People Are Strange

This next items come from an e-mail I received from my friend JI:

• Part 1 - Shopping on the Internet
• Part 2 - Relying on Technology
• Part 3 - Interrogating the Suspect
• Part 4 - Celebrating Winter Solstice
• Part 5 - Contacting the Central Office

Part 1 - Shopping on the Internet

A lady at work was seen putting a credit card into her floppy drive and pulling it out very quickly. When inquired as to what she was doing, she said she was shopping on the Internet and they kept asking for a credit card number, so she was using the ATM "thingy".

Part 2 - Relying on Technology

Recently a distraught young lady was spotted weeping beside her car.

"Do you need some help?" I asked.

She replied, "I knew I should have replaced the battery to this remote door unlocker. Now I can't get into my car. Do you think they (pointing to a distant convenient store) would have a battery to fit this?"

"Hmmm, I dunno. Do you have an alarm too?" I asked.

"No, just this remote thingy," she answered, handing it and the car keys to me.

As I took the key and manually unlocked the door, I replied, "Why don't you drive over there and check about the batteries. It's a long walk."

Part 3 - Interrogating the Suspect

Police in Radnor, Pennsylvania, interrogated a suspect by placing a metal colander on his head and connecting it with wires to a photocopy machine. The message "He's lying" was placed in the copier, and police pressed the copy button each time they thought the suspect wasn't telling the truth. Believing the "lie detector" was working, the suspect confessed.

Part 4 - Celebrating Winter Solstice

I was sitting in my science class, when the teacher commented that the next day would be the shortest day of the year. My lab partner became visibly excited, cheering and clapping. I explained to her that the amount of daylight changes, not the actual amount of time. Needless to say, she was very disappointed.

Part 5 - Contacting the Central Office

My neighbor works in the operations department in the central office of a large bank. Employees in the field call him when they have problems with their computers. One night he got a call from a woman in one of the branch banks who had this question: "I've got smoke coming from the back of my terminal. Do you guys have a fire downtown?"

A Run For My Life

I had a very strange dream last night. Some other people (friends?) and I were being chased through a multi-story building with a parking lot by a psychopath. It also took place at a park nearby. The dream seemed like it lasted about an hour, as though it could have been an episode of a TV drama. As these things often are, unfortunately the details are now fuzzy. Below are some things that I can remember, though:

- The chase mostly occurred on the elevators
- We knew that a friend of ours, TM, was on his way into work. He had parked on the 9-1/2th floor. We tried for as long as possible to keep the elevator from stopping there because we knew that TM was unaware of the danger before him.
- To make the elevator stop at the 9-1/2 floor, you had to press the buttons for the 9th and 10th floors and stop the elevator in between. I remember something like this being done in the movie "Being John Malchovich".
- Just as soon as we thought things were getting back to normal, this guy - the psychopath - would flip out again and resume chasing us.
- Indeed we felt like we were almost always on the run for our lives.
- Eventually we thought it was safe enough to get TM from the 9-1/2th floor, but as soon as we stopped there, we realized that the psycho has become aware of the existence of the 9-1/2 floor. We had somehow thought that it was a "safe haven" - until then.
- Unfortunately we couldn't help our friend TM. By the time we arrived at the 9-1/2th floor, the psychopath had already got to him.

The Hunt, Part 2

He didn't have much time. If he was going to do it, then this was the time. No turning back...

The thrill of the hunt is what drove him. He'd often go without sleep when he was in pursuit. Nothing but reaching his goal would satisfy him. He'd deal with each obstacle as it came, overcoming and advancing. No weather, no circumstance, nobody was going to stop him from getting...

... that cheeseburger.

The Hunt, Part 1

He felt the hunger pangs in his mortal coil again. This time they were stronger and didn't seem to want to subside. He knew he had to do something quickly, or he would be overcome. So he made a mad dash for the vending machine. He reached into his pocket only to discover that he had no change to obtain that which his body needed, the sustance for his soul.

