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A Strange Direction
12.06.04 (10:24 am)   [edit]

My wife and I have been looking for ways to make extra money since we need it and if I am going to be a stay at home dad in the not so distant future than I have to figure out a way to make money at home. Well, my mother-in-law got my wife and I a new sewing machine a few weeks ago. We made some cloth covers for family last year at Christmas and everyone liked them, at least that’s what they said. So, I am trying to master the art of sewing so we can make more of these things and try to sell them in a local store that has already given us the OK.


I can’t help thinking of the direction my life has taken since I was younger. Growing up I used to work on cars and play different sports. I wasn’t very good at any of the sports but I had fun playing pickup games with friends. From cars and playing sports to sewing and possibly being a Mr. Mom. What happened?


I guess the trade off is well worth it. I have a wonderful wife to spend my life with and some day a child to be Mr. Mom with. Things are pretty good.

 
On a wing and a prayer
11.27.04 (6:53 am)   [edit]

I may be learning to fly pretty soon. This is something I'm very excited about. Learning and making a living at flying has always been a dream of mine but I had several heart operationsgrowing up and getting passed the flight physical has always held me back. Well I got my 3rd class physical certificate and now am thinking about taking lessons. The cost of my private license is anywhere from $4500 to $5500 depending on how fast I can learn it and I feel I could learn quickly. My wife is in Med school and we would be able to take out extra school loans to pay for the lessons. Our thought is that if we are spending approx. $120,000 on her schooling what’s another $5000. It sounds simple but there are other possible costs.


 


By far the best way to take lessons is to buy my own small plane and use it to learn in because lessons cost $90 an hour; this includes $25 for the instructor and $65 for the plane. The smart thing to do is get a cheap little Cessna 150 trainer and use it then I will have it to build my hours up afterwards and when I go to sell it I will most likely make money on it because planes usually appreciate instead of depreciate. The 150s can also use automobile fuel which is cheaper than aviation fuel. I've been told a person can usually get one for around $13,000 with a 20 year loan and have payments around $200 or less a month. In a nut shell here are some approximate costs.  


 


Private Pilots license with teacher’s plane at 60 hrs of training = $5400


Private Pilots license with my own plane at 60 hrs of training. = $1500


Instrument rating (needed for night flying) + = $5000


Plane (Cessna 150) = $13,000


Hanger storage for plane = 1,200 a year


Annual mechanics check = $400 a year


Insurance + = $1000 a year


Repairs = a lot if needed


 


I don’t have to have an instrument rating to get my private license and it is not a law that you have to have insurance on your plane so those costs are optional. I could also choose to tie the plane down out on the field for storage at a lesser cost than renting hanger space but that could cause depreciation from the elements so the extra money for a hanger would be the smart thing. With payments of $200 a month I figured my minimum cost for a Private Pilot license with my own plane in a year would cost $6500. This does not include any repairs, the instrument rating or the down payment but does include insurance.


 


My wife has been very supportive and has actually convinced me of going for it when I had my doubts. My wife and I will be moving to a new town next year that’s about 60 miles away from where we live now, that’s not as big of an issue as us planning on starting to have kids next year as well. We are on a limited budget and financially this flying plan is a risk that frankly has me scared with having kids on the horizon. However, I know that once we have kids the chances of me getting a pilot license is nil. My wife has said that sense we are spending all this money for her dream of being a doctor it makes sense to spend the relatively smaller cost of going after my dream. I agree.


 


What does everyone think? Should I get my license? If I do should I try to get my own plane to learn in?
 
Plane crash in a small town
11.09.04 (5:18 pm)   [edit]

I live in Kirksville MO and a few weeks back there was a plane crash just a few miles south of here. The Crash killed 13 people with 2 survivors. Almost all the people that died were coming to my wife’s med school for a conference. The next day there was a lot of faculty and students that were walking around in a daze and grieving. They did build a memorial to the people. This was a regular shuttle flight from St.Louis, a flight that had been flown thousands of times and this one ended 2 miles short of the runway in a patch of trees on the edge of a soy bean field.


