I was horrible growing up

 I have had 3 stages in my life. During the first part of it till like age 42 I was horrible to everybody. I used people only ever thinking about myself and what they could do for me. I did not know Christ and in fact thought who could possibly be better than me? Yeah, I was not exactly lacking in confidence. I hadn't heard of Jesus or God and the very few times we did go to church I spent the time picking up girls. Life was good. I never had any problem picking up girls --- I was smart enough that school was never a problem for me --- I was athletic and pretty good at anything I ever tried. There wasn't a God shaped hole in my life. I did have a Dad who when he quit drinking used to knock me around quite a bit and at 9 he put my head through a wall but as long as I avoided him everything was great. 

2nd stage When I was a kid I read a lot. I loved to read. Still do. And one of the things I read was how if you haven't grown up by the time you are 50 you no longer have to. So, that was my goal. Till my 40's I played video games (saved the world a few times --- You are welcome) and had a massive comic book collection. Then one day I was 42, in my car outside of Game Stop waiting for it to open so I could run in and get the latest game. I was flipping through the radio when Dave Ramsey came on. I was amazed. The more I listened the more I realized I was on the wrong path. Before that, I had never thought about retirement at all. I was still in perfect health and growing up just never occurred to me. When I was in High School I hear that a guidance counselor is supposed to talk to you and ask you what you want to be when you graduate and things like that. I never got the meeting. My Dad had kicked me out when I was 16 so I wasn't in school a lot and I might not have been there when it was supposed to happen. But whatever the reason I wasn't guided by anything but that saying about not growing up. After listening to Dave Ramsey and then getting his book and reading that in a day (the book is that good) I knew I needed to get an adult job that paid good money and get a plan. I got a job with a company that wanted me to put out, service and collect money from their claw machines (the kind where you try to win stuffed animals and the like). The first day after my training I had to get an Uhaul and go put out the machines. I had locations all over from Lake Jackson to Corpus Christi, to Seguin etc. It took all day and I did not get home till like 1:30 am the next morning. At 8 am I get a call saying one of the machines is broken so I need to take the Uhaul back to Beaumont, pick up my car, drive it back to Victoria where I was to pick up my company car with the tools they had for me then go to Houston to fix the machine. So, I set off for Beaumont but I am still exhausted. I am driving down I-10 towards Beaumont and want to get something to drink to help keep me awake. However, I had not yet gotten my first check and was broke. I did have a Target card on me so when I saw a Target I decided to pull in get a drink and some sunflower seeds to wake me back up. Pulling in to Target I failed to notice the crossbar it had over the entrance to I guess keep big trucks from entering. Apparently my truck was too big and I took off a good section of the top of my Uhaul. Needless to say by this time I am wide awake (No caffeine necessary) so I get back on the freeway heading to Beaumont thinking "Well, maybe they won't notice the new sunroof" 😟Of course when I do get there that was the first thing they saw. Anyways, I turn in the slightly shorter Uhaul, picked up my car and head back towards Houston from Beaumont. I was in a little Subaru Justy.

 

I switch on the cruise control to 77 and start zooming down I-10. I am not sure when but when I get into Houston there was road construction. At least that is what they told me. I didn't know because I was sound asleep. Apparently what happened was a bus ahead of me had stopped for the construction and I going 77 mph ran right into the bus. My car flipped a bunch of times and I was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Houston where I finally woke up. They kept me overnight for observation but other than some bruising I was fine. My Mom came and got me the next day to take me home. We first stop at the junk yard to see what was left of the car (which wasn't much). The guy working there was amazed to see me because as he said it he just knew that whomever had been driving the car was now dead and then we started towards home. We were listening to the radio when on came a news report of a guy in a truck who ran into the back of a bus that had stopped and the guy died at the scene. My Mom turned to me and said "Wow, God has some special plans for you." I have a hard time explaining what happened next but it was like the most powerful floodlight ever just lit up ever corner of my brain. Like in that instance God was showing me His glory and I started thinking wait does God really exist. When I got home I started researching God and Jesus and if they were actually real. The more I researched the more I believed. And I finally became a Christian. 

 

3rd Stage  

Student loan forgiveness...

 There was an article on Yahoo titled Republicans Enraged after Biden ‘Forgives’ Billions in Student Debt. In the comments a guy (and so I do not embarrass him by showing how unknowledgeable he is I will not put his name here) wrote Inflation is global. We're doing better than most. This actually HELPS the economy.

This is the response I wanted to add to that.  

