From The Guys At Crainium

I just had to share this post form the guys over at within the crainium.

Way To Go John Coleman!!

For those who don't know who John Colman is, he was the founder of the Weather Channel. He is also the Chief Meteorologist at KUSI, an independently owned San Diego. He is coming forward and doing something that a lot of people wanted to do, I am sure of it, because I am one of them. Step out against Global Warming. I am getting sick and tired of Al Gore and is load of crap. Global Warming is the biggest money making, marketing ploy, scam in the worlds history and we're just sitting back and letting people like Mr. Gore walk all over us. Here is a video of John Colman in an interview discussing his view points on the subject.

Shamwow!!!!

Of course you have heard the stupid commercial on TV. The one with the annoying guy, not Billy Maze, that other annoying guy, Vince with Shamwow. The commercial is bad enough, but look what these idiots did.

ShamWow Song (lyrics from Vince Offer) @ Yahoo! Video

Am I Doomed Or Not?

Well, this all started about 5 weeks ago with a really bad case of back pain. I didn't really think much of it because I have had pain in my lower back for as long as I can remember. So, when it started, I just took it easy and laid back. It never got better, it was so bad that I couldn't stand up straight. I couldn't sit down, I couldn't stand up, the only position I could be in that felt good was laying down.

So, I went to the doctor. He wanted me to go get an MRI. A week later, I was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease in my lower back. Here is what the MRI doctor wrote in his findings:

"Mild central disc bulging at L3-L4 with mild impression on the thecal sac (the surrounding membrane of the spinal cord). Central disc herniation at L4-L5 causing a mild compression of the thecal sac and a mild central canal stenosis. Small central disc protrusion at L5-S1 with no mass-effect associated."

For some of the readers of this blog, this diagnosis is all too familiar. Instead of surgery, I am going to give the Disc Decompression treatment a shot. I just found out last night that I am perfect candidate for the procedure. The problem is the cost. This procedure isn't cheap. I am sure it will all work out and I am just counting my blessings that I have the opportunity to undergo this treatment.

Another blessing I have in all of this is the amount of sick time and short-term disability I have. I don't have to worry too much about money through this ordeal, all I have to focus on is getting my back in shape and back to work in the least amount of time.

The reason it took me so long to post the news is because I have been trying to figure out how to get the images of the MRI off the CD I have. I finally figured it out this morning. So here you go.

You May Have Seen This One

I am sure you have all seen the talking E*Trade baby and all of his weird antics. And I'm sure you have seen the new golf episode. I have a blog I read every day called Prayers for Blowouts. The tag line Bryan (the creater) uses for the sight is as follows: "Examines the frequent collisions of sports, faith, and funny since David upset Goliath."

One of the contributors to the site is a guy named Chad Gibbs. Not really sure exactly what he does for a living. Anyway, he has a weekly golf post that he runs during the PGA season about the weeks tournament. He never had a name for it, all he would put is "Chad's Untitled Weekly Golf Post." That was of course until the video. Now the post is called "The Great Shankopotamus." If you don't get it, here is the video, you might get it then. Enjoy.

And Now For The Response...

This is the response I wrote and submitted to Burnside Writers Collective (that they didn't post, or at least haven't yet). Anyway, I tried not to beat down anyone's viewpoint or anything (believe me, I have the information to), I just tried to be as informative as I could. So, here is the response, let me know what you think.

