Little Things

It's the little things in life that make me get excited.  Corny but true!  Not a single dime can buy the things I love so if I ever find myself without any money, I can still enjoy them and be happy.  I love a beautiful sunrise.  I love the laughter of a child.  I love a gift that comes from your heart that is full of someone's love and most importantly-- their time.  I love an incredible sunset.  I love a full moon on a black sky.  I love the milky way that can be seen by the dock of our lake house.  I love the sound of the ocean as it crashes into the shore.  I love the cool breeze on my face.  I love the look on my children's face when they are proud of their accomplishments.  I love hearing my son sing because it means he is happy and content with life.  I love hearing Kaitie's voice when she is full of laughter and eager to share a story with me.  I love when your father is a little tipsy and lets his walls down and doesn't care if he is perceived as silly.  I love being with my crazy siblings.  I love the patience of reading a good book and truly not wanting it to end because I will miss the new friends I found within its pages. I love the memories of my children growing up.  I love a snowfall especially when it is unexpected.  I love reading something you wrote.  I love watching Kaitie swim.  I love the smell of a fragrant flower.  I love a beautiful Japanese maple whose branches spread out like a welcome hug.  I love the warmth of the sun on a crisp Spring day.  I love a song that unfolds a memory.  I love you.  I love your sister. And... I love your father.


I love the little things in life that no one can buy, but everyone can enjoy.

Gizmos & Gadgets

I imagine everyone has at least one thing that excites them above all others. I believe the generic stereotypical response for men would be something along the lines of Football or ESPN, but I have chosen the less traveled road. I am very interested in the most recent computers and tech tools that accompany them. Unlike the many that have journeyed down this road, I've done so with relatively no drawbacks. Never have I been a part of any form of nerd hazing as I've tended to also participate a good bit in sports and school activities. In fact, I've done such a good job at allowing only a few to know of my nerdy little secret that I might actually be more of a spy for the nerds than a dual major of both studies, the Bits and the Brawns. Any major gift I've been given by family and friends, such as various birthday presents, cars, and money has always placed second to whenever I purchase or am given a technological device that I'm interested in. I was given a car as a graduation gift and simply said a heartfelt "Thanks" while I clawed my way through the first gaming computer I was given for my birthday, a mere fraction of the price of the vehicle. I'm not sure what exactly it is about these hunks of metal and plastic that get my heart program running at such a high cpu performance, but I enjoy it nonetheless. What is it that, despite price tags, shapes, or sizes, makes you grin with excitement and anticipation?


JR

Fear Is A Friend You Misunderstand

I also agree with you in being slightly perturbed that after 15 years of living in plain sight, this guy was finally found. Like you noted, I think the most amazing thing about this particular incident is that he managed to simply coexist with other people in the world without wearing his fear like a giant arrow sign.


How funny would it be if this all happened because the neighbor who recognized the woman started to doubt just because of a slight quarrel between the two. "My god! Becky and Steve didn't mow their side of the yard again and it's making my petunias look less than flattering! Time to dig up some dirt and lash back."


Another thing I find interesting is that it always seems that girlfriends are the Achilles' Heel for all less than savory fellows trying to avoid their past. John Dillinger was caught and shot down in front of a movie theater because his girlfriend ratted him out to the FBI. One of the most wanted criminals in NYC was discovered because his jealous girlfriend snooped through his wallet and found a clipping of his crime.


Hmm...I guess they truly are our "better" halves.


JR

Hiding in Plain Sight

Don't you find it incredible that a mobster who has rested in the top ten list of the FBI's most wanted for over 15 years could live in plain sight in the USA.  With the technology of today, the internet and television shows that highlight criminals, I would think that he would have been discovered years ago.


It has always been interesting to me that WWII Nazi criminals were able to move to places like Brazil and live a virtually non-threatening life.  They rarely had to look over their shoulder wondering when they might be recognized for their criminal activities.  I often wonder at what point they actually felt free from their past regressions.  Their discovery chance was almost nil compared to criminals of today's technological world.


The arrest of Whitey Bulger came about because a neighbor recognized his female companion, not him.  He was on America's Most Wanted numerous times in the last several years but to no avail.  His life remained unchanged though based on interviews with several of his neighbors, it seems he didn't want anyone getting too close.  He deflected personal questions and tried to keep both he and his girlfriend out of the limelight, calculating that the less people knew the better.  It worked for 15 years but it was her more pleasant personality that led to their demise.


