Supafly.com

So it’s beautiful spring morning and it’s Friday. Could life get better? What I love about this time of year is that is a lot of beautiful sunshine but still plenty of long shadows because the sun isn’t too high in the sky. This morning Candyce, Norah, and Stella went on a four mile run before nine o’clock. When you run at the start of your day, your muscles have a gentle tingle throughout the rest of the morning. It’s a fun sensation to remind you that you’re alive.

It’s been almost a month since I last updated my blog. I know from experience that it’s too difficult to write a good narrative, so I’ll just list out what’s on my mind. We’ll see what happens…

Final MBA Trimester

I am at the beginning of my final trimester of business school. I have a ticker on all of my computers (work, home, phone) that announces each day how many days I have until graduation. I never get tired of looking at this because it gets better every day. I know that logically there should be no surprise at the passing of time, but emotionally, it’s an absolute delight to watch that number deflate with each day that passes. Rejoice! At risk of sounding melodramatic, I feel that through every day of 2011 I’ve gotten a little of my soul back. I’m happier at home, work, and in class. It’s not that I dislike school–I really do enjoy it–but it’s always stressful to have too many obligations and too little time. It beats you down.

Staff Retreat

We had a great staff retreat at Covecrest back in Georgia. This year was different because we let staff members lead sessions. I could go on forever about why this was a good idea, but what stands out the most is that it gives everyone on the retreat diverse perspectives that keep the four days interesting.

It’s too much to talk about the spiritual experience of the retreat because those are private experiences that are hard to share cohesively on a public blog. But I will say this. I went on this retreat with every intention of jump-starting my soul. I engaged in every prayer and sacremental experience there. I spent hours in the chapel. I prayed non-stop for four days. This isn’t because I’m a superior spiritual athlete, but it’s because it’s what my soul needed. It was required no effort to sit in the chapel alone at midnight.

It was soul satisfying to spend quality time with Andrew, Paul, and Michelle. I rode with Dad to the Atlanta airport because he was making another trip to Haiti. He’s in Haiti so often now that I cannot even make sense of it all. He’s almost become part of the community there.

Candyce’s New Group

After a year of prayer and preparation, Candyce began her girls prayer group / Bible study at our home. She’s following the same curriculum that she’s experienced with her group at Stacey’s house for the past five years. (Wow, that was before we were even engaged.) Candyce has enjoyed life so much more since she was invited to join Stacey’s group.

One of my greatest sources of joy in my life right now is knowing that these 14 young women who enter my home twice a month will have a richer experience of life. They don’t know that yet, and that’s part of what makes it so much fun. My job in all of this is to help clean the house the day before the group and to take care of Norah and Stella when I am not in class. I love being behind the scenes.

What Didn’t Get Make It

Here are things that I wanted to write about but I’ve run out of time:

• Why it’s hard to write a blog
• Lent
• My men’s group
• Home prices
• Current events
• Cool MBA electives
• Fresh Fridays at work
• Why I want to redesign this website
• Gas prices
• Candyce’s blog stealing my blog’s material
• The Newly Weds Supper Club
• The joy of building community
• The 2012 Chrysler 300
• How much I love having an iPhone
• The power of positive thinking

For the record, I drank two espressos during this blog.

It’s been an intense month-and-a-half so far in 2011. This is the kind of real-life grit that’s too hard to process as it comes your way.

• Miscarriages. Close friends and family have had to deal with the painful reality that their unborn babies didn’t make it. I’ve been in constant prayer for these people. They’re in a lot of pain.
• Weddings. I’ve been to three weddings so far this year. Each wedding was for a beautiful couple who belongs together. So much joy at those weddings! The Garcia wedding in Atlanta was fun because I got to see family and even attended the wedding with Dad. If it weren’t for these weddings, life would’ve felt very dreary.
• Haiti. Dad spent time at an orphanage in Haiti last week with Mrs. Benzinger, a family friend. The US Embassy issued a warning to all American citizens in Haiti that there could be riots from political unrest. The warning was for a region along a road that Dad and Mrs. Benzinger would have to take to get back to the Port-au-Prince airport. Fortunately, they’re day of travel was peaceful. I prayed hard.
• Early death. In the past year, three young people have died at our church. In the last month, a precious five year old girl named Stella died in the middle of the night. She seemed to only have flu symptoms.
• Sickness. The Smith family has been sick: cough, congestion, vomiting, hives, fever. I missed most of my work last week. Then this past weekend I lost my voice and it hurt to breathe. Through it all I have to take care of my family too. Last night was the first night of good sleep that the four of us have had in two weeks.

Experiences like these really help redefine what it means to have a “great day.” I mean, if the people you love are safe and healthy, what more can you want?

And through all of this, I continue to work and go to school. My group wrote a Supply Chain paper and gave a presentation on Monday of last week. Then on Saturday I took a midterm under the daze of a fever. Last night we finished a final group project. Tomorrow night I have another final. In six days I have another. I’ll be done with B-school in 83 days.

I went to Barrett-Jackson car auction last month. Without a doubt, my favorite vehicle for sale is this 1941 Ford COE (Cab Over Engine) truck. Although it looks like a big rig, the truck is about the size of a modern day Ford F-250. I tucked a photo of my ’54 Chevy into the gallery because I think the two vehicles would look perfect next to one another in my garage.

This is what the builder had to say about his truck:

The ’41 cab has a 2″ chop, custom firewall and floor pan. Shaved door handles. Interior has custom dash and over head console with stereo CD and radio. Frame shortened 15″ and complete boxed with ’79 3/4 Chevy front end with 3″ drop spindles on disc brakes, air bags and shocks. Rear end is Ford dually Dana 40 narrowed 6″ with 4.10 gears. Drum brakes triangular 4-bar. Five gallon air storage tanks with two air ride compressors with 3/8 air lines. Engine is a 1995 Lincoln 4.6L Fuel Injection with Ford AOD transmission. 400 miles since built. Autometer gauges. Vintage air. Pirate Jack power brake system. Lokar shifter. Custom built 15 gallon gas tank. The flat bed is 9 1/2′ x 5’3″ custom built with oak bed and aluminum strips. Bed tilts back for access to engine, storage compartments and gas tank, which is all custom built.

More photos from the day…

I enjoyed spending snapping photos of cool houses and buildings here in North County San Diego over the past couple of weeks on our Christmas vacation. The first photos in the gallery below are snapped from a book I got from the Encinitas library. (The book is called the Not So Big Remodel, an edition of Sarah Susanka ubiquitous Not So Big series about home design.) The rest of the photos are from residential and commercial buildings I’ve seen around town. What does these buildings have in common? They all make me happy.