The Fall of Atari

I found this video interesting. I still have an Atari 2600 and at least 30 carts!

Welfare Poem

I cross ocean,

Poor and broke,

Take bus,

See employment folk.

Nice man treat me

Good in there,

Say I need to

See welfare.

Welfare say,

'You come no more,

We send cash

Right to your door.'

Welfare checks,

They make you wealthy,

Medicaid it keep

You healthy!

By and by,

I get plenty money,

Thanks to you,

American dummy.

Write to friends

In motherland,

Tell them 'come

Fast as you can.'

They come in turbans

And Ford trucks,

I buy big house

With welfare bucks

They come here,

We live together,

More welfare checks,

It gets better!

Fourteen families,

They moving in,

But neighbor's patience

Wearing thin.

Finally, white guy

Moves away,

Now I buy his house,

And then I say,

'Find more aliens

For house to rent.'

And in the yard

I put a tent.

Send for family

They just trash,

But they, too,

Draw the welfare cash!

Everything is

Very good,

And soon we

Own the neighborhood.

We have hobby

it's called breeding,

Welfare pay

For baby feeding.

Kid's need dentist?

Wife's need pills?

We get free!

We got no bills!

American's crazy!

He pay all year,

To keep welfare

Running here.

We think America

Darn good place!

Too darn good for

The white man race.

If they no like us,

They can scram,

Got lots of room in Pakistan.

I got the following information sent to me along with this poem. Can anybody verify the or disprove the following information?

It is interesting that the federal government provides a single refugee with a monthly allowance of $1,890.00. And each can also get an additional $580.00 in social assistance for a total of $2,470.00 .

This compares very well to a single pensioner who after contributing to the growth and development of America for 40 to 5 0 years can only receive a monthly maximum of $1,012.00 in old age pension and Guaranteed Income Supplement.

Almost Forgot to Relax

It's been a busy week. We had VBS all week and that means my day off (Friday) is the busiest day of my week cleaning up after the event. (AWESOME week of VBS...115 kids, 6 decisions for Christ). Saturday was preparing for today (I got to preach today) and then today started out early getting everything ready for the iGrow class and the service. After church, went out to eat with my parents, I updated the church web page, took a short nap and paid bills. I finished all of this around 6pm and was trying to decide if I should mow my lawn or get a head start on my premarital counseling for this week. It's been a busy week and my mind was still in "go" gear.

Instead, I decided to take a couple hours and go for a motorcycle ride. I called a couple buddies, but nobody was home, so I headed out by myself. I headed south toward Venus an then veered off onto a random Country Road. I had the GPS with me so I would not get lost and I took one Country Road after the other heading south and west until I ended up in Alvarado. I came back home through Lillian, Rendon and Kennedale never getting onto a major highway. It turned out to be the absolutely perfect, relaxing motorcycle ride that I needed. 70 miles in 2.5 hours (with a stop over at Dairy Queen) on country roads.

I almost forgot to relax today...glad I didn't. Excellent way to end a busy week and prepare for the coming week.

I Have Chosen This Temple

I was reading in 2 Chronicles tonight and ran across this passage where Solomon had asked God to hear his prayers and the prayers of the people of Israel that were offered at the newly-built Temple. God replied in chapter 7, verses 15-16:

I will listen to every prayer made in this place for I have chosen this Temple and set it apart to be my home forever. My eyes and my heart will always be here. (NLT)

After I read that, I got to thinking. God doesn't dwell in the Temple anymore (Acts 7:48), but He lives in our hearts. That means:

1. God will listen to every prayer of MY HEART
2. God has chosen ME/MY HEART to set it aprt to His home forever
3. God's eyes and His heart will always be on, with and in ME/MY HEART

How awsome is that!

Me and My Punkin

This is a picture of me and my Punkin during Spring Break this year. Tonight Brooke had a girls night out with her friends, so Punkin and I had a Daddy/Daughter date night. We left on the motorcycle a little after 5pm and headed to the library first. The Southwest Branch by our house closes at 5pm on Friday (we found out when we got there), so we headed to the Southeast Branch which also turned out to be closed. As we were riding up, Amanda saw the Tails and Trails dog park, so of course we had to stop and see the dogs there.

