Mixter's Mix

WSOP Main Event!

mixter_64@yahoo.com (Mixter) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:11:00 +0000

Although I already know who won and where everyone else placed (damn you, internets!), I plan on watching the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table tonight on ESPN.

But first, I'm going to play a little No Limit Texas Holdem on Poker Stars to get myself in the mood.

Mixter

Alright already, we'll all float on

mixter_64@yahoo.com (Mixter) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:55:00 +0000

We live, we love, and sometimes we lose. But we gotta keep going. And we'll all float on, ok.

I'm floating on, living my life and loving those special to me.

Mixter

Remembering Cindi

mixter_64@yahoo.com (Mixter) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:59:00 +0000

My big sister died this morning. Cindi was 57 years old. She leaves behind her husband, four children, five grandchildren, her mother, two brothers and two sisters.

All I can say for now is that I loved her very much and will miss her tremendously.

Mixter

lolcat bible

mixter_64@yahoo.com (Mixter) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:52:00 +0000

Invisible Man say, "I can has light." Gots light. Light iz good, iz not dark.

Click to embiggen to read the rest!

Mixter

Playing Dress Up

noreply@blogger.com (Dharma) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:01:00 +0000

My pal and I dressed up as beverages today at work. Our other friend dressed as "Toddlers and Tiaras". I hope to have some of those pictures later. I wanted to get therse out there. It is the first time in a very long time that I have actually made something to wear for Halloween. It was fun and a big hit as well!!

The Time has Come

noreply@blogger.com (Dharma) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:21:00 +0000

With everything else that is going on in the world and in the U.S. isn't it about time to leave marijuana alone? Legalize it and let the medical marijuana shops and people be! As hard up and in dire financial straits that California finds itself they should legalize it first and make some money! It could be a cash crop for many and all states.

All that being said, it is also time to think more about the sick that it helps. I have spoken many times on the topic and talked about my friend that needed it to eat during his last months. Until you go through the experience you just can not imagine how ill many harsh drugs can make someone and that by smoking some pot they are able to tolerate food. These people are not just smoking to get high, but to be able to just get some food down to stay alive. For others it is to alleviate the pains associated with other medical conditions.

I am not saying that I would not buy it if it were legalized, hell yeah I would, but for those who really need it I believe it needs to be available and the government needs to back off!!

Nazi Zombies in Norway!

mixter_64@yahoo.com (Mixter) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:08:00 +0000

All it took for No Guy in the Sky and I to want to see Dead Snow was the following two words: Nazi zombies.

We decided do something a little different this weekend. During the week I noticed that the student union at UW was showing free movies and I asked Guy if he'd be interested in seeing one of them. Well, when you've got an opportunity to see a free movie about Nazi zombies, you really can't pass it up, can you?

So, after an interesting day that included accidentally coming across a zombie protest at the state capitol and a somewhat romantic dinner at an Italian restaurant -- it was only somewhat romantic because it was kind of crowded and loud, we kept having the wait staff's asses in our faces, and we were sitting next to a couple that was probably on their first date and the woman was really blowing it -- we went to see Dead Snow.

I won't go into the movie much, but here's a review if you're interested.

The movie was ridiculous, but we really enjoyed it. It was only one of the many highlights of our great weekend!

Mixter

Peckerheads & Jail Time

noreply@blogger.com (Dharma) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 18:32:00 +0000

Got arrested this week. Spent some time in jail. Luckily I was able to raise my bail. Oh, did I mention that it was for Muscular Dystrophy? I went to jail as the representative from Starbucks. My boss was on vacation when they called and I said that I would do it. I have never participated and thoroughly enjoyed my time. My Starbucks gave me $100 towards my "bail".

The Red Bellied Woodpecker is on the picnic table in our backyard. We put out peanuts, corn and seed. Seems that the woodpeckers like nuts.

