Scattershooting While Wondering Whatever Happened To Ranking Roger....

- First and foremost, A big Happy Birthday to Vanessa, who turns mid 30-ish today. My present to her? Puttin' on a wig & dress and singing Happy Birthday - Marilyn Style!

- Quite the visual, huh?

- From the "Parenting Is An Adventure" files...Asher is constantly working on something in front of the computer, either playing games, or writing for his blog (he'll publish it when we decide he's old enough to have a blog), or working on a book he's writing (A novel about detention - it aint bad). So last week when he said he was working on "An invitation for my friends to join "Asher's Territory Clubhouse" - we thought nothing of it. Until Saturday, when the door bell rang at 2PM, and a friend shows up, unexpectedly, with an invitation in hand. Turns out, Asher did indeed type up his invitation, print a dozen copies, then distribute them at school. Oh, and the Asher's Territory Club meets here EVERY Saturday...and promises "Good food". Luckily, the other parents got a big kick out of the deal.

- At about 2:15 Saturday, we had a long family discussion about when it was appropriate to pass out our address.

- How much is Asher like me? He says he passed the invites out on Thursday, and "totally forgot" about them until the door bell rang.

- I'll be flying to North Carolina on Monday to visit Camp Lejeune. It'll kind of be nice to be on an airplane again. It seems like forever.

- We are planning a Texas trip in July. It will be brief, but we are looking forward to seeing whoever we can. And eating BBQ.

- A friend of mine, Jeff Flowers, posted a couple of conversation starters on twitter Saturday, to which I responded with a great deal of...well...snarkiness. The question? " Why do you think Evangelicals are embracing Ms. California's "persecution" so quickly? Thoughts?". I answered with two tweets of my own: "because evangelicals spend a lot of time looking for victories in the skirmishes of the cullturual war- she agrees w/ us-we win!" & "...or, evangelicals are just as stupid as everyone else". Yeah, like I said, snarky. But am I the only one who finds it disturbing that evangelicals seem to attached them/our selves to the flavor of the day, (even if that flavor is in a BEAUTY PAGENT) if that flavor seems to agree with our position, no matter how inarticulate it is? We prove to 'the world' that we are no different than 'them' when we knee jerk and heap praise and support upon people who have done nothing to deserve it other than be on TV? Aren't we as guilty as 'them' in media hero-worship? How can we fight a cultural war when we are in love with the culture? What did Miss California say that was so darn Theological and important enough to earn an appearance on the Dove Awards? Miss California agrees with 52% of the voters of California with regards to her views on gay marriage. Big deal. We get offended when Obama states that we aren't a Christian Nation, we love it when a beauty queen thinks gay marriage is wrong. To me it appears that we are seeking outside assurance that our beliefs are correct, and we are right. My faith rests not upon the approval of presidents, musicians, beauty queens, or talking heads; but on the finished work of Christ alone. Anything else just seems stupid.

- $20 to the pastor/leader who can come up with a term other than "the world" or "then" when refering to the lost.

- Leave comments. Do it.

Wherein' I answer all the pressing questions of the day like "do you feel older?" or "does it bother you that this is the last year of your 30's?"...

Not really, no.

Wherein I Tell You How a Few Million of Your Tax Dollars Are Being Spent.

HUGE video from...uhmm...Channel 10 NBC in San Diego. The news team did a report last night on how Billions of the stimulus package are being spent on military bases right here in California. So, they go to a job site at Camp Pendleton and shoot our crews working hard and pretending that there isn't a camera there. Oddly enough, they interviewed our competition, but it's our project the are showing. Look for the RQC Diamond HERE.



We've also been awarded the contract to build the new Seabees Museum. Check out the links here and here as well as the 3D model on the left.

Family Interviews, Pt. 4, (or, "Allow Myself to Interview...Myself", OR "You're Never Alone With A Schizophrenic" )

Lane

The WAM Interview

This reporter has been a part of some tough interviews in the past, but none posed such a challenge as this one. How does one interview oneself without coming across as conceited, vain, self important, or just plain ole goofy? Answer: One doesn't. But here is where I throw caution to the wind and press on anyway.

