Call me!

Found my phone! Yes, in the hills! I prayed really hard and just about when I was about to give up, I looked down, and it was at my feet! Thank you Jesus!

Hiking Season

After all the rain, I took Tahoe out this morning to run! The hills are green, and there was a lot of water for him to splash in! Way better than going to to the gym! I lost my cell phone somewhere out in this wilderness, so don't try to call or text. Does anyone have an old sprint phone I can use???

Politics

It has been a great week to read since I've been on vacation, and it's raining! I finished this one today. I have to say for the record, that I really love Sarah Palin! She is conservative and tough with solid Christian values that she is not afraid to talk about. I love the fact that she prays about every decision she makes, and really, truly has a public servant's attitude putting the people first over government. The stories along the campaign trail are very insightful and explain a lot of the media criticism that has plagued her, even to this day. And the Piper stories are very funny and cute! The whole book was really inspirational and heartwarming. Here's one of my favorite sections:

"I am a conservative because I deal with the world as it is- complicated and beautiful, tragic and hopeful. I am a conservative because I believe in the rights and the responsibilities and inherent dignity of the individual. In his book 'A Conflict of Visions', Thomas Sowell explains the underlying assumptions or 'visions' that shape our opinions and the way we approach social and political issues. He identifies two separate visions: the unconstrained and the constrained. People who adhere to the unconstrained vison (the label applied to them is 'liberal' or 'left-wing') believe that human nature is changeable (therefore perfectible) and that society's problems can all be solved if only the poor, ignorant, disorganized public is told what to do and rational plans are enacted. And who better to make those plans than an elite bureaucracy pulling the strings and organizing society according to their master blueprint? No one can doubt that our current leaders in Washington subscribe to this unconstrained vision. Conservatives believe in the 'constrained' political vision because we know human nature is flawed and that there are limitations to what can be done in Washington to 'fix' society's problems. Commonsense Conservatives deal with human nature as it is- with its unavoidable weaknesses and its potential for goodness. We see the world as it is- imperfect but filled with beauty. We hope for the best. We believe people can change for the better, but we do not ignore history's lessons and waste time chasing utopian pipe dreams. We don't trust utopian promises from politicians. The role of government in a civil society is to protect the individual and to establish a social contract so that we can live together in peace."

Multitasking

New Year's resolution #2... stop wasting so much time! It seems I do a lot of this! One way I can do this is to utilize the several hours I have each morning when I can do my job AND listen to my Ipod. I'm going to start taking advantage of this opportunity to fill my brain with some good things, and at least try and learn something while I'm getting paid! So tonight I loaded my Ipod with some free Podcasts from Catholic Answers Live and Patrick Madrid's Open Line Program. Talk radio makes the time go by so much faster and makes my work so much more enjoyable!

2010

... Is going to be the Year of the Friars! New Year's resolution #1... Pay off all debt immediately! I've made a few resolutions, this one being the most important. I am REALLY determined to not have any credit card debt by Sept of this year. This means major cut backs. No... actually just many minor sacrifices... Like switching to cheap basic satellite tv for only 5 bucks a month instead of 24, ( I actually made this change last year) or instead of paying 20 bucks for someone to wash my truck, I am going to drudge and do it myself! I am going to really try and live a more thrifty and simple life over this entire year just like a fransican monk! I am really excited to put this lifestyle change into practice and think it will be fun, especially when my debt is getting paid down! I am determined to not spend any money that I don't have or buy anything that I don't absolutely need. Today I even shopped at Food 4 Less, right next to where I work. I learned that you can buy trash bags for 98 cents and a loaf of bread for 88! I also learned that you have to scope out the parking places that are REALLY CLOSE to the entrance to this store in the hood or your shopping cart will lock up and stall before you are able to reach your car to unload your groceries! The range is not the whole parking lot like you might think... And this is a permanent lockup until someone with a key comes over to free you up! So it's not a matter of being too lazy to walk, it's an issue of a shopping cart breakdown in the middle of traffic... Stuff you never have to think about when shopping at Ralphs. Still... small sacrifices!

20 Minutes Ago!

This is what I got to see 20 min ago.