A Public Service Announcement:

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day..... So eat it!

Ok, so maybe holidays aren't worthless........

This father's day weekend was a really good weekend. It was so great because Grant is talking so good and communicating so much now that he could say "Happy Father's Day Daddy". And what was cute was the fact that he told me that several times over the weekend on various occasions. I'm sure he was prompted a few times by his momma but this one particular time that was cute was when Trina had brought home a yummy Turkey, Bacon, an Ranch sandwich from Arby's for us to split and she gave the bag to Grant to bring to me. He came in the living room where I was watching TV and he said, "Here ya go daddy... Happy Father's Day". Hahahah.... I mean, that's the stuff that just makes getting up to go to work every morning at 5 am worth it. To make sure that that little guy (and his mom) is taken care of makes everything I do (that I sometimes don't like) worth doing.

He doesn't care if Daddy likes getting up and going to work every day or not. He doesn't care if Daddy likes stressing over school work to better himself to hopefully provide a better life for his family or not. Grant doesn't concern himself with any of that stuff and it's great that he doesn't have to. All I want him to know is that he's loved, that he's safe and secure, and that his mommy and daddy love each other very much. Those are the things that I want him to know.

I try to make a point to tell him several times a day that Daddy loves him and that Daddy is very proud of him. I don't know if he knows what Daddy being proud of him means right now, but he will and that will be so important to him very soon. Knowing that his Dad is proud of him will give him such a boost to his confidence and in knowing who he is. My goal is to produce a secure and confident young man that knows that his dad always has his back and that he can come and talk to me at any time about anything without fear of my coming down on him. To do that I may have to correct him and stear him in the right direction from time to time but I want to do it in love so that he knows that I only have his best interests in mind.

Although I typically think that most of the holidays that we observe in this country are commerically driven and bogus.... I think I like Mother's Day and Father's day. Not only because I get to hear my son say, "Happy Father's Day daddy", but because it causes me to reflect on what it is to be a Dad and how blessed I am to hold that position in my son's life.

I am blessed.

Mom's Are Worth Every Penny They're Not Paid....

So I saw this article on the FoxNews website this morning. I think I've seen something like this before but it really made me take a minute to think about and really appreciate the efforts that my mom and my wife put forth with raising me and my son respectively.

Moms really do pull alot of different jobs and they should be appreciated for them all.

I LOVE YOU MOM AND TRINA!!!!!!!!!!!

Article on FoxNews.com (5-9-2008)

BOSTON —

If a stay-at-home mom could be compensated in dollars rather than personal satisfaction and unconditional love, she'd rake in a nifty sum of nearly $117,000 a year.

That's according to a pre-Mother's Day study released Thursday by Salary.com, a Waltham, Mass.-based firm that studies workplace compensation.

The eighth annual survey calculated a mom's market value by studying pay levels for 10 job titles with duties that a typical mom performs, ranging from housekeeper and day care center teacher to van driver, psychologist and chief executive officer.

This year, the annual salary for a stay-at-home mom would be $116,805, while a working mom who also juggles an outside job would get $68,405 for her motherly duties.

One stay-at-home mom said the six-figure salary sounds a little low.

"I think a lot of people think we sit and home and have a lot of fun and don't do a lot of work," said Samantha Russell, a Fremont, N.H., mother who left her job as pastry chef to raise two boys, ages 2 and 4. "But they should try cleaning their house with little kids running around and messing it up right after them."

The biggest driver of a mom's theoretical salary is the amount of overtime pay she'd receive for working more than 40 hours a week. The 18,000 moms surveyed about their typical week reported working 94.4 hours — meaning they'd be spending more than half their working hours on overtime.

Working moms reported an average 54.6 hour "mom work week" besides the hours they spent at paying jobs.

Russell agreed her job as a stay-at-home mom is more than full-time. But she said her "job" brings intangible benefits she wouldn't enjoy in the workplace.

"The rewards aren't monetary, but it's a reward knowing that they're safe and happy," Russell said of her sons. "It's worth it all."

Rock the Vote!!!!!!!

So I put a little poll up on my blog. Go vote.... or lose me forever!

Cool Flashlight

The only thing that makes me uncomfortable is that he keeps pointing it at himself.

I'm still around..... I think.

I haven't posted in awhile and I thought I should post something or what good is this blog? I'm not really sure than anyone even reads it but I'll post in the event that someone might care.

What have I been up to lately? Well, pretty much the same ole stuff. Work, school, family, church, and now that the weather is getting nice I'll be working in the yard. Another major thing that I'll be doing in the coming months will be assisting a friend of mine and a brother in Christ with his run for a seat in the Arkansas House of Representatives. I'll be on the tech team (web manager) and working to help maintain his website, MySpace, Facebook,and YouTube presence. The guys name is Bill Fechtlekotter and he's an awesome man of God and a guy that really thinks differently than your average politician. That's the thing... he's not really a politician. He's a man that has a passion and feels that God is calling him to be used to initiate change.

So that's exciting. I'm also working to wrap up my Masters degree program. The goals is to be finished by about October of this year. I can't tell you guys how much I'm looking forward to getting this school stuff wrapped up once and for all. I just can't wait to get that off of my plate.

Umm... for those of you that were interested in my Velocity Diet experiment, I completed it a couple of weeks ago. I made it the entire 4 weeks with the majority of my nutrition coming from protein shakes spiked with other goodies like flax seed and fish oil capsules. I dropped about 13 pounds and about 2 inches over different parts of my body. I am pretty pleased with the results. I went from 191 lbs. to 178 lbs. I'm going to continue to build on the progress that I made and drop a little bit more weight and add some more muscle to my frame. This physique stuff can be tricky. It definitely requires a thought out approach.

Anyway.... That's what I'm up to in a nuttshell.

Hairy @ O'Hare....

So I'm stuck in the Chicago O'Hare International airport this evening. They canceled all the flights (except for that one to Louisville that I saw boarding as I was walking to the area where there are cots provided by the airport). This must be kinda what it is like to be in a catastrophe center or a barracks after a hurricane hits or something. This is what I imagine it must have been like after Katrina hit and all those people were sleeping on cots in gymnasiums and places like that. Obviously this isn't a situation like that at all.... but still there's a bunch of cots in here and strange people sleeping all around me.

Ok, checklist:

1. Wallet .... check
2. Cell phone alarm set..... check
3. My feet not in some other dudes face..... check (but who cares really).
4. Bag full of electronics and other valuables inconspicuously hidden under my shirt....check


Ok, I guess I can call it a night and hope for things to be better in the morning.

Night.

OH wait.... random thought. I think it'd be fun to strip down to my boxers and just walk around the airport like I was at home or something. Hahahahah.... I wonder what kind of reactions I'd get. Hmmm......