He looked around and saw the fire extinguisher hanging on the wall. No one else was around anyway, and he was usually the last one to leave his workplace. He further glanced around and saw that there were no cameras watching his every move. So he yanked the fire extinguisher off the wall and smashed it into the vending machine. The glass shattered and he now had access to as much candy, chips, gum, and cookies as he wanted. He gathered as much as he could in his arms and headed back to his cubicle.

He sat down and began opening each item and eating it. About fifteen minutes later, he fell asleep, satisfied that his hunt had been successful.

Continuance...

He cried harder than he ever thought he could cry. His heart ached so hard. He thought he was going crazy, the whirlwind of images blowing his mind. He fell to the floor, clutching his hands in desperation, begging for relief. The pain was almost more than he could handle. He looked up and the world appeared crooked, tilted somehow.

Then the door slammed open with a crash. Four men wearing white came in with a stretcher. The sound of them walking was like an Army marching to a cadence. "How could they be so cruel?" he thought, pounding his head to the floor.

The men gathered our hero and carried him out of his room and placed him in the ambulance.

Some time later, he woke up in the hospital ward, somehow well-rested. The sun was shining warmly on his face. Even the headache was beginning to wear off. He was relieved that the overdose of pills had finally worn off. This would be the last time.

Listen to My Radio Station!

I have a personal radio station through Launch, so I wanted to see if, by including the link here, you all could get to it. We'll see. Update...: Well, it appears I've been successful. Once you click the link to my station, simply click the "Listen Now" link to open the Launch player. Happy listening!

President's Day 2002

In honor of President's Day, today, I am happy to direct you here. You may also find this interesting.

Different Interpretations

(subtitled - Karaoke)

Last Saturday, February 15, 2002, Jennie and I went to a marriage retreat sponsored by our church. The entertainment portion consisted of karaoke by those attending.

The hardest part, for me at least, at one of these things, is to come up with my first song to do. I chose "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen, but I didn't want to do it all by myself. A song like that requires at least four people. I wound up getting five people to come up on stage with me. It was a riot! I couldn't see anyone in the audience because of the stage lights, but I didn't care. When it came to the fast instrumental section ("So you think you can stone me..."), we did the "Wayne's World" head-banging thang.

Then, about six songs later, I was back onstage, doing "Mambo No. 5", by Lou Bega.

Let's just say these were both... um... different interpretations.

Finding The Lord - JOKE ALERT!

(subtitle: Your Monday Morning Devotional delivered right to yer e-mail box)

The following came from GB - what a funny guy!

A drunk stumbles along a Baptismal service on a Sunday afternoon down by the river. He proceeds to stumble down into the water and stands next to the Minister. The Minister turns, notices the old drunk and says, "Mister, are you ready to find Jesus?"

The drunk looks back and says, "Yes sir, I am."

The Minister then dunks the fellow under the water and pulls him right back up.

"Have you found Jesus?" the Minister asked.

"No, I didn't!" said the drunk.

The Minister then dunks him under for quite a bit longer, brings him up and says, "Now brother, have you found Jesus?"

"No, I did not!" said the man again.

Disgusted, the Minister holds the man under for at least 30 seconds this time, brings him up and demands, "For the grace of God, have you found Jesus yet?!!!??"

The old drunk wipes his eyes and pleads, "Are you sure this is where he fell in???"

A Herd of Turtles Stampeding Through Peanut Butter

The dialup connection to my company's LAN is much slower. Granted, I'm trying to make several files available when I'm not dialing, but, man, it is taking a loooooong time.

More Small Talk: Work Question of the Day

In response to GB's earlier message, LC wrote:

Wow. I feel depressed just reading that.

I was planning on working outside on my car's radiator
hoses, getting dirty, freezing my arms and fingers
off, skinning my knuckles on the engine whenever my
hands slip off the wrench or I snap the head off
another bolt (I've snapped 3 bolts off already.) Then
I will get changed and go to work for six hours. Then
I will come home and work on two homework assignments
that I have already spent four hours on that are due
tomorrow and I doubt that I can complete.

