Merry Christmas

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Music, Music, Music

"Guitar strings are the toner cartridges of the guitar industry"

explained James Winningham, guitar play extraordinaire, as he was relating the guitar playing business to a full time office employee person.

"Guitar players hate to change strings, so there are new tech strings coated or wrapped in something, called Elixir Strings, that are twice the price of regular strings."

Listen to the clip of James' music in the sidebar of this blog. He is currently finalizing 7 original tunes for an upcoming CD.
I found some info on the Elixir Strings on Guitar Talk:

"If you like the smoothness of the Elixir strings, I highly recommend the D'Addario Flat Tops and D'Addario Chromes. I exclusively use Flat Tops and Chromes, and have never experienced breakage or defects with any of them. Two of my instruments actually had the same set of Flat Tops on them for nearly three years, and they never broke or sounded "old." I finally changed the string sets on both instruments, out of sheer embarrassment that I left the same strings on my instruments for such an insane amount of time. D'Addario Flat Tops were the obvious choice for the new sets!"

At Key Note Music:

"Strings are not just strings. They are the connection between you and your music. When strings go dead, so goes the inspiration to play. After all, who wants to play when strings feel crusty and their sound is dull and muddy? It's a curse we lived with for years.
With a vision to change the world one set of strings at a time, Elixir set out to develop the cure for the common string. Strings that deliver great tone for a really long time. Strings that stay feeling clean and smooth."

Living with a guitar player has its rewards: He plays for ME!! He sings to ME! He is marrying ME! And I am learning more every day from a wonderfully talented musician/composer.

Beautiful Women

Put your sound on, relax, enjoy the many faces through the
progression of earth time.

Good Neighbor Policy?

Found
the
graphic
at
rottenneighbor.com.

Cute idea, huh.

Also found some good words about neighboring at can you hear me now:

"All of us have a neighbor or two that is less than desirable.
They say that one out of three homes are owned by rotten type neighbors.
Look around you. If the neighbors on either side of you are OK;
GUESS WHAT?

If you find out that such a site exists for your area, would you be afraid to go there and check it out?

If you answered YES! to that question perhaps some radical changes are needed on your part.

Have you noticed this awful odor and it's pretty strong where you are sitting? That's another clue that there's something wrong and it's closer in the mirror of life than you suspect."

Taking A Personal Inventory

It is taking a long time for me to take a personal inventory. This is something I want to do and that I think I will benefit immensely when it is completed. I am writing down a few significant people in my life during different age groups up to and including the age I am now. And then I am building upon that by writing about an event that I remember that was significant to me at that time. And then I am writing what was my part in it and how did it impact my life; what behaviors did I begin or what reactions did I reinforce.

This didn't sound like a difficult task. Until I started doing it.

There were so many different people who have been significant in my life, so picking the top three or four for each age group was the first challenge. Then for me to really be honest and to see my part in each incident requires some soul searching.

I know that many other people have done this same type of personal work and have lived through it and gained insight into their past. I know that many people have done soul searching work and benefited from the honesty and self evaluation. To do this kind of work on myself and fly through it and not do a rigorous personal inventory would be like calling myself an honest thief or an anorexic chef or a blind bird watcher. I have to give it my all. I want to. This is taking more time than I thought it would. But I have lots of time. I have the rest of my life. And the rest of my life is looking healthier and happier and serene.

Memories

I found a wonderful post on The Art Of Intimacy:

"A memory is what is left when something happens and does not completely unhappen."by Edward de Bono.

Our memories are what keeps us connected to reality. Read this post and the rest of her blog. Very encouraging and enlightening.

Kids Will Eat Anything If It Is In McDonald's Wrapper

According to this story in the New York Daily News, young children think

"anything in a McDonald's wrapper - even a vegetable - tastes better than the same food in a plain wrapper."

...and...

"It's not just burgers and fries. Carrots, milk and apple juice tasted better to the kids when they were wrapped in the the Golden Arches.

The study had youngsters sample identical McDonald's foods in name-brand and unmarked wrappers. The unmarked foods always lost the taste test. Robinson said it was remarkable how children so young were already so influenced by advertising.

The study involved 63 low-income children ages 3 to 5 from Head Start centers in San Mateo County, California."

I raised my kids on McDonald's. Yikes!!!

