Only 3 days till opening night, Uh oh.

           This has been a heck of a week so far and only promises more to come.  This is the final week of rehearsals for the musical and things are going slowly.  The last 2 days have been less like a rehearsal and more like a drawn out test of in place systems.  Granted we need the tests, but it does little for the work on the play.  If all goes well, tomorrow night we should be able to run through the play in its entirety tomorrow night with lights and sound on stage with all the props for the first time.  I hope it all goes well, otherwise, we could be in trouble since we have the full dress rehearsal with make up the following night and opening night the next night.  Did I mention that I am a bit nervous?  I hope it all goes well.
              Well, I am a bit frazzled at the moment and am having trouble thinking straight (most likely due to the nerves and lines running through my head), so, for that reason, I will close this out.  As always, thank you for reading and have a great day.

Thanksgiving: The turkey isn't just what you eat, it's what you're left with.

           Wow, what a weekend.  As much as I love thanksgiving, I am glad it is over.  As I may have mentioned last week we had a bug going through the house.  All four of my boys had it at one point in the week, but all were over it before the holiday.  Thanksgiving went off pretty well, the turkey turned out all right and the boys ate decently.  As of today, we have exactly 2 pieces of cherry pie left out of 4 total pies (2 pumpkin, 1 apple, and 1 cherry).  In all honesty though, we had to throw one of the pumpkin pies away due to mold (I forgot to put it in the fridge).  My wife got sick Friday and was down all day.  She was mostly over it on Saturday, which was a good thing, because the kids had gone insane by that time and needed to get out of the house. 
            With the sickness going around and the holiday, we realized they had only left the house 1 day the entire week.  This meant that by Friday, they had had enough of each other and were bound and determined to kill each other one way or another.  So Saturday morning, we took them to Toys-R-Us, gave them each notebooks (I took notes for the toddler), and told them they could write down whatever they wanted for Christmas.  They took a couple of hours going through the aisles writing down toys they wanted and now mom and dad have a long list to go shopping with.
             After that, we took them to eat at McDonald's, mainly because they have a playground there and it is cheap.  We let them go wild for about an hour then took them home.  Apparently, that wasn't enough because within 5 minutes, they were at each other again.  It didn't stop until late Sunday night, when we finally sent them to bed.  By then, both mom and dad were worn out.  So as I said, what a weekend.
            Thankfully today was a school day and they all felt well enough to go to school.  I got to make sugar cookies with my youngest and made about 7 dozen so all in all it was a good thing. 
           Well that's about it for today.  Have a great day and remember kids, the day is only cloudy if you look at the sky.  OK, that didn't make any sense to me either, but it is what it is.

Thanksgiving Week: Thank God you guys read this stuff.

