Monthly Archives: September 2007

blogging, What's New in the World

Are Blogs Dying?

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As a veteran blogger of nearly 6 years, I understand the sentiment of this article.  I have never blogged for anything more than my personal entertainment and a desire to somehow connect with other adults.  I started blogging in the first place as a sort of personal coping mechanism for the various difficult circumstances I was facing at the time.  I have kept blogging for that reason and also to keep a sketchy record of our family’s life and my thoughts about it.  Occasionally, I throw in something else.  But I never expected to earn money or gain fame by blogging.  I just thought it was cool technology that wasn’t too difficult for me to play around with in a way that might be fun and helpful.

Alas, we all know that real “bloggers” do much more than that.

The article in CT makes me wonder about the whole future of blogging though.  Any thoughts?

family, music, work

Manic Mondays and Tuesday Tunes

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As the title suggests, this post will be of the combination variety–meshing my thoughts about yesterday with the words to a song, thus touching on the theme of the semi-regular Tuesday Tunes post. Pretty clever, eh?
Do you remember the Bangles? From the 80s? In 1984, they released the song, “Manic Monday.” I remember being a young college student and singing along with it on the radio and thinking, “Yeah, this is how I feel about Monday.” In retrospect, I now know that my days back then were never really “manic.” They were just a little crazy because I was young and stupid.

Well, the Mondays in our house have officially become “Manic.” Mark works a split shift at a local community college as a tutor on Mondays–from 10 – 2 and then from 5 – 9. He gets up with all of us and helps to get the kids out the door. Then he works on writing projects for a little more than an hour until he heads to the part-time job. During the break between 2 and 5, he goes somewhere with free wi-fi to work on more writing stuff, mostly for the new contract job. So, his day is full.

Well, if Mark’s day is full, it sort of has a chain reaction. If you read my recent posts, you saw that I am working while Charis is at pre-school on MWF afternoons. So yesterday was my first Monday of not working in the morning. Overall, it was productive, but it flew by so fast. Before I knew it, 12:30 hit, and I had to get Charis to school and myself to work for my 2+ hours.

Working short hours anywhere is a challenge. But working where I do is even more so because half their equipment doesn’t work right. So I got about an hour’s worth of work done in the 2+ because I had to keep re-booting the computer and the scanner didn’t work!

Then I got the kids, and the homework-dinner hour began. It went fine, but by the time 9:00 PM rolled around, I was ready to relax.

Mark got home after 9:30, and worked for another 3 hours.

So, now that you’ve heard about our “Manic Monday,” here are the lyrics to the Bangles classic. After I googled to find them and actually read them, I was a bit hesitant to post them. I had no recollection of the suggestive part of the chorus. I guess it was one of those songs that I just sang along to and sort of mumbled over parts I didn’t quite catch in my head.

Here are the lyrics:

The Bangles – Manic Monday

Six o’clock already
I was just in the middle of a dream
I was kissin’ Valentino
By a crystal blue Italian stream
But I can’t be late
‘Cause then I guess I just won’t get paid
These are the days
When you wish your bed was already made

It’s just another manic Monday
I wish it was Sunday
‘Cause that’s my funday
My I don’t have to runday
It’s just another manic Monday

Have to catch an early train
Got to be to work by nine
And if I had an air-o-plane
I still couldn’t make it on time
‘Cause it takes me so long
Just to figure out what I’m gonna wear
Blame it on the train
But the boss is already there

All of the nights
Why did my lover have to pick last night
To get down
Doesn’t it matter
That I have to feed the both of us
Employment’s down
He tells me in his bedroom voice
C’mon honey, let’s go make some noise
Time it goes so fast
When you’re having fun

Happy Tuesday everyone!

What's New in the World

It Looks Like a Toy

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I was pulling out of my office parking lot yesterday, and I saw this across the street. It pulled out in front of me, and I actually passed a couple cars so I could get up behind it and look at it. This car truly looks like a toy. According to the website, the base model will sell for $12,000.00. It certainly wouldn’t be practical for our family, but it sure is cute. The Smart car is made by Mercedes. I generally think of Mercedes as being safe cars, so perhaps this will be the car that parents will be willing to buy for teenagers once they’ve been around in the states for a while.

