Optimist is a Bad Word ?

Today I was talking to a "friend", I have 100's if not 1000's of people who call me friend but in reality I have 10 or so real friends. The "friends" are  people who really do not understand the concept of friendship. You accept a person as they are, the good and the bad. This "friend" always seems to be prying for dirt and is always saying the most outrageous stuff not just about me but all of his other "friends" as well.

Our conversation started off with how great things were going for me, how I looked forward to each new day knowing in my heart that ultimately my life will be better for each thing that would happen. He explained to me that his life stunk and was a miserable mess and I should be depressed with my life as well. I normally do not really listen to this guy because he has nothing good to say but this idea that I should be depressed caught my attention.

I asked him what he meant about me needing to be depressed. He explained that in the last three months of my life I had my fiance dump me for a married guy, four close people die, reconstructing my business, rumors galore about me, loss of a huge business contract, moving to a city where I do not know anyone and now my grandmother is in serious condition with her heart. These are all true statements but I did wonder how he was able to reel off the list so quickly when I would have had to think a few seconds myself to come up with the list.

He then said something that I really found strange, considering my strange friends that means something. He said "Everyone thinks your biggest problem is you are too big of an optimist". I never really thought of myself as an optimist but I would normally take that as a compliment and not some derogatory label. "Optimist" I said. He replied that I do not know what is really going on and live in some ivory tower where the real world does not bother me. This made my brain squish into weird shapes inside of my skull as I tried to comprehend what he meant.

I realized that instead of being angry with this poor soul I should feel sorry for him. My joy is not found in people, things or events but my joy is found in what God has given me. The earth can come to an end tomorrow and I would find terror, horror, sorrow and a great sense of loss but I would still have joy. No man, woman, government, event or circumstance can ever take that away from me. The only way that I can lose joy is if I willingly give it up and I do not plan on doing that any time soon.

As bad things happen in my life I will still have hope that tomorrow will be better. This "friend" has already given up his future and blames fate and other people for all of his problems.

Optimist.... not a bad word. Bad things have happened and bad things will happen in the future. I have given myself to God so I know that even through bad times there will be great things gained and learned. If you want to call me a bad name I suggest you do not call me optimist because I will take that as a compliment.

There is no fate, just what we do with our lives. Take the bad with the good but remember that when you have passed through a dark valley if you did not bring something with you from that experience then you failed in living life to the fullest.

By the way, I picked the photo for this blog because I love hockey and I want a monkey. It is my blog and I figured it was about time to have a hockey playing monkey as the photo.

Thankfully No Blacks

I am your average everyday Dad, nothing special, just trying to make it through this world seeing, doing and being the most I can. I was born in Stillwater Oklahoma and was raised with good old Okie values. I grew up in church and even went to Christian schools for most of my education. You maybe wondering why I would even bring up this monotonous information but it does have a purpose.

Not to many days ago I was in West Hollywood waiting for a meeting to start. There were around 60 people there and the meeting was starting late. We all started talking amongst ourselves while waiting when the topic of racism came up. Here was a room of 60 people of all different colors, accents and creeds talking about the marvel of the US being a grand melting pot.

The idea that the west coast was the only enlightened people seemed to be popping up over and over. The word "sophistication" was used to describe Southern California residents. Then the talk turned ugly, they started trashing fly over country and even picked Oklahoma out as the main target. They spoke of the hicks, rednecks and inbred hillbillies of Oklahoma and how we must be the most racist people in the US.

I have played this game many times, you have someone who thinks they are smart but leaves the meeting giving the "hick" everything he wanted plus more. I also thought it was amusing that not ONE person in that meeting was born in Southern California but they all acted like they were.

The rant on racist kept going on and on and on till somebody said "look around, we have people from Latin America, Asia, Middle East and Europe and we all get along fine". I then started to notice that there was not one black person in this large group. Since I am a bit devious I pointed out the lack of the "black color". People jumped on that and started to explain how people from all over the world get along, just look at us, unlike Okies we are not prejudice. I once again made mention of the lack of black people and finally an Arabic looking man said "we all get along fine as long as there are no blacks because we are not prejudice."

This really was not a big deal because one bigot out of 60 is not bad but what happened next stunned me. Men and women from all over the world started to explain how they were open minded and loved everyone but "thankfully no blacks" were around that they had to deal with.

I decided that while Oklahoma has its share of racist that this conversation would never have occurred there because we may not be open minded like those in West Hollywood but we do at least give a man a chance before publicly announcing that they are all bad because of the color of their skin. In Oklahoma people would have lost business, friends and even jobs if they said these things in an open business meeting but not in sophisticated open minded West Hollywood.....

Have a great weekend!

I Do Not Want To Die !

In the last eight weeks I have had a cousin, a mentor, a friend and a business acquaintance all die, this might make a person not want to hang around me to much if they like the idea of living. What has happened with all of this death occurring around me is that I have become more aware of my own mortality. I had a brother die when I was 14 and that has always helped me understand that death can come at any moment to any person but the last two months events has renewed my understanding of this basic and simple fact.

I would like to quote myself, one of the few times I have ever said anything that actually was deep and made any sense " I do not want to die, not because I fear death or what comes after life but because I enjoy living so much. " . I am secure enough in my belief of what God has promised will happen to me that I do not worry about what will occur the moment I take my last breath, this is not the problem I have with passing on.

It seems so unfair in my mortal mind that God created such a splendid world with so much to see and do, he created so many fascinating people to meet and get to know and then gave me so little time to discover all of the glory he created.  I would never argue that I know better then God so I plan on doing, seeing and meeting as many people as I have been given time to do so. It does make me a little sad to think that I will not be able to enjoy all of his creation while in this physical body.

I do not want to die because of what I will miss yet at the same time in a strange way I do look forward to the event. Death is a once in a life time experience (for most people) and to my demise it will be the last thing I do on this earth. I think it would be so cool to actually get to sit around and talk about it with friends but once it happens that is out of the question.

I always find it strange when on a Monday somebody says "I wish it were Friday" I never understood the idea of skipping even a few days of life. I have a very close friend that I was talking to who is going through a horrible time in her life. She never has said that she wants to miss a day, the pain she would like to go away but even in pain you experience something that others do not. She said that through all of this she has gained wisdom. Wisdom is the greatest treasure and while she has learned it the hard way she has something that many will never have.

I do not want to die, I want the highest highs and the lowest lows. I want to see all that God created, I want to love my friends and family. I want to feel, see and experience all that I can till death do us part. I do not fear death but find it to be a big annoyance that seems to get in the way of doing all I would like to do.

I love life, I love the pain, joy, sights, sounds, sensations and love that it brings.... I do not want to die till I have had it all but I guess is I have no say in it.

Strange idea I suppose on a dreary, cloudy and damp winters day but it is the truth. I love life more then I would ever fear death.

Sleep, The Edge of Reality

I hate sleep, it is so boring, you actually lay there doing nothing for hours on end. How can people talk about doing nothing for hours upon hours and claim to love it. In case you have not noticed this entry is being done in a hurry because I have to get out the door.

