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about life lately. It's good and all, just haven't typed much about it.

Hero bought tickets to the Astros vs. Marlins game for last Friday night. Had a great time, even though the 'stros got pounded. Hard to believe, I thought for certain that Roy O would break out of his slump. High scoring game, I think there were a total of six homers. But I'm one of those that likes a 1-0 game with pitchers dominating.

The fireworks after the game were spectacular, as good as most top notch July 4th shows. Can't say as much for the guitar hero contest - that was awful.

The weather has been spectacular since Saturday. Cool but not cold, clear skies, no rain! 

Had a great class Sunday. Topic was how to avoid temptation and used the Joseph/Potiphar's wife story. The guys were thoroughly engaged and it was fun. I used this little story to illustrate my problem with immediate pleasure vs. long term goals:

Stopping Ice Cream Man

Alexander was trying to save all the pennies he could in order to buy a baseball bat. But he had a hard struggle.

One night when he was saying his prayers, his mother heard him say fervently: “O Lord, please help me save my money for a baseball bat. And, God, don’t let the ice cream man come down this street!” 

I'm probably not alone in that struggle. 

Both of us were tired from the long week, so we missed out on lunch w/Pop. He tried calling but I don't take my cell with me on Sundays, didn't see it until later in the afternoon. I think his new girlfriend was with him, that would have been interesting. I guess.

The pastor has been doing a very good job in the Sunday night Bible study. He's going through Revelation and has really matured through the years. In his younger days, he focused upon his knowledge of Greek and his studies could be quite boring. Now, he focused upon history, culture and a little bit of the language and the studies are full of life and insight.

Been playing around with the mixture of wood I use when grilling. Always have used a thick bed of oak and mesquite - the combination is very hot (mesquite) and lasts a long time (oak). The last couple of times, I've thrown in a stick of pecan and about a half stick of hickory. Enjoyed the change, very subtle hint of sweetness and a little smoke ring. Threw a couple of thick pork tenderloins on last night, in addition to two different types of marinated chicken breasts. Very nice.

After dinner, we watched a couple more episodes of Battlestar. I'm not liking this series (last season) nearly as much as the previous ones. Too much soap opera, not enough cylons. Too much Starbuck, not enough Gaius.  Too much romance, not enough sci-fi.

Oh well, guess that's enough for now.

appointments today. Drove around the backroads to see what I could find. Taken out the window with the A100-Tamron 200-400 combination.

watched last night. Will Smith in I Am Legend, a sort of futuristic sci/fi set in New York City. I had no idea that it was a sci/fi, just picked it up a Redbox because it was Will Smith and it was a new release.

Really, truly bizarre. And very intense cinematography. A lot of the early Spike Lee type camera angles, too close to see around you but not first person. Kept us on the edge of our seats and had SU jumping out of hers from time to time. And the special effects were incredible.

Would I recommend it? Maybe. It wasn't all that great but it wasn't all that bad either. Had a poor ending, if they had been able to come up with a different scenario or perhaps expanded the one they chose, it would have helped a lot.

The Google ads crack me up. I posted on immigration and had a picture of John McCain, two immigration lawyer ads and one for a group wanting to deport them Everytime I type a post from the front end, I get lots of ads about Jolly this or that. I'm looking at a picture of Jelly Belly's right now! 

Going to the Astros game tonight with Hero and 1. Should be a fun time, baseball is my favorite sport to watch in person. Looking forward to the weekend, it's been a  long week. 

James Pinkerton has an interesting article in today's Houston Chronicle. He reports on three different groups involved in the battle over illegal entry into the U.S. - the people that cross the border illegally, the groups that enable and encourage them, and finally, a group that wants to stop the practice but runs people off with their tactics.

The first group, the illegal aliens themselves, have enough chutzpah to organize as a group.

That's why Mexican immigrant ILLEGAL Jacinto Vasquez has joined the Houston Network of Day Laborers, formed over the weekend by approximately 200 day laborers. Their goal is to improve working conditions, set a minimum wage they'll agree to work for and fight wage theft. ''I have a good opinion of the group," said Vasquez, an undocumented ILLEGAL worker who moved here BROKE IN from Mexico in 1999. ''If this brings us support, it would be good ... for all of us." The issue of day laborers in Houston and around the country has been a flashpoint in the debate over illegal immigration, largely because most of the workers are undocumented ILLEGAL.

