Freedom Is Not Free

Memorial Day 2006: what am I remembering today? I am remembering those who have died so that I might live free. Thank you for your sacrifice. I also remember the one who died so I may have spiritual freedom -- thank you God for the sacrifice of your son Jesus Christ. In both cases someone had to die in order for others to be free. I don't ever want to take for granted the freedom I have because that freedom is not free. I owe a debt I can never repay because freedom is not free. I pray that I will be responsible with the freedom I have and I pray that our nation never forget those who have given so much so that we might be free. My dad wrote something for his congregation about Memorial Day. Here it is for you to read and think about today. If you have never done so I encourage you to visit Fort Rosecran National Cemetery on Point Loma. (San Diego) It is an experience you will never forget. Take your children! Walk the rows of markers, look at the dates and understand the tremendous sacrifice made, not only by these men but by their families as well. Remember that "freedom is not free." It cost a lot and in order to maintain it, it will cost a lot more. We must also understand that freedom is not licensed to do as I please, when I please. That is the road which will lead right back to bondage. Freedom requires us to do by choice that which no law can ever make us do. There is another trip I would like for you to take with me. While we cannot go and see the greatest of these people, they, nonetheless, speak to us as clearly as a walk through one of our National Cemeteries. This list is found in the Bible, Hebrews chapter 11. I will not list the names here but when it is finished the writer says: "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect." By the way, I like to add a few names to that list. Names like my father's and others I know who have gone on before us. I would encourage you to add your own list to that one. The names of people who influenced you in your Christian walk. After adding your list then read the next verses: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily in tangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and protector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." (Hebrews 11:39-12:3 NIV) Let's not forget this Memorial Day!

Lunch with Good Friends

We were blessed to have lunch with my blogson Simon and his lovely wife Anjana and their nine-year-old son Sylvanas. They are from Fiji but are now ministering to Asian Indians in the US. They live in California but were traveling to Tucson for a service on Sunday. This was the first time we met in person but we have been communicating by phone and e-mail for the past couple of months as I was helping Simon with his web site. Norm and I enjoy their company and we look forward to seeing them again. I feel so blessed to be able to use my skills to help Simon and Anjana with the work they are doing in spreading the gospel. God has very unique ways of utilizing anyone who is willing to be of service -- even someone who is disabled can be used by God. I remember a few months ago when Norm and I had prayed that God would utilize our talents for his kingdom. The next morning I got a phone call from Simon. Be careful what you pray for!

Walking the Cat

Norm and I decided to take a walk around the block this evening and let the neighbor behind us know that the shingles on his roof were starting to flip backwards. We don't normally walk in the neighborhood because it's too hot and Norm does not like to go for walks. But the sun had gone down and there was a nice breeze so the temperature was only 92° instead of 102° Fahrenheit. Our cat Miss Ellie decided she wanted to join us on our walk. I had forgotten that Miss Ellie likes to go for walks. She used to do that with me when I lived in San Diego. She followed us about halfway to the other house and then waited for us in the yard of a house on the corner. As soon as we came back she followed us back to our house. What a funny cat! Oh, in case you're wondering, we don't use a leash. She just follows us and stays right near us.

Friday Funny

Be weird when ever you get the chance!

24 Day 5 5:00-7:00 a.m.

My mind is swirling with scenes from tonight's two hour jampacked episode.  There I was sitting next to my husband, wrapped up in a blanket to ward off the chill from the air conditioner, watching Jack Bauer come to the rescue of the nation once again.  He was able to subdue the terrorists on the Russian submarine with the help of just three other people.  What a great idea to wrap his knees around Bierko's neck so he could snap it at just the right moment to give Henderson enough time to disable the missiles aimed at civilian targets in the US.  (The only city they mentioned was San Francisco -- interesting.)  And then Henderson thought he could get away with killing Jack Bauer, but Bauer gave him a useless gun.  He's so smart!

Now Chloe has to go to work doing secret stuff for Bauer and we learned that she has an ex-husband named Morris.  That was a total surprise.  For a minute I thought he would turn out to be a bad guy, but I guess he still has a soft spot for Chloe and he knew better than to cross Jack Bauer.

