Life of the Powells

How not to leave a sales call voice mail.

2009-09-22T11:58:00.000-05:00

This is the message that was on my VM after At The Beach Tanning tried to call me and sell me their taning packege. Things to learn 1.) Dont forget to hang up after trying to call a potental customer and getting their VM. 2.) Don't use the F word at work 3.) You probably should not be ducussing with customers why someone was fired. The audio is a little quiet so you may need to turn it up for the good stuff.

And yes this was actualy on my VM.

*** Warning there is cursing in this audio clip.****

Twitter ...... Video Post

2009-09-05T10:31:00.004-05:00

As you have noticed I have been writing a lot less blogs as of late. Actually as most of you have noticed I don't post a lot period. Mostly that is because I don't ever feel like I have a lot to say. Enter Twitter ( http://www.twitter.com ) which I have fell in love with. For those of you who don't know twitter is like a blog just much shorter i.e micro blogging, which is perfect for me. You can do it at home on a computer just like blogger, and even on the go from your cell phone. If you are on twitter you can follow me @brandon_powell (http://twitter.com/brandon_powell) if your not you can read my updates on the left side of this blog. Twitter is fun and easy and if you love blogging I suggest you check it out.

Now on to the Video!

Evelyn being Evelyn:

Elisa dancing in her Princess Dress:

Evelyn VS the Birthday Cake:

Couple of cuties....

2009-05-07T19:01:00.000-05:00

Evelyn playing in the floor...

Elisa being silly in daddy's sunglasses...

Oakley Factory Co-Pilot Event

2009-05-07T18:15:00.001-05:00

So back in April I got the chance to head down to Oakley HQ and help out with major marketing event, The Oakley Factory Co-Pilot Event. It was a excellent opportunity for me as I was working with a different department that Retail and I got to meet some really amazing fans of the O.

Basically it went down like this: Oakley ran a contest to find its 50 biggest fans across the globe. The several VIP's from the corporate team voted on who they thought should go, after much deliberation and some 600 + applications they got it narrowed down to the 50. Those 50 headed down to sunny CA for the weekend, to take in private tours of the factory, professorial grade RC car racing, paintball and shopping in both the Lobby Store and the Irvine Spectrum O-Store.

My week went like this:

Day 1: Flew in and met some very cool Oakley Marketing employees, Jo Anne, Cale and Fonz. I helped finish packing up some of the goodie bags for the winners then got handed a set of keys for this:

Aptly named the Dog Catcher. Once I got checked in to the hotel it was off to LAX (about an hours drive one way) to pick up two of the winners that were from Hawaii. They were very nice folks and we quickly became friends. Once back at the hotel I got to meet a couple more of the winners over a drink.

Day two was a free day for the winners as they were coming in but I spent the whole day (from 9am to 9pm) picking people up from the airport, lets just say I got to know the highways of CA pretty well! The day ended hanging out with the winners, down in the lobby of the hotel till around 1am.

Day Three: The first half of day three was spent with me just getting to chill with the winners, I tagged along with them for the presentations (getting to see the ANSI Z87.1 test live) and then for the tours as well. The second half of the day it was back to work! The winners got to compete in a RC car race and I spent the afternoon flipping over the cars and running them up the hill to switch them out with one with a fresh batteries. The night ended once again with hanging out in the lobby of the Hotel making new friends.

Getting ready to head up the hill to HQ

Lunch on the Helipad

Day Four way paint ball day, man was that a blast! I never would have thought paint ball would bee that popular in CA but we went to the huge place that must have and 15 different fields with different scenarios and the place was packed. We played for about 8am till 1pm, and let me tell you that combined with the up and down the hill flipping RC cars my legs were SORE!! That night we hung out a Dave and Busters were there were some pretty cool photos taken.

That is a lot of Time Tanks (aka Minuet Machines) which is also a lot of $$!!

New Friends!!

Me and Jo Anne, the chief architect for the weekend!

After D&B some of the winners wanted to go check out the Irvine/Spectrum O-Store so I headed over with them. It had been a slow day for the Store so the store manager, had just let her extra people go home early then bam 50 Oakley fanatics hit the store. Luckily the manager and I have know each other for quite sometime so I just took a set of keys and went to work, just like I was back home!

That night some of the contestants wanted to head up to HQ and take some night photos so Jo Anne and I loaded up the trucks and took them up. I even managed to sneak in to a few shots! =)

The O-Review crew, Jo Anne and Myself!

All and all it was a great weekend that I will remember fondly for years to come. I think the plan is to do more of these in the future and hopefully I will be invented back to work them once again.

Is your company this cool?

2009-05-04T14:42:00.001-05:00

I know it has been a long time sice I have posted but I just wanted to know....

Is the company you work for this cool...

Thats right that is a tank, no they did not rent it they bought it. It now sits out front of our HQ. Man I love Oakley!

Or how about a cannon?

Fun Video

2008-11-04T09:18:00.000-06:00

So I know its been a while, not much has been going on as of late just working on finding the new "normal" with two kids and gearing up of the big holiday season at work. Here are a couple of fun videos of elisa I shot hope you enjoy!

Elisa Plays Peak A Boo:

Elisa VS Laser:

Frog loves Lunch Meat:

Back Home!

2008-09-01T10:35:00.003-05:00

Were HOME!! Late Saturday afternoon the doctors released us to go home!! Evelyn is doing much better, and seems to be having no problems eating and sleeping, all and all everything seems to be back to normal baby mode. Unless something comes back on the genetic screenings (at this point I don't think anything will) it looks like we will not ever know what caused the problems Evelyn had. We thank you all for your steadfast prayers and well wishes, we can defiantly tell by Evelyn's quick recovery (and the astonished looks on doctors faces) that it was those prayers that pulled our little on through this ruff time.

