Another Rant Amout Illegals

A Quote from the above linked article:

Latino supporters are up in arms about the way [Oklahoma] now views illegal immigrants who have been here for many years.

So, the longer you are allowed to carry on breaking the law, the less the law should be enforced. By that logic, a bankrobber who pulls off one job should be arrested and thrown in jail, but one who has evaded capture fore years should have his actions condoned. Interesting.

Rat Race

I have been doing what I ought not do:

1. Blog when I need to work for the billable hour.
2. Read anything associated with La Diable (Oprah, to the uninitiated)

I was tricked into it from a link on CNN.Com. It's an op-ed piece by a single mom, writing for O Magazine. Sounds like me, right? OK-not me, but I do understand the feeling of Social ADD. Of being caught in the frenzy that attacks so many white collar professionals, no matter what their situations. I can't-am not allowed to-focus on anything. I am pulled all over, in many directions, never allowed to go straight ahead long enough to get anywhere.

You start on a project and get a call-better take care of that right away, will only take a sec, then someone asks you a question, you have to answer, then that email you were waiting for and the boss wants to see you and Billy stops by for a chat to see the new baby pics--you will not miss an opportunity to show them off--then it is time for that meeting and it is 3:00PM and you have been there for 6 hours and billed .1 hours. oh. my. plug in the iPod, crank it and get working.

Add to it the new daughter-prettiest thing ever shaped by the hand of God and the Bear-Cutest, roughest, tumblest little boy in the universe! Pressure to be The Dad. I have no dreams of being Super Dad, but I have a need to be there and to overcome my own shortfalls in parenting. I said I would not be that dad working 80hours a week and only seeing my kids 30 minutes every other day. I don't want that. To me, that would be failure. It's 5:30 I've now billed .4 hours. Go home or stay? I would like to say that my family is always priority #1, but If I am late some, will they fire me from the Dad Possition?

I have to provide, and I do OK. I don't want to be fired and I want to be better. I want to know that I have given it what I can and that I have been GREAT. I never want to be the best. I just want to be GREAT. I want to be the guy that everyone knows and they all trust my work and my word. I want to be well thought of on many levels. I feel a great amount of pressure right now to excel. I also feel that if I am going to excel, now is the time to do it. My window of opportunity is NOW. I must act. I want to give it all to my family, and this is the only way I know how.

Have I mentioned my High Blood Pressure yet? no joke. that's what a pressure cooker can do.

I have heard it called the rat race. I once had a roommate who had two pet rats. They were pretty cool, as far as rodents go. They would roll around in their plastic balls and sit in their cage. They died.

I don't know why they call it the "rat race." Rats don't race. They don't compete.

It is a race, a competition. To win what? Against whom? It is against Time and it is to be out of the race-I think I am competing for an end to the frustration and pressure.

I hav this idea that self-discipline is the way to go. Maybe. I get so little done because I am not disciplined and must be doing something wrong. Discipline to tell others to bugger off, to not let the exeternal tell me what to do. To control my life.

The only thing I should really control is whether or not I give it to God and let him control it. I cannot accomplish any more by working from sunrise to sunset than God will have me accomplish. He has provided and will. But it is hard. It is hard to let God control and to trust so that I don't play whack a mole with my day. On the days I let God tell me where to put my energy, I am so much happier and productive. He will handle the brushfires and the wildfires If I trust and listen.

The Rumors of The Death of this Blog Have Been Greatly Exadgerated

But that's OK. I am here. A lot has happened and continues to happen.

Lemme Sum Up:

• Sweetpea will be with us any day now.
• Bear is walking and being the wild bear he is.
• I am in what the locals call "The ATL" or "el ATL" and loving my new job.
• I am still taking people's homes from them. Perfect job for a hardhearted guy like me. And it is not my fault that you got a mortgage you should have known you can't pay. Now move out!
• Currently trying to rent out our house in the LEX and to get by here in the ATL.
• The pumpkin Spice Latte is not what it used to be

On that last point.--what gives? I don't know if they are putting less syrup in them or if my tastebuds are mutating, but the pumpkin spice latte, that KING of caffenated beverages--nay, the veritable Emporer of All Things Consumable!!-----just isn't as good as it once was. It tasted to me like your regular, run-of-the-mill latte.

