OK, I wasn't really dragged, it was my idea, lemme explain.... Sometime in March, my brother Jariah called and said we should all move to Columbus(2 hours away) so the guys could get better jobs. I said that's a great idea, but lets go to Tucson(36 hours away) instead!! (Zion's been wanting to for years.) Everything worked out really fast, so two months later, we were on our way!
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
What happened to everyone?? I know that my family is moving, but where did everyone else go?? This place is a ghost town!!
We started moving into the new house yesterday and then we had to go set up a campsite out at the property. The Zvx's had never been camping! None of them! So, of course we had to get that worked in before schoool starts. John and I were laughing about how boring it was to be sitting out under the stars roasting hot dogs over the campfire when we could have been blogging. How pathetic!
My wife thinks that staying at anything less than a three star hotel is camping.
14 years ago my wife and her sister paid for a hotel in Utah and they ended up sleeping in the car instead because the hotel was "horrific."
It cost them 25 American dollars to go pee.
A few years ago we rented a really nice, top of the line cabin in Yosemite with all the luxury amenities. She didn't like it, because the walls were "gross." (They looked fine to me.)
When my wife and her family stayed at a Bed and Breakfast in Montana in 1986, they wouldn't let them use the restrooms because they were asian.
They've actually got lots of interesting stories involving racism, but I won't tell them here because racism is "icky" and White people might get offended.
See, Jeshanah, this is the "kindler gentler" me. I love small animals, little birds, cute insects, Republicans from Ohio and all kinds of things with I.Q.'s lower than dirt.
"I've never stayed at a Bed 'n' Breakfast because I figure, by the end of the day, you'd start to get hungry. 'Is that all you've got around here? You need to direct me to a Chair, Lunch 'n' Dinner.' I'm going to open up a chain of Chair, Lunch 'n' Dinners right across the street from the Bed 'n' Breakfasts. 'Come on over about ... 1:00.'" -- Mitch Hedberg
Camping is fun! As long as there is a bathroom with electricity and showers close by, it's great!! You DID have a tent though, right? Or did everyone sleep in cars??
Did you guys get alot of stuff moved in?? How long till you will be completely moved in?
I hope you get back up to 100% soo, Israel. This blog was getting pretty boring without you. =)
Speaking of IQs,what's yours? I took a test on here a while back and I think it said mine was 136. I am not sure how accurate those are, but it did have tons of questions and lots of problems about relationships between patterns and stuff. The results said, Congratulations Sharla, you scored 136! but I would have had to pay money or something to find out if that was above average or what. You probably know what average is but I have no idea. (I hope it is not 300)
LOL, Mom! I did one of those tests online before, and it said I was a genius!! (I don't remember what my number score was, but I will never forget that it said "Genius" level right beside it!!!) w00t!!!!!!! (Now if the w00t doesn't prove my state of genius, I don't know what would....)
I hope Christine and her family didn't actually STAY at that bed and breakfast. That is inexcusable treatment and I hope they left immediately. You are right, us white people who are reading this blog do get offended by racism, everyone should. We are not,however offended by hearing stories of it. Say anything you like.
Israel Most of us Republicans from Ohio who are posting on here are in fact BARELY Republicans at all. At least all of us who are Message Believers believe all government is in the hands of Satan except Israel's. We might think that a few of the Republican positions line up closer to our own, and therefore vote that way, but it is comical to us to be told that "our" leaders are not morally pure. Like we ever thought they were! While I do occasionally watch all of the shows I mentioned the other day, I never watch more than about half an hour of anything in a whole day anymore. Who's got time? And I always have switched it around to Anderson Cooper, Chris Mathews, and a few shows on PBS some. I just like to try to understand why they think the way they do, even if I don't agee. You were being too quiet the other day, i just wanted to get you going. I usually agree more with Tucker than any other one that I can think of and sometimes I don't agree with him at all. With all we've got going on I haven't watched him for months.
John So, How's Toledo? All settled in? I forgot to send those dishes up with you, hope you have enough to get by. Let us know how the orientation thing goes.
Shan We had a tent...YOURS actually! Jess and Ness and the Zvx's stayed in that. John and Justin had sleeping bags by the fire and Dad and I were in the van sharing one piece of foam about three feet wide. Very cozy! (You know how we Republicans are)
Boy, I bet that was one crowded tent! It was small when Zion and I used it! Did ya make s'mores, and sing campfire songs, and talk about the good old days?? I bet the little girls all loved that, did you happen to take any pictures?
You guys ever notice how delicious everything tastes when you haven't eaten in two days?
I had a banana today that tasted positively delicious.
I also had some apple juice that tasted like sweet nectar of the gods. I promptly puked it up, but it tasted just as good coming back out as it had going in.
Which gives me an idea. Maybe Zion should take Jeshanah on vacation to some of these small Mexican shanty towns my dad used to visit with us. Eight or nine people would be living in a cardboard house, less than half the size of my master bathroom. Dirt floors, no plumbing, sink, toilet, nothing. You could see the fleas jumping on those little kid's dirty little heads.
When we showed them the movie of the "Ten Commandments" it was like the greatest thing anybody had ever seen. A lot of people had never even seen a movie before.
Anyway, two days in one of those Mexican shanty towns and I bet Jeshanah comes home and kisses the floor of her sweet little hovel and thanks the Lord that she lives in such a palace.
I've taken lots of IQ tests over the years, but the paper and pencil kind, not online.
As a Psych / Journalism major I actually took a class on how to administer them.
I don't place much stock in them as I think they tend to measure how well you take tests as much as anything else.
That being said, the highest I ever scored was 180 which I think is pretty ridiculous.
I think I've only met one true "genius" in my life and that was my father-in-law, although my wife says I'm kind of hard to impress because lots of her friends from Harvard score pretty high and would probably be classified as "geniuses" by IQ test standards.
I definitely don't see a genius when I look in the mirror every day, that's for sure.
Besides, there are so many different kinds of intelligence that are just as valuable if not more valuable than the kind needed to score well on tests.
My wife has incredible wealth of "emotional" intelligence that I couldn't even begin to comprehend or duplicate.
She has been described as a "political genius" when it comes to being able to communicate with and relate to people and make them feel special and validated. But when it comes to picking husbands, she's got to be submoronic.
Clinton may have been a "political genius" but he was truly an absolute moron when it came to keeping his pants on.
From what I've seen, Sharla is an "interior decorating genius" and Jeshanah is a "scrapbooking genius."
But as far as being true geniuses, I would have say that their membership in the Republican Party automatically exempts them from MENSA membership.
You asked, so I'll tell you that 136 is well above average for a Republican. In fact, I'm encouraged by your score and I'm hoping you will soon follow John into the realm of the non-Republicans.
By the way, I have supported and voted for our last two Republican Mayors of Stockton because they are really good men who have integrity and aren't afraid to do things other Republicans wouldn't even consider.
Plus I couldn't stand the brain-dead Democrats that were running against them.
I got the spelling wrong on that villain, his actual name was Mister Mxyzptlk (roughly pronounced Mix-yez-pit-lick, also nicknamed Mxy) That still makes a lot more sense than your pronouciation of Zvx.
Mxy was an imp from another dimension that gave Superman fits.
Actually i can proudly say that i came up with the word and the spelling of zvx( hoffermocker) it was actually just the last name of a friends nickname and my family liked it so much that when our friends family decided they wanted a new last name that one was assinged to them
Author Marilyn Vos Savant, who writes the "Ask Marilyn" column for Parade magazine claims to have the highest IQ ever measured at 230.
