PUNK'D - Work Edition

So today my unit had to go to another work site for a meeting about a specific file. Afterwards, we had a second informal meeting with the local unit, who belong to the same department as my unit.

Part way through the meeting someone popped into the room to let us know about some brownies & ice cream cake in the lunch room that were free for the taking. Myself and couple others heeded the invitation and each grabbed a couple brownies and a slice of cake.  After the meeting broke we then went to Boston Pizza because it was now lunch time and after lunch we all went back to our respective locations.

When I got back to the office I went to hang up my coat. But I decided to check the pockets first to make sure I didn’t forget anything later. When I reached into my right pocket I felt something a little heavy and wrapped in paper towel.

“Weird” I thought, “ I don’t remember putting any paper into my pocket”. I pull it out to look at it and I see that something is wrapped inside. I unroll it to find what at first glimpse looks like a piece of turd!  But I quickly realized it’s just a bunch of brownies (note the chunks of walnut) mushed together and molded into that shape of one.

After a few minutes of whodunnit discussions, a couple accusations and insane laughter I finally found out who the pranksters were and gave them a well deserved kudos on a prank well played.

New Years

New Year's is a little extra special for me. I guess it's because it's my birthday. That's probably why I've never really bought into the hype of New Years Eve.

I'd rather focus on the fact that people all over the world celebrate my birthday (an international holiday). Ha ha.

I've also never really been into making resolutions either. Okay, I've never really kept any of my resolutions.

We call them resolutions... goals... whatever... but this year I have 2 of them:

1) Get & Stay Physical - Yeah, I know! Everyone says that. But with a new baby girl I want to healthy enough to enjoy life with her for many years to come. Plus, this year I have a motivation: Geocaching. The hard is going to be the same as it always is: finding time in the daily grind to do it.

2) Fellowship - Between visiting family at least once a month, having a new baby, & sometimes just not feeling well we've missed a lot of Sundays at church and Small Group on Tuesdays all together the past 6 months. This can't go on. We need to find a way to get connected again to our faith community.

Fire Alarms SUCK!

Okay, so maybe they don't totally suck.  Yes they are there to give us a chance to escape in case of a fire.  But you have to remember to change the batteries every 6 months.

But because my condo used to be an apartment building they need to inspect the units once a year to make sure they meet the fire code.  This basically means checking to make sure your smoke alarm works.  But it also means taking the day off work and waiting around all day for them to come to your unit.  Usually I just use it as a day to catch up on some much needed video gaming.

Last night though the building fire alarm went off.  Thankfully I hadn't quite gone to bed yet.  Because if I had I probably wouldn't have heard it.

So I go in a dash.  I wake up the wife and tell her whats happening.  We both quickly throw on some clothes to go outside in.  We grab the baby, her car seat, a diaper bag, a full bottle, and my wallet.  But when we get out in the hallways the only thing we see are other tenants.

No smoke.  No fire.  Just people.

Thankfully the alarm had been turned off by this point.  But what is going on?

When I heard the Super was in the basement looking into I went down to ask him because for some reason everyone else was just standing there wondering what to do.  So I went down to ask the Super and he said he didn't know what happened.  All he knows is that something tripped the alarm but there was no fire and none of the fire alarm switches had been pulled.

So after reaching my target heart we had fun feeding our hungry baby and then going to bed.

Join The Hunt

So, I've been looking for something physical to do because I want to be able to be fit enough to play sports with my daughter when she's old enough.  I don't want to be that father always telling his kid to slow down (well... until she starts learning to drive).

But I've been coming up dry.  I was going to start going for walks before work but I never get there in time or I'm exhausted from not sleeping with my CPAP machine.  Then I thought we could start going for walks as a family at night before my daughter goes to bed.  Again, it just never seems to work out.  Either we are out late at some one else's house or the routine of life just gets in the way.

The other day I was reading my buddies blog.  You see my buddy Dave is into geocaching.  It basically involves using GPS technology to find hidden treasures (caches).  In fact, most of his blog posts have something related to it.  He even incorporates it into business trips & vacations.  But what I finally realized this time was that he often takes his wife, son, and dog with him.

It got me thinking (yeah... that's kinda dangerous), why don't I do that with my family?  My wife loves road trips and used to like going hiking all the time.  The best part is that it's goal oriented!  I won't just be going for a walk for the sake of going for a walk.  I'll be going for a walk to put another notch in my cache belt (not to be confused with a cash/money belt).

