Hurricane Katrina

I wanted to write a little something about what has happened, and the aftermath that has been all over the news, but words fail me. I simply cannot add anything to this event after looking at all the pictures, seeing people wading through water trying to make sense of what has happened to loved ones and their possessions, hearing the numbers of how long it will take to pump the water out and get electricity hooked back up, how long it will take to get back to normal. I guess if you woke up this morning in your bed, consider yourself blessed, some people had to sleep on stadium seats. If you had running water to use today, consider yourself blessed. If your refrigerator was keeping your food cold, consider yourself blessed. Say a prayer for the people that have been affected by this storm.

Dog days of summer

Literally. Our puppy has been inside in the kitchen for the past few days during the afternoon. Why you ask? He got neutered and is not supposed to get the surgery site wet or dirty. Today me and him basically laid around on the tile and tried to find anything interesting on the tv. I tried to hold a conversation with him, but I guess I had nothing worthwhile to say because he fell asleep.

Guest topic: Rhode Island

So I have been told before that Rhode Island is neither a road, nor an island. I began to wonder if that was true, so I investigated by taking a trip over to wikipedia.com to see what they had to say about the small state in the east. It seems historians are not exactly sure how the name "Rhode Island" came to be. One theory is that Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano discovered one of the islands just off the coast of the mainland and called it Rhode Island because of its similarity in shape to the Greek island of Rhodes. The other theory is that the name comes from the words "Rooodt Eylandt," which is Dutch for "red island," red because of the red clay that was along the shores. However the case may be it is certainly not a "road", just pronounced that way. There are over 30 islands in the bay, but the biggest section is the mainland. We can rule out that while there are islands, it is not really an island, but it has been nicknamed "the ocean state" because you are never more then 30 miles from the sea. So there you have it, Rhode island really is neither a road, nor an island. Class dismissed. Today's topic was submitted by Wendy.

I was tarred and feathered

Ok, maybe not, but it was pretty close. The assistant GM of the baseball team asked me to come with him for a few minutes at tonight's game. I followed him, and he took me over to this mascot that was part of a group of mascots hired for some extra entertainment for the night. The mascot told me he was going to spray silly string on my face and head, put a cream pie in my face, slash water on me, then I was going to use a towel to wipe my face and chase him down with a bucket of confetti, but miss him on purpose and get the fans with it. Everything went as planned, I had all of the above stuff done to me while sitting in a chair out in front of the home team dugout. I chased him to the fence and threw out the confetti, but most of it landed in the dirt, not on the fans, but oh well. To explain why I was brought out to the field, the whole ballpark (6,000+ fans) where told it was my 21st birthday (yeah right). I got to throw out some cracker jacks from on top of the dugout of the visiting team during 7th inning stretch, and unlike last night all of my throws stayed in the stands, I had one the night before that I got carried away with and it ended up on the field.

All votes are final

I wanted to point out that the entries for my idea of submitting a topic to discuss have been counted and read. In the 7 days I gave everyone to come up with one or two ideas, only one person had something to say. My girlfriend left two ideas, they are as follows: "Why Rhode Island is neither a road nor an island", and "How education has changed over the last 10 years". I am still trying to decide which one to write on, I could have some fun with both of them.

You can't make this stuff up

I heard a story recently of some local junior high boys who decided to skip school. They got on their bikes and left, but after a while they got thirsty. They wanted some water, but didn't know where to go, so they decided to go to their old elementary school and ask the ladies in the front office for some water. The boys where recognized by the ladies, and where later picked up by the resource officer and taken to the police station.

Foul ball chasing

Has I was at work, I wondered for probably the millionth time why kids will run all the way across a ballpark to get a foul ball that was probably claimed a few seconds after they got out of their seats to chase it down? Then a thought occurred to me, these kids don't doubt or psyche themselves out, they try every time in the odd chance that no one else will be able to get to it, even though the odds are stacked way against them. I guess this sounds a little lame, but I wonder if we all had that same devotion to tackling things we think might be impossible, how much we could actually get done and surprise ourselves? What if we where not so quick to point out the negative and be pessimistic, but instead gave it a shot and see what happens?

