Canterbury's Tales

I've Moved!

2009-02-17T00:38:00.003-05:00

The next latest and greatest incarnation of Canterbury's Tales is over at wordpress. I'll not likely be adding to this blog anymore but will leave it up for a while as a redirection for those who don't know of the move.

The new address is http://www.stormspotters.wordpress.com/ and the title of the blog is "A Post A Day".

Liberty's Library is still up and running by the way and can be found at http://www.jecanterbury.blogspot.com .

Looking forward to seeing you over at my new wordpress digs!

Grading the 2009 Columbus Blue Jackets Job Fair

2009-01-30T22:53:00.003-05:00

Two months ago I received an e-mail from the Columbus Blue Jackets organization letting me know about their annual job fair. The message said that many different companies would be in attendance and they'd be looking for folks to fill positions such as IT support, sales, marketing, teaching, and internships. Since my job search has not gleaned much lately, I decided to buy my tickets then and there. They even threw in a ticket to the Blue Jackets game that night when you purchased your ticket for the fair so that was another reason to go.

Ever since then I've been patiently waiting for the fair. Today, my wait ended. But was it worth it?

I'm going to grade the job fair in five categories on a scale from 0-5 with 5 being the best.

ORGANIZATION:

3.5 out of 5

The set up for the fair itself was nicely spaced and took up the entire oval surrounding the hockey rink in Nationwide Arena. This allowed for good traffic flow.

Yet the mark down comes from the lack of helpful arena staff. Some folks received a map of the layout and where the companied were stationed. Others did not. Some folks got a list of what positions the companies were looking to fill. Others did not. I'll give you one guess as to who didn't get either of those!

TRUTH IN ADVERTISING:

2 out of 5

Of the 30 companies in attendance, 15 of them were either looking to fill unpaid internships OR were only handing out informational pamphlets about the company itself.

WHAT? Who is looking to support their family by getting an unpaid internship?

My favorite moment of lunacy came when I began talking with a representative at the Cardinal Health booth. We shook hands, exchanged names, and I asked her what positions her company was looking to fill. She proceeded to hand me information on how to fill out an online job search profile on their website. When my profile is completed, available positions matching my qualifications would be e-mailed to me.

WHAT? If I needed to go online to find a job with your company, why did I pay 30 bucks to come here? Better still, if that is all the help you are, what are you doing here?

PRICE:

4 out of 5

The only reason this number is not a 2 is the excellent play of the Columbus Blue Jackets in their game that took place three hours after the fair. They won their game 1-0 over the Ottawa Senators in a very physical, fast paced contest. Great goal tending by Steve Mason tonight. Very entertaining. It was my first NHL live game and I highly recommend going to see one.

QUALITY OF COMPANIES:

3 out of 5

This number would have been alot higher if the companies who were only looking to fill internships hadn't bothered to show up. If college students want to find internships in their chosen field of study, let their college/university help them find it. Or, they can do what I did, go out and make your own opportunities by giving companies a call or going online.

WORTH THE EFFORT:

2.5 out of 5

I stayed up until 3am making sure I had 15 updated business cards and 35 pristinely printed resumes on 20 and 24-pound paper stock. I only handed out 5 resumes and not a single business card. I spent 30 bucks in tickets, 15 bucks in parking, and 20 bucks for dinner (including 3 beers) and basically got a little buzz before watching a good hockey game.

The only saving grace besides the hockey game was getting to talk with the folks from Dale Carnegie. I had seen their company listed in the line-up and briefly looked them up online before the fair but I was pleasantly surprised at what they had to offer. I had a nice conversation with a very helpful and cheerful lady named Candice who seemed like she was genuinely interested in what I could do for her company. I'm very much looking forward to hearing back from the lady in charge of their corporate trainers (which is the positions I'm interested in learning more about).

OVERALL:

15 out of 25

If this was grade school, the 2009 Columbus Blue Jackets Job Fair would have received a 60% on its report card.

The only bright spots were the Blue Jackets themselves and three to five conversations I had with local business representatives.

Where the Fighting is

2009-01-27T22:25:00.004-05:00

This is in response to yesterday's post concerning Covenant School beating Dallas Academy 100-0 in girls' basketball. While he disagrees with me in one respect, I enjoyed reading Mark Davis' opinion on the matter. I hope you do as well.

Here it is.

Mark Davis appears as a special contributor in the Dallas Morning News and can be heard on his local morning radio show weekdays 8:30 to 11 a.m. on WBAP-AM, News/Talk 820 in Dallas.

Coach Fired...for Winning?

2009-01-26T20:56:00.007-05:00

The reason remains unclear but the girls' basketball team at Covenant School, a Christian high school near Dallas, Texas, is without a head coach.

On January 13th, Covenant beat the girls of Dallas Academy in a 100-point shutout. Yes, you read that right, the final score of the game was 100-0. Covenant led 59-0 at the half.

This story ,written by the Associated Press, says that Covenant school administrators apologized to Dallas Academy requesting that the game be forfeited. They expressed shame and embarrassment that their head coach, Micah Grimes, who run-up the score in a game that was far out of reach before the first half had ended.

The apology, in part, said,

"It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christlike and honorable approach to competition".

Grimes, after having read the school's apology which was published in the Dallas Morning News as well as Covenant School's website, responded on the newspaper's online edition just yesterday:

"In response to the statement posted on The Covenant School Web site, I do not agree with the apology or the notion that the Covenant School girls basketball team should feel embarrassed or ashamed. We played the game as it was meant to be played. My values and my beliefs would not allow me to run up the score on any opponent, and it will not allow me to apologize for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity".

Today, Covenant School released Grimes from his duties as coach of the girls' team.

Very few details about the game itself have been made public thus far save for a 2-minute news story about how the Dallas Academy girls' team is taking their new found infamy.

That being said, if Coach Grimes was fired because of the way his team performed, then that truly is a shame! If Coach Grimes was fired because he publicly disagreed with his administrators, that too is tragic!

Since when has learning how to lose been a bad thing? Why must we shield our kids from defeat? Is it not through defeat that we learn our greatest lessons? After all it was Amos Bronson Alcott who said,

"Success is sweet and sweeter if long delayed and gotten through many struggles and defeats."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow also said,

"Noble souls, through dust and heat, rise from disaster and defeat the stronger."

Now don't get me wrong, there are steps a coach can and should take to lessen the blow on an over-matched squad. Replace your starters with your third string players for example. How about making ten passes before taking a shot. But, because we don't know what exactly happened in this game, how do we know Grimes didn't try to take it easy on Dallas Academy? Covenant was attempting three-pointers during the fourth quarter of the game but that is up for interpretation.

Even if he didn't go easy them, Grimes was hired to win basketball games not schedule basketball games. I don't think a 100-0 game is reason enough to fire anyone, especially considering the lessons the girls' team at Dallas Academy has taken from this experience, but if someone must get canned then let it be the athletic directors of both schools. They are the ones responsible for scheduling games and this one shouldn't have been scheduled in the first place.

And what of 'Christlike competition'? Is it Christlike to take obviously bad shots, miss shots on purpose, or post no defensive effort at all just to make it easier for David to get a morale boast over Goliath? Give me a break! What next, change the English vernacular of 'winners and losers' to 'winners and non-winners'?

What I find more disgusting than the unemployment of a winning coach, is the treatment of the story from the Associated Press. The AP goes to great lengths to paint Micah Grimes as cruel Bobby Knight wannabe running it up on a poor, defenseless, small, upstart Christian school where only 20 of its students are female. And don't you just feel sorry for the girls' team when you hear that the team only has 8 girls on it, some of whom have never played the game of basketball before.

Well, that Micah Grimes gets what he deserves then doesn't he? That savage! He's picking on GIRLS! Why, they don't even know how to play! Burn him! Burn him at the stake!

What the AP doesn't tell you is that the athletic director from Dallas Academy is rescheduling the rest of his team's season as to avoid any more underwhelming outcomes (The reason the AP USSR omits the information is so the reader continues to feel sorry for the young, helpless girls upon which this Grimes fiend is preying).

Really? Maybe it would have been nice if he had considered that before putting Covenant School on the schedule in the first place?

If someone is to lose his/her job it should be because he/she did not deliver on the job description. At last I knew, the job of a coach is to win games and put butts in the seats. Can't say I agree with the letting go of a coach who prepares his team well enough that the third string smokes a team 100-0.

What do you think?

America's Cancer

2009-01-18T20:54:00.008-05:00

The other day, while filling out an online job application, I came across a check box that I'd never seen before. This box appeared at the very end of the application after all the obligatory identification and, more importantly, skills, work history, and educational information had been given. The line next to the box said something on the order of,

"If you feel you qualify as a diversity status candidate, check this box".

With my culturally dissenting opinion concerning the state of racism in America in mind, I clicked the box filling it in. I know what the human resource specialists meant when they included the word, "diversity", but I felt justified in my decision. Those HR folks will probably be a little miffed if or when they discover I'm a white, Anglo-Saxon, protestant male.

The same application also set aside a special place for me to declare my ethnicity. While the box took great pains to spell out that the applicant's information would in no way be factored into a hiring decision I knew it to be a rouse.

Due to the fear of political correct noncompliance, corporations must now prove the makeup of their workforce shows no favor one race over another. Yet this fear has blossomed into lunacy with the advent of the quota. It is the consequence of this fear that white, Anglo-Saxon, protestant males such as myself are an unwanted...make that less sought-after...hire.

For the purpose of self-preservation, I chose: "declined to identify". It is hard enough in this economy to find a good job that will translate into a great career, I don't need to be disqualified from consideration simply because I'm in the racial and/or gender majority.

Unfortunately, that is how the race card is played in America today. Federally funded colleges and universities, for example, aren't allowed to accept new students on the basis of academics alone but must make certain waivers for students of a particular race or ethnic group.

The University of Michigan gave 20 points out of a possible 150 to applicants if they were African-American. The U.S. Supreme Court struck this down, but still upheld that race should play a factor in the admissions process. ~ Whitney Blake, theFire.org

While I understand what the U of M and the Supreme Court are trying to accomplish, making concessions for something that is not within the bounds of human control does nothing but feed the cancer that has gripped America for decades: entitlement.

How is the race of an applicant going to make him/her a better or worse employee? How is race going to make one a better or worse student?

We as a nation need to make a collective statement that we no longer put up with racism. That our efforts to bring about equality in America are resolute. Our determination unwavering. We will not judge someone by the color of their skin but by the content of their character as one celebrated civil rights leader once said. Let us throw off the spirit of hatred. Make it known that bigotry has no place among the hearts and minds of the children of liberty.

Yet how do we do this? We can start by learning three things.

There is no such thing as reverse racism. Racism is racism no matter in what direction it is hurled.
If born here or a naturalized citizen, you are an American first. I'm an American of European descent, not a European-American.
When we lift one race over another, we affirm their perceived affliction. This practice negates all of the hard work done to bring about true equality.

In 12 days, I'll be attending a career fair in Columbus. When I walk up to a corporate display and begin talking to the human resources specialist, I hope he/she will see me as a highly skilled, multi-talented, and university-educated prospective employee; not as someone who can't help them fill their "diversity quota".

The World's Most Delicious Hot Chocolate

2008-12-09T22:08:00.007-05:00

My friends, my countrymen,

In the American season of Yule Tide, a good cup of hot chocolate plays a vital role. It matters not if you live in an area that sees feet of snow or inches of rain during the winter months, hot chocolate is a must-have. And while this has yet been proven, the quality of said hot chocolate directly affects the quality of your holiday experience.

This truth firmly implanted in my noodle, I have actively sought out the world's best hot chocolate recipe.

First, I tried the powdered varieties. Sure, the Swiss Miss packs taste chocolaty and yes, the premium and super premium powders at Kroger and Wal-Mart exceed the expectations for richness and flavor. But I always come away from this granulated beverages feeling let-down. They lack depth of flavor. Even if I substitute milk for water, it still leaves me wanting more yet getting less.

Then, I experimented with an old standby, Hershey's chocolate syrup and milk.

This combination has a more well-rounded flavor and is leaps and bounds above the powdered varieties. I am pleased when the host of the house offers me a cup of hot chocolate and it is made with milk and Hershey's syrup. It's the Honda Accord of hot chocolate; you pay a little more than the average but it's a quality ride from point A to point B. Hondas are nice but when it comes to hot chocolate I was a Rolls-Royce.

Tonight, I discovered a Rolls-Royce...fully loaded! I know! How could it possibly get any better, you ask? IT CAN'T!

Start by melting some semi-sweet chocolate pieces. Fill bowl #1 with hot water, then fill bowl #2 with chocolate pieces. Gently place bowl #2 into bowl #1, thus passively and thoroughly melting the chocolate to a smooth-syrup consistency.

Add the kick. Add one spoonful of peanut butter to the melted chocolate and stir until completely incorporated. Of course, if you are allergic to peanuts (or are too scared to experience hot chocolate as you've never before) leave out this step (wuss).

Heat up your milk. Pour the desired amount of milk into your favorite mug and microwave for 2.5 to 3 minutes depending on your "hot" preference.

Pour the chocolate/peanut butter mixture into heated milk. Duh. Then stir.

Add a dollop of Cool Whip (or homemade whipped cream if you have it).

And the Cherry on Top. Drizzle a small amount of Hershey's chocolate syrup on top.

Sip slowly with eyes closed and Christmas music softly playing in the background.

I made this recipe for the first time tonight and it has lifted my holiday cheer to new heights! Speaking of holiday cheer, if you wanted to add some to your HC, I'd suggest a peppermint, almond, or caramel flavor keeping in mind that you may want to subtract the peanut butter. Try it one way and then suit to taste.

I call it Hot Reese's because simply "hot chocolate" doesn't do it justice. Give it a try and then tell me how you like it!

A New Virtual Library

2008-12-09T21:55:00.002-05:00

For those of you who may be interested, I have been archiving some of my past writings online. These writings are old college papers, e-mail to the youth of the church where I served as youth minister, short stories, blog/forum posts, and much more.

If you'd like to visit Liberty's Library and read a spell, go to www.jecanterbury.blogspot.com

Thank you and have a great evening!

Careful...Upsets Happen!

2008-11-18T20:01:00.010-05:00

I was looking for some raw data concerning the history of upsets in The Game that I could turn into a blog post when I found someone already had. This article is taken verbatim from the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper. Complete credit goes to Doug Lesmerises.

As you read, keep in mind each team's record going into The Game this Saturday:

10 OHIO STATE: 9-2 (6-1)
M*CH*G*N: 3-8 (2-5)

**********

Since 1951, Woody Hayes' first year at Ohio State, OSU and Michigan have played 57 times. Eight times, the teams had the same record going into their rivalry game. One of those games ended in a tie, as did one other game.

Here's the breakdown on the other 48 games, in which the team with the better record has won 63 percent of the time. But since 1980, the team with the better record has won barely half the time.

COMPARING RECORDS

Since 1951

Team with the better record: 30-18
Michigan with the better record: 11-8
Ohio State with the better record: 19-10

Since 1980

Team with the better record: 13-12
Michigan with the better record: 7-5
Ohio State with the better record: 6-7

RANKED VS. UNRANKED

Since 1951

Ranked team against an unranked team: 7-6
Ranked Ohio State against unranked Michigan: 4-1
Ranked Michigan against unranked Ohio State: 3-5

Since 1980

Ranked team against an unranked team: 3-5
Ranked Ohio State against unranked Michigan: 1-1
Ranked Michigan against unranked Ohio State: 2-4

BIGGEST UPSETS

Here are the biggest upsets since 1951, when a ranked team lost to an unranked team or a team in the top two ranked to a team ranked much lower.

1952: No. 12 Michigan (5-3) vs. OSU (5-3): Ohio State wins, 27-7
**1969: No. 1 OSU (8-0) vs. No. 12 Michigan (7-2): Michigan wins, 24-12**
1981: No. 7 Michigan (8-2) vs. OSU (7-3): Ohio State wins, 14-9
1982: No. 13 Michigan (8-2) vs. OSU (7-3): Ohio State wins, 24-14
1993: No. 5 OSU (9-0-1) vs. Michigan (6-4): Michigan wins, 28-0
1995: No. 2 OSU (11-0) vs. No. 18 Michigan (8-3): Michigan wins, 31-23
1996: No. 2 OSU (10-0) vs. No. 21 Michigan (7-3): Michigan wins, 13-9
2001: No. 11 Michigan (8-2) vs. OSU (6-4): Ohio State wins, 26-20
2004: No. 7 Michigan (9-1) vs. OSU (6-4): Ohio State wins, 37-21

**James' note: Denotes the biggest upset in the history of The Game according to Ohio State football historians and Big Ten sports writers.

PROGRAM ART COURTESY: THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, THE UNVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

A Little Ohio/Mchg*n History

2008-11-17T21:08:00.007-05:00

I remember when I started hating that team up north.

