GoombahWorld

My Thoughts on Prop 8 Being Unconstitutional

2012-02-10T13:00:00.000-06:00

This past week, the 9th circuit court of appeals in San Francisco issued their ruling on California's Proposition 8 - the voter approved ban on gay marriages. In a ruling of 2 to 1, the judges of the ninth circuit said that prop eight was unconstitutional.

According to an article posted by Reuters news service, the over 100 page ruling included a statement that reads:

“Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples," the ruling states. "The Constitution simply does not allow for ‘laws of this sort.’”

While living in California, I have known several people who were gay or lesbian. I was even was friends with a few people who were gay. I am sure this ruling was a victory for them and they were celebrating,

In November 2008 thirteen million voters in the State of California passed proposition 8 - also known as the "California Marriage Protection Act" by a ratio of 52 to 47 percent. Since I was no longer living in California in 2008 I was unable to hear both sides of the issue (I would have if I lived in California) I must admit I would have voted in favor of passing Prop 8.

As a Christian I have felt for many years that marriage should be between a man and a woman. I also felt that same sex couples should receive the same rights. privileges and benefits that I and my wife are entitled to from our marriage. These rights include, but are not limited to, adding your loved one to your insurance coverage as the same as a spouse, being able to make medical decisions for the other if your partner is not able to speak for themselves, being able to discuss the loved ones health problems and care with medical professionals, etc.

I still believe and feel that same sex couples should have the same rights as my wife and I share, however during the past three plus years and learning more on the issues, if the vote was today, I think I would either abstain from voting or possibly vote against prop 8.

In a Facebook thread in 2010 where prop 8 was being discussed I had said that I, as a Christian, feel that marriage should be between a man and a woman, however I am not so naive to think that during my lifetime same sex marriages will not become legal and possibly more common than they are today.

It was pointed out to me in the conversation that the rights that the Gay community were seeking were civil rights. To be treated as equals and there argument fell under the civil rights movement. I quickly did admit that if this was in fact a civil right matter, which I did agree it quite possibly was, then I would have to agree with their fight. After all I believe that due to the civil right movement over the decades in the United States many laws have been passed, infarct I would even suggest that the ADA laws are here today because of the hard work that has been done for civil rights in our nation.

Being disabled the ADA laws have benefited me and allowed me to be considered equal.

The ruling by the court was the right ruling not only for the gay community, but for all Americans. I believe the ruling upheld "All Men are created Equal"

People who influenced me in my life - Brian Donovan

2012-02-09T14:30:00.000-06:00

When I was in ninth grade at Riverview East Junior High in St. Louis, I met a new friend. His name was Brain. We met and became friends while riding the same bus to and from school and having lunch during the same lunch period. Brain was about my age, however he was a grade or two behind me.

Brian was reading at a fifth grade level even though he was in seventh or eight grade. Besides his learning disability Brian also was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis.

Brian along with another kid named Ron. who was in my classroom, were my best friends in school that year. We always sat together on the bus, at lunch, pulled pranks together and hung out whenever we could at school. At lunch we would tell gross out stories to see who would get grossed out the most first. On the bus during the winter we liked to open the windows and play freeze out. We even got into trouble together but we did not care, also long as we were friends it did not matter - at least not to me.

I really admired Brian and his family. Brian never let his diagnosis of Cystic Fibrosis or his learning disability get in his way. In fact to this day I have never met anyone who wanted to graduate from high school more than Brian and that includes me.

I remember once near the end of ths school year he was concerned about his following school year he knew had problems reading and felt if he was held back another year it might be better for him. I have never met anyone who was so concerned about his education that he is willing to stay back a year just to try to improve his education.

I believe we all knew he had Cystic Fibrosis but that did not seem to stop him from being a normal kid. In the early 1980's I was aware that most people with Cystic Fibrosis do not make it much into their 20's and I would not have been surprised if Brian did not also know that. (According to the Cystic Fibrosis foundation website, today the medium age of someone with Cystic Fibrosis is in their thirties) Even though I think he knew his life expectancy was shorter than most people, he still wanted to graduate form high school more than anyone else I have ever met.

As the school year was coming to an end I knew we would be split up. Riverview Eat Junior High was being closed and I was going to return to my own high school the following year. Ron and Brian lived in different areas of town and would be going to different schools..

Since Ron, Brian and I only hung out at school and never saw each other outside of school we did not have each other's phone numbers or addresses. I was dreading the end of th school year and the end of our friendship. I was a bit shy in ninth grade and never got the courage to try to exchange contact information. I regret that to this day.

When the school year ended I came home and cried and for about a year I prayed to God to see Ron and Brain again I did see Ron during my Junior year, but due to the passing of time it was not the same.

I was very proud to know him and I admired him allot. I have very found memories of our friendship and I think of him daily.

If you wish to learn more about Cystic Fibrosis visit the please visit Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's website at http://www.cff.org/AboutCF/Faqs/ or wish to donate, please visit Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's website at https://www.cff.org/EricJenaDonate/?creative={G057}&source=G057

My Worst Day of High School Changed My Life For The Better

2012-02-08T15:00:00.000-06:00

Looking back at my childhood today, there's a video from Mark Lowry that I can relate to. "Every teacher Knows My Name". I am sure some teachers had nightmares about me when they saw my name

I was a terror starting in preschool, In third grade I started attending schools in the Hazelwood school District.

From third grade through eight grade I had seen school principals more than they probably seen the district superintendent.

I will admit it, I was a problem student. Both in third grade and sixth grade I got fed up with school and just walked off campus. My big mistake both of the times I left school is that I went home where my Mom was waiting for me after receiving another phone call from the principal of Walker Elementary School, Mr. French.

During my years at Walker Elementary I had received a few swats from Mr. French and in Junior High I had been suspended once or twice and received a few detentions.

Most of the time when I was in trouble it was either for my moth or inappropriate actions. I knew as a child I wanted to work in radio and tried (and more often than not failed) to be funny. I was defiant of rules and of authority figures, and easy to get angry and act out.

I was an easy target both at school and in my neighborhood as I had some disabilities as a kid and couple that with my temper made it fun for the other kids to pick on me. When they picked on me I would act out and that would get me in trouble. For some reason which to this date escapes me, they found this funny.

Late August of 1980 I started attending Hazelwood Central High School in Florissant MO. About the tenth day of the school year, my maternal Grandfather's birthday, I got into the worst trouble of my life and at the same time the best thing that ever happened to me.

I was acting up in first period and was sent to the principal's office. I had refused to leave my seat in the classroom so the principal came to me. I feared I was about to get Saturday morning detention. I knew if I did my Mom would kill me. So I decided to kick the principal. BAD MOVE! I didn't get detention I got expelled (thank goodness charges were not pressed against me).

Mom was called and she came to school to pick me up. I still remember it to this day. We lived almost a mile from the school and I would have sworn it was not possible for anyone to drive a car safely for a mile while hitting their son in the front seat and never touching the steering wheel!

After staying at home and forced to read books about my id, ego and superego, I was placed in a new school. I was to be bussed to Riverview Gardens East Junior High. In the Riverview Gardens School District their Junior Highs consisted of seventh, through ninth grade.

I started attending the special education program entitled "Phase II". This was a program developed for students who had behavior issues and/or were labeled emotionally disturbed.

In tenth grade I was able to attend the phase II program at my home high school and in eleventh grade I became the first student ever expelled by Hazelwood Central to return to the high school. I made honor roll once in my junior year. I graduated from azelwood Central in 1984.

World Series Trophy Came to Town and Brought Back Memories

2012-02-07T15:00:00.000-06:00

Last week the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals World Series trophy was in town and we were able to see it and have our picture taken with the trophy.

After seeing the trophy some of my memories of the past season cropped up along with anticipation for the start of the new season.

