Not business, not family, not the stuff I usually talk about...

I have long toyed with a thought about angels and Satan.
My thought was that if there were such beings, The ultimate closure of the rift between heaven and Hell would be the forgiveness of the fallen. I have also long thought that a God of love would not truly desire to condemn sinners for eternity without redemption. I can accept it if it were so, but it doesn't make sense.

In my own personal mythological literature (never written, cuz I'm lazy), Satan is one day convinced to actually turn to God and ask for forgiveness, and when he could humbly do so, he is forgiven and all of Hell is reunited with heaven. I considered my thought to be heretical in nature.

Today I was quite surprised not that the thought had been conceived before, but how far back and of what authority there was similar thought. Gregory of Nyssa and Origen both believed there was the possibility of redemption for fallen angels.

I hope things turn out for a great new year of life for ya.

I'm testing out an LJ app on my new tmobile G1. We shall see how it works. Overall, I am quite pleased with the phone ao far. Not as powerful as my win-mobil wing, but much more stable and a better phone.

..............

To my best buddy
The godfather of my daughter
The "step dad" to my son

Art.

*Insert party noises*

Ya know how blurbs or snippets automatically generated by blogs will just show a certain set of characters and then a link? Researching a story I found a snippet that had a humorous and unfortunate edit.

"who operated a lawn care business will be charged with two counts of aggravated ass"

Lol... "aggravated ass"... the rest of the word was "assault", of course... but aggravated ass is too funny.

I checked pricing on the Kia Soul. The MSRP starts at 13k to 14k. Yet dealers are listing the base model at 22K. My guess is they think it is a hot item, supply is low, and they can gouge the early adopters. Given that the Kia Rio5 was my second choice, and nobody ever seems to have one of these elusive models in stock, I bet the Kia Soul will be in short supply as well. That will allow the corporation an dealers to advertise the car to pulling customers, but they will likely rarely sell them except to those willing to pay way above sticker.

I am quite disappointed.

LOL

A band I don't know popped up on my Last FM. I started to read the bio and thought it reminded me of Engrish, only this is French based.
I shouldn't pick on them. Lord knows I cannot write in another tongue...

It was even edited, but still came out like psycho-speak.

Oh, and the band is not worth checking out, from what I can tell.

( Read more... )

I was exhausted last night. I could hardly concentrate.
I fell asleep by 10:30 or so. I was up again from fitful dreams before 2:00am. Between my back, allergies, cramps from something I ate and stress, I was a mess. I couldn't get back to sleep so I got up and played xbox till 7ish. I slept an hour and was up working.

over seven shots of espresso I'm functional.. for now.

From CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/16/lawyer.layoff.public/index.html

"By 2007, the National Association for Law Placement was reporting the most promising year in two decades. Nearly 92 percent of graduating attorneys were employed, and the median starting salary at private practices had increased by $13,000 --to a total of $108,500 a year."
(Funny, I never saw people with those starting salaries, but anyway...)

"...the legal industry is taking an unprecedented beating from the sputtering economy ..."

"Once insulated, law firms are shedding young and mid-career associates at extraordinary rates. This is especially true at large corporate firms that overestimated their growth and extended too many offers to associates last fall."

"At least 2,149 attorneys have been laid off in 2009, bringing the total to 3,045 since January of last year, according Lawshucks.com, an industry Web site tracking the slump."

I woke when the rain started, and was pleased.
Darkness fell.
I awoke to the rattle of water in the gutter near the window, the rain had slacked off.
Darkness fell again.
I awoke to a 140lb dog trying to get into bed with us. He could hear thunder approaching. Terrified he would not settle down. He got in on Sandy's side, but was not placated. He crawled over me and down on my side. He pestered me until I got up and let him in between us. Then, shivering with fear he nestled between us.
Darkness did not return, only the gray twilight of missed sleep.

Alarms go off, time to rouse the kids and ready for school. A deep heavy fog sat over me as I felt strangled and bleary.
A nap did not cure the state, as I dreamed of being choked.

Coffee and antihistamines have returned me to your world of labor, angst and strife.

Gents, I present to you the RPG Table i dreamed of



Granted, this is a poker system, but if you drop the stations to 6 (gm and 5 players)
each with touch screen, messaging, and a central display map......

When I win the lotto, I'll get right on this.

Spring break begins after school THIS FRIDAY!!!!!!!!
WTF
OMG
OFH
SOB

*sigh....*

A swimming pool.

I guess he has good reason. He's nearly blind now. In the last two months he has fallen into the pool twice. Last night he was a fired up for running out to chase phantom critters in the yard. He charged out, nothing but elbows and arse. He raced out directly into the pool. I had to lay down with him to get him to go to sleep last night.

Today he won't hardly go outside to pee.