I was living in Illinois, as I had since I was 5, so I didn't have the benefit of living in the 'Birthplace of Aviation' to have my OSU fandom nurtured. I had just started the seventh grade and my chemical science teacher was a smug, arrogant, feminist who insisted on making maize and blue references just about every day. I couldn't stand her in the least and she let me know that the feeling was mutual. So it was only logical that I hate the team she liked. You know, it's funny that hating M*ch*g*n felt so natural, so right.

Simply hating scUM wasn't enough, however. I couldn't deny the feeling of being virtually alone. I felt like an outsider undercover within the Midwestern kingdom of the Big Ten. All around me in the small farming community of Morton, IL were either hardcore Illini fans or had jumped on board Bo's bandwagon. About three months into school was when I realized that what I was missing was my own hometown team.

Champaign nor Ann Arbor could replace the city beside the Olentangy River. I realized I was an expatriate who longed to 'go back to old Columbus Town'. I couldn't be honest with myself and yell "Go Illini" and I certainly wasn't going to cheer on that team up north. So I embraced my Buckeyes, giving them my full sport-allegiance, and haven't looked back.

***

If you weren't born in these parts or if you haven't spent any time as a resident in the area, you probably don't know that the Ohio State - M*ch*g*n rivalry goes back further than American college football. It goes back beyond the War Between the States. It can be traced back to 1835 when a state/territory border came under dispute.

You can read a much more lengthy explanation of the Toledo War here but here is the basic storyline:

Both the state of Ohio and the territory of M*ch*g*n claimed this narrow strip of land from the Indiana line to the western edge of Lake Erie called the Toledo Strip. Depending on who you talk to, there was (according to Ohioians) or was not (M*ch*g*nd*rs) gunfire during the war but militia from both territories were mobile and active along the disputed ground. It took acts of Congress and President Andrew Jackson to force the territory up north to give Toledo to Ohio in exchange for the remaining land of what we now call the Upper Peninsula.

This was in 1836. It is now 2008 and I want my money back.

***

The first battle on the gridiron took place in 1897 between the perennial powerhouse M*ch*g*n Wolverines and an infant football club from Ohio State. The outcome was 34-0 in favor of the maize and blue. It wouldn't be until 1919 when Ohio State would get their first win in the series thanks in large part to the now legendary halfback Charles "Chic" Harley, who was Tim Tebow before Tim Tebow was Tim Tebow. The next two games also fell into OSU's win column again due in large part to Harley. This prompted the university to begin a campaign to build a football stadium near campus in Columbus. Ohio Stadium would be completed in 1922 and nicknamed, "The House that Chic Built".

The annual series, now known as The Game, hit the national spotlight in full force during a 10-year stretch of time when two men, who once had been assistant coaches for the same team, squared off in epic battles against each other to not only decide a conference championship but often a national championship. Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler became the four-star generals who would lead their armies into battle every November from 1969-1978 in the 10-Year War. Bo would claim victory in the 10-year war; his record 5-4-1. 1978 would be the last year Woody would ever coach the Buckeyes. He stuck a Clemson player who had just sealed a Gator Bowl win over Ohio State with a fourth-quarter interception.

***

It's been 18 years since I found Ohio State and made it mine. I don't hate my seventh grade chemical science teacher (anymore) but I still loathe those winged-helmet wearing bozos from Ann Arbor!

And I love every minute of it!

The record for the previous 104 games is 57-41-6 in favor of the team up north. This Saturday will mark the 105th meeting of, what ESPN in 2000 called, the greatest rivalry in all of sports and coach Jim Tressel, who has won 6 of the last 7 years, is expected to add another notch in the win column for O-HI-O.

Here's to an Ohio State record fifth win in a row over M*ch*g*n!

Here's to another pair of gold pants for the Buckeyes!

Here's to 57-42-6!

Here's to OH-IO!

Can He Really?

2008-11-05T21:29:00.002-05:00

On the heels of a particularly historic evening in American history, I can't help but wonder about what the little-known, inexperienced, controversial Illinois senator turned President-elect Barack Obama is going to do once in office. 62 million of my countrymen think he is ready to occupy the oval office while 56 million would rather he prove he is ready for the job first.

How will a President Obama govern when it comes to tough issues? He has no record of governance on which to look back. When called upon to take a stand, Mr. Obama displayed an uncanny habit of voting 'present' therefore his voting record in the Senate cannot be drawn from confidently.

The future President of the several states has claimed, and even promised according to some of the pundits, a desire to work with both sides of the political aisle to solve America's problems. I hope that he makes good on his words because he's been in congress since 2004 and I haven't seen any substantial moves to the center.

Barack Obama has promised to scale down our military, especially when it comes to ICBMs, at a time when just today the President of Russia announces plans to place short-range missiles at the Polish border. Is this wise? Will he listen to the generals and commanders beneath him before he, a man with no military experience whatsoever, makes strategic maneuvers with our armed forces?

Barack Obama wants to personally sit down with leaders of rogue nations and discuss relations and other diplomatic exchanges without pre-conditions (but with 'preparation'...whatever the hell that means). While I appreciate that he wants to get his hands dirty in this face-to-face approach, I'm not sure I want both an executive and negotiating novice trying to 'talk down' a delusional mad-man with his finger on a nuclear hair-trigger? I'm not sure what Obama hopes to accomplish in so doing but I hope that for your sake and mine he is successful.

He has said time and time again that it isn't fair that the wealthy get to keep their money while there are those in this country who have to live without. He wants to 'spread the wealth' which means stealing money from those who have to give it to those who have proven they can't save or budget it. This is not about the well-off not being charitable, rather this is about the government taking money from the pockets of citizens against their will. Does that sound fair? I don't remember hearing this narrative as apart of the 'American dream'?

Mr. Obama claims that he has a better tax plan for the working families of America. However, I'm not sure he is square on what that means exactly. First he said that anyone making less than $250,000 will not see their taxes go up a single dime. Then, that figure changed to $200,000. Then Vice President-elect Joe Biden said that if you make $150,000 or less you would receive a tax cut. And who can forget Barack Obama's repeated statement, "under my tax plan, 95% of working families will get a tax cut"? Well, this too is suspect because Obama plans to do away with Bush's temporary tax cuts we are all enjoying right now. This means that in 2010, every one's taxes are going up. How is that good for America's working class?

Lest we forget Barack playing to the 'victim crowd" when he spoke of his grandmother's fear at being around young black men because she was a "typical white person". The portion of the black community that constantly feels victimized will chant about 'the struggle' for any reason at any time. However, now that a man of color has achieved the highest office in the land, is 'the struggle' over? I would think that most folks would say, "somewhat" or "largely so", but the truth is that as long as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Jeremiah Wright, et al. still roam the streets, Booker T. Washington's words will still ring true. Will President Barack Obama push the black community out of this mentality and toward true progress or will he coddle them for his political gain?

Yes, I could go on and on but I'm afraid my point is this:

I'm both amazed and bewildered that Barack Obama has being chosen as the 44th President of these United States. And for him and my nation I will pray.

Our Homecoming

2008-11-03T15:38:00.005-05:00

It was a very warm summer morning. I didn't know it at the time but it was the dawning of a new era; a day that was filled with an unfamiliar excitement. My mom had tried to explain what "moving" was all about but my juvenile brain couldn't fully wrap around it.

Since rising earlier than usual, my brothers and sisters were frantically scurrying from room to room searching for items to secure in towering boxes that had been labeled with black marker. Every face wore the emotion of purpose. Everyone understood that there was work to be done before the movers arrived. Everyone but me. It was surreal walking around my house that morning and feeling an almost electric buzz in the air and not being sure of exactly what was going on.

Then the "Mayflower" pulled up to our front door. It was gigantic! To my bewildered eyes, the green and yellow 18-wheeler looked like a loose train car that had broken free from the track and rumbled to our house on Pepper Ct. As I stood with saucer-eyes and mouth agape, three guys dressed in blue jumpsuits hopped out of the truck and started into the kitchen. Slowly but surely, my house was emptying as the mayflower filled to the ceiling. Not long after they arrived, the moving crew had slammed the trailer door and my family piled into our two-toned brown suburban...it had been packed like we were going on a long trip. Two days later, I found all of my belongings in a new home, in a new neighborhood, in a new state.

It was 1983 when my family left Westerville, Ohio for Morton, Illinois. It wouldn't be until June of 2006 that I would return to the state of my birth. It would be two more years before I would really and truly come home to central Ohio.

Last Saturday, Amy and I successfully moved from NW Ohio to a suburb of Columbus, Ohio where family is just a few minutes away and my hometown is as close as it has been since I was 5 years old.

We are incredibly excited to move from what we've felt was a holding pattern in our life to the next step in growing as a family and as a married couple. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention my ecstasy about being so close to my Ohio State Buckeyes, the only team in all of sports on whom my loyalty rests.

We look forward to what God has in store for us but we're hoping that my leaving meteorology and broadcasting after 7 years was a good decision. I've been trying to secure a new career in sales/advertising with little to no success. Please pray that my fortunes begin to align with God's plan for us!

Go Bucks!

President YOU!

2008-09-11T20:18:00.004-04:00

President Canterbury, in his first one-hundred days, would:

*Seal the northern and southern borders. Beef up border patrol by re-assigning 50% of the national guard to said borders. If you are in the national guard, shouldn't more of you be "guarding the nation"?

*Work for the immediate drilling of any and all domestic oil resources with the least impact on the local environment. This while research is conducted on other alternative energy including natural gas, nuclear, geothermal, and hydroelectric. At the same time, offer a life-time tax holiday to the makers of the first viable and proven battery that can sufficiently store solar energy to power your home at night. Wind is not going to cut it folks! I'm just telling ya!

*Bring home 80% of our military personnel currently serving in Europe and Japan. The remaining 20% can "monitor the situation" just fine, thank you.

*Publicly call out every member of congress...this, the worst congress in American history...for not working together to get one single important piece of legislation passed. Then, work to set term limits.

*Strip down the Federal government's responsibilities to national defense, foreign policy, and homeland security (The supreme court will remain untouched). Everything else will fall under the jurisdiction of each of the several states.

*Halt any new legislation from the hopper until we have researched whether or not existing legislation would accomplish the same goal. Why enact new laws if we're not enforcing the ones we already have?

*Abolish the IRS.

*Adopt the gold standard.

*Enact the 5% income flat tax. This is plenty of money to cover all necessary programs and services taken on by the Federal government.

*Tell the UN to set up headquarters elsewhere.

*Discontinue billions and billions of foreign aid dollars that are just handed out like candy. If a country needs help so bad, they can ask for it. We reserve the right to say no.

*Cut all welfare and entitlement for those who can work but don't. You are endangering your family by your willingness to sit on your ass and shirk your responsibilities. Therefore, if you refuse to provide for them, your children will be removed from your "care" and placed in foster care.

*Work to only allow abortions for specific, medically-proven circumstances. This will be a compromise that I'd hate to make but fewer children killed is fewer children killed and that's the goal.

*Get out of the nation building business.

*Work to make the burning and general desecration of the U.S. Flag a crime punishable by fines and/or jail time. Look folks, I like free speech just as much as the next guy, but if you can yell "fire" in a movie theatre and get charged with inciting a riot, then you should be charged for destroying a national symbol that's proper care is clearly defined in the flag code.

*Remove all governmental influence from the bedrooms of consenting adults. If two guys or two girls want to get married, let the church make that call. It is not the job of the government to limit who can and can't get married.

*Allow each state the right to vote on legal drinking age. If they can decide their own speed limit, why not the drinking age?

*Find smoking bans unconstitutional that don't allow private businesses the right to serve both smoking and non-smoking clientele.

Then on day 101, I'm taking a nap!

What would you do?

To Raise Awareness

2008-09-03T23:21:00.004-04:00

I just cannot stand this phrase! Why? It doesn't do the cause justice.

Think about it.

You are a speaker at a Light the Night Walk, a fund raiser for leukemia & lymphoma research. You've just come down from the stage after a heart-wrenching message to families and friends of survivors about your personal experience with the bastard that is blood cancer. The audience has been touched by hearing about the people lost to this evil. They have been moved to come to this event in memory or honor of a loved one and have pledged to do and give more to fight cancer.

As you descend from the stage, a reporter approaches you with microphone in hand and asks you why this event is important. And your response is, "Oh, we just want to raise awareness about leukemia and lymphoma.

Bull Crap!

Raising awareness just means more people know about your cause. You don't just want more people to KNOW about blood cancers, you want people to get pissed off that this diabolical disease can kill loved ones. You want folks to get off the couch and donate to local, state, and federal research organizations. You want medical professionals to discover symptoms that can be detected early for disease prevention.

You don't want wives to ask husbands, "Honey, are you aware of lymphoma?". You want neighbors to band together and raise money for the Light the Night Walk and participate in this sometimes life-changing event!

Please, if asked to give a quick interview on your event, don't cheapen all of the hard work, dedication and effort you and your team put into it by copping out with, "Oh we just want to raise awareness".

Let's just be honest, you don't want to raise awareness, you want to raise money. There is nothing wrong with wanting to raise money!

Just be honest and advance your cause.

Three times Ten equals birthday!

2008-08-23T23:31:00.005-04:00

My favorite number is three. Has been ever since I knew I had a favorite number. Beyond the dozens of times that 3 appears in my life, I've discovered I also tend to categorize my favorite things into "Top 3s" rather than top 5s or 10s like most folks. For example, my Top 3 favorite foods are Pizza, Steak, and Waffles.

Today, my lovely wife made sure that I got all of my Top 3s for my 30th birthday!

Her day started at 8 in the AM. I thought she really wanted me to sleep in but she was really hard at work whipping up homemade waffles, tropical fruit, juices, and even decorated the house with balloons and party streamers for the family party later that day! I was greeted by all of this two hours later when I finally rolled out of bed.

Waffles. Check.

My parents and other immediate family arrived at our house not long after to go to Joey Fratello's Pizzeria for lunch. Joey Fratello's is a local success story around this area. The owner brought the business into a building, which had sustained flood damage, almost immediately after the record flood waters of the Blanchard River went down last August. It was a bold move especially when you consider the number of businesses that had to close up shop due to flood damage. One year later, his carry-out and eat-in business is going so well that he doesn't advertise...he doesn't have to, his restaurant is packed nearly everyday.

Pizza. Check.

After lunch, everyone came back to our place for cake and the bestowing of gifts for my major accomplishment (since when did surviving one more trip around the sun become an accomplishment? Oh well, I got presents for it). The party soon broke up and family parted ways to reconnect another time.

When dinner came around, I was sure we would be eating leftover Joey Fratello's...but no. My lovely bride mentioned that we were 2/3 of the way to a culinary tri-fecta and we were going to finish this race. Outback, here we come!

Steak. Check.

Ah, if everyday of my thirties is half this good, I'll be doing alright!

**********

If you would, please take 30 seconds to pray to the Lord God for a cure for Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia. A dear friend from my college days who is now a 28 year-old father of two very young girls was diagnosed just this week with this bastard of a disease. Please pray for him, his wife and girls, and his family and friends during this challenging time!

He Provides...

2008-08-20T22:39:00.004-04:00

So, I was unemployed for a grand total of 55 hours.

Wow!

I knew something was brewing with a good friend of mine, Fred, who owns Gridirons Gifts and Collectibles in the Findlay Village Mall but I wasn't sure when he would be ready for me to begin taking hours.

Today was the day.

I worked 7 hours with him today and I'll be catching another 13 by closing on Friday evening. So, if you are in the area and wanna stop by, please do! Gridirons doesn't yet have a shop-able website but it's under construction and should be up and running within the next two weeks.

Once the site is up and online, all shipping and handling will be free for the first month. I'm just sayin'!

I know that this gig is temporary and doesn't pay what I was making at WTOL but I choose to look at this as God's way of rewarding those who are resolved to work their way through difficult times.

I can't do it without God and He won't do it without me!

*Picture taken at Gridirons on June 1, 2008, during Troy Smith Autograph show.

A 2008 Big Ten Preview

2008-08-08T19:56:00.017-04:00

The teams that make up the Big Ten conference have a big job ahead of them. Theirs is the task of reshaping the national opinion of the Big Ten as a weak conference. What's the best way to gain the respect of college football nation? Win. Lots.

A few teams will improve on last year's record, some will continue to struggle, and still others will take a step back. Who will do what? How will the season take shape? What will the landscape look like as we prepare to go bowling? Here is my take heading into late December.

The Final 2008 Big Ten Standings.

