Under the Weather

I don't think that there is anything less fun than having to work when you have a cold. With the possible exception of a colonoscopy. So, I have a cold. I had hoped to avoid it. Everyone that I work with went through a variety of forms of this bug and I seem to be about the last to get it. I had thought it was just allergies, but yesterday it really began to kick my butt. I had the day off, but spent it taking drugs, buying Puffs with lotion, eating chicken soup and napping, with the dogs, on the couch .

With so many cable channels who knew there was so much nothing on during the day? I put my earplugs in and turned on the Weather Channel. Got a good 8 hours last night and hope, through the grace of chemistry that I will be able to make it through till my shift ends at 4:30 today. Speaking of chemistry, I want to thank all the idiots out there that make drugs who have made it so difficult and time consuming to purchase cold medications!! Just when I felt the worst I had to stand in line at the pharmacy counter just so I could show my ID ,get looked up , and sign to say that I am purchasing these pills under legit circumstances!! Did they get a good look at how crappy I looked? They were fortunate that I brushed my teeth before I went it, it was the least I could do.

Now, armed with tissues and drugs in hand, I am off to serve hot java to the masses!

Promoting Those That Like to Promote.......

Seems that the Bush administration likes to keep promoting those that like to promote torture. Can we say that at least they are consistent? Like you I am tired of the antics that these guys continue to pull day in and day out. They have no regard for anyone or anything. They just keep on truckin'. Doing whatever they believe to be in the best interests of those around them and those that they continue to be involved with. It is insane.

Seems that they have re-nominated one of their favorite pro-torture lawyers to a top DOJ post. Steven G. Bradbury . He is the author of classified memos that went out to allow,"...harsh interrogation techniques, including head slapping, exposure to cold, and simulated drowning, even when used in combination". My god, how can people go home at night at not think about this stuff? Simulated drowning!! How does he get through the weekend barbecue and not think about the other human lives that he is forcing this behavior upon?

If and when things change, in the White House, where will these people go? Will any of their old Washington buddies find jobs for them? Will they pen their life stories? Go out on the speaking tour? How cavalierly will they sweep aside and dismiss their actions and feel like they were completely justified. Maybe I just have more of a conscious they they because I know that if it were me I would not sleep very well. Maybe they have nightstands full of sleep aids. It is also quite sad that they have been given the power and authority, from the powers that be, to commit and allow all of these atrocities.

Not a Problem

You Are 63% Non Conformist

You are a pretty serious non conformist. You live a life hardly anyone understands. And while some may call you a freak, you're happy with who you are.

Are You a Nonconformist?

Self Evaluation

Your Intrapersonal Intelligence Score: 100%

Your Intrapersonal Intelligence is Very High You've spent a lot of time introspecting, and it's really paid off. You are comfortable with who you are, and you have a life philosophy that you are happy to live by. And you're always re-evaluating what you believe. Because you learn something new about yourself each day!

How Does Your Intrapersonal Intelligence Rate?

Vocabulary & Rice

"Learn, fight hunger, and kill time all at once". Doesn't that sound interesting? Do you spend any time playing solitaire or other games mindlessly on your computer? Well, now you can actually play a game, a cool word game, and donate rice. John Breen, a computer programmer, and anti-hunger activist created the game to prepare his son for his SAT test and to promote awareness of world hunger. Thus we have FreeRice.com.

I read about this fella and the web site at USA Today. I love to play word games. I love to to vocabulary, so this site was made for me. Every time you get the definition correct they go to harder and harder words. If you miss one they go back to an easier word. For every word you get correct they donate a certain portion of rice.

Within 3 months of the sites creation there were 500,000 visitors a day. Breen said that it took him four months to load 10,500 words and hes has now had to hire professionals to add about 1,000 more words and even harder words. The site was launched in October and by mid-January had been able to donate enough to feed 700,000 people for a day.

If you are a lover of words I highly recommend that you check it out and play. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will probably go back often. I love vocabulary. At the web site you can also read in depth about where the food goes etc.

Go, play, have fun and find out if you are a entomophagous kind of person!!

My Choice - Pro Choice

Yesterday was the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. I was busy working and did not have time to blog, but I did read many articles and editorials about the subject, as well as many blogs. There are often many facts presented as reasons NOT to be for our choice, but no matter what they might be, and as a woman you may consider them all, but the ultimate CHOICE comes down to US!! If we are not capable of doing our own research or looking into it ourselves then maybe someone should help you, but for those of us that are well informed and able to do so, the CHOICE SHOULD be ours to make and ours alone!!!!