Hurry, time is limited

I just wanted to remind you people that you only have until Friday the 26th to respond to this post and leave me a topic that you want me to talk about. That is all for now, my brain requires rest.

To the people at Clear Channel Communications

I read an article this morning in the paper about how radio stations in my hometown are having to evolve and change in order to get the market they want. In other words, the money is not coming in like it should, so maybe changing the music and ID of the station will get the results they need. I have an idea for Clear Channel: Why not get into Christian music? When you think about it, it might be a more stable and profitable business. If you look at what makes up a Christian station, it is pretty much the same at all stations, and the format doesn't need to be drastically changed to reach the target audience. First off you would have music, and Christian music has a wider range then most people know about. Then you have sermons and teachings, those can either come from a syndicated show or recorded from local churches. You would also need add in programming aimed towards parents, families, kids, and teens, most of this stuff is already out there and available through programs like Crown Financial and Adventures in Odyssey. Christian stations have proven themselves that they do have listeners, as much of their support to stay on the air comes from pledges, not advertisements, and they thrive well enough to help put on concerts. Think about it Clear Channel, a format that has been tried, tested, proven, and it works. You won't need to keep scrambling to find the next big thing that will keep it all afloat, God is the biggest thing out there.

I survived the week

Well, another week in the books. I made it through in one piece, and without causing bodily harm or injury. I might have hurt a few feelings here and there, and for that I am sorry and have apologized. I could have done a few things better or faster, but that is in the past already, nothing that can be done but learn and move on. I heard a great saying about the past, present, and future.

I was regretting the past and fearing the future. Suddenly, I heard God speaking. "My name is 'I AM.' "He paused. I waited. He continued, "When you live in the past with its mistakes and regrets, it is hard for you because I am not there. My name is not 'I WAS.' "When you live in the future with its unknowns and fears, it is hard for you because I am not there. My name is not 'I WILL BE.' "But when you live in this moment, it is not hard, because I am here. My name is 'I AM'."
Author unknown

So true.

Soap box time

Its been awhile since I decided to pull out my soap box and stand on it, and I think today is a perfect time. Don't worry, I usually don't have anything earth shattering or ground breaking to say. What I want to rant about today is "rice", specifically when it has to do with the Ford Mustang. Now, "Rice" or "Ricing" is when you take a car and add all kinds of things to it that only add to the visual quality of the car. This is usually done on low end import cars like Honda Civics, but it has spread over to domestics like Cavaliers and Neons. The body kits they add are big and bulky, the wings are higher then the roofline, there are sponsor stickers all over it, and usually a loud annoying exhaust that sounds like someone farting. The final step of ricing is after you do all of these "enhancements" you then brag about the performance of your car, which is usually stock or next to stock, and now heavier due to all the "performance" upgrades. If you choose to do this to a goofy little 4 banger car, knock yourself out, but please stay away from Ford Mustangs. I have seen more and more mustangs now sporting clear tail lights, huge wings and body kits, ugly paint jobs with stickers all over the body and windshield, and even cheap mufflers you can find at Pep-Boys with big shiny exhaust tips. The Mustang is a performance car, please don't degrade it by adding all your extra plastic parts and neon lights and yellow stickers. If you need to add a body kit get something nice like something that would go on a Cobra or Saleen. Every time you rice out a mustang, a baby cries, please think of the babies. Soap box time over, move along, nothing else to see here.

*Your title here*

Ever wanted to read something worthwhile on here? Would you like to see something talked about on here that interests you? Well, I have decided that I will give you, my readers, the chance to nominate a topic of discussion. All ideas are welcome (that are within good taste). Of course my knowledge of things is not that vast, so try to keep it simple, or else I will goof up information on purpose just to get some laughs. Submitting your idea is very easy, just click the "comments" link under this post, type it out, and submit it. If I pick your topic you can brag to all your friends (real and imaginary) that yours truly found your idea interesting enough to talk about. You have one week from the time of this post to give me an idea, maximum 2 ideas per person, offer void anywhere you can think of.

