The Shoemaker and the Brownies is probably what inspired Hermione to create S.P.E.W.

Our parish always sends us little gift booklets at the start of each Advent and Lent.  This Lent we recieved Lent 2007: A Time for Mending: Daily Scripture Meditations and Prayers.  The entry from Thursday After Ash Wednesday reads, "Imagine a life where we can peel away our many disguises and let the world see us as we truly are:  vulnerable, valuable, hurting, hoping, dreaming, believing, yearning for love and acceptance.  Finally, we can be honest about our shortcomings, transparent in our motives, and genuine in our love."  That totally sums up why I switched from a hard drive journal to a web journal. 

Then the entry for Sunday of the First Week reads, "When you're in the midst of troublesome times, write down your wake-up calls in a journal.  What truths are they telling you about yourself?  How are they renewing and reviving your spirit?"  Awesome blogging material to be sure.  Hopefully I have done and will continue to do as such.

If they have the fish in stock, why not offer it as a fish bowl?  Because KFC doesn't want my money, that's why.  Silly KFC.  Why turn down good $US?

Saturday night after work I stopped by Metrocenter to pick up some February and March cards from The Card Shoppe.  Afterwards, I dropped by Game Nightz to find out why they never called me back last year.  The owner's lame excuse:  he wasn't able to find a distributor which carries Shadowfist, so he had no reason to call me back.  Lame.  He couldn't be bothered to call and tell me even that?  He obviously doesn't want my business.  He and the people at KFC must have gone to the same school for bad buisness. 

So, I told him that Shadowfist Games sells direct, but that if he needed a distributor that he should try Potomac.  He was so obviously disinterested, he didn't even bother to write anything down.  I've offered to run demos in his store, but he claims that there's no room in his schedule.  That night there was no one in the gaming area, but he still turned down Shadowfist demos in his store.  I bought Shadowfist from him when he was still an employee of Game Daze.  I just don't see his current resistance.

What Your Bathroom Habits Say About You

You are a very considerate person, but that doesn't mean you let people walk all over you. Your idea of fashion is jeans and a t-shirt. Clean, if you're lucky. You are a little shy and easily embarrassed. You often wonder if you are normal. In relationships, you are practical and realistic. You have a romantic side, but you only let it out when it's appropriate.

"There is plenty of room at the top, but no place to sit down." ~Unknown

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Lent 2007: A Time for Mending: Daily Scripture Meditations and Prayers

You Are a Centaur

In general, you are a very cautious and reserved person. However, you are also warm hearted, and you enjoy helping others in practical ways. You are a great teacher, and you are really good at helping people get their lives in order. You are very intuitive, and you go with your gut. You make good decisions easily.

"Quality is never an accident.  It represents the wise choice of many alternatives." ~Willa Foster

Zombie School:  A Documentary is the second entry I've ever Boosted.

Well, after a few months of psyching myself up and letting my insecurity get the best of me, I believe I am ready.  I spoke with Debbie today, and it further embolded me to go forward with the plan.  It's an action I've not done before, and I pray that it goes off well.  Months of research and prayer shall not steer me wrong, no matter how much I might fear otherwise.  Wish me well.

A co-worker is quitting, so I get to go in an hour early on Tuesday so he can train me to take on some of his duties.  I'm not sure when I'll have the time to do the extra work, I don't get done everything I'm supposed to do now.  I try to delegate, but because I have no authority, almost no one will assist me.  Those who have the time and talent would rather read the Internet or chat. 

The departing co-worker's duties will be split between three people, rather than hire someone new.  I wish him luck in his search for something better.  He's a good guy, who was stuck in a job that I certainly never envied.  It's the one possition in the company where I think no one could have met (the somewhat unreasonable) expectations.  That's probably why that possition is left unfilled for years at a time, and why when they do hire someone they never last. 

Heroes:  The Best Show on Television and Supernatural were great this week.  I'm trying to decide what to do about Heroes on Monday.  I'm doing the 2-4-1 deal with some friends at the King Henry the Only's Birthday at the Arizona Renaissance Festival and Artisan Marketplace.  I guess I'll have to tape record it, but when will I have the chance to watch it before the next episode?  This is going to be tough.  Tough, I tell you. 

I bet non-viewers didn't know that the Weekly World News was featured in this week's Supernatural episode, "Tall Tales".  But even if you did see the episode, did you know that both the print and online editions of the Weekly World News dated 15 February 2007 featured Supernatural?  Talk about brilliant marketing.  That's even better than when they created the web site which was featured in the episode "Hell House".

Saturdays start early for me, and I'm later than I should have been.  Night all.

Thanks to jada_marnew for the quiz:

You Should Rule Mercury

Close to sun, Mercury has very long days - and is rarely visible to the rest of the solar system. You are perfect to rule Mercury, because you live for the present - and can truly enjoy a day that goes on forever. Like Mercury, you are quick and elusive. Your wit is outstanding, and you can win any verbal sparring match. Some people see you as superficial, but in truth, you just play many roles and have many interests. A great manipulator, you usually get what you want from people. And they're happy to give it to you.

"The greatest motivational act one person can do for another is to listen." ~Roy Moody

So many people give flowers without knowing the Language of Flowers.  It's become a lost art.

