A Liberated Mind

First and foremost, I just want to say that this is not going to be a serious post.  At all.  In any way, shape, or form.  I have had a long week, and the last thing I need to be serious right now. 

No, right now I need to make bad jokes, be my normal lame self, and make fun of myself for just being a bad dog owner.

Now I know what you are thinking: “Seth, with all the crap going on in the world right now like 2 wars, the battle over healthcare, the Supreme Court hearings for Sotomayor, and the fact that some really scary people in Stockton, California, think they see Michael Jackson in a tree AND stated that Michael Jackson meant more to them ‘than Jesus does to some people’, you are writing about your dog?”

Why yes.  Yes I am.

See here’s the thing that some people may not know because I never talk about it: My family has a dog.

Huge shocker I know, but yes, we have one.  She is a yellow lab, roughly 85 pounds, and sheds like a contestant on “The Biggest Loser” after being at the ranch for a few days eating nothing but chicken and broccoli and working out 13 hours a day.

And my dog is also missing about a quarter of her tail.  There is a story behind this tragedy, and yes, I am in the middle of that story.  You probably have not heard the story because it happened during my extended time away from the blog – hence why I have never mentioned to most of the eight people who read this blog.

Anyway, if you want to hear the story, I will tell you.  I warn you, however, that it once again highlights the fact that I am a massive idiot.  As if you didn’t know that already.

All that being said, know that this is the problem I have: I do love my dog, and I could not stand giving her away to another family.

BUT, I don’t spend as much time with her as I should because I work, have a family, and I hate having to wash my hands immediately after petting her (again, the shedding thing).

So what should I do to spend more time with her?  My wife already takes her on walks, we let her inside when it gets too hot and too cold (granted, we cage her up in our kitchen to keep the rest of the house from getting dirty), and I am the one that bathes her and brushes her out…every few weeks. 

I also throw the ball with her in the backyard and clean her off when she finds the mud hole.  Heck, I even feed her twice a day and put medicine on her that keeps her heart from getting worms and keeps her body from having fleas and ticks all over it. 

Okay, that was not necessary to add in those details.  Sorry.

However, even after all of that, I just don’t feel like I give her the attention she deserves.  I mean, seriously, this has been a quandry for me for like the past 3 years since our daughter was born.

Okay, that is probably not true – I gave up paying attention to the dog about a year after we got her and we have had her for over 5 years now. 

If I were to be honest, I only bathe her when it gets to the point of her stinking up our house and my wife “strongly suggesting” I bathe her.  I only play ball with her in the spring and fall when the weather is nice.  And yeah, putting her only in the kitchen and not the rest of the house isn’t probably the nicest thing to do.

But our house is much cleaner now than it used to be.  That is good, right?

Um, no. 

Holy crap, I am a bad dog owner.

But I want to do better, I really do.  So if you have any ideas or tips on how I could be a better dog owner, I would really appreciate them.  Just be nice.

And if all of this is not enough motivation to communicate your thoughts, know this: If I get no brilliant ideas, my dog will just continue to be lonely and depressed. 

So there.

S

Okay, not really.  I just needed a catchy name for this post.

Actually, I am really starting to get into the whole new media/social networking thing right now.  No, really I am.

Granted, the process to get here has taken a bit longer than I thought it would (which is crazy because if you know me, you know I like expressing my opinions on stuff even when I have to start talking out of my rear end because I have no idea what I am friggin’ talking about), but that is only because at times it does seem a bit too much like high school to me.

What I mean by this is that the point of social networking, to a certain extent, is to build your networks or your friends or your tweeps or whatever.  Theoretically, the more of these folks you have, the more influence and popularity you have. 

Sort of like high school.

At the same time, if you are on Twitter but no one ever “re-tweets” you or responds to what you say or engages you in any type of conversation at all, isn’t that sort of like my entire high school experience?

And what if nobody comments on your Facebook status?  Or inquires about why you might be downcast or distant if you haven’t updated in several days?  Or what if nobody reads your blog?

What does that mean for you as a social networker?

And crap, sometimes you may even feel a little peer pressure to link to the coolest stories or have the funniest status update or tweet about the most popular subject or find the next big story. 

Do you see the point?  This whole thing is just like high school!

Thankfully, however, I have learned that as a 31-year-old husband and father that I can seemingly talk to myself and be okay with that. 

I can carve out my little niche of the internet (I am talking to my 7 readers out there now) and be fine with that.  No big deal at all. 

I am hopefully well past that point in my life when I am trying to be the most popular kid in school or the best athlete or whatever.

But still.

