Danny's So-Called Life

Entitlement: My Rights as an American

2008-09-22T10:50:00.000-07:00

Watching the political season unfold, nothing much seems to have changed from the last election. Both candidates have stooped to smear campaigns and even outright lies. Both are trying to find the "hot" topic and capitalize on it. Needless to say, the politicians have not changed since I can remember. The people have changed, however, and unfortunately, I feel our society has sunk to a new low.

In a previous post, I talked about our welfare state and how the family unit needed to be fixed and the community needed to encourage the changes and quit relying on government handouts to solve everything. Now, in a related topic, I want to comment on the out-of-control problem we have in this country: a feeling of entitlement.

When asked what issues people are most concerned with right now, most polls show that the economy is leading the list, along with health care and education, with Iraq falling further down the list. The economy is obviously a serious issue, with people struggling to pay for gas and food. Believe me, I know how much gas costs and it hurts every time I fill up. However, the price of gas is not the government's concern, and shouldn't be. It's a matter for the market to decide. Yet I hear people say that the government should put caps on the price of gas, or tax the oil companies more. Now, large insurance and mortgage companies are collapsing and the government is bailing them out, afraid of what might happen if they truly fail. And people say, "well good, that's what the government is there for". And I say, "NO!" The government is not there to bail companies out because they made bad business decisions or because the CEOs were greedy. That means I have to pay for the bailout in my taxes, and it's not my fault that the companies failed.

I could go on and on about the role government plays in a democratic and capitalistic society, but the bottom line is that the government is supposed to be there to protect the people against foreign invaders, threats at home, etc...they are not there to ensure your pockets are lined and your gas tank is full and your mortgage is paid. People feel like the government owes them something just because they are Americans. The government owes them free health care, or maybe it owes them money when they can't pay their mortgage, or maybe it should pay for their college since education should be a right...right???

Wrong. Unless we're in a socialist society, health care is not a given. If you don't have insurance, then you better have the money to pay for your doctor or hospital visit. Now I'm not totally naive; I know health care should be better here, and everyone has the right to go to the hospital and receive care. But you don't deserve FREE care at the expense of everyone else. And mortgage bailouts? Believe me, I'm tempted to embrace this idea, because I'm about to lose my house because I can't afford it any longer and no one will refinance my mortgage because I'm maxed out on my credit, even though my payment will be drastically less than it is now. Does the government owe me? Am I entitled to a bailout because all of a sudden I can't make my payments? No. I knew what I was signing when I got a Adjustable Rate Mortgage. I knew the payments would go up a lot after 3 years. I thought surely I'd be able to refinance. I mean, I'm making more money than 3 years ago, my credit is pretty good now, so why wouldn't I be able to? Well, I maxed out credit cards, had to buy a car, and I have student loans, and so now I'm stuck. But I know it's MY fault, NOT the government's. And what about education? Am I entitled to a college education just because it's necessary to get a really high paying job? Absolutely not. Anybody can go to college, I don't care where you're from or even how bad your grades were in high school. Anyone can go to community college. Anyone can get student loans if they really want to go. And what ever happened to working hard in high school and trying to get a scholarship for academics or music or sports??

The only thing we are entitled to as Americans is what is in the Constitution. We are entitled to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That last phrase, originally phrased "the pursuit of property", is only guaranteeing your right to pursue your happiness; it does not promise or entitle you to happiness. "Happiness" is never truly achieved by handouts. "Happiness" is achieved by working hard for what you get, it is in the journey to get there that we are truly satisfied, not in taking what the government gives you. Believe me, just like God, what the government gives, it can take away. Unlike God, however, the government does not care about you or your happiness; it only cares about things continuing to run smoothly.

Americans need to reassess their values, and reevaluate the growing sense of entitlement that permeates our society. Quit blaming the government for all of your financial problems, quit blaming the government for the price of commodities, and start handling your money better, work for everything you get, and please...PLEASE...quit whining! Americans have forgotten what the "American Dream" is all about, and have turned our society into a bunch of spoiled brats who, just like a spoiled little kid who demands a cookie from his mom because he feels ENTITLED to it, we are demanding handouts and rebates and a fixed economy, instead of starting in our own lives and fixing it from the ground up.