             What are you reading this for?!  It's Thanksgiving!  Go spend some time with your family stuffing your face, watching TV and maybe playing a few games.  Sheesh.
              Since you are here, I may as well finish what I started with my final Thank you for this Thanksgiving week.  But I think instead of saying thank you or telling you something I am thankful for, I am going to instead issue a challenge.  As you go through this day, I want you to dig deep and think of a single defining event that you are thankful for.  I could be good or bad, it just has to be something that is a defining moment.  One of those moments that you look at and realize that without that event, nothing you have today could be. 
                Something you maybe needed to happen to set you up for today.  Maybe it taught you an important lesson that lingers with you and shapes nearly every decision you make.  Maybe it brought a person into your life that changed how you lived it and is still bringing about these changes.  Maybe it is an event so simple that you are astounded in just how much it has influenced who and where you are.  Maybe it was a moment of stupidity, or maybe a moment of genius.  Just dwell on it and you may be surprised what your mind brings up. 
                  I am not asking you to share it, although you may if you so choose.  This is just something I think can be a real help to you in finding who you are.  This shouldn't be easy.  It shouldn't be something that is on the top of your head.  This is something so deep in you that you have nearly forgotten it.  Granted it may be something you think of often, but you probably won't recognize it as the life changer it became.  I only say this because as I was typing this I had a dozen thoughts go through my head.  I discarded each one as I found an event before it that led to that event. 
                  First I jumped to my marriage, but I realized that without my early entrance to the military it would never have happened.  Then I realized that my entrance into the military would never have happened had I not been where I was.  As I traced back this thread, I found my defining moment to be something that occurred before I started school.  Back to something I had little recollection of.  You see, when I was born, my father was a dairy farmer in southern Iowa.  I see the surprise in some of your eyes, since most of you only know him as a plumber and electrician.  It's true.  He owned a dairy farm in Ringgold county Iowa.  He had a sawmill on this farm as well.  My memories of the farm are very vague.  I only really remember a white house and a big bulldozer.  The defining moment came when I was about 3.  That year, dad went bankrupt.  As I said, this is all something I pieced together from conversations with dad and other things I have read.  The bankruptcy lead dad to move to Nevinville, Iowa and take up plumbing and electrical work to pay the bills.  Due to dad's business and the needs of the family, it lead him to move us 2 more times, the final move to Shannon City, Iowa and the East Union School District when I was in second grade.
                  Why do I call that my defining moment?  My entire life hinges on it.  Without that moment, I would have grown up a dairy farmer and sawmill operator, thus I never would have learned all I did about plumbing and electrical from my father.  My wife would never have met my sister in junior high and thus would never have known me.  I might never have been disillusioned by the church I grew up in and thus not had the experiences I did, not all of which were good, but all of which contributed to my understanding and have since strengthened my faith.  I can't begin to list all the other things that hinge on this one event.  I am sure it was painful to my father when it happened and I know it couldn't have been easy, but I am thankful for it as it is key to who I am and what I have become.  Maybe I went back to far, but this is what I came up with over the past thirty minutes while I wrote this.  I am not done thinking on it and maybe I will add to it later, or maybe not.  But it does beg the question, how much of our lives is based on stuff we can't even comprehend when it occurs?
             What about you?  What is your event?  Think on it and thank God for it.  Maybe you'll find something you haven't thought of for years.
            Have a happy Thanksgiving and let everyone around you know just how thankful you are for their influence in you life.  Thank you all for reading this, knowing you read it is what allows me to keep writing.

Thanksgiving Week: Thank God for my Wife!

           Yes, it is Thanksgiving week and I am continuing the theme. I know I said I wouldn't, but I can't help it.  I have to say just how thankful I am for my wife.  She told me she read my blog and then she informed me that it was definitely me.  I have been married long enough to realize that responding, "who else would it have been?" would have been a bad idea and so I let the opportunity pass.  The strange thing is, I know she would have just chuckled, OK, maybe not chuckled, more likely she would have given me that smirk she has; either way she would have laughed it off to a certain degree.  She gets me (most of the time) which is a good thing.  Even when no one else does, she is there to lean over and whisper in my ear, "say you're sorry and try something different."  The other phrase she gets good at is, "I don't think I am the only one that didn't get it."  She is usually right.  The really sad part of that is that usually I didn't get it either.  It's pretty bad when your wife gets something you didn't and you are the one that said it.  It has happened to me (not that I admit it).
              She not only gets me, she understands what I mean when I say, "I am normal, for me."  It takes someone really talented (or really insane) to put up with me for so long.  She is definitely the anchor that keeps me from drifting into the reef with the stranger tides.  Take the time I told her I could relate to jack sparrow and understood where he was coming from, she simply said, "I know."
            There are times that I wonder why she doesn't laugh at one of my jokes, then I realize she smiled even though I had used that joke at least a hundred times before.  You may think I am kidding, but I have literally used some of my jokes that much.  I forget that they aren't original and use them.  It isn't until my wife rolls her eyes and sighs that I realize what I have done.  At least she doesn't get mad.
             She is also the kind of lady that won't let go of something she is right about until I admit it.  I can be stubborn too, but when she gets that look in her eye, I tend to surrender and she is usually right.  Usually it is about money.  Usually because I want to spend it and she doesn't.  I guess that is why we can afford to have what we have.  I love her for it and am so thankful she is in my life.  I am really good at convincing  myself that a want is a need that I can be real stubborn about it.  Thankfully she is patient with me and can usually convince me how wrong I am.  the wonderful thing is, she knows just how often to let me have that want.  Often enough to keep my hopes up and keep me happy, but not so often that I break the bank. 
              She is also a wonderful mother.  I think that she knows more about our boys than I do.  Which is fine since she is with them more than I am (as much as I would like that to be different).  I couldn't do it without her.
              I could go on and on, but I can already feel her face turning red.  It does turn a lovely shade of red when she is embarrassed (so does my shoulder if I embarrass her to much, but that is besides the point).  I couldn't live without her and that is all that there really is to say.  I am so thankful for her.  So thank you dear.
              Have a great day.  Only one more post for this week so see you then.

