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Happy 4th of July
I hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend. It’s rained here all weekend, so the headaches have been abundant, but luckily my meds have helped tremendously with that and have been able to enjoy most of my weekend. 
This morning I read an email from one of my Cotillion sisters linking to an article by Dennis Prager outlining a ceremony suggestion for honoring the holiday. He’s succinctly summed up several key points about our Independence Day that I think a lot of people have forgotten, and I’d like to share them here.
Today, we take a few minutes to remember what the Fourth of July is about and to remind ourselves how fortunate we are to be Americans. Before America was a nation, it was a dream — a dream shared by many people, from many nations, over many generations.
It began with the Pilgrims in 1620, who fled Europe so that they could be free to practice their religion. It continued through the 17th century, as more and more people arrived in a place that came to be known as the New World. In this new world, where you were from didn’t matter; what mattered was where you were headed.
As more and more people settled, they started to see themselves as new people — Americans. They felt blessed: The land was spacious. The opportunities limitless. By 1776, a century and a half after the first Pilgrims landed, this new liberty-loving people was ready to create a new nation.
And on July 4 of that year, they did just that. They pronounced themselves to be free of the rule of the English king. We know this statement as the Declaration of Independence.
…
Three ideas summarize what America is all about. They are engraved on every American coin. They are “Liberty,” “In God We Trust” and “E Pluribus Unum.”
“Liberty” means that we are free to pursue our dreams and to go as far in life as hard work and good luck will take us.
“In God We Trust” means that America was founded on the belief that our rights and liberties have been granted to us by the Creator. Therefore they cannot be taken away by people.
“E Pluribus Unum” is a Latin phrase meaning “From Many, One.” Unlike other countries, America is composed of people of every religious, racial, ethnic, cultural and national origin — and regards every one of them as equally American. Therefore, “out of many (people we become) one” — Americans.
As we gather with friends and loved ones enjoying the festivities, let us also remember this holiday’s origin and meaning.
Merry Christmas, Happy Solstice and Merry Yule, y’all!
December 23, 2010 by Nicki
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
– Luke 2:8-20 NIV
So far, this Christmas is turning out much better than last year’s. I’m hoping the trend continues. 
Jim let me open one of my presents from him this morning: a Philips Fidelio docking speaker. I’ve been wanting a speaker/player for my iPhone and he got me a NICE one! It hooks up to my iPhone to play tunes off it, or I can hook it up to my MP3 player. It can also charge my phone and sync up on my pc with a USB cable. It’s much nicer than the ones I had been looking at, and so I brought it to work with me today to play with it.
A new toy! YAY! Teehee! 
We’ll be heading out of town tomorrow and will be in and out all weekend. I hope everyone has a safe and very Merry Christmas, Happy Solstice, and Merry Yule! 
Humpday Hilarities
November 24, 2010 by Nicki
I have a bounty of funnies today — all football related.
These are all courtesy of my co-workers:
An Auburn math professor comes in all ticked off and says, “You guys did very poorly on my test yesterday. I will not be surprised if half of you fail my class!”
A student raises his hand and the professor says “What?”
The student says, “But Professor, I’m the only one in the class.”
A man takes his wife, (who used to be an Auburn Cheerleader) hunting, and impresses on her again and again that “If you shoot a deer, don’t let someone else claim that they shot it also and that since they killed it… it’s their deer!”
He’s in his stand for hardly 10 minutes when he hears his wife shooting nearby. He rushes over to her stand to find her pointing her gun at a man who is loudly disclaiming, “It’s your deer lady. It’s your deer. Just lemme get my saddle off it!!!!”
A guy named Joe receives a free ticket to the Iron Bowl from his company. Unfortunately, when Joe arrives at the stadium, he realizes his seat is in the last row in the upper deck. He is closer to the Goodyear Blimp than the field. About halfway through the first quarter, Joe sees through his binoculars an empty seat 10 rows from the field right on the 50 yard line. He decides to take a chance and make his way through the stadium to the empty seat. As he sits down, Joe asks the gentleman sitting next to him, “Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?” The man says “No”.