Max and I are both recovered from our illnesses. In case you didn't catch it on Facebook etc. aside from his H1N1 I also was ill, always one to keep up with the Joneses, I concocted an inner ear/throat infection. A good ol' Z Pack working its magic!

Today I am watching Green Bay kick some awful Cleveland ass!! You guys rock up there Mix!!

A Must Read!

mixter_64@yahoo.com (Mixter) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:18:00 +0000

Ever read a blog post that you absolutely HAD to share?

This is one of those: No Arms, No Legs, No Problem.

Let me know what you think!

Mixter

It's About Time

noreply@blogger.com (Dharma) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:24:00 +0000

"The advertisements ask the question, written simply over an image of a blue sky with wispy white clouds: "A million New Yorkers are good without God. Are you?"

A group of Atheists have gotten together and have purchased a month in the New York subways to promote freethinking! Yippee! Slowly but surely this cool idea, started in England, is coming our way and why not. Fair is fair and every church that you pass has some sort of signage outside that promotes their business, so it is high time that the ideas and thoughts of the freethinkers has its time on display!

"First, the coalition hopes the promotion will enhance awareness of New York City's secular community. He explained that the coalition also hopes to encourage "talking and thinking about religion and morality," as well as support involvement in groups that encourage a sense of a social community for non-believing New Yorkers."

If the Christianity pushers ever got their heads out of the clouds and looked around them they would see that there are far more non-believers out there, or people who are fed up with the pushing promotion of said materials, and it is refreshing to finally hear from the other side. Luckily, I live in a more liberal area and do not have worry so much about expressing my thoughts and beliefs as there are many who share them.

With the holiday season fast approaching I think it is time to pull out "Religulous" and have a good laugh while reminding myself how the whole "holiday story" was stolen/borrowed/taken from so many stories before it.

The Swiney Among Us

noreply@blogger.com (Dharma) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:16:00 +0000

After four weeks of living life SANS kid, and learning the routines of a COUPLE, Max decided to move back home. Seems that one of the stellar citizens he was living with lost their job and the whole scene was falling apart. Well, that is not really a problem, but the fact that he has brought the disease and pestilence with him IS!!!!

Sunday while he and John were moving all his stuff he was very ill and looked like crap. He had most of the sign of flu, so it was off to the ER for him. Since I have asthma and in the "high risk" group I could not sit there while he waited to get looked at, so we told him to call us when he was ready to go home. About two hours later he was done. Yep, H1N1 confirmed.

Fever 103, lots of technicolor vomiting, severe body aches.....everything that the networks are scaring you with. They forget to tell you that the Tamiflu costs over $100 bucks for kids and folks without health insurance!! We paid for it, but OUCH!!

Nothing says fun like the odor of bleach in your dishwater and vomit in the house!! I feel like I am now working in a hospital!! Not to mention the fifty, or so, boxes of kleenex that he has gone through. They say this could last about five days. I can not wait to see what this new day brings!!

Mixter goes on a 3 State Waterfall Rampage!

noreply@blogger.com (No Guy in the Sky) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:35:00 +0000

This weekend, Mixter and I went to Duluth MN to see the hawks and eagles migrate. We made home base at the Super 8 in Superior WI. We explored Superior friday night and then finished off the evening eating at "GRONKS". Which lucky for us was right next to the motel. Saturday morning we went to the Skyway Pkywy in Duluth hoping to see HUGE flocks of raptors blackening the sky. Maybe even having to dodge some on their way through. lol Well what we had was poor wind and the raptors were thousands of feet above us. While the people with Hawks Ridge Observatory were happy and excited to see birds flying so high they were little black specs. I was not.

This is a picture I took of an eagle with my 500mm lense(750mm equivalent).

I think this is a picture of a juvenile coopers hawk right before they released it.

From here went went to a Gooseberry Falls MN State Park.

Hiked and hiked. Mixter was quite the trooper being under the weather.

This fox strolled down the road towards us, after we had called it quits.

We spotted these deer on our way back to Superior.

