Just Because You Can't See Them Doesn't Mean You Can't See Them

Superstitions. Make-believe.  Hallucinations.  Magic.  Fairy tales.  I've heard christianity and religion described many ways.  Some of you reading right now feel strongly about the "non-existence" of a god, gods, or God.  Some of you feel pretty strongly about the non-existence of the devil or angels or demons or anything "other" worldly.   The fantastic thing about a person's personal belief is that they totally own it.

If I owned a foreign country or was some type of dictator ruling a land far, far away, and said to my people that I declare this belief of mine as the belief all people in the land should share, it's not really a personal faith, is it?  I can't really force any belief, in a faith, without invalidating the essence of faith itself.  A person has to totally own his or her own personal faith.  It must be an individual's choice.  For myself, as an individual clear of any known mental defect, being totally coherent and rational in my thinking, I choose to believe and have faith.  It's my choice.

It wasn't out of guilt or pleasure that I made that decision so many years ago.  It was one I made logically and emotionally.  It was pretty personal.  And it was a simple question really.  And when I say simple I'm speaking of length of words.  It was a brief question but it determined the rest of my life really.  The question asked of me was only four words. It didn't come quickly. In fact, it was after many hours and many days of reading and studying the bible that I had to ask myself the question.  It has lead me through many other questions later in life from that point.

One example was just yesterday.  I was on the interstate about a mile from the exit I had to take.  The car in front of me was driven by an older lady (as I would find out when she turned and looked back at me) traveling to some unknown destination by me.  She was in the right lane, which coincidentally was the same lane needed for the exit I had to take.  For those of you familiar with interstate travel, speeds driven on the interstate can range between 0 and 90 depending on the city and if it's Friday around quitting time.  Traffic at this particular time was moving along at a comfortable pace and was flowing rather fluidly.  As I followed her car I notice my speed was gradually slowing down.  My speed had went from around 70 mph down to 55 mph.  I noticed many cars behind me began zipping around into the next lane and I swear they were shaking their heads at me like I was the problem.  Well, I shook my head as strongly as possible and energetically began pointing at the car ahead of me.  "It's their fault.  It's their fault.  It's not mine." I was screaming in my own self-defense.  (I made that last part up but it was happening in my head, none-the-less.)

So what stopped me from ramming the back of the car in front of me?  What prevented me from speeding up and entering the lane next to this hazardous driver and pushing her car off the interstate?  I do believe it is in those moments that something inside me prevents me from making such rash decisions.  Now, for those of you who are atheists or just don't really agnostically care, you might argue that common sense or years of experience prevented me from committing vehicular manslaughter.  But I disagree.  Because I know deep down inside there is the potential to make the wrong decision and do the worst possible thing in any given circumstance.  I don't know how many times I have been given a little push in the right direction in my life but I know something extraordinary is at work within me.  I know that my spirit has recognized true beauty in the world surrounding me.  I've been blessed beyond what I'll ever know just because of that decision I made many years ago.  At some point, when I feel a little bit more comfortable with our writer/reader relationship, I'll fill you in on more of my sordid past.  But for now just trust me when I say that I am a sinner. I've made mistakes.

So, what was the question I answered so many years ago?  What lead me down this path I'm currently stumbling down every once in awhile?  Four words really.  "Do You Believe This?  If you can ask yourself that question after reading the bible than you'll have to answer it.  It may not be at that exact moment but when the time comes you'll know it in your heart.  And that is where He resides.  I do firmly believe He took residence within me so many years ago and there is nothing I can say or do that can convince you. You can call me a liar, deceived, delirious, or insane.  It doesn't change the fact that it's my own personal faith.  So, if you're like the millions who haven't asked yourself that question, or like one of the millions who have but were not absolutely confident on answering the question at that moment, give it a try again.  Pick up a bible and read.  Truly try to ask the question - "Do You Believe This?" and only you can answer.  For me the answer was one of the hardest answers I've had to give because I do believe the consequences are eternal.  But I do believe it.  And He's been faithful to me no matter how little I've shown my own faithfulness to be.  And today, Easter Sunday, seems to be a pretty good time to reflect on His love and grace on my life.  So yes, I do believe this.  My name is Rueuhy and I approve this blog.  You can contact me at rueuhy@gmail.com.  Happy Easter!!

When I Was Your Age ...

