Kudos to Governor Huckabee

Congratulations Governor Huckabee, on a well-run and successful campaign. Although you fell short of the ultimate goal, you finished much better than anyone would have ever predicted. I am a fan of not only your policies and your ideas for our country, but also of the public stance that you have chosen to take on your personal faith in Christ. We need someone who is confident in their beliefs, regardless of the opposition that they receive, and you fit that description.

Full disclosure – I have had the opportunity to meet Governor Huckabee and speak with him in person. I personally believe that he is as genuine a politician that we’ve seen in a long time. Whether you agree with him or not, you cannot argue with his conviction. Our country will have a new leader in November, and while it will not be Governor Mike Huckabee in ‘08, I will hold out hope that his time will come in 2012.

Side note – no matter where you fall in the political spectrum, I urge you to vote in the Presidential election in November. This is why our country is great, we the people get to decide who leads us as a nation. Contribute, participate, vote.

Month to Month

The job that I have is great – I am blessed to have it and thankful for the opportunities and friendships that it has given me. But it is still a job and there are always some things that challenge me on a regular basis. For instance, what I do could be considered “sales” although I don’t really classify it that way. The bottom line is the same as sales though – you must produce. We measure ourselves on a monthly basis, making the last week and the last day of each month exciting and intense. Don’t get me wrong, no one is applying any stress or pressure on me that I haven’t already applied to myself. I am most critical of my own performance, and I actually think each person in my position at our company is the same way. We are all very competitive, but not so much against each other as against ourselves.

The issue is being able to finish a month strong, and then turn around and start all over again. Such is life I guess…following through with what you start, give everything your all, then when it comes time to start over or start something new – you do it all over again…but hopefully better each time.

Bothered

Is anyone else bothered that certain movie and TV celebrities seem to carry just as much weight with political and international issues as the “experts” do? This bothers me. Why do we put value on what these people think? Aren’t they successful in the first place because their industry is designed to entertain us and provide a temporary escape from real-world issues? What qualifies these people to have their opinon valued or respected so much?

Some actually do have designated responsibilities by the U.N. (George Clooney, Angelina Jolie) which I respect, but even that status shouldn’t elevate these people to being considered experts on anything other than the abilities which made them successful in the first place; whether acting or singing or writing or whatever.  Granted, they have a platform to express their views and make themselves heard – so I guess I’m not so much bothered by the celebrities themselves as I am the people who are influenced by these celebrity-opinions.

How ’bout this – do some research on your own – don’t let a video of Danny Glover hanging out with Hugo Chavez make your decisions for you. Draw your own conclusions and opinions based on your beliefs, then you can talk about it with others who have done the same.

Enough soap-box for now…

Musical interests

My 10 Favorite musicians in no particular order (let the discussion commence):

Tom Jones, Rascall Flatts, U2, Aerosmith, Coldplay, Ronnie Milsap, Counting Crows, John Mayer, Southern Gospel (yes, the entire genre), BoyzIIMen.

RE: BoyzIIMen – in Jr. High and High School my friends and I attempted to “woo” the ladies with our rendition of such classics as “It’s So Hard to say Good-bye” and “Yesterday”. I’m unfortunately certain that there is video of this floating around somewhere.

I Love Sundays

Steph and I had a great day today – you have to love a Sunday full of relaxation and rest.

We started by going to our new Church (new to us that is) and there we enjoyed a great message on spiritual gifts and how they are often confused with talents. There are several great tests out there to see what your spiritual gifts are – one good (but long) one is here. If you don’t already know what your gifts are, it is a great way to gain perspective on your life and what you have to offer.

After church, we enjoyed a great meal at Asuka in Spring Hill - the wife and I threw down 3-rolls each – 48 pieces of sushi. It was terrific. That place will become a regular for us.

Then this afternoon we just rested, napped, watched TV and enjoyed not having anything to do. We went on a walk tonight and watched part of the Oscars (which I thought were rather boring, but I do want to see a few of the nominated movies). Jon Stewart is the only thing that kept me watching.

Anyway, it was a great day – enjoyed by a happy couple. A new week awaits - and it has the potential to be very exciting.

Primary Schedule

Someone please explain the logic behind having state primaries on separate days – leading to the nominees being chosen before each state has a chance to vote. This makes several states irrelevant in the selection process. Why not have each state’s primary or caucus all on the same day? Give each state the chance to have their voice heard.Instead, we have the current system with primaries and caucuses being spread out over the course of several months, leading to voter-apathy and a lack of interest in some states. I am sure there is some previously thought out political justification for this current approach, but it feels like logic is often lost or overlooked in some “established” methods.

Political Coverage

Preface:   I admit that I might be completely wrong on this because I didn’t watch the primaries in ‘04.

I am paying more attention to this political season that I ever have in the past, but I am blown away by the similarities between campaign coverage and sports coverage. It feels as though CNN and FOXNews have been watching ESPN for the past 4-years and they’ve pulled several different elements from shows like the NFL Draft and NCAA Tournament Selection Show. There are so many analysts on each network, they are usually in teams of 4 + a host, and there are two or three teams like this constantly rotating on each channel.

It feels overdone to me, but then again, I love the NFL Draft. So maybe political junkies are loving the coverage.

Senate Hearings on Baseball

The congressional hearing on baseball’s Roger Clemens has sparked several interesting discussions and questions.

-Is this something that Congress should be spending this much time and money on?

-Are the members of congress only interested in this case because they know it will get them some “face-time” on several networks?

-Has there ever been a bigger waste of money than the $60Million that was spent on the Mitchell Report?

I don’t know all of the answers but there is something wrong in my mind about spending this much time and money on digging into the past without spending much (if any) time or money so far on action steps moving forward to both prevent future substance abuse by MLB players, as well as educate the youth (which is the excuse that several congress members have hidden behind so fare) on the reasons that these substances are illegal in our country and/or banned by the MLB.

Trying vs. Training

Interesting thought from a church small group earlier this week: Are you trying for something, or are you training for something? There is a difference.

We too often get caught up in trying to accomplish things rather than consistently training ourselves to be better in all areas of life.