Ron's blog

Well, really nothing to say except to just say I had one rough time updating to the new Google deal, lol!

Divorce

Divorce

What a nasty word, huh? I'm going to share with the world what that I'm going through and perhaps this will give someone pause who may be rushing headlong into something wrong.

I fell into the trap of "God, why can't I find someone?" I was hanging around a married couple from church plus 3 other couples I knew had gotten married and I felt like odd man out!

There was one girl I knew that I always wanted to date, but I never could find the nerve to ask her out. This girl was a Christian girl who was faithful to church, she sang solo specials at church-well, you get the idea! For some reason the words never would get out of my mouth, lol!!! I've always felt that she would have went out with me if I had asked her.

A friend of mine from church decided to introduce me to someone she knew of, but didn't know personally. One night in April of 1995 I met this person and I thought it was love at first sight! We talked and agreed to have a date later on that week; we wound up meeting each other at my church the following Wednesday night and had our official date on Thursday night. We kept seeing each other, I was assured she was THE ONE that God was going to bring into my life and one month and ten days after we met, we were married!

Early marital life was good in my mind, but looking back there were problems starting to exhibit themselves even back then including lying and stealing. I also feel pretty confident that adultery was happening already as a friend of mine says that she propositioned him one day when I wasn't home.

Everything started coming to a head about 5 years ago. For those of you who have read my blog before or know me, this was when I rededicated my life to Christ. She made the claim that she had did so as well, but as the Bible says "by their fruits you will know them." When a tree keeps producing bad fruit year after year, you know you have a problem, lol!!!!

I dealt with lie after lie, having money stolen from my wallet, my good dress clothes ruint with grease stains resulting in having to put a lock on the hallway closet door where I kept my clothes. I stuck it out for the sake of the kids, all the while begging God to move in the situation. I held on to Psalm 37 where that God spoke of making your innocence as clear as the dawn and the justice of your cause to be like the noonday sun.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. She was constantly going down to her mother's house to spend time and it came back to me via the grapevine that she was out doing the bar scene. When I confronted her with it, she didn't deny, said that she had been drinking and thought separation was best! She signed an agreement giving me full custody of the kids and so here I sit now soon to be a single Dad!

So when you're thinking of getting married, make sure that it is the right person! God bless!

Ron's blog

I'm coming out of hibernation, lol! I guess these days it must take something fairly important and earth-shaking to get me to write. So here I am, I think I'll do a little campaigning, but not for Election '06, but for Bob Barker's replacement on The Price Is Right!

I heard a couple of days ago that Bob was retiring next year and I'm saddened by that. Somehow I doubt that Bob will be reading my blog, nor anyone that matters in this subject, but just in case, Bob, you've been a part of my life since I was born! I remember watching you from the time I was just a little fella, lol! So, the search is on for the new host I assume and on that thought, I would like to write.

Don't just give a nobody such an important show. I've been considering who one would hire for such an important role and I've thought of several names, but the one that sticks out to me the most is Chuck Woolery. He's hosted several top-rated game shows and I think he would be a perfect fit for the show. So if anyone is reading that matters, take a look at my suggestion!

Television, DVD's, country programs, and TV Land

Well, this may be sorta lengthy, but it appears that the only ones reading this besides me are maybe Hannah and a few others from Worthy, lol, so no big concern for boring anyone!

Friday night when I went by Wal-Mart, I bought a show on DVD I have not seen in years-The White Shadow I can remember this being on when I was a kid and my dad was hooked, lol, and I watched it with him. I snagged up the first season and plan on buying season #2 as well. So I'm wondering if this show, or any other show for that matter, is popular enough to be out on DVD why doesn't it receive air time on some network on TV? I can think of so many shows that were on when I was kid, or that I've heard my parents talk about, that simply no longer make the cut on TV anymore. I think I've dealt in a previous blog about the junk on TV these days, but seriously, why not show some of these older shows again-I think they would find an audience.

