San Francisco thinking

Having been to San Fran lately, I am pretty sure fireplaces are the least of their worries. It's a shame some place so blessed with natural beauty can be so mentally and spiritually dead.

Old Memory...

OK, you will not really appreciate this like I do, I am sure, but please indulge me (Hey, it's my blog). I don't know why, really, but this memory just came back to me as I was thinking about Thanksgiving and all the family reunions we used to have around this holiday. I guess there is just too many of us now and too many places to go and things to do and blah, blah, blah, but my whole extended family used to get together every year, usually at my uncle and aunt's house in Houston. We always had way too much food, people and fun but the thing I remember most vividly was standing around the piano as Aunt Billie would play song after song and we would sing and sing. Sometimes just the aunts would sing or just the uncles and they always had their favorites: mainly old hymns that I am afraid nobody sings anymore. Then one of the aunts would beg all the cousins to come sing our song. We would finally all drag up there and sing "Eliezer Call". You can find the story of Eliezer and Isaac and Rebeccah in chapter 24 of Genesis but this is the song we would sing:

ELIEZER CALL

(1) 'Twas a day in early spring time by an ancient wayside well, Eliezer paused to rest his camel train. He had found a bride for Isaac, 'ere the evening shadows fell, For his weary journey had not been in vain. So, he took the fair Rebekah, decked in jewels rich and rare, Back to Abraham and Sarah far away, Where Rebekah loved her Isaac, and he loved Rebekah fair, Oh, it must have been a happy wedding day.

CHORUS

Oh, get ready. The evening shadows fall. Don't you hear the Eliezer call? There's going to be a wedding. Our joy will soon begin, In the evening when the camel train comes in.

(2) So the blessed Holy Spirit from the Father God above, Has come down to earth to find a worthy bride, For our Isaac over yonder has prepared our tents of love, For He wants His fair Rebekah by His side. We have left our kinfolks gladly, we have bade the world good-bye. We are going to a land beyond the sky. We shall soon behold our Isaac in that blessed eternity. What a happy, happy meeting that will be!

Thanks for the indulgence and maybe you just had to be there to appreciate it. I'm glad I was.

Is Gun Control hitting what you're aiming at?

I am very conflicted about this. Is it murder or self-defense or just protecting the neighborhood? What concerns me is that I am afraid that our confidence in "The System" (whatever that is) has degenerated to the point that we are rooting for the guy who just killed two people.

Salute to a Veteran

Tomorrow is Veteran's Day, November 11, 2007. Most parades and celebrations and speeches will be today and today I want to thank all veterans with a salute to just one hoping I can honor all of them with his example. George E. "Bud" Day joined the Marines when he was seventeen years old and spent his career in the military. One can read his story here and here but beware it is a graphic re-telling of some of his more than five years in a Vietnamese prison camp.

Asked many times what sustained Americans in this environment, Colonel Day answers: "I am, and have been all my life, a loyal American. I have faith in my country, and am secure in the knowledge that my country is a good nation,responsible to the people of the United States and responsible to the world community of nations. I believed in my wife and children and rested secure in the knowledge that they backed both me and my country. I believe in God
and that he will guide me and my country in paths of honorable conduct. I believe in the Code of Conduct of the U.S. fighting man. I believe the most important thing in my life was to return from North Vietnam with honor, not just to return. If I could not return with my honor, I did not care to return at all. I believe that in being loyal to my country that my country will be loyal to me. My support of our noble objectives will make the world a better place in which to live."

Thank you, Colonel Day! I hope our children and our leaders read your words.

Short people

This explains all my problems!

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23417115-details/Shorter+people+

I'm with Dr. Gray!

http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/gore-gets-a-cold-shoulder/2007/10/13/1191696238792.html

Mark this day on your calendar.

For once, I agree with Whoopi Goldberg!

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=dd0_1192025762&p=1

Hilloween

Scary!!

Hillary's Socialism

Wikipedia says: Socialism refers to a broad array of doctrines or political movements that envisage a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to control by the community[1] for the purposes of increasing social and economic equality and cooperation.

Hillary says: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8S5R35O0&show_article=1

and: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8RULMJO0&show_article=1

and: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1662655,00.html

Why I do this...

If you haven't figured it out yet, I think I like writing this blog just to read the comments y'all post afterward!