1. OHIO STATE
8-0 12-0

Key Moments:
This team has 20 returning starters including three guaranteed first-day draft picks. OSU is loaded in most areas that matter. However, Todd Boeckman and the two receiver Brians Robiskie and Hartline are not spectacular. The Buckeyes will win what will be a great match up against USC in Los Angeles. Quarterback Mark Sanchez and a young offensive line will prove the Trojans undoing. Expect a 3 to 7 point victory for the Scarlet and Gray. Ohio State also has to travel to Camp Randall Stadium in Madison to face the only Big Ten team against whom Jim Tressel has a losing record. This will be a high energy, night game filled with back-and-forth action. The Badgers will have to survive a healthy diet of Chris "Beanie" Wells (and likely Terrelle Pryor) in order to stay within striking distance of Ohio State. This game should end with a 7 to 10 point victory for OSU. Will Jim Tressel increase his BCS Championship Game record to 2-2?

Bowl Game:
BCS National Championship Game (against Oklahoma, USC, or Georgia)

2. WISCONSIN
7-1 11-1

Key Moments:
To borrow a line from my favorite movie, Bret Bielema "doesn't suffer fools nor strikes a bargain with one". He knows what it takes to follow in the footsteps of Barry Alvarez; a man who took a program when it wasn't and made it into (according to SI) the Number one college football town in the country. Wisconsin is one of the few Big Ten schools to have successful records against SEC teams in the last 10 years and this focus on winning will not lax this year. Their only loss this season will come at the hands of the Ohio State Buckeyes in Madison. UW has incredible depth in a backfield that is led by P.J. Hill. Hill is cast in a similar mold as that of Ron Dayne; a big, bruising back who punishes those who come to tackle him. On Wisconsin.

Bowl Game:
BCS Rose Bowl (against USC, Oregon, or UCLA)

3. PENN STATE
5-3 8-4

Key Moments:
The Nittany Lions will show improvement over last years' conference record of 4-4. JoePa's team should bring a good air attack and a competitive rushing game. PSU's biggest emotional victory will be against a rebuilding and restructuring Michigan team while the biggest win of real consequence will come in South Bend against Charlie Weis and Notre Dame. And, yes, someone somewhere will wonder if this is JoePa's last season.

Bowl Game:
Capital One Bowl (against some SEC team that will win pretty handily)

4. ILLINOIS
5-3 8-4

Key Moments:
Gone is the back who allowed Ron Zook's spread offense to work so well, Rashard Mendenhall. J Lehman has exited the middle of the Illini linebacking core. Isaiah "Juice" Williams will continue to be a legit dual-threat signal caller but I see this team taking a step backwards this season due to the lacking ability to fill those voids. Illinois' biggest win will be in Happy Valley on September 27th but will suffer at the hands of Michigan, Wisconsin, and OSU. Faith in Ron Zook is well placed nonetheless because he knows how to recruit. So this down time will not last long.

Bowl Game:
The Outback Bowl (Save me a bloomin' onion)

5. MICHIGAN
4-3 8-4

Key Moments:
Rich Rodriguez's first year at Michigan will not be as bad as some have predicted as he'll score one more win than his counterpart in Columbus during his first campaign. Their similarities continue as RichRod must re-tune a group of instruments who are used to playing the song "three yards and a cloud of dust" into an orchestra blarring "catch me in open space if you can". This transition will take time to become fully incorporated as Michigan has few key returners. The number one pick in the 2008 NFL Draft Jake Long, Chad Henne, Mike Hart, Mario Manningham, and Shawn Crable are all gone. Should I mention Justin Boren? Maybe not. ***Upset Alert***Look for another first game loss this year as Utah comes to the Big House and stuns the winged helmets.

Bowl Game:
The Insight Bowl (college football's answer to Hollywood's, "Dude, Where's My Car")

6. MICHIGAN STATE
4-4 7-5

Key Moments:
Mark D'antonio has learned quite a bit from one year ago and Devon Ringer is still running strong. Those of you in Michigan have circled October 25th on your calendar. This is the game that I had the most difficulty calling. In a very close, likely overtime featuring game, I'm expecting the green and white to fall in the Big House in what amounts to the biggest rivalry game for State. It looks like this year will be one of those most typical for East Lansing...start 5-0 then inexplicably coming apart.

Bowl Game:
The Alamo Bowl (don't forget it)

7. PURDUE
4-4 7-5

Key Moments:
Revel in QB Curtis Painter and Head Coach Joe Tiller for one more year, boys and girls. Painter will be one of the top three Quarterbacks in terms of pass efficiency and passing yards in the Big Ten this year. It's too bad he has few targets to get the ball to. Purdue's biggest game will also take place in South Bend and it will be a close one. Actually I'm not entirely sold on Notre Dame losing this game especially if QB Jimmy Clausen is as good as he is hyped to be. Thankfully, PU doesn't play Wisconsin this year otherwise they would be registering three losses to the conferences historically top teams; Michigan, Ohio State, and the Badgers. Bang that big bass drum like there is no tomorrow for the old gold and black...that should lift your spirits.

Bowl Game:
Champs Sports Bowl (the winning team to receive a $50 gift card to Champs Sports)

8. NORTHWESTERN
2-6 6-6

Key Moments:
The Wildcats will have one of the three best backfields in the conference running free this year. However, don't look for great things out of the purple and white's defensive unit. Tyrell Sutton and QB C.J. Bacher will do what they can to bring a bowl game appearance to Evanston, IL (which will be enough to defeat Iowa in Iowa City on September 27th). If Iowa can survive Pittsburgh, NU will be staying home this December. If not, a confident Sutton will run this team to a bowl game. It's too bad football games are not won by G.P.A. These guys would be National Champions every year!

Bowl Game:
Motor City Bowl

9. INDIANA
2-6 5-7

Key Moments:
Last year, this team drew strength from each other after their head coach Terry Hoeppner died of cancer mid-season. His mantra, "play 13" became a source of motivation for the crimson and cream to reach their first bowl game since 1993 (during the Antwaan Randle El era). After a field goal in the last 30 seconds of their final game against Purdue, the dream was a reality as they won a spot in the Insight Bowl against Oklahoma State. They lost that game and it appears that the loss of momentum will carry over into this season. While the Hoosiers return RB Marcus Thigpen and QB Kellen Lewis, this team says goodbye to star receiver speedy James Hardy. This brings their three-dimensional offense down to 2-D. ***Upset Alert*** Ball State will be an interesting game in Bloomington on September 20. Good luck, IU, you'll need it.

Bowl Game:
NA

10. IOWA
2-6 4-8*

Key Moments:
The bright spot for Kirk Ferentz's team this year is the non-conference schedule. The bad news is the rest of the entire conference schedule save for Indiana and Minnesota. Even the Cyclones of Iowa State will have the Hawkeye's number in this year's rivalry game. It's a good thing the black and yellow plays the likes of Maine, Florida International. ***Upset Alert*** Pittsburgh will likely win their match up on September 20.

Bowl Game:
Toilet Bowl brought to you by Kohler

11. MINNESOTA
0-8 3-9

Key Moments:
A new outdoor stadium.

Bowl Game:
Where should we go for Christmas this year, kids?

Is the Environment finally winning?

2008-06-26T21:42:00.007-04:00

Depends on who you ask.

Perhaps the better question is, "Are the Environmentalists finally winning?"

Every time you turn on the television there is another company, brand, or famous person proclaiming the benefits of "going green". While this is not a new occurrence, the shear number of said happenings is staggering these days. What is even more staggering is the reason for what you're seeing on TV. But more on that later.

When I say "winning" what do I mean? The environmentalist movement has been battling for your heart and mind since the 60s. Up until recently the battle has been, for the most part, uphill. Sure there have been some aerosol victories here and there. Yes, recycling is a big hit. Now, tuna is dolphin safe. But on the whole environmentalism has not been a major consideration in popular opinion. They have banged their drum, we have stopped to notice, and then returned to our lives unaffected.

I hearken you back to the years of "Save the Planet". A fair attempt by hippies to persuade the masses to take protective action on behalf of mother earth. This initiative fell short of a ground swell response. The main reason: too much scolding not enough sense-making. The populous was tired of being brow-beaten for all of the world's ills and was completely turned off to the message. With no one to listen to them, the beatniks beat it.

Then came the global cooling scare of the 1970s. Yep, for a few short years the natural community stepped to the plate wielding this little beauty. But this too, like so many other plights, failed to resonate with the vast majority of the American public. This time, the problem and its solution seemed too daunting for any one person to do anything about. A sentiment that is correct on so many levels. The activists got the point and shut up.

Lest we forget the hole in the o-zone layer of the late 1980s and early 90s. I swear when I was in sixth grade I was convinced that all of the girls in my youth group were guilty of my impending death thanks to the pounds of Aqua-net they put in their hair. I was sure I would be killed by skin cancer before my 12th birthday. That and Antarctica would be gone by the time I learned to drive. Of course neither happened. Few listened and the messengers got quiet.

The early 2000s brought a new message of mass hysteria. This time it was global warming. Probably the most formidable dreck of propaganda to date thanks in no small way to the ever stimulating wordsmith himself Al Gore and his wildly popular mockumentary, "An Inconvenient Truth". Top that off with the IPCC's findings that man was responsible for the degradation of the climate (imagine that) and you've got a massive campaign that could really make people freak...I mean think.

But this scheme too would fall victim to the truth. If the temperature isn't rising everywhere, then it can't be global warming. It's not so it isn't. Also, you can't swing a cat these days without hitting a scientist who has removed his/her name from the report thanks to it's wildly irresponsible accusations and highly speculative "scientific statistics and figures". As had all the others, this rallying cry too went silent.

However "global warming" morphed to "climate change " which is no better seeing as it is an oxymoron. Redundant if you will (and I will). The climate has always been in a constant state of change and it will be that way until Earth no longer exists (most scientists believe this will happen when the sun expands and swallows Mercury, Venus and Earth in several billion years).

Try as they might, the tree huggers are losing. That is until now.

There is one message from the environmentalist movement that is markedly different than all the others. This one refrains from placing blame on mankind. The marketing machine has not gone the way of a crying Native American standing on a roadside that is littered with garbage. No, my friends, this grass roots campaign has swept through the country and has not lost its steam. It is changing the way we live, the way we think, and the way we raise our children. What is this message?

It is two words: "Energy Efficient".

These two words are reverberating in American ears unlike any other Sierra Club attempt. Even the mildly popular "Go Green" can't top the massive response to changing the way we use, produce, and store energy. Car manufacturers are shutting down SUV and truck assembly plants and cranking out 2 and four-door sedans and smaller, more fuel efficient hybrids. Solar energy has more R&D money flowing into it than ever before.

Even oil companies such as BP and Marathon are researching new technologies for alternative energy sources as well as how to use different types of crude that we can't yet get to.

People are shutting off lights when leaving rooms and putting their work computers on standby when going to lunch. More and more folks are buying more fuel efficient cars or are plugging into mass transit systems. Motorcycle sales have skyrocketed in recent months and not since Plymouth Rock has corn played such an important role in the future of this country. Neighborhoods are featuring more and more bike riders every week.

Without "Energy Efficient" we would have never heard of E-85 or bio diesel let alone hybrid. Why even the car that runs on water is showing some promise in laboratory testing.

With this newly found sense of pride in reducing, reusing and recycling you would think that the green crowd would be thrusting their fists in the air in triumph.

While a few are, the rest know the dirty little secret to all of this success and it has nothing to do with wanting to save the polar bears or heal the earth.

What's the only reason for all of the environmental awareness?

Finally, after forty years of being told how bad we are and how costly it is going to be to fix the planet, it is actually saving you green to go green.

And that's the truth...no matter who you ask!

Super Delegates...Why?

2008-04-25T12:35:00.003-04:00

If the Democratic party's super delegates can vote anyway they deem necessary, why let the people voice their opinion in primaries and caucuses? Doesn't it seem like a waste of time to tell people, "your vote matters", when in actuality, it doesn't?

Couldn't the same be said for the electoral college?

Do these two voting collectives need abolished?

Just be a Follower

2008-03-27T22:03:00.004-04:00

In the broadcast industry, the time in between news shows is usually slow. The studio lights are off, the cameras have been pushed to the back wall, and the buzz of the people in the newsroom has dulled to a low hum. You can still hear a phone or two ringing, but the operation speed of the newsroom has declined by a great deal.

It is during these times that I have the opportunity to read e-mail, surf the Internet for fun mini-vacation ideas, check bank account statements, watch TV, or call family and friends to catch up on life and their little corner of the world. I also like to take these few hours to think, meditate on and read God's Word (via the Internet), and pray...not nearly as much as I should, however.

Several months ago I was sitting at my desk in between the 6 and 11 o'clock shows; I believe it was a Saturday evening. I was recalling a conversation I had with a dear friend of mine on benevolence. The simple act of giving. I remember discussing how different churches use the offering and which of these practices made no sense. For example, continuing to pay a youth minister when the vast majority of the congregation wasn't happy with the quality of his work. To dish out more and more of your congregants money like this is maddening! There are much more productive ways to use weekly contributions than that!

I'm not sure why, but after recounting that conversation my mind took flight. I began a series of thoughts along the lines of "If I Could Just be a Christian". My brain raced with all sorts of ideas of how Amy and I could spend our time if all we had to be concerned with was simply being Christ's followers. Of all the possibilities, my mind and heart came together solidly on one.

If I Could Just be a Christian I would work to bring the Bible, appropriately translated, to every nation in the world. That's it! If we didn't have to worry about providing money, health, security, safety, and a future to our families this is what I would do.

It sounds daunting. It sounds insurmountable. It sounds impossible. I know.

I once heard a joke that went, "You wanna make God laugh...tell Him your plans". I must have had the Almighty Creator of the Cosmos rolling out of His desk chair and on to the golden street outside of Heaven's Gates when he heard me think like that.

But what a mission that would be! The hours spent tracking down translators of rare languages, planning and coordinating with a church body in the host country, building relationships with its people, praying over the work and letting God have full control. Knowing that all the while you toil it is only God's grace and mercy that will give the increase.

That is truly living!

Imagine accompanying each and every delivery of God's saving Word to the people of a land controlled by tyrannical governments. Seeing the faces of those who are, at that very moment, braving pain of death just to have the chance to read their own copy of the New Testament would be almost too much to witness. Knowing not a single word of their native tongue but speaking Christs' love just by holding the hands of these brothers and sisters in Christ as ear-to-ear smiles go unceasing... talk about having a purpose!

I will likely never get that chance but...

If I Could Just be a Christian, I would take a translated Bible to every nation in the world.

What would you do?

Kwestions by Kenny Part II

2008-03-25T21:26:00.007-04:00

Kenny Simpson, over at his blog, FootBaskTrack Coach has asked for opinions on whether or not the words of Rev. Wright have hurt Barack Obama's campaign. I responded on his site with only minor changes from what you'll read below. Join in on the discussion if you like.

____________________________________________________

Yes, Wright hurt him. I also think that Obama hurt himself.

While Obama did try and distance himself from Wright's comments somewhat, he did concede that "the anger is still there"...meaning the black community is still angry. In my view, this comment has done just as much damage do his campaign as the comments from Rev. Wright and I'll tell you why.

There is one key demographic that outshines all others in voter turnout and that is the white male. This article carefully and dutifully points out that this demographic is not racist but

"annoyed and disappointed when people of certain backgrounds exhibit behavior
that typifies the worst stereotypes of their race".

Let me point out that I do not think Obama typifies the worst stereotype of a black American. However, what you will find is the "Angry White Man" will be immediately turned off when he hears a rich, educated, accomplished black man say that "the anger is still there".

The "Angry White Man" will sit steaming red-faced as these words roll off the tongue of an affluent, Chicago-area lawyer who threw his maternal Grandmother under the bus last week when he said that in essence "white women are bred to be scared of young black men". Here is the full quote:

"... .. The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any
racial animosity. She doesn't. But she is a typical white person who, uh, if she
sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know there's a reaction that's been
been bred into our experiences that don't go away and that sometimes come out in
the wrong way and that's just the nature of race in our society. We have to
break through it..."

- Senator Barack Obama

I wished that race would not have been an issue in this campaign season (because it's not an issue) but the Democrats have let it be such.

I openly welcome the rebuttal of anyone who disagrees with me. I hope that, by listening to each other's point of view, we as Americans will learn to respect one another... which will bring us closer to true unity.

I will leave you with one final thought.

I hope you, dear reader, will check out http://www.tucc.org/ and look at the "About Us" section. Please read their 10-point vision for the black value system, read about their unconditional commitment to a black worship service, and read the words that say "black religious experience".

Then ask yourself...

Would this website be viewed in the same light if it was for a "white" church?

Kwestions by Kenny

2008-02-26T23:55:00.004-05:00

Questions, questions, three bags full.

Kenny has posed some interesting questions on his site about which he sincerely wants to know his readers opinions.

