angelm's Blog

Bunnies

Bunnies are brown
Bunnies are white
Bunnies are always
An Easter delight.

Bunnies are cuddly
The large and the small.
But I like chocolate ones
The best of them all.

O God,
who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son
to the death of the cross,
and by his glorious resurrection
delivered us from the power of our enemy:
Grant us so to die daily to sin,
that we may evermore live
with him in the joy of his resurrection;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

NH burglar apologizes, turns over stolen goods

PELHAM, N.H. � Police in southern New Hampshire are searching for a burglar who says he's sorry.

Pelham police say a resident who pulled into his driveway Friday afternoon caught a burglar coming out of the house with jewelry boxes and electronic items.

The homeowner told police that when he approached the burglar, the man apologized, then put the stolen goods back.

Police say the homeowner tried to detain the burglar by engaging him in conversation, but the suspect fled by the time officers arrived.

Man pleads guilty to serial shrimp shoplifting

SALEM, N.H. � A Massachusetts man has pleaded guilty to being a serial shrimp shoplifter at a New Hampshire supermarket, but hasn't explained why he couldn't stay away from the frozen fish. John Silvera, 46, pleaded guilty to charges of shoplifting and simple assault in connection with his arrest last month. Police said he stole about $500 worth of shrimp in four separate trips to the Salem Market Basket.

The Eagle-Tribune reported his plea deal required him to waive extradition so he can answer to another shoplifting charge from Methuen, where he is accused of making off with a jacket full of frozen shrimp at a Market Basket there.

Silvera was expected to spend several months in jail before being sent to Oklahoma to face drug trafficking charges there

What is the worst bad habit one can have? Perhaps all of us have this bad habit to some extent: It is our tendency to reject or react against reality rather than accept and deal with things the way they are. Some examples follow, with a few suggestions on to how to overcome this habit.
-Rejecting Reality-

This can be a subtle habit, expressing itself in everything from blaming others for our problems to getting angry at traffic. It's subtlety makes it hard to identify, so how do we know when we are rejecting reality? Watch for these clues.

Do you complain about how things "should" be? If so, stop to consider how you don't complain when rocks are hard or water is wet. Easy acceptance of the facts of nature is due to clearly seeing that this is simply the way it is. Hopefully you have no belief that rocks should be soft or water dry. The complexity of modern life, however, does lead to ideas about how things "should be." These ideas are the beginning of our rejection of reality.

When I was young I failed in business because I felt that there "shouldn't be" regulations and complicated tax systems. I used this belief as an excuse for not doing all that I had to do to succeed. Successful entrepreneurs may agree with my laissez-faire viewpoint, but they also accept that things are how they are, and deal with them. I was refusing to fully accept reality.

Blaming is another great way to excuse ourselves from taking responsibility, and one of the many subtle ways we reject reality. Outside factors and other people do play a role in our problems. Recognizing this is just honesty. Parades do get rained on. People are rude and unfair.

The problem is that we often focus more on assigning blame than on our own choices of how to deal with the problems. Psychologically, this is a bad habit - the worst habit. It's like a child screaming "I don't want it this way!" as though that will alter reality. It's not a very productive approach, as you may notice in friends who find many things and people to blame in their lives.

Naturally, you can blame a person who chooses to be cruel to you, but you are also to blame if you choose to be abused repeatedly by spending time with such a person. This is almost like sticking your hand in a fire repeatedly, hoping it will one day stop being hot. Almost, I say, because unlike the nature of fire, a person CAN change. But how often do they? Be realistic here, or you are rejecting reality as surely as when you put your hand into a fire.
Overcoming This Worst Habit

There are probably a hundred ways to fight this habit. Here a just a few suggestions.

1. Watch yourself, and follow every hint of blame with the statement "Now this is what I am going to do about it." Then do something.

2. Stop "waiting for your ship to come in". Face the fact that people create most of the "luck" that they have in life, and start working toward your goals.

