Middle America's Worldview

I haven't posted in a couple of days. The family and I haven't been gettig to bed before 11 or 12 at night and we just seem to run, run run.

My wife had her 30th birthday party yesterday. I planned it on her and I was glad to see alot of her friends come over. The kids played and swam, ect. Her dad grilled all day and made enough to feed an army. Polish sausage, smoked sausage, steak, burgers, hot dogs, bratwurst, ham, pork chops, and more. It was a huge success. I put a canopy in the back yard with plenty of chairs and her mom brought over teather ball. It was the first time I ever played it and believe me, it was more difficult than it looked. I got bopped in the head twice and it was moving fast. For those like me who never played; Its a teather ball on a rope tied to one pole. Basically two people play and each try to hit the ball to get it to wrap the pole all the way. Each person is attempting to hit the ball in the opposite direction. I think I lost on every game but one, but it was a blast.

I was thinking about something this weekend. Here is the scenario, a person who loves his house is getting new carpet. Now when someone knows he/she is getting new carpet, wouldn't they be less worry of stains or a tear in it? Think about it, you are getting brand new carpet in one week and your kid (or someone else) spills something on it. You don't fret because you think 'Oh well, I am getting new carpet anyway, it's not such a big deal'. So you cover the bad stain with a rug or move furninture till the new carpet comes in. Keep that in mind. Now a person's life expectancy is what, 70 at best, normally around 60? Ok, let's say 70. If you think in 70 years equals 70 days. So let's say 70 days you will get new carpet. You know at first your going to take care of that carpet the first part of those 70 days. SO the first 35 days, you take care of this carpet then as you get toward the end you get a little less caring. A little blemish here, a little red stain there, the carpet gets a less newness on them. Do you see where I am going? If a Christian believes in the Bible literally, and asked Jesus to take their sins, accepting Him as their saviour, the christian would believe he/she was going to receive eternal life, thus a new body. So why is the christian afraid of what his/her body is looking like or the toll on it when they know they will be getting a new body. Christ said, our lives were but a shadow, basically this is nothing. But we tend to dwell too much on this body and life than the new one to come.
I didn't intend to really preach, but I couldn't help but think about this scenario during the weekend.

On a less deep discussion, I can't wait till DeadZone tonight. I missed most of it last weekend.

I am starting to sound either like a repeater or a whiner. But today at work was a booger. I again started before 8 a.m. but this time actually got out around 5:20 p.m. I had a conference call this morning that was, putting it mildly, not pretty. The facility is freaking because we have continued issues on this lab upgrade. Not the fact we just got Micro's to post and was up till nearly 6 p.m. doing it. So with grace, I said we will work on the following a, b, c. So without further ado, after the call I called up Birava, (she works at the vendor((she and I are the one working on the interfaces))) and we start again. We two seem to be bonding after busting our asses together last week and this week. I have to admit she is new in her job as I am still kind of new in this lab interface. So it's been an education for both of us.

Anyway, we humped it working on the ORM's (orders from lab to the ordering system) issue. Seems that when they order, irregardless, it shows a time of 0000. Well we started to investigate this and low behold, this is happening on all of the facilities that was upgraded to the new lab system. Hell, it’s been a problem for the past 5 facilities and no-one even said anything. Grr, so we fix it right before 2 p.m. (our next big meeting for an update), it was drama again. That's why I asked is it already 2 p.m.? That meeting was hell compared to the mornings call. She listed 3 issues remaining and wanted to hold off the live (bringing up the new lab system) next Tuesday. Well that didn't fly. The Lab Vendor already had 7 people flying out there for next weeks live and you know the tickets are non-reimbursable. So the facility was basically asked to hold off till tomorrow morning seeing how far we get today.

I ended up calling the same person at the facility to assist and we actually managed to correct all 3 issues remaining. Fortunately she commented on feeling better by the end of the day. We tested and fixed all we could with her, for the remaining time we had. Thus we were able to quit around 5:20 p.m.

After this I was able to eat. My lovely wife had supper waiting. Her day was hell as well. She had to run to and fro and ended up taking our son to therapy (as opposed to me), thus missing an appointment. Now she will have to keep it tomorrow and I have to take our son. But that's her, she's a giver.

My kiddos had to be at T-ball at 7 p.m for pictures. Only 2 more games to go. So they took their pictures and then the game at 8 p.m. With all the rain it was a muddy mess out there.

I didn’t get to see the game but my wife said it was good. My son made it all the way home. I think this was the only time, cool.
Once they came home, we through them in showers, pajamas and into bed with a movie.

Now its 11 p.m. and I have to go watch Dead Zone since I missed it Sunday. : )
Another late night. Bummer

Just another manic Monday is right. Started work this morning before 8 a.m., didn't leave till nearly 6 p.m. I barely had time to mute my person on the phone while I had to go pee.

We have a live scheduled (hospital going up on a newer version of Lab system) next Monday. We been busting our butt's testing and trying to get this up and running. We finally been able to get the Micro's to display in the order screen. Man it was a booger. I will be glad when this live is over.

Kelli didn’t have much of a better one; she had to watch our 2 kids, plus our friends 2 kids most of the day after Vacation Bible School. In addition she taught Pre-K Vacation Bible School. I hadn’t had much time to talk to her but she said there were 2 devil spawned children in her class already. : )

I didn't get into bed last night till 1 a.m. We made it to bed 15 minutes till midnight. I missed DeadZone! Ahh man, I caught the last 15 minutes of it by luck. I will try to watch the repeat Tuesday at 11 p.m. (Yes, I checked out TV Guide.Com for it. I see next Sunday they will spill the beans on his son. I tell you Nixon; I bet she is pregnant again.

