Black Friday

So as you may have read in my Mom-In-Laws blog that we have plans to go out and brave the craziness that is Black Friday. Now, I was talking to my kids today about it and I asked them if anyone of them was planning on going out for Black Friday. One of my kids raised his hand and said, "Mr. Franklin, I thought you said racism was bad." I said, "What do you mean?". This kid said, "Why would you celebrate a day that is called Black Friday?" So I had to explain to him that it was called that because it was the time of the year when businesses get out of the red, meaning owing money, and got in the black, making money. Although this year it may still be red on the ledgers for most stores even after Friday. I love kids and the questions they come up with. You would think it would be the same every year, but they come up with new questions that make me think as well, I love it. Anyway, I think I found a good place to start. Cascade Station in Oregon.

Here are the good points:
1) The stores (Best Buy, Target, Ross and IKEA all in the same place)
2) It's in Oregon, meaning, no sales tax!!!
3) Everything is within walking distance of each other
4) Whitney and her Mom throw good elbows and are aggressive shoppers when pushed to be

Downfalls:
1) Craziness (can't be avoided no matter where we go)
2) With that many high volume stores in one area, the parking situation could get interesting
3) My need to eat every 3 hours, this could really handicap our ability to marathon shop with my blood sugar dropping so easily

Now, let me make it real clear, we have no intention on buying anything when we go to the stores, I just love to watch the people and the way they act. It makes me want to ask them in they have read The Lord of the Flies.Anyway, if you chose to go out on Friday, bring your A game and watch your back. There are people out there who would put a spear through your forehead just for a Tickle Me Elmo and not bat an eyelash doing it.

Polaroid Pics on MAC

So, I am a devoted MAC-Man. I grew up with PCs and played around with MACs a little. But after the school district so graciously purchased me a MacBook Pro, I have converted. Anyways, I am really into getting the most out of my machines with using all of their features and I have found a great little program that is only available on the MAC at this time. It will take any pictures you currently have and turn them into a Polaroid version. Now, I know it doesn't enhance the quality by any means, but it looks really cool and is kind of fun if you want to do some sort of retro invitation or you are putting your older photos on a website. It is really cool too because it actually takes a while for it to "develop", I tried shaking it on my screen, but it didn't make it go any faster. Here are the pics I have done so far for samples:



The website is: http://www.poladroid.net/

Enjoy!!!!

CBS Evening News Last Night

Watch CBS Videos Online

Last Night CBS Evening News ran a story on the factory in Iowa that my Dad would have ran if he didn't go to China. Sounds like they are doing some real good for that community they are in.

Maybe not...

I have followed the Falcons for the past probably 14 years as my NFL team of choice. The reason why, I loved the colors black and red when I was a kid and my parents got me a Falcons winter coat, and back in those days, whatever team was on your winter coat, was your team. So here I am, in the 4th grade, rooting for a team on the exact opposite corner of the US for that simple reason. Anyways, As I grew up I got to know some of the better players, Keith Brooking, Patrick Kerney, etc. and endured some of the more questionable players, Jeff George, Chris Chandler, Deion Sanders. So to me, Atlanta Falcons football has been mediocre, but acceptable, except for a couple years of glory when they went to the Super Bowl in 1998 and lost to the retiring John Elway and when they made the push for the Super Bowl again in 2004 only to lose to the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game.

I as a life-long dirty bird watched as the Falcons wasted a first round draft pick on Michael Vick instead of taking the leading rusher in the nation, anybody remember....?? LaDanian Tomlinson. He hasn't really done anything with his career either though right?
While on my lunch break today, I jumped onto MSNBC to see the most recent news article postings to find out what was happening with the pirates of the Indian Ocean, and came across a news article talking about fans finally getting over Michael Vick leaving Atlanta. Now, I have been alright with him leaving from the beginning, 1) Because he will probably go down as one of the most selfish on-field players of all time but more importantly 2) Because he starved dogs to the point where they would fight each other to the death while his friends gambled and made hundreds of thousands of dollars on their unfortunate deaths. The article disagreed with me however. They claim that many people in the Atlanta community are upset with the way his trial was handled based on his race. They say that the main reason why he was presumed guilty before innocent was the color of his skin. Now, I don't know what wa the bigger smoking gun, the massive amount of dead and badly injured dogs on his property, or that everyone else involved in the case pointed a finger at him as guilty while they were amitting their sins as well, but it seems like race doesn't usually play a factor when all of the bare bone facts are right in front of you. Like I said before, nothing really amazes me these days.

Time Travel Fund

Ok, so about four years ago, when I was still in college, I found this website called timetravelfund.com. I was blown away by the craziness that followed. Not only do these people try to convince you that time travel is possible, but they outdo Dr. Brown by one step and actually expect you to contribute, hence the fund, to their experiment. The upside though is that they help you figure out how much money you will have when your "investment" has had thousands of years to mature in their account. It always amazes me that people like this have found a big enough niche in society to make a group. You know what though, as long as they have found other people to share their dillusions with, what can be the harm? I guess they won't be too disappointed when they die and no one but God comes to get them. Please check out this website to see just how amazing this is: www.timetravelfund.com, and remember, it's your ticket to the future!!

