Be the Man

Are you "the man"? What does that even mean today anyway? I am watching friends and families falling apart as they are preyed upon by what our society would consider well-meaning ideas and support. Instead of helping, modern society encourages you to do whatever makes your selfish pride happy. This is NOT who we are called to be. Men, do not shirk your Christian duties to your wife and children. We must do what we are called to do. I will quote to you a familiar passage:

"25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body,[d] of His flesh and of His bones. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”[e] 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband."

Now, there are words in here telling the wife what to do also but that is her responsibility not yours. We are to hold up our end of the bargain regardless of what she is doing. Now, I am not advocating sitting idly by in an abusive environment or condoning any non-biblical behavior by your spouse. Verse 26 actually speaks to this and you can also get some good biblical counseling from a professional. Be careful who you choose, I went to one Christian counselor that never opened the Bible.

I didn't hold up my end of the bargain for over 10 years in my marriage. I made excuse after excuse in order to blame my wife when it was really my sin that was the problem. I need to examine myself before I examine anyone else. I also need to make sure that I am placing God first, then my spouse, then my kids, and then others before I give myself what I think I deserve. This is not the popular psychology version we want to hear these days. We want to hear that we should follow our hearts and do what makes us happy. To quote a friend:

"What if marriage doesn't exist to make you happy, what if it exists to make you holy?"

Spy vs. Spy

I decided to look through my weblogs again and my LinkedIn profile page views. I noticed that the hall monitor and his flunky continue to look at my postings as if that has anything to do with their organization or job description. Please leave me alone, your harassment is unwelcome. It's tough to put pieces of your past behind you when certain pieces feel the need to follow you and run their mouths about you. Fortunately, I keep excellent records and will be presenting those to someone who may be able to help shortly.

People are Stupid

Don't believe me? Let's keep legalizing abnormal things and see how long it takes before these idiots get what they want:

http://www.nambla.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Man/Boy_Love_Association

It's absolutely disgusting that a society like that can even exist.

Hate Crimes, Cyber Bullies, Unicorns, and other mythical creatures

Let me start by saying I don't condone what is currently classified as a hate crime or cyber bullying. I guess what I have to ask is is murder, theft, or assault any worse because of how you classify it. I mean really is it better if two straight white guys fight or two gay dudes? We are focusing on the wrong problems trying to label these things. We are also acting like teen suicide is something new this past week because there have been" a rash of gay teen suicides." Look up some statistics on suicide, according to the CDC, a teen attempts suicide every 78 seconds and every 90 seconds one is successful. That's insane!

Cyber bullying, are you kidding me? You had to make up a new term and act like it's worse than any other bullying? At least with cyber crap you are on an even playing field where no one has a physical advantage and your ability to "fight" back is only limited by your imagination. I remember getting beat up a couple of times in my youth at school or walking to and from school, those certainly weren't the worst things that have ever happened to me and they taught me to deal with people who were just plain idiots.

If you are a parent, know your children and what they do. If you are choosing to send them off into some other environment for most of their day you will need to invest extra time understanding what goes on there. Please don't blindly assume your kid is different and independent enough to handle all life throws at them on their own. If you are the parent of a bully, you suck. Please stop sucking and discipline your child the world doesn't need this crap.

Our Deck Project

WE decided to rebuild our deck earlier this year and have now started the demolition and re-construction. Saturday was a long day, but we made great progress. You can keep track of the progress here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/griffse/DeckProject#

TV sucks

My TV is now only for watching some sports, a reality show or two, and family movie nights. The quality of television has gotten terrible and even the show that I want to watch have commercials, even in the middle of the day, that I can't let my children see. It was great that WalMart had "The Jensen Project" in July that was both decent and entertaining.

I have watched a few of the new shows that have come out and here's my take:

The Ev3nt: Great commercial build up but poor execution and delivery. I quit watching Lost when it got too weird and difficult to follow, this show is starting off that way.(watched 2 episodes)

Anything with Vampires and WereWolves: (stoopid)

The Apprentice: I believe this has been effectively killed by the "fun" version Celebrity Apprentice.

