Thursday, October 23, 2008

12 Days to Election!

I haven't made a post in a while. I've been very busy at home and at work. I don't want to make a meaningless post just to make the date stay recent. I'm still leaning heavily towards Nader.

I was thinking about how I had been contacted by the Nader '08 campaign to take on a leadership position for his campaign here in Florida. I never returned that call. Oh how I regret that now, not that I would have been able to do anything about it; but I could have at least returned the call to say how honored I was to have been contacted.

First impressions are lasting.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

About Ralph Nader

I can write about him, right? I mean he stands side-by-side with the Green Party Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney. But I couldn't help noticing how he drastically outpaces both Ms. McKinney and Bob Barr in fundraising ... and upon closer inspection of his website, not to mention the latest Newsweek article on his presence in Florida, well ... it's pretty hard to just overlook him. I mean, heh, this is Ralph Nader we're talking about.

My earliest memory of Ralph Nader dates back to the early days of Carty Finkbeiner, Mayor of Toledo. Let's just say Mr. Nader wasn't exactly a fan. Okay, the truth is whenever Nader was in town it was guaranteed to be a great day in the news industry because when Nader and Finkbeiner got together sparks would fly tantamount to the Fourth of July. But then Carty has that effect on just about anyone he deals with. The biggest point of contention as I recall was the now-defunct Jeep plant. Something about eminent domain, I think. I can't find it exactly, and my mom would know better than me.

But I digress.

Take a look at Nader's website, votenader.org. Pretty impressive not to mention easy to navigate compared to votetruth08.com. Also, I wouldn't put a big ol' picture of Roseanne Barr on the front page either. I'm not even sure I would bury a benign text comment about how she supports me either. Not in a bid for the ultimate expression of American patriotism: the Presidency of the most powerful country in the free world. And I like Roseanne! But I wouldn't use her as the celebrity vehicle to promote me for President. That's just dumb. (I've made sure not to point people to that website for that reason.)

After reading the latest Newsweek article on Mr. Nader, I can honestly say I'm rethinking my vote. The point for me is not to vote for who's most likely to win - the point for me is to vote for who is most likely to effect change. Mr. Nader seems to have chosen a very strong running mate in Matt Gonzalez, too. Matt Gonzalez was elected president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2003. This was significant because he ran as a Green Party member at the time.

So I urge you dear reader to give Ralph Nader a closer look, as I am doing. He has a proven track record. He has more ballot access than Ms. McKinney, and I don't mean to knock McKinney's run for the Presidency. But I still believe my vote counts, and Ralph Nader feels the same way I do about all the issues that are important to me. I want there to be effective change - I don't want to just be sweet-talked about it, like I feel Obama is doing. And although I don't dislike McCain, he's been making some stupid mistakes. And don't get me started on Sarah Palin. I just don't know about her. Part of me likes her, part of me is really scared of what she would do to women's rights if she got anywhere near a leadership position in the White House. I think I would rather be sweet-talked about change, quite frankly.

Moreover, I think Ms. McKinney and Ms. Clemente stand a better chance of having their voices piped through Washington if Nader became President.

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Common Enemy

I really have to work at suppressing the urge to make political slurs. I am conscious of the smarmy remark as it bubbles up within me: the kind of remark that would make those who share my political ideologies laugh out loud and nod their heads approvingly. I began to notice my tendency to do that after listening to my co-workers making comments (we all work at a television news station - uh, kind of can't escape the political coverage there). It's completely understandable. It's school spirit, good old-fashioned competition.

Except these days it is all too evident how damaging it can be to fly the flag of our political ideals. It really only serves to alienate us from each other, and so I decided to try a different tack: I've decided to listen to those whose views I fundamentally disagree with to see if I could learn something from them.

Let me tell you, that is not easy.

It really does have the effect of making one want to lash out or turn away and clap your hands over your ears. So I decided to listen: I'm listening to Obama supporters, McCain supporters, and anyone else who cares to share their views with me, whether I agree with them or not. It really takes some skill to be able to do that - not to sound arrogant, but I'm here to tell you if I can do it, anyone can do it. In fact, I believe more of us should do it.