Pirates??

I'm not sure how many people have been watching the news, but off the coast of Somalia, which has been without a national government since 1991, there has been a series of Pirate raids, yes Pirate raids, on Oil tankers. The most recent oil tanker captured is 5 times the size of an aircraft carrier and holds $100 million worth of crude oil. Sometimes I watch the news and with all of this craziness with the economy, stock market and the three major car producers going bankrupt, it feels like I am stuck in a bad dream. But, when they start talking about actual pirates on the news, that is where the dream takes a whole different kind of tangent. What is happening in our world??

The discussion over holidays

For those of us who have been noticing the recent attacks against anything and everything Christian in our world, and especially the nonsense we will have to deal with on tv, the radio and in the schools during CHRISTmas, this is for you. My Mom sent me this and I got a kick out of it.

FLORIDA COURT SETS ATHEIST HOLY DAY

In Florida , an atheist created a case against the upcoming Easter & Passover holy days. He hired an attorney to bring a discrimination case against Christians, Jews & observances of their holy days. The argument was it was unfair that atheist had no such recognized day(s).

The case was brought before a judge. After listening to the passionate presentation by the lawyer, the judge banged his gavel declaring, 'Case dismissed.' The lawyer immediately stood objecting to the ruling saying, 'Your honor, how can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have Christmas, Easter & others. The Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur & Hanukkah. Yet my client & all other atheists have no such holidays..'

The judge leaned forward in his chair saying, 'But you do. Your client, counsel, is woefully ignorant.' The lawyer said, 'Your Honor, we are unaware of any special observance or holiday for atheists.' The judge said, 'The calendar says April 1st is 'April Fools Day.' Psalm 14:1 states 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God.' Thus, it is the opinion of this court, that if your client says there is no God, then he is a fool. Therefore, April 1st is his day. Court is adjourned.

GU Basketball

For some people in Spokane the mere mention of Gonzaga basketball is enough to get their blood pressure spiked to the point where you would think that they were actually playing in the game. I have never been one of these people I guess. I never really jumped on the wagon back in the late 90's early 2000's when they were making their big runs and wasn't really ever going to make it a point in my life to go to a game because of the insane amount of work it is to get tickets. That was until Whit started working at Gonzaga. Now, if you don't know what Whitney does, let me tell you a little first. She is the event specialist for the President of GU. Meaning, she gets to throw parties and plan cool events for everyone who donates considerable amounts of money to the Zags. She loves it, but it sounds like a nightmare sometimes to me. Anyway, back to what I was talking about.


Whit and I now go to the games because she gets free tickets and it has been a blast! I love college basketball waaaaay more than the NBA. Maybe it is because they are still playing for something bigger than themselves and not just a bigger contract, more cars and a bigger house. Now, don't get me wrong, a lot of professional athletes have been excellent stewards of God's money and helped shape a lot of communities for the better across the US. But, the majority are not in the sport for much more than securing their families financial future. Whit and I got to go watch GU destroy Montana State Billings (really) and we are going tonight to watch them take on one of my three alma maters (long story, couldn't decide where I wanted to go to college) the University of Idaho. I am going to bet that GU will probably have a good showing against the Vandals of Moscow, but if you want to see some good GU basketball, don't turn your TV on until the second half. For some reason they don't like to really show up in the first 20 minutes. Maybe they are upholding the long-standing traidtion of their Jesuit founder by being charitable in the first 20??

Finally it hit me

Well, as most of you know, I am a teacher. This means that I am surrounded, in my case, by about 85 different kids in my room throughout the day. Now, 6th graders are not historically the most hygienic group of individuals so you can imagine how sparse our attendance gets this time of the year. My first two years of teaching I maxed out my sick days due to the fact that I wasn't used to being around that many sick kids and that many different kinds of sickness. But today, I have finally fallen victim this year to a bit of a stomach and head bug. I guess I have a couple more years to go before I can boast about my disease immunity. At least I will have a good defense built up by the time we have our own kids!!

KC is out of the sea

  

Well, for those of you who don't know, my brother has been an onboard biologist for the fishing boats in Alaska on the Bering Sea since late August. We have been praying for his safety, as the Bering Sea is slightly higher on the wavy scale than a bubble bath. We are extremely excited to sit down with him and discuss what he saw and who who talked to while he was on his first two boats. It is awesome to see him so excite about the experiences he is getting to have. 

Still Vickless in Atlanta, and loving it!

The above picture is my reaction to the season the Falcons are currently having. I just have one thing to ask you, does anybody else know that the Falcons are now 6-3 without Vick. Is anyone actually missing him? I think I speak for all Dirty Birds in the Nest when I say we are happy to be Vickless in Atlanta.

