Did I ask for your comments?

Competition breeds innovation!

2011-06-07T12:26:00.000-07:00

We have all heard the term "Competition breeds innovation." It is common. It is shouted from the rooftops by many people decrying the evils of "Big Government" and Socialism. And yet, the very ones who cry it the most refuse to actually put it into practice. I am speaking once again of the Republican Party. Republicans, if you want to win the White House, put forward a halfway intelligent, semi-coherent contender. So far, i haven't seen one.

For those who do not know my political stances, they do not align with any Party. I am in favor of "National Healthcare." I think abortion should be banned. I think we need to enforce rather than strengthen existing immigration laws. I think that we need more domestic spending and less spending on foreign wars. I think we actually need real measurement standards for government funding and need to eliminate the programs that are not producing real results. Instead of putting that money into tax cuts, I think that money needs to be funneled into the programs that ARE working. I am AGAINST tax cuts. I think if poverty exists and children are hungry, we should stop saying that the we need tax cuts to buy more STUFF. I think that Florida's recent law requiring drug tests for TANF is one of the BEST pieces of legislature that has been passed in recent history. I believe in Workfare instead of Welfare. I have strong leanings to both the Right and the Left and this allows me to stand up very straight. Any other specifics, just ask, I would love to discuss it! :)

With all of that said, the recent news story has been Pawlenty's recent stomping into the Republican Primary landscape. It took me a bit to realize that this man was actually spouting off his true intentions if made president. I though I had attended a comedy show. He talked about lowering taxes and making Congress vote on every current regulation to see if it stays or goes. He wants "Smaller Government" (Do Republican's know what that means?) and yet wants the President to have "Emergency Powers" to freeze spending. I guess a dictatorship is smaller government in the way that only one man rules instead of several hundred elected officials. And the best of all is his "Google Test."

I actually laughed out loud at my desk at this. He would save a ton of money. He mentioned a few things we could get rid of, but he failed to mention that these were the ones he wanted "Google tested" and we should avoid others. So I went Googling. Pawlenty mentioned Amtrack, Freddie and Fannie, and the Postal Service. But why stop there, according to his own test, we can eliminate police and fire departments, public schools, the military, highway departments, the park service, social security, medicare, and yes, even the Senate and House of Representatives. A simple Google search shows you that there are private police and fire agencies. Private schools, private retirement funds, private insurance, mercenaries, and more available in the private sector. Then I found out that there are private bloggers that actually write and submit bills and budgets. That eliminates every government agency, office, and employee except the President. For some reason, I do not think that this is what Pawlenty wants.

Listen..... nobody wants "smaller government." All everybody wants is less government in some areas and bigger government in others. Make a list of what you want the government out of, and what you want them in, and you will see that this is very true. This brings us right back to square one. Anybody have any other ideas?

In conclusion. Republicans please!!!! You are making it WAY too easy on the Democrats!

Dieting

2011-03-30T10:24:00.000-07:00

Just a quick blog to let you all know that I have started dieting. Anessa and I are tracking calories, trying to be more active, and supporting each other. I am now a member of SparkPeople and think it is an amazing site for anybody looking to lose some weight.

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A rose by any other name......

2011-03-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

As some may have noticed, I have not blogged in quite a bit. The biggest reason for this is because I simply had nothing much to say that was not politically charged or motivated in some way. I had promised a blog free of politics, and I am a man of my word even if that means I need to keep my mouth shut for a while. But I want to get back to blogging, so I need a politics free blog and need one fast. Therefore, I am going to tell all of you about me.

This is probably something that I should have done in the beginning, but hey, better late than never. Most of the people who read my blog already know pretty much everything there is to know about me. Some, however, probably do not. I think most will likely learn at least a little bit more than they wanted to know in the first place. Wherever you fall, I have readers that are new friends and readers that are old friends (some older than others). So, it is time to catch the old friends up and reveal some of my past to my new friends.

