Life Updates

So, this past winter Lia and I decided that I would apply to Owen Graduate School of Business at Vanderbilt University to see if we could accelerate our life plan by a year.

Well…

They said "Yes!"

I said "Wow!"

They said "When will you accept?"

I said "How about right now?"

They said "Good, cus we can't wait!"

Then I asked them for some merit aid...

And they said "Yes!"

I'm officially going to be a Double Dore (trust me, it's a thing.)  Considering that leaving Nashville was not an option in my book, it is an incredible blessing that it all worked out.  If they had rejected me or not come through with a scholarship, the plan was to eliminate the MBA from my life plan and move forward accordingly.  Instead, the business nerd in me could not be more excited to spend 22 months learning how to be awesome at everything. 

Going back to school will also give me another chance to figure out what I want to do with my life.  My problem is not that I don't have any ideas, but rather than I have a plethora of ideas and can't decide between them.  I have the standard real estate mogul and king of the world occupations showing some strong competition, but I wouldn't count out the Doodle breeder or stay-at-home dad options quite yet.

Whatever path the Lord sends me down in 2 years, I could not be more excited to begin my temporary retirement this fall.  Less travel, less work, less hopeless clients…  more wife time, more doodle, more hunting, more intramural sports, more Thursday night kegs, more Fridays off.  

Yes.... in fact, winning does feel great.  Go Dores.

My Best Friend Got Married and The Doodle Loves Spring!

Since Sean has been carrying this blog for quite awhile now I figure it is time for me to get involved again! So here goes nothing...

Since moving to Nashville a little over a year ago from Sunny South Florida I have gained a new appreciation for seasons. South Florida has two seasons...warm and beautiful in the winter and monsoons and hot in the summer. You don't get excited about the seasons down there...they just kind of happen. So after a longish winter this year in Nashville with a few (mild) snow days I have been anticipating Spring!

This past Friday I had the day off and it was absolutely beautiful outside and I found myself so stinking excited about it. My best girl Pippa and I set out on a walk. We had no destination in mind, no distance we were trying to cover, no tasks we were aiming to complete...just a leisurely jaunt through our hood. We had the best time! We met tons of doggie friends (doodles included), Pippa let a number of toddlers pet her and pull her tail and as usual we answered many people's questions about Pippa (she gets a lot of attention and loves every second of it). On our way home we stopped at the pet store and she got some water and some local organic treats (she is rotten!).

We found ourselves in Sevier park and just sat and enjoyed the sunshine. 

 Taking in the sights...

Watching a little boy and his dad throw a ball (I wouldn't let her chase it).

Terrible picture but I found it amusing that she sat with me on our front porch swing for 15 minutes after we got back. Who says she isn't a child?

 Worn out from our long walk!

I hope that our family will always appreciate each season and get outside to enjoy them! 

As Sean mentioned a few posts ago we were in Texas for Meghan and Nick's wedding wedding in mid March. They really know how to plan/put on a wedding! It was the best. I don't think my blog post will be able to give it justice at all so I'll just point everyone to the photographer's blog when she blogs about their wedding. I'll just post a few pictures that I had on my phone. 

Before we went to the Hill Country for the actual wedding I was at Meghan's house in Houston hanging out/bachelorette party/snuggling my niece Willow!

The wedding venue was INSANE! I literally felt like we were inside a pinterest pin. It was picturesque with the blue bonnets in full bloom, awesome decorations throughout the whole ranch, lights and chandeliers hanging from the trees etc. I can't wait to see all of the pictures! 

It definitely had a Texas, rustic theme...look at this huge bowl of antlers. Pippa's eyes would have been bugging out of her head if she had been there. 

We joke that Meghan and I are soul mates (I even mentioned in my MOH speech) but I'm pretty sure Meghan gets me more than anyone in this world. We both are insanely awkward, clumsy and spastic. We both love dogs and babies more than is probably healthy and we both drive our husbands insane (in the most endearing way possible). I was so honored to be a part of this wedding and it made my heart SO happy to stand next to Meghan while she and Nick committed themselves to each other forever.

Meghan (isn't she absolutely gorgeous??) and I before we got dressed. She got all of the bridesmaids and her mom & MIL these beautiful robes. I love them!

So that is my very brief recap of the Texas Wedding! I'll try and stop in more frequently to blog about the insanely exciting aspects of my life like walks with Pippa (HA!). 

The Lukewarm Dilemma

Warning - this post is serious and not funny at all.  Our community group has been reading Francis Chan's Crazy Love and it got me to thinking... a lot... and we all know how dangerous that can be.  It is the most I have actually thought about something in a while so I thought I would write out some of my conclusions/thoughts for my own sake in the future and possibly for other's benefit.

Here is what stumped me and got me going:  pretty much every Christian I know is what would be considered by Chan's book to be "lukewarm."  The bad news is that being lukewarm is the worst possible thing you can be.  The worse news is that not being lukewarm is exceedingly difficult given our current culture.  It raised this question: In 21st century America where essentially everybody is filthy rich on a global scale, is anyone actually able to conquer the materialism and selfishness to the point of truly giving it all to God?  Is our faith really authentic or are we emotional Christians who may not actually be saved? Ahhhh!  Big questions!!!

My genuine fear is that I am not willing to give up all of my possessions for my faith.  Sure, if I don't really think about it much I can happily say in front of others that everything I have is for Him.  When it gets down to brass tacks though, I'm still not absolutely sure whether I would give up my lovely wife, snugly doodle or comfortable lifestyle to answer a call.  I'm worried that my materialistic lifestyle will forever prevent me from moving out of the lukewarm classification.  I worry that as long as I have a nice house, reliable car and eat good food I will forever be putting things before God.  I also wonder whether a lukewarm Christian is actually saved since they are not bearing any fruit.. a question for another day.

The first solution that popped into my head was to sell absolutely everything, give it all away and then live in a tent and spend all of my efforts and time focusing on God.  This was honestly a non-starter for me, since I really do love almost everything about my current life.  This answer appeared to be straight forward though; give up the idea of money and material possessions and become a modern day hippie minus the promiscuity, drugs, goofy vans and meaningless protests.  That way everything I had could be devoted to God... but then I realized, I wouldn't be doing the world any favors by singing in the woods all the time.  I would also be required to devote some time and energy to providing food and shelter for myself...

Which then got me thinking.  Back in the olden days, that was the way that people lived.  They essentially lived in the middle of the woods, and most of their time and energy was devoted to planting crops, herding animals and building shelter.  Excess was very clear.  You couldn't store food forever, so whatever you weren't going to eat should be given to the poor.  If someone wondered onto your land in need of shelter, you shared your home or stables with them.  Needs were cut and dry, as was surplus.

