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I decided to set up a YouTube account last week. I've got a bunch of videos uploaded to my website but they're WMA files and people with Macs can't open them. YouTube converts them to a format viewable to all. Click to go to my videos. We went to see Jars of Clay last Saturday night at Maranatha Hall at Northwestern College in St Paul. It was a very good concert and our seats were in the 2nd row, right next to a huge stack of speakers. Fortunately for us, we brought along earplugs. I'd listened to their new CD several times before the show so I'd be familiar with the songs but one in particular which hadn't really caught my attention was Light Gives Heat. Tammy had been asking me what I thought of the song but I couldn't remember it. I thought that Oh My God was the best song on the CD but now I think I'm giving the nod to Light Gives Heat. It's a very moving song. They closed out the show with it. Here's a link to the video I took. Please ...

It seems like forever that I've worked a schedule where my last shift of the week was an all-night shift. That's about to change. We're bidding our schedules for next year and I've opted for different days off and no more mid-shift. I think my body is liking this already. They've been changing work rules in the FAA and we're no longer allowed to read materials at the sector on the midnight shift. That's a very ridiculous thing to do as a person needs to have something to occupy their mind when traffic is slow and a lack of sleep begins to overwhelm you. Anyway, for the past several months my body has been telling me that it's time to give the all-night shift up. Several guys who have already done so told me that I'll be much happier to not be working it. Our mouse total stands at 8 kills and no more signs of the critters for several days. Tammy is sleeping better and so am I as we didn't need to bring in an exterminator. I had to take my lapt...

Yeah, just like the title of this entry says—we've got mice. We caught 3 more last night and a couple during the past few days. This happens every fall. Tammy freaks a bit and threatens to call an exterminator while I try and calm her fears. We think they get in from some small opening in the garage but we're really not sure. So, this was my first week back at work since I was off for one month while on medication for headaches. I looked at my month off as sort of a practice retirement and I found that I will have no problem at all filling up my days with things to do. I'll be eligible to retire in another 5 months but I'd really like to get our house paid off and get Rachel through college before I pull the plug. The time-frame for all of that to happen is 7 years from now. Some of the guys I hired on with are already gone or will be leaving soon. Another approach some guys are taking is to retire and then find another job; something different to do. I figure I'd...

It's been a nice month off. I phoned work today to let them know that I'm no longer on Prednisone and that I'm experiencing no headaches. I just got a phone call from the front office to tell me that I've got my medical back and I can return to work. Actually, I'm ready to go back. It's been nice sleeping in every morning until the pups lick me awake but it will also be nice to get back to my routine. I do like my job and I'm very blessed to have it although there have been some recent changes at work which will take some getting used to. No more reading material on the midnight shifts to keep you awake when traffic is light. Business-casual dress even though we have no contact with the public. Salary capped for the foreseeable future. I'm still okay as I really can't complain. Sure, I'd like to see the steady raises we've enjoyed year after year continue but they pay me quite a bit to do what I do. As I'm typing this I got a call from my...

I wrote a letter to the editorial pages of the StarTribune a few months ago which was critical of our nation's approach to abortion. It didn't make the paper but it did get printed in the online edition where someone from Human Life Alliance found it and responded to me. Since then I've been receiving their mailings. I was looking through their latest newsletter and came across this... It's Just Tissue Consider the following facts: Simple tissue does not have a beating heart, brain waves, fingerprints, and unique DNA. A woman can carry a baby with a different gender or blood type from her own. After the moment of fertilization, nothing new is added to the baby except oxygen, nutrition and time. The only differences between a newborn and a preborn baby are size, level of development, environment, and degree of dependency. All of these facts confirm the reality that you are a person worthy of protection from the moment of fertilization. I'm reading on a little ...

My cluster headache cycle has pretty much run its course. I go through a headache cycle about once every 15 months and it used to be that they pretty much owned me. The last two cycles have been different, though, and I'm encouraged by my new approach to them—that being heavy doses of Prednisone. If you've ever had a Mr. Misty or an ice cream headache you have a good idea what a cluster headache is. It's a sharp pain behind one eye which causes you to cease functioning until the pain goes away. In the case of an ice cream headache that pain usually only lasts a few moments. In the case of a cluster headache, the pain can last for hours. These are worse than migraines. They're called cluster headaches because they come in clusters and then they're gone until the next cycle begins. It used to be that during a headache phase, I'd get one or two headaches a day. I pretty much just suffered through them without using any meds for years. Prednisone has been around for...

Tammy brought home the new Jars of Clay cd this week. There are some real gems on it. This song seems appropriate for me this past week. It's called Oh My God and is somewhat of a lament of a man's cry out to God in a fallen world. Don't quit too soon on the song as it's got a powerful ending. Here's the song... Oh My God Oh my God, look around this place Fingers reach around the bone You set the break and set the tone Flights of grace and future falls In present pain All fools say, "Oh my God" Oh my God, why are we so afraid? We make it worse when we don't bleed There is no cure for our disease Turn a phrase and rise again Or fake your death and only tell your closest friends Oh my God Oh my God, can I complain? You take away my firm belief And graft my soul upon your grief Weddings, boats and alibis All drift away and a mother cries Liars and fools, sons and failures Thieves will always say Lost and found, ailing wanderers H...