Saturday, April 11, 2015

Chinese Food

Walking around Duluth Minnesota, the weather is much better. It felt good to get some fresh air. Growing up in Ohio, I kinda got it. We used to travel up into Northern Michigan and that's where the fresh air is. Not a single town for nearly 12 miles. That is craziness. Here, though, the air reminds me of Michigan. Heck, the whole scenery reminds me of Petosky, specifically speaking. There's a hill with churches, restaurants, people walking around, antique shops and pawn shops. The water is clear and cold. Fresh breeze coming off the Great Lake. It's nice here. Along with these gems, there's a little one that I usually try to find, or rather it finds me.

A local Chinese Restaurant. I found a place just down the road from Duluth Trading Co. and it is tasty..wow! I usually order some General Tso's and this General Tso's is delicious. The chicken tastes like actual chicken, the fried outside, is actually fried outside and the sauce is amazing.

Don't get me started on the fried rice. It's actually fried. Not that yellow stuff you usually get. There's bits of chicken in it. It's amazing. There are little bits of onions too. They just add to the flavor.

I got two egg rolls too. They are your standard egg roll, but even the outside is a bit different. I recumbent going to this place. I don't want to give out the name, but if you ever find yourself in Duluth Minnesota (might I suggest going between now and september) make sure you stop by this place. It's across from the casino right in downtown Duluth.

I have to go. We play two shows tonight. It's about a mile walk to get there. I'll write more tonight.

Have some chinese food if you can. Why not? Have some tea or some coke with it. Or just water or even coffee. It's all good together.

You won't regret it.

Friday, April 10, 2015

Love

Love. It's a funny thing. It's a sad thing. It's a personal thing.

I can love a special kind of food or a genre of music. I can love a place thats scenic or warm. I can love a woman. I can even, be loved by God.

I am loved by so many people. I am blessed.

I remember the first time I stared into my girlfriends eyes. They were beautiful then and even more beautiful today. I remember seeing her smile. I even remember the first hug. That was long before the first kiss, which I obviously remember. I remember feeling a sense of happiness. Peace. I remember feeling a sense of, home. Right there, she was it. My heart knew that she was 'The One'.

We are taught that we will know when it's the one. I never truly believed it but by God, is it true. I KNEW she was the one.

God has taught me to love. Guided through my parent's teachings, I learned to care about people who were close to me. I learned to nurture and think things through. I learned the right words to say, which I still have a problem knowing from time to time. I'm learning, and the Lord knows that.

Over the past year, I have grown closer to my faith. I have my girlfriend to thank for that. The Lord does wonders. He brought us together along with a million other things. I know he wouldn't leave us hanging now. I pray for people who don't know him. I pray that there will be healing in their life. I pray they find success through The Lord. God is amazing. I'm sad for people who don't know his love.

I sit here in my hotel room. It's going to be 64 degrees fahrenheit tomorrow. That's about 18 degrees celsius. I am excited, since it's been 32 or 0 degrees this whole week. As I was saying, I sit here in my hotel room and I am so thankful for all that He has given me.

I am very blessed. I pray to you guys, you are as well. :)

Apple Watch Thoughts

Apple just released their new device for preorder today. And, surprise: it's sold out. It took 6 hours to do so. There are so many reviews saying everything and anything. They talk about the screen, they talk about the OS, they talk about the apps...but they are not talking about the most important information. The fact that it can tell time to an amazing degree.

Really, you may overlook this feature, but it's incredibly important. We as a culture rely on time. We don't just meet for lunch, we meet for lunch at 12 noon. We don't just watch World News Tonight, We Watch World News Tonight at 6 pm. We don't just go into work anytime we want, unless you're Tim or someone really cool, we have a set time when we must be there. Since some of us use watches, we naturally rely on them. For the other part of us, we rely on our phones. Why? It is because the time is precise. It's accurate. We never have to worry about it. The fact that there is a watch that is this accurate is pretty awesome.