The major breakthrough I had was that this was just a very simplistic economic model.  You essentially were an isolated micro-economy.  You produced all of your own goods, therefore money was not necessary.  In modern terms, I spend my time consulting CFO's on pharmaceutical billing strategies for money, and in return pay a farmer for food and contractors for shelter.  This allows us to specialize our skills and generate value far more efficiently.  This efficiency in production is in-and-of-itself a good thing.  The problem is that money is a lot easier to store up (read: hoard) and starts to become the end itself.  I think the former model still applies though:  use money to purchase the things you need without being gluttonous or prideful in those purchases, and then give the rest away or put it towards His Kingdom in some way.

My new mentality is that just like the Lord would grant people large harvests so that they could share their bounty, he is today granting pretty much everyone in America incredible resources with which they can share with others.  The key is that we have to know our means and live within them.  I sometimes get on the treadmill of "Can someone justify buying a million dollar house? Well, what about a half a million dollar house?  Well, what if it is only $200k?"  In reality, these are all such enormous sums of money on a global scale that it is just silly to think about it.  What right does someone who spent $100k on a house have to judge someone who spent $1 mil on a house?  Are we sure that according to God's table of appropriate home values, the correct value for your zip code in 2013 is $100k?  Also, why do you need a $100k house when there are $50k homes available?  This logic will make you crazy and I don't think its a productive debate within the church.

The key to this decision is more so that you have to justify everything you do to God when he returns or calls you home.  If you have the resources and can justify spending a million on a home, then go for it, I personally won't judge you one bit.  Solomon and David lived in magnificent palaces and God didn't seem to mind.  In fact, I believe those can legitimately be considered blessings from God.  Keep in mind how much was asked of these men, though.  They were not allowed to just sit on their wealth, but they had to rule an entire people through good times and bad.  

I think the idea is that we should all be seeking God in our decision making and living well within our means so that there is a great excess to help others with.  You also have to look at your heart attitude through all of this.  What is your motivation in purchasing that house?  Once again, it is impossible for a man to judge another man's heart, but God most certainly will in the end.  Be very, very, very, very aware of how pride and greed can play into these decisions, and seek to battle those vices in every way possible.

Through all of this, I have come to the conclusion that you can have extensive possessions and be a committed Christ follower, but you must always realize that those possessions are gifts from Him and you should look to God for how to allocate the gifts you are given.  If he gives you much, just understand that there is a good chance that much will be required from you.  Also, an initial thought that did not change through all of this is that I don't think the willingness to give it all up is negotiable.  If you truly believe that everything came from Him to begin with and everything belongs to Him, then you are just a steward of those resources and have no right to withhold anything from Him anyway.  This is something that I think needs to be a part of every Christian's prayers, because I know that I personally can't easily cut ties with my materialistic and possessive ways, but I also know that grace can overcome those flaws so long as I truly believe that they are flaws and I repent of them and seek to battle them in my daily life.  That's a heck of a lot tougher than it sounds though.

Anyway, sorry to bore you all but I had really been struggling with all of this recently and wanted to write it all out to help think it through.  I hope that this is a reminder for me for years to come that everything I have, great or small, comes from Him and belongs to Him and therefore he should be consulted and considered first in its use.  I believe that is the only way to conquer our materialistic culture and get past one of the biggest causes of lukewarm Christians.  On the bright side, there is definitely hope... and it still involves indoor plumbing and air conditioning!

Special People, Special Place

Special People in a Special Place

This weekend I had the pleasure of flying down to the Lone Star State to attend Lia’s best friend’s wedding… Congrats to Meghan and Nick!  Lia and I have both come to terms with the fact that Meghan is actually Lia’s soul mate, so she was down in Tejas all week doing Matron-of-Honor stuff (that title makes her sound old, doesn’t it?)  The wedding took place on a ranch about an hour of so outside of Austin, and it was pretty spectacular.  We had incredible weather, the venue was awesome and everyone was in a jolly ole mood. 

Here is a picture with Lia's parents from the wedding..  I’ll let Lia post more about the wedding if she wants, since that is more her specialty.

What I really want to focus on is the fact that I have finally found a city that can legitimately rival Nashville for awesomeness.  For the last few years I have been flying all over the country and critiquing each city I stay in.  I typically find some nice attributes of each city, but then there are a number of glaring issues that just ruin everything.  Austin may very well have some issues that I am unaware of, but the number of positive attributes is just insane. 

#1 The Parks

Austin has multiple pristine lakes, some absolutely beautiful parks and some really cool greenways.. all right in the middle of the city.  They make incredible use of their water features by surrounding Town Lake on one side with Downtown and numerous picturesque parks on the other shore.  This creates beautiful views when you are Downtown looking across the water, and also beautiful cityscapes while you are in the parks. 

There are also tons of parks, and all of them are well manicured and very accessible… they were also quite full considering it was during business hours on a Monday and it was 40 degrees out.  Austin has that Nashville “does anyone here actually work?” vibe going for it as well.  Nashville could learn a lesson or two when looking at the far side of the Cumberland.

#2 Soooo Dog Friendly

The wedding photographer mentioned that Austin is the most friendly dog city in the country, and I completely believe it.  There is an island that is dedicated to dogs.  No, I’m not kidding.  It has some fields, a bunch of running trails, some woods trails, and tons of ponds and creeks for the dogs to play in.  There were also lots of dogs running around in the normal parks, and they even have a running path along Town Lake that is leash-free and has plenty of spots for the dogs to jump in the water.  I have never seen so many happy dogs in my life.  Nashville should be ashamed at how much our dog parks suck comparatively. 

#3 Downtown

The Downtown is really nice.. it has 6^th street for the drunks, the state capitol for the liars, tons of live music for the blind , and it is all very walkable for those without a driver’s license.  It is one of the coolest state capitols I have ever been to, and it was PACKED with people.  I didn't believe how many people were reading the monument placards, having picnics on the green or sitting and reading by a fountain.  University of Texas is also right near downtown, which contributes to a younger hipper vibe.  I didn't really pay much attention to the mass transit because it was easy enough to park for free everywhere we wanted to go and most of the downtown area is walkable.

#4 Geography

Austin is also blessed with great topography.  The rolling hills and "Mt" Bonnell create some incredible vistas and provide some really neat locations where people have built some beautiful houses.  There is also plenty of water that the folks in the city use on a regular basis, including recreational Lake Travis nearby.  Austin is also pretty far south, so as long as you are friends with the sun, the weather is pretty decent most of the year.  I would say that being located in Texas was a huge plus too, but unfortunately Texas is full of Texans.

