Blog Archives

The Pagan Roots of Easter

3/28/2013

Well, my coworkers learned not to get me started on some things yesterday. Someone said there was a raffle prize for anyone that could tell her what easter eggs symbolize. So I told her they're paganism. Then I went straight into my "easter thing."

Yea, I've got a thing when it comes to Easter. A few years ago, some people shared some facts about some of our well loved traditions revolving around the resurrection of our Lord, and it turns out that, well, they have absolutely nothing to do with Jesus at all. In fact, some of it made my hair stand straight up.

For example, do you know where the term "Easter" comes from? It's derived from "Ishtar" who was the ancient goddess of fertility. This has roots in the Tower of Babel. The name morphed to "Eastre" with the Anglo-Saxons and it drifted into Christian use when the early believers were trying to spread the faith in terms that pagans could understand. They wanted to seperate themselves from the Jewish roots of the faith (because let's face it, people have always been fighting against them) and thought the faith would have a better chance of survival if it aligned more with the "Gentile" than the "Jewish" tradition. It seems to me they would have done better to stick with their roots, but alas what happened, happened. So they taught the pagans about how Christ rose from the dead and gave us eternal life by Christianizing their spring fertility festivals and there you have it - slapping a name on the greatest give God gave that is actually reflective of the root of offences that lead to the flood. Brilliant folks, just brilliant. So pardon me if I prefer to refer to it as Resurrection Sunday than, well, the other word.

And what about Easter Bunnies? Personally, I always thought they were creepy and I wasn't far off the mark. The Easter Bunny is the sexual symbol of fertility for Ishtar. If I get any creepy comments or links from porn sites for this then I will get mean and call out your stupidity on social media, so back off before you start! I'm just stating a fact and not inviting you creepy morons in. Anyway, we all know that rabbits are prolific reproducers and it appears this has been known since the beginning of time.

As for the Easter eggs, the ancient Babalonians believed a great egg fell from heaven into the Euphrates River and Ishtar hatched from it. What? A goddess needs to hatch? Ponder that as you take your kids on the egg hunts this Saturday. Throughout time, eggs have continued to symbolize goddesses of fertility.

Now folks, I'm realistic enough to know that some things simply aren't worth getting worked up over. If you're heart's right and you truly mean well, then God knows it and won't fault you, especially for things you don't know. But knowing all of this, I'm more than a little disturbed by how an event that's the cornerstone of Christian faith is innundated with pagan rituals, some of which are clearly spoken against in The Bible. Even the name we call it has absolutely nothing to do with Christ.

I'm not afraid to come across as a Bible beating igit on this one. We do a lot of things wrong on this holiday, and we need to clean it up. I understand that people could claim ignorance for a long time, but that's not true with the abundance of resources out there to tell you the truth. The Internet is all over the world. One site where I got my information is http://www.hebrewroot.com/pagan_origins_of_easter.htm . Another great site is http://www.religioustolerance.org/easter1.htm .

It's up to you whether you believe me. I know many people don't and can't understand why I'm "being this way." Well folks, I'm "being this way" because I love Jesus and appreciate all He did and all He is. I'm not perfect, but I want to do my best by Him. And I certainly don't want to offend Him by watering down his magnificant sacrifice with rituals of dead (or radically minority) traditions.

So there you have it. I know a lot of people out there are on the gay marriage thing. Well, this is my thing. Celebrations of The Resurrection are pagan and offensive to it's true meaning.

And now I shall step off my soapbox.

I wish you a meaningful comtemplation of your faith during these Holy Days and a joyous celebration of The Resurrection of Christ this Sunday.

Bye!

My Favorite Conspiracy Theories

3/26/2013

Frankly, I'm not a believer in conspiracy theories. Most of them have one of two flaws: they assume the accused are smart enough to pull off a complex cover up, or they assume the accused care when in fact they might not as much as you think. Now that's not to say that I believe people are idiots. I just wonder if sometimes we imagine that the truth is more fantastic, greater, or more interesting than it really is.

