The birds got me again!!!

I have a story to tell. It has to do with something I have heard since I was a small child. What goes around comes around. Here is another good one. Paybacks are hell. Today I spent some time with my sweet wife and after I took her home so she could get a nap I decided to spend some time washing the Durango. Most of the time I would just feed the ATM machine 5 bucks and sit in the truck and enjoy listening to some music or chat on my cell phone while the machine works its magic. Today I decided to be cheap and at the same time give the Durango the personal touch by using the WAND. After about 20 minutes and 2 bucks later I was done with the wash job. I jumped in the Durango and off like a flash I was on my way to the bowling alley. I need to go by the bowling alley so I can practice. My average is horrid on both leagues therefore I need to practice all I can. I drive up to the bowling alley and get out and lovingly dry my Durango with a towel that I had acquired when I dropped Katy off at the house. I squirted some tire shine junk on the tires and admired my handiwork. Now that the Durango was nice and shiny I could put my attention on the bowling pins once again. I ate lunch at the bowling alley and worked my way through 3 games. First score was 182, second game 149 and the third and final game was 120. Trust me, after that last score I put the ball back in the bag and quietly left the bowling alley. I think that I did figure out some things that I can try to increase my bowling score and hopefully my average in 2007. As I rounded the corner I admired my bright blue Dodge Durango in the sunlight and anticipated getting up into the cab and settling down into the comfortable seat. As I neared the truck I noticed something on the hood. I thought to myself, surely these are leaves that just blew on to the hood and stuck to it. The only thing wrong with that idea is that I did not see any leaves on the ground around the truck and the stuff on the hood was beginning to look whiter the closer I got. In horror my suspicions were confirmed as I viewed the apparent bombing run by several birds while I was bowling. Two things occurred to me immediately. Well, ok, several things occurred to me. The first thing that occurred to me is that washing a vehicle to keep it nice looking is sometimes a futile action. The second thing I learned was that I should never wash my truck before I go to the bowling alley because that apparently attracts the nearby birds for a potty break. The third thing that came to my mind was that these birds could be distant cousins to the birds that I am guilty of killing when I was a young boy who got the proverbial Daisy BB gun for Christmas.

You probably thought that had to be the end of this silly story but hang on to your seats, it gets weirder. I jump in the Durango complete with bird droppings and headed out to leave the bowling alley and stopped at the first car wash I could find. I put 1.00 into the coin operated wash and was greeted by NOTHING coming out of the wand. As I watched the time just whiled away while I desperately switched the knob trying to get something wet out of the wand. The only thing that worked in this particular bay was the brush that had pink soap gurgling out of it. Knowing that I would never see my dollar again and that the bird doo was still on the hood I got busy scrubbing it off. I went to the coin changer to get more change to discover that both of the coin changers were out of order. First the bird doo, second the washing bay machine was not working and then the coin machine. Do you see any sort of pattern here? I felt like I was in the twilight zone or something. Feeling like an idiot by this point I walked across the street to the gas station and purchased a Diet Doctor Pepper so I could get the lady behind the counter to open the cash register and get me some change for the car wash. Yes, I shared the entire story with the clerk and she had a good laugh.

I have spent the last three days fighting an ugly cold and I am about ready for this mess to be over with. I am thankful to be in pretty good health and most of the time I do not have the minor irritations of a common cold. Having had to put up with this junk has made me appreciative of this good health. We actually have an infirmary here for now. My daughter (princess) Kristina needs to have two root canals done which will require me to either rob a bank or win the lottery. Katy has a headache she can not seem to get rid of and Justin managed to stick half of the porch under one of the fingernails on his left hand. I tried to do minor surgery on his hand but Justin just could not deal with the pain and would not let me do further surgery.

Next to the sailboat was a Pelican. This was a very nice replica.  

Nice sailboat in the restroom in some restaurant I was in at Myrtle Beach 

My sweet wife Katy.... What a beautiful smile.  