The Big Bang Experiment and the God Particle

2008-09-08T13:03:00.000-07:00

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-large-hadron-collider-end-of-the-world-or-gods-own-particle-921540.html

Read the links. I'm interested in finding out what they observe, if they don't destroy the earth in their experiment, that is.

Political season

2008-09-05T11:26:00.000-07:00

The last couple weeks I've been captivated by the world of politics. It started with Barack Obama's rock star appearance at the DNC. He is a great speaker and seems like a real nice guy, and he may genuinely believe in the things he speaks about. On the other side, I wasn't very excited about John McCain, even though I'm a lifelong Republican. My parents seem to equate being a Republican with being a Christian, and since I was raised in a very strict home, I've had trouble breaking away from that thinking. My best friends are Democrats, and Heather's whole family votes Democrat (although that's just because they've always voted Democrat and why change?)

I still tend to lean toward the Republicans, mainly for their moral beliefs against killing unborn babies, against gay marriage, but also because I agree that too many people depend upon the government for handouts. Now, people may say, "who are you to judge all of those poor people?" Well, I was one of them. I grew up in a homeless shelter, wore donated clothes and donated foot. I was not homeless myself, but my parents worked there, and we lived there as part of the job. They didn't make much money in their ministry, so we had to accept hand-me-downs. In my 13 years of growing up around homeless people, or just people down on their luck and in need of a little help, I learned that there are people who really need help, and there are those who just want a handout and never plan on doing anything for themselves. Unfortunately, I think the latter group makes up the majority. And I also think it's because we as a nation perpetuate this mindset. We reward laziness and irresponsible sexual activity with welfare and food stamps, and people have learned that the more babies they have, the more money they get. And the guys understand this; they can have as much unprotected sex as they want with whoever because they'll never have to pay a dime for their child since the government will.

I don't think it's the government's responsibility to pay for all these people. Sure, there are a lot who truly need help. I myself went on WIC both times my wife had a baby, because Heather wasn't working when Chloe was born and had just lost her job when Rachel was born, so it really helped us out. But I think the government needs to set time limits as to how long someone can collect welfare, and at the very least offer job placement programs for single mothers. But I think the only real way for our welfare state to end is for the community to take care of their own problems. The core problem is the family unit. The welfare problem keeps getting passed down from generation to generation, and a sense of entitlement has dominated the thinking. My point is, NO ONE is "entitled" to anything from the government just because they're poor. If you are poor, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Don't give up and drop out of school and have a baby and guarantee yourself a life of living in the projects and living on food stamps and government checks. When it comes to sex, SAY NO! Stay in school, get good grades, go to college and then start a family. But the only way this formula becomes the norm in poor areas is if the community pushes this idea. Unfortunately, the community continues to accept the status quo and even embrace it, since it's so easy to get government money. If the community starts teaching their kids to have self-respect, teaches their men to respect women and to stick around if they do get a girl pregnant, to work hard for a living instead of sitting around complaining about rich people not caring for them, then maybe we could end our welfare state, and quit wasting billions of dollars on people who will never contribute to society in any way other than taking checks from the government.

"Here's your sign!"

2008-08-30T10:56:00.000-07:00

An elderly woman had an unexpected layover while attempting to check in at Sweden’s main airport Tuesday. The 78-year-old woman misunderstood instructions and fell down a baggage chute after placing herself, rather than her bags, on the belt, AFP reported.

The woman, who was not named, was preparing to depart from Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport for Germany, when she lay down on the baggage belt thinking she was following the check-in instructions.

Staff members helped her catch her flight after she was swept off to the baggage handling center.

Are you ready for some you-know-what?

2008-08-29T13:11:00.000-07:00

I'm a little early, it's not until a week from Monday, but......GO BRONCOS!!!!!

Republicans in trouble

2008-08-28T14:20:00.000-07:00

John McCain has a tough choice to make in the next few days, and I'm not talking about his VP pick. One of the things that caused Bush to lose his support among Americans was the way his administration handled Hurricane Katrina. They seemed unorganized, incompetent, and at the worse, apathetic. Now I don't think GW didn't care about the people, but his ADMINISTRATION seemed uncaring, and the buck stops with him. Now, the Republican National Convention is being held next week, at the same time that another Hurricane is barreling down on New Orleans, with ANOTHER storm brewing in the Caribbean. The choice he has to make is whether or not to continue with the GOP convention or postpone it. If they continue, and Hurricane Gustav is a monster, once again the Republicans seem uncaring and aloof. If they don't have the convention, they won't get the press time and the publicity they want.

