The Random Dilettante

Tonight I am handing out peanut butter cracker packs, apples, granola bars and fruit snacks..

Taylor told me her friends weren’t going to like me once they saw what I was giving out…which I thought was damn funny. There’s nothing sweeter than embarrassing/annoying your know-it-all pre-teen that has an attitude about anything and everything 24/7! Ha..it makes my day.

Of course I had other reasons too..like not wanting to contribute to the annual sugar overload, and not having a bunch of left over chocolate at my house..but mostly it was to mess with Taylor.

hehe.

Happy Halloween!! (just a teensy bit early)

Do yourself a favor and watch this video. Never before would I have thought I’d ever feel sorry for a pumpkin!! The video is so twisted it’s genius

The Life and Death of a Pumpkin

Aside from it getting dark at 5 O’clock in the evening - Don’t you just love daylight savings time in the fall? I LOVE getting my hour back. Today seemed slower than most days, and for once, I actually wouldn’t have wanted otherwise. We didn’t really do anything special, but it was still a good day. It was a excellent day to veg…god knows we wouldn’t have wanted to be outside. It is cold with 60mph winds. (a.k.a. miserable outside)

Yesterday I submitted my blog to a site that reviews them. It’s called “I talk Too Much” and from what I can tell, they love dissing your site, everything from your content to your design..and they umm…HATE dark templates like mine. I’m a glutton for punishment I guess. I can only imagine what they might have to say, I’ve told myself I won’t take it personally though..it might be fun to hear some honest critique with no regards for my feelings. There’s a chance I could get a good review, but I’m seriously not counting on it!

Anyway, if you want to go check out the site, it’s : www.italk2much.com

(hehe, he will HATE that I put his pic up here, but it’s one of my favorites)

On another note, but somewhat related, Andrew emailed me a rant about the replies (comments) I get on my blog. He said that he trys to “engage” in some intellectual conversation when he leaves a comment, but no one ever seems to reciprocate it. This is just another sign he’s a little bored out there in Afghanistan..or more likely wanting some kind of human interaction. I tried to explain that comments aren’t usually where the conversation begins, but I’m not sure he was down with it. His rant was seriously funny though, although I’m not sure he intended it to be. He needs to go do yoga or learn some relaxation techniques, hehe.

I think it would be cool if he had a blog of his own..it would be a neat peek into his world, but he said that if he does he has to register it with Chain of Command, and he didn’t want to go through all the BS. For that, I can’t blame him.

——

Speaking of a soldier..my upstairs neighbors husband is hopefully coming home this week from Afghanistan. Not for any good reason though. These guys have it so rough out there, you have no idea.

It started a month ago when her husband went to sick call for severe pain in his abdomen, and then was told that it was kidney stones. They got him on meds and then after a few days did some xrays but didn’t find any kidney stones. They told him that possibly they were too small to be picked up on, and I assume, sent him on his way.

Next thing my neighbor knew, she was getting a call from him saying that he had recently had surgery and got his appendix taken out and also part of his colon. The thing is, they did it in Afghanistan..because it was somewhat of a emergency situation…which is not a good thing. Afghanistan is a dirty place, with a lot of dirt and dust, so they usually don’t do operations there. It’s better to send the soldiers to Germany.

He wasn’t so lucky though, and as a result he stayed in Afghanistan for another week and a half while they waited for him to be stable enough to transport, because he was still not able to get off a feeding tube, and something about his guts not working right..I don’t know the exact details.

When they finally moved him though, he didn’t even get to go straight to Germany, he spent 2 days in a city in Iraq, where just a day after he left, 2 soldiers were killed.

So finally he gets to Germany, and they declare he has a really bad infection going on so they open him back up and leave him open so it could drain. Then after a few days they sew him back up..but then end up opening him back up again.

Such a mess. And all this time my neighbor was just wanting him to arrive at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in WA, so she could go see him, but it took them a while to get him stable enough to make the trip home.

She left last week to go meet him though, and I haven’t talked to her since, but hopefully he’s there and on his way back to his house soon. The poor guy has lost over 30lbs in a very short time, and I’m sure he can’t wait to enjoy the comforts of home. I mean, all soldiers miss home..it’s hard not too, but in his particular situation I’m sure it means even more.

