Career Decisions

I've received another promotion at work (temporarily). My direct boss (Bob), the Director of Information Services has been loaned to another department full-time for a year to work on a special project. I have been asked to be the Interim Director during his absence. This is certainly a God-given opportunity because I thought I had gone as far as I can go in my Department with the education, credentials and experience I have.

The Director position requires a Master's degree, which I don't have. While I can hold the position temporarily without a Master's degree, I would need to earn one before Bob retires in three years to fill it permanently. I have known this for sometime, but have had a career goal of starting my own business, which does not require a Master's degree, so I haven't pursued one. Starting and running my own business has been a discussion between Erin and I for quite sometime. She prefers the benefits and stability (i.e., security) of a state job. I understand and respect those needs and know that she is right that staying with the State is best for our family.

So, I have to make some long term career decisions now. Do I go ahead and earn a Master's degree seeking to rise in my current organization? (Which seems to be the wise thing to do..."bird in the hand" and all) Or, do I just hold this position for a year and then do something else? If something else, then what is that something else cause I hardly doubt I will be ready to go off on my own business venture by then. If I seek a Master's degree, then there are questions about which school to attend(web-based, TSUM, AUM, Auburn, Faulkner, etc...), what field to get the degree in (MBA, Masters of Info. Tech., etc...), and whether to do one of those 1 year programs or a 3 year program? Write a thesis or do a non-thesis program? Which extra job do I give up to go to school or do I give up both of them?

These are the questions that Erin and I must pray about. I've called my Dad and gotten his advice (hey, that's exactly what Dad's are for and there is NO ONE that I trust more to point me in the right direction). I just want to do what God wants me to.

Still Need a Vacation

I didn't realize I hadn't posted in over a week. Part of that is because we have been on vacation. Part of it has been I have been busy with life. Let me catch you up to speed:

Wed. Nov. 16, 2005 - Erin left to attend the Youth Specialities Conference in Nashville, TN. For five nights I got to put on my "Super Dad" hat and take care of both children (21 months old and 6 months old).

Thur. Nov. 17, 2005 - I get a call from my mother letting me know that my grandmother had to be rushed to the hospital. They don't know if she will make it. Also, it is Noah's 6 month wellness check and flu shots for both children (remember, Erin is away gaining great insight into the minds of teens).

Fri. Nov. 18, 2005 - I get a call from my father-in-law telling me that Erin's maternal grandfather has passed away from a heart attack. My grandmother's condition is still touch-and-go.

Sat. Nov. 19, 2005 - I was supposed to work while my mother-in-law watched the children. Due to the death of her father, though, she has headed up to Pennsylvania for the funeral.

Sun. Nov. 20, 2005 - Church. My good friends Tracie and Chuck come by the house in the morning and allow me to go to church to do my ministry (I'm the sound dude). They bring the kids to church with them later on. The afternoon is busy taking care of little ones.

Mon. Nov. 21, 2005 - Erin returns from her conference. I have a presentation that I have to be at in Birmingham at 3:00 PM. I leave work at Noon, run by a friend's house to pick up a portable DVD player we are borrowing for a trip to Johnson City, TN (we have one, but the screen is going out and it was in the shop being repaired). I drive to Birmingham in torrential rain. Get lost. Get directions. Arrive at 2:45 PM instead of 1:30 like I wanted to. Made it in time, but just barely.

Oh, and also on Monday morning, I call ACER because one of the fans in my laptop started making a horrific noise over the weekend. The laptop is under warranty, so I want a fan to fix it. Will they send me a fan and let me do the ten minute repair myself? Of course not! I have to send them my laptop. My desktop replacement laptop. No problem (or so I think), though, because my laptop contains a full size hard-drive, which I remove and throw into a desktop. When I try to boot Windows XP I get to my log-in prompt where I log in successfully only to be met with a message that I must activate this version of Windows XP with a "Yes" and "No" button. Clicking "NO" returns me to the log-in prompt. Clicking "Yes" starts the Activation Wizard which informs me that this product is Activated and gives me an "OK" button, which when clicked returns me to the log-in prompt. I am stuck in a never-ending loop. I call MS to get help activating the product and am informed that I can't run this hard drive in another machine because MS and ACER have a license agreement that only allows for this version of Windows XP to be run in an Acer machine. I inform MS that I only want to run it in the desktop for 7-10 days while my laptop is in the shop. I'm not trying to steal from MS. As anyone who knows me knows, I am very diligent about making sure software gets paid for. No can do, though, according to MS.

