I had planned quite a bit for myself to do today after work. Unfortunately for me, at the time of planning I had no idea of the tremendous amount of pain I would be in once work was over. I had planned to clean out my car, clean up in my room, print class notes, read my new book and watch an episode of Roswell. Work was horrendous. I don’t even know how I made it through the day. The pain was awful and intense. I am still in a tremendous amount of pain as I type this. Thank God for laptops, as I am laying in bed with two pillows that are helping to lessen the pain my neck is in and which radiates through my shoulders and spine. The pain is so intense and awful that at times it feels like my neck, shoulders and spine will just explode or collapse. I’m very afraid of how I will feel in the morning, not to mention what might be to come after another seven to eight hours at work on that damn concrete floor. I cannot stay at this new job, for many reasons, but most importantly because it is killing my body. The last thing I need is a broken body.

Hurricane Ike was the first hurricane I have been through. It was a scary storm to be in. The sound of the wind blowing that night the hurricane made landfall was something awful. I remember being scared and wondering what the different sounds were and what things looked like outside, but now I can hardly remember what it sounded like.

Our house sustained no damage. I can hardly believe it. I’m shocked and thankful. Our house was wrecked by Tropical Storm Allison back in 2001 and has endured a couple of floods since then. Somehow we always sustained damage when no one else did, but in this awful hurricane our house was fine save a small amount of water in the back room and in the garage and a tree from next door that fell on our fence (which has already been repaired). None of our belongings were damaged either. It’s a miracle. Thank God.

We have no electricity but we do have water, gas and a generator. My laptop is running on generator power and I have internet due to my lovely Verizon Wireless Internet. (I love Verizon!) Thankfully, we have also had a beautiful cold front come in to make the days and nights without A/C bearable.

Unfortunately, Jason’s family’s home was destroyed by the hurricane. I’m very shocked by this as well, and saddened of course. I can’t believe their house sustained so much damage and I hope they will be able to get all aid that is available.

Thank God we all made it alive and well through this storm. We made it and I am happy, but I hope I never have to go through one of these again.

A lot is going on in my life. Things are starting to get very hectic, very quickly.

The future looks very promising and I could be on the verge of big things. I’m excited and scared at the same time. Dreams and hopes may become reality.

Despite my obvious pessimistic disposition at times, despite my fight with a profound depression, despite my hidden pain, I love life. Life is beautiful. There’s so much to take in. There’s never enough time, but I’m glad I am in it, and I must still be here for a reason. I have so much to be thankful for.

I am extremely excited about Barack Obama’s win in South Carolina tonight. In the midst of doing homework I took a quick break to check Yahoo! and I literally shouted, “YES!” when I saw the headline, “Obama wins South Carolina”. What an amazing and exciting time it is. He truly gives me hope about the future of this country. His speech was wonderful and gives me that crazy, hopeful feeling that something amazing is happening. Something great is happening and I’m finally old enough to be a part of it. I definitely did not feel this way in 2004. I really believe this was the boost Sen. Obama needed to propel him far ahead of Hillary Clinton. I believe he will win it all. He is truly uniting us. I keep hearing of a lot of republicans who are a part of the Obama site. Imagine that, republicans voting for a democrat! How exciting! I hope to give a donation to Obama’s campaign very soon. He has my full support and I would like to help support his campaign. I’m so happy about this!

For more information, please visit: Obama in ‘08

A few weeks ago while browsing a message board I stumbled upon a site called Charity Navigator.  It provides every bit of information you would want before getting involved with an organization.  It also keeps track of favorite charities and allows you to share your favorites with others.  I really love the site because I love finding and supporting great charities and it allows me to see exactly where my money goes and whether or not I should support a charity.  So for those interested in philanthropic endeavors, visit Charity Navigator.

I am all about finding ways to help make this world a better place, even if it is in a small way. The way I see it, every little bit counts. With that being said when the (Product) Red campaign was launched in 2006, I was happy to hear that such a campaign was getting so much attention. I thought it was a great idea to sell “Red” branded products while educating mainstream America about the countless amount of Africans who are dying needlessly of AIDS every year. Although I am not big on the accumulation of unnecessary “stuff”, I thought overall it was a great idea and I even bought and received a few (Product) Red items, which I still love.

That was until I heard of a new campaign and an even better idea, one that called for the elimination of buying more “stuff” and instead just plain giving. The Buy (LESS) campaign is one that I can truly stand behind. There are no “cool” branded products to buy, just a simple plea to give to those who need the money more than we need an iPod or cell phone. I’m really in love with Buy (LESS) . Finally, there is an organization that promotes the idea of just plain giving to charity without buying some plastic piece of junk we don’t really need. There is nothing I dislike about the folks at Buy (LESS), except for the way they have chosen to “advertise”. I really hate unnecessary nudity..it’s stupid and pointless, but that’s a whole different blog….

Overall, (Product) Red is a good idea, but Buy (LESS) is an even better one.

I recently found out about a great program about that is being run by Windows Live Messenger called i’m. Each time you IM, Microsoft donates money to one of ten great organizations, such as UNICEF, American Red Cross and the National Aids Fund, just to name a few. The more IMs sent, the more money given. I really love this idea; it’s so simple and especially great for people who may not be able to donate money of their own. It’s just one more way you can help and make a difference. Please join today at i’m Making a Difference.