Here is a quick slide show of photos from the day she was born to the day she came home from the hospital for the second time:

One Week Later...

2008-08-27T19:42:00.001-05:00

***Taken from Grace's Blog***

Today marks one week since Evelyn started crashing and was admitted to the PICU. While the cause remains a mystery (and may forever) I now have a completely different baby!

Yesterday we were moved out of the ICU and into a recovery room. Actually these rooms are more like suites if you ask me. I've never seen such spacious hospital rooms (with showers!). It's been nice considering I've been here every night.

Now that we are in recovery the care of my daughter is falling back on me. Feeding, bathing and changing. It's really nice because it makes me feel like I have a hand in her well being again. She is eating well for someone who hasn't eaten in a week. Unfortunately, they are not letting me nurse her because the doctor decided they want to monitor how much she is eating. So, I am pumping and bottle feeding. Hopefully if she demonstrates she is eating well we will go back to breast feeding in a few days. I may just make that decision on my own :)

Brandon went back to work today. He will be off tomorrow and then work through the holiday weekend (we hope). While he is off, I'm going to try and get some work done tomorrow. I am thankful the Lord is allowing us to keep up a little so things don't get too out of control.

Meanwhile, I am holding Evelyn a lot. She is going through pretty severe withdrawal from the narcotics she was on over the last week. Mostly it is showing up in a lot of shaking and jitters. I think it may get worse before it gets better and the doctor said some residual effects could last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Hopefully it will be on the shorter end! She seems so resilient and thankfully, is not complaining yet. Just shaking.

We are optimistic that we may be able to go home over the weekend once she finishes her antibiotics, demonstrates she is eating well and gaining weight! We'll see. I am content to be able to hold her again, no matter where we are. Elisa sure would like to have us home though!

- Grace

No more Ventilator!

2008-08-25T21:14:00.002-05:00

Today was a good day, the Doctors turned off all the sedatives and and the ventilator with no complications. She also had most of the other lines pulled out of her except for her central line. She still has a lot of the meds in her system so she is groggy but she is stable. Tonight Grace is supposed to start trying to nurse again. We did not have any luck the first try but, like I said, she still has a lot of meds in her and she is pretty groggy. At least Grace got some cuddle time.

The Doctors are still at a loss for what caused the problem, but for now things seem to be looking up. The next battle is, once she starts eating again, if it makes her sick then we will know for sure there is a metabolic problem. We are estimating we will be in the hospital at least another 9 days or so for monitoring and to finish off the round of antibiotics they started just in case that is what is making her better. So far all the test that have came back clear but there are still a few test they expect in the next few days, and then even more genetic test that will not be back for a week or even more.

We let the Grandmas sit with her a while this afternoon while we spent some time with our oldest daughter, Elisa. Elisa very clearly missed her Mommy and got very excited to see her. It was nice for Grace as well as she was feeling bad about not getting to be around her.

I am planning on going back to work on Wednesday, as things seem to be stable and we are more than likely not going to know many more details for a while, not to mention we are getting ready to have one heck of a medical bill and I only have so many vacation days. Not that I am that worried about how we will pay them, the Lord has always provided for us and I have faith this will be no different.

A Quick Thank You

2008-08-24T18:20:00.002-05:00

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone out there. From family and friends, to coworkers the out poring of well wishes and prayers has been overwhelming ( and thats a good thing) To all of you a great big

THANK YOU

I will keep up with the updates as things change (or I will copy off of Grace LOL), but I just wanted to get that Thank You out there.

as of Saturday...

2008-08-24T13:15:00.003-05:00

*** This is from Grace's Blog, she is a much better writer than I am***

Yesterday was an encouraging day going into the weekend. One big relief is that Evelyn's blood pressure has been in the normal range and the results of her second heart echo confirm that her heart is beginning to function stronger and normally. Additionally her kidney ultrasound showed no abnormalities.

Every single test they have run has come back within normal ranges. She shows no signs of infections or typical abnormalities. Regardless, she is improving dramatically. We are so thankful for her obvious resilience. As organ defects or failure and infections are seemingly being ruled out, the Doctors are leaning towards metabolic/genetic problems and have ordered many more specific blood tests.

Yesterday they gave her a more complex IV with simple protein. Today they will continue to decrease her phentenol (?) and other medicines that are keeping her sedated. She has obvious periods already where she is "awake" i.e. responsive to touch and sound and tries to open her eyes a little.

Please pray for me as I am having a very hard time with the idea of her waking up. It is so hard to even see her like this and I really need more strength to deal with knowing she may be aware of all the needles and tubes in her. Throughout the morning, a little toddler a few doors down from us, who I have heard wimpering off and on the last few days, is alert and crying in obvious pain and confusion. It is truly unbearable and not even my own baby. There is so much heartbreak and sadness here.

Before I started this post, I sat down and read all the posts on other blogs where so many of you have notified your own friends and family of our situation. I am sure it may be redundant to some who read a lot of these blogs, but I want you all to know how encouraging it was to me to know that you are soliciting prayer on our behalf. We need every one. The doctors are amazed by how quickly she is bouncing back in so many areas. Regardless, they still need wisdom to figure out why this happened so it doesn't happen again.

However, things slow down here on the weekend. We will most likely continue to wonder a lot of things until Monday. Please pray that fear of the unknown will not become overwhelming. Pray also that we will get rest and know how best to balance our time as parents of children in two different worlds right now.

