Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Blogging again...

Well, hello there. It has been so long since I posted to my blog I almost forgot the name of it!
 
I checked the date of my last post, and so much has happened since I last posted. Here are the highlights:
 
**We took a cruise to Mexico (October 2010)
















**I was laid off of one job and found another (February 2011)

**We vacationed in Monterey, CA (April 2011)

















**We traveled to Seattle and the Pacific Northwest (September 2011)
















**Our niece had a baby boy and I became a great aunt (March 2012)

**Our dog named Jack joined our family! (September 2011) 




**Our daughter got married (March 2012)

















**I sort of retired from my job of 1 1/2 years (August 2012)

And there was of course so much more.... this is just what comes to mind at the moment.
 
I am looking forward to having the time to reconnect with blogging and oh so many other things.
 

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

San Francisco



We had a wonderful trip to San Francisco in April. We'd love to go again!

It was sunny and rainy, and surprisingly, it was colder when it was sunny. I was thankful there were no earthquakes while we were there... at least none that we could feel.

We had fun with our good friends John and Dana, saw some new sights, and walked all over. We took BART instead of renting a car, but we also enjoyed Dana driving us around on Friday; otherwise, we'd never have been able to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge.

I have discovered that I am enamored by blooming flowers. Yes, I have always loved different plants, but I guess I was more fascinated than I thought. I realized this after taking numerous photos of blooms and then seeing a picture of me taking pictures of flowers. Ha!

What should be our next little diversion trip?

The famous Golden Gate Bridge




Cherry Tree Blossoms







These guys were over by the Ferry Building along the Embarcadero.



My friend Dana is with me. We've known each other for almost 25 years.



The orchids at the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park were spectacular!



Funny story about this Chinese woman: she and her counterpart toward the back are said to make 20,000 fortune cookies per day. See the rejects in the bin in front of her? They sell those too! The cookies come around on the little conveyor belt and she grabs one, puts in a fortune, then folds it over the metal pipe in front of her. They were pretty good despite the fact that there were pigeons walking around in the store when we first arrived! We had to pay 50 cents to take her picture.

Alcatraz Island. Welcome to the Rock!

Monday, March 15, 2010

Hackers!!!


Last night Amy told me to check my e-mail, and behold, my AOL account had been broken into, and yucky e-mails sent out from it.

They don't appear to be malicious; however, they are bothersome. The time from the first e-mail to the last one sent out was less than 2 minutes, so this was done digitally by computer. No human could copy the addresses into that many e-mails and send them out in less than 2 minutes.

Seriously, if people that spend their time and talent hacking into other people's e-mail, identity, etc., would simply devote their time and talent to worthy pursuits, I am certain we would have world peace and a cure for cancer.

The wasted potential!

In my case, I believe they used computer algorithms to determine my password and then get into my account or my address book. All my software definitions are up to date; my computer had just been scanned for threats and was then scanned again and all is clean.



So, the question remains - if they can write the complicated algorithms that allow them to do these things, why don't they use it for more worthy pursuits? (No, that is not a rhetorical question.)

I'm sure the answer is money, laziness, and the thrill of seeing if they can do it. I just think it is a waste of time, talent, potential, and probably the lack of a concerned adult in their young life that would have taught them right from wrong.

I'm glad that these didn't appear to be malicious, and perhaps it is a good wake-up call to double my password security.



I apologize if you received one of the e-mails and I hope you'll take time to check your security settings too.

Monday, February 01, 2010

Friends and Fowl

For our anniversary, we spent the day together and took a drive to SE Arizona, visiting Chiracahua National Monument and into Wilcox trying to find sandhill cranes on their annual migration. The cranes were illusive - eventually they made themselves known by flying overhead at dusk. Below are a few photographs from the day.


Looking west toward the Dragoon Mountains from Masai Point in Chiricahua Nat'l Mon.



The old homestead



Ducks really can walk on water...



The sandhill cranes



More sandhill cranes


We had a fun day together celebrating our 29 years.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Chicago, Chicago, that wonderful town...

Here are some pictures from my recent trip to Chicago.


What started as business...



...ended in fun when my girls joined me for a few days.







We even sort of took the Ferris Bueller Tour when we visited several places from the movie, including the Art Institute.





If you travel to Chicago, I recommend the GoChicago Card. We purchased the 3-day card which gave us admission and fast-pass access to more than 30 attractions. We used it for:
Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Gray-line 2-day hop on/hop off trolley tour, Art Institute, Willis (Sears) Tower Skydeck (including The Ledge), John Hancock Observation Tower, Contemporary Art Museum, and the Architechture River Cruise. It also included discounts for several stores and restaurants.