The 2nd show I'm dying to see come out on DVD is Hee-Haw. I know certain episodes of it have made it out, but Time-Life is simply putting one or two episodes on a DVD while other shows are seeing whole seasons being released. Come on, this show was popular enough to run for over 20 years, most of those in syndication, and even ran in reruns on TNN for a few years. Some of my fondest memories are on Saturday sitting down and watching it with my parents, and even after they got tired of it by the late 80's, I still watched it! It came on at 6:00 PM on a couple of channels but was then rebroadcast later on by another station, WBBJ ch. 7, at midnight or so. And since we're on the subject of country music variety shows, I want to give kudos to RFD-TV for picking up The Porter Wagoner Show , The Wilburn Brothers Show, Nashville On The Road, Billy Walker's Country Carnival and Pop Goes The Country. Most of these I don't remember except for the last one, but being a fan of both older TV and older country music, it suits me just fine!!! I'd love to see someone pick up some of the other older country variety shows such as the ones hosted by Buck Owens, Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, and others.

Now on to an unfavorite subject-TV Land. It's came from being a promising network to being almost a joke IMHO. Some years ago when it premiered I noticed first thing they were showing butchered episodes that were edited and/or time compressed. Here we have this big cable network that's supposed to be designed to preserve TV's historic shows and they're showing butchered and/or time compressed shows! What a farce! I've also began to notice that the same episodes are being shown several times in a day. Furthermore, I've also noticed that even the staples of Western themed TV, Bonanza and Gunsmoke simply have the same shows repeated over and over ad nauseum. For starters, I've never once seen the later episodes of Bonanza on TV Land. In it's final seasons, Michael Landon began to take on the appearance of "Pa" from Little House with his hair growing bushy and gray, Hoss was gone, but still the show continued to be good. For that matter, I'm not sure I've even seen any of the episodes after Adam (Pernell Roberts) left the show and was replaced by the hired hand, Candy. As for Gunsmoke, if my memory serves me correctly, it started out as a 30 minute show entitled Marshall Dillon that later turned into what we know as Gunsmoke. Many of the shows were in black and white, but yet all I ever see on TV Land are the later episoes that were in color (which aren't bad) and seemed almost formulaic to the point of being boring. Kudos to The Western Channel for picking up the black and white episodes for awhile and kudos to Hallmark Channel for picking up the later episodes of Bonanza.

Speaking of butchering, Viacom never has answered my e-mail as to why they see fit to butcher shows via the chopping block! Most of the older shows that they syndicate have several minutes removed from each episode. I understand this gives more commercial time, but come on, you lose the integrity of the show IMO by doing this. At the very least, offer the unedited shows to the stations for a little higher price or something. I e-mailed WGN who airs The Beverly Hillbillies each morning and asked them if they could show the unedited shows and I was sent a nice e-mail explaining that the original shows were not available to them any longer! Come on, someone, put this show on DVD! Jed and all his kin have never lost their popularity, even to this day!!! Put out a nice collection of DVD's featuring the original, unedited shows, throw in cast interviews with Max Baer, Jr., Donna Douglas, and other surviving cast members, throw in some of the original commercials that were hosted by the actors, etc. and you would have a money maker!

Now as for the other shows I'd like to see on DVD:

Goodnight Beantown (a Bill Bixby flop, lol!)

BJ and the Bear/Lobo

Barnbaby Jones

The Incredible Hulk

My Three Sons

Old episodes of game shows like The Price Is Right, etc.

She's The Sheriff

Gomer Pyle USMC

Enos (spin-off from The Dukes of Hazzard)

Death

I guess that I have to face reality. People get older and their health fails them or whatever the case may be and they pass on, either to eternal reward with the Savior, or an eternity of punishment. It just seems that the last few years have seen the loss of people who are dear to me. 4 years ago, my Uncle Troy Watkins passed away. Oh man, the memories of being a little boy and how much I loved Uncle Troy. I can remember when I was 4 years old, he and Dad taking me down to Billy Williams' Grocery just up the road and buying me candy. He would always let me go with him wherever he was going when we visited. Such a wonderful man. When Dad and Mom divorced, I had words with Aunt Freeda, Uncle Troy's wife, and I lost all contact with them from 1998 until he died 4 years ago. Do you ever wish you could do it over again? I sure do! I balled like a baby at his funeral when the casket was closed and I knew that I would never see him again.