Thanksgiving week: Thank God I am Weird.

           It's Thanksgiving week and thus I thought a theme is in order.  I almost went against the grain and picked a theme that wasn't "what I am thankful for," but fate intervened and left my mind blank on alternate themes.  Thus it is that I give you, "What I am Thankful For" week.  Don't you just love how original I am (Please note the sarcasm dripping off that last statement).  To continue, please enjoy this post.
            As you may have guessed, I like to go away from the usual and tend to go for the, shall we say, less normal avenues.  So, while I am thankful for all the usual stuff, wife, kids, health, family, etc., I am going to delve into some of the deeper things I am thankful for.  Not to detract from that other stuff, it is all important to me, it really is, I just felt that i needed to go deeper this year and find some new stuff I am thankful for.
           I think that for me, I really have to be thankful for just how odd I can be.  Think about it, if I weren't a little of center, I would be "normal" and thus would probably not be writing this.  If I were to write a blog (I'm not sure if blog writing is considered a normal activity or not), Firstly, the name would probably be more boring, but I would probably spend the next paragraphs detailing just why I am thankful for my wife (not that I couldn't write pages on it, I just feel that you probably wouldn't be interested.  Feel free to comment if I am wrong.)  The great thing about being slightly, OK, really weird, is that I can engage in thought processes that most people wouldn't touch.  Granted, this may be unhealthy at times, but I find that I am much more creative that way. 
             Being odd isn't just something I am, it has become something I strive to pass on to my sons.  I think I succeeded a little to well with my oldest, but it seems to be working out for the best.  It's like I told my boys, weirdness is inherited in my family, their mom managed to get lucky and have some of it rub off on her.
             I can't imagine what a "normal" life would be like.  Mostly because normal to me, is boring and means being like everyone else.  Sure, I try and blend in every once in a while.  It tends to remind me that failure is something you need to shrug off and is usually an indication that you did something wrong.  I have yet to figure out what that is, but I keep trying none the less. 
             If you have ever wondered what it would be like to be weird, try saying something off the wall for no reason at your next friendly gathering.  If you feel weird about it, well, I hate to say it, but you're normal.  Me, I say something and it isn't until people stare at me with wide eyes and mouths hanging open that I realize that I must have said something weird.  Weird can't be faked (and neither can normal by the way).  I think it is a good thing.  It makes you stand out.  I like to think it is what attracted my wife (I can't think of anything else that would so I am sticking with that until she tells me otherwise.) 
              Being different can be a good thing, especially if it means that you are someone others want to be like.  I can't help but wonder if Einstein was considered weird.  Not that I compare myself with Einstein, not even I am that egotistic.  I like to think that my weirdness is a result of my genius.  I'm still waiting for the genius part to show through, but that doesn't stop me.  Yes, I like being weird and I am so thankful that I am.  If it weren't for being weird, I'd be normal like the rest of you.
             Thank you for reading.  Have a great day.

Last of the week.

           Due to my schedule, this will be my last post for this week.  I have to say that this has been an interesting day.  I was allowed to go home early last night and thus woke up around 10am.  Needless to say, tomorrow will be interesting as I will have to stay awake until the middle of the afternoon.  Should be interesting.
           Speaking of interesting things, we had proof today that the occupy wall street movement is filled with idiots.  Today, they decided that since they were being ignored by the rich people, they would inconvenience everyone else.  Makes sense, I mean, if you represent people, what better way to show your support than to cause a traffic jam and make sure the 99% that you represent are late to get home for dinner.  Yup, that is exactly what they did.  During the afternoon rush hour, they moved their protest to a heavily traveled bridge and blocked it for an hour, cause we all know that the 1% drives in rush hour traffic in uncomfortable vehicles while their family waits for them to bring home dinner.  At some point, they will have to realize that they are hurting more people than they are helping.  They certainly aren't putting any effort to find jobs.  Amazing how the movement started at the 2 year point of the recession, almost to the day their unemployment benefits ran out.  OK, I have ranted on that enough.
            I am so looking forward to Saturday.  We are going over act 2 again (my favorite act) and spending some time working on the musical numbers.  I really need that.  We are only 2 weeks away from opening night.  I am so excited.  My wife has our tickets and the boys are excited as well.  Should be fun.
           I am running out of things to talk about so I think I will end this one early tonight,  I have been going long for the last couple days so I will just end this one tonight.  Thank you for reading and have a great weekend.

