My Own Thoughts

I have found a new vice. eHarlequin.com I’ve read a bunch of stories in the last few days. Some were good; some weren’t good; a few made me laugh. Dial D for Date was awful. In less than 24 hours, being together less than an hour, they know they’re in love. Love Letters. A happy [...]

I’m keeping a list of books I’ve read this year. (See the links at the bottom for past book lists.) Unfortunately, I have started reading a lot more books in the store than I had been. Now I can’t remember all the names of all the books I’ve read. But, here’s my next set. Wind [...]

Yesterday saw the 80th care package sent since November 15. Go to any soldier for a list of Soldiers and Marines who would like to hear from you. One group said they’d like letters. So I’ve sent 75 personal two page letters since November just to them. I’ve slowed down in the last few weeks, [...]

This is a fabulous idea. I would love to go to a seminar like this every month. What new things I would learn! “A Shotgun Seminar is a talk given by an Institute member to a volunteer audience. The subject of the talk is announced a week in advance, but the name of the speaker [...]

my computer Internet access blogs to read and keep up with the world a husband who knows what to do when the computer is messed up telephones, so I can call people I care about cars, so I can go see them easily, even if they live multiple miles away sunshine blue skies a bed [...]

I’ve been on tons of medicine now since Dec. 18. Good or Better: My pregnancy mask is gone. So my face doesn’t have two very different colors on it. My winter skin is much less dry, much less itchy, than it was. My acne is better, but not all gone. I don’t usually have to [...]

According to Reuter’s, a study shows that it isn’t carbs, but what kind of carbs you eat that matters. “People who are overweight do not appear to eat more carbohydrates overall than people who weigh less, the researchers report in the American Journal of Epidemiology. However, they found that overweight people tend to eat more [...]

Time’s articles keep saying that money doesn’t buy happiness. They say it over and over again in this Jan. 17 edition. But then they have a graph which says the opposite. Just how happy are we? it asks. And then it says, based on income. And the numbers go up for money and % of [...]

According to Time magazine, there are eight steps to a more satisfying life. 1. Count your blessings. (Just got to twenty today. Add a new set tomorrow. That’s my advice.) 2. Practice acts of kindness, both random and systematic. 3. Savor life’s joys. 4. Thank a mentor. 5. Learn to forgive. 6. Invest time and [...]

R, who is a passionate, compassionate, intelligent man, who loves me and lives with me. E, my eldest, a thinking, growing boy, whose love of art has impacted my life in many ways. M, my youngest, a dramatic child, who encourages me to be better every day. my house my bedroom the art in my [...]

I’ve been listening to Tony Robbins. He says gratitude is the opposite of fear. While I don’t think that’s true, I do think gratitude is important. The January 17, 2005 Time magazine has a whole bunch of stuff on happiness and the science of happiness. They’ve found that keeping a weekly list of 3-5 things [...]

Another study, from Reuter’s, says that personality is the key to marital bliss. “Shared moral values are less important than compatible personalities as a recipe for a good marriage, according to a study released on Sunday. Married couples often share the same attitudes about faith and other values, researchers from the University of Iowa found. [...]

According to Reuter’s, I’d be even more of a genius, if my cholesterol weren’t so low. “Naturally low cholesterol levels are associated with poorer performance on a variety of cognitive measures, according to a new study…. Individuals in the lowest total cholesterol group (less than 200 units) performed more poorly than patients with higher cholesterol [...]

Today in Dinosaurs and Dragons, I gave the class a supposition as the starting point for a story. It was: Suppose you are a group of city dwellers from Babel. Your language has been changed and you don’t want to hang around any of the other groups anymore. You start out for a new home, [...]

We’re reading Frankenstein in school. I’m talking to my own children about Dolly and human cloning. Why? Because the UK gave a license to the Dolly scientist to do human cloning. They’ve given him a license to create human beings who have no parents and destroy them or genetically alter them as he sees fit. [...]

The Torch, blog of FIRE, has an article on Churchill’s hiring. The excellent end to this interesting post reads, “Mr. Ward Churchill, Exhibit A for the consequences of substituting ideology for competence.”

I’m keeping a list of the books I’ve read this year. Fantasy novels this last two weeks: Oathblood by Mercedes Lackey Brightly Burning by Mercedes Lackey Romances: Protecting the Princess by Carla Cassidy All He Ever Wanted by Allison Leigh Explosive Alliance by Catherine Mann Dangerous Games by Marie Ferrarella A Question of Intent by [...]

Winds of Change has a list of books to read for politics. They also have lots of lists in the comments.

In the last four months I have gained 15 pounds. Before that, back in 2003, it took me eight months to gain 11 pounds. But then the next eight months I gained about 30. I am at a lower plateau than I have been before, but I am tired of being overweight. I have been [...]

This article describes the atrocities and hate crime being carried out against one Christian family because they chose to convert from Islam, rather than to Islam. The most outrageous happening? The police suggested they move. So then police in another city can deal with them.