Today’s Random Amazon Haul – 9/25/17

1. Another spiralizer like from the last post; that post can be found here.
2. 2-Two different face scrubs
3. Nose hair trimmer
4. Kitchen scissors
5. Coffee grinder

Crap, this isn’t sounding so random when I write it down. The people that I live with get a kick out of it when these packages come.

Fantasy Football Craziness

I had a really weird first week of the 2017 fantasy football season. I am in a league that has been pretty much the same people for the past 3 years. All local people and friends or friends of friends and new teams every year. I won the first year so clearly none of us are experts. For some reason it is a 3 WR league.

A lot of weirdness happens in fantasy football but this week felt like most bizarre week that I have ever had. I will go over the events in order.

• Tampa Bay, my defense, has a sudden bye because of the hurricane. The free agent teams are a joke but I grab the Colts figuring at the very least they will win their game. LMFAO, Jared Goff played like Joe Montana for the first time in his life.
• Odell Beckham Jr, my first pick is out.
• 2 of my starting WRs go down with season ending injuries during their games. Goodbye Allen Robinson and Kevin White in a league where every half decent WR is taken.
• Thanks in part to my opponent losing David Johnson, Yahoo gives me an 80% chance to win my matchup at the end of the night despite Tyler Eifert, Colts defense, and the injuries.
• I need Adrian Peterson and Brandon McManus to put up 10 points to win. I basically have this game locked, right?
• Peterson has 18 rush yards in his game. No problem, McManus just needs 3 field goals that aren’t extra points in his game. That doesn’t happen either.
• After being favored by 80% to start the day, I lose.

Right now I am in this weird post college graduation limbo. Finding a full-time job in this climate with a company that has any values feels impossible. I don’t have a paying job but I am busy with things that aren’t paying. This week, there were two kind of related situations where I realized the absurdity of our current economy. I have always been active in the community whether it is coaching, PTA, or church.
Until this past week, I didn’t realize that being an active member of board meetings was a true skill. Sure it is something great to put on a resume but let’s face it: things that look great on a resume and skills are two separate facets. These are meetings where we make decisions that affect a ton of people and can have a bigger impact than some realize, oh crap it sounds like I am being groomed for politics, ahhhhhh. Anyway information and decisions made in them is sensitive. Since we are making big decisions things that are said don’t need to be heard by everyone. For example I proposed the idea of becoming a Sunday school teacher at my church. This had to be talked about in a meeting. I figured it was something that would be discussed but if it was decided that they thought that I wouldn’t be a good fit, then I would never hear about it. If something negative is said about me in the meeting, I don’t want to know nor do I think it is important for me to know as it is the decision that matters. I don’t need to hear that …. said this about me and they think I will turn the kids into devil worshippers. All I need to hear is ‘we didn’t see a fit’ and we all shake hands afterward. It is civil, we both keep our respect for each other; and there is some if you are dealing with people with integrity like most people in these meetings have. So for the record, this did not happen. In fact, I will probably be a Sunday school teacher. My point is that I never realized that keeping the confidentially of these meetings was a skill. I think of it as ‘corporate tact.’ It wasn’t until someone’s actions showed me that it was a skill.
This leads me to my other point. There is a handful of people I know who are struggling in the world like I am. We sit in on these meetings, next to people making amazing money at their jobs and get paid for things that we have skills for. Community leadership brings various demographics together. Here is the thing though, lower tax brackets doesn’t translate to being the idiot of the meeting. There is one person I know who is working his butt off at two minimum wage jobs but is basically doing the work of a high-powered executive at these meetings. He, along with several other people who I know, are at times the smartest people in the room at these meetings. This actually gives me confidence that I can succeed in the world. I just need the door to not be slammed in my face or my resume to be looked at. These resume builders are making me stronger and giving me confidence in my skills; skills that I didn’t even know I had.
Here is the crazy thing, I love what I do. I will do this when I have a full-time job because doing good in community is the most important thing to me.

Today’s Random Amazon Haul – 9/5/17

I get the most random stuff on Amazon. Sometimes it is because I want it, sometimes to review,sometimes for a gift, and sometimes just because. So inspired by the people I live with who get a kick at the random assortment of things that come in these packages. I will not give a reason for getting these things. Instead think of this as viewing into my junk drawer. You get it because you may need it for a second, whether for you or for someone else. I am a firm believer in less is more but for the most part I get these things because amazing deals fall into my lap and I would be an idiot to say pass them up. As a highly budget conscious person, I do not buy things without reason unless they are sports cards. So today’s haul:

1. Cast Iron Rotating Spiralizer Peeler for Countertop with Stainless Steel Blades
2. USB Charger. – okay not so random but together with the peeler made it random

Praying

I have been told by people deep in members of three different congregations that there isn’t a wrong way to pray. I just wanted to take a second to share a little thing that I do when I pray. When I pray I don’t put my palms together. Instead I open my hands to show God that God is welcome to join me. This way my hands are open to God and inviting God. Sometimes I even move my fingers as if say please come join me. I guess I figure if I am praying to God, I better be welcoming.