The topics were Universal health care, the Presidential election, and the War in Iraq. These are all very important issues facing every American today and I think it shouldn't come as a big surprise that I have an abbreviated, public knowledge opinion on all three. ;)

Universal health care:

The thought is admirable. It's human kindness at its core. Every American should have some form of health care. On principle, you've got no argument from me.

Execution, however, is a different story.

I'm not going to pretend I know what is wrong with the current system nor do I know exactly what will heal its terrible ills. I will tell you that if you want to know if universal health care is a good idea, look at the countries that have it/have tried it. For the most part, they hate it. It takes too long to see a doctor for something that should be routine (I heard a lady from Canada call into a radio show and say her next Dr's appointment is in 15 months), a diagnosis takes four times as long as it should, and the taxes levied to pay for it all are outrageous!

It is no secret that, if given the choice, the population of the world would get their health care from America and it's not hard to see why. We have, likely, the best quality doctors, surgeons, equipment, and research facilities in the modern world. The cost for wellness visits is relatively low. Affordable health insurance, apart from what you hear on the network news, is more available than you might believe for anyone who is gainfully employed, disabled, retired, or has links to the military. Hell, even the poor who can't work have health care (medicaid). By and large, the only folks who don't have it are those who also don't have jobs because they don't want to work [I understand that there may be exceptions to this].

Ultimately, I think the same pitfalls that got Social Security in the downward spiral from which there is little hope of escape will likely be the same that will crush universal health care if it is tried in America.

I'll tell you what, you figure out a way to give every American health care without my having to pay for it (directly or indirectly) AND prove that the quality of care is just as good or better than it is now, and I'll vote for it.

Good luck with that one.

War in Iraq:

My brother fought in it. I was sick for 14 months until he came home in one piece.

Simple plan - as soon as the Iraqi government can police, govern, and protect itself, 100% of American forces should immediately exit the country.

The troop surge obviously worked. Therefore, we should be moving towards a more expedient end to this conflict. God, I hope so.

Presidential Election:

If Hillary wins the candidacy she'll lose to McCain in a roast. No question.

If Obama wins the Dem's ticket, he'll be the second black president of these United States.

Level 2 Audio Launches New Website

2008-02-22T16:28:00.007-05:00

Mark, your website never sounded so good!

My friends over at Level 2 Audio in Perrysburg, Ohio have just launched their new website! The new look is fresh, snazzy and modern while the sound is crisp, clear, and sharp. Phenomenal work L2A!

I've had the honor and privilege of working with Mark Reiter over at L2A to do voice/voiceover work for roughly a year and a half. Mark truly is a talent's director. He knows the quality of which you are capable and understands exactly how to instruct you to get the most out of your read. As one of the other voice talents has said, "Mark is bi-lingual. He speaks "talent" and "director".

Mark is also one of the kindest people in the communication business. He lives and works by a set of ethical guidelines not created by man, but given through Divine providence by the Creator. It is a joy to work with someone who shares your belief system and who isn't ashamed to do so.

So, if you'd like to check out the new site, just follow this link. And if you're curious, click "voice talent". You're sure to find a familiar voice. :)

Photo Courtesy: zzounds.com

Employment Red Flags

2008-02-21T19:40:00.007-05:00

"I got your back".

I'm not going to get into the grammatical complications but you get the idea.

Sounds like many of my friends are beginning the process of looking for new jobs. Let me just say before this goes any further that I wish you the best of luck in your search. A few folks are diving into their stacks of business cards to find new leads or are jumping into resources like LinkedIn.com to get that networking ball rolling. Many still have decided to try their hand at searching the job postings on sites like Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com.

While I don't blame many of you for wanting to get out of dodge and on to much better working conditions, I must warn you that there are some very cheap, nasty, and conniving posts you'll likely run into on these job sites. These things might not necessarily be illegal but they should definitely have you seeing red flags that this job opening might not be for you...no matter how unbelievable it sounds. I know; I've looked...and what I found online was nothing short of extraordinary!

Here are some red flags I found myself online:

Seeing the same company listing multiple openings on more than three job sites. This should tell you that they aren't too picky about who they hire just as long as they find someone to fill the spot. Do you want to be treated like a prized employee or the quickest patch job in the west? This should also make you wonder about the opening itself. I mean, really, if it was such a highly sought-after and important spot, would it need to be listed so much?

Discovering that the company president is 33 years old. Run the other way. Likely what you have run across is a recent graduate of a pyramid company who has just opened up his new digs and is looking for anyone to beat the pavement selling coupons door-to-door and calling it a "marketing opportunity".

The educational criteria is listed as "High School or equivalent". Now, do not misunderstand me on this one. Everyone deserves to find a good job no matter their educational level. However, all of my friends have completed four-year degrees or higher so, in this case, you know from the get go that you are over-qualified for whatever this job posting might be offering. I don't care if the listing guarantees "rapid advancement from within", you don't want what they are selling. Leave this one alone!

The listing reminds you that all interviews are professional dress. For those of you who are not yet laughing at the absurdity, if you have to remind the applicant that you wear nice things to an interview, the job isn't that desirable (and neither is the applicant).

As it turns out, the best way to get your foot in the door of your dream company is still the old adage, "It's not what you know, it's who you know". Those with the best, largest networks tend to get the interviews. So talk up your friends and business contacts and ask them to keep their ears to the ground for employment rumblings in the department of your interest. You never know who went to church with whom years ago or who was college buddies with the CEO. It pays to have friends on the inside, sometimes.

In any event, good luck with your job searching.

And, if it's any help, I have your back. ;)

Wrap Your Head Around This...

2008-02-17T13:09:00.003-05:00

"You can be morally clean without Christ but, in your self-righteousness, you
are filthy".

I heard this in church this morning and its impact has yet to wear off.

Valentine's Day in Africa

2008-02-16T12:01:00.012-05:00

BEYOND EXPECTATIONS

Amidst the snow-covered tundra of Sandusky, Ohio is nestled a summer getaway unlike any we've ever known. It is a vast, family playground where you are wisked away to the mysterious lands in Africa without ever leaving the Buckeye State. Yet this is no desert. Here, the waterfalls flow regardless of the rainy season. Here, the wave pools, tube slides, and speed slides don't close down for the winter. It is the next best thing to Disney's Wilderness Lodge without actually being in Florida. It is a place beyond your expectations, beyond your imagination, and beyond seasonal limitations. It is Kalahari Water Park and Resort.

Kalahari Water Park and Resort boasts the largest indoor water park in the United States and boy, are they proud of it! Amy and I decided to go up for our first visit to this fascinating water wonderland to celebrate our first Valentine's Day together (sadly, we've been separated by distance for every Valentine's Day prior). We couldn't have asked for a more enjoyable experience!

We arrived Thursday evening just in time to catch dinner at Kahunaville Restaurant and Bar. It continues the African theme in decor but infuses Las Vegas style entertainment like live stage shows and music (all family-friendly). We were surprised to be seated in their V.I.P. hut which reminded us of a combination nomadic yet luxurious tent you'd find in the Sahara -and- a bamboo version of Swiss Family Robinson's Tree House. We were incredibly lucky to have been seated there as the hut-like tent only featured two tables. We were very hungry so we ordered quickly then took the time to survey the rest of the restaurant. As we waited, the DJ was holding a kid's limbo contest on the stage and everyone seemed to really be having a great time.

After dinner, we slipped into our swimming digs and made our way downstairs for an abbreviated jaunt in the water park. After trying out a few tube slides, the Lazy River (#1 on the park map) , and the Wave Pool (#18), the park closed to all guests except for the four folks who had paid for Flow Rider lessons. It is this monster, quarter-pipe wave machine which throws a sliver of rushing water just a half an inch deep right under your feet. Sounds kind of intimidating at first but if you wanna learn how to body board, boogy board or even surf, this is the place to try. Flow Rider lessons are an additional cost to your water park admission but if you are the adventurous type, it is well worth the $30.00/person.

I asked Amy if she would like to give it a try first and initially accepted. Sanity got the better of her, however, and she opted to wait and go after her brave yet more so ignorant husband. Each lesson is 90 minutes in length and after your first five minutes, the instructors start teaching you tricks. Amy was smart and just stuck to riding the wave, trying not to fall off. She got thrown off the first time down the wave and suffered a few bruises as a result but she was a trooper and went back for more. She found her groove that second trip down, but at the end of her ride got thrown back to the top of the pipe again and called it quits. Gotta love her, bruises and all, she kept her smile!

The Flow Rider (#14) was not kind to me either. It gave me a small (well, I wouldn't call it a gash but it's the only word I can come up with right now) gash on my foot after one ride came to a particularly violent end. At one point, the raging torrent nearly claimed my bathing suit as a war trophy. Thankfully, I was able to keep my head and my shorts about me.

I did have some Flow Rider successes though. I was able to pull off some tricks thanks to the instructors' guidance. The first trick is when laying on the board, push the board straight out in front of you and, like a yo-yo, the force of the on-coming water will rush it right back under you. You can also learn to go from laying down to pushing yourself up to your knees and riding the wave that way. Finally, the most difficult trick I was able to land was a barrel roll. I was more successful rolling to my left than to the right but in any event I barrel rolled three times. The fourth attempt did not pan out so well (that's when I almost lost my trunks).

I called it quits shortly after that because I was getting a headache from being thrown around and slammed by the rapids. Overall, it was a great experience and I'm glad Amy and I got to share it.

The next day was filled with water slides, both family and doubles style, wave pools, lazy rivers, speed slides, and (because Amy would like to know if she would recommend Kalahari to her students and their families) a quick stroll through the kiddie portion of the park called Lepard's Lair (#9). It's a very elaborate little complex that reminds me of the playground equipment I used to play on at recess but it incorporates two water slides and a host of ways you can get other park goers soaked. Surprisingly, the parents had just as much fun as the youngsters because they get to experience the Lair WITH their children. Nice idea!

One of the coolest rides at the park is the Zip Coaster (#8) . It is not a completely aqua-powered log coaster (read = like Disney's Crushin' Gusher) but is almost just as fun. It is fast, completely enclosed at times, and gives you the sensation of being on a real, wooden roller coaster from Cedar Point. The line moved pretty quickly and the ride is worth the wait. The only draw back is that it seems to break down periodically.

The other very neat experience that stands out is one of the family-style flume rides called the Swahili Swirl (#19). It seats 2 or 4 people and starts you off in the darkness of the tube. Then, it drops off without warning to gain speed. Finally, it shoots you out into this expansive, 60 foot diameter bowl that swirls you round and round, then funnels you through the tube in the middle of the bowl that empties into the tide pool at the end. The extra thril of the ride is seeing how many times you can swirl around the bowl before being dumped through the center. It is a fantastic ride that had both Amy and me laughing from the get go and didn't stop until they made us get out of the raft.

Kalahari is more than a water park as it offers convention and meeting space as well as other options for land-based fun. If Amy and I have our way, we'll definately be back!

Thank you, Kalahari, for the most fun we've had on Valentine's Day!

It was Beyond our Expectation!

Baseball's Finest Hour

2008-02-13T21:20:00.005-05:00

This is likely the only post you'll ever see me write concerning major league baseball. Today, Brian McNamee and Roger Clemens testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Each tried to explain his role, or lack there of, in baseball's rampant steroid problem. It was a long time coming for many baseball fans or for anyone who has followed the sports news these past two months.

I'd just like to say this - what has this become? If Roger Clemens is being tried for something, charge him, cuff him, and bring him before a judge and a jury of his peers. A house committee hearing is not the place to publically convict any citizen of these United States for anything! Regardless of Clemens' guilt or innocence, don't create a media/congressional circus from which there is no escape.

Further more, Roger...don't take the bait! I'm sure you were advised by your council as to what you'd be stepping in front of. You had to know you were going into a situation that, whatever the outcome, your name would never come out as clean as it may have gone in. If you still insist on proving your innocence, do so in a court of law where you can confront your accusers and where the examination of evidence can take place under due process.

My opinion of Clemens' guilt/innocence doesn't matter to my point here. You may have already made up your mind about McNamee, Clemens, Pettitte, et al and that is your right to do so. But suspend your opinions for just a moment.

Would you, had you been in either man's place, have done what they did or would you have pled the fifth and gotten out of dodge?

Photo courtesy: The Associated Press

An Unsinkable Survey

2008-01-30T21:26:00.000-05:00

I apologise for the survey but I was tagged because I lurked!

1. Do you wear a name tag at work? Nope, but my name pops up at the bottom of the screen when I'm on.

2. What kind of car do you drive? a 2000 Ford Explorer Sport

3. What do you order when you go to Taco Bell? Usually the meal that has three tacos and a drink. I now it sounds boring but when I add my cheesy fiesta potatoes and nachoes it becomes the cheapest way for Taco Bell food to fill me up.

4. Have you ever had a garage sale? Yep, growing up we had a few at home. I have held two at church to benefit the teens. I'll never do it again!

5. What color is your iPod? I'm a 29 year-old who doesn't feel the need to carry his music around with him wherever he goes.

6. What kind of dog do you have? That's kind of presumptious ain't it?

7. What's for dinner tonight? Margarettia Grill. It's a quick mexican joint for which we often get GREAT coupons!

8. What is the last alcoholic beverage you had? This Mountaineer Brewing Co. beer called Nut Brown Ale. FANTASTIC! Could be my new favorite beer of all time! Sorry Shiner.

9. Stupidest thing you ever did with your cell phone? Took pictures of me burning my expired contract with my first TV station. I was paid $15,000 a year. It was stupid because I made myself work for that little.

10. Last time you were sick? About two months ago. Ailing throats and me don't get along very well. At the first twinge or difficult swallow I'm at the doctor. I just can't afford to call in sick thanks to my job. Stupid live television.

11. How long is your hair? About as long as my consultant/talent coach will let me have it.

12. Are you happy right now? About what?

13. What did you say last? "And go to sleep you will". Amy is currently asleep on the couch behind me.

14. Who came over last? Thad. He came to patch up some dry wall in our guest room.

16. Have your brothers or sisters ever told you that you were adopted? Yep. But in my family that can be pretty believable since no one really looks like anyone else. That is, until my little brother came along. He and I are the only ones who look even remotely related.

17. What is your favorite key chain on your keys? The one that says "Canterbury". My sister-in-law got one for each of us when she went to Canterbury, England.

18. What was the last movie you watched at home? The Princess Bride. I especially like the bonus featurettes on Andre the Giant. I almost cry everytime he is asked if he liked working on the movie and he answers without hesitation, "Yes, because here no one stares at me".

19. What is in your pocket? Nothing. My pajama pockets don't get much action.

20. Who introduced you to your crush? My sister. She asked me if I was going to be attending my little brother's football game that night to which I replied in the affirmative. She responded, "Good. Because I'm introducing you to your wife tonight". She was right.

21. Where do you hurt? My tongue. No lie. I get these crazy aggressive canker soars on all tissues in my mouth. Right now I have some weird one on the left side of my tongue and it scrapes along my teeth when I talk.

22. Has someone ever made you a Build-A-Bear? Nope.

23. What DVD is in your DVD player? A Disney vacation planning DVD, Disc 2 of season 7 of M*A*S*H, The Princess Bride, and the bonus disc to POTC:The Curse of the Black Pearl.

24. What's something fun you did today? I blogged about our trip to the Cast Iron Cook-off. See below.

25. Who was the principal of your high school? I don't remember. Orr I think.

26. Has your house ever been TPd? Yep.

27. What do you think of when you hear the word 'meow'? Probably that stupid cat food commercial where the cats sing.

28. What are you listening to right now? The humming of the furnace and the laptop. Amy isn't snoring yet.

29. Drinkin? Nothing at the moment. Hot Apple Cider when I get finished here.

30. What is your favorite aisle at Wal-Mart? Like most men...it is the one I'm searching for at the moment. The sooner I find it, the sooner I can get the heck out of here.

31. When is your birthday? You're asking because you forgot it last year. August 23rd.

32. What's the area code for your cell phone? They didn't give me one.

33. Where did you buy the shirt you're wearing now? It was given to me while I was working a Celebrity Wait at the Texas Roadhouse to benefit CASA.

34. Is there anything hanging from your rear view mirror? Yep. My college tassel and a necklace given to me by one of my former teens that she got in Hawaii.

35. How many states in the US have you been to? Not as many as I'd like.

37. What are you going to do after this? Apple Cider, duh! Boy you have a short memory.

38. Who was the last person you went shopping with? Amy. She is the world's best shopper because she will buy nothing at full price. NOTHING! Everything MUST be on sale. I love her!

40. What about your favorite dessert? What about it? You wanna make something of it?

41. What is something you need to go shopping for? My next Ohio State DVD.

42. Do you have the same name as one of your relatives? Yes. I was named after both of my grandfathers. My first name is my Dad's dad's name and my middle name is my Mom's dad's name.

