Barb’s Blog » Archive for August 2005
Drunken Baptists
My dad, (who wasn’t much of a church goer), used to tease my mom and I, and the rest of the family too, calling us “drunken Baptists.” I thought perhaps he didn’t like our singing, because he mostly made this comment when we would gather around the piano or my Uncle Arthur’s guitar and unite in chorus. I had to think of Dad after reading this joke: Hymn #365 A southern Baptist minister was completing a temperance sermon. With great emphasis he said, “If I had all the beer in the world, I’d take it and pour it into the river.”With even greater emphasis he said, “And if I had all the wine in the world, I’d take it and pour it into the river.” And then finally, shaking his fist in the air, he said, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
American Spirit and Freedom
I might be the last to read this, I get everything after everyone else! But when I read it, it stirred me. Then I thought, “better get your emotions in check and find out if its even true.” I went straight to Snopes.com, and it did check out as true: A Romanian newspaper ran a stirring pro-American editorial. Apparently, Mr. Cornel Nistorescu, managing director of the daily newspaper Evenimentul Zilei — News of the Day — published this editorial Sept 24, two days after watching a celebrity telethon in New York for victims of the attacks . . . Why are Americans so united? They don’t resemble one another even if you paint them! They speak all the languages of the world and form an astonishing mixture of civilizations. Some of them … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Colour My World…Chicago Style
Just ripped all my Chicago CD’s. I saw them in concert a few years ago, along with the Doobie Brothers. 1. Chicago – (I’ve Been) Searchin’ So Long (4:31) 2. Chicago – 25 or 6 to 4 (4:53) 3. Chicago – A Hit by Varese (4:53) 4. Chicago – A Song for Richard and His Friends (6:25) 5. Chicago – Alive Again (4:07) 6. Chicago – Alma Mater (3:51) 7. Chicago – Along Comes a Woman (4:16) 8. Chicago – Another Rainy Day in New York City (3:03) 9. Chicago – Anxiety’s Moment (0:56) 10. Chicago – Baby, What a Big Surprise.mp3 11. Chicago – Beginnings [Live].mp3 12. Chicago – Beginnings.mp3 13. Chicago – Blues in the Night.mp3 14. Chicago – Brand New Love Affair, Pts. 1 & 2.mp3 15. Chicago – Byblos.mp3 16. Chicago – Call on Me.mp3 17. Chicago – Caravan.mp3 18. Chicago – Chicago.mp3 19. Chicago – … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
Another “Comcast Moment” (the saga continues)
Comcast does have a redeemer, his name is Marcus. Now if Marcus says he is going to do something, like show up at your house at 8:30 am on a Saturday morning, that is what Marcus does. If he says he is going to run a dedicated line so it goes directly from the "tap" ( Oh yeah, I am getting all the Comcast lingo down), and goes under the driveway and around the front … Read entire article »
Filed under: General
Local Hero
Today I did something so unlike me. I had to go out to the bank and run some errands, and while I was out, I passed a video rental shop. The children never seemed to find anything at the one we usually go to, so, I decided to take a look at this one, to see if it was better. Also, I was looking for a particular movie, as our regular video shop didn’t carry it. I went in, … Read entire article »
Filed under: General
Comcast a no show, me here with the sound of the crickets.
