My way or the Highway???

I was talking to some friends today and it occurred to me that conversation can do one of two things, make you closer or push you away. This lead me think about how people share their point of view with others. Most of the time people tend to air on the side of passionate persuasion of what they hold to be "right" or whatever that means. When some one is sharing their side of the story or idea or virtue it can easily be done in vain as far as the other party is concern especially if the person only has a mouth and lacks ears. I think when people tend to get worked up over something they believe and try to cram it down your throat it tends to turn people off. Whether this is politics, religion or the best way to do something, directions, raise kids, make a fire what ever. When some seeks to share first and listen maybe, I think they are speaking like a charlie brown adult. This includes when someone is talking to another who does not agree with them or hold the same values and gets all worked up and upset because they can not see their point of view and in turn will most of the time end up telling the other person in some way shape or form they are wrong without listening first, or listen and jump right in at the first chance to contradict what they are hearing. When we listen first and share second, ideas are shared and ideas are built. This is how people come together and learn. People will never listen if you don't care. I think this is something that I have been learning lately with myself and just by watching the world around me. Just turn on the television or watch people at work, go to the mall. Its everywhere, people who forgot how to listen.

I have to pee

I have been sitting here again with a blank mind wondering about what to write about. All this time, I really have to pee. It kind of makes me laugh about all that you can go through when you have to pee really badly. If you have to pee really really badly, you don't want to get up because you have the "pee belly" of which almost puts you in an e mobile state. So what do you do to solve this problem... the pee walk. As you are reading this, I know you know what I am talking about. Each person has their own version of the pee walk that is custom fit to their size and shape and intensity of the pee they are facing. Some people hunch over a little, while others use speed to help their situation. Then, there are those who hunch with speed. But the two together tend to cancel each other out. While the speed has hindered the hunch, the hunch is hindered by the speed, all along making you have to pee all the more, and that is not the only thing you have to work against. The dreadful "i know you have to pee mentality" that your body knows some how. You try to trick your body into thinking you have plenty of time and will power, but... it knows that you are getting closer to the toilet and it is raring to go. This also adds a pep to your step, with the hunch and the speed now all colliding at the finish line. As you get ready to go with each move, you have to be very precise, because time is very precious and valuable at this point. One false move and you could have some oopsy moments. So, I have to go now, because while I have sitting here writing this blog, it has been a diversion to trick my body, because I really have to pee, so I am going to try to sneak to the bathroom unnoticed using the hunch sidestep method.

Night

Baked Potatos

I have fallen in love with baked potatoes. For some reason a few months ago I decided to try to bake the perfect one. Since then I have tried a few different things and method to find the right mix. Tonight I baked two of them for about 1:45. These were two sweet and awesome potatoes, Fluffy and wonderful, so I guess what I am trying to say here is that if you need help baking a potato or would like some tips, I have ranked myself the master. Also, I have begun making BBQ sauces a bunch as well, I am honing that one in as well, but their are lot more way to make BBQ sauce than to back a potato.

I have lost the funny and I can't find it

I have been having a little issue with my blogs over the past few days. I usually have great talent in noticing funny things in my daily life. I have come on a dry spell, I have either not been very observant of what is going on around or my life has become a little less excited. I have not been doing to good on the waking up early by the way, I have been moving a little closer each day. But back to the problem... where has all the funny gone? I am just in a fuddled state of disillusion. So with that said, I am going to start paying attention to the funny a little more and really look to see if it is still there or not. Also, as I am thinking about it, Patrick I need to email you soon, I have a few business related questions for you. Look I am using the blog as outright vehicle for communication. ha. Well until the funny returns or Maple does something that is blog worthy, I am off.

