Busy

You know sometimes we get just too busy. Busy with work, busy with church, busy with family and busy with just things.
Sometimes we can get so busy that we forget the things that are important to us. That is the time when we should just set back and make sure we have our priorities right. We might need to re-organize some things. We might need to just say no to some things. We might need to let some things lay for the time being.
Many times we are the ones responsible for our own overloaded schedule, so we have no one to blame but ourselves.
So when you feel overwhelmed, step back, evalauate and make good choices to take care of all the things that are pressing us each day.

Emergency anyone?

Yep I am in Huntsville Alabama today. Flew in this morning, and on the way realized I had no car rental set up. No problem you say, just call and make a reservation? Well not since there was a tornado down here that wrecked a bunch of cars and everyone who had insurance has rented them. Not a one available. Nada. Zilch. So what am I to do, I have a meeting an hour north of here and four hours south. What did I do, I became a slug and asked my client to haul my carcass around. Yep I am a freeloader. At least till we get to Mon-gum-ry (Montgomery for you nautherners) where I will get my own wheels. Talk about a little stress to get your blood pumping in the morning.
It was almost as stressful as listening to my wife tell my teenage daughter that she could not stay up all night washing clothes. Actually she was going to sleep for two hours, then change out the washer and dryer, sleep two more hours and then change out again every two hours till morning. My wife said, "you will not do that", She says, "I have no choice". My wife says, "Absolutely not", My daughter says, "I have too!". Well she said she had no clothes to wear to school. Now did she really have no clothes or did she not have the clothes she "wanted" to wear? Well her emergency could have been adverted if she had taken care of her needs over the weekend when she was laying around watching movies. And I guess my car needs could have been taken care of if I had made arrangements earlier. So cut down on emergencies, plan ahead!!

Viva Las Vegas...

What is so good about Las Vegas?
I mean it is cool to see the architecture, all the lights and such but I just don't get it. To get to anywhere you have to travel through a maze of casinos and meeting rooms. Probably three times I got so turned around I thought I was not going to find my way out.
The people are not that friendly really, the city not that clean, and the airport isn't that great.
So is it all about the gambling? I saw person after person throwing money down on the tables and inserting into the slots but those people looked as poor as I.
I guess the attitude of my cabbie summed it up. He retired to Vegas in 1991, had a nice retirement account and such that he and his wife decided to live there. So I am thinking to myself why he drives a cab? And he answered and said that he drives a cab for the insurance and for his gambling money. So I am thinking to myself, you know if he saved all that gambling money, the things he could buy for him and his wife in their old age.
I guess it is the age old question, do you think if I let it ride I can get it all back at one time?
They don't have those polished marble floors, the nice architecture and the big TVs because everyone is a winner. That town was built on a whole lot of losers!!
It is good to be home!

Chicken, its not just for dinner...

Have you ever met someone who is just plain "chicken". I find myself sometimes feeling like a chicken in some senses because I want to avoid conflict. Does lack of courage lead oneself to becoming a "chicken"? Does avoiding conflict make you "chicken" or wise?
I have thought about this and have decided that avoiding conflict because you are scared makes you a "chicken". But to avoid conflict to keep someone from getting hurt does not make you a "chicken" but makes you a good friend.
See there is a line that has to be crossed in each situation, just as you would not let a toddler "toddle" onto a highway, you should also keep your friends from getting hurt. But when you allow your friends to get hurt because you would not speak up, you are a "chicken".
A good friend is not just one who will tell you the truth, but will also tell you the truth when they know that it is not what you want to hear.
So don't be a "chicken", be a good friend.

Politics

Now I hate to get involved in a political discussion as everybody's views and opinions differ about as much as humanely possible. But here goes.
I believe we are in a dangerous position in this country today. What I see is a total shift from the foundation that was laid by our founding fathers.
Take a quarter out of your pocket, or a dollar, or a penny and you will see that all of them have one thing in common. "In GOD we trust" is inscribed on each of them and all of our currency for the United States. But is that really true today? I don't think so.
We see the US giving Billions (with a B) of dollars in bailouts to companies such as AIG, GM, CitiBank, subsidizing banks who made risky lendings, and securing employment to scores of people who have bilked the system for the last ten years, I think it is time to indeed to take "in GOD we trust" off of our money as it is not true anymore. At least for most of America.

We should replace it with, "in the Congress we trust"... well that may not work. How about "in the Senate we trust"... uhm no as well. How about "in our elected leadership we trust"? Well that probably is not true either. "In the Treasury Department we trust"? Well they have made a mess of things too. So maybe just "in the US we trust". Well I could see that twenty years ago, but today probably not. Many people of this country have put their trust in our new policy makers and leadership and I am afraid as things get worse that trust will erode. And then where will we be? I think that we will continue to have some trust issues till we put our trust in the one that is indeed trustworthy. You know the one that is mentioned on our money for at least today.

Forward Thinking...

How much forward thinking do you do? If you are like most, we think more of what we have done or what we need to do in the next small segment of time that we never get around to thinking long term.
You see we can get so caught up in the moment, we loose sight of the future. Or we get so focused on the past that we can't catch a vision for the future.
I was asked in a job interview once, "where do you see yourself in five years?". It was a good question and as a hungry job seeking individual, I answered, "as a valuable asset to this company". I got the job but ended up staying 20 years.
When we think, where do we want to be in 5 years, 10 years or more, do we really chart a course to get there or do we just pipe dream it and kill the vision just after it has been birthed?
So start dreaming of tomorrow and the next day and chart a course to get you to that place in life. Be forward thinking!!

