OK, I’m making this post right before the new year and this is one that will make you sick.

Some of you will doubt the information in this video and rightfully so.  However, do we really think things that go on in the government are totally above board?  Having lived in the DC area I can say NO, they are not!

I’ve always felt like I was a modern day sharecropper.    I’m joking (maybe).  “Land of the Free…”

OK, this one is a doozy for sure.  Flirty Girl Fitness is a new “Workout” program – we saw the commercial on TV today.  This is nothing more than a workout consisting of provacative movements.  Yes, the “Flirty” part comes from the moves that help you get fit.  Well, we (Kim and I) were sitting there and we said they should just go all the way and add a (stripper) pole.  Sure enough, right after it came out of our mouths they showed someone getting fit using a pole!  ARE  YOU  KIDDING  ME ?!  They should have just cut to the chase and advertised it as getting fit by being a hoochie and/or working the stripper pole.  Click on the link above and check out the site with the smiling girls on the pole!

What is the world coming to?  Do you know?

Now, you can go throw up like I want to do.

If you watched the following scene on a television program, what would be your initial thoughts?

The boss tells the employee to greet customers with “Happy Holidays.”  The employee, a devout Christian, ask for permission to say “Merry Christmas” instead.  The boss tells the employee, ”No.  You have to greet the customers with Happy Holidays.”  The employee says, “I just simply can’t do that.  That just goes against my religious beliefs to secularize Christmas in the time of this season.”  The boss responds with, “You’re Fired!”  The employee then collects his/her belongings as the boss picks up the phone to call the police.  The boss’ final words to the employee are, “Now, we’re going to have a Merry Christmas.  What about you, now that you no longer have a job?”

Would you think something along the lines, “that couldn’t happen in real life.”  Also, would you ask yourself the question:  Can an employer fire an employee for insubordination IF what he or she is asking infringes upon the employee’s religious beliefs?

Guess what?  It just happened to a lady in Panama City, FL!  Isn’t this just flat out wrong?!  Seriously, what (or who) would it have hurt to just allow the employee to wish someone a Merry Christmas?!  I feel this was way too extreme, how about you?

I’m not old enough to remember when Pong first came out, but I’m definitely part of the generation that enjoyed countless hours playing Destroyer, Space Invaders and Centipede.  For those of you too young, or too ashamed, to admit to knowing about these video games of years gone by, this is what an old Atari system looked like.  As you can tell, these systems had simple controllers: a joystick with one button.  I had to go to my friend Tony’s house to play, but boy did we have some fun.

Current game systems, sometimes called next-generation systems, play games much, much more complicated than those we played as children.  In fact, current game systems aren’t just for kids anymore.  Connecting one of these systems to a high-speed data connection to play online or receive updates is a given.  They do so much and vary in their specialties to the point of asking what we would do without them.  Oh, what would we do without them? 

Nintendo Wii

The Nintendo Wii seemed to come out of nowhere.  It wasn’t taken seriously at first due to Nintendo’s recent failures at console systems and the offerings of Sony and Microsoft.  But when it hit, boy did it hit big!  I think the system has been out for about two years and it is still hard trying to find one – a PS3 or Xbox 360 can be picked up whenever.

The big draw is the controllers that force the players to actually get involved and move.  Taking this one step further, Nintendo came out with the Wii Fit (pictured).  The Fit is a way to further get involved and lose weight while having fun.  I don’t own a Wii so I can’t really speak as to wether it works or not, but the Fit is a hit too.

The Wii’s specialty: player physical involvement.

Sony PS3

It was ridiculous how successful the Playstation and Playstation 2 have been.  People are still playing them like they just came out.  Unfortunately for Sony, the Playstation 3 (PS3) hasn’t been as successful.  Microsoft is partly to blame, but Sony must take a hit on this one too.  The system price was too high (some parents think it is still too high) when it came out and it has yet to get enough game titles to make most happy.

Putting aside its shortcomings, the PS3 plays Blu-ray discs.  As a matter of fact, it is still considered one of the best Blu-ray players out.  Blu-ray, conveniently a Sony thing, has yet to totally catch on, but the picture is better than DVD and the only gaming console to play the discs is the PS3.  How about a two-in-one device?

