If you're looking to hire some new employees, use this test:

1. Put 400 bricks in a closed room.
2. Put your new hires in the room and close the door.
3. Leave them alone and come back after 6 hours.
4. Then analyze the situation:

a. If they are counting the bricks, put them in the accounting department.
b. If they are recounting them, put them in auditing.
c. If they have messed up the whole place with the bricks, put them in engineering.
d. If they are arranging the bricks in some strange order, put them in planning.
e. If they are throwing the bricks at each other, put them in operations.
f. If they are sleeping, put them in security.
g. If they have broken the bricks into pieces, put them in information technology.
h. If they are sitting idle, put them in human resources.
i. If they say they have tried different combinations, they are looking for more, yet not a brick has been moved, put them in sales.
j. If they have already left for the day, put them in marketing.
k. If they are staring out of the window, put them in strategic planning.
l. If they are talking to each other, and not a single brick has been moved, congratulate them and put them in top management.
Finally, if they have surrounded themselves with bricks in such a way that they can neither be seen nor heard from, put them in Congress.

Its official....

I AM GOING TO K-STATE! This weekend, I went to Manhattan and signed my apartment lease. I am committed for at least one year! I am extremely excited!


On Friday, I was supposed to leave work early so my dad, my little brother and I could leave for work. Unfortunately something broke at work and my manager was preoccupied. I didn't want to bother reminding him I needed to go early so I just left. I hope I have a job when I go in tomorrow. With the winners we have working there, I don't know if it even matters! Check out this link....FEDEX! :) As soon as I showered and changed clothes, we left.

We drove straight to Kansas City. We went to Neal and Kim's place! Thanks so much! We got there, if I remember right, about 12:30. They had pizza for us! Mathew and me stayed up and talked till about 3! Good times. I slept in until 9. Kim made a good breakfast and then we tried to fly my new kite. There was just not enough wind (or maybe, we are not experienced pilots like the manual said was needed to fly it! :))

At about 11:30, we left for Manhattan. When we got there, we went to our apt complex and I signed the lease! It starts in August! I am so excited! It's a really nice place! Remember, just cause it's in KS doesn't mean you can't come visit! Mi casa es su casa! After that was taken care of, we went to Jason's apt and left his car and walked to campus. It was BEAUTIFUL weather. Sunny and in the high 60's!! Campus was pretty cool! I am excited to go somewhere different!

We then got ready to leave for Sabetha. We stopped at Sonic for a late lunch. My little brother was baffled that the people really brought out our food on roller skates! The food was good and the drive was uneventful except for the fact that 44 oz. of Coke runs through you fast. The drive took forever! :)

After we got to Uncle Paul and Aunt Joan's place, I finished my outline and emailed it to my teacher! Then we all went to Uncle Jim and A Diane's! Good times....pizza, skype, karaoke, talking....good times had by all! We went back to Uncle Paul's for the night. Brian Edelman came over for awhile and we watched SI Top Ten most Most Gruesome/Bizarre Injuries! Check them out for yourself...let me know your favorite! TOP TEN

Sunday morning we about missed church. Jason's phone we were using for an alarm didn't switch times automatically but we made it. We went back to Uncle Jim's for breakfast! Thanks Uncle Jim and A Diane for everything! John and Darcie also came for breakfast so it was really good to get to see them! Uncle Jim said that if I am coming to Kansas, I would have to support the Kansas Livestock Association so he took his license plate off the front of his truck that says EAT BEEF and put it in the back window of my car! I am privileged because that plate has been on the front of his truck for as long as I can remember!

Church was good! I didn't even have to pray....(there were enough visitors)! Timber Leman were there! It was so good to see them! It has been so long! Two amazing sermons! After church, we got in the car and headed back. I slept for a little while and then took over driving. Dad slept and me and Jared had a good ol time! It was a lot of fun but it is good to be back. Now, I have to finish the homework I put off!

Oh, and Jason, if you read this, I got a 50/50 on my outline! I think it was the amazing interview! :) Thanks for everything this weekend!

FedEx employees arrested in drug case

By The News-Gazette

Monday, March 5, 2007 2:13 PM CST

E-mail Story Printer-friendly

URBANA – Two Champaign men are due back in court later this month to face charges that they stole about 10 pounds of cannabis from a box at FedEx.

Champaign County Assistant State's Attorney Dan Clifton said Deron Frank, 27, who listed an address in the 1800 block of Coventry Drive, and Eric Moody, 27, of the 400 block of Briar Lane, were employees of FedEx in Champaign last May.

Supervisors at FedEx discovered a box going from California to Puerto Rico that contained about 50 pounds of cannabis. They alerted Champaign police about the cannabis but unknown to them, Frank and Moody had previously discovered the box, removed about 10 pounds and kept it for themselves.

The box, minus what the men had taken, was turned over to Champaign police.