43. What kind of car do your siblings drive? Good gravy, I don't know. I have five siblings, three of whom are married, and a few have college-aged offspring (...come out and play...) of their own. Do you KNOW how many cars that is?

44. Do you like pickles? Yep. Just point me to the pickle tray and I'll be a happy camper.

45. What about olives? Olive oil = yes. Olives = no.

47. What is your favorite kind of juice? 100% Cranberry. Either that or grape.

48. Do you have any tan lines? That assumes I have any color at all. Hello?! It is winter.....in OHIO...

49. What hospital were you born in? Grant Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

50. Do you remember the name of your kindergarten teacher? Mrs. Formals. She rocked!

Wine, Knives, and the Whole Hog

2008-01-30T13:10:00.000-05:00

We are truly blessed!

Amy and I had a grand time at the 2008 Cast Iron Cook-Off and we have the Collaborative for the 21st Century Appalachia to thank for it!

The Welcome Reception on Friday evening was the perfect lead-in to the weekend's events. Everyone gathered in the rustic lobby of the Stonewall Resort Lodge with glass in hand to toast the reunion of old friends and celebrate the meeting of new ones. We walked into the mass of humanity centered near the over sized fireplace and almost immediately connected with Dr. Allen Arnold, the director of the 21C. He could not contain his joy that the event had finally come nor his excitement for the grandiose pork-processional which we were about to witness. After glad-handing a few more dear friends including Executive Chef Dale Hawkins, Nancy Bulla, my co-emcee for the weekend, and Dr. Elaine Bowen, the brass and strings proclaimed the arrival of a whole hog, cooked and ready to be carved.

No head nor apple but he was carried by four chefs from the kitchen through the lodge foyer and into the ballroom. Everybody cheered and raised their glasses! It was a sight that's equal I've yet to encounter. We were instructed to follow the hog where we were greeted by candle lit tables and an Appalachian buffet with a hint of down home hospitality. Everyone loved it!

Following dinner, Nancy and I grabbed our microphones and jumped into our jobs with both feet. We introduced the judges for the weekend and the teams and chef who would compete the next day. As each head chef was announced, each team member was introduced then given a chef's coat to wear during the cook-off. I have to admit I always get a little jealous when it's coat time.

To my surprise, Nancy and I were both given snazzy Cast Iron chefs jackets as well! Truth be told, it was not total surprise because I had remarked just days before that it would be nice to have the Emcees wear some official looking 21C clothing. It would allow us to stand out as 21C representatives. It was agreed that it would make a great addition to our station and I thought we might get chefs coats but didn't think it possible so close to the event.

Thankfully, I was wrong. ;)

The Cook-off started promptly at 10:00 the next morning after Amy and I had a quick breakfast of pastries, muffins, and juices. Off she went to her massage treatment and some luxurious pool time while I entered West Virginia's version of Kitchen Stadium. Staggered throughout the morning/midday, 14 teams of Gastro-gladiators walked, scurried, or danced their way into the hour long battle. The prize: dethroning the two-time Grand Champions, Team Provence Market (headed by Chef Anne Hart) and becoming Grand Champion.

With every whisk, chop, puree, and glaze Nancy and I were there calling the action and chatting up some "did-you-knows" about cast iron, our judges, or anything else we thought interesting to keep the nearly 6-hour competition running at high energy. With every fry, saute, steep, and sear the competitors shared smiles, laughs, and songs as they worked to create a New Appalachian menu with time-honored tools and methods. If they felt the pressure of winning they didn't show it. There was so much hootin' and hollerin' that one would have thought he/she had entered a mountain family reunion by mistake.

Meanwhile, Amy would check in a time or two to see how everything was going. After a quick jaunt around the working stations, she'd be off to take advantage of Stonewall's little known secret; the Library. A cozy place complete with fireplace, extra comfy furniture, soft lighting, and walls of books, the library is quaint. We both enjoy it's quiet reprieve from the frantic pace of the cook-off. It's a wonderful place to take off your shoes, wrap your feet under your "seat" and curl up with someone you love beside the fire and read...or sleep...or just zone out.

After the cook-off, we made way to T.J. Muskies for lunch. This is Stonewall's rendition of a rustic, fireside bar, grill, and billiards hall all rolled into one. The mood is relaxed and the food is familiar. We snagged a table for two by the screened-in fire pit and devoured an overdue midday meal. We each had our Stonewall favorites: Amy loves to order the Appalachian Egg Rolls as an appetizer and I had the Fried Green Tomato B.L.T. This was the first creations of Dale's that after having done a segment about it on TV, I went home and tried immediately. As I recall, I made it for Amy when she came in for a visit while we were still dating.

At the end of the day, all of the teams, chefs, judges, and friends returned to the ballroom for a 5 course wine pairing dinner prepared by Chef Dale and his staff. Every plate was teaming with fresh produce, locally raised proteins, and Appalachian love. I'd have to say that is what makes Dale's recipes stand out: his love of food and his friends.

You can probably deduce that after 5 different glasses of wine to be had, some didn't treat the proceeding awards ceremony with exactly the same level of composure as they did the meal. Appropriate or not, it wasn't hard to tell that everyone was having a good time! Especially the newly crowned Grand Champions! Congratulations to Chef Hans Friedman and the rest of Team Lightburn's for their well-earned victory!

Something tells me that they'll be back next year to defend the title. And, as long as the welcome mat is out, the Canterburys will be back at the Cook-off with bells on!

Photos Courtesy: The Media Center

Ladies and Gentlemen, Fire Up Those Grills!

2008-01-21T23:05:00.000-05:00

Cast iron chefs do battle this weekend!

No, this is not Food Network's wildly popular version of Japan's Iron Chef TV show. I'm talking about the 3rd Annual Cast Iron Cook-Off taking place at Stonewall Resort in Roanoke, WV on Saturday. Amy and I will be there and we can't wait!

This event is the brain-child of a dear friend along side whom I had the pleasure of working during my WDTV days, the Executive Chef of Stonewall Resort, Dale Hawkins. As the man in charge of all of the food enjoyed by resort guests, Dale has a passion for the locally grown produce and farm raised protein used in his restaurants. So zealous is his passion that he, along with several other like-minded folks in the hospitality and agriculture industries, introduced the world to the Collaborative for the 21st Century Appalachia - a non-profit organization dedicated to developing and providing programs that connect local farmers and growers to chefs and consumers while invoking the storied utensils, recipes, and ingredients of their mountain heritage.

21C's largest (fun)draising event is the Cast Iron Cook-Off - an Iron Chef style cooking competition featuring multiple teams consisting of one head chefs and amateur cooks hwo must prepare 5 gourmet dishes featuring locally grown/raised products while implementing the use of cast iron. Each team has one hour to prepare their menu from start to finish then present each course to the judges. Their dishes will be judged on originality, taste, presentation, cast-iron uses, team work, and amount of local ingredients used.

Last year, I was invited to enjoy the great honor of being the Emcee for the 4-hour competition with my co-emcee Nancy Bulla. We had such a wonderful time running all over the conference hall to talk to the chefs and other cooks, then racing to the judging table for their reactions and comments to what was going on and the plates of food coming off these teams' tables! By the end of the competition, I was just about spent...but I loved every minute of it! I never knew playing Alton Brown could be this much fun!

Following the cook off Dr. Allen D. Arnold, 21C's founding director, asked me to join the Collaborative as the Co-Director of Marketing. I have served for a year now and it has been a pure joy! We have come up with some fresh ideas for the future and continue to receive grants to allow us to bring these plans into fruition. I'm really excited about our new promotional DVD that we'll be sending to the Food Network and other corporations in the hospitality and agriculture industry. With any luck, we'll have the folks from Chelsea Market, NY coming to the mountains for a taste of Appalachian goodness!

Well, I've been invited back to the Cook-off this year and Amy and I will be going down this Friday to the Stonewall Resort for all of the festivities. This go 'round, Nancy and I will be Emcee-ing the whole event from the Welcome Banquet and Team Introductions on Friday night, through the competition on Saturday that now features 18 teams, to the 5 course wine-paring/awards ceremonial dinner on Saturday night. In addition to taking care of our room and food needs while we are there (like they did last year), 21C has allowed me to treat Amy to pampering spa treatments and relaxing massages while I'm in the throws of competition. Their hospitality is boundless!

Here's to you having as much fun this weekend as we will!

Perpetuating a Myth

2008-01-16T16:26:00.000-05:00

I was all set.

It was 4 o'clock on Monday afternoon and I was chomping at the bit to begin my rest-of-the-week vacation. Freedom was one-hour away when I got the call that threw my plans into suspension.

I had to fill-in the next morning for a sick co-worker. While I was very disappointed to have to push back my time away from work, I completely understood and was sympathetic to the situation. That was yesterday.

Even if your vacation doesn't take you anywhere, the day feels different when you know you don't have to go to work. Today was no exception. After having slept in until 10am, I jumped on my computer with a renewed vigor.

I checked my work e-mail and found this press release sent to me by my chief meteorologist. This is what it said:

An analysis of 2007 global temperature data undertaken by scientists at
Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), New York, reveals that 2007 is tied with 1998 as the second hottest year on record. The unusual warmth of 2007 is noteworthy because it occurs at a time when solar irradiance is at a minimum and the equatorial Pacific Ocean has entered the cool phase of its El Niňo-La Niňa cycle.

The greatest warming in 2007 occurred in the Arctic. Global warming has a larger affect in polar areas, as the loss of snow and ice leads to more open water, which absorbs more sunlight and warmth. The large Arctic warm anomaly of 2007 is consistent with observations of record low Arctic sea ice in September 2007.

The eight warmest years in the GISS record have all occurred since 1998, with 2005 ranking as the hottest. Barring a large volcanic eruption, NASA scientists predict that a record global temperature exceeding that of 2005 can be expected within the next two to three years.

Folks, there is something you need to know about NASA and the GISS. It started back in August when a blogger who just happens to be a thinker began investigation the techniques and mathematics behind the results posted by NASA. It didn't take long before he saw red flags in their methodology.

NASA scientists this month corrected an error that resulted in 1934 replacing 1998 as the warmest year on record in the U.S., thus challenging some key global warming arguments, but the correction is being ignored, a conservative climate expert charged Wednesday.

Yet at the same time, announcements that support global warming are considered "front-page news," said H. Sterling Burnett, a senior fellow at the conservative National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA).

For his part, James Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, has called the correction is "statistically insignificant."

Burnett challenged that assertion, saying the correction made it clear that NASA's conclusion -- that the majority of the 10 hottest years have occurred since 1990 -- is false.

"Time after time, Hansen and other global warming alarmists present their data as 'the facts,' and [say that] 'you can't argue with data,' " he said. "Well, it turns out their data is just wrong. And when it's wrong, they want to say it's not important."

So, here is the new Top 10 Warmest Years on Record:

1. 1934
2. 1998
3. 1921
4. 2006
5. 1931
6. 1999
7. 1953
8. 1990
9. 1938
10. 1939

It seems that NASA and GISS is perfectly fine with carrying on a proven error in calculation. Why are they trying to act like the corrections never happened? It is obvious that there is an agenda here.

Anyone even somewhat paying attention to the national news understands that if you cry "global warming is threatening our world", corporations, non-profit organizations, and private citizens will line up to throw money at you for research.

NASA and GISS...for shame! Here is the truth...2007 may indeed go down as one of the warmest on record. Why so warm? Science doesn't know for sure. Zealots claim to know it all.

The Sting WILL Fade

2008-01-12T21:33:00.000-05:00

It feels good to be back on a regular schedule after working like a dog through most of December. Now that things have slowed down and I have a bunch of comp time to burn, I'll be writing more regularly on here.

The following is an article that I just submitted on our station's blog site. It is written for an audience that is rich in Buckeye fans so please keep that in mind. I am not suggesting that everyone who may read this is a Buckeyes fan. ;)

***

You may have thrown your hands up in disgust. It is entirely possible that a TV remote control took off from the vicinity of your couch and landed with a hard smack on the kitchen floor. If you are like me you said something to the effect of, “Why do I even bother”. One way or another you made your disapproval known after Ohio State’s crushing loss to LSU in this year’s BCS National Championship game.

Join the club.

When you are as emotionally invested in your favorite team as I am, you can’t help but feel the pain of a loss right along side the players. Not feel for the players…feel the pain with the players. When they lose a tough one you go along for the ride. There is a whimsical and fascinating connection that exists between team and fan. A win is the shear definition of exhilaration and a loss, unfortunately, is utter devastation.

Such was my mood driving home that night after the game in New Orleans. The funk of defeat hung over me like a tormenting fog. The only sounds in the car were the faint mutterings of two late-night ESPN radio jocks, the rhythmic staccato of a wind-driven rain pounding the windshield, the screeching of the windshield wipers dragging across the glass, and an occasional heavy-laden breath…my own. Sigh.

My face: expressionless. My joy: replaced. Visions of leaping Tigers and yellow and purple confetti precipitating from the heavens were dancing in my head. Memories of gloved hands thrusting a crystal football to the sky were playing so vividly in my brain. Alas, those hands were not that of Buckeyes.

It is to weep!

An ever-spreading case of sports depression continued to overwhelm me as I arrived home. Try as it might, the familiar warmth of domestic tranquility could not lift me from my lowly state. In the corner of the family room sat my stuffed “Brutus the Buckeye”. I’ll never forget his face when his telepathic greeting of “O-H” went unanswered as I drudged to the foyer closet to hang up my raincoat (which had become completely saturated in the time it took me to walk from the car to the front door). I felt that nothing would lighten my mood.

I was wrong.

As had been my routine since Christmas, I grabbed my copy of, Then Tress Said to Troy to read a chapter before bed. Having brushed my teeth and accomplished all other pre-sandman tasks, I opened to the night’s scheduled passage. I began reading the exploits of great OSU pigskin soldiers like Chic Harley, Rex Kern, and Howard “Hopalong” Cassady. Past players recounted tales of Buckeye coaches like Paul Brown, Earl Bruce, Woody Hayes, and yes, Jim Tressel. I slowly poured over highlights of Woody and Bo’s Ten Year War and that of Jim Tressel’s success in navigating through Michigan again and again and again and again and…well you get the point.

Then it dawned on me. Sure, the loss to LSU stings right now but it does not define the entirety of a football program that is one-hundred eighteen years in the making. These last two national championship defeats are two paragraphs on a single page in the vast encyclopedia that is Ohio State football history. The storied tradition of the school that rest on the banks of the Olentangy River has recorded down times like this before but it will live to tell a brighter tale another day!

Suddenly, I felt myself brake free from the darkness holding me captive. The depression began to lift and my heart cast its burden. I smiled, briefly. Then I closed the book, turned off the bed-side lamp, and fell asleep.

Sure Ohio State will have to walk the streets of college football for another year sporting a black-eye but just as sure as Troy Smith’s record against that school up north; the Buckeyes will achieve glory once again.

Just give it some time.

***

Speak On, Oh Learned Voices!

2007-12-27T21:20:00.000-05:00

I press on in an effort to inject a measure of intelligence into a topic that, of late, has long been devoid.

One of the pillars for man-made global warming proponents is that human behavior is the largest contributor of atmospheric greenhouse gases (read "carbon dioxide") which in turn causes an increase in global temperature (read "insane").

It won't take a gladiator with Sampson-like strength to knock this one down, folks.

What GW alarmists often overlook is the influence the sun has on our earth and its atmosphere. It does not take a doctorate in atmospheric science to grasp the role of the sun in our seasons. Heck, most of us learned about the seasons by age 8. For those of you who were sick that year, the northern hemisphere is hotter in the summer due to direct sun angles and is conversely affected in the winter due to indirect sun angles. The same thing is true for the southern hemisphere just during opposite times of the year.

FACT: The sun is the biggest driving force on the earth's weather and climate.

Yet, when looking for reasons as to an apparently "shocking" rise in global temperature, Al Gore and the like ignore the sun's increased brightness and overall output while pointing the finger directly at rich, white, Christian nations because, after all, they are the obvious culprits.

Those damn SUVs!

Well, one of the 400 scientists from the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee's recent climate report thinks otherwise.