We should all admit that, yes, it feels good to know that you are loved or popular or the talk of your corner of the internet.  And, yep, it does suck when no one seems to be paying attention.  I am sure lots of folks probably deal with these issues.

And not to go off on a tangent, but maybe that is just one of the dangers of social networking.  Another could be that we could get so busy attempting to connect with so many new folks that we fail to grab a movie with our spouses or write physical notes of encouragment when our real friends are going through crap. 

Not saying this is the case for me, I am just saying…

Anyway, the point of all this is that like any other type of human interaction, social networking does involve some sort of emotional involvement.  People can be made to feel good about themselves as a part of a community, but then they can also be made to feel like losers or outcasts if they don’t feel included in those communities.

I just think that maybe instead of letting social networking consume all aspects of our daily lives (and you know this is the case with A LOT of folks), maybe we should make a point to disconnect throughout the day. 

We need to be reminded every once in a while that we are more than Twitter users or Facebook friends.  We are more than just bloggers or anonymous posters on messages boards.

In reality, we need to connect with those who we know love us.  And if you think about it, it would probably do us each some good to spend that extra time with our friends and families.  Couldn’t hurt, right?

And to me, all of that sounds a crap of a lot better than re-living the same feelings I had while I was in high school.

What do you think? 

S

Maybe you didn’t know this, but when any new music comes out in the form of an album, it usually comes out on a Tuesday.  I say that not because I am any sort of musician – and no, being a fairly decent bass clarinet player in the high school band doesn’t count – but because I am finally back on the blog. 

And thus it begins on a Tuesday - just like it does with new music.

It has been since the middle of December since I have been on here, and yeah, that is entirely too much time to not communicate with the six or seven people who consistently read my thoughts.  This will change starting today – Tuesday – and God willing, continue to you word by word, sentence by sentence, and paragraph by paragraph for the foreseeable future.

So what happened?  Where the heck did I go?  Well, as I look back to the fall when I was blogging all of the time, I realize now it was easy because I was so focused on the election and the political climate surrounding it.  It was also football season, and using Fridays as a time to get away from politics to discuss the upcoming OU game was an easy thing to do as well.  All in all, it was pretty easy to blog.

But what of the present?  President Obama has been in office for almost six months, our economy has worsened beyond anyone’s expectations, and we live in an even more fractured country than before the election.  The media has sold itself for a cheap thrill to the new administration, folks who never have are protesting across the country, and silently and slowly a way of life is eroding away.

Bleak, I know.  

To be honest and frank, I am pretty sure I have avoided this blog for the last 7 months or so because there hasn’t been any motivation for me.  Understand that I loathe the thought of being white noise in the midst of lots of other white noise.

And yes, I have probably become indifferent and slightly apathetic to it all.  And wow, am I now the existentialist I have always fought against?

Though I am not sure about my absent motivations, I am quite sure of the answers to these questions: Why today?  Why wait until now to jump back onto this ship?  Why go away for 7 months and lose your readership just to come back and write in the same climate you have purposely avoided?

The answer is simple: because I have to.

The thing is I am naturally a person who cannot hold their thoughts to 140 characters.  I talk out my frustrations, joys, and everything in between in a way that can best be described in the cliche of a “conscience stream of thought”. 

Basically, it is not that I don’t have anything to say, it is just that it takes me longer to get there than others.  Plus, for the most part, I don’t know what I am going to say until I, well, say it.  Much of the time it is impossible for me to plan out what is going to come out of this mouth of mine.

This is sometimes good, and yes, it is sometimes bad.

But at some point, it all has to come out.  Somewhere and somehow.  And oh yeah, I have this blog for it to come out on.  Nice.

Don’t get me wrong – I have tried tweeting, attempted to make my Facebook status poetic and mysterious, and even gone back a bit to my personal writing. 

Still, I feel like I need to come back here.

All that being said, for the next week or so I am going to try and get on here only once a day to talk about what is happening in my world.  Not THE world because there are so many people talking about that.  But rather what I am thinking about, listening to, and getting worked up about.  Then as time goes on, I will try to get on here multiple times during the day depending on my time and further motivation.

Just as before I will try and keep the tone down the middle the best I can, but I cannot promise anything.  I simply want to start writing again for those who want to hear my thoughts.  Whether it be for an audience of 10,000 or just me, that is enough.

All I know is that it is time to come back and talk again.  It feels good to be here, and I hope you will come back to listen.

