I have been MIA for a long time, My Apologies to anyone that reads this missive. My book is nearing completion and my new job takes a lot of my time, I know it is no excuse for not writing but it is the best I can do.
Let's talk about something near and dear to my heart today, Golf, I always watched as a kid and it looked fun so i went out for the golf team in High School, I had never even seen a golf club before i put my name on the list, a friend loaned me the clubs and I was there the first day waiting to learn, I didn't know that everyone on the team had played since they were kids, they had dads to take them out, well being from a cowboy family i was the first to play, i should say try to play, they went over the rules and then took us out to the course and said pair up and play a round, then the coach left, you can imagine how badly i played, i couldn't hit the ball to save my life, all the other kids were playing and i was just walking around chasing a ball in the woods. you can imagine my embarrassment so after about 2 weeks of frustration i quit, gave back the borrowed clubs and left the game for 15 years, when I decided to pursue the game again, at the age of 37 I bought a cheap set of clubs, and spent one full summer at the driving range, i watched hours of internet video, TV, read books, and hit the ball, I did what I had to do, and learned the game.
Now, years latter I hold my own. 12 handicap and still using the same cheap clubs i started with, I decided to finally buy a nice club set for myself, but as with everything i do research, i plan on getting this mystical club set next summer, I have put a limit of $2000.00 on the cost, and even now months ahead of time, I am looking at clubs, trying decide the right flex the correct length, the type of shaft, should they be custom, or off the shelf? You should try to live like this for a year, not being able to do anything without thinking about it for months to make sure it is the right decision. It isn't an easy way to live, but it is the right way. We will get into that a little further next time, for now we will have to end this, I am going to get my truck fixed. Oh and remind me about my truck next time.
Later
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Merry Christmas
I have been busy, a lot going on with the holidays, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year.
Notice I did not say Happy Holiday’s I said Christmas, folks, I don’t really care if you a Jewish or Agnostic or Muslim or any other religion, here in the states it’s CHRISTMAS TIME, not HOLIDAY time, your religion is your own, when I was celebrating Christmas in the Middle East do you know what they called it? Christmas, yes it was Christmas time, nobody in the heart of Islam was offended by celebrating Christmas, I have no idea why someone in the US, the supposedly freedom capital of the world, would get irritated by a nativity scene in the center of town, or at the Hospital, or even at the school. Why don’t people just play nice anymore? They look and look for ways to bother others, I guess it makes them feel important. I honestly have never had a problem ignoring things I didn’t want to look at, I pass billboards everyday that are of no interest to me, in fact some may actually offend me, but am I going to take the time and the interest to try and get them taken down? Hell no, I have important things to do with my life.
So enjoy the Christmas season the best you can, and if someone takes you to court over your baby Jesus in the front yard, feel sorry for the poor bastards, they obviously have nothing better to do with there time.
Notice I did not say Happy Holiday’s I said Christmas, folks, I don’t really care if you a Jewish or Agnostic or Muslim or any other religion, here in the states it’s CHRISTMAS TIME, not HOLIDAY time, your religion is your own, when I was celebrating Christmas in the Middle East do you know what they called it? Christmas, yes it was Christmas time, nobody in the heart of Islam was offended by celebrating Christmas, I have no idea why someone in the US, the supposedly freedom capital of the world, would get irritated by a nativity scene in the center of town, or at the Hospital, or even at the school. Why don’t people just play nice anymore? They look and look for ways to bother others, I guess it makes them feel important. I honestly have never had a problem ignoring things I didn’t want to look at, I pass billboards everyday that are of no interest to me, in fact some may actually offend me, but am I going to take the time and the interest to try and get them taken down? Hell no, I have important things to do with my life.
So enjoy the Christmas season the best you can, and if someone takes you to court over your baby Jesus in the front yard, feel sorry for the poor bastards, they obviously have nothing better to do with there time.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Pay for your actions
Not much new going on, just work and life, I am going to get a little Quail hunting this year, I went to try a little practice on blue rock this weekend, couldn’t hit a dang thing, but it has been 4 years since I’ve held a shotgun, I’m sure it is like riding a bike and will come back to me opening weekend, I will keep you informed of my success and failures of the hunt. Last time I promised to talk about the consequences of your actions, this is it.