[The following is a direct quote from the above report]

Paleoclimatologist Tim Patterson, professor in the department of Earth Sciences at Carleton University in Ottawa converted from believer in CO2's driving the climate change to a skeptic. "I taught my students that CO2 was the prime driver of climate change," Patterson wrote on April 30, 2007.
Patterson said his "conversion" happened following his research on "the nature
of paleo-commercial fish populations in the NE Pacific." "[My conversion from
believer to climate skeptic] came about approximately 5-6 years ago when results
began to come in from a major NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research
Council of Canada) Strategic Project Grant where I was PI (principle
investigator)," Patterson explained. "Over the course of about a year, I
switched allegiances," he wrote. "As the proxy results began to come in, we were
astounded to find that paleoclimatic and paleoproductivity records were full of
cycles that corresponded to various sun-spot cycles. About that time,
[geochemist] Jan Veizer and others began to publish reasonable hypotheses as to
how solar signals could be amplified and control climate," Patterson noted.
Patterson says his conversion "probably cost me a lot of grant money. However,
as a scientist I go where the science takes me and not where activists want me
to go." Patterson now asserts that more and more scientists are converting to
climate skeptics. "When I go to a scientific meeting, there's lots of opinion out there, there's lots of discussion [about climate change]. I was at the Geological Society of America meeting in Philadelphia in the fall and I would say that people with my opinion were probably in the majority," Patterson told the Winnipeg Sun on February 13, 2007. Patterson, who believes the sun is responsible for the recent warming of the Earth, ridiculed the environmentalists and the media for not reporting the truth. "But if you listen to [Canadian environmental activist David] Suzuki and the media, it's like a tiger chasing its tail. They try to outdo each other and all the while proclaiming that the debate is over but it isn't -- come out to a scientific meeting sometime," Patterson said. In a separate interview on April 26, 2007 with a Canadian newspaper, Patterson explained that the scientific proof favors skeptics. "I think the proof in the pudding, based on what [media and governments] are saying, [is] we're about three quarters of the way [to disaster] with the doubling of CO2 in the atmosphere," he said. "The world should be heating up like crazy by now, and it's not. The temperatures match very closely with the solar cycles."

I am not proposing that solar output is the only factor in global climate change. I am suggesting, however, that much more evidence points to this possible answer than any of anthropogenic global warming. This is one of the many reasons why discussion must not be cut off.

Time must be spent pouring over the growing mountains of facts before fortunes are spent curbing something that is likely beyond our control.

I urge you to read more about the possible role our sun plays on climate.

This is just a place to start.

A Return to Renaissance

2007-12-24T02:01:00.000-05:00

Now that my marathon work schedule has been momentarily haulted, I can resume bloviating to my heart's content about subjects that both amuse and enlighten.

Today's post is really the first of a series that will include excerpts from the U.S. Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee report released last week that aims to debunk the idea of "scientific consensus" on the topic of man-made global warming.

U.S. Senate Report: Over 400 Prominent Scientists Disputed Man-Made Global Warming Claims in 2007. Report Released on December 20, 2007 by the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (Minority).

This report is a compilation of the works of more than 400 scientists, many of whom are or were on the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and decry most of the Global Warming alarm-ism that is running rampant in Hollywood, Liberaltown, U.S.A., and Al Gore's backyard.

The next several posts will merely feature direct quotes from these learned men and women from the field of climatology and other physical sciences. It is important to understand that while their opinions range from "questioning" to "out right rejection" of the current popular global hysteria, they all stand firm on the foundation of the scientific method which does not include a step called "consensus".

The topic of man-made global warming is one that needs to be discussed if not for the sole reason that so much physical evidence exists that supports a hypothesis contrary to that of the elite in Hollywood. Our world's climate has been changing since it was created and it is a natural process that will carry on even after human life on her has ceased. Sadly, scientists who recognise this are not given fair time in media outlets to properly educate the public. That is why I must do my part as a scientist to foster a forum for scientific discussion and discovery.

I'm not saying conclusively that the world's climate isn't indeed changing (as it has before and will again), but that the verbal and cognitive door must be left open so that new information that can piece this puzzle together can move about freely to the experts and the masses.

Now - the words of one of more than 400 scientists who want truth to replace the man-made global warming myth.

Glaciologist Nikolai Osokin of the Institute of Geography and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences dismissed alarmist climate fears of all of the world's ice melting in a March 27, 2007 article. "The planet may rest assured," Osokin wrote. "This hypothetical catastrophe could not take place anytime within the next thousand years," he explained. "Today, scientists say that the melting of the permafrost has stalled, which has been proved by data obtained by meteorological stations along Russia's Arctic coast," Olokin added. "The (recent) period of warming was tangible, but now it may be drawing to a close. Most natural processes on the earth are cyclical, having a shorter or longer rhythm. Yet no matter how these sinusoids look, a temperature rise is inevitably followed by a decline, and vice versa."

Thank you for reading. Check back here regularly for more direct quotes from real scientists and what they have to say about the frenzy into which your local and national media nightly fling themselves.

Bless their hearts.

Two Handguns, a Rifle, and a God-fearing Security Guard

2007-12-10T23:13:00.000-05:00

A single gunman is reponsible for two Colorado church shootings police said Sunday.

The following is a paraphrased abstract from Judith Kohler's AP story as seen on yahoo.com

The gunman was identified as 24 year-old Matthew Murray, who send his
guns blazing once, then drove to another house of worship 65 miles away and
started shooting again. The shootings happened within 12 hours of each other.

The first attack took place at Youth With a Mission, a training center for
missionaries in the Denver suburb of Arvada; the other occurred at the New Life
Church in Colorado Springs. Two teenaged sisters were killed in the second
attack.

Jeanne Assam, a church member who volunteers as a security guard, shot the assailant who was found with a rifle and two handguns police said.

Church leaders are hailing Jeanne Assam as a hero who prevented further loss of life and so do I. We should all tip our caps to the U.S. Constitution (and her framers) for the guaranteed freedom the second amendment provides law-abiding citizens.

Jeanne Assam is a hero and deserves to be treated as such.

I wonder how many lives could have been saved at Omaha's Westroads Mall last week if someone had taken advantage of Nebraska's newly passed concealed weapon law.

Legislative Bill 454 will allow Nebraskans 21 and older to obtain a five-year permit to carry a concealed weapon if they pass an approved handgun training
course, criminal background checks and mental health background checks. A permit
holder must be fingerprinted and pay a $100 fee. (April 2006)

As it is, eight Omaha families will sit down to their dinner tables this Christmas with an empty chair where a loved one once sat. You can count five more Colorado families to that list.

A gun is not the answer to every problem but a few well placed, perfectly timed rounds could have kept body counts from rising.

Jeanne Assam's gun sure did.

"I identified myself, I engaged him and then I took him down," she said at the press conference. "I didn't run away. I didnt' think for a minute to run away. I knew I was the one given the assignment to stop this thing." `~ article

Thank God for all who fight for the second amendment.

Thank God for the Constitution for making it possible.

Thank God for Jeanne and hundreds of thousands of Americans like her who are prepared to do what is necessary to keep me and my family safe.

Front Porch Pickin'

2007-12-07T11:28:00.000-05:00

Honestly, it's like I'm shopping for people.

The presidential election season is getting ready to take a wild leap from somewhat interesting to may I have your attention please and I don't feel quite prepared for it. In recent years, I've already had my candidate of choice in mind before the primaries even start and this year I find myself uninterested in the lot of viable and acceptable candidates. When folks start talking about presidential hopefuls I just have to sit on my hands and listen because I don't have all of the facts, stats, and voting record tidbits at the ready.

Something must be done about this.

So, I've come up with the first poll in modern history that has to be taken by the candidate instead of a member of the electorate. It's like a one of those surveys that one of your friends e-mails you asking about your favorite color, dog name, last time you were kissed, and shoe size even though this friend should already know these things about you but you go ahead and fill it out because you don't want to be the only one who doesn't reply. Well this survey is way less annoying and way more important.

The directions are simple. I'll list what I want from a president and then I'll rely on your input on which candidate best foots the bill. Here we go.

Give me a President who...

Uphold the laws, statutes, and amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
Is not afraid of going to war but who would only take us there if American lives depended on it.
Will tell the United Nations to either backup their sanctions or get out of New York.
Build a fence at both Canada and Mexico's borders YESTERDAY!
Cut off all international aid. We have debt here we need to fix first.
Immediately cut off 80% of all entitlement programs. The other 20% will receive budget cuts.
Begin domestic drilling for oil. ANWAR or not, it can be done efficiently and safely with little repercussion on the environment.
Will tell those proclaiming Anthropogenic Global Warming to take a flying leap.
Will work within his power, and with that of the judiciary, to overturn Roe vs. Wade and outlaw the death penalty. The Constitution states that it must protect the rights to Life and it is the President's duty to see that it is carried out.
Will cut taxes, cut spending, move our economy to the gold standard, and increase incentives for family and small business.
Will keep his nose (and that of congress) out of the bedroom of America. While the Bible is very clear on its stance on Homosexuality (and on this stance I 100% agree), I don't think it good practice for Congress to legislate what can and can't happen there. The Constitution does not venture into the issues surrounding the bonds of marriage for a reason...deciding who can and can't get married HAS NO PLACE IN GOVERNMENT.
Will fix, then privatize, the health care system.
Allow parents to have the choice of where to send their kids to school. There is only one thing that government does well. This isn't it. My president will push for the removal of federal mandates from the public education system (by allowing free vouchers) so that only the best and most effective schools will thrive.

That's about all I have time for right now. Can you think of a candidate who fits this mold?

O-H No!

2007-12-03T11:33:00.000-05:00

Saturday, November 10th was a bitter sweet day for me.

At about 11PM, The Fighting Illini were dancing at midfield in the Horseshoe - and dancing on the grave of our fallen hopes of an undefeated Big Ten season. Try as they might, OSU's offensive efforts could not make much headway against linebacker J Leman and the rest of his "pack of hyenas".

It's never easy to watch your beloved, hometown team lose (never mind losing at home), when you are as emotionally invested in the Buckeyes as I am. Even if the loss is expected, the sting is the same. Watching the University of Illinois players jump for joy at our expense was deflating.

My sports-induced depression lasted for about 30 hours.

I bounced back, however, when Ohio State dropped to 7th in the BCS standings. Relieved? Yep, you read that right. Shocked? Well, Let me explain.

Unlike throngs of card-carrying members of Buckeye Nation, I'm not bewitched. I have not fallen under the spell of Beanie Wells, Todd Boeckman, and Brian Robiskie. While I watched every game this year rooting for my brothers in Scarlet and Gray, I viewed them with a certain amount of suspicion. They were outplaying their pre-season expectations but their opponents were sorrowfully over matched. Love them as I do, the latest version of "Woody's Warriors" would be embarrassed yet again if they went to New Orleans to play on January 7th. [For more on the Buckeyes' stance across the national landscape I direct you to my previous post]

So on November 11th when OSU fell from #1 to #7, I breathed my first unrestricted breath since mid-October. Gone was the pressure of living up to higher than reasonable expectations for this still untested OSU squad. That target on their backs; gone! Now the focus could shift from the Crystal Football to the Big House and L-l-l-l-l-oyd Carr's Michigan Wolverines.

And "L" they did. Chris Wells had 222 rushing yards - the most of any Ohio State back in the history of The Game - and led his team out of Ann Arbor with a soggy and sloppy 14-3 win. Winning the Big Ten conference title and climbing slightly in the BCS to 5th, it was highly unlikely that OSU was going anywhere except Pasadena and the Rose Bowl to face USC...just like old times. We were safe from national championship shame!

My solace didn't last.

From November 17th to December 1, the four other teams who stood between Columbus and the Big Easy lost - most notably #1 Missouri lost to Oklahoma and #2 West Virginia did the unthinkable and laid an egg AT HOME to 4-7 Pittsburgh on the same night.

I nearly fainted.

Thanks to the inability of four other teams to get the job done, Ohio State jumped from #5 to #1 and backed into the National Championship game by doing nothing more than watching TV. Now, they find themselves doing battle against SEC champions LSU to play for the AllState National Championship...and I'm conflicted.

On one hand, my team has won 11 of its 12 games this season. It played for and won its conference championship. They played and defeated four BCS ranked teams, including going to Happy Valley at night to play Penn State. They have Jim Tressel as their coach. Six other teams failed to bolster their case for New Orleans by losing when it counted most. And they have 41-14 as motivation to get the job done this time around (During the summer leading up to this year, Jim Tressel changed the code to the weight room to "41-14" so his players wouldn't forget why they were putting in the long hours in the off season).

...and yet...

The Big Ten is, at best, the fourth best conference in college football this year. OSU played three in-state cupcakes during their non-conference schedule. They were given the #1 ranking when the BCS first came out on legacy alone which put them in a position to remain competitive. The only true test they faced beat them at home by a touchdown. They are not the best or second-best team in the country...more like 8th or 9th.

I don't know.

When the Buckeyes take the field on January 7th and I root my heart out all the way down to the final play, will I still be able to look myself in the mirror the next morning, win or lose, and know that I was acting in reality?

Why couldn't we have dropped further after November 10?

A Gift of Family Inclusion

2007-11-28T10:50:00.000-05:00

With the Christmas season underway, I thought I'd share one of my favorite gift-giving stories. While I received the gift, this story serves only to praise and thank the giver.

It happened right after Christmas two years ago...

***

Immediate response.

Real time reactions.

Boy those are great! Some of you might not agree, but then again, you may have the luxury of working in an environment where you are afforded the instant feedback that signals "a job well done" or "I'm not following you". Public speaking is one of such occupations. Teaching is another.

Broadcast Meteorology is not.

Now, don't think I'm forgetting about my good friend e-mail or his older cousin the telephone. These little dandies are great for almost real time communication, but they aren't quite real time. Someone has to first type the message or must first locate your phone number and dial to let you know that, "you couldn't be more wrong on the forecast today, Loser". These media have indeed been used to give me feedback, but I often wonder if what I do makes a difference to the people from whom I don't hear. Well, someone answered that question yesterday.

As I was coming off the set from doing cut-ins, a nose and pair of eyes peered over the studio divisor from the newsroom. Not long after, a muddled, high-pitched male voice filtered through and over the particle board wall.

"Hey James, I have a gift for you back here", Steven declared.

I walked around the studio, through the very cold garage...don't ask, it's small market television...and into the newsroom. Five reporters scurried past and almost knocked me over in a mad dash for batteries, cameras, tapes, and the rest of their regalia before hitting the streets and calling their beats. I stepped to the producer’s desk where a large box and a plastic bag sat. Nick sat behind them, barely visible.

"This was dropped off Friday before Christmas during the 5 O’clock show. This guy said that his mother, his wife, and his niece made this for you. They all love the Bonnie Belles commercial you did and they all think you have an honest face. They watch every morning and think you're great."

I opened the bag. Misjudging the size and weight of the contents, I dropped the box on the floor. As I unraveled the dark blue mass, a blanket began to emerge. Marrie, seeing that it was bigger than I had bargained for, grabbed a corner and helped me open it up.

This was no blanket. This was a handmade quilt!

This thing is heavy, gi-normous and everything a quilt is supposed to be! Whoever made this thing is gonna get a huge thank you! I searched for a card and found it towards the bottom of the bag. It had stuck to some of the packaging tape.

Hold the phone! The card was signed but only with first names. CRAP! I'm never going to know whom to thank for this great display of family inclusion. There are no last names, no phone numbers, no addresses, no city names...nothing! Well, what do TV people do when they need to send out a message? They use the TV, of course!

So, yesterday on our noon show, I displayed the quilt and told the story behind its arrival here and offered a sincere "thank you" to its makers. Everyone on the noon show staff was awe struck at the detail and handiwork apparent by the stitching of tangible love. I was so proud of my station and the work we do and the ability we have to touch people in a meaningful way. However, I couldn't help but be utterly disappointed that I'd never be able to thank the individuals responsible for my joy.

This morning, an electronic message arrived in my inbox. The daughter-in-law of the quilter saw our noon show and wished to answer my request. So thank you, Betty of Buckhannon, for your masterful skill and your heart of gold. Thank you for your steady hands and the gift of your time. Thank you for the place in your heart I hold and thank you for the piece of your heart I have the honor to hold close forever!

***

A Possible Fix for the Broken BCS

2007-11-27T15:10:00.000-05:00

...and we all know it needs fixing!

Crowning the national champion in college football is too important to be throwing the process at the mercy of the BCS. Their system, whose main goal is to pit #1 and #2 teams in the deciding game at the end of the season, has generated more questions than answers. This season should serve as the final wake-up call to conference commissioners, bowl presidents et al that a playoff is the only way to decide who the best team in college football really is.

This guy just might have the right playoff formula in mind. His brain-child is a 16 team playoff featuring the conference champions of all 11 conferences (yep...all 11) with 5 at-large teams making the bid for a "chance to dance".

This is what the bracket would look like if Dan Wetzel's dream came true this year.

Can you imagine a line-up like this to look forward to?

Dan goes into detail on what would happen to the bowl games, home field advantage, scheduling, the need for conference championship games across the board and much more! Give it a read and let me know what you think.

Think We're on to Something?

2007-11-26T22:38:00.000-05:00

I think so but sadly most of America will turn a blind eye to this.

I quickly glanced over this headline during my jaunt through USAToday.com this morning.

Oil falls under $98 amid talk of supply boost from OPEC
Oil futures fell Monday on a widening belief that OPEC ministers will agree to raise crude production during a meeting next week.

