Virtual worlds....oh heavens....

I have become a fan of Facebook. It is a great sight, you can find long lost friends, or family you don't often keep up with. Not that you don't love them, but you just are not in touch with them as much.

It is fun to read about what people are up to, see some photos of what is happening in their lives and share bits about yourself.

I happened to notice the name of a person that commented on one of my friends entries. It was a friend of mine that I had lost touch with when she went off to college. I hate to admit it but I had not seen or talked to her in over 20 years. We are both now living in opposite ends of the country, she is in the Seatle area, and I am in Florida.

Not everyone can see your Facebook page, they have to request you to be a friend and if you accept them then...you are well...I guess you are "Facebook Friends". I have to confess that I do not pay the closest attention to all the "requests" some are to join this or that, or give this virtual gift or accept that virtual gift.

One day there was a friend request from a name from...wwwwaaaayyyy back in my past. It was a girl I went to junior high school with, yeah back when it was called "junior high school" and not "middle school". We went to different high schools, we were not close friends but we were in band together and we both played the flute. When I worked for a bank as a teller I would see her mom now and then and ask how she was doing, but even that was...well...my 21 year old neice was just a baby then so....it had been a long time. She is now happily married and living near Grand Rapids and has 2 children.

I have one friend, Mindy, who said when she started in Facebook that she joined because so many were pushing her too. Now Mindy is playing all sorts of the little virtual games they have on Facebook (way too many to name). I told her she has truly become one of "them" now....

I got sucked into one of the "farm" worlds and was chatting with my friend Mindy on line through Facebook and asked her "how do I get out of this" and she said just click "go home" and....there was no "go home"...it turned out I was in a different "farm world" than she was. Who would have thought there would be so many "farm worlds". I confess that I do go back into it from time to time, I guess I feel the need to plow under all my dead crops.

Now....oh, no....I let myself adopt a virtual dog...he is a Jack Russell, I love them. I named him Lester, after my nieces dog. How did I let myself get sucked in....now I will have to keep it alive....he is named after a dog that I love....I can't just plow him under like the dead crops on my farm....oh that reminds me I better go plow them on my other farm too...but anyway....oh....the virtual worlds....they just may prove to much for me....hopefully I can keep Lester virtually alive longer than my crops...

Something sure smells fishy....

Okay, I will confess that I have not read a great deal on the whole situation with the Raiders and their coaches that don't seem to get along. My husband is an avid reader of sports, and well, he is my Cliff Notes. But, you don't really even need a Cliff Notes version of the situation, just do a search on, Google, Yahoo, MSN, Bing...any search engine and read the first line of every entry and you and pretty much see that everyone things something just does not add up.

I work in a felony probation office and I see people coming in for much less so to me...it appears that Tom Cable got off the hook. Makes you wonder, does he have naked pictures of someone? Or, is it the owner of the Raiders that pulled some strings...oh...maybe the naked pictures are of the owner. Anyway you look at it....they found a way for 2+2 to equal 7.

Proudly I can say that I am not a Raiders fan, I am left wondering why anyone would be.

Does the Raiders organization have a side business selling seafood? Something sure smells fishy...

New admiration for ducks....

I am currently in a job that, well I hate. But in this economy a job- is a job. It does not help matters that I am not an educated person. Yep, I am one of those low life Americans who never pursued a college education. Though I need to make that plunge soon, I know it will make my husband more proud of me, as well as hopefully open more doors for me employment wise.

At work, oh who am I kidding at home, in life generally I let little things get to me too much. I guess, if I am to be honest I have done that my whole life. Sarcasm, though I use it myself quite often can cut me to the core. Yes, in my heart know the person serving it up did not mean to say anything in a hurtful manner. I don’t mean it when I serve up sarcasm.

Life can be a challenge, here I am 46 years old trying to change my soft shell. Doesn’t help that my Thyroid is out of whack, and it sure does not help that, did I mention my age…the big M word is likely coming on as well.

My new plan of attack at work is to be a duck, and my office is the water that is just going to roll off my back. I even stumbled upon a dog toy at our grocery store, it is a Mallard duck, I have named him Mel. If nothing else he has brought some laughter into the office.

And…okay, so I am going to apply this plan of attack to life in general.

I have always loved ducks, but, now I have a new admiration from them….

I have been neglectful...

I have been quite neglectful with updating my blog, I have not even been changing my "name of the week". When my husband mentioned this name I really thought he was messing with me, but, there it was on Wikipedia, he is a living breathing former race car driver....the one and only....

DICK TRICKLE

This one is "Name of the year" worthy...don't ya think.

A lesson on the art of forgiving...

