Things that annoy me (through 2012)

1.  The news.
2.  The government.
3.  People that are stupid.
4.  People that won't move over to the right lane on the freeway when they are going slower than everyone else.  This one really gets my goat.  Just move over.  It's not an affront to you. You're going slower than me.  It's my choice to speed a little.  If I get a ticket, I will deal with the consequences. I don't need you to police me, I need you to move over or take a back road.
5.  The fact that our president thinks it's good idea to have john kerry be our secretary of state.
6.  Our president.
7.  Talking for the sake of talking.  If you don't have something to say, keep your mouth shut.  I don't care about the quantity of words you speak, I care about the quality.
8.  People who think the government has their best interest in mind, i.e. healthcare.  I really hope it all works out.  I just don't see a way that it will.
9.  Communism.  Not everybody is the same.  There are people that achieve more and work harder than other people.  I shouldn't be entitled to that guy's stuff because he's richer than me.  I don't respect people that don't want better for than themselves.  I understand that some people need help.  Not everyone that has their hand out right now, needs help.  Some of them just need to get off their asses and go look for work.  It may not be a great job, but at least you'll feel good about getting to do some work.
10. The irs.  All we need is a national sales tax.  Its that simple.  If it doesn't come in, then you don't have it to spend.  If we have a national sales tax on goods and services, then everyone is truly paying their fair share.  If I have more money in my paycheck, I will spend more money.  It's a simple solution.
11. Texas going 8-4 which inevitably leads to the conversation about firing Mack Brown.  2013 has got  to be a great year.  I think Coach retires either way.  I hope he goes out with another national championship under his belt.
12.  Jerry Jones
13.  Weird smells
14.  The fact that Breaking Bad only has 8 more episodes.  That's a great show and I don't want it to end.  Ever.
15.  Celebrities that think I need to hear about their thoughts on gun control.  Shut up and act or sing or whatever it is you do that you think is more important than it really is.
16.  That the company Apple isn't doing their best anymore.  The podcast app is really disappointing.
17.  My little garage needs to be organized and I don't want to do it.

That about sums it up for this year.  Check back in 2013 because I don't think a whole lot is going to change other than my little garage will get organized.  If you're one of my liberal friends this isn't a dialogue.  I don't care about whatever comment you have.  These are my opinions and will NOT be discussing any of them with you.

One Year?

My baby boy is turning one tomorrow.  It's such cliche to say the time has flown by, but that is exactly what it's done.  I remember being scared as Christa was having a hard time during labor, not knowing how best to console her.  She was such fighter.  She muscled her way through the last part of labor in order to not have to go into surgery to get Caleb out.  He never dropped, just stayed right where he was the whole time.  We had to have him in the NICU for 24 hours.  Just as a precaution.  If your baby is born with a fever, they insist on keeping him in the NICU to make sure infection doesn't set in.  The first day was rough for my wife.  She couldn't go see Caleb because she was not feeling well enough to go too far without getting dizzy and lightheaded.  It's tough when all your wife wants to do is see her new little baby, and she can't because of other circumstances.  She eventually got to see Caleb and she was already in love with him.  So was I.  We took him to our room and started trying to figure out how to be parents.  He is a lot of responsibility.  The first car ride home, the first feeding without help, the first night without much sleep, the first everything.  I didn't know if I was ever going to figure out how to be a Dad, honestly, I'm pretty sure I still haven't figured it out.  As he has grown, he is still a lot of responsibility, but he doesn't seem as fragile as he was when we first brought him home.  I was as scared as I have ever been of anything, those first few weeks.  Walking down the stairs with him took on a whole new meaning, as someone who has a little bit of a clumsy streak.  My first instinct is to always protect him from everyone and everything, but that's not what a good Dad does.  You have to slowly start the process of letting him do things on his own.  Good men never become good men because they have total protection for everyone and everything.  Good men become good men because they face the world head on and don't give in to temptation, or are afraid the world is out to get them.  Striking the balance between protecting and letting him start having independence is something I am sure that I am going to have a hard time doing every year from now on.  I have to trust that God is on our side, and I have gained enough practical experience from my parents and family/friends who have raised or are in the process of raising kids, to help Caleb become a godly, good man that shows respect.
Caleb is so sweet and funny.  He is growing at a rate that I am sure is faster than any other baby ever.  He makes me laugh a lot.  He is always happy to see me when I come home, or get him up from being asleep.  I forget about a lot of other things when I get home to him.  I love him more than any person on this planet besides his Mom.  It's been such fast year.  Happy Birthday Caleb.

Purposeless...Is that a word?

