Get real

Look out! The Bill Gates email hoax is going around again. It's hard to believe anyone with a brain would believe Bill Gates will send $245.00 for each email sent to him.

Since this particular urban legend had died away, or so I thought, I wondered why it had started again. Is it naive people who live under rocks and who just got on the Internet who get wind of it and think, "Wow, I must send this to every man, woman, and child I know along with a request that they send it to every man, woman, etc."

I looked this one up at Urban Legends and saw it started making the rounds in September 1999. Guess it reactivated on its anniversary date.

There are many web sites devoted to debunking hoaxes. I just wish people would use at least a couple of their brain cells to check things out before forwarding.

The letters on my delete key are worn away.

Cranky Sling Words out.

Serenity

We, meaning DH and daughter, can hardly wait for the premiere of Serenity. I hope Joss's movie blows audiences away.

I know all of the fans of Buffy, Angel, and Firefly (also sci fic fans) will be buying tickets. I just hope the rest of the world does too because validation via box office dollars will mean more creative projects from talented Joss Whedon.

So go see Serenity. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll cheer, you'll be on the edge of your seat in suspense. How do I know this? Because Joss and the actors are able to elicit all those emotions. They did it with Firefly, the ill-fated series that Fox doomed to failure with their lackadaisical scheduling and promotion. Based on the trailers I've seen, Serenity is a jewel of mixed genres--action, suspense, comedy, romance--with an appealing hero, a surprising kick butt martial artist, and great fight scenes.

Starts Friday. Sling Words out.

Genetic addiction to all things girly

I must have had one, a lobotomy that is, because I spent the day shoe shopping with my daughter. We were in the eat (junk), drink (caffeine), and be merry (while shopping) mode. The tally? Two pairs of shoes each. Despite other blogging writers who have managed to pare down to a couple of pairs of shoes, I freely admit my love of shoes and purses and clothes and jewelry. Oh my! It must be genetic because my daughter is cursed with the same affection.

What motivates you

I had an interesting conversation with my mom yesterday about fear. We were talking about Hurricane Rita and how frightening it must have been for those trying to evacuate who ran out of gas and were stranded on roadways with no gas, no water, no food, no air conditioning, and night falling.

They say only fear of the dark and fear of falling are genetically encoded in humans. All the other fears, we personally and individually create.

This photograph is of a sculpture created by my daughter Adina when she was a senior in high school and in advanced art. Adina, formerly a commercial artist who now teaches art in high school, selected fear as her focus that year. All art she created interpreted fear in some media. This sculpture won First in state (Texas).

I've often thought this sculpture is particularly illustrative of the destructive power of fear with its cruel, twisted spikes. If you bow to the power of Fear rather than fight it, fear will bore into your soul and eventually destroy you. Writers and other creative souls seem especially prone to fear. Fear of rejection. Fear of failure. Fear of success, whatever you want to call your personal nemesis.

If you suffer from fear, no matter what that fear may be, act in the face of your fear, and you gain power over it instead of letting it rule over you and your life. When fear rules, you lose all that you might otherwise gain.

This is for you, Pat

More of Rita's misdeeds on Mayweather though it doesn't look as if any damage was done to the house itself.

Goodbye, Rita

This photo was the sky above my house last night around seven as seen from the front (west) side of my house.

This photo was taken a few minutes later from the back of my house (northeast corner) and shows the elderly pecan tree which was the source of my anxiety. You can see that's it's tall, but the photo does not show how truly huge the tree is. Its radius is probably 3-4 feet, and its height is 80-90 feet. It's a native pecan tree in an area called Pecan Grove, and it's probably one of the oldest trees in the area.

As most of you know, Rita made landfall at Camerone which is what I predicted a few days ago. So here where I live just southwest of Houston, we had only rain and wind. No damage except for small branches and a small to medium-size hackberry tree which split where the trunk forked. The broken part is lying across the fence and in the neighbor's back yard. Considering we have a multitude of trees, including the sickly hundred year old pecan, this is a miracle in itself.



I feel almost guilty in wanting a tee shirt that says "I survived Rita." With hurricanes, one person's relief is usually another person's misery. Bless those in east Texas and west Louisiana as well as poor old New Orleans who bore the brunt of Rita's force.

We'll start deconstructing the hurricane prep sometime later today. I won't even complain about all the work involved in preparing and in deconstructing. I'm just grateful.

Sling Words out.

Hurricane prep finished

We have done what we could with what we had to make the house ready for the storm.

1. Removed everything from the yard--even the tomato cages. It's all piled in the garage--pot plants, empty flower pots, hoses, garbage cans, etc. Pot plants to big to carry inside are snugged up against the foundation on the lee side of the house (the southwest).

2. A safe room on the southwest side of the house which happens to be our guest room is set up because we have a dying pecan tree that will be vulnerable to the wind. This tree is on the north side of the house and is about a hundred years old. If it goes during the night, we want to all be in the room farthest from it. If it goes, we figure the house will be a total loss. The tree is that big. We just want to be in a position to survive it since we won't see it coming.

3. The tornado room will be the bathroom next to the guest room. It can be closed off so no windows are in the room. It's on the interior of the house. We've placed a blanket and pillow for each person and our emergency bags. A box holding flashlights, digital camera, weather radio, an old AM transistor radio that has seen us through other storms, and extra batteries is in there too.

4. The patio furniture is in the kitchen.

5. Windows are taped. Some windows which are most vulnerable to the wind and wind-driven rain have been covered with plastic in case they break in an effort to protect the furnishings in those rooms.

6. Doors facing the wind side have been sealed on the outside with duct tape.

7. Oil lamps have been filled. Candles and matches placed in every room.

8. One emergency bag for each of us with medication, glasses, and a change of clothes are in the "safe" room.

9. Rolling file boxes are opened next to the file cabinets. If things get dicey, we'll fill these with emergency papers and hope we have the luxury of throwing them in our 4 wheel drive Tahoe if we have to abandon the house.

10. We've filled every pitcher and carafe with water and have three 6 gallon jerry cans also. This will be for drinking if we lose water. Every bathtub is filled. This is for bathing and flushing.

We fully expect to be without power for a few days if not a week. We've got 2 battery boosters for cars that have AC outlets. These will be used to run an electric skillet to cook or heat food. We also have an adaptor for the car that has an AC outlet so if worse comes to worse, we can crank up one of the vehicles, plug into the thingee and have power.

We have 2 refrigerators full of food and ice that we've been bagging for the last few days in addition to gallon zip bags we've filled with water and froze. We also have cases of drinks. Our neighbor across the street has stocked up on whiskey, beer, and wine along with 2 generators, 35 gallons of gas, and other necessities of life.

Everyone in our neighborhood is home. Where we live, there's a levee built around the whole subdivision, and every house is supposedly built to withstand 150 mph winds so just about everyone has stayed.

We have a battery op TV, decks of cards, Uno, and other games, books, etc. So we plan to make the best of a bad situation.

So that's it. Hope all of you make it through okay.

All that's left is praying and waiting.

Sling Words out.