Chase: I can't watch a tiny little actress beat up giant people, boring.

Hawaii Five-O: I liked this one, wish it was on at 8 or 9 instead of 10. Scott Caan is a riot.

Outsourced: Had high hopes for this one, great commercials. Unfortunately the products sold by the company are foul and I lost interest pretty quick. This could've been a good one.

No Ordinary Family: I only saw a small part of this and it was just alright. Looks like they might actually take a look at bad parenting but we will see.

Lone Star: Jon Voight is a great actor, the stories were not real interesting. This show has already been canned after two episodes.

Undercovers: I watched the first ten minutes of the premiere. The computer stuff and shootout were horrible and I turned it off before I ever saw the main actors.

S#^! My Dad Says: Not watching it because the title sucks.

I haven't watched anything else and none of the other new shows have piqued my interest at all. Good thing I have my deck to rebuild this fall and football.

Homeschooling "battles"

The battles you fight as a homeschooler aren't what you might think. Most of the time your battles revolve around an outsider's perception of why you do what you do and them immediately telling you why they don't do it. Let's clear something up right away; I do not think everyone should homeschool. I do think there should be public schools and I happily pay my taxes so that those schools can exist. I do not believe that the issues I have with public education are the fault of the teachers in the classrooms.
We chose to homeschool for several reasons. First, I want my children to have a biblical world view. That definitely isn't going to happen in public school and maybe not even in some private schools. Second, we enjoy time with our children and want to give them as much time with us as possible. The local public school is from 0830 to 1530, that's seven hours not including prep and travel time. If I got home at 1710 and my kids went to bed at 2100, we would see them for a total of maybe 20 hours on weekdays. Conversely, they would be immersed with their peers well more than double that amount. That would be an unhealthy ration for our family.
My greatest concern for my children is not athletics, or grades, or getting into a college. I want multi-generational faithfulness in my family. I did a little research and found some scary statistics regarding what happens when Christian kids leave home and set out on their own. One study showed that "94% of homeschoolers keep the faith and 93% continue to attend church after the high school years. But a shocking 75% to 85% of Christian children sent to public school drop out of church, and do not hold a Christian worldview after high school graduation." That's shocking and scary, but even worse is this study showing that less than 19% of self-professing born-again adults possess a biblical worldview. Why is this we might ask? This article shows that today's adults weren't sufficiently challenged as children. I know I wasn't challenged even though I was raised in church. I have learned the hard way that my own spiritual walk wasn't what it should be until earlier this year.

Another battle you may end up fighting as a homeschooler is how your parents feel about your decision. My wife and I are both licensed educators and come from families where multiple generations have been educators. An unintended consequence of our choice to homeschool was making our parents feel like our decision reflected on their career choice and/or their decision to send us to public school. While some of our decision is based on what we experienced, we do not "blame" our parents and grandparents for anything and we are not criticizing their lifestyles or choices. My wife recently said that to her mother and it seemed to relieve a lot of tension. You may also ask yourself "what about honoring your mother and father" if they disagree with your decision? This goes beyond my ability to discuss so I leaned on this blog entry from Voddie Bauchum. He's a great resource for homeschoolers and also for any man that wants to be challenged to be the spiritual leader he is supposed be.

At the end of the day your decisions should be made by asking yourself "am I doing this for me or am I doing it to bring glory and honor to God's kingdom?" That answer will NOT be the same for everyone. As long as you are dying to yourself and picking up your cross everyday then you will make the right decisions for your family. For the men out there, I pray that you can avoid the trap that I fell into which was my own self-centeredness and pride. I spent a lot of time wanting to be comfortable in the world and wanting glory for myself. If you are interested in homeschooling I can tell you it's very rewarding and your kids will enjoy it. The issues concerning social skills and quality of education are really not issues at all if you do a little bit of research and preparation. I have heard people say to me "your kids are great but most homeschoolers....". They can stop there, no one knows "most" homeschoolers just like no one knows "most" public school kids. You may have been exposed to some that were not what you want for your kids but that isn't necessarily representative of "most."

