Well Fall is starting to peek its way in. For the first time in many years, I feel like I haven't 'dipped' into my annual funk that I usually get into when we get the first cold snap.
This time of year marks an odd point in my life, once a year. The same time that I was laid off from the first job out of school, and my spiritual journey and finding out who I really was. Don't get me wrong, we never went to church as kids, not because we didn't believe in God, my parents just never went. When I got to A&M, I started attending church with friends, and I felt so much more complete, a good 'balance' if you will.
It wasn't until late 2001 when I really started feeling something else, something that I hadn't experienced, maybe ever. And in the most turbulent chapters of my life, serenity.
Last week, our pastor had an excellent talk about 'waking up' and God being there, finding him there with arms wide open, and for me, it was a very moving talk.
You can listen to it here.... Check out the 10/10/2009 talk.
So today, as I write this post, I look back at my life today, all my friends, all my family, my church family, and life in general, I have to smile. Sometimes its so easily to be discouraged. In my 30s, thirty lbs overweight, single, working a job that tests me every day, and walking this journey, but I'm not alone. He is there. Thats one thing I know I don't do enough, I don't trust in God, and know that he has great plans for me. I perpetually try to drive the bus, and I know I just need to sit back and let God drive.
Sorry for the 'heavy' post, just had to get that out there. To end in the words of singer Gary Allan, "Life ain't always beautiful, but it's a beautiful ride."
Monday, October 19, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Netflix...whats going on?
This may be a well known occurrence in the world, but this is the first time I saw this.
Last night I put a netflix envelope next to my front door so I would remember to take it to work today to drop in the mailbox.
Thats when I noticed, the return address is to Austin....All of my movies have come from the Houston center, since thats close to where I live.
Check it out:
So I have heard of Netflix throttling the DVD rentals, and they also got in trouble for it a while back.
Is this another sneaky way of getting around that?
We'll see.
Last night I put a netflix envelope next to my front door so I would remember to take it to work today to drop in the mailbox.
Thats when I noticed, the return address is to Austin....All of my movies have come from the Houston center, since thats close to where I live.
Check it out:
So I have heard of Netflix throttling the DVD rentals, and they also got in trouble for it a while back.
Is this another sneaky way of getting around that?
We'll see.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Life on Autopilot
Ever feel like you're on autopilot? I realized for the past few weeks, that everything has been really going well.
I'm trying to maintain a "conscious contact" with God throughout the day, giving stuff to him that I can't handle. Its working well for me. I'm much happier at work (even happier when I leave), and everything is copasetic. This week, I just feel like everything is the same over and over. Go to work, go home, go to mens group, go to church, work on cars, etc. I look back at this month, and I've done LOTS of stuff. Had Dim Sum with friends, worked in the yard, harvested watermelons from my garden, went and visited friends I haven't seen in forever, helped at church, saw my grandpa. The list goes on. Maybe next week will be better eh?
I have lots of friends that I talk to now and then, but a lot of them are married and have families now, and can't hang out anymore. I do have a few handful of married friends who are allowed to get away for a while and go hang out and do stuff with, but its sad to see the loss of those friends that are under obligations of a family now. Maybe I'll understand one day.
On the romantic side of things, theres not much to report. I had a few dates with a girl my friends set me up with, but she's got a LOT of baggage, more than I care to deal with. Don't get me wrong, I've had my share in the past, and I have had LOTS of grace extended to me, but I had to realize that it was her, not me, that had issues. So, I moved on, once again. I can remember last year at this time, was Hurricane Ike. I was in a relationship that my friends warned me was not a good idea, yet I pursued it anyway. 3 days with the same person and no power can really show ones true colors.
Anyway, I have made amends, licked my wounds, seen my therapist, and I feel like I'm ready....but for what? Ready for another relationship? Ready for life?
Maybe the right answer is, whatever God has in store for me.
