Maybe this one...

Recently some friends of mine wanted me to join a social networking site. I hate social networking sites- in part because people are rarely who they portray themselves to be. The internet is- in my opinion- just a big dangerous playground. You can't believe anyone or anything.

All that being said...I did find a site that I liked. What do you think?

Dialogue Record Entry #7

My frequent readers will be able to recall an incident that took place just a few short weeks ago when my blog was lifted from the virtual world and used, without my knowledge or consent, as incriminating evidence against a friend of mine. My response was not a pleasant one.

You may have also noticed that my blog has been recently sporting a blue ribbon at the bottom of the page along with the quote, "To hear one voice clearly, we must have freedom to hear them all." This is a quote that I believe to be very true and essential to our democracy. The blue ribbon is to identify my site as a supporter of the "Free Speech Online" campaign.

Today I am also officially endorsing the Electronic Frontier Foundation and their fight to ensure bloggers' rights. Rights that guarantee bloggers are entitled to free speech, the right to have political speech, to stay anonymous, the freedom from liability, and the freedom to maintain an open forum without fear of government intervention. Many of these rights have been challenged and called into question in recent legislation.

In that light, I provide the following...

The Dialogue is an official member of the

Electronic Frontier Foundation

and a supporter in the fight for

Free Speech Online.

Drowning

My lawyer has assured me that we are almost finished with all of the estate 'stuff' in regards to my parents; however, the closer we get to the end the more there is to do. I know God supplies all needs, and will carry all burdens, but it seems I have to remind myself about these things every few minutes.

I grabbed this pic because I feel as if I am in the same tub as this poor dog. It looks absolutely pathetic. LOL Today is defiantly a drowning day!

I liked it...

Ouellette vs. Covey

I blame all my memory problems on Franklin Covey.

This evening as I type on my keyboard I have two notes written on the palm of my hand in black ink. Both are faded so much that you cannot tell what they originally said (and I have to think very hard to remember).

How did I get this way? How did my mind (a young mind) become so muddled and cluttered with stuff that everything I have scheduled in my life has to be recorded? Sometimes even the most basic of things.

Currently, I have been avoiding a wonderful co-worker. She is very sweet and awfully nice but she is waiting on me to return a camera that I checked out over the summer to take to a workshop. Everyday when she sees me her eyes tell the whole story. I get this look as if she is hoping against hope that I will have brought the camera back.

Everyday I try to smile (I try to avoid her if I see her before she sees me) and secretly grimace inside because I have forgotten the camera again! It has now been five weeks, thirty-five days, and eight hundred forty hours (Not counting the weekends due to the fact that I couldn’t possibly return the camera at that time anyway).

What brought all of this on?

Yesterday I left an office at the church unlocked so that I could get in and work on a program this evening for an upcoming wedding. Did I remember? Of course I didn’t…it wasn’t like it was written in my covey.

I left work quickly to get to the grocery store, picked up the boys, and hurried home to beat the rain and maximize my relaxation time. It was only in the middle of eating dinner that I happened to glance over at the empty place setting and see the unfinished product I had left myself. I could not believe how easily the task had left my mind.

So…I have come to the conclusion that it is not my fault. In case you haven’t heard, nothing is your fault. At least that is what my sixth graders think, especially the one who forgot his medication yesterday and even turned out a few ‘tears’ because he couldn’t ‘help it’.

If I had no Franklin Covey, no paper to write down notes and scheduled meetings, I would be forced to remember all of them on my own. My mind would be forced to remember or suffer the consequences (Just like the kid I sent to the office regardless of being medicated or not).

It is because of the ‘Ease of Covey’ that mind does not have to work nearly as hard as it could have in another time period. Because of this, my mind is mush. My memory is shot. My schedule remains a frantic rat race. I have joined the many addicted ‘pushers’ of society and have become a ‘covey junkie’.

Can't Hide True Color

In 1987 I did a report on this man for Black History Month. His name was on a long list of 'famous' individuals who were considered 'Black' (In the 80's 'black' was used instead of 'African-American'). Because of that report I will forever remember the lengthy trail and where I was and how I felt when the shocking verdict was read.

O.J. Simpson has taught me and my generation more about being 'black in America' than anything Dr. King, or others like him, could.

No surprise... but the law of the harvest is that whatever is sown shall also be reaped. He's in jail again. He is a disgrace. He is, in my mind, a physical representation of every negative stereotype of 'African-American.'

He is the reason none of my students will ever do a report on anyone other than dead people.

Seasons

For anyone who lives in North Texas you know that we have two times of year: Hot and not too hot. If we get anything else, it is not only rare but a welcome change. This year has been different. This year we have had a somewhat ‘normal’ (for the rest of the world) year as far as seasons go.

I remember all the snow at the beginning of the year because my father loved the snow. He loved all things winter. Whenever it snowed it was my father who wanted to build snowmen, have snowball fights, and find a hill to sled. The snow and ice reminded me of him so much. It also made me think of my grandmother, who also loved the snow. She forever wanted snow angels in her yard. I think more because it meant children had been there than any other reason.

