Let's Not Teach "Tolerance" For Differences, Let's Teach "Respect" and "Understanding"

Tolerance -- a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one's own; freedom from bigotry.

This is the dictionary definition of "tolerance." However, I don't feel that's what the word really means. To me, tolerance means something you do to "put up" with something until it goes away or stops bothering you. It has a negative connotation.

Tolerance does not say to me "Let's accept everyone as they are and let them live their lives." It says "Fine, there are people who do different things and believe different things than I do, and I can't do anything about it even though I'm trying my hardest, so I'll have to just put up with it but I don't have to like it or treat them like people."

Since when should we be teaching our children to just "tolerate" others? That's one of the major problems with the world. If people taught their children to be "respectful" and "understanding" of others, the world would be better off.

Respect -- esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability

Understanding -- mental process of a person who comprehends; comprehension; personal interpretation

Instead of just shutting people out because they are different from us in some way, why don't we show them respect as human beings who are free to make their own decisions about what they want to do with their lives. Why don't we strive to learn at least a little bit about them and take it in as a learning experience instead of having to be at odds with them just because they think/act/look differently than you?

Human beings should strive to respect other people's choices and understand that they may be different, how they are different, and respect that there is difference between everyone and if we are to make this a better place, learn from each others' differences instead of letting it drive a wedge between us all!

If something someone does doesn't have anything to do with you, doesn't harm you, doesn't even involve you, why should you care what they do or try to stop them just because it's different from what you do?

I guess this is mainly right now directed at gay marriage and those who are opposing it. But as far as I'm concerned, this applies to ANYONE who has problems with anyone else because of skin color, religion, race, personal appearances, etc. Don't judge a book by its cover. I know that's such an old phrase and it may be overused, but it's so true at the same time.

Why Are Military Families So Poor?

I just saw a Sears commercial online with Ty Pennington (of Extreme Makeover fame) announcing that some military families were having to worry about if their child or children would have a warm winter coat to wear while their parent was overseas fighting for this country.

WHY on earth should military families, who give SO much, especially the Marines and Army branches, have to worry about not being able to provide for their families? Being former military myself, and then being a stay-at-home mom married to a military husband, I can tell you that even with the housing allowance we didn't have much to live off of...and we only had one child.

My heart goes out to these families and I implore the government...Why aren't the members of our armed forces, who are sacrificing months and years of their time, and sometimes their own lives, being paid a fair wage?

NFL Stars Legally Changing Their Names

Wow. Yet another NFL star has changed his name. It is Buccaneers player Greg White who has chosen "Stylez G. White" as his new name.

Bengals' Chad Johnson was bad enough with Chad "Ocho Cinco." I wonder what his wife thinks about that? I would sure be pissed.

Well, at least Stylez G. is a whole lot better than Ocho Cinco. It sounds like a rapper name.

Biggest Loser...Another Reality TV Disappointment

I was curious, because I saw that one girl on the latest season lost 110 lbs...how long is the actual diet/exercise plan for these people?

I did some research, and the program is a 4 1/2 month long one. AND the contestants exercise for 4-6 hours a day. Very nice when you're on a show and apparently you don't have a job or any commitments other than working out. However I doubt that many people with actual lives and children and jobs and other commitments can do it.

While it's still a great, inspiring show, it's a little disappointing to let people think that over a few week's time span the contestants lose 50-100lbs.

Watching Your Favorite Shows Online

I love Prison Break. We have opted not to have cable at our house, so I watch it on www.fox.com. The only thing I can see slowly happening is that it's becoming just like TV. When I first started watching, oh, probably about 6 months to a year ago, there was one commercial, 15-30 seconds long. Well, now the commercial breaks have extended to include 2 or 3 commercials at 30-62 seconds each. Come on, broadcast stations! This is not supposed to be television on the computer. This is supposed to be watching your favorite shows with minimal commercials.

And also, my LEAST favorite broadcaster website is www.cbs.com. They have almost NO full episodes to watch, only 2 minute clips; and if they do, it's only 1 or 2. On ABC and FOX they let you watch ALL episodes of all shows in full length.

