Congratulations Blue!!!

Marcus and I are going to Houston this weekend to see my little brother graduate from high school. Since I am so much older than Blue, I remember when he was born, when he first started walking and talking, and his first day of school. He graduated from kindergarten in the same year that I graduated from high school. When I went away to college he wouldn’t talk to me on the phone because he was mad at me for leaving. Now he will be leaving for Stephen F. Austin this July for a couple of summer courses, and then again

 in the fall. I’ll have to tell our 10 year old sister Julie not to talk to him on the phone for a few months!!

I’m really proud of my brother for finishing high school and deciding to go to college, but man does it make me feel old!!

Blue's Kindergarten Picture

Blue in his cap and gown

Blue, Julie, and me

They're out to get me...

Hi Everybody! Special guest blogger Marcus here. I’m flattered that you’re using your valuable Internet surfing time to stop by and read the random thoughts I have.

Ok, I have a confession to make: I hate spiders. Well, not really hate...more like an irrational, paralyzing fear at the mere thought of them. I don’t really know why, I just am. I know that some 98% of all spiders are supposed to be harmless, but I just don’t believe it. I mean, look at them! Why would God have given them so many legs if not for the purpose of running me down and eating my face? Why do they have that unique ability to spin those invisible, elaborate webs if not to catch me in some unsuspecting stroll though the back yard? I say evolution is alive and well, and they have evolved into lean mean Marcus-catching machines. Of course, have I been evolving to protect myself? No! I haven’t sprouted any form of exoskeleton or any extra appendage. I’ve still got the poor eye sight and only two legs (which are useless is running from them…they’re just too fast). And where have opposable thumbs gotten me in this endless struggle? Nowhere. It’s almost like I’m supposed to succumb to the beasts.

Why do I ramble on about this unholy injustice of the animal kingdom, you ask? Well, it’s because we have come upon the time of year that I truly dislike. Right now it’s getting along about 8 o’clock or so in the evening, and if I were to walk out in my back yard right now, I would see no less then three elaborate spider webs strung across the yard, the walkway, the gate, anywhere that I might tread. And right in the middle of each web is a big ole garden spider, just waiting for me to stick my face into their waiting fangs.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am actually in awe of the deathly little creatures. It truly amazes me just how talented and ingenious the little imps are. However, nothing bothers me more than these traps that they set for me in the back yard. Well, it’s not really the webs that bother me (they’re actually very beautiful), it’s the fact that you can’t see them until you’re right upon one and the beast is just sitting there staring into your eyes inches from your face. Eep. I almost didn’t go to work one day last week because there was one hovering across the back gate. I had to take a deep breath, grab a 4 foot piece of bamboo, and gently move the spider out of the way before running panickedly through the gate, all the while picturing the spider jumping on my back and crawling down my shirt! I really hate it when I do walk through them, and then spend the next half hour constantly brushing the phantom spiders off me and out of my hair.

Although, I do have to brag about something. Friday, Amanda and I were out doing some yard work. When we came in, I saw a spider suspended from her hair. Now understand, the spider was only about the size of a pea, and it looked pretty scrawny. But even so, I had to take a second, drum up all the courage in my body, and using the strength given to me by the sheer love of my wife, I clapped my hands together and rubbed vigorously to kill the thing. I almost didn’t make it; and if the spider had been any bigger, well…

Anyway, enough of this silliness. I need to stop talking about it…I can feel them crawling on me now. I hope you all enjoy your holiday weekend, and I’ll be back someday with more randomness. Thanks for listening, and enjoy the pictures.

-Marcus

(This picture is from a park out in East Texas last fall. Check out the story at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070912145919.htm)

My Cat Needs a Pet

Marcus and I have two cats, Gus and Shiloh. Gus is really my cat. He is ok with Marcus existing and all (I suspect that this is only because Marcus feeds the cats), but he really loves me. Gus is a very cuddly cat. He is constantly nuzzling up to me, and he often sleeps in my lap or right next to me. At night he typically sleeps on my side of the bed.

When we got him as a kitten 4 years ago, we had another cat named Toby who was also a cuddler and they would spend all day together cuddled on the bed, couch, or floor. Two years ago Toby disappeared (that’s when we got Shiloh), and since then no one will cuddle with poor Gus. He’s tried to cuddle with Shiloh, but she is just not that kind of cat. She likes to be outside hunting birds, mice, and squirrels. Gus tries to nuzzle and cuddle up to our dogs Bailey and Emma, but they just don’t like it. When Gus tries to cuddle with Emma, she freezes and looks totally scared to death. When he tries to cuddle with Bailey, she runs away from him. It is so sad, because all he wants is some lovin’. I’m thinking that Gus needs a pet kitten, one that will cuddle with him.