But after all that, such a long and difficult day, I
will come home and give my girlfriend a call and talk
to my sweet, because it's Valentines Day. What a
special day this is for both of us. Oh, wait, I don't
have a girlfriend. Before I crash for the night, I
will probably eat some oatmeal and some shredded wheat
straight from the box 'cause I don't have any milk,
and wash it down with some water. I will be so tired
that I will go to sleep without brushing my teeth.
Then I will fall asleep because it's two in the
morning.

That is my plan for Valentines day.

- LC

Valentine's Day 2002

A friend of mine, GB, whose tagline on his emails is "Peace, Love, & Hair Gel", sent me this message. He's a pretty wacky fellow.

Small Talk @ Work Question of the Day asks: What Are U doing for Valentines Day?? GB answers: I am going to spend the evening laying in bed in the dark listening to Bette Midlers song "The Rose" play over and over again while I am surrounded by all kinds of pies, cakes, cookies and chips... eating myself into a food coma... and then not come of out the house for about 2 weeks...

Like Peeing on the Floor

This may sound like a strange title, but you'll get what I mean as you read on.

We came home tonight from a meeting with MM and KM, two close friends of ours, to talk about our marriage. I thought things were going Ok, but Jennie didn't think so. So we discussed how she was feeling and why she was feeling that way. It turns out that I haven't been as considerate of her as I should be. In the Bible, Philippians 2:3-4 mentions that we should think of one another as better than ourselves.

I haven't been doing that, and I've realized that I'm hurting Jennie when I'm being this way. She doesn't feel loved, for example, when I spend more time at work than need be, or more time on the computer, instead of with her. It's not that she wants to hog all my time; she just needs to feel loved. She needs me, with my full attention.

We also discussed how Jennie ought to change, from my perspective. This question was very hard for me to answer at first. I started getting very emotional, to the point where I was crying. I don't know exactly where it came from - all of a sudden I was sobbing in their living room. I felt incredibly embarassed, as though I had lost control of my bladder and was peeing on their floor.

I felt guilty for once again hearing how much I've hurt my wife by my actions. I really hate myself when I do that. Feeling so bad about it, I guess, led to the guilt, which led to the depressive episode, which included the crying. It was another of those times when I struggled to find good in the situation. Boy, when this depression hits, it hits hard.

One thing I am definitely grateful for in our marriage is that our love is there, yet there are still times when I need to be affirmed. You know what I mean? I know women feel the same way - we need to hear that we're loved and appreciated.

I guess that I haven't been feeling that from Jennie lately. And she hasn't felt loved because I've let other things occupy my time instead of her. So we both have things to work on - which is why we wake up in the morning - because God isn't finished with us yet.

Oh yeah, the great thing about true friends is that they love you even when you behave like a child who's peeing on the floor.

So long and good night, everyone.

Watching Paint Dry

Not everything I've done in my life compares to watching paint dry, but I participated in something today that ranks right up there with it. This morning I was part of a group that upgraded our work PCs to a customized version of Windows XP. The installation process took about an hour and a half. That the company I'm working for had set this up as an automated process probably kept it from taking longer. But backing up everything, installing other applications I work with, and bringing the backed-up data after the installation made entire process take about 4 hours.

So, you wanna know how I passed the time? That's right. You've guessed. I played pinball on my laptop that I obtained from the consulting company I work for. I'm actually getting pretty good at it. My highest score so far is over 5 million points.Update: In case you haven't realized, this is sign of geekiness

I know... this doesn't have much to do with the price of tea in China, but hey! - it's a lot better than watching paint dry.

I Can Read

Things are going better today. I began reading a book by Thom Hartmann, called "ADD Success Stories".

