Archive for November 2008
29
Reunions and Turkey
No comments · Posted by eddie renz in Observations, Relationships, Stories
I’d filled my mouth more times on Thursday than should be humanly possible, however, it wasn’t my best Thanksgicing Day showing. I didn’t eat any dessert on Thanksgiving Day other than a single chocolate chip cookie. I also went to three Thanksgiving’s on Thursday but I didn’t eat as much as I have in Thanksgiving’s Past. What is going on with me? What is happening to my stomach?
Thanksgiving for me started with the Turkey Trot and then ended with a mini all-guy high school reunion. Most of the guys I went to High School with were in town including one of our coaches and so we met up at Rudy’s Barbecue and caught up on everyone’s lives. Most everyone had kids and a normal job. Bruce was doing a fellowship in Plastic Surgery, Rick, the quarterback of our football team was now a coach and Chris, one of my favorite people from high school is now a youth pastor. What surprised me most of all is how much we are all still the same. I’m still the “nice” guy of the group and as Chris and our Coach left I heard some stories about what happened in high school that i never even knew about. Not being close to many of these guys really kept me sheltered from some parties and a few other things that happen with men in highschool. There was a time in my life when I would have envied these guys and their conquests and stories, but for once, I was sort of proud of my naiivete. Sure I’ve indulged in my share of debauchery, but for the most part I have remaned pretty clean in my 33 years.
One particular story that I thought was kind of cruel was the retelling of how this “ugly” girl was told that one of the popular guys was in crazy about her. Supposedly she called him for 3 weeks before finally giving up. There was a round of laughs because the joke was supposed to be on the football player, the fact that this ugly girl had his phone number, but no one gave any thought to the fact that there was a girl out there who was being hurt in this practical joke.
I won’t pretend that I have not ever done something so cruel, but I can’t imagine looking back and not being sorry about it now.
When I was in high school I remember I wanted to be more accepted by these guys, I wanted them to like me for me, but now that I am older I realized that would never have been a possibility. Not that I don’t think these guys on some level are all great guys, I just don’t know if their level of character meets my expectations. I prefer to surround myself that are better than me, that make me want to be a better person – because I can use all the improvement that I can get.
Hope your Thanksgiving was great!
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Looking for bargains? Well, if you go to http://www.retailmenot.com/ you can find coupons for most of your online shopping needs. My boss found this and passed it along and said she found a coupon for ever Christmas gift she wanted to purchase online.
Enjoy!
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- Taylor Swift is on fire. #
- Heard that a guy who is bed ridden got married and had a baby. Found the woman on e-harmony. Maybe I should give it another whirl. #
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We were standing on a bridge that overlooked a large black stagnate puddle of water. The small bridge led to no where and for the life of us we couldn’t figure out why someone had placed it where they had. It was metal and only wide enough for one person to cross. The area was remote, there was no one around except for me, Luker, DW, Jimmy and Bob. Luke and I had ridden over in a slow golf cart and the other 3 guys were on a much faster cart. My plan: To steal the faster golf cart.
I climbed up on the bridge with look and looked back to realize that if I was sneaky and fast I could run to the faster golf cart and leave Bob, Jimmy and DW stranded. I started to sneak out of the trees and then I sprinted, while laughing hysterically, to the fast cart. I jumped in and slammed on the gas just as DW realized what was going on. He ran after me the golf cart barely eluding him. He ran faster but I was getting away. All the while I cackled and laughed at this coup.
I’m rarely sneaky, nor am I fast enough to better my slimmer opponents and this was a real triumph for me.
Later that day I played a couple of rounds of basketball. The first game Bob and I lost miserably to JJ and DW, but the second game I got JJ and he and I defeated Bob and DW. Once again I was delighted in my victory. I’m horrible at basketball, but for once, I was actually doing okay. I was getting lucky, making a few good shots, and in general holding my own. When we won, barely winning 10 to 9, I was elated.
In the last 2 years a group of us has gone to Selah Ranch to spend time together and with Jimmy who is in town from China. All of us, with the exception of JJ, have worked at Kanakuk Kamps and have known each other for over 10 years. It is a group that has a close bond and there isn’t a single person at these trips that isn’t a constant delight to be around.
I think my favorite part of these trips is that for one weekend I get to be “one of the guys” and not just with any group of guys but with some of the coolest guys I know. Most of my time I spend working, working out, reading, alone at home or with my roommate and it can’t compare to what it is like to be surrounded by qaulity friends who love God and who have a common bond.
