Leaving town

...and staying put at the same time.

Tomorrow, we're flying out of town for 11 days in the Pacific Northwest with my brother and sister-in-law. It should be a much-needed vacation (then again, who doesn't "need" a vacation?).

We've also been contemplating a job opportunity in California for the last month. We decided not to pursue it. A customer of mine had approached me about working with them. There was a lot that sounded good about it so after initially turning it down, I decided to consider it.

Without going into boring details, there was enough that didn't come together with what I said would have to be the "perfect storm" that we decided not to make the move.

My mom said that when considering a job opportunity, you have to answer the question: If this opportunity went away tomorrow, would you be relieved or disappointed? Truthfully, I'm neither. More than anything I'm simply excited about the summer that's upon us. I'm excited to pursue Christ's reign in my life. I'm excited to see where the rest of this year will take my wife and I.

I'm not disappointed. I'm not relieved. I'm excited. I like that.

Jesus takes the wheel

This is scary and then a huge blessing and then funny all at the same time.

Pilots run out of fuel, pray, land near Jesus sign

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - It seemed like an almost literal answer to their prayers. When two New Zealand pilots ran out of fuel in a microlight airplane they offered prayers and were able to make an emergency landing in a field — coming to rest right next to a sign reading, "Jesus is Lord."

Grant Stubbs and Owen Wilson, both from the town of Blenheim on the country's South Island, were flying up the sloping valley of Pelorus Sound when the engine spluttered, coughed and died.

"My friend and I are both Christians so our immediate reaction in a life-threatening situation was to ask for God's help," Stubbs told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

He said he prayed during the ill-fated flight Sunday that the tiny craft would get over the top of a ridge and that they would find a landing site that was not too steep — or in the nearby sea.

Wilson said that the pair would have been in deep trouble if the fuel had run out five minutes earlier.

"If it had to run out, that was the place to be," he said. "There was an instantaneous answer to prayer as we crossed the ridge and there was an airfield — I didn't know it existed till then."

After Wilson glided the powerless craft to a landing on the grassy strip, the pair noticed they were beside a 20-foot-tall sign that read, "Jesus is Lord — The Bible."

"When we saw that, we started laughing," Stubbs said.

Nearby residents provided them with gas to fly the home-built plane back to base.

Obama's wife is fair game

The Tennessee GOP has used some less than upright tactics against Democrats. Having acknowledged that, when your wife is campaigning for you, it's fair to put her comments under just as much scrutiny as yours.

Obama tells Tenn.'s GOP: 'Lay off my wife'

WASHINGTON - Democrat Barack Obama has a message for Tennessee's Republican Party: "Lay off my wife."

Obama, his party's presidential front-runner, and his wife, Michelle, were asked in an interview aired Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America" about an online video last week by the state's GOP taking her to task for a comment some considered unpatriotic.

"The GOP, should I be the nominee, can say whatever they want to say about me, my track record," Obama said. "If they think that they're going to try to make Michelle an issue in this campaign, they should be careful because that I find unacceptable, the notion that you start attacking my wife or my family."

Are you serious? Unacceptable to make your wife an issue in a campaign when you have your wife stumping for you all over the country? It's ridiculous to think she won't be an issue, just as individuals who've made poor comments introducing John McCain have been lambasted for them.

He called the strategy "low class."

The video, posted on YouTube, centered on remarks Michelle Obama made while campaigning in Wisconsin last February, when she said: "For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country."

I don't disagree about his comments on the Tennessee GOP here (they do need to think about the type of campaign they want to run), but again, it's immature for him to assume his last comment holds any water with anyone.

"Whoever is in charge of the Tennessee GOP needs to think long and hard about the kind of campaign they want to run, and I think that's true for everybody, Democrat or Republican," Obama said in the ABC interview, adding: "These folks should lay off my wife."

I think this only serves to highlight some of Obama's rather immature expectations of people. Send your wife to campaign for you, expect her words and actions to endure criticism.

Avoiding the gas pump

This guy embodies the phrase, "Put your money where your mouth is."

Wis. man won't buy gas for 31 days, maybe longer

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. - Brian LaFave couldn't care less how high gasoline prices climb these days — he's parked his pickup truck and is refusing to buy gas for a month, possibly longer.

"The goal is to not use one drop of gas for 31 days," LaFave said, calling it his personal stand against the oil companies.

Now LaFave, 31, is riding his bicycle or walking everywhere he goes. He won't even let friends pick him up unless they already planned on being in the neighborhood.

"If they're not going out of their way, I can take the ride," he said. "But if they're going out of their way, then ... I'm still consuming gasoline so it kind of defeats the purpose."

LaFave started the effort May 11. He bikes to his third-shift job at Aldrich Chemical in Sheboygan Falls, a 9-mile commute.

"I did like a practice run ... two days in a row to make sure I could do it," he said. "I'm not in the greatest shape. The mornings are the worst. It feels like it takes forever. I get like a mile down the road and I want to die."

It's a big change for someone who put 300 miles on his truck the week before he stopped driving it.

LaFave fills out a chart each day listing how many miles he bikes, the destination and the gas price that day, among other things. He plans to compute his savings and donate that amount to a charity that provides food to children in Africa.

"I think just with the gas prices being so high, everybody complains about it but no one ever really does anything about it," LaFave said. "People continue to drive nonstop and not think about it, but I just wanted to take a stand and say, `I'm not gonna pay this much money for gas.'"

100

That's the number of work emails I sent Monday. I'm afraid to even try to figure out how many I received.

At what point do you just auto-delete everything?

Why add to the noise?

After virtually falling off the blogging map for a few months last year, I returned in August and determined to be as regular as possible. People take the time to read my blog and I don't want to disappoint them.

However, I also don't want to waste their time, and lately, I've had nothing worth posting. Oh, I've had many things I'd like to post and likely will soon enough, but nothing would add anything to the already cluttered blogosphere.

We're peppered with terabytes (did you know there's something bigger than gigabytes?) of information each day. You already have to be selective enough about how much of that information you process. I don't think enough bloggers - including myself - consider that.

Your readers' time is precious. Don't waste it. Give them something worth reading.

I just realized

I didn't eat my lunch today. I think it's a little late to realize that...

How much do you love the Packers?

Probably not as much as this kid.

Boy, 11, Takes Off Brett Favre Jersey After Wearing It Every Day Since 2003

GREEN BAY, Wis. — David Witthoft finally shunned his Brett Favre jersey for a red shirt for the first time in 1,581 days.

The 12-year-old Ridgefield, Conn. boy wore the No. 4 jersey every day since receiving it as a gift for Christmas in 2003.

David's father, Chuck Witthoft, says Monday that his son's last day wearing the jersey was April 23 on his 12th birthday. Witthoft conceded his son was starting to become more concerned about his appearance after the jersey barely came down to his belt line.

Witthoft first gained national attention three years ago, and attended his first Packers game in December. He's also planning to attend the Sept. 8 game when the Packers retire Favre's No. 4.

His mother, Carolyn, had washed the jersey every other day and mended it when needed.

And I thought I was a Packer fan...

Um, that's my foot

I was in the crosswalk on the way to work this morning and a guy turned ever so slowly into the crosswalk and literally rolled over my foot.

What do you say to that?

I gave the rear panel of his car a good thump with my hand. I may have kicked his car too if my foot hadn't been under his tire...