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I don't have a lot to talk about right now. However, I do have a lot that I am thinking about. The murder of Matthew Winkler by his wife Mary. I have posted a few times about this issue on another person's blog. I haven't really posted on my own, but I am going to copy my posts from the other blog, because I think they reflect my thoughts very well and anything else I type would just be re-wording what I have already written.

Response 1:
I am not sure why everyone is so surprised about this. Yes, it is shocking when a wife kills her husband, but I think everyone is making a big deal out of this because he is a preacher. When everything boils down, it is still just a woman who killed her husband.

I read online a little while ago that the police know what her motive was, but they aren't giving details. I am very curious about the motive, because she had to have killed him for a reason. While, I don't agree with murder in anyway, I can understand a few motives.

I think we hold preachers (and by association, their wives) to a higher standard than we hold "regular" people. I don't think this is necessarily fair because preachers are just human, like the rest of us. They sin, and they fall short of the glory of God, just like the rest of us. They, like us, are covered by the same blood of Christ.

I will say prayers for his family, her family, and their precious little girls. These poor girls have to live forever with the idea that their mommy killed their daddy and that is a terrible burden, no matter WHY she did it.


Response 2:
To be honest, my comments about being shocked weren't really about you and those familiar with the individuals involved. I should have clarified that in my response.

The media is presenting this in such a way that there is MORE shock involved because this is a preacher and his wife. I don't know if it is for hype and ratings, or what the reason is, but to most people this shouldn't be really different than if the banker's wife killed her husband or the trash man's wife killed her husband.

Yes, to people who know the couple this would be harder to accept. Believe me, when I turned on the news and saw the story involving my aunt and cousin, it was disheartening. Of course, anything with child abuse/endangerment is always bad, just as murder is, it does make you feel different when you know the individuals involved.


Response 3:
Not being raised in the Church of Christ, I can't answer from first-hand knowledge, however, my experiences say that I can understand why some folks would feel that murder was the only way out.

I was raised Catholic (which also has strict rules about divorce,) but I had an aunt leave the Catholic Church and marry a man who was/is a member of the Church of Christ. Their daughters were both raised Church of Christ as well. Their youngest daughter (my cousin,) who is about 40 or 41 married a good Church of Christ boy. He proceeded to be abusive, though not physically. He was more of the verbal/mental abuse sort. He counted cookies, weighed her daily, berated her for going out for lunch with another of our cousins and accused her of looking for other men (so NOT true.)

Well, I talked to my mom on the phone the other night while driving to work and she said she had shocking news, my cousin told her parents she was divorced and had been so for an ENTIRE YEAR. She and her ex had done things together for appearances, etc.

I can't imagine being so fearful of telling your family that you are divorcing/divorced, but that is where she has been on this. She also told them she has been in college and is one year away from finishing the degree she was working on when she got married and "had to quit" college almost twenty years ago.

So, yes, I can see how some would believe that murder would be considered more acceptable, even though the idea is SHOCKING to me.

M. Night Shyamalan

M. Night Shyamalan is an awesome movie director. He makes movies that I like to watch. Movies that feature a human aspect, but have some suspense, and always have a twist to them. Now the twist is something that I have come to expect from him, so for me, the challenge is figuring out what that twist is for any given movie. In his most recent movie, "The Village," Thomas and I both figured out what the twist was, but that didn't diminish our enjoyment of it at all. We are actually watching the movie right now, which is what brought on this blog.

I first saw "The Sixth Sense" at the movies all by myself. Drew wanted to see "Pokemon 2000" or something along those lines and I had NO desire to put myself through that, so I went to a separate move. Had I really had a clue about "The Sixth Sense" I wouldn't have watched it alone, however the movie was truly awesome and I had NO IDEA how the movie was going to end. I have since watched the movie many times, and have watched it a few times with people who hadn't seen it before, and it is amazing to watch their faces as all the pieces fall into place.

Thomas and I saw "Unbreakable" together, and again, our response was one of surprise, but we enjoyed the movie immensely. We also saw "Signs" together, and though many folks we know have scoffed at the movie, we both liked it also. Actually, "Signs" scared the crap out of Thomas who wanted to sleep with all the doors shut in our basement in our house in St. Louis (our basement was fully finished and our bedroom was in the basement.) As I said, we watched "The Village" together and did figure it out, but it was great as well.

"The Lady in the Water" is to come out this summer from what I understand. Drew, Possum, and I saw the preview when we went to see Harry Potter this past Thanksgiving. I remember watching the preview, thinking that the movie didn't seem interesting at all, and what was it about anyway. Well, all of a sudden, after a really slow preview, the name "M. Night Shyamalan" came up on the screen, and my entire attitude changed. All of a sudden, I was VERY interested and I couldn't wait for the movie to come out. I still can't.

