Pat Man's Hang Up... Uh Out

Give me a 10 for Best Photo

2008-02-19T15:46:00.001-06:00

My Near Death Experience...

2007-11-01T11:37:00.000-05:00

Sometimes things happen in our lives that make us stop and realize what's important. My weekend was a good weekend. Pretty much like all the others. Up Saturday morning for a soccer game with the kids. Driving to St. Francisville to got to a friends art show (OK we don't do that all the time I'll give you that) Watching Game 3 of the world series. Go Red Sox... Get up Sunday morning and get the family ready for church... Go early to practice cause I play drums for the worship team... We rock out the service, have a great time... then go to my parents house for lunch. We have to hurry up and eat, at least me and my older daughter, because she has soccer practice at 2PM and I'm coaching the team... gotta be there on time!!!
We were having spaghetti for dinner with garlic bread toasted in the oven... you know the really good kind with lots of butter that is toasted just right so it's crumbly. You know what I mean... anyway, I put some spaghetti sauce on my bread (thats the only way to eat it) and go to take a bite just as someone says something funny where I inhale and have a bunch of the crumbly pieces of bread go down my throat!!! I find myself choking... I spit my food out and stand up... I'm starting to get worried cause I can't breathe. My mom and brother in law start to stand up thinking the Heimlich might be necessary... I am actually coughing a little, which means I'm getting a small bit of air. The coughs are very shallow as are the breaths... I make my way to the sink and turn on the water and find my self wheezing. It seems that my throat must have swollen up or something, as I hear my daughters ages 4 and 8 saying Daddy are you OK? I turn and look at them and see tears in their eyes, "Daddy are you OK?" After what seems like an eternity I'm finally breathing somewhat normally and I return to the table, though I can't talk because it throws me into a coughing fit... I sit down in my seat again with a daughter on each side of me as they lean in and give me a huge hug. "Daddy are you OK?" I squeak out an "I'm OK" followed by a tirade of coughs... Crisis averted.. I finish my spaghetti, but couldn't bring myself to eat anymore bread...
My daughter and I leave for soccer practice... I'm back to normal... She begins to tell me a story told by someone at school about a family member at the hospital that is brought back to life... (CPR) I explain about CPR and she asks does that work when someone is Old... I told her that sometimes it does... Other times the person is just gone... She then asks me how old I will live to be where I tell her as long as I can, as long as the Lord gives me... She tells me she wants to do that (CPR) to me when I get Old so I can live another 50 years...
My heart is breaking at this point... My oldest daughter has had her first real thoughts about a parent dying...

Cherish the time that you have!!! Don't forsake anything. Realize what is important and hug your family one extra time every day when you leave for work...

Patch

WOW has it really been this long...

2007-09-12T10:07:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's been this long since I've been here, but I guess the dates don't lie... Well I've been on "your space" most of this time, but have recently discovered something new... It's just like "your space" except that you get paid for all the stuff you do. Uploading photos, blogging, posting comments, joing groups/clubs.. Its great. I've just joined up and will be posting here on my successes... If you'd like to check it out (and why wouldn't you?) here's a banner link.

Patch

Oh where is my Hairbrush....

2006-01-30T19:11:00.000-06:00

If you find your self singing that Wonderful Veggietails song... Then read on... You'll love this one... Dedicated to all those parents "forced" to listen to their kids music.

P.S. Sorry I've been away for so long... A few more comments at the end..

A Thousand Little MelodiesMy unfortunate addiction to children's music.By Sam AndersonPosted Friday, Jan. 27, 2006, at 5:16 PM ET
The English language is not equipped to describe the crippling psychological torture of having a song stuck in your head. "Stuck in your head" sounds like a minor logistical mix-up; the real experience is like temporary schizophrenia. A vacuum cleaner jingle, overheard at a vulnerable moment, can wipe out a week's worth of cognition. As usual, we have to turn to German (Weltschmerz, schadenfreude) to chart the subtleties of our own despair: We need the word Ohrwurm, literally "earworm," which appropriately suggests the violent invasion of a parasite. Earworms have ruined some of the best moments of my life. The first time I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge—one of America's sublime experiences—I was haunted by the Meatloaf power-ballad "I Would Do Anything for Love," which ran in a continuous loop all the way across. The song returns to me now whenever I see a big-city skyline.

Earworms breed in all kinds of musical environments—the gangrenous wound of a Coldplay chorus, the festering pit of a cellphone ring-tone—but the most fertile breeding ground, by far, is children's music. The genre is an earworm hatchery, the aural equivalent of an overstuffed Dumpster baking in the August sun. Its grubs are uniquely robust and brain-thirsty: Kids' music is all hook, cutesy melodies pared to the most efficient possible sequence of notes and repeated until the recording studio runs out of tape. It's like a reverse parody of atonal jazz: Instead of denying us the pleasure of melody, kids' music heaps it on so heavily that our desire for it disappears, and melody disintegrates into pure pleasureless noise.

I know this because my daughter requires a constant stream of children's music to fuel her epic, mesmerizing dance-marathons. I've been listening to her music intensively now for almost two years—which makes it, sadly and easily, my most intense engagement with any music since high school. Though our library of kids' albums is small—a handful of discs inflicted on us at baby showers—I have involuntarily memorized every note. I've listened to these albums so many times they've lost their status as music and become a kind of continuous and ecstatic holy mantra. Instead of criticizing, I just bask irrationally in the soul-cleansing repetition. My musical standards have eroded completely. I know it's just some kind of sensory trick, like submerging your hands in freezing water until it feels like they're burning, but I have started to love it. Even with adult friends around, I sing passionate a-cappella soul renditions of songs I once reviled.

Two albums in particular have colonized my mental soundtrack. The first is Victor Vito, by a woman named Laurie Berkner. Berkner has risen over the last few years from grass-roots play-group fame to national prominence; now she dominates the music scene on Noggin, Nickelodeon's popular and commercial-free younger sibling. She is sometimes referred to as the Ani DiFranco of children's music: nosering, perky hair, low-fi acoustic songs that hop unpredictably between tempos and moods. She plays concerts with a stuffed pig on her head.
The first time my wife and I listened to Berkner's album, we had to call and enthusiastically unthank the person who gave it to us: We could feel the songs fish-hooking themselves into our frontal lobes, displacing important phone numbers and relatives' birthdays. The opening track, "Victor Vito"—which tells a story, set to syncopated hand-claps, of two nomadic children with a passion for diverse ethnic food—is hands down the earwormiest thing I've ever heard. It has become the unofficial theme song of my life; I've probably listened to it more times over the past year than I've brushed my teeth. The rest of Berkner's album is similarly, maddeningly, catchy.

One song's chorus repeats the word "bottlecaps" eight times:

CollectingBottlecaps bottlecaps bottlecaps bottlecaps
Every one I see
Collecting Bottlecaps bottlecaps bottlecaps bottlecaps
Every one I see

It's impossible to resist onslaughts like this. I have become an unrepentant Berkner fan. I stomp to her stomping and emote to her emoting. The other day, her version of "Oh Susannah" came up on my iPod, tucked somewhere into what used to be a respectably cool shuffle, and, without a kid in sight, I listened to the whole thing.

The second album that has staked out permanent real estate in my consciousness is Here Come the ABCs, by the venerable alternative duo They Might Be Giants. The Giants' crossover to children's music wasn't a radical step: Even during its college-radio heyday in the early '90s, the band wielded its tight polka-funk in the service of educating the masses. They wrote songs (or remade songs) with lyrics that sounded like cleverly compressed middle-school lesson plans—

So take me back to Constantinople
No you can't go back to Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works?
That's nobody's business but the Turks.
Istanbul! Istanbul!

so the transition to kids' music was just a question of stepping the curriculum down a few grades, as in the song "C is for Conifers":

If you see a Christmas tree
Or a stack of newspapers
Or the 2x4 frame of a house,
They're probably made from pine trees
And pine trees are conifers
That's what this song is about.
Or if you see a plant in the shape of an elephant
Or in the shape of a dog
It's probably a shrub, a conifer shrub
Pruned into that shape by someone.

The song ends with a list of tree species ("fir … Douglas fir … cedar … yew") spoken with such slow solemnity over an accordion-banjo dirge that it has made me laugh out loud in public. Part of the fun of Here Come the ABCs is seeing the Giants' wry, melancholy alterna-rock sensibility grafted onto the agenda of spelling class: perky intellectual exercises, oddly poignant stories of humanized or missing letters. The Giants' album is the best argument that modern children's music has, like modern children's movies, become slick and sophisticated enough to span generations.

That said, however, the genre is still dominated by cutesy voices, preschool subjects, and one-dimensional sincerity—it is, in other words, still children's music. I find myself crossing new thresholds of aesthetic debasement almost daily. Someone recently gave us a CD by the incredibly popular Australian band the Wiggles. I listened to it once and knew, for a fact, in the same way I know that I have hands, that it was one of the worst travesties in the history of recorded music. The band members seemed to have infantilized themselves to the point of catatonia. Then, somewhere around listen 50, I saw the light—I finally got it—and I sang the opening track over and over until my wife threatened to slap me.

Audio excerpts from Here Come the ABCs © 2005 Walt Disney Records, Victor Vito © 2004 Two Tomatoes, and Top of the Tots © 2004 Koch Records. All rights reserved.

So how many of you are still singing about your hairbrush...

BUSTED!!!!

An Amazing Day!!!

2005-10-21T11:04:00.000-05:00

Well, I gues you can see by the pics that my wife and I had or baby yesterday... She woke up yesterday morning at about 5AM with a contraction that was different than the ones she had been having... She woke me up about 5:20AM and we started timing them. They were on average about 6 minutes apart but not too consistant. We decided to go ahead and make the call over to Granddad to come and stay at our house for when our girls got up and we drove to the hospital. They wheeled us into the room at about 7AM and when they checked my wife she was at 4cm. Her doctor came in and ended up breaking her water for her. (Jess' nurse was pissed cause he did that before the Anesthesia guy came around.) She had a few really strong contractions that brought her to tears. Then Dr. Steel arrived or should I say SUPER STEEL!!! He fixed her up with an epidural. Smooth sailing from then on. We started pushing at about 9AM , and I do mean we... if you've ever been in this before you understand that you find yourself pushing with the mommie every time, the joke is that everybody ends up leaving the delivery with hemerroids... Anyway, pushing... yes pushing... The baby was turned face up which makes for a more difficult delivery. Our doctor tried to turn him but couldn't. He seemed to get stuck on the pubic bone... We kept pushing with the nurse who was awesome by the way... and she was actually able to turn him face down... PHEW!!! If he stayed stuck in there we'd have had to go for a C-Section. Once he turned over he didn't waste any time coming out. He was 5 lbs. 9.2 ozs. 17 inches long and was born at 10:24 AM October 20th, 2005

Things were a bit different with this one... I didn't find myself bawling as I did with my two daughters. I was just so very proud to have had a son. We named him Jesse James Mehaffey. Now let me explain that... My wife is Jessica, named after her Grandfather Jesse. I am Patrick James... and my father, grandfather, and great grandfather are all James something... So it is the perfect family name combonation.

Thinking about yesterday and all that happened there is one thing that sticks out in my mind... I don't think I will ever be more proud than when I presented MY SON to his GRANDFATHER!!! Thanks to all those that called and came by to see us. We may actually be going home today. My wife's doctor has cleared her, but we need the baby to be cleared to leave... If that happens then I'll be at home tonight on the couch with my son watching the KC/Dolphins game!!!

2005-10-04T09:07:00.000-05:00

I saw this on Silla's site and couldn't resist... I am what I am... Take the quiz. The questions are pretty funny.

You are Napoleon Dyanamite and a buttload of gangs
are trying to recruit you.

Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

It's my Turn..

2005-09-29T15:01:00.000-05:00

Well, It's my turn now for an annoying questionaire thingy... Since I haven'treally thought of anything else to blog about... So here goes and I hope it doesn'tget too boring...