 


One of the things I was so impressed by was the way this small town came together to help comfort the victim’s families as they converged on this town in the middle of no where. Businesses donated food, hotels gave out free rooms and even the taxi cabs gave free rides. I can see small towns helping out their own but these people were strangers. I think this is one of the advantages of small town living. One draw back was that so many people wanted to help search for the people at the time of the crash that it got kind of out of hand at the crash site and the more people that wanted to help the worse it got. I was afraid that might happen and that thought stopped me from going to help myself.  I only live about 10-15 minutes from the crash site.


 


I don’t think the cause of the crash has really been determined. It was foggy that night but the pilots were veterans and the fog shouldn’t make a difference. The altimeter on the plane should have told them they were too low and I believe the FAA said all the instruments were working correctly. I’m afraid this might boil down to pilot error. If anyone else has heard anything let me know. I don’t know if any fellow bloggers heard about this story on the news a few weeks ago but it was very interesting living through the aftermath.

 
BLAH!!
11.09.04 (4:54 pm)   [edit]

I'm sitting her in my office at 8:52pm typing this blog after I got done with progress notes I have to write on my clients. I don't know why but I'm just in a BLAH mood today. I should be in a good mood, my wife and I are flying to Long Island Thrusday for a wedding that I'm looking forward too. We are going to St.Louis late tomorrow ( about a 3.5 hour drive), to stay the night because the flight is early Thursday. I have a work out room at work that I've been using pretty regularly but my motivation tonight is nill, I'll probabaly walk up to my wife's school later to make it up.


Purhaps my mood is in part due to the fact that my job consists of helping really needy people, not just finacially but emotionally and attention needing. I think it's starting to wear on me. Oh well, this is my first blog in a while sorry it had to be so pathetic. I think I'll go home and pack soon.

 
Breaking Even
09.14.04 (4:40 am)   [edit]

It’s funny how God works things out for us. My wife had been trying to get this grant to help pay for med school. The grant would pay for her schooling and give us an extra $1000 a month to live on in exchange for working for the grant people in an underserved area after my wife was out of school. The $1000 was much needed money and without it we would really be in a bind. Long story short we didn’t get the grant, we were both disappointed but what are you going to do.


 


Well the same day we found out about not getting the grant I found out at work that the base pay in my department and a few others got about a $2000 a year raise. This wasn’t just because we are all just great worker, the Department of Labor made the company give it too us. It was a good surprise for us and a bad one for the company (but that’s not my problem). In addition to the raise this month was the last payment for my car, I’m not celebrating that until I have the title in my hands but that’s an extra $284. All in all it comes out to be about an extra $500 a month.


 


Now in reality it’s not that much because while my wife has been in school we have always had to take a little out of savings (which was loan money) to cover the bills for the month. However now we may not have to touch the savings at all and be able to save a little. We’re not as well off as we would be with the extra $1000 but I’m counting it as at least breaking even. God really took care of us here.

 
Phil Collins and the Bionic Man
08.21.04 (8:56 am)   [edit]

Does anyone know the title and album of this song? It’s sung by Phil Collins, not sure if it’s with Genesis or his solo career) and he singing about talking to Jesus all his life. I think the song is taking a shot at the TV evangelists that are basically out there to scam people and make money he sings it in the first person. I think it’s one of his older songs but I’m not sure and I’ve looked on the Phil Collin’s web site but without knowing the title of the song it’s kind of hard to know what is what. It’s an upbeat song. Can anyone help me here?


 


Also I’ve been looking for this old late 70’s early 80’s B movie. Actually it’s a little better than a B but it was something I would watch on cable during the mid 80’s. The title is “The Last Chase”. It’s set in that day’s near future and they US is divided into a free US and a communist style US. The communist America controls all the gasoline and it’s illegal for people to have any, cars are also outlawed thereby keeping people imprisoned by this society. Lee Majors (Not to far past his Bionic Man days) plays an old race car driver that has taken apart and buried his race car in the floor of his garage. He gets tired of living in communist US, digs up the car (red Porsche racer), puts it together and starts out for free America. A student of his stows away and runs with him. The student is the underdog boy that did the running in the movie “Meatballs”. So they are racing cross county in the car. The government gets an old jet fighter pilot (The old trainer Mick in the “Rocky movies) and a jet to go after them. Long story short the race car driver and jet pilot gain a mutual respect for each other and the jet pilot helps the driver and the boy get to free America by sacrificing his own life. Anyway has anyone heard of this movie or knows where a good place to look for it is.

