Quin

Early onset Alzheimer's runs in my family (as does military service / aka we have a lot of young death) .. So something we've done for generations is to start "PS I love you" stuff EARLY.
Meaning, while we're still with it or around, we write letters & put together mementos to/for our loved ones.
The kind to be opened in the event of our death & lost minds at different key points in our kids & spouses lives. Both things like brays, as well as some with the titles like "Worst day ever" & "Need a pick me up" & "This shouldn't bother me so much, but it does" & "Dad's a jerk", right along with "Happy for no reason" & other positive random things. LOL, one of my grandmothers included her "Famous strawberry ice cream recipe". Not that we knew until we got to that envelope.
Go to store.
Buy 3 random kinds of strawberry ice cream on sale.
Dump in bucket & eat as much as you want while letting half melt.
Hide evidence of bought from store.
In he neighbors pail, if possible.
Stir when good & ready.
Freeze.
Refuse to share recipe with anyone.
Snicker.
Ha! Go Gran!
They all go in a box along with our wills, powers of attorney, etc.
Myself, though... It's HARD to do these things.
Takes up a lot of emotional energy.
That, in crisis, there just isn't a lot of to spare.
AND not everyone is the letter & memento type of person.
This is something most of the women in my family do... But not all of us.
And those of us who do it, all do it differently.
So... While a nice idea... It's certainly not going to be right for everyone.
Q

As far as inexpensive dresses go....
- Not everyone has a body type that is in line with cheap clothes. While petit women can always shop in the children's section, very tall women & Reubenesque women are limited to specialty shops. Most of which are VERY expensive. Not SAKS expensive, but $100 for a pair of jeans expensive.
- When some families are having to get food from the bishop, struggling to save up for medical & dental, may even be in notice of shut-off on basic things like utilities... Even $20 (assuming they can get anything for that, they might be stuck with $100+ options) is too much to DEMAND in order to participate in a sisterhood. Which is what insisting on purchasing clothes in order to attend an RS function is doing. In the game of hard choices (my electricity bill, or my daughter's asthma med) a new dress doesn't even enter into it!
Q

Not everyone owns respectful clothing, I don't own any nice clothing and don't have the money to buy it.
I make it a point not to wear my worst clothes but I am not in dress shoes, fancy shirt, etc-my shoes for example, I only own 1 pair.
I do listen, my clothes do not reflect my intentions when I go, but if you are saying I am not wanted because I can't afford to look as nice as everyone else, regardless of my intentions, then I don't know what to tell you. It's the best I can do, and if that's the additude, then why would I want to go?
I don't remember Jesus getting all mad when the poor and the diseased came to him dressed in rags to hear him speak, but now he cares?
I understand the difference between dressing in a lousy way and in a poor way, but a lot of people don't seem to be able to tell the difference.

This is the wave of the future for librarianship. Digital librarians not only know how to digitize artifacts (that's the low level stuff that students or hourly workers do), but they know how to make the metadata and tag the items so you can find them. They classify it so it makes sense, they create useful web pages so the navigation is easy. They take computing and databases and they want to share everything with everybody.
 
That's where I come in and tell them that won't happen. There's not enough money. So put on your big girl panties and figure out how to get some grant money and work a budget and make the hard decisions about what goes online and what stays in the box.    I love my job.

It's funny you mention that prisonchaplain, I was just reading Exodus on this topic (Leviticus is more clear-cut, but Exodus has a certain ring to it). The Lord warns them if "thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, [then they'll] make thy sons go a whoring after their gods."
 
I don't know if you're familiar with mormonads (little motivational-type posters included in our youth magazines reminding them of our standards with associated scriptures and images), but I felt this verse was overlooked. I don't know what image to use for this verse, but maybe the text would be something like:
 
 
 
Maybe I should leave this to the professionals.

Ahem. That. Right there.
Some people can have sex wih people they don\'t like or are angry with.
Most can\'t.
At least, not past a certain point.
Step ONE would be to get back to where you enjoy each other\'s company as friends.
Otherwise, she\'s just going to feel like a toilet. No one likes to feel used.
So... Platonic intimacy, then physical intimacy.
The other way around is putting the cart before the horse.
Okay... That\'s actually good news. That means that she\'s ticked at you (which dovetails right into that she doesn\'t want to spend even platonic, much less romantic time with you).
Which is something you can FIX.
So often in life we don\'t want things to be our fault.
But in cases like this, you get that it\'s AWESOME when it\'s our fault... Because we CAN FIX IT if it\'s our fault.
If it\'s no ones fault, but is depression, hormonal imbalance, trauma response, etc....
Then there\\\'s jack squat that can be done ... by us.
Instead it\'s a wait and hope game while they & their doctors work on the problem.
But if it\'s OUR fault? Yeehah! Awesome! A problem to solve! Work to be done! Stellar! We can DO something! Sweet!
LOL... So I think you just might have your attitude on backwards, here.
It\'s GREAT news when we\\\'re the ones who have the problem to sort.
Time to get crackin.
Q

Quin, I think it's so important that you voice the things you just did.  
 