Since I couldn’t get to sleep at midnight and it was too late to take Tylenol p.m.'s : ( I found Farscape on Scifi. So I got to watch Farscape, which it has been a long time, so that was cool.

The kids slept in the living room last night, around 12:30 a.m. (during a commercial) I went to check on them and my son was on the floor. I guess he fell off the couch. I put him on the smaller one.

I called my parents tonight and both were in a weird mood. I called my Dad and his mood was 'why don't you come over and visit me sometimes.' This from the guy that's been to my house maybe 5 times in the last 6 months. Seems he went to my brother’s house on a cookout and no-one to talk too. My brother kept himself busy and didn’t have time to converse.

My mom's deal was different. I called and talked to her and then she called me back about 30 minutes later. I guess she was lonely. I don't know. I don't have much of a relationship with them since I have a family of my own. It may sound crude. But realistically, if I don't call them, I wouldn’t have much contact from them, and it's not like we live that far apart either.

My poor wife. She has to work this evening. Fortunately, she can do alot of her paralegal work here at home, in the office. But it's a shame to be nearly 9 p.m. and non-stop.

For those thinking 'get off your butt and help!' I already asked. I don't have a clue of that stuff and I managed to vacuum, clean the remaining of the house.
: )

Is it nearly 11 p.m. Sunday night yet? Great Scott where did the weekend go?

We jumped into Church this morning, being Sunday. I go to a Men’s Sunday School Class and somehow the hour was spent on the influence of the Muslim religion across the world in addition to our lesson.

Received a major blessing from our Church today, in which I will dedicate a post for it.

After Church, we ran to my wife’s parent’s house to help move some furniture. When we get there we ate lunch and I ended up helping put in a floor. Has anyone seen these ‘click and lock’ wooden floors? Basically you have a tongue on one end and a groove on the other. You place them in a 45 degree angle and lock the wood together. There are no seams to it. It went pretty quick after we got past the door hinge ECT. I had to bring the skill saw to do some trimming on the edges.

We also moved the furniture from one house to the other ECT. As we finished up my wife’s Brother came with a friend and fought with her mom. It boiled down to she been asking him to put up a ceiling fan on the same room we did the floor and he did not want to do it. You have to know the history and I am not getting into it now. So I started on the fan and he and his buddy was finishing it up when Kelli, kids and I split. We ran to the house, I showered while she got the kids ready and we ran back to Church. This next week is Vacation Bible School here and my wife is teaching the Pre-K. We were going to have a baptism but the lady did not make it in. So everyone worked on putting all the rooms together for the week. I was amazed how this Church went all out on Vacation Bible School.

We got home nearly 8 p.m. and bathed the kids, and let them do a sleepover in the living room. They crashed watching ‘Kim Possible A sitch in time’ again. We are trying to catch up on laundry and some minimal cleaning up since we seem to run all weekend.

So it’s now 11:30 p.m. and we are about to hit the bed since we start all over again tomorrow. Anyone reading this and is a dad, Happy Fathers Day.

Gotta at least tell you, the kids made me some homemade coupons. I received a coupon for a hug, a kiss, and to listen to my songs in the car. heh heh I also received the book 'The Purpose driven Life' by Rick Warren. I been wanting to read it because everyone that had or in the process said it was a really good book.

Saturday we had a cookout here at home for Fathers day and asked both my parents, brother, friends, and wife’s parents, aunt, over. We expected around 12 people. For the morning, we got up and I managed to clean the bathrooms, vacuum/shampoo the carpets, and clean the floor. Put a tent up in the back yard, mowed the backyard (it was too wet but had to be done) but left the front untouched. I was trying to get everything ready to grill. We then went to T-ball prior to noon. The kids did well, in fact all of them. I played dugout dad. Amazing the hour went by quick when you keep the batting line in order and continue to tell 14 kids whose next up.

When we started back I noticed the black clouds coming our way and commented it might rain.

Headed home and started to grill. As I get started it started to splatter here and there with rain. Crap, got to move the grill and my stuff from the back to the garage. I get everything moved in and my father-in-law came up to help get the cooking started, and the rain starts coming in pretty good.

We cook regardless but during the cooking the rain becomes a storm and the streets look like a river. I had to literally move the grill and tables in a little because the wind was blowing so hard as to hit us with the rain. My family calls to cancel because they said it’s pissing and pouring and flooding outside where they are (parents are separated and two different locations). My brother ended up a no call/no show. My wife’s mom and aunt made it in, rain and all.

So we still had a good feast, bratwurst, polish and Italian sausage, 7 layer salad, spaghetti salad, hamburgers, hotdogs, corn on the cob and vegetables that was marinated in Italian dressing all night. I stuffed myself.

The rain finally stopped and Noah parked the ark. I find out today (Sunday) we had 3.5 to 4 inches in that 2 hour downpour.

The kids hadn’t been able to spend the night with their Nana and Papa so we let them go. I asked my wife what she wanted to do tonight (it’s nearly 7 now) since we hadn't expected a night alone. 'I don't know, rest and relax.' was the answer. So I ran to the movie place to rent a couple of movies. We watched '50 first dates', with Drew Barrymore and Adam Sander, and then I watched 'Spartan', with Val Kilmer. Both ended up better than I thought they would be.

After that, we pretty much crashed. Real exciting, huh? But it was nice to be able to relax and simply watch a movie together.

Great Scott, I finally figured it out! Man, it feels good. Yes, I am easy to please. Such small trivial things make me excited!

Senate Reportedly Sets Mid-July Vote on FMA
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor
June 16, 2004

(CNSNews.com) - It's not yet official, but press reports said the U.S. Senate is moving toward a July vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment.

Roll Call, a newspaper covering Capitol Hill, said the vote would happen in mid-July, just before the start of Democratic National Convention in Boston, Mass., where homosexual marriage is now legal.

