Author Archives: Murphy

Roots

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One of the things I always knew when I was growing up was how special my church was. It was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Most other places were not filled with the Holy Spirit. In fact, other churches were so far away from God that they were even suspicious of people who were filled with the Holy Spirit. We knew that was silly, because the Bible talks about being filled with the Holy Spirit, right there in the beginning of Acts.

How could a Christian call themself a Christian and be suspicious of what was right there in the BIble?

I wanted to know how it had gotten lost. I was told that the Bible was written, and then the Church got all corrupted because of the sinfulness of the Catholic Church. It was amazing that there was a church at all, but it trucked along by the mercy of–the Holy Spirit!–until Martin Luther could hang his 95 theses on the wall and everyone could be Christians again.

But that didn’t answer my question about how Christians had lost the Holy Spirit. What had happened?

It was kinda the same thing. Just like Christianity itself had bumped along in the dark until Martin Luther cast off the evil catholics, the Holy Spirit had been ghosting around like a fog in the dark, just waiting to come back. He waited, until a lady in Los Angeles was suddenly filled with the Holy Spirit, started talking in tongues, and then everyone got filled with the Holy Spirit again.

A lady in Los Angeles? That means it couldn’t have been that long ago.

No, it was right before the great depression.They called it the Azusa street revival and that’s how our church got started. A lot of churches got started throught that movement.

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I remember hearing about the Asuza street revival. What I didn’t know what how HUGE it was, and that the lady who was filled with the Holy Spirit was a world-wide phenomena knows as Sister Aimee Semple-McPherson.

I didn’t even know that my bus passed that very Asuza street church, known as Temple Angelus, every day when I used to work downtown.

She was a huge force, and magnetically powerful woman who had passed into obscure legend, a no-name entity, by the time my folks had jumped on the caboose of the train that had started out as her bandwagon.

She started in the midwest, and her first husband was a preacher. They went to China as missionaries, and he died. She miraculously made it backto america and eventually became an evangelist.

And how! She had a radio show during the heyday of radio. In fact, she was the one who came up with the “Place your hands on the radio to be healed” idea…

I also find it interesting that her phrases (as I have heard them in documentaries) are the accent and tones that I heard imitated by itinerant preachers that came. I aways wondered why people would get that prophesying tone.

Oh Lord-ah…we prayyy for sturength-uh

I wondered about that as a kid…People who spoke normally in conversation would start talking all funny..

IT WAS HER! she talked like that.

And I never knew. I never knew that such an incredible strong woman got baptized in the man-centered church of my youth..baptized SO HARD she never came up for air.

and I had to learn about her through a PBS documentary.

…yet another example of how anonymous is a woman…

There was no end to the references of the Asuza street revival. But heavens, I never knew what it was.

Alternative

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problems with my itunes has me reloading the music that’s on my computer back into the player.

That is a treacherous path down memory lane. I have an odd assortment of music on the computer.

Gin Blossoms. WOW, that’s memory lane. it’s under the genre heading Alternative & Punk.

Alternative. I remember asking what that was supposed to mean.

“It’s like Heavy metal, but about how your life sucks…”

Does anyone else remember the Flannel shirt days of seattle music like me? I haven’t met anyone who does in a long time. But the GBs were from that time, and I am there again.

Nirvana can follow Cobain to wherever he went, they were never my anthems. But the Gin Blossoms, a million weird college bands never to be heard from again…They Might be Giants, Linda Perry’ screaming “WHAT”S GOING ON?” and the doc marten shod cranberries…”Do you have to…do you have to…?”

“Step out the front door like a ghost into a fog
where no on notices the contrast of white on white”

That slammed me in the gut..the struggle for selfhood and to be noticed in the big wide world of other people’s importance…

I remember beign grateful that huge clothing and torn jeans were in, because the homeless look was just about all I could afford at the time. I was POOR.

way poor

and then in ’95 I moved to California, and that’ about when I met Alanis. SHE let me know just how pissed off I was.

“I dont’ mean to pick you apart you see
but I can’t help it…
..all I really want is some patience..
a way to calm the angry voice…
and all i really want is deliverance”

Those were the days.

Most profitable

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Another topic of conversation during the super-smart-and-successful employed girls of the girls night was the state of health care.

Someone was mortified that our civilized country would allow pharmaceutical companies to advertise. She contended that they were already the most profitable industry ever.

I narrowed my eyes. “I don’t think that’s true.”

“Yes it is!” she said. She had read several books about it.

A smart and successful approach to the problem is to read books about it. And it is more than the casual interest, quite obviously, because it takes work to read it.

but it also takes work to write such a book. And I am suspicious of that…I hear in the distance the sound of an axe grinding.

So, I want to research which companies are the most profitable. Fortune magazine gives a list.

