DAD

Born in 1916, in Elroy Texas, Bernard Carl Pearson was the only boy in a family that included three girls. His dad Carl Bernard Pearson was a blacksmith. Dad went to school in a little red building that is now the volunteer fire department building in Elroy. An adventurer at heart, he went to a business school in San Antonio so he could help manage his dad's blacksmith business. World War II called Dad where he served in the Army Air Corp as a 1st Sergeant in a Finance operation in Belgium. There he meet my mother, Irene. They got married, moved back to US after my brother was born in 1946, then went back to Belgium for a short stay when I came along in 1948. He eventually decided to move back to Austin and later to Houston. Through the years, Dad modeled life principles that would have great impact on us boys. He taught us to not judge a person by the color of their skin. He taught us to treat everyone with respect. He taught us to work hard and save money. He taught us the value of family.

When Dad was diagnosed with Parkinson's, he did not give up on life. He continue working as long as his mind allowed. When he could no longer work, he still work around the house doing as much as he cold. Even when he could no longer move his muscles, he still did not give up. I remember a funny incident when he was in the nursing home. His orderly (a women) was moving him from his bed to his wheel chair. She told us to watch his face. As she lifted him, his hands slide from her waist down to her hips - then he smiled. She said he like hold on to her hips. Dad knew how to enjoy life - no matter what.

In John 15:15 Jesus said, "I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." I believe Dad tought my brother and I the things his dad tought him. My last word to him before they laid him to rest was, "Thanks, Dad, for being my friend."

Today my children are grown. My daughter and grandson are living with Carol and I. Gage is my friend.

Fixing the Economy

Dear Mr. President:

Please find below my suggestion for fixing America's economy. Instead of giving billions of dollars to companies that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan. You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:

There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force. Pay them $1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire. Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed.

2) They MUST buy a new American CAR. Forty million cars ordered - Auto Industry fixed.

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage - Housing Crisis fixed. It can't get any easier than that!

If more money is needed, have all members of Congress and their constituents pay their taxes... If you think this would work, please write your congressman.

(Author unknown)

It's Only A Number

Reflecting on 2008, I thought that was the strangest year ever in my life. Think about it, the price of gas dropped by over 50% in just a few months. Retirement and investment accounts drop significantly. In summary, the bubble burst.

We listened to the presidential candidates debate how they would fix the economy and watched in amazement as our government leadership determined that the solution was to provide over $700,000,000,000 to fix the the bubble. I got to thinking about that number. Just how big is 700 billion?

So, I did a little research. I found an interesting analogy on the Internet that said a one gallon milk jug would contain about 1 billion grains of sand. OK now I can wrap my mind around the size of "1 billion". So the government decided to provide 700 milk jugs. Now that is a lot of milk jugs. When I was in the store the other day, I decided to count the number of one gallon milk jugs on the milk rack. On one shelf, I found 16 milk jugs lined up 4 across and 4 deep so that shelf contains the equivalent of $16,000,000,000. There were 5 shelves on the rack or the equivalent of $80,000,000,000. It would take 9 racks like that to hold 720 milk jugs. That is a lot of milk.

As I drove past Academy, the other day, I noticed they had BBQ grills made from oil drum containers. A barrel of oil holds 55 gallons. It would take 13 barrels to hold $700,000,000,000. Now I am getting somewhere. So there, I've settled it in my mind. I can visualize 13 oil barrels.

Anyone want to help me fill those oil barrels with sand now? I have a spare shovel.