Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Hurricanes, Politics, and Clowns

I haven't been very consistent in writing my blog lately.  It's just a blend of exhaustion, active life, and more exhaustion.  I'll just talk about what's on my mind.  Enjoy.

First of all, my prayers go to everyone affected by Hurricane Sandy.  I've seen and lived through some tough weather situations.  God bless you all.

On the subject of this hurricane, I'm absolutely flabbergasted that there are "news" sources that are trying to figure out how this hurricane affects the presidential election.  The fact that Fox News had the nerve to ask a Republican Governor why he was praising a Democrat President for responding to a natural disaster in a timely manner is ridiculously stupid.  The fact that MSNBC asked about the motives of Mitt Romney going to the northeast is silly.  Let's ask the people who just lost homes, businesses, and maybe even loved ones who they are voting for since that's way more important...

I went to Liberty University's ScareMare last weekend.  The haunted house in and of itself was pretty cool.  However the clowns in the line were not good.  In fact, when they followed me from one house to the other, it got frightening.  When they all learned my name, it got down right evil.  Thanks for successfully giving me the creeps.

Today, due to the weather, I had a day off.  It was nice.  I got to relax, watch some television, and eat McDonald's without having to worry about being late.

My fantasy football team is doing a lot better now.  It was really touch and go the first couple of weeks, but I've won my last two games.  I'm not terrible anymore.

Speaking of, Yahoo has this cool feature that actually generates a recap of your fantasy matchup like a sports story.  I'm pretty impressed with it.

People ask me who I'm voting for this year.  Truth be told, neither of the main candidates are worth my vote.  I really like Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson.  He thinks like I think.  People say that these non-main party candidates are stealing votes from the main two party candidates.  I believe it's the other way around.  I believe that people are so enamored by the two party system, that they don't even consider that another candidate could be more in line with their beliefs than they think.  I believe it's about time that people really look at everyone put in front of them before making a decision on who they want for their president, or any office for that matter.

I'm contemplating my costume for Halloween tomorrow.  I've narrowed it down to B-Boy or Jamaican Soccer Player.  Feel free to chime in.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

I Am Sickened

There seems to be a large amount of people talking on behalf of other people.  And more often than not, the people talking have no idea what they're talking about.

First thing I want to say is that I am not a supporter of abortion unless the mother is in direct danger of losing her life.  I know that that may upset a good bit of you, but it's my belief.  I don't think it's right to terminate a pregnancy, particularly only because it came at an inconvenient time.  However, I have a huge issue with people who share my point of view speaking out of turn and saying stupid things.

The latest idiot is some guy who doesn't deserve me using his real name who is running for some office in Indiana.  He had the nerve to say that rape was a gift from God.  How dare anyone use my Lord to justify their sick and twisted thoughts.  God doesn't want any woman to be raped.  God never wants anyone to be hurt by anyone else.  I don't know if he was trying to use the idea the verse that says "What man intended for evil, God intended for good" or what.  I could understand if he had just said that and left it there.  However, when you play the "God Card" at the expense of victims of a heinous crime, that just sickens me.  I do believe that something good can come from a bad thing.  I do believe that God can turn a sick crime into a blessing.  I've seen some of my friends take a terrible situation and turn it into a soul strengthening experience.  That's where he should have went with that statement.

How about that goof who had the nerve to say that you can't get pregnant from "legitimate" rape?  What in the name of Sam Hill is legitimate rape?  Rape is rape, no matter what.  For someone to say that you can't get pregnant from rape or that you weren't really raped if you got pregnant is just asinine.  It throws me for a loop that there are people that will stand behind that guy.  Your body doesn't shut down to avoid pregnancy, who told him that?

It seems in general, there are a lot of people trying to speak on behalf of people they know nothing about.  I can never speak for rape victims.  I know a couple, and for me to try to speak for them would be ignorant.  These men trying to define it and decide who is a victim and who isn't is crazy.  Like I said, I have my belief on abortion and such, but it doesn't mean I have the right to tell other people what they've felt or what they've gone through.

I'm annoyed by these people who will say whatever they want to get their point across.  I just want people to walk a mile in other people's shoes before they go spouting their mouths off.  It'd make this planet a lot easier to live on, let me tell you.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Beyond Words

I'll be the first to admit that I can be a bit harsh with words.  I can say the wrong thing at the drop of a hat.  I can even offend some people sometimes.  However, I heard something this morning on the radio that literally made me ill.