Friday, October 28th, 2011 the Cardinals did complete 11 in 11 - meaning 11 postseason wins to win their 11th World Series. I always felt it should have been 11 for 11 in 11 - 11 postseason wins for their 11th World Series in the year 11. Shortly after the series La Russa announced his retirement after winning 2 World Series titles with the Cardinals and one in his career with the Oakland A's. We all know that later in the fall Pujols left St. Louis for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim County - a move that displeased many Cardinals fans, required protection of his new statue in St. Louis (nothing happened to the statue) and the Pujlos 5 restaurant in St. Louis gets a name change.

Last August I did not think the Cardinals had a chance to make it to postseason, In fact one month before the regular season was to end, August 28th, the Cardinals were 10.5 games out of first place at six games over 500. By the end of the season and a combination of Cardinals wins and loses by both the Atlanta Braves and San Francisco Giants, the Cardinals were able to win the wild card and enter into postseason.

I was hopeful but not very optimistic. After all we did make it to the postseason with hard work at the end of the year, but we really did not play consistently well through the first five months of the year. Pujols lead the league in grounding into double plays and this was the first year he did not have a batting average of 300 or greater.

I was surprised we won the LDS series against the Phillies. A good team in their own right who played well all season long. I was even more surprised we beat Milwaukee in the LCS as the Brewers had our number all year long.

I never expected to say the Cardinals would be in the World Series in 2011. When the team did make it I remained cautiously optimistic. I knew the Rangers had went to the World Series and lost to the Giants in 2010. They had a great team who handled the American League west since the start of the season. In fact I felt the Rangers would take the Series in six games. Much to my surprise and pleasure the Cardinals did win the Series in seven games!

I was happy and even happier when La Russa announced his retirement. I was never a fan of his and felt he behaved like a horses backside at press conferences and was abusive to the press. I suspect La Russa was the reason Joel Goldberg left FOX Sports Midwest and went to FOX Sports Kansas City and is now working with the Royals.

I am happy Pujols left as well. I am tired of hearing from both FOX Sports Midwest's broadcasters Al Hrabosy and Dan McLaughlin how great Pujols is. Pujols didn't seem to hustle out of the box when he hits the ball and just was a jerk to fans at times. I will still be seeing Pujols this year as I watch the Angels games with my wife.

Just 12 more days until Cardinals Pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training!\

REVIEW: Super Bowl XLVI

2012-02-06T23:00:00.000-06:00

Unless you live in a cave you know that Sunday was Super Bowl XLVI.

My wife and I had pre ordered a half pepperoni and half tomato pizza pie from Pizza Hut and it arrived about 10 minutes before kick off. With a plate of pizza before us, a soda in one hand a remote in the other we were ready for the game!

This year the game was on NBC with play by play by Al Michaels and Cris Collins. Michaels has an impressive resume of calling previous Super Bowls. The coverage was good and well done, but in my opinion lacked any real energy - in other words I felt the play by play was boring but not the worst I had seen.

The first half of the game was quite boring. In fact by halftime (The New England Patriots were leading 10 to 9 over the New York Giants) I thought when historians looked back at this game it might be nicknamed the bore bowl.

The commercials which for some super bowls are better than the game (and during the first half it looked like the commercials may be the real story) were okay. For the most part they were not "raunchy" as they have been in the past. The commercials were not very sexual and not to much of a hard sale on alcohol.

My favorite commercials were (listed in no particular order)

My wife enjoyed all of the Coke bear ads:

Regrettably, it has become a tradition for GoDaddy to create commercials for the Super Bowl that degrade women and for some strange reason GoDaddy seems to be proud of this.

The worst or dumbest commercial in my opinion was from cars.com:

Overall the ads were good this Super Bowl but none of them really wowed me or made me laugh hard as some ads have done in previous super bowls.

If you wish to check out all the super bowl commercials visit: http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/46/commercials#video=09000d5d8268ded9

The halftime show starring Madonna was great. We had grown up on Madonna's music, yes we were teenagers during the 1980's and speaking as a person who still listens to 80's music, the music was great. I gave the halftime show a 8 on a scale of one to ten.

We must admit, we both missed the inappropriate gesture made by Rapper MIA during the halftime show until we saw it on Leno's monologue. What was she thinking? I doubt if she will be invited back to the Super Bowl or any live broadcast anytime soon.

The second half of the game was better and the ending was awesome. I can not recall a better ending to a Super bowl than this one in quite some time. In fact for my money the final two minutes of regulation play were the best part of the game.

The game ended with the Giants defeating the Patriots by a score of 21 to 17. I had been a bit worried throughout the game as I had picked the Giants to win. Throughout most of the game I was glad I did not wager on the game, but when the Giants had won I wish I had made a bet.

After the game and postgame was over we switched over to Comcast SportsNet NE and watched the New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick answering questions from the media. He did not seem happy and in some points just a little rude. Belichick seemed angry about the loss.

Now that the Super Bowl is over, there's only 13 days until players report to spring training!

Superbowl Commercials and Traditions

2012-02-03T13:00:00.000-06:00

Kick off for Superbowl XLVI is this Sunday evening at about 5:20 CST. This year the New York Giants take on the New England Patriots. I am going out on a limb here and will predict the winning team will have the word "New" in their name.

Now I am not a big football fan. To be completely honest in our home my wife is more of the football fan than I am. Every late summer I record and watch with her some pre-season football. When the season begins Sunday becomes real interesting around here. Of course there is football, and thanks to the NFL Red Zone we watch it from Noon to 6 pm and baseball is in their pennant races. Basically September through November is a Remote war on Sundays.

Once the World Series ends and after my week of wearing black, crying and morning the end of another baseball season, I watch a few games with my wife just to see something sports related on the tele. I do not really focus in on the games as I do in baseball, partly as the continuous noise from the crowds in the stadium causes me to get disorientated - a side effect from my stroke (after about three hours of football I am done watching), partly because I am not as familiar with the rules of the game and partly I am not into some of what I consider the macho tough guy attitude some of these players have.

I consider my wife a Sunday football fan. We do not watch any Sunday night, Monday night or even Thursday night games throughout the season. However normally on Thanksgiving we will have the games on while we eat pizza and decorate the Christmas tree.

When the playoffs begin we select a few games to watch, we do not normally watch every playoff game We never watch the Pro Bowl, but we always watch the Superbowl.

We do not either host or attend a Superbowl party, we just watch it at home. Did you know that an estimated 5% of Americans will watch the Superbowl alone?

The second Superbowl when my wife and I were dating we went to her parents home and watched the game. Her parents had some friends over, her Mom made the best little buffalo chicken wings/drumsticks ever. I was warned the sauce was hot - and it was and also good. Sure it burnt my moth but I kept going back for more. After I was done my mouth burnt for a week.

Nowadays we watch the game - just the two of us. I have yet to see a Superbowl halftime show that lived it to it's hype. I do hope Madonna does well this year and I will probably watch her. Some years the best part of the Superbowl are the commercials.

I believe the tradition of super commercials began with Coke and Mean Joe Green:

FedEx over the years has come up with some real good ads:

Of course the eTrade baby has come up with some good ones:

(This commercial almost wound up eTrade into a lawsuit from Lindsey Lohan)

I think one of my all time favorite commercials - and not just in the Superbowl, is the Pepsi Bob's House Commercial that was based on a deaf persons joke.

(behind the scenes shoot)

My least favorite Superbowl ads are done by GoDaddy. I find their ads to be degrading towards women.

I hope Superbowl XLVI is a good game, I am sure this years commercials will be good as well.

I admit it, I have used eBay.

2012-02-02T15:00:00.000-06:00

eBay launched on Labor Day weekend in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar. The first time I took a look at eBay had to be around 1997. It was not that impressive and I left within 2 minutes of landing on the homepage. I did not even open an account on my first visit there. I had heard some Internet buzz about eBay and was disappointed at my first impression.