From talking to people I already see the positives that BOTH sides have to offer: democrats are good at some things, republicans are good at others. Neither side is good at EVERYTHING! Both sides, ultimately, need the strengths of the other. What if all the countries who are trying to put astronauts into space worked together instead of racing each other to be the 'first' to accomplish something? Imagine if you had the strength of the Russians working with the strengths of the Chinese and Americans to explore the final frontier? I bet those 3 countries working together could come up with some amazing things! Better lifestyles all around!

But of course, that means setting aside some pride and stubbornness. And frankly, I see both Obama supporters and McCain supporters being able to do that. Because if there's one thing both sides agree on, it's the strength of the citizens of this country. Even in the midst of our current economic situation, everybody knows this country is going to bounce back eventually, somehow, some way. It might be sooner, it might be later, but it's going to happen.

Perhaps in the voting booth there should be a place where voters are encouraged to write one positive thing about both candidates whose views they 'oppose'. Find one positive thing, something you like about the candidates you didn't vote for. Nobody is completely evil - Randy Pausch said that (The Last Lecture). Everybody has something good to offer, even if it takes a while to reveal itself.

Another thought I had was maybe if enough people voted for a third party, it would get the Democrats' and Republicans' attention in a way that would force them to look at each other as compatriots rather than as enemies. In other words, the third parties would become their 'common enemy', the one thing that brings 2 bickering parties together, usually. I'm not naive, I know the next President will be either Obama or McCain; but my pressing question is what will the next President do to get both parties to work together? Do they even know what to do? What happened to that spirit that unified the House and Senate members singing "God Bless America" together right after 9/11? The 9/11 terrorists are not sufficient anymore; that's why I think a good, strong third party, preferably the Green Party, but I'll take just about any one of the bigger ones, to get Democrats and Republicans to build off each others' strengths, rather than dividing our fine country.

Bad News These Days

Wall Street is setting the kinds of records today it would rather not set. Obama and McCain are at each other's throats. People are out of work also in record numbers. All day long I sit and listen to this, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about moving to Canada. Running away, no matter how nice it sounds, never works, and running away is precisely what is wrong with our economy right now. People like me who ran away from our civic duties, taking all our freedoms, rights and privileges for granted for too long. Forgive me for sounding like a broken record but it's the truth. So far I've spent my adulthood mostly in blissful ignorance of the houses of cards being built out of our economy, content to let someone else make the decisions for me, content to not have to deal with the boring details that take me away from my very own pursuit of happiness. Because after all, I'm worth it ... right? It's all about me - isn't it???

Well I'm not running away this time. No matter how much it hurts I plan on staying put, weathering this storm and the storms ahead (this Wall Street crash is not going away any time soon). I have a lot to learn; I hate to admit it, but I really don't know that much about the finer workings of our government. And when you multiply that by how many other 30-something adults like me out there? Not to mention the 40-somethings, 50-somethings ...

... and THAT'S what is wrong with our economy today. Among other things.

Friday, October 03, 2008

SarahSoda.net

What is this website about? The Presidential Election 2008, specifically the third party candidates who have been blacked-, whited-, yellowed-, and just generally edged out, and especially The Green Party whom I've thrown my support behind 100%. I'm even registered with the Green Party in the state of Florida.

Normally this is where I would air my views, opinions, stories about my day, etc., but now I'm turning it into what I hope becomes a springboard for discussion and research into the candidates and issues that we'll be voting on come November 4th. My main message is this: there are more than 2 choices for President in nearly all 50 states of this fine country. You don't hear about anything other than Democrats and Republicans on your news because the Democrats and Republicans have reaped so much power and persuasion in recent years, in Washington, the media, corporate interests (yes, they're both guilty of it) that they have reached a level where they can dictate who goes to the debates, who gets the advertising time and dollars and ultimately who gets the votes. Corruption is running amok in our government, and the immediate solution is to get everyone to vote for a third party - ANY third party - although I personally prefer the Green Party and I am registered with the Green Party in the battleground state of Florida.