The next morning we woke up a little late, but made it out of the motel by 8AM. We drove to Pattison State Park WI. We saw the Big Manitou and Little Manitou Falls. Then we drove to Amnicon Falls State Park WI and saw those. A lot of minor hiking took place. Then we drove to Upson Falls in Upson WI. After that we had a big detour when the GPS coords for our next destinations were not correct. We ate at the Good Times Saloon in Hurley, were we got directions to a bunch of falls. So we sped off into Michigan avoid the border patrol as we did not have our passports yet.

We had to climb up and down rocks. Jump over water to see some very beautiful sights.

We hiked miles seeing 5 waterfalls of the Black River National Scenic Byway.

This otter was in the Black River Harbor swimming in the reflections of fall foliage off the opposite hill. There was 4-5 otters that did not want to have me take their picture. So they escaped under the deck Mixter is on.

We could hear them talking and splashing under there.

Then we moseyed on back on back to Mixters place to end a Great weekend. Mixter was quite the trooper this week end. Putting up with me driving in circles and hiking miles on end.

Plus doing a 1000+ stairs. @:-D

Gronk's!

mixter_64@yahoo.com (Mixter) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:52:00 +0000

No Guy in the Sky and I are on our weekend excursion. We're staying in Superior, Wisconsin at a hotel next to Gronk's Grill & Bar, home of the upside down burger.

NGITS and I both had the Gronk Burger, which was a good-sized hunk o' burger, topped off with bacon, fried onions and a slab of deep-fried cheese. Oh yeah, we can feel the arteries hardening.

While we are proud of our burger-eating accomplishments, we don't even come close to being superstars...

Meet the Enger Tower Burger.

The Enger Tower Burger is a monster cheeseburger that is made with six burger patties. They call it "six stories of beef and five pounds of fun." If you can eat it in less than two hours, you get a nifty t-shirt. Guy asked the waitress what the record was -- some guy ate it in about three and a half minutes! And, it's on YouTube! (sideways, that is)

We couldn't even come close to such an outstanding feat. Our hats are off to this power eater!

Mixter

Warmth and Compassion

mixter_64@yahoo.com (Mixter) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:40:00 +0000

Once in a while, The Onion will have a great opinion piece...

If God Had Wanted Me To Be Accepting Of Gays, He Would Have Given Me The Warmth And Compassion To Do So

Enjoy!

Mixter

Thinkpoints "Atheists Contratdict themselves"

noreply@blogger.com (No Guy in the Sky) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:17:00 +0000

"Atheists Contradict Themselves" by a blogger named Thinkpoint. He is a Pastor for a church in PA. He says a few things that bothered me. So I made some comments. When recently I got an email notification for a new comment and his reply. I was back here again. So instead of answering me on his blog, he decided to email me. I thought this would make an interesting post. I will email Thinkpoint to let him know. This way he can join in or see what we think.

"Your militant un or non belief begs quite a number of questions. For example, consider that, ‘Unbelief would be untenable without the moral and metaphysical capital created and banked by the belief it displaced.” This is part of a comment from his blog.

Part of my response. "Unbelief? Are you kidding? That is possibly the dumbest thing stated ever! So lets get this straight. You think if I do not believe in pink vampire trolls that stalk infant bunnies. That my unbelief creates pink vampire trolls that stalk infant bunnies, because it needs something to displace. So now you believe in pink vampire trolls that stalk infant bunnies. That is your logic. Wow. I never realized how much power my unbelief had."

He responded with. "

Response to NoGuyintheSky:
OK, that was cute but cute won’t cut it for well-reasoned discussion. For one who “doesn’t believe” you become quite exercised by suggestions of flawed logic. If you’re analysis is right (and not just cute), guys like Dawkins are crazier than I thought. My beliefs are based on substantiated logic not wish fulfillment. I believe the universe and humans are the product of intelligent design. Any other belief/thinking is just silly and irrational. But one’s belief or unbelief does not in itself validate anything. There must be well-reasoned logic and solid evidence. Really—easter bunnies and such—you can do better than that."