That was her child IQ which has a higher stand deviation and is considered less reliable that her adult IQ which has been estimated at around 50 points less.
The person with the highest IQ alive today is supposed to be Kim Ung-Yong from South Korea. His IQ was ranked at 210.
"Testers have only been able to estimate the IQ of Kim Ung-Yong, who was born in Seoul, Korea, on March 7, 1963. His IQ has been placed at exceeding 200. He was fluent in Japanese, Korean, German, and English by his fourth birthday. At four years, eight months he solved complicated calculus problems on Japanese TV. He is considered to be the most brilliant person alive. One factor may be that his parents, both university professors, were born at precisely the same moment: 11:00 a.m., May 23, 1934."
Young Sidis could read at 18 months. He'd written four books and was fluent in eight languages before he was eight. He gave a Harvard seminar on the fourth dimension at nine. He entered Harvard at eleven. He may've been the most intelligent person who ever lived.
Here is a partial list of William James Sidis' extraordinary capabilities and accomplishments: 1. Given IQ is a purely anthropocentric means of assessing intelligence, Sidis' IQ is crudely estimated at 250-300. 2. Infant Billy listened to Greek myths read to him by Sarah as bedtime stories. 3. Started feeding himself with a spoon at eight months (after two months of trial and error). 4. Cajoled by Boris, Billy learned to pronounce alphabetic syllables from blocks hanging in his crib. 5. At six months, Billy said, "Door." A couple months later he told Mom he liked things, doors and people, that move. 6. At seven months he pointed to Earth's moon and called it, "moon." He wanted a 'moon' of his own. 7. Mastered higher mathematics and planetary revolutions by age 11. 8. Learned to spell efficiently by one year old. 9. Started reading The New York Times at 18 months. 10. Started typing at three. Used his high chair to reach a typewriter. First composed letter was an order for toys from Macy's. 11. Read Caesar's Gallic Wars, in Latin (self-taught), as a birthday present to his Father in Billy's fourth year. 12. Learned Greek alphabet and read Homer in Greek in his fourth year. 13. Learned Aristotelian logic in his sixth year. 14. At six, Billy learned Russian, French, German, and Hebrew, and soon after, Turkish and Armenian. 15. Calculated mentally a day any date in history would fall at age six. Absolutely fascinated by calendars. 16. Learned Gray's Anatomy at six. Could pass a student medical examination. 17. Billy started grammar school at six, in 3 days 3rd grade, graduated grammar school in 7 months. 18. At age 8, Billy surpassed his father (a genius) in mathematics. 19. Corrected E. V. Huntington's mathematics text galleys at age of eight. 20. Total recall of everything he read. 21. Wrote four books between ages of four and eight. Two on anatomy and astronomy, lost. 22. Passed Harvard Medical School anatomy exam at age seven. 23. Passed MIT entrance exam at age eight. 24. Intellect surpassed best secondary school teachers. 25. At age 10, in one evening, corrected Harvard logic professor Josiah Royce's book manuscript: citing, "wrong paragraphs." 26. Attempted to enroll in Harvard at nine. 27. In 1909, became youngest student to ever enroll at Harvard at age 11. 28. In 1910, at age 11, lectured Harvard Mathematical Club on 'Four-Dimensional Bodies.' 29. Billy graduated from Harvard, cum laude, on June 24, 1914, at age 16. 30. Billy entered Harvard Law School in 1916. 31. Billy could learn a whole language in one day. 32. Billy knew all the languages (approximately 200) of the world, and could translate among them instantly.
Let me make this perfectly clear. Our friend was Gabe and he was Jariah's best friend from about age 6 through about twenty. Gary nicknamed him Floyd and we all called him that so much he forgot his real name. The boys were struggling a little with spelling at the same time Justin added Hoffermocker to Floyd's AKA Gabe's, name. They thought whoever had come up with the spelling of many words of the English language had done so purposely to make spelling incomprehensible. So when Floyd asked "how do you spell Hoffermocker" Justin said, "ZVX. Zvx, but it's pronounced Hoffermocker." Then, years later, when Ms. Zvx and her lovely young daughters, the little misses Zvx, came to be part of our family they were sick of their old name and everything associated with it. So naturally we suggested one of our all time family favorites as a replacement.
I have not had my adult IQ tested. I took like 3 tests one in elementary/ Junior high and I think early high school.
I don't count the ones I took in college as part of that class on IQ tests as valid because we were studying IQ tests so any results would be highly flawed.
The bottom line is testing adult IQs is pretty pointless because they are too skewed by education / life experience.
The smartest person in the world could be some African sheepherder somewhere who never got the opportunity to go to school and or take a test.
Oh yeah, most of these child prodigies end up horribly unhappy. Probably because their parents constantly trot them out in order to show the little freaks off.
I believe it is probably better to be just a little above the Bell Curve on intelligence because otherwise it's just too hard to be normal and have friends. It's difficult to relate to people your own age when they really love the "Power Rangers" and you are interested in Physics and Cosmology.
Unfortunately, most people -- even the nonRepublican ones -- just aren't that smart.
Bill Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar from a poor family who got into Yale on his own merit. His father was a drunken a salesman who died early in Bill's life in a car crash. He became President by yanking himself up with his own bootstraps. Clinton has been universally regarded as one of the greatest political intellects ever.
George W. Bush can barely put two sentences together and got into Yale on a legacy scholarship because his father was a gazillionare who went to and donated gazillions to Yale. He became President because his father was president and had lots of rich friends. He still can't pronounce the word "nuclear."
Widely regarded as a moron the world over and one of the worst presidents ever.
You be the Judge...
This "True Genius" stuff is fascinating:
Here is a partial list of William James Sidis' idiosyncratic and acultural behaviors:
1. Utter disregard of sports and physical activities — learned from his father. 2. Utter disregard of things monetary — learned from his father. 3. Utter disregard for academia, academicians, academic bureaucracy and their 'titles.' 4. Collected street car transfers. Knew most details of most routes in USA. 5. Rabid atheist by age six. (His father, Boris, was too, but intensely studied great religious works.) 6. His only fear was dogs. 7. Learned to hate mathematics in grammar school; later at 7.5 years he started a life long love of math. 8. Avid interest in politics. 9. Dressed in Russian peasant clothes as a minor. 10. On hearing a Bible read aloud, declared he didn't believe in that and didn't want to hear it. 11. In school, only worked problems to which he didn't know answers. 12. After 3 months in high school, parents withdrew him; teachers were relieved. 13. Thinking was his chosen refuge from media antagonists. 14. Essence of Billy Sidis: On page 106, of The Prodigy, Amy Wallace quotes Billy on his view of the perfect life, "I want to live the perfect life. The only way to live the perfect life is to live it in seclusion. I have always hated crowds." These sentences, in your reviewer's opinion, are an excellent micro-biography of mankind's finest known intellect. 15. Celibate: Vowed never to marry. (One of his 154 rules for life.) "Women do not appeal to me." See Pirsig's comments on this below — Pirsig on Sidis' celibacy 16. Considered traditional classrooms, 'stifling.' 17. Billy was a pacifist, anti-war, conscientious objector. (See our research link at top of page.) 18. He was a reformed communist/socialist — eventually found both intellectually disgusting. 19. Paradoxes were his logical specialty.
I always called him "Floydrick Von Hoffermocker", spelled ZVX, naturally. I though that sounded much more regal. Since he moved to Florida, I have missed using that name, it's so nice to have someone else on which to bestow it.
