With Each Key I Type

... I imagine myself, sometimes, with the images of Elliot Gould, Angela Lansbury in Murder She Wrote, or Steven Cannell as he types the final at the end of a show he has worked upon, or even with the image of my own Mom creating her masterpieces (fiction and non-fiction; adult and children; prose and poetry) as I was growing up. She would often have the "midnight oil" running (just kidding, no oil, but the image sounds more surreal than with a lamp on the desk) throughout all hours of the night. Perhaps, that is where I get that from typing, now on the computer, until all hours of the night from? Can that be a generational thing???

This blogging thing has been quite addictive. In fact, it has been so much that my friend's son says that now I have become a bloghead. Is there such a thing? I realize that this has been going on for many years before I have jumped on the bandwagon during the past week, but I have so much to say that it has been interesting to blog away!! My landline phone was disconnected today; I have rent due tomorrow; and I need to take an online defensive driving class -- yet, I am typing my thoughts and words down as if I were already an aspiring writer. Well, maybe someday I will be! In the meantime, I am enjoying the beginning of this ride!! :)

Be sure to check out some of my friend's sites:

Books by Len Grossman (an self-published author in Connecticut)
Anton Dvorak's Memoires

Driving Defenses

I have had to take a defensive driving class recently for the improvement of my auto insurance records. I hadn't taken one in many, many years.

Defensive driving classes (during the last time I took them) were taught primarily through community education programs and driving instruction schools. Throughout the years, the list has been expanding to reach out to the community through offering them in comedy workshops, restaurants, online, and - the one I chose to do - through video rentals.

Take Home Traffic School is available from your local Blockbuster video store. (Note: not all the Blockbuster stores offer this; you will have to call your local Blockbuster store to be sure!)

Other sites to refer to for additional informaiton, see:

Comedy Defensive Driving School
DMV - Defensive Driving
American Defensive Driving School
Driver CampusOnline Traffic SchoolsTraffic SchoolI Drive SafelyWeb Traffic School

There are many other avenues -- no excuses now for a person to save off of their insurance or get a ticket dismissed through a Defensive Driving program. These options will fit even the person who has the strangest working schedule on Earth!! :)

Hope everyone will be driving safer on the road!!

Trust

"Trust your hunches. They're usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level."

Dr. Joyce Brothers
Psychologist and Television Personality

Trust is an underlying factor in every relationship. The other day I spied a young couple at work sitting in cubicles next to each other; the woman heavily involved in her work; the man heavily involved in his work, but exploring the Y! personals while he was talking to customers in a minimized screen format so as to not be obvious.

Is it my responsibility to tell this young woman that her beau is perusing other possibilities??? I don't think so. The young man's actions will catch up with him eventually -- especially, if they are even remotely dishonorable. Perhaps, he is just exploring the possibilities before he asks her to marry him. They make such a perfect looking couple. She has kids from a prior marriage and they are all living together. I don't want to rock the boat if he is just looking to see what might be out there before he makes the life-long committment. Hopefully, though, she won't be oblivious and distracted too much to see this behaviour and to not be in touch with her own instincts.

Trust is the foundation towards any relationship and if you cannot have that trust built firmly into your relationship, you truly don't have a relationship that will last. Relationships built on distrust and deceipts can never last.

Ephesians 4:14 -- "Then we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different or because someone has deverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth."

Ephesians 4:15 -- "Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the Church."

2 John -- "the truth that lives in us and will be in our hearts forever."

Part of finding a soulmate is largely determined by the amount of trust one can trust in the other, which is largely fully trusted until proven wrong. Once proven wrong, it is difficult to truly rebuild that trust completely. If any counselor is telling you that it is possible to rebuild that trust is only telling you that to build your confidence in the opportunities of rebuilding a relationship, but isn't being completely truthful to you. The only time this because more than just a mere possibility is when both parties reside themselves to being completely honest and truthful to the other in order to rebuild the trust that became wavering.

The only thing to truly trust is your instincts; they are rarely wrong. Any flags that are being sent up should be acknowledged and dealt with directly and head on before the situation escalates and becomes out of control and/or a relationship is inadvertently built upon lies and deceipts.

Prayers go to the couple that was observed the other day and anyone else who might be living lies and non-truths through distrusting and deceiptful ways of living. Life is too short to waste in untrustworthy or deceiptful ways of living!! :)

This Should Bring a SMILE to Your Day!!

