Thursday, October 29, 2009

Again with the Murphy's Law... and other thoughts

Murphy's Law is kicking my tail this week. I got up this morning feeling great; ready to get to work and continue my giant technical implementation... and my jeep doesn't start! So as I'm standing there, in the rain, waiting for my admin assistant to come and pick me up, I couldn't help but laugh and thank God that this is happening now and not next weekend when I'm trying to get to Ronny and to the ranch! Let's hope it's nothing major and that I'll still be laughing when I have to fix it!
On a more somber note, I've been thinking alot about God's timiming and His plan. After several disappointing outcomes in my life, I've grown quite comfortable with the idea that God does have a plan for us and in His time all wonderful things will come to fruition. Keeping this close to my heart and continuing to have faith in this thought is without a doubt, the most comforting thought. It gets me through the hard times with relative ease, knowing that if God brings me to it, he'll bring me through it. The examples in my life may seem relatively unimportant to others, but, for lack of a better term, it's the same concept.
I have always believed that God made that one special man for me, who would love me no matter what, with or without make-up, all of my flaws and eccentricities and when I was 24, I met a guy who fit my perfect "checklist." We'll call him Tom. Tom had everything I had ever wanted in a man. We hit it off immediately and I just knew that this was it. Tom was a Christian, he loved to hunt and fish, he came from a great family and was a driven and hard working individual. What more could I ask for??? Well, after months of a long distance friendship, I was finally going to get to see him again. Upon our reuniting, I quickly realized that no matter what I did, or how hard I tried, Tom wasn't going to feel the same way about me and I was heart broken. I was so mad at God. Why did he allow me to find the one man who restored my faith in men in general and then take him away? Why would He just pull the carpet out from under my feet? The God I knew was not one who intentionally makes His children feel bad.
Now, I look back on that situation with such clarity. I realized that God was just preparing me. You see, before Tom, I had a vile anger and bitterness towards men in general. I had the proverbial open wounds left over from some pretty awful relationships and was in no frame of mind to enter into a full blown relationship. In my opinion at the time, every guy was out for one thing and nothing any of them said was sincere, it was all just a ploy to get you to the bedroom and I was too smart, too beautiful and too independent to fall for that kind of trash. I was convinced that, along with the sanctity of marriage, all good guys had gone by the wayside. But, what God was showing me, through Tom, was that there still were good guys out there. He renewed my belief in love and in a loving and trusting relationship again, a belief that I would have to have whenever I did finally meet "the one." When God gives you a gift, you have to be ready for it and now I know that, with Tom, I wasn't ready for it. All I could think about after that situation was that, as great as Tom was, I couldn't wait to meet the real "one" that God had made for me. If Tom wasn't it, I couldn't phathom the awesomness of the guy that was in store for me! And God was right. Tom could in no way hold a candle anywhere near Ronny in my life! I think Garth Brooks said it best... "Some of God's greatest gift are unanswered prayers."
So, as I continue my stroke of bad luck that has been raining on my parade for the last year or so, I continue to have a positive outlook; trying to keep in mind that no matter how many jobs I apply for and don't get, or how many houses I try to buy that get bought out from under me, or how many neck surgeries or family ailments... All of this is part of God's plan. There is a reason for all of it. Take it from me, who has personally seen God's plan work, what God has planned for us is so much bigger and greater than we can even imagine. If something isn't working out in our favor right now, just be patient.

Think of it like a trffic jam. Next time you're sitting in bumper to bumper traffic (turmoil), think to yourself that God may have you in that traffic to save you from an accident you would've been in if there wasn't any traffic at all.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Murphy's Law

Though Wikipedia may not be right about much, I think they got this one right...

Murphy's law is an adage or epigram that states: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."It is used as either a purely sarcastic musing that things always go wrong, or, less frequently, a reflection of the mathematical law that dictates that, given infinite time, all possible occurrences will eventually take place.

