Who said there is no free lunch

I love free and today, Wednesday April 29th, participating Domino's Pizza locations will give you a free Bread Bowl pasta lunch today from 11 AM to 2 PM. Not sure why but it is only available for carry out (I guess they don't want you eating free food in front of paying customers.) Follow this link to find a Domino's Pizza near you and enjoy a free Lunch today.

Preventing Swine Flu

My daughter Cianna loves pigs. She has pig pajamas, stuffed toys, slippers and even a pig calendar. But she was rather worried when she heard about Swine Flu. I told her not to worry, she couldn't get sick just from the pig items she has. And I think the truth is that we don't need to get scared but to just follow good hygiene to help prevent getting sick. The cool thing is that these guidelines are pretty universal, not just to help prevent the swine flu from spreading.

1. if you are sick, stay home from school and work.

2. wash your hands often with soap and warm water.

3. avoid contact with people who are sick

4. avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.

5. If you are experiencing severe symptoms include cough, fever, fatigue, sore throat, chills, body aches, diarrhea and vomiting, contact your doctor.

Here is a great link to the Centers for Disease Control about the current Swine Flu Concern.

Apparently there is also a rumor about catching swine flu by eating pork. According to reports, you can not catch swine flu from properly prepared pork, cooked to a temperature of $160 F internally.

Now, I wouldn't go and kiss a pig today but if we follow these good hygiene and proper cooking guidelines, we should do our best at not getting or spreading the swine flu or any other type of flu illness.

It all starts today!!!

Today is the start of drivers education for my son Matthew. As a parent, this is a day that gets you both excited and fearful. At 16, he will probably be one of the oldest in the class. He just wasn't that interested in learning to drive until he turned 16. I think we are glad about that. The more mature a kids is, the more likely they will make wise decsions in driving.

I am looking forward to the day I don't have to drive him everywhere he has to be. Dad's taxi service will still have 2 more kids to take where they need to be but to have one more family member able to drive will help a lot.

I am not looking forward to higher insurance rates. I remember my parents and their talks about how expensive their insurance was when they had two teen boys on their policy. I still have to go talk to our insurance agent and get a quote. I probably will make sure I take someone with me to catch me as I faint.

So if you see our car driving very slow and erratic, please be patient and know that if you have younger kids it will be your turn soon enough. Please pray for us.

I ate a brussel spout... and I liked it!

I have to admit that I have never been a fan of brussel sprouts. I am not sure why I don't like them, but it probably stems from eating some overcooked, soggy brussel sprouts at some point in my life. Or maybe it's the constant unofficial campaign that kids should hate brussel sprouts.

Well, last night my lovely wife Cindy fixed brussel sprouts for us for dinner. My wife is a great cook, but I wasn't sure she could help brussel sprouts. But to my suprise they were great. I am not sure how she cooked them but they were crisp and tasty. They actually tasted a bit like broccoli. And the shock of all shocks was that my kids liked them too.

So if you are looking to try something new for dinner tonight, you might just try brussel sprouts!! (I can't believe I am saying this). Just tell the kids they're mini cabbages.

Free song by Sarah Reeves

As she celebrates the debut of her CD Sweet Sweet Sound this week, Sarah Reeves is offering a free download of her song Come Save on I-Tunes. If you have I-Tunes on your computer you can follow this link to get the I-Tunes Christian Discovery Tune of the week. If you don't have I-Tunes, it is available for free download here. (I love free). The song will only work on I-Tunes and Apple I-pods.

The picture seen 'round the world

Last night I had the privelege of attending the New Life Pregnancy Resource Center of Gaylord's annual fundraising banquet. I have always been pro-life and was blessed to learn more about this great ministry. But I was blown away by the speaker. Most of us have never heard of Michael Clancy. He is a photo journalist who is more comfortable behind the camera than infront of a microphone. Michael was the one who took the now famous pictures of a baby reaching out of the womb during surgery and grabbing the surgeons hand. I had seen the picture before but the story behind it and Michael's fight to expose the truth of it is amazing. Because of the graphic nature of the photos, I have elected not to post them on my blog but you can see these amazing pictures and read more of Michael's story at his website MichaelClancy.com. It would be worth your time to read this amazing story.