 
Political Cults
08.19.04 (1:14 pm)   [edit]

Political parties have really become a cult. Well not really but the political party supporters seem to display cult like behavior at times. Since I’ve started on t-blog I’ve really seen the true face of politics. As for the cult like behavior all the followers in each party tend to speak as if their candidate can do no wrong and if you’ve ever been too or seen a convention on TV there is clear chanting. It’s disturbing that the two political parties both claim to take the Moral high road yet if you spend any time looking at political t-blogs they are brightly colored with words of hate, name calling and mud slinging. How is this the moral high road? I’ve seen this kind of behavior before when I was teaching a special ed class of emotionally disturbed kids and when I was a preschool teacher the only difference is the kids were still forming their character.


 


Both sides generally state they want the same things outside of particular issues like abortion. They both say their way is the write way but I never seem to hear how they plan to accomplish it because they are to busy bashing the other and lets face it most people aren’t going to do any research on it. If you look at the “Kerry supporters” blogs you will soon notice they spend most of their time slamming Bush as opposed to stating Kerry’s views and plans, the same occurs with the Bush supporters. Perhaps both parties don’t believe their candidates are the rite persons for the job at all, instead the Democrats feel anyone is better than Bush and the Republicans feel stupid for not supporting Bush. I just read a blog today blaming Bush for the harassment of older blacks in Florida trying to get democrats to vote. I guess the repulican blacks are getting free tickets to the policeman's ball. Does this mean this kind of harassment is new and is particular to Florida? Is Bush responsible for this behavior in other states?


 


I challenge anyone to find a blog that has a supporter of either party talking about their candidate’s ideas and plans instead of slamming the opposing candidate. If you find one please let me know, I would be surprised.


 


I guess being hateful, name calling and mud slinging is the easy way to get comments on your blog, I’ll try it. Kerry who cares what you did in Vietnam, Bush’s distant past didn’t effect my opinion of him why should I think better of you for something done 30 years ago. In fact if 30 years ago was the last time you did anything good to talk about I don’t think I’d want you as President anyway. Bush for crying out loud have someone proof read those speeches for you. I know talking isn’t your strong point but if you keep twisting your meaning around and mispronouncing words than you probably shouldn’t be re-elected.


 


My wife asked me the other day how she could find out more about politics. I had to tell her I didn’t know because everything we read is written by someone that is bias. There seems to be no truths in either the republican or democratic parties. Those independent parties are sounding pretty good about now.

 
Does this make me less of a man?
08.17.04 (9:42 pm)   [edit]
I have to admit it I actually like the movie “Moulin Rouge”. My wife and I rented it a few months ago. My wife picked it out and I thought I wouldn’t like it but I actually liked it a lot, enough to put it on my to buy list. I generally don’t like musicals but this one was different. What did I like about it?

1. It was high energy and the actors used their own voices and sounded good.
2. It used songs from the 70s, 80’s and 90’s ; this was a big plus for me.
3. It’s corny at times but it doesn’t pretend like it’s trying to be anything but essentric and fun.
4. Very theatrical
5. It’s got in my opinion possibly the second most beautiful woman on the planet, the first being my wife. Nicole Kidman is hot and sounds great in this. How did Tom Cruise screw that marriage up?

I went to the library tonight and checked out “Pitch Black” and “Moulin Rouge”. I told my wife I checked out MR because I thought she would like seeing it again but the whole truth is that I’d like to see it again too. If you rent this be sure to watch all the extra features because they have a lot of good stuff on them.

Because I like this movie does this mean my Dude card is now invalid? I still pee standing up and adjust myself while in public. Is my liking of this movie something I should keep to myself?

Please tell me there are other guys out there that like this movie.
 
Mistakes in Biblical translations
08.17.04 (9:38 pm)   [edit]
I have recently taken an interest in finding out more about the Mormon cult because there are several around my area. It’s my understanding that the Mormons believe that the Bible is correct only in as much of it has been translated correctly. An ex-mormon told me they determine what is correct and what isn’t buy what they can fit into their beliefs.

