I must admit that most people would not become a freelancer the same way I am. Since I am quitting my job before doing any freelance work, it’s frightening. I think I’m learning a lot about myself and human nature through this process.

I made the decision after praying a lot, fasting, studying the Bible, and looking into my own heart and dreams. I felt peace, and that God was putting the decision in my hand. He would be with me on either path I walked.

So I submitted my resignation.

Today is my last day of work, and tomorrow I’m solely a freelance graphic designer. I’ll tell you something… when you think about something, it’s exciting. When you step out and actually do it, that’s where the adventure takes over. It’s a lot easier to criticize how someone else is making decisions when you are on the sidelines. When you jump into the process and step out, that’s when you find out what you’re made of.

I’m diving in.

I think that a few people might find this Bible Style Guide interesting. It’s a style guide to help explain Bible terms for journalists or others who want to know some more about the Bible and terms surrounding it. Sounds boring, right?

I downloaded it and it’s actually very cool. It’s modern, well designed visually, and interesting. Plus free. Which is always awesome.

I’m so excited… I wish it were coming out this year!

Newest Trailer




1st Trailer

It took me a long time to get back home to Tulsa… and I’ve never been so happy to see the Tulsa Airport.

Yesterday Josh and I got to the Atlanta airport at about 11:30 am. Josh had a different flight than I did, since he was expecting to be traveling elsewhere for football, but turns out they wanted him at the Oklahoma game. Being the case, he booked the cheapest ticket he could back to Tulsa from Atlanta - through LaGuardia and Cincinnati. Two connections in order to get from point A to B - what usually is an hour and a half flight. I had a single connection through Houston. We asked right away whether we could change our flights. My flight wasn’t until 6:50 pm though, and I was too early to deal with yet. Also, my ticket was an airline joint effort (Delta from Atlanta to Houston, Continental from Houston to Tulsa), and Continental had control of the ticket. Since I’m nobody with Continental, and Josh and I are both medallion status with Delta, we wanted to deal with them. Especially since Atlanta is a Delta hub.

So, we stayed on our flights, and wanted to keep our eyes open for delays… if my flight got delayed, I’d probably miss my connection. Then I’d have a good excuse to switch flights to a direct flight. So… I hung out at the airport for the whole day. It was a gloomy, rainy, gray day. I watched the board incessantly for delays.

As I sat by my gate when the flight got closer, the gate agent announced that our flight was delayed until 7:10 pm. I went straight up to her to see if she could switch me, since that was really going to be pushing it. But she left and said she would be right back. I waited, since I’d seen the line at the Delta help counters in the center of the terminal. I did call Delta’s 800 number, and spoke to an agent that told me Continental had control of my ticket. I then called Continental’s 800 number. The man I spoke to there told me that Delta now had control, so I thanked him and finally spoke to the gate agent who had finally returned a half hour later. It was now close to our boarding time, and the agent told me that all the direct flights were full. I asked her if I should go and wait by one of those gates, just in case they could get me on. She discouraged that because I would then miss my own flight, and any chance of reaching my connection. I asked what my options were if we missed my connection. She said that there was one other flight later, and she confirmed me on it (this was a lie, but I believed her, to my regret).

Josh checked with the Delta agents when he arrived in Tulsa (seems going all the way to New York is the better way to go). They informed him that the direct flights arrived later that night with several seats empty.

So I got on my original flight, with the gate agent’s assurance that I would still get home. We sat on the runway for a long time. We didn’t leave Atlanta until an hour after our flight was supposed to originally. When we landed in Houston, our Tulsa flight had already left. I said our, since there was a large number of people on our flight that had been making for Tulsa… not that 10 people on a 40 seat flight were worth waiting for…

I asked the agent if I could get on the flight to OKC instead… she first took a long time to explain things to the person in front of me. In hindsight, this was my second mistake. I should have booked it to the other terminal and tried to get on this flight. BY the time I talked to the agent, and she told me the flight was full, and tried to book on something the next day, the OKC flight (seats full or not) was too close to boarding for me to make it.

I was distraught. I had never been stuck overnight in an airport before. And Josh was still in the air, so I couldn’t ask him what I should do. After moping for a little while, I looked for a hotel, and got a reasonable price, then met the shuttle and got to the hotel.

Today I got to the airport for more interesting airline fun. I got confirmed originally on American Airlines, but Josh warned me that it’s more complicated, and it did take a long time to get my boarding passes. Finally I got them, and through security, and onto my new route… to Dallas and then Tulsa. Sigh… two days full of airports. I’m tired of airports.

What I’ve learned… when you have an alarmingly close connection, it’s better to stay in the airport with more direct flights, and get stranded there than in an airport with few direct flights and only connections to your destination. Also, it’s good to know the flight schedules, and not trust what the gate agent tells you.