I think it's important to recognize that happiness is a multi-faceted concept that involves both the immediate and the long term.  I think a lot of times it is easy to "choose to be happy" in the short term.  It's a lot harder to simply will that into being in the long term.  Happiness seems to be strongly related to freedom from fear and worry.  Even in this short thread, I've noticed that happiness seems to get along with stress somewhat well, but it suffers in the face of fear and uncertainty.  (and we won't even get into how mental illness wreaks havoc on the concept of happiness)
 
I think the poem apples gives addresses one aspect of happiness.  If we think chasing after things will bring us happiness, we'll always be chasing.  But if we turn our efforts to eliminating the fear and uncertainty in our lives, happiness will come upon us.  My heart breaks for people like you who don't have the ability to control the level of fear and uncertainty.  But at least it has given me insight into how to help those around me who struggle.  The answer is not to remind them of how good they have it, but to find whatever bit of uncertainty I can remove for them and go ahead and remove it.

I mostly use the AP for daily stuff.
It\\\'s 1 line about a gazillion different things going on.
If I\\\'m interested in something, then I search to see who has picked up the story.
Usually it\\\'s been picked up by a couple of different papers.
Most of whom publish online.
I\\\'ve noticed I really prefer the BBC coverage of American events & politics over American media.
Waaaaaaay less political bias / \\\"both\\\" sides of a story are presented in one place
For international news I tend to split my time between the BBC & Al Jazeerah
Using the AP & Google, though, has been super fun.
Some of the writers I really like I\\\'ve watched \\\"come up\\\" from local Ohio paper, to Boston, to NYC... Or from Arizona to LA.... et cetera..., to freelance all over the durn place as they sell investigative pieces to the highest bidder.
For REALLY local news... I tune into the police blotter pages. Always good for a laugh. Cops have stellar senses of humor. They also keep things in perspective. \\\"A bit wet under the XXX overpass this morning. Road closed. Flooding\\\" Right next to a picture of a floating truck in 8 feet of swirling water. LEOs rock.
Q

"Don't worry. I serve lamb."
Q

I wonder how much earlier I would go to bed if I weren't falling down Internet rabbit holes?
I mean, seriously, who needs to be looking up modest swimwear (Muslim modest, think wetsuit not one piece) at 3am? In winter.
Not me. That's who not.
Yet here I surfed along (in underarmor base layer against the snow that's nearly identical to the suits I'm flipping through). Reading about 700-1300AD Nordic Art styles, state compliant weapons via sig sauer, bodykinis (Muslim swimwear), 9yo opera singers (Amira Willighagen really IS Maria Callas caught in a time vortex, no lie, Wowza), the Pink Panther's Mancini musical scoring, John Corvino, Marvel Comics belts -why no WW & SM, Marvel? Why?), eleventy other sparkly things on thinkGeek, child exploitation stats in King Co. Washington compared to NewOrleans 20 years ago, facial recognition software, a totally sweet commercial from Oz, tattoo artists in Amsterdam vs demonstrations in Sweden, the way LL sounds in Welsh (and 20 minutes spent practicing before figuring out how), who WAS the actor that played..... Shoot me now. Stop. Quin. Go. To. Bed. That flat place you won't want to leave in the morning, since you're now still awake when you were planning on getting up.
Of course, without the InterWebz I'd probably be sucked into a really good book right now and not look up for another 3 hours.
It's like a tootsie pop.
The licks are immaterial. Just crunch the sucker and move on!
Sleeeeeeeeeep.

