I am thankful for ...

I was reading the news yesterday … yes it was on-line and not an actual newspaper (hey, I went old school with my daily planer, don't take away ALL of my 21st century vices). I came across an article about a teenager that lost her fight with cancer. As a last wish she got to record Katy Perry's "Roar". The internet is full of articles like this. We read them, we cry, we thank God (or our higher power) for what we have, we spend an hour or so truly thankful and then we forget and start to complain again about how rough we have it. Traffic, bills, fights with our (ex)partners.    

As you sit down with family and friends tomorrow remember what you are thankful for. Try to make the feeling of gratefulness last longer then just one day. Of course we have the obvious … 
Family 
Friends
Home
Job
Health

And my not so obvious ...
My shoes (and clothes in general)
My ability to walk to the market and buy just about any kind of food I want
My books (all 385 of them)
My notebooks and journals (all 523 of them … yes I have a problem)
The fact that I figured out how to hook up my laptop to my TV
My humor
My ability to ignore things (if you ignore something bad it eventually goes away, its called Scarlet Syndrome)

No mater where you are tomorrow try to remember to be thankful for what you have … not for what you want. Yes, their is a difference. 

R.I.P

I just found out (on FaceBook of course) that the Black Rhino is now extinct. Check out www.geekexchange.com for more info.

Its amazing what we put up with day to day and not say or do anything. But … the slightest chance that all people may have the same rights and look out. I mean really, what affect does my marrying a man have on anybody's life but mine?

Sorry, I digress. 

Below is a list of animals/mammals/plants that we have lost since 1960. The list includes animals from North America. I , you , or your children will never see any of these animals in the wild ever again. 

2007	Columbia Basin Pygmy Rabbit	Brachylagus idahoensispop. 2	Douglas, Grant, Lincoln, Adams and Benton counties of Washington state	mammal
1994	Hadley Lake Limnetic Stickleback	Gasterosteussp. 12	Hadley Lake on Lasqueti Island, British Columbia	fish
1994	Hadley Lake Benthic Stickleback	Gasterosteussp. 13	Hadley Lake on Lasqueti Island, British Columbia	fish
1994	Pearson's Hawthorn	Crataegus pearsonii	Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas	plant
1992	Vancouver Island Wolverine	Gulo gulo vancouverensis	Vancouver Island, British Columbia	mammal
1988	Fish Lake Pyrg	Pyrgulopsis ruinosa	One spring in Esmeralda County, Nevada	mollusc
1988	Maryland Darter	Etheostoma sellare	Streams near the head of Chesapeake Bay in Maryland	fish
1988	Bachman's Warbler	Vermivora bachmanii	Nested in Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Alabama, South Carolina, and Louisiana; wintered in Cuba and Isle of Pines	bird
1987	Dusky Seaside Sparrow	Ammodramus maritimus nigrescens	East coast of Florida	bird
1986	Banff Longnose Dace	Rhinichthys cataractae smithi	A marsh fed by hot springs near Banff, Alberta	fish
1985	Shortnose Cisco	Coregonus reighardi	Lakes Huron, Michigan and Ontario	fish
1984	Green Blossom	Epioblasma torulosa gubernaculum	Tennessee and Virginia	mollusc
1983	San Marcos Gambusia	Gambusia georgei	San Marcos River, Texas	fish
1978	Kingman's Prickly-pear	Opuntia superbospina	Mojave Desert, Arizona	plant
late 1970s	Amistad Gambusia	Gambusia amistadensis	Goodenough Spring, Texas	fish
1975	Phantom Shiner	Notropis orca	Rio Grande River in New Mexico and Texas	fish
mid 1970s	Lewis's Woodpecker, Georgia Depression Population	Melanerpes lewis pop. 1	Southwestern British Columbia and western Washington state	bird
1974	Tacoma Pocket Gopher	Thomomys mazama tacomensis	Pierce County, Washington state	mammal
1973	Carinate Duckwater Pyrg	Pyrgulopsis carinata	Spring in Duckwater Valley, Nye County, Nevada	mollusc
1971	Santa Cruz Pupfish	Cyprinodon arcuatus	Monkey Spring in Arizona	fish
1971	Zion Jimmyweed	Isocoma humilis	Washington County, Utah	plant
1971	Blue Walleye	Sander vitreus glaucus	Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, lower Niagara River and Lake Huron	fish
1970s	Acornshell	Epioblasma haysiana	Cumberland and Tennessee River systems in Alabama, Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky	mollusc
1970	Clear Lake Splittail	Pogonichthys ciscoides	Clear Lake, California	fish
1969	Blackfin Cisco	Coregonus nigripinnis	Lake Huron and Lake Michigan	fish
1969	Tubercled Blossom	Epioblasma torulosa torulosa	Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia	mollusc
1968	Striped Bass, St. Lawrence Estuary population	Morone saxatilis sp. 3	Quebec	fish
1967	Angled Riffleshell	Epioblasma biemarginata	Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee	mollusc
1967	Narrow Catspaw	Epioblasma lenior	Tennessee River system in Virginia, Tennessee and Alabama	mollusc
1967	Lined Pocketbook	Lampsilis binominata	Upper Chattahoochee and Flint River systems in Alabama and Georgia	mollusc
mid 1960s	Turgid Blossom	Epioblasma turgidula	Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee	mollusc
1964	Bluntnose Shiner	Notropis simus simus	Rio Grande River in New Mexico and Texas	fish
1964	Lake Ontario Kiyi	Coregonus kiyi orientalis	Ontario	fish
1964	Bay Springs Salamander	Plethodon ainsworthi	Jasper County, Mississippi	amphibian
1963	Eskimo Curlew	Numenius borealis	Nested in Northwest Territories, wintered in Argentina	bird

I guess it really saddens me that most people don't really care. And yes … I know that extinction is the natural way. But how long until we are on the same list as the Black Rhino. 

R.I.P 

The need to …

I have the need to write. I have the need to paint. I have the need to sing. I have the need to be creative. I guess this entry will have to do for now. 

Consider yourself creativeized.

Bam