So we are leaving Wisconsin on June 15th. If you want to check out your new church home here's the website. Remember surf responsibly!
The LIFEhouse Church

We're moving again! God said California is the place you ought to be so we're loading up the truck and movin' to North Cali!

Working With Frustration

It is very interesting to me to see people slowly slip into that state of workable frustration. What I mean by this is that point where you can still function at work (getting the job done), but are so close to the edge that you may snap at any moment. Long gone is that state of happy bliss (and I don't mean Montana. Montana will never be gone. In fact I believe that do to "global warming" (Save those penguins! You heartless jerk.), we will soon have more usable land in Montana. Once all those useless glaciers are gone (Boo ya!), but I digress).
Happy bliss at work is important. It leads to contentment and longevity. Lack of happiness leads to stress, job turnover and is one of the leading causes of shootings in the work place. The funny thing is that it doesn't have to be your on happiness to cause these problems. Working in an environment filled with unhappy, stressed out, frustrated people (or one really out spoken person) can cause your own frustration level to rise to the breaking point.
Why do I bring this up? Well, I'm starting to see things. Things like people making important decisions based only on what will get it off there plate. Or making the choice to do nothing until someone else is brought in to take care of the need. Each of these frustrate me.

Now I'm not as frustrated as I was on Black Thursday (The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Black Thursday, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full scope and longevity of its fallout. Thank you Wikipedia!) That was bad. I was, at the time, still rolling in green backs do to my recent investment in sliding windows for high rise office buildings.
Needless to say, I lost my shirt. The real problem is that when things are down it is the aggressive, fearless investors that can make money, as the old saying goes, "Real players make money when the market is down". This ranks just behind, "I'll be back", and "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" as best quote ever. So in applying this principle I held on to my Apple stock and that has paid off. Vista what?!?
I have also tried to apply this to my work. Never wanting to just ride out the low times, but to remain aggressive and push for progress. Sadly I see that this has cast me as the odd man out in a world that just wants TPS reports turned in on time. So back to frustration. I have found that in order to deal with frustration you need to have a mental escape every once in a while. Something that takes your mind to that happy place and refreshes your mental web page.
This is not a waist of time, but a vital part of office wellness. Let me suggest a few things.
10. Coffee runs
9. Slap fighting in the break room
8. Nerf guns
7. Changing the presets on your friends radio
6. Watching "The Office" on thursday night
5. Line dancing
4. Plant a tree
3. Wander around mumbling to yourself
2. Wii or Xbox party with a group of 5th graders
1. Write a blog

Well I don't know if this has help you at all, but I feel much less frustrated.

I'll be back!

GOAL!!!!!
After years of procrastination and defeat I have finally reached my goal. This last week I weighted in at under 200 pounds for the first time since 1995. Oh where has the time gone?

Why did I do it? What was different this time? What did I do?

Well I did it because I realized that I am not the strapping young man I once was, and I want to be around to play with my kids for a long time. Also my bad knee was killing me this past summer. So I had to make it happen.

The difference was that I was in the right place mentally to commit and see it through. I was sick of being where I was.

How did I do it? Well it was very complex and tricky. I ate less calories then I burned off in a day. I know crazy right? Self-control is so old school.

Anyway in honor of reaching my goal I commissioned a painting to commemorate my new lease on life. Let me know what you think. Is it to much, or just right?

Oh, don't think for one minute that I am off my healthy eating thing. I have set a new goal and when I reach that one you may not even recognize me. Maybe you don't already.

Topic: Military casualties

This was emailed to me. I am trying to find the source.
If you can help me out please comment.
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BET YOU DON'T KNOW THIS

Military losses for 20 years These are some rather eye-opening facts: Since the start of the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan , the sacrifice has been enormous. In the time period from the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 through now, we have lost over 3000 military personnel to enemy action and accidents. As tragic as the loss of any member of the US Armed Forces is, consider the following statistics: The annual fatalities of military members while actively serving in the armed forces from 1980 through 2006: 1980 .......... 2,392 1981 ......... 2,380 1984 .......... 1,999 1988 .......... 1,819 1989 .......... 1,636 1990 ......... 1,508 1991 .......... 1,787 1992 .......... 1,293---------------------------------------------------- 1993 .......... 1,213 1994 .......... 1,075 1995 ...........2,465 1996 ......... 2,318 Clinton years @13,417 deaths 1997 ......... 817 1998 ......... 2,252 1999 .......... 1,984 ------------------------------------------------- 2000 .......... 1,983 2001 ......... 890 2002 .......... 1,007 7 BUSH years @ 9,016 deaths 2003 .......... 1,410 2004 .......... 1,887 2005 ......... 919 2006......... 920 ------------------------ ------------------------------------ If you are confused when you look at these figures...so was I. Do these figures mean that the loss from the two latest conflicts in the Middle East are LESS than the loss of military personnel during Mr. Clinton's presidency; when America wasn't even involved in a war? And, I was even more confused; when I read that in 1980, during the reign of President (Nobel Peace Prize) Jimmy Carter, there were 2,392 US military fatalities! These figures indicate that many of our Media & Politicians will pick and choose. They present only those "facts" which support their agenda-driven reporting. Why do so many of them march in lock-step to twist the truth. Where do so many of them get their marching-orders for their agenda? Our Mainstream Print and TV media, and many Politicians like to slant; that these brave men and women, who are losing their lives in Iraq , are mostly minorities! Wrong AGAIN--- just one more media lie! The latest census, of Americans, shows the following distribution of American citizens, by Race: European descent (White) ....... 69.12% Hispanic ................................ 12.5% Black.................................... 12.3% Asian ...................................... 3.7% Native American ..................... . 1.0% Other ..................................... 2.6% Now... here are the fatalities by Race; over the past three years in Iraqi Freedom: European descent (white) ..... 74.31% Hispanic ............................. 10.74% Black ................................... 9.67% Asian ................................. . 1.81% Native American .................... 1.09% Other .................................... . 33% You do the Math! These figures don't lie... but, Media-liars figure...and they sway public opinion! (These statistics are published by Congressional Research Service, and they may be confirmed by anyone at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf ) Now ask yourself these two questions: "Why does the mainstream Print and TV Media never print statistics like these?" and "Why do the mainstream media hate the web as much as they do? _____________________________________________________________________________ So what do you think? Do some research and let me know.