Tues. Nov. 22, 2005 - We wake up and decide to go ahead and leave on Tuesday instead of Wed. to head to Brooke's house in TN. We pack everything up and leave around 11:00 AM. We arrive at the destination 7 or so hours later.

Sleeping arrangements are all four of us in one room. We sleep in two to three hour stretches as one or both children wake up every so often.

Wed. Nov. 23, 2005 - In TN. Much fun had by all.

Thur. Nov. 24, 2005 - In TN. Much absolutely spectacular eating done by all. It was a great Thanksgiving.

Fri. Nov. 25, 2005 - In TN. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ERIN!!! She gets her first real cake ever. I earn "Bad Husband of the Year" award for neglecting to get her a gift or even a card. I also never say Happy Birthday. Dog House for Randy.

Sat. Nov. 26, 2005 - We return home. Children cry a lot on the way home. We stop in Birmingham to eat a late dinner/early lunch (its around 3:00 PM) and to walk around The Summit. We eat, shop a bit, get a coffee from Starbucks and head to the car. Mihaela has been sleepy or sleeping most of the time. She doesn't look like she feels well, but won't say what hurts and doesn't have a fever. We chalk it up to being tired of travelling. She didn't sleep well at her cool Aunt Brooke's house (although she had a blast with her cousins). Around 5:00 we leave The Summit, stopping at a local gas station to refuel. As we head to exit of the gas station, Mihaela vomits. Everywhere. We pull into a parking space and clean her up and clean her car seat up. We finally arrive home and spend the rest of the night unpacking and cleaning up. Mihaela was up a lot, still being sick.

Sun. Nov. 27, 2005 - Erin stays home with sick children. I go to church. I come home and relieve her. Its been a tough morning for her as both kids don't feel well, are whiny, won't take naps, and laundry overflows. As of right now everyone but me is napping. The house is picked up. Laundry still remains and Christmas decorations are halfway out getting displayed.

Anyway, that's been my past ten days or so. BTW, my grandma is doing better. The doctors think she either had a "brain stem stroke" or a "nerve stroke" or have some form of Lou Gehrig's disease. She has a permanent "traech" installed to help her breathe and has had a feeding tube installed so she can eat as her throat is paralyzed. She is alert though and has been able to walk around a little.

So, even though I have been off the past week, I could still use some rest.

Healthy Relationships

Several weeks ago our small group was enduring an attack on the relationships of our members. Every couple in the group was bickering (or worse) and interpersonal relationships had been strained. Instead of continuing on with our normal study of Revelation, I took a week to talk about how to maintain healthy relationships. I had preached a sermon on this sometime ago and went looking through my files trying to find it. Even Google Desktop could not find it on my machine (I wasn't surprised because I thought I had lost the soft copy in a hard drive crash). It is the best sermon I have ever preached and I knew the material would be relevant. I was crushed and disheartened when I could not find it.

I muddled through the material that night. One of the good things about it being the best sermon that I ever preached is that it has stuck with me. Now, I couldn't remember some of the details and some of the mnemonics that I had employed, but I remembered the principles. The class was not nearly as good as the sermon.

Anyway, I am using Microsoft's somewhat new tool (it was released on Sept. 1 of this year) called SyncToy to create a backup of my laptop to my home machine and a back of my home machine to my laptop. While browsing to determine which directories I did not need to backup, I STUMBLED ACROSS MY LONG LOST SERMON. Oh Joy!!!!

The sermon looks at the "Armor of God" in Ephesians 6:10-18 and shows how each piece is designed to protect our relationships from spiritual attack. Many people look at that section of Ephesians and apply it only to their personal struggle with sin or to "spiritual warfare" in general. It is my belief, though, that "Armor of God" section is a specific remedy to protecting the relationships within the body. It has a very specific application.

This makes sense if you read the whole book of Ephesians in one sitting (preferably out-loud). One can quickly see that Paul is writing the church at Ephesus to deal with a very specific issue: Unity. The first half of the book (ch. 1,2,&3) deal with unity in Christ and the second half of the book (ch. 4,5,&6) deals with unity in the body of Christ. Think of it like this: the first half of the letter deals with the theory of why people in the church should be unified and the second half shows very practical ways to be unified. Paul even takes time to highlight the problems in specific types of relationships (wives and husbands, children and parents, bosses and employees). It is after all this that we have the "Armor of God" section. It only makes sense to me, then, that the "Armor of God" is specifically designed to thwart Satan and his minions' attempts to disrupt the unity of the church.

