sapsey72

LeWar Rages On

2009-02-24T13:03:00.000-08:00

In case you're out of the Twitterverse loop, there is a rather large phenomenon taking place in Real Time that is affectionately known as LeWar.

The comedian Michael Ian Black has the distinct honor of being the one to issue the "clarion call", as he calls it. Click here to learn about the origins of this "war", and/or to get caught up on all things Michael Ian Black.

This probably wouldn't have had any steam at all, except LeVar Burton made the mistake (?) of responding, which only fanned Michael Ian Black's flames, and next thing any of us in Twitterverse knew, #LeWar is ranked higher in popularity than Shaquille O'Neal (who, by the way, has been cordially invited by Mr. Burton himself to join LeVar Burton's "team").

So what is this "war", in a nutshell? To see who can get the most followers on Twitter, which apparently is a point of contention for Mr. Black. There is a rumor that the comedian Rainn Wilson of The Office fame might be recruited to Mr. Black's side as a way of properly contending with Mr. Burton's heavy hitter Shaquille O'Neal.

Stay tuned for more updates, or better still ... just join Twitter, add @michaelianblack, @levarburton, and let the games begin!

LeWar Rages On

2009-02-24T12:37:00.000-08:00

Shift in direction

2009-02-23T17:46:00.000-08:00

I've decided that, since I'm not the politico I was starting to turn into since the election, and since this blog has gathered a significant amount of dust, it is time to suck it up and broaden the proverbial horizons. Dusty blogs make me sad.

I'm serious, they really do!

My political opinions still stand, however. That's not going to change. My political opinions are not going to win me legions of friends either, so I'm not naïve, I will no doubt piss off the unenlightened which is fine but not my goal by any means. My goal here (in the beginning) was to educate and inform, either through my own information or by providing links (see sidebar). Folks, we don't have anyone but ourselves to blame for the state of American government. If you didn't vote then you forfeited your voice - that's your own problem! I personally used my vote to vote for what's known as a "third-party" nominee - I didn't vote for Obama or McCain. That being said, I'm thrilled that I was alive to witness and experience this historical event in our country's history. I don't think Obama will run this country into the ground; but only time will tell. He's got a lot of potential stretched out in front of him ... I just don't think he'll rise to the challenge, because he's got even more hooks deeply entrenched in big business than you can shake a Republican at.

The real change will come when someone who's NOT invested in corporate America gets elected President. Of course by then it may be too late, but who knows.

I'm especially disappointed by Obama's decisions about the war. If you follow NPR then you probably don't know that he just deployed 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan!

Anyway. I digress. No, Obama's not my favorite, but I'm open-minded. He's no slouch; I'm sure (read: hoping) he's got a few tricks up his sleeve. I just hope I'm right! I hope he at least listens to the third-parties...

Okay, I'm off to update a few things around here, stay tuned for more posts, of the less-politically inclined variety...

Space ... the final frontier ...

2009-01-27T12:29:00.000-08:00

Today's date in history is now even more significant - especially for Star Trek fans. Today the ashes of Gene Roddenberry and his wife, Majel, were launched into space. Majel died just about 6 weeks ago of complications from leukemia. (I just love the name Majel; that's my grandma's name, my dad's mom, who died a long, long time ago. She didn't have her ashes launched into space though.)

Also on this date in 1967: the Outer Space Treaty was signed into law. That popped up on one of my iGoogle widgets and I was intrigued enough to look into it a little further to find out what exactly that entailed. Come to find out it was signed in 1967 by our country, the U.K., and the Soviet Union and this treaty "forms the basis of international space law". Eventually many, many more countries signed it since then; since January 2007 98 countries became "states-parties" to the treaty and another 27 are awaiting ratification.

After reading that I wondered about the exact date the original Star Trek series debuted, so off I went to imdb.com. I fully expected to find that the TV show followed behind the Treaty being signed. Nope - in fact the show launched over a year before the Treaty entered into force! That surprised me, but maybe I shouldn't be surprised. Anyway, on Star Trek's imdb.com entry was the news item about it's creator's ashes being launched into space today.

So why is all of this so interesting to me? Because I am a HUGE fan of the Stargate TV series, both SG-1 and now Atlantis, although I like SG-1 best. From the original movie starring James Spader all the way through 10 seasons of SG-1, 2 made for DVD movies after that, (Continuum and Ark of Truth) and now the Atlantis installment ... my love of sci-fi television really had it's start with Star Trek: The Next Generation which many people I've talked to feel was the best Star Trek of all. But I'm not trying to start an argument here: since TNG I've gotten into Voyager, but when we ran out of Voyager episodes to watch and we were shopping around for a new TV series to get into, that's when I discovered Stargate: SG-1. That captured my imagination in a way a TV show period hasn't done in a long, long time. I mean, I ate up Voyager - I was really surprised, because I remember when it came out and I couldn't have been less interested in it. But when I sat down to watch it about a year and a half ago ... I couldn't believe I ever passed it up. Captain Janeway became one of my favoritest and most memorable heroes.

Stargate however ... Stargate's appeal is in how much closer to our present day and age it is set. The military representation is one everyone can relate to because it's current. And if you didn't have any respect for the USAF before, you will after watching Stargate SG-1. I got really sucked into it and now I'm not afraid to admit that part of me believes something like that really, truly exists in an underground military station somewhere in Colorado. The idea behind Stargate is nothing short of brilliant - that the ancient Egyptian gods were in fact aliens from outer space who came here to take over our planet. Even in spite of the goofy costumes the actors wore in the early episodes of Stargate, I find that to be plausible. As soon as I got done reading about that Treaty on The Free Dictionary I immediately thought of the episode on Stargate SG-1 where all the world leaders convened to talk about what to do with the business of commanding the SGC. The episode was called "Disclosure" and was from Season 6. Now the premise of that episode was not to sign a Treaty ... but then you have to wonder how much the architects of that episode pulled from our own history, from our own lawbooks ...

