Another one of us for y'all to deal wit

Well my newest nephew arrived on Monday March 27 at 1:44 pm (CST) and here he is. Cody Lee Douglas weighed 9 lbs and he brings my total number of nieces and nephews to 6. The funny thing that number has tripled in the past 16 months. Before that Kyle and Kullen were it, then Cody's sister Cassie arrived in November 2004 and I got married last April and became an uncle to Shasta's nephews so I should be getting pretty good at this whole uncle deal. Welcome to the family Cody!!!

Don't hate cuz it's dangerous

Buster, c'mon now I have all the respect in the world for Joe Gibbs but don't come to me saying he "refused to entertain" thoughts of signing T.O. This IS the man who hired and still has that paragon of class and sportsmanship Tony Stewart driving for his NASCAR team. I suspect it had more to do with the Redskins not having enough cap room to afford T.O. than Gibbs taking any kind of moral stance.

Kameron, Although it would have been fun to see T.O. on a Cowher coached ; my brother's right abiyt the fact that the Steelers just don't spend money on free agents. Which is fine cause they seem to do well season in and season out with what they have so more power to 'em.

And Dana my heart does break for WVU, but honestly they played their hearts out and that's the way it goes some times.

Now let's talk politics. I make no secret about the fact that I'm a conservative and yes I voted for Bush both times. And I've sat back and listened to his detractors whine about how there were no weapons of mass destruction and that we attacked based on faulty intelligence. Well now it seems that a tapes of Saddam, Tariq Azeez and other members of Hussein's cabinet pretty much laughing about their weapons of mass destruction and the fact that they are able to conceal them from UN inspectors. So the maybe that intelligence wasn't so faulty after all.

T.O. in Big D

Well, well, well my boy Jerry Jones went and did it. He signed the biggest ego in the league to a contract. As a Cowboys fan I'd have to say I'm cautiously optimistic about having T.O. on the team. For one thing the great Cowboy teams have always had someone who helped bring some attitude and swagger to the team. From Duane Thomas and Hollywood Henderson in the 70's to Michael Irvin and Deion Sanders in the 90's they always had a guy that you loved if you were a Cowboys fan and absolutely hated if you weren't. So we'll see how it goes. Either way I bleed silver and blue.

:-P~~~~

Long time, No Post eh?

I apologize to my tens of loyal readers out there for the delay between posts but hopefully this will make up for it.

Well my stupid plumbing decided to act up again and Tav saved the day again. So it looks like I'm gonna have to complain to the sewer department because the blockage seems to be occuring in pipes the are on the other side of my property line. That's gonna be real fun I think (note the sarcasm).

So WW is actually going well. I've lost 11.5 have pounds in just over 4 weeks and I'm getting to the gym at least 5 days a week. So YAY D!!!

Not much to say about American Idol this week other than Chris Daughtry is the absolute class of the field, he's almost to a point where he'll have to try and lose.

So baseball season is right around and for those who don't know I am fan of the "Evil Empire" New York Yankees. I watched a bit of the world baseball classic and well I'm just not sold on it, and that I think makes me pretty much the average American. This thing is a big deal in Mexico, the Dominican, Cuba, Korea, etc. But I think most Americans rate it just a slightly higher than soccer's World Cup. Major League Baseball I think really wanted this to be there version of the world cup, but to be honest they should probably concentrate more on keeping their place as this nations past time. Right now you could make the argument that football has passed them as the most popular sport in the states and NASCAR's not too far behind either. And then there's whole steroid thing that they keep sticking their collective head in the sand to ignore. C'mon how much more proof do you guys need that Bonds, Giambi, McGwire, etc. are or were using? And don't give me the "well it wasn't against MLB policy at the time they did it" argument. That's a cop out if I've ever heard one. Right now the integrity of the game is taking a standing 8 count on very wobbly legs and you idiots are "waiting for all the facts to come in." Whatever.

Anyway that's it for tonight, I hope to get by again this weekend. Got a few other things brewin in my noggin that I wanna throw out here.

Gone, gone, gone

Ok so the 4 folks I thought would get booted from Idol did. No losses there. The guys really brought it this week, but I still think Chris Daughtry is the class of the entire field. Was nice to see Carrie Underwood back. Of all the winners I think she may prove the most marketable. But then I am partial to those Oklahoma girls :D The more interesting thing was Paula's behavior; she appeared to be high or intoxicated or something. And she apparently got her little butt in trouble with Homeland Security at the Las Vegas airport. http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Mar-03-Fri-2006/news/6147377.html. I can only hope the producers will get fed and send her perky, airheaded, never give a bad critique self packing.

