Talk about the seven degrees of seperation

Text: President Bush and Tony Snow
Associated Press
Text of President Bush's announcement Wednesday naming Tony Snow as new White House press secretary, as transcribed by CQ Transcriptions.

BUSH: Good morning. I'm here in the briefing room to break some news: I've asked Tony Snow to serve as my new press secretary.
Tony already knows most of you, and he's agreed to take the job anyway. And I'm really glad he did.
I'm confident that Tony Snow will make an outstanding addition to this White House staff. I am confident he will help you do your job.
My job is to make decisions. And his job is to help explain those decisions to the press corps and the American people.
He understands like I understand that the press is vital to our democracy.
As a professional journalist, Tony Snow understands the importance of the relationship between government and those whose job it is to cover the government.
He's going to work hard to provide you with timely information about my philosophy, my priorities and the actions we are taking to implement our agenda.
He brings a long record of accomplishment to this position. He has spent a quarter of a century in the news business. He's worked in all three major media: print, radio and television.
He started his career in 1979 as an editorial writer for the Greensboro Record in North Carolina. He went on to write editorials for the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk. He ran the editorial pages in both the Daily Press of Newport News and The Washington Times. He's written nationally syndicated columns for both the Detroit News and USA Today.
During his career in print journalism, he's been cited for his work by the Society of Professional Journalists, The Associated Press and Gannett.
For seven years he served as the host of "Fox News Sunday." Most recently, he reached Americans all across our country as the host of "The Tony Snow Show" on Fox News Radio and "Weekend Live with Tony Snow" on the Fox News Channel.
He's not afraid to express his own opinions. For those of you who've read his columns and listened to his radio show, he sometimes has disagreed with me. I asked him about those comments, and he said, "You should have heard what I said about the other guy."
I like his perspective, I like the perspective he brings to this job, and I think you're going to like it, too.
Tony knows what it's like to work inside the White House. In 1991, he took a break from journalism to serve as director of speechwriting and deputy assistant to the president for media affairs.
He's taught children in Kenya. He belongs to a rock band called Beats Working. He's a man of courage. He's a man of integrity. He loves his family a lot. He is the loving husband of a fine wife and the father of three beautiful children.
He succeeds a decent and talented man in Scott McClellan. I've known Scott since he worked for me in Texas. We traveled our state together, we traveled our country together, and we have traveled the world together. We have also made history together.
Scott should be enormously proud of his service to our nation in an incredibly difficult job. I will always be grateful to him. I will always be proud to call him friend.
I appreciate Scott's offer to help Tony Snow prepare for his new job. And I'm proud to welcome Tony as part of our team. Appreciate you, buddy.
SNOW: Well, Mr. President, I want to thank you for the honor of serving as press secretary.
And just a couple of quick notes.
I'm delighted to be here. One of the things I want to do is just make it clear that one of the reason I took the job is not only because I believe in the president, because, believe it or not, I want to work with you. These are times that are going to be very challenging. We've got a lot of big issues ahead and we've got a lot of important things that all of us are going to be covering together. And I am very excited and I can't wait.
And I want to thank you, Mr. President, for the honor. And thank all your guys for your forbearance. And I look forward to working with you. Thanks.
END

This has to change... if for no one other than my son!!!!

I was reading an article on line that said fewer African-American males are graduating from high school and even fewer are going to college.

For example, as many as 76 percent of African-American males don't graduate from high school in some areas of the nation, according to the Urban Institute. The population is also underrepresented as professionals in the educational system. Monday, April 17, 2006 by Spero News

I didn't need this article to tell me this. All I needed to do was look around my community to see this. But I think that may be the problem. We all are seeing this, but we don't see the NEED to do anything about it.
A college education is simple an opportunity. It does not mean that a person will fair well in life, but it does mean that they could fair better. Look at what life at a four-year college offers. For many it is exposure to a lifestyle, people, books, programs and opportunties that the person would have never experienced if he did not go to college. I also am an advocate of a child leaving home for college, which I think allows the person a chance to develop some independent living skills.
But why aren't are sons looking at college as a place that they WANT to be?

Hosted by Colorado State University, the Center for African American Research and Policy and the Interwest Equity Assistance Center, the conference will provide opportunities to discuss how research can translate into action to better African-American males' experiences at all stages of the educational system, from the early influence their family has on their educational success to their role as university administrators.

