Remember Her Name …

30May09

I was sent this email yesterday and was blown away.  Read it, repost it, and remember her name!

Read about this amazing woman and the stupidity of some people’s concept of whats important

Irena Sendler – who recently died at 98 years of age, was a 2008 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee

During WWII, Irena was given permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a plumbing/sewer specialist.  She had an ulterior motive.  Being German, Irena knew what the Nazi plan was for Jews.

Irena smuggled out infants in the bottom of a tool box she carried in the back of her truck.  She used a burlap sack for bigger children.  She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto.  The soldiers wanted nothing to do with her dog..  The barking covered noises of the infants and children.

Irena managed to smuggle out and save 2500 infants and children, before she was caught!  The Nazi’s broke both her legs and arms, and beat her severely.

Irena kept a record in a jar buried under a tree in her back yard of all the children she smuggled out.   After the war, she tried to locate all parents that may have survived to reunite families, but most had been gassed.

The children she could not reunite were placed with foster families or adopted.

Irena was nominated for the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize.  She was not selected.  Al Gore won for a slide show on Global Warming.

Help send this email around the world so that this ‘noble’ lady is remembered for her bravery.

Filed under: Death   |  Leave a Comment

I’ve gone and done it again!

10May09

I know, I haven’t posted for ages.  It’s silly really, I have a lot to tell but just never get round to it!  My most recent pieces of news are below:

1. Rotaract Conference, Cardiff - This was a fab weekend in my favourite city!  It was organised by a group of friends from my District, including Nic.  We had wonderful speakers for various great chartities.  We also had  a great Gala Ball with lots of lovelt food and dancing to great music .. and of course chatting and gossiping!  I was a little ill on the Sunday, in fact there was a few of us that were and I suspect a little food poisoning but can’t prove anything.

2. Computer issues – This has been an ongoing issue since approximately February and it has been really getting on my nerves.  I bought a HP in May 2007 and it has been nothing but issues ever since.  First the video card went, which apparently they knew about all along (great, thanks!) and then this February it started playing up.  I put up with it, defragging and things on a weekly basis but it finally decided to break a month later, breaking my External hard drive in the priocess (including the 50GB of data on it .. again .. THANKS!).  I took it to ‘the geeks in town’ who “fixed” it and I gayly continued.  2 weeks later I turned it on and nothing happened .. followed by a note about BIOS or something!  Not being that technically minded, I marched straight to John Lewis (which is where I bought it) and handed it over explaining that I would like them to fix it, but that I wanted to be kept informed before anything was touched.  I was told that it would be at least 6 weeks before I got it back.  It being my brithday 5 days previously, I decided to get a new computer.

I bet you can guess what happened next.  A WEEK LATER, they called and told me it was fixed and back att eh branch.   A week. I mean, great service, but a week?!  We picked it up and found out that they had replaced the battery and the BIOS System (?!) which means that they wiped it. Completely. Without calling me.  As they said they would.  Again.. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.  So now I have 2 computers; not necessarily a bad thing, just annoying!

3. Life List – This has been thwarted recently due to the above.  I had a lovely list in excel (yes, I am THAT anal) with updates and lists and all sorts and now I have to start from scratch!  Thank goodness I appear to have updated the list on the blog just before it broke, but so amny things had been started and now have been forgottes. Oh well ..!

I do promise to blog more often, really..!  I am immediately going to add it to my weekly checklist .. I hope it helps!

Filed under: Bucket List, Cardiff, Friends, Life, Rotaract   |  2 Comments

British .. and PROUD

19Apr09

I think I have posted aout this before, but I have had a day of being proud to be British today!  I, like so many other, follow Stephen Fry on Twitter and this morning he tweeted about a walk he took along the Thames from Putney to Hammersmith, mentioning the rowing crews, the families of ducks, the fresh air and the sun shining, and I smiled as I had been thinking something similar myself.  I love weekends (particularly Sundays) when the sun shines warmly but the air feels fresh and you have nothing pressing to do .. delightful and something rarely found elsewhere.

Then a little later when surfng the web, I came accross a website which had a vlog on it from a British Plus-sized model and actress frm the UK.  She has set up a site for plus sized ladies in an effort to help them feel better abut themselves, as well as trying to re-educate the public at large that larger ladies have good personalities too.  I didnt bookmark it and cant remember the name of the blog so cant share it – sorry!

This evening, I have finally found out what all the Susan Boyle fuss is about; I had a really busy week at work, hence the delay!  My god .. that woman can sing.  When I started watching it, I of course had prior knowledge that something was going to be different, whether it be really bad or really good.  I am happy to say that I was really rooting for her.  Something told me she was going to be amazing, and I wasn’t dissapointed.  I cried.  I love an underdog like anyone, but the whole ‘never judge a book by it’s cover’ saying just means so much to me.  I get judged constantly .. and I hate it.  Go Susan.  I don’t normally watch Britain’s Got Talent, but I will from now on when I know she’s on – both to vote for her but to hear her amazing voice.  I also found her singing ‘Cry me a River’ on Youtube – Bliss.

I ended up looking at a few more auditions for the show and soon realised that we have some amazing undiscovered talent out there – Flawless, Good Evans and Julian Smith to name just a few. In these horrid times that we are going though at the moment, these people are really putting smils on faces .. and that’s all that counts. So on Thursday, St Georges Day, I will be wearing a Red Rose and marking ‘our’ day in other ways too.  I am British and proud and don’t care whether that makes me cool or not.

Filed under: British, Fame, High Wycombe   |  1 Comment

My Laptop is dead …

05Apr09

It’s not good!  I’ve been having issues with it for about a month and now all I can do is get onto the net!  Thats good because it means that I can still post here and on my other blogs, but I didn’t realise how much I used other things .. Word, Excel, Outlook … looks like i’m going to have to send it off somewhere and get it sorted which is a bit of a pain!  It dos of course also mean that i could be away again for a bit, alhough I will try and use my parents computer where I can!