Fast forwarding to January 2001: I was working in the Allied Health Computer Lab at Modesto Junior College. I was the lab administrator and had a lot of down time between students using the lab. During the downtime I was allowed to use the computers to keep myself busy (not to mention to look like I was hard at work if my boss walked by the lab). I had been designing a personal website and was looking for something else to do to fill my free time. My father had been buying on eBay and talking about it at home so I figured I would take another look at eBay. This time I was impressed. I decided to open my first eBay account. I quickly found and purchased my first item - a Jack Benny TV show video. It arrived in a week and I was hooked.

I started to sell things from around my one bedroom apartment, word spread and my parents started to find things for me to sell. I loved eBay! I had lost my job that month (not because of me using eBay at work, that that is another story for another blog) so eBay made me feel as if I was being productive while I fought with the college. One of the things that attracted me to eBay was the fact that it was a level playing field - regardless if you were a fortune 500 company or a small guy selling from his one bedroom apartment (like I was) the rates were the same and very affordable.

Spring of 2002 I locked into the Sacramento Kings bobble head set that were being distributed by Carl's Jr. These were the hottest selling items I ever had. I made enough from selling the bobble heads to pay for my trip to the first eBay Live ever in Anaheim that June.

A month after returning from eBay Live in 2002 I had my stroke. Immediately after my stroke I received most of the negative feedback that are currently on my account due to not being able to fulfill my orders. I finally did get all of that resolved. eBay was there for me as I recovered form my devastating stroke. It allowed me to feel productive even though I had a life changing event.

I became more involved with eBay, I even guest appeared on eBay Radio from eBay Live 2005 in San Jose. I returned as a guest on eBay radio in 2008 and 2010. A story about the eBay class I was teaching in 2005 was featured on a local newscast and my story was in Entrepreneur's eBay Startup Guide "Be An eBay Success" September 2005. My work on eBay is even in chapter 9 of the textbook "Small Business Management 14^th edition (2008) by Justin G. Longenecker, Carlos W. Moore, J. William Petty, Leslie E. Palich ISBN: 0324569726.

I left eBay in the start of 2011. Many things had changed at eBay, the level playing field seems to be gone and many polices had changed. Today I occasionally buy on eBay. I am grateful eBay was a part of my life when I really needed it.

My Thoughts on Real Time with Bill Maher Jan 27, 2012

2012-02-01T15:00:00.000-06:00

Last weekend there was a free preview of HBO via our satellite provider. We took advantage of the free preview and checked out Real Time with Bill Maher. I have seen Bill Maher off and on over the past decade plus. I was first introduced to him on his Show Politically Incorrect (when it was on cable, before it moved to ABC). I have watched him as a guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Show with David Letterman whenever possible I do find him funny and politically intelligent.

Maher has been involved with several controversies during his career including his comments post 9/11 that some say cost him his show on ABC.

I do not agree with everything Maker says. I am in complete disagreement with his views on religion and his documentary entitled Religulous. Although I respect his rights to his views, I feel sad for him (and others such as George Carlin) as they appear not to share my belief in Christ.

The January 27th show guest Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) claimed that Obama wants to "Gut" the military budget. Maher pointed out that the cuts that Obama proposed is from a $531 Billion to a budget of $525 Billion. A 1.6% cut to me is not gutting a budget especially with a budget that large. Adults have 32 teeth, so if a dentist pulls out one of your teeth that is about a 3% loss of our teeth, is the dentist gutting your mouth?

Maher brought up that on Monday the 23rd Newt Gingrich made a reference (I believe during a Republican debate) that President Obama is basically working from the playbook of Saul Alinsky. Gingrich's statement begs the question: "Who is Saul Alinsky? Maher admitted that even though some would consider him part of the evil liberal media that even he did not know who Alinsky was until he did a quick search on Wikipedia. Maher reported that Alinsky was a early civil right movement leader who started in the 1930's. Maher went on to say it is very unlikely that Alinsky and Obama ever traded notes as Alinsky died before Obama was a teenager.

Today I did my own research on Sal Alinsky and from NPR I found this article "Gingrich's Other Opponent: Who Is Saul Alinsky?" The article, among other interesting facts, states that according the Alinsky biographer, Sanford Horwitt, "[Alinsky] wanted to see especially lower-income people who were getting pushed around to exercise some influence and even power over decisions that affected their lives,"

Alinsky also helped organize, as they were called in his time, the blacks or Negros to peacefully demonstrate to improve their living conditions in the slums of their day,
That sounds like he wanted to help the little guys get representation on decisions that will impact their lives.

Mind you I'm not a history major but that sounds a lot like what this country was founded upon. I seem to remember from my history classes the revolution, that founded this great nation. one of the battle cries was "No taxation without representation". Sounds a lot like what Alinsky wanted to do when it came to civil rights. Help the little guy have a voice. Are the republicans saysing this kind of thinking must stop!

Seeing Republicans use this kind of attack against President Obama makes me wonder if they truly have an issue against civil rights and those who help organize or support civil rights or is there something deeper that is bothering them that in polite circles it would be inappropriate to blurt out.

How To Deal With Telemarketers

2012-01-27T13:00:00.000-06:00

I believe everyone hates telemarketers calling them trying to sell them something or wanting a finical donation or support on a particular political issue or candidate. This year expect to have more calls - especially from political parties due to the big election coming this November.

There has been other articles written on this subject. One of my favorite was written by Dave Berry in his August 31, 2003 column in the Miami Herald entitled: "Ask not what telemarketers can do to you" where he published the toll free number to a telemarketer who called him during the dinner hour. Barry encouraged his readers to call that number. Readers did and jammed their lines to the point they were not able to make outbound calls. The company, ATA (American Teleservies Association) did not find it funny as reported in the news here.

I know these men and women are just doing a job but I with probably 99% of America hates these calls. I feel that I get enough advertisements on the TV, Radio, Internet, Billboards, and junk mail, I do not want them at my front door or via my phone. I pay for my phone and I do not get a reduced rate because advertisers advertise on my phone line by calling me.

in the past twenty-five or so years I have only purchased one item from a telemarketer and never gave a donation to an inbound non profit. I know there are many reputable ones out there, but do you really know who is on the other end of the phone asking for your credit card number?

In our home I am responsible for answering the landline whenever it rings. Mainly because I am one tough guy to get pass to talk to anyone in the house - including myself.

Here are a few of my personal favorite memories from calls I have received:

Once when we were living in California a solicitor called and said "I am John Doe for the San Francisco Chronicle" I took it as he was trying to contact the newspaper, so I replied with "I am sorry the San Francisco Chronicle is not here right now, may I take a message?" I heard 10 seconds of keystrokes then he hung up.

When the New York Times called me in California I told them I barely cared about what happened in Modesto, why would I care about news in New York?

One of my favorite calls came from a long distance company. The telemarketer asked me who made the decision in our home when it came to long distance? I told her "my cat makes those decisions". She talked to me for another five minutes.

My favorite thing do with telemarketers is the run around. They will ask for my wife. I tell them she is not here. "When should I call back?" "When she is here" "When will that be" "When she gets home" "When will that be>? "After she leaves work" "When will that be?: "When she gets in her car" and I keep going until they give up.

There are many articles and videos out there on the net with funny and creative ways to deal with those annoying calls. One I recently found was from the Seinfeld show:

I must try that next time we get one of those calls!

This next one is from a morning radio show - it is hilarious!

Don't get bothered by solicitors, have fun or just opt out by visiting the "Do not call registry". It will block most, but not all calls.

How to keep your friends on facebook and avoid being unfriended.

2012-01-26T15:00:00.000-06:00

I ran across an article posted by KOLD News 13 from Tucson entitled 'Unfriending' hits some particularly hard. In this article it was suggested that the act of unfriending some people can be very hurtful and painful to the person who was unfriended. This, according to a University of Arizona psychology professor. depends on our personality. Some people are particularly sensitive to being unfriended. The article did not provide any clues on what personality types are more offended by being unfriended.

"Unfriending" generally occurs on facebook. It is the process of removing a person from your circle of friends on the site.

