baseball and Christmas

I received a collection of DVDs about baseball from my son for Christmas. I love the sport,played a lot in my younger days, coached some little league, and have a lot of memories about my father "Ninth-inning Ed"a superb player himself.

The gift is history of the game from its inception through todays game and is contained in 6 2-disk sets. I am half-way through the first disk and look forward to many hours of enjoyment.

beautiful snow

Christmas day was nice as I went to my in-laws for dinner. Actually my wife and I furnished the ham and she made the deviled eggs, strawberry salad and yams, and her sister brought the white potatoes and green beans and my wifes brother-in-law did the cooking and cleaning.

After dinner my wife and I came home and watched "Home Alone" (We had watched the "Christmas Story" early) and built a fire in the fireplace. It was relaxing, romantic, and peaceful.

Sunday I had to work which won't have been so bad but the seafood clerk called out so I had to deal with two departments. I was the only one in the meat department and it was busier than it should have been on such a cold, wet, miserable day but since people didn't have to work and couldn't make it to church, they decide to go grocery shopping and to the movies.

It's amazing where people put their priorities.

Some otherwise nice people seem angry but I have better use of my time than trying to get even or get ahead because we all die in the end and I'd much rather be happy than vindictive.

I love the line from that song "You are so vain you think this song is about you."

Anyway, I was disappointed that the snow cancelled church services but that will only make the next time we meet than much sweeter.

My Mom got home from the mountains yesterday just fine. BTW, the picture is of Mom who isn't bad looking for 85.

TJ back in Jail

TJ in Jail
For those of you who were long ago readers of this blog you may recall the lady who was the main character in my book "Queen of Southgate" the herione who saved a little boy from a fire. She is back in jail in Guilford County.

After being released from prison she vowed to go straight and found a boyfriend but he's a loser like all her other boyfriends and she was soon arrested again. She was given a court date and released but before she could go to court she was re arrested on old charges from Cumberland County.

Her new boyfriend surprised me and bailed her out, even after I advised him against doing so, but it was his heart and money on the line.

She never made it back to court and she never made that turn around she promised herself. She has been arrested again on burglary charges and now faces failure to appear, drug paraphenalia charges, as well as probation violation and the new burlary charges. She will also have to go back to Cumberland county to face those charges as well as soon as Guilford county is finished with her.

Another woman from the same book has cleaned up her act, gotten married, and is working as a care giver and is working to obtain her nursing certificate so she can improve her work situation.

Good luck to them both.

I survived Christmas 2010.

Business was unbelievable this year. The store Iwork in was the second busiest store in the entire chain, beaten only by Norcross in Charlotte. i was mentally beaten when I walked into work at 5 this morning, dreading having to face another day but resigned to get through it as cheerfully as possible.

I think my last customer was the one i made the happiest as she was looking for a roast of a certain size and all we had were either too small or too large. I believe she thought i would tell her to take her pick of what we had and leave her in a quardry.

If I was her and in a grocery store that is the answer I would have expected as that is the way things usually are. But instead of that, I cut her a roast to the exact size she wanted, did it cheerfully, and did it without being asked to do it. she was very happy. One lady wanted me to cut two pie4ces of link sausage into ultra thin slices and another wanted a filet cut into pieces about a quarter of the size of fondue.

Holidays can be stressful times: trying to find the right gift for that special person, picking up a last minute gift for someone you had overlooked, planning the family meal, dealing with inlaws dropping in, etc. The last thing one needs to deal with is store personel with an unpleasant attitude or unwillingness to help.

For me the Christmas eve shopping rush is over. My poor wife had to go in to deal with the rush of last minute shoppers. Don't expect much from where she works as her place of business is about saving you money. The truth is, I couldn't have done what I did today unless my employer made in possible but great coustomer service comes at a price. But don't expect to pay bottom dollar and get top dollar help.

What a difference

Since joining One Way Baptist I have noticed a change in myself. I have not made an effort to change but I am different somehow. I have noticed customers are opening up to me now and have even received some extra nice feed back from customers.

One lady told me I was sweet and another wanted to thank me personally for thwe extra effort made in processing her order. She noticed I was only wearing one hearing aid and asked if I was going to replace it. "I can't afford too" I said and she reached for her wallet to offer me some cash to help me buy another hearing aid. I thought she was going to cry there for a moment when I politely refused her offer.

I have always been good at my job but it was like I operated using a formula -going through the motions, as some would say. This year I seem to have more concern for the customer. I've always greeted them with a smile in a timely manner, listened to their problem, found the solution and watched them go on their way a satisfied customer. That's my job.

This wek I discovered one lady I've waited one for years has been a loyal Harris-Teeter customer for forty-five years. I could feel the love one customer had for her two sons as she picked up her childrens favorite food for the holidays.

There are less of us this year and business is more brisk than ever and it is very stressful but somehow it is all good this year.

See you in church.

Sunday services

Unless severe winter weather (yes, all weather between dec 20 and march 21 is winter weather) forces One Way to close, Sunday morning services will be held at the regular time on December 26 so if your church calls off services you are more than welcome to visit with One Way.

We are not interested in luring away members from other churches but if you do not have a church you regulary attend you are more than welcome.

Check us out on the link at the bottom of the blog page at faith hop and love ministries.

See you in church Sunday.

What is the meaning of the twelve days of Christmas

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were

not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone

during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics.

It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning

plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each

element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality

which the children could remember.

-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.

-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.

-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.

-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.

-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.

-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.

-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening and now I know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol...so pass it on if you wish.'

Merry (Twelve Days of) Christmas Everyone

man-up

I think that is the new way of saying stand up and be a man. I've had on my mind the story of Adam and Eve. Satan talked Eve into trying ther fruit from the forbidden tree and she offered some to Adam who willingly took some of the fruit.

He should have refused but he didn't so when God cam looking for him he hid because he knew he was naked. When God asked him how he knew he was naked, Adam replied that Eve offered him some of the fruit of the forbidden tree. "It is her fault," he claimed.

He should have manned-up about what happened. Would it have made a difference?

I don't know but it would sure be refreshing to hear someone accept responsibility for their own screw-up rather than place the blame on someone else.

Delightful

We had our Christmas program at church tonight and it was absolutely delightful. The kids had practiced long and hard and did an excellent job with thier parts and the program was worthy of churches with much more to work with than tiny One Way does.

We had a fair number of visitors tonight and I can tell great things are getting ready to happen there. Every large church started out small just like every great man began life as a baby. And just like that baby, one must grow or perish so don't judge this congregation as unworthy because we are few. This is a great opportunity to get in on the beginning of a great work.

We will have a morning service on December 26.

If coming from Asheboro, take the 311 exit and turn south onto 311. Turn left at the first intersection onto Stout Street and travel a mile or two until you get to Sunset. make a right onto Sunset and the church will be about a block down on the left.

Ill see you in church Sunday.

Weather

Durin the overly hot sumnmner season we all wished for cooler weather but this is getting ridiculous.

I am looking forward to the childrens Christmas performance tomorrow night even though we know that Christ wasn't born in December, we still celebrate His birthday them so the Catholic church could take in more donations. Really, that's the reason for a winter birthday celbration. The important thing here though is why Christ was born.

I know some people don't believe in Christ and some don't believe in God either but that doesn't change reality. Even some who have atended church in their youth and claim to be Christians haven't a clue either, like the woman critical of Sarah Palin who claims that because she believes the bible, the verse in Genesis that man shall have dominion over the earth and she was annointed at her church that it means that she believes she has been chosen by God to be a ditator over America. If that wasn't so ridiculous it would be funny.

Really, the best kind of Christianity is that practiced by pre-teens with their child-like innocence. maybe that's why I amn looking forward to the childrens program at church.

Frozen Fish

Not a good shot of a fish but a good shot of ice covering a fish. Showa isn't enjoying the cold but will survive. No food until the spring thaw though.

Lonely Headstone

Near the place I once lived is this headstone under a tree right by an intersection in the front lawn of a church. The church has a cemetery on the other side of the building but this particular person or persons chose to be buried by themselves away from everyone else. I passed this headstone almost everyday for years and always promised myself I would stop to see whose grave it was. I had a curiosity about it.

Did the people buried there think perhaps being laid to rest there was a honor or was it a case of the church being obligated to furnish them a grave site but didn't want them buried next to anyone else? Were they so disliked in life that they are even shunned in death?

From the neat surrounding of the grave and the fresh flowers it appears that someone does care, either about the people buried in the grave or in appearances.