Oil continued to flirt with $100 a barrel Monday. But after peaking at $99.11 per barrel during the day Monday, West Texas Intermediate, also known as light, sweet crude, for delivery in January closed Nymex trading in New York at $97.70. That's a 48-cent retreat from a record $98.18 Friday. It continued to slide in worldwide electronic trading afterward, and was $96.90 when the Monday electronic session ended at 5:15 p.m. ET.

As I pondered what I'm having to pay at the pump and how often I have to pay it, my mind started down a path of financial freedom.

It seems that if crude production is increased, the price of sweet crude will drop. Hmmm. What if we stopped buying crude from Middle Eastern interests and drilled for our own? This would relieve us from our dependence on foreign oil all together (a dependence that increased by as much as 60% under the Clinton Administration).

I started to make more sense. I was feeling brave.

How about coming to grips with the cleanest and safest form of energy known to man...nuclear power! The benefits to the country and her people would abound if a major push for nuclear energy was instituted by utilities producers.

Just as it was all beginning to click, enter the lemon-squeezing, tree-hugging morons on TV. Thanks for interrupting my inner-monologue, ya Jerkface!

Nah, why would we waste our efforts drilling for our own stash! There are better ways to channel that energy. We have a populous to scare! Remember, drilling generates massive amounts of irreversible environmental and ecological damage the likes of which the Earth hasn't known since the meteor impact that killed off the dinosaurs!

Oh, better yet. We can get all of our activist buddies in Hollywood to shame American corporations into making "green" en vogue business practices. What a great way to show that corporate America, "cares". Ah, just think of all the CO2 emissions we'd prevent!

No, I've got it! Let's tie up any and all efforts to build new oil refineries! The ones we have now have been running great for 30 years! What we need is LESS refining capacity! We'll show those greedy, Big Oil tycoons that we mean business. We'll take their profits and tax the living daylights out of them until they come crying on their hands and knees begging forgiveness from Mother Earth. Down with Big Oil! Up with Prius!

Role playing aside folks, oil prices are high for a myriad of reasons. Political unrest, increased industrial demand from China, OPEC mandates, national and state import tax, refining cost, stresses of a global market etc. all factor into what we're having to pay at the pump.

The best and most effective remedy I can see is for Americans to get off of this drug called foreign oil. Plain and simple. While no one resource will be the magic cure-all, alternatives to high-priced energy are within our reach. Heck, they are within our own borders!

If I have my own oil, I don't have to get it from someone else...

I Think I'm on to something!

Note: photo courtesy Scott Teven www.photohouston.com

Planned Parenthood Survey Doesn't Jive

2007-11-22T00:04:00.000-05:00

About ten years ago, a study was published titled, "Why Women Have Abortions: Evidence from 27 Countries.

Planned Parenthood is the "parent organization" for the group who sponsored the study and reported its findings -- International Family Planning Perspectives.

You know as well as I do that Planned Parenthood stands as a proponent for Roe vs. Wade and makes abortions possible for many women each year. What I find fascinating is that, while Planned Parenthood makes every effort to explain that abortion is necessary mainly for the health of the mother, their own findings show that only 4% of women from those 27 countries who had abortions say that it was to preserve their health (another 2% said that it was because the child would have had a birth defect).

What shocks me even further is that the vast majority of the nearly 65,000 women surveyed said the main reason for their abortions was because they didn't want anymore children. So they're using abortion as birth control? Are there no other alternatives for unwanted children besides killing them?

The Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-212) [otherwise known as Laci's Bill] was passed into law and recognizes a "child in utero" as a legal victim, if he or she is injured or killed during the commission of any of over 60 listed federal crimes of violence. The law defines "child in utero" as "a member of the species homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb." Yet in the same piece of legislation expressly excludes protection from abortions.

Now, law is well beyond my area of expertise but I am a thinker. How can abortion, as a legal practice, be allowed to coexist with this federal law that protects children in utero from violent crimes which cause injury and death?

Furthermore, how can the government recognize a fetus as "a child in utero" in one instance, yet stand by and allow its destruction because "it isn't life"?

Heck, even John Kerry doesn't get it.

"I have serious concerns about this legislation {Laci's Bill}
because the law cannot simultaneously provide that a fetus is a human being and
protect the right of the mother to choose to terminate her pregnancy."

Therefore, it is my position that abortion is against the Constitution which seeks to protect life...a term that federal law now includes children in utero.

I do, however, see only one way to appease both sides of this polarizing issue. Legislation will have to be put in place that makes abortion illegal unless the mother would certainly die without it. I stand in opposition to any and all abortions but would accept this move as a victory for life as well as liberty.

Editor's Note: At a later date, I'd like to go deeper into the science of life and go point-by-point to try to define children in the womb as not only "alive" but "Human Life".

What You Wouldn't Expect

2007-11-19T19:56:00.000-05:00

On the way home from work this evening, I heard some guys on the local ESPN station yappin' about the possible scenarios for Ohio State to get into the BCS Championship game. While it is true that if West Virginia, Missouri, and Kansas all lose Ohio State could be ranked #2 by season's end...I just hope it doesn't happen.

Yes, you read that right. I hope Ohio State does NOT play for the national championship on January 8.

Why? I'll give you two main reasons with sub-reasons mixed in for good measure.

1). Their Schedule

Of the 12 teams they played this year, 3 (Big Ten teams) were unranked, two of them are in the MAC, and 1 is a division II school.

At no point did OSU play a team ranked higher than 20th in the BCS rankings. Their toughest opponents were (in ascending order) Purdue, Michigan State (only because of turnovers), Wisconsin, Michigan and of course Illinois. All lost by 16, 7, 21, 11 points respectively save for the Fighting Illini. Penn State was no test at all (lost by 20) and the Northwestern Wildcats were kidnapped before game time and replaced by the South Korean Soccer Team...whom they promptly beat by 51(Since when does a Jim Tressel team beat ANYONE by 51).

The Big Ten is going through some rough times right now what with Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, and, to an extent, Penn State and Purdue all having rather disappointing seasons. While the future of the conference is looking brighter thanks to the resurgence of Illinois and Wisconsin, the recent surge from long time whipping-boys Indiana and a few strong showings late in the season from Northwestern -- it still has a long way to go before it can ever hope to climb back into the discussion as one of the top two conferences in college football.

Fact: It isn't Ohio State's fault the Big Ten had a downer year.

Also Fact: ...but it didn't help boost their legitimacy in the eyes of the voters either.

2). Better Teams Exist

When you get to stand on the mountain as King of College Football, you should be rather confident in proclaiming that you are the nation's best team. While the Buckeyes may be ascending to the pinnacle (I did not say climbing*), they cannot say with any degree of certainty that they are, without question, the best team in the country.

To prove this assertion, I will list the teams that most likely would beat OSU were they to be matched up one-on-one. [Do remember that I bleed Scarlet and Gray]

They are, in no particular order:

LSU has demonstrated a very clear dominance on the field. To be able to go through their tough SEC schedule with only 1 loss speaks volumes. Flynn is not a quarterback who can consistently beat you with his feet, but throws an accurate ball and makes good decisions. Dorsey has proven himself to be down right dominant on the D-line, even with his knee injury. I'm not even going to get into their backfield.

OSU vs. LSU: Ohio State would hang tough through the half, but would wear down half way through the 3rd quarter.

The Florida Gators have three losses. So what. Tim Tebow, this year's Heisman-elect, is just as dangerous (if not more so) this year as he was last year. Ohio State would have no problems with staying motivated for this game and wouldn't dare let themselves tire out but have no answer for a legitimate dual-threat quarterback.

OSU vs. Florida: It would be closer than last year's NC game, but the result would be the same.

When Illinois danced a jig out the Horseshoe this year, it wasn't so much a celebration of what they had accomplished as it was a celebration of where that program is headed. Coach Ron Zook has gotten his team united. Juice Williams has bought into what Zook is trying to do in Champaign and it has rubbed off onto the rest of the players. As their successful recruiting continues, so will the habit of winning games.

OSU vs. The Fighting Illini: This game would be a 10-14 point win for U of I.

This was much more of a lock when Sam Bradford was healthy but I still think that this team has everything going for it. Without Bradford I'm not so sure that the Buckeyes would lose this game but considering that the NC game isn't for another 50 some days yet, the quarterback situation will take care of itself. Time has a knack for healing wounds.

OSU vs. OU: Relying on their defense to hold down the air attack, the Bucks would kill themselves on Pass Interference penalties. Advantage OU.

I had to listen to a bunch of yahoos prematurely elevate WVU to "Could beat OSU" status four years ago when Rasheed Marshall was still flinging the pigskin. I threw up in my mouth every time someone wearing an Eers t-shirt came up to me and started flappin' his jaws. Not so this year. Pat White is a smaller, yet butterfingered, version of Tim Tebow and would keep the defense on their heels all night. And when he got tired, he could always hand the ball off to Schmitt, Devine, or Slaton. Oh, yea...and he could throw it too.

OSU vs. WVU: Scary. Think Florida in last year's National Championship Game.

For more than obvious health reasons, it is too bad Dennis Dixon is out for the rest of the season. Without him on the roster, Oregon loses all of its heart. I was going to omit the Ducks from this list but they have been a high-energy offensive powerhouse all year long. It would be no different save for Dennis' unfortunate injury.

OSU vs Oregon: Dixon successfully executes 2 Statue of Liberty's against a defense that is a pushover for dual-threat quarterbacks.

OSU PROGNOSTICATION:

Thanks to a stronger Big Ten and a trip to USC for game 3, next year's squad will be a true contender for the BCS championship...just not this year.

(*climbing refers to earning their way to the top. Ascending alludes to being helped by other teams losing and making way for an unworthy team.)

10 Things I learned in Bible School

2007-11-18T01:01:00.000-05:00

Way back when I thought Youth Ministry was going to be my calling in life, I started reading the works of Robert Fulghum who most notably wrote, "Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten". Robert has a way of boiling down what so many people see as complicated and cumbersome. Reflecting on the innocent days of yester-year, he sums life up into several small reminders that he learned when he was just 5 years old.

Some of his jewels were:

When crossing the street, hold hands.
Share. Remember, everyone wants a turn.
Say you're sorry.
Take a nap in the afternoon.

I enjoyed how he simplified life's lessons so perfectly and it made me believe I could do the same when relating the Christian life to a bunch of teenagers.

Upon discovering that Fulghum gave up on church and religion as a whole, however, I was advised by my supervising instuctor to choose another source of literary inspiration. While my focus went elsewhere to find more spiritual writings, I couldn't help but appreciate Robert's style. So what if he didn't like God or believe in Jesus, his words were no less true about our human experience here on earth and how we should treat others.

So, inspired by Robert Fulghum, I have come up with this list of ten things I experienced in Bible School. My snipits have a more "churchy" twist to them obviously but they still follow the basic principle of reaching back from yester-year to pull forward some pearls of wisdom. These pearls just happen to come from the gates of heaven...as seen by a kid who grew up going to church all his life.

Enjoy!

1. "Jesus Loves Me" only has one verse. If you are an older kid, then you get to learn the second verse. Only during a song service on Sunday night will you get to sing the ultra-secret third verse.

2. I have no idea how Paul, Peter, and Jesus stick to the flannel board because Lord knows it isn't Velcro.

3. If you want to be popular, get first, second, or third place on the attendance chart! Get any lower than that and you might as well be eating paste with Jeremy in the corner.

4. Your real teacher is the one you have on Sunday mornings. Pay no attention to the lady in your class on Wednesday nights.

5. You're not allowed to play after church up there where the preacher stands. It's holy.

6. Puppets are cool unless your teacher is 75 and suffers from short term memory loss. Then, it's a lesson in endurance.

7. If mom drags you out of class angry and shouting, she'll bring you back red and sniffing.

8. There is no use protesting when Kelly gets a Bible sticker on the chart even though all she brought was her New Testament.

9. The first song you learn to harmonize to is "Blue Skies and Rainbows".

10. Visitors are like Santa Claus. You believe in them even though you've never seen them.

In a Class by itself

2007-11-16T19:45:00.000-05:00

My wife has to travel on a two-lane country road nearly 100 miles one way to get to work everyday. While this is not the ideal situation for the future of our life, it is what needs to be done for now so that we both may stay gainfully employed. DINK (Dual Income - No Kids) life certainly has advantages so if you can swing it, give it a whirl.

Every morning and evening she passes though many one-horse, farming, or Amish communities. I'm sure many of you know what I'm talking about. One church house, a single municipal building of some sort, a dozen or so homes, and, if you are lucky, a gas station/grocery store. There are plenty of them along rural two-lanes in middle America.

One such village has a gas station/air field/car dealership/truck stop/restaurant establishment. The most unique we've ever seen. We often joke about stopping in for a bite on those occasions when I've gone to school with her and we're on our way home for the day. She's always been the one to offer and I've been the one to turn it down...I mean the menu is probably as mixed up as the joint itself!

Tonight, we decided to stop on in and finally have a look around. Needless to say, I didn't have very high expectations when we pulled in. "Here we go", I thought. "Greasy spoon meants convenient store with just a smidge of diesel fumes". My wife had slipped into super optimistic mode and gleefully walked through the front doors inviting the new sights and sounds. She always seems to get this way exactly when I've decided to switch into wet blanket man and dismiss everything around me.

We are greeted warmly by the working water wheel, delightfully homey music, and the lovely smile of a 65+ year old woman you swore was your neighbor's grandmother. "This isn't half bad", I thought, giving the place a chance. We were promptly seated after a quick jont to take stock of their buffet. We were glancing through the menu when I spotted it. In my 29 years of eating I'd never seen anything like it on any menu anywhere in the world.

"On Grace...

We do not feel at liberty to suggest a certain prayer to you. We do, however, agree that a heartfelt, genuine, and meaningful prayer from you as an individual will be most appropriate and effective. We, at the Plaza Inn, thank you."

At first I thought, "Wow...look at them taking a stand for prayer. Hmmm. That takes guts in today's world". But upon further examination, and another read through, I found that they weren't standing for prayer. Rather, they were asking you to refrain from a full-table prayer.

Still not quite sure how I feel about that. After all, their restaurant - their rules. If you don't like it, you can choose to eat elsewhere.

On the other hand, should you as a business owner take the risk of offending customers by telling them how to pray when there aren't very many to be had in such a small town?

Either way you choose to look at it, I'd never seen anything like it before. It truely set the Plaza Inn in a class by itself.

When to speak...and when not to.

2007-11-14T22:11:00.000-05:00

I think I have chosen wisely.

Anyone who knows me knows that my favorite thing on this earth, besides my relationship with family and friends, is following my Ohio State Buckeye football team. I was born in Columbus; quite literally in the shadow of the Horseshoe. I've followed the team intensely for almost 10 years now. The screen saver on my computer has said "Ohio State...YOUR 2002 National Champions" since the day I bought it. My loyalty to OSU is so consuming that I refuse to claim allegiance to any professional sports team.

Cameron Clark once wrote about what it takes to be a true fan. Among a few other items on his short list, he said you know you are a real fan when you physically hurt after your team loses. You carry that sadness around with you for hours even days after your team suffers a defeat. Cameron, as he is so often, is right. I felt that way when the Fighting Illini came into our back yard last Saturday and embarrassed THE Ohio State Buckeyes in front of a national audience.

Gone are the dreams of returning to the BCS National Championship game to possibly avenge another embarrassment suffered at the hands of the Florida Gators last year in Glendale, AZ.

Lost is the hope of another unbeaten regular season.

Deflated is the aim of showing the nation that the Big Ten is still a tough conference filled with blue-chip talent and superior coaching.

Yep, last Saturday I didn't feel anything like I do now - thankful!

Illinois did the Big Ten AND Ohio State a big favor by winning that game.

Let's be honest here. I love my team, but seriously! Watching the Buckeyes climb the rankings by default week after week made me uneasy. Sure, Todd Boeckman was throwing the deep ball pretty well and Chris "Beanie" Wells was running down people's throats, but something just didn't feel right.

Should they be this highly ranked so soon?

Didn't we just see this?

Do I really want to see another inflated Buckeye team get to the National Championship only to get trounced by a wholly better squad?

No way!

The Buckeyes started their 2007 campaign needing to answer two question marks that are their NFL-depleted offense and a defense that got lazy by late November. It never really happened.

They were never tested as a team. They looked better than they really were because of their incredibly lax non-conference schedule (Youngstown St., Akron, Kent State, and Washington) and a cake-walk for the first half of their Big Ten schedule (no opponents ranked in the BCS when they played).

Here's the truth about this year's installment of the Scarlet and Gray.

Ohio State plays in a conference that is going through some rough times. While it's not OSU's fault that the Big Ten is a Big Joke right now, blasting cupcake teams does not a good measuring stick make! It's to the point where if you don't win the conference title outright most years, something is terribly wrong!

