Random Bits of Information

I just got an email from PETA regarding Mars, Inc., who make among many other candies & products, M & Ms.  I do agree with PETA in many of their campaigns & disagree in others, however on this issue I have no question.  Apparently Mars, Inc. is still performing animal testing.

Here is a part of the email:

The experiments funded by Mars, including the following examples, are truly the stuff of Halloween nightmares:

• Rats have been force-fed chocolate chemicals and had needles jabbed directly into their still beating hearts.
• Rabbits have been cut apart to determine the effects of cocoa on muscle tissue.
• Guinea pigs have had cocoa ingredients injected into arteries in their necks to measure the impact on their blood pressure.

And these are only a few of the tests that Mars has funded. Perhaps most disturbingly of all, not one of Mars' experiments on animals is required by law.

Thanks to PETA's hard work and pressure, many of the world's major food corporations—including Mars' chief rival, Hershey's, and Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Co—have pledged not to fund or conduct experiments on animals.

What I don't understand is this - don't we already have enough information regarding the effects of cocoa on the body?  Why are we still checking?  Looking for a different result?  These tests are useless at this point and have already been done, so continuing them is nothing short of unnecessary torture.

So this year, when I buy my Halloween candy, I will avoid this company.  I am also going to write them a letter telling them why so they can make a better choice in the future.  If you are so inclined, please join me.  Here is their corporate address:

Mars, Incorporated

6885 Elm Street
McLean VA 22101
USA

Tel: +1 703 821 4900

Thank you!

An important reminder to help those in our community who help others.  Thank you Jeanean!

Oops - I mean, congratulations Marey & Dave!  14 years is a long time, and 3 gorgeous kids too!  If you have a minute, send a happy anniversary to my friend Marey & her hubby Dave! (The hair:  Okay, okay, 14 years ago.  We all had big hair at some point!) 

"Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore him to a control over his own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to self-reliance for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melting away."

- Mahatma Gandhi

These are my babies, my daughter and nephews.

I cannot imagine having to look into any of these faces and say, "I'm sorry, baby, we don't have anything for dinner tonight." 

"I'm sorry baby, we don't have any apples left for snack."

"I'm sorry baby, we just don't have anything for your empty tummy."

"I'm sorry baby..."

I have tears in my eyes even thinking of it.  I cannot imagine how powerless that would feel.  I cannot imagine not having enough.  Yet it happens.  I found this statistic at JustHarvest.org:

In 2006, in the United States, 4% households (4.6 millions households) experienced hunger, which is a 3.9% increase from 2005.

And, as we know, it is even worse in many other countries.

I wrote a blog when I found out that my local crisis center ran out of food and had to close their doors on a Tuesday.  I cleaned out my cupboards.  I felt really bad that I don't do more on an ongoing basis.  I realized that I have too much.  I realized that I only need enough.

Another quote from Gandhi comes to mind:

"You must be the change you want to see in the world."

I am making a vow right now to live on enough.  I am making a vow to survive on what I have in my cupboards and freezer before I buy more.  I am making a vow to share my grocery budget with those who don't have enough.  I am making a vow to start shopping for enough. This is something I can do.  I have this power, and if I do not use it I cannot look at myself in the mirror.  ENOUGH.

What can you do?  What is within your power today?

Before school started this year, my daughter and I decided to have a day out in the city.  I find it criminal that we live so close to San Francisco and we do not take advantage of the wonderful museums.  We chose to visit the Museum of Modern Art since they were having a Frida Kahlo exhibit.  I like to expose Rhiannon to interesting women in history and today, and she loves art so this was perfect for both of us. 

The museum is beautiful and we saw many beautiful things, many interesting things and some just plain strange things.  That's art!  Frida's work was stunning.  It was a very successful exhibit and crowded, since we went on a Saturday, but well worth it.  There were computers with learning exhibits scattered around as well, so we were able to learn a little more about this amazing woman and artist.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
151 Third Street (between Mission and Howard Streets)
San Francisco, CA 94103
Telephone: 415.357.4000
Fax: 415.357.4037

Of course, we had dinner afterwards at Buca di Beppo.  We were within walking distance, and we love Italian food.  This is a chain restaurant, but a good one in our humble opinion.  It's loud, there are photographs everywhere, and the food is good.  I ordered Rhiannon a side of spaghetti (most things are family style), it was HUGE. 

