Seriously, Wachovia	Tuesday, May 22, 2007 11:20:09 AM
My friend Josh IM's me all sorts of sad stories. Yesterday it was the dad who put his baby in the microwave for 10-20 seconds. And his wife said that he shouldn't be punished because Satan tempted him to do it. Sick. Both of them. He sent me another one today about Wachovia letting people just get into elderly people's bank accounts. Those thieves are completely sick and twisted too. According to the article, "Criminals can use such banking data to create unsigned checks that withdraw funds from victims? accounts. Such checks, once widely used by gyms and other businesses that collect monthly fees, are allowed under a provision of the banking code. The difficult part is finding a bank willing to accept them." However, Wachovia has no problems accepting them and did not cease until a federal suit against them in 2006. Here are some of the heartstring-tugging bits of the very long article: As Mr. Guthrie sat home alone ? surrounded by his Purple Heart medal, photos of eight children and mementos of a wife who was buried nine years earlier ? the telephone rang day and night. After criminals tricked him into revealing his banking information, they went to Wachovia, the nation?s fourth-largest bank, and raided his account, according to banking records. ?I loved getting those calls,? Mr. Guthrie said in an interview. ?Since my wife passed away, I don?t have many people to talk with. I didn?t even know they were stealing from me until everything was gone.? ... Investigators suspect that Mr. Guthrie?s name first appeared on a list used by scam artists around 2002, after he filled out a few contest entries that asked about his buying habits and other personal information. He had lived alone since his wife died. Five of his eight children had moved away from the farm. Mr. Guthrie survived on roughly $800 that he received from Social Security each month. Because painful arthritis kept him home, he spent many mornings organizing the mail, filling out sweepstakes entries and listening to big-band albums as he chatted with telemarketers. ?I really enjoyed those calls,? Mr. Guthrie said. ?One gal in particular loved to hear stories about when I was younger.? ... The thieves would call and pose as government workers or pharmacy employees. They would contend that the Social Security Administration?s computers had crashed, or prescription records were incomplete. Payments and pills would be delayed, they warned, unless the older Americans provided their banking information. Many people hung up. But Mr. Guthrie and hundreds of others gave the callers whatever they asked. ?I was afraid if I didn?t give her my bank information, I wouldn?t have money for my heart medicine,? Mr. Guthrie said. ... By 2005, Mr. Guthrie was in dire straits. When tellers at his bank noticed suspicious transactions, they helped him request refunds. But dozens of unauthorized withdrawals slipped through. Sometimes, he went to the grocery store and discovered that he could not buy food because his account was empty. He didn?t know why. And he was afraid to seek help. ?I didn?t want to say anything that would cause my kids to take over my accounts,? he said. Such concerns play into thieves? plans, investigators say. ... Today, just as he feared, Mr. Guthrie?s financial freedom is gone. He gets a weekly $50 allowance to buy food and gasoline. His children now own his home, and his grandson controls his bank account. He must ask permission for large or unusual purchases. And because he can?t buy anything, many telemarketers have stopped calling. ?It?s lonelier now,? he said at his kitchen table, which is crowded with mail. ?I really enjoy when those salespeople call. But when I tell them I can?t buy anything now, they hang up. I miss the good chats we used to have.?
