A Gift from the Past

As I was digging in my sock drawer the other day (unsuccessfully I might add, I never found the black sock with the blue spots) I found a gift I had purchased for my uncle Randy about 15 years ago. It was a set of brass golf ball markers with an Indiana University logo on them, but the what is not nearly as important as the why. My family is great, both sides, we've been close all my life. My grandparents who are as good as it gets have taught me and loved me unconditionally (although my grandma does generally tell me how much I need to lose weight). My mother's mother has passed away but she was terrific, I called her mom-mom, she was better to me than I probably deserved. Grandma's are cool in the way they are totally okay with telling you where you could do better (hence mamaw telling me to shed the pounds), but let someone else talk bad about you and they will pinch their heads off. I'm rambling when I should be making the point I intended to - my family is cool. My parents are better than I could have asked for, and my extended family just rounds out the picture of a guy who had a great upbringing. We have our faults, I won't list them here out of respect for the fam, but all in all a good group.


So you ask what this has to do with my sock drawer, my dad's little brother, and ball markers? It just this, I remember one day about 15 years ago walking through the mall and stopping at a golf kiosk, I didn't like golf at the time but my uncle did so I bought them. Ten bucks! To a 15 year old that is major dough, at least in the late 1900's it was. My uncle had spent time with me, played catch with me, helped me learn to ride my bike, and watched ball games with me. Probably not a big deal to him, but to a kid when an adult takes time out of there life to spend with 'em it's valuable. So when I saw the ball markers, sorry Randy if you read this I never gave them to you I sort of misplaced them for a decade and a half, I thought what makes a teenager spend money on an uncle when it's not required? Time,time,time - we give our kids all kinds of stuff but are we, am I, forgetting the best gift of all.

My kids birthdays are coming up, my girls want Coach purses, Ipods, High Heels, and cell phones. I want to get them these things, but I don't want to neglect to give the gift that will outlast all the others. My time.

So for every time my Aunt Christie or Aunt Diane let me hang out at there place and watch movies or talk about stuff, or when my uncle Randy helped me ride Mike's old yellow bike, or for the times my uncle Mike Robertson had to climb up a tree to get me down, or for all the ball games my uncle Mike Watkins played with me, for every time my gradnma let me sit on her lap after I was way to big to do so, quite simply to my family who helped make me who I am; thanks.

To my folks who have done more for me as a child and even as an adult, for the camping trips, the baseball games, and the church services - thanks.

To every adult who has taken extra time to spend with a child remember it's not time wasted, it is an investment. An investment that you both will appreciate. To every parent or grandparent who reads this remember they aren't nuisances or bothers, they are the future. Do you best to spend some extra time with the little people and you never know you might get a set of IU ball markers for you trouble.

A few reasons why the Colts stink

I am an avid Colts fan, I have followed them most of my life, and I will always be a Colts fan. I was there in the years where we were in all reality aweful, dreadful - horrible games, bad drafts ( see Steve Entman, Quinton Coreyott, Trev Alberts, oh and lets not forget Jeff George)and the whole gamut of bad descisions. Then along came Bill Polian and the new Colts regime. They drafted Marvin Harrison, Peyton Manning, Edgerin James, Dallas Clark, Reggie Wayne, Dwight Freeney, Bob Sanders, and Joseph Addia. Bill snagged Gary Brackett, Jeff Saturday, and Dominick Rhodes as college free agents (un drafted rookies) and built a perennial Super bowl contender. 5 seasons of 12 wins or more has never been eclipsed in the League, but this year the wheels fell off, let me tell you why:
1. The stupid Tampa Two Defense - Never blitz, give 8 yards of cushion to outside receivers and bend but don't break. The problem with the T2 is if you don't get a pass rush from the edges and up the middle in this one gap system then a smart veteran QB will hit his back foot on a 5 step drop and hit a receiver for 6 yards. It doesn't take many 6 yards to move the chains and keep the offense on the sidelines. I realize the zone scheme helps in ways, but lets blitz 4 or 5 times a game and man up on the outside receivers on obvious passing downs. IF you can't get people off the field on 3rd and 8 then your a going to loose a lot of games. The reason our T2 isn't working this year is in point #2
2 . Get a defensive take bigger than my son (he's 4, not really D-tackle material yet). I realize the Corey Simon experiment went badly, and Booger got hurt, and the kids from Penn State got high and kicked off the team, and 22 year old Quinn Pitcock retired, and John McCargo failed his physical but do something - get someone - exert some pressure up the middle on occasion. If you can't, bring a backer, or a saftey, or some pepper spray, but do something. The belly of the Colts Defense is as soft as mine. If we have to commit all 3 linebackers and a sfatey to the LOS to stop the run then we get the 6 to 8 yard passes referenced above. The corners stay too deep to stop that ball with out committing a LB underneath. If the LB is filling a gap left open by a teeny tiny D tackle then the underneath coverage is not there. This must be addressed in the draft, the plus is we should get a fairly high pick this year.
3. Coaching - Dungy is a great guy and a serious under achiever. I could have coached the Colts to at least one super bowl in this era. How hard is it to say "Hey Peyton throw it to Marvin or Reggie or Joseph or Gonzo or Dallas or Stokely (04 - 06)" or say "Hey Bob tackle everybody please". Tony makes seriously bad decisions in big games, gets conservative to easy, and fails to motivate his players. They never seem fired up or ready to play. It is just going to be more of the same with Jim Caldwell.
4. The offense - we can't run it, and we can't throw it. That doesn't leave a whole lot of options. Peyton has been off all year, and the receivers have seriously lost a step. Marvin is old and tired and will be gone after this season, Reggie is getting closer to old age as well and Gonzo is not a #1 receiver. Our running game is staggered at the loss of J Addia, but he has struggled this year as well. There are no holes to run through and the scheme seems off by miles. We have not clicked all year. The Baltimore game is an exception or you might say aberration.

It has been a good 7 years, but it is time to reload or rebuild or something because I can't take much more of this. If I wanted to see this kind of football I would watch reruns of the late 80's - where is Jeff George when you need him. RLR

Where do old TV's go when they die

This is not what I do at work all day, but it does comprise to most interesting part of my day. I have the privlidge of working with a flaming liberal artist named Geoff Hicks,who has become a very good friend of mine - he is the mastermind behind all of the destruction and meyham that happens in our shop - I am innocent of all wrong doing. These are videos of old CRT's with a 10lb transformer from an old reciever dropped on them from a 20 foot high roof. It does not get much better than this. For his next project we may light one on fire.






gravitation, part three from geoffrey hicks on Vimeo.


gravitation, part four from geoffrey hicks on Vimeo.

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