S

So for the next few days I am going to be busy with some pretty serious work stuff and will not be able to post anything here on “A Liberated Mind”…But not to worry – I will return first thing Monday…

I know, I know…You all will be waiting in sweet anticipation…

So here was my thought process on how I should handle being gone for the next several days without losing most of my estimated 7 readers that aren’t the dude in Saudi, my wife, my sister, and a buddy of mine who for some reason thinks my blog is really good (you know who you are, G)… 

So basically, I had three options on this deal:

1. Have a guest blogger come in for a couple of days to tide you all over until Monday when I get back…

This is a good idea in theory, but this becomes a massive problem when the guest blogger ends up writing some really impressive posts that are much more more entertaining and informative than any of the crap I come up with…

Then what I could see happening is that he/she would drive the readership up until I take back the reins come Monday…Once I started posting again, however, everybody then bails when they see just how truly not good my posts are…

Well, everybody that is except the dude in Saudi, my sister, my wife, and my buddy…I do hope they would stick around…

2. Just mysteriously disappear for 3 or 4 days and then pop back up on Monday with some grand story about being involved in some covert operation in Libya…

And as cool as that story would be (and yeah, it would rock), there are multiple problems with this course of action…You know, like the fact I don’t “work for the government”, the fact that the closest I will ever get to Libya will probably be Cancun (and if you don’t understand how massively far away those places are, I suggest you get a globe out and go to town), and when I think about it, the last thing I need is to have my readers think I am this really bad dude when, in fact, I cry every time I watch “The Notebook”…

Yeah, in all honestly, I’m kind of a wuss…And I don’t want to lie just to make you think otherwise…

3. Come up with a funny and entertaining little explanation for my absence and hope to God that it is funny and entertaining enough that nobody bails on me after not posting for a few days…

Because trust me, if I could post I would…But yeah, just won’t be an option…

Plus, there is a lot of fun stuff to discuss right now…With the biggest and most entertaining being the governor of Illinois (the state of my birth mind you) all calling Obama a really bad name (you know, rhymes with “brother trucker”) and then basically pretending he’s some country auctioneer with Obama’s old Senate seat…

Good plan, Mr. Governor, except the FBI is recording everything you say on the phone…Whoops, your bad…

Man, that is some really good stuff…

But, alas, I will return in a mighty way on Monday…I just hope you all can function properly without me until then…I know it will be tough, but do your best…

S 

It is Friday, and before I get to an OU prediction for the Big 12 Championship, I need to get some questions off my mind…

I don’t necessarily have the answers to these questions, but that is okay – questions don’t always need answers…

Unless you want to provide them in the comment section below…(hint, hint)…

The first question is something that is really bugging me lately: 

What’s the deal with people lining up in the cold at 4:30 in the morning the day after Thanksgiving to buy stuff they really don’t need to survive and can’t really afford the other 364 days of of the year?

And how did this whole “Black Friday” thing start anyway?  Maybe somebody could give me a history lesson…

Lastly on this topic, how many folks have to literally get injured or killed before stores take a look at this policy and figure out it is not a good deal?  5? 10? 25?  How many?

Moving on (sort of), and I am being serious here, is it possible in this country to discuss the true meaning of Christmas and not offend someone?

Thus, I am all about not having a state-run church, but to what length do we go to in that separation?

And why I am being so freaking deep today?

How about this one then: Is there ever an appropriate time for a man to wear a tank top?  Ever?

Have you ever watched a college or pro basketball game from a court-side seat?  If not, like Ferris said, “It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.”

Is there anything funnier than watching a two year old try to say “Christmas Tree”?  Not for my money…

And who’s with me is saying that we should figure out some way to do “spring and summer decorations” for our homes?  After all, we already have fall and Christmas decorations, right?  

Speaking of fall, how exactly does wind ”cut right through you”?

And why does this only seem to happen when it is cold?

Moving on to pop culture, what is the best 80’s movie that is still watchable (read: not too cheesy) to watch right now?  Well, the whole “not too cheesy part” cuts out like 95% of the movies made in the 80’s so you have your work cut out for you on that question…

Sorry if I am clueless, but who are Heidi and Spencer?

How massively shocked were my wife and I that Barbara Walters picked Barack Obama as the most fascinating person of the year?  Seriously?  Who saw that one coming?

Can anybody name the 5 Grammy nominations for album of the year that were just announced earlier this week without internet cheating it?  Okay, can anybody name just one of them?

Why does Mariah Carey still have a career?  Really?

And on the random front, soda, pop, or Coke?  If you understand the question, you will probably have an answer…

If cell phones cause cancer, what does it mean for me if I carry around two of them and an iPod all day?  Uh oh…

And lastly, and most importantly, Michael Phelps was named Sportsman of the Year this week by Sports Illustrated, and sort of reliving all of those Olympic moments made me wonder if anybody else was constantly uncomfortable with how low that dude wore his pants while he was swimming? 