Now I can agree that today’s Bible isn’t as the original text and some things have probably been altered or lost with all the different translations over the years that were done by foulable humans. I come to this conclusion because it seems logical; I haven’t actually studied it and investigated it. However, I can’t believe it has been changed enough to justify a wacky thing like Mormonism.

So assuming that today’s Bible does have some variations in it due to translation how far from the original text does it stray? Are there any biblical scholars out there that have actually studied this and can help me with the answer?
 
In need of sunday school advice
08.15.04 (1:15 pm)   [edit]
I teach the boys middle school Sunday school class in my church and I’ve really been struggling with it. I have one boy in there mainly because he is the only boy the appropriate age in my church and he is the pastor’s son. He doesn’t really seem like he wants to be there and he knows all the right answers to my lesson but tends to give short one sentence answers. I teach better with feedback and more than one person. I would hate to be him as well, I probably would have stopped going if I was him but he is the pastor’s son so he pretty much has to go. We usually get through the lesson in about 20-30 minutes then go to the church’s gym and play horse with the basketball. I know the problem starts with me, I need to better prepare for the lesson. We use a lesson out of Sunday School literature but the things they want us to do are kind of corny and can’t be done with just one kid so I think I’m going to come up with my own lessons out of the Bible. My obstacles are this 1. The boy in my class seems to be “churched out” being a pastor’s kid and all. 2. He is home schooled and can’t ride his bike off their street so he doesn’t have a lot of friends to invite. 3. I need to have a better; more Christ centered attitude about it. 4. The way the lesson is laid out in the book seems a little below his age level. I don’t think spending time shooting hoops and trying to connect with the kid is a bad thing but my lessons need to have more meat and last longer. We’ll probably still go to the gym Sunday after class for a few minutes. On a good note I should have one more boy in my class next week. Anyone have any ideas how I can make the class more interesting and fun for the class?
 
Lawn mower man
08.15.04 (12:47 pm)   [edit]
I got done mowing the lawn about an hour ago. Our front yard isn’t much but the back yard is about ½ acre and is relatively flat. Our landlords have us mow the lawn but he lets us use his small 1 horse mower. However, the handle on this mower broke last week and I hadn’t fixed it yet so I had to use my 3.5 (I think) horse self propelled Toro mower with a bag. I usually enjoy mowing the lawn and this wouldn’t have been a problem if it weren’t for the fact that the self-propelled part of my mower stopped working the last time I used it. The thing is this is a heavy mower to have to do a big yard with under your own power. It’s like pushing a regular mower up hill both ways the entire time and the fact that one of the wheels is duct taped up to hold it together doesn’t help.

I can’t really complain about the mower that much because we found it in front of a shop in St.Louis with a sign that said, “FREE take me”, so we did. To my surprise it ran great so all I had to do is put a new blade on and I was ready to go. This happened when I needed a mower for a place I had just moved into and couldn’t afford to buy one. This is a true story I didn’t actually steal it.

Anyway when I got back inside I was a sweaty mess and considerably dehydrated. My wife hooked me up with a few toasted ravs (gotta love those ravs) and a glass of water. An hour later now and I’m still chugging the water.

I think I’ll fix that other mower this week.
 
Crabapple Crowell
08.13.04 (8:53 am)   [edit]

This is a term I have never used because it’s a little old fashion but I heard someone say it the other day and it seemed to describe me well this past Wednesday. I was definitely a crabapple. I work with the mentally ill, mentally retarded and drug and alcohol abusers and they are usually some combination of these three. Wednesday we went to Mark Twain Lake in Missouri for a big outing with our life skills group and we met up with Hannibal’s group. In all there were about 105 clients and 16 staff at this place.


 My day started fine but after 8 hours STRAIGHT of meeting with these clients, even if it was over a game of washers or catch with the football, I was mentally exhausted. If that was all I would have been fine but I was also looking at least 2 hours of notes I had to type on people I met with and I just hate long days like this where it is non stop. I average about 9 hours a day at work and this was a 12 hour work day. By the time I got home I was already grumpy, when I get grumpy I usually am very quite and just walk around in a mood.


