Holiday Cheer

Another Christmas has come and gone with the best gift we could ask for...Tara was hired as an assistant manager for a retail pharmacy chain! Christmas turned out to be a pretty nice event this year. only a few gifts but meaningful ones and a lot to be thankful for.
My friends and I started a tradition four years ago of giving each year a title or theme. I started it with calling a major shake up of a year the Year of Change. The next year was the year of Growth and last year was the year of Love. It is back to me to name the year again and I'm currently debating a few choices. This past year has been interesting to say the least and the upcoming year has a world of possibilities so that may very well be the title...
The Year of Possibilities
I hope you and yours had a wonderful holiday.

This and That

Today is 95 days smoke free. According to the website Quitnet.com I'll be an Elder at day 100. Its kinda nice to be smoke free. I've added quite a bit of time back into my day.
We just moved 2 weeks ago to a house in the country. We're really nearby convenient things like the grocery store and closer to the city than we were. If we could just finish getting unpacked I'd be a very happy camper.
The cats love the new place. It is well laid out to run the Kitty Nascar race circuit nightly and the windows offer good views. The cat tree is close to the TV too so George can sit in his tree top and watch now which makes him happy.
The past few weeks have been insanely busy and I have lots boiling in my head. I will attempt to be disciplined enough to stop by here and start putting some of it down.

Eh

Hanna brought some rain, a little wind and not much else. We didn't loose power, nothing flooded near me, the trees are all still intact and I don't think I even heard thunder. The plus side to Hanna, we are at a surplus of rain for the first time in years. The worst that could be said is the basement of our church had some water in it but it always gets water in it in heavy rain. A mob and a squeegy and everything is better.

Hanna Reloaded

1st This is My 100th Post (WOOHOO!)

Now back to my regularly scheduled blogging. I have lived in North Carolina for just shy of 1 year now and have learned a lot of important history about the local area. In 1999 Hurricane Dennis sat off the coast and dumped a foot of rain on this area. Two weeks later Floyd a category 2 hit head on and added an additional 19 inches of rain. The result? Massive flooding. There were areas of this town completely underwater. Two weeks after Floyd, Irena put some icing on the cake with another 6 inches. They called the flooding from Floyd a 500 year flood...lets hope "they" are right.
We are officially still in a drought however: recently we got a lot of rain from the remnants of Fay (the one that beaned Florida 4 separate times in 4 areas) which has saturated the ground. Tomorrow or Saturday Hanna will hit as a week Category 1 or Tropical Storm adding anywhere from 4 inches to 10 inches of rain...behind Hanna?
Ike a nasty category 4
Ike is looking a little scary right now. He is really too far out to accurately predict beyond next Tuesday however, right now he is looking to follow a similar track to Hanna and ...right up the east coast. If Ike hits I will be further inland than I already live.
We are praying he doesn't get anywhere near us. Hanna is not a big concern...Ike could be.
On an odd side note, I've only ever been in one tropical storm before when I lived on the bay in Pensacola, FL. That one was named Hanna as well. I remember going out to my car and looking out at our little park and thinking, "There are waves between the pine trees." The storm surge had pushed water from the bay up onto land. If you are wondering how I could end up dealing with Hanna six years ago and am now looking at Hanna Reloaded...the National Weather Service reuses storm names in a 6 year cycle. Names are only retired if it ends up being a really major storm with lots of damage (Andrew, Floyd, Katrina, etc. will never be used again).
Praying for the best and preparing for the worst...keep your eyes on the Atlantic for the next week or so...it could be a windy, wet ride.

Here and back again

It has been an incredibly busy few weeks since the last time I blogged. First, today is day 43 smoke free. For non-smokers, I'm sure you are thinking, "Great, you are over it," for those who are former smokers you know what a huge deal it is. I assisted with our companies 3 year Luau celebration on Friday and stood out on or smoking patio grilling 600+ hamburgers and hotdogs on 5 charcoal grills and never once thought about smoking.
Second busy item, our praise and worship team at my church has gone through a lot of changes over the past few months so they decided to celebrate a "coming out" with a concert on Saturday. I did the sound for them so many, many rehearsals and of course the big event. The concert went really, really well. We had visiting singers from other churches in the tri-state area. One in particular, Rev. Greg McGraw from St. Jude's in Wilmington, VA has a phenomenal voice. Beautiful tenor that was amazing to listen to.
All things told, I've been so busy at work and home I haven't had time to really even lurk and read anyone elses and I haven't been commenting either.
Oh well, I had a break tonight and thought I would pop on.
We are moving at the end of September. No more crazy downstairs neighbors. Right now we have put in our notice and are searching for the next place to live. I pray all goes well and smoothly. It can be tough to find a nice place at the right size and price that likes cats.

