corntigaja

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Poetry Stretch: The Clerihew

Tricia’s Monday Poetry Stretch this week challenges us to write a clerihew. A clerihew is a four-line poem that pokes fun at a famous person. It has a rhyme scheme of AABB. The first line should end with the name of the celebrity.

I have never attempted writing a clerihew before. Here are the three clerihews I wrote this morning:

Eve,
So naive
In her birthday suit,
Tempted Adam with forbidden fruit.

Sir Isaac Newton—
There’s no refutin’—
With a force of nature had to grapple
When he got conked on the head with a falling apple.

Socrates’
Analyses
Were deducted, so they say,
Through an interminable series of Q and A.

Click here to read this week’s Poetry Stretch results.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Thankful Thursday : Free Calendars with Bible verses and Bookmarks with Bible verses

Dear Friends,

Thanks for stopping by. Thanks for all your prayers and encouragements.

Thank God for seeing us through another week.

♥ I have missed posting on Thankful Thursday for many weeks as I have been unwell and have to cut down the amount of time I spend on blogging and visiting. Thanks to all of you who have visited and encouraged me. Thank God I am better. I am looking to our faithful God daily. I do remember you in my prayers.

♥ I am thankful to God that I can serve Him through making some simple gifts with Bible verses. I have a small Homemade Gifts business. I am selling some Calendars 2009, Bookmarks and Cards with Bible verses. Do let me know if you are interested to purchase these gifts for yourself, your family or friends. And please do not hesitate to pass the words around and let your friends know about it too.

Homemade Calendars 2009 with Bible verses

Homemade Bookmarks with Bible verses and General Wordings

Homemade Cards with Bible verses

♥ FREE templates for Calendars with Bible verses and Bookmarks with Bible verses to share with you!

As the postage is rather high to post to some of you, I like to share some Free templates for Calendars with Bible verses and Bookmarks with Bible verses with you. You can make these small gifts for yourself, your loved ones, family and friends. You can also make them and sell them, if you wish to :-) My Free Homemade Crafts and Gifts website is at http://homemadecraftsandgifts.blogspot.com/.

I have the following 3 Free items to share with you.

1) Free Instructions of how to make a simple Homemade Hanging Calendar for 2009 with Bible verses

2) Free Instructions of how to make a simple Calendar Planner for 2009 with Bible verses

3) Free Instructions of how to make a simple Bookmarks with Bible verses

For more Free Bookmarks and Calendars, visit my Homemade Crafts and Gifts website.

Thank God that I can have the joy of serving Him in little ways like these. Hope you enjoy making them too.

♥ I am thankful to God for providing precious people in my life ie. my family, church, friends and blogging friends who love and care for me in their very wonderful ways. These are tokens of God's love for me and I treasure very much.

♥ I am thankful to God once again for all of you, my dear blogging friends and visitors. I have been so greatly blessed by all of you and I thank God upon every remembrance of you. It is wonderful to read of how God is guiding and blessing you in your walk with our Lord and it encourages me in my walk with God too. Thanks again for your prayers and encouragements.

May God continue to bless you with His love and mercies in many wonderful ways every day :)

Thank you for stopping by. Take care and may God continue to bless you through this week!

Pens v Devils (L 1-4)

There will be no recap tonight. I just got home from work, and quite honestly, if I didn't have TSCS, I wouldn't have even powered up this computer. As you know, I work in the IT department at a local community college. Well, we got a new server and it's not behaving properly - at all. We spent all day today working on it, and now I'm absolutely spent. My brain is fried, I haven't eaten anything, I'm tired, and I just want to watch the rest of the game from my bed then go to sleep. I'm sorry.

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!

Monday, December 8, 2008

The Cures for Depression - some helpful tips

Dear Friends,

Thank you for stopping by. Thanks again for your prayers and encouragements.

Thank God for strengthening me day by day. I am feeling better and continuing to look to our Lord daily.

Recently, I shared about a very informative article by Dr David P Murray on "The causes of depression". Dr David P Murray did a series of 6 very useful and informative Lectures on "Depression and the Christian".

Another very useful and informative article by Dr David P Murray is his Lecture No. 4 on "The cures for depression".

