No bread!

We are in Bedford today in preparation for going to Altoona in the morning to watch two of our grandchildren in the Word of Life Teens Involved competition.  When we travel we can never agree on where we want to go to eat.  But tonight we noticed a Subway right next to our hotel and both readily agreed that a sub would taste good.  So off to Subway we went.  But guess what?  Subway had no bread ... at 6 pm on a Friday night ... they had no bread!  So they couldn't make subs.  What else do they really sell but subs.  A Subway with no bread!  So we saw a Sheetz nearby and settled for subs there.  But as we left we decided that we really wanted a little more and guess what was next door?  A Wendys!  So we decided to go through the drive-in and order some fries.  There were two cars ahead of us but the one got tired of waiting and left the line.  We waited and waited behind the one who was ordering - we thought he must have been ordering everything on their menu. Finally it was our turn. After we were able to order two orders of expensive fries (they wouldn't accept my Wendy's senior discount card), we again pulled up behind the car in front of us to pay for the fries.  And again we waited and waited.  You see the driver, instead of just paying his bill, must have also been sharing his life's history which is probably what he was doing when placing his order.  All he had to do was pay his bill. Finally we followed him to the pick-up window where the very same thing was repeated.  And again we waited and waited.  Finally he pulled up and we could get our expensive fries.  Then he stopped again to look in the restaurant window, but this time we could pull around him and leave.  As I did I noticed his license plate - disabled veteran.  I told Dianne I was thankful that he had defended our freedom (including the right to choose Wendys) as a veteran but that he probably was disabled because he had taken one to the head.  So that was our exciting evening meal - Subway with no bread, Sheetz which failed to toast Dianne's sub, and slow fast food at Wendys.  Maybe I am the one who has taken one to the head!

Thursday Thoughts

Just came back from the first softball game of the season ... as my body and mind thaw I'll just ramble on about a few observations ... best coffee deal is at McDonalds but only if you are a senior.  A senior decaf goes for 50 cents and it actually smells and tastes like coffee.  That has become my regular breakfast as I head to Lititz each day to work on dad's house ... A reader of my blog tells me that the Wendys in Maryland are even slower than in Pennsylvania.  That's hard to believe - not that they are slower, but that I have a reader, and one who actually responds to my blog ...  While visiting my brother in the hospital I saw two Amish women in the waiting room - talking on their cell phones.  Do you think their bishop knows about this or maybe he is using one, too?  ... This morning while walking at Park City I saw a Mennonite girl, probably in her 20's, dressed in her long dress and wearing a cap.  She was at a stand reading a brochure advertising a contest for potential models.  Was she going to apply, was she dreaming, or was she just interested in opportunities for young ladies? ... Today our doctor prescribed a new cough medicine for my wife.  Our copay for the bottle was "only" $39.80! That might be about $2.00 a swallow.  I'm glad it was a copay and not the full cost ... In the doctor's waiting room I watched the drug salespersons come in and shower the nurses with gifts.  One gave out piles of candy bars and snacks.  Maybe that is why our cough medicine copay was "only" $39.80 for a bottle.  Something just doesn't seem right! Maybe they should have at least given us a candy bar, too ...  I was encouraged to start a page on Facebook, so three weeks ago I did.  I am now convinced that it is for young folks or for folks who don't know what to do with their time.  I've entered about a dozen comments that I though were interesting topics and have yet to get a single response.  One person did wish me a happy birthday.  Maybe I need to use a picture of me when I was 30 instead of the current one I have posted.   Please excuse me Facebook participants, but I don't find most of the comments there too exciting - like "It's a nice day today", "I'm going out for supper tonight", "I can't wait for the weekend", or "I just played the - you name it - game".  Of course there are games to play and tests to take to analyze yourself, if you have nothing better to do with your time.  It looks like the real challenge might be to see how many friends you can collect - that must be a measure of how popular one is.  Oh well, I guess that is the way one socializes today.  I guess that's enough ramblings for one day - I need to go check my Facebook Wall and see if any of my few friends thinks the weather was cold today.