3. Catch yourself complaining and make a decision instead. For example, if you don't like the way the government is run, get involved in politics or accept that things actually "shouldn't" be different if enough people don't do something to make them so.

4. Catch your excuses and make a decision. For example, why talk about the "reasons" for your failures or procrastination, when you can watch what successful people are doing and try that?

5. Really see the futility of rejecting reality. Consider who is more likely to be happy in this world: a man who demands that it should be the way he wants it; or one that accepts things as they are, changes what he can, and does what he needs to do. Who is more likely to succeed, a man who knows how things "should be," or the one who sees only what is there and deals with it 

the best way he can?

6. Get motivated to change. One way is to watch complainers and blamers and those who say "should" and "shouldn't" too often. Watch them closely, and you'll see how they suffer for their demands on reality.

Rejecting reality is the bad habit upon which many other bad habits are based. It is perhaps the worst habit, but it can be corrected

Well i'm still not smoking.Some days are harder than others but i'm still holding in there.I dreamed I was smoking last night.(Odd)Well hopefully I won't cave in and I will add a few more years on to my life!

On March 26, 1979, a peace treaty was signed by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and witnessed by President Jimmy Carter at the White House.

On this date:

In 1804, the Louisiana Purchase was divided into the Territory of Orleans and the District of Louisiana.
In 1827, composer Ludwig van Beethoven died in Vienna.
In 1859, English poet A.E. Housman was born in Worcestershire.
In 1892, poet Walt Whitman died in Camden, N.J.
In 1917, the Seattle Metropolitans became the first U.S. team to win the Stanley Cup, defeating the Montreal Canadiens.
In 1958, the U.S. Army launched America's third successful satellite, Explorer 3.
In 1959, American author Raymond Chandler died in La Jolla, Calif., at age 70.
In 1971, East Pakistan proclaimed its independence, taking the name Bangladesh.
In 1982, groundbreaking ceremonies took place in Washington for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
In 1997, the bodies of 39 members of the Heaven's Gate techno-religious cult who'd committed suicide were found inside a rented mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif

Beware Conficker worm come April 1

!In an event that hits the computer world only once every few years, security experts are racing against time to mitigate the impact of a bit of malware which is set to wreak havoc on a hard-coded date. As is often the case, that date is April 1.

Malware creators love to target April Fool's Day with their wares, and the latest worm, called Conficker C, could be one of the most damaging attacks we've seen in years.

Conficker first bubbled up in late 2008 and began making headlines in January as known infections topped 9 million computers. Now in its third variant, Conficker C, the worm has grown incredibly complicated, powerful, and virulent... though no one is quite sure exactly what it will do when D-Day arrives.

Neb. town abuzz over tourism idea: electric chair

LINCOLN, Neb. � Residents of a small southwest Nebraska town have a question for state officials: You're not doing anything with that old electric chair, are you?

The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled last year that the state's use of the electric chair was unconstitutional. Some people in McCook � population just under 8,000 � think "Old Sparky" could be a tourist attraction and have offered to take it off the state's hands.

Fifteen men were executed in the chair, which is about 210 miles east of McCook at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln.

Corrections department spokeswoman Connie Nemec says there are no immediate plans to move the chair

Not so deadly? Chance Tulsa spider misidentified

TULSA, Okla. � A spider that was found in a Tulsa grocery store may not have been as deadly as originally thought.

The spider found in a shipment of bananas at Whole Foods was taken Sunday to the University of Tulsa, where animal facilities manager Terry Childs identified it as a Brazilian wandering spider, considered one of the most lethal in the world.

But Barry Downer, the curator of aquariums and herpetology at the Tulsa Zoo, said video and photos he had seen of the spider led him to believe that it was a Huntsman spider, which is harmless to humans.

"There's pretty definitive evidence it has been misidentified," Downer said.

Childs said Wednesday night that he had destroyed the spider at the urging of a university administrator because of safety concerns.

