What a great day to be a new Tampa Bay Rays fan!

Oh the joy! Came home from several appointments and realized the game was on. Joined late in the game as Tampa Bay trailed 7-4.

7th goes by, 8th goes by, Tribe doesn't score in the 9th. Then HOLY COW!!! DH Jason Bartlett opened the frame with a double off Edward Mujica and Eric Hinske followed suit to load up the bags. The Rays' residential walk-off king, Gabe Gross, launched an unbelievable rocket over the right-field fence, to even the score at 7.

OK, even though we were at 0 outs, heading for extra innings, right?

NO! First Aki beats out a throw to first on an single. Then Ben Z is walked! Still no one out! Here comes one of the nice guys, Carlos Pena.

Oh my gosh, HE goes deep! It's outta here! The Rays top the Tribe, breaking their curse, taking 5 out of 6 at home with a 6 run rally in the bottom of the 9th before heading to the left coast!

Faith and the Economy

Yesterday all the money questions seemed too much to bear. Turned down for a loan by the credit union, paycheck too small and obligations too big, landlord unreachable in our ongoing negotiations, not sure how I would pay the rent when it is settled.

It would seem too much for a person going cold turkey off holistic anti-depressants because of unexpected mood swings. Depression has no relation to faith level. Sometimes the chemistry just gets mixed up and you need help.

But I saw myself reacting in very uncustomary ways to minor situations. So I just put the herbal meds away.

I have spoken about exploring orthodoxy. Well for several nights now my bedtime prayers have been repeating the sign of the cross with specific prayers at each juncture. I have gone to sleep very peacefully and woken ready to meet the day. I repeated this practice last night in spite of the stressors that were getting my acid pump going because I was listening to the wrong voices.

This morning...my landlord will take partial rent payment...I get to stay where I am at a lower rent (instead of moving to a cheaper place to absorb the new flat fee water bill)...the credit union came through with a tiny loan....so there is room to breath once more.

Does God always answer immediately? No. But he does hear our heart cries and he does understand our pain, loneliness, joys and sorrows. He created this celestial ball and each of us, and he is not some distance celestial observer. If we allow Him, He will walk so closely beside us that all we can see is His covering shadow. He will only do that upon our express invitation. He will not intrude or force Himself.

Blessings on your week.

Nonsense and No Cents

Here were economic headlines for Friday.....on what planet does any of this balance? Or do any good for all the folks in the great middle economy with salaries in the 25K-45K? We can't get aid because we earn "too much", our futures and credit are being destroyed and yet our congress goes on vacation.
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New York Times
Jobless Rate Climbs to 5.7% as 51,000 Jobs Lost in July

By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM
Published: August 2, 2008

The nation’s employers eliminated 51,000 jobs in July, the seventh consecutive contraction in the labor market, as the unemployment rate reached a four-year high, signs that the pressure on business owners and consumers was likely to continue. (more)

Exxon’s Second-Quarter Earnings Set a Record

By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
Published: August 1, 2008
HOUSTON — Exxon Mobil reported the best quarterly profit ever for a corporation on Thursday, beating its own record, but investors sold off shares as oil and natural gas prices resumed their recent decline. (more)

Tampa Tribune

Stores Join Students In Dreading Back-To-School Season

By JACOB SCHNEIDER The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - In seven years of selling school supplies, Traci Torres cannot remember a back-to-school shopping season shaping up as gloomy as this one.
"Since last January or February, people are, instead of spending money on supplies ... using it to live," said Torres, manager at AOE Artworld, an art supply store in Tampa. "They're buying supplies only as needed. They're not coming in with a class list and saying we need everything on the list." (more)

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As a teacher who is struggling economically like many others, I am having to think VERY carefully about every penny I spend for my classroom. Yes, if you didn't know we pour much of our salaries back into "our kids" education. There just won't be much to pour this year.

Joys of Moving - Aargh!

Well, I have been absent this week due to the fact that I am moving this weekend. My stuff...and that's what our possessions are....has spent more time in boxes and in moving vans in the last 10 years than they have being lived with. You would think they would know the routine by heart and just jump into the boxes! But alas...some human involvement is still required.

You would think that a move 120 yards across the parking lot in my apartment complex would be easy. But to make it easy I would have to get rid of a lot of my professional, Bible study, historical and leisure books, boxes of office supplies, boxes of sheet music....and I can't do that. Someday I WILL have a piano again. The books are my friends. They have been a constant when everything else is changing around me.

