It’s hot enough, I’ll be unemployed at 5pm, and it’s Friday…

… so, I think I’ll go home during my lunch break and make some Guinness Popsicles (for consumption after work of course).

Yup, today is my last day working at George Fox University who contractually, forbids its employees and undergraduate students to drink alcoholic beverages.

In about a week, I’ll begin my new career at Stockamp and Associates, who recently hired me to be their newest associate in their “Corporate Applications” team. I’ll still be writing code, but now it will be on Windows servers in VB, ASP, and Microsoft SQL. I’m looking forward to the change, but I’ll definitely miss a few elements of the job I loved for almost three years. I often said, “I can’t believe they pay me to do this! I work with awesome people and write php code all day.”

Top 10 things I’ll miss about working at GFU

10. my window seat. (I will be moving into my very own cubicle)
9. Walks to the Cottage for my “giant mocha with whip”
8. noon hoops
7. TV/movie theme song of the day
6. my 10-minute walking commute (0.67 miles)
5. prayer before meetings
4. discussions with the Gentle Philosopher
3. 10+ non-work related phone calls from Brendon and/or Peter
2. walking home for lunch
1. my family at work (including all, but not limited to the people on this page)

Pseudo-Happy Ending

Lately, I have been talking a lot about an article for which Brendon emailed me a link that reports the awful world of investigating Internet child pornography.

Brendon’s emailed description of the original story published by the LA Times:

The [above] link goes to an LA Times article about special units dedicated to wiping out child porn/molestation. It is a great article and worth reading, but be forewarned, it will also make you really sad and/or mad. Put tears in my eyes and I almost stopped reading. Judge for yourselves… (and it’s probably worth sending up more than a few prayers for these kids and their offenders)

The main victim covered in the story (Disney World Girl, pictured left in a police photo) has been rescued and her adoptive father, the man believed to have taken the pictures is behind bars.

Here’s the Associated Press follow-up published on Yahoo News.

I call it a pseudo-happy ending because, yeah she is safe, but as the first article explains, they rescue less than five hundred victims per year. “We’re doing a terrible job,” [Sgt. Paul Gillespie of the Toronto Sex Crimes Unit] says in his office at police headquarters. “Five hundred kids of 50,000? What is that?” Even after they rescue these children, the horror continues. Psychological trauma leaves deep, permanent scars. The victims will never lead normal lives.

Want to cry? Want to fight? Want to change the world?

Me too.

What now?

Shared Hope International is an organization already devoted to rescuing child-victims of sexual abuse. Nicole and I have been donors for nearly a year now. It’s something about which we feel very passionate. We hate reading the newsletters delivered to our mailbox which detail one or two stories of a fraction of the horror innocent children endure as much as we hated reading the LA Times article, but it is important not to ignore this. It is important to take the red pill (Matrix reference). Ignorance and complacence enables this torturing and killing of innocent children to continue.

Take a look.
Read Inez’s Story.
Then, do what your heart tells you.

This is a call to action!

Funny Soldier

I found this in an old (12/8/2003) US News & World Report a while back. I think I’ve looked at it about 50 times and laugh every time. I just love Jenkins’ facial expression here (upper left).

Do you think it’s posed? I would love to learn more about this photo. Does anyone know anything about it?

Here’s what I know:

• The soldier’s last name is most likely, “Jenkins” from the Army’s 1st Armored Division
• It was published in US News & World Report on December 12, 2003

You can read the article which accompanied this photo in the US News archives.