So, here's what I would do if I were John McCain. I would cancel the convention and get my butt down to New Orleans right now and start helping with the pre-storm preparations (boarding up windows, helping evacuate families, etc...) and then ride out the storm in a shelter with all of the other people who couldn't leave. What better way to show America he will be a caring individual than to ACTUALLY CARE!

Seriously, this isn't funny, so why am I laughing?

2008-08-27T13:57:00.000-07:00

First, let me say that there is nothing funny about suicide. It's horrible. However, I read a news story that actually made me and my sick sense of humor laugh. Somewhere in England, (I forget where), there's a cliff overlooking the sea that is called Suicide Cliff, because they get an average of 20 suicides a year there. Apparently, people jump off a lot and die in the churning sea below. Well, some kids were playing and found a body floating in the water and called the British version of 911. Rescuers showed up and a large operation began, trying to get to the person in the water, hoping he was alive. As they got in the water and attempted to rescue the person, a car flew off the cliff and landed just feet from the rescuers...you guessed it, ANOTHER SUICIDE VICTIM! Imagine the rescuers surprise as they are trying to recover one person, a whole stinking car comes flying at them!! Apparently, the car almost hit them, which would have killed everyone. Luckily, only the two people who wanted to kill themselves actually died. I'm thinking maybe they should restrict access to this spot...just a thought.

And in bovine suicide news...a cattle herder woke up one morning last year and discovered all 25 of his cows had been killed during the night, all of them piled up in about the same spot. Horrified by the sight, the cattle herder noticed a power line was down and was still live. Investigators believe a storm came through, knocking down the power line. They believe the first cow became curious of the dancing and sparking line and walked over to it, and became the first victim. Seeing their fellow bovine lying prone and smelling like burnt steak, another cow walked over to investigate and was electrocuted. Apparently, this happened 23 more times, each cow coming over to see what was going on and becoming another victim. A horrible tragedy indeed and one more reason to suspect that cows are about the dumbest animals alive.

Is it not politically correct to be PATRIOTIC???

2008-08-21T20:54:00.001-07:00

The Olympics have me feeling Red, White, and Blue...

McCain and Obama...really, that's all we have to look forward to??

2008-08-06T13:45:00.000-07:00

McCain/Obama...Obama/McCain...THAT is the choice we have in November. I'm not too excited about either person...isn't there some way to clone Abraham Lincoln or George Washington and let them run again??

Truth is out there?

2008-07-25T11:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, it was reported that an Apollo 14 astronaut went on a radio show in Australia and said that it was a fact that aliens existed and he had been privileged enough to have sat in on government/NASA briefings where he learned about their existence. He said Roswell was real and that the governments around the world have indeed been covering this up for decades. He also said that they were not aggressive, and that their technology was so far advanced that if they were aggressive, we would no longer be here--pure and simple.

NASA said they disagreed with his position (of course) but to me it was not a very strong statement. Maybe they just don't want to discredit one of their heroes, a man who walked on the moon (supposedly) for over 9 hours. However, only one of them can be right. Either this astronaut is going loony in his old age, or NASA is really covering things up. I've never been one to believe in aliens, or at least to give it a whole lot of thought, but it seems to me this guy isn't loony.

So, what if he's right? People all over the world have had credible sightings for centuries, probably for millenia, and that just seems like a little too much evidence not to be true. So, if it is true, what does this do to the millions of people who are Christians? Does this make the Bible outdated? Or does it actually prove the Bible is true? I searched the internet for websites of people who believed that aliens were talked about in the Bible. I was surprised by the sheer volume of websites that existed, but not surprised by the amount of certifiable crazies out there who think demons and angels are aliens and that God is the head alien, who manufactured our world through his knowledge of technology. (Actually a growing number of people actually believe this, even those who aren't religious and don't believe in God in the traditional "all-powerful" and "omniscient" sense; just read The Bible Code and you'll see what I'm talking about at the very end.)