When a person dies you say Rest In Peace.....? I hate to tell you they are not resting they are dead.. Try looking your wife or husband in the eye just as they go to bed and say "Rest In Peace dear". I highly doubt they will rest in peace.

Segue should go here but I am in to much of a hurry.

I can say that I have not had a nightmare in over 25 years, I do have a strange type of dream sometimes. While I seldom dream this one seems to be the norm when I do. I tend to be a monster, mass murderer, vampire or other fantastically evil creature. Things go along great as I kill and maim the poor innocent people around me until somebody figures out the creature was me.

The whole town comes after me with pitchforks and torches, just like in the old Frankenstein movie. I fly over the countryside ( I never walk in dreams, it seems I always fly ) easily escaping them until some how they get me in a corner. This is sometimes where a wake up but usually not, if I continue the dream some I end up with a weapon in my hands and kill  leader of the mob. This makes every one else in the mob either go home or hang out and have coffee with me.

I actually had a friend who was a psychologist explain that was the most bizarre reoccurring dream he ever heard of. He thought it had either to do with the freedom of mind I have and the horror that I  think people around me want to corner me into normality or I really should not eat tamales bought out of the trunk of some guys car.

I love trunk tamales so I am going with the other idea..... what ever that means.

Black History Month Is Wrong !

Before you start looking in my closet for a white hood or a burning cross I hope you will consider what I have to say. I have worked in the "black" media business now for about 7 years and while I will never understand fully the experience of what it is to be black in America I believe I have a better understanding then most white people. I was talking to my closest friend about Black History month (by the way, he is a black man) and my eyes were opened up to the evil that it has caused.

We in America have turned Black History into a trivial pursuit game teaching our children about people who invented some fad or a single man that fought in the American Revolution War. Our children come home proud that they know about the guy who invented the folding chair (Nathaniel Alexander) or the guy that invented the Combined Hatrack and Table (William J Ballow). These things are all nice and good I suppose but they really do not make up what we would consider history.

Black History month according to my Friend Alan Thompson Sr. should be about the history we have forgotten, the history we just did not teach because of the color of the man's (or woman's) skin color. People like Andrew Beard who invented the rotary engine. These people are not great because they did something and where black these people are great because they did great things.

It is sad that we need to have a Black History month because we have turned it into a circus trying to appease a group of people who would not be happy no matter what. Many of the appeased people are white, this is not a black/white issue. These are people who want to feel good about doing something for the black man but they do it by separating those people who should be taught about all year round and instead  regulating them into a "special" month for "special" people.

Quite simply we should trash the whole concept of a Black History month and call it what is should have been from the start it should have been called Forgotten American History month. When I learn about a great inventor, artist, protector of the faith, servant to mankind or business tycoon who is an American then I am proud of them no matter the color. I am proud of MLK and his American ideals not because he was a black man but because he was an American who preached an ideology that changed the world. MLK day was sold to America as "black holiday" because blacks needed a holiday to call their own.

Americans are not a race, we are bound by our own language and our own culture. I have been to Haiti several times and you can walk down the street of this almost all black country and see a person who you know is an American. The person may be black but they move, walk and talk like an American. Lets remember we are a unique people bound not by color, religion or national origin but buy a simple creed of freedom and individuality.

The end of Black History month is coming to a close soon so let us remember that it is not a trivial pursuit game but instead a time to reflect on the 1000's of people of all colors that we Americans have forgotten to teach our children about.

Rumors About Me

I know that I am breaking all rules of etiquette by talking about rumors, those pesky little lies that people say behind your back. We all have rumors told about us and when we find out we are supposed to get angry and wonder why someone who say such a thing about us. I decided to snoop around and ask friends what some of the rumors about me were and instead of having me feelings hurt I would air them publicly to save time and not make you wait till they get around to you via the rumor mill.

I would like to point out that I have found that the greatest mental stress you can cause to a rumor starter is to laugh at the stupidity of the whole idea. They hope you will get mad and also by giving out this "secret" information that some how they seem important to other people.

1) Michael works undercover for the CIA.... if I did and you told people I would have to kill you

2) Michael works undercover for the DNC.... If I did and you told people I would have to kill myself

3) Michael has at least 22 girlfriends.... I do not even have one currently and 22 would probably kill me.

4) Michael is a closet Satanist.... I am not even sure how that got started but normal people wear black too.

5) Michael really never fought in Vietnam... this one is true, I was not old enough for one thing but I did fight a Vietnamese kid once in grade school.

6) Michael is actually an Iraqi Muslim.... Okay, I have no idea how to disprove this unless I actually show my birth certificate but it is locked away in Kenya somewhere.

7) Michael broke up a guys marriage.... Not true, okay maybe a little. I must have told the guy to average 4 hours a day on the phone with a women who sent him sexy photos even after his wife found out and even after she told the women to stop contacting him.

8) Michael is an ego maniac..... another true one but I do try to hide it.

9) Michael is Jewish.... Nothing wrong with being Jewish several of my favorite people are but alas I am not Jewish.

10) Michael is really white and not black... This has to do with some of my work and once again it is true. I am a proud white guy..... like I had anything to do with picking out the color of my skin in the first place.

There will be several people who will get mad that I made this list. The reason they will get mad is I have taken the power of the rumor away from them. I will enjoy seeing these people try to explain how they are right about me being a Jewish, black, white, Arab, Satanist, warmonger, who works for the DNC/CIA all the while using my ego to make some guy forget about his wife for another women.

When a rumor is spread about you remember the best way to defend yourself is to let people know how stupid the rumor is and not try to defend against it. You can never win against the rumor itself but you can win by letting people know how much of an idiot a person would have to be to believe it in the first place.

Kill Your Food Before Eating It !!!

I was talking to an old friend who use to work with me on high end executive sales. I will tell you that while you were able to travel, stay in nice hotels and eat at fancy restaurants the job also had some big negatives. The biggest thing that was a problem to me was that no matter what there were certain things you had to do.

This friend of mine is still in the business and we got talking about some of the more strange things we had to do to make some CEO feel like we were great guys. I once played around of golf were I was over 100 strokes above par. Who cares about rules when you pay $1,200 per person for the game. This CEO was sure he was the greatest thing since Tiger Woods (insert joke here) and there was no way that I could allow myself to beat him so I shot more the 20 balls off a cliff on one hole alone. I thought this was a bad experience but he started telling me a story that I am not sure anyone could ever beat, at least beat and stay moral.

My friend is 3rd generation American of Korean heritage, this is nothing special really but it does give him a leg up when dealing with Korean CEO's. He told about going to a authentic Korean restaurant in L.A. and while being able to speak a little Korean he could not read the menu. When the waitress came by to take the orders he told her that he would have the same thing as the other gentlemen were having.

The waitress returned with little plates that she sat in front of each man and on the plates were things that looked suspiciously like slugs squirming around. This bothered my friend a little and he asked what they had ordered and the reply was sea cucumbers. At this point I would like to point out that a sea cucumber is not a plant but an animal that lives in the sea.

