happy birthday

Yesterday, Wednesday, was Gina's birthday. No cake, no candles, only a few presents. Gina had scheduled her patients so she could kick back. We both got a good sleep and woke up when we darn well pleased. All she asked of me was that I give her a good foot massage. I sat by the bed and gave her a good foot massage.

Katie and Kelsey spent a long time making birthday cards. I had purchased two seasons of Frasier for her. She was very happy. I wish we had time to do more.

Gina had asked me to help her pick up a small desk from storage that she used as a kid. Kelsey is starting first grade this year and Mommy wanted Kelsey to have her own little area to do her homework.

With all the running around today, we didn't have much time to celebrate. I had an evening class and the day seemed to fly by. Before I knew it, I was saying goodbye. She did take the girls to Cracker Barrel while I was in class. I really would like to do something out of the ordinary for her. Maybe we can do something special for her birthday this weekend.

Karl's Pizza

You know the guy. He's the one in every crowd that when it's time for everyone to eat - insists on everyone chipping in on a pizza. He's the guy that doesn't 'chip in' but makes sure that he gets his fair share of the pie. Usually he is more fair to himself than his enduring friends.

I remember a fellow that would be chomping on a slice with one hand while his other hand was on the pan claiming his next slice. When he finished one piece, he'd keep doing the same until he had his fill. I've known quite a few of these user types in my life. I'm sure you've had to put up with your share too.

So when it comes time to pay the bill, he always has a hard luck story or seemingly misplaced his billfold somewhere. I guess he sees all his other friends sitting around the table as more well off financially than he. His mooching has become so common that he rarely if ever says 'thank you'. For some self-serving justification he feels he's entitled to his free lunch because he sees himself as had having it harder than the rest. Their lives seem to be so much better than his, and they can afford to cover his tab. Why, they are doing so much better in life that it should be their responsibility to take care of him.   I'm sure you've met this fellow Karl before.

Do you get where I am going with this - or must I line the pepperonis up a little more for you?

there is a God, there is a Gina

I guess most people went through it - looking for a love - and hoping that love finds them. I never want to take my love for granted. I remember a time when I was a young adult - wondering if I would ever find someone that would love me as much as I loved. I didn't date around much. There weren't that many young women in my life - very few really appealed to me. The handful of women that I did date - we became great friends and I was heartbroken when each relationship ended. After the heartache subsided, I was always left to wonder if there was someone out there for me. I've always known that I am a strange fellow - a fun date - but who would want to be around me for the rest of their life? When I did date someone, I wasn't dating for dating sake, but looking for Mrs. Right.

Looking back I realized that God had led me to Gina. Many years ago I realized that God had certain young women come into my life that helped me to recognize the love of my life when it was her time to walk into it. Am I making sense? From each relationship that I experienced, I saw qualities in that particular girl friend that I admired. Again, I didn't date for dating sake. There was always something that attracted me to that particular individual. There was a beauty that lured me to each of them. One loved to laugh and enjoyed being silly for silly sake. One was independent and brave. One was all about God and serving Him. As each relationship came and went, God was showing me the traits of the woman that was to become my future spouse. Can one woman be all that?

Gina, I never want to take you for granted. I never want to take your love for granted. I have now known you half of my life and I often forget about the heartbreaks and years of loneliness I experienced before you came into my life. You are everything I ever desired in a woman - and you have shown me so much more. You are living proof that there is a God, and that that God loves me.

off the meter

People on the left these days prefer the name 'Progressives'. Oh the irony. The more apt title of 'liberal' might fade - but they will eventually soil any new moniker they give themselves. If liberals insist on the term progressives - let's tweak them a little and call Neo-progressives. They are what they always have been regardless of the name - never changing their methods and ways. The names have been changed to protect their guilt.

A socialist by any other name...

Socialist always point to the worst examples of capitalism and say, "See, we don't need to trust big oil - they are evil!" Look over there, look at the health care industry - they are dishonest and evil. They'll take on business', bankers, 'big' this and 'big' that and say we don't need to trust those capitalist - we need to trust 'BIG' government instead! Pointing out the few exceptions should give us all the reason to take capitalism down. Let's do away with big evil this and big evil that! Yesterday it was Wall Street, today it's the health industry. We need to put it into the hands of BIG government. That will solve all our woes. They are the ones in whom we can truly trust!

Baloney.

I was talking to a fellow yesterday who said rich people should be forced to sell off most of what they have because they didn't need all that surplus anyway. "If someone has three cars, let them make due with two. If some one has two homes, let them make due with one." They probably didn't get their money honestly in the first place. They don't deserve it and need it.!" I've heard it all countless times before.

The nerve.

So government is to become some kind of great social equalizer - taking away the fruits of a man's toil in order to "spread the wealth" as Obama clearly put it to the plumber. Yet another irony. There is no such thing as spreading wealth. One earns it. There IS though such a thing as spreading misery. I've had many like conversations with liberals that believe wealth should be taken from those who "don't need all that wealth" and distributed to those who are in need. They like to use the term 'greed' - but let me counter with the term 'covetousness'. Wanting and taking something that is clearly not yours. To take someones wealth is not only theft, but a sin. To covet and act upon it is an EVIL. If you want what the next person has - EARN IT! It's none of your business what your neighbor makes!

I don't care how rich a man may become. If he earns it - he should keep it without the fear of his government coming along and confiscating it. You take away a mans incentive, and you take away his initiative to produce. Why toil if the rewards are the same as if you didn't? You give to a man that doesn't earn his way, and he will never step up to meet the challenge of life.