Let me start off by saying that I work for a large utility company here in the U.S. To add to that, I work at a coal fired power plant. After reading the letter from Mr. Berry and McKibben, I was a little concerned. The main reasons for my concern aren’t my job, the well being of Mr. Berry and McKibben, or the future of coal in the U.S.. My main concern is for the people reading the letter. This letter is nothing but a desperate attempt to round up followers and a scare tactic. Another thing I would like to mention before I get started is that I do believe we need to do a better job at energy conservation and controlling pollution. That said, here is my response.
There are interesting statements made in the letter. All of these statements however, have no credible sources (at least none posted with the letter). The first declaration made, “Coal-fired power is driving climate change. Our foremost climatologist, NASA’s James Hansen, has demonstrated that our only hope of getting our atmosphere back to a safe level—below 350 parts per million co2—lies in stopping the use of coal to generate electricity.” That’s really a bold statement considering it rules out everything else that “supposedly” contributes to “climate change.” In addition, CO2 isn’t the only gas that contributes to the issue. Mr. Hansen from NASA claims that we need to get below 350 parts per million in CO2. That’s fine, but instead of focusing on just one producer of CO2, why not all of them. Think about that for a moment; big list isn’t it. Bread production (rising yeast), cars, breathing, anything having to do with combustion, concrete production, and that’s just to name a few. To say coal fired power alone is driving climate change is just absurd.
I like their statement of, “Coal smoke makes children sick.” Coal smoke? Really, is that what you call it? Where exactly is this “coal smoke” they speak of? If they are talking about the emissions from the stack, the last time I checked that wasn’t smoke. While on the subject of “stack smoke”; just a little FYI for everyone in the world, the white plums the media show in video clips and pictures, that is not smoke, its steam. That’s right, the same thing that comes out of your tea pot when you boil a bit of water.
Let’s talk emissions for a moment. That is always on everyone’s mind when this sort of subject comes up. Now, at the facility I work at, we continually monitor our emissions. When I say continually I mean every minute, of every day 365 days a year. We omit nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), and sulfur dioxide (SO2). Your run of the mill car on the road omits the same thing, but how often do you monitor that. Once every two years, or longer, depending on what state you live in. How do you know if your car is releasing over the allowed limit in between tests? You don’t do you. A power plant build in the U.S. has a much more stringent limit than your car.
Here’s something else to think about. What would happen if one day, all of the facilities burning coal to produce energy stopped? What do they expect to take its place? I would like to know what Mr. Berry and McKibben position is on nuclear power. The reason being, nuclear power is the most logical form to use in making up the difference from fossil fuel energy.
One other thing before I close; I would like to make a comment about the coal field encroaching on the small town. There’s something I want to know about that statement. Who is complaining about the field, and how many of those people living in that town work at that field? The reason I ask is this. I was born in Craig Colorado. That town has two coal mines and a three unit coal fired power plant just outside of town. No one in that town complains, they know those places are the main reason the town is there. If those facilities were to go away, that town would no longer exist.
I intended this response not to be an argument about the letter. I do feel we need to conserve the resources we have and find ways to be good stewards of this planet. The main focus I would like to stress is to think for you. Don’t take someone’s word for something. If you read something, do some research for yourself. The internet is one of the most amazing tools we have. Please use it, come up with your own conclusions on the different world issues. Just because someone says something is bad and we need to change it, doesn’t mean it should be followed nor does it mean it is fact.

Thanks, Erik Adams

The Carbon Emission Of The World!!!!

I had never heard back from the Burnside Writers Collective on my response to a letter they posted on the site a month or so ago. I had mentioned earlier that I would let you all know when they posted the letter I wrote. Well, seeing as though it never happened, here is the letter they originally post. Tomorrow I will post my response to this letter. I will say that this just goes to show how ignorant people truly are. To think that some people out there will jump at the chance to "join the cause" by just taking some ones word for it, and not doing their own research and coming up with their own conclusions. Enjoy...

