The Tour

So I am almost home. After finishing a lot, and I mean A LOT of work in Houston, I will be heading home soon. I finished work on Friday and decided to head up to see some friends of mine near Dallas in Plano,TX. This was a few hour drive and was well worth it. It's fun to be around old friends and catch up, even if they are married :) I hung out with Ashley and Josh Jones, formerly Ashley Anderson. I went to The Village Church tonight with another one of our college friends. This was a pretty cool church and the worship was really really good. The worship leader shared his testimony and it was also quite amazing. It reminded me that no matter what we have done, we are all on the same playing field with Jesus. It doesn't matter if you have murdered someone or lusted after someone, you need Jesus the same. There is no "bad" or "badder." You are either with Jesus or without Him. Great church.

I went out to eat with a large amount of women. This was quite funny. I was wearing a pink shirt and I am sure that many at this place probably just assumed I was the gay friend who did all of their hair and nails. I did learn from all of the older ladies that cellulite forms around the age of 45 and if you don't go to bed early, the bags under your eyes form quicker. I would be in trouble if I were a woman, whew.

The good news is that I managed to wear my own underwear today and for the past few days. Although, I did somehow manage to buy size 42 boxers. In case you aren't in the "know", I wear around 32-34 and these are just a tad big. I will be visiting you back Old Navy. I fly back tomorrow afternoon and I am excited to be in my own bed for at least one week before flying back out again.

I am finally settling down in my life and this feels good. I say settling down and I'm gone more than I am at home. I just mean that I am committing myself and being available here and there. This is a good step for me and I have been successful so far. It's actually getting easier.

I am again reminded that I am not a trailblazer. I have so many ideas but struggle to push them into being. I need someone who can do the implementing and let me run alongside. There are so many projects I have in my mind.

Off to bed in Ashely and Josh's place, after enjoying some chocolate covered strawberries :)

JT OUT.

Steps of the Day

<< My hotel room most nights.

#1 Wake up early this morning and visit, guess, guess, Lakewood Church with Joel Osteen. 

#2 Yes you read #1 right, I had to ask myself twice before I decided to go.

#3 Go visit Lakewood church.  I have this huge car at out here.  It's a 2007 Suburban and much like driving a bus.  I first tried to park in Handi-cap, which I didn't mean to do, but turned around and hit the garage.  They have a huge covered place to park cars so you don't have to chill in the rain.

#4  Visited by a large number of people and made to feel very welcome.  We took a shuttle over to the church that holds 16k people.  We must have stuck out like a sore thumb because everyone knew we were visitors.  Maybe it was my flip-flops.  Maybe they read my blog, hehe. 

#5  My friend and I are guided by a woman named Willie Mae to the visitor section.  We joked on the way down to the visitor section, "We are going to sit front row!"  Well we were close, we actually were taken down to the front row but then realized there was only 1 seat and we needed two.  We were then taken to the 3rd row.  Had we sat on the 2nd row, which was also an option, we would have been sitting directly behind Joel. 

#6  There music was pretty exciting I must say.  Everyone was rocking out and having a good time. 

#7  Joel speaks about 5 minutes.

#8  More music, Joel leaves.

#9  Victoria, his wife, speaks for about 10 minutes.

#10 Music,

#11 Joel comes back in to speak for a little while.  His message wasn't that bad.  He shared a few stories from the Bible and mainly talked about how God will finish what He starts in your life.  I agree with this, but a lot of his focus was on the success of each of us in many worldy things.  God wants us to be successful, but it would be nice if the church didn't focus on that so much.  Jesus wasn't mentioned in the majority of the service.  I was surprised that He was mentioned in the gospel presentation and Joel did use the word "sin."  He said if you stand up and receive Christ today, your sins will be left behind.  His gospel presentation was more than I thought he would do.  After the King interview and he mentioned that they didn't talk about "sin" much, I wondered. 

#12  My friend really wanted to meet Joel.  We are working 7 days a week out here and I told him that we had to get back to the hotel to gear up for work.  So I agreed to walk around the building to walk by the "meet n greet."  The funniest thing happened.  Just as we were talking about how funny it would be to meet him, bam, we walk right into him.  We both say hi :)  Pretty funny day.

All and all.  The verdict is still out on Joel.   Much of his preaching is focused on what God will bring to your life. Most of it is focused on this "good life" that Jesus didn't really mean.  If we define "good" as roaming with no house, never knowing where you will sleep, and finding food here and there.  This can be a good definition of "good."  The abundant life that Jesus speaks comes in many things.  It might mean that we can have joy in death, because we know Jesus conquered death.  It might we can have joy when life gets us down, because we know this life is temporary.  Our life should not depend on how big our car or bank account is.  It should hinge on Jesus and how many people we introduce him to and the life we live for Him while we can.  The abundant life seems to exist by letting Jesus live in us so we can live out for Him. 

I will say that many people are excited about Lakewood and they seem to have a very well rounded ministry that reaches many parts of Houston and the world.  I just wish his teaching had more meat to it. 

It is 3:00 and I just finished doing my expense reports for the past month.  I will wake up in about 3 more hours and do it all over again.  Please pray for me, I have become a work-a-holic.  This is a season, this is a season :)

Oh and a few more things

#13 I got upgraded to have a jacuzzi in my room so I took a bath for the first time in 7 years I do believe.  This was a waste of time.  I sat in there for 5 minutes and realized that you sit in dirty water and if you aren't married, it's just not any fun.  Ahhh c'mon, everyone knows married people play checkers in there.  Right Chris Moody?  Poor Lod. 

#14  I had sushi tonight

#15 Picked up co-worker / friend from airport.

