Story

Now that I'm school free I've rediscovered the joy of reading for fun. Last Saturday morning, I woke up late after not setting an alarm (something I had not been free to do for literally months) and stayed in bed for a couple of hours reading. It was a perfect morning. It's amazing how much you appreciate something so simple when you've not been able to do it for so long.

I've been reading Donald Millers new book, "A million miles in a Thousand years."
Have you ever read a book and felt as if it found its way to your hands at exactly that moment in time by some sort of divine intervention. The words are just a bit too relevant, the story just a bit too telling.

Strumming my pain with his fingers,
telling my life with his words
killing me softly with his song.

Perhaps I'm being a bit over-dramatic (As I've mentioned before, I do have a certain flair for the dramatic) but there is really so much in this book that is inspiring and challenging me. It's about story, which is always a concept I've been facinated with. Everyone is living a story with the day to day of their lives, never really knowing what part of the story they are living or what our role contributes to another's story.

I think about people I've met, like a pastor in Ethiopia, who grew up in a poor village and couldn't afford to go to school. Completley illiterate at the age of 12,his older brother became a teacher in the city and finally came to get him so he could attend school. He cried the first time he had to ride in a car because he had never seen such a scary contraption and felt trapped inside of it. While attending high school in the city, he met a missonary couple who took an interest in him and he became a Christian. As a result, he was kicked out of his home and disowned by his family. However, he endured hard times and eventually was able to go to Europe to bible school. He returned to Ethiopia, stared a large chuch, was imprisioned for his faith, was miraculously released and joined the bible institue where he oversaw the translation of the bible into several tribal languages. Today he is responsible for literally thousands of students in rural schools. He wants to give these children something he never had, a chance at a brighter future. He has committed his life to this. He is one of the most amazing and inspring men I've ever had the pleasue to meet.

I feel that telling this story in such an abbreviated fashion is almost disrepectful; However, the part of the story that continues to fascinate me is the unnamed missionary couple who first took an interest in a young Ethiopian high school boy. I wonder if he still keeps in contact with them, I wish I would have asked. It is just as likely that he didn't and that is my point. These people had no idea the role they were playing in the story of his life. They may not know today that their obedience to go to Ethiopia, their choice to care for one young boy, continues to literally change the lives of thousands of children in that country.

There are many people that have played significant roles in my life and are probably completley unaware. I wonder if I've ever given that desperately needed encouragement or inpiration. I wonder if I've had the opportunity and missed it because I was focused on something more shallow or selfish. I want to commit to writing better stories with my life.

"A character is what he does...we can't just say it...we have to show it."

Much more on stories to come...I know my blog is bland and in desperate need of pictures. I'm working on it

$5 Footlongs

Last week, in the midst of finals I stumbled upon the following article about Subway's $5 footlong promotion that wasn't the product of some marketing genius or a business savy Board of Directors but a store mananger in South Florida. In fact, the promotion was ignored for a year and then initially rejected by Subway's board of directors. However, this $5 footlong "phnomenon" not only boosted Subway to record sales (they earned an unprecedented 17% growth in a time of economic recession) but in the process, also "scrambled the whole industry." Every fast food restaurant seems to have some sort of copy on the $5 deal. It is surprising that a franchise that wasn't even in the top 10 last year is now setting the standard for the entire industry. In 2009, Subway gained more market share than both Burger King, Wendy's and Arby's. In 2010, Subway is poised to have more world-wide locations than Industry leader, McDonalds.

The success of this strategy "illustrates how a huge company can wake up and eventually seize on a good idea that's not generated at headquarters." It reminds me of the emergent school of strategic management that we discussed in my last International Business class. It is basically strategic managements reponse to the chaos theory, in that it only places limited importanance on top-down business strategy. This strategy, recognizes the fact that it is the day to day responses to a quickly changing environment that really determine success. We cannot predict the future so any long term plan must be fluid and flexible. A window of opportunity is usually only opened for a short period and the companies that can capitalize on that opportunity quickly are those who win. See...I really did learn something!

