Image Credit: respres

This morning as I was dropping my sister off at work, I passed two side-by-side real estate companies. Both of the businesses were displaying electronic scrolling signs, but with contrasting messages.

One of them was trying to encourage their prospective customers to aim for the moon. Success, according to the scrolling marquee, is achievable by anyone if one only dreams big enough.

Directly next door another sign was displaying, but with a completely different message.

This marquee, instead of showcasing self-help motivational one-liners, encouraged the passerby that even in the midst of these difficult economic times, God’s faithfulness will see us through if we trust only Him, not ourselves.

It’s not often that I find myself agreeing with a roadside sign. But with less than 100 characters, that message perfectly sums up the real stimulus package our economy needs—-a solid dose of trust in God.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009, was a monumental day in the history of our nation. We, the people, said farewell to a man who led our nation through some of the most perilous times in our history, and said hello to a new leader with a tall task in front of him as he faces the war on terror, a mounting recession, and unrest at home and abroad.

History will be much kinder to former President George W. Bush than public sentiment has been for the last four years. Generally, it often is for a president.

Most people didn’t think too highly of Gerald Ford, the only man to become president without being elected, while he was in office. Yet years later, he was extolled as a peacemaker who helped put Washington back together after the Watergate scandal.

Jimmy Carter was ridiculed as being an ineffective peanut farmer from the South, yet in the decades since his presidency he has become one of the most active former presidents of all-time. Never missing from an official or unofficial gathering at home or overseas, Carter’s legacy is far different from the sigh of relief originally echoed by Democrats and Republicans alike when he left office.

So it will be for the 43rd President of the United States, George Walker Bush. As a Texan, I already had much respect for then-Governor Bush. That only grew with the passing of eight years. True, I didn’t agree with everything he said, all the legislation he did or did not veto, or each cause he chose to support or ignore. But when it was all said and done, I still thanked God for my President.

A cowboy at heart, former President Bush is back at his beloved ranch in Crawford. He can chop wood as long as he likes. He can travel to Houston to attend ball games with his father. He can spend time with his family without the burdens of the office we call the Presidency.

In a two-term presidency, there are certain to be many moments which stand out as definitive. But for me, the defining moment of Bush’s time in office was one day, September 11, 2001.

It is hard to believe that nearly eight years have passed since that horrible Tuesday morning. I’ll never forget exactly what I was doing when the phone rang saying that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. As I huddled around the television for much of the day, my heart and prayers went out those who lost loved ones in the Twin Towers, Pentagon, and Flight 93.

The days that followed were eery. Living in the runway pattern of one of the busiest airports in the nation, I was accustomed to hearing jets go overhead several times an hour. For days the skies were clear and the air was unnaturally still as our nation waited with bated breath for news of another attack, fearing another tragedy in the making. Through it all, one figure stood out, that of our President, aggressively taking the fight where it belonged—the terrorist’s backyard. The cowboy was in the saddle.

But despite the aggression, the “compassionate conservatism” he spoke about in his campaign kept surfacing. I saw President Bush walk the halls of Walter Reed hospital, comforting the wounded, grieving with loved ones at memorial ceremonies. The Commander-in-Chief became the Comforter-in-Chief.

Glenn Beck summed up my feelings on Bush perfectly today in a beautiful tribute to his leadership on 9-11, a moment that forever shaped Bush’s legacy and the future of our nation.

“Mr. President, on the darkest day, you gave us hope when we were hopeless. You were unafraid when we were terrified. You led when nobody else wanted to. Mr. President, you don’t have any idea what you meant to me personally and my family right after 9-11. Job well done, good and faithful servant. Thanks.”

President Bush, thank you for your service and labors of love since 2000. The cowboy has truly earned his rest.

As the American public heads to the polls today to vote for the next President of the United States, it is wholeheartedly reassuring to know God has already selected His perfect candidate.

“Here is my servant, the one I support.
He is the one I chose, and I am pleased with him.
I have put my Spirit upon him,
and he will bring justice to all nations.

He will not cry out or yell
or speak loudly in the streets.
He will not break a crushed blade of grass
or put out even a weak flame.

He will truly bring justice;
he will not lose hope or give up
until he brings justice to the world.
And people far away will trust his teachings.”

God, the Lord, said these things.”

– Isaiah 42:1-5

The name of the perfect candidate is not Barack Obama or John McCain.
His name is Jesus Christ.

Although I love flying and aeronautics, I have had some fairly unique airplane experiences over the last ten years or so.

There was the time a passenger went into medical duress and the plane had to make an emergency landing. On another flight, a random man nearly fell asleep on my shoulder. Not to mention the time when a fly became trapped in the cabin and a flight attendant offered a prize to whoever could kill it.

