New Year's Resolutions

One night remaining and I will have made it 365 days without soda!

I'm having a Mountain Dew tomorrow!

Brandi says I won't like it anymore. I'm not so sure. We'll see. Soda will continue to be a rare thing; which is a good thing.

Now on to this year's resolutions. I have spent some time bouncing them off my wife and a couple of others and this is what it is down to:

1. Prayer, Bible study and quiet time every day. I've been okay at this in the past, but it needs to be more consistent.

2. Daily exercise. Starting easy and increasing slowly.

3. Write a book. It doesn't have to be a good one ;) but just to get writing.

4. No candy/ice cream all year. This doesn't eliminate cookies, cake, Brandi's pecan pie and such, but it cuts out the blizzards, hot fudge sundaes and candy bars that kill me on a daily basis.

5. Less clutter. Buy less. Give away/throw away more. More simplicity.

She takes after her mom

Wow, I can understand not answering questions if you are the daughter of the former president and of a presidential hopeful... but come on! From a kid!? It's not like it's going to open up a tidal wave here. Good grief...

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071231/D8TS58V00.html

As it rose... so it should fall

Just as the Mullah led government of Iran came to power with demonstrations and crowds of people in the streets voicing an end to the rule of the absent Shah. The Islamic republic is and has been feeling the pains of a population crying out for freedom.

This is also why the US has not been pursuing the military option and has been encouraging Israel to show restraint. The democratic movement in the country is gaining strength and showing promise. We need to feed this movement. Nothing like brining down the A-Mean-Jihad without firing a shot.

New Year's Resolutions in progress

Last year I did okay, not great. I made good on a couple of decent resolutions. The biggest one that I held to has been tough, especially at different times in the year, but I have stuck with it and I'm down to FIVE DAYS. Amazing!

What was it?

No soda. No regular. No diet. No soda... period.

And I've done it.

I wouldn't have thought it was possible considering the VOLUME that I use to drink, but I did it... well, in five days I will have done it. 360 down... 5 more to go.

Now that brings up next year and what resolutions I will make...

Anyone actually checking blogs right now... and dare to share?

A little after Christmas humor

The Dilbert Blog is pretty funny sometimes. I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that the Scott Adams is a little twisted (aren't most comedians).

In any case, his latest post was hilarious.

I've been wanting a new dog lately... maybe I'll reconsider.

Good site... a little biased, but good data

RealClearPolitics.com is the name of the site. I know, it's kind of an oxymoron, but they gather all of the latest poll data as it comes out and they compile it.

Some interesting stuff has happened in the last couple of weeks and even in the last couple of days. John McCain has come out of left field (pun?) to bring himself into a tie with Guilianni and Huckabee. Romney is slipping, but some still give him the best shot at getting the nomination.

In any case... 11 months out from election, this is how the match ups look.

Kind of makes you wonder... is there a difference in taking polls in order to answer the question of who people favor and taking polls in order to influence who people favor.

The other obvious point is that this represents the popular vote, which is not the one that counts. I wonder what the EC numbers look like.

Looking at these polls... I can understand some undecideds suddenly liking our AZ senator. I've personally never been a fan. I agree he is a great guy who has been through a lot. I'm not big on some of the stuff he has DONE. McCain/Feingold is a disaster. Fortunately he got cut off at the knees on immigration reform last summer. As for the rest... well, some of that appears to be developing... we'll see.

I don't think she's a fan

So anyone who has read this blog knows that I was behind Huckabee and he was getting a pretty good wave there for a while. The good thing about bringing a candidate to the front in a close race... they are definitely going to be vetted out.

Up until his stuff on foreign policy started coming up, it wasn't anything that I personally couldn't live with.

Lately he is actually getting beaten on by the conservative alternative media... and slammed pretty hard at that.

Ann takes a smack at him here.

As usual with Ann, some good points combined with a lougie right in the face. Ouch.

Drunken Lemurs

There was a case recently where a guy was fired for posting Dilbert cartoons at work.

Scott Adams, the Dilbert creator commented on it today on his blog.

Check it out.

Special Day Today

It's JACOB'S BIRTHDAY today!

Be sure to check out the family blog.

Good thoughts on perspective

I haven't been able to read all my normal blogs lately, but I did catch Pastor Furtick's this morning. Good stuff.

Keep perspective.

It seems sometimes prosperity is the worst thing for our spiritual condition. In our nightly Bible reading the kids and I just read about Solomon. Blessed with all of the wealth you could ever imagine, more wisdom than anyone else in the world, peace on every side, and if all that wasn't enough, the Lord appeared to Solomon TWICE and spoke with him. Yet Solomon didn't listen to what God had said about foreign wives. Solomon took 700 wives and 300 concubines who turned his heart away from God and had him build temples to all kinds of idols.

Keep perspective.

I've said it before

Ron Paul is a very interesting guy and has been able to raise some pretty noticeable amounts of money. Not sure what he is going to do with all of it when he loses (can you say Libertarian nominee?).

I LIKE a LOT of his ideas.

But some just scare me.

It's this kind of head in the sand foreign policy that has led to huge blunders in world history.

1. A president has to be moral (commonly called a 'social conservative').
2. A president has to show good judgement in order to be an effective commander-in-chief.

Pretty much everything else is a "should" rather than a "has to"
3. A president should be a fiscal conservative. Wise with money. Lower taxes rates = more revenue to the federal government. Cut the pork. Cuts across the board on spending. Cut entitlements. Pick whole unconstitutional establishments to do away with, the Department of Education would be high on my list. The IRS would be right next to them. FAIR TAX or FLAT TAX.
4. A president should push for smaller government. Less unnecessary regulation. America was built on 'liberty' NOT 'equality'. It's not the government's job to make poor people rich and rich people poor. First, they are not good at it and second, it's completely unconstitutional.
5. A president should preserve the sovereignty of our nation. This comes heavily into play during trade negotiations and border enforcement. We should have FAIR treaties for FAIR trade and they should be ENFORCED. We need a water tight border so that we KNOW who comes in and goes out of our country. Once we have a handle on that then we can discuss what to do with the 12-15 million that are already here illegally. But in my opinion it involves a lot of buses... :)

Hmmm... Mike, you're killing me!

