a case study in awesomeness

March 2004

April 2004

May 2004

June 2004

July 2004

August 2004

September 2004

October 2004

November 2004

December 2004

January 2005

February 2005

March 2005

April 2005

May 2005

June 2005

July 2005

August 2005

September 2005

October 2005

November 2005

December 2005

January 2006

February 2006

March 2006

April 2006

May 2006

June 2006

July 2006

August 2006

October 2006

November 2006

March 2007

April 2007

May 2007

June 2007

July 2007

August 2007

September 2007

October 2007

November 2007

Current Posts

Jun 29, 2005

losing my mind

As you may have noticed from some previous posts, I have become very paranoid about work. It's getting to the point of utter ridiculousness. I think I'm losing my mind. Okay, so it's not quite that bad. A lot of it is based on the fact that some of the current work conditions are similar to the conditions that led to a really bad situation during a previous stint. Of course, there are some key differences as well, most notably that my current boss is NOT incompetent and that my current supervisor is NOT a backstabbing liar. So, I have that going in my favor. But, I still feel quite uneasy. Some of it is based on that previous situation, but there is something else going on, something I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe I should move on, I don't know.

Anyway, I was looking up some jobs on careerbuilder.com today. Unfortunately, there were no jobs posted for the following positions:

Mattress tester
Smoke jumper
Professional wrestler
Secret Agent
Astronaut
Senator
Rock Star
Fool and a wandering minstrel
Slacker

However, they did have an opening for super hero in cleveland.

And, I did a search for "lazy" and found the following job description:

Must be lazy, greedy, and willing to earn at least 500/week. No nights and weekends.

Too good to be true, right? Right!! It was a telemarketing job.

Jun 28, 2005

way back when

I remember when Juliet used to have a blog. Those were good times.

I learned tonight that I should not eat potato chips right before removing my contacts. This was kind of like the time I learned that one should not apply icy hot before removing contacts, no matter how long you wash your hands.

My boss asked today if I "polish" my head.

Jun 26, 2005

several days into one

At first I was going to do one of those, "I haven't posted in a long time" openings, but then I realized that even when I skip a few days I still post more than most people. So, I'm not going to mention that it's been several days since my last update. Except I just did. So, I guess I messed that up.

Last week was simply exhausting. I'm dubbing it "So and so is out of town so Eric is officially/unofficially in charge" week. First off, my supervisor was off Wednesday-Friday, so just before I go home on Tuesday, he gives me a list of stuff and tells me to make sure everything is done. Awesome!!!! So now, instead of simply being "unofficial moring supervisor", I am now "unofficial backup supervisor." However, during that talk, he did tell me that I'm doing a good job as unoffical morning supervisor (those were not his exact words, since my unofficial supervisorship is an unspoken thing, but what he did say went to that effect.) Anyway, the whole situation makes me really nervous, and it really drained me. But, no major disasters happened. Well, there was one, but it was after I went home, so it was nothing that could be pinned on me.

The other thing was since John was in Guatemala, I was in charge of FOCUS for 2 weeks. I was somewhat disappointed, because of work I was unable to put in the time that I would have liked to have put in for those services. I guess the went okay. Sometimes it's hard to gague these things.

I lost not one but 2 pairs of shoes this week due to soles falling off. Both happened at very inoppertune times, when I wasn't able to do anything about it.

Batman begins is awesome!!!!!!!!

It is sooooo good to have everyone back from Guatemala.

AND, Taylor is back for a short while!!!

VENGANCE IS MINE!!!!!!! We beat Crafty's team, 8-5 today. Overall, Crafty played better than I did, but I pitched my best game ever today. 0 walks. That's never happened. It was sooo awesome.

