On Sunday We Have Beefcake

“We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” Ancient Native American Proverb

The picture is a gift for the fans of this Journal who like John Barrowman as much as I do. Enjoy. ;-)

I am waiting for my hosting services update in the next couple of days and then I will be moving my website over to its new home. I bought the domain site www.artbymichelewilson.com and we are now adding the feature which will allow me to put my website there. It will have a place holder of my own in a day or so (currently godaddy is doing that for me). I am doing a rework of the site to make the art the main page and then the rest of the webs with the recipes, poetry, cats, and writings will link to that. My plan is to have it all up and operational by the end of next week.

Today however episodes of either the Captain Jack stories in Doctor Who or Torchwood will be playing as I finish the scarf. The hands go on automatic while knitting so the eyes can watch eye candy.

Customer Service?

“In divine friendship there is ever increasing respect; each one thinks only the highest welfare of the other.” Paramahansa Yogananda

“When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways: either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find inner strength.” Dalai Lama

My big brother, “Who were you reaming out Sis?”

“Sprint.” If for no other reason then Customer Service hates me because I will ream them out if they mess up on my Mom’s accounts like they did here. She had spent three days with incompetents before they finally admitted they had put her payment request in wrong, she wasn’t past due, etc. I pull up the account on line to see it still is a mess. Upshot, in writing, they are crediting her account for two months of “Customer Service” and please, please, please call your daughter off.

Any more Customer Service is a contradiction in terms. Or as Shakespeare put it, “A tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing.” And yes I am well aware of the fact that is Macbeth and he was talking about something else, after all I have a degree in theater. However the quote is still appropriate because companies these days talk about service, outsource to India (like I really believe the AOL tech with the heavy accent is called Fiona) and they read back to you on scripts. However if you make enough noise they will do something, if for no other reason then to get you off the line. You shouldn’t have to ream them out to get service. Companies are nothing without their customers. They will cease to exist. In these hard economic times you have to take care of your customer’s needs because we can’t afford to give good money to shoddy products.

So one more crisis solved. It seems for the last nine years since we lost my Dad that my role has been to fix things that he use to fix. My older brother can’t get Army back pay? I fix. My younger brother can’t get his Social Security Disability? I fix. He needs to get diabetic supplies with little money? I fix. My older brother needs a job where he has benefits? I fix. J.C. Penny, Sprint, shoddy contractors? I fix. I don’t mind doing it but some days like today I wish I could get someone to fix for me. This headache, someone make it go away.

The picture is called Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Still Playing Around With This Thing

“We must learn that truth may be expressed in a thousand ways, each one yet be true.” Swami Vivekananda

“When you die you go alone, and the only light to accompany you derives from the spiritual practice or positive acts you have done.” Dalai Lama

Will the clown who put 15 days with 100 hours each into this week please leave. What a rotten week at work. I really need to find another job. I am so sick of the pettiness at that place.

One of my pet peeves is hatred and people who incite others to act in hateful manners. There has been a lot of attention paid recently to the McCain/Palin attempts to incite their followers by making hate comments about Barak Obama palling around with terrorists. I mean the nerve of the guy for being 8 years old when Ayers was a Weatherman and the kid probably wanted to go out and play rather then trying to stop him. Eight year olds are so irresponsible aren’t they? Obama served on a school board with Ayers. He put the welfare of children first. He didn’t pick the board he was a member of and the chance to do something to help underprivileged children was more important then making a grandstand gesture. Obama has denounced the violence and terrorism that Ayers espoused in those days. He has denounced the racism and hate mongering of his former pastor Jeremiah Wright. Palin said that Obama didn’t walk out of the sermons. The fact that he wasn’t there when those sermons were made does make it a little difficult to walkout on them.

What are McCain and Palin afraid of? Maybe the fact that Clinton left office with a surplus and us not engaged in wars and Bush has destroyed that surplus, gotten us involved in wars that can not be won, and the economy is tanking big time. They can’t defend the Republican record so they are resorting to hate mongering because they have no plan to help us at all. Health care crisis? Their solution is to tax our health insurance and give the money to the insurance companies. When you have no plan and can’t defend eight years of ruining our economy and jeopardizing our safety and the world’s opinion of us then I guess hate mongering is all you have left. Truly pathetic.

I’ve fiddled a bit with the layout of this blog and will probably do more later. Now I’m going to grab some supper and settle down with those knitting needles and watch Stargate Atlantis. Nothing like science fiction to get my sense of balance back and destress from a stressful week.

The Dalai Lama is recovering from surgery and I will definitely be keeping that good man in my prayers.

The picture is called Sunset Seas.