However, there were a few interesting websites that argued that aliens are referred to in the book of Revelation and also in Daniel and a couple other "prophetic" type books. Some of what they said made logical sense, and for all I know it's true. Maybe aliens are real, and they will openly invade earth someday, and we'll unite as a world to fight back against them and we'll actually defeat them. (Wait, isn't that Scientology?) Then, we'll be so grateful to the world leader who defeated the aliens that we'll give him power over the world, and of course he's the Antichrist, and then he'll become this powerful dictator who will try to destroy Israel and anyone who believes in Jesus. This is all in the Bible, so it must be true, right? The problem with this is, you can take any prophecy about end times, and insert pretty much any scenario and voila! If it fits, it must be true. But many scenarios fit, and not all of them can be true. Of course, if they're sufficiently scary or outrageous, then you can market it as "fiction/future non-fiction" and call it the Left Behind series, set it for seven books then change it to like 10 or 11 because they're making so much money, hallelujah, and then set up a website called the Bible Prophecy Club and charge people $19.95 to become members with the promise of revealing prophecy secrets to them. Really?? Charging people to understand the Word of God?? To me, that's no different then going to a fortune teller.

Okay, so I've gotten a little off the topic. I guess what I want to say is, if aliens exist, it doesn't change my view that God exists, but I guess it would change some of the meaning in the Bible. For so long, we thought we had to be the only creatures in the universe, I guess because God couldn't possibly be so omniscient and omnipresent that he could run more than one world at a time. There's still so much about God and the universe that we don't know, and I'm to the point where Christians should preach about Jesus and shut up about everything else, at least everything that has to do with science. We keep getting embarrassed time after time by taking dogmatic stances on things like flat earth, earth being the center of the universe, evolution...and now maybe aliens?

I don't know whether aliens are real...maybe this Apollo 14 guy is just old and senile...or maybe he was paid by Chris Carter to say that so people would go see X-Files this weekend. Hmmm... the truth is out there.

"A bad night to be an atheist..."

2008-07-15T06:13:00.000-07:00

Twenty-eight home runs in the first round of the home run derby is absolutely insane. It had never been done before, not by Albert Pujols, Sammy Sosa, or Barry Bonds. Last night, at Yankee Stadium, a Texas Ranger outfielder by the name of Josh Hamilton won over the always skeptical and bitter New York fans in just a few minutes time. Each of his home runs were bombs, 3 of them reaching over 500 feet. But it wasn't the home runs that everyone was talking about, it was the man himself. If you don't know the story, keep reading because it is a story that everyone should hear.

In 1999, Josh Hamilton was drafted out of high school by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who saw an incredible talent and an upstanding young man who no one could speak ill of. They gave him $4 million dollars in signing bonuses, and sent him to the minors to prepare himself for the majors. In 2001, he hurt himself and had to spend a little time on the disabled list, and began hanging out in a tatoo parlor, where he was introduced to cocaine for the first time. Within a year, he was heavily addicted to cocaine, heroin, and alcohol. He had spent most of his money, and was consistently hitting new lows. For the next four years he would give in to his addiction willingly, suspended from baseball time after time, and never playing a single game from 2002-2005 because of it. He says the worst of it was not when a check he wrote to a crack dealer bounced and he had to ask his father-in-law to pay the man in cash, and it wasn't even when he was kicked out by his wife and had to live with his grandmother, and it wasn't the dreams where the devil was fighting him and he'd wake up craving a hit. The last straw came when he woke up in a trailer with a bunch of strangers after a night of using, and having no idea how he got there. He went to his grandmother and admitted his addiction and began the long road of redemption and recovery.

He accepted Christ as His savior, and immediately his life changed. He was indeed a new person, still craving the drugs, but craving even stronger the freedom from those drugs and the restoration of his life and family. He has not used again, since late in 2005, and his wife has accepted him back, and now they go around to churches and youth groups during the off season and even during the season, telling their story.

But the most amazing thing to many is his comeback in baseball. In 2006, he had a dream that he was in a home run derby in Yankee Stadium. In 2006, this was completely unlikely, considering he hadn't played in 3 years and had never played above AA. He was taken by the Cubs in the 2006 Rule 5 draft and immediately traded to Cincinnati. He made the team in 2007 and had a great year, and everyone was amazed by the comeback and the story he had to tell. Every opportunity he had, he thanked God for helping him and gave Jesus the glory for his recovery and his success. After 2007, he was traded to Texas where he has not only shined in the 2008 season, but is the starting center field in the All Star Game...which is in Yankee Stadium...and yes, he was in the Home Run Derby...at Yankee Stadium, just like his dream in 2006.