Maybe Zion and I should go with Zxxyplx, since you just made it up, Israel. You could change yours to that too, and maybe we could convince the rest of the Ramirez's to follow suit. I think it's very charming, and not many people would have it... I like that alot.
And Bekah, I'm with you, I only like camping when there is electricity very near by!!
Lol The truth of the matter is I adore Israel and I don't want to offend him in any way. But, as much as I like "peace" I don't mind standing up for what I believe either. I honestly do know that Israel has a much higher IQ than I do and tons more education, but that doesn't mean he's right about everything. I thought I saw something in him when he was here and I always love to talk to him. Also, don't you find it facsinating to talk to someone with such different views?
But even his family rejected him sometimes. They rejected him when they knew his presence might disturb ambiance of a gathering, which was often. Billy often smelled and dressed in a slovenly fashion (notably he had this trait in common with some other prominent folk, e.g., Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, etc.) But perhaps worse, Billy's topics of conversation were abstruse and complex — not easy for typical humans to grapple.
Billy carried cartoons (he clipped them from newspapers, etc.) with him every where. When a good joke or topic arose, Billy would pull out a corresponding (to him) cartoon, show it, and then laugh detonatably. Some accused him of laughing at his own material and his timing was atrocious. Often he was not funny, but still people thought he was hysterical.
Billy did crossword puzzles in his head — a whole puzzle! He was able to make ditto copies using a pie tin and some fortified household chemicals. He knew chemistry so well he could substitute chemicals to still make a process work.
Born on April 1, 1898,' it said, 'William James Sidis could speak five languages and read Plato in the original Greek by the age of five. At eight he passed the entrance for Harvard but had to wait three years to be admitted. Even so he became Harvard's youngest scholar and graduated cum laude in 1914 at the age of 16. Frequently featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not, Sidis made the front page of the New York Times 19 times.'
"But after graduating from Harvard, the 'Boy Wonder' pursued his own obscure and seemingly meaningless interests. The press that had lionized him turned on him. The most scathing example came in the New Yorker in 1937. Entitled 'April Fool,' the magazine article ridiculed everything from Sidis's hobbies to his physical characteristics. Sidis sued for libel and invasion of privacy. Though he won a small out-of-court settlement for libel, the invasion of privacy charge was dismissed by the U.S. Supreme Court in a landmark decision. 'The article is merciless in its dissection of intimate details of its subject's personal life,' the court conceded, but Sidis was 'a public figure' and thus could not claim protection from the interest of the press, which continued to hound him until his death in 1944. Obituaries called him 'a prodigious failure' and 'a burnt-out genius' who had never achieved anything of significance despite his talents.
First of all I doubt they took the same classes from the same professors.
Second of all, my former law partner is a Yale Graduate who belonged to Skull and Bones, the same secret society that George and his father belonged to.
The word out of there is that George Senior was very smart but his son unfortunately is not.
Clinton and Bush do share one similarity, they are artrful dodgers.
Funny fact:
During the Civil War, Grover Cleveland hired a substitute to fight in his place. It was a common and perfectly legal practice, if something less than heroic. During the Presidential campaign of 1884, it appeared that the charge of draft dodging might prevent him from ever occupying the White House. Cleveland was saved when it was discovered that his opponent, James G. Blaine, had also evaded the draft by hiring a substitute.
I think I remember a short male brooks, young college student.
Real nice kid, he showed me his year book and we talked about how few brown faces there were in it.
As I recall they insisted I stay at their house even though I had already paid through priceline for a hotel and I couldn't get a refund.
I asked about some astronaut museum or something and he told me I shouldn't go there because there were to many racists. Something like that, but my recollection is unclear.
I thought it was worth a try. So I took a flier on the Tommy Crush thing.
Whenever there were "bad" older girls at our church, their parents would sent them to our house so our Dad could fix them or something.
There was one girl who lived with us that was a lot older than me but that didn't stop me from developing a crush.
She was "Bad," but she had beautiful green eyes and long dark hair. She would put on some short shorts and sneak out at night and go to the Quickie Mart. (Heavens to Betsy!)
But I digress...
The Armstrong museum, that was it.
I remember the weird name of the place Wakatapokatanedapokima or something.
I was all psyched to go there, but Tommy said to go somewhere else instead.
Sharla took me to an Airplane Museum I think maybe it was in Columbus?
That Museum was great, It was the highlight of the whole trip after seeing my brother and Jeshanah light their infamous suicidal unity candle of course. (sniff!)
That would have been the National Museum of the USAF at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, where my brother Dan was stationed until he retired this past spring. The Web site is http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/
Tommy went to Ohio Northern, where I went. And he was right about Wapakoneta, although I doubt you would have had any problems. There are some bad apples in Wapak. But there are also a lot of good people.
I just finished hearing my Brother Dannys sermon and I am obviously a bit biased, but it was one of the best sermons I have ever heard.
It was called "Witnesses and Witnessing" and not only was it an excellent message, it was actually a great primer on Evidentiary law.
It was a good thing he did not ask me for advice on the sermon, because that was one of my least favorite subjects in law school because it was so boring. (that and Civil Pro.)
But he did a masterful job with that sermon, it was powerful, thought-provoking, with just the perfect touch of humor.
Really, check it out. If all the sermons were that good, I would go to Church much more often.
I am very proud of my Brother. It is very hard to stand up in front of people for an hour, teach them important lessons and not bore them to tears.
I have a feeling this will not be his last sermon but if it is, at least it was a great one.
Danny did an excellent job on his first sermon. I was quite impressed!
Israel, if you liked that one, you might also like the last two sermons because they talked about your dad in one and in the other one, they actually had a clip of your dad from one of Bro. Branham's services, that they played for the whole church.
Jariah called me while I was in bed with the headache and told me Danny would be preaching at 10:30 out time. I woke up and tuned in. It was wonderful. It was exactly what I needed to hear because this morning we are going to court for the Zvx's. Danny is a great speaker. I loved the worship service, too. I am so glad to know you guys are attending THAT church. The Spirit seemed just like our church here.
I was also convicted for naming A Lantern im Her Hand as my favorite book. Of course the Bible is much more of a favorite than that, (I don't read A Lantern in Her Hand everyday) I assumed everyone would know that, but as I listened to Danny I thought about what kind of a testimony am I giving on here. I know it is not as good as it should be. I apologize to all of you for anything I've said that's not right. I hope I will be a better witness from now on.
Anyone reading this, please pray for the Zvxes, we are having it decided whether the children will stay where it is safe all the time or have to go back where evil rules.
I always think "That was the best sermon I've ever heard" right after almost every sermon I hear. When the word is fresh and the Holy Spirit is speaking right to us, it always is SO good.
Sharla, we will definatly be praying for the Zvx's. Please let them no that for me. Can you please call with the details when you are back? I would really appreciate that. Thanks!
"We are having it decided whether the children will stay where it is safe all the time or have to go back where evil rules."
Don't see where this is much of a decision. Custody disputes are usually decided in favor of the mother.
The only time of seen it go the other way is when the mother is a drug addict, in jail, or once when a mother bit her own kid in the neck. (She was crazy.)
I only handled a family law problem once. It was horribly depressing to see these people who had once professed their undying love, spew venom at each other.
Well, it is over for today. Everything stands as it was untill the next court date which is the divorce in Indiana. Praise the Lord! We didn't even have to step foot in the court room. We only saw the monster from the third floor window and he didn't see us. Now he is supposed to be in jail, I don't know for how long.
