A Slow Sunday...

I haven't been feeling well today.  I woke up this morning with my head pounding but tossed down a few Advil and headed out to church.  I am entering week three of my Sunday morning class with the Young Adults.  Great group of people in the class and I enjoy teaching and learning from then during the class.  Hopefully I don't bore them to death.

After getting home from lunch the headache was back and the light was bothering my eyes.  Figured then that I was in for the day.  Since it was raining in St. Pete, the IRL race was cancelled and that gave me a perfect opportunity to try and slip in a Sunday afternoon nap.  Don't know why, but I just can't get in the habit of napping.

So instead of napping I performed my normal Sunday task of doing laundry.  I am not sure when in my marriage that laundry became my responsibility but it did.  For years now I have been doing the laundry on Sunday while I watch sports.  In the past when Lindsey and Daniel were still at home I wasn't able to get finished on a Sunday so Jacqui and I would always have to finish up during the remainder of the week.  Now that is just to two of us I have no problem getting through all our laundry in just the afternoon.

Over the years I have become fairly opinionated with respect to the proper way to separate, wash and fold clothing.  I don't pretend that my way is the best way but I do hate when someone else, including Jacqui, does the laundry and it isn't done 'my' way.  So now I do the laundry on Sunday's.

How was your Sunday?

Cheers

Gary J.

The Kids are in town...

Daniel is home this week from college for spring break.  He brought with him a couple or friends.  Nate from TN and Zack from AL.  Aside from Zack being a UAT fan it has been nice having them in the house this week.

One of the cool things to see, is the fun these kids have experiencing things that I now take for granted.  Things like a beautiful 75 degree day in March, when the sun is out and the beach is beautiful. 

As I sit here right now writing this blog I can hear them in the other room talking about the basketball game.  One "upping" each other with stories about games they have seen and teams they root for.  I can hear the potato chips crunching and the soda cans opening.  I feel inspired by thier spirit and the joy they have for life.

I am worn out from tax season, tired from all the hours I have been working and it is easy to forget how awesome life can be.

I have the worlds best wife,  I have two fantastic kids,  a great son-in-law, parents who love and still are my biggest fans, a church where I am encouraged to serve God and make it to heaven and my job is better than any since I left KPMG.

The house will be quiet again on Saturday when Daniel, Zack and Nate head back to Freed-Hardeman.  I will miss thier sometimes noisy reminder of simply enjoying life.

Cheers.

When the ugly become beautiful...

It is just me or does everyone experience beauty of familiarity? You see, I have noticed that after I work with or know someone for a while they seem to become more attractive. Perhaps not attractive in a romantic sense, but definitely in a pleasant comfortable way. Same thing seems to happen with music. I've got songs on my iPod that must have come from Daniel's (my son) collection. I would have never listened to these songs on my own, but now I find myself singing along.


I don't know if it is just me but it is without doubt something that occurs in my life and not just with faces and music.

I was watching a movie the other day and it suddenly hit me that the lead character was cheating on their spouse and I wanted the adulterous couple to 'get together'. That made sense because they were in 'love' and that would give the movie a happy ending. EXCUSE ME!!! Somewhere in my life the idea of a man cheating on his wife had become so common that I no longer thought it was ugly.

When does something like that happen? I certainly wasn't raised that way. I absolutely don't believe that type of action is acceptable. Cheating on a spouse is violation of a promise made to your spouse, to yourself and to God. How can I possibly watch that type of behavior in a movie, on TV or perhaps in real life and not be shocked and perhaps offended.

How can I sit in a restaurant and hear those sitting at tables around me cursing? Using words in public that just a few short years ago were confined to private but now seem to becoming common. Where is MY shock and outrage?

I know where it is. I have allowed myself to become so familiar with these things that they are losing their 'ugly'. I have seen it so many times that my outrage is either exhausted or gone because I am living/working with these ugly things every day.

We are being pushed more and more to be accepting of behaviors that are ugly. Those who might support these things and have some control over such things continue to place them in front of us so much that we don't notice them anymore. It has been said (and perhaps proven) that a lie repeated often enough will be believed. The same rule seems to apply to the portrayal of aberrant, wrong or ugly behaviors as beautiful. Say they are beautiful long enough and that will be believed.

I think we are reaching the point in our society where we have been exposed to so much; so many times that nothing shocks us. Seriously, it takes Tiger cheating on his wife with a dozen (or more) women before there is outrage (do you really believe there would have been such uproar if there was only one?)! We have begun to accept these items as 'normal'.