For me I try not to unfriend people. I know for some people they take it very personally. To prevent the need of unfriending anyone I do not accept every friend request I receive. As a child my parents never worried about my circle of friends. I have always been very selective of whom I call a friend. I tend to use the same standards that I have always used in real life for choosing friends for accepting friend request on facebook. I only accept friend requests from people who I know in real life. It is not just people I know in real life, after all we all know a lot of people, but we would not want all of them to "hang" with us. Therefore I generally accept friend requests from people I would like to hang with at a BBQ. Currently my friend list sits at 62 people. The list includes childhood friends that I want to keep in touch with, a high school friend and her family, a college friend, my wife (I can't unfriend her - if I did I think she might unmarry me). a few people from Modesto and then there are a few news reporters who I have have friended as they do not have a celebrity page yet.

So If you are reading this blog and not a friend of mine on facebook do not feel snubbed, you can follow me on Twitter or like my fan page on Facebook - PowerWheelerChris where many of the items I share on facebook with my friends are also posted.

I will admit I have unfriended a few friends over the years that I've been on facebook. When I left eBay I unfriended about half my circle of friends as they were eBay friends and outside of eBay we really did not have much in common. I have also unfriended some people because we could not and did not respect each others opinions on certain hot button issues. I must admit that the lack of respect went both directions in some cases. I will admit over the past two years I have worked hard on being more respectful of others views.

I have learned two important things 1) Even though your friends comments appears on your newsfeed, they have a right to say what they want on their wall (unfortunately most people want the replies to agree with them so don't waste your time disagreeing on a friends wall/post) and 2) We should all respect each others views on any topic. Respect does not mean you have to like or agree with it.

It is best said by President Sheppard in "The American President" when he said in his speech that America is advanced citizenship. I try to keep that in mind when I am on facebook. I also remember what Bill Maher once said when asked what he does when he read something negative about him, he just turns the page.

Early Retirement Can Be Very Lonely

2012-01-24T15:00:00.000-06:00

Early retirement is like being a kid on summer vacation year round and all your friends are in school. All my friends who I grew up with go to work every day, even my wife (who is my best friend) goes to work everyday while I get to stay home and do what I want Don't worry, I do help out around the house while my wife is at work.

One of the down sides of early retirement is being alone. It is even harder where I live. Public transit is good for this area however it is not as good as it is in larger communities. I do not live in the main community, therefore I must take the Para transit service into town to ride the public transit system.

Since we moved here in 2006 I have felt more isolated than I did in California. In Modesto outside of our apartment complex was a bus line that would take me anywhere in town. I could even take the bus to Amtrak and go up to Sacramento. Our local public transit would run until 11 pm weeknights.

I had some friends in Modesto and sometimes I just got onto the public transit system and travel to places just to be around people. I miss getting out as I did in Modesto and that is probably one of the reasons I feel disconnected with the community here in Joplin.

When we first moved here I was selling on eBay. Since I was not able to get out of the house like I did in Modesto, the isolation and loneliness started to get to me. This, along with other reasons, contributed to me deciding to leave eBay and find other things to do with my time.

Probably since 2007 I have been trying to find a solution to my feelings of isolation and loneliness that I feel when my wife is at work.

I have become comfortable traveling on the public transit system here. Last year I got involved in the lunch buddy program and this spring I plan to look into doing more volunteer work in an effort to overcome my feelings and to connect with the community.

One of the reasons I wanted to get involved with Wednesday Night Live this year was to develop friendships, relationships and to feel a connection with my community. While I was sitting in the class the first week something came over me that told me this was not the right place for me. I was not in this class for the right reasons. My first reason for attending should have been to grow spiritually, not for developing friendships. I have decided to leave the course for now.

When we are children starting in preschool for most, we have a lot of friends. Most of us have a large circle of friends throughout college and beyond. I can remember in my twenties having probably a dozen people I could "Hang" with. I remember pizza parties with at least a dozen people. As we age that circle shrinks.

The other day I realized that when my parents were my age they did not have many friends either. The friends my Mom had were because of me. Her friends were mothers of my friends. My Dad had a few friends whom he knew from work.

Since we do not have children and I do not work, there goes some avenues to explore to develop friendships.

I am looking forward to volunteering more and maybe making some connections with the community and friendships from volunteer work.

Memories of Our Apartment in Modesto

2012-01-23T15:00:00.000-06:00

Twenty years ago today, I moved into my second apartment in Modesto where I lived until we moved in 2006. Prior to my move I lived in a small little apartment not far from the community College.

When I moved into the new apartment I was single and had a cat named Kelly. She was a cute little calico cat. I had wanted a calico cat since I was a kid. My Aunt in Kansas City had a big calico cat named Kelly and I just loved her. My cat Kelly allowed me to check off my bucket list the desire to have a calico cat.

This apartment was the one my wife and I first shared when we got married in 2003.

I had a lot of good memories of the apartment, good times with BBQ's, friends and and watching my Nephew grow when he came and visited.

January 27, 1993 my Nephew was born.

March 6. 1993 was a sad day in my apartment, that morning my parents called and insisted on coming over to my apartment. I would learn that my brother (the father of my Nephew) had been killed the previous night. .

July 5, 1995 was the night that my girlfriend and I were robbed at gunpoint in the parking lot as she was leaving to go home after our date.

June 1996, a new neighbor moved in, her name was Chrissy. The is second only to my wife in beauty and instantly I feel in love with her. I looked forward to when she came home and would visit with her. I got to know her and my love only grew.

August 4. 1996 a little after midnight I told Chrissy how I felt about her. Unfortunately at that time her feelings were not the same for me. I cried for 24 hours. She was very nice about it and I still have her stuffed Panda Bear named Ra-Ra. To this day I still remember her. I do not have contact with her but I hope she is doing well and is happy. However, if things had worked out between her and me I would have missed out on meeting and marrying my wonderful wife of today.

December 31, 1999: I spent the new years at home alone, chatting off and on with my new girlfriend who I had not officially met in person. My Father had been storing 2 liter bottles of water in the pantry at his house for a month in preparation for Y2k. When the clock turned to midnight and the new year had begun, the power was still on, so I called my Dad and jokingly asked him if he had any water.

September 11, 2001 - I slet through the eents of 9/11 and did not wake up until after Noon from my girlfriend calling me all morning.

January 2000 was the first time my girlfriend (now wife) visited my apartment.
October 2000 I had to put my cat of 11 years, Kelly down.

May 18, 2002, I called my high school friend Marla and told her I was going to propose to my girlfriend that night.

July 25, 2002 I survived a stroke during heart surgery. I would remain in hospital and rehab until August 30

June 7, 2003 my wife and I became married and she moved in after our honeymoon.

July 2, 2006 we moved out of our apartment as we prepared to move to Missouri.
Fourteen plus great years in that apartment. At times my wife and I do miss our first apartment

REVIEW: Purchasing an Aluma-Wallet has been a bad experience

2012-01-20T13:00:00.000-06:00

A while back my wife started to notice her Velcro California Angels wallet was wearing out. We had noticed the ads on TV for the Aluma-wallet the wallet boasted that it can hold all your credit cards, money, etc from the large and bulky wallets you have now.

I fell in love with the blue wallet from Aluma-wallet and we were both very interested in the claim of holding everything from our bulky wallets. Our wallets, like many Americans, are full of more credit cards than anyone really needs along with our I.D. cards, gift cards, some personal photos, insurance cards and occasionally even some cash.

So we visited the Aluma-wallet website, http://www.alumawallet.com/ and watched the video with all the promises of this great product. We even were hooked by the claims of the RFID chip protection on your credit cards.

It even claims to hold receipts and totes a handy easy touch latch.

We were sold and ready to order. I was a bit cautious though so I chose to use our Discover card. I was thinking if I had trouble Discover would go to bat for me more than any of our other credit cards.

While at the website we clicked order and placed our order. The order processing was a bit confusing and filled with a lot of other offers that we had no desire in purchasing. All we wanted was our wallets.

