Mini Vacation - Atlanta, Georgia

I am at a gas station just outside of Atlanta, Georgia while we fill up the gas tank. My friends, Matt (@browncoat2511), Lauren (@Ryuzaki_X23), Baker (@geekiskhan), and I are disembarking from our mini vacation to Atlanta that we so thoroughly enjoyed this weekend. Lauren had a conference to attend down here, which was to help her prepare to take the Marriage and Family licensing test to become a licensed therapist. Matt didn't feel like going alone for the weekend while Lauren spent the majority of her Saturday listening to talks at the conference, so he invited a couple of us to come along and ditch our normal weekend routines for some extraordinary fun And fun it was!

First, it was simply awesome to use a vacation day and take Friday off from work. It was great to stay up late on Thursday, sleep in Friday, and eventually pack into the car for the couple-hour road trip to our neighboring state. The commute was shortly interrupted by a lunch at everyone's favorite hot dog restaurant, Phat Dogs! If you've never heard of it, you are likely a stranger to me. Once you have tasted and seen that the Phat Dog is good, you may even become evangelical about it. Just sayin'. All jokes aside, they were exceptionally busy and we had a fantastic lunch. It was nice to see the dining room so full, and more coming in to order at the bar, but it is nice when I can visit when there are no guests and I have time to sit and talk with them. Matt & Lauren both bought Phat Dogs t-shirts too, which was extra cool.

Our journey continues down I-85S shortly after getting phattened (heh, see what I did there?). Baker and I sat in the back seat playing with our electronic devices and listening to tunes as they streamed from our iDevices to the bluetooth-enabled stereo in Matt's car. Other than that, there weren't really any other notable events to write about during the drive.

We arrived at the hotel, the Hyatt Place, around 3:30 PM. Unloaded our stuffs and took a few minutes to sit and rest.

I'm not exactly sure what is on the television, but going by their expressions, it must have been...interesting.

After taking a moment to rest from the car ride, we packed back in and made our way towards downtown Atlanta to find the World of Coca-Cola. They have built a new location since the last time I visited it near Underground Atlanta many years ago. It was much fun. A couple of pics below...

Chillin' with the Polar Bear.

Chillin with Mike.

Chillin' with the gang, outside of the World of Coke.

After this, we walked a good couple miles around downtown trying to find a place to eat that were both reasonably priced, and had vacancy. We failed to find a place that matched both and instead headed back towards the hotel in hopes of finding something along the way. We did, and settled upon Longhorn Steakhouse. Our meals were fantastic. I had Red Rock Grilled Shrimp on a bed of rice with a side of mashed potatoes. Very, very good.

Saturday came, and we...well...I'll have to finish this later. My laptop battery is dying. Brb.

---

Aaaaand, we're back! Batteries are juiced and ready for the rest of this blog story. 

Saturday came, and after enjoying a tasty continental breakfast consisting of cereals, fruits, and various breads, Matt took Lauren to the Hilton Marquis where she would spend her day in the conference. Mike and I stayed behind to get ready, because in about an hour we would be making our way to Six Flags over Georgia! It had been about six or seven years since the last time I visited Six Flags, but it was always a blast so I was sure to enjoy it. My only concern was wondering if I could I keep up as well as years past, with all the hurrying up to wait in lines and standing in the heat all day.

It is strange to think back to when you were a kid and remember the times when you had to go to bed right before a big vacation or trip somewhere, and remember how you couldn't sleep because the excitement was so great that you couldn't take your mind off of it. I remember having those magical feelings about amusement parks when I was a child. Something happens when we grow older though and that magic seems to fade. I hadn't really thought of Six Flags once before I went to bed on Friday night. But as we pulled into the parking lot, that excitement crept back in as I saw the trains already rushing around the twists and turns of the tracks, and hearing the screams of the scared riders.

The three of us were only interested in the roller coasters, so that's what we set out to do. We stopped to get a map and chart out our plan to attack as many coasters as we could. First up: The Georgia Cyclone. It is a classic wooden coaster that has been a favorite of many Six Flags patrons for a long time. Matt learned quickly, however, that he wasn't a big fan of wooden coasters as the ride seemed to jar him a bit too hard. It wasn't a big roller coaster, but it was enough to get us acclimated again to the feeling of G-forces stretching the skin on our faces and jumbling the insides of our bodies around.

