What is going on?

I have really tried to stay to myself politically. I find that most things people either agree or disagree with based on which party is doing it. You know I was brought up in a Republican household and have voted that way for most of my life. The last president Bush really betrayed my trust and I feel sold out America. He introduced a lot of socialist programs including the bailout of several companies. Now the new president has continued with the bailouts. I just don't understand how our society got to the sports team mentality about everything, "I am not going to vote for them because they have an R after their name, or I'll never vote for a Democrat." I think people long to vote for something not against it. We have (almost all of us) become blinded, it is almost as if nothing matters except that your team wins. I feel this has been a plan for a long time keep them in the Coliseum watching the gladiators while we take more power. People were convinced that George W. Bush was the anti-christ and that he would bring about the end of the world. He didn't but he did take some of MY freedoms in the name of National Security. Now the people on the other side are convinced that Barack Obama is the anti-christ and that he will bring about the end of the world. I don't think that is true, but I noticed that he picked up my freedoms that Bush took and didn't give it back to me, and now they are attempting to take more of MY freedoms. I don't want to have to explain to my child or my grandchildren what it was like when we had freedom or try and explain what was so important that I let my freedom go. I am telling anyone who reads this stop with the partisan bullshit, look at both sides and see there is no difference. Find the people who stand for what you believe. This country was founded on Christian ideals and whether or not you are Christian it is hard to argue against those ideals. Do unto others, do not kill, do not steal, basically be nice to each other and help each other. Take care of yourself and others, and when you need it other will take care of you. It has been said our Constitution is outdated and that it needs to be changed. How can you change something that is so inspired? "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It says creator not God so whomever you worship or however you feel we got here understand that we are endowed with these rights. Life isn't fair, if it was I wouldn't be writing in a blog to my dad, but we ALL need to work TOGETHER to make a brighter future for the future generations. I take a lot of crap because I don't necessarily believe that Global warming is caused by man and CO2 emissions, but that doesn't mean I don't think we should take care of our planet and do what we can to make it better, we have been charged to be stewards of our planet. This may be a bit rambling but I have so much running through my head. I want our country to become the Republic it was intended to be. It is amazing that people don't understand the difference. We entrust OUR power to OUR elected government it is not a majority rule. We have a responsibility to speak out when we feel we are not being heard, and we have a bigger responsibility to DEFEND THE RIGHTS of people who are speaking the opposite of what we believe. I actually enjoyed seeing both sides of the health care bill being represented on Facebook last week, at first it bothered me, but I realized that is the first amendment in its simplest form. I don't want to see people go without care for either reason, but it seems to me the argument missed by not giving a solution. It is easy to criticize, lets actually come up with plans. Capitalism can be evil, Socialism can be evil, AMERICA ISN'T EVIL! Let us use our American ingenuity and fix the problem. Let everyone decide to be intellectually honest and admit when they don't know something. Let us become "United under God indivisible with liberty and justice for ALL." Love ya guy!

A Week Goes By

Very quickly. It is hard to believe it has been an entire week since I last talked to you. Tanis has settled into school and seems to be enjoying it. We are still trying to get our morning routine down, but have the parking lot routine down. He likes to take his lunch, but today was his first purchased lunch so I look forward to talking to him about it. I was doing well working out, but have not for the last 3 days, I don't have any real excuses so I won't try to pass any. We are getting ready for the big sale weekend, but are facing great weather for the WHOLE weekend. We need it to rain one day so people will come in, but I am sure we will do fine. I guess part of the reason I don't update that often is that I really don't do a lot except work, sleep and eat. I was off Monday so after school Tanis and I went to Toys-R-Us to buy some Legos. We went home cooked some sliders built some Legos and sent him to bed. The Tigers are in first place, the Lions won one pre-season game so far and the Spartans start this Saturday. Tanis is playing soccer and seems to like it. Love ya guy!

