Rocky Mountain High

Last week was a special time for the Houstons. For five days/six nights we along with 7 of our good friends experienced the joy that is the Colorado Rocky Mountains! Tara and I, along with her parents own a condo in Wildernest, CO (there is a link to it on the left, btw). We love the place. Every time we go there, we come back refreshed, relaxed and yearning for the next trip. This trip, though, was the first time that we have been there with friends, and a full house. We were anxious to not only ski, but also enjoy the fun and fellowship with others.

Below are a few photos of our time there. As a plug, it is a wonderful getaway. Take a look at our website and take your family and friends there! It is cheaper than a hotel and can accommodate 10-12 people.

Our first night we arrived and the girls went to pick up their rental car. Conveniently enough, they were given a two door CONVERTIBLE! Needless to say, my lovely, and 6-month pregnant wife, Tara went back in and kindly requested a different car, because a convertible is fine this time of year in Malibu, but in the mountains...not so much. Her request was granted and they gave her an upgrade, TO A MINIVAN! It was a good omen and a sign of good things to come.

Our first day we skied Keystone with 8 inches of fresh powder! It was amazing, and Chuck and I only got lost in black diamond trees up to our waist in powder once! These pics are of our second day in the back bowls at Vail. Again, fresh powder, 10,000 ft. plus mountain bowls, overlooking the Ten Mile Range and good friends made for a great day! The first is Lynnea, Michael H. and Chuck, while below are Michael and Heather Powell (all the way from sunny Tampa!).



Our third day was supposed to be a day of skiing at Copper Mountain, but we wore ourselves out at Keystone and Vail. We took it easy and watched the two championship football games. Along side I-70, somebody spent a lot of time, and made this amazing snow mural! It is the Steeler logo above, with the Bronco logo below.

Our final day was at Breckenridge. This picture was taken at the top of Peak 8 overlooking the town of Breck, Keystone, and the Continental Divide. I had never been to Breck and was pleasantly surprised! It will be the place I take our son to teach him the joys of skiing (sorry snowboarders). At least when he is young he will ski. If he wants to attempt the debauchery that is snowboarding he can do it when he is older. Some things are non-negotiable and this is one of them!

All in all it was a wonderful trip. Great skiing, great friends, no broken bones and some funny stories. Also, it is my hope that this is the beginning of an annual pilgrimage to the Rockies with friends for skiing and fun. We'll have to see, now that babies are coming (or have come) into not only our lives, but our friends and family as well!

Sticks, Stones, and Spears

On Saturday evening, Tara and I went out with some friends for a dinner and a movie. First off, Culver City, CA is a fun and lively place. It is an example of how freakin' huge greater Los Angeles is. I realize this, but when you go to a part of "the city" you've never been before that is hustling and bustling with night life restaurants, movie theaters, parking garages, nice hotels, and a Trader Joes it is a little different than Oklahoma City, OK, or for that matter, most places not names NYC! But now back to the regularly scheduled blogging.

The movie we chose that night was "End of the Spear". Honestly, I had pretty low expectations. It wasn't like I was going to see LOTR or King Kong. I heard some decent reviews from my family back in OK, but other than that, I hadn't heard much. I did know that for a "Christian Movie" it did pretty well in the box office, even though it was a limited release.

For those of you who don't know, it is about a missionary family in Ecuador who is trying to make contact with an indigenous tribe in the jungles of that region. I won't go into it anymore as not to spoil it, but I will say that I was pleasantly surprised. Again, this isn't a blockbuster by any stretch, but it was well done, had a good story, definitely made me think, and all in all was a decent use of my $10.50. (Yes that is what they cost out here on the left coast, EXTORTION!)

This post goes in line with a post from Rocky last week about crank, lap-top computers (http://norwasmeanttobe.blogspot.com/). The general notion I took from this film was about conflicting ways of life. The tribe in the jungle, was primitive, where as the missionaries weren't. This made me think about exactly how, both good and bad, societies are affected when they meet. In this case it was Western/North American Christianity, and a tribal, Southern American jungle way of life.

Believe me there are many topics for discussing that this movie brings up from Christian films, to "Go and preach the Gospel", but on a simpler note, probably one of the most memorable scenes was actually during the credits where an excerpt from the original documentary was shown as the words/names (that nobody other than relatives and friends read) scroll down the right side of the screen. The missionary was talking about bringing one of the tribal leaders to the U.S. later in life. He commented that the leader said to his family upon his return when asked how the missionaries survive because they don't have gardens, "They have large houses filled with food. You simply take what you want and go up to the front. You smile really big ...and the person at the front smiles back, then you get to go home with your food." At this point the missionary said, "Yes, but I gave her a card (credit card)", and the tribal leader said, "yes, but it didn't really matter because she gave it right back."