Martha Logan turns out to be a hero and a pretty good actress.  The look on her face when Logan was being arrested was awesome.  The question is did she or didn't she know about the bug when President Wiesel was roughing her up in the airport hangar?  As that scene in a hangar progressed I surmised that Jack Bauer had planted a bug on President Wiesel.  Chloe did a good job of getting everyone together at just the right moment, but then again she always does a pretty good job with stuff like that.  She is the female high-tech version of Jack Bauer.

Of course just when Jack Bauer seems to be safe he never really is and the jig is up as soon as he says to Audrey that we have all the time we need to be together.  As soon as he said that I knew something bad was about to happen.  I suspect that the evil puppetmaster Graham is behind the kidnapping of Jack Bauer by the Chinese.  Either that or President Wiesel made good on his promise to the evil puppetmaster that Jack Bauer would be taken care of.  Either way I still think Graham has something to do with all of this.

Other unanswered questions.  Bill Buchanan wants a date with Karen Hayes so will they ever get together?  She will definitely be an ally for him at Homeland Security.  Where is Audrey's father?  We know he is alive but what will he do about his forced resignation as secretary of defense?  Will Morris be a returning character next season?  He obviously possesses skills that CTU could utilize and it seems he worked there in the past.  Will Secret Service agent Aaron Pierce be able to come out of hiding now that President Wiesel has been arrested?

And to think we have to wait until January 2007 to find out if Jack Bauer will be rescued from the Chinese or will he just escaped on his own?  Ugg!

Dust Storm

We have a dust storm advisory until 5 p.m. today.  That's rather unusual because normally they issue a warning for only an hour or less.  Strong winds have been blowing since last night and I can see the dust storm coming out from the West.  One good thing about this is that it's only 78° outside right now rather than the 105° temperatures we have had for the last week.  Would you believe I feel cold today?  It's true!

Oh -- I can feel a sinus headache coming on.  Bummer.  Also, because of the wind I have discovered that our neighbor's tree is now growing over our house and the branches are scratching on the roof right over our bed.  The noise is rather disconcerting when one is trying to sleep.

It's a Mexican Fiesta

Norm is taking me out for Mexican food.  Chevys here we come!  I just love their chips and salsa.  Yummy! 

Procrastination and Meditation

Lately I have been unable to get anything done. There are a lot of projects on my plate right now and most of them require my full attention in order to complete them. My full attention has been hard to come by this week. Monday started out pretty good and I got started on a project that I had been putting off for a longtime. I made some really good progress but by Tuesday it was all I could do work on it. My mind just could not focus on that project or on any tasks I tried to complete. Wednesday was pretty much the same. More projects came to mind that I needed to work on, but nothing has been done. Last night I hardly slept at all and my mind kept going over things that are bothering me causing me to have little rest. Normally I sleep pretty good so when I miss a night of sleep it's hard to do much the next day, thus today has been another unproductive day. This morning I read something on a blog -- unfortunately I can't remember which blog it was -- which suggested procrastination could actually be a beneficial practice. Usually when we procrastinate a project it's because we are actually thinking about it even though we might not actually work on it or see any progress made. Sometimes that thinking is in the back of our minds and when we actually sit down to accomplish the task all of that time we spent procrastinating reveals another way of solving the problem or addressing the project. So actually the procrastination brought about a better way of accomplishing the task. After I read this it donned on me that I often procrastinate getting things done because I'm not sure how I want to tackle them. But as the project simmers on the back burner of my mind the creative juices begin to permeate and a way to handle the project becomes clear. So my lack of accomplishment is really not a lack of accomplishment and I handle my projects better because of the time spent "cooking" them. That made me feel better but I knew something still was not right with me. This afternoon I read something on another blog that God has used to open my eyes and get me thinking about my situation in a different way. (Not my lack of progress, rather the troubles that keep me up at night.) It's funny that God will often use something that seems totally unrelated to me or my situation and yet it will speak volumes to me as I meditate on the thoughts he puts in my mind. Okay -- I was reading the Perspectives in Motion blog by D. L. Foster and the post was titled: The Problem with Preachers. It had something to do with a pastor/bishop in the DC area who issued an apology/non-apology for perceived offenses in regards to something he said while preaching on Palm Sunday. This has nothing to do with my situation, but something that DL said in regards to his disappointment with other things that were said in this apology/non-apology turned a light on in my head. Something was said about a support group at that church which the bishop referred to as "... a support group for those who wanted help in pursuing a heterosexual orientation." DL was disappointed because he felt that the bishop does not have a full understanding about overcoming homosexuality. (That has nothing to do with my situation but the next part is where I had that "light going on in my head" moment.) DL writes, "God's desire for us is never to make us heterosexuals as a goal, but that we walk in holiness. With the same level of heterosexual fornication as perhaps fornication going on in the church today, heterosexuality is not the answer, holiness is." There it was -- that phrase walk in holiness. My mind started meditating on it and as I read further this other part jumped out at me: "No wonder people get discouraged, pursuing heterosexuality instead of holiness creates the perfect inversion of Matthew 6:33." Matthew 6:33 NIV: "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." As I meditated on this passage I began to see that I have been neglecting this in my life lately. Verses 30-33 from The Message paraphrase helps me understand it even more: "If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. " After I meditated on this word spoken by Jesus my mind became clear and the fog that has seemed to linger this week has been lifted. I cannot be who God has called me to be unless I am walking with him -- seeking his kingdom and pursuing his righteousness or as it were pursuing holiness. God will add the rest as he sees fit as long as I am seeking him daily. God is good. I hope you know this yourself.