Why cheat us CBS? And why keep adding to the length of commercials FOX and ABC?

WowWee brand robotic toys...a ripoff

We bought our son the WowWee Flytech Dragonfly for his birthday. We followed all directions on how to plug the thing in and charge it and...nothing. Went back and checked directions again and re-plugged to charge and...nothing again. We even had a neighbor who is an engineer look at it and HE said it wasn't working. I went onto the WowWee website and sent an email to customer service.

Here is what I wrote: "Hello. I purchased this toy at the end of October and gave it to my son for his birthday present at the end of November. We followed the directions exactly, put the batteries in the remote, plugged the charger from the dragonfly (in the off position) into the remote and let it charge for 20 minutes. When we tried to turn the dragonfly on and turned the controller on, the light on the controller came on but nothing happened with the dragonfly. It didn't move, fly, or anything and no sensor lights came on. It basically doesn't work. I would like a replacement or a refund."

A whole 5 days later, here is the reply I got: "I am sorry you are having a hard time with your dragonfly. Please make sure the following information below is accurate:
-Using a new pair of alkaline batteries
-The cord from the remote is plugged into the Dragonfly properly
-Remote is turned ON
-Dragonfly is turned OFF to charge

Please advise if anything differs.


Sincerely,
WowWee Customer Service"

What the fuck? I believe that's what I told them I ALREADY did in the email I sent to them. How shitty is it that I can't even get customer service from them?

So today I emailed them back and said "Yeah... that's basically what I said I already did in my email to you. I went back and tried everything again...just in case and still...nothing. Can I please have a refund or replacement now?"

Red, red wine

Ah, the buzz of red wine... It's a wonderful thing, and makes life a little easier. "Please don't taake... my redd wine awway..." Goodnight everybody!

The dreaded Holdiay party with coworkers

While we're on the topic of Christmas, don't you sometimes hate the "office" holiday party? My work group typically goes out for a luncheon gathering to commiserate, relax, and celebrate the season. If it could only be that simple I wouldn't be about to rant... First off, there are always those individuals who can't make up their minds about what to order until the very last minute, then complain about what they got. Then, there are those who groan that the selected restaurant is too expensive, and "who picked this place anyway?" Now comes the jostling for seat selection at said restaurant. There is an unspoken pecking order, of course, and everyone has their buddies they wish to surround themselves with. God forbid you get stuck next to the office loser, the office jerk, the one-who-never-bathes, or the thick-accented immigrant with whom your eyes glaze over every time they open their mouth. And it always figures that the last guy to arrive manages to get the best seat at the table, and he usually fits into one of the dreaded 4 categories! So much for arriving early. Do not allow a seat next to you to remain unfilled for that very reason! Now you better hope that you what you ordered isn't the yummiest dish of all or you will have everyone commenting on your food and asking how good it is, falling just short of asking to taste it (trust me, the expectation is there.) Oh, and last but not least is the ball-cap guy. The guy who always wears a cap because of his balding pate. He does not remove his hat in the restaurant because he's too embarrassed to show his bald head in front of his coworkers. So instead, we get to be affronted by his lack of manners and the sight of his cap while we're eating. (Make this guy the 5th category of people you don't want to get stuck next to... although if he's next to you at least you don't have to look at him, you can look down at your plate or the person across the table from you). Ah, the holidays... aren't they grand?

What Christmas should really be all about

It's that time of year when consumers are being inundated with ads and commercials about what to buy for all the special people in your life for Christmas. Why has this become what the "holidays" are all about? The original reason for honoring this Christian celebration is all but lost in mass consumerism. Whether you ascribe to Christian beliefs or not, shouldn't we be more concerned with showing concern and compassion for our fellow man during this season and not perpetuating the vicious cycle of debt, greed, and one-upmanship? We should be doing ourselves and others a favour by spending this time reflecting on the past year and being thankful for what and who we have in our lives, and contemplate the next year with how to make this world better through our words, actions, and attitudes.

