I Know It's Your Money, But --

I suppose that if you really had several $100 to burn, you could have this done, or you could just send the money to me instead.

Individual Development Account Program

I got an email from a friend and sister in Christ with this website. I haven't checked it out yet, but it looks interesting:

Individual Development Account Program

Free internet call waiting - No More?

Does free internet call waiting still exist? I dunno. BuzMe, whom we'd been using, just became a fee-for-service.

Maybe this link will help us:

Internet phone software, Internet Call Waiting, Free long distance, Broadband Phone, Free Cell Phone, VOIP Adapters

Great Movies

I'm watching The Rookie on ABC right now. I love inspiring movies like this one!

Speaking of which, I've seen a lot of movies lately, including

• Walking Tall - great action flick with The Rock
• Fight Club - eerily reminiscent of Se7en (same director)
• 13 Going on 30 - terrific, sweet movie with Jennifer Garner of 'Alias' and 'Daredevil'
• Mr. Jones - the definition of bipolar/manic-depression
• Gone in 60 Seconds - suspense/action/thriller with Nic Cage
• Goodfellas - gangster movie with Bobby De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Ray Liotta
• Usual Suspects - another thriller, with Kevin Spacey, Benicio DelToro, Kevin Pollack, and others - 'Who Is Keyser Soze?'

Check out the Internet Movie Database (IMDb.com) for other great movies.

Using Family History to Promote Health

Genomics|General Public|Family History|Flash

via Librarian's Index to the Internet

Captain's Log

Biz Stone rightly notes that Captain Kirk of "Star Trek" was a blogger; every episode begins with "Captain's Log, Stardate..." Not only is that so, Biz, but Bill Shatner, the actor who protrayed Captain Kirk, is a blogger.

You can catch him in the David E. Kelley drama "Boston Legal" (Sundays, ABC, 10 PM Eastern), playing the eccentric lawyer Denny Crane, the role for which he recently won an Emmy. He plays the eccentric Denny Crane. Check out Shatner's recent "Mind Meld with Denny Crane."

What She's Really Saying

Keisha and Jennie are in the kitchen, making dinner.

Jennie mentioned that she was feeling hot, obviously from being around the oven. Then Keisha said she felt like a "Hot Girl". Jennie asked Keisha, our 7-year old first grader, if she knew what a "Hot Girl" was. She said she didn't know, so Jennie sent her to see me.

I knew I'd need to explain it to her in a way she could understand without being overly coarse. So I told Keisha that a "Hot Girl" is someone who is very, very beautiful.

"Like me!" Keisha said.

"Usually it's like someone you would want to marry," I said.

"Oh, like Jennie!" she said, referring to her mom.

"Absolutely!" I said.

Then Jennie said, "Who are you calling, 'Jennie'?" Keisha chuckled.

This girl, who you might recall, is hard of hearing. This means that, even though she wears hearing aids, sometimes words don't come in that clear. Like this afternoon, she said that she wants to grow up and become a "Tick Tock" dancer. Then she proceeded to give us a demonstration, busting a move.

"Oh, you mean like in those music videos?" I said. Jennie didn't understand. "Those where they play the 'tick tock' music?" I smiled. Jennie understood.

Never Too Old To Tease And Be Teased

Yesterday Jennie, Keisha and I went to Kroger to buy some ice cream. We three had just gotten a half gallon of chocolate and an half gallon of strawberry when Keisha said she wanted me to get her a bottle of water. "No," I said, "you already have a water bottle at home. Besides you can get a drink from the water fountain here."

She then elbowed me in the stomach, and I bowled over, holding my side. I wanted to give Keisha an opportunity to come over an apologize. Jennie came to my side and asked if I was okay.

Looking at Keisha, I said, "You go with your Mommy. I need a time out from you." She could tell I was upset with her. Jennie and Keisha went to the hair care aisle to get something while I started for the checkout lane.

I arrived behind two middle-aged ladies. I found out soon that they were identical twins, but what was more interesting was how obvious - aside from their appearance - that they were sisters.

Here these two ladies were, arguing about whether to keep something or to take it off the conveyor belt. The one placed her arms over the items, so as to prevent her twin from pulling them off the belt. It was amusing.

Keisha and Jennie rejoined me in the checkout lane. Keisha saw some Christmas decorations nearby and asked if she could go over to see them. I told her "No." She had a grumpy face. I motioned for her to come closer to me. "Did you know that you hurt me earlier?"

"But I'm SORRY!" she said.

"Well it's good to finally hear it from you," I said. "As to whether you can go over by the decorations, the answer is... y-y-y-- no." She wasn't happy. "Oh, yeah, by the way," I began, "no." I teased. I taunted.

Jennie observed how similar the drama betwen Keisha and me was to the antics of the middle-aged twins in front of us.

On Having the Moody Blues

Okay, so here's what's up. I've been off my medicines for almost a month now. The co-pay amounts for them are more than what we have been able to afford. Specifically, we're behind on rent, phone, and utilities. We've barely been able to keep food in our home.

I thought I was doing okay moodwise until these things came to a head last Friday. The phone was turned off, and our rental complex notified us that they wanted to kick us out for nonpayment of rent. I checked our bank account and discovered that we were overdrawn for the amount of my paycheck.

That's when the anxiety and depression really kicked in. Right before I had to go to work. I set aside a bunch of boxes to bring home in case we needed to pack up and move over the weekend.

Jennie picked me up and told me that she'd talked to the management and made an arrangement to pay our rent in halves, once she got paid.

So this past week has been really challenging. I've gotten upset at home. Monday night I was so upset that I had to excuse myself from the dinner table. I went to our bedroom, turned the radio on as loud as it could go, grabbed a pillow, and cried out to God as loud as I could, using a few choice words.

My voice is still a little sore, but it's getting better every day.

I recently checked out this book entitled "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Healing Remedies". I hope it will lead me to some non-medicative methods of treating the depression, anxiety, OCD-type, and ADHD-releated behaviors/symptoms I have.

So Angry I Was Speechless

Ever been so angry you couldn't say anything?

Today I came home early from work. I was so angry I found it hard to put it into words. For a few minutes.

Then I started to type. On the computer. Because if I don't type on the computer, I won't be able to see what I'm writing, of course. Oh yeah, and I don't have a typewriter, too.

But seriously, folks, I was hot. Stuff happened at work, and I was frustrated, upset, angry, and I felt fed up.

I haven't looked at what I wrote, and, since I'll have to go back to work tomorrow, I'll probably need to remind myself of what I wrote.