Curious George at His Finest

I know the LCD TV we got last spring has really good picture quality. I just didn't realize how good until Curious George (true to his name) started watching TV. He started by sitting on the floor about 10 feet away. Now if the image is really interesting he gets right up to it...apparently he was hungry for hot dogs (its a Hebrew National hot dog commercial in the background). I feel like my Mom when I tell him, "Not so close! You'll ruin your eyes!"

BTW, took this photo with our nifty new digital fujifilm I got on eBay for a great deal.

The Good, The Sad and The Bad

I thought I'd start with the good news. Today is Tara and my 8th day smoke free! I must say the patches are a big help. I haven't had huge cravings and have been calm at work.
The sad news. Tara got a call from her sister Angel yesterday. Angel and Chris (her husband) had to put their beloved dog Shusky (half shephard half husky) to sleep yesterday afternoon. Shusky was an absolute sweetheart of a dog with lots of love and patience. She was diagnosed last week with a massive tumor on her liver and the vet said their really was no way to remove it. Shusky has been their dog since she was a puppy and will be missed by a lot of people. She started showing she was in a lot of pain over the past few days though if you asked her if she wanted to go for a walk she would still get up, wag her tail through the pain and get her leash. She spent the afternoon with her family and went on her last walk before going to the vet. She's over the rainbow bridge and hopefully having a fabulous time there.
The Bad: Our downstairs neighbor Rich. Rich is a functioning alcoholic with a really nice surround sound system. He has been going through a really rough time with an ill father and unfortunately handles issues by not handling them. He just drinks more Natural Ice and turns up the stereo. Lately the stereo has been on to an extreme degree. I was woken up early Sunday morning to "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash. Last night he turned up Patsy Cline. At 10:15pm Tara went down and said, "Rich could you please turn it down?" He complained and turned it down slightly. When she asked him to come to the door and speak with her he flat refused. So we called the police on the non-emergency number and they came and told him to turn it down at 11pm. Then he stood in the courtyard with his buddy from across the way and complained loudly until after midnight.
We went to be at midnight and at 3am were awoken to Rich's bass on his surround sound turned up as loud as possible. Just the base with what I would guess to be a dance song on. He would play it for 5-10 minutes and then switch to a loud TV show then go back to the dance mix. We called the non-emergency number again at 4am. The police showed up somewhere between 4:30 and 5 am. I finally just got out of bed at 6am.
I called the apartment manager today and she is going to send him a letter....
Great help there.
She also told us to keep calling the police if he's loud since, "He's not that financially well off and maybe a ticket will wake him up."
Again, Great help there.
We are actively looking for a new place to live, preferrably a home. In the mean time, based on the conversation overheard last night with Rich's buddy, I'm parking the car away from our apartment in a different area of the complex parking lot away from him to protect our paint job and tires and saving the non-emergency number in my cell phone. I'm also continuing to pray for Rich. He needs some serious professional help and I hope some time soon he sees that.

Miracle on the Horizon

I am now officially smoke free. I've been on the nicotine patches since 6/30/08 but was also provided with Quest 3 non menthol nicotine free cigarettes to help combat my habit of picking up a cigarette. Funny thing happened from the first day...I used to smoke a pack a day but with the nicotine free ones I was averaging 8 a day. This gave me a chance to really focus on the habit without dealing with the cravings thanks to the patch. As of 7/8/08 I am completely smoke free. I'll be walking around with a patch on for quite a few more weeks. I'm involved with a quit smoking research project at Duke University and I'm following their directions to the letter.
So far so good. Cravings are very mild and not very frequent...much better than my previous attempts. I am dealing with some sleep issues (hard time falling asleep and REALLY vivid dreams like watching my own nonsensical cinema at night) but those will fade away too.
As far as the rest of my life, in the last few days I've been learning some important lessons about faith and taking things one day at a time. I'm learning to trust that all things will work out and I'm becoming much more relaxed.
All in all the past few weeks have been very eye opening and enlightening. I can't wait to see what today brings.