During the Derby last night, after Hamilton had just hit 28 homeruns in the first round, (a new record), a ESPN announcer was commenting on his recovery from addiction, and mentioned the dream Hamilton had about being in this Derby, and said "It's a bad night to be an atheist!" Boy, you got that right. A lot of people were probably made uncomfortable last night with that comment and with the repeated retelling of Hamilton's story every few minutes, but perhaps a few people were inspired, maybe someone who's gone through, or is currently going through, a drug addiction or some other kind of addiction. Perhaps they can take this amazing story and realize God wants to heal them the same way and turn their life around. I think Josh Hamilton would tell you that everything he went through, the bad times included, were worth it, if he could reach people with God's love.

Keep swinging Josh...

I want an iPhone!!!!!!

2008-07-10T10:41:00.000-07:00

iPhone 3G comes out tomorrow morning and I am COVETING and LUSTING after one (iamasinnerforgivemelord).
I've wanted one for awhile and now I'm glad I waited since they are cheaper and have 3G now. However, 16gig is not enough for me. So when will they come out with a 32gig? Next year? I don't want to wait that long. Maybe I'll just have to keep some music off of the iPhone.

In other news...I got screwed again at work. No day shift for me yet. Someone else quit and the two people training quit. SOOOOOO...I'll keep waiting. Hopefully by the beginning of next year... we'll see. Until then, I'm still a night owl.

My California trip...

2008-06-26T17:27:00.000-07:00

Okay, so first, the temps in California were WAAAYYYY off from what the weather forecasts said. It was mid-90's at the Wild Animal Park and quite warm in San Diego. My parents house was 105!! Then, we went to the beach and it was 60's and in Monterey it was down right chilly in the 50's and windy. I loved it! We had a lot of fun, and Rachel even made the fire dept and the ambulance come to my parent's retirement center when she pulled an emergency string in the bathroom. No one knew she did it until the fire truck showed up and they tried to get in the bathroom. By that time my adult nephew was in there and opened the door just as they were about to bang on the door to see if anyone was hurt. I was pretty embarrassed, but it was still hilarious! It was great to see my sisters and even my brother who I haven't seen in 8 years. The girls really took to everyone and even went off with my sister Julie and their cousin Angelina for an afternoon so I could visit my brother and parents in peace, and the girls had a blast. We had a lot of fun...but next time Heather better come with me...I am NEVER doing that alone again!

Enjoy the pics...

California, here I come!

2008-06-15T15:11:00.001-07:00

So, I've been back from Orlando for a few days now. It was actually cooler down there than here in Decatur. Weird to have to go to Florida to cool off. Orlando was okay; I didn't really see any of it because I was at the resort the whole time, but i hear it's fun. I was kinda sick the whole time, and now I'm worse. I have no voice! Well, I didn't anyway. It's mostly back now, but my throat still hurts and has been hurting for a week now. I guess I better go to the doctor tomorrow if it's still hurting. I don't want to be sick in California for nine days!

Yes, that's right, I've just returned from Florida, and now I'm leaving to California on Tuesday. Thank God the temps in California are going to be heavenly. No 90's! In fact, it may be a little "cool" in San Diego and Oakland, at least compared to what we've been used to for the last couple months. It should be a fun time out there, and then it will back to the old grind. I'm not looking forward to it.

Well, I hope to get some good pictures while I'm out on the left coast, and I will display them here when we get back.

Happy B'Day Chloe! The Big 07!

2008-06-06T09:56:00.000-07:00

Chloe's Dance Pics

2008-06-04T10:51:00.001-07:00

Here's some pics of the recital night...

And one of Rachel, just to have one in here...

An up and down week

2008-06-02T17:47:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Heather was told she had a job, where she would be making more money, and doing something she would really enjoy in her line of work. We were all very excited and she was supposed to start today with her training in Nashville. She turned in her two weeks notice and the day before her going away party her new "boss" tells her that she no longer can offer the job to her because the girl who was quitting is no longer leaving. Heather had already signed all of her new hire paperwork, tax forms, etc...and of course she had put in her two weeks notice and the day care had already hired someone to take her place. As you can guess, we went from being very excited to feeling like we were being run over by a train, then crapped on by a large bird, and then run over again by the same train going the different direction. To top it off, the lady calls back and says there's an opening for the same position in Birmingham if she wants it. Eventually Heather told her okay, even though it's 90 miles away and gas and mileage would take a huge toll, but now it's like pulling teeth to get the lady to call us back about it, and we are wondering if there's even a job, or if this lady has any power over who gets it. I think she realized the legality of the issue, and may be worried we're going to sue, which we are considering. I'm not sure of the laws, but I don't think you can accept a two weeks notice from someone, hire someone else, and then fire them before they ever start working because the first employee changed their mind...and then offer the newly hired person a job you have no hiring power over. We'll have to look into that.