GMT: General Military Training (official), or General Misuse of Time (reality)

         It is official.  I go to work Thursday night as usual and then don't go home until Friday afternoon due to this annual Holiday GMT.  It has to be one of the longest and most ridiculous training sessions the Navy has to offer.  Allow me to give you the run down of last year's marathon of pain.  It began innocently enough with 30 minutes of explaining what was going to happen and when.  Then we went into Sexual assault training.  It wouldn't have been so bad except that the lady giving the lecture (and it was a lecture) accused every guy in the room of rape, multiple times, over the course of an hour.  The next hour wasn't any better as a different lady explained that every guy in the room was guilty of domestic violence, we just hadn't been caught yet and that if we were accused we were guilty until proven innocent.  The next hour was taken up by the command anti alcohol squad explaining the perils of drinking and what was available to all of us addicts out there to help us find a cure.  Little did we know that this was just a fore shadowing of what was to come.  We got released for a one hour lunch (which is kinda hard to do when 300 people simultaneously assault the 4 food joints within striking distance). 
             When we got back the CO talked to us about what was going on and his thoughts for the next 45 minutes.  This was then followed by the most annoying 3 hours of the day.  It began with a Sheriff's department representative who, over the course of an hour, explained the DUI laws and gave about 4 stories of drunk driving cases that ended tragically along with graphic photos (just the thing to see right after a greasy meal). 
             Next up was what we here in the office call simply "creepy lady."  To be fair, this lady lost her son to a drunk driver.  What got to us, wasn't the fact that she talked for an hour about him and the incident, it was the fact that through out the story and lecture, she stood there petting a tennis shoe.  It wasn't until the end of the lecture that we discovered that the shoe had belonged to her son, just to make sure we were thoroughly creeped out. 
             We had now sat through 2 hours of drunk driving stories given by people who thought the best way to convince a bunch of sailors not to drink and drive was to either gross them out or try and make them cry.  And then..., we got Handy Al.  I don't think that is really his name, I just remember this guy in a wheel chair with no legs and one arm that pointed out that a ball cap with those clapping hands on it was his handy cap.  Anyway, he spent the next hour explaining just how much of a drunk and druggie he had been and the drunk driving (yes a 3rd hour of anti-DUI lectures) incident that took his legs and arm.  It probably would have been moving and interesting except for the fact that it was well into the afternoon, we were tired of being called drunken wife beating rapists, and that the room was now hot and filled with the smell of sweat, farts, and McDonald's.  In other words, we just wanted to go home.  To bad we still had an hour of Don't Ask, Don't Tell training that was about as informative as a blank piece of paper.  This is the time of day that a smart person remains quiet when the lecturer asks, "are there any questions?"  To bad there were a bunch of idiots in the room.  So, yes, it was extended for another 30 minutes as people had to ask questions that had already been answered or couldn't be answered. 
          All I got to say is, "I hope it goes better this year."  At least there won't be a DADT lecture at the end and hopefully they learned from last year that 4 hours of anti-DUI training was a bit excessive.  I doubt it, but I can hope.
        Well, thanks for letting me vent and reading my blog.  Have a great day and yadda, yadda, yadda.