I guess the best place to begin would be the beginning. I was born in 1981 and raised in Pekin, IL. Not sure if this fact defined me at all, but I think that most experts would agree that your geographical location does define you at least to some extent. The city is not large, but it is also not small. We were not plagued by a high crime rate, but had just about everything we needed within a short drive, walk, or bike ride.

The size of the city along with the time period meant that I was one of the kids raised with a curfew of "when the street lights come on." I did not have a cell phone to check in every 15 minutes and we were largely expected to entertain ourselves when not at school or extra-curricular activities. It pains me to know that children today will never experience the freedom, joy, and responsibility of those times.

It may come as a surprise to all of you, but I was not a skinny kid. Since boys were in athletics, my parents sought a sport that they felt would cater to my rotundness in a way where I could excel without the advantage of a smaller frame. This led my parents to enrolling me in my first year of wrestling at the age of 7. This is a sport that I do feel defined me more than most things did. I did love this sport.

I played a variety of other sports as a kid as well. I played basketball, baseball, football, and I even did track in junior high. I was not great at many of these, but I did start in football. I also played soccer for a bit after breaking my leg and was forced to skip football for a season. I never attacked any of these sports as much as I did wrestling. You played other sports, you lived wrestling. It encompassed your diet, your entire exercise routine, and even the way you built muscle mass.

I stunk at wrestling in the beginning, but improved as time went by. In 8th grade, I went to the state tournament and placed 3rd. My freshman year, I made team Illinois and never had a losing record through high school. I wrestled three different styles and attended tournaments in several different states, placing in many of them. I truly wish I would have stuck with success.

My Senior year of high school was the next defining moment of my life. I fell apart. I had terrible priorities and felt that I was definitely old enough to tackle life without another year of school. The problem with this mentality is that I skipped a ton of school and found myself academically disqualified from wrestling my Senior year. This turn of events defined the rest of my life.

Without anything to keep me straight, I did a whole lot more bad things than I already had been. I will not go into detail, but lets just say that my poor kids will have a hard time getting away with much. If their mom didn't do it in high school, I did. We made a lot of mistakes. For those of you who don't know, she was pregnant before we graduated and this set us on a very different path than either of us had planned.

After high school, we struggled as young newlyweds and new parents. We envied our friends of the life of fun they were having and fought against each other when we should have been leaning on each other. The best thing that could have happened to me was when her dad insisted that I join the military so that I could actually make something of my life. With that, I joined the Navy.

I will keep my Navy life brief. While we learned a lot and got our lives on track, there were times when we almost lost it all. We did things that neither of us are proud of and did not lead lives that were aligned with our morality and faith today. Let's stick with the basics here. I studied nuclear reactor theory and electronics in Goose Creek, SC, I operated a nuclear power plant and learned hands on electrical work in Ballston Spa, NY, and served aboard the USS Nevada in Bangor WA. For those who do not know, the Nevada is a ballistic missile submarine and I was assigned as one of the crew that operated the steam plant side of the nuclear power plant on-board. My time in the Navy ended shortly after my second child, my first daughter, was born.

After the Navy, I worked for a short time at Illinois Machine and Tool before landing a Machine Operator gig at Caterpillar. Caterpillar provided a livelihood for my family and I and allowed me to go back to school along with my GI Bill. Also, a surprise child, our second daughter, was brought into this world while the company's insurance still paid for some things. I studied business with an emphasis in HR Management and got an HR job shortly after graduating. A management gig led straight to lay off five months later as the economy crashed.

The crashed economy led to a fourteen month stint of unemployment where my wife and I were tested pretty harshly. I had become a Christian at the age of 25, and this definitely helped me through this time. For the first time I did not struggle to try to make it work on my own. I was able to give it to God and trust that He would see us through. Also, our shared faith allowed my wife and I to lean on each other instead of blame each other.

After 14 months, God led me to a job interview to work in Business Services at a Workforce Development Center. The interview went well and the Division Manager and I spent a lot of time simply talking. I mentioned some of the mission trips that I went on with the church and that I work with our Youth. This led to being offered a completely different job that I now occupy. I have never had a more rewarding job. I feel that I make a positive difference to the people that I work with and to our community.

