Free Republic

Now if you appreciate it when your husband tells you that and it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, I need to get you in touch with my wife!!!

I know that some men don't hold a real high position in their life of their wives. It's easy to get pushed to the bottom of the list because we're relatively "self sustaining" compared to the kids, cat, laundry, meals, dishes, vacuum, mop, toys, and litter box. It's not that they don't love us. We just get sidelined.

So whatever you do, make sure you appreciate those compliments! Think about them. Respond to them. It'll make hubby a little happier!

Regards,

Jim

I must be mad. I find my wife to be the most attractive woman on the planet! She looks different now after 10 years of marriage. But I think every new dimple and sag is just as attractive as any of her other features.

As I get older, I've also found it so much easier to find beauty in many more women than I ever could. Perhaps I focus more on the "perfections" than the "imperfections"? Perhaps that's why the missus still takes my breath away.

I just wish she'd believe me when I tell her!

Regards,

Jim

As a Lutheran, I've become very disenchanted with the ELCA in the last decade. My particular church tries to work within ELCA guidelines, but hardly "tows the line".

Please do not label all Lutherans as leftists. I can certainly assure you we are not.

Regards,

Jim

I didn't share your success. When I stood up for myself, nothing changed. Of course being one of the smallest kids in school with big thick glasses didn't help me present an aura of strength. If only I was as big in high school as I am now, things may have been different.

That's one of the reasons why my kids go to a very inexpensive, small Christian school. I'm sure they'll get to deal with some of that in a private school too, at least enough for them to learn to stand up for themselves. No kids should need to worry about daily torment when what they should be worrying about is learning.

I agree with most posts on both sides of opinion here. I too answer "some college" on surveys and got to where I am with hard work and learning from others. 20 years of stories from my father about working in data processing at the DoD made a big difference.

The toughest part of being in this business for 10 years is keeping that fine line between family and work. For me, that has meant staying out here in the boondocks of Pennsylvania working for a GREAT company with little room for advancement until someone retires. I'm within 1.5 hours of DC, Baltimore, and Harrisburg and could drive around for big bucks but that kind of commute kills family time. 50-60 hours a week 30 mins from home is enough.

Ah, to have the opportunity to be an IT Director or Manager making 6 figures near home would be a blessing! Because of the wide range of things I support/engineer/architect, it would be a mental blessing but the added pay would make the wife happy!

Regards,

Jim

I read his column and watch his videos daily on pro.accuweather.com. He really gets excited about the weather! He's an old fashioned forecaster that forecasts the worldwide pattern. He only looks to the models to verify his forecast and perhaps give him ideas about smaller parts he may have missed. None of the models showed the kind of cold we are experiencing right now...and that was 3 weeks ago. He stuck to his guns until the models started to come around last week and he got to say "Told you so" for the millionth time.

He does all his stuff old-school. Very cool. Sometimes you can see him on accuweather videos that get posted on Yahoo's weather page.

Regards,

Jim

Joe Bastardi at Accuweather had been talking about this for days now. He's alluded to the fact that the pattern is very ripe for at least one really big storm to hit the east during this pattern. He started pointing to the possibility of some major weather-makers coming up the coast last week sometime.

That's a good team up there. They do great work! Their "Professional" site is a good winter time investment at $10-$15 per month. I get to hear about the bad weather days and sometimes weeks ahead of time!

Regards,

Jim

Fort Ritchie is less than 10 miles from where I sit right now. My father also worked there until about 96 when DISA moved from Ritchie to Letterkenny Army Depot. I used to visit with him from time to time there and we'd go to lunch. That fort has a good history in this area.

Thanks for posting.

Regards,

Jim

It does seem to be a great hobby! Our IH was a 48 if I remember right. My handyman hobby is more of necessity than choice, but I manage to enjoy that too as long as I'm not being barked at to get something done!

Thanks for sharing today.

Jim

Great old tractors. My dad and his brother both have a love for tractors. My uncle restores John Deeres. My dad's other brother has our old IH Farmall H and restored it. That was a nice tractor to operate too.

Blessings,

Jim

Did a lot of disking, tree dragging, manure spreading, hay raking, and wagon pulling in our '52 8N on the farm. The farm is gone, but Pap still has the tractor. Someday, I hope it looks as nice as yours!

God Bless,

Jim

Lord, Bless this family. May Your will be swift and Your hand be soft.

Prayerfully yours,

Jim

We ask for God's blessings for our soldiers every night during bedtime prayers with our daugher. Please know that your bother is, and always was, included.

God Bless,

Jim

kixx was Chip's screen name.

Please also see:

A Freepers Last Days...

and

The Death of a Freeper...

God Bless,

Jim

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers for Chip's family and friends.

God Bless,

Jim

Chip has led a life of 42 years where he touched more people than I can imagine. He suffered tuberculosis, two kidney failures, and two kidney transplants in the last 15 years. The effects of these ailments brought him to his last struggle with cancer.