The newspaper quoted Sen. Rick Santorum, the Republican Conference chairman, as saying that Republican leaders want a July vote, although they have not yet set a specific date.

American Values President Gary Bauer reportedly said the vote would happen on July 15. "We have one month to flood congressional offices with phone calls, letters and e-mails," WorldNetDaily quoted Bauer as saying.

In a press release dated Wednesday, the Alliance for Marriage said it "welcomed the announcement of a pending Senate vote" on the Federal Marriage Amendment in July.

"This marks the beginning of a democratic debate that the Alliance for Marriage hoped to create when we drafted the marriage amendment," said Matt Daniels, AFM president.

The group said its goal is to allow the critical issue of marriage ito be resolved democratically, rather than through the courts.

"Most Americans believe that gays and lesbians have a right to live as they choose. But they don't believe they have a right to redefine marriage for our entire society," said Daniels. "Americans want our laws to send a positive message to children about marriage, family and their future."

Daniels said a constitutional fix is necessary to solve the problems created by activist judges and agenda-driven lawsuits.

"AFM's marriage amendment has been introduced with bi-partisan sponsorship in two successive sessions of Congress in order to protect the common sense view of marriage shared by the vast majority of Americans of every race, color and creed."

AFM said its Federal Marriage Amendment will protect marriage, while leaving the issue of benefits to the states.

"AFM believes this centrist approach embodied in our amendment offers hope of a democratic resolution to a debate that has been forced on the American people by the courts."

The Federal Marriage Amendment reads, "Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union between a man and a woman. Neither this constitution or the constitution of any state, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups"

Some conservative groups reject the Federal Marriage Amendment as currently written. Concerned Women for America says it's important to do more than preserve marriage "in name only."

The group says same-sex partnerships should not be afforded the same benefits as married couples are.

"CWA opposes the Federal Marriage Amendment because it would not prevent state legislatures from recognizing and benefiting civil unions and other such relationships, which would result in legalized counterfeit marriage," the group's website says.
=====================================================================================
Senate To Vote On Federal Marriage Amendment July 15
Democrats Support Homosexual Marriage, Vow To Kill Amendment
Help send 1,000,000 letters of support for President Bush's efforts!


The U.S. Senate will vote on The Federal Marriage Amendment on or about July 15. I urge you to respond to the call of President Bush for support by helping send one million letters to the Senate. This will be the most letters ever received by the Senate on any issue.

Democratic leaders in the Senate, including Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschale and Senators Charles Schumer (NY), Barbara Boxer (CA), and Debbie Stabenow (MI) have promised homosexual leaders they will kill the amendment. Their action would allow one liberal, activist Federal judge to overturn all marriage laws and make homosexual marriage legal in all 50 states.

Some have referred to this as the most important vote in the history of our nation. If the homosexual activists and the Senate Democrats are successful, homosexual marriage will radically reshape our society. They will force acceptance of their lifestyle on the rest of society.

TIME FOR ACTION

Click here to send an e-mail to your Senators. This is very important. It is time for action if we want to keep marriage legal only between one man and one woman. Time is short. July 15 is the date for the vote.

We cannot secure those one million letters of support for President Bush without your help. PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO EVERY PERSON ON YOUR E-MAIL LIST. We must expand our base of support to reach our goal!

After forwarding to your e-mail list, please print this letter and distribute to your Sunday school class, church, clubs, etc. They can participate by visiting www.afa.net. Help secure the one million letters!

Thanks for responding to President Bush's call for support.

Send your letter today!

Sincerely,

Don

Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman
American Family Association

Amazing how your spouse can make it all better. See today is also my Birthday and as I stated earlier, she made a great dinner. Well, she acquired for me the 3rd Lord of the Rings on DVD, Return of the King. So guess what I am watching tonight?

On top of that, she made a really delicious cake. It was better than sex cake, but with hardly no fat. Talk about moist and good. Mmm mmm

Yeah, she made it all better.

Man, another Monday today, even if it was a Wed.. It started out with my wife unable to find her cell phone. She then took the 4 kids ( were watching 2 of them during the day ((nearly 6:30 p.m. and they are still here)) for the next couple of weeks). She calls me asking for a forgotten check here,from another mom. I said I would just take it there ( Basketball camp ). Well, after I spent 20 minutes trying to find the keys, I call her back. But she has my cell phone, and I cant remember my cell phone number. No I don't call myself very often. I finally find the number in my PDA. I call her and guess what, yep, she has both sets of keys.

So she comes back home. During the time, I keep calling her cell phone to hear it ring. You would never guess where I found it, in the trunk of the car. Don't ask.
So she gets back, gets the check, cell phone, ect. and heads back to camp. I get back to work. I already had an 8 oclock conference call that lasted for an hour. I am on support this week, so that means any issues coming up during the day comes to me. Fortunately that part was quite. I find out, I made a change to an interface, in production ie immediate effect, last night and my correction did not take place. Thus the on-call person got called at 1 a.m. and she wasnt happy, who happens to be my supervisor. Its just 9:10 a.m.

It spirals from there. I worked on a interface testing it to go live in less than 2 weeks. Total frustration, in which I won't go into details. Let it just be known it sucks ok. I can't make the changes I need to because some Nimrod put the same transactions I need to change in live. So any changes I make will effect what is currently being used. Hence last nights episode.

I did manage to get out by 5 p.m., just one hour after I should be able to. I then vacuumed and put away clothes. My wife, bless her heart, made a great dinner. We had a big baked potatoe, steak smothered with mushrooms and vegetables.

I know her day was no better. She had to deal with the 4 kids, all day running to and fro. It's now 6:30 p.m. and I don't foresee the parents till a little after 7 p.m. So the evening is pretty much shot.

The rain finally quite and the sun is out, going down now. The grass is drenched and looks like it grew 3 inches today alone.