This leads me to today. I know I skipped things, but I did not want to make it a play by play. The bottom line is that I am now a Christian man that is married to a Christian woman and we have three wonderful children. We love football and are die hard Bears fans and have begun to find a love for hockey as well. I love spreading the Gospel and telling people about Christ. I am slightly haunted by the knowledge that my childhood best friend ended his own life without knowing Christ and this has instilled a willingness to share Christ with everyone. I have made a lot of mistakes in my life and will likely make many more. Hopefully I learn from all of them and will be able to make fewer as Christ shapes my life as He needs.

Thank you again for reading a rather long, particularly dry blog. Please, click on my ads. It makes me happy. Hopefully my next blog has a bit more humor than this one did. :) God Bless!!

How dare he!!!!

2011-02-08T14:33:00.000-08:00

My last blog and past few Facebook posts have been pretty politically charged. I figured one more won't hurt anybody right? For any new readers, I am pretty jaded against the political forces within our country. I think that our two-party system is destroying our country and that career politicians are pretty much money grubbing layabouts with their hands deep in our pockets. As a matter of fact, my idea of reducing spending would be to cut each congressional house in half and reduce pay to $20,000 per year. It is public SERVICE after all. Just think how much we would save!!!

Now back to the title of my post. I consider myself pretty patriotic. I take this to the point of defending things such as the flag, the national anthem, and the president. I see these as symbols of our country and defaming or insulting these things is the same as slapping me in the face. Bashing the president, however, seems to be par for the course nowadays when you don't have anything better to offer. The Democrats did this against Bush when the best they had was Gore and the Republicans now do this against Obama when all they have to offer seems to be McCain or Palin. I find this offensive. Especially when facts and figures are manipulated to suit the will of the speaker.

The new buzz phrase that you hear all over the country now is "fiscally conservative." This makes me laugh.... and throw up a little in my mouth, but mostly laugh. This is simply another way for politicians to promote their agenda while hiding it underneath a pretty blanker. Another of these terms I think is a joke is "smaller government." FYI, not a single politician is for smaller government. I may be wrong and would love examples and am always up for debate, but I have been searching and have not found one.

The greatest thing I have recently heard is that Obama is spending at this terrible rate. I heard that he is hemorrhaging money. They even went so far as saying is spending is unprecedented. That last one is the greatest of all. Spoke by a Republican, I am not sure if he knew what that word means. Unprecedented? Doesn't that mean that his spending level has never been seen before? I do like to fact check. Even if I agree 100% with what you are saying, I may still fact check your statements. Obama has asked for and spent $884 Billion dollars that would not have been spent had nothing been asked for. That is a TON of money. Now let's move on to a perspective.

Republicans tout that these spending sprees will not stimulate the economy and that is why we are still in a recession. They preach instead that we should be cutting taxes. This will do a much better job in stimulating the economy. This is the good old Republican tag line, right? Wait a minute. Between the tax cuts in the stimulus bill and the bipartisan tax cuts, Washington has cut $905 Billion in taxes. Shouldn't that have done the trick? Oh well..... his spending probably ruined the stimulating effects that the tax cuts would have had, right?

So back to the title, the spending, and everything. How dare Obama spend $884 Billion dollars. That is unthinkable. Granted, we were facing the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression, but that amount is unjustifiable. I mean, we could go to war twice in a place like the Middle East for that much money. No wait.... that cost more!!!! That's right America, we actually have elected officials who still think that it was OK to spend more on two wars in the Middle East to inflict our corrupted Capitalistic Republic ideals than it is to spend $884 Billion here at home to save our country. God Bless America!!!

And now let's top this cupcake with another slap in the face for all of us. The newest idea from our "fiscally conservative" members is to cut government spending on unnecessary expenses by 20%. That means all of our social services. Things like Federal programs that retrain workers whose jobs were moved to another country. What won't be cut? NASA. That is right, exploring the moon and putting another person to sit around the space station is more important to our "fiscally conservative" officials than retraining our workforce. Now I get mad when people think wars around the world are more important than US citizens. I get really mad when people think that dirt on a DIFFERENT PLANET is more important. They don't want to reign in spending. They want to cut spending that their voting bloc doesn't agree with while maintaining spending in areas that employ their voting bloc. Wait.... that simply makes them politicians!

