I did it, started getting my exercise

again. At Green way(Spangler Farms) at the end of the trail loop been walking for an hour almost. It is chilly but the sun is nice an invigorated! Forgot how nice this is picture I up loaded is top of the quarry

Merry Christmas

It is Christmas Eve and almost time to go to my wife's parents with the rest of the family. Up to now every thing has been leading up this point.

It is my third wonderful Wedding Anniversary, wed to the beautiful Pamela!!!!!!!

Today's post is to my wonderful wife of three years Pamela Longobardi. We have been married for three and all have been great. My life would not be the same without her and not worth being in this world.

She have taken me on adventures to Iowa, Panama City, Miami Beach and Cancun and I expect many more it the future.


This is not easy because I am an apprehensive traveler and can be a nervous wreck and a real butt leading up to a trip. In fact I have so many idiosyncrasies it is a wonder she did marry me, guess I hid them well.

I am so lucky to have her and want my life with her to go on forever. Because of the relationship with God that she has helped me develop that I hope will be possible. It is what gives our marriage the extra zing. She is an amazing Wife, Mother and Grandmother and is so beautiful it is hard to imagine she is a grandmother.

The following poem sums up how luck I am and I have found my self looking at her on a weekend morning and thinking just this:

Reflections of a Beautiful Morning The sun rises above the hillcrest, As does the joy of my heart; Rays of warmth and love,From her I will never depart.Fresh dew upon the grass,Young birds chirp in their nests;I watch her gently sleep,My love to her I silently profess.I enjoy the stillness and calm,Watching as she smiles and dreams;She brings me to stillness and peace,Like that of a slow flowing stream.My heart and soul flow with love,And I smile as I quietly reflect;I’ve been handed a sweet princess,A sweet princess to love and to protect.A vow to myself I make,As she quietly sleeps away;To love and always cherish her, Until my last breath... until my last day.- Michael Brieck -

I love you Pamela and I am looking forward to a new year with you and all the great things it will bring and the challenges we will get through together. You are a great compass in my life and give me direction when I lose my way because you have helped me to find that the Lord is who we ask when we are lost.

We are on our way to greater things everyday and it just keeps getting better baby

Your Grateful Husband, I love you

Well Another Busy Day

Well Pam and I have a busy day after work. Going to see my youngest son Nick's school Christmas production. We saw Isabella, Pam's granddaughter do her part in our children's church play on Sunday night at the Ministry Center, and our niece Sydney also, she had a lead part. It was great and the kid's did a great job as did the parents who helped put it together of which one was Pam's daughter Katrina.

This Friday night we are taking Nick to Rock City to see there Christmas display, so all week is Christmas

We have our wedding anniversary on Wednesday and we are celebrating this weekend and going to Nashville to see The Rockettes and to stay at the Opryland Hotel. We are looking forward to that and I love to go to Nashville during Christmas.

We will make a trip to the Opryland Mall and buy our last Christmas presents and I am sure eat! Like I need to but ya got to do what you got to do.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

It Snowed on the Creek

Just a quick post to show the snow. It looks great, will not last long.

Afghanistan, will it be another Vietnam

I worry it will be another Vietnam. It has been a quagmire going back to Alexander the Great. I hear many say it is not but many of them have only read about and studied Vietnam in school. I watched it every night on the news, studied it first hand in school and then joined the Army in the waining days of the war and was trained by it's veterans and heard their war stories and saw their scars. I heard first hand about how they felt they were unsupported by the command structures above them and had their hands tied by the government back home. They did not enjoy the support our troops have had up to now, I think that will begin to wain as the American people get tired of the war, again as it happened in Vietnam.

I have a son in Afghanistan so I was glad to finally hear President Obama present his plan. It is a lot of troops and worries me, being such an escalation of our involvement. How long will we be in this country propping up a central government that seems to have little control over the most of the country and can't run a fair election. I think and from what my son has told me the Afghan people seem to be a tough and admirable bunch of folks but do they even want or need our style of government. We cannot shove it down their throats, that has been tried many times before so we just need to train them and then turn over their destiny to the Afghan people.

Speed Traps Still Exist Virginia, help support Ellsinore, Misery.....I mean Missouri

Well in keeping with my new promise to myself I am going to get a post out this morning.

I have a show tonight at the Vaudeville Cafe, Talk Show, I am Walter the Stage Manager of a fictitious talk show, The Dorthy Cannon Show. I love this show because it has a lot of audience participation and changes every time based on the audience.