The Executives started popping them in to their mouths, chewing and then telling how good they were. They did start to wonder why a "good Korean boy" was not eating such wonderful food. My friend realized he had to come up with a plan or he might lose the contract. He thought about eating them but knew if one was put in his mouth and it moved there would be everything he had eaten in 48 hours coming out of his mouth.

He decided to do the old trick of palming the food, bring your hand to your mouth then put your hand in your lap and dispose of the food. Every kid in the world has tried this trick and I am not sure it has ever worked but we still try. It appeared to be working, he had cleaned the plate and dropped the slug looking things on the floor.

Everything was going great, the rest of the food was great and the Executives were just about ready to give him the contract. Then a small problem arrived, the sea cucumbers had crawled out from under the table and were now in plan sight. My friend panicked know that these men would soon figure out his con. The sweat started pouring, the nerves were shaking when out of nowhere he jumped up and said he needed to use the restroom. As he got up to leave he mention that his leg had fallen to sleep and stomped his foot on the slug like creatures several time making sure they would never move again.

He did get the contract and he did learn to never order what the other gentlemen are having.

I guess if there is a moral to the story it would be to "kill your food before eating it".

Church Is Bad?

When you move to a new city there are a few things that need to be done first and foremost but are often looked over and skipped till it is to late or you have already made the wrong choice.

1) The right church
2) The right doctor
3) A great attorney (if you own a business you understand why)
4) An honest mechanic
5) A girl scout that sells those great mint cookies (this may need to be the first thing done)

Church is one of those things most people do not give much thought on and they pick one based on a roll of the dice. My father is a Preacher and growing up I got the "inside" scoop of how one works. Yes, I was one of those evil Preacher Kids that are known world wide as being the most ornery beast of God's creation.

Church is a place where people of like mind come to worship, praise, learn and fellowship with one another. A good church reaches out to the community and helps those that need help spiritually, mentally and physically. A good church is a family that does not judge when one fails but instead lends support to help those that have fallen stand back up.

In all of my years of going to church I have found one big disgusting problem with every church I have attended, the members (the body) is made up of imperfect people. There are people who view church as a place to gossip, back bite, argue and cause problems. This should be expected because we are not perfect but there should be at least an understanding that in church we should cease our arguments.

As I look for a new church home I know that there will be people who will approach me to tell me the latest "news", please do not do so because I do not want to hear it. There will also be people who I have never met but they shook my hand once and now they claim they are an expert on every secret dirty deed that I have done, real or imagined. This is the ugly part of a church, their gossip now has more power because they said it in church instead of by the water cooler at work.

The benefits are many more then the negatives but I wish that the gossip and hate mongering would stay at home. Make your family suffer with your diatribes instead of your church family.

I do understand that the church family is imperfect, I really do look for one that is because I want to fit in, but we should strive to be more Christ like instead of pointing out who is failing.

I have to get rid of this headache so I can stop just ranting on my blog......

Girl, You Are The Liar

Hanging out with 11 and 12 year old girls at the mall (my daughter and friends just in case you wondered) is usually very annoying. Their chatter is filled with tidbits about cute boys, fashion and music but at times there is a point of clarity that only a child could utter. Today had one of those moments where you are so shocked that such wisdom could flow from your child's mouth.

There were 5 girls and quite frankly they all look alike, talk alike and shop alike. There really seems to be no difference in how they act or what they do. They started chatting about different friends they had and when one girls name popped up one of the 5 said very loudly "you better not be friends with her". I have heard this phrase all of my life in all types of settings so it really did not even phase me.


One of the other girls asked her why she could not be friends with her which then brought on a wild jabbering talk fest about the evilness of the hated child. The girl who had demanded that nobody be friends with the other child was spouting and spewing all kinds of accusations. This went on and on and on.....

The biggest term that she kept throwing out to disparage the other child was the word liar. The girl kept saying that she lies, do not believe a word she says, never talk to her because she lies. Then my daughter (yes, I am a proud dad) looked at the girl making all the accusations and said "If the truth always comes out in the end why are you so afraid of people talking to *****"

This actually caught my attention, every adult gets told by someone else who they can be friends with, this usually comes from a person who claims they are tired of being manipulated and lied about. If they really believe that the truth will win out then why are they afraid of people hearing all sides of the story?

When President Obama was yelled at "LIAR" it was bad manners but the truth came out a few days later and he was lying. The honest truth is there has NEVER been a State of the Union Speech ever given from Washington on to today that did not have at least one lie. We have become so use to people lying that when they tell us not to be friends, not to listen to certain new channels, not to read certain newspapers or websites that we think it is normal.

The next time an adult tells you to not be friends with someone or to never talk to someone, know it in you heart that THEY are most probably the liar. When a politician looks in a TV camera and explains who you should listen to and who you should not then realize that they are the liar or they think you are so stupid that when you see a lie and the truth you will not be able to figure out which is which.

I am now armed with this new knowledge and cannot wait till some adult explains who I can and cannot be friends with.......:)

By the way, this is different then warning someone, this is when a person demands their way over your life and tries to manipulate you to such a point that they tell you even who you can talk to.

Deep thoughts from 11-12 year old girls. No wonder when I was that age boys just fought one another and got it over with. We could not compete with the girls our ages.

A Gamble in My Life

I was talking to a friend a couple of nights ago around 2:30 am and she asked what my plans were for the summer. I told her just about everything that I was going to be doing and then threw in that I hoped to make the hike again to  Machu Picchu. She said that I was an exceptional person to be doing these things. I know that there is absolutely nothing special about me with the exception of one thing. I fail and when I fail I fail big! Almost anyone can make this trip but it is just most people find reasons not to.

My favorite saying is "I am just like every other man, I am not perfect. The thing that makes me special is that when I fail I fail so spectacularly that it shakes the foundations of the world. This does not stop me from dusting myself off, standing back up and failing spectacularly again and again." I try to live this creed in totality from my business life, personal life and even when I just want to have fun.

I have created some of the biggest train wrecks in history it would seem but I also have experienced things others would just dream of because I am not afraid to fail. I have told many people about moving, my new business and just a complete over haul of my life and most people who are friends seem to want to warn me about all of the pitfalls that could occur. I love my friends but these are the same people who are amazed when I tell them about  spelunking, mountain climbing to ancient cities or hanging out with "celebs" of different sorts.

Do I expect to have huge failures with all of my plans over the next few months? You bet I do. I expect there to be those who gossip (it has already started) and pry into my personal life frankly because they live a mundane life themselves. Does this bother me? Not one iota!

My greatest fear in life is to live in an ordinary world of my own creation.

God places each and everyone of us on this planet for a reason and some how I just seem to believe that his goal for us is NOT to have our greatest pleasure be a trip to WalMart. Take a chance, make a change in someone else life, explore God's creation but do not sit at home worried what others will think if you fail and making American Idol the highlight of your week.