I started to get nervous during the ordering process but felt reassured when I remembered every other website I had ordered from in the past shows you a total before they charge your card. Unfortunately the Aluma-wallet website did not show us a total invoice page until after our card was charged.

On the order confirmation page we were told to please allow 3 to 6 weeks for delivery. I was not impressed as when I order from places like Amazon, Walmart.com or even Target my item is usually at my house within a week.

We had placed our order on January 9th. January 18th I still had not received our products but I did receive our Discover card statement. We had been charged twice for the order from Aluma-wallet!

Later in the day I did receive a package on my front porch with our blue Aluma-wallets in them and an invoice for $22.97. Apparently the second set of two wallets that had been ordered are being shipped separately.

I immediately called into the toll free number on the invoice to complain about the double order. After about a ten minute wait I got a rep. I told her I did not want the second order (that still has not arrived). She said she could give me a $5 refund. I told her No, I wanted to return the item and get a full refund. She then offered me a $6.99 refund. I said you are not listening to me, I want a full refund on the second set of wallets. We can either do this nicely or I will call my credit card company and file a dispute against Aluma-wallet. She replied I needed to calm down. I told her she needed to listen to the customer. I finally got a RMA and when the second set arrives we will ship them back. I also did call Discover and brought them into the loop and gave them my RMA number. When we ship it back I will call Discover back and provide them a tracking number.

The Aluma-wallet didn't hold up to any of it's claims. Check out my YouTube video below:

It's Time to End Tenure In Missouri

2012-01-19T15:00:00.000-06:00

KSPR (Springfield MO) reported that there is a Proposal that would eliminate tenure for teachers in the State of Missouri.

According to KSPR the issue of ending tenure for school teachers in Missouri is a proposed state constitutional amendment. There are a few hurdles that this proposal must clear before it comes law including gathering of nearly 160,000 petition signatures., If the require number of signatures are reached in time, then the issue can go before the voters on the November ballet during the presidential election.

I believe most of us know what tenure is, but ensure we are on the same page:
According to education.com teacher tenure is: "Academic tenure refers to a policy which gives professors and teachers a permanent contract, effectively ensuring them a guarantee of employment … for life. Teachers that have tenure cannot be fired unless for “just cause”, such as severe misconduct or incompetence, and even then cutting through the red tape can be extremely difficult."

Brief history shows us that there was a time and place for tenure. Tenure became so important to educators in the late 1800’s that in 1887 nearly 10,000 teachers from across the country gathered in Chicago for the first conference of the National Education Association. According to an article on time.com the topic of "Teacher Tenure" lead the agenda at that meeting.

According to education.com "Tenure gained traction in the early 20th century as a means of protecting educators from being fired for the wrong reasons. Back then, a new political party in office or a racial or personal bias could get perfectly good teachers sacked; tenure was created to ensure that teachers didn’t suffer from the capricious actions of administrators. Tenure also serves to protect professors whose research or teaching curricula might ruffle feathers, and to ensure job security for out-of-the-box academic pursuits."

According to the news story from KSPR, If the state's constitution is amended "school districts that receive state funding or local tax revenue could not enter into more than three-year contracts with teachers. Schools would be barred from receiving public funding if seniority plays any role in determining whether to fire or promote teachers"

I am all for protecting people from wrongful termination. But I also believe Tenure has served it part in education and it is time to retire tenure. Here in the twenty-first century I believe we have laws in place (not to mention teacher unions) to protect the teacher. I also like to think we have become more civilized that we do not go on a witch hunt to get rid of a teacher who might think differently than we do.

This scene from Rodney Dangerfield's "Back to School" occurs, in my experience, to often in community colleges:

Not to mention some teachers who have tenure do not even know their own subject:

(Video rated PG for language)

Another aspect of the proposed amendment, according to KSPR, "every school district would be required to use local performance standards for salary and hiring and firing decisions. Most of the local standards would need to be based upon student performance that is measured with objective criteria"

I am not sure how accurate that would be around here. When my Nephew went to school here if he did not pass a test he would have to stay for dentition where he re took the test. He would continue to report to detention until he got the grade he needed to pass - by taking the same test. Maybe that is me but that is cooking the books.

I plan to sign a petition and vote to end tenure.

The Return of American Idol

2012-01-18T15:00:00.000-06:00

It is that time of year again, the return of American Idol. What that means in our house is my wife and I start watching TV in separate rooms.

My wife enjoys American Idol and has watched it since 2006. I am not a fan and refuse to watch it on the tele.

The fifth season of American Idol (2005) was the first year my wife watched it - I also watched with her. We started to watch Idol as we just got our first Tivo and I liked to record on it and watch things in delay. You could not do that with a Video Cassette Recorder.

We watched all the auditions on the road with judges Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul and host Ryan Seacrest. There were some very talented people whom auditioned, some with marginal talent and some we wondered how they got past the producers to even meet the judges. There were funny comments from Simon and some touching stories. I really became very interested in the show and following the contestants.

As the season progressed and what they call "hell week" arrived we watched that and really started to see some real talent emerge. Then the weeks came with the final 24 and the start of voting. I even took time to vote from our apartment in Modesto California.

I went through the season voting and rooting and really getting into the program. We even watched bonus coverage of Idol on FOX's reality TV network.

That year Taylor Hicks won the season. After he won the season and preformed and recorded "Do I Make You Proud" you have not heard much from him. I found Hick's website http://taylorhicks.com/ which reports he will be performing this year. Weird Al Yankovic created a parody of his song and entitled it "Do I Creep You Out".

Other contestants from that season included Mandisa (a wonderful strong singer in my opinion,. I think her Christian faith may have hurt her on the show) whom Cowell made jokes on air about her weight and size which he later apologized for. Kelly Pickler - a perfect example why we need to invest more into education, Katharine McPhee Who performed a very interesting rendition of "Black Horse and The Cherry Tree", Elliott Yamin who has only 10% of his hearing in his right ear, the rocker Chris Daughtry, Parris Bennet who was only 17 during season five, and Lisa Tucker at age 16 was the youngest finalist of the season, just to name a few.

In the subsequent seasons the format was the same, different talent auditioned but the routine was the same. I started to get bored. I have never really connected with any of the contestants since season five. I eventually stopped voting and really lost all interest in the show when Sanjaya Malakar remained on the show even though this kid had NO TALENT at all. I just stopped watching American Idol completely.

Looking back besides the popularity of "Pants On The Ground" my favorite moment was during an audition for Idol. A young girl who gave a horrible audition told Simon she had just quit her job to come and audition today. Cowell told her that was not her best career move. Cowell, using the contestants cell phone, called her former employer and told her that this young girl had quit her job to audition on Idol. The employer replied with "Oh My God". Cowell responded with "That was our reaction too", Cowell did get her job back for her.

Season eleven premiers tonight at 8/7c on FOX.

Cardinals and Royals Caravans in Town

2012-01-17T15:00:00.000-06:00

This past weekend both the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals caravans pulled into Joplin and we went and gathered autographs.

For the record I am not a big autograph collector. I believe I look at baseball players differently than most fans. These guys are talented, some more than others, but every one of them has a weakness, that makes them just like the rest of us.

I forgot to mention every major leaguer is grossly overpaid. People who can save lives, such as cardiologists and surgeons are not paid as well as some of these ballplayers. To me there is something wrong in our society when a guy who plays a child's game for a living makes more than a man who can save a life.

For example, Pujols went to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim County for a reported $250 million dollars over ten years. NO ONE needs that kind of money. That is the kind of money a business could use, not an individual. I know it is argued that he does a lot of good for the community.

But I digress.

Before we went to the caravans I went out and purchased a MLB spiral bound notebook to collect the autographs in. I hope to give it to my lunch buddy.