I want to cry.

I almost did.

Its like that part of my youth is past me. In Pereladra, CS Lewis postulates that part of the pleasure of pleasure is the memory. I want to agree with him, but can't. I experienced something wonderful in the Pumpkinspice Latte. I remember it being so so good and I want it again. Memory is part of the pain.

As human I want to capture the Pumpkin Spice and have it always be as good as it once was. I want it year round and for it to always be as good as it once was. But cannot do this. Those things we always have are not those things we enjoy the most and are not the things we automatically put the most value on. This is the basis for economic theories and life. If I could always have the Pumpkinspice, I would eventually grow bored and not enjoy it or I would not like it but would not feel right if I didn't have it. It would control me and I would not have the pure innocent joy I once did. I would think I enjoyed it, but what I was really enjoying was only the temporary release from the fear of never getting it again.

I have come to accept that the golden age of the Pumpkin Spice has passed. It is over. All I can do is wait for the next great thing. And it's a good thing! At$5.00 a hit-this is not a cheap habit.

Performance enhancing scandals

For those of you who are completely unable to emotionally handle all the allegations and admitting of the use of performance enhancing drugs, I suggest you don't read this article.

Yes, it appears that Willie Nelson has been taking performance enhancing drugs. These drugs were used by Nelson and his band to gain and advantage over competitors in the song writing stage and in the stage performance stage. Nelson could not be reached for comment, but in the past he has never been afraid to flaunt his drug use, even appearing is such movies as Half-Baked as an aged, stoned-out-of-his-gourd-rock-n-roller. Now a source claims that the drugs found were for medicinal purposes, and the shrooms were for he secret spaghetti sauce he will be selling at a new chain of restaurants he's opening some time in 2008, Red Willie's.

The music industry has long been plagued with the use of performance enhancing substances by all parties involved, from performers to managers to roadies to even the fans. Sen. Hilary Clinton (D. New york) has vowed to form a committee to study the effects of these drugs on senators.

Where am I and What am I doing here?

or is it What am I and Where am I doing here?

I'm not sure.
I am sure that when I typed in "where am I and what am I doing here?" I found this image:






I am waiting to start work. This I know. I have been hired by a law firm to do foreclosure work and title work. Sounds great. Should learn a lot. I asked that if God didn't want me to get the job, that I wouldn't. Might sound silly or immature way to approach it at first, but I needed a job and felt that God understood how hard it would be for me to turn anything down. Especially something in one of the fields I wanted to practice in. He told me that would be OK. I got the job. It is where he wants me.

What now?

Well, I still have to finish my Rule 403 trial observances. God hase been really good to me and I have gotten them done quite quickly. I started three weeks ago with nuttin' and now I only have two criminal trials to watch.

I am praying for my new job. I want to do really well. I want to learn more quickly than they give me time for and I want to bring in more business than they expect. I am going to be only the second attorney at the office and my boss wants to double the firm every 12-18 months. good. If I do it right it means I could advance quickly in the company. 'doing it right' means learning as much as I can as quickly as I can about what ever it is I can. It also means bringing in business. I think the second may be more important. I don't believe I would be correct if I just sat back and let people come to me. Some attorneys do hand their client volume over to God. and He really blesses them. I don't feel I'm wired that way.

I want to be a networker. I want to contact people and have people that contact me. I feel this to be very important. I am currently in the process of testing this idea with God. Is this really who he wants me to be? Is this how he wants me to function? If so, I know that it will still come from Him. I know nothing-nothing...about what to do regarding networking. I know that I can talk to a lot of people, and, at least at first, most people like me. I think I could have been more successful in this in the past but I've been lazy about conections and people I've met. I can't do that any longer.