So on Monday of last week, I received a visitor to my place of business.  Since we are supervised by the USDA Federal Grain Inspection Service, we will have guys come out on what is called a "supervision" trip.  We don't need much supervision.  We have a small amount of business compared to other agencies.  My boss, Dan and I, are the only licensed inspectors in Az.  Some offices have 10 to 15 inspectors.  Our market is small, we don't inspect a huge variety of grain.  Basically Durum wheat, Barley, Corn, and Sorghum.  And there typically isn't much of the last three.  Our customers never complain about their grades when their grain gets to the ports.  The buyers that they are selling to know that our grades are correct.  The one time there was an issue, it was a machine's software glitch that was the problem, not our ability to grade grain.  I said all of that to say this,  I know what I'm doing.  I know that we have to be accountable.  If my customers don't complain about my grades, why does a government guy need to be out here trying to catch me doing something wrong?  Why do they think that we are trying to pull the wool over their eyes.  What benefit is it to us to try to get away with something, when in the end our customers are getting the correct grades?  We know that the travel budgets are tight.  We know that there are agencies with way bigger problems than our agency has.  Why do I have to sit in my office staring at a guy trying to catch me doing something wrong?  We talked about everything we needed to talk about on Monday in the first hour and half he was here.  So why did he stay until Thursday?  I'll tell you why.  The government doesn't trust us.  No part of our government trusts us to take care of ourselves.  We have given over our rights.  This is a small case of government overrunning us.  It's not a big deal.  This guy showed up unannounced. They don't have the courtesy to give us a call and let us know they'll be out here.  If I wanted to go visit their office, I would have to call.  They wouldn't just let me in.  But because they're with the government, we have to just do what they say.  It sucks.  There's nothing we can do about it.  I'll just complain on my blog.  I am hoping somehow they read it.  I think it sucks the way you guys do business.  Stop fighting me, help me give better customer service.  Without our customers, we don't make money, without our customers you don't get user's fees, without user's fees, you don't have jobs.

Music to my ears

So I was watching Say Anything the other night with my wife, I haven't actually seen that movie other than the part where Lloyd is holding up the boom box playing the Peter Gabriel song "in your eyes".  I like the words to the song.  My problem with the song is, it is oversynthesized.  I don't understand the fascination we had back in the 80's to play as many electrified instruments as we did.  A little synthesizer goes a long way.  I would never build an entire song out of synthesized sounds.  There is nothing better than a nice acoustic guitar being played with little to no effects.  Don't even get me started on fake drums. I want to become a music producer so that I can put music back into music.  A real piano sounds better than anything korg or roland can come up with.  I wonder how many great songs there would be out there if people actually played them with real musical instruments?  That is why, as I have gotten older, I have gained an appreciation for the singer/songwriter.  People who write their own songs and play their own songs. http://youtu.be/VOCXKfatA6w  this is an example of what I am talking about.  A great song written and performed by the same guys.  I also hate autotune.  People who can't sing shouldn't be allowed pass themeselves off as singers.

Exercising Freedom...Reluctantly

So I voted in the Republican primary today.  We have incredible rights in our country.  We are very fortunate to be able to vote for whoever we think will be a good leader.  I want to thank every person that fought a died for the freedom to choose.  I won't tell you who I voted for because I can't believe that these are the only choices we have.

I am tired of voting for old white men that used to be senators or governors.  I want to vote for a guy that is about 40, has a couple of kids that are between the ages of 13 and 16, someone who runs a successful small business, that understands that you can't spend money at such an alarming pace that it doesn't match what is coming in.  I want to vote for a guy that lives in the real world.  Someone that has bought a house that was short sold or foreclosed on and has to jump through hoops to buy it.  Someone who drives a car that I could buy.  Someone that has a pickup truck to help his friends move.  Someone that will stop on the highway if my wife has a flat tire, and will change it for her without worrying if his hands get dirty.
Someone that goes to a college football game because he loves college football and doesn't see it as a good place to get some face time on national tv.  Someone who knows what it's like to live on a budget.
Someone who has taken a road trip with a few of his buddies in the last 5 years.  Someone who plays a muni and not the nicest, most exclusive golf courses that I couldn't play without an amazing hook up.  Someone who knows what it's like to come home and have to take a shower because he worked so hard during the day that he sweated through his t shirt.  Someone who has stacked hay bales.  Someone who had to be the first one to work because he was the only one with a key besides the boss.  Someone that has prayed for his friends and family to know who Jesus is.  Someone that cried during episodes of Friday Night Lights.  I want someone who has country danced with his wife at a place like Greasewood Flats.
I want someone who sings along with George, or the Eagles, or Skynyrd, and CCR.  I want someone who knows that there are people who need to be taken care of, but also knows that people need to figure out how to work if their bodies allow them to.  I want someone that I would trust to take my son fishing.  I want someone that knows what it's like to have a pair of fishing shoes that you wear to stand in the river to fish.  I want someone that doesn't believe he should be president.

