LAmom

I'VE STARTED A NEW BUSINESS!

I'm unveiling my new business, ChoirParts.com.  This is a service that provides practice tracks for choir songs -- individual soprano, alto, tenor, or bass tracks that can be downloaded as MP3s or purchased on CDs.

Gospel choirs generally don't use sheet music.  They learn their music completely by ear and through repetition.  Practice tracks from ChoirParts.com make it possible to continue that practicing outside of rehearsal time.

We have a catalog with some songs to choose from, but we also take requests.  Choir directors can tell us what song they want choir parts for, and we'll do the to order.

The site is here: ChoirParts.com

And I made a Squidoo page that describes the service in more detail: What is ChoirParts.com?

THE UNITED NATIONS IS OFFICIALLY "NOT SMARTER THAN A FIFTH-GRADER"

At least in 1950 they weren't.

For Veterans Day today, my boys and I looked a little information about the Korean War (they were interested in that because some of their great-uncles served in Korea).  We followed the action of the invasion by North Korea, the Allies coming in to help, and their successful recapture of South Korea.  When we reached the point of the US/UN decision to cross the 38th Parallel, JG declared that that was a terrible idea.

Only after countless more lives were lost did President Truman conclude that they never should have crossed the line.  Too bad they hadn't applied some fifth-grader logic before they did it.

SIGN OF THE TIMES

A steel company here in South Gate.  I wonder how long they're going to keep this up there as their primary message to the world.

AMAZING: HUMAN USE OF ECHOLOCATION

A must-see.  The story of a blind teenager in Sacramento who uses echolocation to navigate the world.  This is part 1 of 5.

UPDATE: I found out that this young man died from a recurrence of cancer in January of this year.  His website pays tribute to him.  His story is still an inspiration, though.  It shows the capabilities that all of us have but often don't know it.

MAYBE IT DOES MAKE SENSE

Like a lot of people, I was majorly surprised to hear that President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize.  I would have thought that he has only gotten a start on his stated goals in international relations.

But perhaps this is a sign to us Americans of how bad our international image had become before Obama took office.  You all know how deep my feelings go about the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive war (if you don't remember, let me remind you).  If the most powerful country on earth has a foreign policy as dangerous as that, maybe it really would be viewed by other nations as the world's biggest problem.  Maybe the election of a new president who is going in a different direction is so great a relief that it really would merit the Nobel Prize.

UPDATE: I just made a debate web page on this topic.  Go give your opinion about whether it makes sense to give Obama the Peace Prize.

A STORY THREE YEARS IN THE MAKING

Wow, it's been three years since I said this:

I have a pet project that I worked out in my mind a long time ago but haven't gotten onto paper yet.  It's a rewrite of the story of Cinderella, one in which Cindy has a sweet and kind stepmother who loves her very much.

I finally did it, and it turned out to be pretty long.  As I went along I started getting more ideas for putting my own slant on it.

Here's the link: A revision of Cinderella.

DEPRESSION SONG

I've always loved this old song, and now it seems timely again.

If I ever get a job again,
I will never be a snob again;
I'll live within my means, carry a dollar in my jeans,
If I ever get a job again.

If I ever get a break again,
Brother, what I'll do to steak again!
No turning out the light bidding my appetite good night,
If I ever get a break again.

I'll get two rooms and a kitchenette,
Furnished comfortably;
With two rooms and a kitchenette,
I'll get a sweet somebody to move in with me!

If I ever get a job again,
I know that two hearts will throb again,
She told me with her eyes we'll be rehearsing lullabies,
If I ever get a job again.

If I ever get a job again,
I will never be a snob again!
I'm through with stocks and bonds, I'd rather spend it all on blondes,
If I ever get a job again!

If I ever get my pay again,
I'll save it for a rainy day again,
But let me tell you, bud, I'm gonna save up for a flood,
If I ever get my pay again.

I'll get two suits and an overcoat,
Like a millionaire!
Just two suits and an overcoat,
And then when things get better, I'll buy underwear!

If I ever get a job again,
With my old friends I'll hobnob again,
What great fun it will be saying, "Just have one more on me!"
If I ever get a job again.

GHOSTS

Jonathan at The Gridbook Blog writes eloquently about the images of beauty and vitality that we can see on film, preserved images of people who have long ago stopped looking the way they looked then.

This very same thought has been on my mind through this Christmas season.  During Christmas, we hear in the air all around us the voices of the dead.  They're still instantly recognized and they still feel personal, even though the owners of the voices are long gone.  Bing Crosby, Karen Carpenter, sounding so vibrant and alive, walking with you through the mall, visiting you in your bedroom.  The ghosts of holidays past.

MY READABILITY LEVEL

When I worked at Daniel Freeman Hospital, my job was to write educational materials about health maintenance and the physiology of pregnancy and childbirth at a 4th- to 6th-grade reading level.  And I did it quite well.