Navy Summary of Mishaps - First Edition

Note: I got this from ME, who is stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, in Dayton, Ohio.

Jackie Gleason used to say that he drank because drinking took warts and moles off other people’s faces. What he failed to mention is the fact that booze, as a universal solvent, immediately liquefies all the cells and synapses in those areas of the brain having to do with judgment, coordination, and common sense; turns them to mush. Afterward, it’s like trying to cogitate with a cranium full of Cream of Wheat. Here are some examples to illustrate my point:

• Not Wanting To Let Go
• Coast Guards and Toughness
• Drunken Hunger and a Mad Dog
• Acrobatic Delusions
• DWA: Driving While Angry

Not Wanting To Let Go

An airman with a BAC (blood alcohol content) of 0.22 decided it would be the coolest thing ever if he jumped onto the back bumper of a departing Honda del Sol to see how long he could hang on to the trunk lid as it sped away. Got to give the kid credit for tenacity. He stayed with it till 50 miles an hour, when his fingernails failed structurally, at which time, parasitic drag dumped him onto the highway.

Coast Guards and Toughness

A pickup truckload of our Coast Guard brethren left a bar and headed down the road with four drunks in the cab and two more drunks passed out in the bed. (Yes, as it turns out, our friends in the funny hats are human, too.)

After they dropped their first shipmate off at home, they regained the interstate and were headed for the second guy’s house at about 55 miles an hour when, like a scene from “Night of the Living Dead,” one of the corpses in the back stood up, wobbled slightly, stepped stiffly over the tailgate and disappeared into the glare of headlights from oncoming traffic.

Suddenly everybody’s sober. They screech to a halt. Doors fly open. Everyone bails out and races back along the interstate in a frantic search for their buddy. But they can’t find him.

Wait! There he is! Face down in the middle of the interstate – backlit by the headlights of a car that has him bore-sighted!

Time compression kicks in as they all wave their arms in slow motion and scream (in an extremely low register), "NOOOOOOO!" Trying, to no avail, to ward off the inevitable. Thump-Thump. And the car sped off into the night – didn’t even slow down.

But you know what? The guy lived! I mean he was messed up big time, but he lived, which means, in the face of this new evidence, that I must retract my previous statement. Them Coasties ain’t human after all.

Drunken Hunger and a Mad Dog

As soon as a drunken Marine ditched his liberty buddies and headed back to the base, he spied a restaurant and thought he’s stop in for a bite to eat. The fact that the restaurant was closed didn’t slow the sergeant down a whit. This Marine wanted chow and no bars, no locked doors, and no alarm systems were going to stand in his way.

Perhaps it was the cold food or maybe it was the slow service, but something must have really irritated this guy because after he’d been in there a while he began to tear the place up.

It wasn’t long before the gendarmes, summoned by burglar alarm, arrived and tried some of their high-powered psychology to coax the Marine outside. But, he (totally impervious to logic) wasn’t having any of that and told the cops to take their best shot.

Well, in this case, the cops’ best shot happened to be a ninety-pound German Shepherd, and they told the hungry Marine that if he didn’t come out, they were sending Bruno in.

"Bring him on!" says the Marine. And so Chief Wiggims let slip the dog of war.

BA DA BING! The dog is on the Marine like white on rice and showing absolutely no respect for the sergeant. Actually, Bruno’s finding the sergeant to be a rather zesty morsel (kinda like a slider at Mid-rats), and the fact that the Marine decided to fight back only served to whet the dog’s already prodigious appetite all the more.

In the end, of course, the score was Drunken-Devil Dog - zero, Regular Dog - five. (Five being the total number of useless fingers dangling at the end of the sergeant’s right arm that – ever since that night – have refused to respond to his commands.)

Acrobatic Delusions

I always get burn severity messed up. Can’t remember if it’s third degree or first degree that leaves you looking like a burger that fell off the grille and lay unnoticed on the coals for a spell.