The director of the day care told Heather she could still work part time for the summer and then go back to full time in the fall, so I think we'll be okay. We'll be tight for money but Heather will only have to work 4 hours a day and not have to get up so early in the morning, at least for the summer.

On a good note, I think we are going to close this week on our refinance...that started on March 31. I never want to go through this again! Of course, we're planning on selling this house and buying a new one in 3 or 4 years, so I guess I'll have to.

Chloe has her dance recital tomorrow night and then she turns 7 on Friday!!! I cannot believe that! All of our family and a couple of her friends are going out to dinner and then she and her friends are having a sleepover at our house on Saturday night.

I leave for Orlando on Sunday morning, come back Thursday and work all weekend. Then, Chloe and Rachel and I leave for California! Yes, things are quite busy around here.

Well, that's all for now, although if I get some good pics of Chloe's dance recital I'll post them here.

One smart (and fit) cookie!

2008-05-19T12:09:00.000-07:00

Congrats to my beautiful (yet almost toothless) daughter Chloe, who finishes first grade this week and received an award for "A" Honor roll for being a straight A student all year, and receiving a Music Award (she takes after her daddy on that one), a National Fitness award (I can't take any credit for that one, but boy was I impressed when she got that because they have to do a bunch of stuff I haven't been able to do in a loooong time), and she also got a Citizenship Certificate (which I guess means she can vote now??)

Anyway, way to go Chloe!

Reader Beware (gruesome content below)

2008-05-11T07:29:00.000-07:00

I did something horrible, something disturbing. Something straight out of a Stephen King book, and it's probably something I'll remember vividly for the rest of my life. What did I do? Oh, I am going to some kind of purgatory/hell for this one.

Yesterday I was cutting the grass in the backyard, which had grown to a pretty sizable height because I hadn't cut it in 2 weeks. I was going along well, almost finished, when I saw two tiny objects shoot out from in front of the mower. I thought it was a couple little field mice at first because they were so small, but after I stopped the mower and looked closer, I noticed they were little baby rabbits. Very tiny, very young. They were terrified and had both frozen in their tracks. Oh my God, I thought, did I kill them? Then, they took off a couple more feet and froze again. Okay, so they weren't hurt, but where did they come from? I looked down and right behind me there was a tiny little hole in the ground, not even a hole really but a little divot that they had dug out and decided to lay low in. And then I saw it...a headless baby rabbit that was still trying to run away, despite his lack of a cranium. His death thralls only lasted a few more seconds, and I was horrified by the gruesome sight. Where did his head go? I never found it. And then I saw that underneath the dead baby rabbit were 3 more rabbits, snuggled together in obvious terror, frozen to the point I thought they were dead, too. I stopped cutting the grass for a few minutes, and went inside and confessed to Heather what I had just done. She was grossed out of course. I felt like such a murderer. But I had to finish cutting the grass, didn't I? So, I went back out there and pushed along very slowly, hoping not to chop up the two babies that had run off, one of which I could no longer find. I don't think I killed any more, and a little while later, while I was cutting the front yard, the remaining rabbits that were laying underneath their decapitated brother ran off somewhere. I could only find one, still frozen in the same spot he was in when he first ran from the mower. The poor thing, I hope he found his family sometime during the night. And if things couldn't get worse for him, we had bad t-storms and heavy rain last night, so if dodging a giant spinning blade wasn't enough, he had to dodge lightning and rain. I guess I'll go out there and check if he's still there later; besides, I have to bury the dead one and fill in the divot so it doesn't happen again.

See, Heather, this is why we need a dog, to keep the rabbits out! Yes, he may poop where we walk, and he may dig holes...but the rabbits are going to keep digging holes, and hiding in them, and I just don't think I can take chopping up another cute little bunny!

A little update on things...

