Yes, Virginia, There is a....

In two days our home is going to be full again. My gorgeous bride's Christmas wish will come true as we welcome home our children. It has been a number of years since we have all gathered under one roof. Last year Brig and Bri were both on their missions. The year before that Kasi and Bri were on their missions. The year before that Kas was on her mission. It has been a good 4 or 5 years since we have had our bedrooms filled with our children. Mom and I are both excited.

The house is decorated with three trees. My job is to get the trees up and then...stand back and let the master decorator do her thing. I am in awe as our comfortable home becomes even more so. It truly becomes a winter wonderland.

At this time I feel the need to state my support for the jolly, old elf. You see, in my family, if you don't believe, you don't receive. So, in my ignorant bliss, all my children are coming home with the shared belief that, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus." To my great pleasure, though, my wife and our children have incorporated the spirit of the old soul and has made it a part of their lives.

Josh and Brigham share their time and talents each weekend in a nursing home reading to the elderly. Kas has volunteered numerous hours and days to a political organization that she believes in. Brianna is serving in a capacity to help young women in her area grow and mature. She is also spending a month in the spring using her skills as a nurse in Ecuador. Marcia is officially on her second mission for our church. She is being used to help train teachers for parenting and marriage classes that are being offered by our church. It is a task that covers the state of Indiana and Northern Kentucky. (I'm her body guard and chauffeur!!)

Somewhere it is said that "it is better to give then to receive." That is the nature of Santa Claus, that is the Spirit of Christmas, that is the one of the purposes of life itself.

December 25th. A small babe in a manger became THE light on the hill. Lowly shepherds came to witness this miracle. Mighty wise men, from afar, came to pay homage to a young child. Angels sang at his birth. Jesus of Nazareth, King of Kings, Savior of the world...happy birthday.

If you have not found this small babe...ask.

jsf

The Mystiqie of Robin Hood

Emotions are central to who and what we are. Marketers ply there trade in playing on humanities emotions. Toy makers advertise in such a manner that children have to have the latest toy...or they'll "just die!!!" Phone makers are packaging their new phones as MP3 players, as digital cameras, as small computers, and even as phones. Charities are displaying disadvantage children to troll for more money for their organizations. Emotional manipulation is a full time business.

Robin Hood is the classical heart string player. The "rob from the rich and give to the poor" motto is what this thief used as his bow in playing his emotional violin. Please take the time to answer the short poll. I am interested in what people think.

The "Robin Hood" theme was played out in the 80s with a show called the "The A Team." It was a show of renegade military people rescuing the down and trodden from people who weren't quite legitimate. It played on the emotions of the underdog striking at organizations or people who were taking advantage of the down and out.

Fast Forward to 2008. TNT has a new show called "Leverage." With the exception of Timothy Hutton the cast is young. The concept is an "A Team" retread. The cast of characters in both show share some similarities. Each team has a "crazy" person. Each has an African-American. Each has male "eye-candy" and each has an older, wiser leader who runs the operations. It is Robin Hood modernized, again.

I always worry about those who start vocalizing their positions against big companies. I worry about those who say some people earn "too much" money. I worry about an organization that thinks that they should take money from those who have and redistribute to those who have not. I worry about a country where the Tree of Liberty is dying at it's roots. I worry...jsf

Wise moves

Who would have thunk?

Ok so it has been a long time since I've written. Being in school has tendency to keep one busy. So what has happened since then?

Who would have thought back last Christmas that a man named Barack Obama

would be Pres. Elect and his secretary-of-state would be one Hillary Rodham Clinton?

Most people probably had never heard of Mr. Obama and the same group may have thought the new president would be Mrs. Clinton.

So why would someone pick Mrs. Clinton for this new role? As I gander at it I am amazed how political astute it was. Mrs. Clinton was building seniority in the senate. With Ted Kennedy ill and his star falling, someone would want to fill the void that will create. Mrs. Clinton would surely have been in the ring with others to throw her seniority around. She had the potential of causing a lot of problems to the new administration if she decided to be vindictive. Fortunately, for the new administration, she bit at the carrot that was dangled in front of her. To me that was a major coup for the new president. Not only does he keep her on a leash but, when needed, he can send her out of the country when ever he needs to.

That is only half of the equation though. In appointing Mrs. Clinton to his cabinet he

created an empty spot in the US Senate from the state of New York. It has come out in the last week or so that one of the persons desiring that position is Caroline Kennedy. It is my belief she will be the one that gets the position. Mr. Obama effectively removed a question mark from the senate and replaced her with a strong ally. For those who were unaware Ms. Kennedy was one of the individuals on the committee to vet Vice-presidential candidates. She did it behind the scene with little fanfare. She did her job with out stealing the limelight from Mr. Obama.

She will be a strong ally to the new president in the senate.

The question that I would like to leave for those to ponder is this- will she be the first woman president of this country? The next few years will be interesting to watch...jsf

Found

Yes, it happened. I ended up going to the mega-Arkansas store and found what was lost. I am sure that it was one that I've had before.... jsf

If you find my mind-keep it- I'll be back shortly

It had to happen at a crucial time of a very important project. In fact I was on the verge of completing said project when I ran into a brick-wall of a road block. I'm getting ahead of myself.