Explore the Da Vinci Code and Win an IPod

Have you read the book?  Are you going to see the Da Vinci Code movie?  The church I attend is hosting a live, interactive community event this Sunday evening, May 21, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. where those who are interested can explore the Da Vinci Code phenomenon.

Dr. Tom Dallis, author of "Where Facts and Fiction Meet: The Biblical Christ In a Da Vinci Code Society" will be present to discuss and answer questions regarding the book, the Bible and historical facts.

The Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction but the author claims that his fictional story is based upon historical facts.  Unfortunately most people don't know much about history, let alone biblical history, so this evening's event will be a good opportunity to learn more and get your questions answered.  10 iPods will be given away at the end of the evening!  Here is a link to more information about when and where.

The Amazing Honda Ad Video is clever.

I received this via email today and thought you might enjoy it. Here's the link to the video and below is the text from the email. I wonder if they could do this with the parts of a motorized wheelchair?

There are NO computer graphics or digital tricks in the film you are about to see. Everything you see really happened in real time, exactly as you see it. The film required 606 takes. On the first 605 takes, something, usually very minor, didn't work. They would then have to set the whole thing up again. The crew spent weeks shooting night and day. By the time it was over, they were ready to change professions. The film cost 6 million dollars and took three months to complete, including a full engineering of the sequence. In addition, it's two minutes long so every time Honda airs the film on British television, they're shelling out enough dough to keep any one of us in clover for a lifetime. However, it is fast becoming the most downloaded advertisement in Internet history. Honda executives figure the ad will soon pay for itself simply in "free"viewing. (Honda isn't paying a dime to have you watch this commercial!) When the ad was pitched to senior executives, they signed off on it immediately without any hesitation -- including the costs. There are six and only six handmade Accords in the world. To the horror of Honda engineers, the filmmakers disassembled two of them to make the film. Everything you see in the film (aside from the walls, floor, ramp, and complete Honda Accord is parts from those two cars. The voice-over at the end is Garrison Keillor. When the ad was shown to Honda executives, they liked it and commented on how amazing computer graphics have gotten. They fell off their chairs when they found out it was for real. Oh ... about those funky windshield wipers: On the new Accords, the windshield wipers have water sensors and are designed to start functioning automatically as soon as they become wet. It looks a bit odd in the commercial. As amazing as this is, the commercial is actually based on an earlier film from the 1970s called "How Things Move" by two Swiss self-destructing artifacts artists. Some sharp-eyed folks claim that tires rolling UPHILL necessarily require computer-generated effects. Not so. The sequence where the tires roll up a slope looks particularly impressive but is very simple. There is a weight in each tire and when the tire is knocked, the weight is displaced and in an attempt to rebalance itself, the tire rolls up the slope.

