I have loved SquawkTalk, it's been great! However, after a brief home here we are packing up and moving. I have had another Blog for a while, something that never really took off for me, but I already own the domain name, so we are moving. Don't worry, we haven't forgotten anything and the transition has already be made. When you go to our new place you will see many familiar things, although it will look slightly different, you should be able to find yourself around the place pretty easy. So, weather you started following me all the way back during the Xanga.com days, followed my move to mparrott84.blogspot.com, followed our family on parrottpeople.wordpress.com, or just recently found us on SquawkTalk.DiscipleshipGuy.com (the web address is a hint to our new home...), all content will now be found at...

DiscipleshipGuy.com

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce everyone to SquawkTalk! This new site is still a work in progress, it has some work to be done, but I want to introduce everyone so that you have the opportunity to help influence it's design. This new site is the combination of several things. First of all, I don't post here much anymore. This site was started as a progression from Xanga.com, and it has served it's purpose. However, I no longer like to keep everything so separate. So, in an attempt to converge many things into one, I have taken this blog, as well as parrottpeople.wordpress.com and merged them into one new site called SquawkTalk.

I hope you enjoy the new site. After a bit I will probably be deleting this site entirely, however probably not until after the new site has undergone the finishing touches. I want to make sure all of my content is safe, after all, it dates back to early 2001. Without further ado, here is SquawkTalk!

A couple of nights ago I watched Bruce Almighty for room night with a bunch of guys from work. It had been a while since the last time I watched it, and I missed a bunch of the movie, but there were some interesting quotes in it. The only one I can remember right now goes something like this:

To paint great pictures you need dark colors.

The point of the quote was that humans have to endure tough times to be all they can be, and fulfill their potential. Cheesy to say the least, but pretty sound none the less.

Towards the beginning of my LeadTime year there was a guest speaker who was talking about prayer. One of the things that stuck out to me was this idea that as Christians we are many times, asking God to relieve the circumstances. Many times, God has placed those very circumstances in your life to bring about change, increase your character, and draw you closer to Him. If we want to grow in Christ we can't have the circumstances taken away, we have to run through them, persevere, and allow ourselves to dictate how we will respond, instead of allowing our circumstances to dictate us.

Those are my thoughts, I am learning how to do what I have written, we will discuss it again in tweenty years ;)

Tonight I was on coverage for room night, usually on nights like tonight I would get off around 11. Tonight I stayed back a little while longer because we had been having Internet issues... This is where the story starts. As I left the house and I was walking to my car I started to think about being in Indiana, I was thinking about how I always had someone to call and talk to when I got off work. As I was thinking about that (very quickly) I thought that most of my Indiana friends would be in bed already, due to being on a different time zone. I also thought that it would be nice to have someone in Missouri that I could call right now, but I knew where all those people were already. They are all older, responsible folks who are in bed, or they are young, tired, Bigs on property who are in bed. If the Bigs weren't in bed (there are a couple night owls), then they are un-available and with guy/girl friends.

This paragraph is background info, we will get back to the story in a second... Another thought that went through my head was that I wasn't really all that close to a lot of people back in Indiana. I had a lot of deep friendships in college, but over time most of those people (me included) have moved on to other things in life. We are still close when we call, we just don't call all that often.

Then I heard a voice say that I could talk to Him. He was available 24-7. And as a matter of fact we had some catching up to do, it's been a couple days. Then the verse went through my head that goes something like this,

"...but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother."

When I heard that it was like, oops, good point. Let's talk. So, I began to pray, but my mind was still racing and scattered from my day, instead of asking God to help bring me into a state of peace within my mind, I turned on the CD Player in my car and drove home. Now I am typing this blog that your reading, but once I am done with this, I have some catching up to do with someone. Just in case your wondering what verse the one above is, I have it, along with the beginning part. Here it is: Proverbs 18:24 (English Standard Version)

"A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother"

So there are a few obvious ways to take this post, I am going to avoid some of those, but I will tell you the few things that stuck out to me.

