Being without power

Nothing sucks more than having to deal with no electricity. Talk about being spoiled. I take my lights for granted, having a fridge to keep my perishables cold, the tv, walking around with lights...everything. We had a bad storm yesterday and the winds were clocked at over 70mph. Now it is a pain in the ass to do anything. I am trying not to get too down about it. I mean, I am grateful I have a roof over my head and a job to go to. I bought a Stephen King novel to read and will probably do some well-deserved cleaning around my place. My daughter though goes nuts without power. She is a YouTube junkie and loves tv. I can handle it for a few days. Growing up in Indiana I remember power going out on a regular basis due to the numerous tornadoes in the area. Plus we had well water and that was ran by an electric pump. Dad had to fill up buckets (and later us when we were older) to run the toilet. I read books then too. I am using my cell phone, which as a built in alarm, to wake me up like today to do overtime at work.

I will worship the electric while here at my computer desk then return to the dark ages........

Daughter starting college

My kid starts this Monday and she is psyched. Yeterday she signed up for six clubs and also she wants to model. I asked her if she will have time to study. (LOL). But mom will always be there for her. I adore my child. Lucky to have her.

GOING BACK TO COLLEGE

I AM AT A QUANDARY. I have three degrees yet for the life of me having a hard time finding a job that mirrors my qualities. My family and friends all tell me I would be a great social worker...s0 alas...........I am going to find out more information from UMSL to see if they will take some of my classes so that I will not have to be stuck in a classroom environment for another four years. I hope that they will take me and I can be on the road sooner regarding my career.

An uncle of mine in Puerto Rico is in his early 50's and is pursuing his PHD. I admire him. My grandmother who is 87 finally own the deed to her home in her early 80's. So...no one is too old to try and try harder. On my mother's side of the family they tend to live out long lives. Mom told me of an uncle who died at 100. And just recently one of her uncles died at 93. She had an aunt who died at 90.

I hope and pray God graces me with a long and fruitful life such as these family members had.

I loved college...the camaraderie, learning, pushing my mental limits. I was more active in my graduate alumni than my undergrad. I loved it all. A part of me was happier also when I was struggling on welfare and had student loans raising a young child then now. Perhaps because I WAS younger...still had my whole life ahead of me...still so many dreams to fulfill.

I try my best not to get too cynical for life is short and we should do our best to enjoy every precious moment of it all...........my daughter starts college in a week. She is nervous and excited at the same time. I admire her courage. She is dyslexic and had several learning disabilities, however she earned a 3.8 and was inducted into the National Honor Society. I am like: "You GO girl!"

I will keep this blog posted on my endeavours.............God willing things will go according to plan.

On being a Superhero..............

WHAT IS A SUPERHERO? Well, I was at the Science Center here in town with my kid. It was interesting to see the various forms of melding science into the superhero world. I did not know (silly me) how science and Marvel Comics really can teach a kid to be gung ho about math and the various sciences such as physics, chemistry etc...

It was neat to see children of all ages and races enjoying themselves at the center.

For me a superhero can be just about anyone-- one's mother, father, sister, brother or friend. Anyone who tries to set a good example despite the odds...i.e. a single mom raising her kid alone with little help from others. A recovering drug addict or alcoholic trying to make right with their life. People who have overcame surmountable odds to just live their life and make the most of it.

I was watching the relatively new series, "Who Wants to be a Superhero?" on the Sci fi channel and this one lady really touched my heart. She was raised on the mean streets overcoming negative stats associated with someone raised within that the economic hell hole and become a security guard. To me, she is a hero and I hope she makes it to the final.

I think anyone can be a hero, just think of others, do right by your kids, your family, save the environment...those types of things.

http://www.scifi.com/superhero/

Me as a Simpson character

FAMILY AND HISTORY

I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AN ADVOCATE FOR GENEALOGY. I love discovering where I come from.

One of my Puerto Rican aunts told me that my grandfather, pictured here in his WWII uniform, has a very interesting bloodline. His biological father stemmed from Corsica which is off the coast of France and Italy.

I wonder whose blood runs through my veins. I would love to conduct an Indiana Jones type of discovery regarding origins of my ancestors. If I had the money I would most definitely track down my genealogy through genetics.

I saw this awesome program on the National Geographic channel regarding the genome project and tracing man's roots through the "Y" chromosome back to the "scientific Adam".

I feel that by tracing my roots I can bring the history of my forefathers to present day and their names, lives, memories would live on. I wish I had the ability to do this, to find out where my ancestors originated from. I am big on family, on history. My grandmother gave me her family bible before she passed away a few years ago and some of those dates go back as much as the late 1700's. Just awesome.

Some websites:

http://www.ancestry.com/

http://www.genhomepage.com/

Receiving email

I love receiving email from friends and family. Nice to see your inbox full of neat things that are waiting with bated breath to be opened and read. Sometimes when I am at work and I get soooooooooooooooooo bored with my caseload I love receiving mail from my friends and family just to break the monotony of the day. Daily rants or swapping ideas are a wonderful way to do away with some of the usual doldrums. I highly recommend this as a good form of 'net therapy.