The Coffee Guy

I went to a coffee shop the other day with my buddy Anthony. Anthony had promised me about this "new" coffee shop that was outside of town. I could not find it online before we left, but I followed him faithfully, even when we were in the middle of nowhere and I thought I was going to find myself in a scary movie... we pushed on and finally we found it. It was a pretty neat coffee shop and we put our orders in for a cup of coffee and some other drink A got. The waiter brought out our drinks a few minutes later, and I noticed that he got my order wrong. This is were I find this story gets funny. He sat my drink down and it was some butterscotch frozen cappuccino thingy with carmel and whip cream blah blah blah. I looked at it, looked at him, back to the drink and then back to him and told him that I think they got my order wrong. At this point you would assume that he would say something like, "sorry about that, let me go get your correct order for you." No, he just looked at me silently... then he started to mention that this was the drink he was pretty sure I ordered and then was silent again. I confirmed that I ordered a hot drink and after some convincing he went back to make my drink. I just thought it was funny that he line of thought went to, "well since I made this drink, you should drink it." hmmmmmmmm

Coffee guy

My Alarm Clock Sucks

I have been trying to get up earlier, say 6am. When I worked for At&t, I was able to do it and got used to waking up that early. As for the present time, I am unable to win against my body. Every morning the alarm clock goes off and I become the snooze king, I continue to hit snooze over and over again and never get up until I have to. Meanwhile, Sarah is over there suffering through all of this because she does not have to get up when I do. I wonder how many days you have to get up until is becomes second nature. Does anyone have any tips on being able to get up early. I would love to be able to get up every day at 530am, but I haven't a clue how to make that work.

ps. I have already tried the multiple alarm clocks, that did not work.

Blast!!

As I am sitting here, I am just going to start typing until something comes to mind to write about. I thought by now I would have some deep awesome things to write about... but I do not. Crap... But I will share something from yesterday. Sarah and I and two of our friends went down to exit one to play some buzztime trivia and eat some wings. We ate like 50+ wings and the Springer's kicked some serious trivia butt. There were about 100 people in the bar or so. We were there for four games, in which Sarah and I took all four of them, first place. This was pretty much a huge life moment here. I even got up to 223 in the nation. It was amazing, total domination. Although this might not seem to interesting to you, it was a major achievement in the Springer household.

Sarcasm Update

First off today, I would like to give everyone an update on my sarcasm project. I have 8 notches so far and each time I have been in the position to give myself a notch, I keep my mouth shut completely. I do not speak at all I just use that time to reflect on the sarcastic comment I was about to make. It has been a very humbling experience so and shown me a lot about where my thoughts run to in different situations. Very interesting how we as people are so quick to be sarcastic to others, maybe as a defense or a way to control the conversation. Sarcasm hurts people, that is such a simple truth, but so hard to grasp in our daily lives.

P.S. I saw the Goat lady at church today and she gave me a hug.

Bad Brad

What can I say, I have let you down again. Can I say my attention has been captured by my beautiful wife and this I have ignored my blog. I am on my way to church right and my day that follows will be engulfed in deep thought and blogs.

stupid me

I suck, I feel asleep on the couch and forgot to write, so you get two blogs today. 

People watching at the Doctors office

I was sitting in the doctors office today waiting to be called and I was as we all do, people watching. There was one gentleman who caught my attention. He was about 500-1000 pounds. He was arguing with the nurse about not wanting to have to walk about thirty feet... max. Also he would not be seen until he knew what it was going to cost him, but he was okay with them looking around for an extra wide wheelchair while they were looking for the cost. After they found a wheelchair and the price was right they wheeled him away, on his way in he said, "hey I got to piss". The nurse stopped him five feet from the bathroom door and asked, "if he could make it," he was a little annoyed but got up. Then I guess as he opened the door expressed his discontent with the fact they did not have a urinal for him... This is our tax dollars at work people.