At times in our lives we all screw up, after all we are human and we are going to make mistakes, how we handle these mistakes shows more about us then any other action, with the exception of success, you will never know your true self until you have success, once that happens, how you treat people will show your true self, of course it is a shame most people never find themselves in this situation.
I am sure you know someone that does no wrong, they are always looking for someone else to blame for the mistakes they made, these type of people are afraid of the consequences, I have news for them, you will never live a full and happy life until they face those fears and accept the consequences of the actions made, hiding the mistake, large or small, will only compound the problem. If your in business, every CEO on the face of the earth will tell you one thing, bad news only gets worse as time goes by, it’s never a good idea to hide bad news, in my years of employment I have never seen anyone fired or reprimanded for making a mistake, I have seen hundreds fired for trying to hide it. So make a plan to admit your mistakes and pay the consequences, the chances are you will not be in for the hard time you expect unless you hide it, or try to pass it off on someone else. Yes sometimes in life the consequences hurt and hurt a lot, they may cost you dearly, but by lying and cheating and hiding it will hurt much more in the long run.
At times in our lives we all screw up, after all we are human and we are going to make mistakes, how we handle these mistakes shows more about us then any other action, with the exception of success, you will never know your true self until you have success, once that happens, how you treat people will show your true self, of course it is a shame most people never find themselves in this situation.
I am sure you know someone that does no wrong, they are always looking for someone else to blame for the mistakes they made, these type of people are afraid of the consequences, I have news for them, you will never live a full and happy life until they face those fears and accept the consequences of the actions made, hiding the mistake, large or small, will only compound the problem. If your in business, every CEO on the face of the earth will tell you one thing, bad news only gets worse as time goes by, it’s never a good idea to hide bad news, in my years of employment I have never seen anyone fired or reprimanded for making a mistake, I have seen hundreds fired for trying to hide it. So make a plan to admit your mistakes and pay the consequences, the chances are you will not be in for the hard time you expect unless you hide it, or try to pass it off on someone else. Yes sometimes in life the consequences hurt and hurt a lot, they may cost you dearly, but by lying and cheating and hiding it will hurt much more in the long run.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Blog entry,
There are times in a persons life, that come from time to time, that have a very large impact on your personal reality, we call this having an epiphany, well I have had one, and it is this. I freaking hate cold weather, why I decided to move to New Mexico where it freezes and snows is beyond my wildest dreams, I guess it is because my other choice was Minnesota, and it has to be worse there, I swear I could go to sleep here in New Mexico and wake up back home in Kansas and it would take me 3 days to figure out the difference.
It’s going to take me some time to get used to living where there are no people again, after 3 years in Baghdad in a very crowded villa compound and then to Cape Canaveral with everything you ever wanted within 5 minutes drive, to being out in the middle of nowhere, culture shock is setting in hard and I am not enjoying it, you have read my thoughts on this place and my new apartment so I am not going to dwell on these issues, I guess it is time to wrote about my topic of the day, so here goes.
Mothers that there child can do nothing wrong. Oh My God, we see them all the time, the over protective mother,we all think its awful, we all feel sorry for the poor kid, and trust me I do feel sorry for the kid, or adult, I have seen very large grown men that there mother will lie, cheat and steal, just to keep them from paying the consequences of there actions. Mom let me tell you what your doing to that person you love so much, your teaching them that life is about lying and cheating and doing anything you want because you can get away with it, is that the kind of child you want to have? I doubt it, but that is exactly what you are making, someone that will either end up in prison or dead, probably through suicide, and your going to cry your eyes out because all you see is a poor baby boy or girl that you loved so much, well blame yourself, you made them, the way they are, by not making them pay the price of there actions.
We will expound on this later, for now, start to think about paying the price of your action, I think that will be my next topic, maybe, we will see.
