global warming... real or imaginary?

In this intriguing ABCNEWS.com story, a top NASA official questions the seriousness of global warming. I've questioned the seriousness - shoot, I've question the REALITY of global warming for years!

With everything I've learned about science in my lifetime, I just can't believe that crisis now being labeled as "global warming" is really a crisis at all. I don't have the space here to explain the atmospheric science behind all of that, but I simply do not believe it is a problem at all!

Evolutionists are some of the most contradictory people imaginable! If they really believe in "survival of the fittest", then why are they so concerned about saving various species from going extinct? Why do they feel the need for an endangered species list or breeding programs to bring them back from extinction?

On the news, no one explains the science behind so many of these problems! For example, the alleged "hole" in the ozone: Isn't it peculiar that the hole in the ozone is over Antarctica? If it really is caused by emissions and junk, you'd think the ozone hole would be over the US. Well, in order to understand that you have to understand the science. Ozone is created when sunlight hits our atmosphere. Due to the earth's 23-degree tilt, Antarctica is hit by the least sunlight. So, since there is less sunlight, the ozone layer is thinner over Antarctica than anywhere else!

People are so gullible! Sheesh!

today's news: spam arrest

Yesterday, federal authorities in Seattle arrested a man whom they describe as the "king of spam". And I'm not talking about the canned meat here! He compromised millions of zombie computers to send millions more unsolicited emails.

Federal authorities say computer users across the web could notice a decrease in the amount of junk email.

Read about it here!

allergies! always the allergies!

So, most of my friends know that I am one of the lucky ones who lives with allergies. Nothing too shocking - no food allergies or drug allergies, at least none that I know of! I am allergic to the typical environmental triggers - ragweed and mold - as well as mild pet dander allergies, particularly cats.

You guys also know that I got my ears pierced in Africa. Lately I've been struggling with my left earlobe - it seems like there is an infection or something in there, and it hasn't been healing properly. I went online to try and figure why, and learned that I may have developed an allergy to the nickel used in cheap earrings. All of my earrings were purchased in Africa, so that's definitely believable.

Yesterday, I took out my earrings and switched to an extra pair of (allegedly) sterile piercing studs that I purchased in Ghana. I figured they were as good as anything else that I have.

I woke up this morning, and my earlobe was WORSE with the piercing studs! My earlobe had swollen and was painful to the touch. It wasn't grotesquely swollen or anything, but my left earlobe was definitely larger than my right earlobe. I was so angry and frustrated! I wasn't even sure if I should take the earrings out of my ears entirely, because I was afraid that my earlobe would not return to its normal shape and size if I let the holes close!

I researched the nickel allergy more, and learned that I need to stick with hypoallergenic, stainless steel, solid gold, sterling silver, or plastic jewelry. That pretty much eliminates all the studs I got in Africa. I wasn't sure what to do!

Then, praise God, I remembered a pair of earrings laying in my desk drawer. Those earrings were given to me several years ago by a dear friend, but before I had my ears pierced. I don't think my friend noticed that my ears aren't pierced, but I know the gift was given out of love, so I tucked it into a drawer, intending to one day convert it into a pair of clip-ons. So I dug those earrings out. They are pewter, which isn't quite hypo allergenic, but I switched into them and within ten minutes, the swelling in my ears was significantly decreased!

So - I guess I'm long overdue for a fun shopping trip at Claire's. But, all in good time, you know? Yay for the fact that my ears are getting better!

it's the key!

Last night, my family got locked out of the house. We decided to go for a family walk, and when we got home, my dad reached in his pocket for his keys (which he always carries in his pocket), and they weren't there! We had to go to our neighbors to get the keys - except, it's been so long since we've needed the keys that our neighbors weren't sure if they still had them and couldn't remember where the keys were! So we had some stressful times, thinking maybe we didn't have any neighbors with keys anymore!

We started talking about calling AAA and getting them to unlock my dad's car, which was parked outside the house, so that we could retrieve the garage door opener. It would have cost less than a locksmith, since we have a AAA membership. But it was starting to get dark, and we couldn't read the phone number for AAA on the sticker in the car's window! It was almost funny, just in because it was so insane.

Finally my neighbor found our key, tucked away in the back of a cabinet. What a relief!

Tonight my family and I are meeting some friends to eat dinner at Red Robin. I've been there once before. The food is delicious, so I am very excited.

Jeopardy and Google are partnering for an upcoming sweepstakes, which I'm very excited about. Enter if you will, but personally I'm hoping to win! Heaven knows I could use the money!

random ramblings...

