What goes around...

It's a funny thing, lately most of the CDs (yes I still buy those and only download out of print stuff for the most part) that I have bought have also been released on LP!

Yes, LP, as in long play RECORD.

It's pretty bizarre that 20 years ago LPs were old hat and you just had to get a CD player and now things are going in reverse.  It used to be that you had to buy the CD to get a bonus song or two.  

Now, the record version is being released with bonus song(s), that you can only get on the record and not the CD!  Talk about what goes around, comes around!

To make things even stranger, Cheap Trick is releasing their new album on EIGHT TRACK! Who actually has one of those tape melting monsters anymore?  :)

I guess it's true what the Bible says: "There's nothing new under the Sun".

Transformers - Stupidity of the Fallen

Today I had the chance to do the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen "IMAX" Experience. I'd rather call it the IMAX Jr. Experience, since the screen was only 2 stories tall and not 5 stories tall like it should have been to really be an IMAX.

I loved 90% of the movie, but the other 10% is really what this entry is about.

Spoilers are ahead, so you've been warned.

My biggest gripe with the movie is this: When Transformers debuted, it came out as a cartoon for kids of my generation to push one thing, a toy.

As you can imagine, it didn't include THREE jokes about A: A dog humping another dog (on screen both times) or B: A robot humping a human.

It also didn't include several sexually explicit scenes, even if they are short, that would NEVER have made it into the cartoon.

Hollywood has been out of touch for many decades now, but I'm disgusted and saddened that they think it's appropriate to do these types of things in a movie where they know TONS of families will take their small children to see the movie because they love the characters.

When it comes down to it, Hollywood - Grow up.

Now many of you will read this and think "Wow, Wes needs to come out of the 19th Century!", but frankly I don't care anymore. If something is wrong, it is wrong. It doesn't matter if it is politically correct, if something is wrong, it's wrong.

OH HI OH!

That's right, it's time I hit the road again for another coaster somewhere.

This weekend I head up to Cincinnati to ride Kings Islands' newest creation Diamondback.  

The coaster is in the 235 ft tall neighborhood, honestly I can't keep up with the stats on coasters much anymore.  But they usually just top each other by 5 ft each time it seems.

And on another positive note, I've finally gotten back to working on my book, yes book!

It's all done on the digital version, and now I need to print it off and start shopping for an agent, to see if anyone likes it.  Wish me luck!

Life in the slow lane

As many of you know, I lost my job earlier this month but it officially takes place a week from today.

As I've been on my free vacation for the past 2+ weeks, I have had time to process the shock of being laid off, and to try and get past the emotions that still want to rear their ugly heads every now and then.

If anything positive has come out of this (so far), it's the way God has used this as a witness.  I talked to so many strangers the weekend it happened and somehow the subject came up, but I'd always say something like "God is going to take care of me".  Most seemed OK with that and agreed, but I could tell a few were thinking the common "If God is so good, why do bad things happen to good people?".

Well, I'm not about to get into that whole subject because there are better writers than I that have already beautifully handled that subject before.

I will say though that despite my many faults and despite the fact that God warned me in the past on a few issues, God has still been faithful.  God is still Father and still loves His kids and will take care of them, if we only depend on Him.

There have been other positive things: I've stayed faithful to going to the gym, I've gotten some yard work done and a few other projects are on the agenda as well if I can't find a job soon.

So thanks for all the prayers, I'm so thankful to God for so many great friends and friends of a diverse background.  It's easy to get stuck in my little world view, so it's good I think to have friends that don't always see the world the same way as I do.

Anyway, that's all for now.  Thanks again.

$50

$50, that's it.

What is Wes talking about, you are asking yourself.

$50 is what it would take from every family in America to create $5 Billion of influx into our economy.

Do you realize what $5 Billion would do, if say every family in America went out this weekend and then spent $50, on say a new chair, dinner out, some DVDs, some theater tickets whatever.

I know everyone is cutting back these days, and I understand why. But if we all stop spending, the economy will come to a screeching halt, if it hasn't already.

It's just something to think about. $5 Billion is a whole lot of money flowing through our economy if you think about it.

And think about it this way:

You pay $1 to the grocery store
The grocery store pays that $1 to a distributor
The distributor pays that $1 to a farmer
The farmer pays that $1 to a feed store
The feed store pays that $1 to their employee
The employee pays that $1 to a grocery store
And the cycle starts again...

Where we put our trust, says a lot about our country. We need to depend on God, and help each other more and not depend on the government and help ourselves.

Half A Pound

No, this has nothing to do with a Will Smith movie, just an update on where I am with my weight.
As many of you know, I have struggled for some time with losing weight. I lost a total of about 50 lbs, and then I hit the wall.

This wall wasn't any normal wall. It seemed to have no way over, under, through or around it.

For the past year I have struggled to get past this wall, and without much success.

About 3 weeks ago, I started afresh on my diet and exercies plan. I lost nothing last week, but this week I lost a half pound!!!

That might not seem like much, but it is a great start I think.

I'm going to try and stay motivated this time and hopefully I can figure out something with God's help to get the rest of this weight off of me, one and for all!

Keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

Here's an idea Wall Street CEO's

Hey CEO's on Wall Street! I have a great idea for you!

Why don't you all take a pay cut down to $1,000,000 per year, then use those funds to help pay the salaries of your already underpaid employees that you are cutting because you didn't know how to do your job.

I think it's outrageous when a CEO comes out and says they are laying people off to save money, when they themselves are making $10,000,000 a year in salary and bonuses.

And while were on the economy, I've got a great bailout idea for the Feds! Why not pay off everyones credit cards in the US? You would have so much money available then for people to go out and spend money and pump into the economy, that we'd be out of the recession in no time!

OK, rant over.