Piercings: 2 (left ear)
tattoos: no, not yet???
height: 5'9"
shoe size:10
hair color: brown
length: shaved
siblings:Kathy - 35

LAST....
movie you rented: Kung Pow - freakin' hilarious!!!
movie you bought: Constantine (returned it when I noticed wasn't wide screen)
song you listened to: What about Now (Country Song)
song that was stuck in your head: I'm not as good as I once was -Toby Keith
CD you listened to: Declaration - Steven Curtis Chapman
Person you've called: a customer
Person that's called you: same customer
TV show you've watched: Overhaulin
person you were thinking of: Wifey

DO....
you have a bf or gf: yes, my wife
you have a crush on someone: huh???
you wish you could live somewhere else: Sometimes here... ====>
you think about suicide: Nope
you believe in on-line dating: I guess if it works for you.
others find you attractive: Hmmm... don't really notice.
you want more piercings: I promised my oldest daughter I'd get my ear pierced when she decides to pierce hers...
you drink:Occasionally
you do drugs:Nope
you smoke: Only when I'm on fire
you like cleaning: No way!!!
you like roller coasters: LOVE them
you write in cursive or print: Mostly Print
you carry a donor card: Nope, Will let my wife decide that If I pass

FOR OR AGAINST....
using someone: against
suicide: Against
killing people: There are times when it may be necessary, but for the most part Against
teenage smoking: Against
driving drunk: Absolutely Against

FAVORITE....
food: Sushi
song: too many to list
thing to do:Watch Football
thing to talk about: My family
sport: I thought I already covered this one... Football College and Pro
drinks: Sam Adams Summer Ale, Sam Adams Light, Coke, Chocolate Milk
clothes: Jeans, T-Shirt, Boots
movies: Man with no name trilogy (Clint Eastwood)
holiday: Christmas
new nerdy saying: What's up,Yo? (not that new... guess I don't change that often)

HAVE YOU...
ever cried over a guy/girl: Yep.
ever lied to someone: Sadly, yes.
ever been in a fist fight: yes, a few... and avoided a few more
ever been arrested: no, unless tickets count

NUMBER...
of times I have had my heart broken? Once
of hearts I have broken? Hopefully none, but maybe a couple.
of people I would classify as true, could trust with my life type friends? I'd say 4 (Family not included)
of people I consider my enemies? None
of times my name has appeared in the newspaper? Don't know a numberbut a few times for things with school, or wedding announcements etc.
of scars on my body? Impossible to answer... I was an active kid.
of things in my past that I regret: A few...

DO YOU THINK YOU ARE...
funny: yes
friendly: I'd like to think so
amusing: From time to time
loveable: Yeah, once you get into the inner circle
pessimistic: Rarely
optimistic: Generally
caring: yes
sweet: on occasion
dorky: More and more every day!!!
Spell your first name backwards: kcirtaP
The story behind your user name: Child hood nickname, sung like the old Bat Man TV show theme...
Where do you live? Baton Rouge, LA
4 words that sum you up: deep, loving, complicated, devoted

DESCRIBE YOUR -
Wallet: single fold, black leather and rather empty...
Hairbrush: HA!!! Hairbrush... me???
Toothbrush: Electric vibrate type
Jewelry worn daily:right now none... at times 2 earings and a wedding ring
Pillow cover: What ever color sheets my wife picked... I'm sure the color name ismore like rose or muave instead of a regular color name
Blanket: White Down filled Comforter
Sunglasses: Black with Black lenses
Shoes: Black Wing Tips
Handbag:Uh... not applicable
Favorite shirt: Button down, white with blue criss cross pattern... my wife picked it out
Hair: Shaved, except for my chin
Make up: uh... no!!!

WHO or WHAT -
In my mouth: my tongue
In my head: "This is taking too long."
Wishing: Classic Triumph Chopper/Bobber Motorcycle 1960-1975
Talking to: Myself, wondering why I decided to do this
Eating: nothing
Person you wish you could see right now: Baby#3 - Due in November
Is next to you: Laptop, Files, 2 empty tupperware dishes (don't tell my wife)
Something you're looking forward to in this up coming month: A good Paycheck
Something that you are deathly afraid of? A roach crawling on me in my sleep
Do you like candles: Vanilla!!!
Do you like hot wax: Nope
Do you like incense: Nah.
Do you believe in love: You bet!!
Do you believe in soul mates: Absolutely
Do you believe in love at first sight: Love is more than surface... so no
Do you believe in forgiveness: Absolutely
What do you want done with your body when you die: Doesn't really matter to me, so whatever brings comfort to those still here
Who is your worst enemy? Gotta be ME
If you could have any animal for a pet: Tiger (provided he'd be super sweet and wouldn't eat me or my family =) )
What is the latest you've ever stayed up: Approximately 56 hours
Ever been to England? nope
Can you eat with chopsticks: yep, sushi remember...
What are some of your favorite pig out foods? Chips and Salsa, Popcorn, Ice Cream

So there you have it... my first posted questionaire... please don't be bored and expect greatness in the future...

A Can of Worms...

2005-09-20T08:48:00.000-05:00

Uh Oh!!! It's begun. We have opened the can of worms that will probably never end. What can is that you say? The can of Home Improvement. Yep you got it, we actually opened "that one". It started with my wife getting me to pull the carpet and padding up in the front bathroom, as well as the linoleum. We started this project because the caulking around the linoleum and the tub was messed up and it seemed that water had leaked underneath and had cause mold and mildew to grow. It was time to rip it out and tile, and if we were gonna do that, we just needed to tile the area in front of the sinks as well...

So anyway, I get in there and the carpet/padding wasn't a problem. I then popped the tack strips out without much difficulty... This should have been a sign that something awful was coming... The linoleum from... well, you know where. I started pulling it up and encountered a pungent odor to say the least, as well as an even older, stinkier layer of linoleum. I ended up being able to pull both layers of flooring and scraped up what was left. Now there's just a little of the adhesive and paper backing left... I must not have realized how bad the smell had gotten, though I was feeling a bit sick to my stomach. My wife opened the door to bring me some sweet tea (that's how we do tea in the south) and nearly threw up and had to immediately turn around and leave. After that episode... we sanitized the bathroom and I'll begin laying tile today with the help of a friend...

Yeah I know, doesn't sound like much. It's only 51 tiles in one bathroom... Yeah, but next is our bathroom, then my wife would like to redo the floors in the living room. She'd like to acid stain the concrete slab.... WOW!!! That means moving all the furniture, pulling all the carpet (it's nasty and needs to go anyway) and tack strips, then etching the slab with lines to make it look like marble slabs, then cleaning up the slab of all the dripped paint etc. from construction (May take muratic acid) then staining and sealing the floor... Not too bad right? Well the living room is about 30x22... not a small room... After that will be our bedroom, maybe a different stain or hard wood, and then of course nothing willmatch the paint so we'll have to repaint alot of the rooms, probab le our room, and both bathrooms... Any way, the deed is done. The can is opened and there's "no turning back, no turning back." (Old Baptist Hymn)

A Little Nostalgia

2005-09-19T11:08:00.000-05:00

Hi there everybody. I found myself looking at some old pictures this morning and found a few of them that I'd like to share with you. You may be surprised by a few of them, but that's the fun isn't it. To my hunny.... I hope you like them, they are posted without your permission... Hehe.

First a couple of really old ones... (To us at least) This on is Christmas hug. Note the genuinely excited smile of my wife... LOL Not sure why she has that expression, but I do seem to be happy. Note my flat tummy and the flowing locks!!! WOOT! Quite a change from me today... on both accounts. She looks a lot happier in this one. That's her dad's chin in the back ground. Speaking of her dad, the next picture is of Jess and I playing a benefit with her dad. For those of you that don't know, Jess' dad was an entertainer for 25 years; a large portion of which he did an Elvis style show called the Don Hinton Show. On occasion he has dusted off his Elvis suits and performed for a fund raising event. This pic shows one of the times both Jess and I performed with him. Note my shorter hair in this one... I look like I'm deep in thought... LOL

Now moving along and speaking of Elvis... Let's go back a bit more... Here's a pic of my wife clowning around in her wedding dress before we were married doing an Elvish... hehe or should that be Elvisish pose ???? She was 19 in this picture... (SHHHH!!!! Don't tell anybody, but she's gonna be 30 this year... SHHHHHH!!!)

Now one more that I just though was sweet... me kissing her pregnant belly that's holding our first of three children... WOW what a life I've lived. It sure has been great!!! And it just keeps getting better!!!

This Story Made Me Cry...

2005-09-14T14:34:00.000-05:00

Survivor Story: 6-Year-Old Leads Five Toddlers, Baby To Safety

WLEX-TV

In the chaos that was Causeway Boulevard in New Orleans last Thursday, one group of survivors stood out: a 6-year-old boy walking down the road, holding a 5-month-old, surrounded by five toddlers who followed him around as if he were their leader.

They were holding hands. Three of the children were about two years old, and one was wearing only diapers. A three-year-old girl, who wore colorful barrettes on the ends of her braids, had her 14-month-old brother in tow. The 6-year-old spoke for all of them, and he told rescuers his name was Deamonte Love.

Thousands of human stories have flown past relief workers in the last week, but few have touched them as much as the seven children who were found wandering together Thursday at an evacuation point in downtown New Orleans. In the Baton Rouge headquarters of the rescue operation, paramedics tried to coax their names out of them; nurses who examined them stayed up that night, brooding.

Transporting the children alone was "the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, knowing that their parents are either dead" or that they had been abandoned, said Pat Coveney, a Houston emergency medical technician who put them into the back of his ambulance and drove them out of New Orleans.

"It goes back to the same thing," he said. "How did a 6-year-old end up being in charge of six babies?"

So far, parents displaced by flooding have reported 220 children missing, but that number is expected to rise, said Mike Kenner of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which will help reunite families. With crowds churning at evacuation points, many children were parted from their parents accidentally; one woman handed her baby up onto a bus, turned around to pick up her suitcase and turned back to find that the bus had left.

At the rescue headquarters, a cool tile-floored building swarming with firefighters and paramedics, the children ate cafeteria food and fell into a deep sleep. Deamonte volunteered his vital statistics. He said his father was tall and his mother was short. He gave his address, his phone number and the name of his elementary school.

He said the 5-month-old was his brother, Darynael, and that two others were his cousins, Tyreek and Zoria. The other three lived in his apartment building.

The children were clean and healthy -- downright plump in the case of the infant, said Joyce Miller, a nurse who examined them. It was clear, she said, that "time had been taken with those kids." The baby was "fat and happy."

"This baby child was terrified," he said. "After she relaxed, it was gobble, gobble, gobble."

As grim dispatches came in from the field, one woman in the office burst into tears at the thought that the children had been abandoned in New Orleans, said Sharon Howard, assistant secretary of the office of public health.

Late the same night, they got an encouraging report: A woman in a shelter in Thibodeaux was searching for seven children. People in the building started clapping at the news. But when they got the mother on the phone, it became clear that she was looking for a different group of seven children, Howard said.

"What that made me understand was that this was happening across the state," she said. "That kind of frightened me."

The children were transferred to a shelter operated by the Department of Social Services, rooms full of toys and cribs where mentors from the Big Buddy Program were on hand day and night. For the next two days, the staff did detective work.

Deamonte began to give more details to Derrick Robertson, a 27-year-old Big Buddy mentor: How he saw his mother cry when he was loaded onto the helicopter. How he promised her he'd take care of his little brother.

Late Saturday night, they found Deamonte's mother, who was in a shelter in San Antonio along with the four mothers of the other five children. Catrina Williams, 26, saw her children's pictures on a web site set up over the weekend by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. By Sunday, a private plane from Angel Flight was waiting to take the children to Texas.

In a phone interview, Williams said she is the kind of mother who doesn't let her children out of her sight. What happened the Thursday after the hurricane, she said, was that her family, trapped in an apartment building on the 3200 block of Third Street in New Orleans, began to feel desperate.

The water wasn't going down and they had been living without light, food or air conditioning for four days. The baby needed milk and the milk was gone. So she decided they would evacuate by helicopter. When a helicopter arrived to pick them up they were told to send the children first and that the helicopter would be back in 25 minutes. She and her neighbors had to make a quick decision.

It was a wrenching moment. Williams' father, Adrian Love, told her to send the children ahead.

"I told them to go ahead and give them up, because me, I would give my life for my kids. They should feel the same way," said Love, 48. "They were shedding tears. I said, Let the babies go.' "

His daughter and her friends followed his advice.

"We did what we had to do for our kids, because we love them," Williams said.

The helicopter didn't come back. While the children were transported to Baton Rouge, their parents wound up in Texas, and although Williams was reassured that they would be reunited, days passed without any contact. On Sunday, she was elated.

"All I know is I just want to see my kids," she said. "Everything else will just fall into place."

At 3 p.m. Sunday, DSS workers said good-by to seven children who now had names: Deamonte Love; Darynael Love; Zoria Love and her brother Tyreek. The girl who cried "Gabby!" was Gabrielle Janae Alexander. The girl they called Peanut was Degahney Carter. And the boy whom they called G was actually Lee -- Leewood Moore Jr.