Good Night Sleep Tight...Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite

When we traveled to Lancaster, PA for Lancaster's first ever Pride event we planned in advance. I know I would have to work on Friday and the trip from North Carolina up would take us through Washington, D.C. and Baltimore so I booked a hotel room in advance. We wanted to keep costs down in hopes of making a profit with our jewelry and t-shirts. I worked until 4pm, finished loading the Escape in 95+ degree heat in jeans and then we headed out. We got to the Super 8 at 11:45pm. I wasn't expecting the Ritz. Just a decent bed, working shower and overall cleanliness. As soon as we got to our room we set the bag on the counter, I dug out the shower stuff and went directly to the shower. I felt icky from sweating while loading the car and overall, having a long day. While I was showering, Tara pulled down the comforter and sheet on the bed, sat down on the bed with her foot on the bed and turned on the TV. She also had on all the lights.
When I got out of the shower, she went to stand up and a bug crawled off her foot and across the bed. She immediately grabbed a tissue and squished it. It was full of blood...her blood by the bite mark on the top of her foot. It was a bed bug!!!! Major ick moment. I immediately got dressed again, took the offending, dead critter in the tissue and marched to the front desk. The young man offered another room at the opposite end of the motel. From watching all those news articles on bed bugs in hotels I knew it was likely they only had them in one or two rooms, brought in by a guest so I agreed.
First the key card didn't work. I had to go back down and get another one. When we finally got into the room we immediately removed the head board to search for signs of bedbugs. The back of the head board was covered in black specks. Basically, dried, digesed blood from bed begs. Then I look down at the bed and the side of the box spring has a very large old bloodstain on it. It looks like someone bled profusely in the room in the past. I called down to the desk immediately. The young man sent his grandfather up. The grandfather's English was very, very poor. We showed him the problem, his response was, "The room okay!" over and over again. Finally, we got him out of the room, picked up the phone book, stood in the middle of the room and started calling. It was now 1 in the morning and we are trying to find another room. I went down to get a refund. They wanted to offer us another room! By the time I got a refund, Tara had another room booked at a privately owned place called the Country Inn. Very nice place, a little more money but totally worth it. The first thing we did was take of the head board and found nothing but clean, shiny wood. The room was clean, brightly lit, country decorated and just fine by me. Its unfortunate we paid $90 to sleep for 6 hours but the extra price was well worth it for the atmosphere and bed bug free zone.
The kicker to all this is, we know people in Lancaster County. Vision of Hope MCC is a sister church to our church, St. John's MCC. We just didn't want to bother any of them since they were so integral in organizing the event on Saturday. While we were at the Pride event, Pastor Debbie walks over to our booth and say with a smile, "Now you are staying at our place tonight, there is plenty of room (if you don't mind 5 dogs) and since you already offended us by not calling ahead and staying with us to begin with, you can make it up by staying tonight, coming to church tomorrow and heading home rested." Who am I to resist?
BTW, 5 dogs included 1 golden retriever, 1 black lab, 1 retriever/lab mix, 1 rotweiler/chow mix (all female) and 1 miniature poodle. Glory, the golden retriever was nice enough to wake me up early by sitting on me. I will never complain about our 18lb cat sitting on me again. 100+ lbs of dog is a whole different ball game. I couldn't move anything but my arms which was just fine by Glory. She did a great job of ignoring my entreaties to get off of me too. Any time I told her to move, she became very interested in the ceiling.
All in all it was an interesting and educational trip. Always check for bed bugs before settling down and if you have friends to stay with instead, that's always a better choice.

Creative Ways to Pay the Bills

If you are anything like me right now the bills are looming up. I have an extensive library of books ranging from sci-fi to biology texts to Christian theology to fiction and on and on. Some I'm quite attached to but others, I'm willing to part with. I discovered this great website that will pay cash for quite a wide range of books. So far I've sent them 24 books and got just under $50.00. Not a bad deal at all and the books are going to book people. Check them out.

Record Turnouts and Great Laughs.

