86400 Seconds

Be a part of something great – YOUR LIFE This thought popped into my head a few weeks ago when I was watching Major League on the tube. It was the 20 th anniversary of that movie, which I dearly love. In fact, it's one of the few movies that actually gets me misty eyed at the end of. Braveheart, being one of the others. What is it about sports and action movies that move their viewers? Is it the thrill of the victory? The greatness of overcoming the insurmountable odds that are against you? Being the hero, saving the damsel in distress, the world, or the galaxy? Beating the bad guys, righting the wrongs? Probably a bit of all of it. We all want to be a part of something great, be the hero, and lead the charge. I think that sometimes we get so caught up in what is going on around us that we can easily forget that we are part of something great – OUR OWN LIVES. Your life is what you make of it. Every day can be an adventure. Our lives are where they are for a lot of reasons. My pe

Ok, so I'm not the most mechanically inclined person in the world. I'm fairly handy, but at times, my patience, or occasional lack of, can get the best of me. Well, Wednesday night, it got me again. I'm trying to change the blades on my lawn mower, they needed it badly, and I'm having trouble loosening the nut that holds the right blade on. I won't go into all of the details, which includes not taking time to go inside, find some WD40 (which I found today) and loosen that nut so I can easily change the blades. No, I just figured I'd use some good old fashioned brute force and loosen it that way. It worked, a little too well. My right hand slipped off the blade and without looking, I knew it wasn't good. Oh, it wasn't that bad, 11 stitches and 12 chicken wings (I know they're horrible for you, but it's a rare guilty pleasure I take) later, I'm back hom e marveling at my right hand. Heck, I actually caught a few innings of a baseball game while

Laughter, is it really the best medicine? Some would argue that it is and I'd say that it's definitely up there as something that's needed daily in our lives. I know I feel better after a good laughing fit, you probably do to. I'd also state that exercise is also in the top things that we can use to make ourselves feel better, physically and mentally. Let's take last Thursday for instance. I got home from work, and to be frank, I've been in better moods. Not sure why I wasn't 100% of my normal happy self, but I wasn't. It had been several days since the last time on my bike. Thursday is my normal riding day, so I got dressed and started thinking about my ride. As soon as I pulled my cycling shorts on, I started feeling better immediately. Hadn't done anything, but just thinking about getting on the bike started a nice little mood lift. 43 minutes and 10 miles later, I was a brand new man. I felt much better. We all know that exercise releases endorph

Go, Daddy, Go! Three little words, they may not seem like a battle cry of encouragement, but they are to me. I'll tell you why. Father's Day is approaching quickly. A few days ago, my wonderful wife, Lana, said she's got my gift and it'll be cool and I can use it. My interest was peaked immediately. She knows how to work me and knows that patience isn't always one of my virtues and I'd ask for it. She also knows how to use this in reverse for her birthday, mother's day, Christmas, anniversary, etc and that I won't be able to hold out on her gifts. But, I digress. So, she gave it to me yesterday. It was a sports bottle, a metal one that's supposed to be better for you, better tasting, since it's not plastic. Bright (Cowboy) blue and three little words on it, seven actually - Go, Daddy Go! Love Lana and Kenny . The bottle itself isn't what is so special about the gift. It's a great bottle, don't get me wrong. It's those three words

Go, Daddy, Go! Three little words, they may not seem like a battle cry of encouragement, but they are to me. I'll tell you why. Father's Day is approaching quickly. A few days ago, my wonderful wife, Lana, said she's got my gift and it'll be cool and I can use it. My interest was peaked immediately. She knows how to work me and knows that patience isn't always one of my virtues and I'd ask for it. She also knows how to use this in reverse for her birthday, mother's day, Christmas, anniversary, etc and that I won't be able to hold out on her gifts. But, I digress. So, she gave it to me yesterday. It was a sports bottle, a metal one that's supposed to be better for you, better tasting, since it's not plastic. Bright (Cowboy) blue and three little words on it, seven actually Go, Daddy Go! Love Lana and Kenny The bottle itself isn't what is so special about the gift. It's a great bottle, don't get me wrong. It's those three wo