A lot of you may or may not have heard of Ann Coulter.  If you have, you probably just cringed.  If you haven't, you will after you read this.

Ann is an ultra-conservative author and contributor to news programs and stations.  She has, on countless occasions, said some pretty outlandish things in the name of making herself the trending topic in America.  This time, she has gone too far.  During the debates last night, Coulter sent a tweet (nothing of importance has ever been written with thumbs) that said the following (and I want to seriously apologize to anyone who will be offended by this): "Glad Romney is being kind and gentle to the retard."

My stomach turned just typing that.  For anyone to just loosely throw the word "retard" around like that loses all credibility.  I didn't mind Ann Coulter before only because I always believe in people's right to having an opinion.  However, you lose everything the minute you decide to use elementary insults to get your point across.  There's no reason ever to use that word.  It's a terrible word.  It's terrible to think that it's okay to just use that to talk about anyone, much less the President of the United States.

For someone to have that little respect for the office of the President just sickens me.  It's been like that for years.  I'm annoyed by the constant disrespect just because the person in the office wasn't the person we voted for.  Get over yourself.  You lost.  Get over it and respect the man.  I've heard and seen nothing but terrible things being said about a lot of Presidents in my lifetime.  It's really not fair to them.

I'm still upset over the use of that word by someone who claims to be intelligent and on the pulse of things.  Her own conservative cohorts have been less than enthused with her choice of words.  There is nothing that any conservative can say that can justify this behavior.  I hope that she really gets hit hard by special education people and others.  I hope that one day, she realizes that her issues with making terrible choices in phrases.

To anyone reading this, please please don't use that word.  Be wise with your words.

Monday, October 22, 2012

My Apologies

So I kind of missed doing this blog.  It's been a combination of exhaustion and illness that has kept me from posting my opinions and feelings and stuff.  I'll explain.

I work probably close to 70 hours per week.  I work pretty hard for my church as well.  I've realized that I am wearing myself thin at times.  Yes, it's rewarding, and I wouldn't trade my jobs for anything.  However, you do have to pace yourself when doing things you love.  You have to find time for yourself.  As a result of my hard work, I came down with something fierce.  Just to be respectful, I'll just say that I had a stomach issue that resulted in dehydration and frequent bathroom trips.  It lasted for about 3 or 4 days.  I was left exhausted and tuckered out.  I think that was my body's way of telling me I was trying to do too much.

I'm kind of at a weird point.  Sometimes I have to ask myself why I do what I do.  It seems like I do everything the right way and things still go kind of wrong.  You try to follow the rules, things go wrong.  You try to make your own rules, things go wrong.  You try to go slow, it's not quick enough.  You try to speed up, you're jumping the gun.  It's just kind of unfair that there isn't one simple thing you have to do to make things work right.  Life's like my old Kia, sometimes.  My old Kia had a different set of rules than every other car on the planet.  Crazy.

I saw a sign in someone's yard that seemed to be political.  It asked a question: "Are you REALLY better off now than 4 years ago?"  I know that it was about if you were richer than you were when Obama was voted into office.  I thought about that question.  I thought about where I was 4 years ago compared to now.  Four years ago, I was in between careers.  I was just finished with my career as a youth pastor at a church.  I was working 3 jobs just to make ends meet.  My youth ministry career was struggling because I was just so exhausted from working that I couldn't minister.  While doing youth ministry, I found a new love, special education.  I worked hard after I stopped doing youth ministry to get into special education.  I've been doing special education for a little over 4 years now.

I have to say that I am better off.  I'm where God wants me.  I'm where I feel most comfortable.  I have more friends now.  I'm gaining new friends monthly.  Truth be told, I've made a couple of really great friends through my work at my school.  I have other friends that I feel like I love and care for outside of school and stuff.  The point is, yeah, I'm not filthy rich.  I'm not driving a Mercedes.  However, I'm at a church that doesn't wear me out and complain about how tired I look after doing 2 jobs before getting there.  I'm at a job that I feel is triple rewarding.  I have awesome people in my life that I love hanging out with.  I am better off.


Friday, October 12, 2012

Music Friday



So, I watched that Vice Presidential Debate last night.  It was quite animated.  I have some ideas about the debate.  And since I don't have a horse in the race, I can actually tell you the truth as opposed to my opinion.

First of all, the debate was a draw.  I don't care what anyone tells you, neither man really separated himself from the other.  It was pretty much a wash.  Neither man took the lead for their candidate.  However there was a lot of other things that came about.

