Category Archives: Uncategorized

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right. You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click theContinue reading “Introduce Yourself (Example Post)”

In 2001, I went to work for the FAA in Oklahoma City.  It was my first permanent job as a programmer.  How I got the job is a little morbid. I was working for an insurance company on a one year contract.  When I finished the project, one of my contract competitors pointed me toContinue reading “Tractor Beam Server or Member of the Team”

In Negative One Dollar, I described the events which precipitated my move from teaching to software engineering.  I’d like to tell the story of the beginnings of my career.  It’s a success story, and it is not my intention to brag. I could easily write 10k on this time of my life.  With a littleContinue reading “Y2K Boot Camp”

I attended college for vocal music education in the early 90s.  In a voice degree, one of the most important figures, if not the most, is your voice teacher.  This is one of the few professors you will see every week for your entire college life. Learning to sing often requires a rather close relationshipContinue reading “Kicked Out”

In the past, I have struggled with clapping for musicians in church.  First off, why should I even care? I imagine it’s the last thing on anyone’s mind today.  It comes down to my deeply held belief that music in church is not a show.  It is simply a form of worship.  When we goContinue reading “The Clapping Problem”

#mywifesaysimcomplicated This is one of those posts where I want to have understood a problem I’m having by the time I’m done writing it. Part One:  What I THINK the Problem Is When I was a kid, I was taught to say thank you if someone said something nice to me.  To my recollection, IContinue reading “My Thank You Problem”

I have a group of friends from Bangladesh, and they love to party pretty hard.  I don’t see them much anymore.  I used to attend all of their crazy parties.  And I always wanted to leave earlier than they wanted me to.  At Bengali parties, the food isn’t served until after 10 and with thisContinue reading “Mouthful”

I’ve written about my struggles with Bipolar Affective Disorder on this blog before, but I know some of you are new readers.  It showed up in the two years before 2011 in rather dramatic ways that I don’t care to relive with you.  Needless to say, it disrupted my life.  It disrupted my family’s life.Continue reading “A Bipolar Balancing Act”

In Journey to Norman, I described my family’s big move to Norman, Oklahoma.  As I was writing it, it occurred to me that that transition from Lonoke to Norman, from small town to big town, was especially formative for me.  Before I tell you about this transition I’d like to say why I even writeContinue reading “Finding a Place”

We lived in Lonoke, Arkansas from the time I was four-years-old to the time I was eleven.  Our journey to Norman, Oklahoma in 1984 began many days before our move;  the day when my father gathered us into the front living room of our house on Center Street.  I don’t remember exactly what he said,Continue reading “Journey to Norman”

It’s important to know your audience.  This is a story that I have told to teachers several times and it never comes off well.  I’ve finally learned over the years not to tell it at all at my wife’s teacher parties.  I think the reason why is because it is a discouraging story and relevantContinue reading “Negative One Dollar”

In third grade, I developed a little bit of a violent streak.  I popped two people in the eye at recess:  my best friend and the school bully.  Larry, my friend, could be a little annoying and I blew up at him on the playground one day.  I knock him to the ground and IContinue reading “Third Grade Bully”

On the way home from work yesterday, I decided to make beef stroganoff out of some sirloin steak I bought a week previous.  The closer I got to home, the more worried I became about whether the meat was still good.  I nearly called Jennifer to check for me as I drove, but I decidedContinue reading “Next stop Halloweentown”

On July 30th, 1994 I married Jennifer Wilson and we became the Wilson-Burnses.  When we were engaged I asked her if she wanted to take my name but I knew even before she answered that that just wasn’t us, so we decided to take each other’s names instead.  We wanted to communicate to the worldContinue reading “Hyphenated”

I don’t have a lot to say today.  Just a few thoughts.  As we enter Autumn, I’m getting a rush of feelings and nostalgia.  Fall for me as a child was a welcome season.  I looked forward to returning to school.  I liked another chance to excel.  I liked to be with my friends.  IContinue reading “Autumn Journey”

I have two degrees:  a Bachelor’s of Music Education at the University of Oklahoma and a high school diploma from Norman High School.  I’m very proud of my bachelor’s degree and of being an OU grad.  But for a long time I didn’t think much of being a graduate of NHS.  “So I went toContinue reading “Alma Mater”