Slow Fast Food

Almost two decades ago our family started a tradition of  going to Wendy's for our noon lunch after the Sunday morning service.  It used to be a great time together that we looked forward to.  We were such regulars that they even sent flowers to us when my mother was killed years ago. But over the years things have changed.  My brother went to another church in a different area and stopped coming.  Some of the others stopped coming for a variety of reasons.  When our church moved we went to another Wendys closer to our present church.  My sister started going to our early service so her family stopped coming to our noon gathering.  So recently it was just my wife and I and my father and once in awhile my son's family. Dad kept coming even to the Sunday before he died. But now since dad died in February it is usually just Dianne and I. I guess we keep "the tradition" going.  Our one complaint about our new Wendys location is that their service is so slow.  In fact sometimes it is faster to go through the drive-in and carry our food into the restaurant.  That's slow fast food.  Two weeks ago, while reading the editorial section in the Sunday News, the editor, a former student of mine, commented about how they go to a fast food restaurant each Sunday.  And because the service is soooo slow (his words) one of their friends goes through the drive-up and then takes their food into the restaurant.  Now I knew that they also used to eat at our former location, Wendys on the Harrisburg Pike.  So I wrote to him and shared our experience.  I was surprised in his return e-mail when he told me that his wife is now pastor of a church so they've changed Wendys locations too.  In fact, the location he was talking about is the same one that we now go to.  Now that is an interesting coincidence.  And I guess it tells you something about the service at the Wendys we now frequent on Sundays.  Now we won't identify the location because we don't want the drive-up lines to get any longer or we will be there all afternoon.  Oh yes, fast food but very slow service. But we'll probably still be there each Sunday - they give a senior discount!

Do You Know My Name?

It really upsets me when a former student comes up to me and asks, "Do you know my name?" or "Do you know who I am?"  Now those who do this to me have usually gained 100 pounds, are now bald, and have grown a beard and a mustache.  I probably also had them in a study hall 35 years ago.  Once in awhile I get lucky and remember them - usually because they did something unusual, like get in trouble.  Now come on, at my age I'm fortunate if I can even remember my own name.  But everyone wants to be remembered.  Everyone wants to think they are special.  And our name is very special to each of us.  And unfortunately I have always had trouble remembering names.  When I was teaching I had to really work on this.  My last few years when digital cameras were available, I used to take pictures of my students and keep them to help me memorize and remember names.  Maybe you don't have that problem and if that is the case, you are very fortunate.  It is embarrassing when you can't remember someone's name.  But fortunately our Father in Heaven knows and remembers our name.  One of the praise choruses that I enjoy shares that idea. With the challenges I have been facing recently, the words of this chorus have really been an encouragement to me.  "(1)  I have a maker, He formed my heart. Before even time began, My life was in his hand.   Chorus: He knows my name, He knows my every thought, He sees each tear that falls, And hears me when I call.   (2)  I have a Father, He calls me his own. He'll never leave me, No matter where I go.  Chorus: He knows my name, He knows my every thought, He sees each tear that falls, And hears me when I call."  So I apologize if I forget your name, but please be encouraged that God knows your name (even if you have gained 100 pounds and lost your hair) and He sees each of your tears, and He'll never leave you, no matter how tough the circumstances.

We've Come Along Way II

Yesterday I commented on how far we've come - backwards in my opinion - with the celebration of Good Friday.  Today I must continue the theme with another similar observation.   I don't ever remember as a kid going to an Easter Egg Hunt.  I guess they probably had them way back then, I don't know.  I don't think my parents would have objected to them since I know I had an Easter basket and there are pictures of me with the basket and candy.  I do remember that Mammy Wise (mother's mom) used to make such delicious candy eggs each year - that was a very special treat.  When our kids were growing up we took them to hunts - we were glad that they could get more free candy than we could afford to buy at that point in our married lives.  Recently churches have gotten into the Easter Egg Hunt business, and I have no objection to that, especially if a good Gospel message is part of the activity.  That has been a big outreach at our church and many kids and parents come and hear the Gospel before they race to collect eggs.   But yesterday my grandson Zachary and I passed a church in the Landisville area with a large sign in front of their church .... Easter Egg Hunt, 10:00 am ... on Sunday.  An Easter Egg Hunt on Easter morning?  Now somehow I think that is crossing the line.  Has the Easter Bunny taken place of celebrating the Resurrection of Christ?   Yes, I guess we've come a long way - backwards in my opinion.  Easter should be the greatest day on the schedule of each church and the day should be devoted only to the worship and celebration of that special event.  It is the event that should make Christianity different than any other religion - Jesus is alive!  It is the celebration of the One who conquered death so that we could have eternal life and one day reign with Him.  And the Easter Bunny and Easter eggs should not detract from that day of celebration.  Or am I just getting old?  I probably am, but I still feel that local church is wrong. I prefer to devote my time and worship tomorrow to my Great Savior.  Anyway, have a great Resurrection Day tomorrow.  He is risen! 