A brief history on our subject is in order prior to jumping into the interview. Lane, the eldest of 2 children, was born in Tupelo, Mississippi just after breakfast one morning in mid-April of 1970. For the sake of brevity, the next 38 years go something like this: Move from Tupelo to Kosciusko, MS. Where he learned to ride a bike and tie shoes all by himself. Then to Houston, TX where he learned to appreciate Tex-Mex, baseball and humidity. From Houston to Denison, TX where he graduated high school in the top 76% of his class. Denison to Dallas, and all over the DFW Metroplex, to Waco, back to DFW and eventually in Temecula, CA. He has two children, a dog, a wife of 14 years and little hair, that he keeps shorn closely to his scalp. Lane can be quiet & shy, or loud and demonstrative, depending upon his caffeine-to-red-blood-cell ratio. Work doesn't come easy for him, as he has to circle around it for a while before diving headlong. He can be at once studious, carefully attentive and forgetful and rather absent minded. He and This Reporter sit in his living room where he should be working on a project for work.

TR: Good Evening, handsome.

LM: Hey good lookin'!

TR: I understand you should be working instead of blogging.

LM: Yeah, well, you know...I'm getting around to that.

TR: I thought you swore off working after hours from home after you took an office job.

LM: I have, by and large. But, my mouth gets me in trouble - I take on ambitious projects and aggressive deadlines from time to time. I typically won't work from home until after everyone else is asleep. I don't want my children remembering me as the Dad always with his head in the laptop/blackberry.

TR: Let's talk about work for a moment. You've had an interesting work history.

LM: To say the least. I've had opportunity to be involved with just about every facet or construction, save for residential or highway - from HVAC & Plumbing, to small turn-key institutional, CM at Risk Educational, to Hard bid commercial and everything in between. Which makes where I am now a perfect fit. Plus you add in the books I sold, wheelchairs I delivered and the whole other life I had, and it makes for good stories, which really, is what it's all about.

TR: Speaking of "that whole other life", what happened there? People tend not to just leave the ministry unless they are forced out by an exposed sin or disillusionment. So, which was it?

LM: Neither, thank you. I think it all started with a basic misunderstanding. God called me to be a full time disciple. In my immaturity, I assumed that meant I had to preach, go to seminary, do it for a living. Looking back that certainly wasn't the Plan or the calling. There might have been some disillusionment thrown in there too. Much of what I was exposed too in the whole "full time ministry" life wasn't exactly spiritual or healthy or even biblical.

TR: I was hoping for something a little more, say, Swaggert-esque.

LM: OK, I was caught buying meth and keeping company with a male prostitute. Better?

TR: Much, thank-you. Have you found a church in Temecula yet?

LM: Yep, I found THE Church.

TR: You mean Saddleback?

LM: No, I found the Church here, within these 4 walls. And at work, with fellow believers. And at a coffee shop in a chance meeting with a guy that's quickly becoming a friend.

TR: So, you don't go to church?

LM: I belong to no 501-c-3 organization, no.

TR: But who do you disciple?

LM: Besides my children? Right now, no one other then them. Although they are rather important. Down the road, who knows? The Father has a tendency to make things happen when you least expect it.

TR: So you quit church?

LM: God has been moving us to this place for a while. We love the people that we have fellowshipped with, love the time together, love studying together. Basically, we loved the relationships. I could do with-out the committees, in-fighting, guilt, and everything else that comes with an institution. I love Jesus, I want to love Him more, and I want to be around people who do as well, and thus far, that hasn't been a problem. This is where we are right now. Focused on Him, getting to know Him, letting Him do with us as he pleases; and right now at least, this seems to be pleasing him.

TR: What gets you going? What are you passionate about?

LM: I'm passionate about construction. I love the challenges, the team work, the fact that no two days have been exactly alike since 1997. I love trying to fix what is broken in the industry and integrate all that we do into one cohesive unit. I love trying to figure out the process and what is broken in the process. I love to read. I'll read anything. I'm most passionate about my family. Our little unit here. Don't even get me started on them.

