Has it really been 5 months?

Does anyone still check this blog? Wow, I can't believe it's been 5-months since I've posted on Tug's Life. I tell you, I am one busy dude. Working full-time, pastoring full-time, and being a husband/dad full-time doesn't leave much room for blogging.

I started my 7th Seminary course yesterday, only 3 more left until graduation!!! I was hoping to graduate this year in May but unless I really pour on the gas I will never make it. So, looks like I'll have to wait until 2013 to participate in the graduation ceremony. :(

Church has been going well. I've really been busy studying and preaching through the Life of the Apostle Paul and more recently the Book of Daniel. I find myself being challenged trying to learn and teach all of the prophecy that Daniel contains. Like I told the congregation the other night, teaching prophecy and the end-of-times stuff is not my preference but I must preach the full council of God and that is part of it. Interestingly enough, several people have told me how much they enjoy learning about all of that stuff.

As for my secular job, I am not even going to start putting down my frustrations concerning it because it wouldn't help and nobody cares and they never will and if I had a billion dollars I would buy the company and cast it into a lake of fire to burn forever and ever. Did I mention I was frustrated???

I've been reading some very good books lately. Yes, believe it or not I occasionally get to read something other than the Bible (though not very often). I found some really good buys on some used book at the local KARM thrift store. Someone donated several books published by Convention Press. Various commentaries on different Books of the Bible and a great book on the life of William Carey. While I was at the Crown Bookstore I found a fantastic book on the Prophet Daniel, written by M.R. DeHaan. It is packed full of great stuff dealing with prophecy.

Well, I have wasted enough time blogging so I better get back to the grindstone. Tomorrow is our final Bible study on the Life of the Apostle Paul and I have to prepare a Pop Quiz to hand out!

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Time marches on...

I haven't posted anything on Tug's Life in a long time. I usually try to reserve this blog for old memories or personal family stuff. I do most of my blogging on my Bro. Byron's Blog, which is mostly church related stuff.

Lots of stuff has been going on over the past few weeks. Our pastor resigned the Church on July 5th and the deacons asked me to fill the job until a decision is made on what to do. I'm getting to preach to my heart's content, three times a week! My heart has always been in pastoring so this is wonderful for me. I am just willing to be used by the Lord in any way that I can.

My Uncle Onloe passed away last week and I preached his funeral this past Friday night. I was very nervous because I wanted to do a good job for my Aunt June and wanted to honor Onloe's memory. She seemed pleased with the way things turned out so that's all that matters to me. I enjoyed seeing a lot of my family members that I don't normally get to see. I hate that it was under these circumstances though. My cousin Jon is also a pastor and he helped out in the funeral and he preached the graveside service. I thought he did a great job. My Uncle Ron sang at both services and did fantastic. My mother and sister also did great jobs singing at the funeral. I believe Onloe would have been pleased.

It's been a month since I finished my last Seminary course. I am still waiting on the funds to start the next one. I've nearly got enough, so hopefully I can do that in the next week or two. This next course is "Teaching & Preaching the Bible." Sounds exciting to me since that's what I do anyways. I am so glad that Crown Seminary offers the Master's in Ministry course through the extended studies program because as busy as my schedule is, I would never be able to attend traditional on-campus classes.

I can't believe I turn 45-years old this Wednesday. I never thought I'd live to be this old. I can remember as a young boy thinking 45 was waaaay over the hill. LOL.
My mom, sister, and aunt treated me to an early birthday lunch today at Calhoun's. Of course I chose the cheeseburger as usual.

I'm not going to make any promises of updating Tug's Life soon. I have good intentions I'm just really covered up right now.

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"One of these days..."

I preached a message last night at church from 3 John 1-4, concerning the prosperity of our souls. In the message I mentioned how me and my friend Billy always had old cars sitting around that we were "one of these days" going to fix-up. I pulled that audio clip out and uploaded it with some pics for your enjoyment.

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My Hero of the American Revolution

When I was growing up, my dad was a Knox County Public School teacher. He specialized in American History and taught History and Social Studies at Mascot, East Knox Elementary, Carter Middle, and after retirement he taught at New Hope Christian School for a while. Needless to say, History was always my favorite subject in school. My dad had a way of bringing history to life and that made learning fun.

