Still Alive and Writing

It has been quite a spell since my last writing partly because I have been busy looking for gainful employment and partly because life has just been crazy. I also needed a break from doing this for a bit but as long as I enjoy writing I will continue to do so.

I am still working on finding work. It is a full time effort and with our current economic climate that some politicians love to call a recovery I have found it a competitive and trying experience. I promise not to make this entry full of whining about my own situation because I have too much in my life to thankful for and it seems petty to stay on that subject.

My brother recently had an unplanned event of receiving a triple bypass surgery. He came through it well and has a challenging road ahead with respect to lifestyle changes but at least he HAS a road ahead. I spent a week in winter wonder land and tried to just be helpful when I could be and get out of the way when that was called for and hopefully I successfully was able to distinguish the two scenarios. As I said goodbye it occurred to me that the Bourey boys are taking right after their Dad….shake hands and say thanks and I’ll see ya next time. It’s just not in our DNA to express too much in the way of feelings but the beauty of it is we both know how we feel about each other and that’s what counts. The prayers and support from not only my family and friends and church family but Linda’s Methodist family as well were overwhelming. This whole event was evidence once again that life is what happens while you are making other plans. So I know I speak for my “older” brother when I say thank you for everything you have done to support him.

So while I promised to not overdo the employment subject I need to say a little about it. First, my lady has been nothing but supportive of my efforts and patient about the process, probably more patient than me. I know this likely goes without saying but job searching is an arduous and tiring process and without my support structure in place would literally be unbearable. I am faithful that the right opportunity will present itself as long as I continue to persevere.

I am not going to get too political today because frankly there is too much material and I would not know where to begin. I do continue to feel dread about this economy and about our Government’s continued efforts to be in control of everything possible in our lives. I will speak more on this in upcoming posts but for now I must dive, once again, back into the job boards.

To close, I wish for everyone who reads this to have a blessed Easter and I hope you come just a little closer to our Lord if just for Easter Sunday. Your body will come to an end…..but your soul still has a chance.

Thirteen And Counting!

Thirteen years today. Thirteen years ago today I said I do and am I glad I did. Some of you know my history but I thought after my previous marriage and all of the challenges faced I would never do it again. And then came along Linda. This lady with a youthful spirit and incredible heart that I had no choice but to fall in love with immediately. To be fair I’m pretty sure I didn’t fall into her plans either. This balding guy with a daughter in the throws of near teendom offered her plenty of challenges as well. The God came along and said hold on you two…..you need to be together!

Yes we’ve had our share of bumps in the road but nothing, including cancer, could ever shake the one thing in our lives that could and will never be shaken…our love. I am blessed and privileged. I have been taught more things in this 13 years about myself and about life then I ever could have imagined and I owe who I am at this moment to this wonderful lady.

So this is a short entry because I could not fit enough words on this site to describe and express my thankfulness. I love you dear lady and look forward to many MANY more years of this journey of life beside you.

OK...One Last Political Rant

First I want to say that this will be my one pre-election post. I made a statement I would not bombard my Facebook friends and family about politics at this point and I guess this might be a little end-around but since my cousin had the gumption to make his statement I shall make mine. You can all stop reading if you don’t care and that’s the beauty of this type of exchange.

This has been as hideous an election process as it was billed to be. If you listen to the pundants, everyone is being dishonest. Truth used to be simple and straight forward and now we have cyberspace to muddle everything up. I frankly have not been able to tell who is being honest about the numbers. At this point I am not focusing on these numbers. I am focusing on the records of the two major party candidates. Actions really do speak louder than words and you can either choose to ignore what has taken place these last four years or you can take notice of it. I choose to take notice.

always thought that one of the great things that separate our country from most is our freedom to have the chance to be what we want to be. Many countries don’t extend that freedom to their citizenry. I think that one of the aspects that set us apart, at least in the past, is our individual attitudes that we will work hard to become successful. This success used to be celebrated as achievement and now it is considered by one party to be a tag of greed. If you make something of yourself, according to many Democrats, you did it by rolling over many less fortunate. Oh, and if you become successful you are now out of touch. I do not and will never subscribe to this bashing of the successful. I realize that many of the jobs I've held in my life were due to the successful.

If you know me, you know where I stand. I've always been about individual rights. I’ve always been against an every expanding ever encroaching Federal government. I want the truly needy to be provided for. I also want to give these people the tools to lift them up out of that situation and experience success on their own. I place a lot more value on helping someone realize the satisfaction of achievement than I do subsidizing people to remain in poverty. I think the conservative platform mirrors the way I feel.

Finally while my local choices are rooted in Conservatism I also know everyone is different. I am not Republican and I am not a Democrat, I am a Conservative. While our presidential choices are not ideal I also know there is no ideal candidate and we will never agree 100% with any one of them. That being said I will not vote to re-elect a candidate that does not subscribe to the ideals of a hand up and not a hand out. I will not vote for a candidate that has continued to increase spending at record levels with little to show for it other than a huge deficit. So that is my choice this season. You all have the privilege to vote how you think and to express your opinions as well. I can only be hopeful that the next four years things turn around.

