A Short Letter To My Daughters

I've often wondered why God decided that I should be a dad to the two of you.  There are times when I feel so ill equipped to to deal with the issues you two have to go through on a daily basis.  I still can't braid hair, nor put hair up in a decent ponytail, and me trying to coordinate clothing?  Jeans and t-shirts are the way to go and yes, I see how your eyes roll when I suggest them to you. 

You're both growing up so fast, I simply don't know what to do.  I turn around one day and Chloe, you have developed into a beautiful young lady who is getting noticed by boys.  Morgan, you've just turned eight and I still remember holding you after you left the hospital for the first time.  Where does the time go?

We've gone from "Daddy play Barbie with me?" to "Daddy, help me with my homework." 

Chloe, you are my artist, my poet, my writer.  You are one who will change the world and leave a legacy that will be looked upon by many.  Morgan, you are my athlete, my explorer, my inquisitive one.  You are the one that will excel at whatever you do, no matter what.  You will leave a legacy of your own that will shine as bright as the stars we have looked at at night.

There is an unselfish, innocent love about you both that gives me such hope for this world.  I know that one day that innocence will be gone and you will understand the ways of this world, but I know your love will help make it a better place.  I look into both of your eyes and know that to be true.

There is much much more I can write to you both, but I think I will save those for later.  For right now, I want to end this letter this way.

When I started this first letter to you both, I asked the question, "Why did God give me two daughters to help raise?".  Earlier today, while driving home from the store with Morgan, the sunlight fell on her, outlining her blond hair and bringing her freckles out on her face.  Morgan, you had such a smile on your face the it rivaled the sun for its brilliance.  And earlier in the week, Chloe, you plopped onto my lap and put your head on my shoulder and just stayed there, telling me you loved me.  Both of those moments, and many, many like them answer that.  He gave me both of you as a blessing to me.  I am blessed, privileged and honored to be the dad to the two of you.

It is not Un-American It is Free Speech

In an earlier post I stated that the church in Gainesville, Florida should not burn the Quran, but instead if they wanted to make a statement, that statement should be one of the entire church, as a corporate body on its collective knees in prayer.  I still stand by that. 

However, I heard something today that chilled me. 

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the administration hoped that more Americans would stand up and condemn the church's plan.
"We think that these are provocative acts," Crowley said. "We would like to see more Americans stand up and say that this is inconsistent with our American values; in fact, these actions themselves are un-American."(emphasis mine)

Since when is exercising your first amendment right to Free Speech and Freedom of Expression un-American? I agree that what they are doing is not the best way to protest, as I have indicated above and in my previous post, but seriously?  Un-American?

Washington needs to suck it up here and take a giant step back.  The church, in my opinion, is doing the wrong thing here by planning on holding the Burn the Quran day, but it is their right to do so in this country.

Eric

Best Buy Has Permanently Lost My Business

Father Luke Strand of the Holy Family Parish in Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin, had an interesting idea a couple of years ago.  Take a black Volkswagen Beetle  and put a logo featuring the phrase "God Squad" on it.  Now that logo and the vehicle itself bear a striking similarity to the mobile service vehicles of Best Buy's service team, the Geek Squad but there is no mistaking the difference between the two.

The God Squad Car

The Geek Squad car.

Why did Father Luke do this?  To promote God, and hopefully get people engaged in conversation that would eventually lead to Christ.  A great idea that was not harming anyone, in my opinion.  Said Fellow priest Dan Janasik  in an interview with local news outlet the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

"It's obviously not a Best Buy vehicle. When people see the car in public they usually laugh, and then it leads into lots of great conversations with strangers about faith and God."

So what did Best Buy do?  They had their corporate lawyers send a Cease-and-Desist letter to the priest threatening to sue him for copyright infringement.  Once again, the big corporation beats up and on the little people; in this case a Roman Catholic priest!

Was this really necessary?  Was Father Luke attempting in any way to portray himself as some sort of geek and attempting to take away business from Best Buy?  I personally don't think so.  This is the way Best Buy PR senior manager Paula Baldwin attempted to explain it: 

"This was a really difficult thing for us to do because we appreciate what Father Strand is trying to accomplish with his mission. But at the end of the day, it's bad precedent to let some groups violate our trademark while pursuing others."

So the people at Best Buy appreciated what Father Strand was trying to accomplish.  Get people interested in God and hopefully into a saving relationship with Christ!  But money won out and in the end Best Buy did what it set out to do.  It intimidated a Catholic priest into compliance with their  Cease-and-Desist letter and threats of a lawsuit. 

Best Buy may have won this battle, but they at least have one casualty from it in me.  I will never purchase anything from them again. 

Great job Best Buy.  Maybe now you can go after some high school kid's business of repairing neighborhood computers too!

Eric

Tuesday's Ramblings

I have had issues with my weight for most of my life. I was extremely heavy in High School, and through most of my adult life, with one period of time in 1999 to 2001, I have been over 300 pounds. Dieting is hard for me, as I tend to eat out of habit, or as an emotional crutch. I do like to exercise but I tend to stop long before I get back into the habit of it. Usually it's because of a lack of time.

But those are excuses and I know it.

So I am going to do this again, and this time it is a contest. Between me and my best friend, to see who can lose the most percentage of body weight before summer. I would like to be able to put on a swimsuit without having to cover up completely with the overly large t-shirt because I am too embarrassed, or don't want to embarrass my family.

So I weighed in and set the Weight Watchers scale up to maintain my weight and track my weight changes on Saturday. I do have a blog for weight loss and training, and will go back to that and use that to mark all of the stuff I do to lose weight. You can access it here or on the Training button above.

So the weigh in this morning had me down 8.7 pounds. It's all water weight, but hey, it's a start.