I travel all over the place. I constantly change time zones and I can tell you it's a pain in the butt to pull the crown out, spin it, match it up and then push it back in. If I'm lucky, the time won't change. Sometimes, though, my finger spins and it causes the hands to move ahead or back by 5 or 10 minutes. So I have to repeat the process, hoping the hands don't move due to my faulty motor skills. Even if I get it right, it could be a minute off or so. All of this could be avoided, though, by having a watch that sets itself. And it's perfectly synchronized with the rest of the world. No worries. If you think one minute isn't that much to worry about, picture this: if you are a big fan of The Walking Dead, try missing the first minute of a new episode. How about the last minute of a new episode. Yeah..I bet it's pretty important now.

Sure the watch isn't round like the Moto360. It may only work with iPhones. It's a watch and nobody wears them anymore. Even Tim Cook said a few years back that there is nothing he could do to make a teenager wear a watch. That's why they are not targeting the teen. They are marketing this thing as a high end watch. People are saying '$350 for a smart watch? pshhhh' It's not just a smart watch. It's a High end time piece. That's how Apple is marketing it and that's what it truly has. No other High end watch does what the Apple Watch does.

For this, I am excited about. I may or may not get this generation. I wish there was a leather band for the sport black model. I wouldn't get anything else because I have such bad luck with watch faces. The sapphire screen would break in a heartbeat for me.

Really though...this this is first and foremost a watch and it it does it brilliantly.

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Fox News

All of these bad reports on Fox News being "too far right" or "too right wing" could be correct. Let's say they are.

Is that really a bad thing? In a world of left leaning CNN or MSNBC, isn't competition a good thing? If you were to look at this with a business mind, having one or a few different options are a good thing. Let's say you want to start a photography company. There's a few in town that are really popular, some most than others, but they all take photos in black and white. You want to start your own company, but with colored photos. The next thing you know, your business is taking off because you offer something different. You offer something not being offered in studios. Naturally, you take business away from the studios with black and white pictures, so your company grows at a much faster pace. Now change the vocabulary in this idea.

You are a tv channel. Other channels offer left leaning news. Fox decides to be more right leaning. The next thing you know, business is taking off and in this case, you become the number one cable news network.

With both stories, it's only natural that the other companies will start to become angry. The reason: you are taking the business away from them. What they say: it's because its all "right wing". My question again is, is that really a bad thing?

If you like the colored photos over the black and white photos, should you be dammed? Should you be dammed for only liking the black and white photos over the colored? I believe that's a fair question.

I, personally, like Fox News. Not only because they can be "right wing" but that they treat me like a human adult. Not a dumb monkey.

And what is "right wing"? Talking about Liberty? About Capitalism? The greatness of America? Honoring the Constitution? The Rule of Law? Bringing respect and dignity throughout the world?

If these are Right Wing, consider me guilty.

Over 500 Views!

Over 500 Page views, 10 different countries, over 20 posts later, all in just under 3 weeks!

Wow!

This is more of a thank you post more than anything. It's been such a success, I cannot thank you more than enough.

These are actual numbers. People like you returning back, day after day, reading my Blog. I want to send a big 'Hello' to my friends all over America! A Hello to my friends in Russia, a hello to my friends in Belgium, a hello to my friends in France, a hello to my friends in Portugal, a hello to my friends Brazil, a hello to my friends in Chile, a hello to my friends in Germany, a hello to my friends in the U.K., and last but not least a hello to my friends in Italy!

Again, Wow! Thank you!

My top posts for the week are on the left side of the screen. The most read 'series' is the Communism In America. I have heard that many of you agree with my view. Those who do not believe, I am not making this up. You can read it for yourself in The Communist Manifesto. It's all right in it, ready to be read. I'll explain why we in America, as well as the countries on this world, why Communism is so scary, if you think it's 'for the people'. Don't be afraid to educate yourself on these issues. If you don't like to read, listen to a free audio book or podcast of the book. They exist and you can listen to it while you work or go about your day.