Gus and Toby cuddling.

Gus laying on Shiloh's tail to make her cuddle.

Gus cuddling up with Bailey. Sometimes Bailey will tolerate this if she is alseep.

Why I'm Annoyed with Ebay

I’ve been selling stuff on ebay since October in an effort to supplement Marcus’ income since I am no longer working full time. Overall it’s been a really good experience, and has taken a lot of the financial worry out of me not working. A few months ago ebay increased seller fees, this ate into my profits, but I figured they have the right to dictate how much their service costs. Not a big deal. But.......on Monday ebay made sweeping changes to their feedback system. Some of the changes were announced in March and some were a surprise.

Change 1. Sellers can only leave positive feedback for buyers. (this was announced in March) The goal was to end sellers leaving negative feedback for buyers just because the buyer left deserved negative feedback for the seller. This is a problem, but as a buyer your feedback score really doesn’t matter that much. As a seller, I only look at a buyer’s feedback if they ask for something special like a longer time before paying or shipping to another address. (Which I can no longer do because every buyer will have 100% positive feedback) It was obvious by the comments when a buyer received negative feedback that was retaliatory and undeserved.

With this change I can no longer leave negative feedback for a non paying bidder, (so far I have had 8 people never pay), but they can leave me negative feedback for that item if they want to, thereby lowering my percentage. (Which is very damaging to sellers as buyers often use the percentage to decide what kind of seller they are, and if you're a power seller your seller fees are partially determined by the percentage).


Change 2. Neutrals now bring down your percentage on ebay just as much as negatives do. This was a surprise. It is also retroactive. The only neutral I’ve ever received was 3 months ago before the changes took effect. The person stated in her neutral post that she did not read the auction. Now my feedback percentage is 99.7% instead of 100%.

This is especially bad because most buyers don’t know about this change since ebay says that a neutral won’t affect the feedback score at all. Technically this is true, the score is the number next to the user name that indicates how many feedbacks that person has received. The percentage is next to the score, and is now calculated differently to equate a neutral with a negative. There is really no way for a buyer to know about this.

There are other changes as well, but those are the main two. I am annoyed because in an attempt to solve the problem of retaliatory feedback ebay has created a system in which buyer feedback doesn’t tell a seller anything, making it meaningless, allows unethical people to tank an honest seller’s feedback percentage, and maybe the worst thing, makes it possible for a good buyer to tank a seller’s percentage without intending to or realizing it.

If you are an ebay member you can sign a petition against these policies at: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ebay-buyers-concerned-re-feedback-changes

You can also email the CEO, John Donahoe at jdonahoe@ebay.com

Why I Like Living in Abilene

• In general people are polite. A few days ago I was fourth in line in the left turn lane. The arrow went from red to green, but the first car didn’t go. A LOT of time went by and no one honked. In Memphis they honk if you don’t go while the light is changing from red to green.

• I love our neighborhood. Since we live kind of in the middle of town, everything worth going to is pretty close by, and our area of town is economically and racially diverse. Also, our neighborhood is older, so we have actual trees.

• Total lack of traffic. We don’t have to plan our outings based on the traffic at that time of day, because there isn’t any.

• Numbered streets. This is very good for me since I have NO sense of direction.

• My gynecologist. Dr Ameeta Kapu is the best doctor I’ve ever had!

• Eating lunch with Marcus. Since it only takes about 5 minutes for Marcus to get to work, we get to eat lunch together everyday.

• Coldstone Creamery. Abilene actually has one. I’ll probably blog more about that later since Coldstone employees have complemented me more than once on my ice cream creations.

• Citywide smoking ban. Smoking is illegal in public places. It’s weird to go to another city and have the restaurant hostess ask if we want the smoking or non smoking section.

• Our church. Marcus and I really like our preacher, Mike Cope (a link to his blog is on the left), and we are so happy with the direction the church is heading under the elders, especially in the areas of community outreach and women’s roles in the church.

I'm Blogging!!

So….I’ve finally decided to join the blogging world. I’m sure I’ll blog about current events, politics (those of you who think I’m way liberal may find out I’m not really that liberal after all. Well…that’s probably not likely but at least you can say you know and maybe understand a liberal), God, Jesus, Christianity, and the Church, how wonderful my husband is, all four pets (Bailey, Emma, Gus, and Shiloh), the children of my friends and family, what annoys me, what makes me happy, books I’m reading, and of course random observations about life and society.