My wife's parking incident... My side of the story.

Ok, so on my wife's blog (http://lifeofawifemotheranddaughter.blogspot.com/) you will read about this incident and it's spin is strangely different. Of course, you have to read 5 paragraphs to get to the actual incident and then only 2 sentences are dedicated to describing it. Strange how we focus differently.

Anyway, so I get off work on Friday much later than I thought I would and as I am gearing up mentally for my weekend with the inlaws I get a little surprise. I am on my motorcycle and the fuel light is on but I am hurrying home because my wife has called me every 30 minutes asking when I was coming home so I knew she was anxious to leave. (Reason #1 that this happened: Ready to go syndrome) As I am driving down my street I see the garage door open and the Van backed in. I say to myself "wow, she is really ready to go." Now this to most people is mundane but to me it is a big deal as my wife is one of the worst drivers when it comes to parking and operating in tight spaces. She is great on the road but in close, you better watch out. So I pull my bike in and she meets me with her hands covering her face and says she wrecked the van. I am like what are you talking about? So I say "What do you mean wrecked the van?" Well, apparently she had apprehension before backing the van in but figured she should be able to do it so she went for it. (Reasons #2 and #3 this happened: not knowing one's limitation and ignoring gut instinct.) She got in the van, was super careful and what do you know she made it in. WOW!!! So she is pretty happy and confident now and here is where it all goes down hill. She goes back, pops the hatchback and begins to pack, but then decides to shut the garage door. I know, you are saying "watch out for the hood.." but no, she is on that, way to go honey! She checks the front and sees she is just 2-3 inches short of the door being able to close... Heck that is easy enough, so she hops back in and steps on the gas and CRRRAAAASSSSHHHH. UH OH, was that the hatch back? (Reason #4 as to why this happened: Being greedy... The van was in the garage, did we really need to shut the garage door) Now you have the picture, so let's catch back up to where we were. I am now following her to the back of the van and sure enough my shelving has some chunks out of it and the back lower left corner of the door is bent under. I think well, that isn't too terrible. Then I go to shut it and KERCHUNK! It doesn't close all the way and is obviously bent and raked out of alignment. I am thinking "Holy shit, I am going to be one of those people that is driving down the highway with duct tape and ropes on my vehicle to hold it together. Can anyone say White Trash?" I am determined not to allow this to happen so I bust out the tools and do my best Tim the toolman taylor inpersonation. (I am actually pretty good with tools and fairly handy.) So with some skill and some super human anger strength I physically overpower the door back into it's original shape. After a few minor adjustments I get it to latch and everything is ready to go. Really other than some paint flakes missing and some crinkled metal on the inside of the door you really can't tell. So we did eventually get on our way and had a nice visit in Salina. I tried to be as understanding as possible without losing it but I know I showed my frustration. Anyway, another lesson learned that if you don't get in such a rush in life things will eventually all just work out. Let's just take a step back and take a deep breath. It won't really matter in the whole scheme of things if we get there at 6:00 or 6:30 and more importantly know our limitations and embrace them.

Catch Phrase Volume 3.... "We're Broke"

We're Broke!
This is one of the most overused phrases I have ever heard and apparently almost no one now a days knows what the hell it means. I hear this from my friends all the time. It is strange that they say this before they buy $35k vehicles or go on vacations 2 times a year. I especially love it when they go out every weekend and buy new outfits for their date nights. Why not throw the weekly $70 golf outing and daily starbucks. It is interesting how many people say they are broke but when it all comes down to it, it is nothing but irresponsible money management. If you could cut down some of your manicures, golf, movies etc you wouldn't be so broke or God forbid you get a car without every bell and whistle.

9 years of marriage and still counting...