 I get home and there are dishes in the sick that I had put off doing the day before so this made me grumpier at myself. If this wasn’t bad enough I then proceeded with paying the bills that we could pay at the moment one of which was a speeding ticket that cost $110, it was a perfect topper to a long depressing day. By the end I was definitely a class A crabapple. There were some good points to the day.


 I did get too work out and when I got home my wife had made a nice dinner of spaghetti and fried Okra. I have to give props to my wife for being so understanding and patient with me, all this and she still had to study for a big test. I don’t get like this often but when I do she knows how to work with me.


 Is there a point to this blog? I guess the point would be to have a good woman at home when you’re having a bad day. What turns you into a crabapple.

 
What matters? Goss' qualifications or his party?
08.10.04 (7:34 pm)   [edit]
Porter Goss was chosen as the new CIA director and from the get go all I’ve heard is he is too republican. I think this is very telling about this whole election year. This position is usually filled by a non-political figure but not always. Everyone acts like they are surprised that a President would pick someone for this position that is the same party as he is. What President wouldn’t?

Everyone on the news this morning tended to overlook the extensive qualifications this guy has because they are displeased that this guy isn’t bipartisan. Some of his qualifications are as follows; chairman of House intelligence committee for 8 years, a clandestine field agent for the CIA in Central America and Western Europe in the 1960s, army intelligence officer before the CIA. This guy has a very important job but it is a job and with all the jobs I’ve had the employer has looked at my qualifications. Can a white guy never hire a white guy or a black guy never hire a black guy without being suspected of being a racist?

For example, talking with a co-worker she said she was laying in bed this morning and heard the TV in the other room say the guy that Bush picked was a Republican. Her immediate response to this was that she hated Bush and that he just had to have one of his guys in there. She said nothing of asking what this man’s qualifications were or why Bush said he gave him this job. Many people have already convinced themselves that this guy is the wrong man for the job. Why don’t we give him a chance to succeed or fail on his own?

Granted I got a feel for this by what I saw on the morning news but I have been a work all day and haven’t watched any more TV since. I haven’t heard any big Democrats barking about this so maybe it isn’t going to be as big as deal as the people this morning acted like it is going to be.

Democrats is this that big of a deal or is the press blowing it out of proportion?
 
John Kerry walks on water.
08.10.04 (9:48 am)   [edit]

Have you heard? I’ve heard reports from Democrats that they’ve seen John Kerry walking on water and giving sight to the blind. Wow, he really can do no wrong.
 
"Harold and Kumar got to White Castle" & "I-Robot" review
08.09.04 (1:04 pm)   [edit]

I- Robot was a good action/sci-fi thriller. It’s not Will Smith’s best part but I think he did the best anyone could do with it. The special effects were good and maybe a little over board but it worked. The whole mystery was pretty good as well. You kinda get the feeling this could be the beginning of the "human vs machine" wars in the Matrix movies but it’s not. I would recommend seeing it if you like these kind of movies.


"Harold and Kumar go to White Castle" (hope I got the first name correct) is also a good one. I didn’t find it real funny but it was entertaining and I am a fan of White Castles. I got the feeling in many parts of this movie that it was a big commercial for White Castles and I’m sure the business will pick up because of it. The movie is about these two guys in their early 20s that drive around all night searching for some pot ( the drug) and  a White Castle restaurant. This goes on all night with the guys falling into one twisted adventure after another, not an original idea at all but still fun to watch. My wife and I both felt like this movie would be best enjoyed if we were high on pot or something, it just has that feel in my opinion but I am not encouraging anyone to do that.


All in all I probably could have waited for it to come out on DVD but it was part of a double feature at the Drive-in and I could definitely relate to the guys about their feelings about and willingness to go the extra mile for White Castles.

