And it is further true amongst all those who claim leadership by virtue of divine authority we may apply this test with authority - that the man who stands for humanity, first, last and all the time, against all vested interest, religious and economic, is the man who stands as Jesus stood.
My lil' buddy, Warren, will arrive tomorrow night to spend his spring break with me and Gracie in Orange County! I can't wait to see him. Even though he and I talk almost everyday, I miss so much that it often physically hurts.
After making the move to California with me last fall, Warren decided he really wanted to spend the next semester at his old school with all his friends. So, we agreed to let him stay with Nanny & Paw Paw (my parents) for the semester to see how it would work out. We decided it wouldn't much different than if he were to decide to go to Boarding School.
Back home, we lived right next door to my parents and we went back and forth between the two houses as if they were one home. Because I often worked long hours, he practically lived with them already. Because of this, he grew very close to his grandparents and his Nanny pretty much waits on him hand and foot, as she does for everyone. Heck, I'd still live with her too if I could!
Warren's Bonus Dad, Steve, gave him an unicycle for Christmas and he regales us all each night with updates of the latest trick he's taught himself on his wheel with a seat and pedals. He's looking into the idea of going to Clown School during an upcoming summer, which I think would be the coolest thing in the world. Warning to Parents: This is what you get when you tell your kids to "follow your bliss"! lol!
Warren's had a great semester back in Kentucky as Gracie and I have been non-stop busy here in Southern California. It will be so wonderful to all be together for a few days. Gracie leaves Friday to spend her Spring Break with her mom in Hawaii giving Warren and I a couple of days just to ourselves, which will be so nice that I tear up thinking about it.
My and Nicole's wedding planning kicked into full gear this weekend as we are at 83 days to go and counting until we tie the knot back in Kentucky on June 21st. (All tBloggers are invited!) My biggest decision so far has been to choose the photographer.
After the wedding, Warren and Gracie will spend the summer on the lake with their mom and her family while Niki and I get established as newlyweds in California.
These are demanding and sometimes difficult times, but, they are also very special and unique times as well. Even apart, we've all continued to be very close. Warren and Gracie are simply better kids than I could ever deserve and both continue to be mature beyond their years, moral beyond their examples and loving beyond measure.
Nicole's birthday and my sister's birthday were both today, so Happy Birthday to two of the most awesome women on the planet!
I noticed the act of Googling "Kurt Maddox" has spiked lately as evidenced from the number of visits to this blog coming from just such a Google search. This is atypical because this blog is more often visited as a result of a "Gracie Maddox" search. Yes, at age 12 my daughter already enjoys Google dominance over her equally ambitious but less regarded father! lol!
So, I did what any red-blooded Web 2.0 American would do and I took a look at the Google search results to see what inquiring minds might learn from such an endeavor. Happily, most of the top search results are, in fact, referencing this humble blogger. This has been the case since the very beginning of the search engine phenomenon so I wouldn't have expected any other Kurt Maddox to usurp my commanding early search engine result prowess.
Since I hadn't Googled myself in awhile, I took a little stroll through my search results. Such activities are sort of like turning the pages of a scrap book for we members of the self-anointed Digerati. I long ago accepted the reality that you can't completely control your digital slim trail if you're an active blogger, social networker and commenter to various digital media. So, it is mostly fun to go back and read the comments that are the most highly indexed results.
I wrote a response to a Fast Company post that is always right up there in the top results right after Hurricane Katrina. I'm proud of that comment so I'm not displeased to see it in my top 10 results. I was a bit disappointed to see that the link to the Katherine Q. Seelye article originally published in the New York Times has slipped to the second page. So, I demand that everyone reading this blog IMMEDIATELY Google "Kurt Maddox", locate the link to the New York Times article "Wall Street Journal Unveils a Saturday Edition", which quotes moi concerning my opinion at the time of having the stock market invade my weekends in the form of a "Saturday Edition".
Once you've found the article, click it. Then, go back to the search page and click it again. Please repeat this action multiple times to help me get this link back on the first page of search results! Ha! Ha!
Seriously, this could be a great experiment in the power of tBlog to move a Google search ranking! Isn't that a great Tom Sawyer-esque idea?