family, parenting

No TV Tuesdays and Thursdays

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I had a brilliant stroke of genius 2 weeks ago. I instigated “No TV Tuesdays” and “No TV Thursdays” for our older kids. This came to me as a way to reduce their coma-inducing television watching that would be relatively painless because on Thursday nights, all 3 have activities outside the house. So, they get home, do homework, eat dinner, and head off to their various activities. So it really only feels like they aren’t allowed to watch TV on Tuesday nights. But the added bonus has been that they are breaking a habit. Last night (Wednesday) they came in from school and started playing a board game with Charis. They didn’t head to the TV as soon as they were through with their homework. On Tuesdays, they have been jumping on the trampoline more. The heatwave of August really had a negative impact on their veiwing habits, so I am pleased with the results of my experiment. It will continue indefinitely.

family, work

I Was Doing So Well for A While

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At posting, that is. I was posting about twice a week for a little while there. Then September hit. The new school year is in full swing. Helping with homework. The kids’ activities have picked up. The list could go on and on.

Mark’s new contract job has also added to the “busyness” of my life. He has been working really hard learning and doing his new job. He also started a part-time tutoring job for a local community college just before the contract job started. So he has been squeezing 12 hours a week in there, too. Finally, he had just secured a writing gig for a political group creating their “candidate score card” for college students just before starting the new contract job. Oh, and he has some work for a regular writing client to fit in there too. So while he has not been gone all the time, I have had to hold up more of the work load on the homefront with all of this activity. I am not complaining–just reporting. Truly, I am thankful for the work he has secured. We are now praying it will continue for a long time!

My day job is almost over–sort of. I resigned from my day job 2 weeks ago, but because of the company’s tenuous financial state, they really aren’t in a position to replace me. So I have agreed to work 7 – 8 hours a week when Charis is at pre-school. One of the women who used to work there will also be helping with typing reports on a contract basis. But if this doesn’t work out to suit our family situation, I’ll be out of there.

Life is never stagnate, that’s for sure.

I hope that posts in the future bring reports of all the great projects I am completing around home. However, I have already agreed to 2 play dates for Charis on her free afternoons. Her social life may keep me busier than working! But it will be more fun.

Oh, and somehow in addition to being Charis’s activity director and completing massive home improvement projects and exercising, I am going to market Mark’s business. Hmmm . . . we’ll see.

Oh, yeah, I want to read more, too.

family, parenting, work

Juggling and Other News

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Today we got some good news.  Last week Mark went through an interview/testing process for a new job.  A little more than a week later, the company called to say he didn’t get the job.  But with the bad news came an offer to do some very regular contract work for the company.  Yes.  It would have been great to get the full-time gig, but we think the part-time contract work will be enough with Mark’s other clients and part-time tutoring for me to quit my part-time job outside our house.

That’s where the juggling comes in–we (especially Mark) will have a lot of balls in the air to juggle.  I am really thankful that I will be able to resign tomorrow.  I am anxious to spend more time with my little blonde girl during her last year before Kindergarten.  I am anxious to come up with excuses other than my job for not getting the laundry done.  We are thankful for all the balls to juggle!

Now, on to other news  . . . Charis started 3 half-days a week of pre-school today.  She was so tired when I picked her up.  She fell asleep in the five minutes between her school and the big kids’ school.  She said she had a good time. She was really glad to be with kids her own age.  We were glad that she could have some real people to play with in addition to  her imaginary friends.

Uncategorized

D. James Kennedy is With the Lord

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Dr. D. James Kennedy went to be with the Lord early this morning.  I heard it on NPR just minutes ago.  He wasn’t as well known as Jerry Falwell , but he was a force within the Christian right. The secular media will put most of its emphasis on Dr. Kennedy’s political interests and activity, but as the founder of Evangelism Explosion and the Senior Pastor of an influential church, it was obvious that his faith in Christ was the foundation for all that he did.

I worked for Coral Ridge Ministries soon after I graduated from college.  From 1988 through 1992 I worked in a number of communication positions at the television ministry established by DJK.  I met my husband Mark while working there, and we were married in the beautiful sanctuary of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church.  A lot of my reformed theological views germanated through the ministry of Coral Ridge Church.  I will join many today in saying that Dr. Kennedy’s outreach impacted my life.

I am praying for Dr. Kennedy’s wife of 51 years, Anne, and his daughter Jennifer today as they mourn the loss of their husband and father.  But I am sure they are rejoicing in the life he lived and in the legacy he leaves behind.