Post #700: Banned Words 2010

It's time for another round of words and phrases that should be banished, courtesy of Lake Superior State University. It's their 35th annual version.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Words and Phrases That Should be Banned in 2010

"Czar"
There are 38 "czar" positions in the administration. We have everything from a "drug czar" to a "car czar." What's next? A banished words czar?

"Tweet"
And all of its variations: twitter, tweetaholic, retweet, twitterature, twittersphere, twitwit.

"App"
Why can't we just call them programs again? Do we really need an abbreviation for "application"? Is there an app that makes this word go away?

"Sexting"
This is the act of sending sexual pictures via cell phone, much like you would send a text message. Any inappropriate new social trend that involves a clever mash-up of words, teenagers, and ends up on television talk shows should immediately be banned.

"Friend as a Verb"
Came into vogue thanks to the popularity of Facebook and other social networking sites where you add someone to your network by "friending" them. "Befriend" is just as useful and won't offend your average dictionary.

"In These Economic Times...."
This phrase has been used as an excuse for just about everything. And if an e-mail or letter from your employer starts with this phrase, it usually means you're not getting a raise this year ... or you're losing your job.

"Stimulus"
It's no longer a grant, it's "stimulus money." Any concept or asset used to increase business is now a "stimulus package." I'm not stimulated anymore by this word.

"Bromance"
Have we reached the point where just being friends with another man has to now be described in romantic comedy terms? This word should be abolished to the same dustbin as frenemies, Brangelina, or blogorrhea.

[selected from Lake Superior State University; see the complete list here]

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Meeting with our church household group this weekend and I'll be trying to put the finishing decisions on which songs to include on my band's first CD.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

WEB SITE of the WEEK: Everything you want to know about how to handle and store food safely, including current food product recalls can be found at http://www.foodsafety.gov/.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Mark's Musings is sent each weekday using Ezine Director and I pay a little more to make sure my posts are certified by Habeas to be a safe source of e-mail. That means no ads, no spam, and no worries. Subscribe, view past issues in my Archives, and do other things over at my web site. To contact me and someday get a reply, click here. Watch out for black ice this time of year. You can forward or reprint Mark's Musings freely but please keep the credits attached. The credits never get old. Repetitive, boring, uninspired, occasionally cranky, but never old. Original material and musings © 2010 by Mark Raymond. I update this blog with a copy of my e-mail post daily (plus I often add graphics) and very occasionally with "bonus material" whenever the mood or muse strikes. Look for the label that says "bonus" and you can bring all that extra material up with one click. My personal mission statement remains John 3:30. Find me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/baldmark/. Today I am putting up my seven hundredth post here. Yay, me.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

WORDS for YOUR WEEKEND: "Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired." (Jules Renard)

Roll Call

Do you have family or a friend serving in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan?

The Army has set up something they're calling "HooahMail," which is a service that lets you e-mail a letter and attach a photograph to your serviceperson and it is then printed, folded, and sealed into an envelope and delivered at mail call, usually the next day. It gives them something solid they can hang onto, keep in their pocket, and pull out to read again or look at that picture as often as they want.

Sounds like it combines the best of the U.S. Postal Service and electronic mail.

+++

It was early at the Army base one morning and the sergeant was reading off a list of names of the men who had work party detail that day.

"Ames."

"Here!"

"Jensen."

"Here, Sergeant!"

"Jones."

"Here!"

"Magersky."

"Here!"

"Seeback."

No answer.

"Seeback!"

Still no answer.

"SEEBACK!" the sergeant's face turned red.

Then he looked at his list closer, turned the piece of paper over to the back side, and continued calling out names, in a somewhat quieter voice.

[Clean Humor Digest]

+++

WISDOM for YOUR WEEK: "Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart." (Proverbs 3:3)

+++

Mark's Musings is available via RSS Feed, Facebook Note, Amazon Kindle Reader, and e-mail each weekday. Your own subscription is just one click away.

"Motivational" Posters

Say you have an empty wall in your room and a giant poster would look really great in that spot. Say you have the perfect picture you'd like to have made into that poster. Say you have a couple of spare ink cartridges.

You can make your own. For free. (Well, not counting paper, ink, frame, effort, etc.)

+++

CORPORATE "MOTIVATIONAL" SLOGANS for POSTING

Adversity: That which does not kill me postpones the inevitable.