So to read a couple posts I've made, go here. And click here to find a whole bunch of websites I've come across through my research that I'd like to share with everybody, most notably at the top of the list a documentary I think every red-blooded American, every American who has to pay taxes should see: it's called, Split: A Divided America, and it's an unbiased view of bipartisan politics in present-day America in light of this particular Election year.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Inaugural post on the new website

Hello, and welcome to my shiny new, very own, personal website. You have arrived at SarahSoda.net where I make my home and publish my thoughts, etc. More to come later, but for now, to read my views on this year's Presidential Election click here.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Red + Blue = Purple

I just finished watching a documentary that confirmed many of my suspicions, and echoed a few of my sentiments about politics in America today. I wish everyone who is old enough to vote could watch it before they go to the polls on Election Day - it's called, Split: A Divided America. I saw it on the Independent Film Channel, so I don't know if cable subscribers get that channel.







What made this documentary so compelling were the questions they asked, although the people interviewed were about as diverse a group of people as you could hope to find in America: from experts to regular people, old to young, from the Rust Belt to the Bible Belt, conservatives, liberals, and many people in-between. Noam Chomsky was interviewed; Tucker Carlson (former host of Crossfire on CNN) was interviewed, former heads of both Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns of years past.

They worked behind the scenes and offered their insight.

And the truth is the political campaigns, especially today, are deliberately negative (as a way of keeping voter turnout down - isn't anyone else bothered by the fact that the ONLY people who are bothering to put people in the White House only represent 30% of our country? Are you comfortable with that??), and are run by the same people who promote ... toothpaste.

Tucker Carlson called the political advertising "narrowcasting" because of how it narrows the viewpoints on any given subject. I forget what his exact words were, which is a shame because he really hit the nail on the head.

One other expert (I forget who just now) wanted to know why some housewife in Iowa is more bothered by the idea of an Islamic radical killing her and her family, than she is about her husband's job security, or the fact that they don't have health insurance for their family, or the quality of education her children are getting. His point was, this woman is going to cast her vote based on something that ultimately, is very unlikely to happen, rather than being focused on issues that are very real to her (read: all of us) on a daily basis. In other words, what is the likelihood that she will have to pick up a gun to defend herself (in Iowa, mind you) from Osama bin Laden - or Al Qaida period - than she would have to take her kids to the doctor?

Anyway, the documentary did a GREAT job of telling the story of what's really going on inside the political arena of today's America going into Election 2008, and they didn't just interview experts. They interviewed Citizen Joes and Janes, and they discovered that for all the differences the media chooses to paint our country in, the fact is the majority of us actually agree more than we disagree.

If you watch the political ads and you really care about what direction our country is headed ... I highly recommend you watch this documentary. It doesn't make a case for any political party, so there is no particular endorsement to be found there.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Familiarity breeds contempt

Our Daily Devotional:

Too Familiar?

Revelation 2:4 NIV: Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.

It has been said that, "familiarity breeds contempt." One author writes, "Familiarity breeds unfamiliarity�unsuspected unfamiliarity, and then contempt." The notion is that when frequently exposed to something, we begin to lose sight of its value. We treat it as though it is not worthy our consideration, time, or attention. Perhaps we do not actively view it with disdain, yet we, by simple neglect, hold it in a subtle contempt. For most of us, modern society is well exposed to Christ and Christian doctrine. There are Bibles to be had, churches to attend, and opinions on Christian philosophy at every turn. And that is good, right? Consider cultures that do not have such offerings. People hide to meet and worship, and scripture is still sacred and hungered for. One might contend that they are richer than we, for they still see the worth of such things, and hold them in high regard. But we are blessed, right? We have all we could want. If only we could want what we have a little more.

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© FaithWriters.com CHRISTIAN WRITERS WRITING JOBS

written by Randy Chambers
http://reflections.daybyday.org

Friday, July 11, 2008

Inaugural season

I am so excited! Tonight I come home and find out that my husband picked up Season 1 of Stargate SG-1 at Wal-Mart!!! HOORAAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!! This is quite the coup.

This all began last Christmas when, armed with a $20 spending limit and one night to spend it, I embarked upon the search for my husband's Christmas present. I was working my way through the electronics/media section of Wal-Mart when I spied a display of Stargate SG-1 DVD collections, divided by season. However, Season 1 was nowhere to be found, so I settled on Season 2... and that's how it all began.