As young children, we have our first dreams about what we want our life to be.  We dream of being princesses, fire fighters, and any number of famous kinds of people.  It’s the beginning of the process of discovering and defining who we are.  Some of these dreams come true, but most are childish andContinue reading “These Dreams”

The first day of school is a huge event in a child’s life.  It’s a new start.  Will my best friend be in my class?  Will my school crush be in my class? Is this the year I will finally become popular?  Is this the year I won’t get any spankings?  And it’s also theContinue reading “First Day Satins”

It’s been a long time since I’ve written My Wife Says I’m Complicated.  My schedule hasn’t allowed it until now.  I’ll start with a grab bag.  Go! Writing Mood Me not writing isn’t totally about time, though; it’s about mood.  If you are a regular reader, you know that I have Bipolar Affective Disorder.  TheContinue reading “Return to Complications”

Thanksgiving is upon us; a time of traditions, family, and expectations.  The Burns’ have a few traditions.  We have tamales and chili on Wednesday night.  We have a special sausage from Goliad for breakfast on Thankgiving morning.  We eat around 1:30.  And at some point, we see a movie.  My vote is Care of MagicalContinue reading “Great Expectations”

hustler – a person who employs fraudulent or unscrupulous methods to obtain money One of my favorite things to do is see the Dallas Opera with someone I love.  There was a new-ish opera based on the novel Moby Dick aptly named Moby Dick.  I’d never seen an opera from this millennium, and so I didn’t know quiteContinue reading “Double Hustle Opera Night”

Back in the 90s, before I was a software engineer, I was an elementary music teacher in Moore, Oklahoma. I was starting to get into keyboards using an old book I had swiped from my dad which was designed for people who had been taught the classical method but could never just play from a chordContinue reading “The Cool Teacher”

To be sheep, in common parlance, means to follow blindly and ignorantly and spinelessly.  But Jesus has a different idea about sheep.  He tells a story about what it will be like when the Son of Man (King) comes into his “glory” and sits on his throne with the angels and all that.  He says allContinue reading “A Nation of Sheep?”

I was among the half of the U.S. population who watched in utter shock and dismay when it became apparent that Donald Trump would be our next president.  But this is something that happens every four years.  And now it was the Democrats’ turn.  Politics as usual.  Right? Wrong.  This is not politics as usual.  ThisContinue reading “It’s Not as Simple as Haters and Lovers”

Last weekend, I drove my wife and son down to Garland, Texas for my niece’s baptism.  We’ve driven south on I-35 enough times to have a tradition.  In Oklahoma, there a few mountain ranges.  Now understand, when I say mountains, I mean a few rocky hills, but we love them for what they are.  As youContinue reading “The McDonald’s Cop”

Once upon a time, there was one way to greet another person with your hands.  It was called the hand shake.  You reached out together, thumbs on top, clasp hands, and shook 2-4 times.  Simple.  There are variations of course: palm vertical, better, palm up, hand in hand, lingering, the push off, the pull in, theContinue reading “Hand Greeting Disability”

I don’t always know what I will write when I begin.  I love observing people, but making a story about people you know who might read it isn’t always wise.  And there are other things happening in my life both good and complicated that I just can’t talk about, yet, and so I’m left toContinue reading “Leaning into the Fabric”

At my current job, I’m surrounded by accountants and managers and business people.  I’m one of only two programmers in my division and he’s an Access programmer, which I refuse  label myself as.  I didn’t really know how much I missed being around a team of developers until today. My supervisor, a Cobol programmer fromContinue reading “Among My People”

dictionary.com  patriotism –  devoted love, support, and defense of one’s country; national loyalty. This is not a bad thing.  I love my country.  I feel grateful and privileged to live here.  We should defend and protect it.  And we should celebrate it’s independence this 4th.    If that’s what patriotism is, then sign me up.  But somehow, theContinue reading “My Issue With Patriotism in Church”

EDIT: I recant my view on clapping because of this remark:   “This is how we lift the music and the musicians up in gratitude.” I like that. I don’t know how I didn’t see it that way before.  But I’ll keep this post up so you can understand where I was coming from withContinue reading “My Baggage with Clapping in Church”

Sometime in the 90s, possibly first on the Martin show, the phrase “Oh no you didn’t!” was popularized in black culture along with “Talk to the the hand” and other sassy phrases.  Because early adopters were primarily black, the phrase became a “black thing”;  off limits for white folks. Like all cool things that wereContinue reading “Did You Just Do Something?”