Luvya meanit.
There are times in a persons life, that come from time to time, that have a very large impact on your personal reality, we call this having an epiphany, well I have had one, and it is this. I freaking hate cold weather, why I decided to move to New Mexico where it freezes and snows is beyond my wildest dreams, I guess it is because my other choice was Minnesota, and it has to be worse there, I swear I could go to sleep here in New Mexico and wake up back home in Kansas and it would take me 3 days to figure out the difference.
It’s going to take me some time to get used to living where there are no people again, after 3 years in Baghdad in a very crowded villa compound and then to Cape Canaveral with everything you ever wanted within 5 minutes drive, to being out in the middle of nowhere, culture shock is setting in hard and I am not enjoying it, you have read my thoughts on this place and my new apartment so I am not going to dwell on these issues, I guess it is time to wrote about my topic of the day, so here goes.
Mothers that there child can do nothing wrong. Oh My God, we see them all the time, the over protective mother,we all think its awful, we all feel sorry for the poor kid, and trust me I do feel sorry for the kid, or adult, I have seen very large grown men that there mother will lie, cheat and steal, just to keep them from paying the consequences of there actions. Mom let me tell you what your doing to that person you love so much, your teaching them that life is about lying and cheating and doing anything you want because you can get away with it, is that the kind of child you want to have? I doubt it, but that is exactly what you are making, someone that will either end up in prison or dead, probably through suicide, and your going to cry your eyes out because all you see is a poor baby boy or girl that you loved so much, well blame yourself, you made them, the way they are, by not making them pay the price of there actions.
We will expound on this later, for now, start to think about paying the price of your action, I think that will be my next topic, maybe, we will see.
Luvya meanit.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Read for fun
This job is going well, I moved into my new apartment Wednesday night, the furniture wasn’t there yet, it was there when I arrived last night, a couch, love seat and dinning room table, I honestly was expecting at least some end tables and a coffee table, does it matter? No, I need a use for all those tubs I traveled with anyway, end tables are a good use for them, I plan on getting everything put away this weekend, enough about my boring life, Let me tell you about my fiancé.
Qand is her name, she is an Arab woman from Iraq, the most beautiful woman you can imagine, I musts tell you one thing, She has those Arab eyes, those eyes that make a man drop on his knees and thank God he is a man, Those of you in the US that have never spent time in the Arab culture really need to try and understand it better. There are good reasons why they do what they do, I am not talking about the terrorism part, of course there is no rhyme of reason for that, I am talking about there everyday culture, I’ve seen my fiancé in normal clothes and I’ve seen her in the black dress, and I am telling you, there is nothing sexier then the black dress, nothing but those gorges Arab eyes being seen, and just the hint of what is under, when you know who and what, is under that dress, waiting on you, it drives you crazy, before you get on your high horse and start telling these people how wrong they are, remember one simple thing, there culture is where humanity started, they have been around over 7000 years, we have been around a little over 200, detach yourself from the high ground and look at this from a logical standpoint, you are an alien from another planet just starting to observe earth, you find out that the Arab people have been around 7000 years, America has been around 200, who would you listen too? I would listen to someone that is older and wiser, I am not trying to make them sound like they are the best thing since the coming of Christ, but I am just trying to point out some faults we have in our thinking. The Arab culture is not perfect, but neither is ours, a little understanding is all both of them need to make this world a little safer, I am big enough to admit I was wrong about them, are you?
