I have taken a planned hiatus from writing for a while but with everything that is going on in the world I can only be quiet for so long.  I am in the process of finishing my Masters Degree and with my political life winding I am finding more hours in my life!  I will be focusing on 4 key areas moving forward in my writing for the 3 of you who may actually read and care what I have to say. Those areas will be Christianity, Leadership, Politics and Education with a little Personal humor just to mix things up. Please get involved and keep me on my toes with comments and questions! Here are a few of the topics that will be dropping soon:

• The Myth of Public Education
• Georgia Right to Life….Got it WRONG
• House District 14 Comments
• Open letter to School Board Candidates
• Stand up….It’s time to get to work!

I am really looking forward to re-engaging in the topics of the day and I hope that you will begin to take the journey with me.  It will be the unvarnished truth….Well at least from my perspective anyway!

Tweet This Post

This morning I announced on WBHF 1450am that I would not be seeking another term on the Bartow County school board.  I am making this announcement now to give those interested in succeeding me plenty of time to prayerfully consider stepping into public service.  I began my political journey volunteering for former Congressman Bob Barr as part of his campaign in 1994.  That year we saw a conservative revolution sweep Washington, D.C.  The climate was very much like the one we see captivating this country right now. Later, I would have the opportunity to intern for Congressman Barr and work with Catherine Brock who really taught me what legislative and constituent service was all about.

After completing college, I served in various leadership positions within the Bartow County Republican party and had a great experience running for the state legislature in 2002. Through all of these roles my belief has not wavered that government should be limited and accountable to the people.

I was first elected to the school board in 2004 to fill the unexpired term of Paul Bennett. I was later elected to a full four year term in 2006.  I am proudest of the strides that this system has made in our graduation rate during my time on the board. Since 2004 we have seen about a 20% improvement in moving our students towards graduation.  During my time on the board we have never raised the milage rate and have done our best to lower it every year that we could. The current rate dates back to the mid-1990′s. We built the best fund balance that this county has ever had and we have been using it to deal with this crisis (with minimal impact to employees to date). We also have the best bond rating that this school system has ever been able to achieve due to fiscally sound decisions.  I am also very proud that I have stayed true to my convictions. Even when I had to stand alone or vote on something I knew would be unpopular I always did what I thought was right.

Public service no matter what form it takes should be about being part of something larger than yourself. I begin this final chapter in my school board service knowing that I have made a difference. I am also proud that I can say that I never used this position to benefit me or my family personally. For me, this has been and will continue to be about helping our children reach their full God given potential and purpose.

I would like to thank my wife Stephanie for her patience and love. The wife of an elected official is not always an ideal position. Stephanie you always handled my political life with grace and class. I love you very much! Thank you for allowing me to be away and serve for all of these years.

I am so excited about being able to spend more time with my 3 wonderful children Sydney, Austin & Anniston.  They have always been my biggest fans and now I have more time to be theirs for a while.

Too often we look to our elected officials for answers to problems that they are incapable of giving. I know that many people are hurting right now and have serious questions about the future.  I hope you find some comfort in knowing that Jesus Christ has a plan for your life. God sent him so that you could have a bright future free from the guilt that past sin often consumes in our life.  If you need a church home to learn more about Jesus please stop by Oak Leaf Church and let us minister to you!

This bible verse has been a guiding force in my life for years and I hope you find strength and peace in it too.

Proverbs 16:9

In his heart a man plans his course,
but the LORD determines his steps.

Tweet This Post

If you follow me on twitter or facebook you have probably have heard me singing the praises of two recent iPhone apps that I really love.  As a sales person I spend a lot of time in my car and I must give Neal Boortz credit for letting me know that theses apps were out there.

Dragon Dictation is a great way to safely send out a text message , post to twitter, facebook or respond to an email simply by using your voice. I have found that it really gets it right most of the time and if there is an error you can easily go back and manually correct it.

Cardstar is an application that lets you enter in all of the information of those store loyalty cards and this program creates the bar-code that needs to be scanned at the retailer, gym or other organization. It also allows for travel, shipping and other customer numbers to be stored in one location.  No more key chain cards! Here is an example of what it looks like:

Tweet This Post

So Stephanie and I got a new Kindle for Christmas and we have both loved this thing.  I really think it makes reading easier and I love the screen resolution.  The whisper sync features to iPhone or PC is amazing. It syncs with your current spot in the Kindle and allows you to pick right up on your iPhone or PC. The download speed from the Kindle store is fast and you have access to newspapers, magazines and blogs!  The new update on the Kindle also allows you to pull .pdf files into the Kindle for reading as well. The text size cannot be changes so it does come off small but it could be useful for review documents on a plane trip, etc… I would defiantly recommend it to readers out there!

By the way I ordered Talent is Never Enough for my first book and my lovely wife chose Breaking Dawn a Twilight series book! Just Sayin………

Tweet This Post

2009 is over and it was an amazing year for many reasons. It was our first full year with our third child Anniston and she has made such an amazing addition to our family.  I set some goals last year and I am happy to report that I accomplished many of them. I do have some areas to work on and those will become my goals for 2010. Here they are:

2010 Goals

• Lose 10 pounds ( I lost the 30 from last year but found a few back)
• Read through the whole Bible (Join Me)
• Continue monthly dates with my wife!
• Finish my Master’s degree in August
• Continue funding the kids 529 plans
• More consistent quiet times
• Monthly excursions with the kids
• Work out at least 3 times per week
• Blog at least 3 times per week

Long Term Goals

• See my other 2 children saved
• 50 year marriage
• Almost debt free but our home…..finish and attack our house debt!
• Retire from my “job” at 55
• Pray about continuing my education past a Master’s degree
• Pray about my political future

Tweet This Post

Tweet This Post

Thought I would see how my new wordpress app works and I have to say that I really like it! Here are a couple of more applications I really like:

Evernote: I have been increasing my use of this app lately and I am finding more and more to do with it.

DropBox: I really love this app and it been great for work, school and personal use. I have access to my files from multiple devices and it makes my life much easier!

These are just a couple of my favorite tools!

More to come….

Tweet This Post

Where have I been….What have I been up to?

I have been pretty busy lately with a number of activities for both me and the kids. Austin is in Cub Scouts and Choi Kwan Doi. Sydney just finished up with soccer and she is still in chorus, cheerleading and the Science Olympiad.  Anniston is getting really big and Stephanie is as busy as ever.  Here are a few other things getting my attention lately:

1. Liberty University- 4 classes left in my Masters in Executive Leadership program.  Looking to finish next summer and walk in May!
2. Abbott- Its near the end of the year so that always means we are very busy at work.  I enjoy what I am doing so that makes the hard work worth it.
3. School Board- Lots of issues going on right now with the school system. We are trying to manage the budget and understand what changes may come next semester.  The state is being very slow to let us know what we are going to be facing.
4. Oak Leaf Church- Trying to get more involved with our online presence! We have some great ideas coming and I can’t wait!
5. Rental Property- We finally got our rental house a new tenant. I really appreciate the help from Carolyn at Capital Property Management.  I would recommend them if you need to have someone market your rental property.

Tweet This Post