MyWifeSaysImComplicated is primarily a Facebook blog.  If you’re reading this, then you are probably my friend on Facebook and so you know a little bit about how I operate.  I suspect, not everyone agrees with what I do, especially with how I interact with conservatives. I’ve taken some flack for it.   So, I want to shareContinue reading “The Diplomat”

The mass murder in Orlando is one of the most complex events in my history. We have a Muslim We have a legal gun owner The gun is an AR-15 which many believe should be banned. We have an anti-gay religious guy We have a man who has been coming to a gay bar for asContinue reading “Ball of Complications”

When I’m right, I’m right.  When I’m not sure, I say so.  When I’m wrong, I admit it. This is what I yelled at my daughter the other day.  We’ve had a couple of spats recently on the subject of me correcting her or anybody when I believe they are wrong.  The accusation is thatContinue reading “On Harry Potter, Acne, and Being Right”

nostalgia (origins) – a return to grief It’s too early to think about Christmas.  I know that, but I feel myself sinking into a longing for it.  I know where that leads, and I’ve written about this before. My seventh Christmas was a real sweet spot for me as far as Christmases go.  There wasContinue reading “The Grief of Nostalgia”

Recently, due to an elevated level of mania, I cancelled my church choir rehearsal.  For the first time, I told my choir exactly why I had to cancel, and people were supportive.  I’ve decided to be candid from here on out.  I will not be ashamed.  When I finally returned, at the end of theContinue reading “No Matter What, You’re Still You. Really?”

Yesterday afternoon, I logged into Facebook (professional way of saying I’ve actually been logged into Facebook at work since 2015) and saw this picture on my wife’s wall with the caption “First I smelled it, then I saw it. HOW?!?!?!” It took me a moment to be sure what it was.  Was it a racoon?  A lemur?Continue reading “Opossum My Possum”

Wow.  There are a lot of mental health related months, weeks, and days.  But this is a good thing.  It needs a spotlight. In 2014, there were an estimated 9.8 million adults aged 18 or older in the United States with SMI (Serious Mental Illness). This number represented 4.2% of all U.S. adults. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/prevalence/serious-mental-illness-smi-among-us-adults.shtml And that’s just theContinue reading “#MentalHealthAwarenessMonth”

Web fiction is written work of literature available primarily or solely on the Internet. A common type of web fiction is the webserial. The term comes from old serial stories that were once published regularly in newspapers and magazines. – Wikipedia A number of years ago, I wrote a webserial called The Smell Collector.  TheContinue reading “Web Writer”

koan – a paradoxical anecdote or riddle, used in Zen Buddhism to demonstrate the inadequacy of logical reasoning and to provoke enlightenment. For quite a few years, I was a part of a meditation group in Norman. It’s still going, but I rarely make it. I learned some valuable skills with that group. I learnedContinue reading “A Koan for the Thirsty”

My first blog was in 2005, fathermanseekingpeace.blogspot.com.  It was devoted to bringing peace into the world.   Although the blog is down, it’s content is still accessible to me.  The ideas still hold water, but they are cliche by now.  I found a handful of posts that were not spiritual, though.  I’ve thought of thisContinue reading “When the Exception becomes the Rule”

My first school memory was in Austin, Texas.  I attended a preschool with my brother.  I very much enjoyed this school.  We ate peanut butter and banana sandwiches.  We ate celery and peanut butter. Lot of Peter Pan peanut butter.   We sang Singing in the Bathtub and pretended to wash our armpits. We tookContinue reading “School Days and Girl-Crazy”

I was born in 1973 which means that seven of my years were spent in the seventies.  My first memory was the summer of 1974.  We lived in a trailer in south Texas.  I remember one night, my parents were hosting a few friends.  My twin and I each had little scoot tractors and wereContinue reading “More of the 70s?”