- Grace

Friday Night Update

2008-08-22T19:02:00.003-05:00

Evelyn has continued to show signs of improvement. We got back the results from the echo of her hart and it looked much much better. She is still on the ventilator, and they have started an IV that contains nourishment (the nurse called it a hamburger in a bag LOL). Tomorrow they are thinking of dialing back the ventilator and pain/sedation medications to see how she reacts. At this point they are now thinking it is something metabolic/genetic and have ran a whole mess of test that we will not get results back on till monday or tuesday at which point the next doctor we will see is a geneticist.

Doctors are saying we will probably be here in the ICU for at least another week, then be transferred to a another part of the hospital for another week or so depending on what lab result show. Thank you all for all for your continued prayers and well wishes.

Brandon

Friday Morning Update

2008-08-22T12:08:00.003-05:00

So we have just talked to the doctors, and the scans of Evelyn's kidneys looked good, and the latest eco on her hart showed it was looking stronger. The doctors all say she is looking much better. At this point what test have come back have comeback clean so now they are thinking it could be a metabolic problem ie her body will not process for example protein. None of the metabolic test will be back until Monday, so for now we are in a holding pattern and Evelyn is stable and comfortable. As I know more I will post more.

Thank you all,

Brandon

More on Evelyn

2008-08-22T09:53:00.003-05:00

I am so glad I work for Oakley. As soon as I was able to tell a supervisor our situation they pulled their cell phone from their pocket, called the travel department and told them they need me on the next flight home, with the quickest arrival time and that they did not care how much it cost. Because of that I was able to get home yesterday around 5 pm. Evelyn is still stable and we are waiting for the doctors to make their rounds today in hopes that some of the lab work has come in and they we will have a better Idea of what we are dealing with. Last night Evelyn's blood pressure dropped (which is a good thing as it was really high) and she started breathing stronger that the the ventilator first in short then longer stints. So we are taking those as positive signs. Either Grace or I will keep our blogs updated as we know more.

Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes. We need all we can get.

Brandon

Grace's Bog: http://gracepowell.blogspot.com

Please keep praying for Evelyn

2008-08-21T01:48:00.002-05:00

Evelyn has been addmited to the newborn ICU at St. Francis. The doctors are not reely sure what is causing the problem but have put her on an IV and ventolater just to be safe. Grace and Ken are there with her while Marti is watching Elisa and I will be figuring out the quikest way home first thing in the morning.

Thank you all for your continued prayers. God has a plan and while we may not understand what it is he dose and in the end that is all that matters.

Love
Brandon

Evelyn

2008-08-20T21:58:00.003-05:00

Dear Friends,

If you would please keep Evelyn on your prayers. As most of you know she was jonundice ( I know I can't spell) and has been having a hard time fighting it off. Today Grace was unable to get her to eat and has had to take her to the ER. The Dr. was afrade she was getting dehydrated so they wanted to put in an IV but they are having problems finding her small vains. They have decided they. Red to admit her for the night. The Dr. ordered a set of chest x-rays to moe sure there are no problems with here breathing. I will try to keep the blog updated as I know more ( I am in CA at meetings for the week, but if it looks like I need to head home early Oakley will not hesatate in geting me new tickets)

Thanks,
Brandon

**UPDATE**

They were able to get the IV in and are going to move her over to the childrens hospital for the night. Grace aid she is already looking better just having the IV fore a few minutes.

Evelyn Sleeps

2008-08-20T16:48:00.001-05:00

Posted with LifeCast

Daddy And Evelyn

2008-08-12T20:39:00.001-05:00

Posted with LifeCast

Baby Burrito!

2008-08-12T20:32:00.001-05:00

Posted with LifeCast

She Is Here!

2008-08-12T14:53:00.003-05:00

Posted with LifeCast

Introducing baby Cassondra Evelyn 8/12/08 2:30 pm 8lbs 3oz.

Grace was so brave she did it all without any epidural!

Getting Close Now!

2008-08-12T14:06:00.002-05:00

Posted with LifeCast

Grace just started feeling much stronger contractions and is dialated to a 8 1/2 to a 9. The Dr. is on her way so hopefuly it's not to much longer.

Brandon

Anxious Grandmas

2008-08-12T13:46:00.002-05:00

Posted with LifeCast

The grandmas can't wait to meet the new grandbaby!

Rocking Out The Baby

2008-08-12T13:22:00.002-05:00

Posted with LifeCast

As you may or may not be able to tell I am trying out a little bit of "live" bloging during the birth of our second child Evelyn. Been trying out a few different iPhone programs for this and think I have settled on life cast.

So far we are still waiting, Grce is dialated to about a 7 (we have been here since 7:30am) and the contractions are about 2min apart. As you can see from the photo Grace was tired of laying in bead so she is trying sitting up in a rocking chair seeing if that could speed things up a bit.

Brandon

Still Waiting!

2008-08-12T13:14:00.002-05:00

Uploaded by www.cellspin.net

Well things are moving slowly on the baby front, thank goodness for iPhone she is passing the time playing sudoku.

Brandon

In the delivery room.

2008-08-12T09:12:00.003-05:00

Just waiting.

Baby Evelyn Day!

2008-08-12T09:12:00.001-05:00

Waiting at the hospital to go to the delivery room.

Cool Shades!

2008-08-06T21:25:00.001-05:00

Sitting at the Dr. office and Elisa decided she was so cool she just had to wear her Oakley shades.

Motivational Posters

2008-07-30T12:41:00.006-05:00

Elisa and the Bird

2008-07-10T21:37:00.001-05:00

Just a quick one as I am loading the photos off the camera from the 4th of July weekend. Went to this little walk through Zoo with my parents and a bird landed on me and Elisa just loved it!

Mr. Anderson honored at Oklahoma state capital.