Feeling a bit on edge today for some reason. The week seemed to drag on and I didn't think Friday would ever get here, but for some reason I feel like I'm on pins and needles and I'm not sure why. The verse for my devotion yesterday (For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline 2 timothy 1:7) actually comes to mind and I probably need to heed it a bit more. Not just today but every day. I tend to let what might happen, what someone might say or think, etc govern my actions rather than worrying about whether it's God's will for my life.

Oh I lost a pound this week, which makes a total of 8 down since I started. And the gym is going well; I missed about a week because of some physical things that we shan't discuss here but I've been back and feeling good about it.

Currently:
Reading:
Still working on Showdown

In the CD/MP3 Player:
The Violet Burning - drop-dead
The Violet Burning - I Am A Stranger In This Place

Good stuff

Well The Violet Burning absolutely rocked. The show consisted of a lot of stuff from the new album "drop dead" but the also threw in two of my favorite older tunes "As I Am" and "Low." The thing that never ceases to amaze about Michael Pritzl's song writing is his ability to take the feelings that myself and alot of other believers have and so beautifully articulate them in a musical and lyrical way.

Also got the chance to turn some new folks on to The Violets. Buster went with me but he has seen and heard them before so he knows. But we also took his daughter Jesse, my friend Tav, his kids Tayva and Kameron (sp?) and my friend Justin. It's always nice when you can let folks in on a secret that definitely needs to be shared.

Now you may remember my friend Tav from a previous post. He's the one who came and snaked out my clogged sewer pipe a few weeks ago. Well I got the chance to repay the favor over the past couple of days by helping him get the website for his business up and running. If you're in West Virginia and you need an electrical contractor give him a shout. Check out http://www.alphaelectric.biz if you need more information. It's always nice when you get the chance to repay a kindness and I don't care what Tav says, this was wayyyyy easier than cleaning out that sewer pipe.

That's it, no rants or whining this week.

I wanna run, I wanna fall into your arms.
So, lay my head down, I wanna wake, there in your arms.
I long to view forever through the twinkling of an eye.
I long to find a song of hope and lay down by your side.
A song for all the weeping, a song for all the tears.
I'll sing for you to carry me, I'll sing One Thousand Years, I wanna run.
I wanna run, I wanna fall into your arms.
So, lay my head down, I wanna wake there, in your arms.
Yeah, you're my heart, you're my home
From "One Thousand Years" by The Violet Burning

Catching Up

Well I hope you have some time cause it's been a week since I posted and I got lots to fill y'all in on.

My first week of Weight Watchers went well, I lost 7 lbs. This weeks goal is to get myself back on a regular workout schedule and stick to it. So far, so good and I have every intention of keeping it good.

I also have to give props to my Sunday School class. I taught for the first time following my little tirade on the Thursday night class and I have to say it went really well. The kids were very attentive and got into the lesson and it was just a real blessing for me to be there with them this past Sunday. Now this is not the actual class I laid into but it contains alot of the same kids, just in case you care or are keeping real track of this thing.

How about those Winter Olympics???!!!! (insert chirping crickets sound here) Ummmm yeah my thoughts exactly. I've watched about 4 minutes of Ice Hockey and about 15 minutes of some type of free style motocross downhill skiing or some such thing that only gets network TV time every 4 years. I'm quite proud to say that not a minute of figure skating, ice dancing or anything else involving music, ice and skates has crossed my TV screen. Don't get me wrong, I think those folks are incredibly talented athletic performers who can do things that I could never dream about doing. But I have a real hard time accepting any sport where someone else has so much more sway over the outcome than the actual participants. And after the whole judge bribing fiasco in Salt Lake City at the last Winter Olympics it amazes that anyone still considers it a legitimate "sport" worthy of Olympic consideration. But I guess if curling get's a nod then why not???

So I watched most of the Daytona 500 this weekend and NASCAR continues to amaze me, their subjective interpretation of the rule book and thinly veiled favoritism toward certain drivers has moved them to the outskirts of territory that right now is only occupied by pro wrestling and roller derby. Part of me really hopes this will be Mark Martin's last season so I can find something else to do with my Sunday afternoons.

