The World Through My Eyes

On Sunday I found out that one of my co-workers passed away. He was 39 years old and is survived by his wife and future child. I must say into you hands oh Lord...please take his soul.

Recently my wife and I bought a new devotional book that we could read as a family. One such devotion was called "What will spill out of you?" Joking with my wife I told her that I am able to control myself, and how wrong was I. God today showed me that I am no were near where I need to be. The devotional asked a question...

What comes spilling out when I'm frustrated, made fun of, inconvenienced, or hurt? Is my natural response to be angry or defensive? Or am I find tht I can respond with joy, selflessness patience, and kindness? (source)

At work I found myself many times being inconvenienced and frustrated and instead of responding with patience and kindness, I found myself lashing out with impatience and becoming angry. It is funny to see how God sometimes just shows you your fault, as they say pride goes before the fall. Just goes to show that I need to pray for more humility.

This is a picture that I took while at my work. Its a potted plant that is on its last legs. I had to take the picture of the leaf because of the design in it. Its said that God's in the details.

"I just love the idea of working in a bikini," said Morales, who said she is now reduced to working at a bikini bar in the Westchester town of Ossining. "It was my dream job." [Source]

What can I say here...my dream job...I pray that when my daughter becomes an adult that she will have more aspirations then to work at a restaurant as a bikini waitress. So I guess it would be my goal in life to make sure that my daughter doesn't grow up wanting to do this. But who am I to say this isn't a true dream. It just seems to me that someone would have higher dreams then this.

For those of you who don't know this story. The women to the right here was trying to get a job at Times Square's Hawaiian Tropic Zone. As you can see she is qualified to work in this restaurant. Yet the Hawaiian Tropic zone would not give her the position.

"We will not hire you because you have a speech problem," a Hawaiian Tropic Zone manager told Morales, according to her million-dollar Manhattan Supreme Court discrimination lawsuit. "You have a Latin accent. You don't speak white."

Discrimination was the sole reason she didn't get a job, says Morales, a 21-year-old Upper West Sider whose father is Puerto Rican and mother is Dominican. On repeated trips to the restaurant, waitresses would tell her they were hiring, she said. But managers would always tell her there were no openings. Finally, in a June phone call overheard by her mother, managers named "Rick" and "Frank" spilled the truth, the lawsuit alleges. "You are ghetto," Frank allegedly told her. Morales concedes she has a Latin accent. But as a US citizen - New York-born and raised - she says her English is fine. Besides, it had been her dream, she says, to carry plates of the restaurant's signature crispy-chicken lollipops and hung beef while wearing a bikini and sarong. [source]

So here is to you, I hope you succeed at your dreams.

This is a camera that I purchased a while back on ebay for 35 dollars, it included 20 flash bulbs and the flash attachment. This camera is pretty cool. I takes great pictures, as you can see below. Sadly it can get expensive to both develop and digitize the negatives. But I have to say it is fun shooting with film. Makes you think twice before shooting and making sure your shot is set up correctly. Enjoy the photos below, they are of the State Capitol here in Lansing.

Well the baby is sleeping and all is quite in the house. Just a quick entry to say Happy New Year! I hope there are many more to come!

So today I spent the evening playing the Wii with my grandmother who is 78 years old. I was told that she loves to play bowling, so I brought my Wii over so that we could play a few games. Little did I know she is a pro at this. After the first two strikes I knew I was in for a lesson. The first game went by with her bowling a 157 and myself doing terrible with a 139. Now up to this point my mother and grandmother both told me that she had only played the Wii 4 or 5 times, but I think they have a racket going; needless to say I had to come out in the second game strong. I did so respectfully with a strike, only to have her answer with her own. She continued to keep up with me the second game until I ecked a small lead and ended with a 158 and her a 137. Sadly I was unable to play a tie breaker as my baby was fussing and needed to go home (...good timing). So tomorrow will be the decider of who is the bowling champ. The funny thing was when I was walking out the door, she told me that "don't worry I'll beat you tomorrow." So I have to say it is on grandma! Also to my aunt...how much time have you really given her on the Wii? I have to say that she is either really lucky or just darn good. Till tomorrow!