Weekly Update

         Things are getting interesting now as the holidays approach.  We are just 17 days from opening night on the play and rehearsals are getting intense.  There is so much I have to do and so much we need to do that it has become a grand scramble to iron out the wrinkles and get the final touches done.  I am so looking forward to the final show.  Actually, I am looking forward to when I can actually get sleep at night.  That won't happen regularly until January though.
           To make things even more interesting, there is a safety stand down this week which means I will end up odd shifting one day so that I can go.  I find out tomorrow whether this means I go after being on grave shift all night, or whether I have to go back to work for grave shift after spending all day in the stand down.  Either way, I am not looking forward to it.  I really don't know which would be worse, getting a night off then having to spend all day in a theater being bored and going in that night or trying to stay awake after being up all night.  I kinda think the second would be better since I have to go on a Friday.  We'll see what happens.
             Other than all that, things are going well.  I spent some time talking with my brother in law the other day and am glad that he is doing well.  He is flying to my home town to spend Thanksgiving with my sister.  That should be a blessing.  And I am looking forward to Thanksgiving as well.  Since I will be working graves the night before Thanksgiving, we have decided to celebrate Thanksgiving on Friday so my wife doesn't have cook Thanksgiving dinner while I sleep and she can actually enjoy her games.  Should be fun all around.
              I am out of things to say tonight.  Hope you all have a wonderful day and find yourselves blessed these holidays.  Have a great day.

Challenges of Faith

         Today's post is directed at my fellow believers.  While it should come as no surprise that I am a Christian (at least I hope it isn't a surprise), this post is not meant to push you away.  It is just something that I felt the need to say.  I gave that warning so that those of you who have decided that "all things God are wrong" and get angry at the mere mention of religion can be aware of what this post contains.  I would encourage you to read it, but I don't expect it.  It is your choice and one I respect.  Thank you for following my blog.  I hope this doesn't chase you away from it.  Have a great day.  For the rest of you, please read on.
         Things are always the most interesting when you challenge God.  Just a quick hint, God wins...always.  You may think you are winning and that you have proven him wrong, but you need to remember that he knows just how big a fall it takes to bring you to him.  Some of us only need to stub our toe, while others require getting a bit closer to meeting him in person.  Some think that just because God doesn't answer immediately, he isn't going to.  All you have to remember is, God's schedule and your schedule are not necessarily the same.  God has eternity, you don't.
        I always find it funny when my wife gets angry at shows that contradict her beliefs.  At least until I realize that a lot of people are like that.  Of all the things I have learned from the bible, the lesson I find the most interesting is the lesson of patience with others.  Take James, Jesus's brother, for instance.  James refused to believe that Jesus was the Messiah.  What makes this so amazing is that, of all the people in the world at the time, James knew more about him than anyone.  Yet he refused to believe.  We don't know why, it isn't really pointed out.  It took Jesus's resurrection to convince him.  What this means to me is that God will reveal what he needs to to those that need it when they need it and until that time, they will refuse to believe.  I have to think that of all the people to disbelieve in Jesus, James hurt the most, and yet God was patient.  He knew that once James witnessed the resurrection, that he would realize the truth and become the leader he needed to be.
         It is the same today.  We have to have patience with other people's beliefs.  they just haven't been properly introduced to God.  I am not saying that they need to be physically introduced, that is extreme.  I am saying that we have to have patience and introduce God to them by showcasing what he has done for us.  We have to live in a way that stands out.  If you are blending in and keeping your head down, you are probably not living as Christ wants you to live.  To live as a Christian is to be fundamentally different.  When you make a decision based on your faith, you have to call it that, you can't blame it on your schedule or on your wife.  The best example I can come up with is a topless club.  If a guy asks you to go and you respond with any excuse other than "I believe that is wrong and I refuse to go there," you are being dishonest with the person who asked you and your faith.  That is the hardest thing for you to do,  live in your faith and by what you know is right in a society that redirects the norms toward the immoral. 
       I think the biggest mistake that we as Christians make, is to try and push our beliefs and morals on others through laws and extremist actions.  What I am saying is that, we have to live with in the society and prove that our way is better by living it, not by beating others with it.  There are some things we do need to take a stand on and share our beliefs.  There are somethings we need to help direct laws towards, particularly when it comes to our children.  If something can adversely affect our children and how we raise them, then by all means we need to ensure we push laws to protect them.  Otherwise, we end up driving more people away from the faith than towards it. 
          While we may be passionate about something, we have to be able to argue for our beliefs to the public without basing our arguments on our faith.  While it may be true that our faith is what drives our arguments, today's society has decided that anything faith based is wrong.  What this means is that the instant you mention your faith in an argument, you have lost against a non believer, because at that moment, they have decided you are a religious nut and thus everything you say is based on your beliefs and not rooted in fact.  Regardless of whether or not it is true, that is what they believe.  I know, because I was one of them for many years.  "The bible says it?  Then it is a useless argument, no further action required.  Negate all previous comments."  That is the modern mantra and what I followed until I started looking at the facts.  God brought me around by logic and truth.  Although the bible was involved, it wasn't what ultimately brought me back to God, it was examples set by other Christians through actions and logic.
          The interesting thing in all of this is that I have yet to find a single belief and moral direction in the bible that you can't argue without mentioning the bible.  What I mean is that you can convince nearly anyone that what the bible directs is right and needs to be done without mentioning the bible or God in any way.  Then when you convince them of the biblical standard (without using the bible) you get to see the look on their face when you reveal your source.
          I guess through all this, the main theme is, live your life through faith to the best of your ability and god will take care of you and the rest.  People will judge you on your actions, even if they ignore or dismiss your words.  I believe that your words support your actions, not the other way around.  Actions will always reveal the truth eventually.  You may be real good at hiding that little vice you have, but I guarantee, at some point, someone will discover it and your actions will reveal the truth, or falsehood, of your words. 
      Thank you for reading.  I know that this won't change a lot of minds, but it is what I think needs to be said.  Have a great day.