Laws??? Are You Kidding??

I am trying to remain positive. As I was driving around our fare city the other day it occurred to me that I was a very small minority of people actually following traffic laws. As this observation sank in, it made me wonder about our society in general. Now before anyone gets defensive just forget it. I don’t care if you’re a new driver or a seasoned citizen you all, with small exceptions, ignore most basic driving laws. So to me the deeper question is why?

Have we become a society that is so self absorbed that everyone and everything else takes a back seat? What I am getting at are driving laws the only laws we ignore? I think it’s a good question. I think it is a matter of both respect and of integrity. I have a deep respect for the law and the people that are charged at enforcing the law. Do you?

Do you respect and consider everyone else in this world? I’m not just talking about driving and really I pose these questions about our human behavior in general. Go to a public location and watch how people react and interact with strangers. I think we are sliding into an impersonal and inconsiderate kind of society. We would rather e-mail the person two cubicles away then actually talk to them and we actually KNOW them to some degree. What does this say about us?

I don’t go to theaters a great deal anymore and it is because, you guessed it, inconsiderate people. Go to a store and just try to talk to anyone you don’t know. Often you are scanned with a lack of trust about your actual intentions for just a friendly conversation. Even our house of worship is a place where we must really intentionally reach out to newcomers and it is work for many of us because we just don’t do it anywhere else.

So back to the driving observation. I try to stay within a modicum of the speed limit. Can you imagine that? I drive our beltline and I don’t care when it is people fly by me with absolutely no regard to any sense of danger they may be causing. Do they not care? Many of these people are probably your neighbors that you think a great deal of and that begs the question why do they drive the way they do?

It may all come back to the old adage about how it is so much easier to look at others and not at your own mirror. I really think for some people that behavior has become so habitual no matter what type of behavior that they are completely clueless about whether it is a good behavior or bad one. Don’t get me wrong. I have faults. Plenty of them, however, I just have to wonder if people actually care about anything but themselves any longer. The more serious question is can this type of behavior be changed.

You may have guessed it but I don’t have answers to these questions. The only way I see to make any change is one person at a time. I will continue to obey the speed limit to the annoyance of so many and who knows…perhaps someone else may take a step back and say hey….I guess I was breaking the law.

Things

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything but thought I would write a few thoughts about things going on in my life and around me. The first thing is I’ve been involved in something I had not considered I would be for a long time but here it is; I am officially on a job search. My company has made the decision to exit the security business so along with that exit is my position. I took a while for me to accept this fact and although I have slowly been ramping this effort up I will now begin a full out assault on finding a position. I don’t feel sorry for myself as I really feel fortunate to have been given the opportunity to stretch and learn many new skills. That said, job searching and all of the peripheral issues that go along with that course of action is hideous. I liken this to learning someone you love has cancer. Until you actually fill those shoes you are unaware just how so many are affected by this setback. So anyhow, I ask for your prayers and support in my latest life endeavor. I am confident that this is only a temporary hindrance for me and I know the right fit is out there and I will find it.

On a more positive note, my lovely woman is approaching that 5 year milestone of being cancer free! She has always told me that although the label survivor is attached to this success she considers herself to be a liver of life and not just a survivor. This lady is special and she would be the last one to know it but she is an inspiration to so many around her. One of my true gifts in this world was to meet Linda and I am continually reminded each and every day how much of a gift she is in my life. So to suggest she is just a survivor would be a disservice to what she means to me and to anyone she touches…she is a gift.

I have dialed back the political rhetoric and opinions. There seems to be a very bulky supply to go around already. I am boycotting the last debate. These debates become more just commercials for each candidate and less issue and fact driven and as Forrest Gump would say that’s all I’m gonna say about that!

While I could continue to write and rant about bad drivers, unruly children, lack of personal accountability by some, etc….I will close for now. I need to focus my energies on the more important issues in my life….

New and Improved??

New and improved is such a everyday claim that no one really believes it anymore. I recently wrote a submission in our church newsletter about this phenomenon. I don’t care if it’s motor oil, laundry soap, yogurt, cereal or Ginsu knives they are all new and improved. I guess I understand some of these things as technology invents a new additive (Probably will be deemed carcinogenic in the future) that cleans better, lubricates more (OK Cuz get your mind out of the gutter) or tastes better but some things do mystify me a bit. How about these new lower cholesterol laden eggs? What’s that all about? I guess they feed the chickens less bacon and butter. Have you notice that ice cream gallons are in many cases no longer gallons for either the same or increased pricing? There’s progress and something new and improved. How about new and improved bottled water? Is it coming from a different part of the New Jersey River now? No actually it was the bottle they supposedly improved…what they did was make it thinner plastic…same tap…different bottle.

I wonder if we’ll ever come to a day when society just says that’s it. We can’t make a single thing any better now. Everything you have is as good as it gets. Now move on, nothing more to see here. I guess I doubt that as we will never be satisfied and man will always be trying to build a better mousetrap. By the way have you looked in Lowes at mousetraps? They are getting pretty fancy at killing those rodents. Now I don’t know about you but I somehow doubt a mouse will fall for the fake techno-cheese facsimile on some of these little traps and if they do well they really should be off to mouse heaven or wherever those little gnarly creatures go.