These trips always make the things of this world seem superfluous. One day I’ll be in heaven without the need to be attached to my Blackberry or my worldly possessions. I won’t stress about being married or having children on endless amounts of bills. Instead I’ll be playing basketball, Ultimate Catch-A-Lot, and riding in golf carts with people that I love.
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20
This will be on my list of places to visit before I die
2 Comments · Posted by eddie renz in Culture
The Palms – Dubai
via KR Connect
The excitement is mounting. On November 20 we’ll be in Dubai watching Kylie Minogue open the most incredible hotel in the world, Sol Kerzner’s Atlantis on The Palm. Sol is the original ‘Nothing is Impossible’ man. 18 million liters of water in the adventure park, 11 million liters in the aquarium, 1.4 kilometers of beach, 65,000 marine animals housed in the Ambassador Lagoon, 1,539 rooms, a 924 square meter bridge suite, a 27.5 meter ‘Leap of Faith’ waterslide. At a cost of $1.5 billion.
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| November 29, 2008 | ||
| 2:00 pm |
My mom and friend Sandy are hosting a dual party at my house on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It’s at 2:00pm and please feel free to join us if you can make it.
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Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat… all the while I’m sitting in my house preparing for the holidays and enjoying the challenge of decorating not only for Christmas but also just getting things done around the house that are extremely necessary.
I’m putting up curtains and since there is only one room in the house with curtains it is an expensive and timely endeavor. Do I go with a warm chocolate brown curtain or something in a cool crisp white? How about red or something in a pattern? What about a new rug and that vintage style clock that I saw at Target? And what about Christmas decorations, do I want to hang snowflakes from the ceiling or large silver ornaments? I’ll be ideating about all of things things endlessly and to further frustrate my creative flow I have to decide what color to paint my bedroom.
I recently picked up a nice shade of gray called “Winter Oak” and it turned out to look like light purple on my wall. Then I opted for a color called “Sand” but I’m afraid it looks too much like the gold/yellow color that is in my living room already.
What to do? What to do?
I am excited that right now I can afford to do a few small projects and get some nice things done to my house to make it feel more like a home. Like most things in life working on your home is a non-stop effort, but it’s worth it, because there really is no place like home.
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Recently I had a chance to meet with some clients about a web design. When I arrived at the Preston Hollow location I was immediately impressed with the high-end neighborhood and the stylish decor of the house. This particular client had ordered Thai food and said, “Come in, I’ve ordered some food, you can just help yourself.”
It struck me as odd to be in the house of someone I hardly knew and then to be eating with them in a matter of minutes. “Ricky will be back soon the client said, his voice filled with expectation.”
“Who’s Ricky?”
“My Fiance”
I continued to pile some sort of spicy seafood melange covered in a yellow curry sauce onto my plate. I couldn’t help but think, “Is this guy saying he’s gay?”
I sat at the table with my plate of food and my chopsticks making small talk that was intended to unearth more information.
“So have you lived here long?”
“Actually this is Ricky’s place, I went through a divorce a while back and I’ve been living here for a while now.”
The plot was thickening like a nice gravy but my question still remained unanswered. I’ve met some homosexual people in my life but none of them had been over the age of 50. In my guesstimation this guy was knocking on the door to 60 and they were saying, “Come on in, we’ve been waiting for you.”
My Thai food was spicy and room temperature and the wine that he served with it only seemed to enhance the spicy curry and heat my mouth up. We weren’t talking about business and I wasn’t exactly enjoying myself and so I didn’t have much to say.
Finally “Ricky” showed up and she turned out to be a woman and “Ricky” was just a nickname. I was relieved, not because I’m a homophobe but because I often feel more comfortable working with women on projects over men who think they know all about web design.
“You want your site to look like that?” I couldn’t help but say it like I had just smelled a dirty diaper. The site she showed me looked like a pile of crap with a few words of garamound font slapped on it.
“Yes, this woman does things similar to what I do.” I wanted to reply, “So you bore people with droll websites?”
I held my tongue and suddenly realized that this was going to be an evening of educating the customer. However, after an hour of discussion I left with nothing. No plan. No design ideas. No domain name.
I gave Ricky a list of action items and it’s been almost a week and I haven’t heard anything and I’m not surprised. This is the world of web design and this is why before I start working I require a down payment.
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| December 31, 2008 9:00 pm | to | January 1, 2009 1:00 am |
It’s the event of the season, save the date for a party at McKinney Courthouse!
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