However...it CAN be abused. I found this article and wanted to share:

The Email Addict's Lament
Whether you can control your relationship with your inbox is another matter. Here are the laments of the email addicted around the world.
From Australia: "If you learn of a cure, please pass it on. I am a journalist, and I now find I am not able to complete more than two or three paragraphs of a story without swapping from Word to Outlook Express to check for messages... Thanks for the chance to get that off my chest."
From Malaysia: "I'm an email addict. I check the first thing b4 brushing my teeth, because I work from my bedroom."
From the U.K.: "I spend way too much time on it. I check first thing; then I check all the way through the day. [It's] crazy, not good for productivity. Also I hardly ever use the post anymore."
From the U.S.: "Don't use my name, but I know exactly how you feel! Sometimes I have to turn off my Outlook just to get things done without interruption."
"I CHECK MY EMAIL EVERY 3-5 MINUTES; I AM ADDICTED TO MY EMAIL."
"I'm finally ready to admit I have a problem. At a trade show recently, I awoke in the middle of the night, unable to get my laptop 'dial-up' connected to the hotel [phone system]. I found myself in a 24-hour hotel business center looking for a 'fix.'"
"I have been strung out on checking my email every minute for 7 years. The issue for me comes in when I get home and have to check personal email. YICK! Then I feel that my life is fading away."
Emailaholics Anonymous
Also from Australia: "Hi, my name is John... and I'm addicted to email. When you're expecting an important message from a client, the little envelope pops up, and you rush to see what it is. More often than not, it is a JPEG of a giant cat that a friend has sent you... It's an exciting time to be on this earth. I love it!"
From the Netherlands: "Since I work for an Internet company, I believe speed is a major factor. I always like people to respond fast. It's a sign of using mail the right way. That is why I try to respond as fast as I can, and, therefore, I have become an addict."
From the U.S.: "I used to be addicted to email. Now I IM [instant message]. Some would call it transference of attention/obsession, but I do check email less often!"
"You're not alone. I've actually been thinking about starting EA [emailaholics anonymous], complete with a 12-step program to curb this digital addiction -- but I've just been too darn busy reading all my emails!" This reader goes on to say that she checks seven different email addresses throughout the day: one each for Excite, iWon, EarthLink, and Hotmail and three for Yahoo. Each has a purpose (work, e-newsletters, friends and family, etc.).
Is There a Cure?
Surprisingly, I found few online resources specifically aimed at email addiction. One is About.com's email addiction page. Two others are the Center for On-Line Addiction and an addiction resource site. I also found an online therapy site at which you can get help for Internet addiction through email consultation. (That's supposed to be a joke.)
Several readers offered practical tips for setting up folders in Outlook to solve this problem. But the latest software features cannot cure email addiction.
As one reader put it: "As for controlling the addiction, the first step, and the one that I fail, is wanting to. After that it is easy. Just set up your software to only check email every 15 minutes or half hour. Mine is set on every minute."
Jared Spool, Web usability expert and principal of User Interface Engineering, offers a useful perspective: "Email addiction is an old problem," he said. "People crave social interaction. It's like standing around the water cooler all day... Unfortunately, with email it looks like you're sitting at your computer working."
But, he added, "there are tricks... to this. If you feel you are losing productivity, you have to, in essence, close your office door. Only check email at certain times of the day. Turn off the ping."

read the rest here: http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=839041

Loving Life--living it...........

Well, dad is home. Bad urinary tract infection. I told him he needs to take better care of his health. Hopefully he will mom is getting too old to deal with these
kinds of dramas.

Lately I Have been contemplating my role in life and the universe maybe it has to do with turning 40 next year. A kind of "mid-life crisis." Who knows. I have never been married but I do not see this as some sort of downfall. I am happy to have had a long relationship with my Omani ex and that he and I had a lot of good times.

I am also grateful I never faced divorce. I could not imagine losing my life partner in something so ugly. I understand that some people are just not compatible but it seems to me that when married you should try your damnedest to make things work. I was confronted by someone who thought at my age it is weird I never been married...and this person well, his marriage history was a joke...married three times and was currently separated from his fourth wife. Ummmmm....I do not think I would be BRAGGING about that either! I would much RATHER be single at 38 than have four failed marriages and of course was never HIS fault. Go figure!!!

Now, if the partner is abusive (or you) cheating etc...I see no reason to remain married. That kind of stuff does not fly with me. I also do not believe love is like what we read in those sappy romance novels. Though I wrote a romance novel myself, and it ended with the two getting married, sometimes those kinds of relationships do not work in real life. Some do and some do not. I honestly feel that people marry either for the wrong reasons or think marriage will solve every single problem in the relationship WITHOUT WORK!

I sometimes feel like saying: "COME ON people....life is short, live your life loving it and love your wife/husband...work things out and quit fighting about the petty stuff!!" Maybe easier said than done but man....why get so worked up over the little things (i.e. who is on the Internet longer or who did the dishes, or why did you leave the toothpaste cap off??). Work together, love one another. Maybe this concept is too simple or complex for some??????????

Love life and live it!! Quit whining and do something with your relationships! Create a spark, solve an issue but quit procrastinating, belittling, do what it takes to make your life worthwhile!!.