One final story. I now understand how crappy music gets to be so popular. Wednesday, while sorting mail, a John Mayer song comes on the radio. Me and another guy start making fun of it. So, I start singing along in the voice that I usually used to make fun of Creed and Todd Agnew. As I'm doing that, the other guy, being totally serious, says, "Wow, do you sing? That's really good." I was totally at a loss for words!!! Those of you who have heard me doing that messing around at practice: Does that actually sound good??? It can't!!! It just can't.

Or, in the words of Christopher Kristopherson Griffin: "That's enough John Mayer!"

Jun 25, 2005

revenge

16 hours, 24 minutes till "Crafty" goes down!!!!!!

yeah!!!!!!!!

Welcome back, Guatemalaites!!!

You all were very missed!!!!!!!

Jun 22, 2005

easy street

John Wentz is onto something with this "break people up into discussion groups" thing. This is so much easier than getting up and talking for a half an hour. Of course, John usually does talk for a half an hour on discussion nights. But, not me. Instead, I'm sitting in the back writing this blog while everyone goes over the questions that I "brilliantly" crafted. I could make a whole ministry career out of this. They just don't teach you this in seminary.

Jun 20, 2005

hmmm

I'm in a writing mood tonight. But, I can't think of anything to write about. Such is the dichotomy of my life.

Oh yeah, if you see me, punch me. If I ask why, tell me it's because I'm an idiot. You won't understand, but I'll know what you mean. Trust me, its for my own good.

Shannon Wentz did an awesome job yesterday morning.

Sometimes, when hanging out with UC students, I feel like the dumb one.

I have a great comment to go with that last one, but I will refrain.

Work was dumb today. This morning, setting up a conference room, first I spilled a bunch of ice, and then a few minutes later I spilled coffee. Then runs were a total mess. With any luck, I won't get fired (over the runs, not the spills).

Some people have a spiritual gift of prayer. I had a prayer meeting with three of them today. It's an amazing thing to witness.

Trying to measure success in ministry is such a weird thing. I remember a few years back when I was at a conference in Gatlinburg. Some bible college professor was speaking, and something about his Saturday night message was just off. It was one of those things where he was trying to explain something fairly abstract and it just wasn't happening. There were over 900 of us just totally lost the whole time. The next morning, he told us about a woman that came up to him afterwards in tears, and told him that that message was exactly what she needed to hear that night. He said as he thought about it, it reminded him about the story of the lost sheep, where the shepherd left the flock to go find that one sheep. That night, God had totally ditched over 900 of us just to speak to that one woman.

That is one expirence that has really stuck with me since. I try to think of ministry in those terms, but it can be really difficult. Especially lately, I've felt off of my game. I don't know why. I have lots of theories, and I think all of them factor in somehow. Yet through all of my precieved mistakes, someone usually comments on some way they connected with it. For some reason, though, lately that doesn't really change my attitue any. Which is bad, because I should be rejoicing. But, in American churches, we always want to find something that reaches the masses. Anyway, I don't have a point here, just an observation.

Jun 17, 2005

brilliance

This is the funniest thing I've read in a while, are one of the best ideas ever. I got it off of Bill Simmons' mailbag on ESPN.com

Q: If I was Stevie Wonder's game describer with courtside seats, would it be bad if I scalped them for $1,000 each, then bought upper-level seats instead? Or if I scalped them and took him to a pickup game at the Y? He still gets the enjoyment of "attending" a game, and I get $2K. Win-win. I know I wasn't the only one who wrote in about this. Was I?
–Jeremy Gaynor, Charlotte, N.C.

Jun 15, 2005

Operation: the wiley dutchman?????

So tonight may well have been my weirdest night ever in Clifton. And that's saying a lot.

During my time in the city, one of the things I've felt bad about is the fact that I never really mingle with my neighbors. There are a lot of factors that go into that, but it is something I would like to be better about. So, as I'm walking home from FOCUS, one of the guys up the street notices my guitar and strikes up a conversation with me about music. After talking for a couple of minutes, he tells me that he was BBQing, and invites me over for a chicken leg. I accept, so I go back and have something to eat and hang out with his two "lady friends." I'm the youngest one there by about 15 years.