1. Conviction. I didn't feel guilty, I felt convicted, like I haven't spent time with someone really important today, and that makes me sad. Also, it makes me want to strive to do better as opposed to be down on myself for letting someone down.

2. Humbled. How many times do we just go through our day and totally forget about God. Lot's of times we even pray or read our Bibles, yet we still forget about Him and don't spend the time to really get to know Him as our friend. As our friend...what does that even look like? Do we know what that means? Yes, some of us do, many characters in the Bible knew, I would like to think I knew...but do I?

3. Excited. Even when we are stuck in sin or self consumed we have a God who desires to be with us, who thought it worth dying to spend time with us. And sometimes we don't even remember He is there. I took my daughter shopping with me the other day, she saw so many things she wanted. She kept saying daddy can I get this or can we get that. It seemed like all she thought about was herself. Now she is young, very young, and so I talked to her about being selfish and self-consumed. But how would it have been different if she was so focused on herself that she wasn't even talking to me. I enjoyed the time with her, and I loved the conversations that we had, but what if she didn't even know I was with her? I would be crushed. And yet, sometimes that how I treat God...

This post has turned out much longer than I thought it was going to be. Many times while typing it I thought I might start crying in the middle of it. This is what has been bouncing around in my mind for the last hour or so. So know I am publishing what was in my head.

On my way home from a basketball game tonight I began to think about my time in Missouri, and one of the thoughts I was having is about how we have adapted and that where we are, live, travel, shop, etc is becoming normal, it's becoming home. This made me start to ponder about what defines home for us. Until our last trip to Indiana I would have said that Indiana was home, now I think that Missouri is home. Indiana is where I am from, and were friends and family live, but i also have friends and a community that live in Missouri now.

I think that this subtle difference that God has changed internally has freed me in many ways, I think after this experience, being here in Missouri and working for Doulos, that I could live just about anywhere in the states and be OK with it. I think my home can be anywhere (God, if your listening I still don't like snow...) if you notice I said I could be about anywhere in the states...It will take more growing and developing to leave the US. I really do like it here, and I don't ever want to harden my heart to leaving, because that's about the time God will ask me to go...

I like this internal change that's happened, I would be sad to not be around some of the people that we have gotten to know. Their are many that we would leave behind, but I would also look forward to meeting the next group of people that God would have to impact our lives. I think that Autumn would feel differently about this, but I am OK with that.

A final thought, Rich Mullins sang a song about Jesus having no where to call home, Jesus even said in Matthew 8:20

Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

I think to some degree we need to be like Jesus and have our home be in Heaven, our home on earth is where His will is for us at the moment we are there, but when His will for us moves on we need our hearts to allow where we call home to move on also. I guess that's why I was thinking about this, I think that for the first time home isn't a geographical location for me anymore, as much as it is where we are right now.

So, I have done several things to the blog.  First off I have installed a Disqus Comments system.  It's pretty cool, you can comment on the blog as a guest, log into Disqus and then comment on any site w/Disqus, register w/Disqus, tweet a comment, or I think you can even use OpenId.  That is quite a few options.  The question is, 'Why did I do this?' and the answer is just because.  I wanted to try it.  Also, if it works good I could possibly use it on my other blog site (which is Word Press).

Secondly I have obviously changed the layout, pretty dramatically I might add, and it was a pain in places that are generally covered with clothes!!!   Lastly, I think it's kinda cool, but overall it doesn't give me butterflys, and it was a lot of work...so I don't know what to do now.

Thirdly, I noticed that someone commented on my Honoring God with your possessions post but I don't know who.  In addition since I installed Disqus, it puts their comment system right over the top, no biggie, if no one has posted.  The only way to un-install Disqus is to change my template...do you know what will happen if I do that???  Bad things man.  So, if you commented, will you comment again for me?  Laters everyone.

