Blogging & Twittering...Should I see a doctor?

It is amazing how a little thing changes a lot of things.

I have discovered Twitter.  It's a little website that answers the question "WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW?"  It is very simple and I find I have a hard time explaining it to non-Twitterers (they don't like being called "Twits", although "non-Twits" they may embrace).  Even for myself I am trying to figure out why I find it so fascinating, and why I get such a rush catching up with my twitters (tweets?) when I've been busy for a while.

I think the amazing part of it is that I feel closer to my friends and I even feel close to a whole new Twitter community that I had no idea existed.  I am finding commonalities with people that I have never met.  I'm reading blogs of strangers, and yet they aren't strangers anymore because I know when they ate, what they had for lunch, how frustrated they are with work or how little sleep they've had in the last 24.

Why am I so interested in the small details of stranger's lives?

Why am I willing to share the details of my life so openly?  Is this dangerous?

I've had more than my share of strange looks from folks regarding my online activities.  To them, "Blogging", "Twittering", and "Live Streaming" sound more like medical disorders than socializing.  I think they are afraid I might be contagious!

Disorder or not, I have definitely decided to live an "open" life.  I have found the situation challenges me.  

• It challenges my creativity.  I begin to see my life as an adventure to be shared, and what a wonderful way to see life, no?  How do I turn a trip to the grocery store into an adventure (in less than 140 characters)?
• It challenges my character.  Who am I, when no one is looking?  Who am I, when everyone is looking?  Why is there any difference anyway?  Should there be?
  
• It challenges me spiritually.  I claim to have discovered an extraordinary faith.  Does it make any difference?  Am I indistinguishable from an unbeliever?  How do I really steward my time, talents and treasure?  

No doubt, the "open life" is not without it's risks.  I need to stand by every word I write.  I may be called to account for them YEARS down the road, perhaps at a job interview or before a jury (shudder!).  

To some, this may seem to be nothing more than a recording of the minutiae of my life as a monument to myself, but I hope that someday, they will see the adventure this gift of life has been, (and still is) to me.

Peace Love and Journeying Together,

Rich

Thoughts about Coffee

I've never been much of a coffee drinker. I always say that I have superhuman "bitter" sensors on my tongue and coffee overwhelms me with "bitter". But I do like the coffee culture and aromas! The vibe at Starbucks, the warm steaming cup, the wonderful smells, I love all that!

Here are some recent links about coffee by some of my blogging friends:

This is how caffeine works...
Neatorama: Caffeine Facts

Smeagol is Free: Dominion over Beans

My Mom's Blog: Life Is Like Coffee

Enjoy with a cup of coffee why don't you?

Hot Cocoa Season is here!

(This is my usual, and it is SUPER EASY! You can do this!)

MICROWAVE SINGLE SERVING: Combine 1 heaping teaspoon HERSHEY'S Cocoa, 2 heaping teaspoons sugar and dash salt in microwave-safe cup or mug. Add 2 teaspoons cold milk; stir until smooth, then fill cup with milk. Microwave at HIGH (100%) 1 to 1-1/2 minutes or until hot. Stir to blend; Add almond extract and whipped creme. Top with nutmeg or cinnamon, drizzled Hershey syrup, chocolate shavings, whatever! Enjoy!


Hot Cocoa
(family serving)
see below for individual microwave serving, my "usual".

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
Dash salt
1/3 cup hot water
4 cups (1 qt.) milk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Miniature marshmallows or sweetened whipped cream(optional)

Directions:
1. Stir together sugar, cocoa and salt in medium saucepan; stir in water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Boil and stir 2 minutes. Add milk; stirring constantly, heat to serving temperature. Do Not Boil.

2 Remove from heat; add vanilla or almond extract. Beat with rotary beater or whisk until foamy. Serve topped with marshmallows or whipped cream, if desired. Five 8-oz. servings.

VARIATIONS: Add one of the following with the vanilla extract:

SPICED COCOA: 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg. Serve with cinnamon stick, if desired.

MINT COCOA: 1/2 teaspoon mint extract OR 3 tablespoons crushed hard peppermint candy OR 2 to 3 tablespoons white creme de menthe. Serve with peppermint candy stick, if desired.

CITRUS COCOA: 1/2 teaspoon orange extract OR 2 to 3 tablespoons orange liqueur.

SWISS MOCHA: 2 to 2-1/2 teaspoons powdered instant coffee.

COCOA AU LAIT: Omit marshmallows or whipped cream. Spoon 2 tablespoons softened vanilla ice cream on top of each cup of cocoa at serving time.

SLIM-TRIM COCOA: Omit sugar. Combine cocoa, salt and water; substitute nonfat milk. Proceed as above. With vanilla, stir in sugar substitute with sweetening equivalence of 1/2 cup sugar.