At the same time I also believe that I might be wrong. The fact that I believe it might be true simply points to my unyielding hope in what might be "out there" ... or I just have an overactive imagination.

In any event, finding out about that Outer Space Treaty really surprised me. I never knew that existed, not that it was supposed to be a big secret. One thing that isn't secret is all the new technology that gets released to the general consumer public AFTER it gets tested by the United States military and/or NASA.

One really has to wonder. Or at least, I'm wondering ...

I hate my job

2009-01-18T04:48:00.000-08:00

What a dilemma: the economy is terrible right now. I can't just quit my job and go out and expect to get another job working somewhere else in my line of work. Or somewhere related to my line of work ... it's not that I'm not grateful for my job; I certainly am. It's just that with every passing day I am reminded more and more that my usefulness here has long passed, especially since they don't value my length of service in this job, they don't appreciate my level of experience. They pretty much let the newbie kids run the show, and it really rankles my chains!

It doesn't help that I keep making mistakes of the "senior" variety also. Last night's show was pretty horrible. Thank GOD above that all that happened on a Saturday night. And nobody's going to look at the fact that despite our maladies last night, we all showed up to do our job, and we felt our mistakes deeply ... I could go on and on.

And that's just it, I don't want to go on and on anymore! I'm happy to pass the torch, I have no more use for this business myself, I just can't figure out where I'm supposed to go next.

Actually I do know what I'm supposed to do, I just don't have the guts to take the plunge ...

Party like it's 1829

2009-01-13T11:52:00.001-08:00

I am pretty sure Obama's inauguration as President of the United States is going to be an affair the likes of which hasn't been seen since Andrew Jackson's inauguration.

Nearly 200 years earlier, the first territorial governor of Florida, Andrew Jackson, had his own mind for change:

Jackson resigned from the Senate in October 1825, but continued his quest for the Presidency. The Tennessee legislature again nominated Jackson for President. Jackson attracted Vice President John C. Calhoun, Martin Van Buren, and Thomas Ritchie into his camp (the latter two previous supporters of Crawford). Van Buren, with help from his friends in Philadelphia and Richmond, revived the old Republican Party, gave it a new name as the Democratic Party, "restored party rivalries", and forged a national organization of durability.[16] The Jackson coalition handily defeated Adams in 1828.

During the election, Jackson's opponents referred to him as a "jackass." Jackson liked the name and used the jackass as a symbol for a while, but it died out. However, it later became the symbol for the Democratic Party when cartoonist Thomas Nast popularized it.[17]

The campaign was very much a personal one. Although neither candidate personally campaigned, their political followers organized many campaign events. Both candidates were rhetorically attacked in the press, which reached a low point when the press accused Jackson's wife Rachel of bigamy. Though the accusation was true, as were most personal attacks leveled against him during the campaign, it was based on events that occurred many years prior (1791 to 1794). Jackson said he would forgive those who insulted him, but he would never forgive the ones who attacked his wife. Rachel died suddenly on December 22, 1828, prior to his inauguration, and was buried on Christmas Eve.

Jackson was the first President to invite the public to attend the White House ball honoring his first inauguration. Many poor people came to the inaugural ball in their homemade clothes. The crowd became so large that Jackson's guards could not hold them out of the White House. The White House became so crowded with people that dishes and decorative pieces in the White House began to break. Some people stood on good chairs in muddied boots just to get a look at the President. The crowd had become so wild that the attendants poured punch in tubs and put it on the White House lawn to lure people out of the White House. Jackson’s raucous populism earned him the nickname King Mob.

From, Wikipedia.

Of course, as many of us know Andrew Jackson went on to commit some of the most horrible atrocities against human life, tantamount to the Holocaust: he is the one responsible for banishing Native Americans living in Georgia to their death, on what came to be known as the Trail of Tears. I'm pretty sure Obama is far more even-keeled a personality than that ... but one never knows. The future is rich with potential; hopefully that future is in good hands with Obama, but only time will tell ...

Party like it's 1829

2009-01-13T11:27:00.000-08:00

I am pretty sure Obama's inauguration as President of the United States is going to be an affair the likes of which hasn't been seen since Andrew Jackson's inauguration.

Nearly 200 years earlier in 1829, the first territorial governor of Florida, Andrew Jackson, had his own mind for change:

Jackson was the first President to invite the public to attend the White House ball honoring his first inauguration. Many poor people came to the inaugural ball in their homemade clothes. The crowd became so large that Jackson's guards could not hold them out of the White House. The White House became so crowded with people that dishes and decorative pieces in the White House began to break. Some people stood on good chairs in muddied boots just to get a look at the President. The crowd had become so wild that the attendants poured punch in tubs and put it on the White House lawn to lure people out of the White House. Jackson’s raucous populism earned him the nickname King Mob.

Crap

2009-01-10T18:38:00.000-08:00

I *totally* disagree with you, and I think you suck as a producer. I think your news judgment is flawed and you have no business producing newscasts.

Mystic Tan

2009-01-08T12:02:00.000-08:00

For whatever reason, I found myself looking at a local tan salon's Mystic Tan web page. I don't know about you but I cannot think about Mystic Tan without being reminded of that episode of Friends where Ross goes to get one of these for the first time.

The irony of commitment

2009-01-04T04:17:00.000-08:00

The irony of commitment is that it's deeply liberating - in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life.

--Anne Morriss, Starbucks customer, "The Way I See It" #76

12 Days to Election!

2008-10-23T09:56:00.000-07:00

I haven't made a post in a while. I've been very busy at home and at work. I don't want to make a meaningless post just to make the date stay recent. I'm still leaning heavily towards Nader.