After this, we made a bee line for the Georgia Scorcher which was just a few feet away. This time we decided to wait in line for the front row on the train, and it was worth it! This ride was one of the best on the day for sure, and getting to do it in the front row with complete visibility of everything around you is definitely the way to experience it. It's like the difference between having a window seat vs. an aisle seat while flying in a plane. Window seat (to me) is always better. This set the trend for the rest of our visit. On all the other coasters we rode, we waited the little bit extra to get into the front row. Other rides ridden include: Mind Bender, Batman, The Great American Scream Machine, and Superman.

Notables about Batman: We waited in line nearly two hours to get to the front. We were the next people to get on, but then it "shut down for technical difficulties". We were told that we could exit the way we came in, or wait in line if we wanted, but they couldn't tell us how long it would be before they fixed it. We opted to wait, and about 30 minutes later, we were able to ride it.

Notables about Superman: This one was the favorite of all on the day. It's just so different than any other coaster, getting to lay down on your stomach and whip through the air like Superman. It even incited some double rainbow-esque moments in a couple of us :).

Saturday evening concluded with delivered Papa John's pizza, the Carolina / Auburn football game, and a seemingly endless game of Skip-Bo in the hotel room. It was certainly good times.

That was pretty much everything notable from this weekend. It was definitely worth it and nice to get out and do something a little different for a change. I have a ton more pictures that may go up on facebook soon. I'll likely link this post to them at that time.

Altitudinous tensions of my vital fluid

Short story:
I have high blood pressure. It will be okay.

Full story:
I went to Greenville last Thursday to a Blood Connection sponsored blood drive with the intention of donating a pint of my vital fluid. I was looking forward to it because I hadn't given blood in quite a while -- since college to be exact. I began giving blood in high school and had done it regularly ever since, so the act is certainly nothing new to me. I had even recruited five of my friends to donate as well, so they all met at my house after work that evening to eat a little food.

We sat around my living room, eating PB&Js and sippin' some OJ. Two of my friends were new to everyone else, but after initial introductions, common interests were sparked and thus began conversations about our thoughts and opinions of the TV series Lost. With our hungers soon satiated, we packed into two cars and headed for the blood drive destination -- the Haywood Mall.

[fast forward forty-five minutes through a calm and uneventful drive to the mall]

We entered the mall from Belk's which was right next to where the donation center was located. A path was made through the aisles of clothing, perfumes and scents, and makeup counters while listening to 90s pop/rock genres pumped over the muzak system. The short stroll led us directly to our destination and we were all soon filling out forms of personal information and HIPPA release papers. The room was filled with phlebotomists who were hurriedly, yet methodically, performing the blood extraction process on the willing and eligible patients. It was only a few minutes before I was first called back to meet with the nurse who is required to do the initial testing and finger pricking and ask the essential questions to ensure I and my blood are healthy enough to donate. I made it through the finger prick and the 1,001 seemingly irrelevant questions (at least, irrelevant in my case) without any issues. What I did not expect, and unfortunately did not pass, was the blood pressure test. The nurse put on the cuff and began inflating the utility while asking me the irrelevant questions. Once the last of the essential questions were asked, she followed up with one more, eyebrows raised: "Honey, what is up with your blood pressure?!"

Normal, or rather ideal, blood pressure is understood to be 120/80. According to this nurse, my readings from the blood pressure cuff were 168/118. Astronomically high for a relatively healthy [read: does not smoke, does not drink, & is not fat] male only twenty-six years of age. I do not remember what the pulse was, but I know it was above normal also. Further, I was informed that with those numbers, I'm borderline stroke/heart attack. Finally, the nurse told me with her serious face: "Go see your doctor tomorrow."

She had me go back and sit down in the waiting area to perhaps let my body relax some (though I had no anxiety or hadn't done anything strenuous before going in) and said she would test it again in ten minutes to see if it drops within an acceptable range. The second results were indeed less, but still alarming to her and certainly still not eligible for donation.