Okay here is one of those classic WTF moments. Apparently a couple has named their child Adolf Hitler.

A US bakery has refused to decorate a three-year-old's birthday cake with his name - Adolf Hitler Campbell. The trouble, the New Jersey shop said, was that it was "inappropriate" to put such a name on the cake. But the little boy's father, Heath Campbell, said it was unfair of ShopRite supermarket to turn down his request. Heath Campbell said he named his son after Adolf Hitler because he liked the name and because "no one else in the world would have that name". [Source]

The New Jersey couple Heath and Deborah Campbell, 35, also have a daughter named JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell. Mr Campbell, who has swastikas decorating the family home and believes he is related to a former member of the SS, agrees that the Nazi’s were not a highly charitable bunch: “Yeah, they (Nazis) were bad people back then. But my kids are little. They’re not going to grow up like that.” [Source]

I fell sorry for this kid, you know he is going to have issues growing up. I mean look at his parents. You would think parents would put more thought into what they named their child, but when you have a few screws loose it should be expected. Now granted, the Parents have given their son a unique name that nobody else has, yet there is a reason why nobody has used it. Sometimes it make me wonder what goes through a persons mind. The funny thing is in the end the family took their cake order to Wal-Mart who made the cake for them.

There are somethings that companies should just never attempt. This is one such attempt, the Mexican December Issue of Playboy put on over their models as the Virgin Mary. The cover was released with model Maria Florencia Onori posing as the virgin. Its headline reads in Spanish: "We adore you, Mary." Now some times it makes me wonder why or who thought this would be a good idea. Needless to say the Catholics are up in arms about this.
Playboy Enterprises Inc., based in Chicago, released a statement Friday explaining that the company did not approve the cover because the Mexican version of the magazine is published by a licensee, according to Reuters. "While Playboy Mexico never meant for the cover or images to offend anyone, we recognize that it has created offense, and we as well as Playboy Mexico offer our sincerest apologies," the company said. [Source]
I'm not sure what to think, the photos were well done, but when does "artistic" value infringe on tradition. I guess it will be interesting to see where this goes. Below is another photo from the magazine, this one doesn't show anything, but it may be NSFW, so be careful.

Nothing like having to take your daughter to the doctors to get her vacations done. It has been one of the most heart wrenching things that I have had to do so far. The look on her face when the stuck her with the needle was so sad. Its a good thing she has a short memory. Though I think it is worse on mommy and daddy than it is on her.

I feel bad for this dad, nothing like getting a text message from your daughter letting you know she lost her virginity. My thoughts go out to you!

Can't believe it, the snow is back, its nice to see it, but I know give it by the end of Christmas and we will be tired of it. So until then enjoy the Snow!

So Friday started out just like any other day with me getting up and checking up on the baby. The only problem was I got out of the house late this day. So I am rushing to work trying to mind the speed limits while watching out for cops. So when I am about 2 miles from work I hit a straight away with a passing zone. The car in front of me a older Ford truck which is blue and silver was going 25 mph, the speed limit is 35. So I decided to pass him, while I was passing him, he decides to try to speed up, but by that time I had already passed him and was on my way. Now for some reason this made him mad. He tried to speed up and tailgate me but decided against it and slow back down to his original 25 mph. So thinking nothing of it I continue on to work only to see that what looked like him following me. I didn't have time to make sure so I got my car parked and rushed into the office. Once in the office I was regaling my co-worker of the story of this guy when we both looked out the window and saw him passing in the parking lot.
So to that guy who followed me to work...do you not have a life, or are you some crazy idiot that has all the time in the world to follow people? All I can say is, your an idiot...don't stalk me...! So this is how my day started. Work didn't go much better since I was taking a half day, the time just crept by.
Now I was suppose to travel out of state to visit family, but with our baby not feeling well we decided to postpone the trip. Instead we decided to go to the Apple Store in Novi to get my Macbook for my graduate program that I am starting in January. The trip down to Novi was miserable since the weather was so bleak. The roads were wet and it was raining just enough to put a mist on the highway so that you could not see that well. But everything went fine and we got to Novi okay.
I decided since it was raining to let my wife and the baby out of the car up by the store front so they wouldn't have to walk through the rain, once they got out I went searching for a parking spot. As I was searching I came up on someone who looked like they were waiting for a parking spot, so I pulled up behind them to wait for them to park. No sooner had I gotten behind this person, that they then decided to throw their car into reverse slamming onto the gas, only to hit my car!
So to the woman who hit my car...thank you for hitting my car! Thank you for not paying attention to what you are doing and ramming my car with your stupid Lexus. My poor Chevy cried today because of your blatant disregard to anybody other than yourself.
Thank the Dear Lord above that my wife and the baby were not in the car. So I got out and checked the car it was fine no marks, bumps, dents, scratches, nothing. After that I quickly found a parking spot ran into the mall got my computer and hurried home so that I would not have any other chance of running into Murphy's law. At least the macbook made my day better.