The children were strapped into car seats and driven to an airport, where they were flown to San Antonio to rejoin their parents. As they loaded into the van, the shelter workers looked in the windows; some wept.

The baby gaped with delight in the front seat. Deamonte was hanging onto Robertson's neck so desperately that Robertson decided, at the last minute, to ride with him as far as Lafayette.

Shelter worker Kori Thomas, held Zoria, 3, who reached out to smooth her eyebrows. Tyreek put a single fat finger on the van window by way of goodbye.

Robertson said he doubted the children would remember much of the helicopter evacuation, the Causeway, the sweltering heat or the smell of the flooded city.

"I think what's going to stick with them is that they survived Hurricane Katrina," he said. "And that they were loved."

To Harley or Not to Harley...

2005-09-12T11:31:00.000-05:00

Ok so here's the deal. I've owned two Harley's in the past. My first was a brand new 1998 Sportster Hugger that I bought when I worked at the Harley Shop right out of college. Similar to the one you see here, except mine was black. I loved that bike... it was a dream come true for me. I had sold my little Honda VT500 shadow for the down payment ($1000) and financed the rest. I was a happy camper. At that time in our lives, my wife and I had one car and my bike... Unfortunately, I did not have this bike for very long. I stepped outside my apartment one morning all dressed in my leathers with helmet on... "hmmm... maybe I parked over there..." Nope!!! Stolen. Yeah I was sad, but never really angry. I just couldn't believe it happened to me. The good thing was that it was brand new so my insurance company called the dealership, which I work at, to determine a value for the bike with the accessories I had added to it. I ended up getting more for the bike then I paid and got a little more than my deposit back. I took that deposit and bought my second and last Harley. A 1992 FXRS Conv. I had a big twin. I did pay too much for it. I realize that now, but boy did I LOVE it. It's similar to this pick except mine was blue and didn't have nearly this much chrome, but you get the idea. A lot more power in it's 1340 cc engine vs. the sportsters 883 cc enginge. I vowed to only own a big twin Harley after that. It's just a much more comfortable ride. I ended up selling that bike after having it for about 3 years. My wife and I decided to try and eliminate our debt load and I took the first step in selling my bike. I ended up getting enough out of it to pay off one of our credit cards, plus eliminating the bike payment... In the long run it has been the right decision to have made.

Now I find myself wanting another bike. So, here's the delimma. I don't have any money... LOL Funny huh. So with that in mind, I have been looking at other bikes. I really like a chopper/bobber style bike and have been looking on Ebay at different bikes. Ones that I have liked are ones made using a classic Triumph engine. Check the pic. This is one of the favorites I've seen. Very Old School and Tough!!! It's listed on Ebay for $3500. No bids and currently 6 hours left. It even has a sawed off shotgun as the suicide shift. So, What do I do. I can't really afford a bike, not even this one. I certainly don't want to add any monthly payments. I've considered one of these Triumph choppers or a Harley Sportster again, with the hopes of buying a Big Twin Harley later down the road... I am afraid though that if I don't get another bike soon, I never will, or it will be too late to really enjoy it. My daughters are 6 and 2. My son will be born in November. We plan to have more children. The older they get the less likely it will be that I have "extra money" for a bike purchase... And I don't really even have any money now...

My delimma is should I get a bike sometime soon, or should I wait. If I do get one should I go for the Big Twin Harley my heart desires, or a little sportster or Alternative brand bike? You see my pain don't you... Please chime in on your opinion...

Ah... Donations are also accepted... Feel free to buy any one of these options for me... =)

Man's man I am...

2005-09-07T09:34:00.000-05:00

John Wayne
You scored 64% Tough, 4% Roguish, 28% Friendly, and 0% Charming!

You, my friend, are a man's man, the original true grit, one tough
talking, swaggering son of a gun. You're not a bad guy, on the
contrary, you're the ultimate good guy, but you're one tough character,
rough and tumble, ready for anything. You call the shots and go your
own way, and if some screwy dame is willing to accept your terms,
that's just fine by you. Otherwise, you'll just hit the open trail and
stay true to yourself. You stand up for what you believe and can handle
any situation, usually by rushing into the thick of the action. You're
not polished and you're not overly warm, but you're a straight shooter
and a real stand up guy. Co-stars include Lauren Bacall and Maureen
O'Hara, tough broads who can take care of themselves.

Find out what kind of classic dame you'd make by taking the
Classic Dames Test.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 98% on Tough
You scored higher than 5% on Roguish
You scored higher than 54% on Friendly
You scored higher than 0% on Charming

Link: The Classic Leading Man Test written by gidgetgoes on OkCupid Free Online Dating

What is your resource?

2005-09-05T13:36:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone. Here is some information passed on to you all coming from emails and personal interaction with those displaced... First, and email letter from a friend, whose husband went with his church to help evacuees that are currently at Armstrong Airport...

Hi,

I am calling on people to pray—please stop whatever you are doing and pray-I know there is an ENOMOROUS amount of need out there right now and lots of prayer requested in many areas.

Cary was allowed down at the New Orleans International Airport last night with a convoy of about 80 volunteers that went down from our church to help. The city of Baton Rouge is relying on our church heavily to help in many needed areas. Some of the people that were in the dome in New Orleans have been moved to the airport…literally 10’s of thousand of people. Cary said probably about 20,000. He said elderly are sitting in their own waste, children by themselves hiding under blankets with the look of fear on their faces…they are flying people out of there as patients to hospitals all over the country but many people are just still sitting there waiting.

Cary said one minute he was helping in one area and had walked by the “black room”. The “black room” is where they put the critically ill patients that there is no longer anything they can do for them. He walked back by and they said they needed his assistance. One lady was alive one minute and when he came back she had just died. Cary had to bag 5 bodies last night. He said it is a horrific situation down there…he could hardly talk about it. Doctors, nurses, military everywhere but it is still just chaos due to the limited resources and because there is no power still at the hospital. These people need prayer and the volunteers, doctors, nurses, military, govt. leaders need prayer like never before for energy to keep going and for strength from the Almighty.

Where two or three are gathered…please pray specifically today while you are at worship for the countless lives that are still in New Orleans needing rescue and needing medical aid. And pray for a harvest of souls, that people will call on the name of the Lord and be saved.

With God, all things are possible.

Love,

Alisa

With this letter in mind, I want to share with you what is going on in our lives right now... We are members of the SouthEast Vineyard Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. As a church we have had such an out pouring of love and support from many of the 800 Vineyard Churches throughout our country. A few examples of what's going on... Saturday evening at about midnight, our pastor received a phone call from a couple that had driven all day and arrived from South Carolina. They had come in an old beatup pickup that they loaded down with supplies. The pastor met them at the church and helped them unload the truck into our warehouse space on our property, they then proceeded to leave and drive home. They felt lead to do this, they didn't stay for church, nor would they accept offers for a place to stay and get some sleep. They were simply obeying God...

About 2 hours later, another truck arrived. This time it was a 24 foot Ryder style truck coming from another part of the country. The truck got stuck in our driveway, but after church Sunday morning was freed and then unloaded. It seems that we are becoming a distribution center for supplies and necessities. We are not a huge church, and don't have space for 1000 evacuees or anything like that, but we do have warehouse space. The phones have been ringing off the hook with people saying, we're coming... we've got a semi/moving truck/pickup/ etc of supplies... We are overwhelmed by the response of the Vineyard Community...

Sunday morning, the Pastor made a great point in his sermon. His point, What is your resource? What has God given you that you can give to help these people? We all have resorces. For some it is money, or time, or extra groceries. For others it's prayer, or maybe even tears. For the church, it's a warehouse, and organization to receive and distribute needed materials from all over the country. For us it is an empty room in our home. Currently we have a Pastor from a new Vineyard church plant in Los Angeles, CA staying with us for the week. His name is David Ruis. Anyone that knows Vineyard music probably recognizes the name. I must tell you that this man has a huge heart. He has flown here to give of his time and of himself to do whatever he can to help. Here is one of his stories...

Yesterday, he went down to the River Centre/Centroplex in Baton Rouge to volunteer. He signed in and began talking to people. Immediately he began getting words for different people. He had many opportunities to pray for people... One story he told me as we were driving back from down town was about a man that lived in Lower Plaquemines Parish (South of New Orleans). This man was unable to evacuate as the Hurricane Approached. It was him, a 6 month old baby, his older son and Father who is in poor health. The home they were living in was only one story. The hurricane came in and the water began to rise. He realized that they needed to get to higher ground. They grabbed everyone in the house and started across the street to the neighbors house which was 2 stories. As they were crossing the street the water continued to rise. By the time he got in his neighbors house and had pushed the rest of his family ahead of him up the stairs to the second floor, the water was right at chin level. He found that with every step he took to climb higher the water level was climbing just as fast. He finally got to the second floor and his head away from the rising water only to find the water already up to his waist... ON THE SECOND FLOOR MIND YOU!!! They headed towards the attic... They climbed up into the attic and threw stuff out the windows to make room for the combined families. Fortunately the water stopped rising, and never got into the attic. After the storm passed, they found themselves stuck in the attic of a home with 16 feet or so of water surrounding them. The neighbor crawled out the window nto the roof and swam across to a nearby boat he saw that had floated into the area. He was able to hotwire the boat and get it running, into which they all piled in and went searching for a place to get rescued... Obviously they made it out, they were at the Centroplex...

This is one of many stories. Nearly all of the 1.5 million displaced residents of southeast Louisiana have a story to tell. These are the things they have gone through. The range of people is very vast,from the very poor and homeless to the middle class business man. People of all races,creeds, and religions are represented.

Some other interesting things about the shelter... The Red Cross has it's act together. Supply trucks are coming in non-stop. The people are well cared for... An interesting thing for the Christians out there... There is a very small Christian presence at this place. Somehow, The church of scientology, has been able to set up 3 tents in the centre where they are manned 24 hours a day and they give "consultations" and massages while the recruit people for the church. The mormans also have a large presence there... Occasionally announcing over a loud speaker that they were going to have a gathering. I know that many churches are housing refugees, but where is the Church's presence in this place?

Another interesting note... While there, it was heard that Oprah Winfrey was supposed to be coming. Immediately orders were given to sweep the floor and start cleaning. AMAZING!!! Please tell me that we are not cleaning for Oprah. Please tell me that we are not doing something that wasn't supposed to be done already, just because Oprah is coming. Don't get me wrong here... I think the celebrity attention is important. Just as it was for the tsunami, it can generate a huge amount of funds and needed aid to those effected... Just don't do anything extra because of Oprah.

Moving on...

In church yesterday, more than half of those in attendance were not from our church. The majority of the extra folks were from the Kenner Vineyard. That church took it hard and flooded. This church family is without a church or homes. They are struggling to find everyone as evacuees have gone in so many directions. Pray for these people. Pray for our church to be effective in using our resources, and ask yourself what is your resource. What do you have to offer...

I want to leave this post on a good note So I ask the question our Associate Pastor asked Sunday Evening at our communion service. What good is God doing/gonna do out of this? I'll end with another story shared at church on Sunday that gives an answer to this question.

A coilition of pastors has been formed in the area that bridges gaps between all denominations. At the most recent meeting a pastor from a local church spoke about something he experienced. This church has opened it's door to 800 refugees. The first night they arrived they slept on the floor. There was some unrest and a few problems with those there. The second day the Pastor got up and spoke to them saying that, "This is a town, and I am going to be the mayor. We are going to have a few simple rules for our town. The first is that this is a town of Love." He had them hugging each other and a few other things. He gave them a few more rules they would need to follow, and then shared with them a brief scripture and message. In his own words, it really wasn't much, but he felt the Lord tell him to give an invitation. So he had everyone close their eyes and bow their heads. He asked if anyone would like to come to Christ please raise their hands. He peeked at the crowd and saw many many hands. He thought to himself, they must have misunderstood me, so he asked Anyone that would like to receive Jesus as their Savior please come down to the front... 750 out of the 800 people came down to the front.

I get chills again even as I type this. Two scriptures I want to share with you all...

1) For those of you that are having trouble asking Why instead of What...

Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to [His] purpose.

2) For those of you effected by this seeming tragedy...

Matthew 6:25-34

25 "For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing? 26 "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 "And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life's span? 28 "And why are you anxious about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these. 30 "But if God so arrays the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more do so for you, O men of little faith? 31 "Do not be anxious then, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'With what shall we clothe ourselves?' 32 "For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you. 34 "Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

I've Come for Bread and Bullets...