Well it's already Wed., use to be called hump day. Last night the kids played their T-ball game, only 3 more to go. It was an 8 oclock game and I couldnt help but notice everyone looking at their watches 20 minutes prior of end game. The game last for 1 hour. Fortunately this is during Summer but it's taking a toll. The kids are still sleeping and it's nearly 8 a.m. Normally they would be up by 6:30 easily.

Had to take the trash out this morning and it's pouring down rain here. A couple of mothers, my wife included, was hoping the T-ball game would be rained out but it waited till early morning. Now it looks like a typhoon out there. I showered,ect already and after taking the trash out had to redress, being drenched. Oh well.

I appreciate everyone's feedback on the blog, it's nice to know I am not the only one insane. Yes, I am drinking my coffee already. And yes, yesterday, I continued to pee my brains out. If nothing else, my kidneys are getting a good cleansing.

Yesterday at work, it seemed like another Monday. Man it was crazy, I couldnt leave till after 6 p.m., starting at 8. It made for a long day but it went by pretty fast, due to the busyness.

Well it's Tuesday morning already and Monday wasn't too bad. Kelli (my beautiful wife) is watching a friends kids this next two weeks. So we have 4 in our house. This week is basketball camp that takes up 9 to 12 for these 5 days. Next week we have Vacation Bible School that will take up 8:30 to 12. This is one of the reasons Kelli is watching the other two kids. July schedule is crazy, I will have to post it separately.

Yesterday we started a diet. It actually isnt quote unquote a diet, rather watch what we eat and drink lots of water. I drunk 8 bottles of those bottle waters. Let me tell you, I thought I pee'd my brains out. Lucky I work at home and the bathroom is close. Supposedly, by drinking a certain amount of water (dependant upon your weight) it helps you loose your weight. I guess we will see, if I can hold on too it.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like I am obese, but I could lose some. I am 5'9", 180 pounds. So I am drinking my coffee and will hit water shortly. Gotta have the coffee first though. I drink Folgers, dark, black.

I also tried Pepsi Free this weekend. It wasn't bad. I ended up buying a six pack. I have been an avid Pepsi drinker for as long as I can recall. Supposedly this has the same taste with half the sugar. It wasnt bad tasting, unlike those diet colas I tried. I can just taste that carcinogenic sacharrin in those (shudders).

Your probably reading this and thinking, this guys babbling but heh, I took tylenol PM last night to get some sleep and just drinking my coffee. No on-call this week! yeah !

On Flag Day, Supreme Court Rejects Pledge Case
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor
June 14, 2004

(2nd Add: Includes comments by the Catholic League and Focus on the Family.)

(CNSNews.com) - It is okay for students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court Monday dismissed the case brought by atheist Michael Newdow.

The justices decided that Newdow lacked the legal standing to challenge the constitutionality of the Pledge, apparently since he does not have custody of his daughter.

Newdow sued the Elk Grove (Calif.) Unified School District on behalf of his daughter, saying she should not be forced to invoke God's name while reciting the Pledge at school.

Two years ago, a federal appeals court in San Francisco agreed with Newdow that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools was an unconstitutional "endorsement of religion" because of the phrase "one nation under God."

Writing for the three-judge panel, Judge Alfred T. Goodwin said, "A profession that we are a nation 'under God' is identical, for Establishment Clause purposes, to a profession that we are a nation 'under Jesus,' a nation 'under Vishnu,' a nation 'under Zeus,' or a nation 'under no god,' because none of these professions can be neutral with respect to religion."

By dismissing the appeal on a technicality, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday disappointed some Americans who hoped for a definitive ruling.

"The Supreme Court's decision to reverse the 9th Circuit and uphold our national Pledge of Allegiance complete with the phrase 'one Nation under God' is a victory for common sense," said the Center for Individual Freedom. "Nevertheless, the Court's decision to turn back the challenge to the Pledge on technical grounds is disappointing given numerous justices' consistent approval of references to our nation's shared religious heritage and history."

The Center for Individual Freedom filed a brief with the Supreme Court arguing that the words 'one Nation under God' do not violate the Establishment Clause. The group argued that the Founding Fathers did not intend for the First Amendment to discriminate against religion.

"It was designed to ensure citizens could celebrate and practice their religion freely," the group said in a press release. "The Court should have taken this opportunity to reiterate what we all know to be true -- a public mention of the word 'God' does not violate the Constitution."

The Center for Individual Freedom calls it "appropriate and symbolic" that the Supreme Court dismissed the case on Flag Day, adding, "We just wish that the Court would have been more emphatic in its pronouncement."

The American Center for Law and Justice said the Supreme Court was right to dismiss Newdow's lawsuit.

"While the court did not address the merits of the case, it is clear that the Pledge of Allegiance and the words 'under God' can continue to be recited by students across America," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the ACLJ, which also filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case.

"By dismissing this case and removing the appeals court decision, the Supreme Court has removed a dark cloud that has been hanging over one of the nation's most important and cherished traditions -- the ability of students across the nation to acknowledge the fact that our freedoms in this country come from God, not government."

Sekulow said it doesn't matter that the Supreme Court did not address the merits of the case: "The fact is the legally flawed decision of the appeals court is removed and students across America can begin the new school year in the fall by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance including the phrase 'under God.'

"The high court had several ways it could have disposed of this troubling decision and we're delighted that the suit has been dismissed and the Pledge remains intact."

"America's founders recognized that our rights, as the Declaration of Independence states, are 'endowed by the Creator.' In fact, they staked their 'lives, [their] fortunes and their sacred honor' on that truth," said John H. Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute.

"We had hoped that the Court would set the record straight once and for all by confirming the unequivocal affirmation of thirteen Supreme Court Justices across four decades that state-led recitation of 'under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance does not violate the Establishment Clause," he said.