Twilight -- My Movie Review

I saw the movie. I have always been infatuated with vampires since I first saw Interview With a Vampire. I thought that for being aimed at tweens, the film was excellent! I have to admit I haven't read the books, but this might prompt me to do so when I have a spare moment. I have seen a lot of bad reviews on Twilight, but if it made its targeted audience happy and they love it, then they did their job. I, from my 28-year-old perspective, didn't think it was too bad myself. I really liked it and I would see the sequel(s) for sure. I thought the love story inside the vampire story was terribly romantic. What girl doesn't want someone to want her so bad? It was very sexy even for a teen movie. I loved it!

Batman: The Dark Knight -- My Movie Review

FINALLY saw the movie. Okay, maybe I'm just not a big Batman fan. I started watching the first movie a long time ago and I just couldn't get past the first 40 minutes because it was boring. The Dark Knight didn't really hold my interest and I was very excited about the hype with Heath Ledger as the Joker before I saw the movie. Now, Heath Ledger did play a very insane and scary Joker, I'll give the movie that. The rest of the acting seemed sub-par and I didn't really understand the story line with the money and all and it never seemed like it got solved. I liked the introduction of Two-Face. I didn't like the way Christian Bale's voice changed when he became Batman. It was actually a bit annoying. My take on who the "dark knight" is that it was actually Harvey Dent. I know everyone was trying to say it was Batman or the Joker. But if you were really paying attention, they called him the city's knight in shining armor or something like that because he was cutting back on crime. Then when he was burned after the accident, the Joker told him he could be a dark knight. Well, anyways, that's my take on it. I feel cheated because all this time I was thinking this was a phenomenal movie. Not so much anymore. I like the Spiderman series better.

$167 for gas today

I paid $1.67 for gas today! I got 12 gallons for that amount. Amazing! I can't wait until it goes below $1.00 again! Oh yes, it will.

O.J. Simpson sentenced to 15 years in prison

That's what he gets. Yes, I believe he is guilty of killing Nicole Simpson. Yes, I believe he should have gotten life in prison or the death penalty the first time around. Yes, I know this trial has nothing to do with his other trial. Yes, I think he tried to pull a stunt because, after all, he got away with murder, why not see what else he could get away with? And you know what O.J.? You got caught red-handed.

Perhaps they should have him share a jail cell with Scott Peterson. They have a lot in common.

I find it very interesting that prisoners have a system of honor and it is what it is. Justice is and will be served.

Don't the police have better things to do?

Yesterday I was in a Circle K parking lot when 2 bicycle police officers went up to 2 either homeless guys or very poor guys (my bet is that they're homeless though). I heard the police tell them to empty their pockets. Well, one guy pulls out a very small bag of weed. So the police went back to the bicycle to get a manila envelope and has the guy put it in there and I didn't stay any longer, but I know they confiscated the bag.

Come on you guys! Don't you have better things to do than randomly search homeless guys for weed, when out of all the things they DON'T have in the world, they have managed to get something that will get them through and you take it away!

Merry Christmas.

Thoughts on The Secret and Abraham-Hicks...

The radio station I listen to (93.7 KRQ) does Christmas wish, where they provide a needy person/family with presents, furniture, etc.

ALL of these people receiving the gifts have said they were really praying for something to happen. To me, that proves that when you really really are thinking about things you want, they come to you.

Deviated Septum

I am pretty convinced that I have a deviated septum. This would explain the trouble I have breathing out of my left nostril ALL the time. I can even feel my septum running off to the left side. I have decided to go to a doctor in the near future and have the quick surgery procedure to fix it(septoplasty) so I can breathe!!! I'll keep you posted as to what happens. No, it's not getting a nose job. It shouldn't alter the way my nose looks at all.

Here's a little description:

Not that I care but, Lindsay Lohan...

Couldn't you have picked at least a semi-attractive girlfriend if you were going to become a lesbian?

I LOVE My Gym!