#5 Of Course, the Food

 

As most of you know, I like to eat.  Lia and I were only in Austin for two days, but that was plenty of time to convince us that they excelled at making people very happy and very large.   We enjoyed some ridiculous donuts at Gordoughs (very reminiscent of Voodoo in Portland) and later had some amazing Mexican food at Habanero's in the South Congress area.  There is a huge food truck culture, and everything we tasted was reasonably priced and very good.  I'm excited to go back and try more restaurants out.

That's all I've got for now, but I'll leave you with this: If you love Nashville, you will definitely enjoy a trip to Austin.

Surviving the Frozen Tundra

So one of the only 4 disadvantages of living in Nashville is the snow.  Not the fact that it snows, but really the insanity that ensues when a little white powder hits the ground.  Not only does the city shut down, but the seedier elements of the Davidson family are brought to light...

  

 While most people simply hide in their basements when extreme weather like an inch of snow comes through, other evil Nashvillians decide to take to the streets... and it isn't pretty.  Tornadoes are substantially less destructive than a Nashville driver out on snowy streets.  Still other Nashvillians see it as an opportunity...

Above we see what appears to be a little lady having some trouble adjusting to the snow.  She was not a big fan of getting her little footsies wet, or at least that is what she wanted me to think.

The skepticism regarding the cold white stuff on the ground is clear on the doodle's face.  Lucky for her, snow never lasts more than a day or two on the ground here.  If you look more closely, however, you can see the deception on her face.  What doodle hates the cold?  Half of her body mass is snugly fur that makes her hot and bothered all spring/summer/fall.  She is pretending to hate the cold because she wants to hide the fact that she is plotting something.. something quite sinister.

 

 I'm not sure how this plays into her plan, but being super snugly while distracting me from my work may be part of her plan to destroy my earning potential and weaken my position as the head of the household.  As Lia regularly reminds me, her comfort is the most important thing in the world, so I tolerate the intrusiveness, but I'm living on high alert now...

 

She also seems to think that just because I travel a bunch, that means that I have forfeited my right to my side of the bed.  Although she may sleep there more often than I do, she needs to remember that she more closely resembles a blanket than a person sleeping under one. I have seen no clearer sign that she is trying to replace me as the head of the Davidson home.

I was warned that winter was coming... and we all know that winter is Pippa's strong season.  Despite the warning, I could have never prepared for the aggressiveness with which the doodle has staged her coup.  Snow may look pretty and clean as it falls to the ground, but it is only a temporary distraction from the civil war that is raging inside the Davidson home.  

The doodle and I are at war, and only one of us can come out on the other side of this conflict as the one that Lia loves the most.  I'll admit the cards are stacked against me, but Pippa has never fought an enemy like me before.  I did not start this war.. but I plan on ending it.

Kangaroos are Slow

Most people who know us know that we love animals more than people, especially when the animals are snugly.  It is no surprise then that we chose to participate in the Zoo Run Run, a 5k put on by the Nashville Zoo.

Here is Lia and myself posing with Twigga the Giraffe.  You can tell it is before the race, because I am still standing.

We all know that Lia secretly aspires to become a donkey one day, but since a donkey was not available to play with, Lia decided to become friends with a miniature horse instead.  Also, look carefully at this picture and see how many zebra print items of clothing you can find. It is only a tad bit disturbing.

The Champ is here!  Champ is the mascot for Monroe Carrell Jr. Childrens Hospital at Vanderbilt.  Go Dores!

The run was exceptionally fun, especially considering that running is really just socially acceptable torture.  They had free food, juice and beer after the race and we got a ton of sweet swag such as band aids, small towels and t-shirts.  The actual race went right through the middle of the zoo, so we got to hop next to kangaroos, wave back at elephants, growl at tigers and the adults even got to peek behind the bamboo at the breeding area for giant ant eaters (just kidding.. they wouldn't let me.)

This was an exciting day for me for a couple reasons.  The first is that I've never run an organized race before.  For most of my life I haven't felt the need to work really hard to end up where I started. Now that Lia has suddenly become a super hardcore runner, I've felt the need to show my acceptance of her condition by getting my toes wet with an easy race.  I believe my husbandly obligations have been met in full, so I have permanently returned to the couch.

The second and probably more significant reason that Saturday was such a big day for me is because with the completion of that 5k, I accomplished my final short term goal.  I set a ton of goals for myself to measure my progress towards being awesome, and running a 5k in 30 minutes was my last remaining item before I rolled on to stage 2 of Plan Perfect.

In the interest of full disclosure, I technically ran it in 31:14, but that doesn't account for the rotation of the earth and the fact that we had to run by super awesome animal exhibits, which was actually really distracting.  I kid you not, Lia would point and yell whenever we ran by something cool.  The adults were annoyed by her antics, but the children and myself appreciated the heads up.  I would have run right by the lynx if it wasn't for her yelling and pointing... and if I missed the lynx, why even go?

So I am going to go ahead and count this run as a win.. so I've run a 5k in a moderately competitive time for a non-runner, I've created my own company and brought it to profitability, and I've gotten a good score on the GMAT (standardized test for business school.)  Now I am on to my next three goals, which are getting a Masters in Business Administration, buying a house (for us, not another investment property), and finally being skinny enough to look like I belong next to my super hot wife.  It'll be a few years before any of those are possible.

Now I know at least half of you are asking... WHAT ABOUT THE DOODLE?  The answer there is that the doodle is not a goal, but rather a tool that the Lord has provided us to keep up our cheer and good spirits as we work hard to build a better life.  As long as we have Pippa, adversity does not stand a chance.

Now that I've got a rhythm going with these posts, I'm going to start reaching back in time to provide some updates on the past.  I think next week I'll cover Christmas with my family.  Here is a teaser pic to show you why you don't wanna miss it...

Misguided Efforts

So I can't seem to look anywhere in the news these days without seeing something relating to gun control.  I realize that the knee jerk reaction of Sandy Hook is to try to "do something," but it is beginning to look like that "something" might be a very misguided and dangerous elimination of our rights.  Most of you know where I stand on guns - I'm for 'em - but I also want to make sure you understand why.  I've decided to just lay out all of my thoughts that have led me to my conclusion.

Owning guns is a right guaranteed us by the Second Amendment, not to hunt, not to shoot recreationally, not to protect our families from bad people, but to give us as individuals the power and ability to withstand and fight against tyranny.  Americans who cannot imagine a revolution tend to be incredibly arrogant and poor students of history.  The human experience is defined by those in power becoming increasingly more corrupt until they are straight up mean and nasty to those under their authority, and then big wars break out which reset the game and you start again with a new soon-to-be-corrupted authority figure taking power.

