Blog Buds

Since I'm kind of an unoriginal person at this point in my life, I've decided to talk about the blogs and bloggers I know. Since ranking them as Top Ten or whatever seems to have negative effects on people's egos, I shall not do it in such a fashion. I'll just list 'em as I think of stuff to write!!

• John Sikma-JWS. John's blog is the first I visited and the one that got me hooked on blogging. His blog is one of personal experiences, totally random ramblings, and some political stuff and current events. Although he has once experienced bloggers block, he is always more than willing to help one having technical difficulties and to just talk about random things on IM.
• NL/Notliberal/Steve the Lawyer-In God We Trust. NL's blog is one that you really have to be politically informed to get a whole lot out of. It's pretty interesting when you have a clue what he's talking about. Sometimes there will be interesting posts about random things like girls in the guys locker rooms and stuff like that, which breaks up the complicated posts.
• James Lanning-Set it Off. James' blog is one frequented by pretty much everyone. He has all the cool stuff, so maybe that's why. He's got music set up for one's perusal, as well as what he calls the RandomChat box, which is similar to IM with it being open to everyone who visits. He tends to spaz when the comments aren't about his post, so when he's gone there tends to be mass chaos!!
• Loretta Lanning-In My Opinion. Loretta is sister to both James and Evie. Camo is her beau, and she tries her best not to mention him too much, but slips on occasion. Then, however, after getting grief, she will delete the post. She has a thing about proper spelling, and if one doesn't use it she will succumb to comment Nazism and delete the comment.
• Evie Lanning/Eva Lemmon-Yes, I have no Bananas. Evie's randomness can be matched by none. Her blog consists of posts about people with strange names living in far away places and various other random things. She has a leaning towards coconuts, and she loves to keep track of when certain people attempt to offer their therApy services.
• Cramp Bottom/craMp/Marion Lanning-The ministry of Vocabulary. craMp is, as the title of the blog would suggest, an insane individual intent on saving the world through good spelling and grammar. craMp has a particular liking for threatening to deport anyone who uses "IMspeak" to Neptune.
• Mark Jurries-Gimme Back My Bullets. Mark's blog posts range from political to completely random. He's starting a Great American Novel, and has completed the first word!! Its quite impressive and VERY profound!! Mark is self proclaimed dictator of the MOV, and if you get in his way he will happily deport you to Neptune along with Cramp. Very charming person, this Mark!!
• Charles Jurries/echuckler/Chuck-The Delta Institute. Chuck is a very interesting person. His posts range from current events and politics like NL, to very strange and unusual stories about Glu-Glus like Evie. His blog boasts a question/comment feature he calls the Grab Bag. As a photographer, Chuck also posts lots of picture of his travels.
• Janna Jurries-Penultimate Grooviness. Janna is one of the most recent bloggers to join the circle. Her very first post garnered a whopping 53 comments!! Obviously, her popularity is at a high point right now. She has a fear of red hat ladies that is always a good conversation topic!!
• Maggie-Don't write yourself off yet.... Maggie's blog is prone to technical difficulties. More often then not something is malfunctioning, prompting all of us Blogger blogs to tell her that they are far superior to the service she is using. We're not sure if its working yet. Maggie's posts have a definent emotional twinge sure to touch everyone in some way.
• Bonnie McDonald-The Blog of Bonnie J. Bonnie is in a family of traveling singers and has been compared by some to the VonTrapp family. Her blog chronicles her life and often mentions her travels.
• Scarlett Miskin-The Life and Thoughts of Me!. Scarlett, like me, was inspired to start a blog around the same time I did. Her posts are very entertaining. Currently in her home country of South Africa, she even finds time to update us on the goings on over there.
• Abigail Boorsma/born2fly/Abbs-Not Another Blond Moment. Abbs joined the bloggers so she could comment on my blog (not the brightest out there, not realizing she could comment as other or anonymously, but that's ok). She posts somewhat infrequently, but when she does post you can be sure it will be well worth the wait. She has an undying love for Johnny Depp, which has shown through in the last few posts, as well as one for BOOOOOOOOOOB;-)
• Shannon/SDK-Green Apples from the Sky. SDK's blog is one of the ones I enjoy a great deal. Her first post, about a search for a man who had been lost in the greater Grand Rapids area, caught my attention right away. Upon talking to her on IM and checking out her Missing You website, of which she is the founder here in MI, I was very impressed. Her blog tells of her day to day life, and her recent struggles with a broken foot.
• Petunia McGillicuddy-Hello, World!!. Petunia's blog is one that makes me think whenever I read it. She is a volunteer for many interesting causes, and writes about her experiences, mixed with other interesting things. Although I may not agree with many of her viewpoints, I like how I can disagree with her and her comrades and still feel ok. A very interesting blog to peruse.
• Miranda, Ben, Chaz, Fromstien, and Herman- Chaz came upon John's blog, and after that I came to know him and the other people from Canada. I really enjoyed talking to Ben at one point on IM. Miranda found their blogs and instigated an all out blogwar that was hilarious in and of itself. Her blog, along with the four others, are irreverent and probably not exactly what some would approve of, but are a fun read none the less.

