work

Click here.

Yoda would be proud.

needs to be reiterated

Really great writing starts with a few (million) terrible first efforts.

Work is easier...

when I can hear "The Voice of Truth" by Casting Crowns coming from the cubicle across the aisle. Thank God for brethren!:o)

I was right.

God is doing exactly what He said He would do. :o)

knowing v. proving

"We know by intuition; we prove by the mind ... While the guidance of the intuition is frequently quite opposite to reasoning, we still must use the head, though not to argue with intuition but to examine whether this thing is really from God. Intuition apprehends the will of God very quickly; however, we require time for the brain to probe and prove whether what we apprehend is truly from our intuition and the Holy Spirit. It it is from God our intuition shall emit an even more accurate sense while under probing, thus effecting in us a stronger faith than before that this thing is in truth from God. The exercise of the intellect in this way - only in the way of examination - is both beneficial and proper. But should this sensing be of our fleshly thought and feeling, then in the process of examination our conscience will raise its voice is opposition. Consequently, the probing with our mind to understand whether a matter is from God or not will not interfere but will instead give opportunity to intuition to prove itself. If it is of intuition what has it to fear from the probing of the mind? On the other hand, whatever is afraid of being probed is probably out from one's self. The head should never guide or lead, but it unquestionably is needed to probe the authenticity of guidance."

-Nee, The Spiritual Man, Vol. III pg 24

a morning in the life of...

So before the rumors spread farther than the doors of SHS, let me kill them first. I am NOT the SHS drunk. I did, however, have my first drink. WITH MY TOES! Here's how the real story goes: I needed a cup of hot tea (Lipton Green Tea - Orange, Passionfruit, and Jasmine) and thought I should grab a bottle of water from the fridge at the same time. Well, I'm not sure which Cletus put the full beer bottles on top of the fridge thinking it was a safe and secure place, but this Cletus successfully knocked one of those bottles off the top and down the side/back of the fridge simply by opening the door! It crashed with a huge bang and beer everywhere especially all over my toes and jeans. Perhaps if SHS had a more strict dress code, then I would not have been wearing jeans and I would have beer cuts all over my feet. At any rate, YUCK! So I smell like beer. Oh yeah, and everyone in the building heard the sound, but no one came running. I had to find help. :o(

The morning did get better; I got to show off my hip jumping rope skills as we jumped rope in the aisle outside my cubicle. That was fun. I'll have to add a picture later. No nursery rhymes or anything, this is after all a professional business.

The afternoon looks like work: presenting concepts for a brochure and a tissue about naming natural beef. But for now, lunch.

possession

"Let us be aware of this though: that man's mind belongs to man; without his permission the enemy would be powerless to use it. Unless man voluntarily delivers (knowingly or unknowingly) his mind to the evil spirits they have no right to encroach on man's freedom."
-Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man, Vol. III pg 18

important.

Read this. Don't call an unknown number until you do.

true that.

Really great writing starts with a few terrible first efforts.

passivity

"In their desire to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, many of the Lord's people feel they do not need to measure, investigate, and judge by the light of the Bible all thoughts which seemingly come from God. They think being led by the Spirit is being dead to themselves and obeying every notion and impulse of their brain. They follow especially those ideas which arise after prayer; hence they arrange for their minds to be passive during and after prayer. They halt their own thoughts and their other mental activities so as to be ready to receive the "thoughts of God." And the result is that become hard and obstinate, having no reason and carrying out man harsh, pertinacious, and irrational things. They do not know:

1. that prayer will not transform our thoughts into godly ones;
2. that to wait for divine thoughts during and after prayer is to invite counterfeits from the evil spirits; and
3. that God's leading is in the intuition of the spirit and not the mind of the soul.

Not a few saints - ignorant of God's will that He does not wish man to be passive, but rather to cooperate actively with Him - spend time training themselves to be of a passive mind. They induce themselves to not think in order to possess God's thoughts. How can they not understand that if they themselves are not useing their brain neither will God use it nor put His thoughts into it. The principle of God is for men to control the whole person with their will and to work together with Him. Only the devil would exploit the opportunity of a passive mind and seize its control away from men. God has never wanted men to receive His revelation like a robot ..."

-Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man, Vol. III, pgs 22-23

dress code

This is the best kind of dress code. At least very long blurbs of it.

