What a Wisconsin Week!!

This week proved to be one of the best yet for the entire year.  Earlier this year I traveled to Madison, WI for the Wisconsin FFA State Convention!  Getting to come back for the week made me feel so at home.

I was traveling this week with the State Officers to their Sectional Leadership Workshops (SLWs).  During the morning we would travel to the new location, participate in business tours, eat lunch, then go to a high school where the SLW was hosted.  We'd then set up, get everything ready and the SLW would begin.  The evening is filled with workshops, skits, speeches, and tons of energy.  Loved it!

Most notable things of the week:

• getting to see my friend Courtney Dering again.
• touring Berres Brothers Coffee Roasting facility, and enjoying a freshly brewed cup of coffee myself.  (imagine that, Morgan excited about coffee??? hmm...)
• seeing an Ethanol Plant in action
• touring a metal foundry.  That's where they melt down recycled metal and reform it into different metal parts, components, etc. 
• TEAM FEUD--that's right--it's the game show for you!
• eating lunch at the Blue Spoon Cafe (sister restaurant to Culver's) and meeting with one of the founders of Culvers.
• touring a vineyard.  cool stuff!
• seeing just how quickly a group of students can pass a hula hoop around a circle.
• "Rude," "Deal," "Whoop," and "Melted" (you'll have to ask the Wisconsin State Officers about this)
• The Harley Store
• Top 8 Pounds of (Knuckles, depending on what you call it.)
• twenty six acres of an indoor greenhouse
• Salms Meat Company--they package sausage for Hillshire Farms
• Presto...have you ever seen a plastic sandwich bag being made.  It was cool.
• Jessica hitting the man-hole cover.
• 11 Amazing State Officers

Oh the fun memories of this week!  Wisconsin, thanks for a great week!

As for this weekend.  I'm off to go to a K-State Football game!

Go WildCats!

MCP <><

Off to Wisconsin!!

Missouri ended with gusto and now I'm off to Wisconsin to travel with the state officers to travel around to Sectional Leadership Workshops around the state!

Yahoo!  Currently I'm in the Souk Prairie FFA Van with BJ, Tommy, Kim, and Erin...and we're starting off the evening a little bit behind schedule.  But thats how it goes.

Get ready...there will be more to come this week about my adventures.

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Other news headlines in the life of Morgan C. Parker:

• I got to visit my sister who lives in Kansas City this weekend.  It was really good to see her!
• I went on a trip to Barnes & Noble.  Got a new journal.  I'm really excited!
• My mom's cousin took me to the airport today.  She greeted me with a hot cup of cappuccino. Yep.  It made my day!
• 6 days till I get to go visit all my friends at K-State!  I can't wait.

Welp.  Thats all for now folks!

Peace, Love, FFA,

MCP <><

Missouri Part II

Hey friends!  Quick update on my trip to Missouri.

New favorite work used this week: 

"flusterate"

I heard someone use it in a combination of fluster and aggravate.  I thought it was pretty humorous.  

Wednesday morning started off with a crazy morning with the South Shelby FFA Chapter.  We literally sat around and talked for hours.  Good time!  Then I was off to Paris.  Mr. Bondy (Paris FFA Advisor) and Lauren Dye picked me up and we got to Paris just in time for the final hour of the day and to learn more about the cookie sales the chapter is embarking upon.

Then we were off once again to Mexico, MO for the Area IV leadership conference. We had a ton of fun there too. Students who I got to spend some time with in the band room created new, innovative products to sell to high school students and we talked about taking action. Earlier in the evening we also watched as this big clumsy guy (me) literally stepped through a 3x5 inch notecard. Yep...that just happened.  Wuh-Bham!

Today began with a couple of classes in Macon. Don't worry, I started the morning off right with a large cup of McDonald's iced coffee--Hazelnut.  (no, I'm not addicted if you're wondering)  After Macon I headed to Marceline to hang out with some students from this chapter who is just beginning their second year! They've got some great things happening!

And finally for today I was at North Shelby high school.  The students and I there discovered that flicking a ping pong ball can be very challenging...and how life is all about choices.  Later in the afternoon we also unpacked a TON of opportunities in FFA.

Welp...I think that sums up the trip so far.  I have enjoyed it thus far.  ONE more day of a great time here in Missouri!  

Peace Out Homeslice,

MCP <><

A few Crazy Days in Missouri Area III

Yo Yo Everybody,

I'm here in Shelbina, MO and I have had one CRAZY adventure here in Missouri...loved every minute of it!