I’m a thinker and a dreamer, sometimes to my benefit and sometimes for my detriment.  But I’m not very good at just sitting there thinking like a normal person.  I have to work out my ideas and dreams externally.  This blog, for instance, is a tool for me to develop my ideas and examine myself, butContinue reading “The NPR Interview”

  For past few years, I’ve taken my daughter (and once my son) to the opera.  We’ve seen the OU Opera twice and we’re about to see the Dallas for a second time.  I’ve been an opera fan since high school while at Midwestern Music Camp at the KU in Lawrence, Kansas. I came to playContinue reading “To the Opera”

I’ve never liked shopping at Walmart.   I’ve said many times that I’d rather pay more to shop at Target than Walmart.  I’ve said that Walmart treats it’s employees poorly, both foreign and domestic.  I’ve said that it’s too big.  I’ve said that it’s not a very happy place and it sucks the life outContinue reading “Walmart Class”

The good thing about a blog, is that I get to treat it like a pensieve (see Harry Potter).  I can unload my thoughts and examine them later.   I no longer have to fill Facebook with the constant stream of half-baked thoughts.  I can bake them a little bit more without you feeling likeContinue reading “Superscience, Tolsoy and Medicine, and Empiricism”

Every time we went to San Antonio to stay with my father’s sister’s family, we would take a tour of the older generation.  We visited Grannie Floss and Big Nanny in Goliad, Grannie Mac in the nursing home in Corpus Christi (which sounds like Carpus when my dad’s family says it) , and Uncle Billy and AuntContinue reading “Million Dollar Steak”

  I’ve made quite a few posts which I felt were pret-ty pret-ty good.  But when I went back and reread them, I could see that my thoughts were fragmented in some way.  They were broken into pieces and not all the pieces were communicated.  Ideas which were fairly simple were made very complex because of the way my brainContinue reading “Fragmented Mind”

I published a series on The Beatitudes here on mywifesaysimcomplicated, but it’s hard to read it in order on this blog.  I’ve created another site devoted to this series. The Eight-Fold Path to Beatific Living is an eight week study of the The Beatitudes from the perspective of spiritual growth.  It is designed for eitherContinue reading “Launching New Site: The Eight Fold Path To Beatific Living”

NOTE:  I took this post down soon after I posted it because I thought it was rubbish, but I also put it on  a progressive Christian forum and it sparked a marvelous conversations.  So, I’m putting back up In the book, The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle, the author states that he rarely uses theContinue reading “The God User Interface”

I am a music minister at a United Methodist Church.  My duties include directing an adult choir.  I am very intentional with my choir leadership.  The first rule of my training as a church musician is that church music is not a performance, it is an act of worship.  Sometimes I wish that this wasn’t soContinue reading “When the Choir Sings”

I’ve had a number of spiritual experiences over the years.  You might call them mystical experiences.  As a part of Lent 2016, I’ve been digging into my archive of spiritual writings to reexamine them.  This comes from 2009. I believe that all life has both a physical and a spiritual nature. When you become in tune withContinue reading “Spiritual Switch”

Beatific living does not mean that we will receive some sort of spiritual easy street.  The blessings we receive come with responsibility.  They come with righteousness.  Righteousness and blessing are intertwined.  We can earn neither.  They are both gifts from God which require a willingness to receive and to share. This path is not a self-help path.  TheContinue reading “Conclusion”

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. When you are called a child of God, you can withstand all manner of pressures to swerve from the path of righteousness,  you will experience beatitude. I do not believe this beatitude is about being persecuted for professing your beliefContinue reading “The Beatitudes: The Eight-Fold Path – Transforming Persecution”

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. When you experience the true nature of God, you will have peace and will share it with the world, then you will be called a child of God. In the previous beatitude, in our purity, we experienced God.  And in this one, when we experienceContinue reading “The Beatitudes: The Eight-Fold Path – Restoring Brokenness into Wholeness”

