1917 miles…36 1/2 hours…the Chesapeake Bay and Compasses…

When working with or on me God always uses the simplest of things to grab my attention. The last 48 hours of my life has not been any different. I want to share an experience or three with you from these hours. I don’t know how this might come out…it might be raw…informal…personal…edited…I dunno…it might be a combination of all of these…it might be kinda long…or I might chop it into several…hell I so don’t know so I’m just going to write and I guess we’ll see….

“Thank God for giving me this moment of clarity…this moment of honesty…the world will feel my truths…through my hard knock life times…my gift and my curse…I gave you volume after volume of my works so you can feel my truths” – Jay Z

I was taking my “oldest” son to Norfolk, Virginia this past Saturday evening after a whirlwind of events had transpired when these lyrics smacked me in my face. I was driving down a 10% grade decline in some mountains somewhere in West Virginia. Hmmm…lemme back up for a sec…my day actually started at 6 a.m. all the way back in Middletown, Ohio. Me and my boys woke up kinda early because we were travelling to Columbus to see the boys state basketball championship…see the school my “oldest” son and I coach football at was playing in the Finals at 10:30…so it was important for us to get out kinda early to beat parking and all that mess. We knew we had a long day ahead of us because after the game we were travelling back to Dayton and then down to Virginia…lets see…fast forward now….

“Thank God for giving me this moment of clarity”…as I’m maneuvering down these mountains and crazy looking towns in West Virginia the sun sets…and the weather starts to change…its raining and sleeting a bit. The twist and turns of the mountains are absolutely crazy….as I come up on a decline that lyric hits me along with a phrase… “Emotional Compass”…I’m not too sure what that is about…but okay…I’ma roll with this God…you have never steered me astray. Midway down this slope it hits me….BAM… “Emotional Compass”…we as people…well lemme talk about me and maybe you can relate…me as a person I’m constantly driven my emotions…I’m an emotional being. I don’t too much make brash decisions anymore…but the vast majority of decisions that I have made was strictly based on my mood at that moment. I allowed my “Compass of emotion” direct the path that I decided to take. Now sometimes that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing…because I should “trust” my gut…but what happens when raw emotions infiltrated “my gut”…Yeah…that usually ended up all bad.

So as I’m travelling down this slope I’m kinda hesitant…because for one…it’s a slope in the middle of some big ass mountain with no lighting around…and for two it is raining profusely and I’m not about to make some channels nightly news in my haste. Emotional compass…it hit me…how often have I made a decision and I have got caught smack dead travelling down a slippery slope and there was no turning back…wow! Kinda like the raining…slick slope I was actually driving down. That’s crazy….well maybe I’m the only one that gets it…He uses the little things to get my attention.

As I get thru this part of the mountain I’m kinda in another emotional place. I can feel that He is working on me in this very moment…giving me “moments of clarity” that are much needed. At this point we approach another stretch where here are these absolute crazy twists and turns…which kinda made me start to think about my life. How life has all these turns…this stop and go traffic…these twist…that are uncontrollably controllable…Now you might say what does that mean…walk with me for a sec…See the conditions and the state of the roads were uncontrollable (on my part)…but I was able to control and dictate my actions while driving thru them…uncontrollably controllable. That is how life is…full of curveballs…its nothing you can do about the type of pitch thrown…but you can do what you need to do to be able to hit a homerun…Okay…maybe that one was for me too…lol. You can’t let you “emotional compass” navigate you…you navigate your compass.

Eventually we get through this terrain…but the vast majority of the time we didn’t have a GPS signal…hmmm…no GPS signal…no phone signal…NOTHING. This is extremely interesting…I remember before I left I googled the directions just to take a look…to familiarize myself in the direction that I was to travel. I’m coming back to this later.