Take a Gamble in your life, fail big but also experience things others only dream of. When you fail it will hurt but dust yourself off and try, try again...... I know another dull blog.

Grumpy Old Man

I am actually having to do work today so there are no great adventures, I have not blown anything up nor have I eaten anything like deep fried chicken feet. I have been pondering about a grumpy old man though, now I do want to make it clear that he does not bother me at all but I did wonder how a guy could be so grumpy when everyone around him seems happy.
  
I have made an effort to get to know the people of Florence, Oregon and after friending people on FB and using many other means of communication as well, I have "met" over 300 people from this small town. Everyone has been welcoming with the exception of one grumpy old man who told me "you will never be welcome here, you should look for somewhere else to live". 

I knew right away he was grumpy because he had called my office phone three times asking me to return his calls. Being dutiful I called the man back when he told me the famous line. Within minutes after hanging up I was informed that I had better never call him again because it would be construed as harassment. This of course was funny because I called him once and he had called me three times. This did start to grate on my nerves a little till it hit me.... he really was the famous grumpy old man.

I grew up in a small town in Oklahoma and every kid in town knew who the grumpy old man was. We made stories up about him and how he held children as slaves, that he poisoned his Halloween candy and that he would spit at you if he had the chance. As an adult I came to realize all of that was untrue and that we kids made it all up.


Thinking along this line and watching plenty of Andy Griffith on TV I realized every town needs at least one grumpy old man to scare the kids. So as I think of this fellow I do not feel any animosity towards the fellow but actually a sneaky feeling of thankfulness. This man is sacrificing his friends, reputation and honor to full fill the real need of a grumpy old man.


When I finally show up in town to live there full time I wonder what character I will be. I really do not gossip, drink or accidentally sever fingers off in shop class so I will probably have to live with the reputation of being the sarcastic one.... Is that job taken yet?

The Big Pig

I am changing the names (if I use any) to protect the innocent, the innocent in this case would be me.

I had a meeting with a VERY wealthy developer to do an interview and to discuss the economics of the area and what his plans were. I came in for my appointed meeting and the gentleman was not at his office yet. I was asked to wait and was staring out the window when a $200,000 Mercedes pulled up. I was pretty sure it was the guy because not to many people in OKC can afford such a car.

He came walking in groomed to perfection wearing a custom fit Brooks Brothers and a high end Rolex. He greeted me and asked me to go ahead and grab a seat in his office and he would be there soon. I walked into his office and was amazed at the sophistication of the decor, the office matched the man perfectly. He had the style of the old TV show Remington Steel.

I found a very nice chair, sat down and started looking around the room. In one corner was a large glass case with a very large stuffed pig. This immediately caught my attention because original art work hanging on the walls does not go well with a giant stuffed pig. The thing was no Babe or Porky the Pig this was some gross monstrosity that made me wonder why God would even create such a vile beast. I sat there staring at this thing feeling like I should be paying 50 cents to some tattoo covered guy at the fair for the privilege.

While I was mesmerized by the beast the gentleman came in and he actually startled me. I being a little egotistical and not afraid to ask stupid questions immediately asked him why did he have a worm infested stuffed mutant pig in his office. He grimaced a bit and explained it was not a pig. I looked back over at the animal and was stupid enough to ask him if he were sure.

I will have to say this guy had the politeness of a Mother Teresa but only nicer. He rattled off some name of what the beast actually was and explained he shot it on a hunting trip in Africa. I sat there dumbfounded, I understood why a person would kill such a nasty creature but now I had to figure out why he would then drag the carcass back to the States, have it stuffed and then put it in his office under glass.

He explained in great detail about how it was closer to a rat then a pig and went on and on quite proudly about it. I actually did not listen much because I was focused on the what is now a big rat. When he had a break in his cadence the first thing out of my mouth was "did you try to make any bacon from it?". This took him back a bit and he explained that when they stuffed it they did not give him any of the meat but he would have tried it.

My appointment was for 30 minutes and all we talked about was this big pig. He invited me to go wild boar hunting with him this year and I accepted the offer. He then told me to make another appointment so we could actually discuss what we originally planned.

I decided not to use his name because he has enough power that he could have me shot and the police would not only do nothing about it but would probably give him a medal to boot. Then one day some guy would be in the office looking at a glass case with a giant pig/rat next to yours truly, stuffed and looking pretty scary.

Friends and Enemies

To much work means boring blog.....:)

The last couple of days has really made me aware what friends mean to me and how little people who call me an enemy mean to me. I want to be clear, I do not like to be accused of being an enemy to anyone except truly vile people but sometimes a person claims the term enemy for reasons that really are puny.

Friends... I have mentors who can slap me upside the head and I would thank them for the honor. I have old friends that we can talk about when we were kids and I have new friends that make me want to learn how to catch crabs, cook them and then eat away.

I have had a hard couple of days in getting everything done that needed to be accomplished. This morning I was given a gift (actually it was given a couple of days ago) and I sat stunned, amazed at the generosity of my friend. I honestly could not grasp the depth of it. A simple photo of a rose placed in a setting that was perfectly arranged. My last few hard days melted into nothing, my heart skipped a beat and I smiled. I knew that I was special to this person, I had no doubts about it.

I have a friend that has held my hand (not literally) and walked with me through the mine fields of the past few weeks. I see them pop up in an email and I smile. A true friend that I would do anything for and I mean anything.

Friends are special, they each bring a bit of themselves into my life making me a better person and willing to expand my horizons. Because of new friends I want to learn how to drum Native American style, catch crabs, play in creeks, drive on sand dunes, go shopping (not really that one but I will let them take Alexis and I will tag along), try new foods and enjoy life even more then I ever have.

Enemies... I honestly do feel sorry for the few who see me as a foe. I have many people that we fight on the field of business but are friends when we leave. I know that most of the people who see me as the enemy have not been able to understand the concept that "business is business but life is to live". There are a couple who also just need a scapegoat and I was selected for that job. I really do not mind doing that for them if it will ease their minds.

I really have been working to much so I have nothing to write about today but this whole concept of friendship has really been on my mind. I hope that everyone has at least one friend, the person that they can confide in. I also hope that when looking for friends that you can keep an open mind and let people into your life that will further open your mind to new opportunities.

To my friends both new and old.... thank you.

Last Thoughts

I know that many people will be surprised that I had any thoughts in the first place. Theses are my last thoughts on Valentines Day and what people have said about it today. It never ceases to amaze me how we as humans put value on days of no count but we also are willing to devalue a day that does not fit our ego.

Guys, we get off easy because women know we are as dumb as dirt when it comes to the art of romance. Every guy I know wants to think they can turn on the romance and sweep any woman off her feet but the truth is we are just idiots living in a world where the women are Einsteins. This does not give us an excuse to have blown the day and ignored our loved ones but it appears that some guys at least tried to do this.

