Random Thoughts: Things Don't Get Better Until After You Leave

Apologize for addressing this first, but...


Give it up for Methodist University, folks! The Monarchs could be on the verge of hiring a younger, visionary president to lead the school into the future. In addition, we were approved for a four-year nursing program without any recommendations! The school received over 100 admission apps. shortly after everything was confirmed.

Now I believe in my heart of hearts that the aggressive posture toward getting this program off the ground is a gimmick to draw more female students to the university.. but the HUGE need for nurses in our society and the failure of Fayetteville State's program creates a void that Methodist has decided to fill. This, along with the other new buildings being constructed, signifies an institution on the rise. I predict a ratio of 63 to 37 next year because of these developments, and I do hope that this works and this evens things out academically, socially and gender-wise. I pray that the University treats nursing like it does PGM, because there's money to be made here.

Also...

I haven't really been around a lot of people lately, but I knew that the Saints were going to be victorious in the Super Bowl because of God's will.

This transfer process at work could be harder than I thought. That said, I believe the 13th of February could be my last appearence at Izzy's, because of the move. I hope the associates I have left there can get in touch with me...

I don't know if the NFL will ever return to Los Angeles, in large part because of apathy from the money people down there. However, if Jacksonville fails, I'd rather have them go down there than London, England. Ick. L.A. had its chance when Houston beat them out for the 32nd team back in 1999.

I doubt Methodist University's revenue sports (football, basketball) will be hard pressed to field a consistent winner in the forseeable future. High tuition, rising standards=few black recruits. Among other reasons.

I was worried about Hulk Hogan and his thugs ruining TNA Wrestling in 2010, but now I'm feeling better now that I believe Vince Russo still has some power over the writing of the TV show. The man is a genius. I believe that TNA circa Sept.-December 2009 was honestly his best work.

All this conversation about Focus on The Family's controversial ad climaxed with Tim Tebow tackling his mother??

The Logic Junkie is yet another person I cooled off on since I found God. To me now he seems whiny and arrogant. Too bad he's not producing videos anymore.

Sharron Sypult will be missed at Methodist, and I was appalled to hear of her firing.

God Bless.

Changes....

Starting now, I'm going to try to lay low and stay away from beer until, at least, the weekend of the Super Bowl. This may even last permanently. I'm started to gain the college weight back and I need to feed the good dog so I can pull through this move (and everything else) smoothly...

Breaking News (or not so breaking news to some of you)

First of all, I'm really sorry about the negativity of my last post, I might even delete it, but oh well...

I have been away from this blog for the past week due to work and the Virginia trip, so I received this news a bit late.

But apparently Methodist University will have new leadership come July, as President Elton Hendricks recently announced that he step down after running things at my alma mater for over 25 years. When I first heard the news, I admitted to feeling a large jolt of excitement in my body. I felt that the university needed a change at the top because Hendricks, in my view, was out of touch to the needs of 21st century college students. I thought that was more concerned with operating a business than keeping its students happy.

But after I read the Fayetteville Observer article Monday, I felt guilty about bashing him all these years. The Observer did a great job of painting the picture of an educated, intelligent individual. I gained a lot of respect for Hendricks simply for realizing that it would take a younger man to take Methodist to newer heights. I originally thought that he would never come to that conclusion.

I believed that Methodist University needed Dr. Hendricks to upgrade from survival mode to prosperity. He deserves to be acknowledged for that very reason. And I'm confident that the new president will have many positives to work with.

Methodist still has issues to deal with. The economy is still choking the life out of America, which means that less and less students will be able to afford Methodist. We still have the moral issue of athletics-being egged on by the higher ups-willingly embracing the "take it in the front end, lose it in the back end" approach to recruiting. (even though it would help the school financially, it hurts retention and it is dishonest). We still struggle with recruiting women as the shadow of Fort Bragg and other issues makes the school unbalanced by gender standards. Alumni still aren't giving to MU in large amounts by my calculation. And did I mention retention???? These are the challenges that I can come up with.

But I think a new voice, preferably NOT tied to MU currently, can lead Methodist past these challenges and into a new stratosphere. Thank you, Dr. Hendricks, and I'm sorry for the negative Facebook comments.

D-Day.

I've decided to utilize Plan B and transfer to Durham in the very near future. God had been telling me repeatedly last week to rethink this VA move, and after I got some in depth info on the situation, I decided it would be insane to attempt this move on a Wal-Mart salary. VA/DC can wait at least six months, maybe a year.

By the way, my decision will allow me to pay very little, if any, rent, and I'll be in a pretty huge Raleigh market. :)

God bless you all.