"Several people have asked questions about the dress code. The questions include: "Is it okay for everyone to wear sandals now?" "Can everyone wear shorts?" "Isn't it inappropriate to wear provocative clothing to work?" "Are the coaches going to enforce the dress code, or not?" Let's deal with the last question first. The old dress code included a sentence that says "if you have questions, ask your department manager." That'll give you a clue about how old it is. The old dress code did specifically say "no shorts." It didn't talk about footwear or provocative attire, but all of us old-timers know that sandals and come-hither clothing were sore subjects several years ago...

Frankly, we're not interested in working at a place with a long list of rules about how low blouses can be cut, how short skirts can be cut, and how unevenly toenails can be cut. We hope you aren't, either. But that doesn't mean that absolutely anything goes. Our goal is to sell great work to our clients. Which means they have to trust our judgment. So if you give the client a reason to focus on what you're wearing instead of what we're selling, that isn't bad fashion. It's bad judgment. It's giving the client an excuse to reject the right creative solution for the wrong reason. It's potentially holding us back from our goal. And if making a personal fashion statement is more important to you than great advertising, then you're working at the wrong place.

So instead of making the old dress code longer and more specific, we'd rather reduce it to one short sentence: "Dress appropriately for the client and the occasion." Exercise good judgment. If you're meeting with clients, dress appropriately for the type of client and the situation...

If your clothing gives the client a reason to comment on the way you're dressed, then it's probably inappropriate, and it's definitely diverting their attention from the work. We're all adults. We're all professionals. And we're all smart enough to know that our priority is great work. Not just creating it, but getting the client to buy it. So we're going to trust you to make the right decision on what you wear and what you don't...

If that absolutely doesn't work, then we'll create a dress code that gets very specific and forbids black lace corsets and leather codpieces. But frankly, we'd rather be duct-taped to a metal folding chair and forced to watch a retrospective of Geraldo Rivera's TV career."

around the office

Here is a brief tour of the office. Outside:



Front door:



Trophy case: (Notice how full it is...)



My cubicle: (Sorry for the plainness; this was the first day before my pictures, FHSU license plate, and red pencil cup arrived.)



My cubicle partner: Shawn (He's been here eight months longer than I have. Plus, he's a permanent employee.)



Serta sheep above my desk: (Not the one I received from Elise's parents)

too bad

Too bad the previous post was scheduled for last year. :o(

another new job

If I weren't a sheep-hater, this is what I would spend my summer doing.

I could make a ton of money at it, too. Just kidding, NKN!

from Hays to Haysville

First post in a long time. As my cousin Inigo once said, "Let me esplain, no, that will take to long. Let me sum up."

I graduated magna cum laude from FHSU three weeks ago. I went St. Louis for a graduation party that was not my own. I visited my grandpa’s grave and saw my grandma cry for the first time since his funeral. I worked my last day at the GBS for a season and convinced my favorite coworkers to watch Napoleon Dynamite. I went to the most beautiful and enjoyable weddings with a couple of my favorite companions. We spent four in western Kansas before we even made it to CO. We had a fabulous time at the wedding and an even better time at the dance. We got home to Kansas at 4:30ish and left for Wichita at 7 p.m. I'm actually staying in Haysville.

My first morning at SHS was wild! After having been here for almost three hours and I had sat in a chair and waited for instructions for 45 min., attended my first Zinc team meeting, had my cubicle moved, got a new computer in my new cube, had a meeting on a project, met two other interns, got lost finding my desk, and wished I had packed some pictures to make it seem more like home! This afternoon I met with the other interns to work on our first project, got lost looking for the supply room, and perused magazines for good ads. Oh yeah, and my cubicle mate, Shawn, showed us how to scan. Which I could have figured out with my eyes closed. The hardest part would have been finding scanning room. Have I mentioned what a maze it is here? A-MAZING. Literally.

I have met at least 30 different people and have reintroduced myself to at least three. That’s not such a bad percentage, but doesn’t stifle the embarrassment. I shook hands with two managing partners. Then I asked them what they did and felt kinda dumb for not know that they were the bosses. Oh well.

I have decided since everyone who comes to introduce him/herself knows that I am the copywriter that the goal of my blogging this summer will be to improve my writing.. I have learned that within SHS graphic designers and copywriters are collectively referred to as “creatives” to help people begin understand that both jobs must exist simultaneously. So I have decided that for future reference, but summer title will be “Creative with an emphasis in words.”

I am very homesick right now. But if God wants a painting business, He should do the leading and we should do the work. Right, Damien?