Andromeda Galaxy

Andromeda Galaxy

Originally uploaded by DJMcCrady.

I was searching for a picture that best fit my idea of 2007, and this one was definitely it. It ( to me) represents the fact that we are so small in comparison. And if we are going to try to be the best we can be, this is what we can look up to.
In comparison to this, our lives are so small and momentary. If we look at the stars, we will see such beauty.
Happy New Year everyone.

My New Years Resolutions

I have never actually made any formal Resolutions before, as I am the absolute epitome of  procrastination; so the resolutions would never have stuck anyway. But that was before, this is now. And so, without further ado,

My resolutions for 2007

1. To learn to listen better.

2. To be nicer to others, no matter how my day is going, take the time to speak to someone, help someone.

3.Take the time to be me, to let  ‘me’ have time off from stress and worry.

4. To learn more about HTML and CSS ( this I swear :-), I will master these.

5. To be a better writer, one who is more informed and informative, as well as more entertaining.

( I have this dream all of a sudden, of me being a writer of the next great novel 🙂

6. To walk this weight off once and for all.

Well, that sure is alot for me to do in one year…. hope I keep these. I think with knowing that others will be watching me here, that I might just be able to accomplish these resolutions.

Anyhow, to everyone who comes here to read, thank you. I look every morning to see how many hits these pages get, it makes me feel really good to see the numbers. I am enjoying this, being a blogger. I enjoy reading other peoples blogs because I learn so much.

just two things

All I want to say is just two things about this, and I will be done.

1. To have been there, at such a momentous and solemn occasion as a human beings death ( reasons not withstanding) is so much responsibility. If you were there for the reasons of marking this occasion as one which your laws required and your fellow country men agreed with; you should not have been dancing around the body!

2. No matter how corny this sounds to anyone who might be reading, my God requires that I forgive. Jesus said to forgive your enemy, bless him and pray for him. 7 times 70. This is the command of Jesus; if one calls oneself a real Christ follower, then do as Jesus said FORGIVE! It is this same unforgiving nature that brought that man to the spot of a rope this morning, have we learned nothing?

Now, the man has paid the ultimate price for his actions, and we are sitting here in America watching all but the last seconds of his hanging on CNN for what amounts to our amusement. And as an extra bonus, we are treated to seeing the body laying on the ground, his face peeking out of his death shroud.

I have to wonder what comes next, the possibilities are endless.

Goodnight world :-(

I will leave now, I am tired of waiting to see if the madness will continue. Seeing CNN and the others salivating over this is sickening. I actually feel sorry for him, can you imagine waiting for your death, knowing it is coming and at exactly what time?

And CNN, shame on you…. for being so obvious in your real intent for having a second by second count down. We all know that some part of your organization is just waiting on all hell to break loose, so you can get all of us Americans  to stay glued to the channel!  If nothing else, he is taking his medicine, is he to be humiliated as well on National Television? Remember America, he is not being hung for anything he did to America, but what he did to Iraqis, so why are you so happy?

Now, if this were Osama, maybe……. at least we know what HE did to us.

2995

That is the number ofAmerican Soldiers who have died in Iraq as of 6:13 pm on December 29th 2006.

Saddam gets no reprieve from Iraqi Courts

I promised myself that I would try really hard NOT to post about Iraq too much, and really really try to stay away from discussing Sasddams’ trial and its outcome; sadly that promise was not meant to be kept.

I watched the various networks today (CNN and Fox) and starting about 5 am eastern time, saw over and over; in bigger and bigger reports that Saddam’s execution was to happen in the next 48 hours and that the Iraqi President said there would be no stopping this. Now I know most Americans are happy to hear this, I am not sure why exactly though. I certainly think he needs to be punished for his deeds however I am deeply upset that death is the only answer. We are trying to convince the entire world we are lovers of Freedom, people who believe in Justice.
If one looks up the word Justice, no where do we see death in the definition, nor in the definition of Democracy. I feel as if I am being brought into policies that I and my children will one day have to pay for. I am not my government, but the world and most specifically the Muslim world; will see that all Americans are to blame.

Yes, I know that like any group wishing to get their own agenda to the top, the radical Muslim will simply use this execution as a way to blame more on America. This is a given. And yes, I believe that these radicals must be stopped; however if one takes a fast survey of world history; one will find countless radical movements that also created death and mayhem in its wake. This behavior is not one specific to Muslim radicals.

The main reason I am so loath to be jubilant about this mans death is that I believe that this kind of decision should never rest in the hands of any mortal man, ever. It has never gone well in the past, just look at the Native American and the way they were molested and killed by another cultures ideals.

I also feel uncomfortable with the fact that over 20 years ago, our government handed this same man the chemicals that were used by him on those innocents he killed. How do we now stand here and say, “bad Saddam, we have to execute you?”