Thomas Jefferson

As to the species of exercise, I advise the gun. While this gives a moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise, and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body, and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be the constant companion of your walks.

What is he talking about?

I really don't understand what Obama means by saying, " I am confident that we can create a Kingdom right here on Earth." Somebody please tell me. And while you're at it, explain why someone would vote for this guy to be president!

Don't tell my boss I posted this!

This is a copy of an email that my big boss who offices in Austin wrote to the entire workforce (thousands of people). Nifty and Special?? International Food Day? Historical Character Friday?? Hahahahahaha!! That's funny!

Okay, here's a thought.  It has been suggested that we might
want to do
something pretty nifty and special one Friday a month.  One group
suggested a kind of Football Friday.  I don't know, since
we have so
many dedicated LongHorns and Aggies - will we come to blows?
Could we
actually be disciplined enough????
I'd love to hear suggestions about something to be fun and
look forward
to one Friday each month - but not requiring any work!  That is the
whole point- to be fun.



So, ran this idea by the Directors, and boy, did I get a
ton o' ideas.



College sweatshirt day

A who's that baby contest - as well as other ideas
around babies

Picnic Friday- everyone brings sack lunch and
eats outside

Bingo in the cafeteria  (for cookies etc)

Hawaiian shirt day

Crazy hat or tie day

And of course the various holidays
throughout the year

Red White and Blue Day

50's day (I wasn't sure if that referred to age
or to the decade)

Tailgate Friday (bring stuff)

Ice Cream Friday

Keep Austin Weird

International Food Friday

Hippie Friday

Historical Character Friday

Karaoke

Survivor Competition

Treasure Hunts

Cutest Pet Contest (pictures)

Picnic on the Lawn

Physical Field Day (sack races
etc etc)

Cupcake or Cookie Decorating Fun Day

Wear your colors day - for your team etc

Opening day of hunting season- wear camo

Wrap your bosses car in toilet paper (I'm not
going to tell you where
that one came from!!)

Scavenger hunt

Cube decorating contests for the holidays

Holiday open house



AND LOTS MORE - but I ran out of typing
energy.....sorry.  But this just shows you the
range of great
ideas...and I would love to hear your ideas too.

Quick and Interesting

I have everything else. This is probably next.

Also, who wouldn't want to be #9?

The day after I blow the whistle on global warming!

Edwards Quote

First question: Is Presidential candidate John Edwards extremely racist or extremely stupid or both?

Quote: "we can't build enough prisons to hold all of the criminals or eventually there will be no black people left because they would either be in jail or dead."

Second question: Where are the "Reverends"? Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, where are you and why have you not started your march? Did your bullhorns get clogged up?

woo hoo

I know what you are thinking: "Gee, he doesn't look a day over 55!"

Even with the Ambien, I couldn't sleep. I have too much on my mind. Yes, it's my birthday but that's not really what is keeping me awake. Without going into great detail, I have found out lately that, as my doctor says, I'm just falling apart physically, and as my wife says, mentally. I'm just here trying to hang on spiritually! That is what is dogging my sleep.

I have had thoughts all week about different things that, on the surface, do not relate but I lay there this morning trying to go back to sleep but realizing they all fit together. Romans 12:1 says to present your bodies a living sacrifice. How does the music I listen to affect me? What is the best way to prevent my kids from making the same mistakes I did? David was running toward Goliath when he reached into his bag and took out a smooth stone and loaded his slingshot. What will heaven be like?

You try going to sleep with all that running through your head! I'm gonna take another Ambien! Wake me up when there is cake!

A Random Quote...

"If I had to chose between having Born Again Redneck as a neighbor or a vegetarian hippie peacenik, I'd pick the gun-totin' Redneck anyday even if he is a bit queer."

-- Anonymous

OK, here goes.

I am not the smartest person in the world or even the room for that matter but I am about to tell you something that I do not hear the smart people saying. Some people may choose to agree with me on this but I expect us to be in the vast minority. That is fine with me since nobody now is ranking me very high on the smart ladder, won't I look good when what I say turns out to be true? And if I'm not right, well, nobody expected it anyhow. You can choose to believe what I say or not but let me warn you, I have no facts, evidence, or even real intelligence to back this up. So, believe me at your own risk.