I just celebrated my 9th anniversary with my wife (11 years total knowing eachother) and it still amazes me how much I love her. She no doubt can push my buttons and get me more mad than anyone in this entire earth but all I have to do is think about her beautiful blue eyes and smile and it is almost impossible to stay mad. Half the time I have to pretend to be mad just to save some face in the argument. She is the most wonderful mother I could possibly have hoped to find for my children. She has done a tremendous job raising and nurturing our 4 kids. Not only them I guess, me too. She has kept this family on financial track since the beginning and really doesn't get a whole lot in return. I love her strong willed nature and at the same time her vulnerable side. I love the fact that everytime she is sick or has a wierd feeling somwhere in her body she researches and comes up with some new potential disease or infection. I love that even though we do eat a lot of the same stuff for dinner (mainly due to my lack of desire to try new things) she always tries to make it more interesting in some way with some personal touch of something. I love that after 4 kids she can wear a bikini and look good doing it. I love that she still thinks she is 5 feet tall... 4'11" to be accurate. I love that she wakes me up at least a couple times a week talking in her sleep about random things. I love that she tries to give our kids the best life they could possibly have. I love the fact that I can't wait to leave work to see her and the kids. Most importantly I love the fact she chose to love me.

Marriages hidden secret.... Mother in laws part 1

Ok, so I have stayed away from the biggest pain point in my life so far, my mother in law. I think it is time for me to get some home made written therapy... I am warning you now, if you get tied up emotionally in what you read, now may be the time to move to a new blog... Ok, so you stayed, here we go.

Now I think that deep down under the skin of evil, manipulation and scheming she is a good person. The problem is that most of the time we cannot get to that part of her. It all starts with me asking to marry her daughter... I made a point since her father and mother have been divorced since she was little that I would ask her mother for permission. I made it a point to meet with her mother one morning while my wife was working to go meet with her at my wife's apartment while she was in town. I told her my intentions and asked for permission. She got the usual cynical look and then proceed to say the following: "I want you to define marriage for me." That was followed by "I want you to define love for me" and "I want you to define commitment for me" and about 15 other more terms that believe it or not Webster's dictionary has had the definitions for several years. Anyway, this was about 1.5 hours of defining terms for her in my words. No dialogue between the 2 parties involved just definitions. We finally passed that and she finally said something other than give me a definition and it was that she thought we were too young and she would have to pray on it for a while and would get back to me in a couple of weeks. (In case you were wondering Jill was a senior in college and I was out) I said well, I am going to ask her this week so I would like your blessing. She of course said no and that she couldn't do it now and probably not in my time frame so she suggested I put it off until she was comfortable... yeah right, we would still be dating if that was the case. That of course is not where the drama ends. I did ask my wife and she said yes. Jill even debated on calling her after it happened because she was afraid she would ruin it. (She did not know about any of the drama with me at that point, just how cynical her mom was.) I told her please don't, let's have a good night and tell her tomorrow. Of course Jill says "Surely she won't ruin this for me, she will be fine for me, for this day." I might as well changed my wife's name to General Custer at that point because I knew an ambush was coming. So we called her and naturally it ended with my future wife crying the rest of the evening. The sad part was her mom didn't even bring up her and my conversation and still made her cry... I should have known then what I was in for but I am not sure I even now looking back knew what I was in for. So let's fast forward a little just to stay on this one event. It is now a 3 weeks before the wedding (we were engaged for a year) and one night my wife says "You know I am a little disappointed that you never asked my parents for permission, especially my mom." Naturally I about crapped my pants. (If I would have been a man with mafia connections and this was the 1920's my problems would have been over that night. That's how mad I was.) I said "what the hell are you talking about?" Apparently her mom had brought this up to her (which I knew because why out of the blue would she say this?). So I proceeded to tell her what I did and why she didn't know. She of course, still with the evil one's blinders on, says that there is no reason for her mom to lie about this. I of course said there are lot's of reasons especially this close to the wedding. Your mother has been divorced a couple times, doesn't trust anyone and has no one else but you to control. Of course she is trying to cause problems. Needless to say we had quite the "discussion" about this and not sure that it was really resolved for several years. Needless to say we got married and after 9 years of marriage, 4 kids, 2 houses, 1 apartment, 6 cars, 1 dog, 4 jobs we are still going strong.