Well, Lancaster, PAs first ever Pride event went really, really well with a record breaking attendance for first time Pride events of over 2,800 attendees and only a scant half a dozen protesters. We had a great time at the event and actually had an easy time setting up. The only down-side for us were so many people had never been to an event like this that many did not bring any money to spend so are sales of jewelry were not as great as we would have liked. A lot of people liked the wares, took business cards and kept saying, "I should have saved up!" My bills and I are hoping these individuals go to our website and purchase in the near future. Despite the lack of profit, I wouldn't have turned down the chance to be there for anything. Our sister MCC church, Vision of Hope, members were an integral part in getting the festival up and running and it was great to see all of them and see their success.
Here is the article in the Lancaster newspaper. Lancaster is traditionally a very conservative area of Pennsylvania however, the festival was well received and the organizers couldn't be happier. http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/223466
That evening after the festival a comedy show was held to raise money for HOPE Connection, a new, non-profit organization aimed at assisting GLBT youth and community members suffering from HIV. The show had Vickie Shaw as the headliner. If you've never seen her, she's worth looking up on YouTube, as well as Sabrina Matthews and Jennie McNulty. The ladies did a phenomenal job. We would have never been able to go if it wasn't for friends providing us tickets and it was worth ever minute if sitting in the short middle-school auditorium seats to watch them.
I mentioned earlier that there were protesters at the Pride event. Well, the comics were there too and had a bit of fun at the protester's expense. One protester had the obligatory, "Homosexuality is a sin" sign so the ladies made their own sign that said, "And apparently Judgement is a Virtue" and stood right next to him. The few protesters stayed out of the park (none of them wanted to spend $5 to get in) and the Silent Witness PA volunteers made sure people coming to the park had no issues and no confrontation. Once inside it was great food, great entertainment, lots of vendors and a lot of laughing and talking and generally having a great time. I look forward to going again next year.

And So We Begin

We are off to our first official festival of the season, Lancaster, PA's first ever Pride rally and event. The car is packed, the jewelry's been made and we are ready to go...wish us luck!

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

I find it ironic that the day I'm going in to Duke University to become part of a smoking cessation study, there is so much smoke in the air I can't see across the parking lot at work. A forest fire has been burning in Hyde, Tyrell and Washington Counties in a a wildlife refuge since June 1. It was started by a lightning strike. The fire (Currently over 40,000 acres) is close to 100 miles away from me but the smoke is blowing in due to winds from the south east. It smells like a barbecue gone horribly wrong. Pray for rain for us. The fire is in the peat moss and could burn for months unless the area gets a really, really good soaking.

I'm still going to join the study at Duke. I'll let you know how it goes. Quitting on my own has never worked so I thought I could use the help.

Vacation, Car Lag and Eye Opening Experiences

I've been off line for a bit while preparing for vacation, then heading out on vacation, now trying to recover from vacation. We left Friday, May 23rd and returned Sunday, June 1 and crammed a lot into 9 days. Instead of sunning ourselves at Myrtle Beach, SC (which we were invited to do) we decided to visit family and friends whom we haven't seen in quite some time.
Our vehicle was FULLY loaded with bags of clothes to give Tara's daughter, our luggage, cooler (long drive), laptops, all our Jewelry stuff (two nifty toolbox totes with wheels), pillows, air mattress, air mattress bed frame and our canopy and peg boards for festivals. We had asked our one friend to assist us with how to display our wares so we had to take that up with us.
On the plus side, we drive a 2008 Ford Escape and got 27-28 mpg on the whole trip. I'm fairly impressed with that, especially considering the load.
Our first stop was Tara's best friends who live in the Cincinnati area. For 4 years now we have always opened the summer with them. Took us 9 hours to reach their house and as we unloaded our suitcase and cooler Tara asked, "where's the brown leather duffel bag?" I said, "I thought you put it in the car." Turns out we left it on the bed with all of our other shoes, personal jewelry and toiletries...off to WalMart we go to pick up what we need. the 2.5 days with our friends was okay but the whole time there seemed to be tension. Tara finally confronted them and discovered: a. they are having some personal issues b. they only consider us friends when we've always thought of them as pretty close to family c. they weren't really up for a visit and d. they didn't want to "ruin" our trip so they didn't tell us. Oh and as a bonus, perhaps we shouldn't come next year...
They could have saved us the drive and told us all this before we got there. Quite frankly, we could have spent more time with our families and skipped Cincinnati had we known. That was a bitter pill to swallow and when Tara found out they only considered her a "good friend" it was crushing to her. We left there early and went on to my parents in Pittsburgh. Cincinnati was an eye opening experience.
Pittsburgh was actually quite enjoyable. My Dad was really sick last year and it was really nice to see him healthy and doing well. Actually, both of my parents looked great. We had a good time and genuinely got to relax.
Our last leg was up to our old stomping ground in Erie, PA to visit Tara's daughter and all of our friends and family there. It was fabulous. I also stopped in to my old work site (I'm still with the same company just in NC now) and caught up with everyone there. We cooked out, hung out, played cards, went to bed too late each night and got up too early and it all seemed to go too fast.
Sunday we held out as long as we could before driving back to NC. Only took 10 hours and we backroaded quite a bit. Saw some beautiful scenery in the mountains of Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia. Got in late, unloaded Monday morning and back to work I went on Monday afternoon. Today is the first day I'm starting to feel human. I didn't think you could get car lag but apparently you can.
Oh, if you were wondering, we had a good friend take care of our feline children while we were gone. They had lots of love and attention though they did actually miss us. For three mornings now I've woken up with 3 cats glued to me.
Now the rest of the summer we will be going to various festivals to sell jewelry and t-shirts but we plan to find a weekend and go somewhere just for us. you know, an actual vacation with no watches, work etc.