Living on autopilot.

           Tonight on the way home from AWANA, I witnessed the weirdest thing.  As we were pulling up to a stop light, an ambulance went through the intersection with lights flashing and siren wailing.  Before it even cleared the intersection a Fire engine came up to the intersection with its lights flashing and siren wailing.  As the Ambulance went straight across the intersection, the Fire Engine slowed and made a right hand turn (which happened to be the direction we were going).  The wife and I thought it was weird and speculated that there might be 2 emergencies occurring simultaneously in 2 different areas.  As we approached the next stop light, we saw the Fire Engine make a U-turn (it was a divided road) and head back the way it went.  It was at this point that we realized that the Fire Engine had made a wrong turn (there was nothing between the stop lights that would have needed a Fire Engine).
              This got me to thinking.  What is it about us guys that makes us do dumb things?  Take the previous for example.  You have to wonder whether the driver thought he knew a shortcut, got a bad address and thought the Ambulance driver was wrong, or if he just got distracted and made the turn he makes every day on his way home from work (autopilot). 
               The first one is something we men do as a matter of course.  Think about it.  How often have you heard some guy tell you that he "knows a better" way.  We all do it.  Maybe it's when we are driving, or maybe it's when we are doing some mundane task at home.  We do it for a variety of reasons.  Sometimes, it is just because we think we can shave a few seconds off the trip and sometimes it is just because you said we couldn't.  I never said it made any sense, it just happens.  I can't think of anything we can't make into a competition.  The dumber the better.  And we hate to lose.  That is what us guys call a hint.  Let us win every once in a while.  The odds are that we are right every once in a while.  The more often you let us know that we were right, the less we feel the need to tell you about it.
               The second kinda ties in with the first.  We can't always be right and if we have bad information, we tend to be wrong more often.  Depending on the source of the information, we tend to think others are wrong if they contradict us (note that we may think you are wrong just for contradicting us regardless of the source, it's just the way we are.)  Because of this fault, if we misinterpret or just plain miss part of what is said, we will continue to act on the previous information until we have better information on hand. 
             The third excuse, while inexcusable in this situation, is all to common.  If there is a route or action that we take daily, we tend to do that action automatically.  I know that you women do this to, I have seen my wife do it way to often.  Say we are driving to a store that is on the same route we take to work everyday, the only difference is that we turn off one exit earlier.  As we near the exit, instead of reminding us that we are exiting here, you start talking about how things are going at home.  you just changed our train of thought from "don't miss this exit" to "yes, dear, that's great/sad/bad/etc." We have now engaged the autopilot because heaven knows we can't maintain more than one train of thought on our tracks.  It isn't until after we are past the exit and well on the way to work that you casually mention that we missed the exit.  Yes, we know, it is our fault, we were driving after all.  We understand that you thought we knew where we were going.  We did, you put us on autopilot and autopilot said this was the way to work, so we must be going to work.  The same happens on the way home.  Next time you are out with your guy and he's driving, ask him what the color of the stop light was when you are a block or two past it, I'll bet he can't tell you and that he starts to panic that he just ran a red light.  It was green when we went through it and thus we dismissed it since it held no special meaning.  We didn't have to stop and that was all we cared about.  This is especially true if we are on a route we drive every day.  As long as we are doing what we normally do, we don't really remember any of it.  We did it right, we just didn't bother to waste the memory on it. 
               I think a lot of men go through life on autopilot.  If you think your guy is ignoring you, he may just be on autopilot.  It isn't his fault, really.  It's just the way we are.  If we do something repeatedly, we tend to find the most efficient means to do it and do it that way from then on.  Once we get stuck in a pattern, we have to work to change it.  This means that if you get comfortably into a schedule with your guy, you are well on your way, if you aren't there already, to putting your guy on autopilot.  Once we are on autopilot, we don't remember anything.  Why waste the memory on something that means nothing.  Change it up, make it mean something.  If he can't remember what was said or done, make sure he wasn't on autopilot.
               Have a great day and remember, just because we are responding, it doesn't mean we didn't engage the autopilot an hour ago.

