Playing with our son... every day we fall more in love with him! Concerts, education, music, skateboarding and snowboarding and now i've taken up celtic dancing.
past friends, new people (preferably friendly), my future children, jackie chan, five iron frenzy and the person who invented guard rails (i would like to thank him/her).and down below is my half a minute skate clip (a work in progress that i'll probably never end up finishing)
five iron frenzy, the ataris,killers, from autumn to ashes, rise against, staind, the fray, oldies and eighties music...
the fifth element, resident evil(s), underworld(s), tim burton & jim henson films... Nicole, of course, likes chick flicks such as Troy, Tristan & Isolde, The Patriot and Gone In 60 Seconds...
Dinner GuestLong before I was born, my dad met a stranger who was new to our small town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer, and soon invited him to live with our family.As I grew up I never questioned why he was there. The stranger was our storyteller. He could weave the most fascinating tales. Adventures, mysteries, and comedies were daily conversations. He could hold our whole family spell-bound for hours each evening.If I wanted to know about politics, history, or science, he knew it all. The pictures he could draw were so lifelike, that I would often laugh or cry as I watched and listened.He was like a friend to the whole family. He took us to our first Major League ball game.The stranger was an incessant talker. Dad didn’t seem to mind, but sometimes Mom would quietly get up while the rest of us were enthralled with one of his stories of faraway places. She’d go to her room and pray, I suppose.You see, my Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but this stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our house- not from us, our friends, or adults. Our longtime visitor, however, used occasional four letter words that burned my ears and made Dad squirm. To my knowledge the stranger was never confronted.Even though my dad didn’t approve of alcohol, the stranger felt like we needed exposure and enlightened us to other ways of life. He offered us beer almost every day.He made cigarettes look tasty; He talked freely about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing.The stranger began to discuss personal issues and ailments without regard to the tender ears that might be listening or the fact that it was at mealtime- some of the topics caused Mom to leave the table.As I look back, I believe it was by the grace of God that the stranger did not influence us more. Time after time he opposed the values of my parents. Yet he was seldom rebuked and never asked to leave.Many years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He is not nearly as intriguing to my Dad as he was in those early years. But if you & I were to walk into my parent’s den today, you would see him standing prominently in the center of the main wall, waiting for someone to listen to him talk.He never told us his name- we always used his initials: T.V.
In this absorbing tale, you watch the timeless principles of servant leadership unfold through the story of John Daily, a businessman whose outwardly successful life is spiraling out of control. He is failing miserably in each of his leadership roles as boss, husband, father, and coach. To get his life back on track, he reluctantly attends a weeklong leadership retreat at a remote Benedictine monastery.To John's surprise, the monk leading the seminar is a former business executive and Wall Street legend. Taking John under his wing, the monk guides him to a realization that is simple yet profound: The true foundation of leadership is not power, but authority, which is built upon relationships, love, service, and sacrifice.
God/Jesus (he loves you), Our son... What a blessing he is, he makes eveyday worth living... and guard rails (long story)