2005-09-02T14:09:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone... I do apologize for being away for so long, but I guess a hurricane as powerful as Katrina can do that to you. To answer all the main questions up front, we made it through OK. Our house lost some shingles and has many more shingles that are curled from the wind. Luckily none of my trees fell.... Now that I've calmed your nerves, I'll proceed to my post and explain the title.

Thursday Morning approx. 7:30 A.M. The phone rings and it's my Mother-in-Law... She asks me if I'm ready for the hurricane... I'm like what hurricane... there's a hurricane? No I'm not ready.

During the day I start looking at the news and see this "thing" that is coming at us...

Friday Morning approx. 7:30A.M. the phone rings and it's my Mother-In-Law again... Are you ready for the hurricane? No we haven't done anything yet... Short conversation and we hang up. Phone rings again and I think it's Nana (Mother-in-Law) again. Nope... It's my Mom. Are you ready for the hurricane? Geez what is this thing coming... I think to myself. Nope we haven't done anything.

I hang up and turn on the TV and realize that what's coming is something MAJOR!!!

WOW Take a look at that... the perfect storm, a category 5... In church on Sunday the pastor gave us some information on the spiritual meaning of the name Katrina. It means "cleansing" GEEZ!! How prophetic is that. Sunday I had a vision or so I thought. In my vision i saw New Orleans under water, where only rooftops were visible, specifically I saw Bourbon Street with deep water in it... A vision is a new thing to me, I must be honest and say I believed it to be my imagination or a daydream... Anyway the storm came and our power went out at 6A.M. on Monday morning. We decided to pack the family, the dog and a few bags up and drive over to my parents house because they still had power and cartoons most importantly and we had not prepared well enough with radio and such to keep track of what was going on. We left our house at about 11 A.M. and had only really gotten one wave of rain from Kristina but were getting pretty good wind gusts. We stayed glued to the TV and reportsand watched as the devistation unfolded...

These pictures speak more than any of my word could...

And the Pictures that say the most to me.....

This makes me want to cry for him...

Please make no mistake, there are thousands of innocent people dead from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region. My heart cries out for these people and their families. I cannot begin to comprehend the realization of not having a home or job to go back to, that I'd be displaced from the place I called home for an indefinent time... This hurricane has been catastrophic and it's effects will be wide spread and felt for many years to come. I do not believe New Orleans will ever be the city it was. Is that a good or bad thing? I don't know. Did God allow or cause this "cleansing" storm to come this way? I don't know. I'll never claim to know. Right now I simply pray for these people, and hope that you do the same...

After the hurrican had passed I was amazed to see all the flooding that had occured in New Orleans, but was somewhat shocked to see that the Franch Quarter, and Central Business District did not have any water in it... TANGENT ALERT--- This makes sense though, because this is the oldest part of the city and where the fort was originally established because it was surrounded by water and had a great range of vision from all directions... A great place for a fort, not a CITY... Then I heard the news talking about how the water was slowly rising in the French Quarter, I couldn't believe it!!! In my minds eye, I could see the spiritual battle between the "cleansing" and Satan as Satan tried to preserve the VooDoo Capital and the French Quarter with all it's sinful nature, as the "cleansing" water slowly consumed these places. In the end, I saw my vision a reality. I believe 5-6 feet of water on Bourbon Street itself. Now what I hear is that New Orleans has begun to smell like the filth of the sin it contains.

The things that baffle me most are the looters... not all the looters mind you... I can understand breaking in somewhere for water, food, diaper... the things that you need to take care of your family. I would do the same thing myself. I am sure of that. What I cannot understand are the people who are grabbing Clothing by the rack, Stacks of shoes, Big TV's, Radios... Look at this picture...
"What size do you wear?"

Moving on...

In the aftermath, we find ourselves in Baton Rouge, having more than doubled in population. There are multiple families living in most houses. All the rental properties are taken. Houses are being purchased for cash. Traffic is a virtual gridlock. I find myself taking every backroad I ever knew as a teen age driver living here. There are long lines to buy gas, when you can find some available. There are countless unfounded rumors, about carjackings, looting, rioting etc. These things don't seem to be happening but the rumors are flying around. The police forces are taxed from keeping order and dealing with the added population and intersections with no lights. The grocery stores are overcrowed and understocked with food and supplies. The future is just uncertain... With all this in mind we come to my title...

I walked into my parents house last night on my way home from work and announced, I've come for Bread and Bullets. I grabbed our loaf of bread we left there when we came over during the power outage, and grabbed ammunition for my 9mm and 38 spl. I actually did leave with bread and bullets.

Relationships or Bust!!

2005-08-26T13:37:00.000-05:00

I received an email today from a loved one,with good intentions of course, but I really feel there is a twisted message included in the email... I'm getting ahead of my self... Here's the email message first, then we will discuss...

I would rather live my life as if there is a God, and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't, and die to find out there is.

You are my 8 in 8 seconds. I am not breaking this. No way! I'M TOLD THIS WORKS!!!!! Bishop T.D. Jakes "8 Second Prayer." Just repeat this prayer and see how God moves!! "Lord, I love you and I need you, come into my heart, and bless me, my family, my home, and my friends, in Jesus' name. Amen."

Pass this message to 8 people (EXCEPT YOU AND ME). You may receive a miracle tomorrow. I hope that you don't ! ignore and let God bless you.

So this is the email I received. Although I believe the intent is good I think there are several messages in here that are twisted... First of all,

"I would rather live my life as if there is a God, and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't, and die to find out there is."

The world is full of "good" people. Living a "good" life is not the answer. To me this statement sounds like you live your life as a "just in case". I'll go to church, I'll take communion, I'll sing in church, or even say prayers, Just in case there is a God, I've covered my bases and I'll be ok. WRONG!!!!

Matthew 7: 15-23
¹⁵"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ¹⁶By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

²¹"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²²Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' ²³Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

Here we see in vs 16 that people will be recognized by their fruit... What does that mean? It is the effects of that persons life on others coming to Christ because they have a personal relationship with Him and are living their daily lives in His will, but we are then cautioned in 21-23 that there will be those who do things in Jesus name, miraculous things even, but they truly do not know God... I feel that this statement to "just in case" live your life as if there were a God is wrong for this reason, but not just this one. You could live your life doing things in Jesus' name, and still be completely lost and in trouble.

Ephesians 2:8-10
⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

We see in these verses that we are not saved by our actions. No amount of "living as if there were a God" can save you. Only by Faith can this be done... The works or actions come from, as we see in vs. 10, what God has planned for our lives and by living in His will we produce works and fruit.

How do you have this "relationship"? How do I know Jesus? We have an easy to remember method at our church, that is not too dissimilar from the "8 second prayer" above...

S Sorry... Lord I know I am a sinner and that my sin keeps me away from you. I am sorry for what I have done. Please forgive me. T Thank you... Thank you for sending Jesus to pay the price for my sins on the cross. P Please come into my life and make me new and whole.
Pretty simple... S.T.P.

The second thing that bothers me about this email is the very end...

"Pass this message to 8 people (EXCEPT YOU AND ME). You may receive a miracle tomorrow. I hope that you don't ! ignore and let God bless you."

It is good to share the message of Christ... Do not mistake me on that. The thing that bothers me is the implication... "Pass this to 8 people and maybe receive a miracle..." Miracles happen everyday in many places on large and small scales. Being saved by Grace is a wonderful miracle which the prayer mentioned in the email could accomplish if prayed with a genuine heart, so by praying that prayer one has already received a miracle before passing the email along... How many people would pass this on simply because they want or need a miracle? Miracles comefrom God, again NOT from our actions. We pray and ask for miracles, but His will for our lives determines our blessings and miracles. I count waking up each morning a miracle. Why is it that our society has gotten away from talking to people? I am guilty of this myself as I write this blog...

Think about it... It is so easy to forward an email or pass a tape or CD, or anything else than to sit down with someone you know and simply tell them about Jesus and how your own life has changed from knowing Him...

I want to reiterate that I believe the intentions of this email were good, probably all the way back to whomever created it. I certainly know that the family member that sent it to me had good intentions, and copied it to 9 people... fantastic, great... Don't you think it would be better to call these people and say something like, "Hey ______, I've been thinking about you lately... why don't we go get some coffee or something?" Then sit down with them and talk. Isn't this what our heavenly Father wants from us? Or does he want us to be so involved in "Church activities" that we have no time for relationships. "I'm in choir, I teach Sunday school, I'm on the drama team, I'm in the Orchestra, I have practice on Monday Nights, I keep kids in Day care... I don't have time to sit with you Jesus and talk about what's going on in my life... I'll call you when I need something..." What's wrong with that picture? I think the best example of how our relationships with people should be is Jesus. Go figure.

He was all about relationship in the Bible... He wanted to talk to people, hug them, love them, touch them to their soul... The books and letters of the Bible were not written by Jesus... These books recorded what Jesus said to PEOPLE... The letters of Paul are invaluable to us, but I can't help but thinking that Jesus would have gone to see these people and tell them things face to face... I don't mean to babble on and on. I know it was 1 email laced with good intentions...

I will say this to those of you reading this... I have been thinking about you lately, wether(sp. -1) I know your name or not, and I'd love to get together for some coffee or something and talk about what's going on in your life and how mine has been changed...

-Patrick

Memory Loss in Pregnancy: Fact or Fiction?

2005-08-24T09:55:00.000-05:00

For those of you that don't know, my wife and I are expecting our third baby. We have 2 daughters ages 6 and 2.5. This ones a boy. *smiles* Anyway, It has been said that a pregnant woman experiences short term memory loss during pregnancy, especially the third trimester. Why am I writing this you ask? Well, I'd like to chime in and put in my own piece of evidence in affirmation to this phenomenon. First, I'll add a few paragraphs of what the experts say... then what I say...

(picture is not my wife)

The Experts...

Pregnancy can be a time of joy and expectancy for a woman, but few women will experience a pregnancy completely devoid of negative side effects. While most symptoms such as nausea and vomiting, weight gain, and increased fatigue can be attributed to measurable increases in hormone levels, other symptoms, such as short-term memory loss, are less quantifiable, and therefore, perhaps less palpable. In fact, recent data suggests that the memory loss experienced by pregnant and postpartum women is both real and measurable, despite an apparent lack of association with either anxiety or hormone levels.

What is Short-term Memory Loss?

If you are pregnant and approaching your third trimester, you may find yourself increasingly misplacing items such as keys or eyeglasses, forgetting appointments, or suddenly losing your train of thought in the midst of performing a task. Rest assured, this probably does not signal the onset of early Alzheimer’s disease, but may be a temporary condition known as short-term memory loss. Short-term memory, or working memory, as it is also known, is the process by which we store most of the daily, generally transitory information we need to get through our daily routines. This kind of information will most likely never make it’s way into our long-term memory, the process we reserve the more permanent information we encounter.

Memory Decline Greatest in Third Trimester

Approximately half of all pregnant women report increases in forgetfulness during the latter part of pregnancy and in the postpartum period.

In a 1998 study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Keenan and associates monitored the memory and anxiety or depression level of a group of women throughout pregnancy and in the postpartum period. A similar group of nonpregnant women were likewise monitored for comparison. While the length of material influenced the amount recalled for both groups, pregnant women in the third trimester showed a significant decline in memory. No such decline was noted for nonpregnant women.

According to a 1998 report in Fit Pregnancy magazine, at least one study has found that pregnant women's brains get smaller in the third trimester. British researchers scanned the brains of ten moms-to-be during their last trimesters and again a few months after their babies were born and discovered that brain cell volume decreases during pregnancy, only to plump up again sometime after delivery. It is thought to be as much as 6% of a decrease in brain size.

The Layman...

I AGREE!!! LOL Let's see what examples I can think of...

OK here's a reoccuring theme... I'm in bed reading a book, my wife comes in and gets ready for bed. Sometimes she talks to me while I'm reading... she's even gotten on the bed and talked to me about my book.. She then proceeds to turn off the light and get in the bed at which time I reply, "Thank you..." and she answers in laughter... "oops sorry". This happens frequently(like last night for example).

Hhmmm ok here's another one... It begins with these words... I'll stop by and bring you lunch before I (fill in the blank) and it ends with me looking at the clock at about 2PM with stomach growling wondering "where's my sandwich?"

