Just a Second

I'd like to take a moment to talk about the phrase "just a second." It is a curious phrase because rarely does anyone really mean they will be with you in a single second. It usually means I'm in the middle of what I am doing and if I quit doing it right now, when being asked to quit, I will lose my train of thought and fear never being able to recall what the brain was telling me to do. It seems a better response to being summoned to another room would be, "I'm in the middle of my train of thought. I know me coming to you is very important and I will be next to you as fast as I can, but I need to finish this thought or I will lose it." That answer is honest, but not something easily committed to memory. Unfortunately. The net result is that when someone calls your name, you will respond, "Just a second." You will then finish your task, so you do not lose your train of thought, and then approach the person that called your name.

Take this a step further. If Christ calls your name, do you really have the courage to tell Him "just a second" - that the things you are doing in your life are more important than finding out what He is calling you to do?

Is what you are doing in your life more important than what Christ is calling you to do?

I didn't think so either.

Indy is Done

The Indiana Pacers were playing the Chicago Bulls in the NBA playoffs. Indiana won the fourth game in the series to avoid a sweep by the #1 seed Bulls. According to the article I read, the Indiana Pacers didn't have a very welcoming environment, which doesn't make sense to me. Anyways, Tuesday was the 5th game in their series in Chicago and the Bulls won. I have only had a cursory interest in the NBA this year and the fact that the Pacers are out does not surprise me. They are but a shell of the team that played their way into the championship portion of the season a few years back. They had Reggie Miller, Jamal Tinsley, Ron Artest, and a slew of other really good players. They are all gone now, for whatever reason, and now the Bulls, Boston, Los Angeles, and other teams have the talent pool very deep on their roster. Eventually, though, Indiana will probably bring in very talented players and make another run at the championship of the league. I certainly wish them luck.

Breathe.... and again...

When I think that God has given me more than I can handle, I focus on my breathing and the fact that I can breathe. There are millions of people in the world that cannot breathe - they're called a corpse. I am not a corpse. Thank you God, then, for the breath I just took and the one I am taking right now, and the one I will take next.

Almost May... Good Riddance April!

I can see May on the horizon and after the busy and chaotic month April has been for me personally and professionally, I must say April 2011 cannot be flipped on the calendar soon enough. Tonight is Megan's Religious Ed class, Survivor, and Alex picking up his room and clearing his suitcase from the weekend. Tomorrow, Alex has his final baseball practice before games start next week. Friday, I do not believe we have anything going. Saturday, North Liberty Spring Cleanup day and I have stuff in the back of the truck. It is supposed to be sunny and 66 so maybe Alex and I will get some lawns mowed. Sunday, we'll go to Mass.

Then May will start. The kids go back to both having lessons @ West on Mondays. Driver's Ed continues for Megan on Tues/Thurs until 5/12, Alex's first baseball game is 5/4 when Megan has Religious Ed @ 6, another baseball game on 5/5, and Grandparent's Day on 5/6. Saturday is Alex's trip to Adventureland with the Regina band along with Karen's 4? birthday and a tentative trip to Riverside. Sunday is Mother's Day.

Then the week starts all over again with pretty much the same schedule.

Here's Hoping for 36...

Matthew left home around 8:30 to play golf with his friends. On the way out the door, he answered his wife’s “What time will you be home?” question with “Probably around 1:30 – I’ll have lunch at the club.”

1:30 came and went, 3:00 passed, 6:15, still not home, finally at about 7:00 PM he rolls in the driveway, leaves his clubs in the garage, and presents his wife with a pizza, and begins the apologetic story. "We finished our game about 11:30, had lunch, and I started home, when alongside the road I saw this attractive girl with a flat tire on her car.

I stopped to help, got the tire changed, and looked around for a place to wash my hands. She offered money, but I refused, so she suggested that I at least allow her to buy me a beer. She said there's a tavern just up the road, and they have a restroom, you can clean up a bit.

