(Internal groan) I upgraded my phone to an iPhone. I think I may have been persuaded by advertising. Not by TV or internet, but by the people I work with. Four of the 6 directors I work with have the iPhone.
I have to say, I was jealous. I wanted to be able to whip my phone out and find an ATM, get directions, find out who the really tan man is on TV when I can't think of his name when I am trying to tell a story. I wanted the status of having one, not to mention the fact that my best friend has one and due to her work policy, she can't share photos with anyone outside of iPhones and I REALLY want photo updates of my nephew.
It came in a pretty little white box with pretty little white ear buds and phone charger. Directions....not so much. This is more of a learn by doing process. Dear Apple, I don't need directions on how to turn the phone on and off or directions on where all the ports are on the phone. I have eyes (cue 1-800-Contacts I-have-special-eyes commercial), I can see where everything goes. Just like on every other phone, the plus and minus mean volume.
What I would have liked is directions on how to turn the pass code feature on. Or, how to set up wi-fi so I don't have to turn it on every time my phone goes to sleep. What would be awesome would be telling me how to not clutter up my home screen by creating folders. All of the afore mentioned things I found out by Googling.
Yeeeesssss, that's right. Google. The guys you are in a nasty, ugly battle with over maps and other applications that you feel should be your own. I had to learn from either my co workers, on my own (which is frustrating because I feel as though I need to learn a new computer "language") or the internet. And that does not always give the correct instructions.
So, I think I have learned my lesson. It might be popular, but it wasn't the right decision. I only wanted the phone for stature. Not because it would make my life better. So, in 2 years, when I am up for renewal again, if I don't need the upgrade, I will not get it. I will do what is best for me, not what it makes me look like.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Separation of Church and State?
I do not believe it matters what party ticket you identify with. I don't believe in the two party system our fore fathers started, but that is for another day. What I am concerned about is how folks are voting.
Why do you vote? Is it because he is a Democrat and you are too, so he must be the right guy?
Proverbs 29:2 - When the righteous thrive, the people will rejoice. When the wicked rule, the people groan.
I am sure some of you are groaning now. Or did four years ago.
Did you know that God set up nations to be ruled by a righteous leader? He put a good man in place to rule over the people to help them thrive, to grow, to flourish. When a bad leader came into power, it was when the nation began to fall. The people were unhappy and after a few hundred years, the nation was destroyed. Either internally or because they were so weakend by their own turmoil they were overtaken by another nation. God made governments so they would stabilize a nation, not destroy them.
Want an example? The book of 1 Kings. This isn't a story book. It is truth. Not just "truth" as in it is the word of God (although it is), but these are kings of the Middle East. They are in history books...all history books. 1 Kings show all the rulers for hundreds of years. The further they got away from God's teachings, the worse off the kingdom became. 11 generations of kings later, Omni enters the picture. He was worse than all the other kings combined (1 Kings 16-18). Needless to say, it was bad.
So, where am I going with this? We should care about the private lives of our leaders. It is their character that matters - Proverbs 16:12. If they do not have character, they are not fit to lead us. This includes a head of household (read: husband), our pastors or political leaders. What is popular isn't always right. And, of course, what is right isn't always popular. If we are voting for people because they are popular, we aren't doing what is right.
Do your homework. We need to find out about the personal lives and values of the candidates. If they aren't following the path that God set for all of us, we are setting ourselves up for failure. And not just because we aren't getting what we want. God will break us in the future if we continue down the wrong path.
Why do you vote? Is it because he is a Democrat and you are too, so he must be the right guy?
Proverbs 29:2 - When the righteous thrive, the people will rejoice. When the wicked rule, the people groan.
I am sure some of you are groaning now. Or did four years ago.
Did you know that God set up nations to be ruled by a righteous leader? He put a good man in place to rule over the people to help them thrive, to grow, to flourish. When a bad leader came into power, it was when the nation began to fall. The people were unhappy and after a few hundred years, the nation was destroyed. Either internally or because they were so weakend by their own turmoil they were overtaken by another nation. God made governments so they would stabilize a nation, not destroy them.
