This page is for the sole purpose of letting all of you read the stuff that I write, or the stuff that I say, or whatever, if you wouldn't normally have a chance to do so otherwise. Even if you would, and you just want to hear it again... Here it is anyway.

I'm going to put up my Manliness article first.

Manliness charactized by more than rough exterior

There’s something to be said for a guy who carries around knives that can shave the electrons off of an atom.
Usually, that something is “deranged” or “potentially hazardous” or “doesn’t play well with others” or something along those lines… But anyway, you can still say something.
Whatever you choose to say, the something I choose to say about Crocodile Dundee over there is that he’s manly.
There’s just something about a guy who has hot sauce in every room of his house. I’m not making this one up. This is my house. If you’re ever in Bon Aqua, TN, come on down and take the tour. I kid you not; we are a cayenne-friendly family.
What is it about giving yourself ulcers and burning four layers of taste buds off of your tongue that just screams “I’ve got so much testosterone I don’t know what to do with it!”? I don’t know, but I can sure tell you that hot sauce really does go on everything except dessert and cereal.
(However, Kellogg’s and the McIlhenny Company are teaming up next spring to bring us a new “Tabascoberry” Froot Loop, and, depending on market testing, “Jalapeno Happiness”. Not to be outdone, Post Cereal Company is introducing its own line of “‘One Drop Does It’ Louisiana Hot Sauce Pebbles”, with a massive promotional campaign involving the Flintstones and a volcano.)
So what constitutes “manliness”? Where exactly is that oh-so-elusive line between “manly” and “really stupid”? What do you have to do to be able to call Mexican bull fighters sissies just because of their flashy clothes?
If you call the pepperoncini from Pizza Pro “breath mints”, then you, my friend, are manly. If your favorite phrase in the English language is “all you can eat”, and the only French word you know is “buffet”, then you’ve got manliness oozing from every pore. If you can walk off a gunshot wound, without crying, you’re well on your way to standing tall and proud among the ranks of Mandom’s Hall of Fame.
If you’ve ever fantasized killing a deer with your bare hands… If your idea of fishing is swimming with a buck knife in your teeth… If you want your epitaph to list every animal you’ve ever killed…
If you often fantasize more heroic ways to die… If you find inner peace by aligning the bubble on a level… If you plan on naming your firstborn child after a power tool… If your idea of camping is three months in the wilderness with a tarp and a packet of salt… If most of your communication is in grunts and gestures… You just might have what it takes to brace yourself like a man.
But on a deeper level, those of us who have been given the charge of being God’s Men have to live up to a higher level of manliness. We are called to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is our duty within a family to always make sure that Momma and her children have food to eat, clothes to wear, and a bed to sleep in. Protect all women and children, regardless of any harm that may befall you. Be kind to strangers. Don’t be a jerk. Do what you can in each day to make somebody else’s life a little bit better. Commit a random act of niceness. Pray. Live your life as a worshipful sacrifice to God. Make God the single most important aspect of your life. Then, and only then, will you be able to gird yourself as a man and answer the questions of the Most Holy Lord God of Heaven and Earth.
…and thank God every day that all it took was a rib to make our better halves…