Disapproval At Short Distance - A Heart Like His

A slice of Oreo Cheesecake from the Cheesecake factory has 869 calories or Weight Watchers points.  In order for me to lose weight I have to keep my points at 19 points or other.  Why then would I consume the other half of my slice of Oreo Cheesecake this morning?  The honest answer is that I was celebrating skipping school.

That’s right; this is the first year in about 15 years that I missed the first day of school.  As a lady of leisure, I lounged around in my pj’s and my robe while consuming cheesecake.  Unfortunately there is no truth to the belief that eating sweets on your birthday makes calories mute. 
Later today, hubby and I plan support Chick-fil-a to support them in light of the calls to boycott the restaurant from same-sex marriage activists. 

Dan Cathy, the president and COO of the family-owned company, told an interviewer from the Biblical Recorder that, “We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.”

Cathy’s stance is shared by billions of people the world over. By the way, this view held by approximately half of Americans.  

I suppose I should have the Chargrilled Chicken Garden Salad because it only has three Weight Watchers Points.  The sad truth is that I will probably wake up yet again to see 128.8 staring up at me from the scale again tomorrow.

As I said earlier, I called RHS and talked to Terri J. and Linda F.  Terri told me that she was looking for my smiling face yesterday and that she definitely missed me.  She teased that she told Mrs. F. she didn’t get her plate of goodies because she was waiting for me to bring them around.

I told Linda about the job opportunity that I received by email and kind of felt she would say that I couldn’t handle it.  Instead she told me that she felt that I would be great for the job as an administrator at a local Christian Academy.  Wow it was great to have her support.  I think I’ll send them my resume and see how that goes.  The salary there is from $45,000 - $55,000. 

Today’s Beth Moore Bible Study for David – 90 Days With A Heart Like His is called Disapproval at short Distance. 

David was the youngest.  The three oldest had followed Saul, but David kept going back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s flock in Bethlehem. (1 Samuel 17:14-15)

Have you ever felt undervalued and unappreciated for what you do and who you are?  How have you felt this sting the sharpest?

The old nursery rhyme tells us that Man may work from sun to sun, But woman's work is never done. I think this is true whether you are a homemaker or a career woman. 

There were many times over my life and career when I felt undervalued and unappreciated.  I realize now that to an extent I accepted this because I had such poor self-esteem.  If my ex-husband felt I wasn’t good enough I castigated myself for failing to meet the standards he set for me.  In reality no matter what I would have done I would never make him happy and it was much more about him than it was about me.

When my ex-husband would abuse me I would often ask "What did I do wrong?" "How could someone do that to me?" "What makes me so gullible?”

The fact was that my ex-husband was blaming you for things outside of my control.  I see now that he was a self serving individual who had little care for the feelings and consequences of his actions on others

It is difficult to comprehend that some people abuse our trust or deliberately take advantage of our vulnerability or dependency take advantage of us.  What are the best ways you’ve found to counteract this tendency of others who inflate their own importance at your expense?

I used to work with a teacher who began many statements to me with the following words, “I have TWO MASTERS degrees…”  It never really mattered what the conversation was about it was simply her way of putting me in my place and setting herself up as the expert on a particular situation.

I felt the sting of her words to mean that she saw herself as smarter than me.  In fact this was really more about her self-esteem than it was about her feelings of self-importance. My mistake is making her statements about me when it really isn’t.

I struggle with the habit of seeking validation from others.  Worse yet, I often assume that others are correct.  By doing this I mistakenly make experts out of those around me even if they are not qualified to do so. 

I need to learn to accept myself and allowed myself to LIVE my life as God wants with or without the validation and approval of others.

A Father Unlike His Son - A Heart Like His

In a way dieting is a walk in faith.  Your heart may be willing but the flesh is weak.  I still weigh 128.8 but then again I'm not really eating in a way that is condusive to losing weight. 

For example, yesterday we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner.  They had a special deal on cheesecake in honor of National Cheesecake.  No one has to tell me that eating cheesecake does NOT promote weight loss just in case you don't know.

