The Man That I Owe My Life To

Ok, I posted a message about this on Facebook early this morning, and everybody took it way to left-field when it came to about whom I was speaking. When I said "The Man I Owe My Life To" I was talking about former Husker player Lynn Finney. He's been at the top, and he's been at the bottom. They have been running a special story on him in the Lincoln Journal - They called him "The Man Who Stole From Osborne"... Which to me seems somewhat biased since most of Nebraska sees Tom Osborne as some type of Messiah. (No offense Tom) They say Lynn seems to have a knack for getting into trouble. But hey, drugs change people. And his story is one example of how an addiction can take a person who could reach the sky to a person who seems to have a hard time staying off the ground. He was recently in the news because he just got in trouble for allegedly using empty envelopes at a local ATM to make fake deposits and withdraw money from the ATM one night. Reportedly totaling around $1,600... Hell, I didn't even know you could do such a thing. Maybe that shouldn't have been in the news, because I know ALOT of people had the thought "Damn... that's a good idea"... But anyways, back to my point. Now when I say that I "owe" my life to this man, let me explain. So here's the story:

One day, one day WAAAAY back in the day... I'm guessing 1972 by math, there were two sisters at home and their parents were out of town for the weekend and the older of the two had decided they were going to have a party. The older sister had one of her girlfriends over for the party, and had invited a friend over, and told him to bring a couple friends to meet her girlfriend and stuff so there wasn't just a couple people there. The older sister and her friend told the younger sister they were taking a walk, and that a couple people were supposed to come over, so to let them in if they didn't get back by the time they showed up. I'm sure they all had a decent time. I mean, whatever they/y'all did in the 70's. The younger sister was making food, cleaning up, trying to be a good hostess even though she didn't invite the company. The next morning, she was cleaning up before their parents came home. The guy's friend that came to meet the older sister's girlfriend was still awake. He startled her. Mind you, this was back in 1972, and they lived in Waverly, NE. So imagine being a 17 year-old white girl, and you run into a 19 year-old Black man from Lincoln, NE who you have never met before the previous night's party checking out your father's gun collection... They talked for a bit. While she was finishing up cleaning he told her "You know, you're going to make somebody a good wife someday." Turns out that the man who came to the party that the older sister had invited was Lynn Finney. And his friend who came to meet the older sister's friend didn't like her friend that much. He had his eye on the younger sister. That was 37 years ago... And to this day, the "friend" and the "younger sister" are still together and married. They are Danny and Mona Brooks. My parents. So when I say that I "owe" my life to Lynn Finney, I mean it. If he hadn't came to this party, or brought the same friend that he brought, my parents most likely wouldn't have met and wouldn't be together. So Lynn Finney, I thank you. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have been born.

And today Lynn Finney isn't doing so well. Had an operation to remove part of his liver a little while back. But he is still fighting colon cancer. And as I've said, he's had his up's and down's, but no matter what he has done, or what trouble he has been in, or who he has hurt in his life, there is one thing that he is responsible for that nobody could EVER repay. He, in an unintentional manner, united two people for life... And as a result, they have a family, children, and a home together. And because of that day, I am sitting here writing this blog.

I wish you all the best Lynn Finney. Keep your head up. Regain your dignity. Nobody is immune to the trials and tribulations of life.

And as I always say:

There's never a testimony without a test


-T

I guess this is overdue

It's been a few days since I have written anything. I don't have much to talk about lately I guess. So maybe I'll just go off the cuff and talk randomly. Umm.... I just watched a really boring episode of "The Simpsons".... Thanks to the network, they are about to upstage that tragedy with an episode of "Family Guy". I got an email from AT&T today. I can get a free phone with free shipping if I add a third line on my account. I have two already, one is a phone that I got and pay for for my little cousin. She's 16. We share 1400 minutes a month, and come on now, as I said, she's 16. I bet she eats up minutes like crazy. But who knows, I don't actually check them, the balance comes and I pay it. I just might get one just because it's free. It will add $10 a month to my bill, and I can just have a different phone. That might be kinda cool. My phone was "new" and "cool" and all that when I got it. But that was about a year ago. And nowadays phones can be "outdated" in a week. There's always something more new, better, faster, etc...

(pause for a break)

Mom just called. I guess my uncle had an interview on the radio because he's about to be inducted into the hall of fame for playing football for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. He was good, he even played for the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL, the way it sounds to me is that he even gave a shout-out to my aunt while they were interviewing him. I think his career ended with one of those "bad knee" issues. Which happens to alot of athletes. Maybe that's why I don't do sports. But he's an awesome guy. And he has an great career now. I probably wouldn't like him if he was my mom's brother, but he's married to her sister, so that's okay. For some reason I've never liked much of my mom's family. Well, except that one sister that he's married to (Love you Marcia!). Lots of them just seem too smug. I've just always felt more comfortable with my dad's side of the family. They don't judge. They encourage. They don't feel that they are better than you. Things like that. But I think it's time to get out of the house. I'm gonna head to my parents' house to make sure they aren't about to choke each other. They have that "love-hate" type of relationship. I mean, when you've been with someone for 35+ years, you just can't help but to be annoyed by almost everything the other does. But they're my parents. I love them. They're the reason that I have a life. Some people make the statement "I wish I was never born"..... Yeah, but then what would you have? Life may get tough at times, sometimes you might want to give up. But the way I see it, you shouldn't have anything to complain about if you woke up today.


