Fat Tuesday

Here in the Detroit area we don't normally call it fat tuesday, instead it is known as paczki day. Read More Here

My Birthday Stuff

I got some cash for my birthday and a Master Card gift card. So today I went and spent it! Since I am somewhat of a computer geek I got stuff for my mac. I got a external hard drive case..... And a 160gb Seagate hard drive to go in it! I had a 40gb external that I built that started to get full. And then my favorite shoes! I think they are so comfortable and cool looking!

FREE ICE CREAM!!!

For those of you who do not have a Cold Stone Creamery near you, let me express my deepest sympathies! For the rest of us lucky ones...... join the Cold Stone Creamery Birthday Club and get your free ice cream on your birthday, like I am today! And here are the pics from that glorious event! No, the ice cream does not make you turn white. It was just a bad pic.

Back In The Saddle Again

Tomorrow, I get back in the saddle again. Kent has given me a wonderful opportunity to speak to RSM. He is doing a series on common heroes of the Bible and I get to talk about Abraham and I will also get to do Noah on March 12th and David on March 19th! That is pretty cool. But what also is cool is that Kimmy will be singing on one of the praise teams at our church. I think I am more excited for her than I am for me! She has such a great voice and gift, and it is cool to see God using her at our church. I know she has missed it. So it is really cool to be back doing the things that we know God has called us to do. And what is even better is that the two of us will be getting back in the saddle again on the same day. Plus, it will be the day after my birthday! What a cool birthday present! Hopefully, I won't screw up like this guy!

My Februray 25th Birthday Facts.....

