I'm happy to report that i'm feeling better... the last two and a half days actually, have shown steady improvement in my congestion and other ailments... i'm entirely done with coughing up phlegm (yes, that IS how you spell it) and blowing my nose until all the skin comes off... to balance things out, however, my email has been pretty screwy as of late... long story short, the client that i normally use has been compromised and as such, disabled for use, leaving me with a back-up program that is really lacking in a lot of ways... so if you've sent me an email since, say Friday and i've ignored it... i might not have gotten it... or i might have ignored it...

normally, i'd have a write up about last night's American Idol performance, but in fact, i didn't watch it last night... i'll be watching it tonight and i'm sure that i'll briefly comment on it, but maybe no one will care since it's a day late... and by no one, i mean moreso than normal... so that's that on that... i need a haircut, so i'm going to try to get through this in time to go get one before the day ends... so let's move on, shall we?

THROUGH THE WORMHOLE

This weekend included Daylight Spending Day and we were supposed to lose an hour, but i'm gonna tell you a secret... i think i managed to come off of the island in tact and in fact, i may have gained an hour's sleep... see, i woke up late, thinking that i had slept in until eight... however, i quickly learned that i had actually slept in until nine... by my math, i've beaten the system and gained an hour, but i still feel a little tired which doesn't make sense...

THE EIGHT DEPRESSION???

so, our economy is really in some rough shape right now... and there are a lot of folks saying that we may be in a recession or that we may be headed towards recession, but not too many people have mentioned the "d-word"... well, i'm going to... i mean, we've recently gone through a pretty booming, one might say "roaring" time period where all of our industries and businesses were booming... it wasn't that long ago that i was hearing reports of the stock market reaching record, previously unfathomable highs... yeah, it was just about a year ago...

and now... well, now the housing market stinks... gas prices are outrageous... inflation is out of control... and it simply doesn't look good... this nation of credit is, as far as i can tell, on the verge of going bust... i realize that the Fed just pulled the stock market up yesterday and i'm certainly not a financial guru, but it seems to me that all they've done is throw a bucket of water at the gaping hole in the side of the ship... i could be wrong, and i hope that i am, but i think we're in for some tough times...

CHARACTER FLAWS

speaking of tough times... and ironically enough, Van Morrison's "Your Cheatin' Heart" just came on in my iTunes... Governor Spitzer of New York, well, former Governor, is in the midst of a pretty rough scandal right now... apparently, he's spent something close to a hundred thousand dollars on prostitutes over the last couple years... this, from a guy who's made a living chasing down the bad guys and breaking up prostitution rings... they say that most of the time, you suffer from the same character traits that bother you most in other people... they also say that whoever exalts himself will be humbled...

this is obviously a sad story to watch play out as this man has all but ruined his life... (and for what?)... but interestingly enough, three books that i've recently begun reading or/listening to in audiobook format deal directly with character... they are:
- Deadly Viper Character Assassins by Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite
- Character Makes a Difference by Mike Huckabee
- Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy

It's always so interesting to note the timing of things...

AND THEN....

okay, i'm cutting this short... i've got more to talk about, including the Ortberg book, Joshua and the battle of Jericho, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and probably American Idol, but i really need a haircut... i'm going to see TobyMac, Jeremy Camp and Matthew Wests tomorrow and i simply can't have them laughing at my hair... back later...

peace... love... bdg...