Bag of Randomness for Labor Day 2015

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  • Somewhere in Wise County a lawyer is thinking he’s the hardest working man in the blog business.
  • I promise this will be the last time I talk about turning 40, I’m sure you’re sick of it by now, and I can’t blame ya.  And by now, I’m finally over any baggage that came with it.  But some cool things happened over the weekend that were birthday related and I wanted to share.
    • Because I was away last weekend on my actual birthday, my closest friends wanted to do something for me the following weekend.  So they came down on Friday and had a surprise waiting for me.  Originally we were just going to eat in Fort Worth and watch the Rangers game at a sports bar, but they upped their game.
    • This is how fortunate I am when it comes to these friendships:
      • One of them I’ve known since kindergarten because we were in the same class.  We roomed together in college and after college, twice.  Our first job out of college was at the same company and we worked a row apart from each other, and we maintain close contact today.
      • I’ve known another since elementary school and also roomed with him for a short stint in college.  Right now he’s the interim executive pastor and the university pastor at the church we all attended while in college.
      • Another I’ve known since the eighth grade and his father was our pastor who later officiated my wedding.  I never roomed with the guy, but he did attend college with me and the other two.  He’s the head pastor at a church in our hometown of Mineral Wells.
      • I’ve known this last friend before I even knew him.  He was someone I always saw working in the grocery store in my hometown, but since he lived in another town close by, I never actually got to know him.  One day I spotted him in college and no one has made such a stronger effort to keep in touch and be supportive through his actions.  And no other person has been more loving towards my family.
    • My friends aren’t perfect, they don’t always say or do the right things, and they frustrate the hell out of me because of this and that and that and this.  And I know I do the same to them.  But we all have substance with one another, and with substance, you have an unshakable bond and understanding that can’t be replicated. They were all present for both of my parent’s funerals and my wedding, and they made time to celebrate my 40th birthday with me.  We’re all adults with families and careers, so our lives are busy.  The two pastors are in a very busy part of the year, they both have four children each, and both traveled somewhat far just to hang with me for an evening.  I recognize the sacrifice from all four of them, and I’m touched they accept me for just being Keith.  You only know a version of me from a silly blog, they pretty much know all the good and bad because they’ve witnessed it for decades.
    • Once the entire gang arrived at GeedingManor, we all hopped in my SUV to drive to Richardson.  You know what makes a man feel good?  When you clean the vehicle so well the day before, one of the friends asks if it’s new.  But if the kids didn’t have a Cheez-Its war, I wouldn’t have cleaned it so well.  Orange crumbs on gray/black upholstery is a challenge.
    • The plan was to first eat at Pappasito’s and then to the surprise location.  Pappasito’s was too busy, so I talked the gang into going to one of my favorite places just around the corner, Haystack Burgers and Barley, which is owned by a fellow Hardin-Simmons alumnus and a place I’ve written about many a time.  When we walked in, I told the owner that I brought in four guys from HSU and they told him it was my birthday, but he didn’t seem to care about either of those things.  One of the Baptist pastors insisted on paying for my meal, which I reluctant agreed to, but I made sure to pick up my own alcoholic beverage out respect for his generosity and his faith.
    • After dinner, they instructed me to drive down a long dark road.  I didn’t have a clue what where we were going or what we were going to do, but the neighborhood started to get questionable and they were throwing some good old man jabs my way.  After getting lost a few times, we finally made it to our destination.
    • Escape Expert has five escape room themes or concepts with a series of challenges in which you solve puzzles and crack codes to open a series of locks to more challenges in hopes of escaping within an hour.  My friends booked the Secret Vault experience.
    • You first enter an orientation room and I felt sorry for the three girls, all about twenty-two years of age, that were stuck doing this challenge with a bunch of thirty-nine-year-old men and one forty-year-old.  I’m sure they were hoping for some attractive men closer to their age, but they were troopers and really cool.  Later, some guys wearing University of Alabama stuff, in for the game at AT&T Stadium, arrived but they were part of a different experience.  Right when they walked in I yelled, “WAR EAGLE!” but they were such good-natured dudes, they just laughed and we all just started chit-chatting.
    • I don’t want to give much of the experience away, as I don’t want to hurt the business or ruin the experience for anyone.  But basically, there were a lot of combination locks to unlock after solving riddles and clues to lead to each combination.  You had to do a lot of counting, basic math, and use a lot of observational skills to hunt for clues on walls, inside books, and a few other things.
    • I loved the experience.  It felt like we were back in high school and college again, being competitive but leaning on each other.  Since college and marriage, I don’t think we’ve had a chance to interact in this way, so it was great to get these old feelings again.  I’m also happy we got teamed with these girls because they were uber chill, super friendly, helpful and pretty darn clever.
    • For a lot of the challenge, I wasn’t feeling particularly useful.  I’ve always been in awe of how my friends are able to grasps concepts quickly and move on to the next thing, and that I never could keep up.  But right when we were all stuck with time getting close, I found the second to last combination lock which gave us the clue to unluck the one lock on the door.  Since it was my birthday, they gave me the honor of opening the last lock to allow us to escape the room.  We weren’t actually locked in the room, that goes against city code, but it was a box that had a red timer that stopped the countdown clock which stopped at 6:29.
    • After the challenge, they give you all sorts of stats of how you compared to past teams regarding total time and each challenge, and they even break some down to the sexes.  After the debrief, we got to take a team picture.
    • And just like that, the night was over.  Everyone had to get back home to their families for a busy weekend, and I was left with a terrific memory with my closest friends for my 40th birthday.
  • I was impressed with DirecTV’s service the other day.  When I wanted to take advantage of the Equipment Protection Program I’ve been paying for regarding a dying DVR I wanted to replace (instead of an upgrade b/c I didn’t want to commit to a contract for new equipment), the first rep said that couldn’t happen and so I requested to close my account.  The rep I was transferred to said there wasn’t a need to close the account and she could easily send a replacement DVR, but it would take three to five business days, which I didn’t have a problem with.  However, they actually overnighted the DVR via FedEx, which was most impressive.  But then again, I did get an email the next day stating I committed to a two-year contract, which resulted in another call, and thankfully they worked everything out.
  • Wild staring Reese Witherspoon came on HBO, and since I did my climb I thought I’d give it a watch.  It wasn’t as good as I expected from the reviews and the Oscar nominations, and I surprised with the amount of nudity by Witherspoon.  Usually, the more established the actor, the less nudity, and I’m not sure it added that much more to the movie.
  • Pottery Barn’s $4,000 Millennium Falcon Bed
  • Today’s dose of ‘MURICA – Number of US babies being named after guns on the increase
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2 Responses to Bag of Randomness for Labor Day 2015

  1. Melissa says:

    mmm…mmm…i love Pappasito's…the last time i flew out of DFW, i saw one in the airport and grabbed a taco; and now i want to come to TX just to eat!!!! and that birthday adventure sounds FUN!!! good friends, good times!

  2. Ben W. says:

    Pappasito's is great, even if it's been dethroned from #1 in our family by Chuy's.

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