We've Come A Long Way!

Good Friday 2009 ... I have many fond memories of Good Fridays when I was a kid.  Now I hate to admit it but that was a half century ago.  Good Fridays were so different then.  All the stores closed from noon to 3 pm.  All churches had services during that time and the pews were filled.  Many businesses also had services for their employees who couldn't get to church during these hours.  My wife worked at the First National Bank in Sunbury and they always had a Christian minister come in to speak and lead a service for their employees, on company time.  I know that is hard for all you "young readers" to believe, but that is the way it was - before the days of politically correctness.  So, yes we've come a long way - unfortunately the wrong way!  Now you probably won't even hear anything about Good Friday today unless you read about it in the church advertisements.  And the kids don't even have Easter vacation anymore, it is now Spring Break.  And some folks still think we are a "Christian nation" -   Only in your dreams.  But they still can't take away our right to thank our Lord for His unspeakable gift, to remember the pain and humiliation that he bore for us, and to rejoice that he humbled himself and died for us so that we could be forgiven, redeemed, and united with Him.  Take time to worship and thank Him throughout the day.  Good Friday is a special day.  And remember, Sunday is a coming!

Over For Another Year

Well, it is over for another year - April 6, that is.  I've checked the internet to see what significant things happened on April 6, 1941 and nothing very positive happened.  You see that was the day that Germany invaded Yugoslavia and Greece.  It was Palm Sunday and the Luftwaffe bombed Belgrade without mercy.  Phil Austin, an American comedian was born that day, but I never heard of him and you probably never did either.  Craig Wood, whoever he was, won the Eighth Golf Masters Championship shooting a 280 - wow!  Way to go Craig.  I guess the only positive memory of that day, at least to me and my parents, is that I was born.  My birth came in an old hospital in Sunbury which was later torn down.  I don't know if there was any significance to that or not.  And so, yesterday, people around the world celebrated the 68th anniversary of the invasions by Germany, Craig's victory, Phil's birth, or my birthday, or most likely nothing at all.  I had a great day - probably as memorable as most of my previous birthdays.  In the morning I traveled to York to sign papers for my dad's estate while Dianne had an appointment.  In the afternoon I picked up more of my dad's estate papers while Dianne had a doctor's appointment.   We did make our semi-annual trip to Shady Maple for my free meal.  There we ate too much once again and enjoyed watching the crowd.  I am convinced that 95% of the patrons were either very overweight or old or in many cases, both.  I fit both groupings.  Then we headed home where Dianne suddenly got violently sick, spending most of her night in a small room up the hall.  I thought we might be going to the ER and I worried about her through the night, enough that I didn't sleep.  But, thank the Lord, she is on the mend.  So life goes on and that "celebration" is over for another year.  I don't feel any younger or older, although right now I don't have enough time to even think about that. And at this time of life you no longer remember how you felt an hour ago anyway.  And so the count begins to number 69 and we take it one day at a time.  Now if I could only remember what day it will be tomorrow

April Fool's Day Jokes

I have always enjoyed trying to trick people on April Fool's Day.  When I taught math, every three or four years I would teach a "fake" lesson on April Fool's Day.  Experienced teachers realize that often their students only half engage their brains and accept whatever the teacher says.  There are also numerous common errors in math that students often make.  So I would take advantage of these things and teach "Looflirpa's Theorem".  Usually I was very successful and the next day I would ask them to spell the name backward.  It was always a challenge to me to pull this off.  Unfortunately, one year I was so successful that I even had a student try to use the false theorem on the final exam.  After retiring I moved to e-mail and the internet and annually have tried such a prank.  My best was an e-mail stating that we were suddenly selling our house and moving to Florida.  Unfortunately, we had some key leaders in church worried about how they'd replace us and we had other friends in tears.  Now tears weren't really my goal.  Another very successful one was about a virus that had been spreading through my e-mails - incidentally it was named the Looflirpa Virus.  I've also shared some new tax laws on church properties and a variety of other ideas over the years.  But each year it becomes harder because people expect it.  This year I used the line about the increased tax on chewing gum, breath mints, toothpaste, etc.  I didn't expect it would be very successful but the last time I checked, 88 folks had gone to my website to check for the "rebate".  Hmmm, I wonder why so many went there - maybe it was successful even though most folks don't want to admit that they were tricked ... again.  The few who responded to me had interesting comments.  My one son said that he refused to open any e-mails he received from me on April 1.  Several told me that they can't believe that I got them again.  One person told me that she had even contacted some of her family members then had to recontact them when she realized what it was.  But as I said, most of the 88+ folks have said nothing to me - maybe they think it was too childish or maybe they just don't want to admit that they got caught ... again.  What about you?  Life's just too short not to have a few good laughs once in awhile.  But, as I said, it gets harder to do this every year.  So maybe this will be the last time I try it ... but then ... maybe ... just be careful if you get an e-mail from me on April 1, 2010.   You never know, it might just be from Looflirpa! 