2008-05-22T00:14:00.003-05:00

While as you would expect most of the news from this is about the former govener but there are some bits about Mr. Anderson in this news story from The Oklahoman (Mr. Anderson's photo did make it on the front page of The Oklahoman's May 21st 2008 edition along with the story) We are all very proud of Mr. Anderson and thank him for not only his military service but his dedication to his family, friends and the Lord.

Former Oklahoma governor, corpsman honored for service in WWII

By Michael McNutt
Capitol Bureau
Two Oklahomans — one a well-known politician and the other a quiet businessman — were honored for fighting on Iwo Jima in one of World War II's bloodiest battles.

Henry Bellmon, who served two terms as governor of Oklahoma and two terms as a U.S. senator, and Ted Anderson of Tulsa, who was in the electronics business until retiring, each received a large, 10-by-19-foot American flag Tuesday that had been flown over the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Va.

"We are here to honor real heroes,” said Norman Lamb, state secretary of veterans affairs.

Heroism honored
Bellmon was a tank platoon leader who was awarded a Silver Star for his performance on Iwo Jima. Anderson was a Navy corpsman who suffered serious head injuries and didn't receive medical attention until he brought wounded Marines to a field hospital on the 7-square-mile island.
"I don't think we deserve all the plugs you've given us, but we'll take them anyway,” Bellmon said.

Anderson, 83, said: "I'm really thankful to the Lord for his care for me after 22 days or better on that island. I went from one end to the other.”

The flag presentation was coordinated by the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial Flag Detail, which was co-founded by Oklahoma City attorney Robert Manchester. The nonprofit organization works to ensure that an appropriate flag is always flying over the memorial.

"What would the world be like today if we hadn't fought World War II and won it?” Bellmon asked the approximately 100 who attended the state Capitol ceremony. "I don't think any of us can fathom what a disaster that would have been for the human race.”

Americans should be aware "that bad things do happen sometimes unless we stand up and take our responsibilities and do the unpleasant work that has to be done,” he said.

Seeing flag brought hope
Bellmon, who after the ceremony gave Gov. Brad Henry a Marine coin, said he remembered vividly the first time he saw the flag flying from Mount Suribachi.
"We had been on the island for several days and things weren't going too well,” he said. "You just felt like every day would be your last and you had no choice but to go up and do what you could.”

Bellmon, 86, said after the ceremony that seeing the flag flying from Mount Suribachi, the 550-foot volcanic cone that dominated the island, gave him hope.

Historians described the U.S. forces' attack on the Japanese defense as "throwing human flesh against reinforced concrete.”

Lamb said the battle for the island, about 700 miles south of Tokyo, "was 36 days of hell on Earth.” American forces invaded shortly before 2 a.m. Feb. 19, 1945; the battle ended March 26.

When fighting stopped, Americans suffered more than 25,800 casualties; more than 6,800 were killed. The Japanese force of 21,000 was virtually wiped out — only 300 were taken prisoner.

Veterans recall combat
Every Marine, everywhere on the island was always in range of Japanese guns.
Two primary targets were the corpsmen, or medics, and the tanks.

"I carried my gun, I didn't want them to know I was a corpsman,” Anderson said.

"I didn't take any red cross on my helmet. We followed the guys wherever they went and whenever anybody was hurt, we would take care of them.”

Bellmon's tank was struck as it tried to get off the beach, but Bellmon, then a lieutenant, continued to direct his tank platoon in the attack.

Bellmon had two other tanks shot out from underneath him, the second blast killing much of his crew.

He got another one and continued to fight.

Again this video is all about the former govener, but I just had to inclued it because there is a shot of Mr. Anderson receiving his flag. For some reason the camera man (and the guy editing the video) seemed to have really enjoyed showing none other than our very own Ken Miller. They show a shot of the the people seated and he is there in the center, and then the press pool and there he is again!

Walgreens Steals and Deals!!

2008-04-12T11:45:00.003-05:00

So you all have been posting the great deals you have been getting at CVS and Walgreens so I thought I realy should check it out. Low and behold look what I found! The deal to end all deals!

Get to Walgreens quick before they are all gone!!!

It's a ........

2008-04-03T14:17:00.001-05:00

GIRL! Due some time around Aug. 22nd

This one is for Josh Lindamood!

2008-03-28T17:17:00.003-05:00

but the rest of you might get a kick out of it also!!

GO TO WWW.GOOGLE.COM
TYPE "FIND CHUCK NORRIS"
HIT "I'M FELLING LUCKY!"

Easter Dress

2008-03-23T18:59:00.003-05:00

The dress:
She must wield the power of the Remote:

Look at my cool Oakley Sunglasses:

Elisa and Emerson:

The Walker

2008-03-20T09:39:00.007-05:00

Okay, so I know its been a while since I have posted... but lets just say I have been just a little busy. Life is good but as I said busy, just got a nice raise at work the Lord is so good to provide for us I was a little stressed out about making ends meet with the new little one on the way and now I can stop (being stressed out that is).

Well on to what you all want (which is not me rambling on)

Elisa is walking!!

Sorry I know its not the worlds greatest photo, but every time she is walking towards me and I pick up a camera she goes down to her knees.

Also out of nowhere yesterday she decided to be Graces little helper. Grace was dusting and cleaning and Elisa picked up some paper towels and started helping.

And now she is being Dad's big helper:

nbakljr kjfe

thats Elisa typing for Hello.

Okay this next one is from the Tulsa Home and Garden Show a couple of weeks ago. An alarm company was handing out balloons to the kiddos and Elisa saw them and just had to have one (I think her exact words were OooooO!)

