25 Things you may or may not know about me

This is a little lighter topic....here are 25 random things about me that you may or may not know.

1) I really enjoy getting my shoes shined at the airport. Kind of feel like a king for about 10 minutes.
2) I love dill pickles at the movies.
3) I have a jealous nature about a lot of things. I fight this battle daily.
4) My favorite fast food place is McAlesters.
5) I grew up wanting and still want to be a weatherman. Was my job at career day in 3rd grade. Brought in a huge National Geographic map and pointer and gave a weather report to the class.
6) I'm a huge Star Wars nerd. I went to all opening nights for the last 3 movies. My brother is just as into Star Wars as me. We are collecting all the vintage Star Wars figures.
7) Built a library in 3rd grade in our garage and had my family come out for the ribbon cutting ceremony. I would sit out there and make my family check out books.
8) I'm a political junkie. I read realclearpolitics.com everyday and track all the polls. On presidental election night in November, my house turns into Election Central, including a large map I print out to color in when states either go for the Republicans or Dems.
9) I love Conan O’brien and excited about his new show this fall.
10) Favorite books of the Bible are Nehemiah and 1 Timothy
11) Don't mind eating or going to a movie by myself. Is that weird?
12) I like to visit movie locations in real life. I've been to many spots of my favorite films, as well as "The Music Man" filming locations.
13) I love traveling. I went to Europe for the first time in 2002 and have been to 9 times. I’m going back in October to visit Spain and Portugal.
14) A pet peeve of mine is when people pop their gum.
15) Had 12 years of perfect attendance in school. Moss kids don't miss school. Even with work, my dad jokes that his happiest day is when all 5 Moss family members are working at the same time.
16) My 5 favorite movies are: "Dirty Rotten Scrondrels", "Planes, Trains and Automobiles", "Return to Me", "Waiting for Guffman" and "Best in Show". "Groundhog Day" is close.
17) I love Baylor football. I would listen to every game on WBAP 820 growing up. There were games I cried at when they lost. I made Baylor shirt one year that I wore around Irving. It was green with gold "puff paint". My dad, grandpa and I went to the John Hancock Bowl in 1992 and saw Grant Teaff’s last game. I took and take a lot of heat for being a Baylor fan.
18) I really like Las Vegas. I’m not a big gambler but love the energy of the city. It never seems to get old. And I especially like staying at the Wynn.
19) I'm a P1. I enjoy listening to 1310 The Ticket and listening to "The Hardline".
20) I think loyalty is one of the best traits a person can have.
21) I'm a routine kind of guy I don't like change.
22) I want to go travel to every major league baseball field.
23) Late night Whataburger taquitos with picante sauce are awesome.
24) I wish I knew how to cook more dishes and have people over alot for dinner.
25) I grew organic vegetables this year for the first time. The tomatoes are the only thing that survived the rabbits and heat, but they turned out really well. I harvested over 120 tomatoes.

Cademon's Call- Reflections

Its amazing how music and transform you to a particular moment in your life. I'm listening to come Caedmon's Call right now. Why? Their "Forty Acres" CD was really popular back when I first started at Baylor 11 years ago in the fall of 1999. I was thinking about my sister starting her last year at Baylor tomorrow, it made me think back to my time there. I can't believe it was 11 years ago. Sometimes I wish I could go back to those college days. I remember like yesterday moving into Martin Hall Room 119 in the Dungeon. It was actually below ground with our windows at the top of the room level with the ground. I had a great roommate, Brett Gibson, who is now in the ministry serving in Waco. It was really hot on move in day, and remember being greeted in the parking lot by upperclassmen who helped unload the car. I met some great people those first few days. The first girl I met at Baylor was Belinda Petri, who I became close friends with, and ironically, we both live in Tulsa now. I met her the first night at our min-con group introductions. We did a ton of stuff together that week, including going to the Caedmon's Call concert the last night. Her good friends ended up being a couple of my roommates my sophomore year. Belinda and I ended up being welcome week co-leaders our junior year. I experienced a lot of football that first semester as well. I went up to Boston College with Ruthie to see the Bears lose in overtime in my first collegiate game as a student. I remember the UNLV football game with the Baylor Line. We had the game won, and lost in a last second fumble. It was a painful sports year.

I grew a lot from my experiences during first year at Baylor. I was really sad to pack it up for the summer. Looking back however, each following school year after got better and better. I was fortunate to be surrounded by some truly incredible people and friends. And even today, as I look back on Baylor, I'm learning slowly but grudingly that God continues to provide for me each year after college with friends, church, and experiences that build upon the past, not making me yearn as much for it, though its hard. So, I'll finish the CD jamming to favs such as "There you go", "Thankful" and "Shifting Sand" and reflect on the great moments of my new chapter of life at Baylor and the new pages I get to write daily even now.