I have been reading a book called 'Never Eat Alone.' It is a self-help how to network guide. I usually don't like self-help books because the only person they help is the author getting your money. But I really like this one. What he says is really practical, sensible and he gives failrly detailed steps about what you have to do to get your network up and going. i'm really looking foward to this. I just pray that I don't get to absorbed in the business world and forget what I'm here for. I'm not afraid of success, and there are some christians who are. i just don't want to worship it or forget what the purpose is for any gift from God.

To that end, I have been trying to read about systematic theology lately. I found Burkholf's book online so I'm reading that. I think that could be a useful tool to examine what I really believe about Christ and God and where that comes from in the Bible. I need that now that I am a daddy. I have to teach my son about God, Jesus and the bible.
Wifey pointed out the other day, quite gently, but effectively, I need more explanations than I previously had. I have floated through my life and faith with this (not incorrect) idea that God is all powerful, sent his son to die and if we believe we are sinners and claim His promise of salvation as well as recognize him as Lord, we will be with Him. I have come to see that as not enough. There is more to be understood, and that explanation, while satisfactory to my heart, it not enough to explain to anyone else. Even now I feel the explaination to be inadequate---and it is! So, I must refine these ideas. It is a useful study aid to think "What am I going to teach my son?" And i think systematic theology is a tool that will help me to do that and to dig through scriptures. we'll see.

This, afterall, is FAR more important than any paying job I will ever have. I have so much to learn all the time. I guess that the fall has always been a time of new learning and this fall is no different.

101 ways to add insult to injury.

The Smoking Gun has an example of the insensitivity of corporations. I couldn't believe it when I read that Northwest Airlines has in its firing package (I think that is a bit odd, myself. you get fired you get fired. No real need to have it explained to you in brochure format. I wonder how many employees salaries it costs to print those things.) So they have these firing packages and in it they were going to include a list of "101 ways to save money". You can see the list there. Now, I realize that the firing packages are a good idea. It tells people what their options are, what will happen to any stock options, any 401(K) plans, etc. But it is down right insulting to tell the now jobless former employees that "if you see something in the trash you like, don't be ashamed to take it". So, go ahead, dumpster dive. it's ok. Other tips include thrift store shopping, seeking out hand-me-downs from friends, and shorter showers. Hey, why not forget the showers altogether if you're just going to become one of the unwashed masses now that Northwest doesn't want to employ you any longer. Why not also hand out army surplus jackets and rickety shopping carts. Maybe a map of all the soup kitchens in the area. A facebook of all the soft touches so they will know who to target with their panhandling. Hey, there's an idea! A how to guide for panhandling.

sheesh. what's wrong with these people.

Cindy Sheehan has decided to go on a hunger strike.

Big Whoop. What exactly is that supposed to tell me. I already knew this was something she felt strongly about. I don't agree with her, but I am aware that she's not ok with the goings on in Iraq. So, I wish her well, and maybe this will do more for her than Rosie's Chub Club.

Another thing--people are getting all fired up over the 2,500 soldiers killed in Iraq and thousands of Iraqis. Yeah, one death is bad...but let's get some perspective. In World War I, 15 MILLION were killed. In World War II, 66 MILLION were killed. The Russians alone lost 22 MILLION. The Vietnam war claimed over 2 MILLION.

I do question the wisdom of the initial invasion. I thought at the time it was a bit early, but maybe not. We had this crazy dictator who had attacked his neighbors before, saying he had nuclear weapons. I think that he really believed he did and his scientists were just lying to him. The UN kept trying to go in there and 'inspect' and he kicked them out 16 times. Sixteen!!! How long can we let a threat like that go and only punish him by 'talking.' and I hear all these whines about what about the iraqi people? We don't want to kill innocents. Yeah, we don't, but at the same time the president of the United States is not there to protect the innocent Iraqis. He is there to protect Americans. There was a plausible threat, and a leader who would do nothing to give us assurances that the threat was not real. We could not be entirely sure what he would do. No, there were no WMDs, but from a risk management point of view, the right thing was done.

Now our troops are there and we cannot leave. If we do there will be a power vacuum and who knows what will happen to the iraqis on the weaker side of that struggle.

so Cindy, good luck on your diet, and I hope you can fit into your size 4s by the end of the summer.