Sunday, April 27, 2008
Thank you Mrs. Edwards!
Elizabeth Edwards basically repeating, in a few areas, what I've been complaining about...the MSM not doing their job in covering this presidential campaign. This is a great read! Bowling 1, Health Care 0 - New York Times
Before you blog...
...proof your work!!!
In high school, would you turn in a paper before proofing it? In college, would you even think about being that stupid?
Point is, why are people dumb enough to exhibit their laziness on the Internet? Remember what you are posting is a mirror into who you are!
Lately I've come across a few blogs that have some good ideas but the point the blogger is trying to make gets lost in some mumbo jumbo of horrid punctuation or seventh grade grammar. So let me recommend the following:
In high school, would you turn in a paper before proofing it? In college, would you even think about being that stupid?
Point is, why are people dumb enough to exhibit their laziness on the Internet? Remember what you are posting is a mirror into who you are!
Lately I've come across a few blogs that have some good ideas but the point the blogger is trying to make gets lost in some mumbo jumbo of horrid punctuation or seventh grade grammar. So let me recommend the following:
- Type your Internet masterpiece in MS Word; that wonderful software will check for spelling and grammar.
- Proof the flow. What you are writing, well, does the shit make sense? Oooh! Is that a run on sentence? Or is that a double negative? Does a+b=c?
- If it makes sense to you, it may not make sense to others so until you feel comfortable with your blogging, have someone else (that's smarter than you) proof read it.
Point of all this is: no one is going to take what you write seriously if you write like crap. So instead of shooting from the hip and blogging whatever flows out of your ADD head, slow down and try to make sense. The blogger world will take what you say more seriously...and you will not shame your family with your horrible writing skills that may set back human communication two thousand years.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Primary Day
Today is primary day in Pennsylvania and here's a scary thought: white men are going to decide the outcome. And as Nora Epron states in her blog "white men cannot be relied on, as all of us know who have spent a lifetime dating them."
I thought that was funny...and it rings pretty true for most of us...
Check out her blog here: Nora Ephron: White Men - Politics on The Huffington Post
I thought that was funny...and it rings pretty true for most of us...
Check out her blog here: Nora Ephron: White Men - Politics on The Huffington Post
Monday, April 21, 2008
Cooking for one...
I love to cook.
But I would rather cook for two than for one.
Ivan is on his way back to New York. Hopefully this will be our last seperation as I plan to start interviewing in the next month or so for positions up there.
In the meantime, I cook for only myself.
And that's ok...sort of...I mean, I am notorious for being able to eat enough for two! I didn't get fat by using a treadmill.
But I would rather cook for two than for one.
Ivan is on his way back to New York. Hopefully this will be our last seperation as I plan to start interviewing in the next month or so for positions up there.
In the meantime, I cook for only myself.
And that's ok...sort of...I mean, I am notorious for being able to eat enough for two! I didn't get fat by using a treadmill.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
A Year Later...
Many people will blog about the shootings at Virginia Tech. And for them, it's just an event; just a story in the news.
But for me, it's personal.
I am a Hokie. I graduated from Virginia Tech in 1991 after years of tears and hard work. Sure, I got frustrated with my professors and a few of my fellow students but I always loved the school and how we were pushed to do better for others...to serve others.
Last year, two days after the shooting, Ivan and drove back from New York and visited the campus. As an alumnus, I felt it was important to go home and help, even if it was to put my arms around someone or just give a handshake. I was concerned though...would our students leave in massive amounts or would they stay?
I was so pleased to see that many of the students stayed. Their parents were there, supporting their childrens' decision to stay at Tech while the national media swarmed our home with questions and accusations. Through it all, the family of Virginia Tech held it together.
I have never been so proud in my life as that moment, standing on the Drill Field and seeing other alumni and even other students help each other discuss their fears, aspirations, and concerns.
If I have learned anything in life it is that we can not dwell on the bad moments. We need to use those moments as well, momentum, to force us to acheive great things. And so, in the words of SGA President Adeel Khan:
But for me, it's personal.
I am a Hokie. I graduated from Virginia Tech in 1991 after years of tears and hard work. Sure, I got frustrated with my professors and a few of my fellow students but I always loved the school and how we were pushed to do better for others...to serve others.
Last year, two days after the shooting, Ivan and drove back from New York and visited the campus. As an alumnus, I felt it was important to go home and help, even if it was to put my arms around someone or just give a handshake. I was concerned though...would our students leave in massive amounts or would they stay?
I was so pleased to see that many of the students stayed. Their parents were there, supporting their childrens' decision to stay at Tech while the national media swarmed our home with questions and accusations. Through it all, the family of Virginia Tech held it together.
I have never been so proud in my life as that moment, standing on the Drill Field and seeing other alumni and even other students help each other discuss their fears, aspirations, and concerns.
