Sunday, January 27, 2008

The Prophet of our Church died today....



Gordon B. Hinckley, the president and prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints died today @ in Salt Lake.


I am have mixed emotions over this. I am saddened because ever since I've been a member of the church. He has been the Prophet so he is the only one I have known. I also know that he was 97 years old and his wife died almost 4 years ago. Which I am sure left a hole in his life. I can hardly imagine my life w/o Steve. So thats what I learned this evening. If you read newspapers you may have already seen it posted else where. Its in the NY times its also on the our church website.

Its my little sisters 30th Birthday!!!


This is my sister after I went to see her and she got her hair dyed. She doesn't even look like she's 23! So I don't know what's worried about. My 30's have been GREAT so far!!!



Saturday, January 26, 2008

Formal Cruise Photo


So this is most of the group we went with on the cruise. There are 3 people missing from the photo who did not want to be pictured. Oh well maybe next time. This was formal night so notice the dresses and Steve in his tux. Wow that was the best deal ever. I bought that on Ebay 5 years ago for like $50 total w/shipping I think its costed me an average of $5 per wear now! Wow what a bargain huh? So this is the nice we should act like adults photo and below is the we're actually crazy on a cruise people with nothing better to do then acted weird photo...

Friday, January 25, 2008

Made it another week...



WOO HOO made it another week ladies & gentleman. Only 13 work days till my next vacation. Ah don't you love holiday weekends you can just add extra vacation onto them to make them longer!
Anyway love the Fridays that are pay days along with the end of a work week!!! PARTY!

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Heath, WL, Sharks, Cruise....so much to say

REST IN PEACE...

Its so sad that such a young actor has to die & under such strange circumstances. He has a 2 year old daughter who no longer has a father. He was a nice face to look at in the movies. Ok in all seriousness it is tragic. My friend Sabina usually covers all the gossip about celebrities but hasn't posted anything on her blog just yet about him. Wonder why? Maybe she didn't like the movie Knights tale or Broke Back Mountain. Personal never seen BBM even though everyone raved on and on about it. But I am excited about the new Batman movie that Heath was doing so I guess its a huge loss. I wonder if he was done filming enough of his stuff for the movie to be finisihed?


He was only 28 wow I'm 32 having lived 4 more years then someone...I've gotten to do a lot of things in the last 4 years that I wouldn't want taken away. I imagine he is in a better more peaceful place now. His body and soul are resting or at least I hope so.


Sharks won at home again which is great! 4-1 against the St. Louis Blues. Yea we needed this win. Because in our Division Dallas & Anaheim were able to sneak on past us with our previous 4 losses. So its good we pulled these last 2 wins out. Oh another great thing about the game Cheechoo scored 2 goals. He hasn't been doing so hot since he's been back from his injury so maybe he's finally getting into his grove. He use to be so exciting to watch play.



So I went to WI on tuesday night like usually but it was after coming back from my cruise. I lost another 1.8lbs!!! So woo hoo. This WW thing really works. Um I am really liking this lifestyle change so far. While on the cruise ship I could totally tell what my changes in behavior were from last year to this year. It was easy. The food thing for #1. I didn't care about the Buffet. Who wants to sit there stuffing themselves. Its just food really and it isn't that great anyway. They did have some fabulous sugar free deserts though. I did exercise while on board. #2 I walked around the ship on deck making it a point to get my pedometer steps up. I also visited the gym on Saturday. Because Saturdays are one my normal gym days. I was thinking I would have never ever done this before. I am so changing my life. Wow good for me :)



Me & Stevie just relaxing on Sunday up on deck 11 of the cruise ship. The one thing I love about going cruising I think is that you don't have to be anywhere usually at anytime. I mean not really. If you have port excursion then you have somewhere you have to be but otherwise is pretty laid back. I love it. I also really love going with so many people/friends year after year because you get to know them more and more each time we go. This is our 3rd year now going. I know you'd think we were bored of it but were not!



Me dressed up with 2 friends Dev & Whitney fellow cruisers. Once I get some more pictures I will post them. I forgot my camera in my rush out the door. So I have no photos of me and Steve dress up. Only those of what other people took of us. Crazy huh. I am depending on others right now Ekkk!

Monday, January 14, 2008

KIVA & Kenya


I lend money in the micro-finance sector but in order to do that you have to do it through someone. Well almost 1 1/2 years ago I found KIVA. I started before it appeared on Oprah or the Today show. Not that it didn't help because it was so cool to see the businesses on Kiva flourish when it gets publicity on TV. Any I got this letter today to update me on the status of two of my loans....



Dear Kiva Lenders,
I wish to thank you for your continued concern and support during this
very difficult moment in Kenya’s history. We have been a peaceful
Country in a generally troubled region and people sort of took the
peace for granted.

The country is now battered almost to a pulp and blood spilt with
vengeance, senseless killings and wanton destruction. Markets, food
stores and shops have been looted. Hospitals are dysfunctional and
health centers incapacitated by riots and barricades. The violence,
death and destruction witnessed in the Country for the last couple
weeks has jolted the Nation into conscience and every body is now
craving normalcy.

While peace is slowly returning to all affected parts of the Country,
the impact of the riots has been devastating. Hundreds of people have
been killed turning thousands of innocent children into helpless
orphans and over one million people have been displaced, becoming
internal refugees over night.