Seriously, anybody else freaked out about that like I was?

Weekends are good, enjoy yours…

S

So tonight I emptied out the old attic at la casa de Brown and got down ALL of our Christmas decorations…The deal is that if I get them out of the attic and then put them back, my wife will do all the decorating for us…Which is probably a pretty good idea anyway, right?

I figured that getting all nearly dozen of the boxes down seemed like a pretty simple task, but like most things in my life, it turned out to be a real adventure…

Thus I decided to keep a running diary of the evening’s festivities on the Crackberry…Here is what transpired:

6:57 - Just got done with take out Sonic for dinner – the burger and 7 fries I got were not nearly as good as the sodas we had with them…Which is a pity since we only had Sonic for dinner because my wife had class and didn’t want to cook…Okay, let’s see what’s on TV…

6:59 – Wife just came in the room and asked me, “When are your going to get the Christmas decorations out of the attic?”

7:00 – My response of ”Um, what?” led to this exchange: “Seth, I told you this morning on the phone that I wanted to get the Christmas stuff out of the attic tonight…”

“Oh yeah, I forgot”…

“Well, when are you going to get them down?”

7:01 – This is about the time my brain realized this was not really a question at all, but more of a strongly worded suggestion…Not a command, mind you; merely a strongly worded suggestion…

Thus, this is what I responded with, “Uh, now?  Except it’s going to be really cold in the attic…”

Then, “Oh, that’s okay…Thanks for doing that”…

“Sure thing, honey…” 

Yeah, laugh it up, folks…

7:04 – With tennis shoes, shorts, and a long sleeve T as my protection, I make my way out to my garage…

7:05 – Dangit, have to open the garage door to move the car back so I can get into the attic…So cold…

7:07 – With the car moved and the ladder down, I make my way up…

7:08 – Oh, well at least all of the 9 boxes full of Christmas stuff aren’t all strung out all over the freaking attic…Dangit!

7:09 – Start clearing out space so that I can Navy Seal it and belly crawl to the very friggin’ back of the attic to where a couple of the friggin’ Christmas boxes are…

This is when I notice that our attic is much smaller than an average prison cell…Can you develop claustrophobia as a 30 year old?  Hmm…

7:11 – And here we go…HOLY CRAP, MOTHER OF PEARL, KELLY CLARKSON! 

Yeah, probably would have been a good idea to take the keys out of the front pocket of my shorts before I started belly crawling to the back of the attic…

And probably would have been a better idea to have worn pants instead of shorts…I am such an idiot…

7:13 - Always a good idea to open the boxes a bit to peak in and see if this is actually Christmas stuff…

Wait, what is this?  Hey, that’s my letter jacket from high school…If I could stand up, or heck, even sit up, I would try that bad boy on…Alas, I am on my belly…Guess I’ll have to save myself the embarrassment and horrible flood of memories until later… 

7:14 – I suddenly feel like the Asian gymnast in “Ocean’s 11″ when he is stuffed in the box that gets him into the vault at the casino…I wonder if I get stuck if my wife or child will be able to hear my cries for help?  I wonder if George Clooney and Matt Damon would come and help me like they did the Asian gymnast?  I’m guessing not…

7:16 - Four boxes down on the floor of the garage, seven to go…Seriously…Time to once again do the Bataan Death March up the stairs of the attic…

7:19 – Just accidentally bumped into one of my daughter’s old toys that still had the batteries in it…This particular toy had a clown on it that laughs real evil-like, and I am now trying to slow my breathing back down to normal human levels…

7:22 – Just two more boxes…You can do this!  What the heck?  Am I struggling this much with a few boxes of tree ornaments?  Yes, yes I am…

(more…)

Okay, guys and girls, I meant to post today, and yeah, never happened…All I can ask is that you check back at around noon tomorrow so that you too can ponder some questions I have right now about the world…

Have a good night and a pleasant tomorrow…

S

Your turkey has finally been eaten up, the relatives have all travelled back home, the Christmas decorations are either on display or the plans have been made for you to get them out of the attic (and really, do you need to be reminded again to get them down?), and you are back at work!  Yes! 

And really, don’t you love the first day back after an extended holiday weekend?

