2011 -the year of surprises

Wow, Last night my son surprised the heck out of me when ho got married to his lovely lady friend, Jennifer, in Las Vegas. My daughter is due in early October with her first child.The Christmas list gets bigger and bigger every year.

Money Ball

I love Major League Baseball. All winter long I live for opening day. I must say, however, that I am greatly concerned about the current financial state of the game. The Los Angeles Dodgers have been taken over by MLB. The NY Mets are teetering on bankruptcy. The Texas Rangers were in bankruptcy last year, but have manged. because of new ownership to emerge from it. The Yankees have a payroll over over 200 million dollars.A-Rods salary alone this year is 32 million, while the entire Kansas City Royals payroll is 36 million. Hm.

We love to build on speculation and wild living in this country, but just like the real estate boom and bust, MLB is starting to crumble and fall. The NBA is in bad shape. 2o some teams lost money this year. So what is the problem? It is simple. GREED!. The owners are greedy. The players are greedy, and guess what, we, the fans are greedy, too. We want our teams to win so much that we are willing to go along with the ridiculous ticket prices, ten dollar hot dogs and beers, and we yell and scream when our team won't go out and sign a free agent to a 200 million dollar deal.

Just like Wall Street and the real estate market, I guess that it will take a crash for sports to get back on track as a sport, and not just a another mega billion dollar industry.

Here is the Real Meaning of Life

You put your right foot in
ou put your right foot out;
You put your right foot in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey-Pokey,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

You put your left foot in,
You put your left foot out;
You put your left foot in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey-Pokey,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

You put your right hand in,
You put your right hand out;
You put your right hand in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey-Pokey,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

You put your left hand in,
You put your left hand out;
You put your left hand in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey-Pokey,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

You put your right side in,
You put your right side out;
You put your right side in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey-Pokey,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

You put your left side in,
You put your left side out;
You put your left side in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey-Pokey,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

You put your nose in,
You put your nose out;
You put your nose in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey-Pokey,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

You put your backside in,
You put your backside out;
You put your backside in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey-Pokey,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

You put your head in,
You put your head out;
You put your head in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey-Pokey,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

You put your whole self in,
You put your whole self out;
You put your whole self in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey-Pokey,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about

Written By: Roland Lawrence LaPrise, concocted the song along with two fellow musicians in the late 1940s for the ski crowd in Sun Valley, Idaho. The group, the Ram Trio (with Charles Macak and Tafit Baker), recorded the song in 1949, and they were awarded U.S. copyright in 1950, Acuff-Rose Music Inc.

The Real Truth

Since the most ancient of times, great minds have searched for the meaning of life. Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Freud, and on and on. They espoused complicated sayings and teaching, and still man had no answer. But, my friends, here is the real truth. This a truth so real, so true, and one that will last throughout the ages.

Read this, memorize it, and hold it near to you at all times, and you will find peace, love, and meaning.



"Sometimes you are the pigeon. Sometimes you are the statue"
Linda Ellerbee

And, there, you have it all.

Liar Liar

I find it quite unsettling that lying to a grand jury, or lying to Congress( how ironic is that?), is a crime, but lying to employees is all right,k because after all boys and girls, we live in an "at will" state. How fun is that?

Now, I don't want to mention any names, that would be bad, so I will leave letters out of the names and let you figure it out for yourselves. I mean, God forbid that I might slander someone. (:0

So, here is this story that I heard recently. It seems that a certain man ended up in the hospital last month. Now, this man was very, very, ill.and indeed was in ICU for most of his stay. Several days before he was hospitalized, his wife was told to go home from work to take care of her husband . Don't worry about your job, she was told. We will cover you.As a matter of fact, they even drove her home. Nice company, right? The woman loved working there, and had just finally qualified for her benefits. All was well.

The husband woke up on the morning of the 5th of March, unable to move air in and out of his lungs.An ambulance was called, and off they went to the hospital. This was a on a Saturday morning,her normal day off.
On Sunday, she called in to her work and told them that her husband was in ICU in critical condition. her boss told her not to worry about coming to work, that her place was with her husband, and not to worry about her job. Everyday, the woman called in to job, and everyday she was told to stay with her husband, and to take care of him. After all, this company, Emerit-s was family oriented, and their property in the lake city where this story happened, the Loyalt$n was like a family, Her job was secure. matter of fact, since this lady was missing so much work, other employees were donating some of their own vacation hours that would be used for this woman's pay check. What a company.