Johnson&Johnson are at #11…but I think they are more focussed on shampoo than finding the new viagra…Pfizer is #15…that’s a drug company for sure.

I wonder what criteria those books use? Here’s a site that says they are the most profitable. He cites 2001…When my link above cites 2005.

2001 was a bad year for many many companies…Maybe not the best year to pick for judging profitability across the board. Then again, it depends on what you are trying to prove. Maybe if you want to say they are the most profitable, then it is the best year to pick. 2001 is the year you would be RIGHT!

Profitability is tricky. I mean, Enron looked extremely profitable, until it didn’t.

What’s the deal here? Do we want to be right, or do we want to solve a problem? I personally don’t care to be right, I care to be better off.

The people i know that work in the pharmaceutical industry tell me that the research and development of new drugs all get paid for out of american pockets. That the r&d wouldn’t happen if they didn’t get the money back from the USA.

is that true? they are insiders, but might be skewed to favor their viewpoint too.

As far as I know, all the big companies are international. Wikipedia has a list. They seem to indicate that all the comopanies are based in some nationality.

But trade being what it is, surely they all sell to america. The word on the street that the USA pays for the R&D could be true.

And maybe that’s not fair. The EU and Canada should shoulder their part! All the rich nations should be penalized equally!

then again, maybe they are penalized by not getting the good pills. I don’t know. It is most intriguing.

I have heard it said that the problem with Big Pharma’s profitabiliyt expecations is with the regulations required to get the goods on the market. That the FDA is so darn picky, and can change teh requirements at any time, meaning that Big Pharma might have to undergo big expensive changes to their testing causing delays. That means that they must build into their pricing very high profit levels, on the chance that they might have to do that kind of silly thing.

Of course, the source of this “de regulate!” message is awfully libertarian. So maybe they are skewing the facts to support their beliefs.

The R&D for drugs is not a sure thing. There are all kidns of experiments that are dead ends. That’s what it takes to find the good stuff. Try, try and expensive try again.

In the same way that the scientists must look around to find the cure for cancer or aids or MS, shouldn’t we be scientific and open minded about finding the cure for our not-optimal health-care system?

let’s look at the situation, and poke at it in various ways without assuming the answer pre-poke. it’s a large complicated system. who knows what might be the right action?

socialization

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I went ice skating this weekend. It is part of a girl’s night my fabulous socially organizing-type friend is doing.

There are a lot of girls that could be part of the girls’ night. But this is the second girls night, and we are capping out at four. They are not all the same girls. It’s a rotating cast of people that can manage to come.

At our dinner afterwards, Kim (the organizer) brought something up. She has a roommate, a mostly employed actor, and he asked her what she was doing.

“Girls night”

“Oh, I’m having a dinner party, I was gonna tell you to come.”

This dinner party was organized about 2 days prior. They expected about 40 people to show.

OUR girls night had been organized MONTHS ago, but only four people (and only two for the whole time) came.

I suggested that maybe roommate’s JOB is to draw an audience, and that is why all these people come. He pulls a crowd, and that is what makes him employed as an actor.

Someone else suggested that maybe it’s because all his unemployed actor buddies are quite up for anything at the drop of a hat. He KNOWS a bunch of people with free time.

We girls were not full of free time.

So, It makes me think. How do people end up being friends with people these days? Myspace and Facebook are not really full of friends. Not the sort of friends you see and hang out with.

It’s tough, once you get successful and responsible, to maintain the friends. That’s why I admire Kim greatly for helping. I know it takes time for her to organize our girls nights.

Somehow I think we forget to give ourselves and fun times a priority. It gets pushed back, lower down on the list. FIRST we have to get to work and FIRST we have to go take the class and FIRST we have to…

but we can’t seem to find a second.

I know that once people have kids, they seem to grow a social life again. I’ve seen elaborate birthday parties for three year olds that have more adults than kids.

I guess if you hang out with poeple who are full of free time, then you can have friends. Like the employed actor. but those of us who are more than mostly employed…well…we like hanging out with other ambitious people. And people like that take 2..3…4…10 tries before you can actually spend the time.

words to live by

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(I didn’t write this, it was a random spam like list I found)

1. Losers think everything is too good to be true, while the successful think that getting a job sounds too bad to be true (think entrepenuer).

2. Losers give up when things don’t go their way; a few disappointments and they are onto something else, saying things like “it wasn’t for me.” The successful work harder and become more determined when things go bad, and understand that you have to take the bad with the good to make it.

3. Losers always have an excuse. Successful people say “my fault” and refuse to make excuses.

4. Losers think that not getting what they want is OK. Successful people are disgusted at the thought of not getting what they want and will do whatever it takes.

5. Losers always have to talk it over with their broke friends to make sure no one will make fun of them if they make a decision. Successful people think for themselves and could care less what their broke friends think.