Want an example? The book of 1 Kings. This isn't a story book. It is truth. Not just "truth" as in it is the word of God (although it is), but these are kings of the Middle East. They are in history books...all history books. 1 Kings show all the rulers for hundreds of years. The further they got away from God's teachings, the worse off the kingdom became. 11 generations of kings later, Omni enters the picture. He was worse than all the other kings combined (1 Kings 16-18). Needless to say, it was bad.
So, where am I going with this? We should care about the private lives of our leaders. It is their character that matters - Proverbs 16:12. If they do not have character, they are not fit to lead us. This includes a head of household (read: husband), our pastors or political leaders. What is popular isn't always right. And, of course, what is right isn't always popular. If we are voting for people because they are popular, we aren't doing what is right.
Do your homework. We need to find out about the personal lives and values of the candidates. If they aren't following the path that God set for all of us, we are setting ourselves up for failure. And not just because we aren't getting what we want. God will break us in the future if we continue down the wrong path.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Mmmmm, holiday baking. Most years I am only eating the holdiday goods. This year, I plan to do the baking too. So far I will be making Hello Dolly bars and Sundrop pound cake. Chex Mix is always a treat at our house too.
My dad always does the Chex Mix. he never uses a recipe or measuring agents. Everything is by memory and out of his hand/eye/memory. I watch him make sweet potato casserole every Thanksgiving and the only reason he looks at the receipe is to make sure he doesn't forget an ingredient.
I get my baking skills from my father. I am looking forward to spending the day in the kitchen and making stuff together. Spending time with him and creating memories are what I look forward too most every year. My dad makes everything special. I can't wait to have a family of my own so my kids get to have the experiences i have had.
My dad always does the Chex Mix. he never uses a recipe or measuring agents. Everything is by memory and out of his hand/eye/memory. I watch him make sweet potato casserole every Thanksgiving and the only reason he looks at the receipe is to make sure he doesn't forget an ingredient.
I get my baking skills from my father. I am looking forward to spending the day in the kitchen and making stuff together. Spending time with him and creating memories are what I look forward too most every year. My dad makes everything special. I can't wait to have a family of my own so my kids get to have the experiences i have had.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Fun Times
I am listening to a Disney CD in the car. One of them is Zippity Doo Da. Ever heard the song? It is a song about the Briar Rabbit. It reminded me of the Splash Mountain ride my mom and I did this summer at Disney World.
I flew to Orlando to visit my mom this past August to celebrate both of our birthdays. Now, my mother is famous for only "riding the exit" as in she doesn't do rides. There is a lot of things to do at Disney outside of the rides, but the one I can get her on is Splash Mountain. The ride is a log flume of sosrts. It goes up and down and flows inside and outside of the "mountain" with one gigantic drop in the middle. Fun fact, after you go down the big hill, there is still some ride left, going in and out of doors.
Disney has these things called fast passes where you can go get "tickets" for the ride at a certain time so you don't have to wait in a long line. Now, since it is the summer and Florida and hot...even with the tickets there is a bit of a wait. Its worth it. So anyway, we get fast passes for Splash Mountain and at 1:35 get in line for the ride.
After we walk through our line and get half way in, an announcement comes over the speaker system that bad weather has moved into the area and they may need to shut down the ride. Well, again, its Florida in the summer. Thunder is always something that could happen. Whatever. Mom and I were more worried about what seat we were going to get stuck in. Hopefully not the back because we think it is the wetest place to be.
We fianlly got out of the "cave" line into the open air where they were seating folks for the ride. We got stuck in the back of the log. I turned to my mom and said to stuff the purse between our legs so it doesn't get wet and clip our sunglasses to our shirts so they don't fly off. As we get up to the big hill, mom started to get worried about the drop and asked if it was too late to get off the ride.
Nope.
We were giggling at this point. She said she doesn't like the feeling of loosing her breath going down the hill. I told her that was the best part. As we get to the top of the hill and we can actually see outside....we can't see. The rain was pouring down so hard, you couldn't see two feet in front of us. We looked at each other just as the log crested the hill and started laughing.
You know that laughing where you can't catch your breath, but you aren't making any sound either? I think we cough/laughed in the span of 30 seconds. By the time we got to the end of the drop, we were soaked. And by soaked, I mean the only dry part was what I was sitting on and my toes. Mom and I looked at each other, started laughing again and laughed all the way inside, outside, inside and outside yet again in the hardest rain I have ever been in.