So...the living room is done (BIG book job!), office is 2/3 of the way there, kitchen, bedroom and bath will be carried over in car loads. Then there is just stuff...lamps, pillows, small furniture pieces.

Could I live without a lot of it? Probably. There is nothing expensive...but also nothing anyone else would want :o) So I just keep hauling it around and setting up camp in new places to meet the challenges our economy presents.

This is the this is (I think) the 13th move in 20 years. Maybe a tent is in order?

News Flash! Actually just updates on previous posts :o)

(Originally published 7/26 on my old site)

My little personal ad - Highly recommended during the JMac-Bobama prez elect battle - political potpourri at FOXNews!!! On TV or Online

A dear friend used to define these time gaps as OBE overcome by events....I think that applies to two-thirds of my life now! Anyway, sorry for the delay in getting something new up.

This week has been a blur. First a follow-up on the TV post. The USB TV tuner I purchased, OnAir GT from Autumnwave (http://www.autumnwave.com/) , worked beautifully. I got ABC, CBS and some local channels crystal clear on my laptop with no connection to cable at all. However a lot of what I watch now is on Fox, Bravo and USA, and those are not on board yet. This site, AntennaWeb.org, lets you know what channels you should be able to get and it shows Fox coming on board after the Feb conversion to digital. Found out that although I am trying to watch less TV I am not ready to give it up wholesale. Its hard to do that when you live alone :o)

So I returned the unit for now and will track the changes on the antenna site to see how useful this might be after the conversion. My hope is to receive the TV on my laptop and simply use my TV's as monitors. In the mean time, DISH Network has a nice special on right now...DVR for two TV's for just 49.99 (200 channels) includind lots of music and the NFL Network. With Brighthouse I have to pay separately for the one DVR I have.

Regarding the post on spiritual seeking... I plan to visit St John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church this Sunday and just see what I learn. I am big about just stepping out of my comfort zone and walking where I feel I am being led.



This is the plan for the waterfront ball park they want to build in St Pete! Now that would be a great day at the ball game.

Becoming a Tampa Bay Rays fan....YEP! Went to a game this week and they just seem like the caliber of team and the types of players I can care about. Great play by Longo last night!! Add a couple of timely home runs and the save by Percival and it's a wrap! Not sorry to see KC lose at all. Kazmir's pitching to night...should be a good one!!

TV or not TV? Now that's a deep question.

(Originally published 7/25 on my old site)

My little personal ad - Highly recommended during the JMac-Bobama prez elect battle - political potpourri at FOXNews!!! On TV or Online

I mentioned in a previous post that I am giving up my cable TV. There are reasons beyond economic that I've decided to do that.

All my adult life, TV has been a 1-2 hour evening treat, if that. A few special shows, a movie or sports event that I was particularly interested in, that was about the sum total of my viewing. I have been a life long reader and would much rather immerse myself in the imaginary realm an author creates.

Then they created Reality TV!! I am actually a literate intelligent person. In my younger years I was a soap opera fan because I enjoyed the characters...and on mine they hardly ever changed...just got older and married someone else...especially on The Young and the Restless. I also loved all the variety shows, from (click the links for videos :o) Ed Sullivan, to Carol Burnett, to Sonny and Cher.

So Reality TV somewhat fills the void left by both the soap operas and the variety shows. I watch the ones where some form of talent or expertise is involved (Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, American Idol) or where they are challenged by chance...such as on The Amazing Race. I get to care about a character and watch them perform and compete! The problem with these shows is that if you miss them, or DVR and don't have time to watch that night, its hard to talk to anyone the next day, or go on-line for anything without the results being spoiled for you!

The real problem with my TV watching though isn't those shows. It's the fact that TV can become a drug. Especially for the lonely and depressed. That's where I was in the middle of this year. In spite of my faith, I have fought clinical depression my entire adult life. The challenges of this past year, both personally and professionally, put me in the deepest darkest hole I have seen since my husband passed away. I would come home from work, sit down in the recliner, turn on the box, and except to get food (if I remembered and wanted to make the effort), I would do absolutely nothing. No reading, no creative writing, no singing...nothing.

So I am making the decision to make TV watching a little harder on myself and also give up my cable bill. I've invested in a device that will allow me to tune some TV on my lap top and also record. The small screen and my bad eyes should make me less prone to park myself and get rid of all rational thought! I'll let you know how it all works out.

Tampa Bay Rays Fan - or Not?