Phoenix Rising is born (or at least grows up a little)

The website is not only up and running but it now works properly too. Click the logo above to view. You can bigify the photos to view the jewelry. We also do custom work as well and are extremely reasonable. Got questions? call email or drop me a comment.

This is our way cool logo created by Leigh out of Atlanta. Go see her sketch blog at http://sketch-sketchily.blogspot.com/ She is amazingly talented.

Phoenix Rising Productions Now Online

My other half and I have finally gotten our website up and running. Phoenix Rising Productions is now open for business. We specialize in bead and crystal jewelry. Tara is a master at creating a unique, custom designed piece for each individual. Please go check us out. The website has a few bugs yet but I am working on them so you will see things change and improve through the next few weeks. We are taking better photos this Thursday and I will be programing in larger images for each item. We also have a selection of T-shirts as well. The sight is linked to PayPal so you can pay by credit card or through PayPal or send us an order. You can also call and have a piece or set designed just for you.
http://www.phoenix-rising-productions.com

Feline Elizabethan Hades

My smallest cat, Cali, a tiger stripped calico with an average weight of 7lbs is an obsessive cleaner. Maybe it comes from the abuse she suffered as a kitten, maybe she's just really fond of cleaning her fur, whatever the cause she will clean her self to injury.
She has been really good for over a year now, keeping her fur clean and neat without balding herself but a few weeks ago she got obsessed with her hind quarters. Now her whole backside is bare and raw and sore. Every time it starts to heal it itches to back to obsessively cleaning she goes. I tried anti itch sprays and antibiotic creams but the end result is the only way to heal her moist dermatitis is to keep her from cleaning it while treating it until the raw skin heals.
So my poor cat is suffering through a week of wearing an Elizabethan collar (the thing that looks like a clear lampshade inverted on her head).
She is REALLY NOT HAPPY WITH ME. I've been making sure I pet her and scritch her ears for her which prompts her to purr at the same time she is giving me the I REALLY DON'T LIKE YOU look. The plus side is the antibiotic cream is working really well and her backside is healing quickly. The downside is she is going to be stuck in that collar for a few more days until the healing is complete otherwise we'll just have to repeat the whole process again.
I'm positive she will find some way to pay me back once that collar comes off for the indignity of having to wear it for a week to 10 days.

Native Wildlife

Driving home from Raleigh yesterday we were coming up a 4 lane road level, with a 45MPH speed limit and an unlimited view for at lease half a mile. Up ahead in our lane we spotted a LARGE land tortoise slowly making his/her way across the road. Not the safest endeavor for a tortoise but he was at least 2 1/5 - 3 feet long and over 1 1/5 feet wide, brown and difficult not to spot. I thought he might be a non-native former pet on the loose.
We easily went around him and started looking for a spot to turn around and at least move him off the road when in the rearview and side mirrors we witnessed a white, early 90's sedan swerve....
to hit the tortoise...
It was a very intentional move. There was no one on the car's left and plenty of time to see the LARGE tortoise in the road. It's not like it was going to dart out in front of the car but the driver chose to swerve in such a way that two tires hit the tortoise and we witnessed it all.
We turned around. I was desparately hoping the shell protected him but he was really, really dead when we got up to him.
I found out today this tortoise is a native species to the area. I'm still really angry about that. It was a gopher tortoise and it is federally protected!!!! http://www.gophertortoise.org/tortoise/faqs.htm I had a mean thought that if there is any justice a piece of his shell wedged in both of the tires that hit him and that driver woke up to two flat tires this morning.
You certainly shouldn't put your life in jeopardy to avoid hitting wildlife with your car but you REALLY shouldn't aim for them either. A tortoise that size had to have been on this planet for quite some time and all it would have took was a tiny bit of consideration to keep him here instead of making him road kill.