Then came spring and rain. I will never forget the rains of this year because they also seemed to be effecting me in a personal way. Usually our spring is so warm that my parent’s pool is opened in March. It was cool and wet this year- too wet to open the pool that still has not been opened.

My mother went into the hospital shortly before most of the wet weather started. There were a number of days that would I come home from the hospital and there would be rain everywhere. I remember one day in particular because I had to drive slowly and find a different route than normal.

It rained the entire day before she died. Two weeks following her death, the river swelled and the city flooded like it did when I was a young child. Although I spent that week out of town, I remember feeling flooded also.

Now it is fall. The air is cooler in the mornings and yesterday I was tempted to leave my window open as I slept. Fall makes me think of open windows with curtains dancing in the breeze. Soon I will replace the setting on my table top with the Capricorn that my mother bought me a few years ago. The slide to winter will begin again.

I wonder why our years start and end in winter? The year begins with a burst of cold, harsh wind and ends the same. Why? O well…this new winter will be, if nothing else, interesting to say the very least.

A Cellular Peeve

I used to think that people’s aggravations were called their ‘pet peas’. Maybe you do right now? This is not the case. It is called a ‘pet peeve’.

The term comes from the word peevish which is a relatively new term in the English language only dating back to about the 14 century. It literally meant ‘ornery’ or ‘ill-tempered’. In the early 1900’s the term ‘pet peeve’ first appears in literature which came to mean a very specific annoyance. Nonetheless, the term is ‘Pet Peeve’- not ‘Pet Pea.’

I say all of this to tell you about one of my many pet peeves (I do hope that is the correct plural). It is the pet peeve of the telemarketer. I am not alone in my peevishness.

There are few things that annoy me more than someone calling my house to try and sell me something. Contrary to marketer opinions, I did not put a phone in my house so that I could feel as if I was standing in the middle of a local mall every evening of my life. I understand people have to work, but they don’t have to work MY phone.

It is absolutely absurd that we should have to put our numbers on a National-Not-Call Or I Will See You in Court-List. Calling someone’s house in the middle of the evening just to try and make a buck has to be the most invasive invasion of privacy in America today.

Yet… however much we may all hate it… it is only getting worse.

Lately I have been receiving many e-mails regarding a NEW do not call list for cell phones. The claim is that cell phone numbers will be made available to companies in six (6) days from today (September 17). In order to keep your cell phone from being called you must dial into the Do Not Call List.

I had no idea how this could be legal. It made no sense that companies could not only have your private address number but also your unlisted private cell number! So…I did what all good Americans do… I visited the government organization over such things- The Federal Trade Commission.

If you have been getting the same e-mails I have then I invite you to read for yourself.

(Go FIRST- before you continue reading.)

All that being said…I went ahead and put my cell number on the National Do Not Call List anyway. Why wait for the inevitable to happen?

Texas My Texas

I was inspired last night from someone who had been away...

Texas Our Texas

Texas, Our Texas! all hail the mighty State!

Texas, Our Texas! so wonderful so great!

Boldest and grandest, withstanding ev'ry test

O Empire wide and glorious, you stand supremely blest.

God bless you Texas! And keep you brave and strong,

That you may grow in power and worth, throughout the ages long.

God bless you Texas! And keep you brave and strong,

That you may grow in power and worth, throughout the ages long

Texas, O Texas! your freeborn single star,

Sends out its radiance to nations near and far,

Emblem of Freedom! it set our hearts aglow,

With thoughts of San Jacinto and glorious Alamo.

God bless you Texas! And keep you...

Texas, dear Texas! from tyrant grip now free,

Shines forth in splendor, your star of destiny!

Mother of heroes, we come your children true,

Proclaiming our allegiance, our faith, our love for you.

God bless you Texas! And keep you...

I am a Texan... ‘nough said.

September 1

September 1 is the 244th day of the year (245th in leap years) in our current calendar with 121 days remaining. (If you have any old, left over new year's resolutions you had better get crackin')

Today...

• in 1715 King Louis XIV of France dies after a reign of 72 years—the longest of any major European monarch.
• in 1752 the Liberty Bell arrives in Philadelphia.
• in 1807 former U.S. President Aaron Burr (of milk commercial fame) is acquitted of treason.
• in 1897 the Boston Subway opens becoming the first underground metro in North America.
• in 1905 Alberta and Saskatchewan join the Canadian Confederation.
• in 1914 the last passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, dies in a zoo in Cincinnati causing the species to go into extinction.
• in 1943 Ital accepts the armistice terms effectively closing one curtain in World War II.
• in 1979 the first spacecraft to visit Saturn, space probe Pioneer 11, passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 km.
• in 1985 a joint American-French expedition locates the remains of the RMS Titanic.
• in 2001 the first orca (killer) whale was born from artificial insemination to Kasatka who resides in one of the national Sea World establishments.

It is also...

• the first day of spring in Australia and New Zealand.
• Uzbekistan Independence day.
• start of the season when oysters are fit to eat.
• the day in Judaic culture when Aaron, the brother of Moses, is remembered.