Kids just don't understand, do they?  The easy, simple life they have compared to when we were their age.  I remember helping my dad chop wood and stacking firewood.  There are a few that probably still do that but the numbers are probably a lot less.  If I wanted some money for clothes or whatever, I de-tassled corn in the summer for a local seed corn company.  If I wanted to call a friend my mom would ask "Is it the same prefix or is the phone company gonna charge me 10 cents a minute?"  I would have to sit in a kitchen chair and I couldn't walk around to talk.  Because the receiver had a cord attached to it connecting it the handset. Life was tough.  As a kid I had to ride the big yellow schoolbus.  Sometimes, on a hot summer day, the stench of fresh vomit would waft through the air and fill the sinus cavities.

Life was tough.  But I will admit, in some aspects, kids today have it a teensy, weensy bit tougher.  I started thinking about the challenges facing kids these days and perhaps I'm a little quick with my own self-pitying. I don't remember ever being scared of the possibility of someone walking onto the school grounds and emptying a magazine from a semi-automatic.  I just don't remember being scared like that.  I also don't remember gang warfare taking place.  But I am from a rural town.  Back then, if kids went hunting, it might not be such a shocking thing to find an unloaded shotgun in the back windshield of a pick-up truck.  A lot of kids knew how to hunt or had at least experienced it.  But, as I said, I grew up in a rural town.

I also remember there wasn't so much confusion about who we were.  I'm sure there was a few children who felt some confusion about their sexuality or gender.  But it wasn't at the epidemic levels we seem to read about in this day and age.  I never felt like I had to take a stand on marriage equality. I, as well as a high percentage of my classmates and kids all over the United States, understood dad was in charge.  Mom never really disciplined.  But she would insure us of the fact that Dad would be home and taking care of it.  They were a tag team of sorts. In all those years of growing up, the word "divorce" was mentioned so few times that I didn't really even understand what it meant.  When two people married it was a life sentence.  Usually without parole.  Marriage was just a simple staple that involved a man and woman united.  And I don't ever remember any stories, local or distant, of a father leaving his wife for another man.  It would not be until I was 20+ years old that I would even see a public display of same-sex anything.  Actually I was pretty shocked and confused when I saw two girls kiss at a bar in Los Angelos.  Now children have to decide what they are and who everyone else is by junior high.  Just doesn't seem very fair to put that kind of pressure on 12 year olds.  The roles of gender and sexuality should not have to be a subject discussed or taught in school.  I guess that makes my role a homophobic.  You gotta be something nowadays.

Even school lunches aren't simple anymore.  It used to be a mom could pack a lunch for her child and let little Johnny or Suzy take some aspirin with them.  Now even that's regulated.  If it's even allowed.  Many schools don't even allow a home-packed school lunch to enter the cafeteria.  If it's not momma-Michelle Obama approved, it can't be allowed to endanger the health of your own child.  Reports are coming in that half a kiwi and a bun with some type of veggie burger is an approved alternative to sliced ham on white bread.  Fortunately, the youngest children will begin their programming with the highest from of common core math that can be handled.  Those children will be brilliant.  I've looked into the eyes of common core teachers and there are traces of souls there.  What was once filled with the love of knowledge and teaching has been thoroughly replaced with a paycheck and a week off every month.  (I exaggerate and I do know there are a lot of teachers out there who hate common core just as much as everyone else.)  The problems are many, but some kids, somehow, will survive the newest, and bestest ideas surfacing from the muddy waters of the federal education system.  There will be a few.  The odds tells us so.

So, if these children survive the violence, the gender and sexuality questions, and the school nutritional programs without o.d.'ing on over the counter medicines, they will have years of paying off college tuition and books.  And that is only a drop in the bucket compared to the taxes and penalties and the "personal responsibility payments" they have a life time to look forward to.  The amount of money to survive in this freshly cultivated "barren" wasteland of economic fatigue imagined by a progressive institution of higher excellence through welfare and social programs will just not be there for our future income earners.  When I entered my senior year I saw possibility. I saw hope.  I envisioned my life could be middle class or riches.  I just don't think I could realistically have that same outlook today.  But that's the beauty of the human spirit.  No matter how much the government and progressive teams of idealists yearn to squash capitalism and industrial achievement, the young can imagine and dream.  They can overcome.  As long as the television, music, and other forms of entertainment don't put them on a path of assured stardom.  There are only a few stars in the music industry.  There are only a few millionaires playing sports.  The rest of us have to achieve our dreams without multi-million dollar contracts.  We have to have a work ethic and the knowledge to achieve.  I just didn't know how easy I had it over our youth of today.  The worst part is - they're smart enough to understand the world they are entering.  And there are just too many less old fashioned minds out there to explain it to them.  My name is Rueuhy and I approve this blog. Shout out to me at rueuhy@gmail.com 

The Reckoning

We live in the world we choose.  A teacher told me that many years ago.  I didn't understand it then.  I did to some extent but being a teenager does limit you on life experience.  I understand it a little better now.

