Finally, time on a plane to update you all!

I suppose that a convention, with all the travel and downtime, is a good time to update friends and family via this stale old blog. It has been too long since I spoke with a number of you, so let me start by saying that I hope you all are doing well. Here at the Griffiths activity center, we have our hands full with our 3 boys (Greyson - 5 in Feb, Lincoln - 3 in Feb, and Ashton - 15 mos). All around us there is turbulence and upheaval in the world, but at home we have been passed over by the storm and are counting our many blessings.

Greyson is an intelligent, engaging caretaker who soaks up our behaviors like a sponge and then turns into a mini parent - warning the other kids to follow the rules in his best parent voice. He loves playing any kind of video game be it on my phone, a computer, his leapster, or his recently aquired privelage of playing the PS3 for 30 min each Saturday. His lazy eye is getting stronger with 4 hours of wearing a patch over the other eye every day - he takes his pirate status in stride. His glasses seem to get bent every time we turn around, but so far the first pair have made it through intact. He just endured his first real bout with the stomach flu, it was so sad to watch and yet his bravery and optimism in the face of tough circumstances was inspiring to watch. He is such an observant little boy, and will regularly notice that Mommy did the dishes or vaccuumed - always piping up with encouraging words to tell her how great a job she is doing. The other night I honked Greyson's nose as he was getting into bed... He waited till we were almost out the door to ask for one last kiss. He asked me to get a little closer so he could kiss me back from the top bunk and then honked me back. His laughter still rings in my ears like the sound of the sweetest music you have ever heard.

Lincoln has always been an energetic ball of contradictions. He has always been a stout boy (Grandpa's little tank) that loves to be rough and tumble. He has a huge smile and his dimple combined with those baby blues are enough to melt my heart. He has a hilarious sense of humor and his antics are appreciated by the whole family... most of the time! He loves nothing better than physical contact with his brothers; he is always driving Greyson crazy by trying to sit by him when they watch TV (did I say "by" him...? I meant "on" him!). It can be such a crack up to watch Greyson move away from Lincoln every 30 seconds or so, with Lincoln determined to stay next to him. They both move in tandem around the couches for hours on end until Greyson can't stand it any more and calls for parental backup. Lincoln has a soft spot for Ashton and will always greet him by imitating Natalie by pitching his voice really high and saying "hiiieeee baaaaabyyyyyy!" This can be repeated in conjunction with patting him on the head or any available body part until Ashton screams or retaliates. Lincoln has his favorite blanket that was made for him by one of his adoring aunts that he refuses to sleep without. Early on in his blanket relationship he found a corner that he liked better than the other 3. This caused quite a problem for Nat and I as we couldn't tell which corner was his favorite, and resulted in protracted guessing games about which corner needed to be closest to him. We thought the repeated nightly ritual could be dispensed with when his favorite corner became discernable due to his rubbing it so much that it frayed, but he was adamant about maintaining the status quo and "choosing" his corner every night. Lincoln seems like a force of nature - impervious to outside influences and unfazed by life - but we know better. All it takes is a little disciplinary action to bring out his tender underbelly, he is a softy at heart. WHenever he gets in trouble he wants to give us a kiss while he cries. Last night (the night before I left for a 4 day convention) I spent some extra time with the 2 boys before bed, and as I was tucking Lincoln in I told him I was going away to work for a few days and to be good for Mommy. I watched his face fall and he started to cry. He said, "why you want to go away Daddy?" My eyes tear up just thinking about it. He is serious about being a Daddy's boy, and I try to live up to that honor.

Ashton is expanding his horizons daily. Now that he is a little steadier on his feet, he is quick to exploit any gaps in baby security - temporary though they might be. Nat left the baby gate open for a few seconds yesterday and he baby-sprinted through the opening and made a snap decision to go for the stairs. He was all the way up them in a flash and checking the off limits doors (The bath and our room) to see if they were unlocked. He loves nothing better than those moments of freedom - especially if we growl his name a little as we give mock chase. His newest pleasure is getting up onto our couch by walking up the corner and levering himself up using his hands and head on one side of the corner and his feet on the other. It takes him a minute, but don't you dare try to stop him because he will open up a can of baby anger and hit you in the face with it... loudly. Once up on the couch he makes a break for the end table where he likes to stand and play with the light switches or keep an eye on Mommy in the other room. He has fallen once or twice but trying to keep him down from there incurs serious baby wrath, so what baby wants, baby gets at this point! It seems like all of Ashtons teeth have decided to come in at once, but he is a surprisingly happy baby. He picks up on anyone laughing, and joins it with the biggest mouth wide open mostly gums laugh he can muster. It doesn't matter how far away he is when someone laughs, he is in the joke and laughing with you, often while pointing (another of his favorite things to do)

As for Natalie, she is a busy woman. Keeping the house perfect, the meals cooked, the clothes washed, and all 4 of her boys in line is a full time job! Somehow she finds time in there to make monogrammed jean blankets for all the boys, cross stitch a baby blanket, dress her truth, manage our cahs only household budget (Thanks Dave Ramsey) and host the odd get together here and there... I don't know how she does it, but I try to pitch in where I can. We have been making a resolution to lose the weight we gained over the holidays, but we haven't quite hit our pace yet. We have played raquetball with some frequency - Natalie's reflexes are still as sharp as when she was an MVP pro third-basewoman - which can be annoying to those of us who have been playing for longer than a couple of months as she gets a hold of a ball here and there that we thought we had put away. I have to say, she is a steller Mom and a fabulous wife. All of the things that she thinks she isn't doing as well as she could are so minor. She inspires me. She gets more beautiful as time goes by and our love continues to grow and deepen - I am so blessed to have her.