To make matters worse I ordered their Jamalya pasta.  If you've never been to the Cheesecake Factory then you may not be aware that their entrees are HUGE.  I'm talking big enough for two  people. 

I justified the cheesecake by eating only a fourth of my entree.  I even ate a little less than half of the Oreo Cheesecake but still at the most rational level of my mind I knew I'd had too many calories.  I suppose I'm lucky I didn't gain anything after feasting on cheesecake.

Today's bible study from Beth Moore's David 90 Days With A Heart like his is about faith and making the choice to follow God's will and not your own.  It can be difficult walking with God not because he makes it so difficult but we make it difficult because we often demand our own way no matter what the cost.

Saul’s son Jonathan said to the attendant who carried his weapons, “Come on, let’s cross over to the Philistine garrisons on the other side.”  However, he did not tell his father.  (1 Samuel 14:1)

In what ways has God enabled you to build on the faith and godliness of those generations that have gone before you?
When I was a little girl we went to CCD which I looked upon as yet another day of school which included homework.  Then on Sundays we would often go to church, which for awhile was all done in Latin.  I felt like my whole world was structured and I longed for time off.  By the time I finished sixth grade, my parents had pretty much abandoned going to church every weekend.  They were angry at our local priest for a number of reasons.

For the next three years it was me who would wind up walking to a local Methodist church that I used to pass on the way to and from school.  My parents went there for a little while but they abandoned this church too.  I eventually abandoned that church and for a period of time I lived a life that was less than exemplary.

Periodically I would try to renew my faith and live the life of a believer but that didn’t seem to last too long as I’d always stumble, fall, and revert back to my wild ways.

God strengthened my resolve to become the person I was meant to be. He has helped me rediscover the faith I once had in the innocence of my childhood.  I desperately want to be a true child of GOD.

If you don’t come from a believing background, what have been (or continue to be) your great obstacles in adopting a consistent faith?

I can’t say that I did NOT come from a believing background.  We did go to religious training.  My family did go to church some times.  There were the trappings of religion in our household.  We had a cross on the wall and a Bible in our home. 

What I lacked was the actual example of what exactly did it mean to have a Godly life.  I grew up in an abusive home filled with chaos.  I had no examples of what it meant to be a Christian in my life.

“Knowing” and “doing” are surely distinct things and while I may feel I know what God wills me to do, often I still don’t do it.  I realize that I am personally the greatest obstacles to consistently living my faith. I need to learn submit to God’s will consistently. 

Good-bye GACTE Hello Home!

Note to self: You cannot drink even one glass of wine if you are taking medication.

I woke up today with 76 trombones leading the big parade in my head and while the pounding reminded me of the mistake I made by imbibing the night before, I wondered how in the world I was going to roll out of bed and head on over to the GACTE meeting.

Obviously I am not a big drinker and never have been but one would think that one small glass of wine would not have such serious ramifications.

I turned to look at the clock in my room which caused my head to swim and my stomach to turn.

I was barely able to dart to the bathroom quick enough to audition for a part in the Philip's colon health commercial with the crazy Colon lady who wants to let you know she'll help you with bouts of gas and diarrhea.

My trips back and forth between the bed and the bathroom finally subsided after I finally had a long hot shower, a Green Tea Frappuccino from Starbucks, and some aspirin. A quick trip down to the whirlpool helped too.

Thankfully most of my packing had been done the night before and the room had been prepaid. It made checking out so much easier.

I finally ran into my boss this morning as well as my new co-worker. We were all checking out and getting ready to head on over to the Waverly for the close of the GACTE Conference.

The Conference convened with a brunch that included election results, awards, and door prizes. I did not win any prizes by the way.

Before I hit the road I stopped off at the Cheesecake Factory and ordered a BBQ Chicken salad. It's made with avocado, tomato, grilled corn, black Beans, cucumber and Romaine all tossed with their Barbeque Ranch Dressing and topped with lots of Crispy Fried onion strings.

I had planned to take this home to my husband for the two of us to share along with a slice of cheesecake. This is my one disappointment because I had ordered one kind of cheesecake and I didn't check my order before I drove home.