Just as there is a spectrum of causes that can trigger off clinical depression, there is also a spectrum of means that can aid in recovery.

Recovery may also means different things to different people.

To some people, recovery means that they are totally free from relapses.

While for others, recovery can mean that they are more functional and able to revert to their activities for daily life at a moderate pace. Though symptoms may still appear every now and then, they are learning to manage their condition through various means and are no longer incapacitated by their conditions. I fall under the later group.

The following article provides us with some very helpful information on how we can work towards wellness and be more functional. However, different things may work at different rate and degrees for different individual due to our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual condition as well as our circumstances. Feeling well may be momentous but getting well takes time and effort, with much prayer and perseverance.

Hope you will find the following article helpful to your or your loved ones:

(These series of 6 messages on "Depression and the Christian" are also available on .pdf, .mp3 and video formats which can be downloaded from the website of Sermon Audio )

DEPRESSION AND THE CHRISTIAN
BY DR. DAVID P MURRAY
(5) THE CURES

In our last lecture we looked at some of the causes of depression. Now we will look at some of the cures. However, before we do so, we must ask the depressed person a vital question, “Do you want to be made whole?” This was the question Jesus asked of the lame man at the pool of Bethesda (Jn.5:6).

At first glance it may seem like a silly question. Surely every sick person wants to be made whole! However, Christ’s question may imply that the man was not making use of all the means available to get better. Or, perhaps he had given up hope of getting better. These are common scenarios with depression. Doctors and pastors are often faced with the frustrating situation of people who need the help they can give, and yet who are not taking the steps required to benefit from this help. Perhaps they have just learned to live with their illness. Perhaps they have given up hope of getting better. Perhaps they lack the will to play their part in the healing process. Perhaps they are frightened of all the responsibilities of life which would come upon them should they be viewed as “well” again. Perhaps they would miss the attention and sympathy which being ill may generate. These are all possibilities. So, if you are depressed, the first searching question you must ask yourself is “Do I want to be made whole?”

You have no hope of recovery from depression unless you want to recover and are, therefore, prepared to play your own significant part in the recovery process. We will look at four measures which should be considered as part of a “package” of healing.

1. Correct your lifestyle
It is vital to lead a balanced lifestyle in order to reduce the “stretch” that threatens our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. Some of the practical points made here also apply to depressions resulting from stressful life events.

a. Routine
One of the keys to a balanced lifestyle is regular routine. This is also one of the first things to fall by the wayside when someone becomes depressed. The depressed person often finds it very difficult to resist being guided by their feelings. When a person feels down they will often only do what they feel like doing and avoid what they don’t feel like doing. For example, if we don’t feel like getting up, we won’t. If we don’t feel like working, we won’t. If we don’t feel like doing the ironing, we won’t. If we feel we want to drink or eat to excess, we do it. A positive step in recovering from depression is to restore order and discipline in our lives. Regular and orderly sleeping, eating, and working patterns will rebuild a sense of usefulness and healthy self-esteem. It is also glorifying to God who is a God of order, not of confusion (1 Cor.14:33).

b. Relaxation
We need to build times of relaxation into our lives. This may involve finding a quiet spot at various times throughout the day to simply stop, pause, calm down, and seek the peace of God in our lives. Jesus recognised and provided for this need in his disciples when he took them “apart into a desert place to rest a while” (Mark 6:31). Also, moderate physical exercise helps to expel unhelpful chemicals from our system and stimulates the production of helpful chemicals.

c. Rest
Regular sleep patterns enable the body and mind to repair and re-charge. The Sabbath Day was graciously made for us (Mark 2:27), partly to ease the tension of our busy overstretched lives.

d. Re-prioritise
Examine your life and see what you can do to reduce your commitments and obligations. Areas to consider are your family, your work, your church, your neighbours and travel. Once you are better you may be able to pick up some of these activities again. But the priority is to get better.

