floods

ive never seen it rain this much anywhere.

atlanta is flooded. i can drive 10 minutes northwest of my house and see homes almost completely submerged.

we’re blessed to be sitting in a dry house.

if you pray please pray for those affected by the weather in atlanta. it’s pretty bad around here..

9/11

i’m sure there are tons of blog posts about the events of 8 years ago today. i’m not going to rehash that.

i’m going to say just a few things.

thanks to our men and women in uniform who sacrifice daily to keep us safe. we’ll never know what we truly owe them.

thanks to those who have lost their lives in the defense of freedom.

art update

i wanted to remind anyone who reads this to go check out the art of my pal Chris Beck at http://www.cebstuff.com

Chris is an untrained southern folk artist who works in metal sculpture. his stuff is amazing and his heart is even more amazing.

even if you don’t give a rip about the art, try to get to know Chris. he’s a great guy and one of the best friends a person could ask for.

Chris will be at Who-Fest in Chattanooga, TN on the weekend of May 23 (maybe only on saturday? not sure). check his site or back here for more info.

sick family.

long time no type.

the weather has been crazy here in atlata. this past weekend it was snowing and yesterday it was in the 70s.

this has played hell with everyone’s health. there’s some virus going around the schools and, unlickily, my wife and kids are now suffering from it.

anyway, today should hold in store some nice weather. hopefully the sunshine and warm weather will help everyone perk up a bit.

Electric Arguments

i bought Paul McCartney’s collaboration album last night. the “band” is called The Fireman and the album is called Electric Arguments.

it’s very good. very trippy – reminiscient of the Beatles’ later work. there are some really great songs with interesting sounds and textures. i’ll be listening to this one a lot.

i’m 10 songs into the 14 song album and one has stuck out so far. it’s called “Lifelong Passion”. here are the lyrics:

Step into the misty mountains
With your hair like ambered honey
To feeling warm and breezes
Let me sweetly

Let me hear your sweet, sweet laughter
And your loving conversation
And your innocent solution

Give me love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love
Be my lifelong passion
Give me love, love, love
Make my lifelong passion
Sail away

You feel the warm and breezes
You give me hands of warmth
Give me one f your hands
Let me hear your sweet, sweet laughter
Give me one of your hands
Let me kiss your lips of silver
Let me kiss your lips of silver

Give me love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love
Be my lifelong passion
Give me love, love, love
Make my lifelong passion
Give me love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love
Be my lifelong passion
Give me love, love, love
Make my lifelong passion
Sail away

Give me love, love, love
Make my lifelong passion

Loving conversation
Loving conversation
Innocent solution
Make my lifelong passion

check it out. it’s worth the download!

new year’s resolutions?

i typically don’t make new year’s resolutions. this year i wanted to get serious about a few things, but instead of resolutions i am making some goals. here’s a list that you can help me out with through prayer and holding me accountable..

• weight loss. i joined weight watchers (!) and have been doing well with it. it takes some getting used to, but i think it’s a sane way to diet. my goal is to get down to 220ish by the end of this calendar year.
• exercise at least 3x/wk. running, cycling, gym, whatever. i just need more activity.
• follow my youversion.com bible reading plan every day. this will take me through the entire OT once and through the NT twice throughout the year
• finish my masters degree
• get my LEED AP accreditation
• step up my guitar and bass playing
• get my jeep cj5 fixed up so i can take ricky on some trips in the woods
• have a tea party with Rachel as often as she wants
• videotape the kids more often
• take more photos
• take my idea for an iPhone app from my head to reality
• spend more time with the kids when school is done
• take Kristy out on more dates
• remodel our dining room
• get my shop cleaned out and finish setting it up
• get some yard work done

that’s about it. seems like a lot, but if i bite it off in small chunks i think i can make it all happen. the only one that scares me is the weight loss. i’m going to do my best, which is all i can do. it’s hard to tell how much weight i will really lose. oh yeah, i’m down 1.5lb since i started WW

absent.

i’ve been absent lately and, frankly, it’s been nice.

i’ve been on a break from school. i’ve had some holiday time. work has been pretty crazy lately, but i have still had some great rest and time with the family.

one of my new year’s resolutions is to write more. not just here but in general, so you’ll hopefully see more of me this year.

in other news, i have 2 more semesters until i finish my masters degree. next semester will be pretty light, and it happens to be the last of my graduate studies. i am stuck with taking one lame undergrad class in the summer in order to graduate. i’m not happy about that, but whatever.

work should calm down soon after an intense run at the end of my project. now the bosses are going to have to figure out what to do with me.. i was supposed to start working off and on in gainesville, florida for a while, but now we are under contract on a big job in the atlanta area, and it just so happens that i was specifically requested by the engineer and GC to be on that project. i’d rather not travel if i can avoid it, so this might work out very well!

anyway, happy new year to everyone! see you soon!

frustration

i have extreme amounts of frustration in my life right now. it’s all coming from work. i’m afraid it’ll impact my health and relationships. actually i’m afraid it already has.

i think i’ve done well leaving it at the office, but that only lasts so long. i feel like it’s a matter of time before i bring it into my house, and that’s a problem.

this illustrates how important the concept of rest is. i need some rest. i get plenty of sleep, i take it easy at home, but i think rest is different. i’m looking forward to that drive home monday after work and the subsequent time off for Christmas.

i could vent about specifics, but i won’t bore all 3 of you readers with the details.

the words of Job come to my mind.

