Interrace Haven

2012-01-12T02:48:00.002-06:00

New Year, New Design and Other Changes

Have I not posted in two years?? I feel bad. Obviously, a lot happens in that amount of time.

Last year in early May, my wife and I had a daughter, whom we named Jeyli Ayane ("jay-lee eye-ah-nay") Steadham. Jeyli has Latin origins and Ayane is Japanese for "colorful sound." She's been a wonderful addition to our family, and I can't tell you how happy I am to have a daughter! Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely proud of my two sons (now 16 and 13 years old) but starting over with a baby, and a daughter -- it's really been a positive and amazing experience. The boys love their sister and we've been adjusting to our new dynamics pretty smoothly, all things considered.

Speaking of new dynamics, I figured it was about time for a change to the look for IR Haven. Maybe I'll change it again, but I'd like to explore this new look for a bit.

I've changed jobs since 2009 but I'm still doing tech geek work.

I've had numerous health issues and spent three visits in the hospital between October and December of 2011. I'm doing better now, though.

I'm going to keep this post brief and I hope there's still some IR Haven readers out there... :)

- Allen

2009-01-02T22:45:00.007-06:00

Happy New Year 2009!

IR Haven now celebrates its sixth year as a blog, still going! It may be going slow (admittedly, sometimes next to never) but it is still here...and we're not planning on going away any time soon.

Christmas was eventful last year. We did have a great time as a family and everyone got something nice, presents-wise. There was just one unfortunate thing that attempted to overshadow Christmas: I got an abdominal hernia! It manifested on Christmas Eve (I had helped Angel with some redesigning of the living room, which involved some moving of furniture. Evidently, that was enough to do it.

Thanks to the holidays, I wasn't able to get in to see the doctor until the following Monday. I was diagnosed with the hernia and as I suspected, they needed to take care of it with surgery. I asked for it to be done as soon as possible, so they scheduled me for first thing Wedsnesday morning: New Years Eve.

They told me to show up at 5:30am so they could start the operation at 7:30am. Angel and I woke up at 4:00am and got to the hospital in time to be whisked through paperwork, getting gowned up, an I.V. put in and getting blood drawn. That led to a strange situation because for some reason, my potassium levels showed as significantly higher than normal (6.2), which could have led to a rescheduling of the operation. They took another blood test and it came out normal, though, so all proceeded as planned.

I didn't wake up until about 1:00pm in the recovery area, even though the operation itself didn't take more than 45 minutes. I'm guessing they gave me a lot of anesthetic... They rolled me down to my room, which turned out to be a really nice and really big. My mom told me why but it's a long story. Anyway, I spent a good chunk of the day either being asleep or watching Food Network. Out of boredom or not liking a show, I'd flip through the other channels occasionally.

I had a couple of visitors after Angel, the boys, my sister and my mom left. A good friend from church stopped by to visit in the afternoon and not too long after he left, my sister-in-law showed up, which was very sweet of her.

I also got to eat regular food the whole time I was there, which was nice.

The hours passed and thanks to the pain meds, they passed pretty quickly. Angel and the boys called my cell phone at midnight and left a very lively message for me (I was passed out from pain meds). It was a wonderful surprise to wake up to, though!

I was finally released about 2:30pm on New Years Day, which I got to spend with Angel and the boys. That made me very happy.

Despite everything I went through between Christmas Eve and New Years, I'm still very grateful. I am blessed with a wonderful wife, children, family and friends. Really and truly, I couldn't ask for more.

Have a wonderful new year, everybody!

2008-10-31T00:19:00.004-05:00

I'll Have To Keep This One Short...

...as it's after midnight and I'm truly exhausted. I have been going through more changes this year than probably any year in my life since I became "bionic." (1983) I have had more health problems this year than any other I can remember...but at long last, we are finally getting some answers and working towards actual solutions! So in that regard, it's an exciting time.

It's not that I haven't cared about IRHaven. I still do. But I've been hospitalized 5 times this year and been to the emergency room more times than I can count. It's been mostly for low potassium and low blood sodium, along with dehydration and electrolyte levels and the occasional low white cell count (but nothing major in that regard, fortunately). And I have to say, I've had to live with daily pain more this year than at any time in my life...but that's finally being addressed, too. In the last few weeks, I've had less pain than the last two years! That has been such a blessing! There's ups and downs still and I have a lot to learn and still more to do but I am willing. There's hope!

When I have time, hopefully this weekend, I'll sit down and give you more details. Despite the difficulties, my faith remains strong and my wife and children have been very special support and I love them so dearly for it! I love them so much!!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2008-06-07T09:45:00.003-05:00

Significant Redesign

I had no idea how bad the site looked in Internet Explorer! My job recently took Firefox off of all of our computers and forced us to use IE version 6 (*groans*). So when I came to check in on the blog today, I saw how utterly odd and unattractive the layout was...and decided to fix it!

I hope your eyes thank me now, just like mine do. :)

2008-04-26T14:11:00.005-05:00

New Embedded Audio!

I am still alive, and finding ways to enhance IR Haven still! I was looking at ways to embed mp3s directly into the blog template and I found a nifty option from Yahoo's embedded media player. I was able to easily integrate it into the template and it plays MP3s I have stored elsewhere online. Just click on the arrow button next to the song link to play the song. It will automatically play the next song, which is cool! Also, the player moves as you move, can be collapsed down or even autohide itself. So you don't have to adjust it and it's less likely to get in the way (way cool).

You can do this yourself. Just check out the instructions at this link.

I added some First Light songs to start with. I may add other MP3s later, but this was a good test!

More later...

Best Wishes,
Allen

2008-01-16T14:19:00.001-06:00

Since Getting Home From The Hospital...

This time around, I've had to be even more careful. When I was hospitalized a little over a year ago, I bounced back pretty easily. I had the Thanksgiving holiday to recover (in 2006) and I did pretty well.

I normally work Fridays and Saturdays. I was released on a Friday and I took the next day off as well. I asked the doctor to write a note covering me until this Monday (01-14-08). I thought that would be sufficient. I was wrong.

I went to work on Monday. I took my pain meds with me, figuring that would be enough to cover me if I got sore or anything. What was I thinking?? The first 3 or 4 hours were fine. My lunch is usually about 4 or 5 hours into my shift, which is normally no big deal. By the time my lunch came around, I was lightheaded from hunger (and I would guess exertion as well). I ate, relaxed and went back to working.

I didn't quite feel normal after lunch, though, and I didn't know why. I was a little achy and sort of distracted. Then I noticed my throat was getting a little sore and I was having some difficulty speaking; I'd have to press through some calls (I do phone tech support), drinking cold and/or hot liquids to keep my throat feeling at least passable. I know this happened because of the stress my throat went through having that oversized tube in it last Tuesday and Wednesday.

By 7:00 p.m., my left forearm started having a deep stabbing pain in it, which was shocking to me. It really hurt! So I stopped using it for a bit, massaged it and tried to get back to working again. The pain came back, worse than before. I had to not use it at all. It was annoying typing with only my right hand but it beat having the stabbing pain. My left arm was where I'd had the most IV's put in.

I decided right then that I had to take sick leave on Tuesday, and I don't work Wednesday or Thursday. That would give me more time to recover before jumping back in to work.

What I've had to realize is that it's going to take longer for me to bounce back this time. I don't like that but I've had to accept it. If I push myself, my body will push right back and it will win.

Since I was released, the comfort and care committee from our church has been providing help with suppers each night and groceries and just checking up on us daily. It's a tremendous amount of love and support that we definitely need and appreciate deeply. It takes a huge load of stress off of my wife and nothing beats a home cooked meal, made with love and personal pride.

Despite the pain and the long recovery, we are truly blessed.

More as I think it up...

Best Wishes,
Allen

2008-01-16T00:14:00.000-06:00

Remember Me?

Hi, this is Allen. I know it's been a while. Real life has been moving along, we've crossed into a new year and I just haven't had much to say.

I spent most of last week in the hospital, unfortunately. The doctors aren't quite sure why but the most likely explanation was some kind of stomach ailment, possibly a virus. I'll spare you some of the details but by Tuesday morning (01-08-08), I was in a lot of pain and had suffered some really terrible diarrhea, so I decided to call into work and asked my wife to drive me to the emergency room.

After a really long wait, the ER nurse got me started on intravenous (IV) fluids and put a big tube down my nose all the way to my stomach (needless to say, that was not the high point of my day). Then they checked me into a room and gave me pain medication.

I spent most of the next 24 hours sleeping, getting my vital signs taken or blood drawn. I couldn't eat or drink anything, although they did give me things to keep my mouth moistened, which helped. My wife was by my side all day and then she had to go home to take care of the kids. I could barely swallow and couldn't talk much more than a whisper because of that tube down my throat. Thankfully, I convinced them to take that out by Wednesday afternoon, which improved my outlook a whole lot. The tube had actually been causing me as much discomfort and outright pain as my stomach had.

Throughout the experience, I asked my wife to keep our pastor informed so he could pray for us. Also, the church members in charge of the sick committee were often in contact with my wife and offering what help they could. Friends wanted to visit but I was in no condition to see anyone but my wife and hospital personnel (who were used to seeing people in such a bad state). To the staff's credit, I felt very cared for by the nurses, techs and doctors.

Thursday, I went through a series of x-rays and was waiting for the results of that all day. My wife brought both the kids and my laptop to the hospital by evening. It was great to see my boys and my oldest son even drew me a get well card while he was there in the hospital room. My youngest son engaged me in in-depth questioning to let me know his concern and his optimism for me. Both were quite endearing. After they left, the doctor came in and let me know the x-rays looked good and that I could be put on regular food (I'd spent 2 days eating "clear liquid meals") by morning and probably released by the end of the day Friday. That was wonderful news! I couldn't get a wireless internet connection with my laptop but it did allow me to listen to music and watch a Star Trek New Voyages episode that I'd downloaded ("World Enough And Time" with George Takei) before going to sleep.

The next day, I had a wonderful omelet breakfast (ham, red and white onions, green bell peppers and mushrooms with some nice fluffy egg) along with fruit juice and coffee. I also took a shower (only the 2nd one I'd taken in 4 days...ew!) and shaved before my wife arrived. We met with the doctor, who cleared me for going home and going back to work as of Monday. My wife treated me to lunch at our favorite Japanese restaurant, a lovely place called Odaku. It was great to have some fresh miso soup and sushi and charbroiled teriyaki chicken and other vegetable delights. I knew I'd need to take a lot home as leftovers, I had only started eating regular food that morning and needed to take it easy until my stomach got back to its normal proportions.

I'll blog about the rest soon!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-10-26T09:04:00.000-05:00

Haven't Done One Of These In A While, But Hey, It's Friday
(But Not A Not In The News Friday)

I just have a weakness for the fuzzy creature photos at Cute Overload. I think these are perfectly representative of the "Friday Feeling" (especially if, like me, you have to work).

2007-09-11T09:42:00.001-05:00

Why We Can't Forget September 11, 2001

Remember the people of September 11, 2001:
The ones who died, yes, because they had lives and potential.
People of all walks of life, all ages, all races, all political persuasions, all religions.
People who had spouses and children and family and friends.
Some were heroes, like the firefighters and police, decorated military and civilians. Some were heroes for their parenting or volunteer work. Some were heroes just for the way they lived their lives.
Everything they aspired to be was cut short that day.
And they deserve to be honored for their lives, not their deaths.

So we can't forget September 11, we can't pay enough tribute.
We can't give their families and friends their loved ones back.
But we can take one day to explore the memories of their lives.
And be grateful we still have ours and our spouses and our children.
And try to make the most of these lives we still have.

We can't go back to September 10, no matter how much some of us may want to.
It will never come again. We can just do our best today.
And try to make a better tomorrow.

Thanks for reading this.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-08-04T09:04:00.000-05:00

I Haven't Done One Of These In, Like, Forever!

This is how I feel this morning.
Sleepy, mellow...yet strangely content, in a way.
Thanks, Cute Overload!

2007-08-03T09:22:00.001-05:00

Has It Really Been Almost A Month?

Geez, I'm sorry! I have been my usual state of busy and highly involved with our Due East webcomic but I still like to check in periodically and let everyone know how my family and I are doing.

Due East has been my artistic passion for the first half of this year, really. My wife and I co-write it and I pencil, ink and color it. It is a lot of work but it is really rewarding! The comic's main characters are a couple of multiracial sisters (Black, White and Chinese)

(Click on picture below to see it at full-size in another window)

The comic updates on Mondays and Fridays, although we will take breaks between "books" (we're on Book Three right now). I'm blessed to be able to do the artwork for this comic while on my job (I do phone tech support for a living) without it interfering with my work or irritating my coworkers or supervisors.

Also, my wife and I are still involved in First Light, a Christian band associated with our nondenominational church.

This summer, our kids have been going to a local summer camp during weekdays. They've enjoyed that. Summer camp sure is different now than when I was growing up. Now they have computers and go to the movies but they do go outside and play, go to the park, swimming, bowling and rollerskating/blading. I have to admit, even though it was kind of hard in those days to really get into archery and horseback riding and fishing, but it was still ended up being fun!

I have fond memories from childhood of going camping in groups of dads and sons from my folks' church. We'd wake up and the dads would cook sausage and eggs over a campfire at daybreak. We'd fish and hike and do all kinds of activities on the trip, including swimming in a lake, and come home hot, sweaty and exhausted -- but happy!

Because of my health issues, it makes it difficult for me to take my sons on an overnight or weekend camping trip, much as I would like to. Still, we do spend quality time together and go on drives and visit interesting places...and I do cook for them a lot, which they and I both enjoy.

Summer activities have changed but what really matters is that the boys are happy and are active, plus they still get quality time with their parents.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-07-04T13:07:00.000-05:00

Happy Independence Day!

I finally got a chance to sit down and blog, so here I am! It's a rainy July 4th, so most outdoor plans have been rained out. (sighs)

The picture above is my name tag from my 20 year high school reunion, which Angel and I attended a few weeks ago. It's my senior year picture in black and white. I was 17 when that picture was taken.

So, it was pretty nice to see some of the people I used to know and be friends with, have conversations with some folks that wouldn't have given me the time of day in high school, and to notice and chat with some people I probably ignored because of my own tunnel vision in those days. I had long, hilarious conversations with a friend I met back in probably second grade. He lived on my street. He was with a friend from the same street who I'd grown up around but hadn't particularly been friends with. We all got along great at the reunion and almost had each other rolling on the floor with laughter. That was great!

Others I had short but meaningful conversations with, finding out what professions we're all in now, how many kids we have and how old they are. Different people brought different perspectives and we seemed to remember each other in different lights, you might say. A lot more people remembered me than I thought would and many seemed to have generally positive memories of me. One person remembered me the way I thought I came across to most people, at least in my latter years in high school: "Stay away from me!" (not the way he phrased it, but close enough)

It was more fun earlier on in the event. No one had name tags at first, so we were all trying to match the faces of the people showing up with the teens we used to know (and be). Some were already drinking beer but no one was drunk, so it was a relaxed social atmosphere. One person even mistook Angel for one of her old friends...

The only other Black person there was a waitress, so I guess I can't blame them for assuming she was one of the former classmates. My class didn't have many Black students... Angel thought it was hilarious!

One former classmate told me he read this blog before coming to the reunion, since I put a link to it on Classmates.com, where I have a profile. We discussed one of the blog entries I did about the coming reunion as well as my work in ISAA. His wife was nice and had some funny stories to tell us.

There was a very good fajita dinner at the restaurant/pub where the event was held. I think everyone enjoyed that.

Some people did seem to only gravitate towards their old high school buds and no one else. That was predictable but annoyingly shallow to watch, since the point of the reunion was to see everyone. But some people have agendas now, just like they did then. I only had one friend who fell into that category, which genuinely surprised me, but I was otherwise enjoying myself so I didn't let it get to me.

Another former classmate humbled me. After learning I had two kids, he asked me for fatherly advice. He'd just gotten the good news he's going to be a first time dad later this year. I guess he's excited and felt a former classmate would be a trustworthy source-? I don't know...but I offered him suggestions that I thought would help him and his wife. Another classmate chimed in with additional good advice then kindly directed him back to actually pay attention to his wife (always a good idea when she's pregnant).

As the night went on, people got more drunk and harder to talk to, so Angel and I left. I felt I had accomplished what I went there to do. I was satisfied.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-06-09T12:06:00.000-05:00

High School Reunion Countdown!

One week and counting till my 20 year high school reunion. The anticipation is indeed building and I am looking forward to it! Everything is paid for so all we (me and Angel) have to do is show up.

140 people have said they'll attend. I don't know if 140 will actually show up but at least it should be a good turn out.