 
This is the best one in a long time
08.08.04 (6:58 pm)   [edit]
This weekend started with getting to sleep in with my wife a little bit. We got up about 8:45am and got ready real quick. We went up to the town square to the farmers market and bought some green tomatoes, black berries, and some flowers. There just happened to be a big car show on the square so we went to that and saw some beautiful cars; classic Mustangs, Chevelles, Trans Ams, Corvettes, and my favorite the Pontiac GTOs, these are just a few of the models. Afterward we went to this little dinner for breakfast; I had a nice cheese omelet with homemade hash browns and toast. My wife had French toast and an egg and we both had water to drink. All this was just $8 before tip, very reasonable in my opinion. This farmers market and breakfast trip is starting to be a regular Saturday morning thing for us, which is fine by me. After leaving the dinner we went back to see if any more car showed up and ran into some friends from church, this tends to happen in small towns. It was a great morning.

The rest of my weekend went like this:
11:00am to 1:15pm = Help wife clean house and make figure foods for a 1pm baby shower at our house.
1:15 –went back to the car show and got another good look at the cars.
1:45—went to my work to take a dump and talked to a co-worker for a couple minutes.
3:00 – spent and hour at the driving range hitting golf balls. I did pretty well for me, I hit them in the air, straight and my best shots were out past the 210 mark.
4:10 – I went and saw “I-Robot” at the theater. It was a good movie but that’s another blog.
6:30ish – went home and relaxed for a while.
8:00 – My wife and I race about 50 miles to make the drive-in theater at 9pm. We saw “I-Robot” and “Harold and Kumar go to White Castles”. Yes I had just seen I-Robot but this time I got to see it with a beautiful girl at the drive-in. I will review both movies in my next blog.
2:00 am – Got home and went to bed.

SUNDAY
9:30am – went to church, didn’t teach because no kids showed up, sat in with the adult class which was good then had a good service.
12:30 – went shopping with my wife.
2:00 – canned peaches until about 7:30 with one of our married couple friends. It was fun to can, talk and just hang out with friends.
7:30 – made a pizza to eat with the wife, she is studying now and I am blogging.

This is one of the best weekends I’ve had in a long time. I think two big reasons for that is because we kind of threw caution to the wind as far as spending money goes, I’m sure we’ll pay for it later but for now it feels good. The biggest reason is that I got to spend most of it with my wonderful wife and we didn’t worry about work or school.My wife has been gone most of the summer and it seems like we've stayed busy since she has been home. It was nice to slow down and spend time together.

All was good with the world this weekend.
 
Country road take me home
08.06.04 (4:43 am)   [edit]
Next year my wife and I have to move to a new town as part of her Med school education. It’s what the school calls going on rotations. It will basically be for two years. We get to choose where we want to go to a degree. There are several locations to choose from but we’ve pretty much narrowed it down to 5 top picks. There are places out west like Colorado we would like to go but they are shaping up not to be possible.

There are several different things that go into choosing a site such as how well it fits into my wife’s medical practice goals, cost of living, job market and if it’s just a nice place to live. Now how well it fits my wife’s medical goals is something we’ll just have to look into but the cost of living, job market and quality of living is something I’m trying to look into ahead of time. Here are our options

-Saginaw MI---North of Detroit pretty close to Lake Huron

-Cuyahoga Falls OH—near Akron

-Jefferson City MO—South of Columbia in the middle of the state

-Logan UT—Northeast Utah near Idaho

-Massillon OH—South of Akron

Does anyone know anything about these places? Any info would help.
 
Losing My Religion
08.04.04 (2:42 pm)   [edit]
This blog is written by Mrs. KVKID. He was kind enough to let me become part of the game.

I have a question for anyone out there. Over the past year and a half, I have been pseudo-counseling a high school girl I coached in high school sports. She has been going through a rough last year of high school, including feeling betrayed by friends and questioning her faith repeatedly. One question she posed to me recently concerned losing salvation. Her question got me thinking about the topic.

My own Christian faith is strong and I feel that you cannot lose your salvation due to sin. However, I’m wondering if you can lose your salvation if you truly do change your mind and decide that what you believed as a Christian was a bunch of B.S., and believe in your heart that those ideas were lies.

My Sunday School teacher, whom I very much respect for his Biblical knowledge, referred me to the story of Peter betraying Jesus. Peter essentially renounced God, but God didn’t renounce him. My reply was that Peter didn’t truly believe those things but was saying them more out of fear of persecution and possibly death, to which my teacher replied that I didn’t specify the motive behind renouncing God.