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_46/b4155058815908.htm

Share my Misery

Just to prove I'm not completley overdramatic, this is one HALF of the formulas needed for my final tonight. This is the reason that I have been a complete hermit. Operations Management is definitely one of the most challenging business classes I have ever had. It also doesn't help that I waited until 4 days ago to start learning this.

Oh Bother

I really want to blog today. I don't really have time. Today is Sunday, I have a ridiculously terrible final on Monday and my final final of the semester on Tuesday. I have started 3 blogs, all of which rapidly became a pity party that would only be "enjoyed" by Eeyore, who might actually be a little concerned that I'm taking things to far. However, in the spirit of the holiday season, I will spare you my whining and just let my dear friends know that I am trying so so hard to be positive and that I promise to be a better and more enjoyable person come Wednesday morning...or maybe Thursday, after I've had some sleep.

I can't wait to become reacquainted with everyone.

An observation

At the risk of sounding like "that girl", since I've last blogged, I visted Cambodia for my fourth time and faciliated a youth camp for over 200 Khmer youth. I biked on a beach in Singapore. I crossed visiting Africa off my bucket list and gave gifts to over 2000 children in Ethiopia. I toured the Van Gogh museum and drank hot chocolate at the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. During Lollapalooza in Chicago, I saw several bands on my "bands to see before I die" list including the Kings of Leon and the Killers, all while becoming 2 semesters closer to finally finishing my MBA.

And yet, the event that finally broke my blogging silence was a CSI marathon during a house cleaning day. I wish this provided some great revelation about my life; alas, I'm afraid it does not. Perhaps I ONLY sweat the small stuff.

Or perhaps we shouldn't overthink this, I'm probably just that strange.

Lessons Learned from CSI

Yesterday, I woke up, looked around and decided my house needed some attention. One of my old teachers used to say that the current condition of your living space was a direct reflection of the current condition of your life. If this is true, my life was a complete disaster. I resolved to not leave my house until I instilled some much needed order.

While folding 4 loads of laundry, I began watching a CSI marathon on Spike TV. I like background noise when I’m at home so I ended up hearing at least 5 episodes. That’s right, 5 hours of murder mystery and mayhem. I told you my life was incredibly exciting. During this time I made several observations

1. Single girls who live alone should not watch CSI marathons.

I would venture to say at least half of the story lines involve some poor girl who owns a cat and has 10 take out menu’s on her fridge who is killed and not discovered for weeks because she lives by herself. They then spend the next hour explaining how she was an easy target because she obviously had no family or friends or anyone who cared about her since she lived alone.

2.If your house is dirty, they will never ever find your killer.
I don’t understand how it is possible that every person who gets killed lives in such an immaculately clean house that the detectives are able to find a single accidentally left hair, or a clothing fiber that eventually breaks the case. If I am killed, the detectives will never find my killer because they will have to sift through piles of dust, debris and hair to find the one or two odd ones that don’t match the rest. So, thank you yesterday’s CSI marathon, I know that I am an easy target and if I don’t get my house clean they will never ever find my killer.

3.If your sheets are clean, they will never ever find your killer.
I like to keep my blogs pg so I won’t go into details on what sorts of interesting clues can be discovered on victims sheets; however, it is worth noting that while there are never any stray hairs in the homes where murders are solved, there are always dirty sheets. In the 5 episodes I watched 3 were solved with help of dirty sheets.

4. There are things I should be afraid of that I didn’t even know existed.
Someone was killed with a meat bullet. That’s right, the bullet was made of frozen meat and not only wounded the man but filled him with maggots that are usually only found in cows. I don’t think this needs any further explanation. Be afraid.

Toad's Wild Ride

It is a running joke among my friends that I have the worst luck of any known human being. This “joke” extends to just about every area of my life, the appliances at my home, my “relationships”, utilities companies, etc. My recent trip to Cambodia is no exception to that rule. I left my house for Atlanta on Tuesday morning at 7am. My flight didn’t leave until 3pm but I’ve inherited this weird obsession with the idea that you can never be too early for a flight from my father because “you never know what could happen.” Initially my trip was perfect, the shuttle service dropped us off right next to a curb side check in with no waiting. We made it through security with no delay and thanks to my handy American Express Card was able to wait in the Delta Crown Room.


