Great Song

New Blog

Check out my other blog. I'm going to be on there more often for the time being.

It is HERE

See ya.

Finally!!!

I finally got my computer!!! I'll try to be posting more often now that I'm back in business. Hopefully, I'll see you tomorrow.

It's Coming...

My laptop should be in next week...hopefully.

And, and update from a previous post. If you live in, or near, Chula Vista, you know the tax increase proposition didn't pass. What that means is our city is in DIRE shape and there will be some substantial cuts. I don't know how much it'll affect me but I should get a feel for it in the next couple of weeks.

Let's hope my computer gets here soon so I can start blogging more, and try to catch up with my fantasy baseball team.

Later.

Status

Having the computer hooked up to the TV monitor sucks!!!

One little item to note: Megan has finally figured out what "Fickle Obsessor" is all about. And she has become one herself!

I'm signing off for a little while but I will be back to posting once my laptop comes in from work (hopefully within the next couple of weeks, but you never know with them).

Until then...see ya!

Tax increase: to vote, or not to vote

Being a government employee in my own city, I often feel torn on voting to increase taxes. This time it's a 1% sales tax increase. If it goes through, I'll be looking at 9.75% sales tax everytime I buy something in Chula Vista! That's ridiculous.

If it doesn't pass, our director's been keeping quiet so I have no idea the impact it will have on our department. I've been told my job's secure but you never really know. I'm fairly certain a few of my co-workers will be laid off. Plus just about all city services will be scaled back tremendously.

On the other hand, is this just a bailout for years of politician's and incompetent city official's mismanagement of funds? I believe the short answer is yes but most if those people are gone. My old neighbor used to be Asst. City Manager and on his way out, he told my boss to prepare for financial collapse in this city. That was over 5 years ago. Apparently this isn't really a new issue but now it's more relevant.

What would you do if you were me?

For you CV residents, how will you vote?

Change

This is only a temporary change to my template. Found a lot of templates that I liked but a lot of the functionality wasn't there so enjoy the nice side of a house in the meantime.

Food

I always wanted to believe that sugar and fat were acquired tastes. "My dad used to give me Hershey's bars when I was a kid so that's why I like them today." Or, "Those fries are gross because I never got used to them as a kid."

I always wanted to believe that was the case so I could blame my taste buds on my parents. But all too often, personal accountability shines up on the marquee.

On a similar note, Megan and I were talking about control and how food consumption is something we have control over. All too often we tend to get carried away trying to make up for a lack of control in other areas of our lives by allowing ourselves to eat unhealthy foods. I never thought of it that way but now I can buy into the theory of how self-confidence can affect your weight (I'd think primarily your diet but exercise as well). If you have a high self-worth, you don't worry about being controlled in other aspects of your life and then focus on keeping control of the things you eat. If you change your outlook on what you eat, and take control of wanting to eat healthy, it should be just as easy to pass on that ice cream sandwich as it is to scarf down those cookies.

Granted, we were discussing this over a bowl of fried potato wedges covered in cheese and bacon, followed by fried cheese filled ravioli and a philly cheese steak sandwich. A change of outlook on life doesn't often come over dinner. It generally takes at least a day to kick in.

On a similar note, our son, Noah, has quite a bit of a problem. Noah is not really a big eater...or an eater at all for that matter. He chooses to get his nutrition through liquid formula, and nothing else. He'll occasionally suck down a few spoonfuls of pureed veges or some yogurt but rarely will he get through an entire "meal". Often, we'll give him something "solid" like pureed carrots and the second it hits his tongue, he starts gagging like it's poison. If it wasn't so frustrating, it would be hilarious. He has, in the past, gagged to the point of throwing all his formula up because a baby puff touched his tongue. I think Noah has taken the control issue to a whole new level.

Let's hope in the near future, he'll decide food isn't all bad.

Brain Pain

For the record, if you didn't already think I was weird...

I don't why, but the other day I started to think about time. What is time really but just something we use to define our life slipping away. It doesn't stick around and wait for us. It doesn't make a comeback when "times" are tough to be "easy".

It's in a never ending perpetual state of motion because if it wasn't...there would be nothing. Everything takes time. It takes me approximately 5.5 seconds to breathe in and breathe out. If time stopped, where would I get my breaths?