Our favorite restaurants included the Corner Bakery, the original Uno, Giordano's, Cosi, and the Weber Grill (well, that was one of mine anyway). The downtown along Michigan Avenue is busy, beautifully landscaped, and very well maintained. We even rode the "El"!


Believe it or not, this is a fish (Shedd Aquarium).



The "Ledge" - 103rd Floor of the Willis (Sears) Tower


Cloud Gate aka the Chicago Bean



Beautiful fall leaves

A great trip!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

It has been awhile...

Yes, it has been awhile since I've posted anything. I suppose Facebook has taken up more time than I'd care to admit.

Hope you enjoy this creative performance of Handel's Messiah.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Micah 6:8

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 (NIV)

We have been studying the Minor Prophets in our Wednesday night class. Several weeks ago, David taught on Amos, with the main theme being social injustice.

They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name. Amos 2:6-7 (NIV)

Last night, Mike Wearly taught our class on Micah. Following David’s class and discussion, Mike started researching slavery in the world today and other social injustices.

It is estimated that since the Roe v Wade legislation was passed in 1973, the number of abortions in the US until 2007 is 49,551,703. Yes, that number is almost 50 million babies aborted in the US alone. National Right to Life Org - http://www.nrlc.org/ABORTION/facts/abortionstats.html

Another injustice, and something I sort of knew about but didn’t really know about, is the cause of slavery, specifically child slavery around the world. Something I really didn’t know is that much of the harvesting of the cocoa bean needed for chocolate is accomplished through the efforts of child slavery and child labor.


The child pictured here is carrying his harvest and a machete. Look at him carefully.


Below are some Web sites and articles related to this issue. I urge you to read and study the topic for yourself. Mostly I urge you to consider purchasing Fair Trade, Organic, or chocolate that is labeled “slave free”. If more of us purchased these brands of chocolate bars, mixes, and drinks, more chocolate will be produced without child labor.

http://www.cocoainitiative.org/
The ILO estimates that 132 million children work in agriculture around the world – in many cases out of sheer economic necessity. Founded in 2002, the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) is dedicated to ending child and forced labour in cocoa-growing.

A unique partnership between NGOs, labour unions, cocoa processors and the major chocolate brands, ICI works to change the way cocoa is grown. Learn more about our work…because every child deserves a childhood, an education and an opportunity to escape the cycle of poverty.

http://www.hersheys.com
Hersheys has a large link on their Web site labeled “Corporate Social Responsibility”. The company describes their efforts to partner with environmentally responsible growers, but stops short of saying their chocolate is produced without child labor.

Major chocolate companies Hersheys, Mars, Kraft, Nestle, and Cadbury Sweppes, are listed as partners on The Cocoa Initiative Web site, but do not label their chocolate ‘slave free’ or Fair Trade. Some may be just that, but not necessarily.

Although some progress has been made since 2001, specifically in the harvest of cocoa, child slavery for the production and harvesting of crops, including chocolate and coffee is still happening. Below are some links to Web sites where you can read and learn about slavery in the world today (copy and paste into your browser):

http://web.archive.org/web/20061027103158
/www.foodrevolution.org/slavery_chocolate.htm

http://www.freetheslaves.net/Page.aspx?pid=183

http://www.american.edu/TED/chocolate-slave.htm

http://vision.ucsd.edu/~kbranson/stopchocolateslavery
/main.html

http://web.archive.org/web/20070104062536/
www.radicalthought.org/A55868/cocoa.nsf/allpg!OpenPage

http://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/tree-to-table/default.asp

http://www.chocolateusa.org/News-and-Initiatives/

http://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/commitments/ghana.asp
http://www.torontosun.com/life/greenplanet/2008/
11/21/7489136.html#/life/greenplanet/2008/11/22/pf-7497371.html

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EPF/
is_24_101/ai_85103768

http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/labor/
2007/0313causecure.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoa_Protocol

Below are the Web sites for the blog and foundation started by Pam and Randy Cope.

http://touchalifekids.blogspot.com/

http://www.touchalifekids.org/

Now that you know, you have a choice. The United States is the largest consumer of goods, including chocolate, in the world. The choice you make in purchasing chocolate (or coffee, or other goods) impacts others, specifically children, around the world. If you want to make a difference, purchase Fair Trade, Organic, or chocolate that is labeled “slave free”. Take a look at the chocolate you buy…