If I have learned anything in life it is that we can not dwell on the bad moments. We need to use those moments as well, momentum, to force us to acheive great things. And so, in the words of SGA President Adeel Khan:
Take time to remember the legacies, remember the dreams and remember the talent that our community has lost. I hope you are inspired to work harder to honor the 32. Share you talents with the world for the 32. Achieve your dreams for the 32. Be more compassionate, friendly and thoughtful for the 32. Be better, for the 32.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Happy Anniversary?
It's been five years since the war in Iraq started.
Think back...where were you in your life five years ago? Were you comfortable in that new home (with that mortage you thought would never go up), in a decent job, thinking, like I was, hey, this war is only going to last a short while! Besides, Saddam has WMD's! He aided Osama! Our President has the evidence! Screw that U.N. and the French for not beleiving us!
Five years ago, a majority of us supported the war with the firm belief that we were doing the right thing. And then guess what happened on the way to celebrating shock and awe? The truth won out, like it always does.
We may not like the truth (can we even handle it?). It can be ugly. It can be uncomfortable. It can force us to admit we were/are wrong.
And we were wrong. Horribly wrong.
In our hope that justice would be served, one way or another on Bin Laden, our bravest of citizens, and their families, have paid the highest cost. In return, we give the injured or the families that are left behind, little help. It's a sad sign of our times when we allow former Congressmen that serve just a few years better benefits than those that serve in the military or have seen action.
To make things worse, there is no end in sight. And our press, while touching on the issue today, still seemed more concerned with the release of Hillary Clinton's minutes from her husband's presidency (where was she the night Monica's dress got stained?).
Shame on us for letting Bush have his way without we, the people, actually taking time to think "Is this the right thing to do?"
Shame on us for letting the press focus more on the former Govenor Spitzer's hooker than on the millions in Iraq who are homeless or not maintaining the pressure on the V.A. to ensure they treat our vets and their dependents with the respect they deserve.
Shame on us for falling for the Bush argument a second time in 2004...and falling for it again when we hear "the Surge is working."
It's working? Of course, the massacre isn't as bad as it was last year but we are only about ten people away from having four thousand dead. And no, those numbers are not as hideous as Vietnam, World War 1 or 2, but it's unnecessary. Four thousand for us and thousands of Iraqis. And yet, our President finds the cause of war "romantic?"
I guess it wasn't romantic enough for him to fight in Vietnam.
On a personal note....
Sorry it's been three weeks since I've written a blog but I've returned back to work now that my health has stabilized. It's good to be among friends again however, I am not letting this latest health setback get in the way of Ivan and I starting our future together. Last year, I was shocked and awed in my own way by what happened to me. This time, I am just pissed off that it happened again; and determined to ensure I am going to spend the rest of my years with my family.
Think back...where were you in your life five years ago? Were you comfortable in that new home (with that mortage you thought would never go up), in a decent job, thinking, like I was, hey, this war is only going to last a short while! Besides, Saddam has WMD's! He aided Osama! Our President has the evidence! Screw that U.N. and the French for not beleiving us!
Five years ago, a majority of us supported the war with the firm belief that we were doing the right thing. And then guess what happened on the way to celebrating shock and awe? The truth won out, like it always does.
We may not like the truth (can we even handle it?). It can be ugly. It can be uncomfortable. It can force us to admit we were/are wrong.
And we were wrong. Horribly wrong.
In our hope that justice would be served, one way or another on Bin Laden, our bravest of citizens, and their families, have paid the highest cost. In return, we give the injured or the families that are left behind, little help. It's a sad sign of our times when we allow former Congressmen that serve just a few years better benefits than those that serve in the military or have seen action.
To make things worse, there is no end in sight. And our press, while touching on the issue today, still seemed more concerned with the release of Hillary Clinton's minutes from her husband's presidency (where was she the night Monica's dress got stained?).
Shame on us for letting Bush have his way without we, the people, actually taking time to think "Is this the right thing to do?"
Shame on us for letting the press focus more on the former Govenor Spitzer's hooker than on the millions in Iraq who are homeless or not maintaining the pressure on the V.A. to ensure they treat our vets and their dependents with the respect they deserve.
Shame on us for falling for the Bush argument a second time in 2004...and falling for it again when we hear "the Surge is working."
It's working? Of course, the massacre isn't as bad as it was last year but we are only about ten people away from having four thousand dead. And no, those numbers are not as hideous as Vietnam, World War 1 or 2, but it's unnecessary. Four thousand for us and thousands of Iraqis. And yet, our President finds the cause of war "romantic?"
I guess it wasn't romantic enough for him to fight in Vietnam.
On a personal note....
Sorry it's been three weeks since I've written a blog but I've returned back to work now that my health has stabilized. It's good to be among friends again however, I am not letting this latest health setback get in the way of Ivan and I starting our future together. Last year, I was shocked and awed in my own way by what happened to me. This time, I am just pissed off that it happened again; and determined to ensure I am going to spend the rest of my years with my family.
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