I was thinking about how I had been contacted by the Nader '08 campaign to take on a leadership position for his campaign here in Florida. I never returned that call. Oh how I regret that now, not that I would have been able to do anything about it; but I could have at least returned the call to say how honored I was to have been contacted.

First impressions are lasting.

About Ralph Nader

2008-10-12T18:46:00.001-07:00

I can write about him, right? I mean he stands side-by-side with the Green Party Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney. But I couldn't help noticing how he drastically outpaces both Ms. McKinney and Bob Barr in fundraising ... and upon closer inspection of his website, not to mention the latest Newsweek article on his presence in Florida, well ... it's pretty hard to just overlook him. I mean, heh, this is Ralph Nader we're talking about.

My earliest memory of Ralph Nader dates back to the early days of Carty Finkbeiner, Mayor of Toledo. Let's just say Mr. Nader wasn't exactly a fan. Okay, the truth is whenever Nader was in town it was guaranteed to be a great day in the news industry because when Nader and Finkbeiner got together sparks would fly tantamount to the Fourth of July. But then Carty has that effect on just about anyone he deals with. The biggest point of contention as I recall was the now-defunct Jeep plant. Something about eminent domain, I think. I can't find it exactly, and my mom would know better than me.

But I digress.

Take a look at Nader's website, votenader.org. Pretty impressive not to mention easy to navigate compared to votetruth08.com. Also, I wouldn't put a big ol' picture of Roseanne Barr on the front page either. I'm not even sure I would bury a benign text comment about how she supports me either. Not in a bid for the ultimate expression of American patriotism: the Presidency of the most powerful country in the free world. And I like Roseanne! But I wouldn't use her as the celebrity vehicle to promote me for President. That's just dumb. (I've made sure not to point people to that website for that reason.)

After reading the latest Newsweek article on Mr. Nader, I can honestly say I'm rethinking my vote. The point for me is not to vote for who's most likely to win - the point for me is to vote for who is most likely to effect change. Mr. Nader seems to have chosen a very strong running mate in Matt Gonzalez, too. Matt Gonzalez was elected president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2003. This was significant because he ran as a Green Party member at the time.

So I urge you dear reader to give Ralph Nader a closer look, as I am doing. He has a proven track record. He has more ballot access than Ms. McKinney, and I don't mean to knock McKinney's run for the Presidency. But I still believe my vote counts, and Ralph Nader feels the same way I do about all the issues that are important to me. I want there to be effective change - I don't want to just be sweet-talked about it, like I feel Obama is doing. And although I don't dislike McCain, he's been making some stupid mistakes. And don't get me started on Sarah Palin. I just don't know about her. Part of me likes her, part of me is really scared of what she would do to women's rights if she got anywhere near a leadership position in the White House. I think I would rather be sweet-talked about change, quite frankly.

Moreover, I think Ms. McKinney and Ms. Clemente stand a better chance of having their voices piped through Washington if Nader became President.

Common Enemy

2008-10-09T19:20:00.000-07:00

I really have to work at suppressing the urge to make political slurs. I am conscious of the smarmy remark as it bubbles up within me: the kind of remark that would make those who share my political ideologies laugh out loud and nod their heads approvingly. I began to notice my tendency to do that after listening to my co-workers making comments (we all work at a television news station - uh, kind of can't escape the political coverage there). It's completely understandable. It's school spirit, good old-fashioned competition.

Except these days it is all too evident how damaging it can be to fly the flag of our political ideals. It really only serves to alienate us from each other, and so I decided to try a different tack: I've decided to listen to those whose views I fundamentally disagree with to see if I could learn something from them.

Let me tell you, that is not easy.

It really does have the effect of making one want to lash out or turn away and clap your hands over your ears. So I decided to listen: I'm listening to Obama supporters, McCain supporters, and anyone else who cares to share their views with me, whether I agree with them or not. It really takes some skill to be able to do that - not to sound arrogant, but I'm here to tell you if I can do it, anyone can do it. In fact, I believe more of us should do it.

From talking to people I already see the positives that BOTH sides have to offer: democrats are good at some things, republicans are good at others. Neither side is good at EVERYTHING! Both sides, ultimately, need the strengths of the other. What if all the countries who are trying to put astronauts into space worked together instead of racing each other to be the 'first' to accomplish something? Imagine if you had the strength of the Russians working with the strengths of the Chinese and Americans to explore the final frontier? I bet those 3 countries working together could come up with some amazing things! Better lifestyles all around!

But of course, that means setting aside some pride and stubbornness. And frankly, I see both Obama supporters and McCain supporters being able to do that. Because if there's one thing both sides agree on, it's the strength of the citizens of this country. Even in the midst of our current economic situation, everybody knows this country is going to bounce back eventually, somehow, some way. It might be sooner, it might be later, but it's going to happen.

Perhaps in the voting booth there should be a place where voters are encouraged to write one positive thing about both candidates whose views they 'oppose'. Find one positive thing, something you like about the candidates you didn't vote for. Nobody is completely evil - Randy Pausch said that (The Last Lecture). Everybody has something good to offer, even if it takes a while to reveal itself.

Another thought I had was maybe if enough people voted for a third party, it would get the Democrats' and Republicans' attention in a way that would force them to look at each other as compatriots rather than as enemies. In other words, the third parties would become their 'common enemy', the one thing that brings 2 bickering parties together, usually. I'm not naive, I know the next President will be either Obama or McCain; but my pressing question is what will the next President do to get both parties to work together? Do they even know what to do? What happened to that spirit that unified the House and Senate members singing "God Bless America" together right after 9/11? The 9/11 terrorists are not sufficient anymore; that's why I think a good, strong third party, preferably the Green Party, but I'll take just about any one of the bigger ones, to get Democrats and Republicans to build off each others' strengths, rather than dividing our fine country.

