Tuesday, November 27, 2012

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Now, we had not had a major airplane crash in New York City for a long time. So, we were all pretty riveted at that particular time by the scene of the crash of Avianca Flight 52 on Long Island near JFK Airport. More people survived the crash than died in it, thankfully, but it was still a terrible tragedy. There was no fire, because they were apparently out of fuel, and that was a major reason for the crash.

Monday, November 26, 2012

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Our kids rode many a mile in the old back seat of our car. And they had their share of turf battles over who was taking up more than his share of the seat. Pretty customary with three kids in the back seat when you drive quite a ways. They also spent some time sleeping there. In fact, I remember when our youngest was a baby. He would just doze off in his little infant seat right next to his brother who was two years older. We'd turn around and we'd see the little guy asleep and we'd say, "Oh, bless his heart."

Monday, October 29, 2012

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When I visited the Alamo I felt the emotion of a place that was made pretty special by sacrifice. It was February 1836 when that little Spanish mission went into the history books. You remember the story. The Mexican forces, thousands strong, were advancing to crush the little Texas independence movement. Sam Houston needed time to organize his troops in order to fight back, and he did get that time because of what happened at the Alamo, and he did win, and they did get their independence.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

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A lot of what goes into winning a football game is behind the scenes. Oh, we see all the plays and all the action, and all the heroics on the field. But a lot goes on we never see.

Let's take our local high school football team that I worked with for example. Each week someone from the coaching staff was out scouting the other team during the season. And sometimes I'd show up at the locker room and I'd ask, "Well, what are we up against this week? Tell me about the team we're playing this coming weekend." Almost always I'd get a rundown on what that team was good at, who their high scorer was, and what we would have to do to contain them, where their weaknesses were, and what we needed to go after. See, those scouting reports helped our coaches know how to best play that other team. Now, unfortunately, a lot of us are playing as if we haven't heard the scouting report on the other team.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

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Well, somehow I ended up speaking for the FAA Pilot Safety program. Now, you really wouldn't want to fly in a plane that I taught anyone to fly; I don't know nothing about it. But I think they invited me because of a book I wrote called "Peaceful Living In a Stressful World." Stress is a real issue to pilots, so they kind of sneaked me in for one of the programs.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

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If someone is a champion in sports, we tend to make them an automatic hero. Now, not every champion lives like a hero or necessarily deserves to be one. But Wilma Rudolph? Oh, she was more than a champion. She really belonged in the hero category. See, she began her life with a bout of polio.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

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Occasionally when I'm in a store and it's time to pay up, I'll just say to the sales person, "Do you accept cash?" You should see the look! I get this bewildered kind of look, and they're like, "Well, of course we accept cash." Well, it may be the first cash they've gotten in several transactions though. It's probably a given that they see more "plastic" money than "paper" money these days.

Friday, September 7, 2012

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This has got to be one of the great engineering feats in the world - packing the trunk of our car for a family trip. Oh, boy, those were the days. Maybe you can relate to that. We had a family of five; quite a challenge to get all of that luggage in one trunk. So, I would stuff every corner, trying the suitcases every which way, and then I'd see if there was something the kids could sit on during the trip. And if all else failed, I called my wife and she could figure it out. Finally, you get it all in, but just barely of course.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

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I don't know if the espionage field is as exciting in real life as it is in fiction, but it sure makes for some great adventure plots - TV shows, novels, and movies. And I love spy stories! Let me tell you, they're pretty exciting! Now, in many good spy stories you'll find at least one character that they call a double agent. That means he's a spy who works for both sides, and you hope he's working for our side on this one. Of course, not all double agents are CIA types. In fact uh... you might know one intimately.

Monday, July 23, 2012

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I heard not long ago about a little boy who was trying to move this huge rock. He pulled, and he pushed, and grunted and strained, trying to move it with leverage from a board, but it was all to no avail. Finally his Dad said, "Son, have you used all your resources?" "Oh, yeah, Dad. I can't make it move! I've tried everything." And his Dad replied, "No, you haven't. You haven't asked me to help you yet."