Now this is just the entry into the series of "Mother in Laws". I will leave you with some other interesting teasers for future episodes:
a) The new house argument
b) Marriage advice... Really?
c) You won't be married long enough!
d) Don't undermind what I teach my kids.
e) Baseball 2009
f) Mother's day
g) Christmas
h) Anti social behavior (with in laws)
i) equal play time for kids, please clock in and out to ensure equality

Now these are not in any particular order but they are all topics that will be coming up in future blogs. Some just get my blood boiling just thinking about them. Also, any friends out there reading this if you recall any others that you have had me vent to you about that are not on this list please let me know so I can include them! :) Have a great week...

Some Political Humor....

A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered 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 2346 feet above sea level. You are 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 make of your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help to me."
The man smiled and responded, "You must be a Democrat."
"I am," replied the balloonist. "How did you know?"
"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you're going.
You've risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise that 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."

Catch Phrase Volume 2

You are an associate, not an employee. RIGHT... you know before when I was an employee I was constantly asked to do more work than I could accomplish in 40 hours, told to figure out how to accomplish it and often times by someone who knew little about what I was actually doing. However now that I am an associate.... wait, it is still the exact same except now i have worse insurance and they have my DNA. Why does this world care about trying to make me feel better about my life through symantics? How about making me feel like a valuable employee and not someone that can be tossed away at anytime. I honestly don't care what you call me, you can call me peon for that matter as long as you trust me to do what I need to do when I need to do it and you compensate me accordingly.

Catch Phrase volume 1....

I am going to hit on some catch phrases over the next few days that really tick me off. People use these to mislead us all the time yet there are no repercussions for using them... Here is phrase 1.

1. Work Life Balance - BS... If employers were so interested in this they would make a 4 day work week or flexible hours. Almost all companies sell this idea but very few actually live it. This is because most of the people in charge actually have no life but work so they expect the same... One of my favorite attempts are making you think you have work life balance is they throw you the "Jeans Day" occasionally and let you out an hour early because you know that helps you spend more quality time with your family. Or another good one is volunteer time or even happy hour events held after work. The last thing I want to do after work is spend more time with people from work. I want to go home and see my wife and kids. I work at a company that requires you work over 40 hours (of course we are salary) and if you work close to 40 that is a red flag to management you are not busy enough. Since when did this become a standard that is accepted??? I have had reviews for my associates (hint, that will show up in another blog) where the first thing asked by my superior is where are the hours worked... Really, does that matter? I could be the smartest guy on the team and get my work done in 40 but Joe Bob may spend 10 hours on the internet yet he logs 50 hours and that is seen as a plus? WOW!!!! Anyway, what companies need to do is give alternating Fridays off so at the very least 2 times a month you have a 4 day work week. I bet you would find this would boost morale more than any other attempt they make. This would make happier more close knit families which in tern makes happier more productive "associates" (employees).

Texting and Cell Phones while driving...

So I experience first hand on a daily basis what a danger this is. However, I have an advantage or a disadvantage depending how you see it. I ride a motorcycle to work and constantly see people make bad decisions while driving. The reason I say riding a bike is an advantage is I am infinitely more agile than a car. Sure, there is less protection but so far (knock on wood) I have been able to maneuver around any situation. I saw this video (http://www.break.com/index/bus-driver-crashes-while-texting.html) the other day and it convinced me to write about this. I personally believe any cell phone use should be banned while the car is moving. This is easily enforceable, not by law but by technology. Here are 2 proposals, both cost money but are not requiring legislation... 1. Utilize the GPS feature in phones to detect movement over a certain speed and once that speed is attained kill the call making ability. Easy code to write and easy to implement. There really isn't much downfall to this as you won't be driving as slow as a human can walk. You could implement this immediately and fairly easily. 2. Utilize government technology implemeneted in new automobiles... I am talking about cell phone blockers. They have had this technology for a while and it is a mini-jamming station that has a defined radius of impact. You could force car makers to install this in each car just like a seatbelt. Except this "seatbelt" is one for everyone outside the car you are driving. So how this works is anytime the car is out of "Park" this jammer begins broadccasting it's signal and prevents calls until the car is in park again. Signal strength determines how far it is affective so at worst you can't use your phone within 3-4 feet of a moving vehicle... Again, well worth it in my mind. Anyway, think about the lives that would be saved everyday just by using this technology. If the government is going to hand out our money to anyone asking why not put it towards something like this?