Anyway, after about 30 mins, dude asks me if I want to go in and get an early look at some stuff that is going to be sold at a yard sale. Since we are going to need some more furniture for the Bat Fancy, I take him up on it. Well, we get into his living room, and he says, "Really, I just wanted to get you alone." Ummmm, okay. I'm not real sure what that means at this point, so I just wander around looking at the merchandise, inquiring about a chair he is selling for 2 bucks. Then, after a couple of more minutes, he says, "Would you be offended if I told you that you are cute?" At this point I now know what the whole "get you alone" thing was all about. So, I simply explained that while I was not offended, I don't go that way. Needless to say, the rest of my time there was somewhat akward.

Then again, it's good to know that at least someone thinks I'm cute. Or not so good.

Jun 14, 2005

guatemalaites

It turns out that the people on the Guatemala trip have internet access at a cyber-cafe in Antigua. They are already posting updates and even putting up some pictures. For those interested in following what's going on over there, I have re-arranged my sidebar into Guatamalites and non-guatemalaites to make things easier. Be sure and check them out.

Steph has an LJ now!!!!

clarification

I just read my last post, and was thinking, "Man, what a whinner!!!"

I just wanted to clarify: I'm not pissed off at the world or anything.

In fact, I am doing quite well. Seriously. I had an awesome weekend. Partied all weekend long. Rockin!!!

Jun 13, 2005

stuff and more stuff

The house seems empty with the kids gone. The kids being Tommy and Brent, who left this morning along with 17 others from church for a 2 week mission trip to Guatemala. So, it's just me and Ed. Then Ed is going to be gone this weekend, so it will be me all alone. Anyway, it's kinda weird, cause I still keep going through my regular blog/journal reading routine even though I know that a bunch of them won't be able to post for a while.

SOFTBALL UPDATE: Yesterday was the worst day ever. We got rolled, 11-3. To make things worst, the pitcher on the other team had the name "Crafty" on the back of his jersey. That's right, we lost to a guy who goes by "Crafty." I assume that he got the name crafty by all of the supposedly "crafty" pitches he throws, most of which wouldn't work in a league where the umpires actually called a consistent strike zone. Usually, I'm not that competitive, but something about "Crafty" really ticked me off. I took this loss personally. We play "Crafty" again in 2 weeks. I'm making this a personal vendetta against "Crafty." I vow that I will get at least 3 hits against "Crafty", and "Crafty" will NOT get on base against me.

EMO UPDATE (But this one is NOT emo): One of those "emotional" issues that has been plagueing me over the past serveral months is finally coming to some sort of resolution. Well, not so much a "resolution", but I'm finally finding myself able to maybe move on. I realize that maybe is pretty vague, but I guess I can't promise anything yet. But, for the first time in a while, I feel free of the whole situation, which I think is a big step.

WORK UPDATE: Work has been frustrating of late. Not so much of anything that has happened really. A couple of weeks ago, our supervisor moved on. I was mentioned as a possible replacement, but was not selected, which is totally fine. The new guy is doing a great job. However, there was a bit of a shift change for the supervisor postion, who now works from 10a-7p instead of 7a-4p. So 7a-10a is now the "unsupervised" part of the day, so I have sort of fallen into the "unofficial" supervisor role. So, I don't get paid like a supervisor, have no authority over anyone, but it kind of falls to me to make sure everything is done at that time. Which I don't really mind, except that the whole thing kind of puts a target on my back. So, I go in each day wondering if something is going to get messed up and it's going to fall on me. Like today, I was given a special project to coordinate with some guys who were going to replace some of the carpet. They were supposed to call me at 7:00. At 8:00, they still hadn't called, and I was certain that somehow this was going to fall on me somehow. But, at 8:15, they showed, and everything worked out.

