Oooops........

When you were a kid, did you have one of those moments where you got excited and a little wound up and did something really stupid that you knew wasn't going to be pretty when you're parents found out?

I you could do was sit there and wish it never happened and hope and pray that you were dreaming and would soon wake up.

Like Erika's story that I can't seem to find where Colby dropped the Little Ceasers Pizza on the floor of the car and all Erika heard was: "Oh dawn it, oh dawn it, oh dawn it." (Erika, please link to that story)

AND NOW - Introducing David Kernell son of Democratic State Representative of Tennessee Mike Kernell.

I wonder where he could have ever got the new password "Popcorn" from?

I'd say he's had one of those moments.

Uh-oh....dawn it, dawn it, dawn it!

Hope and Change

So here's Joe Biden telling those that make over $250,000 it's time to buck up and show a little patriotism.

I recall a certain tea party in American history. Were they proposing patriotism the same way Joe Biden proposes it?

Our ancestors chased their dreams. They wanted a better life for their children, and their children's children. They were frustrated with a government that told them how to worship, and a government that took what they earned to give it to others.

We often imagine that the Kings that enjoy taking the citizens money and just sitting on it. Throwing the gold into the vault somewhere so that they can run it through their fingers with an evil laugh. That's not what they did with their revenues. The Kings took peoples money and gave it to their staff, their jesters, the peasants. They did the things that they thought would best serve the people.

Our ancestors took a great risk and crossed the Atlantic to chase their dreams here in America. What was it that sustained them when faced with such adverse conditions? How much did they have when they arrived? Was it the wealthy that left the comforts of home back in Europe that were making such a long treacherous journey here?

NO, it was those that had little in Europe, and even less in America. They had nothing more than "Hope and Change." Is it the "Hope and Change" that we are promised now in 2008?

What sustained these diehards with little more than a dream and a few cloths on their back? Was it the government run programs? Was it the universal health care? Or the food stamp programs? Was it the goverment housing programs? Was there a federal minimum wage?

It must have been a patriotic government program right? One that helped the poor enter teh ranks of the middle class? Higher taxes must have been imposed on those that made more than $25 a year. Those tea party folks must have felt it was more patriotic to pay some higher taxes, right?

Our ancestors came here with ambition. They came with real hope, and real change. They didn't have any government mandated programs to give them a leg up. There was no mandated ladder from the government to help them out of poverty and into the middle class.

They may have had some family to come to that helped them survive. But mostly they had neighbors. Friends from their mother country. They didn't have social services to go to when they needed help, they had churches to go.

NOW Check out Joe Biden's tax returns.

Ten years of tax returns. His family never made less than $210,797. That year he donated a whopping $120 to charity. Maybe it was just a bad year right?

His best year shows an income of $321,379. They generously donated $380 that year.

The most charitable donations in the last ten years that Joe Biden shows on his tax returns is $995.

The average American donates approximately 2.5% of his income to charity. Joe Biden donates about a tenth....a tenth of one percent.

The CBS headline reads: "Biden's Tax Returns Show Modest Wealth"

It should have read: "Biden's Tax Returns Show Financial Ignorance"

Joe Biden's income adjusted for inflation has been over $100,000 since he started in the Senate back in the 70's. A person with any financial intelligence making over $100,000 a year for the last 30 years should easily be worth over $1M.

Joe just doesn't get it. Neither does Barack Obama. That's why they want to take it away from those that can, and give it to people like themselves, those that can't.

It's their version of Hope and Change. I suppose that 232 years of freedom and independance is just too much. It's time for "Real Change!"

Thoughts and prayers..........

Thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of those on the trains.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,421801,00.html


And to those in Texas. This is from Hurricane Ivan approaching Alabama. I thought it was really cool video footage of the storm surge.

I'm sure they're capturing Ike in similar fashion.

a story about gun control.............

These guys picked the wrong mom to mess with...............

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,417122,00.html

Glenn Beck - The fusion of Entertainment & Enlightenment

I started listening to Glenn when I was driving back and forth to school beginning in 2001. It took me probably 6 months or more to realize he was LDS.

That's a long time for the mormon radar to start working.

You see, we mormons tend to speak in secret codes. We tip each other off to our mormonism, in subtle, secret ways. And so it generally only takes a few minutes to figure out, or become suspicious at least.

Recently, I was at a business meeting for Tow Business people here in Virginia. There is a lobbyist working to represent the small tow companies of Virginia. As I listened to him talk about the plight of the small towers, I began to become suspicious. After the meeting I was able to succesfully confirm his status as a member of the church. So in one evening it was confirmed.