Sarcasm

Everyone has a few close friends where they can use sarcasm with each other and not think twice. Usually these are life long friends who get you and are very close to where their is never a question of intention. I was thinking today about that. I started to think about the other end of sarcasm that we use in our daily lives, at work, out in public, etc. and what that looked like. Why do we do it I thought. Why does sarcasm dominate so much of the culture that we live in. I think I have an answer, this kind of hit me like a ton of bricks. Sarcasm is a defense mechanism we use to protect ourselves or deflect something. Sarcasm has no benefit. period. Sarcasm is control of the situation that you find yourself in. When people are nervous or uncomfortable or self conscious.... etc. etc. sarcasm is used to cope with these things. So in the end sarcasm is selfishness. hmmmm. Ouch. I guess sarcasm is our defensive offense if that makes sense. Think about if every sarcastic comment that people make was replaced with genuine encouragement or silence. What would things look like then. How would that change our world, our voice, the people around us. I have decided to challenge myself and anyone who would like to join up to take five days and cut out the sarcasm, every time you go to be sarcastic make a notch on a piece of paper. After the five days are up, report back with how many you have. Let the experiment begin.

Maple Story 50

I have another Maple story, this is pretty good. We have the Young's come visit us from New York for the last four days. It was awesome. They have a boy lab named Samson, Maple and Samson are buddies. They pretty much wrestled, bit, ran, tugged, pounced and rolled around for four days straight. Since the Young's left this morning Maple has gone into depression. She has not laid in her bed or anything other than eat. She just lays under the window waiting for Samson to come back. I think she is truly sad, it is some what moving to watch. I also opened the door tonight to throw something outside and did not see Maple sneak out, she ended up spending 45 minutes wandering around our neighborhood. Luckily when we noticed, she was close enough to hear us call her. She came walking up from the dark and walked back inside and to the window. Sad Sad puppy.

The two hour lunch

I must share with you something that I went through today. Sarah, Kathy, Kyle and myself were driving around the north Georgia mountains looking around at different things etc. We decided that we wanted to eat somewhere local and not at Mcd's or one of those places, even though there were only a few. We drove around for freaking ever looking for a place to eat. Place after place was closed. I found out that most BBQ places are only open from Thursday to Sunday. What the crap is that, do they not like to eat BBQ on these other days where many people would like to eat BBQ... jerks. We looked around forever and finally found a small deli outside of Blue Ridge. We came, we drove, we complained and we conquered. Note to self, if you ever think that you might be a situation like this make sure to pack a snack. Also, if you ever find yourself in N. Georgia, I hope that you like eating lunch, dinner etc before 4pm. Jacked up I tell you, Jacked up.

The Varsity or should I say the Junior Varsity

We all went down to Atlanta today to hang out and enjoy the city. We went to the dog park first, for which I have one thing to say, "if your dog is mean, do not come to the dog park." Very simple, I saw three dog fights today and only one owner who actually cared, it was pretty sad. I had one dog try to hump maple three times. I pushed him off the first time, kneed him the second and the third was a combination of both. The dogs owner, lazy turd who did nothing. His dog ran off when he finally walked up and did not come back to him for a long time. Great training there. So onto "The Varsity", we went to eat there tonight. We thought Kyle would like it a bunch because the man loves some fast food, so what better place to take him than the largest fast food place in the world. We walked in the door, and saw right away the menu's plastering the walls above the twenty or so registers. "Classic Combos"... wow I bet these are going to be huge, I ordered the double bacon cheeseburger. The others order burger or hot dog etc. My meal was about 7 dollars. (think of all the food you could get at Wendy's." When my order was up and I finally got to see the famous "Varsity" burger, I had to hold back a laugh of disbelief. This double bacon cheeseburger was smaller than my fist, I have small hands. It was a joke, a joke I tell you. Everyone else also had little food to, if I was David the gnome, this would have been a feast and maybe even worth the money, but I am not. We ate and left and ended up getting more food from somewhere else because we were still hungry. I think "The Varsity" needs to change it's name to something more fitting like "The Junior Varsity," I mean come on give me a break, smaller than my fist. So if you are ever in Atlanta and want a nice big burger, forgo the nostalgia of "The Varsity" and go somewhere else.

Valentines Day.