So after searching Best Buy, FutureShop, Canadian Tire, Sport Check, & Tiger Direct I found even the cheapest Garmin eTrex for $179 (+extra for maps).  Umm, NO!  Kijiji to the rescue!  I found a step up from the basic Garmin eTrex model almost new for $60.  It's been up for a couple weeks so I sent an email offering $50. (See below)

Let's hope I get it.  Too bad buying size 15 hockey skates wasn't this easy!

The Illusion of Control

Have you ever heard of the Serenity Prayer?  It's popular amongst 12 step programs.  It goes something along the lines of:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference

So often in life we find ourselves frustrated because life just isn't going the way we want it to go.  Sometimes it just seems no matter how hard we work to control things they never seem to turn out just right.  And that's the problem really.

Sure change is inevitable, but that doesn't mean we can control it.  When you break it down.  I mean REALLY break it down we can't control most things in life.  You can't control the colour of skin you were born with or the language you were taught as a child.  You couldn't control the continent or country you were born in or the type of family you were born into.

Parents raise their children, teaching them right from wrong, in hopes that they will "do what's right" (in other words: what they want).  But in the end you have to give your children up and hope you raised them right.

Although we may try to, we can control what happens tomorrow.  Meterologists try to predict the weather and investors try to predict the stock market but in the end it's really just a crap shoot.  Try as hard as we can't control our bodies aging.

We certainly can't control so-called "Acts of God" where you get struck by lightning, your car is hit by a meteor, or your house is destroyed by a tornado.

In fact, I would argue the ONLY thing we CAN control is how we react to the world around us.  We can't control how we got here.  We can't control what happens next.  All we can control are our own actions here and now.

Google Plus (& Minuses)

So I've got a friend who works for Google and was able to get a Google+ invitation early on.  It took about a week for it to actually work but once it did I was excited to get going.  I LOVED the idea of circles.  Facebook has the ability to group people acciording to how you know them.  But it's a confsuing process.

Besides, I'm somewhat of a Google evangelist.  I'm forever hearing stories about people losing all their contacts after flushing/losing their phone or losing documents or pictures due to hard drive failures.  So I tell them, get a Gmail account and sync your phone with your contacts.  That way if you lose your phone you still have all your contacts and by just changing your password can prevent whoever has your phone from accessing them.  Or use Google Docs & Picasa to store your documents & photos.  You can pick & choose who you want to share them with too!

So when I heard that G+ not only had circles but I can link it up to my other Google products it seemed like a happy marriage.  Hopefully it's just a matter of time but it's not quite a Google paradise.

Circles
Pluses - Like I said before, G+ makes managing & organizing your friends easy.  It suggests people who you already know and you just drag & drop them into the right circle.  You can new circles or rename existing ones to account for virtually any group.  Just like Facebook's "Friend Finder" you can import contacts from other email services like Yahoo or Hotmail.  If you want to make a full break from FB you can export your friends to Yahoo and then connect Yahoo to your G+ account.  It's a little convoluted.  But it works (or so I'm told).
Minuses - It seemed like a no brainer to me that G+ would automatically (or at least give me the option) import my Gmail contacts.  So now I need to find out which contacts it didn't find, export them from Gmail in a CSV, and then import them into G+.  You also have to be careful you don't double up on people you have mutiple email addresses for.  It's easy enough to correct (just open the circle, highlight the duplicates, and click delete).  It's just a hassle.

Photos
Pluses - Google makes it really easy to manage your pics and who gets to see them.  First off you can link up your Picasa account or photos from your mobile device.  The best part is that by default no one can see them.  You have to choose to share them with people.
Minuses - The mobile phone photo interface with the iPhone is sloppy.  The photos don't automatically get uploaded to G+.  Your "from your phone" album takes FOREVER to refresh.  Perhaps this is just because they were in a rush to get the iPhone app out.  It's easier to just update the app later on.

Stream
Pluses - Your feed isn't full of spam about Mafia Wars, Farmville, or other stupid social games.  I also find that sharing links, video, & photos is really smooth.
Minuses - I don't like that a new comment makes a post jump to the top of your stream.  So if you comment on a post of someone really popular (ie: Larry Page, CEO of Google) their posts will forever be at the top of your stream.

My final beef is that G+ connects with only a limited number of other Google products.  I already gave the example of Gmail contacts.  But seeing as your public profile acts as a sort of microblog it would make sense to be able to connect with Blogger.  Or at least make work-arounds better.

