I attended services at a local church this morning. The sermon was about 1 Samuel 17. For thoses of you who don't know much about the bible this is the story of David and Goliath. The whole chapter is a great read. Three of the verses I will post here, KJV:
49: And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth. 50: So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David. 51: Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.
Made me think...
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Friday, January 19, 2007
Life Happens...
I am far too busy to be online as much as I was. God, classes, family and friends must come ahead of an "imposible" bid for president in 2008.
I don't want to give up on trying. I just need to live my life knowing that I cannot win...
I don't want to give up on trying. I just need to live my life knowing that I cannot win...
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
The Blue Bird Bus
This post is a special dedication to a man; that I honestly feel is the greatest man, aside from Jesus, to have ever lived. I admit to some level of prejudice, as this man is my father.
How many of you have ever seen a school bus that was made by Blue Bird Bus Company? If that bus was built in the Mt Pleasant, IA plant from 1973 to 1999, there is a 99% chance my father helped build it. He did take two weeks off every year from the factory to meet his obligations as a member of the National Guard. He also always used one of his perfect attendance days off on this birthday. He would also use these perfect attendance days off that he would earn for other family events, such as the High School sporting events that my brother and I participated in. Other than that, he was there every day.
He suffered from arthritis for about the last 15 years of his life. So he took 800mg of Ibuprofen, three times a day, to help him build those busses. One of the few days that my mom did not ask him how his day went is quite an interesting story. He always answered that question as fine, one day when she forgot to ask, he brought it to her attention that she had forgot. Why? He had spent ½ the day at the hospital having staples put in his head to fix a cut he got while at work. After having the staples put in he finished the day, and went back the next.
My father died of bone cancer on March 13, 1999, the day after he turned 56. I don’t know a lot about bone cancer, except that it is one of the most painful cancers there is. The cancer was not discovered until after he broke his back in Feb of 1999. It had deteriorated a vertebra in his back to the point that a simple wrong turn at work broke it.
When he was taken into the hospital, by my mother, on March 13, he was being seen for side effects of the Morphine. Side effects that he had postponed being treated for, so that he could be at home on his birthday. His stomach had swollen over the last few weeks, and he made a joke about knowing that the swelling was not pregnancy while reading the pre-X-ray information. He went into cardiac arrest as soon as the X-ray was over, and died 45 min later.
Blue Bird Midwest shut down the factory floor for 15 minutes during his funeral. I spoke with well over 500 people at the visitation. He positively touched the life of everyone he knew. He was always smiling, never complaining too much about anything. He build his life on the values of hard work, love, integrity, and a strong commitment to our family.
So, when you see a Blue Bird school bus, think for a moment. Think about a man that lived a life of total self-sacrifice toward God, family, and country. May he forever rest in peace, with our Lord Jesus Christ.
One political note:
Can this happen in the USA today? Can a man who is now 18 years of age in 2007, barely graduate from High School, receive no more formal education and live a life like this? A life that through nothing more than hard manual labor, love of God, family and country would able to leave behind him a story like this? Leaving his wife in a position where she can enter semi-retirement at the age of 58. Turning her full-time job in for a part-time one at the local Wal-Mart, for fun money?
I say the chance of that is zero…
Blue Bird no longer has a factory in Mt. Pleasant, IA.
Is this really the land of opportunity we claim it to be?
How many of you have ever seen a school bus that was made by Blue Bird Bus Company? If that bus was built in the Mt Pleasant, IA plant from 1973 to 1999, there is a 99% chance my father helped build it. He did take two weeks off every year from the factory to meet his obligations as a member of the National Guard. He also always used one of his perfect attendance days off on this birthday. He would also use these perfect attendance days off that he would earn for other family events, such as the High School sporting events that my brother and I participated in. Other than that, he was there every day.