Back then, in the early 80's of the past century, (I'm still getting used to the idea of a new century) life was different for our country.  For someone like me, in rural town USA, one could not really envision the events unfolding today.  Surveillance of citizens, government run amok in our personal affairs, laws on the books that hinder personal liberty and freedom.  Federal agencies so corrupt and powerful that citizens have become naturally afraid of their own government - these were the possibilities of a "Big Brother" era.  It was fiction from a George Orwell novel.  "But Rueuhy, we are far from a total totalitarian form of government" the bleating sheep cry from the comfort of their section 8 housing.  The same sheep wait dutifully in the welfare lines and cling to their EBT cards.  The sheep walk quietly to their minimum wage jobs and dream of that factory, that is now in decay, opening once again.  The sheep didn't choose to become sheep - it is just an economic and socialist form of evolution that converted them.  The media helped shaped them.  The schools helped form them.  The jails have room for a few more.  We live in a world today that seems so normal in its chaotic rituals of season cliffhangers on tv and cinematic remakes of once beloved movies.  Churches are for those who aren't smart enough to listen to science and old age should never lead to death.  We have lost faith in God (not all of us but an alarming trend is in place) and have chosen the material comforts in His place.  And our elementary, junior and senior public highschools are quickly establishing themselves as the new parents of socialism in America.  For those of you that haven't had the joy of his/her young offspring reciting the new Federal and State manifesto in all it's glory, just ask a young 'un to explain the procedures to handle bullying.  Or the new grading curves in place.  Ah, the joy of dumbing down the future citizens.  We must be tolerant now, to the point of acceptance of everyone's flag, whether or not the U.S. flag gets dragged through the mud.  If 2% of the population is homosexual then that is obviously a majority and can no longer be viewed as an abomination in the eyes of the lord who sits on the education board at state and federal levels.  Or the federal judge who decides against morality and fairness in his/her interpretation of the constitution.  Because that old outdated scrap of paper is a living, breathing document that really should be put out of its misery.  We live in fun times.

It is the thought of our beloved country, and the damnation at the hands of its leaders throughout the government agencies and bureaucracy they've created that leads me to this thought:  we are at a crossroads. As the people of this country face lower incomes, or even non-existent incomes and staggering implications of rulings and laws that filter into their peaceful existence and will to be happy, everyone will have to make a choice.  And I see a final reckoning which will take place shortly after the first quarter of 2015 when people go to file their taxes.  We are at a precipice that no one really wants but have been pushed towards.  As we survey the fiscal and legal cliff that has been forced upon our individual and business enterprises with the advent of a "Personal Responsibility Payment" and employment requirements from the AFA (affordable care act) known as Obamacare, the final push will be felt when we file our 2014 taxes.  Men and women who have built their businesses (yes, THEY built their businesses) with their own hands and self-preservation, enter into bankruptcy and financial ruin - there will be a reckoning.  As the father watches his children go hungry because he had to choose between healthcare and eating - there will be a reckoning.  As the government uses its long arm or force (known simply as the IRS), the little people - the unknown 99% - will face government like never before, and there will be a reckoning.  As I've said before to anyone who would listen - "You can regulate and delegate to the masses but watch out when they can't work or feed themselves."  There is a reckoning coming.

