Dinner in the zoo

Jen and I try to get away for a weekend trip at least once a year without the children. We are fortunate enough to have family members nearby that enjoy taking care of and then giving back our children. This year we planned a getaway weekend to Austin and invited some of our best friends, Terry and Mary to join us. On a Thursday, we all loaded up in the Suburban and headed northwest to Austin.

We all started to get hungry once we left I-10 and made the turn onto Highway 71. I remembered eating at a good Mexican food place somewhere between LaGrange and Bastrop. As we were clipping along at or about the speed limit, I saw the sign for La Cabana and asked everyone if Mexican food sounded good. No one had an opinion, so Mexican food it was. I put the Suburban into a controlled power slide, made a quick u-turn and landed safely in the La Cabana parking lot.

To enter the restaurant, there are two doors. We selected the door on the right. We entered into a small rectangular shaped room with a few tables and booths. Upon entering, everyone inside looked toward the door, which seemed normal for a restaurant. We did not see a hostess stand, nor a sign that said "seat yourself". So, we stood around for a minute, and then one of the many kind waitresses approached us. In a strong country slang that was barely discernible as English, she asked if we wanted to sit in the smoking section, which was to our left and approximately the size of a large barn, or the small non-smoking section which we were currently standing in. We chose a booth in the non-cancer causing section.

A different waitress came to our table and in as friendly a way as possible, took our drink orders and then fetched us some of the best chips and salsa that we had ever eaten. A few minutes after we sat down, the door opened again and children began walking in. Not 1, not 2, not Jon and Kate + 8 either, but a bunch of kids followed by what appeared to be grandma and dad came in and sat down at a nearby table. I think I heard grandma call the kids Ricky, Dale, Jeff, Ernie, and Jimmy. Like true southerners, the kids were named after Dad's favorite NASCAR drivers. At least they were not called the #8, #24, #88, or Bud, Dupont, or Mountain Dew.

The rest of dinner was uneventful, except we ate at least 10 baskets of chips and 20 bowls of salsa, good stuff I tell you. We went up to the register to pay and that was when we all received confirmation of what we had been feeling the entire time. Everyone in the place was watching our every move. At least three of the waitresses along with almost all of the patrons eating in the cancer barn section of the restaurant were just openly staring at us as we paid our check. Now I realize that the four of us are all good looking people. But this was not the "wow, he/she is hot" quick look and then casually glance back a few times. This was "WOW, I have never seen a one-eyed, bearded, 8 foot tall lady with three arms and 4 legs" STARE! It actually made me self conscious, which is incredibly hard to do. I began to wonder if something was amiss, I began the mental checklist: hair/nose/teeth/is my pistol showing/zipper. I did a quick check and everything was fine. I checked the others and they all were in order. Then it hit me, we are city folk, outsiders, non-locals. I would venture to guess that everyone in the restaurant knew everyone else's name except for ours.

The experience instantly reminded me of going to the zoo.

Everyone crowds around the lion exhibit when they are active to see what they are going to do. Why? Because we do not live in the semi-arid plains and Savannah grasslands within the southern areas of the African continent where the lions live naturally. We do not see lions on a day to day basis. So, at the zoo we press our noses to the scarred plexiglas and watch.

In Smithville, the home of La Cabana, they do not see big city dwellers daily. So, when city folk stop in town, everyone stops to watch.

Photo courtesy of Valerie Renee on Flickr

Hurricane Ike (the event)

The department ordered us in to work on Friday at 1400 hours, or 2 PM. We were told that we would be working through our regular shift which is 2200-0600, or 10 PM to 6 AM. They added a qualifier that in order to leave, we had to be relieved by a day shift officer. The storm was scheduled to come ashore at about 1 AM in Galveston, so 6 AM in Houston would be in the middle of the hurricane. None of us thought that we would be going home on time and many thought that we probably could not make it home anyway.

At roll call, after the Captain spoke for eons, a fellow beat officer told all of the 1A20 beat officers that he had a key to Langford's Grocery, which is a small restaurant located in the beat. He told us to meet over there a little later and that we would cook some burgers. Over the course of the two weeks of the hurricane Ike mobilization, we spent a lot of time at Langfords.

We were all told to find a safe place to "hunker down" once the storm rolled into Houston. We were also told that once winds reached a sustained 50 mph, we were to head to our spots to ride out the storm. Calls would not be dispatched until the winds slowed and it was safe for us to respond.