Since then, we have diligently and faithfully watched every episode from Season 2 through Season 10 AND The Ark of Truth. Now, we are not only able to complete our collection, now we can bring the whole saga full circle.

More later.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

How to not give up hope

This was taken from my iGoogle widget, "Faithwriters Daily Devotional". I found this one to be particularly profound...
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Our Daily Devotional:

Off To A Good Start?

Hebrews 10:36 NIV: You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

Resolve, endurance, fortitude, perseverance, determination, steadfastness, tenacity--all characteristic of someone who holds the course, fights the good fight, and finishes the race. Many there are who with great bursts of energy jet from the starting line once inspired to follow Christ more closely. Many there are who quickly lose steam and falter, fade in their own strength, and fall far short of the finish line. So many of us start out strong, only to give up when the Christian life becomes a struggle. We grow weary. We tire. Our inspiration turns to hopelessness. Our enthusiasm becomes exhausted. Why is it so many of us give up? Perhaps we have forgotten what we live for, would fight for, and were at one time ready to die for. Perhaps the obstacles have taken toll and left us without of anything left to give. We do have hope in Christ. He will help us get through. But we must not lose sight of our purpose, goal and our Lord. We must not give up. We must not quit. We must find through Jesus the determination to carry on.

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© FaithWriters.com CHRISTIAN WRITERS WRITING JOBS

written by Randy Chambers
http://reflections.daybyday.org

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Thursday, April 17, 2008

Childlike, a story of hope

This answers a question I've had for a long time, I'm ashamed to admit: what exactly is meant by the Bible verse listed below?

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Our Daily Devotional:

Let Children Come

Mark 10:15 NIV: I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.

What do you see in your childhood eyes? Looking back to days gone by, what do you recall the most? How did you view the world? How did you view yourself? How did you view God? In childhood years, everything is big and new. Pain is severe, and happiness is more wonderful than our strongest laughter can express. In childhood years, the world is so very big, and we are so very, very small, and God, God is the greatest question yet to be answered. Is it any wonder that the greatest Wonder can only truly be experienced with the wonder of childhood eyes? Christ, Wonder of wonders He is. He still holds great wonder for His children. To any who will embrace Him with the faith of a child, He offers the world, a world that is so very big, so very wonderful and new, and so very exciting. Such a world is ready for you to experience today if you will look on Christ through childlike faith. He still entreats, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."

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written by Randy Chambers
http://reflections.daybyday.org

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I hold on to these words tightly, close to my heart. Life is so crazy and uncertain right now, and I feel like I've lost my innocence a hundred times over in my adult life. So I keep this verse in mind, so that I don't forget - I don't want to be the kind of adult who has forgotten what childhood is like!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Apathy

My attitude toward my career has truly sunk to a new low. I used to be passionate about it; now I direct all my energy toward being politically correct in the eyes of my superiors. I pretend to be interested. Deep down, I really couldn't care less, and the worst part is, nobody notices. Nobody notices because nobody knows how to spell correctly, nobody pays attention to detail. Oh but I see it - I see it and let it go anymore, hoping someone will notice. But nobody says anything. And the more nobody says anything the more it drives my apathy deeper and deeper.

I don't really feel angry anymore. That's part of the problem! I just simply do not care. I look at the clock, try to figure out how much more I have to put up with it (just 5 more hours, just one more half-hour show), and do my best to get by. I've learned how to make myself invisible around here, which ironically is exactly what the bosses/supervisers want. You will be invisible if you are: everywhere at once; putting out fires; or just generally picking up the slack that is constantly lying around here. I will do those things, but that is purely personnel management most of the time. It has nothing to do with journalism or accuracy and it sure as HELL has nothing to do with bettering our community.

No one cares.

We are all caught together in this curious quagmire of keeping visits to the boss's office down to a bare minimum. That's all this job means to anyone anymore. And it's not just here ... it's all across the country.

My wish, if I could have one: that I live long enough to see it turn around...

Monday, April 07, 2008

Not a hairdo


Seriously, this is a hair DON'T!

On a sidenote, the makeup's no bargain either. Only a VERY PRETTY GIRL could pull this off - and then only if this VERY PRETTY GIRL happens to be under the age of 25.