No, not my brother Mike. Mike Huckabee. Sometimes the hardest thing for a politician to do is to keep their mouth shut, or their computer silent. The Huckabee surge could be followed by the Huckabee kaboom if he keeps being symptomatic of foot in mouth. First their was the whole Mormon statement during the NYT interview. I mean come on. The answer to all of the questions about differences in religion between himself and Romney is simply, "It has nothing to do with this race. I am a Christian man of morals and strong convictions that have shaped my character. I do not know what exactly Mr Romney believes, but that is between him and God." That's it. The end. Any more questions on it should be flatly refused. Stick to the issues. Stick to principles. This is not about a debate between Mormonism and Christianity.

Now it comes round to foreign affairs. Evidently not Mike's strong suit. I can tell you that "the base" of the party are the ones that vote in a primary. The base does not want to hear that we have been too rough with people like Iran. The base wants to hear that we are going to stop mad men in their tracks and we will do it alone if we have to. BTW this is one of the ONLY issues that we really LIKE GWB on, so don't harp on him for it. In this regard GWB should be honored and held up. If you want to get on him, pick something easy, like border enforcement (also popular with the base), pick fat government, pick entitlements, pick pork barrel spending, pick stupid moves like Harriet Myers, but then follow up with good things like John Roberts. Come ON PEOPLE!!!

I need to go look at Fred's site again. I hear he has some detailed policy issues up on his site and I like the smack down at the worthless Iowa debate.

Good piece in NRO on this.

Okay, so I did...

I have to admit that I fell off the face of the earth for a while. A couple of weeks ago my wife went down for what we thought was her normal "back episode". Unfortunately it turned out to be so much more. By Friday of the first week (it started on a Monday) she was still in so much pain that she couldn't sit up or stand up, despite the fact that she was on muscle relaxers and pain killers.

So, we waited for the kids to go to school, then we called an ambulance (yes, she was in that much pain while ON the pain meds). The main reason for this was because she couldn't physically sit up for any length of time, just too much pain.

Once we got her into the hospital, they finally decided that someone on that many IV meds and still awake, let alone crying in pain, probably needed to be admitted. So they got her a room and on Saturday morning did the MRI and found a bulging disk that was pushing on her nerves.

We sat down and had a consult with a surgeon, who fortunately said that we should start with the least aggressive treatment of steroids and physical therapy.

Well, it's been a week since we came home from the hospital. Brandi is doing good and making progress. It's slow progress, but good progress. She had a goal the last two days to get up once and hour and walk to the kitchen. Which she did marvelously. She tries to stop by any clutter on the table or counter and weed through it, which I greatly appreciate. She is also completely off the meds, except for OTC stuff. She's a trooper.

The real BIG DEAL through this whole thing is the tremendous, I'm sorry that should have been TREMENDOUS, outpouring of love that we have experienced. God is awesome and amazing and he has used SO MANY people to bless us and take care of us in this situation. Every day last week we had someone who volunteered to keep an eye on the younger kids, while I took the older ones to school and then went to work. After an abbreviated work day (another blessing... a GREAT boss) I picked up the kids a couple of days, but three days someone else did. Then we were fed the most delicious meals every night. It's humbling and encouraging at the same time. God has truly blessed us with a fantastic group of friends who have just reached out in every way shape and form.

This week we have people lined up to help with kids until Friday, which we have an option to fill if Brandi thinks that she needs it. Right now she is hoping that having Bubba around to lift the baby will be enough help, but we are just going to wait and see. The last thing we want to do is go too fast and mess her back up again before it can really heal.

So on that note. If you aren't already praying for her, I would greatly appreciate your prayers for my wife. She is just an awesome wife and mother and she has been so strong through this whole thing. I tell you, you know you married well when your wife is on morphine and percocet and though STILL in pain is crying, not because it hurts, but because she just wants to go home and take care of her kids. She's awesome!

I love this stuff

Classic.

I'm so glad my current job doesn't involve paperwork. I think I'll stay here forever... oh wait.

Good laugh out of this one

If you ever find yourself traveling in a foreign country.

It's good to know a bit about the culture.

Minor issue.

WOW

140 people gave their lives over to Jesus at Elevation this weekend.

How cool is that.

Bubba turned 8

Check out our family page.

I'm getting old. Wonder how many birthdays before he dwarfs me. Ouch. I'm betting he is as tall as me by 12.

I could have told you that

Interesting poll about mental health... confirming that Democrats are NUTS!!

:)

Best quotes from last night

Romney:

And so, I have to tell you that like most Americans, we love our sports teams and we hate the Yankees.


Huckabee (after a very good answer on the death penalty concerning what would Jesus do):

Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office...

Debate last night

I know all of you had to be glued to the TV last night for the two hour debate on CNN. Fortunately I was too. Surprisingly enough this was the first debate that I have actually watched and I must say that I was not dissappointed. It was a good debate and you saw the plus and minuses of most of the candidates. However, there are some things that need to be observed.

Number one the questions were supposed to be from undecided Republicans, although at least three of the questioners have already been exposed THIS MORNING as openly supporting DEMOCRATIC candidates. I think that CNN needs to up their game. I find it amazing that some diligent bloggers can discover (before the debate was even OVER) that some of these guys are dem plants and CNN couldn't in their days or weeks of planning. The dinosaur media needs to realize that if they want to play this game and not be totally embarassed then they better be as good or better with the NEW media as they are the OLD media.

