Last week, I decided to shave my goatee for the heck of it. Apparently, this added about ten pounds to the look of my face because I had several people at work ask me if I gained weight over the break. Last time they saw me, I had facial hair.

I know for a fact that I gained exactly one pound from the beginning of December to the first week of January. So, I’m growing it back.

Back in the late 70s, Cummins Engine Company put out a promotional song called “Hummin’ Cummins.” They were cashing in on the trucker/cb-radio/country music craze of the times.
I remember when it came out, every employee got a copy of it. I think my dad still has his.
In a meeting at work the other day, someone mentioned the song so I went on a google search.

Here it is in all its cheesy Cummins marketing glory:

Late this week, things were set in motion that will hopefully allow us to remain in and purchase the house we are living in. Karen came to visit me at the office this week. I recently moved to a new building and she wanted to see where I work.
While she was there I introduced her to our HR manager, the lady that hired me.

Karen was talking to her and she asked how things were going with selling our house, etc. Karen explained our situation and that we might have to move again by the end of the month. She also mentioned that she and the kids may move back to Little Rock for the summer to save money and allow me time to find a rental.

The next day the HR manager called me into her office and asked what LHP could do, financially, to help. I told her what I needed per month to buy the house here and still make the mortgage payment in Little Rock. She didn’t seem shocked by the number. She told me she would talk it over with my manager and let me know. On Friday, my manager called me into his office and told me that they would be able to do it on a per diem basis until our house in Little Rock sold.

This is a small company with limited resources. I know this is a sacrifice for them. I’m in manager meetings and know that they have tight margins. Increasing my cost by the amount they did isn’t easy.
My manager told me they were willing to do it because they think I am a good fit for the company and they want me to help grow the company. They want to do what they can to help alleviate stress. I have never felt more valued in my professional life. They don’t realize the amount of loyalty they just invested in. I won’t be going anywhere soon. A company that is willing to go the extra mile for me… I won’t be going anywhere soon and I will be doing my part to help them grow. (On a side note, they all keep reasonable hours, even the owners. I won’t be working 60 or 70 hour weeks.)

I went to the mortgage company Friday afternoon and was approved for a loan on the house. We signed an addendum to our offer to close on the house no later than May 31st.
Things are going to be tight until our Little Rock house sells but things are definitely looking up!

I had the opportunity to put on a lunch seminar on football at work on Friday.
As I’ve mentioned before, my place of employment is predominately Chinese and Indian. A few weeks ago I was talking to a couple of guys about football and they had no idea of how the game was played. They said it just looked like chaos with guys running around on the field. So, I attempted to explain the game to them and soon realized that I had my work cut out for me. They didn’t even understand the field itself, the endzones or really anything about the game.

The president of the company is always encouraging people to share different aspects of their culture with others. Holidays and celebrations usually. I emailed him and told him that I would put on a “Football 101″ class. He loved the idea and even ordered a giant Subway sandwich for the event.

They’ve done several of these types of lunchtime events before and I was told this was one of the biggest turnouts for it. It was standing room only. And they were seriously into it. People were taking notes, asking questions and paying very close attention to everything I said. Its like it was an actual college course or something.

I went through a power point presentation going over the basics of the game. The key was getting them to under stand a “set of downs.” I had a football with me and a couple of other Americans helped me demonstrate a few things. After that we actually watched some of the Colts v Pats game.
I had the NFL Replay of the game recorded. I brought in my DVR unit and walked them through the second half. Showed what a kickoff, field goal, pass, run play, etc looked like. Then I got to show them one of the greatest interceptions to ever happen in a game

I never realized how much of the terminology and basic aspects of the game are taken for granted when we talk about football. It was a pretty difficult task but a success from the feedback and questions I got afterwards.

If anyone wants a copy of the presentations you can download it here:
http://www.therileyfamily.org/misc/football101.ppt
Be warned, all the pictures are of Colts players.

I made my first ride to work on my bike. It kicked my butt.
I can run up and down a basketball court for an hour, no problem but riding a bike uses different muscles and I guess those muscles are out of shape.

The ride down the hill was fun. I was probably topping out at 35 MPH. The”flat” portion of the ride was harder than I thought it would be. Small inclines that go unnoticed in a car are greatly amplified when you are pedaling up them. I think it took me about 20 or 25 minutes to get here. Not sure how the ride home will go. I’m pretty sure I’ll be walking the bike up hill.

Oh, and I forgot to pack a pair of socks…