I guess this is so I can prove it’s my blog. Why would I want to do this with someone else’s blog?

Technorati seems at first blush to be pretty cool. It’s going to take me a while to work my way through it.

I’ve been reading some very, very good books lately. The latest is “Designing for the Social Web (Voices That Matter)” by Joshua Porter. I’m only on chapter 4 and already I’ve learned a lot. I’ll be blogging more about this book and some of the insights I’ve gained about today’s web. Later….. now to finish “claiming” my blog

Ok… I’d just get her site up on WordPress now instead of later… being only partially conscious by this time… when I set up her database on my sever (MySQL) I’d tangled up the admin user names (for a second time)… recalling that problem quickly… but not quickly enough… I landed up totally locked out of all my WordPress and TNG installations… OK… Now what?

Well, I’d just go in as one of the users.. oh but my only user had just Editor access… wouldn’t want someone locking me out would I?… No-o-o-o-o… HA!

I ended up having to go into MySQL and changing my husband’s access privledges, making him an adm… that worked… I detangled all the databases… got Mom’s site up and running… got her a pretty new style… called her to let her know I was really sorry about the mess I’d made and what do I find?

My poor Mom is sick as a dog (begs the question of … How sick is the dog?… We don’t have a dog… huh?)… She couldn’t care less about the site right now… Please keep her in your prayers too… that the Lord heal her quickly and protect the health of my niece, who hangs out a lot with her Grandma…. as for me? … I’m going to take a nap… and hope I get over the shame of having destroyed everything I’ve been working on for the last couple of weeks….

Oh and by-the-way… my dearly much-loved 77 year old Mom takes her test for her black belt in Tae Kwon Do in August… this wonderful lady can still take my lights out… I’m very proud of her!

I wish I could yell this in a public square… perhaps wake some folks up to some truth… but my blog is the only soap box I’ve got… so here goes…. because ladies and gentlemen I’m very, very concerned that at some point in time, in the not too distant future, our economy is going to come crashing down around our ears…. worse than it would have had Government not stepped it to bale everybody and his/her brother out. I really want my grandchildren to have a good future and I feel like that is in jeopardy.

First of all… we blithely, with nary a care, send a lot of profits overseas… every time you buy a car from Japan, Korea, France, Germany… any place other than the USA… you are sending the profits to that country… helping their economy to grow and prosper at the expense (pun intended) of your own… it doesn’t matter where the engine is made, those are “costs” not “profits”… costs + profits = sales… and the profits go back to the owners of those companies.

Secondly, we not only send the profits to boost another country’s economy, we give them the jobs too… like having things made in China or Mexico… with our jobless rate what it is today… do we owe it China to give them jobs? Frankly the only good that does is feed the greed of some company owners in our own country…. and some people in OTHER countries.

So where are we?
• We send the profits out of the US
• We send the jobs out of the US…

Where do you think that leaves us?

We should be buying American… and if companies are going to outsource jobs they should pay a hefty tax for it… thus encouraging them to build American too.

Thirdly… if people… you… me… the average Joes… make bad financial decisions… we should suffer the consequences… that doesn’t mean we can’t help each other through tough times…. but it does mean… Government stays out of it… and if we loose that 3,000 sq ft house that we couldn’t really afford anyway… ok, that’s the way it goes.

Why? Because capitalism is a pendulum… it works if (and perhaps only if) it’s allowed to right itself… swing high to the left, then high to the right… finally coming rest in the middle for long periods of time… that doesn’t happen if Government steps in and stops the pendulum when it’s at a high left or right peak… it helps in the short run… but that’s the scary part… that pendulum when Government lets go will continue to swing, perhaps even harder and/or longer than it did before.

Finally, if big business makes bad business decisions… same thing goes… they need not to be in business. That’s the way capitalism works.

Bottom line… buy American, give American jobs, make good personal and business financial decisions, Government keep out.. and with loving kindness help your neighbor when s/he needs it….