You can either read the rest of this post where I transcribe my sermon outline into real paragraphs (and filled out some spaces in the outline) or you can just download my outline and the accompanying handout.

Introduction

Jesus is a uniter, Satan is a divider. Many of Paul's letters to the early church gave instructions on how to relate to one another, how to build relationships. Paul understood that in this life, it is not good to be alone. Paul knew that we must stick together as a group, or we will fall as individuals.

We know that relationships are not easy. Marriages mandate work to remain strong. Friendships need time together to be effective. Relationships require maintenance or they fall apart.

The question, then, is how can we maintain relationships? What can we do to ensure that we are united as families, friends, and as a church? God has given us all of the principles we need to answer this question when he invoked the imagery of armored solider in Eph 6:14-17.

6 steps to maintaining strong, healthy relationships

1. Cultivate an environment of openness

Paul starts by telling us to "Let the truth be like a belt around your waist." - 6:14 (CEV). A belt does more that just keep your pants up. It keeps things together. It keeps my shirt tucked in. Do you remember seeing pictures of kids going to school having bound their books together with a belt.

We must make sure that we put off falsehood and speak truthfully in our relationships. Openness and honesty gird us together while misunderstanding and hidden motives divide us. When we know that a person is speaking honestly to us, we don't have to spend time trying to interpret their words and formulating our clever response. Instead, we can spend time truly listening and truly responding to their needs.

What things, then, do we need to be open and honest about? Good question. Our feelings. Our hurts. Our struggles. Our sins. Confession is an integral part of being unified. An environment of openness also allows for us to be able to reproach each other (Remember to speak the truth in love though - Eph. 4:15).

Many churches have a great method in place to achieve this goal through small groups. Small Groups are a great way to get involved in this kind of activity. When we moved to Hunter Hills and were looking for a small group to join we were invited to many small groups. We visited many of them and, you know, they all had one thing in common...they all thought they were the best small group! If you are not involved in a small group, you really need to get into one.

2. Emulate a life of purity

Next Paul teaches that we need "the protection of right living on your chest" - Eph. 6:14 (NCV). Living a pure life not only protects our heart from hurt, but it also protects the hearts of those around us. The consequences of our sins ripple through our relationships, affecting every person in our circle of influence.

The effect of sin on an individual is a hardened heart and a loss of sensitivity to your fellow man (Eph. 4:17-19). When you no longer care about your neighbor, you are willing to hurt him to achieve your own goals and desires.

3. Radiate a spirit of peace

The next piece of hardware we need to protect our relationships we are told about is "For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News, so that you will be fully prepared." - Eph. 6:15 (NLT).

Fully prepared to do what? Move in the direction God wants you to. Where there is confusion, there is lack of direction. We've all been in situations like this. An emergency happens. All communication lines are blocked. No one knows what to do or where to go so people run around in all directions. Confusion reigns supreme.

The truth is that you need peace and order to make decisions.

Also it is hard to hear God if there is too much noise around you. God's Spirit will speak to you to minister to people in the ways He has gifted you. That ministering is a relationship building-block. If there is so much noise around you that you can not hear and follow the promptings of God, then those relationships won't be built. In Satan's eyes, a relationship building block not laid is as good as one torn down.

4. Eradicate all feelings of doubt.

Satan knows that if he can keep us doubting, then he has rendered us ineffective in completing the work laid before us. So he sends "Arrows of Doubt" raining down us. Paul encourages us then to "Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." - Eph. 6:16 (NIV).

There are many different "Arrows of Doubt" that Satan posses in his arsenal. Here are a few common ones that I have experienced and that I have seen and are destroying relationships within the body of Christ.

Maybe he has pelted you with an Arrow of Doubt that you are loved/appreciated/needed. You get pierced and question why are you working so hard for people who don't love you? What am I making the sacrifices of time, family, and money only to have those sacrifices taken for granted? Maybe you look around and evaluate your ministry and say to yourself, "Self, you're not making an impact. No one would miss you if you were gone. You're really not important or needed here." So off you sulk. You leave your ministry. You leave your influence. You desperately want someone to notice you are gone, but actively push people away who ask you about it with non-committal niceties. When you walk away, you have been rendered ineffective by the Enemy. Our faith acts a shield because as we maintain a confidence in the reality and power of God then we are assured that we are loved by God and his people (John 14:12, 13).

