Sunday, August 31, 2008

which path will you choose??

So I came across a pretty awesome analogy this evening that I just had to post before I forget about it. I was doing research about the difference in taxation policies from both candidates, and ran across an interesting perspective. I realize that this doesn't apply 100% of the time, to every person, every situation, but it does say a lot.


"Two Kids: One gets all A's. The other gets all D's.
If the kid with the A's gives the kid with the D's some of their A's, then both will have all C's.
Nevermind the fact that the A student worked hard to earn their grades.
Just consider the fact that the D student wants what the A student has.
Eventually, the A student will have no incentive to work hard, and the D student will never have to."


This actually makes me challenge my perspective on societal classes. On the one hand, I live by the commandment of Loving one another above ourselves, and helping the helpless. But where do you draw the line? What is the difference between "poor" and "helpless?" I think there is a difference. I think that people sometimes lump all the lower class of society together, when in actuality, there are probably several classes, as well as classes within classes. What does "needy" mean to you? It could mean someone who is struggling, working hard, but just not able to make it in their current state. Maybe they are reaching out for help, and may or may not find it. In this case, I say the church, or we as blessed individuals and families, have a responsibility to step in and rescue with love. Now how about this definition for "needy": One who has been given things their entire life and doesn't know how to work hard. Or, worse, one who is ABLE to work, but doesn't because they EXPECT a free hand-out. One who refuses to work, or finds some sort of loophole in the law, or lies about an ailment to collect a check. I struggle with these issues, because I have always been taught to give a man a fishing pole, and teach him to fish, so that by helping him he can then help himself, as opposed to laboring, fishing all day long, and giving the man fish daily...indefinitely. I feel good when I labor and come home being able to support my family with the talents God has blessed me with. How can you feel like you have any self worth when cheating the govt out of a welfare check? Doesn't make any sense to me, probably because I've never been given a handout. I can imagine, though, I would hate to lose it if I had one all of my life and was suddenly told I had to work. Hence the millions of lower class citizens voting for Obama. Just my opinion, I could be wrong. Let me know! See ya.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Over-worked, under-paid...

So as most of you know, 2 weeks ago Lindsey's family came to see Laney (not us). Little did they know, we would soon be putting them to work (muwhahaha!!!) After much discussion on what to do about our housing mess we were in, it was ultimately decided that the house lacked some major "curb appeal." So, I offer a solution: work for the night is coming! (Anybody remember that song??) Our good friend B.R. used to lead that song growing up, and it's message holds true...work until you're about to collapse, 'till it's finished, 'till you can be proud of what you accomplished! And boy, did we ever! With the help of the family, and this bald slave-driver, we were finished with our landscaping in 3 days. On the 4th day, we rested...but we should have been working. I wanted to be lazy, though! Jeff's back was killing him, and I was having nightmares about weeds sprouting up through my mattress, engulfing me and Lindsey with the weed killer just out of arms reach...then I woke up.

So I'll go ahead and post a few before and after pics of all the hard labor which occurred during the extreme heat of an L.A. summer (Lower Alabama). Here is the front corner, which had been taken over with ants and weeds. Quite an amazing recovery it made.
Here's a side view of the front yard





Next to the side door.

Our beautiful pond...



And behind the pool


So you see, we've been very hard at work. I just want to take this opportunity to thank all my hard workers and to let my viewers know, I checked on each and every worker's citizenship status, and it turns out they were all here in the US legally. And the children worked because they wanted to, not because they were forced.

Friday, August 29, 2008

"Just Words...Just Speeches..."

So, I still haven't found the camera charger...grrrr. Do I really have to buy a new one? Man I wish I could find it. Anyway, we had a very interesting night yesterday that I feel compelled to tell you about. I'll go ahead and preface my rant with a warning...