After that, we went to Blockbuster to rent a Wii game for tonight (and the rest of the weekend). Making decisions is not one of the things Amanda likes to do, and if there is any time constraint involved, it is just plain stressful for her. I was patient, and we finally decided on Mario Galaxy. We played it tonight, but so far, neither one of us are real impressed with it. I certainly am not $9 impressed with it (rental fee).

From there, we headed to the Dollar Tree (Amanda's favorite store in the entire world!). I gave her $5 and let her go. She found a few treasures for herself and picked out a present to give an older, single lady at our church.

I had originally planned on trying out this pizza place in Mansfield where you watch them make your pizza and then you take it home to cook it, but Amanda had pizza for lunch and wanted something else for dinner. Something else = McDonalds. Eh, it's ok. I can always eat McDonalds. We had a good time just haning out and talking over fries, burgers and chicken nuggets.

Last stop was by Red Box to pick up a movie for tonight. I had already looked for a kids movie. I reserved Benji: Off the Leash. All I can about this movie...that one prison warden in Arizona that makes all of his prisoners wear pink underwear and work outside to pay for their onw meals. I think this guy might want to get this movie and make his inmates watch it. Yes, it was THAT PAINFUL!

The movie didn't get over until 10:30pm and which time Amanda was extremely sleepy. She had one mess to clean up before bed and I got to listen to her cry "I'm so sleepy" while she cleaned it up. We crawled into her bed to pray, she said how much she liked Daddy/Daughter date nights and I'm pretty sure she was asleep 30 seconds after that.

Had an awesome night...me and my Punkin.

Street/Trial Riding

I Don't Know Where I Am

A woman in a hot-air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

 

The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, "You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2,346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.

 

"She rolled her eyes and said, "You must be a Republican."

  

"I am," replied the man. "How did you know?" 

 

"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct.  But I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost.  Frankly, you've not been much help to me." 

 

The man smiled and responded, "You must be an Obama Democrat."

 

"I am," replied the balloonist. "How did you know?" 

 

"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you are going.. You've risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air.  You made a promise you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem.  You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but somehow, now it's my fault."

They Make the Light Flash for a Reason

We had a plan. Pastor prayed, the plan began...and just after I turned the video camera on it went off, battery dead. I plugged the camera in and let it "charge" for a couple hours last night. Too bad I never checked to see if the little red light was flashing that means the camera was charging. It turns out I plugged it into the half of my UPS (uninterrupted power supply) that does not work.

So what did I miss? Well, next Sunday (May 10) is Pastor David's 60th birthday. We could not let an occasion like this go by without much fanfare, but the problem was how to make it a surprise. The staff and church leadership always does something for Pastor's birthday, we mention it to the congregation, and on "big ones" (like 50 and 60), we do a big church party. It's not like Pastor expects a birthday party, but I'm thinking since he's turning 60, since we always do something for him, and since his birthday is on a Sunday, he has to have it in the back of his mind that something is going to happen. That's why I suggested we do something today, a week before Pastor's birthday. He wouldn't expect anything today, right?

We began talking it over as a staff and came up with the idea of combining his party with the church picnic. The only problem with that was the fact that the picnic was scheduled at the end of the month. If we did a party then, it would seem like a "guilt party" because we forgot his real birthday. That's when our events coordinator, Pat, came to the rescue. She told Pastor the date we had scheduled for the picnic would not work for her and asked if we could move it to today, May 3rd. The picnic was moved and party planning began in earnest.

So "the plan", as NOT captured on video, went like this. A letter went out to the congregation and asked them to stop by the youth building when they got to church this morning. Those that brought cards/presents dropped them off in the youth building and everybody grabbed a party hat and a party blower. These were smuggled into the sanctuary and hidden until the appointed time. We always have an opening song and then Pastor opens the service in prayer. As he began to pray today, people quietly and "prayerfully" put on their party hats and got out the party blowers. When Pastor said "amen", he may have been startled by the noise as the party blowers sounded and he opened his eyes to a party-hat-clad church. Immediately a video started showing pictures of Pastor over the years and a couple happy-birthday-videos from friends. After the video, we told Pastor that the picnic was also a party for him. Somehow we moved back into worship, had a good service and a good message, and then had the picnic/party afterwards.

