Posted on by Joe
Some of you may know that each week I have a link in the Carnival of New Jersey Bloggers. Well, I just wanted to invite you all to take a little while and check out this week’s Carnival of New Jersey Bloggers.
Want to know more about this type of “carnival blogging” event? Well, just take a look at some of our press coverage in the New York Times!
Enjoy!
Posted on by Joe
I thought it would be prudent to make a post on here about my upcoming surgery. You’ve all heard me complain and bitch and moan about the ridiculous pain that I get put through from this gall bladder/gall stones problem that I have. Well, on July 18th I’m getting my gall bladder taken out.
Some people have asked me if I’m scared about the surgery. Honestly, I’m not scared as much as I am anxious, you know? I have never had surgery before so I’m not quite sure what to expect, but I know that the Doctor seemed really nice and helpful at our meeting yesterday and his staff was top notch (not rude and nasty like at some doctor’s offices).
In any event, the Doctor believes that I will be able to get the surgery done in the morning and be home by the afternoon or early evening. Also, I should be able to eat anything that I want (within reason) the next day and I should really only need a week or so after the surgery to be back to 100%. I’m definitely looking forward to being able to re-expand my food intake because I’ve been extra conservative with it lately – pretty much toast and tomato soup for me…and even the tomato soup has been bad for my stomach lately! Actually, I had some rice and carrots last night, but I had to stop eating it halfway through – it was way too bland!
So if any one has ever had their gall bladder removed before, make sure you contact me to let me know what I’m in for. Other than that, I’ll give it my best to be up on the blog every day posting what’s going on!
Posted on by Joe
It’s definitely not a happy time in the Roman Catholic Church. While it’s certainly not a dramatically sad time in our Church’s history, there is a universal feeling of mourning that has accompanied the death of Pope John Paul II.
You could easily flip on the television and watch the excellent coverage of the Pope’s life and death on any of the news stations, so there’s no need to go into any of that here. But think about some of the things that this man did in his life…
He survived Nazi Germany and defiantly held prayer sessions underground while Poland was occupied.
He helped to break the back of communism and totalitarianism.
He visited something like 120 countries in the past 26 years to spread the word of the Church. One hundred and twenty countries! I haven’t even been out of one!
He was universally regarded as the most viewed man in the history of the world (i.e. he has been seen by more eyes than anyone else who ever lived).
At the age of 84 – with Parkinson’s and while gravely sick – he continued to practice his faith and perform his duties up until 72 hours before he fell deathly ill. He appeared at his window to bless the faithful this past Wednesday.
The man spoke 16 languages! In a time when people are divided over how to speak English, he spoke SIXTEEN languages!
He traveled something like 750,000+ miles in the past 26 years.
He was shot by a terrorist in an assassination attempt…and after healing from the wound he forgave the terrorist for trying to kill him.
Posted on by Joe
Listen up here folks, I want you all to be aware of this. Yesterday I checked my credit card balance online and I noticed a charge of $9.95 from a company called Absolute-Soft. Apparently this is some type web design company – something that I obviously do not need having built the internal and most of the external infrastructures of the websites that I own.
Folks, I was the victim of identity theft!
Somehow, either this company or someone pretending to be me used my credit card number and personal information to make a purchase of $9.95 from this website. I’m currently using the process in place from my credit card company to have the situation checked out, but there are a few points that I want everyone to take away from this.
First, this Absolute-Soft.com group apparently doesn’t do a good enough check on the financial information that they are given so beware of using them.
Second, being it’s the holiday season and that it’s the year 2004 we can all expect a lot of online shopping to take place. BE CAREFUL of where you put your credit card information online!!! If you’re not sure of a site (and I was ALWAYS sure before today), then do NOT use your credit card there. Just find the 800 number and make the order by phone.
And finally, I only caught this fraud because I haven’t used my credit card for the past two months. Hence, when I checked my account online ANY charge would be odd to me. For those of you who make a lot of charges, please be sure to check the charges made to your account. You never know if someone is out there pretending to be you!
Posted on by Joe
Hey all,
I just got done reading this book – not bad overall. It makes great use of symbolism and religious folklore. The author does a great job of intertwining mystery, suspense, and top-notch storytelling to present a really damn-near-close-to-life representation of the search for the Holy Grail.
If anyone is interested in this book, I recommend it for a nice weekend read. If any other people have thoughts on the book, please feel free to post them here. Again, overall I thought it was pretty good.