Winding Down the Week

“When restraint and courtesy are added to strength, the latter becomes irresistible.” Mahatma Gandhi

“Human affection is the foundation of proper development.” Dalai Lama

I need to get back to writing this blog on a more frequent basis. The major problem has been a persistent infection in the inner ears that ended with me collapsing at work and in the Emergency Room last week. Two months of constant pain is getting me down. But be that as it may, I still want to get more done and said here.

Readers may notice that I usually preface the blog with quotes from Eastern philosophy. Even though I was raised as Catholic I still find myself drawn to the East. I go to church mainly to keep my mother company. She is a very devote Catholic. My own faith in God is strong but I happen to be of the view that all religions are valid and we all see the same God from different angles. I have a real problem when religions insist that they are the only true ways of seeing God.

One of the people I really admire is my niece’s new husband. He is a Presbyterian minister and married my niece and adopted her three children as his own. He has a great sense of humor and does incredible sermons. He is also a Doctor Who fan which goes a long way with brownies points in this geek's life.

I try to be as open minded as I can. I have many friends that cross about every line you can think of: straight, gay, bi, Christian, Jewish, Atheist, Buddhist, artists, can’t draw a straight line with a ruler, you name it and I probably know someone who embraces it.

As my little brother has been known to remark I am a child of the sixties and am still a left wing hippie according to him. And yes I am a huge Barak Obama supporter. I guess my little brother stills love me even though he is just as huge of a McCain supporter. After all he did send me "The Audacity of Hope". Of course it was addressed to "you left wing hippie you." I’m also a big kid who never plans to grown up. I’m a huge science fiction fan and will always be one. And as much as I love it Heroes is giving me a huge headache trying to figure out this season. Okay if we promise not to whine that it was boring last season can we tie a few plot twists together and make a little sense this year guys?

I like my heroes in the science fiction world and with only 32 more rows to go on the scarf I will be putting in both Doctor Who and Torchwood this weekend to finish up. The Doctor and Captain Jack, yeah if you are going to have heroes make them cute. ;-)

The picture is called The Stars Go On Forever.

One Down

"A great tailor cuts little." Tao Te Ching

"Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other." Dalai Lama

Okay I have a new home for the blog. One down. I still need to get the website moved. I am thinking of getting my own domain name and then I can go ahead and set the art up to sell.

For those who have followed me over here from AOL hope you like the new home. For those of you who are discovering this blog from the new site welcome.

Expect a lot of geek over here. After all I took the Geek Test and scored Super Geek with the comment "I would write this in Vulcan but you would correct my grammar." ;-)

The picture is called Jade's Dragon because everyone should have their own dragon.

I Need Your Help ASAP

"You should not lose hope. You should be optimistic, and have self-confidence. In our own example, in spite of overwhelming challenges, we never lost our confidence.' Dalai Lama

AOL is shutting down their Journals and Web Pages as of October 31st. No warning or loyalty at to their users.

I live in a small Midwest town and we are going to Comcast high speed internet. They say I can log onto any carrier with it. I need three things.

1. Where is the best place to move this blog to? I have everything backed up on my computer so I can move the entire thing. It is in Microsoft Word so that is a consideration in ease of uploading. I want a stable place that get reasonable readership.

2. Where is the best place to move my Web Site too? This is backed up on and done in Microsoft Front Page 2000. This is a really big graphics intensive site. Again I'm looking for ease of transferring it over, reasonable readership, and large enough to continue to upgrade and add new images as I do them.

3. Who is a good internet carrier that I can switch over to? I am not planning on styling forever in this little burg and will probably end up in North Carolina where my niece and her family resides. I want a carrier that is dependable and that I can get locally (Central Indiana) at the moment.

Any help you can provide so that I get everything moved over as soon as possible in order to but a placer here in time for people to know where I went to. Thanks to all of you.

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Listen to the Quiet

"When anger rises, think of the consequences." Confucius

"People who call themselves religious without basic human values like compassion, they are not really religious people." Dalai Lama

I was actually getting ready to write this column yesterday when I came across the news about the passing of Paul Newman. I find it incredibly sad that he is no longer with us. As a theater major I was attracted to him because of his acting. I think a lot of Hollywood never got pass those blue eyes of his to realize that the man was a major acting talent. My favorite of his movies though will always be The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Newman and Robert Redford had to be the ultimate buddy actors. They were so perfect together.

A lot of young people today really only know Paul Newman because of his food. His Sesame-Ginger Dressing is one of my absolute favorites and I use it as a marinade in addition to a salad dressing. Paul Newman gave millions in charity to help others. He was a political activist and a human activist. He is someone who put his money to work helping others. He was an extraordinary human being and will be missed.

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