Some of my friends think that I’m a really smart guy but the truth is, although they’re right, the reason is because I have a couple of tools that I use whenever I don’t know something:

(1.) Google

(2.) Wikipedia

That’s right.  I google everything, then I check it with wikipedia.  Wikipedia is scary.  Anyone can post to that site, so would think that a lot of people just post things that couldn’t be true.  Right?

WRONG!

What’s scary is how accurate that wikipedia really is.  Information reaches the public on wikipedia almost immediately, sometimes before it actually happens.  As I’m writing this the date for today is July 7, 2009.  The details of Michael Jackson’s Memorial service, which happened today in Los Angeles, are already on wikipedia.com.

The secret to wisdom is not just knowing a lot of stuff, though that doesn’t hurt.  The secret is knowing where to look for stuff you don’t know.

My former roomate, Thomas Umstattd, is a teacher in the truest sense of the word.  Whenever I had a question, especially one about technology, he would never give me a straight answer.  He would always, and I do mean always, ask me “Have you checked google yet?”

“Thomas, what’s the HTML command for font size?”

“Have you asked google yet?”

“Thomas, where can I find tutorials for Photoshop?”

“Have you checked google yet?”

“Thomas, do we have a hammer anywhere in the house?”

“Try google.”  (I actually did experience that.)

The fact is after awhile I was getting frustrated but then I started trying google.  Especially how-to things.  Google excels in that.  For example, I’ve queried google about “How to write a good press release?” and I came up with a list of different websites and articles about that very topic.  One of my favorites that came up was www.prweb.com.

I’ve also found all sorts of German and Russian recipes thanks to this wonderous search engine because I really like to cook and show off my skill for my family and my girlfriend.

I had a question about how much a paintball gun would cost me and I got another list of reliable sites to help in my search.

What Thomas did for me is he didn’t give me a fish.  He taught me how to fish.

It says in the Bible in the book of Proverbs “if you give a man a fish you feed him for a day.  If you teach a man how to fish,you feed him for a lifetime.”

The answer is simple: I’m saving the world, one taco at a time.

I know I complain a lot about my job, and it’s true that I don’t like it.  But I still have to work to bring a paycheck home, right?

So really I just have to find a way to deal with it.

By day I’m a mild-mannered college student, but at night I’m Taco Salad Man, a dark hero who protects the innocent with an array of weapons, such as my dual sour cream and guacamole guns, name tag that doubles as a recording device, my grappling hook belt (still working the kinks out of that one), slip resistant shoes, and of course my knowledge of every Jackie Chan movie ever made.

Other fast food companies cringe in fear of my burritos as they can produce a deadly gas when eaten.

I’m still trying to convince my manager to let me have a signal, sort of like Batman’s only a bell instead of a bat, but so far she won’t.

I trust that all of my readers will keep my identity safe as Macdonald’s spies can be everywhere.

You know the funny thing about asprin?

It only numbs the pain for a little while.  It doesn’t actually fix what’s causing the pain.  That’s for your body to deal with.

I had to learn this lesson last night when I decided to hit a wall instead of an unpleasant coworker.

Now hitting that wall didn’t solve the problem.  It just gave me a couple seconds of emotional satisfaction and still left a mess to clean up because I almost broke my hand doing it.  My manager let me clock out so I could go to the hospital and have it checked out.

In retrospect, I’m glad I felt the shooting pain when I hit the wall because withoug that pain the lesson wouldn’t have been driven all the way home.

Here’s the lesson: I let my coworker get under my skin and I let the wall beat me.

The asprin temporarily numbed it, but the pain let’s me know that I’m still alive.  The sadness I’m feeling right now is proof that my heart is still here, it’s just broken.

But sometimes I feel like I’m so far away from the people and the things that matter the most to me.

She was tough and loyal.  She took me to work and school, and home without fail.  Yeah she had her problems, but who doesn’t?  But all good things must come to an end, and with over 100,000 miles it was inevitable.

This is my 1989 Dodge Ram Charger.  My family has had her for over 10 years, and I just wanted to share a little about my relationship with her.

You’ll notice that the right fender, hood, and grill are all different from the rest of the vehicle.  Those are really just battle scars.  In October of 2007 I was coming home from a Halloween party, dressed as the Punisher, and I managed to hit a deer at about 70 mph.

The reason I say battle scars is because the truck took the brunt of the impact and saved my life that night.  She protected me.  In something smaller I would have been hurt badly, but i actually walked away without a scratch.  And amazingly I still managed to drive home that night.

 

 

These are my student parking stickers from Temple College.  I’m reminded of all the trips to school in my Charger, of all the Life Group meetings I had after class, of the rides I gave my friends to campus just to hang out.

