July 14th 2011

            Has anyone ever thought about how many hours you have spent in your lifetime watching movies? Well, I did. And it’s astonishing. I am 45, so I have had many years to put in for movie watching. Its many thousands of hours that I have spent. Some of those hours I wish I could get back due to the movie being bad! Not too many of those thank goodness. But movies take you to another place. That’s the beauty of it. They take you to a place you will never be. To worlds that we could only dream of. That’s pure entertainment. That’s why movies exist. They allow us to be transported to somewhere we may never have the chance to be.

            One movie series that comes to mind is “Star Wars” I remember 1977 like it was yesterday. That movie changed everything. I spent the next 12 years waiting for the next one to come out. Finally the series was complete, and I turned around a realized I had three kids at the time. You want to know the best part?  My youngest son is 10 years old now, and he is a bigger Star Wars fan than I was. That is the power of movies. If done right, they are timeless.

            If Thomas Edison only knew the power of his invention of the movie projector. He brought a power with many of his inventions. But this one will stand the test of time. It takes us to many places. It makes us laugh and cry. But most of all, it entertains. And isn’t that the magic of it all. And that my friend is why movies are here. And why they will always be here. To take us away from our lives for just a few hours.

July 13th 2011

            Has anyone ever noticed when you are on a road trip, that the way home is always the longest parts of the drive?  I guess it’s the anticipation of getting to where you are going that makes the trip there seem shorter. Everyone is ready to get where you are going, talking about what you are going to do. The ride home is just that back to where you belong. But if you ask me, getting there is only half the fun. I love the fact that when you get home, it’s just that, Home. Your own bed, your own things. It makes you appreciate the smaller things in life.

            You bet that going to different places is fun. It’s great to see different things, do all you can do will you are on a trip. But to me, getting home is just as good. It’s your place. It has your feel, and smell. I guess that’s why they came up with that old saying “home sweet home” because it is. Everywhere you turn; it’s what you have created for your humble abode. It’s your personality.

            Everyone should have a place to call their own. It’s part of the American dream. My house is not a mansion by any means, but it’s mine. And it’s comfortable. Isn’t that what home is supposed to be? I think so. Because in my mind, it’s the richest, it’s the biggest; it’s the nicest in the area. Why, because its mine!   

July 12th 2011

Do you remember family vacations from when you were growing up? I do, and they were always a great time, no matter where we went. Mom and dad always made sure that we had a good time. Even those vacations when everything that could go wrong did! Those memories are some of the best I can recall. Loading up the car, and taking off for somewhere we had never been. The anticipation was always the best part. Sometimes the game plan would change mid trip, and that always was fun. But it always seems to work out for the best.

            I have not been able to do this for my kids as much as I would like to. Why? Gas prices are killing us. The American dream is changing right before our very eyes. We have had to postpone more than 1 trip because we just could not afford the gas to load up and go. This just kills me. But what can I do? Find a better job? Yes, that’s part of it, one of the many reasons I am back in college.  Earning that degree that will help us get to where we need to be. But we as a country need to change things from the way they are now.

            We all need to do our part to get back to the basic values our country was founded on. Everyone should read the constitution again and understand the values and principle we were founded on. We have gotten away from these, and to me, it’s a big part of our problem in this country. We are Americans. We need to find that can do attitude we once possessed.  We don’t seem to have it anymore. It’s still there; underneath all the crap we call a life. But it’s going to take all of us to make it work. You can make the changes we need just like I can. Just do it!

July 11th 2011

            What kind of world are we leaving the next generation of kids? I’m not sure at this point. Not a good one that for sure. I am older, 45, and my father left me a better world that he found it. His father did the same for him as well. At this point, I can honestly say if things keep going the way they are, I will NOT be able to leave my kids a better place than when I arrived. It is so very frustrating, with what is going on today. Our leaders just don’t seem to get it. I think we as a society have reached the point that some hard decisions must be made. This entire world has to step back, take a couple of breaths and change things.

            This is the information age we live in. Sometimes I think it is the greatest thing in the world, other times I stand back in amazement at the stupidity of it all. Its most certainty is part of the problem we face today.  We all what everything now. We have to realize that sometimes the plan calls for us to wait.  Be patient. All good things will come in time. There is a master plan from our maker, and he will reveal it in good time.