That being said, I have to admit there are some that greatly entertain me. The 9-11 conspiracy theories alone can fill up a month of your time. The government set it up! It was on purpose! Really? Why would they do that? Or is the fact that there really ARE people out there that hate America and would love nothing better than to see us fall into oblivion just too overwhelming to accept? Honestly, I don't think the government are saints. They definitely spin things to the advantage of supporting pet projects and causes. But I don't think they're out ot get us, either.

The conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook shootings fall along the same lines. There are those that say the government set it up to push gun control agendas this session. While I'll certainly agree that the tragedy has been used in support of such efforts, I really don't think the government is diaobolical enough to kill children to push their cause. That's silly. I think the media jumped on it too fast and the muched up reports with conflicting information didn't help, but that doesn't mean there was a coverup. Just people looking to get the story before it was possible to know it fully.

Not all conspiracy theories involve the government. There are some interesting theories on why we haven't been back to the moon since the 70's. There are many about cover ups for screw ups in our space program, but my favorite is the one about finding hostile aliens up there and being afraid to go back. Some even say the crew never really came back from that last trip. I like the one about Neil Armstrong finding a Decepticon up there. I bet he got a kick out of that one, too.

There's also a theory that the aestroid belt was the original Garden of Eden, and God smashed it to bits and drop kicked us to Earth. I've heard variations on this same theory, but in them Mars is the original Garden of Eden. Either way, that was one heck of a kick. But evolutionists, don't fear because we have you covered too! The "scientific" variation is that our DNA material was blasted to Earth when that extra planet between Mars and Jupiter blew to kingdom come. Or when whatever destroyed Mars happened. Again, that was one hell of a blast.

Heck, we might have even started elsewhere. There are theories that Stonehenge and the pyramids are alien landing strips. Live long and prosper perhaps, but they aren't talking to us now. Either we're awfully boring and they found a species more entertaining, or we pissed them off and they said "screw you guys, we're going home."

My all time favorite consipiracy theory, though, mixes all the elements of a good story: diabolical plots, sinister characters, and even supernatural intervention. It's the one that World War II was caused by Hitler using necromancers to take over the world. Word has it he (or someone in his camp) found a way to re-amimate the dead. I heard about the gruesome experiments but bringing the dead back to life to form the perfect army - wow. He supposedly did this with the aid of an otherworldly weapon - think the Tesseract and Hydra weapons from Captain America and The Avengers. We got through that by the skin of our teeth because atom bombs beat the undead (there's your zombie cure), but there are survivors amongst those foul creatures and their creators, and they're still out there, lying in wait for their opportunity to try take over the world again. Or at least they are according to a recent episode of Supernatural.

Gotta love it. Actually, that's one that's not only the most interesting, but probably the most likely to be true. Undead armies created by a relic from Oden's vault. Why not? Let's make it interesting, at least. I think it's more likely than the government staging their own tragedies to shape politics. Or aliens on the moon. Or fried paradice at earth's back door. Or aliens dropping us off at Earth, otherwise known as the cosmic Walmart. Eww. That's not nice.

So there you have it - my favorite conspiracy theories. I don't believe a single one of them, but I have to admit that they did make me think. For a minute, anyway.

That's all today. Take care and have a great rest of the week.

Bye!

Things That Blow Up My Brain

3/22/2013

Many of you know that I have my bachelor’s degree in psychology. My original life plan was to get my master’s degree and become a therapist but obviously, that didn’t happen. I went into administrative work, started writing, built a house, and now here I am.

I’m still glad I got my undergraduate degree in psychology because frankly, that education is something I can apply to every area of my life. At some time or another, it’s helped me in every area of life and it continues to. But I don’t regret foregoing the higher education and the original life plan because frankly, I think I’d be ill suited to be a therapist. I thought it would be a great way to
help people, but if there’s one thing that the 16 years since college graduation taught me, it’s that people won’t change unless they are internally motivated to do so. That usually comes from one of two things: the threat of losing something they don’t want to live without, or a court order (and those are violated often (and frequently enough that I’m thinking about taking that off the list). Usually, when people break down and seek guidance for things, they either want a pill to fix them nice and quick, or an excuse to stay exactly the way they are and demand that the world accommodate them. As if that’s going to happen.