I guess I just need to chill. But, I'm kinda paranoid, because I was in a similar situation a few years back and it ended badly. So I, usually an optimist, am sitting and waiting on the worst to happen. So far, no major problems. Not on my watch!

Jun 11, 2005

more song lyrics

Since they are so popular . . .

Another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody
I got some money cause I just got paid
How I wish I had someone to talk to
I'm in an awful way . . .

--Cat Stevens

Okay, so it's not so awful (but, its part of the song.)

Jun 10, 2005

hot time

Happy graduation to Mel, Jenny, and Christina!!!!

(I think that's all the UC grads who read my blog)

You all are going to kick some butt in the "real world."

Jun 8, 2005

reconnecting with old friends

Today was really cool for a number of reasons. I think it's going to take some time to process everything about today (I tend to get really philosophical at times, so I take lessons from everything on occasion.)

I think the best part, though, was playing with Luke. For the non-Cincinnatites, Luke is the 3 1/2 year old son of my friends John and Shannon. For lots of Luke stories, check out Shannon's blog on the right. Anyway, back in my previous stint in Cincy, Luke and I were buds. We would "hang out" and stuff, and we would play with my harmonicas.

During my time away from cincy, Luke kinda forgot who I was, which kids like that are prone to do. But tonight we re-bonded over a soccer ball, some furniture climbing, and a game where Luke rescued me when I got my foot caught in a barstool. Kids are fun. I should hang out with them more. I hope my nephew likes me.

summer just got awesome again

We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!! We have AC!!!!!

the internet just got more useless

Ed Stewart has a live journal now.

Hours of entertainment (or minutes, anyway).

To celebrate, his link is on the left (with other new links).

And, I'm including this link that I think Ed would enjoy.

The Filmaker Exam

It's a test to take if you are planning on making a movie. If you answer yes to any question, you should not make the movie.

Jun 7, 2005

sometimes life is fair

They say life isn't always fair . . . but sometimes it is.

Today I was sent on a mission to pick up a lunch. 15 box lunches. Next time, I will definately send someone with my, but I figured hey, if it's packed right, I can handle it. Well, it wasn't, so I end up carrying them in 4 large K-mart bags, the ones that are like the gift bags with the imitation rope handles on top. Well, the bags wer packed so tight that the 2 handles didn't come all the way together, so I basically had to carry each bag with 2 fingers. It wasn't very pleasant. As I carried these for several blocks, someone pointed out to me that "at least I was going to have a good lunch. "Actually, I'm not, but someone is going to," I replied. Sometimes we get leftovers, but usually box lunches are ordered for the exact number of people attending the meeting.

Well, it turns out that the persons words were prophetic . . . I passed that particular conference room as I was heading to my lunch break, as the meeting was breaking up, and what did I notice . . . one lunch left untouched. So, I got it. Turkey and Swiss on Rye, pasta salad, fruit salad, a dill slice, a brownie, and a coca-cola classic. 7.00 if I had paid for it.

I'm getting paid to pick up lunches, so I guess that it wouldn't have been "unfair" to not get a lunch. But, as I sat in a nice shaded area behind the Chiquita Building, sharing my rye bread with a little bird bouncing around at my feet, I was stuck at least by the "fairness" of the guy who risked injury to his fingers and strain to his arms carrying that stuff around downtown getting to share in the meal.

all the kids are doing it

I'm out of stuff to write about, and this thing has been going around the triple w, so here we go . . .

THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:
01. Eric
02. The Colonel
03. Rio

THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD:
01. skippydude12 (talk to me on yahoo!)
02. IJohn316 (talk to me on AIM)
03. Big Mouth (Bill know's what I'm talking about.)

THREE THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
01. I’m smart
02. Nice sense of humor
03. I have a shaved head

THREE THINGS YOU HATE ABOUT YOURSELF:
01. Confidence (or lack thereof)
02. Sometimes I say some really mean things
03. I can't always express myself verbally

THREE THINGS YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND:
01. Women
02. Trigonometry
03. American Idol

THREE THINGS THAT ANNOY YOU:
01. people who don't use turn signals
02 the umpires in my softball league
03. Creed

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
01. Rejection
02. Most others can be traced back to #1
03.

THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
01. Cherry Coke
02. Friend's Blogs
03. ummm, oxygen

(add a fourth). I don't know . . . I'm fairly low matainence

THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
01. Sandals
02. glasses
03. darfur bracelet

THREE THINGS ON YOUR DESK:
01. harmonica
02. eye drops
03. some random cord

THREE THINGS YOU SAY THE MOST:
01. Guff
02. freakin awesome
03. That's a head injury waiting to happen

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE BANDS/MUSICAL ARTISTS AT THE MOMENT:
01. I'll come back to these later
02.
03.

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITES SONGS AT THE MOMENT:
01.
02.
03.

THREE THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOUR CLOSE FRIENDS:
01. They stick with me when I'm a moron
02. They are freakin hilarious
03. I know they've always got my back

THREE REASONS YOU'VE BEEN BROKEN UP WITH EXES:
01. I don't really know what happened
02. N/A
03. N/A

THREE THINGS YOU WOULD WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP:
01. honesty
02. laughter
03. help each other grow

THREE THINGS ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX THAT APPEAL TO YOU:

01. Smile
02. Intellegence
03. Sense of Humor

THREE THINGS YOU CAN'T DO:
01. dance
02. put my legs behind my head
03. play saxophone

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:
01. music
02. sports
03. getting in touch with my inner philosopher

THREE THINGS THAT MAKE YOU LAUGH EVERYTIME:
01. The end of Dolly Parton's "Stairway to Heaven."
02. Zombo.com
03. Hanging out will Bill E.

THREE THINGS YOU WANT REALLY BAD RIGHT NOW:
01. piano
02. air conditioning
03. a road trip

THREE CAREERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING:
01. campus minister
02. missionary-ish releif worker
03. some type of IT job

THREE PLACES YOU WOULD GO ON VACATION:
01. Hawaii
02. I-75 Waffle House Tour
03. Somewhere on a boat.

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
01. kick my fear of rejection
02. lean to play piano fairly well
03. make a difference

movie cliche of the night

Are there any movies out there that have people going into a cave and the cave does NOT collapse??

I don't think there is.

Jun 6, 2005

good quote

"Some people are like slinky's. They aren't really good for anything, but you can't help but smile when they tumble down the stairs."

Jun 5, 2005

x-tra random stuff

Just a day later, I'm already falling for it again. Why am I so gullible. Someone punch me.

My room is so hot, the carpet is actually burning my feet. Not badly, but enough that that sensation is there.

Tonight I was studying Philemon with some friends. A question that came up was, "Why is this even in the Bible?" I wish I had pressed her a bit on that, to find out why she would think that it didn't have scriptural value. My guess is that she asked because Philemon really does not contain much doctrine or practical application. Thinking about that, it hit me: often that's all we use the Bible for. We really do tend to skip over the parts that we can not apply directly. But the Bible is more than just docterine or practical application: It is the story of God and his people. It is a story of how God has worked through the ages, and how his people, first Israel and ultimately the church, came to be. And that is the importance of Philemon. We don't get any practical application (although I guess if any of us ever has a slave that runs away and then converts to Christianity, then you can look to Philemon to find out how to handle that situation.) But, in a larger sense, in the story that is the Bible, Philemon does have a lot to teach us about God and life and the predicament that we all find ourselves in.

Although Brent's interpretation is also good: according to him, Philemon actually contains a hidden treasure map. Interesting.

softball, headshaving, and other updates

Today we won 11-9. That moves us to 4-2, and moves me to 4-1 as a pitcher. I could tell that the other team was very intimidated by me, with my shaved head and all. Except for one guy. He ended up walking twice. It was one of my best hitting games, 2-3 with 2 doubles and 2 runs.

