The Virginian

James Drury is 'The Virginian'.  This tv show ran from 1963 to 1977.  



This is one of my family's favorite shows.  We watch at least one or two episodes every evening on Netflicks...!  Elijah really likes Westerns.  That suits me just fine.  We love watching television from the 50's and 60's....  It's nice to watch shows that are 'clean' and have morals. 

Today is a 'rain day'.  It is actually the first day this year where it has rained pretty much all day.  We are having a 'Virginian' marathon today...!

NBA LOCKOUT... Is anyone even noticing...?

I loved basketball when I was a child.  I knew as a 5'5" white kid I would never make it big in the sport but I enjoyed playing with my friends, and even after a very mean junior high basketball coach made it totally not fun and I gravitated towards tennis, I still always enjoyed watching the NBA on television.

I was a great Houston Rockets fan growing up.  I also loved Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics teams of the 80's and 90's.  When the rockets won their world championships in the mid 1990's I could not have been more pleased...!

But I haven't watched an NBA game in years.  I became disgusted with the poor sportsmanship, greed, OK, yes... and to a lesser extent -the tattoos.  So, I have boycotted NBA Basketball since the close of the 20th century and I have not looked back.  And you know what?  I have had a good life with no regrets.

Please don't get me wrong, I can definitely appreciate when someone achieves excellence in their sport.  But some of the top players make 20+ million dollars a season.  To me, that is just absurd.  The average salary of an NBA player is 6 million dollars.   And things are so bad, they think they are being taken advantage of by the owners so they are refusing to play until they owners share more revenue with them...?   Sorry, no sympathy in this corner.

And just to be fair: I think the top professional tennis players are paid way too much, too...!  And so are other professional athletes salaries.  And while I am on the 'bandwagon', I think that other (more important) jobs like SCHOOL TEACHERS are way underpaid.  I believe the average teacher's salary should be MUCH higher considering what is at stake here...!

Let's look at it from this perspective:  Which people group has a greater impact on our children and the future of society and our world:  school teachers, or NBA players...?

Ladies and Gentlemen:  I rest my case.

So no tears are being shed by me for the NBA revenue squabbles.  I hope more people will become disgusted by the avarice (greed) of the world and turn to the ONE SOURCE of true satisfaction:  A personal relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ...!

The Power of the Tummy

This photo was taken March 9, 2009.  I found it while browsing an old photo album.  It reminded me that Elijah and I used to go fishing a lot.   It was very easy to fish at Columbia Lakes back when we first moved there.But over the years the owners have not taken care of the lakes and lagoons and now it is impossible to fish because of all the overgrown vegetation.

In this photo we were fishing at Shy pond in Lake Jackson on a Saturday afternoon after I had completed my lessons.  I had just laid down for a second to rest my eyes and was fast asleep.    Elijah crawled up on my tummy wearing my hat when Monica snapped the picture above.

But my tummy has 'special' powers and it wasn't long before Elijah was unconscious as well.  We did not catch any fish that day but we did have a very good father ~ son time that I will not forget.

Seeing that photo makes me want to plan another fishing trip again, soon...!

The Rebelution: Life Changes for Coach Sam



Coach Sam and Elijah at The Bayou Club

 I have joined a group of people who are rebelling against low expectations...!  I heartily reccommend the book: 'Do Hard Things' by Alex and Brett Harris.   It is an amazing, life changing book.  I am going to begin ordering copies of this book and make it mandatory reading for all my students...!

Please check out Alex and Brett Harris's website:  http://www.therebelution.com/about/rebelution.htm



One of the 'Hard Things' I have done was get serious with my weight loss regimen.  The photo was above was taken back in 2009.   I have since then lost close to 50 lbs...  More on that journey soon...!   

Another 'Hard Thing' I have done is to get back into blogging.  Blogging used to be one of my main focuses before I contracted an 'addiction' to facebook.   Although I am not giving up facebook, I am greatly limiting my time on FB and trying to use it more as a 'tool' to witness to others about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.   Friends, I sure could use some prayer in this endeavor...!

Going forward I will try to update this page at least once a week...  Blessings to all...!

~Coach Sam