Middle America's Worldview

5 days, 16 hours, 45 minutes. The seconds and milliseconds are running. That's what my Magical Disney Countdown shows me this morning. Sigh, amazing the now 2 year wait has come down to less than a week. Time truly waits for no man.


It may drive me to drink, but I am ready for the trip. With stress from my work, having an OCD wife (which I love and actually is beneficial on these occasions), to the kids being ready, seems we are all looking forward to it.

I am creating additional documentation out the wazoo for work, trying to cover everything before I leave. I know if I don't, it will remain on my mind. Quite frankly, work is the last thing I want to be thinking about on this trip. This will be the first true planned vacation my family has had. This is a big one. We are going on a Disney cruise for 7 days. Not only that, but we took off before and prior to it. So we will be traveling and vacationing for 2 weeks. This is the longest duration I have ever taken off in one time. I can't help but worry a bit of how work will be when I return. Yet, it will be so nice to just r-e-l-a-x.

It is nice to hear some of my peers at work say ' I deserve it '.

My poor wife has more on her plate than anytime in the past (feast of famine). So she is up a 2 a.m. and crashing around 11 p.m. trying to get everything under wraps, before we leave. Sigh. She makes me tired watching her.

5 days, 16 hours, and 36 minutes to go.

The family was in Oklahoma City this past weekend. During the time, Kel and our daughter walked from store to store in this certain area.

My son and I went to grab the car to move it in the parking lot. While driving by the ladies (wife and daughter), I happen to holler out the window, "hey ladies, need a ride?"

My son's reaction?

"Dad, stop trying to act cool."

Trying?

Where does one start to convey a full week, yet not create a long boring post?

To answer, I won't go into the full (last) week. Rather some thoughts on last nights dream.


I normally don't put much in my dreams. However, I had one the other night that stayed with me.

The initial dream (of 2) I was exorcising demons. The second one my teeth were all falling out. I had to look them up.

I found this page showing the falling teeth

I thought, in conjuction with my first dream, this perspective was interesting.

A scriptural interpretation for bad or falling teeth indicate that you are putting your faith, trust, and beliefs in what man thinks rather than in the word of God. The bible says that God speaks once, yea twice in a dream or a vision in order to hide pride from us, to keep us back from the pit, to open our ears (spiritually) and to instruct and correct us.

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Join Addison Road and the Mocha Club to help save Africa.

For the price of two mocha's, we can do so much.

Here is Addison Road, found on YouTube.

Co-op is officially done. We had our Co-op presentation last night. Other than a few hiccups (mine), I think all went well. They reported it to be the largest group in quite some time.


My week was crazier than usual.

Not counting my busy work days on the regular job....

Monday evening - School Board meeting (this lasted till 10 p.m.)
Tuesday evening - School Board training ( this lasted till 10 p.m.)
Wednesday evening - I took 1/2 day off work to help my wife and grab the kids. We didn't make it home till after 8 p.m Totally missed church.
Thursday evening - The Co-op presentation. (We made it home nearly 10 p.m.)

Which brings us to Friday. Glad of it. The plan is to spend some quality time with my wife. I will also be renting Hitman, as I dig the game. (wink)

Finally home. I arrived yesterday evening around 4 p.m.

I was up by 3 a.m. est (2 central). Hit National, then the airport in good time.
My initial flight was to be 7:30 a.m. This was delayed till 9:19. Not by snow in Dallas, rather some regulations the pilots had to have an X amount of time off.

So I roamed the airport and tried to finish my book.

I made it to Dallas, with an hour before my next (re-scheduled) flight home. I was able to finish my book, Hostage to the Devil by Michael Martin. I recommend it.

There was about a 20 minute delay from Dallas to Fort Smith. So, I made it home around 4 p.m. central.

A long day. Yet, I ran with the kids and picked up two movies to watch together.

We watched one last night and will watch the other one Saturday.

I crashed hard in my own bed. Although my poor honey was sick, I enjoyed being home.
No place like home.