Paul Ryan drinks a lot of water, at least I hope it was water in that glass.  I mean, I've never seen someone drink so much in one sitting.  I hope he had one of those trucker's friends things attached to his leg.

Joe Biden can get pretty agitated.  It seemed like every time Ryan said something that Uncle Joe didn't believe, he'd start to choke, gag, laugh, and whatnot.  It was actually pretty funny.  It may have had something to do with him just being kind of old and wanting his way.  Point being, it was interesting to watch.

Ryan is a genius when it comes to financial things.  Although it was kind of funny when Biden called out Ryan about his letters asking for a cut of the stimulus money that no one wanted according to Ryan.  However, financially speaking, Ryan is pretty accurate.

However, Joe Biden is pretty wise on foreign policy.  That comes with experience in politics.  However, I do have to giggle a little when Ryan called out Biden on the President's dealings with the Embassy in Libya.  It was a tragic event, but when our administration kind of poo poos on security for our ambassadors, these things happen.

My point is that the debate last night was a lot more fun to watch than the debate last week.  Again, I believe that Obama really believed that he had everything in the bag with the whole 47% thing.  Biden helped show the USA that there was a want to to win the election.  Ryan did a good job of showing everyone that he wasn't just a baby, he had on his big boy pants.

I just want to know how Danville, Kentucky won the draw to host a debate.  I mean seriously, was there no other podunk place to have a debate?

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Sorry for Not Posting

I'm sorry I haven't been as active on the blog lately.  Truth be told, I'm stinking exhausted.  I've been working so hard and doing so much that I'm just too beat to think about telling you what's happening or what's on my mind.  So I'll just kind of run down my life as of late.

My South Carolina Gamecocks are pretty awesome.  Way more fun to watch than the West Virginia Mountaineers. Wink wink to my homegirl, Katie.

My Green Bay Packers aren't doing so hot.  The fun of it is that Vikings, Bears, and Lions fans are so in love with our failures that they forgot how terrible their teams have been since their existence.  Just a heads up, we have more championships than the rest of you combined.  Get on our level before you go tripping.

This Vice Presidential debate is way better than the Presidential Debate.  Can I just vote for a Biden-Ryan ticket?  These two are great.

I love milk in a glass bottle.  I feel so Beaver Cleaver-ish.

My hipster glasses broke tonight.  Terrible time for me.  I almost feel like crying.

I bought The Hunger Games on DVD.  I never buy movies, so this is kind of big.

Rosemary and Olive Oil Triscuits are pretty good with Athenos Roasted Red Pepper Hummus.  Don't sleep on that Vegan stuff, they got some good ideas. Just don't forget the side of sirloin.

Joe Biden is so smarmy, and Paul Ryan is so smooth.  It's like watching two game show hosts.

I think this blog post turned into a Hectic Hump Day, my bad.

I've realized that women think too much.  I understand that you have things to think about, but my goodness, take things at face value.

It's a lot cooler now than it was all last winter.  I'm rocking my Tom Brady winter gear this year, HOORAY!

I do have to say that I'm not a big fan of change.  I'll accept it, but it's hard for me to do.

Monday, October 8, 2012

Monday Top Ten

So I've been thinking about what I wanted to talk about this week.  I think I'll kind of relax it up a bit.  Last week was all political.  This week, I think I'll talk about my top ten business ventures I'd do if I had the money.

10.  Bounty Hunter
Honestly, I'd just find people and snitch on them.  I don't care really.  I feel like there needs to be a better way to get some of these hooligans.  I can do it.  I can track a falcon on a cloudy day, I can find a criminal.  Yeah, I straight up quoted The Princess Bride.

9.  Therapist
Ask any of my friends or my family, they'll tell you that I can pretty much figure people out fairly easily.  In fact, people are often baffled by my ability to predict exactly how something may happen before it happens.  My special education class told me that insight is one of the forms of genius.

8.  Talk Show Host
Okay, I seriously think this could happen.  I tried to do a small YouTube show, but honestly, it got kind of stale with my digital camera only having 4 minutes of video.  I could keep an audience for 30-60 minutes talking about awesome topics.

7.  Radio Disc Jockey
It's even easier to be a disc jockey.  I could do a syndicated radio show about things.  Take in callers, and just enjoy America at its finest.