LOL I almost forgot about this one, we were at ACE looking for some stuff for the yard and Elisa spotted a little patio furniture set just her size OooooO (her words not mine)

Well that will have to do for now, I have to go stop a certain someone form digging in the office trash can.

Honj Kong Feng Shui (or man I am board with Grace gone)

2008-01-28T04:27:00.000-06:00

Hong Kong Feng Shui

From Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia.

Founder and Leader of San Francisco Dojo.

“The great Masters of old used to say that if a room is aligned with the stars, more women remove  clothings more readily. Prepare yourself for war. ”

~ Sun-Tzu on "The Art of Bedroom War, 69th Edition", UnCycloUniv Press, 1950

Hong Kong Feng Shui

Hong Kong Feng Shui is a little known branch of Feng Shui, practiced in San Francisco and modeled after the great masters of Hong Kong Interior Design. The leader of the American West Coast Movement is Hong Kong Phooey.

Hong Kong Feng Shui is an offshoot of traditional simplified Chinese Feng Shui. Hong Kong Feng Shui was started in the early forties to combat the blurry visions and general disorderlinesses caused by Dr. Timothy Leary's new wonder cure forbordom. Many rooms in San Francisco hadn't up to this point been touched up by the eventual throngs of homosexuals that would make San Francisco their Mecca. In the mean time, San Francisco needed something that would create cozy rooms, that would purify and ease the troubled visions from the beatniks that came to indemnify the city.

Hong Kong Phooey

Born into a nuevo-rich family in 1930s San Francisco, Hong Kong Phooey is recognized as the original master of Hong Kong Feng Shui. He is descended from ancient Chinese/Man Dog combinations, allegedly cognizant of the ever present threat of the wok and his ensuing crispy skin. His ability to perfectly align filing cabinets along the polar axis is the stuff of legend, and many of the world's leading lights from the Hong Kong Feng Shui movement have learned directly from the Master himself.

Room Layout

It's easy to "map" your bedroom according to Feng Shui principles so you can create more harmony in the bedroom.

1. First, draw a roughly square outline of your bedroom on a piece of paper. The wall that has the primary entrance to your room in it should be the lower line of the square.

2. Divide the square into nine equal squares, three rows of 3 squares each.

3. Start with the lowest row of squares, that describes the areas when you first walk into your bedroom. The far left corner of the room when you first enter is the area of Carnal Knowledge. The center square relates to Career or lack thereof, and the right-hand square is Helpful People.

4. Now look at the central row of squares, that describes the middle of your bedroom. The far left square relates to Family/Medical Malpriactice. The central square is the Tao, or Center, and the right-hand square is Creativity/Children.

5. Lastly, look at the top row of squares. The far left square relates to Money, the central square to Fame/Reputation, and the far right square to Relationships/Romance.

6. Here are some objects that will work best for each area of your room, helping you to attract more of what you need.

Knowledge: Bookcase, books

Career: Mirrors or water-related items.

Helpful People/Travel: Pictures of your friends.

Family/Health: Family photos, heirlooms, plants.

Creativity/Children: Art supplies, artwork, computer.

Wealth: Money, jewelry, fish, fountains, anything red, purple or gold.

Fame/Reputation: Candles, awards, plants, anything red, orange or purple.

Relationships/Romance: Round or oval mirrors, anything pink, pictures of loved ones, paired objects like two candlesticks

Costs

Hong Kong in an undated photo making free Feng Shui rounds with his as of yet uneaten Cat.

The costs are the most prohibitive factor in determining how Feng your room is. It can cost you your immortal soul to have a room out of alignment. In order to protect your earthly investment, you should visit a Feng Shui advisor nearest you. Ask for the Hong Kong Phooey Method and you'll get a rebate on.

For those without comedic tastes, the so-called experts at Wikipedia have an article about Feng Shui.

For those without comedic tastes, the so-called experts at Wikipedia have an article about Hong Kong Phooey.

Babies & Shopping

2008-01-17T16:32:00.000-06:00

So I am standing in Old Navy watching Grace shop for clothing for the kiddos. Yep you read that correct that's kiddos as in more than one child. In case you missed Grace's post we are expecting child number two! For more info head over to Grace's blog, the link is over there on the side of the page.

Elisa enjoying the art of shopping

Carpoolers

2008-01-10T12:14:00.000-06:00

Chuck for Huckabee

2008-01-08T13:05:00.000-06:00

Kari posted this on her blog it was just too funny for me not to re-post.

Just for fun

2007-12-28T16:41:00.001-06:00

I just thought this was cute!

Elisa's first B-Day!!

2007-12-28T16:21:00.000-06:00

Here are some photos from Elisa's first Birthday in no particular order.

I Hate ICE!!

2007-12-11T11:47:00.000-06:00

We have over 205,000 people without power in Tulsa alone due to a major Ice storm. That’s over half the city. I am at my parents hose about an hour and a half away had to take the wife and kiddo somewhere warm. I have trees down all over my yard and no power. They say it could be next week before we have any. The mall ran on generators all day yesterday it was the only place with power for a 10 mile radius. The place was crazy. Had to have a full staff in just to keep the board kids for robbing me blind. No one on my staff has power so we may end up having slumber parties at the store.I will be heading back today, with a generator that will give me just enough power to run a space heater a lamp and hopefully an alarm clock so I can get to work on time. (Yea, them mall will not close they think if people have no power the will come and spend money). Lucky for me my water heater is gas so I will at least have a warm shower, that is more than a lot of people can say.

These photos were taken at about 7am it only got worse throughout the day as tree limbs came crashing down!

I will try and upload more on our fliker page later.... you can get there by clicking the link that says our photos on the right side of this page.

