Friday, July 14, 2006

Since My Last Post

Since my last post about a month ago my wife (Dot) and I had to make an emergency trip to Tampa; my mom passed away and my dad is 89 years old and pretty frail and actually we thought we had lost him last year but he rebounded thanks to God. My mom passing was quite a shock and I still have a hard time believing that it happened.

Our cute grandchildren are here tonight through Sunday night so things will be quite hectic. I have so much to do this weekend I don't know how I will get it all done. I have a lot of weeding in the front flower beds and trimming and planting some new plants we bought and cleaning up the junk in the garage and geeesh I am making myself tired.

We are finally getting some warm weather here in upstate NY and have gone almost a full day without rain - yay!

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Focus On The Family

Lately I have been listening to a radio show coming home from work called "Focus On The Family" and on todays show they were talking about a game some kids today are playing called the "Choking Game" where they are choked until they pass out and when coming to they have a high euphoric felling like you get with drugs and alcohol. This game is addictive as the kids love that good felling and play the game more and more frequently. If they play it by themselves then they need some kind of a device to choke themselves. And the frightening part is that this game kills off thousands of brain cells everytime it is played and some kids develop problems such as loss of memory and seizures among other things. And there are some kids to die playing this game.

As a grandfather with two grandkids in the age group that play the game (10 to 15 is the largest group) it scares the heck out of me.

Old Horrors

Recently I saw a documentary on HBO called "Paperclips" about a school (from Whitwell Tennessee) project kids did about the Holocost and just watching that show and thinking about what those people went through in the death camps was overwhelming and once in a while I had tears running down my face.

This show reminded me of the book "Anne Franks Diary" which I have always wanted to read but have never gotten around to buying it; maybe my next good payday.

Coincidently my wife taped a show that was on Oprah about the Holocost and she interviewed a man who had survived it. It was very touching and frightening at the same time to think that some people are evil enough to do that to other people. Six million Jews were murdered and another Five million people for a total of Eleven million people were murdered in the death camps.

When I think of this I am reminded of a song / poem that Rod McKuen wrote and sang - it goes something like this "It makes me cry to see the things that some men do to one another".

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Memorial Day

At church this morning we remembered thos who paid the ultimate price for protecting our freedom. Although I served during Viet Nam I wasn't in the front lines carrying a gun and I don't know first hand the horror of what those men went through. My prayers go out for them and their families.

My time in the Air Force was something I do not regret; it made me grow up real fast. And although I'm proud the bombs we loaded on the B-52's protected our ground troups I often wonder about those that our bombs killed. As a man who will not ever own a gun I oftem wonder about that and I pray that our bombs never killed any innocent civilians.

If the whole world were to come to Jesus Christ we would not need any more wars or guns or anger. I guess evil will always be in the world I just pray that we are strong enough to stand up against it.

Monday, May 22, 2006

Life - Am I Lost Or What

I used to think that if I kept plodding away that somehow someday things would get better or easier. I don't think that anymore, as I think about everything going on in my life I get very overwhelmed and just don't know what to do about them. I do try to keep a smile on my face and make jokes whenever I can but somedays I just get withdrawn and moody as I brood over things. I wonder if it is too late for me to run away and join the circus?

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Cell Phones and Driving

When NY passed the hands free cell phone law I was against it and thought it was a total waste. But lately I have noticed in my travels to and from work that when someone does something incredibly stupid and dangerous that 99 per cent of the time they are on a cell phone. Of course I believe the key is not in being hands free but the fact that they are not paying attention to what they are doing.

Saturday, May 06, 2006

And Now It's May

Well here it is May; I missed posting for the whole month of April.. . . . oh well thats life. April was both my sons and my birthday - I decided to keep holding at 39 again.

Several weeks ago I joined the church I had been going to "United Church of Cohoes" - it is a Presbyterian church. Since I grew up in a Presbyterian church it is a good fit although it is a bit more charasmatic than I thought I was comfortable with. But when I walk in I can feel the energy and love of the congregation.

I took a 3 day training course for work this week. It was on being a business analyst for software development. It is very interesting but good old NY decided to give it in downtown Albany where there is no parking except some paid lots nearby. I found out there is a residential area close by and left really early each day and cruised until someone left for work and then I took the spot and walked to the training building. I am really glad that is over.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Favorite Blogs

Two blogs I have run across in the past several months or so that I regularly visit are "bogbumper" which has many pictures of birds and nature and a few other things and I think they are about the best, most beautiful pictures of birds I have ever seen. Another blog is called "New York Hack" and is by a lady cab driver in NYC and she posts pictures during her shift and talks about the many people that she transports in her cab and she is a very interesting writer; however the language and submect matter can be very colorful so if you offend easily you may want to steer clear of it; myself I love it and go back regularly to read it.

Worship Workshop

The Lenny LeBlanc worship workshop will be help at the United Church of Cohoes.
When: Saturday May 6th 2006
Where:United Church of Cohoes NY
Time: 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM

And also: Lenny is is a very acomplished musician and has many songs to his credit. His team will be leading worship at The United Church on Sunday morning May 7th.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

St. Patrick's Day


The next Holiday coming up is St. Patrick's Day. This holiday is given to us like you would throw a dog a bone. A holiday with no high expectations, no shopping, no cooking a large 3 course meal with 100's of desserts; this holiday is just fun! ! ! One of the best holidays ever! Just wear something green and eat corn beef and cabbage maybe some green food coloring in the beer or whatever you choose to drink. And as the old country song says just "Live, laugh and love".