We (America) have been sticking our political fingers in some many different pies around the world for the last 100 years that this was bound to happen. One of our mistaken choices turned on us, and now we must ignore our connection to this.

I lived in Iran for a few years before the Revolution began, stayed until almost the bitter end. I know how the Muslim culture thinks better than most Americans. This is not going to end well, no matter that it will not be American to do the deed in person, mark my words we will pay for this in some manner. And I sure do not want the forthcoming violence to be an excuse for people like Senator Charles Rangle to scream DRAFT!

Do I feel that what Saddam did was right? No of course not, but as my husband said this morning; if this behavior is a crime, then many leaders throughout our recent history should also be paying this price.

I came across this picture in Wikipedia this morning. * At the request of my son, I have removed this picture. He feels its nothing but propaganda, and since I respect his views and the fact that he is serving my country, I will do as he asked. I have instead left the link to the photo in this paragraph.*

It is not the first time I have seen this photo, its rotated around the Internet and news for sometime. I find it a bit disturbing that after we * as I mentioned above* gave this man such power and attention, that we now feel we have the right to treat him as if he were evil on his own.

Truth needs to be let out of its cage otherwise this could be happening again. I caution all who will be saying good riddance when Saddam is executed. We had a hand in this soap opera, and likely will have more involvement with other world leaders in the future. Will we then be dealing with the same behaviors, acting as if we have no responsibility; that we are not guilty of complicity in this mans aberrant behaviors?

Please, understand me. I am not condoning Saddam’s behavior, and when I think of the innocent children he murdered in the name of his ego, I feel sick. But as my wonderful Father used to say, two wrongs do not make a right. Executing Saddam will make more problems and we will have to deal with them. Also, I feel that the man is mentally ill, has been for a very long time. Since when do we execute the mentally ill? Justice will be better served if he were to serve a sentence, be given time and lots of it to think over what he has done. This execution in my opinion is really being done so that the people who for what ever reasons want him freed do not get a chance to accomplish that endeavor.

I am a patriotic American, I will always be a patriotic American. I will defend my country if need be, and do what ever I have to to make sure my children have a future free of hatred and pain. I just know that the execution of Saddam is not the correct move.

I would really like to know what you all think, so please take a moment to post your views; yes execution is the way to deal with Saddam, or no. I would appreciate seeing how you all think.

Free Laptops creates furor in Blogworld!

Ok, a bit dramatic I admit, but still a pretty good attempt at those headlines of old, you know the headlines that screamed “War!” or “Aliens Invade Washington!”( oh wait that is just the new Congress).

One of the blogs I am making a habit to read daily is Robert Scoble’s Scobleizer. Everyday there are many interesting topics, mostly about computers, various software in use today and the newest in technology. I am a noob in all these areas, but I have a willingness , a deep desire to learn and so I read, and read and read….

Yesterdays posting I read concerned Microsoft’s having given some lucky bloggers a new laptop that were loaded with the new Windows OS Vista, in hopes of getting honest reviews. I say lucky because unless money drops out of the sky, I am not getting a new PC any time soon. And who would not want a crack at playing with Vista? I think it looks really cool, I know my opinion is not much but still, it looks like fun.

That was what computers were to me in 1994, when I got my first serious computer , I believe it was a Viper. I was able to do some desk top publishing, and if I had a modem I would have been able to sign on to the newest service, Prodigy. Wow, it sure seemed cool. I loved the Afterdark screensaver it came loaded with; Fireworks and colored lines. I used it as a night light 🙂

I eventually moved here, and attended school here, going for my my degree in Physical Anthropology. I needed a computer for school it was actually mandatory way back in 1996. Was I ever thrilled, a new NEW computer! I spent about 1200.00 plus for a really nice Acer. I cant recall exactly what it had on it, but to me it was heaven in a box.

I ended up going through many different desk tops, some store bought, some configured by my Dad. The one I am on now is such a machine. I love it, its just well; I have ram envy. No, that is no joke. I need, desire more ram- can never have enough ram as far as I am concerned.

Ok, back to my discussion about the free laptops. In Mr.Scoble’s post I Think Microsoft Vista giveaway is an awesome idea there were some who were seemingly okay with this action of Microsoft’s, and some who were decidedly not okay with this. I found the whole discussion to be totally absorbing, wannabe techie that I am. Its a great read so I suggest that if you are interested in the doings of Microsoft, you should visit. As a matter of fact, if you are new to this whole blog-tech world thing, you should get the RSS feed for Mr. Scobles blog! You will learn something new every single day.