When a guy told me that he just was not in to this manufactured day and he did not send flowers, get a card or even make an overt effort to show his girl how wonderful she was I knew that either that guy did not have a girl for Valentines Day or he did but this morning she told him to get lost. Guys try and explain why we did not do anything at all for the ones we love but it just does not work out.

Even worse is the guy who explained how he bought three dozen roses, $100 worth of chocolate and a very expensive dinner for his wife. This all sounded really great till I asked him when was the last time he bought roses for his wife. The idiot actually admitted that he skipped last Valentines Day but he had bought her a dozen roses the year before that.

Ladies, time to let the boot of love kick you around a bit ( with phrases like that you may understand why I HAVE to move from Oklahoma).  A women explained that "my love is not store bought" and of course we all know this means that nobody bought this poor girl anything to show them they cared. There was a lady that told me she had nothing from her husband from yesterday but she did not care because she knew he loved her. This piqued my interest and she explained that he was in Afghanistan and had been out of communication for several days. I do suppose this guy had a great excuse and I admired him for what he was doing.

Here are the facts, Valentines Day should only be a day to remind us of how we are to treat those we love every day all year round. I did not have a Valentine gal this year but I also had more ways that I was shown how special I was. I was honestly stunned at how special I was made to feel and realize I have to do much more next year in return.

I do hope that you had a great Valentines Day and you showed love as well as  received love from people important to you. Tomorrow I shall return to a more normal blog...... I think.

My Love Letter (the past becomes the present)

I wrote this on Valentines day of this year. I can now actually say that it has come true. I have edited it and did so in bold face. What do you think about my ability to foretell the future?

This is Valentines Day and I have discussed love for the last few days so why stop now. I have a love of my life but it is my daughter and she will leave one day to go out on her own. This is a  letter that I am writing for my future Valentine, the one that I will find one day, or maybe she will find me.

Dear Valentine, (Judy)

I am thankful the most that I have found a women that desires to have a relationship with God. Not a women who knows the right words or praises God aloud and then is vile in private. All of the attributes that I have fallen in love with exist solely because of your desire to be a woman of faith.

Men go to war and kill and die for the image of a fantasy women while men who love a real women go to work everyday, comes home and works around the house, makes sure that the little things are said and done for a women that they love. You are not perfect in this world but you are the perfect woman for me. It seems that God created you just for me. Do I get irritated at things you do? Do I find every second of every action perfect? No, but I do realize that you are a gift and I should cherish you as the gift that God Almighty has given me.

When I look at you today I see the true beauty that you are. While you are physically beautiful today you will be even more so to me when you are 80 because I will see and understand even more of what makes you beautiful. I want to know that I can hold your hand when you are 80 and see the twinkle in your eye that for so many years has made me heart pump faster and my mind go delirious with the love I feel for you.

My goal in life is to make you happy, to bring joy that you would not have had if it had not been for me showing you the preciousness of the gift that God gave me with you. When all is said and done and we are sitting together in old age I want you to be able to look at me and still be able to be thankful that you said "I do" (has not said "I do" yet). We will have spats, disagreements even arguments but when we are nearing the final days of our lives I want you to know that it was worth it because you had found a true love.

Love, your Valentine
Michael.

There will be a day that I find my Valentine in the future I may or may not have already met her but I want to make sure that this letter or one like it can be given to her and she knows that it is true. (I have found her and she is perfect "for me")

Sorry for the sappiness but hey, it is my blog......:)

Thats Sexy

Staying in the Valentines Day mood I decided to actually figure out what I consider sexy. I am NOT talking about beach bunnies in bikinis bouncing around on a beach I want to talk about what really gets my attention for more then a couple of minutes, the kind of sexy that  a Bentley or a Jaguar are. The type of sexy that you would be proud to take by and show your mom. (did I actually say sexy and mom in the same sentence.... I think I am now going to be sick)

It is no secret that the physical trait I find the most appealing are the eyes, but the vast majority of women I have met have eyes. This poses a problem when wanting to separate the normal women from the real sexy women since both usually have at least one eye. So this put me to thinking about what I really find amazing, what really catches my attention, what is it the separates the Bentley of women from the Ford Pinto of women.

It comes down to what is inside of them, I know that sounds trite but it really is true. The brain is so important it truly is the motivating factor for me. If a woman can think, even disagree with me I will immediately have some attraction. To push this attraction even further she needs have a kind spirit, this includes animals, people and just generally a caring person. At this point I am sitting up and paying attention. If she has an understanding of God and not just prays loudly then she will have hit a home run in my book. She will be the true Bentley of women.

Now, I am so thankful that women do not do the same thing as I just did. I know there is no way that I could be a Bentley, as a matter of fact I would be lucky to be a child's trike with three flat tires. That's what is good about being a guy, we can be ugly, dumb as dirt and poor but we expect our woman to be rocket scientist, rich and a model.

I really do hope that everyone of you have found your true love and that they are honestly sexy.

My Secret Crush

We are headed towards Valentines Day so I am sticking with love, ok not love but more of an adolescence crush on a girl. I am a grown up mature male and I will admit that I have a secret crush, this person has no idea that I like her and the truth is she probably will never ever know it. If this woman ever found out about my crush I can promise that she would not care on iota.

I was talking to Ava Aston (the singer) the other day by email and she had the audacity to pull out a pin and pop my secret crush balloon. I had confided to Ava about my secret crush and she pointed out that this woman was not perfect, as a matter of fact she may have committed the greatest sin known to man. Ava explained in just a few words that Sandra Bullock was a liberal.

Now I need to explain about this crush, EVERY man, woman and most children have a crush on some movie star, singer or other pop culture figure so please do not act like you do not. Having this crush is not really with the actual person but it is with the fantasy of who this person would be in real life. I can easily handle Sandra being a far left Liberal because in my minds eye she is secretly right of center.

This is where many people fail, the crush has nothing to do with sex nor does it have to do with wanting to meet her. I am sure that if I ever had the chance to talk with Sandra Bullock I would be greatly disappointed. Neve Campbell was once my secret crush but I got stuck talking to her two different times once at a party and later we met at Fashion Island and I lost interest of the fantasy quite quickly.

So for this Valentines Day I am making a resolution to never talk to Sandra Bullock (like I will ever have the chance) and let the image in my mind be the reality that I enjoy. If I see the real life Sandra Bullock walking in my direction I will turn and run away to save the imaginary Sandra from falling off her pedestal.

I would like to point out one more thing. A real woman with flaws and imperfections is ALWAYS 100X better then a fantasy crush. Real women are the ones that men fall in love with, want to adore and live the rest of their lives with and would do anything for while a fantasy is just that, something that can be here today and gone tomorrow.

Hope you have a great Valentines Day..... with a real person and not a fantasy.

True Love ?

I have several friends that are going through the trauma of divorce at this time and as we head towards Valentines Day it seems to be a little harder then normal. I keep asking myself what is true love and does true love actually last or is it only a choice we make just like we were animals and not the spiritual beings we are. Many people who do not honestly believe in a God would easily say that true love is nothing but a feeling or a choice but God created us with a little more in us then a dog in heat.

