5 weeks now

I have officially gone to church for 5 weeks straight now. I have tried 3 different churches in this time and ended up enjoying Radiant Church the best. 

I'm not sure on where I stand on the whole God and Jesus thing but I'm looking into it. I have never been a church goer.  I have been talked into going, now and again. I have never looked into it on my own terms until now.

The shocking thing I have come across, is that every church is different. No matter what they believe. I went to 3 different church's and they all had a different feel. They all talked about the same thing, but all have a completely different way of telling it.

Radiant Church is my favorite. I really enjoy the life lesson every week. It's a great modern day lesson I understand, without being a practicing Christian. That alone makes me more interested in the church, and the whole thing that it is built on. I'm not sure if this will stick or if I will just drift out of it again. All I know is that right now, it is pretty cool. 

HTML RULES!!!!

I have become very obsessed with writing website code. I love it! I'm not sure what it is about. It really makes me excited when I write out a bunch of code and create something amazing. It is truly like learning a new language. With the encouragement of my cousin (Merc) and HTML dog. I'm on my way to this new exciting adventure. I'm still doing the beginner tutorials but I have also purchased 3 books. That's how serious I am, I'm reading books.

Eulogy - Me, Dead, Tomorrow.

I changed my mind and only did 2 of the 4 groups of people. I noticed things got very repetitive in the 3 and 4Th group. This one is going to be the weirdest, since I will be speaking at my funeral.

Wow!!! this sucks, I'm dead. 

So many things I hope I did. You don't ever expect to die, and you always think you will have time to do it tomorrow. I hope my family, knows how much I love them. I hope that everybody knows how much I care about them. I hope that people are inspired by me to be great. I hope my children know how much I loved them and never forget me. 

(In a panicky voice)

Did I let my wife know how much I loved her?

Do my parents know how much I appreciated them?

Does my sister know that my criticism was out of love?

Did I let the people that inspired me know how they changed my life?

I know that sometimes I got wrapped up in the thick of thin things. I wish I would of spent more quality time with my family, and less time doing things that are not urgent or important. Sometimes things like a TV show became more important and it wasn't. I didn't work too much but I was always very busy, too busy to be everything I wanted to be. I wish I would of been a better father, husband, friend, family member. 

Life is too short to be wishing, so I'm going to start doing. 

Eulogy - Family

Stephen was a family man. He loved unconditionally and always did his best to help his family. He was always honest. We all learned if we didn't want to hear the truthful reality of  something, we didn't ask him. His girls Kristina, Jenna and Mikayla were the light of his life. Every choice he made, he made it with them in mind. Stephen always did things whole heartily, and always had the best of intentions. Stephen's smile and laughter always brought great joy to all family gatherings. He always worked hard, played hard, and did his best to live life to the fullest. 

Yes, love is a verb .

Taking a break from talking about my death, I figured I would change the subject today to love. 

Love is not something you say it is something you do or show. This means you can not tell somebody you love them and expect it to stick without showing them. You must show your love to a person for them to know. Again reading the book Seven Habits is teaching me so many things about relationships with people. I'm not just talking about my wife, I'm also talking about friends, family and children.

One small thing I started doing to show my daughter Jenna I love her. Instead of driving up to her school and having her jump in the car. I now park, get out, and meet her in the school yard with a hug. One day she introduced me to some of her friends and said she loved me coming and getting her. This was something small but a great example of what I mean. It's the little things they remember most.

Eulogy - Friends

Stephen was an amazing person that always brought a smile to peoples faces. His cheerful attitude and ability to always find the comedy in life is what made him such a joy to be around. He always did his best to be the friend that he wanted to have. Honest (sometimes too honest), true, and always there when you needed him. If you had a bad day you could call him and end the call with smile. He had the ability to find the good side of all situations. His very presence made you fell better about yourself. He always tried to see the best in people but would tell you what he thought if he felt you were out of line. He was never afraid to humiliate himself for a laugh or a smile. Steve was completely nuts, and brought sanity to so many. My life was better then it could of been, just by being his friend. 

P.S.

Friends if this is not the person I' am today, it is the friend I want to be, and will strive to be.

Beginning with the end in mind.

I have been reading the book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" for the second time. I have deiced to read 1 habit every week and do all of the exercises he talks about. The first exercise I will be doing is called "beginning with the end in mind."

The author Stephen Covey wants you to picture your funeral 3 years from today and what your family, friends, work associates, and community group or church would say about you at your funeral. This will help you to touch your deep values and assist you in writing your mission statement or personal constitution.

Over the next week or so I will be posting 5 eulogy's for me. One for each of the 4 groups that the book talks about. The 5Th will be my eulogy, told by me, if I died today. I think this will help know my definition of success, and what I need to change to become the person I want to be.

I know this sounds a little warped and disturbing, but I think the end result will be amazing.

Internet Security

Internet security is like an oxymoron in my opinion. You are protected but never secure. Somebody asked me the other day if my IM service was secure. I responded sure, not really thinking about it. Nothing done on the Internet or a computer for that matter is secure. Definitely not an IM service that goes through a 3rd party. Every stroke of a key on your computer is recorded and held in your computer. If your doing something you don't want to be found out, I would not encrypt it on your computer. I would also not send thing through a 3rd party like email, IM, or something like myspace. They also record everything you do through their site.

Is the bunny thing dead yet?

I love getting together with family and having a big meal, but do people still hide eggs claiming that a bunny did it. I know it's fun and exciting but I can't help but think lying to my children after telling them to always tell the truth is wrong. I think I can justify the Santa thing, but the Easter bunny, and tooth fairy are going to far in my opinion. Honesty is hard to teach if you don't tell the truth. Do as I say and not as I do, is not an effective parenting method. 

What are your thoughts on the lies we tell our children out of tradition?

Peaceful day

Today was a very nice day. It was cool and rainy outside so we opened up the house to let the cool breeze in. It was so nice I fell asleep for a couple hours. Then me and the family headed to the movie theater to see Monsters vs. Aliens. It was a good movie and then we went out to dinner. It was a very nice day with no pressure. Back to reality tomorrow. Not that I don't love being with family, but it's a very busy day running from house to house.

My domain.

So I have officially become infected with domain name ownership. I didn't realize how addicting domain names are. I want around 30, but only own 6 right now. I currently only have 1 website, and only have the need for 2 or 3 domains. But my wants are much higher.

A week without talk radio.

I have been sucked into the information worm hole that is talk radio. I love to be informed about what is going on locally and nationally. But these days with all of the bad news being reported it can really bring you down. For 1 week I will be taking a talk radio vacation. I will not be without news just in small doses, not all day information as I drive around all day.

My paradigm shift, again.

"The Seven Habits Highly Effective People" is an amazing book that you can't just read once. It is packed full of so much information that will change your life and how you look at it. There is no way you could successfully put all of the habits in motion at once without going back to your old habits. I read this book about a year ago and it changed my life. But I slowly started to shift back to some of my old habits. These are hard times for all and if you have read the book I would suggest reading it again to make sure you are on track. If you have never read this book go and get it now and read it. You can also find the audio book on I-tunes for all of you on the go people.

Surrounded by Idiots.

To quote my grandmother "Stephen how is it that we continue to live in this world full of idiots." 

Spend, spend, spend is the answer to get out of debt?

To quote Ron Burgundy " That doesn't make any sense."

I don't pretend to have superior knowledge or anything but I do have common sense, and nothing makes sense these days. Everyday I feel like I'm surrounded by idiots and they seem to be multiplying by the day. Grandma and I can't be the only people that feel this way, right?