I responded and he comment moderated it. I can not remember what I said. :( So he emailed me with a heading ENOUGH.

His email. "Your inability to deal honestly with history and truth tells me that you have used whatever you desire to convince yourself you are right. This tells me that you really are not as sure as you think you are. If you need evidence, study your hand or eye or ear. If that isn’t enough, consider the darkness of your own heart, your need for forgiveness and inability to transcend the inevitability of death. All humans in all places at all times share these in common."

I responded back.

Thinkpoint,
You are a turtle living in a shell. Stick your neck out and learn something of your very own special religion. I spoke the truth in everything I said. Point out where I am wrong. Solid evidence, you and I, oh ya the whole world knows you do not have. You have been lying on your blog. That is not honest. What would it matter to some one who believes in the holy free pass. You do not even know his real name. A pastor and this is in a field that should be your expertise. You see god because you lack knowledge. Hand eyes and ears oh my.

The only thing with history, I can think you are referring to is Hitler being Christian. Make no mistake. He was Christian. Died Christian. He and his mom were buried Christian. The germans in a whole were mostly Christian. Those Christians that ran the camps. Gas chambers. Good Christian ignorant values. Kill Jews. Which is why they were OK with it. Christians forget Jesus was supposed to be a Jew. In case Christians cant understand their own story. FYI - Jesus never died. Gods do not die. Never for a second would he be dead. At best if Jesus was a god, he pulled a parlor trick on his ignorant minions. Since he did not die. Whose sins got covered? heh.

I am not affraid to live or die. I do not cower to fictitious deities. I am an adult. I am mature enough to know I have one life. Just like all creatures. Including you.

Well you chickened out supplying evidence. Maybe you need to ask for forgiveness. Lying that you had it. Deceiving the internet with false hope. Just like you are wrong with all of the above mentioned, you are wrong about atheists and morality.

If you want to man up, and apologize. If you need help with finding information etc. You know where I am.

Well this is his version of evidence.

Hitler a Christian? You obviously do not even know what it means to be a Christian. Do you know what the word means. And the whole name of God thing also betrays you for speaking about things you do not understand. Do you know Hebrew Aramaic and Greek? Have you studied these languages?

You’re like the person who refuses to believe that people have walked on the moon. Nothing will change your mind because you do not want evidence. Once you have concluded that people cannot walk on the moon, nothing will change your mind. Not photographs of astronauts walking on the moon nor interviews with astronauts who were there. Here are eight reason it is hard to be an a-THEIST.

1. An atheist assigns himself to life without ultimate purpose.

Yes, atheists enjoy many smaller meanings of life– like friendship and love, pleasure and sorrow, Mozart and Plato. But to be consistent with his atheism, he cannot allow for ultimate meaning. Yet, if the atheist is honest, he will admit to feeling that there is something more to existence -something bigger. Someone said, “The blazing evidence for immortality is our dissatisfaction with any other solution.” According to Scripture, God has, “set eternity in the hearts of men” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). To maintain his position, the atheist must suppress the feeling that there is more to life than what is temporal. But the atheist encounters many other difficulties.

2. The atheist must suppress the demands of logic.

He is like the man who finds an encyclopedia lying in the woods and refuses to believe it is the product of intelligent design. Everything about the book suggests intelligent cause. But, if he accepted such a possibility, he might be forced to conclude that living creatures composed of millions of DNA-controlled cells (each cell containing the amount of information in an encyclopedia) have an intelligent cause. His controlling bias against God will not allow him to accept this.

3. Yet, ironically, the atheist has to believe in miracles without believing in God.

Why? Well, one law that nature seems to obey is this: whatever begins to exist is caused to exist. The atheist knows that the universe began to exist and since the universe is, according to the atheist, all there is, the very existence of the universe seems to be a colossal violation of the laws of nature (i.e., a miracle). It’s hard to believe in miracles without God.