I hope you will make the right decisions for your family, whatever that might be.

Colin Powell on Immigration

The general stated that the United States needs illegal immigrants for the following reasons:

1. they "are doing things we need done in this country."

2. "They're all over my house, doing things whenever I call for repairs.."

3. Immigration, he said, offers the U.S. a chance to maintain a youthful population in contrast with the aging of Europe and Japan.

4. He also said "I'm sure you've seen them at your house."

These are unfortunate reasons. I do not understand what number three means at all unless he means U.S. citizens aren't having enough babies. I also know that no illegals work on my home because I know who I hire.

Washington "Acid Attack"

Largely I ignore everything in the "news" over the past year because nothing is actually news.This one confuses me so I thought I would seek some clarification. IF this story had not been a hoax, why is it national news? Now that it is a hoax, why is it national news? The woman said her attacker was black and now some people are saying that means she is a racist. If she had said her attacker was white does that mean she hates white people? Maybe she is a racist but I don't think saying that makes her one, she's just a moron. In the "comments" on CNN and Fox and other sites, liberals say she is a wacko conservative and conservatives say she is a wacko liberal. Who cares? What does this have to do with political party affiliation and why must everything be polarized along those lines? Really, aren't there idiots in both parties and what does this whole thing have to do with politics anyway?

Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning

Last night I heard an "expert panel" say that because Tom Brady got a new huge contract that Peyton Manning will deserve more. That's the stupidest thing I have ever heard, Tom Brady has produced more than Manning and has been a better investment. I guess all those super bowl rings just aren't a measure of success. A look at their stats shows who pays off when it counts, don't take my word for it, look it up.

Movie Review (Green Zone)

I saw this Saturday and even though I wasn't tempted to turn it off, it was kind of boring. The actors played their parts well, and I think that things were represented alright but it just wasn't engaging. It may have been the veiled political messages or maybe just the subject matter. One reviewer called it "Jason Bourne goes to Baghdad." It's nothing like the Bourne series, and the character is completely different too. Overall it was entertaining but I wouldn't rush out to see it. The other option was Hot Tub Time Machine, but plugged in online said it was pretty foul so we chose to skip it.

Movie Review (The Book of Eli)

Amazing! This was a great story even if a bit violent. The violence and language seemed contextually accurate so I can handle that, nothing gratuitous. IF you haven't seen it, run don't walk. The only knock I have was that the movie was incredibly dark. When I say that I mean I couldn't see things on the screen sometimes. I also could have done without the sepia filter used to shoot most of the scenes. Even with that, I almost cried at the end which surprised me.

Home Depot

I find it odd that you can wear LGBT paraphernalia but you cannot wear the words from our pledge of allegiance. This is a perfect example of discrimination and is very unfortunate. If Home Depot wants to actually be fair, don't allow either one. You also shouldn't allow your employees to wear their uniform aprons in non-company events or off property. If you really want equality, then be equal. If you just want to pick a side then say you're choosing sides and be prepared for the consequences.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2009/10/28/florida-man-says-home-depot-fired-wearing-nation-god-pin/

You have got to be kidding me

Absolutely amazing that anyone thinks this is alright. Another reason my kids won't ever see a public school if I can help it. I hate this stuff for the teachers out there that oppose this type of crap.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/07/09/montana-school-proposes-controversial-sex-education-program/

Too funny

This is dang funny, I worked for some morons like this once.