Another view of bird doodoo on my freshly washed truck. Blog story to follow, trust me. LOL 

The Birds up to their old tricks in the parking lot of the bowling alley 

Cardiac Cowboys defeat Giants 23 to 20

I can hardly breathe after that close call. I also can not believe that the cardiac cowboys actually pulled this off. In my opinion both teams played a sloppy penalty riddled game from start to finish. Being a die hard Cowboy fan I am happy that they won but I am not looking forward to the game between the Cowboys and the New Orlean Saints. I do not think that they (Cowboys) can afford another performance like the one tonight. The advantage that Dallas has next Sunday is that they have the home field advantage. I also hope that these wins whether close or not are not going to their heads and pumping their egos out of perspective. I really believe that if Dallas had missed the field goal in the last 2 seconds of regulation play and NY had won the toss during overtime that Dallas would most certainly have lost that game. Then again, that is all speculation on my part. Luckily for Dallas the game clock ran out and Dallas comes up with a win. GO DALLAS.....

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me

Once upon a time I did not celebrate my birthdays. My birthday was just another day to live through and most folks just ignored it. Perhaps most folks just did not know that it was a special day for me. In my childhood my birthday was forgotten as a way to punish me for being bad. The thought process went something like this. If you do not do what you are told and dont live up to my expectations then I will exclude you from any birthday parties or gifts. I will also give you switches under the christmas tree and no gifts. I will also abuse you mentally ,emotionally and psychologically until you bend to my will. Ok, so that was not much of a childhood. I have said this before and I will say it again. If it were not for Christ in my life I would probably be a serial killer, alcoholic, drug addict or prison inmate or all of the above.

I turned 29 AGAIN yesterday. LOL.... It just keeps happening over and over again, that magical time of the year when I can thank God for one more year of life. I actually try to take the time to thank God every day for life and good health. Amen? I think that in the hustle and bustle of life being surrounded by our families and our junk we get preoccupied with the non important things and forget the basics. So, I am happy that I turned 29 all over again. SWEET!!!!

We had a four day weekend so I could enjoy some time off from work and of course my being a temp meant NO pay. Oh well, the time off from the rat race and being with my wonderful family was worth it. I was treated to ANOTHER Dallas Cowboy victory over the Tampa Bay Bucaneers which moved Dallas to the top of the NFC East pile at 7 wins and 4 loses. The NY Giants lost which helps Dallas even more. I am thinking that I need to find a way to get one of those large white flags with the blue star on it that they race around the end zone after Dallas scores points. I want to stand on my Dodge Durango and do a dance while I am whirling that thing over my head.

One of the reasons that I am able to appreciate my birthdays at this semi advanced stage of life is that I have a family that appreciates me and good friends who do as well. A dear friend of mine took me out for a seafood dinner on the water in Mt Pleasant SC. This was a very nice restaurant with very good food and a superb hostess. This friend also gave me the coolest birthday present which is a Ferrari clock. What makes this so cool is that it does many things. Here are the things it does

A. projects the time with the Ferrari emblem on the wall
B. The projector portion of the clock swivels so you can put the time almost anywhere
C. It has multiple time zones
D. It has a remote sensor to tell you what temp it is outside
E. It auto synchronizes with the Atomic Clock somewhere out there...
F. It has an alarm clock
G. It has battery backup
H. It has a weather section that tells you if it will be rainy or not
I. It is RED and cool looking
J. It tells time in multiple languages which you can chose from

Ok, I might have missed something but it is just so cool. I figured out after some trial and error that you have to select the correct time zone. The clock kept losing three hours and I could not figure it out until my friend reminded me to "RTFM". LOL... Gosh, what a waste of time that is huh??