So tonight I was realizing some significant things about myself. At Doulos I am technically a volunteer on the Shelterwood side of things (I guess, that's what I was told tonight) and it's not technically my job. So, while I was thinking about things, rules, consequences, etc., I was thinking about how being a big can be a hard job because there are lots of ways. There isn't always just a right way and a wrong way, there is a hundred ways that are all subjectively right or wrong. That makes my job hard for me because I want to know if what I am doing is right or wrong.

It seems like many times I want to know before I do something if it's right or wrong, if there isn't a definitive answer, or better yet, multiple and equally right choices what should I do? The answer of course is to listen to the Holy Spirit...which gives us freedom and liberty...and just made everything that much harder for an analytical guy like me.

So I finished copying and pasting all of my blog posts from my Xanga site...and then I deleted it, never to be retrieved again.  It's gone, forever.  Oh well, it's not like I was using it, it was just sitting there.  I got all the important posts out and I will move on from there.

So I was reading in Proverbs the other day and I came across Proverbs 3:9 that says:

(NKJV) 9 Honor the LORD with your possessions,
And with the firstfruits of all your increase

That verse really hit me. I have been thinking about making some big purchases lately, so as I am reading this I was taken back. I thought to myself, 'How can I ask God for new things if I don't honor Him with the possessions I have?' Now this was a rhetorical question, I am not saying I don't honor Him, rather I was thinking that God wouldn't have a reason to give me new possessions if my current possessions were not being used to honor Him, which begs the questions, 'Do I use my current possessions to honor God, and what does it look like to honor God with our possessions?' I was at work when I read this passage, so I brought it up to the group of Littles around me. I was really trying to get them to think about the question but all they wanted to do was answer it. I am going to be mulling over this for a while, so I just wanted to put it out there.

Once upon a time there was a renound philosopher, who was only renound to himself...and he had a blog.  At the beggining of social networks there arose a site called Xanga.com.  Now this site was all the rage at the time, and so he moved his blog to that social network.  Now that other newer and better social networks have come about, there is no longer any reason to hang out at Xanga.  Now this renound philosopher has currently has others blogs, one on a website and a family blog of sorts, but since the blogging stopped at Xanga there has been nowhere for this young philospher to write his internal mullings.

Thus the young philosopher has returned to his roots.  Spending several hours copying and pasting his old blogs from Xanga (the one's he could anyway, some picture posts and short blogs didn't make the cut) back into blogger (due to the shortcommings of modern technology).  No promises will be made about the frequencies of posts and the author will not ask for comments to the blog.  In the past, posts have been written for responses.  When no responses are left a lesson was learned, write from the heart and go from there.

One last thing, this blog may not stay here, if it does then great.  If not you will be given info when the time comes as to what you can expect.  Welcome back.

I know I never post on here, and the last time I did it was about Logo's...Since I found my logo I though I should post it, that way I have a logo to show people. Why would I do this instead of showing people my site? Because sometimes the site is down, or sometimes (like now) we may be using a varieation of the logo color due to the template. Once we customize the template color we will be able to put the official logo back up. However, that is not right now, and we like to show people the official logo, so without further ado, here it is!

P.S. You can visit my site by clicking on the link below: myChristianConnection.org

I had a discussion a while back with someone (who shall remain nameless) about the importance of education. Actually I have had lots of discussions with pro-education people including teachers and non-teachers. My view is one that education and degree's are worth much less than people value them, and definitely worth much less than people pay for them (both financially and time wise). Since that discussion (Thanksgiving time I believe) I have listen to several other people comment on the subject bothDave Ramsey and Dan Miller (p.s. these are not links to articles, rather just there websites), but I really felt the need to blog about it when I found this article on Entrepreneur.com. I have cut and pasted a small portion of the three page article (mostly because this was the only part relevant to our discussion). Here it is:

What essential characteristics do America's wealthiest entrepreneurs share? More important, how can you, too, develop these qualities? Read on to find out how to think like the entrepreneurial elite.