One of the things my dad did to help teach me about the American Revolution was to buy a set of Heroes of the American Revolution dolls. I can't recall how many of them we had but I do remember my very favorite one was Patrick Henry. For some reason I adopted Patrick Henry as my favorite Hero of that time period. I suppose it was because of his famous line, "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!," from a portion of his speech before the Virginian Convention, in which he said: "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" I thought he must have been one of the bravest men in history.

This morning I read over Patrick Henry's famous speech to the Virginian Convention and notice that he mentioned God five different times within the course of the 1,214 word speech. Not only that, his speech is laced with Biblical references and borrowed expressions, such as when he says: "Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss." This is a clear reference to when Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss in the garden of Gethsemane just before His arrest. Hmmm, just something to ponder on.

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Let the sparks fly

Yesterday at church, a lady gave my youngest daughter, Elizabeth, 3 boxes of sparklers. She had never had the pleasure of playing with sparklers and was very excited to try them out. About 9:30 PM last night we were able to go out in the front yard and let her have some fun. Boy, did she ever have FUN! Here are a few pics.

Here we go 'round the bird bath.

Oh what fun!

This is my favorite shot.

I'm queen of the world!

Give me liberty, or give me death!

In your face!

Going back around.

Boo, hoo, no more sparklers...

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Massive Power Failure

On Tuesday night we were sitting around the house waiting on the coffee to finish brewing, when all of a sudden my son, Matthew, yelled out, "uh, you all may want to look outside, it looks really bad." I didn't give it much thought, just got up and walked to the door and looked outside. It did indeed look really bad. I could see a wall of rain headed from House Mountain toward our house and suddenly it started pelting us with drops. The wind was a sickly feeling warm and it was very strong. Limbs began falling from our Persimmon trees in the front yard and leaves were being blown across the yard. We shut the door and sat back down. Then the lights blinked, and blinked, and blinked, and then just shut off. It was around 8:45 PM. "Oh great," I thought, just what we needed, a power outtage. I figured the lights would come back on in a few minutes. I figured wrong....

So, today is Thursday and we still don't have power. Turns out a huge tree from the Thompson's field, blew across the entrance of our road and took out all of the power lines! The last word we heard from KUB was that it may be "3 or 4 days" before power is restored. Oh great.

In the meantime, we've lost nearly all of the food we had in the fridge/freezers. I tried grilling everything I could get my hands on before it went bad. We have really ate good for the past 2 days but now we are out of good food with no sign in sight of having power again. I was able to come to work today but feel really rough. Sleep has been tough because it is so hot in the house plus the smell of candles and an oil lamp has messed up my sinuses.

One good thing has come out of all of this. We have spent a lot of time together as a family. We've read a lot of books and played games together. The kids have actually been very good and gotten along with each other. Last night we had church at our kitchen table since we weren't able to attend our regular church. It was a nice time of Scripture reading and talking about what was read. We also sang and prayed. I read from Mark chapter 13, about the end of times and the kids had lots of questions.

As much fun as we are having, I am ready for the power to come back on! I'd like to take a nice warm shower and not sit around fanning all the time. It will take us forever to get the house back in order and our food replenished but the Lord has watched out for us and I'm grateful.

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Sunday morning reminiscing

I was so thrilled last night when my mother sent me a text letting me know that she was uploading some pictures for me on Facebook. Unfortunately, I deactivated my Facebook account last week so I told her to send them to my daughter instead. I had no idea what they were and I was so excited to see them. Much to my surprise they were very old pictures of me and my sister Pam. She had ran across them while going through boxes of pictures at my Aunt June's house. Ever since seeing them I have been stuck in old memories. I pray that the Lord never takes away all of the precious memories of my childhood. I love to sit down with my eyes closed and concentrate on memories of the past and let those scenes play upon the movie screen of my mind. It's kind of like Christopher Reeve in the movie, Somewhere In Time. I feel like if I try hard enough that I will actually be transported back into those days.