WARNING: If you do not like politics, political lingo, party-talk, or conservative values, feel free to skip this blog and come back another time. Adios! =)

Ok, now for those of you who have chosen to partake in this epic journey of choosing the right president for our nation in 2008, I commend you. What I write is not meant to be offensive to anyone, I will simply jot down my thoughts, and you can decide for yourself if you agree or disagree.

Last night I was sitting at home, about to enjoy a nice quiet evening of killing spetznas terrorists online in Call of Duty 4 for XBox 360. It had been a long day (about 2 hours of class from 12:30 till 2:30, well maybe 2:15). So I was stressed out and wanted to release said anxiety on some 10 year old kids who play way too many video games. (We call it pwning noob haxors). I always turn on Sean Hannity's radio program in the afternoon, who gets me all pumped up to take on terrorism in a big way. I caught him talking about the coloseum throne where the "anointed one" was said to be descending later on that night, to give an acceptance speech to all the sheeple at the rock concert. I then decided it was time to call up my buddy (who has cable) and find out if they had plans to watch the messiah. Turns out they didn't plan on it, but who could resist such a grand self-invitation from a major cool family like us. So we watered our camels, wrapped the baby, and prepared for this long expedition to Athens (and yes, our camels can swim).

Upon arrival, Bill O'Reilly greeted us by giving us a glimpse at what Obama was going to focus on. More importantly, he told us what Obama WOULD NOT be speaking about. I will start out by saying that I thoroughly enjoyed the speech. It made for a very entertaining evening, sparking (fueling) all kinds of heated political converstation. His delivery was pretty good, but I don't think as good as some of his past speeches. For the first 20 minutes or so, he had a very captive audience present. Most smiling, many crying like the brady bunch girls watching a partridge family concert, or nowadays like how my little sister-in-law would probably react at a jonas brothers concert. Point is, the sheeple wanted to see God in human form, not knowing that He already came 2000 years ago. Most likely because either they are so far left that they have no religion and/or are athiestic/agnostic, or they have conformed with some extreme version of a religion (such as black liberation theology, or a break away catholic anything goes religion like polosi). So, for lack of a better comparison, all of Gomorrah came to choose their new leader.

First of all, I absolutely hated the fact that it took 10 minutes from the time he got up onto his throne, until the time he actually started the first words of his speech. For about the first 5 minutes there was applause, and we heard his pride and arrogance as he said "Thank you, thank you. Thanks. Thanks. Thank you, thanks. Thanks. Thank you..." and so on. Then, you started to hear it in his voice, the frustration began to set in. He had had enough of the maniacal clapping, the screaming, the crying, the sacrificing of animals (jk)...he was ready to get on with it. After repeating his first 3 or 4 words followed by more thanks about 5 times, he was finally able to begin.

There were several aspects of the speech that offended me. I would consider myself to be a true American Patriot by definition...I'm proud of my country and am prepared to do anything to defend her and her interests. I do believe that we live in the greatest nation on earth, and love our freedoms. True, we are not free to do "whatever we want," but we are safely free to do much more than any other country. I say safely because I believe that for our own national security, certain "freedoms" must be given up for self preservations (such as tapping phones and screening emails). If you have a problem with getting your phone tapped or your emails being read, then I would dare to ask the question what are you hiding? These measures are taken to secure ourselves from the enemy within, outsiders who lurk within our borders, our universities, our communities, who are the wolves in sheep's clothing. Some may seem like they have good intentions, but you never can really tell, can you? Now onto the offensive part.