How often did they look over their shoulders?  Did they wonder if someone would recognize them every day or as time passed, did they become more complacent?  Personally, I would live in fear.  In fact, I would look so guilty that the general population would seek my picture out online and I wouldn't last a week.

Puke

I hate being sick.  I want to be left alone and all I want to do is sleep.  You have the sniffles and you have the sneezes.  You can still work your way through a task if you have a cold.  Mothers do it all the time when caring for their children.  So in my opinion, that isn't the definition of sick.  Yeah.... you aren't feeling well and you are ill but if you really felt "pukey" by my definition, you would be puking.  


I hate puke.  I hate the smell of it, the look of it and I hate the feel of it as it rises in your throat.  Puke takes the cake in the illness category and I avoid it at all cost.  From an early age, I knew the signs that you or Kaitie were going to puke and I coaxed you into the bathroom to ensure I would not have to clean it up.  We would honestly sit in the bathroom for hours if your stomach felt the least bit rumbly.... and it was honestly a self-preservation technique on my behalf.  I wanted every bit of it to end up in the toilet, not on the walls or in the bed.


I don't "do" puke!  Okay I will if I am the last person around but only if there isn't anyone else to clean it up.  It is the reason at elementary school that I would volunteer to do anything except the health room.  Give me blood, give me bones protruding from a leg or an arm, but please don't make me have to deal with puke.  


I even do a sympathy puke if I am anywhere in the vicinity of the smell.  Not the kind of mother you want in the health room during flu season.  I always thought I had the intelligence to be in the medical field but I knew that my gag reflex would prevent that from coming to fruition.  


Puke is what makes me sick!

Sniffles and Sneezes

I'm sick. It's no fun. I'm sad. I'm tired. I'm no good. I'm brief. Yo Kimmy Kim kim, what do you hate most about being sick?


The thing I hate most about being sick is my sudden inability to string together words in the same witty fashion I've become known for. I feel like if I'm sick, I let people down. I go from being the sorta funny guy to that guy who keeps interrupting all my sentences with his sniffles and sneezes. Usually when I hear a good joke opportunity, I quickly assess the best way to deliver it in a couple seconds, but when I'm sick...I find myself just thinking "Duhhhhhhhhhhh" over and over again. Error - Please Try Again. My spice and flavor has been stripped down by the elements, leaving behind an incredibly dull and uneventful vanilla. I feel like I just put my body in auto-pilot and halfheartedly go about my day. Who spiked the punch with Kryptonite?


JR

What?

I'd say for the most part, your argument is riddled with logical errors. Just because LeBron wants to create some major hype and PR for his movement to a new team doesn't in any way mean that his talent has stopped working hard, or that he suddenly feels insecure with his skill level when compared with others. LeBron made a brilliant marketing move and turned what would have ordinarily just been another trade into a national affair. Not only did he create one of the biggest buzz moments in sports, but he also did so while raising a considerable amount of charity money for the Boys and Girls Club of America. LeBron knows he is probably the best in the NBA at his position. He worked as hard as he possibly could in Cleveland and finally realized that not even someone with as much talent as him could take that POS team to a title. Look what happened when he left...they had one of the worst losing streaks of any team in NBA history. If you're going to jump into the pool, why not make a big splash.

It's LeBron NOT the Heat

Do you hate the Heat? Or do you just want to see LeBron lose? Personally, I hate heat but I can honestly say I don't hate The Heat though I am one of those people that wants to see Dirk with a ring and title at the end of this series. Why not LeBron you ask? It all can be answered with a word.....ego.


I get that LeBron is a great basketball player. Heck, even Scottie Pippen said LeBron is one of the greatest and threw him into the same category as Jordan. I get that every city wanted LeBron to leave Cleveland and come play for them. I was even somewhat amused with the PR Productions from several cities to coax him away from the Cavs. And I do NOT have an issue with the fact that LeBron left Cleveland. In fact, I was indifferent to whether he chose to leave or stay, but I entered the fray on the day I heard ESPN announce that they had an entire program dedicated to LeBron's decision. Ego became more important than the fan. Ego became everything. And when ego is everything, I root for the other side!


