The Robertson Reviews

On a weekly basis I am going to try my hand in the reviewing business. This is not really a professional opinion in which you should trust, just my feelings on books, music, and food. I'll try to do one of each each week. I love books of every sort, music is a definite passion of mine, and food is the one thing I really know. So here goes.

Restaurant of the week: Red Robin
We ate at the RR in Jenks a week or two ago and were pleasantly surprised. The kids meals were reasonable including the healthy drink which for a dude with 4 kids is nice, and the adults menu had plenty of choices as well. Known for it's burgers they were dinner plates on the menu as well as a nice selection of appetizers and deserts. When my food came I was pleased I ordered a bacon cheeseburger with a fried egg on the top. The guy who came up with that menu selection is a very wise man indeed. There were draw backs, the $12.00 price tag for the burger was a little steep, and the service left some to be desired. When you drop a 50 dollar bill on burgers you want great service, we didn't get it. All in all great food, good atmosphere but the price is tough to swallow. 3 stars.

Album of the week: What life would be like - Big Daddy Weave
These guys a fun, not the soul stirring lyrics of Casting Crowns or Chris Rice - not the great music/vocals of Third Day, but if your driving with the kids just wanting to sing loud and bob your head BDW is my favorite. The 1st two songs on this album are the calling cards You found Me, and What Life Would Be Like. The chorus of You found Me is as follows:

When I saw a flash of light and I heard the sound

Of a voice like thunder shake the ground

it was the first time I remember ever feeling my heart beet

And the arms the gripped me felt like grace

And I realized in their embrace

To be held so tight I've never felt so free

Also known as the day that you found me

This is the only 5 star song on my iPod but the whole album is worth a listen. Overall 4 stars.

Book of the week: The Shack

The much acclaimed book that tries to rationalize why bad things happen to good people or even innocent children as well as explain the Trinity and their relationship to one another in a fictional form. For a popular book maybe the worst I have ever read. The story was sad but fairly gripping until a quarter of the way through the book we met poorly developed characters who a portraying the Trinity and from there on out it is almost completely dialogue. The topics are some that have been tackled in some of the stoutest Biblical Theology or Systematic Theology books ever written. In A fictional medium! On top of all that I have a hard time picturing God as a large black woman. I don't want to be overly critical, I am obviously not that bright and no writer for sure, I just felt the author grasped at to much in this genre. I do appreciate what he tried to do, and agreed with many of his points of doctrine ( not all mind you), but he lost me in all the dialogue with little or no action mingled in. Sorry 2 stars is the best I can do. RLR

