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January
2007 |
James Stabile Monthly Blog
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Owner,
Webmaster: James Stabile |
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In
this blog you will find monthly discussions concerning the issues of
importance and interest to the site's creator, owner and webmaster,
James Stabile. These issues include - Discussion of the Month;
Entertainment; Health, Fitness & Lifestyle; Politics and the
World; Religion & Spiritualism; Technology & Business; and
Too Strange, Weird or Just Funny. Peruse the articles in this blog.
Remember to read the Disclaimer above for the legal
"stuff". Also, please email the webmaster
concerning any programming errors that you may discover on this
site. Thank you for reading my blog and for the opportunity to share
my thoughts with you. |
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Discussion of The Month Happy January 2007! Another new year, where is the time going? Now that question is highly rhetoric. From the beginning of time people have been wondering where's the time going. For me, every month that passes I'm closer to the start of the next phase of my life, my new lifestyle, if you will. I used to say, retirement, but it suddenly dawned on me that people who are younger than me or people who are not looking so forward to it, just don't understand it's significance. People not looking retirement in the face, just don't know what I'm talking about. They may still have years or decades before retirement. Other people who are in that retirement age group but not looking so forward to it may be just plain scared of it. I do know people who are very close to retirement and they seem really afraid of it's eventuality. More succinctly, they do not know what they will do when it happens. These are the kind of people who have worked, worked, worked all of their life. Or should I say, these are the kind of people who know nothing else but work. Some people live to work. Some people have no other interests but to work. Some people almost go crazy when they have even one day off work. Some people want to work all of their life. There is nothing wrong with these types of people, but I am not one of these people. Believe me, I am a great worker. I am conscientious, dependable and reliable on the job, but I look forward to my vacations and my new lifestyle. I have no problem occupying my time during extended vacations and the like. Throughout my 34 and counting years in the work force, I've learned how to enjoy myself and keep busy on my time off. Whether a weekend or a summer vacation, I've learned how to enjoy the simple things in life. I learned that life is more than going to work. Live is more than a to do list. Live is meant to be enjoyed and I will enjoy it, trust me. Entertainment Apocalypto An excellent movie, although violent and very graphic depiction of death, killing and brutal torment. Mel Gibson has another winner, in my humble opinion. The movie depicts the Mayan civilization and tells the story of one warrior's love of wife and family. The movie is suppose to be about the fall of a civilization, the Mayan's, but I think think the movie is more about the value of one heroic man and his commitment to his wife and family. Jaguar Paw, Rudy Youngblood plays the main Mayan character, an extremely brave, committed and dedicated warrior. The Mayan people portrayed were strong, almost superhuman beings, especially Jaguar Paw's very pregnant wife. Not a word of English was spoken in the movie. The English subtitles provided a complete narrative for the movie. The movie must have been good - I sat through it for well over two hours and was completely involved in the movie, English translations and all. Casino Royal Bond, James Bond. Yes, it was a James Bond movie, but a different type of James Bond movie. I think it was more action and dialogue a more real James Bond and less ornate in the babes department. James Bond himself was a little subdued in the love department. Make no mistake, he was still a woman's man in the movie, but being that 007 agent was his main objective. It was highly violent. During the torture scene I flinched more than once. It kind of reminded me of my recent surgery. See the move and you will understand. Christmas shows on TV...Thank God they are over. There was a time, and a time not so long ago, that I loved the TV Christmas shows, movies and specials that aired between Thanksgiving and New Years. This year I just about went crazy with all of those holiday specials. I especially hated the preempting of my favorite shows on The Hallmark Channel this holiday season. I look forward to watching Matlock, Perry Mason and Colombo once again on Sunday afternoons and evenings. Come January 2007 these favorites will be back. At least that's what the Sunday TV section promised a few weeks ago. No matter what my state of affairs might be, I would know that come Sunday afternoon and evening I would be able to find comfort withmy friends Ben, Perry and Lieutenant Colombo (I don't think they ever gave the first name of Colombo). Getting back to the Christmas shows, I did take delight in watching the original, Miracle on 34th Street, a couple of times this year. I really don't mind the holiday shows it's just that they start airing so early in the season and they are repeated so many times. It seems that just at the time that I usually watch an old TV favorite, a seasonal presentation finds it's way on the tube. Saturday night, another night for reminiscing shows, gone at least for the month of December. Don't worry, they all will be back soon enough. XM Satellite radio started playing holiday favorites on a select number of stations right around Thanksgiving. Three or four or maybe a few more, stations played a variety of Christmas genre music 7/24 right up till New Years. At first, as I was driving home home from breakfast on Thanksgiving morning I thought, "How nice". But that soon got old, real old. I guess I've been a person who enjoys the regular, the known, the comfortable. I really don't like holidays or special occurrences, I never have, but this year the feeling approached the max. I guess I like the regular, old routine of daily life because I find comfort and solace in such times. I know what I'm getting, so to speak. In any case, the holidays are over in January and soon I will be looking for something new to do and complaining about the same old thing. Health, Fitness and Lifestyle A team of psychologists have discovered why money doesn't buy happiness. Money changes people. The more money people have, the more important they appear to be to themselves. They may seem simply ignorant to other people, but people who think that they have