Sitting in Starbucks on Hwy. 92 near Trickum Road in Woodstock, reflecting on the day, the weekend, and pretty much the whole week last week. I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that I’m entering one of those infamous dark nights of the soul things. So maybe it might not be a great night to reinstitute the Unwind, but here goes…

  • I could have sat at my office and worked, but I needed — no, I wanted! — some Internet connectivity. Isn’t it strange that we want to be “connected,” so we sit — alone — in a coffee shop, surrounded by all kinds of people, that we don’t even know.
  • Yeah, don’t even get started on the glaring fact that even as 2009 is swiftly losing its identity into 2010, we have no Internet at our church office. I said don’t even get started!
  • It absolutely stinks to get old! I don’t recommend it to anybody!
  • But thanks for the birthday greetings last week!
  • I’m not ashamed to say that I’m glad to see my friend Gary Lamb back online on a regular basis. I know there are a lot of folks out there who are looking for any excuse they can find to bash Gary and sit in judgment on him. I love that guy, and yep, I’m pulling for him, big time!
  • There’s a gaggle of giggling Georgia Tech coeds in here right now. Man, they let 12- and 13-year-olds go to college! Amazing! (At least they aren’t some of the earlier-referenced “grazers” from that old Georgia Tech joke: “Why did they change to artificial turf at Georgia Tech’s stadium?”)
  • I came across a random article today about what happens when leaders lose their way. The abstract of the article says there are five perils of the leadership journey, “distinctive destructive behaviors that tend to occur in the hero stage of managers’ early careers: being an impostor, rationalizing, glory seeking, playing the loner and being a shooting star.” I’m wrestling with some of these things at this late-middle stage of my life.
  • Funny…Count Basie’s “Front Burner” is playing on iTunes, and in Starbucks at the same time!
  • 12 0f the 15 people inside Starbucks have their laptops open. Looks like 9 of those 12 are on Twitter right now! That’s funny! (BTW, the other 3 are playing poker. With real cards. Go figure!)