Scripture says if your brother is hungry, don’t just pray for him… feed him… if he’s thirsty, don’t just pray for him… give him something to drink.

My two cents….

Nither LoTRO nor any other online game is in and of itself physically addictive. The key phrases here are “in and of itself” and “physically”.

For some thing to be physically addictive it must have a molecular structure and that structure must be similar to some chemical naturally produced by the human body. For example, morphine… it is addictive because it has a molecular structure nearly identical to a chemical naturally produced by you and I. When the body gets what it needs from an outside source it stops producing it and becomes dependent upon the external source of the chemical. Once addicted, when one tries to stop getting it from the external source the body goes through a transition known as withdrawal until it starts producing it again on its own. Some chemicals are more addictive than others, this is always dependent upon the length of time from which first ingested from the external source to when the body stops making the required chemical.

Crack is incredibly addictive because the body immediately stops making the similar chemical. Nicotine is much less addictive since one does not become physically addicted after only 1 cigarette. That is, the body keeps making the requisite chemical until its received the chemical externally over some period of time.

Based on the above description of addiction, it is completely impossible for an online game to be addictive as it does not have a molecular structure.
There are some who would say it is psychologically addicting. However, placing the term “addiction” on this is incorrect and is simply an easy way to escape responsibility, to actually place it (responsibility) on the game as opposed to the gamer. “Addiction” to LoTRO, WoW or any other game is ALWAYS the direct result of a choice. If I choose to play LoTRO with all my free time… some will say it’s an addiction, when in fact, it’s merely my choice.
Someone recently wrote that our (men’s) hearts easily/naturally make idols of things. I think that’s true and that it is an exhibition of our sin nature. When we choose to sit and play LoTRO (and I’ve done this too, so I’m guilty – probably more than most – of this specific sin choice) with all of our hearts, minds, and souls, we are making an idol to replace God… simply stated… choosing to sin – consciously… on purpose… there is no accident here.

Note: If I choose to eat too much or get drunk these too are sins and are examples of making idols of something besides our Father and of making sin choices.

If we do that which the Lord approves with appropriate moderation, keeping it and our Lord in the respective, proper and correct positions in our hearts, it’s fine.

I also believe God is where the people are… if we are online … then He is online too… I think mission fields begin at the end of our noses… wherever that may be… cyberspace included. I think God laid it on the hearts of those who start various online fellowship groups (i.e., guilds) (as the One who works in us to will and to do) so that fellow believers may have online fellowship as well as maintain a witness of Him… to be the fragrance of Christ to the saved and the perishing… online as well as off.

In fact, I actually have experienced more Christian fellowship through involvement in an online Christian guild than I do in real life. This is true because (1) I’m an extreme introvert – happier at the computer than at a gathering, and (2) after 9, 10, or 11 hours of work in a day, I want to come home not go out, even to Church.

It’s time people (AND MYSELF INCLUDED) stop blaming other “things” to avoid responsibility for our free-will choices. We all make our own choices, no one and no “thing” make us do that.

Please note, I absolutely LOVE Russia and everything Russian (especially my darling daughter-in-law and 3 gorgeous grandkids)… I’ve known of Russia my whole life, in fact some of my first books were biographies of Russian nobility. But no matter how much one loves Russia or Russian people, one can not just pack a bag and go to Russia… and Russians like it like that, and I don’t blame them.

One must either:
- have a Russian Visa OR
- be part of a shore excursion.

There’s one exception to the above. There are a couple of local tour operators such as Red October and Denrus with special certification that entitles them to carry passengers without a visa — though we’d have to register and show our ship a copy of our confirmed tour receipt before we could debark.

I contacted one of the above, and found that for slightly more than my entire excursion budget I would get a private car, private driver, and a separate private guide for two whole days. While I would love to do that, as I’m sure I’d get to spend more time in the places that interest me most, with less crowds, I still wanted to see a bit of the other countries on our itinerary too, so we decided not to do that, leaving us with the two options listed above.

