Photo Time

Reese and I walking at the pumpkin farm

TruDawg Weighs in at...

8lbs 5ozs, five weeks old, still has huge mitts for hands, built like his Uncle Jase right now...

New Beginnings

I apologize for the delay, things have been a little hectic.

First of all, let me address the election. I clearly disagree with the policies of the President-elect, but this is still the greatest country in the world. I hope he keeps it forefront in his mind that 50 million people did not think he was the right choice for President. I will pray for him, disagree with him, and start planning my own run for public office in 2010...

I spent this past weekend with my bro SBraine in Richmond. It was an honor to be there as he was baptized on Sunday afternoon. He has an amazing testimony, and I know God is going to use him and his infectious personality to spread the love of Christ. It is an amazingly humble feeling to see Christ work on someone you care about, and watch them publicly commit their heart and life to serving Jesus Christ. I am so proud of you Steven, your impact on my life is more than you may ever fully realize.

There has been some great stuff happening behind the scenes for us that I cannot quite share publicly yet, but stay tuned, God is definitely at work in the Furniss house!

Truett has his one month appointment today, we are taking bets on his weight

Happy Election Day

God's will be done...

This is actually hillarious!

I am trying really hard...

...to not turn the Heatstadium blog into a total crapfest on Obama, but this video was too good to pass up

Happy Birthday to Me!

I am 32 today, and got the best card from Reese, a Diego card for a 3 year-old, Bon wrote a 2nd over top the 3, and it had a sheet of Diego stickers inside!

Trick or Treat will be a blast tonight!

My favorite Halloween song...

What an afternoon!

I just voted, picked up some more McCain-Palin yard signs for people at work, and filled my gas tank for $17.75!

Props to $$$

I have to send a quick shot out to my older brother, S-Braine, or as I refer to him, $$$

He was sent the book, "The Shack" by a random person. We still don't know where it came from, and it has changed his life. (Find out more info on the book HERE)

As he read it, things started to make sense and he felt a connection to Christ growing. We had an amazing conversation afterwards, and I am so very proud of him. He has been thru more than his fair share of crap, and to finally come to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior is an amazing journey.

He even found a "baby 4 Corners" in Richmond and was able to attend there this past Sunday.

Praise God for a sweet addition to the family of Christ Followers!

How many warnings do we need?

Our nation and the way of it will change dramatically if this man is elected President

I love Mike Singletary!

I couldn't pass this up

Today on my way to lunch I passed a homeless guy with a sign that read "Vote Obama, I need the money." I chuckled.

Once in the restaurant my server had on a "Obama 08" tie, again I chuckled as he had given away his political preference.

When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and explained to him that I was exploring the Obama spreading the wealth concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him that I was going to redistribute his tip to someone who I deemed more in need--the homeless guy outside.
The server angrily stormed from my sight.

I went outside, gave the homeless guy $5 and told him to thank the server inside as I had decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy was very grateful.

At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment I realized the homeless guy was grateful for the money he had not earned, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn - even though the actual homeless recipient needed the money more it appeared.

I guess spreading the wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept than in practical application.

Seriously?

Bonuses in my industry separate the studs from the duds, this is unreal..

Barney Frank Wants To Zero Out Bonuses

John Carney | Oct 22, 08 2:35 PM

Barney Frank wants to stiffen limits on Wall Street compensation, calling for a ban on bonuses that would apply to “all firms.”

"There should be a moratorium on bonuses," Frank said yesterday, according to Bloomberg. "They have a negative incentive effect because they are the ones that say if you take a risk and it pays off you get a big bonus...and if it causes losses...you don't lose anything."

The Congressman’s remarks go much further than anything enacted so far. The current rules, included in the bailout legislation, would increase the tax burden for companies receiving government aid that pay more than $500,000 to top executives and would require board’s to consider whether an executives compensation package encourages excess risk.

Frank seems to be calling for an outright ban on bonuses to anyone, not just top executives. This would devastate Wall Street, where most of the annual compensation is paid out in bonuses. It would also create economic havoc in New York, where the state and city governments and local businesses are already preparing to get hit from much lower bonuses.

This is most likely just political posturing. A general bonus moratorium would turn Wall Street inside out. Very quickly, most likely, banks would simply structure pay to work on much higher salary levels to avoid any such rules.

Trophy for 2nd place, huh?

One of the hot buttons for me was nailed in an article in the WSJ yesterday, involving trophies. In my opinion, a huge portion of the attitude problems in our society come from an enormous sense of entitlement people get growing up. They feel like they deserve something for nothing, no need to earn it.

I tell Bon when Reese and Tru get trophies for participating I will throw them out, and she says "You will not, that is ridiculous!" While she agrees with my position, she thinks throwing out trophies they may be given is a little over the top.

There is nothing wrong with losing, it builds character, I won 7 varsity football games in 4 seasons, and kids need to learn that they need to pick themselves up and do better to strive to win. Rewarding mediocrity does not tend to generate a passion to succeed.

The Wall Street Journal article is HERE

Board #2

Mad props go out to the Godfather, who has given me an opportunity to serve on a second board of directors, this one for an amazing new company called Filleo. You will now find a link to Filleo, and the other organization, the Greater Cinti Chrysalis Community, on the left hand side of the stadium.

Filleo has an awesome founder, and let me give you a brief summary. (It will not do it justice) Filleo has been created to offer t-shirts with hip designs via web commerce, sounds pretty common right, but these shirts are created by reputable designers and for every shirt purchased thru the site, another shirt is donated to unfortunate children around the world! It sounds so simple, yet profound, if you are going to buy a "hip t-shirt", why not do it thru an organztion that will donate a second shirt to less fortunate kids for the same price!

The vision of the company and founder is said best here:

Our brand name “Filleo” is based upon the Greek word, “phileo,” which means brotherly love, one who promotes virtue, is fond of good, and is a lover of good people. We strive to produce a product that is well liked by those who partner with us in purchasing and donating clothing. We hope to provide hope to the children we serve through the generosity of our customers. We aim to “Fill the World with Love” by using a simple clothing item to open the door to a child’s heart.

So be sure to check back to Filleo in a few days, buy some cool gear, and help children around the world at the same time.

Thanks Godfather, and thank you Jed

Bon is a soldier

She has Reese and Truett at the grocery store right now, just doing
her thing, she is an amazing mother, I am blessed

Wow!

I just filled my gas tank for $25!

Thank you for attending Heat Stadium!

I am shocked, I went back yesterday to review the Heat Stadium traffic on Truett's birthday and am amazed.

We had 185 unique visitors on that day to the blog!

We are humbled by our amazing circle of friends and family, and I may have a new revenue stream, can you say advertising on the stadium...

Also, on the links you will now find Jase's new blog, Slim's Posse, where you can find pics of their family.

Truett and Reese are good...

Where did "Truett" come from?

A lot of people have asked us where we got the name Truett.

Well, there are two sources:

http://www.truettcathy.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truett_McKeehan

Watching Football...(Well sort of)

Truett and I tried to take in some of the Oklahoma-Texas game yesterday, looks like he prefers the pro game...