I do not want politicians, legislators, clergy, pharmacists or any of the like to tell me what I can do with my physical being. I have been given the ability to reason and decipher things in a logical manner, so let me.

The section of articles, over at AlterNet, are fantastic and if you have some time you should take the time to read them. It IS now and should ALWAYS be my choice.

Speaking of Readings.....

Some have suggested that a good wedding reading is something from the Bible, but not being extremely tied down to the typical traditions and whoopla that go along with any particular church, I think that you can find very meaningful text in many places. Some quite unexpected.

We did not get married in a church or for that matter by anyone that would be considered tied to a mainstream, traditional type church. The person that married us was in fact a woman from some progressive denomination who was introduced to us by a very dear friend and she has spoken at another good friends funeral. So, we knew that since neither of us was tied to anything in particular "God wise" that she would be the one to marry us.

We got hitched in a park next to a waterfall. All those in attendance stood around the balcony of the park walkway. It did not last very .long. The reading that I found came from a book that I really hated, but think that I was meant to find this passage because it was so us, "It's clear to me now that I have been moving towards you and you toward me for a long time. Though neither of us was aware of the other before we met, there was a kind of mindless certainty humming blithely along beneath our ignorance that ensured we would come together. Like two solitary birds flying the great prairies by celestial reckoning, all of these years and lifetimes we have been moving toward one another". I had it put onto parchment paper and it is framed and hangs with a few wedding photos now.

Sometimes when reading the most mundane material, because I just hated the book and the movie, you can find a passage most profound and meaningful.

Religion and Democracy

"We've got to find a way to take the conservative symbolic message of faith talk out of American politics". Yes, yes and more yes!! This is the opening quote from an excellent article over at AlterNet.

"The candidates have been falling all over each other in their rush to declare the depth and sincerity of their religious faith". I for one am sick and tired of hearing it. How have they brought, what should be a private and personal matter, in to the arena of the election. I know that God et al has always been something that politicians like to talk about and how strongly they believe, but I for one would rather hear about more important things such as ; rising costs, lack of health care, job security and the problems with our educational system.

The article does point out that both sides have made use of the whole God tactic, but that the conservatives are much more adept and playing the "God machine". Besides we all know that the Evangelicals have a hearty lobbying group in Washington and a hold on many parts of the country. They have had their fingers in religious pies for some time.

The article makes many excellent point and you should take the time to read it. I simply can not do it the justice that it deserves.

Peace, Music , Birthdays & Cool Shoes

Well, another birthday has come and gone. Good times, good times. Hey, YT I want you to get a look at the cool peace sign necklace that the hubby gave me for my birthday! He knows how much I love them. It sparkles!! Thought you might appreciate it.

Along with said peace sign I also got those uber-cool black and zebra print Dr. Martens. They are my fave new shoe. Since black is a very important part of my wardrobe they will get plenty of wear. I bought myself a new CD that we are currently selling at the coffee mega giant. It is called,"Across the Pond" and it is a 14 song collection of the best and brightest new musicians from over yonder. England, Ireland, y'know... across the BIG pond! It is one of the few cd's that I have purchased, not burned, where every single track is fantastic. It covers everything from blues to rock. The sultry tones of Amy Winehouse to the rock of The Fratellis. The sassy lyrics of Lily Allen and the sultry voice of Alice Russell. If you don't want to pay our prices I just saw it on eBay for .99 cents!! It is an awesome mix and I have not stopped listening to it yet!

Went out to dinner with friends one night and the fam the next. All in all a very nice time. Oh yeah, I also had my hair color touched up and a trim. I think the fresh color looks awesome! I love my hairdresser!!

John has left today for Oman and will go directly to Australia following that. Looks like he will be gone about 2 months, so I am glad that we are able to have some quality birthday/family time.

I like to have a few cocktails, as much as the next person, but the crazy nights out are not all that they once were. It's mostly the hangover that I try to avoid these days.

Winds of Change

" When we expect happiness to come to us from the outside, we are usually disappointed. Happiness is not guaranteed by sunny weather, a raise in pay, a new car, a beautiful home or anything else of a material nature. External things are often possessed by very unhappy people. Happiness does not come out of a New Year, it comes out of men and women. Life does not change when we hang a new calendar on the wall or when the clock strikes midnight and a New Year begins. The only way life will change for us is when we change ourselves".


