Sleep

Do you ever look over at the person you're sleeping with and just watch them sleep?

Have you ever marveled at the simple fact that you are there?

Do you feel like you're the luckiest person in the world?

I have, I do and I am..............

Peace.

Happy Halloween!!!

I hope you enjoy the chocolate and candy!!!

Lookin' For A Fight?

So, for all of you that laugh at me for wearing my cowboy guns in the back yard and shooting at cans of beans - here's why - It's historycal.

On this day in 1881, the Earp brothers face off against the Clanton-McLaury gang in a legendary shootout at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona.

After silver was discovered nearby in 1877, Tombstone quickly grew into one of the richest mining towns in the Southwest. Wyatt Earp, a former Kansas police officer working as a bank security guard, and his brothers, Morgan and Virgil, the town marshal, represented "law and order" in Tombstone, though they also had reputations as being power-hungry and ruthless. The Clantons and McLaurys were cowboys who lived on a ranch outside of town and sidelined as cattle rustlers, thieves and murderers. In October 1881, the struggle between these two groups for control of Tombstone and Cochise County ended in a blaze of gunfire at the OK Corral.

On the morning of October 25, Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury came into Tombstone for supplies. Over the next 24 hours, the two men had several violent run-ins with the Earps and their friend Doc Holliday. Around 1:30 p.m. on October 26, Ike's brother Billy rode into town to join them, along with Frank McLaury and Billy Claiborne. The first person they met in the local saloon was Holliday, who was delighted to inform them that their brothers had both been pistol-whipped by the Earps. Frank and Billy immediately left the saloon, vowing revenge.

Around 3 p.m., the Earps and Holliday spotted the five members of the Clanton-McLaury gang in a vacant lot behind the OK Corral, at the end of Fremont Street. The famous gunfight that ensued lasted all of 30 seconds, and around 30 shots were fired. Though it's still debated who fired the first shot, most reports say that the shootout began when Virgil Earp pulled out his revolver and shot Billy Clanton point-blank in the chest, while Doc Holliday fired a shotgun blast at Tom McLaury's chest. Though Wyatt Earp wounded Frank McLaury with a shot in the stomach, Frank managed to get off a few shots before collapsing, as did Billy Clanton. When the dust cleared, Billy Clanton and the McLaury brothers were dead, and Virgil and Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday were wounded. Ike Clanton and Claiborne had run for the hills.

Sheriff John Behan of Cochise County, who witnessed the shootout, charged the Earps and Holliday with murder. A month later, however, a Tombstone judge found the men not guilty, ruling that they were "fully justified in committing these homicides."

So go ahead, knock that battery off my shoulder. I dare ya.

Quote Of The Day and Other Assorted Ramblings

"He has all of the virtues I dislike and none of the vices that I admire" - Sir Winston Churchill

I feel so much better today. I really thought I had been beat with a stick yesterday. I guess I'm not as young as I used to be (you can quote ME on that - if YOU like!).

I guess all that flying and staying up late and rocking hard just kicked my ass.

But I woke up today with a heart full of soul and a glad disposition.

Which is much better than bone-tired and grumpy!

I'm still kind of glowing over the concert thing this weekend. It's amazing how music can transport you and weave you in it's spell. There's really nothing quite like it.

But then again, the older I get, the better I like just sleeping in my bed!

Sad times, ain't it!!!

So before I have to get back to work - here's one more quote from Churchill:

Lady Astor once remarked to Winston Churchill at a dinner party, "Winston, if you were my husband, I would poison your coffee!". Winston replied, "Madam, if I were your husband - I would drink it!".

Peace.

The City of Broad Shoulders (via the City of Brotherly Love, damnit)

OK, the City of Broad Shoulders was good to me.

But the trip from hell (as it is now known) – was not so fun!

I am a professional logistician. Can any of you say that? LO-GIS-STI-TION. That means that I get goods from one place to another – all over the world – on a daily basis. I get them there on time and intact. I have seen every contingency that exists and take into consideration all things that “could” happen and plan for ALL things that “may” happen.

