My Life Lately

The good: I bought a new car recently, which is really awesome. I upgraded the memory in my iBook, so it seems to be working better, although I still have problems with it sometimes. And there is finally some fall in the air.

The bad: I feel terrible. My back is really killing me lately, and I don't have anything to provide relief right now. Once again, I am sitting and sleeping with a heating pad on it. I took my dog to the vet and she is very overweight. I've been trying to take her for walks, but now I can't until I start feeling better. I need to lose weight too, but I haven't put much effort into it. Eating less is not so hard - it's exercise that gets me. I feel like I'm moving in slow motion lately.

As for work, this, this and this pretty much sum up my feelings.

Anyway, I'm still pretty much on hiatus. When I finally get it together, I start posting regularly again.

A Lutheran supports the Pope?

You bet I do!

I'm sure you have heard that Pope Benedict said some less-than-flattering things about Islam in a recent speech, which caused the Muslim world to go nuts as it always does at the slightest criticism. (If you are not familiar with all this, just visit Relapsed Catholic and start reading.)

One thing I'm very tired of is Muslim apologists saying stuff like, "But the Old Testament says..." or "But the Inquisition..." Please, just give it a rest. We Christians here in the modern world are insulted all the time. Yes, we complain about it, but basically we keep doing what Christ told us to do and turn the other cheek. We don't riot in the streets and kill people.

Another thing I'm tired of hearing from Muslim apologists is this: 99.99% of the 1.2 billion Muslims in the world are just normal peace-loving folks -- only a tiny percentage of Muslims support and/or perpetrate terrorism and violence. However, a recent poll taken by Al Jazeera indicates that about half their Arab viewers support Osama bin Laden. This would indicate that the number of non-peaceful Muslims is much larger than Muslim apologists claim.

I don't think all this controversy about the Pope's statements on the heels of Oriana Fallaci's death is a coincidence. Also, from what I understand, Pope Benedict held an audience with Fallaci not long ago. No, I think that there are larger powers at work here.

A Week of Loss

On Thursday, I found out a former co-worker of mine succumbed to brain cancer. She retired early because of it and had struggled with it for over three years. When I first started working where I'm working now, she is the one who took me under her wing and showed me the ropes. I knew her over the telephone before that when I worked at my previous command. She helped me with numerous issues with the system I administered there. Here is her obituary if you are interested. I will really miss her -- she was a very intelligent, kind and wonderful woman. Unfortunately, I don't think I will be able to go to her funeral. I really wish I could go.

The world also lost another great woman this week: Oriana Fallaci. She lived an incredible life. As a young girl, she stood up against the Italian fascists in World War II. As a much older woman struggling with cancer, she spoke out against the Islamist fascists, and ended up being called a fascist herself by pampered, ignorant know-nothings on the left. I have both of her books inspired by the 9/11 terrorist attack and the Islamist problem: The Rage and the Pride and The Force of Reason. I haven't had a chance to read these yet (although I have read passages from the first book). I would like to make reading these books a priority in the wake of her death. I think history will show her to be someone who the world should have listened to more carefully.

Remembering Charles (Carlos) Dominguez

Carlos Dominguez was 1 of 2,996 souls who perished in the 9/11/01 terrorist attack. He died at the World Trade Center. He was 34.

He was an employee of Marsh & McLennan and lived in East Meadow, N.Y. with his wife Maureen and three young daughters Maria, Amanda and Michelle.

Carlos was born in New York City's Little Italy to Cuban immigrants. He was their second son -- his older brother's name is Benjamin. He met his future wife when they were teenagers and they married in 1991 when she finished college. Theirs was an interfaith marriage -- they were married by both a priest and a rabbi.

Carlos went to New York University and was the first in his family to go to college. He majored in political science. However, he ended up working as an IT professional. He worked as an independent contractor for Marsh & McLennan. He set up firewalls for their computers. After three years as a contractor, Marsh & McLennan made Carlos a permanent employee -- on September 10.

Carlos was known as a very open-hearted and kind person with a wonderful sense of humor. Those who knew him say that he was very intelligent and had a way of being able to make things easier in tense situations. He was also known for his love of gadgets. When he and his future wife Maureen were courting, they volunteered in soup kitchens on the Bowery. When they married and started a family, he worked long hours so that his wife could stay home and be a full-time mother to their three daughters.

In addition to his wife and daughters, Carlos is survived by his mother Eugenia and his brother Benjamin. Carlos' father died of cancer shortly after 9/11.

Carlos had so many friends and family members who loved him. One friend of his took this panoramic photo of the New York City skyline just four months before 9/11. He calls this photo "Innocence Lost" and dedicates it to two friends lost on 9/11 -- Carlos Dominguez and Mark Shulman -- along with all the other victims.