So if you will allow me, let me take stock of my weekend, and then we will move on to bigger and better things…

Thursday – drove to Sayre, OK, to have Thanksgiving with my side of the family…

Now if you know your Oklahoma geography (and really, who doesn’t?), you know that Sayre is about as far west on Interstate 40 as you can get in Oklahoma without getting into the panhandle of Texas…Basically, it is a looooong way out there…

Anyway, our two year old did well on the 2+ hour trip out there, we had a terrific and fun time with the family, and I didn’t eat too much that I felt sick afterwards…All in all a great Thanksgivng…

Friday – My wife and her parents took our daughter shopping all day, and I got some stuff done around the house…Pretty simple day…And thanks for letting us off work, Ned…

Saturday – Tried watching a few of the football games in preparation for the OU game on Saturday night and just couldn’t get into them…

Bedlam finally came on, though, and had about 6 heart attacks as the second half unfolded…Big win for the Sooners, though…And thanks for putting Mack Brown on the telecast, ESPN…That was awesome…Yep, loved it…Which leads me to…

Sunday - Channeling my inner “The Story of Us”, the highlight of Sunday was watching the BCS ratings with my wife and child (I know, I lead such an exciting life) and seeing the Sooners jumping the hated horns and thus earning a spot in the Big 12 title game…

But the lowlight was watching all the ESPN shows last night that did nothing but trash my beloved Sooners because of this very thing…

(And here is a quick anecdote – the guy hosting the college football show last night on ESPN actually asked one of the other ESPN commentators this question “What does this situation teach the Texas players about the fairness of the world?”  Seriously?  You asked that question?  What!?!?  I’ll tell you what it says to them – it says you should have beaten Texas Tech and not given up a last second touchdown!)…

But as I wrote elsewhere, come on, national media, just keep telling us all how unfair it is that OU jumped over Texas in the BCS standings, and keep drilling home the point that OU doesn’t deserve a shot at the Big 12 title because Texas beat them head to head…And then magically forget that Tech beat Texas head to head and that we beat Tech by 44…Oh, and then we went on the road and beat the #12 ranked team by 20 (who Texas only beat at home by 4) and that we laid 60 on yet another team…Keep talking, guys, keep talking…

The thing is, historically Stoops has done well when he can convince his boys that they are being disrespected and they should play with a chip on their shoulders because of it…

Now all he has to do is show them all the stuff that everybody on ESPN said about them last night and that chip could be huge come Saturday night…

Anyway, because I know that there are a few people out there who could care less, I will finish by saying to look for a prediction on Friday for one of the bigger games of the Stoops era…

Moving on with non-sports related stuff, here is what I figure will be on tap this week at ”A Liberated Mind”:

I do want to tackle some of the political stuff going on right now – this would include looking at Barack’s cabinet selections and how wildly different and fresh and new they are…It is almost as if he is simply re-picking every one of Clinton’s aides and appointees…Seriously, that is almost too much change to Washington for one guy to handle…

And I do want to comment at some point on what is happening with the US Senate in the light of the Coleman victory in Minnesota (Yes?  No?  Maybe so?), the Chambliss knock down drag out runoff in Georgia, and Liebermann’s wildcard status…And yeah, I kind of dig that guy even though he has been in there for way too long…

Oh, and I would like to talk a little bit about the economy now that we have come through Black Friday and we are at Red Monday…Red?  Maybe pink?  How about gray?  Although it is pretty sunny here today so how about Yellow Monday?  I am at work, though…Let’s try Blue Monday? 

Okay, I am done…

And speaking of Black Friday, I have never partaken in the whole “go somewhere at 4:00 a.m. just to stand outside in the cold until they open the doors at 5:00 a.m. just to rush in and hope you don’t get trampled to death in order to get a off brand flat panel TV for $299″ deal, and after last week’s multiple incidents, I don’t know that I ever will…I’m just saying… 

I would also like to discuss what the recent terrorism attacks in India mean to our security here, and how we should react to that tragic news…I am not saying we will react the way we should, but we do have some definite choices to make now as a country…

And here is a good idea on the terrorism front – why don’t you go ahead and shut Gitmo down, Barack…Then bring those 250 or so guys here, let them get nice and comfy in our prison system, help them all you can to recruit angry and embittered convicts serving alongside of them, and then watch how that original 250 or so grows to thousands…Wow, great plan…

Anyway, I hope your week has started off well, and that you stay tuned for what we have in store this week…It will hopefully be worth your time…

But I am definitely not making any promises…

S

You may or may not be aware of this, but tomorrow is the national holiday known, at least locally, as “Thanksgiving”…

I know, I know, you are probably saying to yourself, “There is a national holiday each year set aside for giving thanks?  That’s crazy”…

Yeah, it is…But even crazier than that is the fact that most of us get the day off from work, we usually gather together with a bunch of friends and family, and then we gorge ourselves with things like turkey, dressing, pie, and mashed potatoes…AND NOBODY SEEMS TO MIND US EATING WAY TOO MUCH…Seriously?

