Taking control!

The beginning of the school year is quickly approaching and because I'm a minor, I can only work after 4pm and before 10pm on weekdays at Wal-Mart. But I set my availability to what I want and I'm taking control. After a spring of scheduling that left a bad taste in my mouth due to a lack of ability to have a social life, I'm going to guard my time carefully this fall. It may mean less hours and thus less money (if they schedule me to the max., it will be 23 hours instead of 25, $15 less than usual, not bad at all). But I will be able to go to Pure Energy youth choir on Sundays, Bible study on Mondays, IMPACT on Wednesday nights, and have Friday nights open for high school football or hanging out. I will not let Wal-Mart control me and my life this fall and that makes me happy.

In other news, my sister's birthday is a week away so that's exciting. My grandparents and uncle are coming in for a few days in the next few days so that will be fun.

Went to the Travelers-Cardinals AA minor league game yesterday, that was fun though we had to leave before the end of the game to get back by 10:30. Had a good time with friends though.

Football is coming back! The Cowboys opened their training camp yesterday. Their first preseason game is August 9!

The "Salt Bowl", the rivalry between Benton and Bryant, is played on August 31 at War Memorial Stadium so that's exciting too.

I'm taking two college classes at Pulaski Tech this fall: Composition 1 and American History so that will be interesting. Starts August 20.

I guess that's it. Only 6 months until LOST returns!!! To pass the time I've been watching the weekly reruns of The Office and watching the season 3 finale every once in awhile.

Have a great rest of the summer!
-Kevin C. Burns

Success!

After around 20 hours of waiting in line, the 52 free combos were received by my mom this morning around 6:05am!

Last night was pretty cool with DJs and party music plus KATV channel 7 (video from the newscast coming soon) plus some good ole four square, which is a fun game, plus Sean Michel, of American Idol fame, dancing around and playing his guitar and drum plus free icedream (Chick-fil-A's ice cream) plus free chicken nuggets and more. I had a good time. Laid down on the air mattresses around 2:15 and got up around 5:30. Loaded the car, got the coupons, headed home, showered and slept for four hours.

About to head back and grab some (free!) lunch. I definitely want to do this again when I turn 18 and go with friends to one, that would be a blast. What a great experience! I love Chick-fil-A! And the new store in Bryant is awesome, by the way. Check it out.

Pictures coming later.

-Kevin C. Burns

16 hours away...it's getting hotter...

More people have come and the number is almost to 30. There's a group of 50 youth (college kids?) on their way from Jackson, Tennessee. We'll see if there are 50 spots left when they get here. They've done a few other openings. You do 5 or 6 of these and you've got free Chick-Fil-A every day for a year. This would be a fun thing to do with a group of friends. What better than some bonding time waiting in line for free food?

I made a Wal-Mart run picking up some snacks. Still have to get my OnAir GT USB HDTV so I can watch some TV tonight. I need to find an outlet to use to charge my laptop...

The temperature has hit 91 with a heat index of 98 but there are some clouds and a breeze to offer a little bit of relief...

Back to the heat and the line...

-Kevin C. Burns

52 free Chick-Fil-A combos are 18 hours away!

A new free-standing Chick-Fil-A (FSU) is opening in Bryant tomorrow morning so my mom, sister, and I are standing in line and have been since 10:00 this morning for free Chick-Fil-A for a year! The first 100 people 18 and over (which means only my mom will get the prize) get coupons for 52 free combos, one a week for a year. Currently there are 13 people in line. I'm two lots over at McDonald's using the wireless internet. I'll update throughout the day when I can. I just got some free chicken nuggets in my belly. Chick-Fil-A is feeding those in line + the people with the ones in line (e.g. me) with nuggets at lunch, a chicken sandwich at dinner, nuggets later tonight for snack, and maybe some Icedream. A DJ is coming later and some games will be played so it's going to be a great night. Once the person has signed in, they must stay on the premises until the next morning or they are disqualified. I'm free to come and go as I please and get things for my mom and go to Crash at church tonight. Anyways, it's great. Clay let us borrow one of the church's canopy and we have our lawn chairs so we're sitting out and hanging out and sweating with other Chick-Fil-A fans. After church, I'll be bringing air mattresses and other essentials to make it through the night. Pictures will be posted later!

Until next time......Eat Mor Chikin!!

Information about the first 100 promotion at grand openings: http://www.chick-fil-a.com/first100.asp

-Kevin C. Burns

The month of June...

So a whole month goes by without any new posts from me and I apologize. Here's a whirlwind tour...

I worked a lot. Pure Energy youth choir left and thus most of my friends were gone but I survived and had a good time with the interns and some new friends. My dad had a birthday. I went to Magic Springs. I went on a mission trip to Arlington.

About the mission trip, I went with a group of 30 people to Arlington, Texas on Sunday the 24th. We stayed at the Hawthorn Suites, which was a great hotel, and worked with Mission Arlington (missionarlington.org). For more of the day-to-day and for some different perspectives, check out the blog from us at Blogger. Pictures at Picasa Web Albums. Each morning, we went to the Cypress Club apartments and did a hour and a half backyard Bible club type thing with music, games, a story, memory verse, a craft or coloring, and snacks. In the afternoon, we would repeat at Arlington Square. I was nudged outside of my comfort zone, as I should be, and taught the Bible story. I don't think I did all that great at the actual storytelling but I think the kids got the main points that I put out there. If you know me, you probably know I'm a mostly reserved person. If I am a leader, I lead more by example than by instructing. But I did it and I think the kids at least learned a bit. Another thing that was outside of my comfort zone was that I only knew four people well instead of knowing most of those going (like I would on the upcoming Peru trip if I was going) but that made some great friendships and I got to know some great people. So that was really cool how God put everything together. After four days of the clubs, we finished up the trip by going to Hurricane Harbor which was a blast. I love waterparks and they have some great rides there. We left to come home and got back around 9:45 Friday night. Great trip. Mission Arlington is a great organization and worth checking out if you're in the Dallas area and have some time.

So that's a little bit of my June. Onto July. I had my 90 day evaluation yesterday at work. I exceeded expectation on some areas, met expectation on all the others. Overall, I met expectations so that was good. They praised my dependability (no tardys, no absents), my lack of complaining, and my flexibility so that was good. I will now be paid over eight bucks an hour so that's pretty cool too. This week I'm working over the maximum of 5 hours for minors set forth by Wal-Mart or by the store, I'm not sure but they need people and the manager authorized it so I'm working 5.5 hour shifts. Not much but a little extra money. And at least I get the 4th off. Last night I got to use the "Mule" to push carts which was pretty cool. It can push 20 carts remotely. A lot easier than manually pushing 8 carts at a time. Last night was actually really cool. I kind of like pushing carts every once in a while, wouldn't want to do it all the time. But for the last two hours, when things were slowing down, I would sing some worship songs and I prayed for the Peru mission trip and for my friends and I praised God pushing carts in the parking lot. Those are some of my favorite times, it's just me and carts and I'm singing His praises and talking to Him and trying to listen and hear Him above the noise. So that's why I actually like to push carts some nights. It's a great fellowship time with God.

I played some tennis this morning. Now I'm about to head off to work. Not sure what I'm doing tomorrow but it will be good because I'm free! Celebrate your freedom!

-Kevin