This brings up the question of why someone would choose to break up a marriage for their own gratification, not caring who else they may hurt. Then the question of how the betrayed should feel when the one they loved set out not even considering what their spouse thought or cared about. Should the one who was harmed be peaceful and caring, should they just move on and be grateful that their spouse who was so selfish is now out of their life?

Lets start with the first question, when a person becomes so self centered that they fall into the most basic animalistic state of human nature there is no way of talking sense to them. They have more then left the building they have left the world of sanity. Many times these people who have gone to this point look for someone else that is of low moral and spiritual character and fall for a drug user, alcoholic or someone of lose moral character. They HAVE to find a kindred spirit, someone who sees life as only an animal will. This is one reason why a person who made the action that  causes a divorce has the highest of all people to have a second, third and even a fourth divorce.

The question of what to do when a person you love becomes nothing more then a person claiming they chose to love you one day and now they choose not to. The simple fact is that you will still love that person, at least you will love who they once were. You should put an open hand out in friendship but beware animals do bite. Never let their hatred get in the way of remembering what they once were but do not hold on to any hope that they will change. Once a dog is foaming at the mouth it is a pretty safe bet they will never become a kind and sweet house dog again.

You do make the initial choice to love someone. God tells us how we choose to love as he chose to love us. He also explains that once his "true love" is accepted he will NEVER turn his back so we should take that to mean that when a person turns their back on what they claimed was true love they are at fault not with just you but with God almighty himself.

When the one you loved has turned into that foaming mouthed dog who has turned their back on God it is time to move on. Always hold that hand out in friendship but remember mad dogs bite.

True love can be found in these attributes.
Honesty
Loyalty
Consistancy
Devotion
Not being self centered

When these things are broken you will know it is not true love. Many times the foaming dog will quote scripture, pray loudly and speak in holy terms while in public but in private the will speak the most vile words possible.

I wish you all to find true love and skip the foaming at the mouth mad dogs.

I know it is kind of a cynical blog but I am trying to look at what makes the mad dogs foam and how should we treat them.

Happy Valentines Day.....?

This blog came from ideas from my mentor Rev. James...RIP

French Fried Fruit

There comes a day in every mans life when all things good and bad come to a head and it is time to do something trivial, worthless but still interesting for a few minutes to relieve the stress.  A birthday for a person I admire, a goodbye to a great man, people are fighting for freedom in Iran on this 31st anniversary of Mullah rule, the initial proceedings for a friends divorce because the "other" woman wanted to prove she was right and did not care who she hurt (she was not right), important votes in DC and last day of a waiting contract. With great things that happen today there are also bad things to deal with. Everyday is like this except today is a bit on the extreme side.

This called for me to waste a little time and make a discovery or two in the process. Most people who do not live in the south or in a deep rural area will not understand the fascination of deep frying anything and everything. We deep fry twinkies, steak, turkey, any kind of vegetable, snicker bars and just about anything we can find. I am an Oklahoma boy at heart but I still do the strange thing of trying to eat a little healthy.


This brought me to the idea of trying to deep fry different kinds of fruit. I should warn you not to try this at home and leave it to the professionals.... I think I maybe the only Pro Fruit Fryer in the world so go ahead and try but be warned if you do you WILL burn your house down. This is how the experiment worked for me.


1) Do not use grapes, they explode and cause hot grease to go all over the place.


2) Avocado.... good but needs an extra punch.


3) Tomatoes are bad they just turn into goo and you have to change out the oil


4) Apples kind of work but really I was not to impressed.


5) The best? Canned pineapple dipped in flour first and after frying you take a little powdered sugar and instant coffee and sprinkle it on top. When you drop those rings in cooker the oil pops, liquid squirts and things turn brown but it did not explode.


Now that I have totally wasted your time on the intricacies of deep frying fruit it might be nice to do something completely worthless for at least a few minutes out of any stressful day. You will thank me later because I feel so much better myself after frying fruit.

Death Of A Friend

I was just notified about the death of a very close friend. Many people will know about him because I do mention him often. Reverend James was a black man who claimed me as his grandson, he was truly a bizarre individual who gave me insight when life was beating me down. I really do not want people to say they are sorry because the man lived one day short of forever and most of it was a happy life.

The thing that I loved about the man was he showed me what true love meant. When there was a person whom I loved that purposefully set out to hurt me he explained that true love will always be but that does not mean that those you love will always be a true love. He spoke in riddles and many times it took weeks to even grasp what he was saying but I always came out for the better after talking with him.

He was a black man who thought that the white man was cursed by God yet he also thought that even a white man could find the grace and understanding of God and be equal with all others. This has always caused problems with my white friends because they saw it as racist but I understood that he believed that under God's grace all men where equal.

When a person dies the immediate reaction is to say how much of a saint they were, he never claimed to be a saint and actually enjoyed telling people that he was scum but that at times he allowed God to use him in mighty ways. He spoke of King David and what a horrible man he was but when he allowed God to use him he accomplished great deeds. His goal for me was to get me to allow God to control my life more often then I controlled it.

I will miss the man, I do wonder if he now realizes that Jesus was a Jewish man and not an African....... the truth is I do not care because I have learned things from him that will last me my life time. Even more important I have learned things that I have passed down to my daughter and she will pass down to her children and they to their children. This man while not famous or well known or even well liked by many will make a difference for generations to come. He may not be remembered for years to come but his wisdom will last as long as there are people on this Earth.

Rest In Peace my dear friend, mentor and "black" grandfather........


I Carry You With Me is a music video that depicts the loss of a loved one. Everyone in life is faced with having to let go. Sometimes we all will carry that person in our hearts forever and this song depicts that deep special love that is felt for that special someone.

I Carry You With Me.... Ava Aston

Can't I Not Be More Clear

The last couple of days I have been communicating almost 100% via email, texting, IM and Facebook and today going back through the logs I realized that this wonderful digital age does not make us more detached from the "real" world but instead magnifies our inability to communicate clearly to our friends, family and business associates. Being unclear is nothing new it is only that today we can be unclear to so many people in such a short time.

Just out of sheer curiosity or maybe that I was to lazy to actually write something original I decided to take a few lines out of my electronic communications to show what I mean. I would like to say that if taken in complete context some of these would not be so odd but as we all know when we communicate by electronic form rarely do we go back to remind ourselves what the whole conversation was about. These lines were all typed by me and sent via email or IM in the last 24 hours and hopefully nobody will be offended that I am showing what I had to say to them.

1. Yes, I would like a big igloo but it does need a fire place.

2. She really does look just like Sandra Bullock if she only had dark hair, brown eyes and different skin color.

3. He said he wanted to try and sleep with another woman but he blames me that his wife wants to divorce him and I do not even know his wife.

4. Yes, it is hard for me to be a Jewish girl in America.

5. I am not sure that I could change into my wetsuit on the plane.

6. So.... you are telling me that rats are not good to eat but that mice are? and you want me over at what time for supper?