I know this sounds cynical, but people thought I was an idealist when I was younger. They should be happy to hear such an admission out of me. Few people would have the guts to go on an open forum like the Internet and say yep, you were right on
that one. The idealism isn’t 100% gone, though, because there are still some things that, to this day, blow up my brain. I just don’t get it, and no amount of talking is helping me to understand the logic behind some things such as:

1.People that “let it fly,” then complain about being lonely. I’m not saying to sugar coat everything because that’s fake and ridiculous, but every word that flies through your brain doesn’t need to fly out of your mouth either. The problem is; people don’t give a crap about what you think 99% of the time, and the other percent it’s only to get your agreement, money, support, or vote. Truth is fine but you have to deliver it with discernment. If you just say what you think, unedited, then people are going to avoid you because you come across as rude, and everybody responds better to respect than to criticism. Building and maintaining relationships means you have to at least act like you care, even if you don't care anymore about them and their problems than the extra 40 minutes in a Martian day.

2. Envy and jealousy. Folks, I’ve known people that have married, moved, bought high ticket items and ruined their finances because they simply couldn’t stand the fact that someone had something that they didn’t (or had something newer, bigger, or better than they had). Then they got depressed and angry when it didn’t work out for them. Usually, that failure came from not being willing or able to do the work that goes with having the prize. Then again, I remember hearing Joyce Meyer say once that if you put yourself in a place that the Lord doesn’t mean for you to be, then it’s up to you to keep yourself there. That’s tough, but there’s another reason I don’t understand this: if you have time to fixate on what other people have, then you aren’t investing enough into making your own life the best it can be. Sure, you should care about and support other people, but your primary focus should be on taking care of and growing the talents the Lord provided to you, not on what He gave to other people. Work with
what you’ve got and if He means for you to have it, He’ll bring it to you in the best timing – and give you what you need to keep you there.

3.People that are sure they’re better than everybody else. I like what C.S. Lewis said about “a good man knows he isn’t good because he can see his badness. A bad man thinks he’s great guy because he can’t see his badness.” Before you say “it’s not personal, it’s just business,” I’ll be bold enough to tell you that’s absolute crap. I’ve worked at different places and I can tell you from recent experience that people are not like that everywhere. There are good, honest people working hard to do what’s right and succeeding at it. I’ll go further and say that I’m fortunate enough to work with an entire group of them. Acting like you’re king or queen of the world isn’t commanding respect, it’s arrogant and makes you look like an insecure fool. Please, get over yourself before you sprain something sticking up your nose at people. There will always be people in authority over you. You gain more by working hard and being dependable than having attitude and playing games. Because folks, nobody wins all the time and if you play games, you'll eventually lose.

4.Know it alls. You know the type I mean. There’s always somebody around that has seen it all, heard it all, and done it all – and probably bigger, better and more recently than you did. I have to admit that these types are a paradox to me. The pompous attitude is infuriating, but they also amuse me greatly because through all that big talk I know that a jack of all trades is a master at none. I’d rather know a few things well then know nothing well at all, but I guess some people don’t feel the same way. Anyway, the Bible says that King Solomon was the wisest man that ever lived, so give it up. You aren’t him and nobody knows everything under the sun. It seems to me that people respect humility over knowledge any day. And nobody likes a know it all.

5.People that use the telephone as a surrogate brain. This was the #1 reason why we (and many others, I hear) gave up our land line. The amount of time wasted by dealing with unnecessary phone calls is ridiculous. There are people that feel like they need to make a telephone call every time they have a thought. There are other people that feel like they need to make a telephone call every time a question pops in their head. There are some that do both. And this is what makes the telephone the #1 most abused thing in human history. I hope that Alexander Graham Bell isn’t still in purgatory answering for why he created something that has incrementally decreased human intelligence over the years because I know he didn’t mean for it to come to this. But I take heart in knowing that the abuse of this tool is offset by the greatest things that have been invented since the telephone: Ignore buttons and “do not disturb” mode. If only every telephone were required to be equipped with these!

