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• Jazz at Hydro in Calistoga. A very good Saturday afternoon with @fireroadking http://twitpic.com/171wsk #
• Having dinner somewhere in North Beach tonight and then visits with Ron & Dick at eWinery Solutions and @CasaNuestra in Napa tomorrow! #
• Last night: Tadich Grill. Tonight: Aqua. SFO has too many good restaurants! Scomas tomorrow? Hmmm… #
• Kudos to the AA crew on flight 399 from DFW to SFO. Nicely done! #
• Headed out to the Left Coast for several days of work. And a couple days of "Napa stuff"… #

• 4 days on the ground. Yippee! #
• Gotta love the security lines at ATL. And I'm in the so-called fast lane! #
• Wow! Kim Yu Na! Just try to convince me that a creative, wonderful God did not knit her together. Beautiful talent! #
• 'Twas time for a Ruth's Chris steak. Hey! I earned that hunk o' protein! (And It IS almost Friday, right?) #
• Since I won't see ATL again for a while I thought I'd share a pic of spring budding outside my office. http://twitpic.com/15a3th #
• And Hertz gave me a brand new Altima–and had it ready in ATL! (A first for this location.) Must be livin' right… #
• I probably shouldn't jinx this, but American is getting bags delivered crazy fast lately. #
• A sparrow is dive-bombing me in the LAS airport terminal. #
• The line at airport security this morning belies the state of the economy… #
• ALMOST left my wallet in car at Park-N-Fly. Whew! Bottom line: it's too early for a flight. #
• Well, the rain won so I'm now inside and about to sleep in front of whatever is on the Olympics this afternoon. Zzzzz…. #
• Enjoying being outside this afternoon even thought it's starting to spritz a little. Nice change from hotels, restaurants, and planes! #

• Getting ready to rebuild my new Windows7 PC. I guess problems never really go away with new Microsoft releases. They just change symptoms… #
• Squeezing in a biz trip to LAS Monday before a 3-day visit to my office in ATL. But wishing I was at C3 in DFW now instead of here in PHL. #
• RT @JeffPelletier Fellowship Tech is expanding & hiring! 7 dev. jobs; 2 support agent jobs; 1 I.T. job; 1 sales job. // Plz RT in reply to JeffPelletier #
• The snow has NOT melted in DC. A bit chilly out! #
• If I could bet on whether the dude in front of me will slam his seat back a nano-second after take-off, I'd be right 98% of the time. #
• RT @markdavis Evan Bayh quits because Congress "isn't working?" Well, thanks for the exit ramp, http://tl.gd/9fb0m in reply to markdavis #

• Dancing with AA cause DFW to DCA cancelled due to weather. And it's more $$ to cancel that leg & its return than fly only SNA to DFW! Huh?! #

• After a series of flights on RJs it's nice to stretch out in row 6 on a flight to SNA. Zzzzzs comin' on! #
• RT @JeffPelletier Suffering well: Faith tested by pastor's cancer http://tinyurl.com/yhawo4p excellent article re: @MattChandler74 in reply to JeffPelletier #

• I wonder why iMExchange for iPhone lets you set tasks' due dates back to the 1800's. Just one of those things that make you go "hmmm…" #
• Yes, this should be fun today… http://twitpic.com/105tbh #
• I have this feeing about an on-time departure today… Snow is flyin' in CLE. #
• Went for a 30-minute walk around downtown Cleveland before an afternoon of conference calls. Brisk! #
• Headed out to CLE. Wish it was TOM instead. Enjoy the study, bros! #

• In competition with @jeffpelletier, on my way to ATL.. http://twitpic.com/z25fv #
• That's a HUGE win in MA today! An initial turn away from the statist agenda and back toward sanity. Still a long way to go but quite nice! #
• Realized today that Atlanta can be kinda pretty when it's not raining. First blue sky I've seen here. The locals say I missed all the fun… #

A couple months ago I posted about Archie, the Hertz courtesy bus driver in Atlanta, and his outlook on life, even as his job was being eliminated.  Last Thursday when I returned my rental car, Archie checked me in—with his trademark good nature. I was glad to see him and am happy he’s still working.  He’s a good man.

• In next 6 weeks on biz I'll visit (in order): ATL DFW CLE DFW HOU BNA DCA DFW LGA BOS DFW SFO ATL. Join me! Save me! #
• Well, I suppose it's official now… Sold the casa, stashed stuff in storage, and–the biggies–switched my PCs & watches to Eastern time… #

• All considered, it was a decent game that has an asterisk attached to it… So when does college football start up again!? #
• Good for Gibert! Malkin' a game of it. I suspect Colt's bringing the right stuff from the sideline. #
• 'Bama's gettin' off lucky so far… From a PACKED Bull & Bear in downtown Chicago. (Awesome Kobe sliders & sweet potato fries, by the way!) #
• Hey, in case you didn't know it… my mom, @barbanjo, rocks! Love you, mom! #
• http://twitpic.com/wzkey Made a little site visit in Chicago today. From a pit at the exchange–before we cleaned it! #
• The only part of my head that's not freezing right now is the part of my ear that has a geeky bluetooth stuck in it! Ah, Chicago! #
• Cowboys–Yeah, baby! Shuttin' 'em down two weeks in a row! Nice! #

This time of year when we look back at what was and forward to what may be, I received the following text message last night from a best friend.

Happy New Year!

With eyes wide open and my heart fractured, though open, and filled with painful loss, I look forward to a closer relationship with Jesus. He has always been there, and I have always felt his touch inside my soul, always there, patiently waiting with me, and for me.

I know how he misses me for my absence. My life has had an emptiness that dwells inside. It’s like I have been sitting in the front of the class, but never turned around to see who’s there. If I wasn’t so lost in trying to figure out why those in front of me were leaving—and why—I would have turned to Him for Him to console me, to lift me up in this dark season in my life.

It was Him, forgiving my absence. I will seek Him out with more commitment. He has always been there with me since I can remember, and I am sure He watched over me when I neglected his presence. He watched over me then; I feel him surrounding me more than ever. It is only now that I have been the one who has turned around to only find He was always there.

My dear lifelong friend, I thank you; actually I thank God for putting our lives together a long, long time ago. Your input in my life is without a doubt, because of the grace of God.

I love you my brother!

Powerful words.  May we all live forward in and through the grace of God.

• At Tom Nelson Bible Study. Got my Starbucks… Forgot my Bible. I wonder if I have priority issues? #
• RT: @JeffPelletier I realize leadership is not a popularity contest… but, when ~ 60% of Americans oppose your idea… // Exactly. #

Dear the Majority of Congress,

Enjoy the Christmas break! Why not add on another ten months to your recess—please. We’re all better off without you circus clowns being in town. Hopefully next November we’ll see new and improved acts. . .

Sincerely,

Mark

• NFL Network's graphic for tonight's game said it was a "Thursday Night Special". Oops… #
• Juuussst cuuurrrriousss… Do ttthey ppput shooccck absooorbbbnersss on ANY pparkking lllot shutttttle buuusssseessss? #
• http://twitpic.com/tkxa4 Merry Christmas from Union Plaza! #
• Greetings from SFO. Just glimpsed ESPN poll on MNF halftime show… 50 states think Cowboys will miss playoffs. Sounds about right. #
• Dear Dallas Cowboys: Watch the PHI/NYG game. Both teams are playing FOOTBALL. You might learn somethng… #

• Went into a store called Jo-Ann 'cause I thought they'd have what I needed. They did. But I gotta say, I like REI a whole lot more! #
• Great to learn from Tom Nelson this morning – joined by good friends. I've missed it the past few weeks. Thanks for your friendship guys. #