7. Yes I heard ***** died and yes I do believe you when you tell me how close you two were but did you know he died almost 5 years ago?

8. I really do believe that most women born in Mexico are considered Hispanic at least in most cases.

9. You want me in New York in 2 hours...... I am in the middle of nowhere, 3000 miles away and I doubt that I will make it to the interview on time. Do you think you could stall him for a couple of minutes?

10. I felt that to my core and you were not even here.

I know that taken out of context some of these seem unreal but the fact is if you look back through your old emails and such I am sure you will find that you are as strange as I.........

Beauty Against The Beast

This is a rant, buckle your seat belts and away we gooooo!


It is time to be honest with ourselves as Americans, parents, and citizens of humanity (or something like that or whatever Al Gore would say). We live in a world where the true beast of evil is dressed up to look good in makeup and pretty clothes and sold to us, to our children, and marketed as the American Dream to the rest of the world. Then we have patriots that have true beauty and talent who are ignored because they do not fit into the mold of .... I guess the slimy mold.


Once again, I was talking with Ava Aston, and realized that this woman was no Lady Gaga.  Ava is a woman that has talent to spare and does not need to do bizarre things to sell herself. Have you figured out yet that I am a HUGE fan, we are talking about admiring her even more so then I do Sandra Bullock.


Ava does have a bit of fame and deservedly so.  Here are the dry facts about the young lady. (Commercial Time) Read it and you will be as impressed as I am.


One of Ava's shining achievements was performing at the White House for the Pageant of Peace -the lighting of our Nations Christmas Tree. She won grand prize out of over 5000 entries in SAW's Mid-Atlantic International Song Contest with “I Carry You With Me”. Media Giant "Clear Channel" then chose Ava as one of 100 out of over 20,000 artists to be featured as a part of their National Breast Cancer Fundraiser.


Ava became Famecast.com’s first ever Pop-Fenom, where fans voted her videos to the top spot! Her Music Video's have been simultaneously ranked in the TOP 20 in the Pop Category on Musicnation.com. Along with several of her songs being chosen for Independent & Feature Film soundtracks, Ava has also acted in several film, TV, and commercial projects. So watch for her!


This is of course in-between her National Anthem appearances at Madison Square Garden, Shea Stadium, Giants Stadium &amp and more. She has been entrusted by many professional sports teams for important events such as "Greatest Day in Mets History Day" to perform her rendition of the National Anthem. Legendary baseball players such as Wille Mayes have been priviliged to hear Ava perform in their honor.



Ok, here is where it gets a bit tricky. We have our choices of what to do. We can either let our children, or at the very least our neighbor's kids, go nuts over what is pushed by the far, far, far left media crowd or we can
embrace one of our own. We can watch her video on youtube, buy her downloads, and purchase her CD. The best thing we can do right now is encourage those around us to listen to Ava. Your friends will thank you unless Perez Hilton and Michael Moore are personal friends.


I choose personally to pick the Beauty at every opportunity over the Beast.

I Carry You With Me

We The People

I Adore You


Nothing like spending some time talking about a wonderful and talented friend. I hope you will help me to let others know about her....... thanks for letting me rant about the Beast and rave about the Beauty  

I Should Have Called in Sick

I set out to make an entry everyday to this blog and today is the first time I ran into a "problem". I am as sick as a dog but I am soldiering on forward with this task at hand. Please realize that this will be more inane and worthless then normal but I did make the post.

I took some Drexoral to get rid of the symptoms and while the stuff works great it also has the adverse effect of making me "high". I really cannot tell if I feel like Simon J. Ritchie 30 years ago or if I feel like him today.
 (ok, strange pop culture reference, he was Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols known for his drug usage back in the late 70's and today, well he has been dead for around 30 years.)

I have not decided yet if I have the Swine Flu, the Avian Flu or SARS, I think I might just wait for Al Gore and the UN to announce a new deadly flu and claim I have that. I am pretty sure whatever it is I caught it because of Global Warming and all of the dead polar bears floating around in the waters where the Great Oklahoma Glacier use to be.

Days like today is when I really need a significant other, it is always much more fun to be sick and make people around you miserable as well. My daughter will not put up with it, my dog wont even cooperate and the guinea pig is still afraid of me. I think the guinea pig over heard me say I love bacon as long as it is not made of pork.

I know this has been the ramblings of a mind that would make Ozzy Osbourne sound sober but I did make the post for the day.

I will be using Yahoo Chat and if you want to add me my ID is fmcd2010@yahoo.com I will warn you though that for the next few days if we talk I may be a bit more honest then normal or a bit more insane..... I know, for me they are one and the same.

Things I Would Never Say!!!

Running around with girls on a Saturday doing what any normal guy would do. I then realized that I was actually saying things that I am sure sometime in my past I would have died if I knew I was to say them. They are not bad but just bizarre when looking at them as if I were some 18 year old. How could a "real" man actually utter some of these and not be shunned by the likes of Boy George for being to big of a sissy.

1. No, I like the bright pink one much better then this lighter pink one.

2. Do you make a lettuce salad that is diet and not just regular? Oh, I would also like a double dip hot Carmel sundae.

3. I would like a veggie burger with bacon..... Yes, I know that bacon is not a vegetable.

4. Ummm, I guess he might be cute.

5. No!!!, I will not ask him his name.

6. Please do not make me stand outside of the women's changing rooms for to long by myself.

7. Yes ma'am, I do have a reason for standing around the women's changing rooms for so long.

8. So, the Irish won the rugby game. (How did I run into the only woman who watched rugby in Oklahoma so she could spoil the game for me.}

9. Yes, we can eat there and yes I will ask the waiter to keep the deep fried chicken feet off our table.

10. That is one of my favorite Hannah Montana songs too.

When I felt like I had lost all of my manhood for the day I was able to gain it back with one sentence......

I have no problem with you liking any boy as long as I am able to kill him with my bare hands.


I do love Saturday afternoons, not quite what I thought they would be when I was younger but still very entertaining.

My 5 Worst Traits

I was up late again last night talking with a  new friend and in the middle of our conversation, I had to take my computer down to upgrade. While I was toiling away I started wondering what things would I want to hide from this person about myself. So, being the smart guy I am I decided to write down a list of what I perceived to be my baddest of bad traits and then air them publicly. It actually is a good thing to do (not necessarily showing them to the world but to make your own list).

1. I really do have a HUGE ego, so much as I honestly do not care what most people think of me. This is probably why I even write this blog and use so much honesty. I can stand in front of someone and be berated and it does not bother me one iota.

2. When I tell somebody something I assume they understood that what I said is exactly what I meant. This sounds like a good thing but I have really hurt loved ones to the core of their soul because most people use nuances to describe a feeling and I do not.

3. Many people I actually care about assume that my relationship with them is too business like.... the upside to this is that many business associates think that I have a real personal relationship with them and all I really care about is the contract. If I offer to help you in any way and I ask for nothing in return then understand that I count you as a true friend.

