Goodbye Trane May 22, 2009

The end of another chapter. I would be lying if I said I didn’t think the day would come. It was just another day at Trane. The usual good mornings and polite smiles while everyone was still waking up to start the day. I did the usual routine of throwing my bag down turning on my computer and changing my voice mail. These things were natural to me now. The same voice mail message for the past two years where the only thing that changed was the date. But little did I know it would be the last time I would change that message. 

I made my way to the kitchen to toast my bagel. When I got there I realized that there was still OJ left in the fridge from a meeting last week. I asked the receptionist if it was ok to help myself and she said yes. To me, it is the little things like free OJ that make life good, the fact that it was Tropicana made it great. My morning proceeded from there as usual until about 10am. There were rumblings of a layoff around the office. I usually don’t let that stuff get to me, but for some reason I had a hint of what was to come. As I made my way back to my desk the general sales manager asked if I would step into his office. At that point I knew it was my time to go,I really knew when our HR lady handed me the paperwork. They informed me that corporate was forcing cut backs and that they were sorry. They were gracious and kind and I appreciate that. Then I was informed that someone would escort me to my desk to collect my things. I proceeded to ask ” is that so I don’t go all Jerry McGuire on everyone?” they laughed,  it broke the ice a little. I shook their hands and thanked them for letting me go home early.  In exchange for my handshake they handed me a box.

I really didn’t know where to start. I had so much stuff in my desk. Most people don’t keep much stuff around the office but I had about 50 pictures of friends and family, sneakers, flip flops, a tooth brush, nail clippers, wires, a calendar, two mugs, soup, apple sauce, a jar of honey, pens, a fan, a racketball, and a huge jar of crunchy peanut butter. I can go on and on but I’ll spare you. After I was escorted out, I ended up going back in through the front door to get all the stuff I had in the fridge. I know it’s a bit strange, but that’s when I asked someone to take my picture with my box in front of the Trane logo. (who does that?) With my lunch in hand I walked out the front door.

Life has taught me that even closed doors are direction from God. I have also learned that God is faithful! He has never let me down. I may not always know what’s next but he does. If you told me 4 years ago that I would be selling AC in Florida, I would have laughed in your face.  I knew absolutely nothing about air conditioners when I started with Trane yet I still got the job. Life is about so much more than work and money, those things are temporary. I am optimistic about what the future holds and to be perfectly honest, I am ready for a change. Right now it may look unclear but I trust that it will all work out for the glory of God.

To my Trane family: I will miss you all in different ways. I hope my life has been a reflection of what a Christian should be. I also hope that some day you will think of me as a brother and a friend rather than just a guy who was goofy and sang all the time at work. I was definitely not made to be locked in a cube all day, so thanks for putting up with me.

Adam Pacheco

aka PaNacho

Today is… Part 1 November 18, 2008

Today is..

The last day I really remember was Friday. Arissa was tying up loose ends at her school and I came by to help her get her teaching stuff packed up. We decided it would be fun to go out and celebrate her last day of school. I thought “this may be our last chance to go out on a date pre Nehemiah” So we decided to grab a Redbox movie and head over to PF Chang’s. I have been craving Chinese cuisine this whole pregnancy, I’m pretty sure I had more cravings than Arissa. As we pulled in to the restaurant Arissa started to have some major cramps. I passed it off as false labor and we still went in to eat. We got to the hostess and she told us that wait was 45 minutes, Arissa went to the bathroom and when she came back she said “I’m sorry but we really can’t stay I need to go home.” Of course my first response was to rush out of the restaurant with my wife in my arms. Well not quite. I said ” are you sure you can’ make it through we are already here we’ve got to eat right?’ This time she had just a bit more urgency behind her statement when she suggested that we leave so of course I said “do you want to order to go?” Now I know you are all thinking oh what a typical male not rushing to the needs of his full term wife. But If you know my wife you know that when she needs to eat she needs to eat now, so it took me a minute to realize the greater need of the comfort of home over the delicious taste of some PF Changs. That and my pregnancy cravings are strong. So on the way home we decided to order some Chinese from a place a little closer to the house. As we were driving over we kept seeing people outside on the streets and in the parking lots just standing around looking up in the sky. It was the strangest thing. I thought the world was ending or something and we didn’t have any idea. When we finally got to Super China 8 or whatever it was called I heard someone say ” Look honey there is the shuttle” I looked up and to my amazement a space shuttle was launching in the sky. The night sky lit up like it was day with a bright orange fire ball. Arissa got out of the car in time to see it fly into the distance. It was an amazing start to a great weekend.

Free Starbucks Anyone? October 30, 2008

This is a list of some of the things I really enjoy in life…

 

1. Blogs

2. Free Stuff

3. Coupons

4. Starbucks

5. Journals

6. Burritos

 

Now take all those things and compress them together and you get a really good day. That was my day today. Yesterday I learned of Free Burrito Night at Chipotle from a blog called 22 Words that I read regularly. I have learned to verify information before I send it out because if I don’t my friend Andy sends me the link on Snopes telling me I was wrong. So as I was trying to verify it online I came across another Blog called As Life Goes Digital that lead me to this Starbucks coupon. It is for a Free Starbucks Coffee at any Barnes and Noble Starbucks and 15% off one item (It expires tomorrow the 31st). So I decided to make my way to Barnes and Noble to purchase a journal since I have three more pages left in the one I started back on January 6^th 2007. Moleskine journals are my absolute favorite they hold up really well which is good for someone like me who takes 2 years to fill one. Journaling has proved to be a great outlet for me and I really benefit from going back to see what God has done throughout the years. Hope you take advantage of the coupons!

Strange Week Strange Weekend September 21, 2008

 

Highlight of my weekend!

Have you ever had one of those weeks where the world seems like it is against you? That was my week. It felt like I was in some strange movie where everyone turns into zombies and you don’t know who is on your side and who is not.

 That is probably the strangest beginning to a blog post you have ever read. As I am writing this I have decided that I am going to focus on some of the great things that happened this week.Arissa and I spent last weekend in Tampa at a marriage conference called Weekend to Remember. If you are married I highly encourage you to attend this conference at least once. It was a great time to focus on our marriage and reconnect with each other. The weekend events were also used to celebrate my wife’s twenty five years here on planet earth. Here are some other highlights of the week.

• Budgeting ( at the conference we bought a book called Money Map by Crown Financial its a great tool for managing your finances)
• Surprising my wife at our doctor appointment
• Dinner with some new friends from our baby class
• Getting the nursery together with the wife.
• Getting ice cream after successfully assembling the crib.
• Going to coffee this morning with a Starbucks gift card.

 Wow sometimes writing things down gives you a great perspective. I think people would kill to have the week I have had. Isn’t it crazy how we (humanity) can be so self focused sometimes. God has blessed us with so much and we still find things to complain about.

God will you show us how to focus not on ourselves but on you. Give us a heavenly perspective as we try to figure this life out. I am in need of you. Help me focus my eyes only on you. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord the maker of heaven and earth. You are more than I can ever need, fascinate me with your splendor, help me not to loose sight of your glory. Forever change my heart until I am completely yours oh Lord. Take my all.

If you are reading this and think I am crazy, well, I am. I am crazy for thinking I can do life without Jesus. If you don’t know God and you want a relationship with him just ask. It’s that simple. As you can tell from my ramblings of my week I am not perfect. Life’s questions seem daunting at times but there is something awesome about serving a God who is bigger than this life.