Beautiful handmade shawl from Elde.
Beautiful handmade rose from The Crimson Poppy
Custom silhouettes from le papier studio.
12 years ago
Monday, November 8, 2010
More Useful Stuff
Yes, I do website design myself. But there are times when I need inspiration, or when I downright want someone else to do the work for me. But I'm also dirt poor. So free templates and other sources are some of my very favorite things.
I've never had a blog before, let alone used the Blogger templating system. So I'm starting myself out with a free background from...
She's got a great style that I admire a lot. If you have your own blog, consider going to her for an entire design package or for small elements such as a custom signature block to match your layout, or even for some really unique photo card layouts!
Once I have a better handle on what my blog will be about and what I need and want for it, she will be at the top of a very short list of designers I'll be going to!
I've never had a blog before, let alone used the Blogger templating system. So I'm starting myself out with a free background from...
Once I have a better handle on what my blog will be about and what I need and want for it, she will be at the top of a very short list of designers I'll be going to!
Useful Stuff
So, here's a useful little utility for those of you starting your OWN blogs. Create a "signature" for your posts automatically (actually, it can be used in your emails and lots of other places). Visit MyLiveSignature.com and have a blast. There are 120 fonts to choose from, you can choose your own colors, even whether to give a slant to the signature. By the time you've finished, you may be dizzy from all the different ways your digital signature can look. The service is free, but if you want something more, like an animated version of the signature, then you'll need to pull out your wallet to shell out a few bucks.
Question...
I may have neglected to mention in my introduction that I am also an agnostic/atheist - I give those a "slash" because my perspective kind of depends on my mood on any particular day, but I'd have to say that I definitely lean more towards the atheist end of things.
Now that I've already alienated a vast majority of my potential audience, here's to my question of the day...
Here's what bothers me: I see postings all the time from people like "Thanks for your prayers. My presentation went very well." or "My son's MRI turned out just fine thanks to all your prayers." REALLY? You think either of those successes were because some people put their hands together and prayed to an invisible entity in the sky?
NO!!
In the first example, your presentation went well because you prepared for it: You did your research, you wrote a good outline, you practiced beforehand, you used good examples and/or visual/audio aids...these were things YOU did in order to ensure that your presentation went well. If you had NOT done those things, no amount of prayer on your part or the part of your friends and family would have made a damn bit of difference.
In the second example, I'm sorry...but a bunch of praying or not praying are not going to change the outcome of a medical test. And let me ask you this: IF all that praying DID make a difference in the results of the test, how would you then know whether that test was truly accurate? What if all the praying actually just influenced the lab tech to make a mistake? So what happens then when the test is done again and the result is positive? Did the prayers just keep the disease at bay long enough for the first test to be positive?
Sorry. I'm not buying it. There is no all-knowing, all-involved being up there listening to the fervent prayers of people needing reassurance. We have to face the fact that we are all basically the masters of our own destiny. That's not to say that we have so much control over diseases we might end up with. But whether or not we become ill in that way does not have anything to do with whether or not we prayed hard enough.
I'm all for positive thinking - but not to the degree that proponents of 'The Secret' would have you go. There is certainly something to be said about turning that frown upside down. Being positive and up-beat, finding a silver-lining in an otherwise bad situation, can definitely help make every-day difficulties easier to manage.
But just leaving things in the hands of god seems foolhardy and naiive in the extreme.
If you did well on your presentation, pat yourself on the back for your preparation skills. Or in our other example, be grateful that your child isn't sick. But if he/she IS sick, take every measure in your power to help make them well.
...and please don't tell me that you'll be praying for my soul. My soul is long-past saving ;-)
Now that I've already alienated a vast majority of my potential audience, here's to my question of the day...
Why do people attribute good things in their lives to prayer?
Here's what bothers me: I see postings all the time from people like "Thanks for your prayers. My presentation went very well." or "My son's MRI turned out just fine thanks to all your prayers." REALLY? You think either of those successes were because some people put their hands together and prayed to an invisible entity in the sky?
NO!!
In the first example, your presentation went well because you prepared for it: You did your research, you wrote a good outline, you practiced beforehand, you used good examples and/or visual/audio aids...these were things YOU did in order to ensure that your presentation went well. If you had NOT done those things, no amount of prayer on your part or the part of your friends and family would have made a damn bit of difference.
In the second example, I'm sorry...but a bunch of praying or not praying are not going to change the outcome of a medical test. And let me ask you this: IF all that praying DID make a difference in the results of the test, how would you then know whether that test was truly accurate? What if all the praying actually just influenced the lab tech to make a mistake? So what happens then when the test is done again and the result is positive? Did the prayers just keep the disease at bay long enough for the first test to be positive?
Sorry. I'm not buying it. There is no all-knowing, all-involved being up there listening to the fervent prayers of people needing reassurance. We have to face the fact that we are all basically the masters of our own destiny. That's not to say that we have so much control over diseases we might end up with. But whether or not we become ill in that way does not have anything to do with whether or not we prayed hard enough.
I'm all for positive thinking - but not to the degree that proponents of 'The Secret' would have you go. There is certainly something to be said about turning that frown upside down. Being positive and up-beat, finding a silver-lining in an otherwise bad situation, can definitely help make every-day difficulties easier to manage.
But just leaving things in the hands of god seems foolhardy and naiive in the extreme.
If you did well on your presentation, pat yourself on the back for your preparation skills. Or in our other example, be grateful that your child isn't sick. But if he/she IS sick, take every measure in your power to help make them well.
...and please don't tell me that you'll be praying for my soul. My soul is long-past saving ;-)
Hi there!
I'm also a terrible Facebook addict. There are days when I post multiple items every hour - usually a sure sign of boredom and lack of focus. There are even occasional days when I don't post anything at all (I gotta say though...that's usually a very conscious choice and usually rooted in something a friend might have said that made me think I should stop posting for awhile - did I mention that I care too much about what other people think of me sometimes as well?).
In short, I'm human. I have weaknesses and strengths. I have good days and bad days. I'm a little OCD but passionate and focused on things that bring me huge amounts of joy. I'm a whole pile o' conflicting states of mind. But in general, I'm pretty happy about being me.
I envision this blog to be the dumping ground for all my various daily interests - whether it's a fleeting obsession with eating more healthy, a never-to-be-fulfilled desire to homeschool my kids, a place to post my latest favorite item on Etsy (or any other online store), a rant about religion, bitching about work or school, ponderings on the vagaries of relationships...it's all bound to make it in here on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis.
So if you like random, if you like reading stuff from someone who would never ever EVER consider herself a gifted writer, then ENJOY! I look forward to sharing (maybe oversharing) my odd little life with you.
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