In February, during an unrelated internal theft investigation, FedEx supervisors learned what they believed Frank and Moody had done and reported it to police. Both have been charged with unlawful possession with intent to deliver cannabis, a Class 1 felony carrying penalties ranging from probation to four to 15 years in prison.

Police learned from the men that the cannabis had been used or given away.

Frank is due back in court March 13 for a preliminary hearing and Moody on Thursday with a lawyer.

I know this is two posts in one day but....this is good stuff. I worked with Eric Moody. Talked to him some. He seemed like a nice kid. He just got promoted to a managers position a couple of months ago. I talked to him at FedEx about 2 days before he was arrested! :)....Good ol FedEx!

An attorney and a blonde...

...are sitting next to each other on a flight from Los Angeles to New York.
The attorney asks if she would like to play a fun game.
The blonde is tired and just wants to take a nap, so she politely declines and rolls over to the window to catch a few winks. The attorney persists. He explains how the game works.
"I ask you a question, and if you don't know the answer, you pay me, and vice-versa."
Again the blonde politely declines and tries to get some sleep. The attorney figures that since his opponent is a blonde he will easily win the match, so he makes another offer.
"If you don't know the answer, you pay me only $5.00, but if don't know the answer, I will pay you $500."
The blonde figures there will be no end to this torment
unless she plays, so she agrees.
The attorney asks, "What's the distance from the Earth to the moon?"
The blonde reaches in to her purse, pulls out a five dollar bill, and hands it to the attorney.
Then she asks the attorney,
"What goes up a hill with three legs, and comes down with four?"
The attorney is puzzled. He uses his laptop to search for references. He taps into the air-phone with his modem and searches the Net and the Library of Congress. Frustrated, he sends emails to his coworkers and friends. No luck.
After an hour, he gives up.
He wakes the blonde and hands her $500.00. The blonde politely takes the $500.00 and turns away to get back to sleep. The attorney, who is going nuts trying to figure it out, wakes the blonde and asks,
"Well, so what goes up a hill with three legs and comes down with four?"
The blonde reaches into her purse, hands the attorney $5.00 and goes back to sleep.

My Sister is engaged!

It's hard for me to believe but they tell me it's true....





So, yeah, thats them......

Runners first modern athletes to cross Sahara

IN THE WESTERN DESERT, Egypt -- Three ultra-endurance athletes have just done something most would consider insane: They ran the equivalent of two marathons a day for 111 days to become the first modern runners to cross the Sahara Desert's grueling 4,000 miles.

"This has been a life-changing event."

-- American runner Charlie Engle

"It will take time to sink in ... but this is an absolutely once in a lifetime thing. They say ignorance is bliss, and now that I know how hard this is, I would never consider crossing the Sahara on foot again," said American runner Charlie Engle, 44, hours after he and the others completed the run at Egypt's Red Sea.

Engle said he, Canadian Ray Zahab, 38, and Kevin Lin, 30, of Taiwan, ran the final stretch of their journey that took them through the Giza pyramids and Cairo to the mouth of Suez Canal on four hours of sleep. Once they hit the Red Sea, they put their hands in the water to signify crossing the finish line.

"We touched the water in Senegal at the beginning, and we touched the water in the Red Sea at the end. They were the bookends of our journey," Engle, of Greensboro, North Carolina, said on the telephone from a hotel room in Cairo.

In less than four months, they have run across the world's largest desert, through six countries -- Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Libya and finally Egypt.

A film crew followed them, chronicling the desert journey for actor Matt Damon's production company, LivePlanet. Damon plans to narrate the "Running the Sahara" documentary.

The trek is one of extremes. The relentless sun can push temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit during the day, but at night it sometimes dips below freezing. Strong winds can abruptly send sand swooping in every direction, making it difficult to see and breathe.

Running through turbulent conditions is nothing new for these athletes who have traveled the world competing in adventure races. But they say nothing has tested their physical and mental limitations like the Sahara.

Throughout the run, the runners have been stricken with tendinitis, severe diarrhea, cramping and knee injuries all while running through the intense heat and wind -- often without a paved road in sight.

"This has been a life-changing event," Engle said.

The runners say they undertook the challenge to see if they could accomplish something that many have called impossible. They use GPS devices to track their route and teamed up with local experts and a host of sports professionals who also followed them, along with the documentary crew, in four-wheel drive vehicles.

Typically, the three began each day with a 4 a.m. wake-up call. About an hour later, they started running. Around noon, they took a lunch break at a makeshift camp, devouring pasta, tuna and vegetables. A short nap on thin mattresses in a yellow-domed tent usually followed before they headed out on the second leg of their day's run.

Finally, around 9:30 p.m., they called it quits each day, returning to camp for a protein and carbohydrate-packed dinner before passing out for the night.

Despite the preparation and drive to finish, the runners said they often questioned -- mostly to themselves -- what they were doing. Zahab described stopping one recent day for a bathroom break only to discover the wind was blowing so harshly that he couldn't keep the sand out of his clothes. "And I thought to myself, 'What the hell am I doing?"' he said.