My thought is that if you truly don’t believe anymore in Christ as your Savior, that you can lose your salvation. Jesus said in John 3:16, 18 (NIV), “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life....Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” Therefore, if you change your mind and heart, and decide you truly don’t believe in Christian ideas any longer, would that not place you in the same category as someone who never did believe? It’s all a lack of belief in Jesus Christ, right?

I’d be interested to hear any thoughts on the matter, especially from those of you with Biblical training.
 
I can eat a peach for hours
08.03.04 (7:57 pm)   [edit]
Does anyone know what movie the line I used for my title came from? I’ll let you know in my next blog if no one gets it.

My wife has decided that she wants to try canning peaches so we ordered a box of them at an Amish store out in the Missouri countryside. When we ordered them I was thinking 40-50 peaches but when I went to pick them up they were all in a small wooden crate and there had to be about 200 of them if not more. That’s a lot of canned peaches. I’m hoping we can find enough things to do with them before they go bad.

So far we are going to can them and maybe make a peach pie with them and of coarse just eat them straight but I fear that may still not be enough before they go bad. We could always package them and try to sell them at a profit (4 peaches for a buck) to friends or at the farmers market. We only paid $14 for them and they are all good peaches so we would definitely make our money back at least. We could also give some away. I like peaches but this is a little much.

Does anyone have any recipes or cooking ideas for peaches? Perhaps a peach party? Peach throwing contest? Dropping peaches on cars from an overpass? Any way to use them for church outreach?
 
Being Self Employed
07.30.04 (9:51 am)   [edit]
Starting about this time next year my wife and I are looking at possibly moving cross country once a year for 3-4 years straight. The reason has to do with Med School but I’ll keep from going into that now. Moving is a pain but I can deal with that but the thing that I think about a lot is the increased difficulty of finding a job. I’m pretty employable and have experience in a variety of different job; I have a Bachelors degree in social work as well.

If we were just going to move somewhere to live for a while it wouldn’t be a problem but I figure by the second time we move it’s going to start working against me. I don’t know of many employers that want to hire someone that is only going to be there a year. I’m not advertising that fact but I’m not going to lie about it either. I’m not too worried about it because I know God will take care of us

Here is my question. Does anyone know of any good self employable jobs I would be able to do while looking for a job?
 
My answer to the beheadings
07.29.04 (1:49 pm)   [edit]
If I were a civilian working in Iraq I would figure that if I got kidnapped I would probably end up dead. I wouldn’t expect anyone to fold to the terrorist’s demands for me. So hey, why not take the terrorists with me. Seems like it would be a good idea to just strap some kind of explosive to me and if they kidnap me then I could just blow them up with me. However it would suck if the explosives went off accidentally while I was working. Well at least I’d go out with a bang.
 
Seperate but unequal
07.28.04 (9:27 am)   [edit]
When I hear the phrase “separate but equal” I always think back to the days when blacks and whites had different places to sit, different water fountains, different bathrooms etc... The phrase actually contradicts itself, being separate implies that you aren’t equal. I’m glad those days are gone and that I am too young to have ever seen them. But then again I don’t think they are really gone they just seem reversed.

I understand that blacks have been and still are discriminated against and I’m all for them fighting for fair treatment but I get tired of it not being equal and now it seems being white is discriminated against. For example if there was a United Caucasian College Fund there would be a uproar over it, I had to get Federal loans that didn’t require me to tell them what race I was and worked 1 sometimes 2 jobs to get through college. What do you think would happen if there was an award show for only white performers (and don’t tell me country music is)? That is definitely separate but not equal. I’ve had a couple of white friends that have tried to get on the St.Louis Fire Department, they did great on all the test had all the right experience and waited patiently on the waiting list only to get to #2 or 3 and get bumped down to 15. Why? Because the SLFD had to meet their quota of blacks.

Oh and to those that wanted money for repayment for all the suffering and abuse their ancestors lived through generations ago all I can say is you disgust me. You tried to profit off their suffering and by the way it was over 100 years ago and you didn’t suffer any of it. You know why I don’t try to sue England for all the oppression my ancestors went through. Because that would be stupid!!