That being said, in order to give consent and therefore power to this Republic, we must also be able to withdraw consent.  In order to maintain a credible threat of withdrawing consent, the American people must maintain the ability to stand up for themselves as an individual and a collective unit, and the right to bear arms is essential to maintaining that capability.

While I will admit that America is making a good run of things over the past 150 years (time since the last revolution,) it is foolish to think that "things are different now" than they have been for the past thousands of years.  Go talk to someone who lost their shirt investing in the tech bubble about how stupid a statement that is.  Things can fall apart quickly, and don't give up your rights easily today out of a perception that they are no longer necessary.  Men fought and died for those rights for a reason.. and probably a dang good one.

Something that I keep seeing people do is mixing mass shootings in with your everyday gangland gun crime.  In my mind, these are two completely different issues.  Gun crime on the streets cannot be further regulated, it can only be better enforced.  It is already illegal for felons to own guns, and it is also illegal to shoot other people because you don't like them.  That doesn't stop the crime, seeing as criminals are defined by their lack of adherence to the laws.  The proposed solution is to further regulate the law abiding citizens in hopes that one day... what?  There are so many guns out there, and guns have no discernible shelf life if maintained properly, so the idea of drying up the supply is just pretty foolish and would require legal residents to run out of guns literally centuries before the bad guys do.

Fixing gun crime through regulating law abiding citizens is a non-starter.  Look at Chicago for example.  Incredibly tough gun laws seem to be working out great for them.

As for mass killings, those are so much more complex and troubling than merely someone getting a hold of a gun.  These are mental health tragedies that happen all over the world and manifest themselves in so many different ways.  From mass stabbings in China to suicide bombers in the Middle East, when people want to hurt others, they find a way.  There needs to be much more of a focus on helping those who have those twisted thoughts and feelings, rather than simply trying to make guns, explosives and knives not exist anymore.

As terrible as these shootings have been, they are individual and isolated incidents within a country that is almost the size of Europe.  With a population of more than 300 million, there are always going to be exceptions.  It is tragic when there is an exception that harms a lot of innocent people, but you need to be very careful when you use a sample size of 4 or 5 people to develop policy that will impact hundreds of millions of law abiding citizens. 

I know that correcting our culture to be more inclusive and supportive of everyone is a much more difficult task, but really that is how you are going to stop angry, lonely people from ever reaching the point of lashing out.  Hopefully we don't use gun control as a pat on the back or check box so that we can feel like we've done a good and noble thing before we go back to living our self absorbed lives and pretending the real problems in this country don't exist.

The next thing I want to hit on is all the talk I hear about "Assault Weapons."  This is when people show how little they know about the guns they are trying to regulate.  So what makes an Assault Weapon more dangerous than a hunting weapon?  Is it the fact that it is black?  Is it because it has an adjustable stock?  Made of synthetic materials that are more corrosion resistant? Maybe it is the pistol grip?  Anyway, fully-automatic military style weapons are already illegal.  What is available on the civilian market is a basic semi-automatic rifle that is unlucky enough to look cool/menacing, depending on whether or not you like action movies  Those scary looking guns are identical in all functional measures to all of the non-scary looking ones.  They fire one good old fashion bullet each time you pull the trigger.

When we begin regulating purely based on cosmetics, a Pandora's box is opened legislatively that could very easily lead to a greater and greater restriction of our freedoms.  When something as arbitrary as adjustable stocks is used as a criteria to ban weapons, it opens the door for more and more types of weapons to be banned based on any little feature that is deemed too militaristic, such as having a barrel or a trigger... since military weapons all seem to have those too.

The single most terrifying part of the current bill is requiring legal gun owners to register their weapons, and I'll tell you why.  Before the government can take away all the guns, they need to find them.  No criminal is going to register their guns, so please tell me what purpose this will serve from a crime prevention perspective?  It may also seem far fetched now, but things change quickly.  Look at the world we lived in 60 years ago, and tell me that you could not imagine a gun confiscation within the next 60?  Forcing registration completely eliminates the purpose of the 2nd Amendment as described above.  It would also serve to make criminals out of a huge population of otherwise law abiding citizens, as I can promise you that entire states would refuse to comply with that kind of totalitarian ploy.

Strangely enough, I actually did not have any problem with Obama's executive actions.  I think some of them were actually great and will help, and I don't feel like my 2nd Amendment rights were violated at all.  Feinstein, however, is terrifying.  The law she is proposing would be the end of gun rights as we know them for law abiding citizens, and would not do a single thing to curb gun crime in this country.

I'll leave you with a few thoughts, with my hope being that we will think this through and not let emotion guide policy that impacts hundreds of millions of people and generations to come.

- Criminals will continue to not obey gun laws, regardless of how many more we add to the already very long list.  It would only penalize lawful citizens.
- "Assault Weapons" are no more lethal or dangerous than any other semi-automatic gun
- The 2nd Amendment is there to protect your ability to defend this great nation from any threats, regardless of where those threats originate.  Side-by-side shotguns aren't that great for this purpose.
- Murder rates are on a significant decline in the US, in both real and relative terms (except for Chi-town, of course)
- Read some international news outlets for a few days.  Guns are not the only way to carry out violent acts of terror or insanity.

Perspective

To start things off, blog posts will be shorter and less edited going forward.  When I try too hard to make every post epic, I end up never having time to write them and the product is no posts at all.

So that is how I want to start this post, with the fact that I am insanely busy and never have time to sit down and write out the many thoughts flying through my head.  I know that most people would rather be busy than bored, but when being busy only allows you to sleep 4 or 5 hours a night, being busy gets old very quickly.  Blame it on my southern tendencies or my desire to take on 1,000 new hobbies, but I have personally always viewed being busy as a bad thing.  Then today my pastor challenged me to try to see God more in my everyday life, and to make sure that I view trials from the correct perspective: with an attitude of gratitude.

My pastor, Pete, told a story today about how we all complain about traffic caused by road construction, but rarely are people grateful that we have such smooth and safe roads to travel on.  This review of perspective struck me, since I tend to be a very critical and not overly joyous person.  I always blame it on the fact that I'm a trained consultant, and that I spend 50 or 60 hours a week trying to find broken things that I can fix.  I've come to realize that is a cop out.

What I am struggling with now is the idea of being busy.  I hate it.  I want flexibility to do the things I want to do, I want to sleep in and spend hours playing with my dog in the middle of the day, but alas, my three jobs don't allow too much time.  Up until now I have viewed all of these jobs as burdens, but my goal now is to see these opportunities as the blessings that they are.  I have been blessed with not only a great full time job that allows me to provide for my family, but also the opportunity to build two businesses on the side with awesome people that allows me to pursue my passions in the long term.