Here is my G+ to Blogger hack:

1. Log into you Blogger account and set it up for 'email posting'

2. Log into Gmail contacts, add the address (give it an actual name like Blog) to a group, then export the group as a CSV file

3. Log into G+, click on the Circles button up top, then click Upload address book, and import the CSV file you just exported from Gmail.

4. Search for the address by name you saved it as and then drag & drop it into a new circle by itself called Blog.
5. When you want to post to your blog simply select that circle under posting options.  It might ask you if you are sure you want to email the post to the person.  Of course say yes.  Now when it shows up on your blog it will be formatted like a post on your Google profile.  But it works!

The major drawback to this is that when I did it on my iPhone (app & Safari) the post didn't go through to Blogger.

Read the original post at: http://thaword.blogspot.com/2011/07/google-plus-minuses.html

Incoming !!!

The other day I was watching an episode of M*A*S*H* where B.J. Hunnicutt was pulling pranks.  There was one part where got discovered but got the person to yell "AIR RAID!!!!!" and Frank Burns ran out of his tent screaming like a girl and fell into a pit filled with water.

Well being an expectant father (any day/week now) at times feels similar.  Just like people in the middle of a war I walk around all day with that anxious feeling in my stomach telling me to be ready because any second now something could happen!  Plus everyone keeps warning me.  Saying things like "Your life is going change", "You're never going to sleep again", or "Your world is going to turn upside-down".  It's akin to people running up to me yelling "AIR RAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID!"

Now the important way this ISN'T like a war is the fact that it's GREAT thing and I can't wait.  Now anyone who knows me knows that I am probably one of the most laid back guys you'll ever meet.  Not much really gets under my skin.  Or at least not for very long.  But hearing people say stuff like this over & over again is disconcerning.

Kind of like our wedding day.  I was a little nervous but overall I was doing good.  That is, until I got to the hall.  People kept coming up to saying "Are you doing ok?", "Are you alright?".  After at least 20 people in what felt like 5 minutes asked me if I was ok I was starting to doubt myself and wonder "Am I ok?".  So when it came to get things underway and I was standing up at the front apparently I had that "deer in headlights" look in my eyes.  It wasn't until Christine was standing right beside, took my hand and whispered "Are you ok?" that I was calm once again.

That's why I'm not nervous about the craziness of labour or worried about having my world & sleep schedule thrown into chaos.  I know that through everything we will be doing it together and we'll be ok.

But in the meantime.........

INCOMINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG *dives for cover*

If You Build It...

...well then it's built!

So those who know me know that I'm normally a bit of a procrastinator.  But in the past few months, in getting ready for the baby I've gotten much better at tackling projects.  The crib, dresser, shelf, & night stand all got brought up from the car quickly AND put together almost right away.  PLUS, I painted the nursery without being nagged... er... gently reminded by the wife.

Now I needed to buy a new computer cart because we needed a different setup.  You see the old computer desk was in what is now the nursery.  So we had to get rid of it.  When we got a refurbished computer a while ago I set it up on the counter of the breakfast nook attached to our kitchen.  Friends of ours keep their Mac in the same spot & it works great for them.

However, computer work areas accumulate stuff.  Add a huge tower and a printer and now we really don't have a breakfast nook at all.  The problem reached it's breaking point with the baby on the way.  We don't want wires hanging down and easy to grab by little hands.

But where to put it? We don't have room for a desk in our bedroom.  And doing wireless keyboards, mice, & monitor would awkward expensive and just be one more hassle when it doesn't work right (which you KNOW is going to happen.  Then genius struck: a computer cart!  Of course I can't find any decent ones locally.

To The Cloud !!!
Away I went on the internet searching high & low for a cart that will hold everything (tower, printer, monitor, keyboard, & mouse), be portable, compact, & NOT cost a fortune.  Eventually I found the Safco MUV adjustable height computer workstation.

Well it arrived today!  I unpacked it and put it together (90%) when I got home in about 1 hour.  All that's left is to put the shelves on the support beams.  They will only be secured by double-sided sticky foam .. things (kinda cheap) so I want to make sure the shelves are EXACTLY centre.  Which strikes me as odd.  The whole thing is VERY sturdy.  Then they go and cheap out on attaching 2 of the shelves?  What would it cost to add a couple more drill holes and some bolts?

Oh well, here is the online ad & the (mostly) finished product:

Finally...

I got a new monitor (& keyboard) for our NEW (refurbished) HP Tower.  It's been out of commission for a while.  And it always seemed like more important / expensive things came first.