This one is from paulsadowski.com..... Your date of conception was on or about 4 June 1972 which was a Sunday. You were born on a Sunday The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2441738.5. The year 1973 was not a leap year. Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 2/3/1973 and ending 1/22/1974. You were born in the Chinese year of the Ox. The date of Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 22 April 1973. The date of Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) on your birth year was Wednesday 7 March 1973. The date of Whitsun (Pentecost Sunday) in the year of your birth was Sunday 10 June 1973. The date of Whisuntide in the year of your birth was Sunday 17 June 1973. The date of Rosh Hashanah in the year of your birth was Thursday, 27 September 1973. The date of Passover in the year of your birth was Tuesday, 17 April 1973. The date of Mardi Gras on your birth year was Tuesday 6 March 1973. As of 2/23/2006 9:24:16 PM EST You are 32 years old. You are 396 months old. You are 1,721 weeks old. You are 12,051 days old. You are 289,245 hours old. You are 17,354,724 minutes old. You are 1,041,283,456 seconds old. Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 4.71663405088063 years old. (You're still chasing cats!) There are 2 days till your next birthday on which your cake will have 33 candles. Those 33 candles produce 33 BTUs, or 8,316 calories of heat (that's only 8.3160 food Calories!) . You can boil 3.77 US ounces of water with that many candles. In 1973 there were approximately 3.7 million births in the US. In 1973 the US population was approximately 203,302,031 people, 57.4 persons per square mile. In 1973 in the US there were approximately 2,158,802 marriages (10.6%) and 708,000 divorces (3.5%) In 1973 in the US there were approximately 1,921,000 deaths (9.5 per 1000) In the US a new person is born approximately every 8 seconds. In the US one person dies approximately every 12 seconds. Your birthstone is Amethyst Your birth tree is Pine Tree, the Particularity Loves agreeable company, very robust, knows how to make life comfortable, very active, natural, good companion, but seldom friendly, falls easily in love but its passion burns out quickly, gives up easily, many disappointments till it finds its ideal, trustworthy, practical. There are 305 days till Christmas 2006! The moon's phase on the day you were born was in its last quarter. On This Day in History.... US President Richard M. Nixon US Vice President Gerald R. Ford 1973 Prices Bread: $0.27/loaf Milk: $1.36/gal Eggs: $1.22/doz Car: $4,052 (wouldn't that be nice!) Gas: $0.39/gal (this, too!!!) House: $35,500 Stamp: $0.08/ea Avg Income: $13,622/yr (notice how a car was about a third less than this? not anymore!) Min Wage: $1.60/hr DOW Avg: 851 Top Songs for 1973 Let's Get It On by Marvin Gaye Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree by Dawn Crocodile Rock by Elton John Bad, Bad Leroy Brown by Jim Croce Killing Me Softly with His Song by Roberta Flack (And here I thought the Fugees sang it! LOL) Top of the World by Carpenters My Love by Paul McCartney & Wings You're So Vain by Carly Simon Keep On Truckin' by Eddie Kendricks Midnight Train to Georgia by Gladys Knight & the Pips Academy Award Winners Best Picture: The Sting (Directed By George Roy Hill) Best Actor: Jack Lemmon (in Save The Tiger) Best Actress: Glenda Jackson (in A Touch Of Class) People born on February 25 1873 - Enrico Caruso Naples Italy, operatic tenor (Faust) 1913 - Jim Backus Cleveland OH, actor (Mr Magoo, Thurston Howell III-Gilligan's Island) 1943 - George Harrison Liverpool England, rocker (My Sweet Lord, Beatles-Something, Traveling Wilburys-End of the Line) On TV in 1973 Maude The Streets of San Francisco Kojak Good Times Happy Days M*A*S*H (one of my faves and the greatest shows ever!!!) The Little People The Six Million Dollar Man The Rookies The Bob Newhart Show Hot New Toys in 1973 Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle The Lone Ranger Action Figure Boggle Perfection Dungeons & Dragons Fisher-Price Movie Viewer Shrinky Dinks Top Books in 1973 Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George Interesting facts about events that happened on February 25th. From "Any Day in History" 1751 1st performing monkey exhibited in America, NYC (admission 1¢) 1791 1st Bank of US chartered 1793 1st cabinet meeting (At George Washington's home) 1799 1st federal forestry legislation authorizes purchase of timber land 1799 Congress passes 1st federal quarantine legislation 1836 Samuel Colt patents 1st revolving barrel multishot firearm 1837 1st US electric printing press patented by Thomas Davenport 1838 London pedestrian walks 20 miles backward then forward in 8 hours 1859 First use of "insanity plea" to prove innocence 1862 Congress establishes the US Bureau of Engraving & Printing 1862 Paper currency (greenbacks) introduced in US by President Abraham Lincoln 1863 Congress creates national banking system, comptroller of currency 1868 Andrew Johnson impeached for violation of the Tenure of Office act 1885 US Congress condemns barbed wire around government grounds 1951 1st Pan American Games open (Buenos Aires Argentina) 1951 "Michael Todd's Peep Show" closes at Winter Garden NYC after 278 performances 1974 Veronica & Colin Scargill (England) begin tandem bicycle ride a record 18,020 miles around the world, completed on August 27, 1975 1981 NHL most penalized game; Bruins vs Northstars, 84 penalties (392 minutes) 1987 Michael Jordan, scores Chicago Bull record 58 points in a game 1989 Dallas Cowboys fire coach Tom Landry after a 29-year career 1989 Mike Tyson TKOs Frank Bruno in 5 for heavyweight boxing title 1998 Pamela Lee has husband Tommy Lee arrested on battery charges 1998 Switzerland's 1st legal brothel opens in Zurich

PLEASE SAVE OUR ZOO!!!!!

The City of Detroit is in serious financial problems, projected budget shortfall of $300 million dollars, so the mayor is looking into ways to save money. And one of the ideas is to cut the yearly funding for the zoo and turn it over to the zoological society to find it. This only amounts to about $5 million a year, but every bit helps the city. The city would maintain ownership, but the zoo would just find funding in other places. So guess what happened? The state said that it would pick up the funding! The city council just needed to decide if they want to cut the funding and let the zoo find it's own funding. Sounds great, right? Of course! So what do the geniuses at city hall do? They decide that they want to continue the pissing contest with the mayor and vote it down, even though the mayor said that would mean having to close it down. But it doesn't end there..... One of the city council members decided that the states offer to help the zoo was racially motivated! WHAT?!?!?!? Why is the state saying that they see the zoo as an important part of community and so they want to keep it open, racism? Here is what Barbara-Rose Collins said..... "This is not a plantation," Collins said. "We are not owned by everyone else. Black folks are not owned by white folks anymore. I made the point Saturday that the state Legislature was pimping the City of Detroit, and that we should not play the role of prostitute. That upset a lot of people, but I stand by my words. The symbolism is that Detroit is a black city, and we're not able to govern ourselves. It's a racist attitude and I resent it." I don't get it! Why is the state wanting to preserve our zoo, racism? But it proves my point from this post! I believe racism is propagated more by black people than it is by white people. And Barbara-Rose Collins proved my point once again.