The wealthiest entrepreneurs share some common characteristics, according to a 2007 study on affluence in the U.S. from American Express Publishing and The Harrison Group. Researchers looked at the top half of the top 1 percent of America's wealthiest individuals--those who have assets of $5 million and above. (The sampling was representative of the top 600,000 households in the U.S., whose mean value of household assets is $30.6 million.) Within this data set, they compared entrepreneurs with non-entrepreneurs. Among the findings:

* Entrepreneurs are less likely to be college graduates than non-entrepreneurs.
* They are more likely to attribute their success to determination, while non-entrepreneurs credit intelligence and education.

You can find the link Here.

Anyway, I thought that this would bring more perspective to the debate. And now I would like to hear your responses.

While Tom Brady was being interviewed today it made me think...And here is what I thought.

If you want to be succesful, if you want to be taken seriously, if you want respect you need to see yourself those ways. What is the first thing you thought when you saw the picture of Brady? The thing I thought was 'man it would be cool to look like that and be able to dress like that'. He gets to look like that and dress like that because that is the way he sees himself. He looks like someone that is taken seriously because he sees himself that way. He sees himself as successful so he dresses successfully. I think this applies to all area's of life. 

I want to be taken seriously and be professional, so I need to present myself that way. If I do see myself as being professional without first being professional it won't work, I have to act that way also. However, if I see myself as being professional and act professional then others will see me that way also. When that happens, when I change the way I am perceived, then I will walk out my self image. I don't think people esteem themselves highly enough and therefore neither do others. As a result we walk out our lives as underachievers, I don't want to be an underachiever. I plan on being successful so to some extent I need to change how I am perceived by first seeing myself differently and then changing my actions. Anyway, these were my thoughts.

Good Night.

So...here is how it all shakes out. My manager is leaving, my Assistant Manager is staying. Me and the other two sales staff people are switching stores, yes I am going back to my old store. The other Store Manager is coming to our store, the other Assistant is being promoted, and that sales staff is coming to our store. I will have two months or so to prove myself and apply for the Assistant Manager position at the new store. There isn't any guarantee or anything that I would get it but my Regional Manager said that we are opening a new store before my current store moves and it is possible that I could end up on that management team. Lot's of changes, little time. Apparently I will be going back to my old store starting either Monday or Tuesday...

So there you have it...The work puzzle has been figured out.

This week I had two interviews (one interview per company, so two companies) we will call the job's Job A and Job B. Job A interview was on Monday and Job B interview was today, both were sales positions, Job A was inside, Job B was outside. Both interviews went ok, however, neither one are locks even though they could/should be (Job A more so than Job B).

At the end of the first interview (Job A) the guy was telling me that I hurt myself with not being more flexible. My goal, however, wasn't to get a job with that particular company, my goal was to get a certain job at a certain location with that company (well kind of, I am still not sure if I would actually take the job or not, even if offered). Interesting side note before I go on, I have determined that if this company doesn't offer me a job (that I may not take anyway) that they would be complete morons (which I know isn't very nice, sorry) for this reason: I was actually asking the interviewer what type of numbers I would have to put up in order to go to President's Club. This is a huge sign of confidence as well as a sign of very top interviewing skills that a candidate would even want to know how hard it would be, rather than just being something to aspire to. Without coming out and saying it, I was essentially saying I know I am going to be there, I just want to know how difficult it will be, talk about confidence!!! (This was not done on purpose or because I have mad interviewing skills, but more because I just wanted to know, which after thinking about it, is the most impressive part about my interview). 

At the end of the second interview (B) the lady and I never talked about salary, benefits, or really anything else specific. It seemed like she was intrigued with me due to the fact I had been referred to her and that I was interviewing for a position that I had no experience in, as well as no college education in that field (marketing/advertising). Even with that being the case she still wanted to interview me and take me on a tour of the entire building. I really don't know what her fascination was with me unless she was just blown away at my answers to questions and really wants to see if I can hack it. Both people told me that they would get into contact with me within two weeks, both were interviewing candidates all week, at least 7-8 more people, and they would let me know. 