Ever wonder why there is so much media coverage for anyone who sees gun control for the masses as the only solution to a few who have used guns for assault on public institutions?  It is not the mental illness of a handful that gives the government the right to revoke a constitutional right from millions.  It is simpler than that.  The government knows when it's outnumbered.  Take away the only defense a citizen has and you've given yourself free rein.  So the sheep are expected to line up at tables and "register" their arms they legally possess.  It's simple really.  When the time comes, and the chaos erupts, the government really needs to know where to go and take away the people's only real defense against enslavement.  For some of us it's as blatant as a census bureau worker showing up at a house and asking the resident who they have health insurance coverage through.  Or it's as blatant as a government requiring knowledge of all your assets and debts through a "tax filing" for every legal business and citizen.  Or it's simply as blatant as our country's leaders publicly lying to our faces about keeping our healthcare coverage 30+ times in pushing an un-read bill through congress.  There will be a reckoning.  Hopefully your common sense is stronger than the sheep who has the faded "Hope and change" bumper sticker half scraped off their bumpers.  Sheep tend to follow their leader over any fiscal cliff.  My name is Rueuhy and I approve this blog.  If you would like to compare notes please email me at rueuhy@gmail.com   

A Peaceful Suffering

I basically have two rules in my life.  There is no particular order to them.  In fact, they usually intertwine. Here they are -

1.  I am what I am.
2.  I do what I do.

For many years these rules have served me well.  Have I made mistakes?  Well, of course I have.  Do I have regrets?  Does a bear spit in the woods?  Of course I have regrets.  Have I been married a few times?  Rule #2 has a lot to do with that one.  But yes, even though there have been mistakes and regrets and hardship and pain, for the most part I've lived a full and somewhat productive life.  I've lived and I don't feel like looking back at my life and sighing a lot.  I'm very grateful for the experiences and accomplishments that have come my way.  There was music.  A little dancing.  Some really weird foods.  I've seen magnificent beauty that reminds me there is something so much greater than me.  I've been saved physically and mentally.  I've been redeemed spiritually.  If this is it it's been quite the ride.  But I'm pretty sure there's a few more days ahead of me.  Not 100% sure but it does seem likely.  If I die tonight I have hope for my eternal soul.  Some of you, I would even dare to say a majority, still feel like there is so much you want out of life.  Even a fear of dying.  Because you're just not sure what is beyond that last breath.  I have no great words of wisdom to convince you that you will live on beyond death.  That is something a person must seek out and define on their own.  All I can do is tell you that I have faith for a voyage yet to come for myself.  This is what it boils down to for me - I asked the question.  The question is better left to each individual because it really is one of the most personal questions a person can ask of themselves.  In fact, I can't really define what the question is. The important thing is that you want to ask it.  When that question, that undefinable question, is important enough to ask, each one finds his own question.  And more importantly the answer.  I would even hypothesize that the question really is a deep inner need that can't be defined by human language.  It sits inside festering away at a person's soul until the foul stench causes nausea.  A person can't help but to begin to seek that undefinable truth.  The question lingers there on the tip of the tongue.  For me it could be summarized by futility in life.  Was death a greater alternative?  Not by means of suicide but the absence of what defined normalcy for me.  Could I live with a life void of being totally real?  As I said, the answer wasn't as important as finding the right question. There is a symbolic precipice a man journeys to as he struggles with the trappings that a life has to offer.  If fulfillment is never within reach, is it possible?  Can the material ever really comfort?  Is total trust only found in total abandonment?  I really didn't mean to philosophize but there it is - a journey in a hindered condition.  The closest I can come to really explaining what I'm talking about is the man who injures his arm and asks the doctor if he'll ever play the piano again without knowing how to in the first place.  Do we give up before we give out?  Is the world a limited idea or the entrapment of our possibilities?  I guess, and speak of only myself, there comes a point in a man or woman's life when he or she inexplicably attains an equilibrium with existence.  A realization that life, no matter how complicated and extreme it can be, is negotiable.  And navigational.  To allow love and at the same time to not deny it.  A fortitude of solitude found in your existence deep within the chaos of a society.  Will peace come to you or will you come to peace?  I guess it never truly envelopes us but occasionally our heads hit the pillow at night and the mind doesn't continue in some looped replay of the day.  You merely fall asleep because you can.  And we welcome the rest for we are delightfully weary.  That is the welcomed rest that many seek but don't realize it can be caught.  It just has to become the possible.  My name is Rueuhy and I approve this blog.  Email if you want at rueuhy@gmail.com

Keeping Up Appearances

Warning: the following post may contain numbers and facts that may cause nausea and headaches.  Parental discretion is advised.

Why does the United States spend money that it really doesn't have?  Why does our federal government and state governments (I'm particularly concerned with Illinois) seem to be driving our economy's into ruin?  Is there any way to stop it?  I have the answers to these and so much more. So, before we proceed, go to your liquor cabinet and pour yourself a long, tall one. You'll need it.