Secondly I thought that a couple of the candidates did particularly poorly. Romney I thought came off very political... very snake oil salesmanish. I thought he got plugged hard on a couple of questions and I thought the bickering between he and Guiliani hurt them both. Rudy also got hammered on issues where he is week. Rudy is not a conservative at all and I think that was VERY apparent last night. I thought Duncan Hunter did well and I thought Huckabee was great, although he did not get the air time that I thought he should.

Thirdly I though they gave an UNREASONABLE amount of air time to Ron Paul. The guy's a kook. He's not a conservative, he's a libertarian and everyone knows he's kooky, so STOP directing questions to him just because he is the ONLY Republican candidate who would immediately withdraw the troops. Along with support for Israel and any other foreign country. Disband the CIA, IRS(not a bad idea), the Department of Homeland Security, most of the State Department and leave the country in... well chaos. I still cannot figure out why they gave him so much time. Strange.

In all, I had a blast. I know, I'm sick, but I LOVE watching this stuff.

Here he comes to save(?) the day

Number one, he loves this stuff and I do mean loves it. Not because he thinks he is helping his wife, but because he LOVES to be center stage. It's all about him. Check out this article.

There are a group of very strange, very ignorant people that buy this stuff. He bites his lip and puts his fist up and people take it hook, line, and sinker. He is a liar. A very talented and charismatic liar.

Unfortunately as she (who's running again?) falls behind in the polls, you will see this character come out more and more. He'll be stumping more at the events that she does. Count on it.

Just one more reason

Just one more reason to say an emphatic "NO" to another Clinton term.

Babs.

Nuff said.

Hmmm...

"Every problem contains the seeds of its own solution." - Stanley Arnold

The latest one

Last week we went with a couple of our friends to Superstition Springs Community Church (SSCC). The lesson was excellent! The worship was awesome! It is the first church that we have been to with a worship band, where you could REALLY hear the people around you singing out with all their hearts. That was wonderful!

Right now Brandi and I are in a discussion, along with the kids, of which one we would like to go back to and see again. I'm thinking maybe we need to go to the orientation of both just to get the behind the scenes look at what is going on. Maybe that would be a good opportunity for God to show us which church family we would be more effective at serving.

In either case we are going to have to visit for their Christmas festivities. According to the announcement they are trucking in enough snow to build hills... and be able to sled. Way cool.

The state knows best

Just one more thing to tell parents that the state knows better than you do how to discipline your kids.

Anyone who knows me, knows that we got a spankin' spoon in our house and some children, more than others, regularly earn a whoopin' and receive it. Corporal punishment is just one of the many tools at a parent's disposal to find a way to discipline (meaning teach) their children.

Whether you think it is the right way for your kid or the wrong way, quite frankly it is not the job of the government to tell me how to discipline my children. That's my job.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's about incrementally taking away the rights of the citizens because after all, you're just a bunch of idiots and the highly educated elite liberals (read close minded morons) have to tell you how to live your life... and parent your children.

Classic... you are all getting one for Christmas :)

This is classic, you have to admit.

Anyway, to see the complete list of the most stupid things for Christmas, read this.

Would you?

You have to read the story.

Quite honestly I don't know. I would like to think I COULD do something like that if I needed to, but... ouch.

Kind of brings back memories of this movie that NOBODY watched called Rhinestone Cowboy with Sylvester Stallone.

"I begged her not to plow the fields that day, there was blood on the corn and brains on the hay!"

Guess you had to be there. BTW, I DON'T recommend the movie.

You've GOT to be kidding me

I will be the first one to admit that I think that sword swallowers can be fairly entertaining. There is a guy that goes to the Renaissance Fair in the east valley every year who is pretty good. If nothing else he can make something that's really disgusting, be mildly amusing.

But a jack hammer!? Come on people.

In order to set a Guinness record this guy put a good chunk of a jack hammer down his throat and then... oh yes, here it comes... turned it on for five seconds.

What kind of moronic record is this? What on earth would that do to your head, let alone your vocal cords?

10%!!!??

If you listened to all of the democratic debates, first of all let me extend my sympathies and a bottle of TUMS. But during that time you have no doubt heard former Senator Edwards go on about the 35 million people in this country who go hungry.

First of all there are only 301 million people living in the US. That would mean that 11.6% of the country is going hungry. Look around you. Are one out of every 10 people you know looking malnurished? Okay, out of 10 people you know, how many would you say are even THIN? Easily 6/10 people I know are FAT! and I'm one of them!

The numbers are COMPLETELY being skewed and intentionally distorted.

Read this article to get an idea of where the numbers came from and what they really mean.

After all if 35 million Americans were starving, why doesn't JE just invite them over for dinner, from the looks of it he could feed most of them. Turn his new mansion into a 28000 square foot soup kitchen. :)

Okay this is what a real power hungry wannabe dicatator looks like

I realize that the early 90s was the last time most Americans even thought about Russia and their threat to our (almost) capitalist system here in the US, but rest assured Russia is still there and while it may not be the USSR any more, it isn't that far from it. In fact is Mr. Putin has his way, it may be back there again. An old KGB man, Putin's government has been reminiscent of some of the Lenin (not quite Stalin) tricks of old. With secret police eliminating opposition, arresting political leaders, making key changes in the political leadership to allow him to extend his stay at the top well past constitutional term limit... this is not a good guy.

For those who may say that Bush is a dictator or thug... you need to take a look at what a real one looks like. It might just open your eyes.

A favor, if you have a minute

While I really do enjoy the fact that I get to stay up on the news and politics and such, the fact that I have THIS much free time at a job is very concerning and even stressful. For those of you who don't know, I changed jobs about a year ago and came back to the land of ON, thinking that this was a stable and thriving company and a less stressful position than I had been in at MDT. Well, that has been very true for the past year. ON has been doing well as a company and the position I'm in has been entertaining, laid back and MUCH less stressful. Until last August when we were told that our lab would be parted out to the labs in Seremban and Carmona. This was bad news.