I arrived home about fifteen minutes before Darryl. When he arrived home I surprised him with the meal from Cheesecake Factory and that's when I realized that they gave me the WRONG kind of cheesecake. They gave me a German Chocolate Cheesecake and although it was OK but I had craved the Oreo Cookie cheesecake I'd ordered all the way home. Since I live over an hour away it's not worth it to drive all the way back.

It's good to be home though. Atlas was so glad to see me. All he could do was jump up and down on me and not allow me out of his site.

Darryl was also glad to see me and let me know that even just three days apart was difficult.

We spent some time swimming in our pool which is finally clean. Thank goodness because this has been the longest it's ever taken us to open our pool.

I feel like clicking the heels of my ruby red slippers together and reciting "There's no place like home. There's no place like home."

GACTE, BCS, & Passion Tea Oh My

Today was Division Programs Day at the 64th Annual GACTE and it couldn't have begun any better. I know it sounds crazy but they actually had my FAVORITE TAZO Tea, Passion Tea, as my students would say OMG! It made up for the fact that I had to hustle myself over to the Waverly this morning at 8AM on a summer day.

My first session was entitled, "Quick, Easy ways to Become A Standards-Based Classroom (MS &HS). To be honest, in the past my favorite thing about these workshops were finding new ideas to incorporate into my classroom which has always meant lugging home tons of paper. Not this time. It seems like every session I attended offered to email you the material or provided you a link for the material. Won't Al Gore be so very happy?

I was looking forward to the second session, "Engaging Pupils in the Classroom by Embedding Projects into the Curriculum (HS)" because it promised a project resource CD for all attendees! Obviously others felt the same way because the session was packed and I had heard people discussing that this was why they chose to attend that particular session.

While the instructor did not have those CD's available, she did have a very good reason and her presentation made up for leaving empty handed.

I was going to eat lunch with the people in my area, I changed my mind last minute. The reason for this was that while other instructors were filing out of their sessions they began heading over to the tables which were almost completely set. A few teachers headed over to various tables when a couple of women at the Dias that were part of GACTE asked them to just wait. Then a few more people began heading for the tables and the women had to repeat themselves. I just didn't feel like hugging the walls, staring at tables, like a vulture waiting for its turn at the carcass.

I decided to head on over to Cumberland Mall instead and pick a restaurant. While I was trying to decide between a couple of restaurants I'd never been too, I decided to visit the Cheesecake Factory because they last time I'd eaten there it was SO good.

I ordered the Santa Fe Salad from the lunch menu but trust me, even though they say it's smaller, it's still HUGE. I had to divide it in half and bring the other half back to the hotel for another meal. Thank goodness I didn't eat the bread because then I wouldn't have been able to eat my half serving of salad.

Of course, I couldn't very well have gone to the Cheesecake Factory and NOT had any cheesecake now could I? I guess I could, technically I did, but I did ask them to pack that up to go also. It was so very hard to decide but I decided to try the vanilla bean cheesecake which I will share with my husband on Wednesday when I go home.

I arrived back at the Waverly just in time to watch the hotel staff serve a steak to the other attendees. I did wonder if perhaps I'd made the wrong choice, but I don't think I'll be regretting my choice when I'm eating that cheesecake later.

I finally took the opportunity to head on over to the hotel pool and swim a little bit as well as take advantage of the whirlpool.

There is a GACTE Networking Reception but I probably won't be attending. I still feel a bit uncomfortable when I'm around others in a room where I hardly know anyone. I say this even though I did briefly attend the small mixer here at the hotel and I did take a seat at one of the tables in the Business Education luncheon even though I didn't eat anything.

I didn't wind up babbling or analyzing every word I said, berating myself for every perceived mistake. I spoke with a teacher from Thomasville City Schools who owns a coffee shop and he explained to me about why Starbucks has such a bitter taste. It was really very interesting.

As I write this post the sky has finally opened wide and there heavy pouring rain is providing a respite from today's heat despite warnings of dangerous lightning, and gusty winds.