I believe what I believe and wish I could prove it or even make a good case but I cannot. Sometimes you just have to go with your gut and this is one of those times for me. I am very hesitant to acknowledge this publicly since I cannot prove it but I have to tell how I feel. I will look foolish now but my hope is for the future when I am proved correct.

Here it is: Global warming is a scam!

Al Gore would laugh. Countless books "prove" me wrong. Even the President of the United States is finally on the bandwagon. Who am I to say it's not happening? And why? I have never gone to the arctic or the desert or anywhere else for the purpose of measuring the temperature nor have I studied charts and graphs illustrating what the temperature was hundreds or thousands of years ago. How do I know then that global warming is a scam? To me, it's like saying there are too many fish in the sea. OK, now what? Number one: I cannot prove you wrong unless I start counting fish and so I have to take your word for it. Number two: so what if there are too many fish in the sea? Can you really do anything about it and should you do anything about it?

So how much warmer is the planet getting? One degree? Two degrees? I have heard seven-tenths of one degree is the increase. Are you kidding me? Not even one degree? Who cares? In fact, a little warmer weather sounds pretty good to me even in Texas! Also, I would think that warmer weather would be good news for places up north like Canada or Russia or Greenland. Longer growing seasons, better working conditions, and more time working on your tan all seem like good things to me! Also, if it is warming, are you really conceited enough to think man could change it one way or the other? As I understand it, the earth warms and cools in cycles and explains why most scientists thirty years ago thought we were heading for a global cooling crisis!

The real question, though, is why would everyone want to make a big deal out of a small amount of warming (if it is even warming at all--who was taking the temperature one hundred years ago and how accurate were their thermometers?!!)? I will tell you the reason people are making a big deal out of it and it is the reason anybody does most anything anymore. Money. Think about it. I guarantee you big business, government and Hollywood do not care about how the earth is being treated unless it makes them some money somehow and the more people are sucked into this lie the more money comes out of their pocket either in taxes or donations or through higher prices.

I am all for being responsible citizens on this planet God gave us. Saving our air and water and resources will save us money in the long run but I refuse to believe the inconvenient trash that pervades our society now and this is my stand against it. Prove me wrong. It might take five or ten or twenty years but until then I stand against the "facts" of global warming. But then again, what do I know?

We don't have any gays in Iran

What you need to know about me...

I shared with some friends the other day something of which I now think this audience should be aware. I shared a fact that I believe is important to knowing the "real" me. In the interest of complete disclosure, and so you can decide if anything else I write is worth reading based on your knowledge of my character, I want to reveal something here.

Ok, it's not really that big of a deal. It's just that I really enjoy milk! I'm not talking about enjoying milk in my cereal or in a cup of coffee, I mean I love to drink milk and I drink a lot of it! There is nothing better in this world than a cold glass of milk. It's good with breakfast, lunch and dinner and it's good for or with a snack. I love milk even when I go out to eat. Milk goes well with steak, hamburgers, chicken, not the greatest with pizza or tacos but good with french fries.

Something I will admit to that I am not very proud of is the fact that I sometimes drink milk right from the jug. It's hard to tell your kids not to drink from the jug when your lips are on the rim of the gallon container but it's hard not to do it! It satisfies like no other drink. I was taking a long swig of delicious milk the other day and had my mouth full so I set the jug down and my wife was looking at me. "You didn't make your noise", she said. I didn't understand. "What noise?" She said, "That noise you always make when you drink milk...You know...MMMMMMMMMM".

You are going to think I'm crazy when I tell you that I was drinking some milk the other day and was enjoying it so much it was almost a religious experience. Seriously! I had the jug tilted back with that smooth, white nectar flowing down my throat and I thought how much milk is like God. Now don't stone me before you hear me out. Milk is so satisfying. Have you ever been with God and left feeling satisfied? Have you ever realized that you needed to be filled with and filled up by God? It is scientifically proven that people who believe in God live longer than people who do not. God is good for you like milk! The slogan should be "Got God?".

I was hesitant to tell my comparison of God and milk until I read something in the Bible to back it up. Yes, it's true, and it's not a joke. Read Isaiah 55:1 and 2 where it says:

1 "Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.

2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

"Come buy milk" it says, and you will be satisfied! Milk is being compared here to God and I love it! God really is good all the time!