Now anyone who has started a business knows what I am talking about.  It is a terrible endeavor for the rookie entrepreneur.  There is so much paperwork and so many regulations that normal people have never heard of, and you spend so much time doing non-value added work that it is easy to lose sight of the goal.  Changing my perspective to enjoy those tedious tasks seems like a fools errand, until I put it into a much broader perspective.  Not only am I blessed to have the intellectual and financial resources to start my own business, but I also am blessed to live in a country that allows me to own that business.  I am also blessed to live in an economy that, while seemingly eternally sluggish, still is able to reward hard work and good ideas.  There are millions of people who would do anything to be able to start a business doing what they love, and something tells me that they would not complain much about all the paper work, taxes and fees along the way.

My goal is to try to have a bit of a broader perspective on things before I complain in the future, so that I am able to see just how blessed I am.  And the fact that I feel like I am one of the most blessed people on earth is bound to make this that much more interesting of a task.  More to come on how awesome our life is, but feel free to read back in time to get an idea.

Tennesseeification

So, the process is now complete.  I am officially a Tennessean.

This post may be disturbing to those of you who never figured out that the hamburger in your mouth used to be a cow.  If you think killing animals is wrong, you should stop reading now and continue eating your soy hot dogs and tofu chicken wings.

For those of you still here, I successfully completed my first hunting trip!  One of my new Tennessee buddy's (Darren) has some land about an hour outside of Nashville.  Last Saturday I was invited to head out there for the opening of Dove season.  Please mind you, these are Mourning Doves, not the white doves that are released when I walk into the room.

Darren's family was awesome.  Really nice folks, and his dad made the single best grilled bologna sandwich I had ever had (sorry, Mema!).  Don't think Oscar Meyer bologna because this was a different "meat" entirely, although I had my fair share of good ole' Oscar as well growing up as a poor child in Mississippi.  I did not grow up in Mississippi.

So anyway, dove hunting is quite possibly what I was made to do.  Here is the idea.  Get a whole bunch of people who like each other, go find a field in the middle of nowhere, sit in lawn chairs around said field, and proceed to eat, drink and socialize.  Eventually, a dove is going to fly over the field, at which point you pause your sentence, stand up, shoot that dove, and then sit down and continue discussing the tragic divergence that Keynesian Economics has taken from intelligent and/or rational thought.  You would think there was more to it, but there really isn't.  Some folks wore camo, others wore jeans, one crack shot 10 year old girl was in a pink t-shirt.

My first time out.. let's say I was less than a crack shot.  These birds are the size of your hand and flying pretty dang fast.  After you've taken into account the rotation of the earth and the relative humidity, it becomes a relatively difficult shot.  I went through a few more than 50 shells and had 3 confirmed hits.  I also participated in quite a few artillery rounds, where 8 people shot at once, so I will claim credit for all of those as well.

Thanks to the generosity of some old men who were watching me from across the field, I came home with 16 dove!  Not a bad haul for a first timer..

Here is where the story gets good.  There really is no reason to shoot an animal unless you intend to eat it or unless it is really, really ugly.  Since doves aren't THAT ugly, we decided to eat them.  My friend Matt, Lia and myself proceeded to clean the doves and marinate them in vinaigrette dressing.

Yesterday, we went ahead and stuffed them with jalapenos, wrapped them in bacon, and cooked them on the grill.  They were surprisingly amazing, considering neither Lia or myself had any experience with preparing and cooking dove.  Below is a picture of the two different batches of dove wraps.  I am always nervous that I am going to under cook meat and kill everyone I love, so I intentionally burn the first few so I can start to see what they are supposed to look like.  Staggering the batches works wonders toward this aim.

When all was said in done, we got to share our dove wraps with a bunch of people and the opinion was resoundingly positive.  Maybe I can get used to this local organic food after all!

 

Your Pitbull

From time to time, life finds a way to well.. not go our way.  For example, my previous land lord is attempting to not return my deposit.  I've got the law on my side and I did everything right, but anyone who has ever had to deal with the legal system knows that it is completely impossible for normal people to work with.

This is where my dad comes in.  He gets even more worked up than I do about this attempted theft.  He also happens to know the options for legal recourse better than I do and has some connections that will help move this along.  That is why I've assigned him to be my pitbull.

Everyone has a pitbull in their life.  Think about it for a minute.. got a person in mind? Great!  Do you have a parent, aunt, uncle or family friend who is particularly good at getting things done?  They may even be a bit abrasive, but that is why you love them.  They are frequently heard saying things like "You're an idiot.  Let me speak with your supervisor" and "That's not good enough.  You can do better."

These people are the ones you roll your eyes at constantly at Thanksgiving Dinner, but when the system is beating you down, they are the person you turn to to fight back for you.  A powerful force of rage and impatience, that when correctly harnessed, can cut through any bureaucratic bull crap and deliver results.

On this Mother's Day, be sure to tell your mom that she is awesome... but also give a shout out to your pitbull.  If it wasn't for them, you would probably still be paying full price for your cable.

A Well Rounded Weekend

If the title doesn't make sense, reference my previous post where I discuss how I am awesome now because I am married.  In this post, you get an update of both the Vanderbilt Football team as well as some of the more exciting moments from Puppy playtime.

Despite my serious disagreements with Vanderbilt's current administration, I am still a die hard Vandy sports fan.  The spring football scrimmage was on Saturday so my new friend Law and I decided to scout out the team and see how our prospects look for next season.  We were very pleasantly surprised by how many people were there!

My verdict is as follows.. D-line looked good, but the defense as a whole seemed a tad bit misguided without Marve calling shots.  There were a couple severely blown coverages throughout the game, but the DB's looked pretty dang good when playing man-to-man. Overall, the defense should be able to keep us in the game as they always have.  

O-line looked a little soft, and certain receivers need a stern talking to about the amount of effort that is expected out of them to make a catch.  Stacy didn't really get the opportunity to do very much, but Franklin warned of that ahead of time.  I think we are going to be light on offensive star power this year, but it is Vanderbilt, so stars have to be created and not recruited, so I am optimistic a young guy will step up.

As always, James Franklin is the man.  It is so great to see someone who honestly believes in Vanderbilt Football but is willing to admit the reality of the situation.  Previous coaches thought we could just "run the ball" at teams like Alabama, Auburn, Florida and LSU.  The fans quickly realized that when the other team is bigger, faster and stronger, it is pretty hard to score touchdowns using 1960's tactics.  Franklin acknowledges that we have players with much less obvious talent and he plays a more intelligent game, trying to outsmart the other team.  It is finally exciting to watch Vandy play!  Keep up the good work Frankling, and Go Dores!