When my grandson was here last summer he said, “Grandma, you have to learn Russian so that when you come to Russia to visit me you can talk to me.” I looked at him and said, “But you speak perfect English Darling.” He replied, “Not in Russia Grandma.”

He’s soooooo cute, I, of course adore him…. and I am learning Russian… but I’m not there yet…. and it’s an incredibly language oriented society… not every one there speaks English… so we decided to do the cruise provided excursions in St. Petersburg. Also, a Russian Visa costs roughly $300 per person for all the paperwork, it can cost more if you need everything immediately.

Back to planning… now that we decided where we were going and when, my next step in this process was to use a normal calendar layout with one month per page. It has the days of the week across the top and squares for each day with the numeric date in the corner of the square. I printed out one for August and one for September. I entered “to Europe” on the day we’d fly to Europe and then wrote where we’d be for each day. “Copenhagen”, “Set sail”, “at sea”, “Stockholm”, “Helsinki”, “St. Petersburg”, etc… This approach has several benefits… Primarily, it enabled me to see the big picture. While we want an exciting vacation, we don’t want to be needing a vacation from our vacation upon on our return. (I don’t think that’d go over well at work.)

The next thing I did was create a spread sheet that had the dates across the top, with hours going down the left… on this I then blocked out with color coded blocks where we’d be when. This let me see when I was flying versus when we’d be in Copenhagen, at sea, Helsinki, etc.. This let me have the whole time on one sheet of paper. Having the hours was very helpful, when I started laying out nail appointments, excursions, versus just laying around time.

I really wanted to start thinking about clothes. But, before I could truely lay out clothes, I had to know exactly what type of clothes I’d need and that is totally dependent upon activities…. consider that one does not really lay around the beach on the Baltic in September… well not this Southern belle anyway….. the weather during our time there is on the average 55-60 F….

Me on the other hand… well, I really don’t have a clue… about much of anything… so, I plan things to the nth degree… it’s the Project Manager in me… it’s that part of me that likes being prepared… not having forgotten anything… truthfully though, I sincerely enjoy the anticipation of an event… planning… it helps me… to, well… to anticipate.

For example, I give “teas”… real ones… with tea (of course), roses, savories (finger sandwiches), tea biscuits (like scones) and petit fours (or some other luscious desert)… Part of the fun for me is in the planning… Ordering the roses, selecting the kinds of sandwiches I’ll make… setting a pretty table… and making my guests feel special…. Planning is fun, but seeing a plan come together is even better… when I err, oh I hate that… but when it comes together well… ohhhhhhhhhh… now that truly tickles me.

So… back to my vacation story… we planned… to go to Russia… waited to find the right time… got our leave approved by our bosses… bought our tickets… oh but wait… a wrinkle… the people we were going to see (our son and his family) won’t be there… they’ll be here… now what?

Well, we already had our tickets… couldn’t we… go anyway? But, what would we do there?… Oh, come on… it’s Europe… a whole world away.. that we’ve never seen much of (I’ve only been to Siberia before once, and my husband spent a few years in Germany 30 odd years ago).

Once we started talking about it… it didn’t take us long to realize… here we are on the edge of Senior Citizenry… (when we retire our income becomes… fixed)… and we’ve never seen much of the world, never in our adult lives been anywhere that didn’t involve going to see our kids (we have 5) or other members of our family… that’s what we always did if we went any where… Here’s a unique concept… we could, perhaps, take a trip… just for us… what a selfish thought that is… I’ll just have to get over it and live with myself.

Once we cleared that hurdle… we began investing in Amazon for books on Europe in general, Germany in particular… one of the books on Germany talked about cruises down German rivers… which naturally led to thoughts of cruising…. anywhere that started in Europe… Italy’s in Europe… St. Petersburg’s in Europe… Barcelona’s in Europe… after all, we could either continue our flight to Moscow and proceed from there or we could change the tickets… and when we talked to our travel agent we found that it is more cost effective to change the ticket and pay the fee than to buy additional transportation to some other city… Now the hard part… making a decision… where do we go for this wonderful, only for us, vacation? Italy, Germany, Spain????