I made it to my hotel around 11:30 p.m. Sunday night. I then ran over to ACME to grab something to snack on and drinks for the week.

My first day at corporate wasn't bad. It actually went faster than expected. I ended up with more conferences, but expected that. It was nice to simply walk over to a few of them. It was also nice to see those faces I haven't seen in quite some time.

I am staying at Holiday Inn express. The room is small but adequate. As long as I have a shower, bed and wireless internet, I am good to go. (smile)

No snow or bad weather, thus far. I have only seen a few snow piles on the bigger parking spaces.

I am heading out to Philly today. ( currently sitting at my first airport)

I couldn't help notice this time, I am more sensitive to the families needs before I leave. I managed to vacuum and shampoo the carpets before I left this morning.

Those light bulbs that's been dead for over a week? Changed out.

That table to be setup in the garage? No problem honey. Done.

Needed the two half christmas boxes put together and placed up in the attic? Doesn't matter they where there since December. Done before I split.

I also can't help but wonder; who will make sure the dogs fed. Hope they remember the trash Wednesday morning. Simple things, really. However, it's those things I tend to do.

I know they can manage without me. Yet, I couldn't help think of those things needing done, in my absence.

I came across two great sites for freebies.


Right March is a conservative talk show. I never heard of or this, till today. I am currently listening to the Intelligent Design discussion (downloaded the mp3).

It speaks of Ben Steins movie Expelled; No intelligence allowed. I will have to try to see this movie, after listening to the show about it.

The other site is a page from Biblical Archeology. BAR Extras provides additional information from the current monthly magazine. The slideshow of Jezebel was interesting.

Seems the family is finally getting over all this crud.

I am having to head out to Philly on Sunday and will be gone for four days.
I will get to see the new building at Corporate. Suppose to have new security, ect. So a new badge will be given, ect. I am kindof looking forward to seeing the group again, up there.

I am still reading "Hostage of the Devil". I should finish it up next week.

Not much, other than work-eat-sleep. I am just glad we are all seem to be getting over this flu.

And you wonder why the average American isn't fed up with politics.

America, by the inaction of the U.S. House of Representatives, has been weakened substantially in fighting terrorism.

As I reported last week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) and her left-wing allies decided to leave Washington without voting on the bipartisan Senate bill that would have extended key provisions of the Protect America Act, a bill that is essential for America's ability to quickly and deftly track terrorist communications overseas.

This abdication of responsibility by such a high-ranking member of our government has been the most amazing anti-national security action by Congress in decades.

This is not a partisan analysis.

The vote in the House Democratic caucus reportedly had some 20 moderate votes opposed to leaving without voting on the Senate bipartisan anti-terrorism bill.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (W.Va.), the Democratic chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has said this failure to act has weakened our ability to intercept and stop terrorists.

Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell (a career military officer) and Atty. Gen. Michael Mukasey, in a letter to Rep. Silvestre Reyes (Tex.), the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, stated plainly, "We have lost intelligence information this past week as a direct result of the uncertainty created by Congress' failure to act." (View the complete letter at PowerlineBlog.)

I urge you to call your representative today and demand that they pass the Senate bipartisan Protect America Act bill (which got a filibuster-proof 68 votes in the Senate) immediately. Every day that passes is a day that America is more vulnerable.

I actually had a 3 day weekend. I wasn't aware of it, till last Thursday.

So the plan was to do some shopping (getting things acquired, ect), spend some time with my honey and kiddos. Maybe, watch a couple of movies, ect.

Unfortunately, my wife was sick the first part of the weekend, starting with not feeling well Thursday night to fever and aches Friday. By Sunday morning, she was really tired, but felt somewhat better. Then Sunday afternoon/evening, my son came down with it.

With him, if he gets sick, a new onslaught of issues can arise. So Sunday evening, I had my wife and son in the same bed, as I stayed on the couch. I checked them around midnight Sunday, before I crashed. Unfortunately, it seemed they were up at 12:30, 2:30, ect. Sigh.

So as I sit here, about to hit my week of work, I think back on my oh so fast 3 day weekend. It wasn't really as we planned it would be.