A few hours after roll call, I had to drive down to south to fill the patrol car with gas. The department was worried that the underground gas tanks at a southern station were going to be flooded and ruin the gasoline. On the way to the station, I went down to my parent's neighborhood which is just north of the Galveston causeway. The water was already very high. The exit for their neighborhood was under water and the water was already out of the canals and rising. The water was white capping and starting to blow sideways. There were only a hand full of other vehicles on the freeway, mainly news people and law enforcement. I took a few pictures and then headed back north.

Our "hunker down" spot was Bobby's apartment complex parking garage. He lives in some nice new apartments that are close to the station. At about 2200 hours, we made our way to the apartment complex. The winds were really starting to pick up and there were no calls for service. We got out the DVD player and watched a movie on the 50 inch plasma in the work out area of the apartment complex. While we were watching the movie, we were notified by someone that lives in the apartments, that someone was stuck in one of the complex's elevators. We found the broken elevator and attempted to open the stuck doors. In the movies it appears that you can grab the doors and pull and they will open if enough force in applied. Not the case in real life, at least not with this elevator. Luckily for the stranded people, the fire department arrived and they have keys that unlock the doors. They unlocked the doors, pulled them open, and the people climbed out. We concluded that the fire department gets all of the cool equipment. We returned to the work out area a little humbled by the elevator and finished the movie.

At about 0300 hours, we all headed out to the parking garage to watch the hurricane. By this time the sustained winds in the downtown area were reported to be in the 80 mph range. We watched transformer after transformer blow up. They give off a green light when they explode. A few caught on fire, but the sideways rains quickly extinguished the flames. At 0500 hours, the power at the apartment complex finally went out. It had flickered on and off for hours.

If you are still reading, you are in for a treat. At 0600 hours, some day shift units actually made it in to work and we could hear them getting in service over the radio. Pedro decided that he was going to try to make it back to the station. He asked for my opinion, and I told him to wait. While we were very close to the station, every route had the potential for high water. Pedro decided to try to make it anyway. He threw his rookie in the car and took off. About 10 minutes later, Bobby's phone rings, it is Pedro. He told Bobby that he had driven into some high water and was now stuck. The car shut off and would not start. Pedro told Bobby to ask me what to do. I got on the phone and called our dispatcher. I asked her if the city wreckers were running. Pedro was stuck less than 1000 yards from our station under the Memorial bridge off of I-45. We found out later that the wreckers were not running during the storm . While I was speaking to our dispatcher, a supervisor gets on the radio and states that there is an officer in distress stuck in high water. The dispatcher asks for a unit to check by with him, and Bobby and myself volunteer.

Upon reaching where Pedro was flooded, I observed that he was stuck directly over Buffalo Bayou. The bayou was rising and that is what was flooding the roadway. I decided that the water appeared passable and I drove out to get Pedro and his rookie. I reached them and they jumped into the backseat. Pedro began pleading with me to back up stating that the water was deeper the further that you went. I quickly surveyed the water and once again thought it was passable. As I began to continue driving through the water, Pedro was in the back seat yelling like some crazy crackhead that we were going to get stuck. I calmly continued and dropped Pedro and the rookie off at the station a few minutes later. Pedro was dumbfounded. He could not believe I had just driven through what he got stuck in. I told him that the water was in fact deeper now, as the bayou continued to rise. This fact did not make him feel any better.

Upon returning to the stuck car, Bobby and I watched as the bayou continued to rise. As the water reached about mid way up the car, the lights on the car began to flash. I think that car was screaming at Pedro as it succumbed to the rising water. After about an hour, the car was gone. We ended up getting back to the station at 1100 AM on Saturday, 21 hours after the start of our shift. We were due back at the station at 2000 hours or 8 PM for our first 12 hour shift of hurricane Ike mobilization.

Hurricane Ike (getting ready)

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June first to November 30th each year. The peak of the season is August to October and early to mid September is considered the pinnacle of the season. Southeast Texas got a small scare from Hurricane Gustav in late August. Gustav stayed on its track and struck central Louisiana. Tropical storm Ike formed on September first and by the fourth, it was a category 4 hurricane, the third major hurricane of the 2008 season. The projected landfall for Ike bounced from south of the Corpus Christi area to east of the Texas/Louisiana border. Right in the middle of that arc of land is the greater Houston area.