I didn't mention that in the midst of all the planning the weather did not cooperate this week. LOTS of rain which makes for muddy church grounds. On Thursday, we decided the chances were GREAT that we would have to move the picnic into the sanctuary, so rather than wait and try to take down all the chairs and set up 18 tables on the fly, we set up the sanctuary for the picnic. When people arrived today, they were asked where they wanted to sit, "table or chairs". This made it a little bit interesting for the ushers as they took up the offering, but it was different and it was fun.

So we had GREAT Texas BBQ for lunch, sang Happy Birthday to Pastor, took ten additional minutes to light all 60 candles on his cake, showered him with gifts and gift cards and had a great time. Lots of volunteers helped clean up so everybody was home before too late this afternoon. What a great day!

Happy Birthday a week early Pastor David. We love you!

FYI - The picture at the beginning of this post is from Pastor's 55th birthday party, not today.

Patriot Micro Chip

THE PATRIOT MICRO CHIP is intended to be implanted in terrorists.  The implant is specifically designed to be installed in the forehead.  When properly installed it will allow the implantee to speak to God. 

  

 It comes in various sizes: 

The exact size of the implant will be selected by a well-trained and highly-skilled technician. The implant may or may not be painless. Side effects, like headaches and nausea, are temporary. Some bleeding or swelling may occur at the injection site.

Please enjoy the security we provide for you.

Best regards,

US Marines

Camping in the Back Yard

The girls say they are going to make it thorugh the night (staying outside). We'll see!

Texas Room...Just Finished

I have been in the process of repainting my office since the beginning of the year. Obviously, it has gone S-L-O-W-L-Y. But I've finally finished the painting (yesterday!). I still have some bookshelves to paint, and as you can see from the video, I still have a lot of walls to cover before my "Texas Room" lives up to it's name. But it's looking good and I'm excited. Here's a minute and a half video tour.

Redneck Artist

12 of 12 - April 2009

8:14am - Breakfast of Champions, (generic) Lucky Charms


8:55am - Vine Fellowship Easter bulletin


8:55am - Amanda at church in her Easter outfit


10:25am - Vine Fellowship Easter service


11:39am - Mrs. Brooke and Kidz Live on Sunday morning


2:37pm - Lunch with Mom and Dad


4:08pm - Yes, that's a Christmas tree. One of the places Amanda had to look for her Easter eggs was under the Christmas tree! That's right, G-ma still has her Christmas tree up.


4:20pm - Mom dyed Easter eggs and hid them for Amanda. Here Amanda has found them all and sorted them by color.


4:34pm - Amanda being silly at Mom and Dad's during her Easter egg hunt.


6:17pm - For years now, Mom has been measuring Amanda from time to time and marking her height with the date on her kitchen door frame.


7:29pm - We had to go grocery shopping on the way home from Mom and Dad's. Picked up these "just because I love you" roses for Brooke while we were there.


7:58pm - Several years ago we received this hand-stir popcorn popper on Pastor Appreciation Sunday. We use it often and we LOVE it.

Easter Myths

One lady wrote in to a question and answer forum.

Dear Sirs,
Our preacher said on Easter, Jesus just swooned on the cross and that the disciples nursed Him back to health. What do you think?
Sincerely,
Bewildered

Dear Bewildered,
Beat your preacher with a cat-of-nine-tails with 39 heavy strokes, nail him to a cross; hang him in the sun for 6 hours; run a spear thru his side; put him in an airless tomb for 36 hours and see what happens. Sincerely,
Charles

(taken from our church bulletin on Easter Sunday)

The Man Rules

Men are NOT mind readers.

Learn to work the toilet seat.You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down.We need it up, you need it down.You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.

Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one:Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it!

Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost EVERY question.

Come to us with a problem ONLY if you want help solving it. That's what we do.

If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the OTHER one.

You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.

ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.

If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," We will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine... Really .

You have enough clothes. You have too many shoes.

I am in shape. Round IS a shape!

Thank you for reading this. Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight; But did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.

12 of 12 - March 2009

7:27am - Oops, I forgot March's 12 of 12 of the 12th, so I had to cheat and do it on the 13th this month.


7:28am - Brooke, Boo, Sully and I all join in waking Amanda up for school.


7:39am - Today's lunch napkin poem for Amanda.


7:54am - Spent most of the day trying to get Carbonite set up and running smoothly on my laptop.


3:33pm - Working on "Upside Down Leadership" for iGrow, Track 3.


3:36pm - Brooke brought home Sonic drinks. Happy Hour at Sonic is one of our favorite times of the day.


5:20pm - Working on a little English homework. Look at Amanda's GIANT pencil!


6:49pm - School patches are always coming off in the wash, so here I am apply clothing glue and ironing them on again.


6:57pm - Amanda coming in (with Boo) to show off her latest fashion design.


7:52pm - Every time I paint, Boo comes into my office to offer moral support. More than once, she has even "worn paint" in support of my efforts (she has rubbed against a freshly-painted wall).

7:54pm - Applying paint to the last wall!


8:24pm - Brooke, Boo and Sully all came to my office to keep my company while I painted. They thought it was cold. I offered Brooke a roller to get the blood flowing, but she politely passed.

Watch Yourself

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

Israeli Sense of Humor at the UN

A representative from Israel began: 'Before beginning my talk I want to tell you something about Moses. When he struck the rock and it brought forth water, he thought, 'What a good opportunity to have a bath!'

He removed his clothes, put them aside on the rock and entered the water.

When he got out and wanted to dress, his clothes had vanished. A Palestinian had stolen them.'

The Palestinian representative jumped up furiously and shouted, 'What are you talking about? The Palestinians weren't there then.'

The Israeli representative smiled and said, 'And now that we have made that clear, I will begin my speech....'

(From my friend, Ken)

Email Virus Warning

I thought you would want to know about this e-mail virus. Even the most advanced programs from Norton or McAfee cannot take care of this one. It appears to affect those who were born prior to 1965.

Symptoms:

1. Causes you to send the same e-mail twice
2. Causes you to send a blank e-mail
3. Causes you to send e-mail to the wrong person
4. Causes you to send it back to the person who sent it to you
5. Causes you to forget to attach the attachment
6. Causes you to hit 'SEND' before you've finished
7. Causes you to hit 'DELETE' instead of 'SEND'
8. Causes you to hit 'SEND' when you should 'DELETE'
9. Causes you to hit 'DELETE' instead of forward

IT IS CALLED THE
'C-NILE VIRUS'

(Emailed to me from my friend, Ken)

I'm Leavin' on a Jet (and prop) Plane

This is the company and type of plane I will be flying from Detroit Metro Airport to Chippewa Country International Airport ("the only commercial service airport in the Eastern Upper Peninsula"). I will be flying a "real" plane from DFW to Detroit. I am going to visit my best friend and roommate from college, Craig, in May. My final destination is the thriving metropolis of Pickford, MI. Craig tells me there are approx. 700 people in Pickford, but from what I can find on the Internet (and there is precious little), it looks like there may be closer to 1,800 people! There is some talk of "townships" and the like, so the actual town may have just 700 people...guess I'll find out.

When I bought my ticket at Hotwire.com today, it said the temperature was 8 degrees with a wind chill of -4. That's why I'm not going until May. I tried to find out what one does for excitement in Pickford. Craig pointed out it is only 20 miles or so from the Canadian border, but now you have to have a passport to get into Canada, so guess we won't be visiting there, eh? I also checked Geocaching.com. The town has ONE geocache.

So, in May, I'm leavin' on a jet (and prop) plane and I'm excited to see my friend again. As long as there's junk food, a ping pong table and a chance to hang out together, we'll have a blast!