Today begins Phase II of my extremely important technology implementation that I have spearheaded for the Houston region and when I got to work this morning and our servers were down! I absolutely love it! We have had more problems with implementing this project I guess I should just come to expect it. Because of all of this, I'm somewhat in a daze this morning. I don't really care about anything else at this point, other than the fact that we have people here expecting to enter all asset information for the county and they can't. So, we've had lots of doughnuts and coffee and small talk. I'm so glad I decided to buy doughnuts this morning. That might be the best $19.00 I've ever spent. People tend to stay happier and not mind the frustrations as much if there is free food. Maybe the 52% of Americans who disapprove of the Obama Administration would approve if, instead of giving all of our money away to bail-outs, he would just offer every American free food. Just a thought.

With that being said, let's rant... I heard on the radio this morning that in his first nine months of office, Obama had done 10x more fundraising than Bush did in 4 years. Why does the media not report this? He made 5 trips to New Orleans during his campaign making promises and chastizing Bush for not taking care of the people there. In his first nine months in office he has visited New Orleans once and for only four hours because he was on his way to yet another fundraiser in San Fransisco. Where is Kanye West to tell Obama that he doesn't care about black people???? Where is the media to criticize every single move that Obama makes? Granted Bush could've done a better job with Katrina and the people of New Orleans, but alot of the responsibility falls on the state and local government as well. It's kind of hard to enforce laws when the majority of your police officers evacuate. And...just because Obama is black doesn't automatically mean that he's doing better job to fix it. There is such a double standard in the media right now. It's almost as if Obama can do no wrong just because he's the 1st black president!!! I feel like he's the kid that wanted to be the student body president just for the attention, not really realizing that there is work involved in holding such a position. Being the leader of the free world involves alot more than attending fundraisers and playing golf with campaign donators. It's extremely comforting to know that while our soldiers are out there risking their lives for us, while our unemployment rate is soaring, while the dollar is losing value by the second and the nation's "healthcare reform" is in the crapper... our "fearless" leader is setting up tee times. This is just not right to me. I may only be one person, but as long I still have the freedom of speech, I'm going to use it!

More later...

Monday, October 26, 2009

Oh Dreary Monday

Today is such a dreary day, but at the same time, it's been crazy! My power was out this morning and God woke me with thunder, just in time to be late for work. Putting your make-up on by candle light can be quite an experience. There is a fine line there of making myself look presentable without looking like a streetwalker! I think I did okay though. Back before electricity, how did women put their make-up on? Did they even wear make-up? I wish I didn't have to wear make-up. That would be awesome.
So, it's still raining just as hard as it was when I woke up and we are under a Flash Flood Watch. I don't need these added issues. I already have an extremely busy week this week. The last thing I need is for it to flood.
There's not a whole lot to say today, except that I really need to go home for lunch and let the dogs out and I have to teach CERT tonight. Maybe that will uplift my spirits!

More later...