However, I always know that God is looking out for my family and I, so I wasn't too surprised when the director pulled me aside and mentioned that they were looking to move me into a different position after the shutdown. It didn't sound like the best job, but hey, it was a job. Well the director had his last day here about two weeks ago. The last thing he said to me was, "get it in writing." Not exactly the words of encouragement that I wanted to hear.

Now I'm in a bit of a struggle here. Okay, I'm pretty stressed. Do I ride this boat out, hoping that the job they say they have for me is here, whether I like it or not? Or do I jump ship now into one of a couple of other engineering opportunities?

To complicate things further, I REALLY (in a gut wrenching kind of way) dread starting another engineering job. I don't like it. At all. Don't get me wrong, the pay is great and I feel really blessed that I've been able to support my family. But I don't like engineering. I never have. It stinks. I would love to do something else, but I have no idea what.

So... here comes the favor, if you have a minute. Pray for me and my family(because they have to deal with my stress) that God will show me what to do. More importantly that I will see what he has created me for and will have an opportunity to pursue it.

That's it. Thanks for listening/reading.

At it again

Furtick is all over it with some good advice.

If only it was followed A LOT more often.

I couldn't agree more

These guys have the right idea. Laws don't stop criminals, they only stop people who will obey them.

So don't make laws/rules that cripple the good guys, but do nothing to stop the bad guys.

Check it out.

Gaining ground

Here comes Huckabee!

How messed up is it?

Pretty messed up.

These guys need to be lined up and pushed off the Golden Gate. Sorry that was violent, I know. Appropriate, but violent. These guys are ridiculous. It's amazing. When Rudy was mayor of NYC everyone saw the AMAZING transformation for the city. He focused on cleaning everything up. People said, why arrest the prostitutes, it's no big deal, but Rudy saw the real affect that the acceptance of crime and degradation was having on the city. Too bad the libs in SF aren't bright enough to open their eyes.

Ugh

Dilbert.

I have had this actual conversation.

I'll pass

I've been offered lots of different types of food in my day and truth be told, I've tried almost everything I've been offered. I'm an adventurous person like that. Either that or I have very numb taste buds that are pretty tolerant.

Certain things however, I have decided that I will ALWAYS pass on.

- horse (already turned this one down from a British chef in Switzerland)

- dog (man's best friend should never be medium rare)

- NEW ADDITION TO THE LIST : Camel (pictured above)

Sorry, just not into it.

EXCITING STUFF!!!

Awesome stuff.

Awesome God.

Amazing results.

Read about Elevation Church and what happened when they put God first and made their capital campaign all about what God can do. Inspiring.

Elections Matter

I know a lot of people take the tack that elections don't really matter, I mean why vote at all? It's not like your ONE vote is going to make a difference.

Of course the truth is that it could and does make all of the difference.

The liberals in this country know that votes matter (whether they are real or not :) They want nothing more than to take us down the road that our European friends have been trudging through for years now. Further and further down the septic slope to socialism. Big brother knows best.

For a glimpse of where this will take us, check out this story from Germany.

This begs the question about our own school system. As I previously blogged about there are parents in this country facing fines and possible imprisonment for not vaccinating their kids.

The whole process is incremental.

No body thinks that one day the government will be placing smoke detectors in your home, not for your protection but to check for cigarette smoke so that they can fine you, put you in a government anti-smoking program, take your kids into foster care and repeal your government health coverage.

I know, I'm paranoid. I mean it's not like the government would use or expand the roll of cameras and monitors for law enforcement. It's not like they would prohibit smoking in your OWN home. It's not like they would be able to control whether or not we were able to receive healthcare. The government can't really take your kids away.

Paranoid, I know.

Oh man, that hurt

Kinda campy, but it comes off pretty good

Add from Huckchuck. You gotta watch at least once. If nothing else, the guy has a sense of humor... and Chuck Norris to back him up.

Japanese Gameshows

This has nothing to do with politics, although I did find it on the Five Brothers blog.

I have no idea what they are saying, but it's just funny. I don't know why.

Good post from Fred about the UN

Right now I'm still leaning Huckabee, but I haven't even had my morning coffee yet, so a lot of things could change. :)

But in the meantime I am staying up on the candidates and what they think and say. Fred, like several of the GOP candidates is at best distrustful of the UN, for good reason. This article on control of the internet is great.

Nice, very nice, can I get one of these on my car?

I've been reading about this one for a while, but just in case you haven't seen it, here it is. No, that's not an old satellite dish on top of the Humvee, it's the ultimate in crowd control. The modern day version of boiling oil to disperse a crowd. Although if you are in the beam of this one you can't just hide behind your shield. It gives you the sensation of burning at a scalding 130 degrees. I know that doesn't seem like much to those of you who have had the good fortune of living in PHX in summertime and had a car with... vinyl seats (I think I still have scars), but it is effective.

Nice.

Great post from Pastor Furtick today

Great comments about temptation, falling and turning to God for healing and forgiveness.

Good stuff.

Good grief

I'm really having a hard time here, for a number of reasons. I've been seriously researching the GOP candidates the last couple of days (it's been a slow week at work, you should see my desk, it's actually clean). I like a lot of what Thompson says, but he's pretty luke warm on almost everything.

From a socially conservative standpoint, Thompson is a more recent and not as ardent proponent of prolife. According to his Meet the Press interview that I watched his change of heart came when he watch the ultrasound of his child. While he is an older man, with older children, the sonagram he is talking about is actually of his newest child who is very young.

Huckabee on the other hand gets great marks on the social conservative platform and more importantly has a general concern and belief in the innate value of human life. As an ordained Baptist minister this is part of his core beliefs, so naturally he comes across much more convincing and articulate about his point.