Well, finally, the husband was released from the hospital, and home they went.She called into work, and told them that her husband was home. They said, don't worry, we have you covered, Your husband will need you for a few days. Call us when you are ready to come back. So, on March 19Th, she called her  boss, and told her that she would be back on Monday, the 21st. Her boss, her name rhymes with Judy, said that was great, and that sh would see her on Monday. Ten minutes later, her boss called her back and said that she was fired because there was nothing to keep this from happening again to the woman's husband.She a was told that the company would not stop her from filing for unemployment,

Well, here is the rest of the story, When she went in to turn in her keys on Monday, there was already someone working in her place. Hm.

Well, it appears that Loyal$o^ and parent company Emerit&s are no so family oriented after all. Kind of strange considering that they are assisted living facilities.

So, don't trust your employer. After all, in this great state, they can lie, cheat, and do anything that they want to, and you have no rights. Wow, isn't that great?At will-means you are screwed.

Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is?

There was a time in my early hotel career that I was working in three different hotels at the same time. I was working in a Best Western in Portland, weekends in Salem, and as a midnight security guard at an old downtown Portland hotel. In between, I tried to be a father and husband in Salem.There were literally several times when I worked around the clock.

One of the funniest things that happened was when I finally got to get some sleep at my room in downtown Portland. I woke up with a start, and looked around my room. Hm, I could not really discern what time it was.
When in doubt, look are your watch, right? Well, my watch read seven . OK, now what? Seven. If memory served me correctly, there are two sevens in the day. Man, was this getting complicated. So, I looked out of my window, and down at the Portland street below. Not much action. Maybe is was seven AM? No, it was kind of dark, maybe it was seven PM?

I was getting no where fast, so I got dressed and went down to the lobby and the then to the coffee shop. Maybe I could discern there what time it was. Nope, no such luck. So, there was only one thing left to do.
So, I walked out the street. Now, I suppose that I could swallow my pride and ask someone if it was night or morning, but, well, pride just would not let me. It is a male thing, like asking for directions.

Well, on the street, I walked around and in my head, theme from the Twilight Zone was playing over and over.What was I going to do. Would I be lost forever in some type of time warp?

As I rounded the corner, my salvation came like a blinding light. There was the theater where I sometimes went. Free,, free, free at last, for there were patrons lined up at the ticket booth, and were entering the theater. My superior intelligence quickly came to the conclusion that it must be evening. After all, most folks did not go to see a movie at 7 AM, right?

With a deep sigh of relief, and feeling quite smug with my discovery, I went back to the hotel, went to the coffee shop,a and ordered dinner. All in a day's work.

The Full Cycle

As you all know, I am the proud grandfather of a grandson by my son. Tai is one of the greatest delights of my life. Now, nine years later, it looks like I will be a grandfather for a second time, only this this time, my baby is having a baby. Yes, this one is via my daughter. I was stunned when she called me in Feb. to tell me. She asked me to to keep it confidential until now. Two days ago I received in the mail two pictures. Candy knew immediately what they were, but I needed a little guidance from my wife to see what they were. But sure enough, the outline was there, and there she/he was. The Dr told my daughter that they would have to wait until next time to know the sex of the baby because she/he had it's legs crossed. Ah, modest.

So, my baby is having a baby. Wow. the full circle of life. The due date is October 3rd. Now, if it is 13 days late, the date will be on my birthday. If it comes three days early, it will be on what was my Dad's birthday/ But whatever date she/he decided to come, it will be the perfect day!

Off Topic-sort of

Yesterday, I was feeling much better, so Candy and I grabbed a mocha and headed for Fernan Lake to watch the gees and ducks, and to see if any deer were coming down off of the mountain. It was a short wait, for soon the lake was full of tiny web feet gliding with grace out on the still water.

We were delighted to see what appeared to be a little family of ducks with a an adult female, make, and youngster, all paddling close to the boat ramp.They were minding their own business when two large seagulls swooped down close to the ducking. They did this several times, and my wife was no yelling at them to leave the baby alone. It was then that we saw the glory of the animal kingdom and the way that the young are protected.
The make and female nudged the baby in between them, and every time the seagulls swooped down, the parents would form a wedge and drive the gulls away. After about two attempts like this, the gulls grew weary of their game and left the ducks alone.