Bad News These Days

2008-10-09T14:31:00.000-07:00

Wall Street is setting the kinds of records today it would rather not set. Obama and McCain are at each other's throats. People are out of work also in record numbers. All day long I sit and listen to this, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about moving to Canada. Running away, no matter how nice it sounds, never works, and running away is precisely what is wrong with our economy right now. People like me who ran away from our civic duties, taking all our freedoms, rights and privileges for granted for too long. Forgive me for sounding like a broken record but it's the truth. So far I've spent my adulthood mostly in blissful ignorance of the houses of cards being built out of our economy, content to let someone else make the decisions for me, content to not have to deal with the boring details that take me away from my very own pursuit of happiness. Because after all, I'm worth it ... right? It's all about me - isn't it???

Well I'm not running away this time. No matter how much it hurts I plan on staying put, weathering this storm and the storms ahead (this Wall Street crash is not going away any time soon). I have a lot to learn; I hate to admit it, but I really don't know that much about the finer workings of our government. And when you multiply that by how many other 30-something adults like me out there? Not to mention the 40-somethings, 50-somethings ...

... and THAT'S what is wrong with our economy today. Among other things.

SarahSoda.net

2008-10-03T16:53:00.000-07:00

What is this website about? The Presidential Election 2008, specifically the third party candidates who have been blacked-, whited-, yellowed-, and just generally edged out, and especially The Green Party whom I've thrown my support behind 100%. I'm even registered with the Green Party in the state of Florida.

Normally this is where I would air my views, opinions, stories about my day, etc., but now I'm turning it into what I hope becomes a springboard for discussion and research into the candidates and issues that we'll be voting on come November 4th. My main message is this: there are more than 2 choices for President in nearly all 50 states of this fine country. You don't hear about anything other than Democrats and Republicans on your news because the Democrats and Republicans have reaped so much power and persuasion in recent years, in Washington, the media, corporate interests (yes, they're both guilty of it) that they have reached a level where they can dictate who goes to the debates, who gets the advertising time and dollars and ultimately who gets the votes. Corruption is running amok in our government, and the immediate solution is to get everyone to vote for a third party - ANY third party - although I personally prefer the Green Party and I am registered with the Green Party in the battleground state of Florida.

So to read a couple posts I've made, go here. And click here to find a whole bunch of websites I've come across through my research that I'd like to share with everybody, most notably at the top of the list a documentary I think every red-blooded American, every American who has to pay taxes should see: it's called, Split: A Divided America, and it's an unbiased view of bipartisan politics in present-day America in light of this particular Election year.

Inaugural post on the new website

2008-09-30T16:40:00.001-07:00

Hello, and welcome to my shiny new, very own, personal website. You have arrived at SarahSoda.net where I make my home and publish my thoughts, etc. More to come later, but for now, to read my views on this year's Presidential Election click here.

Red + Blue = Purple

2008-09-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

I just finished watching a documentary that confirmed many of my suspicions, and echoed a few of my sentiments about politics in America today. I wish everyone who is old enough to vote could watch it before they go to the polls on Election Day - it's called, Split: A Divided America. I saw it on the Independent Film Channel, so I don't know if cable subscribers get that channel.

What made this documentary so compelling were the questions they asked, although the people interviewed were about as diverse a group of people as you could hope to find in America: from experts to regular people, old to young, from the Rust Belt to the Bible Belt, conservatives, liberals, and many people in-between. Noam Chomsky was interviewed; Tucker Carlson (former host of Crossfire on CNN) was interviewed, former heads of both Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns of years past.

They worked behind the scenes and offered their insight.

And the truth is the political campaigns, especially today, are deliberately negative (as a way of keeping voter turnout down - isn't anyone else bothered by the fact that the ONLY people who are bothering to put people in the White House only represent 30% of our country? Are you comfortable with that??), and are run by the same people who promote ... toothpaste.

Tucker Carlson called the political advertising "narrowcasting" because of how it narrows the viewpoints on any given subject. I forget what his exact words were, which is a shame because he really hit the nail on the head.

One other expert (I forget who just now) wanted to know why some housewife in Iowa is more bothered by the idea of an Islamic radical killing her and her family, than she is about her husband's job security, or the fact that they don't have health insurance for their family, or the quality of education her children are getting. His point was, this woman is going to cast her vote based on something that ultimately, is very unlikely to happen, rather than being focused on issues that are very real to her (read: all of us) on a daily basis. In other words, what is the likelihood that she will have to pick up a gun to defend herself (in Iowa, mind you) from Osama bin Laden - or Al Qaida period - than she would have to take her kids to the doctor?

Anyway, the documentary did a GREAT job of telling the story of what's really going on inside the political arena of today's America going into Election 2008, and they didn't just interview experts. They interviewed Citizen Joes and Janes, and they discovered that for all the differences the media chooses to paint our country in, the fact is the majority of us actually agree more than we disagree.

If you watch the political ads and you really care about what direction our country is headed ... I highly recommend you watch this documentary. It doesn't make a case for any political party, so there is no particular endorsement to be found there.

Familiarity breeds contempt

2008-07-18T22:16:00.000-07:00

Our Daily Devotional:

Too Familiar?

Revelation 2:4 NIV: Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.