The PS3′s specialty: Blu-ray player.

Microsoft Xbox 360

This is the system I own so I’m sort of biased.  The Xbox took a while to take off, but like everything Microsoft, we get comfortable with a Microsoft product and it almost becomes the standard.  The Xbox 360 improved on the original Xbox and there are no signs of a slowdown any time soon.

If you want to play games online or be part of a community Xbox Live is the preferred method.  The funny thing about it is the fact that Microsoft thrives on a $50 online community which should be free.  Hey, I happily pay my money so I can’t really complain right?  The graphics are great, I can play with my nephew who lives in Indiana and there is much more.

In November Microsoft updated the dashboard for the 360 and along with it came the ability to watch movies from Netflix.  The user must have a Netflix account and only movies available for instant viewing can be watched but it is still a neat feature.  A Netflix user without a 360 will have to purchase an additional piece of hardware to watch movies instantly so this is another reason to buy a 360.

The Xbox 360′s specialty: streaming Netflix movies.

It is much more than simply playing Donkey Kong or Astroids with the current crop of gaming consoles.  I didn’t even touch on the day Madden Football comes out – basically a holiday for gamers.

The point of this all is to get us closer to one device that does all we want it to.  One device that allows us to play, watch and browse whenever we want to seems to be within reach.  Now if the ISPs will play along and not apply download limits.  Another subject for another day.

It is Sunday and my task for today is to clean out the office closet.  Sounds like fun huh?  Before I bury myself in a mound of things I haven’t used in months/years, I wanted to talk about something that has been on my mind for a while.

The New York Yankees are the worst team in all of sports!

Yes, I know the Oklahoma City Thunder (NBA) and the Detroit Lions (NFL, 0-15 with a last chance to get a win today) are downright bad teams as far as records are concerned.  I also know that the beloved Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots are fighting for their playoff lives today, but that isn’t why the Yankees, in my opinion, is the worst team in all of sports.

The reason I believe the Yankees is the worst team is because the check book is open – in fact it has always been open.  I can’t give totally accurate stats, but the four highest paid players in baseball are on the Yankees.  I think their salaries average at least $20 million per year each…at least!  What is more amazing is the fact that this has been met with little surprise.  Sportscasters and sports fans are kind of used to the Yankees paying for talent so these off-season signings aren’t all that surprising.

Combine the ability, and money, to sign almost anyone available with the amount of World Series Championships and the sum total is clear (to me): the New York Yankees organization is the worst in sports!

How can you consistently buy more talent than any other team and not consistently win championships?  The owner could be looked at for possibly overpaying.  The manager/general manager could be blamed for not asking the owner to buy the right talent for the organization and the players could be blamed for not making it happen on the court.  No matter who is ultimately responsible, they don’t win as much as they should given the free agency and draft rules of the game.

Remember how people used to think John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins got all the talent?  What about the long line of good/great college players who went to the University of North Carolina?  Those teams combined pale in comparison to a team who can (afford to) buy the players they want.

If I was a betting man and was given the chance to take the Yankees or the field, I would do the smart thing and take the field.

Back to cleaning!

OK. We all know that our economy is in the dumps and we need to reverse this thing somehow. I have an idea: why don’t we band together and do away with small, meaningless, things that cost money?

Sometimes I notice some things that are meaningless, but I know somebody had to spend some money on it. Maybe Big Brother, I mean the government, should step in and give those businesses/individuals some kind of “you just spent some money on something that doesn’t matter tax.”

Look at this picture:

See that little star-looking thing on the top/left of Kevin Garnett’s uniform (he is the player in the green jersey)?  That is where the NBA logo normally goes and on Christmas they had a snowflake on their uniforms and the logo was on the snowflake.  Now, I know they had to spend money to get the snowflake logo and I would bet some money they didn’t put them on used uniforms.  These jerseys were produced for 8 teams – on a side note, Cleveland and Washington didn’t wear the special jerseys because the Cavaliers wore uniforms that matched LeBron James’ new shoes…really.

What if the money used for this was put in a fund to help people who are struggling in today’s economy?  Would those of us who watch basketball feel like something was missing from the Christmas games?  I think not.