Maybe he has shot an Arrow of Doubt that we fit in. Humans have an intense, God-given desire to belong. When we surround ourselves with people, yet still don't feel connected to them, then we feel as if we don't fit in. We will break from that group and go looking for another group, another group of people more like me. However, at some point we will discover that we don't fit in with this new group, and off we go again, searching for something better.

The fact is though, that we all feel as if we don't belong at some time in our lives because we are all unique individuals. Our faith acts a shield because as we maintain a confidence in the reality and power of God then we are assured that we are uniquely and wonderfully SHAPEed (a combination of Spiritual Gifts, Heart/Passion, Aptitudes, Personality, and Experiences from Rick Warren's "Purpose Driven Church") to be in this place at this time (Isaiah 64:8).

The last common Arrow of Doubt that I want to cover today is the one where we don't think that we are good enough/making a difference/have anything to offer the church. "Who am I?" we ponder. "What skills do I have?" "I'm nowhere near as smart as _______. I don't have the time that _______ has. I can't do ________ that _________ can do." This Arrow of Doubt renders us useless because we never even start to do anything. In this case, our faith acts a shield because as we maintain a confidence in the reality and power of God then we can be assured that we are good enough and that we will make a difference because it is God's power (Eph 3:20), working through us that makes us able to meet the challenges of the direction God is taking us.

5. Concentrate on shared traits

The fifth step in maintaining healthy relationships is to "Accept salvation as a helmet." - Eph. 6:17 (GN). See, Hats and helmets are symbolic for identity. Firemen all wear the same helmet. Baseball players on the same team all wear the same hat. In the military there is distinction among your headgear. You have black berets, green berets, and red berets. Each different color and style marks a group of people as belonging together.

Paul is saying it is our salvation that marks us as belonging together, it gives us a shared identity. "In Christ, there is no difference between Jew and Greek, slave and free person, male and female. You are all the same in Christ Jesus" - Gal. 3:28 (NCV).

Whenever differences arise in our relationships, we have a choice to make. Do I focus on the difference? Do I focus on the similarity? According to Paul, our salvation gives us an identity so powerful that no difference can wedge itself between us. We have irreconcilable similarities. We are all "heirs of salvation." We are all "Sons of God." We are all "saved by grace."

6. Retaliate with words of Scripture

Paul's final piece of armor is our offensive weapon. He tells us that "for a sword use God's message that comes from the Spirit." - Eph.6:17 (CEV). This is the only offensive weapon and shows that we must be proactive in keeping the unity by keeping our hearts and minds focused on the scriptures of God. When we are pursuing God's perspective and guidance through scripture, we can not be focusing on Satan's lies or our own selfish ambitions. We must keep our sword sharp and use it.

This means forming a habit of having a daily quiet time. One my friends in college had a hobby of fencing. She would practice daily with her foil, going through the motions of a bout. She was keeping her skills sharp

The Invincible Youth

One of the characteristics of youth is the feeling of invincibility. Experts often point to this feeling when trying to explain why teenagers do stupid things that could get them killed. I'm surprised, though, as to why that feeling is only associated with youth. I am thirty-two and I still feel invincible. When do you no longer feel like you will live forever? At what age do you truly understand that you are mortal, with a limited amount of time, and change your behavior?

While I logically know I will probably die one day (depending on when the Lord returns) I still don't feel like I will die. I still feel eternal. I don't think I have come to grips with my mortality. Often motivational speakers will indulge their audience in some exercise to assist them in to prompt them to realize what is really important by asking them what activities or things they would change if they knew they would die in some arbitrary, but limited time.

While I have not recently attended a seminar, I am thinking about death and mortality because of two events that are currently taking place in my life. First, I was called yesterday and informed by Mom that my maternal grandmother had been rushed to the hospital because she had been found collapsed in her home. Over many calls, I learned that she is not a good condition after having suffered a brain-stem stroke. While she is stable, she is also not doing well and may die at any moment.

