Friday Favorite

There is a little website, Pinterest.  Seems simple enough, innocent enough, but that is misleading.  Pinterest  is addictive. On this piece of internet fun you can "pin" all of your favorite things.  You can also "repin" other people's favorite things.  Life is good on Pinterest, well until you realize time has slipped by.  It is a good time killer though.  You can pin things like:

How glorious.  Do you pin?  -if so-  What do you pin?  If you don't pin already you can request an invite from them or email me and Ill send you one.  

Pin away.

Happy Friday

Friday Favorites: Happy First Day of Fall

Growing up if you would have asked me my favorite season without hesitation I would have said SUMMER. But as we grow up there are less summer days spent basking in the sun or spending the whole ENTIRE day in the pool.  While  Spring brings renewal and flowers I am not a fan of the rain.  Maybe if I lived elsewhere I would love winter, but minus a few days out of the year the snow and ice cause more headaches than a winterwonderland fairytale.  I still love getting swept up in the excitement of the first snow and the holiday seasons, but I think fall has moved into first place.  Fall to me is also about new beginnings and anticipation.  Until I get my Ph. D I am going to have many more first day of classes.  And with every leaf that falls you know the holidays are that much closer.

So since the first day of Fall fell on a Friday it was apropos that I tell you my Favorite Things About Fall.  This is not an all inclusive list so feel free to post or email me some of your favorites.

Drinks to warm you up: Coffee, Pumpkin Coffee, Apple Cider, Hot Chocolate (Even better spiking any of those drinks)

Colorful Leaves especially on tree lined roads

Football

Hoodies and leggings while lounging at home

Scarves for fashion not necessity

Little kids on Halloween

The comfort in the fact ABC Family will play the same exact movies as they have the past decade

Leaves crunching

Cuddling under furry, soft blankets

Pumpkin Patches

Homecomings

Haunted Houses

Cute boot

Happy Fall.  Enjoy some of your favorite things today!

"To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, not justice." -Desmond Tutu

     Any time there is a disaster or a grand injustice it makes the news and celebrities and then their fans jump on the bandwagon to support the cause.  Often times though after a new cause becomes "trendy" the support falls by the wayside.  I sincerely hope that this is not true in this case.  

   By now I am sure you heard about Troy Davis.  If you haven't I don't know whether to be amazed that you can survive without the influences of the media or disappointed that you do not keep up with what is going on in the world around you. 

  Before continuing in this post I want to make it very clear that my heart goes out to the family of Police Officer Mark MacPhail the victim in this case.  I can only imagine the utter hell that they went through having him taken away from him, the court case, etc.  Justice is something that anyone victimized wants, but unfortunately even justice won't undo the harm.

   Something else that can never be undone: putting an innocent man to death.  The United States is one of the leaders of the world and a place that is supposed to understand human rights, yet we still put people to death, something a lot of industrialized countries have outlawed. In the United States we have a birthright that we are presumed innocent until proven guilt.  This means until there is enough evidence that a person is guilty they are innocent.  In the case of Troy Davis he (had to have been) presumed innocent. The murder weapon used in this crime was never found.  The only part of the weapon linking Davis to this crime was shell casings that were linked to a shooting that Davis was previously convicted of.  While that does cause doubt, that is never enough to prove guilt, especially on a hot gun that was most likely bought on the street.  More importantly several of the witnesses who claimed Davis was the shooter recanted.  A few of the jurors also stepped forward stating that they believe they were wrong and changed their mind of the verdict.  Even more a few other people have claimed another man confessed to them that they were in fact the shooter.

   If you are at all questioning whether Troy Davis was innocent or guilty you should question whether or not the United States should still have the death penalty.  Those of you who support the death penalty are probably thinking, "how can she be ok with murderers, rapists, cop killers, etc who are caught red handed or admitted they committed the crime not getting the death penalty?"  My answer is that for one thing a judge, a jury, or the person completing the death penalty proceedings are not God.  I also don't believe them living means that they shouldn't be punished.  More importantly I understand that while we have to "sacrifice" and allow those criminals to live we would be making sure innocent ones were not put to death.  

   The other big argument always seems to be "Why should tax payers have to pay to let a criminal rot in jail the rest of their life?"  Well if you do any research at all, even just a quick Google search you will realize that it costs MORE to put a prisoner to death.  

    Think of how many prisoners were put to death or locked up only to have their innocence proven due to DNA testing?  Imagine if there are scientific break throughs that would find even more people innocent?  

    There is always the human factor.  I know race was brought up a lot in Troy Davis's case and stats do prove that there is an inequitableness to the death penalty.  More than just stats though it has been proven that races have trouble properly identifying people of other races.  It is hard enough for victims or witnesses to pick out victims of their race so with that knowledge why should we ever believe that they would be able to pick out of a line up of a different race?

  

    My hope is that today's post is making you think.  While I do have stats backing up my opinion in the end it is MY opinion posted here.  I urge all of you to make your own informed and educated opinions on this and all topics.  There are times I cannot imagine living without Google and am so thankful that I live in an age where I can be dependent upon myself to research and form the views that I hold deep in my heart.