This Sunday, my pastor preached on the love scriptures in Corinthians.  And something struck me.  The pastor paraphrased a very famous verse, 1 CORINTHIANS 13:1, which is: If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. My pastor said: You can doContinue reading “Sounding Brass or a Clanging Cymbal”

In a time of relentless presidential campaigning, the word “integrity” often enters the discussion.  It’s not really a word that I grew up with.  When I first heard it, it was in reference to men.  Men of integrity.  And I still didn’t understand exactly what that meant. My first given definition was “someone who saysContinue reading “A Story of Integrity”

I really want to write a blog post today, but I have very few whole thoughts.  Instead, I will attempt to tell you what is on my mind, no matter how fragmented. Harry Potter For years, my friends have told me that I needed to listen to the audio rendition of the Harry Potter series asContinue reading “If You Were To Give Me A Penny”

Quite a few years, I was reading straight through the Bible when I ran across the story of Ruth.  My wife and I chose a verse from the book of Ruth for our wedding.  I’ve been fond of the book ever since.  It is told from the point of view of Ruth.  Ruth was a MoabiteContinue reading “On The Threshing Floor”

I used to attend an early morning all men’s Bible study.  It’s humbling to study the Bible with men of such wide-ranging age and experience.  There was one man in particular who captured my interest.  He had just turned ninety, but he was so spry and mentally sharp.  He was also an active aviator.  Imagine that.Continue reading “What a 90-year-old Said to Me About His Birthday”

We all have our gifts, and I and everyone in my family have always had a natural knack for getting along with folks who many people find difficult to get along with.  Every work environment has a person who is difficult to work with.  It’s interesting that when you arrive at a new job, folks usually give you fairContinue reading “The Languages of Respect”

Every family has it’s folklore; those stories which get told over and over at family gatherings.  Cat Thermometer is told nearly every Thanksgiving, and usually from several perspectives.  My brother, Paul, has told his version in sermons.  My aunt Pat tells a version at family gatherings upon request.  My version includes a scene that no one else witnessed butContinue reading “Thanksgiving Folklore: The Cat Thermometer”

I’ve read several thought-provoking articles this year about worship, all of which were from the perspective of proponents for liturgical worship.  The subtext of all of these articles is that the traditional church is dying, and that the razzmatazz of the contemporary mega churches is the reason for it.  Let me start by sharing with you my understanding ofContinue reading “Does God Care How We Worship?”

far-tle [fahr-tl] verb, -tled, -tling, noun –verb (used with object) to disturb or agitate suddenly as by surprise or alarm in a manner that causes the sudden release of gas (see fart) to cause to fart involuntarily from a sudden shock or surprise –verb (used without object) to fart involuntarily from a sudden shock orContinue reading “Fartle – Proposal for a new Word”

When you grow up with an identical twin, you are shielded from your own oddities.  The person you spend the most time with often shares your same weirdness and so you think that what you’re doing is normal. Case in point, for as long as I can remember, in the car I played a littleContinue reading “Why 42 is My Favorite Number”

It was 10 pm San Diego time and I needed to feel a last bit of SoCal air on my face before settling down in my hotel room.  It had been an enjoyable day until I found out that my son had been in a bicycle accident back home in Oklahoma.  He made it outContinue reading “Un Dulce Momento Triste”

As a child, I lived across the street from the Lonoke town park. It was laid out on a single city block near the center of town. In fact it was on Center Street. It had an old merry-go-round, jungle gym, swings, and a slide that contrasted with the brand new tennis court, cedar woodContinue reading “Tree Dweller”

In my wife’s favorite film, On Golden Pond,  an elderly couple comes to their summer home on the lake.  Norman is a perpetual grouch and Ethel is a perpetual ray of sunshine.  He doesn’t know what to do with himself so he’s talking about getting a job.  He’s not serious about it, he’s just beingContinue reading “Major Strawberry Picker”

When I was in second grade, my parents signed me up for piano lessons with a little old lady in Lonoke, Arkansas.  I was permitted to walk from school in the middle of the day to her house.  I felt so privileged on Wednesdays to get up out of Mrs. DeRoark’s class and excuse myselfContinue reading “Chopin!”