Is it better to be loved or feared....

Is it better to be loved than feared, or feared than loved?

I think it is better to be loved than feared. When people do things out of fear, its not done from the heart, it is done out of obligation or fear of consequence. When people do something out of love, it is in a spirit of respect. Do we respect who we fear? I think not. I feel that we respect the consequence not the person. Fear is not a great motivator. Respect is a motivator. It motivates us to do better, think more, and work harder than we have before. I think often times people do a better job when they respect who they work for, rather than fear them. At least I do. As they say, "you get more flies with honey...."

"Fear" of God

"Fear" of God

I have talked to my father about this a few times. I think I have come to the conclusion that our “fear” of God is really a healthy respect. I do not need to fear God. He is my friend. I love Him and He loves me. Do I fear my Friend? No. Is it really a friend if it is someone we fear? No.

We serve God because we love Him.

He is a jealous God, to be certain, the Bible makes that point abundantly clear, but he is jealous out of love for us and a want for what is best for us. God is not as some celestial bully that is ready to spank us when we are bad. He corrects us out of love and will never forsake His own. He has our best interests in mind, even when we don’t see it that way, or we don't have our own in mind.

I respect God, but I will never “fear” my best, and closest, Friend and Saviour....at least that is the way I see it....

New Email Signature

I think this is going to be my new signature at work. I replied to an email that I received from some co-workers about a certain situation and one replied back that I should use this as my signature:


"I have several comments I could make on the subject, but in the spirit of keeping things HR appropriate and maintaining a harmonious work environment I will refrain from any derogatory commentary on the situation and keep my opinions to myself…"

High School Never Ends

I thought from time to time I would post songs on my blog that I like, or mean something or whatever. Here is the first. This is by a band that has become a real favorite over time, Bowling for Soup. I first heard about them as they did a song called "Girl All the Bad Guys Want" that was produced by one of my favorite artists, Butch Walker.

This song is great. Check out the lyrics:

4 Years you think for sure
That's all you've got to endure
All the (total dicks)
All the Stuck-up Chicks
So superficial, so immature

Then When you graduate,
Ya take a look around and you say "Hey Wait!"
This is the same as where I just came from,
I thought it was over, Aw that's just great.


Ch:
The Whole Damn World is just as obsessed
With who‘s the best dressed and (who's having sex)
Who‘s got the money. Who (gets the honeys)
Who‘s kinda cute and who‘s just a mess

And you still don't have the right look
And you don't have the right friends
Nothing changes but the faces, the names, and the trends

High School Never Ends

Check out the popular kids
You'll never guess what Jessica did!
And how did Mary Kate (lose all that weight?)
And (Katie had a baby so I guess Tom's straight!)

And the only thing that matters,
Is climbing up that social ladder
Still care about your hair and the car you drive
Doesn't matter if you're 16 or 35

Reese Witherspoon, she's the Prom Queen
Bill Gates, Captain of the chess team
Jack Black, the clown
Brad Pitt, the quarterback

Seen it all before
I want my money back!


Ch:
The Whole (damn) World is just as obsessed
With who's the best dressed and (who's having sex)
Who's (in the club and who's on the drugs)
(And who's throwin up before they digest)

And you still don't have the right look
And you don't have the right friends
(And you still listen to the same shit you did back then)


High School Never Ends

Ch:
The Whole Damn World is just as obsessed
With who‘s the best dressed and (who's having sex)
Who‘s got the money. Who (gets the honeys)
Who‘s kinda cute and who‘s just a mess

And I still don't have the right look
And I still have the same 3 friends
And I'm pretty much - the same as - I was back then

High School Never Ends


I know that was kinda long, but I think it really rings true. I think about my work, and I look around and it IS just like high school. Everybody talking behind everyone elses back, the suck-up's and buttkisser's (teacher's pet's anyone?), management with a power trip (teacher's with power trips anyone?), you get the idea.

Work is one big slice of humanity. I look around and see the former jock that now plays slow-pitch softball, has a beer gut and is still "all about sports", as long as it is NESN or one of the "fantasy" leagues. I see the popular guy that all the chicks love to swoon over, and who dates all the girls in the office at one time or another. The "rich kid" whose parents had the cash to send them to the best schools who landed in management right out of college and didnt have to work for what they have, and has all the flashy stuff and newest gadgets to show off.

The AV nerds who you picked on in high school have taken over the IT department, but are still just nerds, complete with snorting and wheezing and general poor hygene, but now they have iPhones and Macbooks instead of pocket protecters and glasses, and the difference now is that jocks need them to fix their computer problems, instead of do their homework for them.