Staples Recycling	Tuesday, May 22, 2007 10:57:22 AM
So, Mike and I have been working through our "To Do" list for the house in a big way recently. That has taken a lot of time and is worth another blog entry, but it is worth giving Mike kudos and patting myself on the back since our 4+ page To Do List is now 2.75 pages after a month of working really hard every weekend. It is an awesome feeling!!! At any rate, one of the big to do items is getting rid of 4 of Mike's old computers. You can't toss them in the trash without having a guilty conscience for the rest of your life about ruining the earth with your single stupid act. And you can't keep it in the house for the rest of your life without having a closet devoted to electronic waste. I recently read (while trying to find a recycling program) that Americans have tons of e-waste in their houses that they have no idea how to dispose of it. Delaware County has two events a year to get rid of the e-waste. The first is June 2nd, which it seems like we have been waiting for FOREVER. That seems pretty good, but they don't tell you where your stuff is going or how they are going to get rid of it. But, it would be out of our house. The 4 computers, the old cell phones, the old PDAs, the mercury filled thermostat, all of the old batteries, etc. (I know that IKEA takes batteries and that stores recycle cell phones, too, but it was good to know that they had a plan in our community. Although I suspect that most people just toss all of that. And then it gets burned up in the town's incinerator and then we suck all that back into our lungs.) So, this morning, I had the TV on and they had a very quick spot talking about Staple's new recycling program. Mike very quickly walked in from the bathroom to hear more since it was quite exciting that someone decided to help us out. We heard it was $10 a computer to recycle and then it seemed like we could wait a week to do it for free. But, Mike did some more research this morning and it looks like Staples at least can tell us where the computers will go and how they will be disposed of. Staples recycling (from Mike) Staples said its program will ship the devices for domestic recycling by Vestal, N.Y.-based Amandi Services, which Staples calls "one of the country's most experienced and innovative electronics recyclers." Amanda complies with federal standards for electronics recycling, and will take steps to ensure personal data stored on old computers isn't compromised, Staples says. "We're not shipping products overseas, and we have a strict chain of custody to make sure we know where these materials are going," Buckley said. So, we feel better about sending it with them and probably the $10 * 4 will assuage the liberal guilt about contributing to the waste of the country. ;)
Go Mia Farrow!	Monday, May 21, 2007 7:25:18 AM
Today, I was reading an excellent op-ed piece in the Village Voice about China's Olympic games and the genocide in Darfur. I recommend reading it here if you have a chance: http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0720,hentoff,76641,2.html You can learn more about efforts to pressure China and the sponsors of the 2008 Beijing Games here: http://www.dreamfordarfur.org/ They are not calling for a boycott because that defeats the purpose of the Olympics. Since the Olympics are one of my top drugs of choice, I am totally on board with that. Heck, after Darfur (which is most important), we can pressure them about all sorts of Chinese human rights violations. Obviously, the US government in debt to their ears to China won't, but we the consumers can. For a list of corporate sponsors you might want to write a note to, visit http://miafarrow.org/sponsors_genocide_olympics.html And, in this very quick post to the universe, I wanted to give kudos to Mia Farrow for shaming Steven Spielberg and all of the major corporate sponsors of the Olympics for blindly participating. I completely agree with the opening of SI's article about this: THE FIRST HERO of the 2008 Beijing Olympics stands 5'4" and weighs 108 pounds, including purse. She's 62, runs the 100 meter dash in about a day and has 14 kids. She speaks in a weak voice, yet her words are shaking the world. She's Mia Farrow. If you want to read up on her efforts, please take a look at these two articles: Sports Illustrated's May 14th article The Village Voice's May 8th article One of my favorite parts of the above Village Voice article is this: It is now clear that the only way to stop the mass murders and rapes in Darfur?and now of the refugees in neighboring Chad?is to compel China to force Sudan to end the genocide. China's only acute vulnerability?as it becomes the most powerful nation in the world economically and politically?is the tarnishing of its coming glorification as the host of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. For a nation that likes to save face, this could be the most excellent way to help stop the killings.
Living on $21 a week for food	Thursday, May 17, 2007 11:51:11 AM
I know that I have been terrible about posting, but this story was so absorbing to me that I have been talking about it all day and thought that I would share it with you. Maybe it is extra absorbing because I read these articles right after reading about the little boy that died from a lack of dental care. So sad. Basically, the chairs of the House Hunger Caucus decided to try and see what it was like to live on the median food stamp allowance of $3 per day for a week. They invited the rest of Congress to join them on this quest and only two other representatives joined them. (If you are interested, that is one rep from MA, MO, IL, and OH. Good for you!) This is fascinating stuff. Here are the two blogs that the representatives are keeping: http://foodstampchallenge.typepad.com/ -- This one is really interesting with all of the comments posted on the entries. It really makes you feel thankful for your own situation. http://timryan.house.gov/ These are the newspaper articles about this quest: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051501957.html http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20070515-110654-8331r.htm http://news.bostonherald.com/localPolitics/view.bg?articleid=1001322 http://www.thesunchronicle.com/articles/2007/05/15/news/news3.txt http://www.examiner.com/a-727880~Emerson_tries_living_on__3_a_day_food_stamp_budget.html Some of the user posts on the foodstampchallenge blog led me to fascinating other sites. The first is a "you are what you eat" article talking about issues with this farm bill that keeps us very much a corn-fed nation: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/magazine/22wwlnlede.t.html?ex=1179547200&en=312ec0fa7899f59b&ei=5070 OR http://www.michaelpollan.com/article.php?id=88 The second was about how you can feed your family on less than a food stamp allowance: http://hillbillyhousewife.com/ It is really true that it is so hard to work long hours and dealing with transportation issues and being a single parent and then have to figure out how to stretch the dollars and cook healthy meals instead of having quick processed foods. The reps here aren't tackling the rest of the issues, but it is a good check to every once in a while try to figure out how to live in someone else's shoes. I know that it was an incredible opportunity when I got to help the youth group with participating in World Vision's 30 hour famine and helping rebuild homes for disadvantaged families as summer mission projects. I need to do something like that again.