The business has been pretty flat since March of last year. We took a beating last Jan/Feb but for the last 10 months of the year things ran pretty well. We actually wrote quite a few more contracts in 2010 than we did in 2009 - I think what hurts the most is the level of quality (or lack thereof) that today's customer is looking for. Everyone is on a tight budget and looking for the least expensive way to get things done. On the upside, we have been able to do enough business to justify keeping our key administrative staff while making what we need to make to get by, so we feel like we have been blessed in this downturn. A couple small competitors have already closed there doors in the SCV, and a couple more seem to be headed in that direction, so the net effect of the recession should benefit our business in the long haul. Bless my father for running a business in such an efficient, conservative fashion for so many years. We were as prepared as anyone for the crash and have weathered the storm so far as well as we could hope.

I have to say, that with all of the above there isn't all that much more time left over for me to laze around much! It is a good thing that I love what I do and I can't wait to get home at night to spend time with my amazing family. I even get a couple of hours to play my PS3 one night a week or so while Natalie is off with the young women of our church helping them to work on trying to be as successful in life as she is. They are lucky to have such a great role model. As for woodworking, those night stands are still unfinished... they have languished in the corners of our master bedroom for 2 years now while I refurbished the tools I would need to make the drawers. The last tool, my bandsaw is now ready, and now I just have to resaw a few boards and get going. With the small distraction of my boys birthday presents coming up (Making a wooden fort system out of dowels and wood connectors) I should be back in business and finishing the night stands this year. I'm swearing off large complicated furniture as soon as they are done too. Small projects/toys FTW. I can't muster the energy or the will to ditch my kids and wife in my spare time to work in the shop, so I have a feeling my woodworking will be spotty until the economy improves and I can work less. Here's hoping!

Debt. Why do states and countries have any?

This is an interesting article. Aside from the "No taxes 100 years ago" part it is a good concept. In truth, 100 years ago there were excise taxes, property taxes, and sales taxes. There were no income taxes or transportation taxes.

The truth of the matter is that most Americans are not opposed to being taxed. The problem with being taxed comes with the perceived value of the services provided by the money that we give to the government, as well as the perceived efficiency of those using our moneys.

For many middle class Americans, what we expect from our government is fairly easy to accomplish; smooth roads, electricity, clean water, sewage and garbage services... We want to know that building aren't going to spontaneously fall down and that our kids toys aren't poisoning them with lead. If the government provided a clear report on the utilities provided(utilities that most persons actually used), I doubt anyone would argue with paying moderate taxes at all.

Where I draw the line is when the government escalates taxes due to poor efficiency, or dedicating our hard earned money to causes that do not merit the application of those funds.

Somehow, our state government in CA has dramatically increased our spending in the last decade - and it is not readily apparent where the money is going. City or highway, driving can be compared to off-roading in many places. I need additional filters in my home for my water because the water here is so bad. All summer long I have to deal with "brown outs" or black outs. My toilets flush, but my kids diapers still stink! (ok, that was a joke) My point is, there is NO PERCEIVED VALUE to all of this extra spending. Specialty groups get the money for whatever purpose - when our society and our economy would be better served by cutting our spending (and thus taxes), and letting the increase in discretionary income have its own positive impact on our economy and society.

OK, with that being said, enjoy the article.

545 VS THE PEOPLE

By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them...Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits? Have you ever wondered if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes? You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does. You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million who are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country. I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress.

In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason... They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party. What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits...The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker Of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party... She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red...

If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ .

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way...

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.

Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or" politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people and they alone, are responsible.

They and they alone, have the power.

They and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees... We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY? Not a single tax existed 100 years ago(not true, see my comments above), and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What in the hell happened? Can you spell 'politicians?'

Funny Story.

Sorry about ignoring the world. With the economy the way it is, the only way to make things work is to be doing a crazy amount of the work ourselves. Love you all and hope you enjoy the story/joke!

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A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture in Wyoming when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced toward him out of a cloud of dust.

The driver, a young man in an Armani suit, Gucci shoes , Dolce&Gabbana sunglasses and YSL tie, leaned out the window and asked the cowboy, "If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?"

Bud looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, "Sure, Why not?"

The yuppie parks his car, whips out his IPad notebook computer, connects it to his IPhone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.

The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg , Germany.

Within seconds, he receives an email on his IPad that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his IPhone and IPad and, after a few minutes, receives a response.

Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer, turns to the cowboy and says, "You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves."

"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves," says Bud.

He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on with amusement as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.