Intelligence Gathering.... Why do we handcuff ourselves?

Ok, so one of the thing that really bothers me is this discussion on waterboarding and what is torture... You know, I am not for breaking any laws, but I am for using all means necessary for getting information from terrorists. Think about it, these people openly admit they would kill any american given the chance. Doesn't that say something by itself? These people hijacked our own people and willingly tried to kill 20,000 people. Why does it matter if they feel some pain? Really we are concerned about this? You have got to be kidding me. Now I think this should be court approved and supervised and that we must have enough evidence that they are indeed in the organization participating in these acts but once that is done I say let the "information gathering" begin. Most of these people in guantanamo bay have better living conditions than some americans. They get constant meals and shelter. We have a lot in this country that don't get that. I believe that once word gets out that the US is no longer soft and do some bad things to people to make them talk we are going to get a little more respect. I don't think the world is going to hate us anymore than they seem to now and you know what WHO CARES. I wish one of these presidents would grow some cajones and say you are either with the US or against us. We stop effective immediately giving money to all countries and tax everything coming into the US. We feed and financially support a ton of countries. Let's stop caring about what everyone else thinks and do what we need to in order for the US to be safe. That includings any interrogation methods deemed necessary and if they die in the process, we just saved a costly jail stay. Again, this is not for every Tom, Dick and Harry we pick up but ones through some approved oversight are deemed valuable targets of the USA. We are scolded everytime a bomb of our kills some civilians in a terrorist camp but where is the rest of the world when it comes time to collect? Standing on the doorstep of the US with their hands out asking for assistance whether it be food or money.

Men are from Mars, women... some galaxy far, far away.

So according to a famous book, men are supposedly from Mars and women are from Venus... Of course that is just a title and a play with words but honestly I don't think that they are even remotely accurate. Men and women to use this persons idea, in my opinion are not even in the same galaxy. Lets look at a few scenarios:

1. Friendship - Have you ever noticed that even when men don't know each other or even possibly like eachother that a beer and a football game will resolve any issues. That is because men are focused mainly on what they like and how they can turn a situation into something they enjoy. (EXAMPLE: Ok, so I don't like Bob and we have to go over there, but on the otherhand Bob has a nice TV and cold beer. I will be fine.) Women on the otherhand are always judging and to a level almost conniving when in groups. Very rarely can they just be in the moment, they actually have to think about the next hour, days, weeks and years and what certain actions might do. They have a wolf pack mentality almost and will prey on whoever is the percieved weak link at that time. (EXAMPLE: We have to go to the smith's tonight since they invited us. Great, now we will have to have them over, what am I going to wear? I bet she is going to wear something where her new tummy tuck is going to show. It will probably look skanky. I wish I had a tummy tuck. I bet her kids are going to run wild and my husband is just going to sit on his ass with Bob and watch the game while I do everything. I have to do the dishes tomorrow and then I'll probably have to go to the grocery store and I bet I'll run into Lisa, great, she'll want me to scrap book again....) That is all from the same episode. Now the reality is the women could get together, chat, have a few drinks let the kids play and all would be fine but in their mind the world might end if they just were to relax. The other thing is that if you notice men often will all just huddle up in one big drinking group. That is never the case with women. They are always in small cliques. They may start big but there will always be more than one group no more than 5 minutes into any event. This isn't good or bad, just fact. We are wired way different.

2. Sex. Now here is a great one... Lightyears apart. Women's biggest flaw is everything is a feeling/emotion. Men's biggest flaw is that nothing involves feelings/emotions at all. Again, this goes to the making the most of a situation or analyzing the crap out of it. Now ladies don't get me wrong as I know there are some of you that enjoy sex for what it is but for the most part you girls go crazy with this idea that you were raised on which is SOAP OPERAS. Men were raised on the the idea of Playboy and high school girls. Unfortunately for men, we never change and keep those ideas our whole lives. Women on the other hand mature and go from those high school girls to women that need emotional/personal satisfaction. Not that it is a bad thing just hard for us men to adjust to since we don't really change our ideology at all. Let's just take a look at the main highlighted differences:
Men prefer:
- Spontaneity
- Dirtier/kinkier the better
- Vocalization
- Direction (positive, not nagging direction Example:"I like that", not "What are you doing")
- Experimentation