Tonight, like many - I mean, most - nights, I've been considering my career path. I still don't have a job, so yea... there's just a lot to think about.

I have my Bachelor of Science in Education, but after my experience on the Anastasis, I don't think I really want to go back to teaching - at least, not teaching in traditional classroom. I have considered a lot of different things, and I think at this point, my "dream" job would be a job that I could do from home - an online job, basically. That way I could still have lots of time to devote to volunteering for my church and other organizations that are important to me.

So, among the many jobs I've looked at, my latest investigation leads me to study online classrooms. I think I could handle teaching in an online classroom. Like always, I'm also still looking for other ways I could earn money through the internet.

Any other ideas?

Contests...

Many of you know about lots of the blog contests out there on 'net.

Well, since I'm a single non-parent, most of these contests unfortunately do not apply to me. But I found a contest last night over at Adventures in Babywearing which happens to be just perfect for me.

Since I got my ears pierced in Africa, I'm quite the earring-a-holic. In this contest, Stephanie is giving away a pair of earrings from Cheeky Jewelry AND a gift certificate to Cheeky Jewelry.

Neato, huh?

alive... and TAGGED!!!!

Hello world! Yes, I'm still alive out here. Not only am I alive but I've been TAGGED by Dianna and kinda procrastinating about fulfilling my end of the tag! So, here we go...

What you do is say 10 things that would happen or what you would do if you didn’t blog, then tag 5 people at the end of the post. Be sure to send a message telling those you’ve tagged that they’ve been tagged.

If I didn't blog...
1)I probably wouldn't spend as much time on the internet reading other people's blogs. It's interesting stuff yo!
2)I wouldn't know many of the awesome people I've met through blogging.
3)I would actually get around to having those "hobbies" I'm always trying to convince myself to get into. (sewing, knitting, collecting stuff, crocheting - yup, I haven't crocheted since before I left for africa).
4)I would be at the library all the time. Seriously! I love to learn, and already spend a fair share of time at the library, but one thing I love about the Internet is how easy it is for me to learn stuff with just a click of a mouse.
5)I would have a much cleaner apartment/house.
6)I would spend lots of time outside, walking and generally just enjoying the outdoors.
7)I would be voluneering somewhere. Maybe the animal shelter. Or the hospital.
8)I would read more. I don't read as much as I did when I was younger. I used to read lots of books - especially fiction books - just for fun, relaxation, stuff like that.
9)Lately I've had all kinds of crazy off-the-wall theories to earn money and/or change the world. Maybe I'd actually do some of that crazy stuff if I didn't blog.
10)Last but certainly not least... I would NOT know most of the stuff I've learned about HTML, style sheets, and navigating the Internet!

*Phew!* That was harder than I thought! Okay, I tag...
Beth
Jennifer
Tina
Janna
Annaliese

leg waxing hall of fame

With my dark hair and fair skin, hair removal has been a part of my life since a very young age. I'm a pretty hairy person - that's not just an admission, that's a fact. As a teenager, I used razors - both disposable and really really nice (aka expensive) - to shave the hair on my legs and armpits. But I have a lot of hair - yes, even on my legs - to deal with, and I had to devote a lot of time to maintaining smooth legs. I loved the feel of smooth legs, but long ago I gave up on maintaining daily smoothness, as I had to shave almost every day.

Now I will say that, as far as razors are concerned, I have learned a lot over the years. I owned a Venus Vibrance at one time, which I loved, but that razor was stolen from me in a public bathroom on the Anastasis. After that, I switched back to disposables, and was pleasantly pleased to discover the Bic Soleil:


Now, there are disposable and non-disposable forms of the Soleil. I've only tried the disposables, and I will say that I think that as far as razors are concerned, these are fantastic.

However, lately I have decided to try my hand at waxing. I can't afford a really nice salon wax, so I have been trying at-home waxing products.


First I tried the Nair Roll-on Wax. I can think of nothing positive to say about this. I went through great pain with this wax, but virtually no hair was removed. The wax was sticky, messy, and difficult to remove. Don't waste your money.


So recently, I rode my bike to the nearby drugstore and purchased the Sally Hansen No-Heat Gel Roll-on Hair Remover. I can honestly say I was pleasantly surprised by just how well this product works. There's a bit of a trick to it - the linen strips MUST be pulled off parallel to the body, not perpendicular - but this product removes most of the hair. The process does take patience - for best results, you generally have to wax the same areas two or three times. However, with this product there is minimal pain, and quite a bit of success. Also, the wax rinses off easily with water.