I pay my bill on time. I keep my PC maintained. I make sure the PC is not filled with malware, that its clean and ready to run. Frankly, that should make me one of Comcast’s favorite customers. But I am not. They lied to me today. They said they would send yet another technician between 8-5. He was a no-show. When I called not to happy about it, they hung up on me. What the heck am I paying for? Here is what ELSE I get for my $105 a month. Technicians who are obviously unqualified. What am I basing my judgement on? My knowledge of everything that has to go right from the Cable company to the miles that it takes to reach my computer? No. I am basing it on the fact that … Read entire article »
Filed under: General
Don’t Get Mad, Get Diesel Secret Energy
There are a number of headlines across the country regarding people up in arms with the price of gasoline, some taking it to the point of filling their tanks and then driving off without paying. Where I agree that the dependency on foreign oil is and always has been crazy, making ourselves vulnerable to these oil rich nations, I always felt I had little knowledge on my own as to what to do about it. … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Gilmore Girl Quotes
I STILL really love this show! Now, here are some Gilmore Girl quotes for those who love it too! # SEASON ONE "It’s my mother’s name, too. She named me after herself. She was lying in the hospital thinking about how men name boys after themselves all the time, you know, so why couldn’t women? She says her feminism just kind of took over. Though personally I think a lot of Demerol also went into that … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
Google Talk
Ever since someone persuaded me to get ICQ, chat programs has been a large part of my life on the net. Not only did I download and USE chat programs, I then combined them with my love of graphics, and SKINNED them! Now, after trying ICQ, Yahoo, AIM, Skype, Trillian, iChat, PowWow, Odigo, and MSN, now Google is getting into the act too! "Google Talk, Google’s long-expected entry into the IM and VoIP market, has arrived. As … Read entire article »
Filed under: General
65 Girls At Area School Pregnant
It might be starting to sound like I am really ‘down’ on the system we have here in the US. I suppose I am. I KNOW that it is one of the many reasons I decided to homeschool. It seems that in one Ohio school, where they have 490 female students, 65 of them are pregnant! That is an amazingly outrageous ratio. I think when I was in high school, we had ‘one girl who got in trouble’ and chose to finish her school year out, pregnant. In the city of Canton, where this high school is located, their health department statistics show that 104 of the 586 babies born to Canton residents in Aultman Hospital and Mercy Medical Center had mothers between 11 and 19. EXCUSE ME? 11 years old ??????????????? That’s nuts. News … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Mom said there’d be weeks like this…
“The Internet is like a giant jellyfish. You can’t step on it. You can’t go around it. You’ve got to get through it.” -John Evans “Getting through it” hasn’t been easy this week! First my usually splendid speed on Comcast (when it works), died on me. It has been next to impossible to be productive. To get answers to my repeating connection issues, is an ordeal I could write a book on. I got my new connection in October, it is now August, and my reported amount of outages (which I didn’t document, but just KNOW they are many). I’ve had three incidents where techs needed to come to my house this month, each time my connections upon them leaving was worse than when they got here . I finally called Comcast’s billing. … Read entire article »
Filed under: General
Outdoor Dance Recital
My daughter Laura is quickly becoming like her mom. She met a friend on the internet, and wanted to meet her in person, and wanted me to meet the little girls mom, too. Katie is the new friend’s name, and Katie who was going to appear in an outdoor dance recital at a local park, invited Laura to watch her. I grabbed my camera and we went. Its a lovely park, and I am always ready … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
Listening to…Gilmore Girls!
I am nuts about this show. At 5 pm each day, all activity in my home comes to a halt. Miquel teases me as sometimes I insist we squeeze our summer classes between General Hospital and Gilmore Girls. Like everything else, I missed this show when it first came out, so am watching the reruns in the afternoons. I am not sure which season I am in, but well on my wish list is the DVD’s … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
Sunday School Humor
Quite unrelated to our lesson on the book of Romans, our Sunday School teacher doesn’t mind starting classes with a little levity. I thought it was cute and wanted to share it with my blog visitors. Moses Fishing … Read entire article »
Filed under: General
Bum-vertising
It happens to all of us with websites…we get an idea, a cause, or a theme and we decide to construct our own little place on the web. We toil, work, and rework the idea until it looks exactly as we want it to. We learn all the things needed in which to do it with. Till one day, there it is, a shiny new web site! Then what? What good is it just to have a website and no one see it? Attracting visitors can be a real puzzle sometimes. Well in my own experience, I have used a few methods, but I have to admit, I never thought of the one THIS GUY came up with! ‘Bum-vertising’. It seems, he has decided a good way to put to work those people … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Dragostea Din Tei
Dragostea Din Tei + one goofball is proof that sometimes the computer and high speed internet can be dangerous in the hands of children. The first time I heard this song, well I just almost didn’t hear it, over the giggles of my children watching a silly video with this fellow mouthing the words of this song into his web cam. I am going to be the first to admit, after hearing it a few times, that this thing is very catchy. Always cautious, I decided to look up the meaning. Apparently translation isn’t easy, even in the title: According to Wikipedia: “Dragostea Din Tei is written in Romanian and the title is not easy to translate efficiently due to the ambiguous translation of Din and lack of context for the phrase. There are several … Read entire article »
Filed under: General
Gigapixel Resolution
Graham Flint and Catherine Aves are not your average photographers. The two are currently traveling across the country creating a photographic record of landscapes using cameras that Flint invented, which take pictures at 1,000-megapixel resolution—many times what a digital camera can snap. The husband-and-wife team has dubbed their effort the Gigapxl Project Many of the photographs the pair takes are as large as murals. The pictures capture so much detail that looking at them conjures up digital photography’s future. One camera weighs a 100 pounds More HERE … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Meteor ‘Outburst’ Expected Friday Morning
Yahoo News reports that this summer’s Perseid shower will be exceptional. The moon is mostly out of the way later in the night, and higher-than-normal activity rates are expected over the United States. A few Perseid Facts…. Perseid meteoroids (which is what they’re called while in space) are fast. They enter Earth’s atmosphere (and are then called meteors) at roughly 133,200 mph (60 kilometers per second) relative to the planet. Most are the size of sand grains; … Read entire article »
Filed under: General
Recently added to my MP3 library…
1. Audience – I Put A Spell On You (4:09) 2. Audience – You’re Not Smiling (5:14) 3. Bream, Julian – Andaluza (Playera), various guitar & other non-piano arrangements (No.5 of ‘Spanish Dances (12)’) (0:47) 4. Bream, Julian – Andaluza (Playera), various guitar & other non-piano arrangements (No.5 of ‘Spanish Dances (12)’) (2:05) 5. Bream, Julian – Cancion del emperador, for vihuela (2:23) 6. Bream, Julian – Fantasia for guitar (0:39) 7. Bream, Julian – Fantasia for guitar (2:48) 8. Bream, Julian … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
How About them O’s?