Just thought I would give everyone a little peek into what our vday looked like this year. Our friends are in right now visiting form NY, so it was the Young/Springer Vday celebration. Kyle and I decided to plan a day for our wives and here is how it went down. They went to eat this morning at the carriage house with Jess Cohen. During this time Kyle and I went to Kroger to get supplies. Around 4 we went to a vineyard to taste some wines. Once back at the house, Kyle and I cooked up one sweet meal. Marinated Chicken, pasta, Broiled shrimp with melted butter, chocolate strawberries, salad and Garlic bread followed with homemade cookies and ice cream, also Kyle brought a bottle of ten year old wine from italy. It was a great day/night.

Snakes kinda of scare me.

Kyle and Kathy Young are here for a visit. I took them by the Last Catch today to say hi to Sarah and the other people who work there. I was sitting there looking around the resturant and noticed one of the girls who works there had what looked to be a snake on her arm... I was intrigued by this snake so I walked over for a closer look. The let me hold him and have a few pictures with him. I asked her if he was dangerous and she said, "no not really, one time he got around my neck but I got him off." Not dangerous... yeah right. So I held him and took some pictures. Here you go.

I'll take an extra value meal for the family please

I have been following the ol' stim package for the past few days and have another wonderful piece of information for everyone. Get ready for this, I am going to tell you what you piece of the pie is going to be... ready?... for the first year of the package, you get an extra 13 dollars a week and for the second year... you get a whole 8 extra dollars a week. That is the signature "Obama" tax cut for 95% of all Americans. Seriosly, take the fam out to Mc'Donalds a extra time a week on the government, and let that stress just fly away. Just think, you kids enjoy the chance to get another toy while not evening knowing they just added a couple hundred thousand dollars to their piece of the national debt. So innocent. Sad really. Did you notice that another person pulled back from the White House team, Ol' Gregg is heading for the hills and saying that he is sad that he even accepted the offer. Hmmmm funny how things work.

The Goat Story... Serious

Okay, so here it goes. The goat you see there is Gabriell, (whom I will call Gab for short) and yes that is a goat. ( Look how he is looking at me, he wants to attack me. I was afraid he wanted to take my chance of having kids one day from me... he was pissed) So the story goes down like so, I was closing down a building here at SharpTop this weekend, when I hear a voice yelling from upstairs. Let me remind you, at this point I think I am the only person on camp.

"Help me, Help me! Hello anyone," she yells downstairs. I respond, "Hello?". "Can you rescue an old woman and her goat," she responds to me. I have no idea what is going on at this point, but I'll bite, "sure I respond, as long as I do not have to birth it, I can help." At this point I met the eyeline of this women who is holding a rope and a bucket/box of "treats/food" for Gab. "I have been seperated from my group and I do not know where I need to go to get back." I am thinking at this point, no problem I can help you with that. Turns out she is from a local church who is up here hiking around and she decided to bring her goat along for the trip. "I need to get back to your cazebo by the lake," she tells me. I then talk to her for about five minutes to find out that she is not talking about anything on our property, but yet a lake that is in Bent Tree and development next to our land that they walked in on. Her memory is worse than mine. As we stand there, her, me and Gab, she can not recall anything that I am describing... buildings she would have passed, going up hills or down them. She then proceeds to tell me, "I could get lost in the bottom of a bucket." We are now walking towards where I think I can point her in the right direction and she is telling me about Gab and how the three hours hike might have been a little much for him. Gab doesn't like me, he keeps staring at me with those devils eyes. I feel like Brian Fellows, at different points I wanted to look at the goat and be like, "that goat is crazy, he's got devil eyes, does he have my credit card numba... I hate him... take him away," but I refrained. So I am pointing her where to go and she is not with me... at all. So, I figured I have to do something about this lady because she is not going anywhere and will not leave me. It hits me... Golf Cart. Ah ha. "Excuse me, do you think your Goat could handle a golf cart ride?" "Oh yes, Gab rides in my truck all the time with me." :) So, we all climb in the golf cart. Our golf carts are not that big, Gab is a large large Goat. I mean he is like 10 Maples and then some. He is also a fighter, Rocky in the body of a goat. So I pull the golf cart over to let Gab load up while she assures me that he will be fine. (yeah right) Gab does not like Cart rides. So finially after some horn grabbing and some coaxing, Gab, me and the lady are crusing through camp. The lady has both hands on Gab's horns trying to fight his desire to leave me. She looked like she was steering his head. She was like a regular rodeo cowgirl. She also had both of her legs kind of around Gab to pin him in. So lets stop right here and think about what this picture looks like. Me, Goat (grumpy goat), Lady, Small Golf Cart... freaking hilarious. The whole time Gab is working his way to jump out. What do you do here, I tried to create small talk, but like a tractor beam all I could do is focus the conversation on the Goat. "So how long have you known each other?" "He's a fighter huh?" The whole time I am wondering how many little goat poops are filling up the bottom of my cart and if goats have the good memory like elephants. If so I hope I never met Gab in a dark alley at night alone. We are driving along, I pass Lynsie and Bonnie (they help out in retail), I wish I had a picture of their faces as I cruise by slowly. I couldn't really stop and be like, "Hey, this is Gab, he is a goat and I am taking him home, how is your day going?" So we trucked on by as they smiled inside about what was going down here. As we get closer to the gate onto our property from Bent Tree, the lady is still confused and lost, I am thinking I am about to spend the rest of the day with Gab, but alas we get up to the gate, and baam' her memory is restored. "I remeber this, thanks so much for saving me and Gab," she exclaimed. As they walked off I watched for a second, the lady walking and Gab, unleashed strolling behind her dreaming of cans and what not. Gab then turned around and gave me the finger... ( he can't do that, he has hooves)

