Barb’s Blog » Archive for August 2007
Currently Reading…
A writer recommended by Enric, Ted Dekker. When I told him I found Ted Dekker in the library, Enric asked, “Which one did you pick?” “Showdown,” “Oh,” laughed Enric, “that’s the weirdest one!” No kidding! Showdown When a stranger named Marsuvees Black appears in Paradise, he brings with him a message of hope and love. Or is it death and hate? Perhaps neither – perhaps both. He seems to know too much about the town’s many unspoken secrets, and he himself … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
Schmooze
Schmooze v. intr. To converse casually, especially in order to gain an advantage or make a social connection. I’ve been bestowed an award from Kristee. I guess one would expect nothing less from a Xerraire! … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
Band Practice
My life with two teens in the house just keeps getting more interesting. (More pics of the day here) Thursday, Ryan, Simeon, and Miquel had a little practice session poolside in the backyard with friends watching. (Police were only called twice – but I think the first was an instant fan, I sure am.) A musical sample/mix on YouTube HERE … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
Guitar Hero
For almost a year now, the big game for Playstation at our household has been DDR. A new game has taken over of late though, Guitar Hero Guitar Hero, as far as I can see, is like DDR for the fingers. The kids certainly don’t get the same kind of exercise as they did with DDR (they all had reached heavy), but they are sure having fun with the music. At first, I didn’t see the real sense … Read entire article »
John Edwards Invests In New Orleans Foreclosures
From what we have seen of Edwards so far, this really shouldn’t come as a big surprise. The same man who gets $400+ haircuts, the same man who charges around $55,000 for his speeches regarding poverty, and if my memory serves, the same man who opened his campaign in New Orleans, is also an investor of Fortress Investment Group ($16 million worth), has ties to lenders foreclosing on Katrina victims. Interesting information from the man who once said this: “While Washington turns a blind eye, irresponsible lenders are pulling a fast one on hard-working homeowners,” Mr. Edwards said a few days later. … It’s time to put an end to the shameful lending practices that are compromising our strength as a nation.” – April 4, 2007, in Davenport, Iowa “I said, ‘This is not okay … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Too Much Information?
We have all used the phrase from time to time when someone has finished telling us the details of something, sometimes personal, that perhaps we didn’t want to hear. However, I just finished reading an article by Hal Lindsey that takes a different approach. You remember Hal Lindsey? He was rather popular in the 70’s with his books on Bible prophecy. Now in this article he doesn’t give background to his claims, but giving him the benefit of any doubt, it made for some interesting reading. He opens that he was born during the depression, and says he has seen changes in our country over time, but says, now the rate of change is just so much faster. I can agree that keeping up with one day of news can lead me … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
For the Hardcore Photographer
Imagine traveling, taking a lot of photos, and wishing to safely store them somewhere, now you can! INOi HD182-20 USB 2.0 20GB Portable External Photo HardDisk The INOi 20 GB PHOTO HARDDISK is the perfect companion for digital photographers as well as mobile computer users. Easily back up your flash card on its internal 20 gigabyte (GB) hard disk!When you fill up your flash card with pictures and want to keep shooting, just transfer the entire contents … Read entire article »
Filed under: General
Venice-on-the-Bay
In my efforts to photograph Pasadena, Maryland, my last stop was Venice on the Bay beach on the Patapsco River. Lisa and I went in the afternoon Sunday. It was a perfect day. One glitch we did run into was a poor little goose with a fish hook caught in its tail feathers. Didn’t want to come out either. More of the photos HERE … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
Memories at Chelsea Beach
I don’t know how many times I went to this beach with a dear friend or loved one. I think it started out Lisa and I on our bikes riding almost daily to Chelsea Beach in the summers. I also went with Chris, Donna, Flavio, and for Petra and I, it was our sanctuary to have a quiet place to talk! Today I went back to a good place in my past and took some photos. You can see … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
Jose Carranza (Part 2)
The case of illegal immigrant Jose Carranza for being a suspect in the execution style killings of three people and critically wounding another, thickens. It appears that two might have been sexually assaulted before they were killed, which would fall in line with his past: Indicted by grand juries in New Jersey twice this year — in April on aggravated assault and weapons charges; and in July on 31 counts which included aggravated sexual assault of a child under 13 years old and endangering the welfare of a child he had a duty to supervise. He was released on $50,000 bail on the assault case, which stemmed from a barroom fight, and $150,000 bail on the sexual assault indictment, which charged that the abuse began in 2003 when the girl was 4 years old and … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Fluoride – Is It Poison?