M. Night Shyamalan is a fantastic writer and director in my mind. He reminds me some of Poe or Hitchcock, but not quite as dark as either.

Computer Troubles...and Some Odds and Ends

We used to be a one computer family, we were for a long time and it worked well for us. When we moved to California, we put our desktop in storage and bought a laptop. We used the laptop exclusively until we moved into this house last January. At that time we had the desktop in the basement and the laptop upstairs. The desktop became Thomas' computer and the laptop was mine, though we did share so Thomas didn't have to go downstairs to check his email or to boot around online.

Last July, friends of ours gave us an old IBM laptop so Thomas and I could both have a computer upstairs and the desktop would be used only for Thomas' recording projects. Well, shortly before I went back to work, I had an accident with the newer laptop by spilling something into the keyboard. This caused the laptop to not work at all. So, we were back to one laptop and one desktop, but we were fine with that because Thomas and I had moved the desktop upstairs so he could do his recording up here.

All was fine until today. My laptop, the older one that our friends gave us, shut down and nothing I could do would make it work. I tried to reformat the hard drive and that didn't even work. I tried to put a new hard drive in the computer and that didn't work. Nothing worked. The laptop would power up, but nothing would load. So, as of now, we are back to one computer. For a very short time, believe me!!!

My dream computer is a Mac. I had thought about getting an iBook or a PowerBook, but we haven't really had the best luck with laptops, so I am looking at an iMac. I was impressed tonight while looking at the iMac's, I can get a lot of computer for my money, a lot more than if I would buy a laptop, so it looks like we will have two desktops very soon. I plan to make my purchase when we get our tax return back. Thomas is going to get some equipment he needs for his music recording and I am going to get my computer. We are also going to go on a date, we haven't been on a date in quite a while because of Sofia, but it is time.

For other info, I am going shopping with a friend tomorrow. I am bringing Sofia and she is bringing her baby boy who is six weeks older than Sofia. My two toddlers are staying with Thomas, her two toddlers are staying at home with their dad. Going shopping with babies only is so easy, I am looking forward to it.

Tomorrow evening after I go shopping, we are going to look at a house. Not to buy, but our landlord also rents a home that has five bedrooms, compared to our three. That house just became vacant, and the rent is the same, so we are going to go look and see about moving over there. I am very excited. Drew will still have his own room, Possum will have his own room, and the girls will be together. That will give us a guest room, which we are excited about, we had one in St. Louis and that was WONDERFUL! So I hope everything works out for this.

And last of all, I have my annual evaluation at work on Wednesday evening. I am excited and nervous at the same time.

Have a good night everyone, I am tired and Harry Potter (as read by Jim Dale) is calling for me!

Dream Car?

Everyone has a dream car or cars. So, saying money is no object (you win the $300 million jackpot,) what car or cars would you go out and buy?

I have a few cars that I want, quite a few actually. My current "I want it" car is a convertible VW Beetle, but I want the cream color with the tan top. However, if money was no option, I have other cars I would want. I would like a red, convertible Porsche 911 (without a spoiler.) I would also want a great big Mercedes-Benz (I haven't quite decided which model, but it would be one of the big sedans.)

Thomas has always said he wants the Volvo V70, a station wagon.

But, if I could go out tomorrow and buy something brand new, it would be something small with awesome gas mileage. The Suburban is great for when we all go out, but it is overkill if I am driving it by myself. I would want a Toyota Prius or a Honda Civic Hybrid...I like the idea of 60mpg.

What about anyone else?

Pro-Life

My last post got me thinking about the terminology used in the abortion debate. Pro-life, pro-choice, pro-abortion, anti-abortion, anti-choice, pro-death, etc. I have heard the pro-death handle used by radical abortion activists.

So, I started thinking about the term pro-life and what it really means. Pro-life really means that the individual is FOR LIFE. Being raised Catholic, I have been raised in a pro-life environment. The Church believes in the sanctity of human life, all human life. The Church is against abortion, against the death penalty, against war, against human rights violations, etc.

Can you be pro-life, meaning anti-abortion, and pro-death penalty at the same time? Of course, you can be anti-abortion and pro-death penalty at the same time. However, I am not sure you can still call yourself pro-life. I think it is a big contradiction, but then we humans are very contradictory by nature.

I am not exactly sure where I stand on the death penalty issue, but I know I am mostly opposed to it. Most of my opposition though stems from the fact that it is not used equitably. I definitely lose no sleep over the fact that Ted Bundy was put to death, however I think it is a punishment that should be used in extreme cases only. I think that the risk of being wrong should limit the use to only the most heinous of crimes.