The above picture is of me and Pam standing in Aunt June's front yard. I can barely see the roof of my Aunt Mary and Uncle Stanley's single wide trailer in the background. I don't know the date this picture was taken but I would guess that I was around 1970-71 which would make me 5-years old and Pam 8 or 9. My, how happy we look. We had probably been playing all day in Granny's backyard and June's front yard, both properties adjoined. I would sometimes bring my little plastic toy motorcycle and ride it up and down the long driveway that ran the length of both properties. There was usually a large mud puddle in the middle of the driveway and of course I would have to go right through the middle of it. I'm holding a toy rifle; probably one that shot those little yellow rubber BB's. Looks like my white t-shirt is dirty, most likely from laying on the ground shooting at the "enemy." Pam looks pretty clean. No doubt she was playing a little more sophisticated.

Well, it's Sunday morning I need to be studying for today's Sunday School lesson that I'm teaching. The next time I post, it will be about the other picture mom sent. Meanwhile, enjoy life while you can, it sure does fly by fast

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Seminary update

Hey Tug's Life Readers (all 10 of you), I just wanted to update you on how things are going in Seminary. I can't believe that 2 years and 3 months have already passed by since I was first accepted at Crown. When I started, I had intentions of graduation by May 2011. Wow, was I wrong about that! Of course working full-time, raising a family, and doing church work full-time takes its toll. I usually end up having to do all of my school work in the wee hours of the night. I'm not complaining but I really thought I would be finished by now and working toward my Doctorate. With the way things are going, I am shooting for graduating in May of 2012 now. I am right at half way through the program right now.

My latest course is the online version of the Pastor's College. I am enjoying this one more than any I've taken thus far. It consists of me watching Pastor Sexton give lectures and sermons on various subjects, taking notes on those and writing applications. There are 21 modules in this course and I completed number 7 tonight. I thoroughly enjoy listening to Pastor Sexton speak. Tonight's lecture was 57 minutes long and I was hanging on every word. It is so nice to be going to school for something that I love and care about as opposed to my undergraduate school work that I hated and despised. I wish I had went to Bible college instead of Technical College when I obtained my Bachelor's Degree. Oh well, you live and learn I reckon.

The courses aren't cheap but I am still counting on the Lord to provide the funds so I don't have to go into debt for it. I am still paying student loans from my Bachelor's degree and will be for several more years and didn't want to add any more debt to that. So far the Lord has provided the funds by laying it on people's hearts to donate and by providing extra money here and there. I appreciate those that have contributed and you'll never know how much it has meant to me and my family.

So anyways, that's just an update on how things are going. I earnestly desire your prayers so keep it up!

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Lighting the Night In Memory of Pam

In Memory Of Pam

The above pictures are of my sister Pam. She was an accomplished piano player and singer. She owned her own medical transcribing company and could type over 150 words per minute. She loved reading books and spending time with family.

Pam was diagnosed with Leukemia in October of 2001. She went through many chemotherapy treatments and a bone marrow transplant. On December 16th, 2002, after battling this terrible disease for over a year, her body finally gave up and her life on this earth ended.

Pamela Marie Chesney Stanifer left behind a husband, 2 young children and hundreds of friends and family members. She was 39 years old..

Leukemia is so weird, there is no rhyme or reason as to why, when, or to whom it will strike next. We have always felt so helpless and angry that there was absolutely nothing that we could do to help Pam.

After sitting around brewing about it for the first few years, we finally decided that enough was enough. There is something that we can do after all. No, we can’t bring Pam back but perhaps we can make a difference in someone else’s life in the future. That is why we have decided to join the Tennessee chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society as volunteers. The Society's mission is to find a cure for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

The reason we are writing to you today is to give you the opportunity to help out as well. We are not asking you to go out of your way, we're simply asking you to consider sponsoring "Team Chesney" for the Light The Night Walk at Volunteer Landing in Knoxville , TN on October 27, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. We have set a team goal to raise $1000.00 in memory of Pam, to go toward Leukemia research. Please visit the Team Chesney Homepage to donate or to sign up to walk with us.