The way the grave is laid, it is as if there was something the people (it appears to be husband and wife) there wanted to see but there is a house, a building for retail stores, and a convenience store on the other three corners of the intersection, none of which are particularly view worthy.

It can't be just the church or the neighborhood that the couple wanted to be buried near for being in the same cemetery with everyone else would have been just fine for that. Either the family thinks its so special that they felt the need to shun everyone else as too common or they were themselves the shunned ones I can't answer.

I know now who is buried there but not why that particularly spot or when they lived and died. I do know that living outside the mainstream is lonely, whether one chooses to live apart or forced too, it's just lonely and uncomfortable. Too want to portray being different and outside of mainstream society for as long as ones grave marker lasts is not an idea that appeals to me.

See you in church Sunday.

Catching up on my reading

Since its bee so cold outside, I've been spending my day mostly indoors catching up on my reading. I did help the preacher lay some safety strips on the ramp at the church and took him out to lunch for his birthday but its indoors for the most part.

Even though I had a novel published and an article in Our State magazine I am not an accomplished writer. I don't have talent; just a willingness to put forth an effort. If I had half the talent as Dr. J I would be a successful writer.

My Dad was a preacher and I can understand why so many churches have what seems to be generic sermons, nice to hear and basicly biblically correct but lacking something important.

It's kind of like most people's idea of Jesus Christ: meek, mild, non confrontaional, easy going, caring, and loving. The whole truth is, He wasn't like that at all.

Can you imagine the scene at church if a visitor got up in the preacher face and told him he was a snake and a liar. Well, Jesus told the Pharasees that they were a generation of vipers and then truth wasn't in them.

What about the time Jesus told the rich man to sell all that he had or the time he told a man to let the dead bury the dead.

Being a pastor has to be a tough job because people wear their feeling on their sleeves. I don't believe in catering to people just to get them to attend church. It doesn't matter what seems right to man but what the truth of God is.

Christianity isn't a set of rules and laws but a relationship and fellowship with Jesus Christ and church is a social club but a gathering of like-minded believers who help bolster one another and to spread the word about God's plan of salvation.

See you in church Sunday.

Unusual service

I hgrew up attending church but I didn't much like it and hated the preaching. It was long, dry and boring and my favorite words were "and in conclusion." I do remember one preacher, Rev Rowles. He was a big man with a little woman as a wife and a fat nerdy son who scored a perfect score on his SAT. Rev, Rowles told a lotof stories about himself from when he was in the Army.

I quit going to church shortly after starting college necause the local church never talked about Jesus. It was somehow offensive to me so I quit going for three years. My senoir year I went to church every Sunday. First I went with Sandra to early Mass, then with Linda to the 10 o'clock service at the second Baptist Church and hurried to meet Pam at the Methodist church.

In the evening I went to a Luthern church and the an Espiscopalian.

I never went while I was in the service and only attended churches my dad preached at or pastored. When I moved away from where he lived I seldom went until I moved to High Point. I started attending a small church near the house but there was something just not right there and I believe I stayed mainly to figure out what was wrong rather than for any other reason. After a year or so the pastor resigned and we got this man with really weird views and aftger several months I just could not handle him any more.

For the last fifteen years my attendance has been spotty at best and even when I attended on a semi-regular bases, if I missed a few Sundays no one seemed to mind. Maybe they would have cared more if I had been a member but I didn't want to join with a bunch of people who didn't care if I was there or not.

Eventually I quit going all together. It seems that God had something He wanted me to do but no one seemed to care if I did it from their church. Then one day I was driving along and saw this little white church and wondered what kind of people went there. A bunch of non conformist nuts, I supposed. Then one day I come home and there is a note from the preacher at One Way Baptist Church inviting me to church and inquiring about my salvation. My wife had placed it where she placing my mail and when she pointed it out, she said "Do you think you wahnt to go?" I said I didn't know.

I drove by the little white church and I wondered about the people attending there. I really couldn't see myself attending such a place as this yet I couldn't get the invite out of my mind. One Sunday my wife and I had a Sunday off together and I asdked her if she wanted to go. She said she would. I thought maybe the service started at 11 but it was already half over when we came in. We were greated warmly and as the preacher preached I saw my wife smile and I caught myself drinking in every word.

We are now members of that little white church.

Yesterday, because of the weather, the members had decided to call off the preaching part and to meet just to let the children practice their parts for the Christmas program. Then the preacher said he cot to thinking that the evening service is the only time I can attend so he prepared a little message just in case.

The evening service the pastor lets Robert and Dennis take turns preaching and Robert want to take his turn. He wanted to keep it short because this was just supposed to be a meeting to allow the kids to practice. The pastor said he had prepared a message and he wasn't going to preach it, he just wanted to share some highlights. As he shared we began to encourage him to keep on.

As it turned out, the kids never did get to practice and I got to hear two sermons in one service.

Unlike when I was a kid, I hung on every word and wished it would never end.

See you in church one day.

I could write a book

during the courseof my life I've heard many people express the sentiment "You should write a book about that" or say "I could write a book" yet few people attempt, relatively speaking and far fewer every succeed in finishing a book. It is fewer still who actually punish one and just a handful who actually make any money at it.

I think it is easier to becaome a professional athelete than it is a successful author. I was pleased when my first novel was accepted for publication becuase that put me in the companyof a select few. I have even been paid for an article I wrote for a magazine, so maybe that makes me a professional writer. I'm not quite sure what qualifies one to be called a professional or a successful writer.

I do know outside of that one small check, I have never made any money at writing.
People that have read my book have told me they really enjoyed it not many have been willing to fork over any money for it.

That's the wau it is in life.

But instead of saying, I could write a book, go ahead and do it. Have a copy self-published. Even that small step is far more than most people do. A small accomplishment true, but an accomplishment notheless.

See ya in church.

Good People

My mother-in-law, a citizen of Asheboro, took one of the vans used to transport those who can't drive for a doctor visit last week. There was another lady on the bus who didn't have on a coat on one of the coldest days of the week.

The van driver asked the lady about her lack of a jacket and the elder lady said she didn't have one.

The bus driver took hers off and gave it to her passenger.

She later told my mother-in-law she does it all the time because she likes to do her little part to make this a better world.

This is the season to be scurrying about in search of Christmas gifts for our friends and family. If we are too busy to help other maybe, at least, we could stop and thank our unsung heroes like the driver of this van.

never seen this in the papers

Gosh, I've seen birth annoucements, birthday announcements, and death announcements. People get promoted, married, divorced, robbed, arrested, in an accident, make a movie, cheat on their spouce, hit a little white ball into a hole or hit one over a fence, kick an oval ball between two poles, or drive around in circles really fast and all get into the papers.

But get born again and nary a word. Why is that, exactly?

Which came first?

An age old question but I want to ask it in another way. Which came first: God or human beings?

Is there a God who created everything or is God a creation of the human mind? Many will answer that god is the creation of humans who grasped for the meaning of life and to understand what was happening in nature. It was the primitive, uneducated and unlighted man that needed a superior being to understand how things worked. science and modern thinking prove there is no god.

God seems to be silent and evil things occur in the world on a daily bases. Recent studies have shown that chimps are evolving at a faster rate than humans (which doesn't make sense to me if humans evolved from chimps, how can chimps be evolving faster that people?).

To help me understand the conclusion of the matter, I will attack the problem from both ends and work towards the middle.

On the one hand there is the newly created or evolved human being, all alone in his existence, something truly unique in that he could walk upright and he could cry and he could reason problems out and act on those solutions.

At the other end we have the modern man with years of knowledge and accomplishments.
In between one can find unspeakable acts of cruely and horror and unbelievable actsd of courage and kindness. Is the human being indeed an evolved animal or just a mutation gone bad, as all mutants seem to be?

A mutant is a creature born radically different from its parents. Examples would be a two headed cat, or an eight legged turtle. Mutants seldom survive long and never replicate themselves. There are freaks of nature and somthing that might indicate that birth and living is just a roll of the dice, a radom uncontrolled occurance. Most human babies are male or female but some seem to be born as either or neither. Most babies are born normal but some are born mutatred or diseased or abnormal while others seems to have special gifts and talents than seem way beyond belief. is this just a random occurence or according to some design plan?

Can I prove that God exists? No. Can I prove he does not esist. No. I have to view natureand determine from it whether God does not or does exist and then if I believe He does exist, just who or what He is and how I am to relate to Him.

If I study nature and conclude there is no God, can I accurately conclude that there is evolution? Ancient man believed in God but never fully understood who or what god was, giving rise to many different beliefs. Evolutionis the concept of modern man. Such stuff as that never occurred to prior generations. Evolutionists teach, or once taught, the therory of survival of the fitest.