It doesn't stop there folks, as we get off the ride, in the open air of course, we decide to make a run for the train station which will take us to the front of the park so we can get tot he car quickly. As we make the mad dash from the ride to the underpass, we didn't take note of the topography of the park. We ran straight into a pool was rain water up to our shins. As we make our way through what seems to be 200 people in a 3 square foot area, I see the train conductor with a sandwich board stating the train was closed due to weather.
It is still raining so hard, but really, how much more wet could we get? Honestly, my contacts were threatening to roll right out of my eyes from teh water pouring down my face. Mom and I were still giggling. We shrugged and started walking back to the front of the park. I don't think I have ever been that wet, even in the shower....
I flew to Orlando to visit my mom this past August to celebrate both of our birthdays. Now, my mother is famous for only "riding the exit" as in she doesn't do rides. There is a lot of things to do at Disney outside of the rides, but the one I can get her on is Splash Mountain. The ride is a log flume of sosrts. It goes up and down and flows inside and outside of the "mountain" with one gigantic drop in the middle. Fun fact, after you go down the big hill, there is still some ride left, going in and out of doors.
Disney has these things called fast passes where you can go get "tickets" for the ride at a certain time so you don't have to wait in a long line. Now, since it is the summer and Florida and hot...even with the tickets there is a bit of a wait. Its worth it. So anyway, we get fast passes for Splash Mountain and at 1:35 get in line for the ride.
After we walk through our line and get half way in, an announcement comes over the speaker system that bad weather has moved into the area and they may need to shut down the ride. Well, again, its Florida in the summer. Thunder is always something that could happen. Whatever. Mom and I were more worried about what seat we were going to get stuck in. Hopefully not the back because we think it is the wetest place to be.
We fianlly got out of the "cave" line into the open air where they were seating folks for the ride. We got stuck in the back of the log. I turned to my mom and said to stuff the purse between our legs so it doesn't get wet and clip our sunglasses to our shirts so they don't fly off. As we get up to the big hill, mom started to get worried about the drop and asked if it was too late to get off the ride.
Nope.
We were giggling at this point. She said she doesn't like the feeling of loosing her breath going down the hill. I told her that was the best part. As we get to the top of the hill and we can actually see outside....we can't see. The rain was pouring down so hard, you couldn't see two feet in front of us. We looked at each other just as the log crested the hill and started laughing.
You know that laughing where you can't catch your breath, but you aren't making any sound either? I think we cough/laughed in the span of 30 seconds. By the time we got to the end of the drop, we were soaked. And by soaked, I mean the only dry part was what I was sitting on and my toes. Mom and I looked at each other, started laughing again and laughed all the way inside, outside, inside and outside yet again in the hardest rain I have ever been in.
It doesn't stop there folks, as we get off the ride, in the open air of course, we decide to make a run for the train station which will take us to the front of the park so we can get tot he car quickly. As we make the mad dash from the ride to the underpass, we didn't take note of the topography of the park. We ran straight into a pool was rain water up to our shins. As we make our way through what seems to be 200 people in a 3 square foot area, I see the train conductor with a sandwich board stating the train was closed due to weather.
It is still raining so hard, but really, how much more wet could we get? Honestly, my contacts were threatening to roll right out of my eyes from teh water pouring down my face. Mom and I were still giggling. We shrugged and started walking back to the front of the park. I don't think I have ever been that wet, even in the shower....
Food for Thought
I watched a re-run of Designing Women tonight. It was about Suzanne going to her high school reunion and everyone making fun of her for being fat. It just so happens that Anthony was involved in a 48 hour hunger trike and all the money that would have been spent on thoe 6 meals were going to be donated to stop world hunger.
At the end of the show they had the obligatory learning lesson about worl hunger. They stated every day 40,000 people die of hunger around the world. That is staggering to think of. Julia in her own style made the point about how the news told you about some politician going to jail, another movie star getting a divorce and no where on TV or in the newspaper was this tragedy ever covered.
That was in 1990. It is 2011 and the same still holds true. The people dying of hunger is still high, over 26,000 people worldwide died today of malnutrition. How is it that 20 years ago this was still a problem yet nothing has been done?