You Are a “Don’t Tread On Me” Libertarian

You distrust the government, are fiercely independent, and don’t belong in either party. Religion and politics should never mix, in your opinion… and you feel opressed by both. You don’t want the government to cramp your self made style. Or anyone else’s for that matter. You’re proud to say that you’re pro-choice on absolutely everything!

Anyway..just had to share that. The news doesn’t even give you a glimpse into what it’s like to be a soldier or even a family member of a soldier. It’s f*cked up. There’s no other way to put it. It didn’t used to be so bad, but since the war soldiers are way over worked and stressed the hell out..and so are their families.

They all know what they signed up for, there’s no doubt about that, and they are still proud of what they do, but when your going on 2-3 years of constant deployments, it makes it hard to keep the faith. Long gone are the days where you sigh in relief that you made it home alive from a war…

Now days, you get to catch your breath just long enough to head your ass back out.

F*cked up.

There isn’t a better word out there for it.

Anyways. Off my rant for now. It kind of came out of nowhere.

Before I go, and on a completely DIFFERENT note, THE FRAY has a new “bootleg” album out - “Live At The Electric Factory” — and it’s sweet as hell. I saw them live..and they are OUTSTANDING, so I’m glad I now get to listen to them live on a CD!! If you like The Fray, you should go buy it. ASAP, k? It’s a limited edition..so hurry on up.

You WILL NOT be disappointed.

* ALSO, PLEASE NOTE THAT IF YOUR VIEWING MY SITE WITH INTERNET EXPLORER, YOU MAY NOT BE SEEING IT RIGHT. FOR SOME REASON MY PAGE TITLE AND DESCRIPTION DON’T SHOW UP? FIREFOX IS A GREAT BROWSER..GIVE IT A TRY!!*

Waiting for the Stafford Loan from the government seems to be taking forever. I’m anxious to start taking classes..it will give me something to do in my free time!

Since I don’t have the loan yet, I haven’t had to choose a Major or course of study, but I’ve been giving it a lot of thought. My last decision was to major in english with a minor in journalism. Mainly because I’ve always liked the language arts and seem to do well in them. I’m starting to second guess myself though because I’m wondering what kind of jobs that will open up when I do get a degree. Writing for a news paper is cool and all, but I have no idea of the kind of pay it entails, and I’m pretty sure it’s not always that easy to get into it. My other choice would be to teach english..which doesn’t sound awful, but then I would need to change my minor I think?

I don’t know, I’m confused. I need to go back to the school site and think it over some more.

Before I go though, I have one question. What is up with the forwarded jokes that lure you into staring at something for a while, like a maze, or trying to play a silly game, and then they flash a scary character at you that is not only ugly as hell, but is screaming a high pitched wail at you? I hate those..

They totally suck a$$.

It’s even got me afraid to look into most FW: emails, especially if they have just a link to another site in them. I’ve already gotten 3 of these kinds of emails within this month alone.

So sometimes I wonder what I did to piss these people off that send me these - obviously I did something, why else would someone want to scare the shit out of me while I was drinking a cup of coffee and increase the potential of me spilling some and burning myself??

Hmmm. Just a random thought.

It seems to me lately that this pink craze has got out of hand. A lot of companies are legit, but it looks like more and more are jumping on the “profit wagon” and taking advantage of the average person that means well. It’s turning into a fad to acknowledge the little pink ribbon, and that’s not good.

The following is an article that my eyes are opening too. Do you support breast cancer? Me too. The best way to show your support is to #1 - take care of yourself, and #2 - let those you care about know how to take of their selves.

Take a moment to check out this article from NewsTarget -

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month, and consumers across the country are rushing to buy pink merchandise that boasts “Proceeds benefit breast cancer awareness initiatives,” but consumer advocates claim purchasing such products does nothing to cure or prevent breast cancer.

Pink merchandise in support of breast cancer research has been around for years, but this year bigger brands and more expensive products have joined the “pink” craze, including Kitchen Aid, which offers a pink mixer for around $300, and Wilson, which offers pink-accented golf clubs. Companies such as BMW and New Balance are also associating products and services with pink breast cancer awareness ribbons.