6.  Bakery
I can bake cookies.  In fact, I can honestly say that no one's cookies are better than mine.  I seriously think I could make a fortune just with chocolate chip cookies.  However, I feel like I could just go off and make tons of breads and other baked goods.  I have a pretty nice talent.

5.  Day Care Center
I'm good with kids.  I can do a lot of good for people.  It would be fun to see kids interacting with my roommate.  If his argument with the little red headed girl next door is any indication, I'll have the greatest day care center ever.

4.  Restaurant
I've always been kind of enamored by the restaurant business.  I watch Hell's Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares, and pretty much any show with Gordon Ramsay.  I love the idea of one day being a restaurateur.  One day, it could happen if I had enough money.

3.  Record Company
I have so many friends that are so talented in music.  I would love to start a record company for them.  I'm sure I could do a decent job of making them sound even more awesome.

2.  Video Rental Store
Look, Redbox is nice and all, but I want old school rental stores back.  It's kind of old school.  I miss those days where you just rented a movie for about a week, promised to rewind it, and enjoy it with a pretty lady or your family.  I'd try to bring it back.

1.  Rent Em Spoons
It's a place where you get a bowl of soup for free, but we rent you the spoons for a yet to be determined price.  It's freaking brilliant.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Music Friday

Haven't posted a Music Friday blog in a while.  Quite frankly, I wasn't sure I was going to do one tonight.  Then I heard this song on the radio.



Yep, that was Bobby Brown at his best.  Ghostbusters II wasn't particularly memorable, but I didn't mind it so much.  The point is that Bobby Brown was pound for pound, one of the most talented human beings on the planet.  It's really a shame where he is now compared to then.  He's been the scapegoat for the death Whitney Houston.  It's a shame, too.

This kind of teaches me that I can't take anything that the Good Lord blesses me with for granted.  I know how fast it can all go away.  I've seen some of my favorite artists and athletes all fall because they didn't use their talents wisely.  God gives us all talents and ability.  It's really up to us as to how we use them.  It's a good time for me to think about all the talents I have and if I'm using them effectively.  If I'm not, I'll do better.  If I am, I'll work on doing even better.

In the meanwhile, I'll try to see how good I am at the Bobby Brown dance...

Thursday, October 4, 2012

A Talk About Yesterday

So I sat down and decided to watch the Presidential Debate last night.  I'm not normally involved with politics, and truth be told, I couldn't care less about them at times.  I have a huge issue with how candidates carry themselves.  I also have a problem with their terrible ability to talk out of both sides of their mouth.  The lies, buzz words, and sweet talk just gets annoying.  However, I decided to see what the main two candidates had to say.

Let's be honest.  From a purely objective standpoint, Mitt Romney won that debate.  Here's a man who threatened Big Bird and his way of life and still won a debate against the most charismatic president of our time.  It's awfully telling when a President is only as effective as the notes written in his teleprompter.  However, the thing I took away from this debate was how disinterested President Obama seemed during the debate.  I'm sure there are some reasons.

Maybe the 47% comments gave Obama a false sense of security.  I think he felt like he had this election won already and didn't need to put a lot of effort into the debate.  Maybe he felt as if Romney had shot himself in the foot enough that the debate would just be Romney being a windbag.

Maybe he thought msnbc would cover for him.  I think Obama might have had a feeling like his personal fan club at 30 Rock would just cover for him and his shortcomings.  I watched their post debate coverage and they looked anything but confident about Barack Obama.  Poor Chris Matthews looked like his favorite quarterback just threw 5 interceptions on Monday Night Football.  Al Sharpton does what he always does, throw the blame on whitey.

Maybe, just maybe, Romney decided that it was his time to shine.  Sometimes you need something to put a foot in your behind to get you going.  That 47% thing may have been that something.  Romney decided that it was now or never to show the country that he was willing to fight for the presidency.  When you show a country fight, they tend to be on your side.  They tend to want to get behind you.

Now, I know that most people have already cast their votes and decided who they are pulling for, and that's fine.  However, you cannot deny that Romney got a really good punch in to start this fight.  All I know for certain is that God is in control.  No matter who wins the presidency, God is running things.  Never forget that.

I still wish they would have let everyone who is running for president be at the debate.  It's not fair that the rest of the candidates can't share their opinions and thoughts on things...of course, that would also mean that poor Jim Lehrer would have had even less control of things.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

To My Friend

This is a tough thing to do, but I am pretty confident that I should do this.  Sorry if you were looking forward to Hectic Hump Day.  I'll get back to routine soon enough.