This has got to stop! It is not right for me to promote and accept things that cross the very moral precepts upon which I base my life. I am making a promise to myself to not accept these things. I will no longer let myself be fooled in to supporting actions, behaviors, life styles either explicitly or implicitly just because I happen to like the book, song, movie, etc....

I do have a choice about how I view the world. I chose to view the world through a standard that was given to me by a very wise man many years ago. It goes starts like this, "It is always right to do right and always wrong to do wrong..."

Wrong is ugly. I don't care how talented or beautiful the person is.
Right is beautiful. I don't care how talented or beautiful the person is.

Make a decision to make your own decision about what is right. Don't ignore or miss the wrong just because it has been normalized by repetition in our society.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers.

Make a decision and move...

I am feeling like a little bit of soap box time.... No, I am not going to talk about the recently passed legislation that has taken up so much of America's time and energy for the last few days. I'd rather talk about each of us trying to achieve something.

I have reached a point where I am tired of excuses for laziness and inaction. It seems that every day I am either involved with or hear about a meeting to discuss the creation of a committee to study the impact of a potential change to a thing that may or may not happen based on the outcome of some survey that has been conducted by a independent third party firm to determine the feasibility of actually asking someone who works for or with us to consider doing something. (aside...That might be my favorite sentence that I have every written. It is poetically long and quite well crafted)

Seriously, isn't it about time we take some initiative and start actually doing things. This country was not made great by men sitting around a conference room and talking about how to fix things. Men and women used to get up every day and do something. Now is seems we substitute talking and posturing for action. We have got to stop that.

To do my part to move my world forward I remind myself of these things all the time.

1) If I don't do anything today, I will still be in the same spot tomorrow.
2) There is no such thing as perfect information, act with what you know. Make corrections as needed.
3) It is okay to be wrong.
4) If I am wrong, if I made a bad decision, accept responsibility, fix it and move on to the next decision
5) People are looking for someone to be "the guy". Step up and be that guy. People will follow and support.

There are so many things that we want to accomplish, yet we let day after day slip by without speaking up, standing out or moving towards those items. We figure if we just get through this day, this week, this project...that eventually we will have time to spend on reaching our true goals.

Let's make a change. Get over every excuse we make for not doing something. Realize that failure is a part of life. Let's call a potential client, learn a new skill, ask a girl/guy out, apply for a new job, try out for a play... Whatever is it that you want to accomplish, start now!

Open yourself up and you might fail, but you might succeed. Either way, just make a decision and move. At least you'll find yourself somewhere else.

My first NASCAR-less Sunday....

I didn't watch Bristol today. It was the first Bristol race I haven't watched in around twenty years. Funny thing is that I didn't miss it the way I thought I would. I've been watching those guys go around in circles for so many years I don't even remeber when I started. Now after one weekend I am beginning to wonder if I watched the races out of a love for NASCAR or just an old habit. As I sit here tonight, I am going with habit.

I've been a big supporter of NASCAR for years. I've gotten into some pretty heavy message board 'wars' with F1 fans about which racing is the best. I've purchase many NASCAR items. However I don't remember when or why I became a fan.

Isn't it interesting how we invest a portion of ourselves into a team, driver or sport that we don't participate in? I can't tell you how many days I've been upset, sad or angry because my team or driver didn't do well. On the other hand I have had wonderful weekends because my team won. We become very passionate about these things and they don't even have a real impact on our lives.

I've missed out on church activities, I've skipped days I should have been working and I might have even blown one of my kids activities to stay connected to my team. For what?!?! To validate some part of myself that I've attached to a person/team?

The team I cheer for beat the team you cheer for so I am by default a better person than you!! In fact, we won the National Championship so I am just sitting here waiting for Meagan Fox to call me up for a date. Blah, Blah, Blah... (doesn't that sound a bit like a Yankee or Bama fan??)

I'm happy that Carl Edwards pulled his stunt and showed me that I didn't need to waste anymore time of my life with NASCAR. I really don't know how Jeff Gordon or JP Montoya did today and I don't care. What I did get this afternoon was a great nap, all the laundry done, a nice lunch with my family and more hours of health care debate (Does the law cover me if I am sick because the bill passed?) than I could stand.

It was another great day.

Just a few more weeks of tax season left. Call me if you need some tax advice. :)

Cheers.

Move over!! Please....

Since I set the world straight yesterday with regards to chewing gum etiquette. Today I thought I might take on another subject on which the world can use my insight.