money seem to be awfully impressed with themselves. People with little money or a moderate amount of money usually are more generous, down to earth and real than people who think they are in the money. By the way, there's no way to determine how much money makes a person change. I don't think it's the amount of money that causes the person to change, rather I think it's the perception of the amount of money of the person with the alleged money. Pizza is not the only take out trade in New York. Pot is joining the ranks of the items that are classified as take out or home delivery in New York. New Yorkers stay in the comfort of their homes, call the local pot supplier and he or she delivers the pot to the person's house. What will they think of next. These customers are getting a little gutsy. Apparently they do not see the danger of not only associating with drug pushers, but letting these thugs know their address. These customers are probably the more well to do New Yorkers, perhaps the same ones who are impressed with their wealth as discussed in the previous section. In any case, drug laws must be strictly enforced in New York and throughout the United States. Drugs are bad and they kill. Pretty simple and elementary, but some people still don't get it. How much weight did you gain over the holidays? Most people usually gain 5 to 10 pounds from Thanksgiving till New Years. Although that is a statistic, it should not exactly be a goal. A person who doesn't gain that additional weight over the holidays is probably pretty much in control of his or her eating habits. Remember it's not just what you eat, it's how much you eat and the level of your daily physical activity. Fitness should be a daily goal of each person. Don't wait for the added weight to appear, be proactive and prevent that weight from showing it's ugly head. The holidays or any special occasion can still be special and enjoyed with a deliberate concern for fitness. What does one do if one has fallen off the wagon and onto the dessert table? The answer, get back on the wagon. If you just must have those delicious, calorie laded desserts, do so and enjoy, but increase you're physical activity or readjust your caloric intake the next day. The biggest mistake one makes when confronted with overeating is ignoring the situation. Be proactive and attack the problem immediately. Enjoy yourself, but do so in a responsible manner over the holidays or any holiday or special occasion. The key words in maintaining fitness are information, realism, moderation, responsibility and encouragement. Get fit, keep fit and live fit. Politics and the World Gerald R. Ford is now the longest living president. In December he past the age of President Reagan when Reagan died. Former President Ford is in his nineties, 93 to be exact, but still going strong. I'm not sure if he plays golf any more, but I bet he tries. He seems to be coherent and engaged in the happening of the day. Ford was the only president not elected to the office of the presidency or vice presidency. As you remember, or don't, Nixon's vice president Spiro T. Agnew resigned the office because of illegal tax evasion or some such thing, Nixon named Ford to be his vice president. The congress approved him and he became vice president. In August 1975, President Nixon resigned from the presidency because of Watergate. Gerald Ford became the 38th president. Nixon and the Watergate era was a dark period for America. Are we going through another dark period in American history? I think so. Although Iraq can not begin to compare to the Vietnam War in terms of casualties, sentiment of the American people and it's destructive derisiveness on the American culture. More news about former President Gerald R. Ford, he died on December 26, 2006. President Ford was the right man at the right time for the United States of America. In my opinion, his role was to restore dignity to the office of President, restore the faith of the American people and to heal the American government. I think he accomplished all of the above. He was given a Profile In Courage Award bestowed by the family of President John F. Kennedy in 2001 for his decision to give a Presidential Pardon to former President Richard M. Nixon for Nixon's part in Watergate, so, America could start the healing process. All day and night of December 27 he was hailed by the news crews of all the major network and cable news stations. American presidents, governmental office holders of the time and current and just about every person even remotely associated with politics or government saluted Ford as a great American and defender of the Constitution. MSNBC's Hardball's host Chris Matthews was the only newscaster to present any real criticism of Gerald Ford. Inappropriate to be sure, but Matthews commented that he wished President Ford would not have pardoned Nixon. Quite in character for Chris Matthews, a relatively pleasant man with a sharp tongue and wit. Matthews has a tendency to inappropriately interject his personal opinions in his discussions with political leaders. This misstep was definitely inappropriate. President Gerald R. Ford's Presidential Pardon of Richard M. Nixon was a profile in courage. He did it for one reason, to put the distraction of the terrible Watergate mess aside so that the American government and the American people could start the healing process and to restore faith, pride and respect back to the White House and to the American culture. President Ford was a human and humane president. He was a good and descent man. He treated people in a respectful and human manner. With Gerald Ford, you got what you saw. He was dedicated to serving the American people initially and primarily in the congress. He did not seek the office of president or vice president. He was the right person at the right time in American History. His centrist conservative views were very much in touch with the views of the American people at that time in history. He was no accidental president, he was the right president. I voted for President Ford in 1976. I had voted for President Nixon in 1972. During the seventies I explored the idea of becoming a centrist Republican. At the time, most Republicans were centrist. The moral right, the extreme moral majority was not eminently associated with the Republican Party. At the time I thought that the party of social conservatism and fiscal responsibility was the possible answer to the American way of life. By the end of the 1980's and into the 1990's up until the 2006 midterm elections, the moral right had invaded and captured the mainstream Republican Party. I'm opposed to extreme conservatism or liberalism, the far right or the far left. In 1980 I returned to the security and succor of the Democratic