"Today, obtaining a solid education determines, more than almost any other time in American history, the degree of social mobility one has or will have in American society as well as quality of life," said Jerlando Jackson, a conference coordinator and executive director for the Center for African American Research and Policy and assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

The most important people in my world

I love how happy my son looks in this photo. My mom, who turned 82 in February, looks happy, too.
Just thinking about them individually and together makes me smile.
My son will turn 2 on May 5. After attending several kiddie birthday party, (most of which were expensive) I've decided to hold his shindig at Chick-Fil-A. For $5 a child, the restaurant will provide the nuggets, French fries, fruit punch, ice crea, a toy, a balloon for each child and a worker to help me serve the kiddies and their parents. All I'll have to bring is the cake and maybe a few extra games and toys to keep the kids entertained. Chick-Fil-A also has a kids play area. This is working out well.
Yeah... I have a plan.
I held a party at my house for his Christening. That was too much work for me.
Since I live 800 miles from my family, none of them will be there. None of our extended family members will be there, either.
It will be a small gathering of children from his daycare and a few of my friends with children around his age. It should be fun.
Okay, I need help here. Does anyone have any ideas on what kinds of games and toys we can do between the nuggets, cake and the play area?

$3 to $5 a gallon expected this summer. Huh!!!!?!!?!!

$3-a-Gallon Gas Expected This Summer
United Press International (UPI)
Probable $3-a-gallon gasoline, possibly going up to $5 a gallon, painted a bleak picture Monday for lovers of the open road.
Bloomberg News says crude oil costs, lack of refineries and an anticipated shortage of ethanol are likely to push gasoline prices to more than $3 a gallon this summer. Analyst Brian Hicks of U.S. Global Investors in San Antonio said $5-a-gallon gasoline is a possibility.
The national average for regular unleaded is now $2.59 a gallon. In Indianapolis, regular unleaded gas is $2.70 a gallon compared to $2.32 a year ago, according to AAA.

On my commute to work this morning, I heard on the Brad and Britt morning talk show that a Bush analyst's said in 2002, prior to us going to war, that removing Saddam from power and going to war would reduce the price we were paying at the pump.
Well, that is not happening, buddy!!!!
I know you can't lay the blame for the high price of oil at one person's feet, but Bush and his supporters have to take some blame for what's happening.
Right now, it's poor people and middle-class Americans who are complaining about the prices. And as long as poor people are complaining, the decision makers and the powerful can turn a deaf ear to them.
Prices will have to continue to rise, unfortunately ,before politicians and their deep-pocketed supporters began to feel it and decide that enough is enough.
But while we are waiting for that trickle up effect, what's going to happen to the moderate to low income individuals who don't have a lot of discretionary funds?
We say we are a compassionate country, but we don't care unless it affects us in our homes. Most don't care what is happening to our families.
I drive 40 miles one way to work every day. I am currently feeling the pinch.
We have the technology and the know how. Why is our government not pushing for the development of alternative oil sources? Why are we not writing letters to our Congressmen and women demanding that they look for other sources?

Talking to my brother gives me such comfort

I spent more than two hours talking on the phone Sunday night with my brother Waymond. Initially, I called him to check on our mother, who is in a nursing home. But that conversation kind of morphed into one about the family, politics, Iraq, my son and so much more.
I love talking to my brothers, especially that one.
I have 10 brothers and sisters. But for me, some of them feel like family members in name only.
Most of my brothers and sisters, including Waymond, were married and out of the house and living 600 miles away in Illinois by the time I was 8 years old.
Most of my growing up years were spent with my youngest brother, Randy, who is a little more than seven years older than me.
Randy, or as most of us in the family calls him, Renda, was the one I fought with, the one who looked after me when mama and daddy went to town, the one who made that Green Bean casserole every Christmas whether we wanted it or not, and the one with whom I trekked through the woods in search of that perfect Christmas tree.
But Waymond and I have always kind of had a special bond. I don't have many memories of him being at home with me. I remember my mom giving me a spanking at his high school graduation for running outside and playing in the grass in my new, white dress. I remember he drove a school bus. I remember being a flower girl in his wedding.
I was 5 years old when he left home. I was 6 when he returned and got married.
Though over the years, I was just a sister in name only to him, in my adulthood, we have bonded.
After our father died, Waymond was the one who went to my other brothers and sisters and collected money to buy me a car for college.
He was the only one of my brothers who drove from Illinois to attend my college graduation Mississippi. My sister Luella and my nephew O'Neal came down too. Of course my mom was there.
When I got ready to buy my first new car after college, I called Waymond for advice.
Waymond detests telling someone what to do, so his advice at that time was not much help, but he was willing to listen.
He still hates telling people what to do because he doesn't want folks upset with him.
I've told him time after time that sometimes you have to upset the applecart to get things done.
He doesn't like doing it and he doesn't like being a leader, though he is.
It's amazing how our relationship has gone through all of these levels-- not only are we brother and sister, but we are friends.
I like talking to him and I think he likes talking to me.
I like that he is a thinker. I love that he loves his wife and he lets her know that he loves her. I like that he loves our mom and he lets her know that he loves her.
I love that he loves my son and me and he lets us know that.
I get such a comforting feeling talking to my brother and thinking about him.
Waymond and Lillian are one of my son's godparents. My sister, Luella, is his other godparent.
I hope to live to my soon-to-be, 2 year-old son become a college graduate, a traveler, a husband and then a parent.
But if I were to die before Dion reached adulthood, I feel good knowing that he would be raised by my brother and his wife or my sister.
No one will do as good a job raising my son as I will.... Period.
No one.
But it gives me so much comfort to know that my brother or my sister would do their best.
My son loves them. He's only 1, so he can't say, Uncle Waymond or Aunt Lillian yet, but when he says, "A Way" and "Un Lill" I know who he is talking about.