Saturday we went to Missouri Southern State University here in Joplin to see the Cardinal caravan. They were here for two hours. We met from the teams current roster Jason Motte, Mitchell Boggs, Shane Robinson and of the Cardinals Alumni: Danny Cox and Jason Simontacchi. Fredbird was there and we saw him briefly. My wife came with me wearing her Angels hoodie. This seemed to upset Fredbird who pointed at a door that lead outside and wanted to meet my wife outdoors to "straighten her out". He walked to the door and kicked it open and he headed out of the auditorium.

The local United way was there selling raffle tickets. We purchased two but did not win anything.

The event started with a question and answer session which we were too late to attend. Afterwards. attendees were allowed to go through the line to get autographs from the Cardinals. After waiting for all the kids fifteen and under to acquire their autographs, we went through the line and were able to get ours just before the event wrapped up in Joplin.

Sunday we went to the Kansas City Royals caravan at Northpark Mall in Joplin. Here we met Pitcher and 2011 All-Star Aaron Crow, Royals Pitchers Everett Teaford and Louis Coleman, Royals Hall of Fame Outfielder Willie Wilson, Broadcaster Joel Goldberg and Slugger the mascot. This time we arrived on time and stood in line for the event to begin. While in line Slugger interacted with the fans and kids, and once again my wife was wearing her Angels hoodie and Slugger was not happy. I think my wife needs to work on making friends with mascots.

At the Royals caravan stop, which was only one hour instead of two, there was not a question and answer session, just a line to gather autographs. The line moved quickly and this time we got to interact with the players more than we did at the Cardinal Caravan.

We even got to speak with Joel Goldberg, a broadcaster for FOX Sports Kansas City. He used to work for the Cardinals on FOX Sports Midwest. This was the second time I had met him and the second autograph of his we acquired.

Next year we hope to meet Rex Hudler on the Cardinals Caravan.

REFLECTION: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day

2012-01-16T15:00:00.000-06:00

Twenty-Six years ago, January 20th, 1986 to be exact, was the first holiday observed to honor Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The holiday was signed into law after passing both the Senate and the House by President Ronald Reagan on November 8, 1983. Here are a few facts that you may not have known about the holiday:

A bill to observe King's birthday as a legal federal holiday was first introduced in 1968.
"This is not a black holiday; it is a people's holiday," said Coretta Scott King after President Ronald Reagan signed the King Holiday Bill into law.
In 1986 only 27 states and Washington D.C. observed the newly created federal holiday.
All three Arizona House Republicans including current senator (and former presidential hopeful) John McCain voted against the bill.
Arizona did not support the new holiday, rejecting pleas from Reagan and then Arizona governor Evan Mecham
In protest of Arizona the NFL moved Superbowl XXVII from the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe to California.
Arizona did not vote in favor to recognize the holiday within their state until 1992.

I am somewhat ashamed to admit it, when I was fifteen in 1981 was the first time I really began to understand who Martin Luther King Jr. was and what he did for our nation.

I was not in my home high school. In the fall of 1980, my freshman year, I was expelled from my home high school for kicking a principal - but that in itself is another story for another blog - which placed me in a special education program for kids with behavior issues (today we call it ADHD) and bussed out of district. I was being bussed to Riverview East Junior High. In the Riverview district their junior high housed seventh through ninth grade. Our class had a larger African-American population than my home high school.

On Thursday, January 15th, 1981 many of the African-American students stayed home form school for the actual birthday of King. This was my first real introduction to the importance of this great man.

Our textbooks did not mention Reverend King or the civil rights movement of the 1960's. Our history books ended at the start of World War II. Luckily somehow I knew we won that war. I learned about Korea (and war in general) from M*A*S*H and heard about the Viet Nam war while listening to 55 KSD as a young child in St. Louis.

Even though Rev. King was assassinated April 4th, 1968 when I was two, I do not recall my parents speaking about him or what he had done for our nation.

My ignorance in the mid 1980's caused me not to fully appreciate the importance of this holiday and what King had done for this nation and even for me. I do believe that due partly from his work with the civil rights movement we as a nation also have benefited from the American with Disability act which has personally benefited me.

King's work not only, in my opinion, made this great nation betterfor the African-American population, but for all Americans.

As I grew I saw portions of his famous "I have a Dream" speech from August 28, 1963. Today anyone can see the entire speech on YouTube.

I find the video very inspiring.

We should all pause today and be thankful for his work. Imagine what else he could have done if he was not assassinated at the age of thirty-nine.

Read more: interesting facts and the history of the holiday at http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1872501,00.html#ixzz1jd06YBAx

Tonight Joplin will be on ABC's Final Extreme Makeover Home Edition:

2012-01-13T13:16:00.000-06:00

If you have not heard. tonight on ABC is Extreme Makeover Home Edition: Joplin. The series 200th and final episode. If you live in the Joplin area and did not know this you must not watch KODE, who is advertising that the show will only air on KODE. which technically isn't true as every ABC station is carrying this two hour saga.

Here is a preview of tonight's episode:

For those of you who have been fortunate enough not to be deluged with hearing about what happened May 22nd in Joplin, there was an EF-5 tornado that took out about a third of the town. 161 lives were lost.

Since "the tornado" we have had at least four public memorials, a fountain dedicated to the lives lost in the storm and there has been a lot of rebuilding going on in the community including the seven homes by Extreme Makeover Home Edition and another set of I believe ten homes from other organizations). In fact around the 100 day mark I shot some video of what Joplin looks like. I posted it on my YouTube channel and provided an easy link to the four videos from my website PowerWheelerChris.com right here.

Tonight on KODE starting at 6 pm there is a one hour behind the scenes special hosted by Tiffany Alaniz

Followed at 7 to 9 pm the Extreme Makeover Home Edition: Joplin

Then from 9 to 9:15 pm instead of 20/20 KODE has chosen to air a one hour after viewing party special. (Just in case you did not get enough from the past three hours.)

I have been by the new homes that were constructed in Joplin. There are very small and look ugly. They only take up one side of a street and only half the block. The rest is field. Unless they build more houses of that style the value of that neighborhood will be low.

One peson who has only seen the homes on some of the local TV stations in Joplin and said "I thought that maybe someone had turned a high school architecture class loose with some crayons to design them".

Forgive me if in today's post I seem bitter about this two hour special. I know this means a lot to people around here. However, I am not originally from around here. I am from St. Louis (the first twenty years of my life) then the next twenty years I spent in Modesto California and only lived here since 2006.

I have met people who's family has lived here for generations. I have met Grandparents whose children and Grandchildren live here. My father grew up here. My parents met here. This is also the place my Mom had her first job after graduating from college. I hear people say it breaks their heart when they drive by what my wife and I call "the strike zone" the portion of the town that is gone - just piles of debris now.

The only way I can relate is if this would have happened to my neighborhood that I grew up in and to this day still hold onto fond memories of from my childhood.

I guess I also have issues that it seems like every time I turn around here I hear about the tornado. It seems to be on every local newscast since it happened. I have heard more than I care to hear about the tornado. It was a horrible event but it is time to move forward.

I hope tonight brings closure and we can move forward as a community.

Marines Urinating on Corpses, An Embarrassment to our Country.

2012-01-12T13:36:00.001-06:00

This all started with a YouTube video entitled: Marines urinating on dead soldiers Taliban. The raw video is below and be warned it may be offensive to some:

Most news outlets that I have seen only showed a still from the video (and that is probably the right move to make). I choose to share the raw video for two reasons, one for those who want to see it and judge it on it's own merit and two the audio that the media does not share makes this even more of disgusting action than just the images or the act of urinating on a dead body.

As an AMERICAN I am greatly offended by the act of the Marines in the video. This is a disgrace and a black eye not only on our troops but on the name of the United States.
As reported in this CNN news story, Afghanistan along with others including the Taliban condemns the "urinating Marines desecrating a deceased body" video.

The government of Afghanistan (from the Presidential Palace) stated "This act by American soldiers is simply inhuman and condemnable in the strongest possible terms". The Afghan leaders also asked the U.S. that the guilty parties receive the strongest punishment possible.