That took a VERY long time to compile, but that's ok:-) Hopefully everyone is pleased with their descriptions...and if not I'm SURE I'll hear about it!!

Something to Think About

Great opportunities to help others seldom arise, but small ones surround us every day.

~Sally Koch~

Banquet Pix...finally

The neighbor lady did my hair. It took forEVER, but I liked how it turned out. Its kind of hard to see in the picture, but its REALLY complex!!

I got ready in 10 minutes after my hair and nails were done!! Fastest I've ever gotten ready for ANYTHING, let alone something like this!!

This is the truck we went in. It was...big.

Me and Joe

The last two pictures were in my front yard...all of 'em were, actually. I feel kind of stupid posting pictures from May 27, but whatever:-) Banquet was awesome, a lot of build up though, for only a couple of hours. Thats how most major events in life are, I spose.

Thanks to John for helping me with the pictures, and with my sidebar for my links too, actually!!

Support Our Troops

While browsing blogs, I came across a post on one of the blogs I frequent. On it were several pictures of bumper stickers, buttons, and the like, all against President Bush and the war in Iraq. I'm aware that there are many people who don't support the President, but one of the stickers really stood out to me. It said "Germans Supported Their Troops Too" and had a picture of the traditional yellow support our troops sticker with the red circle and line crossing it out. This really bothered me, so I commented...

Erika said...
Just for the record, I think that even of you don't agree with why the troops are overseas, you should still support them!! They're making a HUGE sacrifice for US over there!!
Tue Jul 12, 06:54:55 PM

*One Commenter* said...
Actually erika there kids just like us who chose a line of work with a shitty boss. They have an extremly difficult task but as an american im not going to allow an administration the ability to send my family and friends to a place they have no business in. I dont think any of this particular post says "American soldiers should be spit on when they return!" What i think it expresses is that we should respect what the soldiers signed up for. The protection of rights and civil liberties, democracy, thus perpetuating a just nation. That is not what there doing in Iraq. I have several family members and friends there and from what they say, there basic duty is to protect the profits of the oil business and good ol haliburton engineers. Sorry bout the rant but I cant stand it when people equate negative bush aspects to dissin' tha soldiers. Carry on...
Tue Jul 12, 09:50:12 PM

*The Blogger who posted* said...
Erika,
That's just another part of the tragedy. This war was started on false pretenses. Bush claimed there was evidence linking Saddam Hussein and Al Qaida, that Iraq had WMD, and that we had to stop them from passing support and weapons to terrorists.

Well, read the news. It's complete baloney. Information was fabricated. The Bush administration are a bunch of liars. About something deathly serious.

I'm not disputing that Hussein was a diabolical tyrant.

But starting a war really ought to be the last resort. It ought to chill one's soul to come to that conclusion. Not only ought it be the last resort, but the international community ought to be united in the decision. If the rest of the world is telling you that you're wrong, and you're doing something as serious as invading another country, blowing things up, killing people, taking out their government-- well, that's just asking for chaos. Reports state that Iraq, in its disorganized condition, has become a more conducive breeding ground for terrorism that before, when Saddam held control. I'm no advocate for tyranny, but look, really really shitty things can happen when a repressive regime that has been holding together a bunch of different ethnic and religious groups, is no longer there to keep everyone in check (hello, Yugoslavia?).

I'm no expert, but many Iraqis also think that it is THEIR responsibility to address the problems in their own governments.

I stand by my choice to display the bumper sticker about the Germans. I completely agree that it is an inflammatory quip. I also completely agree that there is enormous danger in blindly supporting a president's decision to send people to war, which is what all of the "Support Our Troops" bumper stickers amount to.

"Troops" cannot act like thinking people. People in the military are trained to RESPOND to orders, and to NOT THINK. This is a necessity for the kind of situations they face.

Those of us enjoying safety and security and luxury at home owe it to the troops, and to the families in Iraq, to THINK CRITICALLY, to INFORM OURSELVES, and stand up for the truth. What is this war about? It's not about WMD. It's not about Saddam supporting terrorists. What are people dying for?


I thought I'd throw this out to all my readers and see what YOU all think, and how I should reply to it. Obviously I majorly disagree with the two who replied to me...what's YOUR opinion?

Before Hoffmaster

Last year, the class of 2007 started a Hoffmaster camping trip tradition. As traditions go, its actually a really good one. The 9th grade trip is a campout, and ours was great, except for the fact that it RAINED the whole night and into the next day. Due to this calamity, I took it upon myself to organize a SECOND Hoffmaster trip last summer. It was a great success, if I do say so myself!! Phil and Daryl, along with Mr. DeVries, were the chaperones. We went to the beach, played volleyball, sat around a campfire, played flashlight tag, and got dragged on exploratory expeditions by the adventurous Mr. DV. We stayed up till 4 a.m. just talking about life and everything. It was a very good time. Since we all had so much fun, it was decided that I should do another trip this year. I agreed, and set about putting it all together. I had chaperones lined up, kids called, all was as it should be. Then my adult chaperone backed out...Then my back up adult chaperone did too. This leaves me where I am now, three days before the event without an acceptable chaperone. Yes, right now I am spazzing out!!