For several years, I've followed tale after tale of conspiracy theories about our present economic picture.  I've heard stories that would drive a sane man into hopeless despair over his future security.  I've researched different theories on the US dollar and it's future place as the world reserve currency.  I have seen data on analysis of future predictions for United States and Chinese gold holdings that paint a desperate picture for the future of this country (United States).  It is not a pretty one.  Recently, while clicking on articles on websites that lead to other links to other websites that lead to paid infomercials that lead to "limited time only" deals on newsletters, I found a little truth that leads to a bigger truth. And that truth is this, the United States really doesn't have much gold left in the bunker at Fort Knox.

Here's a brief summary - every month the US commerce department produces a report on the imports and exports of the United States detailed in a document labeled FT900.  According to a man named Jeff Opdyke, this report clearly states that the United States has been exporting much more gold than it has been importing. So much more that an audit of the holdings of the Federal Reserve is in dire need but all attempts to audit the gold in Fort Knox have resulted in failure.  There has not been a audit conducted establishing the actual physical gold quantities in Fort Knox for decades.  In the meantime, without any established confirmation of current reserve holdings, the gold holdings of the United States has seen a significant decline from the 1950's from a wealthy 20,500 tons of gold (yes - that's tons) to a level in 1972 reported at 8500 tons.  According to Mr. Opdyke, editor of the Soverign Investor publication, the reported level of gold held in reserve in the United States is close to the same levels reported in 1972.  With a loss reported each month in gold exports, how could the United States maintain levels reported back to the 70's.

The answer is simple - we really don't have much gold in reserve in the United States.  So the question that you must ask yourself and your elected officials is this - what backs the currency now used in a fiat currency we all currently use?  Without any real wealth backing the promise seen on every dollar the US mint mints, what gives the US dollar its value? As Mr. Opdyke tells us, and with which I totally agree, the US dollar only holds value as long as the world trusts the government of the United States.  If you take a moment, right now, and pull out a treasury bill you currently (hopefully) hold in your purse or wallet right now, the only thing that gives that dollar bill any value is a promise, from the government, that it's actually worth something.  If the United States suddenly revealed that coffers are empty, what trust is there?  Why not conduct an audit of the gold holdings held in Federal Reserves? The reason is simple - realization by the people represented by thugs and liars would be calamitous.  All h-e-double hockysticks would break out.  According to Mr. Opdyke, the Chinese do not make such reports of the their gold reserves except for every three years.  At the current rate of their reporting, a new report for the Chinese wealth of gold should be produced this month (April 2014).  The estimated net holdings of the Chinese government in gold has been estimated at five times that of the United States.  There is currently a push by other influential world economies and governments to move away from the US dollar as the world reserve currency.  With this possibility, a very real possibility based upon the upcoming gold report by the Chinese, the US economy would be driven into chaos filled with double digit unemployment and ultra-high inflation.  The de-valuation of the US dollar would quickly erupt into the printing of currency by the treasury to try to stop inflation. Toilet paper would hold more worth.  Even the crap on used toilet paper would be worth more.

So there's the possibility.  Which leads me to the why.  I'm a big fan of the "why".  I just love knowing.  And this is my best intelligent guess to the "why" on United States federal and state level spending.  Keeping up appearances.  Why would so much money be poured into losing campaigns for such winning programs as "Cash for Clunkers" and green energy initiatives?  Why would our government conduct such heavy spending into promoting a losing proposition such as "healthcare for all" with the advent of Obamacare?  Why even push for Obamacare?  Why bail out using close to a trillion dollars of easily printed money back in 2008?  Why are we spending money that everyone knows has no real value?  It's a big heaping pile of illusion.  Keeping up appearances -For some of you, you'll recognize the the reference Keeping Up Appearances as a title to a popular British television show.  If you have never seen this BBC produced comedy sitcom from the early 90's I highly recommend it.  If ever there was a mirror image of the madness of the federal government, this is it.  The star of the show,  Hyacinth Bucket, is a woman on a mission.  To consistently produce an image of wealth and austerity and class. A woman who believed in refined selections and pretensions vastly surpassing any reality life threw her.  Her roots were humble but the life she chose to portray to her audience (anyone who came through her door or lived beyond that door) was a life of decadence and eloquence.  When she answered the phone (if she must) her formal and ladylike presence could be heard through the receiver with her classic "The Bucket' residence - the lady of the house speaking" always informing the caller of far too much.  Arrogance and self-disillusionment.  A higher standard of life than her poor husband Richard could really afford.  Her friends and neighbors easily saw through the charade but never thoroughly confronted her. The biggest difference is Hyacinth did not own her own money printing press.  That's a shame.  The show could have shown us a beautiful take on education and healthcare.  Perhaps even a socialist tint of charity to all of those with far less elitism.  Yes, keeping up appearances is all some of us really have that's of worth.  All you really need is a pen and a phone.  And a title of royalty.  My name is Rueuhy and I approve this blog.  For charitable donation to keep up my appearances please email me at  rueuhy@gmail.com.