2008-05-09T13:51:00.000-07:00

Well, where am I in regards to my book? I haven't heard back from a few of the people I sent e-queries to, and I guess no news is bad news in this instance. I still have a list of agents that I need to send snail mail queries to, and I've been procrastinating for some reason. The whole idea of self-publishing has become attractive. It costs a little bit of money, but you can make it up real quick because your royalties are much higher than that of the big publishers. Instead of making .50 a book it would be more like 2.50 or 3.00. I guess I'll still try the agents but if nothing happens, I'm going to use some of my tax refund next year and get this book out by summer of '09. I need to start writing the sequel, so if the first book does okay I'll do the same thing with it. I'm not really all that concerned about selling a whole lot of books right now; I mean, it'd be nice, but really I just want to get this out there and get a little bit of feedback on it. Self publishing offers some pretty neat perks, like putting the book on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.com, having the book available as an e-book, having your own website, etc... And I would have total control over everything, from content to the cover to the rights to sell it later if a publisher is interested. So, maybe that's the way I'll go.

Right now, I've got other things on my mind. Refinancing the house is harder than I thought it would be. But on a good note, Heather has another interview at a place where she would be happier and make some more money and not have to deal with kids 24/7. On the other hand, there's the possibility that she may be offered a job as a Children's Minister at a church here in town. Hopefully something will work out.

And I'm getting close to moving back to day shift (finally!). I have to go to Orlando for a conference from June 8-12, come back and work the 13-15, then fly to California for vacation from the 17-25. And then hopefully, I'll start day shift right after the 4th of July. I am SO tired of working nights. Three years has been long enough.

Well, that's about all for now.

Trip to Birmingham Zoo

2008-05-02T10:51:00.000-07:00

Can you guess who the "real" monkey is?

Happy Birthday to me!

2008-04-20T15:36:00.000-07:00

32 and don't feel a day over 60! And now, I'm off to work...

American Idol goes all Jesus and stuff

2008-04-11T13:44:00.000-07:00

Okay, I watch American Idol. Let's get that out of the way first. I held out until like season 4 when Bo Bice was singing, and since he's from the county I live in, I had to at least check him out. So anyway, I've been hooked ever since, if only to see all the losers in the first few weeks that somehow think they have talent. So, I'm at work last night and Heather calls me and tells me that they're singing Shout to the Lord on American Idol. I knew I had to have heard wrong, because this is American Idol we're talking about. But sure enough, I watched it off the DVR today and there they were, singing a Hillsong song that just about every modern Christian in the Western Hemisphere knows (and of course our friends in Australia where the song came from). And I was flabbergasted and befuddled...in other words...WHAT?!?! Why in the world are they singing a praise song on AI? It's not like it's a song that some religious-minded artist sang, something like Psalm 40 by U2...no, this is a straight praise song, meant as a praise song, sung exclusively as a PRAISE SONG! So...my question stands...why?

Now, if you watch the show, you know this was "Idol Gives Back" week, where they have dozens of celebrities on the show trying to raise money for various causes around the world. I think that's great. It's nice to see people care. They gave something like 16 million dollars for poverty and AIDS in Africa and poverty in America. So maybe people were just feeling religious after all the giving and decided to break out into worship? Is that it? Somehow, as nice as that sounds, I don't think that was it. I can't see a major show on a major network getting all "Jesus" all of a sudden, considering we live in a world where mentioning the name Jesus in an adoring way gets everyone's panties in a twist, and then words like "radical" or "judgmental" get thrown around in regards to Christians. I'm at a loss. Maybe I should just let it be. Maybe they really were just feeling extra spiritual after giving so much. Maybe giving is a natural path to feeling close to Christ. If so, then this is a huge lesson for the church to learn. Maybe instead of standing around in our churches condemning the rest of the world, we should get involved and start giving back. If giving of ourselves is the way to make people see Christ, then charity may be the new way to witness in this postmodern world. It's not really a new idea though, is it? Didn't Jesus give everything? Weren't the first Christians in tune with the idea of making sure everyone was cared for? Somewhere along the line the Church forgot this idea and became a club for Pharisees. Maybe now, we can break through and show the world that Jesus is not the head of some crazy cult.

Why did American Idol feel it necessary to sing Shout to the Lord? I doubt most of the contestants even understood what they were singing, or the buzz it would create. Whatever their reason, millions of people heard a song that blatantly worships Jesus. And while part of me is still uncomfortable with it, I don't know how it can be a bad thing for people to hear about Jesus, when they never would have otherwise.

