Someone else I’d like to see in Washington

Meet Herman Cain.

This is from a Fair Tax rally from 2006.

Sarah who?

I have to admit that when the announcement of Sen. McCain’s running mate was made, that was my initial response…. “Sarah who?”.  I also have to admit that up until now I have been turned off by all candidates and the whole campaign process has made me sick to my stomach already.  So I did some research on Governor Sarah Palin from Alaska.  I like her!  I wish she was at the top of the ticket.  I may actually vote this year based on the V.P. candidates. 

I found it hilarious that as soon as she was announced, the Demorcrats immediately began to attack her “lack” of experience. Seriously!  Are they that stupid?  From what I can tell she’s got more experience at the Executive level than anybody else on either ticket. 

Now, the race for the White House will be very fun to watch!

Learn more about her here

Check her out on youtube here:

A better day

The plan worked for today.  Made a list of things that needed to be done, places to go and Haley and I set off this morning to attack our list.  She was great!  She brought her baby doll and stroller and wherever we went she pushed her baby around to oohs and ahhhs from all the ladies we came across.  We made our way through our list in no time and still had time to come home and paint (finger paint), before we had to go back out to pick Hannah up.  After picking up Hannah from school we made our way to my sisters house where I put up her new ceiling fan.  It was a very fulfilling day.  I felt as though I accomplished something today.  I think I will try the list and schedule thing again next week.

Today was also a good day because both of my football teams won last night.  Georgia Tech put an old fashioned butt-kicking on Jacksonville State.  Sure it was Jacksonville State, but every time the Georgia Bulldogs kick the crap out of some community college from Southeast Bumble State, the Dawg nation prance around pounding their chest and making stupid barking sounds. So today I revel in a victory against a team that you were supposed to beat.

The Atlanta Falcons won their final pre-season game of the year.  Again, I know its doesn’t count for much, but for a lifelong Falcon fan… you take what you can get.

Friday Flashback

In Honor of Football Season starting up

Uneasy…

Ok,  2 1/2 months at home and I am starting to understand what my friend Paul was talking about when he asked if I was struggling with being at home all the time…..  YES I AM!  Today was really the first day I have really struggled with it.  I have been uneasy all day.  This morning I was wishing I had somewhere to be.  Weird, I can’t really explain it.  On the way to pick up my daughter we passed by some road construction and I was actually envious of the guy holding the sign for slow traffic.

Don’t get me wrong, I am loving the extra time I am getting with my girls.  And they are great, not brats.  I love being able to have dinner ready started by the time my wife gets home from her long day of bringing home the bacon.  I still believe my getting laid off was one of the best things that could have happened for us. And I am thankful for the opportunity that I am being given to go back to school.  But I’ve got another month to go before it starts and I may go crazy before then.  I need to change something, but I’m not sure what yet.

I think for starters tomorrow I am going to get up early, take a shower (before the kids get up), get dressed like I’m going to work, take my oldest daughter to school, and then me and Haley are going to run errands together.  I feel guilty dragging her around with me on errands, but we always have a good time and maybe it will help me fight off this uneasy feeling that I need to be doing more.

Anybody got any other suggestions.  Paul, how did you deal with this feeling?

Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters

I finally finished it!  I got distracted in the middle of reading this book, but I finally got around to finishing it. I am a terrible reader and easily distracted, so don’t let that influence your opinion on the quality of this book. This is a GREAT book! This is a no nonsense book.  It challenges today’s politically correct, feminist attack on traditional masculinity.  After 20 years of counselling girls in her practice, Dr. Meg Meeker makes her case that the most important factor in a girl growing into a strong, confident, well-balanced woman is a strong father with conservative values.  She supplies plenty of info to back it up and breaks it down into 10 secrets every father should know.

• Chapter 1: You Are the Most Important Man in Her Life
• Chapter 2: She Needs a Hero
• Chapter 3: You Are Her First Love
• Chapter 4: Teach Her Humility
• Chapter 5: Protect Her, Defend Her (and use a shotgun if necessary)
• Chapter 6: Pragmatism and Grit: Two of Your Greatest Assets
• Chapter 7: Be the Man You Want Her to Marry
• Chapter 8: Teach Her who God is
• Chapter 9: Teach Her to Fight
• Chapter 10: Keep Her Connected

If you are a dad of a daughter(s), I highly recommend this book.  I plan on keeping this one handy to refer back to from time to time. 