And Now a Word From the Jac.... err, Donkey!!!

"Yeah, Matt always thinks that," said [Tony] Stewart, who had tapped Ryan Newman, enabling Kenseth to assume the lead on lap 57. "He has no room to complain. He started the whole thing, and I finished it. "I guess Matt didn't think anything when he got me sideways over in (Turn) 2, either. He should have thought about that first. He got back what he started in the first place. I got penalized for that," Stewart added. "They didn't penalize him when he turned me sideways over there, so he should have been smart enough to know not to be knocking down a guy's door in the first 20 laps." From the USA Today. So intentionally turning into someone for the sole purpose of wrecking them at a 190 miles an hour is the mature way to handle a little bump? Just about every bit of respect tony earned last season is gone in my opinion. What a freakin' moron! Not only did he take Matt out, but he almost ruined many other people's day. Nice job, Tony! The above picture is a bad Photoshop job by me! LOL

Congrats, Jimmie!!!

Congratulations, Jimmie Johnson on your first ever Daytona 500 win! And another great win for Hendrick Motorsports (the team's 6th) and the car owner's first as owner.

#3 Tribute

February 18, 2001 was a very sad day in NASCAR history. 5 Years ago at the Daytona 500 on the last lap one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR died on the last lap of the race. This 7 time cup winner changed the sport of racing. Many drivers looked up to him and learned so much from him. So I honor Dale Earnhardt with this mini tribute to him.

End of the Spear

Just got back from seeing this movie with my church and all I can say is, "WOW!!!" That is one of the most moving movies that I have ever seen and that includes The Passion of the Christ. While that was an extremely moving movie as well. But the difference between the two is this, The Passion showed us what God has done for us and End of the Spear shows us what we should do in response to that. And that is why it was more moving. Our response to God's love for us is to love one another and to reach out to everyone, whether or not that person killed your father or not. Sadly, I believe that we as a church are failing in this, because we can hardly find love for one another in our own hearts. The Bible tells us that, "Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples." John 13:35 And I think that we as a church are failing at this big time. A case in point is with this movie, some Christians are being very critical of it because it only references Jesus once in the whole movie. But yet you can't help but seeing the heartbeat and fingerprints of Jesus all over these missionaries lives, throughout the whole movie. The church in America is so good at telling people what we do not stand for, but horrible (in my opinion) at telling people Who we stand for! My church rented out a theater for us to see this movie after the churches staff went and saw it together, because they felt that it showed what our church is all about. In a recent message my pastor during his series on the "DNA of Rockpointe" said that our DNA and mission must and will be the same as that of Jesus, to reach out to the lost. And this movie really showed that same heart. If you have not seen this movie yet, I encourage you to go out and see it today, just bring a box of tissues with you. It will not be in the theaters much longer but it is worth it. If you don't get a chance to see it in the theater, then rent... no buy it on DVD when it comes out. The makers of the movie are donating half of the profits from the movie to reach out to unreached people groups. Thank you Randy for making sure that the DNA of Rockpointe and our DNA is the same as that of Jesus! And thank you for making sure we could all not only hear about that DNA via your messgae, but that we could see it by watching this movie together as a church. The pictures that I posted here are all from HollywoodJesus.com.

And The 3000th Visitor Was.....

Kathy!!! And we won't comment on the fact that she cheated by refreshing the page! BTW, you win your choice of..... 1) A non-expenses paid trip to visit me here in cold Michigan, or 2) A mention in my blog! Choose your prize! And the counter is on the right hand side of the page, for those of you who did not know. You can get your own counter for your blog at statcounter.com. Mine looks like this....