Josh and I just spent the week in Atlanta for work, but we had some free time and were able to check out some of the sights.

We stayed in the La Quinta Inn Atlanta Marietta. It was clean and affordable, but the beds were hard. I was also not a fan of the window-side air conditioning.

For attractions, we checked out the New World of Coca-Cola, CNN studio tours, Stone Mountain Park, and the Georgia Aquarium.

The New World of Coca-Cola

This attraction has just been updated in the last couple of years, and I didn’t visit it previously, so I’m not sure how it compares, but it was a very enjoyable trip. If you love to see old retro advertising, or hear about how one of the biggest companies in the world got its start, you’ll enjoy this place. The attraction has a little bit for everyone in the family: history, art, and even a 4D movie that kids and adults will enjoy. Plus, at the end, taste Coca-Cola products from around the world. I must say that this company is the master at branding. Where most companies feel they need to emphasize a lot of different messages, Coca-Cola is very clear that their goal is to give their customers a drink that is fun and refreshing. Coca-Cola is a part of the fabric of American life, and if Christianity could be so unified and purposeful in their infuence, we too might have the power to reach into the lives of people in every corner store around the world.

CNN Studio Tours

Visiting the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta will give you a greater appreciation into the scope of this Turner company. The building is enormous, and there are more offices around the world. The tour was not very eye-opening for Josh and I, being already involved in television production. There were lookout rooms into the floor of the news rooms, and a tour guide who showed us what the director sees in the control room, as well as explaining things such as teleprompters and IFBs. One thing that I didn’t know: the cameras are all unmanned, and operated by remote control. That makes a lot of sense in the studio, since the talent doesn’t move around very much while they read the news. I would have liked to see a lot more, like into their control rooms, but it was more of an overview of how news gets to the people, as opposed to all the behind the scenes work that I’m more interested in.

Stone Mountain Park

What a joke. We went here on Thursday, and almost everything was closed. We talked to one of the few employees on duty, who told us it was a “low attraction” day, in which most things are closed because of the low number of people who they expect on that day. I found it amusing that they were still selling day passes to various amusements for $20. That $20 covers going into one historical building and into one film. There were also 2 shops open and one restaurant. On Friday, for $28 you would be able to take part in a large number of attractions that were not open on Thursday. We were most disappointed that the Sky Lift was closed, so that we couldn’t ride up to the top of Stone Mountain. The area itself was very beautiful, and we were planning on going hiking on some of the nature trails, but when we drove towards the start of them, we found the road barricaded and watched by police. No vehicles, bicycles, or pedestrial traffic was allowed past. The park, for us, turned out to be a total flop. It would have been nice to be informed at the gate about the lack of activities available, before paying $8 to get in.

The Georgia Aquarium

This was well worth the time and money. Apparently the largest aquarium in the world, it was definitely the most spectacular one that I have visited. They are currently constructing a new dolphin area, to be completely in 2010, and the penguins are also currently off-exibit as well, since their area is being remodeled as well. There are still plenty of fish and aqua-animals to see and touch.

My personal favorite was the extremely large tank containing the ocean fish and sharks. This tank is so large that they have viewing areas all around it in the walls, and an underwater tunnel to walk through, and finally you arrive at an enormous viewing wall, with seats, in which a large number of people can sit and watch the underwater world unfold before them. The Georgia Aquarium recently brought in a Manta Ray, which was surprisingly large, and one of the attendants informed me that it was nine feet across. It swam over my head and was amazing.

Josh’s favorite was the beluga whales. They were beautiful, and we were able to hear an informative presentation about them when we arrived at their exibit. We were able to watch the priahanas feed, as well as the whale sharks. It was a lot of fun. There were many picture opportunities, and the tank glass was kept clean by scuba-diving employees, which allowed everyone to enjoy the breathtaking views. Don’t miss out on this experience.

Places to Eat

We ate at many restaurants, but two that I’d like to highlight are Three Bears Cafe and Marietta Diner.

Three Bears Cafe is a cute little storefront restaurant in the central square of Marietta, GA. It seems to cater to the music scene in the evenings, but we visited it for breakfast and had the most delicious, healthy food. We sat outside and enjoyed the gorgeous weather, while also eating fresh, healthy food. Lots of options, but everything looked good.

Marietta Diner was also a surprise. From the outside, the building is chrome and looks like one of those ’50s style burger restaurants, but when you step inside, the interior is classy and modern. They have everything on their menu, but notibly, a lot of Greek selections. Our server was (I’m guessing) Greek as well, and everything was good. Don’t be scared off by the outside of this place, if you’re looking for Greek, Italian, or good southern favorites, stop in here.