Ike, Louisiana Downs, Grits...um, yeah!

To put this all in perspective I am in the Lafeyette Regional Airport right now 3.5 hours south of where I ate grits earlier this afternoon, have no rental car anymore, a flight that does not leave until 6am (it's 10pm now), and I have not slept for more than 30 minutes at a time since Wednesday night. Most of this is my fault. Some I do blame on nature. I tell you all this just to share. I really don't even think about my sleep deprivation until someone asks me how my travels have gone. Then I stop and think. Actually I have been going nonstop and haven't stopped to sleep. Am I making sense? My eyes keep blurring and I forget what I am saying.

After I finished all of my work on Friday I realized my flights in and out of Houston were definitely canceled. My original plans were to fly to Houston, do Kolaches, drive to Bossier City and eat grits, drive back to Houston and catch a flight to Chicago for jalapenos. Friday after work I made the realization that 2 of those 3 flights were 100% canceled. Long story, but I finally figured it would be the best financial decision to drive to Louisiana, etc. I called a rental car place at 5pm Friday and booked my car to leave at 6pm. I got out of Jacksonville proper at 6:20 pm and drove nonstop to Louisiana Downs where I arrived at 9am. I take that back. Twice I stopped at a gas station to sleep for 30 minutes, then grab a Monster Energy Drink and continue on. The grits were fun. Still a tasty southern dish, but this year they were much thicker which lowered the numbers quite a bit from last year.

After that contest I had to return my rental car to Lafayette airport. Don't ask me why NO rental cars take one-way rentals from Jacksonville, FL but they don't. At least none of the 6 that I asked on Friday. Only to here, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, etc. It turned out to be fairly good though since Ike went towards Shreveport and canceled flights up there. Since I had to drive south through the outskirts I managed to avoid the winds. I shouldn't speak yet though. My flight still doesn't leave for another 8 hours.

Then what Jalapenos? Wow. Normally I can take the heat, but I already feel abused. I know I will man up when it is time, but I won't think about it now. It hurts just thinking about it. Can you say masochistic? Can I spell it? I don't know.

Apparently ever single hotel is booked here in Lafayette. EVERY SINGLE ROOM! I was planning on sleeping at the gate while I waited for my flight to leave. I have this ability to sleep standing up in the middle of a mosh pit at a rock concert, so a quite terminal at night in a cushioned chair is like staying in a W hotel to me. Very posh. As it turns out this airport closes at 10pm and doesn't open again to 4am. I was kind of getting a bit worried I would have to sleep outside in the hurricane or find a Wal-Mart, Krystal or some 24 hour establishment to chill in after finding there were no hotel rooms at all. (I called about 14 hotels and they said they were booked and as far as they knew so was every other hotel.)

Well, I am typing here in the business center at 10:29pm. It is me, a few very nice female security guards, and absolute quite. I don't know why they are being so generous, but praise the Lord. I had no real promising place to go for the night, but they said I could stay here. Is that against airport security regulations? I don't know. I don't care right now either. I am going to find the most comfy chair in this airport (most likely the one I see across from me here in the business center), set the alarm on my phone and sleep like a baby.

Did I cover everything? I forget what I was talking about. I hope I hit all the high points.

Congrats to Juliet for getting a spot in the Krystal finals and all the other great performances. I heard some weird things about that contest, but I am sure the MLE will get it all worked out eventually.

Is the Krystal Final really coming that soon? Geez! I am going to be the best man for my roommate on a cruise this whole next Friday thru Monday in the Caribbean (if there aren't any hurricanes). I don't think they have any Krystal on the ship, but I know I will be eating as much as I can everyday to get my money's worth. :o) Yyyyuuuummmm! I don't really need any Krystal training. After more than 3 years I feel all foods that I eat are just coming pretty naturally now. What use to be a struggle is VERY comfortable now. I think the ease with which I am performing now means it is time to go to the next level. I look at that endeavor with great zeal and am greatly anticipating results.

My "quiet time" tonight I was reading 1 Corinthians chapter 9. It is all very good and I think you could see many connections with different versus to my life and maybe your own life too. The one that stuck out the most to me was 1 Corinthians 9:24 "Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it." Obviously in context this is talking about eternal life and salvation as you can see in the next verse when it says, "They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. " For me it is a great illustration though of how both spiritual life and athletic life take personal discipline, effort, and sacrifice to really get results to the fullest. Otherwise you are just running aimlessly or boxing as one beating air. (1 cor. 9:26)