My last rant is smaller government. Do not tell everybody that you want smaller government and then go and try to increase the government's power over ethics and morals. I am pretty morally conservative. I am all for laws against things I find immoral. I also do not pretend that I want the government to shrink. You cannot have it grow in one place and shrink in another and say that is smaller government. If you think it is, I do math tutoring Mondays through Wednesdays and it might behoove you to show up.

Thank you all once again for reading my blog. Please click on my ads. It gives me a sense of accomplishment. I hope I have not lost any more friends. I also promise that my next blog WILL NOT be political. Ta-ta for now!!!

Liberal or conservative?

2011-01-25T11:46:00.000-08:00

I know, I know. Some people are going to be downright amazed that I am writing another post so soon after my last one. Oh well, get over it! I usually blog when something excites or irritates me. Funny how both of those things elicit the same response.......

I HATE being referred to as a liberal. For anybody who doesn't know, my political leanings are more toward Democrats than Republicans. Please, do not tell the Baptist Pope, I may get excommunicated for these political beliefs. I do not think that being a Christian and a Democrat are mutually exclusive. That is probably a violation of the Ten Commandments or it could say "Thou shalt not be a Democrat" somewhere in Leviticus, but I will claim ignorance on those. But i digress.

First of all, I have very conservative values. I feel abortion should be outlawed. Not all of you who read this will agree and I could probably guess which of you disagree, but that is just how I feel. I think that they should take sex ed out of the schools. This should be combined with more offerings of free sex ed classes elsewhere. Parents could then choose what organization they think should be teaching their kids sex ed based on the organizations values or they can take it upon themselves to teach this.

Some of my beliefs are a little gray. I am for government recognized same sex civil unions. I am against church recognized same sex unions. I feel that homosexuals can be Christians. We all are sinners and only we rank sin. With that said, the Bible says that being a drunkard is a sin so we do not have keggers at church. We do not, however, get up in arms trying to end the sale of alcohol. I see this issue the same. I do not see how homosexual civil unions ruin the sanctity of marriage more than those people who are on their eighth spouse. I have yet to see legislation that limits the number of divorces a person can have simply because they are tired of their current spouse.

My fiscal beliefs are where I completely diverge. I do not believe that private industry should be profiting off of necessities. I see necessities as things such as water, electricity, food, health care, and a few other things. As a matter of fact, I find it quite detestable that companies do profit off of the suffering and misery of others. I read an article the other day blasting companies that come in and help disaster victims for a profit. How is that any different than a hospital making a profit off of a woman who was struck by a stray bullet during a drive by? The logical disconnect sometimes astounds me.

Back to food, this is actually Biblical when talking about feeding the poor. Leviticus tells us that it is a sin to sell food to the poor at a profit. This is commonplace. Before anybody says that this is old testament and no longer applies, remember, this is the same book that tells us that laying with a man as you would a woman is a sin. The double standards are driving me batty!! Dom Helder Camara said it best. "When I feed the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist."

To be honest, I also side with Fiscal conservatism. I do not think that we should spend more than we take in as a country. I, however, do not believe that we should simply cut all of our social programs to do it. Some of you know where I work. Some of you don't, but that is OK. I work in an office that administers federal grants. I love that there is one local Republican politician that helps his constituents get funding under these grants and then goes to Washington and tells Congress how they do not work and that they need to be cut. I want to tell these people who he is trying to help that "we would love to fund them, but the Congressman that told you he would help you just went to Washington and told them that you weren't worth it."

I do agree with small tax increases coupled with the closing of several tax loopholes. I also feel that we need to stop funding special interest projects and tighten the reigns on spending across the board. I feel that we should drug test welfare and food stamp recipients. I feel that people getting unemployment should have to meet daily and do community service projects for a couple of hours a day and attend mandatory job skill workshops. I am pretty certain that the cost of paying people to supervise workers and teach classes will be offset by the number of people unwilling to work for unemployment. I have several other ideas, but I will not list them all here.