My mind is just starting to go crazy...

What really baffles me is God created the heavens and the earth BEFORE time!!! WHAT??? And for non-believers to think that the universe is infinite...just makes my brain hurt. I have a hard time understanding how a little device about 2 inches wide can keep perfect time. How did the people that thought of these ideas come up with this stuff? But to start thinking universally about the expanse of the "timeless" universe makes me want to cry.

I think I'll just try to wrap my head around how a tree can turn into paper. I think I can handle that one.

I've lost my following :(

You stop blogging for only 5 months and everybody bails on you. Fairweather, I tell you!

It's not like I had a huge following or anything...maybe 3 or 4 people. But it's sad to think they are all gone.

Please come back!!! I did!

March 29th Worship Confessional

I normally don't account for the days I lead worship, but today was too fun to not to.

We actually make it out of the house on time, if not early, for the first time in probably years. I'm feeling pretty confident in the songs I'm doing plus I have a great drummer and a professional sound man this morning so with the combination of those two, I can fudge a few things here and there and it should go unnoticed.

I show up and start setting everything up. Last time I led worship, we didn't have any drum mics or extra mic cables so we weren't able to mic up the drums. Today, everything was where it needed to be. I even had extra cables.

I'm almost done setting up my gear when I realize there is no sound guy. It's getting close to 8am so I start calling to no avail. In the meantime, I also notice our drummer's not there either. Start calling him too but goes straight to voicemail. Our sound guy confirmed with our Pastor earlier in the week and our drummer confirmed online about a month ago so I thought everything would be fine.

Finally, it's around 8:30 and Megan and Janae, who were singing, were back at the soundboard trying to find channels that weren't broken so we can actually get sound coming out of the speakers. We finally got everything set up (minus a drummer and an actual sound guy) by 8:45 so we had time to run through one song.

Here were the songs we did:

Romans 12:1
Majestic
Hosanna
The Power of Your Name
God of This City
How Great Is Our God

The front end of the set would have been real drum heavy so it took some concentration on my part to get through those songs. For the Power of Your Name, I made a midi piano and drum track to accompany it and it did wonders in filling out the song and keeping us on tempo. By the way, Megan did an OUTSTANDING job during the solo on it. Absolutely beautiful!!!

Luckily, Steve Scott was able to sit in on djembe the second service and that helped us out a lot. Also, during the sermon of the second service, I see the sound guy that was supposed to be here all morning standing outside talking to another guy. I give him credit for showing up knowing he probably felt pretty bad bailing out on us this morning.

I feel, under the circumstances, I did a decent job but was pretty disappointed that I let some things affect the way I led this morning. Being that I only get to lead worship about once every six months or so, I put a lot of stock in my days on the mic so I add more pressure to myself than is already there. Hopefully, in the future, I can use this day as a tool to improve on my abilities.

A little premature excitement

My last post, I referenced our computer dying. Good news is I had previously acquired a sponsorship from Island's Restaurants for work who gave us a lot more money than I anticipated so now I have money lying around for a work computer. My old boss and I have been harping about the need for me to have a laptop since I'm out in the field quite often and now the time is almost here.

I have to wait for my director to cut me a check and then it's shopping time. Since many people have a key to my office I'd obviously have to bring the computer home every night. Geez... what a burden.

I'm back!!!

At least for a few posts. Timing would have it that I stopped blogging around the time our computer died. Anyway, a little update on our last post.

Most of you know this but we ended up getting a 42" LCD television and HDTV is glorious but WAY underused. We watch so many things on our old school Tivo that we rarely turn on live HD tv. I try to fit in Sportscenter every now and then so I can get my fix of sports and high quality tv, but not even remotely as much as I need to watch it.

Also, I recently purchased a bmx bike off of craigslist to cruise around like a teenager. It's actually a blast to ride one again and it only cost me $20. I had to replace the freewheel so I'm only out $10 extra bucks. I took it for a ride last Saturday out Proctor Valley Road (dirt road a few miles from our place) and rode through the hills above Upper Otay Lakes and down by the dam, and the up Otay Lakes Road back home. Along the way I met up with a 5 foot snake who didn't like me riding so close to him. He struck at me when I went by him, and then again when I went back because the trail just ended. All in all, a good workout and a great time.