Some of my classmates have posted photos of themselves and their spouses on the evite.com site. It's going to be very unique to see them again. Some are already graying. Most of my classmates have kids and at least one of my classmates is a new grandmother already but I don't think she's attending.

It truly is strange to contemplate that it's been 20 years since I graduated. Remembering those times is such a distant memory. I can remember how I felt at my graduation...the New York City trip I took my senior year with my Journalism teacher. Most of rest of high school itself is an effort to remember, a blur I've probably spent more than a small effort to forget. But, for better or worse, it is a part of my history. I can't just completely ignore it since it did shape me into who I would eventually become today.

I know I wasn't very social in high school. There are a few friends that I have been able to reconnect with since then and we've become fairly close and respect each other. I think that's because we actually talked to each other (or in some cases, emailed) and got to know one another again (or in some cases, for the first time). That's just wasn't too easy in high school. A lot of that was because of the clique-ish-ness of high school. I despised the cliques and wanted nothing to do with them -- which, ironically, automatically made me part of the clique that despised cliques. (It can make your brain hurt...)

I guess the main point I'm making is that we all got past that, to one degree or another, and have moved on with our lives. Now some of us are coming back together to learn about each other and be nostalgic for a weekend.

I'll let you know how things go.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-05-30T23:30:00.000-05:00

Funniest Video I've Seen In A While: Happy Feet 300

2007-05-27T13:48:00.000-05:00

What's Been Going On

I will be very honest, my motivations have been on other creative interests recently. I love the IR Haven blog and I'm still behind everything that it stands for 150%.

In the last few months, however, while I've had a blast thinking up NITNF topics every week, it's also been the primary reason I've been posting to IR Haven at all. Sure, there have been other things I've posted about, mostly "real life" things, but they've been few and far between.

Recently, for Mother's Day, I was motivated to sing lead on a song, Brian Littrell's "You Keep Givin' Me." (video of Littrell's live performance below). That was a wonderful experience and I hope to keep singing lead. It brings out a different side of me, a different creativity I had almost forgotten (since I haven't sung lead in over 10 years). I never stopped performing on electric bass guitar and even started singing backing vocals with First Light, but lead is a different level. It's very scary but equally rewarding.

The other area of creativity I am actively involved in is drawing comics. I started drawing superhero comics when I was 10. I ended up creating a superhero team I called the AR-MEN (don't ask me what the "AR" stands for, I've had no idea for 28 years, it just worked). I built lives and careers and families for the characters and it became almost a generational superhero team.

It was always therapeutic. I started drawing mainly because I couldn't do sports well. I had terrible depth perception because of my nearsightedness and glasses really didn't compensate. And kids being kids, back then it was still cool to pick on kids for having glasses. I dealt with rejection like any kid, I avoided it like the plague and went and did something else: draw.

It became a ritual to go into a room and draw for hours. I'd listen to music and just pour my ideas onto paper with pencil. Never pen, never colors. When I had my major surgeries as a pre-teen, my art kept me sane in the hospital and at home recovering.

In fact, the intensity of what I was going through made for my writing change, it deepened my stories. Characters started going through some serious situations, not just "It's Captain X and his evil hordes attacking, prep the megaship for battle!" No, a teenage lead character had to deal with entrapment through pregnancy by an evil teen female. Did I mention I was 12 when I had the surgeries? And no, I was not seeing/dating anyone at that young of an age, I just had an overactive imagination.

The combination of drawing art and writing story were always releases for my emotions and my stress. I'm convinced the comics kept me stable in high school, because I was a real mess (hmmm, what teenager isn't at one point or another?) for so many reasons (most of which I can't go into, there just isn't room on the blog). I was even drawing the AR-MEN when I went to college and when I met and became friends with Angel. Angel inspired me to write an AR-MEN story about racism. I can truly say it was one of my best single issue stories and it took my writing style to another new level.

When I became a Christian in 1996, I tried to keep writing the AR-MEN comics but have one of the characters become a Christian and see where things went from there. It really didn't work. I felt that I did a good job with the Christian character but continuing to write superhero comics was problematic. Unless you want the most boring, overintellectualized superhero comics in the universe, you must have fighting in superhero stories. I decided that I needed to end the AR-MEN stories...and I did.

But just because you stop writing the stories, it doesn't mean the stories or the desire to creatively express goes away. An artist is always an artist, whether they like it or not. I had a breakthrough idea: As a Christian, I wanted to offer up my talents to the Lord and see what He would bless me with. And I didn't want to do it alone. I asked Angel if she would help me write a brand new non-superhero story that would somehow be Christian. I wanted us to write and create as a team.

We prayed together and we asked the Lord to bless us with the characters and the story and the ability to put it all together in a way that it would appeal to the average person, not just Christians, while still remaining strong in His message.

We had to wait a few years for everything to come together but it was so worth the wait! The first thing that developed was a really rough idea of the story premise and an idea for a short dream sequence. We also created a small list of main characters, a mixed-race family that went through a bitter separation and divorce.

The characters are: a Asian/Caucasian man, an African-American woman and their two daughters as well as one of the daughter's best friends, who happens to be a real Christian. The parents stay in touch to keep up with their children's lives and over six years, the parents' bitterness lessens and to their surprise, they fall in love again. So now the family has to try and undo the damage caused by six years of divorce and estrangement (the father and daughter moved away to Canada as part of a relocation by the father's job).

The next logical question for us as writers was "What part does the Christian friend play in all this and what will make this a Christian comic?" We had to wait for that answer, too. But what an answer we ended up getting!

The comic officially made it's debut in 2003 and we have been working hard at it ever since. It began as a comic strip, although probably more like Sunday comics size than the traditional 3 to 5 panel "gag at the end" strip you see in the daily newspapers. The first 38 strips comprised the initial story, what we ended up calling "Book One." That took the longest, almost four years. I got inspired to go ahead and go back to full-page comic book style instead of comic strip style. Book Two took 4 months to write and draw and is 22 pages. We're now working on Book Three.

Here are the characters:

We initially hosted it on Comic Genesis but I also recently mirrored it on Drunk Duck (DD for short, and don't let the name fool you, it's a neat community!). Both webhosts are free. I have been more impressed with DD because it has a great commenting and rating system and a good user interface for organizing your site plus an active and healthy forum area that encourages community communication. So I will give the link to our comic on DD, Due East starting at the very first strip. Click on the graphic below to start reading the comic (opens another browser window or tab)!

We put up a webpage for detailed backgrounds on the characters here and more detail on the background story here.

In conclusion, I just wanted to let you all know that I haven't forgotten IR Haven, I've just been in another creative vein right now. I will have inspiration for IR Haven, too, but I'm waiting on it. I don't want to put just anything online, I want to give my best!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-05-21T00:32:00.000-05:00

No NINTF/S This Weekend

"I'm Sorry" pic

I'm sorry, with all the preparations that led up to Mother's Day (which went great! I'll write about it soon.), I just needed a week to take it easy and recuperate. All is well. NITNF will be back this Friday!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-05-12T09:16:00.000-05:00

Not In The News ~~Friday~~ Saturday (NITNS):
Mother's Day Edition

NITNS will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day -- and I have a lot planned! There's a big Mother's Day program at church that's done by the men (of all ages) of the church for the mothers. Normally, I assist with the music by playing electric bass but this year, I will actually be singing lead on one of the songs, in addition to playing bass on other songs. This has been both exciting and nerve-wracking at times. I also decided to ask my wife, whom I consider a vocal expert, to train me on this. I know it took some of the surprise out it but it also gave me the best chance of doing my very best. It also gave me a chance to serenade her privately, which I can verify she enjoyed...a lot! She's also been my cheering section and personal encouragement coach in this.

I used to sing a lot right before she and I met and even through the time we got married, but since settling down and work and the kids and then the non-profit organization, etc., I just lost some of my drive to sing. In the last few years, I have begun singing background vocals while bass-playing for our band, First Light, and that's been wonderful...but I'd been waiting for inspiration to sing lead again. Well, this year and this Mother's Day, I got inspired.

Anyway, even though our minivan has been on the fritz, I rented a car for the weekend from Enterprise (I love their service). After a bit of negotiations (who knew so much was involved in using a debit card?), I got a Kia Optima and it is niiiiice! So we will travel in style with no vehicular worries.

In addition, I will be home cooking for my lovely wife, the mother of my two wonderful boys, and I am happy to do it, too. And she is cool with this, which makes it all the better. I have something scrumptious planned -- mmmmmm!

I haven't left my mother or my mother-in-law out but I don't want to go into detail here, either. I'll just say that I love them very much and am grateful for them.

My mother has been a great influence on me my whole life. She made it a point to encourage me to feel good about myself growing up, especially when I had childhood bullies (who didn't have childhood bullies? I'm convinced even bullies have bullies!) She (and my father) tried hard to install Christian values in me while I was growing up and there has never been a doubt in my mind that she has loved me unconditionally every single day of my life. And she has spread that love to include my wife and children now...but I know she has that special personal love for me that a mother only has for her son.

And although I'm not always so good at expressing it, I have an intensely deep love and respect for my mother. Since I am so ridiculously busy at times, I try to show her what I've learned from my parents by being the best husband and father I can to my my wife and children. I know she sees this and is pleased by it.

Likewise, my mother-in-law is very special to me. She accepted me unconditionally from the first day I met her, before my wife and I even started dating. She has always believed in me and has made me feel like her son. I will always be grateful for that because, being in an interracial marriage, and with all the challenges we faced, her belief and love was a reassurance in those difficult times. She's a remarkable woman.

Family is so important. Really, though, for better or worse, sometimes family is all we have (in a non-spiritual sense). I know we all have difficulties sometimes and some relatives may be easier to get along with than others... Some family relationships unfortunately become unhealthy and for reasons of safety or sanity, sometimes it's best for some relatives not to be around each other. I understand that, but closer to home, I can say condidently that I love my wife dearly and passionately. Likewise, my children mean the world to me. And I love all of my blood relatives and in-laws (which I treat and consider the same as blood relatives). To me, that's all that matters.

Have a Happy Mother's Day!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-05-05T11:37:00.001-05:00

Not In The News ~~Friday~~ Saturday (NITNS)

NITNS will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

This week, I want to make some commentary on an article I ran across this morning. The article link is for a artistic display called "Half Asian" that ran from February 2, 2007 through March 27, 2007 in Oakland, California.

From their website, here is the synopsis of the project:

Aishman and Sloat met in Boston during graduate studies in the Tufts University/Boston Museum School program. They began the Half Asian project in 2001, interested in expressing the unique condition of being multi-racial Asian. Ben (Half-Taiwanese) and Steve (Half-Japanese) had shared experiences of being mistaken for a number of different races, for being assumed to not be Asian while in Asia, despite speaking the native language, and for being interested in creating a visual community of half-Asians where a physical community is not possible.

The first element of the Half Asian project is the Trilogy photographic series, where more than 100 people have been photographed. The project has since continued to involve more photographic series, as well as video works and multimedia installation pieces. Work from this project has been shown in galleries and museums on the East and West Coasts and has been reviewed in the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, and the New York Times.

Now, while I don't have any problems with exploring one's whole identity, I do have a problem with intentional segregation of your "halves" such as this project explores, tongue-in-cheek fashion or not. I was discussing this project with a friend who is part-Korean and that's when it dawned on me...

With my sons, I never think about their "Black Half" or "White Half" or their "Native American 1/16th" -- they are Black and White and Native American. They are the sum of their parts, they do not pick and choose what part they are today or tomorrow. It is the completeness -- the blend -- of all of these genetic traits and cultural heritage that makes them who they are and makes them special.

Identity is the sum of what makes you uniquely you.

Or to put it another way: racial segregation has always been bad and it always will be. Let's leave it in the past where it belongs.

Best Wishes,
Allen

Source: 'Half Asian' exhibit provokes questions about race

Source: halfasian.us

2007-04-28T23:34:00.000-05:00

Not In The News ~~Friday~~ Saturday (NITNS)

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

I am still determined to crank out an NITN every week, whether Friday or Saturday! So, this week's story is kind of a continuation about my amazing kids. Yesterday, my oldest son was on the "old laptop" (Dell Latitude CP-i - circa 1997) which has Windows 2000 and somehow figured out how to record himself playing the recorder onto the laptop hard drive -- using Windows Media Player 9 and no microphone!

Now, what makes this pretty amazing and cool is that neither my wife nor I could figure out how he did it! We're the adults, after all, and I'm supposed to be the computer whiz of the family! Pretty amusing, actually.

And don't think I intend to leave out my youngest son. He quietly impresses by consistently being on the Honor Roll at school and never making less than a 90 on well, anything! He gets really upset at dropping from a grade of 99 to 97, like it's a major failure! I had to give a little perspective on that, like how many people would be very, very happy with a 97? Also, he's a gaming genius (both he and older brother are) on the Nintendo Gamecube or whatever he can wrap his brain around.

I could say so much more about my sons...but I'll leave that for future posts.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-04-21T13:16:00.000-05:00

My New "Toy"

As I wrote yesterday, I got a new laptop. This is the first brand new laptop I have ever bought. I went with a Dell because I know their workmanship and you can get some pretty good deals through Dell's website. I looked at this as an investment, so I went ahead and loaded up on the features I felt I'd use most, such as the processor (a 1.73 Ghz Intel duocore), ram (2 GB) and video ram (256MB NVidia GeForce Go 7300 Turbocache). It has an 80GB harddrive and the Windows Vista Premium operating system.

Once I got it out of the packaging and set up the AC adapter, it took me a few hours to configure it the way I like. I got rid of some softwares I felt were unnecessary or intrusive, like McAfee Security Center and Google Desktop. Once I tapped into my secure wireless network, I downloaded and installed software that I wanted such as Firefox, AVG Free Antivirus and Open Office 2.2.

Then there was the defragging. I thought that was going to take forever! But I had to do it, all the uninstalling and installing was really slowing down the laptop.

I was very impressed with the way Vista Premium looks! I know it's only doing things that Macs have been doing for years but I never thought I'd find a version of Internet Explorer that actually worked well and looks pretty good! I still have a preference for Mozilla Firefox but IE was working hard to get my attention.

Also, I was relieved that Microsoft still makes it possible to do just about everything four different ways in Windows. If the "new" way doesn't suit you, or you want to access an "old" tool, all you have to do is dig a little and you'll find it.

I still have more goodies to install and bookmarks to copy from Google Bookmarks, etc. but I am already very happy with my new toy.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-04-20T16:47:00.000-05:00

Did I Mention I Have Incredible Kids?

My oldest son did something remarkable today. I had ordered a new laptop from Dell and it was scheduled to be delivered sometime today. I let my sons know about this before they went to school this morning.

I was concerned that it might be delivered while no one was home and that I'd have to contact them and re-schedule the delivery for some other day. And of course, they did come in the early afternoon, leaving a note that they'd tried to deliver the package.

Enter my oldest son. He sees the note when he and his brother get home, calls the shipping company and asks what it would take for the package to be re-delivered this afternoon. The shipping company asked him several questions, so he went over across the parking lot to the leasing office and asked them the questions. After getting the answers, he relayed that info to the shipping company over the phone.

They then asked him for the tracking number for this shipment, so he promptly called me on the cell phone to ask for the tracking number. As it happens, I had easy access to that information and relayed it to him, which he relayed to the shipping company. Somehow, he then arranged for the package to be delivered to the front office of the apartment complex and signed for by one of the staff. My son then proudly picked up the package and went back upstairs to the apartment with it.

I was supremely impressed at his initiative and his desire to help me get something that he knew is important to me. He showed a lot of love, intelligence, problem-solving and determination. It means a lot to me. I had to share it with my wife and she was equally amazed and proud.

Just some more positivity to share this Friday.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-04-20T09:29:00.001-05:00

Not In The News Friday (NITNF)

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

This week, there's been plenty in the news. Plenty of horror with the Virginia Tech massacre and plenty of mourning. Today is actually a Day of Mourning. But I wasn't about to let that detract from NITNF. Instead, I'd like to offer one person's story of hope and triumph in the midst of a life-threatening illness. I don't know her personally but this story is truly inspiring. This is Kim's story.

Kim's Story
Originally written Saturday, August 12, 2006

Kim was diagnosed with a GBM in 2004. In her story, which she has titled, "An Unwelcome Stranger," she shares how she has coped with radiation and chemotherapy. She expresses her hope that her story can be a "light at the end of the tunnel" for others.

March 3, 2004 started out like any other day, but ended in a way that changed my life forever....