Why am I coughing? Maybe this coffee will quench the tickle in my throat.

This is an awesome free 1 hour 20 minute video online.

The HOPE

The Hope is the the whole story, creation through Christ.



The HOPE is a dramatic motion picture presentation of God’s redemptive story as revealed in 36 Biblical events from Creation through the Second Coming of Christ. It includes some of the most beautiful cinematic presentations of the Bible ever filmed. With a high priority on quality, The HOPE was produced on 35mm film (same as hollywood movies). It contains numerous digital effects. Nearly 4 years in the making, The HOPE was produced by mature and respected Christians who have produced effective evangelism films for over 20 years - used of God to lead thousands to Christ.

I had the chance to watch Untraceable last night with my brother. It was just the guys out, kindof thing. We had intended to watch "I am Legend", but it no longer was showing.

Anyway, the movie was actually pretty good. There were some political undertones in it. Specifically referring to net neutrality and online freedom. There is also reference to NSA unable(or unwilling) to assist the FBI, due to the wall between federal and domestic.

The basic premis is someone creating a website to ask others (the online viewers) to join in the murder. The more online viewers the faster the murder takes place. Needless to say, the time speeds up as news of the site grows online.

I won't provide any spoilers, but let's say the structure of the story is typical.

1)Two main characters (the hero ((main female character)) and the killer)
2)Mystery of who can it be
3)The mental game of will
4)It ends well

I will say, at least this movie had a pretty good storyline. It did provide the "why" in the end.

I recall at the end of the movie, my statement to my brother was "That's messed up".

I would recommened the movie.

Trying to catch up from the weekend, rolling over into the week.

Since no on-call for me this weekend, we went to the new church again. I was really impressed with the message. We went to the earlier church (8:40 a.m.) to check out the format. The songs were much more upbeat than what I am use to hearing. Yet, not too hard for my wife(wink). It's interesting when you have something to actually compare to. Most people are unwilling to change, to have the experience of contrast.

I noticed the pasture "taught" rather than "preach". Yes, there is a difference. Rather than on the pulpit to speak about Christ and the bible, he provided background and history to capture the era of time on the why. This, to me, makes a vast difference in the message. I once mentioned to our TeamKids (church on Wednesday nights), you guys are taught to do this, but "why do you do this?"

This is the failing of the church, in my opinion. Rather than simply saying you need God, often it's not defined as to why you need God. Think of it this way. If someone would say to you, you need this medicine. You would obviously ask, "why?" Which reply would you rather have. The reply of "because its' good for you" or the explanation of symptoms and diseases and the medicine would save your life?

This is the difference in teaching and preaching. Teaching provides the background and understanding. Preaching simply conveys you need to do this.

This site Newseum (the interactive museum of news) shows all the front pages in the papers around the world.

You can check out what the titles of each newspaper is per day. I think it's an interesting idea. I haven't checked the full site out. However, if you want to gleam the headlines of the major papers, this is a fast way to roam.

I think we can all attest the lack of sleep wrecks havoc on our thinking skills.

Sleep has been called temporary death, but there's so much that goes on
during that time of repose. While visiting that other world one might walk,
talk, grind teeth, and sometimes dream.

Your brain is more active while you're asleep than when watching television.
And that's even when you don't walk or talk in sleep. No wonder our
language is rife in sleep-related idioms. You can sleep in, on, out, around,
with, and over. You can lose sleep over things.

You can go without food for a while but you can't cheat on sleep. It demands
its dues. According to a report, you would be 25% less alert on just an
hour's loss of sleep.

Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

I been waiting for it, and it will be here May 16th! Sweet.

Superbowl Commercial for it.



Official Trailer

Voz Me is a interesting online app to allow you to "hear" your articles.

You might have noticed the new addition I placed on my blog earlier this week.




Its a freeware that allows you to post the html on your blog (wordpress or blogger). The audio is in mp3 format, and you can listen to it via java, or download the file.

I had my wife listen to it, and she says it sounds weird.