And she was right there waiting for me every day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She was affectionately called “The Beast” by my friends and coworkers.

I miss the roar of her V-8 engine when I hit the starter button.  I miss the oil leaks and holes in the radiator that my step-dad and I had to fix.

I miss the time I got to work on her and the way it brought me closer to my family.

It’s hard for me just trying to find stuff to do when I’m not at work.  Every time I work I don’t have to think, I just do.

On my days off I try to do chores or write something or I go and play Oblivion (my orc warrior is now at level 12 thank you very much).  But even that stuff gets monotonous.  If nothing else I just try to find stuff to laugh about, like the following video by Barats and Berta:

In conclusion, just try to find something fun or ridiculous to do everyday.

Recently my boss had everyone read and sign a notice that says we understand it’s wrong to discriminate against people with disabilities and that we’re not going to do it.

And, with all notices, we wouldn’t have to sign them if it hasn’t already happened somewhere.  A few weeks ago a lady came into a store with a seeing eyedog.  The whole way through her meal the dog was well-behaved and hadn’t caused any trouble, but the manager in charge of that shift misunderstood and asked the customer to leave.  Things got heated and the police had to come in to settle the dispute.  My boss and I were talking about it at our store and we both agree it shouldn’t be an issue period.

Now my question is where has our compassion gone as people? Why do we have so much trouble loving others?  I guess when you take a lot of crap in your life you begin to get numb and forget what it’s like to be human.

But I want to draw your attention to another story that happened a few years ago in the east.

You have no idea what a smile, a frown, or a tear can do for someone’s day.

One day I was at WalMart with my girlfriend.  We had to pick up some bananas and bread and a pair of shoes.  She tried on one pair of shoes that were solid white.  But she decided they didn’t go with her shirt so she put them back on the shelf.  I thought they were fine and received a cold stare fur my input.

The next pair she tried on were purple with ribbons on the toe.  I thought they would work with her summer dress, but they turned out to be too expensive.

One hour, four asprin, and one hundred twenty five pairs of shoes later (I was actually counting), and we were both exhausted and exasperated at our search.  On the way out of the store a little box stood out from all the rest on the shelves.  Soft music began to play in the background and time seemed to slow down.  It was kind of like that scene in The Lord of the Rings when Frodo Baggins first received the One Ring.  My girlfriend tried the shoes on and they fit perfectly.  She walked around in them and they were comfortable, like she’d had them for a while now.  In truth they were the very first pair of shoes she tried on an hour ago.

And right when I was about to say something she said “They do go with my shirt.  I told you so.”

Some of y’all have been wanting to see my photography work and I’m happy to say that I now have a spot in an online gallery at http://rogueimager.deviantart.com/gallery/.  I’m going to post to this gallery weekly and see how things turn out.

I want to thank everyone who has given me their love and support and all the little people I stepped on to get here.   You mean the world to me.

I want to ask my readers a question:  What matters most to you?

Is it fame, fortune, family, friendship, or something else?

There’s nothing  wrong with any of the above, it’s just a question I want you to think about.

For me, at the end of the day when I’m going to sleep at night I have one word on my mind:  hope.   Hope that when I’m going to sleep at night I’ve become a better man than when I woke up this morning.  Hope that I’ve become a better man for my family, that I’ve learned a little more about the mysteries of life, that I’ve made someone laugh today, that I’ve made an impact, however small, on the world.

So here’s my challenge to you: Ask yourself when you’re going to bed tonight, ‘What does matter most to me?’ You might be presently surprised.

And send some comments this way.  My comments section is drier than a bowl of prunes right now.

Have you ever felt like a failure?

This one goes out for the underdogs.

To the college student who just failed a test. To the guy who just made his girlfriend mad. This is for the person working for minimum wage who’s struggling to pay their bills.

Eleven months ago I left for basic training at Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois. Three months after that I came home because I had been given a medical discharge for my anemia and ulcerative colitis.

I tried calling my mom to let her know that she didn’t need to come up for my graduation in July because I was being discharged, but I only got her voice mail. I was relieved that I didn’t have to tell her over the phone because I just felt so ashamed. I had failed. I couldn’t make it in the military and I was running home to mom.

But the thing is she wasn’t ashamed of me at all. She told me that I’m her son and she’s my mother. Nothing would ever change that. And then it hit me: If my mom is going to love me and stand by me through the rough times in my life, how much more love and support is God willing to give for me?

The answer to that is summed up here: He gave us His best in His son Jesus.

I don’t have to be perfect, because He already is. I’m a child of God. He loves me very much. And He created me to love Him back.

My discharge wasn’t the end of my life. It was just the end of Round 1.