It's a Friday. There's something about a Friday which gives one a glimpse of adventure, that the weekend is the start of a new beginning away from the shackles of the workplace. Yet, alas, there is Monday and once again we are tethered to responsibilities of utility bills, rent, etc. I'm still looking for my FedEx jet to crash.

As I pen my thoughts this morning, I have a 20 oz. Vanilla Coke next to me. It cost a whopping $1.25 from the nearby vending machine. What a ripoff... and a high profit margin. The 12 oz variety runs for $.75 which is crazy. What ever happened to the $.50 machines? Granted, one could find the $.35 ones, but they were more of an anomaly than the standard– well in my era anyway. No doubt there are those who are still looking for the nickel machines.

I know I'm not that old yet, although 25 is coming up in less than two weeks. When I entered college in the Fall 96 term, full time, in-state tuition with the activity charge ran for $1096. The estimated tuition for the Fall 2003 semester is $2071, and I bet the figure isn't taking into account the possibility of a 15% increase that has been proposed. Crazy. Inflation: 3% per year on average; U of M tuition: doubles every 7 years! Granted, I do not have any historical data to support this claim.

Other than 2002, I have been infused the university environment since 1996 and the quality of service has not doubled. Of late, I would have to say that it is on the decline since they are cutting programs out and merging others together stating they have a need to slash costs. A need to slash costs: last week, I was the one who rolled out sixteen 18-inch flat panel monitors to replace 4 month old CRT monitors. Last semester, Physical Plant bought two Segways for $5,000. Ridiculous. Were their tool belts too heavy to carry but not heavy enough to justify the acquisition of another golf cart? Are they buying into a current fad? I don't have sympathy for the state universities having their funding lowered by the government.

Higher education could learn a lot from the corporate world. Most higher education institutions do not have the risk of "going out of business", so what really is the motivation to operate effectively? An irony: I just now received an email from our CIO with a forward from the president: tuition is raising by $265, thus bringing the amount to $2336. My guess is that the campus bookstore will raise its prices since it is an "appropriate" time similar to vending machines when the sales tax rate went to 9.25%.

Knowledge: the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. At least, higher education understands one business concept: barrier to entry.

Upon other matters, I have been out of the loop. Yet since the loop no longer exists, I am no longer out of it. Apparently, my extrasensory perception kicked in the other day. On Wednesday, I decided to go through my Outlook Contact list and remove 100+ people with most of them being related to the Mug. I just felt like it was time to do so. To my amazement, I would learn that on the same day I deleted my contacts, the Mug was shut down and everything inside was sold in a silent auction.

For whatever reason, management decided to fold and move down to Texas while maintaining their coffee beans online distribution intact. Perusing the website doesn't remind me of the same place. Though it looks great from a business standpoint, it loses the feel of simple honesty that made it attractive to me long ago. As I blogged last July when I decided to quit volunteering in August, the Mug began to lose its focus on ministry and seemed more focused on... making a buck. Stu entered our ministry during that time and many of us believed the Mug was going in the wrong direction. There have been those who were centrally involved with the worship on Sunday nights who haven't been inside the Mug yet this year. I find it odd that Mo would move the Mug to Texas, with the possibility of 2-3 being started there, all while leaving a vacuum in Memphis for what was known as Venture. I find it sad that a place that was once so very cool, focused on God, has now seemingly turned towards another almighty: the Almighty Dollar. Oh, no doubt it is with the best of intentions as more money allows them to do more of... well, whatever they had planned to do with the money– like make MORE money. It works that way for the corporate world. There was once a time in which they envisioned helping those who were low-income earners, but I can only remember Mo chasing the bums out of the Mug.

Of course, all of my commentary is being made from the perspective of an outsider, yet an outsider who was once an insider during a time of bliss. I have been disheartened by the course of these events. The Mug has meant a lot to me in the past. It is a place where I escaped to away from times of drunken revelry to discover what Christianity is really about... not merely Sunday morning, dull rhetoric, but rather an engaging lifestyle in search for the truth. I went from a time in which I lost the guys I used to hang out with on weekends to having a plethora of Christian friends, a concept that was new to me. I discovered romances and endured heartbreaks. On dark, loneful nights, I would immerse myself in music, poetry, and art. I have never been one to volunteer, yet I would volunteer my time every Friday night for a year. As I graduated from college and looked for work, I had friends that encouraged me as I looked for employment for the next 10 months. I had a great camaraderie with a small group of guys who taught me that the struggles I faced were no different from what they fought. If it wasn't for the Mug, I would never have been involved with that Bible study where I would meet Jeremy whose recommendation gave me the opportunity for an interview for my current position at U of M. I would not be the guy I am today if it wasn't for the Mug.

So what led to the Mug's downfall in Memphis (or did I already know back in July how the cards would play)?