Then, today at lunch I got a call from my father-in-law who told me that my wife's maternal grandfather had passed away this morning. Today is also the anniversary of my maternal grandfather's death in 1989. Death is all around me. At the same time, I am parenting a six-month old and a 21 month old and their vitality, zest for life, and complete lack of comprehension of that which is tearing at mine and my wife's hearts seems to keep me from getting too melancholy. I realize that I should be re-evaluating my life and reconsidering my priorities, but I still feel as if I will live forever and that death is so far away for me. I still feel invincible.

I wonder if this feeling is normal. I also wonder if my faith exaggerates my "non-mortality" feelings. The truth is that while my body may pass on someday, the essence of who I am is eternal and will live on. Am I getting the contentment of being immortal confused with the feeling of invincibility? This fact is also why I have no fear for my grandma. I am confident that a better life awaits her on the other side. I am sure that Erin's grandfather is now resting safely in the "bosom of Abraham" awaiting the rewards of Heaven. I must wonder how this conviction affects my perception of my own mortality.

Everyone is just like me

We have this tendency to always look at the world from our own perspective and think that everyone is just like us. I was reminded of that this afternoon as I returned to work from lunch.

I parked on the second floor of the parking deck and pushed the button to call the elevator. There are two elevators in the parking deck, but only was working. A lady also returning from lunch arrived at the elevator at the same time I did. We could tell that the elevator was currently on the lowest floor. We watched it rise past us and come to rest on the fifth floor. We then watched it return down to pick us up.

There was no one on the elevator as we entered. The lady acted surprise and commented that she had expected someone else to be on the elevator since it had gone up to the fifth floor. Her initial response is that since she was returning from lunch, everybody must be returning from lunch. I realized at that moment, that I too had subconsciously expected someone else to be on the elevator. The only difference was, that as soon as saw an empty elevator, I re-evaluated my expectation and my mind did not even raise a blip as to a contradiction in my expectations and the reality with which I was faced. Her mind, though, refused to accept the reality and caused her to be surprised.

I replied to her that most likely someone had ridden the elevator up to the fifth floor and then, the elevator had returned to pick us up. She hesitantly agreed that indeed that was a possibility, but I could see her mind continuing to work. The concept clicked in her head, and she assuredly said, "Yes, that must have been what happened."

It is the nature of man to think that everyone acts just like him, thinks just like, behaves like him. I think this causes a lot of our miscommunication and strains in our relationships. We are expecting (even though we don't realize it) to be dealing with someone who thinks the same way we do. Now, cognitively, we understand that this is not the case. However, subconsciously we still maintain the expectation. This is because we as humans are innately selfish and self-centered and can only think outside ourselves with great difficulty.

There are, of course, exceptions to this. There are some people who can naturally see through other people's eyes. Others have been trained to do this. To some degree we can all think outside of ourselves and "think" like another person, especially for those we love. Because I have spent so much time with Erin, I know (most of the time...she does surprise me a lot, though) how she thinks, how she will react. I have noticed, though, that there is a very select group of people who can almost instantly understand how a person thinks. These people frighten me because many of them have used their extraordinary talent to take advantage of people or to manipulate them for their own end.

Restaurant Play-area Etiquette

Last week, for Mihaela's "Gotcha Day" celebration, we took a family trip to the zoo. It was a fun couple of hours and we got a "classic" picture of Mihaela studying the map of the zoo as she tries to decide which animal to visit next.

Anyway, afterwards we went to Mihaela's favorite restaurant, Chick-fil-A, for lunch. Mihaela loves their chicken nuggets and will not eat nuggets from another store. Besides that, Chick-fil-A is a family-friendly company who publicly shares our family values, so we support them whenever we can. They also have the absolutely BEST customer service. The crew is the epitome of politeness and helpfulness. If more businesses trained their employees to show high regard for the customer that these people do, then there would be no need for any business to hire lawyers.

Now I know to those of you outside of the South, Chick-fil-A restaurants are mostly found in the mall. However, down here in the south, they have stores just like Mc-D's, BK, and Wendy's AND, they have indoor playgrounds. Not just your run-of-the-mill, everyday, restaurant play areas, but the best cleanest, biggest, and best play areas. Up til now, Mihaela has shown no interest in the play-area and we have not taken her into one. However, as we were sitting in the very crowded restaurant (we had to circle the parking lot three times to find a parking space, the drive-thru line literally surrounded the store and we still got our food hot and fast - having worked in the fast food industry, I was amazed at how efficient they were as they were being slammed) right next to the window that looked into the play-area. Mihaela was awe-struck and stared longingly at the other kids playing as she consumed her tasty treat of breaded and deep-fried chicken.