"While we are pleased that this time-honored tradition can continue, The Rutherford Institute remains committed to standing in defense of the constitutionality of this practice should any future challenges arise," Whitehead said.

"It is too bad that the substantive issue of whether recitations of the Pledge in school are legal wasn't addressed. It is regrettable only because there is a concerted effort in this country, led by organizations that are openly hostile to religion, to eliminate all public vestiges of our religious heritage," said Catholic League President William Donohue.

"This movement, which is at root totalitarian, seeks to impose a radical secular agenda on all Americans. It must be stopped dead in its tracks if religious liberty is to survive," Donohue. "This is not a good day for the radical secularists. Which is why it is such a good day for everyone else."

"Yet again, a ruling of the 9th Circuit - the most overturned circuit court in the nation - has been voided," said Focus on the Family Chairman Dr. James C. Dobson.

"However, the Supreme Court does not emerge from this case the defender of America's moral and Christian heritage - in fact, it showed a lack of principle that is truly appalling," said Dobson.

"Instead of settling this question once and for all, the Court has left the nation to wonder if God's name will be found unconstitutional if another challenge is brought in a procedurally correct fashion," he said.

"By refusing to rule on the substance of the case, the Supreme Court has left the door open for additional challenges to our nation's godly foundation - one which is reflected on our currency, in our government buildings - including the Supreme Court's own chamber - and in the oaths we take," Dobson added.

Man, the show was cool. Looks like this season will be the season of drawing the lines. Everyone seems to be making a choice on whom to stand by.

Can't wait to see next weeks episode of Johnny's accident. Also looks like the blonde chick is in it for awhile on the season. She will be Johnnys new babe. I am also glad to see Walt taking a stand on Sarah, make a decision. Too bad the kids in the middle.

For those not watching the show, you missing out. Looks like this season the plots are a bit more complicated and that, too me, is good.

Another factually intersting email I received.
-------------
BBBSA's Inclusion of Homosexuals Causes Insurance Woes

By AFA Journal
June 10, 2004

(AgapePress) - One of the nation's largest mentoring organizations is
discovering that some of its chapters are having trouble getting liability
insurance because they allow homosexuals to be mentors for kids.

According to Family News in Focus, several chapters of Big Brothers Big
Sisters of America (BBBSA) may be forced to shut down because insurance
companies are charging higher premiums or even refusing to write policies
because of the "gay" mentors.

In 2002, BBBSA began requiring its chapters to allow open homosexuals to
serve as mentors for children participating in its programs. That policy --
especially in light of the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal -- has led to
a hesitancy on the part of some insurers to do business as usual with BBBSA..

Joan McPheron, a director for one BBBSA chapter, told Family News, "Of
course, bottom line, the homosexual issue does come into play. Because we're
working with kids ... we're dealing with possible abuse issues. [Insurers]
recommend at least a million dollars to two million dollars coverage."

Rob Paris, who is a risk management specialist, said, "When you put a child
with a known homosexual as a mentor, that would be [an additional] risk
factor that the insurance company would take into consideration."

Paris said some insurance companies will not insure the chapters at any
price because of the homosexual factor.

This article appeared in the June 2004 issue of AFA Journal, a monthly
publication of the American Family Association.
© 2004 AgapePress all rights reserved.

For Agape Press info. contact
editor@agapepress.org

I received this via email and found it interesting. So I thought to post in my blog.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gay And Lesbian Medical Association Lists Homosexual Ailments
Date: Thursday, August 08 @ 20:42:30 CDT
Topic: Diseases

The Gay And Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA) has just published a list of diseases and social pathologies that afflict those who engage in homosexual conduct.

According to the Gay And Lesbian Medical Association, men and women who engage in homosexual behaviors are at greater risk of a series of diseases and mental problems than are heterosexuals. These risks include: HIV/AIDS; substance abuse; depression/anxiety; STDs; prostate/testicular/colon cancer; alcohol and tobacco abuse; gynecological cancer; domestic violence; heart problems; osteoporosis; breast cancer and more.

Instead of discouraging these behaviors, however, the GLMA simply encourages health care providers to be aware of these diseases, addictions, and mental health problems.

If your school is pushing the homosexual agenda, school officials may wish to read about the dangerous health consequences of promoting sodomy among teenagers. GLMA has published reports on homosexual males and females. To access this information, go to: http://www.glma.org.

Read TVC's Special Report on homosexual diseases

This article comes from Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org

The URL for this story is:
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=377

Survived the day.

The kids did great at T-ball. One kid, on the opposite team, actually did a 3 play. He caught the ball, tagged two out. wow, these are 5-6 year olds. Then our side turned around and made 3 outs with no one coming home. "Is that our team?" I heard a mom asked.


We also made it through the first part of the first Birthday then the full second one. There were 2 at the same time. The first one at 4 then the second at 4:30. We went to the first one for 20-30 minutes. This made the birthday boys mom happy and the kids got to play together for a bit. We then proceeded to the second one and the kids got to play in a pool, played limbo and hit a penyata. The thing had to be made of iron. There were about 13 kids and each had first 2 hits a piece, then 3,4,5 hits a piece in turn. The thing didnt bust. 2 moms finally beat the hell out of it and it cracked open.

One thing that did disturb me though. The group of the second party ( hosts friends ) were pretty much too themselves. Kelli and I basically stood together enjoying the kids playing and one couple actually attempted a discussion. The host were fine and they also discussed but I could not help notice the other 3 couples staying to their group. Anyway, my wife said remind me to tell you the story of that one. Seems that these 2 particular couples wanted to have a baby at the same time. So in doing so, unfortunately one had miscarriaged, so the other mom-to-be had evidently 'taken pills' so she in turn miscarriaged. I couldnt believe it. Then I was told this occured 3 times. Finally both had kids. I was pretty much disgusted with that thought.

