My microwave blew a gasket so to speak. It no longer heats things up in a satisfactory manner and so it had to go. I find it rather ironic that my cooking situation seems to be mirroring the rest of my life. I'm having to re-learn how to cook, not just pop things into the microwave. Food tastes so much better when it's has a chance to simmer. I'm learning that the same applies to life in general. Some things just take time, they don't happen 'overnight' and are so much better when the proper amount of time and energy has been invested. I'm learning how to be patient. Believe me, it has been very trying. I am rather impatient by nature and have the attention span of a flea at a dog show. According to chinese astrology, I was born in the year of the horse. It rather fits me, grazing where ever I choose, cavorting about from place to place which isn't a bad thing, it's just that sometimes you have to a bit more down to earth and stick with things to see them through to the finish. I can not begin to tell you how many unfinished projects I have lying about.

As for my mission, I can see that this may take some one on one persuasion. Groups of two or more people tend to fall into the mass programmed way of thinking but if you get people alone, they're more apt to listen to what you actually have to say.

Take care all

Greetings and Salutations!

I have been working on a master plan. You know, one of those 'maps' of your life. I figured it's about time I had some sort of direction, some goals to work for. I've realized that I've just been bobbing along and unfortunately it hasn't been at the bottom of the beautiful briney sea. (Bedknobs and Broomsticks reference, couldn't resist ).

My mission is to persuade the world to change their perception about dandelions. Dandelions are wonderful plants. They are not weeds but rather wildflowers and have many useful purposes.

Before you call for the padded wagon to come and take me away, consider this. If people can change their perception about a plant that is so widely ingrained in our psyche to be considered a weed, just imagine the possibilities. What else could people open their minds to consider? I'm not saying they have to agree with or accept all things, but at the very least consider things and try viewing them in a different way. We all have to do our part. This will be my contribution.

People don't have to like dandelions but they don't have to be on an all-out gung-ho mission to eradicate them either! (golf course caretakers, beware!!!)

More to come.

Take care all

I thought I might share with you my offering this week to hockeyjunkies.com. It's not the best I've written but considering the amount of time it was done in, I won't complain too much. To those of you who don't care for hockey, my apologies... for everyone else, enjoy

September 23, 2002

New urinals installed in the upper levels of the AAC, new cup holders, metal detectors, Ice Girls, oh yeah, it’s almost hockey season. All these changes to bring the fans in make it easy to forget sometimes. Season ticket sales are down. Can it be? Will the sold-out streak end? It has to sometime. Why not now? Are the fans really going to come out to see the new and improved Dallas Stars? Where’s the drawing power? Our rogue goalie has found a new nesting place in Toronto. The creatively vociferous Hull has been playing with the enemy for a whole season now. The much loved / hated head coach has found a new bench in Philadelphia. Bob Gainey has seemingly faded into the shadows. Jim Lites has gone to Phoenix and before the end of this season, Tom Hicks will have sold the team. What does that leave to draw the fans in?

Perennial poster boy Mike Modano will continue to draw the puck bunnies. Add Jason Arnott to that mix as well. Major rolling of the eyes here. Our goaltenders are solid decent goalies. I like Turco but don’t eagerly await his performance in net like I did Belfour. The word out of training camp seems to be positive. The youngsters are making a good showing. Observers seem impressed with the Modano, Guerin, Dahlen line. Feedback from the players would indicate that they are ‘gelling’ more this preseason and are making the effort to be a cohesive team. What a novel idea! There’s a lot of potential on the Stars roster; there has been for the past few seasons but you can’t have individual players out there doing their own thing. Unless they become a cohesive unit, it’ll be more of business as usual. If they could have gotten their acts together last season maybe Hicks would be selling the Rangers instead of the Stars. Brenden Morrow still hasn’t signed a new contract. Negotiations appear to be at a standstill. Someone please tell the powers that be that they really should sign Morrow. Please don’t let him go to another team. We’ve lost too many high impact players; let’s not add to our misery because if Morrow goes to another team, it will be misery for the Stars. He’s a gritty player who has enough substance to back up the talk.

