Life Perspective: Reviews & More

I have been watching my life flash before my eyes the past few days. It started a couple of weeks ago when I was unexpectedly given one week's notice that my Christian Activities website was going to have to be moved within a week. For a year I had been told it was going to be moved to Word Press, but suddenly I had to find a new server and web designer. Under normal circumstances, this would have been the death knell to Christian Activities happening at this time, because my own circumstances are not normal right now. I am dealing with the aftermath of massive flood and water damage, recovering from living in a Microtel for 9 months, and putting up with contractors who insist upon needless delays, ridiculous shortcuts and sloppy work. I am also having to pay for many things Farmers Insurance is not covering: mold remediation, rotten wood replacement under my house and other repairs. A couple of thousand dollars worth of vet bills for a sick dog helped push me deeper into a bad ...

SOPA, PIPA & the Ongoing Piracy of Videos, Music, Articles & Photos I wrote this article a week ago expressing my apparently less popular views on SOAP & PIPA. It took a week for the article to post, during which time the debate has wound down. I wish the article had posted sooner, so I could have been unpopular louder and longer. Over the past several years, I have read numerous articles on the subject or piracy and copyright infringement until I found my own voice on the subject and began writing articles on the topic of copyright infringement. It still amazes me that fairly well-intentioned people as well as lazy short-cutters, scammers and black-hatters think it is fine to steal images from other other website, copy articles to their blogs or discussion boards or copy movies, videos and music to distribute whether on the web or hard copy. More at SOPA, PIPA & the Ongoing Piracy of Videos, Music, Articles & Photos - Yahoo! Voices  Also see: T...

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William A. Darden - My Father Remembered by Kathryn E. Darden for Christian Activities 6/10/2006 Nashville, TN - Web www.christianactivities.com My father was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 29, 1910. William Allen Darden, Jr., called Bill or Allen by friends, grew up on a farm the family called "Tick Hill" in Nashville Tennessee, on Murfreesboro Pike (now Murfreesboro Road). His father, who was no farmer by all accounts, worked at the Nashville Post Office on Broadway, now the Frist Center for the Arts.   He was an adventuresome youth, frequently meeting Billy (W.K., IV) and Jay (James W.) Ransom, the sons of neighboring farmer William King Ransom, III, after morning chores to bicycle from Murfreesboro Road across the county into Kingston Springs where they would fish with an older man. Darden loved hunting as much as fishing and was at home roaming the fields, pastures and waterways across Davidson Count...

The story of little Amelia, a precious child with a mental disability who is being denied medical treatment is all too common, but it is a broader issue than precious children. I went through something similar when my father had Alzheimers. My father, a decorated WWII and Korean veteran, was otherwise healthy as a horse, and used to sit out in the garden with me singing children's songs after many of his other memories had faded away. When he broke his hip, it was all I could do to get him any kind of treatment. Dr. Bodner at the old Donelson hospital didn't think he deserved treatment because he "had no quality of life." Sure, my father had Alzheimer's, but does THAT define "quality of life" any more or less than mental retardation? It took my father three months to die a slow, painful death with me begging for treatment for him. It's a slippery slope -- and this was TWENTY YEARS AGO. Imagine how far down this slope the medical community has s...

Valentine's Day is coming up in one month, so let's talk about lips!

Top Ten Christian Love Songs - Yahoo! Voices Romantic Love Songs for Weddings, Valentine's Day & Other Special Occasions by Gospel Artists This list was compiled in 2008. For my 2009 Top Ten Love Songs List, please visit : Top Ten Gospel Love Songs . Also see The Best Christian Music for Valentine's Day and Top Ten Christian Love Songs of the Decade .

I finally heard from Eric Roper at Landmark Construction of Nashville, TN today. In spite of my wishful thinking that a small tile job he was hired to do in July 2011, and paid in advance for much of in Sept. 2011, and which he began on Nov. 3, 2011... he's not coming back until Mon. Jan. 16, 2012! Landmark Construction will have taken MORE THAN ONE HALF OF A YEAR to do a small kitchen tile job. Surely that's some kind of a record. And I think they need to redo the section above the sink that was pieced together so badly.

Top 10 Things About the Lee Company: A Review of the Lee Company Since 1944, the Lee Company in Nashville, TN, has been taking care of Middle Tennessee's refrigeration, heating and air conditioning needs. Three generations of Lees have helmed the Lee Company, ever since L. Leon Lee started the business as Lee Refrigeration Service Company, using his one truck to service refrigeration and heating equipment. Today the Lee Company employs hundreds of people and serves customers nationwide, including homes, businesses and facilities. Continued at: Top 10 Things About the Lee Company: A Review of the Lee Company - Yahoo! Voices Also see: Why the Lee Company Has Been in Business Since 1944

Here is part of an email I sent to two contractors who  have been working on my house and who have taken months to complete tasks: Letter to Contractors about the Lee Company Here is how the Lee Company does things. I called them on Wednesday afternoon after talking to an electrician who had been working in my house prior to my heat going out.  The Lee Company asked me when I wanted them to come and I said "As soon as possible." They said, "How about tomorrow morning?" I said I would be out until after 11:Am and they said, "How about between noon and 2." I said that was fine. They said they always call customers 1/2 hour before they arrive so the customer knows they are coming.  At 12:06 Tommy from the Lee Company called to let me know he was about 1/2 hour away. At 12:34 he walked in my door. He was finished by around 1:30, fixed some burnt wires and a blown fuse, asked me if anything unusual happen before the heat went out.  I said I ha...

KitchenAid 23.875-Inch Built-In Dishwasher (Color: Black) ENERGY STAR Item #: 333418 | Model #: KUDS30IXBL On November 3, my brand-new KitchenAid dishwasher was installed. Before I purchased the dishwasher from Lowes, I had read some very negative reviews about the dishwasher on the Lowes website . However, when I brought those concerns to the attention of my sales person as we discussed the pros and cons of buying the dishwasher, Allison, the very personable salesclerk at my local Lowes, assured me that her store had had no complaints or returns of this model. Since it was inexpensive and I was working with insurance to replace the Kitchen Aid Whisper Quite Superba which was damaged by a contractor Farmers recommended who forgot to hook my old dishwasher up to the water line before it was turned on, I went ahead and got the low-priced KitchenAid model to accommodate and facilitate a quick replacement. My first load of dishes came out with a mess of white crud on the...

Watching "The Way" with father-son team Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez was a wonderful way to celebrate the closing of one year and the beginning of another, because "The Way" is a moving and inspirational story of endings and new beginnings. 'The Way' with Martin Sheen & Emilio Estevez -- a movie review « Seekyt . 'The Way' with Martin Sheen & Emilio Estevez an inspiring movie journey - Nashville Gospel Music & Entertainment Examiner .