In other news, today I got some sun on the scalp. I think it's evened out quite nicely. But, the problem is that I got way too much, and I'm going to be in some serious pain tomorrow morning. But, looking this good is never easy. Or, so I've heard anyway.

Normally, when I go back and read my semi-emo posts, I'm not real happy with them. But, I think the line from yesterday, "My imagination takes me to places I know don't exist" was pretty awesome. Way to go me!!!!

Finally, today one of the most ironic things in my entire life happened. And I can't post about it. But, I feel that you should at least know something ironic happened. I'm often struck by the irony of things. And this is one of those times. I'm trying to write a bunch of stuff in this paragraph to make you forget that I'm not really saying anything. Is it working?? I hope so.

Jun 4, 2005

a moron

Why do I keep falling for it?? You would think after things keep repeating themselves, for what seems like the 200th time, I would learn. But I don't. Then it gets better, I fall for it again, and I get hurt again. Then repeat. Over and over. Yet I don't learn. But, that's me. I'm trustful. And idealistic. My imagination takes me places that I know don't exist. But I keep thinking that if I try hard enough, and be the perfect guy, I can make it happen. But, it's utimately not up to me. If I didn't care so much, I could just let go. But that's not me. So, I stay in the cycle. It's like my curse.

Someday I'll get it. Who knows when. I guarantee you I'll repost this within a month. I'll do it verbaitum, just to remind myself.

the bald guy

For those of you who do not live in Cincinnati, the big news in my world this week is that I shaved my head on Sunday. There are several reasons why, but the two major ones are:

1. I've been kicking the idea around for a couple of years now.
2. I always said that if I ever started going bald, I would just go ahead and cut all of my hair off. Well, at age 22, my hairline started receeding, but it wasn't too bad, and it quit after about a year, so I let that slide. About a year ago, it began receeding some more, but fairly slowly. However, last weekend, Tommy shot some videos, and some were shot from above me, and I noticed that it was getting very thin on top, especially towards the back.

So, I went for it. I kinda like it. I'll like it even more once the tan line evens out. I've hated my hair for years.

Plus, tonight, not one but 2 women said I have a nicely shaped head. So, I guess the chicks dig it.

Jun 3, 2005

rest

One thing I've discovered about myself is how prone I am to depression when I am tired. Yesterday I was really tired, and last night I just felt really bad. Hence, the post just prior to this one. But it even went beyond that last night. For a while last night, I was actually sitting alone in my room, lights off, playing sad melodies on my harmonica. Even then it struck me as being funny, and even moreso today.

But, as always, after a good nights sleep, all is well again.

Jun 2, 2005

onions have layers

What if people knew the real me? Would they still want to be around me?

What if I met my true self? How would I react.

Confronting my dark side is such a difficult, painful expirence. I know it's not the true me, but it is a real and powerful thing.

Why can't I break free?

new grammer rule

At work we have this dry erase board on which each day the names of all of the mailrooms staff that are working that day are listed, along with the time they work and which mailcart they will take, along with who is doing what runs. Today, for some reason, the person who wrote the names wrote mine in all capital letters. As I was looking at it, it looked kind of cool. So, I've decided that from now on, my name shall always be written in all caps. For example:

ERIC.

If you write my full name, you can use conventional grammar For example:

Eric Bryant

or

Eric S. Bryant

or

Eric Steven Bryant

Those are the rules from now on. I expect compliance from all.

Jun 1, 2005

lyrical rampage

Normally I don't post song lyrics. If I do, it's usually as a joke. But, tonight, the words of the immortal Jimmy Buffett ring true, and yet the words are cheesy enough it fit my usual criteria:

Where it all ends I can't fathom my friends
If I knew I might toss out my anchor
So I'll cruise a long always searching
for song not a lawyer a thief or a banker

--Son of a son of a sailor