Dukefest 2008

30 years and counting since The Dukes first hit our TV screens. I remember watching it every Friday night before my parents watched Dallas on CBS. This was before VCRs were readily available to everyone so the only way I could tape my show was with a cassette player. Yes I did that, I would put the tape player next to the TV, record Dukes of Hazzard then listen to it over and over. I loved the show. I loved the General Lee. When the DVD box sets first hit I bought them on the first Tuesday they were out. I remember when Bo and Luke left to go pursue a racing career leaving us with Coy and Vance. I remember Enos going to California. I even had a bassett hound named Flash at one time. Fast forward to today and the picture to the left. Here you see my dad who is over 70, myself over 30, and my son who is 4 years old enjoying Dukefest 2008. John Schnieder organized it this year at the Atlanta Motor Speedway to bring it back where it all started. Yep Dukes started right here in Georgia, Conyers and Covington to be exact. I stood in amazement that people were standing in 2 to 3 hour lines to meet the cast. Now that wasn't one line that was like six separate lines. Young people, seasoned people, all ages standing in line to meet Bo, Luke, Enos, Daisy, Cletus, Coy, Cooter, etc. All from a TV show that started 30 years ago. Look at that picture again in the background, all of those cars are General Lee's. All looked good, had to be 100 or more of them. Two full days of Dukes of Hazzard! Tell me how many TV shows can pull off a two day festival like this (for ten years btw). I know Star Trek can, but what else? Not much, I'm sure there are some but not many. This was an awesome day for me as I spent it hanging with my dad and my son. Three generations of Good Ole Boys having a good ole time. That's what it is all about, I hope it comes back to Atlanta next year.

Quik Hitz - 7/1/08

Just some random Quick Hitz fromm my brain:

• Kudos to the WWE for shaking things up on RAW, Smackdown, and ECW. They even shocked us with C.M. Punk winning the world title.
• Las Vegas sure is fun!
• Greenville, IL - not quite as fun
• Nice to be home with the family
• I am looking forward to my trip with my dad to the Charlotte area in September as we take in the NHRA even and tour the Dale Trail
• EDGE is right around the corner
• Bath and Body Work makes wonderful products
• I learned about Zappos.com this past week, pretty cool cuture that got there.
• Toured The Venetian call center while in Vegas; hmm I wonder what it would be like to work...
• PCD Lounge is pretty cool
• I need a true vacation
• God kids coming in town this week, should be a lot of fun
• I plan to take in my first Silverbacks game this week; oh what we do for kids
• Dukefest was too cool; I want a General Lee
• The Dark Knight movie fast approaches and I can not wait
• Congrats to the Rekstens for the new version 4.0
• Strange is relative to who and what you are around at the time
• Illinois drivers are way too slow
• Jott.com is too cool!
• I need to plan another fellas night out soon
• I have a lot of stuff to do but can't seem to focus my brain on anything
• I need another trip to Vegas
• Football season ain't far away
• We got a Wii, Mario Kart is fun

Done for now....probably dump more later...

I'm Back!!!

Finally the Greg has come back to Georgia! After my two weeks of travel from Greenville, IL to Las Vegas, NV I hope to be home for awhile. I can't really complain about the LV trip though I mean c'mon its Vegas baby! I checked out everything that I planned to check out. I even exercised some by taking a couple nice walks on the strip in the early morning hours. I will write more about the trip later though. I must say it is nice to be home with Melissa and Greg 2.0. I missed them quite a bit. Greg 2.0, my dad and I all went to Dukefest Saturday, that was cool. Can you believe that the Dukes of Hazzard first aired 30 years ago? More on that one later too. Ok time to go grab me sum grub, I'll update more later.

How? Huh? What tha...