I think Danny's preaching is actually a little better than Dad's. Dad was always a lot better one on one or with a small group of people, where he could really get a quick repartee and an answer and question thing going into the doctrine the the scripture and such. That was really Dad's passion.
I don't think Dad was really ever that comfortable up there actually preaching and that's why he was always like the third string guy, because he didn't want to do it. He would be rather be interpreting.
Danny is like a good, passionate teacher. Once Danny gets comfortable with the whole process, I could see him holding an entire congregations attention for a full hour.
I heard Grandpa was that kind of preacher too.
I don't know about Zion though, he'd probably need some seasoning.
The Chinese have a saying, "Never marry the oldest son or the youngest daughter."
I guess the rationale is that the oldest son, will be an overbearing tyrant who will always want his way and the youngest daughter will be a spoiled princess and always want her way.
Jeshanah, you're the youngest daughter right? Oohh, poor little ol' Zion.
I have always been very happy with that Chinese theory because then the undesireable oldest son (me) can marry the hard to handle youngest daughter (my wife.)
(By the way, Chinese people know everything.)
I think youngest daughters are always the most entertaining anyway, and if you're a scary oldest son you can usually end up taming yourself a pretty good wife. She'll probably never be totally domesticated but if she treats you right who cares?
But if you're a nice easy going youngest son like Zion, good luck!
Maybe because of the seven year gap between Zion and Josh, Zion qualifies a second "oldest" son or maybe am only child.
I think Zion exhibits some characteristics of both an only child, and of being the youngest.
I'm not sure if the firecracker thing was a dig or a compliment, but I am going to take it as a compliment, because I would much rather be a firecracker than a doormat. (At least a firecracker is pretty and lights up.... doormats are downright boring!)
By the way, you said he "can't be a preacher until he gets his wife to stop calling him a "crackhead" online.", do you think it would be better if I was a hypocrite and only teased him like that in private? So I speak my mind, (most of the time...)who on this blog isn't?
One other thing, if Zion has a problem with me being "spoiled", then he has the ability to stop spoiling me. I have been treated more like a princess since I got together with him than I ever was before. (Even if I did get dragged off to the evil tower since then...) They say a man's home is his castle, well, who lives in the castle? Just servants? The washer woman? NO!! Kings and queens and princes and princesses!! If your own husband can't treat you like a princess, who can?!
Zion is a grown man and it was his choice to marry a "spoiled" youngest, who likes to get her own way. (By the way... I have yet to meet a person who DOESN'T like to get their own way...)
Shan is actually the youngest daughter of a youngest daughter of a youngest daughter. It could go farther back that that, I'm not sure. One of my old boyfriends visited our church several months ago. We were laughing about our past and he said, "We always thought you were a real firecracker." So I guess it runs in the family.
Thank you for an inspiring sermon. I hope we will be hearing more from you. I believe you have a gift. The ministry here has mentioned to me a few times that they suspect that Zion may be called to preach also. They never wanted to push for that or anything, just believing a gift will make a way for itself. It's nice to see you on here.
Jeshanah, as I see it, there is nothing wrong with being spoiled by Zion and expecting to be treated well, as long as all that is appreciated. But hopefully being "spoiled" doesn't translate into you being unhappy all the time, because things aren't "just so."
I haven't tried to necessarily change my wife's habits and expectations, I have just tried to get her to broaden her perspective and be more appreciative of the simpler things in life, like a few of my favorites:
Clearance sales, yard sales, second hand stores, three star hotel rooms instead of four and Costco Frapucchino's at $1.50 each instead of Starbucks at $4 a crack.
Being abole to be flexible allows you to be happy in a wider array of situations, which is good.
The Greek Philosopher Diogenes lived in a barrel and he was happy because of his perspective on things. My M-I-L lives in a multi-million dollar mansion in the most affluent neighborhood in the countrty and she is a miserable wretch because of her perspective on things.
If expecting to feel safe makes me spoiled, then I am spoiled. You can blame my Dad and Mom for that, they hardly ever let me get into dangerous enough situations as a child... crazy people...
(rolls eyes)
By the way, I love going to garage sales, my favorite skirt ever was $1.77 from JCPennys, and before I moved here I had only been to Starbucks once and I didn't like it. (The reason we have gone a few times since we moved is to get out of this house into some airconditioning...) I shop at Plato's Closet since I found out about it, and I only stay in Holiday Inn's because I can get them for $29.00 a night.
I like Holiday Inn but because of my wife's picky tendencies I usually use Priceline which can usually get me four stars for $60.
I went to conferences in Seattle and DC and stayed at a $290 a night hotels for $60. All the other attorney were happy because they only paid the convention rate of $260.
87 comments:
Shan
We started moving into the new house yesterday and then we had to go set up a campsite out at the property. The Zvx's had never been camping! None of them! So, of course we had to get that worked in before schoool starts. John and I were laughing about how boring it was to be sitting out under the stars roasting hot dogs over the campfire when we could have been blogging. How pathetic!
YOU thought it was boring. I loved it.
By the way, what Mom did was not technically camping. Sleeping on a four-inch thick foam mat in the back of a minivan is not camping.
My wife thinks that staying at anything less than a three star hotel is camping.
14 years ago my wife and her sister paid for a hotel in Utah and they ended up sleeping in the car instead because the hotel was "horrific."
It cost them 25 American dollars to go pee.
A few years ago we rented a really nice, top of the line cabin in Yosemite with all the luxury amenities. She didn't like it, because the walls were "gross." (They looked fine to me.)
She hates camping.
Here's another story involving pee.
When my wife and her family stayed at a Bed and Breakfast in Montana in 1986, they wouldn't let them use the restrooms because they were asian.
They've actually got lots of interesting stories involving racism, but I won't tell them here because racism is "icky" and White people might get offended.
See, Jeshanah, this is the "kindler gentler" me. I love small animals, little birds, cute insects, Republicans from Ohio and all kinds of things with I.Q.'s lower than dirt.
Ooops...
Give me some time, I'm in recovery.
Hey tell Danny and Zion I don't know what's so hard about losing weight, I lost 10 lbs in one day.
Of course I had to get the mother-in-law of all stomach viruses to do it, but it worked.
"I've never stayed at a Bed 'n' Breakfast because I figure, by the end of the day, you'd start to get hungry. 'Is that all you've got around here? You need to direct me to a Chair, Lunch 'n' Dinner.' I'm going to open up a chain of Chair, Lunch 'n' Dinners right across the street from the Bed 'n' Breakfasts. 'Come on over about ... 1:00.'" -- Mitch Hedberg
Camping is fun! As long as there is a bathroom with electricity and showers close by, it's great!! You DID have a tent though, right? Or did everyone sleep in cars??
Did you guys get alot of stuff moved in?? How long till you will be completely moved in?
I hope you get back up to 100% soo, Israel. This blog was getting pretty boring without you. =)
woops.... soon, not soo
Israel
Speaking of IQs,what's yours? I took a test on here a while back and I think it said mine was 136. I am not sure how accurate those are, but it did have tons of questions and lots of problems about relationships between patterns and stuff. The results said, Congratulations Sharla, you scored 136! but I would have had to pay money or something to find out if that was above average or what.
You probably know what average is but I have no idea.
(I hope it is not 300)
LOL, Mom! I did one of those tests online before, and it said I was a genius!! (I don't remember what my number score was, but I will never forget that it said "Genius" level right beside it!!!) w00t!!!!!!! (Now if the w00t doesn't prove my state of genius, I don't know what would....)
