putting on the tool belt

"If all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail."

When you hire a handyman to do work, you assume he has a toolbox or a tool belt full of different tools to use in order to fix different problems.  In fact, you probably shouldn't hire one unless they have both the tools and the abilities to use them.  So, why does the established society feel like we can only solve every problem from one point of view or with one "tool?"
When the country faces economic decisions why is it always a "my way always works" mentality?  Is cutting taxes always the solution?  Is raising taxes always the solution?  What about increasing or decreasing federal aid, subsidies, assistance, funding, spending........  One set of ideals can't possibly be the right answer all of the time.  Same goes for almost all political decisions.  No one side has the market cornered.  Every party, major and minor, has flaws and view points that are inconsistent.
If you have every been a coach or a teacher, you know that every day and every kid is different.  Some you can yell at and some you have to talk to.  Some respond to extra laps and some could care less.  The faster you realize the best way to communicate with each student, the better educator or coach you are.
One of the great things about my generation is our ability to take the best of several points of view in order to form our own.  Of course, this puts those views under attack from previous generations who believes you have to accept one point of view with all its strengths and weaknesses.  The whole, "I'm a Catholic" or "I'm a Republican" or "I'm a ........" whatever else you feel you need to be.  It isn't a weakness to say that you can see positives in other points of view.  What is so wrong with people being able to take the best of everything?  I wouldn't hire a plumber that only installs one size of pipe, "I'm a 2 and 3/4 man, that's the only size pipe I use" or a painter that only uses one brush "I'm a 3 inch flat bristle man, no rollers or paint sprayers no matter how big a job."  So why should I try and see everything in life through 1 or 2 narrow lenses?  Why not put on a tool belt and fill it with all the great ideas that all sides have to offer.  That makes the most sense to me.

Thanks for the read.

Crossing the Border, a look at immigration

So as promised about 7 weeks ago, here are some thoughts on immigration.

Listen, before I go into this, I feel like I need to lay out a few things.  I don't really agree with any major position I've heard in the news.  I'm sick of slogans and people just mindlessly repeating whatever talking points they have heard from their favorite talk radio cartoon.  Most importantly this is an issue that deals with real people, you know human beings, and any position that treats them as anything else is unjust.  So here it goes.

Here are my issues with what appears to be the right wing's positions. 
1. I don't get how the state of Arizona can pass a law requiring you to show proof of citizenship on a whim.  What are the criteria for when you have to show proof?  Who has the right to force this on someone? How does one do this exactly???  Does that mean you would have to have a national I.D. card??? (something the right wing seems to oppose)  Or should I just carry my birth certificate around?  But just because I was born on American soil does that make me a citizen or an.......
2. Anchor baby???  What the heck is this exactly?  An evil plot by illegals to come to America while they are pregnant and then wait 20+ years till that child is an adult so that he/she can file for parental citizenship.  Oh, that pesky 14th amendment to the Constitution.  I'm pretty sure this is how I became a citizen.  So you should also carry your parent' birth certificate??? Oh and their parents, and their parents, and ........... That's it! If you don't have documented proof that you are a direct descendant of a recognized Native American tribe then you can just go back to wherever your ancestors came from.
3. Do you really plan on rounding up millions of people?  To send them back across the border?  People are coming here to seek opportunity and a better life for their children.  Life is really really bad in northern Mexico right now and people have been crossing the "border" for thousands of years. (Both ways, in fact Texas was settled 200 years ago by Americans who were crossing into Mexico for land and opportunity, you have to be a fan of history to enjoy the irony)

Here are my issues with what appears to be the left wing's postions
1. um
2. well
3. they don't have one! And that is a huge problem.  At least have the guts to take a stance.  Don't spend all day spouting out obscure legal precedents on MSNBC.  Most people zoned out before you even started your sentence.  Why don't they take a position on the issue?  I think its because the left realizes the problem that immigration causes in the existing party structures.