But all in all, the kids enjoyed it and that's what counts. I plan to watch my Quantum Leap tonight and we have Church tomorrow. My wife is doing her womans sunday school and she allowed me to read it. I was very impressed. I told her it was very well done.

Oh and we plan on starting a diet Monday. She has been on and off one and has done extremely well. I on the other hand have always said, I need to. Well, I am actually going to go the mile and work with her on this turn. So for tonight and tommorrow I am stuffing the pepsi and doritas, but Monday brings showtime.

I can't believe it's already Saturday, where did the week go? I got up early to mow the yard ( mine and my neighbors since she has moved off and continue to try to sell her house ). I was able to get hers done as well as my front and sides. I still need to do the back, but I was already sweating profusely by the end and it wasnt even 9 a.m.. Man, its already hot.

The kids have T-ball game at noon and a birthday party to go to around 4:30 this evening, so the day is already shot. I did manage to get some corner shelves up for my wife, Bob Villa I am not, but they did remain level.

Yes, I am drying our last load of clothes, run a load of dishes and managed to vacuum the house. So all in all I did get some stuff done this morning.

I haven't had a chance to watch my Quantum Leap yet. I fell out last night after watching G4, a gamers review on tech tv. I did see one part, a behind the scenses of Quantum Leap yesterday while I was folding clothes.

My wife told me she seen Quantum Leap at Walmart for 50 bucks. So I did manage to find it pretty cheap at Target.

A Picture of the Arch from our hotel room we stayed. 

Above is a picture I snapped with the Digital from our 5th floor room we stayed.

A picture from the 'Precious Moments Chapel' 

Here is a picture I took of a wall painting within the Precious Moments Chapel. We stopped there on the way to St. Louis. The chapel wasn't really that large but the pictures were truly beautiful.

Man, it was nice in my own bed last night. I made the kids sleep in their own bed as well. They wanted a sleepover in the living room but I said nada, considering it was already after 10 p.m.

I asked them this morning and they seem to sleep good as well. I think I will try to go watch shrek 2 with them today. Kelli (wife) has to go into work for some time today, I personally dare not even look at my buisiness email yet, as I will feel like I will have to do work. So rather than have the feeling we are home, ok vacation is over, I am going to try to keep us going on the good times. Reality is all too near in the future, back to the ball and grime, penny pinching, you get the drill.

I checked Yahoo on Shrek 2 reviews and see that most state the story was half way done as the first, but I think the kids will love it anyway.

I still havent had a chance to check out Quantum Leap. I will probably watch that tonight when everyone else crashes. Currently catching up on Laundry from the trip. We pretty much have everything else put away. Since we cleaned the house real good prior of leaving for the trip, we didnt have a messy house to come home to, which was nice.

We will also get our dogs back today. Our Aunt babysitted them while we were away.

Better go fix some breakfast, my son already is watching the DinoThunder PowerRanger dvd again.

Finally home and glad of it. The trip was fast and furious but we were able to do alot of things. We seen the Arch, Zoo, Malls, ect. I was also impressed with the little things on the way, such as the beautiful scene of trees and mountains. It was a nice drive, long but nice.
After we left St. Louis this morning we stopped again in Springville (mid-way point) and found a 'An American Pizza Place', I think. It was a happening place, we ate the buffet and played the games. It made a nice break from the drive and then we pushed on. So now its 11 p.m. here and by the Grace of God no wrecks, accidents, suicide bombers, ect.

I had to say it. Quantum Leap got my money. I hit a Target here in St. Louis and they had the Quantum Leap first season DVD set. I couldnt restrain myself. I had to have it. It was 39.99, more than I normally spend on anything but I kept saying to myself ' I am on vacation, I am on vacation.' heh heh The mantra helped. I also ended up buying my daughter the 'Kim Possible, A stitch in Time' dvd. I with them love to watch Kim Possible. We hit the zoo today and was able to see a real naked mole rat. : )

Anyway, Sam Goodys in the mall wanted Quantum Leap for 59.99 so that helped me a little bit in my spending. I am on vacation, I am on vacation.....

Ahh, I was able to see The Deadzone on USA. The premier was good. Looks like they shifted his psychic ability on hyper-drive. Now he is losing his own memories and time as he views the dreaded future. Man, it was good. But it looks like a two parter. The next one will be the followup of this one. Can't wait to see it.

Quantum Leap on DVD ! I couldn't believe it. The first season of Quantum Leap starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell is now on DVD. Man, I grew up with this show! I have added it on my list of interest. Now I am torned which to buy, the second season of The Dead Zone or the 1st season of Quantum Leap. grrr. Too many DVD's are coming out. A guy doesnt have enough money to keep up with them. I stil haven't bought any Farscape DVD's either and loved that show. Those are too expensive for me. But Quantum Leap and Deadzone, I can probably muster up for. : )

Never heard of Quantum Leap? The Scifi link is here. You can check it out.

Vacation finally here. We left Sunday morning and drove to Springfield, MO. first, half-way to St. Louis.
On the way we stopped at 'Precious Moments Chapel' and took the free tour. It was a good stop and let us stretch our legs. The Chapel was immaculate. Not very big but the paintings were unbelievably beautifull. It was definitely off the beaten path but it was a nice place.