Side note, to get the pictures it was pretty funny to do. Undercover style. So that is the Goat story. Hope you enjoyed it.

Seriously, give me some money!

I promise, the Goat story will happen tomorrow and I would like to respond to some comments, which are great by the way. But tonight I have one simple thing to throw out there.

The government in the end right now is about to spend 3 trillion dollars. That is 500,000 dollars per American. Do you think if each American was given that much money, this economy would not get a little stimulation. Come on, give me some money Obama.

You will have to wait for the Goat

Welp, I was going to tell you all the story about the goat but I just fell asleep on the couch and am now really tired. So I have decided to give you another quote. I heard this today on a Podcast that I was listening to and thought it was pretty thought provoking. So even though when I say, "let me know your thoughts", most of you are scared to post, that is okay though. So here is the quote.

"Legalism offer a clarity that God does not neccesarly offer"

Chew on that one for a while...

We should heed the warnings of Dwight.

Bet you thought I was going to talk about the office. Nope. I would like to write tonight about one of the Great Presidents of our history, not just in my mind but consistently ranked such by people and historians, Dwight D. Eisenhower. I have a hidden passion that I will spill tonight, I really like to listen to old speeches or read them... whatever. I really like to see what the "greats" had to say and how it still applies to the world we live in now. I was listening to his farewell speech in 1961. Sixteen minutes is how long he spoke, but the amount of knowledge he shared is far more than that small amount of time. So without further adieu here we go...

"The prospect of domination of the nations scholars and scientists by federal employment, projects, allocations and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded, we should also be aware of the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become captive of a technological, scientific elite."

When I heard that, I paused my computer and listened to that again. I think we did not heed his warning and have now seen what can happen to a country when above happens. The freedom to think and create is wonderful, if you are creating what your bank roll wants you to. (I feel like that is the mentality we have found ourselves in) I mean lets be honest the quote above is pretty much an accurate depiction of America. Choke hold baby.

The next quote he is talking about how important "time" is to our country's future.

"Time, as we peer in to society's future, we , you, and I and our government must avoid the impulse to live only for today. Plundering for our own ease and connivance the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loses of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to be the insolvent famine of tomorrow."