Three years ago, we got a double whammy. At the end of summer we had a phone call that my Uncle Tommy (Mom's brother) had passed the away. Actually the way it happened was the hospital calling and saying that they needed a family member down there. My mother peiced 2 and 2 together and finally made them tell her that he passed away. He had blood clots really bad and one of them had finally did him in, helped in part by years of drinking and smoking I'm sure.

Not too long after that, we got a phone call early one Sunday morning informing that my cousin Lester had committed suicide. Without going into the details, family members still wonder whether or not it was suicide, but that's beyond the point. Lester was several years younger than me and now he was dead.

Sometimes death is merciful though. A dear saint of God, who was 90 years old, was suffering from Leukemia. She at one point had pastored the church and continued to preach even after stepping down from the pastoral roll. She had gotten to a point where that she couldn't even come to church for the tremendous amount of pain that she was in. Last week the Lord saw fit to call her on home, just a week before she would have been 91. In this case death was a blessing.

So I guess when it comes down to my point, life is short. Sometimes people live to be a good age, other times they do not. The sum of the matter I suppose is as Solomon said-remember the Creator in the days of your youth.

Psalm 37 (NLT)

I was going to attempt to do some sort of a study on verse #6, but I feel like I should post the whole chapter. Truly, God is in control. When it seems like things are at their worst, He is still in control. Think of Joseph; sold into slavery by his brothers, falsely accused by a wicked woman, but yet look where God brought him too! I'm going through a fiery trial right now and sometimes it seems like it will never end, but I know that in the end, God will bring forth my innocence as clear as the dawn and the justice of my cause like the noonday sun:

1 A psalm of David. Don't worry about the wicked. Don't envy those who do wrong. 2 For like grass, they soon fade away. Like springtime flowers, they soon wither. 3 Trust in the LORD and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. 4 Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart's desires. 5 Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you. 6 He will make your innocence as clear as the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun.
7 Be still in the presence of the LORD, and wait patiently for him to act. Don't worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes. 8 Stop your anger! Turn from your rage! Do not envy others – it only leads to harm. 9 For the wicked will be destroyed, but those who trust in the LORD will possess the land. 10 In a little while, the wicked will disappear. Though you look for them, they will be gone. 11 Those who are gentle and lowly will possess the land; they will live in prosperous security. 12 The wicked plot against the godly; they snarl at them in defiance. 13 But the Lord just laughs, for he sees their day of judgment coming. 14 The wicked draw their swords and string their bows to kill the poor and the oppressed, to slaughter those who do right. 15 But they will be stabbed through the heart with their own swords, and their bows will be broken. 16 It is better to be godly and have little than to be evil and possess much. 17 For the strength of the wicked will be shattered, but the LORD takes care of the godly. 18 Day by day the LORD takes care of the innocent, and they will receive a reward that lasts forever. 19 They will survive through hard times; even in famine they will have more than enough. 20 But the wicked will perish. The LORD's enemies are like flowers in a field – they will disappear like smoke.
21 The wicked borrow and never repay, but the godly are generous givers. 22 Those blessed by the LORD will inherit the land, but those cursed by him will die. 23 The steps of the godly are directed by the LORD. He delights in every detail of their lives. 24 Though they stumble, they will not fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand. 25 Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly forsaken, nor seen their children begging for bread. 26 The godly always give generous loans to others, and their children are a blessing. 27 Turn from evil and do good, and you will live in the land forever. 28 For the LORD loves justice, and he will never abandon the godly. He will keep them safe forever, but the children of the wicked will perish. 29 The godly will inherit the land and will live there forever. 30 The godly offer good counsel; they know what is right from wrong. 31 They fill their hearts with God's law, so they will never slip from his path. 32 Those who are evil spy on the godly, waiting for an excuse to kill them. 33 But the LORD will not let the wicked succeed or let the godly be condemned when they are brought before the judge.
34 Don't be impatient for the LORD to act! Travel steadily along his path. He will honor you, giving you the land. You will see the wicked destroyed. 35 I myself have seen it happen – proud and evil people thriving like mighty trees. 36 But when I looked again, they were gone! Though I searched for them, I could not find them! 37 Look at those who are honest and good, for a wonderful future lies before those who love peace. 38 But the wicked will be destroyed; they have no future. 39 The LORD saves the godly; he is their fortress in times of trouble. 40 The LORD helps them, rescuing them from the wicked. He saves them, and they find shelter in him.