The rest of the world is having issues with inflation partially because as goes America so does the rest of the world and because they have made their own stupid choices such as Germany deciding against President Trumps advice to rely on Russia for the majority of their energy needs. As far as biden forgiving 300 billions of dollars in student loans helping the economy that it is laughable. He can forgive it one of either two ways both of which are bad. Either he can hand the banks over taxpayer money that should actually come from those who agreed to pay it back when they borrowed it. What happens for the people who had student loans but paid them off? This isn't fair to them.  What happens to those who now want to go get a student loan to go to college. Do they get theirs forgiven as well? Where does it end? The problem with it is A) Sooner or later you run out of other people's money. B) that is money which could be used on more intelligent things. Such as finishing building the wall to keep out terrorists and illegals. This actually would help the economy and lower inflation or have you never heard of the law of supply and demand? The other way he could do it is tell the banks that by executive order those government issued loans are forgiven and the banks are just out the money. I actually do like that plan better only because only that will make the banks start to intelligently decide who gets loans based on whether they will actually be able to pay it back rather than just handing out tens of thousands of dollars to kids not even old enough to buy beer. I still think it has problems --- namely who would ever trust the government at their word for anything. Who would want to (this is just an example) buy a government savings bond knowing that the government has a history of going back on their word in regards to paying what they owe. By the way you said that it would help the economy. I am interested in hearing how you think it will help. If you think because of no longer having a loan to pay they will have that money to spend then if they already have this money why didn't they use it to pay off the loan? Also, if they do have the money (chances are they don't) what says they are for sure going to use it to go buy things? I know for myself as soon as biden was elected and I saw which way the country was going to go I decided to stop all unnecessary spending and start working on becoming debt free and then building a huge emergency fund because with this president in the white house an emergency is coming. On the bright side I am now down to my last credit card, my last loan and only owe $1,000 on my car. 

Worst purchase ever made

 The worst purchase I have ever made was a brand new (at least that is what Duffy's said) cub cadet lawn mower. I bought it 3 years ago at Duffy's (worst place to buy anything from) so I guess that makes this blog a two-fer. I took it home and cut the grass with it. It worked fine. The next time I went to start it it wouldn't start. So, I loaded it up and took it back over to Duffy's where of course they tried to blame me but said they would fix it and call me when it was ready. Months later I get the call it is ready. I pick it up. They did not show me it worked before I left with it (which IS my fault) I get it home and it STILL doesn't start. I take it back and go through the whole it must be my fault dance but they cannot get it started either so they again say leave it here and we will call you when it is ready. I wait for more months and call up there they say they are waiting on a part. Then another couple weeks and I get the call that it is ready. Having learned my lesson from last time I ask them to start it. They can't. So, again I go home without it and wait for the call, 3 months later it still hadn't come. Finally someone asked me if I am going to do anything with that piece of junk. I said no they could have it but they need to pick it up from Duffy's. They go to pick it up and are told it is ready. Their supposed mechanic tries to start it and cannot. The person tells them they are going to take it anyways and has them load it up on their truck. So, if you need a lawn mower I recommend any of them other than a worthless cub cadet that has a supposed warranty of always starting (don't believe it) and getting said lawn mower from any place other than Duffy's. I should have been more wary when it was not even in a box. But --- they said it was new and I was stupid enough to believe them. BTW: I have since bought a Kobalt lawn mower from Lowe's that I have not had a lick of trouble from. My second worse purchase way way WAY down the list from a brand new piece of trash cub cadet from duffy's is a Ferragamo wallet. I know you are wondering why is a nice Ferragamo wallet a bad purchase. And unlike the cub cadet lawnmower that won't work the Ferragamo wallet works great. It looks awesome, has enough room for all of my cards and I get quite a few compliments when I pull it out. The only reason that I consider it a bad purchase is because of the cost. It cost $500 and no I am not by any means rich. I just have to wake up and stop spending like I am. I saw a picture of some girl from some TV show I never watched and on it it has her saying something like "Don't but the $500 purse and have nothing to put in it. Instead buy the $10 purse and have $490 to put into it." That is what I would have done. Uh...except with a $10 wallet. 

Problems with the IRS

 I wonder how many people have problems with the IRS and then cannot get hold of anyone. Back on 3/19/22 I did my taxes on IRS.gov and was told that my Federal Tax Return was successfully queued for transmission. In 24-48 hours I should receive an email indicating whether my filing was accepted or rejected. That was two months ago. I have tried calling multiple multiple times. I cannot get hold of a live person. They for some reason do not have a chat feature nor an email address. Their website says if you have filed do NOT re-file. I have called the local branch number trying to set up an appointment so I could talk to someone but I keep getting the message --- No one is available to take your call. Sucks to be you. I would write a letter but want to make sure it gets to someone who cares. Not sure if that is in their job description. So, has anybody else had problems with the IRS? Did it ever get resolved? Is this just a covid thing? 

Good Friday to all

 As I was working today I kept having people saying to me Happy Easter. And don't get me wrong --- we should be looking to Easter, which is resurrection of Jesus Chris. However, we shouldn't skip over Good Friday so easily. Because without Good Friday, Easter never happens. It seems to be less popular because after all, Good Friday is when Jesus was actually put to death. Yes, Easter is the fulfillment of His promise. I just caution you not to forget all He had to suffer to bring us Easter. First, Jesus was tortured, mocked and murdered in a horrible fashion. Nowadays, if someone is to be put to death you have hundreds who gather and protest the killers execution. They stand around holding up signs condemning the taking of the life of someone who actually deserves death, as do we all. Jesus, the only truly innocent among us did not have that. It has always seemed sad to me that the loudest voices asking for Him to not be executed were Pontius Pilate and his wife.