Chewing Gum, Toothpaste and Breath Mints

If you read Monday night's Lancaster New Era you probably saw the article about the federal tax on tobacco rising 62 cents per pack of cigarettes today.  If you are a smoker, this is a hefty tax.  The hope is that many smokers will be forced to give up this bad habit because of its rising cost.  Time will tell. What you probably didn't read is that a steep federal tax will also begin on Wednesday on some non-tobacco products.  Taxes of about 39 cents will be added to products like chewing gum, breath mints, toothpaste, mouth sprays, and mouth wash.   I don't know what the reasoning for this might be, except to raise more taxes to help with federal bailouts and deficits.  Now if you didn't hear about this it may already be too late for you to stock up on these products.  But some companies are offering rebate cards to help cover these increases. We doubt that you care about the tobacco increases but since we think many of you might be affected by the increases for the other products, we have put together some information for you about these rebates at   http://fbfawana.com/gum.html.  Please check it out.  We hope this information is helpful to you.  If it isn't of concern to you, please keep your bad breath away from me - just kidding - I guess.

Helpless

There are many things that affect our lives which are far beyond our control.  One of those things is the weather.   Now most of the time our thoughts are about "Is it going to rain?" or maybe "Is it going to snow?"   Will the weather affect our plans?  And if it rains, we just readjust or cancel our plans.  But sometimes the weather is much more serious and there is nothing we can do about it.  Major snowstorms can be devastating, especially when the power goes out and nobody can get out.  I remember a few bad ones in my lifetime - one in 1958 that was the worst and another in 1996 when my granddaughter was born.  I think they should have named her Storm. But I'm also thinking about floods, hurricanes, and tornados.  I feel for the folks out west who run the risk of losing everything because of the massive flooding.  My parents lived through terrible flooding in Sunbury decades ago.  They had sad experiences of preparing, enduring, and cleaning up afterwards.  Then there are devastating hurricanes.  Fortunately there is some advance warning for these and you can evacuate or board up your belongings and hope that things are there afterwards.  We have lived through a few hurricanes in this area and it is a helpless feeling.   But I don't think there is anything as bad as facing a tornado.  They come so quickly, are totally devastating, and are over so quickly.  We have experienced several around us in Millersville in recent years.  One came a couple of days after my knee surgery in 2000.  And I felt so helpless because I was really unable to walk and move to the basement.  Had it hit our house I would have flown away in my lazy-boy recliner.  Another tornado unexpectedly hit the county on Sunday causing several million dollars in damage.  We felt the rain, wind, and hail that surrounded it, but the devastation missed us.  Unfortunately, my son's home, north of Lititz, sustained considerable damage from the large hail.  But the weather is out of our control and it sometimes is very scary.  These unwanted storms poses one of those unanswerable questions - "Why does God allow this to happen?"  This question falls into the same category as "Why do good people suffer?"   We'll never really know the answer to these questions, but we can know the One who has these things under His control.  And while He may not take us away from these experiences, He will walk through them with us.  He has said that He'd never leave us nor forsake us - and "never" includes times of storms and suffering.  God is good - all the time.

More hailstones

Another picture of the hail that fell in the Manheim - Lititz area on Sunday night in a sudden, unexpected storm.  A devastating tornado hit several miles from here.