It seems that whatever was just was and there were no life forms anywhere to be found. Then we had this big bang. It could have been an explosion, a loud noise, or just two elemnts coming together through a freak of nature that had never occured befor but suddenly there was life. A simple one cell creation. This simple creation wasneither male nor female but had the ability to divide itself into two parts, but just like the original. What is most amazing is that in order to survive it needed food and there just happened to be ready available food for it to eat.

It would have to be that the food didn't like being eaten so decided to change into something different in order to survive. Unbelievable as it is, when the food changed into something that the first animal would not like to eat, the first animal changed itself into an animal that just happened to like what the plant changed itself into. So now evolution has begun.

Many years later an animal, supposedly a chimp, decide to develop a brain so he could outhinkhis food and have a decided advantage in this world over everything, not just his food of choice. But in order to get the brain the chimp had to be born without hair or fur that would serve to protect it from the extremes of weather, or hoves or pads on its feet to protect it from the ravishes of nature.

Now whether this hairless creature decide to change the color of its skin depending on what part of the world it settled into or whether different chimps decided to evolve into harless creature with a brain at the same time but each choice a different skin color for lack of a more defined purpose, I have no clue.

From a one cell animal with no enemies the first creature has evolved into something that needs to kill in order to survive and needs to destroy and change its environment in order to thrive. In the beginning, the one celled animal lived at peace with its enviroment and could multiple at will with no need to attract a partner has evolved into a creature that has to attract an opposite to survive but accepts a normal and natural those specimens that are only attracted to lie kinds that cannot reproduce, which must kill other animals to survive via food and clothing or must destroy the homes of other creatures in order to produce the planrs needed for food and clothing and shelter.

For the survival of the world, the last thing this world needed was what this first creature turned out to be. The human knows it can not survive because of itself but has decided to expand its environment to included plantents far away from where the human now lives. If he succeeds, it will only come back to bite him in the butt,based on mankinds record to date.

On the other hand, we have the story of man creation and Gods love for that man and mans rebellious nature, and how God has provided a way for man to redeem himself, and how things will end and begin again.

Evolution equates to doom without hope while Gos way is a way of hope. You decide.

Faithloveandhopeministries.com

www.Faithloveandhopeministries.com is the link I have at the bootom of the page but one wouldn't know it was there unless one rolls the little hand over the link. It is a beautiful web page with links you can click on to learn more about the Pastor and the church.

We had a dinner together tonight and it was great to fellowship together. Is Randleman the wicked little city I've heard it to be? Maybe so, and if it is, it needs a church like One Way. I'm excited about attending that cjurch and now that I'm a member I'm doubly excited.

If you would pay the church a visit I'm sure you'll find out what I'm excited about.

if you can'tcome a least visit the web page and if you are a Christian, remember One Way in your prayers.

A tough Concept

I posted a joke about earning ones way into heaven, which is how some people believe it is done. Salvation is a gift. Too simple yet still hard to comprehend.

There are lots of tough concepts out there. Vastness of existence is one of them. Even if there was an end to the universe, then there would have to be a void outside of that. If our universe is so large it is almost unreasonable to think that there is no other life out there and if we have been visited by UFO's and aliens from other worlds, would they not have to be more advanced than we are?

One fact of science is that something cannot be created from nothing yet there is something here so that proves there always had to be something. so where did that something come from?

It is almost inconceivable that in a vast emptiness, a life form just sprang into existence and that other life forms sprang up at the same time that supported that first life form and enabled it to survive.

Multiple life forms at the same time? Evolution focuses on animal lifeforms but let us not forget about plants. Where did the grasses and weeds and flowers and bushes and trees come from and why did they have the need to evolve?

And to think in a vast nothingness that multiple life forms sprang up not only in one place but multiple planets as well.

And you find God a hard concept. Evolution sounds nice to prove that there is no God but there is no proof of evolution. The exact opposite is true. Animals adapt, many changing colors to survive better or growing larger or smaller to adapt to the changes in the food supply but a bird is always a bird and a dog is always a dog.

Evolution at best would have to be a gradual process yet fossil study shows distinct and abrupt changes in life forms. No history of evolving is evident in nature.

Another thing doesn't make sense. If each change is to allow a species to better survive, then why did the chimp shed its protective covering for bear naked skin when it changed to a human? And why is did it give up is strength and ability to survive in the treetops? Physically, the human seems to be inferior to the chimps as having the ability to survive in the wild.

Maybe it is the concept of Gods love that throws you for a loop? Or the concept of free will. Some people have become confused over God's will and free will. When an innocent five year old girl is repeatedly raped, beaten, and finally murdered. it is not God's will that allowed that to happen. But would it be more fair if God commanded that we love and obey him and controlled our every thought and action?


As hard as the concept that God exists is for some people to grasp try the concept that God doesn't exist.

That's a tough concept.

Yahoo mail

I have e-mail accounts with msn (hotmail), google (gmail), roadrunner (triad.rr) and Yahoo. Yahoo keeps coming out with beta versions and I've tried them all and also goe back to yahoo classic. I used yahoo almost exclusivly until my e-mail accout was hi-jacked. I had all my contacts block me and now I can use the account for other reasons.

I don't like yahoo bets. It is too much like some of the other accounts and if I liked them I would not have stuck with yahoo classic.

Why do companies think they have to continually mess with success?

It's kind of like religion. There was nothing wrong with old-fashioned Christianity until college educated ministers tried to fix it and now Christians are fast becoming the most hated group of people in America.

Sometimes it is just best to leave it alone.

Are you missing the boat?

This post is more for the younger folks who may be just getting into their career but have not started saving toward retirement yet.

Get started.

I know the stock market has its ups and downs and has been volatile the last few years but that is no excuse.

I am not going to propose asavings plan for you. That is something you will have to decide on based on what is available to you but I just want you to get startred.

I once worked for an employer who matched by contributions to a 401k dollar for dollar but that isn't likely to happen again. My present boss does 50 cents on the dollar for the first 3%.

That doesn't seem like much but it works like this:

For every $1,500.00 I actually contributed to my savings account, my employer has added $1,100.00. The increase in the stock market over the last three years has added another $1600.00 to my balance.

In other words, I put $1100.00 into a savings account that is worth $4200.00. That includes the great dip in the stock market when people were losing 40 to 60 percent of their savings.

I admit it was hard but I kept telling myself that the lower the market got the more stocks I was buying per dollar invested. I was right because when the market began to recover, I recovered quickly.

I can't promise you that you will do as well with your savings plan as I have done with mine but i can't say you won't do better either. All I am saying is that if you save nothing you will have nothing but if you save a little, you may end up with a lot.

So get going on that.

PS Never touch it. You may move it around but never take anything away from the account.

Seriously.

The End

The way getting into heaven works is like this:

When a person is born an account is set up in their name and $10000.00 credited to that account. When that person does something good, money is added to that account and when the person does something unworthy money is deducted from that account. God's plan is the fee schedule for payments and charges.

The best chance for going to heaven is to die young or to live to be very very old. Young people haven't had the opportunity to commit the really expensive offenses and old people just can't get out and do those bad things as often, if at all.

When you die you really do checkout. You get to buy your place in eternity. If you did a lot of good stuff and have become rich then you get a nice place to live in forecver. If you barely hung onto your $10,000.00 you may be homeless and wilol have to haunt things on earth. Those who lost their money, well, you know how that ends too.

Tipping

I like good service and if I'm given really good service I can be a generous tipper. Sometimes even with poor service I'll tip good just to prove to the waitress that because I wasn't as well dressed as the people she was fawning over, I'm not nearly as big a jerk as they are.

I wasn't surprised but wadisappointed at how chep people were on Thanksgiving day. K & W was opened Thanksgiving day and the waitresses who worked would have rather been home with their families yet they worked to ensure that people had a traditional dinner for the holidays. When I left the restaraunt, I noticed that at the six empty table, each holding from four to six people, the waitress had received a total of two dollars in tips.

I guess people feel since they had to stand in line to get their food that the waitress didn'y work hard even to deserve a tip but the wait staff only make $4.35 an hour and depend on tips to feed their families and take care of themselves. maybe they don't deserve 15% or 20% like a regular waitress but would it have hurt anyone to tip a dollar? Hell, even 50 would have helped her out and afyter all, she did take that big tray away for you, refill your drinks, and brought you special condiments you asked for.

Don't be so cheap from now own, people.

