Bad days are over. It's Friday!

King Saul, David and me 2

I'M NOT HIDING ANYMORE! SEE OPTIMISM BLOG BELOW!

King Saul, David and me

I have been reading I Samuel in the Old Testament. It is the story of the Prophet Samuel, Saul the first King of Israel and the second King, David. I am drawn to David because if he is a man "after God's own heart" as the Bible says and with all his screw-ups, maybe there is hope for me.

Funny thing though is that as I am reading about Saul and his bad judgement and bubbling, scared, and crazy ways, I suddenly realized that I am really most like Saul.

My ambition is to be like David and his close walk with GOD, but I find myself hiding in the store room like Saul. When Samuel went to make Saul king:

"Finally Saul son of Kish was taken. But when they looked for him, he was not to be found. So they inquired of the LORD, "Has the man come here yet?" And the LORD said, "Yes, he has hidden himself among the supplies."

Vince Rules!

I was fortunate to get to travel to Tulsa Saturday to see Vince Gill in concert. I needed a concert. Music has a way of transporting me to other worlds, other places and most important pleasant thoughts. Vince has been performing and writing songs for years. I first heard of him in the 1980's and he does blue grass, country, rock and rockabilly as good as any alive. He is a great song writer who could give concerts all week long and never repeat of song.

I liked the new 2,000 seat venue at Hard Rock casino. It is a good size for watching and listening and very comfortable. Of course this night their were many "older" attendees who "1. haven't been out of the house in a while and talked all the time and 2. have to leave in time to be home by 10 pm. I was glad they left so we could hear better but thought it weird that they missed about 45 minutes of the show?

Anyhow, Vince was great! I could have gone back stage to get his picture taken with me, but I wasn't sure he remembered all the times I listened to his songs in the car and at home! Many of my friends did but............I got home by 11:00!

By the way: His New CD will be great!

Optimism

"The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not abandon it to his enemy."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence." Helen Keller

"One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself." Lucille Ball

"The pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." Winston Churchill

"But failure also taught me that life is a road with unpredictable forks and unexpected tomorrows. To take advantage of them, you can't let yourself be destroyed by a defeat, or let others set the limits on your ability to achieve." Sherman Finesilver

"When you come to a fork in the road, take it." Yogi Berra

Country Strong ?

I needed an escape today. And escape for me is the movies! The only movie left for us was "Country Strong". Let Me say from the outset that I enjoyed the movie. Ms Paltrow plays a country singer who looks like Faith Hill but has just left Rehab. I say Faith Hill because her husband in the movie is played by Tim McGraw (Faith's real husband). And Tim is the only one who doesn't sing in the movie! It was a little hollywood but the songs were great. The two young singers have a future.

I guess the thing I needed was watching someone with more problems and screw-ups than me.

Two hours of no problems and then the lights came on! Back to reality!

I give it **1/2 stars.

2011 Movie #3

STRESS!

"I don't believe people die from hard work. They die from stress and worry and fear - the negative emotions. Those are the killers, not hard work. The fact is, in our society today, most people don't understand what hard work is all about." A. L. Williams

(The younger generation fears stress and being uncomfortable above all things.)

"Like all weak men, he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind" W. Somerset Maugham (It is easier to say you are stressed, than it is to pitch in and change direction.)

"The better work men do is always done under great stress and at great personal cost." William Carlos Williams (Why there's not a lot a great work being done)

Getting Rid of Fat Boy

I lost 30 pounds last year. I am not bragging, because I need to loose much more. But instead of my doctor saying how good that was, I found that I now have Type 2 Diabetes! Bummer. So the past week I have been engaged in many lifestyle changes. I am still learning and to my surprise diet requirements are the same as a healthy "weight watcher" plan. The other goal is to loose more weight. If I get my weight down more, it will get this in remission, so-to-speak.

This week I have lost another 5 pounds! My goal for 2011 is another 25 pounds.

I only purpose for posting this is to put pressure on myself to keep it up. But I am so lucky that Diet Pepsi and Diet Coke is still ok. Burgers and fries: not so much!

"Childhood is that wonderful time when all you need to do to lose weight is to take a bath!" Joe Moore

Here's a Dilemma

If you read all the reviews, the movie, "The Dilemma" is a bad movie. Rotten Tomatoes and USA Today, enough others, say never mind. They say Ron Howard's new movie starring Vince Vaughn and Kevin James doesn't know whether it is comedy, drama or "bromance". The dilemma is do you see it? If you like Vince or Kevin then the answer is yes. If you like Ron Howard movies and know he does not do typical comedy then the answer is yes. It is a little too complicated in that Queen Latifa's character is not needed. But the "tattoo guy" is great!