Carlos was a family man. He was a caring man of faith whose kindness made the world a better place during his lifetime. It was my honor to write this tribute to him. I would like to thank D.Challener Roe for allowing me to be a part of the 2,996 Project.

The information used in this tribute was collected from the following sources:

• "Deeply Shared Values" - a profile that appeared in the New York Times and is now part of the Legacy.com 9/11 memorial.
• Carlos' page on the site September11Victims.com, where Carlos' brother Benjamin and many of his friends share their memories of him.
• This square in the 9/11 victims memorial quilt. Carlos also has another square here.

Notice: The 2,996 Project website has been disabled by their hosting company because of the heavy traffic they were getting. (One would think the hosting company would make an exception on today of all days, but they apparently decided to be jerks about it.) MVRWC is has a mirror of the list of participating blogs.

Update: The 2,996 Project website is up again now.

2,996 Tribute Preparation

I am currently working on my tribute for the 2,996 Project. It should be posted by tomorrow afternoon. When I post it, it will be the only post visible on the front page of this blog. Also, I will turn off comments on all posts except for the tribute. I want the entire focus of this blog to be on the tribute. After a couple of days, I will turn comments back on again for the other posts and go back to allowing the latest 15 posts on the front page.

Random Ill-Tempered Thoughts on Feminists and Masculinists

After stumbling across a couple of internet pestholes last night, I've come to the conclusion that I really, really loathe both feminists and masculinists (which is just a fancy word for "misogynist"). A pox on both of them...they are the flip sides of the same sorry coin.

You have the smug, snide, sneering bitchy feminists that are oh-so-ready and willing to tear down and ridicule women who dare oppose their ideology. If you oppose abortion, take your religious beliefs seriously, are modest or practice chastity, they will rake you over the hot coals of their burning hatred. Unlike many non-feminists, I'm not a turn-the-other-cheek kind of person. So, if any feminist bloggers ever try and link me in order to ridicule me, I will make sure they get a very nasty surprise.

Then on the other side of the coin are the hardcore masculinists...the true misogynists. Last night, I ran across a blog by a guy that makes Tucker Max look like Gloria Steinem. This blogger is not only anti-feminist (which would be understandable) but he just plain hates all women. According to this blogger, all women -- without exception -- are stupid greedy whores. They can't use computers and live for getting attention from men (which is why they are all whores, even if they're married). (Those last two accusations really make me laugh, since I'm an IT professional and, being introverted and modest, go out of my way not to draw attention to myself.) I wonder, does he hold these hateful opinions about his mother? His grandmother? Mother Teresa? Women like these? Or these? I would like to think the site in question (which I will not link) is an outrageous parody done by a radical feminist, but I have a sick feeling this guy is serious. Since he thinks women are such horrid, subhuman, worthless creatures, I hope that he's gay so that he can at least find some happiness. Oh, and if anyone like this ever tries to link me, he too will get a nasty surprise.

Anyway, I just had to get this off my chest. The human race just disgusts me sometimes.

Just checking in...

Yes, I'm still very much on hiatus, although I do comment on blogs from time to time. My next post will most likely be the 9/11 tribute post for the 2,996 Project. I will probably post it a couple of days early and forward date it for 9/11/06.

What can I say? The world seems to be getting crazier and crazier. There's the case of the dumb broad who is involved in a magazine contest to help her lose her virginity. However, she insists she isn't being pimped out because, darn it, she has a Masters Degree from Smith College. Then XXX-President B.J. Clinton whines about the upcoming miniseries on the events leading up to 9/11. Never mind he was president for eight years while this whole thing was being planned, and that Bush was president for less than eight months. Clinton was the bestest president ever in the history of the U.S.A. and 9/11 was all Bush's fault. /sarcasm

Also, Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, was killed, which was really sad. I heard on the radio today that hateful, nasty, petty, insane militant feminist (but I repeat myself) Germaine Greer said that Irwin's death was just nature getting its revenge. I wonder what people will say about Germaine Greer when she dies?

On a personal note, my back has been really acting up for the past week. Moving furniture (because my mother was unhappy with the setup in the living room), bathing the dog and grocery shopping are what caused this latest flare-up. To make things worse, I am constantly dropping things, which means I am constantly having to bend down and pick them up. I slept on a heating pad last night and I'm sitting with one on my back right now. The pain medicine helps, but only if I take more than I'm supposed to. So basically, I'm pretty miserable and grumpy lately. (I'm sure you could tell by this post that I'm not in the best of moods. Trolls take note -- I'm in no mood to tolerate stupid or rude comments.)

On a happier note, I noticed the love bugs are flying around as they do every May and September. That means fall is just around the corner. Good...I hate summer.