I recall when I started to become suspicious of Glenn. It had to be January/February because they were talking about the Super Bowl. Glenn was planning his Super Bowl party and one of the assistants, Stu, was asking him about how that worked with his church and all. Stu was giving Glenn a hard time about having a Super Bowl party on Sunday.

In typical Glenn fashion, he said that Sundays were special, and reserved for family...."but C'mone, it's the SUPERBOWL!"

After some quick research on the web, it was confirmed that Glenn was indeed a member of the church. He has an incredible conversion story and I never tire of hearing him tell it.

It takes $$ to make $$.......right?

I've often heard the expression:

"IT takes money to make money."

Many times the context of this statement is the excuse I'm hearing from a person for his not being rich. It also tells me he has no ambition of becoming rich.

Well - I wholeheartedly disagree. President Lincoln also has something to say about that:

"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration." Abraham Lincoln

Not making any sense?

First of all: what does it mean to be RICH?

I'll often say that there's a difference between being broke and poor. Broke is temporary and poor is forever.

I find myself broke quite frequently. But I know I'm not poor. I'm rich. Mostly it's a decision of attitude.

No not an attitude of "I'm rich, so I'm going to buy a brand new Nissan Titan and make $600/mo payments." Not an attitude of look at what I drive, where I live, what I wear and you'll know I'm rich attitude.

It's an attitude of: "I may be broke right now, but I'm RICH! Got my hot wife, my beautiful kids, a place to live, a car to drive." It's a "count your many blessings" kind of attitude.

Now, back to the theory of it taking money to make money. Again, that's the EXCUSE. I've talked to a lot of RICH people. Often times their stories are similar. They didn't start with a bunch of money and get rich. They started with their labor.

The money was a fruit of their labor.

I met a man that was a very simple, country bumpkin man. He wasn't college educated. I don't know if he was even highschool educated. But he had integrity and he worked hard. He owned a very succesful roofing company with his brother.

I asked him how he got started.

With a big grin and chuckle he said: "You wanna know the truth?"

"Of course" I replied.......

"I read the package at Lowe's."

NO JOKE! After working for McDonald's for years, Sam East read the back of the package of shingles at Lowe's store on how to replace his mother's roof. Their agreement was she would buy the air compressor and nailers he needed to do the job plus the materials.

Sam and his brother then went on to build a multi-million dollar roofing company.

Does it take money to make money? Yes. The question is where does it come from?

But you don't have to start with money to make money. You have to start with desire. Survive on determination. Starve with perserverence. Hope for success. Pray that you make it!

The 2008 model

I suppose the other thing that is keeping me busy is us having our 4 kids, with the new addition the 2008 model. Maverick was born on August 1st. After a misprint in the paper we're considering changing the spelling of his name to Mavric.

Aspen was on the front page of the local paper because she's so darn cute. This was her first day of school.

Check out the photo gallery. Easiest thing to do is scroll to the last photo and work your way backwards. Even the local newspaper photographer agreed that our kids were the cutest.
http://www.newsleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=AA&Date=20080820&Category=CASSELLELEMENTARY&ArtNo=808200801&Ref=PH&Params=Itemnr=1

Still Alive & Treading Water

Ok so I fizzled out on this blog thing. It's harder than it looks.

Where have I been for the last couple of months. Working. I've worked like crazy this past summer in the garage with Joseph. It seems to be paying off.

We finally turned the profitable corner in July. We did nearly double our best month ever to date in July of 2008. I still wonder if it was a fluke. So, I temper myself with a short-term goal of 3 months of profitability and then I'll feel like we're making progress.

August seemed dead and felt as if we'd be right back where we started. August ended up being our second best month to date second to July.

Our systems our improving. We're becoming more efficient. Starting a new business is very challenging. For the first 18 months we we're taking a slow and steady nose dive. It's relief to see things turn the corner and start heading in the right direction.

It's much like learning how to waterski. When someone first learns to waterski, the task seems impossible those first few attempts. You hang on to the ski rope, the boat roars with a hefty pull. You're trying desperately to hang on, get your body out of the water, and keep your balance all at the same time....and most importantly, keep from drowning as you muscle your way to freedom on top of that water.

Once you do finally get there, it's incredible. Standing on top of water. Carving turns and jumping the wake. You go from being stuck and barely keeping your head above water with those big clunky skis and the life jacket chocking your neck, to incredible freedom.

I don't know that we're on top of the water carving turns and jumping the wake just yet. But I can feel ourselves rising out of the water and getting ourselves closer to our goals.

I wish everyone the best and hope to see them do the same.