There's a Party Over at Pat's Pond

My blogSister, Pat Baker, is celebrating her blogiversary today. Go on over and join the festivities. Pat has a terrific writing style and shares her world in Elmira with an eye for beauty in places one might normally miss. I have always enjoyed her photo excursions and getting a peek at her collection of cats, dogs and hedgehogs. Pat has trusted my design sense and asked me to redesign her Pond blog and her MSCompanion blog. Both of them turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. Now she wants me to redesign her computer gaming blog called Materia is for Wusses. It is not redesigned yet though will be soon. Thanks again Pat, for your friendship. You are so very much appreciated!

24 Day 5 3:00 a.m.

Another good episode.  Audrey and Jack Bauer share a moment together before things will get worse again.  The writers put this in the story line because they know Jack Bauer needs psychological inducement to keep doing all the things he does to protect the country. 

Bierko will get away because CTU just can't seem to find people who aren't connected in some way to the sinister plot. 

Karen Hayes thinks that she can trust Miles and tells him the secret -- big mistake!  Miles is a bad guy after all -- that was easy to figure out. 

The evil puppet master Graham seems to be able to get his plot accomplished without even trying since Miles is now part of the plan having given President Logan a reprieve just before he was about to pull the trigger. 

And poor Chloe is going to look like an idiot when she plays the now blank recording for the Attorney General.  Stay tuned -- it's going to get better! 

The Suns Game

Of course Norm and I watched 24 tonight and then Norm insisted we watch CSI: Miami.  Then I remembered the Suns were playing so I checked the score online.  Every time we went to TNT during commercial breaks on CBS the game was in commercial breaks as well.  So when CSI: Miami was over I insisted we watch the rest of the game.  It's only the last quarter that really matters anyways.  130-123 Suns -- cool.  I know nothing about basketball playoffs.  I know there'll be more games but I don't know how many we have to win.  Maybe someday I'll figure it all out.

In case you're wondering I'm not really a big sports fan.  I'll watch a game occasionally if I'm with people who like to watch them.  Baseball I enjoy but I only follow it when it gets near the World Series and if a team I like it is going to make it to the World Series.  I guess they call that a fair weather fan.  Who cares?  I'll watch football only if I have to and until last week I had never followed basketball.  Now I'm enjoying basketball so will see how it goes next season. 

A Date with My Husband

My wonderful husband, Norm, took me on a date today.  We had lunch at a nice little place called Frankie's Little Italy and it was good.  I had a croissant sandwich with grilled chicken breast, avocados and marinated tomatoes -- delicious!  Norm had a sandwich with salami and pepperoni which he seemed to enjoy as well.  My sandwich had my full attention except for the time when Norm whispered a secret in my ear.  (Insert girlie giggle here.)

After our delicious lunch we went to Arizona's largest movie screen, measuring nearly 70 feet, at the Harkins Cine Capri at Scottsdale 101.  This movie screen is so big that you feel like you're actually in the movie while you are watching it.  We saw Mission: Impossible III and it was a blast, literally!  Nonstop action from beginning to end and a great ensemble cast.  If I even begin to describe anything about the movie I would be spoiling it for you.  I'm definitely no Cruise fan but this movie is good and the reason why is because of the entire cast and the direction by JJ Abrams.  Definitely worth seeing if you like action packed spy thriller type stuff.

All in all it was a great date with my husband. 

My Computer Has a Mole

For several weeks now my computer keyboard has been having problems, so yesterday I decided it was time to order a new keyboard since the problems are getting worse. The keyboard I use is a SOLIDTEK Mini/Slim USB keyboard and is not the kind of product that you can run down to CompUSA and purchase. This particular keyboard I found online about 2 1/2 years ago and it cost me around $50. Company I purchased it from no longer carries this particular keyboard so I started doing an online search and found it available at two or three other online retailers with prices ranging from $29.99 up to $89. The higher price was on a web site that sells products geared towards people with disabilities. It's Internet highway robbery! So I ordered the keyboard through TigerDirect yesterday afternoon and this morning I received a notice saying it has been shipped. My current keyboard, which quit working yesterday, must have been "clued-in" to his impending replacement, because today the keyboard is working with out any problems whatsoever. This is really strange because for the past week this keyboard has been fussy and made it difficult for me to type. The indicator lights constantly flash and about every third keystroke it would not show the letter I pressed or it would continuously type a letter across the screen when I only meant for it to be typed once. Not only that, but by the evening hours it would completely quit working altogether and I would have to ask Norm to unplug the USB cable and then plug it back in again in order for it to work. It's plugged into a USB hub that has three other devices plugged into it and none of them are malfunctioning. Now that I think about it, the mouse is plugged into the same USB hub so maybe the mouse told the keyboard what was going on? The mouse is a mole. Mysterious!