Now, very excited to be in such a great seat for the game, Joe again inquires of the man next to him, “This is incredible! Who in their right mind would have a seat like this at the Auburn-Alabama game and not use it?!” The man replies, “Well actually, the seat belongs to me. I was supposed to come with my wife, but she passed away. This is the first Iron Bowl we haven’t been together at since we got married in 1960.”
“Well, that’s really sad,” Joe said, “but still, you couldn’t find anyone to take the seat? A friend or close relative?”
“No,” the man relied, They’re all at the funeral!”
An Auburn city lawyer was representing the railroad in a lawsuit filed by an old farmer living outside Tuscaloosa. The farmer’s prize bull was missing from the section through which the railroad passed. The farmer only wanted to be paid the fair value of the bull. The case was scheduled to be tried before the justice of the peace. The attorney for the railroad immediately cornered the farmer and tried to get him to settle out of court. The lawyer did his best selling job, and finally the farmer agreed to take half of what he was asking.
After the farmer had signed the release and took the check, the Auburn lawyer couldn’t resist gloating a little over his success, telling the farmer, “You know, I hate to tell you this, old man, but I put one over on you in there. I couldn’t have won the case. The engineer was asleep and the fireman was in the caboose when the train went through your ranch that morning. I didn’t have one witness to put on the stand. I bluffed you!”
The old farmer replied, “Well, I’ll tell you, young feller, I was a little worried about winning that case myself, because that durned bull came home this morning.”
What do two quarters at the bottom of a toilet and an Auburn cheerleader have in common?
Everyone sees them but no one picks them up.
What do you call an Auburn football player with a National Championship ring?
“Thief.”
What’s the difference between an Auburn fan and a litter of puppies?
After 6 weeks, the puppies stop whining.
A young boy and his mother were in the cemetery visiting the grave of a loved one. They came upon a headstone that read, “Here lies a Auburn graduate and an honest man.” The boy then asked his mother, “Mommy, why did they bury two men in there?”
An Auburn football player was bragging to a group of co-eds that he finished a jigsaw puzzle in only 3 months. One girl said, “Three months? You’re proud of that?” The Aubie said, “Yep. On the box it said 4-6 years!”
A man walks into a store says to the clerk, “I’d like a pair of blue shoes, a orange shirt, a pair of white pants.”
The clerk looks at him and shakes his head saying, “You must be an Auburn fan!”
The man proclaims with pride, “How could you tell, was it the color scheme?”
The clerk looks at him and says “No, this is a hardware store.”
A football fan walks into a small shop in Birmingham. He spots a bottle labeled “Alabama Football Player Brains”, $5 an ounce. He asks the clerk if there are any other bottles.
The clerk replies, “Well, we’ve got Tennessee brains for $10 an ounce, and Auburn football brains for $1,000,000 an ounce.”
The man says, “Why the big difference in price?”
The clerk answers,”Do you know how many Auburn football players we have to kill to get an ounce of brains!”
Two boys are playing football in a vacant lot when one of the boys is attacked by a rabid Rottweiler. Thinking quickly, the first little boy rips a board off a nearby fence, wedges it down the dog’s collar, and twists, breaking the dog’s neck and killing him instantly.
A reporter, who happens to be strolling nearby, sees the incident and rushes over to interview the boy. “That was the most incredible act of bravery I’ve ever seen!” the reporter exclaims. He whips out his notebook and furiously scribbles the headline: “Young Bama Fan Saves Friend From Vicious Animal!”
The little hero sees this and says, “But sir, I’m not a Bama Fan, I’m an Auburn Fan!”
The reporter looks warily at the boy for a moment, then flips the page and begins a new headline: “Little Redneck Kills Beloved Family Pet”
What do they put on the bottoms of Coke bottles at Auburn?
Please open other end.
Why is ice is no longer available in the drinks at the cafeterias at Auburn?
The senior who knew the recipe graduated.
I hope everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving! Can’t wait until Friday to see the big game!
ROLL TIDE ROLL!
Here’s to hope
January 4, 2010 by Nicki
2009 was definitely “The Year of the Suck” (personally speaking). I’ve found myself looking forward to the new year in hope of a lot of positive changes coming our way. And I’d have to say that 2010 has had a promising start already. New Year’s Day we visited with friends and family that we haven’t seen in ages. On the 2nd we honored a friend who’s home on leave from Iraq with a LAN party. Yesterday we pretty much vegged and today I’m back at work, but I guess I can’t complain too much about that. I have a job, and know many who are still looking (including my husband).