CANADIAN COCOA: 1/2 teaspoon maple extract.

Last Week's Double Rainbow

Last week Saturday, there was an absolutely stunning double rainbow
in the evening, and as dangerous as it probably was, I was trying to
snap a few photos as I drove. Last week ended up being rather busy
so only now have I been able to post the photos. Ladies and
Gentlemen, I present....A Mililani Double Rainbow!

Classic Thanksgiving video clip...

Thanksgiving 2007 Highlights

We had such a great time today with family and friends! My 2 deep fried turkeys turned out good, the boys were so helpful getting the house ready and Em was the hero of the day keeping the kitchen running and making sure everything came out at the right time.

We took pictures! See them here:

Our Thanksgiving 2007

I need to learn to take photos of PEOPLE! Sorry 'bout that!

We took video too of the Turkey being deep fried! That's here:



Peace Love and Feasting,

Rich

Thanksgiving isn't an entitlement.

Now-a-days, whenever I think of Thanksgiving, I always remember the worst Thanksgiving of my life! I don't remember the year exactly but the whole family was so sick. We all had some bug and were in different stages of dealing with it, but none of us was in the "healthy" stage. We barely had the energy to get out of bed, so no parties, no turkey no nothing but misery. Misery and resentment that our holiday had been lost.

The only thing we had, was a Turkey and Mashed Potatoes TV dinner. I don't know how long it had been in the freezer but we took it out, cut the little plastic off the meat and 6 minutes later, Voila...Thanksgiving!

I remember thinking that we were just going to have to celebrate our own personal Thanksgiving later, after we were all better. That didn't happen and I remember being sad about that and even feeling robbed.

What I forgot was that Thanksgiving isn't about the food or the parties or the date on a calendar. Thanksgiving is a state of mind. It is a decision to trust God and be content with whatever He brings into my life. Good or bad, my ultimate trust of Him allows me to accept with faith that whatever He brings into my life will ultimately be the best. In fact that's scriptural:

Romans 8:28 (New Living Translation)
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Thanksgiving is a privilege, not an entitlement.

I let my selfish desires and expectations for the holiday rob me of the whole point. The opportunity to pause,... reflect,.... appreciate,.... and express our deepest gratitude to The One from Whom all good things come.

I hope everyone takes some time to do that this year. It is a most appropriate way to begin the holiday season!

Peace, Love and Deep Thankfulness,

Rich

Rich Playing Ham Radio

This is for my non-amateur radio friends. Every other Tuesday night I run the Emergency Amateur Radio Club Net at 7:30pm. Lately I've tried simultaneously USTREAMING the net.

Blog Readability Test

Just ran a fun little utility that analyzes the readability of blogs and I got my rating. Obviously you folks are a very bright bunch of people!



My "A Hope and a Future" blog is rated at College (undergrad), and "Roadside Blessings" is College (Post Grad). I have no idea how they come up with this stuff!

Twitter on CSI

Brunch at the Oceanarium

We're gonna be pigs!

This message was sent from Rich's Treo 650.

Friends Young and Old...

Wow, it has been a busy place around here lately. It is nice to have our home back to ourselves again. I am so proud of Bryan for the friends he has. They really are a great bunch of guys and they have fun playing and being goofy together. Their lives revolve around video games it seems. Nathan and Bradley were the only ones playing outside for any length of time.

I wonder what ever happened to some of my childhood friends. Guys if you are reading this, drop me a line or leave a comment! Richard Pyle (I believe he is now Dr. Richard Pyle, with a Ph.D. in Marine Biology from UH.), Scott Pippen, Greg Smith, John Ward, Shelly Burns Warman. Are any of you out there?

Since I'm at it, I'd also love to hear from any of my classmates from 6-8th grades at Le Jardin Academy. Joel Robinson, Don Warren, David Hoskins, Joe Bass, Billie Jo Lee, Stacey McCoy, Colleen Brady, Leslie Fulk, Dawn Decker, Julia Curry, Lisa Jackson, Jeff Graper.

Oh let's go ahead and load up the Google web-crawler will all the names of friends past: Tim Rod, Mark Cruthers, Dean Daylo, John Morris, David Moon, Geniver Madriaga, Jay Mitsui, Andy Law, Eddie Hershman, Craig Silva, Jeff Higgins.

OK that's quite the list. There are all friends that I have lost touch with and have a curiosity to know what ever became of them. Hopefully, someday, someone will do a search and a name will pop up and we'll renew a connection.

Peace Love and Old Friends,

Rich Fewell
2nd-5th Kainalu
6-8th Le Jardin
9-12 Saint Louis High School
Windward Community College
University of Hawaii (B.A. Communications)
KHET
KITV

Gabcast: Bryan's friends the morning after a long night

Gabcast! FuelDepot by Phone #21 - Ten Teens at home for Bryan's Birthday

The morning after watching Willow and playing video games all day.