Get To Know Sarah Reeves

Sarah Reeves is a new artist to Northern Christian Radio. Check out the widget below to find out more and if you have a blog, add it. Also, all this week you can win the debut CD from Sarah Reeves with Question Impossible at at 7:40 AM and on the Weekly Survey and Weekly E-letter.

Social Networking

I have been slow to get into the whole "social networking" scene but I have tried to jump in with both feet this year. It actually started with my son Matt wanting to connect with his friend on Facebook. So as good parents, we told him if he was going to be on Facebook, so would we. I also recently found out about Twitter, which is a online and cell phone based social network. The interesting thing about Twitter is that you can only post 140 characters at a time inlcuding spaces and periods. I have found many current friends, caught up with old friends and even made some new friends on both of these sites. And many Christian artists and ministries are on Facebook and Twitter allowing you can keep up with what they are doing and even sharing your comments.

Many people stay away from "social networks" because of all the news of stalkers and just plain junk on the sites. I will admit there are times that the ads on the sites are not very savory but you can actually change most of the ads once they come up. Both of these services are FREE to users so we have to realize that they have to make money through advertisers to pay for the techonology.

So take that first step and join myself and most of the staff of Northern Christian Radio. In fact, just today we started a group page for Northern Christian Radio on Facebook. Follow the links below for the social networking sites we use.

Northern Christian Radio on Facebook
The Rock on Facebook

If you are on Twitter look for Morningpat to follow me there.

Free Music from QTrax

Ok, so it's not free but advertising supported music(that still means free to you and me). This is a site that, once you download their program, allows you to download music for free. It does not work on Apple computers or I-Pods, but if you have a Windows based computer or an MP3 player(other than and I-Pod) this is the site for you. I will warn you that the site has all kinds of music but there is a section for Christian and Gospel music that has a lot of great music, both new and old. Check it out at music.qtrax.com

Find Out More about Compassionart

We are giving away the Compassionart CD all this week on Question Impossible at 7:40 AM. Listen to win Compassionart all this week and click here to find out more about the artists involved and the mission of Compassionart.

You can also win this CD by filling out the Weekly Survey at NCRadio.org

Review of Monsters Vs. Aliens

Went to see Monsters vs. Aliens today at the matinee while my kids are on spring break. Pretty full theater but mostly kids (including the one that smacked me up side the head a few times, no harm done.)

This is an action packed film that had a few of the younger kids scared. (Heard a few kids say "mommy can we go home" but not from my kids.) Monsters vs Aliens is about Monsters here on earth, all mutants from science gone bad, that are kept away by the government but are called upon to fight off invading aliens. I won't give the story away but I will say there is a lot of cartoon violence and may funny parts. There is some "mature" humor including some teens "parking" that was really not needed.

Overall a great story about loving others for who they are and not how they look and sticking together with the team. I would recommend this movie, except for kids who get scared easily at the movies. http://www.monstersvsaliens.com/

You know your feeling old when..

I love to run. In fact my wife Cindy and I met while running cross country in high school (yes we are high school sweethearts). I have run off and on since I graduated from High school 20 years ago (gulp) and my youngest son Josh, who is 13, has taken up running cross country and track at school. He is on spring break right now so we decided to go run together. I really thought I could still run O.K. In fact, we ran about 2 miles on a snow packed trail and I actually was setting the pace. But when we hit the last mile that was dry pavement, Josh smoked me. I mean, I was running as fast as I could with out passing out and he just took off. And he wasn't sweating when he was done.

I did tell him that when you get to be my age, 37, you aspire to finish, not win. Although humbling, it is great to see my son grow and beat me at something I have loved all my life.

My first Blog

I have been thinking about doing this for a long time but have taking my first step on Blogging. I look forward to sharing beyond what you hear on the radio each day.