The last example I'll give we experienced this month. I gave my wife a paycheck to deposit into our bank account. She takes it to the drive through and somehow it gets deposited into another account at the same bank that hasn't been used in a year or so... The truth of the matter is that my wife gave that account number as the account to put it in... LOL This was discovered when I couldn't buy gas for my car yesterday and the gas pump was screaming at me "NSF NSF NSF NSF NSF NSF NSF!!!!!" I started searching for the money only to be told at the bank this morning, "Um, you need to talk to your wife... the money's there..." me-"Did it get put into the old account?" reply-"Um, I can't tell you that (i'm not on the account) all I can say is you need to talk to your wife" Long story short... Problem solved...

I pray for one of 2 things to take place... 1) Example 3 to not happen again. 2) A medicine to be created to keep pregnant women's brains from shrinking...

The ongoing joke in my family is stated in one phrase when something is overlooked or forgotten... "6 Percent" LOL...

Later,

-P

Reality TV Conversion!!

2005-08-23T13:04:00.000-05:00

Five men, ranging from an atheist in the pornography trade to a former Protestant paramilitary, have found their lives unexpectedly transformed in the latest incarnation of reality television in the UK - the monastery.

The London Telegraph reports that the five underwent a spiritual makeover by spending 40 days and 40 nights living with Roman Catholic monks in Worth Abbey, West Sussex.

The experiment, which will be shown on BBC TV this month, was designed to test whether the monastic tradition begun by St Benedict 1500 years ago still has any relevance to the modern world.

Although participants were not required to vote each other out - like Big Brother - they faced the challenge of living together in a community and following a disciplined regime of work and prayer. By the end, the atheist, Tony Burke, 29, became a believer and gave up his job producing trailers for a sex chat line after having what he described as a "religious experience".

Gary McCormick, 36, the former Ulster Defence Association member, who spent much of his early life in prison, began to overcome his inner demons.

Peter Gruffydd, a retired teacher, regained the faith he had rejected in his youth and Nick Buxton, 37, a Cambridge undergraduate, edged closer to becoming an Anglican priest.

The fifth "novice", 32-year-old Anthony Wright, who works for a London legal publishing company, started to come to terms with his childhood traumas.

The three-part series called The Monastery shows the five abiding by the monastery rules, with a strict timetable of instruction, study, prayer, reflection and work duties. They are also shown holding intense and often painful sessions with their religious mentors, individual monks assigned to guide each of them on their spiritual journeys.

SOURCE
Reality TV in monastery changes five lives forever (London Telegraph 30/4/05)

A Conference to Remember

2005-08-22T15:44:00.000-05:00

WOW what a weekend!!! We were part of the worship at the Amplifier 2005 Conference in Baton Rouge, LA.( Swiftfire Ministries Website ) These were our guests for the conference. I play drums for the worship team at my church and we were invited to be the backing band for Steve Swanson. (see below) Honestly I didn't know who Steve Swanson was, but I was excited about playing for this conference. The schedule had us playing Thursday Night @ 7PM, Friday @ 9:30 am, 2:30 pm, & 7PM, Saturday @ 9:30 am, 2:30 pm, & 7PM. 7 Sets... doesn't seem too bad except that the worship sets went for at least an hour each, plus we had practice before each set for 30-minutes or so. Now let's add in that we were playing in the large ballroom at the Holiday Inn to about 200 people or so... which means I was playing HARD!!! I was hitting the drums as hard as I could...

My take on Steve Swanson. He's a genuine gentleman. Often times you encounter someone with his history as a worship leader and you'll also encounter arrogance. This was not the case with Steve. He was a phenominal keyboard player, but in spite of all his talent he was very humble. The first night we had scheduled to be there for 5PM to allow us to practice with Steve and learn his songs, but Steve was late getting into town and didn't get to the room until 5:45... Even being crunched for time, having only listened in brief to his songs (we got cd's Monday... but no song sheets/music) he took the time to get all of our names... and not only that he learned our names right then. We practiced through some of his songs and we struggled. We just didn't know them. At the very last second he asked us what we did know from his binder... we told him and then we started the worship set on a familiar song and went from there... We didn't do a single song that we had practiced. LOL It was great. It became a running joke with us about "Let's go practice the songs we're not going to play tonight..." HA! At the end of each set I'd come off the stage completely soaked. Aparently, someone couldn't get the AC settings right. We spent most of the sessions just adlibbing and playing off each other and following Steve from one song to another. There was one night though that we ended up playing 2 songs for and hour. Pretty funny, except that one of those songs had a rocking drum beat and i was exhausted. Steve was a great director also. You'd be in the middle of a song transition and he'd change his mind and look over at the band and with his hands make a "G" and scream/whisper GEEE... We'd all just jump aboard and follow. The best part is that I have cd's of all 7 worship sessions and the recordings are surprisingly not bad considering they camefrom a raw output on the sound board. All in all it was a great experience working with Steve Swanson and I hope to be able to play drums for him again. We weren't actually registered to attend the conference though we were able to stay for 3 of the messages. 2 with Patricia King and 1 with Paul Kieth Davis. They were both great speakers and carried great messages. I would like to have been able to stay for more of the sessions. There's some information on all 3 of these folk just below. Hey!!! leave me a comment this time you slackers!!!

Through worship, prayer, and teaching, Steve leads the congregation into a worship experience of deeper intimacy and freedom with God. The worship services are a time of seeking the Lord in the fullness of joy, and basking in the beauty of holiness. As an act of worship, Steve and Lisa bring to life the powerful illustration of God's destiny for each individual in the body of Christ with the "Potter's vessel." Steve's giftings are, prophetic song, music, and teaching. Lisa's giftings are, prophetic dance, art, and teaching. Together Steve and Lisa have been Commisioned to train up a new generation of worshippers who express their calling in worship.

Patricia King is a passionate, prophetic personality who is the host of Extreme Prophetic Television. She has had over 25 years of background as a Christian minister in conference speaking, prophetic service, church leadership, and television & radio appearances. Patricia is an author of books, booklets and manuals and has produced many informative resources through the medias of tapes, videos, CD's and DVD's. Her reputation in the Christian community is world renowned. You will find her to be sincere, genuine, generous, honest, real, "cutting edge" along with controversial.

Paul Kieth Davis- He has spent many years in an extensive study highlighting the ministry of revelation and power exemplified throughout the church ages with an emphasis on the 20th century church. His hearts desire is to see the full restoration of Biblical Apostolic ministry manifested through the Spirit of Truth residing in God’s people expressing salvation, healing and deliverance to the Glory of God and His Christ. He has a unique gift for imparting prophetic understanding of times and seasons with a message of preparation and expectancy for the Lord's Empowering Presence.

Tatoos... Taboo???

2005-08-18T13:10:00.000-05:00

Well here it is... The question of the day. I am currently 31 years old and i have a couple piercings in my left ear, but other than that I'm as clean as a whistle. No tatoos or other piercings to speak of... just a little chin hair i guess... anyway... The thing i've been thinking about is getting a Tatoo or not. I have arguments with myself on both sides of the spectrum. (No I'm not crazy yet...)

On the AGAINST side.. 1) it is virtually permanent and not something you can change or remove easily, maybe not at all without permanent scarring or a larger tat to cover it up. 2) What in the world would I put on my body permanently? 3) A tatoo would potentially be looked down upon in the business world... can I afford that? (I am a loan originator - do mortgages) 4) My parents/family would probably hate it (Other than my Wife), but... I am married and 31 though. 5) I've been told by people with tats not to get one because it is addictive. 6) How do I find someone that does great work and won't screw mine up? 7)How will it look when I'm 60 and when I get even older and all wrinkled up? 8)there are probably others I may come back and edit in later

On the FOR side... 1) My wife would think it's HOT!! 2) It is a little edgy which I have kind of always been with my waist length hair in high school and college, &my shaved head now, 3) It would make me feel like more of a Biker though I am still without a bike (I miss my Harley). 4) It could be a big display of the important things in my life (If i could pick what to get tatooed on me). 5)It is more socially acceptable than it has ever been. 6) there's more I'm sure that I will edit in later and... 7) My wife would think it's HOT!! (That's definently worth counting twice!!!)

I notice that my AGAINST side has more points than my FOR side... that's probably why I haven't gotten one up to this point... On to the next question. What would I get? I really don't know. I've thought about the names of my children and my wife. I've thought about some Christian Symbol like the Icthus or cross with a crown of thorns or even Scripture Itself. I've thought about many things, doodled on countless pads trying to design something... I am also spurred on by watching shows like Miami Ink, where these guys do Fantastic Work. I would want mine to look that good. Is someplace locally good enough or should I make a trip out to Miami??? I digress. What do you think?

This is completely open for your comments, even if you don't know me tell me what you think? Do you have tats? What are they? Do you like them? Do you want more? Are you addicted? How expensive are they? What are your suggestions for me? Where do you stand on Tats from a Biblical Perspective?

Big question for me... I alluded to it earlier. As a Christian, how is this viewed scripturally? I've never really been one to worry about what other people thought about me in General, though I am aware of the effects of certain things in Business etc... I am however concerned with being within God's plan and His Word... Honestly, I've not done much research on tatoos in the Bible, though I recall a reference to tatooing scripture on your body... I cannot remember the address, sadly... Give me your wisdom on this...

Fact or Fiction...

2005-08-17T15:50:00.000-05:00

What if we could have longer daytime hours, end global warming, & have milder climates. All it would take is a shift in the Earth's orbit. Yeah that's it... lol Can you imagine this... well, there is a group that believes if enough people were to jump at the same exact moment in time it could possbly cause this effect. What do you think? Go here and read about it... LINK

So did you go read it... did you watch the video of the "professor"? No... ok here's the link...

Other links they give to support this theory...

http://www.grida.no
http://www.nineplanets.org
http://www.iris.edu

What do i think? I don't really know...

but i did sign up to jump...

-Patrick

Salty Dogma

2005-08-16T13:42:00.000-05:00

Salty dogma (idea borrowed from boy1ders blog)

Bono gives an explicit confession of being saved by Grace, not Karma | by Gene Edward Veith

Is Bono, the lead singer and songwriter for the rock group U2, a Christian? He says he is and writes about Christianity in his lyrics. Yet many people question whether Bono is "really" a Christian, due to his notoriously bad language, liberal politics, and rock star antics (though he has been faithfully married for 23 years). But in a new book of interviews, Bono in Conversation by Michka Assayas, Bono, though using some salty language, makes an explicit confession of faith.

The interviewer, Mr. Assayas, begins by asking Bono, Doesn't he think "appalling things" happen when people become religious? Bono counters, "It's a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the Universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma."

The interviewer asks, What's that? "At the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics—in physical laws—every action is met by an equal or an opposite one," explains Bono. "And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that. . . . Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I've done a lot of stupid stuff."

The interviewer asks, Like what? "That's between me and God. But I'd be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge," says Bono. "It doesn't excuse my mistakes, but I'm holding out for Grace. I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity."

Then the interviewer marvels, "The Son of God who takes away the sins of the world. I wish I could believe in that."

"The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death," replies Bono. "It's not our own good works that get us through the gates of Heaven."

The interviewer marvels some more: "That's a great idea, no denying it. Such great hope is wonderful, even though it's close to lunacy, in my view. Christ has His rank among the world's great thinkers. But Son of God, isn't that farfetched?"

Bono comes back, "Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: He was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn't allow you that. He doesn't let you off that hook. Christ says, No. I'm not saying I'm a teacher, don't call me teacher. I'm not saying I'm a prophet. I'm saying: 'I'm the Messiah.' I'm saying: 'I am God incarnate.' . . . So what you're left with is either Christ was who He said He was—the Messiah—or a complete nutcase. . . . The idea that the entire course of civilization for over half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nutcase, for me that's farfetched."

What is most interesting in this exchange is the reaction of the interviewer, to whom Bono is, in effect, witnessing. This hip rock journalist starts by scorning what he thinks is Christianity. But it is as if he had never heard of grace, the atonement, the deity of Christ, the gospel. And he probably hadn't. But when he hears what Christianity is actually all about, he is amazed.

•

Pictures from Iraq

2005-08-16T12:45:00.000-05:00

Here are a few pics from the website listed over there =============> "Bo in Iraq" Just a taste of the daily life in Iraq. Hopefully you will visit the site your self and see the photos and even video clips that are posted there. Please leave some comments.

Here's Home away from home.

Dust plume... or a giant monkey? You make the call.

Explosive round

Bo get's an IV for "preventative" measures. He looks happy about what he's fixing to get...

A picture you won't se on CNN. Soldiers throwing packpacks with goodies to Iraqi children.

Bo readies the radio before a morning mission.

Finally, some time to relax. Bo doing what he does best.

Amazing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Part 1

2005-08-12T16:02:00.000-05:00

This could only happen in South Louisiana

The tug is approaching the bridge pushing barges loaded down with coal. Not an unusual sight on the rivers in South Louisiana.