They're caught in a pickle. (A baseball term when a runner is stranded between two bases and the opposing side keeps him there by throwing the ball back and forth)  Warning, I'm about to get really general here just to demonstrate the problem both sides face.  Obviously it is much more complicated.

The right's pickle: which base do you choose?  The wealthy and large-business class who would benefit from the dilution of the labor pool by allowing the immigrants to stay and compete for jobs(driving wages down)?Or the southern whites who would rather not see America get any "browner"?
The left's pickle: which base do you choose?  The immigrant, if they became citizens, would probably vote for you? (and you can feel very philanthropic as the different .edu's gave out humanitarian awards) Or do you consider the small businesses, trade unions, and labor workers who will see their earnings driven down by the influx of cheap workers?  (your traditional voters)

Whats the answer then?  Well, I'm not fully sure but I think we have to start with what the realities are and work our way form there.
We need to help end all the violence.  I'm sick of being the world's policeman, but this isn't half way around the world.  This is happening off our southern border.  This doesn't mean we should charge in, but we should be spending time meeting with the local and national Mexican govs and trying to find solutions.  These people want to be here.  So lets look at the positives of a growing population instead of just the negatives.  There are cities all across the mid-west that are shrinking and falling apart.  Some cities are bull-dozing houses just to re-claim the land.  Is there a way to direct the flow of people in order to turn the situation around for these metro areas.  Finally, we need to ask what is the just thing to do?  What choices honor our highest held beliefs and ideals?  How would we want to be treated if we were in their shoes?

Anyways, I'll end it on a lighter note. (one that will only make sense to "Arrested" fans)

Thanks for the read.

Michael: "I'm going to have to start putting people in the trunk."
Narrator: At that very moment, Buster was climbing into the trunk.
Buster: [videotaping himself] "Mother, when you see this tape, you will know that I've left. Not out of cowardice, but out of... man, it's tired in here!"
Narrator: Six minutes later, Michael stopped to drop off his mother's housekeeper.
Buster: [Buster climbs out of the trunk] "Mexico."
Narrator: In fact, Buster was in Santa Ana, a town six minutes inland from his own, but the combination of losing his glasses and breathing carbon monoxide had impaired Buster's judgment.
Buster: [seeking shelter] "This will keep me safe from the hot Mexican sun."
Lupe: "Excuse me, what are you doing?"
Buster: "I'm trying to find a place to live!"

It aint easy being green

It ain't easy being green.....
Why? I don't really know. So much of it seems like common sense to me, that it is hard for me to understand why it has taken all of us so long. We have the technologies, we just don't have direction. There is really no set definition for "green" living, which makes it hard to know what to do. It also covers so many things, big things, things that would take a change by industries and governments.

We need reasons we can all agree upon. I don't know if global warming is true or not. Seems like there are smart people on both sides of the fence. So lets drop it as a reason as to why we should clean up our air. When you are jogging and a semi-trunk drives by, you can tell. It gets hotter and the air gets sticky and it gets harder to breath for a second. No one wants to breath exhaust fumes so lets keep more of it out of the air. It doesn't matter to me if it does or doesn't cause global warming. How is cutting down air pollution a bad thing? Same goes for water pollution, have you ever ordered water at a restaurant and thought to yourself "man I hope there is extra pesticide run-off in my glass." Instead of arguing about the huge-can't wrap your head around scientific studies, lets focus on the things we can agree on.

More recycling, reusing, and re-purposing. I challenge you to spend an hour walking around your city/county landfill. I've been to my county landfill probably half a dozen times, it is a life changing experience. Until you go for yourself, it is really hard to understand the amount of trash we all make. We already have regular garbage service that comes to the where we live, so its not like it would be hard to recycle. How is less trash in the landfill a bad thing? It's not just throwing our cans in a big tub, it's finding new uses for common things; and buying used instead of new.

Reducing our consumption. I'm not saying we can't have the stuff we want, but maybe we should all just take an extra second to think about how much of it we need. It's really about being frugal with what we have. It involves thinking ahead about what we will use during the day. My brother started carrying his own water bottle around, and that alone probably keeps him from buying a dozen water bottles a week. That's money in his pocket and fewer empty bottles in the trash.