-T

Sad Saturday

Well, I woke up today just coming out of a dream. And as strange as it seems, it had to do with me being at work. I was at work... trying to fix the damn carwash. And initially when I woke up, I had one thought come into my head. "You have to be at work!".... But that was not the case. In the cloudiness of my juse awoken brain, I actually thought I was going to be late for work. But just in case anybody out there doesn't know, I lost my job last Thursday. But oh well, I was working there for about 6 years and it was time to change course. This was long overdue. I mean, I will miss the customers, and maybe the work just a little bit, but not the fact that I am alot more smart than what the job affords me recognition for. I mean, it wasn't challenging. It was basically, "keep this place straightened up, and ring up customers and count change" all day. I mean, a 9 year-old could be trained to do the task with enough training. But oh well. I mean, I did learn alot about the business, and did get alot of experience, but that's not the kind of work that I want to do. So it didn't really "help" me for the future. My future. It will not be in the same industry, for sure. But it's just time to start a new course. But to do that, I have to imagine where I want to be in the future. The course will lead there. I'm not sure where I want to end up just yet. But maybe I'll think about a huge house. A ton of people working for me. Maybe security. Maybe I'll shoot for the stars.... I GOT IT! Now I know which house exactly I'm talking about. It's really big, and it's white. I think you know also

Sarah, Sarah, Sarah....

Ok, this is just one thing that I want to get off my chest.... Would people (the media mainly) just lay off for a bit? I'm tired of people jumping all over Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) for everything. I mean, when it comes down to it, she is quite possibly now one of the most well-known female politicians in the country, and around the world. But I still say Hillary Clinton is the most well-known around the world. Now when I say to lay off of her, I mean people need to stop making a big deal about everything she supposedly does, or supposedly doesn't do. I mean, it's come to a point that if somebody in Alaska slips on a banana peel, her name comes up in the media like it's her fault. Some people in the Republican party even try to say that she cost Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) the Presidential election. I do not think this is true. John McCain is more of a moderate Republican, Sarah Palin is more of a conservative. She helped breathe life back into the Republican base during the campaign. And everybody jumped all over the fact that she may have had a few bad interviews, and they made fun of her and called her stupid. But when you are not prepared for a national race, and are suddenly tapped for the second highest governmental position in the country, you can't be expected to be a "perfect" candidate. Nobody is perfect. But I will say, she became an instant superstar in the political world. And when you get that much attention, people start gunning for you. And it's not always coming from the other side, it comes from your side as well. So what if she wasn't familiar with "the Bush doctrine" during an interview.... I never even was aware that there was such a thing. I mean, she stood her ground at the Vice Presidential candidates' debate against Joe Biden! Now that takes guts because Joe Biden is a fire-breather, and for some reason talks a bit too much, and I admired her for that. Now don't get me wrong... I am a staunch Democrat, and if you even want to throw the label of being a "Liberal" at my feet, I will pick it up and wear that label as a badge of honor, but let me be clear with saying one thing: Republicans (including Sarah Palin) have certain social policy views that make you want to scream, certain ideas that might make you want to pull your hair out, comments about the Democratic agenda that might make you want to choke somebody, BUT, Sarah Palin is a fierce American. She is a patriot, loyal to her country, she is smart, hardworking, and dependable. And I respect her. So I wish everybody would stop attacking her.

-T

What a Sunday.......

Well, here I am. Off of my regular schedule. Usually my days off are Sunday and Monday. But I have to work at 5pm today. And just like I said before (check previous blog posts) North Korea fired off missiles yesterday. I said that it was going to happen. Everybody knew it, he NEEDS attention. But one thing I don't understand is that he fires off his missile tests into the Sea of Japan... Aren't those Japanese territorial waters? Then technically wouldn't he be attacking Japan in a way? Maybe Japan should do some "tests" right into the water around his country (if you want to even call it a country. It's basically just a huge military base) to show him what it's like. He says that if the U.S. tries to stop any of the ships coming into his ports that we would be declaring war. Intelligence (and I use that term lightly in regards to what it has done for us before) says that there might be nuclear weapons, weapons-grade material, enriched uranium, etc. on board. And by all regards, we don't have U.N. "permission" to stop any of these ships, but when it comes down to it, I don't understand how it would be declaring war... North Korea has been provoking other countries for a long time. He wants a response. But in my opinion, and as far as my knowledge, we are still "at war" with them. The Korean War was never ended with a treaty. So, by international standards, we are still at war, just not active war. Who knows how this situation will play out. Oh yeah, and the President Ahmadenijad of Iran (and again, I use that term lightly due to the recent unrest over the elections) invited our President Obama to talks with him. Yeah right... do you think he's going to go deal with that guy? That task will be sent down to our Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. Hopefully she'll do what she does best when it comes to confronting other leaders in the world, and tell him what America wants her to say: "Don't start any shit"

-T

Another Day

Well, here we go, another day of this "life"... I find it harder to wake up in the mornings. Well, scratch that, I never wake up in the morning. It's usually around noon. Probably because I don't want to go to work. My job sucks. But only because I hate the fact that I've put my goals on "hold" and settled for a job that at least gave me a steady paycheck. Steady in the sense that it comes every two weeks, but doesn't provide a steady lifestyle. I usually make about $800 a month (if I'm lucky) and it's hard for anyone to live on that. I don't live above my means in any sense, besides the fact that I pay around $200 a month on my phone bill. I mean, hell, I can't even afford car insurance. It's time to give college a second try I guess. Then at least I'll have an excuse to be broke. Who hasn't heard of a broke college student? Well, except the ones who have mommy or daddy's credit card and a bottomless amount of money to spend. Why couldn't my parents have been rich? Maybe my dad should have stayed in college playing basketball. Then maybe he could have been drafted to the NBA or something. He was good. But he quit school to spend more time with my mom... Now if that wasn't a nutty thing to do I don't know what would be (but I guess I probably wouldn't be here if he hadn't made that decision). But anyways, time to jet. Gotta get to work. See you later!

-T