So there's always this one guy at the gym...a very muscular Mexican guy with a ponytail, a perfect goatee, and just finer than fine. I can't figure him out though. He never looks at ANYBODY, and when he does talk to people, it's always guys. Is he gay? Is he straight? Do I care? Nope. The few times I have walked past him or vice verca, he smells like baby powder and most recently (yesterday) I had the pleasure of being on the elliptical trainer next to him and he smelled like baby powder and Herbal Essences. Then, there's another very tall cute black guy with a fro and he's very muscular as well. I LOVE my gym!

p.s. ALL the guys who work there are hot too! (Gold's Gym downtown)

The Floor Mat At Work

EVERY day I straighten that thing out, and then by the time I get here the next day...it's all crooked and pushed up next to the shelving unit! How? Why? All we do is walk over it, not drag our feet over it!

Thanksgiving

Well, the Thanksgiving rush is over. We made a nice dinner at home (together!) and were visited by my husband's cousin and her friend. All in all, it was a pretty lazy few days. I took my son to a birthday party on "Black Friday" and that was about all we did. I FINALLY got to take a nap on Saturday...well all three of us did. It was soooo nice. To end the day, we ventured to the Tucson Mall and were pleasantly surprised that it wasn't all that crowded. We mostly window shopped and just got out of the house. Our son did get some new shoes though because his feet are growing! My husband picked him out some cute black and white old school Nikes. Nice.

Next year I'm getting a tofurky for me, darn it.

Since when has the gym become a teenage hookup/flirt hangout?

So I was at the gym today on the elliptical trainer and these 2 girls who had to be all of 15-17 years old walked in. One had a little tiny sport bra and pants on with a huge, long belly button "ring" ornament in. First of all, you look like you're 12 and you have no kind of body, so you're not cute, no one is checking you out, and this isn't a fucking playground or amusement park. Second of all, they were acting all stupid and goofy and PLAYING around on the elliptical trainers.

My biggest pet peeve at the gym is people who walk around and try and look cute (ok, I guess that narrows it down to just women, little girls in this case) and DON'T do any real exercising. It's not a meat market. Well, maybe it is if you act adult and you happen to meet someone there. But grow up little kids and realize that people actually work out here. That's why it's a gym. It's not a pickup joint.

Beyonce's Single Ladies performed as you have never seen it before!

I happened across this guy's video.




...I'm not sure if I should give him props for learning all the dance moves and say he probably dances better than me, or laugh and be grossed out by his leotard outfit and his hairy back!

10 Reasons to Pardon a Turkey This Thanksgiving

Did Sarah Palin's recent interview in front of a turkey-slaughter operation almost cause you to lose your lunch? If so, you're not alone. Even conservative pundit Joe Scarborough says he may well skip the bird this year. With Thanksgiving upon us, here without further ado are PETA's top 10 reasons to pardon a turkey this holiday season:

10. If you wouldn't eat your cat, you shouldn't eat a turkey.
As poultry scientist Tom Savage says, "I've always viewed turkeys as smart animals with personality and character, and keen awareness of their surroundings. The 'dumb' tag simply doesn't fit." They're as interesting and have personalities every bit as developed as those of any dog or cat.

When they're not forced to live on filthy factory farms, turkeys spend their days caring for their young, building nests, foraging for food, taking dust baths, preening themselves, and roosting high in trees. These social, playful birds relish having their feathers stroked and like to chirp, cluck, and gobble along to their favorite tunes.

9. Factory farms deny turkeys everything that is natural and important to them.
Ben Franklin called turkeys "true American originals." He had tremendous respect for their resourcefulness, agility, and beauty. In nature, turkeys can fly 55 miles an hour, run 25 miles an hour, and live up to four years. Yet turkeys raised for food are killed when they are only 5 or 6 months old. During their short lives, they will be denied even the simplest pleasures, such as running, building nests, and raising their young.

8. Turkey consumption might kill you.
Turkey flesh is brimming with fat and cholesterol. Just one homemade patty of ground, cooked turkey meat contains a whopping 244 mg of cholesterol, and half of its calories come from fat. Turkey flesh is also frequently tainted with salmonella, campylobacter bacteria, and other contaminants. And a vegan meal won't leave you sprawled on the couch, belt buckle undone, barely able to move.