The Bradville Grand Opening

Bradley finished his western town tonight! We had a great time building it together. We made more than a western town, we made a memory!

You can see lots more photos of the town on our Web Gallery!

Brad's Western Town

Peace, Love and "This town ain't big enough for ANY of us!"

Rich

I Wish I Could Draw People

Tsunami Advisory

A TSUNAMI ADVISORY IS ISSUED FOR THE STATE OF HAWAII EFFECTIVE
AT 0557 AM HST.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

ORIGIN TIME - 0541 AM HST 14 NOV 2007
COORDINATES - 22.2 SOUTH 69.9 WEST
LOCATION - NORTHERN CHILE
MAGNITUDE - 7.7 MOMENT

EVALUATION

THE PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER HAS ISSUED A NON-EXPANDING
REGIONAL TSUNAMI WARNING FOR A PART OF THE PACIFIC NEAR THE
EARTHQUAKE. BASED ON ALL AVAILABLE DATA THERE IS NO DESTRUCTIVE
TSUNAMI THREAT TO HAWAII.

HOWEVER... SOME COASTAL AREAS IN HAWAII COULD EXPERIENCE SMALL
NON-DESTRUCTIVE SEA LEVEL CHANGES AND STRONG OR UNUSUAL CURRENTS
LASTING UP TO SEVERAL HOURS. THE ESTIMATED TIME SUCH EFFECTS
MIGHT BEGIN IS

0736 PM HST WED 14 NOV 2007

Cookie Fundraiser at Work

I've taken over the freezer at work! I'm just glad everything fit!

History of my blogging too?

Andrew's Birthday Photos

WV Photo Gallery is up!

None of the photos have captions, but if I waited for that it would never get posted.

http://gallery.mac.com/richfuel

Busy productive day

Got a lot done today, at least it felt like it. Still, the list of things to do never ends, and I have to be up early for church tomorrow.

Weeded and cleaned back yard
Fed kids breakfast
Picked up EVDO from Ryan Ozawa (my hero)
evaluated EVDO tech for New Hope Mililani
mowed lawn trimmed trees, ran blower
Got kids doing homework (no small task)
fed kids lunch
Eye doc appointment
shopped Costco
filled car with gas
cleaned and moved new shelf into house
setup at church for tomorrow
launched a KH6DAD Ustream.tv channel
Uploaded photos of WV vacation (still loading)
Played with Twitter all day
updated Facebook profile
blogged.

Whew....

Tomorrow:
Church (2 services)
return EVDO gear
build a western town with Brad for school
nap? (Ha!)
Mannings for a light birthday party and Rattatoui viewing
collapse into bed

What a weekend. I can't wait for Monday. I have to go to work, but it will still feel like a holiday I think!

Peace, Love and Fast Paced,

Rich

Sing-a-long "We are friends,..fre..e...e..friends!"

Hi friends,

Just got home from a small Wananada Wednesday (Bible Study) night at my buddy's house. I'm a bit tired and it was good to just talk with my friend Gary for a while. It made me really appreciative of all my friends and I just wanted to let you know, in my impersonal but oh-so-Rich way, that my friendships with you mean a lot to me. For all of you who call me friend, forgive me for taking our relationship for granted. Ha! Sounds like I've been drinking or something!

(...Raises glass, "I luves eash und Eevery ones of you. I luves you, and you, and you...whersh the bathroom,...I gotta pee...")

ANYWAY.... friends are cool and I have cool friends. Thanks!

Peace Love and Good Friends,

Rich

Send me your contact info

I'm setting up some new programs and need your contact info. If you are willing to share them, I am interested in any of the following:

Your AIM name
Your .MAC name
Your SKYPE name
Your FACEBOOK name

You can email it to me at richfuel@mac.com

Peace, Love and Connectedness,

Rich

This message was sent from Rich's Treo 650.

Best Crank Call ever

The person who was called turns the conversation around and puts the telemarketer on the defensive! (PG-13)

Sunday's Weather

We received a total of 3.16 inches of rain in 24 hours. Now the skys are clear but the weather reporters say more is coming.

Flash...BANG!

Thunderstorm rolling in now. Loudest I've heard in a long while! Makes me thing a lot about my antennas. Power just flickered too.

Halloween

This year Bradley went as a hunter and Bryan went as a "cereal killer"! (Ha!) It was a wet night and it took me 2 hours and 15 minutes to get home so I missed most of the trick-or-treating (but I got to do a little with the boys).

Peace, Love and... BOO! (Scared ya!)

Rich