Second thoughts about yesterdays offer

After reading and re reading my post of yesterday, and seeing no one even really knows my blog exists yet; I think I will have to reconsider my offer. Not because I do not believe in it, I still do. I simply think that until I can get people around here to come to my blog and post ( readership) I will never be able to convince the Big Guys that I am a serious person.

SO, tomorrows job for me will be to find local bloggers and see what they are up to.

Good night everyone

Actions not only speak louder than words they influence our thoughts

I was blog surfing again ( I might just be addicted to this form of instant information gratification) and came across a very interesting persons blog, Passionate – Creating Passionate Users. There were many interesting articles there but this one grabbed my attention the most:

What you do affects what you think.

I like that it made sense, and I understand what pretty much what the article was saying, our motions do affect our behavior. I have been searching for a reason beyond my own idiocy, to why some much of my life was so anti self , and I think this research is on to something *as far as my life is concerned anyway*. I wish I had been able to complete my Psychology 101 I enjoyed learning how and why our behavior is linked to our brains. It helps to know that there might just be a way out of situations, if one can correct behavior and thinking.

There are a couple of exercises in this post that I of course tried, and I got the same results as mentioned in the post. Not that I expected not to exactly, just to clarify.

I am thinking that there is a simple “thing” I can do, to get my brain turned back on, and moving in a more acceptable and happy direction. I will have to do more reading on this, I am in great need of explanations of what is wrong with my thought pattern, my decision making; and a means of taking rectifying the situation.

In the Shadows of someone elses American Dreams

I watched some of the report last night on NBC from Tom Brokaw, In the Shadow of the American Dream‘.

It was eye opening to say the least, and shameful. To be able to follow along as some person who is not even from my country goes to get a false drivers licence ( to even see the lady who lives here and makes them) to see him admit he pays taxes with a false number, to hear the owner of Gould Construction say that he can not find natural born citizens take the jobs he offers at 14.00 an hour for labor???? This is getting too ridiculous for words, I would take the damn job!

I looked for the website for Gould Construction, but found none, if anyone knows where this might be, please let me know. I plan on applying for what ever position they have open, surely to god I can do labor; been doing that all my life.

Here is another piece of sweet music to my ears, this is what Mark Gould, President of Gould Construction was quoted as saying;

“Americans don’t want this work,”.

Well, Mr. Gould, I am here to tell you I WANT the work. I will do what ever I have to; to have the job, and I will work hard. Can I call you about this? How do I apply for the job? I have a legitimate SS card, and a legitimate Drivers Lic too. I was born in this country, and where I live now, I can

not find a job. How about letting me apply? I have two hands, two legs, and I have been a mom to eight kids for the last 25 years, so I know how to work hard.

While I am greatful to Mr. Brokaw for his report, I feel that he really did nothing more with it than a slack “see I am reporting what the American Public wants to hear” type of story. Now show us how afterwards  you turned in that family of illegal immigrants, with their false papers and also that woman who made the fraudulent Drivers Licence.

How come the companies who do this don’t try harder to find American workers? I hear over and over, that Americans wont do the dirty work, well…. maybe some Americans wont, but advertise outside your box!

I would have applied and been thankful to have gotten the job.  I am sitting here with an injured husband who can not work, and five of my eight kids still at home. I am in my early 40s, and not one bit scared of dirty hard work, matter of fact I think that one could find millions of women alone who would jump at the chance to have a job right now!

Yes, by the way, I do know what construction work entails, my husband and I ran our own building business, until the builder we worked for decided he could get cheaper labor from the Illegal Immigrants then us, and let us go. We could not go any lower than we did per square foot and still survive, but the 10 Mexicanworkers whom he hired to replace us did. And from what you saw last night if you watched the show, they live 15 or more to one house, all drive one car to work. They can exist on lower than we can, simply due to thier numbers.

And …. my Great Grandparents were from Russia, Poland, Italy and Ireland and NOT ONE of them did it the illegal way, they all did what the law of the land called for them to do!  I recall my Nana going for her Citizenship, she was proud. Why? Because she did it the right way, she earned it.

Illegal Immigration sucks folks, when the hell are we going to stop taking this laying down?  WHen are we  going to realize that the real evil behing this whole thing is Big Business, the Chamber of Commerce? If we look at this from thier point of view, we can see it differently.

1. They are in business to make money, the more the better. So, how do that? Hire the cheapest labor one can, sell your product as high as you can.

2.How does a company do #1? By finding ways to circumvent any laws, or ….. make sure laws are passed that enhance and  enable your company to make  the most money ( ie: Workers Compensation Insurance Laws).

Lou Dobbs of CNN has a show that he calls the War on the Middle Class. It deals with the Illegal Immigration Issue sort of. It is in my opinion nothing more than a easy report on the subject that gets Americans fired up. Its easy Mr.Dobbs to talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?