I was at work, like every Monday through Friday, and was sitting at my desk working on my computer. That was my last memory until waking up in the Emergency Room of a local hospital. I had no idea what was going on. I was terrified! A nurse or doctor told me that I had had a seizure at work and that I was at the Emergency Room. I thought I was hearing things. There must be a mistake...I've never had a seizure before and I had been feeling fine. My brain would not believe what my ears were hearing. I asked what time it was and when I was told it was 4:15 pm, I couldn't believe that either. Last time I remembered looking at the clock it was 1:00 pm and I had just got back to my desk from lunch. How could over three hours have passed! I couldn't accept what was being told to me. My head was spinning a mile and minute and I just couldn't comprehend what was being told to me. I have never been so scared in my whole life.

I asked if my boyfriend had been notified and they said that he was on his way. I was so relieved when he got there. I kept telling him that I wanted to go home and that they have the wrong person; that they somehow made a mistake. He told me so gently that they didn't make a mistake and that I did have a seizure. He said that my boss and some co-workers were sitting in the lobby of the Emergency Room and he had spoken with them. They came back to see me and from the looks on their faces, I knew that everything that was told to me was true...I really did have a seizure.

During the next few weeks, I underwent many tests to see if the doctors could figure out what caused my seizure. I was so hoping that it was just some sort of fluke that I had a seizure. I wasn't sick or having headaches or anything like that before the seizure, so I thought for sure that the doctors would not be able to find anything that caused it. Unfortunately they did find out what caused my seizure; a brain tumor. I was devastated. I had brain surgery almost immediately. Waiting for the results of the surgery was so agonizing.

About four days after surgery my surgeon called for me to come in. I knew right then that it was bad news. And I was right. He said I had a tumor; it was a GBM. He was holding my hand the whole time he was talking to me. I had him on one side of me and my boyfriend on the other side of me. The doctor said that I had to put my life on hold and spend every minute trying to get better.

I immediately started radiation; 33 treatments which took 6 1/2 weeks. Along with the radiation I took chemo pills too. I was extremely sick! I remember crying a lot saying that I was so sick and tired of being sick and tired. My boyfriend would never let me have negative thoughts and always told me not to give up hope and most importantly - told me that I was going to survive this. At that point in time I didn't believe him. I wasn't eating, or drinking, or doing much of anything but sleeping. My doctor said that was OK, that that is what my body needed. I slept 20 hours a day, I lost 30 lbs. and looked and felt like a rag.

I couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel, but my boyfriend kept telling me that it was right there, that he could see it. He never once showed me how afraid he was. I continued with chemo even after radiation was done and went from taking pills every day to taking them less frequently. Slow, but steady, I started feeling better. I was able to stay awake more and able to eat; actually was getting my appetite back! I had many MRI's, still do, and every one of them since surgery has come back clear! I am so very fortunate. And I am so very fortunate that I had a person like my boyfriend in my corner. He is my number one supporter! He made me a believer! He also made me his wife!

It is now 28 months since my surgery and I am doing great! I am so very fortunate that I am doing so well and have no residual affects from all of this.

I've realized many things over the past couple of years. One of them, that life can change at the drop of a dime; that cancer doesn't only happen to "other" people; that this unwelcomed stranger can show up at any one's door at anytime. I've also realized how many people love me and care about me. It still amazes me. My co-workers brought dinners almost every night during my radiation. And everyone always sent cards, good wishes and prayers. My family and I have also grown closer together. I am finally back to feeling "normal" again. I still get tired some days, but other then that I feel good. I have been off of chemo since November, 2005 and life couldn't be sweeter.

So when you are in need of that light at the end of the tunnel, the same one that for awhile I couldn't see, just think about me and I can be that light for you.

I hope that everyone who reads this goes away with a smile on their face and hope in their heart.

Source: American Brain Tumor Association - Survivor Stories

2007-04-16T19:33:00.000-05:00

Feeling A Bit Better...

If nothing else, I can say I got rest and spent some quality time with my family last weekend. Being sick also forced me (forced me, I tell you!) to take Friday and Saturday off from work. Several days, some antibiotics, narcotic cough syrup and many liquids later -- plus a healthy dose of TLC from my wife and kids -- and I am on the road to recovery.

I actually went to work today, which was an interesting experience. I woke up this morning just barely feverish -- with a temperature of 98.9 -- feeling icky and sore beyond belief. I finally got some relief from that after getting some ibuprofen on the way to work but still quite woozy and disoriented. After some prayer before starting, I managed to muddle my way through.

I have to take this medicine through tomorrow, then my brain should be able to focus better. Prayers and well-wishes are appreciated.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-04-13T21:12:00.000-05:00

Not In The News Friday (NITNF)

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

This week...I'm pretty ill. I actually went to the doctor today because I'd been feverish for two days with what felt like a head cold. The doc explained that there's a bad bacterial infection going around and it's very infectious. Anyway, he prescribed antibiotics, cough medicine, rest and plenty of liquids.

So, peace out this weekend. I'll be back soon!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-04-07T12:15:00.000-05:00

Not In The News ~~Saturday~~ Friday (NITNF)

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

I'm going to have to start brainstorming on Thursdays because I am creatively dry these last few Fridays. After a good night's sleep, I can usually come up with something pretty decent. Here we go this week...

This June is my 20 year high school reunion. Yep, I graduated with the Class of 1987. I was not enthusiastic about the 10 year reunion. We could afford to go but they wanted to hold it in a beer hall and that was, well, repulsive to me. So I passed on that opportunity, even though it meant not seeing my old friends and fellow classmates. I really wasn't ready, either.

A few years later, I tried to organize a "Millennium Reunion" for 2000. The idea failed miserably (apparently, a lot of the ones who did go to the 10 year reunion didn't want to be reminded of it a few years later) but it did give me a chance to change my feelings about contacting and meeting my old classmates.

In high school, I was fairly shy and reclusive. My passion at the time was journalism, but I was also very involved in drawing comic books and developing my interests in music. I didn't date and I was totally into heavy metal, death metal and black metal. And just to make life a little more interesting, I was the first student in my high school's history to do album reviews on such lively (or is that "deadly") music. It earned me the nickname "Satan," which I found hysterical at the time (I don't anymore).

By the time I was 16, I had my first electric bass guitar and amplifier, plus sound effects foot pedals for flanging, heavy metal distortion and digital delay. Interestingly enough, none of these effects are usually associated with electric bass guitar -- but you might say, I was inspired. I also had my first cheesy Casio synthesizer keyboard which also had a built-in cheesy drum machine (cheesy, that is, until pumped through digital delay effects).

My musical inspiration for electric bass was Steve Harris of Iron Maiden. Oddly enough, my vocal inspiration was Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Initially, I recorded just about everything I did on a little jambox with a tape recorder. By age 18, I would rent four-track recorders for more complex recordings that were closer to "real songs." It was a fun, crazy experimentation period in my life, although some of the songs would probably either bore you to tears (especially the bass only instrumentals, although they did help me learn quickly) or make your hair curl. I am sure I contributed to the growth of many of my parents gray hairs during that time period. A couple of years later, I would actually go into the studio to digitally record my first (and only) solo album titled Allen Steadham - Dreams & Wishes. It took 3 years to record, had 9 songs and was 44 minutes long.

Okay, 20 years have passed. Many of my classmates are either married or divorced, have children, etc. I can only imagine how much each of them may have changed with the experiences they've had over the last two decades. I know I have radically changed. Physically, I really haven't changed much (although I'll admit, I do miss some of my hair sometimes -- oh well)...but I have truly changed emotionally and spiritually. As you can see by the musical influences of my teen years, even though I was a part of a family that called itself Christian, nothing about my life reflected that...quite the opposite.

All I can say to that is I am so glad God intervened in my life and gave me the chance to turn things around.

So, I'm looking forward to the 20 year reunion. I didn't realize how many friends I had until the years passed and I thought about all the people I had individual good memories with and fun experiences. I had so many bad memories of high school as a result of my own angst, which didn't have much to do with any one person in particular, that I didn't think much on the good times. When I started to do that, it really lifted the dark "angst cloud" and helped me see that we were just a bunch of kids with no idea what we were doing. There's something strangely comforting in that concept.

Anyway, I have no idea what to expect from the reunion but my interactions with my classmates who are organizing it have been positive. It's still months away but I'll let you know how things go.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-03-31T09:35:00.000-05:00

Not In The News Friday (NITNF)

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

This is starting to turn into Not In The News Saturday...sigh. Anyway, today's is another personal story but I found it rather amusing. Last night, after I got home from work, we were watching the digital video recorder (DVR) together. Me, being "Chief Star Trek Geek" of the family and probably most of North Austin, we were watching a recorded episode of Voyager and then an episode of Enterprise.

During the Enterprise episode, one of the characters was visiting family and friends on another spaceship and one of his female childhood friends comes to visit him in his temporary guest quarters on the ship. My wife kind of rolled her eyes and said "Of course...the love interest...you've always got to have the love interest." And then my oldest son says, in the same tone of voice: "Always white and skinny" and then he walked off to do something else.

Did I mention he's 11 years old? My wife and tried really hard to contain our laughter. What better indictment of Hollywood than a pre-teen noticing the entertainment industry's standard of beauty and being irritated enough with it to walk out of the room?

I didn't see it as racist or reverse-sizist -- he just found the whole scenario predictable and, based on his expression, boring.

Poetic justice or an indication of the future? You be the judge.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-03-24T13:30:00.000-05:00

Not In The News Friday (NITNF)

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

This week, first of all, is a little late, but also it's about the story that wasn't. Let me explain. I was seriously considering putting a YouTube video of a sneak peak at an upcoming independent film about a Blasian (Black and Asian) couple and what they go through to have a relationship...but I thought better of it because (A) it was a little too er, steamy in one scene and (B) something just didn't feel right. So, when I discussed it with my wife, she had an insight that I hadn't considered, which is what I want to write about this week.

There have been, for better or worse, a string of IR-themed movies and shows over the last 20 years or so: Jungle Fever, Mississipi Masala, Guess Who (the mediocre remake of the 1962 classic "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner"), Monster's Ball, Hitch and several others I'm sure I'm not remembering at the moment. Each has covered different aspects of interracial relationships. Some have been biased (Jungle Fever, anyone?), many have been what I'll call defeatist -- the writers clearly want interracial relationships to work but they ultimately don't think they will (Mississippi Masala), and it's reflected in their story, and some have been pretty positive (Hitch).

Ultimately, though, it's 2007 now. Haven't we moved beyond the viewing interracial relationships under a microscope, like they're such an anomaly that we can't possibly understand? Fortunately, I think some moviemakers "get it" and we've had a lot of interracial relationships as part of recent movies that don't make any mention of race and there's no tension/struggle caused because of it ("Hitch" was that way). I think that's truly the way to go, because that's the way it's becoming in reality.

I mentioned to my wife that the movie I was going to use the clip from had some stereotypical bigots and she reminded me, there really are people who still feel that way and act that way...so it's not that far a stretch to see it in a film. But we (the viewing public) don't need our hands held and to be told how interracial relationships are good and racism is bad. We know these things and have our own opinions, whether we agree or disagree. It's time to just move on and have interracial relationships be shown relative to our (growing) number in the population (currently somewhere between 5% and 15% in the U.S., I believe, depending on what source you use -- it may be more, I don't know).

I wish I could say we've moved beyond that in terms of race representations in movies but Hollywood is still a bit mired in the quota system. Even so, at least actors don't really have to act stereotypical just to make it into a film like they did in the 1960s through the 1980s. For example, I loved "Sixteen Candles" (1984) but Gedde Watanabe was the epitome of the Asian stereotype -- an to make it worse, he was in an interracial romance with the "awkward tall, buxom white chick". And there was the whole "blaxploitation" era of the 1970s, etc.

There's obviously room for progress in film concerning interracial relationships but at least it's no longer being treated as a taboo like it once was. Little by little, things are improving and IRs are becoming more mainstream. It's very welcome and long overdue.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-03-16T23:15:00.000-05:00

Not In The News Friday (NITNF)

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

This week, I'm going to tell you another story. You see, this weekend is Angel's and my 12th wedding anniversary. I've been in charge of planning things this year. Angel is the master planner of the last 2 or 3 years. She's done an excellent job but it was time for me to take a shot at it. So, budgeting with what we have, I decided on doing something more local this year but still fun.

I made plans for the kids to stay with relatives and for me and Angel to have a nice hotel somewhere near or around town. I went online looking for deals this week and I was actually disappointed with a couple of online services I'd used before but lo and behold, William Shatner did NOT disappoint!

I found Priceline.com had the best selection and deals for the price -- and that was even without using their "Name Your Own Price" roulette wheel! It took a little while but I found something perfectly appropriate in a nice area just north of Austin and within our budget. I secured the deal online and printed out the itinerary.

I work a half-day tomorrow and then we take the kids to the relatives, check into our hotel and have a nice dinner and relaxing evening. Sunday (March 18th) will actually be our wedding anniversary and we will pick up the kids in the evening.

I keep hearing more and more how staying married for 12 years is considered an unbelievable accomplishment in and of itself, nevermind being an interracial marriage, too! We've been through a lot over these years but we're still each other's best friend. We've learned to lean and depend on one another and we deeply, deeply love and respect one another. Although we don't know what tomorrow might bring, we want to spend the rest of our lives with each other, growing old together and we thank the Lord for each day we have.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-03-10T10:16:00.000-06:00

No NITNF This Week, But There Are Things Worth Blogging About...

...sorta.

My apologies. I just couldn't think up anything interesting this week for Not In The News Friday (NITNF). Yes, I could scour IMDB.com for some trivia or something but I like for NITNF to be inspired. If it's interesting to me, I can hope that it's interesting to you. By the same logic, if it's not interesting to me, how can I expect it to be interesting to you?

A lot has been going on in Real Life_TM. The van was in the shop from last Thursday through this Wednesday. And yet, we didn't miss one day of work and the kids never missed school. That's not to say it was a piece of cake, and I did way more walking than I should have (ended up with a low fever and leg cramps by Wednesday, my "overkill" day). The transmission place ended up having to replace the torque converter, some seals and the filters...and it still has a leak, just nowhere near the Niagara Falls it was last Thursday! I plan on taking it back on Wednesday, assuming it can hold out till then. It also seems to have sprung an oil leak (no fun). I blame the extreme cold weather we had last month but one way or the other, it will need to be fixed.

In the meantime, I've been working on my little laptop that I got for Christmas. It had been running very, very slow with Windows 2000. I eventually got frustrated and decided to just downgrade it to Windows 98SE (Second Edition), so I wiped the hard drive, only to find out my CDROM was not working well enough to install Windows (or any other operating system). This left me with a mini-dilemma...

Warning: your eyes may glaze over for a moment while technical details are explained. Do not worry, the effect is only temporary. Do not adjust your monitor. My laptop is a Dell Latitude CPi. It is truly a wonder of its time (1997), a lightweight, compact workhorse designed for business users. The laptop has a robust 266 Mhz processor, 64 MB of EDO RAM, a 3 GB hard drive and modular bay that supports floppy and cdrom modules (just not at the same time).

In the midst of my frustration over not having a working CDROM for the laptop, I looked at other options, including Linux distributions...except that most of those are installed via CD. I actually found some decent versions that I downloaded to my PC and created boot floppies for. The best was Blue Flops, a stable two-floppy distribution that includes the graphical web browser called Links. Once I connected my laptop to its port replicator (which has an ethernet port) and booted up this distribution and configured it for DHCP, I was able to cruise the web using Links (I had to take some time configuring the video driver settings in Blueflops then it worked beautifully). But that was the only thing I could get to work well, so I knew I needed a better solution.

I went to the local computer antique shops (Austin's "Goodwill Computer Works" and "Discount Electronics") but they didn't have what I needed, in terms of a CDROM or other upgrades (but man, if you need a Dell Latitude floppy drive, you'll have no problem getting a replacement!). Finally, my brother-in-law was able to give me a replacement CDROM for the laptop and it works brilliantly.

I spent all Thursday trying to make a dual-boot system (Windows 98SE and Linux). I went through over half a dozen distributions but they would all hang on the video driver (a 2 MB NeoMagic video card) and/or the ISA Soundblaster-compatible Crystal 4237B soundcard. By evening, I gave up on putting Linux on the laptop, reformatted the whole drive and put a clean install of Windows 2000 back on. I know...ironic, huh? But I'd like to think I set this version up pretty well.

Now, in all fairness to Linux distributions, I know there are real and working solutions for every single issue I faced. I know I could Google my way out of that box and make it all work...I simply have the patience of a Windows user and I admit it.

Putting on a clean install of the OS (Operating System) instead of just an upgrade helps. Then, I only put on the Windows service packs (and not the infinite Windows/MS Updates), run Firefox for the browser (instead of Internet Explorer) and put AVG Free on for security (antivirus). I have a wireless PCMCIA card and Windows 2000 (Win2K) found that no problem after I installed the Netgear software and drivers and I was able to connect to the internet wirelessly. I also picked up a 1GB flash drive to essentially add a Gig of space to my laptop's hard drive storage.

