My Own Thoughts

I heard a wonderful sermon this last Sunday. It may be just because of where I am in life, but I am often lonely. We've lived in a new town for three years and I have no friends here. I'm working on it, but I don't yet. The sermon was on community. The speaker talked [...]

Do you remember that a noun is a person, place, or thing? Or that a pronoun is a generic thing which replaces a noun? I thought my students would. I mean they're in school every year. They have grammar every year. I figured the basic parts of speech would be a cinch. They weren't. They [...]

I was teaching today when the head came to my class. “May I speak with you for a minute?” I wanted to say no. I have way too much stuff to do to talk, but I know that she's interrupting class, so it must be important. It turns out my sixth grade son has become [...]

I have a premium blog, but I am not a geek. However, I am married to one of the best. Since he likes to improve his skills and tools, he thinks I should as well. I'm willing. So now I am using Kung-Log to write my blog. It supports Blogger API. I am trying it [...]

Woo-hoo. I have finished all my preparations and I am ready for school. It's only taken me eight days with a minimum of ten hours a day to get done, but I am now prepared to start. Some of my classes start Monday. One doesn't start until 9/6. But I have finished my syllabi. Major [...]

The French funeral directors say 10,000 people died in a two week summer heat wave. The government's reports are anything from 1600-5000. The highest makes France's death rate 1/100th of a percent of the population. Spain, 1000 Portugal 1300 and Portugal instituted heat wave emergency measures after 1900 people died in 1981. Italy 2000 Chicago, [...]

I got an email from a girlfriend who was in a cult for many years. She tagged a site which talked about the cult she was in. I knew some about the cult from talking to her. But it was scary to read what was written in this article. I have another friend who's still [...]

Today I exercised for the second day in a row! It's been three months since I last exercised regularly, both weight lifting and aerobics. Exercise is supposed to help you keep your weight off. It uses up the calories you are taking in and makes muscle. Muscle uses more calories a day than fat does. [...]

I did Body for Life faithfully from March 2002 till March of this year. In that time I lost 45 pounds of fat and 35 pounds of scale weight. I went from a size 14, busting at the seams, to a loose size 10. However, I weighed in at 160 for four months. I didn't [...]

I've lost and kept off 45 pounds of fat and 35 pounds of scale weight for almost a year now. But it was 5 pounds more. Now I'm 5 pounds heavier and ten pounds fatter. That's it. That's my limit. I never want to be where I was again and I have a weight that [...]

Read a fascinating personal account of what it was like to be in the blackout in New York. A friend's recently widowed mom was out of contact for 12 hours, since she doesn't have a cell phone. Everyone was really worried about her. With families spread out all over the country it's hard to check [...]

This story is a guy from New Jersey and how he got home. Read it to find out how those impacted personally by 9/11 responded to the blackout. It's very laid back. Also, go to my blog The BlackOut in New York, probably from Sat. 16 August, and see the comment left by the woman [...]

Fire. Our neighbor's house burnt down while she wasn't home, but not her unattached garage. We keep our BOB (bug out bag) there. If our house burns down, we all have wearable clothes for two days. Her insurance didn't pay for over six months. We'll be pretty ratty by then. Hurricane. Scientists are predicting record [...]

Bob's a bug-out-bag (BOB). I had one when I was 10, way back in the early 70s. I kept a change of clothes and a book in it. In case of fire, I'd grab it and run. Then I wouldn't be stuck with only my pj's. I also had a will back then. I knew [...]

You go to a church and there's a sign that tells you what time it starts. But it doesn't tell the truth. Family Life says it starts at 10:30, but really it starts at 10:25. Our church says it starts at nine but really it starts at 9:09. Our church in Austin started at 10, [...]

Was at a party for my husband's work. The boss hired all his siblings. One is a CPA and is the entire HR department. One works tech support. One works at something else. He hired his nephew recently to do tech support too. One of the sibs is a single mom with three kids who [...]

Andrew Sullivan says if we are opposed to gay-marriage we should support a constitutional amendment banning divorce. Because? What's the rationale behind that statement? Maggie Gallagher of MarriageDebate.com answers Mr. Sullivan in a cogent way in this article. She says it's a non sequitur (something to throw the discussion off track). Her final paragraphs read: [...]

I have a new book The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon which is a near-future book about autistics. Her teenage son is autistic. The book is fascinating. When I bought it I carried it around with me and when I wasn't busy (I was very busy at the time) I would read a page [...]

A child who is born with disabilities should be helped. Deafness is a disability that can be cured, sometimes. But there are deaf parents who refuse this treatment for their children saying that then their child will not be part of their cultural group. I think this is wrong. However, I do not think anyone [...]

I went to Themes. There I can click a button which says “pick color.” Unfortunately all it does is take me to a small pop-up which shows the colors and then fades to a blank pop-up called “about blank.” When I clicked “Check if you want to change manually,” I changed the color myself, based [...]