It has been said that, "familiarity breeds contempt." One author writes, "Familiarity breeds unfamiliarity�unsuspected unfamiliarity, and then contempt." The notion is that when frequently exposed to something, we begin to lose sight of its value. We treat it as though it is not worthy our consideration, time, or attention. Perhaps we do not actively view it with disdain, yet we, by simple neglect, hold it in a subtle contempt. For most of us, modern society is well exposed to Christ and Christian doctrine. There are Bibles to be had, churches to attend, and opinions on Christian philosophy at every turn. And that is good, right? Consider cultures that do not have such offerings. People hide to meet and worship, and scripture is still sacred and hungered for. One might contend that they are richer than we, for they still see the worth of such things, and hold them in high regard. But we are blessed, right? We have all we could want. If only we could want what we have a little more.

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written by Randy Chambers
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Inaugural season

2008-07-10T22:54:00.000-07:00

I am so excited! Tonight I come home and find out that my husband picked up Season 1 of Stargate SG-1 at Wal-Mart!!! HOORAAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!! This is quite the coup.

This all began last Christmas when, armed with a $20 spending limit and one night to spend it, I embarked upon the search for my husband's Christmas present. I was working my way through the electronics/media section of Wal-Mart when I spied a display of Stargate SG-1 DVD collections, divided by season. However, Season 1 was nowhere to be found, so I settled on Season 2... and that's how it all began.

Since then, we have diligently and faithfully watched every episode from Season 2 through Season 10 AND The Ark of Truth. Now, we are not only able to complete our collection, now we can bring the whole saga full circle.

More later.

How to not give up hope

2008-04-26T16:53:00.000-07:00

This was taken from my iGoogle widget, "Faithwriters Daily Devotional". I found this one to be particularly profound...
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Our Daily Devotional:

Off To A Good Start?

Hebrews 10:36 NIV: You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

Resolve, endurance, fortitude, perseverance, determination, steadfastness, tenacity--all characteristic of someone who holds the course, fights the good fight, and finishes the race. Many there are who with great bursts of energy jet from the starting line once inspired to follow Christ more closely. Many there are who quickly lose steam and falter, fade in their own strength, and fall far short of the finish line. So many of us start out strong, only to give up when the Christian life becomes a struggle. We grow weary. We tire. Our inspiration turns to hopelessness. Our enthusiasm becomes exhausted. Why is it so many of us give up? Perhaps we have forgotten what we live for, would fight for, and were at one time ready to die for. Perhaps the obstacles have taken toll and left us without of anything left to give. We do have hope in Christ. He will help us get through. But we must not lose sight of our purpose, goal and our Lord. We must not give up. We must not quit. We must find through Jesus the determination to carry on.

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written by Randy Chambers
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Childlike, a story of hope

2008-04-17T17:54:00.000-07:00

This answers a question I've had for a long time, I'm ashamed to admit: what exactly is meant by the Bible verse listed below?

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Our Daily Devotional:

Let Children Come

Mark 10:15 NIV: I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.

What do you see in your childhood eyes? Looking back to days gone by, what do you recall the most? How did you view the world? How did you view yourself? How did you view God? In childhood years, everything is big and new. Pain is severe, and happiness is more wonderful than our strongest laughter can express. In childhood years, the world is so very big, and we are so very, very small, and God, God is the greatest question yet to be answered. Is it any wonder that the greatest Wonder can only truly be experienced with the wonder of childhood eyes? Christ, Wonder of wonders He is. He still holds great wonder for His children. To any who will embrace Him with the faith of a child, He offers the world, a world that is so very big, so very wonderful and new, and so very exciting. Such a world is ready for you to experience today if you will look on Christ through childlike faith. He still entreats, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."

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I hold on to these words tightly, close to my heart. Life is so crazy and uncertain right now, and I feel like I've lost my innocence a hundred times over in my adult life. So I keep this verse in mind, so that I don't forget - I don't want to be the kind of adult who has forgotten what childhood is like!

I [heart] palm trees :)

2008-04-16T16:51:00.000-07:00

Apathy

2008-04-12T21:04:00.000-07:00

My attitude toward my career has truly sunk to a new low. I used to be passionate about it; now I direct all my energy toward being politically correct in the eyes of my superiors. I pretend to be interested. Deep down, I really couldn't care less, and the worst part is, nobody notices. Nobody notices because nobody knows how to spell correctly, nobody pays attention to detail. Oh but I see it - I see it and let it go anymore, hoping someone will notice. But nobody says anything. And the more nobody says anything the more it drives my apathy deeper and deeper.

I don't really feel angry anymore. That's part of the problem! I just simply do not care. I look at the clock, try to figure out how much more I have to put up with it (just 5 more hours, just one more half-hour show), and do my best to get by. I've learned how to make myself invisible around here, which ironically is exactly what the bosses/supervisers want. You will be invisible if you are: everywhere at once; putting out fires; or just generally picking up the slack that is constantly lying around here. I will do those things, but that is purely personnel management most of the time. It has nothing to do with journalism or accuracy and it sure as HELL has nothing to do with bettering our community.

No one cares.

We are all caught together in this curious quagmire of keeping visits to the boss's office down to a bare minimum. That's all this job means to anyone anymore. And it's not just here ... it's all across the country.

My wish, if I could have one: that I live long enough to see it turn around...

Not a hairdo

2008-04-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

Seriously, this is a hair DON'T!

On a sidenote, the makeup's no bargain either. Only a VERY PRETTY GIRL could pull this off - and then only if this VERY PRETTY GIRL happens to be under the age of 25.

Please. This is a poor example of hair 'art'.

Bad hair day

2008-04-07T20:23:00.000-07:00

The problem with hairstyle magazines - and now websites - is that some of the haircuts look so weird! Especially long hairstyles - take a look.

Too many projects, not enough day

2008-04-05T09:08:00.000-07:00

So many things I'd like to do sitting in front of the computer. Lately this is my lamentation. Sorry to sound like a broken record, but somehow I feel if I write about it, get the words out in front of my eyeballs, then I'll be better able to see a solution to the problem.

