Ray Stevens

I've Loved Ray Stevens since the Squirrel got loose in Church.

Man, son, Iron Man contest

A son asked his father, 'Dad, will you take part in a marathon with me?' The father who, despite having a heart condition, says 'Yes'. They went on to complete the marathon together. Father and son went on to join other marathons, the father always saying 'Yes' to his son's request of going through the race together. One day, the son asked his father, 'Dad, let's join the Ironman together.'

To which, his father said 'Yes' .

For those who didn't know, Ironman is the toughest triathlon ever. The race encompasses three endurance events of a 2.4 mile (3.86 kilometer) ocean swim, followed by a 112 mile (180.2 kilometer) bike ride, and ending with a 26.2 mile (42.195 kilometer) marathon along the coast of the Big Island

Father and son went on to complete the race together. View this

Movies: ARK: Evan Almighty, Maya Lin Chapel Haley Farm

I got a call to Substitute at the Alternative High School. I LOVE going there. It's my favorite place to Sub. The kids, work mostly independently, doing computer modules or whatever. I think there is a lot of lost opportunity as to the potential that is being lost, but hey, I'm not the Principal-yet. LOL.

So every Friday kids are released at 2. I don't know why. Lunch is at 11:30 (I had a really nice SUB sandwich from Central Kitchen), then they watch a movie. The Homeschooling part of me despises this. In Public School there is simply SO MUCH WASTED TIME!! AWWCCCKKK. Makes me crazy. Maybe what it does is create a space for "community"...yah--maybe.
Anyway, somehow it fell on me to do the CHOOSING. Wow. That is huge. I had a list of 8 different movies, and when I got to Chart Hits EVERY one of my choices was not available. (Maybe a GOD thing?).
I had a student with me, and asked for suggestion from Movie Place Person. We ended up with EVAN ALMIGHTY.
My friend Char had gone to the theatre to watch this, and LOVED it. I am not much into movies until recently.
SO...the High School kids LOVED it.
Has great themes, Home, Family, Personal Responsibility, Political involvement, Community awareness, YES all that.
Can be a definite recommend. Today, my 11 yr old watched it, we watched all the "EXTRAS" in the DVD. HIGHLY entertaining--the lost scenes, how the ARK was built etc. I found this especially interesting as I am a Children's Defense Fund Emerging Leader (Fellow)Class of 2004, -- A quick side trip: Maya Lin, the builder of the Vietnam Veteran's Wall in Washington DC also created an "ARK" in Clinton Tennessee. Her design, with a budget of $3 million, was inspired by the Children's Defense Fund logo, a child's drawing with the text: ''Dear Lord, be good to me. The sea is so wide and my boat is so small.''
I sang in that chapel area, and was moved to tears. The Alex Haley Farm is a retreat operated by the national nonprofit, the Children’s Defense Fund, and is the only place in the world to have two buildings by Lin on the same site.

The picture doesn't even begin to do it justice. It is..HUGE, Inspiring, awesome.

No other way about it...ARKS are COOL. In the movie, ARK= "Acts Random Kindness" ie: pay it forward.

Steve Carell -I love him from Office Space, and he is great in this.
GOD is Good, LOL

Change the World-- Great theme. Go forth...And ARK. ....


(just to show you, THIS cool pic of the BIG back of my head was at B SMITH's, in Washington D.C. in April 2007. WOW...isn't my hair perfectly streaked?? And my sparkly top!!! OH MY!!!)

A song for Every Girl

This is a song for every girl who's
Ever been through something she thought she couldn't make it through
I sing these words because
I was that girl too
Wanting something better than this
But who do I turn to

Now we're moving from the darkness into the light
This is the defining moment of our lives

'Cause you're beautiful like a flower
More valuable than a diamond
You are powerful like a fire
You can heal the world with your mind

There is nothing in the world that you cannot do
When you believe in you, who are beautiful
Yeah, you, who are brilliant
Yeah, you, who are powerful
Yeah, you, who are resilient

This is a song for every girl who
Feels like she is not special
'Cause she don't look like a supermodel Coke bottle
The next time the radio tells you to shake your moneymaker

Sing with the song of India Arie, Beautiful Flower lyrics!

Shake your head and tell them, tell them you're a leader

Now we're moving from the darkness into the light
This is the defining moment of our lives

'Cause you're beautiful like a flower
More valuable than a diamond
You are powerful like a fire
You can heal the world with your mind

There is nothing in the world that you cannot do
When you believe in you, who are beautiful
Yeah, you, who are brilliant
Yeah, you, who are powerful
Yeah, you, who are resilient

Yeah, you, who are beautiful
Yeah, you, who are brilliant
Yeah, you, who are powerful
Yeah, you, who are resilient

Yeah, you, this song is for you
Yeah, you, this song is for you
Yeah, you, this song is for you
Yeah, you, yeah, you
You are brilliant