An organic idea for vineyards...	Friday, February 23, 2007 7:44:59 AM
Olde English Miniature Babydoll Southdown Sheep http://leisureguy.wordpress.com/2006/09/23/cute-idea-cute-sheep/ They are super cute when they are babies.
global warming update	Monday, February 19, 2007 7:11:29 AM
So, in a twist of irony, Mike and I went to church and saw an entry in the bulletin for this new Sunday school class that is starting up next week: Christian Responses to Global Warming and the Risks of Climate Change: Begins Sunday February 25 with a free screening (11:15 a.m.) of An Inconvenient Truth at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute. Thereafter class will meet in Witherspoon Parlor each Sunday at 11 a.m. (except Easter) through Earth Day, April 22. Worldwide Ministries is teaming up with Adult Education to offer this class rooted in our Christian heritage of stewardship. hahaha We are totally going.
My soapbox on global warming	Friday, February 16, 2007 8:13:44 AM
A very, very dear friend of mine sent me the following link on global warming: Analysis: Al Gore Ducks Northeast Blizzard. After reading the article, I felt that I had to respond to them. When I finished writing the email, I then decided that I would post it here because it is one of the things that I have been mulling over and always mean to blog on. Hi, I don't pretend to be an expert on global warming, but I really disliked the tone of this article. I especially hated the way the author brought God into the equation as laughing at the puny humans trying to do something to try and fix a situation that is happening. Using a possibly less biased resource (wikipedia), I think that we can see that trends happen over time. We haven't had the ability to measure anything perfectly until 200 years ago and there are definite periods of warming and cooling (such as the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age). We are measurably in a warming time now, even with freezing and below average temperatures that we are experiencing right now, since the average temperature now is higher than the average temperature a hundred years ago. Whether it is truly the stuff of horror movies and we will spin out of control and irreparably hurt the earth or just another warming trend, we cannot know. Only God knows what is in store for us over the next 50 years. Frankly, since I have a more young earth viewpoint than most scientists, I think that I should be more worried about the current trends than someone who believes the earth is billions of years old. ;) I feel that the church has gotten so in bed with the Republican party due to them giving us a Pro-Life platform, that we forget that they are all about business and not necessarily about doing the right thing. The Republican party is saying global warming is all BS and we shouldn't hurt the American businesses by putting out laws that stop them from throwing pollution in the air or dumping in the water. But, where is the Christian voice saying that God gave us this planet and these animals and we are supposed to be good stewards of it? Where is the Christian voice saying that poor people live in the cheap area next to this plant and their kids are having hysterectomies by the time they are 10 because this business cut corners and dumped stuff into their ground water? Where is our outrage that we aren't doing better, regardless of our theories about global warming? I don't know. I think that God wanted us to stand up for the poor and powerless and in most of the areas that are affected by pollution and these warming trends, it is the poor people that suffer. I think that God's heart breaks when another species goes extinct. I think that God wants us to make a personal difference in our world, even if we are powerless to stop something massive/catastrophic. I've very recently been inspired by multiple sources on the environment. We visited Lisa at Thanksgiving and saw that Oakland had joined in San Francisco's compost recycling program: http://www.sunsetscavenger.com/composting.htm. It was totally awesome. And I think that even if it has a cost associated that cannot be recouped by selling the compost, it is wonderful to see a city step up to try and cut down on the mindless piling up garbage in dumps. I came home and made sure that every bit of our trash that can be recycled does get recycled and I started researching personal composters since PA is nowhere likely to start a composting program anytime soon. God is most likely not laughing his head off at me trying to get every bit of recyclable paper out of a junk mail envelope (which I realize is not making *that* much of a difference in recycling instead of the trash) and is probably giving me a thumbs-up "you go, girl". I was also very thankful to hear a sermon in church two Sundays ago that tried inspired us to do our part to preserve the wonderful creation that God has given us. It is lovely to hear that this church also has group of members that meets about environmental issues and works as a group of Christians to try and preserve the environment. It makes me and Mike feel much better about attending their church. So, to sum up my soapbox on this topic, I think that Christians need a more balanced viewpoint on where we stand on the environment and, regardless of the truthfulness of global warming, I think that we need to step it up personally to do the right thing with the environment and be very visible in our communities as leaders who are doing the right thing. And, although the people in New Hampshire will not agree with me, if it takes a law to make people and businesses behave better, then I'm OK with that. Love, Kathy