You know, things like weddings, wedding presents, car repairs, buying a new car, and a summer vacation.  Since I had some free time after work today I grabbed a monitor (& keyboard) hooked it up and booted up the HP.

It's working GREAT!  Much faster than this piece of junk IBM ThinkPad I'm typing on right now.  The ONLY reason I'm still using it as I type is because of the oodles & oodles of updates the HP is currently enduring.

OH!  Looks like a few just finished up.  Time to reboot and then update the iPods.  w00t w00t

Word of the day...

CHRSITIANOPHOBE

Christian - A word that describes a person who believes in the deity and ascribes to the teachings of the CHRIST (of Latin Christus or Greek Christos origin.  Originally translated from Hebrew Messiah or Mashia meaning 'annointed').

PHOBE - A suffix from of the word PHOBIA of Greek origin.  Meaning a person who suffers a specific persistent, abnormal, and/or irrational fear of the preceding word.

So a Christianophobe is a person with an irrational fear or aversion to Christians.

The Ultimate Gadget Holster

So anyone who knows me knows I'm a bit of a geek.  Ok ok, a BIG geek.  Like any good geek I like gadgets.

But you can only carry around so much stuff in your pockets.  Even your average guy has a wallet, a cellphone, a set of keys, and prolly some change.  If you have a wife or girlfriend there is a whole extra set.  I know, women are supposed to carry purses.  But it's a lie.  They buy them, put stuff in them, but make their boyfriends & husbands carry them.


So I've been trying to convince my wife for some time now that I need something to carry all this stuff.  Not a purse but a man bag.  But no matter where I go I can't find anything that would work.  It's either a purse or a cheesy looking hip pouch or a mini backpack that doesn't fit over my shoulder.  But finally I've found something that will not only work but looks kinda cool too!

 It's called a tek holster.  A leather holster that fits over your shoulder like a 80's TV cop but pouches that attach to it that fit cameras, phones, or iPods instead.

You buy the holster itself and then you get the attachments

It's perfect for every occupation

Check it out for yourself at www.tekholster.com.  There are fancier more urban ones out there or knockoffs on geek sites.  But I like these the best.  Girls will even like'em cuz they can get them in pink.

Am I A Racist?

To answer the question plainly:  I'd like to hope not.  I certainly try not to be.  I'm far from perfect and I'm positively certain I've said and done things that are racist.  But the important part is that I make efforts to avoid doing the same in the future.

I find that most racism is rooted in ignorance.  The more you know about a person or group of persons the less likely you are to make ill informed generalizations about them.  Or worse, believe and act on them.  Personally, I like learning about different cultures and religions.  It's helps me to understand people better and the motives behind their actions and words. 

I think we've all fallen short of being understanding and sensitive to each others cultures, religions, and skin colours.  I've even experienced reverse racism, where people who have had to endure racism turn around and do the exact same thing to me.  In the spoken word scene I've seen ALOT of this reverse hatred.  Women who've been abused by a man hating on ALL men.  Visual minorities who are marginalized by society that gives preferential treatment to white males then hating on ALL white males.  And then people who have been unjustly treated by a person in some form of authority now hating on ALL authority figures. 

"The Man" is a term used to describe all those groups.  Now, AS a white male, I don't ,can't, and have no way to fully understand depth to which being helplessly raped by a man I trust, being deemed a secondary citizen just because of my sex, religion, or skin colour, or being traded, hated, & killed because of the colour of my skin would affect someone.  But just because I fit the "general description" of the person(s) who violated you doesn't give you the right to violate or hate on me.  I did what any other slammer would do, I wrote a spoken word piece about it called Punctuated Hate For The Man.

But even still some people get it twisted.  Calling people racist when they don't seem to even know what the word means.  Just making sweeping generalizations because the person fits the general description of "the man".  Calling someone racist for speaking out AGAINST ignorance.  Saying someone is trying to control them by simply voicing their opinion.  Calling somone ignorant of slavery while acting as if it has only ever happened to black people.  Saying they are being oppressed, assaulted, and violated just because it happens to be a white person who disagrees with them.  Who is REALLY the racist?

If voicing your disagreement with someones views in a private respectful way and then being motivated by those views to take a stand against ignorance makes me a racist, then please PLEASE call me one too and I will wear the title proudly.

Flag Etiquette

"World Cup Flags" Haiku

Car window flags plus
Ignorant soccer fans
Poor flag ettiquette

I'll admit I'm not much of a soccer (football) fan. It involves lots of running (which I'm OBVIOUSLY not into) and is largely a scoreless game. In fact, I'm not much into sports on a whole. I do enjoy watching football (live or televised, NFL or CFL) and hockey (as long as I'm actually THERE), but I don't schedule my life around it nor do I make it a priority.