6.Basketball. I sent out tweets and posts on Facebook in the fall asking people “do you like basketball?” I don’t, but I was just wondering because the last people I heard admit to liking it were of my grandparents generation. The request was largely ignored, but the few responses I got were a resounding “no!” So why is it all about March Madness now? Hello? I thought people didn’t like basketball?

Hmm. Maybe I should have been a therapist because I could charge these people by the hour to explain themselves to me. As it is, all I can do is avoid them when I can and take notes to put them in my next novel when I can’t. But who knows? I have several books published and if I keep writing then this will all work out okay anyway.

As for the basketball thing, I don’t know. Maybe that’s something else to add to the list of crazy that I am. But at least I know it’s a strange thing about me. That’s the one thing about having a psychology degree. Other people think you’re always analyzing them, but the truth is that you spend more time analyzing yourself. And there’s no hiding from what you know is out of whack there!

I hope you enjoyed this silly musing on reality. Happy Friday to you. Take care and have a great weekend.

Bye!

When Normal Is Alright

3/21/2013

Of course, sometimes it's good to open your eyes to the world around you. Sometimes you don't realize how much you're missing - how much is going right by you - until you open your eyes and simply live day to day.

For example, today I learned that people look at you funny if you go to McDonalds wearing a leather jacket. I didn't think anything of it but then again, I don't go out to lunch by myself very much. Boy, did I feel like Waldo. And why? Why can't I be dressed nice for work and decide to have a quarter pounder and fries?

I don't know. I guess we all profile people from time to time. It's one thing to write about it but somehow, it's still a bit jolting when it happens.

It's not just that - I find myself noticing little things. LIke the fact that I've seen them use wine glasses just like we have on The Americans several times. We do. Those gold rimmed wine glasses look just like a set I got at Fred's for a Christmas party a few years ago. Come to think of it, I think I saw them using some juice glasses just like we got for a wedding gift nearly 15 years ago. Hey, this show takes place in the 80's but they have stuff like we have now? What's up with the time warp?

I also noticed that my computer at work is running a bit slower, that my car needs an oil change and the tires balanced and rotated (oops), that I can call more things out of the Code of Laws for my professions than I realized, that there is a way to insert documents into a Word file (but it might not be pretty if it's a pdf), that I'm not as behind on reviewing books as I thought I was (or in securing reviews for my latest release), that my hair has grown a lot faster than I thought it would over the past year, and that I probably post more on social media than people probably care for. I'm trying to bring that last one into balance.

Yes, I suppose I could say that the details matter more in reality than then do in fiction. Maybe. It depends on the plot and word count.

Time will tell that tale, I suppose.

Well, that's all today. I'm just plugging along every day - and trying to refill the inspiration well for my muse in the meantime.

Have a Happy Friday and a good weekend.

Bye!

When Normal is Weird

3/16/2013

The last blog entry got me thinking. Since we got back from Arizona, I've felt weird. Not bad, or sad, just - off center, like something wasn't right. I didn't know what it was. But it felt like something was out of place.

I was talking to someone after I made that last blog entry and it finally hit me: this is the first time I haven't had something big or in progress in my life in 3 years. Since 2009 at work there have been law changes, regulation changes, administrative changes, and adjustments to get the work move done. At home, I wrapped up a large cross stitch project in the summer and then dived back into writing novels. I've written 3 novels and one shorter book since then, and have published 6 pieces. It's been creating, researching, writing, and promoting for a good long while.

And now, it's done. Things are settled from moving the programs and everything is up to date.On the writing front, Move is published and publicity is pretty much a part of my routine now. I've shifted my focus to short stories, which is still fun but isn't as intensive as a novel. In fact, this is the first time since November 2009 that I haven't been at some stage of working on a novel.