We spent Thanksgiving at our friend Flash's house in West Ashley. There were about 30 people who showed up and there was more than enough food to eat and take home afterwards. We all had a good time chatting, eating and then afterwards Charlie and I settled down to watch the Cowboy game. GO DALLAS!!!! Katy and I took some time to be alone and went to see DaJavu which is a new movie with Denzel Washington. That is a very cool movie. We also took the kids to see Happy Feet and Katy and I opted to watch Santa Clause Escape Clause 3. That was a pretty funny movie with Tim Allen. I dont think I heard one curse word the entire movie. No one got killed and there were no sex scenes either. It is amazing that in this day and age that Hollywood actually made a movie without the R rated garbage having to be in it. GO HOLLYWOOD. Less violence and more family values PLEASE.... If we need violence , gore and general crap we can turn on the evening news and get our fill 7 days per week. Amen?

Katy is almost done with year 2 of 3 with regards to her PACE program she is in. I have to say that from what I can see the PACE program is not for the faint hearted. Katy works 8 hours at school with the kids and then she comes home and spends another 6 to 8 hours doing something called an IEP and LESSON PLANS. Teachers are GROSSLY under appreciated and under paid. You would not believe that garbage that they have to put up with in the class room much less the horendous paper work and high standards that they are held to. I do not understand for the life of me how South Carolina schools can be doing as badly as they are with all that Katy has to go through. Maybe they just did not have standards at all way back when and that is why we are surrounded by ignorant stupid people. LOL.... I am amazed at how hard it is for some of my co workers who can not write a simple sentence. Has anyone heard of spell check lately? Here is your sign.... If you work in an office and have to use a computer to write something then you can cut and paste that into MS Word and use this nifty tool called "spell check". This feature in MS Word will allow you to fix spelling and grammar errors in your writing. Then, like magic, all is correct and you can send it to all of your other co workers who will not be the wiser that you do not know how to complete a simple sentence.

I understand that not everyone is good at writing or spelling. I do not understand how someone can be so lazy that they do not care enough to check their work before they send it out as a business communication to either a co worker or customer. (rant mode off)

Well, I think it is time for my first cup of coffee and time to get some work done here at the office. Thanks for listening to me drivel for a spell. It has been entirely too long....

Have a MERRY CHRISTMAS and please remember that the season we are celebrating is not about Victoria Secret but Jesus Christ who died on the cross for the sins of the world and gives us the wonderful gift of GRACE. I know that this will not sit well with some of you but I believe that Jesus is the reason for the season.

God bless


James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net

Undefeated were defeated by the Cowboys

There are days that I just HATE being a Cowboy fan. Today is not that day folks. The Colts showed up in Irving Texas looking to continue their undefeated record in Dallas. They showed up at the wrong stadium and played the wrong team on the wrong day. There is a saying that goes like this. Any given team can beat any given team on any given day. That rule was played out last night when Dallas beat the Colts 21 to 14. I do not believe that anyone in their right mind truly believed that Dallas WOULD beat the Colts. Notice I said WOULD vs COULD. Dallas is very capable of beating a lot of teams IF they actually show up with the intention of playing football. There are days that Dallas is very inconsistant and you never know which team will show up.

The first quarter of play was unbelievable as both teams coughed up the ball a total of five times. Dallas went into the locker room behind by 7 to zip. The second half was a different story as Dallas scored 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. GO DALLAS!!!!

Thanksgiving Day Dallas will host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers so we will see how they fare against that team. Tampa has a record of 3 wins and 7 losses so hopefully Dallas can pull off a victory on this game. I am used to Dallas and Washington playing on Thanksgiving so this will be sort of weird.