Because of the MORAL NATURE of the social vs. fiscal conservativism, I've been starting to lean more toward Huckabee. His fiscal conservative reviews (see clubforgrowth website that is under political blogs) really weren't good and with the dollar losing value against almost every other major currency, gold prices skyrocketing and the stock market taking a serious beating this is a serious and legitimate concern. I was REALLY encouraged to listen to this interview in which he states that he would really like to see a fair or consumption tax and explains his balanced budget approach, which on the federal level needs to start with some serious fiscal discipline. And the BEAUTY of the whole interview is that he is VERY easy to listen to and very articulate. He is determined in his views because they are based on solid principles and beliefs and you ACTUALLY BELIEVE the guy when he is talking.

I don't know. Right now I'm thinking I like Huckabee.

Fred

I keep coming back to Fred. The more I research issues, the more he comes up consistently on the right side. I'm linking to his blog as one of the pages I keep up with.

I've been reading about Romney's solution for health care in Massachusetts from guys who actually live there and there are some things that are very concerning.

The right answer of course is that health care is NOT the responsibility of the government. Sorry. If YOUR health care and the health care of your family is important to you, then you should be either A) budgeting your money to pay for it, or B) finding a job that values you enough that they will kick in. Since when did it become the responsibility of the government to take care of my bumps, bruises, coughs, sniffles and infections?

More importantly people should be asking how they can solve their own problems. There use to be a time in this country where people would see a "problem" as an "opportunity".

Why should health care be any different? People need to stop looking to the government to make their lives better. That's not the purpose, design, or intent of the government. The government is there to protect us. To promote and defend the rule of law. To establish and support a federal currency and to keep government, federal and state from taking away the rights of the citizens.

It is not the government's job to feed us, cloth us, make sure that we have health check ups, or to guarantee that we see our piece of the American Dream. Their job is to stay out of the way so that you can go after it if you want it.

Kookie, but not all bad

I have to admit that sometimes Ron Paul and even more so, Ron Paul supporters, come off as well, let's just say less than mentally stable. His foreign policy is isolationism at best, but that doesn't mean that his domestic policy doesn't have some merit. I would definitely do away with the income tax (probably substituting for something else), but I would like to see how low the budget could get by reducing spending alone. This is sorely needed in DC. I'm not sure that we should go back to the gold standard, but I think in general government needs to go on a diet and do some serious shrinking.

I also agree that we should get out of the UN and more importantly get the UN out of here.

In all I like that Ron Paul brings some different elements to the table and that he is not afraid to speak his mind, no matter how kookie he sounds sometimes.

The documentary continues

Classic.

More good stuff from Michael

If you want to know what is going on in Iraq, you gotta read it from someone who has been there, who is there and can see the difference between what WAS and what IS.

This post is a particularly good look at the young men representing our country. Let me just say we are well represented.

This is what journalism SHOULD be.

Powerful quote

"Strong lives are motivated by dynamic purposes" - Kenneth Hildebrand

Here comes big brother again...

The funny/sad/horrific thing is that the same people who would say that the school board and justice system are doing the right thing, say that Bush is invading our privacy by tapping the phone of terrorists making calls to other known terrorists.

I know, you have no idea what I am talking about. Read this. Then come back.

When you hear liberals yelling at you for doing something outrageous, like creating a fascist state or an Orwellian government, you have to watch and see what they are doing because chances are that's exactly what THEY are up to. Don't want to vaccinate you kid, hey we'll take them away from you and put you in jail. Don't want to test your kid for rare diseases, we'll rip them right out of your arms. The liberal mantra is that they know what is better for you than you do. They know how to raise you kids better than you do. It is based on an elitist mentality that says the masses are too stupid to make their own decision.

Okay, I'll step down from my soap box now.

Glimpse inside the life of a heavily caffeinated geek

It's called a coffee or french press and it makes the most wondefully rich, yet smooth, not bitter cup of coffee you can imagine. I love it. I don't even drink brewed coffee anymore. The only problem is that with this particular press, the speed that you push the plunger down is critical. Too fast and you are chewing instead of drinking.

I've found that my stapler is just the right weight to push the plunger down at the perfect speed.

BTW this is the clean part of my desk. :)

Hmmm....

For those of you who have NO IDEA who the guy in the picture is, this is Tom Tancredo, one of the many Republican candidates for President. Tom's biggest issue is the one that he is absolutely right on. Border enforcement. He believes, as they all should, that we should tightly enforce our borders.

I'm not sure how effective his advertising is. I know it's MEANT to be hard hitting, but it comes off like a bad movie trailer. I don't know.

PC - police reports?

Come on now. Really. This is just ridiculous. How on EARTH is it racist to say that a rape suspect is hispanic or black or caucasian?

Why is it that our society is willing to completely change the way we do EVERYTHING just to coddle people in their own sensetivities and insecurities?

Few topics make me as irritated as this.

the Dilbert Blog

What happens when a sarcastic former employee of the techno-computer geek world not only spends most of his time drawing cartoons, managing a restaurant and blogging? Well, you get some pretty interesting posts.

I'm adding it to my normal reads.

The Dilbert Blog.

Feeling presidential?

Now the look of the press conference was intentionally presidential in nature. The blue curtain. The abundance of American flags. A strong presentation and delivery. No planted questions this time (hopefully).

I especially like the part where the flags come crashing down and no one knows how to play it off, spin it, or even really recover with a good joke.

Ouch.

If the link is slow try again later, evidently most of the free world wants to see this video... not that I blame them.

Good weekend

We had the privilege yesterday to attend the kickoff of the new Unbreakable series at Sun Valley Community Church. The boards were breakin, the music was rockin' and the pastor was dead on target. Good stuff. We had the advantage of having three other families there that we knew, which is definitely a plus. We found SVCC to be very alive and very friendly. In our search for a church home SVCC is definitely on the short list.