15 Days and counting.

My son will turn 2 on May 5 - Cinco de Mayo.
I have less than two weeks to plan a birthday party for him, and I have no idea what I want to do.
Chuck E. Cheese is too expensive.
I don't want to spend all of that money at ArtQuest.
I don't want to spend a lot of money at the Children's museum.
But I do want to do something to honor the day.
Let's be honest, at this age, he could care less about a party. It's all about me and my wants.
But I want to do something speicial.
I never had birthday parties growing up. I think I may have had two cakes that were made for me.
I don't remember much about them or if they were ever acknowledge.
I know my mother and father loved me, but my family was not into birthdays. That tradition will have to change with my family.

Technology is not for the stupid.

If my editor knew how much time I spent today trying to figure out how to add a link to this blog, my next post would probably say, "will work for food."
Technology is great, but it is not for the stupid.
Today, I feel stupid.
I read and re-read the posting on how to add a link, yet, I still had difficulties.
I'm new to blogging, and I'm not that computer savvy. Basically what I've been able to learn so far is that you need some computer knowledge in order to create your own blog and do it well.
But the only way to learn is by trying.
Prior to today, I knew how to type on a computer. I knew how to do some basic searches. And I knew how to cut and paste.
If I needed something more advanced, I would get in touch with our able-body computer team and they would do it for me.
I must say that I am proud that I was able to do this without help.
In the long run, I benefit.
For me, blogging will be a way for me to advance my computer knowledge, which will in turn make me a more profitable commodity.

News writing examples that I like

'The Bench warmers' stupid, harmless funRoger Moore, The Orlando Sentinel(Thursday, April 06, 2006 1:00 am)

Welcome to Adam SandlerWorld, where groins are for kicking, gas is for passing, jokes are to be choked and jocks are for sniffing.

This is the lead to a movie review. To me, it's funny, catchy and consise. It sums up the entire movie, for me anyway, in 24 words.

Ssssh! Mommy

While we were eating dinner last night, I started singing to you, Dion.
I must admit that I was signing rather loudly and rather badly.
Anyway, you started telling me, "No mommy, No!. Stop!. No Mommy!.
But the more you pleaded with me, the more I sang.
Then, you stuck your index finger to your lips and said, "Ssssh" a technique you've seen me do dozens of times in church and other places.
It worked because I did stop, if for no other reason than to think about how you amaze me and how much you have grown and are maturing.
You are growing up so fast. I know that's a cliche', but it is so true.

You are off the bottle. You no longer sleep in a crib. I was near tears the day I took your crib apart and put up the toddler's bed, which you love by the way.
You know, babies look so small next to you now. But still in my head, you are my baby.
Heck look how old I am and your grandmother still refers to me as her baby.
I know it's my job to prepare you for the world, to train you, to teach you and to let you become the man you will become one day.
But would I be selfish if I wanted you to slow down?
Yes, I know I would be.

Go my child and grow.

Beep! Beep!

Last night while channel surfing, Dion spotted that "Ford Spring Sales Events" commericial where a blonde girl sings, "Come on and Punch it, Oh Yeah."
Well, she was singing the first part when I moved on to another channel.
But as soon as I hit the clicker, Dion said, "Beep Beep."
What!!?!!?!!?
I was so surprised by that! He recognized that song.
So I quickly went back to the channel, hoping that the girl was still singing, and she was. "Beep Beep."
So now, I am in search of that song, which after doing an Internet search I know was created by a group called 13 Stories.
I don't plan on buying a Ford, but I do plan on buying that Beep! Beep! song....

Everyone sings.....
Come on and punch it
Oh Yeah.
You want to chase me?
Beep Beep.

You know, this could be a bad thing. It could signify that I allow Dion to watch too much television. I've never seen him sit and watch television. He is much more of a doer. He would rather play. But I guess while he is playing, he is listening, too.

Hello,
Welcome to the world according to Cynthia.
Here, I will talk about things that are important to me - my mother, my son, my brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins - basically, my family and friends.
I will also talk about politics, business, saving money, being a smarter consumer as well as thing going on around the world.
Basically, this will be a site where we can share, learn and grow.