"Classic" Movies

Mrs. Dude and I have been watching a couple of "classics." First we watched Breakfast at Tiffany's; I always wondered what this flick was about so I decided to watch it with her. After seeing it I still wonder what it's about. It was somewhat funny and I never wanted to turn it off, even though it's about 2 people who prostitute themselves, but I never really cared about it either. What I mean is that if the power would have gone out it would have been fine by me. It was cool to see a young George Peppard rocking the screen but he was way cooler as Hannibal on the A-Team. So anyway, the movie was weird and I hear it's being re-made. Speaking of being recycled, is there a movie out there that isn't currently being recycled for the second or third time? I guess no one has tried to do E.T. again yet.

This past weekend we watched Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. I saw this movie as a younger person but can honestly say I only remembered two scenes. This movie also seemed weird and I think a re-make of this could definitely be better. It would have been cool to do it while both main actors were still alive but that opportunity has passed. I also wouldn't have cared if we didn't finish this movie, it really was odd.

Up next is African Queen, I will let you know what happens.

Gay Clergy

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ordained a bunch of gay folks, amazing. I know this "debate" can go on and on over a host of issues, but it still amazes me. I mean first "we" start ordaining women which is crazy enough and now this. I guess this sums it all up:

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Isaiah 5:20

Censorship Inconsistencies

So I am watching TV on Saturday, during the day, and on one movie a guy freely uses the word "prick" more than once. He isn't talking about a needle in your finger either and that is quite clear. Then later on the same channel, during a comedy, the word "nigger" is edited out. That doesn't seem consistent.

More AT&T Awesomeness

I decided to post some SpeedTest.net results. Here are the results to my Nexus One when I have three bars of 3G goodness:
Ping: 109ms
Upload: 0.18Mbps
Download: 0.89Mbps

So that's NOT fast, but compare it to AT&T's crap DSL:
Ping: 139ms
Upload: 0.06Mbps
Download: 0.66Mbps

I have got to get back on cable.

Wow

I found some interesting articles today, these don't seem to get much attention:

http://www.ldlad.com/articles-of-impeachment-of-barack-hussein-obama

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/10/experts-say-obama-misrepresented-views-justify-offshore-drilling-ban/

http://dailycaller.com/2010/06/10/acorn-employees-tell-fbi-of-deliberate-election-fraud-according-to-new-documents/#ixzz0qYSJEDRl

Presidential Approval Tracker

Check this out:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/presidential-approval-tracker.htm

AT&T Ripoff

We recently decided to give up on Knology as our ISP after the 900th prolonged service outage. After reviewing all the price gouging offers, we decided to select the slowest, cheapest, thing from AT&T.While we were having our negotiations, the sales people said we could get their DSL Elite for only $5 more per month. See this ad. We had already switched our phone over with just basic service at this point. We decided on accepting the $24.95/mo offer knowing the promotion would only last a year. Imagine our surprise when we got our first bill and saw we were being charged $44.95/mo for DSL and had been signed up for AT&T long distance. When we finally got a live body on the phone they said "of course" we had to pay full price on the DSL for three months before getting the promotional rate and that "of course" you have to be an AT&T long distance subscriber to have their DSL elite service. No one seemed to care when we said this had not been disclosed to us. After THREE days on the phone with six different customer service representatives we finally got rid of their long distance and their "elite" DSL. I now have the slowest crappiest Internet connection ever.

The irony of television

I was watching the finale of "The Biggest Loser" and a commercial came on for this new ABC show:

http://abcfamily.go.com/shows/huge

Funny.

Movie Review (Gamer)

I thought the commercial looked cool, so Mrs. Dude rented it. I had to turn it off after 10 minutes because of all the gratuitous language and nudity, what a waste.

Anonymous Gift

This past week I got two separate job offers and an anonymous source paid our utility bill. God's grace is so amazing. These offers are great news since I have been unable to get a job even at Lowe's. Now we have to decide if we want to move and/or how much travel will be involved.

Pity Party

Yesterday during my pity party I prayed for guidance and then decided to mow my neighbor's yard. That was a nice experience that God presented and allowed me to serve someone else and not focus on my own selfishness. Praise God for that opportunity.