The impact of the riots is most felt in the micro and small business
sector. Over 1 million small businesses were looted and or burnt down
destroying the only source of income to millions of Kenyans. Most of
the fighting and destruction occurred in slum areas in Nairobi,
Mombasa, Nakuru and Kericho in Rift Valley. These regions are home to
over 70% of Ebony Foundation’s clients and as you can imagine almost
all of our clients in these regions have been affected by the riots.
Only one region- (Mount Kenya) which is home to about 20% of EbF’s
clients was spared the violence. The economy in this safe region is now
getting stretched as the residents have to now house the displaced
population.

We have recently completed auditing the riot’s impact on our clients
an das of yesterday about 4,900 of our clients had been badly affected by
the riots:

-- About 1,532 of our clients were displaced and both their homes and business premises burnt down. This population is currently housed in church compounds and police stations.

-- Another 2,479 clients had their business premises burnt down or looted leaving them with no source of income at all.

-- 833 clients had their homes looted or burnt down and about 56 clients are missing and feared dead or critically injured.




We arrived at these figures through a survey being administered at
holding grounds, police stations, and through reliable reports from
groups and community leaders. Our staff and local group officials have
also been committed to conducting field assessments. I am sending a
photo today which you may share with the lenders. The biggest tasks at
the moment are to feed and house the displaced people, and to finance
the reconstruction of the small businesses that were affected in order
to enable the people to reclaim their source of income. In addition,
Ebony Foundation is now helping other MFI’s audit their clients.

Eb-F has formed the following committees to address the above issues:
-- A humanitarian committee that is working with the International Red Cross to provide food, shelter and medical care to the victims.
-- A business reconstruction committee that is working with the affected clients to re finance and rebuild the small businesses that were looted and/or burnt down.
-- A compliance committee that is studying the legal and contractual aspects of the affected loans to arrive at the best policy action.


Thus, we ask for your continued patience as many loan repayments will be late, and it even may be impossible for some loans to be repaid in full at all. Thank you for your patience as we work hard to address all of these difficult issues, to serve our borrowers and help them recover, and to repay loans as quickly and as much as is possible in the coming months.


Sincerely,
James Maina
Executive Director
Ebony Foundation



After this journal entry there was a ton of responses from many lenders saying their loans were forgiven. It was such a wonderful out pouring. THey were even saying when their people needed money for loans again to contact them again they would be happy to loan to them again. I know what they mean up until about 2 months ago our loans were paid in a timely fashion.

I could hardly stop the emotions. Hubby was asking me what is wrong. I said well you know I lend to businesses all the way across the world right? Well I mean you kind of know that I did this. Well this is the letter I got about the situation in Kenya. I read him the letter. Now Kenya was the 1st place I started lending money to. Its one the places I wanted to help the most. Being some of the hardest working people I ever see on tv when ever filmed I just wanted to help. Besides when you loan through KIVA its $25. I'm not saying its not a lot of money and I don't need it back but if I can make someone else's life better by loaning it them for a small amount of time. Then even if I had to go without going out for lunch for 2 days I would. I am just so hoping my 2 people are not dead. Its so sad the things that seem to go on in other countries.
I am so grateful for the many blessings I have.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Woo Hoo its Friday...



Yea its Friday again! Its the weekend time to relax a little and sleep in just a bit. Well tomorrow I am going to the gym but at least I am not waking up @ 6:45am to go do it. SO its sleeping in right?
Friends of mine and Steve have come down from Davis. Computer friends (well him & he brought his gf) we all went to dinner. It was nice. He paid this time which was kind of nice for a change.


Only 1 week & we're going on a cruise to Ensenada Mexico. Its a little 4 day cruise. We're going with about 16 other people. It should be fun. I can't wait to have a 4 day weekend too! Time off work Yea! Time alone with Stevie :)




Sharks beat Vancouver on Thursday 3-1!!! It was a great home game! They play again tomorrow night but Steve and I sold our tickets to a family friend for a Christmas present for her Mom. She's become a big hockey fan in the last couple of years. So I hope the Sharks pull out a win for her too. They seem to have gotten their game together though. They're playing very well. All the elements are there for them to be the best ever this year.
Its exciting to watch.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Major Andrew Olmsted



Major Andrew Olmsted, who posted a blog since May 2007, was killed in Iraq on Jan. 3, 2008. Olmsted, who had been based at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, began blogging after his unit was sent to Iraq with the mission of helping train the Iraqi Army. A sniper killed Olmsted as he was trying to talk three suspected insurgents into surrendering. A sniper's bullet also cut down Capt. Thomas J. Casey. They were in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad.


You can go here to read his final post that he asked his friend in the event of his death to post for him Click here


Seemed liked a nice enough guy. As usually I will be remembering the troops in my prayers tonight. Along with all their families. Having a brother in law myself in the Army I know how hard it is on his family to have him gone for long periods of time and in harms way. Thank God for our Troops safety.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

I'm down 51.2 pounds!!!




Tonight at WI I lost another 2.8lbs. So I am down over 50lbs so that is the significance of this picture. This is a 50 pound trout! I have lost this much weight in trout!
I am still going. My goal for the 2008 is to lose 69.2 more pounds to get into ONEerland! That is still in my plans. Stay tuned for more on that.


OMG we have been mandated at work once & I stayed again tonight to do call backs about peoples power still being out. A majority of them were back on though so at least it was good news.
But I am beat. This new year is tiring!

Saturday, January 5, 2008

The Sharks WON tonight @ HOME!!!




3-2 Sharks WIN!

So as you can see Steve & I went to another game tonight. They won at home. I am so happy. On Thursday they almost pulled off a win but alas it was an OT loss. We got a point (hockey standings point) They played so well we so deserved to win. But sometimes it just works out that way.