Qand is her name, she is an Arab woman from Iraq, the most beautiful woman you can imagine, I musts tell you one thing, She has those Arab eyes, those eyes that make a man drop on his knees and thank God he is a man, Those of you in the US that have never spent time in the Arab culture really need to try and understand it better. There are good reasons why they do what they do, I am not talking about the terrorism part, of course there is no rhyme of reason for that, I am talking about there everyday culture, I’ve seen my fiancé in normal clothes and I’ve seen her in the black dress, and I am telling you, there is nothing sexier then the black dress, nothing but those gorges Arab eyes being seen, and just the hint of what is under, when you know who and what, is under that dress, waiting on you, it drives you crazy, before you get on your high horse and start telling these people how wrong they are, remember one simple thing, there culture is where humanity started, they have been around over 7000 years, we have been around a little over 200, detach yourself from the high ground and look at this from a logical standpoint, you are an alien from another planet just starting to observe earth, you find out that the Arab people have been around 7000 years, America has been around 200, who would you listen too? I would listen to someone that is older and wiser, I am not trying to make them sound like they are the best thing since the coming of Christ, but I am just trying to point out some faults we have in our thinking. The Arab culture is not perfect, but neither is ours, a little understanding is all both of them need to make this world a little safer, I am big enough to admit I was wrong about them, are you?
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Working in New Mexico
It's been a full week on the new job in New Mexico, Everything is working well, I'm going to be putting together a lot of BPA's (Blanket Purchase Agreements) but enough about work let's talk about living here, I've been here exactly 7 days and have had the chance to talk to a few people and size up the situation, enough to decide it's a very nice place to live, I found an apartment in Andrews, TX, 25 minute drive from work, and it's all at 75mph 30 miles or so, the town has 9000 people and it's a dry county. Hobbs NM. is about 60 miles away, it has a casino with slots only but it also has a horse racing track, I do enjoy a good horse race, Odessa TX. is 30 miles south, I haven't been there yet, I will check it out next weekend, there are about 250,000 in the Midland Odessa area so I'm thinking it should have everything i want or need, Malls, Bars, Nightclubs, anything me or my girl need. I was very lucky to get the place in Andrews, I have been making calls for places to live since I got here, with no luck, I called this place and they said they may have something for me soon, well i had heard that before so I didn't thing much of my chances, I was wrong, they called 20 minutes later and said they had a one bedroom available early the next week, I jumped on it, said I'll take it before seeing it, Drove over there the next day to leave a deposit, Still haven't seen the place and don't much care. I will full you in on the details next week.
My fiance and I had another fight, serious this time, I thought maybe she was going to go away for good this time but we talked and worked it out, I think, we will see in the next few months, I'm headed to Syria to see her within the next few months and we are going to be married before God and ourselves, I can't wait, I don't want to get into my personal life too much on this blog, the idea behind it was to promote my ideas and book, to tell the folks reading what kind of person I am and what kind of thoughts I have. Well this week was just about me and my life, Kinda boring isn't it? Don't worry, it will be better soon.
Luvya Meanit
My fiance and I had another fight, serious this time, I thought maybe she was going to go away for good this time but we talked and worked it out, I think, we will see in the next few months, I'm headed to Syria to see her within the next few months and we are going to be married before God and ourselves, I can't wait, I don't want to get into my personal life too much on this blog, the idea behind it was to promote my ideas and book, to tell the folks reading what kind of person I am and what kind of thoughts I have. Well this week was just about me and my life, Kinda boring isn't it? Don't worry, it will be better soon.
Luvya Meanit
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
New Job, first few days
This is my 3rd day on the new job, I am in the middle of New Mexico now, still have no computer at work, there seems too be a mix up on me being in the system.
Let me talk about the area and what we are doing here. If you have ever been to the East New Mexico/West Texas area you know what is here, Oil, Scorpions, Tarantulas, Snakes and not much else, a few people, finding a place to live is going to be a challenge, the company is reimbursing me for expenses until i find a place, once that happens I go on Per Diem. The company I am working for seems to have it's act together, the procedures and processes are straight forward and easy to understand, the people seems nice enough, in fact I meet a guy that i knew in Baghdad, I bet there are more I find as time goes on, those of us that travel for a living seem to be of the same mold and are drawn to the same strange places and jobs, it may be the money, it may be the excitement, I know for me it is the fact that I get bored quickly with my surroundings, even living in Cocoa Beach on the ocean now seems like another life for me, I do miss the people, and the friends I left. For some reason new friends are easy to come by for people like me, i guess because they see I am pretty easy going, not stupid, enjoy being around people, work hard and most of all, I listen.