TR: What are your weaknesses?

LM: My mind tends to wander at times. I can get wordy. I seem too often to have to re-trod territory I've already have been through because my mind can be weak. I think I'm too motivated by ambition at times.

TR: What then, would be the one thing you'd change about yourself?

LM: I'd like to be quicker off the dribble in basketball, and be able to drive from both sides.

TR: Short attention span, verbose, slow learning and ambitious - and the one thing you'd change is your basketball game?

LM: Yep. I'm also a touch superficial.

TR: Describe your perfect day.

LM: Coffee shop early in the morning, head to the beach with a book and lounge chair, sit, read, repeat for a few hours, then head to grab some enchiladas. Then finish the night back at the coffee shop and have a long wandering conversation with a friend.

TR: Let's go now!

LM: Sorry, I've got work to do.



I should ought to give credit to Lore Brand Comics for the image I've repeatedly hi-jacked as my own. My fav 2 Lore comics here & here

It's Friday....

I s'pose this is where I pontificate about this being Good Friday and all that it implies. But I can't do better than this. So read the old hymn by Issac Mason, When I Survey The Wondrous Cross. Then listen to the words of the Late Great S.M. Lockridge.

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er His body on the tree;
Then I am dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Palomar Mountain

To put the finishing touches on a 2 week (!) Spring Break, we all loaded up in the Mighty Astra and headed up to the Peak of Palomar Mountain. We visited the Palomar Observatory near the peak, and hiked around the mountain for a bit.

We hiked on some nice trails, and stopped at every tree of any size to climb. There are a lot of trees to climb, so the hike took a while

We spotted a couple of woodpeckers, and watched them for a bit. But, quietly observing birds isn't near as fun being loud, so the woodpeckers moved on.

It was a great day to be in God's creation with the coolest people in the world. We've uploaded a page and a half of pics on the flick'r site. Click "Our Pictures" link on the right to see them.

Hope everyone has a great Easter Week.

Change You Can Believe In, pt 3

THEN: US companies fell under the authority of the US government's regulatory agencies such as the FTC, SEC and countless others. The role of these agencies was to ensure that firms reported income/loss accurately, and they followed standard government guidelines for fair practice, transparency, safety and stability. The government stopped short of regulating wage and compensation packages, because, this is like, you know, America.

NOW: According to the G20 communique, The One has allowed, with apparent little or no protest, to allow US corporations to be regulated by a Global "Financial Stability Board" whose powers reach as far as the paychecks of those running the corporations. From the communique:

12. We will conduct all our economic policies cooperatively and responsibly with regard to the impact on other countries and will refrain from competitive devaluation of our currencies and promote a stable and well-functioning international monetary system. We will support, now and in the future, to candid, even-handed, and independent IMF surveillance of our economies and financial sectors, of the impact of our policies on others, and of risks facing the global economy.....

14. We each agree to ensure our domestic regulatory systems are strong. But we also agree to establish the much greater consistency and systematic cooperation between countries, and the framework of internationally agreed high standards, that a global financial system requires. Strengthened regulation and supervision must promote propriety, integrity and transparency; guard against risk across the financial system; dampen rather than amplify the financial and economic cycle; reduce reliance on inappropriately risky sources of financing; and discourage excessive risk-taking. Regulators and supervisors must protect consumers and investors, support market discipline, avoid adverse impacts on other countries, reduce the scope for regulatory arbitrage, support competition and dynamism, and keep pace with innovation in the marketplace....

• to establish a new Financial Stability Board (FSB) with a strengthened mandate, as a successor to the Financial Stability Forum (FSF), including all G20 countries, FSF members, Spain, and the European Commission;

• to reshape our regulatory systems so that our authorities are able to identify and take account of macro-prudential risks;

• to extend regulation and oversight to all systemically important financial institutions, instruments and markets. This will include, for the first time, systemically important hedge funds;

• to endorse and implement the FSF’s tough new principles on pay and compensation and to support sustainable compensation schemes and the corporate social responsibility of all firms;