Unfortunately, the Weather Service has issued another heat advisory for metro Atlanta for Wednesday for heat indices topping 105. Can you say HOT?

BlogHer Day Three - The Why

I awoke that first morning, nervous about all the day would bring. I walked a couple of blocks away with Starbucks gift card in hand to buy my favorite, a non-fat Green Tea Latte. I even bought the Vente size since I had $15 on my card. I decided to treat myself like a Queen and eat the piece of cheesecake I bought the day before from the Cheesecake Factory. All in all, a very unhealthy, fattening way to begin this great adventure. I did not scold myself as I might have once done for eating this way. Then again I did not lie to myself, assuring myself that it will be OK because I will “skip” some meal, or exercise the extra calories away. It is yet another advantage of being almost fifty. You no longer believe even your own lies and you have finally realized that nagging is never an effective way to change a behavior. I splurged because I could and I assured myself that it would be just fine if I did.

Today was the official start of BlogHer. The pre-Parties are but a memory and now it's time for the rubber to meet the road. It's time for me to reflect on the Why's of my trip to BlogHer.

Before going to BlogHer I felt it important to set goals. What was it I planned to learn from the whole event? What did I want to experience? What will I do to push me from my comfort zone? All good questions and they were questions I asked myself yet again as I sat in my bed eating.

I teach a class called Entrepreneurial Ventures. When I first began teaching, almost eight years ago, it was called Entrepreneurship. This class has sparked an argument between my husband and me. At times he feels I am a fraud to be teaching this class. He argues that anything I teach them is useless because I have no real experience in owning my own business. These heated conversations lapse into the stale argument that begins “Those who can do….” I argue that seven of my students have actually gone on to start their own business but I question myself about the lack of experience that I bring to the table.

I never really fancied myself as a business owner. I am someone who thrives on security because I’ve been so desperate for it so much of my life. So if one could label a blog a business then I became a business owner right around Christmas last year.

I didn’t start my blog with the idea of creating a business. To be truthful I began my blog because I needed one to enter blog giveaways. You see Online-Sweepstakes suddenly started being bombarded with these blog giveaways. At first I didn’t know what to make of them. Sometimes the prize being given away was one I wouldn’t have minded having. I wouldn’t have minded having one of those electronic grocery list makers. Other times the prizes seemed to be almost worthless. Win a binkie. Win a bib. Then again I’ve entered sweeps to win a T-shirt.

The question then became what would my blog be about? Popular topics include politics, food, mommy, niche, and frugal living. Each one of these bloggers feel that their topic is the height of art and some even look at the other bloggers with a sneer of contempt upon their lips. I always tell my students to do what you love I chose saving money with a twist because I also talked about sweeps and contests.

At the beginning I didn’t really care about how many people came to my site. This doesn’t mean that I totally blew the site off but it meant I was posting every day but not getting caught up in who came. I say that until I’d checked on my stats after two weeks and I was surprised that no one had come to my site. How could that be? No one cared? I told Darryl that I was thinking about stopping my blog.

Darryl was adamant about me not closing the blog up and only posting when there was a contest. I should take this seriously just like any business. Business? Did he say the word BUSINES? This wasn’t a business it was my blog. I think that’s when it first hit me that I should run this like a business which means that I should always try to give my readers (customers) the best product (posts) that I can.

Darryl fixed the mechanism for tracking visitors. I began to see a few people stopping by. We decided to run our own giveaway. Honestly I had no clue where the bloggers got the stuff that they gave away? Did they buy it and then give it away? How in the heck do you make money doing that? If you have to buy things to give them away what is the point? Still we looked around our house and decided to giveaway some Soy Joy bars that we had bought for FRE at CVS. We kind of promoted it like a New Year’s Resolution giveaway and we had almost a hundred people visit ThriftyMaven to try to win. I promoted the giveaway on Online-Sweepstakes and SweepSheet.

