Dream Home

I've always enjoyed looking at house plans, drawing my own house plans, and even more so, walking around houses looking at their layout. Even as a child, I knew that someday I'd be building a house to live in. It hasn't happened yet, but I know that someday, maybe even soon, it will.Jodi got me a book of luxury home plans last year for our fifth anniversary and I love it. Not only does it have the floor plans for the houses but since they are all actual homes, they've included photos of them as well so that you can really see how they look completed. I doubt that we'll ever build one of the houses in the book, but I imagine that we will incorporate...

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Missing Cat

Our cat, Tracker, has been missing now for 14 days. Two weeks ago, I let him out while I was getting ready for work. Then, I let him back in as I was leaving. That was the last I saw of him. Jodi let him out later that day and he's never returned. I walked all around the neighborhood, but saw no sign of him anywhere. Jodi went to both the animal shelter and the Humane Society the next day and saw a lot of sad faces but not Tracker's.I hate to speak of him as if he were gone for good, but it's time I quit looking out the door for him. I keep expecting that sooner or later he'll have climbed the screen door again (which always irritated...

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Room Transformation (in progress)

Last Saturday, Jodi and I started the transformation of Lyric's old bedroom to Ezra's new bedroom. Months ago, Lyric began sleeping in Jacob's room on the top bunk. Neither Jacob nor Lyric would have it any other way. They like being roommates, I guess. And, being the largest room in the house, there's plenty of room for them, though we may have to figure out a better layout. The full drum kit takes up a lot of space.All the decor in Lyric's room has come down which was sad to us, but the fun has just begun really. We've mudded up the walls to fill in all the holes from past decor, and even filled in and smoothed out a few cracks in the...

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8 Simple Rules

I have a wonderful marriage. It's easy for me to say it, too. It's not wishful thinking. It's not hopeful optimism. It's simply true. I'm not comparing my marriage to other marriages, either.Back on the sixth of this month, Jodi and I had our seventh yeariversary (the anniversary of the day we met). Of those seven years, we've enjoyed 5 years and 5 months of an amazing marriage and I would like to share some marriage basics to the men out there that stand to only improve your marriage (women will surely gain from this advice, too, so keep reading, ladies). The following list is not in any particular order nor is it complete, by any means....

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Theft by Deception

I don't think that I've written a blog this short since I started blogging. I've wanted to write one about this subject for a long time, but what was taking so long was that I knew that it wouldn't be a short one. I'd fill the World Wide Web full of my opinion and rantings and no one would even begin to attempt to read it knowing that they would be bored out of their skull long before they even finished the introduction. Even now, I'm losing some of you. So, being sensitive to my impatient fast-food culture blog readers, I'll keep it very short.A few years ago, I watched a video online called Theft by Deception. In short, it takes you through...

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How I Met Your Mother

It was December 6th, 2003. I had long hair again. I had grown my hair out over the course of the previous year or better in the same style that I had had through the latter three years of high school. It wasn't too popular of a hair style then, but acceptable nonetheless. It definitely wasn't in style in 2003. Not hardly, but I didn't care.It was about 1:00 AM if I remember right and I was playing a game of cards called "Spit" with my friend, Gabe, over at Shannon's house. Shannon told us that her friend Jodi was coming over. Then the two of them proceeded to tell me about her not even attempting to conceal the fact that they thought that...

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New Favorite

There was a time (before meeting Jodi and having some accountability) when I ate Chinese food about three times a week on average. And, I do mean on average. There were weeks that I hit five times. I admit it. So, it goes without saying that I really like Chinese food, I think. My wife can attest to the fact that any time someone brings up getting food from somewhere or going out to eat that my mind, by default, goes straight to those deep fried little pieces of sweet sauce covered heaven.So, imagine my surprise upon finding a restaurant that I like more than Chinese. Or maybe I should be more specific since the restaurant in which I found...

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Emerging Poster Boy

I'm sure that you've noticed, but I added advertisements to my blog a while back to see if there was any monetary incentive to doing so. Predictably, I have seen no kickbacks of any kind and will be removing them from my blog. I knew that I would not like them, but sometimes you just have to step out and do something you know you won't like to prove to yourself that, indeed, you don't like it.This morning, I saw this ad and got a kick out of it. This, they suppose, is the poster child for the Emerging church. A white male in his late 20's/early 30's, facial hair, multiple facial piercings, earings that appear to be scales, sporting somewhat...