We had to reach back to our dreams… dreams we’d had during which we’d experience fleeting “I wishes…” over the years, decades… eons… thoughts of, “oh… I’d like to see that…” So, what is “that”… and exactly what are our options?

The internet…. (William Tell Overture playing in the background) …. to the rescue… research… what’s to see in Germany?… car rentals?… hotels?… gas prices (ouch)!… Do you know a gallon of gas in March cost nearly $8 in Europe? And with our American dollar deflating, it doesn’t go as far as it used to… Quite frankly that’s one of the reasons we like the idea of a cruise… today’s dollar, with no gas… no hotels (except before and after the cruise) and we get to see as much or as little as we’d like.

Tours?.. Land? River? Baltic Sea? Cruises?.. what are our options?… within our timeframe and budget?… Well, we found two…. one 10-day cruise of the Baltic, and one 12-day cruise of the Mediteranean…

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Therefore, God willing… my husband and I will be taking a trip later this year… and God willing… it’ll be the trip of our life time… we plan to go to Europe… we were going to see our son who lives in Siberia, but his plans have changed and he’s coming stateside for a year… that’s a blessing in itself… to be near to him, his wonderful wife, and 3 of our grandchildren… dare I say it??? .. YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

After a great deal of thought and indeed, prayer… we’ve decided to go to Europe anyway… we already had our tickets… while we’d originally planned to bring son & family to meet us and spend a couple of weeks in St. Petersburg, Russia… we really didn’t want to do that without them… so we had to come up with Plan B.

Our time frame is fixed… time off from work scheduled… and one son getting married in California at the start of our vacation… we only have 3 weeks total… Our budget is fixed… we’ve saved for this for awhile… sorry kids… no inheritance

We considered just renting a car and driving around Germany… my Great Grandfather was from Germany and his mother was from Poland…. but we were concerned about the Euro vs the dollar, and the high cost of gas… after some additional research we settled on a cruise of the Baltic….

I’ll be blogging much more about this in the coming days and weeks… the planning process and pictures and stories we upload during our trip. First things first… “God’s will”.. that’s the most important thing…

I don’t want to be outside of His will for me… why?… because He’s got the whole picture… me? … well I just “see through a glass darkly”… and a very small glass at that… His way leads to the least damaging “bumps”… any bumps in that path are meant for my own good (Romans 8:28). And He loves me… MORE… much more… than even I love myself…. He made me… He restored me to a relationship with Him through His own death on the cross… I am His!

He knows the thoughts that he has towards me are for good and not for evil. I can rest and trust in that!

Her whole life wasn’t very long… she served in the Navy and was currently working on her computer science degree… she was very smart, a very hard worker, she loved her job, her family, and her friends… she loved to fish and to cook… she was in her early 30’s… her life so short.

Scripture says, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Hebrews 9:27.

Elaine has met God now… and if she could reach back, what would she say?

It’s real.. God IS real… the judgement is REAL!…. don’t delay…

We don’t know how short life is…. we don’t know when we will see God… She and I talked often of God’s love for her and she knew the truth.

As for those of us who remain… Will our debt towards God be marked “paid” through Jesus’ death on the cross or will we be judged to be “in debt”?

The question really isn’t, “What will you do with Jesus?” rather… it is… “What have you done with Him?”… at least that will be the question when we each as individuals face God.

My heart goes out to Elaine’s family… who are heart broken over the loss of their daughter, sister, aunt, and her friends all of whom really love her.

I’ll miss you Elaine… Goodbye Dear Friend… I won’t forget you!… I’ll look for you on my appointed day…..

The question IS – “What will YOU do with Jesus?”