I will say this, however. I got this second degree burn stuff down pat, especially after I dumped boiling water and equally boiling coffee grounds on my hand one morning recently while trying to brew a cup of java while I was still asleep.

But that was small change compared to what a drunken seaman did not long ago. It seems that six beers and a couple shots of bourbon convinced this guy he was an acrobat. After ditching his buddies at the bar, our here made it back to the pier Ok. But there, the lure of fame and the challenge of the high wire were more than he could resist. So, instead of plodding drunkenly along on something stable and flat link the concrete roadway, this would=be Flying Wallenda jumped up on the CHT piping that ran parallel with the pier and began tippy-toeing along it’s length toward his ship. And he was lookin’ gooooood, beloved. Until, that it, he encountered a knot of pumps and valves that squirts a solution of highly caustic hypochlorite into the raw sewage. There, he stumbled and fell.

But, true to his calling, he wasn’t going down without a fight. He frantically grabbed for a handhold – anything to break his fall, and he snagged one! Unfortunately, what he snagged was one of those high pressure chemical lines which immediately popped out of its fitting and sprayed our hapless hero from head to toe with a caustic bath of searing hypo-chloride.

At the hospital they catalogued his misery as: second degree chemical burns of the groin, the abdomen, left thigh, right ear, left face and left arm. And, for good measure, a third degree burn on his inner right thigh that nearly fried his oysters and will require several skin grafts.

But I did get a chuckle out of the unbridled optimism of this report, which said that, after five days in the hospital and 35 days out of work, “No permanent disability is anticipated." Yeah, right.

I burned my hand two months ago and it’s still as pink as sunrise except when it turns purplish red in the shower and throbs like mad if I get it in warm water. Don’t let anybody fool you; this guy’s going to be in pain for a long, long time.

DWA: Driving While Angry

I read in the paper this week that Daimler-Chrysler has embarked on a program designed to provide job security for the entire traffic safety section of the naval safety center for a good many years to come. With the rollout of their new Dodge, V-10, pick-up truck, we enter a new era of potential disaster. When one considers that sailors in the past have actually managed to break telephone poles in half using just a motorcycle, the possibilities for carnage, mayhem, death and destruction posed by this new, 150-mile-an-hour, 4000 pound, unguided rocket in the hands of your average North American blue jacket are enough to boggle the mind.

Heaven knows they’re doing a more than adequate job with the tools at hand today:

A carload of sailors were on their way to a little weekend liberty, when the kid in the right seat spilled a drink in his lap and then turned and started ragging the driver about his erratic motoring skills. The driver barked back. So, in response, the passenger dumped what was left in his cup on the driver’s leg… you know, just to give him a feel for what it’s like to be facing a night on the town looking like you’ve recently lost control of your bladder.

This brought a heated retort from the driver, who totally failed to see the humor. At which time the passenger doubled up his fist and smashed it into the windshield (“Take that!”), and the driver responded by slamming on the brakes and skidding headfirst into a mini-van in the opposing lane of traffic.

At a party Saturday night I met a woman who teaches anger management to elementary school children. I found that highly amusing until she explained to me there is real value in early training for the still undeveloped infantile mind in the techniques for handling stress and managing anger. Maybe I’ll give her these guys’ address to see if she can hook them up with some kind of correspondence course. It couldn’t hurt.

--- end of post ----

Late-Night Depression

I am feeling very emotional. I just spent time praying to God about how I'm feeling. Crying, angry, bitter, frustrated. Hot tears falling from my eyes. Hurting from within my heart, wanting it all to go away.

Even more troublesome was that I was doing this in front of my little girl. She had been "scared", and both Jennie and I were tired, wanting to go to bed. She kept crying out for one of us. When she cried out to me, I was so upset. I went in with my voice raised telling her she needed to go to sleep.

I asked if she wanted to pray, and she said yes. Well, I started praying for her, and then I started crying out my frustration with how I've been feeling.