I agreed to stop, we had a beer, then another beer, then a couple more, and I realized that this girl was not only pretty, she was very friendly, and a good companion to spend time with. Before I knew it, we were in the motel next door having sex. And that is why I am so late getting home."

His wife looked him right in the eye and said "Don't bullshit me -- you played 36 holes, didn't you?”

Beyond the Resurrection

Jesus rose from the dead today! It is a great day for me to know that Jesus, who had died just three days earlier for *me* and my sins, came back from the dead to fulfill the path that God had set up for him. Jesus was human. That's the thing. Jesus was a political figure who was seen as a troublemaker and as someone who was seen as an instigator of rising up the people against the Romans. He spoke in parables and in ways that his followers really didn't understand. The gospels? Written a long time after his death. I always find that fascinating. I also have heard about the gospel of Judas that was not included in the Bible. I digress. The fact remains that Jesus died for me. Me. And you, of course. But he DIED for me. He said, "I love you so much that I am going to do the ultimate thing I can do and DIE for you." Wow.
That fact floors me every time I think about it. I heard about it at Holy Thursday Mass and I thought about it as I sat in Holy Saturday night Mass. Now, Lent is over and it is my hope to live every day as I did during Lent - reminded of the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made for ME. And you, of course.

Really? Am I that Stupid?

I got the following email:

Dear Account User,

This Email is from Hotmail Customer Care® and we are sending it to all Hotmail Accounts Owner for safety. We are having congestion due to the anonymous registration of Hotmail accounts so we are shutting down some Hotmail accounts and your account is among those to be deactivated. We are sending this email to you so that you can verify and let us know if this account is still valid? If it is, Please kindly confirm your account by first clicking on the show content link highlighted in yellow just above the subject line. The following information is needed to verify your account: Your User name, password, date of birth and your country information.
Click on the reply button and fill in your information:

Full Name.......................
User Name:.....................
Password:.......................
Date of Birth:..................
Country Or Territory:..................

Like I am really going to send you my user name and password.

Another Day

Today was okay. I found myself thinking and reflecting about where I am in my life, where I have been and where I hope to go. I hope that there is a reason for all the things that swirl around me in a frantic tempest. I hope the Big Four concert in CA this weekend is fantastic for all those lucky enough to see Anthrax open for Megadeth open for Slayer open for Metallica. It is the only concert by those four bands on the same bill in the United States. Thus far. Megadeth is touring later with Disturbed and Godsmack - a weird combo but probably being marketed to bring the old metal fans into the same building as the new metal fans. Why is Megadeth touring with them? I don't know. Megadeth could have taken Fear Factory or Testament or Sacred Reich on the road with them. I know all three have had radio success and granted, I have heard a Godsmack song followed by a Megadeth song followed by a Disturbed song on the radio and the trio sounded like it matched each other. In any case, I am not planning on seeing Godsmack/Disturbed/Megadeth in concert. Other than that, I hope tomorrow is a good day as well.

Life Moving Forward

I can see where a weak-minded idiot could easily lose faith in God. If they looked around the world and looked at the death, the destruction of human life, the way humans treat each other, the way the earth treats humans, and rolled all of that into one comprehensive thought, it would be conceivable to an idiot that there is no God and that life as we all know it is meaningless. Why I will never believe there is no God is faith. That is what religion really is. It is a step into the unknown with the hope and belief that there is a God, that there is a way that all of this, someday, will make sense and that there is a plan. With all my mind and all my soul, I believe there is a God. I believe there is a plan for me. I may not know what the plan is for me or what steps I have to take to complete the plan, but I believe that God has that plan, has known the plan since before I was born, and that someday, I will understand why all the things that have happened to me in my life happened.

If it's not one, it's TWO

This AM, the kids' laptop caught the same thing that I had just finished cleaning on the PC in the den. FINALLY, just got it cleaned up. Special place in h@ll for these folks...

Practicing

What I would do to be able to sound like this guy if I were to sit in front of my Ludwigs and practice...

