Dumbo's Circus

Tonight was really nice .....

I have a fairly ordinary life....but I have the most wonderful friends. Tonight was the first chance that we had some great "back porch" time ....and it was much needed.
Let me say first of all that for the last two weeks or so I have been pretty stressed out about the upcoming mission trip to DC(we leave this Saturday) but tonight was just what I needed....

I could completely be myself...hang out with the best friends a guy could have ....have a few beers and just decompress before the big trip.

We talked what we usally talk ....politics,work,family,OLD TV shows,beautiful babies and so much more.

For the last year Luke and Jackie have been up in Bham and its been hard not seeing them on a regular basis but now they are back in MGM and with John and Laura and Nick and Laura it made the night really great.

You are a blessed person if you have friends who love you and can be silly with you and in the next breath be talking about the supreme court of the US.

We just get along and that's wonderful and I am lucky to call each and everyone of them my friends.

So to my friends I raise a cold glass .....and toast you all

"TO FRIENDS, MAY OUR SMILES ALWAYS BE PLENTY"

Family Reunions......

Some of my fondest memories as child revolve around family reunions in North Carolina. Imagine heading to the mountains of Western NC during the dead of the summer to the cool retreat of the mountains....Blowing Rock, Boone, Banner Elk, Valle Crucis....AHHHH. We would have great food and sit around talking ...These events continued well into my high school years and I sad to say that I have not been to one now in almost 20 years!! Those are family reunions I really enjoy....You will now find below the ones that I dont enjoy.
You ever find yourself in the grocery store trying to get down an aisle and there are two buggies parked in the way with the current owners of those buggies having a great chat....Perhaps they have not seen each other since high school or maybe last week but they are talking and oblivious to the fact that 25 people are saying "pardon me, 'scuse me, I am sorry can I squeeze by,please clear the way my head just suddenly exploded into flames" GRRRRRR
This great occurrence does not just happen in grocery stores....it happens at major discount stores like Wal Mart and Target.....It happens at chain drug stores.....in the middle of the driving lanes at places like the mall.....it even happens at Biscuit baseball games....
Tonight while watching the baseball game at Riverwalk on two seperate occasions people stopped in the aisle to conduct what my dad would have called a "Family Reunion"!!!!
Blech I say ....anyway enought of my rant

For now we see in a mirror,dimly

The above picture was made by a women in Iowa from her front door . The twister touched down and then went right back up....WOW! Just thought I would share for poops and giggles.

So its Saturday night...12:44pm. I am sitting here still trying to wrap my mind around the death yesterday of Tim Russert. I am guessing it will be a few days before I feel better....

I think perhaps one of the main reasons I am upset about him is that it hits so close to home for me ....Many, if not all of you know that my dad died suddenly from a heart attack two years ago and its only been recently that I was diagnosed with some heart problems of my own.

I look in the mirror and see a man who needs badly to lose some weight. To get healthy. It is one of the hardest things I can possibly attempt. Its not something that I take lightly ...trust me.

The United States as a whole is fat. 66% of the nation is overweight or obese. Its a serious public health issue that impacts not only our lives and our families. It also affects our jobs and the overall cost of our health insurance.

Speaking from my own life... I could save $970.00 a year in co-pays and deductibles if I was not taking blood pressure medicines. $970.00!!!!!!

• I mean come on ...That's a round trip plane ticket to just about anywhere in the USA with some left over for car rentals. Even more if you book on Priceline.com



• That's a damn nice flat screen TV.



• That's 6 West Wing Box sets on Amazon.com.



• That's 108 movie tickets to see anything at the Rave.



• That's 24 boxes of brew kits from Williams.com making a total of 1152 beers!



• That's 102 Shrimp and Avocado Salads at Sinclairs.



• That's one tank of Gas. ...Or Liquid Gold....bout the same !!

I think you see my point....My life could be drastically different if I was in better shape. I will never be a "skinny" guy....Not gonna happen.I am a big guy period but could I stand to lose 50lbs ?? Heck yeah!! 75lbs?? FOR SURE....

Does being out of shape and fat equal failure? I dont think so .....I think its a mix of psychological and environmental factors. I eat late at night because I am up most of the night.....I mean really I typically get about 4 -5 hours of sleep a night....I think one feeds into the other. I dont know really but its a huge struggle ...worse than drinking or drugs. For me anyway....Someone told me after lunch Friday that "we gotta get you healthy" AMEN and thanks for the concern. I really do appreciate it....

I recently read an article sent to me by a friend of mine in Pennsylvania. It was about the heart and how its so misunderstood on many levels. Cardiovascular disease and deaths claim nearly 800,000 lives a year. The heart is incredibly strong and resilient but over time just like many things it can wear out from abuse. It beats 100,000 a day and 3,000 people die daily from a heart related illness. My heart is already damaged from the enlargement and my valve not working properly add onto that high blood pressure,overweight and family history.....well you can see my problem. I am scared to death of becoming part of the above statistics .

So what's next ? Start working out regular at a gym is one of the first moves.....losing weight is the second ....I guess they are really more of a combo cant really have one without the other. I just keep telling myself that I have to pace myself and not set unrealistic goals. Being incredibly human I have waited till much later to turn to prayer on this matter ....And while not a huge fan of Paul...I have found something in his letter to the people at Cornith.