Right now all my thoughts are churning around in my head I'm afraid my head will explode. What do I do? Where do I begin? On the one hand I need to transfer my documents over to the other computer, then Glenn's going to upgrade some hardware on the new tower, install some software, and then I'll have a CD burner, and I'll be able to plug in my headsets and microphone to the front of the tower rather than the back. Plus, it's just a better machine, I think it has a bunch more memory on it. It's got a better processor too, if I'm not mistaken; currently I'm running on a Celeron, which is better than nothing, but not a P4.

So I have to wait to install the software that lets me upload pictures from my phone. I must have over a hundred pictures that I need to upload before I can clear them off my phone. That's one thing that's holding me back: being able to post pictures to my blogs, any of my blogs. Right now in order to post a picture that I take on my phone - my primary source of picture-taking - I have to go through a long, clunky, inefficient process of starting a new message and adding a picture to it (can't send directly from the picture which, pardon my language, SUCKS!!) before I can send it. HOWEVER, doing it that way, in order to select the picture I want I have to scroll all the way through the entire database of pictures from the beginning - that's where the process becomes very slow and cumbersome. There are sooooooooo dang many pictures on the memory card that it takes a very, very, very long time. Long enough to make me not want to do it at all.

Trouble is, lately I've amassed a lot of pictures that I desperately want to publish. The other thing that would greatly enhance the process, this I just discovered today, is to set up an email account through my cell phone service. That would enable me to send the picture directly from the picture itself and bypass the process described above. I'm not sure I want to do that, simply because it's a shared plan. But man, that would be awfully, awfully convenient: instant publishing! I should look into it.

Okay, I'm done ranting. It's worked up my appetite so I'm going to find something to eat.

Please support Journey to Forever

2008-03-17T16:30:00.000-07:00

Journey to Forever is a pioneering expedition by a small, mobile NGO (Non-Government Organization) involved in environment and rural development work, starting from Hong Kong and travelling 40,000 kilometres through 26 countries in Asia and Africa to Cape Town, South Africa.

Our route will take us away from the cities and populated districts to remote and inaccessible areas (usually also the least developed and poorest areas), where we'll be studying and reporting on environmental conditions and working for local NGOs on rural development projects in local communities.

The focus will be on trees, soil and water, sustainable farming, sustainable technology, and family nutrition.

The aim is to help people fight poverty and hunger, and to help sustain the environment we all must share.

--The foregoing was taken straight from the homepage of their website, Journey to Forever.

LiveJournal: Going the Way of the Dinosaur

2008-03-17T13:55:00.000-07:00

Recently there has been a business decision - made by "management" aka SUP, the current owners of LiveJournal - to get rid of Basic (formerly "free") Accounts. Many have spoken out against this decision, including LiveJournal's advisory board, but management essentially turned a deaf ear on all of them and went ahead with the decision anyway. That was Wednesday, March 12.

Management then proceeded to put a spin on their decision, in the form of a comment left by the VP of Product Development for LiveJournal, Jason Shellen, on the original news post, as an "answer" (I use the term lightly, dear readers) to the outcry from those thousands of LiveJournal users (including members of the advisory board whose counsel went unheeded by management) who reacted to the news bit. Just read some of the comments there and you get the picture of what's going on very clearly. That was March 13.

Just one day after the original announcement, SUP issued another, formal news item solely as a response to all the negativity they encountered from the original post. Read it and the comments that follow, especially the first comment titled, "worst. idea. ever." which has links to the posts made by a couple of LJ's advisory board members, and you will see that LiveJournal is about to become the next victim in the long, long history of small businesses that get sold out to big companies that have nothing but dollar signs in their eyes.

Here's my editorial: The more I think about it, the more I want to blame Brad Fitzpatrick for selling the company in the first place. And yet I don't blame him, all at the same time. He's got bills to pay, dreams to pursue, and in all honesty he probably had the best interests of LJ users at the front of his own business decisions the whole time. How was he supposed to know he signed a deal with the devil? Many times in life we get swindled - we get taken for a ride. And I think that's what has happened to Brad Fitzpatrick. I don't know Mr. Fitzpatrick from Adam, but I'm not stupid, I see what's going on here. LiveJournal is in the middle of a political debacle right now, one that many don't see any hope that it will survive.

One thing I can say for sure: SUP are a bunch of snakes, slithering, hissing, corporate snakes. The very worst kind, the Enron kind.

Beware - and stay far, far away if you can!

Cross-posted in: LiveJournal, Vox, tumblr., MySpace, and Facebook. And any others I can think of.

The perfect pile of poo

2008-03-17T09:56:00.000-07:00

I just read, moments ago, a great article on composting: click here to go to the website.

See, I am trying to start a garden. Naturally, I want it to be the kind of garden that keeps giving back, however, since I have historically been a city girl all my life - and by "city girl" I mean that my day-to-day standard of living has always depended on commercial grocery markets - I don't know the first thing about gardening.

I also have big dreams for this garden of mine: I'm hoping to revolutionize the world with it. Of course, in order to be successful with it I am beginning to realize that I'm going to have to enlist the help of others, especially considering my lack of practical experience with gardening. Oh yes, I failed to mention that I'm trying to grow a vegetable garden. I have a book that has suggestions on how to grow a salad out of a container - I'm hoping that if I can do it myself and teach others how to do it, I can call my life a success! Or at least, this part of my life.

My motivation for starting this is twofold: the lack of quality at the supermarket, and the price of gas. I desire to have more control over the taste and nutritional value of my fruits and vegetables, which I can do if I grow my own. Furthermore, it will definitely be a heck of a lot cheaper to just walk out to the backyard and pluck fresh tomatoes off the vine than to get in the car - or walk to the bus stop - and travel to the grocery to get tomatoes.