Buy your copy here

Earworm: part 2

Uncertainty

After months of getting no response from job applications after job application, I made the decision to go back to school and completely change my career path.  I applied to college and got accepted. I start Oct. 1st.  I have applied for financial aid and got approved for it.  I have been encouraged by almost everyone I know that I am doing the right thing, the smart thing, the best thing I can do for my families future.

Today I got a call from a company that I applied with weeks ago and I quite frankly, forgot about.  I had chalked it up to getting lost in cyberspace where all my other attempts seem to have landed.  They wanted me to come in for an interview.  I explained my situation, that I would no longer be available for full time work.  (part of the assistance I am getting requires me to be enrolled in college full time).  She explained that this was a full time position and that the rarely ever have part time positions.    I thanked her for the call and for interest in me as a candidate for the job.  As I hung up the phone I got a big dose of butterflies in the pit of my stomach.  Am I making the right decision?  This is a good company.  It’s hard to get your foot in the door with them.  What if I fail at my attempt at going back to school? 

Man, I wish she hadn’t called.  I was gung ho and fired up about everything.  Now I’m just full of uncertainty.

It’s All Good

Man today I feel great!  I woke up with energy like I haven’t had in a long time.  I went out and went to work in the yard, working until time to get ready for church.  We go in the afternoon at the 4pm service.  After church I went for a ride on my mountain bike with a friend of mine.  I have taken up riding again.  It is sad how bad out of shape I have let myself get.  I honestly think that the stress and misery of my job situation over the past 18-24 months left me unmotivated to do anything.

I am the happiest I have been in quite sometime and I can’t explain it.  My mind tells me I shouldn’t be.  I don’t have a job and I’m going back college at 38.  I’m not sure how any of this is going to work out, but I can’t help feeling optimistic about it all.  That’s usually not me. I am loving being home with my girls.  I feel like I am catching up on so much I have missed.  Not that I worked a ton of hours, at times I did.  But like I said previously I wasn’t motivated to do much of anything, including getting in the floor and playing Barbie’s, going for a walk with my family, taking them to the pool, etc.  I really feel like I am mending some relationships that I didn’t even realize needed mending.  I will never let a job come between me and my family again!

We’ll see how it all shakes out but for now… It’s all good.

A week without blogging

I’ve been quite busy this week.  Although looking back, I can’t really pinpoint what has kept me away from the computer this week.  Just a lot of little things going on this week. 

My oldest daughter started First grade Monday.  I had a little difficulty with this.  I mean this is big kid school.  And she is still my little baby girl.  We had sent her to preschool and kindergarten at a small private school at a local church.  But this school is HUGE.  By the way we have a turkey directing traffic in front of her school every morning…  I’m not talking about the cop, seriously a turkey!  I’m told he or she is there every morning, so far 5 for 5.  I’m going to try and get  a better shot of the cop and turkey standing next to each other, its quite funny.

Hannah going back to school has cause for more adjusting on my part being at home full time.  Now Hailey, our 3 year old, has no one to play with but me and doesn’t understand that I still need to get stuff done around the house.  It’s hard for me to walk away and not play with her all day until Hannah gets home.  We’re working on it.  I’m trying to get most of what needs to be done during the afternoons when Hannah is home and in the evenings so I spend as much time as I can with her in the mornings.

Speaking of school, it’s official now, I am going to be a full time student this fall.  Scary thought.  I got my acceptance letter this week.  As expected I bombed the math and algebra portion of the assessment test so I have to start with some pre-algebra. 

I went to my second and last re-employment workshop this week.  Now that I am a full time student I will not be required to attend these any more.  This one was not as informative as the first but still pretty good.  Rina, the facilitator concentrated primarily on resume writing.  My number one take away was when she made the statement: “The day you were laid off, your occupation changed.  I don’t care what you did at your last job, now your in sales.  You are the salesperson and the product.”  Most people including me don’t take that approach.  It’s more like… “Crap!  Now what am I going to do.  I’ve got to get another job fast.”  The best piece of advise I got after my lay off was to take a week or two and just catch my breath and then come up with a game plan for what your next step is going to be.

What else this week…  Oh yeah, the Olympics.  I’ve spent a good bit of time trying to catch what I can.  I love the Olypics.  My favorite summer events are the swimming, diving, and track & field.  I am in awe of Michael Phelps.  What an amazing athlete. 

Football season is gearing up and I can’t wait. Being a lifetime Falcon fan, often this is the highlight of our season, the anticipation of the upcoming season…  “This year is going to be a good year.”  Then the season starts and it’s back to reality. 

Until next time,

B