Okay, Muzak, what happened?

I've already related my distaste with Muzak junk once in my blog so I won't rehash that conversation.

That being said, is there anyone out there from Muzak who can explain what happened Saturday before last? I came into work and instead of hearing the same old normal drivel that passes for music, I heard either original versions of songs that they normally play shoddy remakes of or music I've never heard played before! For an hour or two, my ears were treated to the likes of The Drifters, B.J. Thomas, Jimmy Durante, and a host of other fine music!!!! I thought I had died and went to music heaven, lol! Then just as quick as the good stuff started the junky likes of Chicago and other lacking musical wanna-be's came back on. Come on, Muzak, 'fess up-did someone temporarily find their mind and decide to play some good music for once?

I found out a few years ago that Muzak programs the music for the CD channels on Dish Network. Man, they play some good music on the oldies country and rock stations both! Why can't they pass a little of that along on their Snot, er Hot, FM selection I hear up at work? Come on, Muzak, I challenge you to play some real music and see what happens!!!!!!!!!

Something sounds fishy......

Last week a co-worker at work got this unannounced phone call saying that she had been recommended by a customer for another job with better wages, etc. All in all she decided something sounded fishy and didn't look into the position any further.

Today was a hectic day at work. Our manager was gone to a meeting, Pat (the co-worker in question) had to sit in on a broadcast and our other supervisor, Julie, was running around like a chicken with it's head cut off trying to train a new person and get two other new employees set up in the system. That left me covering not only the floor but the catalog department as well. My day was going very stressful to say the least!!!!!! In the midst of waiting on a customer, two different people called wanting to know the status of their order and I had to explain that I was in the midst of waiting on a customer and it would be a few minutes. Then the phone rang again.......

This time a very pleasant sounding lady was on the other end, wishing to speak to our "men's dpt. mgr." which, of course, is me! I told her that she was speaking with him and then she asked was I over the children's department as well; I explained that I was indeed in charge of it as well. She told me how that a friend of hers (she gave me a name) was so pleased with the way I always helped her all of the time and that she had recommended me to her for a job with this company! She asked would I be interested in coming in for an interview and all of that jazz. I explained to her that I was not, that after being with JC Penney for almost 6 years I had put down pretty good roots and that the only thing that could lure me away was a job with the State of Missouri that I had applied and interviewed for. She wished me luck and then left me her name and phone number in case I changed my mind.

This is the almost exact same conversation Pat got last week! Earlier that day someone had called inquiring as to who the supervisors were and then she gets this phone call! I don't know and may not be the smartest crayon in the box, but something sounds funny!

8-tracks and repairing my parent's stereo

Ah, yes, the butt of many jokes, the much maligned, long forgotten 8-track tape. Okay, let's face it, no matter what you do, the 8-track is never going to have the sound quality of digital music. We are talking a format that pretty well died out 25 years ago and was certainly not designed for long lasting play but for some reason has caught the fascination of a dedicated group of folks scattered across the country.

I've been collecting the things for a long time now and have somewhere around 200 in my collection. I've been through several players during that time. I started with my parent's old Magnavox console stereo which eventually got tired of me and the motor started giving out! I bought a Soundesign player/recorder for $15 at a now defunct flea market but after a few days, the motor quit on it. Later, I bought both a GE and Magnavox deck at a flea market for like $5 apeice or so, along with gospel tapes by Tennessee Ernie Ford, Jimmie Davis, and The Inspirations for $1 apeice. The GE deck was shot, so it hit the garbage rather quickly. The Magnavox deck had a good sound but had a horrendous amount of noise (more than what would normally be expected of a player playing at 3 3/4 IPS, lol!). A few years ago I bought a Panasonic deck at another flea market. It played but it was too slow. It had to do though, lol, as by this time 8-track players were becoming more of an expensive premium thanks to eBay!

