So, I'm looking desperately for some lyrics to an obscure song, and digging through the Internet. A misspelling on my part did not help initial search results, but being the resourceful man that I am, I simply put enough words in from the lyrics I did know to net a good result. I then used the corrected spelling to narrow down my search criteria (man, I rock!). I netted about 70 results for these lyrics (I said they were obscure), only to find they were not actually listed on some sites, just re...
It is that blessed time of the year for the MacLeish family. Time when I head off to WalMart and buy school supplies for the upcoming year. Umm, did I mention I'm buying them for the upcoming YEAR? Yup, there's something about 10 cent notebooks that has an irresistable draw to me. They won't be this cheap for another year, so I better make sure I don't run out. Six cases hit the shopping cart, one each for my wife, me, and the three oldest (the two youngest can split a case...they don't use t...
I have to vent here for a second. For some time, in working as an activist, I have been working with a family trying to get their children back. But, you see, I have to say in all honesty, they're not TRYING that hard. And I am stuck here trying to be patient, trying to be understanding, but trying to help this family realize that they should be working in a clear and concise manner to have their children returned as quickly as possible. I know more about the case than most people, as I've...
As many of you know, I blog from the library. It's an interesting study in human behaviour, as I watch others in the library as well. Quite often, parents will bring their children to the library with them. They will sit the children next to them as they get on the computer, and surf for hours, expecting total silence from their child who is sitting in front of a computer they are entirely incapable of using. While it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect such silence for a 15 minute email sessi...
I used to be a "causehead", giving to absolutely every cause I could afford to. I still try to be generous, but I'm more selective with my money as time goes by. One cause I don't intend to give another penny to until/unless they change their marketing techniques, is breast cancer. The reason? Because the marketing in breast cancer is predominantly sexist in nature. Probably one person out of 100 actually knows that men can get breast cancer as well, and that 460 men a year die from it ( Link...
I have a stepmother whose heritage is German. So proud are they of their heritage that she actually gave my half brother two middle names...one of those being "Adolph", after Hitler, because she prided herself on the apocryphal story that her family was distantly related to Hitler. A few years ago, she "discovered" (most likely through some online sham genealogy service...she's not savvy enough to do the research herself) that she had some Indian blood in her family. Instead of dashing her ho...
Well, I've decided it's time to get serious about finishing a full length book. Because I still can't get the internet at home, using the material I've written and archived on this site is, at present, out of the question. So I've decided to assign myself a routine (I want to have the book on the campaign ready to shop to Publishers by late July-early August and have it ready to go immediately after the election). I can't measure my productivity in time spent at the computer each day, as 152 gam...
It was a hot, dusty July day when I set out from my home in Oklahoma. I was supposed to be enlisting in the US Army, but a few short days prior, the recruiter had called and told me that the psychologist in Oklahoma City felt I had not fully dealt with my feelings regarding the death of my half brother 2 years earlier, and that I needed to wait awhile before enlisting. Not wanting to face my foster family with this quite embarrassing news (this was the first time in my life I had experienced fai...
In times like these, as I cash in my coins and gather up my aluminum cans to take to the recycler, I am tempted to fantasize about a life without struggles, where every need is met and I don't have to worry about the next day. But those fantasies are short lived, as I think about everything that a life filled with struggles gives me. Adversity may seem undesirable, but it is inevitable. From birth, as a woman and child deal with powerful adversity to allow the child to be born, to death, when...
Ever have one of those days where you're in such a bad mood, you have to step back and say "wow! I am in a monumentally shitty mood!" and do everything you can to remove yourself from people? As an individual who wrestles with occasionally intense socially anxiety disorder, I have them from time to time, and yesterday was one of those times. It kind of started kicking in on Sunday when my back flared up again. My back problems aren't with the lower back, as every armchair physician suggests w...
I hate the sensationalism that pervades our journalism. More to the point, I hate the way statistics are misused to generate funds for various programs, or to push for reforms, especially in education. Take the headline of this article. While it has never appeared in print (to my knowledge), similarly sensationalist headlines have (such as a state's average spending on education compared to the other 49), and, in fact, No Child Left Behind was passed with the absurdly unreachable goal of brin...
Link Seems gas prices aren't the only thing that's up. According to yahoo! News, many gas station cashiers across the country have been yelled at and harassed by angry drivers fed up over the increasing gas prices. In their attempt to condense everything, they've labelled it "gas rage". Which, of course, FORCES the comment that I thought that only happened when you couldn't release the pressure after a chil cookoff! But I digress...
/nm/20060524/od_nm/australia _pets_dc;_ylt=AqrzEUoyJMS32SwR lxyzC2ms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3ODdx dHBhBHNlYwM5NjQ-">Link As if these guys didn't have enough to do preaching at us humans for their lifestyle, now the Australian animal rights activists are complaining that pet owners are overfeeding their pets and that the obesity epidemic is extending to these animals. I don't know about you, but I don't sleep any better at night knowing our governments are spending excessive amounts of mone...
Well, I finally was able to have a friend email me some pics of the kids taken at the Easter Egg Hunt. I can't upload photos on the library computer, so this was the only way I could get photos to share. Here's one for all of you (hope it comes out OK):
Many years ago, I considered myself a pacifist. As a teenager, I dealt with a father who avoided culpability for abusing me by sicking my older brother on me and standing back watching. I would run from the fight, and when my brother would complain, I would protest that I was a pacifist and wouldn't fight. My father, the consummate liberal, sneered, "A REAL pacifist wouldn't RUN from a fight". And so I stood there and took the beatings, without fighting back. Which is, I believe, precis...