"Holy crap. I'm borderline dead.", I ponder as I sit there in front of the snack/drink/pizza table where people were gathering food after their donation was complete. I had known since high school that my blood pressure was a little high. The nurses have always been a little surprised and told me it seems a little high for my age, even all through college. But I've never been denied as a donor. And I've never been advised to go see my doctor. And I certainly had never been told I'm borderline stroking out. Naturally, I was a little bummed out and quite worried.

[fast forward through the long holiday weekend to Tuesday]

I met with Dr. Bingham who is now my family physician, thanks to my boss. My reading at the doctors office was substantially lower than the alarming numbers recorded the previous Thursday, but unfortunately was still too high. Dr. Bingham questioned the validity of their reading though and said that I am not about to stroke out or have a heart attack. He combated a lot of that scare and ensured me it wasn't as big of a deal as they made it out to be, especially since I feel completely fine. The doctor still felt it necessary to perform an EKG, however, since it is a little unusual for someone under the age of thirty to be diagnosed with high blood pressure.

An EKG consisted of me having metal leads attached to my bare chest and two on my legs while multiple dongle like clips attached to the leads to measure the electrical activity in my body and report back any abnormalities. The nurse got everything hooked up, and did something on her computer to start the test, but nothing happened. She was getting no readings at all. Jokingly I asked, "So...does this mean I am dead?". She remained curiously focused though, and I believe the humor in my joke went unnoticed. I then raised my legs and asked "aren't these supposed to be hooked up too?". She had forgotten to hook up those leads to her machine, and that was apparently the missing link. After that, her computer screen populated with multiple seemingly meaningless squiggly lines that somehow tells them what my kidneys and other internal organs are up to. Moments later, the nurse came back and said everything checks out just fine on the EKG, so there is nothing extra to worry about. Dr. Bingham simply prescribed me some inexpensive blood pressure medicine and said we'd follow up in a month on my progress.

I have since found out that high blood pressure runs in my mom's side of the family. Mom has it (and has had open heart surgery to replace valves with cow parts), grandma has it, her mom had it. Cannot avoid genetics. Fortunately, blood pressure medicine isn't something most people have to stay on their entire lives. There's a good chance I'll be able to use it to get me back down to a normal level, and then keep it there with a combination of a healthy diet and consistent exercise.

So, thats all folks. Let's hope all goes well with this!

-B

Something Special

Man...you know had something special when the tears are still coming.

I'm trying.

Okay, so this isn't a good title, but I'm going to need an Oatmeal Cream Pie before starting this. Brb.

Mmmm....that was nice....

You know, I think Oatmeal Cream Pies are kind of like Reese Cups. There's no wrong way to eat one. Sometimes I like to nibble away the quarter inch of both outer pie crusts just up to the point where the cream begins. Then, if I'm feeling patient and feeling like savoring it, I'll nibble away the top disc of pie so that only the bottom is left with the exposed five half-inch circles of cream in the middle (Yea...did you know that its not a full sheet of cream in the middle? It's a circle of 5 half-inch [roughly] cream spots. There's an empty spot in the very center where no cream exists). I didn't do that just now though. I got as far as nibbling to the outer edge of the cream all the way around and then the rest of it was gone in about two more bites.

But that's besides the point.

What's on my mind tonight? I want to excel at something.

Now, this isn't a cry for attention for people to come running and saying "Oh but Bryan, you're really good at this, and this, and this!" Hear me out. I can think of a thousand things I know the very basics about, or can do, but only with mediocrity. I can think of nothing that I excel at. Something I am extremely proficient in. A level of skill or ability that would be regarded by most as "expert".

