Archive for June, 2005

Meow…

Jun 26th

Posted by Ash in Ash

I have a new cause I’ve started donating my time to recently: KittiCo Cat Rescue. I stumble upon them when I was looking for a new cat (an orange tabby… Of course!) to adopt on petfinder.com after Tasmyn died in early June last year. Well, they had one, and so we ended up adopting Gus from them. As a matter of fact, the first anniversary of his adoption is coming up tomorrow (6/27)! I can hardly believe it’s only been a year since Gus came into our lives… It seems like he’s been with us forever! !!! You can find all the cats Kittico has up for adoption on petfinder.com here.

The reason I started volunteering my time to them was simply because their old web site was really, really pitiful, and I finally couldn’t stand looking at it anymore. So, I offered them my webmastering skills to redesign their whole site, and they gladly took me up on it.

<rant>
The redesign turned out very well, though it sucked big-time that I had to do an exhaustive search to find out how to fix all the formatting fuck ups Internet Explorer automatically does to any web page. I guess Micro$oft believes browser standards compliance don’t apply to them. *sigh* Needless to say, all web page designers hate that about Internet Explorer, but have to put up with it because of all the clueless people who still use it. If you still use it do yourself a big favor, and get a decent browser!
</rant>

Go take a look at it, and let me know what you think!

Heartbreaking…

Jun 25th

Posted by Ash in Ash

My heart goes out to the families of Jesstin Pagan, Daniel Agosto, & Anibal Cruz. What a horrible & senseless tragedy. Those poor, poor boys! I was stunned when they reported yesterday that they had been found dead in the trunk of a car being stored on the same property where the boys had been playing. Since it is now apparent that no one thoroughly search the car, I’m sure there will be plenty of finger pointing, but it won’t bring those boys back to life. I just hope people will learn from all the mistakes that were made, and use that knowledge to stop this from happening again. *sigh*

This story especially touches me deeply because I am the mother of a 6 year old boy myself, and I cannot imagine what it would be like to have him go missing, and then be found dead. The very thought of it gives me a tiny glimpse of the profound sorrow I would feel, and brings tears to my eyes. I pray I never have to experience anything like it.

This whole terrible incident just demonstrates how quickly children can get themselves into trouble because of their lack of common sense for the consequences of their actions. This is why it is so very important that young children have proper supervision at all times. One moment they’re playing safely: the next they’re climbing into a car’s trunk, and end up suffocating to death in it. Plus, all this can, and does, happen in such a short amount of time. In this sad case the mom was only away for 5-10 minutes while she started dinner, and when she came back outside the boys were nowhere to be seen. Don’t get me wrong… I don’t really blame Anibal Cruz’s mother; she was only doing what tens of thousands (millions?) of parents do each and every day. It’s just that every time you take those foolish chances with your children’s safety you’re tempting fate, and the fate you’re tempting is a nightmarish one.

Hell, when I was a small child (during the 70′s) it was never given a second thought about letting us go out and play unsupervised. I can’t count the number of times I unintentionally placed myself in grave danger, and am surprised that I never got seriously hurt. The stories I could tell you would curl your hair!

Patience Is A Virtue…

Jun 16th

Posted by Ash in Ash

4 comments

Yesterday I preordered our copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from amazon.com… I can hardly wait to get my hands on it, and devour it with my eyes! Pookey mentioned, just the other day, that it was time to start rereading the previous books again, and that sounds like a very good idea to me. Though, I can’t start on them until I finish the book (A Stroke of Midnight by Laurell K. Hamilton) I’m now reading. It shouldn’t take me more than a day, or two, to finish it up. Then I will be ready for my trip into Harry Potter’s universe, and what a wonderful place that is to visit!

I am quite an avid reader, and there’s seldom a day that goes by that I don’t take the time to read a book, as it is one of my favorite things to do. Although I only read most books once (maybe twice if they’re good enough) there’s a small select group of books that I will read again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again. So far, all of the Harry Potter books fall into that exclusive collection of books… Though, with J.K. Rowling’s track record I don’t have any doubts that the last two books will as well. To me, finding a book that I can read over, and over, is akin to discovering $50 in a jacket I haven’t worn in a while, but much more enjoyable in my humble opinion. After all, a good story stays in your mind a lot longer than the time it takes to spend $50 these days.

Some of the more vocal critics of the series feel that the books lure children into witchcraft. THIS IS ABSOLUTE RUBBISH!!! Witchcraft (aka Wicca) is a RELIGION, and, as a Pagan with Wiccan tendencies myself, I can honestly say that these books have nothing to do whatsoever with that religion, other than using the word "Witch" for its female wizards. In fact, all the holidays that are mentioned in the books are the ones that the majority of Christians observe today. People seem to lose sight of the fact that the Harry Potter series is just a work of fiction, and that there is nothing anymore harmful in these books then there is in any other fantasy book.

I firmly believe that above mentioned critics only fear that people will realize that there is more than one path to the divine, and with that they will lose their power over those people, and the money that all those people represent. That they’re not truly concerned with anyone’s welfare, just with their own petty egos, and how much money they can squeeze from other people. *sigh* I hate people like that!!!

I feel that all the praise/hype for the Harry Potter series is justified because (plain, and simply put) it’s just such an incredibly well written series of books. It’s rare when a book (never mind a whole series!) comes along that can be enjoyed by both children & adults, and this fact speaks volumes for the writing skills of the author.

I admit that, at first, I didn’t pay too much attention to any of the books because I assumed that they were simply books for children. That all the commotion about Harry Potter was the kind you see whenever any children’s product becomes very popular, and parents start going rabid about getting it for their child. So, I didn’t start reading them until the second (or was it the third?) book was out. Then I finally understood why everyone was so crazy about the Harry Potter series, and I was well, & truly, hooked. Happily so.