Hunter commented that the teachers really seemed to communicate well with the kids. All of the kids were very involved and participated in the singing and the dancing... they were all really into it.

I love getting his take on the different churches and the things he observes. Very insightful seven year old.

Customer service

Ouch. Too early in the morning to laugh so much.

Interesting Review of His Dark Materials Trilogy

There has been a ton of email traffic and publicity over the Golden Compass and a really lame author. But I found this review from a kid particularly interesting.

Personally, I'm all done talking about it or mentioning it.

Why we live here

If it is cold where you live, just stop for a minute and think that it is perfect in AZ. High 80, Low 56. Should be 6 months of perfect weather.

:)

Another homer!

Pastor Furtick is all over it today.

Check out the post.

Right on the money.

Education and Fascism

If you ever listen to talk radio (and of course who doesn't), then you probably listen to Rush Limbaugh during the lunch hours. However, if you aren't a fan of the most listened to show in the history of radio, then you might enjoy another show by a host named Dennis Prager. While Rush is all politics virtually all of the time, Dennis is much more of a deep thinker. His show delves into religion, philosophy and the deep issues. Very entertaining and an almost hypnotic voice. He also has a regular column at Townhall.com

I found his latest column very interesting discussing the inverse relationship between education and morality. Fascinating stuff.

I would love to go here someday, but...

I've seen some specials on different cable stations saying how a good portion of Yellowstone is actually a MEGA volcano and could errupt again someday, yada, yada, yada... you know the normal doomsday routine. I don't normally pay much attention to that kind of stuff, but there are people who do and maybe for good reason. Check it out.

Friday morning ritual

The only time I normally check the MSNBC site is Friday mornings and ONLY because they have some pretty good photographers and usually some pretty amazing pictures. Of course at the end you get to vote for your favorite. I like that.

Check 'em out here.

Fervent prayer

Classic.

Gee thanks, Flipper!

Wow, crazy stuff. You gotta love these things. The last time we were in CA we went to a beach near Malibu and played for the afternoon. Out of the dozens of times I've been to the beach, it was the only time that I saw dolphins playing in the water. It was the coolest thing to watch. They would actually ride inside the waves, just feet from from shore. It was SO amazing. Not nearly as amazing as this story but still pretty cool.

I always thought that I would want a harpoon gun if I was being attacked by a great white. Little did I know that what you really need is a pod of dolphins. Sweet.

HUGE sign of progress

If this isn't one of the BIGGEST signs of IMMENSE and UNDENIABLE progress in Iraq, I don't know what is.

It's largely been unreported, but the few groups in Iraq have suffered like the Christians who live there. The fact that this church was reopened with help from Christians and Muslims is huge.

A country is really free, not when all signs of God and religion have been removed, but when people have the ability to worship God freely and with rejoicing.

Too True

For those of you who don't live in the basement clutching your stapler, this strip is too true. I was discussing this very issue with one of our vendors yesterday. His biggest customer is Intel and they recently did a study and found out that it costs them $150 just to come up with a PO (purchase order). So just to be able to purchase something, it costs them $150. That's ridiculous! I know it can't be much cheaper here. The number of people involved in the process is outrageous. At the company I work for it takes no less than FIVE people to make purchases from one of our vendors. Sad. Very sad.

This is what I've been waiting to hear!!!

While I wouldn't necessarily say that it's healthy for me to be 50 pounds (or more) over weight. According to some new research by the CDC it's actually a little healthier to be a little overweight. SWEET!!

Personally I just think it's because fat people are just a little bit happier. :)

Raining cats and dogs... that's nothin!

There were just way to many jokes that could come from this one.

Really, to me, it's justification for why these things deserve to be eaten. Look it's a cow lemming!

I wonder if that's covered by insurance...

He's a lot better than the last one...

It's really amazing how things change. When good 'ol Chirac was in power in France, all of the french hated us. Now that Sarkozy is in power, there is at least one french guy who doesn't hate us. That's progress :)

Seriously though, I do find it encouraging that at least a few of the countries in the world who have been drowning in liberal/socialist policies for decades are starting to see the fruits of their decisions and mend their ways. Sarkozy is a great example of this. It's great to see a (more) conservative mind behind the wheel in France.

Unfortunately it seems that most people have to go through painful experiences before they learn the ills of socialism. Makes you kind of wonder why all of the top Dem contenders are so hot to adopt that mindset.

GREAT quote

"The reason worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work." - Robert Frost

WHY?!!!!!

Okay, just a mental note for everyone. If you are ever running for the presidency of the United States, it's usually a good idea if YOU think that YOU should BE the president. After all, if YOU don't think, act and talk that way, why on earth would anyone else vote for you, let alone give you money for a campaign.

Not bright.

Read it here.

Pushing myself over the edge

Well, I didn't start the day off in a very good mood. Okay, it was pretty lame. So, I decided to push myself right off the edge and read Ted Rall's latest column.

Wow.

Here is a quote:

We've lost our right to see an attorney, to confront our accusers, even to get a fair trial. Government agents have kidnapped thousands of people, many of whom have never been heard from again. Bush even signed an edict claiming the right to assassinate anyone, including you and me, based solely on his whims. Torture, the ultimate sign that civilized society has been replaced by a police state, was repeatedly authorized by government officials who smirked the few times reporters had the temerity to ask them about it.

If you would like to push yourself completely over the edge, you can read it here.

If you don't know who Ted Rall is, he is a sad, sad individual. The darkest day in modern history for Ted (other than the 2000 election) is the day that communism ended in the USSR and the USA became the lone superpower. Now, Ted's main objective in life is to make inflamatory statements with no evidence to back them up. I love columns like this though. I just wish ONE TIME they would site an actual case where any of this happened. Government agents have kidnapped THOUSANDS of people? Really? Name one. Bush signed an edict that allows him the right to assissinate American citizens? Really? Show me a copy of this edict, please.