So life has settled back into a routine. It's just going along and living day to day. Simply the business of keeping things moving. That's what was weird for me. No big projects. No efforts to update, progress, or get things done. The fields are sowed and now, we simply care for them and wait for the harvest.

It's been a while since I was in this place, and that's why I feel weird. It's been 3 years of working and striving and now, the work is done and all I need to do is faithfully work at maintaining the progress that's been made. It's weird. And what's throwing me is that it shouldn't be. I remember a time when this was completely normal and now that I'm bad to it, I don't know what to do.

It's weird, but it's also a relief. It's almost like I don't know what to do now that something doesn't need doing. Perhaps it's a good time to rest. Shift my focus. The short stories are a good idea, as I really do need to work and improve in that area. And perhaps going back to cross stitching isn't a bad idea either. Those are things to do, and areas I enjoy. Why not rescale my efforts in different directions? Different is good.

It bothers me a little that normal seems weird, but in another way, I understand why. I also know that I'll settle in. My life is full and there's always plenty to keep my soul, heart and mind growning, learning and occupied. Boredom is not a problem that plagues me.

That's all today. It's a nice Saturday and heck, there's not a to do list so I might as well enjoy it. Bring on the coffee! Let's enjoy this beautiful day.

Take care and enjoy your weekend.

Bye!

You Can Never Go Back

3/13/2013

I was disappointed recently when I read that Star Wars: The Clone Wars has been cancelled. It seems that LucasArt thought it was time to move on in other directions. I say it was a heck of a time. Who knew that "The Wrong Jedi" was the final episode? To me, it was a sad ending. Watching Ahsoka walk away from Anakin and the Jedi order after being acquited of a false accusation of murder and sabatoge on the temple - I knew I was watching another chink in Anakin's armor. No wonder he turned to the dark side, I thought. He did everything he could to help Ahsoka and in the end he did find the true murderer/sabateur, but it wasn't enough. Ahsoka felt she had to work it out on her own and she walked away from the only life she knew.

Now before you read on, answer this question without thinking about it: Did Ahsoka do the right thing by leaving the Jedi order?

Tick tock, tick tock.

Okay, if you said no, then I'd say you've never been through a life experience that forced you to become a new person.

If you said yes, then you know what it's like to have your life turned upside down by something unexpected. You also know those motivational sayings that change is like going from a catepillar to a butterfly are total crap. It's more like Wolverine having the adamantamum grafted to his bones. And when you're torn apart like that, you either heal up and become stronger, or you bleed to death.

It can be tough, because building a better life usually means working with changes that hurt like hell and require you to work harder than you ever thought possible to bring you to the Promised Land. I lived through it three years ago when my job was moved. Moving two licensure programs was more work than any of us bargained for. It took three years of legislative updated and changes and even more work at an administrative level. I dare say, I believe we're just now getting settled into the new changes as we wrap up our latest renewal cycle and implement the last of the changes. Yet as I help in training a new employee that started with us a few weeks ago, it strikes me how much I've changed in as many years. To say that I'm not the same person I was before would be an understatement. I didn't just move my job. I learned that the only way to better days was hard work and change, and I applied it to my personal life. And now one work move, two more adopted birds, and six books later - yea, I'm not the same person. Some think I've lost my fear of change, but the truth is that I traded it for a fear of stagnation. I realize now what a rut I had been in before and how detrimental it was to me. That rut was partly of my own making because I was afraid to stand up and pursue the change I need to. Now, I'm afraid to sit still for too long for fear of stalling out again.

It's funny. Yesterday, someone at my meetings asked me if I liked having the programs there as much as I liked it at the old department. I held back my reaction. I told them yes, it was working out great, and that's true. But I stopped short of saying the rest: that I could never go back to the old place and the old ways. I've changed too much. I've created a different life. I'm not the same person and I don't have any desire to go back to the old places or ways. In fact, all I really miss are a few friends and ham subs in the canteen on Fridays. And I had to laugh at myself. I'm still in contact with the friends and obviously, the subs I can live without. That old life is a memory of what brought me to where I am, but it's not a place I can live at. Not now. Not ever. Nor should I try.