There really isn't much to talk about tonight. I just want to say thank you. I am so thankful to have you guys reading this.

I have a twitter, it's twitter.com/TheMindOfClint  You can follow me on there to get the latest news and other social aspects of my life!

Thank you again. :)

Clint

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Duluth Minnesota

It's freezing here..I can see the Lake Superior from my hotel room and there are white caps on top. So, it's snowing and there are white caps on the water. That's how you know it's cold.

I'm in my hotel room and it has free wifi. That's a good plus. I love working on my iPhone, but typing all of this out on the mobile app can get pretty tiring and difficult. I do not have an iPad, just a MacBook Pro and my iPhone. It's a 2011 so no super fancy stuff in it. It does, however, have a CD drive so if I want, I can use it for CD's and DVD's if I need it to. I don't use it often, but it does come in handy when I need to use it.

Going back to my hotel room, I have a pretty cool view of the water as I said. I have free wifi. I also have a corner room. I can see right down to the corner of the street down below. I also have a heater in this room. I don't have one in my house, so this is awesome, and I guess you need one for up here.

If you don't know where Duluth Minnesota is, find a map or pull one up on your phone. Go to America (for my international readers) and go to the hand shaped area. It's called Michigan. You see the different lakes there. You have Lake Ontario to the east, Lake Erie to the west of that, slightly north you have Lake Huron. Just west of that lake you have Lake Michigan. Now, look to the most northern lake. That's Lake Superior. Duluth is to the far west corner of the lake. You'll see it's right in the pit of the water. You can't miss it. It's where all of those Duluth Trading Company commercials are from. In fact, I am only .5 miles from the main store. It's pretty neat. I might have to stop in just to say I have been there. Did I mention its cold here?

In my hotel room, I am watching Fox News. I prefer it to CNN or anything similar because they talk to you like an adult. They don't go "baby" on us. Now it's a commercial. I hate commercials.

A guy I listen to, named Mark Levin, has a podcast. I listen to that because there are no commercials at all. If you don't know who he is, he has a doctrine in The Constitution. Not just knowing what's in it, rather knowing how each amendment has been passed. What the framers were debating, what the Founders believed, where their influences came from. He knows so much, I could write a blog post about why you should listen to him...I may just do that.

Mark Levin Show is the name of the show..You need to check him out. You know, I think I'll call it a night. Go listen to his show. It's online on his website, a podcast app, or his own app. You'll love it. I'm also thinking that you'll become a fan like I did about 10 years ago.

Listen to his show, I'll do the same. I'll bundle up, too.

God Bless you guys. Thanks for reading this Blog. I do appreciate it. :)

On The Tour Bus

I'm on the bus and we are heading from Nashville to a place called Duluth Minnesota. It's right on the far western corner of Lake Superior. One of the Great Lakes. I am resting because I believe I have strep throat. My ear was killing me the past few days and It still is, just not as bad. My throat hurts to swallow, as well. I'm wondering, though, how am I supposed to sleep? Should I sleep down on my ear that hurts or should I sleep on the ear that is okay? My reasoning for sleeping on the ear that hurts is, if there is anything in my ear, it could drain out. It hurts, though... So should I sleep on the ear that is okay?

I decided to sleep on the ear that is ok. Half the night, anyways.

I sleep on my stomach. That's the best way in my opinion. There's something about it that brings a sense of peace.

This bus misquote comfortable, by the way. There are 10 bunk beds in here. We have a closet, a bunk for the instruments, one for the bass and a few for extra luggage. We only need four bunks for us.