I absolutely hate the fact that Barry thinks he can talk for me. I don't know you, and you most certainly don't know me, so don't act like you do. I guess he figures that because he has voted on bills pertaining to soldiers and veterans, he basically knows what it means to be a soldier, and what it means to be a veteran, and what it's like being the wife, daughter, son, mother, and father of a soldier (or I guess husband in a few cases). He actually thinks he speaks for me and my family when he talks about foreign policy...when he talks about putting people in harms way...when he talks about what families are going through when their soldier is deployed. Let me tell you MY experience. I enlisted right after 9-11, because I wanted to make sure that an attack like this would never happen again on our soil. The middle east is a very dangerous area, we all know that. Locals do not feel safe walking in the streets because they never know which extremist group is going to set off a roadside bomb or a suicide bomb. They never know who is going to pull out an ak-47 from under his/her robe and start spraying in a public marketplace. They don't know why a father would send his 6 year old boy walking toward them with a live grenade. We all understand that this madness is the norm for some countries, but NOT the United States. Yes, we do have crime, and we all know there are some certain parts of town that you DO NOT go into at night, but for the most part, we live our lives without any major threat. We hear stories about bank robberies, cars getting stolen, houses getting broken into, but not usually our own. Just imagine walking through your neighborhood grocery store and seeing some guy pull out a bomb and blowing up the entire place. But this wasn't a crazy looking guy. If you saw this guy, you might actually consider talking to him, because he looks normal enough. But on the inside, he is driven by some other force, some evil religious motivation that has been indoctrinated inside him since birth. Islam.

I have pledged allegiance to my country to protect it from ALL enemies, foreign AND domestic. Terrorism is a serious threat, and not something to be taken lightly from a presidential candidate. He thinks that soldiers do not want to fight for their country. He thinks families would rather have their soldier come home soon in a defeat than staying the course and arriving back in a glorious victory. But the Audacity he displays as he speaks for ME is very distasteful. He is speaking of the exception, rather than the rule. This defies my logic, because I understand there are exceptions to every rule, but call them as they are, not as what you want them to be. Don't act like 1 different story out of a thousand means that is how it is. But the reality is that there are people who believe this story, because they have nothing else to go by. That's why I speak. I call it like I see it. You can agree, disagree, or agree to disagree, but I am open to conversation. I am not closed-minded, but I am strong in my conservative christian values. More to come later...

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Soon to come...

So we spent the better part of a week landscaping with Los Padres de Lindsey...good times! I'm pretty sure that's the reason for the crick in my neck, tho. Anyway, if we ever find the camera charger then i'll take some pics and post my version of the story...soon to come! But for now, it's back to studying Aircraft limitations and memorizing Emergency Procedures...yuck...

Friday, August 8, 2008

Number du...

Me encanta mi esposa con todo mi corazón. Yesterday was a good day. Much celebration took place. We celebrated the fact that the Earth has been blessed for 24 years now with Lindsey's presence. As a matter of fact, several animals came to the celebration, from all over th world even! Well, maybe not so much the entire world, but definitely animals from all over the US of A. We were graced to have seen skrimps (shrimp) from Florida, Bobbert the Lobster from Maine, and even a good friend of ours from Austin came to visit (Bevo). We all gathered around the table, anxiously awaiting the feast...some more anxious than others.

We had a very fair, democratic vote to see who would be staying for supper, and who would be "providing" supper. I counted the ballots, and it just so happened that Lindsey and I won the race! Good o'l GOP! Bob and the skrimp gang partnered up and skirted out the back door, and into the pool as to swim to safety. Much to their demise, the pool had been drained and in turn were caught with ease. Quite possibly the most risky--yet tragic-- escape attempt I've witnessed in a good 3 or 4 weeks. Bevo took off out the front door, hopped into his Gas-Guzzling Burnt Orange Escalade Truck with Trailer and sped off leaving a huge cloud of smog in our driveway, resulting in our grass withering and dying from the acid rain and extreme heat from global warming. Lucky for us, Bevo hadn't yet picked up his government issued tire gauge, and hadn't been responsible enough to make sure his tires were properly inflated, and so had a blowout less than 2 miles from our house. So, we gathered the neighborhood watch armed with pitchforks and wooden stakes, and roamed the streets searching for bevo. Once we found him, we divided him up between the neighborhood mob equally, Lindsey and I making out with 2 8 oz, bacon-wrapped fillet mignon steaks. Apparently, bevo ate porky, who provided the bacon strips for our delicious cuts of beef. So, I guess technically, porky indirectly came to our celebration as well! All in all, it was a great day and our plates and glasses overflowed with exotic comida. Yumm yumm.