The Light Bulb

The Light Bulb


Most people in the world know what a light bulb is and how it is used, although it is possibly true that not every person has owned one or even used one. Before the light bulb there was the campfire, oil lamps, and candles. It really hasn't been that many years, in terms of the length of time man has been around, that we have had use of a light bulb.

Until recently all light bulbs were nearly the same but now we have the pig tail looking ones, florescent bulbs really, that are much cheaper to use, and soon to be the rage is the LED bulbs which put out a brighter light and are cheaper still to use then the florescent bulbs. Florescent bulbs are expensive and the LED lights are more expensive still but the power usage is less for the florescent and even less for the LED and the length of time a bulb will last is 10 times greater for the florescent over the traditional incandescent bulbs and 20 times greater for the LED. Which one you use depends on where you choose to use it and whether you want to save money now or in the future.

The one thing that the campfire, the torch, the oil lamp, the candle, the incandescent bulb, the florescent blub and the LED bulb all have in common is light. With the exception of the campfire, the primarily purpose of all the sources of light is light. The campfire is perhaps built for heat and cooking but light a fireplace, light is a by product of the fire and could possibly be the reason for it.

The Holy Bible has a parable ( a story with a message) that says no one lights a candle and hides it under a basket. Or they shouldn't anyway or otherwise the light serves no purpose. But it reality, there are times when we do have lights we keep hidden. The refrigerator light is one. Honestly, we don't know if it works until we open the door and we will never know if it didn't turn off when we closed the door. One thing I do know it that a florescent bulb won't work properly in the refrigerator because it is too cold.

Most of the light bulbs we burn are for personal use but some are for the benefit of everyone, like street lamps and traffic lights. Some lights are colored and are a joy to look at like Christmas lights and other colored ones, while pretty, don't bring us joy, like those colored one atop a police car.

We are so used to the presences of light and light bulbs that we pay little attention when they are turned on. It is only when they should be on and aren't that we notice. Even so, some lights are more important than others. Jesus said He is the light of the world. As Christians, we should let the light of Christ shine so others may find their way. But the truth is, we don't always.

A group of Christians, like minded and assembling themselves together on a regular bases is known as a church. In the modern world, people have come to confuse the building where a church meets with the church itself. I have read that a thief had broken into a church when the truth is a thief broke into a church building. The church is the people, not the structure. So whenever I refer to the church or a church I am referring to the group of believers as a collective unit.

I wrote a book, Queen of Southgate, and while writing that book I meet many of the street people, drug dealers. prostitutes, and thieves in Greensboro and High Point, NC and I know they have chosen to live their life after their own desires but the truth is many of the wealthy I serve at work are in the same situation. I look at the children of the rich, the beautiful young girls and the handsome young men dressed in their fine clothes and proud of their good looks and wealth and the head start they have over the general populace in obtaining more wealth and prestige and influence over others and realize they too, chose to live their life after their own designs.

The world with all its glitz and glamor is truly a dark and lonely place. Just venture out one cold night without your cellphone or cash or transportation and one will soon learn what a cold, dark, and dangerous place we really do live in. In such a situation one only wants to find a way home, to find someone who can help them get there. They pray for daylight so they can see their way to a safer place.

A little light in a dark place, the beacon on the hill, the little white church in Randleman on Sunset, the son of God who is the light of the world. Men are lovers of darkness. Seek ye the light

A Personal Invitation

I want to extend a personal invitation to those from the area who regularly read my blog to come and visit me with me at One Way Baptist Church. Because of my work schedule I do not get to attend many morning services but I have made most of the night meetings. Today I was fortunate to get to attend both, one of therm with my wife.

At the very bottom of the blogs I have my first link up which is to the web page from the church so feel free to explore that and meet the pastor.

If anyone is aware of a building that isn't expensive that would make a good meeting place for a church please let us know because it will be soon that we will outgrow the small building we are meeting in now.

Again, I would love to meet some of my readers and with the church is the best place I know.

I want to give a shout out to Dave and his wife, loyal readers who travel via RV around the east coast who honored me with a visit this week.

He has read my book via KIndle and is looking for an original copy. I don't even have one. I doubt that anyone reading my blog has a copy but if you do, I'll be glad to purchase it from to send to Dave.

Thanks,

Hope to see you ar church.

Not to Bright

Ecclestone made the comments in response to an attempted attack on Formula One driver Jenson Button in Sao Paolo ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix, suggesting that robbers go after people who look vulnerable.

"They look for victims, they look for anyone that looks like a soft touch and not too bright," Ecclestone said. "The people that look a bit soft and simple, they will always have a go at."


For those that missed the article, Ecclestone is the boss of Formula one, which is a specially built type of race car popular in Europe. He is eight years old and was mugged, losing $314,000.00 in jewelry in the robbery.

Now, a eighty year old man wearing $314,999.00 in jewelry in an area in knows in full of mugglers seems to be a soft touch and not to bright, in my opinion.

refinance

i refinanced my home which took longer than I thought it would, or should. I started the process back in June after sevral months trying to convince my wife it was a good idea. Sometimes she can be a little negative which gets on my nerves but then her over cautiousness is sometimes a good thing so all and all, I'm glad she is the opposite of me in that and many other reguards because it gives both of us a chance to look at things all many viewpoints.

It turned out to be a good thing in the end and my wife is happy. She gets to skip the December pyment and gets $500.00 back to boot plus a lower monthly payment. Our house payment (not including what comes into escrow) is now less than we were paying for that tiny apartment.

Now if only I could sell my mountain property..

Good friends and good food

I had a nice surprise when an old Navy buddy and his wife stopped by for a visit Friday and spent a good portion of the day with my wife and I. We talked and laughed and my wife enjoyed the visit almost as much as I did.

today I baked two pumpkin pies and I tasted one of them. I just wanted a bite but I ate half of it. yes, it was that good. fresh pumpkin right from the garden. The xpices make the pie a brown color not the orange you find in store bought pumpkin and sweet potato pies.

As far as grocery retail sales go, I think this Thanksgiving was a bust.

I hope your holiday is good.

One day not enough.

An old friend, a man I meet while in vietnam and with whom I served also in the Philippines with, stopped by to visit yesterday along with his wife. She is a pleasant red head and he still has the same figure he has had since I've known him. Me, I've gotten fat and even though I've lost 50 pounds I have many more pounds I need to lose.

My wife enjoyed our visit as wellas I did. I had no idea that he has read my book and reads my blog as well. It is nice to know that somewhere there is someone who finds me interesting.

He has been gone for less than 12 hours and I miss him already. Good friends are hard to come by. Really hard. Cherish them.

finally, a display

Why am I so excited by a display? For my high school graduation I asked for and received a set of china in lieu of a fishing trip to the mountains or a week at the beach. I did get to go to the beach for a couple of days when the family went to pick my older brother up and a day in the mountailns fishing when the family went to retrieve my younger brother so I do have my memories of that time period as well. I worked so the china was something I thought would always remind me of my accomplishment and last me a lifetime.

For the past six or so years my china has been packed away in cardboard boxes. I don't have room for a china cabinet here and had no way to display them. The other day I purchased a bookcase with a glass front that was small enough to fit in the corner and large enough to hold by dishes.

Packed away among the dinnerware was my piggy bank, a gidt to me from a stranger on my first birthday. Also among the treasures is a set of anchor Hocking glasses, dark green glass with gold overlays that were a gift from my grandmother to me. The glasses still have the original box and price tag from Montogery Ward and seem to indicate the purchase was made over a hundred years ago.

My wife also added a China doll she has owned since her childhood. It is over fifty years old.

In all that time I have managed to keep all the pieces intact except for one coffee cup. The china is a complet setting for eight people ifone doesn't have coffee or tea.

It feels good to be able to enjoy the china again.

Stupid lawsuits

I read where Del Monte and Kroger offered an idiot $150,000.00 to settle a lawsuit in which he claims he suffered greatly because the lid of his canned fruit flew off and hit him in the eye when he struck it with a screwdriver. Who but idiot's open can of fruits and vegatables with screwdrivers?

I may be party to one of those stupid lawsuits myself. A customer had a pack of stew beef and saked me if it was okay since it had been reduced. I assured her it was but this lady said "I hope I don't get sick from eating it."

If you aren't sure about something maybe you are better off not doing it. The only thing that concerned her about that pack of ste was one piece was darker than the rest but from my professional experience, that darkness had nothing to do with the quality of the meat. There are other factors than enter into it like the cut of beef the stew came from and bloom.

Anyway this woman said her husband and she became very sickand her husband missed work because of eating the stew.

Food claims are hard to prove. She told me she was going to cook it in a crock pot. Did she lift the lid on the crock pot too often or for too long a period of time? Did she cook the beef on a high enough temperature and/or did cook it long enough?