In the mean time the poop was hitting the fan on Online-Sweepstakes. Bloggers rated right down there with lawyers and tax collectors and slightly above Bernie Madoff. They hated the blog contests because bloggers asked people to make a post on their blog in order to win. Big deal I thought. For some it was a VERY BIG deal. Then they were asking people to tweet, blog, and Digg their posts. Too much work people were saying for such a small prize.

Darryl suggested we hold a giveaway ever two weeks so I decided it was time I actually research how to run a blog. I want to say that this is different than anything else I ever do because I ALWAYS research everything before I begin. This is just not true. Often I start something and then I begin researching in earnest. My local library’s only book about blogging was written by the people of the Huffington Post. There really wasn’t much that was applicable to what I wanted to do. So I searched the net for information.

I found out about IZEA. Basically, your blog must:

* Be at least 90 days old, with at least 20 pre-existing posts written in the last 90 days.
* Have chronological archives.
* Contain content that is original to you and the blog.
* Be a text/written content blog, meaning no message boards, websites, IM, photoblogs, vlogs, etc.
* Have only one author.
* Not include 'no follow' tags.
* Be a blog written in the English language. We do make note of any blogs submitted in other languages so we may share those as we encounter Advertisers seeking them.
* Not be a blog kept primarily for earning money.

So I had to keep working on my blog so I would meet their requirements. Even now though I was totally lost after that. I just could never seem to grasp how to get approved for anything because the site didn’t seem very user friendly.

Then I found out about BlogSpark. Very easy and they sponsor giveaways. The people I am in contact with are TERRIFIC. About the same time I began to take a look at companies sponsoring giveaways on other people’s sites and contacting them. I was able to get a couple of companies to sponsor a giveaway and I felt I was on my way. Not quite though.

Whereas I didn’t originally have a goal for registered users I began to wonder if I would ever hit the magic number of 1,000 readers. Every day dribs and drabs of people would sign up for the Maven Moment Alert. Those numbers slowly began to build and now I had to figure out how to bring the reader to my blog. It was beginning to look more and more like a business even though I was not pulling in a salary.

Then one day I was checking my traffic and I noticed some 6,000 people showed up on my site. Even now I can still scarcely believe it. The post was about Suave and how they were giving away a FREE full-sized bottle.

It was to be another two months before I had another big bubble like that one again. While not quite 6,000 I did wake up one day and notice that my traffic was getting steadily busy as the day wore on. I wanted to find out where the traffic was coming from and noticed that a Christian radio station had posted a link to my site. That first day I had some 3,000 people. On the second day about 2,000 people came and on the third day there was another 1,000 people.

I was now slightly over the halfway mark of the goal I had set of 1,000 registered users. The blog that had once been a means to an end had now become an obsession and I was spending hours looking for great deals for my readers.

Then just like everything else with blogging so far, I stumbled upon BlogHer. I say I stumbled upon it but really I found it because of a contest they were running. It was a contest for a conference they were having and you had the opportunity to win a sponsored trip to the BlogHer Conference in Chicago.

The more I found out about the Conference, the more I wanted to go. I began to wonder how I could manage to go to the conference because I know I couldn’t afford to go because my husband is unemployed.

At first I tried to win a hotel stay for the conference. It was a beautiful hotel and I told myself if I won I would figure out how I would be able to afford the airfare and the conference pass. I was just so certain I was going to go that I was almost a bit surprised to discover I did not win that hotel stay.

That’s when I learned about the Stovetop Stuffing Contest. I had to come up with an inexpensive one pot meal that contained Stovetop Stuffing. Even as I was writing the recipe down I had a feeling about it. Yet my “evil twin” told me to stop acting crazy. Do you remember those comic skits and cartoons that feature an angel on one shoulder giving you advise while the devil on your other shoulder tries to mislead you? That might as well have been where I was on this whole contest. The angel telling me that this contest had my name written all over it and there was a reason that I should go. The little angel assured me that my recipe was good and would at least get us second place if not better. The haughty devil on the other hand scoffed at the whole scenario. “You’re crazy if you think you can win something like this.” “Why in the world are you entering this contest? No one would like this recipe.”