Let's talk about the left lane on the Interstate/Turnpike.

MOVE TO THE RIGHT IF YOU AREN'T PASSING!!!!

I don't understand why other drivers feel compelled to hang out in the left lane. It isn't the "fast" lane, because that would be subjective to ones perception of fast. It is the PASSING lane. That means when you aren't passing you should move out of the lane. No need to hang around.

Yes I understand that 2.5 miles ahead you see a car that you might actually pass in the next 10 minutes, but that doesn't mean you need to stay in the lane until you get there.
Personally I move over as soon as the pass is complete. I move over when there are faster cars behind me and I move over when there are no cars behind me. I move over because I am not passing. Please do the same.

Listen, the road is like a giant river. When you hang out in the wrong lane you become a log jam floating on the top of what otherwise is smooth flow. If enough of you do it, we might just end up with a lake.

Thank you for your attention. Perhaps tomorrow we will discuss the proper torture for the person that designed the Golden Glades interchange in Miami. They deserve real pain....

P.S. Today was an awesome day. I got a new pack of Stride gum...

You think you know how to chew gum...

I need you to get serious. I am about to provide some very valuable information that no one living in our society today should be without. It is powerful information, the type of information that can save business relationships, friendships and even marriages.

Let me set the background a bit.

I like Stride gum. I like the flavors and I like the packaging. It is a nice box that fits in a pocket. Sturdy enough that it doesn't bend and squish the gum, yet flexible enough that I don't notice it in my pocket. A great improvement over gum of yesteryear.

I took a pack of Stride gum with me to work on Monday. I chewed a few pieces throughout the day and when I left, I placed the gum right beside my phone ready for the next day's use. However on Tuesday I ended up not being in my office. So the gum sat unprotected for an entire day. When I returned to the office today I was in for a shocking discovery.

You guessed it. Someone had taken the majority of my gum. In fact there were only two pieces left in the entire box. There had been at least 10 pieces when I left on Monday, but now only two. Two pieces left in the BOTTOM HALF OF THE BOX!!

Those of you who know me well might have guessed what the real issue is here. You see I don't care about someone taking my gum. I will freely share my gum with all who ask. In fact you don't even have to ask. Just take a piece when you want it. The problem is not that my gum was chewed but instead with the lack of proper gum etiquette with respect to removing said gum from the stride box.

Let me walk you through this. Below is a picture of a Stride gum box as one might see it right after the wrapper is removed.

As you can see this is a wonderfully designed box, with the cover sliding into a slot to ensure that the lid stays closed.  However, when you open this box up you can begin to see the brilliance of the design.

 

What you see here is two separate levels of gum chewing pleasure (this box is obviously empty due to aforementioned gum thief).  If full you would see seven sticks of gum across the top and seven across the bottom.

 

Now here is where the box design and gum etiquette cross.  You see this box is designed to split into two.  That is correct!  The designer of this gum box intended for a chewer to be able to remove the bottom half of the box once it was empty!!  You can see in the following picture how the package has been split at the pre-designed point.  This would allow the empty bottom half to be disposed while there was still gum left in place on the top row.

Even more amazing is that not only is the box designed to break into two for ease of use, the top half has a second slot that allows the cover to slip into closed position even after removal of the bottom half and the orignal 'lid slot'. You can see that in this last picture..

This intricate box design leads to one simple conclusion and the point for my entire blog today.  It is without doubt, that the makers of this package intended for the bottom gum to be used before the top gum.  Let me say that again... DON'T TAKE GUM FROM THE TOP UNTIL THE BOTTOM IS EMPTY. There is no other possible way for Stride gum to be chewed properly.

So (back to my gum) you can imagine my horror when I opened my gum package today at the office and found that whoever had taken my gum had taken the TOP gum before the BOTTOM gum was all chewed.  It has been a traumatic day for me since.

Some of you might be asking, "Gary, why don't you just move gum from the bottom to the top?"  Silly people.  Don't you know that each stick of gum is held in by a mysterious waxy substance and that if you pull it out and put it back in, the stick will not stay in place.  They will slide, move or even fall over.  That cannot be done!

Please take this message to heart.  Chew Stride gum the way it was meant to be chewed.  If you see me an want a stick of gum, ask.  I will give.  But when you take, take from the bottom FIRST and then only after the bottom is empty, you may take from the top.

Listen to me and the world will be a better place..

Gary J.