My bigeest concern is that she either talked herself into getting sick or she faked the whole incident.

Enjoying Church

A co-worker asks another employee if he was a Christian. I then asked him if he was a Christian. He said "No way. If I can't see something I'm not going to believe in it."

I fully understand but I've seen too much not to believe. Once, a friend who was going to bible college in Winston-Salem, attended a small church in Hickory. It was his last Sunday there as he had finally graduated and had secured a position in a small church. While in school he also worked so he had an income sufficient to support himself and his family but the church's salary wouldn't be as much as he had been making so things were going to be rough for him for awhile. Our church took up a special offering for him. It wasn't much, just eighty dollars, and it was all in one dollar bills.

We left the church about the same time with him pulling out first. It was a country Baptist and when I say country, I mean it was a long way from the church until one saw a house or any human life form. I was shocked after we had gone about a mile or so. Bill stopped at a stop sign and just as I pulled to a halt behind him I saw money floating down, covering the top of bills car and the roadway.

"Poor bill: i thought "he's lost his money," I exclaimed to my wife. I jumped out of my car and started grabbing money and collected over fifty dollars. I handed the money to Bill and he said :kept it, you found it."

"No, I can't keep the money the church gave to you."

"But this isn't the money from the church. My wife has that in her purse."

"Where did this come from then?" I asked, as I looked at the huge stack of bills Bill had picked up. His wife had collected almost as much as Bill did.

Or how about the time I was stationed in Puerto Rico and a friend had invited me to go with him and another guy to a bible study in San Juan. It was a difficult trip from the little base I was stationed out and required us to walk in some lonely, dark, and isolated places. My friend didn't make it that night so I went with this other guy, a man a few years younger than I was, a mere teenager. On the return trip we were surrounded by six men bearing knives and threading to use them on us if we didn't give them all our worldly goods.

The teenager I was with stepped forward and proceeded to drop kick and karate chop the six men into changing their evening plans. Turned out he was the former leader of Chicago's biggest street gang and had been converted to Christianity by David Wilkerson of "Sword and the Switchblade" fame. Just a coincidence?

I once owed by Mom several thousand dollars and to repay her I deeded her a set of burial crypts worth just about what I owed her or a little more. She tried selling them for years and although they were the only two crypts available there were no takers. a decade went by and there seemed little hope that Mom would ever sell them to get her money back. She had all but given up and had decided to include them in her will as a gift to me in lieu of my share of of an insurance policy. But then,
just as she was about to file the will her pastor was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given only a few weeks to live.

Even though she sold the crypts below their fair market value, she doubled her money and the preacher got a bargin. Just a luck break?

Believe what you want. I do.

Enjoying Church

A little light in a dark place

Christianity has fallen out of favor in America today and those who do practice the religion adhere to a more subdued following than our forefathers did. Seldom do Christians mention their faith outside of church and except for the lunatic fringe, no one goes from house to house inviting people to church. In fact most churches today don't seem to care if you come or not, or so it seems.

There is a little light in a dark place, a small group of people, a church, who are creating quite a stir in their community. It's not that they are radical, because they aren't, and they are not doing anything that Christians did not once do. It's just that they are doing it in a day when ones faith is something that one seems to keep private. There is no embarrassment over ones faith here.

One Way is a little light in a dark place. That is all it takes to find ones way in the dark. Without just a little light to guide the way there is no way one will ever find their way home.

Brand

I'm sorry, but he looks retarded.

War

Sometimes war may be necessary but other times I believe it best to let things be. We lost the Vietnam war and since we pulled out, peace has reigned in the area and properity has befallen our former allies and enemies. No war casulties either. I wonder is the Koreas, North and South would not have been better off if there had been no war there either. Iraq would be. Maybe Afganistan too.

If it had been necessary for national defense to attack Afganistan, and it may well have been, we should have gone in, toppled the government, and then pulled out letting the country put itself back together. If they began fighting each other fine, that's there problem and no American lives are being lost and we know they can't be planning more attacks on the US because they are too busy killing each other. They would quit after a few years as one side or the other would gain the upper hand.

If we didn't like the winner then we could go back in and toppled the winner then step back while they fought some more.

That's what they are doing now but it is costing Americans their lives. Can't we let the ixdiots kill each other without us getting in the middle?

finally

i haven't been able to access my blog or even a blooger account by anyone since my last post. I could bring up Randolph is talking but none of the individual blogs. The only way I got on this time is by accessing my blog and signing on from there.

It is just me or are others having problems.

The Giants won the penant. I've been a Giants fan since 1956 so this was a long time coming for me. Harry Reed won re-election which one was disappointment in an other wise refreshing election.Just been contemplating the fact that Greensboro and California both had recall elections. Can we have one at Federal level? We would not have to wait two more years.

One Way

One Way Baptist Church is on Sunset in Randleman just off Stout Street and is a church meeting in a tiny building. It is exactly what one would expect to find in a place like this. There is no Sunday School, no Wednesday service, and no piano. It would do no good if someone gave the church a piano as the building is too small to put one in.

There is no doctor of divinity here, no college trained music director, no one wears choir ropes or passes out bulletins with a service guide, and no padded pews.

What you will find if you stop by is three preachers who accomplish more in a week than most churches do in a year with there prison ministries, their prayer habits, and their dedication. You will here good, old fashion preaching from men who know their scriptures.

Why are churches like One Way Baptist important? Being few in number, there is a strong desire to grow. Churches that have large numbers of people feel like they have succeeded and lose the zeal to visit people and to spread the gospel. The main interests of large churches is to convert those in foreign countries by sendin missionaries and to take care of the members they already have.

It is good that they have a missionary program because churches like One Way are unable to do that. No, being a small church doesn't make them a bunch of losers or freaks, or heretics, or fanactics. No, they are just oridinary folk with the desire to carry out the great commission: "Go ye into all the world, first into Jerusalem, then into Judea, and then into the uttermost parts of the world." In other words, start spreading the gospel at home, then into the neigborhood, then into other areas futher away from home.

Health Care Reform

The new health care bill is already changing the way we live. I heard a person complaining that at his job they were short a person but the company was not going to be hiring any more full time people since the health care costs are rising.

I would expect the economy to take much longer to recover if employers are not willing to take on full time people. In fact they may be looking for ways to change over to part time or eliminate jobs all together. If this happens, how is it going to be possible for the shrinking percentage of the working populace to support the increasing government and the non working sector. In order to pay a worker enough to make it worth not becoming one of the unemployed, cost of goods and services will become so high the non workers can't pay them at all and it will become increasing difficult for the working class to maintain their standard of living, at least through purchasing American made goods and services.

I mentioned to an Obama supporter that one provision of the Health Care Reform Act may no hold up in court (the provision that everyone must purchase health care.)

He started in with "Well if other countries can have universal health care, I don't no why we can't."

"I didn't say anything about universal health care. I only mentioned one provision. At first Obama said the act would not raise taxes but when it was pointed out that it may not be possible to require people to purchase a consumer item, he said . well the penalty for not buying a policy is a tax."

If it is, it will be the first tax in history levied because someone did nothing. Before, one had to do something to pay a tax: earn an income, receive a benefit, purchase an item, use a good or service, etc. Being charged money for not complying with the court has always be know as a fine and has been handled by the court system."

"Well, when Medicaid and medicare first came out, people didn't like that system either."

"That has nothing to do with my statement", I said. The whole law isn't under indictment, just the provision that dictates we have to buy a policy."

"Well it works it other countries"

"We are living under the French or Canadian, or British constitution. We live under the American one. You are arguing the whole health care bill. I'm discussing one provision of it."

Some people are so blinded by their love and support of Obama that they can't even have a sensible conversation. Any criticism of Obama or anything he has done is viewed as pure racism.

Revolt or revolution?

The news media are calling it a revolt but in reality it is neither a revolt nor a revolution. The problem is that we don't trust Republicans and are disillusioned by Democrats. But we view non party affiliated candidates and/or Libertarians as being of the fanatical/lunatic fringe.

We voted for that hopey/changy thing and found out we didn't like it. We should have tried harder to understand what the change was into but as the Deomcrats say "We won't even know what in it until after it becomes law."

Farve

I saw Farve in the movie "There's Something about Mary" and there is one thing for sure. He can't act. I look at that big pronounced chin and the kinda blank look in his eyes and wonder if there is anything back there.

He now has admitted sending the phone messages but not the dirty pictures of his private parts. They are called privates for a reason people.

In case you never saw the movie, he didn't get the girl in that one either.