Israel
I hope Christine and her family didn't actually STAY at that bed and breakfast. That is inexcusable treatment and I hope they left immediately. You are right, us white people who are reading this blog do get offended by racism, everyone should. We are not,however offended by hearing stories of it. Say anything you like.
lol Shan.
We are probaly both geniuses. No doubt you get it from me! ;)
Israel
Most of us Republicans from Ohio who are posting on here are in fact BARELY Republicans at all. At least all of us who are Message Believers believe all government is in the hands of Satan except Israel's. We might think that a few of the Republican positions line up closer to our own, and therefore vote that way, but it is comical to us to be told that "our" leaders are not morally pure. Like we ever thought they were! While I do occasionally watch all of the shows I mentioned the other day, I never watch more than about half an hour of anything in a whole day anymore. Who's got time? And I always have switched it around to Anderson Cooper, Chris Mathews, and a few shows on PBS some. I just like to try to understand why they think the way they do, even if I don't agee. You were being too quiet the other day, i just wanted to get you going. I usually agree more with Tucker than any other one that I can think of and sometimes I don't agree with him at all. With all we've got going on I haven't watched him for months.
John
So, How's Toledo? All settled in?
I forgot to send those dishes up with you, hope you have enough to get by. Let us know how the orientation thing goes.
Shan
We had a tent...YOURS actually! Jess and Ness and the Zvx's stayed in that. John and Justin had sleeping bags by the fire and Dad and I were in the van sharing one piece of foam about three feet wide. Very cozy! (You know how we Republicans are)
Boy, I bet that was one crowded tent! It was small when Zion and I used it! Did ya make s'mores, and sing campfire songs, and talk about the good old days?? I bet the little girls all loved that, did you happen to take any pictures?
You guys ever notice how delicious everything tastes when you haven't eaten in two days?
I had a banana today that tasted positively delicious.
I also had some apple juice that tasted like sweet nectar of the gods. I promptly puked it up, but it tasted just as good coming back out as it had going in.
Which gives me an idea. Maybe Zion should take Jeshanah on vacation to some of these small Mexican shanty towns my dad used to visit with us. Eight or nine people would be living in a cardboard house, less than half the size of my master bathroom. Dirt floors, no plumbing, sink, toilet, nothing. You could see the fleas jumping on those little kid's dirty little heads.
When we showed them the movie of the "Ten Commandments" it was like the greatest thing anybody had ever seen. A lot of people had never even seen a movie before.
Anyway, two days in one of those Mexican shanty towns and I bet Jeshanah comes home and kisses the floor of her sweet little hovel and thanks the Lord that she lives in such a palace.
I've taken lots of IQ tests over the years, but the paper and pencil kind, not online.
As a Psych / Journalism major I actually took a class on how to administer them.
I don't place much stock in them as I think they tend to measure how well you take tests as much as anything else.
That being said, the highest I ever scored was 180 which I think is pretty ridiculous.
I think I've only met one true "genius" in my life and that was my father-in-law, although my wife says I'm kind of hard to impress because lots of her friends from Harvard score pretty high and would probably be classified as "geniuses" by IQ test standards.
I definitely don't see a genius when I look in the mirror every day, that's for sure.
Besides, there are so many different kinds of intelligence that are just as valuable if not more valuable than the kind needed to score well on tests.
My wife has incredible wealth of "emotional" intelligence that I couldn't even begin to comprehend or duplicate.
She has been described as a "political genius" when it comes to being able to communicate with and relate to people and make them feel special and validated. But when it comes to picking husbands, she's got to be submoronic.
Clinton may have been a "political genius" but he was truly an absolute moron when it came to keeping his pants on.
From what I've seen, Sharla is an "interior decorating genius" and Jeshanah is a "scrapbooking genius."
But as far as being true geniuses, I would have say that their membership in the Republican Party automatically exempts them from MENSA membership.
What is a Zvx?
Sharla:
You asked, so I'll tell you that 136 is well above average for a Republican. In fact, I'm encouraged by your score and I'm hoping you will soon follow John into the realm of the non-Republicans.
By the way, I have supported and voted for our last two Republican Mayors of Stockton because they are really good men who have integrity and aren't afraid to do things other Republicans wouldn't even consider.
Plus I couldn't stand the brain-dead Democrats that were running against them.
See how reasonable I am?
The Zvx's are friends of ours, a delightful little family. Phonetically, it's pronounced "HOFF-er-mock-er."
Some of those foreign names are goofy.
What?? Are you serious?
How do you get Hoffermocker from Zvx?
What kind of name is that anyway?
I remember some kind of cartoon villian named Mr. Zxxylplyx or something like that, but I've never heard of a Zvx.
I would think it would be pronouced Civic like the Honda, but never Hoffermocker.
Somebody at Ellis Island must have been drunk.
Ooops!!
I got the spelling wrong on that villain, his actual name was Mister Mxyzptlk (roughly pronounced Mix-yez-pit-lick, also nicknamed Mxy)
That still makes a lot more sense than your pronouciation of Zvx.
Mxy was an imp from another dimension that gave Superman fits.
Actually i can proudly say that i came up with the word and the spelling of zvx( hoffermocker) it was actually just the last name of a friends nickname and my family liked it so much that when our friends family decided they wanted a new last name that one was assinged to them
So you just made it up and now it's their legal name?
Kinda like Prince changing his name to that little male / female symbol doohickey?
Zvx is a really cool looking name.
Although Hoffermocker is just about as goofy as Holsapple.
They're neck-and-neck in the goofy race.
You Holsapples should go with Zxxyplx, since I just made it up.
Author Marilyn Vos Savant, who writes the "Ask Marilyn" column for Parade magazine claims to have the highest IQ ever measured at 230.
That was her child IQ which has a higher stand deviation and is considered less reliable that her adult IQ which has been estimated at around 50 points less.
The person with the highest IQ alive today is supposed to be Kim Ung-Yong from South Korea. His IQ was ranked at 210.
"Testers have only been able to estimate the IQ of Kim Ung-Yong, who was born in Seoul, Korea, on March 7, 1963. His IQ has been placed at exceeding 200. He was fluent in Japanese, Korean, German, and English by his fourth birthday. At four years, eight months he solved complicated calculus problems on Japanese TV. He is considered to be the most brilliant person alive. One factor may be that his parents, both university professors, were born at precisely the same moment: 11:00 a.m., May 23, 1934."
Another "True " Genius William James Sidis
Young Sidis could read at 18 months. He'd written four books and was fluent in eight languages before he was eight. He gave a Harvard seminar on the fourth dimension at nine. He entered Harvard at eleven. He may've been the most intelligent person who ever lived.
Here is a partial list of William James Sidis' extraordinary capabilities and accomplishments:
1. Given IQ is a purely anthropocentric means of assessing intelligence, Sidis' IQ is crudely estimated at 250-300.
2. Infant Billy listened to Greek myths read to him by Sarah as bedtime stories.
3. Started feeding himself with a spoon at eight months (after two months of trial and error).
4. Cajoled by Boris, Billy learned to pronounce alphabetic syllables from blocks hanging in his crib.
5. At six months, Billy said, "Door." A couple months later he told Mom he liked things, doors and people, that move.
6. At seven months he pointed to Earth's moon and called it, "moon." He wanted a 'moon' of his own.
7. Mastered higher mathematics and planetary revolutions by age 11.
8. Learned to spell efficiently by one year old.
9. Started reading The New York Times at 18 months.
10. Started typing at three. Used his high chair to reach a typewriter. First composed letter was an order for toys from Macy's.
