Honesty

Recently, I posted a comment (in rational and polite terms) on a local blog, expressing an opposing opinion to the blog author's, as I sometimes do.

My comment was one of four, out of seventy-plus comments, scribed with attribution (i.e. not by 'anonymous').  As a matter of full disclosure, I have on rare occasions posted anonymously - to avoid riducule from trolls, or sometimes to leave a silly comment, but not to insult or 'flame' other posters.

So I should not have been surprised to see, a few comments after mine, the following: And from the Donald who would know all about incompetent as he is one! Hey, Donald, what exactly have you done lately?

Mind you, about 65 comments followed mine, with the preceding being the only one that referenced me, so I could easily enough write it off as typical chatter from the one of the minions of trolls who frequent that blog. On the other hand, I could take it at face value (not knowing whether this is from someone I know or not).

Exploring the latter option, even if only for the sake of discussion,  I would have to truthfully admit, that, yeah, I've made mistakes in my life.  They weren't given to me by my parents, bad circumstances, mean people, or any other third parties - Whatever they are, I own them.  And I have the responsibility to deal with what can be corrected, and not repeat prior mis-steps.

I suppose the takeaway could be that I shouldn't have used my name with the comment - but that would be the wrong lesson.  The better lesson is that I have a renewed duty to not post anonymously, even on the stupid stuff - if I'm gonna write it, I'll put my name next to it, or not write it at all. 

This week's study lesson was on honesty: with self, with God, with others.  I hope the lesson wasn't lost on me.

Oak Cliff boy done good

From Oak Cliff's W. H. Adamson High School¹, to your blog-host's own NTSU (UNT for y'all newcomers), and then Gomorrah by the Sea (Los Angeles for the uninitiated) and back, here's the man who's keeping Western musical heritage alive.

 

¹ A couple of years ago, I was training a new hire who'd graduated from Adamson (and later, UNT) - he had no idea who Murphey was.  Other notable alumni from WHAHS include Jim Wright '39, MMM and Ray Wylie Hubbard in '63, and B. W. Stevenson '67.

S, G & W?

Every other channel will of course be running Moon River, but here are a couple of other songs I remember from back in the day:



 Ed Ames, Harry Belafonte, and The Brothers Four also did great versions of this, as well.

How about a duet?



Here, Andy sits in for James Taylor to make S&G a trio:

 

Aww, heck, let's go for a quartet - PPM & A, doing Dylan:



 The 21st century will have some pretty big shoes to fill to replace the talent we've lost from the 20th.

Don't bother commenting that The Donald's an old fart - that's a given.  You know it, I know it, the American people know it...

Pride without prejudice

Have you ever met someone who was always right?  Not necessarily obnoxious, but always with an answer, brilliantly reasoned, and reasonably well articulated, for everything?

I'm sure we all have.

A discussion about Pride in a study group I'm in gave rise to the thought: "What would be the effect of years of contact with such a person?"  Would it give rise to resentment, loathing, anger?

I'm not saying I know the answer, but it was an interesting discussion.  Here are some references to Pride.
 
From Scripture: Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice. - Proverbs 13:10  Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. - Proverbs 16:18

Literature: "The essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride.  Unchastity, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea-bites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil.  Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind." - C. S. Lewis

From the King of the Road: It's my belief Pride is the chief cause in the decline in the number of husbands and wives.

Edit: I originally posted a Ringo Starr version of Roger Miller's song which I first became acquainted with through Neil Diamond.  But this version is better, I think. 

And, of course, no S116 blogpost is complete without a Henley reference, where apropos: Pride and competition cannot fill these empty arms.

 True that.

Lover's Cross

Well, the media outlets that normally wouldn't touch a story about faith and Christianity issues with a ten foot pole are all atwitter, nattering about an allegation from some very old papyrus bits, that Jesus had a wife.

While I don't entirely know the motivation here, it's reported that it could be a 'game-changer' with respect to   "women's issues" and the definition of marriage, although I haven't been able to make it through the contortions to follow that logic.

In any case, my faith and belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Redeemer is not conditioned on His marital status.  But these days, many strange things are afoot, so maybe someone will have surreptitiously recorded the Lamb of God, and it will get posted on the YouTube.

And while I don't know, and don't particularly believe that Jesus was married, I do know that the late Jim Croce was:

Rich & Big

Scanning stations today, I heard this for the first time (driving through Boyd, not that it matters) - double checked to see if it was KSCS or KLTY (both are preset on my radio, to the right of KZPS).