Finding other sources of energy. We need clean, safe, and renewable energy. You can't look at pictures from the gulf and think "that looks clean and safe." Listen, I realize that a huge part of our energy needs are met by oil, but eventually it will run out. It may be 20 yrs.... it may be 200. It really doesn't matter. The point is this, as there are fewer sources of easy to reach oil we have to seek out more difficult sources. Like the bottom of the gulf, which if there is an accident, becomes a big problem. Same goes for coal, eventually it will run out, and it puts chemicals and smoke in the air when we burn it. So it's really a question of whether we will be pro-active or re-active.

We need to start doing something... anything. The problems will only get bigger the longer we wait to get serious about them. Making small changes can make a big difference. If all 300 million Americans decided to make it on 10% less: gas, electricity, junk food, trash..... that would be like 30 million people using 0. That is something we could really do and it would be a difference in the landfill and in our wallets.

Thanks for the read.

The curse of the purist

There is really not anything in life that I'm a purist about, why??? cause it makes you myopic and broke.  If you like something and you enjoy it that's great, but don't go off the deep end.  Once you become a purist or a fanatic of something you loose all your power as a consumer.... you loose choices.... you become that guy.

That guy who is a wine snob.  A $6 cab can taste just as good as a $75 one.  Do you really want to spend that kind of mools when most people couldn't tell the difference if we took the label off the bottle?  And why do you feel compelled to tell me the difference????

That guy who is a golf snob.  I like public and muni courses.  My green fees are $9-$15 yours are $150+  I don't want difficult greens or sand traps, I want to enjoy myself.  Besides you can still hit it in the trees, cuss up a storm, and throw your clubs no matter how much you paid to get on the course.

That guy who is a sports team purist.

"We picked up some great late round draft pics!"    You haven't had a winning season in 5 years.  Quit buying upper deck end zone season tickets and maybe the owner will get the drift that he needs to win to get your dollar.

The surround sound-plasma TV purist: we are watching a made for TV movie, it doesn't matter.
The amateur restaurant critic: Its ok to get a burger/pizza/Chinese from a place not "the best in town."
The Harley guy:..... I mean seriously do you need the logo tattooed on your body?

A professional should be a purist.  A Red Sox's pitcher needs know ARods career batting average against lefties.  A guy who manages a sub shop????  Doesn't.  I'm not saying you can't be a fan or have hobbies, you should, that's something that makes people unique.  But it shouldn't overtake your family time and consume your finances.  What if you were a little less of a purist and a little bit better of a parent?  That wouldn't be so bad, would it?

Thanks for the read.

Catching up the last 2 weeks

Just catching everyone up with the last 12 days or so. I spent several minutes trying to put this in order and I failed so it is grouped by ..... um, however it comes out of my head.

We went out twice to 2 step. Once to rebels, which was a success and the other time we tried midnight rodeo, which didn't work out so well. Let's just say I got hit on in a way I didn't see coming..... As in a guy...... Who hit me in the face. Oh well. Ty got a new bike which was flown in cross country. Had a great 5 mins of glory riding it around the yard. Speaking of bikes I had a fun experience with a flat tire while riding home from work. Will came to visit for a few days which meant a whirlwind of sightseeing and good eating. Speaking of eating, tried Phils Icehouse on burnet rd and was very impressed. It may knock Hills out of my top burger spot. I've being seeing a lot of wildlife lately: water moccasins, woodpeckers, and baby armadillos(see pic below) I actually saw 4 but only 3 would get together for the pic.

Weird armadillo facts: the dillos in this area only give birth to genetically identical quadruplets, also momma dillos can suspend giving birth for up to 2 years if they have to.

Registered for a couple of Tri's this summer, dug up some palm trees, and picked up some furniture refinishing projects(project posts to come). So a busy couple of weeks. Headed to Abilene this weekend to see the brother and Becs graduate from college. Hopefully I'll get a post or two out before I leave.