4. An atheist must also suppress all notions of morality.

He is not able to declare any quality to be morally superior to another. Such admissions require an absolute standard of goodness and duty. Without this, there is no basis for an atheist to declare peace better than war or love better than hate. These are simply alternative choices without moral superiority. The atheist is stuck believing that morality has no claim on you or anyone else.

5. In fact, the atheist must conclude that evil is an illusion.

For there to be evil, there must also be some real, objective standard of right and wrong. But if the physical universe is all there is, there can be no such standard (How could arrangements of matter and energy make judgments about good and evil true?). So, there are no real evils, just violations of human customs or conventions. How hard it would be to think of murderers as merely having bad manners.

6. The atheist must also live with the arrogance of his position.

Although he realizes that he does not possess total knowledge, his assertion that there is no God requires that he pretend such knowledge. Although he has limited experience, he must convince himself that he has total experience so that he can eliminate the possibility of God. It is not easy to hold the arrogant assertions required by atheism in a society that requires blind tolerance of every ideology.

7. The atheist must also deny the validity of historical proof.

If he accepted the standard rules for testing the truth claims of historical documents, he would be forced to accept the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The account of Jesus’ resurrection is strongly validated by standard rules for judging historical accuracy. The extensive manuscript evidence of eyewitnesses to the resurrection is presented in an unbiased, authentic manner. It is the atheist’s anti-supernatural bias that keeps him from allowing history to prove anything.

8. Finally, the atheist must admit that human beings are not importantly different from other animals.

According to the atheist, we are simply the result of blind chance operating on the primordial ooze, and differing from animals by only a few genes. Yet, the wonders of human achievement and the moral dignity we ascribe to human beings just do not fit with the claim that we are no different than the animals. The realities of human creativity, love, reason, and moral value seem to indicate that humans are creatures uniquely made in the image of God.
The atheist’s problem with belief in God is not an absence of evidence but suppression of it. “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:20-22).

Well what do you think?

Bill O'Reilly accuses Richard Dawkins of Fascism

mixter_64@yahoo.com (Mixter) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:55:00 +0000

Billy Boy proves once again that he is a tool.

Mixter

Mr Deity and the Science Guy

noreply@blogger.com (No Guy in the Sky) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:41:00 +0000

Mr Deity and the Science Guy!

Design vs. Chance' by PZ Myers, AAI 2009

Busy Living

mixter_64@yahoo.com (Mixter) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 01:32:00 +0000

I haven't been blogging much, as I have been busy living life! Working hard and long hours during the week; on the weekends taking exciting day trip adventures with my sweetie.

Next weekend we're off to Duluth, MN for some fall fun and photo taking.

Life is good.

Mixter

Sunday Afternoon

noreply@blogger.com (Dharma) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:37:00 +0000

Nothing says Sunday like a nice bottle of Evil Chardonnay!! Walked in to my favorite wine purveyor, after work today, and saw this nice little bottle was their feature. I think I have discovered my new fave for taking to parties and cozy "get-togethers"! Also comes in a Cabernet.

Misc. Ramblings

noreply@blogger.com (Dharma) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:30:00 +0000

Let's start with this whole mess with David Letterman..... is it really necessary to STILL be discussing this? We shake our heads that it is still fodder for the evening news and talking heads. The man was not married. Adults are entitled to conduct their personal lives anyway that they see fit. If he felt like having sexual relationships with people that he worked with...so be it. Who's business is it anyway? Work place affairs happen all the time. It is easy and often safe to hook up with people that you work with, besides you spend so much time together you often know them well. I can't believe how much they are making out of this. They are all adults and until this other dirt bag dug into it there was nothing that anyone one else was talking about. Let it go!!

The weather here has gotten chill and quite "fallesque". When there is sun we are trying to spend as much time outdoors as we can. This weekend we went and got mums and pumpkins. We went back to the pumpkin patch where we used to take Max as a small child. It is a huge thing in this area. Many, many people attend and they have many other attractions besides pumpkins & mums. Carmel apples freshly dipped, hot cider, corn mazes and much, much more.