I know my own beliefs are all over the radar, but I also think the term pro-life should be used only by those that really are pro-life. I think I will have to refer to myself as anti-abortion, because the one thing I despise above all other things is hypocrisy, especially self-hypocrisy.

Abortion

I need to start this post by stating that I am blatantly stealing the idea from a blog I frequent regularly. The author of that blog and I agree that abortion is wrong. The author was stating in her comments that for someone to be against something, they must be for something as well. If we are against abortion, what are we for? I got the impression from her blog that she didn't think that stopping abortions was enough, and I have to say I agree with her (if that was indeed what she was saying.) We can't tell people that they HAVE to have a baby and then not give them options. Adoption is always an option if both of the baby's parents are Caucasian and healthy and the baby's mother has not used drugs or alcohol during her pregnancy. Of course, even the healthiest parents sometimes have a baby who has health problems, in that case the baby is less "adoptable."

I have copied my reply on her blog and I want to post that reply here, because I think it gives a good overview of my feelings:

I am against abortion. I am against abortion in cases of rape, though incest I am on the fence about. I am against abortion in the "life of the mother" loophole, because I really think that it is a loophole and not a valid reason for an abortion.

I believe birth control is a choice, but a choice that comes before conception and not afterwards. I am a BIG believer in personal responsibility.

I also believe that voting for a candidate SOLELY because they are anti-abortion is as wrong as abortion. Just because someone is anti-abortion does not mean they are a good person or a good leader. There are many issues and many ideologies and all must be weighed against each other.

I ALSO believe that to be anti-abortion, but to not realize that SOMETHING needs to be done for these unwanted babies is ALSO as wrong as abortion. To not help in some way is not right. To tell a woman she HAS to have a baby she does not want, but not help her in some way with what she needs to do is also wrong. If she is young, white, and healthy and the baby's father is young, white, and healthy there is not much to worry about, the baby will find a home. But if the baby is not white, the mom used drugs, the baby is not perfectly healthy, etc than most of these babies won't have a home.

Every state in the country needs foster parents for babies AND children. Some healthy who just aren't "privileged" to be white, some with special needs or chronic illnesses. Please help the situation not just spout ideologies.

So, there you have it, this is my belief. Abortion is not birth control, it is murder. Be responsible and prevent unwanted pregnancies before they occur!

Speaking English

A question that has been going through my mind in the past few days has to do with speaking English. This question has a couple different branches that I wish I could answer or receive an answer.

The first question is in regards to speaking English properly, in this I am talking about people born in this country who speak English as a first language. I work in a hospital, where most of the people employed there are professionals of one sort or another. In a professional environment, being able to speak proper English is necessary. Now, as I work in Georgia, most of the people I come in contact with have a deep Southern accent, but most people still speak properly. Yes, people have Southern ways of saying things and local colloquialisms, but this isn't my concern. When I worked in St. Louis, in the Midwest, there was local accents there as well as local colloquialisms, and again this isn't a problem. My biggest concern is the fact that so many people do not have a good grasp of proper English. Not only is this skill required for a professional, the lack of this skill makes people sound uneducated, lazy, and lacking respect.

The second question is in regards to people who move to this country who have spoken another language as their first language. I have no problems with people immigrating to the U.S. (legally) however, I do have a problem with people who choose to move here, live here, and work here, yet do not make any attempt to learn English. I understand that learning a second language takes time and effort, yet basic, conversational English should be relatively easy. I had a girlfriend who went to Spain as an exchange student for a summer, and she said it was VERY EASY to pick up a language if you were saturated in it, day in and day out. I would imagine the reverse would be true as well, and have had this confirmed by people I have talked to from other countries. I am not talking about fluency, just conversational.

If anyone can give me insight or opinions, please post and let me know.

Unions: Good or Bad

I have been reading a lot about the auto industry of late, about their financial woes, etc. There is the ongoing talk about the employees, specifically the unionized auto workers. The automobile manufacturers are losing money hand over fist, more accurately, they are hemorrhaging money. They blame this on the wages and benefits and pensions, etc of the workers and retirees. This may be partly true, as an auto worker with a high school education makes quite a bit more than I do as a Registered Nurse. Not only do they have better pay, they have better benefits and better retirement. However, with the automotive industry, I think the major problem is with a sub-par product. There is massive talk that the Asian carmakers don't have the union wages, benefits, pensions, retirees, etc as overhead, and yes this is true; but the major issue in my mind is the fact that the Japanese (and other Asian carmakers) build far superior automobiles. If Detroit built American automobiles with the quality, longevity, and efficiency of the Asians, the increased overhead would only be a minor factor. No one heard any crying out of Detroit in the 90's when people were buying the big SUV's. If Ford, GM, or Chrysler (whom I guess is still American) had ANY sort of foresight they would have the biggest cars with a minimum city MPG of 20, which is why I have no sympathy for the Big Three.