I'm trying to maintain a "conscious contact" with God throughout the day, giving stuff to him that I can't handle. Its working well for me. I'm much happier at work (even happier when I leave), and everything is copasetic. This week, I just feel like everything is the same over and over. Go to work, go home, go to mens group, go to church, work on cars, etc. I look back at this month, and I've done LOTS of stuff. Had Dim Sum with friends, worked in the yard, harvested watermelons from my garden, went and visited friends I haven't seen in forever, helped at church, saw my grandpa. The list goes on. Maybe next week will be better eh?
I have lots of friends that I talk to now and then, but a lot of them are married and have families now, and can't hang out anymore. I do have a few handful of married friends who are allowed to get away for a while and go hang out and do stuff with, but its sad to see the loss of those friends that are under obligations of a family now. Maybe I'll understand one day.
On the romantic side of things, theres not much to report. I had a few dates with a girl my friends set me up with, but she's got a LOT of baggage, more than I care to deal with. Don't get me wrong, I've had my share in the past, and I have had LOTS of grace extended to me, but I had to realize that it was her, not me, that had issues. So, I moved on, once again. I can remember last year at this time, was Hurricane Ike. I was in a relationship that my friends warned me was not a good idea, yet I pursued it anyway. 3 days with the same person and no power can really show ones true colors.
Anyway, I have made amends, licked my wounds, seen my therapist, and I feel like I'm ready....but for what? Ready for another relationship? Ready for life?
Maybe the right answer is, whatever God has in store for me.
Friday, August 21, 2009
More Child care funnies
In honor of my Friends J and L who have a new bundle of Joy, I give to you the baby care pics I never posted....These are tips for J, who is a first time dad...
Thursday, July 23, 2009
GM, out of bankruptcy and smelling like....a Cadillac?
So GM has pulled itself out of Bankruptcy.
Whoopdeedoo. You guys know I tend to like American brand cars. Fords mostly. The stuff that GM has put out has been lackluster at best. I was in a rental Impala for ten days while my car was in the shop and it was the worst car evar.
Now GM has decided that its going to come out with some fragrances....
The star reports that GM is coming out with a line of smell good stuff.
I don't know about you, but usually the smell of a Cadillac conjures up the smell of old people, moth balls, stewed prunes, and the like. Apparently GM thinks they can do better than that. Now if they had a fragrance like "CTS-V" that would be better, but Cadillac brings to mind grandpas 93 Fleetwood.
I guess I can't fault them, I mean, the Mustang has its own line of fragrances.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Movie Review: Knowing, and random mumblings..
Just FYI, if you're going to see the movie, there are spoilers in this post, so you may not want to read.
So I usually dont like the "End of the world" type doomsday movies, but my friend and his wife were visiting from out of town, and she had rented "Knowing" with Nicholas Cage. I had seen the previews, and decided that I wasn't going to watch it, in the theater or when it came out on DVD.
Well, we watched it Saturday night, and it really left me feeling discombobulated and out of sorts when it was over. Basically in the movie, a girl in 1950 is summoned by voices to write down a bunch of numbers, instead of drawing a picture to put in the time capsule, she has page of numbers written all over it. Later she disappears from the dedication of the time capsule, and they find her in the basement of the school in a closet scratching numbers into the door, continuing from what she drew on the paper earlier.
Fast forward to present day, Nicholas Cage's son attends the same school, where the anniversary of the time capsule is due, and they open it, giving all the kids pictures of the drawings that were drawn in 1950. Cage's son gets the girls drawing with the random numbers on it, then he starts to hear all these whispering voices, and sees a man in the shadows. The movie goes on and Cage finds the drawing, and starts looking at it while drinking, and discovers the numbers are dates of major catastrophes, and also show the number of people that die. Cage is drinking, mourning the loss of his wife, who died in one of the tragedies of the paper. Theres also another set of numbers that they can't figure out what they're for, Cages colleagues at MIT scoff at his theory. Later they discover that the other numbers are Latitude and Longitude (he refers to them as GPS coordinates) of where the next death occurs.
