As many of you know, I have a new, very special woman in my life. Andrea and her family are strong supporters of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and for good cause...
In March of 2005, while riding her bike in her hometown in Florida, Andrea's 14 year old cousin, Ms. Brandi Higby was struck by a drunk driver and killed. In the typical style of the legal system today, the man who killed her was not actually convicted of her homicide, but rather instead only of endangering his infant son in the car, and for property damage to the car he was driving. Sadly, this is the case more often than not in vehicular homicides in the US involving alcohol or other intoxicating substances.
While nothing will restore Brandi's life, Andrea and her family walk in her memory each and every year in MADD's "Strides For Change" 5k walk, hoping to raise money for MADD, to raise awareness of the seriousness of driving while intoxicated, and so that Brandi is not forgotten.
If you believe in this cause, I ask that you please consider sponsoring either Andrea's team at http://tinyurl.com/2yx77n or any other MADD team, chapter, or event.
Yesterday morning when I got to my store I found that it had been robbed... 3 refurbished laptops, 32 1 gb sticks of DDR 3200 RAM, cash, tools, pretty much a duffel bag's worth of stuff.
This coupled with the fraudulent checks from a week or so ago is going to result in almost a $12,000 hit to the business this month.
I'm scrambling to figure out how to keep it running at this point. The massive suckage parts as that business was in the black last month and this before these losses... I had started paying back investors and was on the upswing, now I'm not sure if I can even recover.
Wow! You are truly a student of the Bible! Some of the questions were difficult, but they didn't slow you down! You know the books, the characters, the events . . . Very impressive!
Just wanted to take a few minutes to let everyone know that I am still alive. I've been very busy between work a personal life lately.
Major events of the past few weeks include spending this past weekend in New York City with Andrea and J. We had a GREAT time. J is a city girl, I'm thinking... Second day in the city and she's standing in the subway holding a bar or curled up on a seat next to A or I asleep. She showed NO fear at being in the big city and had a blast.
Our first night in we arrived at about 10pm, checked into the Crown Plaza at Laguardia, and then headed down to Times Square. We got a buggy ride all over the city, through Central Park and other areas. We ended up riding around for about 2 hours.
Other than that, I had a business matter to attend to, but we also went to the Hard Rock Cafe, Canal Street for shopping, Toys'R'Us, took the ferry out to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty... One of the last things we did was to go to Ground Zero. While it was all fenced off, I can still remember what it looked like in 1991 when I was there, and the difference is... stunning. It was also hard to explain it all the Johnna, but I think I did an OK job of that, through my tears. I explained what had happened and about the tattoo I have in memory of it, and why it was such an important thing. She asked me why the people had done the act and I explained to her that "They tried to rip the heart out of this city and of America." Johnna, in her typical old-soul style said "Daddy, this city isn't dead, it's REALLY alive." All I could say to her was "The bastards didn't do a very good job, did they, honey?" She smiled and said "Nope!"
A guy named Jason needed to work off some labor I did on a job for him and so I decided to go with some of his handicrafts. This isn't done, yet. The cross will be filled in in a couple weeks in green and gold circuitry, the banners will be done in white and the lettering "Isaiah 35:7 - KJV" will be placed on the banners. I spent 4 hours under the needle tonight before my and his tolerence were both worn out. I also have a second piece coming from him, not sure what it will be, yet.
Isaiah 35:7 is "And that which was dry land, shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water. In the dens where dragons dwelt before, shall rise up the verdure of the reed and the bulrush." The King James Version is the only one with dragons in the proper context, most other versions say "Jackals" or "Crows."
The guys from EepyBird are back, with 251 bottles of Diet Coke and over 1,500 Mentos mints. In Experiment #137, they did a mint-powered version of the Bellagio fountains. This time, it's one giant Coke & Mentos chain reaction that has to be seen to be believed.
I wish I had written this, as I could have... The grammar and spelling would have been better, but the sentiment would have been close to this... I still claim to be what I am, and for all it's faults, I am still proud of my country.