Mermaids

2007-12-08T21:49:00.000-06:00

The Golden Compass -- A Briefing for Concerned Christians

2007-12-06T12:12:00.000-06:00

The Golden Compass -- A Briefing for Concerned Christians
Posted: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 at 5:26 am ET Albert Mohler www.albertmohler.com

The release of The Golden Compass as a major motion picture represents a new challenge for Christians -- especially parents. The release of a popular film with major actors that presents a message directly subversive of Christianity is something new. It is not likely to be the last.

Having seen the movie at an advance viewing and having read all three books of His Dark Materials, I can assure Christians that we face a real challenge -- one that will require careful thinking and intellectual engagement.

Why is this movie such a challenge?

First of all, The Golden Compass is an extremely attractive movie. Like the book on which it is based, the movie is a very sophisticated story that is very well told. The casting was excellent. Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig (the latest James Bond actor) are joined by others including Sam Elliott and newcomer Dakota Blue Richards, who plays the central role of 11-year-old Lyra Belacqua. Kidman is chilling as the beautiful but evil Marisa Coulter and Craig is perfect as Lord Asriel. Actor Ian McKellen (Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy) is the voice of Iorek Byrnison, the armoured bear.

The movie is very well done and will be very attractive to audiences of all ages. The special effects are superior to any previous movie of the type, including the Lord of the Rings trilogy (also released by New Line Cinema). Everything is in place for this to be a blockbuster at the box office.

Second, the movie is based in a story that is captivating, sophisticated, and truly interesting. Philip Pullman is a skilled writer and teller of tales. His invented worlds of The Golden Compass and the entire His Dark Materials trilogy are about as good as the fantasy genre can offer. His characters are believable and the dialogue is constant -- largely due to Pullman's brilliant invention of a companion for each character -- a "daemon."

The bottom line is that these books and this movie will attract a lot of attention and will captivate many readers and viewers.

So, what's the problem?

This is not just any fantasy trilogy or film project. Philip Pullman has an agenda -- an agenda about as subtle as an army tank. His agenda is nothing less than to expose what he believes is the tyranny of the Christian faith and the Christian church. His hatred of the biblical storyline is clear. He is an atheist whose most important literary project is intended to offer a moral narrative that will reverse the biblical account of the fall and provide a liberating mythology for a new secular age.

The great enemy of humanity in the three books, The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass (together known as His Dark Materials) is the Christian church, identified as the evil Magisterium. The Magisterium, representing church authority, is afraid of human freedom and seeks to repress human sexuality.

The Magisterium uses the biblical narrative of the Fall and the doctrine of original sin to repress humanity. It is both violent and vile and it will stop at nothing to protect its own interests and to preserve its power.

Pullman's attack on biblical Christianity is direct and undeniable. He once questioned why his books attracted little controversy even as the Harry Potter books attracted so much. He told an Australian newspaper that what he is "saying things that are far more subversive than anything poor old Harry has said. My books are about killing God."

Will viewers of the movie see all this?

The direct attack on Christianity and God is toned down in the movie. But any informed person will recognize the Magisterium as representing the Church and Christianity. Of course, in our world the Magisterium is the authoritative leadership of the Roman Catholic Church. In Pullman's world it represents Christianity as a whole.

Indeed, Pullman's tale tells of John Calvin assuming the papacy and moving the headquarters to Geneva, thus combining the Catholic and Reformation traditions into one. In the movie, the Magisterium appears to be located in London. In any event, the point is not subtle.

The most direct attacks upon Christianity and God do not appear until the last book, The Amber Spyglass, in which Lyra and Will (a boy her age who first appears in the second book) eventually kill God, who turns out to be a decrepit and feeble old imposter who was hardly worth the killing.

Is Pullman's attack on Christianity exaggerated by his critics?

No -- his attack is neither hidden nor subtle. The entire premise of the trilogy is that Lyra is the child foretold by prophecy who will reverse the curse of the Fall and free humanity from the lie of original sin. Whereas in Christian theology it is Jesus Christ who reverses the curse through His work of atonement on the Cross, Pullman presents his own theology of sorts in which the Fall is reversed through the defiance of these children. As Pullman insists, Eve and Adam were right to eat the forbidden fruit and God was a tyrant to forbid them the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

The supernatural element of Pullman's story is "Dust," which is seen by the Magisterium as original sin but is presented by Pullman as the essence of life itself. In The Golden Compass, Lyra is given an "alethiometer" or "golden compass" which is filled with Dust and tells the truth to one qualified to operate it. Readers are told that a great battle is coming in which forces fighting for human freedom and happiness will confront (and destroy) the Magisterium and God.

In the last volume of the trilogy, a character known as Dr. Mary Malone explains her discovery to Lyra and Will: "I used to be a nun, you see. I thought physics could be done to the glory of God, till I saw there wasn't any God at all and that physics was more interesting anyway. The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that's all."

Is there more to the larger story?

Yes, and it has to do with sex. Surprisingly graphic and explicit sex. Pullman believes that the Christian church is horribly repressive about sex and that this is rooted in the idea of the Fall. As he told Hanna Rosin of the Atlantic Monthly, "Why the Christian Church has spent 2,000 years condemning this glorious moment, well, that's a mystery. I want to confront that, I suppose, by telling a story that the so-called original sin is anything but. It's the thing that makes us fully human."

Puberty is a big part of Pullman's concern. Coming-of-age stories are one of the most common forms of fiction, but Pullman's packs a punch that readers cannot miss. He wants to celebrate the adolescent's arrival at sexual awareness. Remember that the child's daemon can change forms until puberty. At that point it is fixed as a single creature that reflects the personality and character of the young adult.

