Ungawa!

I had to make two... two... TWO!!!! trips to Walmart today...

Do people even respect personal space any more? Today, I made the mistake of going into Walmart, not once, but twice. In the morning I had to go pick up some cleaning supplies to clean the rack electronics at the observatory dome. For those of you who have not seen it yet, click here to see what I am dealing with (if you ever need to clean an inch deep layer of mouse crap and urine out of your computer... let me know, I have experience)...

In line at 11:00 am on a Saturday I was lucky enough to hit a lull in the endless hordes of people that flock to Walmart each day. But, I made the mistake of getting in line in front of Mr. Smelly pants... This poor guy stunk like a zombie... coffee and cigarettes and B.O. like a day old piece of road kill...

I almost lost my oat meal... But to make things worse, this guy had no sense of personal space... He was close enough so that I could literally feel his breath on my neck... I am no fan of lines as it is (I avoid the DMV and other government facilities like the plague, GO ARMY!), but this particular line only had two people in it... Me and him... Why couldn't he just back off an inch or so??

Weird...

Then to end our date (what couple's date wouldn't be complete without a trip to Walmart?) my wife and I go back to Walmart to get bread, and candles and necessities to take the stink of coffee and cigarettes out of sweatshirts. This time we find our goodies in about 10 minutes... We search around for the shortest line, and find it... The reason it is short? The 17 year old cashier who gets off in ten minutes is obviously more worried about where her boyfriend is going to take her to dinner than getting us through the line (I hate young love... just kidding).

What is it with cashiers who don't want to work? No smile, no hello... no thank you... If you want some real entertainment give them $20.03 when your items cost $19.98 and watch their little heads explode... HAHAHAHA! I really do have an evil streak don't I?

Anyway, I have decided that despite all it is good for, Walmart is straight from the devil... Unfortunately, until I get my degree my wife and I have a lot more of these trips to look forward too...

Prayers...

Pisio

Snails???

Okay... so honestly... I chose the snails because I could not find a pre-made blogger template that had a honu... For those of you not from Hawaii, that is a sea turtle... specifically this one. If you have not read the entry on swimming yet, I highly recommend that you do...

Anyway back to the snail thing... Snails fascinate me in a weird way. I mean really, aside from the occasional gardener, what do snails really bug? Nothing... they just plod along, doing whatever it is that snails do, harming no one... Yet... they seem to piss everybody off, and with a little bit of salt they can be some really mindless entertainment. 

That sounds a lot like my life... I just kinda plod along... I really don't hurt anyone, but I seem to know how to get under everyone's skin if I want to... pour a little salt on me (tick me off or irritate me), and I can be an endless source of ranting and raving and mindless entertainment. Just look at the randomness of this blog... Oh, it is so fun straddling the line between sanity and craziness... I just absolutely love it...

Not much inspiration tonight... I think that I am bummed I might have blown my Calculus Quiz... I will find out on Tuesday...

Check out this blog for a unique look at life down under... the guy is a hoot!

Prayers...

Pisio

P.S.: Chelsea Clinton recently sat down with a US serviceman. She asked him what in the world scared him the most... He replied... Osama, Obama, Yo Mama... HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Ministry with Teens

I have never known anything as rewarding as the work that I do with teenagers. I am thankful that Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to pass on the Faith to the coming generation. I have to tell you though it is the most taxing career choice I think that I could have made. I love what I do, but man am I tired...

Tonight I had a night with my peer ministry where we played a game called Curses. I am convinced that this is a game straight from hell, so it is perfect to play at a Church meeting. Actually, it is a lot of fun, and allows you opportunity to break down the walls that keep you from opening up in groups. It also allows me to see the strengths and weaknesses of the teenagers that I look to as leaders. 

Being an introvert, I have to be alone at times to recharge... so to speak. Tonight is one of those nights where I am glad that I married Jonah. She understands that sometimes I just need my space. We are able to be in the same room together and know that we are supporting each other, yet not in each other's space. Does that even make any sense?