In honor of Uncle Gary

On May 3, 2008 I plan to walk 3 miles in the AIDSWalk +Ride. Supporting this cause is important to me. In the spring of 2005 my Uncle Gary died from complications of AIDS. The last time I spoke with him he was still working, doing okay but his T-cell count was 17, basically meaning he had no immune system. He was unable to take the drug cocktail to combat HIV stating the side effects were too strong. Overall, he was lucky. He came home from work, sat down to read and had a fatal heart attack. He was buried with full military honors in Arlington National cemetery.
His death prompted me to join a group in college called the AIDS Action Team. This is where I got my start in training. I became a certified HIV/AIDS instructor teaching at middle school, high schools, universities, drug and alcohol treatment centers, etc all in an effort to prevent others from contracting this disease. I also wanted to teach others the truth about HIV, how it is contracted and why they should treat those with the disease as human beings, not pariahs. As part of this group in the fall of 1996 I had the opportunity to travel to Washington DC to see the AIDS quilt laid out in its entirety for the last time and my Uncle's spot in Arlington. The Quilt took up the entire Mall. The curvature of the Earth prevented you from seeing all of it if you stood at one end and looked across. They cannot lay out all of it at one time anymore because it is too large. Sections travel the country to help promote HIV/AIDS awareness and education. My Uncle’s name is on one of those panels.
Currently, many of the grants and government funding programs for HIV/AIDS services nation wide in the U.S. have been reduced or cut completely making it difficult for those dealing with HIV/AIDS to get the help they need. Medication and treatment are exceedingly expensive. Those dealing with the disease cross all age, sexual orientation, racial and socio-economic backgrounds. Some of the fastest growing populations are young adults and women. Funding needs to be there for both education to prevent further infections and care for those already infected.
This year I am walking with a team from my church, St. John’s MCC to raise money to assist those in North Carolina dealing with this disease and I need your help. Click the image at the top of my blog and you will be sent to my donation page were you can donate whatever you feel capable of giving. It only takes a few minutes. If you know anyone else who would be interested in donating, pass it on.
My Uncle Gary was a great man. Smart, funny, well spoken, and someone I looked up to as a child. One of my favorite stories from him was a discussion we had on books. Someone asked him if he had ever read Stephen King. He explained he tried once but decided that wasn't wise for him or his health. Gary owned a large, long-haired gray fluffy cat that was very well trained and well behaved. The cat was not permitted in the bedroom let alone on the bed. Uncle Gary started reading Pet Cemetery on the suggestion of a friend. One night, lying in bed, reading Pet Cemetery, right at a particularly suspenseful part, his large gray, fluffy cat ran into the bedroom, onto the bed and did the frightened cat routine where he puffed out completely, stiffened up, arched his back and meowed loudly. The cat then jumped down and ran off. Uncle Gary took that as a sign, put the book down and never picked up another Stephen King book again.
I want to raise money in honor of Uncle Gary and all of the people I have met over the years infected and affected by this disease. I know the economy is in terrible shape right now and money is tight but even $1.00 is helping. Reach into your heart and into your wallet and take a few minutes and donate. Feel good about helping make a difference for a lot of people. If you can't donate right now, send some positive vibes and prayers out to the team from St. John's MCC that we succeed in our goals for helping others.
Thanks all

Tag, You're It! (Loss of Childhood Lessons)