All in all, I am tired of labels. Our two party system has created this extreme void in the middle. It makes me sick that everybody gets stuck under the label of conservative or liberal. There is a LOT of gray area. I hope that I did not anger too many people with this post. I do understand if anybody drops me as a FB friend or leaves me a nasty comment. I just had to dump all of this off somewhere. Have a blessed day!!!

NFC Championship as reviewed by Bears fan

2011-01-24T06:27:00.000-08:00

My take on yesterday's game:

Our defense decided to lay down and play two hand touch for the day and the offense couldn't get anything going. Of course, Jay Cutler decided he wanted to show off his skills and this wasn't jiving with the calls being played, so he was having a crappy game. Realizing things were not going his way, Jay decided he was done for the day and we should finish the game with our back-ups. Thank the Lord for Hanie who kept us from being embarrassed out there. Not sure why we were hiding this guy, but I am glad he was tucked up somebody's sleeve.

All in all, it was a good game to watch. There were some calls that really helped out the Packers. There was an interception that was not an interception. The Head of Officiating in the booth with the announcers saw that it was not an interception and also saw that the man was down by contact at the spot of the "interception." The challenge by Lovie failed to overturn the call and the ref gave Green Bay an extra ten yards to boot. The pass interference call on the Bears was another stellar call by the refs. The receiver stiff armed the defender while the ball was in the air. (For those of you who do not follow football, that is offensive pass interference.) When the defender batted away the arm pressing against his chest, he got called for defensive pass interference.

The jewel of the officiating was the interception that was, and then was not, and then had to be challenged. The defender clearly did not catch the ball. The ref right by the play called it an incomplete catch. The ref on the other side of all the players called it an interception. Now, if I am five feet from an incident and you are thirty feet from an incident, who do you think had a better view of the incident. According to the ref on the field, the guy thirty feet could see it clearer. He made Lovie challenge the call that couldn't be agreed upon by the refs. We won the challenge, but now were not allowed to challenge again. And we needed that challenge back since the refs continued to call poorly the rest of the game.

Now back to the actual plays. I do not in any way blame the refs for the loss. They were terrible, but if we were truly playing well, we would not need to rely on a few plays. The play that lost us the game was the catch and run back by Raji. This was a stellar defensive play by an awesome defensive lineman on a very inexperienced quarterback shoved into a game he had little to no preparation for. Factor in that we were only about ten yards from the end zone and the stars were aligned for this play. Good job Raji. My hat off to you.

Aaron Rodgers also played a decent game, but it was definitely not his best. The defense simply laid down for this man. Now, although I am a Bears fan and will ALWAYS dislike the cheese munchers, I do like Aaron Rodgers. He seems to be a good person and is always a professional on the field. I would like to congratulate you for a well played game Mr. Rodgers.

Now back to Hanie. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for coming out and playing as well as you did. You saved us from embarrassment and played like a true champion against overwhelming odds. Additionally, you poured your heart into a game for a team that stuffed you into third string behind a man that couldn't play two series. You showed true professionalism and sportsmanship out there on the field. I do not blame you for the interception throw. It was well executed and things sometimes just do not go your way. You put in a valiant effort trying to save the touchdown as well.

Overall, if not for the INT, we would have seen a Bears/Packers NFC Championship game go into overtime. That would have been an amazing thing to watch. The Bears defense played a much better second half and the Packers were only able to score on defense in after halftime. Had an overtime emerged, it definitely would have been a nail biter. I am definitely not embarrassed to be a Bears fan and think the boys played very well. Congratulations Chicago on a great year!!

Money!!!

2011-01-12T11:31:00.000-08:00

I am not exactly sure what I want to say on this topic. I read a quote this morning about budgets. The quote stated that a budget is a keeping a record of living beyond your means. I found this statement hilarious. The problem, however, is that this is exactly what most people's budgets are.