I love how a cereal maker improved their cereals. Replacing the second ingredient in many of the cereals, the first being sugar, is whole grain. So I guess everyone can now feel good about eating their frosted flakes because the grain is now whole. I can feel the pounds just falling off now.

Here’s another one I like; you really can’t improve much on bleach but they managed to do it. They made a spill proof bottle. (Or was that spill resistant?) Anyway I put it to the test…..=fail. I do have one question regarding yogurt. Yes yogurt. Where did this Greek style yogurt come from and why didn’t they just start with the Greek stuff. I actually can tolerate the Greek stuff.

Now to be fair there are products that definitely could be classified new and improved. They are mostly electronic in nature such as computers, TV’s, etc. TV’s have come a long way from the era where we put colored plastic covers over out black and white TVs and called them color TV’s and computers…well they have continually improved.

That’s it for today. Think about new and improved items that are or are not improvements and post them here and have a new and improved day!

Politics...Continued

Yes it’s the political season and as much as so many seem to hate to keep talking about politics and some not at all I still persist. I can’t really explain why I like talking about it. Perhaps I enjoy a good controversy or perhaps I just want something better for future generations or perhaps it’s a little of each. I just know I need to at least get it out if for no one else but myself. (And that is likely a bigger reality than I realize)

I am talking about the Presidential race here and while I realize that really it’s the Congress and local politicians that get anything done the Presidential race is a kind of symbol of the direction we are headed and after all we have become a country of symbolism. If the symbol of nationally directed and mandated healthcare with the thought we are helping everyone have insurance than how can that be a bad thing? If the welfare program symbolizes that ever person in our country doesn’t go hungry how can that be a bad thing? If amnesty lets all of the “undocumented” population in our country live happy lives how can that be a bad thing? That is basically, in my mind, how Liberals portray their platform and emotionally it is hard to argue with that position; until you look at the numbers that is. The Liberals want to charge that we are a top heavy country and that the rich keep getting richer. I would submit that exactly the opposite is on the horizon. We will become a bottom heavy country with the entitlement class outnumbering the achievers. This will in turn cause a cascade of achievers to slide into the entitled masses. What is the incentive for someone to achieve and be successful if the failures in our country are the prime beneficiaries? That is how Socialism begins and it will fail as it always ultimately has.

The insurance issue which is a big one this year to me is another attempt at getting government involved in another part of our lives. It is about more government control and less private sector ability to allow competition and free markets to drive the cost of healthcare. Now I know, healthcare costs are out of control now so the question is how can we not do something. We can. Just not what is on the table. I believe the way forward is to deregulate insurance across state lines and allow all companies to compete for your business. If you believe in capitalism and I know some of you don’t, you put every one of the companies in the healthcare pool then prices come down or companies go out of business. That is called competition.

Let’s talk about the immigration issue a bit. This is another hot topic. I think every President, both Republican and Democrat has promised to do something. Well here we are now with little progress to show. This is a tough subject. I’ve heard the pros and the cons about why we should just allow all of the non-citizens to stay or we should deport them all. The emotions run high on both sides about this. I am a fundamental guy and look at things purely through the prism of law. The way our country has remained strong is because we have a system of laws that while not perfect has worked more times than it has not.

So the question is where does the law stand on immigration? It is actually quite clear and has never really changed. Each year we have in the neighborhood of a million people become citizens legally and that number continues to increase. That sounds like a lot and it is but look at how in 10 years there are a reported 98 million people that have entered this country through other than legal means. How does our country just allow these people to not only enter our country but make use of all of the entitlements that are maintained for citizens? I think it comes down to the same old reality and that is enforcement of laws on the books. If we can’t enforce the current laws then new laws will make no difference. What a slap in the face it must be to the millions of immigrants that earned citizenship legally to see what is going on now. Time to shore up the borders folks.

The welfare system is another issue that always surfaces. It is a self propagating system that was never intended to be income for so many but was in place as a hand up to ultimately return citizens to being a contributing member of society. It has failed miserably. It has become a way of life. There’s no shame in needing help. There is shame in taking advantage of that help with no intention of ever giving back to society. I don’t know how we ever reform welfare but it will bankrupt this country.

So those are some of the issues on my mind. You can chose the current President if you feel he has this country moving in a positive direction and is showing leadership with every move he makes or you can chose to change the direction of this country. Anyone who knows me at all knows where I stand. Is Romney perfect? Absolutely not. Is any candidate ever perfect? That said, however, I am looking to a President to uphold the constitution and respect it and not flaunt his own agenda regardless of whether that agenda is constitutional or not. I am looking for a President that has solutions and not just positions. I want a representative Republic not a Socialist state. I think government is too big and too intrusive and too powerful. Our liberties are slowly being taken away and it is because it is being done incrementally that many don’t even notice.

I realize many have made up their minds already. My hope is that when you pull that lever or punch away that hanging chad (God willing) you will be striking a vote that makes a statement about how you think this country should move forward.