Party. Faced with the realities of both parties, I decided to go with the party of the middle class, the party of the people, the party of Roosevelt and Kennedy, the Democratic Party. Back to Gerald Ford, he was a centrist Republican and supported social issues that directly opposed the Grand old Party. Choice, a woman's choice was one of those issues that President Ford supported. I believe President Ford was sensitive to individual rights. I think he would be a social liberal in today's American ideology. President Ford was a devoted husband and father. He simply adored his wife, Betty Ford. Betty Ford was quite controversial for the 1970's, but also a breath of fresh, clean air. The president was very close to his wife, they had a fairly tale marriage. The family was strong, even with their problems which they worked hard to overcome. I think that the Ford family was a different type of role model for families at the time. The Ford family was truly American and the President was truly an American. We will miss President Gerald Rudolph Ford. He may have been perceived as "average" by the American people at the time, but in reality he was great. Religion and Spiritualism In the Saturday edition of my local newspaper there is a section on religion. One recent article asked a question concerning the fact that Christians believe that Jesus Christ was both human and God. How could this be possible, they asked. I really don't care about the answer that the Pastor gave, here's my answer. The short answer is, it's possible. The circumstances or the how questions are not important to me. The important thing to me is the fact that I believe it is possible and true. The belief is based on faith. One has faith or one does not have faith. Faith is a gift from God. If one has faith, then he or she believes. If one does not have faith, then he or she will continue to question such truths. To be a Catholic Christian is easy. It takes one gift, the gift of faith. Jesus was human and He was God. It doesn't matter how this was accomplished. It doesn't matter which parts of Jesus was God and which parts were human because you see, Jesus was 100% God and 100% human. Do I fully comprehend this mystery, certainly not, but I have faith that it is true. There are many mysteries in Christianity and more specifically in the Catholic Christian view. These mysteries are accepted as true because of faith. God is a mystery. No one really understands the concept of God, but many of us believe in God's existence because of the gift of faith. In some instances, modern day organized religions have very little to do with the mystery of God. They are more concerned with the mystery of man and the profits man harvests from misguided church people. Faith in God is often times so far removed from the practice of religion. These so called people of God are really more like people more concerned with insincere self-righteousness, misguided notions of brotherly love and erroneous teachings of the one true God. Faith still remains the answer. Christmas 2006 is over, but how do we keep the spirit of Christmas alive all year? Good question. Isn't the spirit of Christmas easy to keep during the month of December? Why is it so hard to keep that spirit throughout the year. Part of the reason is human nature. Did you ever hear the old saying , "Familiarity breeds contempt"? Getting too used to or too comfortable with an event or person or feeling usually makes the event, person or feeling seem old and familiar. That excitement of a new feeling or different feeling is gone when it is experienced too much. We usually look for changes, new ideas, a different way of doing things or a special time of year to become excited about something. When that experience passes, so does the newness and freshness of the experiences. Things in this physical world become old, sometimes really quickly, unless we see these things in a new light. And that is the secret. The spirit of Christmas is not of this physical world. It is of the spiritual world. The spiritual world never gets old. Perhaps to keep the spirit of Christmas alive we must see that spirit in the context of the spiritual world that we all hold special. I think that's how we do it. Make the spirit of Christmas alive and a part of the spiritual world that we yearn for. This is not easy. It must be realized every day. We must strive to perfect it every day. It must be addressed every day of our lives. To put it in simple terms, remember the feeling you get during December and put that feeling in practice in January and each and every month till December rolls around again. It will be hard, but do it. Start each day in awe of the new day. Treat each person whom you come in contact with each day special, the special way you do so well in December. Each day open your heart, home and life to one another just like you do in December. Take all negative, unchristian, selfish feelings that we may feel January through November and depose of them. Get rid of them just as we do in December. It will be hard, but it will be possible to live each and every day of the year with that Christmas spirit. Start with yourself, model the feeling for others and share in the wonder of the spirit each and every day of your life. This may be an impossible task, but we can start. After all, some day, that day when we are called home, we will be called to that spirit. We will be expected to live in that same spirit of Christmas forever. We better give it a chance and try to master that feeling now when we still have the opportunity. Later may be too late. Technology and Business The release Windows Vista is right around the corner. Should you upgrade? If you are running Windows XP, I really don't see the need to upgrade. XP is a fine operating system. It is secure, reliable and stable. It does the job for me. Vista will be the most up to date operating system that Microsoft will have to offer, but will it be tested. There still are some security flaws in the vista system. Microsoft is scurrying to fix those security flaws. It may be wise to wait awhile and let the other computer users test the system, discover the flaws and wait till Microsoft develop fixes for the vulnerability. One thing for sure in the computer game, the game of technology, upgrading is right around the corner, forever. Once you think you've become adept at operating your system, another upgrade will be ready. Upgrading requires money, time and added learning on the users part. So, get off the treadmill. Be content with your current system, as long as it is not too out dated, and enjoy. For the average computer user, Windows 2000 or Windows XP is just fine for their travels down the Information Highway. |
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