Well American Idol is back for it's 5th season. Yes I'm a fan, never missed an episode. This years group of contestants is very strong and maybe the best yet. We just got done watching the 12 male finalists perform and tomorrow night they'll announce which 2 males and which 2 females have been eliminated. Right now I'd say that Stevie Smith, Ayla Brown and Brenna Gathers (hope I'm right about this one) will make up the bottom 3 females and Bobby Bennett, Bucky Covington (hope I'm wrong about this one) and Will Makar will be the bottom 3 guys. On another Idol note, it never ceases to amaze me how many times Simon is called rude by other fans, judges or contestants. Simon is crass, blunt, direct and a smarta$$ but rarely is he rude. I say this because most of the time he allows other people to express their opinions and say what they have to say before offering his take. For doing this is he is usually shouted down and rudely interrupted by the other 2 judges when the time to offer his opinion arrives. Now just because I have a very strong opinion that doesn't agree with yours doesn't mean I'm rude. If I shout over top of you because your opinion is different from mine then I'm rude. Ohhh and will they please for the love of all that is holy fire Paula now!!! If I see her standing on her chair dancing for another mediocre performance I'm gonna throw my remote through the TV.

Tomorrow night is The Violet Burning and I am so stoked. If you're in the DC area and have 12 bucks and a few hours to spare head on over to Jammin Java in Vienna and check out the best band you've probably never heard.

Currently:
Reading:
If you said Showdown by Ted Dekker you'd be right :D
In the CD/MP3 Player:
P.O.D. - Testify
Day of Fire - Day of Fire

Luv and such

Well yesterday was Valentines day. My first as a married man and it was quite nice. My wife (refered to as Muffin in the future) is an absolute wonder and I wake up everyday wondering what in world possessed her to marry me??!!! Well we got each other nice presents and I made a nice candle light dinner and we cuddled on the couch for most of the evening. To this point married life is just awesome.

So I started back to Weight Watchers on Monday. Some of you know that I did WW for several years and was able to lose over 100 lbs. Well I've gained a good bit of that back and am not real happy with the way I feel or look right now so I have to do something for me. Well my valentines present from Muffin was a huge plastic storage bin full of low fat & low cal snacks and such. Oh and bedroom slippers too (Maybe I'll tell that story later :D). Now maybe you can being to understand why I LOVE THIS WOMAN TO DEATH!!!

Let It Snow

Just got done shoveling snow and I must say it's actually pretty. We probably got about 10 inches and that's enough to make everybody stop and take notice but not enough to completely bring everything to a halt. I think Shasta is gonna make snow ice cream *yum* and you guys are invited to come over for some if you can get over before I eat it all LOL.

Currently:
Reading:
Showdown by Ted Dekker (I'll finish it one day)
In the CD/MP3 Player:
Flyleaf - Flyleaf
Michael J. Pritzl - Kissing The Sky (live acoustic)

Grrrrr

If it hasn't been one thing it's been the other this week. First the plumbing problems, then the flu and tonight I end up laying into the kids I teach at church. Not that they're bad kids necessarily it's just that they don't seem to understand that it's impolite to talk when others are talking (especially when those people are trying to teach you something) and that when an adult asks you and then tells you stop doing something you should do it. Well I had both those situations tonight and ended up sending one kid out of the class and ended up giving another heated lecture on disrespect to the entire class. The whole talking over people and general lack of respect for their teachers and each other has been an issue for some time now and they got a speech from me several weeks ago about it and they got it again tonight, both barrels. But to be honest nothing seems to be getting through. I've been teaching youth for ~15 years now and before these 2 incidents I had never had to raise my voice for anything more that to tell a group to be quiet, but that doesn't get the job done with this group. Anyway, right now I'm wondering if I'm even supposed to be teaching them at this point. We'll see.

So it's a Violet Burning evening. If you never heard of the the Violet Burning. It's a band who's driving force is a guy named Michael Pritzl. With an ever changing group of supporting players he has written and recorded some of the most beautiful, sad, uplifting and worshipful songs you'll ever hear. I listen to them a lot but it's especially fitting for the stressed out, melo-funky mood I'm in right now. I would highly recommend checking them to anybody. They are one my favorite bands ever. You can find more information at http://thevioletburning.com. If you're in the DC area they'll be at Jammin Java in Vienna on 2/23 and you know I'll be there.

My God has rescued me
Taken my rags and made me clean
Opened my eyes so I could see
My God has rescued me
From "Clean (My God Has Rescued Me)" by The Violet Burning