Okay…I hardly ever do these even in my head. But when I saw this on a friend’s blog it seemed rather less of a “look at me, aren’t I important” kinda survey and more of an inventory of my life survey. So read it or don’t…do one yourself or don’t. I’m doing it for those friends that know me well and those that think they do.

What I was doing 10 years ago.

I had just been let go from my full time job as a radio announcer and was ready to take on the world with my own home based business. The business was semi-successful and I was glad I did it for a few years. It gave me a chance tot ravel and enjoy a life I had watched zip passed me while I worked 70 hours a week.

Five Snacks I Enjoy

Beer (it’s a snack if not drunk with a meal)
Ruffles with French Onion Dip
Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Twix
Tater Tots

Five Things I Would Do If I Were A Billionaire

Buy a radio station with a great signal and hire jocks that I think are better than me (and currently unemployed) and let them play whatever they want for 4 hours a day and never air a commercial.

Fund lots of scientific research to cure diseases of all kinds.

Season tickets behind home plate to the Royals and the Astros.

Make sure my nephews and godkids were taken care of financially – without spoiling them into Paris Hilton clones.

Buy my Grandmother’s house in Nevada and move it to a few hundred acres somewhere that no one can find me and raise chickens.

Five Jobs I’ve Had

Grocery bagger at my dad’s store

Window Dresser at J C Penney

Radio Announcer

Booking Agent for bands

Office flunky for a friend’s business while I drew unemployment

Five Habits

I always brush my teeth while my bath water runs
I use my turn signal even when there’s no on else on the road or I’m in the middle of no where
I drink my coffee on Sunday mornings from a KTTS mug I gave my grandmother when I worked there
I say I love you to my Mom and Godkids before I hang up the phone

Five Places I’ve Lived

Nevada MO
Springfield MO
Shreveport LA
Houston TX

Sorry those are the only 4

There were other topics but these were the ones that caught my eye.

So it’s about 6:15 and I’m pulling out of my driveway to come to KILT Friday. I’m thinking I might call my Mom and visit on the way in this evening. Maybe stop and get a big ol’ sweet tea from Whataburger for the shift.

Then I look down the fence in the back of my townhome complex and there is a young boy – maybe 12 years old – holding a pistol.

No, it was not a plastic cowboy six shooter.

And it wasn’t the big ol’ water blasters that soon will be all over the place when summer hits.

It looked like this.

The kid was pointing it toward the top of the fence where some doves were sitting. He saw me and pulled it down right away. I stopped my truck and looked right at him. He looked at me and then darted between two parked cars and squatted down.

He thought I would just drive on by. I didn’t.

So…?

This could possibly be the most annoying, frustrating, time consuming computer game in the history of computer games.

Click here to go to the link. There will be a ball attached to an string attached to an arrow curser. Move the curser and the ball will bounce on the string. Try to click the ball with the curser arrow.

It will change color when – and if – you are successful.

Talk to you in a few days.

Yeah, there are a million of these now. But every year there’s one or two that stand out. Here is one.

I installed this light show at a friends home in Fountain Valley, CA. It’s dedicated to the memory of Larry Stewart who passed away on May 15th, 2011. Larry and his wife always wanted to do something big for Christmas, this is their dream come to fruition, I was glad to assist in making this happen.

Read more about the set up

We’ve loved them for years…those computer organized lights. At first they were just freakin’ amazing. I mean it was novel and thrilling. Now…well. What do you think?

And then this one that – well – just seems like a huge waste of electricity. How do they even get inside the door with all these lights?

If I had to choose just one Christmas song to play or listen to each holiday season –

it would be this one.

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn’t quite know,

Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

“What are you doing?” I asked without fear,
“Come in this moment, it’s freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!”
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..

To the window that danced with a warm fire’s light
Then he sighed and he said “Its really all right,
I’m out here by choice. I’m here every night.”
“It’s my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I’m proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at ‘ Pearl on a day in December,”
Then he sighed, “That’s a Christmas ‘Gram always remembers.”
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ‘ Nam ‘,
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I’ve not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he’s sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue… An American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.”

“So go back inside,” he said, “harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I’ll be all right.”
“But isn’t there something I can do, at the least,
“Give you money,” I asked, “or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you’ve done,
For being away from your wife and your son.”

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
“Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we’re gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.”

Would you do me the kind favor of sending this link to as many people as you can or share it on your social sites with the link to the right? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our U.S. Service men and women for our being able to celebrate these festivities. Let’s try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe.
Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us.

Okay this is just funny. Make a few copies for your next Wal Mart visit.