The point I make in this, (which relates to the computer thought, btw): Something as simple (to us) as buying food at a grocery store doesn't translate. I think of trying to explain cell phones to my great grandmother and her lack of comprehension because, "Where is the wire?" How does technology translate to 85% of this world? How does the Gospel translate to 85% of this world? I agree with Ryno in his comment to the laptop article, in that we should present it but not "force them to love it like a little brother with freckles." That is not our job, preaching is.

I would recommend the movie. It isn't a waste of time, and it is nice to actually see something that has Christian undertones holding its own against pop culture.

The Real Reason

I am an conspiracy theorist. I'll admit it. Do I believe Oswald acted alone? Being a farmer who has hunted with similar firearms, no. Do I believe the FBI had something to do with Dr. King/Malcom X assassinations, yes. Now fast forward to today. I found an interesting story as I was logging out of Hotmail. I am always redirected to the bastion of news, msn.com, where this story made its top stories: "Iran vows missile retaliation to any attack".

If you live near me, you will recall that I have talked about Iran as the reason for the "Gulf Wars" for some time now...Namely almost two years. I know, it is easy to say that it is about oil, or humanitarian issues, or the liberation and creation of a democratic nation, or on and on and on, which in most respects it is. But when have we heard that it is about Iran? Not I, and thus that is exactly why I believe that it is!

Let's look at a few things. Growing up as a child, my family attended church where an Iranian couple started attending. We became very good friends with Ali and Susan. Come to find out, they had been exiled out of their country when Ayatollah Ali Khamenei came into power (he is in power today, fyi). All their family was back there, but they were given death sentences if they returned. You can imagine what that sounded like to a 10 year old. I was astonished, that Ali would die if he traveled to see his mother! Shortly after this time, the United States supported and provided weapons to a young middle eastern leader known as Saddam Hussein as Iraq and Iran were in war with each other.

Now jump ahead to the summer of 2004. My wife Tara and I were taking a 24 day Europe vacation in May/June. Towards the end of the trip, while in Germany, I ran across an article in the Strasbourg newspaper that read something like, "...the Germans were very upset that the U.S. had decided to downsize most of its Western European bases over the next 4 years, moving them to what the Pentagon deemed as 'hotter' areas politically." Some examples were Iraq, Qatar, Afghanistan. Hmmm, what is in common with these countries? Not Hussein, Iran maybe?

Then in that year's presidential election during the first JK and GWB debate, JK was attacking GWB on the North Korean Nuclear crisis and was asking him what should be done. GWB responded by talking about unilateral talks, blah, blah, blah. Then when JK mentioned that Korea wasn't the only nuclear problem and Iran was, Bush, angrily responded, and I paraphrase, "I wake up at 5 a.m. and go through reports and messages from heads of state. I meet with international leaders through lunch, review my next days plans through dinner, and as I'm going to sleep, I going through more briefs and reports on these issues. You don't EVEN KNOW what you're talking about." Abruptly, the debate turned to a different topic. I was thinking, hmm he didn't answer the question, but like in most debates questions are never answered, but another log was thrown on my conspiracy fire.

Now here we are. Over the past 5 months a little country called Iran has garnered the attention of not only the U.S. but Russia, China, France, Great Britain, Australia, Italy, Israel and Spain, and yes, even, Germany. The United Nations Security Council has actually been meeting on how to proceed with the 'shocking announcement' that Iran is restarting its nuclear program. Restarting huh? Then today, they announce that they have mid-range missiles? Wow, that was a quick restart!

My take on it all is that the U.S. and for that matter the western world has been worried about Iran for 20 years now! That is why father Bush tried to get in there when he did. Bin Laden actually helped us out so we could go after him in Afghanistan. GWB did what his father couldn't and put our presence right next door to Iran! We are moving troops from Vietnam and Germany to the Persian Gulf area as I type. Why? Hussein is gone. And what about N. Korea? I know, they aren't a threat to Israel and oil, but what about the western U.S.? I think Iran has been building a nuclear program since the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei regime began. It has taken us 20+ years to diplomatically get into position to do something with him. It will be an interesting next few months as more of the world shifts its collective focus from Iraq to Iran.

Oh yeah, did I mention that I enjoy the movie where Mel Gibson is somewhat of a stalker of Julia Roberts? I digress...

I need blogging for dummies :)

I had to do this in order to get it into my profile :)

Not OK anymore

Well I did it. I can't believe it but I am now a number. Just one more who has fallen to the darkside, aka, a blogger! I did this for a couple of reasons. Particularly because Tara and I are having our first child in April, so this is a convienient way to keep everyone who wants to know in the know (thanks Scott for blazing this trail with ("Dad was Right").

Secondly, there are other issues that I like to sound off about. In reading my friends blogs, they raise good questions, but I tend to have my own "genre" of thought. We'll see how often I actually post here once fantasy baseball starts however.

Thirdly, I wanted to post something to Rocky, and that led me here!

Finally, I like to take and show pictures. This will probably be the primary purpose of this spot. At least that will be somewhat entertaining for those of you who like to frequent this place.

So give me a week or so to figure this all out, then start bashing me like usual! Until then...happy reading...