Ambition: The journey of a thousand miles sometimes ends very, very badly.

Apathy: If we don't take care of the customer, maybe they'll stop bugging us.

Blogging: Never before have so many people with so little to say said so much to so few.

Compromise: Let's agree to respect each other's views, no matter how wrong yours may be.

Consulting: If you're not part of the solution, there's good money to be made in prolonging the problem.

Customer Disservice: Because we're not satisfied until you're not satisfied.

Despair: It's always darkest just before it goes pitch black.

Ineptitude: If you can't do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly.

Leaders: Leaders are like eagles. We don't have either of them here.

Meetings: None of us is as dumb as all of us.

Overconfidence: Before you attempt to beat the odds, be sure you can survive the odds beating you.

Propaganda: What lies behind us and lies before us are small matters compared to what lies to our faces.

[selected from the "Demotivators" section at Despair.com; the pictures that go with these posters are priceless]

+++

WONDER for YOUR WEEK: Did the person who invented copyrights make any money on it?

+++

Mark's Musings comes be read on an RSS Feed, a Facebook Note, an Amazon Kindle, or can be plunked right into your own Inbox each weekday (for free) by clicking here.

Nursing Home Movies

Due to such a late post, just the joke today. Regular post tomorrow morning, I promise.

+++

MOVIES FOR NURSING HOMES

Catheter the Great

Walker on the Wild Side

Thelma and Disease

The Cane Mutiny

Dis and Disability

Rebel Without a Crutch

It's a Wonderful Lift

[submitted by list member Lavonne T.]

+++

WORDS for YOUR WEEK: "Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it don't matter." (Mark Twain)

+++

Mark's Musings gets crows feet on an RSS Feed, has aches and pains with a Facebook Note, yells at the Amazon Kindle e-Reader to get off its lawn, and moseys into your Inbox each weekday via e-mail. Click here to grow old together along with your own subscription.

Unemployment Perks

As I wrote this past Friday, on February 5, my wife will celebrate 25 years of employment at our local newspaper.

On February 6, that newspaper is laying her off. Permanently.

Yeah, it's kind of a kick in the teeth.

Nevertheless, we have placed our lives squarely in God's hands and refuse to worry about things. As so many have shared with us, there's never a door that closes without another one opening. Your good thoughts and kind prayers are most welcome as we contemplate which path to pursue out of this murky situation.

I will share one story with you to illustrate the hand of God at work. Last fall, in yet another cost-cutting move by her employer, my wife's health insurance rates went up so high she had to drop both myself and our daughter from her coverage in 2010. We complained bitterly. During the "Open Season Enrollment Period" at my work place, instead of the single coverage I had been carrying, I added family coverage just to keep my daughter covered, and as a side effect my wife was included in that coverage, as well. So now, when she would have shortly found herself without any medical insurance at all, she will still be covered. God knew this day would arrive, and now I feel remorse for being a whiner about it at the time.

The moral here is not just to hope for God's providence, but to *rely* upon it. And, like Paul, give thanks in ALL circumstances.

+++

PERKS OF BEING UNEMPLOYED

No more hassles about the length of your lunch break.

Casual Fridays have been replaced by Casual Every Days.

At least now it's just the teenager yelling about your work performance.

You are going to look *gorgeous* after sixteen hours of "beauty sleep" every day.

No more wondering about what the pets do all day while you're gone.

Two more weeks and you can add "proficient at video games" to your résumé.

You *never* miss the ice cream truck.

Finally outsmarted the government. They can't take 30% of your paycheck if you haven't got one.

[Chris White's Top Five on Work w/edits and additional material by Mark Raymond]

+++

WORD for YOUR WEEK: We're at dinner the other night and the appropriate use of napkins comes up which ultimately leads us to the word "uncouth," which my daughter was not familiar with. Its current popular usage means "lacking in polish or grace" but it began in Old English as cuth (long "u" sound), which meant "familiar, or known." Adding the modifier "un" to the front gave it the opposite meaning: unfamiliar, or unknown; strange. Both definitions work. An uncouth person is one who finds manners and poise unfamiliar, and is a stranger to social graces.

+++

Mark's Musings works its way through the world on an RSS Feed, a Facebook Note, Amazon Kindle Reader, and e-mail each weekday. Hire your own subscription with a quick click here. No background checks necessary.

