Sack 'o' Potatoes

Some days feel longer than others.

Last night I slept 6 hours. I got out of bed at 4:30 this morning and went to work. I then spent 11 hours at work trying to "manage" the miracle equivalent of keeping a two legged chair upright. Sat in an hour of Portland traffic on my way home. When I got home Diana had already started work, and she continued to work for another two hours.

Today wasn't the first time that I had a marathon day of working. Over the last three years, when I owned my own company, there were many such days. It is still the kind of day that can really take the mustard out of you. I am now resting on my living room floor, in front of darling Olivia swinging in her travel swing, and I feel like a sack of potatoes. I will have to find my second wind somewhere, however, LOST is on tonight.

Can't... Sleep... Yet...

- Posted from my iPhone

Absent-minded

When I was a kid I remember reading a couple books with older scholarly gentleman who were refered to as being absent-minded. I always found it to be a curious description. The kind of word that is used mostly in print and not as much in conversation. Something akin to Franklin W. Dixon's (The Hardy Boys) use of the word careening. Now as an adult I find myself indentifying with that queer trait more and more.

Today at work I was absent-minded. Not because I was inventing some kind of Rube Goldberg device, but because I couldn't stop thinking about going on a date with my wife. I would find myself interacting with customers, folding up spinach, bacon, and cheese omelets, and all the while thinking of how I could spend an evening treating my wife like royalty. I had just spent all week abusing her like a lowly peasant, it seemed that a little princess treatment was in order.

One of the unfortunate side effects of being married ten years is that you get very good at taking your wife for granted. On top of being unappreciative of her finer qualities, I have also developed a knack for taking out my stress on her. This manifests itself in childish displays of temper and lashing out for no good reason. Inexcusable. Sometimes the best you can do is have a conversation with mutual respect on a human level and apologize for acting like an ass. And, every once in a while you get a chance to go out on the town.

Planning a romantic time together isn't as hard as some would have you believe. All it takes is a morning of absent-mindedness at work.

- Posted from my iPhone

Blog Party!

When I started my blog at the beginning of this year I didn't realize it would be so much fun! I also didn't realize how many people either were already, or were thinking about blogging themselves. It's sort of like being in a fun little club. Or sorority.

Yes, I said a sorority. There are a lot of women that I know who are dabbling in the blogosphere. The original one that I knew about was my sister-in-law Tina (http://www.temost.xanga.com/). Apparently now we have my other sister-in-law Carrie (http://www.iheartjulio.blogspot.com/) and my niece Katelyn (http://www.ilovemymatt.blogspot.com/) involved in the fun. I also learned that my sister Crystal is in on the act (http://www.questadadoption.blogspot.com/) although hers is private so it is a little harder to zip in and out checking on it. It is sort of like going to a baby shower thinking it is guy/girl and realizing that you are the only guy in the room.

My inspiration for starting a blog came from reading famous columnist and blogger Mark Steyn (http://www.steynonline.com/). At least he is a guy which makes me feel a little better.

- Posted from my iPhone

Actor Highlight: Jon Gries

I would like to recognize an actor who spends most of his time on screen in support of the main characters. I realized some time ago that any movie or television show is only as good as the depth of it's cast.

Jon Gries has spent much of his career in these supporting roles. I am thankful for it. I first paid attention to him when I was watching The Pretender in it's first run. He was Broots the geeky tech guy on that show. I would argue that he paved the way for some of my other favorite tv characters such as: Chloe O'brien (24), and Marshall Flinkman (Alias).

In the movie Napolean Dynamite Mr. Gries portrayed Napolean's Uncle Rico. We may not be able to watch this film any more do to over-quoting of it's lines but, his comic timing is undeniable in it.

Most recently Jon has been making an impression as a troubled father figure on ABC's LOST. We have seen him as a mourning single father, and a mean drunk in this layered dramatic performance. LOST is hands-down the best show on TV anyway, and he doesn't disappoint as Ben Linus' dad.

In truth I may not seek out shows/movies based on the fact that Jon Gries is in them, but, if I was riding the fence, it would seal the deal for me.
Recommendation?: Go back and seek out old episodes of The Prentender. It was a good show made better by a deep cast. And, keep an eye out for Jon Gries in future projects. He always delivers a solid performance.

- Posted from my iPhone

Umbrella Anyone?

It was raining again today. I know it's a vicious stereotype but it does rain a lot in Southwest Washington/Northwest Oregon. Today was no exception.

One of the unspoken side effects of all this rain is that we become hardened to the feeling of water falling on our heads. Unless you are playing 18 holes somewhere or happen to be watching your kids play soccer, we don't use umbrellas. At least that's what I thought. Today I saw them.