Poor Ted.

Now I can't say that I am crazy about any of the Republican candidates at this point, or even that crazy about our current Republican president. I had high hopes for Fred, but... I don't know. I saw him on Meet the Press yesterday and was severely underwelmed. I think he is noise at this point. I won't be voting for Rudy in the primary. At this point I'm looking at Romney and Huckabee. Actually that sounds like a half way decent ticket right there.

People

I don't know what the deal is, but I have been floored by people lately. Maybe I'm just being more sensetive, I don't know. Both positively and negatively people have been blowing my mind.

Obviously the positive suprises are encouraging, but the negatives are... well... bummers.

Then I look at myself and I wonder how many times a day, a week, a month... I do the same thing to God. I've been raised to know God my whole life. I've been given every advantage and opportunity and I still blow it on a regular basis.

The God we serve is so amazing. So patient. So loving.

Lord, forgive me for being so dissapointing. So impatient. So unkind. So unloving.

Father, make me what you want me to be. Let me love like you.

Too far

Your average ordinary mouse or is it? I understand the desire to experiment and improve/change/modify things, I mean come on, I'm an engineer. That's kind of what we do. But messing around with genetics? That's a whole different ball of wax if you ask me. Do I want my children to be tireless amazing athletes? I dont' know. Do I want my grandkids to have superhuman strength and photographic memories? I don't know.

I think it all goes back to something that was pointed out in a great kid movie.

"When everyone is special... no one will be."

Anybody know...

Quick quote

Okay, one quick quote and then I will actually need to do some work this morning... and drink my coffee and my slimfast shake.

"Always take an emergency leisurely." Chinese Proverb

Bad guys are going down.

Man, there is just too much blog material this morning. Cool stuff.

Michael Yon is an independent (in thought and finances) reporter in Iraq. He has been covering this war from the ground, with the troops for years now. Some of his stories are just heart breaking, while others are absolutely inspiring.

His latest post is very encouraging. Gen Petraeus is doing an amazing job that a year ago, no one thought could be done.

GREAT STUFF!!!!

Another one.

Good stuff from Pastor Furtick today. If his blog is not a daily read yet, you are missing out!

Catch it here.

Now you see it. Now you don't. Nice Tank.

This is crazy. I know it's still pretty primative, but it's the future coming at you and you won't be able to see it. This is out of the box thinking at it's finest. I heard about this concept years ago and had assumed that they had abandoned it because they just couldn't work out the logistics. Basically there are cameras that take continuous real time footage of whatever is on the other side of the tank and then project that image onto the outside of the tank. Crazy. The genious part is getting it to actually work!

I guess that's not an issue any more. Or at least the issues are getting smaller. I REALLY like the concept of troop body suits that do the same thing. Good stuff!

Ouch!

I didn't get to watch it last night, but I have to say that I am REALLY enjoying the press today. Articles like this one are all over the web. I've been listening to some of the audio and my goodness people, if you want to hear how to dodge a question, just pull up ANY of Hillary's non-answers. Talk about a verbal contortionist. Ouch!

Obama is going to gain some serious ground if he keeps up this effort. Edwards and Chris Dodd jumped on the band wagon pretty good too.

Don't get me wrong, I CAN'T STAND any of these jokers. Unfortunately I can say the same for a lot of the Republican field. It's a rough election season this time around. It will get uglier at the end. Guaranteed if it ends up being Hillary vs Rudy you won't be able to let anyone under 17 listen to the election news. Both of their closets are filled with dirty, naked and raunchy skeletons and they are all going to get drug out and put on your TV.

Unbelievable!!!!!

If you haven't seen this before, get ready to get MAD! I mean, MAD! Like march in the streets and fight kind of MAD. I heard this one on the radio and felt like jumping through the antenna to smack some people.

This is what happens when we started mandating things that don't need to be mandated. This is what happens when the government decides that they know how to raise your kids better than you do. This is what happens when government is allowed to encroach into every aspect of private life. It is stories just like this that make it SO important to have LIMITED government.

Unbelievable.

Here's another link to it, just in case you missed the first two.

The First Stop

Rockpoint Church is about 2 miles from our house. It is a community church with solid core beliefs. It looks like they have an exciting kids program, inspirational worship, a good track for getting people in and moving. Our official church scout had some mixed reviews, but we're going to check it out!

VERY EXCITING!!!

Focus, focus, focus...

Alright, I'm focused. I did pretty good on my 'meals' yesterday. Okay, dinner was not good, well, I mean it was good but not good. Two entre plate at Panda Express (orange and mandarin chicken of course). Followed by an ice cream cone with my oldest son :) But I snacked WAY too much. I really can't go into all of the details because they were too numerous to count.

Anyway, I think this quote is a good one for me to focus on.

"To get the body in tone, get the mind in tune." - Zachary T. Bercovitz, M.D.

I like that. I think there's a lot of truth there.

Good Quote

We had an emotional weekend. I feel like things went as well as can be expected. Life is not always easy, but sometimes you have to make decisions because you believe that they are the best ones for your family. I saw this quote last night and I really appreciated it.

Before me, even as behind,
God is, and all is well. - John Greenleaf Whittier

Weight

Ug. No bueno. I recently lost thirty pounds, which was a good start toward the 70 that I needed to lose. Well, when I got on the scale this morning I was back UP 13 pounds, which means I have 53 pounds to lose. No bueno. I would really LOVE to be under 200 by Christmas. This would put me 50 pounds down for the year. That would be a good goal.

Yesterday I did REALLY bad. Lunch was a pulled pork sandwhich (Tennessee style), with a 32 ounch Sobe citrus energy drink, a big bag of Fiery Habenero Doritos and (can you see it coming) a medium blizzard. Ouch. Nothing like a 4 digit lunch to kill your weight loss.