The ones I haven't made, yet.
Because no matter how hard anything I've already changed may have been... I've actually done it.
Which makes them easier than the ones I have yet to change.
Q

Also Stay-At-Home-Dads!!!
Q

Also Stay-At-Home-Dads!!!
Q

All of the above, and the above, and...
I'm not a witch! I'm your wife!
To the pain.
Inconceivable!
Rodents of unusual size.
MOSTLY dead.
____________
The priest at my wedding I bribed to start the service (without telling anyone else ahead of time), just a moment before walking down the aisle on sudden impulse. I didn't know if he'd actually do, it, though. He did!
"Wuv. Twue wuv....." Before his real beginning.
There was this thunderclap of laughter, followed by hundreds of hands slapped over mouths.
It. Was. Beautiful.
Everyone knew instantly it was me who'd done it.
Oy.
It took me until this very moment, though, to realize I really DID marry Humperdink!
Whoops.
Now I have TWO promptings from the Spirit that day that I totally ignored that day.
Le sigh.
Never been a smart one, over here.
Q

http://www.cumorah.com/index.php?target=view_other_articles&story_id=483&cat_id=30However...
In Saudi Arabia, the public practice of any religion other than Islam is prohibited, and the government enforced restrictions on religious freedom. The government reportedly deported foreigners for worshipping privately. Shias continued to face discrimination, and authorities restricted public Shia celebrations, even in some areas with large Shia populations. At least one individual was beheaded for engaging in “sorcery.” In Syria, the government increased its targeting and surveillance of members of faith groups it deemed a “threat,” including members of the country’s Sunni majority. Such targeting included killing, detention, and harassment. There were credible reports that the regime targeted citizens based on religious affiliation in mixed neighborhoods in Homs and rural Aleppo. Violent extremist activity intensified as the civil conflict escalated, including the targeting of religious minorities by groups such as the U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization Jabhat al-Nusra. In Iran, the arrest and harassment of members of religious minorities, including Sunni Muslims, increased significantly. There continued to be reports that the government imprisoned, harassed, intimidated, and discriminated against people because of their religious beliefs. Authorities placed U.S.-Iranian citizen and Christian pastor Saeed Abedini under house arrest in July to investigate previous charges of undermining national security by leading a network of house churches. In September Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officials raided his residence and took him to Evin prison, where he remained in detention at year’s end. Seven Bahai leaders remained in detention at the end of 2012, serving sentences extended by the authorities in 2011 to 20 years. The government charged them in 2011 with “espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities, and propaganda against the Islamic Republic.” - See more at: http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm?dlid#wrapper
&
In 2010, the U.S. State Department stated that in Saudi Arabia \\\\\\\"freedom of religion is neither recognized nor protected under the law and is severely restricted in practice\\\\\\\" and that \\\\\\\"government policies continued to place severe restrictions on religious freedom\\\\\\\".[6] No faith other than Islam is permitted to be practiced, although there are nearly a million Christians – nearly all foreign workers – in Saudi Arabia.[227] There are no churches or other non-Muslim houses of worship permitted in the country.[6] Even private prayer services are forbidden in practice and the Saudi religious police reportedly regularly search the homes of Christians.[227] Foreign workers have to observe Ramadan but are not allowed to celebrate Christmas or Easter.[227]
Conversion by Muslims to another religion (apostasy) carries the death penalty, although there have been no confirmed reports of executions for apostasy in recent years.[6] Proselytizing by non-Muslims is illegal,[6] and the last Christian priest was expelled from Saudi Arabia in 1985.[227] There are some Hindus and Buddhists in Saudi Arabia. Compensation in court cases discriminates against non-Muslims: once fault is determined, a Muslim receives all of the amount of compensation determined, a Jew or Christian half, and all others a sixteenth.[227] Saudi Arabia has officially identified atheists as terrorists. [228] The regulations place secular citizens who commit thought crimes in the same category as violent terrorist groups[229]
Wiki
So unless you\\\'re working in an embassy or on a military base / living in a similarly protected compound... I would be very careful.
The Wahhabi & Religious Police do NOT play.
I love Saudi Arabia for many reasons / have lived there twice. But I was lucky to be on base my first go, and a woman (aka easy to disappear in a sea of black) my second go. I was a woman the first time, but on American soil. 2nd go I was mostly on private compounds. Men, especially western men, have targets on them. BLENDING is really, really, really key. You don\'t want to stand out.
Q