If You Hate Forwards, Read This!**

For all of you who delete fwds before you read them, this
is for you. I had not seen this before, but I am glad it fell into my lap from a friend.**

A man and his dog were walking along a road.
The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly
occurred to him that he was dead. He remembered
dying, and that the dog had been dead for years.
He wondered where the road was leading them.

After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall
along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble.
At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall
arch that glowed in the sunlight. When he was standing
before it, he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that
looked like mother of pearl, and the street that
led to the gate looked like pure gold.

He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got
closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side.
When he was close enough, he called out,
"Excuse me, where are we?"
"This is Heaven, sir," the man answered.
"Wow! Would you happen to have some water?" the man asked.
"Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some
ice water brought right up."

The man gestured, and the gate began to open.
"Can my friend," gesturing toward his dog, "come in, too?"
the traveler asked.
"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets."
The man thought a moment and then turned back toward
the road and continued the way he had been going.
After another long walk, and at the top of
another long hill, he came to a dirt road which led
through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been
closed.

There was no fence. As he approached the gate, he saw
a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book.
"Excuse me!" he called to the reader. "Do you have any
water?"
"Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there" The man pointed to a place that couldn't be seen from outside the gate. "Come on in."

"How about my friend here?" the traveler gestured to the dog. "There should be a bowl by the pump."
They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was
an old fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it.
The traveler filled the bowl and took a long
drink himself, then he gave some to the dog.
When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward
the man who was standing by the tree waiting for them.

"What do you call this place?" the traveler asked.
"This is Heaven," was the answer.
"Well, that's confusing," the traveler said.
"The man down the road said that was Heaven, too."
"Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and
pearly gates? Nope. That's Hell."

"Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like
that?"
"No. I can see how you might think so, but we're just
happy that they screen out the folks who'll leave their
best friends behind."

Sometimes, we wonder why friends keep forwarding jokes
to us without writing a word, maybe this could explain:
When you are very busy, but still want to keep in touch,
guess what you do -- you forward jokes.
When you have nothing to say, but still want to
keep contact, you forward jokes.
When you have something to say, but don't know what,
and don't know how, you forward jokes."
And to let you know that: you are still remembered,
you are still important, you are still loved, you are
still cared for, guess what you get? A forwarded joke from
me.

So my friend, next time if you get a joke, don't think
that I have sent you just a joke, but that I have thought of you today and wanted to send you a smile.

SMILES!

A friend has forwarded me this quip that was sent to him:

Smiling is infectious,
You catch it like the flu.
When someone smiled at me today,

I started smiling too.

I passed around the corner,
and someone saw my grin.

When he smiled I realized,
I'd passed it on to him.
I thought about that smile,
then I realized its worth.

A single smile just like mine,
could travel the earth.

So, if you feel a smile begin,
don't leave it undetected.

Let's start an epidemic quick,
and get the world infected!

I seriously believe in smiles as they are truly infectious. They can even be seen through the phones. I talk on the phones for a living so I know. Even the must riley of clients who have a beef about this or that are often joking with me by the end of the conversation. Some say I have a gift or talent in getting a good raport with others. Tell you a little secret though -- SMILE, you will make someone's day and do your part in generating smiles across the world!!

Monday Mission Minute - Guatemala

This time last year I was unwinding from a mission trip I took to Guatemala which forever affected the way I think I think about the world outside of the comfort zone.

Guatemala is a beautiful country -- beautiful mountains, beautiful Mayan temples/pyramids, beautiful culture, and so much more. I loved meeting the people there and I missed not going again this year due to my own financial situation this year; however, I have many photos that were just amazing and memorable that I reflect on often.

I have many tapes that I recorded sounds and voices of meetings and discussions that we had during our mission trip. I hope to be able to get them slowly translated through the Monday Mission Minute series I will do on this blog site. I really am looking forward to sharing reflections and transcriptions with you. If I can figure out the photo inserts on these blogs, I shall be sharing those with you as well.

The trip involved meetings with other preachers and Church programs, CEDEPCA, CESSMAQ, a women's coop making Guatemalan fabrics, a Mayan Priest, and many noteable villages. The trip was sponsored by the Presbytery Mission. It was a trip that I will certainly never forget the faces of the people I spoke too and saw.