I did not mention it in yesterdays post but on the way back I got a ticket in a speed trap in
Ellsinore which is a city in Carter County, Missouri, United States. It has a population of 363 at the 2000 census.

I was traveling down highway 60 a very well built highway that is 65mph most all the way except in some built up areas that were well marked and had warnings to slow down. I was going about 70-75, I do admit but that put me 5-10 over the limit but I found my self getting pulled over by "I would assume Ellsinore's only finest" police officer in a white SUV that came out of nowhere! He informed me I was going 75 in a 55 and was 20mph over the speed limit. When did it become 55 I wondered....the highway had not changed a bit, few roads entering and no housing or buildings anyplace in sight? It was amazing, no reason that the speed should have changed. So I might have been only 5-10 mph over instead of 15-20, now it is a class B offense and up goes the revenue for Ellsinore! Can you say SPEED TRAP!!!!!
The speed limit did not change for any safety reason on this boring, well-built piece of highway but to support the tiny town of 363. Made me ashamed to have been a past Missouri resident! Notice in the map below how far the town is from the highway. Happy Holidays Ellsinore, MO.....your check will be in the mail soon buy Kojack a new radar gun


View Larger Map

Great Thanksgiving, Time to Start Blogging Again, so much to be thankful for

No one may ever read this but I need to start Blogging again every morning. Even if it is just a short one.

We have had so much to be thankful for this year. My wife's daughter Katrina had her daughters, the twins and they are healthy, growing and beautiful as is their four year old sister, Isabella.

Pam's other daughter Aimee is doing well in Nashville and has a new boyfriend and we had diner with and met his parents a few days ago and that was nice.

Then to top is off Pam's son Brandon got a great new job working for Lee University in Cleveland,TN. He will be developing relationships with church pastors and promoting Lee as a place for young people to go to college.

My son Gene is in Afghanistan finishing his tour but we had a great 15 day leave with him and his wife staying at our house with my grandson Carter. So far Gene is doing good and staying safe. Keep praying for him. I am looking forward to seeing what President Obama has to say regarding our countries future in that country.

So Thanksgiving is over....went to my Mom's in Pittsburgh, KS and my sister and brother and their significant others were there to have thanksgiving. I had not seen my sister in about 25 years.

Mom lives in a senior apartment complex so her place is small but we used the clubhouse for our dinner. Had some great food and a great time together. It was amazing that after all that time not seeing my sister and my brother only once in that time we just got going like we had not been apart.....just a lot to catch up on.

Went out and did the Black Friday thing at 4 the next morning. Got my mom a 32" flat screen TV that she loved and I loved giving her. My sister had got her a new laptop because the old one I gave her had died so she is all set now. She loves her computer...likes the slot machine games. Hope she will answer and email sometime?

So I had a great Thanksgiving. Reconnected with my family, got to know my brother-in-law Steve who is funny and had us in stitches. My Sister and my wife got along great and we have plans of going to the beach together in the summer. What a blessed life I have!

We are in Iowa

Well Pam and I arrived in Iowa yesterday, Friday, late afternoon. We are staying at her cousin Tona's house which we love being at because it is like a Victorian bed and breakfast. She has finished most of the upstairs now and it looks great.

Larry,Tona's husband and I went out to eat while the women went to a party of sorts at Tona's daughters house. We went to the Machine Shed, a restaurant in Davenport Iowa that serves food created from Iowa grown ingredients and boy do they accomplish it. I love Iowa pork chops and I am never disappointed in the chop I get at the Machine Shed, great veggies and coleslaw. I wanted to get Pam's granddaughter a pink stuffed pig, they had one but it was expensive.
This morning we are going over to her sister Patti's house and let her know we are here and surprise her, tonight we are going to see her play, Cowbirds. We also are meeting other family for dinner.
I am listening to Pam and Tona discuss the use of the word cairn as used by a relative, who know's why. Then in the morning,Sunday, the long drive back to Chattanooga..............................be home soon

To Iowa

Pam and I are on our way to Davenport,Iowa for a quick trip. Its a ten hour drive up and a ten hour drive back on Sunday. But we get to see folks and as aways Pam is excited. We are going to see Patti in the last night of her successful play, the Cowbirds. I will post links later, she is great

I love doing Coach

I have to do a show tonight at the Vaudeville Theatre for about 100 Lee University students. Its the Reunion Show and I play the coach, Coach Conroy, that everyone loves to hate at a fictitious high school reunion.
I am looking for humor to use as Lee is a Christen school and a Pentecostal one at that having affiliations with the Church of God of which I am proud to call myself a member. Since I have been part of a Pentecostal denomination I have noticed some of the best Pentecostal jokes come after a service and from members. Just spend some time around my wife's son Brandon who is a very funny guy. We joke about snakes, we don't use them but people think we do, speaking in tongues etc.