Unemployed

I am really not enjoying this anymore. I know God will take care of us but my pride is being continually assaulted. Today my son asked why we couldn't open the pool and I had to tell him we don't have the money to do it this year. Being a great guy, he offered me his piggy bank. God is teaching me humility right now, I have to learn to love it.

Pray For Your Enemies

As I have been seeking employment, I have had some really great interviews that have wound up being complete dead ends. I know a lot of people have been telling partial truths about me and it's been quite a struggle. Last night I decide to pray that God would bless these people and their lives. I would ask those of you that read this to join me in asking that God bless them and draw these people close to Him.

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Matthew 5:44

Trying to buy a car

As I 'm trying to buy a car, I keep running into people who don't understand that they cannot charge more than the vehicle's worth. They also don't seem to understand that putting tires on a vehicle does not increase its worth but is simply regular maintenance. Consider the following emails, this is for a 2000 Honda Accord EX w 135k miles.

From the seller:
Condition Value


Excellent
$7,315


Honda Accord Ex

Power everything, leather, front dual airbags, front side air bags, premium sounds, sunroof, its everything! and 135k miles on it.

I just looked it up and thats what it says. I have a bunch of people wanting to look at it. So let me know.

Its worth more than Im asking for it. I owe 325.00 left on it. I just paid 6000.00 off of it. And only have that much left.

I should really be asking 6500.00 for it. since i still owe on it. Cause Im wanting to get somethig else after this car..

From the Captain:
I'm not working with dealers, because I'm only willing to pay the "private party value". With these features and mileage, Kelly Blue Book shows the following. If you end up lowering the price please let me know, best of luck selling it.



More Photos
Condition Value

Excellent $5,065
Good $4,590
Fair $4,040

From the seller:
No def not. You are not adding all the stuff that it has. Im not taking that for it. Def not.

Its worth more than that. And its in very good shape with low miles. there are honda accord 98 models all online for 5999.99 still. i would be stupid to sale it for less. plus i just paid 6325.00 on it to pay it off. and i have to replace it with something else. so no.

sorry!

From the Captain:
That was every available option with the miles you listed for this zip code. Best of luck selling it, I hope you get what you need for it.

So far I haven't heard back but wee will see. Here is another example of someone asking $5800 for a 2001 Chrysler 300m with 120k miles :

From the Captain:
I went home and ran a pricing report on your vehicle with my own observation of the condition. My estimation is that the vehicle is in good to fair condition based on the possibility of needing engine work, one or more front brake rotors needing replaced, and the cosmetic issues like the cracked dashboard, blown front speaker, stereo knobs, and the burlwood trim being pulled away from the dash. If you decide to lower the price, let me know.

I got the following values:
Condition Value

Excellent $3,965
Good $3,565
Fair $3,115

From the seller:
Here are the NADA and Consumer Reports I also ran when pricing the car. The work done three months ago was $741 for the new tires/belts plus I had the tires rotated/balanced/full alignment yesterday for 90. I had the rotors checked at firestone when I initially had the work done, and they do not need replacing. He said they could re-cover them for 70 if I recall correctly, so that's not too expensive of a fix (it was not necessary at the time which the guy I was working with agreed). I do not believe the engine work will cost more than 200-300 dollars, and am willing to take that off of the price. I was quoted 100 dollars at firestone in order for them to find the leak, and then whatever it costs to patch/fix it.

Let me know what you think when you take a look at these reports. I averaged the two of them when pricing the car, also taking the recent improvements into consideration.

From the Captain:
I hope you were able to sell the car, the prices you sent appeared to be retail but I am sure someone will pay that for it. Additionally, I do not count maintenance as improvements.

Movie Review (Cop Out)

The trailers were so funny, the movie is awful. I really hate it when funny things in the trailer aren't in the film too. I regret going to see this one, horrible.