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Food

Eating food is such a sensual experience. Probably the only sense you don't use is hearing, although the sound can be a marketing tool (i.e. Rice Krispies, Pop Rocks). Taste obviously plays the biggest role, but smell is tied very closely to taste. And taking in the delicious smells of a meal being prepared is part of what makes us desire the food so much in the first place. Feel also has its role. All good cooks know that texture is a very important part of a meal. Some people don't like certain foods based simply of their texture alone. I, for one, can't stand coconut because of that very thing. And, of course, there's sight. Presentation...

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Subverting the Norm OR Making Gods of Ourselves?

It's 5:23 AM, Monday, October 18th, 2010. I'm seeing this on the display of my phone wondering why I'm awake when my alarm isn't set to go off for another seven minutes. This has been happening to me a lot lately. I get up and gather the few possessions that I need for the day that I've left all together so as not to have to scramble around the room and risk waking my wife who is probably at minimum partially awake despite my best efforts to the contrary. Downstairs, I put on my work uniform for somewhere around the 220th time. I'm buttoning up the literal, not figurative, blue-collar shirt and I have to let out a little laugh as I come...

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PC vs Mac

The title of this blog, when looking at it in print, brings the game Pac-Man to mind. Not that PacMAn has anything to do with this blog. I'm just saying.I have been a PC user most of my life. My earliest memory of using a computer was in second grade at Eugene Field Elementary, here in Springfield. The year was 1986. I learned the ins and outs of DOS and then LogoWriter. The years went by but my computer experience never strayed from the PC.Then came a day many more years down the road when Apple started making fun of PCs in their advertisements making the assumption that Macs were not only more advanced but also more stylish, more laid...

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Negativity Scene

Would you agree that you are unhappy? Would the word 'content' ever come to mind when asked to describe yourself? The reason that I ask is because I see a lot of negativity where I work. It's pretty rampant in most workplaces really. But, the workplace isn't the only place, by any means. It just stands out in my own little corner of the world.It seems as if almost everywhere I go, I see and hear people complaining about anything and everything. It's their job, or spouse, or kids, or family, or bills, or commitments, or school, or one of a thousand other things. What do you talk about with people? What do you focus on?It's funny. Have...

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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Makes Good Point

On Thursday, Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, gave a speech at the UN. Amongst his many topics, was the attacks on the United States on September 11th, 2001. Reportedly, a bunch of government officials walked out during the speech including the US Representatives. So, I see that many didn't agree with him, nor did they want to hear anymore on that subject or any other. President Obama has already given a statement, condemning Ahmadinejad for his "inexcusable" statements.Despite what people may think of me for saying this, I have to agree with him about what he said concerning 9/11. He listed three different theories of who was responsible...

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Volition

Around a week ago, I followed a link posted by a friend on facebook to a short film. Somewhere it had said, "preview the movie." So, I thought it would be a normal movie preview and be a couple of minutes long. It turned out to be 15 minutes long. It wasn't a movie preview. It was a short film. It's called Volition.It was very powerful. I recommend that everyone watch it. I was so moved by it, in fact, that I didn't hesitate in purchasing a copy.Later that evening, I received a personal e-mail from a couple thanking me for purchasing the movie and supporting their cause. The movie arrived at the end of last week and we've already watched...

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9/11 Conspiracy?

After writing the last blog, Jodi and I watched the movie World Trade Center starring Nicholas Cage. It was, of course, a sad movie. Even more so since we remember watching these events as they unfolded on our TV screens nine years ago.Remembering all that took place that day and the days that immediately followed, one finds oneself in the eye of a storm of emotions, thoughts, and unanswered questions. 'Who', 'why', and 'how' being the ones in the forefront.Not long after the event, we were given answers to those questions. A foreign religious extremist group of radicals was the 'who.' Their extreme religious beliefs were the 'why.' And,...

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Where Were You?

It was Tuesday. I was 22 years old. I was taking a week off of work using "vacation" hours that I had just acquired the previous Friday, the second anniversary of my hire date at Springfield Remanufacturing. I hadn't gone anywhere. An actual vacation, as people define them here in the U.S., wasn't in the budget for me, but I was thoroughly enjoying my time off of work just hanging around the house with Jacob, then only 19 months old.We left our home, just out of town, around 2:00 in the afternoon to get a few things at Walmart. Along the way, I drove past two gas station both of which had lines of cars stretching out into the streets. I...