Let's see:

• I can't build anything. I have no handyman/carpentry skills (I envy you folk who grew up with your dads around and learned from them).
• I'm a low level computer technician. Though my job has helped me grow a lot in my knowledge, there are many who are far and above better than I who've needed far less to get to where they are. I know this subject better than anything else because most of my time has been spent focusing on it. But I'm far from excelling at it. And some days at work make me wonder if I ever want to.
• I love baseball. It's one of my passions. But I'm mediocre at best when playing it. Never had a strong (or terribly accurate) throwing arm. I've never hit a home run. Didn't play high school or college ball--I wouldn't have stood a chance in the mix with those talents. 
• I can't tune a guitar (but I can tuna fish *badump, tchs*...actually, I hate tuna fish). Speaking of fish, the one hooked on my fishing rod in Brain Lake has broken my line and is swimming away with my topic. Hold on, brb.
• Ok, there we go. It's back. I can play the G, C, D, and A (and a few variations of those) open chords on the acoustic guitar. I cannot make them into a song and actually play/read/write music (yet). I really want this to be different in the near future.
• I have little self control with my food and caloric intake. I generally eat what I want, when I want, and that's not keeping me in the shapest of shapes (see my paragraph about Oatmeal Cream Pies at the beginning if you disagree). I have been doing pretty well with going to the gym though recently, so I am excited to see how this might change over the next several months. To clarify, my eating habits aren't atrocious, but better self control will be necessary for steady weight loss (and many many other things).
• I've been a Christian now for probably 15 years or so. I don't have it pinned to a specific date. Whatever--that's not the point. The point is...15 years is a good amount of time. A good amount of time for a lot to happen. However, it's too often that I feel like I've not used that time wisely. At times it feels that any growth that has happened has all fallen away and I'm back to the basics again. I often wonder what the heck my purpose is during this short visit on Earth and if I'm even within earshot of knowing what that is. So often I thought I've had it figured out, and then life takes a drastic change of direction leaving me hopeless and lost again.
•  I did pretty darn well in school and the 6 years of college classes that earned me two degrees. One of my biggest personal goals was to graduate from Upstate with Honors. I fell short by a tiny fraction of a GPA point from graduating with Cum Laude (the lowest of Honors ranks). I know that in the big picture, this doesn't matter at all, but it was a personal goal I was really wanting to achieve and unfortunately fell short. 

I could go on and on I'm sure. Please don't be mistaken. My concern is not with being famous for any of these. I'm not seeking attention and hoping to be known for something great. I just don't want to be a jack-of-a-few-trades but a master of none. I'm not even sure that any of the above are any that I would want to be a master of. Except for maybe baseball. :) I wouldn't mind being a part of the Atlanta Braves organization someday.

And the more time I spend in my current profession, the less I think I'll EVER be an expert in this area. Many days I feel that I'm not cut out for it and there must be something else I was meant to do, but without having skills excelling in another area, it's hard to even know what else I would do.

I do know for sure that one day I want to excel at being a Godly husband and father. I want to model the love of Christ to my spouse and little ones, whenever that may be. I have loved truly and deeply before and felt completely sure that time was as close to coming as an exhaled winters' breath. I  c o u l d  s e e  i t  r i g h t  i n  f r o n t  o f  m e. Things changed, though, and that hope faded away just as quickly as the cold breath does. I feel I've failed in the preparation for that which I had hoped to excel. I do think I'm really good at treating a woman as she should be treated. I pride myself on going the extra mile at times because I believe that the little things are worth it. It disgusts me to hear men talk about how they wont do this or that for their loved ones just because it wouldn't be "manly" or because they're lazy and don't think their better half is actually worth the trouble. By the way men...your woman is always the better half. Remember it. Get used to it. If she isn't, raise your standards. :)

There you go friends. There's another peek into the deeper thoughts of my brain that aren't usually expressed when you see me. Writing can be an outlet for me. I hope to continue utilizing it as such.

-B

Hello little one. You are the future...

There's something special about children to me. Not all children though. Some are just flat out annoying (Some of you probably think I'm a bad person for that, I know. Hold your curses and floggings for later, please).

This thought comes to mind every time I visit one particular place. And it always happens during the workday for me. I'm talking about Oakbrook Preparatory School in Spartanburg. I could be having a really bad day, but if I have to go do any work for Oakbrook, I usually come out of there smiling.