In 1 Corinthians 13:12 it says "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known"

John Wesley says that now we see even the things that surround us. A mirror,(ancient mirrors were often made of highly polished metal and would show a reflection through great distortions) which reflects only our imperfect forms, in a dim, faint manner, so that our thoughts about them are puzzling and intricate, and everything is a kind of riddle to us. But then - We shall see, not a faint reflection, but the objects themselves. Face to face - Distinctly. Even when God himself reveals things to me, great parts of them is still kept under the veil. But then I shall know even as also I am known - In a clear, full, comprehensive manner; in some measure like God, who penetrates the centre of every object, and sees at one glance through my soul and all things. I have prayed and prayed about this and God has placed an answer in my life ....I fully believe that....I could not see the full image in the mirror but now I do . I just had to wait and listen. GAME ON !!

Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads out there ....

PS...Give blood ...the next life it saves might be your own.

We are all on a journey home.......

IF IT'S SUNDAY .....IT'S MEET THE PRESS

Tim Russert died late Friday afternoon in Washington DC. He was 58 years old. I was eating at Jason's Deli and was preparing to leave when I saw the headline on CNN.....I am an emotional person by nature and it was tough to stand there and not get teary eyed.....I have cried tonight watching the memorials to him....
I have had a love affair with news and the political process for a LONG time and I have watched Meet the Press for about as long as Tim Russert was the moderator and host. FOX news likes to say that they are "fair and balanced" but in the whole spectrum of news people and news outlets Tim Russert really was fair and balanced.
I remember in the early 90's deciding that I was interested for the first time in politics and living way out in the country and having no cable I turned to Meet the Press on NBC.
This year marked Tim Russerts 17 year as the host of MTP. It's hard to believe that you can get upset about someone dying that you did not even know. But I have been pretty down all afternoon.
But in many ways we did know him....If you watched NBC news on a regular basis then you were most likely a fan of Mr Russert. He was to me that person in your family that you could sit and talk to all day ....about anything. Sports, politics,religion, life ......
They showed a clip of Tim Russert from 2005 talking about being named to head MTP....He said he called up the founder of the show and asked for a few moments to talk and he went to his apartment and asked this guy what advice he could give him when he takes over in a few weeks.....the founder told him to study everything you could about your guest, his likes , his positions, his favorite color even and then you take the exact opposite opinion and make your guest tell you and the nation why they believe in what they believe.
I hate we will not have Tim Russert here for this years election.... It stinks that he will not be here to help lead us through this years historical election.
My personnal Sunday morning ritual will be changing I am sure......Difficult to think that I will be as engaged with a new host of MTP. MSNBC showed interviews tonight from different folks who knew Tim Russert. They were all filmed today talking about him....One Catholic priest who knew Tim Russert and had arranged a recent meeting with the Pope said that Tim was one of those guys who knew that we are all on a journy home....We will miss you Tim. God Bless

A nickels worth of free advice.......

So here is the deal .....
Do you ever get tired of giving advice ? Its not like I give lots of advice on many topics but I have been known to throw my opinion in there every now and then......But sometimes you give what you think is solid advice and you get crapped on in return.
Perhaps its my ego that took a bruising and that's the cause of all of this but at this point I am pulling back on things ....What can I say ? I'm human.
If asked...I will reserve comment.
It's the best choice right now and for me to have some piece of mind this is the thing to do ....
Lord knows we all have lots on our plates right now and we sometimes suffer gladly....but to be honest I am a little bit tired of everything....

Just for poops and giggles

I dont really know how to upload a Youtube video to Blogger so I just put the link on here for you to go to ....anyone wanna tell me how ??
I am not a fan of the end of the video where they stick all the indicted folks next to Hillary....but the other part does a pretty decent job of showing Barack is not a member of a terrorist group....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTgqQ2_KQkc&eurl=http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/06/06/obama-whitey-video-rumor-is-crap/?icid=1615988631x1203764875x1200410134

Omega 3 Fish Oil.....

So here is the deal .....

I have a few health issues that have to be seen about pretty soon . As I reported in a previous blog I have been diagnosed with an enlarged heart. I was sent by my doctor to have a battery of tests to determine what damage, if any, was done to my heart by the enlargement. Blood work, stress tests, heart ultra sounds ....all were done.

I went back to the doctor today to find out the results ....FINALLY!! My blood work was ok, with the only problem being my cholesterol and my "bad" levels being pretty high ....The tests on my heart showed that I have a valve problem with my left ventricle mitral valve. Nothing that is gonna kill me tomorrow ....but something that has to be addressed and soon.

Many people have valve problems ....some very severe and others not so bad. I am just glad to have an idea as to my problem now and start working towards getting it better.

I have to get in better shape....no question about it. I need to lose about 100lbs, I need to excercise more ...on a more frequent basis, I need to eat better and have better eating habits period.

My doctor wants to see me lose weight ....he said this will go a long way in helping deal with the valve problem. Being overweight like I am puts too much added stress on my heart and dropping pounds will greatly reduce this.....It will not cure my problem but it will make things better. Cutting out cigarettes almost 6 months ago is a great thing... Cutting back my level of stress will also help in the long run....anything I can do to keep my heart from "overworking" will be good....careful not to lift heavy things ...careful not to play basketball for an hour straight (ha ...me playing ball)..I can excercise but at a measured pace....anyway you get the point I think.

Getting my cholesterol down is going to be another issue....DR.S told me that I don't have to cut out everything right now ...just cut back. I will not be on medicine yet but he has told me to start taking four Omega 3 fish oil capsules each day.

I will go back in three months for more tests ....To borrow from the West Wing, I have this heart thing now.

So ...here we are

I wanted to post this blog for everyone who has been curious about things ....I apprecaite yalls prayers and concerns.