Can You Hear Me Now?
I used to hate dead spots when talking on the cell phone while driving. Like any situation before me, I managed to turn a bad scenario for good. Here's an example, someone called me up the other day and forced me into a corner by trying to put me on a guilt trip if I was not willing to help her. So when she asked me for my response, I said, "Hello? Hello? Are you there?". I then disconnected the call as I needed a few seconds to think of a good and gentle answer rather than giving her my brutal honesty. She called me back, I answered, and gave her my sorry can't help answer. Thank God for those dead spots! :o)
Sail Around the World
If you haven't gone sailing, then you have certainly missed life. It may seem boring but once you're on the boat, you're hooked. It's all natural, no engine running. It's just you and your skills, the wind blowing on your face, and the boat crashing through the water. It's quite tranquil yet it's very exciting as you're gliding through the water at speeds of 15 to 20 knots.
One of my biggest dreams is to sail around the world. The other is to sail with a top notch crew in the America's Cup or the Volvo Ocean Racing which is a race around the world. Of course, these two are unlikely to happen in this life but I do look forward to the new earth when this will be possible:o)
If you live in the Annapolis or Manattan area, you can watch the race in May as these world class
ocean vessels sail to bay. My favorite is, of course, the
Black Pearl. The below is the Black Pearl sailing out of Cape Town.
How High Will Oil Prices Go?
So the price of oil has reached an all time high @ $73/barrel and Iran said it should go up even more, prob $100. Pres Chavez of Venezuela blames this rise on the standoff between the US and Iran on the nuclear tension, and rightly so as the market has reacted to it.
The question is what should we do with Iran? Continue to confront it and risk seeing oil prices soar as it may reduce oil supply which it has threatened to do so? Or let them continue with their nuclear program and see oil prices stabilize or even drop?
The long term solution is to be less oil dependent but that's at least 5-10 years away. It's also easy for Pres Bush to take a tough stance on Iran since high oil prices do not effect him as much as the avg Americans cuz he's quite wealthy. I'm not against the administration, I'm just saying that decisions that do not affect your pocket is easier than decisions that do.
Gay Marriage & Polygamy
Proponents of gay marriage say that if two people love each other, they should not be denied marriage. After all, their marriage poses no harm to others and whose to say that marriage is between a man and a woman?
Given that premise, I say why stop there. Why not allow polygamy as well, by that I mean not forced. If three or more people love each other, then whose to say that marriage is between two people and what harm do they pose to others? Group marriage be it 1 husband and 3 wives or 2 wives and 3 husbands are better b/c if one gets a divorce and fails to pay child support, the financial impact would be minimal since there are other parents to help out. In fact, the more spouses in the marriage, the better for this very reason. After all, whose to say that the polygamists are wrong? So the next time you run into someone that's for gay marriage, you should pose this same question to them.
Amazing Love
So I went to the most awesome and moving Maundy service that I can recall. The ambiance was filled w/ candles and the service started out with chants and words appearing on the screen, then we sang:
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, should die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, should die for me?
Near the end, we each were given a pencil, an index card, and a nail. We wrote our sins on the card and were invited to go up to the front and nail our cards onto the cross. One by one, people went up to the cross and one by one, the nails were driven onto the cross. Yes, all of us nailed him to the cross. By the time everyone was done, the cross was covered with index cards and this really hit hard on me. It's like wow, the sins of the congregation were on the cross. Imagine the sins of all those who believe that were, are, and will be. Indeed it was amazing love, how can it be, that you my God, should die for me. So if you don't celebrate Easter then
Go on up to the mountain of mercy
To the crimson perpetual tide
Kneel down on the shore
Be thirsty no more
Go under and be purified
Follow Christ to the Holy mountain
Sinner, sorry and wrecked by the fall
Cleanse your heart and your soul
In the fountain that flows
For you and for me and for all
At the wonderful tragic mysterious tree
On that beautiful scandalous night you and me
Were atoned by His blood and forever washed white
On that beautiful scandalous night
On that beautiful scandalous night
A Day @ the Range
There's nothing like spending an afternoon with a couple of friends shooting things up like the Wild Wild West.
Blind Dates
Oh, I forgot the reason for the latest poll on the right. Anyway, a friend of mine has been on a blind date fringe lately. He went on three blind dates in three consecutive weeks and here are the results:
Date 1:
She has not been to more than three states all her life.
She only listens to one genre of music and does not even know what classical is.
She doesn't watch movies on DVD or at the theatres.
She doesn't watch TV at all.
Date 2:
She's been to seminary.
She's a minister.
She believes all religions lead to heaven and hell is a temporay holding place.
Date 3:
She has a box that filters out all the curse words on TV.
She only watches Disney animated movies.
Speaking of extremes but at least he's in line with the start of baseball, 0 for 3.
A $218 trillion phone bill
From
MSNBC.com:
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - A Malaysian man said he nearly fainted when he received a U.S. $218 trillion phone bill and was ordered to pay up within 10 days or face prosecution. Yahaya Wahab said he disconnected his late father's phone line in January after he died and settled the 84-ringgit (U.S. $23) bill...Yahaya received a notice from the company's debt-collection agency in early April.
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My thought is what freakin dumb, stupid, ignorant idiot at the telephone company decided to send this to the collection company w/o investigating it first. Even Bill Gates (worth $52 billion) can't pay that bill.
Regrets Only
What's the deal with getting an invitation and the response is Regrets Only? The last two invites I've received were just that. Dictionary.com has "invite" as "to ask for the presence or participation of". This means the inviter is asking and not assuming the invitee will come. So if the invitee opts out, then he has to respond. Why in the world should an invitee respond to something he's not planning to do?
Take this logic to say going to a restaurant, you open the menu and you are ordering everything unless you tell the waitress no to each item listed. I think the Regrets Only is just a way to intimidate those who cannot say no and making those who say no stand out in the inviter's mind so the inviter can say, "Oh, so you weren't able to make it to the party last time."
Last, if you don't agree with my comments, you MUST respond that you object and regretably so. Otherwise, you are in total agreement with all that I've just said.
Gators are the Champs!
Congrats to the Gators for winning the NCAA title and bringing the title to the state of FL for the first time. The Bruins are a very good team but the Gators beat them convincingly.
Great Sunday
First of all, check out this
hilarious video!
Secondly, it's opening day for BASEBALL! I'm in the process of looking for my #1 team since the Marlins had a fire sale and got rid of most good players. Don't get me wrong, I still love the fish but it's hard to love them 100 percent when their own mgt does not seem to care about winning. Heck, the owner is talking about looking to move to another city. Anyone wants to convince me to join his favorite team? I'd like to remain in the NL though.
Last, Tony Stewart won the DirectTV 500 today. Go #20! See
article for details.