Thanks for the read.



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The older I get the less..... the more..... cars

This is part 2 of ? more to come on other topics

The older I get the more my priorities seem to change. I don't know if its caring less or if it takes more to get my attention.... or impress me..... or matter to me. Before you roll your eyes too far, don't take this post as being filled with some deep, long sought-for concept. I'm just saying..... Let's talk about cars.

There has been a lot of guff being given and a lot of grief dished out on the subject of cars lately.  Everyone has their own opinion about what people should drive, I have mine, you have yours, and it's ok if they are different. And my opinions...... have changed quite a bit since I started driving.  Cars and getting a drivers license used to seem like a right of passage or this incredible freedom.  You can go anywhere, see anything, adventure, explore the backroads.  And that's all true but, what you drive doesn't change the destination, or the things you see out the window.  To be honest I really don't care that much about cars anymore.

The only things I want my car to do are...... be comfortable, get better than average fuel economy, and not break down that often.  Oh, and have heated seats for Linz.  So just about anything that meets those wants is a viable option for me.  If we are really getting down to it, I wish I didn't even need a car.  It would be so great if I could just walk, ride a bike, or take public transportation on a daily bases.  Maybe just have 1 car for the wife and I to use on weekend trips.

What are they really???? Just huge liabilities.  With the exception of a few classics, they aren't assets.  If I buy a new 20k car its worth only 16k the moment I sign the title. Then it dwindles to 10k over the next 3 years.

I'm willing to be honest, the muscle cars and a few others will always turn my head.  But, for the most part 95% of the cars on the road look just like all the others.  So maybe think about how much its going to cost you on a monthly basis.  Or don't...... its only money.

Thanks for the read.

catching up with last week

So the last week and a half has flown by and once again I have 6-7 topics written in notes around the office / house / car.  Sometimes I don't blog them out cause I feel a little guilty in the moment and assume that whenever I am writing it has to be fresh, on the spot words.  Which leads to procrastination and longer writing times, which lead to fewer posts, which leads to me feeling each post has to be better, and..... repeat.

So quick tour of life this morning and more blogs later this week.  Brian and I have been running after work and I rode my bike to work once last week(25 miles round trip) in preparation for upcoming triathlons.  Mounted a toilet and both sinks in the master bath.  Went estate / garage saling both weekends.  Went two-stepping at Rebels.  Bought a really awesome late 60's table saw that weighs about 150 lbs, shout out to Tyler for helping with the move.  Shrimp has moved up a few notches in my what-foods-I-like scale, from about a 3 to a 6 thanks to Bri and Linz.  Went to Zushi-Sushi in the Domainia with Ty and Linz.  Lastly, I got Ebbo's cell phone bill fixed.  The guy had 10200 text messages in a single month and T-mob goofed and had him w/o unlimited texting.  Was more than a little shocked, disturbed at a $2300 cell bill.  So I sat on the phone for 45 mins and got it straightened out, his new bill $44 dollars.  Probably the best thing is how the customer service lady freaked out and could not believe one guy texts that much, she said she had never seen that many in a single month..... and she works for the cell phone company :)  So, Ebbo if you are reading this I am going to have to give you some grief.

Thanks for the read, look out for not "in the moment", not over-thought, and more frequent posts.

Thoughts??? Was it my driving???

First let me give some really good excuses for why I haven't posted in 10 days. ............... Ok, glad I got that all out of the way. I have literally 5-6 posts written in notes and scraps of paper at my desk, so I have been writing just not online. Strangely enough this post isn't one of them. Its more something that has kept coming up lately in conversation. Just realized that it came up only in road trips while I was driving, so now I'm wondering if they were all hinting at how I drive???