On the Tuesday before Ike was due to make landfall, we were eating dinner at PeiWei with my in-laws. My father-in-law Jim told me that my cousin Mike had purchased a generator that day and that he was going to buy one that evening. I thought that was a little extreme. After all, it had been 25 years since a major hurricane had struck this area of Texas. On the way home, my wife Jen called and asked me if we were going to buy a generator. I immediately sensed the correct answer to the question and responded with "yes dear". I called Jim and he purchased one on our behalf that evening. The following day, Jen picked up the new generator, which I never expected to have to use.

I began keeping a close watch on the track of the hurricane the evening of the generator discussion. I followed the blog of Eric Berger, the SciGuy at the Houston chronicle. His coverage of hurricanes is outstanding. Eric does not build up the hype, just tells the facts as he understands them along with his informed opinions. In Eric's coverage, he really wrote at length about storm surge. Ike was a huge storm and would bring an appropriately sized surge of water with it. I had no concept at all of a storm surge. I could not fathom twenty feet of water coming ashore with Ike. Nevertheless, I checked the elevation of our home just in case twenty feet of water really came. I found that our home is about 23 feet above sea level and felt moderately relieved.

Preparations began in full on Thursday while I was working an extra job. My father-in-law and Mike both boarded up their windows. My father began taking things upstairs from the garage since it was likely that the garage would take in some water. My father discovered that the motor on the boat lift was frozen. He made a few phone calls and fortunately someone came out and helped him lower the boat by hand so that it could be taken out of the water. That was a blessing since after the storm, the freeway by their house was littered with stray boats. Mike, Jim, and my dad showed up at the house on Friday morning to help me board up the windows and move everything outside into the garage. Jen loaded up the suburban and evacuated with the kids and dog to her parent's home in Pasadena.

On a quick side note, I have to give my wife Jen a lot of credit. Ike was a huge hurricane heading straight for us. These storms cause anxiety in everyone. She knows that due to my job, she will be riding out the storm with the kids without me. She does not like it, but not only did she not complain, she handled it with her usual graceful poise.

My parents with the boat behind them evacuated to Mike's house in Pearland. I took a short nap before heading into work. I had been ordered to report into work at 2 PM that day. We were told to expect to be at work until the day shift officers could make it into work, in the middle of the hurricane, to relieve us. Understandably, it took day shift a LONG time to get into work.

What a decision

My father went to high school in Las Cruces, NM, the town that I grew up in until I was eleven. He played golf in high school and was an excellent young amateur player. After graduation, he went to work. Later, he met my mother and they were married. He was then drafted to fight for our Country in the Vietnam war. Upon his return, he enrolled at New Mexico State University. He joined the golf team and at some point earned a scholarship. His junior year, while his team won the conference title, my father took home medalist honors for the conference championship. He was also named an All American that year. After graduating from school, my father had a decision to make. Join the work force using his degree or try to play professional golf?

He definitely had the talent to play professional golf. On his All American plaque, names like Ben Crenshaw and Tom Kite were there along with his. However, at the time, I was three years old.

My father decided to use his business degree and got a job. He states that it was not a difficult decision. He had a wife and a three year old son at home to support. Professional golf was not an option with those responsibilities.

A few years ago I visited the clubhouse of the NMSU golf course, where my father won the conference tournament. I was wandering around and noticed a few plaques on the wall. I went over to look at them and they were pictures of recent NMSU golf teams. This piqued my interest and I continued following the pictures. I continued looking through the decades and finally came to the 70's. When I found a picture for 1973 and saw my father with the medalist trophy and his team, I was extremely proud. A copy of the All American plaque was there as well. It was very cool to see my father's accomplishments on the wall at NMSU.

My father's decision has influenced the way that I look at decisions that affect my family. The impact of his unselfish decision to look out for his family instead of pursuing individual goals sticks with me. I have had many opportunities to move my family all over the United States for federal law enforcement jobs, but it was never in the best interest of my family. Thank you Dad for showing me by example, what comes first in life, family.

