An epiphany

Have you ever had one? I did recently and would love to share it with you.

First I’d like to start with a snippet from the motion picture Evan Almighty. Do you remember when Evan’s wife was in the restaurant and God appeared as her waiter? He helped her to understand that prayers aren’t always answered directly, and when she prayed for more family togetherness what God gave her was the opportunity for her family to be together more.

What a powerful message.

I pray for many things, and probably like most people, I have a few long-standing prayer requests dotted with different ones that fade in and out depending on what’s going on with my life at the time. One of these would be a recent prayer to do better at my job. I really love my job, and one of the things I love best about it is its unique challenges. If you have ever worked in a position with a multitude of challenges then you know that one day you can shine and the next day you’re knocked down into the dirt. Sometimes you go through days, weeks or even months when it seems all you’re doing is shuffling your feet in the dust.

Recently I experienced a time like this and it was getting hard. Really hard. So I prayed. I prayed that I could do better at my job. That I could not just meet my goals, but exceed them, impress my boss and rise within the company. And still all I did for a long time was just play catch-up. I would look at the clock at 5 and realize that I couldn’t pinpoint what I’d done all day, but I was sure busy! Why couldn’t I look back on my workday and immediately know the goals I’d accomplished?

So I prayed more. And more, and more. And it seemed like my prayers weren’t being answered. In fact, things were getting worse. The challenges were getting harder and I seemed to have less and less time to accomplish my tasks.

Then the epiphany.

God was indeed answering my prayers – how did I not see it? He was sending me challenges. These challenges were in fact opportunities to shine. So as I prayed harder and harder, he gave me more to do, more difficult tasks and less time to do them in! What better way to excel at my job than to take advantage of these opportunities!

As soon as I realized this (insert V-8 slap-on-the-forehead) I let go and I put my faith in God. I continued to work hard, but didn’t worry about things as much. I continued to do the best I could at my job and trusted that the critical items that needed to be completed would be. And I’ve gotten a lot done – miraculously more than I had during my previous “stressful time” noted above.

Now I don’t have a “happy ending” like how my boss recognized my superhuman project management ability and gave me a huge raise (I wish!). Actually I haven’t had the chance to review all I’ve done with him yet. But you know, just knowing that the Lord is answering me, that He is giving me these wonderful opportunities – that’s enough. And I am thankful.

Holiday giving

Looking to make a difference this holiday season? Why not send a note and/or care package to someone in our military to let them know you appreciate them? Many of our troops do not receive letters on a regular basis and so many are living in very difficult conditions. I was looking at profiles of some serving in Kosovo and they are in sea huts. Check out www.anysoldier.com for a database of soldiers in all branches, all countries, with diverse needs. You can search by latest contact, country they’re serving in, branch of the military or many other ways.

While I was browsing this site, I also came across Operation Santa Sarge. This is an Army unit in Kosovo working to help an orphanage with children ranging in age from 2 weeks to 12 years. At 12, they are turned out onto the streets. They need many basic items including school supplies, toiletries and stuffed animals. One of the goals of the unit is to have Christmas Celebration for the children. Visit the website to learn more and how you can help them to have a merry Christmas.

Photoshop: Stop the madness!

Now appearing in a fashion magazine near you – the “Photoshop diet”.

Faith Hill doctored cover photo (left) and original photo (right):

America Ferrera on Glamour cover (left) and a ‘real life’ unretouched photo (right):

  

Allure Magazine February 2007 cover with 47-year old actress Julianne Moore (does she not look 30 years younger than that?):

  

And although this isn’t a fashion magazine, it’s just as alarming: Katie Couric’s photo issued by CBS for PR purposes on right (original on left):

It’s one thing to remove a few wrinkles here or there, but this practice is being taken to the extreme. These ‘real’ women are beautiful without the doctoring. I ask, what kind of message is this sending our young people - female and male?