So, it first came up on my trip to the airport (flew to NashVegas to move Ty home, that's another story for another time:). Tex was kind enough to ride along and take my car home. During the drive we got on the subject of how churches sometimes get so inward looking that they loose sight of their commission. Tex has some strong opinions on this, he went to baptist school from kindergarten through college and he also has worked for several churches. I had similar experiences at different times in my life. And, its not that we were even upset about it, it just gets kind of sad. Had a similar discussion with Log on the drive home from the big Nashty, and talked about it a bit with the wife on the way to Waco for Easter. The trouble is, it is very hard to look both in and out.

We should be looking at ourselves to make sure we are happy with what we are doing, but we should also be looking outside ourselves to make sure we haven't gone off the deep end.

Here is what I'm talking about, and yes I know this isn't something new, and yes I know I don't have the answer. Sometimes, people just get too obsessed staring at themselves. So a church starts off with a purpose to reach the lost and help those who are needy. But before long the focus is on poaching members from other churches and creating amenities for its members. Please realize I am not talking about all churches everywhere, I am just saying that this happens sometimes. So instead of building mission churches, they expand and build more buildings and gyms and other reasons why you should never leave. The first time this bothered me was about 8 years ago when I heard someone from the mission field say they could build the church building and provide a pastor in Guyana for $20,000. The next Sunday I heard about expanding the current church to provide amenities totaling $2 mil. Would it sound different if they said the cost to expand the gym would be 100 mission churches????

The same thing happens when leaders and politicians from the South chastise the rest of the country for their morals, or lack there of. I'm sorry, but the South is a very profitable area for the adult film industry and it still has large pockets where open racism is acceptable. I'm not saying every person and every town is this way, but I have lived in and around this part of the country and speak from first hand experience. The coasts have their problems too, but they are not more or less moral than the South or the Mid-West.

Same kind of thing on the political radio last week. A local station I listen to plays Rush during lunch. I'm not much of a fan, but it was on when I got in the car and I wondered what he was going to say.... When his beloved Republican party made a big mistake last week (the RNC sponsored a trip to a bondage club) I left him on for a few minutes and.....I don't know what I was expecting. Wasn't this a misuse of campaign contributions? Not only that, but it was spent on shady endeavors. Well, was there outrage??? Nope. Crickets. To be fair maybe I missed it. But if you can't see that your side is just as corrupt as the side you always attack, then how are you a credible person?

So what is it? I would throw the word hypocritical in.... But I'm not even sure I always know what that means. Plus I know that I am guilty of doing the same thing multiple times and well..... it just seems harsh. I always thought hypocrisy was something you kind of know when you are doing it. Maybe not. Maybe you just kind of slip into it over the years. Before you know it, you have overlooked all your own faults and start turning opportunities to learn into me vs you or us vs them. Its even worse if you have people around you that enable the myopia. And..... Ok, I'm cutting it off. Feel like I've waded a little to far out there. No offense meant to anyone.

Thanks for the read.

pickles

A post about pickles??? Why? well because I have like 4 topics that I have been jotting notes about, they are good topics but they way have some political flair which may rub some readers the wrong way. In a quasi-redonk way this may help you understand me. So on to the pickles, which should explain what I am talking about.... I think.
So, most people in America eat pickles but do most pickle-eaters know where they come from???

I don't mean what town they were jarred in.  Or, which store they are from.  I mean what is the history of the pickle?  Well its actually been around for about 4,000 years when ancient people were preserving cucumbers.  Both Napoleon and Washington were obsessed with them.  And they are a pretty healthy snack.  But what difference does it make if you like the way they taste. Well..... to you it may not matter, but to me it does.  I never have liked pickles, for most of my life I thought they were pretty gross (which is a shame b/c my granny makes fantastic homemade pickles and I waited all these years to enjoy them).  I never did mind a little pickle juice, I always ordered my chickfila sandwiches "as-is" and took the pickles off later so I could get a little pickle nectar on my sandwich.