So I got a couple of new cameras about two weeks ago and I finally got a chance to have the pictures developed, yes I know, I said developed. These "new" cameras are actually some pretty old camera one is a Kodak Vigilant Junior that was in WW2 and the other is a Kodak Duaflex 2. I would have to say the Vigilant is my favorite because of the looks and feel of it, though the pictures I took with it were not as good as the Duaflex. But it was a great experience taking pictures with film. This day in age we have gotten use to digital, with it's instant gratification of seeing the photo right after it is taken. With film you have to think about your shot and really have to think of composition. Below are a few of the photos that I took with these cameras.
The photo above was taken with the Duaflex 2 and the shot came out pretty nice.
This shot was taken with the Vigilant, and as you can see there is a little blurring on the out side edges. It was a fun experence to shoot with these old cameras and only solidified my wanting to shoot more with these. The only downside would be the fact that they take film, and film needs to be developed, and with that it takes money. Plus the fact that I don't have a way to digitize the negatives so I have to rely on the prints. But with all that to the side it was still a lot of fun to shoot with these. You wouldn't believe the looks that you get when you are using an old folder syle camea. So in this day and age of digital everything, its nice to; every once and a while, to just step back in time and use these cameras.

At last weeks game, the Jacksonville Jaguar Cheerleaders dressed up as the Ghostbusters. I have to say I prefer these Ghostbusters to the original ones.

Well tomorrow is the day, it's time to go back to the polls and decide who will lead this country. So just a quick reminder, remember to vote tomorrow, as the title of Gil Elvgren pin-up, "It's Up To You!" Just remember everybody has a voice, just remember to use it!

So I had a chance to go the the MSU - Wisconsin game today, and I have to say it was a great game. I came down to the last play of the game to decide the winner. It was great to see Swenson kicking a 44-yard field goal with 7 seconds left in the game which made it 25 to 24. The game was a little slow at first and Wisconsin dominated the whole game, but MSU was able to squeak by by just a one point win over them. All I have to say is it was a great game and a great day with both MSU winning and U-of-M losing.

Well it looks like everybody is trying to cash in on the election this year, even video game companies. EA today announced that, as part of an upcoming update for Mercenaries 2, both Sarah Palin and Barack Obama will be made available as playable characters. Palin in her trademark red jacket and hair, Obama in his trademark...suit. This is a little crazy, but pretty darn funny if you ask me. I like watching Palin kick butt in the video below. Take a look.

So after watching this, do you think people are going to far with this, or is this all in good fun? I guess it good in a sense if it get people out there to vote for what they believe in, but I guess we will see what happens.

So with the cold weather here and Halloween about to pass I can help but fell like Christmas is right around the corner. A time filled with family and friends, a time for traditions, a time for celebration. I always get excited about this time. Now especially since our baby girl is here. So for you all I know this is early, but hey, it's my blog. Here's to the Christmas season coming up.

Side note: Roger I know that you will enjoy this. I hope this makes you day at work a little more enjoyable.