Yes...I like American Idol

It might be cool to be one of those people who can honestly say, "Oh, I don't watch much TV." But I am most certainly not. I watch TV. I watch TV when I am eating, I watch TV when I am driving my RV (please don't tell the police), I watch TV as I fall asleep and I watch TV when I wake up. Now even though I watch a lot of TV, I do feel I am somewhat selective in what I watch. I have never, and I really mean never, watched an entire episode of The Bachelor, Biggest Loser, Amazing Race, Survivor and any of the seemingly hundreds of annoying "reality shows." I rank most of those shows right up there with Beauty Pagents and Award Shows (Oscars, Emmys and even the ESPYs). I find them self serving and banal.

Then there is America Idol... I am addicted. I have watched almost every single show since season one (I thought Justin was better than Kelly. Shows how much I know about talent). Now I don't go so far as actually voting, but I am hooked. Take tonight for instance. First show of the top 12. Well, Tuesday is also my racquetball night. So after playing racquetball for two hours, I come home and before taking a shower I had to watch the entire two hour show. In fact I just finished watching and as soon as I am done with this blog entry, I will indeed head upstairs for a shower.

So here is what I think so far.

• Ellen is worthless. Please kick her off the show now. She says the same thing everyweek and has no real information to provide to the contestants. Then there is the "normalization of abberant behavior" factor (that will have to be an entire blog for a later date)
• Crystal is very talented and until tonight was way ahead of the rest. I think her problem lies with the fact that she has less improving to do. The other contestants will improve each week and it will be noticable. However Crystal will be the same.
• Siobonah or whatever her name is, is my 2nd favorite. She is 'quirky', but I was telling Jacqui for a couple of weeks now that the girl can sing. By a long way she had the best performance tonight.
• I was worried the "Big Mike" would wear out his act real fast, but each week he keeps on entertaining me. He is not the best singer, but he connects with the crowd. I like Mike.
• I would pay $10 dollars if either Lacey or Didi would sing some Cranberries. I would prefer Zombie but settle for either Dreams or Linger. Lacey would be my choice, and if she did I would actually vote for her.
• The rest can go home. They are all more talented than I will ever be and I believe that several of them will have some recording success, but I don't think they have a shot.

Of course those are just my opinions and I could be wrong.

As far as the rest of my TV watching here is my list....

• Battlestar Galactica - I know the series is over, but while it was on I was absolutely addicted.
• The Office - Hooked since the first season. I fear the series is getting close to jumping the shark but I hope we have a couple of more seasons left.
• The Big Bang Theory - My wife turned me on to this for the 2nd episode and it is without doubt the best sitcom on now and perhaps my favorite in the last 10 years.
• Top Gear - I love cars. These guys love cars. They drive them fast, they tell the truth about them and the challenges are over the top funny. If you haven't seen the VW commercial episode you must find it on YouTube. Just search for TopGear and VW. Airs on BBC America
• Grey's Anatomy - Don't ask, but I can't stop myself...
• The Mentalist - Clever writing. Waiting for the episode where Jayne is wrong.
• Auto Racing - If they race it, I will watch it (except for NASCAR). DirecTV just added Versus so know I get Indy Car racing too. Sweet!

I have more that I will watch, but those are my shows.

Tell me what you think or watch.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Gary.

It is dark outside..

Every day I start the same way. I am stirred to a semi-concious state by the sound of Bubbles' (our dog) ears. Yes, her ears! I wish I could describe the sound but I don't have the words. All I know is that the first thing she does every morning is "flop" her head back and forth REAL fast so that her ears slap each side of head. (The only sound that I can think it resembles is the sound of the quail taking flight on my recent quail hunt). Whatever the sound, it is now my alarm! Fhu-wut, wut, wut, wut, wut, wut....

It is time to get up and take the dog out. As an aside, here is something I haven't quite figured out. This dog, that we acquired for my daughter and has since become without question my wife's dog, I somehow ended up with the responsibility of taking her out every night and morning. I didn't ask for the dog. Some days I don't even like the dog. But every morning, hot or cold, rain or shine, 5 am or whenever, there I am racing the dog downstairs so I can get to the door before she pees inside.

So this morning I go to take Bubbles out and discover that it is still dark outside. Now I am a fan of the 'extra' daylight we have during DST. However I am never and will never be a fan of having to get up while it is still dark outside. I learned this morning that Bubbles is not a fan either. She was very hesitant and through me another 'fake pee squat'. Yes, the dog fakes like she is peeing when it is not to her liking outside. I wasn't going to take that this morning so I waited her out and sure enough after a few minutes (time that I could have been sleeping) she broke down and let it out... Score one for the human.