But I do understand the passion many fans have for their teams. Sometimes to an extreme, like football fans in December painting letters on their torso while attending an outdoor game. So when it comes a competition like World Cup soccer the emotions are even higher. Not only are they excited about their team, but now their national pride is on the line too.

Let's face it, the World Cup is truly a global event, with so many countries competing and watching. It's understandable that World Cup is a big deal to many Canadians since we are a very multicultural society. People are changing their lives so they can watch their favourite games. The city has changed the liqour laws to accommodate fans. I've seen many people take time off work, come in early, & stay late so they can watch a game. My wife, who works in child care, sees entire families wearing the jersey of their favourite team and/or country of origin/heritage. Look around any parking lot these days and you would think we are being invaded by foreign dignitaries. What with all the flags on peoples cars.

But here is my problem, there is a proper etiquette when it comes to flying flags in Canada. In fact, many countries make flag etiquette a law. The basic rules are that if you want to fly the flag of another country you must also fly the flag of the country you are in and fly it in a position of honour (highest or on the left).

It's a simple thing to do & most Canadians are proud to fly their flag. I know this because every Canada Day I see the Canadian car flags all over the place. So what does it take to pull it out a little early? Or buy one from the guy selling them out of the back of his van at the side of the road or in the parking lot? Especially when we've already spent so much on jerseys, parties, drinks, and even time off from work.

Now this is just etiquette. There is no flag law in Canada. Even in the U.S., where flag etiquette IS the law, there is no penalty for failure to comply with it. Demanding or forcing people to abide by it would be both silly and unconstitutional (violating the right to free speech). But it really just boils down to a matter of respect that requires a bare minimum of effort and cost.

So family, friends, & soccer fans,
If you're flying the flag of another country please also fly the Canadian flag.
Because, let's face it, being polite is the Canadian thing to do!

Oh No Canada!

In the throne speech of March 3rd, 2010 the government said "Our Government will also ask Parliament to examine the original gender-neutral English wording of the national anthem."

I'm sorry. What? Yes folks, apparently our National Anthem is sexist by using the phrase "in all thy sons command." Is this really a priority? Even for extremist femenists, they must have more pressing issues at hand? Like maybe, equal pay for women doing the same job as a man? No, we need to bastardize our National Anthem first!

To me, it's an Old English word similar to the other ones used in the song that can in essence mean "sons & daughters". Or perhaps, it's because the song was written at the turn of the previous century when it was our sons we commanded into battle. But the government claims that the original version was gender neutral ("thou dost in us command").

To me it looks like the government didn't read their own website. O Canada was originally written and composed in French, and subsequently translated into English, with entirely different lyrics aside from the title. Numerous variations of translations followed. Our current national anthem is based upon a poem by the Honourable Robert Stanley Weir. The poem had 4 main stanzas (or verses) and a refrain. It's the 1st main stanza upon which our national anthem was built

O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love thou dost in us command.
We see thee rising fair, dear land,
The True North, strong and free;
And stand on guard, O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.

But if we are going to revisit the lyrics we should look at ALL of them. The first thing we'll have to get rid of is the line about "native land" seeing as we stole most of it from them. Next would be the line about God. Because if our children can't talk to God in schools (public prayer) then we shouldn't talk about God. And calling ourselves the "True North" might offend other Northern nations like Russia & the Netherlands. And speaking of freedom would be unfair and innacurate when refering to prisoners. Finally, we need to modernize the language. Lose the 'thee''s and 'thou''s for something like "Yo Canada."

We'll be left with nothing but glowing hearts guarding nothing but our political correctness, and perhaps hockey. Whichs make me wonder, aside from hockey games, when do most Canadians attempt to even hum along (since we long ago forgot the words when they made it 1/2 in french or we finished high school)? At this point I think most Canadians are more familiar with the Hockey Night In Canada theme song. Of course, they screwed with that too.

Which is just more proof that if it ain't broke don't fix it.

My new word

For the past few weeks this issue has been boiling & festering inside my heart... my mind... my soul. I desperately want to write a poem on it. But I have no idea how to give it voice. I want it to hit hard and strike a nerve. But the idea isn't to offend but shed some light on the issue.

Basically I was at a Slam where a number of the female performers spoke to the issue of abuse. Sure the topic is uncomfortable to listen to, but I imagine enduring it is infinitely MORE uncomfortable. This issue (sorry Truth)... this problem does need a voice. And I commend the women who were brave enough to give it a voice.