But Zahab kept going, as did the other two, never skipping a day. Most days the three ran a total of 44 to 50 miles -- sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less.

They were interviewed by The Associated Press on Saturday -- day 108 -- on the side of a road about 112 miles from Cairo in Egypt's harsh Western Desert, part of the greater Sahara.

At several points in their trek, the athletes stopped near sparsely populated wells to talk with villagers and nomads about the difficulties they face finding water. That marked another goal of the run -- raising awareness for the clean water nonprofit group H2O Africa.

"We have seen firsthand the need for clean water, which we take for granted in North America. It's such a foundation for any community," Zahab said during day 108's lunch break. The three plan to fund-raise for the group after they return home and finish recuperating.

"It started off as a huge motivator, especially as we passed through countries where the water wasn't clean," Engle said.

But as the trio's bodies became more depleted, the focus was "the day-to-day battle to stay alive and keep moving," he said.

AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

American Charlie Engle (right) and Canadian Ray Zahab did the unthinkable and crossed the Sahara Desert in 111 days.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

Taps

Reportedly, it all began in 1862 during the Civil War, when Union Army Captain Robert Ellicombe was with his men near Harrison 's Landing in Virginia . The Confederate Army was on the other side of the narrow strip of land.

During the night, Captain Ellicombe heard the moans of a soldier who lay severely wounded on the field. Not knowing if it was a Union or Confederate soldier, the Captain decided to risk his life and bring the stricken man back for medical attention. Crawling on his stomach through the gunfire, the Captain reached the stricken soldier and began pulling him toward his encampment.

When the Captain finally reached his own lines, he discovered it was actually a Confederate soldier, but the soldier was dead.

The Captain lit a lantern and suddenly caught his breath and went numb with shock. In the dim light, he saw the face of the soldier. It was his own son. The boy had been studying music in the South when the war broke out. Without telling his father, the boy enlisted in the Confederate Army.

The following morning, heartbroken, the father asked permission of his superiors to give his son a full military burial, despite his enemy status. His request was only partially granted.

The Captain had asked if he could have a group of Army band members play a funeral dirge for his son at the funeral.

The request was turned down since the soldier was a Confederate.

But, out of respect for the father, they did say they could give him only one musician.

The Captain chose a bugler. He asked the bugler to play a series of musical notes he had found on a piece of paper in the pocket of the dead youth's uniform.

This wish was granted.

The haunting melody, we now know as "Taps" ... used at military funerals was born.

The words are :
Day is done..
Gone the sun.
From the lakes.
From the hills.
From the sky.
All is well.
Safely rest.
God is nigh.
Fading light.
Dims the sight.
And a star.
Gems the sky.
Gleaming bright.
From afar.
Drawing nigh.
Falls the night.
Thanks and praise.
For our days.
Neath the sun.
Neath the stars.
Neath the sky.
As we go.
This we know.
God is nigh.

I received an email with this story in it. I got to looking around on the internet and I started finding all different ways Taps was originated. If this is not right, please forgive. However, just as you imagined, the email claimed this way to be true but this website says differently. Believe what you want, I still think that this is a cool story!

Shaped and Molded

O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
Isaiah 64:8.





I have been thinking a lot lately about me being the clay. I don't feel worthy to be the clay that the Creator of the universe is using. I feel as though I am dry and crumbly. God is trying to mold a vase with my life and I want a bowl. Why don't I just give in and let God make that vase? Why do I think that my vessel will be better than His?



In what ways can I change to allow that vase to be made? My bowl would break during its lifetime. Although, I am sure that I could repair the bowl, if I went with letting God make a vase out of my life, I would be a strong vessel to put on God's shelf with all his other pottery! I can't wait for heaven when we get to see God's collection of beautiful pottery he has molded and shaped. Are you going to be one of the vessels found in his collection?

A blind man was flying...

...from Seattle to San Francisco. The plane had
a stop-over in Sacramento.

The flight attendant explained that there would be a delay, and if the
passengers wanted to get off the aircraft, the plane would re-board in one
hour. Everybody got off the plane except one gentleman who
was blind. Another man had noticed him as he walked by and could tell the
gentleman was blind because his Seeing Eye Dog lay quietly underneath the
seats in front of him throughout the entire flight.

He could also tell he had flown this very flight before because the pilot
approached him, and calling him by name, said, "Keith, we're in
Sacramento for an hour, would you like to get off and stretch
your legs?

"The blind man replied, "No thanks, but maybe my dog would like to stretch
his legs."

Picture this: All the people in the gate area came to a complete
standstill when they looked up and saw the pilot walk off the plane with a
Seeing Eye Dog! The pilot was even wearing sunglasses. People scattered.
They not only tried to change planes, but they were trying to change
airlines!

February 12

German police are investigating after a man says he bit into a chocolate bar -- and found a finger inside. Police say the finger has been handed over to forensic experts.

Uh, yeah, this is why chocolate should be avoided. *grin*