He suffered from arthritis for about the last 15 years of his life. So he took 800mg of Ibuprofen, three times a day, to help him build those busses. One of the few days that my mom did not ask him how his day went is quite an interesting story. He always answered that question as fine, one day when she forgot to ask, he brought it to her attention that she had forgot. Why? He had spent ½ the day at the hospital having staples put in his head to fix a cut he got while at work. After having the staples put in he finished the day, and went back the next.
My father died of bone cancer on March 13, 1999, the day after he turned 56. I don’t know a lot about bone cancer, except that it is one of the most painful cancers there is. The cancer was not discovered until after he broke his back in Feb of 1999. It had deteriorated a vertebra in his back to the point that a simple wrong turn at work broke it.
When he was taken into the hospital, by my mother, on March 13, he was being seen for side effects of the Morphine. Side effects that he had postponed being treated for, so that he could be at home on his birthday. His stomach had swollen over the last few weeks, and he made a joke about knowing that the swelling was not pregnancy while reading the pre-X-ray information. He went into cardiac arrest as soon as the X-ray was over, and died 45 min later.
Blue Bird Midwest shut down the factory floor for 15 minutes during his funeral. I spoke with well over 500 people at the visitation. He positively touched the life of everyone he knew. He was always smiling, never complaining too much about anything. He build his life on the values of hard work, love, integrity, and a strong commitment to our family.
So, when you see a Blue Bird school bus, think for a moment. Think about a man that lived a life of total self-sacrifice toward God, family, and country. May he forever rest in peace, with our Lord Jesus Christ.
One political note:
Can this happen in the USA today? Can a man who is now 18 years of age in 2007, barely graduate from High School, receive no more formal education and live a life like this? A life that through nothing more than hard manual labor, love of God, family and country would able to leave behind him a story like this? Leaving his wife in a position where she can enter semi-retirement at the age of 58. Turning her full-time job in for a part-time one at the local Wal-Mart, for fun money?
I say the chance of that is zero…
Blue Bird no longer has a factory in Mt. Pleasant, IA.
Is this really the land of opportunity we claim it to be?
Friday, January 5, 2007
My Computer Needs to Rest
And so do I.
I do love to have my computer up and running all the time. With all my browers windows and tabs, I can check one page or another any time I want, Rather easily.
This does come with it's drawbacks, however. Quickly checking whatever, can turn into a long distraction...
I will just have to click "publish" and shuter down for a day or two.
I do love to have my computer up and running all the time. With all my browers windows and tabs, I can check one page or another any time I want, Rather easily.
This does come with it's drawbacks, however. Quickly checking whatever, can turn into a long distraction...
I will just have to click "publish" and shuter down for a day or two.
Thursday, January 4, 2007
5 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Me
I have been "tagged",at Hazardous Pastimes, to share on my blog 5 Things that people are not likley to know about me. After some thought and consideration I have chosen these 5:
1) Spelling on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills: While taking theses test in my K-12 years, I got 99 on almost everything, almost every year, except spelling. Ususally this score was in the 60's but did get as low as the 50's a few times.
2) My Ebay Specail: The car I currently am driving is a 1995 Saturn, 5-speed. I bought it on Ebay. The winning bid was about 200-300 under kbb.
3) How Vermont was added to my list for "all 48": While in attendence at a Brain Imaging Conference at Dartmouth in NH, I crossed the bridge to get a better veiw of the river. (as the ONLY undergraduate in attendence I was razzed for my excitement on my "new" Carl Jung book bought at the near by used bookstore, but that would be another story...)
4) The D on my Math test in 8th Grade: I was a colorful child as this story shows. I was THE STAR math student n my 8th grade math class. Our teacher had a rule that if you used 40 of the 50 mins in class for your exam then if you got a D or F you could retake the test. I was the only one who never cared, turned in my exam within 15 mins every test. I always got A's and high A's, so why should it matter... Until I got a D on one. My heart was crushed. I started to cry. Now being of the Jr High maturity level and surounded by others who were also in Jr High, I was teased. I ran out of the room crying, down the not so quite hall towards tha bathroom to "cry it out alone" One problem, I headed t0wards the boy's bathroom. I then reran down the same not very quiet hallway to the girls bathroom. I have grown to laugh about it now, but still get reminded from time to time about the incedent.
