Sunday

The Pickster And Her New Toy

Do What You Dream

"don't ever waste your days not doing what you dream to do"

Store Front Window In West Hollywood
Peace Out!

Ode to the Push Pin Fugitive (with apologies to Dr. Seuss)

Hide them in a bag
it ain't no gag.

Hide them in a box
I won't get caught.

Push Pins here, Push Pins there.
Push Pins hidden everywhere.

Hoard them, Hoard them, while you can
Hide them, hide them, from 'the man'.

The whole Push Pin repossession debacle has got me thinking --- am I the only person in the office who has surpassed the legal limit of push pins? What exactly is the legal limit?!?

One of my colleagues has a bulletin board that is completely bare. Nothing posted on it, not one push pin to be found anywhere in her office. Now there is a model employee. Something for me to aspire to.

I have been doing some undercover investigation - and it turns out I am not the only offender out there. In fact, the pictures below show separate stashes of pins ... all in the SAME office. I won't be naming any names - but there is a push pin fugitive among us.

Full Box Left Out in Plain Sight To Taunt Me


Another Stash Hidden Away In A Bag

Making Friends Of Enemies

"Isn't it cheaper and smarter to make friends out of potential enemies than to defend yourself against them later?"

- Bono

Compassion

It is not a bending toward the underprivileged from a privileged position; it is not a reaching out from on high to those who are less fortunate below; it is not a gesture of sympathy or pity for those who fail to make it in the upward pull. On the contrary, compassion means going directly to those people and places where suffering is most acute and building a home there. God's compassion is total, absolute, unconditional and without reservation. It is compassion of the one who keeps going to the most forgotten corners of the world, and who cannot rest as long as he knows that there is still human beings with tears in their eyes.

Henri J.M. Nouwen
From Compassion A Reflection on Christian Life

Found Treasure

Click here for additional pictures.
To enlarge pictures below - click on them.

Path Of Fire Through A Canyon


Our Team Sifting Away


Found Treasure (Box of Coins In The Foreground)


Flag Flies Amongst The Remains



The Team


Saturday morning I headed off to Rancho Bernardo to join one of the fire recovery teams. On my way I picked up an older gentleman from church. He was eager to volunteer - but doesn't drive on the freeway anymore. We chatted on our way on up the 15 and in a matter of moments we made a profound connection. It turns out my new found friend is a fellow Canadian. Although he has lived in the States for over 40 years, he was born and raised in Saskatchewan! I lit up right away and started talking 'Canadian'. S- could celebrate with me the recent triumph of the Canadian dollar and reminisce about the days when a trip home to Canada meant a shopping spree with everything 30% off! He also informed me of the dismal track record of the Hamilton Tiger Cats this season.

In the Taco Bell parking lot, we met up with about 50 other volunteers and received our team assignments. Last time I was sifting with several teenage girls. They were so unbelievably patient. Searching for and painstakingly piecing together pieces of shattered china figurines. This time I had a car load of teenage boys. Teenage boys, being teenage boys, - were full of enthusiasm and all sorts of helpful driving suggestions. One boy is a member of the AVID program at school --helping with the fire recovery will help fulfill his community service requirements. Besides, they said, helping with the recovery is something they wanted to do.

We were only a block from Taco Bell when we turned down a street and saw the shocking site of a grove or black scorched trees. All of a sudden the car went silent. Seeing and experiencing the impacts of a natural disaster or different then watching them on TV. One of the boys started to share his story. He lives in Escondido. When the fires broke out, he was evacuated and went to stay at his step parent's place in South County. They stayed up around the clock watching the fire coverage on TV. They kept watching the lists of streets and home numbers scroll by showing the homes that had been lost -worried that they would see their home on the list. The fire was in their neighbourhood a few blocks away. One of the fires in South County started to spread and he had to evacuate a second time. This time he went and stayed with a school friend. The boy that had come along with him today to help sift through the ashes.

Our team was assigned to help a family that had been on vacation in Las Vegas when the fires struck. They never had a chance to save any of their valuables. The man had been an art collector. Unfortunately, none of the art work survived. Very early on we started to find coins. They were in the area of the children's bedrooms. They were so blackened we aren't sure if it was the contents of a kid's penny jar or an actual coin collection. We were just glad to find something that had survived. We sifted for hours and hours and retrieved a mound of coins!

Remembrance Day

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

— John McCrae

Click here for an explanation of the symbols of Remembrance Day.



Lest We Forget

The Marlboro Marine

• Part 1
  
• Part 2
  
• Epilogue

Thought For The Day

"the secret of life is enjoying the passage of time”

-- James Taylor

Got Ash?

During my walk today I came across this sign on the side of the road.

Courage

“Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow.”

-- Mary Anne Radmacher

Push Pin Fund

A grassroots movement has sprung up to replace my recently repossessed push pins (click here for the history of the fund).

Seems like every time I turn around another quarter is taped to the white board or someone has dumped their penny collection into the marker tray.