What did you get?

          We all look at things differently and find that we need direction from time to time.  The question you have to answer is, where do you get that direction from?  Some rely on what feels right.  This may work from time to time, but is hardly reliable.  It may feel right to sit on the couch and do nothing, but it gets you nowhere.  Some rely on past experience.  This is fine as long as the situation is identical to what has previously occurred.  In my experience, things rarely happen the same way twice, and if they do, it is usually because you did something to direct it that way.  Sure we can apply past experience as a guide for what to do, but it in no way ensures success.  In fact, I can't think of anything that ensures success.  I can think of several things that can influence the outcome favorably, but nothing that ensures things will go as you want them.
         I can already feel the response from my pastor coming.  I ask that he note that I said as you want things to go.  Just remember, what you want and what God has planned aren't always the same.  In fact, I find that you stand a better chance of getting what you want when you want what God wants even if you don't know what that is.  It's kinda like Christmas.  You know, that one gift you have no idea what it is because its shape doesn't match anything on your wish list.  You open it and at first you really have no clue what it is or how to use it.  You kinda smile and nod, then give a feeble thanks and set it aside, not really sure what you are going to do with it.  The next morning as you are going through all your gifts and find that you are bored and not really satisfied with what you wanted, you pick up that mystery gift.  You sit there and study it and start to puzzle it out.  Maybe someone comes by and sees what you have and gets all excited.
         "You know what you have there?!" they ask, "its a whatchamacallit.  Check out what it can do."  As you watch them demonstrate all the wonderful uses you become more excited.  Soon, you can't live with out this gizmo that, just yesterday, you had no clue what it was.  You forget about all those gifts you practically bought for yourself because you just had to have them.  That's when you realize that you aren't even sure who gave you that wonderful new gizmo.  Or maybe you do, and that's when you realize that you didn't even think of getting them anything.  You completely forgot about them.
          Is that what your relationship with God is like.  Does he give you a gift that you have no clue how to use or even what it is and you ignore it?  Did you completely forget to thank him for that unexpected gift?  I know I have.  The neat thing is.  God is willing to continue to give and help you.  While some of us my have gotten the proverbial wonder gift from a distant relative and forgot to thank them only to have them drop us from their Christmas list, God will never drop us fro his.  Granted, he may nudge us back to where he wants us to be and sometimes those nudges hurt...a lot, but he never forgets us or abandons us. 
          I am writing this for a few reasons.  Firstly, because I recently received one of those nudges.  You see, of all the shifts I have to work, I hate graves the most.  While on graves, I am in an almost constant state of exhaustion.  I am grouchy most of the time and sleep rather poorly.  To make it even more interesting, I have to perform in our church's production of "Annie!"  This means I have to be alert enough to do my lines and my already bad schedule is no worse.  It made me look at why I was doing this play.  Was I doing it as part of the outreach, or for myself?  I realized, I was doing it for the wrong reasons and that I needed to recenter my life.  Through this, I have rededicated my life to Christ, starting with this play and my attitude while I am in it.  I realize that I have not put forth the effort that I should have and have rededicated myself to it.
            I find that God has the best understanding of when subtle works and when it is time for the megaphone.  Luckily, I responded before the megaphone was necessary.  Where are you?