This past week has been interesting.  Wednesday night, while we were trying to close down at work, the power went out.  That made things rather difficult.  I find out that the whole block is out, due to a fire at the nearby acrylic spa retailer.  That's right, another major fire on the same block in less than a year.  It was on all of the news stations, despite not being as major of a fire, because the fire took out the transformer for the area.  That meant that the traffic signals for the interstate were out, causing major traffic delays.  My mom called me that night to make sure I was alright.  I guess several witnesses saw a transient throw something burning over the fense and onto a pile of vinyl spa covers. 

Thursday, a couple decided that they had to leave our store before they were finished browsing because they had just heard the news that some woman had died.  When I didn't register the name, they seemed kind of surprised.  Apparently, she's big news, but I hadn't heard of her until then.  I notice that she seems to be in the news a lot now, but as it's not really news I just tune it out.  It just seems to be some of that filler news that the news media creates.  I monitored news for a living long enough to recognise non-news when I hear it.  Unlike print news media, audio and audio/visual news media can't change the length/size of it's broadcast to match the quantity of the news available.  So they create filler news for the rest, which they can easily drop should real news pop up. 

The sad thing is that people actually invest themselves into such non-news.  People die every day.  Read the obituaries some time.  All ages and walks of life die every day.  Each is its own story, but do you see audio and/or audio/visual news media covering the obits?  Nope, just the few they decide are somehow more important than the rest.

Saturday after work I helped haul desks around town.  In exchange I got to unload an old computer desk I haven't used since I had possession of the LepreCon Program computer.  Today I took advantage of the extra space and reorganized the entire living room.  It has a lot more open space now. 

Sunday my mother and I brought In-N-Out Burger to my grandparents.  We hung out and played golf (a card game using two decks of standard playing cards shuffled together) and Mexican Train Dominoes.  Afterwards my mother attended mass with me.  She spoke with Fr. Milt after mass about the actual condition of her parents, who apparently try to downplay things to him. 

After work yesterday I stopped by Mike's to catch Heroes:  the Best Show on Television.  He's finding the number of interpersonal relationships to be breaking his suspension of disbelief.  This despite the things he's tried to get away with for his role playing characters.  This despite the many superhero comics, movies, and television shows he's seen.  I'm not finding any of it hard to believe.  Truth is often stranger than fiction.  Look at the NASA love triangle fiasco from last week!

Tomorrow is Arizona Statehood Day.  I wish all Arizonans a wonderful day. 

You Are 68% Gentleman

You are definitely a gentleman. You're very considerate and you have excellent manners. Occasionally, you slip and do something foolish... but usually no one notices!

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless." ~Mother Teresa

With all the major sporting events going on today, I thought I'd let people know:  What is a Knickerbocker?<

Mass this evening was emptier than I've seen it for a SuperBowl Sunday.  And that's saying something.  Mass was over in 45-50 minutes, and that's with a longer than average homily.  We had that few for Communion.

ABC's Perspective covered The Blasphemy Challenge today.  Apparently it's a lot worse than I thought.  The folks behind it are paying for ads on web sites targeting teens.  Both the lady and the guy behind it shared how they were both tired of the condemnation within Christianity, so they started an atheist radio show under assumed names.  Even now, they claim to get death threats.  Why do so many people spread fear and hate in the name of Love?

Thanks to Footprints, I discovered someone in Ohio reading this site through MaxStealth.com.  It seems obvious now that I've seen it, but I never realized that people'd bother with making web site reading anonymous.  Hello anonymous reader(s)!  I don't know why you'd need to read this site anonymously.  All Public posts are Public for a reason.  I choose to assume that all Public Posts could be read at any time by any people I might know, might know me, or even might know of me in the past, present, or future. 

Monte had us watch Lifeforce on Saturday night.  It was interesting seeing the parallels between it and X-Men 2. 

Friday Bill had Jay and I over for Earthshock and pizza.  I actually stayed awake through the whole episode!  I recalled parts of it from previous viewings, but now it all makes sense.  :^)  Unfortunately, I stayed up too late for a Friday, and got to work a few minutes late.  I barely got the store open in time.  :^(  Luckily, no one seemed to notice.  :^)

Speaking of work, we're so understaffed right now that I'm stuck with a Monday and Wednesday through Sunday schedule.  That's the first time in all of these years I've been switched for more than just a single occassion.  It's less than optimal, as I won't be able to attend Parish Time tomorrow (and potentially the rest of the year).  It also means that work is rather hosed by my submitted time off for Presidents's Day.  Hopefully, people will be hired and trained asap.

Hamster You scored 52 Loyalty, 49 Affection, 64 Spontaneity, and 57 Demeanor!

Although you aren't particularly affectionate, you are pretty loyal, mainly because the last time you broke out of your cage, you ended up in the toilet, and the view was terrible. Not wanting to repeat that set of circumstances, you tend to stick close to home and close to your humans, or at least, close enough to see where they are stepping so that you don't end up like your paralytic Uncle Marvin. You love running your little hamster course, especially since you always forget its layout and each run is like a new course. Sometimes you will just dive off and into the exercise section of the cage and go for a nice, long hamster wheel run. Altough a pretty nice hamster, you aren't a big hugger, again, mainly because of all the injuries you have witnessed in your little hamster life from humans who don't understand their own strength.

"Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God." ~Teilhard de Chardin