I am completely floored by the comment. If we learn from the past, we sure have not listened to this President. We live for today, plunder for ease... this is a complete picture of our culture. This is how America rolls. As our government and people continue along this line, we stand to weaken democracy and put our children s future on unstable ground. I could go on about this topic but I will stop. I urge you to read this second quote a few times and really look at what our country is up to these days and the "progress" we stand to gain.


P.S. I was going to write about a story of an encounter that I had with a goat today, but I will save that one for tomorrow.

I do not have much on my mind

I haven't much on my mind tonight to write about. Got to chill with Jon, Hailey, Bradley and Scott and my wonderful wife Sarah tonight down in Cumming, Ga. It was a great time to catch up and meet some of Hailey's extended family as well. Welp, I am off to bed, I have to be up at 6 again. Sorry so lame, you can T-Lame, or Lamearorous, Lameadon. (Dinosaur names)

Let it flow

I have left some topics alone in my blogging experience. I have for the most part stayed away from certain subjects as to not push any buttons of my readers, to remain pc if you will. But then I realized something today, this is my sounding board for all that is Brad. Adding limitations to what I have to say could be denying you all of what potent goodness that I can put into words. (occasionally) So with that said, I would like to talk about politics tonight. No PC here. I cannot resist talking about this Stimulus package that we having coming up sooner or later, I guess the temptation to have a few people like you from the current majority is reason to vote for a big waste of money. I mean do people in the Senate really let being called, "irresponsible" cut to their core enough to where they would vote for something that will plague my children one day and their kids to pay back. It would take me a long time to figure out how to use 100,000 dollars in a correct and efficient way. I am sorry, I know these are super smart educated ivy leaguers who's poop doesn't stink, but really. They are about to spend 1/10 of our current NATIONAL DEFICIT. It has taken a long time to get all this debt built up and we are about to pass something that is 1/10 of the whole. And what, after a few weeks of America's "finest" digging in to see where they can get money for their wants. All you have to do is look at some of the projects. Hey a few billion for a boat that will break ice in the north pole, okay some people will gain a job for the time frame that the boat needs to be made, then what... back to the unemployment line for you. I mean there are tons of things for random crap, that has nothing to do with job stimulation, just to do with the passions of some suits on capital hill. I am blown away by the ignorance that has penetrated our government. I am talking across the board here, lets be honest, there are not two parties anyways. Same guys different suits and different bankrolls filling there pockets. A part of me was hopeful after Obama's victory, I thought he is my president now and I am going to support him. (still do support my presdient, just wondering what the hell are you thinking) I was thinking about one of the debates this morning when Barack and John were battling about pork spending etc. and Obama said that we needed to take a scalpel to the spending we are having in government and to see where it is going and to be very detailed and cut out the crap. Now I am hearing, just pass the bill already, lets get this going, I am not to concerned for what the bill is laced with, just that we get it out there to help the "people". (In Obamas defense, I know the House added a bunch of crap to what he origianlly created) I think you better serve the people by being cautious about dropping this kind of dough so quickly. Lets be smart here not screw over generations to come by sticking a huge band-aid on something. Debt is one of the reasons we got into this mess, I guess Debt is going to get us out as well. I want to turn on the television one day and here the president say, "Hey America, stop your whining, I am not here to fix every ones problems, work hard, don't spend more than you make, and instead of waiting around on your butt for someone to give you something to fix your world, go do something about it, that is where this country came from". Grrrrrrr..... I am getting worked up as I write this, I am thinking about people who move credit card debt to another credit card to free up some cash. What happens next, they spend the new amount of credit they now have and sooner than later they are in a tight spot again. Have we become so intoxicated that our perception is lost by all the jargon we hear. I guess so, I beat George Washington, Lincoln, Jackson, Jefferson, would be pissed out of their minds right now if they were here to be a part of this. We have lost our vigor for what America was created to be. Rights are privileges, not gifts.

A Garage A Heater A Cigar A Beer

Tonight I went over to my friend Sig's house with another buddy Kuban. We had a get together tonight, where we enjoy a nice cigar and a good beer and follow it up with some good conversation and discussion of whatever. I love these times, just a time to relax with the fellas and enjoy the friendships we have. Nothing better.

