Their shoulders held the sky suspended.
They stood, and earth's foundations stay.
What God abandoned, these defended...We stop and spend time, every year, as a nation, navel-gazing and mirror-gazing and looking down the long marble rows of history. We do this to celebrate the freedoms that are bought with sacrifice, to re-state the convictions that ( Read more... )

I happened upon this link this morning through my daily news sweep. I think the last line is especially telling, given the scene from which the woman says it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17361995

Want to laugh and sigh in exasperation at the same time? Head over to Jim Hines's blog and enjoy a quick discussion about painful and/or impossible book cover poses for women. Be sure to click on the referenced link at the bottom!

On my drive out into the countryside towards Shenandoah, I saw something that made me wish for a soundtrack, or at least a chance to pull over to take a photo ( Read more... )

Here in the United States, there are various common naming traditions, including religious symbolism, tradition itself (a family name), to make a name sound good in full pronunciation, to give a growing child flexibility of nicknames, etc. Rarely does the meaning of the name get taken into much account. ( babble )

A co-worker was headed to an overnight stay at her mother's hospital bedside when I stopped by her desk on tuesday. I tried to give her a sympathetic ear and remind her to take care of herself too, without loading her down with useless platitudes. I told her about the many hospital visits I've made with Mom and Dad over the past two years, and ( Read more... )

There is an odd appearance of courtesy/accepted habit here at work regarding the handicapped parking spots. Unlike the regular spots, which are filled up from closest-to-farthest as people arrive, the handicapped spots are filled up from farthest-to-closest (with one exception). From my point of view, it appears that there is some kind of ( Read more... )

As I was growing up, I was on the receiving end of a lot of lectures on the meaning of adulthood, and goals for adulthood, and who and what I was going to be when I reached that magical transformation point of self-reliance and independence ( Read more... )

I hear that some of you haven't seen this yet...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxanknh7Udg&feature=player_embedded

The ending is... well, go watch it. In the meantime, I'm sending it to Mom.

While not a fabulous year, I'd say it is ending on a pretty good level. I have my loves, likes, books, and buddies. I have good memories and plans for more fun. I am not tempting Fate by saying that everything is wonderful, as there is always room for improvement. However, I have to say that a lot of my daily whining can be classified into what ( Read more... )