I am looking forward to sharing with you my memories of the Guatemala trip. I wish I had known about these blogs back then; I would have certainly created my Guatemala diary log back then... :)

Hasta la vista!

ps I have decided to make this series its own blog at Bluebonnet Missions! Look forward to seeing you there!! :)

Gotta Have Faith!

It seems that not too many people share faith in God instead of wasting their lives away worrying about what the tomorrow will bring. Matthew 6:30 and Matthew 6:31

Matthew 6:32 and Matthew 6:33 refers to God knowing our needs and Him supplying what we actually need on a daily basis as we continue living our lives for Him.

My own Grandma and Big Mama (ironically called that because she was Grandma's mother; she was extremely tall and skinny!) served as prime examples and role models of living their lives for Him. Without fail they both taught Sunday School each and every week of their adult lives in a small Christian Church in a small Texas town, raised vegetables and fruits and shared their wealth through baking breads and jellies to share with others, made their own quilts, sewed clothes for the grandchildren, had patience while teaching others about gardening and sewing, and lived very simplistic lives.

I think many of us tend to forget our roots and look for the same glimmers in the materialistic world that never seems to satisfy us as a whole. Mansions are great -- but would be better served in housing the homeless, perhaps.

How much is too much? The answer to this is probably when it consumes your every moment for existence on this earth to achieve the greatest wealth of all, when all we need to do is look at our own hearts and understand the wealth we achieve each and every day -- especially, when we help others to improve their quality of life (empowering them to help themselves through a variety of resources in the communities), when we get ourselves involved with helping others (there are so many non-profit organizations that are just clammering at the bit for volunteers), and when we are just being prepared to listen to our friends, family, and strangers that we encounter (not necessarily in that order).

Many people quote Matthew 6:34 without realizing that they are quoting it directly from the Bible. It is appropriate, though, to end this blog with the words from the verse of Matthew 6:34:

"So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today."

Isn't that a great thought for today???

Cool - HTML Reference Tagging

As part of my re-learning process, I have been focused today on cleaning up my blogs a bit by cleaning up the URL references I have made in the prior blogs and typing, for example CASA instead of making the actual URL reference (www.nationalcasa.org).

This process certainly adds clarity with the blog. Right now it takes a little extra time to do; however, I am hoping that it will become as second nature as to typing this blog in the first place! As I become more adept with the HTML, perhaps you will get to see other fancy developments with my blog. :)

Laters...

Checks & Balances

The Courts have always set precedences for various caselaw on a diverse array of matters. It is quite difficult to keep up with all the law changes; even if you got every digest publication produced and put on the shelves.

Within an organization that I am involved with in Williamson County, Texas, they are considering getting a Court Watch group organized. Court Watch is a group of volunteers that go to various court rooms and write up what they see in the Courtroom. The primary focus would be domestic violence and sexual assault issues; however, these groups could easily have focuses on a variety of issues. It is said that there are statitics on increased conviction rates where the Court Watch group volunteers are organized.

It seems like a good idea in order to ensure that those who abuse, neglect, abandon or sexually assault others dont end up getting a mere slap on the hand.

The people in this Nation have come a long way since the 1980s where it became more of a focus upon the awareness of these problems existing. Statistics are now seeing a decrease of domestic violence in many areas with the increased awareness; however, we have to ensure that the courts do their job and not let these violators get away with their criminalistic acts. To break the cycle, the victim isn't the only one that needs to break the cycle by not becoming a victim anymore; the cycle needs to be broken through many spokes of the wheel to ensure complete anilation of the problem (or, at least, as complete an anilation as one can expect). It may never be completely wiped out of existence, but we can certainly strive for it -- right???

Some other websites to check out (just to get you started)on these issues:

Eagle Forum's Court Watch
Court Watchers Changing Courthouse Rules
Supreme Court Watch (Holt, Rinehart and Winston)
Results of Silent Witness National Initiative

Control or Controlled?

I lived in a pretty naive world growing up. While I was familiar with people controlling others, I was not familiar with alcoholism and a variety of other addictions that normal, everyday people have in the world. It was simply not discussed and we had rose colored view points on society growing up.

In my first marriage, I was not only introduced to someone very controlling but an alcoholic as well. This certainly burst my rose-colored viewpoint on the world; one that I was certainly not prepared to deal with.

Now, almost 20 years later, I have been well educated about the real world and have left that marriage a little over 10 years ago. I have progressed in being able to be in a position to help others through the same adversities that I had experienced in my first marriage.