One Way or the other

I really don't wabt to hurt any ones feelings but the truth is there isn't but one way. Today we want our religion non controversial and watered down, intellectually stimulating without the emotional pulls that clouds ones judgement.

Expository preaching is fine and dandy but the honest truth is a man and woman who are married and want to have a successful marriage really do want and need a relationship where the two of them are emotionally involved with each other and not one where every situation is approached from a purely logical and intellectual point of view.

I want to get excited about the man who was willing to die for me. Sure, I want to understand His teachings but I also want to know how to apply those teachings to my life. That is something that I have been missing for quite some time.

I stopped by One Way Baptist Church in Randleman last Sunday while I was on vacation and went back today-twice. It's the first time I have ever seen my wife get excited about going to church and she isn't even a Baptist.

I know the church building is a little small, looking more like a kids clubhouse than a serious place of worship and visitor late for service may be hesitant if they are a few minutes late and see a bunch of people laying on the floor near the pulpit but it is what it is.

No, this isn't the kind of church I grew up in. I attended Penelope Baptist in Longview, We had a Doctor of divinity for a preacher and over a thousand in attendance back in the fifties (the town wasn't even that big) and they were all formal and prime and proper church going people. No amens or shouting at this church-no sir!

Nor is this the kind of church my Dad pastored. He was a lot less formal than Penelope and he always started in a small building with a handful of people although his churches grew rapidly and often very large.

No, this is the kind of church that preachers used to talk about, the kind they say are dead and gone, where the prayers are effective and they people real. It's the kind of church I wished everyone could belong to.

The truth about water gardening

The truth about water gardening, or at least the truth about how I practice water gardening. look it up on the web and you will receive detailed instructions on how to build and maintain a pond, whether it be a water garden or koi pond (the biggest difference is the depth of the pond). Like you are really going to build one yourself large enough to keep koi in.

Chances are if you want a koi pond, you will hire professionals to build a koi pond for you. They will bring in their backhoe and their trucks and many workmen and when they are finished you'll have a professionally built pond costing you at least $7,000.00 dollars and maybe a whole lot more and it looks great but artificial.

Me, I purchased a liner for about $300.00, a pump for around $90.00, some tubing for less than twenty bucks, a $5.00 bucket and some foam for twelve. My hardside liner set me back another $80.00 and about forty dollars for a pump and another five bucks for a second bucket. I did the digging myself and hunted down the rocks with my shovel and a bucket to carry them in.

My pond looks just as artificial as the professional looking ponds and brings me a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction. The frogs love it for sure and with my wife's bird feeders close by, my back yard is a virtual paradise for fish and fowl.

One thing I really like about having the pond is watching the changes that take place. A frog lays eggs which hatch into tadpoles, which turn into tiny frogs. Dragonflies come by fish breed and babies are born.

My neighbors enjoy my backyard almost as much as I do. Actually, they have more time to watch the birds and fish than I do so maybe they get more pleasure and don't have the work and expense of feeding and maintenance.

Yea, I have more problems with algae than a professional built pond has but not because it is a do-it-myself project but because I am not a wealthy person. A proper filtration and UV filter system could easily set me back a thousand dollars or more. I prefer to wait on mother nature and my trees and plants will grow and eventually I'll have the proper mixture of sun and shade anbd water plants and I won't have algae problems and a nicer looking yard from all the additional plants i put in.

Yes, I start most of my plants from seeds so they take a few years. It's kind of like having your cake and eating it too. Some people buy and apple, eat it and throw the core in the trash and then buy another apple. Me, I save the core, placing it in potting soil and in just a few short weeks I have a little apple tree. I know it takes a while for the tree to grow large enough to purduce fruit but it will one day and I have a tree to landscape my yard withand provide me with free apples for many years to come. The same thing with peaches and cherries and grapes.

My apply trees I planted from seed last year are already six feet tall and my peaches bore fruit this year as did several of my grape vines. My koi had babies and my goldfish had lots of babies.

One thing I've learned. There is a whole lot more going on in my backyard than one would imagine. Like the good book says, "Be still and know."

Great Line

One show starts its introductionby reciting aspirations of different people then states "But along the way, stupid happens."

Way too often.

Oh Happy Day

The Ynakees lost!!!!! Love it. I once was a Yankee fan then they employed Alex Rodriquez and I have never pulled for them again.

Now, if only the Giants can pull off the victory in the national league. Giants vs Rangers = Giants. Phillies vs Rangers = Rangers.

My fate is sealed

http://rr.com/news/topic/article/rr/10374903/24683527/15_Signs_Youll_Be_Rich


This articles gives one 15 signs that you'll be rich. I suppose that the more signs that apply to you, the better your chances of being rich. Going by this article my fate is sealed. I am destined to be for ever poor.

Juan Williams fired

NPR fired Juan Williams for saying that people in Muslim attire on an airplane make him nervous. let's see, it was the radical Quakers that flew airplanes into the Pentagon and the twin towers in New York and who were piloting the other plane that crashed because of Muslim heroics, right?

Wait, it's the Lutherans that we are fights in Iraq and the Baptist in Afghanistan.

No wait, maybe that's Presbyterians. wasn't it a Seventh Day Adventist that tried to ignite a shoe bomb? or a Mormon that was just convicted for plotting to blow up a subway?

Damn political correctness. No one claimed that all Muslims are terrorists or even that anywhere near the majority of them are. But on an airplane full of people, if there is a terrorist on board, it is more likely the Muslim.

If you are at a construction site and it is a know fact that there is one illegal alien on the work force, chances are high that it just might be the Latino that doesn't speak English.

If you go to church and the preacher welcomes home a young man from the military and you spot a group of six young mentalking with a deacon, chances are preety good the youngster with a crew cut standing at parade rest is the one just home from the service.

Geez man, the world is getting stupid.

Bullies

I've never been one but I have had my experience with a few of them. Bobby Harwell was the first. He, for some reason, didn't like my older brother and always picked on him. My brother took it for five years but one day, at my urging, struck back and beat Bobby's butt but good.

My first experience on a personal level came when I was in the eighth grade. I can't even remember the jerks name but he was an athletically built guy rippling in the muscle department. For some reason he thought I was put on this earth for him to pick one. The trouble is, I fight back.

There is no truth to the myth that bullies back down when confronted by a person who stands up to them. And losing a fight with one only encourages them so if you choose to go this route, you had better win.

One morning I walked into the classroom and before I had the chance to take my seat, he kneed me in the side of my leg which hurt like hell and gave me what we called a Charlie Horse. he wasn't expecting my reaction-I punched him in the nose. he told me he would meet me after school behind the gym.

Unfortunately he was there and so was a crowd of students, or pupils I guess as one properly calls eighth graders. I really didn't want to fight the guy as he was bigger and stronger than I was and my leg still hurt. Faced with the humiliation of back down and the propects of forever being faced with his torments, I faced my bully.

Back then there was a code to fighting and that code dictated that the one who wanted the fight throw the first punch. The chanlleged person could also claim innocence by saying, truthfully so, "he starteed it". But I surveyed the guy in front of me and judging from his muscle tone and size compared to my own, I figutred if he struck first he may have just struck last. At least, I knew it was going to hurt a lot. So, with balled up fists, he challenged me with "you hit me first."

It is tradition that I respond in kind and then allowed him the first hit. I don't hold much with tradition. I landed a good punch and the surprise in his eyes were quite evident. Yes, he hit me too and it hurt ever bit as much as I thought it would. I knew if he hit me again I would not be able to stand and fight but I just didn't want to face the consequences of what losing would mean. it wasn't only the thoughts of being picked on one a daily bases but knowing thatI would be looked at and talked about as the guy who got his butt beat at the big fight.

NBo, I said to myself, that isn't going to happen. I picked my spot, grabbed the guy by the shoulders and kneed him in his thigh just like he did me that morning. He was effectively crippled.

I waited for him pick himself up off the ground so I could hit him again. He crawled away from me on his hands and knees before standing. He turned to face me with tears rolling down his face. I took a sterp towards him and he turned away from me and hobbled off as quickly as he could.

He never came back to school.

I don't recommend handling builles that way.

Teachers and school administractors should take such things seriously.

A better way to handle bullies on a personal level is to put them in a no win situation, like the time a young punk threaten to beat me up. He was twenty some years my junior, 6 inches taller, and much stronger. I gave him a choice of two different scenarios-one in which he beat up a little of man and the other in which he got beat up. In both cases, he ended up in jail and the police were on the way.

He finally decided it was in his best interests to leave me alone.