We went through the corn maze, a thirty minute walk, and then came home and had a nice fire in the backyard. We even cut sticks and cooked our own hot dogs over the fire! I haven't had a fire cooked hot dog, on a stick no less, in a very long time!

We used the rest of the weekend to watch the last episodes of Season One of Weeds. That show has such a fantastic soundtrack. I love it when a show stretches out and gets obscure music by little known or listened to artists. Even the theme song is funny!

Max hit week two of his new life living with two guys from school. Typical basement aptartment. Full of furniture, game playing stations and laptops. Each guy has his own room and all utilities are included. He came over yesterday to do laundry and we wnet out and had a nice lunch. hey, he's paying his bills and looking to the future, so what can I say? I moved away and lived life for many years before I settled down and went to school. At least he is making good choices thus far AND employed. Now we have to decide what to do with the empty room!! Thinking about looking on raigs List for a day bed so my mom has somewhere to sleep when she comes over. She can't hack the water bed!

Getting ready to read Dan Brown's new book. Working on mine. Living and loving life!! The way it's meant to be.

Sex offender ordained as Sinister Minister

noreply@blogger.com (No Guy in the Sky) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:03:00 +0000

In Louisville KY there is a pedophile that became a minister. In the KY Jelly state, what better profession for a pedophile is there, than minister? I am speechless. LOL OK maybe not speechless, but damn is this world fucked up. Dude sexually assaults an 11 yr old boy. Christian Minister is a pedophile that is homosexual. That has gotta make old "Jesus" turn over in his imaginary grave in the sky.

If that doesn't push the rapture rating through the roof, I do not know what will. lmao

I have been missing for the last 6 weeks. I have been concentrating on my photography, and every time I try to blog... I draw a blank. I will try and make more appearances.

"Don't be a slave to your end"

mixter_64@yahoo.com (Mixter) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:47:00 +0000

I really like this video. If you're interested, check out an article written by the video's creator:

In this particular work, I was trying to represent the belief in a religion as a means to avoid death. Practically every religion on the planet offers some type of "afterlife". Whether it be in the form of a heaven or a process of reincarnation, they all offer you a way to live on. I wanted to present the point that people "have faith" exclusively for this purpose. Can you imagine what would happen if, for example, Christianity abandoned the concept of an afterlife? I'd be willing to bet that church attendance would drop to practically zero. All the nonsense about a loving God and having a relationship with him would instantly not matter.

I agree with this viewpoint. Fear of non-existence, in my opinion, is what makes religion so appealing. You'll notice I did not say "fear of death," because there are those who will die for their religion.

We only exist for a finite period of time. That's the way it is, so why not accept it and enjoy life to its fullest?

Mixter

Gold Stars

noreply@blogger.com (Dharma) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:52:00 +0000

My job is NOT who I am. It is not what defines me as a person, writer, wife, mother, friend etc. So...why then do I continue to let it bother me that my boss is a jerk that does not give out recognition, but rather uses people, manipulates and rarely treats you as well as you should be for the work that you do?

I have been arguing with myself, since yesterday, that I should not give a shit. That I should just let it go and act like I don't care. BUT I DO!! All morning as I was running at the gym and then while trying to do my yoga, and simply concentrate on my breath, I kept telling myself to get over it and just move on.

A hard task. I just spent a week trying to NOT have overtime in a company that does not like to see it happen. I worked a 12 hour day on Monday doing HIS work while he was on vacation. Payroll and other tasks that are really not in my job description yet, but he did not want to have to come in and do it all while on vacation, so he taught me how do it all. Something that is good for me to know prior to a promotion, BUT... I took great care to keep things smooth, keep spirits high as we are busier than we have ever been and shorter staffed than we have ever been as well.