DISHES I HAVE EATEN RECENTLY

• Sauteed zucchini
• Grilled squash
• Scrambled eggs with shredded zucchini
• Pasta with chunks of squash
• Crockpot chicken with squash
• Chicken and squash soup
• Zucchini walnut muffins
• Stuffed squash

Right now, there's a squash casserole in the oven.

TURN THAT THING OFF!

Now that I'm phasing out my extra job, I'm at home more in the evenings.  This means that I can take charge of my house again and that includes enforcement of limits on the amount of TV that the kids watch (it never happens when they're at home with Daddy).

So after I announced that television and computer game time were over for the day, JG and BT were suddenly at a loss for something to do.  After Mommy's suggested activity, some room cleaning, BT promptly fell asleep.

That left JG alone with his own thoughts.  After laying around saying nothing for a while, he asked me, "What's the actual purpose of smoking?".  So I got to explain to him what nicotine is and a bit about the physiology of drug addiction.

Next came a discussion of a TV show that he's seen called Total Drama Island, which apparently is a parody of Survivor.  We talked about the meaning of parody and satire and also about the way people act in real reality shows and how people in real life can be equally cutthroat.

Next question: What is a guru?  This takes us to www.dictionary.com ("Wow!  They have EVERYTHING on the internet!!") and an examination of how JG himself is a guru to BT at times.

I doubt that any of this conversation would have happened tonight if the TV had still been on.

IT'S MY TENTH ANNIVERSARY!

Yes, it was 10 years ago today that LAdad and I tied the knot (here's a link to my seventh anniversary post).  We are overjoyed to still be the same ordinary people with the same non-dramatic relationship we had back then.  He never gets on the computer, but I'll pretend that he does and send him this message anyway:  I love you honey, and I'm ready for our next 40-or-whatever years.

Also, happy anniversary to David and Elizabeth Weinlick, who got married the same day that we did.  Their arranged marriage at the Mall of America was the subject of stories on the Today show (and other outlets as well).  Today they were on the show again, and Matt Lauer officially ate crow, as he had predicted nothing but disaster for them.

FIRST SQUASH OF THE SUMMER

We got some glare in this photo, but you can still see that we've been successful in our first attempt at growing zucchini.  JG and BT were quite impressed when they saw how big this one was.

Now I'm off to find some good recipes . . .

A COUPLE OF OLD CONTRACEPTION POSTS

So here are my other contributions to the Pro-life, Pro-Contraception Blogswarm.

On the hot-button issue of the "morning-after" pill: Research on Emergency Contraception.

This other one also brings in my personal feelings about natural health, but it does talk about my support for the use of contraception: Political Correctness and the Pill.

I wrote another one that's even more of a natural-health, hormones-are-nasty type of post, but it did include a bit about ethical concerns surrounding the pill,  Here's an excerpt:

There is also controversy about whether BCPs and Depo act as an abortive, preventing implantation of a fertilized egg.  I'd have to say that based on my experience working in a gynecologist's office, my opinion is that hormonal contraceptives work much more to prevent ovulation, with the rate of miscarried pregnancies probably much lower than the naturally occurring rate.  When women are having very scanty periods or no periods, I don't think they're ovulating.

EFFECTIVENESS VS. RIGHTS

Today is the selected day for the Pro-Life, Pro-Contraception Blogswarm.  Most of my contributions for the day are going to be cheating (referring to posts that I already wrote long ago).  But I'll add one thing that's currently on my mind.

When it comes to our support of the use of contraception, some pro-lifers want to put an onus on us to prove that contraception reduces the rate of abortions.  When statistics come out about the number of abortions going in one direction or another, they want to examine all the numbers to see whether allowing women to use contraception is "working".

But this ignores a larger issue.  That issue is whether a woman has a basic right to do whatever she chooses to do in order to avoid conceiving.  We assert that abortion is wrong because there are two people involved in the situation and one of them is going to end up dead.  But before a woman conceives, there is no other person in the equation.  One person, by herself, making her own decisions about what she wants to do.  What she decides is nobody else's business.  Whether the availability of contraception reduces the abortion rate or not does not change the fact that it is only right for women to have the right to use it.  If we want to reduce the number of abortions, we need to do it by preaching the true message of the sanctity of life of the unborn, not by denying women their right to prevent pregnancy through non-violent means (and I still don't see how people think that taking contraception away would reduce abortions anyway).

Similarly (and I shudder to think about it), there are some people who oppose allowing abortions to save the life of the mother because they fear it would be used as a loophole to achieve unrestricted abortion on demand.  The fundamental truth is that no one should ever be required to lose their life in favor of the life of another person.  Concerns about subversion of that principle to achieve other ends would have to be addressed in other ways, but not by denying someone their right to save their own life.