We finally make it (ahead of schedule)…but behind schedule because we actually hit the highway almost two hours later (does that make sense?). It’s time to depart in the morning…just a few hours of sleep because I have a 9:45 class in the Monday morning (the first day of Spring Quarter). Say my goodbye to my boy…wish him well and all that…it’s raining like crazy again leaving…but ooh well I gotta go. As I am driving my mind is wondering back to the “emotional compass” thing again….and I so happen to look up and I am in MARYLAND…hahahaha…how the hell that happen. I’m like, “Damn…ain’t this a sack of shit! (apologize for the words…but I’m just being real)”…Not paying attention I done ended up at the Chesapeake Bay…man that is sooooo funny. I gain my composure and continue to drive. Now my route has drastically changed. I went from going back through VA and WV to going through MD, PA, WV and OH…hahahahaha….yep route altered…one of those curveballs I talked about. One thing that happened as I drove through Maryland….the clouds cleared…it became sunny and it was so beautiful. It was unlike that crazy feeling I experienced the night before driving through West Virginia.

As I took this alternate route the more I drove…the better I felt. It finally hit me (now I’m coming back to that “googled” thing). See before I left Dayton I googled the directions and glanced at them…I didn’t want to be solely depended on the GPS…I just wanted to know in advance…that is how God works…what would have happened if I was solely dependent on the GPS…I would have been completely lost…but I had the foresight to glance over the directions before I left. Its like this…we as people depend on the most convenient things…the easy way out (GPS systems) opposed to good old fashioned directions (the Word). GPS got me in the vicinity…but the directions got me to the destination…WHOA!

Walk with me one more minute…Even though the ride through going back was 2 hours longer than the ride going to…it was more subtle. It was comfortable…it was beautiful. I had the ride of my life…its like this…I went thru the storm the night before…but the next day I experienced bliss…

Psalms 30:5 “…weeping may endureth the night…but joy cometh in the morning…..Lord thank you for this moment of clarity….thank you for guiding my “emotional compass”…it took me 36 1/2 hours…1917 miles…a slippery slope…Chesapeake Bay and 4 toll booth to realize it…what’s it gonna be for you?

Monday Morning Kraze on Wednesday/Thursday….

…what the heck is going on.  Well I got side-tracked Monday due to the fact I had several things that I had to accomplish in a short amount of time…so I had to reshuffle my daily lineup…

On my way to work this morning, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to talk about.  While talking to my National Operations Manager we got on the topic of procrastination…and why the hell do people procrastinate.  This is my take on procrastination…procrastination is cool…UNTIL it affects others around you.  If  its just a one man show…then that is what it is…but do not incorporate others in your maladjusted lives…so why is it that folks procrastinate…this is just my revelation…

1. Folks dont know how to do it. We tend to put things to the back-burner if we dont know the job…you know how you have that stack of work and then you come across something that is slightly more difficult…that crap goes straight to the bottom of the pile.

2. Emotionally Detached. Some things that you don’t care about is considered secondary and thirdary (is that a word…hahaha) priorities.

3. Or flat out is just lazy.

Well who knows…I just cant stand procrastination….

“Procrastination is like Masturbation; In the end you’re just screwing yourself.”

Keep your mouth SHUT!

Most of my Monday Morning Kraze ideas are spawned by conversations that I have with my friends and employees.  A few days ago…Saturday to be exact…I was talking to a good friend of mine while I was shopping for #2.  For whatever reason we started to speak on relationships…specifically man/woman relationships.  The thought crossed my mind while I was having this conversation…that there is just things in a relationship that a woman should not say…and if she feels the need…TELL ONE OF YOUR GIRLFRIENDS…so this is a list for women…women..what not to say to your man:

• Please avoid any variations of the sex question..UNLESS you are willing to deal with the aftermath..so do not ask him about past experience…positions…favorites…which one of your friends he would sleep with…proceed with caution!
• What do you want from this relationship?  This question literally SCARES men off…sometimes we just like the current state of affairs. If he is not cheating…dont rock the boat.
• This is not a question…more of a statement.  I think my period is late.  Do not tell him or even remotely hint of anything like that..UNTIL you know for sure that you have missed your period.

And the #1 thing not to ask you man…….

• IS THAT IT….hahahaha…sometimes you just have to suck it up and take one for the team!