I started off my time in Missouri by being late. My last blog mentioned (in big words) that I was stuck in Chicago. As a result I ended up missing quite a bit of quality time here in Missouri on Monday when I was still try to get here. But I finally arrived.

After a few hours on the road after landing in Kansas City I arrived at Bucklin to a warm audience and assembly where the junior class tried and tried again to flick a tiny little ping pong ball off of a water bottle. You wouldn't think it would be too hard.

That night I stayed in Chillocathe. Today started off early in New Cambria where I spent the morning with 20 Freshman who were awesome! We spent time talking about "FFA" ".ORG" and the TONS of opportunities FFA has to offer. The next class was just Catherine and I and we stepped through note cards, talked about the 7 benefits outside of the FFA mission statement, and yes even about martial arts!

Then I spent some time with the juniors and seniors. We spent some time working thru discipline, passion, and action. Combining these things ensures that we can have a remarkable performance--every time. Check out this fun picture:

Trust me, there was definitely some mad skill going on here.

This afternoon I spent time with Meadville HS, then we jumped on the big yellow bus and we were off to the Area III leadership conference. One of my favorite people in the world was there: Megan Westhoff. She delivered an outstanding speech! I spent time with some rocking awesome chapter members creating some new, innovative, creations to sell at the Missouri State Convention, and even got to argue with my new friend Ethan from Brookfield. Ethan--if you are reading this--you need to audition for the National FFA Chorus.

The evening ended off with some incredible food and a bus ride with South Shelby. Although you are crazy, South Shelby--I love you even still.

WHAT AN INCREDIBLE DAY!

Don't forget to visit. "FFA.ORG"

MCP <><

The Sesquipedalian Blog

Yes...I did just type that word.  Sesquipe-what?  Well in case you are wondering, dictionary.com defines sesquipedalian as:

"characterized by the use of long words"

Certainly more than once in my life I have been known to enjoy words and specifically uncommon words. I wouldn't have thought anything about all this except that today at church the pastor used some really cool words and phrases I thought I might share with you.  Thus, I have titled this blog: The Sesquipedalian Blog simply because it could be characterized by the use of long words.

1. Vivification.  He described it as developing virtues and good works.

2. Atrophy.  Its what happens to our muscles if they are unused--they shrink and are useless.

3. Intentional.  Not a new word to most of us, but a good one at that.  Its embracing action on purpose. 

Interested in big words?  Check out some of these:  ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM, FLOCCINAUCINIHILIPILIFICATION, HIPPOPOTMONSTROSESQUIPEDALIAN, and of course: SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS.

In other news:

I'm headed to Missouri this week to have spend some rocking-awesome time with the cool-cats in Area 3.  I had some flying issues today and got temporarily displaced in Chicago for the evening (surprise, surprise...its Chicago).  Not to fear tho, I'll be back on the road tomorrow!  I think this week is going to be spectacular!

Out of pure randomness...

Today at church we were asked to put name tags on.  Okay...just to give a little bit of background.  I have only been to this place a few times, just because we aren't in Indianapolis a lot on Sundays.  So...I decided to put down my name as Alex--for pure sake of having fun.  My pals next to me gave me the "look" (you know the one where you feel like you're in trouble--and I wanted to stick my tongue out at them back).  So immediately after I stuck it to my shirt, the lady next to me said, "Well Hi Alex, I'm Sally!" Then I almost immediately said, "Alex, who's that?  I'm Morgan."  But then I realized I had it on my name tag.  Thats the part of the story where I should have hit myself on the forehead and said, "Shoulda had a V-8."  Lesson learned: don't sit next to your friends at church! haha!  :)

NEW MEMBERSHIP HIGH!

FFA MEMBERSHIP IS NOW:

31 year high!  Get excited!!

Goofy Invisible Lists

 Life is so much more exciting when you are goofy.

The other day we were taking some photos here at the National FFA Center, and the camera guy walked out of the room for a little while.  I commandeered his camera and took a few shots of me (see above).  The great thing is, he didn't even realize the photos were there until today.  HAHA!  Life is good when you are goofy!  This is truth!

My friend Ashley told me about invisible lists the other day...you know, like our invisible grocery list, our top friends lists, our favorite music list, etc.  She and I talked about much more exciting lists invisible lists though...like: 

If I could choose a number of food items to catapult across a medieval battle field, what would it be? Or...if I were small...like the size of an ant, and could choose any leaf to parachute with, in order of preference, what kind of tree would I pick the leaf from. 

The options are indefinite!  What are your invisible lists?

Peace Out,

MCP <><

A Hint of Autumn...etc.