I believe we all go through times when reality throws the Hammer of Thor through our life, and we're stuck with the choice of picking up the pieces and creating a better life, or letting the sharp edges of loss stab us until we bleed to death. But they are times when we have to come to grips with the hard truth that we can't go back, and even if we do it would never be the same. Sometimes we do like Bilbo and Frodo Baggins and try to go back, only to realize we can't have the old life back and leave later. Sometimes we do like Ahsoka and walk away right then and there, realizing as she said, "I have to sort it out on my own." And sometimes, as in my case, there isn't a choice. It simply happens and you have to take it and wither on the vine, or start growing where you've been replanted.

I'm sorry we won't get to see how Ahsoka worked things out. My trial was different from hers, but I really wanted to see how she worked things out. But then again, maybe they left it open because it remains a story in progress. As I train a new colleague and face the reality of having a new supervisor this summer, I realize that I am a new creation. Now the task is how to make that new creation better, one day at a time.

That's all for today. Take care and have a great rest of the week.

Bye!

Special Discount at Smashwords

3/8/2013

Hi everybody! I wanted to tell you about a special offer going on right now at Smashwords. This week only, they're having Read an Ebook week. I'm participating and you can get Move and Feathered Frenzy at a discount!

Today and tomorrow only, you can get Move for $1.25. That's 75% off, and only through Smashwords. To get it, go to http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/286425 and enter coupon code REW75.

And Feathered Frenzy is a better deal - it's free today and tomorrow! Go to http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/280462 and enter coupon code RW100.

These offers are only valid through tomorrow at midnight for this promotion, so head on over and get my ebooks for cheap - or free!

Thanks for supporting my writing, and happy Friday to you.

Bye!

Back to Reality

3/7/2013

The week after a trip is always something. It's good to be home, and no matter how good the trip is, you do appreciate the comforts of home more. Arizona was fabulous and yet, I also came home to appreciate the little things, like having the birds on my shoulder, sitting in the recliner, and knowing how to get where I want to go without consulting a map or asking for directions. Somehow, seeing the nuiances of life somewhere else makes you appreciate the nuiances of home too. It opens your eyes.

Then there's the catching up. We've spent all week doing that. In fact, I just got where I consider myself to be "caught up" today, at home and at work. It's been a lot of work, but well worth it. And tomorrow, I know we'll be very happy that it's Friday and to come home after wrapping up a work week and relaxing with "Free Play Friday" with the birds.

Yes, it was a great trip. I keep finding myself thinking "last week this time, I was ..." But it's also good to be home. It was a nice, much needed break and I feel I appreciate the small things about my day to day life more now. I feel rested, refreshed, and had the energy to come home to clean the house, catch up on my writing, and catch up at work too. If only weekends rejuvinated you like that all the time! We'd all be super productive then!

Since the last entry was such a long account of the trip, I'll give you a break with a short one today. There's not really much to tell anyway. And after our adventures last week, giving you the details of paperwork, housekeeping and book promotion seems kind of blah.

Have a happy Friday tomorrow and a great weekend.

Bye!

About Arizona - Planes, Trains and Automobiles

3/3/2013

Hi all, sorry for dropping off the face of the earth for a while. Actually, it wasn't that I dropped off - more like I went to a different part of it. Last week was my spring conference meeting in Arizona, and Rick and I decided to make a vacation out of it. It was a great idea. Arizona is amazing! We had a fantastic trip and I know we'll cherish the memories of it forever - in fact, I hope we make it back there sometime!