5) My prized collection of Strawberry Shortcake dolls and minatures: To the best of my knowledge are still in a box in mom' basement. Tucked away in the "You know you need to go through all that stuff and decide what you want to keep and what you want to throw away someday" corner.
So there you have it...
I tag: All Presidental hopefulls for 2008!
1) Spelling on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills: While taking theses test in my K-12 years, I got 99 on almost everything, almost every year, except spelling. Ususally this score was in the 60's but did get as low as the 50's a few times.
2) My Ebay Specail: The car I currently am driving is a 1995 Saturn, 5-speed. I bought it on Ebay. The winning bid was about 200-300 under kbb.
3) How Vermont was added to my list for "all 48": While in attendence at a Brain Imaging Conference at Dartmouth in NH, I crossed the bridge to get a better veiw of the river. (as the ONLY undergraduate in attendence I was razzed for my excitement on my "new" Carl Jung book bought at the near by used bookstore, but that would be another story...)
4) The D on my Math test in 8th Grade: I was a colorful child as this story shows. I was THE STAR math student n my 8th grade math class. Our teacher had a rule that if you used 40 of the 50 mins in class for your exam then if you got a D or F you could retake the test. I was the only one who never cared, turned in my exam within 15 mins every test. I always got A's and high A's, so why should it matter... Until I got a D on one. My heart was crushed. I started to cry. Now being of the Jr High maturity level and surounded by others who were also in Jr High, I was teased. I ran out of the room crying, down the not so quite hall towards tha bathroom to "cry it out alone" One problem, I headed t0wards the boy's bathroom. I then reran down the same not very quiet hallway to the girls bathroom. I have grown to laugh about it now, but still get reminded from time to time about the incedent.
5) My prized collection of Strawberry Shortcake dolls and minatures: To the best of my knowledge are still in a box in mom' basement. Tucked away in the "You know you need to go through all that stuff and decide what you want to keep and what you want to throw away someday" corner.
So there you have it...
I tag: All Presidental hopefulls for 2008!
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
23 credits, not 30!
I just left a delightful "reunion" with my psychology advisor. After a short check-up session, we looked over my transcripts. I was delighted to discover that I had "mis-remebered" my status, and only require 23 more credits for my degree.
First we looked over what I would need to switch from a BA to a BS. It is a few more classes than I thought, only digging into my elective taking. Class avalibilty for the Spring will place the two electives I need into this semester. I am totally cool with that as I wanted to take some Political Science this spring anyway.
With my short to do list for today or tomarrow, and her phone call (or whatever it is she does) to get my aproval for one of the BS additions on it's way, I am good to go. Almost...
I still have to get my loan stuff in and find a job. Finding a job can be full-time work these days, so off I go...
First we looked over what I would need to switch from a BA to a BS. It is a few more classes than I thought, only digging into my elective taking. Class avalibilty for the Spring will place the two electives I need into this semester. I am totally cool with that as I wanted to take some Political Science this spring anyway.
With my short to do list for today or tomarrow, and her phone call (or whatever it is she does) to get my aproval for one of the BS additions on it's way, I am good to go. Almost...
I still have to get my loan stuff in and find a job. Finding a job can be full-time work these days, so off I go...
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Just Me
I realy don't know a lot about politics...
I have a lot of hopes, dreams and interest. Ideas about how nice it would be if we could all live together in peace. I love to write, read, learn and explore. Though I know that value of formal education, I wish people could acutualy get a PhD from the "School of Hard Knocks"
As my first post here, I will simply say...
Life is much more than Politics...
I have a lot of hopes, dreams and interest. Ideas about how nice it would be if we could all live together in peace. I love to write, read, learn and explore. Though I know that value of formal education, I wish people could acutualy get a PhD from the "School of Hard Knocks"
As my first post here, I will simply say...
Life is much more than Politics...
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