The sun is bright and low in the sky, and a light breeze blows across the horizon.  I'm on the back porch of the FFA center sitting at a patio table.  Could life be any better?

Without hesitation, fall is my favorite season!  Although Fall isn't in full swing yet, I feel a crispness in the air, a few leaves are starting to show their dark color, and I'm reminded just how blessed we are in life.

Funny how things like a beautiful afternoon brings simplicity back to life.

This week, go enjoy an afternoon or evening outside.  Remember how beautiful this life we've been given can be.

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Ding! (its the sign that the subject is changing)

I'm always amazed at how many thoughts the human brain can retain all at once.

Things I've been wondering about lately:  

• Should I, or should I not look into buying a macbook?  
• Why am I so picky about what type of pen to use while journalling?  Does anyone else have that problem?  I like a plethora of colors, and they have to be porous point pens.  Its kind of like a marker, but in pen form...does that make any sense at all?  In case your wondering, Foray and Pilot V Razor Point pens are the best.
• How does music flow through my headphones into my ear--through the eardrum, and somehow its transfered into a recognizable "signal" to my brain.  And some song/signals make me very happy, and others, very sad, others I can't stand to listen to...  HOW DO THESE THINGS HAPPEN?
• I met a guy named Isaac the other day, he works the front desk at the hotel we stay at often.  He was reading a book about motivation and growth.  He has such a desire to grow his own abilities to write and sell products, and work better with people.  We talked about books for a good 10 minutes.  It was awesome!  I wondered to myself why often I don't take the effort to talk to more people like that.  The things we can learn from others are unreal...I just don't take time to learn them.  An important lesson for the life of Morgan Parker.  Next time you see me, ask me how I'm doing on working toward this.  That'd be excellent!

And now, my blog has become a small novel.  I must recess back to work.  Happy Wednesday Afternoon!

Blessings,

MCP <><

Hey Friends!

My teammates and I are in the great city of Indianapolis preparing for National Convention.  It has been fun, intense, stressful, and exciting.  I hope ya'll are as excited to be there as we are.  Step Up-Stand Out is the theme and it lays a great framework for what we're celebrating at the 81st National FFA Convention.

This week I got an email with a link to a website for one of Colorado's finest FFA chapters.  That being none other than: Durango!  The email informed the rest of the chapters across Colorado about the free web hosting service offered by the webpage they use.  Could your chapter use something like that?  Yes!  Check out the Durango FFA Chapter webpage: http://www.freewebs.com/durangoffa/index.htm.

They would love for you to sign their guestbook and check out what they have going on and find out about how to start your own chapter website.

Imagine the possibilities: posting pictures, news releases, chapter announcements, and chapter information for everyone in your community (and around the world) to see.  What could you do with your own chapter website?

In other news:

• I downloaded Chris Tomlin's new album called "Hello Love."  Can I just say that this is a musical work of art?  Tomlin, in my opinion, is one of the most talented musicians in the industry.  And for a guy like me (whose life is a musical) that's saying a lot!
• I also purchased a pair of awesome sun glasses last week at Walmart.  Who ever knew that $5 could help a guy with his style and good looks (which may be lacking) so much?  Haha!
• "Crazy Love."  thats the name of the new book that I'm reading by Francis Chan.  I've noticed a couple things about this book:

1. Never before have I been so interested that every paragraph (or so) I have to doodle a picture, underline / circle / highlight / star a word, or stop and journal a profound statement or quote.

2. If you are in for a challenge...if you want an awakening book, go get it!  Great book.

And...enough random for now.  Tonight I think I'll be dreaming about iced coffee.  I can't wait for tomorrow!  Mmmm...yes,

coffee is heaven in a cup!

Sweet Action!

MCP <><

A Prayer for Louisiana

What a weekend of events, the Republican National Convention started, Labor Day came and went like lightning, and Hurricane Gustav has wreaked havoc on the gulf coast of the south. As I watch the news my heart goes out to those who had to evacuate—to those who are now experiencing tornadoes in Mississippi, Florida, and Louisiana, and possibly other places. My thoughts and prayers are with you all!

One of the Louisiana state officers sent out a facebook message saying that they he and his family had evacuated. Cody…I hope you are your family, as well as all FFAers down there with you are safe and well!

Lets all keep these folks in our prayers! As FFA members nation-wide, let’s consider ways we can help alleviate some of the damage to get our friends down south back on their feet as soon as possible!!! There are places to donate money online; others of you may be able to offer hands on clean up services.

Keep holding on,

Morgan C. Parker