Once, when I was a seafood manager, I had a young punk brag that he could cut meat better and faster than I could. maybe he was jealous because his Dad, whom he worked for, had needed some help and asked me to fill in one day. He called me up and said that I did an excellent job and his department had not looked that good in a long time. Whether his son was jealous or not, I don't know. I had never formerly met the young man. I just knew he was cocky.

I told the fellow that if we had a cutting contest and he won, the he could only brag about out cutting an old seafood manager and if he lost, he would be too embarrassed to come back to work. He dropped the challenge and the attitude. I took away his reward.

play the market or leave things alone

Computer programs, company bios, hunches, tips, sure things, or whatever method one decides on to do better than average on investing money seems like a terrible gamble and waste of time and effort. Me? I'm not that smart or tuned into what is going on to make wise investments.

I have, I must admit, changed how my money is invested from time to time and I havbe been a risk taker. A few years ago I had less than nothing so when I finally was able to save some money, I could not afford to be conservative or I would doom myself to being broke forever.

I did pay attention to how different categories of investments were trending and moved more of my money into the segments that were showing good growth. I, like most everyone, took a big hit when the bubble burst and it was a hard thing to not pull my money out. Not only did I leave my money in the stock market but Ieven left it exactly as it had been invested and when things started recovering, my money increased quickly.

There was a second rough period when the market would slip and slide-like three steps up and two backwards, and sometimes three backwards and only two forwards. I di, during that time frame, investment my money in a balanced mode rather than growth. I came out of that period just about like I had gone into it. Now, I am back into the growth formulas mode.

How has all this worked out for me?

The total amount of money that I have invested has increased 271% over the last five years. Considering the volitity of the market during that time, I believe I did okay.

It was hard just to let things ride when the market was losing money on a daily bases but the truth is, I just wouldn't know how to tell when the bottom came or the ceiling was reached. I just figured that the less stocks sold for the more shares I was buying with each dollar invested and when the market recovered, I would recover faster.

Even if I was smart enough tp pull my money out when the ceiling was reached and keep it out until stocks hit bottom, I believe I still am better off just leaving it alone. Maybe not. I'm not sure how to figure that out.

Court Reform

Our country is founded under a system in which there are supposed to be checks and balances. Congress is divided into the House of Representatives which gives states representation equal to their size and the Senate, which gives every state equal voice. Congress makes the laws. The President of the United States is the enforcer of the law, and the Supreme Court is the interpreter of the law. At least that is the way things are supposed to work.

One of the big issues is when an opening occurs on the Supreme Court. The President makes a nomination and Congress approves or not. Presidents have a habit of nominating someone who they believe, by past decisions, interpret the laws in a way that will be favorable with their position of things. Depending on how critical issues are and how much power the opposition party has, a nominee may or may not get approved. What we tend to have is a divided court with extremists views.

A better scenario would be if the members of the court leaned neither to a liberal interpretation of the law nor to an ultra conservative view. The way to ensure that we have a court that judges from the middle, and thus more likely to give an honest interpretation, is to require that the President of the United States to nominate someone of the opposite party.

If Bush had nomination someone under this criteria, he would have nominated a conservative Democrat and if Obama had nominated someone with this requirement in place, he would have nominated a liberal Republican. What the country would have gotten out of this is a middle of the road court with more centrist views of the laws.

Of course we all know this will never happen.

Summer gardens

I know. It's fall and summer gardens are long gone, especially because of the rain, or lack there of this year. It's too expensive to water the garden and the summer heat and lack of rain was the cause of the demise and unproductivity of most home gardens this year. Cuccumbers came and went quickly, canteloupes ripen quickly, going from green to over ripe in just a matter of a day or two. Watermelons grew slowly, if at all, and bell peppers withered on the vines. Most garderners I know pulled their tomato plants up in August. I still have mine.

I doubt if they make it until November but I stick pick a dozen now and then. The red globes are getting smaller and fewerbut as long as the vines keep producing I'll keep them around.

Never did plant any of the fall green stuff.

You light up my life

Not now, but soon. Tattoos are tacky and remind me of five year olds drawing on the bedroom walls with crayons. True, some are pretty but even those look out of place on the human body. Think present day body art is bad enough? Think again. Coming soon to a tatoo parlour near you will be LED tattoos.

The only bright spot (sorry about the pun) in LED tattoos is it will be harder to hide from the police. I certainly would not want to be a soldier on night patrol and have an LED tattoo.

Amtrac and the State Fair

Again this year we took the train to the State Fair. The train left and arrived on time and the weather was nice for all the walking we did, over 10 miles by my pedometer. Fair food is expensive and unhealthy but good. The side shows and exhibits are what draw my interests. I'm not much for the rides and games.

The train was a few minutes late leaving for home and was delayed by another train needing the tracks we were on so we were an hour late getting back to Greensboro. Still the trip back was more organized and pleasant than the one to the fair.

On the way there I got stuck behind a man that had a disability, to be politically correct. He talked loud and slow and repeated everything he said until he received a response and he never shut up the entire trip. It was irritating at first then becoming nerve grating the longer it went on.

We were glad to get back home, tired and irritated but we have our souvenirs and memories. The bad times will fade and we will be left with the romanticized version of the train ride through the countryside, the smell of the foods, the sights and sounds of people having a good time, and the pure enjoyment of spending a day with the one you love.

Pond redo

A month or si ago I redug my water pond but just now downloaded the picture. Water ponds are ususally cleaned in the spring but I needed to redig mine as well as clean it so I did it this fall when we had a brief break in the weather. Of course it hit ninety again just after I finished and didn;t rain for three or four weeks.

I needed to make one end deeper and balance out the sides. I lowered the plant shelf on one side but left the side nearest the house as it was. This will give the fish better protection from predators and as the fish are getting larger they need the extra swimming area.

I filled it up partially from city water but really wanted to wait for rain as rain has less chemicals. It took 1500 gallons from the city to get the water level passed the plant shelves. That is rather expensive and the city only gave me a $6.00 break on the water bill. That is why I installed another rain barrell.

During the hot dry summer, the sun can suck the water level down a foot sothe extra sources of water providesa safty valve for the fish as well as the plants.

A perfect example

I just finished a post on stupid things criminals do to get caught and here is a perfect example:

The Nebraska State Patrol says 15 1/2 pounds of pot was found gift-wrapped following a traffic stop on Interstate 80 in Lincoln. A patrol news release said a trooper pulled over an eastbound car for speeding near the Lincoln Airport exit on



Over 15 pounds of pot in the car and he was speeding? One might as well hang a sign out the window reading "Arrest me Please".

Just too funny

O'Donnell said Obama and other Democrats are putting their weight behind Coons because "they see him as a rubber stamp for their agenda." She noted that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has called Coons his "pet."

"I don't know why Harry Reid said that," Coons said. "I'm nobody's pet. I'm going to be a bulldog for Delaware."


Last time I checked, bulldogs are a domesticated breed that people keep as pets. Maybe coons would have been better off saying he would be a tiger for Delaware.

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Fast food order takers

Yes, a pet peeve of mine is fast food wait staff who can't take an order. I understand they deal with the public and the public can be stupid asses, and quite often are but sometimes the waitress just needs to shut up and listen.

Like I'll go into a Burger King and say "For here. A number two, small, no cheese, and onion rings" and the clerk will say "Is this order to go?"

Bojangles is the worst because they have to yell into a microphone what you ordered. I went into one and the young man asked me for my order. "I said this is for here" and he immediately yelled into his mic "dine in" I tried giving him my order but everytime I said something he yelled it into the mic and then I would have to repeat the next thing I said. Of course, the restaraunt screwed up my order.

It seems Wendy's has some new salds which are really good. I've only tried two of them but only because the apple/cranberry one is so goodI can't pass it up. The problem is Wendy's has catered to people with smaller appitites or who want a sald plus something else. They have a half salad and a half-salad plus on there menu. I don't have a problem with choosing between a salad and a half salad. I do have a problem with the wait staff knowing the difference.

I'll order a salad and the clerk will ask "Do you want the big salad or the half-salad?" There isn't a "Big salad" on the menu board; just a salad and a half salad. 'I repeat that I want the salad and the staff starts to explain that they have a half salad and a half salad plus and a big salad and then asks me again which one I want.

I repeat I want the salad.

There is no "big" salad on the menu and if I wanted the half salad or the half salad plus I would have ordered one.

I contacted Wendy's one this one and suggested that if a customer order a salad they should be sold the salad rather than a half salad or Wedny's should change the name from salad to big salad or full salad or the one that isn't the half salad so the wait staff knows that the customer doesn't want just half a salad.