I found a top ten list I liked today

Top 10 signs that you are in the wrong church:
10. The church bus has gun racks.
9. The church staff consists of senior pastor, associate pastor and sociopastor.
8. The Bible they use is the Dr. Seuss version.
7. There is an ATM in the lobby.
6. The choir wears leather robes.
5. The worship services are B.Y.O.S. (bring your own snake).
4. There's no cover charge but communion is a two-drink minimum.
3. The pastor regularly attends meetings in Las Vegas and Atlantic City.
2. The ushers ask, "Smoking or non-smoking?"
1. The Women's Quartet are all married to the pastor.

My wife's family has a lot of history with Lee as two of her children, Katrina and Brandon graduated from their and Katrina was a record setting volleyball player and has records that still stand. She was just inducted into the Lee Lettermen’s Club recently.


So I hope to have a great show tonight, I love this hobby and am glad my wife humors me and lets me be away to do these shows, this is an outlet for me


If you have not been to one you need to, Chris, the owner has a lot of specials and it is as affordable if not more so then eating out and going to the movies and you laugh a lot which is good for your health.
Pray a lot today, God loves to hear from you

My Grandson is here to visit, oh and his Dad also!

Carter Longobardi

Now that I am a grandpa, my son says I only want him to come to bring Carter my Grandson. Pam and I have got to be Grandparents all

weekend full time with both Isabella and Carter.
In my last post I mentioned the twins, Sophia and Amelia had to go back into the hospital due to some medications that had been prescribed and spent the weekend with their mother and father their being monitored. They are fine now but we had Isabella their older sister with us all weekend. She is a live wire and has more energy in her little finger then we do in our entire bodies. We had a great time and went shopping, watched TV, threw rocks in the creek and went to the parking lot carnival.

In the picture I uploaded you can see her coming in to strafe Pam below her plane.

We were also at the mall and she was demonstrating her balancing talents.

So we had a great weekend with a full house and lots of food and fun. So as how things start off bad in the beginning, in the end through faith in God and each other we turned it into a great weekend that ended with the twins and family coming home, a great church service and the other half of the family at our house for dinner. Praise God

Have I been doing it all wrong?

I saw something on the news this morning regarding blogging and use of twittering. It implied a blog might be more of an on-line journal. So I have been writing with readers in mind, which, I doubt I have. So now I just am going to write and post pictures and if anyone reads, so be it.

I have a great deal to journal, a divorce almost four years ago, being savaged by an biased and sexist judge, Marie L. Williams of the Third Circuit Court of Hamilton County in Chattanooga Tennessee. Trying to pay a high child support and wrong and outrageous alimony to an undeserving women, my home stolen from me along with many other possessions. All while trying to keep my income high enough to live myself and support my wife and myself.
I do have many more blessings then things to complain about, I have a great relationship with the Lord, a beautiful wife and lots of kids and grand kids both my own and through marriage to Pam. We have has some ups and downs, unemployment, lower paying jobs but in all I have been doing great and have much to be thankful for in the end. Every day my blessing outnumber any hardships. Those can be handled just by be living in God and having faith in his promises.

I can say that I don't think my ex-wife is as happy as I am! I have so much diversity in my life.
I have a part-time hobby job at the Vaudeville Cafe Murder Mystery Dinner shows in Chattanooga,TN. I play about four different roles in three plays and get to have a lot of improv comedy fun and meet a lot of people.
I have a great job as a programmer at TVA. I have a great church, The Ministry Center, in Hixson, TN. More friends and family than I think I have ever had, so I am very blessed.

So I have has the song says, taken back, with Gods help and blessing, what the devil stole from me, my devils are Marie Williams and my ex-wife but I still have to work hard to forgive them as I hope they can forgive me. I have a lot I can add on these subjects I want to journal in the future.

But I want to use this blog as first my own sounding board, what anyone else gains if anyone ever reads it, that will be great but it needs to be a daily thing to write and post here. I think it will do me the most good because I get it off my chest and then can let it go if it is a bad thing and remind myself of the good things.

So till tomorrow, God Bless You if you are reading this and God bless me and my enemies if I have any..................sure if?

The Twins are here

I have been way behind in my posting and need to catch up. Last Sunday the twins made their right on time and safe entry into the world. Both Mother and babies are in great shape. The girls are beautiful and healthy.