Chip was a disc-jockey for most of the last 15 years, and enjoyed it more than he could ever put into words. First, at MIX95 in Chambersburg Pennsylvania, then on to BOB 94.9 in Harrisburg Pennsylvania where his last recorded shows aired on Monday and Tuesday this week. His voice was also heard on WYCR in York, PA and on "The Revolution" in Chambersburg, PA. Chip's air name for many years was Travis Nielson Tory (TNT) until he found BOB and country music a few years ago. Since he has been known as Cameron Street. Chip's radio friends from the "old days" brought him immense pleasure in these last weeks, making him forget all about being sick. He loved radio, and he especially loved those who listened to him and would call him.

I am again posting the email he sent to my wife, Kim, early on Friday 11/12. Kim had a very special relationship with Chip, he was the brother she never had. He was also a brother to me, Mike, Rich, Jenn, and many more I'm afraid I haven't the presence of mind to mention at the moment.

God Bless,

Jim

Kim, If I had to, I would dedicate all the time I have left re-assuring my friends that all will be okay. The saddest part of this for me is the sadness that I will eventually bring to my friends and family. I can only hope that this sadness will be a short-lived one as everyone realizes that I have gone on to a better place. A place I expect to see all my friends again one day except that I'll have a hard time recognizing any of you since you'll all be old and hunched over by then. :-)

I am at peace with my situation. A peace developed by seemingly unrelated events of the past couple of years. A peace brought on by a journey back to God undertaken years before, almost without my realizing it. Some of the "unrelated" events that brought me to this place were: Country music, 9-11, the presidential election of 2000, the act of forgiving, removing "poisonous" relationships from my life, gravitating toward like-minded, family-values friends, and culminating in the profound affect a little girl with cancer has had on one man's life.

And that very last one was the most important. Everything before got me on the road back to God. Rhiannah put me on that road for good. I had already come full circle, from my Christian youth, through my rebellious and doubting 20's and 30's, and back to believer. But Rhiannah's cancer diagnosis pushed me to the point where I had to put ALL my faith in God and Jesus.

There was no way I could allow my heart to believe that this little girl was not going to make it. And I prayed accordingly. I let God know that I truly believed that Rhiannah's cancer was, indeed, a temporary thing. And to this day, when I tell you I truly believe Rhiannah is cured, now and forever, its only because I know its so.

Little did I know, as I lay in bed at night praying for Rhiannah, that this little girl was already paving the road that would eventually lead her "Uncle Chip" to heaven. Long before I ever thought I would have a need for it. So, thanks to my little hero, when the news came that my time on earth was quickly fading, I was ready. I had the faith that everything was safe in God's hands, I had a peace overcome me that could only come from a divine source, and I'm assured that my sins have been forgiven and paid for.

I also trust that there is a purpose for my cancer. Maybe not, I don't know. But if there is a purpose for me being here at this time then I guess I'll be around till that purpose is fulfilled. Until then I'll just do what I did a few years back, put it all in God's hands and not worry about it.

My biggest regret through all of this is the trouble I've been putting my friends through. I also regret that day when so many will grieve my death. I've never thought of myself as a very significant person and if were to able to watch it all from the next life I know my reaction would be "What's all the fuss about?"

I hope this sets your heart and mind at ease.

I'll talk to you later, Chip

I should pass along some other info about Chip. He was treated for tuberculosis many years ago. He has endured to rounds of kidney failure and two kidney transplants. Often he endured times in intensive care alone, perhaps by his own choosing. He has never been one to ask for help.

Due to his health, he could have spent much of the last fifteen years on disability, but wanted to work and do his fair share. He has been a disk jockey for many of those fifteen years and for the last several has enjoyed every moment of that job working for a country station in Harrisburg, PA. In fact, just Sunday night, he recorded his last two shifts that ran Monday and Tuesday...he loved to work.

When my daughter was in the hospital for chemotherapy, Chip left home up to several hours early each of those days so he could spend an extra hour on the road to visit my family in the hospital. He never came empty handed. My little girl looked forward to his visits so much that, if she felt well enough, we would take her to the part of the floor where she could watch the cars coming in to try and catch a glimpse of "Uncle Chip's" car. As much as Chip brightened every day of my little girl's hospital life, he gave my wife and I the interruption in worry that we so desperately needed. He spent more time by Rhiannah's bedside than anyone other than her mother and I.

Chip never had much. He was blessed with the opportunity to purchase a home from his family last year. A small house in need of much work. It is his pride. Chip, my wife, myself, and many of our other friends worked hard on this house. I'm sorry to say that it is not finished yet. But it is the only material thing is is proud of. We continued to work on Chip's home after he got sick, often with our own money. But his joy is and always will be worth more to us than green paper.

Chip taught us about faith, about being humble, how to appreciate what and who we have in our lives, and to never let the praises of others fail to pass our lips.

Thanks to all for the wonderful prayers and words of kindness.

God Bless,

Jim

God Bless you all. Feel free to shares these words of hope and peace with whomever may benefit.

Jim

The social habits of beer in cans and bottles: In it's natural habitat, beer does not like to travel alone as it is not condusive to fulfilling it's life goal of consumption. Hence, beer usually travels in packs...6-packs, 12-packs, 24-packs....

I'm ready to run against Rendell. But sadly, I haven't a vast pool of wealth to kick start my campaign.