Grilled Turkey

I have learned a few things about grilling Turkey. First, never invite people over to celebrate a new recipe you have never tried before. Anyone can find a recipe the sucess comes from completing it. Second, be patient nothing kills the mood more, then waiting the 3 hours to cut open a raw turkey, especially since any cooking after this point will only dry out the Turkey. Third, make sure your grill is hot enough and make the effort to keep it hot enough (I wouldn't recommend lighter fluid, while fast, it does leave an unmistakable flavor on the bird), you can leave a turkey on the grill all day, but it doesn't matter if you don't have hot coals. Fourth follow directions like "Never Salt a Brine Turkey", if you cook a perfect turkey but add too much of even a good thing like salt it will be ruined. And Finally remember that one perfect turkey can make allot of bad bird worth it, so keep trying and learning from experiences. I think the concepts of these rough failures can be applied in pretty much any compartment of life. Hopefully the lessons will be learned on something as immaterial as turkey.

The Red Dragon

The Red Dragon finally broke down this week. I guess I saw it coming, I never really took as good of care of her as she took of me. The day her little 6cyl 4liter heart gave out I was just thinking I would change her oil, vacuum the dog hair and clean off the dog slobber, maybe even take the time to learn how to replace the spark plugs. I'm ashamed to say the preventative maintenance list is much longer of things that I could have and should have done. Sure most of the time I was limited by my lack of automotive knowledge, however most of it was pure laziness. Too lazy to do the things I knew how to do, and to lazy to learn how to do the things I didn't know how to do. Most of the time if I can't do the job right I don't want to bother trying. The problem is the only way to learn how to do something perfectly is to do it imperfectly a thousand times. The good part of this whole ordeal as that now I may have an experiment/learning car...just have to convince the wife to donate the garage, and her car...should be good...she's cool

Go-To Guy

This week I have been asked to work long hours, the largest project of the year is running behind. Unfortunately poor planning on upper-managements part has constituted an emergency on my part. While I enjoy receiving a paycheck from my company, I do not love them enough to work at base salary 14 hours a day, 7 days a week. So why do I work the hours? Why do I stay away from my beautiful wife and precious daughter? I am not afraid of losing my job or my position. Rather deep inside me there is something that doesn't want to let people down. I want to be the go-to man, I want to be the one that the company can depend on, and I guess that I even want to know for myself that I can do the job and do it well. There is a certain pride in looking at a job that was a complete wreck, and knowing you were an important part of making it a success. I feel a deep compassion for people in rough situations, and it's not natural for me to say no when somebody asks me for something. Especially when I know it's something I can help them with.
The lesson that I am learning is that no matter how much of the go-to man I am, or how valuable I am to the company if I were to die this afternoon the company would still get the project out. Even if the project did not go out on time, the company would still survive and probably be able to replace me shortly after. My family however would have a rougher time replacing me. Both are requiring a go-to guy, both require somebody they can count on and somebody to give everything. I have never heard of somebody on their deathbed wishing they had spent a few more hours at work, or gotten a few more projects out. I have already made a commitment to get this project out, so I will be the man and keep my promise. After this however I have decided that I will give 120% to my company during normal hours, after that they will have to find a way to make do. Hopefully they will start to plan more in advance or invest the necessary amount of resources, because if I continue to give they will just try to take more. Worse case scenario may mean finding a different employer, but even if I can't find a new job that pays enough, I would rather have nothing except a family than everything except a family.

A Fathers Love

This morning I was holding my 2 week old daughter in my hands and looking at her perfect little face watching her miniature hand reach up and try to grab my face, she had a faint smile playing on the corner of her lips. In that moment I promised to never let anything hurt her, I vowed to always provide for her and be gentle, tender and always treat her with all the love I have. I don't think she could comprehend all the feelings that were gushing through me even if she were mature enough to understand my language. No doubt in the future there will be times when we don't understand each other, where we get frusterated and where we will cause each other great amounts of pain. Yet no matter what happens or what space comes between us, she will always be my daughter and my love for her will never be diminished. The beauty of this thought is that I am an imperfect man bound by the confinements of my fallen human race. Imagine how great this love could be if it came from a perfect Father who is bound by nothing. A father whose words, actions and even motives can not be questioned by anyone or anything.