Women
- Romance
- Predictability (to some extent, can't be too out of the norm)
- Love
- Cuddling
- Take charge men (as long as it is within acceptable guidelines)

Now if you just look at the things above they almost contradict themselves. I joked with my wife that I wanted to create a movie that was just about the real sex lives of people. Since then there have been numerous sit-coms that have tried and some have done pretty well. Think about it though, there is nothing out there that accurately depicts what sex is really about, during and after. There is nothing with the quotes "what are you doing?", "you want me to do what?", "Is that even legal?", "You got that stuff all over me?", "get the towel", "Is the door locked?", "Why on the table?", "Why on the bathroom sink?", "Why isn't the bed good enough location?", "You just got it 2 days ago!", "My back hurts.", "why do you want pictures?", "You might hurt the babies head". Anyway, you get the idea. I could do some funny stuff with that. Anyway, I don't have the time or resources but you know what I am saying. It would be a best seller amongst couples of all ages. So now to my recommendation on this. Have 2 guaranteed nights a week. One is for you and one is for her. Your night anything goes, as quick or kinky as you like. Her night, as slow and romantic as possible. HOWEVER, you both have to commit 100% to the idea or just like anything else it will just fizzle away.

3. Self image - This is a huge one as well. You ever notice how a guy can walk around with his belly hanging out and think he is a walking love machine? This is due to the ability to accept what we have and not dwell on the things we can't or don't. So men, maybe while getting dressed think "Man I could lose a few pounds and am getting flabby". After that, we don't think about it again. The rest is focused on the day at hand and what we need to do and when we can have sex. Women on the other hand goes something like this as they are getting dressed: "Man my thighs are getting flabby, is my pouch getting bigger? Do I have circles under my eyes? Honey quick watching me get dressed. Man I hate he is always looking at me like a hungry lion. It wouldn't surprise me if he doesn't start drooling. I wish he would lose some pounds. Speaking of pouches, how does he not see that. My feet are gross. Ok this outfit isn't too bad... Oh nevermind it makes my ass look fat. Let's try another one. OH GREAT he is drooling again. I cannot even change jeans without him on me like a vulture. These jeans look really good. Now I have no top. Is that a grey hair, speaking of hair, can't he see his is falling out. That must be terrible. I am feeling bloated, how many days, surely it isn't that time yet." Now back to the MAN's point of view: "Man she looks hot for having kids, I wish I could lock us in the bathroom for a few minutes. That is a nice, wait I guess that was a nice outfit. Oh boy here comes the fat worries, please let those pants get over the hips, we don't need that kind of excitement this morning. Great they did, Oh boy, the hair thing again, I think my hair is holding strong, a little thinner but overall good work. Oh well, nothing I can do about it anyway. I like she still hasn't found a top to go with those pants yet. Too focused on her grey hair to put a shirt on. NICE!!! Good way to start the day. Maybe I will get lucky tonight." Anyway, bottom line... Men love their wives no matter what they look like. We all think they are hot and most importantly they are all ours. Women are too worried about everything other than just being a confident self. Don't get me wrong, we love that you girls get done up. When you guys put it all together it is HOT. Just don't let the act get in the way of the true beauty that is inside.

There is no right or wrong obviously I just see things all the time that make me laugh and wanted to share some of it. Anyway, Hope you enjoy and if not sorry. I will try to please you in the next blog.

Questionable Laws.....