Like Father, Like Son

The last two months have been a real struggle in trying to deal with my dad's estate and cleaning out a home with 60 years of possessions.  But in doing so, I have learned things about my father that I never knew.  It has been interesting and even shocking to see the things that he and I had in common.  Now I knew the obvious ones.  We both went to Susquehanna University and both majored in math and physics.  We both taught in high school and college.  We both served as Sunday School superintendent, elder, and Awana leader for many years.  We both served on the boards of Berean Bible School/Pinebrook Jr. College.   We both were charter members of our church. We both earned our Masters Degrees.   But here are some additional things that I've just discovered.  We both coached high school track and basketball.  We both were editors of our high school yearbooks.  We both wrote for the town newspapers, covering sports, while we were in high school.  We both worked for the Sunbury Daily Item.   We both led the Primary Department in Sunday School while we were in high school.  We both were rather proficient on the computer and we were both self-taught.  But there were also some significant differences.  He was skilled in dealing with finances (as is my son, Craig) and many taxpayers and our church and denomination can testify to that.  I can balance my checkbook,pay my bills, and do my taxes, but I struggle with the financial vocabulary and things like settling an estate.  He was a very skilled engineer (as is my son, Ken) and he actually had several patents from his years at RCA.  I started in an engineering program and received good grades, but just never had a natural feel for things in physical sciences.  He was skilled in helping those who had employment and insurance questions (as is my son Tim) and we are just learning how many people he really advised and helped.  As for me, I had to go to dad when I needed advice in these areas.    He was skilled in building and repairing things.  I either ask my sons for help or I hire somebody. So while we had many things in common, many of the skills I don't have just seemed to skip me and go to my boys.   And that I find interesting. However, the greatest strength that dad had was his love of the Lord and his commitment to the Lord and His work.  That was his life and goal.  Dad set the standard high for those of us who follow him.  It is my prayer that I, my sons, and my grandchildren may never forget the example which he set and that we may strive to live the godly life that he did.  For me, the ultimate complement would be " like father, like son".  And not just to be like my earthly father, as special as that would be, but more importantly to be like my Heavenly Father.  That was dad's desire for himself, for his children, for his grandchildren and even for his great grandchildren.

Welcome to Socialism

It was Obamaism that caught the nation by storm last year.  He promised change and people bought that line.  And change he is providing.  First came the liberal morality - killing embryos, expanding abortion, promoting same-sex marriage, and a host of radical changes that have stunned conservatives and evangelicals.  Then it was the start of efforts to muzzle conservatives and those who support Biblical values.  But now it is blatant socialism.  As a reaction to the greed of the AIG executives, the democratic House of Representatives has passed legislation, which everyone appears to applaud, taxing the bonuses of banking executives at 90%. Not present or future earnings, but earnings from past years.  The Senate will now consider this legislation and Obama will probably sign it.  And you are probably saying good, that is what those greedy guys really deserve.  But what you don't realize is that the government has now decided to arbitrarily tax, at huge rates, the back earnings of bankers throughout the nation.  Most of them who will be hit and bankrupted with this are not the wealthy upper class, but middle class executives from your community who will probably need to return 90% of any bonuses earned in previous years - not future years, not this year, but in previous years.  It is all part of the liberal view to distribute the wealth.  Now you say that doesn't effect me, but it soon may.  For example, Congress could suddenly decide to eliminate your deductions for past contributions to church or charity and tax them at 90%.  What would you then do?  Where would you come up with this money?  And that is just one possibility.  If Congress has the power to do this to one group they could do it to others.  This is not only scary but it is socialism at its worst.  Pray for the many Christians who will be devastated by this legislation.  Pray for congressmen to stand against this injustice.  Pray for our country and the path it has taken.  Pray for the Lord's quick return. 

Let's Go Matt!