I did get one thing from Discount Electronics, a Dell laptop backpack. Now that I have the laptop the way I want it again, I may actually take it places (Whooooaa!) that have a wifi connection. The backpack looks brand new, is nicely cushioned, has plenty of space, pockets, etc. (I even tested it by fitting both the port replicator and the laptop inside it without any problems, although I won't be keeping the port replicator in it now that the wireless works) and I couldn't beat the price: $29!

I've imported all my bookmarks from Google bookmarks (I love that feature!) and customized my profile, browser theme and extensions. All I still need is word processing software and to upgrade my Windows Media Player (version 9 is the highest I can put on Win2K).

I already use Google Docs but there will be occasions when I need to write offline and I'd like the capability (sure, I could use Notepad but, please!) I like AbiWord for a standalone word processor. It essentially has all the features of MS Word and it's free! I really like Open Office but it's too bulky and memory intensive for my old laptop and really, all I'd really use is word processing anyway.

I do all of my chat in Firefox on Meebo.com and most of my email on Gmail, so those don't require any memory-intensive software.

As you can see, with the CDROM replaced and an actual OS on my "vintage laptop," I've been having a lot of fun with it!

And for those of you who have glazed -- SNAP OUT OF IT! THE BLOG ENTRY'S OVER!!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-03-02T09:07:00.001-06:00

Not In The News Friday (NITNF)

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

Now, sometimes it is true that real life is stranger than fiction! The following is a true story. Yesterday was one of my days off, and as I was driving my wife to work, our van started having trouble changing gears (it's an automatic transmission). This was especially troubling since we'd had the transmission replaced last year.

After I dropped off my wife, I called the transmission shop and asked if they could look at it. The owner said he could see it later in the morning. I had a doctor's appointment and a couple of errands to run anyway, so that was fine. By the time I was done with my appointment and errands, the van was almost undriveable, but I did get it to the shop. While I was waiting for it to be seen, I noticed it was leaking red transmission fluid. I let the owner know and when he took it around the the back, where the bays were, the van was leaking like a water hose! We both agreed it was definitely undriveable at that point.

I asked the owner what it would cost to get it fixed. He quoted me $350 -- then he thought for a second, and he asked me if I did computer graphics. I said I worked with computers, yes. He told me he had a laptop that was giving him error messages and wouldn't let him install an external hard drive. He asked if I could maybe fix it for him. I said I probably could, then he showed me what he had. The laptop was 4 or 5 years old and was running Windows Millennium Edition (ME). It also had a Windows XP Home Edition upgrade CD. He also had a Buffalo 320 GB USB 2 external hard drive.

So we cut a deal: I would upgrade his laptop and get his external hard drive installed and he would fix the transmission. The only catch was that he needed the laptop ready by afternoon (it was about 10:00 am by this point). No problem. He even dropped me and the laptop off at home, where I wired it into my router and went to work.

It was easy enough to upgrade it to XP as a clean install, it just took a little while (the laptop had a 1 Ghz Intel processor and 128mb of RAM with a 15 GB hard drive). Once I got XP installed, I just hooked in the external hard drive through its included USB 2 cable to one of the USB ports on the laptop and XP recognized it and installed drivers immediately. I went ahead and installed the backup software from its CD.

The final steps were a pain, though. I had to defragment the hard drive because with all the upgrades, it was running very slow. Then I had to download and install Windows XP Service Pack 2. That seemed to take forever! But I was able to finish up, repack everything into their boxes and cases and get it to the owner when he arrived. He was happy (he needs it for this weekend) and said the van would be ready on Monday, no charge.

That was just the coolest feeling! And I couldn't help but feel like that was an opportunity that just dropped out of heaven -- so I had to thank the Lord for that. And then, one of my wife's female coworkers offered to pick her up and drop her off over the few days we are van-less -- and since they both work for the same temp agency, she'll take Angel to get her check and cash it today! And as for me, I rode the bus today, and I can do it tomorrow and Monday, if need be. The bus drops me off a couple of blocks from work -- and I have a friend at work who can drop me off in the evenings. And my kids' school is within one block of our apartment...

Really and truly, I feel blessed.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-02-23T18:14:00.000-06:00

Not In The News Friday (NITNF)

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

This week, a little multimedia -- the trailer for the MAVIN Foundation's documentary Chasing Daybreak.

2007-02-16T11:43:00.000-06:00

Not In The News Friday (NITNF)

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

This week, in honor of Valentine's Day and interracial marriage in general, I am happy to present the Interracial Interchangeable Brides and Grooms wedding cake toppers from vibride.com

Source: Vibrides.com: Interacial Interchangeable Brides and Grooms

2007-02-09T19:40:00.001-06:00

Not In The News Friday (NITNF)

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

This week, I happened upon an interesting book about being biracial by...someone who's biracial! I thought I'd share What Are You? by Pearl Gaskins

Here's a little about the author:

Pearl Gaskins is an award-winning journalist with 12 years of experience interviewing young people and writing about the issues that concern them--from prejudice and peer pressure to divorce and drug abuse. This is her first book.

The child of an interracial marriage--her mother is Japanese-American and her father is European-American--Ms. Gaskins created What Are You? as a forum for mixed-race young people to share their experiences, wisdom, and creativity. She also hopes the book will inform and enlighten current and future parents of mixed-race children, facilitate family dialogue about racial differences, and inspire readers of all backgrounds to reject race as a means of dividing and categorizing people.

Ms. Gaskins was raised in a military family and lived in many places. She spent her teenage years in Northern California, lived in Hawaii and New York, and now resides in the Chicago area. She has a bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of California at Berkeley and a master's in journalism from New York University. She has won three awards from the Educational Press Association of America for writing and editing magazine articles for young people.

In the early 80s, Ms. Gaskins participated in IPRIDE (Interracial Intercultural Pride), a social and support group for multiracial people and interracial families in Berkeley. She is a member of Hapa Issues Forum.

Source: WhatAreYou.com

2007-02-03T10:04:00.000-06:00

Not In The News Friday: Late Edition 4

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

My apologies, yesterday was a rush of extreme business but I have not forgotten NITNF! And I did find something nice for you all.

This week I have to post a link instead of text. I want to honor the copyrights of the original site and its authors. Please do go and read a teen's perspective on Being Biracial by Shana L. Rosedale of New York.

2007-01-26T13:36:00.000-06:00

Not In the News Friday (NITNF)

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

This week's focus will be on the amazingly talented interracial married couple known in music simply as Tuck and Patti!

Tuck Andress and Patti Cathcart - a couple that have been making music together for over 25 years and who released ten albums flavoured with jazz, pop, rhythm and blues, gospel, folk, rock and Brazilian genres since 1988 as a duo.

Patti hails from San Francisco and knew from the age of six that she wanted to be a singer. She started to sing in church, directed choirs by the age of 10 and received voice lessons in high school. As she was raised in the Bay Area in the 60s she was influenced by all the styles of music going on and places like The Fillmore were second home to her - even Bill Graham watched out for her. Patti jammed with hundreds of musicians during that time and learned how to improvise in any style. Some might remember that Patti was one of the founding members of Kingfish - featuring Bobby Weir, Matthew Kelly, Dave Torbert, Barry Flast among others.

In 1970 Tuck enrolled in Stanford where he would later major in music and played in several rock and jazz bands at the same time. He even went to Los Angeles to play in bands and took the guitar position for the Sonny and Cher TV show for some time - but decided to leave the L.A. scene before it could swallow him. Instead he headed to the Bay Area where he would play in top 40, soul and rock bands or practice and listen to music 8 to sometimes 14 hours a day.

In 1978 Tuck was playing in a band Patti came to audition for. Once they met they immediately knew they had found their musical soulmate (and partner in life). Since the band didn't happen Tuck and Patti decided to work as a duo and their instant success in the Bay Area proved that their formula that every song had to speak and be played from their hearts worked. Ten years later they would release their first CD "Tears of Joy" and the rest is history as they say. Tuck & Patti have become a well known act worldwide - especially in Europe and Japan.

Source: Tuck And Patti (Artist profile from Bay-Area-Bands.com)

Tuck and Patti's Official Website
(includes photos, links, blogs from Tuck and Patti and a very informative FAQ about the duo)

2007-01-21T01:45:00.000-06:00

Being Together

The above picture is beautiful. With its lush scenery, amazing natural light and colors, it typifies what I find incredible about the beginning or the end of a day. And yet, it doesn't come close to how incredible it feels to wake up next to the same woman whom I've loved for nearly 15 years now. To know that she is the one I'm married to, committed to, who has given me two precious children and has dedicated herself to me for the rest of her life. To know that her feelings for me are as genuine, as powerful as my feelings for her. To know that, even though there will be different kinds of emotional, physical and spiritual trials in our relationship, we have pledged to make it through, with the help of the Lord.

I am truly grateful for the loved ones in my life and I never want to take them or their love for granted. I know that tomorrow is not promised, so I want to give my praises today. I'm proud of my wife and I'm proud of my family. This is our family, we made it together. We are interracial and we are also...completely normal.

Have a great weekend!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-01-19T07:55:00.000-06:00

Not In The News Friday (NITNF)

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

This week, don't let the above picture fool you. Although the comic book character of Steel is pretty cool and was a great new character for DC Comics circa 1993 with "The Death of Superman" (which wasn't really the death of Superman, since he didn't stay dead...but hey, that worked for Spock, too). But you will see that the above graphic is indeed appropriate when I tell you the tale of "My Son's Epic Battle Against The Icy Stairs of Doom!"

Okay, maybe it wasn't exactly an "epic battle" worthy of the history books and song and legend but I do think it is a fitting finale to the Winter Storm Warning week. My sons got home from school yesterday and braved the Icy Stairs of Doom to get into our apartment. Aside from nearly slipping on one bit of see-through ice, they did fine. No injuries, no actual slips.

So my oldest son then took it upon himself to get my hammer, descend to the bottom of the stairs and proceed to demolish the remaining ice from each of the 16 stairs...until none remained.

My son is 11 years old. No one prompted him to do this. He just did it! I think he wanted to be rid of the ice and I think he really wanted to do something to protect the rest of us. Plus, while I imagine that it was hard (and messy), it was probably pretty fun to take a hammer to concrete and ice! So, both my wife and I thanked him for his valiant efforts.

That ice never stood a chance!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-01-18T16:26:00.000-06:00

Back To A Semblance Of Normalcy

Yesterday, we were finally able to de-ice most of the van and drive it a bit. After about 90 minutes, we cleared the ice from windshield in the front, all the side windows, the tires and most of the back. It took one more round to free the remainder of the back window. I actually managed to scrape/cut my right hand on ice to create a minor ouch factor for the rest of the day. Anyway, we drove to the grocery store, where we ran into one of our bandmates, got some supplies and headed back.

Today, most of the school systems, including ours, opened a couple of hours late (to coincide with the ending of the Winter Storm Warning). I asked my wife to wait a couple of hours to go into work so we could make sure we got our kids down the Icy Stairs of Doom in one piece. After that, my wife dropped me off at work on the way to her job and all is well.

Things are still icy in places but it is manageable and most of Austin is trying to get back into the groove of things (ice...road...groove...Austin=music town -- er, nevermind).

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-01-16T15:55:00.000-06:00

More Pictures From Ice Central

Just a few more photos from around the neighborhood. Click on any of them to enlarge them to full-size.

A frozen flower garden, up close.

Same flower garden, but a wider view.

A nearby sidewalk, partially iced over.

The treacherous ice stairs. I'll be happy when these thaw (probably tomorrow).

Most everyone in our apartment complex stayed in today. Good for them!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-01-16T12:38:00.000-06:00

Iced In, With A Side Of Snow

Everyone's still home, icebound. As you can see, my family is in good spirits (click on the above picture to enlarge it to full-size. And you can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them). When you see our van, below, you'll see why we've been in no rush to go anywhere.

This is the back windshield of the van. This is at least 1/4" thick ice. I put warm water on it this morning and it didn't even make a dent in it!

This is the front windshield, which got even more ice and sleet. The driver's side door lock was frozen as well.

Even the tires had a layer of ice!

If you click on this picture, you'll see a better view of the snow. We haven't really had any accumulations of snow but to get it at all in Austin is very rare, so we enjoy it when it happens.

Well, I said when I had some pictures, I'd share. These are from about one hour ago. Enjoy!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-01-15T23:18:00.000-06:00

Having A Winter Blast

Well, as predicted, my wife stayed home from work today because of the winter-like weather. The bottom half of the stairs to our apartment were (and are) treacherous, to say the least, and our van is covered in about 1/4" of ice. We ran the engine for about 5 minutes today, just to keep the vehicle active and not too cold for too long, but we didn't drive anywhere. We couldn't have if we'd wanted to; the windshield wipers were frozen in place by the ice on both windshields.

We did take a walk together down to a nearby convenience store late in the afternoon. That was before the latest round of sleet happened. It was nice to get out for a little bit but we did have to be very careful. Most of the streets looked okay but parts of sidewalks and almost all the grass had a layer of ice over it. I feel bad for all the people who had car accidents or fell down or had other ice-related accidents today.

They say we could get 1" - 3" inches of snow overnight and another 1/4" to 1/2" of ice. It's a good thing I have some leave built up at work because I think I'll probably have to use some of it tomorrow. I love my job but I'm not going to endanger my life or my vehicle just to get there. We'll just have to see what happens.

We've been following the weather closely, since it's been slower to move through the area than expected. The Winter Weather Warning has been extended to Wednesday at noon now. Schools in the area have been closed, which was predictable.

I'll blog more when I know more. There really hasn't been that much to photograph yet but if we get snow accumulations, I'll be sure to snap some pix!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-01-15T00:28:00.000-06:00

Nothing Like A Winter Weather Warning...

Well, this is Texas...and the weather is one of the least predictable things about this state, usually. Today, it's not that unpredictable. As you can see in the radar image, there's a hugs line of icy weather that's practically on top of us at the moment. With ice accumulations of 1/4" to 1/2" expected by morning and the fact that Central Texans do not know how to drive in these conditions (they can barely handle rain), I would say tomorrow will be a good day to stay indoors and play games, cook and watch movies...that is, assuming we have power.

I have Mondays off and the kids have the day off tomorrow for MLK Day. My wife would normally work but given the likely deteriorated road conditions, the job will probably understand if she plays it safe and stays home. We've had ice and even tidbits of snow, but this could be a storm the likes of which Austin hasn't seen in maybe 20 years! I'm not worried, really. We should be okay if we stay in and take it easy. I'm more concerned for those who brave the icy roads because, even if you're a great driver, someone else might not be.

Have a nice MLK Day and stay warm and safe, wherever you are!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-01-13T12:09:00.001-06:00

Saturday Sage Wisdom

I read this quote in an all-races forum and had to relay it here, for a couple of reasons:

One, because I liked it; and
Two, because whether you agree with it or not, there is an aspect to it that is true.

When you think about it no two people are alike so we are all from mixed marriages.

I know, I know, not everyone's parents were married when they were born, but the point is still a good one. And considering that there is no such thing as a person who is 100% any ethnicity or "race," we are all mixed somewhere in our DNA, even if it was 15 generations ago.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-01-12T12:54:00.000-06:00

Not In The News Friday (NITNF)

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

This week, we have a real treat: Japancast.net. This website is run by an interracial married couple, Paul (who is a White American) and Hitomi (who is Japanese). They are dedicated to teaching people the Japanese language and culture via their website and downloadable podcasts.

My wife has been very interested in all things Japanese, which is how she came across their site. I have found it a fascinating experience as well, although I'm not as fast at learning languages as I am at fixing computers...alas...but I am trying!

Back to Japancast.net: Their podcasts are both informative and fun. Their website also contains lots of trivia, pictures (they have some cute kids), videos, a blog and forum -- as well as the podcasts. Check them out today!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-01-11T15:43:00.000-06:00

A Double Dose Of Cuteness!

Don't raise your ears too much --

-- but it's time for some hot doggin' -- er, Cold Doggin'...

Um, Cute Overload let the dogs out, that's all I can say!

2007-01-11T13:52:00.000-06:00

Back Up And Running

Well, it took a couple of days but the home pc is back up and running again with a new 200 GB hard drive (the drive that died was an 80 GB drive). Fortunately, we had backed up the vast majority of our files on another computer, so the main inconvenience was just reinstalling the Operating System (OS) and the software and the ridiculous number of Windows Updates. (60+ updates for Windows XP -- geez!)

So, life slowly gets back to normal. Sometimes, it's good to be a geek.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-01-09T11:09:00.000-06:00

A Long Way To Go...