For my readers who followed me as I nervously went through the steps of entering and begging for votes you know that I could hardly sleep at night I was so nervous about the contest.

The day I learned I had won, I was on my way home when Darryl told me that FedEx had dropped an envelope off at the house. He wanted to know if I wanted him to open it. He told me it was from Kraft. I was afraid that I hadn’t won the sponsorship but excited that I might have won one of the second prizes which were $500 gift cards for groceries.

Once I knew for certain I began to make plans for my trip to BlogHer and tried identify what I wanted to learn. I knew I wanted to bring home what I learned to my students but I also wanted to show myself that I could do this. In all my life, I’d never been so far from home without family or friend. This was to be a totally new experience for me, a woman approaching fifty.

Now as I lay in bed finishing my Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake, I scanned the agenda once more. I told myself that people will like me when they meet me and assure myself that if some didn’t that was OK too. I practiced the words I would say to the company representatives and marketers that I would meet. I wanted to be able to use examples of what I said and my thought process with my students when they came back to school.

I drained my cup of the last of the latte and walked over to the sink to brush my teeth and apply my make-up. “It’s show time!” I said with a big theatrical smile. The face that smiled back to me was one that looked more like my mother every day. Blogging was a young person’s game but I would let them know that I wasn’t ready for the shelf. “Put me in coach. I’m ready to play.” I shut off the light, left my room and headed for the elevators.

BlogHer Day One

The great people at Kraft Foods have sponsored my trip to Chicago and I can't begin to tell you how wonderful this trip as has been so far. I can't honestly say that I'd ever been on vacation all by myself in my whole life. Vacations have always been a family oriented event and I'll admit I was a little nervous about leaving Mr. Thrifty behind. Then again, someone had to take care of our dogs.

The flight to Chicago went off without at hitch. As a matter of fact not only did Kevin, the WONDERFUL rep from Weber Shandwick, did such a great job of planning my trip out here I felt like a Super-Star. (Everyone should have a Kevin!) While I'm not certain he had anything to do with how short the lines were at security, I'd like to believe he was. I'd also like to believe that he was responsible for getting such a great seat on the plane. Not only was I sitting on a window seat but I had the whole row to myself. The flight went smoothly and I even got some reading in on the flight.

When I arrived at the airport, I headed straight for the baggage claim. The driver that Kevin had arranged was waiting for me right at the gate. (Note to self. Ask Mr. Thrifty for my very own Kevin). My driver was so nice and helpful. I was brought to my car with tinted glass which fit my new rock star status.

When the car arrived at the Sheraton I just couldn't believe that a company would be willing to do all this for me. I knew I loved Kraft before but now I'm contemplating having a heart with the word Kraft Foods tattooed on my ankle. (Well maybe not tattooed but I do love Kraft.) Everyone at the hotel was helpful and friendly.

You should see my room. I'm staying on the 24th floor and the room is pure luxury. I'm within walking distance of the Magnificent Mile and the Navy Pier. It's close to just about everything you'd want to see in downtown Chicago. I also have internet access in my room.

Thursday is the day scheduled for my tour of the Kraft Kitchens. I look forward to receiving their magazine every month and then making many of the recipes contained in the magazine. So for this Mom who loves to cook this opportunity is actually a trip of a lifetime. You should have seen my Mom's expression when I told her I was going. For years she told me that if I kept eating Kraft Macaroni and Cheese I would turn into Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. I guess my obsession with all things Kraft (especially stove top stuffing) did turn me into a Kraft Fan Forever.

I think that some companies recognize that product loyalty is won in small increments by providing consistently good products but also in showing they care about their customers by reaching out with their magazine, their website, providing coupons, corporate outreach (like with Crystal Light's Global Water Challenge), running contests, sweepstakes, and listening to customer feedback.

I don't think that I can thank the people at Kraft Foods enough. I hope to learn many things that I can take home to my students. I am looking forward to telling you more about my trip.

After I checked into my hotel I headed down to the Concierge desk to find out how to get to the local Hair Cuttery. I used to have a Hair Cuttery near me but no more. That would be all well and good except I had a gift certificate that Darryl had won for me last year and I hadn't been able to use it.