It was one of the most exhausting weeks that I have ever worked. Yes, I did it all as part of my plan to prove my worthiness for a promotion, but there should always be a little recognition for a job well done. I took the time, often, through this past week to thank those that I worked with and even bought meals over the weekend for the entire store. I fully recognized how hard people were working and on what short fuses. We never seemed to have a slow down moment where one could catch their breath. Not one.

I even did an interview with a potential new hire that I thought was excellent and recommended that he hire this guy upon his return. I know that I am pretty much his flunky right now as he takes advantage of the fact that I have something to prove,BUT...

A little thank-you, a note, or just some recognition of the effort that was put forth. He knows that I worked a 12 hour day and did not even ask why. he knows that things were smoothly attended, but he has chosen to say nothing. He came back and got right back to work without a single word about the work that was done in his absence.

Hard to get over and even though I know that I should not even let it phase me...why does it? That job is just what I do for money to allow me to write AND have health insurance for John & I. So why do I care if he recognizes my contributions or not? I guess we all want someone to continue to tell us what a good job we are doing no matter what stage of life we find ourselves entering or leaving. I guess it all started with that first gold star in our first year of school. After that we were all hooked.

I am still chasing the gold star. Are we all?

What's Up

noreply@blogger.com (Dharma) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:15:00 +0000

Just a little catching up to do. As well as a few pics to go along. John just got back from Norway. The company he was working for is Laderal. They make all of the first aid matereials you often see with paramedics/medical people. The face mask I have for CPR and the dummies you train with during CPR made in Norway. He brought home the "skin" of the dummies and an arm used for practicning IV insertion and several baby heads from CPR babies. Max put one of the skins on his own head and the pictures are really creepy!!

We also took casey to the groomers this weekend and she looks more like a dog rather than a walking rug!! I also believe that she was sevarl shades lighter!! The weekend was so nice we also spent a good deal of time outdoors.

Change is Good

noreply@blogger.com (Dharma) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 11:45:00 +0000

Today's meditation was good. It greatly reflects how Mixter, Guy & I have made changes in our lives and how change is a really good thing!! Not a group of people to stick with or be satisfied with the status quo or what society might tell us is main stream and appropriate. Kudos to anyone that can riser above the crticism and family crap to make out of their life what they wish it to become!!

Today's quotation:

The life you have led doesn't need to be the only life you have.

Carol Clurman

Today's Meditation:

Who and what have I been up until now? Does that determine who I'm going to be over the next five or ten years? I suppose the better question is: Does that necessarily determine who I'm going to be?

Many people stepped into the roles they now occupy when they're very young--far too young to be able to say truly what they wish to accomplish with their lives. And once they've been in those roles for a number of years and they've started to feel a sense of safety and security, they find it almost impossible to step out of those roles. Their choices for today are determined by trying to maintain the lives they've lived up until now.

But what if you're an insurance adjuster who dreams of being an actor? Are you limited in life to continuing to be an insurance adjuster for the rest of your days? What if you're a school administrator who dreams of being a classroom teacher? Are you truly limited to staying in the office for the rest of your working years?

Making a choice to step off in a new direction means that sacrifice will be necessary. Many people won't make that sacrifice because family members also will be affected by their actions; what they don't seem to want to admit is that their family members also are affected--even at a very subtle level--by their dissatisfaction and their unfulfilled dreams and ambitions.

We've been blessed to be born in a time of opportunity, days when almost anyone can accomplish almost anything. More and more people are finding out that they don't have to maintain the status quo for the sake of security, but that they're willing to make a shift in their lives for the sake of fulfillment. And even though struggles surely will rise up, they can't compare to the riches that we'll find through the fulfillment of our dreams and wishes and aspirations.

Questions to consider:

What kind of life would you like to be living? What would you have to do to achieve that kind of life?

How can it be possible for us to live more than one life?

Who determines the courses and patterns of our lives?

For further thought:

Life is the ability to start over again.

Joan Chittiste