I’ve spent the last couple months realizing and appreciating the things for which I am truly grateful. I have a husband and daughter who love me. We have a roof over our heads and food on the table. I have wonderful and supportive friends and loved ones. I have a job. I have hope … I hold on to faith that things will work out in the end — even if I can’t see how they will or am desperately afraid that they won’t.
This is the time of year most people make their resolutions, right? I see many things I don’t like about myself or my life that I’d like to change.
The “musts”
- Get it together. I used to be better organized, and I definitely need to work on this — in both my professional and personal lives.
- Continue to control my spending and stick to a budget. Jim’s being out of work initiated this, but it’s something that I need to keep in check more.
- Lose weight and exercise more. Honestly, I don’t feel healthy and the extra weight I’ve gained since the wedding has had some negative effects on my general health and well-being. And, as much as I hate to admit to vanity, I really do think I looked a LOT better back then.
- Implement a better backup solution and upgrade to Windows 7. My backup drive (which was a “backup” in name only) recently went T.U. and I was rightfully scared, thinking I had lost nearly 7 years worth of data, projects, family photos, etc. Luckily for me, my wonderful husband brought it back from the brink of death and recovered everything. I had been putting this off for the better part of a year and since I bought a copy of Windows 7, having a fresh system would be a great time to sit down and better organize my data and get a REAL backup solution in place.
- Spend more time focused on my family. There’s always room for improvement — I want to be a better a wife, and a better mother.
The “might actually get done soon”
- Release another Firefox addon. I’ve been testing a simple Firefox addon for Aion. It’s been tested on several different versions of Windows and the feedback I’ve received has been promising. While I’d like to learn how to advance my programming skills more, actually releasing a working project is a good step in the right direction.
The “would like’s”
- Do more artistic stuff. I haven’t touched my graphics in ages. I have been neglecting my WordPress themes. I never really sit down and WRITE anymore. I need to work more on my creative outlets.
- Blog more. Hopefully if/when things get better, I will have more time/energy/desire to blog more here. There’s so much that I want to talk about sometimes, but lack the time or desire to sit down and type it out.
- Learn more. There are many things I’d love to learn. More cooking. More web design. More programming. Another language or three. I used to read up about anything and everything, and I need to start up again.
So here’s to a new year, and to hope. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me.
Humpday Hilarities
December 23, 2009 by Nicki
Today’s funnies start off with this one from I Can Has Cheezburger?:
And these are from my mother-in-law:
Humpday Hilarities
December 16, 2009 by Nicki
Today’s funnies start off with this one from Uncle Monster:
This one is from I Can Has Cheezburger?
And while I’m on the subject of kittehs, if you’re in need of some cute and furry goodness, these are a few of my favorite feline bloggers:
Go now! Clicky clicky!!! 
Humpday Hilarities
October 28, 2009 by Nicki
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With this weekend being Halloween, I thought this might be a fitting funny to pass along to y’all. (courtesy of Cookie)
Happy 4th of July weekend
July 3, 2009 by Nicki
I hope everyone is having a happy and safe holiday weekend. July 4th is without a doubt one of my favorite holidays. It is the birthday of our nation — or, as I see it, the birthday of the greatest nation on earth. To quote President Ronald Reagan:
“There have been revolutions before and since ours, but those revolutions simply exchanged one set of rules for another. Ours was a revolution that changed the very concept of government.
Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people.
“We sometimes forget that great truth, and we never should.”
We never should — truer words have never been spoken.
As we all enjoy the festivities, food, and games this weekend, let us all take some time to reflect on the events that precipitated this country’s independence and the freedoms that we enjoy. Let us remember that with freedom comes responsibility — if we don’t like the way things are going in this country, that it is our responsibility to make a change.
Let us also remember those who have given their lives to defend our freedom, and those who are fighting for them still.
Alabama Tea Party
July 2, 2009 by Nicki
It looks like the upcoming tea party will be much larger and accommodating those bringing their families. Nice! So, who all is going?
A Day of Remembrance
I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday weekend. May we all remember why this day is so important and never forget those who are serving and have served to protect the freedoms that we hold so dear.
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