Darryl had written this really nice essay about how I deserved a make-over and his essay was chosen the winner. The prize had included a $125 gift certificate for a makeover from Hair Cuttery. I decided to check online to see if there was on in Chicago and there was one. I quickly put away my suitcases and headed off to catch a bus to Randolph Street. There I had my hair dyed and foiled for a frisky new look. I didn't need a hair cut and since I normally dye my own hair I think I was a bit shocked at the sticker price for having this work down at a salon. It cost me $110 for all that. I just can't imagine spending that kind of money on my hair every day. Still it was a treat and one that I might never have had if it wasn't for my darling husband.

After two hours in the salon I took the bus back to my hotel and took a little walk down the Magnificent Mile. Lots going on down there. I even had a couple of interesting conversations with a protester and an activist. Ah the city, makes me miss DC. We just don't have all those huge buildings in DC or Rome, GA for that matter.

I actually heard the protesters before I saw them. I heard some music and wondered what was going on. As I got closer I realized that there was a protest going on. Turns out that NBC does not treat their employees right. I was all over the story. I noticed that a couple of the local city officials were there being interviewed by the local news. That's the moment I said, "Hey wait. I'm a blogger. Bloggers can report what's going on. No scratch that bloggers report what's going on."

I decided to ask one of the protesters and almost immediately I realized that I might not be on top of my game. I prefer planning out what I'm going to say. This was spur of the moment and I had no background whatsoever on the story I was covering. Can we say rookie mistake?

I asked one of the women participating in the protest and almost immediately she invaded my personal space. We were so close we almost touched and I had to tell her that she was too close to the camera. It turns out the people she's striking with have been working for four months without a contract. I asked her a couple of questions and she was obviously very anxious to let me know her viewpoint. I think it kind of amazed me that someone who didn't know me would be willing to talk to my little pink Vado Video Camera and treat me like she thought I was some journalist.



After speaking with her I felt a little empowered. Would everyone be so willing to speak to a handheld camera? I found out when I talked to the Green Peace Activist. Originally he wanted money which I didn't have. I have a husband who is unemployed thank you very much. He originally called me over saying, "You look like you care about the earth."

Honestly, at first I wondered if there was just something about me. Just a few weeks ago, Darryl and I had checked out some cars at a local dealership and the salesman actually asked us if we were "tree huggers". I wondered what would cause him to ask that. Darryl thought it was his sandals. I thought it was my tie-dye tee shirt with the peace symbol. We both missed part of the equation. You see the salesman had told us that while those things played into his question we were also the only couple to ever show up on his lot so concerned about the mileage of the cars we were looking at and asking about the cash for clunkers deal.

When the Green Peace guy said I looked like I cared about the earth I wondered what made him think I did or was that simply his pick up line. I suppose it was my peasant skirt which gave me a bit of a bohemian look. More than likely it was the fact that I was carrying an organic cotton carry all that said Earth on it with a stencil of two elephants on it. I had won the carry all from a blog giveaway a few months ago and I brought it to help me carry swag.

He and I discussed Al Gore, derivatives, carbon credits their founder's belief in Nuclear power, and about how Green Peace does not back Obama's Cap and trade policy. I think he was a little surprised that some random woman on the street actually knew something about Green Peace or their agenda.

So even though I didn't give Mr. Green Peace any money I did allow him to tell me about a cause that Green Peace is involved in and that he wanted others to know about. It's nice to be young and have a passion burning in your heart. Once again I was surprised at someone's willingness to talk to my Vado Video camera.




My Green Peace friend was taken in by the "fact" that Al Gore is donating "All his money back to the cause" This is not quite true and here's a little background on that.

Former Vice President Al Gore has built a Green money-making machine capable of eventually generating billions of dollars for investors, including himself, but he set it up so that the average Joe can't afford to play on Gore's terms. And the US portion is headed up by a former Gore staffer and fund raiser who previously ran afoul of both the FEC and the DOJ, before Janet Reno jumped in and shut down an investigation during the Clinton years.

