Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Yikes! I've Been Tagged!

Just when I thought I was safe, my friend and fellow Steelers fan Kiki Cherry tagged me with the Four Things Tag.


4 Jobs I Have Had in My Life

Food Service Worker--My first job was working at concessions stands at Opryland. At the start of my 2nd year I was promoted to crew leader, then at the end of my 3rd year I was made a supervisor in one of the restaurants. That lasted less than a year because my style was not what upper management wanted. Plus, I was probably too young for the job. (I was 18 when I was promoted, which made me the youngest supervisor in the entire food service department.) So the next year I moved to the ticket office, where for 2 years I primarily sold group tickets.

Proof Operator--The summer before I began working on my master's degree I worked as a temp in the Proof Department of a local bank. I encoded checks and made sure that the tellers' drawers balanced. I quickly learned that bank tellers are not always the brightest folks in the world.

Research Assistant--While I was in the Ph.D. program in history at the University of Tennessee I spent 16 months as a research assistant on the James K. Polk Papers Project. Basically I transcribed, edited, and annotated personal documents (primarily letters) from the life of our 11th President. This was an 11 or 12 volume series; I think the volume I worked on was No. 10. Other than the pastorate, this is the most enjoyable job I have had as an adult. Unfortunately, the grant that funded my position was not renewed.

Customer Service Rep--I worked for Whirlpool through a temp service taking phone calls from customers to help resolve problems with their appliances and schedule service appointments. This is the job I hated the most because: 1) I hate talking on the telephone; 2) I am an idiot when it comes to fixing things; and 3) I hated having to tell people that they would have to wait a week or two to get their appliance fixed. (There were very strict rules on what qualified for emergency service; I learned that it is not an emergency when a person's oven tears up two days before Thanksgiving.) The most surprising thing about this job is that I lasted 6 months.


4 Goals I Set for This Year

Exercise more--This should be an easy one, mainly because doing any sort of physical activity (like standing up occasionally) would be a major improvement. Unfortunately, I have made no progress this year.

Go to bed/Get up earlier--As you can tell from looking at the time on many of my posts, I am definitely a night owl. That's one of the benefits of not having children and of having a job where you set your own hours. We've always stayed up until 11:00 or midnight, but when my wife lost her job back in June we got used to staying up until 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning. Now she's back on a normal schedule, but I'm still staying up until 2:00 or 3:00. So I am making some progress on this one, but there's plenty of room for improvement.

Eat out less--This is one where I've actually done well. I used to eat lunch out 2-3 times a week, but in the past few months there have been times where I went 3 or 4 weeks between eating out.

Call my parents more--This is an area where I am totally different from my wife. She calls her parents practically every day (sometimes several times a day), while I talk to my parents (usually just my mother) about once a week (sometimes it gets close to a week and a half). I've gotten better about calling each week (unless they call first), and some weeks I've called more than once (usually for a specific reason).


4 Movies I Could Watch Over and Over

Star Wars--I could have made this easy and just listed 4 of these movies separately, but I wouldn't know which 2 not to list. Of the 6, Revenge of the Sith is the best.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail--Those guys were simply brilliant! Even now when I watch this movie I see new things in it. Plus, the dialogue is great for quoting.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off--Man, I wish I could get away with half the stuff he pulls off.

Smokey and the Bandit--I guess I have some latent redneck in me.


4 Places I Have Lived

Nashville, Tennessee (1972-1994)--I still consider this to be home.

Bowling Green, Kentucky (1994-1996)--I also attended college here 1990-1994.

Clinton, Tennessee (1996-2003)--The furthest we have been away from our families so far.

Bowling Green, Kentucky (2003-present)--This place changed a lot while we were gone.


4 TV Shows I Love to Watch

Hmmm, I don't watch a lot of TV other than sports, news, and the occasional music special or documentary.


4 Places I've Been on Vacation

Washington, D.C.--I've been 3 times, but my favorite time was in 1998. It was the first real trip my wife and I went on by ourselves. As a history buff, this is one of my favorite places in the world.

Atlanta, Ga.--I took my wife there in 2004 for our 10th anniversary. Why Atlanta? Because they have pandas! My wife absolutely LOVES pandas, so I wanted to take her to see them. She cried when she walked into the panda house and saw them.

Orlando, Fla.--Our family went quite a few times when I was in junior high and high school, but the most memorable time was in 1995 when my wife went with us.

Madrid, Spain; Paris, France; London, England--I listed these together because I went to all 3 on the same trip. I went with a group from school during my senior year in high school. There was lots of adventure, most of which had nothing to do with the sites we visited.


4 Websites I Visit Daily

Missional Baptist Blog

SBC Outpost

Grace and Truth to You

Sojourner


4 of My Favorite Foods

My mom's roast with rice and gravy

Chicken and dumplings

Fried chicken (I am a Baptist minister!)

My wife's homemade chili


4 Places I Would Rather Be Right Now

A Western Kentucky or Tennessee football or basketball game, or a Steelers or Titans football game

An Avalon concert with backstage passes

Cades Cove

Anywhere alone with my wife


So Now I'm Going to Tag......

Kevin Hash

Nick P.

Ashlee

Jason Sampler

11 comments:

Kiki Cherry said...

You have had some cool jobs, Tim.

I think you should add another one to the list: author. I love your writing. You have an ability to state things in both a simple but eloquent way.

Nick said...

Doh!

Kevin said...

Hey Tim,

Thanks for the TAG.

I just started a BLOG calling for Mark Dever for President in '06. It is kind of a response to discussion over at the Founder's Blog about the need for two candidates for SBC President.

The rumor is the Johnny Hunt at FBC Woodstock will be nominated.

http://deverforpresident.blogspot.com/

Tim Sweatman said...

Kyle,

Thanks for your gracious comment.


Kiki,

I wonder what it says about me that the job I had the longest was the one I had in high school and college! And I don't know if anything I have done is as cool as being an air traffic controller.

I believe you're the first person who has ever referred to my writing as "simple." I have a rare ability to take what most people can say in 10 words and say it in 25. Seriously, I enjoy writing, but it takes me forever to write something (I constantly edit and re-edit when I'm writing). I am a much better writer than speaker, probably because I can't edit my speaking as I go.


Nick,

Just about everyone else I know online had already been tagged, so I had to tag you and Ashlee.


Kevin,

I've been following this at Founders and at Missional Baptist Blog. I do not like the idea that the president of the SBC is chosen by about a dozen guys, even if I like and respect the ones doing the choosing.

Nick said...

Tim said:

"Just about everyone else I know online had already been tagged, so I had to tag you and Ashlee."

When you put it that way it makes me feel so special. haha!

Tim Sweatman said...

Nick,

Don't feel too bad; you beat out Hershael York on my tag list!

You'll always have a special place in my life---you told me how to get my StatCounter!

Nick said...

Are you coming to the Evangelism conference? Perhaps we can meet up there.

Tim Sweatman said...

I'm not sure yet. I haven't missed one since becoming a pastor, but funds are tighter than usual this year.

Nick said...

The deed is done, Tim.

Well you could just drive to Lex and hang out at the church but not go to the conference. :-) hehe. How much does it cost anyway?

Ashlee said...

"Just about everyone else I know online had already been tagged, so I had to tag you and Ashlee."

I felt so special I had to respond.

Tim Sweatman said...

Nick,

The conference is free, but there's gas, food, and hotel. Not to mention the time issue.


Ashlee,

You and Nick aren't even married yet and you already sound alike!