Save a soul, say a prayer.

Hello, Fort Worth!

On September 22, 2012, the USS Fort Worth will be commissioned in Galveston.

I guess it was too much trouble to try to get it up the Trinity...

Triumph

...the other Canadian power trio.  Heard this on the radio today.

  This, boys and girls, is rock-n-roll:

 

 Rik Emmett's vocals can go head to head with Geddy Lee's any day, I think.

But, who told him it was OK to wear that, uh, whatever that is?  (Wonder if the Dew has one of those in his wardrobe?)

He Stopped Loving Her Today

But He didn't.

Pastor Brandon says his Twitter poll showed Geo. Jones came in first place with the saddest/most depressing country song ever.  Thankfully, he didn't try to sing much of it...



When the Storm Comes - Loneliness from Keystone Church on Vimeo.

I love a car show

I happened across a car show on the way to Wal-Mart after Church yesterday. Here's a beautiful '61 Coupe Deville:

I always thought of Lycoming as making airplane motors:

Yes, those blinking lights are the charging indicators for the flux capacitor.

The Durango in the background is a Zombie Hunter, with a flamethrower on the roof:

And reverse angle:

Speaking of flamethrowers, check the spark plugs on the pipes of this ultimate rat-rod.  Wonder what that camshaft is out of?

I want this!  From what I could tell, the driver gets in through that little front hatch - since I'm nearing my target weight of 190#, I'm pretty sure I could get in there, but I might bump my head.  Interestingly, this has a gas engine, not diesel.  When it left, the guy's wife rode in the turret to spot for him.

An immaculate classic C-10 Cheyenne engine & bay:

Tim Taylor would drool over this (and so would I):

Not from the car show, but a visit to O'Reilly's earlier in the day:

Whiskey Lullaby

OK, I'll accept that George Jones owns the #1 saddest/most depressing country song of all time.

But this one has got to be first runner-up:



Edit: After I'd posted this, I checked to confirm that that was Ricky Schroeder.  Sure enough, and he also directed the video.  I also learned that he is a member of the NRA, a Republican, and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Canada, eh?

Some lovely work from the late Nicolette Larson, with a little help from Jimmy Fallon Neil Young:

 

From my favorite NY album, Comes A Time - it's the only song not composed by Mr. Young, but by veteran Canadian folksinger Ian Tyson.  Lotta Love is also on the album, ironically one of only two songs (backed instead by Crazy Horse) not featuring Ms. Larson's background vocals - the song became her breakout hit.  Warner/Reprise released Comes a Time the same day as Nicolette.

Wednesday whispers

• I'm sure that a more sophisticated landscaper than I (that's just about anybody) would  probably tell you that the sweet potato¹ vine craze is declasse.  
• Nonetheless, I'm a fan, since you can put a few cuttings in a glass of water, and they'll have inch long roots in just three or four days.  Someone had cut about a dozen or more vines at church over the weekend, which I picked up and brought home.  Tomorrow, they'll be ready for planting.
• Over the weekend, Daughter caught about a half dozen frogs, a half dozen pollywogs, and some minnows - they're now in  the backyard 'pond' - if the perch and goldfish haven't eaten them.
• Golden Rule/Karma update:  As noted in an earlier post, I emailed the man who backed into my car with the cost of the repairs - $73 - today I received a check from "Eddie" for $100.
• He was thankful he didn't have to get an insurance claim, and that he didn't get skinned by the cost - I was grateful that he was honest.  As a man soweth, so shall he reapeth.
• I took some clothes from the washer up to the laundromat to dry - I was about to load my magnetic card with some more money, when the manager came up and handed me a card that a customer had turned back, with $4 remaining on it.  Thanks, Sheri!
• A gay student in Indianapolis sues his school district for expelling him after he fired a 'stun gun' to scare away other students who were harrassing him.
• I found the story kind of interesting.  Being a 2nd Amendment fan, I support the right of people, gay ones included, to be able to protect themselves.  But, schools have pretty well established rules that such is strictly verboten.  Nonetheless, I was sort of sympathetic to his plight, until I read that the guy was wearing his mother's clothes and accessories to class.
• No, I don't think that makes it okay for the kiddo to be bullied, but, c'mon buttercup, I know the hippies in the sixties marched and chanted and whatnot so that you could "do whatcha wanna do", but you really shoulda figured you'd get your butt kicked.
• Heck, dude, I'd like to wear cowboy clothes - no, not jeans and pearl-snap shirts, but Wah-Maker duckins and suspenders and wild rags and such - to work, complete with my Cimarron Thunderer, holster, bandolero, and spurs.  But if I did that, I'd get my butt booted out the door.  (And then, nice men and women in white coats would ask me lots of questions...)
• Hey, why are these walls padded?
• Hate to break it to your tender little heart, but sometimes you do have to conform.  Get used to it.
• In Get Over It, the Eagles sorta summed it up: "I'd like to find your inner child and kick its little a**."
• Stopped by the supermarket after the laundry.  As I was looking at breakfast bars, a sort of non-descript woman in a Dez Bryant jersey walks by and starts talking to me about the granola bars, quite animatedly, and almost right in my face.
• This is more the type thing I would initiate, rather than be the recipient of.
• As she talked, she seemed somehow to morph from average to kinda cute.  Then her daughter, about the same age as mine, came around the corner of the aisle, and I also caught a glimpse of metal on her left hand.
• Darn.
• We ended up checking out at about the same time, across from one another at the self-check stands, where I looked again to make sure - couldn't totally be sure it was a wedding ring - but wasn't going to ask her in front of her daughter.
• At least I won't be kicking myself for not checking, though.