On Saturday night, the hard drive on our beloved main home computer, well, died. Yesterday was one of my days off, so I thought I'd ride the bus over to the computer store and get a replacement hard drive.

I got to the bus stop at about 9:15am. A few minutes later, a Hispanic young man walked up and sat down at the other bus stop bench about 10 feet away. A few minutes later, a Black woman who I'd seen a couple of days earlier at the same bus stop walked up. Since we'd spoken before, I said "Good morning." She looked at me with an odd glare and walked back in the other direction and waited about 20 feet away from the Hispanic young man. Weird but whatever, right?

Several minutes after that, a young Black woman walked up and stood about 10 feet on the other side of the bus stop. And a couple of minutes after that, a Black man walked up and started a conversation with the young Black woman.

Now, maybe I'm being oversensitive, but seeing a scene of complete volunteer racial social segregation at a bus stop, of all places, was sort of surreal. I did not feel personally discriminated against for my race but it was an odd experience.

Is it possible that those two people already knew each other? Sure, but it didn't look like it. There wasn't a look of familiarity between them, it just looked like they were passing time till the bus came.

I think it is sad that some people feel that they must place that much physical space and social distance between themselves and someone of another race -- or that the only thing necessary for a person to feel comfortable enough to strike up a conversation with another person is the color of their skin.

I've had plenty of days where I wait at the bus stop and people of different races stand next to each other, even if noone talks (although usually at least one person will)...so this wasn't an everyday experience. It's just odd that there are enough people being socially indoctrinated to this kind of behavior that it's possible at all.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-01-06T18:41:00.000-06:00

There's Not A Not In The News Friday (NITNF) This Week

Mea Culpa by ~ginaNL on deviant ART

My apologies but there's a couple of things that are occupying my attention this week. And while everyone in my family is just fine, myself included, between work and some of the things that are on my mind, I've just had to let this slide this week. I'd rather not have it seem forced, I prefer to have fun with it. I hope you understand.

NITNF will return next week!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-01-02T15:06:00.000-06:00

Start 2007 With A Dose Of Cuteness...

...and nothing says "cuteness" like Cute Overload!

Here's to more cuteness in 2007!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2007-01-02T11:51:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year and Happy 4th Anniversary, IR Haven!

Garfield is Copyright © 2007 PAWS, Inc. All rights reserved.

Well, IR Haven officially started on January 10, 2003 but we'll just be happy and celebrate the whole month, okay?

We had a great New Years Eve 2006 and New Years Day 2007. As we have done for the last 10 years, we brought in the New Year at church. There's something very special about bringing in a new year with prayer, reviewing one's life over the previous year and seeing if there's anything that could be done better now, and asking for help with that. It's also wonderful to be together and worshipping with people you know, love, trust and respect.

On New Years Day, we went over to the in-laws and had fun conversation, played board games, endured television football, played a DVD and devoured some really good food! I have not had good chitterlings (also known as "chitlins") in years! And with chalula (hot) sauce (mm-MMMmmmmmm!)? That's the stuff!!!

We also had roasted chicken with homemade dressing, blackeyed peas, rice, fresh-baked rolls and more! I got full not once, but twice with all that food...and it was worth it. We all had a great time hanging out with family on a lazy, cold (for Texas) day and didn't leave till dark. I am very grateful that I feel very loved and appreciated by my in-laws, especially being in an interracial marriage.

Well, that's all for now. Take care!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-12-30T12:24:00.000-06:00

Not In The News Friday (NITNF) - Late and 2006 Year-End Edition

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

My apologies that this is on a Saturday and not an actual Friday. Yesterday was nuts. I work in a call center and Austin had a major thunderstorm yesterday. We even lost power temporarily in the call center (which is bad, it reboots all the computers and servers, etc.). Call volume was very high, of course, from customers impacted by the storm, and I just didn't have the concentration I needed. Today is another matter.

2006 has been an incredible year. My family and I have been through a lot of changes. We had our first experience with identity theft. My wife and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. I bought a brand new Palm PDA. I started up NITNF at IR Haven (and it's been 6 months already!). We got a new cell phone. We moved from our duplex of 10 years into an apartment (that was a major adjustment, but it's worked out well).

It was the 5th anniversary of the 9.11.01 attacks. My wife and I witnessed the formation of a tornado from a funnel cloud. I added videos to IR Haven. I was in the hospital for 4 days with severe dehydration and pain caused by food poisoning. IR Haven transitioned to Blogger Beta (now Blogger ~~Beta~~). And we had a Merry Christmas! Now we're almost in 2007.

That's the amazing thing about blogs: even if you don't think a lot has happened in a year, your blog will remind you what you've been through, good and bad.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-12-28T11:41:00.000-06:00

And A Good Time Was Had By All...

We had a great Christmas this year! It was fun, we enjoyed the company of both sides of the family, had yummy food (about half of which my wife did an incredible job preparing) and of course, cleaned up on presents! Woohoo!

I won't go into all the boys' gifts (too many!) but my wife's big gift was a 30 GB Creative Labs ZEN Vision:M Video and MP3 player!

Me, I scored my first laptop! My brother-in-law was kind enough to refurbish a Dell Latitude CPi. I used to work with those all the time, so I'm extremely familiar with them. It's not the fastest but it's extremely upgradeable. Plus, they're solid little workhorses. I've already equipped it with a wireless pc card and an ethernet pc card -- for less than $30! It came with Windows 2000 Pro (which I'm also very familiar with) and I've been customizing software, etc. It's my new pet project, so just move outta the way! Heh. Just kidding about the "move out of the way" part. But I have been having fun playing with my new "toy."

Well, that's all for now.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-12-23T12:08:00.000-06:00

This Blog Should Not Take Over 2 Minutes To Load

Starting last night, IR Haven was taking an incredible amount of time to load...and it was still acting up this morning. So, when that happens, I figure one link or one graphic, etc. is the culprit. The tricky part is eliminating the potential culprits without losing the HTML/javascript codes, so you can add back in what does actually work. It took about 20 minutes, but I finally tracked it down to the translation link. I like the capability to translate the site to other languages but if it takes 5 minutes to load the site, translation is goooooonnnnne!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-12-23T10:57:00.000-06:00

Have Yourself A Merry Dose Of Cuteness... (Sing Along Now!)

I had to get in at least one more shot of cuteness before the holidays officially begin! Merry Christmas, Cute Overload!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-12-22T22:03:00.000-06:00

Not In the News Friday (NITNF) - Christmas Edition #2

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

Christmas Edition #2: The Christmas Tree

There are few signs of Christmas more beloved than the Christmas Tree. Here are some of the facts. There are nearly 35 million trees sold every year. The Christmas tree has been sold in the United States since 1850. Before that they were mostly cut in the forest by individual families. The Scotch Pine is the most popular tree for decorating.

The tradition of bring inside a tree was begun in the 1400-1500's. Some attribute the first Christmas tree to Martin Luther. He was a monk in Germany during that time. He brought home the tree because it reminded him of the beauty of the moonlight as it would shine through the evergreen trees in the winter. He put candles on the tree to represent the stars and moon light. The tradition spread from Germany to England in about 1841. From there it was inherited by the rest of the world.

Once the invention of electricity became more reliable and widespread the candles were replaced with electric lights. These are much safer and can be used for long periods of time.

Today's trees are both live and artificial. Whatever kind of tree you chose be sure to decorate it in a safe manner and enjoy it as a true symbol of the season.

Source: Tree Facts

2006-12-18T23:08:00.000-06:00

Canon As You've Never Heard It Before!

This was very entertaining. Five minutes is a wee bit long but this guy is really playing all of this. Kudos to him!

2006-12-15T12:59:00.000-06:00

Not In The News Friday (NITNF) Christmas Edition #1

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at leastIt took m fascinating.

Today's NITNF is definitely not in the news. It's about one of my sons and something he did today that was very much in the Spirit of Christmas. I got a call from my oldest son's school guidance counselor this morning, something that would usually be cause for concern...but this time it wasn't. She was calling to tell me that my son brought little toys from home to give as Christmas gifts to his fellow classmates (he's in 5th grade). She wanted to know if this was okay. She described what he brought and I told her, "Well, they're his toys. If he wants to give them away to others, then he can do that." She also told me he hand-made individual Christmas cards for each of his 18 classmates, with personalized messages for the children. It really was very sweet of him to do, with no prompting from anyone.

The counselor was very touched by his behavior but not surprised. My son is just like that; he's very loving and very giving. I'm proud of him, too, and I wasn't surprised, either -- but it was very heartening to hear, first thing of the morning.

So much of Christmas is about giving, and giving because you want to, not because it's expected. This morning, I realized that my son has already learned an incredible Life Lesson: the happiness you see in others when you give to them without expecting anything in return is its own reward. It's amazing to me that he's learned that when he's only 11 years old. In my opinion, it's something the whole world could benefit from learning.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-12-14T12:15:00.000-06:00

Christmas Lights, Gifts, Music -- and Ghetto Pizza?

With a title like that for a blog post, you can't go wrong! So yesterday, I had a day off and I finally got motivated to finish the Christmas decorating in the apartment. It's our first Christmas in the apartment and we all want it to be special. Angel had so far been able to do about half of the decorating, some of it with the kids help/input (both of the kids wanted to be involved with the decorating this year). I had been wanting to help for about a week but had been waiting for some time and inspiration.

Yesterday morning, the inspiration hit me and I had the time. I looked at the apartment and was able to visualize a pattern to decorate with the set of multi-color/multi-fuction lights. I turned on Pandora.com and set up a new music playlist based on a Christmas song ("Silent Night"). A few seconds later, Pandora started playing some pretty nice Christmas music for me to hang lights by.

It was some work putting those lights up, because the set of lights is long enough to go around the entire living room, the hallway to the kids' room and the entire dining area! Still, looking at it afterwards, in combination with the existing decorations, was really pretty, very Christmas-like. I was pleased! And I had the satisfaction of surprising Angel and the kids with it, since I did it on the spur of the moment while noone was there.

Angel's been ill with the flu off and on this week but she did make the effort to go into work yesterday for a half-day. I got to surprise her when I brought her back home at lunchtime. The kids got the surprise when they got home from school.

Last night, the kids and I went to church while Angel stayed home to recover. There was a brief service then a rehearsal for this Sunday's Christmas program at the church. We're also gearing up for First Light performing at the Operation Christmas Gift (OCG) program next Thursday evening here in Austin. OCG is sponsored by our church as a way to provide uplifting Christmas music and free gifts to underprivileged kids in Austin (and around the world) as well as a Christmas message of hope from our pastor. First Light has been performing at these events for the last several years, since it started actually, and this year, we were chosen to be the official entertainment for the event from now on (we're excited about that)!

This morning, I got munchy hungry before going to work but I didn't really feel like eating pasta so soon after breakfast, so I decided to try Ghetto Pizza! I made angelhair spaghetti yesterday with a doctored up version of Emilio's Mushroom and Onions spaghetti sauce (I don't recommend it, his Roasted Red Pepper spaghetti sauce is much better). I tend to add a lot of paprika and extra pepper to "my" sauces. I also add a pound of either ground beef or ground turkey, often cooked with onions and garlic (or this time, with sauteed onions and mushrooms) to the sauce (after draining the meat, of course). I used wheat bread, put a couple of tablespoons of sauce on each slice and topped each slice with 3 pepperoni pieces and toasted it on medium. The pepperoni was a very nice addition to the sauce, added some missing spice and distracted from the extreme tomato taste the original sauce has. It was also filling as promised (the meat may have had a little something to do with that, being loaded with seasoned ground turkey and pepperoni slices).

Well, I think I've said more than enough for now. Tomorrow's a new NITNF. I'll have to start looking for Christmas and holiday trivia! Should be fun...

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-12-09T17:12:00.000-06:00

Making The Transition To Blogger Beta

So yesterday, I got the mass email about Blogger Beta being ready for me to upgrade my blogs....so I thought to myself "Why not?" I've been curious about Blogger Beta for months. So I took the plunge -- and aside from having to reinstall one javascript code, it all worked well. In fact, I really like some of the new features!

It took me hours to apply "labels" to all 284 blog posts from the last (almost) 4 years but it was worth it. You can now view all of the Not In The News Fridays or all the videos or all of the non-dairy recipes, etc. In addition, it's much easier to write and edit blog entries. So, that's the reason for the subtle changes you may have noticed in the site.

Have a great weekend!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-12-08T11:47:00.001-06:00

Not In The News Friday (NITNF)

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

Today's NITNF is, well, a little silly. But that's okay, that's where we started with NITNF. It's a recipe, it does use dairy (cheese - although you could always use soy cheese, if you can find some that melts well) and it is fun and interesting! For our bit of trivia today, totally not related to anything IR, I give you:

Ghetto Pizza

Note from Cheap Eats Editor in 08.22.06 post: I don’t mean ghetto in any derogatory way...like, if you live in or near a sketchy neighborhood, I’m not saying this is the only type of food you would eat. In fact, you probably eat much better than me...

Warning - extremely Cheap Eats up ahead. You may want to look away if you’re adverse to main meal recipes with only three ingredients.

If you were ever a hungry latch-key kid coming home from school, chances are you’ve made an afternoon snack like this before. I call it Ghetto Pizza, although maybe it should be called “Starving College Kid Pizza”. I happen to think this is quite good for lunchtime meals as well (as long as you eat other stuff with it, veggies would be nice!).

I actually wasn’t a latch-key kid until high school, but I still found occasion to make these every so often. The recipe is stupidly simple, has endless modifications, generally tastes “good” and can be fairly cheap as long as you don’t go putting any gourmet toppings on top.

We haven’t had a recipe on Cheap Eats in awhile, and I know that this doesn’t really count, but hey it’s cheap isn’t it? Here are the basics:

2 tbsp spaghetti sauce from a 26 oz. $2 jar — $0.07
1 slice of white bread — $0.10
1 slice cheese (mozzarella, swiss, etc.) — $0.15

optional pepper, dried oregano — negligible

Total: $0.32

If you can’t figure out how to make this, then I don’t know what to say. Put the sauce on the bread and cover with the cheese. Optional dried oregano and pepper on top. Put it in the toaster oven and toast it until the cheese is bubbly. That’s it.

You probably want to make a couple of these to fill you up. You couch potato guys, I’m talking to you…

Although this is pretty dumb and lame-easy to make, here are a few tips to making your Ghetto Pizza experience truly worthwhile.

Varying the type of bread can do wonders. I particularly like to use English Muffins as the base, because they are round like a mini-pizza, they have nooks and crannies where sauce can get into and because they have that extra crunch that normal toast doesn’t have. Another favorite is the Ghetto Pizza Bagels.

By the way, I know they have all these “mini-pizza” things you can buy in the frozen food section. I try and avoid those, because these are so easy to make.

If you’re REALLY hard up for sauce, well you can try using Ketchup. I can’t particularly stand Ketchup Ghetto Pizza though, there is just too strong of a taste to the sauce. I’ve tried mixing tomato sauce, tomato paste, and some herbs but it’s rather bland. The best sauce (other than making your own for cheaper) is the ready-made kind in a jar, about 26 ounces for $2 is the going rate. Probably cheaper on sale, and if generic.

The good thing is that you can store the jar in the fridge for a long time, and then just take a few scoops out for Ghetto Pizza as you need it. I like to get the sauces that have stuff in them, like Garlic and Mushrooms… that one works pretty well.

The cheese is probably the most expensive part of this equation. But you can easily get away with American Cheese on top, or even canned grated parm cheese. In the photos here, I had procurred a load of Swiss Cheese from the inlaws so that’s what I used. Mozzarella is of course the favored one, but I actually find it tends to pull off the bread easily since it’s so stretchy.

I find it tastes better to sprinkle some dried herbs and pepper on top. Use your imagination for other toppings… whatever you have leftover in the fridge will do.

A tip for putting this in the toaster. You may want to cover the grille with aluminum foil before making these, especially if the cheese is larger than the bread. Burnt cheese on the bottom of the toaster is kinda bad. Also, I like to use the “oven” setting because I find I need a longer toasting period on my crappy toaster to get the cheese nicely melted. Just don’t forget about it in the toaster or you’ll have a nice burnt mess.

For me Ghetto Pizza ranks right up there with the best Cheap Eats for people living at home… it is extremely cheap, uses readily available ingredients, can be used as hors d’oeuvres in a pinch, and doesn’t get boring if you vary the toppings. Why not make a few today in your toaster today? End Ghetto Pizza Commercial here…

Price: $0.32
Cheap Eats Score: 9/10

Source: Ghetto Pizza at Cheap Eats

2006-12-07T14:52:00.000-06:00

Through The Eyes Of A Pearl Harbor Survivor

John Weinberger, a West Bend resident who survived the Dec. 7, 1941 attacks on Pearl Harbor, right, talks to Slinger High School Band Director Dave Hanke and students about his experiences. Weinberger traveled with the marching band in November when they performed in the Waikiki Holiday Parade.