In true Vandy fashion, the scrimmage was ended by an incredibly over-the-top and excessive fireworks show, that I enjoyed much more now that I don't have to pay for it anymore.

Moving on to exciting puppy news - we found Pippa's baby twin!

Her name is Stella and she is patiently watching in the background as a random at puppy playtime pets Pippa.

Tell me her and Pippa don't have the exact same coat?  Stella will end up being a little smaller than Pippa, but for now she is just a great reminder of what a smaller Pippa looked like.

Lia also found a puppy that looks exactly like Lia's second favorite dog in the world, Willow.  I'm sure you all know about Willow by now.  If you haven't had the pleasure of reading about Willow yet, check out random lia dog post #739.  Or really, any of Lia's posts will do.

For those who like to see puppy playtime in action, I've included a video of Pippa playing with her friend Kota. Kota is a ridgeback and was bred to hunt lions in Africa.  Pippa wasn't phased by the tough pedigree at all.

We have also found a church that we like! More to come on that.

The Cost of Success

As many of you know, Lia and I aspire to be rich people.  We hope that one day we will look back at things like college debt  and budgets and chuckle heartily, rambling on about how bad things were back when we used to buy frozen chicken in bulk at Costco.  This is not our sole intention in life, but let's just say that we hope for, and are actively working toward, a point where finances are not an issue.  I think most Americans are in the same boat.  We all have different levels of ambition, but I believe most people would love to live a comfortable life where all of their needs are met and most of their wants are taken care of as well.

This is why I find the recent rhetoric so disturbing.  When Americans who earn very high incomes are singled out and targeted as somehow being evil or deserving of different treatment, I get a tingly feeling running up and down my spine, and not in a disco boogie kind of way.  Why are we allowed to so openly discriminate against a very small minority that has essentially only committed the crime of being more successful than us?  I think it is fair to say that I am not in the 1% in terms of income or net worth, so why am I so troubled by this movement? 

I'll tell you why… because it sets a precedent that minorities in this country can be ridiculed, persecuted and even legislatively discriminated against  so long as a majority of Americans are ok with it.  Fairness has nothing to do with those who have the ability to pay more being forced at gunpoint to pay more.  If you think that the gunpoint part is being dramatic, don't pay your taxes and see if a fancy little IRS agent with a gun doesn't show up at your door.  Fairness implies that everyone is treated the same, regardless of their differences.  It wouldn't be fair to make your smarter child do your dumber child's homework just because they are smarter.  Both children should do their own homework as it is assigned.  It also wouldn't be fair for one child to do all the chores just because they are better at scrubbing toilets.  The work should be split equally between all parties.  If you continually reward good work with more work and even hostility, you will quickly watch your high performers rejoin the herd.  Fairness means blindfolding yourself and treating everyone equally. Period.

The true issue with the tax structure is not that the top few people are not doing their fair share, but actually that the overwhelming majority of people are not doing anything at all.  I understand that we need to help the needy among us, but come on folks.  When more than half of the country is claiming to be the needy, it is time to take a step back and redefine what being "needy" means.  Most of the needy in this country own multiple cars, have cable television and eat at Chilis way too often.  There are those that are truly struggling and need help, but a vast majority of them are just taking advantage of a broken system.  If anyone would like to argue about whether 150 million people are starving to death, I would be happy to entertain that conversation for about 30 seconds.

More than half of the fine residents of this super cool nation do not pay any federal income tax at all.  Their votes, however, count exactly the same as the dude who is paying millions in taxes.  This is a bit terrifying, since what incentive does someone who doesn’t pay taxes have to curtail spending?  When you walk into a restaurant and you know you are expensing the dinner to your company or client, are you going to order a sandwich or the prime rib?  Economists refer to this as a third party payer system.  Individuals become very price insensitive when they cannot personify the other individual who is picking up the tab.  

People who don't pay any taxes at all now have enough votes to effectively govern those who do pay taxes.  The system is designed to where the poor masses make the laws, but they have to maintain respect and appreciation for the wealthy.  Aristotle saw all of this coming thousands of years ago when he wrote down a few fun things that have proven quite wise.  I've taken some quotes from the Stoa Consortium below (A bunch of professors who cater to people like me who are too lazy to go buy the paperback.)

"democracy...when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers."

"To endure, a democracy, like an oligarchy, needs both the rich and the poor. A democracy that destroys the well-off becomes unstable. Where the people have authority over the laws, demagogues tear the city in two by fighting with the rich."

" In democracies, the rich should be spared and not have their property or their incomes redivided [for distribution to the poor]. They should also be prohibited from spending money on expensive but useless sponsorships of public occasions such as leading choral groups for musical and dramatic festivals or officiating at torch races, even if they want to pay for such sponsorships."

Pippa has taken over my life & other truths

Sean has totally been rocking at this blogging thing and I am so pumped about that because otherwise this blog would have a total of one update this whole year. Sad.

I've been a little MIA recently because being a mommy is  time consuming! Pippa is sooo cute so all I want to do is go explore our neighborhood with her on walks or snuggle her on the couch. My life productivity has really taken a hit. I'm okay with that...I'll never get these puppy months back (I do realize that I sound like a nut and that she is just a dog).

A picture montage of the cutest puppy in the world. Yes, she has a big head. She actually gets personally offended when someone on the street doesn't stop to pet her. "Do you know how cute I am??" Amen sista.

Can you handle that? I can't.

I also want to grumble a bit about how it was 44 degrees this morning here in Nashville and about how I  am sitting in my flannel pj's and a down puffy jacket on my couch because I refuse to turn the heat on in April. Hmph.

I'm gonna go iron now (aka snuggle my puppy). Maybe I'll have something else to blog about one day...don't count on it though.

Mid-Week Crisis

Lia and I have a fun relationship.  I allow her to all-but-ignore my incessant rambling about the future of the world and the role I intend to play in that future, and in return she allows me to incessantly ramble about the future of the world and the role I intend to play in that future.  It works out well because I am able to voice my opinion and see how it sounds out loud, and Lia is allowed to maintain her sanity while continuing to read her mommy blogs.  Once in a blue moon, however, Lia decides to speak up and obliterate my illusion that I have everything figured out.

Let's take my future career choices as an example.  For a number of reasons, I have narrowed my options down to three reasonable expectations for where I want to be in 20 years.  The three roles I have chosen for myself are Governor of Tennessee (or Florida, I'm not picky, but I do love living in Nashville), Major Real Estate Developer (emphasizing in urban renewal and mixed-income mixed-use communities), or Entrepreneur Philanthropist Business Tycoon (likely through a Private Equity or Venture Capital endeavor.)  While I believe all three of these to be quite realistic if I set my mind to it, I had never completely thought through the repercussions some of these choices may have on my personal life.

