Update on 2017 Goals

1. End the year debt-free - Have now paid off 56% of total debt I began the year with, and put 57.5% of total income in February towards debt!
2. Bench press 315 pounds at 168 body weight - Pushed 320 and broke 180 (179.8) in February
3. Do 3 gardening jobs. See my website at http://growingexpectations.webs.com/ - need a garden 😊?
4. Read 25 books focused on technology and visual design - Have read 5 books through February
5. Publish historical fiction - Got my first edits back (thanks, Alex and John!)

The Power of Words....

 “Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.” -             Buddha 

Cardoon

My recipe:

1. Cut stalks at the base of the plant, clean and cut into 2 inch pieces
2. Trim/clean stalks and drop into water/vinegar mix for 10 minutes
3. Boil in slightly salted water
4. While water boils, mix two eggs, salt/pepper and breadcrumbs in separate batter
5. After boiling to the point of becoming soft, remove cardoon and dip in batter
6. Pour bacon grease in frying pan
7. Drop battered cardoons in frying pan and sprinkle additional breadcrumbs on individual pieces                                    

Good Looking

Was about to post something silly about how how the system is set up to keep folks in debt when I came across this pic of my wife of 25 years at our celebratory get away dinner. Reminds me of what's really important and how good I actually have it.....

Haggai 1:5-7

5 Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

7 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.

Fishin'....

 Went fishing with my friend and old Platoon Sergeant and next door neighbor from Korea in 1994, Louis Dinkins. Great time!

Challenging Quote

The more pleasures a man captures, the more masters he will have to serve - Seneca

The stoics believed that man spends his entire life attempting to obtain happiness, acquiring one desire after another in his quest, only to ultimately have each desire replaced by another, eventually ending up with a lot of material things, but no more happy than he was to begin with. 

True. More to follow....

The Original Jamaican Restaurant/Edgewood Avenue

Hanging out with the boy in Downtown Atlanta eating authentic Jamaican....

Walking In The Rain!

Took off 2.5 miles down the street this morning in 45 degree rain jamming to the Cranberries and U2.....Why? Because I can! Life is good....now for some reading and then go meet my son after he gets off work and head to the Original Jamaican Restaurant to throw down on some island food.