All of the above, and the above, and...
I'm not a witch! I'm your wife!
To the pain.
Inconceivable!
Rodents of unusual size.
MOSTLY dead.
____________
The priest at my wedding I bribed to start the service (without telling anyone else ahead of time), just a moment before walking down the aisle on sudden impulse. I didn't know if he'd actually do, it, though. He did!
"Wuv. Twue wuv....." Before his real beginning.
There was this thunderclap of laughter, followed by hundreds of hands slapped over mouths.
It. Was. Beautiful.
Everyone knew instantly it was me who'd done it.
Oy.
It took me until this very moment, though, to realize I really DID marry Humperdink!
Whoops.
Now I have TWO promptings from the Spirit that day that I totally ignored that day.
Le sigh.
Never been a smart one, over here.
Q

All of the above, and the above, and...
I'm not a witch! I'm your wife!
To the pain.
Inconceivable!
Rodents of unusual size.
MOSTLY dead.
____________
The priest at my wedding I bribed to start the service (without telling anyone else ahead of time), just a moment before walking down the aisle on sudden impulse. I didn't know if he'd actually do, it, though. He did!
"Wuv. Twue wuv....." Before his real beginning.
There was this thunderclap of laughter, followed by hundreds of hands slapped over mouths.
It. Was. Beautiful.
Everyone knew instantly it was me who'd done it.
Oy.
It took me until this very moment, though, to realize I really DID marry Humperdink!
Whoops.
Now I have TWO promptings from the Spirit that day that I totally ignored that day.
Le sigh.
Never been a smart one, over here.
Q

I operate under the theory that almost anything in life can be laughed at.
It may be a military habit.
As an example, Chesty Puller is famous for shouting out to his troops, when his unit became completely surrounded by 10 divisions of enemy soldiers (outnumbered apx 1000:1)
"We've got em right where we want em NOW boys!!! We can shoot in ANY direction!!!"
... So that's what I do.
In every situation I come across, or find myself in, I look for the funny part of it.
Whether it's the apocalypse diet (tins of food, because I'm too broke to buy food), or shaking hands with the cop and welcoming him into my spectacularly bad night (he ended up becoming a good friend), or zombie-days (I often work 36hour shifts)... I laugh at myself. A lot. As long as I can still laugh at myself, I'm going to be okay.
Q

We just finished the Triumphal Entry (Palm Sunday) and are heading towards Easter.  It strikes me that many people were fringe followers of Jesus because of the power and miracles he demonstrated.  His teaching--not so much.  Why?  They'd been taught bad theology--bad doctrine.  The messiah/Savior/Christ was supposed to be a human military king, who would drive out the Romans, and re-establish Israel as a kingdom rivaling the glory David and Solomon enjoyed.  This was the traditional Judaism of the day.
 
Jesus came along and--sure enough--he healed the sick.  One fellow was blind from birth!  He drove out demons.  Consider that!  A demon is an angel who's fallen.  They were so awesome that many prophets mistook them for God.  Now picture Jesus driving out hundreds from one man, sending them into a herd of pigs, and seeing those pigs run off a cliff into the sea!  WOW!  Hey, won't it be awesome when Jesus does that with the Roman "pigs?"
 
So, he enters Jerusalem, and his close followers are parading him about as a king and savior.  Amen to that!  You go Jesus--bring it to the Romans!
 
Alas, did you hear?  Jesus is in shackles.  Those soldiers beat him up real bad.  I guess he's not the one.  After all, the Messiah was supposed to save us.  Look at him!  Look at the Romans looking at us as if we're just like him.  We'll be in for it now.  They'll treat us worse than ever.  Better make Jesus our sacrificial lamb.  Crucify him?  Oh yeah!  Let's shout it.  Maybe he'll temper their blood lust.
 
There are plenty of scriptural prophecies that showed Messiah as one who would suffer and be rejected.  Further, the prophets said Israel was to be a "city on a hill," who would draw Gentiles to God.  Instead, it became insular, elite, and corrupt from within.
 
And so, most missed the glory of following the actual Son of God--in the flesh!  They missed the chance to walk with, commune with, learn from, gain strength from, and be saved by Jesus--God in the flesh.
 
Today there are many saying that theology and doctrine are not important.  God doesn't give academic tests, the say, with not a small dose of glibness.  I'd suggest that it was bad doctrine and theology that kept so many away from Jesus.
 
Some say it's the heart that counts.  The Bible says the heart can be deceitful above all else.  We do well to study the one we say we love.  We call this study theology.  We demonstrate wisdom when we learn the teachings of our church, so we can say and explain what we believe, and give an answer to those that question us.
 
Perhaps this re-affirmation of the importance of doctrine informs our on-going interfaith conversations, as well.
 
Thoughts?