Saturday Novel 2

THE ADVENTURES OF MICHAEL MITTY
Scene Two

"I'm so glad you could make it to my little soiree, Mr. Mitty," said the Sheik with an obvious air of displeasure.

Michael idly picked a tiny piece of lint off his jet black tuxedo and replied, "Ah, yes. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, eh, Maktoum?"

"Something like that."

Out of the corner of his eye Michael saw a waiter approaching with a tray of drinks. "If you'll excuse me, Sheik, I think I'll mingle," he mentioned and turned innocently into the path of the waiter, who could not avoid the collision in time. Several expensive glasses of wine spilled onto his shirt and cummerbund, a red stain blossoming near his ribcage.

"Oh, dear," said the Sheik, humorlessly, "take care Mr. Mitty, or that stain will find new life as an omen," the Shiek's voice dropped into the range of a threat.

Michael smiled. "But I do so love the color red, Maktoum. Excuse me," he turned to the waiter, "could I trouble you for another glass of wine ... to replace the one I'm wearing?" He nimbly accepted the replacement glass and then said, "Excuse me once again, Sheik, I'm afraid I must now find a restroom."

Michael carefully threaded his way through the crowd, sipping his Merlot, surreptitiously taking note of everyone and everything in the room, the location of the exits, the number of guards and video cameras, and the current fashion in neckline trends on the ladies.

Once in the bathroom, he pulled out a prepared vial of hydrogen peroxide and dish soap, then dabbed at the stain, watching it slowly fade as he worked. He dried the shirt as best he could, then exited the restroom, but instead of turning left to return to the hall, he turned right, after making sure the video camera near the ceiling was on a sweep in the other direction.

+++

Where is Michael headed? What do you think should happen next?

Ouch

Wow.

My wife just called. In tears. Never a good sign.

Seems her place of employment - where she has worked for the last 25 years and hoped to retire from - is laying her off. She works for our local newspaper (well, until February 6, anyway), and considering what newspapers are going through, this wasn't completely unexpected, but she had survived three other rounds of early retirements and cuts, so we were hoping for at least five more years there and her own natural retirement.

Those hopes have been dashed upon the rocks of a brutal economic reality and changing industry paradigm.

Speaking of economics, please pray for us as right now we are both still pretty much in shock, and have no idea what our next steps will be, either occupationally or financially.

We rest assured that our destiny lies in God's hands and your good thoughts and kind prayers.

"Mr. Fennyman, allow me to explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster."

"So what do we do?"

"Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well."

"How?"

"I don't know. It's a mystery."

--Philip Henslowe and Hugh Fennyman, from Shakespeare in Love

Early Events

So is this the first year of the new decade or the last year of the first decade in the new millenium?

A friend of mine - list member Keith T. - believes 2010 ("twenty-ten," the correct pronunciation, he asserts) is the final year of the first decade. Why? Because there was no Year Zero. Calendar timekeeping began with the Year One. Therefore the "0" goes at the end of the decade, not the beginning.

Personally, I find that kind of logic hard to argue with. You're welcome to try, however. Click on "Comment" below and regale us with your reasoning. Facebook users - please click "View Original Post" to comment.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

BIG EVENTS BEFORE CHRIST

3050 B.C.
A Sumerian invents the wheel. Within a week, the idea is stolen and duplicated by other Sumerians, thus inventing the first business code of ethics.

2900 B.C.
Egyptians create the Sphinx and several other modern construction miracles. Pundits christen it all one big pyramid scheme.

1850 B.C.
Britons announce Operation Stonehenge a success after randomly placing stone slabs into a sufficiently meaningless pattern, thus securing centuries of employment for European historians.

1785 B.C.
First calendar introduced by Babylonian scientists.

1784 B.C.
Calendar concept tweaked after Babylonians experience winter in July.

776 B.C.
World's first known use of money occurs in Persia. The following day sees the world's first known use of counterfeit money.

525 B.C.
The first Olympics are held in Greece. Turkey enters a six footer with a moustache in women's shot put event.

410 B.C.
Rome ends the practice of enslaving debtors, removing single biggest obstacle to development of the credit card.

404 B.C.
The Peloponnesian War enters its 27th year because neither side can find a treaty writer who can spell "Peloponnesian."