Living on the bus is pretty awesome. We live out of a suitcase the whole time. No need to worry about losing anything because it is probably someplace close by. If you want to sleep, you can sleep. If you want to read a book, you can read a book. There are tv's on this bus if you ever want to watch a movie or any television show from the satellite. Naturally, too, you can sit on your computer and write out a blog to your international family! That's due to the reason that there is full internet wifi on the bus. It's pretty fast but because we are traveling ad it goes by the cellular network, it could drop out at any moment. That's never any fun. One moment you're watching a video on youtube and the next, you're looking at a spinning circle.

I have unlimited data on my iPhone still, from Verizon. That comes in handy a lot, I might add. I use that data to it's full extent, too. I go through about at gigabyte and a half a day. Yes, a gigabyte and a half. That's over 1,500 megabytes of data a day. I surf the web, watch videos, I read news articles, listen to music, watch the news..I don't know how anybody can use their iPhone without unlimited data. I would feel so controlled. I wouldn't be able to use my phone the way I want to. I like to do more things on it than just text or, more importantly, call people.

That's on my mind as we roll down the road. I might get food here in a bit. I should have a gift card near by. :)

Monday, April 6, 2015

Communism In America: Part 3

Everyday we hear about how the rich are stealing from the poor. We need to tax the rich because a successful economy doesn't work top-to-bottom. This so-called "trickle down economics" is hurting our America. Is it? Why all of this rich hating, anyways? Well, this is in the Communist Manifesto, too. It's called Class Warfare. How is this bad and how does this effect you?

Welcome to Part 3.

The communist believes the Bourgeois is an evil class. Bourgeois meaning capitalist. Citizens of the "free world". Let's say you get hired by McDonald's. Why did they hire you? The reason is they have the money to hire you. They are richer, so they hire you to do work since they have the money. Who hired them? Somebody who makes more money than them. The list goes on and on. This hatred against the rich is complete nonsense since it's the rich who hire the poor. Therefore, because you have a job and you are getting paid, you can go buy stuff, from other people. Your money, in turn, goes to somebody who can, because of the extra money, hire another person so they can work and get paid. This is how a Capitalist or Bourgeois society works. Rich people hire poor people, and they get richer, and they can do more. I don't know about you, but when I have no money, I don't buy anything. Now how does that help the economy?

Well, the communist believes it is its duty to take what you work for and everybody helps one other. You don't get a house that's your own. You can't work at McDonald's unless the government sees you fit there. It tells you where to live because it knows better than you. It knows your passions and dreams better than you. So, why do you need to own anything?

This is the mindset of the Communist: Trickle down economics does not work, but trickle down government does. Placing fundamentals with fundamentals, how does this make sense?

Now you could say that vise versa. Trickle down government works, but trickle down economics doesn't work. How does THAT make sense? It doesn't. The reason: YOU know more about your passions and dreams than the government does. You know where you want to raise a family, if you even want to raise a family. You know where you want to have a house someday.

Now, going back to hating the rich.

We hear this all the time: the rich has too much money so let's tax them more. Okay, well, you can do that, but how much is "more"? How about 70 percent of every dollar you make? Is that "fair"? Well, all of this is in part of the idea of class warfare. The government want's to make a disruption so bad, It has no excuse but to fundamentally change the structure so everybody can be "equal". Ok, well why not a flat tax? Make everybody pay a set amount. That's more fair than you and I paying say, 30 percent as opposed to 70 percent from the "rich", wouldn't you agree? You have to remember though, a government preaching equality isn't about equality at all. It's about control. The communist believes it knows better than you or I. True equality cannot exist because we are all so different. We have individuality. This is something I posted in Part 2. We cannot be equal because we are so different. We can, however, use this individuality to help society grow so great, we grow together. The "poor" now become "middle class" (which is also mentioned in the communist manifesto) because they have been hired by "the rich". The Rich can now hire more people because more people have money to buy stuff. Which increases wages because they can afford more.

Remember: a government preaching "equality" isn't about equality, because it cannot be reach due to our individualism. It's about control.

