I have just started using Gloves In A Bottle to help battle the effects of a Chicago winter. Days like today (when with the wind chill it is below zero) are the very reason I need this new skincare item. The part I love about Gloves In A Bottle is that it does not wash off. With two little ones, I find myself constantly washing my hands. With other lotions, I was finding that I constantly was having to reapply for it to work. Well, I can’t spend my day applying lotion (mostly because I don’t remember).  For maximum effectiveness, you just need to reapply Gloves In A Bottle every 4 hours. Well, I tend not even remember to do it that much, and I still have noticed a difference. I have also passed on a few sample packs of this to my cousin who is a nurse. She finds herself constantly washing her hands at work too. She lives over on the East Coast, so they have dry cold winters too. I also love that it isn’t greasy. I cannot stand lotion that leaves a mark on everything I touch after I apply it. It ranks up there pretty high on my list of pet peeves. Not only can you order this online, but it widely accessible in over 13,000 stores nationwide (if you hate to pay for shipping like me).  You are also able to use this on other parts of your body, and it works just as good!

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Bill did end up looking at the washing machine. He took the agitator thing off and found that nothing was in there. He then tried to put it back on and cracked it. I couldn’t find anywhere that we could just buy the part, so we ended up having to go shopping. Needless to say, I am now the proud owner of a Maytag Front-Loading Automatic Washing Machine. If I can find a picture online, I’ll add it here.

EDIT:  I found it:

Here’s the link to Maytag if you like it and would like to read about it.

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This Weeks Soldier Was Suggested By Jenn

Staff Sgt. Darrell R. Griffin Jr.
36 years old from Alhambra, California
2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division
March 21, 2007

“He was a really patriotic young man”, said Darrell Griffin Sr. “He said that the people there really needed us and he felt it was the right place to be. He wished we didn’t have to have wars, but since that’s the way mankind is, he felt he was contributing an important part to his country”.

SSgt. Griffin lost his life in Balad, Iraq when his unit came under fire as it was returning to base after conducting security operations in the Iraqi capital.

The eldest son of six children, SSgt. Griffin worked as an EMT before joining the California Army National Guard in 1999. He enlisted in the Army two years later, and in July 2001, was assigned to the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, in Ft. Lewis, Washington. He served with that unit in Iraq from October 2004 to September 2005.

On his second tour of duty, SSgt. Griffin had been awarded the Bronze Star for valor in 2005 when he was credited with saving the lives of three U.S. and two Iraqi Army soldiers injured during battle in Tal Afar. He had also received the Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Non-Commissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, Combat Infantry Badge, Expert Infantry Badge, Parachute Badge, and the Meritorious Unit Citation.

“Griff was the type of man you want to have by your side in a fight,” Maj. Brent Clemmer, his former company commander, wrote from Iraq. “He was the type of squad leader every young soldier wants to have”.

“Darrell was my husband, my Soldier, my gift from God who was also the love of my life and always will be.” Said his wife, Diana. “He was also ‘a Soldier’s Soldier of Strength and Honor’ whose commitment to duty, honor and loyalty will be forever remembered by all who know and love him. The news of his death saddens us deeply and we ask for your prayers in our time of grief. Please also continue to keep our Soldiers in your prayers

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. To find out more about Wednesday Hero, you can go here.

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You thought bullying only happened in school, right? Well, welcome to the internet world where jerks hide behind proxies and anonymous comments to prey upon women. Yes, this is really happening.

I am not writing this to scare anyone. I think the majority of people on the internet mind their own business. It is the minority of people out there that are making some of our lives miserable. I am not sure if you have heard the story of Kathy Sierra. If you haven’t, please click the link. Yes, that is really happening.

Good Morning America did a short piece on cyber stalking this morning. See it here:

To me, it seemed more a fluff piece than anything, but I guess that is how you bring it to the nations attention. You start slowly. Kathy Sierra was interviewed for this. My friend Kat was also. She has had a cyber stalker for the past 5 years. Yes, 5 years and the authorities will not do anything to help her. He has threatened to turn her into Child Protective Services, threatened her, threatened her children, called her father a pedophile, and I could go on and on. I will not publish the site that he runs, because I do not want to drive traffic to him. However, in reviewing his site, I found several of my other online friends on there. One of them took down her blog last night due to finding herself on his hit list (she did put it back up this morning). There is also a piece written by the Washington Post which explains the situation much better.

I wish I could say I am not afraid of this type of behavior. In the internet world today, you can locate anyone (see privacy post below). With a new baby on the way, I don’t need this kind of crap in my life. I luck out. I have not become a target (yet). I would love to say that I would stand up to these a$$holes who do this. However, if my life and my kids lives are being threatened, I think I may do what Kathy did and pack my bags and close my blog. I give Kat a ton of credit for putting up with crap for 5 years now.