The possible negative effects of fluoride have not been lost on me since I have thyroid disease, and as most do, I have tried to educate myself on what makes the condition worse or what started it. Well like every other topic of the day, be it global warming, or whether a quake caused a mine collapse or the mine collapse caused the quake, no set of "experts" seem to agree on the topic of fluoride either. So for years now, I had read in thyroid articles about fluoride dangers, hunted high and low for non-fluoride toothpaste, and finally it makes the mainstream news at the same time I finally found non flouride toothpaste for purchase. On Washington D.C.’s channel seven last night: Bob Carton, Former EPA scientist: "It was a foolish thing to … Read entire article »
Filed under: General, News Items
Jose Carranza
I debated what to call this particular post. Wordpess has a place for titles, and I was just baffled what to put there. I finally chose to just put the name of the killer. Jose Carranza and a 15-year old boy have been arrested in the deaths of 3 youths. Each of the youths, with their whole lives ahead of them, preparing to go to Delaware State Univeristy in the fall, were shot at close range, execution style. There was one victim, a fourth, who survived and could identify her would-be killer. Oh, this won’t surprise you, according to the news this morning on television, Jose Carranza is here in the U.S. illegally, and this is not his first brush with the law. We have to WAKE UP on this issue of illegals here. I … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
InfoUSA
How does one get a lucritive job that pays $180,000 a year and you don’t even have to show up at the Nebraska office? You wait for your mom to become the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as did Paul Pelosi Jr, who got the job the day after his mom was elected. He also gets to keep his day job in California. But this kind of job doesn’t seem to be new for children of Speakers of the House. The son of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert moved to Washington when his father became speaker and landed a lush lobbying contract for Google. InfoUSA is also the same company that Bill Clinton works for as a consultant, and for which the former president was paid $3.3 million over the past five years. In addition, … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Presidential Debates “Almost Unendurable”
Best quote I have read today is from the former House speaker, Newt Gingrich, who said presidential debates have become “almost unendurable.” “These aren’t debates. This is a cross between ‘The Bachelor,’ ‘American Idol’ and ‘Who’s Smarter than a Fifth-Grader.’” Gotta love that one. Modern road to White House ‘verges on insane,’ says Gingrich … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Can’t Delete Emails from Outlook Express
I know my computer is getting older, but lately, it sure has been doing some confusing things. The most confusing has been when I tried to delete some emails (both read and unread) nothing would happen. Considering I get around 2000 emails a day, this put me in a near panic, understandably. My first idea to fix this issue was to close OE down and reopen the program. That didn’t work. I did learn from another site how to do a “hard delete” (shift+delete), which deleted forever emails without sending them to the Deleted Items folder, but still wasn’t an answer to my problem. Further investigation told me that likely my Deleted Items folder had been corrupted. I was to do a search for Deleted Items.dbx and rename it, but a search found nothing. … Read entire article »
Learning Languages
Ever since I can remember, I have always been interested in languages. I was so excited when in the 8th grade my school offered Spanish. I flourished in that class and went on to live in Spain to learn it better than the six years of high school and college I got already. While in Spain, it turned out that I lived in a region that speaks Catalán as well as Spanish, so, my time there offered … Read entire article »
Drinking in the 21st Century
Growing up in my household, I remember alcoholic beverages were strictly forbidden. My mom had come from a background where her dad and older brother were both alcoholics, and she experienced first hand terrible things that drunkeness leads to. As I got older, I lived in Europe for awhile, and my position relaxed somewhat. Later I joined a church which has in its constitution when one joins, a promise not to drink, and I frankly haven’t missed it. Now, my son, recently after a bout of debates with the UnderOATH group, on their site, claim to be a Christian band, but admits to drinking, having been drunk, and “messing around with their girlfriends”, has formed some strong opinions on the subject of drinking alcohol. After a good amount of time talking with these people and doing a … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
Structurally Deficient
In light of the news regarding the I-35W Bridge in Minnesota tragedy, I couldn’t help but think of how shocking it can be when disaster happens when you least expect it. It reminds us how fragile and fleeting life is and can be. Things like this can often make us reflect, and that can be a good thing. I can imagine soon shock will turn to anger; bridges are made to cross, not collapse, and people will want answers how could this happen. But before the anger and blame hits, should we not self examine? Are there any relationships that are structurally deficient? Any loved ones we haven’t appreciated fully? Did you let someone walk away and not say I love you, perhaps for the last time? Most important, how about our relationship with God? Is … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items, Personal
Heal – Heel
In order to pass on this quote to my children, I figured I would have to explain that not in the too distant past a “heel” was a euphemism for dishonorable person. The quote was from a news story on MSNBC, “Broken Vows” “They thought their mother died of an illness when they were young. But when a local news report uncovers a parish priest’s old files, their lives are turned upside-down.” I went on to watch the whole story. Apparently this priest kept promising a woman he would leave the church and carried on with her. He never left the church, had an affair with her for years off and on, and the story winds down to her death, which he watched her take an overdose of pills and only called for … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
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