Our first flight was delayed an hour so we had to run through the Houston airport to catch our Plane to Singapore. Other than that, we landed in Russia rather uneventfully. The Russian airport was a little overwhelming. It was small but very crowded and no one was very pleasant or helpful. Luckily I met an American oil driller who worked all over the world and took this flight 100 times before. He helped point us in the right direction.


We boarded the plane to Russia and started on our way. It was supposed to be about a 10 hour flight. About 3 hours had passed, I had watched a couple of movies and had started to read when the captain announced that there was a bit of a mix up and we would be returning to Russia. He said we had too much fuel to land so he would be releasing some over the ocean. “Please don’t panic, this is completely normal.” I’m not quite a world traveler yet but I’ve flown enough to know this wasn’t normal. His ambivalent reasoning behind the reason we had to return 3 hours in the opposite direction of Singapore scared me a little. I know its morbid but everytime I get on a plane, I watch everyone put their luggage away and chat with the people next to me, all the time imagining that this is how every flight that crashes starts. I immediately thought of the people I had talked to before the flight, many of whom were returning home after long trips to foreign lands, anxious to see their families again. I hoped they would make it back. I hoped I would make it back. I was traveling with a 16 year old girl who I was responsible for and I couldn’t verbalize any of this. So I sat quietly and tried to watch bride wars (which I couldn’t finish not because of my impending doom but because it truly sucked.) As the plane descended and prepared for landing, it was almost silent. No one knew what would happen.


Thankfully we landed safely and the captain asked us to remain seated. 4 or 5 people in security jackets quickly boarded the plane and headed to the back. All of the stewards were running around like crazy. We have no idea what is going on. Suddenly a new man boards the plane and immediately starts complaining that someone is in his seat. An argument ensues and the man finally reclaims his seat and angrily sits down. The captain announces that during our stopover in Russia a passenger had missed the flight; However, his luggage had not. Apparently there are federal regulations that prohibit luggage on a plane without the passenger who checked it so our entire plane had to turn around and pick this guy up. He was sitting a row over from me so as he chuckled about what happened he told me he had fallen asleep at the airport. He said this with a smirk. Are you kidding me?! Probably 200 people missed their connections in Singapore because this idiot couldn’t stay awake during our 1.5 hour layover. I couldn’t believe it. Talk about bad luck.


So, we arrived in Singapore about an hour after our plane for Siem Reap had left. It was 9:30am. There were no more flights to Cambodia that day so the airline gave us vouchers for an hotel in the city, a taxi ride and 3 meals. I was honestly thrilled. I had never been to Singapore and was so excited to have a whole day to explore the city. Our hotel was beautiful and the restaurant served us a 5 course meal of delicious Asian food. After exploring the city, I was able to sleep for almost 10 hours before returning the next morning for our flight. It was wonderful. I usually arrive in Cambodia exhausted and in desperate need of a shower. Due to our forced layover I arrived in Cambodia rested and ready to go. I had already adjusted to the time change and was able to have a long and busy day reconnecting with all of my old friends. I finally arrived Thursday evening at 12pm.

I realized on my last flight that what had seemed like the worst luck ever had ended so positively. While the extra 3 hours on a plane were frustrating and miserable, as a result, I was able to spend a day in an amazing city free of charge. Who gets a free trip to Singapore? Ultimately I was lucky. This made me think about all of the other “unlucky” things in my life and why I have labeled them that way. I think about relationships that ended for no apparent reason that broke my heart and realize in hindsight that I’m probably better off that they didn’t work out and that I didn’t waste any more time. I think about the time that my friend lost my keys at a concert in Atlanta and while it wasn’t fun in the moment what a great story it is now. I think about every hard time I’ve had and every tough situation I’ve had to endure and that these are the things that have got me to where I am today. I’m content with where my life is and the person I am and I don’t know how accurate the unlucky description is. Interesting maybe…but unlucky? Not so much.