DNC speech

Let me say a few things to start: 1. This will not be a comprehensive post covering the entire range of thoughts I have on this topic. 2. Barak Obama is a fantastic public speaker, if he looses the election then he has a future as a Pentecostal preacher. 3. I will not say SHUT YOUR STUPID FACE in this post, I put it in my last one as a joke, but evidently (according to my wife that is offensive and not funny)it was not a good joke.
After I listened to the speech a few things stuck out to me, mostly Mr. Obama's propensity to tell us what he was going to do. By and large the tone of the speech was two fold, the Republicans and the rich guys are out to hold you down, and if I'm president everything will be wonderful for everybody (except for Republicans and rich guys) all the time. Every child will go to Harvard and every poor family will suddenly be overwhelmed with all their opportunities, industry will be booming because guys with good ideas can own their own businesses and were all going to be lovey dovey in this world of change. I know what he is going to do, he told me last night, I never heard how he was going to do that. He is going to reduce our dependence on middle eastern oil, and create a 150 billion dollar industry for more efficient vehicles - How? The majority of our oil comes from Canada and Mexico anyway, I don' care much about the 30 % we import from the Middle East what about the other 70%. (see he did not say foreign oil, he said middle eastern oil)yet all this is going to be done without drilling in the shelf, or in the Alaskan tundra, or building new refineries. These are all measures he opposes. The other problem is why would a self respecting car company care about a 150 billion dollar industry to build more fuel efficient cars when they make 3 or 4 times that selling the gas guzzling behemoths they make now. They make them, we buy them, and we pay the gas prices all the while complaining, but as long as the the general public accepts it then it will continue. The problem is a little more complex as throwing 150 billion at it and hoping it goes away.
According to Mr. Obama lower and middle class citizens need tax breaks and none of them can afford college. He is going to fix all that, we are not sure how, but trust him he will. I've been poor before so I can speak from experience, you don't pay taxes if your poor - as a matter of fact I got several thousand extra back every year that went above and beyond what I paid in for the year. Until I recently jumped a tax bracket or two I had never paid a red cent into the federal system that I did not get triple back at the end of the year. As to college my wife is currently enrolled in the nursing program at the local community college, we never pay a dime. I make over 50,000 annually, I won't say how much over but it is more than that and there are enough grants available for her that with out ever taking out a student loan she gets her classes, books, and tuition paid for and some back besides. What more do we need really, someone to come to your house in the morning and get you dressed for class. Maybe the government should provide you with an entire wardrobe so you can wear the most fashionable clothes while you attend class. If you are poor you never pay federal income tax, and you can get paid to go to college the how are you going to cut taxes and make college more realistic for low income families than it already is.
I realize this is long and I am rambling but it is my blog and I am frustrated by the political process. Let me conclude with this point, Republicans primarily believe in a trickle down effect, take care of the higher income individuals ( the ones who own businesses and create jobs) and the Democrats at least preach a foundational doctrine of help these teaming Masses yearning to breath free with as much aid and assistance as possible to build a strong country. Although both ideas have merit in some ways there is one major flaw in the democratic plan. Generally low income families like it just fine where they are. Sure they want more money but there is no motivation there to take one of the many avenues already available to go get it. What makes us believe adding new avenues to better yourself will help. We can all agree that moving up the food chain is hard, it takes work, effort, and drive. We go back to school or work the overtime, we hone our skills in our free time or learn added skills to move up the ladder. Most people are just not willing to do that. I'll close with a little illustration, My partner and I had to go to North Tulsa to pick up a service TV. It was an old style 65 inch JVC bigscreen ( in urban pronunciation that is said behsreen) and it was heavy. An older lady answered the door and showed us in to where the set was, the wheels had been damaged so we were going to have to carry it the whole way. Since it weighed about 400 pounds (not an exaggeration) she tried to get her 20 something year old son and his three cohorts to help. I was the middle of the day they could not help because they were drinking 40's out of brown paper sacks and playing the game ( that is the urban description for Madden). We carried the hulking pile of junk all the way to the truck while those lazy bums sat there drinking and playing video games while their aging mother tried to help. She complained about their lack of desire to get a job or an education. This is not a problem that politics can fix, it will take an entire change of culture that may never come. I realize you say that this is the exception not the rule, but go to an urban area, check out the low income sections, see whats really going on and if the traits to move up the food chain we described above are exhibited in these places and get back with me. We don't need a government that is going to give away more free stuff or give a bunch of money to already rich people so they can pull the poor out of the gutter. We need a culture change back to core values and hard work. Accountability to all, and if you don't work you don't eat, but if you sincerely need help we take care of our own. This will never happen and I feel like those sailors who traveled with Paul when the great storm came upon them "all hope we should be saved was taken away". RLR

A Personal Message from Christ

I need to open with a disclaimer: Although I am a minister I have chosen not to write very many religious posts simply because the few people who read this blog all differ in opinion concerning matters of religion. I decided that friendship was more important that trying to be right, so I have been as non controversial as I feel is possible for me. This is a religious post, but I feel one that will not push any ones buttons in a negative way so read, enjoy, and comment if you like, but if you find something to argue about - SHUT YOUR STUPID FACE! Just kidding, have fun!

I was preaching this Sunday, and my aim was to cover doubt. I wanted to cover it on an individual basis, not collective doubt, or the way an entire movement seemingly gravitates away from previous beliefs and into a whole new arena. I have witnessed collective doubt before, have experienced it, but it is vastly different than the completely alone feeling of doubting all by your lonesome.
For my text I chose John the Baptist, in the Palace dungeon for nearly a year, isolated from what he felt his true calling was, and wondering that if Jesus was who he said he was then couldn't he break him out of jail fairly easily. I won't give you the entire sermon for a few reasons, but namely because you probably don't care to hear it, my outline was as follows 1. John was a man of Divine Privilege, 2. John was in a place where Doubt prevailed, 3. Christ then make a Dramatic Proclamation.
What I find interesting about the story is that a time of individual doubt that John had about his ministry and the choices he has made (which I experience on a regular basis) Jesus responds with an individual reply. "Go and shew John again", I love that, because all the sermons and beatitudes in the world don't do a lot of good when you are in this condition. Where did I go wrong? Has my life been wasted to this point? Should I have done things differently? All questions that John was asking, all are answered in the sufficiency of Christ. I am thankful for a collective response to our collective needs, the needs of the masses, but I also enjoy those personal messages I have received in my life that tell of the sufficiency of Christ. RLR

Richard the Isolationist

The definition of isolationism is as follows: the policy or doctrine of isolating one's country from the affairs of other nations by declining to enter into alliances, foreign economic commitments, international agreements, etc., seeking to devote the entire efforts of one's country to its own advancement and remain at peace by avoiding foreign entanglements and responsibilities.