I'll admit, I was hesitant to take her in for one simple reason...I have no idea what the etiquette is in these common play-areas. How am I, as a parent, supposed to act as I supervise my child? What expectations should I have for her? I mean, obviously, some of that is pretty natural...no hitting, biting, scratching, of other children. BUT what happens if unsupervised children are being unruly? Do I only care if Mihaela is in danger of being injured? What if a child wants to play with Mihaela, but she doesn't want to play with him? How about if she wants to play with someone who doesn't want to play with her? What do I do? What expectations do the other parent's have of me and my child?

I know it is not fashionable to be concerned with politeness in this day and age. But the who reason the rules of etiquette exists are to foster smooth relationships in situations where people may not know each other. These are protocols (uh-oh...going computer geeky) that allow for successful transactions between two disparate systems. I don't know the rules and am therefore uncomfortable to take my daughter into the situation. So, if anyone knows where I can find a list of rules, protocols, etiquettes for restaurant play-areas, please let me know.

New Site Design

My brother re-designed his blog. It is really cool. You need to check it out.

I have "grand plans" to redesign mine...but...no gumption to get it done and no time...so you are stuck with this free, boring, run-of-the-mill template for awhile longer.

Clinton: "Tax cuts immoral, unethical, hurt families..."

NewMax.com is reporting that Bill Clinton called President Bush's tax cuts (although, they are really the Congress' tax cuts since only Congress can make laws and set the budget...but lets not let facts get in the way of good PR) are immoral, unethical, and hurt families.

This gives us a clear indication at the framework/mindset that liberals come from. Morality deals with that which is innately regarded as right or wrong. The key word here is innately, which deals with those pieces of knowledge a person is born with. In other words, there are certain principles which are always wrong no matter the time, place, culture, or circumstances. Every person knows what these are, things such as it is always wrong to murder somebody*, it is wrong to take things that don't belong to you (i.e., steal), it is wrong to lie to somebody (act fraudulently), etc. These things are usually codified by a society into law and all major religions have these same principles as central tenets to their faith. My basic morality can be summed up in this phrase, "Do nothing which deprives another individual of his right to life, destiny or his property through the use of force or fraud." This is a central tenet to my being.

When a person breaks one of these central, inborn guides, he is acting immoral. So, are Bush's tax cuts immoral? Do they break one of these central inborn guides? Well, its a pretty easy check:

• With the tax cuts was anybody forcefully or fraudulently deprived of their life? Well, no, of course not.
  

• Did anybody have their property taken by force or by fraud as part of the tax cuts? Now, this one is tricky for liberals, but the answer is still no. "Allowing" an individual to keep more of what is actually more moral. When a person pays taxes, he is having his property forcefully taken from him. When he is "allowed" to keep that which is his, we are actually returning to a state of morality, not moving to a state of immorality.
  

• When the tax cuts were implemented, did anybody lose their liberty (i.e., their ability to freely choose what is in their best interest, a.k.a destiny) through the use of force or fraud? Well, no. When individuals get to keep more of their money, they are actually empowered in this area. They have more choices. They have more freedom because they get to choose how to get to spend the money they earned rather than let the government decide what is in the wage-earner's best interest.
  

So, we can conclude that it is not immoral to give income tax cuts. What former President Clinton cites as his reason is an old friend had been hurt by cuts in subsidies. Subsidies are a form of welfare where the government props up a business that the free market has proclaimed has collapsed. Basically, a company, farmer, or some other individual who failed to make it gets a government check**. A person receiving subsidies from the government has just been on the receiving end of a transfer of wealth. He has asked the government to do that which he can not do himself, force another individual to pay him for work he did not do. This blatant socialism and I think that this kind of behavior is much more immoral and unethical.

So, what we learn is that in the liberal mind is that: Allowing people who work for their money to spend it the way they want to is immoral while paying someone to not work is moral. I must admit, that just doesn't seem right to me. Something about it seem innately wrong.

---

*Note: I used the word murder, not kill. There are times when it is acceptable to kill somebody like self-defense, defense of another person, war, etc... Murder is the forceful killing of someone with malice and (many times) forethought.

** Note: I am as against corporate welfare as much as I am against individual welfare. A person who accepts subsidies is no different (in my mind) than a welfare queen who makes babies to get checks.