More irony? I don't know of any poor people that are hiring these days. You see, we need people who know how to make money - know how to invest, - know how to grow wealth with the talents they've been given and the skills they've honed - to grow this economy - to generate JOBS! We need these so called evil capitalist to bring America back from the brink. Yet our BIG government is bent on taxing business' to death - breaking the back of the businesses who are struggling to survive.

Governments don't generate wealth - governments TAX! Businesses like Gina's and my business that are trying to grow - and yet cannot prosper because over-taxation is constantly robbing our capital. The irony is if businesses don't prosper - neither will government. What's going on today isn't just irony but idiocy. Well, there might be some evil big capitalist out there - but none more evil or as dangerous as that of BIG government.

Mmm Mmm Good

Crash Test Dummies 'Mmm Mmm" came out with this one in 1993. This is an unusual sounding song and yet another band that I can't recall a thing they recorded other than this song. Good music videos are very few and far between - this one being a work of art.

"Weird Al" Yankovic - Headline News

A perfect parody of Crash Test Dummies' "Mmm" by Weird Al Yankovic. Weird Al took the headlines at the times (1994) and made this music video. I consider this one of Yankovic's best.

If you are viewing this from facebook - you might want to view the original post at http://burruss.blogspot.com

what was it about that school?

I just joined a facebook group for my elementary school. It got me to thinking about the positive experiences about that particular school and I can count only a few. I have very few little happy thoughts about R.A. Mitchell Elementary School. Like any red blooded and plastic fanged American kid - I loved the big Halloween Carnival they had there. That was pretty cool. Did you know that the school actually owned the coffin that was used in the Haunted House walk? That's kind of creepy to think that that coffin was always back there behind the curtains of the stage. I remember seeing it back there during the school year. I was stuck back there with a few other 'slow learners' for some kind of *remedial reading class. They didn't have a classroom for us - so they stuck us back there beyond the school lunchroom, behind the stage in a dark cubby of an area amid the P.E. gear - and of course, the school coffin.

*remedial reading 1. specialized reading instruction adjusted to the needs of a student who does not perform satisfactorily with regular reading instruction. 2. intensive, specialized reading instruction for students reading considerably below expectancy. 3. developmental reading instruction set at a different pace, designed for an individual or a selected group.

Everyone feared Mrs. Love - the principal. Mrs. Graves was so demented that she should have never gotten tenure. Even my mother hated talking to her. Mrs. Graves could only talk in your face...literally. She would get right down into your face with her big wicked witch of the South look and talk at you from an inch distance. I thought it was just the kids she tried to constantly intimidate- but nooo - it was moms too! The first cussing I'd ever heard was in her class - from that sailor mouth of hers. Nasty old woman once tried to get my little sister to stand in a trash can because she wanted Cindy to believe that she was trash. I believed it when I Cindy came home with the story because I had been that monster's chew toy the year before.

All the kids remember 'the pink bench' every day. The pink bench is where you were sent to sit to see the principal. Kids sitting on the pink bench were either sick and waiting for their ride home or waiting for Love in all the wrong places. You could tell what they were waiting on by the look on their faces - sick or abject fear.

I didn't really know Mrs. Love, I kept my distance as any self preserving child would do. You kept from her not because she ruled her school with an iron hand - but rather with the mythical 'ELECTRIC PADDLE'. That's right, children would reverently pass her door quietly and with great respect because of the fear of that contraption's existence. It was a tangible myth for a young mind - rumored about from generation to generation. Do they speak of it still?

The walls of R.A. Mitchell were a drab green - and to be herded down those long dark hallways were so depressing. If I were given the task of naming that paint color - I would have named it Institutional Oppresive Green. How many days did I look out the window - thinking that I might pull a Steve McQueen and break out and away from those walls? Countless days and countless times, but I was whipped by fear. All I had to do during recess was casually walk toward the street - look like I'm supposed to be heading in that direction - somehow make it across the bridge and then a few miles home. I knew though, that escape was futile. I did not want to be brought back and test the myth.

Four Yorkshiremen

enjoy a classic

first road

a long time since
walking down that old dirt road
that ran behind our house
surrounded by familiar woods
familiar homes
of familiar neighbors i once knew
i traveled that road a thousand times barefoot
or in shoes
on a trike
on a bike
it was the first road i ever ventured alone
i've been down many roads since cliff road
dirt and paved
near and away
i can tell you stories
but probably none more telling than your own
an old pilgrim these days
no longer innocent
just forgiven
no longer a child
but often feel like i am
always going down new unfamiliar roads
long time from home
long time from you

nothing much

Nothing much on my mind today. I'm very tired and so my mind is on automatic pilot. I am going through the motions and getting through the day. I have clinic tonight. I enjoy clinic, but there is little energy in me. I know I will do fine - just keep pressing on.

I'm at the office today answering the phone until Gina returns. I'll then head over to the campus. I look forward to the weekend. Last weekend was pleasant - but I came out of it feeling exactly the way I do right now. I haven't really pulled out of that sapped feeling all week.

Bruce Cornutt emailed me and asked me to be on his worship team this Sunday. Of course I accepted. Gina has been wanting me to lay off any and all singing until school is over. I've backed off considerably - but it's hard not to pass up moments of worship and play. Even Gina, as an Occupational Therapist, teaches the importance of work, rest, and play. I'll cut out a lot of playing - but not all of it.

I am tired. I'd love to find a place to land and take a nap...but that's just not going to happen today. I just took a handful of herbs and vitamins and hope that will pull me up to a higher altitude.

David - over and out.