I've established a blog group. Book-a-holics.joeuser.com is a group for members of the JU community to come and write about what they're reading/have read.  You can initiate a discussion about a book, write a review, make a suggested reading list....as long as your article is about literature, it's welcome.  There are no limitations regarding genre, you can write about any and everything from sci-fi to romance to Chaucer to poetry. Anyone from the JU community is welcome; I'm g...

....create a blog group? I want to create a blog group for book reviews.  I want to have a place where JoeUsers can come and write book reviews, recommend (or not) books and literature, or even discuss the books that they're reading/have read. I tried to create a blog group from my account, but I get a 'you do not have admin privileges' message. Anyone got any ideas?

Hello, my name is Dharma and I'm a book-a-holic.  I am addicted to books.  I know that I'm addicted to books.  I can't leave a bookstore empty handed.  I can't even visit Amazon or Half dot com without placing an order for something.  I read constantly.  If I didn't leave the house to go to work, I'm sure that I'd be quite happy to spend all day reading.  I have learned how to cook and clean with a book in my hand and my eyes on the page.  I re...

He's gone.  The air in our house is still and quiet as I wander from room to room trying to find some nuance of his recent presence.  I stand and listen to the silence, hoping somehow to hear an echo of him....but there's nothing. My love is gone... D, if you read this, I want you to know that I love you and that my heart breaks a little every time you leave.  Without you here, I feel like I'm not really living....I'm just existing.  I'm simply going through th...

There were a bunch of reservists, aka 'Weekend Warriors' at the BX yesterday. I was saddened by their appearance.  See, in the Air Force there are rules about personal appearance.  We have (had) weight management programs so that people keep their weight down, fitness tests so that people are in decent shape, rules about haircuts, rules about facial hair.....there's pretty much a rule about everything.  Breaking some of these rules is punishable under the UCMJ - I've seen Artic...

I'm taking refuge in the Buddha.  I'm immersing myself in the dharma.  Over the next few days I'm going to make myself sit with me, my thoughts and feelings and pain.  I'm not going to run and hide.  I'm not going to try and escape...because the escape has to come to an end at some point and those feelings will still be there.  I'm going to sit and examine my feelings, turning each one over in my head....looking at it from all sides, from every angle, analyzing and t...

I found this in 'The Time Traveller's Wife', and I read it to my husband.  He said that it sums up pretty accurately what he feels about our life together....and I think that many of you men out there (particularly the military members) might be able to identify with it...   'I hate to be where she is not, when she is not.  And yet, I am always going, and she cannot follow.' (Audrey Niffenegger, 'The Time traveller's Wife') 'Nuff said, I think.....

I got 'ID' cards for my kids yesterday. These are tri-fold cards that have space for fingerprints, a hair sample for DNA testing, a recent picture, a dental chart and a drawing of a body like you'd see on an autopsy report so you can mark down scars, broken bones etc. Last night I lined all three of my babies up and took their prints. We marked on the little bodies where they have scars, birthmarks and broken bones.  We talked briefly about what we needed to have these cards for....

I got a Brew Station coffee maker earlier this week. It doesn't have a carafe, there's a button that you rest your cup up against and it dispenses the coffee out of a vat-type arrangement in the machine itself: I like it.  I like it a lot.  I've had some awesomely good tasting cups of coffee since I got it.  It's easy to clean, easy to use, and I haven't noticed any 'burnt' flavor like I did with my old pot (especially if I was making a half carafe, the scorched flavor...

I was reading the Tibetan Book Of The Dead and came across this: '0 nobly-born, that which is called death hath now come. Thou art departing from this world, but thou art not the only one; [death] cometh to all. Do not cling, in fondness and weakness, to this life. Even though thou clingest out of weakness, thou hast not the power to remain here. Thou wilt gain nothing more than wandering in this Samsara. 9 Be not attached [to this world]; be not weak. Remember the Precious Trinity. 10...

He's leaving next week.  We will load up the car with his bags and belongings and with churning stomach I will drive him to his squadron, trying not to cry. With trembling chin and tear-blurred sight I will put my arms around his neck one last time and press my face into his chest as my tears overflow my lids and dampen his shirt.  Words will be whispered, lips will meet...and I will have to let him go and walk away.  I won't look back.  I can't.  Lessons lea...

We live about 50ft away from a small creek at the end of our backyard.  It's provided us with a variety of wildlife, from herons to squirrels to snakes.... ....but this evening D came running in from his evening smoke telling me to look outside and get his Maglite. This is what I saw when I looked out of the backdoor: A red fox! (obviously it wasn't that exact fox, but one a lot like it.) I haven't seen one of those in years, and I do mean years....not since we left Englan...

Michael Jackson was late for court today. He was apparently dressing himself this morning when he felt a sharp pain in his back which rendered him immobile.  He was transported to the emergency room, and was reported by his attorney to be suffering from a "serious back problem" (it makes me wonder how serious it is, to be honest....).  He said that he thought that he's be given a muscle relaxant and then released (even though he was immobile, paralysed?  That doesn't make sense...

I felt like having a smoke today. I had the same thing last week. I just feel like having a cigarette...I don't need one, I just want one.I'm trying to resist the temptation. I know that smoking makes your skin bad, gives you wrinkles, cancer and lung damage, I know that it makes your hair and clothes smell.....but I still want one.It's a good thing that it hurts me to drive right now, or else I'd have gone to the store and got myself a pack. Yes, I have no will power when it comes to smoki...

I'm having a bad back day. I would do almost anything to rid myself of the burning, throbbing, aching sciatica that's running down my legs.  This is the worst it's been, ever. The thing is, I know WHY I'm having a bad back day.  I have to go to the doctor this afternnon and, after I plead with him to temporarily put me out of my misery somehow, I'll have to explain just HOW I hurt myself this time. *blushing* I have a.....a.....fornication related injury.  Yes, yo...