Training, and a funny story

The field training program is the backbone of the department. At least that is what they told me in the field training instructor class. The field training supervisor at my station had asked me a few times to be a trainer, but I had always declined for a few reasons. First, since the department took away take home cars for the trainers, training just did not seem worth the hassle. Second, three weeks (the length of a training phase is 15 working days) can be a long time in a car with someone that you might or might not get along with. Third, I was content with being a patrol officer and I liked my routine. Well, my Maxima is 13 years old and might not make it another 13 years, so I decided to say yes when I was asked to be a trainer this past Spring. As a trainer we do get some incentive pay, so I thought that would help to off-set the future car payment.

After taking the field training instructor class and training some probationary officers (rookies), I am glad that my field training supervisor was persistent and/or desperate for trainers. So far I have enjoyed training. Which makes sense because I have always enjoyed teaching. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to teach a few undergraduate classes while I was in graduate school and I have taught some Bible studies over the years. All of my teaching experiences have been positive and fulfilling. Which is not to say that I think that I am a good teacher, in fact I always think that I have done a poor to mediocre job.

My first rookie was challenging. He is a good guy and passed evaluation, so he is now off probation and patrolling the streets on evening shift. However, he had a very difficult time with directions. Our first night, I asked what direction (north, south, east, west) we were going fifteen times and he got the answer correct once. Even just guessing he should get the correct answer 25% of the time with four choices. Not this rookie. I tried a few different strategies with teaching him directions, and by the second week he was getting the correct answer 90% of the time. However, this did not cure all of his directional shortcomings. Every night after roll call and loading up the patrol car with out gear, we would go to the local Stop-n-Rob for a diet coke. From the station to the store there are two turns. Guess how many times he was able to drive straight to the store without needing help, yup, zero times. I am not sure how he makes it back to the station at the end of his shift by himself.

If the directionally impaired is my biggest challenge, I have it made.

Now on to the funny story. My current rookie, (well educated, 27, graduated high in her class, has been through 6 weeks of training so far) my first female rookie, and I answered a call for a possible counterfeit bill being passed at a Blockbuster Video store in our beat. We arrived and went inside to talk to the manager. He showed us the ten dollar bill. The rookie felt the bill and stated that it felt "wrong". The manager told us that his employee, after accepting the bill and after the customer had left the store, decided to try the marker on the bill. The employee said that the bill "felt funny" and the store has had problems with this customer in the past. The employee marked the bill with the marker and it marked brown on the bill. The marker will mark yellow for good currency and brown or gray for "questionable" currency. So the rookie thinks that we have counterfeit currency and starts asking the manager for his information and the suspects information for the report. I am thinking that none of us are experts on United States currency, but I know who is, the Secret Service. I asked the rookie whom she should call to find out what to do in this situation. She gave me a blank look which said enough for me. I told her to "go out to the shop (patrol car) and to call the Secret Service". She gave me a strange look and went out to the shop. About a minute later, she called my cell phone. That conversation went like this:

her "What did you want me to do?"
me "Type phone and then secret service into the MDT (mobile data terminal, the computer in the car) and then call the number." I can hear her typing.
her "Oh, there is a secret service." She thought that I was joking with the "Secret Service".
me "Yes, there is."
her "They are not very secret if they have a phone number."
me "No, they are not very secret."
her "Who do I ask for?"
me "The on duty special agent."
her "What do I ask him?"
me "Tell him what you have and what has been done and then ask him if he thinks that you have a counterfeit bill."
her "That is a good idea."
me "I know."

That reminded me of conversations that I have had with my seven year old.

She comes back into the store, picks up the bill in question, and calls the secret service. The phone call lasts a few minutes during which the manager and I talk about video game sales and recent robberies at other Blockbuster stores. After the call, the rookie triumphantly announces that the bill is in fact good currency. She then explained what the secret service agent told her to look for and how to hold the bill up to the light and what things in the bill you can see to tell if the bill is good or counterfeit. The manager then apologizes for wasting our time, which he did not and we returned to the shop. The rookie then asks what the secret service is and what they do. I asked her "who protects the president?" She says "the CIA". After I finished laughing, I went on to briefly explain to her what the various federal law enforcement agencies were and what they were tasked to accomplish. This call definitely helped to fulfill Rule #2 of policing, "you have to laugh".

A magical afternoon for Jennifer

As a thank you for serving 8 years as the directors of our Sunday school class, the class gave my wife and I tickets to the Astros' game on Sunday, August 17, 2008. That just so happened to be day that the Astros would retire Craig Biggio’s number 7 jersey. My wife, Jen, is a Craig Biggio fan. There are two small posters of Craig hanging in our closet. To put the event in perspective, Jen told me that being at the jersey retirement ceremony would rank just behind our marriage and the birth of our two children on her list of life experiences to date.