Then I did make the semi-serious mistake of taking her to the Westfield San Francisco Center which is a giant mall.  Rhiannon is 10 going on teen so... you can imagine how this went over.  Huge eyes & lots of "Mom, can I get this?"  The shopping center is at 5th and Market.  I'll just tell you - the Nordstrom is, I believe, 5 stories tall.  Yes, ladies & gentlemen, we can get into big trouble here.

It was a nice end of summer, girls' day in San Francisco.  This trip was an easy BART (train) into the city and walk, which is my favorite because parking can be difficult and expensive. 

Our next girls' day in San Francisco will have to be to the Museum of Performance and Design to check out HELLO, CAROL! A Celebration of Carol Channing.

If any of my AR friends are planning a trip out this way, don't hesitate to look us up!  The StagersLIST team would love to meet you in person.

Of course, I'm online all day long.  Today I came across www.VRBO.com and I have to say it looks really good.  I'd love to hear from anyone who has used this site and learn about your experience.

I'm in California and started browsing Anaheim, as my daughter and I often go to Disneyland for our mother/daughter vacation.  I found a condo for $120 per night if we rented weekly.  I've paid about that much for a VERY bad hotel (for example, they gave us the key to "our" room and when we entered, it was occupied by someone else - not feeling great about security after that AND "walking distance" turned out to be "hiking distance"). 

I also found some nice looking single family homes walking distance to Disneyland that have 4+ bedrooms (and a pool!).  So if I were to combine the vacation with another family, that would be a great option (Marey Hoeppner, you hearing me? Can we start a Disney fund?)

I am going to start digging in around the country for rates.  I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with this site.  Check it out, I'd love to hear what you think and especially hear about your vacations. I can tell you from personal experience, spending a week in Anaheim with a kitchen can save hundreds of dollars. Not a joke, eating at the amusement parks or restaurants 3x a day is EXPENSIVE (not to mention unhealthy, especially considering all the walking you normally do). This is really the way I'm going to go next time we have a vacation, which I really hope is soon.

Here's another area of California I am planning to visit: Big Bear vacation rentals

Now I'm off to check out rentals in & around Kalamazoo, Michigan. Marey, fair warning.

First I have to say, I am a web designer.  Stuff like my blog stretching out really gets me concerned.  : )  You should have seen my panic while waiting for the Blog Customizer to be up and running after the dimensions were changed and all our blogs looked funny.  I could barely stand it. I have deleted Happy Birthday comments from my myspace page because they stretched my profile.  I feel bad but, come on, you stretched my profile!

Since I have assisted a couple of my AR friends with this recently, I thought I'd let all of you know how to easily adjust the size of the photos you use in your blogs.  I'm sure it's been explained before, but I just thought I'd give a little refresher. Most of us recognize this, it is where we browse for our photos to upload them.

After that, we see this:

What I'd like you to notice is the appearance tab next to the general tab.  This is where we want to go in order to adjust our photos.

If you want your text to wrap around the picture on the page, you use the Alignment drop down menu.  I would either pick Left or Right.  Then under Vertical space and Horizontal space you decide how many pixels you want between the photo and text.  Usually 5 or 10 is fine.  If you don't put any number in these fields, the text will be directly against the edge of the photo.

If you take large, gorgeous photographs, you probably don't want the text wrap but you most likely will want to resize.  This is where Dimensions will help you.  Make sure the Constrain properties box is checked so your photo does not become distorted.  Then I would choose a width of maybe 500 (first box).  Just let the second box be whatever it changes to when you change the size in the first box.  With 500 width, your photos will still be large enough without stretching your blog.

This will help your blog header fit the space better, and prevent your side information from moving off the right of the page.  Hope this was useful to you! 

Some of you might have read my blog about our mama kitty and 5 babies.  My next-door neighbor and I, and our kids, are working at socializing them and getting them shots, surgery, etc.  As you may know, this takes a lot of time and money.