The Race to 3000.....

Only 23 more posts (counter was at 2977 when I posted this) until I have 3000 visitors to my blog. So if you are the magical 3000th visitor post a comment here.

Two Crazy Kids in Love!!!!

Kimmy and I were talking about how young we were when we got married. I was 22 and she was 19! So many people who get married tell young people who are thinking about getting married to wait. And quite honestly I look back on it and think that it is pretty decent advice. But quite honestly I am VERY glad that I never followed that advice! Actually, I don't think anyone told us that anyway. But if they had I would have probably ignored it and been happy that I did. Most people thought that we were pretty mature and were ready for marriage. When I look back on it, I laugh about that! What the heck were they thinking! We were so young and immature. But you know what? We had one another and we made it. Was it hard? Yep! Did we make dumb mistakes, because we were so young? You betcha! Was it worth it? Oh yeah! And I wouldn't change anything for the world! I am so happy to be married to Kimmy and to have gone through all those rough times with her, because we were together! I LOVE YOU, BEAUTIFUL!!! BTW, the pic at the top was Kimmy and I at her house before her high school prom in May of 1994 and the one below is of the two of us on that magical day, 2 December 1995!

RACE ON!!!!!!

Next week is the Super Bowl of NASCAR, the Daytona 500!!! I have not always been a NASACR fan. I mainly would read the newspaper and keep up to date on who won, but that was about the extent of it. Whenever I sat down to watch a race, I would think like most people do, "what is the use of watching people putting the pedal to the metal and turning left?" During that time I started to like Jeff Gordon, because I had read a lot of good things about him and his faith in Christ. I know that recently he has fallen into some tough times and I have not heard much about his faith, but I still like the guy. I think he is a very good driver and the fact that he has won the championship four times doesn't hurt either. Unlike a certain other driver who drives the 8 car and hasn't won one. Then a few years ago I had a friend of mine that I watched a race with and he explained a lot of the technical side of races. He talked about the different pit strategies, tire pressure, etc. And suddenly it wasn't just about guys who "put the pedal to the metal and turned left", but about so much more. I became hooked! And now I find myself watching the races all the time. LAst year I joined a fantasy NASCAR league and this year I am on 2! One of the most facinating facts about NASCAR is that it is the only sport that mandates that the television networks must show the opening prayer before the races. That is cool! So I say...... GENTLEMAN, START YOUR ENGINES!!!!!! And GO JEFF!!!!! Win another Daytona 500 and get your fifth NASCAR Nextel Cup Trophy.

GAMES ON!!!!!

The XX Winter Olympic Games have begun! The opening ceremony was really cool. I was really worried when they had that F1 car doing donuts that it might lose control and hurt someone, but all went well! And ending it all with Luciano Pavarotti singing “Nessun Dorma”. That was really amazing! And the lighting of the official torh was really cool as well. USA Strikes GOLD!!!!!!! Congratulations to Chad Hedrick who won the first gold for USA in the 5000m speed skating! Here's to your drive for five golds in speed skating! I am hoping that the US can have a really good showing at this year's Olympics and bring home the overall gold. I think we have a really good shot at it this year. But most of all I hope that we kick Canada's butt in men's and women's hockey!

The Bus Has Stopped Here In Detroit!!!

Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers who won Super Bowl XL! I normally do not root for them, but this year I did because it was going to be Jerome Bettis' last bus stop. And the fact that it was going to be in Detroit, I wanted to see "The Bus" finish it off here in his home town. And also with Larry Foote playing in his hometown. So congrats to the Steelers and to my friend Kent, who is one of the biggest Steeler fans that I have ever met!

Are You Color Blind?