The day arrived and it felt strange to skip Sunday school in order to attend a baseball game. However, the class gave us the tickets so we had a good excuse. My parents were gracious enough to watch the children for us again. I grabbed my camera along with an extra battery, and we headed to Minute Maid Park for the event.

We found our seats, great seats by the way, half way between first base and the foul pole, just 7 rows from the field. The ceremony took place around home plate. There were two rows of seats for speakers and invited guests along with a podium behind which were the 3 different Astros’ jerseys that Craig wore throughout his career. The jerseys were the same number, but the Astros changed team colors twice while he was an Astro. They went from the rainbow to the blue and gold to their current “brick” red and white.

The seats were great for the game, but not so great for the ceremony. Luckily for us, and most of the rest of the 42,000 fans, the event was shown on the big screen above center field. Milo Hamilton, voice of the Astros, was the host of the event and he started things off by introducing everyone who was in the two special rows of seats, including the other Astros whose jerseys had been retired. Following the introductions, Matt Galante, an Astros coach who helped Craig learn to play second base, and Jeff Bagwell both spoke about what Biggio meant to them as a person and teammate.

Connor Biggio, Craig's oldest son, then gave a speech that was the highlight of the ceremony in my opinion. Connor spoke about what his Dad meant to him as a father and as someone to look up to and aspire to be like. Connor's delivery was great and he even cracked a few jokes about his Dad. I have no idea how Craig was able to keep his composure while his son spoke about him.

Craig eventually was called to the podium. He spoke about his parents, family, coaches, and teammates. An especially meaningful moment occurred when he spoke about his wife, Patty. Craig explained that she made his career possible by raising the children and running the household while he played baseball. His love and admiration for her was evident in the words that he spoke. That was cool. It is not often that you hear world class athletes sincerely give anyone other than themselves credit. Here was most likely a first ballot Hall-of-Famer saying that he could not have done it without his wife. Impressive.

The ceremony came to a close with the Astros owner, Drayton McLane, saying a few words and then directing the crowd to watch as Biggio's #7 was unveiled in the rafters of the stadium.

I must say that I was not real excited about the event when we received the tickets. When I found out that Roy Oswalt and Randy Johnson were pitching in the game that day after the ceremony, I became a little more enthused. However, after attending the ceremony and hearing Craig and everyone else speak, I can only hope that one day the same things might be said of me or my son. It was a great afternoon and I was very happy to spend it with Craig's #1 fan, my wife.

Why I am writing...

Many of the people who know of this blog and occasionally read this blog have asked me why I am writing this blog? This will surprise some, but I have always wanted to write. I have been told that I did not like reading or writing when I was a teenager. My mother is a voracious reader, but this did not rub off on me in my teenage years. This is sad but true, I did not actually read a book cover to cover until I was in college. In high school, I was a big fan of the cliff notes, and I did not even read those cover to cover. For book reviews and papers that I had to write, I relied on the summary in the cliff notes to point me in the right direction.

I can actually pin point when I started to enjoy reading. I was "working" at my parent's golf store and I was reading a People magazine. In the book review section was a review of Cruel and Unusual by Patricia Cornwell. The book sounded interesting, so I went out and bought a copy. Once I started that book, I could not put it down. It sounds cliche, but it was a new experience for me. I was immersed into the story and the characters came alive in my imagination. I have been reading for pleasure ever since.

I started to like writing in graduate school, which was beneficial. One of the nice things about graduate school is that a majority of the classes that I took were interesting. This fact seemed to make the required reading and writing easier. Every class required extensive writing. I became very good at research and summarizing my thoughts on paper.

I have given the why write question some thought. I have always been intrigued by the idea of a personal journal which is essentially what this is. Handwritten journals or diaries are cool and mysterious to me. I expect them to contain dark secrets and interesting insights into the writer. However, my handwriting is horrible and a diary is not typically shared with anyone. I decided that if I am going to take the time and effort to write, I might as well share my thoughts with my family and friends and anyone else who is bored enough to read my ramblings. That led me to blogging. I can use a keyboard which is a huge benefit to me and the reader. I can also point those whom I want to share my thoughts with to the blog.