So my neighbor is talking to the neighbor on the other side of her saying how much work it's been and how odd it is that 3 of the kittens look Siamese when she doesn't really see any Siamese cats around.  The bad neighbor said, "Except for mine." 

Good neighbor said, "Well, he's neutered, right?"

Bad neighbor said, "No.  He wasn't really mine, I just started feeding him.  I didn't have the money to get him fixed."  She's been "just feeding" him for SEVEN YEARS.  Are you really telling me that in seven years you couldn't have set aside the $45 it costs to have county animal services neuter this pet?  Really?

So the question is, what would you do?  Hand her a bill?  Ask how many of "her" kittens she's ready to take responsibility for?  Though I wouldn't even do that as she's obviously not a responsible pet owner.  So here good neighbor and I are out a lot of time & money caring for bad neighbors kittens.  NOT cool.

Yes, kittens are cute.  Yes, I may be the "crazy cat lady".  No, I don't need SIX more cats.  So wish me luck with adoptions and wish me even more luck with holding my tongue so I don't start a war with the neighbor. 

Take care of your pets, always spay and neuter!

I volunteer on occasion for the Rainbow Community Center, and I maintain their website as a donation.  I especially love their youth program.  My daughter and I went to a Christmas event and the teens were SO nice to her, and even let her play pool with them though she was 8 at the time. 

On October 18, 2008 from 7-10pm the Rainbow Community Center presents:

Contra Barn Dance in Contra Costa County
A Community Mobilizing Event for NO on 8!

Where:  Pacheco Community Center, 5800 Pacheco Boulevard in Pacheco (easily accessible from either Highway 4 or Interstate 680)

This is a non-alcohol, ALL AGES event for the whole community.

$12 per person donation (or pay what you can), Cash, Check, Visa/Mastercard and American Express accepted.

Special Thanks to San Francisco Queer Contra Dance for help with this event!

What is Contra Dance?
Contra is a New England-style barn dance done in two long lines to LIVE Celtic-infused music.  It's lots of fun, easy to learn, with no fancy footwork.  Every dance is taught from scratch and a caller prompts you throughout.  Contra danceing is gender-role-free so dance with whomever you like!

To Register:
Visit the Rainbow Community Center (RCC) at 3024 Willow Pass Road, Suite 200 in Concord
Phone: 925-692-0090
Fax: 925-692-0091
Email: rcc@rainbowcc.org
Or register online at www.RainbowCC.org

Hope to see you at the Contra Barn Dance!

As most of us in California know, we need to vote NO on Prop 8 this election.

I created a website for the Rainbow Community Center and have been maintaining it for the past year or so as a donation.  The center has youth drop in, free HIV testing, groups, food for seniors, and so much more. So in an effort to get more support for the center, I am going to start blogging in localism about some of their invents.  This one in particular sounds like fun.

No On Prop 8 Fundraiser

Drag Show

Starring:
Holotta Tymes, Stephanie St. James, Diva Dan, Cassandra Cass, Leona and other special guests.

Where:  Club 1220, 1220 Pine Street in Walnut Creek, CA

When: Sunday, October 19, 2008 at 9pm

$5 Cover at the door, raffles and auctions.

21 and over please.

Many of you know that my friend Adryon is running a marathon for this charity.  One of her team members, Joe Vallor, is having trouble getting to his goal of $2,500 and may have to drop out of the Team in Training program.  His teammates don't want to let him go, he's such an important part of the team.  They are organizing bake sales and garage sales to help him out with his goal.  If you are able to make a donation, please click here. Joe works for Catholic Charities of the East Bay and is a supportive and encouraging team member.

Joe's Team in Training Page says:

"Racing to Save Lives

Welcome to my Team In Training home page.

I'm training to participate in an endurance event as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training. All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I am completing this event in honor of all individuals who are battling blood cancers. These people are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!

Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance LLS's mission.

I hope you will visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. Thanks for your support!

Joe Vallor"

I have learned from Adryon's participation in Team in Training that it is not only a wonderful fundraising program, it is spiritually and emotionally uplifting for the participants. 

Thank you for your help and kind wishes and prayers for Joe.