I just read an article where a principal at an elementary school has banned tag at recess. She stated that students were becoming too aggressive and too many students were ending up in the nurses office. The funny part of the article is how many parent complained that tag should not be banned and I agree. Many schools have either removed recess all together or placed many limits on the games played. No more dodge ball, red rover, tag, etc. All in the name of protecting kids.
I'm all for keeping kids safe however, children need to run into some obstacles in life to learn how to cope and grow and work within groups. It seems to me as a society we are being way too overprotective. Kids need to take some knocks in the process of learning. It will make them stronger. You learn to get up when you fall and keep going.
I had a horrible time in elementary school. I'm a geek; always have been, always will be and as an adult I'm proud of it. I was the quiet bookworm. My parents moved my one older brother and I to a private Catholic school when I was in 4th grade. My brother wasn't doing well in school and they thought the better school would help and it did. We both got wonderful educations but I also ran into a lot of social issues. My family wasn't rich, many of the other students were. And I was far from cool. I didn't have the latest clothes nor was I good with quick come backs. I was picked on. When I switched schools again in 6th grade I ran into the same sort of problems of not fitting in. Was it painful? Yes, but I also learned to cope and grow and still gained a few friends along the way. The skills I learned on the playground have served me better in some ways than the book knowledge I gained in class.
We played all the standard games. I have been clotheslined trying to break through in red rover and I've been to the nurses office for the standard gel ice pack to reduce the swelling from getting hit in the face with a dodge ball (my school had the balls with the crow's feet pattern). All the times I was picked on, I learned. I learned to stand up for myself, to speak out when there is a problem, to think fast on my feet and I learned that there are ways to win against a bully. In the end, I learned how to navigate through life successfully. By the time I was a college freshman I wasn't the odd one out anymore. I was a mature, young adult able to handle a lot.
As an adult, I have friends I can rely on, acquaintances I can hang out with and people with whom I connect. I found out I'm not the only geek on the planet. I can proudly say I like science fiction and usually find quite a few others who agree. I can also handle the curve balls that life throws. Despite the pain of getting picked on, I wouldn't change it if I could go back. If I did, I wouldn't be the strong adult I am today. Our experience prepare us for the road ahead and I think my experiences have equipped me well.

Beware the Penguins

NHL hockey playoffs started this evening. I'm a Pittsburgh Penguin fan... I even have the Sidney Crosby jersey. I grew up watching the Penguins and even went to games on a fairly regular basis with my Dad when Mario Lemieux and Jamir Jagr played together and the Penguins won the cup. I've been waiting for awhile to see a good Penguin team again and here they are.
One of the few downsides to moving to North Carolina is I don't get to see many Steeler games during football season and even less Penguin games during hockey season.
I was really excited to watch the outdoor game between the Penguins and the Buffalo Sabres on New Years Day. Now the Playoffs are here and the playoffs are on cable.
The game has been very good tonight though the Penguins need to be smarter on the penalties. Give a team a power play over and over and eventually they are going to get the puck in the net. I'm looking forward to the whole series against the Ottawa Senators and I'm very hopeful for the Penguins to continue. I really want to be sitting in front of my nifty new LCD TV in my Crosby Penguin hockey shirt cheering on the team.
Beware the Penguins!
Go Pens!

House Cleaning

We helped a friend this past weekend. She moved in a bit of a rush and left a lot behind in her house. It's hard to list a house if it is't clean so a group of us got together and cleaned. The downside, the electric and water was shut off. Cleaning was a challenge. At the very least, we were able to remove the few pieces of furniture and other various junk left behind. The plus was I added to my book collection and picked up a few other nifty items proving once again that one person's trash is another person's treasure.
The house is a nice split level with a two car garage but it needs some work. The wallpaper is outdated, carpets need replaced, some minor roof repair and a new sliding door but it has a lot of potential so hopefully she can sell it successfully versus continuing to pay a morgage here and rent in her new town...
We are looking in to one more repair/cleaning day to help her out.

Catastrophy

A few months ago we got one of those nifty cat litter boxes that scoops itself. We left both the new and old litter box out and slowly phased the old one out. The only problem with the new litter box is its size. It was too big to place in the corner of the spare bathroom and between its size and the ability of the cats, specifically Cali, to fling litter when digging, the guest bathroom has not been user friendly for humans.
We had a good thought to put the litter box in the bathtub of the spare bathroom figuring, we don't use the bathtub, the show curtain will keep the flung litter contained and the rest of the facilities would be human friendly. This worked great for us, not so great for Charles Baron. Charles has decided he doesn't like using the litter box in its new location and instead, prefers the carpet by the dining room table....
This really hasn't gone so well for him though in the end I suppose he won...
Charles got the cold shoulder for three days from me and Tara but the litter box is back to taking up the entire bathroom floor in the guest bathroom and I spent three days scrubbing the carpet.
So far the carpet is remaining clean but that bathroom is back to being property of the cats alone.

Happy Easter

"He is Risen. He is Risen, Indeed!"

I hope everyone has a blessed Easter. I attended a wonderful sunrise service at St. John's MCC the cumulated in the sun lighting up the entire sanctuary right at the end.

