Glenn Beck And The Housing Boom

Glenn Beck giving some perspective on the housing boom.

I think this video could start some really good conversations about the American Dream, and what kind of standard of living we have come to expect.

I hear people at work say things like:

” well Obama has to pass these bailouts, to save the economy, things are bad and even if we don’t think it’s the best thing to do, he has really smart adviser’s telling him what to do.”

I don’t think think these bailouts are to save the economy, I don’t have time to get in what I see. But the simple picture is this, these bailouts aren’t to save us, it’s to save the government. The stimulus bill bloats government and makes it even bigger, Obama is restructuring Homeland security and the NSA to give them more power. We are expanding social welfare programs like food stamps and medicaid, and Obama says he will restructure health care in the next year.

History tells us, the bigger government is, the harder it is to get rid of.

Weekly Walnut Issue #3

Homemade Beer

Something I have wanted to do for a couple of years is make my own beer.

I finally bought a kit, and it’s on it’s way.

I checked out about a dozen sites, and finally ordered from Midwest Supplies .

They seem to have the most options and be the cheapest priced.

Once it gets here, I make batch of Irish Red Ale, and in 3 to 4 weeks I’ll have about 5 gallons of beer

…. Unexpected Death

I haven’t been blogging much this year … I’ve been feeling burned out, unmotivated, and distracted.

Then I was dealt a blow on January 21st …. I lost one of my best friends … Nate.

I’ve know Nate for about 16 years, we had some good times, and made some great memories.

I started dating my future wife 2 weeks before he started dating his future wife, our Junior year in High School.

He’s been there for the birth of my kids, their birthdays, Christmas, and many New Years. He’s helped me move countless times, became a big brother figure for my wife, and an honorary uncle to my kids.

He gave me far more then I could ever give him. But that’s the kind of person he was.

In the last two week I have literally felt like I was in a snow globes and someone has shaken it up.

I’ve gone through the whole gauntlet of emotions, mad, angry, really angry, sad, depression, empathy, remorseful, guilty, sorrow, lamenting, regretful. and acceptance.

Having a funeral for a 28 year old guy is painful.

It makes me rethink everything

If something happened to me tomorrow, what would my life say about me.

would the things in my email confirm what kind of person I am?

Would that things in my desk at work show what I am passionate about?

Would my co-workers know who I was?

Will what’s on my computer represent me well?

How will my life effect those that loved me?

How will people remember me?

what’s the right balance between work and family?

What do my possessions say about me?

What does it mean to believe in God?

What really matters in the end?

It also has me thinking practically too. Like What would I want my funeral to look like? because I don’t want my family having to stress out about little decisions that in the end don’t matter.

I don’t want a fancy casket that someone has to spend their retirement fund on buying. In fact I don’t want a casket at all. Go buy something beautiful, have me cremated and put me in it.

I don’t want my funeral to be at a church, and I don’t want any pastors narrating my life. I want an open mike, and invitation to those present to get up and share something about me. The good, the bad, and the ugly. When people leave I want them to have a sense that I was human, not the best man that ever lived, or a saint like the church bestows on people at their funerals.

I don’t want people dropping off vegetable trays, fruit trays, crock pots full of meatballs, little wieners, or your special home made soup. No body eats that crap in real life, so why would they want to eat that when I’m dead. If you want to help my family cope, buy gift cards for different restaurants, grocery stores, even target. so that why in a month after my death when all the friends and family are gone, they don’t have to cook every night, they can go to a nice restaurant together and just sit with each other and remember.

I don’t want organ music, or worship music, or any other kind of traditional music. Just make a mixed playlist of the best of StarFlyer 59. Their music has gotten me through all kinds of spots ….. again the good, the bad, and the ugly.

And I want something more unpredictable then a line of people waiting to tell my family how sorry they are. What about a box of cigars on a table, people can pick up on and  go outside, have a cigar, and curse me for being gone.

In the end I want my ideas to be left standing, after the emotion is gone, after people are back to living their lives, I hope I can leave something behind of value.

I don’t know what that will look like, honesty before 3 weeks ago I have never thought about my funeral.

anyways I digress … I imagine the pain fades at some point too … i just don’t know when

everything is a reminder of him

Just today I went to update my Resume, and he’s my personal reference … boy that was hard deleting him off

….Nate will be missed, he is loved deeply.