What other ways could money be saved by avoiding meaningless things?

There are some unfortunate people in Covina, California who didn’t have a pleasant Christmas.  Actually, there are at least 7 people who didn’t even live to see Christmas this year.  Crimes of passion seem to be more and more common in our society, but come on!

Bruce Pardo, 45, had no criminal record and no history of violence, according to police, but he was angry following last week’s settlement of his divorce after a marriage that lasted barely a year.  The divorce was supposed to be amicable.  Uh, I don’t think that is an accurate description of this divorce!  He was so angry in fact that he went to his in-laws’ Christmas Eve party dressed as Santa Claus and opened fire.  He is believed to have killed at least 6 with gunfire and/or a fire he set with a homemade device.

Can you imagine being related to someone who went to this party and will never live to see another day?  It is hard to imagine someone dying for no reason at all like this.  I’ve already said a prayer for the families involved and I would ask you to do the same.

Perhaps the worst part is he did what many of these sick, cowardly individuals do – he went to his brother’s house and put a bullet in his head.  I wish people who do things like this would stick around and face the music.  Yes he is dead, but I think justice would be better served if he were alive to face the consequences.

Why?

What would push someone over the edge and cause them the think their only option was to kill others and themselves?  What chemical imbalance or mental instability does someone have that makes the brain think this is necessary?  I can only hope and pray an affliction such as this never enters my body, my family’s bodies or anyone I know.

The worst part of this is – there seem to be many “worst” parts to this – occurrences like this are becoming more common.  In fact, I’m sure some people may have came across this article and not even given it much thought.  Where are our morals, our conscience, our compassion and our basic common sense?

Here at 7daybuzz we are blessed.  We have wonderful family, amazing friends and outstanding readers.  We realize this, never take it for granted and appreciate every second of it.  We all could be doing so much worse, but the blessings we have allow us to enjoy what we have and do.

This is our first Christmas with our daughter Pooh and that alone is a miracle in our lives.  So far, parenthood is all we ever dreamed it could be.

From Kim, K (Pooh), Tom and Kathy…

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Check out this video…Chris Brown got talent!

If December 25th is a day you observe as a holiday and spend a ton of money on presents, there is something that came before all this commercial activity.  Right before opening presents, it has always been a family tradition to read the Christmas story.  It may surprise some to know the story has nothing to do with Dr. Seuss or the Grinch. 

I found this version here.

This Christmas story gives a biblical account of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ. The Christmas story is paraphrased from the New Testament Books of Matthew and Luke in the Bible.

References:

Matthew 1:18-25; Matthew 2:1-12; Luke 1:26-38; Luke 2:1-20.

The Conception of Jesus Foretold

Mary, a virgin, was living in Galilee of Nazareth and was engaged to be married to Joseph, a Jewish carpenter. An angel visited her and explained to her that she would conceive a son by the power of the Holy Spirit. She would carry and give birth to this child and she would name him Jesus.

At first Mary was afraid and troubled by the angel’s words. Being a virgin, Mary questioned the angel, “How will this be?” The angel explained that the child would be God’s own Son and, therefore, “nothing is impossible with God.” Humbled and in awe, Mary believed the angel of the Lord and rejoiced in God her Savior.

Surely Mary reflected with wonder on the words found in Isaiah 7:14 foretelling this event, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” (NIV)

The Birth of Jesus:

While Mary was still engaged to Joseph, she miraculously became pregnant through the Holy Spirit, as foretold to her by the angel. When Mary told Joseph she was pregnant, he had every right to feel disgraced. He knew the child was not his own, and Mary’s apparent unfaithfulness carried a grave social stigma. Joseph not only had the right to divorce Mary, under Jewish law she could be put to death by stoning.

Although Joseph’s initial reaction was to break the engagement, the appropriate thing for a righteous man to do, he treated Mary with extreme kindness. He did not want to cause her further shame, so he decided to act quietly. But God sent an angel to Joseph in a dream to verify Mary’s story and reassure him that his marriage to her was God’s will. The angel explained that the child within Mary was conceived by the Holy Spirit, that his name would be Jesus and that he was the Messiah, God with us.