Here is how Gore buys his "carbon offsets," as revealed by The Tennessean raises serious questions. According to the newspaper's report, Gore buys his carbon offsets through Generation Investment Management:

Gore helped found Generation Investment Management, through which he and others pay for offsets. The firm invests the money in solar, wind and other projects that reduce energy consumption around the globe...

Gore is chairman of the firm and, presumably, draws an income or will make money as its investments prosper. In other words, he "buys" his "carbon offsets" from himself, through a transaction designed to boost his own investments and return a profit to himself. To be blunt, Gore doesn't buy "carbon offsets" through Generation Investment Management - he buys stocks.

Here's a list indicating what it takes to make money along with Al. Funds associated with these companies have placed millions of dollars under Al Gore's control. And, as you'll see below, Gore's selection for the US President of GIM might raise a few eyebrows as well.

AFLAC INC - AQUANTIVE INC - AUTODESK INC - BECTON DICKINSON & CO BLACKBAUD INC - GENERAL ELECTRIC CO - GREENHILL & CO INC - JOHNSON CTLS INC - LABORATORY CORP AMER HLDGS - METABOLIX INC - NORTHERN TR CORP - NUVEEN INVTS INC -STAPLES INC - SYSCO CORP - TECHNE CORP - UBS AG - VCA ANTECH INC - WATERS CORP - WHOLE FOODS MKT INC

According to their own documents, GIM intends to invest in, or buy companies poised to cash in on Global Warming concerns.

Putting this in perspective, for years the mainstream media have posited that George W. Bush (oh almost forgot EVIL George W. Bush) started war with Iraq to benefit the company Vice President Dick Cheney used to run, Halliburton, as well as Bush’s oil tycoon friends. It almost seemed you couldn't find a reporter who couldn't find a way to introduce Cheney without mentioning his ties to Halliburton.

Yet, as the former Vice President continues to plug global warming as a coming crisis in need of immediate attention, the same media completely ignore his obvious financial conflicts of interest.

If Gore's motivation in pushing Global Warming is so altruistic, was it really necessarily for the already wealthy Gore to establish a multi-million dollar corporation in England to cash in? And given the history of Gore and Knight, are these people we should trust to drive a re-vamping of the world economy at the same time they're lining their pockets because of our much smaller carbon footprints?

Then again this is why I like reading on both sides of the spectrum. I've always heard there are three sides to every story, his, hers, and the truth. Neither the far right no the far left have a real grip of what's real that isn't clouded by their bias. So Green Peace guy, because I know you are reading this, see what happens when you talk to some old lady walking down the street with a Disney Earth bag?

I also tried to get a little of the "Obama is the Russian's Puppet" guy but I decided not to interview him because I felt that would be exploitative.



Dinner tonight was the Cheesecake Factory. Anyone who does not believe that sweepstakes influence your buying decision must not know the people I know. We tend to be loyal to companies that regularly have sweepstakes and contests. For the last several weeks I have been entering a contest/sweepstakes that was sponsored by the Cheesecake Factory. You had to write an essay in the contest portion of the promotion but you had the opportunity to win a gift card instantly.

I did NOT win. Every day, day after day I would go to that site to play the instant portion of the game and every day I'd say, wow that really looks good. So I made a conscious decision to throw caution to the wind and despite my thrifty challenge I purchased lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. What a lunch it was. I ordered a Southwestern Salad and it was so huge I was too full to eat dinner tonight. I had also ordered a margarita and a cheesecake. I had to take the piece of cheesecake with me along with half of my salad.

Finally I have a sad death to report. Gidget, the chihuahua from Taco Bell and Legally Blonde passed away. She was 15 years old. Quoting the dog’s owner, Karen McElhatton, as saying Gidget “lived like a queen” and “had a great life.” I hope wherever you are Gidget you can always head for the border for some tacos.

So tomorrow's the big day and I can hardly wait. Come back tomorrow to find out what I learned

Thanks for stopping by and let me know if there's anything you want to tell the people at Kraft Foods.