We cannot allow these creeps to do this to others on the web. I ask that all of you put the ribbon that Beth created on your site. Blog about this. The only way this is going to stop is if people take a stand and make these lowlifes realize that this is not acceptable! Or use this one:

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The last time the Bears were in the Super Bowl…

In honor of the Chicago Bears going to Super Bowl 41. Here are 41 things that have changed from the last time the Chicago Bears played in the Super Bowl (which was Super Bowl 20 in 1986):

1. Brian Urlacher was in 2nd grade. Rex Grossman was in kindergarten.
2. Peyton Manning was 10 years old. Eli Manning was 5 years old. Their dad, Archie, had just retired from the NFL two years earlier.
3. Lovie Smith was in his first college coaching job at University of Tulsa.
4. Ronald Reagan was the President, and Harold Washington was the Mayor. James R. Thompson was the Governor running for re-election and his office was in the new State of Illinois Center, which is now called the James R. Thompson Center.
5. George W. Bush was 39 years old and still drinking. His father would run for President two years later.
6. Rod Blagojevich was just out of law school and was a low-level prosecutor working for the Cook County State’s Attorney, Richard M. Daley.
7. Barack Obama had just moved to Illinois, and Osama bin Laden was fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan.
8. Red Grange and Sid Luckman were still alive.
9. The Colts had just moved to Indianapolis from Baltimore and were the doormat of the AFC EAST. The Bears were the champions of the NFC CENTRAL.
10. Property in Wicker Park and Bucktown was cheap because they were really bad neighborhoods.
11. CD players, cellular phones and fax machines were expensive, cutting edge technology and only a few people used them.
12. “Surfing the net” meant a volleyball game at the beach, and virtually no one used the “@” key on their TYPEWRITER.
13. Sam Walton was still alive and was wealthier than Bill Gates. Windows were panes of glass…not a computer operating system that was a pain in something that rhymes with glass.
14. The Soviet Union was our main enemy, and Saddam Hussein was our ally.
15. There were no lights at Wrigley Field, and the oldest park in baseball belonged to the White Sox.
16. Michael Jordan and Ozzie Guillen had just finished their “Rookie of the Year” seasons. Jordan’s coach was Stan Albeck and Guillen’s manager was Tony LaRussa. (Three out of four of those guys are now wearing championship rings, but what ever happened to Stan Albeck???)
17. Soldier Field had AstroTurf. The Houston Oilers played in the AstroDome.
18. The Fox TV Network didn’t exist, and ESPN had yet to air a single live pro football, baseball, or basketball game.
19. MTV played music and so did some AM radio stations.
20. Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff weren’t born yet; Jackie Gleason and Richard Nixon were still alive.
21. Hillary Clinton had dark hair and was the First Lady……of Arkansas!
22. “The Love Boat” and “Diff’rent Strokes” were still on network TV every week.
23. Martin Luther King Day was about to be celebrated as a National Holiday for the first time. “9-11″ was a phone number many cities were just adopting for emergency calls – not a date of terror.
24. I-88 was called “Illinois Rt. 5″ and I-355 hadn’t been built yet.
25. What the CTA now calls “The Blue Line” had just been extended to O’Hare, and the Orange Line to Midway hadn’t been built yet.
26. Q101 played adult contemporary music and most teenagers listened to WLS. Music from the 70s and 80s wasn’t “retro” yet.
27. Tiger Woods hadn’t won an amateur golf tournament yet.
28. Most people knew Seattle just as a city in the Northwest U.S. – not the home of grunge or Starbucks.
29. Only Southerners went to NASCAR races and only Northerners went to NHL games.
30. The Chicago area had no WalMarts, Targets or Home Depots, and Walgreen’s was only in the Midwest.
31. Depending on your bank, your ATM card was good at only “Cash Station” machines or only at “Money Network” machines, but there were no fees.
32. “The Phone Company” was Illinois Bell.
33. They still sold leaded gasoline and you couldn’t pay for your gas at the pump.
34. Discover Card hadn’t been discovered yet, and Miller Genuine Draft hadn’t been brewed yet.
35. Stereo TVs were the rage that HDTVs are now. 8-track tapes were still being made.
36. All of the Blockbuster Video stores that are now closing hadn’t opened yet. Betamax was still competing with VHS.
37. You paid cash for your groceries and fast food, and you used a travel agent to book airline flights.
38. Bowl games didn’t have corporate sponsors, and if the #1 ranked team was in a conference that played in one bowl game and the #2 ranked team was in a conference that played in another bowl game, then so be it! They let the sportswriters vote on the national champion. (and no college football games were played after New Year’s Day)
39. The Baltimore Ravens were the Cleveland Browns. The Tennessee Titans were the Houston Oilers. The Oakland Raiders were the Los Angeles Raiders that had just left Oakland. The Arizona Cardinals (the former Phoenix Cardinals) were the St. Louis Cardinals, and the St. Louis Rams were the Los Angeles Rams. The Jacksonville Jaguars, Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans, and the Cleveland Browns (not to be confused with the Cleveland Browns that are now the Baltimore Ravens) didn’t exist. The Seattle Seahawks (last year’s NFC Champions) played in the AFC.
40. Number 9 on the Bears was their Punky QB…not their perky field goal kicker.
41. There were no iPods – just Sony Walkmen – so if you said something about a “shuffle” on your Walkman, they assumed you were listening to “The Super Bowl Shuffle”

and one thing that will be the same from the Chicago Bears last Super Bowl appearance…..

THEY WILL WIN!!!!

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