Ordering should not be this difficult and argumentitive.

tattoes

If I were to get a tatto, it would have to be a sudoku puzzle. At least it would serve some purpose.

You drive a What?

Unexpected death

Published: October 13, 2010
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nowBuzz up!Darren Stevens, a morning radio host on local Christian station WBFJ 89.3 FM, died unexpectedly early this morning.

Stevens, 42, was a lifelong resident of Ramseur. He was last on the air last Thursday, and left the station not feeling well. The next day, he was admitted to Randolph Hospital and had an emergency appendectomy. He was still in the hospital recovering from the surgery when he died. The exact cause of death was still unknown.

Seriously, TOTO

Two photos from a Toto commercial on their website. The photos show relaxed people who seem happy and satisfied, perhaps with their new bathroom designs.

However, in the real world I think I might be uncomfortable relaxing in a bathroom that opens to the outside like the one the woman is walking through. it would be a little hard to heat and cool and I am sure nature would be finding its way in quite often. Not y first choice, by any means.

The second photo shows a man relaxing in his new toilet facilities by enjoying a cup of coffee while sitting on a window sill. First of all, I really don't think I could enjoy a cup of coffee that close to where I just took a crap. Secondly, A chair and kitchen table would be a preferred relaxing place as one could set the coffee cup down, read a paper, and have your entire butt perched on something rather than just half of your butt. Most window sill aren't wide enough for even half your butt, not saying you have a large butt, but that most likely you have a small window sill.

The images at first seem to portray a romantic view of the bathroom but actually portray undesireable situations.

Observations

In the photo essay on beatiful wives and girlfriends of baseball players, it seems the beauty of the women is in the size of their boobs.

Cable TV was first advertised with the hook that pay TV was commercial free TV. I don't think it ever was. It certainly isn't now.

In refinancing with the very same bank the mortgage is with now, one would think they would already have all the answers. They don't. Not by a long shot.

The missing girl in Hickory is now considered a homicide victim. Poloice believe the stepmother is the prime suspect. The father doesn't seem so innocent to me either.

The little kiosh at the mall with little overhead is way overpriced. Just pick one; this statement probably fits.

Missing in Hickory

Hickory, my home town and town where my mother still lives, is the town in which a 10 year old girl who has a prosthetic leg, is hard of hearing, and is reported to also have cancer is missing. Police dogs found the scent of human remains at the home today. The poorlittle girl has been through enough in her short life and to have the ones she needs to look to for help do her harm is more than an injustice. To have anyone do her home is beyond a shame but especially if it turns out to be her gaurdians that did her harm, it is beyond unforgiveable.

This undated photo provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows Zahra Clare Baker, a 10 year-old North Carolina hearing-impaired girl with a prosthetic leg who is missing. The girl was last seen by her stepmother at 2:30 a.m. Saturday Oct. 9, 2010. A fire was reported in the Bakers' backyard about 5 a.m.
HICKORY, N.C. — Police dogs detected the smell of human remains on two cars at the home of a missing girl who has bone cancer and a prosthetic leg, a search warrant said Monday.

The document filed in a Hickory court didn't indicate that police found any remains in their search, which was conducted Sunday night. The warrant said the dogs detected the smell on a sedan and SUV belonging to the father and stepmother.

Earlier in the day, the police chief cast doubt on accounts by the father and stepmother of 10-year-old Zahra Clare Baker. They told police they discovered she was missing on Saturday and that one of them had seen in her sleeping in her room hours earlier.

But Hickory Police Chief Tom Adkins said a news conference that investigators were having trouble finding anyone else who had seen the home-schooled girl alive in the last few weeks.

"We don't know the last time anyone saw her," he said. "We're having a difficult time establishing a true timeline."

The police department declined to comment further on the warrant, but said Adkins would issue a statement Tuesday morning.

Zahra's father, Adam Baker, said during an morning TV interview that it was possible his wife could be involved in the disappearance, which was reported hours after a fire in the home's backyard. Elisa Baker was arrested Sunday on about a dozen charges unrelated to the girl's disappearance.

A reporter saw what appeared to be remnants of clothes among burned branches from the fire at the scene.

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Associated Press Writers Meg Kinnard in Columbia, S.C., and Martha Waggoner and Mike Baker in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report.

72,000 stimulus payments went to dead people

do you still believe health insirance will be better under the control of the government? Just think, every aspect of the governemnt, be it the Post Office, Social Secirity, whatever, has been an exercise in failure. Not one government agency can be ran without lossing money.

we've all seen welfare recepients who drive nice cars, swap benefits for money, booze or drugs, or have found other ways to beat the system. personally, I just can't afford any more free government programs.

Must be one sorry community

"Alejo-Jones told the council the club is her only source of income, that she is trying to get her license reinstated and hopes to open a restaurant on the site. Others spoke on her behalf, telling the council that the presence of the club was a benefit to the surrounding neighborhood."

147 times the police were called to this nightclubin three years. mostly because of fights and shootings. If a place like this is a benefit to the community, then it must be one sorry community. I once lived across the street from a night club and not only had to put upwith loud music and litter from bar patrons, but I had druks urinate in my front yard, damage to my property (intentional) and people blocking my driveway. I couldn't get anything done about the club because if I lost my court case, I would have had to pay thier attorney fees plus pay upto a $10,000.00 fine for filing a false complaint. That nightclub, nusiance that it was, didn't seem nearly as bad as the one closed by loss of liquor lisence and the owner claims it was good for the community.

That's like an opium house owner in China claiming the house is good for the community. i'd believe that before i'd buy into any arguments from a owner of a business that still with getting their customers drunk.

stupid criminals

let's face it. No matter how brilliant the plans, all criminals are stupid. It's just some are really stupid. Like this guy:
GOOD HOPE, Ill. — Authorities said sleeping behind the wheel wasn't the only problem for a western Illinois man they caught napping at a gas station. Police said 26-year old Adam Barcroft also had a meth lab in the bed of his truck. The McDonough County Sheriff's Department said Barcroft was asleep at a Good Hope gas station Monday when deputies discovered him.

He was arrested, and his truck was pushed away from the gas pumps.

The Illinois State Police Methamphetamine Response Team then arrived and secured the truck.

Officials said they recovered several items used to make meth, 2 grams of finished meth and $238 in cash.

Barcroft, of Monmouth, faces five drug-related charges.

It wasn't immediately clear whether he has an attorney.


Why do people carrying drugs or dead bodies in their front seats, or driving with no legal license to do so, vioate common sence rulesof the road like not stopping for stop signs, or having too dark tinted windows, or speeding?

Girl Rescued

This 8 year old girl was playing with five of her friends when a red pickup pulled up, grabbed her and took off. A statewide amber alertdrew the attention of one citizen who spotted the truck eleven hours later then noticed the girl in the truck. The man cut the truck off, forcing it to stop. The driver pushed the little girl from the truck and took off but was apprehended a short time later at his grandmothers apartment.

Losing weight

The new catch phrase with dieters is "LIFESTYLE CHANGE". It isn't a lifestyle change unless it becomes part of your daily routine and effortless in its execution. thant's the problem with most diets is that you have to buy certain foods and avoid others, count calories, or make concious decions that you would rather not have to make. After days or weeks or months of effort it all goes for naaught nd one regains the weight, often more than what was lost.

My goal when I started was not to lose weight but to improvve my overall health. I was, litterly, a walking deadman, with triglyerides of over 700, colestrerol over 400and blood pressure in a relaxed state over 160.

NBormally I can maintain my weight or even lose a pound or two during the summer months but the winter has been rough on my waist line, as is normal for most people.
This year has been different with the extraordinary heat, it has just been too hot to do much outside and exercising in doors just raises the temperature in the house so I limited that too. Yes, I gained 8 pouds over the summer but my helthy numbers remainded steadfast.

The reason for that was what I ate rather than how much. Eating an extra apple, even if the apple is healthy, will cause one to take in an extra 100 to 150 calories they didn't need, but is far beeter than getting the calories, say, from a bag of 100calorie a pack cookies.

I have picked up again on my WII exercises but as far as food,i have become so accustomed to eating a bowl of cereal with fruit for breakfast, a bowl of soup and an apple for lunch, a light supper, and fruit for snacks, that Ireally don't think much about eating anything else.

Of course, I still grill out that steak occasionally, and I do eat a big Angus burger now and then, but that is so rare it is a treat, not a normal routine.

The important thing for me is to remain healthy and not just to lose weight. By the books, I would have to lose another 60 pounds to be at my idea weight, but as far as healthy numbers, I just couldn't get any better than I am right now.