Very recently I made a trip out there to work on a networked copier with the gentleman who installed the device, as he was having some network connectivity issues. This took place in the primary building where the elementary grade classrooms are. When I see the little ones changing classes it really just takes away all my attention and brings me back to the day when I was their size. I really miss being that small. It makes me smile and laugh to see their interactions with their friends and just sit in awe about how carefree their lives are. Time doesn't matter. In fact, it doesn't even exist to them. There are no busy schedules. There aren't bills to be concerned about, or meals to prepare for, or a job to do to stay alive. They just are. They are fragile creatures, subject to soaking up all things around them, good and bad. Things that will teach them and shape their character--also good and bad. And as most humans tend to do, they will apply these fundamental things they learn to similar situations later in life. Just think about that a moment. That means that the people they look up to--us tall older folk who know so much more--play a very crucial role in their lives to impart something to them during these early impressionable ages. Elementary school teachers--I salute you.

I don't remember much from many of my high school teachers. There were a few zany ones (like my Pre-Cal teacher who told us he wrote his checks to "Little Ceasars" as "Little Seizures"...I'll always remember that one), and a few I remember that I really liked. But going back much further, I remember several significant moments during my elementary school years. I remember Mrs. Gault & Mrs. Kellet in Kindergarten. Mrs. Gault, in my mind, and in that age, was a mean grump (Sorry Mrs. G, if for some unbelieveable reason you happen upon this musing). I remember when we were learning to tie shoes with shoelaces laced through cardboard shoe cutouts, Mrs. Gault was getting frustrated with me because I couldn't remember the steps and kept asking for help. Mrs. Kellet, however, with a great amount of patience, worked with me step-by-step a few times until it started to stick. This is such a tiny event in my life that doesn't amount to much compared to other things, but it was significant enough to stick with me 20 years later.

Going back to my experience a couple of weeks ago at Oakbrook, I was at one point in the Music teacher's classroom helping her with a question she had about her computer. She was teaching a class at the time but they were just watching the "I'm just a bill on Capitol Hill" video that I'm sure many of you watched when you were in primary school. After the video was over, my focus began to shift to what the teacher was now doing with the kids. She randomly chose one of the children and appointed him "President Obama". The boy then walked around the circle of classmates and individually greeted each one and shook their hand, while the other student would say "Thank you, Mr. Obama." They were all smiles and seemed to enjoy it. As the boy made his rounds by the side of the circle I was near, he broke out of the circle and came over to shake my hand and include me as well. It really made me laugh.

I'm not so sure teaching is for me, but I've always really really enjoyed the school/classroom atmosphere. When I was graduating college, I really wanted at the time to just get hired on with the IT department I was working in as a student. Looking at the present relationships I've gained that I likely wouldn't have if I did get hired on, I'm glad it didn't happen. But who knows...maybe there's a place for me in a school somewhere doing something, someday. Heh, I even used to think that one day it would be really cool to have a wife that is a teacher. And, truthfully, I thought that was going to become a reality several years ago, but several things happened there which completely changed that situation. That is an entirely different story though...one that may never show its face on a public blog.

To wrap this up...thinking about this stuff also makes me question what I'm doing with my life. Am I doing what I want to do? If I am, more importantly, is it in line with what God wants me to be doing? And, if I am doing what I want to do, shouldn't I feel a little more joyful about it than I do most days? It's pretty overwhelming to think about sometimes. I know I still have a lot of seeking to do for those answers. Perhaps this closing can be a good segway into my next blog posting. Unless I decide to write about something completely different. Which I might. So. We'll just see.

In the words of Shen Qian..."I come back!"

I guess I need to get out the Pledge and a rag and dust off this ol' web log. It sure has been a while.

Sheesh. What do I want to talk about? Everything. There's a lot of topics I've had come into my brain over the past several months that I wish I had written about. Just happens that when I spend the entire workday doing stuff with computers, I don't care to be on one much when I get home. Perhaps though, as I work towards one of my goals of going to bed at an earlier and more consistent time, it can be part of a nightly routine to write about something before getting into bed. A Doogie Houser-esque type of thing, if you will. To me the idea sounds good...at least on paper it does.

I'm already very tired this evening, so I don't think I'm going to divulge into one of the many topics on my mind that I've been thinking about. Nor have I figured out what it would be yet, so I'm just going to hang it up and call it an evening. If all goes as planned though, I'm going to start writing more frequently in the very near future.

Until then...