A Beautiful Book

A colleague of mine has just published her first book, Operation Beautiful. I was so excited to grab a copy that I found my hands pressed to my mouth in anticipation as the sales associate led me to the self help section. I must have looked like a freak, but I was lucky to grab the last one. Yes!

Seeing her book gave me such happiness because I too know the dream… the dream of seeing your book on the shelf.

So if you’re reading this, Caitlin Boyle, congratulations on achieving this awesome milestone. You have earned it!

Smoking: Now Cooler Than Ever!

Despite all the negativity surrounding cigarettes and the act of smoking them, people are still puffing their lungs away. Why?

The answer is simple: Smoking is still cool.

Since the dawn of long hair and road trips to California, smoking has been a staple in the movement against The Man. And The Man hates smoking now more than ever. It’s a simple philosophy: Do what The Man does not approve!

So by smoking, one is demonstrating that they simply do not give a [crap] about the system which has successfully made it taboo to smoke – and smoke regular cigarettes! I’m not even referring to that wacky stuff.

Today smoking is banned from restaurants, bars and even certain places outside. There is now such a crackdown on smoking that if someone is going to take a “stand” and “fight the system,” it is almost mandatory to smoke.

In short, smoking is quickly becoming the ultimate act against The Man. Perhaps one day smoking cigarettes will be just as bad as doing heroin.

Bite Me

Now is a fangtastic time to be a vampire in America!

I know it’s been over a month since my last post, but I’ve been caught up in the biggest blood sucking buzz since the West Nile Virus! Unless you’ve been living like a vampire bat in a cave within the last year, you are surely well aware of the “rise” of the living dead. Vampires have gone POP and there’s no stopping them from sucking your wallet dry!

You know what I’m talking about – True Twilight. The girls go crazy for Edward Compton, the lovable yet mysterious vamp whose heart no longer beats yet belongs to Sookie Swan. They met in Forks, Louisiana and plan to get married. But will their love be accepted by Jacob Black and Jason Stackhouse? And what about the threat posed by the red-headed queen, Victoria? She wants to sell Sookie’s blood! Hopefully Sam and Jacob can turn into wolves and attack the queen when she least expects it.

Only time will tell. We’ll just have to watch the third season movie.

Lost in the Library

I think I was taught how to use the library about a dozen or so times throughout my life. And I think three of those instances happened while in college.

I know it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. The library sure has changed over the years. Remember the Dewey Decimal System? (Is that system still in use?) Now, everything’s on a server somewhere and I can only imagine how it sent librarians into a tizzy around the late 90s.

Now that I’m no longer in school, I hardly visit the library. But I was given the opportunity to visit a library in Stowe, Ohio a couple of weeks ago with our friends Kristen, Scott and their four kids. It was a double-promo day. Not only was it “Free Comic Book Saturday” it was also “Walk Around the Parking Lot to Look and Touch a Bunch of Different Vehicles Day.” It was cool to see the kids playing around the parked UPS truck, fire truck, police car and book mobile.

After the kids finished playing with the vehicles, we took them into the library and to the children’s section upstairs to see a bunch of books on display featuring cars, trucks and vehicles that had faces, eyes and human challenges. It was well done!

I think we spent a couple hours in that section piecing together puzzles, playing with the kids and discovering a whole other world. It was a lot of fun – at least for me. It reminded me of the days I used to spend downstairs in the Carnegie Library in Beechview. Those were some of the best times of my life. It was Christmas with every visit.

But after that afternoon with the kids in Stowe, I realized the library is more than just a place to borrow books and do research. It’s a community center. It’s a family center.

The trucks and cars were long gone by the time we left, but we left with a new appreciation for the library and its services. I’m going to make it a point to promote the library more often. And I know a few Pittsburgh neighborhood libraries have been struggling lately, but we as individuals must do what we can to support the library and its programs because a town without a library is… well, it’s not really a town at all.

My First Time

I have to admit – I was nervous at first. But I knew it was something I just had to experience. Sure, I felt uncomfortable doing it in front of everyone, but this was a good opportunity… especially since it was free.

I would occasionally see other people doing it. Sometimes it was in a shopping mall or in a storefront. Yes, it was odd to see people doing it in public (especially since I thought it was more of a personal thing), but I was still very curious. “What does it feel like?” I would ask myself.

Well, I never thought my first time would happen while I was at work. But like I said, it was free and, well, the opportunity was a no-brainer.

I always wanted a girl; don’t ask why. Perhaps I would feel better if a woman did it. I think a guy would be too awkward for me. Luckily, a girl was there – and she was well-experience. Sure, my view was obstructed half the time, but it felt really good. It lasted for about 15 minutes and I left feeling very relaxed.

I think the chair massage helped my lower back. Before I left the Health Fair, the chiropractor’s assistants welcomed me to a free screening at the office. They even gave me a pen! (How did they know I like to write?) :-)

A Modest Man

Tonight I visited a funeral home to pay respect to my best friend’s dad who passed away Saturday night following a rollercoaster battle for his health.

Unfortunately I didn’t know the man very well. But he held himself as a modest man with simple tastes. A family man; the kind of man you don’t see much of anymore.

And although Albert Sr. lived simply, he did not simply live. He helped bring three children into the world and raised them as best he could – which is more than I can say for half of the “baby daddies” out there today.

We can learn a lot from Al Sr. Sometimes being “an ordinary man” makes one extraordinary difference.

My Challenge

It's been almost a month since I've posted anything, but it's been very difficult to sit in front of the computer while the weather has been so nice.

But stay tuned because there is more on the way!

Thanks for reading :-)