James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net

Idiot drivers

Just this morning I am minding my own business and driving to work like I always do. I am in the far left lane, the fast lane, going up 526 getting ready to get onto I-26 to go downtown. We are zooming along around 60 to 65 mph when all of a sudden the lady in front of me puts on her right blinker to move over. Then the same lady starts putting on her brakes so she can slow down and get over two lanes. The problem is that there were cars right next to her going the same speed. That means that I went from 65 mph to around 45 to 50 mph within about 15 seconds while I waited for her to find the room to get over. If I had been not paying attention my SUV would have made her Honda Civic a snack. I was pretty upset about it so I blew my horn at the lady and then watched her as she exited the freeway. That caused her in turn to flip me the bird on her way down the ramp. Isn't that special?? I guess she has never heard about being courteous to other drivers. That means that if you miss your exit due to heavy traffic or poor planning or not paying attention do not make the rest of us have a wreck because you decide to slam on your brakes so that you can make a hole for yourself in traffic.



James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net

Back to the drawing board

I found out today that the job that I had applied for was not mine. They gave the job to someone else. Can you imagine that? Well, I am disappointed in some ways but I am not surprised. I am going to have to go back to the drawing board and see what I can do to find something else. The hard part about not being a permanent employee somewhere is that it is so easy to get rid of you. We have enjoyed working with you and we wish you well in your new endeavours. We really do not have anything else for you to do. Thanks. I can not tell you how familiar I am with those words. Corporate America loves out sourcing and hiring temps for temporary assignments because they do not have to pay any benefits. Once your usefullness to them is gone they can throw you out like a piece of trash.

So, with that in mind, time to start digging through the newspaper again on Sunday. I can not wait to do that. I love taking my magnifying glass and reading glasses and gaze through all the tiny micro print reading all of the many jobs that are listed. The million dollar question is this. Are the jobs that are listed really an actual job or are they just trolling for available candidates to keep their resume database full? I know for certain that recruiters love to do that on the Internet on the supposed job boards. That means that all you can do is throw a million and one resumes into the Cyberwind and hope that one of them is an actual job and someone contacts you.

I remember job hunting in the old days when you drove to the business, filled out the application and could speak to someone about the hiring process. You could call back later and talk to someone in HR to find a status. In those days there were very few businesses that would accept a resume online via the web and most of the time they wanted a fax. With the advent of the Internet the hiring managers can put a form out on a website and you can fill out all your information there and then if they like you they call you for a phone interview. If they do not like you then you wont hear a thing. Sometimes there is not even a phone number to call or a contact to check status with. It is faster and easier for the employer and also much more impersonal to boot.

I think I need to win the lottery soon so I dont have to go through finding another job all over again.



James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net

Bad technology

Some days are better than others and yesterday was not one of my better ones. I went to work feeling fine and then around 9 am my blood pressure went through the roof. Go figure... I was feeling dizzy and that is because the blood pressure was 181/110 and climbing. I had some slight chest pain and a small tightness in my chest but that only lasted for a couple of seconds. Co workers called Public Safety and they in turn called EMS. I can not tell you how embarrasing it was to be carted out of the building on a stretcher. Anyway, we get into the ambulance and that is when things get interesting. The EMS personnel were very courteous and professional however they ran into some technical glitches. Imagine lying on a stretcher feeling dizzy and listening to the paramedics talk about nothing is working right.

The first thing they did was to try and transfer the oxgyen from the bottle on the stretcher that they took into the building to the oxygen source in the ambulance. That did not work so they had to stick me back on the bottle. The next thing they had to do was try to figure out how to attach the leads to me for the EKG machine on the ambulance. I think that they knew how to attach the leads in the correct order but the EKG machine was not cooperating. I heard the paramedic say that he could not tranmit the telemetry correctly because it looked all messed up and was not right. At this point I am thanking Jesus that I was only a little dizzy and not really having a massive coronary event. The next thing that happened was that the person sitting behind me nearest the driver said that he could not contact the hospital ER because the radio did not work properly. I was starting to wonder if they would be able to get me to the hospital without the engine falling out of it.

Within an hour my BP went down to semi normal and after two hours I was starving and wanting to walk out of the ER and to Hardees for a thick burger. Just writing this makes me hungry enough to do that right now. LOL... Anyway, I was there about 2 hours and then they cut me loose. Katy drove me back to work so I could scoop up my laptop bag and truck keys. I stayed at work about 90 minutes to help out a co worker and then I went home and tried to get some rest before bowling.