Kids...

Man they are a handfull sometimes, cost a lot of money to raise but I think worth every dollar.
I wanted to brag on my kids for a bit, we don't do that often enough. Really we probably spend more time criticizing them than we do encouraging them.

My oldest was born on Father's Day and it is appropriate since she is almost just like me. She is so talented, in many different areas. She plays every sport that she can in school and is looking to possibly continue athletic endeavors at the college level. I pray she does as we can use every scholarship available. She is talented musically as well. She plays bass guitar and drums and is good at both. She recently went to competition where you have to play a drum solo. Well she kept trying to back out and she did not put her best foot forward to practice and at the dress rehearsal she played for one minute fifteen seconds or something like that. At competition they give you FIVE minutes which is a long time to play a drum solo. So she takes her prepared minute, and at competition decides that is not long enough. So she starts with what she prepared and then played another FOUR minutes off the cuff. Yep, just made it up and kept playing. She rated superior with her spur of the moment effort. I din't have to wonder what would have happened had she prepared a five minute performance in the first place. She would have blown people away. She is so good sometimes, she allows her talent to carry her, when she starts applying that talent to some practice and puts her mind to be the best. Watch out!! Oh and she is a straight A student as well taking college courses as a 15 year old. Brains too? It is not fair one girl should be so blessed.

My daughter number two is so different from daughter number one. Number two athletically was not as big, but really was a good athlete at her age. She got hurt early on and decided that sports was not her thing. So she gets into music. She can sing, play the guitar, pick around on the piano, she is a runway model and getting paid (products and discounts at the places she models for, that is getting paid as far as I see it) to do it. She is a cheerleader, leader and also is a straight A student as well. She is so respectful, polite and a joy to be around. And she has a handicap. She was born with heart problems, had open heart surgury at 8 days old, had a pacemaker put in and had a heart surgury procedure earlier this year and yet nothing slows her down. You forget she even has the issue until you see the scar and are reminded of the surguries. She will end up at college somewhere, either as a cheerleader, or as a brainiac or on some TV show or fashion show. Who knows, the world is definately her oyster, and I don't even know if she liks oysters!!

My oldest son. Well he is so sweet. He looks like a model, plays middle linebacker and has dimples that when he gets older will probably get him in trouble. He is still a little shy, and he doesn't realize how good looking, how smart or even how good he really is. He is at that age where his voice is starting to change, his feet are getting bigger and he is starting to fill out. He also is a force at wanting to get better in sports and will work to do it. He is going to be a beast when he gets older, I just hope his sweet spirit stays with him. I think he will be a football player that will knock your block off, then reach down and help you up and pray for you as you wobble back to the huddle. Oh and he is a BRAIN also. He reads like a little widow woman, always a book in his hand, he and his Quiz Bowl team are some of the best in the state and he has a ton of knowledge stored in that head of his. He is a lot like his Dad in that aspect. He remembers everything. One day he will either be playing middle linebacker and smacking people, running a corporation or spending eight weeks on Jeopardy schooling Alex on who the first century warlords of east Asia were.

My youngest son. Where to start. Well from the beginning he wasn't supposed to be here. My wife and I tried to quit at three kids. She had a tubal and ended up pregnant with number four. I remember thinking he was going to cost me a lot of retirement funds and at least three more years of kids in the house when we found out about him. He has yet to start sports, he would rather set around playing video games. But he personality is so bright he just about makes everyone laugh as he comes into a room. He is musical like the rest of his family, taking piano lessons, and is a natural comedian. He is still so sweet that he likes to set next to me and has no problem showing affection for his family. He is smart as well, not book smart yet but he can figure out a way to take most anything apart, and then put it back together.

So all in all I am blessed with the kids I have been given. Everyday I thank GOD for the days I have been blessed to have them and I know that I will miss the days when they are not an every day part of my life. So I will enjoy them as long as I have them. Love you kids.

Music

Wow it has been a week since I shared. That is what I think of blogging, sharing ideas, dreams, fears and such with one another. We are all in this together.

Music is a big part of my life, I play it, write it, dream about it and fear it. Confused yet?

You see music is hard work, and I am not just talking about learning to play. Music is hard because it takes so many things working together to make it sound good, let alone great. Take last night for instance, we kicked off this band. Well we have practiced like four times, which is really not enough for us to gel and know exactly what each other will do. We had our ups and downs, but all in all in was not too bad. But in those times where we were struggling a great point was made to me. When we had a little issue with tempo, ALL the instruments tried to fix it, at the same time. Yeah it was ugly, the drummer got a little off, the guitar tried to play louder to get the drummer back on the right beat, the other guitar then got lost trying to decide to follow the other guitar or the drummer, the bass player (me) then got really loud trying to get everyone to follow me and the leader was snapping fingers trying to get everyone together. Can I tell you that an eletric guitar or two, a bass guitar and a drum set are all WAY MORE LOUD than a pair of snapping fingers? But guess what, the LEADER was the one snapping the fingers and if all of us had taken a deep breathe, quit trying to do our own thing and melded into the tempo of the snapping fingers together, we would not have gone two or three measures where it sounded like chaos.

GOD is like that sometimes, he is snapping off the tempo, but we want to march to our beat, or the beat of our friend, and life becomes chaos until we settle into the groove provided by the Father and everything works out...sometimes I wonder if it would be better being a one man band... but then I see a picture and think, I don't want to look like that!