Microsoft Error messages

I got the following error message in my event services log. I love the reason:

The Backup Exec Device & Media Service service depends on the
MSSQL$BKUPEXEC
service which failed to start because of the following error:

The operation completed successfully.

Only in Microsoft world is successfully operation considered a failure...

Which Book of the Bible are You?

You are Proverbs.


Which book of the Bible are you?
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Oil Profits Explained

I'll admit I was a little disheartened last week when I learned that oil companies were posting record profits for the last quarter. I thought maybe that the liberals were right and that the companies were engaging in unethical behavior to drive the price of gas up. I thought, just perhaps, that maybe the free enterprise system was not working. However, I also thought that maybe there is something I don't know or don't understand that would reasonably explain the jump in profit.

I am glad that I choose to investigate and fully understand things before jumping to a conclusion. I discovered there is a lot I didn't know about the oil business that explains these jumps in profits. First is the different between an absolute jump in dollars and the profit margin. Simply put, the absolute profits are the real money that's left over from gross revenues after a company pays the costs of doing business. Profit margins , on the other hand, are the percentage of gross revenues that are left over after those costs are paid. So, a doubling of profits combined with a doubling of the cost of doing business would have the exact same profit margin. The newspapers kept reporting dollar amounts, but not profit margins. I have to wonder if the profit margins stayed close to the same, which we would expect because the cost of doing business (i.e., buying crude oil, refining oil) rose.

Then, Alan Reynolds, a Senior Fellow at the CATO Institute, has written an editorial where he explains something called "inventory profit." This is a profit that appears on paper when a company holds a large inventory of a commodity. Basically, they may purchase the commodity (in this case oil) when it is cheap ($40/barrel). The commodity then rapidly rises in price ($60/barrel). This means that the value of the inventory has risen as well. When accountants book the value of these inventories, they add the profit (i.e. value increase due to current price) to the profit line of the company. However, this is a profit on paper only. As the company consumes the raw material and seeks to replace it, they will have to pay the current rate ($60/barrel). Mr. Reynolds actually does a better job of explaining the concept and compares it to selling a house and getting a profit, but needing that profit to buy a new house because housing prices have increased so much.

Anyway, between the two concepts, one can reasonably see that the oil companies profits are paper profits only and the have not been taking undue advantage of us. Free enterprise still reigns supreme.

Online Personality Quizzes

I have a weakness for online personality quizzes. There is something about answering a bunch of questions to see what some programmer thinks you think like that intrigues me. So, when I saw on my brother's website that he is the classic movie "Easy Rider," I had to test and see what classic movie I am. Now, without further ado...my results....

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Well..."The Godfather." I bet my friends and co-workers are nodding their head in agreement.

Now, to really show you how well these things work, I also took the "Which World Leader" quiz after taking the classic movie one. Those results are completely opposite from "The Godfather" but still have hints of truth:

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

This hit me as being paradoxical at first, until I thought a little more about these men. So...what attributes do both Gandhi and The Godfather have that I share? Well, let's see, they both held themselves and others to high standards (those standards were opposites, but each is true to his set of standards). Each is a perfectionist that leaves no room for personal failure or failure of subordinates. Both sought power, albeit through different methods. Gandhi was all about self-discipline, the ultimate sign of control and The Godfather was all about control.

One can see that personality-wise, these two are more similar than we would expect. What separates them is the code/standards they live by. Gandhi chose to live by pure-living and peace. The Godfather chose to live by the rule that "might makes right." Each were the pinnacle of their chosen standard. Maybe there is no paradox between those two characters.

To make it even more intriguing, what happens when we bring my Myer-Briggs temperament type of INTJ (I have taken the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator at least 5 times in the past ten years and never move). Anyone who knows me can give that INTJ link a quick read and know without a doubt that INTJ (different analysis of INTJ) is my temperament. For those who have to live with me, I have a link that explains how INTJs deal with relationships. If you care to know, Erin is and ENFP.

ANYWAY...I was getting sidetracked....so, the question then would be were Gandhi and The GodFather INTJs? If so, you can see how temperament is just one part of life and how experiences, education, and spirituality all influence a person's life as well. I can actually see how the both could be INTJs; independent thinkers, strong values, strong leaders, etc... So, there is no paradox between the two. My amazement at how accurate these online quizzes can is still intact.