Mayor Helene Schneider

My first and last time that I ever was involved in a Presidential election was in 1972.  My friend John Shelk was the president of the young republicans and convinced me to help him reelect Richard M. Nixon.  Sometimes I can be quite delusional and I believed that we both worked in tandem and convinced the rest of our school, our state and then our country to reelect President Nixon.  When he resigned in 1974, his shame became my shame.  Still to this day, I believe he was a great president.  He only made one major mistake.  He lied.  I told myself that I would never be involved in national politics again.

However, I have met one of the most amazing individuals in politics today.  Her name is Mayor Helene Schneider.  She is the real deal.  She is open, honest and authentic.  Having become discouraged, I did not believe that integrity existed in government politics.  I could never have been more wrong.  Please decide for yourself.  I have asked her for her permission to help her with her upcoming bid for Congress.  Helene Schneider, the mayor of Santa Barbara is going to run for congress in the 24th district of California.  She will have big shoes to fill as Congresswoman Lois Capps is retiring after 18 incredible years.

Helene Schneider for Congress

129 Favorite Places to go when visiting Santa Barbara

Of a list of 129 things to do in Santa Barbara, the second most popular attraction is Lotus Land.
The fourth is the Santa Barbara zoo.  I was at the zoo this past Sunday and Monday.
Looking forward to going to Lotus Land someday!

Donald Trump or Mickey Mouse?

My friend Chris told me that with every presidential election, the American voters
write in a minimum of 50,000 votes for the famous Disney character. This leads me to the
question, who will receive more votes - Donald Trump or Mickey Mouse?

Let's do an experiment - please vote for one of these two candidates in the comment section.

FORGIVEN

There is a man by the name of Randy Sparks.  He is one of the best friends I have
ever had.  One of the bad things about being bipolar is that those of us with this
mental illness can have major mood swings.  Unfortunately, I was really mad at
Randy and told him that I was unable to talk to him anymore. Please never call me.
That was over four years ago.

Thank God for my cousin, Larry Hooker.  We spent this past weekend together.
That is , "Another story, for another day".  Bottom line, he convinced me to not
live my life through fear but to live my life with love and gratitude.  It is a NO brainer.
However, it was nothing short of a miracle.  Somehow Larry found a way to my
wounded heart.

I called Randy and apologized.  Easier to do on voicemail than in person.
This is the text that I received from Randy.

"Hello my long lost friend!  Its Randy.  I was so glad to get your message.
Of course you are forgiven and there's no need to rekindle our friendship -
you've never not been my friend!  We just need to catch up.  I'm recuperating
from some surgery to fix torn cartilage so pretty tired in the evenings but
I'll call you this weekend.  Aug 31, 7:50pm"

My response:

Fantastic!  I have missed you so much.  Looking forward to catching up.
If you want to recoop in sunny California, feel free to fly to Santa Barbara.
I live six blocks from the ocean.  You can stay at my place!  Thanks for
forgiving me.  Aug 31, 8:00 pm

Randy and I became friends in 1997 when we became prayer partners for
my first short term mission trip in the Dominican Republic.

Is the Glass Half Full or Half Empty

I have made a cognitive decision to no longer be focused on whether
the glass is half full or half empty.  From now on, I am going to be
thankful that I just have a glass!

THE WE NOBODY KNOWS

THE

WE

NOBODY 

KNOWS

a novel

based on a true story

by

John Thomas

How Peculiar

One of my favorite past times is to watch my six water worlds that I have created.  The funny thing is that the water that I use from the faucet must be treated before I pour it into the tank.  If I do not treat the water, within hours my fish will die.  Keep in mind I have spring water, fresh water and salt water tanks and this rule apply to all.

My new obsession is house plants.  My home is filled with plants.  If you did not know better, you might mistake my place as a funeral parlor.  However, like my fish, the water I use must be treated before I water my garden.  If I do not treat the water, the plants will shrivel up and die.

However, the doctors tell me that I am supposed to drink eight glasses of this water a day.

How Peculiar!