But I have no idea what I'm getting into, and so far no supplies yet either. I only have deep hope and a vision, and the deeper hope that the greatest manifestation will be if I can teach others how to grow their own vegetable garden too!

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Now playing: Vorisek - Symphony in D Major - 3.Scherzo. Allegro ma nin troppo [ Check National Symphony Orchestra-Paul Freeman ] ((((((((((( HappyClassic )))))))))))
via FoxyTunes

First Saturday back to work

2008-03-15T19:11:00.000-07:00

So, I have decided to give some attention to this sadly neglected blog. I really like this blog service - I really do - but I bought a permanent account on LiveJournal, and well, I feel guilty if I don't post there.

But I really like this blog service. It's superior to LJ in many ways, much as I hate to admit it. Glenn was right; then again, I really didn't think he'd take me seriously last June when I told him I wanted a permanent account on LJ. *shakes head*

That's ok. LiveJournal is wicked cool. I'm not at all unhappy about being anchored there. SixApart is also wicked cool (I also have a blog with them on Vox). So many blogs, so little time ...

... I need to figure out a way to separate all these blogs I maintain. Yeah, that would make so much more sense! Or at the very least, publish links to all my other blogs on my LJ posts!

2008-01-08T08:36:00.000-08:00

Talking about online dating on Today show. I am so lucky Glenn turned out to be so great! :)

2008-01-08T08:35:00.000-08:00

Having fun posting to my blogs via cell phone. Unfortunately it racks up TMing charges... : / Hope my car is done soon!

2008-01-08T08:11:00.000-08:00

I come into Tires Plus they tell me it will be an hour. Inwardly I groaned. Then the Today Show came on w/ Richard Simmons. Problem solved.

New beginnings

2008-01-07T16:10:00.000-08:00

So here it is the new year, and suddenly I've got the maddening urge to update all my neglected blogs, hee hee! I almost don't want to post because it will push the pretty clouds picture down, but oh well.

One thing I'd like to do this year is keep up on making creative blog posts, almost making it like a digital scrapbook (almost), or better yet I'd like to improve upon my HTML skills ... or maybe even learn something more advanced like php like my husband does. I want my blog to be colorful, dynamic, interesting, and well-written. I don't want to simply post pictures just for the sake of posting pictures; I want to post pictures that are relevant to what I'm writing, images that will help illustrate what my words are trying to communicate.

That's all I've got for now.

Pretty Clouds

2007-08-15T18:01:00.000-07:00

This picture was actually taken some time toward the end of June. With the end of the drought comes much better viewing conditions at twilight. ^.^

Father's Day, 2007

2007-06-17T15:22:00.000-07:00

My father is dead now; he died on March 19, 2001. He missed the events of September 11th that year - thank God for small favors. Although I dearly wish he was still around ... I very much wish he was still around. I haven't met a father yet who even remotely compares to my own father. That's how great of a father he was.

Don't get me wrong, he definitely had his bad side. We all do. But he was unwavering in his faith to my mother. He really lived the whole "through good times and bad, in sickness and in health, til death do us part". No matter how bad it got between them - and in all fairness, I never witnessed it get really bad - there was never talk of divorce or separation. They stayed together through it all. I give both my parents a lot of credit for that. And I am extremely lucky to be married to a guy with the same sense of commitment to me!

I'm still getting to know my father-in-law. He is similar to my dad in some ways, vastly different in others. He is quite young, only in his 50s. My dad, who passed away more than 6 years ago, was 79 when he died. In my opinion my dad was much wiser when he died than my father-in-law is now, but my dad wasn't always so wise. He was in his 50s once too. Both dads strive to teach us, their children, which mistakes to avoid making, mainly those of the financial kind.

And both dads, be not mistaken, love their children very, very much.

All the world's a stage

2007-06-01T00:39:00.000-07:00

I am more than wildly interested in the fact that today is the birthday of CNN. The Cable News Network turns a quarter of a century today. CNN is a mere 4 months older than my sister, Elizabeth, who is not someone I associate with CNN at all.

This is the day that commemorates the birth of a 24-hour news reality that is now accepted as a rather common way of life in this world today. Thanks to CNN, events such as the Battle of Mogadishu (yeah that didn't ring a bell with me either, truth be known) and the Oklahoma City bombing, and lest we forget the fiasco that turned out to be David Koresh, and 9/11, all these events were brought to us as they were happening, courtesy of a 24-hour operation dedicating itself to what is essentially the original reality show. Now here's a newsflash: yes, folks, there was life before CNN. And correct me if I'm wrong but we were living it pretty well.

CNN. A name that has become synonymous with trust, reliability, promptness, efficacy, James Earl Jones, and not to be outdone Accuracy, as it pertains to delivering news. There are many interesting facts that can be found by clicking here, but none that are nearly as tantalizing (to me) than this one: coverage of the first Gulf War, among other things, led to coining the term "the CNN effect": the perception that CNN's 24-hour, real-time brand of coverage of those events had such an impact on United States' government as to influence it's decision-making processes.

If that is so, and we look at our position in this world from a political and social perspective, and we add up all the rights and wrongs ... what does this mean? Is there a difference between what life was like 26 years ago and life now? Was life "better" back in the "good ol' days"? Does this mean that it's not Nixon's fault the Presidency is corrupt at all - it's CNN's fault!

The truth is, it's probably futile to make such comparisons. We'd have gotten here regardless, and whatever CNN's role in the pudding was, while significant, was not operating in a vacuum either.

It's still very, very difficult to ignore this little tidbit of history. For better or for worse, we live in a 24-hour world. But then, we always have, now haven't we?