On the other side of the coin is the airlines. The airlines started their downfall with 9/11. They never recovered financially from the devastation before gasoline starting costing more and more and more. Don't even get me STARTED on the oil companies. Now, I don't think it is fair for the airlines to hide in bankruptcy protection and use that as leverage to cut their employees salaries by huge percentages. If I went to work and was told my salary would decrease by 25%, I would have to file for bankruptcy as well as my employer. Now the unions for the pilots and the flight attendants have bent over backwards to accommodate the airlines, but the airlines keep taking more and more. I don't know how long the employees can keep giving without getting. I hear the Delta pilots are talking about a strike and I can't say I blame them with all they have already given up. Now, unlike with the auto makers, I feel this is unfortunate for the airlines as well. I didn't mean there was anything wrong with them filing for bankruptcy except when it is used as an excuse to screw their employees.

Now, as a nurse, I have never worked as a union nurse. However, when I was a traveler, I did work in a facility where the nurses were unionized, although I was a contract employee and not under the umbrella of the union. I did get to feel the benefits of working where there was a collective voice, and I must say that it was phenomenal. Nurses had a voice and it was loud and it was acknowledged. One voice is nothing, but many are loud and powerful.

My dad was a union railroad worker and I remember him in contract negotiations and I remember him when he was on strike. I also remember that the workers ALWAYS gave more concessions than the railroad could ever dream of giving.

I have presented the positive of unions, but there are negatives as well. I know when the grocery store workers in St. Louis went on strike, they lost much more than their agreed upon contract made up for in the end. To be honest, I am not sure why cashiers and baggers should be unionized. Everywhere else I have ever lived, these jobs are normally filled by high school kids. Cake decorators and butchers I see, but not cashiers and baggers.

I would like to hear from anyone with positive or negative comments about unions as this is something I am VERY curious about and interested in.

The Acadamy Awards

We are watching The Acadamy Awards tonight. I have my favorites, of course, that I want to win. But to be absolutely honest, I haven't seen any of the movies nominated to win Best Picture, so I don't really have a choice for that award.

But in the acting categories, I do have favorites. Now to be fair, I can't comment on their performances in the roles they are nominated for, but I have seen them in many roles in the past. This does mean that I will be rooting for certain actors and actresses.

So far, George Clooney has won and Rachel Weisz has won. I didn't really have an opinion on the Supporting Actress category, but I am thrilled that George Clooney won for Supporting Actor. I would have been happy to see Matt Dillon win as well. As a side note, I don't think that Matt Dillon has aged in about twenty years, he is still adorable.

Well, Lauren Bacall is on right now. They have the picture behind her of when she was young; she was beautiful then and she is beautiful now. She has aged so gracefully.

Well, more comments to come later as I feel the need :o)

Music

Music is a big deal in my house with Thomas being a musician. We both have eclectic music tastes. While we don't agree 100% we do agree on a lot. We both like rock music and country music and classical music, etc. However, our least favorite music right now is pop country. I think if we were exposed to a lot of pop rock it might be high up on our dislike list as well, but we don't listen to any radio stations that play pop rock.

We do listen to a station that plays pop country though. I am a big country music fan, but I like classic country or music that is really country music. Unfortunately, country radio doesn't play much in the way of real country music anymore. A few years back, Vince Gill recorded an awesome country album called "High Lonesome Sound." This was IGNORED by country radio though Vince was a very popular singer at the time. I listen to a station locally that is big in classic country, I get to hear the greats all the time. I hear Conway, Patsy, Dolly, Kenny, The Oakridge Boys, Hank, George Jones, etc on a regular basis. However, any new song that sounds TOO country still seems to be avoided, which is sad in my opinion.

It is sad that some of the BEST country songs in recent memory were written and recorded by rock singers. Sheryl Crow and Kid Rock recorded "Picture," Sting had "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying," and Bon Jovi just released "Who Says You Can't Go Home." Toby Keith did a cover of Sting's song and I think Sting recorded it with him and Bon Jovi's song is released on country radio with Jennifer Nettles from Sugarland (whom I dislike immensely!) I am not sure why rock musicians are coming up with some of the best country songs recorded (and played on country radio) in along time.

I don't have a problem with pop music in general, actually it really does have a place. However, I feel if you want to record pop music, record pop music and have it played on pop music stations. I get very frustrated when I want to listen to country music and turn on the radio and I hear pretty much what Brittney Spears is doing, but with a fiddle and a steal guitar added. This wouldn't be such an issue if it occurred once in a while, but this is all that I hear anymore.

I like music with heart and soul, and this is what is missing in most any type pop music. Give me some Melissa Etheridge, Dave Matthews, Patsy Cline, and Loretta Lynn any day!