121 to 90 Suns

What a great game!  I'm not a big sports fan but this game was fun and the fact that we beat the Lakers was even better.  Basketball is a rather fun game.  The next game will be Monday night against the Clippers but I have a date with 24 so too bad.

My Personal DNA

This was an interesting online personality quiz. The results showed that I am a

Respectful Architect

Who knew?

New Tires and Bearings

Owning and using a motorized wheelchair is a lot like owning and using an automobile. From time to time you have to get stuff repaired or replaced. My wonderful husband Norm drove me to Southwest Medical in Phoenix this morning for an 11:00 appointment to have new tires installed on my wheelchair. It's been over a year since I have been there and they have new people working in the repair shop. I didn't know any of the new people and they didn't know me, so the first thing they said was I had to get out of my wheelchair since they don't want to have customers in the repair shop because they have been sued over injuries. I have been to this place for wheelchair repair needs dozens of times and never have they asked me to get out of my wheelchair. This may not seem like a big deal, but you have to understand that I cannot walk at all so getting in and out of my wheelchair is no easy task. More importantly my wheelchair is customized for my ultimate seating comfort since I use the wheelchair from the time I get up in the morning until I go to bed at night. Sitting in another wheelchair or some other type of chair can be extremely uncomfortable for me, so I avoid it when ever possible. The repair man, Jack, assured me that it would only be a few minutes, but I would not give in and I even suggested I would sign a waiver if necessary because he kept bringing up the lawsuit situation. He relented and said I could stay in my chair, but never did give me anything to sign. So another guy starts working on my wheelchair and right away there is a problem. The nuts and bolts are so tight on one of the wheels that it takes two of them to loosen them up. They even tried one of those pneumatic things and it didn't work. It was the beginning of our troubles. After about an hour, both wheels were removed and the new tires were put on. The wheels were put back on my chair and I was asked to drive around the shop. Jack noticed something wasn't quite right with the way one of the tires was installed so they decided to remove it again. That's when the bearing inside the wheel broke. Okay, no problem, just install a new bearing. Nope, not so fast. The old bearing had broken parts that would not come out of the wheel hub. It took another hour and a half, hammering, pounding, sawing, sparks flying everywhere, and a blow torch before they could remove the last two broken pieces. This is not an exaggeration! I'm happy to say that everything went okay after that. My wheelchair is going on 12 years old and that's pretty old for a motorized wheelchair. I came home with brochures on some new power chairs so hopefully I can convince my medical insurance provider that I need a new wheelchair.

24 Day 5 2:00 A.M.

24 is a show about a man named Jack Bauer but for me it's all about a woman named Chloe O'Brian.  She is my favorite character on show.  I like the way she handles herself with a computer as well as dealing with incompetent coworkers, bosses who just get in the way, and jerks who want to waste her time when she is obviously trying to help Jack Bauer protect national security.  I would love to have her computer skills!  She's a great asset to Jack Bauer and CTU because she seems to always be one step ahead in researching what information is needed to help Jack Bauer fight the good fight.

In this episode it was good to find out that the new head of CTU, Karen Hayes from Homeland Security, isn't as bad as we thought.  She doesn't trust what President Logan is up to and I'm not surprised because after all her name is Karen, and I know from personal experience that most Karen's are intelligent and trustworthy people. 

So at the end of this episode we learn that the evil puppet master Graham has picked up the call from Chloe to Karen and orders Logan to shoot down the plane now that Jack Bauer has the phone recording in his possession once again.  What I want to know is how did Graham pick up the call from Chloe to Karen?  Somebody has clued him in and that person is probably the mole.  Who could it be?  We won't know until next week or the week after.  The two-hour finale is on May 22.  Guess what I'll be doing that evening?