Not only have I been involved in CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate and GAL (Guardian ad Litem) programs for the abused, neglected and abandoned children in the court systems, I have been involved with Toughlove, Family Eldercare and Crisis Center programs to aid the elderly, domestic violence affected, and sexually assaulted, or battered men and women.

I hear constantly about people being controlled, abused, neglected, or abandoned emotionally and physically all the time. With all the new laws enacted, this has not been anilated by any means; however, we can do all that we can to help.

No one deserves to be controlled by another person. A marriage should be a team effort where one is not better than the other; but, where each other compensates for each others weaknesses to have a strong united marriage. Anything less is working against the grain of the wood and will only serve to heed progress throughout the life. Each person deserves to be respected and treated as a human being no matter what his or her disabilities or weaknesses might be. Everyone has the right to be empowered to do the best that they can be.

Have you empowered someone you love -- or even a stranger* -- today? Look around you...empower another person not to be controlled by others, but to be in control of their destinies along with the aid of their network of spouse, family, and friends. Make the connections possible. Provide them resources available -- numbers of crisis centers, local Churches, samaritan counseling centers, neighbors, safe houses, etc. Let them know that they are not alone.

* Hebrews 13:2: "Don't forget to show hospitality to strangers for some who have done this have visited angels without realizing it!"

To blog or not to blog!

While I just stumbled upon this venue the other night, I am discovering that people have been blogging for years! That is definately news to me! Where have I been???? I thought I was uptodate on everything in the computer world; this only goes to serve that I definately have no clue about the truer scope of the technological world.

I had thought myself to be very computer savvy. While there remains a great vastness of people out there that are still far less computer savvy than myself, I am slowly discovering a new world out there when exploring a way to access the new Beta of the GMail being produced by Google.

In an absorbed exploration mode, I discovered that there are as vast a number of blogs created as varied as the bloggers are themselves. Some are extremly creative in their blogging; while others utilize it to do their daily journaling.

I have passed along the information about how to build a blog page to several of my friends yesterday and one of them has reported back to me that he has created his own. As soon as I get his exact blog URL, I will certainly share it with you all as well.

UPDATE: This is Anton's URL -- check it out. He just started it today!!

If you are still unsure of whether or not you would want to blog, I suggest that you go for it -- after all, what do you have to lose? You certainly have much more to gain from it - a venue to demonstrate your creativity; a venue to meet others with the same interests as yours; a venue for you to share what is on your mind; a venue to post things that may be of interest to others; a venue to brush up on your writing skills ... the list could go on for-ever!

I hope that you all become happy bloggers!! If you do choose to have this as one of your missions in life, I hope that you will share your URL with me as well. Looking forward to seeing more happy bloggers....

Bicycling Across Texas?

Bicycling has become a more an popular sport throughout the years -- especially, with Lance Armstrong winning the Tour de France for the past few years.

I was in the United Way office today and they had a Williamson County Bicycle Map available. It was interesting because it not only mentioned the pathways designed specifically for bicyclists in this region, it also specifies the safety features of various roadways and highways throughout the county. It does have a disclaimer that it "was developed to aid bicyclists in finding their way safely through Williamson County. This is not a map of existing bikeways, but an evaluation of Williamson County's street and road network."

This particular map was produced through a company called ProLinks (Productivity Links, Inc.). I would suggest contacting them to see if they have such a map designed for your county as well -- ProLinks. Special note: This same company, its corporate offices strategically placed in The Woodlands TX, has been involved with organizations such as the Montgomery County Genealogical and Historical Society and the Taminia Community with projects involving GPS mapping of various cementaries in their county. Their projects are limitless and have many more listed on their website; be sure to check out ProLinks!! :)

Accentuate the Positive!!

It has always been my motto to focus on the good and positive in things, as well as try to live my live in accordance with Timothy II 2:15, "Work hard so God can approve you. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth."

I am not perfect by any means; if anyone claims that he/she is, they are not being truthful either to themselves or to those who are around them.

My approach to life has been to empower others. Empower. I love that word because it implies of great strength. As such, I try to instill strength in others through boosting their own esteems as well as providing them guidance to finding the resources that they need to succeed in their lives.

To me, there is no greater fulfillment than to see others being empowered to achieve their successes and for them to actually achieve the successes that they were empowered to do.