But Saturday, was not to be the day when I was in charge of the world.

I should have known.

We left for New Orleans at 8am for a 11:25am flight. Plenty of time to drive 100 miles and get some breakfast as well.

That was before the tanker full of chemicals spilled on I 10. Shut both sides of the interstate down and they rerouted the busiest road in America around the lake, through the lower 9th ward and St. Bernard Parish – you know, the place the hurricane completely wiped off the face of the earth…………

Took 5 hours to get to the airport – so the 2 hour flight to Chicago was now officially an adventure.

Finally found another flight……………..to Philadelphia, then a lay over and FINALLY on to Chicago.

So instead of getting in at 1:30, we got there at 8:30.

Figured our foray to the House of Blues to spend the evening with Al Green was toasted but we hopped a cab and checked into the hotel. Met some of our other friends there (yea, of course, we had the tickets because we were going to be the first ones there!) and went straight to the HOB.

Fate finally smiled as the Reverend had not taken the stage yet. So after purchasing a cold beer, we snuck to the front of the stage and eagerly awaited Al’s arrival.

And we were not to be disappointed. Al took the stage and blew through a very hearty set of an hour with is 13 piece band – which did not include the very cool girl backup singers and the gay male dancer boys.

The show was very good and we all left knowing that we had gotten to see a slice of America passed and we felt much better for it.

Then came the 2 hour field trip to try to find somewhere to eat. We did it, but it entailed much walking and going into many places that were still drinking but not eating.

Chicago ain’t New York because apparently it does sleep!

Anyway, got a little sleep and got up on Sunday to the Chicago Tribune – what a treat for us country boys. 4 hours of reading a newspaper. Big Ass Newspaper!!!

After some brunch, we hopped a cab down to the Magnificent Mile to stroll around and enrich our cultural stores. It seemed that everyone in the free world was doing the same thing but it was very cool. I’m sure that you people that live there – or in any other huge metropolis take that stuff for granted, but for us that only do that every once in a while, it was very cool.

Especially the Apple Store – talk about culture!

So we headed to one of those “famous” Chicago Pizza places where you eat a slice of a pie that makes you feel like you’ve been run over by a truck. Three inches thick with cheese and shit. One was enough for me. I’ll stick to my thin stuff.

Excitement was building and we decided, like most old men, that we would go take a nap before we went to see Bruce.

So we did!

And then about 6:30 we boarded the shuttle to the United Center. Got off and immediately saw the po-po throw some poor black boy to the concrete and hand-cuff him. Don’t know what he did, but they took him down with extreme prejudice.

Went inside, nice arena – by the way (the house that Jordan built?). Took our seats and met our neighbors (which included a very excited, retarded dancing midget but that’s another story) and settled in for the show.

Bruce was about 45 minutes late, but when he took the stage, it was as if Jesus came back to a Pentacostal Prayer Meeting.

He ripped right into Radio Nowhere and commenced to tearing the joint up.

Here’s the set list:

Radio Nowhere
No Surrender
Lonesome Day
Gypsy Biker
Magic
Reason to Believe
Adam Raised a Cain
She’s The One
Livin’ in the Future
The Promised Land
Your Own Worst Enemy
Backstreets
Cadillac Ranch
Devil’s Arcade
The Rising
Last to Die
Long Walk Home
Badlands

Encore:
Girls In Their Summer Clothes
Thundercrack
Born To Run
Dancing in the Dark
American Land

I’ve been to more concerts than I can remember – but this one was amazing. The guitar solo’s on Gypsy Biker were as good as anything I’ve ever heard. When he stared to play Born to Run, I swear the entire arena hit another gear.

It was simply amazing. I left feeling very satisfied.

I enjoyed the show. I enjoyed the trip to Little Italy for some THIN crust pizza after the show. I enjoyed it all.

So thank you Chicago, for a wonderful time. Thank you Bruce for being Amazing. Thank you Al for still being alive. Thank you my friends, for being so fun to be with.