2. Correct your false thoughts
As we have noted throughout these lectures, one of the most common contributory factors to depression is wrong and unhelpful thoughts. Many Christians, who wouldn’t dream of viewing God’s Word in a false way, yet view God’s world in a false way. As they view themselves, their situations, and their relationships with others, they tend to dwell on and magnify the negatives and exclude the positives. This distorted view of reality inevitably distorts and depresses their mood. Christians are obliged to challenge falsehood and distortions of reality, especially when found in themselves. In the appendix to this lecture you will find two questionnaires to help you do this. The first is to help you examine your thoughts, and the second is to help you challenge your false and unhelpful thoughts. Questionnaires such as these are recommended for use by many Christian and non-Christian psychiatrists. They may look a bit strange to you, and you may wonder, “Is this not all just psychological mumbo-jumbo?” However, I would like to show you here how each step is grounded in Biblical Christian experience. In Psalm 77 we have a perfect example of Asaph investigating and challenging his thoughts with God’s help, in order to raise his mood and spirits. There are also slightly more abbreviated versions of the same biblical strategy in Psalm 42, Psalm 73, Job 19, Habakkuk 3, etc. So, this is not “psychological mumbo-jumbo”, but true Bible-based Christian experience. Let us look at Psalm 77 to prove this.
Download the following file :
asaph.pdf
3. Correct your brain chemistry
This is not an area I have any expertise in and so I shall keep my comments to a minimum. I would refer you to sympathetic and trained medical personnel for diagnosis and prescription of appropriate medication. Even a low dose of anti-depressants is sometimes enough just to begin to restore depleted brain chemicals and so pick up your mood sufficiently to enable you to begin to take the steps necessary to correct your lifestyle, thoughts, etc. However, more serious depressions sometimes require medication for 2-5 years in order to permanently restore the brain’s chemistry and processes. There are a number of myths and false ideas about anti-depressants which have lodged in the public mind.

Here are some examples: “If I take anti-depressants I won’t be my true self…there will be horrible side-effects…I might get addicted…people will look down on me…it will mean I am crazy.” Your doctor should be able to refute these myths and reassure you. However, as mentioned above, anti-depressants don’t replace the need for you to identify and work at changing false and unhelpful thinking and harmful behaviour.

4. Correct your spiritual life

a. Correct the spiritual consequences
We have tried to emphasise that for Christians their depression is usually not caused by spiritual factors. However, there are spiritual consequences in all depressions. There are a number of steps a depressed Christian can take to help reverse at least some of the spiritual consequences. You may find Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ book Spiritual Depression to be helpful in this regard – although he can be a bit sweeping and dogmatic in his generalisations. Here are some practical things you can do to help address the spiritual consequences of depression.

(i) Accept that being depressed is not a sin and indeed is compatible with Christianity. Many Bible characters and many of the greatest Christians passed through times of depression.

(ii) Try to understand that your loss of spiritual feelings is not the cause of your depression, but rather the depression has caused a general loss of feeling in all parts of your life, your spiritual life included.

(iii) Patiently wait for the corrections in your lifestyle, thinking, or brain chemistry to have an effect on your feelings as a whole and your spiritual life will pick up at the same time also.

(iv) Have a set time for reading your Bible and praying. Depressed Christians may either give up reading and praying, or they may try to read and pray “excessively” in order to try and bring back their spiritual feelings. Both approaches are unhelpful. Instead, set aside a regular time each day to read and pray. If concentration is a problem, keep things short (5-10 minutes) until you feel better. Depression will only be deepened by setting unrealistic spiritual goals.

(v) Bring objective truth to mind (e.g.: the doctrine of justification, or the atonement), especially “positive” verses which set forth God’s love, mercy and grace for sinners (e.g.: Rom.8:1; 8:38-39; 1 Jn.4:9-10; 1 Jn.1:9). You may want to write out a verse and carry it around with you. When negative thoughts overwhelm you, bring out the verse and meditate upon it.

(vi) When you pray, tell God exactly how you feel. Be totally honest. Ask God to help you with your doubts and fears and to restore to you the joy of salvation. Thank Him for loving you and being with you even though you do not feel His love or presence. Praying for others who suffer can also help to turn your thoughts away from yourself for a time.

(vii) Keep going to church and seek out the fellowship of one or two sympathetic Christians you can confide in, and ask them to pray with you and for you. Be careful about who you talk to. Sadly, some Christians cannot keep confidences, and others will have little understanding of or sympathy for your condition.