Ah, the beauty of nature, a gift from God. He not only watches over us, but He watches over all of creation.

Take time today to just observe nature for a few minutes. It will put a warm feeling in your heart, and smile on your face. It could even increase your faith.

Something to ponder

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews, 11:1=one of the most profound readings on faith .

Is Believing Seeing? Part 2

One of the best ways that I have found that works in my personal life is taking baby steps instead of giant leaps of faith..Belief expands each time that the baby step establishes a framework of trust. Here is a basic example of how this happens.

When I was very young, and before we moved to Cedar Street, we lived in a little house on what was called Hemlock Street . Hemlock no longer exists, and was part of the bulldozing when the Wallace Inn was built. Our house had a large concrete porch and steps, which by the way made for some interesting falls in the winter time. In the Spring, that same porch became a small boy's delight with a plethora pf imaginary ideas of how to play on it. One of the most fun things is that the porch became the quickest way to reach the yard, and I don't mean that we took the stairs. No, jumping off of the porch was the trick.

I did not just start jumping off on my own. Dad would stand down on the yard, and hold out his arms and tell us to jump, and he would catch us. Here is the beginning of faith.The first time was indeed frightening. Would Dad miss us, and  let us fall? Only one way to find out. Jump!And low and behold, those strong arms were there to catch us every time. A pattern of belief was born that day. If I could trust in this little exercise, surely I could trust him in bigger leaps of faith.I am going to come back to that in a minute, bu let's fast forward 50 plus years to a hospital in Idaho.

Because of the disease that I have, and because of past complications, coughing can turn into a deadly situation.
Well, when you have infections in your lungs, you have to cough the stuff up. Because I have gone in to total failure before just from coughing, I am a little shy about doing so.And yet, after the lung treatments every six hours, you are forced to cough up the plugs.Now, this is no easy task, and without getting graphic, let's just say that it takes everything out of me. Well, three weeks ago in the hospital, after I had been moved form ICU to a regular room, it was time that I started productive coughing.

OK, I was scared, to be honest. The first wheezing had started, and I knew that the first big cough was coming soon. Would the cough be successful, or would it send me into bronchial spams that can be life threatening?I tried to relax my body, and it was then , with my eyes closed, I saw like a little pool of water, and hands were reaching out, and saying, just jump, I will catch you.. My initial reaction was that these hands belonged to an angel, or perhaps Christ, I don;t know for sure, Maybe they were my Dad's hands. I took the leap, just like I did off that old porch over 50 years ago.and landed safely on the other side of the pool of water.
I did this for the rest of my hospital stay, and though some of the coughs were rough and scary, I would just picture those hands and jump. Belief was born, and became stronger each day as I practice that imagery.

Now, here is the most important thing of all. I no longer have to picture those hands when I jump, I know through established belief that they are there, and if they can catch me on little thing,s they can certainly catch me when I face much bigger pools of water to jump over.

Is Believing Seeing? Part 1

There is a line from Tim Allen's Christmas movie about Santa Claus where he says" I see it, but I don't believe it." The little elf girl then tells him " Adults have it wrong. Seeing is not believing, believing is seeing."

I want to start out by saying that I am not, in any stretch of the imagination, a scholar, an intellectual, or even particularly smart. I have no advanced degrees, and it has been years since I have done serious studies. It is a good thing, then, that studies of spiritual things, and spiritual awareness do not require anyone to be of any certain academic level.If that were so, then I am afraid most of the world would simply be out of luck.

We only have to turn to the New Testament to see that the disciples of Jesus were ordinary men. I think that they were chosen for that very reason, plus, the most important thing of all, they believed. OK, in all fairness, some were skeptical at first, and some believed right away. Some needed to see more to believe, and some needed only the words of Jesus to believe. So, the question of the day is based on the chicken and egg riddle.
Which comes first, believing or seeing?

For me, it has been a life long journey, and in a later blog, I will share my history of my own spiritual path, including my early church days, my theology studies in college, and then my branching out of thought and practice. But suffice to say for now, that I am still learning, changing, and hopefully growing on my journey.
Anyway, I got off track. My faith has been built on trial and error, and life experience. Perhaps if I were to just have more pure faith, I would not struggle as much. But, well, that is just me being me. 

One of my theology textbooks in college has this inscription in on the inside page

. "Knowledge without experience must always remain in the realm of doubt."

More later, but how is your faith or belief established, is it seeing is believing, or is it believing is seeing?