By KRISTINE WALDEN - GM Today Staff

SLINGER - On the 65th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, a new generation is seeing it as though for the first time.

Slinger High School Marching Band members were able to experience the sights and sounds of Pearl Harbor through the eyes of a survivor, when they traveled to Hawaii with John Weinberger. The band was invited to perform in the Waikiki Holiday Parade on Thanksgiving Day, and also performed at the USS Missouri and attended memorials.

"I understand it more now. It’s a lot more realistic to me now," said senior Becky Faber, who said the most moving moment for her was watching Weinberger look at the memorial wall.

"You can talk about it in school, and it’s kind of like just something that happened in the past. Being there, it’s hits you how big it was," said sophomore Andy Vetrone.

"It was touching to see what actually happened, and to see the wall in Pearl Harbor with all the names on it," said senior Sam Duehr. "I have more respect now for all the people that fought there and for those who died over there."

Weinberger shared his experiences that day with students to keep the memory alive.

"It’s important (this generation) sees it first hand. Their parents should have seen it, now they know more than their parents," Weinberger said. "It’s all political, same as today. History keeps repeating and repeating itself."

"For us, the anniversary of Pearl Harbor is always going to be different," Band Director Dave Hanke said. "When we think of it now, we’ll be thinking of John. It’s not always where you go or what you do, but who you’re with."

Seeing Pearl Harbor through Weinberger’s eyes, Hanke said, completely changed the way he viewed that day in history.

"I went (to Pearl Harbor) last year and I thought it was a moving experience, but when we went with John this year, now it’s personal," Hanke said. "For our kids, what a great experience - watching John lay a wreath at the (USS Arizona) memorial, and knowing that he was 50 yards away when it was hit and you could see that he remembers exactly what happened - that was heart-wrenching. It was a life-altering experience. It makes us all different people."

Today, 65 years ago

"At this time today, I was working my tail off," Weinberger said.

"I had just turned 18 in June, and I was on the USS Whitney," Weinberger said. "It was the first time I had to handle a dead person - at 18 years old, whew, you think about that.

"Two of my buddies were on the Arizona. I went through training with them and wanted to get on the same ship they did. It’s a good thing I didn’t."

At the beginning of the attack, Weinberger said they thought it was just a training exercise. It wasn’t long, however, when it became apparent that Japan was attacking the United States.

"I heard something that sounded like rain, but it was the shrapnel, and the planes got so close with the torpedos, you could see the pilot’s face. The planes were 15 to 20 feet off the water when they dropped the torpedos. One just missed us. We were mad, I tell you. It just happened, just like that," Weinberger said as he snapped his fingers.

"I was 50 yards away from the Arizona when it was struck, and you swore the ship came right out of the water. You know when you go swimming in your clothes, and they stick to your body? That’s what the concussion felt like," he said.

"It was chaos all the way through, but we had so much darn training, that you automatically went through the motions," he said.

Once the attack was over, the chaos continued.

"The first ship to roll over was the Oklahoma," Weinberger said. "On the West Virginia, (those trapped) kept track of how long they were in there. They made marks until the 21st of December. That’s a hell of a way to die."

While Weinberger remembers the events of 65 years ago today, he notes how important it is for others to remember as well.

"We have to keep America strong and have a good military, and good civilians too," he said.

This story appeared in the West Bend Daily News on December 7, 2006.

2006-12-07T11:26:00.000-06:00

A New Recipe: Allen's Texmex Spicy Chicken Soup

I haven't rolled out a non-dairy recipe in a quite a while! A couple of nights ago, I was really wanting to make a soup. I make meat dishes and grill stuff all the time but I've never really concocted my own soup from scratch before...and I love a challenge!

So I looked at various chicken and shredded chicken soup recipes online, first to see if there was something I could just follow existing directions on. Some were interesting but not all of the ingredients worked for me. So I narrowed my interests to two recipes and decided to combine them, plus some other ingredients I'd end up improvising. The result was a spicy "TexMex" (a blend of Texan and Mexican influences) soup with lots of white meat chicken chunks, served over yummy white rice that adds a nice texture and makes it more filling.

Best Wishes,
Allen

Allen's Texmex Spicy Chicken Soup

Note: If you like your soup really spicy, feel free to use medium to hot salsa. If you need to make it milder for yourself or your kids, feel free to use 1/4 jar of the mild salsa and diced tomatoes without the green chilies. Or just use regular tomato paste instead of diced tomatoes with green chilies.

Ingredients:

- 4 large chicken breasts, cut in halves or 8 smaller chicken breasts
- 1 10.5 ounce can diced tomatoes with green chilies
- 1/2 jar of mild salsa
- One 10 ounce can of beef broth
- organic chicken broth (about 1 cup or to taste)
- Vanilla-flavored Silk soymilk (3 tablespoons or to taste)
- Salt
- Pepper
- 5 cups water
- 2 cups long-grain white rice

Instructions:

Wash and prepare chicken breasts (cut in half if they are large).
Lightly salt on each side of chicken breasts and add pepper on one side only
Brown the chicken breasts in a skillet with no oil. Do NOT cook all the way through (it will make the meat too tough)
Once the chicken is browned on both sides, remove from the skillet to a cutting board. Slice into thin strips with a knife.

Note: I grilled the strips with my large George Foreman grill but you could also cook them in the oven in a glass casserole dish with a little bit of water on the bottom and covered with aluminum foil at about 350 for 10 minutes (check them at about 5 minutes to see if the meat has gone from pink in the center to white; if ready at 5 minutes, remove from oven, DO NOT OVERCOOK!)

Once meat is cooked through and tender, cut into 1/2 inch to 1 inch cubes and set aside, cover chicken in aluminum foil)
In a large saucepot, add beef broth at high heat
Add the diced tomatoes with green chilies and stir into beef broth
Add the mild salsa and stir into soup mixture
Add Vanilla-flavored Silk soymilk and stir into soup mixture
Add organic chicken broth and stir into soup mixture
Add 1 cup water and stir into soup mixture
Add chicken chunks and stir into soup mixture
Bring to a boil then turn off heat
In a large cooking pot, put in 4 cups of water and bring to a boil on high heat
Add 2 cups of long-grain white rice and reduce heat to low
Simmer for 15 minutes. DO NOT STIR RICE.
Turn off heat, stir rice.
Serve soup over rice. Easily serves 4 - 6.

2006-12-07T11:12:00.000-06:00

But First, Some Cuteness...

(Photo courtesy of Cute Overload)

But don't let their cuteness fool you. They are prepared to pounce to their owner's defense at any moment -- because everyone needs trained attack cats for their bodyguards!

...they're snoring?

Nevermind. At least they're cuddly.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-12-05T15:20:00.001-06:00

(Mixed) Dog Tunnels Through Snow To Save Owners

I love stories like these -- and it's even a mixed (German Shepherd - Timberwolf) dog!

Best Wishes,
Allen

A seven year old German Shepherd - Timberwolf mixed dog named Shana is quite a canine hero in Alden as the story spreads of her efforts to save her owners during the October surprise storm.

Eve and Norman Fertig, who are both 81 years old, were out treating injured birds in the Wildlife Sanctuary on their Alden property on the night of October 12th. They left as the storm intensified but, were soon trapped by falling trees and heavy snow as they tried to walk back to their home. Eve realized they could die in the bitter cold but, fortunately, Shana was with them.

As the cold and snow chilled them both without heavy coats and gloves, Shana started digging under the snow and trees.

The dog actually dug a foot wide tunnel about 20 feet to the home.

Shana barked but, the couple hesitated, so they say the dog came back and tugged on Eve's jacket. She says the 160 pound dog actually pulled her onto its broad back and crawled through the tunnel. Her husband held on as well as they slowly crawled all the way back to their home. They made it back to the back deck, opened their door and fell in to the house exhausted but safe.

2006-12-01T19:11:00.000-06:00

I Don't Usually Do This...

...but I'm going to link to another blogger's post. I think it's an interesting read and worth your time.

Ooops I Did It Again...Does God Exist?

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-12-01T18:29:00.000-06:00

Star Trek: Of Gods And Men - Full Trailer

Second, longer trailer for the anticipated all-star fanfilm. This trailer gives much more insight into the story and characters.

2006-12-01T11:19:00.000-06:00

Not In The News Friday (NITNF)

Click on the above comic strip to see it full size in another window

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

Today's NITNF focus is on a comic strip about a multiracial lead character named Candi.

According to the author, Starline X Hodge (who is also multiracial):

Candi lives in a scholarship house with 5 other roommates. It's cheap rent and they feed you, but there's a lot of rules and regulations to follow as well. She's pretty laid back about all of this though.Candi mostly has an optimistic personality, even though she does have her down times. She likes to see everyone happy, and hates conflict. Although she tries her best to be friendly to everyone, she has a tenedancy to not let people get really close to her.

Source: Candi's bio

2006-11-29T15:00:00.000-06:00

Cute Animal Alert! Cute Animal Alert!

It may be a Wednesday but any day's a good day for a dose of cuteness from Cute Overload!

Have a happy Wednesday...

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-11-24T18:12:00.000-06:00

Not In The News Friday (NITNF)

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

Today's subject: my take on interracial adoption. I have total respect for couples and even individuals who adopt a child of a race/ethnicity other than their own. While I have never adopted a child, I am a parent...and anyone who adopts a child becomes a parent.

My children are multiracial (Black, White and Apache). I embrace all of their ethnicities. So I can imagine in some small way what it might be like to have a child of a completely different race/ethnicity. I think this gives me a unique perspective but it's still not the same as actually adopting a child that may have been born in another country and/or raised in another culture.

I'm going to skip the celebrity entries that have gathered so much attention in recent months and years because, well, you don't know who's real and who's just trying to look like a great humanitarian. It's a shame that it isn't easy to tell once fame and papparazzi and other elements enter into the picture. So, back to the real world...

When people adopt children of another race/ethnicity, they have to realize and accept right upfront that at some points in their lives, they will face questions, misunderstandings, racism and prejudice for their choice to adopt...just as an interracial couple accepts this when they conceive a child together. And yet they do so anyway, because they love each other and their child. I believe this must be the same for people who "transracially" adopt. They want to love that child and they would die to protect that child.

Some people say it's selfish to subject yourself to "undue attention" by mixing the races. If people want to give you undue attention, they'll find a way to do it anyway, they'd find another excuse besides race/ethnicity. People are people...but it takes a special person to take a risk to love someone else, to raise a child, to be a parent under conditions "outside the box."

So, to the parents of transracial adoptions, I salute you. Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-11-22T12:09:00.000-06:00

Just `Cause A Holiday's Coming, Don't Totally Veg...

Click on the picture and read the captions over at Cute Overload, it's funny!

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-11-21T16:03:00.000-06:00

I'm Back...

My little trip to the emergency room turned into a 3.5 day stay in the hospital. I was released only a couple of hours ago.

The long and short of it: a very painful case of food poisoning, most likely. I was well-treated in the hospital and my wife, Angel, was with me the majority of the time (when she didn't have to be home for the kids). The first day, Angel's sister kept our kids overnight so Angel could be with me. I'm deeply grateful for that.

I'm also deeply grateful for all the prayers, silent and otherwise, that were said for me, in addition to any well-wishes.

I really don't want to go into all the medical details, except to say that the reason they kept me so long was because, with my medical history and biology the way it is, things could have become life-threatening. I'm grateful to my God that they did not.

I'm looking forward to spending this Thanksgiving with my family. We all have a lot to be thankful for.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-11-18T09:14:00.000-06:00

Apologies, No NITNF

I've had a stomachache that won't quit since yesterday, made me quite ill last night and it's still with me this morning. So, on the advice of my doctor, I'm going in to the emergency room. I expect to recover but this isn't too conducive to blogging.

Not In The News Friday (NITNF) will return next Friday.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-11-11T10:48:00.000-06:00

If You Could Only Feel The Pow-er!

Somebody made a "Hello Kitty Darth Vader."

I don't want to know what part of "The Force" created that!

Does it have a white fur saber?

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-11-10T14:05:00.001-06:00

Excerpts from Free at last: Mariah Carey—the voice. The marriage. The multiracial drama. The so-called breakdown. The return

In some ways Mariah Carey, 35, is everything you would expect a pop diva to be who has sold 150,000,000 albums -- comes third behind Elvis Presley and the Beatles -- for most weeks spent on the Billboard Hot Singles chart and who emerged from her decade-and-a-half career as the best-selling female artist of the 1990's.

Others' responses would often take Carey by surprise. After all, it was impossible to know when her "of color" status was going to make someone flip. "My struggles began when I was 5," she recalls. Two moments crystallized this for Carey: The first was when two White teacher's assistants laughed at her for trying to draw her father with a brown crayon. The second was Carey's taking her 6-year-old best friend to her father's house and her friend's bursting into tears at the sight of a Black man hugging his now obviously not-White daughter.

She says: Her relationship with Tommy Mottola is at the center of "one of the greatest misconceptions" about her. "People think I've had this fairy-tale life," she offers quietly, "that I met this rich prince who gave me a life in the lap of luxury, put me in a mansion, made me a star. It wasn't that way. In fact, it almost killed me."

She and Mottola met at an industry party in 1988, where Carey was an 18-year-old waitress. When she wasn't clearing tables, she was furiously writing songs on the side and singing backup for 1980's dance music sensation Brenda K. Starr.

There's a reason fairy tales usually end with the wedding. "It was an emotionally abusive relationship," Carey says simply, though she admits that it was "good in the beginning." She adds, "Tommy represented something I'd never had, stability. There was mutual respect and his passion for me and my music."

Somewhere along the way, Mottola's love for the woman and her music morphed into a Svengalian desire for total control. "I was in a beautiful house surrounded by beautiful things, but I couldn't be who I really was."

Still, life after Mottola was no picnic. Carey chose to stay on his label, a move she now realizes was unwise: "I was literally fighting against a system run by powerful people who had an agenda to see me fail." Eventually Carey moved on from her manager and lawyer -- both were Mottola-affiliated. Forced to micromanage her own career, Carey left Sony in 2000 and signed to Virgin Records for a cool $80 million.

To make matters worse, Carey's winning streak seemed to grind to a halt with her acting debut, Glitter. The movie received (deservedly) scathing reviews. The sound track, released on September 11, 2001, made very little impact on the charts. And the next year her Island/Def Jam debut, Charmbracelet, fared no better.

The consummate workaholic, Carey responded by going into overdrive -- meeting every request her fame demanded. Finally, after five days of a grueling schedule and public appearances where she clearly seemed less than herself (most famously on MTV's TRL, where the media reported she did a striptease, but Carey says it was a planned spoof), Carey finally collapsed at her mother's home in Long Island, New York. She was hospitalized for exhaustion. The press ran nasty stories about her waning sanity. Virgin reportedly gave her $28 million to leave the label.

Now she realizes that her much-hyped breakdown was the proverbial blessing in disguise. "it forced me to put the brakes on everything and admit my life wasn't working," she says. "I had to reevaluate myself and get recentered." Slowing down also helped her shed some personal baggage. "I discovered that my desire to make music came from the need to heal myself. My desire to become famous came from the need to feel worthy and accepted. And that made me more of a freak than I ever was."

Source: Essence, April 2005 (Author: Joan Morgan)

2006-11-10T13:48:00.000-06:00

Spidey 3 Is Coming! Spidey 3 Is Coming! Woohoo!

Looks intense! And no, this is not today's Not In The News Friday
(NITNF is still coming)!

2006-11-09T14:08:00.000-06:00

This 'Awwwwww!' Moment Is Brought To You By Cute Overload...

What does this have to do with IR Haven? Well, um, consider the picture symbolic -- um, of peace between people of different colors! Yeah, yeah, that's it!

Yes, I know there are more black dogs than white dogs. So what?

...and no, they are not dead.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-11-07T13:27:00.000-06:00

Here, Have A Dose Of Cuteness To Make That Election Day Pass Quicker!

And check Cute Overload out while you're at it (you can make hours go by!)

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-11-07T12:24:00.000-06:00

Wow...Is Election Day Over Yet?

If you read/watch/listen to different media source, you'd think today was the be-all/end-all of days...but I just can't bring myself to be moved.

I did actually want to vote, even though absolutely no candidates in any election have intrigued me. But I recently had a schedule change at work, so I won't be available to vote today anyway.

That's not to say that there probably aren't any interesting political races this year anywhere. I just haven't taken interest in politics in a while. And what I have seen has reminded me why I lost interest.