This one I am sure will bring up some debate, wait, nevermind, I don't think anyone comments on my blog. Well, if anyone did this would surely bring up some debate. Why do we spend so much time and money trying to force people to live a certain "healthier" way? We spend so much money enforcing laws that really have little or no impact on the majority of the citizens of the united states. Here are a few examples... Motorcycle helmets. Why are they even considered law worthy? it isn't like it is a danger to anyone else, in fact, it could be argued that you are more of a danger to me with one on. I would be willing to guess if you hit my windshield with a helmet you are more likely to go through it and hurt me than if you didn't have one on. Now you are probably saying whoa way out of bounds but let me tell you this. I am a motorcycle rider and I would never ride without a helmet. It would scare the crap out of me. But that doesn't mean I need a law to tell me that. Come on, if there is some moron that wants to ride without one let him. WHO CARES. How much money did it cost to pass the law, make sure it would be legal (lawyer fees) enforce it (police officers time) and the paper it is printed on. Another one is Prostitution. This is controversial because of my christian beliefs but I am still baffled by the opinion we need to legally eliminate this. Think about it, people, some from bars, some from colleges are complete strangers having sex. What is the difference between that (where some are impaired due to alcohol and may not even have consented under different circumstances) and the other (which they are both of sound judgement and consenting adults)? Not only that but one is earning a living at the same time. Look at high school and college, promiscuity is all over the place. Why not let someone earn some money too? We spend so much money on stings/stakeouts and waste law enforcement resources on this when there are far more serious crimes that we could be stopping. I don't care if my neighbor is a horny bastard that needs to go to a hooker because his wife doesn't give it to him enough. Hell, let him pay for it and support another person. It is his own problem between himself and his family and not something I should have to pay to stop with my taxes. I will pray for him to see the correct action/path to take but I say let me keep my money. I am tired of this country wasting money on stupid people. If they want to risk sickness and death or loss of a family let them. If the guy riding the motorcycle wants to risk splattering his brain matter across the highway, LET HIM. Take that same tax money and put it to good use like cancer research or something. Darwin's point of view does work for me in some cases... Anyway, in the words of Forest Gump "And that's all I have to say about that."

Taxes, what is all the confusion about?????

OK, so here is a topic I have shared with many people and everyone seems to agree. Flat Tax, Fair Tax whatever you want to call it. This idea has been around for so long yet it never seems to get any traction. Why can we as a country not do anything that is common sense based? Did you know that the IRS budget for 2009 is over $12.5 BILLION???? WOW, that is rediculous. Do you know how much money is outstanding in taxes owed? I read an article that recently estimated outstanding (past due) taxes is around $3.5 Billion. WOW. So combined we are looking at $16 BILLION, and that is probably a low estimate, of money our country could be using. Hell, I bet just in Obama's cabinet there is probably a couple Million in unpaid taxes. Now how do we save this much money? Well that is where the fair tax comes into play. Starting today, we would implement a system that we take a total of $0 out of your check. That is right, no money at all. If you make $50K a year, you get $50K a year to bring home. Where you are taxed is at the time of purchase. So say currently you are losing about 26% of your income to taxes before you get it. Well, now you decide where that 26% is spent. How I mean that is everything you buy... Yes everything now has a let's just say 26% tax on it just to make it easy. Odds are the tax rate will be lower. So milk, food, clothes, airplanes, cars etc. All taxed at 26%. Now you may think this is excessive but lets really look at it. See the following example just on a simple level:

Current plan: Fair Tax:
Salary $50,000
Take-Home $37,000

Fair Tax
Salary $50,000
Take-Home $50,000

EXPENSES
Current Plan:
Groceries $3,600
Entertainment $1,500
Gas $2,600
Miscellaneous $4,000

Fair Tax:
Groceries $4,536 (3,600+26%)
Entertainment $1,890 (1,500+26%)
Gas $3,276 (2,600+26%)
Miscellaneous $5,040 (4,000+26%)

Totals
Current Plan: $11,700
Fair Tax: $14,742

Remaining Cash
Current Plan: $25,300
Fair Tax: $35,258
DIFFERENCE $9,958

Now this is just a simple example of your life and what it would be like under a fair tax. We get rid of all the crazy complicated tax codes, collection agencies etc and just pay at the time of purchase. Not only that but as long as you keep youur spending under control you end up with more money in your pocket. however the more you spend the more you are taxed. So the rich, when they buy yachts and airplanes etc will be taxed more as they are spending more. The beauty of it is you will never be taxed % wise more than anyone else. If you decide to live simply you have more cash in the bank. I am not the first nor the last to be a proponent of this but I had to at least bring it up for discussion. It absolutely makes no sense why we are not on this system now. Everyone can punch holes in anything but think of the simplicity of this? No April 15th date, no monstrous IRS it just all takes care of itself at checkout. WOW.