Note the swiftness of the current. It appears that the river is near or at flood stage.

You can see that the captain made sure the barges cleared the bridge supports, but the draw bridge was not raised in enough time. The tug fights in reverse to stay ahead of the current and avoid a collision with the bridge.

He couldn't do it though. The current is too swift and the bridge is struck. What now?

Oh NO!!!! The current has turned the boat sideways... this does NOT Look good!!!

Looks like the Tug is going under one way or another!!!

This does not look good. No One seems to have bailed out either!!!!

Nothing more to say....

Amazing RECOVERY Part 2

2005-08-12T16:00:00.000-05:00

It made it through and it seems to be trying to right itself.

Note the water pouring out of the main deck.

More water pouring out!

Is that exhaust I see... this things running again!!!

WOW!!! you can see a propulsion trail... this things going back to WORK!!!!

Yep... All in a days work!!!

A Hero for Today

2005-08-11T12:20:00.000-05:00

Many of you may not know that my Brother-in-Law is in the Air Force in Iraq. I am very proud of him and what he is doing. Have you stopped to realize that the Hero's of tomorrow are being created today over seas in Iraq and Afganistan? We've all heard stories of our nations hero's from WWII, Korea, Nam. There have been movies made about these heros. Some that come to mind are the ones about Audie Murphy in WWII and Saving Private Ryan (based losely on actual events). It stands to reason that our brothers, sons, wives, daughters, spouses will be the Heros movies are made about for the next generation to watch and admire. Are you supporting these up and coming Heros? Do me a favor will you? Visit the sites you see to the right side of this page. They are called Bo in Iraq (This is the web site for my brother-in-laws company in Iraq) and under_rated (this is a friends brother's personal blog site) and show them your support by leaving comments and messages and sending email. I also have a link so you can email Bo directly. Please do so even if you don't know him to tell him that you are proud of him and this country. And to Bo I say that you are one of my Heros. May the Lord protect you and those around you. May He bless this country and bring peace and prosperity to our country and those that choose democracy.

I have Arrived

2005-08-10T10:21:00.000-05:00

Hello every one... this is my first official post on this blog site. I am following in my friends footsteps and considering moving away from my Xanga site. I hope to bring entertainment to you in the future... I am including a kind of Best of from my Xanga site so you can see who I am in a way... Enjoy the site... leave many coments... and come back often...

-Pat__Man

Grandad's Birthday...

2005-06-28T11:22:00.000-05:00

Currently Reading
The Fires of Heaven (The Wheel of Time, Book 5)
By Robert Jordan
see related

Today was my dad's birthday and he wanted to have his party at.... CHUCK E. CHEESES!!!! Awesome. Of course this was for the benefit of his grand daughters. We all had fun.. Here are a few pics.

This is my favorite one... I wonder why?

Obviously we were having fun!!!

We call this the Chandler Smile.

Have a great day!!!

Angels.. My Angels

2005-03-30T11:21:00.000-06:00

Currently Playing
Angelica
By Angelica
see related

Oh My GOODNESS!!!! I just got these pictures from a friend of mine. They were taken on Easter Sunday after church. My Girls are Georgeous!!!! I don't know what I did to deserve

such beautiful girls. I adore them with all my heart. Right now I miss them tremendously. After Easter they went to Mobile with their Nana and Pop Poe to stay for the week. Lawren is the oldest... she'll be 6 in May and Sabina is 2yrs. 3 months. They are SO beautiful. I do worry about when they hit the age to start dating and such. I plan on being relentless with the boys that do come around.... I'll probably use a line from Bill Engvall on the Blue Comedy Comedy Tour... "Hey man you see that girl... She's my life... You remember, I've got no problem going BACK to Prison!" I hope that will work... I guess we'll see. As a back up I'm building my Gun and knife collection, so I can at least great them at the door with a firearm or sword, and if need be pepper their tailgate as they scream down the driveway running to safety... All kidding aside... To quote a "higher" source, I plan to "train them up in the way they should go and they will not depart from it." That's more comforting....

On another note... besides the beautiful pictures of my girls, Easter Sunday was a very special day for our exchange student from Hong Kong, Hoi Yuk Pang. Easter Sunday was her 18th birthday. She has been a Christian for about 4 years, but her parents are not believers. They had told her though, when she turned 18 she could do whatever she wanted, so she decided she wanted to be baptized. Wow! Truly, how often have you seen Easter Sunday comein March? And the fact that is was exactly her 18th Birthday, and she came to Baton Rouge, LA from Hong Kong to stay with our family and then has the opportunity to be baptized as she had always dreamed on her 18th birthday. Coincidence? I don't think so, Tim. Anyway this was a very special day for her and 6 others as they were baptized on a not so warm day in March, Easter Sunday 2005.

I had to put this picture up also, This is my Sabina with her Nana also Sabina. Too beautiful to keep to myself. So enjoy these pictures. I have them both in color also, but the black & white just seems so... elegant, like my girls...

Anyway, have a great day!

-Pat__Man

Ramblings

2005-03-29T11:20:00.000-06:00

Currently Reading
The Shadow Rising (The Wheel of Time, Book 4)
By Robert Jordan
see related

Well, It's been a while since I've been here... for that I apologize. I do have an announcement.. Good news! We are going to have another baby!!! I'm hoping for a son this time, though I LOVE my daughters! I have a suspicion he may look like this picture here... we'll just have to see. LOL

Nice piercings and Tats!!

Let's see... things I've been thinking about lately...

For one... the new Bat Man. I can't wait for this thing to come. I've gotten back into comic books since I came back to Baton Rouge, and I'm collecting the Superman/Batman comic. Basically this is the Goodie Two Shoes (Superman) and the "Dark" superhero... From what I've seen about this movie they take BatMan back to the "darkness" he has had in the comics. You finally get to see his history and training and where all his gadgets come from. I think this will be the best BatMan movie we've seen. That is of course except for the original BatMan and Robin. Nothing can best those guys!!!! KAPOW!!! BOP!!! BASH!! CA-RASH!!!!

HHMM... So what else is on my mind...

THE INCREDIBLES!!!!

This is one of the bast animated films I've ever seen!!! I love this flick! I like the mix of comedy, creative story, gadgets, characters and of course Super Heroes!! What more could you ask for? This file is awesome. My Mom bought the film and of course Lawren asked to "borrow" it. (As if it will ever be returned) and I have watched it 3 times. This is one "cartoon" I don't think I'll get tired of. At least not like Spirit or any of the other thousand movies we have. If you have not seen this film you must rent it and watch it... actually save your money from renting and go ahead and buy this flick. You will not be disappointed.

I love Fantasy novels, movies, stories, games. You name it... if it has a Fantasy back drop, I'm gonna love it. I've been playing a card game that has a fantasy back ground. I used to playit back in like 1998, but I played for a year or two then quit. Well, recently I've picked it back up and found that they have an online version of the game. So now I'm playing both. I've got a good friend of mine who also has begun to play (I take full responsibility in getting him hooked) and it has become a great past time and stress relief. If you dig this kind of thing... this is the game that Pokemon and Yu Gi Oh have all based their card game product off of... it is called Magic : The Gathering. If you don't like that sort of thing... then don't worry about it. Anyway, I've rattle on for WAY to long and I've got work to do and loans to close!!! Yee Haw!!! See you later...

-Pat__Man

Tsunami Experiences

2005-01-25T11:19:00.000-06:00

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

I apologize that the photos did not post... I am reposting this article at the following link... please go there toview the photos.

-Patrick

http://www.fairwaybr.com/mehaffey/mehaffey_homepage.htm

click the tsunami info link

Public - 5:34 PM - add eprops - add comments - edit it - email it

As I read through this letter I received, I found myself weeping for these people. This tragedy happened a month ago, and most of us have forgotten about it. These people are in dire need. Please pray for them and prayfor those that are trying to help them. Please read this with conviction...

-Patrick

Sumatra, Indonesia

I have returned safe and sound (though it was questionable if that would happen!) from my trip to Indonesia to help with the tsunami relief efforts in this devastated country. I was part of a 14-person medical team sent out by International Service Partners, and NGO that is under the auspices of my home church, Antioch Community Church. We specifically focused our efforts on the region of Aceh, the northern most province of Sumatra, and the one hardest hit by the tsunami.

Our team consisted of 3 doctors, 2 nurses, a medical assistant, 3 translators, and support personnel. Our goal was to try and reach villages that had yet to receive any medical assistance and to be able to serve them and bring hope that they are not a forgotten, rejected people. We also provided games, “school”, and lots of fun for the children. The Acehnese people were so thankful for our help and so welcoming to us – it made it so easy to be there and to endure all the trials of getting there just to see the genuine gratefulness of the people and to know that we were really making a difference to them. This was truly the most rewarding time of my life.

Every person in the clinic, every child we saw had lost someone - a friend, neighbor, relative or close family member. One older man who came into the clinic told this horrific tale – right before the tsunami hit, he was standing in his house with his wife, all his children, and all his grandchildren. When the tsunami came, he could see his family being tumbled about but was powerless to save them. He was carried by the wave for over a mile and when he landed, the wave was so fierce that it had ripped all his clothes from his body. He soon discovered that all family was dead – he was the only survivor. He pointed to the shirt he was wearing and said, “Someone gave me this shirt, and this is all I have.” (Here is the man below)

Many people told us they had no more tears to spend. How do you possibly give words or comfort to someone who has gone through so much? One thing we could do, aside from medical help and playing with the kids, was to ask them to tell their story - what happened to them that fateful morning of December 26th. Counselors told us before we left that one part of the healing process was to be able to tell their story again and again. So we would listen and lend meager words – “I’m so sorry. Our hearts hurt for you.”

The number of missing is still great. The loss of not only lives, but homes, livelihoods, and hope is staggering. Time after time, we had no answer to the questions of “What do we do now? Where do we go?”

However challenging our days, we felt Jesus with us every step of the way. At every turn, we were confronted with taxing logistical problems – no phone or other form of communication, no gas, no transportation, no electricity, no running water, and limited food and water supplies (we had to carry in all our own food and water). But God always provided what we needed – a rescue ship, a motorcycle, an extra box of bottled water, a miracle 10 liters of diesel for a truck, a break in the storm, a borrowed satellite phone, a helicopter lift (more to come on these stories)

Getting There

In attaining our goal of reaching a place that had not yet received help, it meant that we had hard travel time to put in as the most accessible places already had help. We heard about one such village along the coast, called Teunom, an 8 hour boat ride (no roads there as most were destroyed in tsunami) from Banda Aceh. To get to Banda Aceh, we traveled from Medan, a large city on the east coast, by way of a begged ride on a C-130 military cargo plane. That was an experience! Arriving in Banda Aceh at 1:30am, there was no phones and no transportation so we rolled out our sleeping bags right there on the floor of the crude airport and slept a few hours with the rats crawling over us and an earthquake in the middle of the night. The next day, we headed to the waterfront and witnessed firsthand the staggering devastation of this nation. It looked as if a nuclear bomb had been detonated in the fishing village. As far as you could see, there was just heaps of rubble and people picking through the piles or just wandering about in a daze. We saw teams pulling bodies from under the debris and could smell the odor of death in the air. It was incomprehensible.

We arrived at the water and hired a shrimp boat (one of the 10% of vessels that were left) to take us down to Teunom. Alas, an hour out to sea, we were confronted with a monsoon and the boat was tossed about like a toy. The tiny junker was no match for the large waves, and almost everyone on our team was soon throwing up overboard. The monsoon rain pelted us for hours, and there wasn’t enough shelter to keep us dry. Several of the teammates laid flat on top of our luggage under an overhang, and the rest of us laid out flat on the deck in plastic (provided by the boat’s crew) which we later found out to be body bags! (See pic below) After seven hours being sick, wet, cold, and thinking the boat was about to capsize, we were informed that due to the storm, it would be eight more hours!

I uncoiled myself from my miserable position, got our translator, and said “We have to do something. We cannot keep going like this.” The crew said there was no option but to keep going (most docks had been washed away in tsunami) and we could not just drop anchor. The crew had been sending SOS messages and about this time we spotted a large, military vessel so decided to pull up next to it and see if we could get aboard. We got closer, and saw that it was an Indonesian navy ship. How thankful we were when we were permitted to dock alongside the anchored boat!! We all somehow managed to climb up the rope ladder that was tossed down onto our deck (their ship was at least 10 times the size of ours) to the their deck where we were escorted to a small lounge area where we all collapsed on the floor and snatched a few hours sleep.