(viii) Remember God loves you as you are, not as you would like to be.

b. Correct the spiritual causes
In the lecture on the causes of depression, we mentioned the possibility that a Christian’s depression may be the result of some specific sin or sins. If having examined your life you find that there is a sin which you are deliberately and stubbornly persisting in, or grave sins which you have never really repented of, it is time to fall on your knees and seek God’s pardon for the sin, and God’s power over the sin. See Psalm 32 and Psalm 51 for examples of how to do this.
APPENDIX

Download the file : Thought Investigation Questionnaire.pdf

Download this article in .pdf format - 5TheCures.pdf

Thanks for stopping by. Take care and have a blessed week!

Anxiety Disorder

Pens v Sabres (L 3-4)

The Pens are facing the Sabres again. (Is it just me or does it seem like they've faced the Buffaslugs once a week since the season started?) Here are some game day pics from a few Friends of The Show to get this party started.

First, we have a few pictures from the Pens' loss to the Rangers on 12-03 from Friend Bobby T. (the Friend who coined the acronym IFHSA™):

Next up are a few shots from the Pens' domination of the Hurricanes the very next day from Friend Julia M.:

The Pens defeated themselves tonight, most infuriatingly with their inability to make the Sabres pay with their power plays.

FIRST PERIOD

The first penalty of the night went to the Sabres for having too many men on the ice (a penalty the Pens were all too familiar with last season but fortunately haven't been as careless about recently). Maxim Afinogenov served the penalty for his team. Alex Goligoski hit the goal-i-post (the Versus announcers' joke, not mine) after Siddo set him up. The Pens didn't score on their advantage.

Siddo and Geno, on separate lines, made several beautiful centering passes to their linemates, but for some reason their linemates kept fanning on the shots. Ales Kotalik fell in the Pens' zone, giving the Pens an odd man rush. The announcers thought he may have a skate issue, and he left the ice for a bit. Thomas Vanek stole the puck and headed 1-on-none towards Dany Sabourin, but he shot wide after he was hooked up by Brooks Orpik. On the ensuing penalty kill, Siddo was hauled down when Drew Stafford held his arm and pushed him, but no call was made. Fortunately, the Sabres didn't score on their advantage.

Petr Sykora passed the puck to Geno, who passed it to himself with a slick move between his own legs. Geno then sent a quick pass to Ruslan Fedotenko, who promptly scored his 6^th goal of the season. [Pens 1, Sabres 0]

It didn't take two minutes for the Sabres to come back and score the tying goal after a 2-on-1 gave Derek Roy the unassisted goal. [Pens 1, Sabres 1]

Later, the recently called up Ben Lovejoy broke up another Sabres 2-on-1. Just as 1+2+3 always equals 6, Syko (from behind the net) to Geno (with the beautiful centering pass) to Raggedy Ruslan (going hard to the net) = another goal. [Pens 2, Sabres 1]

Geno nearly lost control of the puck in his own zone. Strangely, it led Jason Pominville to take the world's stupidest hooking penalty. With 19.6 seconds left on the ensuing power play, Vanek lay down on the puck and tried to draw a whistle. He succeeded, but only because the refs assessed him a delay of game penalty. The Pens didn't score on their abbreviated 5-on-3 due in large part to the fact that Andrej Sekera and Ryan Miller sandwiched their bodies together to create a wall that stopped Syko's shot.

SECOND PERIOD

The Pens had 3 seconds left on the 5-on-3. That came and went, and while they were working on their power play, Jochen Hecht took Gogo down by tripping him. This gave the Pens 1:15 with a 2 man advantage. Siddo got the puck and patiently waited for Kris Letang to get into position for the goal. [Pens 3, Sabres 1]

The Pens still had 48 seconds with the advantage, but they did not capitalize on it. A speeding Saint Siddo nearly got a breakaway. His initial shot was blocked by Miller, but Sid's quick reflexes enabled him to get to the puck and center a pass off the rebound. The next marker on the scoreboard, however, came after traffic in front of Sabou allowed Kotalik the opportunity to score. [Pens 3, Sabres 2]