I'm a Christian. I don't thump on a Bible, or prop myself up in public proclaiming to be more rightous than others. My Bible says you shouldn't do that. I don't belong to a church more opulant than a palace in a city where thousands sleep on the street. My Bible says to help the poor, not riticule them or judge them for their "weekness". My Bible says something about how difficlut it is for a rich man to get to heaven. I don't believe a church that seems more concerned with fund raising than helping others is really doing God's work. I don't believe in juding others. I don't believe it's ok to drive by a begger and calm my concious by saying "they're just a drug addict." I believe a Christian cares for a drug addict. I believe a Christian socieity should have a way to reach out to a drug addict. If they turn away our help, I beleve we should reach out again. And again.
The Jesus I follow spent a fair ammount of time in the company of a prostitute. He didn't judge her. The Jesus I follow said a lot about the old laws being wiped away and being replaced by one simple law- love each other as I have loved you.
I am a Christian and find it ironic that its difficult to find a Christian church that represents my values. The Jesus I follow would be more concerned with figuring out how the richest country on earth could help it's southern neighbor- where people are living like animals- than how much tax money is being spent on "illegals". I don't think my Jesus would call anyone "illegal".
My Jesus spent much of his life in the company of those socieity found unfit. I believe my Jesus would have loved gays as much as hetrosexuals. I don't think my Jesus would lobby for a constitutional amendment that legalizes descrimination against them.
I'm a Christian, but never say so in public. I'm an American, but am embarased to fly my flag. I wish the symbols of my faith and country represented what I believe. Once they did. I used to wear a cross around my neck. I used to have a flag on my house. Now people who represent values that I find very non-christ like have taken ownership of what theses symbols represent.
I hope there are others who believe what I believe. I hope there are others who feel like I do. I hope that one day we can do Christian work that matters- helping the poor, healing the sick, protecting the earth- and stop fighting about things that are simply devisive ploys politicians use to get our votes. I don't like abortion. I don't like war even more. I don't like turning a blind eye to the poor even more than that.
If you agree with me, join me. It's easy. You don't have to sign anything or agree to a docterine. You just have to do what you know is right.
My friend Adam originalcatfood posted the linked site below to his journal today...
Rather than taking the time to wish me a happy birthday tomorrow, in honor of my Grandfather, and all of those who have served, are serving, or will serve in the future, please visit http://www.terry-kelly.com/introduction.htm.
Birthdays are nice and all, but this means much more.
I will hazard a guess that you've never had one of your customer's computers catch fire on you...
Customer brings in a machine, thinks the power supply may be bad. I tell him I'll check it out after I eat dinner and give him a call...
So I'm noshing my Taco Bell and decide to go ahead and hook it up on my bench, making sure the handy power switch on the power supply is off and giving it a quick visual inspection... Dusty, but otherwise, no weirdness.
So I flip the switch on, and nothing happens, which is as it should be....
Then I hit the power button on the front of the system and there is a "POP" and then smoke starts POURING out the back of the power supply while I yell "HOLY SHIT!" and Heather comes running. By the time I hit the switch and yank the power cord out (we're talking tenths of a second here,) there are flames licking out the back...
It quickly went out, but EWwwwwwwwwwwwwww..... STINKY!
Ah, the life of a computer store owner. Said power supply now has all the power leads chopped off.
About the only time of year that I eat anything other than breakfast at McDonald's is during Monopoly Season... Because, well, I get lots of free breakfast sandwiches that way... And Breast Buy Bucks...
You only get the BBB's on their premium chicken sandwiches. In their infinite wisdom, the rules for using said BBB's are printed on the sandwich box... Or rather... Inside the box.
So tell me, friends... When was the last time *YOU* read legalize soaked in mayonnaise? :)
Ok ladies, times to take some pictures of your breasts for a good cause... The 5th Annual Blogger Boobie-Thon starts on October 1st, 2006 to raise money for breast cancer awareness. Last year they raised over $9k.
Now, I know a lot of you gals on my F-list have some bodacious tata's, why not get out the digital cameras and raise some money for a good cause. This is certainly a hell of a lot more important that some "rate my rack" site.
Since we've all got diverse and varied f-lists, please, repost links to this important event!
"My second LAMV (Live Action Music Video). Video Source: Underwold Music by: Evanecenses- Hunted This AMV was Shown no where since there are not many CONs that accept LAMV. Questions or comments: ljned343@gmail.com"
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