In a text message/statement from the Taliban in response to this video reads in part: "We strongly condemn the barbaric video that was only revealed by the media. How many more things have they done on the past ten years that have not been reveled" I often wonder the same. I know this video for many (including myself) re opened the wounds that occurred from the incidents at Abu Ghraib. I hope and pray the incidents we do hear about in the media are the only incidents when our troops act without any honor.

The Taliban went on to say in the same message: "\No religion that follows a holy text would accept such conduct". Again I feel the same way. I can not imagine Jesus signing off on this action. "This inhuman act reveals their real face to the world". This quote I must disagree with. That may apply to the Marines in this video, and I can see how this gives not only the Marines a black eye, but all embers who serve our nation, it also gives the United States a black eye. However, I do not feel (and I hope and pray I am right) the acts by these Marines do not reflect accurately the fine men and women who make up the military and the fine people of America. I can assure you that I would never urinate on a dead body, even if the body was the body of my enemy or the enemy of my nation.

In the Islamic faith a corps is held in such a way that it is almost sacred. This act is considered deplorable almost universally in all cultural faiths. I myself can not think of any exception it when it is acceptable to urinate on a dead body.

The video was also reported on CNN's Situation room:

A pentagon official was reported to have said "the pictures turned his stomach" I can assure you it more than just turned my stomach - it made me ashamed of those members of the Marines. I am still proud to be an American but this act hurt my pride in our nation and in particular our military.

I was even more outraged by the hatred I read on the YouTube pages with these videos. I hope none of the posters call themselves a Christian.

Exploring My Faith Through Wednesday Night Live

2012-01-11T07:30:00.000-06:00

This year one of my New Years Resolutions was:

I want to attend church more frequently. In 2011 a tornado ripped through Joplin and took out 1/3 of the community. Part of that 1/3 was our church's sanctuary. Even though our church met off campus for half of the year, we did not attend many services off campus. This year I want to attend at least 40 of the 53 Sunday services. I also want to improve my prayer time daily and try to get into a daily devotional.

In the area of improving my prayer time I have decided to start attending Wednesday Night Live at our church. My wife and I have signed up and should be starting tonight a course entitled "Starting Point" lead by one of our associate pastors.

The class looks very interesting. The description reads: "If you are exploring faith, have questions and are searching for a safe place to learn, START HERE. This course has ten episodes, ten stories and one timeless quest - to quench the thirst that burns in every human spirit"

I have been a Christian all my life, however I really got into the faith in the 1990's in my late twenties. I believe your walk in your faith is a journey and a lifelong journey at that.

I would say for the past several years I have found myself asking more questions about my faith. Some of the questions comes as I look at what I believe and wanting to know why I believe what I do believe. Other questions come from my observation of society (and a few friends) who are either Atheist, Agnostics or just non believers, and trying to figure out why we are different on our views. I believe this course may help me find some of the answers I am seeking.

Throughout my life I have had at least two friends who were very open with me about not having a religious faith or belief. In both cases I feel we both respected the others view on religion and I really do not see our differences on the topic to be a obstacle in our friendship.

I, like most other people, have opinions on a wide range of topics and I stand by my opinions. However, I always welcome other peoples views - even if they are different than mine (as long as it remains civil and respectful). I feel that to be a fair person and a wise person you need to not only have your views on any topic, but be able to support why you have their vi3ews, that your views can stand up (at least to yourself) in a civil conversation and you must remain open to others views on a topic. In some cases listen to the other persons view and then see if when you formed your view if you overlooked something. If so always be willing to reevaluate your stand and make changes when necessary and appropriate.

I am strong and committed to my faith. One of the reasons I enjoy being a Christian, and this may sound to some as a personal selfish reason, is that I am also a strong believer of being a person of integrity. My faith in my religion helps me stay on the right path to remain a man of integrity. My faith also helps challenge me to continue to grow both in the area of faith as well as in my level of living life with integrity.

I will be blogging about the classes using the tag "Starting Point"

Why We Are Married Without Children

2012-01-10T12:11:00.001-06:00

Last week while riding a MAPS (Metropolitan Area Para transit System) van I was engaged in conversation with the driver (I was the only one on the bus). We shared with each other how we spent the holidays and what are some of our respective traditions.

Somehow the conversation came around to children. The driver is a new father. His daughter celebrated her first Christmas this past holiday season. He already knew I was married from earlier in our chat so he asked if we have any children. I replied "no", He then asked if we ever had children meaning if we had children and they are grown up and moved away. Again I replied "no". He then asked me why we did not have children.

I remember as a child it seemed like every house I visited had a Mom, a Dad and children. Of course we would hang out at homes with kids, after all my brother and I were kids. Today that has changed. Now there are more children who's parents are divorced, some being raised by a single parent, etc.

There was one or two couples my Dad knew that did not have children. When I was a child I thought they must be very mean and unloving people not to have kids. For the record when we did go to their house even though there were no other children to play with or even toys, the adults were very nice to us.

Where we live most people who are married have children. Therefore the MAPS driver question was not something that has not been asked of us before.

There are three reasons why we do not have children:

Reason number one: When we were dating my wife was very into her career (she still is) and she did not want to have children and I was very much into my work as well. We felt it would be unfair to have a child when we both knew our work was most important to us. If we were to have children we did not want the child to be second to anything. We felt that would be unfair to the child so we decided against children while dating.

Reason number two: I did want to have children. I wanted to have my children born by the time I was thirty so when I was fifty they should be out of the house and starting their own lives. At fifty I wanted it to be me and just my wife so we could have at least ten good years of health where we could travel before old age got to us. My wife and I did not meet until I was thirty-four and did not get married until I was thirty-seven. Therefore I felt it was too late to have children and stay on my goal of having quality time with my wife at fifty.

Reason number three: My stroke occurred 11 months before our wedding. Since my stroke made it initially impossible for me to walk, I did not want to try to raise a small child while trying to recover from my devastating stroke.

I will admit the biggest regret in my life is that I did not have children. I believe everything in life happens for a reason. we may not know why right away, sometimes not until we die. I do have to say even without children I have enjoyed every minute with my wife and it is quite possible we are as close as we are because we do not have children.

A Nice Spring Day in the Middle Of Winter

2012-01-09T07:30:00.000-06:00

This past Friday at Noon, the sky was sunny, the temperature was 61 degrees with the wind from the southwest at 20 miles per hour. A pretty nice day for January here in the Midwest. I would describe it a cold 61 - but a 61 degree day none the less.

Normally at this time of the year our daytime high on a good day is in the forties. Friday was a day that if you were not careful you might get a touch of Spring fever. I know I did. I already pre ordered my annual game purchase from GameStop, MLB 12 The Show for Playstation 3 and with this mild weather my thoughts are turning to Spring training.

I want to go outside onto the patio and eat lunch and just soak in the nicer than normal weather we were having, but I can't as I have a ton of paperwork to do in my office as well as writing today's blog. As I sat in my office looking out the window and wanting so badly to go outside, I struggled to find a good topic for today's blog that would not take all afternoon to write. Remember, I still have a ton of paperwork to do in the office and I slept the morning away. since I did not sleep well last night. I finally decided to write about the weather while I get all my office work done that was staring me in the face before I would reward myself with lunch on the patio and the afternoon off.

As I am in early retirement I am a big sticker at making sure my work around the house is done before I go and play. I fear that with being retired if you do not have this policy it is easy to play all the time and never get anything done. Even though I am retired I still have a vital role in our family. If I drop the ball on my responsibilities then problems can occur and I hate fixing problems that I could have prevented.

Before I could go outside I filed some papers and journal in some expenses into our Quicken program. I am a stickler at keeping track of every penny we earn and how it is spent. I should also start generating reports for tax season, I also need to archive all the paper files/receipts from 2011 so I can use my main filing cabinet for the new 2012 receipts, both of these chores could wait until the temperature returns to normal and I am stuck in the house. After all we can not even file out taxes until January 14th at the earliest.