Did you know that:

• Every five minutes, someone in this country is diagnosed with blood cancer: Every ten minutes, someone loses the fight. •Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children. •Lymphomas are the most common blood cancers. •The myeloma survival rate is only 32 percent. Thank you for considering donating your money or time in this fight against Leukemia.

Sincerely,

"Team Chesney" -Byron, Mary, Jessica, Matthew, Elizabeth

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Porch of safety

This is the third post of excerpts from a sermon I preached entitled, "Has Your Porch Light Went Out?"

This talks of how we used to gather together in the yard to play outside games such as "hide-n-go-seek," "ghost in the graveyard," and red-light-green-light." All of my cousins and friends and neighbors would play and we always made the porch our home base.

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A light of assurance

This is the second video excerpt from a sermon I preached titled, "Has Your Porch Light Went Out?" This tells of a time I spent the night at my Mamaw Bessie and Papaw Lorn Chesney's house when I was very young. They lived in a big old 2-story house that was built back in the 1800's. My sister, Pam, had told me that there were ghost living upstairs in the house, which made my little mind go crazy.

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Real men DO cry

In the sermon I preached this past Sunday evening, "Has Your Porch Light Went Out?", I enjoyed relaying some of my old childhood memories. I thought I would pull those parts out of the video and share them here on Tug's Life for my family and friends to enjoy and reminisce with.

This first one I'm posting is of the time I went on a squirrel hunting trip on Clinch Mountain with my dad and one of his friends. I think I was probably around 13-years old at the time that this happened, which is the same age as my son Matthew right now. I think he got a big kick out of hearing this. Anyways, give it a listen or watch if you've got about 3 and a half minutes.

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Matt's Big Bass

Well my son the fisherman has done it again. He caught another huge bass. This time is was a 5-lb Large Mouth. Talk about one excited boy! I tell you what, I'm 44 years old and have never caught a fish that big. Great job Matt!

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Long time no Tug

Hey folks, it's been over a month since I posted anything on Tug's Life. I've been posting a lot on Brother Byron's Blog. I just thought I'd post something and let everyone know that I'm still around.

The attached pic is one that was taken today at a pond near my house. Me and my son Matthew go fishing there and this was my catch of the day. Not very impressive huh? Oh well, Matthew skunked me again.

I'll try and post something really good soon. I've got a ton of things running around in my head that I want to write about but between work, school, church, and seminary it is difficult to make the time for blogging.

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A Labor of Love

Believe it or not, I am celebrating 9-years since I started the Tennessee Trivia website. It all started as just a fun game that me and my buddies John Roy and Mike Henderson used to play when we all worked at Panasonic. We would sit around and fire off trivia questions and see who could answer them. Then I got the bright idea of taking the game to the next level and starting a website. Months and months of research was put into the content that I would add to the site. Finally I bit the bullet and dove into the world of website design. I was a complete idiot when I started it out (still am according to some folks) but through trial and errror I was able to compile a pretty decent site and introduce it to the world-wide web.

Tennessee Trivia has came a long way from those early days. Through much patience I have managed to leverage the site at the very top. I'm ranked number 1 in the world for Tennessee Trivia information. Over the past 2 or 3 years I have not been very faithful in updating the site. I'm trying to do much better in the present and future. I receive numerous requests every week from readers with suggestions of things to add, sometimes it becomes overbearing but it is still fun. I just did a banner re-design on the site last night and I'm doing a few more visual improvements. If you haven't visited lately, go on over and check it out. Oh, and those ads that you see on the site? They pay for my webhosting and other associated fees. So, a few clicks on them wouldn't hurt my feelings!

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Seminary update

Sorry for those of you that read both Tug's Life and Brother Byron's Blog. I am posting this on both of them.

I was able to purchase my 4th Seminary course today, ED545 Baptist Distinctives & History of the Church. Here is a brief overview of the course:

"A detailed study, discussing issues such as possible separation, the definition of fundamentalism as biblical Christianity, and the authority of Scripture applying to polity. Emphasis is also given to the lives of those men who have made great contributions to the movement."