America generally adhered to such practices predating WWI, but the clash of super powers drew us into the conflict and forever changed the scope of foreign affairs in our country. There were negative results that are directly linked to our isolationist practices, I am well aware of that, but I believe the gains far outweigh the losses. Before anyone cries out that "isolationism brought on the great depression" we have to admit that their were many factors that went into one of the darkest periods in US history, not simply our policy of seclusion.

Also understand I am not talking about Libertarian Isolationism that calls for uninhibited free trade. I want a 1000 foot high wall built around our country to keep them out and us in. If we can't build it, grow it, raise it, or invent it then we don't need it. I know there will be draw backs (Like how will we meet the rice demands), and we may have to make sacrifices, but to be honest I would rather drink homemade sassafras tea from a pottery bowl then deal with the countries of Eurasia. This is not a rant just because China is kicking our collective behinds in the Olympic medal count, because medals for pistol shooting and weigh lifting in the women's 48 kilo class shouldn't count anyway.

There are a few factors that have pushed me to this extreme political position, and the first of which is illegal immigration. In Oklahoma things have gotten better, but I still see the strain that is placed on our public assistance programs to take care of the families that are here illegally. I completely understand individuals wanting a better life for themselves, but you must play by the rules, and lets all agree a 1000 foot high wall would remove a lot of temptation to enter our country illegally. There is so much more that could be hashed over in a post about illegal immigration, but I will leave it for another time.

There also seems to be this world wide obligation to assist nations or people who have experienced trouble or disaster with no regard to a countries disposition toward the U.S. Just let some place have a mudslide, volcanic eruption, rioting chickens filling the streets armed with toothpicks and those tiny umbrellas that come from mixed drinks and here comes the U.S.A. with millions of dollars in aid and assistance. I'm sure our officials want to help, but it is the fact that most of these European and Asian countries think we are the enemy yet they expect us to help in times of trouble. I say let the chickens riot and leave them to their own devices.

After we send the aid, and all hold hands on on the beach covered in volcanic ash or mud from the slide and sing Kumbaya, or Hara Krishna, or "Allah loves me this I know" and rub Buddhas belly we go home and they all go back to hating us and calling us the great Satan or infidels. Does this seem okay to anyone else.

Finally I feel we have become so reliant on the products and services other nations provide we have ceased to manufacture and work out problems for our selves. We let China produce it, or Japan invent it, or Korea manufacture it when we are capable of producing and manufacturing the same things. I'm not against shipping jobs overseas, I'm really not - we send a $8.00

an hour manufacturing job to Zimbabwe, and Korea sends $18.00 per hour jobs for LG over here, the trade has been okay. We ship about 14% of all manufacturing jobs overseas or to Mexico, but we import 18% of the worlds higher income electronic and technical jobs so I'll take the trade in our current political model. This is not a economic thing, it is an Independence thing. Lets build our wall and severe the transatlantic phone lines, we will ride bikes, eat lentils, and wear homespun frocks and live happily ever after. Let the chicken riots begin. RLR