California Dreamin'

2008-04-09T13:47:00.000-07:00

So I've got 3 plane tickets from Birmingham, AL to Orange County, CA and I can do nothing but sit here and look at them, at least for now. I've got my vacation time up on the calender at work and I'm just counting the days now. I've already bought the tickets to Sea World, S.D. Zoo, and the Wild Animal Park, but I still need to get the tickets to the Monterey Aquarium. I guess I can just get those the day we go, but it's nice to hold them in my hands.

I'm pretty excited to be going "home", even though I'm spending most of my trip in So. California, instead of San Francisco. It's not the same going home anymore. My parents are in a retirement apartment, where they barely have enough room for us to visit, let alone stay there. So we have to pay for 8 or 9 days of hotel rooms, which is enough to make us seriously consider not going at all. My sisters, who live in Half Moon Bay, offered to put us up, but I don't think we'd be comfortable staying there. We're on vacation, and I don't want to worry about whether we're keeping the place clean or if we're bothering them by coming and going a lot. Besides, I'm not really all that close to them. I was adopted into the family at a time when they were leaving home and getting their own lives. Although I have a brother and two sisters, I'm basically like an only child. But, it would save us $600 or so if we stayed there, and that's an attractive option.

Heather can't come with us this time, because she has to fly to Phoenix that week to take a class, and since I had to take that week off anyway since she'd be gone, I decided to just fly out to California while I was off and Chloe was out of school. It kinda sucks, actually it really sucks that she can't come. She's going to miss a good time. And I'm really stressing about the whole potty thing...I mean, if we're at the zoo, and I have to go to the bathroom, (which is going to happen), do I leave the two girls outside by themselves? Or if Rachel has to go, I've got to take her into the boy's bathroom and leave Chloe outside. You see my problem? It's a stressful thing to think about, but I'm sure we'll be fine.

So we're flying out June 17 and going to the Wild Animal Park and Sea World on the 18th, and then the S.D. Zoo on the 19th. Driving up to the S.F. area the 20th, and seeing my family until Monday. On Monday, driving to Monterey with a stop in Santa Cruz and will go to the aquarium. Staying in Monterey that night, and then Tuesday, taking our time driving down the coast, and letting the girls see the beautiful coastline. Some time that evening we'll make it back to Orange County and then fly back the 25th. I hope to see some friends I never get to see anymore (Brian I want to see that baby!) All in all, it should be fun, maybe a little stressful having the girls by myself so far from home. Rachel will miss her mom and will probably be distraught after so long without her, but we'll make do.

How many more days until we go?

Baseball is life...the rest is just details!

2008-03-31T20:09:00.000-07:00

The title of this blog is on a shirt I have (somehow I can't wear it anymore, must have shrunk, yeah that's it). Those of you who know me know I am a sports fanatic, especially baseball. When I was a kid, I would fake being sick so I could be home to watch the first game of the year, even if it wasn't the Giants playing. In college, I'd skip class. Now, I usually have some deferred holidays to blow so I take off.

Yes, I'm sick in the head.

So today, at 3 pm Central Standard Time, I made sure I was sitting right in front of my tv, watching the Giants pregame show in dazzling HD, and counting down the time. (The game started 30 minutes later than it was supposed to, and it about killed me.) Now, if you follow baseball at all, you know that this is the first year that Barry Bonds is no longer playing with the Giants, or anyone else for that matter as it stands right now. And to put it bluntly...WE SUCK! So, I'm not sure why I was so excited about opening day. Maybe because on opening day, there's always hope. No matter how bad your team is, before the game begins, your team is tied for first place! And who knows, maybe the stars will align just right, and somehow your team will shock everyone...sort of like the Colorado Rockies last year.

Or maybe I was so excited because we were playing the hated Dodgers. Whatever the reason, I was excited. First pitch...I was pumped! Dave Roberts got a hit to start the game...we're going to the World Series! Then, he got caught stealing and the rest of the inning went poorly. Then, our 18 million dollar man, Barry Zito, stepped out on the mound, and promptly gave up a homerun to former Giant, Jeff Kent, and the Dodgers scored three runs in the first inning.

I was no longer excited. Fire the manager! Trade everyone! Bring back Barry Bonds!

Ah, opening day. It can break your heart.