:: State of Mind ::

:: Wednesday, August 11, 2004 ::

I want a house like Bubba Cathy's. It is an amazing 10 bedroom house on the lake. It is beautiful and has so many cool features. They have a wardrobe in the front of the house that serves as the coat closet but when you push the coats out of the way, there is a secret staircase...modeled after The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It leads to a "secret" play room for their kids. Then, behind the door of each kids room there is a small rockwall. They finished the attic so the rockwall leads to the attic where they each have a small section walled off as their private little space. It is really cool. There are tons of neat murals in the house too. The dining room was really neat too because the room is also a library with books from floor to ceiling with a ladder on rollers that goes around the room. The basement had a half court basketball court, a theatre and a diner. It was awesome. The other neat thing was that they dont have a TV in the house. They said that they have gone for 25 years without a TV. They have 6 kids: Mark, James, Rachel, Seth, Matthew and Luke. They really are a sweet family! Mark is my age and just graduated from Univ. of Georgia.

Today was an in unit day and Dwayne, Victor, Leigh and I worked at Shannon Southlake Mall. I had never seen a cook in front store so it was kind of interesting but rather chaotic. Other than that the day was pretty blah. I called Katie tonight and talked for about 45 min. For some reason i got an overwhelming feeling of depression. Im not sure why but i just felt sad. It wasnt associated to anything really. it wasnt about leaving the south, or Jonathan or family. It wasnt about Chick-fil-A or anything like that. I just felt overwhelmed. The word that just kept coming to mind to describe it was "Angst" I dont know why...it just came over me. I Imed Jack earlier and he couldnt talk, he said he was really busy and i tried calling Cynthia but no one answered. I ended up calling Katie and it ended up being a really good conversation. Anyway. I feel a bit better now.

I watched the movie White Oleander on HBO tonight. It was actually a really good movie with Renee Zelwiger and Michelle Pfeiffer.

I got an idea from Bubba Cathy's house that i think will probably be expensive and probably wont happen but i would like to do in my condo. I thought about building a loft on the left hand side of the living room since there are such tall ceilings. I would want a spiral stair case to come down on the side of the fireplace and then just have a neat banister there and be able to have books or something...maybe make it a small guest room. It could really increase the value of the house by making a 2 bedroom out of it. It would have to be small but if it was at least large enough for maybe my loveseat or a daybed, or maybe a full, that would be awesome. It would just be a very long and narrow room. I dunno if it would work but i would LOVE to be able to do it.

I found out Butch Walker is in concert in ATL on Fri Aug 27 at one of the venues in Little 5 Points. I really wanna go. Hopefully i can swing it. Maybe i can talk Jonathan into going too. :-)

Anyway...time for bed! Im pooped!
Goodnight!

:: BAlbretsen 10:27:00 PM [+] ::
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Ok, back to the rest of the story:
For the ropes course, the 1st element was a 35 foot telephone pole with eye bolts in it. The objective was to climb to the top, stand on the top of the pole (mind you its only about 6-8 inches in diameter) and then jump to a trapeze that was about 6 feet in front of you. I was elected as the 1st person to go. Out of our group of 21, only 2 actually completed it...I was one of the two!!! :-) Mike was the other..he works in legal with real estate. I found out today that I am one of only 2 females to have ever done it! That was a cool feeling. It was a bit nerve wracking because the pole is so high up that it really shakes when you get near the top.
The 2nd element was a rock wall. To me this was harder because it took so much upper body strength and for some reason was more nerve wracking. The 1st half was at an incline which was a bit easier. The 2nd half was straight vertical. At the 1/2 way mark, i had to turn to the group and say "You guys can start talking at any time now!" It was hard b/c you couldnt see the rocks on the wall and it was necessary for the team members to tell you where the rocks were. Anyway...I really wasnt sure that i would make it all the way, but once they started helping me through encouragement and telling me where the rocks are, it was MUCH easier.
The 3rd element was very cool. You got strapped into a harness, and the cable was looped through a pulley up in the trees and then back down through another pulley where 4 guys were in harnesses pulling against the rope. On the count of three, we had to run forward toward a cliff at the edge of a creek while the other guys were running in the opposite direction. It ended up pulling you way up in the trees and flying like Peter Pan. It was really cool!
This weekend i went home for church and then spent the afternoon running errands. That night Jonathan and i went to Ryan and Mistie's new house for dinner. We had a blast, dinner and then walked around the neighborhood. I spent the night at home and then came here this morning.
Today we had classes on Chick-fil-A software in the morning and then training on the registers this afternoon. It was good i guess but it was a bit boring for me because i have been dealing with it for 6 years. The register part was kinda fun because Doug and i are the only ones going to stores with Radient registers so we were in a training room with just the 2 of us and the trainer. After she was done, we were able to play around on them so i was ordering all the wierd things that people end up asking for and getting Doug used to dealing with "dumb" customers. It was just kind of funny. I really like Doug and am glad that he is gonna be in the northeast market. He is taking a free standing store just outside of Philly. It should be about an hour away from my house. We have made a pact to start learning spanish and only speaking spanish to one another on the phone when we call. I also really like Mike, the guy from legal. He is originally from Albany NY where he had a law practice with his dad. So as the 3 yankees, we have had to stick together!! :-)
Ashlee is my roommate. She is fun and reminds me of Heidi. She is 26 and will be taking an in-line store in Raleigh. Her dad and brother are both operators as well.
Anyway, that has been my day for today. I think i am gonna grab some dinner and then head to the pool to relax before doing my "homework"
Oh, Jonathan officially accepted the offer from Geoff at Digital Tigers. He is really excited and is taking the entire week off this week and then will put his notice in on Monday!!!! :-) I am so glad that he is able to get out of ACS and in a company that will make him happier! He deserves it!!!


:: BAlbretsen 6:52:00 PM [+] ::
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Things continue to be GREAT!!! Since the last post, there have been a few really cool things that have happened. Heres a quick run down:
On Friday, we had a session called Neon Buzz. Basically the 1st round, we were assigned to tables and had to line up in single file. We were told to go to the table and were not allowed to talk to anyone other than the team leader and we had to salute. The team leader was given 1 minute to read the instructions and tell us what to do. Each group had a different task: Set up, Lighting, Rework and Quality Control. We couldnt communicate to the other groups yet they would bring us parts that "didnt work" however we had no clue what they were doing. We were yelled at and told that the monkeys were able to make 20 of these parts in 10 minutes. In the end, we made 3.
The second time around we were greeted with a handshake and a smile and were devided into 2 teams, with people from each of the 4 original groups on each team. We were allowed to talk and ask questions and build a prototype before beginning production. We were encouraged to set goals and work together to achieve a greater goal. The "boss" was willing to help and offer encouragement when and how he could. It was such a difference. We were even able to stop 1/2 way through the production run to reevaluate our process and make changes as needed. In the end, we made 42 parts.
Hmmm....one of those scenarios sounds strangely like ACS!!!!!

Then on Friday night we went out to Winshape Wilderness. Saturday we did team building games: Dwarfs, Elfs, and Giants; Seal; and a group game called Island. They were all really neat and had relevence toward leadership as well as teams. We had lunch with Doug and Julie Bowling and their 14 kids. They are one of the families with Winshape Homes. They were really great. The afternoon was spent on the ropes course which was awesome!!! But right now it is time for class so i will have to go into more detail a bit later!!.

For now...signing off!

:: BAlbretsen 1:15:00 PM [+] ::
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