When Joseph woke from his dream, he willingly obeyed God and took Mary home to be his wife, in spite of the public humiliation he would face. Perhaps this noble quality is one of the reasons God chose him to be the Messiah’s earthly father.

Joseph too must have wondered in awe as he remembered the words found in Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” (NIV)

At that time, Caesar Augustus decreed that a census be taken, and every person in the entire Roman world had to go to his own town to register. Joseph, being of the line of David, was required to go to Bethlehem to register with Mary. While in Bethlehem, Mary gave birth to Jesus. Probably due to the census, the inn was too crowded, and Mary gave birth in a crude stable. She wrapped the baby in cloths and placed him in a manger.

The Shepherd’s Worship the Savior:

Out in the fields, an angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds who were tending their flocks of sheep by night. The angel announced that the Savior had been born in the town of David. Suddenly a great host of heavenly beings appeared with the angels and began singing praises to God. As the angelic beings departed, the shepherds decided to travel to Bethlehem and see the Christ-child.

There they found Mary, Joseph and the baby, in the stable. After their visit, they began to spread the word about this amazing child and everything the angel had said about him. They went on their way still praising and glorifying God. But Mary kept quiet, treasuring their words and pondering them in her heart. It must have been beyond her ability to grasp, that sleeping in her arms—the tender child she had just borne—was the Savior of the world.

The Magi Bring Gifts:

After Jesus’ birth, Herod was king of Judea. At this time wise men (Magi) from the east saw a star, they came in search, knowing the star signified the birth of the king of the Jews. The wise men came to the Jewish rulers in Jerusalem and asked where the Christ was to be born. The rulers explained, “In Bethlehem in Judea,” referring to Micah 5:2. Herod secretly met with the Magi and asked them to report back after they had found the child. Herod told the Magi that he too wanted to go and worship the babe. But secretly Herod was plotting to kill the child. So the wise men continued to follow the star in search of the new born king and found Jesus with his mother in Bethlehem. (Most likely Jesus was already two years of age by this time.) They bowed and worshipped him, offering treasures of gold, incense and myrrh. When they left, they did not return to Herod. They had been warned in a dream of his plot to destroy the child.

Wow!

I’m stuffed and overflowing with technology! This is what I’ve been doing:

• I finally got around to updating WordPress (WordPress is the software behind this blog).  The new interface is actually much more user friendly than it was before.  That wasn’t too bad except I decided to copy all my files to my desktop – the files were previously on my laptop.
• While I was copying my files I was browsing around the Internet and I got a low memory warning.  Uh Oh!
• I realized I have 2GB of RAM running at 667MHz even though my computer has a 800MHz front side bus.  I ordered 4GB of RAM running at 800MHz which will hopefully pep up my system a little bit.
• Since I was in the ordering mood, I added 4GB of RAM for my laptop.  The desktop memory was considerably cheaper.
• My wife’s Christmas present.  Wow.  My wife works from home so she is on her laptop everyday.  Her current laptop is slow by today’s standards so I thought I would get her a new one for Christmas.  That was easy enough until the fact that it is the 64-bit version of Windows Vista made things difficult.  I found out that the VPN client she uses to connect to her job doesn’t work on the 64-bit version so that caused a little bit of a headache.  I finally found another version that works, but we will have to pony up some $$$ once the trial expires.
• While things are being worked out with my wife’s new laptop, her job sent her a touchscreen to test a new kiosk system.  In addition to the monitor, she was sent a fingerprint scanner.  The setup went together with no problem except the software isn’t working properly.  I don’t have anything to do with that.
• I got a new Xbox 360 – an early Christmas present.  Well, I didn’t want to lose my game progress so I wanted to copy the old information to the new hard drive.  Microsoft, with all their wisdom, doesn’t make this an easy task since you have to have both Xbox serial numbers before you can request the proprietary cable to make this happen.  No, it cannot be purchased anywhere.  A co-worker bought the old one from me so I had to order the cable and wait patiently.  Once I got the cable the copying process worked without issue.

All of this went on in the last week.  I need to go sit down somewhere and chill.  I don’t have to work until the 29th so I have some time to relax…finally.