I am an Amrican & I Love this Country

Recently, I have commented on some ultra-conservative blogs. I do not mind various points of view at all, this is America, we must have free speach, the freedom to speak ones thoughts and views with out the threat of punishment or prison. Yet, one thing I purpose vehemently to keep out of is the extremists views of any group. It is this very thing I often rail against and attempt to show the danger and folly of these views. This coupled with the fact I enjoy a good or for that matter a bad debate, I find myself responding to these people with sarcasm and smart-ass comments.

The one in which I seem to have become the Arch nemisis to this Joan of Arc is a woman who goes by Marie on her blog http://mariestwocents.blogspot.com - look at it if you must. You will see me called everthing from a west coast liberal girly man to a heartless bastard. I find it quite humrous to be described as such since most who know me would say I can be difficult and stir it up but in general I'm a good guy in the yellow hat.

To this end I have been doubted in my patriotism and love for my country. I have even been called un-American. I have began to re-discover the music of Rich Mullins. He is one of the very few Christian Contemperary singers that I enjoy and respect. Rich was killed September of 1996 in a car accident that saw him thrown from the truck he was traveling in and hit by another truck on Highway 57 in Illinois, about 15o miles from St. Louis. I miss what he might have written musically in the future but we are left with a legacy of music that has deeply touched my life.

It may seem weird that I mention this singer in a discourse of my loyalty to this country but Rich wrote a song that I love. It is a song that from the first time I heard it played gave me chills and sent a tear to my eyes. He touched my soul and my heart beat for America.
It is a song titled: Land Of My Sojourn

And the coal trucks come a-runnin'
With their bellies full of coal And their big wheels a-hummin'
Down this road that lies open like the soul of a woman
Who hid the spies who were lookin'
For the land of the milk and the honey
And this road she is a woman
She was made from a rib
Cut from the sides of these mountains
Oh these great sleeping Adams
Who are lonely even here in paradise
Lonely for somebody to kiss them
and I'll sing my song, and I'll sing my song
In the land of my sojourn

And the lady in the harbor
She still holds her torch out
To those huddled masses who are
Yearning for a freedom that still eludes them
The immigrant's children see their brightest dreams shattered
Here on the New Jersey shoreline in the
Greed and the glitter of those high-tech casinos
But some mendicants wander off into a cathedral
And they stoop in the silence
And there their prayers are still whispered
And I'll sing their song, and I'll sing their song
In the land of my sojourn

Nobody tells you when you get born here
How much you'll come to love it
And how you'll never belong here
So I call you my country
And I'll be lonely for my home
And I wish that I could take you there with me

And down the brown brick spine of some dirty blind alley
All those drain pipes are drippin' out the last Sons Of Thunder
While off in the distance the smoke stacks
Were belching back this city's best answer
And the countryside was pocked
With all of those mail pouch posters
Thrown up on the rotting sideboards of
These rundown stables like the one that Christ was born in
When the old world started dying
And the new world started coming on
And I'll sing His song, and I'll sing His song
In the land of my sojourn

In the land of my sojourn
And I will sing His song
In the land of my sojourn

This rings as true today as it did 12 years ago at the begining of a different Presidental administration that was as far from this current President and his adgenda as east is from west. If I could put into my own words the love and loyalty I feel to this country it would have been similar although less poetic to this Rich Mullins song. Thank you, Rich for your fierce determination to show what God can do with one man totally sold out to Him. Thank you for giving me the music to express this.

Happy Birthday to Me

I wonder if this makes me a little narcissistic writing this Blog about me today. I know Blogs are supposed to be places where you write your thoughts your dreams and in my case Rants, Raves & Reviews. As is my nature I have been long on rants short on raves and non-existent on reviews. The reviews thing is something that just hasn’t materialized because as usual everyday work and life has given me ample excuse not to follow-up with my source for preview tickets. Thanks to Jeff for making the connection I may get around to following up with it in the next couple of days. Then again why break a perfect pattern.

I am very goal oriented when it comes to planning. Yet, it of the execution of said plan that has always been my downfall. I never set the goal of becoming a millionaire or anything close to that. But, as I pass the halfway point of my life I realize if I want to ever retire and travel as an old person I will need a few million to pay for it all. Yes, I have a plan to be the old man that smells of mothballs with Bermuda shorts, Hawaiian shirt, yellow ball cap, black knee high socks and sandals chewing a nasty 50-cent cigar while I mall walk for my health. I really do want to be semi active in my advanced years.

Tomorrow is my birthday I will be 36. Not a bad age it should be the place where you have settled into your life somewhat. I have not settled in fact I have been remodeling my life for the last 2 years. I no longer associate with many of the friends I had back then I also have stopped communication with many in my family. These "losses" are not as tragic as they may appear, I am willing to let loose of those who either do not believe in me or have felt the need to not show me the respect I am due as an adult. I will not get into all the specifics of this but needless to say I do believe these relationships can be restored but only on a term of equal footing. I am not wanting pity or to become some Stuart Smalley charicature it is just the assesment of where I am today.

I have a loving fiancée who knows me for who I am and is still here. Her family has been very accepting and caring towards me over the last 2 years. They have helped me to see that every family is dysfunctional to a point but with respect of each other and love family sticks together working things out. I want to thank them for accepting me into their family.

I haven’t said much about my goals or where I am on my retirement plans because I am not really sure what direction I am going to head into. I am working on my writing more than just this Blog. I am thinking of starting a second Blog on in which I can comment more bluntly on the things I see in the workplace. I cannot do so here due to the fact that many at my work check this and read it. I guess you will all be happy that I FINALLY posted something. I also want to start some sort of small business that will eventually give me a supplemental income to facilitate my retirement.

We are currently in the process of selling our condo and the feed back to date has gone very well. No offers but very good feed back. I think it is going better than expected by our realtor but maybe I will get away with my bold pricing for this unit. All I hope for is that we can hold out until May so we pass the 2-year point on ownership to avoid state taxes. If not it will be another lesson learned for our next remodel. I have to make this short because the condo will be open for display in 30 minutes and I need to get my cat & dog and make my way elsewhere. I know that in my life "the best is yet to be" to steal a quote I first heard from an old employer James E. Stowers Jr.