We are fairly well moved up the hill to the end of the road and I’ve finally come up with a decent (dial-up) internet connection. It is not AOL. To top it off, we now have a family television package that allowed us to view America’s Got Talent right from the comfort of our living room! The wonders never cease.
My take on the show tonight is that even though the talent level did not prove to be spectacular, the fun level was apparent. America definitely has fun. A few of the acts showed real promise. Some were downright creative. A few others were outlandish and not worth seeing. Several times, I was forced to change the channel and let the kids listen to the goings on at the Democratic National Convention rather than see travesty displayed as talent. That’s life in a free nation.
We’re going to vote now. I hope you do the same. God bless you and God bless America.
We’ve been asked to help generate publicity for The Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk and are happy to be a part of that effort. Here’s the scoop:
The movement is the nation’s largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer care, support and research.
Volunteers become champions in the fight against Alzheimer’s. There are walks in more than 600 communities. A typical Alzheimer’s Memory Walk
is a 2-3 mile walk held on a weekend morning in the fall.
By teaming up with the Alzheimer’s Association, you can walk with a purpose – and move us closer to a world without Alzheimer’s. Together, we can MOVE a nation.
Get involved. Show that you care. Help a great cause.
After all the bragging and holier-than-thou blips I’ve dispensed about my family not subscribing to broadcast television, we now have a DSS satellite sitting in the yard. Ostensibly, this is because the kids and I need it for school. A glimpse of reality is that last night we were all excited that we would, for the first time, be able to watch America’s Got Talent together at home.
Apparently, the show has moved or disbursed in favor of the Olympic Games, however. At least, we couldn’t find it. Why didn’t we check the internet for a schedule? Well…we’ve moved a bit farther up the road and can’t get a signal from the school. It is back to an AOL dial-up connection (as soon as Bell South can find us and figure out how to get our telephone working.) All told–even with a 56K modem instead of a highspeed hookup–I’d rather live up a gravel road on the bank of Troublesome Creek than on a paved street in any city. I think.
Is there a RoadTurn coming for America? A guy named Barack Obama says so and is taking a tack that many citizens are finding appealing. For instance, he says that he wants to let a very special group of people be the first to know who he chooses for his running mate. Is it NBC News? Fox? Public Television? No, it is the common folk, the public.
Here is part of the email from his campaign staff:
People keep asking me if we’re really going to announce Barack’s VP directly to our supporters.
The answer is yes.
Let me be very clear. You are the ones who built this campaign, and Barack wants you to be the first to know who will join him in leading our movement for change.
So, if you haven’t signed up to receive an email or a text message, sign up now. Or you can text VP to 62262 from your mobile phone.
Now, I’m not a party affiliate; I’m a registered Independent. There is much of Obama’s style that gives me hope–and there is much that scares me severely. My guess, though, is that any way you cut it America and the world are amidst changing times. My prayer is that it is all for the good. I saw a sign today that made sense to me: We may not all have arrived here on the same ship–but we are all on the same boat.”
My boy, Zebadiah, is only six years old and we had to buy glasses for him this year. I hate to see kids that young experiencing physical problems. His mother’s side has a history of needing glasses at an early age, so I got off my tangent of these darned computer screens ruining our children’s eyes–he plays PC learning games quite often.
Once I got past the emotional anguish it was time for the financial end. Figuring that he would be tough on frames, we bought the twistable type. All told, those glasses cost about $300. They were broken within a few days. Fixed. Broken again a week later. Fixed. Broken again…
At first I surmised that Zeb was being careless. Now I’m beginning to think that they are just poorly made frames. They broke again when we were in Florida and we bought him a spare pair at Walmart (another $250.) These are holding up for him while the others are being repaired again. Unbelievable.
One area that I have been reluctant to shop via the internet is eyeglasses, but I am about ready to change that. The Clark Howard radio show spoke well about a company called Zenni Optical and a set of bendable titanium glasses for Zebadiah are going for $24.95 at their website. The old adage is that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is…but this may be a case of wonder meeting reality. Zenni says that their prices are so low because there is no middleman. They sell what they make directly to the consumer.
I am absolutely so tired of shelling out big bucks for inferior products that I’m ready to take the leap and try a different path. That’s my RoadTurn for the day. How about you?