But shouldn’t Thanksgiving be about more than the food, the family, and the afternoons of watching football and falling asleep on the couch?  Shouldn’t we at least try to figure out why we should be thankful?

Because come on, let’s face it – we are a loaded country…I mean, we are absolutely filthy rich here in the United States…We are blessed beyond our wildest imaginations…And maybe we are sort of thankful and sort of appreciative at different times over the course of our lives, but for the most part, I know I often take for granted all the good things that I am given…

But at its foundation, what does it mean to be thankful?  Better put, what is the underlying motivation of true thankfulness?

It is my belief that at the core of thankfulness is humbleness…You know, humility – that mysterious mindset of putting others first and shunning the greatness of power and ego…

Seriously, think about that – truly and sincerely thankful people are humble people…They know they are blessed, they realized how undeserving they are of all the good things they have, and they more often than not will not take credit for what they are given in this world…

These are the folks that appreciate both the blue skies and the rain, the fact they have a roof over their heads, and even the hard times that seem beyond their control…They appreciate those hard times because they always seem to come out better people afterwards, and they are thankful for that…

With that being said, how can there be thankfulness without humility and humbleness?   I just don’t think this can happen…I mean really, it would be very hard to believe that egotistical and arrogant people can truly be thankful…It just logically doesn’t work for me…

So on the flipside, what is the opposite of thankfulness?  Think on that question for a moment…Try to define the antonym of thankfulness…What do you come up with?

One of my friends mentioned ungratefulness when I offered this question up and another said greed…I would say both of those work extraordinarily well…If I am ungrateful, I can not be thankful and if I am greedy, why would I be thankful?  I would just want more…

So yeah, those answers are great – and they both are better than my answer of “unthankfulness”…

But let me be honest: sometimes I need to look at myself and I need to be indicted for my “unthankfulness”…I take my very existence for granted, I rarely offer up pure and humble thanks, and I often attempt to take the credit for the good that happens in my life…I like that control, and thus I like that glory…

But thankfulness calls us each to the opposite – it calls us to distance ourselves from the credit, it calls us to enjoy the good things but not feel like we did anything to deserve them, and it calls us to keep this type of mindset all year round and not just one day out of the year…

Thanksgiving is a great time of year, and it is a holiday designed to make us aware of our blessings and be thankful for them…

But shouldn’t this one day spur us on to have this same type of attitude the other 364 throughout the year?  Shouldn’t we be thankful every day and not just one time out of the year?

My challenge to you is to think on that tomorrow as you gather with friends and family and enjoy the day off of work as you stuff your face…

At the end of the day as your prepare to either shop or work or just relax on Friday, think on the fact that true thankfulness begins and ends with humility and humbleness…

It is with this mindset I know I need to live my life and not just when I eat turkey and dressing on the last Thursday of November…

So enjoy the holiday, be careful as you travel, and be thankful of what you have…And don’t forget to check back on Friday for an OU/Oklahoma State score prediction…

S

Imagine this: What would the United State Senate look like in 2008 if Congress passed a second constitutional amendment at the same time they passed what would become the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution in 1947?

Yeah, not only two terms max for the President, but two terms of six years apiece for the Senate, too…

Crazy to think about, isn’t it?

Let’s look at the 100 guys and girls in the Senate and see how different the make up of the Senate would be if there were term limits for them (and we will go in alphabetical order by state)…

So are the senators from your state in or out?

Alabama: Richard Shelby - First Elected 1986 – He’s out…Jeff Sessions – First Elected 1996 – He would be out after this term…

Alaska: Ted Stevens - First Elected 1968 – He’s out anyway…Lisa Murtkowski - First Elected 2002 – She’s in…

Arizona: John McCain – First Elected 1986 – He’s out…Jon Kyl – First Elected 1994 – He’s out…

Arkansas: Blanche Lincoln – First Elected 1998 – He’s in…Mark Pryor – First Elected 2002 – He’s in…

California: Dianne Feinstein – First Elected in 1992 (in a special election) – She’s out…Barbara Boxer – First Elected in 1992 – She’s out…

Colorado: Wayne Allard – First Elected in 1996 – He would be out after this term…Ken Salazar - First Elected in 2004 – He’s in…

Connecticut: Chris Dodd - First Elected in 1980 – He’s way out…Joe Lieberman – First Elected in 1988 – He’s out…

