Work has postponed my first post until tomorrow.

I have had the great privilege of several godly mentors in my life. They have been and continue to be men of courage and integrity. Before moving to Macon I had the great privilege of working with Pastor Ben Orchard – I miss our times together greatly. He taught me many things in our two years together, but one of them has come to me more often than the rest.

He once said, “Patrick, your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness.” Now, whenever some one praises me in some area of my life I automatically begin looking for my weakness in it. I am working on a blog series called, “Lessons from Leader’s Who Last”, a book by Dave Kraft and I realized something tonight. One of my greatest strengths is that I’m fairly even tempered and can adapt easily to most new situations (look at the last two years of my life to see that clearly). Tonight I realized that my great weakness in that is I can become very comfortable in a situation and not desire to change out of it.

Kraft was challenging me in being a visionary leader and I realized that I have a lot of work to do in this area. As I sat brainstorming and examining my life I realized the strength of adaptability and the weakness of a lack of vision for what could be. This revelation is perfect timing because God has me working with a great visionary leader in Keith Watson.  I continue to be blessed by God’s guiding as He forms me into the man that He desires.  This will become a new prayer and area of examination for me.

What is your greatest strength? You will probably find your greatest weakness there as well.

For those of you who want a quick little 2009 Tech recap this is for you.  Most interesting for me was Chrome being picked as the web browser of the year.  I haven’t looked at it much, but now I just may.  It will take a lot for this Mac/PC user to walk away from my beloved Firefox.

10.  Brush your teeth.  No one wants to talk to you with coffee covering up morning breath.

9.  Get the bikes, scooters, skateboard and chewed up pizza box out of the front yard.  Good grief man, you look like a redneck.

8.  Wipe up breakfast.  Chocolate donuts were a great idea, but now they are smeared all down the hall.

7.  Put the dog up.  You know he is a puppy, but do you really want to start the conversation off with pepper spray?

6.  Change your shirt.  I’m sure that sweatshirt is comfy, but the old paint, coffee stains and freshly added donut smears does not help improve your image.

5.   Remember all the birthdays.  I know you have a lot of kids and all, but you really should be able to remember birthdates for the report…just sayin.

4.  Inform your 4 year old that a Police Officer is coming over.  That way she doesn’t go running through the house exclaiming that there is a police car in our driveway…during the middle of our interview.

3.  Make sure said 4 year old is dressed – a top and bottom preferably.

2.  Research boys homes later.  Don’t start the conversation off with, “Do you know of a good boy’s home to send him to?”

1.  When you tell the officer that your son is from Ethiopia, don’t say something smart when he asks the follow up question, “Soooo, is he black…or…”

By Eric Newcomer – enewcomer@macon.com

NNO - Patrick McConnell

Standing on a multicolored stage atop a parking garage in downtown Macon, CrimeStoppers and City Watch leaders announced an effort to eradicate graffiti downtown.

Then, Macon-Bibb County firefighters used a pressure washer to remove graffiti on a nearby building.

“We’re going to fight graffiti,” said Patrick McConnell, the coordinator for City Watch, a downtown Macon crime prevention program.

The announcement came as part of the 26th annual National Night Out.

Law enforcement officials and citizens — throughout Middle Georgia and across the country — celebrated “America’s Night Out Against Crime” on Tuesday evening. Macon mayor Robert Reichert issued a proclamation marking the occasion.

The graffiti removal partnership is part of Project 365, an effort in which cities across America target a problem area for the community to home in on before the next National Night Out.

“Tonight will be the kickoff of removing graffiti in the downtown area,” said Warren Selby Jr., the board chairman with Macon Regional CrimeStoppers, at the event.

At 5:30 p.m., Macon police officers, Reichert, City Council President Miriam Paris, Bibb County Sheriff Jerry Modena, and others spoke to a crowd standing in the lobby of city hall.

Many officials lauded the community’s ability to work together during their remarks and were careful to note the sundry community and law enforcement partnerships that they said made their efforts possible. “A lot of people don’t realize how well our partnerships do work,” Selby said later that night.

Macon Police Chief Mike Burns articulated one of the night’s goals during his brief address to the crowd.

“Tonight we’re going to send a message to criminals that our neighborhoods are organized, and we’re going to fight back,” he said.

Events were held across Middle Georgia.

In Centerville, police and the Target located at 2929 Watson Blvd. partnered to host one such event.

Events were planned throughout Macon. Locations included the Willie Billue Fort Hill Community Center, Bethel AME Church and Bloomfield United Methodist Church.

The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office held an event at its East substation that deputy Sean Defoe described as “standing room only.”

He said “a few hundred people” attended.