Then Bud says to the young man, "Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?"

The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, "Okay, why not?"

"You're a Democrat Congressman for the U.S. Government", says Bud.

"Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie, "but how did you guess that?"

"No guessing required." answered the cowboy. "You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You used millions of dollars worth of equipment trying to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know a thing about how working people make a living - or about cows, for that matter.

This is a herd of sheep...

Now give me back my dog.

Small updates are better than none...

I have been promising an update for some time. For some of you, the lack of a certain mission "cow story" will be disappointing - but I promise to rectify the situation by publishing that story soon. (You know who you are.)

So many things have happened, it is hard to know where to start. With the economy in the toilet, our flooring store is making it just fine - with the caveat that there are less people to do the work, and more of it falls on the ownership. In addition to the maintenance that falls to the owners, questions about the books, customer issues, installation questions, merchandising decisions, what seems like 100 emails a day... I have the honor of running our insurance program - which is to say that when a home in Santa Clarita loses their floor to unexpected water or fire damage, Famers -State Farm- Allstate, and a number of other insurance companies use us as their flooring vendor. That means that we show up when their house is destroyed by emergency water services (cutting drywall, ripping out anything wet like cabinets, walls, flooring etc) and we (by we I mean... I) make a perfect diagram of the home in the insurance software (down to the inch) and detail in the software what is damaged, what needs to happen to return the insured to their prior state, if the flooring can be repaired or why it needs to be replaced, and then I enter into the software every little thing we will have to do on the way. I cut up a piece of the old floor, and send it to a company that evaluates it for value, and then when I receive the number (value) I input it into the software and upload the completed estimate to the insurance company.

The entire process in the home takes from 1-4 hours, we wait 2-5 days for the value from the company that evaluates the floor, and we usually have the insured in the store picking out new flooring within 1-2 weeks. At any rate - those cabinets I was making more than a year ago are still unfinished, and my wife is happy when I get home in time to help put the kids to bed. It has been a hectic time, but the business is doing fine, and our home is running wonderfully thanks to my beautiful wife. It is hard to complain when we are so blessed.

Soooo, since I last wrote, we had another child, ANOTHER boy... and named him Ashton Ree. Ree is Natalie's Grandpa's name, and a better role model for our boys we could never find. He is the man who has been there and done that, from teaching math, driving trucks, woodworking - he built a cabin @ Bear Lake, and then expanded it... all with his own 2 hands. I will never forget some of the hunting stories he has told us, much less time with him on wave runners, quads, and snowmobiles. I digress...

The holidays season came and went, and life continues to be crazy. Amidst it all, my friends have kept popping up on facebook (its like online crack) and I have to say, it has been wonderful to see you again.

At the end of the year, Nat and I cleaned out our home office, and changed our setup - we got rid of the space taking desk (now the guest bedroom is JUST a bedroom) and mounted an all in one hp to the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. Now Nat can do her building management in sight of the kids, and the kids can play online learning games under our watchful eyes - the last thing we want is our kids hidden away in a bedroom online!

While cleaning out our desk, we found 2 old cameras with undeveloped film in them. Nat's didn't turn out (remember those days?) but I got about 4 pics off mine. They were from 1997, a trip from Rick's ID to the dunes with some friends. Campfire, s'mores, root beer, and good friendship. Can't ask for more than that. I will upload and tag them, but here they are for you guys first.

Birthday Thanks...

Well, I have to say I am stunned at the rain of friendship that has been falling on me all day today. I feel encircled by the arms of so many friends and family members, that it is impossible to feel anything apart from being on top of the world. I know that it has been a while since I have posted some real meat on my blog or in my facebook notes, and I will rectify that eventually! Either way, for my friends and family, thank you for making my day~ and especially for getting this year off to a good start for me. All of my love and support goes out to you and yours!

Ben

Y a los quenes no hablan ingles... saben que esten en me corazon tambien!

Merry Christmas

Sorry it has been so long since I have uploaded pics or anything at all. It will happen soon :)

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2010 , but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wish.

But to be non-politically correct: Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving

A note to all of my family, friends and acquaintances:

This may be a dark time for businesses and families across our blessed country as political and economic storms combine to dampen our spirits and steal our success and vitality. Decisions are made every day that make it more and more difficult for the people of our country to progress and even succeed. I feel deeply that we are coming to a crossroads as a country, and that the decisions we make as a people will have consequences beyond our ability to understand at this time.

Nonetheless, we stand firm in our faith, our principles, and our friendships; strong against the tempest, and we continue to press forward. We are so blessed! The last few weeks since Ashton was born have been a time for less sleep and more thought - and I cannot help but to be humbled before the wonder that is my life. I have an amazing wife, 3 beautiful boys, gainful employment, and you, my friends.

Today, I give thanks to you for the support, inspiration, and motivation that you provide me when I need it the most. My love goes out to you, and I thank God for the chance I have to associate with you all on a daily basis! May we all make memories of joy this week with those we come in contact with. May we all be grateful for the blessings that are bestowed on us. Thank you again for all that you do for me!

Happy Thanksgiving!

~Ben