There was a complication with medication that caused the twins and their mom to go back in the hospital but all is fine now and they are back home.

What a weekend!!!!!!!!!

We, Pam and I had a great weekend. It was filled with all the important things in our life, God, Church, family, friends and some time with each other.

God is really moving in our church, The Ministry Center, Hixson, TN. Our pastor Jim Milligan is really building and sustaining the fire in our church with our recent revival with Tommie Zito Ministries and the continuing Sundays full of uplifting worship and lots of spirt-filled time in prayer, praying for each other and worshipping and thanking the Lord for his delivered and continuing blessings and just being the amazing awesome God he is for us even when we don't realize it. We are even starting a webcast on Sundays, that is in the works but coming soon.

We had family in from Alabama, Sandy and Chase who stayed with my in-laws but were able to come to my late show at the Vaudeville Cafe, in Chattanooga. We had two great shows on Saturday night, if you have never been then you need to go! We had packed out audience's for both shows and I hope that continues, we have a lot of specials running right now. I know I have a bunch of shows in April, one is even on the river boat, I am looking forward to that show.

Lastly I love the new and old contacts I am developing on Facebook, I have made contacts with all the people I know in my church, the Vaudeville Cafe, highschool, other places I worked and the military, my son, kid's I coached in baseball with my son but are adults now. It let's you keep up with and be involved with so many people, I just don't ever want to spend som much time on it I don't get out in "real" life.

Well that is enough rambeling for today! Have a good week, if anybody but me reads this?

This has been a great week

I can say that this has been a great week. My church, The Ministry Center, in Hixson, Tn has been having a revival. A Holy Interuption, this has been one of the most interesting revivals I have ever been to because of the evangelist, Tommy Zito, of Tommy Zito Ministries.org. This guy is great and so relevent to today and the problems of this country and this world.
The prayer and teaching has been great along with wonderful praise and worship but also the information regarding the problems and issues facing Christianity in the future and the United States and the people of this country has been very informative and insightful.
This has been a wake up call for me and I think many in our church.

7pm Wednesday: 10am and 7pm Thursday: 10am and 7pm Friday: 10am and 7pm Saturday: 10am Worship services nightly and teaching and Outreach every morning Tuesday through Saturday @ 10am

Service's will be going on for tne next four nights and the training Tommie is doing in witnessing and bringing God to the outside of the church, is going on in the morning for those days. The links I have on this page will take you to the schedules, I encorage anyone in the Chattanooga-Hixson area to attend if you can. And if you are looking for a great church you cannot beat The Ministry Center in Hixson.

Post Valentines Day in Gatlinburg,TN

Pam and I are spending a few days in Gatlinburg,the day after Valentines. We had a dinner with the family on Valentines day.
Yesterday we went around town shopping, this is the first time we have stayed downtown. We walked all over and then had ribs at a great place, Bennett's BBQ. I recommend the ribs and the sides were also great. We also went to Ober Gatlinberg, never been, watched sking and skating, Pam wants to do it, she has skied, me,,,,,,not so much. We stayed at the Fairfield Inn in downtown and had a king room with a fireplace and big,,,huge tub, great. It overlooked the stream.
We are going down to Pigeon Forge for more shopping, I love Pam, I love it the weather is great. I will hit the B+D store and find tools. Need summer shirts also

I need to blog more now that I have the mini laptop

Gene

I have been lazy in many things

Since the holidays I have not worked out, not posted to this blog and not prayed as much as I should.
The not working out has been because of the cold, I hate getting my old bones up at 5:30 and to the gym, I have to start a new way of working out. I also have been at this new TVA job for the last three weeks and have been very involved in putting my VB development and .Net skills to the task of developing a weld tracking program, it is very interesting.
During and since the holidays my wife and I have had a number of guest and it has been great but soon we need some time for ourselves. We have had my son, Gene and his wife Casey and my grandson, Carter here for the last week or so as they make there transition to Ft. Carson, CO in February. It is a lot of fun having a baby around when you can give him to someone else when he cry's, I am going to miss them when they go.
But my wife's daughter is soon delivering twins so we will have no shortage of grand kids.
We just changed back to our old church, The Ministry Center, it is great, and you can feel the Holy Spirit filling the place on Sunday and Pastor Jim has been providing us some great preaching. You can feel the growth coming, I know I and I hope many others are praying that way.
I am going to try to post more and add pictures more. I need to get back to it in the morning. Now that I googled my name and it shows up.

A New Project at TVA

I start my new job at TVA today. I am so excited