An Aid To Memory

  Last night I broke down and bought a new digital camera. Actually, it is my first digital camera, but I have been using my mom’s on occasion. It is a Kodak DX7639 and I got it last night well below retail with a docking station thrown in for free. I figure now that I am the Yearbook Adviser where I work, I can justify the purchase because of the extra money I will be making from that. Also, we are behind in taking photos, so I should start helping us catch up.

Plus, I just love photography. It is one of those secret interests of mine. If I didn’t tell you I loved it, you wouldn’t know. I haven’t gotten a new camera since the early 1990s, when my parents bought me an automatic (impressive at the time!) 35mm camera. My mom has a really nice 35mm camera, and a decent digital one, so I have been used to seeing quality photographs of just about everything (especially cats!). For my 3rd grade wildflower collection mom took close-ups of all the flowers, in addition to the pressed flower. I think it was those photographs that helped spark my love of nature and nature photography/scenery. I have also done numerous Photography 4H projects throughout the years. Recently, in the hopes that I would actually develop my interest further, I bought Paint Shop Pro for my computer, but I have been too busy to sit down and explore that too much. Now that I splurged and bought a new camera, I hope to finally show a little more interest in photography and learn a few more things.

Image from: www.freefoto.com (image by Ian Britton)

Robb has tagged me to list my 5 idiosyncrasies. Here goes:

1. Cold cheese. I don’t like it. I LOVE cheese on most things, when it is cooked. I can tolerate cold cheese if it is shredded and mixed in a salad or something, but it has to be finely shredded. I don’t do cheese chunks.

2. Cayenne. I put cayenne in and on just about everything. I put it in soups, tartar sauce, ketchup, eggs, etc. Instead of salt, I just put straight cayenne pepper on my fries. Usually they are nearly completely covered with cayenne pepper. MMMM, I am getting hungry now!

3. My driving style. Ever since gas hit $1.50 or so, I have driven differently and probably by most accounts, more oddly. I was just reading the other day that starting slowly and coasting into a stop (as much as possible) can increase gas mileage by around 30 percent. I have been doing just this for awhile. There is a hill on the way to work that I can coast down for about 1/4 mile. People riding with me sometimes wonder what I am doing because I usually coast more than I use the brake.

4. The way I use credit cards. Most people I meet are a little surprised that someone who is as concerned about good financial decisions as I am has 5 credit cards. Well, they are all reward cards (except the St Vincent De Paul society card which gives money to the organization), and I always pay off the balance. I get 5% back at gas stations, supermarkets, and pharmacies, and 1% back at other places. Over the last 3 years, I have gotten around 600-700 dollars in rewards or cash. Plus, I tend to be pretty controlled in my spending, so the balances are rather low.

5. Vitamins. At college they called me the vitamin king. I take quite a few supplements. I am pretty fascinated by herbs and natural chemicals (especially enzymes), and enjoy planning which ones I will take each day (although I am much busier now, so I sometimes forget to take them). I buy them mail order, so I don’t pay that much, and lately I have cut back on ones I don’t deem necessary. Nonetheless, I have quite a few I take. Weirdly, part of the reason I take them is because of my health, and part of it is probably the enjoyment of planning the supplement regimen itself. 

I am too busy to tag someone, so if you want to list your idiosyncrasies, I tag you!

Today is the first day of Autumn. All I can say is that I am ready for the Fall, and with it cold days, Halloween, pumpkin pie, All Saints Day, football games, Thanksgiving, changing leaves, etc. My mom has already bought our Halloween costumes for this year! And soon the purple, orange, and green Halloween lights will go up in my window.These reasons (and more) make autumn my favorite season. Plus, there was always Homecoming and the end of football season (the beginning of my social life) that always occurred during the autumn. One of my biggest complaints about living in Atlanta was the lack of a clearly distinct Fall season. I found this excellent poem about Autumn I thought I would share:

To Autumn - John Keats
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimmed their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,
Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives of dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Image from: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/4323761/detail.html

I just found out that Emigrant Direct has raised their savings account rate to 4.0% APY (Annual Percentage Yield). I have had an account there for about a year. It is a purely online account, but you can link over 2 checking accounts from your brick-and-mortar banks, so you can transfer money back and forth at will. It is safe, secure, FDIC-insured, and there are no minimum investments or hidden fees. Just so you know, I don’t work for them and I don’t get a commission for writing this. I have just been impressed with their rates and services (they sent me a free hat too).

Let’s do the math comparing Emigrant Direct with National City and Key Bank’s Savings rates.

National City Bank’s Savings Account:
.70% APY.
That is 70 dollars a year interest with $10,000 in your account

Key Bank
1.24% APY
That is 124 dollars a year interest with $10,000 in your account

With Emigrant Direct:
4.0% APY
That is 400 dollars a year with $10,000 in your account

$330 more per year than National City
$276 more per year than Key Bank

Like I said, I am not advertising. I am letting my blog readers know about this great rate, because I think with gas prices this high we can all use some extra money. Plus, I was a financial adviser for a brief period, and I had to learn about all of this.

Ok, it’s not exactly a new job, but certainly it is an extension of my old job. I am a substitute teacher, and I just got offered a permenant sub position at a local High School, meaning I work everyday guaranteed. No, subbing is not glamorous, and it gets poked fun of on TV shows a lot (think Peggy Hill). However, the money is decent and the hours are good. Plus, I get to keep a long-term English sub position I have been teaching until the regular teacher returns at the end of October. And I got offered the yearbook adviser position, which brings extra pay with it. It’s not my ideal job, but is a good way to pass the time until next year.