A little down, but not out

All of a sudden I was hit with a sore throat a day ago, and a very foggy head today with some sniffling. Kind of aggravating because I can still get up and do stuff, but it has kinda zapped my energy here and there throughout the day. Other then that not much else to talk about. Oh, my puppy seems to think I am a chew toy, despite the fact we have a few things in the yard he could chew on instead. I know he means well, and he isn't really biting me, just being playful, but his teeth are starting to get pointy.

Still nothing to report on

I had a really good topic in my head about sticking to the promises you make, and being careful what you promise, but as I started to type it out it was just not working. So instead I will leave you wondering where exactly I have left my mind these past few days. I am afraid it got loose, if you see it anywhere please catch it and put it in a box and send it to me, its too small to be out on its own.

Slump

I guess in baseball terms you could define my posting for the last 4 days as being in a slump. Even now I am struggling to write something that is worthwhile. Oh well, I usually have one or two days like that every month. I bought some film for my old 35mm camera, I plan to take some pictures to add to the family album and post one or two here to show you all what G.W. looks like.

Back to school special

I would like to send a shout out to the two student teachers I know that started work today: Mi LM Wendy, and her mom. Sometimes being a teacher is hard, frustrating, and more work then anticipated, but good teachers are desperately needed. When you think of it, teaching is a very noble profession, after all it was the other job Jesus did when he was not working as a carpenter.

Who moved what?

Today at church this morning my pastor touched on a topic that he likes to bring up from time to time: getting too comfortable. He compared it to the saying of "who moved my cheese", because when we get into our comfort zones and never move beyond what is familiar. We get used to our "cheese" being in the same spot, but sometimes God will move it on us. Me personally, cheese is ok, and I don't mind it being moved, just don't touch my beans.

New addition

Today we welcomed a new addition to the family. He stands about 1 foot high, is really hairy, and has dog breath. Guessed yet? We got a puppy from the animal shelter today. He was a stray, 4 months old, a shepard mix, and very healthy and strong (not to mention cute). Has soon as I saw him, and saw he was a shepard, and he was begging me for attention, deep down I wanted to let my inner child out and tell my parents they had to pick him. Well, my mom liked him as well, so he came home with us. My dad joked around about a week ago saying that he always wanted to name a dog George Washington, and call him "G.W." for short, that has become his official name. I brought Wendy over to the house to get her seal of approval, and she loved him.

Speak softly, and carry a big vacuum

That is what I did the last few days. My room is finally safe for a human being to live in once again. Don't really have anything deep or profound to add to that. Well, I can say good luck to Wendy, since she starts her student teaching up this Monday, and is going to be meeting some of the parents tomorrow. You'll do great, just wait and see.

I've got clutter

I get lazy, anyone who knows me knows that I am speaking the truth. Sometimes I don't put things back where they should, or put new things in a good place. The result is that I have a desk that has about 3 3/4 square feet of usable space in front of me when I pull up a chair. All of that space was buried underneath papers, pens, and lots of dust, leaving no, I repeat, no empty space to work on anything. Combine that with the fact that the shelves I have just above my desk have not been touched in well over a year, and its enough to declare an official state of emergency. Has I cleared stuff off, dusted, tossed some trash, and put stuff back where it belonged, a thought occurred to me. Sometimes in our own lives we accumulate clutter in our minds, things that don't really serve much purpose except to use up time and energy and get our focus off of what it should be on: God.

To Wendy (LM)

One year, time sure flies, eh? One year ago today me and you decided to enter into a relationship to see exactly if we had what it takes to be able to one day make it permanent. Over this past year we have had our ups and downs, but I am thankful for all the time spent with you, and grateful you have chosen to stay around and be committed to this. You've seen my good and my bad, and I have gotten the chance to learn a lot about you in the process. You are very special to me, and I am glad for the time we have had so far, and look forward to what the future will bring. God bless mi "LM".