 

So, I was always OK with the flavor, I just didn't want to stick those weird looking things in my mouth.  But a year and a half ago we were having a big meal with the wife's family and I just decided to eat one.  And.... I didn't really like it all that much, but that didn't matter, I had cleared the hurdle of eating one, my first one at age 26 (I know sad).  So did I eat another one??? of course not, not until I could get home and google the history of pickles and find out if any historical figures had eaten them.  So I was pleasantly surprised to find out they were such an old food stuff.  Once I knew that, I went out of my way to eat as many different kinds, at as many different places as possible...... how else would you learn to like something?????

I did this same sort of thing with most seafood and with sushi.

Yes, I have eaten all the above creatures.  Why? Well to make it short. My first sushi(just raw fish, I still don't like the rolls) I ate b/c my friend Matt ordered some.  So, after trying it and finding out people had been eating it for 1000's of years I decided to like it. The lobster b/c my wife likes it and we travel to Maine every year, but mostly I just respect the claws(the only part of the lobster I actually like is claw meat, I give the tail to whoever wants it). The sea urchin???? well we were in L.A. for a long weekend and why the heck not??? The Uni will not be a repeat.
So what am I saying? Well to be honest it has changed since this post started.  At first it was more of a "I need to know the background of something before I can get behind it" which seems like it would make any view I have more substantive.  But as I write this out I realized something about myself, the above quoted words are a load of butt shark.  I don't really think everything out to the extreme. In fact what I realized is that I have changed quite a bit since I was a younger. I have gotten a little older and I got married.  Here is what this post helped me realize:
1. I am really open minded about things/people/whatever and I want to like it so I will give just about anything a try.
2. I need to find a reason to like this thing in my life.  Most things I like cause it is quirky or relaxing or they help people or it's fun or....... insert good thing about life here (it doesn't have to be logical).
3. Once I find a good enough reason I will choose to like/dislike something regardless of criticism unless you/it can appeal to my open-mindedness.
Here is the dirty little secret.... this is how we all are.  But, sometimes as we get older or have other priorities in life we loose touch with being open to new things.  If you notice the 3 things above, they are meant to be cyclical.  I think this is how we are supposed to be.  The funny thing about the pickle is.... I hate, I mean it, I can't stand cucumber, just everything about it tastes wrong.  So what is it that I really like??? The flavor, which is just a little marinade and a little time.

GeDubs V Snow for the heavy weight championship of the whurrrrrrld!

So the weather has been interesting in the ATX of late.  On Saturday it was nearly 80* and sunny.  I wore shorts and a t-shirt(and rode around Martindale on my BIL's bike, which had a small battery powered radio tied to the handle bars with a shoe string, fortunately for the neighborhood it had plenty of power to blast out some tejano music while the wife and I rode around the town, did I mention I was wearing a pair of large lady shades b/c mine were stranded in P'ville).  So back to the weather, on Tuesday it decided to snow, not barely snow, but snow for 6-7 hrs.  We are talking several inches of snow and it stuck to the ground.

Pics are from in and around the park by my office.
So it has never snowed this much in ATX in my memory.  So of course I needed to go for a walk in it during my break.  It was great.  I just kept thinking to myself how lucky I was to be able to see this park covered in snow, and how I wanted to take a mental picture so I wouldn't forget what a great scene was unfolding in front of me.  Then I got caught up in the moment.  I decided to walk out to the perfect spot and make a snow angel.  Of course the perfect spot was a good 1/4 mile or so from my office out in this snowy park meadow.