Sometimes I find it easier and more efficient to communicate through writing. When writing I am able to organize my thoughts and more effectively express myself. So far, I have written 6 posts, this being number 7, over the course of 6 weeks. These posts have mainly focused on my family and our experiences. I plan to continue writing about my life, my wife, and our children. I like the idea of having my family experiences in writing. I imagine that I will read these posts sometime in the future and be reminded of how fortunate I am.

An unexpected concert

Last Thursday, I received an email from a friend in our Sunday school class. It seems that the director of our department had tickets to a concert that she could not use. The tickets were available to anyone who could use them. I called Jen and then called the friend to say that we would love to use the tickets.

The following evening, my parents were gracious enough to watch the children for us and Jen and I headed north. We met some friends for an excellent dinner at Chuy's. Then we headed to the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion for the concert. It has been a few years since we attended a concert at CWMP. I remember having to walk what seemed like miles from the parking area to the venue. This time we followed the signs for parking and parked in a parking garage for an outrageous fee of $15. We took the stairs down to the ground and crossed a street and amazingly were at the gate of the CWMP. That was $15 well spent. From the car to our seats took 10 minutes.

Once inside, we started looking for our seats. CWMP had plenty of helpful people to assist us. We were directed to the center aisle and then pointed toward the stage. So we walked, closer and closer to the stage. We came to another helpful person, she checked our tickets again, and then led us to our seats. WOW! Our seats were sitting on plywood that covers the orchestra pit. We were in the third row, very close to the center. We were close enough to feel the air conditioning that is pumped back stage to keep the artists and their equipment cool. The seats were folding chairs that were padded as well, not bad at all.

The opening act was a band called Addison Road. I had never heard of them, but I ordered their album from Amazon later that night. They were awesome. The lead singer has a great voice. Jen and I tried to guess which band member she was married to, but we were both wrong. In short, he married way over his head, just like I did.

Next up was The Afters. I actually have their debut album, but the first time I listened to it at all was earlier that day. They came out with a lot of energy and sounded great as well. They have a very cool drummer. I asked Jen if I looked that cool when playing the drums on Rock Band. She responded with laughter. She claims that I look a little stiff. Hard to believe.

Natalie Grant was next to the stage. Great voice, but very poor wardrobe choice. It is amazing to me what some people wear. Granted, if I was not practically sitting on stage, it probably would not have mattered. The sack shirt-stretch pants-huge belt combination was in two words, not flattering.

Then it was time for the headliners. The only band that actually had roadies to set up their gear, everyone else did it themselves. MercyMe. I love their music. A friend from Sunday school made me listen to their music a few years ago, and I am forever grateful. They are the reason that I now listen to Christian music again. I have all of their cds and I knew every song that they played. No matter what kind of day I am having, I can listen to their music and feel inspired. God and Christ shine through their music.

On a side note, sitting in the front row was a family of four, mom, dad, and two teenagers, a boy and a girl. I mention them because the dad was a complete spazz. That is the best word that I can use to describe him. He could not sit still, he played the air guitar and the air drums very emphatically. I have to give the teenagers credit, they did not seems horrified by their father. The dad gave a high five to the bassist of The Afters. Jen and I promised each other to have that much fun, but to be a little more restrained.

It was an awesome concert and we are very thankful to our Sunday school director who gave us the tickets. Thank you for the opportunity to enjoy a great night out listening to great live Christian music.

Becoming addicted to podcasts

From Wikipedia:

A podcast is a series of digital-media files which are distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and computers.

The first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem. I might have a problem. I am addicted to podcasts. It started a few years ago with the Colin Cowherd radio show on ESPN radio. I started downloading the show and listening to it on my ipod. The downloaded show does not have commercials, so a 4 hour live show is only 2.5 hours downloaded. Awesome. Fast forward to this year. I read a blog post by Dwight Silverman who writes for Houston Chronicle that mentioned that he was a guest on This Week in Technology, TWIT for short. I like Dwight's blog, so I went to the itunes store and clicked on podcasts. I have not been the same since.

I am currently subscribed to 23 podcasts through itunes. The good folks at TWIT produce a bunch of quality podcasts that relate to technology. I am interested in photography as well and This Week in Photography, TWIP, is excellent.