However, natural health advocate Mike Adams, author of “The Seven Laws of Nutrition,” says vast numbers of companies are jumping on the “pink” bandwagon simply to sell more products. Adams says few consumers question where their money goes when they buy pink products to support breast cancer research.

“How does buying pink merchandise help women with breast cancer? The answer is that the money goes to pharmaceutical company-sponsored breast cancer front groups that are actively engaged in the suppression of breast cancer prevention information,” Adams claims. “They intentionally discredit existing breast cancer treatments and cures like vitamin D and sunlight therapy in order to trick consumers into thinking a cure doesn’t yet exist.”

Adams says pharmaceutical companies have tricked consumers into believing that they are making a statement about themselves by purchasing pink products. “While they think the statement is, ‘I care about women’s health,’ what’s really being stated is, ‘I am easily fooled by marketing gimmicks,’” Adams said.

Peggy Johnson, former president of the Mid-Kansas Susan G. Komen chapter, advises consumers to exercise discretion when shopping for pink products. “If it doesn’t say who it’s going to or how much is being donated, don’t buy it,” Johnson said.

Adams says breast cancer cannot be cured by buying pink-colored products, because the pharmaceutical research those purchases fund won’t produce a cure. “Cancer can only be prevented and cured through nutrition, genuine disease prevention and embracing those natural therapies that really work, such as sunlight, rainforest herbs, juice detox programs, raw foods and regular exercise,” Adams said.

There are few things that are bothering me right now. This isn’t the place to elaborate into it though, so I’ll have to leave it at that.

Anyway, here’s a mini-update on me:

For those of you wondering what ever came of the job at the Childrens Home - I never turned in my application, mainly because I needed to have a copy of my NY State driver’s license with it. I don’t have one is the point here. So, while waiting on the necessary paper work to transfer my license from Missouri, I decided to nix the small-time jobs and start taking classes online toward my bachelors degree. Right now I am waiting on some financial stuff to fall in line. The government offers a Stafford loan that you don’t have to start making payments on until after you have your degree, so that’s one of my only options. My dilemma is choosing my major. Part of me wants to choose something I love; i.e Photography, Graphic Design, Web Developer, the Fine Arts…

But the other part of me wants to stay safe and get a degree in something that I know will pay off as soon as I get a degree. Something technical like Network Management, like my husband, or something in education, because I like working with kids. I really don’t know. But I need to figure it out with a quickness!

Besides that, things over here are ok. Yes..just “ok”. I miss Andrew, but that’s a given I guess. It would just be nice to wake up next too someone, or be able to cook for him, or talk to him..etc, etc.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my mini-update! Have a good night all.

The snow is coming down hard over here! If it doesn’t stop before too long, we are going to get buried!

I took some quick pics of the grass, and by the time I got in and uploaded them and looked back out..the grass was completly covered. I also tried to take some pics of the same branches as I did last week..to show the contrast of only a weeks time. They came out ok but not as good as they could have because it’s snowing so heavy out there.

Anyway, check out these pics, and as always if you want to see more, go to my photo album!

God I hate when I get INSANELY thirsty right before I go to bed. I get so damn thirsty that when I go to take a drink of water….you would think it tasted like kool-aid and I was 5 years old. Seriously, I totally guzzle it. Then go for another glass. And another..

Then I’m up half the night emptying my bladder. It’s lovely.

Have I ever mentioned that I hate October 19th? No? Well I do. I am glad that it is now past midnight and it’s the 20th. I think I did that on purpose, but on accident …at the same time. Weird huh?

Last night I stayed up way too late watching this movie on HBO, and it was well worth it. The movie managed to keep my attention for the entire 2 hours, and let me tell ya…that can be a feat!

If you haven’t already seen it, then I highly recommend it; especially if you like sci-fi action flicks.

Go here for the official site of the movie - it’s a real nice site, and does a fine job of letting you know what the movie is all about. I would go more into detail myself, but I’m feeling lazy at the moment.

Just know it’s definitely worth renting! Personally, the next time I see it , I’ll be buying it…