Below is an article from my local paper, and these parents are just amazing to me. The act of forgiving someone for something is a tough thing. We all can take a lesson from these parents. I am not sure I could forgive the shooter or the Marine Corps.

Both of my best friends sons were Marines, as well as one of my cousin's sons. My father was in the Navy, I have always had a great deal of respect for the military. I remember when I was fresh out of high school, my father had filled out a card from a magazine with my name, you know, the ones that express your interest in joining the Navy. It was quite a surprise when a recruiter called me.…

Looking back, I kind of wish I'd had it in me to do so. I know my father would have been proud. He never had a son, and at one point in my childhood I guess I could have been considered a little bit of a tomboy. I enjoyed doing things with my dad. He would mow the lawn at the old school house we owned, and going with him sure is one of my fondest memories.

This article caused me to lose a lot of respect for the military. Yes, the man is being punished, and has to live the rest of his life with the consequences of his actions. But…why….why…did it happen in the first place? There are so many better ways to "build trust and promote teamwork". It kind of scares me to think that the military protecting our country uses this type of thing to supposedly build trust. Well….I am one person who has lost some trust in the military by having read this.

Bless that family for their loss, and especially for their ability to forgive….


By Tom McNiffManaging EditorPublished: Friday, September 18, 2009 at 2:19 p.m.Last Modified: Friday, September 18, 2009 at 2:34 p.m.

The parents of a U.S. Marine who was shot and killed by a superior during a game of "Trust" say they've forgiven the shooter, who was sentenced to eight years in the Marine Corps brig recently.

Damian and Lucy Malone said Cpl. Mathew Nelson, 25, who admitted to shooting Lance Cpl. Patrick Malone earlier this year in Iraq, turned to them during his sentencing hearing Sept. 10 with tears in his eyes.

"He turned around and he was crying, and he apologized," Lucy Malone said. "He said he loved Patrick and if he could trade places with him he would."

The Malones, along with their surviving children and extended family, had an opportunity to testify at Nelson's sentencing in North Carolina. They described it as a celebration of Patrick's life, as the prosecutor flashed photos of the young man dancing and laughing, and family members took turns recalling the young man's passion for life and for the military.

"I forgive him," Lucy Malone said of Nelson. "I forgave him a long time ago. If I don't forgive him, I won't go to Heaven and I won't see my son.

"He (Nelson) is the one suffering now. My son's in Heaven," she said. According to military investigators, Patrick Malone was lying in his bunk one evening after getting off duty. He was either watching a video or listening to music on an iPod, his parents said.

Nelson, who commanded the second section of Malone's platoon, entered the the wooden hooch the Marines called home, walked over to Malone, pointed a 9mm pistol at him and asked "Do you trust me?" or words to that effect.

Militarytimes.com, an independent military news Website, said Malone smiled at Nelson. Moments later, the gun fired and Malone was struck in the forehead.

Fellow Marines were unable to revive Malone. "Trust," according to Militarytimes, is a game that is played in various forms by soldiers. In some cases, a ranking officer will partially slide a magazine into a pistol, pretend to pull the slide back to load a bullet, point the weapon at a subordinate and ask if the solider trusts him. After the solider answers, the officer either pulls the trigger of the empty gun or lowers the weapon and clears it.

Ironically, what has been described by some Marines as a way to build trust and promote teamwork is a violation of the military's most fundamental weapons safety rules.

"I learned in Boy Scouts, you don't point a weapon at anyone, loaded or unloaded," Damian Malone said, "The Marines say they'll reinforce that now. I thought that was obvious. You would think the Marines, above all, would know that."

I've said it before...

And I will say it again...you sure can stumble upon the funniest things on the internet.

My husband is a huge baseball fan. I have often heard him mention the hazing that rookie players often experience. In looking for a baseball card for my "name of the week" I stumbled upon these photos of rookie Dodgers.





Both certainly good for a chuckle or two....

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day, mom, I love you and miss you so much!

I was so lucky to have you as my mother, you were the best mother anyone could ask for.

You took good care of us, and still are, I will never stop missing you.

Vitamins are good for you....

For Young Men and Women...

For Men...

For Women...

For Everyone else....

somethings got to change....

It does make you think…

These are trying times for our economy.

Many say it will get worse before it gets better.

We are in the process of doing some small home improvement projects. I called Lowes yesterday to see if their carpet installation special was still going on, and asked more detail. The special is still on however, once you get more detail…it really isn't that special. You know the typical game of this much more for that, and this much more for this. Making what you think is a great deal on carpet…not such a great deal.


The other night my husband made a very good point.

Budget cuts are looming in every direction....but you sure do not see them in th area of home improvement.