Dear Friends,
There are moments in a nation’s—and a planet’s—history when it may be necessary for some to break the law in order to bear witness to an evil, bring it to wider attention, and push for its correction. We think such a time has arrived, and we are writing to say that we hope some of you will join us in Washington D.C. on Monday March 2 in order to take part in a civil act of civil disobedience outside a coal-fired power plant near Capitol Hill.
We will be there to make several points:
- Coal-fired power is driving climate change. Our foremost climatologist, NASA’s James Hansen, has demonstrated that our only hope of getting our atmosphere back to a safe level—below 350 parts per million co2—lies in stopping the use of coal to generate electricity.
- Even if climate change were not the urgent crisis that it is, we would still be burning our fossil fuels too fast, wasting too much energy and releasing too much poison into the air and water. We would still need to slow down, and to restore thrift to its old place as an economic virtue.
- Coal is filthy at its source. Much of the coal used in this country comes from West Virginia and Kentucky, where companies engage in “mountaintop removal” to get at the stuff; they leave behind a leveled wasteland, and impoverished human communities. No technology better exemplifies the out-of-control relationship between humans and the rest of creation.
- Coal smoke makes children sick. Asthma rates in urban areas near coal-fired power plants are high. Air pollution from burning coal is harmful to the health of grown-ups too, and to the health of everything that breathes, including forests.
The industry claim that there is something called “clean coal” is, put simply, a lie. But it’s a lie told with tens of millions of dollars, which we do not have. We have our bodies, and we are willing to use them to make our point. We don’t come to such a step lightly. We have written and testified and organized politically to make this point for many years, and while in recent months there has been real progress against new coal-fired power plants, the daily business of providing half our electricity from coal continues unabated. It’s time to make clear that we can’t safely run this planet on coal at all. So we feel the time has come to do more—we hear President Barack Obama’s call for a movement for change that continues past election day, and we hear Nobel Laureate Al Gore’s call for creative non-violence outside coal plants. As part of the international negotiations now underway on global warming, our nation will be asking China, India, and others to limit their use of coal in the future to help save the planet’s atmosphere. This is a hard thing to ask, because it’s their cheapest fuel. Part of our witness in March will be to say that we’re willing to make some sacrifices ourselves, even if it’s only a trip to the jail.
With any luck, this will be the largest such protest yet, large enough that it may provide a real spark. If you want to participate with us, you need to go through a short course of non-violence training. This will be, to the extent it depends on us, an entirely peaceful demonstration, carried out in a spirit of hope and not rancor. We will be there in our dress clothes, and ask the same of you. There will be young people, people from faith communities, people from the coal fields of Appalachia, and from the neighborhoods in Washington that get to breathe the smoke from the plant.
We will cross the legal boundary of the power plant, and we expect to be arrested. After that we have no certainty what will happen, but lawyers and such will be on hand. Our goal is not to shut the plant down for the day—it is but one of many, and anyway its operation for a day is not the point. The worldwide daily reliance on coal is the danger; this is one small step to raise awareness of that ruinous habit and hence help to break it.
Needless to say, we’re not handling the logistics of this day. All the credit goes to a variety of groups, especially EnergyAction (which is bringing thousands of young people to Washington that weekend), Greenpeace, the Ruckus Society, and Rainforest Action Network. A website at that latter organization is serving as a temporary organizing hub. If you go there, you will find a place to leave your name so that we’ll know you want to join us.
Thank you,
Wendell Berry, Bill McKibben

Add Another Adams To The List

It was official on Friday January 23, 2009. Michael John Bender became Michael John Adams. His middle name fits the Adams well with all of the Johns we had through our family history. He was a little nervous know he had to go in the courtroom and see a judge. It took some explaining from Christina for him to understand that it wasn't a bad thing.

It was a great day for everyone. Christina's mom, my mom and dad, Bradley, and Little Cody all got to come in the courtroom with us. The judge let us take as many pictures as we wanted and at the end, even came down, gave Mikey the pen he signed the order with, as well as stand in for a picture.

There is something about the final yes that changed things. He as always been a BIG part of the house. I love having him around, he makes me laugh a lot. But for some reason, it feels much different now that he has my last name.

We all went to have ice cream after the hearing. Becky meet up with us too. It was a great day for everyone, even the judge had a big smile on his face. I just wish everyone could have been there.

Soccer Anyone?

It's that time of year again. I know that most people in this country don't care too much for the game of Soccer. That's okay, it just means more for me. The English Premier League is in full swing, training is starting for the MLS, and now the ladies have a professional league... sweet!

I have decided to start another blog. This one is for soccer only called From The Pitch. I just started it a few weeks ago. I am just posting news and my own opinions about happenings from around the soccer world. Nothing mind blowing or ground breaking. I just want to share my passion for the beautiful game with everyone. You don't have to go and read it if you don't want. Like I said before, there aren't too many people that like the game anyway.

Also, Becky, Christy, and myself, started playing in an adult league that AYSO started here in town. It sure was fun. We had our first game last night. Christy has never played before. She did great. We are all a bit out of shape so it was a hard night. We will keep you posted and maybe post a few pictures here soon. See ya later.

It's January!!!!!!

Okay, when you think of January, what comes to mind? Cold, snow (in some places), ice; but not heat. This past week, it has been in the 70's every day. It's the middle of January for goodness sake. We should be bundled up in cozy hoodies, baggy warm-ups, and sippin hot coco. Not running around in short sleeve shirts, and shorts. I protest to who ever is in control or the weather. Turn the dial back to cold like it should be.

I know I live in Bakersfield, and I know I don't get all four seasons. But, I would like to still have the two that I have come to expect in the stupid town.

