My Day with the Broward County Courts

I’m pretty ticked off at 500 people who live in Broward County.
I spent seven hours with them yesterday in a jury pool. I wanted to be there. They did not.

While I sat there so hoping to fulfill my civic duty of serving on a trial, allowing some defendant to get his or her fair day in court, everyone around me moaned and complained about having to be there and how awful it was the government made them do it.

And the scary thing is, I wouldn’t want some of them serving on a trial that would determine my fate! I mean, really … if you can’t follow simple instructions like “Don’t bring coffee into this room,” or “Don’t talk on your cell phone,” then how can you possibly interpret laws in a way to make a fair judgment on behalf of a defendant?

Yet, these are the people whose numbers kept being called while I sat and waited.

Perhaps God was protecting me. You see, I have an incredibly naïve and Polly-Anna perspective on life. Matt has denied my access to watching NBC Dateline because I end up in such a funk after watching it. Maybe the 27 trials in the Broward County courts yesterday were of such perverted and vile nature that God knew my brain couldn’t go there.

So, I’ll just have to settle for serving my civic duty when I go to vote in my first Broward County election on November 4. I hope my chads don’t hang.

The Biltmore: A Must-Do Experience

Though I know God has placed me in this location in the year 2008 for a specific reason, I sometimes wonder if I would have fit in better in centuries gone by.

I enjoy and appreciate modern conveniences, but I find myself longing for the world Jane Austen paints … women sipping tea and taking long walks with friends. The fast pace of progress has chiseled hard edges into the soft elegances of more genteel times.

Last week, my dear friend, Ali, and I stepped back in time and into the lobby of the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, FL – the oldest and most elegant area of Miami. You have to read this article to really appreciate this hotel, which was built in 1926.

Ali and I had a side lobby all to ourselves as we enjoyed afternoon tea next to antique birdcages and obnoxiously gigantic fireplaces that really serve no purpose in South Florida other than to be seen. As we enjoyed scones, finger sandwiches and petit fours, we pretended it was Ali’s dining room and this was a typical day in our life.

After several hours, we were brought back to reality by a group gathering for a corporate meeting in an adjoining conference room. To be candid, it was the obvious artwork of plastic surgeons that made us realize we were back in the 21st Century.

If you live in SoFlo, take a break from reality and indulge in some afternoon tea. If you live elsewhere and are in the midst of planning your winter visit to Mehaffey Bed and Breakfast, be sure to fit this treat into your vacation.

Force Fishhook

JD just posted the new photo of the Fishhook team on our Web site, and looking at it just wraps a smile completely around my ears.

These are some of my favorite people on earth. They’re scary smart — I’m so glad they use their powers for good. And, in the midst of the ultra-professional way they handle client work, not a single one of them takes him/herself too seriously.

Thanks to the magic of videoconferencing through Skype, I get to “see” most of them every week, despite the fact they are all 20 hours away.

What an incredible job I have! I can’t believe I get paid for this (but glad I do .

PS Tho she’s in the photo, Jenn was the photographer on this one. She has a FANTASTIC photo-artist eye. Check out her work here.

Mehaffeys are Ready for some Football

Even tho it’s 90 degrees outside, there will still be a pot of chili on our stove today. It’s the first official NFL Sunday … and in my mind that means the beginning of Fall.

This year, our Fantasy Football league has extended to two leagues, full of Pursuit peeps.

Here’s who’s representing The Fighting Peezers this year, ready to defend our league title:

QBs: Tom Brady, Philip Rivers, Kurt Warner
RBs: Joseph Addai, Edgerrin James, Willie Parker, Ryan Grand, DeAngelo Williams
WRs: Santonio Holmes, Andre Johnson, Donte Stallworth, Rodd White
TEs: Antonio Gates, Dustin Keller
K: Nick Folk
D/ST: Steelers

All Dressed Up with a Great Place to Go

In 11 days, church communicators will converge on Oklahoma City at MinistryCOM, the biggest gathering of this uniquely gifted group of ministers.

Force Fishhook has been all a buzz preparing for the conference. We’re tying a bow on some great tools designed to spur church communicators on in their work, while also introducing Fishhook to those who might not know who we are or what we do:

Evan‘s workshop will undoubtedly help you “Keep the Creativity Flowing.”

Leah‘s workshop will challenge you to ask if your church’s “PR needs the ER.”

JD has given the Fishhook Web site a fresh look that he describes as “kitchy.”

I’m suppose to be finishing up some text for a company brochure. (The pressure of writing for my own peeps has me paralyzed a bit.)

And Jenn … well, I can’t tell you what Jenn is working on. But if you’re going to MinCOM, be sure to stop by the Fishhook booth to pick up our give-away. It will make you laugh out loud.

