Monday, March 29, 2010

Wrong Turn

When I left New Jersey I thought that I was leaving all the craziness of odd traffic patterns, poorly planned parking lots, and trolls that guarded Philly. I mean tolls.

I was wrong. Very Wrong. The roads here are on a totally different level. (Crazy quick on and off ramps and speed limits of 70).  Everything is highway and most of the highways have roads that run beside them. The catch is.... Highways have tolls.
In New Jersey a Fast Pass would speed things up instead of having to use change... here there isnt even a place for change! If you dont have a pass they photo your car and send you a bill. Fortunately I'm borrowing a car with a different address--- totally kidding!

Yesterday I went out to try to check out a 7pm church service on Walnut hill street. Unfortunately, I typed in Walnut Street Dallas.
As I drove my manly intimidating car through the slums of South Dallas, I realized, I might as well be in a golf cart. So as soon as I saw what looked to be a drug deal, I spun around and got out of there quick. I then calmly put in the Right address.

When my Garmin led me to the right address I found myself on an unpaved road leading off into the distance surrounded by trees....

Two Strikes were enough for me.. I gave up, Went Home and Ate Dinner.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

My Sweet Whip

Last Night I was extremely blessed to be handed the keys of this car to borrow. Check her out!


I know what most of you are thinking... and "NO", I argue, this is not a girly car.
Despite receiving a few cat calls while driving around today with the top down in sunny Dallas, a free car is a manly car... period.

While I have yet to drive it into our facility, I am eager to turn a few heads in this baby!

In all seriousness I can not express how thankful I am to have some wheels here.  I already felt like a burden to some of the guys while asking for rides and it was tough being confined to my 1 room studio hotel room (future "cribs" blog to come) with no where to go. Thanks to everyone praying for me, this was a huge means of God's grace to me!

Blessed
Connor

Friday, March 26, 2010

Attempt to Blog

Hey Everybody, or nobody, depending on if anyone actually reads this.
I figured since I had some free time I would try my hand at this new-fangled phenomena called blogging.

So here goes,
I was recently signed by the Dallas Cowboys and am now here participating in Off Season workouts. If you wanna keep updated with whats going on here feel free to check out my blog at times.

If your wondering, what's with the name, well I was going to try to teach kicking lessons and use this as a homepage but figured this would be more appropriate to put effort into for the time being. So here goes....

Crazy Trip

"Oh my Stars and Bars," as I've hear it said before down south. I hope the rest of my stay here is nothing like my trip was.

It tipped me off when I checked the flight status the day before and couldn't find my flight anywhere. But I figured it would be fine seeing how all things seem to work themselves out. I was wrong, or right I guess.

As I drove up the airport I couldn't figure out on the first go around where I needed to be to park for 30 minutes or so. Instead I drove into and through the departures, past all the gates, and got back on the ramp to make another pass... Wrong ramp. Instead I found myself on 95 south!

No big deal. I turned around 2 miles later and took another go -- fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me-- type thing. This time i figured I'd just park next to my airline, leave Bekah there at the car, and then come back out once i was checked in --- why all the hassle? Well, I had two big bags (big), a guitar, a carry on and a laptop bag. I thought it might be easier in phases.

Well, I went inside and the flight which i was "booked" did not exist. Not only did it "not exist" there wasnt even a flight at that airport headed for DFW at the time. I ran back out the door with my "big three" (or stumbled really) and saw Bekah a little shook up. It seems I had parked in a pedestrian walkway, even though its never used, and a custodian had come out and yelled at her to move.

A minute later while I was on the phone a COP came up too! Praise God that he was kind to us after explanation and directed us where to go park. A ticket should have been warranted for my little parking shenanigan.

Finally, after some struggle I straightened out everything with the Adam from the Cowboys and he set a flight for 6:10. I was very thankful for the extra time I was able to spend there with Bekah.

We decided to go ahead and check in and then take it easy the rest of the time, GOOD THING. Upon Checking in I found out my third checked bag alone costs 100 dollars tallying my total baggage fee to 160 - I gasped for air and called Adam again....Thank you Cowboys for picking up that tab... i hope.

After the check in process (i left out the crowded part) we decided to take a peek at the security line...
Now, I am thankful for the added safety of the Security Alert, but I'm not sure that safety translated into efficiency. The line for Security was "around the corner" as the loud lady yelled and half way down the mile long hall. So much for taking it easy.

Everything from that point on went pretty smoothly though (despite having to say goodbye to my girlfriend of just under a month and a half while standing in a line with an audience of strangers). And nothing out of the norm until after the extra long flight due to storms (and the intercom lady tricked me out of another hour of sleep) when I finally got to my hotel where my room was... not reserved. I calmly and graciously replied to the manager, "I'm not surprised." Fortunately for me the only room left at the inn was the King Executive Suite.


PS
Mad props to my man Adam from the Cowboys for hanging in there despite my numerous calls. Thanks for your help man. And huge thanks to Bekah for the bag of goodies that supplied my dinner for the night and smelled so good.