I am not a positive thinker…

No, don’t get me wrong; though I am an optimist, I have hereby rejected the title “positive thinker.”

Take an empty glass and fill it half way with water. Is the glass half full or half empty? (OK, cute sarcasm about air taking up the remaining space in the glass aside.) I think it is half full. Some people think if you believe hard enough and feel that the glass will be full again it will magically become full. I believe if you want more water you have to get it yourself.

The crazies who believe the glass will magically become full again have stolen the term positive thinking. They also believe I am a negative thinker because I believe if you want more water you have to get it yourself instead of using the powers of the universe to make the water come to you.

And this site can provide feed for your Friday Night Drinking Game.

Special for my parents…

Don’t worry. God doesn’t talk to Pat Robertson.

HT to the Heresy Hunter .

New Employee Etiquette Part II

One of the fundamental rules of employment is: you will be supervised or trained in by someone with an inferior degree to yours.

Now, I don’t want to shock anyone, so sit down, you faint of heart, but, I did not graduate from a private school… and there are those who would say I got an inferior education, though I would beg to differ.

Anyway, while I was training new employees, someone with a fancier degree in economics decided it was his job to correct me. Here’s the application:

1. Odds are good the person who is paid to train you to do your job knows how to do your job.
2. If you have a fancy degree and got the same job as someone with a less expensive degree, the person who passed cost/benefit analysis is the person with the less expensive degree.
3. If you have a fancy degree and got the same job as someone with a less expensive degree, you are probably not as brilliant as you think.

O Sacred Head Now Wounded

O sacred Head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded with thorns, Thine only crown;
How pale Thou art with anguish, with sore abuse and scorn!
How does that visage languish, which once was bright as morn!

What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered, was all for sinners’ gain;
Mine, mine was the transgression, but Thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior! ’Tis I deserve Thy place;
Look on me with Thy favor, vouchsafe to me Thy grace.

Men mock and taunt and jeer Thee, Thou noble countenance,
Though mighty worlds shall fear Thee and flee before Thy glance.
How art thou pale with anguish, with sore abuse and scorn!
How doth Thy visage languish that once was bright as morn!

Now from Thy cheeks has vanished their color once so fair;
From Thy red lips is banished the splendor that was there.
Grim death, with cruel rigor, hath robbed Thee of Thy life;
Thus Thou hast lost Thy vigor, Thy strength in this sad strife.

My burden in Thy Passion, Lord, Thou hast borne for me,
For it was my transgression which brought this woe on Thee.
I cast me down before Thee, wrath were my rightful lot;
Have mercy, I implore Thee; Redeemer, spurn me not!

What language shall I borrow to thank Thee, dearest friend,
For this Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end?
O make me Thine forever, and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to Thee.

My Shepherd, now receive me; my Guardian, own me Thine.
Great blessings Thou didst give me, O source of gifts divine.
Thy lips have often fed me with words of truth and love;
Thy Spirit oft hath led me to heavenly joys above.

Here I will stand beside Thee, from Thee I will not part;
O Savior, do not chide me! When breaks Thy loving heart,
When soul and body languish in death’s cold, cruel grasp,
Then, in Thy deepest anguish, Thee in mine arms I’ll clasp.

The joy can never be spoken, above all joys beside,
When in Thy body broken I thus with safety hide.
O Lord of Life, desiring Thy glory now to see,
Beside Thy cross expiring, I’d breathe my soul to Thee.

My Savior, be Thou near me when death is at my door;
Then let Thy presence cheer me, forsake me nevermore!
When soul and body languish, oh, leave me not alone,
But take away mine anguish by virtue of Thine own!

Be Thou my consolation, my shield when I must die;
Remind me of Thy passion when my last hour draws nigh.
Mine eyes shall then behold Thee, upon Thy cross shall dwell,
My heart by faith enfolds Thee. Who dieth thus dies well.

Bernard of Clairvaux

New employee etiquette part I

So you’re a new employee and in some sort of on the job training, do yourself a huge favor and:
1. Keep the cell phone off; or in case of a real family emergency, on vibrate
2. Don’t surf the web while someone is providing instruction to you
3. Make adjustments for adverse weather conditions so you can
4. Show up on time
5. Don’t show up for work hung over

When your professors in college are tough on you because of cell phones, surfing the internet, being on time, and sober during class, they are preparing you for entry level professional etiquette.

When you show up for your first job, it does not matter what your degree is in, where it is from, or what your GPA is. It matters that you show up on time ready for work.