7. You may stave off bird flu apocalypse.
Current factory-farm conditions are breeding grounds for disease. Turkeys are drugged and bred to grow so quickly that many become crippled and die from dehydration. Cooking meat should kill the bird flu virus, but it can be left behind on cutting boards and utensils and spread through something else you're eating.

6. Don't support their crack habit.
Dosing turkeys with antibiotics to stimulate their growth and to keep them alive in filthy, disease-ridden conditions that would otherwise kill them poses even more risks for people who eat them. Leading health organizations—including the World Health Organization, the American Medical Association, and the American Public Health Association—have warned that the factory farming industry is possibly creating long-term risks to human health through the spread of antibiotic-resistant supergerms. That's why the use of drugs to promote growth in animals used for food has been banned for many years in Europe.

5. There are healthy, humane alternatives.
Everyone can give thanks for animal-friendly holiday meals such as Tofurky, Celebration Roast, and Garden Protein's new Veggie Turkey Breast With Wild Rice and Cranberry Stuffing. PETA's scrumptious holiday recipes will please every palate and make it easier to give up the giblets.

4. Eating birds supports cruelty to animals.
When the time comes for slaughter, turkeys are thrown into transport trucks. At the slaughterhouse, they are hung upside-down and their heads are dragged through an electrified "stunning tank," which immobilizes them but does not kill them. Many birds dodge the tank and are still conscious when their throats are cut. If the knife fails to properly cut the birds' throats, the birds are scalded to death in the defeathering tanks.

3. Turkey consumption is bad for the environment.
Turkeys and other animals raised for food produce 130 times as much excrement as the entire human population—all without the benefit of waste-treatment systems. There are no federal guidelines to regulate how factory farms treat, store, and dispose of the trillions of pounds of concentrated, untreated animal excrement that they produce each year.

2. Turkey farming contributes to human starvation.
Turkeys have to be fed grains, soy, oats, and corn that could otherwise be fed to human beings. Only a fraction of the calories fed to a turkey are turned into meat calories. While there is ample and justified moral indignation about the diversion of 100 million tons of grain for biofuels, more than seven times as much (760 million tons) is fed to farmed animals so that people can eat meat. Is the diversion of crops to our cars a moral issue? Yes, but it's about one-eighth the issue that meat-eating is.

And the number one reason to give the birds a break:

1. Factory-farmed turkeys have nothing to be thankful for.
On factory farms, turkeys live for months in sheds where they are packed so tightly that flapping a wing or stretching a leg is nearly impossible. They stand mired in waste; urine and ammonia fumes burn their eyes and lungs. To keep the birds from killing one another in these crowded conditions, parts of the turkeys' toes and beaks are cut off, as are the males' snoods (the flap of skin under the chin). All this is done without any pain relievers.

A PETA investigator recently went undercover at a massive turkey-breeding facility in West Virginia and documented workers stomping on turkeys, punching them, beating them with pipes and boards, and twisting their necks repeatedly. One worker even bragged about shoving a broomstick down a turkey's throat because the bird had pecked at him. Our previous investigations show that such gratuitous abuse is the norm on turkey farms.

Check out VegCooking.com for tasty alternatives that will allow the turkeys to give thanks this Holiday season along with you and your family.

Happy eating!

Posted by Bruce Friedrich

Watch more videos at PETA.org

Positive Thinking/Law of Attraction Quote of the Day

“Whatever we expect with confidence
becomes our own self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Brian Tracy

ADHD at work again!

This morning I left my cell phone at home, on the arm of the couch...again. I always seem to run out without at least one thing every morning. Well, at least I brought my lunch and didn't leave it all packed and ready to go on the counter!

Introductory Blog

This is my first blog on Blogger. I kind of wanted to keep an online diary separate of my other home pages. Here I will post daily (or as close as I can come to that) entries of different things that have happened to me that day, and my opinions and observations of any and everything. Be warned! (I know the sign on the last page checked to see that you're 18 or older.) Sometimes you may just come across something that's TMI.

I'm not fake, I call it how I see it, and you can agree, disagree, or just laugh your ass off. Welcome to the world of me.