But most of all – thank you, my love, for allowing boys to be boys.

I hope all of your weekends were equally as blessed as mine was!

Peace.

I'm Going and You're Not!

Yep, taking off tomorrow for Chicago. Al Green tomorrow night at the House of Blues and Bruce Springsteen at the big house.

I will accept all jealousy at this time.

Boys, boys, boys

No, this post isn't about some strange child molestation thing - so put that smirk back where it came from.

I've just been thinking about my impending grandfather-hood. Seems like just yesterday that I was living in a fraternity house allowing all the possibilities of life to wash over me like waves in the ocean.

Now I'm about to be a paw-paw.

Wow...............

So in honor of my soon to be grandson, I figured that I would post some pictures that reminded me of when my son was young. I know I don't have to tell all you mothers or fathers that have had sons what these pictures represent - but for the rest of you, boys are a trip.


This picture reminds me that boys love to eat.................the messier the better!

This brings to mind that you can talk a boy into dressing up as anything you want him to dress like - they're kind of fearless. Of course, when they get older - they'll kill you and/or put you in a nursing home.

And when you yell through the house - "What are you doing" - if they say nothing, grab your tool kit and run to the back of the house immediately.

Boys love girls (but only the ones with boobies) from a very early age. Girls are soft and they taste good! (sorry - that was strictly an editorial comment by the author)

And like I said before, boys love to eat and will not let any barrier imagined by parents to stop them when they are on a mission.

Did I mention that boys like girls? They are programmed from birth to see what is under there and will stop at nothing to find out!

Boys are fearless. As a matter of fact, they will do the stupidest thing in order to say they did it. This unfortunate trend continues well into adulthood.

Boys are mischievious. They will do something that only they think is funny and then wonder why everyone else is not so amused. This trend also continues on into adulthoond.

I hate to beat a dead horse - but boys really like girls - AND BOOBIES!

Boys are inventive - they will even disassemble themselves if they think it will get them either a laugh or the attention of a girl!

Boys love motorcycles. Need I say more???

Boys will pee anywhere at anytime. Seen it done right in the Wal-Mart. So it is imperative to ask boys constantly if they need to go to the bathroom. If you don't, they will take matter into their own hands! Literally.

Boys will put anything in their mouths. Don't you think for one moment that they won't. And if you double-dog-dare them, they'll do it in front of anyone!

Pain...............

I have lived with pain for so very long that it has become a friend of mine.

Doesn’t that sound so very strange?

Pain exists on so many different levels.

For years and years there was the pain in my heart where I took my hopes and dreams and put them away for safekeeping. Isn’t that what we all do when we are faced with living a life that is not what we imagined it could be?

Where do we put our hopes and dreams if they are not realized? Do you lie to yourself and say they don’t matter? Or did you do like I did and compartmentalize them – just put them away until you could drag them out later and try to do better?

I know, those questions are heavy – but they are valid.

I can honestly report that I stood up and dragged mine out into the sunlight, admired them and then put them back on the outside, like a mantle of biblical proportions.

It’s no secret that I am married to the girl of my dreams and it has made the totality of all my experiences worth each one I have endured in my life.

And it does not make me sad to think of all the time I lost, that time was used as well as I could use it – but today, oh today I am just so very thankful that life is now where I want it to be.

I do not have the words to express how very fortunate I feel in my life.

My most beautiful and wonderful wife hates how “cocky” I am. She does not think it is a positive trait that I believe that I am “the man”. But truly, in my heart I just know that I am "the man" because I am living a dream and give thanks for all of that – all the time!

Which I suppose, makes me a smiling, arrogant son of a bitch.

But I just can’t stop smiling and I refuse to apologize for any of it.

So back to the topic – let’s just say that the pain in my heart has been handled and replaced by the knowledge that I am living my life exactly how I always dreamed ti could be – and it’s very, very simple. I love and am loved and it feels just so very RIGHT.