6. Losers are never coachable and teachable. Successful people are always learning, even when the money starts coming in, they never stop learning from those who were there first.

7. Losers are scared of others. Successful people trust in others and know that other people are crucial for their success.

8. Losers are always procrastinating; they would rather talk about it, read about it, think about it, but never seem to do anything. Successful people hate doing anything but getting it done.

9. Losers are glad when the day is over. Successful people love when the day begins.

10. Losers think successful people are lucky. Successful people put themselves into a position to be “lucky,” and then work hard to make the “luck” show up.

11. Losers work by the hour. Successful people work by the month. Losers want to know that after 1 hour of work they have something to show for it. Successful people find Losers who think like that and make them their employees.

12. Losers get excited they just got hired. Successful people think it is funny that someone could be fooled that easily; they are just making the successful person more successful.

13. Losers complain a lot. Successful people are thankful that no one shot at them today, they didn’t have to fight in a war, and that they don’t have a job.

14. Losers are too concerned about what other people are doing. Successful people are only concerned about what they can be doing to get more done. Losers think that if no one is doing something, it must suck. Successful people think that if no one is doing something, it means more money for them. Losers think that if everyone (all 200 people at the meeting in a city of 1 million) is doing something, it must be saturated. Successful people think that Losers aren’t too bright.

15. Losers think it is OK for other people to live where they want to live, drive what they want to drive, and do what they want to do. Losers are OK with the fact that they can’t do these things. Successful people get sick just thinking about being average. Losers think that other people’s opinions are worth more than their dreams. Successful people know that their dreams are worth more than other people’s opinions.
“To be successful, you must learn from Losers and do not do what they do nor think how they think.”

New indentity

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I get to renew my driver’s license today. Also, i am changing my name, so it’s a good time for this to happen.

There are a lot of places where my name must be changed.

It’s funny too. It’s such a light thing, a name. It’s air.

But the levels of beauracracy involved in changing it is staggering. Appointments, signatures, forms, copies of forms, approvals and waiting periods are involved.

I would like to have all of the name changing done before the end of the year. But I doubt that will happen.

carbon indulgences

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So, other people are thinking about being eco-friendly for the holidays.

It occurs to me, Al Gore set an example for how to handle the good credits I am accruing by using the bus. After all, it would be acceptable for me to take my car to work. I don’t though! I am taking the bus, and taking it a LOT. This means I am accruing carbon credits.

And my dear husband has worked for years to create and sustain a business that he can do from home. He does not go out and greedily consume energy by driving places. He stays at home, and also accrues carbon credits.

I am thinking of giving these carbon credits to loved ones for Christmas. I can find a lump of coal, and affix a card to it:

Merry Christmas! Because of eco-friendly steps (literally) taken by Chris and Murphy Daley, this lump of coal avoids incineration. This is your carbon credit, to use against whatever wasteful habit you wish to pursue guilt-free. Peace on earth, and ecological equality for all!

Damn, i have so many of these credits accrued, I could even sell them. I wonder if Ebay would give me a good price.

no room on the 690

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So, it’s the 4th week of not driving to work.

I take my car only when I have to…Like this thursday I have to, because I have an appointment at the DMV to change my license.

but it’s been going great. My bus system the Foothill transit is a very civilized bus system. They have new buses, called the Silver Streak, which I admire greatly but do not ride. The Silver Streak only goes downtown, and I need to go to Pasadena.

IMG_1494

See? Those are the west end of the foothills I am transiting. That’s a view of North Pasadena. And the end of my bus ride there and the start of my bus ride back. The very last stop before heading back home is in front of that Shell gas station. And in the bottom right corner is the stop before it.

The price of gas has greatly impacted my bus ride. To be honest, I didn’t think that would happen. BUT it is now to be expected that there are not enough seats on the bus. It’s getting kinda crazy! Almost every ride there are two people without a seat.

What do they think this is? Manhattan? this is LA and we need more or bigger busses or both.

I would like Foothill transit to give us a Silver Steak bus. In addition to their innate coolness, what with having a bendy middle and NAMES like ships (“Spirit of South El Monte”, etc.), the Silver Streak has free wi-fi.

it would be very good to get the silver streak coming to my bus stops.

crying in the bathroom

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So it came up in a book I’m reading right now. Of course, it was a teenage angst book. Crying in the bathroom. How many seeds of sorrow have been sown in public toilets all across America?

I can’t be the only one. I’m sure there are a million stories that could be collected.

There is a website about crying while eating.

But the crying in the bathroom needs some of it’s own attention.

short week

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it’s getting dark out

I forget sometimes…because it gets warm and dark in teh summer…It gets dark a lot earlier in the winter.

This is thanksgiving week. It will be pretty quiet except for the holiday party.

I plan on enjoying it