Relaxing weekends	Sunday, January 07, 2007 7:03:12 PM
It was a wonderful New Year's weekend. We had a fabulous time at the Paxtons' house for New Year's Eve and then just rested up. I think that last weekend was the first weekend that we had a chance to just rest and lounge around and enjoy our new house. And then I finally got to unpack most of the boxes in our room. It is so nice to feel a little more settled. This weekend was equally lovely. The only work that I did was to find a dress for Rick and Vicki's wedding. I found 3 and will just have to decide between them over then next day or two. Saturday, we had a nearly full day of relaxingness. We woke up late, ate cereal and watched Charlie and Lola (a recently acquired TV addiction thanks to Lia and Brandon) and part of the Mummer's Parade. Eventually, we got dressed and walked the half mile plus to the library where we changed our addresses on our cards and checked out a bunch of lovely books for me and some books on tape and CDs for Mike. We walked next door to the library to our favorite Havertown pizza place, Cenzo's, to get a slice and a soda for a very late lunch. And then we walked home enjoying the 74 degree weather. Sunday, after we experienced a "Tale of Two Churches" (long story, different post), I got to watch football all day long. So lovely. :) Especially watching the TiVo'ed Dallas-Seattle game. Take that Tuna. And then the Giants lost. So sad. :( I was devastated over all of the injuries when they were 6-2 in their first 8 games. Then, I was so upset with them for being whiny little babies and blaming everything on everyone else while going 2-6 in their last 8 games. I know that they didn't deserve to win from how they played in the regular season, but when they kept the game so close, I had hopes. And Tiki Barber and Jeremy Shockey were totally awesome and warriors and gutted everything out. I was finally happy watching them again and wished I could see them one more time before their season was over and Tiki retired. Oh well. The Devils are doing excellently well in their season and, after the Super Bowl, it is just about time for hockey playoffs. :)
Catch up	Sunday, January 07, 2007 6:40:04 PM
I can't believe that it has been so long since I posted last. I kept meaning to post, but then I wanted to catch everyone up on what was going on in our lives since July and that would have taken a very long time to accomplish. Good thing I wrote a Christmas newsletter. :D So, the following is a brief history of what has been going on for the last 6 months: THE HOUSE I found myself glancing through a real estate site in mid-July and finding a house that was ridiculously cheap. We hadn?t even thought about buying a house for another year, but if this was anything that was workable, we decided we had to jump at the opportunity. It turns out that that house was cheap for many good reasons and we weren?t interested. But, since we had two weeks to renew our lease, we thought we?d try one more weekend with a realtor. There was one house that I had seen for a couple of months that I was very interested in seeing the inside of and our realtor made it happen. We fell in love with the house and, after a whole lot of drama with the seller, we purchased our very first house. We love our little storybook cottage in the woods. It seems as though it is in a secluded area with all of the tall trees, but it is just 3 houses away from the Septa light rail line that drops you in Philly 5 minutes later. We are having such a Philadelphia renaissance by taking the train and subway in and wandering about the city, smug in our public transportation usage. Pictures of our house TRYING OUT CHILDREN We moved into our house the last week of September and then a couple of weeks later, my 3 year old niece Lia and 2 year old nephew Brandon came to stay with us for a month. We can now say that our house is childproofed for the toddler set. It was absolutely amazing to us non-parents what they would think about getting into and how fast they did it. My mom was able to come and stay with us for the last three weeks to watch them and show us the ropes, such as how to use elastic bands to protect our china cabinets from Brandon. Pictures of us with kids TRAVELING Thanksgiving brought us out to visit Mike?s sister Lisa in San Francisco. It was wonderful to visit the Bay Area again and relax with family and friends. We followed that up with a quick trip to Los Angeles to visit Mike?s college roommate Giancarlo, his wife Emily, and their beautiful 5 month old son Giuseppe. Pictures of Thanksgiving We then visited my parents and Lia and Brandon in Florida for Christmas. Drama ensued when my grandmother (who lives 5 minutes from my parents) needed an emergeny operation to put a pacemaker in on Christmas Eve. Then Lia, who is allergic to peanuts, accidentally took a bite out of a chocolate covered peanut. It wasn't completely how we had planned to spend the week, but everyone is well now and we were able to hang out with the kids a lot while my mom was taking care of her mom. And, it was really, really great to see my parents again. This week, we fly to the other side of Florida to see Mike's brother Rick and Vicki get married. It will be so great to see the whole Kullen family again and celebrate another awesome wedding. And, to make you jealous, it is supposed to be a beautiful long weekend with 78 degree sunny weather. COMING SOON Rest Unpacking Continuation of our Philadelphia renaissance More yoga classes for me (loving them! And my back is starting to be able to hold up for a whole class. Well, almost *g*) More laser therapy for my back (it is really helping!)