214 B.C.
Tens of thousands of Chinese people complete the 1,500-mile long Great Wall. Neighbor's dog still gets through.

1 B.C.
Calendar manufacturers argue over what to call the next year.

[Wit and Wisdom; edits and additional material by Mark Raymond]

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Not much going on this weekend outside of work and union responsibilities. Oh, and quite a bit of shoveling. Durn snow.

I'll see you on Monday.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

WEB SITE of the WEEK: Contemplating a major purchase in 2010? You might benefit from knowing when the best time to make that purchase might be. Check out http://tinyurl.com/yazld6l. It's a post from LifeHacker that generates a timeline based on data and research for sales, discounts, and new product rollouts for, well, just about anything, including food.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Mark's Musings is sent each weekday using Ezine Director and I pay a little more to make sure my posts are certified by Habeas to be a safe source of e-mail. That means no ads, no spam, and no worries. Subscribe, view past issues in my Archives, and do other things over at my web site. To contact me and someday get a reply, click here. Odd fact: April 4, June 6, August 8, October 10, December 12, and the last day of February all fall on the same weekday every year. This year it's Sunday. You can forward or reprint Mark's Musings freely but please keep the credits attached. I repeat, please keep the credits attached. I repeat, please.... Original material and musings © 2010 by Mark Raymond. I update this blog with a copy of my e-mail posts daily (plus I often add graphics) and very occasionally with "bonus material" whenever the mood or muse strikes. Look for the label that says "bonus" and you can bring all that extra material up with one click. My personal mission statement remains John 3:30. Find me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/baldmark/. It's easy to remember that little calendar trick. Think 4/4, 6/6, 8/8, 10/10, and 12/12.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

WORDS for YOUR WEEKEND: "Don't be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of." (Charles Richards)

Going Home

We are currently in the midst of a nice, relatively warm (winterly-speaking) stretch of days. However, meteorologists are never content to let us enjoy weather like this, so today's forecast calls for anywhere from one to four inches of snow by Friday morning.

Which brings me to this. It's an explanation from Mental Floss about the concept we call "wind chill." Appropriate to the times, and all, unless you're one of my Australian readers, of course.

+++

The temperature had taken an overnight plunge, and Minnesota reaffirmed its status as one of the coldest states in the nation. Despite a wind chill of minus 40 degrees, however, the steelworkers that had been erecting a new television tower showed up for work.

About an hour into the day, one tall Texan climbed down from the tower, walked into the trailer's makeshift office, took his lunch pail down from the shelf and headed toward the door.

"You goin' home sick?" asked the foreman, after watching this.

"Nope," replied the Texan, "just headed home to get a warmer jacket."

"Oh," replied the foreman, but persisted, "where's home?"

"Dallas."

[Pastor Tim's Pearly Gates]

+++

WISDOM for YOUR WEEK: "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, summer and winter, day and night will never cease." (Genesis 8:22)

+++

Mark's Musings blows through an RSS Feed, howls into a Facebook Note, gets gusty with the Amazon Kindle, and softly wafts via e-mail each weekday. Warm up your Inbox with your own subscription by clicking here.

Checking In

Well, this explains why my bank offers me "reward points" and prizes for signing my name on a charge instead of using the PIN for my debit card.

And the rich get richer....

+++

AN OLDIE BUT A GOODIE

When I worked as a clerk for a large hotel chain, I would often personalize my transactions by glancing at the name on the credit card the guest was using and then use his or her name as we finished the check-in or check-out procedure.

During one very busy check-in evening, a guest was using a corporate card and I failed to catch that. As I handed him back his card, I said, "Have a pleasant stay with us, Mr. Bell."

"Oh, please," he replied pleasantly, "call me Taco."

[used March 1, 2005, in Mark Mail]

+++

WONDER for YOUR WEEK: Are the three dimensions of a credit card length, width, and debt?

+++

Mark's Musings can be deposited right into your own Inbox each weekday (for free) by clicking here. Or you can get it on an RSS Feed, read it on Facebook if you're my friend, or download it to your Amazon Kindle.

Driving with Coffee

I drink coffee. Usually a couple of cups a day, though on my days off I tend to drink less.

If you're a coffee connoisseur, you might appreciate this download.

It's a ZIP file that extracts out to a 53-page recipe book for an incredible assortment of coffees, including biscuits, scones, and sundry pastries you can nibble with your favorite cup o'caffeine.