As I walked through downtown Portland I witnessed at least 5 people using these bulky aberrations. This led me to believe that, either these pedestrians were from out of town or, city-folks are simply a weaker ilk than those of us in the suburbs.

I'm just saying...

- Posted from my iPhone

(Still) Thankful To Be An American

Indulge me for a moment and imagine a couple of scenarios...

President Obama issues a decree stating that following Easter no one will work Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. This is on top of the Thursday and Friday that were already consider a part of the holiday weekend. At first it might be met with mirth and glee, yeah, a 7 day weekend. Then it sinks in. That's a week without pay. Now you're bugged and maybe a little nervous about getting your bills payed. Then someone explains that Obama's new heavy handed government style put emphasis on socialism and militaritism and neglected basic infrastructure. The already anemic power grid of your country, that ill-advisedly almost completely relies on Hydro-power, is failing. There is a drouth. A particularly nasty drouth that caught your "eggs in one basket" leaders somehow by surprise. Now your mad but it's too late. You and your circle of friends can do nothing more than sit on your hands and hope that the goverment takes care of you down the road.

Or this... You go to your mailbox to see what is there and still no mail. In fact, there hasn't been any mail for the last two and a half months. The last time anything was in there was the middle of January.
You go down and talk to your disgruntled Postman and he fills you in. When the earthquake happened a couple months ago it destroyed a bunch of bikes, some scooters, and a couple of trucks. Also, the post office collapsed and, though there was a group of postal employees who tried to salvage the mail from the wreckage, noone has even considered rebuilding yet. He assures you, however, that they are starting to try and deliver the mail again now. Perhaps the most surprising thing is that you leave this exchange feeling heartened and impressed by the progress that you have seen and heard there. After all, you recall one of your friends mentioning that none of those postal workers have gotten a paycheck since October, a full two months before the earthquake even happened.

I was listening to a news program entitled The World today and both of these stories were reported to be taking place somewhere in our world.

In Venezuela, the gruff dictator Jugo Chavez is running the world's seventh largest oil producing country into financial obscurity by his cruel and disastrous policies. His answer to a failure in their power grid? They are imposing fines on businesses that use too much power and forcing everyday people to stay home from work.

In Haiti, a previously inept goverment has been brought to it's bony knees by a 7.0 earthquake. This, former French colony, was poorest country in the Western Hemisphere before the disaster. Now, thanks in no small part to the corruption and incompetance of a pathetic excuse for a governing body, Haiti has suffered an estimated 230,000 deaths and $14 billion in financial losses. But, they started delivering the mail again this week.

On Sunday Obamacare became law. Since then I have been frustrated and disenchanted with the country, that is all around me. Today God helped me to gain some perspective. While we might say that we have begun down the slippery slope of bad government that is bankrupting Europe, suffocating Venezuela, or quite literally killing Haiti, we would do well to remember that we still do not live in any of those places. Did any of us truly believe that our fore fathers had written a perfect constitution or had setup an infallible system of government?during one of the debates this weekend someone pointed out that many of the processes in our goverment demand that everyone involved engage in fair play and observe a certain amount of gentleman-like self control. Guess what? We live in a country run by lawyers for whom phrases like "fair play" have no meaning. Someday our nation will fail. All man made institutions fail. The second law of thermodynamics states that "the entropy of an isolated system, that is not in equilibrium, will tend to increase over time". In other words, everything is breaking down. This mainly applies to our physical earth, but I would say it applies to our government too. We live in a fallen world people. However, Christ came here and validated our human existence. Phil. 1:21 says "To live is Christ, and to die is gain". Enjoy life and remember that it will only get better once we move through death.

- Posted from my iPhone

The Patience of Pouring

When I got to work this morning I grabbed my coffee cup and went to drink from the coffee well. In truth my source was a two quart airpot. These airpots are standard issue in the restaurant business, you have probably used one yourself. For some reason today, instead of my pumping action that I normally employ for such a task, I gave the handle one long sustained push. Out of the spout I drew a long satisfying draught of coffee. In fact, that single action was sufficient to fill my entire cup. A simple task simply completed with very little effort. The new ingredient that made this morning's cup different, from every other time I had used a pot like that, was patience. Patiently seeing this action through to it's completion.

As I sipped that cup of black coffee, I found myself asking how many other things I waste energy on trying to force them to happen? What things in my life might naturally reach their potential without my impatient meddling? I think sometimes you just need to take action in confidence and patiently see the results play out in their own time.


- Posted from my iPhone