Puberty means the coming of sexual feelings. The Magisterium would prefer that children grow up without experiencing sexual temptation, so it is conducting an experiment in order to separate children from their daemons before puberty, when their daemon can no longer change. This procedure, known as "intercision" makes the child a "severed child" who has no daemon -- and thus no soul. The Magisterium has assigned Mrs. Coulter the job of abducting the children and taking them to the North for this experiment.

As Mrs. Coulter explains to Lyra (who is revealed to be her own daughter) in the first book: "All that happens is a little cut, and then everything's peaceful. Forever! You see, your daemon's a wonderful friend and companion when you are young, but at the age we call puberty, the age you're coming to very soon, darling, daemons bring all sorts of troublesome thoughts and feelings, and that's what lets Dust in. A quick little operation before that, and you're never troubled again."

In The Golden Compass, Lyra and her companions free the children held at this experimental station in the North and destroy it. In The Amber Spyglass, Lyra and Will reverse the story of the Edenic Fall by consummating a sexual act in the garden.

Again, Pullman is not subtle. Keep in mind that this is a series of books marketed to children and adolescents. Lyra puts a red fruit to Will's lips and Will "knew at once what she meant, and that he was too joyful to speak." Within moments, the 13-year olds are involved in some kind of unspecified sexual act.

"The word love set his nerves ablaze," Pullman writes of Will. "All his body thrilled with it, and he answered her in the same words, kissing her hot face over and over again, drinking in with adoration the scent of her body and her warm, honey-fragrant hair and her sweet, moist mouth that tasted of the little red fruit."

Just a few pages later, Will and Lyra will dare to touch each other's daemon. That passage is even more sexually charged and explicit than the first. The adolescents now know "that neither daemon would change now, having felt a lover's hands on them. These were their shapes for life: they would want no other."

What is it about Pullman and C. S. Lewis?

Put simply, Pullman hates C. S. Lewis's work The Chronicles of Narnia. He told Hannah Rosin that Lewis's famous work is "morally loathsome" and "one of the most ugly and poisonous things I ever read." Narnia, he said, "is the Christian one . . . . And mine is the non-Christian."

When the first Narnia film was released in 2005, Pullman described the books as "a peevish blend of racist, misogynistic and reactionary prejudice."

Indeed, Pullman's His Dark Materials is intended as an answer to Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. What Lewis (and J. R. R. Tolkein) did for Christianity, Pullman wants to do for atheism.

So, what should Christians do?

A good first step would be to take a deep breath. The Christian faith is not about to be toppled by a film, nor by a series of fantasy books. Pullman has an agenda that is clear, and Christians need to inform themselves of what this agenda is and what it means. At the same time, nothing would serve his agenda better than to have Christians speaking recklessly or unintelligently about the film or the books.

This is about the battle of ideas and worldviews. While Christians will not celebrate the release of this film, we should recognize the mixture of challenge and opportunity that comes with millions of persons watching this film and talking about the issues it raises. When the movie is mentioned in the workplace, in school, on the playground, or in the college campus, this is a great opportunity to show that Christians are not afraid of the battle of ideas.

We should recognize that the Christian Church has some very embarrassing moments in its history - moments when it has failed to represent the truth of the Gospel and the love of Christ. Authors like Philip Pullman take advantage of these failures in order to paint the entire Christian Church as a conspiracy against human happiness and freedom. Of course, that charge will not stand close scrutiny, and we can face it head-on with a thoughtful response.

Some Christians have also held very unhelpful views of human sexuality. These, we must admit, would include figures as great and influential as Augustine and, alas, C. S. Lewis. But these figures, rightly influential in other areas of the faith, are not representative in this case of biblical sexuality. We can set the record straight.

Should we be concerned that people, young and old, will be confused by this movie? Of course. But I do not believe that a boycott will dissuade the general public from seeing the film. I am very concerned when I think of so many people being entertained by such a subversive message delivered by such a seductive medium. We are responsible to show them, in so far as we are able, that the Magisterium of The Golden Compass is not a fair or accurate representation of the Christian Church.

I can only wonder how many parents and grandparents will allow children and young people to see the movie and then buy them the books -- blissfully unaware of what is coming in books two and three.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ has enemies; this we know. Christian parents must be informed about His Dark Materials and inform others. We must take the responsibility to use interest in this film to teach our own children to think biblically and to be discerning in their engagement with the media in all forms. We should arm our children to be able to talk about this project with their classmates without fear or rancor.

Philip Pullman has an agenda, but so do we. Our agenda is the Gospel of Christ -- a message infinitely more powerful than that of The Golden Compass. Pullman's worldview of unrestricted human autonomy would be nightmarish if ever achieved. His story promises liberation but would enslave human beings to themselves and destroy all transcendent value.

The biblical story of the Fall is true, after all, and our only rescue is through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The curse of sin was not reversed by adolescents playing at sex in a garden, but by the Son of God shedding His blood on a cross.

So let's get our bearings straight as we think and talk about The Golden Compass. This movie does represent a great challenge, but a challenge that Christians should always be ready to meet.

No Amnesty

2007-11-18T18:28:00.000-06:00

Just Filler

2007-11-15T11:29:00.000-06:00

Why Americans should ingest more excrement.

2007-10-09T16:59:00.000-05:00

Eat Crap
Why Americans should ingest more excrement.
By Kent Sepkowitz Posted Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2007, at 2:53 PM ET

A massive meat recall has forced Topps Meat Co. out of business
One year ago, the now-famous E. coli outbreak arising from contaminated spinach rattled the natural-food industry and gave carnivores a moment of schadenfreude. The story had the heartbreaking elements we have come to dread: A young child eats something mundane and dies a horrid death. Boom, gone. I have (unsuccessfully) treated one such case and rate it as perhaps the most chilling moment of my career.