I helped the Chron by correcting their bias. How did we get to the point that we allow people that have clearly, unmistakably broken our laws to organize as a group? Bizarre.

The second group, the enablers, continue to deny the truth.

However, Jimenez said some day laborers can legally work. ''Not all don't have documents," she said. ''Some are U.S. citizens; some are legal residents; and some are Central Americans with temporary work permits. What you have to understand is they are day workers who fulfill a function in the economy."

I suppose that 1 or 2 out of a thousand enter legally. The vast majority do not and the only thing that Ms. Jimenez is accomplishing in her efforts is a continuation of these types of stories:

Arizona Department of Public Safety officials think there were 32 illegal immigrants packed into a passenger van that rolled on Interstate 10 Monday morning. DPS spokesman Quentin Mehr said that at about 5 a.m. a large passenger van carrying illegal entrants ran off the road around mile post 292, about 11 miles west of Benson. One female of Guatemala was pronounced dead at that scene while 30 others were transported to area hospitals for treatment. One other subject, not hurt in the rollover, was detained at the scene by U.S. Border Patrol agents.

People are dying because of your enabling, Ms. Jimenez. News reports like this come out daily. You might want to focus your efforts on communicating the dangers to people trying to come here illegally.

And the last group he mentions is another group that is well meaning but the message they use turns ordinary citizens away.

''That's not the American dream, to have people come here and get cheaper and cheaper wages," said Louise Whiteford, president of Texans for Immigration Reform. ''That's what the big corporations want: to eliminate the middle class." Whiteford questioned the security consequences of workers in the city without valid documents. ''We have a terror situation," she said. "Why do we want people we don't know floating around the city?"

Good grief. Every stereotypical argument is laid out there. I can almost hear the whup-whup of the rotors as the new president elect of the North American Union, Wal Mart CEO Greed E. Person orders the black helicopters to blast a middle class suburb into oblivion. Question is, if corporations want to eliminate the middle class, who are they going to get their greedy profits from?

Like I said, an interesting article.

want to stop the world and get off?

That was my day yesterday. Fortunately, SU came through to rescue me but all in all, the day sucked.

Usually, life at the plantation is not complicated. But when you are in the middle of a building project, there are permits to be had. And there are existing permits to deal with. And there are inspectors that randomly decide to drop in and say hi. When all three of these things happen on the same day, life can become very complicated, very quickly.

So I was very down on the way back to the park. Decided to take the A100 and the Tamron 200-400 out to see if I could calm down. I'm starting to like this lens. It's actually a 300-600 on the A100. Pretty amazing to take a picture from 20 feet away and see a fruit fly in the result. Although the A100 isn't known for its speed in focusing, I was able to capture a couple of nice shots of birds flying.

Then SU called and forced me to go to the remote. She's awesome.

I guess my day didn't suck that much after all. 

overall. Friday night, we had another Battlestar Galactica marathon, ordering pizza and watching episodes 5-7. I think, as with everything, the quality of the first seasons has been hard to maintain. In other words, I'm not enjoying this season as much. ;-)

On Saturday, I finished up the Reacher novel. Why is it that some writers are able to maintain the quality that I said was lacking above? Interesting. After that, I went shopping for a bit, then settled in at Bayou City Wings and watched the Memphis-UCLA game. Hard to beat good college basketball for entertainment.

Had a pretty good class Sunday. The more you study Jacob's family, the more hope you have for the modern one! Those guys were messed up! We discussed how to handle it when everyone around you hates you. And Joseph's brothers truly hated him. Not without reason, I think.

RSa was out so I had an opportunity to lead the worship music Sunday night. Had a good time. The study on Revelations was very good, the pastor finished up the seven churches. Interesting take on it, nice that he threw in that the Roman gov't. was cash strapped because of the many projects that took on and didn't fund the rebuilding of the city after the earthquake.

Had the A100 in the truck Saturday with the Tamron 200-400 on it. Leaned out the window and took a couple of pics from about 50 ft. of these. Mostly just to check the sharpness and color, I really haven't used the lens much. It's okay, I guess.