We were so thankful for the graciousness of the captain of this ship! Most of the team stopped vomiting, and the crew fed us a hot breakfast the next day. We were all in jovial spirits, talking about our exciting adventure the night before which now seemed funny. Then a group of ladies with sad faces entered the lounge to have breakfast with us. One older lady related a story of how she was consumed with worry since the tsunami hit, thinking about her children who lived along the coast. She cried telling us how she took a bus from Jakarta and was traveling for four days. Other younger ladies were looking for their parents. We could only offer listening ears and offered to pray for them. It immediately made us somber again – this wasn’t about our team having this exciting adventure but about showing the love of God for a people who have suffered in ways beyond imagining.

So after the few hours respite, we got back on the junker and after a short ride, landed on the dirt-side (the port had been blown away) of a little town called Lamno. We were still trying to reach Teunom but realized that making it by boat was not going to work. So in Lamno (which we found already had medical assistance), we headed out to a field where we heard the US military was doing food and water drops. Just then a U.S. Blackhawk helicopter flew by, and the commander jumped up and ran into the road, motioning the team to follow him. “Black Hawk, Black Hawk, Black Hawk” he said in a thick Indonesian accent to the helicopter flying overhead. When the helicopter landed, we

communicated (by way of written notes, the noise from the rotors made it too loud to hear) with the heli crew and they agreed to fky us to Teunom. Thank God for the U.S. Navy!! It took us the rest of the day (and 4 helis) to get all of our team and all of our stuff to Teunom, but we made it!! We spent the day there in Lamno talking with the villagers, sharing food with them, resting, playing with the children, and telling stories from the Bible. (here is a pic of one of our team talking with a group of children)

Flying along the coast in the helicopter was amazing. We had already seen so much destruction along the harbor in Banda Aceh. But seeing that kind of destruction for miles and miles was hard to imagine. Flying over a fishing village and seeing only the foundation of houses and nothing else, or how much a bite the tsunami took out of mountains, was hard to take in.

When the crew landed in Tuenom, a bunch of villagers were there, apparently grabbing whatever food or water they could get from the helicopters that were dropping supplies. The crowd gathered, anxious to know what was in all those containers. One of our team members jumped on one of the 20+ crates of supplies we brought with us and explained to them that these were medical supplies and that if we all work together we can be the most effective (meaning don’t steal our stuff). They all chanted enthusiastic shouts of approval and really seemed to want their community to get this help. “The world has not forgotten you,” he said. “God has not forgotten you.” (see crowd below)

In Teunom, we learned that the village was so destroyed that no one slept there anymore. Survivors would come to dig through rubble or try to get food and water from the helicopters, but then would go to stay with friend or neighbors for the night. The Indonesian military who were posted there seemed nervous about us staying the night, considering the GAM (rebel group) was so close so they took us back to one of their rustic outposts for the night. The next morning, we headed for Tanah Anou, the closest village to Teunom where there were still people. They had received nothing by way of assistance up to that point. We even beat the UN there! The people there greeted us warmly and the head of the mosque said we could use the courtyard. So we set up our tents, set up the medical clinic, and started playing with kids. The clinic was immediately put to work, but it wasn’t the critical treatment we had imagined: amputations or severe wounds. Those people had already either died or been taken elsewhere. Most of the injuries we saw and treated were deep, infected wounds caused by debris. There were also many illnesses, everything from leprosy and tetanus to back pain and acid reflux. There were so many needing to be treated. Our nurses and doctors worked very hard in the hot sun, treating the people who lined up outside the outdoor clinic. After listening to their stories, treating them with medicine, they would also offer to pray for them. The people there seemed to really appreciate the practical care and attention and always warmly accepted our prayers.

While the clinics were going on, there were lots of children standing around and doing nothing. All their schools were destroyed, and they really had nothing to do to pass the time. We organized games and contests for them while the clinic ran, and they were delighted to play “Duck, Duck Goose” or “Simon Says” or running races. They really took to learning new English words and would great us with a hearty “Hello, good morning!” every time they saw us. We would respond with “Salamut Pagi! Appa Kabar!”

Another way we blessed the village was to just be there. We became like a “center of gravity” for them, attracting Indonesian soldiers there to guard us, which eventually attracted more food and water. Once we were there, the Indonesian military felt responsible for us and there was a spill-over effect for the community. Once established, we also had visits from U.N. representatives and once from a Navy surgeon. Us being there paved the way for more help to come.

Coordination for next teams

We were also able to make the way and coordinate for the two other teams coming, one from a church in Austin and another one from Waco. Both teams were also medical teams and were following us so as to extend the time we could be with the villages. Please pray for these teams in their final days there. I’m sure by now they are tired, hot and thirsty, the novelty has worn off, and they need encouragement and endurance.

Why did this happen?

Indonesians typically see a spiritual reason for natural phenomenon. There were many theories as to why this happened. Whereas an American might ask, “How could God let this happen?” and Indonesian would look inward and say, “What sin did I commit?” or ‘What did my people do for God to do this to us?” Some said it was because the Muslims of Aceh weren’t devout enough – and God was judging them for their mixture of Western influence into their religion. But most people we spoke to said God was judging Aceh because of the civil war that has been raging there – Muslims killing Muslims. He was showing his displeasure toward them.

Once Jesus was shown a man born blind and was asked, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?”

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” Jesus went on to heal the man (John 9).

I certainly don’t have a handle on natural disasters and human suffering, and don’t have answers to all the questions that come about at a time like this. But one thing I do know and see in the life of Jesus, as a reflection of God, is always a heart of compassion to move toward those in need. Jesus continually sought out the poor and needy and offered help and hope. Following his example, this was what we tried to offer in the humblest of ways. Our prayer is that the work of God might be displayed in their desperate lives.

Thank you for praying and reading all this story! There’s a lot more to tell and hopefully I will be able to tell you face to face.

For His Glory,

Heather

A Novel Begins

2005-01-12T11:19:00.000-06:00

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Hello everyone. I find myself inspired by the Poem posted below. I have decided to post the first portion on the book I am writing. If you don't know me, I'll tell you that I absolutely LOVE Fantasy novels. Anything Weis & Hickman, Salvatore, Jordan, Mallory, Tolken... If you don't recognize these names then consider yourself far removed from the world of fantasy novels, but for those of you that recognized a minimum of 2 of these authors, I'd really appreciate your opinion of what you read... Well here goes...

Chapter 1

He woke as the fourth moon was rising. If only I could sleep through one night, he thought to himself. He looked across the smoldering ashes of the fire and could see the glow reflected back from her auburn hair. She had loved him once… It was long ago when the Vadim was still standing and Humans and Elves alike flocked to their doors to receive the gift of Magic. Few were chosen, but on one fated day two strangers were accepted, not knowing that their lives would forever be entwined. It was said that the gods themselves ruled the Vadim and blessed the lives of those chosen, but what was legend was nowhere near truth, a truth that he must remain silent about or forever lose the Magic and his life. He never thought that they would be brought back together. There had actually been an easing to the pain in his heart, but seeing her there sleeping by the fire, he was reminded of the innocence she once held. The gods, or rather their absence had taken that from her and given her Magic and immortality. Immortality… quite a change in living for a human, but as an Elf he was accustomed to seeing his friends grow old and die. If she could just understand why he made the choice he did.

Ruairc heard a faint twig snap and whispered across the smoldering fire, ”Shallis…”

“I know I heard it too”, she whispered in response with her back still facing him… It seemed she was unable to sleep as well.

“I’ll go check it out”, he whispered back. In a silent instant Ruairc was consumed by the darkness with his Elven senses and Magic scouring ahead of him in search for the intruder. Knowing he should see nothing he glanced back towards the camp and only saw the protective shield created by the Magic. Only those gifted with Magic or entranced by a spell could see it’s effects and all was as it should be. If someone had found them it would mean they were sent specifically looking for them. They were camped high in the Stone Mountains, which was known for it’s vast Dwarvish colonies buried beneath them, but none dared to climb this high without Magical protection, as the air was thin. There were very few people left in this world with the gift of Magic, all of whom he knew by name and none of whom except for Shallis did he care to meet again.

Although she knew the Magical canopy held in all sound and light, Shallis quietly rolled off her pallet and drew her sword. Her sword glowed a faint green showing the presence of an Elf, most likely Ruairc, but you can never be too sure. Her swords Magic had saved her many times warning her of the presence of other beings. She had come to rely on it and think of it as a companion. She quickly remembered the potential danger she was in just as a figure broke into the protective circle of the Magic. Her sword seemed to act before she did swinging directly for the figures neck. It stopped just short of a kill leaving a thin line of blood as a pair of familiar elvish eyes stared down at her with no seeming emotion. Shallis had learned long ago to control the Magic of the sword though it always seemed to be just within her grasp. She withdrew her sword from the unflinching neck of Ruairc and returned it to its sheath as she casually asked,

“Well…? Did you see anything?”

It had always bothered her how Ruairc would never share his feelings… his hatred, his fears…. his Love.

“There was nothing… nothing I could see, but something wasn’t right. I could feel something that seemed familiar, but so distant… It was nothing, I’m sure.”

There he went again choosing not to talk about things. She had learned a long time ago that it was futile to think of pulling thoughts out of Ruairc. He would talk about things when and where he wanted.

It seemed there would be no sleep for either of them tonight and with no spoken words Ruairc stoked the fire and started making some tea. The elves were known for having a tea for every occasion, but you always wondered where they carried it all. Shallis dug into her pack and pulled out her healing salve. It was the natural way to heal surface wounds and Ruairc obviously needed some attention, though he would never admit it.

They sat silently by the fire sipping their tea. Why hadn’t he chosen to stay with her; he could have waited for her to recovery, but instead he rushed off and had been unreachable. They had pledged their lives to each other. They were bound by their Magic, but he left her there alone to heal and didn’t return. She was surprised when he finally showed up.

“I’ll take another.” Shallis told the guy behind the bar.

“Haven’t you had enough there, Lady. Are you sure you can handle it?” He said with a scruffy voice. If he only knew who she was and what she was capable of, he never would have questioned her.

“I’m fine. Just leave the bottle.” One more time Shallis found herself losing her thoughts in the whisky she was drinking. It always made her forget, at least for a little while the pain she felt, being abandoned by the one she loved. Why had he left, when she needed him most. She was completely alone; she had outlived her entire family and all her friends and the one person she had counted on… had left her to seemingly die.

As she became lost in her thoughts a cloaked figure entered the tavern. He wore a dark green cloak with the hood pulled forward. No one paid him any attention, but a close look would reveal a pair of emerald eyes glaring from beneath the hood. He explored the tavern with his bow tucked beneath the cloak and moved as if he were gliding on air. To the trained eye there was no mistaking that this was an elf. He stood nearly a head taller than most in the room but didn’t have that large massive strength humans often carry, but there was no mistaking that he could best anyone in the place… except for maybe the lady sitting at the bar. Elves were not welcome in this town. They were thought to have been the reason for the uprising and even thirty years since the fall of the Vadim, the people still placed their blame on anyone but themselves.

Well... that's all I got... What do you think? Really I want to know..

Pat__Man

Am I in His will?

2004-11-09T11:18:00.000-06:00

Currently Reading
The Two Swords (Forgotten Realms Novel: Hunter's Blades Trilogy)
By R. A. Salvatore
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I am sitting here... pondering the future, and I find myself in a place that requires much faith. No we are not starving, no we're not going to lose the house or anything like that. We are not in "dire straights". But we do find ourselves having to adjust to an unstable income situation. Working on commission is just that... unstable. It brings on the temptation of returning to retail management where the pay, although really not equal to the work involved, is consistent and can be counted on... Let me be sure and say that this temptation is in no way even close to coming to fruition, but is merely a thought, not quite passing, but a thought none the less. What am I doing, you say? Well, I am a mortgage loan officer. I am working on building a list of contacts that can refer me business, such as realtors, etc. but that's just the issue, I am building that so my referrals are few and far between... rather inconsistant. This is what has me pondering tomorrow. Wondering what the future has for me. I do love the mortgage business. I love helping people realize that dream of owning a home. I really care about the people I serve... maybe even to a fault... I don't know. Anyway enough about that... I just needed to express my thoughts on this, so I'll move on...

I went by the Harley shop yesterday. I know, I know... I do not plan on buying one untill I can pay for it in cash, but I do enjoy looking at them. I must say I miss having the wind blow through my hair (LOL) as I ride through the curvy out of the way back roads to where ever I'm heading. I even miss riding in the rain on a cold day in December... lol... funny but true.