So... In  three weeks we have our Mystery Dinner Theater Fundraiser, the following weekend is a Junior High Retreat, then we have Easter and three weeks later our Confirmation Retreat. It all ends on May 2nd after the Celebration of the Rite of Confirmation. Or does it just begin? That is really the question... 

I am one of the few youth ministers in the Diocese who chooses to do a round the year ministry. It is really silly to me to take the summers off, as that is when those we minister to have the most free time, yet most of my counterparts here in the Diocese do just that. I just do not see how they can ever make inroads in to the teenage culture. That is something that in my experience takes around the calendar consistency and quality.

Time will tell I guess...

Any way... It is going to be a busy few months. I pray that He will give me the strength to make it through these busy times... and that my wife knows despite my desire to be alone... how much I love her...

Happy SAINT Valentine's Day

Prayers,

Pisio

House Hunting

So my wife and I put in an offer on a house about three weeks to a month ago. The house was in a pre foreclosure, so the seller was already selling it at a loss. Once she okayed our offer, we had to hear from her lender if they were going to accept the offer, or opt for the foreclosure option. It was an interesting situation considering this is our first time buying a house. 

Well today, we finally heard from the lender. They have accepted our offer and, pending inspection and VA approval my wife and I can take ownership of our first real house. This is an amazing time to buy a home if you are planning to stay in it long term. We have gotten an amazingly low 30 year fixed rate loan... 5.5%. Who says the lending crisis is bad for everyone?

Jonah and I have been able to take advantage of the bad decisions of both lenders who gave out bad loans, and buyers who got in over their heads... While I have mixed feelings about this, overall I think that I will be able to sleep at night. After all, personal responsibility is a virtue that needs to be reenforced in our country today. I really hope those that have made these bad deals have learned a lesson in personal responsibility. 

I know that I did. When we bought our condo in Hawaii we made some pretty poor decisions when it came to the loans. It was not helped that the lender we went through was more interested in their commission than in our what we could really handle. I gave in, and went against my better judgement. Instead of exercising my VA benefit then, I went for the low payments of an interest only and an ARM... About 6 months later, I finally realized that I really was seeing the writing on the wall... we were in a bad situation...

I knew that my wife and I were in a situation where if the ARM went up we would be homeless in six months... not a good situation to be in... I explored my options and decided to take advantage of the hot market in Hawaii.. we sold our condo for more than we bought it for, right as the market peaked. We paid off all our debt, and that included the $2500 and $5000 prepayment penalties on the bad loans we had... I guess we were lucky...

We were also realistic though. Once our bright eyed optimism wore off, and reality sunk in, we knew we had made some bad choices. We could have stayed in the situation and waited for someone to bail us out, or lose our home... Instead we decided to be a little responsible... We still did not end up in the ideal situation (my parent's basement), but that has proven to be temporary... We learned our lesson.

What is really funny is even though I am a student, work at a Church and we have less than $50K annual combined income, the lending industry would still give us $235,000 if we wanted it. We could get a nice home here in Colorado for that price, but we couldn't afford it. That is an important distinction to make... what you can afford and what you want... they are not always the same thing. What we can afford is something we should all learn to realistically assess...

Prayers,

Pisio

Fatherhood

I love being a father. I am not sure how people can deprive themselves of this incredible joy. It is so amazing to think that I played a small part in creating this beautiful little boy.  I guess that some people just know that parenting is not for them, and that is a good thing; I have respect for them.

 

However there is a group of males out there that I have no respect for... the sperm donors... Not the kind that go to the sperm bank, those who conceive a child with a woman, and then leave her to play both mother and father to the child. This is never how God intended things to do. God intended for us to be a family, reflecting the love that is the relationship of the Trinity. 

I am so thankful that God blessed me with the family He did. My mother and father showed my brother, sister and I what it was to be a family. Things were not perfect, but my dad loved and supported my mom and was the guardian of the family that God intended him to be. What an amazing example to have as a young man growing up. I hope that I am half the father he was. 