LeBron said he left Cleveland because of the ring. I disagree because if it really was just about the ring and his ego never came into play, he would have won that title for Cleveland. He would have created a contract that says pay me a dollar, find me a Bosch, and a Wade then when I bring the Championship title to Cleveland, pay me an astronomical bonus. It's actually amazing that he didn't have enough faith in his talent to do that! He couldn't put his money, his mouth or his ego in the same sentence.


If you're a good person, you don't need to tell people because they can see it. If you're a good athlete, you don't need to tell people because they can see it. If you are insecure in the belief that you are good, you have to sell others because you don't believe it yourself or in the case of LeBron, you are so caught up in yourself that you need constant reassurance that you really are the center of the universe. You need to hear that the basketball world will come to your Mecca to worship. You need to see the masses beneath you not at your side. You are king; you are great; you are LeBron.


Jake is not a fan of this saying or any saying for that matter but in this case...it fits! "Talent beats hard work until talent stops working hard." Could it be that LeBron's talent might just not want to work hard?

What's Buggin' You?

Bugs are not my problem.  But there is something that does bug me and its far bigger than a bug!  So Bugsy Malone move over, Mickey the Mouse is what makes the hair on my neck stand at attention and then some.  And I'm not talking the lovable Mickey Mouse of Walt Disney World.  Its Mickey THE Mouse, Algernon, or Ben that scares me!  


I too, shared a much better experience with mice when I was younger than I do now.  In college, for my undergraduate degree in Psychology, I had to train mice and rats to move through a maze, eat when a light blinked and many other "menial" tasks.  I handled them three times a week for an hour.  Believe it or not, I talked goofily to them.  Quite honestly, I am not sure whether my fear is a developed fear like yours or if there is some part of my brain that believes I treated these mice and rats "inhumanely" and there is guilt that now manifests itself in the form of fear.  Maybe all those mice told their family what I was doing to them daily and the stories have been handed down through generations of mice and they are coming to "get" me!  


All kidding aside, I really believe that it was having to handle them under uncomfortable circumstances that somehow led me to my fear, though I will throw something out there.  My father has a fear of mice and rats.  He however, lived in the projects when he was growing up and some of the fodder that he and his friends would create was to try and hit the rats with stones.  They were rather effective in their efforts and he would tell you that they killed quite a huge number of them.  And my father, your grandfather has a fear of bugs as well.  In fact, he hates bugs so much that he wanted to be buried in a mausoleum instead of the ground so the bugs wouldn't eat him.  (Something I find incredibly funny because after all he would be dead so what difference does it make?) My sister Pam would run over anyone in her way to get away from a bug. Could you be afraid because it bugs your grandfather or aunt the same way it bugs you? I would say there is some credence to that except Kaitie is the bravest bug and mouse girl I know.  The majority of the time she doesn't go all-girly when it comes to disposing them dead or alive so that negates my generational theory at least as far as we are concerned.  Unless of course, Kaitie is more Ring than Bence!  She does overwhelmingly resemble the Ring side of the family and you are more Bence than Ring.  But there was that time at the lake the Bence side showed up in Kaitie and she did fall off the jet ski when that bug came near her.  That incident alone could corroborate my theory.


This analysis of our problem has made me run through a maze like I used to make those rats run through mine.  And like the rat mazes of my youth, there isn't a prize at the end that will solve either of our issues.   So the real question is, "Are we really afraid?  Or are our fears developed by the notions of someone else?" I move that we put that question out there like the age-old which came first the chicken or the egg.  Either way it is answered, mice will bother me and clearly, bugs are what's bugging you!

Bugsy Malone

The itsy bitsy spider crawled up the water spout...down came the rain and WASHED THE SPIDER OUT!


Bugs really, really creep me out. They seem more like aliens to me than any other class of creature on the planet. They're small, but efficient. They can fly, crawl, burrow. They have a million self defense mechanisms that could affect me in a negative way: stink bugs smelling up the place, wasps and bees stinging me, spiders biting me and poisoning me to death, cockroaches simply existing....bugs are awful. My fear is mostly of spiders...nothing scares me more. They skitter about on hairy legs and have these menacing external mandibles. They setup shop wherever they want without filing the necessary permits, and the only means of me closing down their illegal residence is to accidentally destroy their secret abode with my face. When I walk through a spider web, I probably stand a greater chance of dying from the rush of fear and anxiety than I do an actual spider bite. 


