As I sit Here

As I sit here today I am listening to Christmas Music. That's right "CHRISTMAS MUSIC". Not a holiday symphony or holiday tunes but good ole CHRISTMAS MUSIC.

Anyway, as I am sitting here a sudden epiphany hits me. What must it have been like for Mary. I mean ok you have the whole virgin mother thing to put your arms around and I can only imagine that must have taken quite a bit of getting used to. But to imagine that every day she held and comforted and loved and kissed the face of God.

Wow, talk about an awe inspiring position to find yourself in.

But then again at the time it was just her baby in her eyes. So like any mother she loved him and comforted him.

I was blessed 4 months ago with a new little one and 5 years ago and 9 years ago with darling daughters as well.

That's right. It's a testosterone limited household.

Every moment I spend with my girls brings new joys and cherished memories. And I hope you each find in this the season of the lord happiness, joy and a true inner peace.

For with Peace and understanding we can overcome all.

Take a moment to slow down in the hurried blur of reality you call life and take in all the blessings that have been bestowed upon you.

Remember that just because things are tough and times are tight it only means good things are coming.

So take a moment to inventory all you have and if you can include on that list your health, your life, your freedom, and the love of family and friends then you are by far a very blessed person.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.

Until Next Time.......................

May you have love that never ends,
lots of money, and lots of friends.
Health be yours, whatever you do,
and may God send many blessings to you!

When did it stop being Christmas and just become another Holiday?

WARNING-- I am about to go on a RANT......

I will be the first to admit that I try not to push my beliefs either religious or political on anyone else. If asked however I will be more than glad to share my opinion. I'm conservative and believe in family and in God. I do not look down on others from a bully pulpit but try to see it from your point of view before I criticize.

Lately I have noticed an alarming trend. It seems more appropriate and acceptable to say "Happy Holidays" than "Merry Christmas"

Now some will say it is because we want to include any and everyone that is celebrating during this time of year and that "Happy Holidays" is more inclusive. Ok, I'll buy that but since when did they start growing Holiday trees and when did we start exchanging Holiday presents?

The alarming part is that it has become acceptable to disclude the tie to Christmas all together. In an accepting nod to not offend anyone.

TOO LATE..............

I'm offended. I mean it. This new more passive and accepting style has in essence bumped me right out. Me the Christmas celebrting, God fearing, Christ believing individual.

And why has this been done? Because it is assumed that I and those like me will just take it so as not to be deemed unaccepting.

Horse Hockey. (Note the old MASH referrence here)

I'm not buying what you're selling.

Why can't we just wish each other a warm and friendly wish. Be it Merry Christmas, or Happy Hanukah or Happy Kwanzah or whatever.

Don't push my Day of celebration aside and I won't do the same to you. That is how we all get along. We accept and allow and remember that is not our place to judge or condemn.

To each of you out there...

Merry Christmas.

Until Next time...............

May the Lord keep you in His handAnd never close His fist too tight.

Things just keep getting happier

Now it has been said a time or two that I tend to posess a touch of the sarcasm so please forgive me ahead of time if it kicks into overdirve today.

As I have been in and out of one retial outlet after another lately I have noticed an increase in the level of happiness that I am greeted with by the store emplyees. It seems as though they are OD'd with crumb cake and eggnog before they are let loose on the unexpecting patrons of the day.

Now I'm not complaining, just simply commenting on how the closer we get to the Holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmans (no Xs here baby)) the retail world kicks into happy overdrive.

Curious. How do they do it? Why do they do it?

I mean if I was greeted with that same positive vibe everytime I walked in I believe I would seek solace there every time I was in need of a positive upload. I mean who wouldn't want to be around a bunch of "HAPPY" people just overly eager to please your every want and desire for $9.99 or less.

I was in Foley's the other day and she's back. The Cologne Sniper. I mean this lady sees you coming from every angle. Now I know she has a job to do and she probably gets paid some kinda commission on the more of one scent she sells over another

"Hey Marge push the Aramis today we really need to move some product"

But does she have to spray and then say "Would you like to experience the new scent by POLO today?"

A little late. And if you think experiencing something includes choking on a direct assault to your face you've got the picture.

I love the Holidays. The food the fellowship. The fun.

What I can not stand is the FAKE.

If you want to be nice be nice more often than not. To do the opposite is just bad form.
I f you want to push a product "cologne or other" do say in a non-forceful and amusing way and I like most other impulse buyers will probably purchase a litre or two.

Well enough of the rant.

To those of you still making the rounds before we indulge our every food desire this Thanksgiving.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Remember those less fortunate and help out where you can.

Say a prayer for our soldiers on all fronts that aer protecting our freedoms.

Thank a teacher for helping us learn what we need to succeed.

And above all give thanks to the Lord almighty for all that you have.

Until Next time....................

May the sun shine, all day long,
everything go right, and nothing wrong.
May those you love bring love back to you,
and may all the wishes you wish come true!

The World as I see it now.

As I see it..............

France has got some real problems and they can't blame them on Lance Armstrong for once.

The best Thing outcast receiver Terrel Owens could do is FIRE his agent Drew Rosenhause. Especially since he just cost him millions of dollars in lost revenue with his ill-advised advice.

The Packers are on a comeback. (Hey, we're riding our recent winning streak. 1 game is alot in recent comparison)

People in New England can't drive any better than people in Houston. ("Is Red the new Green?")

When you have a hard job to do and you stick to your guns, your approval rating will drop. (having no definable reasoning for your Supreme Court nominees doesn't help either.)