(From my cousin Tanya, again) How about them O’s (gives me a chance to plug our crazy weather, too!) A guy from Baltimore dies and is sent to Hell. He had been a horrible man his entire life. The devil puts him to work breaking up rocks with a sledgehammer. To make it worse he cranks up the temperature and the humidity. After a couple of days, the devil checks in on his victim to see if … Read entire article »
Filed under: General
Thou Shalt not Steal…
…thy Neighbor’s Net It seems there are many people out there with fast broadband internet connection and not paying one thing. How? In this age of wireless, they are able to tap into their neighbor’s connection, picking up their signal, and begin browsing. I have even noticed on my own PC, (when I was wireless) that a “Thomas” was listed as a user. I don’t know any Thomas, there is none in my household, so I … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Xerraire Templates
Templates are nothing new to web design, but the original ideas the industry keeps coming out with over and over again can be very outstanding without being costly! I recently just added templates to my webdesign section of Xerraire.com! Do you have a website or blog that you would just LOVE to have a fresh design to go with but not have the time to do it yourself?? Templates are the answer! Browse through these flash and non flash templates! » HERE As you can well see, there is something there for everyone! … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
Hot for Teacher
…another reason to homeschool! I joined the homeschooling bandwagon a lot earlier than many. I wasn’t a true pioneer like my cousin Lois was, but she inspired me to homeschool Enric soon after. The reasons to do so were many. Too many to list here, but as the years pass, I feel more vallidated in my decision. Like recent headlines about way too many sex scandals involving teachers and their students. I remember in my junior high school there were whispers of one English teacher and another young girl. If that was later proved to be true, I never learned about it. Some years later, however, there arose yet another scandal in my old high school, and incidently right across the street where I was living at the time. Living there became a nightmare … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Speed
“There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.” Mahatma Gandhi (Indian Philosopher – 1869-1948) Ok, perhaps there is more to life. I’d like to think that I consistantly enjoy a very slow place. I sure don’t speed in my car, I really don’t like to go to a theme park and try the latest ultra fast roller coaster, and I definately enjoy living, absorbing, enjoying life and savoring all there is. However it is no … Read entire article »
Filed under: General
Catching Up
My friend Debbie, who I attended school with, invited me to lunch. It was a real nice treat to get out of the house, just us girls, and leave the children behind for a change! Our boys, Ross and Miquel, are good friends, but today was just us. We had a lot of catching up to do, as our last outing was a few years ago! We chattered about anything and everything. We can really talk! … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
Grandmom
My grandmom, was born Ethel Leah Boyce, February 17th, 1907, to a very big family in West Virginia. She had 11 brothers and sisters, and she had a twinkle in her eye revealing the mischeif that they all must have got into, proved not only by that spark, but on the occasions they would reunite, especially with her sisters. They wouldn’t appear as grandmoms or moms any more, but as silly girls, giggling and … Read entire article »
Filed under: General
Terragen in the Movies
Most know I love to work with a very fine program called Terragen to generate landscapes. But I wonder how many know that Terragen is used in movies, in games, in multimedia and in print? Recently, the Terragen group I belong to announced that the Movie “Stealth” was helped by Terragen in the graphics. Article about Terragen in “Stealth” HERE Here are some other items that have included this wonderful program: film SkyTimeLapse.com – stock footage SkyTimeLapse.com sells time lapse … Read entire article »
Filed under: General
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