If you want to become more informed, like I said search engines are your best friend, but here are a few places to help you out, friend:

DEATH PENALTY INFORMATION CENTER

Amnesty International

ACLU

World Coalition Against the Death Penalty


While I vehemently  disagree with the death penalty informing you means showing both sides.  To learn more about the pro death penalty movement you can go to: Pro Death Penalty

If you want to get involved in abolishing the death penalty you can find ways to support in some of the above links as well as:

Reprieve and the Innocence Project among others.

~"A human being is not attaining his full heights until he is educated." ~Horace Mann

Here We GO

Happy Steelers Day...oops, sorry I meant Happy Sunday.  The first home game of the regular season deserves a post.  Nothing like some good music (and some funny steelers music) to make you smile.  Enjoy (all videos from Youtube):

It's Friday.

If I could I would make a calendar without the date September 16.  Unfortunately the reality is I can't.  Today it has been 11 years since my dad died.  While it was hard losing him I do try to realize I was lucky to survive the car accident.  I try to live everyday in a manner that would make him proud and do try to live a happy life.  I do however give myself this day to just let my emotions be whatever they may be. Needless to say I'm not really in a Friday Favorites sort of mood.  I promise next week I will have the regularly scheduled Friday Favorites.

Here though are a few of my favorite father/daughter things/memories in no particular order:

My dad and I took a trip to Florida/Disney when I was in second grade.  I had a perpetually bad hair day the whole week, according to my dad he say Disney one outside of a women's restroom at a time, Space Mountain was "out of order" according to my afraid of heights dad (the Tower of Terror was just a plain "no"), and we followed a tour bus down a road only to be stopped by a gun-wielding security guard.  Despite all of this it was one of the best weeks of my life.  I will forever be thankful for that time.

Going to sporting events with my dad.  That's where my love of sports developed.

Ironically enough, some of my best memories were in a car driving aimlessly with my dad.  Any time he had to run an errand I would tag along.  Beings that I wasn't even a teenager I am sure many of the conversations were trivial, but I could talk to my dad about anything.

A minute before my dad died he told me he loved me.  That moment has more importance than I would have ever imagined.

These are just a few of my favorite things.  Every moment was special because it was one moment that we had together.  While they say time heals they are only half right.  As you get older it gets harder realizing all of the things that a person you loved will miss.

Hug the ones you love a little bit extra tight tonight.

Happy Friday & Have a great weekend!

Now Playing...

I like all music, but sometimes, I too fall into the trap of the top current music.  Here are my radio favorites.  All videos from Youtube















Which video is your favorite?  Any current songs you that you keep on repeat?

Just Breathe

I know what some of you must be thinking, what is a Pittsburgher blogging about if she doesn't even mention the Steelers v. Ravens season opener?  Well, I felt that there is a time and place & Sunday was not the day to post about it.  I do have to give props to the NFL and all involved in the 9/11 tribute.  I'm sure it could not have been the easiest of things to pull off, but they handled the ceremonies with the honor that 9/11 deserved.

  You would actually think with Sunday's events people in Pittsburgh would have things in perspective and realize that a game is actually just that, a game. Even more so, yesterday's game was just one game - one out of a very long season.  Sure I wanted the Steelers to win, there will never be a game where I don't, but we should not condem them for losing one game.

The way some "fans" are talking you would think the Steelers lost the Super Bowl yesterday.  Trust me - a Super Bowl loss hurts more than anything dished out yesterday.  As much as I will never ever be a fan of the Ravens that is a solid team with a great coach and some amazing players.  They played one helluva game and nobody can deny them that.  I have never seen Flacco play with more poise or strength than he did yesterday.  I think the loss yesterday is better attributed to the fact that the Ravens had a great game, not that the Steelers had what some are saying is a poor game.

Did Roethlisberger play his best game ever? No. He had an off game, but wasn't horrible.  I think part of the backlash for yesterdays game is because he played so well last year with a broken foot, got his nose broken in game & took a few other beatings, but then stumbled a bit yesterday when by accounts he was better health-wise.  Instead of criticizing him fans should be thankful that with him starting as a quarterback the Steelers had pretty much been invincible against the Ravens.  For as many times as we play the Ravens fans cannot honestly believe that Roethlisberger would have an undefeated record against them.  Hopeful yes, plausible no. He is a seasoned quarterback and will have his mojo back before we know it.

Its also bad enough when people call into radio stations to criticize the players.  Its even worse that they use social media to tell the players that they are disappointed.  It is great that in todays world that people like athletes are accessible to their fans.  Its disheartening though when the fans use social media to bash the players.  It is tacky to trash talk other teams players, but to actually badmouth the players of the team you support - thats just so unimaginable to me.  Yet, I saw it happening yesterday.  Fans are supposed to be just that, supporters of a team.

I especially find all the bad mouthing humorous because the Steelers are notorious for using negativity and adversity to spur great results.  So to all of the fans out there, just breathe, the Steelers will bounce back.  It is week 1 after all.

Go Steelers.