Archive for November, 2008
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody
55 years old from Fort Belvoir, Virginia
Call it breaking the brass ceiling. Ann E. Dunwoody, after 33 years in the Army, ascended Friday to a peak never before reached by a woman in the U.S. military: four-star general.
At an emotional promotion ceremony, Dunwoody looked back on her years in uniform, said it was a credit to the Army?and a great surprise to her?that she would make history in a male-dominated military.
“Thirty-three years after I took the oath as a second lieutenant, I have to tell you this is not exactly how I envisioned my life unfolding,” she told a standing-room-only auditorium. “Even as a young kid, all I ever wanted to do was teach physical education and raise a family.
“It was clear to me that my Army experience was just going to be a two-year detour en route to my fitness profession,” she added. “So when asked, `Ann, did you ever think you were going to be a general officer, to say nothing about a four-star?’ I say, `Not in my wildest dreams.’
“There is no one more surprised than I?except, of course, my husband. You know what they say, `Behind every successful woman there is an astonished man.’”
You can read the rest of Gen. Dunwoody’s story here.
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
Tags: Ann, Ann E. Dunwoody, Army, auditorium, brass, ceiling, ceremony, course, credit, detour, education, family, fitness, Fort Belvoir, Friday, Gen. Ann E, Gen. Dunwoody, General, god, hero, Hero Blogroll, history, Husband, information, lieutenant, Lived, Men, military, Mourn, nothing, oath, officer, part, Peak, People, post, profession, promotion, rest, route, site, surprise, Thirty-three, uniform, US, Virginia, Wednesday, wildest, woman, Women
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Monday, November 17th, 2008
Last week was a pretty good week. My week started off with an email from a New York Times reporter wanted to interview regarding a post I wrote about Amazon’s frustration free packaging. Once I picked myself up off the floor, I emailed him back and told him it was okay to call. I had a great conversation with their technology reporter, and I went on my merry way. Seriously, my heart was beating about 400 miles an hour while this was going on. I asked for him to let me know when it gets printed, and I thought that was the end of it.
On Thursday, I was super surprised to get a call from the New York Times again! This time they wanted to send a photographer to my house to get pictures of me and my kids! I ended up with 2 hours to get me and the kids ready and clean the house. It went well, I think, and I hope to find out soon when the article will get printed.
I feel incredibly blessed right now even though my mom is teasing about when Oprah is going to be calling. 
Tags: amazon, article, call, conversation, email, end, floor, frustration, heart, hour, house, merry, mom, oprah, packaging, photographer, post, reporter, Seriously, technology, Thursday, Times, week, York
Posted in General | 17 Comments »
Monday, November 17th, 2008
You all may remember a while back when I wrote about how I wanted to be an Izea Insider. Well, I heard back today and I was picked! Woohoo!! Now, I don’t have all the details yet (still waiting for the contract), but I had to pass the good news on!
Now, I am always talking with people how to make a few extra bucks doing some paid blogging, so I know I will have a great time assembling my crew! If you’d like to join me on this awesome ride for the next year on my crew, let me know if the comments, so I can make sure you get added.
(Make sure you read my next post. More exciting news!)
Tags: contract, crew, Insider, izea, news, ride, time, today, while, Woohoo, year
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Friday, November 14th, 2008
It is amazing that we are given this little gift of life without a handbook. We try our best to keep them safe. However, there are some things as parents we should know. I was lucky enough to be invited onto a phone call with the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children and learned a lot of information about keeping my kids safe. My goal is let you know what I have learned, so your children don’t become a statistic.
Did you know that most abduction attempts occur after school? It is usually between the hours of 2 pm – 7 pm. Almost half of nonfamily abduction attempts happen when a child is walking to or from school (or some related school activity).
Did you know that the majority of children affected by abduction attempts are girls between 10 – 14?
Did you know that only 58% of parents have talked to their children about this?
This is scary information. I remember when I was a kid, and I could go play outside myself. Now, I would never let my kids outside by themselves! I am so glad to see that Duracell and The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) have teamed together to give us parents a handbook to start a conversation with our children. Best of all, this is free of charge! The Child Safety Handbook can be downloaded right from the linked site.
Now, we were able to ask questions and mine revolved around what to tell my 4 year old daughter. I don’t want to scare her, but I also don’t want to not have this conversation with her. The advice I was given for her age is that we really need to get away from “stranger danger”. The problem with stranger danger is that it portrays strangers as these scary bad people, and that is not what strangers look like. We need to talk about the situations that have been tried and are effective — like the puppy trick. We need to teach our children that it is okay to say no to stranger and that if an adult needs help, they will ask another adult, not a child. Our response cannot be fear based, and we must also reassure our children.
I highly recommend downloading that handbook. You will find a ton of helpful information no matter how old your child is. The Power of Parents Child Safety Handbook provides safety tips from the experts at NCMEC for four age groups: infant to toddler, ages 4-6, ages 7-11, and ages 12-17. The handbook outlines age-appropriate tips and scenarios that parents need to be aware of, as well as some outside influences that may be impacting their child’s actions. If reading this handbook could potentially save your child, it is well worth taking the time to download and read it.
Tags: abduction, activity, adult, Advice, age, amp, call, cannot, Center, charge, Child, Children, conversation, danger, daughter, Duracell, Exploited, fear, gift, goal, half, handbook, infant, information, life, lot, majority, matter, mine, National, NCMEC, parents, phone, power, problem, puppy, right, safety, school, site, statistic, stranger, taking, toddler, ton, trick, year
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