Mandatory Screening for Parenthood....

So today I am going to touch on something that is very near and dear to me... My children. I am a father of 4 beautiful kids ranging from 17 months to 6 years old. I would do anything for them and long to spend time with them. What baffles me today is that we let anyone and everyone have them. Does this make sense??? I don't think so. We try and regulate everything people do except have kids. We regulate how you can have sex (whether you pay or not and where), we regulate if you can drive a car, buy a house, own a gun, buy alcohol, GET A DOG but no screening for being a parent. Thousands of unfit parents are created every year when they decide to partake in the miracle of creating life. Children are born to Drug dealers, child molesters, rapists, unemployed homeless people all the time and we do nothing about it. A child is the greatest gift God has given us as human beings (not counting his son who died for us) and yet we mishandle this all the time. it would be simple, mandatory class that would test you together and independently as parents. See if at the least can you financially support a child and even better do you understand what being a mom or dad is about. Not just being the parent of a child but everything else that goes with it. I coach 2 baseball teams and several of my kids have 1 if not both parents that are borderline worthless. I honestly get choked up when I see a kid come to baseball that 1, doesn't have a glove, and 2, has obviously never been played with. These kids long for attention but have no clue how and what to do because of uninvolved parents. I try as much as possible to make my kids know I love them and I will be here for them in any way possible. I realize that something as little as baseball is not something to get worked up about but the point is this is just the tip of the iceberg. I know kids are abused, killed, drugged etc all the time it just happens to be that coaching is where I am exposed to the lack of involvement from parents. Enrolling them in an activity and getting the team picture to show them 10 years down the line is not being a good parent. At some point, they are going to say "Mom, how come there aren't any pictures of me at a game?" What are you going to say???? "I had a meeting?" "I was too busy on my blackberrry?" "I had too many pictures of the fishing trip I was on and there was no room left on the memory card?" COME ON PEOPLE, if you didn't want all of the extra stuff that comes along with kids then you should have bought a DOG. It is only a matter of time before one of these parents comes up to me and says something about playing time or "little Timmy really wants to be a first baseman" that is going to set me off. Maybe I will come back with "Well if you had done your job as a dad little Timmy might know if he should where the glove on his right or left hand much less catch a ball..." Most likely I will do the polite thing that I always do and say " I will see what I can work in the schedule " and inevitably I will end up teaching your kids how to be successful.

Society of complainers....

OK, this was not going to be my topic for the day but after seeing this on the news last night I had no choice but to comment. Our society is nothing but a bunch of lazy, looking for a free buck, complainers. So on NBC last night there was a story about a woman who was on a Carnival cruise scheduled to go to mexico. After the cruise had departed Mexican authorities informed the cruise line that in the port the ship was scheduled to stop, swine flu had been recently found in growing numbers. Now Carnival, weighing all of the risks etc. decided the prudent thing was to turn out to sea and come back. Yes, they missed 1 of their ports of call but still were on the water the same amount of time. Yes it would have been a bummer to have had your hopes up and then not be able to see a port but come on. Can you imagine if Carnival would have gone to port and the whole boat gets sick? The lawsuits and the complaining that would happen then? Use your head people, it was the most prudent move they could make. They were actually looking out for your health and safety. YET, a woman gets on the news and is making a statement about how mad she was and Carnival is going to have to compensate her "big time" for this. I wonder how different if any different at all her story would have been if they went and she became ill... Apparently a no-win situation for carnival. Just a bunch of people looking to get rich quick without the hard work of getting there. Makes me sick.

Hablas espanol????