I often have a hard time with this depression and ADHD stuff I'm dealing with. I have trouble seeing what I can control and what I cannot. I'm upset that I'm hurting those whom I love the most - Jennie and Keisha. I've not been responsible. I feel like I've let so many people down, especially Jennie.

Because of this I feel so guilty. Why do I keep putting her and Keisha through these times? This is not who I was when we got married. Our relationship was so much different then than it is now. It seems so much harder now. The feelings aren't always there, but my commitment is.

I don't understand why I'm feeling this way. I wish I could be happy and not mess up the world around me. I want this all to go away.

Changes

I've spent the last couple of hours modifying the layout of this journal. It was a bit frustrating since I couldn't get it to look exactly as I want it. But I'm satisfied with where it is now.

I've really gotta get home. Jennie and Keisha are waiting...

No Man is an Island

Hebrews 10:24 :: NIV

I've been seeing a lot of selfishness in my own life and in others' lives. Even now, I don't feel like giving my heart to others because I'm not feeling 100% healthy. We can be so easily distracted by the worries of life, etc. We all need to do our part in taking care of ourselves and each other.

In addition, we need to keep praying to God. Write letters in a journal (this online weblog is a great venue). Write poems, love letters to Jesus. We all need to grow deeper in our love for him. For help, I often go back to the Psalms, for example.

In addition, the Bible states in Hebrews 10:25-27 that we need to consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. I believe this is possible. I also believe that God has given all of us gifts to be used to serve him. I am trying to think of my mental illness as a gift from God. I'm not always good at doing that, but I'm trying. The apostle Paul wrote that God uses our weaknesses to demonstrate his power, so, Amen, then, show your power, O Lord!

I look forward to the plans that God has for all of us. Let me encourage you to read Ephesians 1. I read that a lot this weekend, and it encouraged me so much! It was like I was reading all of this for the first time.

Wake Up, It's Monday!

Monday morning, back at work. Still tired from lack of sleep this weekend. 16 oz. coffee hasn't quite kicked in yet. Need something for the pain around my eyes. Ibuprofen, take me away!

OK, But Not That Much!

In my previous post, I mentioned that I like pizza - that it is my favorite food. Well, I don't like it quite as much as this woman apparently did:

Kimberly Herricks, 36, a manager for Donato's Pizza, Lakewood, Ohio, was indicted in December for stealing $38,000 from the company, an amount that included the value of 400 decaying pizzas found in her garage. According to police, she had invented big call-in orders at her store for schools, hospitals, etc., just to get her store's sales figures up and her name in the company newsletter. She would then adjust the books to cover the costs and deliver the pizzas, herself, to her own garage. She was busted when she asked her boss (the owner) to help her move to a new house, and he discovered the rotting pizzas. [Plain Dealer, 12-4-01]

6/8/2003 Update: I updated the link to the post.

Favorite Foods

Keisha and I are talking about what her favorite food of all time is, as we're getting ready to have breakfast of cereal, milk, and orange juice. By the way, Keisha would like to say something:ggghhhhyuuuummmmdmmjjjiiiiuulppoo9yu y 77h, which she says means "go". Hmm...

Anyhow, my favorite food is pizza; hers is cheeseburgers.

A Recap During a Nightcap

Greetings, crimestoppers! Time for a brief recap of my day (Saturday).

FRIDAY NIGHT FLICKS

Started off by going to bed at 4:10 AM after watching the movies "Bounce" and "Hannibal" (quite a combination, huh?). Naturally, it took a little while to fall asleep, having the ending of "Hannibal" still in my mind (pun not intended - referring to one of the last scenes in the movie).


SLEEPING IN

Keisha came in at about 8:30 AM as Jennie was heading to the library to return some videos ('Yes, get that 'Hannibal' film out of here!!!!"). At about 10:39 Keisha convinced me to get out of bed. So I got up for a few seconds and then lay back down. Finally, around 10:45 I get up for good.

A QUIET BREAKFAST?