Now I have had my fun and unknowingly challenged snow's authority.  I forgot that my car keys were in my jacket pocket, and when I flopped back to make my angel, they found wings of their own.  So I made my angelic likeness, sprang up, snapped my pic, and marched through the snow, back to work so proud of myself.  Only 15 min later did I realize I had no car keys.  So I checked every pocket 3 times and told myself surely they are not out there somewhere.  But of course that's where they are.  So I explain to my boss how my keys are in the park. "I think I lost my keys in the park over break" "Are you serious""Yep, I really think they are out there, they must fallen out of my pocket somewhere""What like on a bench, were you sitting on a bench in the snow?""No... I didn't sit on a bench""Are you messing with me? This sounds made up?""No, I wish, I wish I had my keys, but I don't, I feel like I should go look for them""How will you know where to find them?".......long pause..... "I was making a snow angel and stuff falls out of the pockets of this jacket pretty easy"........another long pause....."alright then, do what you have to do"  So now I look like a complete idiot.  So I trudge out there, a little more urgency in my step.  The snow doesn't look quite as charming as before.  I find where the angel was.  The snow is coming down pretty hard.  And I am on my hands and knees digging around for car keys.  I finally found them and my hands are freezing(which makes it easier to make snow balls once your hands go a little numb) so I walk back to work making snowballs along the way and throwing them at light posts, trash cans, the occasional tree that I pretend is some NFL wide receiver and I am throwing a winning TD pass.  Just when I feel victory over the snow..... I feel it.  My feet. My feet are soaked to the bone.  They are cold really cold.  And my shoes are so wet.  My jeans are too, mid-way up the calf.  I hurry back to work, but the damage is done.  Now I squeak and squish with every step through the hall ways.  I keep taking my shoes off under my cube desk, but everyone wants me to answer some dumb question.  So I have to pull them back on with one hand while I pretend to be finishing an email and "I will be right with you"(similar thing happened last week when my boss caught me putting on deodorant in my cube, I quickly tried to hide it between my legs but when I turned to answer his question it spun out of my chair and fell to the floor by his feet, yeah..... um......right.... let me just kick that under the desk real quick while you look at me and forget your question).  This goes on for almost 2 hrs I can't take it anymore, so I go out to the car, dig out some old socks from the trunk.  At least I have dry socks in my wet shoes (T always warned me of this in Chicago, "it seems fun to play in the snow, but your tennis shoes will get wet, and then there is no going back")  I make it trough the day OK, minus the pounding migraine from 12.30 - 5.45.

The next day, I decided that I needed to make peace with the snow.

 

The only real way to do this is to make a man out of snow to pay homage for being defeated.  So I built my snow man and took a picture with my phone.  I gave the snow further respect by emailing the pic to my wife with the customary "Greetings From the North Pole" subject line.  She seemed to like it.  I took it to the final level by making this guy my desktop screen on my office computer.  What can I say, I was over-matched by a better fighter, I had all the gumption but snow had the endurance to take me down in the later in the rounds.  Maybe in a few more years I'll get another shot at the belt.

why this? why now?

Well...... the truth is I have been wanting to do one of these for a while.  I put it off because I didn't think I had any real interesting things to say.  Nothing that would change any lives anyway.  But I realized that’s OK.  I do have lots of opinions on things and this is a good place to put them down.  I already started keeping a journal last year and I keep telling myself, “you need to type this out” so this seems like a 2 bird 1 stone kind of deal.  I also want to have some online interaction with people but I can’t stand facebook.  I mean it.  It’s ok if you only have a few “friends” but eventually you end up with all kinds of weird stuff that just overwhelms you all the time.  I do want to share pictures and stories about what’s going on, the places we go, and the projects I have with my wife.  However, I do not want to accept your gang war invitation; yes, I would like to learn my hidden vampire power, but not if its going to post on the wall of hundreds of other people; and no, I honestly don’t care that someone I went to class with in 9th grade had a bad day at work and decided to status update from their mobile which led to their friends sending an ismile cartoon to make their day better.  So, what I needed was a place to write down some thoughts and not get bombarded.  I am thinking of posting a few things that I already have written down.  In order to kind of dip my toe in the blog water.  I like to read, so there will be a book review here or there.  I like following sports (stay tuned for the perfect bcs playoff system, jk…. well maybe not).  I listen to financial talk and current events on the radio a few hours a day, so those topics might pop up too.  I really like to travel, especially to dense urban areas.  I love the buildings and all the people.  Extra homage to a city that is fun and unique.  Most of the design stuff will be left to my much more talented family but I am a sucker for anything that is different.  I doubt I would be able to really stay focused on any one thing for too long.  I’m a pendulum.  Thanks for reading. G