AIDS Walk and Ride

I need your help. This year I plan to walk 3 miles for the AIDS Walk and Ride to raise money to support Alliance of AIDS Services Carolina. In college I was a certified HIV/AIDS instructor and I’ve known a variety of people who have lived and died with this disease. I am walking with a team from my church, St. John’s MCC. The 19 of us are attempting to raise $10,000 or more. If you can help, please click the image above put some money in. From $5 to $100, whatever you can afford to give would be a great help.
If you know anyone else who would be interested in assisting, please forward the link onward.

Go on...click on the link, give a little money...feel all warm and fuzzy because you did a great thing...

And I promise to post images of me walking the miles in May after the big event...

Cats not Kids

I get asked every so often, "Don't you want to have children?" My answer is usally, "I have cats not kids for a reason." I like kids, love my 5 nieces more than I could possibly describe, but I also have no drive what-so-ever to have a child of my own. Maybe I'm a little too much of a kid myself. I enjoy the duties of being the Ciocia (Polish for Aunt) Heather. I spoil my nieces and a few of my friends' children and grand children. Basically, I have all of the fun and very little of the work. Plus, I've been paying my one brother back for years of childhood torture (getting locked in the shed, scaring me, etc) by sending toys like the rock and play piano and the singing and dancing Elmo. If it makes noise and is somehow still educational, I will make sure it ends up in his house. I even taught the girls how to put batteries in.
Mostly, I'm happy I have cats. They're like permanent 3 year olds that I can leave unattended for hours or very occasionally weekend at a time. They give me love and attention, I give them great head scritches and fun sessions chasing the laser pointer dot and playing fetch with a cap or toy mouse.

LCD

Can it be considered a sign from God that my 12 year old 32 inch TV is shutting off randomly and not working properly a week before the tax refund will be deposited into my account? There's a really nice 37" LCD with HDTV at WalMart just calling my name...

Super Fat Tuesday

The Giants celebrated, the canidates stressed, and the partiers partied. What a way to roll so much into one day. Me? I did my usual work thing followed by my usual home thing.
I'm happy for the NY Giants even though I'm a Steelers fan. I think it's great the underdog won. The primaries really didn't hold too many surprises. Clinton and Obama have been going back and forth and the basic tie right now wasn't really a shock.
As far as Fat Tuesday goes....I wish I could have been there. Looked like a load of fun. One big party before 40 days of fasting and reflection.
If you follow Lent, what are you plannning to sacrifice for the season?

the underdog

I'll admit it. I'mrooting for the NY Giants. The underdogs. I don't particularly care which team wins but if I had to chose It would be the Giants.
Really, since my Steelers aren't in the Superbowl, I'm really watching for the commercials.
So far, Justin Timberlake in the Pepsi commercial and the Careerbuilder commercial where the singing lightning bug gets eaten by a spider rank as my favorites.

Cat's Meow

So I got a new phone, the old cell phone finally broke. One down side to switching phones is you lose all your ringtones and images. I started searching for ringtones and on a whim typed in, "cats" into the AT&T search and lo and behold there were multiple cat ringtone sound effects. So I turned up the sound and hit play. The one ringtone has a rather unhappy cat meowing repeatedly. I played it once and looked up to see all three of our cats on high alert, gathered around me and searching for who was in trouble. I couldn't resist. I hit play again. All three jumped up and started looking for the cat in trouble. I actually had to calm them down and let them know it was okay, just a sound effect. It's nice to know they cared.

The perks of travel

God bless the alcohol allotted on business trips. The rules say 2 drinks but they don't give a size limit. Two double Captain and Cokes count as 2 drinks....hee, hee!
The simple pleasures you look for when traveling for your job....
This training is going to be very useful and this is far from a wasted trip but after 9+ hours in one room with the same people it is nice to have a good meal and a good drink or two to finish off the day.
Not drunk but definitely happy ( I can always get on the fitness equipment nicely provided by the hotel to work of the extra calories!)
Here's to 3 more fun filled business trip days and nights!

It's been awhile

And back again I come. I guess it was just a bit of blogger's block cause I've looked at my blog and other people's as well and just couldn't come up with anything.
Life has been crazy in a good kinda way and by the time I'm done working each day I've pretty much sworn off the computer until the next day.
I'm off to Dallas, TX for work next week. I'm hoping the weathers good, the work is interesting, and the time passes quickly. I'm also praying my team does a good job while I'm away. I know they are all capable of it but after some recent events I sometimes worry about whether they actually will.
Here's to happy travels in the aisle seat.