StumbleUpon: Webtool for surfers with short attention spans

Ever been bored online but there’s nothing else you really want to do? You’re just surfing looking for something fun? I recently discovered “StumbleUpon” which is a free toolbar program that has been providing constant entertainment. Here’s how it works – Once you download and install the toolbar (Internet Explorer and Firefox versions are available), you choose from dozens of subjects you are interested in. Some of the ones I chose were travel, cooking, family and humor. When I click the “Stumble!” button on my toolbar, it takes me to a random page tagged with one of my interests. If I like it I rate it a ‘thumbs up’ and if I don’t I rate it a ‘thumbs down’ or if I’m indifferent I just don’t rate it at all. If I want to, I can submit a text-based review of the page, which I will do for things I really love. StumbleUpon learns what I like and dislike and gets better and better at giving me pages I like with time.

How does this work? It is a user-generated system. As unique as you may be as a person, there are hordes of other people out there share your interests. If you’re surfing one day and find something on your own (e.g., without StumbleUpon), you can rate it. If someone else has rated it before then your rating is recorded as usual. If it’s a new page to StumbleUpon, you get a neat little message saying that you discovered it and asking you to tag it with the appropriate subject. Now this page will be shown to others who want to stumble upon that subject.

When I started using StumbleUpon my expectations weren’t very high. Now that it’s been about two weeks, I’ve weeded through some duds, but also found some really cool websites. Here are a few that I recommend you click on, just for fun:

• Rhythmic illustrations
• Things to do when you’re bored
• Clever college entrance essay
• Unfortunately placed ads
• Strange buildings

Another great thing about StumbleUpon is that it saves the pages you rated in your profile. So if you say to yourself, “Hey, what was that cool page I visited a couple weeks ago with that humorous article about the haboob?”, you can easily find it.

Obviously I recommend this fun little gadget, but if you’re going to use it, be sure to give it a couple of weeks’ use so the system can really get to know what you like. You will find some gems, but you will also see some garbage along the way. Enjoy!

It’ not easy being green

 

ECP scores range between 150-900 and they measure your private “Earth Conservation Plan”. The lower your score, the better – it has to do with your footprint on the Earth. The average score in America is 325 and in Canada 305. The average carbon output in the USA is 20 tons and in Canada 17 tons.

I learned recently that my ECP score is 431 and my carbon output is 20.7. One of the things bringing it up is the amount of round trip flights I take in a year and my long commute which I can really only do by car (gas-guzzling SUV unfortunately). I did learn however that there are things I could change for the better, such as unplugging appliances when not in use and switching to energy-saving lighting and shower heads. I’m also going to launch a personal campaign with my boss to work a partial week in the office and telecommute part-time.

Before any of you start to think I’ve become a granola-eating, birkenstock-wearing, crystal-reading, yoga guru - let me put your mind at ease. If you know me, you know I’m more realist than idealist. I do not personally believe in Global Warming. I do however believe that the humans which populate this Earth produce far too much waste, which has the potential to create an unnatural imbalance (regionally and maybe eventually globally) and diminish the quality of our lives. If we can do our part to recycle, conserve and use our resources wisely instead of wastefully, why wouldn’t we do that?

Grant you, I will not get carried away here. I believe in conserving money too, and last I checked, many of the recycled products out there cost upwards of 20% more than their first generation counterparts. I guess it’s important to find a balance. If we each just do a little more to brighten our shade of “green” think of how much brighter the world would be!

Links:

• Visit this really cool link for some flash-based stats: BreathingEarth 
• What’s your Live Impact? Find out how you compare to others in your community.
• Visit earthlab.com to see how you can reduce your environmental impact.
• Green shopping at Gaiam and Recycline.
• Learn more about conservation at the US Department of Energy’s Fuel Conservation Site. You can also find out how “green” your car is.
• Learn more about recycling at earth911

Books, books and more books!

Book Swapping

Do you like to read? Are you tired of paying a premium for books? Did you know you could get them for FREE? Yes, really and truly, free! I just recently discovered this online book swap website – it’s awesome! Here’s how it works:

•  You’re done reading a book or for whatever reason have no more use for it. List it in your Inventory. (Get 0.1 points for each listing)

• Someone on the site sees it in your inventory and sends a request. You mail the book to them. (Get 1 point for each shared book).