Downer said the spider should have been preserved for study, but he was told that the body would not be made available.

"It doesn't make any sense to me why it wouldn't be saved," he said.

A school spokesman said Thursday that the university is looking into how and why the spider was destroyed.

Richard Grantham, director of the plant disease and insect diagnostics lab at Oklahoma State University, also said the spider should not have been destroyed.

After looking at pictures of the spider, he said he does not believe it to be a Brazilian wandering spider, but he said it should have been preserved anyway.

"We preserve it," Grantham said. "We don't destroy it."

A similar incident happened at a Stillwater grocery store in 2003, Grantham said.

He kept the spider in a cage at the university lab until it died, and he still has the preserved body, he said.

Downer and Grantham also disputed Childs' characterization of the danger of a Brazilian wandering spider.

Death from the spider's bite is rare, and only victims with compromised immune systems, such as babies or older people, would be at risk, they said.

Man claims he was canned for too much 'waist'

PONTIAC, Mich. � A 61-year-old man has sued his former employer, claiming he was fired from a $75,000-a-year salesman's job because of his waistline. But the employer says Patrick J. Ronayne was let go because of his performance, not his weight. The Detroit News reported Thursday that Ronayne's lawsuit seeks more than $25,000 from Winston Golf and Winston Manufacturing. It claims weight and age discrimination.

The lawsuit claims he was let go with a statement "he was not a 'flat belly'" and was replaced by a thinner person. Ronayne is listed in state records as 5 feet 11 inches tall and 225 pounds.

The businesses are part of Auburn Hills-based 3Sixty Group LLC. Spokesman Garrett Morelock calls the claim "absurd." He says Ronayne wasn't a good salesman

Police: Conn. teacher made boy eat from garbage

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. � A kindergarten teacher in a Bridgeport school has been arrested for allegedly forcing a 5-year-old boy to eat his lunch from a garbage can.

Sixty-seven-year-old Anne O'Donnell of Fairfield, a teacher at Park City Magnet School, was arrested Tuesday on a charge of risk of injury to a minor.

School officials say the charge stems from an incident last week when the boy apparently tossed out his lunch of chicken nuggets and a banana from the school cafeteria.

The teacher is accused of retrieving the items from the garbage can and forcing the boy to eat them in front of her.

O'Donnell has been released on a promise to appear in court

Wear your green today!!

THE LEPRECHAUN
The Leprechaun is an Irish fairy. He looks like a small, old man (about 2 feet tall), often dressed like a shoemaker, with a <snip>ed hat and a leather apron.  According to legend, leprechauns are aloof and unfriendly, live alone, and pass the time making shoes. They also possess a hidden pot of gold.  Treasure hunters can often track down a leprechaun by the sound of his shoemaker's hammer. If caught, he can be forced (with the threat of bodily violence) to reveal the whereabouts of his treasure, but the captor must keep their eyes on him every second. If the captor's eyes leave the leprechaun (and he often tricks them into looking away), he vanishes and all hopes of finding the treasure are lost. Near a misty stream in Ireland in the hollow of a tree
Live mystical, magical leprechauns
who are clever as can be
With their pointed ears, and turned up toes and little coats of green
The leprechauns busily make their shoes and try hard not to be seen.
Only those who really believe have seen these little elves
And if we are all believers
We can surely see for ourselves.

Police: Woman drugs boss's coffee so he'll 'chill'

BRYANT, Ark. � Police said a woman has been arrested for allegedly slipping some tranquilizers into her boss's coffee because she felt "he needed to chill out." Police said the 24-year-old woman admitted to detectives that she slipped the drugs into veteranarian John Duckett's drink. Officers said Duckett knew something was wrong shortly after drinking some of the coffee Tuesday morning.

Officers said the woman cleaned the cages at the the Reynolds Road Animal Clinic.

A judge set bond at $25,000 Friday and a jailer said the woman was still being held Friday. Her next court appearance is scheduled for April 21