Above is a test that they give you to see if you are color blind. The image on the left has the number 45 in it and people whoa re not color blond can see that, but the image on the right is what people who are color blind will see. Color blindness is a hereditary problem. I have known a few people who were color blind and you have to feel kind of bad for them, because they can sometimes wear some pretty wild color combinations. This month is Black History Month and so we as a nation take time to recognize and celebrate some of the great things that African Americans have done for our nation. It is really cool to look at some of the things that they have contributed and/or invented. Here in Detroit our local news station does a really good job of giving us little factoids. But what I consider to be one of the best things to be contributed is the now famous "I Have a Dream" speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. An interesting fact about this speech, it was first delivered here in Detroit a few months before it was delivered in our nations capital. I find great hope and inspiration in his speech. Here are some excerpts..... I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.... I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."..... I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. I have a dream that.... one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together...... This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.".... And when this happens, When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!" I have the same dream and I believe that we are seeing much of that dream coming true today. I know that for me personally, I was raised color blind. My parent's had friends from all different kinds of backgrounds and races. I can even remember getting in a fist fight with my best friend because he made a racist comment. I never understood that mindset. The youth pastor I had growing up adopted to African-American girls and they call me Uncle Todd and I fully consider them my niece's. I hardly even notice that they are a different race from me. My brother-in-law is looking into adopting two African-American children and also a Puerto Rican boy. And if their adoption goes through they too will be part of our family and I will not notice that they "look different" from me, because all I know is that they are my niece and nephews. I have several friends that are African-American as well. I don't say all of this so that you can read this and say, "Wow! Todd is really a diverse person." Because quote honestly I do not see it as me being diverse. I just see it as me living. What bothers me is when I here people make stupid comments and have to throw race into it. As exampled in this article, "McNabb says Owens' criticism amounts to 'black-on-black crime'". What the heck did Terrell Owens say that would cause Donovan to say this? I'll show you. In November, responding to a question from Michael Irvin during an ESPN interview, Owens said Philadelphia would likely be in a better situation if Brett Favre was the quarterback instead of the banged-up McNabb. And Donovan said.... "It was like, it's unreal," McNabb said. "That's like me going out and saying, 'Hey, if we had Steve Largent. If we had Joe Jurevicius. It was definitely a slap in the face to me. It was a slap in the face because, as deep as people want to go into it, it was black-on-black crime." Somehow I never saw or even got out of T.O.'s comments that he was saying that the Philadelphia Eagles would have been better off with a white quarterback over the black one they currently had. What I saw was that T.O. said that Brett Favre (the human being) was a better quarterback then Donovan McNabb (the human being). It was not a race issue, but Donovan made it one. How the heck did it get to that? I have no idea, but I have said several times before that I believe that a lot of racism exists in this country not because of white people, but because of black people finding it where it was not meant to be. Why is it that the NFL has a rule that teams must interview a black coach? Do they honestly believe that every team in the league looks at the coaching candidates and says that they won't hire that guy because of the color of his skin? I don't think so. NFL teams want to win games and so they will take the best candidate available. Don't get me wrong, I know that there are still white people who do see color and it influences them. But I honestly believe that one a whole we don't. But instead we have affirmative action in our nation, because it is believed that it will create equality. Does it? I don't think so. I think it flies in the face of what Martin Luther King, Jr. said. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. Does affirmative action programs judge people on the content of their character or on the color of their skin? And that is why I have a problem with it and why I have a problem with things like what Donovan McNabb said. I believe Donovan set back race relations with his totally idiotic statement. So I end this where I began, "Are YOU color blind?" I am and I hope you are or will attempt to be.

Blind Driver!?!?!?!?!?

I saw this truck in front of me today on my way home! If you need to see it bigger you can click on the picture and it will open up a bigger version of it. I could not believe waht I was seeing, but then I looked further up and saw the whole picture. Isn't it amazing how when we only get part of a story that it can really get us to think things we shouldn't or that aren't true.

New Toy!!!!! :)

I got a new toy on Tuesday! And I am loving it! I got a TiVo box. I can not imagine how I have lived almost thirty-two years without it! This is such a cool device. I have it networked with my home computer so I can play mp3's on it, view pictures and even upload shows to the computer's hard drive. I love how I can pause the TV when the kids bug us during one of our shows. And I do not have to remember to set the VCR to record my shows, because it does it for me automatically! Thank you.....