We also were on the look out for cops. Can't help it, driving for so long on these kind of trip. I rarely seen one, unless he had some poor slob over on the road. We passed one poor soul and noticed his buddy was also ahead on the side of the road waiting for him. The truck then later on down the road zoomed passed us, evidently not learning his lesson. "Nuts" My wife noticed it was the same truck that was just getting a ticket then I noticed his bumper sticker and understood why. The poor soul was an idiot and crazy driver. The bumper sticker? " Vote for Kerry "

We stayed over at a hotel while we checked some of the stores there. The kids was able to play in the pool for a little bit that night. I visited the 'Bass Pro Shop'. I haven't fished nor hunted in years but we were told we had to check it out. It was really cool. They had everything imaginable in there. All forms of stuffed animals mounted, including a large bear you could take a picture with. A stream literally ran through the store with live fish, ducks ect. Nothing like I expected. The place was HUGE. We had to hit a Target and ate at Ruby Tuesday's since we don't have that restruant around our place.

The next morning we hit the road early and drove on into St. Louis. It's the first time any of my family been here, so were all psyched. I had to come through the airport on the way to Pennsylvania a couple of times , but that doesnt count. We found the hotel and were meeting some friends here as well. They drove in from up north so were looking forward to it. I personally just enjoy being away from work and house.

We plan to see the arch tomorrow and go up into it. We have a pretty good view of the arch from our 5th floor and the hotel is nice. I will try to post a pic or two of it. I plan to take alot of digital pics as I have a 64 mg card and my PC. So I can continue to download and clean my card througout these days of vacation. Its 9:17 p.m. and the wife and kids are already out. The kids played hard and wore us out. heh heh

Since the kids had the sleep over last night most were cranky this morning. As I stated in a previous post my wife kept entertaining them till the parents came. Amazing the attention span of kids now-a-days are about the size of nats.

The last parent picked the last kid up around 9:30 a.m. and stayed around for about 40 minutes. Once she split, while her child was whining about the shoes not being comfortable, we made a list for me to run errands. I had to take a couple things back from Walgreens and Walmart plus pick up some last minute items.

We managed to keep the kids awake till early evening and we all went to bed early. I took some Nyquil which kicked my butt. I was out before 9 p.m. The kids were out about 6 minutes after they hit the bed which was actually a few before 8 p.m.

It just hit 1 a.m. here and I am finished with my on-call phone call for the night. The new hospital OPUS ( a operating vendor ) was down and finally came up and operational. My on-call ends in the morning, about 8 hours from now. Man I can't wait. I been on-call since last Saturday and I am ready to give it to someone else. I also start vacation as of Sunday morning as well. Technically its Monday, but since I am off call Sunday, I am calling it then.

While I was waiting for OPUS to call me back (after I paged them ) initially, I found myself reading other people blogs again. I guess I am officially hooked on other peoples lives. Geez, I thought my wife was bad watching 'E-Entertainment'. Oh well, guess there could be worse things in life.

Guess, I been my office long enough, my boy just came in about 1:10 a.m. to tell me the movies over. Yeah, been over buddy. He wanted some water. Poor guy, my wife and I let the kids watch a movie at bedtime tonight since they both were exhausted. They crashed hard, now after 1 a.m he lets me know the movie was over. heh heh

I better get back to bed, gotta long drive in the morning.

I figured it's bound to happen but it seems closer than I thought.
Seems Viacom's MTV and Showtime discussing to launch this year. I guess my question is why? When I view nightly programming, in nearly every series I came across there are already is one or more gay characters. Some shows are already built around this lifestyle, like 5 gays helping a straight slob. So what is the big deal?


TV Guide quoted media stock analyst Tom Wolzien of Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. as saying, "It's about time somebody had gone after that audience with a [cable] network. ... It's an important segment of the audience that has traditionally been under-served. The money is certainly there to support it."
Article found here.

Say what? Disney has gay days, Rosie Odonnell is creating an all gay cruise. All in the attempt to tap into this supposedly reservoir of money. No I think it's more than that. Since the media outlet, tv in general are already pushing the lifestyle containing 2 percent of our nations population, I really don't see a need for it. Already it's bringing controversy, which I suspect is the primary reason they mention it. 'Will this fly?'

Since Orielly generally blasts MTV for their degrading music this cannot help their PR. Many believe MTV has lost its true touch since the 80's when they went to reality tv and games. Showtime already hosts a number of 'gay' shows including, Queer as folk, The L word. So it's not really surprising.


Family advocacy groups are already putting in place a means to speak out about this.


AFA a constituent of Family values has a poll concerning this already.

" MTV — the network which brought us the infamous
Super Bowl halftime show — has announced that they are beginning a cable TV network to push the homosexual agenda. The new network will be supported by advertising and will be offered as part of the "basic" package of cable networks"

I also recommend you to check out Traditional Values Coalition that has some good articles, ect.




More articles on this can be found at the following links.
CBS

Boston

CNN

Yes, I do actually watch the Dead Zone on USA. I came across this show about 1.5 years ago by accident and was hooked. USA had a special Deadzone marathon that I was able to tape one weekend to catch up on the first season I missed. Since that time I have seen all of them. My wife even bought the 1st season DVD set for me on Valentines day this year. I see that the second season is being release June 8th. Wife if you read this, hint hint. ; )

The official Dead Zone webpage is Here. I try to watch this and Monk. Not much else on the television for me, other than Fox News and The Orielly Factor. So those that don't have a clue on this show then check the website and go find the Season one at blockbuster or something. heh heh

We survived a night of another slumber party. This one wasnt as draining. We actually had a childs parents stay with us most of the evening. We had one before of 13 girls ( or was it 14 ), now that was work. I was going to bail on that one, when one of my wifes friends was going to help out. She canceled and I had to stay. I got caught in the kitchen corner once and had to tickle my way out. : ) You have to understand these are 5-6 year olds.

Anyway last night I continue to be amazed of the dichotomy of each kids personality. A couple of them are wilder than a march hare and the other 2 were calm and quit. But they all seem to get along well. My 5 year old son loved it of course. My wife really enjoy these. I at times cannot tell who is having more fun she or the kids.