I'm skipping a bit, but later, Cage discovers the last tragedy shows a date and "EE" which later means "Everyone else" or the world. Cage finds out that the Sun is going to Flare and scorch the Earth, and everyone dies. Cage and the Girls daughter try to escape to caves, but Cage later discovers the Coordinates of where they need to go are etched to the door of the closet of the school. While all this is happening, Cage's kid and the granddaughter of the girl from the time capsule get kidnapped by the man from the shadows, and Cage finds them, the men turn out to be aliens, who are "taking only the ones who are called" away from earth, to save them and let them start again new. Cage and his son walk towards the UFO, and the alien tells the boy that only he can go, not Dad. The next scene is Cage saying goodbye to his son and boarding theUFO, with hundreds of others of UFOs leaving earth, Cage falls to the floor in grief, and wakes up later, then Cage goes to his parents house, which he is estranged from, and it shows him hugging his family as the world is hit with a huge flare from the sun and the earth burns down. Later it shows Cage's son and the granddaughter of the girl that wrote the numbers in an Adam and Eve type setting, fields of grain and an Apple tree, and the world is pure again.
So anyway, there are several annoyances I have with this film. One, I can't see why any parent, in their right mind would give their kid to an alien who is promising some kind of safe place to be, because the world is ending, its just inplausible to me. I guess the main thing is the movie had a larger impact on me than I realized, leaving me feeling like everything that we do here while we're on earth is futile, and that the world will end etc. I've fought battles in my life, long and short, and I guess I let the movie get the better of my emotions.
I checked in with a few people today, and one of them, a close friend left me with this gem:
"God is in control. He's got your back, he loves you, and wants the best for you. He walks with you every minute. Dump the fear and embrace faith."
This left me feeling a lot better, because more often than not, I feel like I let fear control me, and as far as I feel that I have come in my spiritual journey, sometimes I get frustrated that I still can get into those 'pockets' of fear.
Another good friend reminded me "Its just a movie". Which is true. I guess I need to be more cognizant and draw the line there a little better.
At the end of the day, this movie did have one thing for me, and that's to be appreciative of my support network of friends and the ability to let go of the fear sometimes and let someone else upstairs drive the bus now and then.
So I usually dont like the "End of the world" type doomsday movies, but my friend and his wife were visiting from out of town, and she had rented "Knowing" with Nicholas Cage. I had seen the previews, and decided that I wasn't going to watch it, in the theater or when it came out on DVD.
Well, we watched it Saturday night, and it really left me feeling discombobulated and out of sorts when it was over. Basically in the movie, a girl in 1950 is summoned by voices to write down a bunch of numbers, instead of drawing a picture to put in the time capsule, she has page of numbers written all over it. Later she disappears from the dedication of the time capsule, and they find her in the basement of the school in a closet scratching numbers into the door, continuing from what she drew on the paper earlier.
Fast forward to present day, Nicholas Cage's son attends the same school, where the anniversary of the time capsule is due, and they open it, giving all the kids pictures of the drawings that were drawn in 1950. Cage's son gets the girls drawing with the random numbers on it, then he starts to hear all these whispering voices, and sees a man in the shadows. The movie goes on and Cage finds the drawing, and starts looking at it while drinking, and discovers the numbers are dates of major catastrophes, and also show the number of people that die. Cage is drinking, mourning the loss of his wife, who died in one of the tragedies of the paper. Theres also another set of numbers that they can't figure out what they're for, Cages colleagues at MIT scoff at his theory. Later they discover that the other numbers are Latitude and Longitude (he refers to them as GPS coordinates) of where the next death occurs.