The Growing Fund to Replace My Push Pins

The fund will be used to buy some creative and fun pin replacements. Below are just a few of the great options I have found. What do you think? Let me know via the comment section!

• Magic Push Pins
  
• Pewter Push Pins
  
• Designer Push Pins
  
• Gardening Push Pins
  

Life's A Campaign?

You are suggesting that even if no one believes a word you say, you can be successful. That seems like a book about sadness.

Sometimes, it seems like you are saying, "Do what you think will win, not do what you think is right".

There is nothing in this book about being good or being competent.

I found it a recipe for sadness. It strikes me as fundamentally wrong. It strikes me as a self-hurt book.

I am not trashing your book. I am trashing your philosophy of life.

- Jon Stewart about Chris Matthews' new book Life's A Campaign

Thought For The Day

Fear rarely leads to the best in moral thinking and behaviour.

Red Sky At Night

Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.
Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning

About 10:30 pm tonight I walked down to the mail box to post a letter. I looked up and was greeted by this amazing red sky!

Being Present

What really counts is that in moments of pain and suffering someone stays with us. More important than any particular action or word of advice is the simple presence of someone who cares.

In a time so filled with methods and techniques designed to change people, to influence their behaviour, and to make them do new things and think new thoughts, we have lost the simple but difficult gift of being present to each other.

We have forgotten that it is often in "useless", unpretentious, humble presence to each other that we feel consolation and comfort. Simply being with someone is difficult because it asks of us that we share in the other's vulnerability ...

These reflections offer only a glimpse of what we mean when we say that God is a God-with-us, a God who came to share our lives in solidarity. It does not mean that God solves our problems, shows us the way out of our confusion, or offers answers for our many questions. He might do all that, but His solidarity consists of the fact that he is willing to enter with us into our problems, confusions and questions.

The mystery of God's love is not that he takes our pains away, but that He first wants to share them with us.

The truly good news is that God is not a distant God, a God to be feared and avoided, a God of revenge, but a God who is moved by our pains and participates in the fullness of the human struggle.

--Henri Nouwen excerpts from Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life

Peace

Reverse 911

A few people have forwarded this to me, so I thought I would share the link for signing up for the Reverse 911 alert system.

Residents who live in San Diego County, which includes all 18 cities and the unincorporated areas of the County, are encouraged to register their cell phones, VOIP phones and e-mail addresses for emergency notifications by visiting www.alertssandiego.org commonly known as the Reverse 911 system .

AlertSanDiego will provide emergency alerts to your cell phone and e-mail address including evacuation notices. This is in addition to the land line calls received by those who have land line phones.

NOTE: the website did not work with my Safari Browser on the Mac. It did, however, work o.k. with Firefox on the Mac.

Freeway Madness

Tonight's Headline

I-5 snarled after discovery of pipe bomb

5:01 p.m. November 2, 2007
SAN DIEGO – Sheriff's bomb-arson investigators detonated a pipe bomb that was found in a backpack on the side of Interstate 5 near La Jolla Village Drive on Friday. The investigation caused a traffic nightmare as authorities closed the freeway in both directions for nearly four hours.



Like we didn't have enough mayhem on the freeways last week with the fires and half a million people evacuating. Today, Friday afternoon, the 5 Freeway was closed in both directions.

I was meeting up with a friend at CPK for lunch. Along the way down the freeway I notice a car parked on the side of the road and several people scampering along the embankment - clearly looking for something in the ice-plant. There was someone on the top of the embankment calling down to them, co-ordinating the effort.

It registered as odd, but I didn't think much of it. On to more important things like catching up with a friend and enjoying my favourite Thai Crunch Salad.

We ran a bit late on lunch and both of us needed to scramble to make meetings at work. So we quickly said good-bye and then battled the traffic getting out of the parking lot. Odd to be so backed up, but it was Friday lunch. The real fun came when I went to hop on the freeway to zip the 10 minutes back to work. Both on ramps (North and South) had police cruisers blocking them. The freeway itself was completely barren. Not one car! ?! Perplexed, I took surface streets up to the next on ramp. Closed again. By this time I am in massive grid lock of confused people trying to figure options. The traffic report had just played, but unfortunately all I was able to decipher was that the 5 freeway was closed. I listen to only Spanish Language radio in the car. It is great for my Spanish studies, but bad for getting a clear grasp of what is going on in the world. I decided to take surface streets, my normal bike route along the coast. It took me over an hour to make the normal 10 minute trip back up to work.

Once I got back to my office I pulled up the local news to see what was up (click here for the arcticle). A pipe bomb was found on the embankment where I had seen folks searching earlier - just a few minutes from my home and by the on/off ramps I use daily. A little too close to home.

There has been way too much excitement the last few weeks. Here is hoping for a quiet weekend!

Live Life With Intention

Walk to the edge.
Listen hard.
Laugh.
Practice welleness.
Play with abandon.
Continue to learn.
Appreciate your friends.
Choose with no regret.
Do what you love.
Live as if this is all there is.
-- Marry Anne Radmacher