11. Read Caesar's Gallic Wars, in Latin (self-taught), as a birthday present to his Father in Billy's fourth year.
12. Learned Greek alphabet and read Homer in Greek in his fourth year.
13. Learned Aristotelian logic in his sixth year.
14. At six, Billy learned Russian, French, German, and Hebrew, and soon after, Turkish and Armenian.
15. Calculated mentally a day any date in history would fall at age six. Absolutely fascinated by calendars.
16. Learned Gray's Anatomy at six. Could pass a student medical examination.
17. Billy started grammar school at six, in 3 days 3rd grade, graduated grammar school in 7 months.
18. At age 8, Billy surpassed his father (a genius) in mathematics.
19. Corrected E. V. Huntington's mathematics text galleys at age of eight.
20. Total recall of everything he read.
21. Wrote four books between ages of four and eight. Two on anatomy and astronomy, lost.
22. Passed Harvard Medical School anatomy exam at age seven.
23. Passed MIT entrance exam at age eight.
24. Intellect surpassed best secondary school teachers.
25. At age 10, in one evening, corrected Harvard logic professor Josiah Royce's book manuscript: citing, "wrong paragraphs."
26. Attempted to enroll in Harvard at nine.
27. In 1909, became youngest student to ever enroll at Harvard at age 11.
28. In 1910, at age 11, lectured Harvard Mathematical Club on 'Four-Dimensional Bodies.'
29. Billy graduated from Harvard, cum laude, on June 24, 1914, at age 16.
30. Billy entered Harvard Law School in 1916.
31. Billy could learn a whole language in one day.
32. Billy knew all the languages (approximately 200) of the world, and could translate among them instantly.
Let me make this perfectly clear. Our friend was Gabe and he was Jariah's best friend from about age 6 through about twenty. Gary nicknamed him Floyd and we all called him that so much he forgot his real name. The boys were struggling a little with spelling at the same time Justin added Hoffermocker to Floyd's AKA Gabe's, name. They thought whoever had come up with the spelling of many words of the English language had done so purposely to make spelling incomprehensible. So when Floyd asked "how do you spell Hoffermocker" Justin said, "ZVX. Zvx, but it's pronounced Hoffermocker."
Then, years later, when Ms. Zvx and her lovely young daughters, the little misses Zvx, came to be part of our family they were sick of their old name and everything associated with it. So naturally we suggested one of our all time family favorites as a replacement.
I have not had my adult IQ tested. I took like 3 tests one in elementary/ Junior high and I think early high school.
I don't count the ones I took in college as part of that class on IQ tests as valid because we were studying IQ tests so any results would be highly flawed.
The bottom line is testing adult IQs is pretty pointless because they are too skewed by education / life experience.
The smartest person in the world could be some African sheepherder somewhere who never got the opportunity to go to school and or take a test.
I do however know one thing for certain:
George W. Bush is really dumb.
Sharla:
That "Zvx" story is just about the coolest thing ever.
My dad used to call people nicknames all the time.
He called a brother from the church -- Tommy Salazar -- "Salarzki" because my dad claimed he was part Polish.
For the longest time I thought his name was "Salarzki" and he was Polish, but it turns out he was really Mexican.
He was our neighbor and we knew him for years, but my dad never once called him by his real name.
It was always "Hey Salarski! When are you gonna have a boy?"
I think Salarski had like three girls before he finally had a boy.
I think my dad was jealous because he never had a daughter so he ribbed poor Salarski mercilessly.
I know I would have really liked your dad. I look forward to geting to know him on the other side.
Oh yeah, most of these child prodigies end up horribly unhappy. Probably because their parents constantly trot them out in order to show the little freaks off.
I believe it is probably better to be just a little above the Bell Curve on intelligence because otherwise it's just too hard to be normal and have friends. It's difficult to relate to people your own age when they really love the "Power Rangers" and you are interested in Physics and Cosmology.
Unfortunately, most people -- even the nonRepublican ones -- just aren't that smart.
Is it true that George W Bush actually made better grades in school than Bill Clinton? Just wondering.
BekahY
Would I do that???
Where did you hear that Sharla? Fox News?
Bill Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar from a poor family who got into Yale on his own merit. His father was a drunken a salesman who died early in Bill's life in a car crash. He became President by yanking himself up with his own bootstraps. Clinton has been universally regarded as one of the greatest political intellects ever.
George W. Bush can barely put two sentences together and got into Yale on a legacy scholarship because his father was a gazillionare who went to and donated gazillions to Yale. He became President because his father was president and had lots of rich friends. He still can't pronounce the word "nuclear."
Widely regarded as a moron the world over and one of the worst presidents ever.
You be the Judge...
This "True Genius" stuff is fascinating:
Here is a partial list of William James Sidis' idiosyncratic and acultural behaviors:
1. Utter disregard of sports and physical activities — learned from his father.
2. Utter disregard of things monetary — learned from his father.
3. Utter disregard for academia, academicians, academic bureaucracy and their 'titles.'
4. Collected street car transfers. Knew most details of most routes in USA.
5. Rabid atheist by age six. (His father, Boris, was too, but intensely studied great religious works.)
6. His only fear was dogs.
7. Learned to hate mathematics in grammar school; later at 7.5 years he started a life long love of math.
8. Avid interest in politics.
9. Dressed in Russian peasant clothes as a minor.
10. On hearing a Bible read aloud, declared he didn't believe in that and didn't want to hear it.
11. In school, only worked problems to which he didn't know answers.
12. After 3 months in high school, parents withdrew him; teachers were relieved.
13. Thinking was his chosen refuge from media antagonists.
14. Essence of Billy Sidis: On page 106, of The Prodigy, Amy Wallace quotes Billy on his view of the perfect life, "I want to live the perfect life. The only way to live the perfect life is to live it in seclusion. I have always hated crowds." These sentences, in your reviewer's opinion, are an excellent micro-biography of mankind's finest known intellect.
15. Celibate: Vowed never to marry. (One of his 154 rules for life.) "Women do not appeal to me." See Pirsig's comments on this below — Pirsig on Sidis' celibacy
16. Considered traditional classrooms, 'stifling.'
17. Billy was a pacifist, anti-war, conscientious objector. (See our research link at top of page.)
18. He was a reformed communist/socialist — eventually found both intellectually disgusting.
19. Paradoxes were his logical specialty.
I always called him "Floydrick Von Hoffermocker", spelled ZVX, naturally. I though that sounded much more regal. Since he moved to Florida, I have missed using that name, it's so nice to have someone else on which to bestow it.
Maybe Zion and I should go with Zxxyplx, since you just made it up, Israel. You could change yours to that too, and maybe we could convince the rest of the Ramirez's to follow suit. I think it's very charming, and not many people would have it... I like that alot.
And Bekah, I'm with you, I only like camping when there is electricity very near by!!
Lol The truth of the matter is I adore Israel and I don't want to offend him in any way. But, as much as I like "peace" I don't mind standing up for what I believe either. I honestly do know that Israel has a much higher IQ than I do and tons more education, but that doesn't mean he's right about everything. I thought I saw something in him when he was here and I always love to talk to him. Also, don't you find it facsinating to talk to someone with such different views?
Israel
I noticed that in typical lawyer like fashion, you did not answer my question.