Lia may have just thought that three prospects was too many, but regardless of her motivations, she recently decided to eliminate one of those options with extreme prejudice.  She set her sights on the Governor role, which I would have to assume is because it is the least lucrative of the three fields and Lia is acquiring quite a taste for expensive puppy toys and doodle accessories.  Either way, Lia forced me to come to terms with what that role would mean.

I think that I would love the problem solving and leadership aspects of being a politician.  You get to apply your intelligence and power on a daily basis to figure out how to manipulate those around you into acting in the way that you perceive to be in their best interests.  You also get unlimited amounts of other people's money to do it and lots of loyal folks with guns to make sure no one legitimately questions what you are doing.  Sounds like a dream job, doesn't it?

But then Lia gets into the lifestyle.  I like people a lot.  I love hearing people's stories and I relish discussing topics with people who really know what they are talking about.  I do not, however, see myself enjoying constant random social functions where I am required to pander to specific groups' interests while pretending to like terrible people and act interested in topics that I find insanely boring.  I also tend to speak my mind, which isn't regarded very highly in a world where everything you say can be used against you and honesty is synonymous with weakness.  I may also struggle with political correctness from time to time, so I could only imagine how often I would make the front page with insensitive comments about how unions are inherently selfish institutions that spit on the consumer and trample the interests of the rest of society while pushing their own agendas forward.

Upon further consideration, I also wouldn't like the job itself very much.  I believe in acting intelligently as much as possible, and the current political system makes that all but impossible.  While I would prefer to start from scratch and use the finest ingredients to make Lia's delicious cinnamon rolls, politics tends toward requiring people to take a spoonful of sugar and somehow make a bucket of dirt palatable enough to not incite the people watching reality TV to leave their couches and revolt.  Most of my solutions to problems require admitting that the current systems have fundamental flaws that are beyond the band-aid approach and should just be scrapped and rebuilt from the ground up.  The reality is people love the illusion of change, but they actually hate change when it happens.  That makes green-field system design all but impossible within the current political environment.  Trust me, if people loved change as much as you thought they did back in 2008, I would be out of a job.  Since they don't, band-aid approaches branded as changes/improvements/reforms will have to suffice.

This leads me to one of the many observation's I have made that will help you understand my world view:  Generally speaking, people are confused about who they are and what they actually want.  The example above shows how I am just as guilty as the next person.  Lia was able to poke holes in that one illusion I had created for myself, but Lord knows how many others I am nurturing right now.

I think that this principle has significant implications in that it implies that most people make calculated decisions that we will later refer to as "mistakes."  One example for me is moving to Sunny Isles Beach.  The place looked awesome and appeared to cater to the lifestyle that I thought I wanted.  It turned out that the people there were slimy and the location, while being close to things I thought I cared about, was actually quite far from my true priorities.  We have luckily fixed that mistake by relocating to Nashville and placing ourselves in the middle of all of our friends and restaurants we can actually afford to eat at.  Luckily that mistake only cost us 72,000 happiness units and a year of our lives.

Marriage and children being two obvious exceptions to this next statement, I do believe that people grow out of this lack of understanding as long as they are allowed to make those mistakes.  Imagine if I had coincidentally moved to the perfect location after college and did not realize what I valued in living location until after I had bought a house in the wrong neighborhood?  I am glad that I had the opportunity to make that mistake while being a young renter and still able to correct it. I think it is hard to watch, but you really do have to let people fail in order for them to learn something from their experiences.  As a caring spectator, it is your job to make sure that the person does not cause irreparable harm and then you must also be there to help them recover after the failure.

The exceptions, as mentioned above, are decisions that are permanent in nature or mistakes you only get to make once.  Think about how much worst it is for people who pick the wrong career, or god forbid, the wrong spouse.  This is one of the reasons that I am a big advocate of pre-engagement interrogation.  Lia and I planned out our entire lives before we got engaged, not because we actually thought the plan was going to come true, but rather because we wanted to see whether we were on the same page in terms of our hopes and dreams.  We were close enough to where I didn't feel the need to go back to the market.  This communication seems like common sense, but I am continually amazed at how many people make the second biggest decision of their lives without taking the time to discuss basic things such as how many kids they want to have or their philosophies on managing family finances.

The governor story above is a great example of how listening to a unique perspective and just talking it through honestly can help a person to realize something is a bad decision before they have to go through the pain of actually making the mistake for themselves.  If you are insightful enough to truly analyze a situation objectively, then you deserve to miss out on the pain of a few big mistakes.  Imagine if I had taken a political job in hopes of accomplishing a dream that would have actually been disastrous for my long-term happiness? I would have wasted years of my life and not moved myself any closer to accomplishing what would actually have made me happy.  It is possible that I would have enjoyed the entry level job for a while, but chances are I would have realized my mistake sooner or later.

Sorry that this post turned out to be so heavy.  I don't want to make you question every decision you have made in life, and please keep in mind that I am far more contemplative than the average bear and plan a lot, and I mean a lot, more than you do.  To make sure that I do not feel personally responsible for any major life changes that could occur due to you reading this, I have included the sole message that I would like for you all to take away from this story:  It is a great thing for me that Lia isn't very good at ignoring my rants.

The Case for Local Government

So I got into a discussion last night with one of my buddies and it was a very, very enlightening conversation.  Being that it is tax season and a lot of my self-employed friends are having to write gigantic checks to Uncle Sam, taxes have been a hot topic on a lot of people's minds.  When I say taxes, I am referring to Federal Income Tax.  Please disregard Social Security and Medicare Tax (Payroll Tax), State Income Tax, State Sales Tax, Local Sales Tax, Capital Gains Tax, Property Tax, Estate Tax, Enterprise Tax, Federal Corporate Income Tax, State Corporate Income Tax, Local Corporate Income Tax, Business Origination Fees, Tariffs and Duties, Gift Tax, Drivers License Registration Fees, Court Filing Fees, Parking Meters, Toll Roads, Security Taxes (Airlines), Bus Fares, Sin Taxes (Cigs, Alcohol, Gasoline), Museum Admission Fees, Water and Sewage Bills, and Stamps.  Please forgive me if I forgot to mention any and obviously those taxes vary wildly depending on where you live and what you do each day.