• You want to read a book – search for it in someone’s library and place an online request. They send you the book (Cash in 1 point for each book obtained).

There is a feedback system in place so there is some accountability. Plus, you have the option to share books worldwide or just in the USA. You can always refuse a request, too. How cool is that?

Book Cataloging Online

I’m always looking for good book recommendations but I’ve grown tired of Amazon.com’s limited search engine. Often I want to read a book similar to another I’ve enjoyed. At LibraryThing you can catalog the books you’ve read and share reviews. You can also get recommendations by clicking on the book’s page. If that fails, there are several active discussion groups to lead you in the right direction. Or, simply find another user with a similar collection and see what’s in their own library.

Links:

• BookMooch

• LibraryThing

 

Catching up, Vegas whirlwind, family activities and a few links

Wow I’ve been so busy at work lately I haven’t had a chance to blog anything substantial. Last weekend we hung out with friends and neighbors, including a party at Kevin & Kathy’s on Sunday and another cookout at our house on Monday. It was a lot of fun, and I didn’t work once all weekend!

Now that my series of big meetings are over I’m back in town for a while but have to catch up on all the work I missed while I was gone. Wednesday I left for Vegas on a 6:30am flight, did site tours of seven – count ‘em, seven – hotels and then flew back at 8:45pm. Not my idea – my slavedriver boss’.

Three of the hotels we saw were noteworthy – the Mirage is my new favorite Vegas hotel and quite possibly the place where we’ll have our January/February meeting. They have a really nice pool there and there’s so much to do on-property, plus its location can’t be beat. The Flamingo is one of the strip’s oldest hotels, but they are going through a huge remodel to what they are calling “Go Rooms” as in FlaminGO, get it? The rooms look ultra-cool and have Jetson-like features such as a 42″ plasma Tv, iPod station alarm clock, DVD/CD soundsystem (like the systems being built into the new homes nowadays), the coolest thing of all – a TV built right into the bathroom mirror.  We also saw the Planet Hollywood Hotel & Casino (formerly the Aladdin) – their meeting space looks the same but the room remodel will give each of their rooms a theme. We got to see the Pulp Fiction room which had a glass-housed suit actually worn by John Travolta in the movie and a few knick-knacks embedded in the coffee table. How cool is that? Oh, and their lobby is amazing – very glitzy right down to the wall behind the front desk that changes colors! Probably the best feature about the hotel is that it has a direct entrance to the shopping mall. :)

The kids have already settled into summer and are enjoying the carefree days. Eric is starting football camp Monday and it lasts the whole month of June. It’s mostly weight conditioning. Justin has been doing odd jobs for neighbors and he loves getting a few extra bucks. Terry has been really enjoying his new bike – he’s lost almost 25 pounds so far! Aside from working, I’m trying to spruce up our outdoor areas a bit. JoAnn’s had a sale with 50% off all their garden decor and I picked up a few really neat things today, including a “Turtle Crossing” stepping stone which I just couldn’t pass up (reference this previous post).

It seems odd just to end with that, so I’ll close with a few of my recent “good finds”:

• Microsoft Live Search Maps 
• Download the Windows Live Local extension for Outlook that allows you to map a contact’s location
• Google Reader lets you view a collection of your favorite blogs (including mine) on one clean page.

Litany of Humility

Written by Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930), Secretary of State for Pope Saint Pius X.

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved…
From the desire of being extolled …
From the desire of being honored …
From the desire of being praised …
From the desire of being preferred to others…
From the desire of being consulted …
From the desire of being approved …
From the fear of being humiliated …
From the fear of being despised…
From the fear of suffering rebukes …
From the fear of being calumniated …
From the fear of being forgotten …
From the fear of being ridiculed …
From the fear of being wronged …
From the fear of being suspected …

That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be esteemed more than I …
That, in the opinion of the world,
others may, increase and I may decrease …
That others may be chosen and I set aside …
That others may be praised and I unnoticed …
That others may be preferred to me in everything…
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should…