Don’t know how else to describe it. But I guess I do it well enough because I seem to make everyone sick as I go about my life trying to describe it and live it.

And I’m glad – may I continue to make everyone sick!!!

So on to other pain – the physical variety.

This was the year that I decided to fix myself. Get all my ailments taken care of. Why? Because now I had more to live for than I ever dared to hope I did.

It’s amazing to think back to how the pain of the heart made the physical pain I felt seem so righteous. I may as well hurt physically because I hurt so much emotionally?

It may not make sense – but it certainly was true.

So I checked in and got rods screwed into my spine to make my back stop hurting.

Guess what – that damned surgery HURT.

But it did fix the back pain. But for now, the “old” back pain has been replaced by the “new” back pain. It IS getting better and I truly feel like this will be a very positive experience in the long run.

I understand that I have hurt for so long that pain has become almost a friend to me. It actually gives me strength.

I have always understood that if I embrace the pain and it will just become part of me. It is simply my private struggle that I try not to share with anyone else.

My love knows I hurt. She sees me struggle to get up and down and I know that I don’t ever fool her. But at the same time, I’m not going to complain about it. That the last think she needs is to have someone else bitching at her about their life. She gets that all day long at work.

Nor do I subscribe to the notion that “it’s not fair”. I’m not even sure what that means – but I do notice that lots of people take that position. I don’t think I’ve ever run the “it’s not fair” banner up the flag pole.

If I have, it was a momentary failing.

So I suffer in silence and am happy to do so.

I am trying very hard to get back on my feet and make progress. The cruel thing about all this is that the only time your really have time to do that is in the evenings and that is the time that you have dealt with it all day long and you’re just worn out.

But I will get there and be in good shape and as pain free as a boy my age can be. And I’ve set it as my goal to be there by the end of next year.

So if you see me laying on the floor, give me a hand up. And don’t feel sorry for me because I left most of my pain behind earlier this year.

Here’s to living large – and here’s to you!

Peace.

Lucky Boy

I had a marvelous weekend – again.

Imagine that!

We had homecoming this weekend at the college and many, many old friends came to celebrate life. Or at least we were celebrating something!

I spend most of the day Saturday with my buds and my most wonderful trophy wife - and it was amazing. As usual.

Nothing like good friends and a hot woman to make a boy smile………………

And I even went in the stadium for the first time in recent memory. We sat in the upper deck and watched all the ants play football. Temp was in the 60’s and it was just perfect football weather.

Apparently, the football team agreed since we won 28-7. Of course, we were playing SMU and it’s been since 1983 when they were given the “death penalty” by the NCAA that they were very good – but hey, neither was Rice and they beat us the week before!

A win’s a win. I think someone very profound said that one time.

I did take a moment to be thankful during this time. I stopped and looked around and realized, yet again, how very fortunate I am to be in my shoes. I live a very blessed life and try to give thanks for that as often as possible.

Speaking of giving thanks – I took food to two different tailgate places and both were pretty darned good.

The first was some curried beef short ribs. OMG, those were pretty tasty. The other place had a Mexican theme and I made a tamale pie – which is just a big pan of meat with onions, peppers, beans and corn topped with a Mexican cornbread and 2,645,752 jalepeno peppers.

So to say the least, we ate and ate and ate. I think I broke my record Saturday with 14 deviled eggs consumed.

And as I sat in a lounge chair looking at my lovely bride – all I could do was to sit there and think “Wow – imagine my surprise when you loved me back”.

Yep, I am one lucky boy.

And I’m sure that everyone has wondered how her eye surgery went and whether or not she would remain with me when she could finally see everything clearly.

Well I’m happy to report that she now has 20/20 vision in one eye and 20/15 in the other and she is still faithfully at my side.

So as I plow forward into this week – I am doing so with a big ole smile on my face!!!

Peace.

Have You Noticed?

Has anyone else noticed that the Sanderson Farms chicken plant in Jones County has been doing well on the stock market this quarter?

Chuck Norris Facts

I found a great web site totally dedicated to all things Chuck Norris.