Jennifer has spent the last 9 days posting the complete Our Lady of Consolation Novena. I have prayed this novena many times, and find it well-written and spiritually beneficial. Since I have used it so often, I am linking to the entire novena below. It is well worth adding to your collection of prayers. This Novena comes from the prayer book of the Our Lady of Consolation Shrine. If you use the novena, please consider sending them donations. They will light a candle and offer masses on behalf of your petitions.

A novena is a nine-day (or nine-month) prayer cycle. It is based on the nine day period of waiting between Christ’s Ascension and Pentecost. The nine day period is symbolic of fervent prayer, and the Church emphasizes that we should avoid superstition when praying novenas (there are chain-letter type novenas out there).

Novena Day One
Novena Day Two
Novena Day Three
Novena Day Four
Novena Day Five
Novena Day Six
Novena Day Seven
Novena Day Eight
Novena Day Nine

Today the Church celebrates the birthday of Mary. Today, September 8, falls 9 months after the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, which is on December 8th. According to early Christian tradition, expressed in various non-canonical gospels, Mary was born to parents Anna and Joachim.

The feast of the Nativity of Mary originated in the Eastern Church, and gradually made its way westward. However, being based on apocryphal accounts, the feast was slow to take hold in the Western Church. The Eastern Churches celebrate Mary’s birthday on varying days. Historically, we know very little as to why September 8th was chosen to celebrate Mary’s birth in the West.

Some may object that we don’t really know when Mary was born. Some may say Mary’s birth is not worth celebrating. I can understand these objections as a historian and having grown up Protestant. Personally, neither objection really bothers me that much. These objections are often made about Christmas as well. The point is that we are celebrating the birth of the Mother of God, the new ark who was to bear God-in-the-flesh. We Catholics love to celebrate the heroes of the faith, and Mary is one of the biggest because of her role as Christ’s mother. Happy Birthday to the Virgin Mary.

Robb has also posted an excellent blog entry on Mary’s Birthday. Jennifer has also posted on Mary’s Birthday and a popular devotion associated with Mary’s birthday, the Maria Bambina.

Image from: http://www.holycross.edu/departments/visarts/projects/kempe/devotion/virgin.html

I admit I like to watch Bill O’Reilly on Fox News. Do I always agree with Bill? No. I do find him entertaining and since he gets flak from conservatives and liberals, I do think he offers some balance on issues.

He was pretty upset last night about record profits by oil companies while middle-class Americans are getting squeezed in the pocket books. He suggested that oil companies reduce their record profits by 20% and pass that reduction to the struggling consumer. Honestly, I doubt this will happen. As far as what we can do, Bill suggests reducing our driving by 10%, and banding together and refuse to buy gas on Sundays.

I doubt refusing to buy gas on Sunday will have much of a price impact on its own, since we will just buy the gas we need on Monday morning. However, if the majority of Americans refused to buy gas on Sundays, it would send a message to the oil companies that we Americans aren’t too happy about paying these prices for gasoline. However, the most powerful message we could send to oil companies (and automakers) would be to buy cars that are fuel-efficient. We also would send a powerful message by using alternative fuels, and demanding that our corporations and governments research and promote new energy sources that would reduce our demand for fossil fuels.

Despite the fact that the effect on gas prices would be minimal, I still think I am going to refuse to buy gas on Sunday, if anything just to make a point. As for buying coffee from gas-station convenience stores on Sunday, I promise nothing.

UPDATE: I was watching Bill O’Reilly the other day, and he was responding to a reader’s letter who told Bill that "the free market should continue to decide oil prices." Bill’s response was something like, "sir, if you think the price of oil is determined by the free-market, you are free-basing." I loved it.

Happy Labor Day to everyone. According to The US Department of Labor, Labor Day, "the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement
and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It
constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to
the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country."

As to who started the holiday, there is doubt. I just always enjoy having the day off. I remember in High School always having a long football practice that day. The coach always said, "It’s labor day, so we’re going to labor a little." I can think of two things wrong with this statement. First, we labored a lot those 3 hours in 85 degree heat, not a little. Second, he didn’t do any labor; we did. Sitting on a cooler shouting orders isn’t laboring. I will say one thing: laboring for 3 hours did make the steaks we grilled-out later taste that much more succulent.

Anybody have any plans today? I am going shopping with Jennifer, hiking, and mowing my grandma’s yard. We have already eaten a lot this weekend, so I doubt we will grill-out.

Here is an appropriate thought/prayer from John Henry Newman:

May He support us all the day long,
till the shades lengthen, and the evening
comes,
and the busy world is hushed,
and the fever of life is over and our
work is done!
Then in His mercy may He give us a safe lodging,
and a holy
rest, and peace at the last.

Image from: http://pasture.ecn.purdue.edu/~asm

Jennifer and I recently decided to visit the Our Lady of Consolation Shrine on the way home from a visit to Northern Ohio. I am just getting around to blogging about it today. We stopped in on a Sunday afternoon, just wanting to make our way around the shrine and stop at the bookstore. We arrived just in time to join the Confraternity of Our Lady of Consolation, which consists of saying a prayer during a worship service at the shrine, and agreeing to live out our baptismal vows more faithfully and fully. We also arrived just in time for a rosary walk around the town of Carey. A rosary walk is when a group of people recite the rosary while walking around an area. The procession was led by a brother carrying a cross and a statue of Mary. Jennifer blogged about the day here and shares a novena prayer from the Shine prayer book.

In addition, the brothers brought out pieces of the True Cross, and we walked up to receive a blessing from them while they pressed the piece of the Cross against our foreheads. Overall, the day was a blessing, and if you are ever in the northern Ohio area, the shrine is well worth visiting.

Image from: http://www.olcshrine.com/