 I stopped off at the Crown Bookshop today on my lunch break and picked up my course materials; Baptist Distinctives Notebook, Principles and Practices for Baptist Churches by Edwared T. Hiscox, Issues of Life Answered from the Bible by Clarence Sexton, The Doctrine and Administration of the Church by Paul Jackson, Spurgeon Vs Hyper Calvinism by Iain Murray, and a 5-DVD set of Sermons.

So far I have read about 25-pages of the main text book and am really enjoying it. I've always been proud of being a Baptist and I love to study history so this is going to be a great course for me. I'm excited about learning some new things and I only have 6-more courses left after this one. One of those is attending the week long Pastor's College in July (which I plan on doing) and another is Ministry Practicum which I already have several years of. So, that leaves 4-actual book courses to complete before I graduate. I've got to say that this has really been a rewarding journey toward my Master's degree. When I went through my Associates and my Bachelors I was pretty much just going to get the degree and really had no interest in learning. It's a lot different this time. I actually enjoy learning because it's something that I am interested in and it is really helping me in my ministry.

I have had some very generous people in my life that have donated toward my schooling and I thank God for those people. So far I have been able to pay for my Seminary courses as I go and not had to borrow any money. My wife and family have also been very supportive of me, even when I stay up late at night completely absorbed in my studies. The Lord has really been good to me and I appreciate it. If you run out of things to pray for, please remember me in your prayers.

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Look at the pretty horses

Optional title for this post: "spit it out! spit it out!

I can't remember what the exact year was when this incident occured, but I know it was in the '70's. I'm sure my mom will have a different opinion on what exactly happened but this is my blog and I get to tell it from the way I remember it!

It was a lazy summer day. Mom took me and Pam with her to the store that was owned by my parent's friends, Sherry and Lois Greer. (The store is now Roger's & Son's Sunoco.) We used to go to their store a lot when I was a kid. They had 3 children; Marty, Randy, and Dee Dee, and we all used to play together. We would ride bikes around the store and up and down their driveway while mom and dad talked to Sherry and Lois.

Sometimes mom would have enough money to let us pick out some candy. On this day we had done just that. I remember I had got my very favorite, Marathon Bar, and Pam got a $100,000 bar (now called the 100 Grand.) We bought our candy bars and piled in the car and headed back toward home. We lived on Maloneyville Rd. so we took Tazewell Pike towards Gibbs. We had just made it down the long hill in front of Atkins Baptist Church and were starting to go around the curves just past Atkins Rd. We were happily enjoying our candy bars, singing, and listening to the radio when Pam exclaimed, "look at the pretty horses!" Pam loved horses and was always on the lookout for them. Over to the right was a large field and sure enough there were several beautiful horses grazing in the lush green grass. My mother, turned to look out the passenger window and in that split second the right side wheels dropped off the side of the shoulder. Mom jerked the wheel, overcompensating to straigten the car back up. The car screeched across to the other side of the road and again mom jerked the wheel to the right. We were fish tailing almost out of control. After what seemed like hours, mom was somehow able to bring the car back under control.

The next thing I knew, mom was screaming and holding her hand behind her into the backseat and yelling, "spit it out! spit it out!" Pam and I leaned forward and spit what was left of our candy bars into the palm of my mother's hand. By then Pam was crying, mom was crying, and I almost started crying. I sat silently in the back seat wondering why in the world mom wanted me to spit my candy bar out. As we neared home I got brave enough to ask, "mom, why did you make us spit our candy bars out?" Still in tears mom said, "I was afraid you all would choke on them." I didn't quite grasp the concept back when I was a kid but now that I'm older, I completely understand it.

The memory of that day has always been there in my mind and I think about it nearly everytime I eat a candy bar. I told my kids about it a few months ago and just recently when we were on a family trip my youngest daughter Elizabeth yelled out from the backseat, "spit it out! spit it out!" We all broke down laughing. Ah those were some good times.

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East TN Fishing Show 2011

We had been planning on going to the East TN Fishing show for the past few weeks. Matthew was so excited to be going and he talked about it almost 24/7. We invited my bro-in-law, Wayne, to go with us. We arrived about 9:50 and stood in a very long line of camoflauged and UT decked out fishing fans. I was really a little surprised at how many people were attending. I've been to things like this in the past where the crowd was very small, but there were several hundred people present in the first hour of opening.