Delaware: Joe Biden - First Elected in 1972 – He’s way out but is out anyway…Sigh…Tom Carper - First Elected in 2000 – He’s in…

Florida: Bill Nelson - First Elected in 2000 – He’s in…Mel Martinez - First Elected in 2004 – He’s in…Good job, Florida…

Georgia: Saxby Chambliss - First Elected in 2002 – He’s in (though that is still up in the air)…Johnny Isakson - First Elected in 2004 – He’s in…

Hawaii: Daniel Inouye - First Elected in 1962 – Yeah, he’s way out…Daniel Akaka – First Elected in 1990 – He’s out…

Idaho: Larry Craig – First Elected in 1990 – He’s out anyway…Mike Crapo - First Elected in 1998 – He’s in…

Illinois: Dick Durbin - First Elected in 1996 – He would be out after this term…Barack Obama - First Elected 2004 – He would be in, but yeah…

Indiana: Dick Lugar - First Elected in 1976 – Yeah, he’s way out…Evan Bayh - First Elected in 1998 – He’s in…

Iowa: Chuck Grassley - First Elected in 1980 – He’s out…Tom Harkin - First Elected in 1984 – He’s out…

Kansas: Sam Brownback - First Elected in 1996 – He would be out after this term…Pat Roberts - First Elected in 1996 (in a special election) – He would be out after this term…

Kentucky: Mitch McConnell - First Elected in 1984 – He’s out…Jim Bunning - First Elected in 1998 – He’s in…

Louisiana: Mary Landrieu - First Elected in 1996 – She would be out after this term…David Vitter - First Elected in 2004 – He’s in…

Maine: Olympia Snow – First Elected in 1994 – She’s out…Susan Collins - First Elected in 1996 – She would be out after this term…

Maryland: Barbara Mikulski - First Elected in 1986 – She’s out…Ben Cardin - First Elected in 2006 – He’s in…

Massachusetts: Ted Kennedy - First Elected in 1962 (What!?!?) – Um, yeah, he’s out…John Kerry - First Elected in 1984 – He’s out…

Michigan: Carl Levin - First Elected in 1978 – He’s out…Debbie Stabenow - First Elected in 2000 – She’s in…

Minnesota: Norm Coleman - First Elected in 2002 – He’s in, but may not be much longer…Amy Klobacher - First Elected in 2006 – She’s in…

Mississippi: Thad Cochran - First Elected in 1978 – He’s out…Roger Wicker – First Elected in 2006 – He’s in…

Missouri: Kit Bond - First Elected in 1986 – She’s out…Claire McCaskill -First Elected in 2006 – She’s in…

Montana: Max Baucus - First Elected in 1978 – He’s out…Jon Tester – First Elected in 2006 – He’s in…

Nebraska: Chuck Hagel - First Elected in 1996 – He would be out after this term…Ben Nelson - First Elected in 2000 – He’s in…

Nevada: Harry Reid - First Elected in 1986 – He’s out…John Ensign – First Elected in 2000 – He’s in…

New Hampshire: Judd Gregg - First Elected in 1992 – He’s out…John Sununu – First Elected in 2002 – He would be in, but he got beat this past election so he’s out anyway…

New Jersey: Frank Lautenberg - First Elected in 2002 – He’s in…Bob Menendez - First Elected in 2006 – He’s in…

New Mexico: Pete Domenici - First Elected in 1972 – He would be out, but chose not to seek re-election this term anyway…And I have never heard of him…Hmm…Jeff Bingaman - First Elected in 1982 – He’s out…

New York: Chuck Schumer – First Elected in 1998 – He’s in…Hillary Clinton - First Elected in 2000 – She’s in, but out if she accepts the Secretary of State post…

North Carolina: Elizabeth Dole – First Elected in 2002 – She would be in, but she got beat this past election…Richard Burr - First Elected in 2004 – He’s in…

North Dakota: Kent Conrad - First Elected in 1986 – He’s out…Byron Dorgan- First Elected in 1992 – He’s out, but I have never even heard of him…Hmm…

Ohio: George Voinovich - First Elected in 1998 – He’s in…Sherrod Brown - First Elected in 2006 – He’s in…

Ah yes, Oklahoma: Jim Inhofe - First Elected in 1994 – He’s out…Tom Coburn - First Elected in 2004 – He’s in…Thank goodness…

Oregon: Ron Wyden - First Elected in 1996 (in a special election) – He’s out…Gordon Smith - First Elected in 1996 – He’s out…