- Wilferd A. Peterson

Adults with Issues

When I first heard this story I was totally blown away. As an adult, and a parent, I could not imagine participating in an activity like this , or having it happen to my child. Max and I actually talked about it and he was totally stupefied that a "grown-up" would behave in such a manner. I do believe in this situation we will find that this lady is far from "grown-up" and probably a pretty immature woman.

The basics of the story involve a 13 year old girl that had been posting and writing on My Space. Like most kids her age she was yakking and trying to meet kids/boys etc. Then she thought that she had hit pay dirt. Some 16 year old boy was showing an interest. The talked for several weeks. Then one day he began to get nasty and tell her that he thought that she was worthless and that she ought to just kill herself. Well, she did. Her parents found her hanged in her bedroom.

It turns out that the "boy" that she was talking to was really a woman in her 30's, that lived down the street, and she & her own daughter were playing a terrible prank on this girl. They wanted to see how she felt about this woman's daughter and I believe there might have been some bad blood between the girls. I do not remember from the first reports. They lived right down the street. These parents all knew each other.

I have so many questions about this situation, but mostly as a parent how could anyone do this to someones child? Knowing how sensitive they are in the teen years how could any adult suggest suicide? I still am shocked by this. What kind of example is she setting by sitting there and doing this in front of her daughter and possibly her friends? I am sure that she has probably not been an exemplary parent, based upon these actions, she has some empty areas as far as parental skills.

Now, there are some law enforcement types looking in to ways that they might pursue this and find some justice for this girl and her family. I am sure that it is very difficult knowing what happened, living in the same neighborhood and knowing that there may be nothing that can be done. They sure have some nerve to stay in that neighborhood! Her husband says that he had no idea what they were doing, and that may be true, but unless their computer is totally out of sight, how do you not walk past and not ask what a group of people are doing sitting around as people IM each other?

I am happy to see that it is just not going away and I hope that this family is able to have justice for what was done to their daughter.

AlterNet: The Mix is in the Message

AlterNet is an award-winning news magazine and online community that creates original journalism and amplifies the best of dozens of other independent media sources. AlterNet's aim is to inspire citizen action and advocacy on the environment, human rights and civil liberties, social justice, media, and health care issues. Our editorial mix underscores a commitment to fairness, equity and global stewardship, and making connections across generational, ethnic and issue lines. AlterNet serves as a reliable filter, keeping hundreds of thousands of people well-informed and engaged, helping them cope with a culture of information overload and resist the constant commercial media onslaught. Our aim is to stimulate, motivate, and engage.

My newest passion and I intend to add them to my list of awesome links! AlterNet is a great progressive on-line news magazine. They have won two Webby awards for their material as well as an NPR shout-out for their journalistic content and political writing and articles.

Engaging our readers: AlterNet's aim is to inspire citizen discussion, advocacy, and activism. We relish challenging our large community to rethink stale assumptions, while helping to provide a vision, clear values and workable ideas and strategies, all essential ingredients for engagement and the social change necessary for a healthy democracy. More than 15,000 of our readers are registered to make comments on stories, sparking sharp debates. Tens of thousands of stories are emailed by visitors to friends and colleagues every day (our record on a single article was 5,781). On more than a dozen occasions, reader-generated content has been so prolific and thoughtful that we have compiled user comments and turned them into articles in order to condense the arguments and allow further discussion on the issue.

Their aims are what I desire from my reading material and the web sites that I frequent. I know that many of you share my feelings on issues, so I hope that you will take my advice and check out AlterNet and make it a regular stop on your reading list. Knowledge and information are power.

Iowa: Like High School All Over Again

News: The presidential nominating process resembles a high-school quad where elite pundits play the mean girls, and earnest candidates like Tom Vilsack no longer stand a chance.

Just one of the many quotes you will read, in this excellent article at Mother Jones News, about how Iowa and Presidential politics is just like the groups were in high school. Where the popular groups rule and if you are not into one of the mainstream groups....you are out.