A New Chapter Begins

Tanis had his first day of kindergarten today. I am not sure how to feel about it. I can tell you for sure that I felt a major chapter in his life ending. I realized this past Tuesday that it was really the last weekday we could spend the whole day together. I had one of those you can never get the time back moments. It caught me while we were at the zoo that our day adventures have been curtailed. I have to take him to school even if I have the day off. We can't just plan a weekday full of fun, it has to be after school. He is my buddy and now I will not have him with me on those days. It makes me feel sad. I am happy for him a whole new world of wonder has opened for him. He has so many new firsts coming. I had a strange experience dropping him off today. He was trying to get out his door but it was locked he was a little irritated as we had practiced him getting out on his own, he got out and I gave him his lunch. "Bye Tanis I love." "I love you too daddy." "Head down this path to those doors." Slam! He closed the door and didn't look back. He didn't need me, he wanted to start his adventure. I was so proud of him because he is so strong and fearless. I was sad because it didn't seem like he needed daddy anymore. I am slowly becoming dad not daddy, my little boy is getting older everyday. With today and the vacation I think I got an even better glimpse at what it was like for you. To us family really does mean everything, but we aren't very good at making them see it. We show love in some of the wrong ways, we focus on making sure we provide for them but I learned sometimes we just need to get down into the dirt and play. Love ya guy!

Finding A Voice

I am having trouble finding my voice. I look up to you and you were never in someones face. I know things drove you crazy but I never saw you lose it and go off 9employees and relatives NOT included). I have really wanted to scream lately, so many things are wrong in this world. I have to be reserved on the sales floor, I have to be reserved with my employees, and I get frustrated talking about it at home (a lot of better things to talk about). Mom and I had a political conversation the other day, but it didn't feel right, and I was concerned about going to far, I look forward to our conversations. I don't know how well we would get along now, but I miss sports and political talk with you. I have no idea how the Spartans are supposed to be (I think most years you just told me about 500). The Browns beat the Lions in a pre-season game, but as I like to point out the Lions were undefeated in pre-season last year and look how that turned out. So in the future I may get a little political with you then again maybe not. Love ya guy!

Bad Year For Golf

Well the golf outing did not happen. The re-scheduled day was shut down for lack of participants, evidently several groups couldn't make it. So I did not golf this year. They claim next year will be bigger and better. I hope so. Love ya guy!

Vacation Debriefing

I had a lot of fun on my vacation. We as a family saw a lot. We packed a whole lot into those days. It was a lot of driving and by the end we were all ready to come home. I had a lot of fun reliving things from my childhood. I remember staying at KOA, and they really haven't changed that much. One had an arcade that had games from when I was a kid. It was fun to explore with Tanis. He likes to look for things and make games out of everything. The one morning we let Kellie sleep in he just played in the dirt. He had a lot of fun even if Kellie didn't approve (to be fair he was barefoot and in his pajamas). For me the fun was seeing my family have fun. It was a lot of driving which does take more out of you then you think. I really wish we could have made the trip without Ditzy but she wasn't that bad and I think it helped her to go. I am glad we went and look forward to another vacation next year, and yes I did slow down and enjoy it. Love ya guy!

Sunday August 9th

We woke up (around 5 a.m.) to an awesome display of thunder and lightning. The power went out for a little bit in the campground and lightning struck fairly close to us. Eventually the storm subsided and we slept a little bit longer and got up. I offered to pay for another day and we could head home on Monday, but Kellie said no she was ready to go home today. I took down the tent while her and Tanis showered. She finished packing the car and we started our trip home. I wanted them to see Sleeping Bear dunes, so we put it into the GPS and were on our way. We finally got there, but it wasn't what I was thinking about, I was thinking of the dunes at Silver Lake. Kellie and Tanis climbed some of the dunes, and then we took the driving tour stopping at several of the viewing points. We had a good time, but I think everyone was ready to go home. So the GPS took us back through Traverse city and then south and east. We made decent time and got home around 8 pm. I picked up the other 2 pugs and we had pizza for dinner. We started on the mountain of laundry and talked a lot about our trip. Love ya guy!