Used Car Shopping

I have been used car shopping for several days now and thought I would share some of the fun I have been having. Yesterday I found a pretty decent, I thought, deal on a 2001 LeSabre but then the whole "good cop bad cop" thing started. As I was looking at the vehicle the guy was all smiles and offered the car for $4900. When we decided we wanted it the thing was $6000. Why can't they just tell you an honest price without some pushy sales crap with $2000 worth of processing fees, taxes and other garbage? It also seems that every car sales man I talk to has a belief that no one on the planet can look up what a vehicle is worth without the tiny book they hold in their pocket. I mean do these guys even need to exist now? It would seem that used vehicles could almost be sold from a vending machine at this point. Yesterday's fiasco actually prompted me to send the guy the following link when he told me I couldn't find a better deal anywhere:

http://autos.yahoo.com/used-cars/overview;_ylt=A2KIRufp.JBL9HQAUQNXc78F;_ylv=3?listingtype=used&make=buick&model=lesabre&modelyearlb=2001&modelyearub=any&askpricelb=any&askpriceub=any&deliverymileagelb=any&deliverymileageub=any&location=37931

I was trying not to be rude but this guy's car was one of at least ten and the most expensive. When confronted with that data, he acted as if no one had ever done this before. I would also caution people to stay away from the "buy here pay here" lots since the only things those men seem to be able to say are "what kind of payment are you looking for" and "it drives out real straight". I don't have any idea what driving straight "means" and I will need the car to also go both left and right to get it back home.

Deception

Jezebel. Over the past several years, I have met her a few times. The Jezebel you meet may not even know she is a a tool of the enemy. To be fair, I have also been a tool of the enemy and am quite grateful to have had my eyes opened. Beware of the spirit of Jezebel that is so alive in our churches today and seeks to attack marriages and your relationship with Christ.

Web Logs are Cool

It's fun to see who is watching my blog based on recent events.

How Awesome is our God?

While I don't think anyone can accurately describe this I need to relate what I have experienced. I have lived a terrible life and deserve NOTHING but contempt from God. Over the years I have done everything within my flesh to try and get Him to turn His face from me. Instead he repeatedly shows me his favor and demonstrates his love for me.

During the past several months I allowed Satan to interfere in my life and he clearly made me think that what I was doing was justified. During that time I lost many of the things I held most dear. Through the refining fire I am being presented with a new and wonderful opportunity to let God have his way in my life. I have chosen to give up any of my own will and not retaliate against the untruths that are being used against me and rest in the fact that God will deal with all of that in His own time.

God is awesome!

It's on

Awesome

I am not happy

Sprint Customer Service

Sprint is totally awesome! Let me describe my previous statement which is dripping with sarcasm. Sprint allowed access to my account 24 hours after I had changed all of my security questions and answers. This action was not so much completely malicious by the person who did it, but rather a great example of how your information may not be protected.

Having been on the phone with 800 different Sprint customer service reps, and even someone from "Dan's" office, all I get are very weak excuses that they did everything right. The only "bright spot" was a very nice lady in their fraud management department that confirmed that my timeline of events was completely accurate.

If you use Sprint, enjoy!

Movie Review (Sherlock Holmes)

I read Sherlock Holmes books as a child and really enjoyed them. The movie has taken great cinematic license and turned the character into something few people ever envisioned, an action hero. Robert Downey Jr. solidified himself as the current top tier star in dramatic fashion. He portrays the man as a torn and troubled man with all the great attributes of observation and deduction from the books. He also really did some physical work on his body to pull off the role.

The movie itself is fast-paced and very complex. When I left the theater I felt like I had finished taking an exam. Although the film is somewhat mind numbing, this film is excellent and I can't wait for the sequel.

Movie Review (Avatar)

I saw 700 trailers for this movie and spent a month making fun of it. I decided to check it out while I am on travel in California.

By far this is the most visually stunning movie I have ever seen. I saw it in digital 3d and remain amazed. I have heard it's a blatant ripoff of Dances with Wolves and see some parallels, but the storyline seemed to have it's own life for me. If you haven't seen this movie, run don't walk.