If you aren’t going to MinCOM, send us an email. I’ll see if we can drop one in the mail to you.

My Facebook Anniversary

On a bus somewhere around Bowling Green, KY, my friends JD, Jeff and Jenn convinced me to get on my iPhone and sign up for Facebook.
I balked, thinking it was just another animal to feed. Now a year later, Facebook has become one of the top five Web sites I visit every day. Why?

1. Having moved 20 hours from a huge friend base in Indy, it maintains the umbilical cord to day-to-day life up there.

2. As I meet new friends in SoFlo, it gives me quick insights to their lives … and connects me to their friends around the world.

3. Now that Matt’s out of youth ministry, it gives me my daily dose of pop culture.

4. Preparing for my reunion, it caught me up on friends’ lives so my conversations at the reunion could go beyond “what have you been up to for the past 20 years?”

5. After losing touch with too many college friends, it has reconnected me with Kappa Delta sisters and fellow Hilltoppers who crack me up and make me smile.

6. Transcending multi-generational lines, it links me to an array of peeps from high school friend, Rachel, to “retired” TPCC sr. pastor Howard.

What annoys me about Facebook?

1. Matt has way more friends than I do.

2. I keep forgetting about my virtual dog, so other people have had to feed and play with him.

Summer in My Rearview Mirror

My nephew, Sean, goes back to school later than any kid I know, so when he does I consider it the official end of summer. He went back this week, so I guess summer 2008 is a wrap.

Before I pull out the Fall decorations and start lighting the pumpkin candles, I wanted to celebrate some highlights from the past few months:


1. Matt surprised me with a Miami Art Deco tour for my birthday. Here we are waiting out the rain.

2. Tamara and Sheri at our international party.

3. Matt and me playing the Clauses at Christmas in July for the Homeless.

4. Bingo at Century Village with Linda.

5. Trying to convince Jeter that a kiddy pool is as good as the big pool in which he learned to swim in Orlando.

6. Reuniting with my ultra-talented friend, Lark, at my 20 year reunion.

7. Celebrating my namesake and great-niece, Emma Jane’s birthday, along with her uncle and cousins.

8. Poppers and Trinity.

9. The Pursuit’s school supply collection.

10. Getting to meet our newest nephew, Ryne.

11. Ryne with all his Mehaffey cousins.

Signs of Aging

Every summer when I was growing up, I’d drive by and see these marquee signs outside high schools and think, “Good grief, those people must be old.”

Today my dad drove me on the old route we used to take to school on the days he would drive me and I didn’t have to be one of the only seniors on the school bus. This is what we came upon as we approached my high school.

It’s all relative, isn’t it?

PS Still haven’t heard song memories from a lot of you readers out there. Come on! Who’s your fav? Aerosmith? Twisted Sister? U2? The Police? Olivia Newton John? The Boss? Milli Vanilli? (I can’t believe I put all those groups in the same paragraph.)

Retroactive Irony

I find it refreshingly ironic that The Pursuit is launching its “Retro” sermon series around the same time I head to Louisville for my 20th high school class reunion.

When I get our scanner fixed, I’ll post some classic big-haired 80s photos of myself for your amusement.

Meanwhile, Alex is collecting songs from the 60s, 70s and 80s for the band to cover during the series. What do you recommend? Beatles? Elton John? Michael Jackson? Tiffany?

Oh, and in case you’re wondering … my prom theme in 1988: “I Had the Time of My Life” from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack.

What’s Your Creative Financial Plan?

I’m caught up on post-vacation email-palooza and have had an incredibly fun week diving into some Fishhook projects. I have a lot to capture from vacation — no Internet while we were there. Meant we couldn’t blog, but also meant we could just veg. Didn’t realize how much I needed that.

Anyway, I had this quick thought today and wanted to get it in writing …

When I started working for the American Diabetes Association 14 years ago, I became very aware that the way someone with diabetes eats is the way all of us should eat all the time … low carbs, high proteins, fruits and vegetables.

Last night Matt and I were walking Jeter and talking about the economy. It got me to thinking that in these times when funds are tight and expenses are high, all of us are being forced to live the way we ought to live in any time, including those of abundance.

I read this quote today from Winston Churchill:

“We have no money therefore we must think.”

Tight times provoke creative minds. Matt and I are thinking of all kinds of ways to cut costs and increase income by selling things on Ebay, etc. Even though we’ve been through Crown Ministry classes and are well on our way to freedom from debt, this new economy is forcing us to think even more creatively and strategically.

I’m sure you guys have been provoked to do the same. What are some fresh approaches you guys are coming up with?