Since it was late morning, we wondered if we still could have breakfast. Keisha and I thought about that for a little bit, and then we were distracted by the nice weather outside. Jennie came home shortly after noon, so we decided to get out of the house and get something to eat. But we wanted some time to read our Bibles without Keisha distracting us, so we decided to go to a place that has a play area for kids - the Burger King in Beavercreek, Ohio, near the Mall at Fairfield Commons.

Silly us. We chose the busiest place in the area. Fortunately for me, I had some headphones as I typed into my laptop, but Jennie, I could tell, was very distracted..

DEAF KID'S CLUB

About 2 PM we left an went to the Deaf Association of Dayton on Valley Street to hang out there for a few hours. There we met Tom and Elizabeth from Kettering. Tom was born deaf, and his wife Elizabeth is a substitute teacher at St. Rita's School for the Deaf in Woodlawn, Ohio. It was great learning new signs, etc. I could tell Jennie and Keisha had fun, too.

THE MAIL PILE

Then we came home. I was eager for a nap by now, but Jennie encouraged me that we should go through our mail. We hadn't gone through it together in awhile. Perhaps more on that another time. Needless to say, I did the right thing and did not take a nap. After working through the mail for awhile, we decided we needed a break.

NOT REALLY A QUICK TRIP

So we went to Meijer in Englewood. We really only needed a few items, but somehow we spent a lot of time there. It may have had something to do with Keisha and I getting split up from Jennie and those three laps around the grocery section we took looking for her. It may have also been due to our browsing videos, pets, toys, and more.

RATTLE AND PIZZA

Nevertheless, by about 9 PM, we all were pretty bushed. So we came home put Keisha to bed after feeding her some leftover Pizza Hut stuffed crust pizza. Then Jennie cooked a frozen pizza we bought, and we ate it while watching the movie "Rattle and Hum" by U2.

FINALLY READY FOR BED

Funny. It's almost 1 AM on Sunday morning and I'm still going. Well, not exactly. My eyes are barely open. Even funnier are all the references to places in this entry for which I could create hyperlinks. Perhaps later. I'm heading for the sack. Night everyone. God bless.

US Rep. Tony Hall May Have a Job Offer

According to a local news report, Dayton Congressman Tony Hall may be asked to join President Bush's administration. If/when he does, a special election will be held to fill the vacancy. Dayton Republicans are endorsing former Dayton mayor Mike Turner, while Democrats have said that they would be in a bind.

Bond, James Bond will make an 'Alias' appearance

If any of you have never seen this show, here's a good reason to do it. Jennie and I make it part of our Sunday evening ritual. We make sure Keisha is in bed between 8-9 PM so that when the show starts at 9, we are there.

Health-related Encouragement

Back at work. Getting ready to focus on the task at hand. I am going to work on being focused and try to reduce the distractions around me.

Much thanks to my friend and brother GP for his encouragement. He sent me an email after he heard I have ADHD. God has definitely been working miracles in his life recently. He's undergone much treatment for cancer, and it looks like it's helped out a lot.

I'm also encouraged about Rush Limbaugh's story regarding his hearing loss. He recently began using cochlear implants and has regained most of his hearing loss.

Cheers to an awesome day! 8-D

6/8/2003 Update:Removed the reference to an obsolete link.

Dream

Below is an excerpt from an email I received today from my friend Jeff:

that's weird that you email. i actually had a dream about you and Keisha last night. you emailed me something like this and were telling me how well keisha's piano lessons were going. You said she only had two lessons left. On your website you had a link to audio where she was playing beethoven quality music! i'm going to freak out if i check out your website and there is anything remotely close to that!!!!!

Since he was wondering if there would be "anything remotely close to that", I thought I'd include the whole thing! 8-D

Train a Child

Bible Gateway Proverbs 22:6 :: NIV

Last night, as I tucked my daughter Keisha into bed, something happened that blew me away. She said, "Daddy, I want to pray to God." Since my wife Jennie or I usually initiate praying with her before she falls asleep, I was naturally surprised and very encouraged by her comment.