Sometimes it pays not to have television on demand. That may have been the case Tuesday as my family enjoyed a night of sitting around the kitchen table talking and stringing shucky beans while our fellow citizens watched America’s Got Talent. According to Jaya Saxena, writing for Entertainment Weekly, “The opening 20 minutes devolved into a blur of chicken mimics, bad dancers, and even worse magicians. Maybe it was the influence of the Web, but the whole affair smacked of a bad YouTube video…”
Jaya closes the article with this insightful thought: “Isn’t it funny that two thirds of the judging panel are British on a show called America’s Got Talent?”
We are back from Florida and darned glad of it. These old mountains have been calling my name. Fresh air is a good thing. I have received the final approval to go ahead and write that master’s thesis and the subject could not be more pertinent right now: Home.
On the making a living side of life, I have been leaning towards more education in computer technology or computer applications. Our school is in severe need of help along the lines of network design and layout. I know enough about it to be dangerous, but a little training could flip the switch and allow me to be of real value here.
The definitely best site that I have found for information on network certification programs is at this link: Cisco certification. Information Technology is a field that offers a whole lot of possibility. My own consternation is deciding where to jump in. I know that I love working with computers and exploring their potential, but the problem is that I like everything about them. I enjoy setting up an access point as much as I do laying out a website. No one can be an expert at everything, though, so to pick a point and drill in seems to be the wisest move.
That is where the Cisco Learning Network site is especially valuable. It gives information on career paths, training and certification requirements, current news about the IT business, and a social learning network to trade ideas with other IT pros and students.
If you have an idea that Information Technology could play a part in your RoadTurn, then check it out and I’ll see you there.
We’re still on the road, so I was able to watch last night’s telecast of America’s Got Talent. For my part, this showing vindicated the almost total wipeout last week. Two performers were especially keen: Xavier Lewis calls himself “XL” and could use plenty of PR advice for image, but the guy CAN sing. Matching raw talent with him was 40 year old Emily Davis. Her song wasn’t as well chosen as XL’s, but the vocal ability was evident. Here are the YouTubes of both acts:
There was a time when I enjoyed staying in hotel rooms and eating out regularly. Maybe it’s just me getting older, but somehow the whole deal has lost most of its flair. I’m popping another Claritin D as we speak, trying to fend off the headache and sneezing that comes with almost every hotel experience. Why is that? Am I just getting older or is it environmental factors?
My allergies are bothersome, but my son has one that is lethal: He is allergic to peanuts, cashews, and a list of other nuts and legumes. The night we discovered it he had eaten only a sliver of a cashew and we had to call an ambulance. The poor little guy takes it well, but it scares me silly. Every restaurant experience begins with a discussion about whether they use peanut oil for cooking and are there any nuts in the dishes or breads we wish to order. By the way–one of the children’s favorite fast-food places, Chik-Fil-A, uses peanut oil. Bummer.
I spoke with a chef at Disney this week. He said that when he started working there 15 years ago it was a rarity to have someone inquire about food allergies. Now he is seeing about 150 customers per week who need special attention and advise. What is going on? Is it the pesticides we are using? Is it because of genetic crop-building procedures? Talk about roadturns–this one is going in the wrong direction.
Our son’s doctor recommended that he wear a medical alert wristband. Plenty of people do that for special medical conditions and it is something that paramedics and others know to look for. Searching for the right one for Zach, I found that the variety of choices available for Medical ID is impressive. There is even a Medical Watch available. The one that fits him best is the necklace with a pendant. Mama said gold. I said silver. Zach gets gold.
Since he is too young to really understand the situation, though, we took it a step further. We made up a button to pin on his shirt that says, “Don’t Feed Me, Ask Mama First.” It all sounds a bit much perhaps, but if you would have been there to see the boy in the hospital that night you would understand.
We are on the road again and home is a hotel room. Since we don’t subscribe to broadcast television in Kentucky, last night was my first opportunity to watch the America’s Got Talent show “live.” What a disappointment. It wasn’t even vaguely entertaining: A cross-dressing lip syncher, a strange guy who likes to lie on a bed of nails, several obvious plants who were there to sing so badly that anything would look good in comparison, a guy who likes doing animal noises, a car salesman who showed great desire but not much else…worse yet, many of these acts were passed on to Las Vegas as examples of American expertise. Amazing. God help America.