Can sanity prevail?	Friday, July 21, 2006 12:00:04 PM
Even apart from the ethical questions raised by Israel's massive retaliation, there are significant issues of efficacy: Does it work? Is Israel made more secure by a militarized approach? Israel has destroyed 42 bridges in Lebanon this week, along with 38 roads, communications equipment, factories, runways and fuel depots at the Beirut airport, and the main ports of Beirut and Tripoli. And along with the material devastation, the attacks constitute a terrible, possibly even fatal, threat to Lebanon's fragile and fledgling democracy. Does the destruction of much of Lebanon's civilian infrastructure, so painstakingly rebuilt after years of civil war and occupation by both Israeli and Syrian forces, bode well for future peace between the neighboring states? In sum, will the Israeli attacks bring long-term security for Israel, or will they further ensure that the next generation of Lebanese and Palestinians - across the theological and political spectrum - grow up with an undying hatred in their hearts? ............ As Christians committed to the cause of peace, our role is not to "take sides" in the struggle, in the traditional sense, but rather to constantly stand for the "side" of a just and secure peace. We can ignore neither the horror of suicide bombings against Israeli civilians (including direct attacks on school children) nor the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories (with all its "collateral damage" to Palestinian children). We must have the vision and courage to stand against the acts of violence by terrorist organizations, as well as the massive state violence by the region's military superpower, while avoiding the trap of positing a false "equivalency" between actions that are not equal. We cannot allow ourselves to be paralyzed by the political, strategic, and moral complexity of the situation to stand back and do nothing. A first step toward a more comprehensive resolution is an immediate operational cease-fire. But that must be followed by a new way of thinking because, as a U.N. official put it yesterday, "The Middle East is littered with the results of people believing there are military solutions to political problems in the region." From http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=sojomail.display&issue=060720#2 The world is a mess right now and it sometimes doesn't seem like there is a thing that normal people can do when there are so many crazy people (with traditional armies or not) armed and fighting. I really long for the days when this area of the world will be like this: 1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him? the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD - 3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; 4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. 5 Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. 6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. 7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. 9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. 10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. 11 In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea. 12 He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth. 13 Ephraim's jealousy will vanish, and Judah's enemies will be cut off; Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim. 14 They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west; together they will plunder the people to the east. They will lay hands on Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be subject to them. 15 The LORD will dry up the gulf of the Egyptian sea; with a scorching wind he will sweep his hand over the Euphrates River. He will break it up into seven streams so that men can cross over in sandals. 16 There will be a highway for the remnant of his people that is left from Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from Egypt. - Isaiah 11 (New International Version) Imagine if the little kids of the Middle East could finally play without being blown up or kidnapped and could just be safe. It breaks my heart completely. He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen. - Revelation 22:20-21 (New International Version)
website totally fixed	Tuesday, July 18, 2006 8:48:35 PM
Yay! I finally figured out how to tweak the connection string in my website to be able to update everything in my admin area. Perfection. No one seemed to have this same issue in Google-land, so it was just playing around with it until it worked for everything. Now I can get on with the rest of my website to do lists.