This is why "trickle down ecnomics" works. Just look at who hired you. I bet they make more money than you do. Thank God for that.

On my mind: 4.6.15

Today has been not a bright, happy day.

My girlfriend and dog left this morning to go back home. I live four-hundred miles away from there. That's 644 kilometers. It's a drive.. So they left this morning because she had to be back to school. The sun hasn't really been out at all. Nothing but rain..We think Nashville is crying because she left. I still need to eat..don't tell her I said that haha  

I have been drinking tea which is something I enjoy doing. And I played banjo a lot today. I got a banjo from our banjo player. He's letting me use it to practice on, since I'll be teaching it here next week, or so. I'm looking forward to do that. It will be nice to have more income coming in..

Tonight we leave for Minnesota. We will be on the bus for about a day or so. It's gonna be a long drive. I'm not sure how far but I do know it will take over 16 hours to get there. It's going to be crazy. It will be fun, though. We will play for 25 minutes a day. Once. That is all. Except for one day out of the five we play. Yeah..that's a tough job ;)    Last time we played was nearly a month ago, though. So much has happened this past month..It's crazy how time flies. It's already April!

I've been looking at the Apple Watch. Man, is that a sexy device. To be honest, I didn't like the square face at first. I wanted a round screen. The Moto360 looked so cool..but now it just looks, for a lack of a better term, old. The Apple Watch looks, sexy. It has curves that, just, flow.. It has a satin black color that I like. I would have gotten the Sport black model anyways because I go through watches like crazy. Only because the glass breaks. Sure, the sapphire won't scratch but it's brittle, meaning it will break easily. The black sport model will do just fine. I am pretty excited about it, but will I get one? Probably not. I'll wait till next year. I plan to keep my iPhone 5 for a while, though. But I plan on getting next years iPhone and Ill get the watch for that one. My 5 is working great, so no sense in getting a newer one anytime soon..

News wise, nothing new, I guess. I haven't been keeping track because I have not been reading the news. I was with my girlfriend all weekend. I loved it..I love her. It sucks we live far apart, but it's made us grow so close. Since day one, there hasn't been a doubt in my mind that she's the one.

It's true what they say about love: when you know, you know.

It's crazy like that. :)

Back! Hello Everybody!

Hey everybody! What a weekend it has been..

If you read my last post, you know that my girlfriend had surprised me with a trip down from up north. She stayed all weekend, for easter and for "our" time. I love that woman.

So, what did we do? She came down April first. That day is a strange holiday where it's known as: April Fools Day. You basically play pranks and jokes on everybody, and they are ok with it! She surprised me 100%. She had me go to buy some flowers and a card for easter and made a scavenger hunt to a dog park where she and our dog were at. Didn't even know it. and the weather was perfect..I still can't believe she made it and surprised me like that..

Day two we went and drove around while going to church for holy week. I am in the praise band, so I had to be there for practice and play during the service. It was pretty awesome :)

Emily started feeling sick, turns out her doctor misdiagnosed her and she had it worse that what she was told. So, we got her medicine and then left to go to a pet store. We bought a few more things for our dog.

We watched Law and Order: SVU on Netflix. We love that show. We fell asleep to it on a few nights. I even played my guitar for her..she likes that. I love that she likes that.

We drove around downtown, had ice cream and saw some sights. Bought some old time soda, went and did my taxes, got a thing pulled out of my ear with tweezers. Emily pulled it out..I was scared but she did it and made me feel a lot better because of it. My ear still hurts but I'm not sure whats up with it..

We then went to another dog park where our dog actually found friends and played with them. Our dog thinks she is a small dog but, she is actually a 60 pound, big dog! She was so scared of the bigger dogs, but made friends with the little chihuahua and miniatures..she even chased one in a circle because it was tied to a leash and running away from our dog..it was hilarious..

It was so nice to see her.. It won't be till June when we see each other again..I love that woman.

I will marry her..soon. I cannot wait for that day.