I think Jordanian's are just a bit too happy that the bombers were from another country.

We need to ask the Iraqi Police force to join the other team. (Torturing anyone is a disgrace.)

Unitl Next Time.......



Put silk on a goat, and it's still a goat

Life just jumped up and smacked me with a heavy dose of reality

Wow. Has it ever been a busy few weeks. Where to start where to start.

Well, we survived the Hurricane and only came away with some minimal grounds keeping to do. My parents and youngest brother lost power for a short period of time as did my X-Wife. That last part really didn't bother me too much. Ever hear that country song that says if it weren't for my 2 kids I'd hate my X-Wife??????
Though I didn't like the thought of my girls having to deal with no power.

I have finally finished contacting all of my friends that survived both Katrina and Wilma so all is good there. Everyone is safe and that is the important thing.

My plans to become an international businessman are moving right along as my investments in the Bahamas are finally coming to fruition. Who knew that after 2 years of sweating it out things would start to turn my way???? Hallelujah................

My most recent venture as a sole proprietor has now moved into my soon becoming a Director for one of the newest US Corporations. Or at least it looks likes that is how things are going to end up.

Business has finally picked up now that the lovely Storm season is coming to an end and people can make travel plans with some certainty to them.

My brother recently got married to a very nice young lady and we are now expecting another new addition to our growing family.

Found out my 8 week old daughter has ASD and VSD which are fancy names for little holes in the muscles of her heart. NO worries though as the Right Sharp Pediatric Cardiologist we visited feels there is nothing that should cause any long term issues and both should well heal on thier own. Other than that she is all smiles and full diapers.

Have been very lucky to have made a reconnection with one of my favorite childhood friends. My cousin Christine and I have been trading emails for awhile now.

So all in all life has been and looks to be going well.

Kinda funny that when you decide to take a positive look at everything and stop buying into the "Poor Little Me, What have I done to deserve such a horrible life......."
How things just kinda take care of themselves (with a little help from you).

Anyway as a whole LIFE IS GRAND. Hope you are all doing well and I promise I will do my best to actually get by here to post a little more often.

Until Next Time...........................


Always remember to forget
The things that made you sad.
But never forget to remember
The things that made you glad.

A lot of Wind and Even more Prayers with a touch of Rain

Well. We are somewhat back to normal here. We were lucky in all respects. Just a few piles of tree limbs and lots of bundles of trash and it's starting to look normal again.

After watching the news and talking to some of my friends in East Texas I kind of feel guilty that we got away so safely.

Both my folks and my youngest brother spent a few nights without power. Both were too stubborn to come over and stay with us. Pig Headed plain Pig Headed. It runs in the family.

Can't really blame them though. Everyone is running pretty low on gas and we keep hearing promises about the incoming shipments. So much for the "don't buy any gas on this day" plan. I don't think that's gonna work anymore.

I am plain sickened by the reports of looters hitting the houses of people that evacuated. All I can do to settle myself on that is to just remember that there's will come. And it's gonna be a real mother for them.

Best wishes to all hope you are fine and making it with a smile.

Until Next time............

And here we stay.

It seems that in thier infinite wisdom our local and state officials have closed all major entrance ramps onto the major freeways serving as evacuation routes out of town. Now I'm not a traffic expert but that really doesn't make a lot of sense to me. It seems the only place to gain full access is in the southern counties that have been ordered to evacuate. Now I can understand wanting to get those people out of harms way, but what about the rest of us that would prefer to get out of Dodge or Houston as it is?

Not sure getting on the freeway would really make a difference. As it stands it is taking about 3 hours to travel the 12 miles from my location to I-45 and then it's anyone's guess as to how long it will take to move North from there. Some have reported being on the freeway for near 12 hours and making it all of 65 miles from thier original destination. Then there are the score of folks that after sitting in the lines for many hours are running out of gas enroute and not being able to find anywhere to fill up.

At that rate we would be half way to Dallas by the time the Hurricane was making it's way up toward us and probably close to using the entire tank of gas.

NO THANKS.

I can vaguely remember Hurricane Alicia as a child and that scared the crap out of me and Rita is supposed to be a lot more harsh than that. I like my chances here in the house where we can hunker down and try to wait it out -vs- sitting on the freeway and watching that bad girl roll in on us.

According to the latest reports the path of the storm has moved a bit to the East and should move the "Dirty" side of the storm far enough away from us that we should only see winds from 70-80 mph. Yeah I know, that's still some serious wind but not bad in comparison to the original estimates for my area of 150-165 mph.

The down side to this move is that it will probably dump quite a bit of rain on the New Orleans area and we all know that they can not handle much of that.

We're having a Hurricane party tonight. Really more of a prayer visual to pray for this thing to turn around and blow itself out in the Gulf. "Hey if you can pray for a winning lottery ticket, I can pray for a U-turn"

Anyway we'll have one last hoorah before we have to sit through this Bitch of a storm and then deal with all of the clean up.

It's really sad to think that some if not all of the BIG beautiful trees in my nieghborhood and the 5 I have around my house could sustain some serious damage from this thing. They are so nice looking and do such a great job of shading the house. Oh well, we'll see how they fair.

Well I'm going to wrap this up cause it's not really lifting my spirits like I thought it would.

I'll try to update everyone as best I can and as soon as I can. As electricity and net service allow.

Some good news just came in. They are trying to open all of the lanes for 45 (northboudn and southbound) to head only north. That should help. And they are sending some tanker trucks to refill those individuals that have run out of gas. At last some positive news.