I'm back on track today though. I did good for breakfast and I have a slimfast shake in the fridge for lunch.

Must lose weight...

Morning ADD

I'm probably the only one in the world affected by this condition, but I am serious when I say that I have it BAD. Morning ADD. For some reason, unless I have to be somewhere at a specific time, I have the hardest time focusing. It's been pretty good lately, since I know that at 5:30am my dad is going to be sitting on the couch, ready to go. But when he drives himself, I have the hardest time.

Here is how it usually goes.

Get up and turn on the water to get it warm so I can shave. Go to the bathroom. Realize while I'm in the bathroom that I'm really hungry. Get out of the bathroom, turn off the water and go to the kitchen to make some eggs, pass the fridge and think about getting a drink. Grab a glass out of the cupboard and wonder if it's really clean or not. Turn on the lights and take a good look at it. Put the cup in the door for some water, but realize that some milk would be better, oh milk, that makes me think of cereal, I'll get a bowl of that instead. Put the cup back, grab a bowl, oh look there is the coffee maker, I don't use that, but it makes me think of coffee, that would REALLY hit the spot right now. Grab the measuring cup and fill it with water... you know I already went to the bathroom once, but... I'm feeling like my coffee has already kicked in and I haven't even had any. Head to the bathroom, but which one, the guest or the master, well the wife and baby are sleeping in the master, so I better use the guest, but that might wake up Kyle... go to the master... maybe I should eat some cereal first. Go back to the kitchen, look at the clock, holy cow, I've wasted 20 minutes! I better get shaving...

I think you get the point.

Focusing seems to be a problem lately.

Dilbert.Com

I love this cartoon. If you aren't a cog in the corporate machine, you probably don't get it. However for those of us who are, particularly in the engineering world, Dilbert is a documentary. Painfully accurate, but amusing at the same time. I recently went through this trying to schedule the birth of my son. Try and time that one without a c-section.

I don't get it

Ordinarily, just seeing a picture of Charlie Rangel gets me irritated. Hearing a tax plan from him... well, that just gets me ticked! You can read the details of it here. I wouldn't necessarily recommend doing it, mainly because the lost minutes of your life just aren't worth it.

Let me sum it up like this. Repeal tax cuts which have helped to spur on the economy and create the greatest amount of revenue to the federal government in HISTORY. Add a special tax to those making greater than $150K a year and a greater increase to those making $500K a year. I understand the attempt at logic. But when you look at the facts, it just doesn't make sense. First of all, the people who make greater than $150K a year are already being taxed at a higher rate. Also, a lot of the people in this bracket are small business owners who are not only funding their own retirement plans, but are paying for all of their own health insurance and trying to put money aside in case business slows down, which if you look at the housing sector, is a real posibility. On top of that he also wants to add payroll taxes to these small business owners. Good grief, it appears that the Dems want to crush one of the most vibrant (and tax lucrative) parts of the economy! STUPID!

While we are on the subject of taxes, maybe you should go back and read the article, just so you can get a glimpse of how ridiculously complicated our tax code has gotten. I normally consider myself a fairly intelligent person, but quite frankly, I'm lost on most of this stuff. Plus there are two very large sections of the country that get away with very little, if any, taxes.

1) The super rich, not the people who are actually making money, but the people who HAVE money. The shear nature of their income makes it very difficult to track and tax. Add the right lawyers and accountants and it would appear that they don't have any income.

2) Those who make their money outside of the normal legal channels. Quite frankly if you are breaking the law to make money, you are certainly not going to be following the tax code in reporting it.

The solution is what is known as the Fair Tax or a consumption based tax system. Staples are excluded, but all other items are taxed at the time of purchase. Doesn't sound good to pay 15% sales tax on anything, but if you don't have an income tax, capital gains tax, tax on savings accounts, payroll taxes for employers, or the unlimited other taxes that strangle and strip your funds before you ever see them, then a hefty sales tax becomes very reasonable. If you want to save your money... great! Why should the government profit for you being responsible with your money? Of course, eventually you are going to spend it and when you do, you'll get taxed and the government will get it's money. Even less scrupulous income earners eventually want to spend their illegal cash and when they do it will be taxed. The same goes for those fortunate enough to be sitting on the family trust fund; eventually they will buy things, and when they do, they'll get taxed.

I don't know, it makes sense to me, which is a lot more than I can say for the tax code.

Pastor Furtick

God is doing some amazing things right now, this minute, around the globe and around the country. One of those places is Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC. God is literally just throwing unchurched unbelievers at these people and they are preaching Christ to them by the hundreds. It's awesome! It's inspiring! I love it!

If you haven't heard of Elevation, haven't listened to the sermons on-line (careful they are an HOUR long to a PACKED school!), haven't checked out Steven Furtick's blog, then you are really missing out. Get over there and check it out.

His blog today REALLY spoke to me. We are going through some changes and transitions now in our family at church and at work. These two entries on the blog really hit me. Check them out:

http://www.stevenfurtick.com/elevation/the-long-way/

http://www.stevenfurtick.com/elevation/building-up-and-cutting-back/

What this is

Good grief, I have a million things in my mind that I need to get out in some way. Sometimes I just sit on things so long that my head just hurts, a million little voices/songs/self talk pulling me in a hundred different directions at once. This is merely a place where I can write these things down before I go insane. I guess when your head is as big as mine there are a lot of places for a lot of ideas to run around.

Whether it is thinking about my favorite coffee maker, the best ink pens to write with, story topics in my head, sermons or lessons God has put on my heart... quite frankly the stuff just needs to get out and get written down somewhere. It might be ten times a day and it might be just a few times a week. I don't really think that it's healthy for it to be less than that.

Right now my mind is kind of scattered, I need to bring some clarity and a LOT of focus. It seems like most of the time I end up wasting time on things that I never intend to waste time on and ignore the things that I am really passionate about.

There, something like that...

-K