Last year, Dad called me and asked me did I want the old aforementioned console stereo. If for nothing more than sentimental purposes I agreed to take it, but really thinking it was a piece of junk by now. He and Mom bought it when I was like 2 years old. They had a Sears Silvertone before it and I "worked" on it for them one day, lol! They took it to John Dale at Dale TV in Caruthersville, MO who basically thought it was beyond repair. He gave them $100 trade in toward a new Magnavox stereo which brought the bad boy down to $280.

I got it home and as I remember, the 8-track player was going south. The motor made a wobbly sound and would not play right. If you left it running for a while it would eventually line itself out and play right until you removed the tape. When it started doing this in the late 80's/early 90's, I had no one to turn to. Now I had the Internet! Someone suggested cleaning the shaft of the motor with alcohol thinking the belt was not making good contact. I did that and WOW, it worked! Thinking very highly of myself I came back a few days later to play a tape-wobble, wobble wobble........ I sought help again and was told to oil the motor lightly with machine oil. Lightly didn't do the trick, so I used 1/3 of a bottle, lol! It got it back running, lol! My system was this-whenever I wanted to play it, oil it, lol! That finally stopped helping and I contacted a gentleman named Dan Jobin for repair work, as recommended online. For $27, he fixed the motor, put a new belt on, soldered on two new capacitors (the programs weren't switching right), cleaned it, and re-hinged the door. It took a nasty hit on the way back or something and I had to re-align the head, but other than that, all systems were go!

Tonight, I'm sitting here listening to a tape of the Inspirations doing some good ole Southern gospel music. I have a messed up volume control on it so I'm running the line outputs to the computer but I'm still enjoying it! I have to get the turntable fixed next. The tone arm is bent or something and the arm that holds up the records is broken. It also needs the standard things such as oiling and new stylus/cartridge. I'll let y'all know how that turns out when I get it done.

I've also been recording my 8-tracks to CD. I invested last year in software from Polderbits that allows you to record to your computer from external sources. Once you filter out the noise and use the equalizer, these dreaded little tapes that people laugh at don't sound too bad. I loaned a co-worker some CD's of Ronnie Milsap that I had burned off from the player and she said that if she did not know it came from an 8-track player, she never would have known!

Been a while!

Well, it's been quite a few months since I've written anything. As a matter of fact, Christmas, New Years, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, and April Fools Day have all passed, lol!

Well, to update y'all folks who are anxiously waiting, I'm still working for JC Penney. I went for an interview a couple of weeks ago with the State of Missouri for a job with the Dpt. of Human Services, but at least for now, I have gotten turned down for the job. My name is still on the active list and I may well be called back for an interview at some point in the future. So for now, JC Penney is home, lol!

The kids are still growing like weeds. Charles seems to be staying sick a lot at times. I was like him as well when I was a kid, so I guess it's hereditary.

I've watched Worthy Boards continue to grow and grow. Please continue to keep George and the moderating team over there in prayer. I can't get in tonight due to server problems, so I've been posting over at Christian's Corner and took a look at a friend's blog (howdy Hannah J. Doodle!) and decided to come on over and post on mine!

Anyway, I'll post more later. Y'all have a blessed night in the Lord!

Been a while!

Well, it's been quite a few months since I've written anything. As a matter of fact, Christmas, New Years, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, and April Fools Day have all passed, lol!

Well, to update y'all folks who are anxiously waiting, I'm still working for JC Penney. I went for an interview a couple of weeks ago with the State of Missouri for a job with the Dpt. of Human Services, but at least for now, I have gotten turned down for the job. My name is still on the active list and I may well be called back for an interview at some point in the future. So for now, JC Penney is home, lol!

The kids are still growing like weeds. Charles seems to be staying sick a lot at times. I was like him as well when I was a kid, so I guess it's hereditary.

I've watched Worthy Boards continue to grow and grow. Please continue to keep George and the moderating team over there in prayer. I can't get in tonight due to server problems, so I've been posting over at Christian's Corner and took a look at a friend's blog (howdy Hannah J. Doodle!) and decided to come on over and post on mine!

Anyway, I'll post more later. Y'all have a blessed night in the Lord!