Today and tomorrow are "tough" days for me.  For thirty years I served as chief statistician for the PIAA state basketball play-offs at Hershey.  It was always a challenging but exciting two days since I had eight games to work and the pressure at times was intense.  But it was fun and I always looked forward to it.  But three years ago they moved the games to State College and our table crew from Hershey was replaced by folks from Penn State.  I still miss those two days - watching on TV is just not as much fun.  But it is even harder this year since something is happening that I always wished would happen.  One of the local teams, Lampeter-Strasburg, has made the finals - the culmination of a dream season.  And what makes it harder is that their coach, Matt Wieand, is a good friend and is also a deacon in our church.  He plays on our church softball team.  His wife Katie has a beautiful trained voice and has been in many musical productions, including lead roles at the Fulton Theater.  They are a great couple and they love and serve the Lord.  I would have loved to be there working and watching Matt coach his team.  Unfortunately, Matt will face a major challenge in the state finals.  He is matched against the number one team in the state - a team that has only lost one game and has four girls who have received scholarships to play for major universities.  This opponent, Archbishop Catholic, is from Philadelphia.  This is the first time in the play-offs for them since the PIAA just opened the play-offs this year to the Philadelphia Catholic League.  Unfortunately, the PIAA play-offs are now very skewed against the public schools.  They are now controlled by the private schools, especially the Catholic schools.  This year there are 16 teams competing for eight state titles.  Nine of them are Catholic schools, two are private charter schools and only five are public schools.  Three of these five are the large city public schools such as York.  The Catholic and private schools have their choice of the top players - they claim they don't recruit but they draw from all over, while the public schools can only draw from their district.  It just isn't fair and the public schools, like Lampeter-Strasburg, seldom get to the finals anymore and when they do get there they are often outclassed by the private schools.   So Matt's team is a definite underdog tomorrow night.  But no matter what happens, they've had a dream season that most public schools never experience.  And who knows, maybe that dream season has one more miracle game to go.  Matt and his team really deserve that for advancing to this point against all odds.  Unfortunately, I won't be there to share the excitement - I wish this would have happened a few years earlier.  But I will be watching on TV on PCN, at 6 pm, Saturday night.   Go Matt, go!

The Little Things

Did you ever think about how the little things that you do can mean so much to others?  We've been reminded of that recently in several ways.  First, we were surprised at some of the folks who wrote comments about my dad and what he meant to them.  Of special interest to us were some of those in church who have special needs and often are easily ignored by others.  Several of them wrote to us about how dad always had time to come to them and greet them and talk to them.  That was very special to them and they miss that.  Such a little thing, but so important.  This afternoon we attended a family visitation of a woman whose husband died suddenly this week.  We didn't really know her although she has attended our church.  We really went because her young daughter attends our Awana program.  A few minutes ago we received a call from a friend of hers who thanked us for taking time to come to the visitation.  We were told that it meant so much to the wife as well as to the woman who called us.  Such a little thing, but so important.  This morning we were at the Awana Sparks-a-rama and a young man came and thanked me for working in Awana.  I admit that I didn't even remember him, but he came to our Awana program about 15 years ago and is now working in Awana at another church.  Such a little thing, but so important.   About a week ago we stopped at a restaurant in the middle of the afternoon for their buffet lunch.  Our waitress appeared tired and really wasn't very personable.  We were in a hurry and waited and waited for the bill (one of my pet peeves!).  When it didn't come, we went to the register and told them that we had "lost" our waitress.  She contacted the waitress who then brought our bill to the register.  I admit that I was a little upset and decided not to give her a tip.  The next day I felt very guilty about this, knowing that I had not been fair to her.  Fortunately, Dianne saw her name tag so I wrote and sent her a cash tip.  I also apologized for being inconsiderate.  Today we received a very nice card from the waitress thanking us for our thoughtfulness.  From her note I think that she might be a believer.  She told us that her father recently died and that has been very hard for her. That explained so much and I am so glad that I did send her the tip.  Such a little thing, but so important.  Sometimes we forget that people are watching us and that so many are also hurting and a little bit of our time and thoughtfulness can go a long way in helping others.   We who are believers need to walk worthy of His name and doing so is often so practical.

