Sunday, October 26, 2008

October 26, 2008 - Is it already the end of October?


Hey there, hi there and hello there everyone ... phew, this year is going by ridiculously fast I must say! I do owe a birthday wish to my cousin Kristi and a special hello to all you fans of Halloween; I can't wait for Friday;)

It was another swift week at Aflac, but not quite as crazy as weeks in the recent past. We finalized performance appraisals this week and I must say, bureaucracy does get to me a bit after a while. I think if people perform at a high level and exceed expectations that they should be recognized, but that's all I have to say about that. We continued planning activities for the various projects we're working on and it appears that we'll be doing quite a bit of planning in the coming weeks for 2009 ... yipppeee. The highlight of the work week though was a very unique opportunity that Aflac offers their employees with Habitat for Humanity. Over 900 of the 4,500 HQ employees put their name in the hat to be selected for the 250 spots to help build an Aflac Habitat House. I was very fortunate to be one of the chosen and was able to help out on the last work day ... yard work! After countless wheel barrels of dirt, pick-axe tilling, tree planting and hundreds of squares of sod being laid we finally completed the house. It only took Aflac 12 business days to build the house from ground up and on Friday we dedicated the house to Patricia, a very kind lady whom happened to be blind. She was moved by the support our group gave and it was very rewarding to see the happiness of her and her family when she was handed the keys to get a hand up ... not a hand out.

It was a pretty busy week on the volunteer front as well, which I always enjoy:) We had a couple YP meetings this week where we made a plan of action on how to fund raise for various events. In addition, I proposed the idea of the Get on Boards activity in Columbus, since it worked so well back in Cedar Rapids with the ol' MMC SIFErs, and everyone loved it. We should have a pretty eventful year for 2009 with the YP! Also, we had our quarterly Literacy Alliance board meeting. We learned about the Favorite Word project (now set for Sunday, December 7th) where we will feature local philanthropist, elementary aged kids, national celebrities like Vanna White and sports idols like Chipper Jones and John Smoltz as they display their favorite word to raise literacy awareness in our community. They asked me to be the project chair, but the event is pretty much set ... all I have to do is make sure people show up (which is a task at times:)

Of course I had to save the best for last as my soccer team, En Fuego, goes on to win our second straight game. We're 2-0 in the last two games, and if you count the scrimmage we won on Thursday, that's 3-0 ... never mind the 7 games to begin the season:) The kids had a great time and the parents were elated after the game. I have really seen the kids grow in the last few weeks as they're starting to play as a team and have some fun. One more game and then the tournament ... anything can happen.

Well, there's a busy week to be had this week again and I am looking forward to all the new things. I have my first Miss Georgia Pageant Board of Trustees meeting tomorrow, we have a leadership retreat for work on Wednesday, Halloween with the consumers at Easter Seals on Friday and the Steeplechase on Saturday ... what a week!

Dr. Robert Firestone is going to help me out with this week's morsel, "You're not going to find the meaning of life hidden under a rock written by someone else. You'll only find it by giving meaning to life from inside yourself." I truly believe in the power of giving back ... whether you coach a team, serve soup in a kitchen, teach a child to read or help to rebuild someone's life, it will change your life forever ... give giving a shot.
Until next weeek, have some wonderful days!
Alwayz,
Nate

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