That's what I want.  I am hoping that someday I will have this guy to vote for.  I know I don't right now.

So much...Too much?

I am finding myself stuck in a rut.  The only way out is to change things up.  I am going to begin an experiment.  I don't know how long it will last.  My wife says that I watch too much tv.  She is right.  I would never say this to her face, but she is.  I am at a place where I think my brain has gotten lazy.  This worries me because my son is growing so fast, that before long he'll be in school.  I don't even know if a comma was supposed to between fast and then in that last sentence.  I don't want the school that Caleb goes to be the only place that he receives an education.  I want to be able to help Caleb with his school work.  I need to read more.  I am not going to cancel direct tv. I am just going to crack open a book more often than I have in recent years.  I have always loved to read.  I enjoy it when I do it.  I just have gotten into the rut of turning on the tv.  I guess it's easier too no that college football is over, but that's neither here nor there.  My brain needs an adventure.  My work is mindless sometimes.  I can do what I do in my sleep.  I'm going to read more.

On another note,  I need to start moving around.  I hate to say this, but last year I lost close to 80 pounds.  I haven't had the guts to get on a scale in a while, but I know I have gained a lot of it back.  The easy excuse is that we had Caleb, and life got busy.  I think I just used him as a reason to be lazy.  I don't want Caleb  to have a Dad that can't keep up with him.  I'm already at a little bit of a disadvantage because I will already be older than the rest of his classmates parents.  I don't want to be a bad example to him either.  I want my boy to be active and well rounded.  I want to be able to take him on a hike if he wants to go, or go for a long bike ride without it giving me a heart attack.  I love that little guy, and I don't want him to be embarrassed of his Dad.

The reason for this blog post today is, accountability.  I want to put it out there publicly that I am trying to do this stuff so that I have to do what I am saying I want to do.  I have long hated the idea of saying things and not following through.  I have a history of doing that, and I am tired of it.  Life is short.  It's time to keep the main thing, the main thing.  So, if you're reading this, I give you permission to ask me how I'm really doing.  I want to make these changes and a few others, but this is where I start.

I could fix it

Dear Mr. Jerry Jones,

Hello, how bout that ride in?  No wonder they call it sin city.
Hey Jerry, I can't support your team anymore.  I watch every game that I can and in the end, I find myself more dissatisfied with each one.  Your team hasn't played hard since 1995 (and I'm not sure that one played hard, you had three hall of famers on that roster).  That's neither here nor there.  I heard a stat today , that in the last 10 years the Cowboys are 120-120.  That record is the epitome of mediocrity.  It doesn't matter who the coaches, or coordinators are, no one seems to be able to get the job done.  The reason, is you.  You don't understand how this thing is supposed to work.  For pete's sake, Tom Landry had Gil Brandt to answer to.  Who do you have to answer to.  No one.  The owner can't be all things.  There has to be someone at Valley Ranch that does nothing but think about the football team every day, all year.  You can't do that.  You're out doing PR, picking out artwork, gouging people for personal seat licenses, you know all the things that nfl owners have to do.  You physically can't handle what it takes to be the owner AND the general manager.  Bill Gates has people running his company.  You need someone to run the football part of your team.  You are horrible at it.  How many of your draft picks become superstars?  None.  There have been some pretty good players.  The fact is you seem to not understand that great football teams are built in the trenches.  Tyron Smith is the first offensive lineman that you have drafted in the first round, and that was this year.  Guess what, it looks like Tyron is pretty good.  He was the best player on your line and he was a rookie.  That is ridiculous, Jerry.  Do you remember when your team was great?  It's been a long time, but I do.  Erik Williams, Mark Tuinei, Mark Stepnoski, Nate Newton, Larry Allen.  Those guys are the reason why you have 3 super bowl rings.  The fact that you don't the importance of an O Line is frankly the reason why I know you don't know what you are doing.

Here's my offer.  I will do all of this for you, for the measly sum of $250,000 a year.  That's a pittance for the results that I guarantee you will see on the field.  Give me three years and the team I put together will be in the super bowl.  Stop being the general manager.  Just stop it.  I can't be a fan unless drastic changes are made.  You are spitting on 35 years of my love for your team.  I hate saying it.  I can't watch your product anymore.  You don't care about me.  So I'll stop caring about you.