+++

When my son was about six years old, we were out for a drive and as I was about to take a sip of my coffee, the lid popped off and I spilled it down the front of me and onto the seat and floor of the car.

I grumbled a bit and pulled over to clean up the mess.

My son, from his car seat in the back, gives me his sternest look, wags his finger at me, and says, "That is exactly why you are NOT supposed to drink and drive!"

[Pulpit Supply via Doc's Daily Chuckle]

+++

WORDS for YOUR WEEK: "No coffee can be good in the mouth that does not first send a sweet offering of odor to the nostrils." (Henry Ward Beecher)

+++

Mark's Musings percolates on an RSS Feed, a Facebook Note, Amazon's Kindle, and e-mail each weekday. Stir, sip, and click here to get your own subscription.

One Spur

Well, the holiday celebrations are behind us, school is back in session, and for most of us, this is the day 2010 begins in earnest. Time to start taking those resolutions seriously.

And here's something that's been in research since 2001, but I've only just read about. It's a product called ReWalk, which is a cybernetic suit (something called an "exoskeleton") which, when used with crutches for stability, allows paraplegics to walk again, and even climb stairs.

Developed by a paraplegic in Israel, it looks like the company is still looking for partners to mass produce the suit, and like any new technology, it won't be cheap (some estimates put the exoskeleton at $10-15,000) ... but then again, that may indeed be cheap for the chance to walk again. At least to someone.

+++

A cowboy walked into a tack shop one afternoon. "How much fer a pair of spurs?" he asked the clerk.

"Forty dollars," came the reply.

The cowboy went through his wallet and all of his pockets and managed to put together just a little over half that amount. He looks at the money on the counter, deep in thought. Finally he looks up. "I'll take one spur," he says.

"One?" the clerk asks. "What are you going to do with just one?"

The cowboy rubbed his cheek and replied, "Well, I reckon if I can get one side of the horse to go, the other side'll go with it."

[Joe's Clean Laffs]

+++

WORD for YOUR WEEK: Here's a word you hear every now and again: eclectic. As in, "John had an eclectic taste in music." It means drawn from a variety of sources. It's from Ancient Greece and is another of those compound words. Originally it was eklegein; "ek" meaning out, and "legein," meaning gather or choose. It was originally coined to describe a group of Greek philosophers, who selected doctrines from several different belief systems.

+++

Mark's Musings ropes an RSS Feed, herds a Facebook Note, lassoes a subscription via Kindle eReader, and busts a bronco via e-mail each weekday. Your own subscription can ride right into your Inbox by clicking here.

All You Need is Love

Larry Norman once wrote a line about The Beatles. He wrote, "John Lennon sang 'All You Need is Love' and then they broke up." I guess his point was that they didn't love each other.

It's still a pretty good song, though ... especially when you get people and groups from 156 different countries to sing it at the same time to raise money and awareness about the AIDS crisis in Africa.

Enjoy.

Saturday Novel Experiment

I've always thought about being a writer. I have a pretty good vocabulary and enough professional experience writing and editing over the past three decades to have a decent idea about how to put words together. One of the reasons I started the blog, in fact, was in the hopes someone would see all this fine work and be unable to resist hiring me to do work I love, instead of work I'm merely good at doing.

So here goes. The opening paragraphs of something that may - or may not - eventually be bound together in one larger reading experience. I have no idea where this is going. Most likely nowhere. But I appreciate you for reading it.

-- Mark

+++

THE ADVENTURES OF MICHAEL MITTY
CHAPTER ONE

The phone sat on Michael's desk like an ugly taupe frog. It had steadfastly refused to ring all day. He stared at it idly, stubbornly avoiding the report he was supposed to be analyzing for his boss, Mr. Crickmeyer. Suddenly, the phone continued not ringing.

Michael sighed. He knew in his heart he was destined for great adventures, but so far his life had been nothing worth writing about. His father, now, his father had gone on adventures all the time. At least if you believed the stories he had told Michael all through his childhood. And Michael did choose to believe.

He glanced once more at the report lying there like so much coal to be shoveled into the mouth of the company furnace, and went back to staring at the phone.

And then, the phone rang. Michael was so shocked he gasped in a big breath and had to take a moment to settle his nerves. Then he picked up the receiver.