I’m all excited about hockey season starting up again. I want to be all gung-ho about the Stars but I’m almost afraid to because I don’t want to be disappointed yet again. I’m not saying they have to win the Stanley Cup or even make it to the playoffs. I would sincerely be happy if they didn’t make it to the playoffs IF they put forth an honest effort and played to the best of their ability as a team. That’s all I ask. I don’t want to see them skating about haphazardly in a lackadaisical fashion or hear all the whiney excuses why things aren’t happening that are supposed to. Just do it. I would love to be able to play hockey and get paid for it. It’s a game. It’s supposed to be fun. Yeah, sometimes things don’t go so well and there are tough times to work through. So what. Deal with it. Maybe they should remember what drew them to hockey in the first place. If they’re not having fun, maybe they should consider doing something else. In the meantime, I’m all excited about those new cup holders.

Take care all

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me.

It's my birthday today!   I'm 36 and proud of it. I've worked very hard to get to where I am at this point in my life. Things may not be absolutely wonderful but there's hope for me yet and things are progressing nicely. Life is a gift, what we do with our lives is our gift back. Sometimes I wonder if anyone would want or like my 'gift', but if nothing else, it has been interesting.

There's a full moon tonight. I shall be sitting outside admiring it. How lovely of Mother Nature to present such a marvelous display on my birthday.

We went to the zoo today. We almost went to a dog show but SOMEone really didn't want to and I wanted to do something that everyone would enjoy. Our other options were The Kimball Art Museum, a movie (probably One Hour Photo), or ice skating. How we managed to NOT go ice skating is beyond me but hey, I like the zoo. I loved seeing the animals but I couldn't help but feel a bit sad. I wish they could all be in their own natural habitats but then again, considering how things are on this planet, they may be safer in the zoo. If I had to pick a favorite, I think it'd be the otters. THEY know how to live. They are so playful. I'll bet they don't know the meaning of the word stress. Well, maybe they do but they sure don't show it. The Mountain Lions were awesome, so were the jaguars and the bobcat and the ocelot. The harpy eagle was rather scary looking. The bald eagle was regally spectacular. I liked the silver back mountain gorilla. He was pretty cool sitting there on top of his 'mountain' munching away observing all of us staring at him. The baby orangutan was pretty amusing. And the giraffes. The baby elephant was cute, she was playing with a ball, pushing it about with her trunk then pushing it with her foot. One of the adult elephants was trying to grab leaves off the trees surrounding their pen. The white tiger was very pretty. The lions were fun to watch.  And the nubian ibex with their massive horns. Wow! Okay, so I have a lot of favorites. It's so hard to choose. They're all so wonderful in their own unique way. I just know it was a great way to spend my birthday with my family.

Oh yes, and today is also my one year anniversary of joining the wonderful world that is Xanga.

Okay, I must go and stare at the moon for a while.

Take care all  

Today was just awesome!

I have no idea where all the upbeat vibes came from because I've REALLY been dragging lately but hey, I'm not going to complain. I'm definitely going to enjoy it.

The weather is absolutely gorgeous! It was in the los 60's last night, should do the same tonight and the temp today... somewhere around 85. Cool weather rocks. I feel alive. I had to remind myself to go inside and go to bed. I was sitting on my patio watching the clouds blow across the sky and the almost full moon. Pretty awesome.

Preseason hockey has begun. YES!!!!!!!!!!

HE emailed me. (sigh)  Don't ask. I'm a hopeless case.

We were actually having fun at work today. I was trying desperately to find a way to move my computer outside. Couldn't do it. Our supervisor said this morning said that we could go for a walk at 1030. I think he may have been joking but I wasn't. We went for a walk outside at 1030, all four of us. One of my coworkers and I ate our lunch outside. Can you tell I really did not want to be inside today?

This afternoon we were working on entering data from some applications, when we finished a batch we were supposed to put them on this shelf and this other guy was supposed to come by and pick them so his group could double check the info to make sure it was all correct. We decided to save him the trouble. We had a stack of nine batches. Three of us took one batch at a time, a few minutes apart to that other guy. He was giving us some pretty weird looks by the 5th or 6th batch. It was pretty funny at the time. Yes, we actually did get some work done.

Okay, enough aimless rambling for now. I hope everyone has great weekend.

Take care all