Similarly (if I may stray from today's subject), a lot of people try to look at capital punishment in terms of whether it has a "deterrent effect" on other would-be criminals.  I don't believe that the effect it has on other people should take priority over the principle of whether or not we believe that the government should have the authority to kill people.

So the overall principle is that if I believe someone has a right to something, I'm not going to be persuaded to trade their rights away to achieve some other goal.

(Ooh, now that's got me thinking about stuff like The Patriot Act.  Stay on topic, Joan.  Stay on topic.)

MCCLELLAN COMES CLEAN

I'm guessing it feels good to take the load off.  Scott McClellan has a book coming out where he bites the hand that fed him for so many years.

"One of the worst disasters in our nation's history [Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath] became one of the biggest disasters in Bush's presidency," he writes.

"The perception of this catastrophe was made worse by previous decisions President Bush had made, including, first and foremost, the failure to be open and forthright on Iraq and rushing to war with inadequate planning and preparation for its aftermath."

Mr McClellan stops short of saying Mr Bush lied about the reasons for going to war in Iraq, but says his administration orchestrated the build-up so that force became the only real option.

Quoted by the Washington Post, he writes that "it was all about manipulating sources of public opinion to the president's advantage" and chides the media for failing to ask enough questions.

"No-one, including me, can know with absolute certainty how the war will be viewed decades from now when we can more fully understand its impact," he says.

"What I do know is that war should only be waged when necessary, and the Iraq war was not necessary."

When I used to see McClellan on TV, it always seemed to me that he looked very uncomfortable as he did his job.  Having to repeat and defend lies that weren't even his own, it looked like it was making him feel ill.  Very different from other White House spokescritters (like Tony Snow) who seemed to thoroughly enjoy the task.  I actually felt sorry for Scott when I watched him.  I'm NOT excusing him for lying to me, but it was clear that he wished he were somewhere else.

WHY I'M GLAD TO BE BACK HOME: PART IV

Now that we have a backyard again, we've planted a few vegetables.  We tried to pick the shadiest part of the yard to plant peas, but the recent heat wave has left them looking pretty sad.  Similarly, we got no response from the carrots.  But the squash, sunflowers and turnips are looking great!  We went out this morning for our first harvesting.  JG and I got to discuss which parts of the turnip plant we eat and why ladybugs are our friends.  We picked a huge potful of turnips greens which are now in the crockpot cooking with a chicken.  Woohoo!

BY THE YEAR 2013

Fellow citizens, I want to take a little time to describe to you my vision of the things I will accomplish in four years if you select me to be your leader.

I cannot guarantee that I will achieve these things, but I will recite them anyway because you deserve a leader who understands the power of positive affirmations as a public policy strategy.  When I describe these goals, I will use present perfect tense verbs, so that you will feel as if they have already happened.

By the year 2013, America has become an idyllic place.  The traffic jams that plague our roads have been vanquished, although we still suffer the lingering effects of the occasional stalled car in the slow lane.  Earthquakes have been prevented, and we have daytime temperatures of 72 degrees year 'round.

I should probably reiterate that I cannot guarantee these results, but this is my vision.

Four years from now, there is no longer any place in the world that is a safe haven for talentless pop stars to plan their efforts to target our precious children.

Also, by 2013, our nation's single men have overcome their fear of commitment.  They have learned how to recognize a good thing when they see it, and they are proposing to acceptable women by the fifth date or sooner.  Russia and China are cooperating with us as well, resulting in the end of the worldwide man shortage.  Adultery has also been eliminated (while there may be flare-ups at times, they are spasmodic and much reduced).

As I said before, these things are not guaranteed.

If you believe in these goals, then you want me to lead this country.  Really, you do.

SOME PRO-LIFE LINKS

I should have done this one a while back: You are invited to sign a petition supporting the Pro Every Life, Pro Woman, Pro Reproductive Justice for All manifesto.  The manifesto was brought by Mary and Jen and supports both the sanctity of life of the unborn (and everybody else) AND the dignity of women and their right to self-determination when it comes to preventing pregnancy.

And this one is just in: Jen is proposing a Pro-Life, Pro-Contraception Blogswarm on May 31, 2008.  If you are anti-abortion and pro-contraception, blog about in on May 31st!  See you then!

THAT WAS US

If you were passing by the Galen Center at USC tonight you might be wondering who those crazy holy rollers were out on the upstairs patio.  That was us.  The Pentecostal Assemblies of the World California District Youth Convention.

Allow me to explain.  See, we had promised that we would vacate our ballroom at a certain time (10:00, I think), and we wanted to keep our word.  But even though our time was up, the service was definitely not over yet.  So even though we moved outside, we just continued right on dancing and shouting, clapping and playing tambourines, speaking in tongues and praying for each other.  I left just after 11:00 and there were still 40 or 50 people there at that point.

So if you've always wondered what those Pentecostal church services are like, now you know.

I hope everybody else's weekend has been as good as mine.