My favorite 23 year old daughter returned from her mission at the beginning of April. She, like I, like books.... a lot. I need to apologize to her future spouse as this is a gene she inherited from me. Fortunately, for said spouse, most of her genes come from her mom's side. I digress.
A decision was made to create a book case in the wall in her bedroom. This project was one undertaken with the intent of it being done with a reasonable amount of time. Key word being reasonable. I digress.
Today's issue is the lack of a caulk gun. What is it with caulk guns. I feel like a dog who has lost the location of the most recent bone buried in a yard. This evening's main activity was scouring the house for one caulk gun. I know that in the past year I have purchased at least three of these things. It seems as if once it is used it decides to disappear. Is it possible that they are made in Australia and are boomerang caulk guns? If I were to go to the local Do-It center would I their find my wondering caulk guns waiting for their next unwitting victim? Or is it possible that their is a fraternity of caulk guns out their and their hell week is putting up with my home improvement projects and once done they get to lounge in some poolside resort watching all the other caulk guns?
My daughter leaves in three weeks for school-our hope (and her mother's prayer) is that it will be done wayyyyyyyyy before that.
If you find my mind- keep it- I'll be back shortly........jsf

Time to say Good-bye

Time progresses so rapidly that I am surprised that it has been two weeks since my last post. Thus for some this may be a surprise, but to others- not. What it is is the last three days of my employment with my current employer.
It is time for me to move on. The irony is that I had been employed in skilled nursing facility, a nursing home, and it was implied that I was perhaps making too much money and too old for my position. Now that is irony.
I realize that change is good and in the long run this change is a positive one. I am moving to a new job in marketing at a large pharmaceutical company close to my home. I will not have to be on call 24/7 nor will I have to work weekends, nights and holidays. These are all pluses. Meeting new people and learning new things is exciting and I look forward to this opportunity. I will miss the people I have worked with and the residents I have come to know over the years.
My bride has created a calendar that is hanging on our refrigerator with the number of days remaining. I have three left.....
A warning for readers- I am setting up my soap box so if you continue beyond this point you do so willingly.... As a society we are wasting a precious commodity, one that is not buried under ground and needs mining. It is a commodity that is untapped and ready to be used- it is just waiting for the opportunity. I am speaking of our elderly. The government has placed an arbitrary age of retirement and after that the expectation is that the old will just fade away. In fact we build facilities to place our elderly in so that families don't have to take care of them and they don't need to be seen.
I have been blessed in having the opportunity to have seen family members take in their elderly. Not only have I been blessed but the relationship that developed between my children and an elderly grandparent is priceless. Each summer over the past 20 some years my children have spent their summer months in the care of their mother's parents. In so doing they have developed a respect for those that are older than they. They also have learned different skills in the time that was spent there. All of them learned the theater art being able to perform on stage in front of hundreds of people. They also learned how to work and live with others of different backgrounds- religious, racial, age, and geographical. My children are better human beings because of the time that was spent with their grandparents- it is a blessing that is priceless.
To often family members are placed in nursing homes and than forgotten. As they are forgotten they fade away. What is in them sometimes dies before their body does. As a society we have lost priceless history in institutionalizing our elderly. As an old person dies so goes the memories and stories that are waiting to be told that are within them. It is a loss.... it is our loss.

I'm off my soapbox now...jsf

Pizza Wars

It finally had to happen. Back in the 70s and 80s at major intersections in cities across the country gas wars would occur as competition was hot and furious as Gas Vendors plied their trade in attracting customers to their front door. Prices would change daily and sometime hourly as each business owner would try to attract customers into their pumps. With gas at $4.00/gal. not much is heard about competition in gas vending these days.
My heart did do a pitter-patter as I drove through a major intersection in my home-town of Fishers today. Economics, supply and demand, and marketing were all playing at this intersection. As background- this particular corner has at least 6 different pizza vendors withing garlic distance of said corner- so much for background.
Over the past months the managers/owners of these franchises have sent out unfortunate employees with placards advertising their pizza wares. Using the phrase unfortunate may not be appropriate as the young people hoisting the placards seem to be enjoying themselves.
Those that I have observed normally have a music device (I will not name names) of some sort and they are performing some sort of dance. My concern is are they performing the appropriate Pizza Dance for their company? Who is observing them to make sure they make the right moves? Is it possible that one performer (can I call them performers?) is stealing a trademarked Pizza Step from one of the competition? Who would know?
As of today's date there has not seemed to be any aggression observed as I drive through this intersection. I believe it will be only a matter of time before placards will be thrown down and pizza cutters will be drawn at ten paces. Hopefully it will only be tomato sauce that is spilt....jsf

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Just as an FYI- Forbes.com had listed Hamilton County, Indiana as the number 1 county to live in here in the good old US of A. To browse through the article go here.