Here I am traveling back to my hotel thinking about what to eat for dinner. Now there ain't much to choose from I mean c'mon I'm in Vandalia, IL. There is fast food and a Ponderosa, which I had yesterday. I decided I would like to try the new KFC Smokey Chipotle Crispy Chicken. I start thinking about that mouth watering goodness, I want it bad. I am going to get it to go, then enjoy the crispy delight. I pull into the parking lot thinking of that fried tastiness. I step to the counter, place my order for a two piece snack, then she says the unthinkable. She actually told me they only have one leg left. I said ok Original will do and she said, and I quote "no sir we only have one crispy leg left, no Original Recipe at all". Now correct me if I am wrong but this is KFC which stands for Kentucky Fried Chicken which should mean you specialize in chicken. How does KFC run out of chicken? If they ran out of fries I could understand. Run out of corn I understand. Beans, potatoes, biscuits, even Pepsi I could understand. But chicken??? How does that happen? Chicken is what they do! That's like Krispy Kreme running out of doughnuts or Starbucks running out of coffee. KFC running out of chicken? They should shut that franchise down.

What a View!

This week I am in our St. Louis office for some training. I got to my hotel in Vandalia, IL (which should tell you I am not really in STL) at about 6:00pm or so on Monday. Good flight with good service as the pilot kept us up to date with the U.S. Open playoff during the trip. Well back to the hotel. The hotel is a Holiday Inn Express which I like quite a bit. What other place can you stay in one night then perform surgery the next day due to the excellent rest you got the night before. I get to my room pull the curtains back and there it was, the view of a lifetime. I almost had tears it was so beautiful. It capitvated my imagination. It just made me want to run outside and get a better look. The colors of dark blue with a hint of red outline was just superb. I could just tell by looking at it that there was more to this view than I could even imagine. The view was that of a Wal-Mart only a few hundred feet away. Treasure had been struck. I checked in Monday and have been there twice already. I will be back tonight for something, I am not sure what yet but I will return to the lovely tonight.

ROI, AHT, B2B, VBS, KPI

Do you know what those mean?

On my way home each day as I enter the metropolitan area of Jefferson, GA I pass what seems like 54 churches. As I pass each one they have thier little signs out that advertise a VBS that they are having for a few days. One sign says "VBS June 16 - June 18 6:30pm to 8:30pm", another "VBS at FBC Jefferson June 9 - June 13" and literally across the street there is a sign that says "VBS June 23 - June 26". These signs made me say to myself, "self what the heck is a VBS?". Now I know the answer (vacation bible school) but do you? Does everyone? What is the purpose of their VBS? Is it to draw in their members? If it is why place a banner on the road? Is it to draw in members from other churches? Or is it to reach out to kids that do not know Christ and introduce them to Him? I am thinking it should be for the latter. If it is for the unchurched then shouldn't you spell out what you are talking about? In my little world we use the acronyms of AHT (average handle time), ATT (average talk time), B2B (business to business), B2C (business to consumer), ROI (return on investment), and KPI (kep performance indicator). Some of those I'm sure you know but when I asked Melissa if she knew what ROI meant she gave a totally different answer. You know why? Because in her business it stands for a software system. Wouldn't it make sense that if you are speaking to someone outside of your little business world you would not use those acronyms, instead spelling it out so they know what you are speaking about. Then why would these churches advertise VBS to those outside of the church world and expect them to know what it is? Hmmm maybe that's why they don't have the unchurched kids coming to thier VBS being held at the FBC in Jefferson.

A New Record

I, along with my colleagues at work, have joined a bowling league. I haven't bowled for years but did at one time bowl in a few leagues. I also have my own shoes and ball. To many that means I must be good, this is a mispreception by many in our society. If you bowl in a league trust me it doesn't make you good. The reason I have my own balls is due to a league I was in gave them out at the end. Own shoes, well do you want to rent shoes every week? Now to the point of this here post. I have set a new record for myself. In the past my average was about 150 - 160 not great but not bad. This past week I busted that record with an average of, get this, an 85! Ain't that great? Literally this was the worst three game stretch I have ever bowled in my adult life. I couldn't figure out anything, the lanes, my footing, the ball, anything. I guess there is nowhere to go but up from here. I need practice which is why they give us three free games each week in addition to our league games. Guess where I am gonna go?