THE END!!!!!!!!!

Megan went to turn on the television this morning and heard a pop. This is the second TV that we've owned that has "blown up."

Poor Ryan is so used to watching Little Einsteins while drinking his milk in the morning, he's not quite sure what to do.

Good news is I've been wanting to get a flat panel HDTV.

Bad news is we don't have money.

We'll see what news wins.

Life is Short. Have an Affair.

Now before you jump to any conclusions, let me explain...

I was watching Sportscenter (which I rarely do) and it was right at midnight when a commercial came on. I was pretty disinterested in it so I continued looking at my Fantasy Football dominance (Yahoo sports, Megan). Then all of a sudden, I glance up at the screen and it shows "AshleyMadison.com" with the tag line, "Life is Short. Have an Affair." I had to rewind the Tivo to do a double-take to see if I really saw that. Apparently, it's some social networking website that is made for married people to find cheating partners. This is for real.

This is one of the most disheartening things I've ever seen and to have it promoted on national television is despicable. According to their website, they don't encourage cheating or increase cheating, but say that if you want to cheat, this is the place to go.

Please join me in praying for all those who choose infidelity over marital commitment, and for those who choose to run a business aimed at encouraging people to cheat.

Free at last!!!!!!

One thing we've been struggling with is having Noah in our bed. Our uneasy sleep may be a partial cause to his "rough" nights, plus we have to share a bed with a 6-month old.

Well...not any more. We went out and got a toddler bed for Ryan and converted Ryan's bed back into a crib to put Noah in. Then I had to reorganize the room a bit to get them both situated in there.

Tonight is the first night Noah is in the crib and so far, so good (it's only midnight right now, but all is going well).

We decided to have Ryan stay at Donna's so Noah can get used to his new sleeping arrangements. So, in all actuality, tomorrow night will be the real test.

Here are some pics of the crib with Noah in it and Ryan's new bed.

90 degrees???

It is November, right?

Today was 90 degrees. Tomorrow, the same.

I'm starting to get sick and tired of this. Bring on Winter.

Shoot, bring on Fall at least.

Moment of Truth and Vulnerability

Today is November 14th...

2 weeks to the day of Halloween...

Here is our pumpkin...



This image has not been doctored. You are looking at a 100% stock pumpkin.

Please don't judge me as a parent based on this.

Maybe next year we'll actually cut into one!!!

Barona Casino Buffet

Megan and I went to the Barona Buffet tonight. TOO MUCH FOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm stuffed and tired. Good night all.

Chicken & Red Pepper Sandwich

So here is my recipe for this very flavorful sandwich.

I had some red peppers left over from something we made and wanted to do something with them, so I came up with this simple, yet delicious, recipe for a great sandwich.

Ingredients:
Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Breast
Cream Cheese (low fat, or if you can find, fat free)
Mrs. Dash seasoning
Garlic Pepper
Garlic Salt
Seasoning salt (Lawry's type)
Red Bell Peppers
Monterey Jack Cheese (block or shredded)
Olive Oil
Wheat French Rolls

Preparation:
First off, you want to season the chicken breast with the garlic pepper, Mrs. Dash, and season salt. I don't really have a particular amount I put on but you want to put on enough to give it some taste. I use a covered stoneware baker and put it in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Then slice the red bell peppers into 2-inch wide strips, coat a frying pan in olive oil and saute the bell peppers until tender (if you have time to fire-roast the peppers, that would taste a little better).

Cut about an 1/8 of the cream cheese block off and put it in a bowl. Add about a half-teaspoon of each of these seasonings: Mrs. Dash, seasoning salt, and garlic salt. Cover and put in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds. Mix the cream cheese and seasonings well.

Cut the french rolls lengthwise and spread the cream cheese spread onto the bread.

When the chicken is done, cut into strips and line the bottom piece of bread with chicken. Cover with jack cheese. Line the top piece of bread with the bell pepper and put both pieces open-faced in the toaster oven and toast on medium-high (this is very important to melt the cheese, to meld the flavors together from the spread, to the chicken, to the bell peppers, and to add a little texture to the bread).

When done toasting, put the pieces together and...voila, you have a delicious concoction.