This is Bob before he got away.

I gave Bob the option to end it quick, or slow and agonizing...he chose the former.

Mmmm...Bob became the first member of our new Bathhouse/Spa. Welcome to the Club, Bob!

Mmmm...the feast is served!The Guest of Honor arrived and was inexplicably mystified!Happy Birthday Babe, I love you.


Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Number schwun...

Why hello there. I'm glad you've decided to come with me on this exciting journey through the wild and wacky world of the wonderful white chocolate (as some have so eloquently called me). Some of you may remember me as gringorocky from Xanga, and to you, my good friends, I say welcome back. How long has it been, now, 5--6 years? I missed you. We had a special connection back then, you and I. Anyway, what I'm actually trying to say, and to make a long story longer, is that I used to blog a while back, and actually quite enjoyed it. You never knew what to expect when coming to my site, because it was always something new. Something fresh. Something...well...new. Exciting. Interesting. Like I said, new. Get it? So, I've come back from retirement, like Jay-Z after "the black album." (If you don't understand all of my analogies, I feel for you, and I apologize in advance). This is bone of me bones and flesh of me flesh, as well as my bones...and flesh.



I love to laugh. I love to cry. Well, not so much the latter, unless it comes because I'm laughing so hard tears are streaming. Or if my allergies start acting up (which seems to always happen in hallmark movies, it's very odd). If you love to laugh as well, you should go ahead and purchase a lifetime subscription to my blog. I do accept all major credit cards, checks from ANY state, or country for that matter, as well as cash contributions (please make sure you it doesn't have the appearance of a birthday card, otherwise the mail service may "accidentally open" it). Just send me a private message if you need to and my secretary will be more than happy to arrange a payment plan that suits your needs.

Back to the basics. That's actually what I wanted to title this page, but I've used it before, and nobody likes used. Nobody. Well, except for all the people (myself included) who love thrift shopping, garage saling, and auction-ing it up on the weekends. But besides them, nobody. So I decided to go with more of a question? (Don't read that last sentence like a question, the punctuation was meant to drive a point home, not necessarily to create an actual question). "Would you like fries with that?" It's actually the meaning behind the question that is pure genious. BRILLIANT!! Anybody here ever heard of a little thing called advertising? It's actually a rather small industry, so if you haven't heard, I'm not surprised. Isn't it funny when someone tries to use a strategy on you that you can probably write the book on, but that strategy is so effective that you actually buy into it and sell out? I understand this is profound, but check it out...I went to Mc-whocares restaurant because all I wanted was a cheap cramburger and end up zipping away feeling like miss piggy because now I have a DOUBLE cramburger w/ cheese, french cries, an apple pie, 2 sundays, and a 4 liter of cola w/ a double shot of espresso, a straw the size of a garden hose, and a wallet with a huge hole in it. Well, I can't find the hole, but it must have one, because a huge chunk of change fell outta there somehow!

Point is, suggestive selling works. Suggestive selling worked. And it will continue to work unless you make up your mind prior to ordering and STICK TO IT!! Don't let them sucker punch you just because you have 15 cars in line behind you and you just want to hurry up and get going to appease the sheeple. Take your time and order with CONFIDENCE. You can do it!! Trust me, I know you can. I've seen people with less determination and will power than you overcome with pride.

So what I'm really trying to say is, this blog is about suggestive selling. If you haven't caught the hook, line, and sinker by now, you might not ever. I'm probably going to be very vague in some instances for obvious reasons (internet security for one, national security for two), but if you don't understand something feel free to ask. I'm glad you've taken the time to laugh and cry with me today, I've thoroughly enjoyed it. I am very blessed, and I hope you are, too. Catch ya on the flip-flop...