Please. This is a poor example of hair 'art'.

Bad hair day

The problem with hairstyle magazines - and now websites - is that some of the haircuts look so weird! Especially long hairstyles - take a look.

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Too many projects, not enough day

So many things I'd like to do sitting in front of the computer. Lately this is my lamentation. Sorry to sound like a broken record, but somehow I feel if I write about it, get the words out in front of my eyeballs, then I'll be better able to see a solution to the problem.

Right now all my thoughts are churning around in my head I'm afraid my head will explode. What do I do? Where do I begin? On the one hand I need to transfer my documents over to the other computer, then Glenn's going to upgrade some hardware on the new tower, install some software, and then I'll have a CD burner, and I'll be able to plug in my headsets and microphone to the front of the tower rather than the back. Plus, it's just a better machine, I think it has a bunch more memory on it. It's got a better processor too, if I'm not mistaken; currently I'm running on a Celeron, which is better than nothing, but not a P4.

So I have to wait to install the software that lets me upload pictures from my phone. I must have over a hundred pictures that I need to upload before I can clear them off my phone. That's one thing that's holding me back: being able to post pictures to my blogs, any of my blogs. Right now in order to post a picture that I take on my phone - my primary source of picture-taking - I have to go through a long, clunky, inefficient process of starting a new message and adding a picture to it (can't send directly from the picture which, pardon my language, SUCKS!!) before I can send it. HOWEVER, doing it that way, in order to select the picture I want I have to scroll all the way through the entire database of pictures from the beginning - that's where the process becomes very slow and cumbersome. There are sooooooooo dang many pictures on the memory card that it takes a very, very, very long time. Long enough to make me not want to do it at all.

Trouble is, lately I've amassed a lot of pictures that I desperately want to publish. The other thing that would greatly enhance the process, this I just discovered today, is to set up an email account through my cell phone service. That would enable me to send the picture directly from the picture itself and bypass the process described above. I'm not sure I want to do that, simply because it's a shared plan. But man, that would be awfully, awfully convenient: instant publishing! I should look into it.

Okay, I'm done ranting. It's worked up my appetite so I'm going to find something to eat.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Please support Journey to Forever



Journey to Forever is a pioneering expedition by a small, mobile NGO (Non-Government Organization) involved in environment and rural development work, starting from Hong Kong and travelling 40,000 kilometres through 26 countries in Asia and Africa to Cape Town, South Africa.

Our route will take us away from the cities and populated districts to remote and inaccessible areas (usually also the least developed and poorest areas), where we'll be studying and reporting on environmental conditions and working for local NGOs on rural development projects in local communities.

The focus will be on trees, soil and water, sustainable farming, sustainable technology, and family nutrition.

The aim is to help people fight poverty and hunger, and to help sustain the environment we all must share.


--The foregoing was taken straight from the homepage of their website, Journey to Forever.

LiveJournal: Going the Way of the Dinosaur

Recently there has been a business decision - made by "management" aka SUP, the current owners of LiveJournal - to get rid of Basic (formerly "free") Accounts. Many have spoken out against this decision, including LiveJournal's advisory board, but management essentially turned a deaf ear on all of them and went ahead with the decision anyway. That was Wednesday, March 12.

Management then proceeded to put a spin on their decision, in the form of a comment left by the VP of Product Development for LiveJournal, Jason Shellen, on the original news post, as an "answer" (I use the term lightly, dear readers) to the outcry from those thousands of LiveJournal users (including members of the advisory board whose counsel went unheeded by management) who reacted to the news bit. Just read some of the comments there and you get the picture of what's going on very clearly. That was March 13.

Just one day after the original announcement, SUP issued another, formal news item solely as a response to all the negativity they encountered from the original post. Read it and the comments that follow, especially the first comment titled, "worst. idea. ever." which has links to the posts made by a couple of LJ's advisory board members, and you will see that LiveJournal is about to become the next victim in the long, long history of small businesses that get sold out to big companies that have nothing but dollar signs in their eyes.

