doesn’t work.
  2. My senior year classmates voted me Most Likely to Win the Nobel Peace Prize.
  3. Also during senior year, I competed in a prom fundraiser called the Ugly Man Pageant as “Adrianna Box”. The pageant consisted of evening gown, talent, and Q&A competitions. They wisely chose to skip the swimsuit competition. My talent was singing “Young Hearts Run Free” from Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet film, complete with dance moves. I wore a little blue dress. Unfortunately I didn’t win. Top prize went to a state champion wrestler who wore a backless leopard-print leotard.
  4. I continued Trick-or-Treating through high school. One year my friend and I went as Beavis and Butt-Head. Obviously I was Butt-head.
  5. Oct 23 is my 30th birthday. My dad was 30 when I was born. Assuming we live long enough and Brenden graduates, I will be at least 48 when he finishes high school.
  6. I have gone skinny-dipping. It was fun.
  7. My musical taste is extremely eclectic. My CD collection includes Metallica, Acappella, Kenny G, Sarah McLachlan, U2, Kenny Rogers, Mozart, Josh Groban, and Pink Floyd.
  8. Over my lifetime, I have kissed a total of 6 different girls.
  9. When I see people throw cigarette butts out their car windows, I am tempted to pick them up and throw them back in. So far I have resisted.
  10. I attended President Clinton’s second inauguration in January 1997 through a great program called Presidential Classroom . I had voted for Bob Dole, but it was still a great experience.

Southwest Posts a Loss…and a Profit

Posted on by

You might have read some confusing news about Southwest’s earnings report today. Depending on which article you read, the headline might say we posted a loss or that we posted a profit. Both are correct in their own way. From an accounting perspective, we technically posted a loss due to a one-time charge of $247 million related to our fuel hedging. In a nutshell, we have a group of contracts to buy oil at certain prices on a variety of future dates. We carry that portfolio of contracts on our books as an asset. Each quarter the value of that portfolio goes up and down with the current price of oil, and our income statement has to reflect that change. This is known as mark-to-market accounting. In the 2nd quarter, since oil rose so much, we reported a huge gain because our hedging portfolio became more valuable. In the 3rd quarter, oil dropped sharply, so we recorded a hefty charge.

From actually operating the airline, we posted a small profit thanks to the benefits of our settled fuel hedges. Unfortunately, the charge from our future hedges’ drop in value was more than the profit we made from flying customers and cargo around, so we posted a loss for the quarter. Clear as mud? The New York Times posted a helpful article on the topic that might explain it better.

I know many of you aren’t that interested in SWA’s accounting practices. But there’s a lot of confusion out there regarding our hedging program, so I wanted to clarify it a bit.