Thanksgiving

What a day!
Me, Mom, "Gary -Brother, Laurie - sis-in-law, Dan - nephew , Aubrey - Dan's girlfriend, Andrew - Nephew, Andy - next door neighbor & 3 dogs - Molly, Pockets and Sally. The usual fare for thanksgiving, turkey, ham, ham gravy, dressing, sweet potatoes, cranberries, deviled eggs, green bean casserole, fresh rolls. Makes me full all over again. Oh, I almost forgot, my sister-in-law must have gotten a good deal on her pies, she had chocolate, pecan, apple. If that wasn't enough there was cheesecake and a pan of brownies. Yikes!
As I sat there enjoying the bantering, teasing and the warm comforting sounds of family, I was once again reminded of how blessed me and mine are. We all have a roof over our heads, and none of us have ever known a day of hunger. I am surrounded and held tight by the unconditional love of God, family and friends. We need to quit whining about what I don't have, get on our knees and thank God for the blessings he has bestowed. I have so much to be thankful for, how about you?

barb

Death by Twitter

Are we losing the ability to carry on an intelligent conversation face to face? You know that thing called talking? You remember. . . the words from our brains and are formed and uttered with sound from our mouths. It seems today we are bypassing our mouths for a little tiny keyboard. We have become obsessed and bound to a piece of technology . Don't think so? What on earth would we do if suddenly, without warning the Twitter network stopped? I believe a large number of folks would find themselves isolated and unable to communicate vocally. Their thumbs would cramp from withdrawal. I think these folks would exhibit a lot of the behaviors as someone who is trying to quit smoking. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for technology, but we need to step back and take a look at the importance we've attached on tweeting, because we have become so obsessed that our lives revolve around it.

Friends and Birthdays

I just celebrated my 56th birthday. Yikes!
My best friends, Back row l-r Jenn, Donna, me, Lizzie, front row l-r Sherri, Cheryl, Bern and Deb(not pictured) helped me celebrate in a flurry of Chinese food, way to funny age cards, a powdered donut cake, with yellow frosting that Cheryl made ( I'm not partial to cake, but love powdered donuts), laughter, and most of all an IPOD Nano. Now if I can figure out how to use it :) I just recently got a digital camera and thought I was uptown. But now. . .OMG I feel like I'm now part of the 21st century.
These people know me better than my family, and choose to be my friends anyway. Amid the kids, husbands, moms, jobs and everything else we all deal with, they are always there ready to listen, and help me deal with whatever I might be going through and always help me to see what is really important . I would be lost without them and I want them to know that I thank God for them everyday. . .I love you guys
barb

I Love Barry Manilow

Last night Neil Diamond had a special on tv. Hot August Nights NYC. It has been 40 years since his first Hot August Nights that was in Los Angles. Wow 40 years. . .and Neil, God love him, looked looked like it.

Yes, I know this isn't Neil Diamond, but watching the show made me think about one of my all time favorite entertainers, Mr. Manilow.
I have always loved Barry Manilow and I am not ashamed to admit it. But, alas it seems the time fairy has whacked Barry pretty good too.

It makes me wonder if we will ever again have any great ballad singers when these guys are gone . You know, singers who don't need to have parental advisory on their CD jackets. Singers you can actually understand. Singers who don't have to rely on four letter words. Singers who actually sing.

Maybe its because I see myself getting older, finding it harder and harder to view anything the kids do today as anything other than an irritant. I find that I am starting to understand my Grandfather's logic. . .he believed that velcro would be the downfall of our country. Kids won't have to struggle to learn to tie their shoes so they will think that everything in life should be easy, no sweat. . .hummm

These people are crazy!

My cousin Ian races Sprint cars. His is the black and green in the picture. I love him very much, but he is crazy! These speed machines fly around a dirt oval track upwards of 120 MPH. The saying is sit down, shut up, strap in and always turn to the left. Last Saturday night was a perfect race evening, so we went to Eagle Raceway. It had been many years since I've been to the races. Ian's dad, Monte was racing then. We turned off the highway to the track and the sprints were running their hot laps(practice runs). Just the sound of those engines made my heart beat a little faster. Once we got in, found my aunts and uncles who were there got something to eat, I was ready. Ian did okay, he kept all four wheels on the ground, thank God.

I do love to go and watch the Sprints and Modified run and pray the whole time
Ian is on the track. Of course its exciting, but I found myself Saturday night thinking about my dad and how I would had loved to be able to watch one more race with him. He loved racing, as a matter of fact when I was little, every Sunday evening was spent at Sunset Speedway.
I had forgotten how much I love the smell of hot anit-freeze and being pelted with dirt.

Passwords

There isn't anything on this earth that reduce an intelligent adult into a quivering, drooling nincompoop faster than passwords. And I don't mean the game! I have 11 different passwords to get into 11 different applications at work. In the last 4 days I have had to try, try being the optimum word here, to change them. SORRY, YOU HAVE USED THAT FORM OF WORD WITHIN THE LAST 27 TIMES, PLEASE SELECT AGAIN. Arrrgh! I have already used the pets names you could think of. My nephews, cousins, TV people, real and imagined. All the Food Network folks, Old AOL passwords, Cars etc. You get the drift. So today I had to give up and call the Help(less) Desk. I asked them why this has to be so difficult, I mean come on, we sell groceries, not uranium. The conversation with Eric went like this. . .
"This is Eric, how may I help you."
"This is Barb Hunt in Omaha, I need a couple of my passwords reset."
"Passwords?"
"Yes, the one for Biceps and Main."
"Your passwords are disabled."
(It was like I had walked into the middle of a bad comedy routine.)
"I know. that is why I'm calling. I want you to reset them so I can start over with my selections."
"Ah, I can help you with that. What is your Biceps sign-on and password."
"Eric my password is disabled."
"Yes, but I need it to sign in as you."
"Eric, my password is disabled."
"In order for me to mirror your session I need what your password was."
"Okay, my sign on is 107340 any my password is disibgh01"
"Thank you, it will just take a minute. . .this password doesn't work."
"Eric, That is why I am calling you!"
"Oh, here I can assign you one."
"I need two , I have two sessions down."
" Hold for a minute, I need to find out if I can give you two right now or not. I think I can only give you one per call. You might have to call back."
"WHAT?!"
Silence. . .
"Barb, I just talked to Kim and she said it would be okay. Just a moment, I have to get you two secure passwords. We are required to keep track of all passwords we hand out. Comapny security is at stake."
"Great, what are they?"
'Now you will be prompted to change your password when you get signed in."
"Got it Eric what are they?"
"Okay, for Biceps use Summer and for Main use Spring."
"Wow those are secret, no one would ever think of those."
Go figure. My new passwords were inspired by my new friend on the help(less) desk Eric.
Dumbshit and Lamebrain

My favorite place, where is yours?

Rocky Mountain National Park, Bear Lake to be exact. Talk about inspiration! This is without a doubt my favorite place on this earth. God is here. I know, God is everywhere, but just sitting here and being quiet, as the wind skims the surface of the lake runs up the shore and surrounds me, I can here Him call my name. I don't know why, but I know that I know, that I know. God talks to all of us if we are willing to listen. Where is your favorite place? The ocean, the desert? That special place in your house? Maybe its in your garden. Wherever it is, its special to you because that is where God has called you to be near to Him. Whether you listen or not is entirely up to you. It boggles my mind still to think that the Creator of all that is and all that will ever be, wants to be a part of my life and me to be a part of His.

barb