I realize that some of us were never that lucky. Fathers may have been alcoholics, or  abusive to their children, or their wives. Why? Why is it that men have forgotten their role as protectors and providers for their families? I really wish I could answer that... If I could think up a way to stop it all together I could become a very rich man. 

I guess that we should really not be surprised at the lack of responsibility shown as men, for our families and especially the women who are our companions... After all our original father, Adam, failed miserably at his role as protector of the family. Due to his lack of attention to his mission as guardian and provider the serpent was able to get close enough to tempt Eve. Had Adam been doing his job, the serpent would have been dead long before ever getting near his wife... 

Women... especially single women... I feel a little bit of pity for you... Working with young men, I see the choices you have as potential husbands and fathers, and I have to just shake my head... Where have all the good men gone? They have not been taught how to be men, and respect women... Perhaps the saddest part is women have come to expect that and they do not demand the respect that they truly deserve... You are worth it, despite what you may be told by your peers and the media... You deserve to be treated better.  If the guy is not going to treat you the way you want to be treated... he is not worth your time...

Somehow we went from fatherhood to here... Interesting... I love the way blogging just allows me to ramble and rant... Good Luck, and Good Night...

Prayers...

Pisio

Imbeciles

Okay... I do not know why, but tonight I watched John Stewart and Stephen Colbert. I felt like I was watching Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb! I understand they are satirical news shows; spoofs of real news shows, but sadly I think that this is where most of the generations between my son's and mine get their "news". As a matter of fact, the main stream media is not much better than those two doofuses.

I really wish that people would take the time to think about and analyze what it is that they read in the papers and hear on the news. To someone who can think their way out of a wet paper bag the main stream media should have lost all credibility long ago. Sadly, a lot of people can not see and think through the crap thrown at them.

Ah... I guess I have just been brainwashed by Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levine, Sean Hannity and Bill OReilly... It just seems like everyone else is a waste of space. As I say in my profile and heading... I am a Conservative... Conservatism makes sense to me... Liberal spin smells like doo doo. You can see through it if you think critically about it...

On another note, this whole thing with tax rebates has really gotten a burr up my butt... Don't get me wrong... I will gladly take the one time TAX CUT and use it in our new house when we get it... But, if the government can afford to give me this break this year... why can't they just lower my damn tax rate... That is the little secret the liberal jackasses do not want you to see... This rebate check is supposed to stimulate the economy... well guess what? The rebate is a tax break, a lower tax... 

LOWER TAXES stimulate the economy... BIG GOVERNMENT creates a bunch of slack jawed yokels who depend on the government for everything... Oh benevolent government... thank you for giving me back 1500 of my hard earned dollars... Next time... DONT TAKE IT TO BEGIN WITH...

Prayers...

Pisio

Site Traffic

So recently I decided to take site traffic a little more seriously. I like the idea of people coming by here and being able to read what I have to say, and ponder and well, maybe just get some mindless entertainment. So I joined link referral and that worked a little bit. I saw my traffic jump from 3- 5 visitors a day to about 20.

My wife then introduced me to Entre Card and I watched as my site traffic tripled, and that is only after two days!!! I can buy and sell my entre card using credits. It is a really cool system and a way to get your blog out there. Of course you guys already know that since most of you are finding me from that site. 

Sure as heck beats exchanging links with this lady. Just kidding... Janet actually has a neat perspective on things. My wife and her are from the same island in the Philippines. Talk about a world most of us westerners will never understand. If you ever have a chance to visit the Philippines, please do. The people are nice, and the country is beautiful... especially once you get out of Manilla... personally I recommend Mindanao... They have the worlds prettiest women there...

Any way... If you have not signed up for entre card, I would recommend you do. It is a really cool way to increase site traffic, and network a little. 

Good Luck and God Bless!

Prayers,

Pisio