#16  Finished expense reports at 2:30AM

This is why I love my Friends

From miscellaneous

I am sorry Chris and Lod for what Greezy and I did to Cocky. We just did not feel comfortable around him until we did something mean to him. Loved the wedding though :)

Highlight of the last few days

Well, you know you have working a lot when one of your highlights is the fact that you found a "La Washateria" that will wash, dry, and fold your clothes very cheaply.  This was quite lovely to dump off a pile of clothes and have someone else do them for you.  Maybe that's why guys get married.  Okay, I'm kidding, do not send me hate mail.  I don't mind doing laundry, or dishes, but DO NOT LIKE FOLDING clothes.  Enough about that story.  I tell you all that to basically say that after I got my nicely folded laundry back and in my room, it's only about 12AM that I am realizing the boxers I currently have on, well they aren't mine.  I noticed when I put them on that they felt a little snug.  This is not uncommon lately as I've gained a few pounds I feel like.  Well as I'm sitting here now finishing up some emails, I am quite sure that I am wearing another man's drawls.  Now I feel strange.

Living on the Edge

Things familiar. Why is it that we like familiar things so much? I've been in a new place now for going on two months and I already have my familiar route. Walking through the airport, the friendly ladies at Avis now know me and we chat about how great Itunes is. The front desk at Hampton Suites are my new family and make me feel good by saying "welcome back Mr. Tanner." (They also provided us with new beds :) )

The girl at Schlotsky's always smiles and I tell her she works too much.

The friendly hostess at PF Chang's, well we are on nick-name basis now and I call her "lefty" after eating there two nights this week. You can't beat the food/price comparison, so good!

The Jewish man at the local ghetto convenience store now knows my buying habits and one day I didn't buy water, he says.."no water today." And I remember and then go buy some. The next day he looked like he was about to die and told me "I'm very, very sick." I hope he is okay.

Either way, it's neat how quickly we can get in a pattern in our life. We almost fight our way to make it that way.

I've been able to drive a lot. Please notice how I like to live on the edge in this picture :)

This week I'm pushing a Chevy Suburban which is convenient because I'm working in the suburbs. (Please, why did I say that.) Anway, I like it, it makes a nice noise when you back up and if you are about to hit something, it lights up on the back and makes a lot of noise. (I had to test the system). It also plays the rap music very well.

The astros are my new favorite team, if you have a t-shirt, you are a fan.

Interesting Work

Yes that is a crack spoon with lighter accessory. Click Linky for more pictures.

It begins again

Well, it's that time again for me to hit the road for another 3 weeks. Well, since it's been so long since I was out there. The good news is, I won't be working in the yucky area for the most part and will be working in the million dollar home section. Nice :)

I guess it's a good thing I'm not married right now. This would be pretty tough to leave all the time if I had a wife and kids at home. I don't know how people do it. It's tough enough leaving my roomies and friends :)

Goal for the week:

Workout. Eat. Work. Work. Workout. Eat again.

Travels Travels Travels

There are perks to being on the road a lot. Free personal hotel stays, free airline miles so I can take trips that I never have time to take, and lots of free food.

The bad thing about it is...you are on the road making money and you never have time to spend any of it. For going on 4 years, I have carried the same cell phone. It is time for a new one and I will be rewarding myself this way.

http://www.apple.com/iphone/

So another HOT HOT HOT day, I also learned today that the neighborhood I worked in today generally has a stray bullet hit it about every other day, so the odds are not in our favor as we are there the rest of the week.

Always remember to just nod your head and say hi to the people high on crack and smoking weed. This helps you achieve maximum life.

I come home on Friday for 2 days then back out for almost an entire MONTH. Will someone come visit me?

Still Alive

It is not 1:22AM and I am calling it a day.  I have officially worked 16 hours today, is that normal?  Man I am straight up DEAD!  I took my shirt off right before I hopped in the shower and it looked like I still had it on.  I have the biggest farmer's tan you will ever see.  I am Tanner than you :)

So the good news is that I did not get shot today.  I did see many police cars and a few news helicopters flying over, most likely looking for murderers, yes killers.  I was only cursed at like 2 times this week.

People here smoke weed like cigarettes and are not ashamed of it.

Some kids also tried to steal my laptop and one was contemplating on throwing it in the pool. 

To sleep I go.

Cops

So if you happen to watch "Cops" and see Houston on the screen, look and see if you see me carrying about a few laptops running from people. The good news is, I made it through a long week and weekend without getting shot. Things I learned from the week:

1. Every 4th Hampton towel is a soft one. Not quite as the soft ones my mommy gave me.
2. I learned at least one new gang sign this week. I can teach you, but do it secretly.
3. Driving a new white Chevy Uplander though the ghetto is not the best way to lay low.
4. Used condoms are found in some interesting places in Houston.
5. I learned that the local drug dealer is much like an icecream man, he puts a speaker on the outside of his car to let everyone know he is coming through. (I am not kidding.)
6. Drug dealers are easy to spot. Look for a brand new car in the ghetto, that's your guy.
7. I have become a work-o-holic.
8. I have eaten at every restaurant in Houston.
9. You can watch a baseball game LIVE in the air-conditioning. Yes, the Minute Maid Stadium is awesome. I got a few hour break today and caught and Astros game!
10. I love my friends and miss them. I even might break my Dillon strike and go visit my family :)

11. The next person who asks what I am doing out here, I'm going to tell them that I am coordinating their flux capacitor to 14

Jiggawatts!

. :)

nice.....

After a long day and losing about 5lbs, it's nice to get out the shower and find that there is nothing like a nice q-tip right in the ear :)  Nice and clean, ready for sushi :)