My wife and I are TERRIBLE with budgets. We know how much we have to spend and how much "free money" we have each pay period or month. The problem is that we are both enablers. Both of us! If I want something, we rationalize why it is OK to get it. If she wants something, I just go get it for her or tell her we will get it figured out. This is no way to run a family's finances but there it is.

For those who know us, you know that I used to work at Cat and now work for the City. For those of you who do not know us, well, reread the last sentence. What people may not know, but probably have inferred, is that I made a LOT more working for Cat than I do working for the City. Another thing that is not really common knowledge is that I have turned back call backs for returning to Cat twice. That is right, even though Anessa and I barely make ends meet, I have TWICE given up more money. Want to know a secret? We have NEVER been a happier couple or family!

That is right. Although we make less money and fewer extras, we are closer now than ever before. I do not travel. I do not stress about work. I absolutely LOVE what I do for a living and we make real differences in the lives we touch and actually are part of our community's solution. And this, my friends is SO much more important to me, Anessa, and our children.

The money is nice. Do not get me wrong. I wish I got paid more for the work I did. I don't, though, and that leads to me and Anessa really needing to do something. We are taking that finance class that everybody and their brother has gone through. Well, my brother has gone through it at least and they claim it worked for them. I am hoping it can help us reign in some of our unnecessary spending and teach us a few things. What we really need, though, is a shot of discipline. Until we take steps in ourselves to discipline ourselves, we will not win in the monetary arena.

Oh well, not sure where this blog was going today. I am glad that people read this. I monitor the people who follow and read my blog. There are two consistent readers from other countries that read each blog I post and I thank you for reading. Please feel free to comment. I would like to put names or faces to you. Thanks to everybody else as well. At least I know I am not talking to myself!

Bad Blogger, Bad!!

2010-12-15T05:02:00.000-08:00

So I am a terrible blogger. I have not written anything lately. To be honest, I really have nothing much to say on a daily basis. I have been thinking all morning about what I am going to say, but so far, nothing. So..... I have decided that I am just going to catch everybody up on my life.

Work has been fun lately. I feel like we are finally getting closer to starting up our YouthBuild program again. For any readers who do not know what YouthBuild is or my role in it, here is a quick overview. YouthBuild is a GED and construction training program for at risk 18 to 24 year old young adults. At risk covers a large number of issues, but for the most part, they are either previously incarcerated youth or very low income. We provide GED classes and tutoring during the morning hours and then construction training in the afternoon. The participants gain several certifications and assist in building a home at the end. My role is the construction coordinator and GED tutor.

The program is grant funded, so we must have a specified number of enrollments prior to beginning. We have been struggling to find people who want to participate. I have no idea why, but we have. Lately, however, we are getting close to our goal and I am excited to get things back up and running again. Additionally, we are staffing our own GED teachers this time instead of employing an outside agency, so I am excited to be working with these two as well.

Outside of work, it is life as usual. Anessa has been working. This has led to finding babysitters and rearranging schedules to make hours work. I am just glad that Zaia is so easy going. She is just fine with going with the flow and has no problems with not having one regular sitter.

My older two are doing very well in school. They enjoy going and do not fight doing homework or reading. Joel is in band this year and seems to enjoy it. Rhianna and Zaia are still doing dance and tumbling. As I said, life as usual.

I am attending a conference this weekend. It is a workshop style conference with a nice dinner in the middle of it. I am only attending Saturday evening and Sunday morning. I refuse to get up early enough on Saturday morning to drive there for the morning session and one night away is enough. I am attending a workshop on estimating and budgeting and a workshop on counseling. Don't those sound exciting?!?

Christmas is coming. I have been quite the Scrooge this year. I am not a big Christmas fan. I do not like Christmas music, I do not get a warm fuzzy for Christmas decorations. Lastly, I do not like Christmas shoppers. I hate having to fight through crowds to pick up peanut butter and Capri Suns for my kids' lunches. It irritates me.

Well, I am about worded out for today. Zaia did crack me up yesterday. I will not name who she said it to, but Zaia looked at one of our friends yesterday and told her, "You don't have to smile. Your smile kinda creeps me out." I find that hilarious. We had a conversation with Zaia about being rude and what that meant, but luckily the friend is not one to be easily offended and she has a great sense of humor.