So I am going to touch on this ticking time bomb... immigration. Now I am completely for immigration as I believe immigrants do 30% or more of the jobs in the US that really make this country run and for some reason US citizens don't want to do. What I am against however is the immigrants who cannot speak any english. I think as a rule of thumb you must be able to speak english and you must obtain citizenship within 3 years. We have everything in 2,3 and 4 languages now a days. Come on, just the savings in paper alone would be huge. I get that to pick strawberries, frame a house, clean our corporate buildings you don't necessarily need to read or speak english to be successful individually but what i am talking about is the good of the country. I know there are millions of workers in the US that don't speak english. What I say is if you really want to be in America, learn the language. If we stop you on the street or at a job and you can't speak english, pack your bags you are going home. The ones who really want the American dream will work for it and learn it. Also, I say do this to citizens born in the USA. You want government welfare and support, LEARN TO READ. Until then, good luck. Don't you think there are millions of ideas in those non-english speaking heads that would be beneficial to the USA? If nothing else a community benefits from all of it's people/resources being on the same page, hell, we aren't even in the same library as a country. Diversity is oneof our greatest strengths as a country if we make it one. All it has done to this point in recent history is divided us. If we continue to allow whoever to come in whenever and accomodate them as much as possible this will always be the case. Look at the military. One of the most diverse "organizations" the US has. How does it work? They have basic rules that everyone understands. Language being one of them, chain of command is another. Enforcing a national language is not descrimination but more of unification. We then can all begin to understand eachother and where we come from rather than just seperate and isolate ourselves from different cultures. God bless and hasta luego, ciao, das vadania, guten morgen, aloha ..... you get the picture.

Studio condo with free cable, workout facilities and sports...

What am I talking about??? JAIL. What baffles me today is when did jail turn into a place people wanted to be? I read some crazy statistics that said something like 80% of criminals jailed for more than a year ended up getting sent back to prison because of 2nd, 3rd and 4th offenses. That is crazy. Think of it, when time gets hard commit a small crime and instantly you have a roof over your head, cable tv, hot meals, a sporting and workout program. What more could you want. Hell, next we will be building jails on beaches so the inmates can get some quality outside time. It costs my state over $100,000/year to jail someone. THAT IS REDICULOUS. If people feared jail maybe we wouldn't have so much crime and second offenses. I say build the jails in Southern Texas and Alaska. No air conditioning, no heat. give them blankets up north and shade down south. No beds either. Why should I pay for them to be comfortable. Let's get back to the black and white striped uniforms. No recess for the inmates either and you guessed it... Slop for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Finally, guards have a shoot to kill order. You fight, we don't send guards down there to get kidnapped and killed we just shoot you from a tower. Then the inmates get to clean you up off the ground. You would be amazed at how quickly the overcrowding issue resolves itself if we had a backbone in this country and held people accountable. People commit crimes because there are no serious consequences anymore. I am picking on the jail system right now because it is the biggest target but there are many others. What about drunk driving??? I say if you get caught drunk driving we send you out on the KS speedway, fill you up full of alcohol and put you in a car that can't go under 200mph. Stick a few obstacles in the way and watch you pay the price. hell, you could even probably sell that on Pay per view now a days. Imagine no one has to give you the injection you get to kill yourself essentially for trying to kill others. Speeding, why not make the first offense $1,000 and no getting a lawyer, you are toast. Do you think people would slow down. you better believe it. Bottom line, the US is in the crapper because your shortcomings are always because of someone else. It is time we make people accountable for their actions and the US may have a chance. God bless and safe riding.

Gun Control....

So when was the last time you saw someone walk up to a police station or gun shop and start shooting??? NEVER. Why, because the people that do shoot innocents or go on shooting rampages are cowards and pick on the weakest most vulnerable people they can think of. Often times it is people identical to them hence the work place is a common death trap. Now how many of them have killed themselves when confronted with Law Enforcement or someone threatening? Answer, MOST. So why do people constantly try to take my right to carry away? I am baffled by this because if you look at who commits most violent weapons crimes, it is usually someone who acquired a gun illegally. Will serializing bullets solve the issue? NO, why you say, well because any somewhat intelligent criminal is going to go to a shooting range, pick up some of your used casings while you are not looking and then go rob a bank and drop them all over the floor. Next thing you know the FBI is at your doorstep. Gun control just hurts law abiding citizens and prevents us from defending ourselves at our greatest time of need. Anyway, I am ranting now and being my first blog I will stop before I get to out there. Anyway, let me know your thoughts and I will get to another post in a day or 2.