Since I brought up the subject of listening, i will share some wisdom I learned at a young age, the old saying that God gave us two ears and one mouth was so we could listen twice as much as we speak, I have found that if you sincerely, truly listen to someone they will tell you more then you wanted to know, in some cases WAY more then you wanted to know, there are too may people in this world that think they have something important too say and don't take the time to listen first. one of the reasons I am successful is because I listen, not just listen but actually listen and try to comprehend what people say, do you know that one of the main training courses you will take if you become a spy is too learn to listen, it is one of the main wash out points while training, more people wash out and go home during this portion of training then any other point, strange isn't it? It tells me that learning to listen and not talk is very difficult to learn, some of the problem is people think there opinion is better then anyone else's, there pride tells them they know more, there better and they don't need to listen, they already know the answer. The problem with that train of thought is you don't know everything, I have spent years in Procurement and do know more then about anyone about the subject, but I still take the time to listen too the new guy if he has an idea, and believe it or not, sometimes they come up with something worth saying, in fact more often then not, they have a great idea, after I listen and tell them why they didn't tell someone else about this, they answer "I did, but your the first one that listened" I try to teach all the people in my department how to listen, and you need to learn also. the next time you are discussing something with a friend, stop yourself from talking and just pay total attention to what comes out of there mouth, then think about it, then and only then, speak your mind, you will be surprised at how much you learn about people if you just pay attention and think before you talk.
Enough preaching for today, stay tuned for the next lesson.
Luvya Meanit
Thanks again for reading my thoughts.
Let me talk about the area and what we are doing here. If you have ever been to the East New Mexico/West Texas area you know what is here, Oil, Scorpions, Tarantulas, Snakes and not much else, a few people, finding a place to live is going to be a challenge, the company is reimbursing me for expenses until i find a place, once that happens I go on Per Diem. The company I am working for seems to have it's act together, the procedures and processes are straight forward and easy to understand, the people seems nice enough, in fact I meet a guy that i knew in Baghdad, I bet there are more I find as time goes on, those of us that travel for a living seem to be of the same mold and are drawn to the same strange places and jobs, it may be the money, it may be the excitement, I know for me it is the fact that I get bored quickly with my surroundings, even living in Cocoa Beach on the ocean now seems like another life for me, I do miss the people, and the friends I left. For some reason new friends are easy to come by for people like me, i guess because they see I am pretty easy going, not stupid, enjoy being around people, work hard and most of all, I listen.
Since I brought up the subject of listening, i will share some wisdom I learned at a young age, the old saying that God gave us two ears and one mouth was so we could listen twice as much as we speak, I have found that if you sincerely, truly listen to someone they will tell you more then you wanted to know, in some cases WAY more then you wanted to know, there are too may people in this world that think they have something important too say and don't take the time to listen first. one of the reasons I am successful is because I listen, not just listen but actually listen and try to comprehend what people say, do you know that one of the main training courses you will take if you become a spy is too learn to listen, it is one of the main wash out points while training, more people wash out and go home during this portion of training then any other point, strange isn't it? It tells me that learning to listen and not talk is very difficult to learn, some of the problem is people think there opinion is better then anyone else's, there pride tells them they know more, there better and they don't need to listen, they already know the answer. The problem with that train of thought is you don't know everything, I have spent years in Procurement and do know more then about anyone about the subject, but I still take the time to listen too the new guy if he has an idea, and believe it or not, sometimes they come up with something worth saying, in fact more often then not, they have a great idea, after I listen and tell them why they didn't tell someone else about this, they answer "I did, but your the first one that listened" I try to teach all the people in my department how to listen, and you need to learn also. the next time you are discussing something with a friend, stop yourself from talking and just pay total attention to what comes out of there mouth, then think about it, then and only then, speak your mind, you will be surprised at how much you learn about people if you just pay attention and think before you talk.
Enough preaching for today, stay tuned for the next lesson.
Luvya Meanit
Thanks again for reading my thoughts.
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