I think this is something that has started recently. I have pictures of me in 2nd grade standing with a rather large tarantula on my shirt, having no real qualms with this eight-legged beast. Yet here I am, over a decade later, terrified of everything spiders represent. I always thought it was the other way around. Children are supposed to have irrational fears that eventually disappear as our brains develop. Yet...my 8 year old self was way more of a badass than I'll ever be.


JR

All Our Accounts Are Frozen

It's completely true. The safety net set up by our "superiors' has convinced us that it's okay to mess up because there are always means to weasel our way out of responsibility. Now, I wouldn't say the world has recently lost their accountability, it's always been a major factor. People don't want to face consequences when they mess up, it's in their nature. Things like The Salem Witch Trials and The Spanish Inquisition were all exploitable excuses for people to get what they want without paying the proper dues. It was too hard to say that God's wrath and people with superpowers were stopping us from getting what we want rather than accepting that bad things happen politically and socially because they are run by human beings...incompetent human beings. Today, however, it seems that we're constantly testing the government with a "trust fall" exercise over and over. Hey, I'm   gonna lie to these investors about the estimated wealth of our company, CATCH ME! What will we do when no one is there to catch us?


JR

The Loss of Accountability

You know its okay to choke your coach in sports because it seems if you are an exceptional athlete, you can find a team that will pay you.  Its okay to kill because you were bullied or you want to be a bully in a gang and "they" told you you had to do it to be a part of their group.  Its okay to demonstrate and scream loudly at the burial of the loved one of someone else because we have the freedom of speech.  Its okay to overspend then spend some more because someone will bail you out and even if you don't have the money, its okay because we have laws to protect you.  Its okay to cheat the government on your taxes, cheat the movie theater on the age of your children, cheat in a game, cheat your employer, cheat on a test because no one will ever know and if no one knows....well.... then its okay.  Its okay to write disparaging things on the internet because you don't have to sign your real name and no one will be able to do anything about what you write.  Not that anyone cares but even if they did, no one would know you did it so....its okay.  Its okay to be rude, to be disrespectful, or to be selfish because humility is no longer laudable, respect is no longer demanded and well....rudeness is acceptable behavior.


Where is our moral compass?  Where is our set of values?  Where are we going wrong?  We make excuses for everything we do wrong.  We no longer need to say I am sorry because well.... its okay.


Accountability is lost.  If you find it, please tell it to hurry home.

Faith Matters

Faith matters.  A belief in God is more important than the place where you worship Him or the way in which you worship Him.  You need to worship Him.  You need to thank Him for your life.  You need to thank Him for the gifts He gives you.  You need to hit your knees, or lay in your bed, or stand in your kitchen and thank Him.  Prayer doesn't have a specific place in which it happens nor a time a day that God is open for business.  You need to thank Him so you don't spend all the time apologizing to Him when you turn to Him during a time you need Him to help you.  It will come.  You will need Him.  Know him before that time.  Thank him before that time.


When you become caught up in the specifics, you only open yourself to losing the big picture. If you don't like the church where you worship God, then change the church!  Don't allow it to change your ability to worship Him.  Don't allow it to change your ability to recognize Him and the blessings He gives your life.  Sure you can ignore Him and find a reason to justify it. You can choose not to listen.  You can choose to run the other way but I know you.  I know your heart.  I see you.  You live your life by God's rules.  Your moral compass is His.


Have faith.  Faith matters and I can only ask that you remember, "Excuses only satisfy the people that make them." Don't ever find an excuse that makes you lose faith.  I have faith in God and my son...., I have faith in you.

Fire and Brimstone!

I was raised in a Catholic household. We attended church on a regular basis and I eventually obtained my membership card from God in the 9th Grade like most catholic children do. However, it wasn't until after I grew and educated myself that I really began to struggle with the possibility that any God could exist, and that if he did....a religious system would be able to follow his teachings perfectly.