...and if you're really not succumbing to my maniacal mind control techniques, here's the actual quote:
Some objected to the concept of a business paper on Saturday. "The Wall Street Journal works precisely because we DON'T have to read it on the weekend," wrote Kurt Maddox, 39, a former telecommunications executive who lives in Centertown, Ky. "If we are going to read the Journal on Saturday, then we might as well go into the office for a while, too."
The very first new post-strike episode of the hit sitcom "Two and a Half Men" will air this coming Monday night, March 17th, at 9 PM EST/PST. Gracie makes a small non-speaking but prominent guest starring appearance as "Lily". You'll want to pay close attention to the "Pizza Parlor" scene.
Gracie had a blast taping the episode at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, CA and really enjoyed working with the fine actors, writers, producers, directors and crew that make "Two and a Half Men" one of the most successful television shows in history.
Followers of this blog know that sometime ago I made a very small loan to a woman through an organization called "Kiva" (www.kiva.org). Kiva is a provider of micro-loans directly to individual entrepreneurs in the developing world. At the time I initiated this small loan, I recall getting several skeptical comments to a post I made about my actions at the time. So, I'm ecstatic to get to report that the loan has been repaid in full by Ms. Tersa Macaza Chachuiaio. Tersa used the funds to purchase a new sewing machine for her local neighborhood sewing business.
Tersa with her new sewing machine and child
After reading the email I just received from Kiva below, please consider making your own $25 loan so that you can participate in this innovative and important support of real people doing real jobs in real places. The fun part is getting to track a loan's funding and then track the progress of the loan recipient. Once the loan is repaid -- and Kiva's repayment rates are better than a bank's repayment rates -- you get to choose another recipient and enjoy the process again and again if you'd like.
To choose a loan to help fund, go to
After reading the email I just received from Kiva below, please consider making your own $25 loan so that you can participate in this innovative and important support of real people doing real jobs in real places. The fun part is getting to track a loan's funding and then track the progress of the loan recipient. Once the loan is repaid -- and Kiva's repayment rates are better than a bank's repayment rates -- you get to choose another recipient and enjoy the process again and again if you'd like.www.kiva.org !
Here's the email from Kiva:
Dear Kurt Maddox,
We are very pleased to notify you that the business you have loaned to, run by Tersa Macaza Chachuiaio, has repaid the full amount of this loan $400.00. The payment was collected and deposited by FDM (Fundo De Desenvolvimento Mulher).
The funds from this repayment will be deposited in your Kiva account as "Available Kiva Credit" in the next 2 to 3 days. At that time, you can re-lend these funds to a new entrepreneur, withdraw them into a PayPal account or you can donate them to Kiva's operational expenses. For further instructions regarding any of these processes, please visit our help center: http://www.kiva.org/about/help" title="http://www.kiva.org/about/help" target="_blank"http://www.kiva.org/about/hel....
My lil' buddy, Warren, will arrive tomorrow night to spend his spring break with me and Gracie in Orange County! I can't wait to see him. Even though he and I talk almost everyday, I miss so much that it often physically hurts.
Warren's Bonus Dad, Steve, gave him an unicycle for Christmas and he regales us all each night with updates of the latest trick he's taught himself on his wheel with a seat and pedals. He's looking into the idea of going to Clown School during an upcoming summer, which I think would be the coolest thing in the world. Warning to Parents: This is what you get when you tell your kids to "follow your bliss"! lol!
My and Nicole's wedding planning kicked into full gear this weekend as we are at 83 days to go and counting until we tie the knot back in Kentucky on June 21st. (All tBloggers are invited!) My biggest decision so far has been to choose the photographer.
inued to be very close. Warren and Gracie are simply better kids than I could ever deserve and both continue to be mature beyond their years, moral beyond their examples and loving beyond measure.
The very first new post-strike episode of the hit sitcom "Two and a Half Men" will air this coming Monday night, March 17th, at 9 PM EST/PST. Gracie makes a small non-speaking but prominent guest starring appearance as "Lily". You'll want to pay close attention to the "Pizza Parlor" scene.