Elizabeth’s Little Blog

Somehow, I was made aware of Kyle, a little boy who needs a bone marrow transplant to save his life. Against my better judgement, I (ironically) clicked “like” of his facebook page. He is not much older than my son, so maybe that is why it makes it particularly compelling for me. And for weeks, in my mundane little facebook feed, I’ve been reminded of the bone marrow drives that his family is holding in order to save their son’s life. I mean, when you have a sick child, I cannot imagine also being forced to be upbeat and convincing to try to entice people to be tested to see if they are a bone marrow match. It is excruciating just to think about.

Here is what his website says: Kyle is a sweet four year old boy who loves fish and whales. He also has aplastic anemia and needs a bone marrow transplant as soon as possible to save his life. Right now, every day counts. Kyle is half Asian and half Caucasian, so finding his life-saving match is difficult. With the odds we have to work with, we need to reach about 40 million people in hopes of finding that match. You are key to helping us do this.

This has led to two things for me. First, I’ve put my DNA in the National Bone Marrow registry. You can do so too, here. I will not be a match for Kyle, but I know that there are many more Kyle’s out there so maybe I can be a match for someone else.

Second, I am sharing Kyle’s story here (facebook page is here). I can barely even look at his webpage without breaking down into tears for him and for his parents. I cannot imagine being in such a position.

I hope you’ll consider sharing Kyle’s story and joining the National Bone Marrow Registry.

It feels like so amazingly little to do in the face of something so profound, but I suppose we do what we can do and then just pray and hope.

Mayor “Just Curious” If Obama is the Antichrist. I need not say more. I think the headline is just great. The article is slightly less amusing, and of course, depressing if you really think about it.

I cannot bring myself to post the second funny thing. It is religious humor. My Baptist relatives would find it terribly offensive. But I cannot gauge how offensive your run of the mill Christian would find it, even with disclaimers. So only one funny thing for you today.

Elizabeth who has so much work to do and just can’t quite get to it.

Oh, Jordan, Angela, Rayanne, and Ricki, If only you had lasted more than 19 episodes. But with each sweet episode, all of us other 14-year-olds ached with you. You are not forgotten. Amen.

On another note, this website also sold a shirt with the phrase, “If you got a problem, Yo, I’ll solve it.” I wanted to order that but $22 is A LOT for a t-shirt and of course Jordan took precedence. I was just entertaining my family the other day by downloading 90s songs from itunes and singing along every word, along with some very 90s dance moves. Oh, yes, I know every single word to Ice Ice Baby, Baby Got Back, Nuthin But A ‘G’ Thang, Funky Cold Medina and so on. A few beats and I am back at the skating rink. Oh, those were the days.

I saw this promoted on a UU listserve and it sounds like my worst nightmare. Touching people I don’t know and probably having to talk to them as well.

Sometimes, I like a blog because it is a place just to “put things out there” that perhaps the world would want to know.

I have always felt like I wasn’t sure if the possessive form of something that ends in s should look like this Dickens’ novel
or like this Dickens’s novel.

I tend to like the second one. So I finally decided to look it up and guess what Chicago Manual of Style says?

Ugg! At first I thought the answer was easy, but it isn’t. There is a whole set of rules depending on if it is a proper noun or not and what the last sound in the word is. For instance, Raoul Camus’s anthology (where the s is pronounced) would look different than Albert Camus’ novels (where the s is unpronounced).

But, lo and behold, rule 7:23 saves us:

7.23 An alternative practice
Those uncomfortable with the rules, exceptions, and options outlined above may prefer the system, formerly more common, of simply omitting the possessive s on all words ending in s—hence “Dylan Thomas’ poetry,” “Maria Callas’ singing,” and “that business’ main concern.” Though easy to apply, that usage disregards pronunciation and thus seems unnatural to many.

So I am doing some research about how foundations can set up a system where letters of inquiries, proposals, and such can be submitted online. In my search I turned up this great article from 1997 – only 10 years ago. It is titled: “Why the W.M. Keck Foundation Went Online.” It is a whole article about the cutting edge decision of this foundation to – yes, that’s right – develop a web page. The question at the heart of the article is: What motivates a Foundation to venture out onto the Internet?” and we are told that “her candid responses offer a rare, behind-the-scenes glimpse of how this respected foundation established itself on the World Wide Web.” This was only ten years ago. Could you imagine having such a conversation today?

In a week when I had a computer crash and our internet stopped working at the same time, and I am highly annoyed that  my adobe acrobat isn’t working and that Mcafee won’t install correctly, it is amazing to see how much technology is a part of our lives (and how #*%@(#& difficult it is to fix stupid little things on a measly little computer) and how fast it has happened. I know. Not some sort of rare revelation, but I found the article amusing and food for thought.

I can’t believe how disruptive it is when my computer isn’t working well and web pages load too slowly (for some unexplained reason).

I need to go to the beach.

A great way to avoid doing more pressing work.

Austria – Germany – Luxembourg – Austria – Ireland – Spain – Greece – Belgium – Liechtenstein – Italy – Netherlands – Belgium – Switzerland – Vatican City – Czech Republic

I only included states that I could actually remember being in. I think I have been through Georgia and Maryland, but I figure if I can’t remember when, it doesn’t count.

We have a world map in our office with little pins in it where we have been so I thought this was fun. W. of course beats me having been to China, Taiwan, etc. I didn’t count countries where I only landed in the airport. I wish it showed boarders and names of the country on the map. You can do it here http://www.world66.com/myworld66

I wanted to add Nicaragua and Costa Rica, but they didn’t have a Latin American map.

Gosh, I feel like I would be such a good professional traveler.

Does anyone know a good article or book (or several) that explains why U.S. Americans are so religious/Christian (for instance, as compared to Europe which is so secular)? I’m sure I could find some, but I’m wondering if there are ones people know of that are actually good or accepted as pretty on-target. I know, I know. I’m in divinity school and should know this. But I don’t.