            I want nothing more than to leave this world a better place than I found it when my day is done. I want my kids to say, mom and dad left us a better place. At this point, we have so far to go that it sometimes makes my head swim. Will I have time? I don’t know. But I will not stop trying until the day I am called home. I hope that you feel the same way to. Because it’s going to take all of us to make it happen.  

July 10th 2011

                Money. It really is the root of all evil. One of our fellow classmates had written this and really got me to thinking about it. It’s true. We never seem to have enough of it, and we spend every waking moment trying to figure out how to get more of it and how to spend what little we do have! There never seems to be enough of it either.  At least in my case. Our budget at my house gets constant revisions all the time. We have become masters at the revision! My wife and I had learned how to stretch that dollar so far I think it will snap sometimes. We always seem to make it right to the wire.

                Everything in this economy has gone through the roof. It’s all a trickle effect. Gas has gone up again, that in turn causes everything to skyrocket up. It costs more to transport goods, so we then pay more. Groceries are on example of goods gone crazy! I have 3 kids at home that eat like wildfire. (Teenagers) my grocery budget is way out of hand, and we shop with coupons all the time! But what can you do. You just have to adjust, and go on and hope you will see it through the end of the month.

                Our President just now released oil reserves. This is something that should have happened long ago. That is what they are there for. Now it’s all political in motivation.  All it did was drive up Gas cost again. The opposite effect of what was intended. The Republicans and Democrats can’t seem to get it through their heads what it is going to take to revive this economy.  I never thought I would see a day like we are living in now. What am I leaving my kids?

July 9th 2011

What is going on with the price of gas again? It’s just driving me nuts. You almost have to take out a small loan to fill up your car these days. The government is wondering why we are still in an economic downturn, why we are not recovering fast enough, well, just look at gas prices. No one can afford to take a long trip, let alone just your normal everyday driving to get back and forth to work! I am old enough to remember when gas was less than 90 cents a gallon. You could afford to take a trip and still have gas left over to get to work!       

            Why is gas so high you ask? One word. GREED! The oil companies have been working for years to inch that price up slowly but surely to squeeze every last one of us dry. They know we depend on gas for everything we do. It’s been united effort on the parts of all the major oil companies to do this. They have us programmed now to feel that gas at $3.00 a gallon is a good deal! I never thought I would see gas prices elevated to the level that they are today.

            I used to work for an Oil company back in the late 70s and 80s. I know how they think. I know what the game plan has always been. I quit working the oilfields just because of this mentality. I did not want to be part of such a grandiose scheme. They have been working towards this for years, and now they have us over a barrel. And I’m not talking about a barrel of oil!

            What can we do? How about nationally we pick one day, and everyone in the US does not drive or buy gas. The millions of dollars they would lose could send a message. And that message is we have had enough!

July 8th 2011

Oh, to be a pilot. It’s been a dream of mine for years. I was unable in my younger years to continue pursuing this dream due to my eyesight. Back in the 70s, they had not yet come out with corrective laser surgery like today. To me, there would be no better job in the world that sitting in the cockpit of any plane at about 36,000 feet, seeing the whole world in front of you. I have about 20 hours logged of flight time so far, and I have had to scale back due to cost. Someday, I will earn my private pilots license, I just don’t know when that will be.  

            It’s hard to explain the feeling you get when you are in control of a plane. It’s the feeling that you are on top of the world. To see the clouds below you, the curve of the earth in front of you, to hear the rush of wind around the cockpit window, it’s just a feeling you cannot experience anywhere else. I had the opportunity back when I was 16 years old to fly in the cockpit of a 747 jumbo jet from Singapore to London. About an 8 hour trip. My family was good friends with a captain of Singapore airlines. He arranged to be the pilot on our flight that day, and invited me up for the whole flight takeoff and landings! I sat in the jump seat. Now, this would never happen today due to restriction in place for security issues. Needless to say, it is one of those moments that will stay with me till the day I die! Half way across the ocean, the copilot got up to walk around for about 20 min. and the Capt. invited me to sit in the right hand seat while he was gone. I got the opportunity to take the wheel for about 10 min under the captains. supervision. I flew a 747 with over 400 people on board! Something I will never forget!