What about that title African American; I’ve heard many people say that it is the proper thing to call blacks. I’m sorry but most of the black people I know and are friends with have never been to Africa not to mention it’s a continent not a country.

If you don’t know me and have read this you might think I’m prejudice but I’m not. I know as a white male in the United States I have it pretty darn good I’m just tired of the PC and the unequal treatment us white folks have to put up with.
 
High School outreach ideas.
07.26.04 (4:47 pm)   [edit]
The pastor at our church asked me and my wife to try to develop an outreach program that might attract high school age kids to our church. Currently our church only has 3 regular attending HS aged kids and they are all girls. I called for a meeting for anyone that might be interested in helping with this task in order to share some ideas my wife and I had and for others to share their ideas. I also wanted the opinion of those that have lived in this community for a while and knew it better than we did. These are ideas some people shared at the meeting.

--Road Rally scavenger hunt
--Open gym nights
--Christian concerts from local bands
--X box tournaments
--Movie night
--Lock in
--Meals for High school football team before away games.
--Coffee house service
--Block party

There were some others but they didn’t pertain to HS kids as much. So far it looks like we are going to try got a barbecue/movie night on the side of the building to kick of a season of open gym nights starting in October. We picked these things because my wife and I have some experience with them and that was the general agreed upon idea at the meeting.

We live in a rural town with a population of roughly 17,000people, two colleges and a lot of churches. Does anyone have any other ideas for reaching out to High Schoolers?
 
VBS praise
07.22.04 (8:21 am)   [edit]
My church’s VBS is has been over for about a week now and I just wanted to say that it went pretty well. I know I complained about the songs in an earlier blog and I stand behind that blog but the rest of the program was pretty good. The lessons used and the way they were taught worked well and was pretty age appropriate. The lesson was taught through a drama by an adult acting as a participant in the story then I would take them to another room where I would teach it in the more conventional style as a review and reinforcement of the lesson told in the drama. The kids were pretty well behaved compared to VBS’ I’ve helped with in the past. The recreation and crafts were good as well.

I also got to know kids and adults that I wouldn’t have got to meet if I didn’t help. I’m kind of an introverted guy that doesn’t really walk around the sanctuary during meet and great to get to know people. VBS allowed me to work with and build relationships with people that I wouldn’t have otherwise. Over all I think God blessed me by using me in this VBS and I’m glad I was able to serve in a small part of it.
 
Missing White Castles
07.21.04 (11:00 am)   [edit]
I miss White Castles. If you don’t know what White Castles is it’s a fast food chain in the mid-west that has these real small burgers with unions. From what I understand (correct me if I’m wrong) White Castles was the first fast food chain in America. If you’ve never had them you would probably think they didn’t look too good to eat but growing up in St.Louis I came to really like them.

The other night about 11pm I got hungry and wanted to get something to eat but the only place open in the small town I live in was Taco Bell. I thought to myself “It’s too late for Taco Bell” and I didn’t get anything. I tell you this story because growing up it was never too late for Whiteys. It was open 24 hours and I would eat them at anytime. Once I even had some at 6am for breakfast. I have great memories of playing on different sports teams and going for pre-game Whitey’s, after school Whitey’s and Whitey’s on a whim. My friend Jon and his college friends even drove 4-5 hours from south west Missouri to get WC in Maplewood (a suburb of St.Louis). It was easy, I grew up less than ½ mile from what I considered to be the best White Castles in St.Louis; the one in Maplewood. The best at least when it had the old building that was actually on the corner and had the seats that all faced out the window. They put a new modern one up in it’s place that looks like all the other. The only thing better about than the old one is that it has more parking. The food tastes the same but with the new building it lost some of it’s appeal.

I live in a small town that only has White Castle frozen in the grocery stores. They are very poor substitutes. I think a WC would do well hear being that it is a college town which contains one of Missouri’s top Universities and a medical school. If anyone out there that reads this has any power in the White Castle Corp think about it. If I were staying here on a long term basis I would even consider open up a franchise.

Anybody else have any good White Castle memories?