The movie is about best friends who are in business together and in each other's lives. It deals with stress in a real way.

As an old school person will remember "I Love Lucy". You could see Lucy heading to certain trouble and, although funny, caused me to tied tense just the same. This movie has that.

I will say that I am beginning to think that these two stars have the same character in every movie. It is not type casting. It is what they do.

I enjoyed it. It is PG13 for profanity and scenes you wouldn't be comfortable with your teenagers.

I give it **1/2 stars.

2011 Movie#2

The opera came to town

The Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame hosted "Tulsa Opera Live" in our town tonight. There were five performers who took a large crowd through a medley of Opera's Greatest Hits. Selections from Don Giovanni, Rigoletto, Norma and others. They also mixed things up when they "covered" a few Broadway tunes from Paint Your Wagon and Guys & Dolls. I could stop there and say, "A Good Time was had by all!" But here's the deal.

I grew up in a world that thought that opera was High Brow and a lot of people screaming and yodeling (all the fat lady sayings). When a opera singer would come on Ed Sullivan, our family would cringe. That's background.

Tonight, they performed in a hall that I had only heard Folk Singers, Rock Singers, Country Singers and Pop Singers. All of whom were mic'd and using amplified instruments. The performers tonight were NOT mic'd but their voices were so powerful that they could BE amplifiers. Listening to them explain each selection and then performing flawlessly.

This was great stuff. I like to think that I am open minded in my music, but I was still limiting myself. I am expanding again.

PS: Remember Opera started 400 years ago (Before Movies).

Seems all the stories are about affairs, revenge, greed and death. Just what we watch today!

mike eats his words

I realize that I have been critical of people that seem to live their lives through their sports teams. I like sports in a big way, but it doesn't control me. Right?

Today, was a bad day. I don't feel well, coming from a stomach virus. I get to work and dealt with issues, issues, and problem e-mails. By lunch I was ready to quit! I had had enough! Then I get a text message from my son. My team's two star players decided not to go pro and stay another year. I turn on my radio and listen to the press conference and all is suddenly better!

Either, my day wasn't as bad as labeled or I should eat my words!

Oh Crap!

First movie is Fair Game

I can't believe that a whole week has past and we are just seeing our first movie of the new year!

What's more, I got to see a movie that I have wanted to see for three months. The movie is "Fair Game", the Sean Penn and Naomi Watts recounting of JosephWilson and Valerie Plame Wilson and their role in the Iraq War. This is the story of Valerie Plame, a CIA Operative, who was on the team to uncover the facts about WMDs before the war. Her husband, Joe, was retired from the State Department and served George H.W. Bush, Clinton and Bush2. He was the last State Department person to meet with Sadam H. before the war. Because of his expertise in African affairs, the CIA asked him to go to Africa to verify if Uranium was being sold to Iraq.

That is where the movie starts. He didn't find any! BEFORE THE WAR

Since it all can be verified, I issue this WARNING as a Public Service: FOX news Republicans should not see this movie. It may damage your thoughts of Bush-Cheney-Rove.

As for me, I give the movie ****stars out of five.

The movie deals mainly with the effects of the all the happenings on this married couple and the idea that the CIA knew that there were no WMDs but were forced to shut up.

2011 Movie #1

PS: The photos are of the real Wilsons and the Actors.

NOT TOO FUNNY NOW

Isn't Sarah Palin witty? Bless Her heart!

Well Worn Sayings: Bless Your Heart!

I first heard that term when I was a kid. Tennessee Ernie Ford used the term, "Bless your little pea-pickin heart!" all the time. A few years ago the Comedian, Henry Cho did a routine about the statement, "Bless Your Heart" or "Bless her heart" or "Bless his heart!" He says that in the south you can say anything you want to about anyone as long as you end with this statement.

"You know, it's amazing that even though she had that baby seven months after they got married, bless her heart, it weighed 10 pounds!"

"If they put his brain on the head of a pin, it'd roll around like a BB on a six-lane highway, bless his heart!"

We have many ways to give people a back handed statement. Toby Keith uses one term in a recent song: "God love her!" Implying God may love her, but....."

How about: "Well, at least your happy!" or the famous, "Isn't that special?" or when we say something about how people look:

"What a brave combination of colors!"

"Well that's different."

"I've not seen that before. Did you buy it new?"

"For a big guy, He doesn't sweat much. Bless his heart."

"She has a great sense of humor, Bless her heart."

I even read one that applied to my past year:

"We did pretty well this year, considering............"

You know, as society slowly gets more hostile we should think more about how our comments are cutting.

This subject came to me yesterday while I was driving down the road listening to Miranda Lambert's new song, "Only Prettier" on the radio.

BLESS HER HEART!

Happy New year!

I have a check up on Wednesday!