You see the girly girls, that were probably cheerleaders in high school who shmooze and smile their way out of everything (some things never change), and now, instead of going to the bathroom together to talk smack about people and fix their hair, they congregate together around the water-cooler or the communal ashtray outside and talk smack about the people they work with, or their yellow SUV, or their poor husband or their monster children...

You have the loser who is probably still just a loser in middle-management Hell doing other peoples work for them saying "well, someday this is all gonna pay off". The goth kid or punk rocker. Still wearing black, hair is still multi colored the only difference is that they have traded in the black nail polish and baggy pants for piercings and tattoos. The joker. Everybody has a joker. Somebody who never takes anything seriously and is more for having a good time and drinking every night. Then you have the "cool" guy. You know this guy. He is Mr. Freakin Cool himself. Everybody has to know them. Guys want to be them and every girl wants to be with them....a legend in their own mind.

These are just random thoughts from my experience, but I truly do believe that high school never does end. It doesn't matter how old we get, there will always be different classes and people that fit into these kind of categories no matter where you work, or go to church or congregate. Doesn't make it right, but no one ever said that life was fair.

Anti-Christ '08

I love this picture. It was on a t-shirt during the '08 election. I wanted to buy the shirt but the wife said no, because I would get into fights if I wore it out. While we were talking, she was eating prociutto. Prociutto is a really salty Italian ham, that is truly disgusting and I cannot see how people eat it. She rolled up an extra large piece of prociutto and said you can buy the shirt if you eat this. I grabbed it and chewed it up and swallowed it....and gagged. I never ended up buying the shirt for some reason or another, but the wife stood by the deal and said that I could if I wanted to. She didn't think I would do it. Eat the prociutto, that is. This, in and of itself should show the depth of my disgust for Obama and his regime. To quote the neo-yuppie liberal scumbags during the Bush administration...."he's not my president"

Socialism...

I couldn't agree more. I think the picture says it all.

Neck Plate

This is a shot of the Neck Plate that my Dad and I made from Treadplate for the guitar. I am so blessed to have such a talented father that is a jack-of-all-trades. He is amazing, from plumbing and carpentry to engineering and metal fabrication. The guy can do it all during the week and then preach a sermon on Sunday. Pretty amazing and talented guy. He did this with me in about 1/2 an hour at 10 o'clock on a Wednesday night in his pajamas. He would kill me if he knew I wrote that! HA! Anyhow, it came out great and will be a pretty cool addition to the guitar.

Building a New Guitar

Well people, I am finally fulfilling a long-time dream of mine...building a guitar. I have always wanted to build my own, customized axe, but I haven't really had the money or time. Well I still don't really have the money or time, but I am doing it anyway!

I have been a fan of Ernie Ball/Music Man guitars since the 90's when Eddie Van Halen (my guitar idol when I was in high school) played them, but they were so expensive I could never afford one. Years later, another guitar player that was and still is a huge influence is DJ Ashba. I discovered DJ when I was still writing and recording with my last band Mu5tard and I introduced his stuff to the guys in my band. He is a really talented writer/producer and guitar player, that has written for Motley Crue, the Last Vegas and Drowning Pool, as well as writing and recording with Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue as a member of Nikki's solo band Sixx: AM. Amazing player. Anyhow, he started playing an Ernie Ball/Music Man that looked like it was covered in leather or something and that intrigued me. Turns out, as I researched the guitar I found out that he did it all himself, and stiched the leather together with sinew and attached it to the body. I thought that this would be a great idea for a project guitar so that is what I have decided to do.

Its been a long process getting this whole thing started. I found a body in the style I was looking for on ebay for around $30, so I bought it and put it in the closet. Around a year later I finally got around to buying a neck and getting some tuners for it. I am currently in the process of cutting out the headstock and drilling new holes for the tuners. I will post some pics of the progress so far, but the shot at the top of this post is a pick of the body.

My Blog

Well, here I am writing my first Blog. Interesting, I never thought that I would be doing this but I was talking to the guy that does my tattoos the other day, Albie Rock, and he gave me the idea to do a blog, as he updates his daily. I figure I have so much stuff floating around my head, stories to tell, and opinions that I might as well start writing them down. I will use this blog for all kinds of things like new ideas, news updates, and commentary, so the topics I blog about will be quite varied.

Now I will apologize ahead of time: I have very strong opinions and I can be a bit ignorant, intolerant, and abrasive with my views so here goes....

Approach with caution, you may or may not like what you read. You may agree or disagree with the content in some blogs. Just giving you due warning. Remember these are my opinions alone and do not necessarily reflect those of my family, church, or friends.