Sunday wrap up...

Today was a good day....

When your are working six days a week it can be tough to "give up" your only free day by going to church. However I was blessed today by having the opportunity to teach the YA class at Palm Beach Lakes. I spent several hours last night and my time of study reminded me of what life is all about. When put in the perspective of what He has done for me, I have to feel honored that I am allowed to "give up" a day in worship. God doesn't need me. I need him....

Let's talk about Lindsey's flat tire. Big brave auto mechanic Dad comes to the rescue when Brent had to head to work. I've been working on cars so long I know it all. All except that it isn't a great idea to leave a 4K lbs SUV jacked up on the play jack that Mazda delivered with the vehicle. Seems 3 hours is just enough time for the metal to fatigue and the jack to give out. Now here is where life experience comes in (one day I'll have to tell the story about the Trans Am rolling off the ramps). Ten years ago if I had been working on a car that jack would have failed and the SUV dropped on the brake rotor causing more damage. Not today. I was smart(?) enough to have taken a jack stand with me and placed it under the SUV as a back up. Saved me from looking like an idiot in front of Lindsey.

Just got done watching the first episode of The Pacific on HBO. I don't know why I am drawn to WWII, but I am. I tend to think it is a reaction to the over glorification (is that a word?) of such trivial acts in today's society. Then you look back on the men who fought during WWII and realize that those who are true heroes aren't the famous actors, athletes and politicians. The true heroes are ordinary folk, from small towns all across this country of ours. Men who still believed in right and wrong. Men who believed they were fighting on the side of right. Ordinary men who performed in extraordinary ways. Ordinary men who did a job that they believed had to be done, and when they were done, they went home. They became ordinary men again.

One line struck me tonight. I am sure I don't have the words perfect but I believe I have the context and thought. A solider said, "It is one thing to reconcile what we have done with God, it is another to reconcile it with ourselves." These men were doing something that under any other circumstance that couldn't do. They did not love violence. They were not murderers. They understand the humanity on the other end of the barrel. But the fought because they believed it was right.

Doing right isn't easy. Those soldiers gave more than I can comprehend to protect "freedom", to protect "right".

What am I going to give this week for right......

Another Saturday Down...

Spent another Saturday at the office. Jacqui (wife) and Lindsey (daughter) headed up to Central Florida Bible Camp this morning early, so my day started earlier than I wanted. Missed having my usual Saturday morning breakfast with Jacqui. She had six hours of driving doing the there an back in one day so she is excused for canceling on me. So I got up and went to the office...

We are closing in on our first filing deadline of the year so there were plenty of extensions to review today. Kept me busy. Had a tax provision to review towards the end of the day. After reviewing it is now 2 for 2. Both provisions I have reviewed at the new firm have been done wrong in prior years. When I see something done wrong I always wonder if it was due to a lack of knowledge, talent or effort. One of those had to be involved.

I am constantly amazed when I see sloppy work. Drives me crazy. Something in my personality has a very high standard for others and I get upset when other don't try thier hardest. Now I've got to go to the audit partner and explain why this thing is wrong. As with the first one, the audit partner will spend two or three days trying to prove that I am wrong only to come back and admit that they signed of on a bad report in the prior year.

Not complaing, just wishing people would make a bigger effort. Let's do thing right. Not cut corners to make an extra buck.

Going to go now. Working on a Young Adults class for church in the morning. Talking about "What God Wants". I think class one will focus on "Why should we care?" I mean, if we don't understand why it is important, or worse than that, don't care why it is important...why even teach the class. It surprises me when people show up each week, but live thier lives putting themselves first. Maybe I'll save this 'speech' for another day but we have got to get ourselves out of the way of our own salvation. We think about we so much, that we worry more about we than we should.

Out of here for now. I'll be back tomorrow. One day someone beside me will read these....Maybe....

Gary D.

Getting started...

Everything has a beginning.

So this is the start of my blog. I don't know what this will become or if I will even have the fortitude to stick with this, but I wanted a place where I can memorialize my thoughts. I don't think I am super smart, I don't think I am particularly funny. However I do think that all of have thoughts, ideas and imaginations that have value. I am going to try to take some time each day or two to come here and post what is on my mind. Perhaps one day, I will post something that another human needs and by doing so I can have an impact on thier life.

So let's get this blog thing started....