Current events in my life. Short.

       So things just got interesting.  I found out today that, due to civilians messing with their schedules, my shop is now going into rotating shift work.  This means that I am going to Graves for 2 months.  It would have been swings for a month then graves for a month, but I had to change it so I could maintain my role in the upcoming play I am involved in.  So now, I will be changing which shift I work each month.  Yay.  All because a bunch of civilians decided to take a weird schedule that required extra coverage and no one wanted to go to other shifts.  Gotta love being a surge volume. 
      On a happier note, I will get off early today to go to my sons parent teacher conferences.  Hopefully things go well.  Then I get a 4 day weekend so I won't have to go back to work until graves Tuesday.  Should be fun.
      I won't be making another post until Tuesday for this reason.  Granted it will be closer to early Wednesday morning, but I will post then.  Have a great day.

Colds and the ability to concentrate.

         Ever have one of those days that just jumps up and grabs you by the nose and refuses to let go.  Today is such a day for me.  I have a cold that is killing me right now.  To make it even more interesting, I didn't get my coffee this morning due to my forgetfulness last night (I forgot to set my coffee maker to auto-brew).  In other words, if the rest of today goes like this morning did, it is not going to fun at all.  I also have AWANA tonight.  That should be fun.  A cold with a ton of kids going nuts.  Every Wednesday I get a new respect for teachers and I only run the games. 
       I really am having trouble focusing so I think I will just end this early today.  I apologize for the shortness of it and, hopefully, I will feel better tomorrow.  Have a great day and keep on moving.

Halloween: Scaring Others Hurts.

         So yesterday was Halloween.  Took the boys trick or treating and they had a blast.  My oldest decided that nothing was going to keep him from going to any house and getting what they were giving.  A few of the houses had some scary stuff going on and he went up.  He may have had his head on a swivel, but up he went.  It was our 6 year old that would stare wide eyed at a house and in no uncertain term inform us that he was not going to that house.  Surprisingly, our 3 year old went to a few scary houses as well.  In all, it was a good night.
         I remember as a kid what trick or treating involved.  Usually, it meant going to my Grandma's house and going around her neighborhood.  Mainly because I grew up in the country and didn't have any neighbors close enough.  Our costumes were less elaborate and usually homemade.  The great thing was, what my mom lacked in ability she made up for with creativity.  I remember the year we went as pirates.  Mom took some pieces of cloth we had lying around and sewed a jar lid ring to the side and placed it on our heads as a bandanna.  thus the jar ring acted as an earring and coupled with our winter boots, torn jeans, and some of her old blouses over our regular clothes, we were quite the pirates. 
         After my Mom passed, things got weird.  Our costume were left up to us to design and make.  this meant our costumes became simpler and less inventive.  Mostly because we waited until we got home from school on Halloween to come up with our costumes. 
         Then there were the years I refer to as my hooligan years.  Those were the years that my friends and I became that group that parents warned their kids about.  The ones that scared the kids hoping they would drop their loot and run so we could get the candy.  Most people frowned on teenagers who trick or treated, we just wanted our share.  I really regret those days.  It is one of those things that I am not particularly proud of.  The most ironic part of it all is, not one kid ever dropped their Candy.  They may have let out a satisfying scream and ran in mid air while spinning in a circle (which, by the way, is even funnier than it sounds), but they never once let go of their candy.  That brings up another pointer for those of you who think that this may be fun to do, never scare a kid that is carrying anything that can be used as a weapon.  This includes, plastic swords, baseball bats, wands, brooms, sticks, or anything that can be swung.  Even though they may break when they hit you, it still stings and the smaller it is the nastier the bruise.  The one thing they won't swing is their candy.  Even if it is in one of those solid plastic pumpkins, they won't use it for defense.  Apparently, the mere thought of losing a single piece of candy is more frightening than that apparition that just jumped out in front of them.  They'll break that sword they just got on your shin, but they won't lose a single piece of candy.
         I guess the moral of all this is to just have fun.  If you want to scare kids, be blatant about it.  Make sure the parents are aware it is going on and be prepared to have a ton of bruises the next day.  Kids can be vicious.
       Until next time, have a great day and don't be afraid to be yourself.