My e-mail to Jim Ramstad

Rep. Ramstad,

I understand the vote you cast expressing your resolution against the troop surge in Iraq. My husband is with 1/34 Combat Brigade and his orders were just extended. I cannot express how disappointing this news of the extention was. My family wants to do something good for the country, believes in the War in Iraq, and my husband re-enlisted to go on this specific deployment. To say we have been taken advantage of is an understatement.

I read part of your testimony on the vote. Though I do not think the vote should have taken place to begin with, I found you articulate and respectful. And I also understand why you supported the resolution.

I do want to ask you, however, should the opportunity arise, to see that funding for the effort in Iraq continues. There is a difference between opposing the surge and cutting funding. When funding is cut, lives are lost needlessly. My husbands life is more important then politics.

The vote to oppose the surge is, as "The Godfather" says so eloquently, "Business." When funding is cut, it becomes "Personal."

Thank you for your time.

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentine's Day to those who make this deployment tolerable. Especially to Mom, Dad, Becky, HermionyGonzo, AWR, the extended family, and of course, to my girl friends.

And a very special Happy Valentines Day to my one and only, Joshy!

One of my little quirks…

I’ve been a big Marilyn Monroe fan for a while. My friends have wondered what could ever possess me to remember her. While in college, looking at her picture helped me remember to have compassion on others.

The conservative Christian community spends a lot of time condemning people in Hollywood, and oft times rightfully so. However, along with this condemnation, we all forget to pray for the salvation of the souls of those who are over sexualized.

Today, Anna-Nicole Smith died. She was really young, only 39. She was a Playboy model, a spokes model for Guess, a trophy wife, a gold digger, a reality TV star, and someone who has gotten in trouble with a paternity case.
Who prayed for her soul? May God have mercy on her.

Two priorities in choosing a hotel

One: Do they serve bread pudding?
Two: Is it any good?

OK, yes, I can think of some other things to consider, like neighborhood, but the presence of good bread pudding can make or break a deal.

So, why shouldn’t parents and spouses sound off about the war…

At my last FRG meeting, we did little videos for our guys (again, infantry and artillery, we don’t have deployed women in our unit). This was a rough week because we had just found out, in a very bad manner, that our men were extended. The person operating the video system said, “You need to hold it together. The guys will be watching this over and over and you don’t want him to see you sobbing. It is just for five minutes.”

My generation are the children of the women who did a lot of protesting for women’s rights. What the boomer women, as a generation, and not as individuals, forgot to learn is that sometimes, it is better not to say what you think. Sure, I have the *right* to do whatever I want within the context of the law. However, I have an *obligation* to protect my soldier to the extent possible.

When people talk about kidnapped children, you hear the discussion about what a captor tells a child, “Your parents don’t love you,” “Your parents died,” “See, your parents have replaced you.” If a soldier gets captured, their captors use similar psychological torture, and can use the media as evidence. “See, your wife doesn’t support you,” “I’ll bet she replaced you with a guy who won’t leave to fight in the war.”

Unlike other military spouses, I don’t insist people toe the party line. I don’t insist other military families agree with me. And I don’t insist on presenting a unified message as an FRG community. What I do insist upon is not saying anything that can be used against my soldier. I do not want to live with the thought of me being unintentionally destructive to my soldier and his morale. I want my soldier to only have happy memories of me.

When I married Josh, it was not so he could serve me (OK, yes, the Bible says he needs to do my dishes, but that’s beside the point). I married Josh so I could serve him. I stood before God, my pastor, my family, and my friends and promised that I would forsake all others, and that includes myself. Josh’s needs are more important then my own.

Say what you will about someone’s rights. Sure, Ms. Anderson has the right to say what she wants. I just don’t think she was really thinking it through.

One of those things you occasionally have to learn the hard way…

So, I have a vaporizer for winter time use. And recently, I noticed that there was some mold in the workings that I couldn’t get at. I thought… “Well, Liz, perhaps you should run a diluted bleach cycle through it to kill it off.” Of course, I was not thinking about my apartment’s ventilation at the time, nor how cold it is outside so I couldn’t open the windows. And I wasn’t thinking of how much bleach I should add to my water. And though I put the vaporizer in a room far away from where I sleep, I wasn’t thinking how night time isn’t a good time to do such things…

Anyway… if you have a vaporizer, it is, indeed, a good idea to run a diluted bleach cycle through. Makes things more pleasant. But do it right after winter, and right before winter so you can air out your apartment real fast. 24 hours later, the bleach was finally gone. Oh, and perhaps only a cup of bleach would do and not two cups.