So we prayed together.

Eating an Elephant

Last night I met with my psychologist. It is quite apparent that I have some type of ADHD. I can see problems from a global scale and get completely overwhelmed and avoid them. At other times I get bogged down unnecessarily on details.

We discussed breaking tasks down into small, manageable pieces - pieces that I can handle and commit to doing for a short period of time.

Kinda like eating an elephant. Eating the whole elephant is an overwhelming task when considered from a global perspective. But, when the task is broken down into subtasks, the task is not as overwhelming.

I know this, but I haven't applied this to my life that well. So now I start.

Tooth Extraction

I was talking with a coworker this morning who is considering having his wisdom teeth taken out. We've told him about our experiences, and he's a little apprehensive, not wanting it to be a horror story himself. Here's what happened to me:

I got all four of my wisdom teeth taken out at once. Before going to the oral surgeon's office, I ate some hot and spicy buffalo wings, since I knew that I wouldn't be able to eat them for awhile.

I didn't have insurance coverage (college boy supporting self fortunately had $ from co-op job and student loans), so I had to pay out of pocket. Fortunately, I had waited until all four of them had erupted. All the surgeon had to do was extract them; no cutting necessary. Only local anesthesia (novocaine?) on the jaw.

So there I was. Wide awake, yet feeling no pain... for now. The surgeon pulled three of them out. The last one was harder. I remember him yanking my jaw back and forth ("Gee, you're really making me work for this one!" said the man getting paid over $100 per tooth.). That hurt a little.

After it was all finished, I contacted my roommates, who picked me up. Eager to get home, I climbed in the back seat. Jorge, one of my roommates, wanted to check on his job application at University Hospital, so we stopped there. What was meant to be a very quick wait wound up lasting over a half hour.

By this time I was hurting big time, and very eager to get home and rest. So when that time finally arrived, I went upstairs and lay down in bed.

Some time later the phone rang. It was Lindsey Nelson, a friend from church who was in Medical School at UC (i.e., University of Cincinnati). "What's up?" he asked. "I'm in pain. I just had my wisdom teeth taken out." I muffled with my mouth full of cotton. "Would you like a shake?" he asked. "Sure." I replied.

I hung up and went back to sleep. Sometime later Lindsey shows up with a 32-oz homemade chocolate shake. Now, that was encouraging!

I just love technology... when it works!!!! This morning my company's mail server was acting really "squirrelly", right as I was typing an email, of course! I had to reboot. Let's see if things work better now...

What's Going On

I have an appointment with my psychologist tonight at 6 PM. Please pray that I can be open and that God can use this guy to really help me. Ok. So that's about it for me. Wait. I've been reading this book, "The Power of a Praying Husband", by Stormie Omartian. My wife Jennie bought it for me a few weeks ago.
Also, I read something neat on Monday in Genesis 35.1-5. Check it out if you get a chance.

Ok. That's all I have right now. Thanks for reading!

2002 Superbowl Halftime Show - U2

I really liked the halftime show at the Superbowl this past Sunday. I just found out that The Edge's real name is David Evans, and that Bono's real name is Paul Hewson.

Trying to Get Noticed

Update: Since the link to 'Journal' has been changed since this original posting, I needed to update this post. The information below is now up to date.

I just registered 'Journal' with the MIT media lab's revered Blogdex. I found out about this index by reading an online article from Time.com, written by Chris Taylor, who recently created a blog himself.

So I guess we'll have to see how things turn out. FYI, to find out how it's doing click this link.

Keep in touch, y'all!

6/8/2003 Update: I updated the link to how the blog is doing on Blogdex.

VSP: Very Special Post 2002

Because I can, I've created a post with the following date/timestamp:

02/02/02 02:02

There's gotta be something significant about that. Not just that it's Groundhog Day.