My first issue is the wishy-washy stance of the Catholic Church throughout its reign as the major representation of Christianity. People like Galileo, who thought that perhaps the sun was the center of the universe, were charged with crimes by the Church for blasphemy. The Church held the Ten Commandments as the true word of God, but ordered thousands of soldiers to rush Jerusalem 11 times in order to kill Muslims and regain the holy land. Families like the Medici in Florence, Italy used their influence to rig the votes and elect a pope of their own corrupt family.

We're told to use faith in God to guide us through our troubles. But...when it comes down to it, I'll never put my faith and trust in an organization run by the sins and whims of man lurking under the shroud of "God's word."

The Pen Is Mightier

You gotta spend some time, love. You gotta spend some time with me, and I'll know that you'll find love. I will possess your heart.


 Music is my armor.        Music is my sword.          Music is my shield. 


If I were to ever admit an addiction to anything, I think music might be my drug of choice. It's something that I can't live without. I like words, and I also carry somewhat of a torch for sounds. So...of course, putting the two together would yield astronomical results of my patronage. 


Music is, in my opinion, the greatest expression of human emotion. Yin and Yang represent the dualism of all things in life, and I believe music to be the only art form capable of capturing both the raw, intangible feelings of sound while restraining the disorder of sound with the expressive, logical power of words.


Every menial task in life is just better with music added to the fray. It's like the cherry on top of an ice cream sundae. Without it, life lacks the necessary flare to get the mouth watering. I like to listen to music while I shower, walk to class, drive in the car, and even when I sleep. The only thing greater than finding power and identification in oneself is finding it in the words of another, knowing that you aren't alone in your struggle.


If you never stop when you wave goodbye, you just might find...if you give it time you will wave hello again. 


See you tomorrow,
JR

Music to my Ears, Heart and Soul

Isn't it amazing how quickly a song is able to transport you?  You are in a car driving; the first few notes of music on the radio slowly creep into your head and stir up a memory or two that literally are capable of transporting you to another time in your life.  I love the gift of music and its ability to wrap itself around you like an old friend.


Jake enjoys that gift and has since he was in utero.  I can remember listening to music when I was pregnant with him and he would be kicking along with the beat.  It actually was quite entertaining and today, it is still entertaining watching him tap a beat to a song in his head or sing loudly to one on the music he plays (rather loudly) in his car.  Music has charmed him and I can only imagine how it too will be a gift that carries him away.  I know or at least I want to believe with conviction that there are several songs that upon hearing them, Jake will think of me long after I am gone and those songs will provide him comfort.


Though I like a good upbeat-dance-until-you-drop kind of song, it's the soulful-sung-from-the-heart song that is my friend.  I am not a country girl though Kaitie has given me an appreciation for several songs, but if you give me Elton John, Billy Joel, Kenny Loggins, Hootie, Anita Baker, and Carole King, I can wallow all day.


I wish I could publish a song.  I know I am capable of writing a poem but I would love to create the music that would accompany it.  What a head rush that must be for a songwriter to know that it is their song, their thoughts and their music that will be a gift to someone they have never met.  Honestly though, I know that is not in the cards for me.  Its no different that I am capable of having a creative idea but I need a friend or family member to take the idea, grow it and ultimately give birth to it.  And that idea that I had looks SO much better than I could have ever imagined.


What moves you?  What song feels like an old friend? Listen to that friend today, welcome them into your life for just a few minutes.....and enjoy.

The Power of Words

The banter in Castle is what makes that show!  Though the actors are an integral part of the show, the writers are the most critical component.  I love intelligent dialog.  Don't get me wrong, I can digress and fall into somewhat of a comedic non-intellectual conversation but I so appreciate witty banter.  My sisters are all quick-witted in the verbal arena and often exchange jabs in a comedic banter.  Banter does fill time... it satisfies the need to fuss at someone without ever raising your voice or saying something painful and it even allows you to poke fun...Jake is able to banter with friends where sometimes you need a roadmap to keep up but its so much fun when you are able to not only keep the pace, but contribute to the conversation!