Pennsylvania: Arlen Specter – First Elected in 1980 – He’s out…Bob Casey, Jr. – First Elected in 2006 – He’s in…

Rhode Island: Jack Reed - First Elected in 1996 – He’s out…Sheldon Whitehouse - First Elected in 2006 – He’s in…

South Carolina: Lindsey Graham - First Elected in 2002 – He’s in…Jim DeMint - First Elected in 2004 – He’s in…

South Dakota: Tim Johnson – First Elected in 1996 – He would be out after this term…John Thune – First Elected in 2004 – He’s in…

Tennessee: Lamar Alexander - First Elected in 2002 – He’s in…Bob Corker - First Elected in 2006 – He’s in…

Texas: Kay Bailey Hutchinson - First Elected in 1992 – She’s out…John Cornyn – First Elected in 2002 – He’s in…

Utah: Orrin Hatch – First Elected in 1976 – He’s out…Robert Bennett – First Elected in 1992 – He’s out…

Vermont: Patrick Leahy – First Elected in 1974 – He’s out…Bernie Sanders – First Elected in 2006 – He’s in…

Virginia: John Warner – First Elected n 1978 – He’s out…Jim Webb - First Elected in 2006 – He’s in…

Washington: Patty Murray - Who?  First Elected in 1992 – She’s out…Maria Cantwell - How come I have never heard of either of these women? First Elected in 2000 – She’s in…

West Virginia: Robert Byrd - Um, First Elected in 1958! – Yeah, in this deal, he was out in 1970…Jay Rockefeller – First Elected in 1984 – He’s out…

Wisconsin: Herb Kohl – First Elected in 1988 – He’s out…Russ Feingold – First Elected in 1992 – He’s out…

Wyoming: Mike Enzi – First Elected in 1996 – He would be out after this term…John Barrasso – First Elected in 2006 – He’s in…

So let’s tally it up…

The number of those would be out after this most recent election if there were 12 Year Term Limits for the United States Senate: 55…

Number of those would still be in if there were term limits: 45…

Over half of the United States Senate would be gone if there were term limits on these guys…Holy smokes…

But do those numbers tell the whole story?

For instance, take a look at how many have been senators have been in since or before 1988 (when I was 10)…Just look at some of these dates:

Richard Shelby since 1986…Ted Stevens since 1968…John McCain since 1986…Chris Dodd since 1980…Joe Lieberman since 1988…Joe Biden since 1972…Daniel Inouye since 1962…Dick Lugar since 1976…Chuck Grassley since 1980…Tom Harkin since 1984…Mitch McConnell since 1984…Barbara Mikulski since 1986…Ted Kennedy since 1962 – Again, WHAT!?!?  John Kerry since 1984…Carl Levin since 1978…Thad Cochran since 1978…Kit Bond since 1986…Max Baucus since 1978…Harry Reid since 1986…Pete Domenici since 1972…Jeff Bingaman since 1982…Kent Conrad since 1986…Arlen Specter since 1980…Orrin Hatch since 1976…Patrick Leahy since 1974…John Warner since 1978…Robert Byrd SINCE 1958!!!  Jay Rockefeller since 1984…Herb Kohl since 1988…

What this means is that 29 out of 100 United States Senators (29%) have been in Washington for 20 years or longer…21 our of 100 have been in since at least 1984…1984!  You remember that year, right?  I remember that was the year we got cable TV for the first time at my house and around that time “Thriller” came out…No way!  Thriller?!?!

How can this happen?

And this is not a Republican or Democrat problem and it is not a geographical problem or a socioeconomic problem…But it is a leadership and common sense problem…

See, I just look at what is happening right now in our government and have to laugh because I wonder how much these guys and girls really care about us…I wonder to what lengths they would go to keep their seats and why no one can seem to unseat them…And we wonder why they are called career politicians?

It kind of scares me to think these folks have been governing this long and then we have the messes we have with the economy, the ever-growing government, and the looming threats both overseas and within our own borders…

It just kind of bothers me that 29% of the people who were governing us when I was just a 3^rd grader – who might I add cared about nothing more than finding a curb to jump my bike on - are still in control in Washington…Seriously…

So what do we do?  Well, I doubt the United States Senate will ever consider putting forth a consitutional amendment to the people of this country that would limit their own power to 12 years…But, that doesn’t mean that regular folks can’t hold these guys and girls accountable and vote them out of office next time they come up for reelection…

And yeah, that is an uphill battle, but we have to at least give it a go…And alas, it will take some time, but still…

All I know is that we need a change in Washington, and I don’t just mean for president…

S