4. I over schedule to the point that I never hit target dates nor do I accomplish all meetings that are expected of me. This is a big problem for me and I really am trying to do better......:)

5. I am a political animal who always sees everything in black and white. The creation of this blog is one of my forms of rehabilitation forcing me to write about things outside of the political spectrum.

Ok, I spilled my guts and really I do not expect anyone to care about what I wrote but I do think it is a good idea to sit down and try to figure out what things are your worst traits. When you do you then will know what you need to work on. Yes, I know, most people would have come up with a completely different list of my problems but I am sticking to this one because I have a HUGE ego and I really do not care what you think.  :-)

My One True Love

Every man and woman on earth seem to be looking or claim to have found their one true love. I am one of the luckiest people on earth because I have already found someone that no matter what they say or what they do I will always be there for them.

I spent yesterday evening cooking garlic beef tips, chipotle green beans and of course a fantastic salad. We then went out for a walked in the snow under the moon light laughing, talking about the future and  everything that was important to us and even things that were quite mundane. When we arrived back at the house we sat around and talked about the weekend and what we planned to do and then to close the evening off we drank hot vanilla (something she and I created) and talked some more..

The truth is that I love this girl who is smart, athletic, pretty and just an all around great young lady. The thing I think is sad, while I am sitting here writing this, is I realize that many people should have this same relationship but they are busy only looking towards themselves. So many men do not even realize that their own daughters look to them to see what a man should be and how a man should treat a woman. It is never to early to start teaching a child what it means to have respect for ones self and for others.

In case you have not figured it out I am talking about my daughter. I want her to know what a man should be and how a man should treat her. She will someday get married and I want that guy to be the best man he can be for her and not just some yahoo who does not understand that my daughter or ANY woman deserves his respect. To ensure that my daughter knows what to look for in the future I have to set an example today of what a real man is.

For now, Alexis is my one true love and I want to live up to the standard she should expect..... Another sappy post but this has been on my mind for several hours now. I promise to work real hard and blow something up soon.....:)

My Valentine

Once again I am pondering the deep thoughts of what it means to exist in this world. I am a single Dad and my daughter is the love of my life but one day (maybe) in will walk the perfect woman (at least for me) who will most probably be smarter, stronger and more creative then I will ever hope to be.

Valentines is not a bad day and I actually look forward to it, I just do not have one this year but that is OK. I have been asking around about what would be the perfect Valentines day and I honestly think I have it figured out. Please remember this is coming from a guy that up till now has probably blown several hundred Valentine days and I am not really a real old guy yet. The scary thing about my new found wisdom is more guys hit the nail on the head then women sooooo take this info with caution.

Valentines Day should only be a reminder of what a man or a woman should be doing the rest of the year. It is not special in anyway except it renews the knowledge that flowers, candy and cards should not be given on only special days but any and every day that you want your loved one to know how you feel.

I realize I hit new levels of being a sap with this entry of my blog and probably will lose any chance I ever had with any woman who even hears about it but the fact is I have all of my adult life put Valentines day as a very special day when it is nothing more then just a reminder to show those around you that you love them.....but do it every day and not just once a year.

I am curious about what you think of the Valentines Day, embarrassed to say in public? then use the anonymous choice when you make a post.

The Perfect Woman!!!!!

Guys and I am assuming women think about what it would take for a person to be the perfect mate for them. I have thought about this over the last few weeks and came up with a list of my own. They are not necessarily in order of importance.

1 Honest 
2 Loyal
3 Communicates
4 Brain

These are probably what every person in the world would say if they could be honest. Looks are nice but not really that big of a deal in the long run.

So, as I am contemplating the deep thoughts of what would make a perfect woman and I received an email from one of my best friends. She forwarded me a list of things that she thought I might find interesting.

10 rules for men

1. It's important to have a woman who helps at home.

2. It's important to have a woman who cooks from time to time.

3. It's important to have a woman who keeps the house clean.

4. It's important to have a woman who has a job.

5. It's important to have a woman who likes you.

6. It's important to have a woman who can be your very best friend.

7. It's important to have a woman who can make you laugh.

8. It's important to have a woman who you can trust, who doesn't lie to you.

9. It's important to have a woman who is good in bed.

10. It's very, very important that these nine women do not know each other.


Sincerely,

Tiger Woods


Not sure Tiger is the guy to take advice from though........ I guess I will think on this a bit further.

The Curse

I was talking with a friend today and he said that he hoped his kid had a child as wild as his son was. I thought that sounded strange and asked him why. He responded that he would love for his child to understand what he had been put through raising him. I had a flash back to all of the stupid things I have done as a child but one stuck out big time, I do not know why but it did.

I thought back to when I was 10 and my younger brother was 6, we were both sick with the flu. My father was the preacher at our church so we NEVER missed unless we were just about dead. After much consultation and checking with neighbors my father left us as home with the understanding that the neighbor was coming over in one minute. Before he left my I had asked my dad if we could catch birds using a string tied to a stick and an old cardboard box. He laughed knowing that never works and said sure and he set the box up and took the string through the sliding door and said pull it when you have a bird.

We tried this right after they left and of course the bird flew away before the box came down. Now I did love my dad but I did not always listen to him. The neighbor had not shown up yet so I decided that a laundry basket would come down quicker because there would be less air pressure. So, we put seeds in the snow under the basket and tried again. This time we almost caught a bird but the basket came down to slow.

My brother pointed out that if we hurried we could but a brick on the basket and try one more time before the sitter came from next door. So we hunted down a brick and set the trap one more time. We waited impatiently for the birds knowing at any moment the sitter would be there. Soon a flock of birds were feasting on the seeds we had laid as a trap and POW!!! we pulled the string and had a half a dozen birds in under the basket.

This made me and my brother excited because now we could have 6 pet birds. We tried to quickly figure out how to get the birds in the house without letting them go. I decided we could slide a piece of cardboard under the basket and have a little cage for them. Now please understand, I was sick and 10 years old so I was not thinking clearly. I did not think of using the box we had originally use as a trap but instead my brother and I ran 2 blocks to get a box from out of a trash can behind a store. We ran barefooted through the snow not feeling the bite of the freezing snow because we had a flock of birds that were now ours.

We returned, no sitter yet, and pushed the cardboard under the basket and brought the screaming birds into our house, down the hall and into our bedroom. We waited for the birds to calm down and decided that we were now there owners and we should be allowed to pet them. We slowly removed the basket and as expected we now had a flock of birds flying in our room.

My brother and I decided we probably should go to bed and wait for the sitter (who never came). We talked trying to figure out if we should tell my dad that our room had 6 birds flying around in it or if we should just hope that when spring hit we could open the window and let them fly off on their own.

My father and mother were both great, we did get in trouble but they never cursed us with that old saying "I hope you have children just like you". I did ask him about it many years later, why had he not said that when so many other parents would say it. He looked at me with a straight face and said "I would never want to have grand kids that was as wild as you boys, I wanted to have normal grandchildren that I could take in public"..... was he joking?