Did you miss me?

I know it has been a while since I put anything new up. I guess it was one of those stretches where I have some things to say but I didn't feel like saying them, plus work was going a little crazy. Summer time is here in case you couldn't really notice all the evidence outside. Lawns are being mowed, temps are going up, people are melting on the sidewalk, and baseball is in full swing. Speaking of baseball I am going to work at the local ballpark again this season. This year is going to be very interesting, I got bumped up in job duties, I am now going to be the person who helps out with the on field promotions. I am not sure how much help I will provide, all of the heavy lifting will be done by a supervisor or the dance team, but what I will have to do is get on a microphone and announce what is going on during the promotions. I will begin praying for all the poor souls within ear shot of the PA system who have to hear me when I on the mic. Take me out to the balllllllllgaaaaaaaame,....

Guess whose back!?

Me! Ok, so I have had the opportunity to post updates while I am at a work computer, but this is the first post I am doing from my new home computer. They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but I have been learning a few things here and there. I used Windows ME for close to 6 years, with some various time spent on 98 and 2000 and even a little XP. This new machine is XP so in a way I am having to re-learn a few things but it is not so bad.

Random stuff

So I survived another week at work, as I type this I have about 30 more minutes until I can go home. One thing that sticks out in my mind right now is the fact that I saw some toilet paper that said it was "facial quality". The last time I checked, toilet paper wasn't used primarily for facial uses. I guess that means that it is extra soft or something, but it just seems odd to me. Update on my computer: It got shipped out the other day, should get it on Tuesday according to UPS. Today I need to take my old machine in to see if some old data can be resurrected off the hard drive. After I get everything from it that I need I wonder if I could set it on fire and send it off to the junk heap in a final blaze of glory.

You know you are addicted to the internet when...

Your computer goes out on you and it ends up ruining your mood for a while because you can't get online. My Compaq PC made it longer then some skeptics would have believed, but it finally bit the dust after serving me for about 6 years. I took advange of getting access to a computer with high speed internet access and I placed an order for a Dell online. Pretty sweet deal, normally it would have cost $1,600, but I got it for $1,000 with everything I want and need to get me by for several years to come. To my friends and family who e-mail me I might be very slow in responding since I can only check it at work during regular hours.

Minor adjustments

I get a little fanatical about my bike at times. When I ride it I sometimes make notes to myself about things that I should change, swap, upgrade, get tuned up, etc. Each thing on my mental checklist getting taken care of basically brings my bike up to where I want it. I use the feedback I get from riding it to decide what I should do next, what will bring the most benefit. Looking at all of this I can't help but wonder if I have been lacking in my own life and not using the same approach with my life and relationship with God, and all my other relationships. Why am I not more carefully examining things and making adjustments based on mistakes I have made or wisdom I have learned. I guess I am classified as one of those "hard learners" and I need to goof up more then once to learn my lesson, but there are sometimes when making the same mistake more then once can complicate things. Not sure what else to add to this post, just going to end it here.

There is a difference

So in my hometown the battle of illegal immigrants verses American citizens continues on. Today is supposed to be "The day without an immigrant" day. They are doing it to prove a point that immigrants hold a vital place in the American economy. Ok, fine, but let me get the facts straight a little bit so I can ponder this. First off, immigrants are people who have come into this country legally, so I don't have a problem with that. If an individual from a foreign country wants to go through the process to legally live here I got nothing but respect for that. What I don't have respect for is the illegal immigrants, because what they do is against the law. "We are not criminals!" some of them say, but what else do you call a group of people who avoid taxes, abuse healthcare and welfare systems, and get the benefits of what other people's taxes have paid for? If there was a "day without illegal immigrants" I think we would be better off. Another disturbing fact is that the illegals are getting their voice heard and don't want to be punished for being here illegally, they are not even citizens with the right to vote yet they want things changed to accommodate them. My final point is that in order for a protest to have a lasting effect it has to have two main things: Numbers and length. Today's marches and stuff might have some numbers behind it to make it a slower day in the economy, but all those people will be going to the stores eventually, either yesterday or tomorrow. That is why a one day protest or boycott does not work, people will be back eventually, if you want to see how to do a real boycott look no further then Martin Luther King JR. So, in short, a day without an immigrant is just looking like any other day, except the lines at Wal-Mart might be a little shorter, which I don't mind because I am going there after work.