Honorable mention:

• Is that your dad?  I used to date him back in the day.
• I used to be Joan of Arc in a former life
• Give me like 10 mins…I need to take a shower first….

use a little creativity…

…one of my favorite things to do is have a stimulating conversation.  There is nothing like talking to a person that makes you think…like Brain says…”step up ya game”…another thing about me is that I NEVER want to be the smartest person in my circle…I always want to have a measuring stick…something to give me motivation…I have a Principles of Management class that I take on Saturday mornings.  There is only five total people in the class including the professor…I can honestly say that easily I am not the smartest in the room…now I feel like I do have the most potential to succeed and have the genetics to be the smartest…but presently constructed…nada…lol.

In this class there is the Assistant Fire Chief of the city…the professor is a VP of a company in the area…another is in the process of opening up an upscale restaurant and the last one…hahaha…I’m smarter than (hahaha…hope she never reads this)…but anywho we were talking about job interviews and what not to say or ask in an interview….instantly this sparked an idea for a post…so without further ado…here is the latest installment of Monday Morning Kraze…..

When asking a potential employer questions please do not say:

“Do I have to drop urine” Are you serious…just right here you are implying you are a chronic “chronic” smoker…or have potential meth tendencies.  Steer clear of illegal drug question.

“When does my sick days/vacation start” Right here you are telling the employer…“Im going to call-off at least twice in my 90-day probationary period.” Keep those to yourself.  Concentrate on getting hired and read the handbook once you are hired.

“Can I use my phone to call my ride?” Gettouttahere…lol…this screams...”I am unreliable and public transportation is my car.” Now I am not knocking public transportation and those that utilize it…but on an interview say you have reliable transportation.

Please step away from the date

…here is your latest installment of Monday Morning Kraze.  This post is inspired by a very close friend of mine.  He is taking a friend of his out for the first time this upcoming Friday to the movies.  He is not really nervous of the date…but he wants the atmosphere to be correct.  They have been knowing each other for some time now…but this first date is critical to the relationship…when you go out on that first date…you have to make sure everything is on point…from your clothing and grooming…to vehicle and most importantly the place of the date and chemistry…so while talking to him…I gave him a few things of what not to do on a first date…so are more serious…others are comical..but they are things you …SHOULD NOT DO ON THE FIRST DATE….

Do not be cheap….but dont embelish.  Example…do not go outside your means…just because you want to make an impression…you want an accurate depiction of you…don’t spend $300 when you are on a Waffle House and bowling budget…be resourceful.

Numeral dos….absolutely do not talk or text on the phone…UNLESS….it is an absolute emergency.  Keep your phone on vibrate at all times…Give him or her your undivided attention…let them know that they are the only thing that matters at this present moment.  Nothing is even remotely important enough to distract you from them.

Finally…if there is one thing that I you get from this list…please remember NOT to flatulate in the presence of your significant other…leave the cheese cutting the your local deli worker.

Always remember this: ‘A kiss will never miss, and after many kisses a miss becomes a misses’. – John Lennon

Monday Morning Kraze: David’s Colloquial Expressions

Happy New Year’s all…I’m really looking forward to this year we call 2009.  I truly think that this year will reveal many things for the home team…and I also plan on revealing and introducing you to somethings in my life…I think since I am really starting to take this blogging thing seriously…that there are something that I want you to know so we can somewhat grow together…kinda like a relationship…you know…the more you know…the more you grow…or in my case…the more you know the more you probably say…hahahaha…

Anywho I have decided to switch the format slightly.  I have a spot every Monday called…Monday Morning Kraze…and the basis of this is basically nothing…I plan giving you some food for thought…I call it (drum roll please)….David’s Colloquial Expressions (dum dum dum dum): when keeping it real goes all the way wrong.  So I’ll start with the first installment today…

Lesson 1 Week 1: Do not call off of work sick and eat lunch at the same place that you frequent when you are at work.  If you do and happen to see a co-worker or boss…make a b-line to the restroom and hold your butt like you have a bad case of diarrhea.  By doing this you have ensured that you still have a place that you can call a job when you decided to be un-sick….

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