I also need to send a report to my match specialist at Big Brothers. Each week I meet with my lunch buddy and I need to give her a report on what happened and how things are going. I really needed to do that before I could go outside and enjoy the day.

While straightening up my office I found a copy of my wife's resume. I been putting that off for several months. I need to scan it into a PDF file and add it to her website (that I also have been putting off working on). This project will take some time and I will have to get to after I get everything ready for the tax season.

Now all my work is done so I am on my way outdoors to eat my lunch on the patio and to enjoy the unseasonably nice weather!

The Most Powerful Verse in the Bible For Me

2012-01-06T07:30:00.000-06:00

The New Year started at our church with a sermon from one of our associate pastors, Ben Bainbridge. The sermon was entitled "What Not To Say In 2012". Bainbridge started out talking about the New Year and how people look at a New Year as a do-over (remember do over's when you were a kid) and how some people make New Years Resolutions. Some people resolutions start off well, such as I am going to loose weight, or save money, or learn a new language. However, for most people shortly after the New Year a ugly word creeps into the vocabulary - that word is Can't. The word starts to appear in the resolutions such as I Can't loose weight or I can't save money or I can't learn a new language.

Unfortunately "can't" is a very powerful word. Bainbridge suggests that it may be one of the most destructive word in our language. Most of us either use this word as an excuse and/or allow it to prevent us from completing a task or achieving a goal.

There is a piece of scripture that is even more powerful than the word can't. I bet most of you have heard of it. The scripture I am talking about is found in Philippians 4:13 and it reads "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". Of course there are variations on this scripture depending on which version of the Bible you are reading.

Bainbridge went on to say that over time we Christians seem to take this verse for granted and over time this verse looses the power it has to amaze us.

Philippians 4:13 is probably one of my favorite verses (if not my favorite one) from the Bible. Most days I would even consider it my life verse.

I had this verse on a cardboard sign that I had purchased from a Bible bookstore in Modesto California in front of my computer for years. When I first heard the verse it seemed so powerful and I felt like it was written for me. Even though I cannot find my sign, I still feel that way today and most days I recite that verse to myself.

I have had a lost of obstacles in my life, most were caused from birth defects. I was born with cataracts which caused low vision and a heart condition caused from a constricted aorta at birth. When I first heard Philippians 4:13 in the 1990's, it spoke to me and I felt empowered by it. When I take this verse and remember that God never puts anything on our lives that we can not handle with His help, I know i can accomplish anything.

Philippians 4:13, knowing that God never puts anything on our lives that we can not handle with His help and believing that everything in our lives happens for a reason has given me the strength to go forward in life even after one of the largest obstacles I have ever encountered - my stroke which left me unable to walk along with other issues.

There were times after my stroke that I started to feel defeated and depressed. This was caused from not being able to walk and having a setback at home of a blood clot in my leg. Sometimes that depression became very dark. I just looked at the scripture in front of my computer monitor, remembered that God never puts anything on our lives that we can not handle and everything happens for a reason, I found strength to move forward and not give up.

2012-01-01 What Not To Say in 2012 from Saint Paul's United Methodist Ch on Vimeo.
Pastor Ben Bainbridge tackles Philippians 4:13 to begin 2012.

How to avoid having your marriage proposal turned down in public

2012-01-05T07:30:00.000-06:00

Guys, today's blog is written for you in hopes that when you choose to propose to your loved one you will get a yes. Than pain of rejection stings, that why most people are afraid of rejection. The pain will sting longer and harder if you are turned down by your intended in public and even more so if it goes viral on YouTube

A marriage proposal is very tricky to get just right. There is a lot of pressure when it comes to the proposal. Both parties have an idea of what the perfect proposal should be. These expectations add more pressure to do it right so it is a memorable moment that both parties will cherish for the rest of their lives. If you factor in that most couples rarely have an idea of what the other is expecting in a proposal this will ad even more pressure, traditionally this pressure falls on the man.

A public proposal at a sporting event can be tricky but can also be a memory both will cherish for years to come. I should know, I proposed to my wife of 9 years at minor league baseball game in 2002.

Here are my suggestions to do before you go and propose at a public event such as a sporting event:

My wife and I had been dating for almost 2 years before we seriously spoke about marriage. We had a few informal talks on the subject and had a good idea that we did want to get married in time. I did not want any of our early talks get too serious and become a proposal, so we agreed we wanted to get married sometime and I did tell her that I would propose to her sometime in 2002, but I would not tell her when or where.

Fortunately for me, which was one of the things I was looking for in a wife, she enjoys baseball. Granted I am a much larger baseball fan than she is, but we often dated at the local ballpark. We even talked about some of the entertainment the ball team had done between innings and we both thought it would be fun if we were the lucky fans who participated in the fun on the field between inning or even lead the crowd in Take Me Out To The Ballgame.

In an effort to make it more of a surprise for her, I had convinced her that when I proposed that I probably would do it somewhere quiet, just the two of us and I had her believing that it would be done at a restaurant, she even could picture it happening.

What I had working in my favor is that she knew I liked to surprise her. For the past two years she loved my surprises, including showing up at her work to have lunch with her or meeting her at college after her class and go out for a late snack. I even surprised her when she was at the hospital waiting for her mom in the er _ I think that really showed her how much I cared about her and her mother.

When I proposed to her on the field she was again surprised and of course she said yes. She teases me occasionally about how I lied to her about how I might propose to her. We have a video of the proposal and it is a memory we cherish to this day.

Guys, women like surprises, just don't blindside them with a proposal that puts them on the spot.

My New Year's Resolutions for 2012

2012-01-04T15:10:00.000-06:00

Some believe the world will end this year. You can watch a movie about the Nostradamus-style loophole in the Mayan calendar that the world would end by watching 2012. I certainly hope that it doesn't. but if it does end this year the upside would be that the United States will no longer need to worry about our fourteen trillion dollar debt.

If the world ends this year then we have less time to keep our New Years Resolutions. Let's take a look at my Resolutions while we still have time:

I want to loose some weight and take better care of my health. I know I am not the only perso who says this and I am aware that many people have trouble with this one, but I want to get my weight down to about 160 lbs. Currently I weight around 190. My weight should actually be between 125 and 140 but I will take in 160 since I do not walk (without a walker) due to my stroke. I plan to start walking to and form our mailbox daily and take longer walks when spring begins. I also have some small dumbbells I should be suing while watching TV. This resolution may require me to eat better, in other words eating healthier such things as fruits, vegetables and salads. I can not remember who said this about salads, "(A salad is) food that real food eats". I love that expression but I may have to no longer say that at Applebee's

I want to attend church more frequently. In 2011 a tornado ripped through Joplin and took out 1/3 of the community. Part of that 1/3 was our church's sanctuary. Even though our church met off campus for half of the year, we did not attend many services off campus. This year I want to attend at least 40 of the 53 Sunday services. I also want to improve my prayer time daily and try to get into a daily devotional.

I want to get out in the community and volunteer more. I enjoy getting out and being a lunch buddy through Big Brothers, Big Sisters, but I want to do more and I feel I am ready. I am thinking of trying to volunteer at a local hospital. I plan to look for an additional way to give to my community this spring.

I want to write in my blog daily. Last year my posts to this blog were few and far between. This year I am committing myself to post to the blog daily - except for weekends and holidays. Each blog post should be about 600 words. I want to see this blog grow in both the number of readers but also where it bring in a few bucks for me.

I want to better manage our credit. We do pretty well with credit, but we do have some credit card debt. I believe that can be all gone by our 9th wedding anniversary on June 7th. Once that debt is gone I want to use less of our credit cards and when I do use them I want to pay it off within 30 days. The credit card companies will hate us, but I am tired of lining their pockets with our money.

Resolutions are often hard for people. I believe we should challenge ourselves often so we can be a better person. Some of these resolutions will be hard for me, but I am up for the challenge. I will keep you posted throughout the year on how I am doing.