A sunny chilly day in Worcester, Massachusetts found me driving to pick up my friend Jason Destratis for lunch at Moe’s.  As Carie and I are attempting to be wise with our money, I was jubilant about our restaurant choice because I had a coupon for a free meal at Moes.  Both Jay and I requested the attendance of our friend Steve Bramlett to join us, but he had foolishly locked himself into a staff meeting where he works.

For whatever reason I found myself quite warm driving to pick Jay up, and rolled the windows down, which of course is another way of saying I pushed a button to mechanically lower the pane of glass.  The sun shone brightly down onto my face and for a short time the 33 degrees felt like 75.  When I picked Jay up, there was no doubt where we were going and there was no doubt what we were hungry for – The Homewrecker, chips, salsa, and maybe even a bit of queso.

As I drove onto Lincoln St. the driver of a car in one lane decided very quickly to steer into my lane, causing me to face the Lincoln St. Plaza, almost perpendicular to the 5 year old haven of materialism and gluttony.  Target, Lowe’s, Barnes and Nobles, Texas Roadhouse, and Papa Gino’s are just a few of the eating and shopping establishments dedicated to causing us to stumble in the aforementioned areas of decadence.

I watched as Jason leaned over to see (perhaps for the first time) the newest restaurant being added to the  collection of “the Man” machines (thank you Homey the clown, circa 1991), 5 Guys, burgers and fries. “Is it open?” Jay said, salivating like an 13 year old girl over a Thanksgiving feast of Twilightian Vampires during a new moon. “I don’t think so man” I said almost regretfully.  Then with a glimmer of hope, while turning my right blinker on, I said, “But we can always find out!”

As we drove in, the plaza appeared a bit chaotic, but this was because of the Christmas season and shopping and had little to do with 5 Guys, so we drove past the store slowly, and though there appeared to be a few people in the newest greasy spoon in town, I hypothesized that training was going on before the big day, whenever that might be.  So Jay made the call:  ”All right, let’s just head down to Moe’s.”  Just then appeared in my vision a phone number – 508-853-2000 – you can call it right now to see if its for real.

Done?  Good, on with the story.

As I drove away I decided to call the number to see if they actually were open.  ”Hello, 5 guys,” the young lady cheerily answered as she picked up the phone.  I only assume she picked up the phone, though she could have just rolled it up, like my car window.  ”Yes,” I said happy to get a response, “Are you ‘guys’ open yet?  Even if it’s just 1 of you?”  ”Huh?”  ”Nothing, are you open for business yet?”  ”Oh, no, I’m sorry,” she said, having might as well of stabbed me with a cajun fry, and then taken it back.  ”We open tomorrow.”  ”Okay, thank you” I said trying to sound undissapointed and non desperate for the kind of grease that coats your arteries and gets people like House to theorize what’s wrong with me.

“But you can come get some free food” she countered quickly with an obvious smile in her voice that you didn’t need videophone to see.  Now I was responding “huh?”  ”Yes, from now (11:58 am) until 1:30 pm we’re giving away free food.”  I hung up.  I didn’t need to be polite.  I would be seeing her in about 26 seconds.

So Jay and I jumped out of the car and walked with springs in our step and smiles on our faces into the red and white checkered chamber of clogging.  We found what the phone answerer said to be true, ordered and then did our part to help the hour and a half event go viral.  From Twitter to Facebook to phone calls, we did it all, and eventually accompanied by our friends, Billy, Al, and Jake.

And that my friends, is how 5 guys got free food at 5 Guys.

Steve Bramlett would have made it 6.

Billy Atis

I haven’t known Will (Billy) Atis long, but in the last 6 months, I know there’s a lot to like about the guy. I met him playing basketball at the YMCA with the Alpha guys and the guy who made me get irritated by Jesus, but he’s been great to play with and we’ve had several conversations off the court too. Billy is originally from new Jersey, and currently lives in Worcester and works in Framingham as a chemist. I’m sure there’s more to learn, but here are three reasons why I think you should know Billy Atis:

1. He’s compassionate.
You can just tell that he has a big heart for people when you talk to him. I’m sure he’s not perfect, and he does like to call a lot of fouls on the basketball court, but behind all that, it’s pretty easy to see that this guy cares. Now if only his job at the chemistry lab could see that.

2. He likes kids.
Billy has a child, a 6 year old son, as a matter of fact. He wants to be the best dad he can be, and he also coaches soccer on his sons team.

3. He is scared of marriage.
Not everything on the “3 reasons you should know” posts need to be positive or negative. Billy has a problem. he’s scared of marriage. I mean really scared of marriage. So scared that when I talked to him about this blog post, he’s the one that brought it up. So for our discussion today, I’d like you to share with Billy why he shouldn’t be afraid of marriage or why he should continue to be afraid…be very afraid.

So let ‘er rip. What would you say to Billy?

Worcester = pron. wu - ster

I live near this city called Worcester.  It is the 2nd or 3rd largest city in New England, but has a horrible reputation.  I’m not sure why, but it’s just not considered a great city in which to live.  Here’s the interesting thing though – I love it!

I’ve lived in Ohio (the cornfield area actually); Pensacola, Florida;  Tucson, Arizona;  and Atlanta, Georgia, and I’ve loved Central Massachusetts just as much as the aforementioned places – I’m not even one to care about the beauty of an area.  I say that because I live in an area of dense trees and forests, a half hour away from a mountain (though it’s not the biggest in the world – more like a large hill), an hour away from 5 other states, an hour away from the Atlantic Ocean, and two hours away from New York.

I mention this because I don’t think happiness or unhappiness has very much to do with what area of the world you live.  I like warm weather, but I’m no less happy than I was when I lived south of the Mason-Dixon.  In fact, an argument could be made that I’m more happy.

Why?

Here are a few reasons I think people are happy:

1.  They have people they live near who will pour into their lives.
Family or not, what you really need to be happy in an area of the world is a group of people who will not allow you to be an island – To be out there all on your own.  Not to rule over you, or to interfere with your life, but to simply be there when you need someone.  Whether these people are mentors, friends, teachers, small group members, or all of the above.

2.  Financially they have been wise enough to not be in debt.
One good way to start complaining about where you live is to get yourself in debt.  At that point, it’s easy to start complaining about all your circumstances.  But if you’re wise with your money, you’ll be much happier in general, no matter where you live.  When I lived in Hotlanta, I wasn’t very wise with the funds God had given me, (although it wasn’t very much in the first place).  Atlanta is very materially obsessive in the first place with their huge shopping malls and restaurant on every third acre of land, but couple that with my naievity about finances, and you have a great formula for unhappiness.  So this amazing place which I now love to go back to was at this point in my life a miserable place.

3.  Their life is about others, yet they are focused enough to not be doing everything.
As was the case for number 1, there must be people in your life who you can pour your life into, but they can also pour their life into you.  The opposite extreme however, is very dangerous.  Saying “yes” to helping everything and everyone will put you into quick miserable mode.  Learn to say “no” in love.  It will be as freeing for you in the long run as saying “yes” was to something you really needed to do.

For all I’ve written, sometimes, you just want to be somewhere else.  And that’s okay.  But if you are in a place where you can’t leave and just wdon’t want to be miserable, these three things can take you to a place of contentment.

Where are you?  And are you content?

This guy graduated from high school in Fremont, Ohio via Temple Christian Academy.
It’s been a long journey since then, travelling through Pensacola, Florida; Tucson, Arizona; Atlanta, Georgia; and ultimately Worcester, Massachusetts for the last 10 years, but not a day goes by when I don’t remember where I came from.

Where did you graduate from and how long ago?