Hummingbird babies!!!

My daughter befriended a hummingbird at the beginning of the summer. His name is Lavender. Recently, Lavender and his wife, who hasn't been named yet, had babies in a nest in our backyard. With my nifty new Sony Cyber-shot with 15X zoom, I was able to capture this nest which is the size of my fist. It wasn't until I downloaded the file that I noticed a second beak. Can you see it? (Click the picture to make it bigger.) They are such fun to watch and are very social little guys. We have two feeders nearby to entice them to stick around...

What a party!

Wanted to share some fun pics from the recent 80's party we attended.

First of all, I woke up and went to the kitchen where I found my husband. I went to kiss him good morning and had to scream because the mustache/goatee thing he's had going for the past seven or so years was completely gone!

It went from this....



...to this!



All so that he could turn into this frightening character for the party!



The hosts outdid themselves with the music, Atari video games to play, commemorative CD sets to take home, a costume contest (to which we are still awaiting the results - I voted for the Magnum P.I. look-alike), Tiger Beat posters in the bathroom, and a keg! (I know kegs are still around but I haven't drank from one since the 80's.)



This last one was taken towards the end of the evening after my hair wilted. I didn't do like in the old days and go to the bathroom every thirty minutes to respray my hair!

Domo-kun cracks me up!

Have you seen this guy?! Just looking at him makes me laugh. I first saw him this picture of some kittens being chased by two Domo's and thought it was the funniest thing ever! According to Wikipedia, he's a mascot for some Japanese TV station.

I just discovered these clips on YouTube that feature Domo-kun that are very entertaining even though they're all in Japanese. The bats are pretty funny too!

Is God egocentric????

There other day, in a conversation about God, I asked what happens to someone who lives their whole life with kindness, compassion, and selflessness but who does not believe in God? Of course those who I put the question to all believed in an afterlife. I don't think any of them felt comfortable with this question, though.

It seems to me that most who believe in God think that it is a requirement to believe in Him in order to end up in heaven. As I mull this over, I have to wonder about a God who would condemn a person who lives in accordance with His commandments for the sole reason of a disbelief in Him. If this is how God operates, I find it very egocentric. I can't believe that God would have this character flaw so therefore come to the conclusion that belief in God is not a requirement for admission into heaven.

I guess that it's good though that I've come back to the conclusion that there is a God because I was going back on forth with that for awhile. There was a podcast recently that help me with that struggle to believe. It's an American Public Media show called Speaking of Faith and the podcast talked about God from a scientific perspective which was refreshing. Most religious people I've heard have to suspend rational thought when they talk about their faith but John Polkinghorne didn't do that. Speaking of Faith is a great show and I'm enjoying exploring the faiths of others and broadening my limited Catholic-influenced perspective.

My blog going forward

When I first began this blog in October, I barely knew what blogging was. Amazingly, most of my friends are still at this stage. The other night at book club, I mentioned something I wrote on my blog and they looked at me like a had a third arm growing out of the top of my head. "You wrote in your what?!"

My posts in the beginning were innocuous with the subject matter limited to loving the fall season and posting my kids' artwork. Lately, I've been branching out in my posts and I must say I've pissed some people off. (I can say "pissed" now because my dad has told me he's stopped reading what I have to say due to one of these more controversial posts. Pissed! Pissed! Pissed!)

I hear the really big bloggers say that they have to grow a thick skin to be able to do what they do. While I admire their blogging savvy and success, I do not aspire to join their ranks. There is just too much pressure at their level and I do this for fun.

That being said, I do enjoy all the comments from people and hope to hear more from the cyber-world. I appreciate all sides and perspectives and it helps me to broaden my thinking. I plan on posting my thoughts on controversial issues in the future and not shy away from my convictions. I hope my friends and family will support me (even when they disagree with what I'm saying). If anyone I have a relationship with thinks that this will damage the relationship, I respect your decision to stop visiting. I'd rather have your love and/or friendship than your readership.

My man doesn't wear a flak jacket!

Barack Obama is having an awesome trip overseas! I'm so proud of him! I say we just skip the vote in November and just move him into the White House today! Did anyone catch his speach in Berlin? The crowd was ginormous! McCain is not looking quite as presidential riding around in a golf cart....

The right way to use the phone

There are two kinds of phone people in the world: those who use the phone primarily for communication purposes and those who use it for entertainment purposes.

If you are a communication based phone user you never call someone without a known purpose. You call to set dates, obtain information, or coordinate plans. It never occurs to you to pick up the phone “just to talk.”

Those of you who use it for entertainment also use it for communication, but that’s secondary. You types have a phone on your ear for extended periods of time and, if you don’t believe in call waiting, you can never be reached because your phone is always busy. You call when you’re in the car or bored at home with your kids or shopping.

I’m a communication phone person, and entertainment phone users drive me crazy! When I first realize that a person is calling and that they don’t really have anything to say, I try to be polite. I tell myself they just want some company. Actually, if this is the case and we’re face-to-face versus on the phone, I love spending time with them. I just have no tolerance when it’s over the phone. First of all, it makes my ear sore. Second of all, if they call when I’m in the house I have to stop what I’m doing or else get a crick in my neck from holding the phone with my shoulder so I can continue doing laundry, picking up, or feeding the dog. Today, someone called to “shoot the shit” and I was halfway through blowing up this giant beach ball sprinkler that my kids were anxiously awaiting. I had to put it down and they had to wait an extra twenty minutes until I could graciously get off the line.

The thing that’s the worst about entertainment phone users is, if you try to explain to them that you’re not like them, they get their feelings hurt. They think you just don’t want to talk to them. They can’t comprehend a person that doesn’t enjoy just killing some time talking about the outrageous price of avocados or what happened on American Gladiator yesterday. A lot of them don’t get the clue either when you say, “I really need to hang up now. I have so much to do.” They just keep talking and won’t say goodbye.

I'm trying to teach this concept to my daughter now. She wants to call her best friend all the time and I ask her why. Most of the time she can't tell me so I don't let her call. I'm more than happy to let her invite her friends over or let her go to their houses, though. I will do my best to steer her away from using the phone for entertainment. This is probably not practical with the teenage years looming. I myself was a horrible entertainment phone user in high school. I'm going to keep up the lecturing, though.

I have a number of friends and family who are entertainment phone users. Most of the time, when they call, I just don’t pick up. I figure it’s better to do this than to hurt their feelings and tell them I don’t have time to talk to them right now. I push it as far as I can. Eventually, I have to pick up because they never leave messages (how can they when they’re calling with nothing to say!) and they’ll start to think I’m avoiding them. When I finally pick up I get myself in the mindset that I’m going to have to listen to their purposeless babbling and be patient. They’ll complain and say, “Didn’t you see on your caller id that I’ve been trying to reach you for the past week?” I’ll counter with, “I figured, if it were something important, you’d leave a message. I don’t really look at my calling log.”

They probably think I’m cold and rude but I’m not. Like I said, if I meet them for lunch or a visit at their house or mine, I love to talk about nothing and everything. That’s a time that I’ve blocked out and dedicated to them. I value the relationships I have with them and truly enjoy their company. I just can’t do it on the phone and have no desire to waste entire blocks of my day this way.

Blogging and checking out other’s blogs, on the other hand, is a different story......