Still, I’ve never had this disturbing experience and pray that I never have the opportunity to share a row with a pervert and his laptop.

Cover your eyes: Not all airlines will filter Wi-Fi

“At first they demurred, saying the cabin crew could and should handle it.

Then, following the lead of many libraries, schools and workplaces, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines announced that each will ask AirCell, the provider of their in-flight wireless service, to filter the content. The goal: to block passengers from surfing Web sites that may offend those seated nearby.

Will other airlines do the same? And should they?
. . .
The decision by American and Delta to filter their in-flight Wi-Fi services hasn’t swayed the folks over at Virgin America, which is set to introduce onboard service next month. Spokesperson Abby Lunardini confirmed that the airline currently does not filter any content on its seatback touch-screen entertainment systems, and that the plan is to extend that non-filtering policy to Wi-Fi.

(source: MSNBC)

I applaud American and Delta for taking a stand on this issue. A trapped fly is one thing, being trapped next to a pornography addict for three hours is a completely different story.

George W. Bush is famous for his jogging and cycling regime. Gerald Ford played golf to help stay fit. Herbert Hoover even had a sport named after him.

Gold’s Gym has ranked the top ten fittest presidents but in true democratic fashion, Americans are also invited to cast their vote in a presidential fitness election at goldsgym.com.

Gold’s Gym — Ten Fittest Presidents of All Time

1. John Quincy Adams — 6th President — Beacon of physical and intellectual fitness.
One of the most intelligent and disciplined men to lead the country, Adams kept his body almost as active as his mind with three-to-four mile daily walks and swims in the Potomac.

2. George W. Bush — 43rd President — Leader with Low Body Fat.
An avid cyclist, Dubya is said to exercise six days a week and steers clear of alcohol and cigarettes.

3. Gerald Ford — 38th President — The longest-living ex-president; turned down professional football for a career in law and politics.
Ford, who died at age 93 in 2006, may have owed some of his longevity to his athleticism. A former collegiate football star at the University of Michigan, Ford captured MVP honors during his senior year and turned down contracts with the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears for a career in law and politics.

4. Jimmy Carter — 39th President — Insatiable outdoorsman and author of “An Outdoor Journal”.
Since boyhood, Carter has enjoyed physical fitness activities that range from hunting and fishing to mountain climbing and skiing.

5. Theodore Roosevelt — 26th President — Advocate of “the strenuous life” — pushing one’s physical limitations.
Roosevelt fought through a series of childhood ailments with determination and, as an adult, took up a number of physical activities including boxing, horseback riding and hunting — and even became a cowboy.

6. Harry S. Truman — 33rd President — Installed a horseshoe pit and bowling lanes on the White House grounds.
When sworn in, Truman appeared as the picture of health. In addition to installing a horseshoe pit and two bowling lanes at the White House, Truman was an avid walker and swimmer.

7. Zachary Taylor — 12th President — Known as “Old Rough and Ready” and always ready to throw himself into battle.
A regular exercise regimen didn’t always center on jogging and strength training. During Zachary Taylor’s day, military activity was a fundamental way to whip your body into shape and Taylor served in the army for 40 years. Despite his devotion to fitness, Taylor’s time in office was cut short when he died from what may have been cholera.

8. Thomas Jefferson — 3rd President — Declaration of Independence author believed “a strong body makes the mind strong”.
One “self-evident truth” that Jefferson believed in was that a person should be both physically and mentally fit. The legendary author of the Declaration of Independence enjoyed horseback riding, fishing and taking long walks, the latter of which he thought could be used to clear one’s mind.

9. Herbert Hoover — 31st President — Had his own sport, “Hoover Ball”.
Once called “notoriously lackadaisical” by the New York Times, Hoover’s physician remedied his sedentary behavior with the invention of a challenging combination of tennis and volleyball that employed a medicine ball and an eight foot tall net. The game was later dubbed “Hoover Ball” — and Hoover stuck to the regimen, playing nearly every morning at 7 a.m. before official White House business began.

10. George Washington — 1st President — Before “Dancing with the Stars,” George Washington enjoyed jigs and country dancing.
As a boy, the Virginia native kept active by canoeing down the Shenandoah River and, later in life, enjoyed dancing.

Although my religion is not Catholic, I think every voter in America needs to see this video.

The music gave me goosebumps, but the message is even more powerful. Forget telling people how to vote . . . it is time for Americans to vote according to their consciences, instead of along party lines.

Photo by Crystl

After seven days with no power, I was pleasantly surprised to see how many new things I learned during Hurricane Ike. While I don’t want to go through it again anytime soon, it was quite an amazing opportunity.