The trip started out with flying out last Tuesday. We flew from Columbia to Charlotte to Phoenix without any trouble (except I did get a bit of motion sickness). Then we picked up our rental car and drove 3 hours to Williams, Arizona to The Grand Canyon Railway. It was a long day of traveling, but the hotel there was very nice and we got a good night's sleep before taking "The Train" to the southern rim of The Grand Canyon on Wednesday. The entire day was unbelievable. The train ride was fun. We had a great hostess, and there was a Navaho guitar player and a really good banjo player to entertain us on the ride. Once at The Grand Canyon, you have a few hours to explore the area as you wish. We got the 1 day package, so we decided we'd rather hike the trail along the rim to really take in the sites. It was an easy hike and the view was spectacular. We took a lot of pictures but honestly, pictures don't do The Grand Canyon justice. It's also impossible to have enough time there. There's so much to see and do. But our time was limited, so we made the most of the hike and shopping around the village and took The Train back to Williams.

The Train arrived in Williams at 5:45 and it was time to drive back to Phoenix to turn in the car. We weren't really hungry because the hotel had a huge breakfast, and we ate lunch at the village and had snacks on the train. So we drove straight back to Williams. Sunset over the mountains in Arizona is beautiful! I wish there had been places for us to pull off and take pictures but as it is, there was only 1 spot and we passed it after dark both days. Oh well.

We got to Phoenix around 9:00 and turned our car in. We thought about keeping it but frankly, the rental had unlimited miles and was so expensive that we said heck with it - we heard you could walk in Scottsdale and that they had a free trolley. We got a cab from the airport to Hotel Valley Ho and checked in there around 10. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that's the nicest place we've ever stayed in. They have a mid-20th century theme, but don't let that fool you - the place is magnificant! My meetings were on Thursday from 1-5 (but I did get out early that day, around 4), on Friday from 8-3, and on Saturday there were meetings from 10-1, but I had to leave at the 10:45 break because we had a 1:15 flight back home. It's a good thing I got the earlier flight too - more on that in a minute.

After the meetings each day, we walked around the historic district of Scottsdale. Thursday night was Art Walk night and that was great. It was amazing to see the artist displaying their work and letting us see them painting current projects! There were also street musicians and tons of great art around the city, and more resturants than you could enjoy in 10 lifetimes. That was a lot of fun and, of course, there was souviner shopping along our walk. On Friday, we walked to the 5th Avenue Shops and the mall. More great stuff (and great art) to see there, including the canal running off The Salt Lake. We came by the canal around sunset and that was beautiful.

Saturday was time to come home. It was tough, because the weather was beautiful in Scottsdale - it was in the 70's, sunny and clear the whole time we were there. But we were homesick and ready for our birds, our home, and our own bed and bathroom. We took a limo from the hotel to the airport (which, ironically, was cheaper than a cab) and the flight from Phoenix to Charlotte went like clockwork. It was when we got to Charlotte that we found there had been problems there. There were flight delays in the morning due to weather, and that threw off flights all day - every flight was running behind. Our flight was delayed for three and a half hours (and the gate was moved twice - that I know of). It was a bit frustrating because we were supposed to land in Columbia at 9:15, but as it turns out, we didn't leave Charlotte until 11:10 and we were close to midnight arriving in Columbia. My poor parents were so patient with us. They didn't complain the first time about the excessive delays, or for being put out to pick up us much later than expected. And they really enjoyed keeping Zack, Chloe and Ollie too. It sounds like they had a lot of fun.

Despite the delayed final flight, it was a great trip. Arizona is so nice! It has to be the cleanest place on earth - I don't believe we saw as much as a crumpled up napkin anywhere the entire time we were there. The people were friendly too. If you even look like you need anything there, any number of people are willing to help. All you have to do is ask and they'll do whatever it takes to help you.

And yes, I did do some work while I was there. The conference went well and it was good to see the other executives and board members from the other states there. That's a great group of people and I always enjoy being around them. We learn a lot from one another.

On a scale of 1-10, this trip is a 20. It was amazing! Best business trip ever, no doubt. If you're interested in seeing my pictures from the trip, I have them posted on Flickr. Feel free to check them out, and to share them with others.

So it was a great trip - but it's also good to be home. It's exciting to see new places and different people, but it also makes you appreciate the comforts of home. And who knows? We might make our way back there someday.

That's all today.

Bye!