Castle, at its inception, reversed the pattern of media and the written word.  Usually books are written then someone in electronic media picks them up and they become a movie or the basis for a television show.  This show produced a book at the end of the first season so when the main character Richard Castle released his novel it coincided in "real-life" with the release of the same book.  With regard to Castle last night, I have to agree that it was yet again the end to another well-written season.  The cliff-hanger left me to question whether or not we already know who is the mastermind behind the death of Beckett's mother. Could they do the un-obvious or more importantly would they do the unthinkable?   I also read into several looks and cleverly placed comments that make me wonder the unspeakable.  The writer's tease of the visual exchange between the jailed-killer and Castle, the inferences that the "master-mind" earned his wealth on the backs of nefarious activities and the fact that Captain Montgomery said he was always able to control Castle's presence.  Could Castle know more than we think?  The show is a ground-breaker-- would they actually plan a show for a specific amount of time then put it to bed with the unthinkable?  Don't get me wrong-- I don't actually think that Castle is the bad guy-- I was just thinking out loud and trying to get into the minds of the writers.  I can't wait to see what comes next.


Here's a tidbit of information that Jake and I just learned when updating our blog that fits into this whole word blog.  We stumbled across the following quote.  I didn't know what it meant so I asked Jake to read the translation to me....and because he is a child of the technological age.... he responded with a copy it then paste it into google because it will tell you what the quote means. So I did....

"Lorem ipsum vim ut utroque mandamus intellegebat, ut eam omittam ancillae sadipscing, per et eius soluta veritus."

This is referred to as "GREEKING."   In publishing and graphic design, lorem ipsum is the name given to commonly used placeholder text (filler text) to demonstrate the graphic elements of a document or visual presentation, such as font, typography, and layout. 

Now you too have learned something new today!  Don't you love learning new things?

One small step for man, One giant leap into the world of modern network television.

You know that phrase "It's hard to find good help these days"? That one phrase where everyone gets nostalgic over "the glory days" that they're reliving through a new prescription of rose colored glasses. Well, I've got my own little quip.


It's hard to find good programming these days. I'm not saying it to flaunt around my hipster banner, I'm just tired of television networks rebroadcasting old,repetitive ideas under the guise of new programming. However, there is one show that really entertains me on a wave of conscious and sub-conscious levels.- Thanks Mr. Freud. - My family and I watched a very dramatic and thrilling season three finale of Castle last night. There are a few quirks about Castle that really strike my fancy, and I thought my affection for this show would be a very worthy subject for my first blog post.


First, and easily the most important to me, is the witty, and often comedic, manner in which the show is written. I'm a huge fan of banter and Castle seems to cater to my needs more than most comedies do. The often extraordinary lengths to which Nathan Fillion's character, Richard Castle, will go to prove his most recent conspiracy theory's connection to the case at hand offers a lighter and more playful perspective on what is, at the base of it all, a cold-blooded murder. 


Another key element is the hush-hush romance developing between the shows lead stars. It's nothing to write home about, but after three seasons of winks, long glances, and the occasional near-confession, it's at least something substantial to hold itself as a key element to the show's success. Everyone sees how great a pair they would be and thus sits on the edge of their seats when given even the slightest inkling that something will finally give. I might even go so far as to say I'm so invested in the romantic tension between Castle and Beckett that I've developed some form of vicarium complex for the two.


Castle truly is the perfect staple of genre convergence in modern television. Can anyone else think of a Romantaction Dramedy?


JR

eyeBLOGeweBLOG: the beginning

Since Jake is home for the summer, I decided I need to encourage him to write so he and I are going to BLOG together.  I am not really sure what path this blog is going to take, but we are going to head down the path together.  You see Jake has an incredible ability to write and he truly has A LOT of opinions and maybe if I can get him to comment on at least half of them, we can create something worth sharing with others. 


When Jake was younger, bless his heart -- he was a last minute child.  He would always save that paper he needed to write until the night before it was due.  Fortunately for him, that process always yielded two great things.  The first being the paper itself filled with Jake's swirling thoughts that he managed to capture while under pressure to arrive safely at the deadline and the second was he would always leave the "paper" up on the family computer so I was able to read it.  Okay sure, there might be a grammatical error or two because he was in desperate need of a  proof-reader.... but the papers were good! And I enjoyed reading them!  


Then Jake left for college where papers are a project that are written away from the family computer and only shared with Mom when the timing of sending it to the professor was in sync with the in-bound phone call from her.  Then Mom would beg for the opportunity to read something....anything.... that he wrote.  You know mothers are a rather resourceful group of individuals so this is my solution.