Epicurean Delight

Last night Whit and I got a chance to go rub elbows with the elite of Spokane and the amazing fund raiser for the Inland Northwest Blood Center, Epicurean Delight. Now, those of you who know me know that I am an eater. I love food. This event featured the best restaurants in Spokane (Clinkerdaggers, Outback Steakhouse, Europa etc.) along with the best caterers as well slugging it out to see who the best of the best was when it comes to food in the Inland Northwest. We had the daunting task of trying all that they had to offer and the even more imposing task of telling ourselves to stop eating the most delicious food we have had in a long time. We got the tickets from Father Spitzer when he sponsored a table for Gonzaga and asked Whitney to use two of the tickets. I love that she works there. Not only for the fancy dinners and basketball tickets, but that she has genuinely found something she loves to do. We also stayed the night in the Davenport Tower as well, taking advantage of the amazing teacher's discount they have. It is only $120 a night for the tower and $150 for the regular hotel. We are not talking a two twin size bed room, we are talking a Deluxe King Room. If any of you who are reading this are teachers, you need to seriously consider this as an option for a relxing getaway right in your own backyard.

God's Mercy

So if you haven't been coming to Timberview over the past few months, shame on you (just kidding), we have been studying the Beattitudes. The funny thing to me is whoever came up with the name for this amazing set of guidelines to live by. Of all the things to call them, they came up with the most simple, yet completely encompassing description. Be these attitudes. I think Christ would like that. A non-imposing explanation for such an Earth shaking set of clues on how we should live, just like Jesus.

Anyway, we studied Matthew 5:7 which says, "God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy". And the immediate question comes to my mind, does everybody deserve mercy? What about those people who committ such horrid crimes that our only human reaction is anger and contempt for them. When we want to run out and start judging and sentencing them to death, would God want us to show them mercy? Does God expect us to just excuse them for what they have done to us or to others we may or may not know? Of all of the Beattitudes, this is by far the most confusing for me. At what point does our ability to not show mercy to certain individuals become satsifactory to God? I know that we are ultimately not the final judge for those poor, misguided individuals, but we are only human right?

Well, I was reading Romans 9 today and as God always does, he answered my question a little. Romans 9:14-16 which says, "Are we saying then that God was unfair? Of course not! For God said to Moses, 'I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.' So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it." So, we obvisouly can't show the same level of mercy to those who would receive it, but God tells us that it isn't possible to control the amount of mercy we show others or even the amount of mercy we receive from Him. I think he already gave us a ton of mercy when he died for our sins.

It also goes on to say in Romans 9:18, "So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen." So, again, how do we place ourselves in the path of God's mercy? It says in Romans as well that those who trust in Him, not follow his law, will be called Children of God. So just simply following God's laws does not make Him happy, we need to trust in him fully. Just when I think I have answered my original question about God's mercy and how we show mercy to others, I just open a whole other volume of questions yet to be answered. You know the best part though, I have an entire life to build up all of the questions I want to ask him when I get to Heaven someday. Thank God truly that we have hope and he shows us mercy for the things we do though. What would we do without Him?

Romans 8 (God's Love)

This morning I read Romans ch. 8, and was very inspired. This chapter talks about three different subjects: Living our life in the Spirit, The Future Glory we will receive if we follow God's commands and How nothing can separate us from God's love.

On the subject of Living our life in the spirit, the Bible talks about how when we allow Jesus in our life and to control our minds, we are no longer a slave to sin. I think back to how many times I have sinned, it would take to long to actually count so I won't for sake of time, and I know that Jesus was definitely not on the forefront of my mind. A question I have and always will struggle with, why do we sin knowingly? It seems completely counterproductive to our relationship with God, and yet all of us do it. It's like knowing the stove is extremely hot, and then laying your hand on the hottest burner, makes sense to me. I think the most refreshing thing is that we know that if we buy whole-heartedly into God's plan, that he will make us heirs to His glory on Earth. Also, we are basically taking grenades in the trenches for God everyday because we know that he will ultimately protect us and grant us everlasting glory for our faith in his plan.

This was a great reminder to me that even though we are persecuted for the things we believe in, God will take care of us like he always does.

Vickless in Atlanta

Well, needless to say it has been tough to be a Falcons fan the past 5 years or so. Having to deal with the unnecessary hype about Michael Vick, when they could have had LaDanian Tomlinson, has been hard when you are not a supporter of your team's franchise player on or off the field. With Vick's well documented off the field, extra-curricular activities, A.K.A. killing dogs for money, and the Falcon's impossible task lately of finding a coach that will stay for more than one season. Actually, strike that last comment, staying for the whole season would have been nice. Then we come to this year. The Falcon's used their 1st draft pick to take a QB for the first time since Vick when they chose Matt Ryan from Boston College. Ok I thought. Then they got rid of arguably their three best players (Crumpler TE, Dunn RB, and then starting QB candidate Matt Schaub). Wow, I thought, they really have no goals on winning more than 3 games this year. But, after hearing their new coach talk and seeing Matt Ryan's commitment to making this a turn around year, I was finally excited. Gone are the days of watching Vick play 1 on 11 football. Gone are the days of hearing bad things about the team off the field. Here are the days when the Falcons finally have a respectable organization again on and off the field. I can truly say I am a fan again.