Impulses And True Values

Twenty years ago, life was a lot different for us.  There was no internet bill.  Or cell phone bill (for a majority of us).  Life seemed a lot slower.  For me, money was extremely tight.  I never really carried more than $20 on me because that was all I really had and that was before all the bills got paid.  Answering machines still had micro cassette tapes but a few were digital.  I was still buying cd's at the store if, and a lot of the times it was a big if, they happened to have the copy I wanted.  There was no "online" store to browse.  You really had to want it and you really had to look for it.  The Amazon was a tropical location that someone would have to travel to see or you might come across some documentary on PBS.  There was no bidding wars on Ebay because that little jewel hadn't been created yet.  No one except Craig's friends knew who he was or had even seen Craigs' List.  If you wanted to work on a car or build an addition to your house, you had to buy a manual printed on paper or know someone who knew how to if you personally didn't have those skills.  There was no helpful tips you could get from YouTube.  And remember how mad you would get when someone wasn't kind and didn't rewind that VHS tape you were ready to watch?  There were no DVD's or Blue-Rays.  Today, if you happen to remember an old movie, a quick search online can produce the movie for you in a downloadable format.  Twenty years ago iPod's were still a vision in Steve Jobs head. And all your phone did was make calls.  Forty years ago, if I made a phone call, I would have to ask my parent's permission first.  Then I would have to remember the phone number or look it up in a local phone book.  Back then, the white pages took up a lot more of the book then the yellow pages.  Instead of speaking a name for voice dial to dial, I had to place a single finger in a rotary dial and turn it clockwise for each separate digit.  Rumor has it, even many more years ago, all you had to do was pick up the receiver and some gal named Thelma would "patch" you through to your neighbor if she knew she was home.  Times have changed and I've become impatient.  We've all become impatient.  Because "here's the thing", back then we really didn't have a lot of options.  The amount of options we have today are so extreme that we complain if our cell phone doesn't come in the color we want.  Anyone remember being able to actually read a menu up on the board above the counter at a fast food restaurant in less than a minute?  In some places, there's five or more options for your salad.  YOUR SALAD!!  And fries use to be just fries.  Ordering was pretty simple back in 90's too.  You didn't have a more expensive option of the "extra value" meal either.  We have so many options to choose from that half our life is just choosing things now.  Have you been in a Super Walmart lately?  I actually feel worn out after ten minutes in Walmart because my mind is calculating all those low prices and I have this internal debate on how I could pass up on that neat little item that some factory in China produced for a few pennies but they only want to charge me $1.99 for it.  And I know in advance it's a waste of money.  And it will be put in a corner somewhere and probably thrown away in a year or two.  So I don't buy it.  Not anymore.  If 2008 and beyond taught us anything, it's to reign in our impulse buying.  I guess that's why I hate trips to Walmart or any store for that matter.  It's an internal argument I go through staving off that impulse to satisfy some urge or desire for some material thing I didn't even have before I walked through the store doors.  And I think my eyes have a problem with all the information overload. The next time you walk into such a store take a moment to stand inside by the entrance and just look out over the hundred's of thousands of products waiting for you.  And then remember all you need is bread.  Or milk.  Just walk in and go directly to the bread.  Don't hesitate at the clothing department.  Don't suddenly remember there's a new model out for the Roku.  Just head back to the bread department and then spend ten minutes looking over the twenty selections available.  You see what I'm saying.  Sometimes, as I pull into the 100 acre parking lot and take a look at the building it seems similar to some ancient behemoth lying in wait for it's victims.  And then I feel like I'm some little sacrificial fool purposely heading to my own demise. I just never dreamed that old beast would be a huge yellow smiley face offering low prices everyday.  But we have come a long way since cassette tapes and 8-tracks. How wonderful life is...  My name is Rueuhy and I approve this blog.  For discount coupons and informercials please contact me at rueuhy@gmail.com