Since then, the United States has seen at least four additional food-borne outbreaks: salmonella in peanut butter and in spinach, botulism in canned chili, and the current Topps Meat Co. recall of 21.7 million pounds (40,000 cows' worth) of E. coli-tainted ground beef. Those with an insatiable interest in E. coli O157:H7 (along with the lawyers who traffic in this corner of the human misery market) can keep up-to-date here.

With every outbreak, the same question sounds: Why can't we keep the food chain clean? The annual numbers aren't small, nor are they decreasing. By one estimate, about one-fourth of Americans get "food poisoning" of some type each year, 300,000 are hospitalized, and a few thousand die. The perps remain the same—E. coli, listeria, salmonella, and all the rest. Why is this public-health problem so difficult to solve? This is America, after all, replete with wondrously harsh chemicals that can kill anything. Why can't we scrub away the bacteria our guts don't get along with? Maybe we are taking the wrong approach. Rather than trying to make our food and water ever cleaner, we should focus instead on making sure it's dirty enough to assure our good health.

Here's why. Our struggle to purify food and water has been ongoing for thousands of years. Ask any expert to name mankind's greatest public-health advance, and the answer will be not vaccines, or antibiotics, or disposable diapers, or refrigeration, or mosquito netting. Though wondrous, each is dwarfed by the greatest invention of them all: plumbing. Why did the Romans successfully rule the world? The Cloaca Maxima, ancient Rome's elaborate sewer system, a structure so effective that Pliny the Elder considered it the "most noteworthy" accomplishment of the empire. And why does the West still run economic circles around the developing world? Because we don't ingest each other's excrement. At least not that often.

The triumph of Western civilization is, first and foremost, a triumph of pipes and valves and the fact that water runs downhill. Aqueducts bring fresh water in, cobblestoned underground tunnels move used water out, and, presto, our world is clean.

But here is the problem: We have become victims of our own success. Ever wonder why your dog can gobble, lick, and gnaw all he wants along the glorious buffet of a city street and (almost) never get sick? Your dog is used to eating s***. Americans, on the other hand, grow up eating almost no s*** at all. Our food is hosed and boiled and rinsed and detoxified and frozen and salted and preserved. Recently, we have begun to irradiate it, too—just in case. As a result, when our bodies encounter the occasional inevitable bug, they're unhappy. Our centuries-long program of winnowing out all the muck has turned us into sissies and withered the substantial part of the immune system mediated by our intestinal tract.

Kids have it worse than adults. Even with today's near-sterility, adult intestines have learned enough tricks to ward off major trouble, albeit clumsily. In contrast, modern kids are near-bubble babies. Our mammalian disaster plan is a good one: A child receives antibodies against countless infections from his mother through the placenta and then from breast milk. With that protection, the infant can take his time to develop his own antibodies. But these days, mothers have scant immunity because they too were raised in America the Hygienic. (Also, breast-feeding may be skipped.) So, kids have zero experience with routine gut infections, and when they encounter one that has slipped past our pipes and filters, the result can be catastrophic.

The best response to E. coli and the other pathogens that cause food poisoning is to recognize, humbly, that we can get the food supply almost perfectly clean, but never completely. There's just too much crap out there: human crap, horse crap, cow crap, pig crap. In the feces of these and other animals are trillions of infectious agents (bacteria, viruses, fungi, worms, and everything else that upsets the stomach). Try as we may to contain the mess, we can never win. Pig dung fouls rivers; cow crap seeps into water tables; human s*** kicks back every time heavy rains overwhelm a sewage system's filtration capacity.

Furthermore, the closer to nature we get, the likelier we are to eat more s***. That's a growing problem now, as more people seek a less processed, more flavorful diet. To make matters worse, the alliance of natural foods with big-league distribution systems has guaranteed that people across the country can all simultaneously eat the same E. coli-laden spinach or meat grown by the same farm. The two key aspects of a healthy diet—nutritious food and safe food—seem irrevocably at odds with each other. How can we have what we want and still feel safe?

Maybe we can't. Observant Jews long ago sided with safety over taste by boiling, boiling, and then boiling some more. Cholent is the Yiddish word for food that is prepared in advance of the Sabbath, when ovens cannot be lit. Cholent cooks on a hot plate for 18 hours or more, pushing the food to within an inch of its life. Without ever sampling it, you can imagine its perfect non-ness, not even a hint of taste. But oh-so-safe.

Failing the mainstreaming of McCholent, what other options do we have? We can't just put all the crap back into our diet—we would suddenly see infant mortality rates that rival those of Angola. But we will never remove it all, either. So, here's a suggestion: Rather than frantically throwing money at new ways to eradicate the pathogens that reside in s***, we should fund the boring scientists who focus on untangling the intricacies of the gut's immune system. Labs, answer this: How much s**** can we safely eat and, as importantly, how much must we eat to remain healthy?

LOL, now there is some food for thought! -B

Fun With Photoshop

2007-10-09T10:36:00.000-05:00

She is so Cute!

A shot from the collection.

Its just amazing what can be done with photoshop!

Fred in '08

2007-09-06T19:42:00.000-05:00

Elisa goes after the dogs.

2007-08-18T19:05:00.000-05:00

So the other night we stopped at a clients house quickly to hang some photos and Elisa decided to chase around their dogs.

Elisa goes after the cat!

2007-08-16T16:13:00.001-05:00

Its me as a Simpson!

2007-08-16T15:26:00.001-05:00

Evolution

2007-08-16T14:59:00.000-05:00

Cyanide and Happiness

2007-08-16T14:55:00.000-05:00