Need Some Peace

I found this gentlemen named Dave Ramsey. I know that there are a lot of people out there that have heard of this guy. I have been listening to his Podcasts for some time now. I signed Christy and I up for his Financial Peace University course. It's a 13 week class at one of the churches here in town. So far it's amazing. The information we have received so far has been better than anything I have heard.

I know there are people out there that don't like Dave either. I just want to tell those people that they are crazy. You can keep your debt, I don't want it.

I recomend this information to anyone with debt. The beautiful thing about the course is that it doesn't matter how much debt you have 10 thousand or 200 thousand. The course works for everything. Giv it a look and a change you will agree too.

Where Did That Come From?

It's something you don't expect. Well at least not in the beginning. It could have happened at any time, during any small Internet task. Imagine, your buying a cool new gadget on Amazon, posting a comment on a blog, or just sending an email. Now just as you click buy, post, or send... sirens sound, alarms blaze. You see a message that reads, "Please verify your submission." You look down at the little red highlight and see this word that you can't even read, above this little box that has a flashing cursor.

I'm sure everyone has come across this little gem a time or two. I understand why they are there, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Some of the words aren't even words (like the ones in the picture) and some make you think twice before typing. I have run across some really annoying ones and some that make me laugh. I had to enter one today that I thought was really funny and the main reason for this odd post. I was on one of the many blogs I like to read, about to make a small comment to one of the posts, when I looked down and notice what looked like a word that you shouldn't say out loud, if you know what I mean. I had to look at it twice before I realized that it wasn't what I thought it was, but very close. Okay fine, I will tell you what the word was, I know you want to know anyway... The word was shist. See, even you looked at it twice and you knew it was coming. Imagine how I felt, I wasn't expecting it at all.

I'm Tracking You

I found a really cool service that Google (imagine that) offers for Free. It's called Analytics. What this service does is amazing. It will keep track of just about everything that happens to this here blog space of mine. I can track hits (how many times the site is viewed), how long the average time was spent on the site, and how many pages were looked at. Along with those, I also find out what Internet browsers people used, whether it was a PC or Mac user, where my hits come from (not only from what state but from around the world), what posts were read the most throughout the year, what day had the most hits, the traffic source (direct, search engine, community site -aka- myspace, facebook, etc.), even what Internet source the hit came through (broadband, dsl, dial-up).

Talk about an amazing service, that you don't even have to pay for. How many times have you heard how great Google is? A few times, hundreds, thousands? The amazing thing is, just about every service Google offers is free and they still have the money to pay all of those employees they have. GOOGLE ROCKS!!!

Lame Or Legendary... Your Choice!

Okay, so I discovered a someone new yesturday, thank you Susan, by the name of Josh Shipp. Here is the bio from his blog site:

"Josh Shipp is dedicated to one thing: entertaining, inspiring, and empowering teens. He’s written books, shared the stage with Bill Cosby, appeared on MTV’s TRL, Comedy Central, NBC, FOX, TLC, and in the LA TIMES . And he’s already established an international reputation as an inspiring youth speaker with a simple and entertaining, yet challenging message.

Abandoned and abused as a child, Josh was able to triumph over the tragedy, and he continues to encourage everyone to overcome struggles and live life to the fullest. And he does so through the power of laughter. Josh is animated and hilarious, and his speaking style is challenging and thought-provoking. Josh has spoken to more than one million people about how his opportunities in life have made him who he is today. For over eight years, he has inspired, empowered, and entertained audiences all over the world. Josh’s ability to connect with the audience is a rare gift and is one you don’t want to miss.

Hey Josh is a website that provides advice, entertainment and community to teens through the web, films, live events and published books. Based on the old-school principles of Dear Abby, Hey Josh provides digital advice to a digital generation that is “in your face, but on your side”.

Josh is a spokesperson for National Foster Care Month, a marathon runner and a guitar hero."

Awesome guy if you ask me. Check out this video he put together, it's called Factory.

If only everyone thought like Josh. I think I am going to see if Jason, our Youth Pastor, will let me present this video to the Junior High and High School Kids. I think this is something they need to hear. I only with I would have heard this at a younger age. I feel that more kids need to here this a lot more often. Enjoy.

Amazing Story

I wanted to post a story I read on Prayers for Blowouts last week. I thought it would be a great story to start off the new year. It's a story about offensive linemen Matt Lepsis. It tells how he went from a life of drugs to a life of God overnight. I will just post a link to the story for you to read. From the Colorado Springs Gazette, enjoy.