However, I felt they were kind of "preaching to the choir" though. Most of the people there were women or (speaking for myself here) men who abhor such actions. Sure it's therapeutic to get things off one's chest. But how has the world changed? Have you inspired change? The speakers were full of passion and on the attack. No doubt hoping to reverse the role their abuser assumed over them while on stage. As one of the few males in the room I couldn't help but feel like they were placing the blame on me as well.

The fact that I internalized their words emotionally is the sign of a great poet. But one poem.... One poet hit me the hardest. She spoke of brother. A brother who wanted to protect her from the hurt in the world. A brother, who in his zeal to protect, became a source of fear. the night finished with a first time poet winning top honours. At the end of her 2nd piece she in effect sounded the call for answer.

Sadly, I don't know how to answer. I'm expected to be the solution while I carry the blame for the problem. It's true I will never truly understand how that cocktail of fear, pain, and hate feels. So how can you expect me to have the antidote?

So let my frustration be expressed in words. I am a Masculinist. I think men need to stand up for their rights. Not to take away what doesn't belong. Rather the right to do right instead of wrong. Not rights for the sake of claiming them. Not claiming them of the sake of nameing them.

Like our right to honour. Not to be honourED but to be honourING. To honour our women.

What are we to do? Our fathers were muted when hedonistic liberalism took centre stage. And now you wonder why rage is all the rage in our present age.

Instead of loud noisey words let me speak to you in the strong but subtleness of silent actions and this white ribbon on my sleeve for the rest of you.

Truth vs truth

Who owns the truth? So often I find people say things like "That might be true for you but it's not true for me?" I'm sorry but truth is truth no matter who percieves it. We can't all be right. Is your truth more true than mine? If my truth is killing you and yours is staying alive then whose truth is.... well.. true?

We can't ALL be right. I mean we all want to be right. But for some reason we try to make believe as if we can all be right, and it's all okay, and we all live happily after.

When the TRUTH is... most of us don't. So this new age hollywood ending that all paths lead to God/Goddess/Paradise/Heaven/or whatever is simply false. We're simply deluding ourselves in hopes to ignore the stalemate we found ourselves at before.

For years, decades, centuries, even millenia we've been at odds (okay war!) over who is right. If we want to be mature about it we must simply agree to disagree.

The problem is people's perceptions. We can't help but be biased by our own opinions and observations. So much so that we stop looking at what is REALLY happening and simply try to force it into our preconceived ideas of the world and fit them into that. Christianity, Islam, Athiests... we've all done it.

We then claim that the conclusions we've come to via our biased perception of the world are the truth. And when we all come together to discuss out conclusions we a re shocked & dismayed that other people don't have the same conclusions. So we play polite and say that it's your truth and this is my truth. And we can both have our own truth without having to totally denounces the others persons perceptions as false... well at least to their face.

Instead of looking at the world through your the lenses of bias perhaps you should take off you glasses and try an unfettered view. Instead of looking for a truth that fits what you believe why not simply decide to believe what is TRUTH.

Truth, REAL truth, is always true. It doens't need me or you to declare it so (or even denounce it as such). So let's NOT all hold hands and sing "Koom-Bye-Yah", let's NOT all agree, let's NOT all be friends. We don't need to get along perse. But come on, we don't need to go to war for it either.

No Pain, No Gain

So recently my wife & I joined a local gym. We're tired of being tired and recognized that we desperately need to shape up our shape. I've worked my way up to 3 times a week 45 mins per visit over 3 weeks. I've mostly just done the treadmill. We went in the pool a couple times to do laps. And once I did a recumbant bike. Mind you I only lasted 10 minutes on it because sitting on it was SOO awkward. It felt like I was going to slide off the seat so I was tense the whole time. Then I had to always keep track of my knees so i didn't bang them on the handles.

Things have been going well so far. I've noticed having a little more energy and my shirts don't feel QUITE so tight. But yesterday we finally did our fitness assessment. OUCH!!! The excercises weren't that bad. But today my chest is so sore from doing the pushups. I guess that's why I signed us up for 6 Personal Trainer Sessions (+2 more for free) because we... sorry... I need the help getting there.

Perhaps the craziest part of this whole deal is the fact that our first session is tonight. I'm sooo going to be hurting. So don't be surprised if I can't lift my arms to type and log into facebook, email, or blog for that matter.

"Feel The Burn !!!!"