Which means you kinda did. :)
But even his family rejected him sometimes. They rejected him when they knew his presence might disturb ambiance of a gathering, which was often. Billy often smelled and dressed in a slovenly fashion (notably he had this trait in common with some other prominent folk, e.g., Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, etc.) But perhaps worse, Billy's topics of conversation were abstruse and complex — not easy for typical humans to grapple.
Billy carried cartoons (he clipped them from newspapers, etc.) with him every where. When a good joke or topic arose, Billy would pull out a corresponding (to him) cartoon, show it, and then laugh detonatably. Some accused him of laughing at his own material and his timing was atrocious. Often he was not funny, but still people thought he was hysterical.
Billy did crossword puzzles in his head — a whole puzzle! He was able to make ditto copies using a pie tin and some fortified household chemicals. He knew chemistry so well he could substitute chemicals to still make a process work.
Born on April 1, 1898,' it said, 'William James Sidis could speak five languages and read Plato in the original Greek by the age of five. At eight he passed the entrance for Harvard but had to wait three years to be admitted. Even so he became Harvard's youngest scholar and graduated cum laude in 1914 at the age of 16. Frequently featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not, Sidis made the front page of the New York Times 19 times.'
"But after graduating from Harvard, the 'Boy Wonder' pursued his own obscure and seemingly meaningless interests. The press that had lionized him turned on him. The most scathing example came in the New Yorker in 1937. Entitled 'April Fool,' the magazine article ridiculed everything from Sidis's hobbies to his physical characteristics. Sidis sued for libel and invasion of privacy. Though he won a small out-of-court settlement for libel, the invasion of privacy charge was dismissed by the U.S. Supreme Court in a landmark decision. 'The article is merciless in its dissection of intimate details of its subject's personal life,' the court conceded, but Sidis was 'a public figure' and thus could not claim protection from the interest of the press, which continued to hound him until his death in 1944. Obituaries called him 'a prodigious failure' and 'a burnt-out genius' who had never achieved anything of significance despite his talents.
Sharla -
I heard that little George W. Bush got potty trained quicker than little Billie Clinton.
Don't know if it's true or not, but I heard it.
What do you think?
By the way, William Sidis the smartest dude possibly ever, got mediocre grades at Harvard.
Sharla-
Maybe you could reveal your sources.
I don't know about grades.
First of all I doubt they took the same classes from the same professors.
Second of all, my former law partner is a Yale Graduate who belonged to Skull and Bones, the same secret society that George and his father belonged to.
The word out of there is that George Senior was very smart but his son unfortunately is not.
I don't remember where I heard that,sorry. I am getting sick now, my head is pounding...uuggh. Camping out or something going around, I dunno.
Israel, when you were here for Zion's wedding you stayed with the Brooks. Bekah Y is their daughter.
Good night all
Clinton and Bush do share one similarity, they are artrful dodgers.
Funny fact:
During the Civil War, Grover Cleveland hired a substitute to fight in his place. It was a common and perfectly legal practice, if something less than heroic. During the Presidential campaign of 1884, it appeared that the charge of draft dodging might prevent him from ever occupying the White House. Cleveland was saved when it was discovered that his opponent, James G. Blaine, had also evaded the draft by hiring a substitute.
I think I remember a short male brooks, young college student.
Real nice kid, he showed me his year book and we talked about how few brown faces there were in it.
As I recall they insisted I stay at their house even though I had already paid through priceline for a hotel and I couldn't get a refund.
I asked about some astronaut museum or something and he told me I shouldn't go there because there were to many racists. Something like that, but my recollection is unclear.
That probably was her brother right? I don't actually remember whether he was named Brooks or not. (I'm bad with names.)
The only Brooks that immediately comes to mind is James Brooks from "Blazing Saddles."
That's OK, it was much nicer staying at your house. I think that kid might of been a "Tommy."
Was it a bedroom on the second floor?
Tommy also introduced me to "Steak & Shake" which was awesome and highly caloric at the same time.
I was impressed because we don't have those in California. People in Ohio sure know how to get fat as deliciously as possible.
"Isreal, don't you love to be spoken of as though you aren't in the "room"?"
Who is this Isreal you speak of?
I "Is real" all right but my name is actually "Israel."
Oh yeah, and Tommy told me he had a huge crush on a girl named Bekah.
Just kidding!
I thought it was worth a try. So I took a flier on the Tommy Crush thing.
Whenever there were "bad" older girls at our church, their parents would sent them to our house so our Dad could fix them or something.
There was one girl who lived with us that was a lot older than me but that didn't stop me from developing a crush.
She was "Bad," but she had beautiful green eyes and long dark hair. She would put on some short shorts and sneak out at night and go to the Quickie Mart. (Heavens to Betsy!)
But I digress...
The Armstrong museum, that was it.
I remember the weird name of the place Wakatapokatanedapokima or something.
I was all psyched to go there, but Tommy said to go somewhere else instead.
Sharla took me to an Airplane Museum I think maybe it was in Columbus?
That Museum was great, It was the highlight of the whole trip after seeing my brother and Jeshanah light their infamous suicidal unity candle of course. (sniff!)
The bad girl's name was Becky.
That would have been the National Museum of the USAF at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, where my brother Dan was stationed until he retired this past spring. The Web site is http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/
Tommy went to Ohio Northern, where I went. And he was right about Wapakoneta, although I doubt you would have had any problems. There are some bad apples in Wapak. But there are also a lot of good people.
Or, as it's officially known, the National Museum of the USAF.
Well anyway, it was really cool...
I also visited NASA when I went to Florida, so I doubt I missed out on too much by skipping the Neil Armstrong Museum.
I always like how he pretented that "The one giant step" comment was just a spur of the moment sort of thing.
Yeah... Right!!!!?!?!??
Spur of the moment would have been:
"Wow, check me out! I'm on the moon! Hey Houston, the view's really cool!"
Everybody knows the moon landing was fake anyways...
Yep.
That and the Dinosaurs and carbon-dating and the theory of evilution.
I have a theory of evilution...
I'd tell it to you, but you might get scared...
My brother Danny just finished preaching his first sermon. It was broadcast live on the web at
www.eveninglightfellowship.com
You guys should check it out in the archived sermons tomorrow or whenever it gets put up again.
I didn't get to hear it all, but he's a Ramirez, so you know it's brilliant.
I just finished hearing my Brother Dannys sermon and I am obviously a bit biased, but it was one of the best sermons I have ever heard.
It was called "Witnesses and Witnessing" and not only was it an excellent message, it was actually a great primer on Evidentiary law.
It was a good thing he did not ask me for advice on the sermon, because that was one of my least favorite subjects in law school because it was so boring. (that and Civil Pro.)
But he did a masterful job with that sermon, it was powerful, thought-provoking, with just the perfect touch of humor.
Really, check it out. If all the sermons were that good, I would go to Church much more often.
I am very proud of my Brother. It is very hard to stand up in front of people for an hour, teach them important lessons and not bore them to tears.
I have a feeling this will not be his last sermon but if it is, at least it was a great one.
Danny did an excellent job on his first sermon. I was quite impressed!
Israel, if you liked that one, you might also like the last two sermons because they talked about your dad in one and in the other one, they actually had a clip of your dad from one of Bro. Branham's services, that they played for the whole church.
Jariah called me while I was in bed with the headache and told me Danny would be preaching at 10:30 out time. I woke up and tuned in. It was wonderful. It was exactly what I needed to hear because this morning we are going to court for the Zvx's. Danny is a great speaker. I loved the worship service, too. I am so glad to know you guys are attending THAT church. The Spirit seemed just like our church here.