Washington DC

I'm back from D.C. and I had a great time. Its fun to travel, but really fun when your company pays for you to. I just hosted a couple of customers up in Gaithersburg, MD for an IBM storage conference. We got to eat at two really nice places- Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Bethesda, as well as Old Ebbitts Grill across from the White House. I also got to eat at Boston Market a couple of times. We had them in Dallas, and were a favorite of mine, but in Tulsa, they do not get to experience it. In addition to host, I got to put on my tour guide hat and take the guys around to several monuments and museums around DC. We saw the Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial, White House, National Archives, and a night tour of the Jeffreson Memorial (extra beautiful at night). DC always seems to be buzzing- lots of young people around playing softball and kickball on the mall. The last night, I saw a concert from the US Marine Corps Band on the Capital grounds. I also ran from the capital to the Lincoln Memorial and back, which provided great views the entire run. My job can be stressful, but its times like this that I really do enjoy my job. It was good to get back to Tulsa this evening, but had a great few days up on the east coast.

Seasons of Friends

Friendships change. This week I spoke with a longtime friend who I hadn't spoken to in quite a while. It was just different....hard to talk to, and the conversation went dead really fast. Usually, I'm pretty good with keeping a conversation flowing, as I work with customers all the time and have to keep some talking points in my head that I can always turn to in case lunch gets "weird". This time though, we had little to talk about. Kind of sad....there just wasn't a lot we still had in common. But, I've come to the realization that some friendships are just for a season, as hard as that is for me to say. In this case, I had this mindset that we'd be close friends forever, and that our kids would be friends, our families live by each other,and go to Baylor sporting events, etc. That is not how it works in life apparently, as much as I want it to. However, there are some of those cherished friends that I can pick up the phone and it feels like we haven't skipped a beat. I heard from my old roommate a couple of days ago and it was like we were still in Baylor mode even though I hadn't talked to him in over 6 months. I have some high school friends that I saw at a wedding a couple of weeks ago, and it was like being back at good old Irving High. I really hope the friends I have made in Tulsa can be these lifelong friends. One pattern I've noticed is that when you have a bond through Christ, its easier to stay connected. Life can be tough, lonely, and always changing, but its nice to know of the friends that God places in your life for a specific time period, as well as those life long friends who you will grow old with.

Tracking my Goals....

At the first of the year, I put together my 2010 resolutions. Now if you are like me, you know that many times, this infamous list is put together with good intentions, but for some reason gets forgotten about around March. Well, I kept it this year to help keep me accountable, and the results right now show some good progress, along with some "incompletes" as well as some failures. Who's perfect anyway right? I will highlight from each category: The good news: I achieved the 185 lbs. Actually, yesterday I weighed myself and I was 182.8. Early last year, I was 220 lbs. Being 6'4", there's alot of places to put that weight. I just wanted to trim up. I almost completely gave up cokes, switching over to unsweet tea (thanks Mcalisters!) as well as running. Also, I have really tried to not eat as much fast food, but when your car starts pulling over to the local Taco Bueno at 11:30 at night, some things just can't be helped. I am giving myself an "incomplete" for "Run Bearathon". This had nothing to do with me. I trained for a good 5 months for the Bearathon, which is a half marathon, down in Waco. Got all trained, drove down there, ate my card-loading pre-meal run, stretched, got my runner's chip, and then one little bolt of lightening and "RACE IS CANCELLED". Some people were very upset at the race. I was secretly ok with it since I would have been extremely cold and wet for 13.1 miles, but registered a few sad, spiteful looks to fit in. Good news is I got to see Wes Cash and Seth McCall, who I rarely get a chance to see but a couple times a year. On a sidenote, I did eat very well that weekend (Viteks BBQ, Rudy's BBQ, Chuys, I Fratelli Pizza, etc). Jay did go down there with me, which made for a fun roadtrip. That's probably why we ate so well! Finally, I have failed so far this year in "go on mission trip". I have supported several people going on trips, but one just not has come up yet where I have attended. I know God will provide that calling for me, but as of yet, haven't seen the opportuniy. I get really comfortable here in the states with all the luxuries we have. I think the opportunity to serve overseas would allow me to really appreciate all that I have. Make it a great day!

Rebalancing

I decided recently to consistently be reading in the Word daily each morning, along with memorizing a Bible verse each day. I have completed Day 3 today, and am excited about developing a habit of starting each day the right way. I just finished 2 Timothy this morning- such an encouraging book. The verses I memorized were 2 Timothy 1:7, 2:16, and 3:20. 2:16 says "avoid godless chatter, for those who take part will become more and more ungodly". I'm guilty of this alot. Lord today help me speak encouragement and praise over slander and gossip. Anyway, it was a great first book to get me reading and praying consistently.