Inspiration Alley

Twitter, who'd a thunk it

I was anti Twitter for a very long time, until Martha Stewart did a segment on it.  I always thought that I wouldn't have anything to say, and I'd end up being like the dad in the commercial "I'm sitting on the fromt porch". 

So I started about 2 weeks ago, and I'm following a little over a hundred tweeters (If that's what you call them) and it is so cool ... I get up to the minute updates of what's going on in the world, from other scrappers, to celebrities, to government offices and officials, to daily affirmations from Louise Hay.  Even the president sends tweets.

It amazes me how much the information age impacts or life today, and how we can obtain information instantaneously.  I like being "in the know", and it's fun learning something new.  I have a very very old cell phone that doesn't really have texting, so I'm on twitter through the web.  I leave it up on my computer and refresh every so often to see what's new in the world.

It's an interesting world in which we live.

Never Forget

Please observe a moment of prayer for what we lost as a nation that day. 
Our lives have been changed forever.

9/11/2001
Never Forget

My Kind of Traffic Jam

I've been stuck in traffic for many things, but I would have loved this one ... I hope the driver was alright though.

updated 9:07 a.m. ET, Mon., May. 19, 2008

MORRIS, Ill. - You'd need a lot of milk to dunk all the cookies that spilled on an interstate highway in Illinois this morning.

A trailer loaded with 14 tons of double-stuffed Oreos overturned, dumping boxes of cookies all over the road and the median about 50 miles southwest of Chicago.

It shut down the highway and backed up traffic.

I'd go to this ...

If only I had the discretionary income.

Authors Stephen King, Tess Gerritsen and John Grisham will be attending a coctail reception in Bangor Maine to raise funds for Maine Congressman Tom Allen.

http://www.tomallen.org/free_details.asp?id=103

This is the first time I've heard of authors participating in a fundraiser like this and I think it is a fantastic idea - alright, so maybe it's been done before but it's new to me.  I know celebrities do fundraisers all the time, but I've never seen where the "common folk" could attend.  I always thought these types of events are usually by invitation only to people with deep pockets.  Anyway, the notice came out in the Stephen King news email.  I love seeing things like this where the fundraising effort is reaching regular people and they have an opportunity to attend events and hear more about a candidate.

If I lived in Maine, I would definately be there. 

No Food for You - Fat People

In my hotel boredom, I came across information on a bill that is working its way through the Mississippi legislature.  This bill would have restaurants weigh you when you enter and if you BMI is greater than 30, you would be denied service.  Food establishments would be monitored by the State Dept of Health and have their licenses revoked for non-compliance.  Representative Mayhill introduced the bill.

At first, I find it humorous that the bill even made it this far, then I think how much it scares me that a government entity is trying to take just one more of our rights/freedoms from us, then I realize it's just insane, let alone unenforceable.  I mean hey ... just because I go to McDs, doesn't mean I'm getting a burger combo - they do have salads ya know.

What was he thinking?

I think I do have enough friends with a "normal" BMI that would be able to get me a fast food "fix"

Primary Election Day

Had to get up early today so that I could go vote before I head in to work.  Since I work up in Broward, I have to vote before I make the trek north.  From the amount of phone calls I've been receiving at home with recorded messages from the candidates, I think this will be an interesting election.  People have different opinions about voting, so vote in every election, and some only in primary and presidential elections, and some vote only in a presidential election.  So I'm wondering, (If you live in Florida) did you vote?

I had posted the links a couple of days ago which after you selected your stance on certain issues, it showed which candidate was closest to your feelings on the issues.  It was kind of interesting because both of the links came up with the candidate that I was going to choose anyway.  So, if you visited the links, how close did it come to who you had planned to vote for?  Was it close, or were you surprised.

Now on to a voting day pet peeve of mine ... pollsters stopping you as you are heading to the polls to tell you about their candidate.  (Yes, they are a legal distance away from the poll)  My feeling is ... I've done my reasearch and made up my mind on who or what I'm voting for.  I can't imagine that someone standing out in front of the polling place with a sign, or wanting to tell me about their candidate would make me change my mind as I'm heading in to cast my vote.

Gotta go now and vote, so I'll check in a little later   

Interesting Candidate Chooser

As we get closer to the primaries here in Florida this is something you might want to check out.  You enter whether you support or oppose different topics and assign a level of importance, then by the wonder of mathmatics the program tells you which candidate is closest to you stance on the issues.  It's a cool thing to try out just to see how close your pick is.

Try both of these two sites to determine which candidate agrees most with your stance on the issues:

http://www.dehp.net/candidate/index.php

http://www.vajoe.com/candidate_calculator.html

My sister forwarded me the links and I thought it was pretty cool.  Check it out.

As Seen On the Bathroom Wall

While at the local Pizza Joint, I found this on the bathroom stall door. I know ... you're thinking what is she doing with her camera in a public bathroom - well, as it happens my camera is in my purse at all times, so when I saw this on the stall door it captured my attention.  So much so that after I took the picture I then visited the second stall to see if it was a different ad, and when I got home, I went online to the website to see what it's all about.  It's from the ad council and is promoting resistering to vote.  I have to say that the ad really worked for me.  I'm already a registered voter, but the ad was off the wall enough for me to want to learn more.  The website links you to information about candidates and voting in your state, as well as information on how to register to vote.

A Million Thanks

Last night I saw a television commercial for amillionthanks.org.  For the month of May (which also happens to be National Military Appreciation Month), you can drop of cards of thanks for our military at your local GM - Pontiac, Buick, GMC dealers.  Here's the link with the commercial, plus the site has a zip code search so you can find participating GM dealers near to your home.  The main website for amillionthanks has the rules and guidelines for the letters as well as sample letters and other information.

This card drive ends with Memorial Day, so if you can, take a moment to drop off a card to thank our troops and to tell them how much we appreciate what they are doing.

The founder Shauna Fleming is a High School Senior in California.  She started the program in 2004, and to date has collected over 3 million letters of thanks.

Time's Person of the Year

I never thought I'd be bestowed this honor, but here it is.

The winners this year were anyone using or creating content on the World Wide Web. So that would be me and I guess you too! So give yourself some applause