I was also convicted for naming A Lantern im Her Hand as my favorite book. Of course the Bible is much more of a favorite than that, (I don't read A Lantern in Her Hand everyday) I assumed everyone would know that, but as I listened to Danny I thought about what kind of a testimony am I giving on here. I know it is not as good as it should be. I apologize to all of you for anything I've said that's not right. I hope I will be a better witness from now on.
Anyone reading this, please pray for the Zvxes, we are having it decided whether the children will stay where it is safe all the time or have to go back where evil rules.
I always think "That was the best sermon I've ever heard" right after almost every sermon I hear. When the word is fresh and the Holy Spirit is speaking right to us, it always is SO good.
Not me, I've probably heard thousands of sermons and I usually think the same thing after every one.
"Man! Am I glad that's over!"
So I am a witness to the fact Danny did a great job. Very humble, heartfelt, deep and inspiring, but simple enough for anyone to understand.
Sharla, we will definatly be praying for the Zvx's. Please let them no that for me.
Can you please call with the details when you are back? I would really appreciate that. Thanks!
"We are having it decided whether the children will stay where it is safe all the time or have to go back where evil rules."
Don't see where this is much of a decision. Custody disputes are usually decided in favor of the mother.
The only time of seen it go the other way is when the mother is a drug addict, in jail, or once when a mother bit her own kid in the neck. (She was crazy.)
I only handled a family law problem once. It was horribly depressing to see these people who had once professed their undying love, spew venom at each other.
Never again after that.
Well, it is over for today. Everything stands as it was untill the next court date which is the divorce in Indiana. Praise the Lord! We didn't even have to step foot in the court room. We only saw the monster from the third floor window and he didn't see us. Now he is supposed to be in jail, I don't know for how long.
Zion,
You need to start preachin' too. Just think how many sermons your bros would be hearing! Praise the Lord!
GOOD!! So there aren't going to be any visits or anything, at least for now??
I think Danny's preaching is actually a little better than Dad's. Dad was always a lot better one on one or with a small group of people, where he could really get a quick repartee and an answer and question thing going into the doctrine the the scripture and such. That was really Dad's passion.
I don't think Dad was really ever that comfortable up there actually preaching and that's why he was always like the third string guy, because he didn't want to do it. He would be rather be interpreting.
Danny is like a good, passionate teacher. Once Danny gets comfortable with the whole process, I could see him holding an entire congregations attention for a full hour.
I heard Grandpa was that kind of preacher too.
I don't know about Zion though, he'd probably need some seasoning.
A little salt, maybe some cayenne pepper.....
You gotta be a little scary to be a really good preacher I think.
Some paprika, a dash of Basil and "Oh yeah!" Zion can't be a preacher until he gets his wife to stop calling him a "crackhead" online.
Like that'll ever happen! Ol' Zion's got himself a firecracker right there!!
The Chinese have a saying, "Never marry the oldest son or the youngest daughter."
I guess the rationale is that the oldest son, will be an overbearing tyrant who will always want his way and the youngest daughter will be a spoiled princess and always want her way.
Jeshanah, you're the youngest daughter right? Oohh, poor little ol' Zion.
I have always been very happy with that Chinese theory because then the undesireable oldest son (me) can marry the hard to handle youngest daughter (my wife.)
(By the way, Chinese people know everything.)
I think youngest daughters are always the most entertaining anyway, and if you're a scary oldest son you can usually end up taming yourself a pretty good wife. She'll probably never be totally domesticated but if she treats you right who cares?
But if you're a nice easy going youngest son like Zion, good luck!
Maybe because of the seven year gap between Zion and Josh, Zion qualifies a second "oldest" son or maybe am only child.
What do you think?
I think Zion exhibits some characteristics of both an only child, and of being the youngest.
I'm not sure if the firecracker thing was a dig or a compliment, but I am going to take it as a compliment, because I would much rather be a firecracker than a doormat. (At least a firecracker is pretty and lights up.... doormats are downright boring!)
By the way, you said he "can't be a preacher until he gets his wife to stop calling him a "crackhead" online.", do you think it would be better if I was a hypocrite and only teased him like that in private? So I speak my mind, (most of the time...)who on this blog isn't?
One other thing, if Zion has a problem with me being "spoiled", then he has the ability to stop spoiling me. I have been treated more like a princess since I got together with him than I ever was before. (Even if I did get dragged off to the evil tower since then...) They say a man's home is his castle, well, who lives in the castle? Just servants? The washer woman? NO!! Kings and queens and princes and princesses!! If your own husband can't treat you like a princess, who can?!
Zion is a grown man and it was his choice to marry a "spoiled" youngest, who likes to get her own way. (By the way... I have yet to meet a person who DOESN'T like to get their own way...)
Hey! thanks for the nice words and encouragement folks...
Shan is actually the youngest daughter of a youngest daughter of a youngest daughter. It could go farther back that that, I'm not sure.
One of my old boyfriends visited our church several months ago. We were laughing about our past and he said, "We always thought you were a real firecracker." So I guess it runs in the family.
Danny,
Thank you for an inspiring sermon. I hope we will be hearing more from you. I believe you have a gift. The ministry here has mentioned to me a few times that they suspect that Zion may be called to preach also. They never wanted to push for that or anything, just believing a gift will make a way for itself.
It's nice to see you on here.
an somebody start a FF kiddie league for Elijah?
Elijah really wants to play.
Maybe Zion can start a league for the little kids.
It could be Elijah, Isaiah, Mathias, Elizabeth, Gabriel and maybe Maya could play or some other friends.
I envision an automated draft and just letting whatever happens happen. Gabriel wouldn't give a hoot but maybe some of the other kids would have fun.
Jeshanah, as I see it, there is nothing wrong with being spoiled by Zion and expecting to be treated well, as long as all that is appreciated. But hopefully being "spoiled" doesn't translate into you being unhappy all the time, because things aren't "just so."
I haven't tried to necessarily change my wife's habits and expectations, I have just tried to get her to broaden her perspective and be more appreciative of the simpler things in life, like a few of my favorites:
Clearance sales, yard sales, second hand stores, three star hotel rooms instead of four and Costco Frapucchino's at $1.50 each instead of Starbucks at $4 a crack.
Being abole to be flexible allows you to be happy in a wider array of situations, which is good.
The Greek Philosopher Diogenes lived in a barrel and he was happy because of his perspective on things. My M-I-L lives in a multi-million dollar mansion in the most affluent neighborhood in the countrty and she is a miserable wretch because of her perspective on things.
See what I mean?
If expecting to feel safe makes me spoiled, then I am spoiled. You can blame my Dad and Mom for that, they hardly ever let me get into dangerous enough situations as a child... crazy people...
(rolls eyes)
By the way, I love going to garage sales, my favorite skirt ever was $1.77 from JCPennys, and before I moved here I had only been to Starbucks once and I didn't like it. (The reason we have gone a few times since we moved is to get out of this house into some airconditioning...) I shop at Plato's Closet since I found out about it, and I only stay in Holiday Inn's because I can get them for $29.00 a night.
I like Holiday Inn but because of my wife's picky tendencies I usually use Priceline which can usually get me four stars for $60.
I went to conferences in Seattle and DC and stayed at a $290 a night hotels for $60. All the other attorney were happy because they only paid the convention rate of $260.
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WoooooooooOOOOOTTTT!!100101010101
or whatever
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