The Pens got an early Christmas present from the Sabres in the form of a self-inflicted, full two-minute 5-on-3 opportunity after Vanek was called for interference, and someone on the bench (head coach Lindy Ruff?) was hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct violation. Nathan Gerbe served the extra penalty, but all was not well in Steeltown. The Sabres got a HUGE boost by soundly killing the penalty. LAME. To make matters worse, a few minutes later the puck was loose in front of the net. Sabou couldn't cover it, and Daniel Paille banged it home to tie the game. [Pens 3, Sabres 3]

With just under 2 minutes left, Paul Gaustad nearly killed Lovejoy with a devastating (although clean) hit into the boards. Geno took exception to that and took his frustrations out on Clarke MacArthur with a hit and a punch. Both Geno and MacArthur went to the box for coincidental roughing penalties, but Geno was hit with an extra 2 minutes for crosschecking. The ref instructed Geno to head to the dressing room, and the extra penalty was served by Syko. The Sabres didn't score on their abbreviated power play.

THIRD PERIOD

Both goalies had to scramble to make saves early on. On one end, Sabou was actually down and out of the crease while Mark Eaton saved the day. On the other, Miller robbed Miroslav Satan with an ugly glove save by trapping the puck on the ice just before it crossed the goal line. Sid got a respectable backhand chance after schooling the Sabres on puck possession. Matt Cooke avenged his teammate Lovejoy with a freight train hit on Gaustad. (It was a bit late, but no call was made.) Vanek capitalized on a rebound and beat Letang to score what turned out to be the GWG. [Pens 3, Sabres 4]

Gogo was hit with a penalty for hooking, but the Sabres didn't add to their tally. Then Siddo drew a tripping penalty on Roy. Siddo made a series of nice spinning moves to protect the puck at the blue line, and Roy stuck his knee out and took Siddo down. The Pens did not score on their advantage. The Pens got yet another chance with a man advantage when Gerbe was caught high sticking a Penguin. And yet again, the Pens didn't get a PPG. With about a minute to go, Sabou was pulled in favor of the extra attacker. The Pens played all the way to the horn - and after. They kept banging away at the puck, and eventually it did go into the twine, but it was a few tenths of a second too late. The Sabres didn't appreciate the Pens' tenacity, and a scrum ensued.

Oy. I always hate losing, but it has a little less sting to it when we've been outplayed. These losses that are (mostly) our own fault are really tough to swallow. On a side note, Ruff earned more of my respect near the end of the game when, after the puck left the ice and went into the Sabres' bench, he took it and lobbed it softly over the glass to a group of Pens fans. :)

Wednesday, it's off to New Jersey for Satan (and the rest of the Pens, of course) to face the Devils!

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!

Deciding the Next Decider--and Other Political Verse by Calvin Trillin

John Lundberg has written a review of Calvin Trillin’s new book, Deciding the Next Decider: The 2008 Presidential Race in Rhyme, for The Huffington Post. Lundberg’s article, The 2008 Election in Verse, includes several excerpts from the book.

Here’s an excerpt from a verse at the end of Trillin's book:

And foreigners, from Rome to Yokohama,

Were cheering an American: Obama

From this vote they were willing to infer

We aren't the people they had thought we were.

And Lady Liberty, as people call her,

Was standing in the harbor somewhat taller.

You can read the rest of the review here.

********************

From The Nation: Here is an excerpt from and links to some of Calvin Trillin’s political verse that’s available online. (You can read about Calvin Trillin here.)

From Bush Labor Department Pushes Hurries to Change Toxic Substance Rules Before Obama Takes Office

For industry they're rushing through some rules

To ease restraints on using toxic goop

And dumping tops of mountains into streams.

In every hole, they seek a larger loop.

You can read the rest here.

The Three Bozos of the Apocalypse

Obama Reaches Out to Former Foes

Click here to see Calvin Trillin on The Daily Show.

corntigaja

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Poetry Stretch: The Clerihew

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Thankful Thursday : Free Calendars with Bible verses and Bookmarks with Bible verses

Pens v Devils (L 1-4)

Monday, December 8, 2008

The Cures for Depression - some helpful tips

More resources, videos and information about:

Bipolar Disorder

Depression

Anxiety Disorder

Pens v Sabres (L 3-4)

Deciding the Next Decider--and Other Political Verse by Calvin Trillin

Sunday, December 7, 2008

light viewing: front wheel drive and engine power