Interesting title, huh? I'll start this by saying that this will not be a post with earth shattering workout secrets, or a new, revolutionary eating program guaranteed to strip 30 pounds off of you in 6 days. What this will be is a few thoughts on my back pain, it's practically gone, and why I believe that's happened. Exercise, help with back pain, sure. Twitter? Facebook? how can they help with back pain? I'll get to that in a paragraph or two. To begin with, my back isn't exactly right. Nothing debilitating, but I used to have a lot of tightness in it, with some occasional soreness and tweaks. If I had a long day of whatever, being on my feet, standing all day, it would really stiffen up. It has a curve and a little twist to it. Judging from my back X-rays, I'm lucky that a bit of minor pain and stiffness is all I have from it. It could be a lot worse. I first noticed it in 1995, a few years after I got out of Xray school. I was in pretty good shape,

Well, it seems that I'm managing to post something about every 2 weeks or so. Not too bad, I guess, since this is more of just personal musings and not my job or anything. Actually, more happens than I post, but sometimes, it's hard to get it put down before the muse passes. This past Wednesday, I had another proud Dad moment. Lana, Kenny, and I went to our Awana's awards banquet. For those of you who don't know, Awanas is a Wednesday night Bible study for the local kids, pre k through 6th grade, in our area. Lana and I both help out. I'm a handbook leader, read: one more big kid in the room. This year was Kenny's first year in the club. He's a cubby, part of the pre-k group. They're a bunch of rambunctious kids, who get a litle study time in with memory verses, some play time, it's a blast. Part of the program was for them to get up and sing the Awanas Cubby song. It really went off very well, especially considering it was several kids in the 3-5 ye

What a day at Seaworld in San Antonio. I'm starting this tonight because I haven't posted in 2 or 3 weeks and really want to keep this growing, expanding, and just seeing what happens. Plus, one of my new Twitter friends who has a pretty nice blog sent me a message today asking how the blogging was coming along. Nice to have someone keeping you in check. I've actually gotten a lot out of Twitter and talked with some interesting people, but I'll save that for another posting. I'm wrecked for several reasons. One, it's almost 11 and I'm digesting a nice rib-eye and grilled shrimp. Two, trying to keep up with my son, Kenny, is getting to be a challenge. Lana, he and I had a real blast today. It's our 2nd "real" vacation as just us, but this one's different. He's growing up so much, travels so much better, and now it's more like we're traveling with three people instead of two adults and a baby. My hat is off to Lana. I'm thankf

I've been reading a book called Coach Wooden One on One, written by former UCLA coach John Wooden and Jay Carty. Wooden coached Lew Alcindor, better known as Kareem Abdul Jabbar, so he has some miles and experience on him. It's a book of powerful insights and a great daily devotional. I read this yesterday and it was about Fatherhood and being a good role model for your children. A careful man I want to be, A little fellow follows me; I do not dare to go astray, For fear he'll go the self-same way. I cannot once escape his eyes, Whate'er he sees me do, he tries; Like me he says he's going to be, The little fellow that follows me. He thinks that I am good and fine, Believes in every word of mine; The base in me he must not see. The little chap who follows me. I must remember as I go, Through summer's s

I was privileged enough to be asked to help support this years ACS Relay For Life Survivor Dinner in Hallsville last night. It was quite an experience. I don't know why but this cause has really struck a nerve with me. It's something that I feel strongly about. I've never had anyone in my immediate family stricken with this deadly disease although I have known some friends that have had it and Lana's grandmother is a survivor and she battled it before we met. So, I guess you can say I'm lucky, or better, blessed, that it's never hit that close to home with me. What I saw last night was a room full of brave people that I was glad I had the chance to meet, if only for a few minutes. One the last things that we did was ask how long the people there have been cancer survivors. We started at 5 years, then 10, then 15. It was amazing, the longest cancer survivor in the room was at 23 years!!! She's living proof that this horrible disease can be beat and I hope tha

I'll start with this since it's probably the easiest thing to write about. In my day job, I interact with a lot of different people and hear a lot of things. It starts here. I'm talking with one of my plant engineers at a place where I do a little business. We were walking outside when we passed a beautiful convertible BMW, 6 series or something. I said "hey, check out my new company ride!" He replied, "don't think so, let me tell you a story about that car." Right then, I should have grabbed a blanket and settled in, because you cannot make this stuff up. He proceeded to tell me a story about this doctor who owned it. Poor guy, several months ago, someone ran a red light, totaled his car (I'm sure it was nice) and broke his neck. The doc has since recovered from the crash and went out and bought this Beemer to replace his other car. This doctor is also pretty much chained to this hospital, he puts in a lot of hours. One day, he parks this car ou