That Girl Emily	Tuesday, July 18, 2006 12:36:43 PM
So I just came back from a meeting and a bunch of co-workers started asking me what my brother-in-law's name is. Josh clarified that they were looking for Emily's husband's name. I said Steve and everyone starts chatting excitedly. Wha??? Before I show you this cool "woman scorned" revenge blog, I want to clarify that this is NOT my sister?s blog. (a) We don't have a brother and (b) Steve still doesn't have a job, so the main pretext is not there. Day 1 of 14: http://thatgirlemily.blogspot.com/2006/07/this-photo-is-what-ive-been-talking.html Update: After Mike read it, he was instantly suspicious (as is his wont) and went off researching. Although Snopes.com didn't have anything official on it at the time, he found other suspicious people in their forum who believe this to be a viral marketing campaign and not a real person's blog. His other reference is at Gawker.com. I still think that the Emily and Steve reference and my co-workers' reaction to this site was totally funny. :)
Local Toynbees Gone	Friday, July 14, 2006 9:04:53 AM
On our commute into the office, Mike and I were sad to see the two 476 South Toynbee tiles were ripped up in last night's construction. When they announced the 476 construction in November, I started wondering if I could/would replace them once they were gone. It isn't a very hard process to deploy them and they are kind of neat. It?s a weirdly Philadelphian form of street art that seems to have spread around the world in a small way. After I started the process of wondering whether I could/would put new ones out there, then I started wondering about the content. Clearly, as a history major, I feel some sort of obligation about maintaining the original text. However, it is a crazy person?s writing: TOyNBEE IDEA IN KUbricK's 2001 RESURRECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPiTER. Seriously, I could barely get through 2001 and my worldview does not encompass the idea that that the dead will be resurrected on Jupiter. And I've never been a big fan of Ray Bradbury. So, should I put my own truth on the tiles? I?m not sure if I have a quirky message to send to the people of earth/Delaware County. Pop culture seems so trite to put on it, although it would make people smile. And anything seriously heavy doesn?t seem to belong on a tile that you drive over. So, I?ll be mulling about this while they take the rest of the summer and fall to get the roads paved up. I probably won?t make any great entries into the Wikipedia file on the Fisher tiles. But, just in case, have bail money ready for me. :)
I'm back!	Thursday, July 13, 2006 8:06:51 AM
Woohoo! I am finally back up and blogging again. Originally, I stopped blogging because I was so busy over the holidays and didn?t have time to blog. Then, I felt like I had been gone for so long that I had to write a huge email to catch you up on what was going on. (This is my Achilles heel with letter-writing ? I can never write a quick note.) Plus, I really was bored with my old designs and didn?t want to blog until I had a new design, which I still haven?t had time for. So, in May, I decided to just start blogging again. I had so many ideas that were piling up that I knew I needed to forget the "catch up" blog. Unfortunately, that was when my hosting company decided to go out of business. (Hey ? they weren?t keeping our sites up, so that must be their plan.) Since one of my clients was hosting at the same company, of course he wanted to move too. I helped him get situated through a vast hosting company drama that is just now stable. Then, I started to find a hosting company of my own. I have 4 main domains, 4 domain aliases, plus I was hosting for my sister, so it was hard to find something that would let me split up my space on a Windows server (I am a .NET programmer), for not a lot of bucks. Emily decided that she just wanted a blog for now, so she moved things off to WordPress and will figure out how to get her blog entries off to them. I love her new design ? it almost looks just like her ? and can?t wait for her to put the rest of her entries up. :) I found Parcom that had really good hosting rates, but then had to figure out how to work with their web database controls (for security, they won?t let you use the outside programs that I use every day at work). Plus, I decided that I wanted more databases than just SQL Server on my resume, so I decided to make this site MySQL instead. *ack* I forgot how much quirkiness has to be overcome when you use MySQL with ASP pages. Oh well. I?ve done it before (when Toll Brothers hadn?t bought SQL Servers for my group yet) and I just have the update administration functions to get resolved. So my websites are in a good place. I plan on all sorts of new designs, new programming languages, and new databases. I?m looking forward to it. :) But, with classes and general life craziness, who knows when that will come about. And now for your condensed version of the "catch up": Life is good. Mike and I are doing really well. I love being married to this fabulous man. Work is great. I?ve started singing again. I?m through part of my New Year?s resolutions except for the all important "take more time to rest". Who has time for that??? hahaha We are starting the really informal "look around for a house" process, but want to save up a lot more for the down payment unless a really great deal that we can?t pass up comes along. (Anyone want to trade a 3 bedroom house for a pink paperclip? I don?t own a red one.) The bonus is that house prices are going down. Keep on goin?!
Sightings	Wednesday, December 07, 2005 1:08:25 PM
It is always an odd sight when you walk into your company cafeteria and Governor Ed Rendell is just sitting there. The governor of PA is hanging out with Bob Toll in our public cafeteria right now, surrounded by normal Toll employees. Funny stuff. :)