I got a lot done outside yesterday. We have two large holes in the yard. My neighbor and I dug out transported soil from the community drainage system (which has nearly clogged with deposited soil). In the process we ran across two small snakes. It was hard work, the soil was still wet, rich with compost, and thickly grown. The second hole was under a fence and was filled with a large paver stone and two bags of potting soil. Then I broke down the rest of the old patio, then sprayed week killer.

All that, and I didn't get done other things I promised myself to do.

Its a new week, time to hit the keys and put a lot of dead trees in to the postal service.

The patio gazebo gift for Sandy for Sandy about two years ago died.
Yes, an all metal gazebo can die.

It's final illness was foretold sometime ago when the outer screens became so full of holes they had to be removed. Then the windstorms of last year took away the cover. It was diagnosed via MOE (Mine Own Eyes) imaging that the gazebo had an inoperable fracture of a leg joint. The days of the gazebo were numbered.

Last night a gust of wind did it in. The fractured leg came completely loose. The once proud gazebo now leaned hard towards the house, precipitously close to the large windows.

With a heavy heart I made a mercy killing, tipping the powdered aluminum frame onto it's back, breaking off the remaining legs, and folding it in half for final autopsy and rights.

It was a good gazebo while it lasted, and will be missed.

I would like to note that the metal gazebo from Target lasted less than three years. The wood gazebo built by my wife and I still proudly stands now some seven years old at our old house, shading it's new owners with unblemished, rugged, enduring pride. Perhaps I will have a new construction project in the near future, creating a new shady structure for the poolside enjoyment of family and guest. I do know, that the next structure will be anchored, made of wood, and not contain any powdered aluminum or cloth.

Rest in peace Target gazebo, and thanks for the memories.

Edit....
The dream begins...

So I need to replace my car, and as previously stated I really like the Kia Soul. I got to sit in one a few weeks ago and it is THE car I want.
The problem is, the car isn't supposed to be available until April.

So WTF do I do down one car from now till sometime in April?

Grrrrr.....

Well, it wasn't band camp, it was law school.
I'm sure I've told this story before on LJ.
Sorry for being repetitious.

The first semester of law school sucked. I was hating school, I was hating Houston. I was losing my girlfriend. I was losing my identity. I was losing my mind. My buddy mfelps and I had racked up a huge long distance phone bill, as he tried to help me cope with the first step in law school. It was almost finals. Finals in law school are an all or nothing grade. You study for a whole semester without any grades at all, and at the end of the semester you take one test per class for 100% of your grade. The pressure was freaking me out. I was seriously considering dropping out, not taking the exams, and going home.

The moment happened in the car on the way to class. I remember it was a bright morning, in Spring. I was nearing the "loop" that separated Downtown from where I lived. And, something changed. I had "Jane's Addiction" on in the car. I think Idiot's rule was on, if it wasn't it came on shortly thereafter. As usual I was singing along, at the top of my lungs, near screaming to hit the range. Just before I passed under the freeway, the thought occurred to me, "Don't let 'them' prove you wrong. Don't let 'them' tell you that you can't do it."

Who "them" was, I didn't know. I suddenly felt a rush of conviction. A rebellious, F You, swelled within me. The songs by Jane's Addiction took on new meaning. I was wanting a ready to fight. No Mother F'r was going to make me look weak, stupid or like a failure. I was not going to give up, I was not going to go home and tell everyone I couldn't do it. I was not going to waste the last half of a year and my father's financial help to go home empty handed, a loser who didn't even try.

I screamed Jane's Addiction songs all the way to school, I finished the semester, then the year, and the next two years.

I'm looking for that inspirational spark now. That, "F you, I'm going to succeed, muther-ef'r". I nearly had it a moment ago, looking in the mirror, asking myself if I wanted anyone to look my way and say, "I told you he couldn't do it."

Guilt may be one of major daily motivators, but being called a failure is an even deeper motivator that rarely rears it's head from the dark pits of my being. I WON'T be called a failure.

PS: Thank you mfelps for then, and all the other times you were there for me.

Yeah... I know... don't expect me there often.
I'm busy.

CNN reports (on a side note) that China has successfully collided a probe into the moon.
40 years ago this would have been reason for school kids to practice their "duck and cover".
Now it's a side note on CNN.

From a space exploration standpoint, I'm excited about any space news. From a child of the cold war standpoint, I'm a little cold when I think about it.

Interesting link on sales for books following major sellers.
http://www.fonerbooks.com/booksale.htm
Three of the big 4 sellers all saw increases of book sales of 4 to 23% in 06 to 07.
In fact only Borders has ever seen a decrease (1%) back in 05.
Sales in 2007 were in the billions for all but Barns and Nobel.

So, people are reading, people are buying. Getting your stuff published is the hard part.
Granted, increasing the market size by adding more readers would be desirable. Increased markets means a larger product flood is possible.

Inkiways... there ya have it.