TechnoBabe Needs More Technical Expertise

Wow! For the past two weeks TechnoBabe has had to watch helplessly while James struggled with the physical demands of the move to the new domicile. The dog has not stopped barking for longer than 10 minutes in the two and a half weeks we have been in the new place. The computers were down for two weeks due to problems in the phone line so there was no DSL and when we switched to cable company for digital service they were unable to provide the service as well. So my persistent fiance worked for two days to learn the ins and outs of wireless service and set us up on our own wireless network. What a guy!!! And to make it even better, the cell phone service was not available at the new place either. The cell phone was with a different carrier than the DSL so that meant two companies to be contacted every day, and the only way he could contact anyone was to drive a few blocks away to the parking lot of the grocery store and make calls. I was at work during the day so I was not able to help and even if I had been here I could not have helped as I am a dope about hooking up the internet and not the technobabe as advertised. The truth is out. The techno behind the babe is James.
And I am so very grateful to him for hanging in there and completing the move and the trials and tribulations that went with it.

So we are getting settled in the new place, a few boxes left to unpack. The pictures are on the walls and we have cooked on the new stove.

This is a tribute to an amazing man who has endured and won. And won my heart again and again and again.

How Long Does It Take To Get Rid Of The Ex

We all have at least one ex. An ex-spouse, an ex-lover, an ex-friend. The key being EX. The longer we were in the relationship with the ex, it stands to reason the longer it takes to get over the ex. Even if it was an abusive relationship, we seem to want to carry around the memories and bring them out once in awhile like a photo album.

The question is: How long should it take to phase out the ex? I know the memories cannot and should not be eradicated. The experiences with the ex were a stepping stone to the present.

If we are harboring feelings of shame or remorse for any behavior toward the ex or any unkindness to the ex, even more difficult to clean out the closet completely.

I could shell out the $14.95 here for a book to help get over the ex, or I could just get over it. I choose the latter.

Monday Monday

I look forward to Wednesdays.

Sunday mornings too.

But Mondays still suck.

Ah well.

I've Been Tagged

What were you doing 10 years ago?

In 1997 I was I working as a mortgage processor and I was 3 years away from ending a long term marriage.


What were you doing 1 year ago?

I was with living with James and our dog and was self employed.

Five snacks you enjoy:

1. Raisins
2. Dried apricots
3. James' homemade carob candy
4. apples
5. cheese and crackers

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics:


1. The Reason
2. The Star Spangled Banner
3. Peaceful Easy Feeling
4. Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini
5. American Pie

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:

1. Buy acreage to build a simple home and have plenty of land
2. Put a Geodesic Dome on the land
3. Provide anonymous scholarships
4. Not have any debts
5. Quit my job

Five bad habits:

1.) Scratching my ear
2.) Interrupting
3.) Procrastinating when it is something I do not want to do
4.) Shutting down
5.) Avoidance


Five things you like doing:

1. Reading
2. Walking
3. Listening to music
4. Writing in my journal
5. Being with James


Five things you would never wear again:

1. A bathing suit
2. Large jewelry
3. Flannel nightgown
4. Blue nail polish
5. Formal clothes



Five favorite toys:

1. Bubbles
2. Darts
3. Squirt gun
4. Swing
5. Paints

TAG, YOU'RE IT:

Lorna
Fancy

Giving Up Daydreaming and Living For Real

I spent most of my life daydreaming. Not in a soft romantic way. Not in a planning the next day way. My daydreaming was a way to hide away from the cold cruel world and not be myself. I didn't have to feel real feelings or deal with real issues and I chose not to participate in my own life.

Too many things happened to me as a child and as a young adult that prompted my "absentmindedness" so to speak. To cover up the pain and to help me survive, I chose to close down and hide myself away and not get close to anyone and not let anyone see me and know the real me. That was hard work!!

Today I am getting to know myself. Today I am awake. Today I am feeling. Today I am getting healthy.

Independence VS Codependence

Independence. Autonomy. Liberty. Freedom.

Codependence. Powerlessness. Loneliness. Isolation.

I am learning to take responsibility for myself. Answers come from within.

As I learn how to care about myself and take care of myself, I find a new freedom.

I am finding my independence. And happiness.

Happy Independence Day to all who are healthy and all who want to be healthy and all who will one day want to be healthy. Health within self is true independence.

Alcohol in Powdered Form

Found at cnn.com:

"AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (Reuters) -- Dutch students have invented powdered alcohol which they say can be sold legally to minors.

The latest innovation in inebriation, called Booz2Go, is available in 20-gram packets that cost €1-1.5 ($1.35-$2).

Top it up with water and you have a bubbly, lime-colored and -flavored drink with just 3 percent alcohol content.