Some things I learned from Vacation

It is my final evening of vacational bliss, tomorrow in the AM we will be heading back to hot as hades Oklahoma and our normal lives. While here in cool and temperate, and beautiful might I add, Colorado I have had some time to ponder life, and the pursuit of happiness ( Liberty kind of left out of this post, Sorry) and have come to some interesting conclusions.
The first of which is that I am not as young as I used to be. Driving through the night and on into the next day used to be a snap, no problemo, now not so much. On the way to Colorado Springs on the 1st day I decided to pull an all nighter. It didn't go so well, I pulled in at a rest stop at about 3 in the morning and promptly fell asleep, I was just planning on resting my eyes really, at 6 AM a very non threatening man walking a poodle woke we up to inform me lights had been on for 3 hours. I didn't take the key out of the ignition due to my desire to leave quickly, but I didn't leave quickly and my battery was dead. The not scary old guy jumped me and we were on our way. On a side note the reason I have been referring to the guys non scariness is because when he woke us up my wife literally whimpered like a scared puppy and nearly crawled through the top of our SUV. He was 80, from Cali, and walking a poodle - not really a threat. The point is the 30 year old me is a much more tired version of the 22 year old me.
The second thing I learned is that fat people and extremely high altitude do not go well together. We rode up the Cog railway(expensive but worth it) to the top of Pikes peak, at about 12,000 feet I began to feel light headed, at 13,000 feet I was also short of breath, when we got to the top (14,110) I was ready to just jump off the top and end it all. My wife was fine, my kids were bouncing around like pin balls running right to the edge, the big fat lardo they call dad was in the john expelling everything in his system before going back out into the 40 degree air and begging God to end his misery. Other than the 30 minutes in the middle when we were so high I loved it, and so did the fam.
Another thing I noticed is that I like to eat, no I mean a lot - and on vacation you can find so many cool places to grub - The Sagebrush (had a Buffalo Brat, NICE), The Mason Jar, Denver's Downtown Aquarium Restaurant, The Vega ( it was on the roof of a 4 story building), and several others. I may have gained a few pounds on this little adventure, but again well worth it.
I also realized the Resort living and mountain living in general agree with me. On the way to Estes Park and on the way to Winter Park we stayed at some crummy Day's Inn's, but once we arrived at the Worldmark by Wyndham in Estes or The Pines @ Meadowridge in WP life was good. 2 Bedrooms, 2 full baths, full kitchen with all the extras. Fireplaces, stocked with what you need - Grills, picnic tables, pool, hot tubs, video rentals, and the Big Thompson River about ten feet from our front door. The pines wasn't as new or nice as Worldmark, and we liked the town of Estes Park better than WP but all of it was awesome. The snow capped mountains, the glacial rivers, the lakes and hiking trails, the water falls. It was all so entrancing that I find myself at a loss for words. I may try more later, but that is not the point of this post.
Finally I know now more that ever that the whole experience was made so much more exciting by the presence of my wife and kids. Hiking up to Alberta Falls my middle girl Morgann is holding my hand, she turns and looks at me with a gap toothed smile and says "Dad this must be the best vacation ever". When we were at the aquarium in Denver and my boy wants me to help him pet a sting ray I just plunged him completely in the tank to snag a feel of the little miscreants, I was worried how he would respond, he emerged smiling from ear to ear proclaiming victory. He had finally touched the elusive sting ray, and then proclaims " Dad, I am all wet". I got to sit on a rock with Taylor and fish in Sprague Lake long after all my other kids lost interest, we caught nothing but as she laid her head on my shoulder and we watched her bobber stay disgustingly above the water I was completely content. On the same trip to Alberta falls Raegann rode on my shoulders the whole way down and when we would get precariously close to the edge and look down to the white water hundreds of feet below us she would get scared and cover my eyes calling out, "scare me to death". I was also able to step back and watch my wife as she continually cared for, dressed, educated, navigated, and elevated our whole family. It's a shame it took a trip to the mountains to remind me how wonderful my family really is, but against such a majestic backdrop all else paled in comparison to my wife and kids. So I suggest you go to the Rockies, see the Garden of the Gods, The children's Museum of Denver, Focus on the Family HQ, and Rocky Mountain National Park. Fish, Hike, Grill Out, and relax, but do it all with your family. After while Crocodile. RLR