 I wanted to thank everyone for getting out to vote. Most everybody we voted for did in fact win 😊.  The one big notable exception was the race for Attorney General. Ken Paxton won ahead of both Eva Guzman (our choice) and George P Bush. I am sure a lot of Mr. Paxton winning was due to the fact that he was endorsed by President Trump who let's face it has much more clout than I do. 😜 I just hope that his winning it does not come back to bite us. This is one race we cannot afford to lose. 

Stand Together

 I have gotten off Facebook and so have more time to devote to this blog. I have had a lot of people asking me who I am voting for in the upcoming election so I decided to make that my 1st post. To make this city, county, state, country and world better we need to vote for the right people and that starts in the primaries. This is who I voted for and I urge you if able to do the same. If we get a huge voting block then we can force them to do the right thing or get rid of them if they don't. I realize I have a lot of readers from all across the United States and from across the world (which really amazes and humbles me) so I know that there may be different people running where you are at but some key things to look for if you do not live in Texas or where these particular elections are being held. If you live in the United States vote Republican. We could make this country number one again but it will have to be with Republican ideals not the democrat give away the farm ideals. If we ever got to where we had a Republican President (not a "RINO" Republican in name only and not a Bush type whom I couldn't even bring myself to vote for) But an actual Republican president at the same time we had control of Congress you would see us implement all of the ideas I have laid out in previous posts and be amazed how great this country would be for ALL of its citizens. Each election I will do this write up of all the candidates I am voting for. I pray that all of you see the wisdom and work with me on this.

For all of you who live in other countries but are allowed to vote for your leaders these are the qualities you should look for. First off you want them to be a follower of Jesus. Not someone who just goes to church but one who actually lives their life following Jesus. Matthew 7:16-20 states that ¹⁶ You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Therefore by their fruits you will know them. 

In other words, there are plenty of people that will say that they are Christians but sure don't act like it. You want someone that says they are AND behaves like they are. You want someone honest. Someone that does what they say and says what they do. I will write more on this in a future post but better get on with posting my choices before the election is over. 😊

I live in Victoria Texas so this is who was on the ballot here that I voted for. Once again this is for the Republican primaries. Also, I did not post the unopposed races because sine they are running unopposed it kind of narrows it down who to vote for. 😜 You are allowed to take a picture of this and take it into the ballot box with you.

United States Representative
Michael Cloud

Governor
Greg Abbott

Lieutenant Governor
Dan Patrick

Attorney General
Eva Guzman

I know I may get a lot of questions about this election and why I did not vote for Ken Paxton who is the incumbent and who has done quite a bit of good such as when he declared sex change pro­cedures on chil­dren and the pre­scrip­tion of Puber­ty Block­ers to be ​“Child Abuse” Under Texas Law or when he fought for us against the Vac­cine Mandates. That is all well and good. The problem is he has also been involved in a number of scandals and is still currently under investigation. So, let's say he does win the primary and then goes on to the General Election. If he gets arrested between winning the primary and winning the General election then since we cannot then just install someone to run in the General election. We lose it by default and the Democrat will win automatically which is the first step to turning this state into another California where so many people are now fleeing from. Besides Eva Guzman is an excellent choice for the job. She has the experience. Her parents came over to this country legally. Then he Dad was murdered by an illegal alien so she knows the danger of being overrun by those not willing to come here the right way. And is willing to fight to stem the tide of those who criminally enter our country.

Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
Glenn Hegar

Texas Land Commissioner aka Commissioner of Agriculture
Jon Spiers

Texas Railroad Commissioner
Wayne Christian

Texas Supreme Court Place 9
Evan Young

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Place 5
Scott Walker

Texas State Board of Education District 2
LJ Francis 

This is a super important election. It features LJ Francis who is against CRT (Critical Race Theory) where we start in grade school teaching kids that one group should basically hate the other group because they are of a different race and then teach the other kids that they should be ashamed of being the race that they are because of this their ancestors may or may not have done in the past.  The other candidate Hilda Garza-DeShazo is apparently for such nonsense. Vote LJ Francis.

Texas House of Representatives District 30
Geanie Morrison

Texas Thirteenth District Court of Appeals Place 3 

Ysmael Fonseca

District Judge of the 377th District Court
Eli Garza

Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
Constance Filley Johnson

Victoria County Clerk
Brandy Schustereit 

In the race for Victoria County Clerk there is not an obvious good or bad choice. There are things I like about both of them and things I disliked about both of them.

Victoria County Commissioner Precinct 4
Kenneth Sexton

Victoria Justice of the Peace Precinct 4
John G. Miller
So, that is my list. If you have any questions about why I chose who I did or about anything else feel free to leave it in the comments and I will answer it. Because unlike Biden I do not have a problem answering any questions 😂