Here's my editorial: The more I think about it, the more I want to blame Brad Fitzpatrick for selling the company in the first place. And yet I don't blame him, all at the same time. He's got bills to pay, dreams to pursue, and in all honesty he probably had the best interests of LJ users at the front of his own business decisions the whole time. How was he supposed to know he signed a deal with the devil? Many times in life we get swindled - we get taken for a ride. And I think that's what has happened to Brad Fitzpatrick. I don't know Mr. Fitzpatrick from Adam, but I'm not stupid, I see what's going on here. LiveJournal is in the middle of a political debacle right now, one that many don't see any hope that it will survive.

One thing I can say for sure: SUP are a bunch of snakes, slithering, hissing, corporate snakes. The very worst kind, the Enron kind.

Beware - and stay far, far away if you can!

Cross-posted in: LiveJournal, Vox, tumblr., MySpace, and Facebook. And any others I can think of.

The perfect pile of poo

I just read, moments ago, a great article on composting: click here to go to the website.

See, I am trying to start a garden. Naturally, I want it to be the kind of garden that keeps giving back, however, since I have historically been a city girl all my life - and by "city girl" I mean that my day-to-day standard of living has always depended on commercial grocery markets - I don't know the first thing about gardening.

I also have big dreams for this garden of mine: I'm hoping to revolutionize the world with it. Of course, in order to be successful with it I am beginning to realize that I'm going to have to enlist the help of others, especially considering my lack of practical experience with gardening. Oh yes, I failed to mention that I'm trying to grow a vegetable garden. I have a book that has suggestions on how to grow a salad out of a container - I'm hoping that if I can do it myself and teach others how to do it, I can call my life a success! Or at least, this part of my life.

My motivation for starting this is twofold: the lack of quality at the supermarket, and the price of gas. I desire to have more control over the taste and nutritional value of my fruits and vegetables, which I can do if I grow my own. Furthermore, it will definitely be a heck of a lot cheaper to just walk out to the backyard and pluck fresh tomatoes off the vine than to get in the car - or walk to the bus stop - and travel to the grocery to get tomatoes.

But I have no idea what I'm getting into, and so far no supplies yet either. I only have deep hope and a vision, and the deeper hope that the greatest manifestation will be if I can teach others how to grow their own vegetable garden too!

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Now playing: Vorisek - Symphony in D Major - 3.Scherzo. Allegro ma nin troppo [ Check National Symphony Orchestra-Paul Freeman ] ((((((((((( HappyClassic )))))))))))
via FoxyTunes

Saturday, March 15, 2008

First Saturday back to work

So, I have decided to give some attention to this sadly neglected blog. I really like this blog service - I really do - but I bought a permanent account on LiveJournal, and well, I feel guilty if I don't post there.

But I really like this blog service. It's superior to LJ in many ways, much as I hate to admit it. Glenn was right; then again, I really didn't think he'd take me seriously last June when I told him I wanted a permanent account on LJ. *shakes head*

That's ok. LiveJournal is wicked cool. I'm not at all unhappy about being anchored there. SixApart is also wicked cool (I also have a blog with them on Vox). So many blogs, so little time ...

... I need to figure out a way to separate all these blogs I maintain. Yeah, that would make so much more sense! Or at the very least, publish links to all my other blogs on my LJ posts!

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Talking about online dating on Today show. I am so lucky Glenn turned out to be so great! :)
Having fun posting to my blogs via cell phone. Unfortunately it racks up TMing charges... : / Hope my car is done soon!
I come into Tires Plus they tell me it will be an hour. Inwardly I groaned. Then the Today Show came on w/ Richard Simmons. Problem solved.

Monday, January 07, 2008

New beginnings

So here it is the new year, and suddenly I've got the maddening urge to update all my neglected blogs, hee hee! I almost don't want to post because it will push the pretty clouds picture down, but oh well.

One thing I'd like to do this year is keep up on making creative blog posts, almost making it like a digital scrapbook (almost), or better yet I'd like to improve upon my HTML skills ... or maybe even learn something more advanced like php like my husband does. I want my blog to be colorful, dynamic, interesting, and well-written. I don't want to simply post pictures just for the sake of posting pictures; I want to post pictures that are relevant to what I'm writing, images that will help illustrate what my words are trying to communicate.

That's all I've got for now.