I also find my tongue firmly planted in my cheek as I share some of the wisdom that I found there:

Guns don't kill people - Chuck Norris kills people

There is no theory of evolution - there is just a list of animals that Chuck Norris allows to live

Chuck Norris doesn't sleep - he waits

The chief export of Chuck Norris is pain

There is no chin under Chuck Norris' beard - there is only another fist

Chuck Norris has two speeds - walk and kill

Chuck Norris doesn't go huniting - Chuck Norris goes KILLING

When the Boogeyman goes to sleep at night - he checks his closet for Chuck Norris

Outer Space exists only because it's too scared to be on the same planet as Chuck Norris

Chuck Norris is suing NBC claiming that0 "Law and Order" are trademarked names for his legs

When Chuck Norris does a push-up, he isn't lifting himself up he's pushing the world down

Chuck Norris' hand is the only hand that can beat a royal flush

Chuck Norris can lead a horse to water and MAKE him drink

Chuck Norris doesn't wear a watch - he decides what time it is

Chuck Norris gave Mona Lisa her smile

Chuck Norris doesn't get frostbite - Chuck Norris bites frost

Contrary to popular belief, America is not a democracy - it is a Chucktatorship

Remember the Soviet Union? It disolved after watching a Delta Force marathon on satellite TV


Yes boys and girls, these and many other pages of wisdom can be had simply by going to www.chucknorrisfacts.com

You can thank me later.

Peace

Presenting Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy (I'm the fat one)

Brrrrrrrrrruuuuuuuuuucccccccccceeeeeeeeee

OK, two weekends away from going to see Bruce Almighty Springsteen in Chicago. The Boss.

Anyone have any requests? I'm sure I'll get to meet with Bruce backstage before the concert to go over his set list - so whatever you'd like to hear, just let me know and I'll put in a good word!

I'm very excited about the road trip. Wishin' I was a goin' on my motorcycle - but alas.........

In the meantime, after we went through our third string quaterback, who was also hurt and lost another mid week game to freakin' Rice.............well Just Fuck Football.

Harley Davidson - 2008 CVO Ultra Classic

OK folks, this is what I want. I'll be starting a telethon over Halloween to raise the $36,000 I need in order to purchase this.

So stay tuned and you can contribute!!!

Happy October!

The month dawned clear and cool.

Lows in the 50's and highs in the 80's. Humidity has run away to the ocean for a change.

Fall is here and I must say that it is welcomed with open arms.

We went to the beach this weekend and it was glorious weather.

Like my baby said, "If you can't find God here, then there's just something wrong with you"!

So here's hoping to a fizzled out hurricane season. Two more months to go but I'm-a-hopin' that whatever may come will go somewhere else.

We've got another stupid Wednesday night football game. Last week it was Thursday. Seems like we prostitute ourselves for the cameras so often these days. College football should be played on Saturday.

I think that's in the bible somewhere...............

Oh well, it just means the food at the tailgating won't be so good because everyone (like me) is at work today and can't pamper the creative chef genes - but I'm sure we'll eat anyway!

We finally got the concrete for the new porch poured last week so we now have concrete ALL the way across the back of the house. That's gonna be a hell of a party pad! Next comes the hard part. We'll well how that goes. I hope to keep my religion about me while all that is going on.

I almost lost it on the concrete.

And speaking of the other birthday things, my sweet woman gets her new eyes next Monday. A little Lasik is a wonderful thing. Nothing like a laser beam into your brain to make the day go by!

I wonder if they'll use the lasers on the shark heads or if Austin Powers really blew all of them up?

And speaking finally of my lovely wife.............I sure do love her. She's more beautiful than a sunrise on the open prarie or the first glance of home after a long trip. Her voice is the sound the angels make and her laugh would melt a heart of stone.

There - just so there's no misconception about me being the luckiest boy in the world.

Good luck to you too - and while we're a talkin' about good luck, here's to hoping the lottery number hits tonight!

Peace.