They lost a great amount of team speed and offensive firepower when Smith, Ginn, Gonzalez, and Pittman left for the NFL last year. This year's version of offense needs this year to get a real pattern going. They are sporadic at best, disappointing at worst. This was an admitted rebuilding year, it just didn't bite them in the butt until now.

The defense faced a legitimate dual-threat quarterback in Isaiah "Juice" Williams for the first time this season and it showed. It is not impossible to stop a mobile quarterback in college football, it just looked that way on November 10. And let's not forget the last time the Buckeyes faced a legitimate dual-threat quarterback...do we remember how that one turned out? Tim Tebow (and Chris Leak) chomped Ohio State to the tune of 41-14 in the BCS Championship game.

I've been leery of the validity of my team's success all season long. My closest friends will note that I've not been keeping a running, online tally of weekly game stats and team news like I have in years past. You've not heard me tout so-and-so for a Heisman. I've done no trash talking this season (well, except to those pour Michigan fans...and they deserve it). There are no guts in existence big enough to allow me to spout off about how impressive the Big Ten has been.

We still have to face Michigan in THE Game so we'll see what happens. I'm picking the Good Guys by 7 which would put us in the Rose Bowl to likely face Arizona State if Oregon wins out (please, for the love of God, win out).

But...

This true fan will keep his O-H-I-O mouth closed.

I think I have chosen wisely.

I'm lucky

2007-11-13T20:12:00.000-05:00

Technically, I've never lost anyone close to me.

David was an only child who had been emotionally torn apart by his parents' divorce at a young age. So when he decided to latch on to you, the friendship ran deeper. Ours was a brotherhood and it became so in a very short time.

We were very close friends from about the fifth grade on through high school. We lived in the same town, went to school and church together, he and his mother even lived with us while they were house hunting. We were Hawkeye and BJ.

We did just about everything together, even the stuff that young and mischievous teens aren't supposed to do (read: egg peoples houses, skip school, make youth leaders cry). Oh, and then there was the wrestling!

Before Fantasy sports became popular, we had started a grass roots fantasy wrestling federation complete with more than 50 characters, homemade championship belts (from poster board), year-long story lines involving multiple characters, monthly "pay-per-view" events, the whole schmere!

We did it all as real as we could. We would wrestle each other - picking theme music and costumes - and every match we played the different characters true to their persona, signature moves, to our pre-set story lines. We had so much fun knocking each other with metal chairs and running each other into steel cages (the steel cages were the metal bases of his bunk beds)!

The submission moves we did for real. Yes, most of them hurt. The big power moves, we also did for real. Yes, those are scary and some of them hurt, but I'd have to say that those years spent as hardcore wrestling fanatics were the happiest of my childhood. I have him to thank for that. I'll never forget David, nor the amount of hours we joyfully poured ourselves into emulating the antics of those modern day television gladiators.

Sadly, after I moved to New Orleans before our senior year of high school, David lost touch of the important things. Gone were the innocent days of adolescent rabble-rousing. Instead, he got into very bad things and became familiar with very bad people and before long had submersed himself in what they were doing - and what they were selling. More and more the David I knew was being replaced by a dark and distant stranger.

Involved in drugs and living in filth, my friend was lost in hopelessness. I tried to get him to recognize his situation - to snap out of it- but he was stubborn. When I told him he was better than this he said that he didn't see a point in walking the straight and narrow when the person helping him stay there had moved away.

I never believed that. Honestly, I don't think he believed it either.

It was then that, inside, I said goodbye to my friend. I washed my hands of him in hopes that he would get his life back in order.

Years passed.

I was getting ready to go on-air one morning when the phone rang. It was my sister. She sounded deflated. Somber. I knew something was wrong. She had just been told that David had a seizure and hit his head on the bathroom sink. With no one else home, David died on the floor where he fell.

That's it. No parades, no whistles, no sirens. No big announcements or proclamations. No warnings. Just like that, David was gone.

Before the funeral, David's mother told mine that he had begun to straighten our his life. He shook away the drugs, moved away from the influence, and was starting over. He was happy in his home state of Tennessee living near family and was enjoying his new job. He had been trying to find me and had heard something about my being in Television in West Virginia. But he never got around to contacting me.

Technically, I've never lost anyone close to me.

It hurts like hell.

Air pollution...not on my watch!

2007-11-12T22:22:00.000-05:00

During the election season last year, all of the folks in the newsroom were tossing around their opinions about a statewide smoking ban. There was one common reaction from just about every person to whom I talked and that was, "Ew...I hate smoke. I hope it gets banned in November".

Well I, too, hate the smell of cigarette smoke and the cancer causing ingredients in contains, and the fact that it is the only product on the market that when used as directed kills you. Please don't misunderstand that. However, I think a larger point has been missed here.

Government should have no right to tell a private business owner to whom he can or can't open his doors.

How is it that a "No Smoking" sign couldn't have been enough to tell smokers to go elsewhere to light up? How is it that a "smoking section" isn't enough of an indicator that if non-smokers don't want to smell smoke, then they should be seated in the non-smoking section? So what...because smokers and non-smokers alike couldn't follow the plainly written placards, the tyrannical majority felt it necessary to force a moral highground issue down citizen's throats?

How is that the American way?

Again don't get me wrong here, I hate it that people are addicted to this garbage. This habit is debilitating and kills too many moms, dads, and kids each year. But if you don't want to smell smoke, then don't frequent the establishments that have smoking sections; this includes the ones that are poorly ventilated. If you want to light up after a meal, don't expect a non-smoking restaurant to cater to you or like cliental. How is that hard to understand?

Now, in enclosed spaces where it is difficult or impossible to remove yourself from unwanted secondhand smoke (i.e. a train, subway, or work place) it is pretty universal that smoking is prohibited and only permitted outside of these facilities or in a designated smoking room with ventilation (i.e. large airports). Now that this sweeping ban has passed, smokers don't even have that choice anymore.

This smoking ban should have never made it to the ballot in the first place. It should have been left up to the free market system to handle. If there is a greater demand for non-smoking establishments, then more and more business owners will cater to that crowd. If there is a large smoking population nearby, locally owned, private business should be able to offer goods and services to them without the government's dissatisfaction.

Now that this precedent has been set, what civil liberty will voters take away next? Will they ban private gun ownership because, "I don't like knowing there are guns in my neighborhood"? Will they vote away your right to spend your money at wal-mart because "I don't like that they forced mom-n-pop shops out of business"?

New York is already banning the use of trans fats like there is no tomorrow and the wackos on Capitol Hill are trying to do the same all over the country. When are we finally going to look at the 400lbs. lady who cries that McDonald's made her fat and call her out for her lack of personal responsibility?

I don't need Uncle Sam to save me from myself, thank you, and I don't need the voter to do that either. What if I want trans fats in my hamburger every once in a while? Am I gonna have to go to Canada to get it (did anyone else shutter when they read that)? Come on, people!

Dave Hudson said it best,

"Just pave my road and kill those who are trying to kill me. I'll take care of
the rest".

I wish that was true.

A Vanishing Masculinity

2007-11-12T21:58:00.000-05:00

Where have all the cowboys gone?

It seems that in today's American culture men are more valued if they act less like men. We are encouraged to become "metro sexual" and carry "murses" than to exhibit the character traits given to us by God. Men are constantly under the pressures to speak less loudly, don't be such a presence, stop killing Bambi, be less competitive. Is this a fad or a quickly embraced pattern of being? Whatever it is, Christian men need to know that it flies in the face of not only what God wants for you but how He wired you.

Men and women are wired differently by [intelligent] design and thankfully so. The New Testament says that the two will become one upon marriage and that seems to indicate that one can't truly comprehend all that is the human experience without intimate knowledge of how the other sex lives. Not to say that a man is an incomplete person if unmarried, but that he'll only breathe a fraction of this life without being bonded to a suitable woman he can love, protect, and secure.

Ephesians 5:25, in one verse, says a great deal about true, Godly manhood. But there is more to it. Besides the example of manhood that are my family members, I have come to love a few movies that highlight the masculine qualities that are sorrowfully absent in much of America today.

The Patriot

The main character is a man named Benjamin Martin played by Mel Gibson. Martin is a widower, former military officer, and raising his four children in colonial America. The Revolutionary War is just months in the future and the tension is building. Should we learn to live under the crown? Should we stand and fight? Who will fight? All daunting decisions with grave consequences.

Martin loves his family too much to see them lose both parents and wants to avoid going to war because of it. However, when the reality of war has come and battles bring themselves onto his front field, he knows he can no longer stand idly by and watch other fathers, sons, brothers die for the freedom of his countrymen.

While war isn't always the answer, a man always fights for liberty from tyranny and justice under God. When the times comes to fight, a man takes up arms.

Walking Tall

This modernized re-telling of Buford Pusser's true story stars Dwayne Johnson, A.K.A The Rock, playing Chris Vaughn, ex-Special Forces. Chris comes home after being discharged to find that his once quiet and honest town has been turned into a den of vipers.

A crooked casino has opened in the shadow of a boarded up timber mill previously the main employer and staple of the small community.The filth from the dirty workings in the casino spread like a cancer onto the streets where drugs are sold to children while bought and paid-for law enforcement looks the other way. Chris is floored that no one has stood up to what everyone can plainly see is destroying their home. So, at great personal cost, he stands.

Alone.

A man is wired to be a leader whether it be at home, at work, or on the field of play. Men don't defer judgment or pussy-foot around by being passive aggressive. Men lead towards a better future. A safe neighborhood. A life lived for God and to see His kingdom grow.

National Treasure

This little beauty has a sequel about to be released and I'm really looking forward to it. Nicholas Cage plays the role of Ben Gates, an inquisitive thinker who as a boy, was told a great family secret concerning a treasure so grand that it was considered too massive for any one man to posses. It was fought over for centuries by many different armies.
Over time, the legend states that its location was hidden and the secret to its discovery was given to a select few who vowed to protect it. One of those sworn to protect it was Ben's grandfather who let him in on the first clue to finding the treasure if it still, indeed, existed.

Gates spent his entire academic life learning how to decipher riddles, solve puzzles, excavate and salvage, studying the history of this great Nation and the major players of her founding just to be able to one day be the one to find this lost national treasure. Venturing to far off lands, on frozen oceans, tunneling underground, stealing pieces of American History to look for more clues, it didn't matter. Benjamin Franklin Gates was going to find what had become his calling in life.

Men are adventurous. Men seek. Men follow the primal yearning of the heart to discover and chart a new course. Men throw away the map and cut out their own path. And men are not quenched after finding, rather seek out something new to explore. Don't subdue your God-given need to explore, discover and uncover.

I encourage you to rent one of these movies, or one of your own choosing, and bask in what little bastion of male pride there is left in America. Celebrate what makes you how God wanted you to be!

BE A MAN!

Education, education, three bags full...

2007-11-12T21:51:00.001-05:00

I am a student of many disciplines but a master of none.

I foolishly thought that after receiving my bachelor's degree that my formal education would be over. Then came my meteorological post-graduate work. Three full years of toil later those requirements were satisfied and that familiar feeling of accomplishment tricked my heart into educational contentment.

Now, I'm contemplating finishing my third and very pricey paper on my wall by taking only two more college courses. Even after that is behind me, I know there will be more ahead. Thankfully, I'm okay with it now and am picking up more areas of interest to study. Here are a few.

Over the last several months, I've been spending some of my down time searching for nice, printable copies of both the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence that we can keep at home. Through talking with a few friends including Dr. Cameron Clark and reading the writings of Nathan McIntyre and others, it has become increasingly important for me to read these founding documents very carefully especially as we, the people come closer and closer to a new Presidency.

I went out and bought 24 lb. gold resume stock and printed both of these writs of liberty. Slowly and deliberately I've been calculating every word. While I am no law scholar, I've found (re)discovering these words almost thrilling (if I may geek out about them a little)! I'm truly excited to dive deeper into what some very passionate patriots had in mind for our country and to share with others how we might be able to bring their American dreams to fruition today.

I used to think that I had the teachings of Christ and the ideals of proper corporate worship pretty hammered out but I've since realized that what I thought was confident knowledge was really a sickening mix of blind Pharisaical ignorance and pride. There are ceremonies in today's church services that I've often found unnecessary and in many ways non-Biblical but I'm discovering what the heart of worship truly is and what my worship has been missing.

I encourage you to take a step away from what is familiar and concentrate on the condition of your spirit. You may just find that what is demanded of you legalistically is honestly unsavory and repulsive to the Father. Then again, you might not but one thing we all need to remember is that worship is not about you, your spouse, or the guy sitting in the pew in front of you.

It is not about us! None can judge your worship but He who is being worshipped.

Since becoming one, I'm learning daily what a husband is and how to be a better one. This is more fun than I thought it would be although sometimes my rough corners are smoothed by some very unpleasantly course sandpaper. But I know that what I'm experiencing will make my relationship with my wife tightly bonded, deeply loving, and better equipped to stand the tests of time.

She is also learning how to be the wife and friend I need her to be and, boy let me tell you, it is much easier to do that when you spend time together. Being married to an elementary school teacher means you have to sacrifice some of your together time for many months out of the year but when summer comes, your reward is returned to you five fold!

I'm not sure what I'll do with my new knowledge in the founding documents, spiritual truth, and the shared life of matrimony but I do know that I'll be learning about them my whole life.

I'm okay with that!

Hey, Moron!

2007-11-12T20:44:00.000-05:00

Every now and then, I get nasty-grams from viewers. You know, when I screw up the forecast or I'm not wearing the right color shirt or my hair gets too long etc... a few folks like to get on the horn or the e-mail and let me have it.

Years ago, I received one by mail. Evidently, someone took offense to a statement I made when I said that the earth is closer to the sun during the winter than at any other time of year. Well, someone decided to write and tell me how much of a moron I am. They clipped an article from a local newspaper regarding the earth's seasons and from that they deduced that I was wrong.

Actually, this is how they put it:

"You seem very smart, but what you said was not very smart. Before you go on
air, get your facts straight please."

That wasn't enough. These folks were too cowardly to leave their names. They just signed the note, "Dedicated viewers". They even went so far as to cut their name off of the return address sticker!

Okay, that was enough for me.

I decided to use a reverse search using their address and FOUND their names (and their ages too). I then wrote what you are about to read, USING their names. Please, enjoy this and share it with someone you love.

**********
Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so, Thank you for being dedicated viewers. We make it our goal to continually increase our effectiveness in bringing you the news, weather and sports information that is important to you. It is my personal goal to get you ready for the day ahead. I like to throw in a whole lot of fun to boot. I mean, hey, how serious do you wanna be at 6 AM?

I also like to educate my viewers on the truth behind popular myths and "wife's tales" when it comes to meteorology, as well as adequately prepare you for the day ahead. One of the most misunderstood concepts in astronomy is the concept of seasons and how the earth responds to seasonal changes thanks to its tilt (23.5 degrees). Usually, I have to explain the seasons in-depth for most folks. I'm very satisfied to know that you have grasped this concept. This will make my job in the following explanation much easier.

The statement you included in your letter was:

"You made a statement on the morning show...that the sun is closest to us now -
I know for a fact it isn't."

I'm glad you said that. This alludes to the difficulty that most folks have in grasping the scientific reality of the Perihelion and the Aphelion of the earth's orbit. But don't worry, I love teaching.

As you know, the Terra [axial] orbital (and all other orbitals for that matter, not just that of earth) is not a circle, rather is an ellipse. An ellipse has a major axis and a minor axis thus flattening the path so that there are two oblong points... one of maximum distance and one of minimum distance. I have included a diagram so that it will be easier understood.Please note where it says, "Planet X perihelion". This position is the closest that a planetary body will come to the sun (in orbit). At this point, the earth is 147.5 million kilometers away from the sun. Thus, earth is closest to the sun here.

Also note in the diagram the "Planet X aphelion" position. This position is the farthest a planetary body will be from the sun (in orbit). At this point, the earth is 152.6 million kilometers away from the sun. Thus, earth is farthest from the sun here. As it happens for earth, the perihelion (closest to the sun) is always around early January. This year it will be January 4th. Conversely, the aphelion always occurs around early July. This year it will be July 4th.

Therefore, with the northern hemispheric winter beginning on December 21st, it is true that the earth is closest to the sun during the northern hemispheric winter.

As always, thank you for contacting us at the SuperDuper StormCenter. If you have any more questions regarding the science of this earth, the stars, or of course meteorology, please fell free to let us know!

**********

I truly feel sorry for some people.

It took me all of 10 minutes to research for quotes and find that diagram. I am, by no means, an infallible expert in science. But seriously, there is no excuse for ignorance when the Internet is literally at your fingertips. Information has never been more accessible than it is today. All we have to do is take the time and exercise the patience to look for it.