To most people those interviews don't sound to inspiring...it's a good thing you don't know the rest of the situation then huh? Job A (the Monday interview) was the result of an ex co-worker calling me and asking me if I would like to work with him at his new company (were he is a manager, but would not be my manager). Job B (today's interview) was the result of me helping a customer out and then finding out where this person worked, that person referring me to her boss (talking to her boss while I helped her in my store as a matter of fact) and sending her boss my resume. The hiring manager for Job B, I found out, is the aunt of another former co-worker, who when I saw him he asked 'Are you applying for a job with Job B?' To which I was completely dumbfounded (since I hadn't seen that person in months and had not told him I had applied). Two very crazy circumstances huh?

Before we go too much farther I need to back up and give more background information and then we will zoom past the interviews for a moment. While I am constantly looking for better opportunities, these are my first interviews in a while and both of them provide very good unique benefits as well as very unique obstacles in actually accepting the positions. I had been very excited for both opportunities for a while, when Tuesday after my phone interview for Job B, I just really felt that it wasn't the right time for a change. Besides the fact that I am looking to move (I am always looking to move) something says to just wait. Instead of canceling my interview for Wednesday I went ahead with it because hey, you always need practice right? And no need to burn bridges and no one ever said I was going to get the position anyways. If I did get it I could tell the interviewer that I appreciate the opportunity but that I had several offers (hopefully) and I am going to go in a different direction. After coming home from the interview (B) and getting on the computer for a bit I found out some very interesting news...My manager put in his two weeks notice yesterday, how crazy is that?

What does this mean? I don't know (besides the fact that in two weeks my current manager will no longer be employed by my company), I really don't know if I want to do management, it would be a title (who cares?) and a higher base pay rate, however, it would probably be a lower commission check due to...lots of factors at our store. I know for a fact my Assistant Manager didn't get a commissions check last month and mine was quite nice (actually kind of low for me) but it is usually double or more of my monthly take home (which is how I actually make money working for Sprint). Let's look at possible scenarios, they promote my Assistant Manager to Manager, thus keeping continuity in the store (and thus assuring that our store never hits our quotas, ever). Then they look for an Assistant, they look to me because of my seniority and abilities. Or they could bring in a new head guy and then leave everyone where they are, and lastly they could promote from another store. I don't think our Assistant is ready for management yet, this is his first Assistant job and he hasn't been on it very long...and he hasn't really proved anything either...either way. This strategy doesn't make a lot of sense to then promote me also, who has no management experience; however, stranger decisions have been made. 

What is most likely? They hire an outside manager who then comes in and has to learn everything again, and we are put in a position that could get better or worse. I tell you what, I am not up for another go around of a lazy manager who comes in and does nothing. On the other hand, if they hire a psycho then I am gone as well. If they promote the guy from the other store locally...it is time to move on. I really don't think I am up for management; a lot of things would have to fall into place for that to work, I just can't see it happening. Realistically they would have to bring in a completely new manager, with the current Assistant stepping aside and then for me and the new manager to be absolutely on the same page. Chances of that happening are probably about 1000:1. Things could change, but for the next few weeks/months it will be interesting to see what transpires. I just had a completely random thought, this better not effect vacation time for me in October!!!

Today I was listening to a song by Toby Mac and some of the background singers said something about being people of peace. This in and of itself isn't such a big deal, and I don't necessarily think that they meant anything in particular about it other than just having something to sing in the background, but I decided to write a blog about the purposes' and roles of peace in a Christians life. This blog isn't going to be very long though, here goes.

When the Bible or Christ talk about peace they are not talking about peace with nations or the absence of war. They are talking about being at peace with God as a person, and peace between you and me or peace between you and your neighbor. Neither the Bible nor Christ were talking about peace externally (though maintaining peace even amongst chaotic external conditions is important) being at peace emotionally and through Christ is what is necessary.