Solved

I was able to run a program that killed the programs that were running. I'm running MalAwareBytes (I think that's the name) to make sure that there is nothing resident but I was (gasp) able to open Internet Explorer. l will say this and it is not a new thought, but if the assholes that created viruses used their knowledge for good, instead of evil, life would be so much nicer on the Internet. I just hope someday, something like that happens. This getting stressed out about viruses is for the birds. And the birds don't use the Internet.

SICK OF IT!!!

The idiots that created the XP Home Security virus/malware that has infected the PC in the den had better hope I never run into them because I will not be responsible for what happens. There ought to be a special place in hell for these idiots.

Back to Basics

Do you ever think about what single decision sent you on your current path in life? I've been thinking about it a lot lately. I don't have anything other than some observations. First of all, I am happy with where my life has taken me. I have a beautiful wife and two wonderful kids. I have a full-time job. I have a house. I have food in my belly and I'm not under a cloud of credit card debt. Life is pretty damn fine. I think it's more importatnt to be happy in the moment than to fret about 'what if I had done' or 'what if I had said A instead of B' type of situations. That is my new mantra - move forward. I think it is important to know what happened in the past and to cradle it in awe that I could have been like that. I also think rereading college-era journals shed a light on who I was and who I want to be now, in 2011. They are different people. Totally different people. Focusing on the differences and living life as who I want to be now, in 2011, is the path for me.

Daily Prayer

Dear Lord,

1. You took my favorite bassist Cliff Burton.


2. You took my favorite guitarist Jimi Hendrix.


3. You took my favorite drummer John Bonham.

I just wanted to let you know that my favorite president is Barack Obama. Amen.

Journey through the Future to get to the Past

Years and years ago, I liked to waste a lot of time playing a game called Wolfenstein 3D. I wouldn't play every night, but I played often enough to kind of possibly understand the way to play the game. Tonight, on a whim, I found a version of Wolfenstein that I can now play on the kids' Windows 7 laptop. Without looking at the maps that are freely available or struggling, I was able to clear the first level. The par for the first level is 1:30 and I cleared it in 3:00-ish. I never made par when I played more frequently. What is really amazing, to me, is that I probably haven't played the game in at least 5 years. What is also really sad, to me, is that I retained the pattern to go through the level in my brain. I really had not given this game a thought in all those years since the last time I played it. The end result of this is two-fold. First, I have a favorite game of mine on the kids' laptop and, when it is the only PC available to me, I can now play it. Second, the contract work I have done for the last nearly 6 months has come to an end. Could it be, I don't know, FREE TIME?!?! Not likely. Alex started baseball season yesterday and has practice on Mondays and Thursdays. On Tuesday, he has drum lessons and Megan has driver's ed class. Wednesday is religious ed, and Thursday is baseball practice and Megan has driver's ed. On Friday, we are going to Cedar Falls to check out the HooDads from 6-9.

ObamaCare

It was to be easy...

But it never seems to work out that way. It was another chaotic night. Life goes on.

i like the part where the guy goes da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da

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MEAN F'ng PEOPLE!!!

DO NOT go to Wrestlescoop.com and look for pro wrestling news! One of their links sent me to a site that made ALL my Desktop icons, all my Favorites, and all my Start menu options be set to Hidden. I just now got it figured out after about 1 hour of silent cursing and trying to understand what had happened. I think I have it all fixed now. It's scary as hell to have an empty Desktop when it normally is covered with shortcuts and folders and files. It's also scare to have all your Favorites in your Favorites tab in IE gone. This site describes what was happening.

Death Metal Drumming

Pause

It's 9 AM on a Saturday. I am in Cedar Falls. We are visiting my in-laws. We played four games of Euchre last night and the score is tied so we will play the rubber today.

Not a lot is really new with me. Our lives kick into overdrive this week with Megan starting driver's ed. Baseball will be starting soon for Alex. The lawn will (hopefully) start to need attention (hopefully because I am okay with spring arriving) and eventually, the summer will arrive. Even though it is only mid-March, I am hoping that the snow blower will not see anymore action this month.