What strength do I have, that I should still hope?
What prospects, that I should be patient?
Do I have the strength of stone?
Is my flesh bronze?
Do I have any power to help myself,
now that success has been driven from me?

wings over marietta air show

this weekend is the wings over marietta air show at dobbins ARB in marietta, ga. this happens to be about 10 mintues from my house, so of course i went today! my dad came over early this morning and we packed ricky up (with hearing protection!) to go watch all the aerobatics, fighter demos, c-130 hercules demos, and the USAF thunderbirds.

i haven’t even downloaded the pictures and video yet, but i needed to post a couple of things. look for more posts with pics and video.

first – the thunderbirds are good but the blue angels are better. no question about it.

second – the USAF f-22 raptor demonstration team is UNBELIEVABLE. if you get a chance to see them then DO IT. it was surreal. it felt like i was watching someone play a video game. that plane can do things that seem to defy physics, and it definitely defies any sort of common sense. it was the highlight of the show.

third – proper hearing protection changes everything. ricky had a blast, and without his muffs we wouldn’t have lasted 2 hours. i saw tons of young children and even babies with no hearing protection while the sound of freedom was blasting loud and clear. i felt bad for them and i wanted to say something rude to mommy and daddy.

last, but definitely not least.

our day was awesome until we tried to leave. the air force put on a killer show and left a great impression.

we parked at the lockheed martin plant lot on the other side of the base from the air force flight line. we had to ride a bus (for 3 bucks) to get to the show. not a problem, right? think again.

getting there this morning was tough but not too bad. there were thousands of people in line and the organizers only had 2 people checking bags and wanding us with metal detectors. all in all it was moving fairly quickly. i was surprised at the waste of time, however, when they did the same thing at the show gate. oh well.

the thunderbirds went on at 3pm, and we were tired. the line to get on a bus was lengthening, so we went ahead and queued up. we still had a good vantage point for the thunderbirds show, so we figured we’d beat the crowd without missing anything. we were pretty close to the front of the line with, maybe, 4 buses of people in front of us.

there were 3 lines. none of them were marked very well. there was no one watching us. there was no one telling the crowd where to go. there were tons of buses, all going to different locations, stacked up on the road. there was no organization and nobody had ANY CLUE what was going on, except that things were about to get bad.

people got mixed up and the air force men charged with wrangling the crowd had no clue what to do about it. they started yelling at us, and one guy got really hot. it was amusing for the first few minutes but it got old once we realized that we were going nowhere. every bus was headed to somewhere else besides the lockheed martin parking lot.

finally a colonel showed up and there was hope. well, he was just as clueless as everyone else. people started shouting at him and pushing. i was a little worried since i had ricky in my arms, but when the guy continued to do nothing i did the typical male thing and joined in the fun! i yelled stuff like “where are the marines? they know how to lead people!” and “this is our government in action, people! wait til you see what they do to healthcare!”. one obviously overweight, out of shape airman was extra angry with us. i won’t mention anything that was yelled in his direction. rest assured that it was pretty funny stuff!

needless to say, the colonel was flustered. finally a major showed up and made something happen. we ended up on a bus 3 hours later, which is incredibly, unbelievably ridiculous.

to top everything off, the bus we got on was given bum directions by yet another air force genius. fantastic. tack 20 minutes onto our transit time that should have taken only 5.

there are a few principles and ideas at play here.

• no plan = no execution. these jokers had zero plan. i thought the USAF were masters of logistics? guess not.
• poor leadership = obvious results. the colonel in charge exhibited none of the leadership skills typical of a military officer. he was confused, he SHOWED that he was confused, and he had no idea where his men were. furthermore, he got visibly angry with the people he was charged with handling.
• mob mentality is a reality. the people around us were mad. all of them. dainty old ladies were shaking their fists. some folks were cursing and saying some pretty incendiary things. it could’ve gotten out of control and the officers/enlisted men weren’t doing a darn thing to help the situation!
• just because you have rank doesn’t mean you have brains. that major that showed up exhibited more leadership ability in 5min than the colonel did in 3 hours.
• plan everything – even the small, seemingly inconsequential details.

so all in all we had a great day but left with a very, very bad taste in our mouths in regards to the USAF. to add insult to injury, i had to pay 3 bucks to ride that stinkin bus.

i want my money back!!

scary.

most of the readers here know that i don’t pull any punches when it comes to politics. i’m a republican through and through.

this made me do a double take.

i mean, really? it really sounds like they’re at a sunday school performance. in fact, it even said at the beginning that this took place on a sunday. the Lord’s day. these people really think that Obama is the savior.

i might be anti-Obama, but i surely don’t think he’s anything similar to adolf hitler. but his supporters’ exploitation of youth for their cause smacks of the nazi propaganda machine. it’s the Obama Youth.

don’t worry, all my liberal friends. i’d be writing the same post if some kids were singing “holy is mccain” or “all hail the power (of mccain)” or something like that