Due to my work schedule, I choose to attend Sunday school and not service at UBC. Therefore, I do not hear the sermons. I miss the sermons. Through itunes, I subscribe to the weekly sermon series of three churches; Fellowship Church, Denton Bible Church, and Lakewood Church. Ed Young, Tom Nelson, and Joel Osteen preach in very different styles but I enjoy them all.

The real gem that I found through itunes is The Daily Audio Bible. Every day Brian reads a passage from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and a Proverb. Over the course of a year, he reads the entire Bible. Every week he reads from a different translation. For me, it is a great way to make sure that I hear or read the word of God every day. I absolutely love it. Hearing the Old Testament stories read aloud helps them to come alive in my mind.

I find myself looking for an excuse to put on the headphones and listen to some podcast through my iphone. Driving, vacuuming, or just sitting at the computer, whatever I might be doing goes great with a podcast.

Just another weekend

Let's start with Friday, I got home at 4 PM after working the previous 16 hours. I took a shower and would love to be able to say that I helped my wife get the kids ready, but that would be a lie. We went over to our Sunday school teacher's house. The men went to the garage and played Halo 3 while the women and kids went inside the house and socialized. There were only three families from our class at the event. The host family thought there was a chance that their youngest child might be coming down with a cold. The child's symptoms sounded like "teething" to me, so we braved the elements. There were another 5 men there to play Halo 3. The men had a great time shooting each other. I was definitely a target in this group of men. You would never know they had jobs and families by how well they played Halo 3. As one of my buddies (also a target) asked them "how many of you played Dungeons and Dragons as kids"? That summed up the game play perfectly. Back inside the house, the kids actually played well together so the wives had a nice time as well. Fortunately, I did not have to work Friday night.

My parents came over to our house Saturday morning at 8:15 AM. We all loaded into the Suburban and took off to pick up my in-laws. After picking them up, we headed to Reliant Center for the Reliant Park World Series of Dog Shows (http://www.reliantdogshows.com/). My daughter loves animals and we thought that she would enjoy the puppers (her word for dogs). We were correct. She had a great time as I think that we all did. One event in particular stuck with me, Canine Musical Freestyle. This is where people go out in front of hundreds of other people and dance with their dogs. This (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NutzSiRpYBc&feature=related) video shows what it can look like. What I watched, was not quite there yet.

Saturday evening we had a block party in the small green area that is in front of our house. About 10 families from our circle and the nearby neighbors were in attendance. We had a large jumper for the big kids and a small one for the not so big kids. Food was grilled and a margarita machine was working. I did not work Saturday night either. We called it a night at midnight and the party was still going at 3 AM.

Neither the teacher nor the director of our Sunday school class were there Sunday morning. The teacher and director are married and the director and her kids were sick, so the teacher had to take care of them. This put my wife and I back in charge. Jen fell right back into her role and did a superb job with the announcements. Then it was up to me to "teach" the lesson. Well, we were supposed to talk about "speaking in tongues". A subject that I know very little about, so I called an audible. I asked the class to tell us the story of how you and your spouse met and became a couple. I really enjoyed hearing the stories. A few of them I had heard before, but some I had not. I thought it would be a good way to facilitate some community in our group, and I hope that it worked.

Immediately after class, Austin and I drove into Houston for his 1st degree purple belt Karate tournament. Needless to say, he won (whooohoo). It was his fourth straight victory at the tournaments. He did his best and had fun and that is what matters.

Sunday evening we met at Chuy's Comida Deluxe for Mike's birthday dinner. The food was excellent as usual. The hatch green chile sauce is worth the 25 mile drive. After dinner, we went to Mike and Courtney's house for desert and a little Rock Band. My parents and in-laws were in attendance. They kept requesting songs that they might know, so we played "Margaritaville" by Jimmy Buffett. It is a tougher song to play, especially on the drums, than you might expect. We finally called it a night, drove home and got the kids into bed.

We need a weekend to recover from our weekend!

Another child?

I have two wonderful children, a 7 year old boy and a 2 year old girl. They are both true gifts from God. I grew up as an only child and my wife, Jen, has a sister. I always thought that I would be happy having a single child. I was very happy as an only child growing up. I thought that way you only go through everything once, the middle of the night feedings, the diaper changes, college tuition etc... My wife has always had a vision of what her family would be, and that included 2 children. I have always said that I did not want to have more children than parents in my family. That would naturally limit the amount of children to 2.