None of those taxes seems particularly bad by itself, but the people who are smart/dumb enough to add them all up before calculating their effective tax rate are the ones walking around with a frown every spring.  I'm not here to demonize and attack a minority in America (the 1% who we all secretly wish we could be) or talk about taxes being too high (in fact, I think certain taxes are actually too low).  I am here to show to you all how truly convoluted our tax structure is and hopefully point out some fun facts about taxation that influence my thinking.

The key point that jumped out at me was how much bigger Federal Income Tax is than all of the other taxes.  If we take a quick look at a typical case for a moderately successful married couple's largest tax burdens they look like this:
Federal Income Tax: $25,000
Federal Social Security and Medicare Tax: $7,000
State and Local Sales Tax: $3,500
Local Property Tax: $3,000

Now why is this shocking enough for me to take time to write a post about?  Because think about which level of government actually provides you with tangible benefits.  When people defend taxation, they immediately go to the big 3:  Safety, Roads and Schools.  My safety is provided to me by the local police and fire departments.  The roads I typically drive on are county roads, although I occasionally use state and federal highways.  I don't yet have children that attend schools, but appreciate that parents get babysitting provided for their kids for 15 years. I am myself a product of public babysitting (no offense to people trying to change that, but you are the one's who best understand what I mean.)

What do those three things have in common?  They are locally funded!  Your Property Taxes and Local Sales Taxes are paying for the public schools in your area, the fire stations in your neighborhood and that cop driving down your street.  They are also paying for those beautiful streets and sidewalks as well as that huge brick library that you rent kindle books from.  Oh yeh, those measly funds are also expected to cover parks, courts, the airport, public golf courses (yay!), emergency management, gigantic convention centers that no one really wants, and of course, those lovely buses that are always going somewhere.

If you take a step back and think about it, your local dollars go a long way.  Some of it good, some of it bad, but you can generally see where the money being spent is in some way, shape or form making your city more livable for at least some portion of it's residents.  You benefit from living in a more developed and awesome city.

When you move to the state level, things get a little more fuzzy.  Your State Sales Taxes and the number of point-of-service taxes help pay for some obvious services:  state highways, drivers licenses, state troopers, state parks, state courts and public colleges.  The state also starts to get into some of the more re-distributive spending.  That is spending that is in no way ever intended to benefit you at all.  These expenditures include Medicaid, Children's Services and Unemployment Benefits.  There are scenarios where people you know may need those services, but taxes wouldn't really be on their mind if they did.  A number of those re-distributive services are assisted through Federal block grants.

If you have read this far and have finally made it to the Federal level, you are going to need 7 lawyers and a crazy straw to be able to tie most things back to you individually.  I can't possibly list all of the things the Feds are doing, but that is because no one in Congress can either.  Let's hit the 5 biggest expenditures:
Medicare and Medicaid: 21%
Social Security: 20%
Defense: 20%
Safety Nets: 13%
Veterans Benefits: 7%

Those 5 cost centers account for 81% of the $3.6 trillion federal budget.  Every one of those is a nationwide safety net in case you are unable to care for yourself, except for Defense and Vet benefits, which accounts for about a trillion dollars spent every year to ensure the Canadians don't try to take Detroit from us.  I'm not arguing about whether or not safety nets are good or bad, I'm just saying that independent people don't use them.

I think the facts here point to one clear principle:  Local Taxes benefit the entire community while Federal Taxes can be considered a combination of charity and paranoia.  So why are federal tax receipts four times larger than all local taxes for the entire country? That's what I wonder.  If you read through all of this, you are braver than most and hopefully a better informed voter for it!

My Confession

As I sit on the back deck and watch my dog dig up the grass that i spent hours planting last week, I can't help but think that I would have drop kicked one of my dogs had they misbehaved that badly growing up.  Now all I can think about is how cute she looks as she destroys my hard work.  Does my dog have some kind of magical powers that allow her to manipulate me, or is it true what all the single men in the world have been saying for centuries?

Marriage makes you soft.

At first glance I cant help but believe they are right.  I have a puppy that I enjoy playing with and refuse to beat mercilessly, I lose bets and have to become a vegetarian for days at a time.. and I'm starting not to mind it, I find myself glancing up more often at shows about married couples that have 20 kids (I will not succumb to the wedding dress shows, those are just pathetic), and I am less confused than I used to be when my wife brings me home new clothes that I wasn't expecting.

The thought even crossed my mind that my hypothetical kids would enjoy Mule Day down in Columbia.  Lia loves to spend time with her own kind!

What has happened to the callous Sean that liked to watch movies where people got blown to bits and then discuss how unrealistic deaths were in movies as compared to actual war footage?  Or the Sean that would hunt Bull Frogs at night with a flashlight and a pellet gun?

I'll tell you what: that Sean is still alive and well.  Although my tolerance for gore has definitely diminished since college, I still enjoy watching violence on a large TV.  I also still enjoy shooting guns... but now I feel the need to say "safely" shooting guns at "non-human" targets.  I also think that I could win a beef jerky eating contest and I still believe that when you need them to, a good dog should be willing to bite someone for you.  I would also gladly take on any challengers for any sport.  I would be happy to play a game of football with anyone of any size, and I am incredibly happy when I am sweating like crazy on a Saturday afternoon while digging old fence posts out of the ground with a spade.  I haven't really lost my edge as a guy at all.. so what is going on?

P.S. - Here is our backyard right now.  I am very proud of it.  If I don't post a follow up picture in about a month, that pride has turned to shame.

I think I've finally come to the truth of the matter.  Marriage doesn't make you soft, it just makes you well rounded.  Now before everyone gets to hollerin' and flinging feces at me, please let me explain myself.  I am no less of a man than I was when I first met my wife.  You can ask anyone who knows me, I have a detailed zombie/apocalypse survival plan, I watch too many sports and violent TV shows, I love to go sleep in a "cabin" without water or electricity, and I still do all the things I did before I got married.  I am actually playing the best golf of my life and my scotch collection is in a great place.

The difference between me and the average single guy that frequents bars on Tuesday nights is that I have branched out beyond the stereotypical male knowledge base and skill set.  I know how to hold a baby and I know that desperate housewives is on Sunday nights.  That doesn't mean I have to ask to hold people's babies or watch that show, but it doesn't make me any less cool to know those things.

I also think that my dog is incredibly cute at this stage in her life.  Just replace the word cute with something cooler, let's say... awesome.  If you don't think that my dog is awesome, then you clearly haven't met her.

Vegetables are still gross and will always be, but you can always justify being healthy by saying it is a man's duty to be there for his family and protect them, and I can't do either of those things if I'm 500 pounds or dead.

Now that I have completely rationalized this weird situation that my life has transformed into,  it is time to get to my honey-do list for the day.  Hopefully I can get done before the Grey's Anatomy marathon this afternoon!!!