Cool Kids Rule

The term "designators" isn't nearly so broad as "the mainstream media," nor are its members drawn solely from the media. Rather, it's a far more complicated and interrelated set of people. (What job title, exactly, would you attribute to James Carville these days?) No, the designators fill a distinct niche. Earlier last year, when New York Times columnist Paul Krugman decried the increasing importance of image over substance, and quoted the observation of Newsweek's Howard Fineman that "presidential elections are high school writ large, of course," he was pretty much on the mark. Presidential elections, especially in their preliminary stages, indeed take place in a virtual realm very much like that of a high school, despite the disappearance of ashtrays from the real-life corridors long ago. The activities taking place in the cafeteria of this virtual high school may or may not correspond to the demands of life outside high school—they have surprisingly little to do with what a candidate needs to be a successful president—but they do have a stark internal reality, and to a very real degree are driven by the "cool kids," a select group on the New York/D.C. political media axis that decides where everyone else gets to sit.

You may not care about being accepted by the cool kids, but if you want to be on the cover of a magazine, or the subject of a serious article touting your chances, or if you want to be mentioned positively in serious conversations between the political professionals and the serious potential funders or bundlers, it is these people, consisting of influential media insiders (many of them barely known to the public) along with professional political operatives and big donors, who determine your eligibility. Without their approval, you can't play.

This really is an exceelent article and really spells out why I could give a crap about Iowa.

My 7 Deadly Sins Ranking

Greed:	Medium
Gluttony:	Medium
Wrath:	Medium
Sloth:	Low
Envy:	Medium
Lust:	Very Low
Pride:	Medium

Take the Seven Deadly Sins Quiz

Thanks to Onanite I was able to see that I have some areas under control!

The Thinkers

I am introducing a new link today. I came across the name of this on-line magazine in an op-ed piece in one of this weeks papers. I went to check it out and was totally blown away. These writers and contributors are very lofty thinkers. A few of the articles that I read were a bit above my head, but fascinating reading none the less. The magazine is called Edge. Here is what they say about themselves;



Edge Foundation, Inc., was established in 1988 as an outgrowth of a group known as The Reality Club. Its informal membership includes of some of the most interesting minds in the world.

The mandate of Edge Foundation is to promote inquiry into and discussion of intellectual, philosophical, artistic, and literary issues, as well as to work for the intellectual and social achievement of society. Edge Foundation, Inc. is a nonprofit private operating foundation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

A few of the articles that I was reading this morning included: Moral Psychology and the Misunderstanding of Religion, Words Don't Mean What They Mean, and another about how we are born to be moral. Riveting, great reads!! This magazine is just packed with material. I could be here a very long time. For those of you who like to dive into the deeper meanings of things, or just want to have either a good argument or a good read I highly suggest that you give this awesome on-line magazine a read. Make sure that it is when you have the time and do not have to be anywhere in a hurry!!

A Way to Begin

After reading the thought/meditation/that came today, from Living Life Fully, I knew that I had to copy it and put it here for everyone to read. It gives you much to think about. I know that after I read it and ponder it fully,that I will have much to journal about today.









January 1





Today's quotation:

Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths.
It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we
transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult--once we
truly know and accept it--then life is no longer difficult. Because
once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.

M. Scott Peck

Today's Meditation:

How many difficulties do you find in your life? We have problems with relationships, finances, jobs, cars, hobbies, addictions, decision-making--in short, just about everything. But how many of those difficulties do we make even larger and more intense because of our perspective, because of the way we see them? I know that in my life, many of my most difficult moments have been caused by my own view of situations, not by the situations themselves. I've missed meetings at work and have agonized all day over what the repercussions would be, only to find out that there were none--everyone understood why I missed.

I'm growing closer to accepting that life is difficult, and I now see most difficulties simply as a part of life and as opportunities for me to learn and to grow as I work my way through them, rather than as obstacles in my way that are going to cause me many problems. Now that I accept that fact, the difficulties seem to be fewer, and the challenges are more manageable.

This is going to be a good year. And yes, there will be many difficulties in it, for you and for me. Accept that fact, and the hardships will be fewer and less intense. Acceptance of difficulties allows us to relate to them in a much different way, just as acceptance of a person allows us to relate to that person in a much more positive manner.
Questions to consider:

How do you see difficulties in your life? Do you accept them as learning or teaching situations or wish they would go away?

What would your life be like if you had no more difficulties? Would it be a positive change, or a negative one?

Have you grown more as a person when dealing with difficulties or when life has been flowing smoothly?
For further thought:

Sometimes things which at the moment may be perceived as
obstacles--and actually be obstacles, difficulties, or drawbacks--can
in the long run result in some good end which would not have
occurred if it had not been for the obstacle.

Steve Allen


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