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Choices

In the last blog, I left off talking about how much God really does in this world. There are plenty of people who profess to believe in God and also believe that God created everything, but that He doesn't really concern Himself in our everyday lives. This is commonly referred to as God the clockmaker. This is where it is believed that God created everything, set up rules of how it should run, set it in motion, and then went on vacation where He continues to reside leaving us to handle all matters ourselves in a completely unabated environment. Some may say that it's illogical to say that God made something happen or stopped something from...

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Kansas City Trip

In the last blog I talked about Wilderness Outcry, but that wasn't the only thing that I did on my vacation. We also were able to go to Kansas City and stay with the Imes' for three nights. We had a blast. We really miss having them closer, but they are in a good place and so it's just a bittersweet thing, I suppose.Among the various items on our play-it-by-ear agenda was playing some serious spades. Even though Mike and I lost to the ladies, it was extremely close and a great nail-biter finish. Good job, girls. You deserved it. I'd like to fins another spades couple because I miss playing the game. Not that the Imes' can be replaced,...

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Wilderness Outcry

It's actually been a long time coming for me to write this blog. I've been pretty busy with life and have not set aside time to write a blog at all for several months. The sporadic few that have somewhat filled the black hole have been ones that I wrote when I should have been sleeping (sort of like right now). But, nonetheless, it's time to break this "no time" excuse and just knuckle down and write.Back in June, I took a week off of work. Since I haven't been at DEI long enough to have acquired vacation time, all I got was time off without pay. But, I was thankful for that since they could have declined my request altogether. The reason...

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Pizza Delivery Tip #4

Pizza Delivery Tip #4 - Choose Your Friends WiselyYou never know when your friends may turn on you. Especially when they're broke and they know that you have a job that requires you to carry around a significant amount of cash.I delivered pizzas for almost two years right out of high school. Most of my friends at the time were ones that I had been running around with for years. Still, there were others that even though I was around a lot, I must admit that I didn't really know all that well. All of them were loyal friends and would've done whatever they could to help me out, but never underestimate what friends lacking morals might do.I was...

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5th Anniversary

This year's anniversary was our fifth! My mom took the kids so Jodi and I could run off to Branson for the weekend. It was a lot of fun hanging out with my girl all weekend with almost nothing on the agenda.It was also a very successful weekend. Many weeks ago (not sure how many) Jodi's mom sent her a picture of a tall lady statue that was clearly from the same maker as the tall lady statue that Jodi bought at a yard sale a long time ago. Jodi wanted it, so we decided that we'd look for it while in Branson. Long story made short, we found it. Jodi had painted the one that she bought years ago. This one has its original paint on it still...

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Spanish Fat Lady's a-Singin'

With 64 games in 31 days, I've been busy. Too busy, in fact, to write a blog, just in case you've been wondering what happened to me. However, yesterday concluded the 2010 FIFA World Cup with Spain winning the golden trophy. I enjoyed this year's games, but I think overall it will be remembered as the World Cup with all the surprise game results. There were many upsets and it was truly a tournament for the underdogs.While I usually root for the underdog in a game, I couldn't this time. My World Cup teams were chosen long ago. They are the US, Italy, and Germany teams. This year, I added Ghana to the mix since we have an emotional attachment...

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1979 Celeb Guessing Game

I did this a couple years ago for my 29th birthday. I thought that it was kind of fun to see who all in the celebrity world is about my age. At 29, most of the celebrities still looked like they could pass as teenagers. Maybe not so much at 31?This year, I only found 6 celebrities. One, of which, isn't even alive anymore. I wanted to get all new famous people without repeating any from the last game. The problem with that was that after these six they started becoming very obscure. I didn't recognize anyone else, in fact, with the exception of the young blonde girl from the movie Jurassic Park. Although, I doubt anyone else would have...

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Science vs. Christianity?

Since I was a young teenager, around 14 or 15, I think, I gave deep thought to the apparent incompatibility between the modern science that I had been learning in school as well as seeing taught on public broadcasting shows and the sometimes contrasting things that I was hearing and being taught at church. My mind would wander for hours sometimes attempting to make sense out of what all I was being taught. During this time, I would sometimes ask questions to different people. This, in most cases, led to further confusion. I would receive answers that only proved that the person attempting to answer didn't really know the answer themselves....

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