Saturday, October 24, 2009

A Voice (Part I) - Just the Beginning

Over the past several months, I feel like I've been sitting by, idly, while watching our country go to pot. I've often wondered what I could do, as an individual, to make my voice heard and while there is a chance that I may be the only follower of my own blog, I would like to use this blog as a source to air a few feelings now and then.
Before I begin my political rant, I must claim and disclaim a few things so that all readers know where I stand. Please feel free to comment whether you agree or disagree. I'm pretty open to other ideas and points of view. First of all, I do not support President Obama. I'm of the belief that his ideas and his politics are not a benefit to this country. I often feel like he wants more to be a celebrity than the president. With as many photo shoots, promos and interviews that he's done since his inauguration, I find it hard to believe that the serious issues that our country is being crippled by are at the top of his priority list. Oh, and P.S., Just because I don't agree with President Obama does not make me a racist! I am a patriot of this country tried and true. I believe in liberty, freedom and democracy and every single man and woman who has served this country protecting those gifts.
Working in Homeland Security, I've become intimately familiar with the world of terrorism. I had the absolutely unbelievable opportunity to travel to Israel in 2008 on a Homeland Security Mission and it opened my eyes to what Homeland Security should be. The Israelis are an unbelievably resilient people. I guess when you have to fight for everything you have, including your mere existence, you evolve into a society that possesses all of the necesseties for sustainment. We had the opporunity to meet with an extremely interesting man who served the United States in the Special Forces and then gained Israeli citizenship and served in the IDF Special Forces and when we met, he was part of an elite counter terrorism unit. He is definitely a person who's brain I would love to pick. Anyway, he summed it up best when I asked him what we could do here in the states to better train and prepare our citizens to recognize precursors to terrorism so that instead of always reacting, we could instead prevent horrible things like 9/11 from happening. "Unfortunately, he said, the Israeli's have learned from experience. They know what to look for, because they have seen it before." I don't want us to have to meet the same fate. Throughout my stay there, several things stood out to me that definitely benefit their fight against terrorism.
1. They are NOT politically correct and they don't care if they hurt your feelings when it comes to protecting their country. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times... our political corectness is going to be our downfall. We have so many people scared to death to enforce anything because they are afraid of the repercussions. We got to watch a demonstration of Krav Maga, which is an Israeli martial art, and one of the instructors was a guy named Sascha. He couldn't have been but a little over five feet tall and he was the cutest thing. Anyway, he was showing us how they take down suspected terrorists. I was amazed (and a little turned on, I'll admit) to watch Sascha take down another instructor that was twice his size and weight in a matter of seconds. Before he did it he was explaining that this is what they do if they see suspicious people. Me, being the dumb American molded by my political correctness, asked... "Well, what if it ends up that they're not a terrorist?" He shrugged his shoulders and said he guessed he would just apologize!!!! If something like that happened here, it would be all over the news and You Tube and there would be investigations and mandatroy leave and law suits and on and on. It's a shame that this is what our world has come to. I heard a news story a while back where a Muslim Imam (holy leader) was on a plane and during the flight he put down his prayer mat in the aisle and starting praying. I don't know if you have ever heard Muslims pray, but it's out loud and not understandable. So, NATURALLY, people on the plane are extremely uncomfortable and a flight attendant asked the man to stop. He sues the airline for interfering with his prayer. RIDICULOUS! I'm sure it was done on purpose. These are the exact things that terrorists see and will use to exploit us in the future! They know that the majority of law enforcement personnel will not single out men of middle eastern origin because of all the backlash. This country has come TOO far to be paralyzed by this sort of idiocracy!
2. Military service in Israel is mandatory and there is only one branch. Every Israeli citizen must serve in the IDF. Women have to serve at least 2 years and men, 3. I'm sure there are many out there who disagree with that idea, but I'll tell you why I think it would be great. First and foremost, when you serve your country in a military capacity, it instills a patriotism almost instantaneoulsy. We would probably be a lot better off if every man and woman in this country loved it as much as most of our service men and women. Secondly, every person is being trained on the same material, by the same people. What I said earlier about there only being one branch is that the branch is the IDF and under that umbrella, they have a navy, airforce, army and marines, but they all play together because they are all one in the same. They're all on the same team. With that being said, the navy is trained by the same people that the airforce is trained by and so on. With this structure, there is not alot of room for miscommunications and it facilitates cooperation between all military and law enforcement entities because these young people, who later become Mossad and ShenBet and others have already been working together. It's also important to note that with every Israeli having been trained in the IDF, they know enough about terrorism, to be able to prevent it. I'm much more likey to put out a fire, if I've used a fire extinguisher before or something like that.
3. They are not concerned with how much time and money it takes to be secure. Our Texas/Mexico border operations look like a free for all compared to the border crossing we visited on the West Bank. Our Texas/Mexico border operations pretty much are a free for all!!! And by saying that I mean absolutely no disrespect to all the folks who work hard everyday down there. I do have little respect though for all of the people sitting in Washington making all the decisions for people they've never met and places they've never been, nor cared to visit. That's like me trying to tell somebody how to build a rocket. I, like they, should probably leave it to the people who know what they are doing. (Different topic for a different day) Anyway, I can't go into alot of detail about the West Bank border crossing because it's classified, but just know that it would be dang near impossible to walk across that border with anyhting, hidden anywhere. Another thing I thought was interesting is that for every ship and plane coming into the country, the manifests are required ahead of time and background checks are run on pretty much everybody, maybe with the exception of Ben Netanyahu. One of the guys that was on our trip with us is of Irish heritage. He's never been to Ireland in his life. He's a New York cop on the counter terrorism unit and they still questioned him because of the IRA. They're pretty serious, but when you're tired of being burned, I guess it doesn't matter.
One of the biggest things that hit me in the face was that Israeli's don't care as much about responding to a terrorist attack as they do about preventing them. Another thing that I'm intimately familiar with is Homeland Security Grants. You hear it all the time on the news about the billions that are being spent on Homeland Security. I can tell you that the majority of those funds are spent on respone equipment. It's almost as if we've defeated ourselves before the fight. Why aren't we spending all that money on preventative measures other than a dang border fence???? I don't understand it. I understand that Israel is about the size of New Jersey and all of the complexities that would occur in trying to secure the U.S. like that; however, we could at least learn a few lessons from them. Just because we are the big brother doesn't mean that our little brother can't teach us anything.