At the end of the show they had the obligatory learning lesson about worl hunger. They stated every day 40,000 people die of hunger around the world. That is staggering to think of. Julia in her own style made the point about how the news told you about some politician going to jail, another movie star getting a divorce and no where on TV or in the newspaper was this tragedy ever covered.
That was in 1990. It is 2011 and the same still holds true. The people dying of hunger is still high, over 26,000 people worldwide died today of malnutrition. How is it that 20 years ago this was still a problem yet nothing has been done?
Monday, November 28, 2011
Christmas Season?
So it is officially the Christmas season. I look forward to this all year long as it is my favorite. A close second is Halloween. I always want to start my Christmas music on November 1st I love it so much. I love the songs new and old. I love the smell of pine, pumpkin & spice. I love all the goodies that are made and the special chex mix I make. And best of all the Christmas movies like White Christmas, Nat'l Lampoons Christmas and all the Rankin/Bass claymation cartoons.
This year I am not really into the season. It is so hard for me to even listen to music. I don't want to bake or make chex mix like always. I don't even want to put up the small Christmas tree I have. I have all these wonderful candles and wallflowers with warm scents.....I just don't want to. Does everyone go through this? At one time or another?
This year I am not really into the season. It is so hard for me to even listen to music. I don't want to bake or make chex mix like always. I don't even want to put up the small Christmas tree I have. I have all these wonderful candles and wallflowers with warm scents.....I just don't want to. Does everyone go through this? At one time or another?
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
New Family Member
I got a new kitty. I lost my first pet last year. He was a gray tabby named Pookie. He was named for Garfield's teddy bear; sweet and cuddly. Well, until he got older and became a touch-me-not :)
I taught him to sit. Yes you can teach cats this and much more. You've heard of cats peeing in the toilet. I didn't go that far. Besides, who won't do anything for a treat?
Pookie died of heart failure. Who knew animals get people disorders? Poor boo-boo. I will spare you the tears of how he died in my arms, but I did the right thing in letting him go instead of keeping him on medications. That was April 2010. It took a while before I ever thought I was ready for something else in my life.
In July 2011, I met Pepper. He was the cutest little kitten at the SPCA. Well he was to me. Pepper was brought in with his sister Salt. Yeah, I don't know who came up with these names. Now, I was definitely NOT going to keep Pepper as a name.
I asked my mom and best friend to help me come up with names. Tiger, Hopper, Charlie, and Sir Paw McCartney were just a few names we thought of. When I got him home he kept queaking like a dog toy. So I decided on Mr. Squeakers.
Turns out Mr. Squeakers needed to be spayed, not nuetered. He was a she, lol. I guess the SPCA should do a BIT more checking :) My friend Mel calls her Rupaul Jamie Lee Curtis. Her official name is Squeakers, but occasionally she gets called Squeaky or Squeaky Jean. At 7 months she definitely still squeaks like a dog chew toy. I love her; she is so much fun to play with!
You know, unless she is mugging me for my water!
I taught him to sit. Yes you can teach cats this and much more. You've heard of cats peeing in the toilet. I didn't go that far. Besides, who won't do anything for a treat?
Pookie died of heart failure. Who knew animals get people disorders? Poor boo-boo. I will spare you the tears of how he died in my arms, but I did the right thing in letting him go instead of keeping him on medications. That was April 2010. It took a while before I ever thought I was ready for something else in my life.
In July 2011, I met Pepper. He was the cutest little kitten at the SPCA. Well he was to me. Pepper was brought in with his sister Salt. Yeah, I don't know who came up with these names. Now, I was definitely NOT going to keep Pepper as a name.
I asked my mom and best friend to help me come up with names. Tiger, Hopper, Charlie, and Sir Paw McCartney were just a few names we thought of. When I got him home he kept queaking like a dog toy. So I decided on Mr. Squeakers.
Turns out Mr. Squeakers needed to be spayed, not nuetered. He was a she, lol. I guess the SPCA should do a BIT more checking :) My friend Mel calls her Rupaul Jamie Lee Curtis. Her official name is Squeakers, but occasionally she gets called Squeaky or Squeaky Jean. At 7 months she definitely still squeaks like a dog chew toy. I love her; she is so much fun to play with!
You know, unless she is mugging me for my water!
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