Can we say...the energy one has bounces off the other ? Man they are hyper together. Usually one or two never wants to go to sleep. Last night was not different, 2 first kept talking and playing, while the others started falling out. Finally at around 11:30 p.m. I just said 'OK, after this movie we are turning it off.' One was still awake after the movie. I crashed and was only called by work once last night around 12:10 a.m. which was good.

So yeah, I am drinking the coffee this morning and we are waiting till 9 a.m. central for the parents to come pick them up. My wife continues to entertain this morning. We woke up around 6 a.m. and bless my wifes heart, she has allergies that are rocking her and she already done all their hair, breakfast, played Disney UNO, shall I go on?

Is it 9 yet? heh heh
( Yes, I snuck away for a bit to write this. Oh God, they found me........

I understand these blogs can be a means of information as I look through some other blogs. But others I ran across is what my wife kindly refers to as an online diary.

I was captivated by a simple blog that I began reading. Basically she was just speaking of her day to day happenings, as I have begun to do and I kept get this feeling of being a peeping tom.

Any others ever catch that? Please comment I would be interested in your thoughts on this matter.

Anyone been on-call recognizes the fact that you have it hovering over you. Never knowing when that cursed beeper/cell phone will ring. I have a work cell phone they contact me and last night, contact me they did. I got a call every 1.5 hours. I kid you not. Now, the issues were trivial in correcting thankfully, but the fact is everytime I would get about asleep the phone would ring. I am a light sleeper anyway and it takes me awhile to get back to sleep. So I had plenty of coffee this morning and my patience is short today. I did manage to mow the yard this evening. My daughter has a slumber party tomorrow night and we are getting prepared. I have 3 more nights on call and then I am off for a week, vacation. I am counting them down.

Just to let you know what exactly I had to do during on-call. I work for a company that owns and operates hospitals/facilities. I work in the interface group and when a interface goes down, specifically a critical one (Radiology, Pharmacy, Lab, ect.) then I get called to get it going again. This normally only entails me to recycle (start/stop) my side and then have the facilty or vendor to recycle their side. But it takes time to first page the other then wait for the call back, then request that individual to recycle their side. In all it can take over an hour, depending on how quick the other person is. So when I say I got a call every other hour, I really mean, I got little sleep last night.

I have to speak about Wed. As you know my daughter had to go to the second dentist Wed. Seems on the Tuesday visit a tooth was found to be absessed, how? According to them sinus alergies and infections. Seems the sinus's lie above your upper teeth and can effect them. Well, it effected this one. Not going into too much detail. Seems that rather than them working on the one, they had to also work on the two beside it, 3 in all. Mind you she is 6. The Dr. said she had strong good teeth, but this one got problems. At first he didnt think it was even abcess (the first dentist referred her to this one stating abcess tooth). He was going to just shrug it off since it did not appear abcess nor tender, ect. Then he decided to go ahead and drill in, that's when he noticed no blood. Evidently this is not a good sign. The news became worse, from a simple dentist exam to a referral, now we are told the tooth was so badly absessed they contemplated on outpatient surgery on it for Friday, fearing they may not have been able to save it. Seems the infection was so bad, the possibilty of an absess to the brain was high. My wife was freaking. She was giving me phone call after phone call as the information poured in during everyin 5 minute interval. On top of this, the visit costed 385 bucks, our payment. Total was 850 bucks but insurance would pay most. They were on the phone with our insurance getting an amount. Man, you talk about sucking. Not only was they in there for 2 hours after one hour waiting, now were told cough up the 385, given we could write a post check.

After all this, comes the silver lining from this storm. 1) The fact that my daughter was under a severe infection we were not even aware of. This caught it while we were home, rather than on our vacation trip next week. 2) Somehow, ( Gotta be God because my wife was actually praying during this with one of the dentist attendant) without my wife asking the Dentist decided to give us a discount, cutting off some of the cost. The 385 went down to 250 due. My wifes dad said he had it and would give it to us, he was at my house during all this, coming over from work and wrote out a check for my wife to deposit it covering our expenses. And get this, this assistant placed it in the computer to always give us this same discount, for all future visits.

So yes, there was indeed a silver lining yesterday and man, was I glad of it. And yes, I did think my God.

Man I thought the weekend was busy. Tuesday is a distant memory now but allow me to quickly grab your hand and fly you through our Tuesday.

I had to take 1/2 day off that morning because my wife had to be in 3 places at once. She can usually pull off 2 places, but this was a bit much. I took my son to therapy, toting my daugher with me at the 9:30 a.m. Note I cleaned up the house prior to because I had to wait till 9 to start that way. My wife had already left at 6 a.m. for work to get as much done as possible.
After therapy, I then proceeded taking the kids to a Dr. appointment for them and my wife ( 10:15 a.m. ) as the three did that, I ran over to a nearby barber to cut the hair. We then met over, across town to a pizza place to meet with my wifes dad to have lunch, (11:00 a.m.). We had a good lunch together the I took my son home ( schools out for the summer ) as my wife took our daughter to her dentist appointment (around 12 p.m. now).
OK we get home, the boy and I. He wanted to play play play (he's 5) and I basically say, what movie you want to watch, Dad's gotta go to work ( I work remote out of the house, gotta love the net). I start the Power Rangers movie for him and start checking my buisiness email. Man, of course everyone wants something, yesterday.
Needless to say, I was there till 8 p.m. My wife came home around 4 p.m. and brought dinner with her. She then took our daughter off to T-ball for an 8 p.m. game. The boy stayed with me because he did not feel well. I hate days like these, non-stop action but man it gets old.
My boy fell out (asleep) before my wife and daughter came back and I threw our daughter into the shower into bed as soon as they arrived home at 9:30 p.m.

That was my Tuesday and yes, it flew.