And with that, I am signing off. Thanks for reading another blog by me. I hope it was enjoyable!

Day 2 (or so)

2010-11-30T13:36:00.000-08:00

OK. I was told today that I am a horrible blogger. Supposedly, when you mention that you hope to blog once per day, people expect you to blog more than once a week. Whatever! So here is day two. BTW I measure days in 168 hour blocks. it makes life more interesting and means that I am blogging once per day still. The length of my days can shorten or lengthen based on my wants or desires without any prior notice.

So we are in the middle of planning Cohort 2 of our YouthBuild Peoria program. This cohort is gonna be so much better than the last one. I am so excited about what we can accomplish with this program and who it can effect. I love that I am part of a program that helps people get out of poverty and build their lives instead of simply providing them with the means to stay poor forever. Hopefully we will help 30 more young adults get started with the lives that they have had on hold.

The Thanksgiving holiday was great. I love feeding people, so hosting this year made me feel great. I love when something I cook, build. or create comes out wonderful. Not to pat myself on the back or anything, but the turkey I cooked this year was one of the tenderest turkeys I have ever eaten. I tried lifting it out of the roaster and the breast meat simply pulled right off the bone. The legs and wings simply fell off the bird as well. It was great. And everybody ate a ton. That just makes me happy.

I have to go grocery shopping today. Not sure what dinner will be yet, but the grocery store is a great place to plan meals. I don't want to wait until another Thanksgiving to feed friends again though, so if anybody wants to be fed, leave me a message and lets find a time for you to come over and share a meal with my family. You can even put in meal requests. LOL, with the meals I cook, I probably don't even need advanced notice. I seem to have a habit of cooking for eight.

I hope this finds everybody well. God bless all of you and I hope to see all old friends again someday soon. I will try to not wait the full day before blogging again.

Day 1 (or so)

2010-11-22T16:52:00.000-08:00

So my goal is to blog once per day. I know what people may be thinking, "You have already blogged today, give it a break." Honestly, though, I feel that the first blog was an intro statement and shouldn't count as my first day's blog. Therefore, here is my day one blog for reals!!

I have been thinking a lot today about my job and why God has placed me there. After some prayer and retrospection, I feel that it is a little on the obvious side that it was God's plan for me to be there and ultimately stay. He has not released me from there, so I can only glean that he still has something for me to do. I pray that I am vigilant enough to identify my purpose there when it arrives and fulfill the task laid out before me.

Thinking about my faith always leads me to thinking about how my life has led up to walking with Christ. For those who know me, you know it was a long, windy, often bumpy, broken in several places road. For those who do not know me, why are you reading my personal thoughts and feelings?

There are several people who helped direct me to a relationship with Christ and they weigh on my mind from time to time. One person who has been on my mind today has been my brother. I have been thinking about Aaron a lot with this being a Christmas without him here and hoping he is safe as he lives in a turbulent part of the world. I pray that he is comfortable, stays safe, dreams of his wife, and knows that we, here in my house, love him and keep him in our hearts.

Aaron played a big impact on bringing me to Christ. Ultimately, I am a person who needs convinced of things before diving in feet first. My relationship with my brother when he was a Christian and I was not, was a little strained. This is likely because I thought Christians were sad, lost, misguided, needy, and plainly wrong. On top of that, I loved telling them that and giving my worldly evidence to back it up. I still remember, with shame, arguing with him until he had tears in his eyes and had to leave the room. I actually remember feeling triumphant. How sad is that.

Anessa and I recently joined a small group. As in recently, I mean a couple months ago. I shared with them how much of a testimony it was to me to watch Aaron. Living in a worldly family with people who enjoyed arguing with him and pointing out how wrong and dumb he was had to be difficult. The point is, he never stopped sharing. He would live his faith in our faces. He would take opportunities to tell us about his faith. His courage made me think more and more "Wow, I wonder if there is more to this." I began to wonder what would keep him at this when there was so much adversity. Go figure, I soon found out that he was right, I was wrong, and there is a ton to this that would keep a man standing up to anybody.