Oh... when I conquer the world!!!!

GLORIOUS DAY

What a GLORIOUS Saturday. The weather is perfect and so is my mood. Ronny was really great about doing laundry when he lived here so I'm having to adjust since he's left. I think I'm on load number 7! When I conquer the world, if I can't afford to hire somebody to do all my laundry, I will definitely hire someone to fold my clothes! I HATE folding clothes!
Two of my neighbors are having a garage sale today and our street has been so busy! My neighbors across the street have out a bunch of baby stuff and it's pink no less. The weird thing is that her youngest child is a six year old boy! I don't understand, but then again, I guess I don't have to!
Well, I've got a lot of work today to close out this fabulous day! Thank you God for this wonderful weather and please let it be like this for opening weekend!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Early Christmas Card

I have decided to jump aboard the blogging wagon. I guess this would be a great place to catch everybody up on what's going on in my world these days. I'm not sure where to begin since the last time I've talked to people probably differs. But for those who I haven't seen or talked to in eons.... I'm living in Montgomery, Texas and I serve the great citizens of Montgomery County as the Homeland Security Planning Coordinator. I'm hoping for a promotion soon, but I have painfully learned while working for government not to hold your breath for anything! I'll definitely post an update as soon as that happens. For those of you who have had the esteemed pleasure of meeting Leya and/or Butch, they are still with me. Leya is still as spry as ever, jumping the fence and politicing with all the other dogs in the neighborhood as soon as I leave the house!!! I think she's probably the dog mayor of Lake Conroe Forest. Butch's personality gets funnier by the day. For the longest time I tried to teach him to speak and he never would and now for some reason he barks at me everytime I go outside! Be careful what you wish for! I can see the age in both their eyes and it makes me kind of sad, but I'm going to love them as much as possible every day that I still have them. They've been toted around with me so much over the past years. They deserve some kind of Puppy Life Achievement Award!


After an extremely long wait and many prayers, God has led me to the one man I cannot live without. Most of you have probably met Ronny if you've seen me in the last three years! I'd never had a boyfired longer than about 8 months and Ronny and I have now been together for 3 whole years. Hopefully, we will be getting married sometime soon and I cannot wait!! Ronny moved here to live with me last year but is now deployed with the Texas Military Forces. He is working in an intelligence center for border operations in Del Rio! He is so far away, but we both have the inherent need to serve and this was a great opportunity for him.



The Scheels are doing okay for the most part, though it seems we have been plagued with injury lately. In mid-August I started having severe pain in the back of my neck and found out that I had a herniated disk putting pressure on my spinal cord and that it would have to be removed. So I had surgery in September and was out of work for about a month. Mom and Dad took turns coming to see me and Ronny was excellent!!! I'm back to normal and feel great. After the surgery the doctor told us that he's glad the surgery happened when it did because I was on the verge of losing mobility in my arms and legs!!! God is great.




My brother was burnt pretty badly while trying to light a brush pile. Every country kid should know that you use diesel to burn, but for whatever reason he used gasoline and he paid for it. He is doing well though. His legs are covered in 2nd degree burns but they shouldn't scar and everyone else is okay. God is great! Lastly, my mother has been having shoulder pains for a while now and discovered that she has a partial tear in her rotater cuff. She will be having surgery on November 11th. Let's hope God will be as great!




In the meantime, we are all excited for the Annual Schooney Opening Weekend. Schooney is Scheel and Mooney together. This year it will be at our ranch in Rocksprings. It is such a relaxing and rejuvinating time with family. It's just what I need right now!!!




Other than that I've been toying with the idea of moving back home. But I'm torn right now, soeverybody pray for clarity for me.




That about wraps up my "Christmas Card" opening blog.