We walked around and looked at all of the different fishing booths. Lots of tackle, rods, reels, and boats were on hand. The prices varied from ridiculously high to very reasonable. I wasn't really looking to buy anything, I was more or less just there for Matthew. I love to fish but Matthew is a fishing nut! He was like a kid in a candy store as he walked up and down each isle looking at all of the colorful lures. I enjoyed looking at the boats on display. I own a Jon boat that is so small that I'm scared to take it out much. It tips over real easily. I saw some very nice Alumacraft Jon boats there that had my mouth watering. Of course they had a pretty hefty price tag on them so I was only looking.

We came across one booth that was selling plugs 3 for $8.00. What a bargain! We bought 3 nice ones and I can't wait to use them. We then made our way upstairs and as soon as we rounded the corner a man was standing behind the Crockett Creek Jerky booth giving out free samples beef jerky. Well, I've never been one to turn down beef jerky so I sampled several bites. It was pretty good. I bought 2 bags which were marked 2 for $10.00, not a bad price for jerky. Like I said, it was pretty good but not near as good as the jerky that my Uncle Ronnie makes. He makes homemade deer jerky and it's the best you've ever eaten. If you ever get a sample of his you will compare everything from there on out with it.

As we were upstairs we looked down to the ground level and spotted the Tennessee fishing legend, Bill Dance, sitting at a table signing autographs! Matthew really wanted to meet Bill so we made our way downstairs and stood in the long line for nearly 50 minutes to wait our turn. As we approached Bill he smiled really big and asked my son what his name was. "Matthew," he replied. "Do they call you Matt or Matthew," Bill asked? "Matthew," my son said. "Matthew, that sounds dignified," Bill retorted. They made some more small talk as Bill signed a 5x7 picture of himself. He then invited him to sit beside him and have his picture made. I thought it turned out pretty good for a Blackberry picture. Matthew sure is proud of it.

It was a great day and worth the very low admission price of $5.00. You can't find values like that in many places these days. We will definitely go back again next year when they have it. Maybe we will save up a little cash between now and then so we can do more than just window shop!

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Snow Barn...sick again

Well, it's that time of year again, just like last year at this exact same time. Mary and Liz both have been sick this week and I knew it was only a matter of time before I came down with it. Sure enough yesterday morning I began feeling dizzy, headache, sore throat, etc... last night I was running a low grade temperature. Today I feel pretty lousy with a bad headache, sinus pressure, dizzy, coughing, and chilling. It's not looking good for leading Worship in the morning or even getting out of bed...

I did manage to go outside for about 3-minutes and take a picture of the barn across the road from my house. Yeah, I know, I take a lot of pictures of it. But, I just love looking at it. Below is the one from this morning:

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Contributing to the delinquency

If coffee is considered a drug, then I'm guilty.
 

Father & Son Coffee toast



Come on Matt, just a sip



Oh well, I guess it's an aquired taste!



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Snow Day!

We got some unsuspected snow this afternoon. I left early from work thinking I was beating the rush, unfortunately, everyone else must have had the same idea. It was a very slow and traffic filled drive home. I finally made it just before dark and had a chance to snap a few pictures. Thought I'd share.

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Christmas 2010

I think this picture says it all!

It has been a really good Christmas this year. Starting off with a great visit with my cousin (and Tormentor) Danny and his wife Drama on the Friday, Dec. 17th. They treated us to a nice big meal and wonderful conversation. I'm so glad that we reunited a couple of years ago. I really treasure the friendship that my family and I enjoy with them.

On Saturday, Dec. 18th, we visited Sandra and Wayne and had a delicious meal. Afterwards we sat in the living room while the kids played and the grown-ups talked. I wasn't much of a conversationalist because I fell asleep sitting on the couch. I wasn't trying to be rude but I was worn out!


Angels we have heard on high?

 Then on Sunday morning, Dec. 19th, we had our Choir Christmas presentation at church. Due to many different circumstances we only had one day to practice this year but you would have never known it. The children sang wonderfully and so did our ladies trio, Sis. Carol, and the HBC choir. I was excited about singing Mary Did You Know for the very first time. I thought it went very well.