"We are aiming for the youth market. They are really more into it because you can compare it with Bacardi-mixed drinks," 20-year-old Harm van Elderen told Reuters.

Van Elderen and four classmates at Helicon Vocational Institute, about an hour's drive from Amsterdam, came up with the idea as part of their final-year project.

"Because the alcohol is not in liquid form, we can sell it to people below 16," said project member Martyn van Nierop.

The legal age for drinking alcohol and smoking is 16 in the Netherlands.

The students said companies interested in making the product commercially could avoid taxes because the alcohol was in powder form. A number of companies are interested, they said."

I am sure there will plenty of companies interested in promoting one more thing that will add to the destruction of future generations. The young people of today are the adults of the future. I feel sorry for them. They are bombarded on all sides by so many things that keep them from being focused, healthy, productive, and happy.

A Power Greater Than...

Meet 3C438, a galactic cluster a few bleems away, which features a titanic energy burst radiating from the center. The Chandra Telescope shot this picture, but the words used to describe the energy burst blew me away.

"Equivalent to one billion exploding Suns."

Kinda puts things in Perspective, don't it?

In Recovery, we come to believe in a Power Greater Than Ourselves.

For me, 3C438 is an example of this power. Since I don't do Religion, my Higher Power is a benevolent, interactive Universe, with the local Natural World as a guide.

Thanks for letting me share.

Found this on Matt's blog called Empathy. Great blog.

"I Can't"

I happened upon a great post over at Dixie's Heart And Soul. Here are some of the highlights. Go over there and read the post, it is good reading.

"All the students were working on a task, filling a sheet of notebook paper with thoughts and ideas. The ten-year-old student closest to me was filling her page with "I Can'ts."

"I can't kick the soccer ball pass second base."
"I can't do long division with more than three numbers."
"I can't get Debbie to like me."
By this time, the activity engaged my curiosity, so I decided to check with the teacher to see what was going on. As I approached her, I noticed that she too was busy writing. I felt it best not to interrupt.

"I can't get John's mother to come in for a teacher conference."
"I can't get my daughter to put gas in the car."
"I can't get Alan to use words instead of fists."

"Friends, we gather today to honor the memory of "I Can't." While he was with us on earth, he touched the lives of everyone, some more than others. His names, unfortunately, has been spoken in every public building - schools, city halls, and state capitols and yes, even The White House.

We have provided "I Can't" with a final resting place and headstone that contains his epitaph. He is survived by his brothers and sisters, "I can, 'I will' and "I'm going to Right Away.' They are not as well known as their famous relative and are certainly not as strong and powerful yet.

My Life Is Similar To The Sign

I had been concentrating on not getting hurt by the sharp edges
in so many ways in my life and totally neglecting to notice that
the frickin bridge was out ahead.

Not just once. Over and over.

So now I am working on seeing the whole picture and living in reality and truth.

Danger Danger Danger

Children's Meth


Checked this
on Snopes
and it is true
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/drugs/candymeth.asp

There is a very scary thing going on in the schools right now that all need to be aware of. There is a type of crystal meth going around that looks like strawberry pop rocks. It smells like strawberry also and it is being handed out to kids in school yards. I'm sure it will make its way around the country if it hasn't already. Kids are ingesting this thinking that it is candy and being rushed off to the E.R. in dire condition.

It also comes in chocolate, peanut butter, cola, cherry, grape and orange ~` it looks just like pop rocks.

Please instruct your children to not accept candy that looks like this even from a friend and to take any that they may have to a teacher, principal, etc.

Please pass this around it could save some family a lot of heartache!

That is what they are calling strawberry meth or strawberry quick.

This was in an email sent to me.

Whatcha' Consuming?

This research report (.pdf) and the graphic above goes a long way to help us understand how we're viewed by the people who compete for our ears and eyeballs. Well, and wallets, too, huh?

We're consumers. Spenders. Shoppers. Buyers. And we're not behaving like we're told.

The report and this article tell us that we've stopped buying CDs not because of piracy, but because so many ways to consume, spend, shop, and buy media entertainment are competing for our time, we're moving away from the old model, to the horrified gnashing of capped CEO teeth and rending of corporate garments.

TechnoBabe and I haven't bought a physical CD since we've been together. Lots of iTunage, but no crippled disks with a fixed playlist thereon. We spend the most on Amazon for books. We spend nothing on television, since we don't have one, and we spend $20/month on broadband, $10/month on Netflix, $8/month on Live 365 web radio.

What do you do with your entertainment time/budget?