I can't say that I have yet been able to remove 100% of the hair from my legs, but I'm actually quite pleased despite that. Here's how I see it: By waxing every two or three weeks (which is a bit more often than may be absolutely necessary), I am removing most of the hair, and what's left is so much thinner. By doing this continually for several months, it should significantly change the hair on my legs, causing it to grow back thinner and lighter.

There are a few other at-home waxing products that I would still like to try, and I have no doubt you will read about those here. But for today, I must say that the Sally Hansen gel is the best. I'm quite hesitant to try any other Nair products, but I do hope to try a couple of different Veet and Sally Hansen products. Keep reading and one day you'll hear about those!

Dancing with the Stars

Okay, I admit it: I've become a bit of a Dancing with the Stars junkie. This season has just been so good!

When I returned from Africa, a couple of the stars (Shandi Finnessey and Paulina Porizkova) had already been eliminated. I've had the opportunity to watch Heather Mills, John Ratzenberger, Billy Ray Cyrus, and others dance their way off the show.

The cast now consists of:
Laila Ali and Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Joey Fatone and Kym Johnson
Apolo Anton Ohno and Julianne Hough
Ian Ziering and Cheryl Burke

I'm watching the results show as I type this. I don't know who, of those four, will be kicked off the show - they are very capable dancers and probably the best of the original 12. I am also not a professional dancer and don't really know a whole lot about ballroom dancing. But if I had to venture a guess, I would say that Ian will be elimated this week. He has no background in athletics or in music - two of the most important elements in dancing - and even I think he is not as good as the other dancers.

the ocean followed me home... rain, a boil order, and the Flood of 2007

If the title of my post didn't give it away, it's been raining a lot around here lately. I mean A LOT. It's been rain with thunder and lightening, and just lots and lots of rain. It rained pretty much nonstop from Friday through Monday, usually pouring down sheets of water, and the sun has just now come out. We're still under weather warnings, though, due to more storms that are due to roll in possibly within hours and also due to the drastic rise in the water levels of the rivers, streams, and ditches.

In my hometown, we have been under a boil order all day. I live in a fairly populated area, and boil orders are rare here. A water main broke beneath a flooded area near the river, and since it is flooded, they can't repair it until the water goes down. Best guesses right now say that tomorrow afternoon the city may be able to give us an estimate of when they will be able to repair the water main.

My family and I are quite blessed. Our house is not near a river or stream. Because of that, we have never had a major problem with flooding. Many of the small towns and all of the homes within a few miles of the Missouri river, as well as many homes near other tributaries of the Missouri river, are flooded with 3-4 feet of water or more. It's being called the Flood of 2007, and in some areas it is beginning to rival the Great Flood of 1993. May God protect us.

health insurance... a necessary evil??

If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm going through a health insurance "drought" right now. I have been attempting to find another insurance company that would offer me a lower rate, with few successes and many frustrations.

I almost gave up today when I stumbled across Assurant's short-term policy website. A little more probing, and I discovered that Assurant offers short-term policies (usually about 6 months long) for reasonable prices. These plans do not cover pre-existing conditions, and in a sense, don't provide a whole lot of "coverage", but the deductible is very reasonable and if I have an accident of any sort that requires medical care beyond my deductible, the policy will kick in. The monthly payment is VERY low, and it is very comforting to know that I will have this backup.

Further research has shown me that many other insurance companies, including Blue Cross-Blue Shield, Aetna, Cigna, and United Healthcare, all have similar short term plans. I need to do more research to figure which company has the best plan (figuring in the monthly payments, copays, deductibles, and everything else...) but I'm quite elated that I've figured this much out.

jobs, dogs, and allergies...

So I've been thinking. (Scary, I know!) I have been considering and looking for a job that I can be passionate about. I'm not really passionate about teaching anymore... I don't really have a desire to teach anymore.

You can ask anyone who has known me for any length of time... I love dogs. Always have, and I probably always will. I realized a day or two ago that I can't imagine any job better than working with dogs for the rest of my life. I think what would be really great would be a job where I could somehow train dogs to become service dogs or animal-assisted-therapy dogs.

Only one problem with this... I was born with allergies. I've had hay fever my entire life, plus a huge cat allergy and a minor dog allergy. It runs in the family - the whole family is allergic - so I've never owned a dog.

I've attempted to treat my allergies with medications, and have tried Claritin, Zyrtec, and Allegra, but all to no avail - I have terrible side effects on those meds that are worse than the allergies themselves. So now I am attempting to find another way to treat these allergies.

So I'm throwing the question out to the world. Does anyone have any ideas for treating these allergies without needing prescription medication? Surely there is a way for me to control these allergies through diet, exercise, and perhaps minimal OTC meds. Any ideas??