When I joined Active Rain I had NO IDEA how connected to other people across North America I would begin to FEEL.  Of course, I was already on myspace.com, where I am contacted mostly by 20 year old boys who want to "hang out".  That was my main experience with "connecting (not!)" on the internet.  Wonderfully, on Active Rain I have met so many great people who I really care about and consider to be friends. 

I was very lucky to have been tagged by 3 of these people and I am tagging 3 more.  I could tag so many, but I am trying to focus on 3 who have not been tagged previously (I believe)... and I have kittens to play with so I can't keep myself away from them long enough.

My first tag was from Bonita Springs, Florida, Sharon Young.  Sharon has a mysterious and very cool lphoto as you can see.  Sharon also posts some GORGEOUS photos (warning - you may become quite jealous and long for a vacation).  Sharon is also an animal person, which if you know me you know that goes a long way.  Thank you Sharon for tossing me a Friendship Ball!

Then I was sent a tag from Las Vegas, Nevada's Robert Swetz!  Robert also posts gorgeous photos in his blogs.  In addition, Robert has offered to pick ALL OF US up at the airport when we visit Las Vegas.  I'm afraid he may regret that one!  : )  Robert also has a daughter in Burma, Zin, who I think about often.  I keep hoping she'll be home with Robert and his wife very soon.  Thank you Robert for tossing me a Friendship Ball!

I was then sent a tag from West Chester, Pennsylvania's Susan Mangigian.  Susan is smart, funny and kind and her blog posts always reflect that.  You can tell she loves her family and her friends.  She is also my "Italian Friend" who has promised me an authentic Italian meal if I'm ever in PA.  You offer me home cooked Italian food, you know I will hitch hike stow away find my way across the country at some point, so look out Susan!

So here is the friendship ball and now I get to throw it to 3 people:

Lori Kim Polk in Roseville, California.  Lori is the only person in this post who I have met in "real life".  Lori is also an animal rescue worker and was in the "hot zone" rescuing animals that were left behind during the Northern California fires (are we seeing a theme with the animal people on here?).  Lori is not only a talented home stager, she makes very cool jewelry, like these "lil' hookers".  I have been the lucky recipient of one of these darling pieces, and I constantly have to fight my daughter for it, even though Lori gave her one too!

Jeanean Gendron in Redding, California (guess I'm keeping it kinda local).  I first found Jeanean because of a blog she wrote about losing her beautiful son.  I had recently lost my beautiful cousin, and her post really grabbed my heart.  Since then I have come to know her better as a caring person, excellent photographer (another theme?) and area expert.  AND the best part is that she's only a drive away.  Some day, I'm going to head up north to meet Jeanean in person and show Rhiannon the gorgeous California redwoods.

Last but definitely not least, Marey Hoeppner in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  I contacted Marey becuase I needed a VA (and she's a great VA, in case you need any assistance).  Since that time we have bonded and found we have so much in common (love of family, movies, music, cheese... yes, even cheese).  We "talk" every day on instant messenger, generally all day and well into the night.  If one of us isn't online by a certain time, we'll likely get a text asking Where the Heck are ya Girl?  I consider Marey to be one of my best friends and am definitely working on a plan to visit Kalamazoo at some point in the (near, hopefully) future.

Thanks to all my friends on Active Rain, mentioned here or not, I appreciate all of you!

First I thought there were only 3... then the next day all 5 came out to eat.  Yikes!  That's a lot of spay/neuter fees if I don't find them homes right away!  If you're in my area & need a sweet little kitten, contact me!

Mommy is little, I'm trying to figure out how old these babies probably are.  I don't want to have her spayed while they are still nursing, and I do see them nursing.  They are eating the dry food, however, do you think it's okay to have her surgery?

There are 3 who look Siamese, one little black one, and one tortoise shell like Mom.  I could almost cry I want to pick them up so bad, but Mom is still hissing at us.  She did eat some wet food out of Rhiannon's hand, then I guess freaked herself out by being so close and swatted her!  I'm going to try & feed her out of my hand this evening.  She seems like she'll be easy to tame, thank goodness.  She's a pretty girl.

I have a weakness for Siamese cats so I may be in very big trouble.  Luckily, so do my mother and my sister.  We'll see if I can spread the "trouble"!  : )