Seperation envy

I had a thought today. Yes, that is right. I actually had multiple thoughts today, I have been unwillingly and willingly exposed to all the stimulus package brew ha ha and all the things around that. I have read and listened to all the different ideas and opinions that each person brings to the table. I thought about how for each side, if you will, what it would be like for an individual to step out from their respected group. One way or the other. This led me down another path, not necessarily pertaining to government and politics, but life. Here is the twist. Lets say you are in a conversation with a group of people, say four. Something happens that you do not agree with, you are presented a choice to stand up for, or roll with punches and be quite. Not like, hey I think big government is bad, ya'll stop talking about how great it is. That is somewhere you could probably keep the ol mouth shut. It will serve you well. Anyways, back to the subject. Lets say something that slanders someone, or is unethical, or goes against your core, and to sit there is to agree, or to giggle with is to give consent and approval. This is when being seperate is a scary liberation. To be liberated, is to be free. But is it common to feel liberation or to feel alienation in these moments. That is the question. It made me ask myself a very simple question, "Who are you living for"? Others or myself, my intergrity, my name that cannot be taken from me but yet I craft with my actions. Ahhh the brain hurts just trying wrap around this one.

Maple sleeping with all her toys

Uploaded by www.cellspin.net

I am Budget! Hear me Roar!!

I would like to let everyone in on a little secret. It's called OpenOffice.org. It is all your Word, Spreadsheet etc. and it is free. This has allowed me to get the budget excel spreadsheets online and master the world of budgeting. I am the proud owner of one sweet awesome budget. Who knows where their money is going... ME.

Ol' Jackson

I have recently been going through a book about Andrew Jackson. He is one of my favorite of Great Americans. I know he comes with a lot of baggage. But he also brings a lot of character and loyalty as well. Anyways, to continue on with my original thought, I wanted to mention a quote that was in the beginning of the book. It was giving background etc. about Jackson and where he came from and what he went through etc. He was the first "people's" president being raised in poor conditions by Irish immigrants. (most of his childhood, he raised himself. Father died when he was young and mother was a maid to a family of their relatives, so they would have a place to live) Anyways, the quote. The author was talking about Jackson's nature and character. He was a super ambitious guy, who went after what he believed in with all he had to give. Andrew's will trumped all for the most part, except one. He had a very passionate relationship with God. It said, "God's was the only will Jackson ever bowed to, and he did not even do that without a fight." This spoke some very potent truth to me. After reading this I thought about myself and many of my friends whom I would link to this quote as well. But as for myself, I thought about all the times that I have fought God tooth and nail. Pushed my will where it did not belong, took my desires over those of others, chose paths that I considered best and figured God's will would catch up or drag me back. It is interesting to be such a stubborn individual, or for that matter on a larger level, such a stubborn culture. We are so resistant to the idea that our wills could be trumped, that our desires and what we think is best could be in fact just a purely self focused initiative that holds us back from what truly could be waiting. Now, I know that at this point many of you could be thinking, blahh alahbla God blah ablah just another moment where someone tells me to listen to God and life will be perfect. Nope, not at all. But I think when we give in to ourselves, we find out what truth can look like. When we "die" to ourselves, our own desires and wants, we are forced to let things come into focus that are scattered along the horizon and not just a few feet from our face. I think that is the moment where God's will is dying to let us see what we resist to let come into focus.


"When you are uncomfortable, you are growing"

Need I say More?

Bruce "The Boss" Springsteen hit his crotch into a camera tonight during the Super Bowl. Seriously, need I say more?

Peyton and Maple

I know this is weak and a short description but this is maple with peyton. Maple has this thing for little babies. She just loves them and stays near them when they are around. I blogged about Peyton and maple in October. Maple is still at it, protecting babies across the world.

Peyton and Maple

Uploaded by www.cellspin.net