I have been working hard on my life list .. watching films, reading books, signing up for newsletters and announcements to aid  me in the future … it’s really kinda fun thinking about all the things I’m going to be doing over the next few (or more!) years!

Filed under: Bucket List, Internet   |  Leave a Comment

A bit of a change …

03Apr09

I know I have been away again for a while, but I have a good excuse … well I think I do!  I have been busy changing some things in my life and trying to get back into control.  What follows is a bit embarrassing to admit, so take it easy on me!

I have always been an organised and enthusiastic person on the outside, but in private I’m a bit of a slob.  I’m not going to go into why or make excuses, but what I am going to say is that I am trying to change.  I read somewhere that little changes make a huge difference and so it is with that in mind that I have started:

• Opening my curtains every morning instead of leaving them closed – the fact that the weather has been great recently means walking into the room after work with the sun flooding in is lovely!
• Making my bed in the morning; such an easy thing to do but again makes a real difference!
• Cleaning my teeth at least once a day – this is such a basic thing, but I’m ashamed to say that it’s not something that I have always done.
• Drinking at least 1.5 litres water every day.  Since I can remember I have been clinically dehydrated and have some health issues related to it.  I have noticed a huge difference and have realised that it is now habit, after only 3 weeks!
• Wearing earrings!  I had my ears pierced when I was 15 but rarely wear jewellery or make-up … little by little I will introduce more!
• Moisturising!  I have always been blessed with lovely skin, but have noticed that as I approach my 30^th birthday, my skin has changed.  My skin hasn’t been this soft since I was 12!
• Completing a tick sheet at the end of the day to make sure I have done everything I want to … although I am happy completing half of them at the moment; every week this increases by 10%!  On this list that hasn’t been stuck to in the last 2 weeks includes posting to this blog, so I hope that you will be reading more about me and my new journey soon!
• Writing affirmations every night. I aim to get 5 but have quickly realised that I have a lot t be greatful for and often get 7 or 8!

Filed under: Greatful, Life   |  1 Comment

Been Away ..

16Mar09

I’m sorry that I haven’t posted for a while – I ave been busy having a minor operation and recovering from that – not as easy as it was meant to be! I promise that I will post more soon!

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Garbage Truck Home

10Feb09

I have always wanted to fly to Florida, buy a camper van and travel around America; staying in the motels, visiting the sights and doing random things.  I had always thought that a little beetle van would be good enough .. until I saw these .. I WANT ONE!

UNICAT

Filed under: Travel   |  1 Comment

English Sport

08Feb09

I love the 6 Nations .. Rugby on TV for nearly 2 months .. great!  Of course it does play havoc with the club games, and being a Wasps supporter we don’t seem to have anyone available to play ..!  One good thing to come out of the first England match, apart form the win, was that an old school-mate of mine was playing again after a break!

Andy Goode had a mixed bag of a game, but considering he has been overlooked for so long (a mistake in my mind!) I think he did bloody well – 16 out of the 36 points were his!  Go Goodey!  Mind you, what Mallet was thinking when he decided to play Bergamasco is beyond me .. I even heard someone say today that we basically had 16 mwn on the field .. including him!  Hee Hee.

And the less said about the cricket, the better.

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Catching up on other blogs

06Feb09

I love reading blogs – It’s what got me going on this one really!  I have a lot of RSS feeds and have been neglecting them recently.  All this bad weather and time working from home has given me time to catch up on a few things, including posting and reading!  Some of my friends and fellow bloggers have posted some really great things in the last month or some and I may ‘borrow’ some ideas and even link to them if they have something particularly good!

One particular thing that is gaining in popularity at the moment is the 101 in 1001 idea. I have decided to give this a miss due to the fact that I have my own 1001 things list going – mine doesn’t have a timeline, but quite a lot of things I have spotted on other people’s lists have made it into mine!

I do love a meme – I encourage you to send them to me to fill out and add on here for all to see, laugh at but most importantly, use to get to know me better!  I am going to try really hard to take part in Wednesday Weirdness more often as they are really good … and definitely weird!

One of my blog friends is really inspiring .. she has started writing down 5 things that she is greatful for every day.  I think I am going to try and do that too as I tend to forget how lucky I am and don’t appreciate the small things.  So here goes for today ..

1. Another Snow day and the chance to work from home.
2. My Dad’s Wireless Internet connection  makes working from home possible and easy!
3. My iPhone – How I coped before I had it, I’ll never know!
4. Becoming a member of the “Friends of Highgate Cemetery”.
5. The Royal Mail – A cheque donation I sent to a friend’s charity made it to her in the usual time fram .. despite the awful weather.

That was actually not too bad .. I came up with them as I wrote, which is good for me .. normally I struggle ..!  I hpe taaht you will enjoy seeing them added here and learn to appeciate the small things in your life too!

Filed under: Greatful, Meme   |  Leave a Comment

The Snow ..

05Feb09

I love it.  I lived in Norway for 2 years when I was 16 and have always been a cold weather person, rather than a hot weather person.  Having experienced the way the Norwegians handle things, I agree that we just aren’t prepared or equipped for this kind of situation.  However … when this kind of thing happens once in a blue moon (and normally for 1 or 2 days at a time – when was the last time you heard it lasting for a week?!), why should our governement spend millions (possibly billions) in preparing for it?  Not only that but we, the public, would need to make large payments too if we were to be better prepared.

I was watching the news on Monday night and a German Crisis Manager was on and she said that we did the right thing ..!

Snow Day No.3

Filed under: High Wycombe, Life, Weather, Work   |  2 Comments