All in all, I have never told him how big of a part he played in me coming to Christ. I guess I really should. Aaron, if you read this, now you know. If you don't read this, I guess I need to get on Skype and talk to you about it soon. This really wasn't what I had in mind tonight when I sat down to type, but oh well, that is the point of a blog. You just start typing and things just come out. Anyway, Aaron, I love you, stay safe, I can't wait until you come home (but don't come home until you feel that is what is best for you and your family).

To any other readers. God bless. Thanksgiving is coming soon. Try to think of your family and tell a member of your family one thing you haven't told them before. Who knows, it could make you feel better and it may be something they needed to hear.

First Blog

2010-11-22T14:28:00.000-08:00

OK, I have read several peoples blogs and have decided that I would like to join the world of blogging. So, without further ado, this is my first blog. As such, it will be an intro into who I am and what this blog will look like in the future. Note the title and web page of the blog, your comments are welcome and even encouraged, however, I did not ask for them and do not be surprised if they are summarily ignored!

First off, my name is Scott. I know, what an original and contemporary name. You are probably wondering if it was mispronounced or misspelled often when I was a child. Let me put those fears to rest. If you were really wondering that, I cannot help you here, please visit a counselor.

I feel that there are various things that define us, and those are the types of things that I want to include in this intro blog. I am a Christian. I am a Bears fan. I am pretty certain that those things are mutually inclusive, but I may be biased. I am a father. I am a husband. I own a cat and a dog. I love my kids, my wife, and my pets. I try to live for God. I love zombies and am working on a detailed plan to survive the coming zombie apocalypse.

I work as an Assistant Project Specialist for the City of Peoria's Workforce Development Department. More specifically, I tutor at risk, 18-24 y/o adults GED skills and construction. It is a very specialized skill set, but it does fit me well. I love my job. I sometimes am amazed I get paid for the job at all, let alone get paid well. I am so blessed that this is what God has chosen for me and I pray that I am vigilant enough to identify what God's plan for me is here.

I try not to take things too seriously. Some people would say that I take that way too far, but those people have issues. Once again, I may be biased in that opinion. I have no real deep personal scars or baggage. In the airline of life, I can go through the express check-in and would never need to pay for checked bags. I would likely be patted down every time, though, and it would likely not be by anybody that would give an enjoyable pat down.

I am overweight. I have really been working on this part of my life lately, but find that I am lazy. This is probably why I am overweight to begin with, but I am just recently realizing all of this. I never knew how much this defined my life until recently. The realization, however, has really made me want to change my lifestyle. For example, I hate eating in the car and will avoid it if possible. How many times have I seen the fat guy munching on a hamburger in his car and thought, "No wonder he is fat, look at him gnawing on that burger. He can't even wait until he is home." I don't want people looking at me like that. I often skip desserts in public because I don't want anybody to think, "well of course he would want a piece of cake." I take ownership of my weight and am definitely not sad or upset about it. It is just a problem that I have identified and am working to change.

I like movies. I love music. I seem to really enjoy the music and movies that conflict with my growing relationship with Christ. Although as God works in my heart, I do find some things really turn me off more than they ever did. I love God, but sometimes wish he would stay out of my taste in movies. Just kidding God, just make sure I enjoy those that you eventually lead me to.

I do live to see my kids smile. They can make me angry, sad, happy, and nostalgic all in the course of five minutes. I love to spoil them and wish that I could give them everything they ever wanted. I am so happy I get to enjoy this gift of fatherhood.

I love my wife. We have been married for eleven years. I cannot believe that she is that OLD. She really does complete my life though. I cannot see myself in a life without her. I am looking forward to another eleven years even though she is going to be that much older!

Anyway, there is a ton more I need to write on here, but it is getting long and eventually my boss will walk by my computer and wonder what is on the screen. I hope this finds all of you readers well. If you enjoy the blog, click on some of the page ads. Oh, and read the ones I post in the future!