I hope that the ambulance staff are able to work out the technical kinks that they were having so that if they really do have a heart attack victim or someone that is really ill that they will be able to provide a better service to them. Luckily for me I was only 5 minutes away from the hospital and did not have to depend on the technology at hand.



James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net

Free flowing water

Today is like Christmas come early. Paul Bunyon and one of us doubles came over today and did a extreme makeover on the plumbing in our tub. It appears that the four way valve that runs water into the tub and shower head was gummed up really bad. No wonder no water was coming out of the spigot. Several hours later , lots of elbow grease and some new parts and we have a shower with water pressure to be envious of. My princess was the first one to enjoy the new water pressure and I think that she used up all the hot water that was there. LOL... I hope that we make it to church in the morning. We will have to set a timer for how long we are all allowed to be in the shower since none of us will want to come out.


James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net

free flowing water.  

Restaurant at Bonneau Beach to open soon. Internet Cafe 

Bonneau Beach 

Pier at Bonneau Beach 

Place of Refuge

What a beautiful day this has been. The day was a typical Charleston SC day with the skies clear blue and the temperatures in the upper 70's and lower 80's. I spent this morning with a dear friend eating breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Once that was over I took my frend to work and then drove up to Bonneau Beach to meet with a new client. The new client has a restaurant that they are trying to open in the very near future. They want to offer WiFi Internet access to their customers. I will be helping them to set up a wireless network in the next 2 or 3 weeks. The restaurant is sitting right off of the water on Lake Moultrie. I will upload a couple of pictures that I took with my Motrola Razor phone this afternoon but they do not show how beautiful this place is. I wish I had taken my digital DVD camcorder with me so I could take better pictures. The water was so calm it was like looking at a mirror. When I got there the fog was still present and slowly burning off giving it a surreal look. I could have sat on the pier all day reading a book or feeling the wind blowing through my hair. What a wonderful thing, to be able to get out into nature and leave behind the hustle and bustle of our busy lives and just enjoy the beauty that surrounds us.