My oldest daughter is "playing" socceer this year. She is 5 years old and in Kindergarten, and I have the priviledge of coaching 12 Kindergarten and 1st grade kids in the "art" of soccer. I must say that I am really proud of these kids. They get better and better each week. At this age it is not about how many goals are scored or who wins, but about having fun and learning the game... with all that said and in mind... I must say that we are 3 and 1 ! There are only 8 games in the season for the kids, and I have all of the "extra" players if you know what I mean, and these kids are doing GREAT!!! My daughter is hysterical. When she first started playing she would run away from where the ball was on the field... last week she actually got in the crowd and kicked it a few times. If I could just get her to stop playing with her hair and stop flirting with a particular boy on the team, she just may get a few more kicks each game. Anyway, if you live here in town you should definently come out and watch them play. Our next game is this Saturday (actually it's a double header) at 11 and 12 at the CBPennington YMCA on old hammond Hwy inbetween Millerville and O'Neal Lane...

Anyway, I hope everyone has an incredible day!

-Patrick

Louisiana Ghost Story (Borrowed)

2004-10-30T11:17:00.000-05:00

Currently Reading
The Lone Drow (Forgotten Realms: The Hunter's Blades Trilogy, Book 2)
By R. A. Salvatore
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LOUISIANA GHOST STORY

This happened about a month ago just outside of Cocodrie, a little
town in the bayou country of Louisiana, and while it sounds like an Alfred Hitchcock tale,it's real.

This out of state traveler was on the side of the road, hitchhiking on
a real dark night in the middle of a thunderstorm. Time passed slowly and no cars went by.

It was raining so hard he could hardly see his hand in front of his face. Suddenly he saw a car moving slowly, approaching and appearing ghostlike in the rain. It slowly and silently crept toward him and stopped.

Wanting a ride real bad the guy jumped in the car and closed the door; only then did he realize that there was nobody behind the wheel, and no sound of an engine to be heard over the rain.

Again the car crept slowly forward and the guy was terrified, too scared to think of jumping out and running. The guy saw that the car was approaching a sharp curve and, still too scared to jump out, he started to pray and begging for his life; he was sure the ghost car would go off the road and in the bayou and he would surely drown!

But just before the curve a shadowy figure appeared at the driver's window and a hand reached in and turned the steering wheel, guiding the car safely around the bend. Then,just as silently, the hand disappeared through the window and the hitchhiker was alone again!

Paralyzed with fear, the guy watched the hand reappear every time they reached a curve. Finally the guy, scared to near death, had all he could take and jumped out of the car and ran to town.

Wet and in shock, he went into a bar and voice quavering, ordered two shots of whiskey, then told everybody about his supernatural experience.

A silence enveloped and everybody got goose bumps when they realized the guy was telling the truth (and not just some drunk).

About half an hour later two guys walked into the bar and one says to the other, "Look Boudreaux, ders dat idiot that rode in our car when we wuz pushin’ it in the rain."

Son of Napster (Borrowed)

2004-10-25T11:16:00.000-05:00

Currently Reading
The Outstretched Shadow (The Obsidian Trilogy, Book 1)
By Mercedes Lackey, James Mallory
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First, I'd like to thank boy1der for the content, though he is not the creator... he is the contributor. I think this is a great idea. I'd love to see it happen.

-Pat__Man

Son of Napster
One Possible Future for a Music Business That Must Inevitably Change

By Robert X. Cringely

When I mentioned in last week's column that I would this week be writing about a legal way to do a successful music downloading business -- a business that would threaten the Recording Industry Association of America and its hegemony -- dozens of readers wrote to me trying to predict what I would write. Some readers came at the problem from a purely technical perspective, ignoring the fact that the real issues here aren't technical but legal. Some readers took a legal approach, but they tended to ignore the business model. Some were looking solely for the business model. Interestingly, nobody even came close to my idea, which makes me either a total loon or a diabolical genius. Truth be told, I'm probably more of a diabolical loon.

The reason I am even writing this column is two-fold. The biggest reason is simply because I would like people to consider lateral solutions to problems. I am pushing the concept of problem solving in a new way. There is no particular methodology here, just the underlying concept that if things aren't working the way you like, think of something different. Too often, people restrict their thinking or they somehow expect the world to change just for them, which it won't. But taking a lateral approach often yields interesting results. And once you've found an approach, maybe it can be applied to a different problem. What I am about to describe as a model for music distribution might be even better for something else. You tell me.

The second reason I am doing this is because I don't like the current situation in the recording industry where power is concentrated in the hands of executives who are doing all they can to stop the rotation of the Earth. Technology has already changed the economics of music creation and distribution, but the record companies are resisting with every weapon they have. I would too if I was in their position, which is fat, rich, and having everything to lose. But times do change, and I think the music business is ready to adopt new ways of moving forward. And once that happens, it will resume growing. But what is needed for that to happen is a catalyst, which I am attempting to provide right here.

If anyone actually does this business, don't forget where you first heard it. Of course, if you actually spend the $2 million as I suggest and lose it all, please forget my name.

The business I am about to describe has not been legally tested. I have run it past a few lawyer friends of mine, but a true legal test can only be done in the courts. Having said that, the universal response I have received from lawyers can best be described as giddiness. They get it. And the implications of this idea -- the sheer volume of trouble it could create -- gets their billing glands working.

Without having been truly tested, so far I have yet to find a lawyer who sees a serious flaw in my logic. What I am about to propose is apparently not illegal under current law, which of course means that the RIAA will throw their lobbying muscle into making it illegal, getting Congress to pass a new law specifically against my technique. The trick then is to establish the business before that can happen. Gentlemen, start your engines!

I call my idea Son of Napster, or Snapster for short.

Napster failed because it was determined by the courts to violate intellectual property rights and because it did not have a successful business model, or any business model for that matter. Any successor to Napster must be both legal (if barely) and profitable.

First the law. Snapster is built on the legal concept of Fair Use, which allows people who purchase records, tapes, and CDs to make copies for backup and for moving the content to other media. So a CD can be copied to an MP3 player, for example. But to remain legal, the MP3 player should be that of the CD owner and not that of another person. CDs can be lent, sold, or borrowed, but in order to make backup or media-shifting copies, the copier must own the original CD. If the original CD is no longer owned by the maker of the backup or media shifting copies because the CD has been sold or given away, any copies should be destroyed under U.S. copyright law.

Snapster is all about ownership. Snapster will be a company that buys at retail one copy of every CD on the market. Figure 100,000 CDs at $14 each requires $1.4 million. Snapster will also be a download service with central servers capable of millions of transactions per day. Figure $100,000 for the download system and bandwidth for one year. Throw in $100,000 for marketing and $400,000 for legal fees and the startup capital required for the business is $2 million.

Snapster has to be a public company. It would have its IPO as soon as possible after all those CDs have been delivered. It must be a public company right from the start of operations. Say Snapster goes public on NASDAQ at $20 per share. The IPO sells one million shares (10 percent of the company) netting $20 million minus underwriting fees. So almost from the beginning, Snapster has millions in the bank and a market capitalization of $200 million. What is critical here for the business success is not the price per share but the broadest possible ownership of shares. But the way those additional shares would be sold would be through stock splits, not supplemental offerings. This means that early investors would benefit greatly from being early investors and the Snapster founders would benefit most of all.

By limiting issued shares to 10 percent of total Snapster ownership, stock splits could be used to maintain the price of each Snapster share at $20. Since Napster at its peak had 60 million global users, I see that as a size to which Snapster could grow, meaning each original share would eventually be split into 60 shares. If the share price remained at $20 -- which it logically would because, as you will see below -- most investors would only need to own one share. That means investors at the IPO would see their $20 investment quickly grow to $1200 and the market capitalization of Snapster would become $6 billion.

Don't forget my founders' shares, right?

Each Snapster share carries ownership rights to those 100,000 CDs. You see, Snapster is a kind of mutual fund, so every investor is a beneficial owner of all 100,000 CDs. Each share also carries the right to download backup or media-shifting copies for $0.05 per song or $0.50 per CD, that download coming from a separate company we'll call Snapster Download that is 100 percent owned by Snapster. With one million co-owners each downloading one CD per month, gross revenue would be $6 million per year. If they download an average of 10 CDs per month revenue grows to $60 million per year. At these download volumes and with the very low cost of running the service, the $200 million market cap is justified even at the lower sales level. At the $60 million sales level, the share price ought to rise. Now grow the business to its logical size of 60 million users. At 10 CDs per user per year, Snapster download revenue would be $3.6 billion or about a quarter the size of the current recording industry, which it would effectively replace. With 90 percent profit margins, Snapster would be making $3.2 billion per year in profit. Based on a modest price-to-earnings ratio of 10-to-1 (I am choosing this low number because of the obvious legal issues involved in this business) Snapster's market capitalization is now up to $33 billion, which is more than any current record company. Investors who paid $20 at the IPO will now find each of those shares worth $33,000, which is comparable to Microsoft or Dell or Cisco in success except that Snapster would do this all in one year.

Interestingly, $33 billion represents approximately the total market capitalization of all the major record companies, which we'd have to expect would be driven down by the success of Snapster. So Snapster would be a transfer of wealth from current owners of record company shares to owners of new Snapster shares.

Now I REALLY want you to remember to send me those founders' shares!

What I have described is legal, it just leverages technology in a way that has never been done before. There are precedents for group ownership of recordings and certainly the law of mutual funds is very clear. Of course, the RIAA will have a response. They will file suit, probably claiming restraint of trade, but this simply will not stand and it is impossible to believe they could get any form of retraining order. Still, Snapster must have funds to support a vigorous defense -- a defense that has been planned well in advance. The RIAA will also try to have laws passed making Snapster illegal, so an anti-RIAA lobbying effort would also be a good idea.

You may see Snapster as a great idea or as the worst thing you have ever heard, but I see it as a method for accelerating change that was inevitable. Technology has changed the economics of the music business. Traditional record companies are dinosaurs. Thanks primarily to personal computers, musicians today can afford to make recordings in their homes that are comparable in quality to anything coming from a $500 per hour recording studio. Remember that most record contracts charge production expenses against the artist's profit share, so the performer ends up covering those expenses, not the record company. This is just one of many ways record companies set barriers to entry and take advantage of artists.

Thanks primarily to the Internet and to CD burners, artists don't really need record companies anymore for manufacturing or distribution. Under current recording contracts, the costs assigned to these functions are horribly inflated. It is cheaper to do it yourself.

That leaves marketing as the sole record company function that might retain value. So let the record companies become marketing service providers. Or let them go out of business.

But wait, that isn't fair!

Many things aren't fair in life, Virginia, but Snapster is fairer than most. Look at it from the perspective of the music consumer. Since Snapster would have only a quarter the revenue of the system it replaces, that means consumers would be getting more music for less money. And as Snapster owners, which they would have to be by definition, consumers would benefit from the many Snapster stock splits it would take to reach 60 million beneficial owners, and then the increase in stock price beyond that. This is more benefit than these same people ever got from the record companies. And since Snapster would quickly become the most broadly traded stock of all, this transfer of wealth would have a broad benefit.

But what about the poor record companies and their owners?

To paraphrase Marie Antoinette, if they have no sales, let them buy stock. There is nothing that would keep owners of record company shares from selling those shares and replacing them with Snapster shares. The earlier they do so the more they would benefit both because they'd be selling before the record company shares went completely in the tank, and they'd be buying before Snapster shares had fully appreciated. It is one thing to maintain the status quo and another to recognize the inevitability of change and benefit from it.

Investors in companies that manufactured horse drawn carriages could have tried to make automobiles illegal or they could have sold their carriage shares and bought car shares. Which makes more sense? There is more money to be made by embracing this future than by fighting it.

The questions that are left unanswered in this are what will Snapster do against competitors, and what will the company do after there are no more CDs to buy? With the barrier to entry at $2 million, Snapster will have competition, but there are advantages to being the first mover and plenty of room for price cutting, which is even better for consumers. In fact there is probably room for many Snapsters, though I'd expect the first Snapster to be the biggest Snapster.

What is more problematic is what Snapster, as essentially a repository of oldies, would do to further grow its business and maintain earnings growth. This is the same question as asking what Microsoft will do after the age of the PC is over. The company could diversify and go into other businesses. It could extend the concept of a mutual fund even further and strictly manage its excess profits as investments. Or it could find some way to plow the money back into the music business, which I think would be best, but I can't see exactly how it would be done. Still, it is a good idea.

What do you think?