I looked at my brother-in-law's "Guitar World" magazine. There is a list of the "Top 100 Metallica songs" in the issue I found in his bathroom. The top ten are as follows:
Creeping Death
Master of Puppets
Seek and Destroy
Ride the Lightening
One
Battery
The Four Horsemen
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
All Nightmare Long
Fade to Black
This is from a guitar player's perspective, apparently. I would have picked "Enter Sandman" as one of their best riffs. If not "Sandman", "Sad but True" would have made my list. The 'bottom' of the list is the following:
Loverman
Cyanide
Tuesday’s Gone
Damage Case
Broken Beat and Scarred
Until It Sleeps
The Outlaw Torn
Suicide & Redemption
Wasting My Hate
2 x 4
Turn the Page
I don't believe that the three "Death Magnetic" songs "Cyanide" or "Broken Beat and Scarred" or "Suicide & Redemption" belong here. I would have pushed a couple of the covers on "Garage Inc" lower to the bottom 10 and kept the "Death Magnetic" tracks in the top 90. I wouldn't have put any original songs by the band in the bottom 10. I agree with the bottom 3 - they are not my favorites by any stretch of my mind.

My next project is going to be to create a Windows Media Player playlist.

I got Carl Palmer's DVD this week. This is a video that is on it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn9fkAGwJcM

Calm Before the Storm

This next week is the calm before the storm, but it's not very calm.

I am donating blood tomorrow night. I will do contract work in the evening.
Tuesday, I have no plans. I will do contract work in the evening.
Wednesday, I have no plans. I will do contract work in the evening.
Thursday, I have no plans. I will do contract work in the evening.
Friday, the relative calm ends. We are going to Cedar Falls to see my in-laws right after I get off work.
Saturday, we will return home.
Sunday, the kids have a youth rally.
Monday, drums/sax lessons.
Tuesday, Megan starts driver's ed
Wednesday, religious ed
Thursday, Megan driver's ed
Friday, not sure but I think something is going on.
Saturday, STM confirmation and the kids are serving
Sunday, Karen is helping a friend with a family meal for their daughter's confirmation
Monday starts the cycle all over again.

Sanctus Real

I get tired, frankly, of the same songs on the two major rock stations and I can't really listen to Bob and Tom on the other radio station because I get annoyed with the constant interrupting of each other. Routinely, I will turn on the Christian music radio station on my way to work. I enjoy this song during my commute.

Idea Worth Spreading

Donnas Overload

As I'm working on my contract work, I spin CDs. I found the Donnas. Wow. I forgot how much I like them.

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Life Moving Along

Lots of time being spent on contract work. Typical day is 8-4:30 at regular job and 9-12 @ night on contract work. I like doing the contract work.

This week is busy. What week isn't?

1. Monday - drums/sax
2. Tuesday - Nothing! (hard to believe!)
3. Wednes - Ash Wednesday Mass @ 6; New season of Real World @ 9!
4. Thurs - Alex's final basketball game
5. Friday - Nothing! (hard to believe!)
6. Saturday - Lunch with BSS; 5:15 Mass; relaxing
7. Sunday - Lunch with someone; relaxing
8. Monday - work 8-4:30; donate blood @ 5; contract work
9. Tuesday - work 8-4:30; contract work
10. Wednesday - work 8-4:30; contract work
11. Thursday - work 8-4:30; contract work
12. Friday - work 8-4:00; go visit in-laws in Waterloo
13. Saturday - return home; Kids serve @ 5:15 Mass
14. Sunday - Youth Rally

Dissimulated - New Favorite Drummer... and Tom Sawyer Cover

Elephant Ears / Sex Offenders . . . Related?

In other news, I tend to lean Republican. Not totally in love with every policy they have and that's okay. This is a website that lists Republican sex offenders. Read at your own risk.

305 to Go

I think that there are a lot of times in life where I relish being able to just pause.

Then I rush off to the next thing that must be done.