(Originally published 7/22 on my old site)

My little personal ad - Highly recommended during the JMac-Bobama prez elect battle - political potpourri at FOXNews!!! On TV or Online

OK...first a confession. I grew up in New Jersey. And yeah, in the winter I am fanatical about the Giants...that won't change!! So to even consider becoming a Tampa Bay Rays fan after growing up in a Yankee (and Cardinals) house and becoming a Mets fan myself...I can't believe I am even letting the thought cross my field of vision!

How many people are jumping on the Rays bandwagon now that they have a true shot at the post-season? Probably a lot of the same folks that jumped on the Bucs ship when they got the cool new colors and logo a few years back.

But I really am considering rooting for these guys. I haven't followed baseball for decades, ever since I didn't have a TV for 4 years in college, and the playoffs for the Boys of Summer started lasting far into the NFL season. Thought about going back to it with the Royals when I lived in KC for the last 5 years...but they are so pitiful its more painful than some of my worst Giants memories.

I like underdogs and guys that have to win the hard way...the timely bunt.. missed short hop...late inning comebacks...all that gut wrenching stuff that makes sports great. So...become a Ray fan....yeah maybe.

Debtor Stereotypes - One Size Doesn't Fit All

(Originally published 7/21 on my old site)

I need to say that I am a little tired on the media characterizations of those who are challenged by the current economy. When they talk about people wth their BMWs, $200 jeans, $4 lattes, etc...none of these things apply to me. When I elaborate its just to paint a clearer picture, not for ANYONE to feel sorry for me.

I am a single middle-aged school teacher. I have survived being widowed and divorced. I went back to school to change careers and now am trying to figure out how to pay the loan. I drive a 2006 economy car. I wear clothes that are 10 years old. I try to eat real foods instead of processed expensive junk as much as I can. My biggest vice is fountain diet soft drinks and I am trying to cut those out.

Trying to live within my means and recover from the financial traumas the last several years have brought, I am getting rid of my cable TV, moving to an apartment that is $100 cheaper but keeps me in a safe environment, and seeing this week about doing a refi on my car. I live 10 minutes from work and no more than 15 from most things that I need (not want). So I try to schedule multiple stops on any errand runs. I am not travelling at all this summer.

I'm trying to find ways to make extra money to ease this road to financial recovery without having to take scheduled part-time work which is very hard for a teacher to keep up with. So for all the rest of you that are in a similar boat, any ideas you have on how to economize even further would be appreciated by all.

Meanwhile, I will continue to do the best I can with what I have and consider myself blessed beyond measure because I have the physical ability to get out of bed and put one foot in front of the other, the mental ability to analyze all this, the internal fortitude to be a problem-solver - not a victim of circumstances, and the certitude that the sun will rise tomorrow, the seasons will change, and this too shall pass.

Quietly Seeking Spiritual Focus

(Originally published 7/20 on my old page)

So....how many of you are seeking? Seeking a light at the end of the tunnel, a lottery win, the perfect mate, the perfect job, an escape from boredom....just seeking. Well I am seeking where to go on my spiritual road. Lately due to an injury I have just stayed home on Sunday and listened to some favorite music and radio.

In the last 10 years since I lost my soul mate and relocated I have visited MANY houses of worship. And during my single and college years, I visited many others. I will say up front that I have found good people in all of them. Having been raised in a house where God was talked about, and become a follower of the Lamb at age 12, I am not denominationally bound. Raised Baptist, I admire their evangelical zeal, worshipping in a Presbyterian church for 12 years, I was impressed with their biblical study.

Then there were the 2 years of charismatic worship - what an awesome experience. I have led worship in a Catholic folk service and sung in the Episcopal and Methodist churches. I have visited churches that are traditional and contemporary, that are high-church and not, that are tiny and mega, that are black, white, Hispanic and racially mixed. I've worshipped with low, middle and high income folks.

Now I feel that I am at a crossroads. I am always looking for where I can actually encounter God, not a program, a special presentation, a missionary guest, or any other special event. I am looking for people who have the light of God's spirit shining in their eyes.

All of this is leading me to reexamine the possibilities of liturgical worship, and in light of this, Orthodoxy. This is a fledgling quest. Other than visits with a family member to several orthodox services, I am a blank slate. But I feel my heart crying for something true and ancient. Something that speaks to the deepest heart of me and acknowledges scholarship AND worship. I am impressed by the reverence in Orthodox services and in particulary that worshipping our Holy God and presenting ourselves to him is not something to be taken lightly or casually.

I will keep you posted.