I wonder how much earlier I would go to bed if I weren't falling down Internet rabbit holes?
I mean, seriously, who needs to be looking up modest swimwear (Muslim modest, think wetsuit not one piece) at 3am? In winter.
Not me. That's who not.
Yet here I surfed along (in underarmor base layer against the snow that's nearly identical to the suits I'm flipping through). Reading about 700-1300AD Nordic Art styles, state compliant weapons via sig sauer, bodykinis (Muslim swimwear), 9yo opera singers (Amira Willighagen really IS Maria Callas caught in a time vortex, no lie, Wowza), the Pink Panther's Mancini musical scoring, John Corvino, Marvel Comics belts -why no WW & SM, Marvel? Why?), eleventy other sparkly things on thinkGeek, child exploitation stats in King Co. Washington compared to NewOrleans 20 years ago, facial recognition software, a totally sweet commercial from Oz, tattoo artists in Amsterdam vs demonstrations in Sweden, the way LL sounds in Welsh (and 20 minutes spent practicing before figuring out how), who WAS the actor that played..... Shoot me now. Stop. Quin. Go. To. Bed. That flat place you won't want to leave in the morning, since you're now still awake when you were planning on getting up.
Of course, without the InterWebz I'd probably be sucked into a really good book right now and not look up for another 3 hours.
It's like a tootsie pop.
The licks are immaterial. Just crunch the sucker and move on!
Sleeeeeeeeeep.

(Humming) .... It's 5 o'clock somewhere.
Q

Canada it all depends on where.
There's still some great skiing/snowboarding to be had in May ... But that would be fly in & out.
As far as cities go... There's just not a lot of difference between anything in CA & the big cities Northern US (Seattle, Chicago, Boston, NYC). EXCEPT in Quebec. Montreal is pure awesomeness. But there are still great travel deals, and lots of things to do. I would still look into flying in & out, though, as the airfare specials would make it cheaper than driving. I've driven from Victoria/Vancouver across the TransCanada Hwy & I-90 "loop" (dropping into Chicago), and driven straight across to Niagra and dropped down into the US in less than a week... and both are just wicked long drives. Check out www.travelzoo.com for travel specials to Canada to minimize travel expense. LOVE that site. $250 RT plus 3 days hotel in London from NYC (&Jet blue had a $50 any city in the US to NYC special at the same time), $50 RT San Diego to Seattle, $180 to Montreal... I've used travelzoo dozens and dozens of times for work & play. It's really hit or miss, but when you hit, it's killer.
Q

Wyoming!
There was a buffalo (bison) ranch outside of Cheyenne that I stumbled on the last time I was there with zeh kids that was super fun (also great steaks... Trying to remember if you're vegetarian and failing miserably).
Yellowstone
CFD Rodeo (mmmm...that's in a couple months. July awesomeness)
Rafting (Jackson Hole is one of my fam favs. http://www.jacksonholenet.com/summer_recreation/whitewater_rafting.php Both for scenic -little kid friendly- and whitewater. But there are loads of other places for rafting).
Charlie Russell in mid may! http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/02/prweb11572155.htm
Not to mention tons of other museums
But I'm totally in wuv with Charlie Russel
Oregon Trail &
Train (if you can wait until July for CFD, Union Pacific Steam - never retired, like one of only two or three working steam locomotives in the country) has excursions.

FolkProphet is Church. NeuroTypical is Loudmouth. DHK is Skippy.
And me?
I'm Batman.

Just to know... While AA et al are the most famous, as well as extremely successful, and I am in NO way putting them down whatsoever... They're also not the only game in town. There are 2 main branches in addiction med (disease model, and disease model + learned behavior). 12-step programs actually address both theories... Which is part of what makes them so successful, but there are other programs which do so as well. And are as effective if not more effective for many people. ESPECIALLY for
- addictions & addictive behavior which CANNOT be abstained from, or which require moderation in order to live normal / healthy lives to their best potential. (Think food, sex, shopping, etc.)...
- Dual-diagnosis (addiction + other neurological disorder, ESP those which require meds & med management), and
- Situational related heavy use, abuse &/or addiction (ESPx2 when it's an addiction, but the person themselves is not an addict.
AA/NA/et al are amaaaaaaazing for a very select group of people, but they also completely miss a wide swath of people who are struggling with addictions & need help just as badly.
The LDS church based recovery programs are designed to help address that shortfall (as are many many other secular & religious organizations & agencies), in addition to people who are able to be completely served by standard 12-step programs.
Q