Don't worry, though...since I didn't vote, I won't complain, either. I just want it all to be over with.

One thing was cool, though: it was free to ride the bus today! Woohoo!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-11-03T18:38:00.000-06:00

Not In The News Friday (NITNF)

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

This week's feature...I wrote a poem today. Yup! I done got cree-ay-tive! I hope you like it...

Grateful
By Allen Steadham

I can't help it
I have to smile
This warm feeling that comes from my heart
for her
my one and only love
my wife

Anywhere I am
I feel this way for her
a good kind of pride
and joy
for my best friend in
the world

This is the one
so special to me
who gave me two beautiful children
such love
a blend of our worlds
our lives

Gifts from above
eyes filled with hope
reflections of ourselves mixed
with them
What potential
they have

I can't help it
I have to smile
The feelings that I can't contain
for them
the ones who earn my heart
My family

2006-10-27T13:29:00.000-05:00

Not In The News Friday (NITNF)

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

Duelling Quotes of the Week (featuring Halle Berry):

"I never wanted to be a model. My modeling career was nothing but a stepping stone to my acting career and that's all I ever saw it as. A pointless rock in the river that has to be stepped on in order to get to the meaningful oasis of acting." - Halle Berry

"What is my real purpose here? I've looked at what I do. I make believe and make movies. I entertain people and get paid for it. Sometimes it seems like such a shallow existence. How insignificant in the scheme of life." - Halle Berry

Source: Biography for Halle Berry - IMDB.com

This is not to pick on Halle, but hey, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction...

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-10-24T08:54:00.000-05:00

Finally Feeling A Little Better...

Thanks for waiting on me! (And thank goodness for Cute Overload!)

2006-10-21T17:22:00.000-05:00

No NITNF This Week

My apologies but I've just barely been making it through my work days the last few days. I'm getting over my cold, slowly. I will definitely be taking it easy for a few days after I finish work tonight (on my days off, of course).

NITNF (Not In The News Friday) will return next Friday.

*cough* *wheeze*

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-10-19T20:44:00.000-05:00

Illin'

yukimura - unwell + unfinished by
~kogepanM on deviant ART

By Sunday evening last week, I started getting that "scratchy" feeling in my throat. I wasn't feeling ill yet, but I was worn down. We'd had our Middlefaire trip Saturday. Sunday, we performed at an after-church dinner as First Light. The dinner went off very well and we had a great performance. Monday, I did a fill-in shift for a coworker who swapped with me so I could have Saturday off. The shift was 1:00pm to midnight. By the time I finished the shift, I felt bad!

I spent all day Tuesday with fever and sinus problems (fortunately -- or maybe not so fortunately, Tuesday is one of my days off). I did get rest and plenty of liquids and forced myself to eat a couple of times, so by Wednesday, I was capable of working. I made it through Wednesday's shift pretty well.

This morning, I started out okay. I still had some congestion and sinus but I was feeling decently well. By the time I got back from lunch, though, things have kinda been on a slow descent. I'm not sure if I'm feverish or not but it does feel icky. With less than an hour to go on my shift, I know I can make it but I'm concerned about tomorrow.

I do hope I'm well enough to work tomorrow; I don't like taking off sick from work.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-10-18T17:52:00.000-05:00

Middlefaire

Last Saturday, I took the day off from work (well, swapped shifts with a co-worker) and took Angel and the kids to a renaissance fair in Hillsboro, Texas called Middlefaire. We were invited by a friend of mine who put the event together. Hillsboro is about 2 hours north of Austin and it was the kids' first "long drive" away from home. The kids had been to one rennaisance faire in Austin that was hosted by the SCA, but this was this faire's maiden voyage (and thus, a treat!)

The weather was a bit overcast and rainy on the way up there but by the time we got parked, the rain was subsiding. The event was held on farmland, which meant it was fairly removed from civilization and flat as far as the eye could see. The whole area for the faire was the size of a large Walmart, with several different stages and vending areas. Although we kept our distance from the "Tavern" area (not for kids), everything else was pretty neat!

Shortly after we arrived, they even had a parade with all the different performers and groups from the faire. When some of them saw Adam (my oldest son) holding his "sword" (a thick stick he'd carefully selected) in noble recognition of their parade, some of them invited him to join the parade, but he stayed back. I would have gone with him, but I guess he wasn't sure if we'd approve (I would've gone with him).

After initially checking out some of the vendors, we decided to see a few of the entertainers. There were some very good singers and musicians, and it was generally a very nice crowd (both in numbers of people and their personalities). We didn't see much of our friend who invited us, as he was busy making sure the behind-the-scenes work got done, but it was nice to finally meet both him and his adult son (who looks astonishingly like his dad, down the same type of beard, etc.).

The best musical group by far (although every musician and singer there was talented, as I said) was the Brobdingnagian Bards (pronounced "brob-din-nahg-EE-en"). They were lyrically very clever and their personalities really shined through their performance (they were hilarious, too)! They were musically talented as well, with one of the bards (Andrew) switching between recorder and mandolin (in the same song!) and the other bard (Marc) played autoharp while singing. It was a fun 30 minute set. Heart of Oak and the Abilene Pipers also deserve worthy mentions.

Angel got a very nice medieval-style torquoise-colored dress and hand-made tiara from the vendors. She very much looked the part of the beautiful upper class lady. I bought the boys some kid-sized shields and rings per their request. I got to be odd man out, as I wasn't prepared to drop down $100 for an outfit this time around (maybe next year). I do want to add that the merchandise was nice quality, with much of it being hand made.

Lunch was burgers from a local caterer. There was a huge turnout to the event, so it took an hour of waiting in line to get them. Now, in all fairness, the caterers were grilling/smoking them four at a time and they were at least 1/3 pound burgers (pretty tasty and not over- or under-cooked). So, to pass the time, my sons entertained everyone with their mock sword-fights, which covered about the area of 1/4 of a football field. Adam really got into it, so much so that I had to ask him to curtail his enthusiasm just a bit. There were also lots of butterflies flying around and landing on any brightly colored clothing (and there was plenty of that).

About mid-afternoon, Josey got to be part of the entertainment! While seeing the Emerald Dragon Crew's show, Josey was asked to be part of the show. He became "Pirate Curly" and was one of two audience volunteer pirates (another boy, a few years older than him, was the other "pirate"). They were asked to give their best pirate "Arrrrh!" At first, Josey was classic "kid shy." Then Angel shouted "Go, Josey!" and he let out with a loud, enthusiastic "Arrrrrrrrhhhh!" The other kid was asked to do the "Arrh" and he made a decent effort. They were asked to do so again. Again, Josey was very shy and again, Mom shouted "Go, Josey!" and he growled "ARRRRRRHHHHH!!!!" Shortly after that, Josey was voted "Best Pirate." He was so proud...and we were, too. It was all very cute.

After watching the bagpipers again, we found that the gatewatchers had "abandoned their post" (left their chairs unoccupied), so we kindly relaxed. The boys chose to take on the role of guards at the main entrance to the faire. About this time, the sun came out in full force (which gave me some lovely sunburn by evening) but since the temperature was still in the 70s, it was pretty nice.

About 6:00pm, we decided to head home. We'd had a full day, made some fun purchases (thus supporting the vendors) and we had all been thoroughly entertained and met some interesting and fun people (some of the entertainers came from as far away as Tennessee and even Canada). We arrived back in Austin around 8:00pm and went out to IHOP (International House of Pancakes) for supper. Needless to say, noone had any trouble sleeping that evening...

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-10-14T00:49:00.001-05:00

Not In The News Friday (NITNF)

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

Okay, so it took until slightly after midnight on Saturday...but I still consider it Friday! (Does that count?) Anyway, this week will be a short but sweet feature: Some facts about interracial marriage, children and relationships.

Multiracial children are one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. population. The number of mixed-race families in America is steadily increasing, due to a rise in interracial marriages and relationships, as well as an increase in transracial and international adoptions. Publicity surrounding prominent Americans of mixed cultural heritage, such as athletes, actors, musicians, and politicians, has highlighted the issues of multicultural individuals and challenged long-standing views of race.

Changing Times

About two million American children have parents of difference races.
In the United States marriages between blacks and whites increased 400 percent in the last 30 years, with a 1000 percent increase in marriages between whites and Asians.
In a recent survey, 47% of white teens, 60 % of black teens, and 90 % of Hispanic teens said they had dated someone of another race.

Source: The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) "Facts For Families" Multiracial Children - No. 71; Updated October 1999

2006-10-10T09:43:00.000-05:00

Twister!

(Generic picture of a tornado, not my picture.)

So I'm driving Angel to work this morning and the weather is getting nasty-looking but still seems driveable. There were some dark clouds and rain, plus a bit of lightning and thunder. But one light-colored cloud moved across the sky much faster than the others, disturbingly fast -- and then we both saw it rotate and turn into a very clearly defined funnel cloud! It was in front of us and it moved rapidly east, away from us (or so it seemed).

I pushed ahead and got Angel to work, since it was only a few blocks away. I got Angel inside, then I took off to head home. I turned on the radio and found out that a full-fledged damage-causing tornado was spotted less than a mile away only minutes after what we'd seen. And the debris was being thrown over 100 feet in the air! Shortly after that was seen, the tornado went back in the clouds.

As I was driving back down the same street, I saw a trash can knocked down, it's contents strewn all over the street. Had the (still weak) twister circled around behind us before pushing towards the highway? Who knows. I just thanked God for keeping us safe! You never know how things might go...

The local AM radio station I listen to was asking for eyewitness accounts from people who had seen anything, so I called in. I got through right away and got to be on the radio with the morning show crew and the Weather Channel meterologist for a few minutes. That was interesting. The weather people could not admit it was a tornado or call it that because it "didn't show any of the tell-tale signs on their equipment." I found that very amusing. People are telling you they saw it form and others saw debris being rotated into the air at high speed in what looks like a tornado -- but since it evaded the radar, it just can't be. It was just "strong winds." Yeah, right. *shakes head*

That's okay. The important thing is that nobody got hurt and the damage wasn't worse. I'm grateful.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-10-06T17:16:00.000-05:00

"While completing those [Census 2000] applications was a mere formality to some, it challenged me personally, and questioned whether I was really a valued person. To have the chance to identify myself as biracial validated me and my experience, something that rarely happens for biracial people."

I Have the Right ...
Not to justify my existence in this world.
Not to keep the races separate within me.
Not to be responsible for people's discomfort with my physical ambiguity.
Not to justify my ethnic legitimacy.

I Have the Right ...
To identify myself differently than strangers expect me to identify.
To identify myself differently from how my parents identify me.
To identify myself differently from my brothers and sisters.
To identify myself differently in different situations.

I Have the Right ...
To create a vocabulary to communicate about being multiracial.
To change my identity over my lifetime — and more than once.
To have loyalties and identification with more than one group of people.
To freely choose whom I befriend and love.

Source: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) Child and Family Program Early Childhood Education eNewsletter Vol. 3 No. 8, March 2004

2006-10-06T11:24:00.000-05:00

Such A Bummer...

Today is my youngest son's 8th birthday, which should be great -- except he got food poisoning from a bad piece of lettuce last night and is pretty miserable, healthwise. Angel is staying home from work with him today and his older brother is home because it's a school holiday ("Day Before Columbus Day?"), so he has plenty of company. But it reeks to be sick on your birthday!

Still, Angel and I came up with some neat traditions for their birthdays some years ago. Since their birthdays are only 2 days apart (Josey's is on October 6th and Adam's is on October 8th), we give them the majority of their presents on October 7th...but they also get presents on their respective birthdays, too. And on their individual birthdays, we (usually Angel) hide several presents around our residence for them to find. They really love the "scavenger hunt" for presents! So far today, Josey has found four of his. Unfortunately, he's had to stop to sleep/rest in-between from not feeling well.

I'm sure Josey will be feeling better by tomorrow. He's a healthy boy and this is his first time getting food poisoning. It's just a bummer it had to happen today. ("Concerned Dad Sigh")

Best Wishes,
Allen

P.S. - I do still plan to do a NITNF today!

2006-10-05T13:13:00.001-05:00

Interracial Pregnancy Led To Kidnapping, Teen Says

I wish I could say this surprises me, but it doesn't. I'm just glad the daughter got away and the parents were apprehended. If you have to break the law and try to force someone -- especially your own daughter -- to do something they don't want to do, just because you have a prejudice, then something is terribly wrong and you deserve the fullest prosecution of the law.

Best Wishes,
Allen

The Associated Press
Published: Sep 20, 2006

SALEM, N.H. - A Maine couple accused of tying up their 19-year-old daughter, throwing her in their car and driving her out of state to get an abortion were upset because the baby's father is black, a Maine sheriff said Tuesday.

Katelyn Kampf, who is white, told Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion that her mother "was pretty irate at the fact that the child's father was black, and she had made a number of disparaging remarks about that," he said.

Kampf escaped Friday at a Salem shopping center and called police, who arrested her parents, Nicholas Kampf, 54, and Lola Kampf, 53, both real estate developers from North Yarmouth, Maine.

The Kampfs were apparently taking their daughter to New York to try to force her to get an abortion there, police said.

The parents were arraigned Monday on kidnapping charges. The judge set bail at $100,000 each and ordered the Kampfs to have no contact with their daughter. They posted bail Tuesday afternoon.

If convicted of kidnapping, the Kampfs face 7 1/2 to 15 years in prison. Dion said he expects to bring charges in Maine also, after investigators consult with the district attorney today.

Defense attorney Mark Sisti said Tuesday that a sworn statement by police who interviewed Katelyn Kampf and her parents said nothing about the race of the baby's father.

Katelyn Kampf escaped from her parents after persuading them to untie her so she could use a Kmart bathroom, police said. She used her father's cell phone, which she had taken, to call 911.

The boyfriend, Reme Johnson, 22, last week began serving a six-month sentence for theft at the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn, Maine.

Johnson also has previous felony convictions for burglary and for receiving stolen property, the Portland Press Herald reported.

Source: TBO.com: Interracial Pregnancy Led To Kidnapping, Teen Says

2006-10-03T09:17:00.000-05:00

More Video -- Upcoming "Star Trek: Of Gods And Men" Web Mini-Series Trailer

For all my fellow Trekkies, I found this on the web today and wanted to share. Looks pretty good! Here's the website.

2006-10-02T19:27:00.000-05:00

After All These Years, He's Still Got It...Wierd Al's "White And Nerdy"

I love the Donny Osmond cameo...

2006-09-30T14:39:00.000-05:00

'Survivor' Ends Segregation Game

By DAVID BAUDER
AP Television Writer

NEW YORK

All the hubbub about the "Survivor" ethnic experiment turned out to be pretty worthless.

Why? Because after only two episodes, producers merged the black, white, Asian and Latino tribes into two mixed-race gangs. No explanation was given for the quick abandonment of segregation; it seemed to pass by so quickly as to mean nothing.

"We're back to America. We're a melting pot," said Parvati, a boxer on the new Raro tribe. "I love it."

2006-09-29T17:25:00.000-05:00

A Little Humor For A Friday...

Realizing that my last several blog entries have been very serious, I thought I'd try to lighten things up a bit. I found these on another blog and thought they were worth sharing for a laugh...

Thanks, Rain!

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-09-29T12:48:00.001-05:00

Not In The News Friday (NITNF)

Eartha Kitt, her daughter Kitt and granddaughter Rachel

Eartha Kitt and daughter Kitt on The Merv Griffith Show

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

This week we feature Eartha Kitt!

Eartha Mae Kitt was ostracized at an early age because of her mixed-race heritage (she was the out-of-wedlock daughter of a white dirt farmer and a black Cherokee mother, as would have to be the case given the laws regarding miscegenation at the time). At eight years old, she was given away by her mother and sent from the South Carolina cotton fields to live with an aunt in Harlem.

In New York, her distinct individuality and flair for show business manifested itself, and on a friend’s dare, the shy teen auditioned for the famed Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe. She won a spot as a featured dancer and vocalist before the age of twenty and toured worldwide with the company. During a performance in Paris, Miss Kitt was spotted by a nightclub owner and booked as a featured singer at his club. Her unique persona earned her fans and fame quickly, including Orson Welles, who called her "the most exciting woman in the world." Welles was so taken with her talent that he cast her as Helen of Troy in his fabled production of Dr. Faust.

In 1967, Miss Kitt left her indelible mark as the infamous Catwoman in the television series, Batman. She immediately became synonymous with the role and her trademark growl became a part of pop culture. Thanks to the popularity of the series, Miss Kitt can still be seen as the famous villain on TV LAND and cable re-broadcasts.