Here is my list, in no apparent order, of the many things I learned from the storm. While I could not come up with one hundred and one, sixty different lessons came to mind.

1. Never underestimate how much damage a “minor” hurricane can do to the 4th largest city in America.

2. When life gives you Ike, bake a cake in your propane grill.

3. No electricity does not always equal no internet or cable television.

4. David might have had hurricanes in mind when he penned Psalm 29.

5. Taking a nap in the afternoon can do wonderful things for the spirit.

6. The US postal service runs in snow, sleet, and rain, but not hurricanes.

7. FM 1960 is Houston’s craziest street, but it can be shut down for a week.

8. You can never have too much bottled water.

9. Babysitting a generator beats fighting four-hour gasoline lines.

10. People who ride out hurricanes on Bolivar Peninsula are certifiably insane.

11. Text messaging is the only means of communication in a natural disaster. Although, be prepared to get them all at once at midnight.

12. Crises can bring neighbors together like nothing else.

13. Generators are loud. VERY LOUD.

14. Sometimes God sends a natural disaster just to slow the world down and give them a chance to look for Him.

15. It is safe to assume that things are bad when Channel 11 goes off the air.

16. Nothing, not even a hurricane can hurt you when you are in the center of God’s will.

17. A video iPod is a very, very nice comfort luxury during a storm.

18. When the government tells people to write their social security numbers on their bodies before staying in a mandatory evacuation zone, it might be time to take a not-so-subtle hint and LEAVE.

19. God occasionally protects drunks and idiots—even in Galveston.

20. Food allergies + Hurricane Ike = Sad days for someone looking for comfort food.

21. Facebook can actually be a necessity for staying in touch with friends and family.

22. A possum, wandering around in broad daylight during the rain in my yard, looks exactly like a giant drowned rat.

23. RISK games are a fantastic way to wile away time—and get in some family bonding.

24. My mother can write a best-seller on hurricane preparedness.

25. Leaving town and missing all the “fun” is infinitely better than staying home in the dark.

26. To quote Miss Deborah from Cranford, “Speculation is the enemy of calm.”

27. “The Pursuit of God” is an excellent hurricane read.

28. Disaster movies are not very appealing when you are living through a real one.

29. Everyone loves to blame FEMA. But who does FEMA get to blame?

30. Bars are sadly the last places to close in a storm and the first to reopen.

31. It is possible to buy a generator in Houston, at sale price, only hours before a hurricane hits.

32. Grilled beef roast is absolutely delicious.

33. Jane Austen helps pass hours during slow days.

34. Your work is always expendable. Funny how life just seems to go on without you.

35. Be prepared to have a killer cell phone bill after a hurricane.

36. Growing up reading and watching Little House on the Prairie is good preparation for life without electricity.

37. People take winning “Yard of the Month” seriously. So seriously that they have to be one of the first houses to clean up less than 24 hours after a storm.

38. Gluten-free brownies baked in a grill actually taste great.

39. A good attitude, sense of humor, and lots of ice are necessities of life.

40. Grapefruit trees weather hurricanes very well.

41. When calling powerless friends to tell them that you have lights, don’t expect for them to be overjoyed with you. Hey, at least they didn’t hang up!

42. Iron all your clothes before a storm hits. Or else, be prepared to be wrinkled.

43. Stock up on makeup. It is a little odd to be hunting for Maybelline when the rest of the world just wants tuna.

44. I am not an adventurer at heart. I didn’t drag myself out of the house for days after the storm hit.

45. Some people clearly do not know how to drive when the stoplights are out.

46. The library waives fees during hurricanes. Funny, the excuse of not being able to return to the library before a book was due never worked before.

47. Hurricane boredom cannot result if you have a stack of Michael Phillips and Jane Austen novels.

48. Grilled s’more pancakes are delicious and very rich.

49. The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep has one of the best soundtracks I’ve ever heard.

50. A mac notebook with three hours of battery power is a wonderful, wonderful thing.

51. AT&T may claim that their wireless data cards work all the time, but don’t believe them. It took mine days to work normally after the storm.

52. Hanging around and doing nothing for days is a wonderful feeling after six weeks of nonstop tennis writing.

53. A grilled cheese sandwich can be the most guilty pleasure.

54. Friends make hurricanes so much easier.

55. Twenty-four hours without checking Google Reader can result in over 900 RSS feed updates.

56. The washing machine and dryer are two wonderful inventions.

57. A cooking thermometer is a must-have for outdoor pastry baking.

58. My father is an electronic genius.

59. Storing projectiles includes neighbors removing Obama signs. Thank goodness.

60. Seven days, thirteen hours, and thirty-four minutes of no power can make a person very grateful for God’s blessings.