Hey Buddy,

I hear all the time about how sad it is to put a dog down.  I used to think that those people were just sensitive and needed to get a grip.  I always thought that when a dog got put down, people should just dust their shoulders off and move on.

Well, I admit, I was totally wrong.  Yeah, I said it, I was wrong.  Today, Mom gave me the news that the difficult decision to put you down was made.  I'm heartbroken.  You've been my best buddy since 2000.  I still remember the day you came into the house.  You kind of stumbled in and said, "I'm here."  Then proceeded to pee on something.  We've been through crazy vet trips, your escapes to see the girl dog down the street, and you actually trying to join hands with the family when we prayed before my long drives back to college.  You were very respectful, by the way.  You had a huge penchant for potatoes, whether they be chips, fries, or just baked potato skins.

I miss you, little buddy.  You were old, tired, and kind of cranky sometimes.  However, you always came to listen to me when I talked about life.  I'm sure you understood more than you let on, but you were a good ear.  For a while, you were the only ear.  By design, because I couldn't stand talking to people about my life.  You were the best friend a guy could have.  You were going to be the best man in my wedding.  Although a lot of people were worried about you peeing on my future wife or biting a groomsman, you would have looked awesome in a tuxedo.

Conan, you were loved.  You will be missed.  I knew this day was coming, but I hate it.  I'm sure you would have been a lot of help in my vote for president this November.  You have a good eye for good and bad.

Love you little buddy.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Monday Top Ten

First of all, I apologize for not typing my blog last Friday and Saturday.  It's just been a hectic week and sitting in front of my computer wasn't in my agenda.  Anyway, I wasn't even sure exactly what my top ten was going to be.  Actually, I do know.  You'll like this.

This Wednesday, President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney will have a debate.  I'm a little bothered that the other presidential candidates weren't invited, but whatever the case may be, I have a few questions that I would ask.

10. Will you continue to allow Congress to give themselves raises?
Raises are usually based on job performance and tenure.  For some reason, Congress just agrees to give themselves raise after raise while people who pay their salaries continue to struggle.  Doesn't seem fair to me.

9.  How do you feel when a president is blamed for gas prices?
I don't think the President of the United States has any power over how much or little to charge for gas.  So let's stop blaming people for greedy oil tycoons' rate increases.

8.  Is obesity really any of the government's business?
With NYC putting a ban on sugary drinks over 16 ounces, it really calls into question how much a government should be involved in health and wellness.  I do think that health and wellness are highly important.  However, if the people choose to partake in unhealthy activity, that's on them, not the government.

7.  Will there ever be slavery reparations?
I watched the clip on Dave Chappelle on what would happen if slavery reparations actually came about.  Would FUBU and KFC really merge into one super-business?  Would Bill Gates be overtaken as the richest man in the world by a man from Harlem named Tron?  I kind of want to know.

6.  Will you fix the BCS?
Obama even said that the NCAA should change their football policies because of how inconsistent the BCS can be.  It'd be pretty interesting to see their stance.

5.  Will you start a policy that no one can ask for government files and paperwork of presidential candidates?
With all the ridiculousness of the Birthers and the Romney Tax Records stuff, I'm annoyed.  If Obama wasn't born in America, he wouldn't have even been chosen to run.  And quite frankly, who cares about Romney and his tax record?  It's his taxes, who cares?  It's not anyone's business how people's taxes went.  I don't tell anyone my tax records.

4.  What's wrong with offshore drilling?
Seems like using American oil is such a terrible thing to some people.  So instead, we bother other countries and take their oil.  Not a good look.

3.  Can Christians be able to express their opinions the same way everyone else can?
Seems valid.  Seems like every religion but Christianity gets to feel the way they want about anything.  However, as soon as a Christian says how they feel about something, they're offensive and divisive.

2.  Can you stop taking credit for what our military does?
Seems like every time an enemy of America meets their demise, it's the president who did it.  And yes I'm going back to Hussein in Iraq.  Point being, when people say that the president did something that our brave men and women did, the president should immediately have a conference to tell people that the military did it.

1.  Why can't the other candidates be here?
Seriously, there are more than two candidates running for president.  They deserve every chance to stake their claim to the presidency.  It's not fair that we can only hear from two parties.  There are some good ideas out there, and they don't all have to be tied to a donkey or an elephant.  Just saying.