Bomb Threat, A Love Story

2007-05-24T15:12:00.000-07:00

A guy called in a bomb threat to Southwest Florida International Airport today. Authorities arrested the man, but not before a bomb search was conducted on a JetBlue flight (that poor airline has the worst luck). Turns out he was making a desperate attempt to keep his girlfriend from leaving.

The man is in custody, and the flight was only delayed by a mere 30 minutes. No word on if the girlfriend made it to New York or not, though.

Platoon

2007-05-23T21:24:00.000-07:00

Well I just received a bit of a shock.

I was browsing IMDB's website, namely the homepage, I scroll down and there's a quote. I love quotes. Here's what I read:

"Day by day I struggle to maintain not only my strength but also my sanity. It's all a blur. I have no energy to write. I don't know what's right or wrong anymore. " - Chris Taylor

Underneath that quote is a link that says, "From which TV show/movie?" I am intrigued because that quote pretty much sums up my life these days! Although most notably my life working here at the news station.

I was floored when I clicked on the link and saw that quote is from Oliver Stone's movie, Platoon. Of course. A war movie. I've often compared life working in this news industry to PTSD (post-traumatic stress syndrome), a disorder often found in soldiers of war. And that confirmed it. Hm.

What the hell is wrong with people?

2007-05-23T20:56:00.000-07:00

Tonight a 31-year-old Teacher of the Year in South Carolina was arrested on charges of having sex with one of her students. Immediately after hearing stories like this, we in the news business often ask each other, "Now why would you want to jeopardize your Teacher of the Year award, for any reason, but especially for that reason???" We get stories like this all the time. It's very sad. More and more and more and more I find myself asking that question: what the hell is wrong with people?

No shadows in Florida

2007-05-22T22:47:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken around 12:30pm EDT in Cape Coral, FL to demonstrate how my shadow was almost non-existent from the sun being so directly square overhead.

This is a test

2007-05-22T19:00:00.000-07:00

This is a test of the email-to-blog service offered by Blogger. Hope this works.

"Finish it."

2007-05-22T18:28:00.000-07:00

In most personal ambitions I undertake, I find myself looking backwards to detect patterns, in order to determine which forward direction I should take. I believe any successful endeavour is a combination of learning lessons of the past and taking the risk of moving forward into unfamiliar territory.

With my latest ambition, which ironically is a resurrection of an old ideal, I can only think of moving forward. To me, there is nothing to look backward upon - all I feel is this push forward. Or maybe it's a pull I feel.

I feel like I'm ready to grab this bull by the horns. It's going to thrash me around in the dirt and tear my clothes but I know I'll hang on. This is not about finding out IF I'll hang on; this is about putting the bull in it's place and emerging victorious. Although it's not victory I'm after but really, scratching an itch. Giving into a force that has never really left me. And Darren Aronofsky showed me how, unbeknownst to him.

I really, really hope that, after it's all said and done I can thank him myself.

The Love of my Life :)

2007-05-22T00:15:00.000-07:00

Doing what he loves. This is the "c0rrupt0" in the link above, "c0rrupt0's rants".

The Fountain

2007-05-21T20:00:00.000-07:00

I have never in all my life been so swept away by a film as I am right now by the remarkable Aronofsky project, The Fountain. Starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz ... I'm not even going to attempt to describe it. In fact, I must urge you, dear reader, to not read any reviews (if this is your first time hearing about it), definitely DON'T watch the movie trailer ... just rent the movie and watch it.

I just finished reading an article about the film and now I'm even more mystified and allured by it. I want to post the link to the article here, but I'm afraid anyone reading this post will click on the link, because it's easy, and read the article and boom, the movie will be ruined. I think it's very important to watch the movie without any preconceived notion about it. That's how I watched it and I was absolutely blown away.

In fact, just reading this little post here is potentially detrimental to watching that movie for the first time, if that's you.

The Show that Never Was

2007-05-17T19:38:00.000-07:00

Unbelievable. There we were, everybody in place to do the 10 o'clock show. Anchors sitting at the desk, makeup on, microphones attached, producer, audio, camera ops, prompter operator, chyron operator, director and TD. We got into the final 2 minutes before the show starts ... then 1 minute ... 30 seconds ... 15 ... countdown from 10 ... 9 ... 8 ... 7 ... 6 ... 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... ... ... wait a minute --

... the movie we were "supposed" to be following was still ... on. Those of us in the booth sat there and watched incredulously as Lethal Weapon 4 continued the fight scene we were watching.

10:01 -- "Crew's clear."

10:05 -- Email from one of the anchors: "Clean show?" jokingly.

10:26 -- Producer stops slapping her forehead.

In the 7 1/2 years I've been in this business I've never seen that happen before.

So what happened? A few months ago our station made an agreement with Comcast to do a half-hour news and weather show at 10pm, 7 nights a week. The agreement has since been terminated, effective May 25th (about one week from now). Recently our show has been pre-empted by movies. We had a list of those nights once upon a time, but the list we discovered tonight was outdated anyway. Since control runs remotely between Comcast and our building (and not within our building) we trigger the breaks from the control room. Otherwise we have no communication with Comcast.

And nobody knew. Nobody in our building knew we had no newscast. Unbelievable.

New Beginnings

2007-05-16T21:10:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my brand-new blog. My husband said I should check out this Blogger business, he says it's better than Live Journal which I have over 4 years invested in. I said I'd check it out and then I'll see.

I'm not sure I like the current title of my blog, which is "Internecine Paradise", which means a paradise that is in great turmoil like Florida for example. Florida is where I live, specifically Cape Coral. I work in the news business, and between my working life and the rest of it I see far more injustice than I care to admit to seeing. Anyway, maybe I'll change the title down the road. If I stick with this blog, that is.

I have no particular goal for this blog at this point. Although I will say I'm getting the very distinct feeling that I might be back here, more than once...