Singing in ten different languages, Miss Kitt has performed in over 100 countries and was honored with a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. In 1966, she was nominated for an Emmy for her role in the series, I SPY.

In 1968, Miss Kitt’s career took a sudden turn when, at a White House luncheon hosted by Lady Bird Johnson, she spoke out against the Vietnam War. For many years afterward, she was blacklisted by many in the U.S. entertainment industry and was forced to work abroad where her status remained undiminished. (Sidenote: The statements were so negative that Lady Bird Johnson began to weep uncontrollably.)

In 1974, she returned to the United States, professionally, in an acclaimed Carnegie Hall concert and, in 1978, received her second Tony nomination for her starring role in the musical Timbuktu.

In 1984, she returned to hit music with a disco song, "Where Is My Man"; the first certified Gold record of her career. Her 1989 follow-up hit "Cha-Cha Heels" (featuring Bronski Beat) received a positive reponse from UK dance clubs and reached #32 on the pop charts.

In 2000, Kitt again returned to Broadway in the short but notable run of the revival of the 1920s-themed, The Wild Party, opposite Mandy Patinkin and Toni Collette. In 2003, she replaced Chita Rivera in Nine. In the late 1990's she appeared as the Wicked Witch of the West in the North American national touring company of The Wizard of Oz.

One of her more unusual roles was as Kaa the python in a 1994 BBC Radio adaptation of The Jungle Book. Kitt lent her distinctive voice to the role of Yzma in Disney's The Emperor's New Groove and returned to the role in the straight to video sequel Kronk's New Groove and the spin-off TV series The Emperor's New School. She is currently doing other voiceover work such as the voice of Queen Vexus on the animated TV series My Life as a Teenage Robot.

In recent years, Kitt's annual appearances in New York have made her a fixture of the Manhattan cabaret scene. She takes the stage at venues such as The Ballroom and, more recently, the Café Carlyle to explore and define her highly stylized image, alternating between signature songs , which emphasize a witty, mercenary world-weariness, and less familiar repertoire, much of which she performs with an unexpected ferocity and bite that present her as a survivor with a seemingly bottomless reservoir of resilience.

Source: Eartha Kitt official website - biography page
Source: Eartha Kitt Wikipedia Page
Source: Eartha Kitt's page at IMDB.com

2006-09-27T11:20:00.001-05:00

A Topic I've Been Avoiding...

I don't mind talking about my life or about my family or even my views on things. But I have been very reluctant to blog about my own pain. I don't mean emotional pain. That's private and I share that in my own way. Physical pain, however, is much more difficult to discuss. I suppose part of that is an instinctive "guy thing" -- not wanting to seem like a "whiner" or someone who can't handle "a little pain." I also do not like pity nor do I want it. And yet, I do have pain and/or discomfort, sometimes a lot of pain, every day.

Why? Well, I'm not entirely sure. I can give you a little bit of medical history on me. When I was 11, I was diagnosed with familial polyposis. Here's the textbook definition from WebMD:

Familial adenomatous polyposis is a group of rare inherited disorders of the gastrointestinal system. Initially it is characterized by benign growths (adenomatous polyps) in the mucous lining of the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms may include diarrhea, bleeding from the end portion of the large intestine (rectum), fatigue, abdominal pain, and weight loss. If left untreated, affected individuals usually develop cancer of the colon and/or rectum. Familial adenomatous polyposis is inherited as an autosomal dominant trait.

For those of you who may be thinking "thanks for sharing, Allen," my apologies. Facts are facts. Fortunately, I did not have the worst of those symptoms but it was detected nonetheless. On my dad's side of the family, the males have a history of colon cancer. My grandfather died of it when my dad was 2 and my father passed away from his second bout with cancer at the age of 56. After I was diagnosed with polyps, I had a bunch of examinations (*shudders at the memories*) and they determined that I was at high risk for later developing colon cancer. My father, who by this point, was an expert on the conditions, treatments, etc. presented me with what he felt was the best choice: new and fairly radical surgery.

The doctors would do a two-part operation on me (keep in mind, I was 12 at this time). In the first operation, they would remove my large intestine (which includes the colon) and set me up with a temporary colostomy. I would then heal for six weeks (a very slow six weeks). Then I went in for the second operation, where they reconnected me internally with what I call a "bionic intestine," a plastic replacement that they somehow made work perfectly. All I needed was a couple of over-the-counter (OTC) medications to regulate my metabolism. It took me six more weeks to recover from the second operation but medically, it went flawlessly.

Emotionally, I was a very traumatized puppy after the Summer of Operations and Recovery. I guess that's understandable, considering it was the summer before high school and I'd never had that kind of major surgery before nor long, sometimes agonizing recoveries. (Is it any wonder I did pot my freshman year?) I refused to speak about either the condition, the operations or the recovery...for the next five years. Period. No exceptions.

Still, the surgeries did their job. I had absolutely no complications from the surgery for almost exactly 20 years (the surgeries took place in 1983). In the Fall of 2003, I started getting sick and I had no idea why. It took until March for me to learn that I was lactose intolerant. I learned that both my sister and my mother have that condition, so clearly I inherited it, too. And my sister did not develop it until she was an adult, too (which is both weird and interesting). About a week or two after I cut out dairy products, I started feeling a good deal better.

But I started developing other symptoms over the next couple of years that weren't quite so easily explained or dealt with. I would have stomach discomfort and pain and I didn't know why. And since I was only working temp jobs and didn't have any benefits, seeing the doctor was cost-prohibitive, especially since my wife was not working yet. It was never severe enough to go to the hospital and I only missed maybe a couple of days of work in a 2 year period.

Fortunately, my current job went permanent in December and benefits kicked in on January 1 of this year, so I started seeing a doctor and he got me in touch with a wonderful gastrointologist. I had to go through a new series of tests and x-rays and finally, an out-patient surgical endoscopy a few months ago. What they were able to determine is that I have benign polyps in the small intestine and stomach, which the doctor said was fairly common with people who have had polyps in the large intestine.

I'm not sure which was more difficult for me, the relative reminiscence of "surgery" (even though it was exploratory and not 'cutting' surgery) or the news that I had more polyps (albeit benign and much less aggressive than the ones that had been in my large intestine). I took a breather from seeing the doctor for a few months. Admittedly, that probably wasn't wise but psychologically, it was necessary for me.

Nevertheless, my symptoms have continued and in some ways, gotten dramatically worse at times, so I can't get in denial about this. I've set up a new appointment with the gastrointologist to see what our next steps are in dealing with this. I still don't understand what tiny polyps have to do with the symptoms I've experienced, since the doctor confirmed they are not cancerous or even pre-cancerous. Or if it's somehow related to the lactose intolerance-? I don't know.

Anyway, why am I finally sharing this with you -- the blogosphere? Good question. Well, first of all, I know I'm not the first person who's ever experienced this and I certainly won't be the last. I also know that I'm not the only person dealing with bodily pain on a regular basis. I also want it publicly known that this does not diminish my quality of life. I still work full time and I haven't missed one day for being sick since I went permanent. I still volunteer run ISAA. I'm in First Light. I am active with my family (and we have a great time) as often as possible. I enjoy my life.

But I'm not Superman. I've had to accept that I can't do some things like I used to. I have to allow myself to slow down and take it easy, not push myself as much as I used to (and had grown accustomed to).

It's taken a lot of support. There are times when prayer is all that gets me through. I'm deeply grateful for the daily support of my wife, my kids and my friends who know what I've been going through. It means the world to me. I've learned that pain tends to isolate you. I can see why people get depressed or even angry about it, although I haven't felt either of those emotions about it. I do get frustrated sometimes and confused about the cause, what it really means (which I still don't know). But I know that pain does not control my life, I don't give it that control. I'm just making it day to day, as best I can.

Thanks for listening.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-09-23T00:13:00.000-05:00

I Need To Discuss This...

I guess one of the hazards of blogsurfing is that you will come across all kinds of opinions. And it is perfectly okay to disagree with those opinions or ignore them or whatever. But sometimes, you run across something you don't expect, something that (make room for the Texan in me) really chaps your hide.

This evening, while ~~drumming up traffic for IR Haven~~ blogsurfing, I ran across reactions to the fifth anniversary of 9.11.01 -- and they were cold. Unlike the 9-11 Truth conspirators, who at least sympathize that people died, what I happened upon were the "What's the big deal?" and "The U.S. doesn't really care about the people who died, it just got its ego bruised" crowd. I won't dignify the blog site with a link...

For the people who would trivialize 9.11.01, especially to those from other countries such as Canada and Europe and elsewhere, let me put things in a bit more universal -- or global -- context for you:

If 3000 of your neighbors, fellow countrymen and women -- your mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters were wiped out in a couple of hours, dying in terror and confusion, would you not grieve for them?

If it were an attack unlike any other in the history of your country, using a method designed to cause the most damage and death possible in the area struck, would you not memorialize the day to honor those who died?

Even if you did not lose one of your relatives or close friends in the attack, would you not feel an ounce of sympathy for those who did? Children who no longer have parents, wives who no longer have husbands and vice-versa, people who no longer have people whom they loved more dearly than their own lives?

And what about the people who suffered devastating injuries and disfigurements, even though they survived? Those people will have to live with that the rest of their lives, in addition to any loved ones they lost. That can't be trivialized or ignored. None of this can...but people try and I feel obligated to appeal to those who might not have considered these points.

I'm not talking politics here, I'm not talking reasons why it happened, I'm not talking the Iraq war or the Middle East conflict. I'm talking about basic regard for Life and Love. I'm talking about Family and Friendship.

I'm talking about what it means to be a Human Being, regardless of personal ideologies, preferences, ethnicities, genders or any other differentiating factors.

If we lose our ability to empathize with the suffering of others, then we lose a part of our humanity. In that moment, we become self-important judges of who deserves our sympathy and respect, who deserves to live and die. That's what leads to the rise of true dictatorships. That's what breeds true extremism. When life loses its value and meaning.

I know for a fact I am not any better than anyone else. I am just one of billions of human beings traversing the sands of space and time on this world, hoping to contribute a little something good along the way.

I find value in every life, even the ones who don't share my point of view. I hope you do, too.

Best Wishes,
Allen

2006-09-22T10:40:00.001-05:00

Not In The News Friday (NITNF)

NITNF will usually be a bit of trivia that I found interesting and thought you would like. It may be IR-related and it might not -- but should always be fun...or at least fascinating.

This week we feature Angela Chao Roberson, third princess in the 2006 Miss Los Angeles Chinatown Pageant. Roberson is biracial, Chinese and African-American.

Angela Chao Roberson, 22, knew she did not exactly look Chinese, with her cocoa-colored skin, her bushels of curly hair and her curvy figure. But she had no doubt she belonged in the same room with 17 other young women vying for the title Miss Los Angeles Chinatown.

Sure, she ate soul food when her father's African American relatives came to visit her family in Victorville, but her family was much more likely to eat rice and stir-fried tilapia with garlic and soy sauce. And she loved Chinese New Year.

Angela scanned the young women sitting around the circle at the orientation session. There was one other girl whose complexion was close to her own. But the other girls resembled more closely the Miss Chinatowns of the past — slender, fine-featured young ladies with pale skin and silky straight hair.

"I'm kind of brave if you think about it," she said, flashing an unassuming smile. "But I've always accepted odd challenges."

The Miss Los Angeles Chinatown Pageant, organized by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles, aims to pick an ambassador for the largest Chinese American community in the U.S.

And for most of its 40-year history, despite changing outfits, hairstyles and makeup, the contestants have looked remarkably the same: willowy Chinese American girls with flowing black hair.

But as Chinese intermarry, the contest is attracting more girls of mixed race. It started with girls whose backgrounds were white and Chinese. A couple had Hispanic last names.

This year, Angela became the first contestant with an African American father.

Most of the 18 girls chosen as contestants after a preliminary interview, including Angela, could speak at least a few phrases of Chinese. They hailed from such communities as El Sereno, Monterey Park, Hacienda Heights and Anaheim, the daughters of packaging company owners, restaurateurs and seamstresses.

Almost all of them had parents who were both ethnic Chinese. There were two of mixed races: Angela and Kaye Ponnusamy, whose father was an ethnic Indian who had grown up in Malaysia and whose mother was from Taiwan.

That first day of orientation marked the beginning of weeks of preparation.

Angela's father, Harry Roberson, a wiry 60-year-old electronics technician at Ft. Irwin Army base, worried how she would be treated. But Angela didn't see herself as making history or knocking down barriers. She thought she could win.

"I'm not scared to walk into an all-Chinese place," she said. "They might be surprised that I'm there, but I'm not surprised I'm there."

...

"Please give it up for Contestant No. 3, Angela Roberson!"

Angela is third contestant from the left (click to enlarge)

At a glitzy ballroom downtown, the contestants were being introduced one by one on a stage festooned with gold and red banners celebrating the Chinese new year, the year of the dog.

The crowd of hundreds clapped as Angela Roberson made her way across the stage in a red and white hibiscus swimsuit. Mandarin- and Cantonese-speaking emcees announced Angela's name for the benefit of the non-English speaking audience: Chao An Qi Er, or Chiu Ang Kei Yee.

Angela, whose almond-shaped eyes were accentuated with dark eyeliner, greeted everyone in slightly imperfect Chinese: Da jia hao.

Many in the crowd leaned forward or stood up to get a better look. They had puzzled looks on their faces. Some of them whispered that they thought she was too curvy. Others tried to figure out what percentage of her background was Chinese.

Angela didn't notice. She was just trying not to look scared.

She directed her wide smile toward the judges.

When the emcees interviewed her on stage, Angela didn't stumble. She was asked whether she thought herbal supplements ought to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration. "It's very important that we know what we're putting in our bodies and where it's coming from," she said.

When the 18 contestants were called to the stage for the announcement of the winners, they plastered nervous smiles on their faces. First they announced Miss Friendship, whom the contestants themselves chose. Then Miss Photogenic, chosen by the Chinese media. Then the title of fourth princess.

"And the Miss Los Angeles Chinatown Third Princess is … Contestant No. 3, Angela Roberson!"

Angela broke into a broad, stunned grin as she accepted her rhinestone crown and sash. She was ecstatic, even though she wasn't the queen. That honor went to Melody Cheng, a somewhat shy, svelte 19-year-old from Hacienda Heights who was crowned in a burst of red and gold confetti.

With Kaye also winning a place on the court, it turned out to be the most diverse court the pageant had ever picked.

The winners "are a really true reflection of Chinese Americans in Southern California," said Terry R. Loo, one of the judges. "It's a mixed group these days."

"I'm glad she did it," said Harry Roberson. "This tells the community there's more out there than just pure Chinese."

Angela and the other winners have been making public appearance across Los Angeles County since the court was crowned in January.

Last week, they attended a Chinese folk dance recital in Azusa, and Angela was struck by how normal it felt to be part of the pageant court, representing the Chinese community.

"It's kind of naive of me to say nobody notices," Angela said. "But I don't think it concerns them to make a point that they notice."

Her parents' lives have changed as well. Her father, who for months had kept Angela's pageant entry to himself, now proudly trumpets to co-workers her success and how much it meant to him.

"They asked how many mixed-race [contestants] there were, and I said she was the first black and Chinese to be in the competition — and then she actually won," he said Thursday. "I was proud of that."

Recently, the pageant court helped children at the public library in Chinatown make lanterns. Angela was smitten by a 6-year-old girl who was part African American and part Chinese.

This girl had great hair, she thought. It fell like a wavy waterfall and was certainly less curly than her own hair.

"I was happy for her," Angela said. "She gets to grow up in Chinatown, surrounded by other Chinese people. In Victorville, the Chinese people were only in Mom's close circle."

Maybe, she thought, this is what a future Miss Chinatown might look like.

Source: LA Times: Tiaras, Sashes, Diversity
(April 22, 2006)

2006-09-19T10:24:00.000-05:00

Video As Social Commentary...

Rarely would I think that a music video could convey relevant social commentary, but the message in Evanescence's "Everybody's Fool" is worth sharing. Don't know what's with me and the videos today but I just kinda felt like it. The first was funny, this one is (mostly) serious...

2006-09-19T08:17:00.000-05:00

In 1966...The Future...Was Funky!

I loved this. Sure, it's a commercial for the Star Trek TOS (The Original Series) DVD set, but it's made in the grooviest 70's style!

2006-09-15T08:11:00.000-05:00

Bob Marley: Black, White and Cherokee	Tina Turner: Black and Native American
Faith Evans: Black mother, White father	Malcolm X: 1/2 Black, 1/4 Grenadian, 1/4 White
Naomi Campbell: mother is Black (Jamaican), father is Multiracial, part Chinese	Soledad O'Brien: father is Australian, mother is Black Cuban

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