Getting ready for Vacation

The Robertson clan is making preparations for the ever popular family vacation. We are heading to Colorado Springs for a day, then on to Denver for a day, followed by 10 days in Estes Park, CO. We will take in Pikes Peak, the Royal Gorge, Cripple Creek, and of course Whit's end before we relax for a week and a half fishing and hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park. We have been planning this vacation for a year, the place we will be staying is unbelievable (Worldmark Resort @ Estes Park), and I sooooo need to get away for a little while.
The interesting thing about all this is the preparation that goes into a venture such as this. We are installing a new stereo in the Suburban so that my iPod will hook up in the glove box and the satellite radio will be hard wired in as opposed to that stupid little receiver stuck to my windshield. Then I need three portable dvd players (still cheaper than having them installed in my headrests) because the single unit with double screens that I bought a few years ago is a matter of contention. My son wants a movie with stuff that explodes, Taylor wants princesses, and Morgie wants whatever the other two do not. I figured buying three with separate headphone will cure this one dilemma. Then I have to get someone to feed and water the dogs to keep our investments alive and puppies on the way. I have to go to the pet store and get time release fish food that will keep our 5 aquatic buddies bubbling happily along. Then is is off to Hibdon tire for an oil change and a new spare tire because I just don't want to deal with any major problems along the way - so I will be preemptive in this area.
After all this is accomplished we still must send all the netflix stuff back so we can get two new videos for the road, run to the library for our Nancy Drew, Junie B Jones, and Hank the Cowdog fixes as well as a little HP audio for late night driving. We have to purchase a laptop so my wife can do her homework while we are not at home through the wi-fi connection in our resort.
Then when those tasks are complete all we have left is to fill a few coolers with groceries (tip to the traveler - when going on Vay K you should by some groceries before you leave such as catsup, mustard, and mayo. Maybe the soda and chips, but we have found main courses such as beef and pork are usually of uniform price wherever you go, but the other stuff fluctuates wildly between the local Reasors and the tourist trap minimarts.), get somebody to preach for me while I'm gone, and pack all our earthly belongings into the back of my newly detailed SUV.
I'm sure I've left out some stuff we have to do, but the point is I will do so much getting ready to go I might be to exhausted to enjoy myself while I'm there. Everyone please be good while I'm away. RLR

Going to the grocery store

I bought two new dogs this week, and the purchase of these little brindle beauties gave me cause to go and get an extra bag of dog food, new collars, and some leashes. This may not seem like a major development to you, and at the time it wasn't a big deal to me either, but it turned into an evening of unanswered questions concerning some deep social issues. I hopped in the truck and headed toward our local SuperTarget, this is my favorite grocery store slash get what ya' need place to go. As I was cruising down 33rd W. ave I noticed the clock read 9:14. Now the bad thing with the ST is it closes at 9 (what a bad idea). I was faced with two options, neither of which suited my fancy, I could a) continue past ST and go to Wal-Mart, or b) turn around and go to the Warehouse market close to my house. Gasoline being a zillion dollars a gallon, I chose to go to the Warehouse Market. I knew I couldn't get the collars or the leash, I'd get them later at Petsmart, but I could get some Kibble and fix the little girls some dinner.

I try to avoid Warehouse Market because it seems to attract dirt, grime, and undesirable individuals, but I was just going in for a moment, and I needed dog food. It was here that I had a disturbing revelation - the class system of the ancient times is alive and well, and it is nowhere more evident than in our grocery stores. I am hard pressed to explain why the seemingly lower income individuals shop at a place where the prices are twice as high, the floors and isles are dirty and the employees seem as if they would rather rob you than ring up your $4.00 gallon of milk. It seems like people wold migrate to the cleaner, larger, and better priced places like Reasors, Food Pyramid, or even the ST. You would find it easy to believe that the upper and middle classes have a bias, or even prejudice against the lower income families of America, but I propose a different theory. I think the bias goes both ways. The only logical reason to go to such a (pardon me for being so blunt) trashy grocery store is open rebellion against upper/middle class. Individuals get in their cars and make a conscience decision to shop somewhere that costs them more, and looks much worse. This just speaks further of the division among people in our supposedly tolerant and understanding modern society. We don't want to admit it but cultural lines are drawn everywhere, I literally felt dirty shopping at this place, but others perused the shelves with indifference to their surroundings. It was an eye opening experience for me because I looked at these people with disdain for being grossly overweight ( I am with them on this one point), horribly dressed, decidedly under bathed, and an all around disheveled mess. I fancy myself above that type of thinking, but I found out I wasn't.
The assumption I wanted to make is; that I feel if they would come to my ST and see me shopping with my family they would have a lot of the same types of thoughts about us, stuck up, over dressed, self-absorbed, so on and so forth. Maybe they are right, maybe I am, whose to say? The point is we have come along way it society, but we still have a long way to go. In Tulsa you've got your Westsiders with their mobile homes, home made Koi ponds, and cars on blocks - then there is the South Tulsa crowd in their gated communities, and driving their BMW's sharing the city limits but that's about it. The bad news is with all our divisions and differences I see little hope for ever rectifying the problem of the class system. The good news is I got the Kibble, got it home and gave Boxie and Princess Blaze their first meal in the Robertson family. Someone remind me not to go to the store any time soon, it's to disturbing. RLR