I'm skipping a bit, but later, Cage discovers the last tragedy shows a date and "EE" which later means "Everyone else" or the world. Cage finds out that the Sun is going to Flare and scorch the Earth, and everyone dies. Cage and the Girls daughter try to escape to caves, but Cage later discovers the Coordinates of where they need to go are etched to the door of the closet of the school. While all this is happening, Cage's kid and the granddaughter of the girl from the time capsule get kidnapped by the man from the shadows, and Cage finds them, the men turn out to be aliens, who are "taking only the ones who are called" away from earth, to save them and let them start again new. Cage and his son walk towards the UFO, and the alien tells the boy that only he can go, not Dad. The next scene is Cage saying goodbye to his son and boarding theUFO, with hundreds of others of UFOs leaving earth, Cage falls to the floor in grief, and wakes up later, then Cage goes to his parents house, which he is estranged from, and it shows him hugging his family as the world is hit with a huge flare from the sun and the earth burns down. Later it shows Cage's son and the granddaughter of the girl that wrote the numbers in an Adam and Eve type setting, fields of grain and an Apple tree, and the world is pure again.
So anyway, there are several annoyances I have with this film. One, I can't see why any parent, in their right mind would give their kid to an alien who is promising some kind of safe place to be, because the world is ending, its just inplausible to me. I guess the main thing is the movie had a larger impact on me than I realized, leaving me feeling like everything that we do here while we're on earth is futile, and that the world will end etc. I've fought battles in my life, long and short, and I guess I let the movie get the better of my emotions.
I checked in with a few people today, and one of them, a close friend left me with this gem:
"God is in control. He's got your back, he loves you, and wants the best for you. He walks with you every minute. Dump the fear and embrace faith."
This left me feeling a lot better, because more often than not, I feel like I let fear control me, and as far as I feel that I have come in my spiritual journey, sometimes I get frustrated that I still can get into those 'pockets' of fear.
Another good friend reminded me "Its just a movie". Which is true. I guess I need to be more cognizant and draw the line there a little better.
At the end of the day, this movie did have one thing for me, and that's to be appreciative of my support network of friends and the ability to let go of the fear sometimes and let someone else upstairs drive the bus now and then.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
2011 Mustang Gets new powerplants
2011 V6 Mustang is rumored to get the 3.7 Duratec V6.
The base model mustang has always soldiered on with a meager, yet reliable powertrain.
Finally, it gets something decent.
Everyones been asking for either the 3.5 or 3.7L since they've had them in the Edge and Flex etc, but that engine was designed for FWD application. Well, Ford's been seeing the light and making some changes to go in rear wheel drive fashion, only because the F150 is supposed to get the Ecoboost V6 as well. Not sure if its going to be an optional motor or the base one. (cant see it being the base motor).
Going unchallenged in the pony car war for 6 yeras does that I guess. Then the bowtie drops 300 HP V6 Camaro I guess will light a match under your rear.
The MKS and CX9 both use the 3.7L and put out 273 hp with regular Fuel Injection. Will we get some direct injection action? That should put it up there with the Camaro.
Ecoboost V6 Mustang Anyone?
I want to hear more about the new 5.0L V8 coming out as well. 400/400.
The base model mustang has always soldiered on with a meager, yet reliable powertrain.
Finally, it gets something decent.
Everyones been asking for either the 3.5 or 3.7L since they've had them in the Edge and Flex etc, but that engine was designed for FWD application. Well, Ford's been seeing the light and making some changes to go in rear wheel drive fashion, only because the F150 is supposed to get the Ecoboost V6 as well. Not sure if its going to be an optional motor or the base one. (cant see it being the base motor).
Going unchallenged in the pony car war for 6 yeras does that I guess. Then the bowtie drops 300 HP V6 Camaro I guess will light a match under your rear.
The MKS and CX9 both use the 3.7L and put out 273 hp with regular Fuel Injection. Will we get some direct injection action? That should put it up there with the Camaro.
Ecoboost V6 Mustang Anyone?
I want to hear more about the new 5.0L V8 coming out as well. 400/400.
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