¹ Potatoe, for Dan Quayle fans.

Consequences and redemption

This isn't one of the sermons - it was a video that ran before last week's service.

When the storms of life come, who are you going to call?


Aftermath from Keystone Church on Vimeo.

Sunday Shorts

• After getting the wrong size shoes for Daughter recently, I did better with the bike upgrade:

 

• She's getting used to using the handbrakes.
• About three weeks ago, a guy in a large pickup backed into my car at work, smashing out one of the tail lamp assemblies.
• Fortunately, he was an honest person, and came into our office to find the owner of the car.
• Also fortunately, the damage was limited to the crunched lamp housing, and a slight scratch on the plastic bumper below it.  No metal damage apparent.
• He gave me his insurance information, but asked if I would be OK with him paying for the damage directly, rather than filing a claim.  I agreed that I would check to make sure there wasn't any hidden breakage, and try to work out a solution we could both live with.
• I figured it would be a good opportunity to check out RockAuto.com, which #1 son has been telling me about.
• Son was correct, the delivered price of the TYC (aftermarket mfr.) assembly was about $66.00 - half what AutoZone or O'Reilly showed, for the same manufacturer item.  I also bought a can of touch up paint (that really matched) at AutoZone for about $7.
• All told, the repair cost $73, and I forwarded the information to "Eddie".  He was tickled, responded thanking me for my kindness.  I actually was equally tickled, since the same thing happened to my SUV, also at work, last year, but no one claimed responsibility.
• Call it the Golden Rule, call it Karma if you wish - it's refreshing that there are still honest, responsible people in this jacked up world.  
• Prolific easy-listening/pop lyricist, and Burt Bacharach collaborator, Hal David has died at 91.
• I'll never fall in love again.
• Sure - Promises, promises.
• Saginaw sighting:

• Yeah, it's a Rebel, not enough bike for the open road, but would be fun for tooling around town.

• Yes, that's an eagle graphic on the tank.  For those not knowledgeable about such things, Eagles = very good.
• Auto follies/RockAuto story #2: I had Friday off, took #1 son to lunch (who was kind enough to replace the fuel filter on my car - I thought it required one of those special split collar QD tools to remove the hoses - I have a set, but couldn't find them - but it didn't, just a finger pinch,  - still, it was easier to access and remove the band clamp from the oil change pit than it would've been on my driveway).  Afterward, I asked him to check the car's front suspension on the rack.  Ball joints and tie-rod ends were within spec, but he recommended new struts.
• When I got home, I went to RockAuto, and ordered some Gabriel Ultra XD's that had been private labeled, and were on closeout for half the price of their Monroe equivalents.  My order was time stamped at 3:33p Friday.  As cheap as I am, I just opted for standard delivery. 
• At 5:00p, I got an email that my order had shipped.
• 10:31a on Saturday, I was talking to my neighbors when a FedEx truck arrived, and handed a large box to my Daughter.  I couldn't believe it, but it was my strut order.  Wow.
• #2 son is getting settled in at College Station.  I told him Daughter and I saw a guy at World Market the other night with a Keep College Station Normal shirt (first I'd seen, though I obviously recognized the reference) - he says they're everywhere at A&M.
• The Rev. Sun Yung Moon has died at 92, just a week after Neil Armstrong.  I didn't know any of his songs.