With that being said, I am starting to think that I would like another child. At this time I think that my desire is caused by my realization that my 2 year old is growing up and this could be the last time that I will experience the toddler stage as a father. My daughter is so much fun at this age. She is learning constantly and always smiling and laughing. My son adores her and they play very well together. She thinks that her brother is the funniest thing she has ever seen, and he might be.

Jen and I have talked about the possibility of another child. She brings up some excellent points as she always does. It took her 30 months to get pregnant with each child. Another child would exceed the 1 parent to 1 child ratio that we like. Twins run in her family. It would be interesting to say the least to have twin babies at 40. I have prayed asking for God to show me his will in this area of our lives. So far, I get the feeling that we are done having children. I have recently taken out the video camera to capture some of the toddler behavior that I so enjoy. I should have been doing this all along, with my son as well. Oh well, at least we have a ton of pictures. The great thing about the video is that you can hear them laughing. There is something amazing about a child's laugh, especially when it is your child. I could listen to them laugh all day long.

I have faith that God is in control and He knows what is best for me and my family. I am confident that whether we have another child or not, as long as we keep God as the center of our lives, He will take care of us.

Finding our place

My beautiful wife (Jennifer) and I have been members of our Baptist church for over 12 years. We have served as the directors of our weekend Bible study class (Sunday school) for 8 years. During that time God used us to bring organization and stability to our class. We both really enjoyed serving in that role. Jen did the majority of the work and I took care of some of the behind the scenes logistics, which is to say I did not do very much. Jen did the heavy lifting. At times we became frustrated with a perceived lack of commitment on the part of other members of our class. We thought that everyone should be as committed as we were. At times we lost sight of the goals of our class, church, and Christians in general.

During the last three years, Jen or I at different times had decided to step down as directors. The spouse that was not discouraged at the time always lifted the other one up. We would pray together and God encouraged us to carry on. Finally, we were both discouraged at the same time in the summer of 2007. Again we prayed, and this time we felt God was calling us in another as yet unknown direction. We decided to step down and began to look for a replacement. We finally found a replacement in the Spring of 2008. As only God can do, as He lifted up a new director for our class, He showed Jen and I our new role in the class. About half of our class either takes care of or teaches children during the Bible study hour. Our class was in desperate need of someone to take care of in-reach. That is to keep in touch with our members and visitors and to not let anyone fall through the cracks.

Jen and I took over in-reach in the beginning of June and it has been a blessing. The excitement is back. We like the challenge of keeping up with everyone and making sure that everyone feels like a part of the group. People are what matter and this role provides us the opportunity to minister to our class. We both feel very strongly that this is exactly the role for us in God's kingdom at this time.

Celebrating the 4th of July

A few random thoughts about the holiday.

They do not celebrate the 4th of July in South America, which sounds logical. However, the company that I work an extra job for has a group of employees from South America. Therefore, I had to work the extra job today.

People and relationships are what matter in life.

I spent the afternoon with my wife and two kids, my parents, my in-laws, and an uncle at my cousin's house who is married to my wife's sister. Yes, the family tree does branch. It was great. My sister-in-law makes the best queso. My cousin is getting very good with the grill. "I Now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry" has some great one-liners.

The kids played in a small inflatable pool in the backyard. My son, 7, ran and dove in like a superhero while my daughter,2, stood in the water and laughed. It is a joy to watch your children having fun. The smiles and laughter are gifts from God. Water guns were introduced and this got the adults involved. I threw a ball to Cagney, my sister-in-law's Boston Terrier. She loves that ball, the Terrier, not my sister-in-law. I discovered that Cagney will jump into the pool and stick her head completely underwater in order to retrieve that ball. Over and over and over again. She has very high "ball drive".

Who did the eye make-up for Sara Evans? She performed in Chevy's Freedom over Texas celebration in Houston. It was "a little" overdone.

I took 288 north into work. The large fireworks show was going on downtown. Fireworks cause some people to act irrationally. Vehicle were lining both shoulders of the freeway. Families were out of their vehicles, some with lawn chairs, watching the fireworks. What happens when the intoxicated driver watching the same fireworks while driving veers off the road and hits the family watching the fireworks on the shoulder of the freeway? There has to be a better place from which to watch the fireworks. Some vehicles went so far as to stop in the left lane of the freeway to watch the fireworks. Unbelieveable.