"Hello? Yes, this is Michael Mitty. Who? Really? Noooo! Is this Johnson from HR? C'mon, really? Welllll, yes. No, I suppose not. All right. Yes. Yes, Mr. President. Yes, sir. You want me to what? Well, I can hardly believe I'm the only one in the world who could ... no, sir. No, I can't disagree. Yes, sir. Yes. You can count on me, sir. Thank you, sir. Goodbye."

Michael's pulse raced. His brain raced, too, but couldn't keep up and fell behind. He could hardly believe he'd been given such an important assignment. A matter of national security. He didn't even know where to begin. But his country was counting on him.

+++

What will happen next? What do you think should happen next?

A New Year Prayer

Happy New Year!

I am making only one small change to the "Musings" this year. I am adding Google's "Ad Sense" - a tiny block of ads - to both my blog and my website, in a small attempt to defray my publishing costs. The e-mail version of my post will continue to be sent ad-free, just as I promised. In fact, the program policies for the Ad Sense program even prohibit me from encouraging you to click the ads, so this is the last you'll hear about it from me.

I am well into my 11^th year of sending out something funny or inspiring every weekday, with a little bit of weblog fluff and nonsense on the occasional weekend. I can't be positive, because I don't look back often, but I do believe that very little of that material has been repeated over the years.

May 2010 leave you a little closer to Christ, a little kinder, a little richer in spirit and bank account, a little closer to those you call friends and family, and still musing with me.

God Bless You, Every One.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

A NEW YEAR'S PRAYER

God of our yesterdays, our todays, and our tomorrows....

We praise you for your unequaled greatness.
Thank you for the year behind us, and the year ahead of us.
Forgive us for the times we fell short in 2009.

Help us, in this new year, Father, to fret less and laugh more.
To teach our children to laugh by laughing with them.
To teach others to love by loving them.

We know, when Love came to a stable in Bethlehem, it came for us.
So that Love could be with us, and we could know you.
That we could share your love with others.

Help us Father, to hear your love song in every sunrise,
In the chirping of the sparrows in our backyards,
In the stories of our old folks, and in the fantasies of our children.

Help us to stop and listen to your love songs,
So that we may know you more and better.

We rejoice in the world you loved into being.

Thank you for another new year and for new chances every day.

We pray for peace, for light, and for hope, that we may spread them to others.

We leave the past in your hands, and step out into this unknown new year knowing you will go with us.

We accept your gift of 2010, and we rejoice in what lies ahead.
We depend on you to help us do exactly what it is you need done.
I say it again, no matter what is to come, we rejoice!

In the name of Jesus,

Amen.

[Ha Life w/edits and additional material by Mark Raymond]

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

We will either spend today cleaning and rearranging the furniture - our annual New Year's Day tradition - or we will chuck it all, sleep in, and go to the movies.

Either way, I'll see you on Monday.

Mark

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

WEB SITE of the WEEK: Shameless Self-Promotion Dep't: I mentioned earlier that I've been writing the "Musings" for more than ten years. I started using Ezine Director about six years ago, though, so that's all the farther my archives go back. I hope to one day transfer as much material as possible to my website. For now, though, you can stroll through about six years of material at http://mrhumor.net/archive.html or check out roughly four years of blog postings at http://mrhumornet.blogspot.com/.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Mark's Musings is sent each weekday using Ezine Director and I pay a little more to make sure my posts are certified by Habeas to be a safe source of e-mail. That means no ads, no spam, and no worries. Subscribe, view past issues in my Archives, and do other things over at my web site. To contact me and someday get a reply, click here. Like the economy, my number of readers dropped about 3% this year and there are now just under 600 of you reading these credits. You can still forward or reprint Mark's Musings freely but please keep the credits attached. The credits want to start the new year out right, and that means sticking with the post through thick and thin, people. Can't do it without you. Original material and musings © 2010 by Mark Raymond. I update this blog with a copy of my post daily (plus I often add graphics) and very occasionally with "bonus material" whenever the mood or muse strikes. Look for the label that says "bonus" and you can bring all that extra material up with one click. My personal mission statement remains John 3:30 into 2010 and beyond. Find me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/baldmark/. Jot down "2010" on about the next dozen checks in your checkbooks; that way you won't inadvertently write the wrong year. (Thanks, Lavonne.)

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

WORDS for YOUR WEEKEND: "Your life is an occasion. Rise to it." (Dustin Hoffman as Mr. Magorium)