Couple that with the latest Miley Cyrus exploit–pictures of her trying to act sexy in the shower–and you pretty well have a commentary on why Hollywood should be moved to Tehran and the troops brought home. We have located the enemy and he is us.
We are in Florida tonight and so are a whole lot more people. Thousands are here to see Mickey and friends at Disney World. Thousands more came to see a Canadian revivalist named Todd Bentley. He has set up a tent not far from Orlando and is drawing an increasingly large crowd of visitors from around the world. There’s not even standing room–the attendees are gathered outside and in two adjoining overflow areas.
According to a report by the Associated Press, the whole thing is causing disruption amongst even the faithful. Here is a blip from an article by writer Travis Reed:
His tactics, sometimes violent, have made skeptics even of Pentecostals who believe in concepts that aren’t accepted by all branches of Christianity such as speaking in tongues, miraculous healing and spontaneous twitching from the Holy Spirit.
“Some of the language used during the Lakeland Revival has created an almost sideshow atmosphere,” wrote J. Lee Grady, editor of the Pentecostal magazine Charisma, in an online column. “People are invited to ‘Come and get some.’ Miracles are supposedly ‘popping like popcorn.’ … Such brash statements cheapen what the Holy Spirit is doing.” Grady wrote another column this week expressing concern that the Lakeland event has the potential to cause a “charismatic civil war.”
It’s doubtful that I will be able to get out there and see for myself, and it is just about certain that I wouldn’t be able to get inside anyway, but it looks to me like Todd and God are putting on a show that makes America’s Got Talent, Britain’s Got Talent, and the World’s Got Talent look like…well, like talent contests. Todd is rocking with something–is it the Spirit of God? Look and see what you think…
Checking in with America’s Got Talent this week, the broadcast puts forward a guy who has a story that gives “singing for your supper” a note of reality. Kyle Rifkin sang on the streets to feed his mother and siblings. Now, he’s belting out a Temptations hit, “Ain’t too Proud to Beg,” and getting the nod for a trip to Las Vegas. Kyle’s bio shows that this is not his first time singing on stage, but hey, the story is poignant and the talent is real. Here is Kyle:
Miley Cyrus aka Hannah Montana finally fished up some good press when she showed up unexpectedly at a charity concert in Nashville, Tennessee. Maybe Miley took a hint from Faryl Smith? Yes, I know that Faryl is not immune from letting the fans down, but so far she is on track and exhibiting a degree of maturity that is refreshing to witness.
There is no doubt that being a celebrity means that your life is going to be scrutinized by the cameras and the press at every wrong turn, but some of the stuff that Miley has come up with recently was just plain dumb. Once again, I have to ask, “Dads, what are we thinking?” Disney career, pop star, teen idol aside–Miley has been flashing “Trouble Ahead” in neon lights. Billy Ray, don’t let the movie star gig get in the way of a much more important job–being a father.
Country artist, Jeffery Steele, was hosting the event to support a memorial fund in honor of his son, Alex, who was killed last year in another one of those damned 4-wheeler tragedies that are wiping out kids from coast to coast. Alex was an avid skateboarder and the fund supplies scholarship money to help Nashville skaters excel in school too. Says ecorazzi–”the latest in green gossip”–about the appearance:
Miley wasn’t on the bill to play and shocked not only the audience but Steele himself when she walked out on the stage to perform. The duo sang Simple Song, which was originally recorded by Cyrus, and was the only song written by Steele that appeared on his son Alex’s MP3 player when he died. After a second duet Steele told the crowd, ”Miley might live in Hollywood, but in her heart, she’ll always be our Tennessee girl.”
It is good to see Miley doing something right. It has seemed lately that she is deliberately trying to do herself in–more correctly trying to prove that she can do exactly what she wants without consequence; a poor supposition. I don’t fault Miley so much for being 15 and trying to act like she’s 25. I just wince to see that her idea of adult behavior is X rated. My hope is that a virtuous woman can beat a path through to the girl’s heart and let a little wisdom flow through.
We haven’t given up on you, Miley. Keep doing the next right thing.