It's My Parents' Fault

If you have been following the news in the Lancaster area you are aware of the horrible murder that took place in the Elizabethtown area.  F our young men (probably not a good description of them) decided to choose a home outside of town to rob.  They picked one at random, knocked on the door, and said they needed to borrow a cell phone to make a call since their car had broken down.  A very respected older businessman answered the knock and kindly handed them a phone to help them out.  The one young man then grabbed him and put a gun in his mouth.  When the businessman resisted, he withdrew the gun and shot him in the chest and then again while the man screamed in pain and terror.  Fortunately his wife locked the door and called the police or they might have murdered her, too.  When they were caught and brought to trial they reported how they had laughed and celebrated.  They reported how the killer had bragged about the murder and thought that he was a great gangster.  During the trial and verdict he showed no remorse and just sat with a somber look.  The jury quickly found him guilty of first degree murder.  Then the circus began as they entered the sentencing phase - death or life imprisonment.  All his family members came forth to testify how he had been abused as a child.  His father, a pastor, had "beaten" him when he didn't want to go to church.  He only had an IQ of 75 and didn't do well in school, so what more could you expect.  He had never known love so this is why he became a murderer.  It was all the fault of his family and environment and he couldn't be held responsible for that.  And of course, when asked by his lawyer, how life would be if he received the death sentence, his entire family testified that their lives would never be the same.  I wonder how they thin k the lives are of the wife, children, and friends of the man he so coldly murdered.  Or don't the victims matter in today's liberal justice system. And during this part of the trial the murderer cried while his family defended him.  Could he be playing on the sympathy of the jury?  No, with an IQ of 75 he certainly couldn't be smart enough to play that game.  Not if he didn't even know the difference between right and wrong.  But isn't this the theme of today's society - it's not my fault, it's because of my lousy childhood and my parents.  I just couldn't help myself.  I was never loved. I didn't know what I was doing.  Any many jurors will buy this argument.  By the time you read this, the verdict will probably be public.  I may be wrong, but I expect it will be life imprisonment instead of the death penalty  And in this tough economy, we will have the "privilege" of supporting him with our taxes for 50 years or more.  Sad, sad times we live in. Now didn't I see something like this predicted somewhere?  It couldn't have been in the Bible ...  something about the end times, maybe.  Oh, but that's right, it's not politically correct to talk about the Bible and that old book certainly couldn't be relevant to today's society.  Hmm, or could it be?

Senior Advantages

Many folks hate to admit that they are there.  Others dread the time they will be there.  Many prefer to ignore and overlook those who are there.  Some joke about those who are there.  Where?  The senior years!  But if one's health holds up, most everyone will someday be there and there are many advantages to being a senior.  Here are a few:  1. Kidnappers are not very interested in you;   2. In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first;   3. No one expects you to run--anywhere;  4. People call at 9 pm and ask, did I wake you?;   5. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac;  6. There is nothing left to learn the hard way;  7. Things you buy now won't wear out;  8. You can eat supper at 4 pm;  9. You get into heated arguments about pension plans;  10. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge;  11. You quit trying to hold your stomach in no matter who walks into the room; 12. You sing along with elevator music;  13. Your eyes won't get much worse;  14. Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off;  15. Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the National Weather Service;  16. Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't remember them either;  17. Your supply of brain cells is finally down to manageable size.   And of course, there are all the senior discounts.   So you young guys out there - eat your heart out!

Death and Taxes

They say that there are two things that are certain in life - death and taxes.  Death we probably can't avoid and it looks like we also can't avoid taxes even if we are dead.  I'm learning the complexity of settling my first estate and it appears that death is not the least bit simple, especially for the executor.  First there are the funeral expenses and now most funeral homes will only sell packages and you pay for all the "extras" even if you don't want them or need them or even use them.  Anybody want a huge picture of my dad?  That means a funeral is now big bucks - even down to the many required death certificates which are now $6 each or $10 if more are needed.  Then there is the fun of canceling accounts, credit cards, home services, and subscriptions as well as analyzing medical bills and paying other bills.  All sorts of groups must be notified - social security, pension funds, doctors and financial institutions.  The estate may need probated and it must be advertised in multiple publications.  Then there is the filing of federal, state, and local taxes for the previous year or in my case for the previous year and the present year.  And we haven't even talked about death taxes, estate taxes, or inheritance taxes, or assessors that must be hired and scheduled. And down the road there is the disposing of household goods, a car, and eventually the house and property.  This needs to be done while trying to be fair to the whole family. This process certainly is not for the feint of heart.  It is certainly too complex for a person like me with only a master's degree.  Would a doctorate have helped?   Maybe it's the plague of being the oldest son - something like what happened in Egypt with the final plague.  But that ended in death, although settling the departed son's estate was probably much simpler then.  I'm worried that I'll make some legal blunder and end up owing more than the estate is worth or else be thrown in jail for 20 years or more.  But while I am overwhelmed, I'm not really complaining.  At least I am retired and have nothing else to do with my life - lol!   But all of this just mirrors the complexity of the times that we live in.  Nothing is simple anymore, especially death and taxes.  Everyone needs to get their share, or actually more than their share.  The solution - pray that the rapture takes place very soon.   And if that doesn't work, then the best you can do is hire lawyers and financial experts to help you through the process and share with them whatever inheritance might happen to be left over.  Anyway, they tell me it usually takes a year to settle an estate, so I guess I'll see you again sometime in 2010 - unless the rapture happens first!