extreme makeover

Some of you have commented on my blogs new look. Thanks! The funny part is that I didn't mean to change it. I was playing with new looks, but having trouble integrating the customized side links that I've setup. So I was going to wait till those were worked out to go live with the new look.

Well that was the plan anyway. I inadvertantly uploaded the live code and wah-la I have a new look. So you'll have to be patient while I redesign the side links. :)

good morning boys and girls

Today I got up at 4:30am. Yuck! I'm in Lynchburg with some of my co-workers at a CICV technology meeting. Its been ok, but right now its about technology that I'm not too interested in.

I spent the weekend in Hershey visiting Lynley and Dan Lapp. We had a great time. They are excellent hosts.

I'm doing good on my fitness resolution, not so good on my nail biting resolution, and completely awful on the not cutting my finger when dicing potatoes resolution.

Fortunately each day is a new opportunity to not bite my nails and not cut my finger.

On a more serious note....
I was listening to the new album by Death Cab for Cutie, which by the way is freakin awesome. Let me know if you need to listen to it. Oh by the way you need to listen to it. :) Anyway there is this song titled "What Sarah said". Since I know several Sarahs, I decided to really listen to the words and find out what she says. The song is talks about hospitals, waiting rooms, and how every plan is a prayer to father time. So it finally gets around to what sarah says "Love is watching someone die......Who's gonna watch you die?" This is a very thought provoking statement on several layers. So I was thinking that yes it's hard to be with someone when they are dying and it would require love. Then I had to think of the question who's gonna watch me die. My mind goes to a place where i'm 80 years old, i've never remarried, and never had children. So who will be there? Ok this is a really depressing picture. Maybe my nephew will be there, maybe Mike & Sarah. Then I had to think what if I die tomorrow and its slow enough that people can come visit. That was a better picture. I think there would be lots of people around to comfort me and who would want to say goodbye. Well, then I decided that if there are lots of people now, I must assume that I will continue to have friends and there will be people when/if i'm 80.

I realize that this probably seems morbid. But I'm not really worried about death. Its just a fact of life and will happen someday. I won't know when and worrying won't make it go away. I'd rather talk about it and let my family know my wishes. That way they don't need to worry about it and can grieve rather than make figure out all the arrangements. In fact I think it would be cool to have a green burial. Which is very eco-friendly. They refered to it in one of the last episodes of Six feet under. If this isn't possible, I'd like to be cremated, but I dont want to be stored in the closet. I don't want people to feel like they have to keep me arround, unless they want to. They should dump me somewhere or put me in a mosoleum. Anyway, this took a weird turn that I wasn't planning to take. Maybe we need to sing Happy Happy Joy Joy to change the tone of this entry.

Over and Out

myths

Last week I watched 20/20 and they had an interesting show about the top ten myths fed by the media. You can read about it at http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=123606

The one I found the most interesting is that life is getting worse. Which is a thought I've had before. But they argued that life has never been better. We have excellent health care and can live much longer than people used to. There are technological advanced that make our lives and meeting our needs easier.

Another one I found interesting was that our forests are disappearing. But in reality we have more forests and trees. Critics may argue that they are not natural forest, but if we continue to replant trees then that seems to solve the problem. Along with that is that we're drowning in garbage. But in reality there is plenty of room for landfills. Thats not to say we should recycle, reuse, and whatever the last r is, but it also means we don't have to stress about it. :)

Its interesting how the media can cloud society with fear. Ban the media, who needs to know whats going on. I sure don't.