While I was at work the other day I found out that the bank that we deposit our money at everyday, had been robbed, oh, I would say, about three days prior. Not only that, but my manager had been at the bank a mere 10 minutes prior to the robbery, how crazy is that?!?!?! So, naturally I had to take the deposit to the bank a day later and guess who I saw at the bank? No other than a Mr. South Bend Police Officer (I thought you have to be kidding, what is he doing here? j/k) Anyway, I know some will worry (though there is no need to), I thought that this was an interesting story and I wanted to share it none the less. If I wanted to scare people I would tell them about the death threats I receive over the phone at Sprint!!! But that story is for another time. Be good to your cell phone sales reps folks, see what we have to put up with?

A while ago I wrote about all of the water problems that happened to our house...now we are getting them fixed. Today we had our contractor over and he will be starting tomorrow. Tonight we went to Lowe's to pick paint colors and carpet color and style as well as flooring for the kitchen. It feels pretty good to have everything finished and to know once we are done then our house will be so much more...well it will be a lot nicer. My sister Dana was with us and my cuz Jeff was with us tonight as well as last night, so...props to them. By then end of the week we could be living in a completely new house. Should be lots of fun. Once it's done we will puts up lots of before and after pictures for ya.

Today I finally sold two rental houses that I have been dealing with for...quite a while!!! There is a really, really, really, really, really (well you get the idea) long blog in there someday about my many experiences with my rentals, but I will save that for a day when I want to humiliate myself and make everyone laugh. Actually I will save it for my book :)

So anyway here is the long and short of it (actually only the short). I listed three of my 6 rental properties for sale (there is a trivia for ya, how many people new I owned rental properties, how many of you knew at one time I owned 7 of them?) and through many obstacles along the way (including our closing date changing at least 3-4 times) and one of my houses apparently selling without me selling it (once, no really) and then getting that worked out, I finally sold them today. I had to work all day, but closing doesn't take long so I had someone cover me for an hour while I would be gone...except it was an hour and a half before we even started. Once we started it took about 20 minutes and then ONLY another 30 minutes for them to make copies of everything. In end the guy who bought them thought he was getting a good deal and I definitely thought I got a good deal. How many time do you hear of someone selling a property for less than they owe on it, not paying closing costs, not paying commission for the realtor, and not bringing money to closing? Plus I got rid of a problem house? I am guessing you don't hear of it to often.

Here is the interesting thing though you know how I said I listed 3 houses? Well I only sold two, bummer huh? But I still have 3 houses for sale, bummer number two huh? Hopefully I will sell the other 3 very soon and then list and sell my personal residence so I can then move to Florida, wouldn't that be great...living in Florida? I know, I can't wait.

So tonight Autumn and I watched Catch & Release...Which mid-way through people may think that it's depressing (which it definitely could be) and disappointing (the story) and felt as though they had already seen the movie since most of the trailer happens in the first 10 min or so of the movie...But then, it goes down hill from there. Typical guy girl stories, but these ones are more real life than typical movie stories. This story is all about people hurting others by what they say and what they do...Autumn says it was kinda sexual, which I didn't notice because I was busy feeling sorry for the guy that was too good for the girl that was too good for another guy who ultimately was much better than anyone thought (and I must say I kinda predicted it about half way through). By the way (spoiler warning) the girl we all thought was great (but not good enough for the one guy) ends up being with a guy that was not good enough for anyone (not even the girl that was portrayed as scummy, though he was somewhat close to being good enough for her). But here we are thinking we are watching a good movie, the directors thinking they are directing a good movie, and the actors thinking they were acting a good movie, but all were wrong. It was a bad movie, and why? Because it was real life stories all over again, people making Romeo and Juliet mistakes (not the same ones, but the same type of mistakes, namely stupid ones), and because the movie tells us that scummy guy and supposedly good girl that's not good enough for a guy (maybe not dead guy either) get together and we (the audience) are suppose to be happy about it. But we are not happy about it...we are definitely not happy about it. And to show we are not happy about it, we will blog about it. And the movie stinks!