My Wife is a Blessing

Sometimes I listen to other men talk about how wonderful their mate is and I am so happy for them. Then I look at my own wife and it's hard not to tell the world how incredible she is. What makes her so incredible? She puts up with an idiot like me, I do not deserve the woman God placed in my path on a small island in the middle of the Atlantic ocean almost 17 years ago. Last year I trampled on her heart, violated the sanctity of our marriage and shattered the trust of our children. We have had an incredible year as move closer together under God's grace and mercy.
I flew out of town early in the morning on my birthday last week. Later that day I got an email from her containing one thing she loved about me for every year of my life. When I arrived home I was given to golfing gift certificates with a hand-written note that indicated I would now have time to play gold on the weekends instead of finishing the deck. We went out back and she showed me the wonderful completed project. Unknown to me she had been planning for a week to have our deck project finished when I arrived home. Anyone who has ever tried to hire a contractor can sympathize with trying to get someone immediately, let alone that she wanted a massive amount of work done in < 3 days. I'm the guy that runs to the grocery store and stands in line with 100 other dudes on Valentine's day, our anniversary, or her birthday.
Father God, help me to walk in a manner worthy of the calling which I have received.

Pictures here: https://picasaweb.google.com/griffse/DeckProject#

Guitar Center Knoxville

I like to look at the used gear every now and then in Guitar Center so I headed in the other day and noticed they have a new sign posted on their door. It says no weapons allowed and show a picture of an automatic rifle, handgun, and a knife. I decided not to go in since I was carrying my weapon at the time. I called them and asked the girl who answered the phone if this included all knives, she proceeded to ask how big was my knife. I told her I have one with a 7" fixed blade and one 3.5" folding and I was just curious. She said "7" doesn't sound too big" and I almost giggled into the phone. That's my Ka-Bar and it's a huge knife. She transferred me to the manager and he confirmed they intended all knives and was cool about it when I told him I wouldn't be frequenting their establishment any longer.

Can anyone explain the logic of the sign? To me it seems as effective as putting a sign up that says "No Robbery Allowed on Premises." A sign banning weapons won't stop a criminal but a customer that is armed might.

SuperBowl XLV

We had some friends over Sunday to watch the game and what a game! I wanted the Steelers to win going into the game but thought it was great to see Aaron Rodgers get a ring that he definitely deserved. The steelers just didn't look prepared the whole game and when players had to dig deep, Green Bay answered the call, well done to the Packers.

On the flip side, the "entertainment" portion of the broadcast was the worst I have ever seen. Maybe three good commercials but to be fair I did have to change the channel several times because of inappropriate content like the commercial for "Just Go With It", Every Go Daddy spot, the teleflora ad, and maybe one or two others. We had three kids under the age of 10 and two teenage boy in the room; it's disappointing that we can't just let the game go and we have to guard the remote during a football game. With respect to the National Anthem, Christina Aguilera can sing well, but if you forget the words you will go down as sucking. That song doesn't need anyone's vocal gymnastics, leave it alone. When people flub that song I feel it in my gut, very disappointing.

Now, the halftime show. Let me admit I have still never heard the Black-eyed peas perform in a normal situation. They suck, bad. Half of the problem definitely wasn't them, the sound was total crap and I am sure some dude got canned. The saving moments had to be Slash and Usher stepping in for a moment to show people what a musician can do. I went to you tube and watched some of the old performances and have to say that Michael Jackson in 1993, U2 in 2002, and Prince are still the best I have seen. I don't even listen to their music but their shows seemed to really hit the nail on the head.

The suckage of the entertainment made the game that much better.

Movie Review (Secretariat)

It's becoming progressively difficult to find an actual family movie that's clean. Hollywood seems to think we need some type of swearing, crude joke, or filth so that the grown ups will be interested. Last Saturday Secretariat was at the "dollar" theater so we all packed up and headed out.

I don't know anything about horses or horse racing. I know that every time I look at a horse, their beauty is inspiring. This movie provided me with a window back in time to watch something amazing. The movie seemed very real with family issues, sadness, perseverance, and triumph. The cast was spectacular with Diane Lane and John Malkovich providing most of the delivery but every role played to perfection. The big name actors did not overtake the lesser names which happens in so many movies.



Watching the audience I saw people laugh, cry, and applaud at the end of the movie. Disney did a great job with this and our hwole family , from 40 to 4, loved it.

Interesting facts:
1.Secretariat's record for the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes still stand.

2.He accelerated through the entire mile of the Kentucky Derby.

3.The Beyer Speed Figure used to rate performance has a record of 134 if it existed when Secretariat ran he would have earned a 139.

4.The margin of victory, 31 lengths, for the Belmont Stakes is still the widest margin of victory.