I work in a probation office…hm….business for us seems to go up in a bad economy…yet…we haven't had a raise in a couple of years and they are cutting positions of probation officers increasing the work load in a very stressful industry.

My husband is a teacher, a stressful occupation with not near enough thanks for what they do.
Education and Criminal Justice…these are two areas where you hate to see the cuts. Business
does not go down for them.

I really feel that corporations, government needs to sit down and listen to suggestions from "John Q. Public" we may not have Ivy League educations but we are the ones working in the trenches where you are cutting the jobs and making pay cuts.

Working for the State of Florida there are certain job positions that their health insurance is paid by the state. Hm…there is one sure way you could save some money.

The State sure could save money by not throwing money away in leasing office space. For the amount they have paid in leasing the building I work in they could have owned the building and built some equity.

Wouldn't it benefit the state to have some equity in buildings? Hm…equity for "John Q. Public" is a good thing. Hm…equity isn't that an asset? Sure would be a shame for the state to have an asset when they are facing shortfalls in budgets.

Budget = cuts to the ones that make less money. Sadly the ones that decide to make these cuts are making the wages of say, maybe three of these people total.

Boy, I sure hope our economy turns around soon.....

I just wonder about people...

I basically work as a receptionist, people sign in, I let their officer know they are there.

Okay, I work in a probation office and am not dealing with elite members of society.

We had a clock on the wall in the lobby so they could write in the time they signed in. Often people never even noticed the clock, they would just ask what time it was.

Well, when the time changed....the clock fell off the wall and is now history.

I realize now how many people actually looked at it....more than I thought.

We now have a small travel clock, I have a blue piece of paper taped to the window. "CLOCK" with an arrow pointing down to the small clock.

Yet people still do not see it.

I have even drawn an arrow on a piece of paper and taped it to my ruler so I can point to the clock.

Again, I am not encountering the most intelligent people...but for the love of Peter, Paul and Mary...if you have a watch on...why are you looking all around the lobby, and on all the walls behind the receptionist window for a clock? JUST LOOK AT YOUR WATCH!

Okay, I feel better...thank you to all of you in Blogdon letting me vent.

Too few drivers pay attention....

Sometimes I just wonder what people are thinking.


It actually scares me at times.


This afternoon at lunch I was going to go get gas, and run to JC Penney's and pick up the shoes I ordered.


Well, I did not make it even to the gas station. I did not know the gas was that low and ran out at at the corner. About a mile from work, and from the gas station.


There was a slight incline at the corner so I managed to get further back from the corner. I called AAA and then the wait began.


While I was on the phone with AAA I was amazed at how man people still pulled up behind me.


A car sitting dead still at a green light with flashers on. My first thought would be to move to the other lane to go around it. Oh no, that was not the case of the many who pulled up behind me and sat…until…duh…they realized that the light was green and I was not moving…oh…duh…she has her flashers on.

Once I was off the phone with AAA I got out and put my hood up, and opened my tailgate thinking this would help people to realize that my car would not be moving.

Well, one would have thought it would have helped…but oh no people still pulled up behind me until they got the clue.

So, it was my lunch hour and I just grabbed my lunch and sat in the open back end of my car and had a picnic.


Surprise surprise…people still pulled up behind me thinking the car would be moving. Um…a fat lady sitting in the open back end of an SUV with the flashers on, the hood up, eating her lunch.


Now tell me….wouldn't you have moved to the other lane?

I wish I had counted how many cars had just pulled up behind me, it really struck me sad as that proves how little people pay attention.

Kind of scary too when you think about it.

Things happen for a reason...

I am a firm believer that things happen for a reason. This weekend sure pointed that out to me several times.

In searching for things regarding "microwave etiquette" I stumbled upon the "Shelfari" widget on someones blog.

Boy, is that right up my husbands alley. It is pretty cool, I put it on my blog too! If you are a reader I recommend you check it out. You may very well find many more books you would love to read.

Also, my husband is in search of a new watch. We went to Sam's Club, but struck out. Yet, found something there that we both really want for the yard which...it is a raised bed for gardening...me I think it will work great for herbs, or tomatoes.

Since we struck out in the search for watches we went to the mall. Now our mall here in Ocala is really not the biggest mall, and we had no luck with the watch hunt but stumbled upon something that worked quite well in the bedroom.

A new bedside lamp for my nightstand. I had ordered one from JC Penneys but was quite disappointed when it came as it was much smaller than it appeared online. So, that went back. This one was quite a deal and...the colors just work so great with the colors on our wall and in our bedroom.

Yep, things happen for a reason...from microwave mishaps...to watches needing to be replaced.

I sure wish my husbands watch did not need replacing as he really liked it though....but it got us too the mall....sorry babe about your watch....