Great time with Granny & Papaw

 On Thursday, Dec. 23rd, we visited with Mary's parents. We took them lunch and then afterwards I pulled out the guitar and song books and my family sang Christmas carols and hymns for about an hour. We had a wonderful time and I think granny and papaw did too. Later that night, we decided to open a few presents early. I was overwhelmed with a set of Vincent's Word Studies books that Mary had gotten me.

On Friday, Dec. 24th (Christmas Eve), the kids were very excited. Mary, Liz, and Matthew went to Sandra's house for her family's Christmas get-together. Jessica and I stayed at our house. When everyone got home we decided to open one present each. We had a great time and we were even more excited about Christmas morning.



Yay! Books!

 Finally, on Christmas, I awoke at 4:30 A.M. and couldn't go back to sleep. I got up and looked outside and everything was white! It was one of the first white Christmas's I can remember in a long time. I went in the living room and turned on the television and of all things the movie White Christmas was on. Around 5:00 my youngest daughter came tip toeing in the room. She sat down on my lap and watched the movie with me and waited for 6:00 to roll around so she could wake everybody up. Finally the time came and Liz went around waking the household up. One by one they made their way into the living room. Before we opened presents, Liz said she wanted to give Jesus a gift. She had written a song and she sang it. I'm probably prejudiced but I thought it was beautiful and I'm sure the Lord did too. Then we each opened our presents. I think everyone was pleased with what they received. I know I sure was. I got several books I had been wanting, which will keep me in reading and studying material for a very long time.



Holly bush outside my front door

 Around 12:00, my parents came over to see what the kids had got for Christmas and they visited for a little while and invited us over to their house for lunch. We went over there and enjoyed turkey and dressing and the works. It was a fantastic Christmas. I wish that everyone could enjoy the season as much as we have.

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New York State Of Whine

Another business trip, another cruddy city. Never had the desire to visit Buffalo, NY, ever. Wouldn't be here now if it weren't for my job. All of my life I've heard that Buffalo was one of the worst cities in the world, especially in the winter time. I can vouch for it now.

So, I arrive on Monday evening and it was 10 degrees with a "feels like" of 0. I stood outside of the airport waiting on the hotel shuttle service for an hour. I was so cold I thought my ears had fallen off. All I could think of was my wife telling me I should pack a toboggan and me laughing and saying, "nah." This morning it was 3 degrees with a feels like of minus 7... nice.

I've also always heard "the people up in Buffalo don't have problems with the snow, it's just like anther day to them and it doesn't stop them from doing anything." WRONG! That is a huge lie. Ever since I got here all everyone is talking about is how bad the weather is and how bad the snow is and how they hate driving in this stuff. Traffic crawls at a snails pace. Schools are closed, businesses are closed, and everyone has told me, "you picked a bad time to come up here." You think? So dispel those rumours that Buffalo folks have no problems with the snow. They ain't no different than we are. The only real difference I have seen is there aren't any backer spittin' rednecks in big 4-wheel drive trucks flying down the middle of the road and tailgating folks like there is in Tennessee when it snows.

On the plus side, my hotel room is fantastic! There are 2 Queen sized beds (only need one but I think I'll sleep in both of them while I'm here), fireplace, big screen TV, full-sized fridge, dishwasher, stove, desk, couch, chair, huge bathroom, etc... it is almost as big as my house! There is about 2-feet of snow outside of my room so I ain't doing much outside. I would go out and build a snowman but I don't want to die. I'm also one night stay away from achieving Gold Status.

I've had to extend my stay an additonal night because of issues at the customer's site. Speaking of that... the customer site is pretty far from my hotel and I have to call a taxi to get back and forth. It costs $41.00 one way. I've already spent over $100 dollars just in ground transportation and will most likely spend $100 more before it's over with. I found out today why there was no Marriott's near the customer site, it's right smack dab in the middle of crack town. I had no idea until the taxi driver asked me if I knew what part of town I was in? He informed me that most of the drug dealing and drug houses were there where he was dropping me off at. That made me feel real good...

So, there you have it, my New York state of whine...

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