James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net

Ho Hum

Here I sit all bummed out. I have been fighting the feelings of being depressed all morning. I was driving to work this morning and I normally pick up the cell phone and call a friend but I opted to turn on the radio. The music was good and it helped my mood which at that time was not that bad since I had just gotten up and started my day. I have to hit the road around 7 am so that I dont get stuck in a traffic jam on North Rhett on my way to work. It normally takes me about 35 minutes to get downtown IF I get on the road early enough.
As I was getting off of I-26 the radio announcer was talking about prayer time that they have at 9 am every day with three ministers that are the MC for the event. They spoke about how a lady called in yesterday and asked for prayer for her and her family since they recently lost a child. I am not sure how old the child was or what the circumstances were. Then the announcer went on to say how that caused several other callers to call in and talk about their losses etc. Well, after about 4 minutes of that it caused the feelings I have for our loss of our daughter to cancer to well up. Most of the time those feelings are right under the surface and most days I am able to manage them pretty well and I dont allow them to dictate how I feel. For those of you who are familiar with grief you know what I am talking about.
Today has been a relatively quiet day at work thus far. In some ways that is a good thing but in other ways it is not. When I am busy I dont have time to think about other stuff. I find that when I have too much idle time with my brain that I tend to focus too much on negative stuff. I guess that I am my own worse critic. I am way too hard on myself but sadly enough because of my past and some stupid mistakes I have made we are now suffering the consequences and living through them.
I found myself praying that I would land a permanent job here where I work. I HATE being a temporary employee because there is absolutely no stability in it. Sure, it is nice to come to work each day and if you last for two weeks you will get a pay check. However, it is VERY easy for the employer to drop you like a hot potatoe and they do not have to do anything out of the ordinary other than to say goodbye, been nice knowing you. Then you are out of a job and have to go through the circus of finding a new one all over again while the bills continue to stack up all around you. When I think about this too much it makes me just want to panic. I have faith that God is in control of all of this but I feel that because I have not been smart enough in the past to get my four year degree and all of my certifications that I have put myself and my family in a lose lose situation. That just makes me stupid and lazy folks. How can I be happy about that? I do not like being stupid and lazy but there I am.
Starting this week I decided to start counting calories again and I am using calorie-count.com website to do it. I also started a journal and added some folks as accountability partners to my list of friends so that they can give me pointers and suggestions as well as to encourage me or kick me in the pants when I need it. Thus far this week I have kept my calories around 1700 except for Tuesday when I had 2007 calories. My exercise has consisted of bowling on Monday and Tuesday for 4.5 hours and whatever walking that I do on campus when I make deliveries or go out to find food. I lost one whole pound this week thus far. LOL... I have a 20 lb window that I keep bouncing around in. I will do real good for about a month and lose 20 lbs and then something happens and I find myself putting it right back on. I need to figure out what that something is so I can STOP doing whatever it is.
If it is not thinking about Jessica and how that has screwed up our family in more ways that I can imagine or want to admit then I find myself either thinking about being a fat whale and hating the way I look OR I wind up thinking about how our credit rating is so bad that we can not afford our own home. Let me rephrase that. WE can afford to make some payments on a home but our credit rating sucks so badly that no one will give us a loan without coming up with a minimum of 10k down payment. Most lenders want 10 to 30 percent down AND they want to charge us a super high interest rate on the loan so they can punish us further for our lack of financial integrity. Over and over again I am reminded of how badly we have damaged our credit over the last 16 years and how my having a bad attitude about it and getting depressed to the point of not wanting to do something about it has done even more damage.
Yes, over the last two years we have made some tremendous strides at cleaning it up. Our FICO score is slowly and painfully coming out of the basement but we have a couple of more years to deal with it and get things paid off. We are almost 50 and have not owned our first home yet. I know that we are probably not alone but I am not very happy about it. Then I think that I am planning and working on getting out of debt and raise our FICO score so that we can go back into debt. How messed up is that? LOL...
I know, I know, I have a lot of things to be thankful for and I certainly thank God for those things. I try to focus on those things more than I do the negative things. Unfortunatly only focusing on happy thoughts does not make the negative and sad thoughts or feelings just go away. All I can do is try to manage them on a daily basis and hope that they do not keep me from doing what I need to do in order to survive.



James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net

Are the elections over with yet?

Please forgive me for not being politically correct with this next thought but I am SICK of all the TV, Newspaper and Radio ADS about the elections. I am also sick of the ongoing political analysis of all the so called experts. I know that this is all part of the political process and that it is a very important part of our democracy. All right all ready do we have to hear and see about it every single time we open our eyes? Not only are there TV Shows and News Commentaries about it but we also have commercials that regurgitate the same old thing. Do not vote for candidate A because he or she has this stance or blemish in their past. Vote for candidate B because they do not drink, chew or hang out with those that do. LOL.. Give me a break people. It all boils down to who is the best LIAR of the bunch and usually the best liar is the one that has the MOST money to spend to get the lies in front of us. How in the world can we KNOW for sure that this or that story is the real one? I know that there are those of you out there that are very adept at studying the issues and figuring out the issues and for that I commend you. As for me, I am hoping that the right people wind up in the right places and that the rich people do not continue to get rich and that the poor and middle income families are not continually milked for every single dime that they own so that can continue to happen.

When is our country going to stop paying people six figure incomes just because of the office that they hold? I once heard that after a congressman or woman leaves office that they still get some very nice salaries and benefits. Is that true? To me there is something horribly screwed up with the system. All in all it is the best system out there and for that I am thankful.




James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net