The Higher Being was in Phoenix

This past weekend was CRAZY!!! Lots of things happened...well two things happened which resulted in me losing sleep last night.

First, a couple friends came over for pool time on Sunday. While at the pool they decided to tell me about a robbery they heard about. HELLO? New to living on my own! I really didn't want to hear about robberies.

The second event happened on Saturday which resulted in lost sleep Saturday night and Sunday night. I was driving my friend back to my place, and I was telling her a story. For some reason, I did not see the upcoming light. It turned red. I kept driving. Somehow, only by the grace of the Higher Being, did I avoid a car in the middle of the intersection. I swerved missing the car by only inches.

It was very weird missing the car. Thinking back I don't remember having control of the car. It was like someone else was driving my car instead of me. Whatever happened, whoever was there, Thank You.

Many thanks over the past two days have been sent above to whatever it was that was with me.

Are Objects Capable of Wrong?

Many of you know I lived somewhat of a sheltered childhood. As a result, I can be naive at times. Other children who live sheltered childhoods don't object to things they are told. I, too, use to take everything in stride and not object to what I was told. But I have to put my foot down...

My family is quite religious. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with that. I believe it is healthy to have a sense of there being a higher "One." However, the issue I have is when an object becomes blamed for wrong. Yes, an object.

For as long as I can remember, television has been blamed for evil in the household within the my family. The television? What can it do? Can it turn itself on? Can it change the channel by itself?

The television can do nothing on its own. It takes a human to turn it on and change its channels. So why then is the television being blamed for such immorality? It is the parents/users that should be blamed. They have the ability to change the channel, moderate the channels or turn it off.

The television is one of the greatest inventions. How else would we know what Africa or the rain forest is like? Thanks to National Geographic we can see and hear first hand what it is like. We can see what it is like when countries set aside their differences and come together to compete for Gold in the Olympics.

Television is an object. It cannot be blamed for wrong. It is the user that must be blamed.

Today's Path: The Only Mosquitoes

I have now been in Arizona for close to three months. These past three months have been awesome. Sunshine, pool time with friends, sunshine, new faces, less humidity, and did I mention sunshine?

But when I left St. Louis in May, I was told I was leaving the bugs and mosquitoes. In the past few weeks I have come to find out that I have probably brought a few with me. I have had about 5 or 6 mosquito bites over the past 2 weeks. Where did they come from? Don't they like to live by water? There isn't much here in the desert.

Therefore, I have concluded the mosquitoes enjoy St. Louis blood. Hopefully by next summer I will not have as much STL blood in me so the mosquitoes will leave. But on the bright side, if I was in STL I probably would have had closer to 20 bites in the past 2 weeks. So I will settle for 5 or 6.

Keep enjoying the summer. Rock on!

Lane J

Today's Path: 5 Life Lessons You Can Learn From Facebook

With the internet now reaching 1,463,632,361 people world wide, the influence of the internet is growing. People are capable of finding anything and everything they want to. The internet can offer life lessons that are both positive and negative. One website that has a large influence is Facebook.

Facebook has two applications which may be more addicting then Facebook itself and possibly crack, Flair and Bumper Stickers which offer life lessons. I have picked a few from my profile to share with you.

1. Never do anything you wouldn't want to explain to the paramedics

2. Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...it's about learning to dance in the rain.


3. Dream as if you'll live 4ever & live as if you'll die tomorrow

4. Dance like no one's watching.
5. Forget about the people from the past. Theres a reason they didnt make it to your future

Are you on Facebook? If so are there any life lessons you learned from your or your friends Flair or Bumper Stickers?

Rock on,
Lane J

The Country's Best Pizza

My BFF is in town this week. We have been hanging out and showing her around the Phoenix area.  Last night we went to Pizzeria Bianco, which in recent months has been voted the best pizza place in America by Yahoo!.

So after work yesterday, I ran home to get my BFF and head towards downtown to meet with our friend Kammie.  Knowing that Kammie was going to be on a conference call on her way to the pizzeria, I went online before we left and got directions to E Adams St.

As we were driving along 7th St., where the directions told us to go, I couldn't find E Adams.  The directions end at 7th St.  After driving around for a little while longer, I decide to get out my GPS system my parents gave me for graduation.  Unfortunately, GPS cannot find streets which don't exist.  I end up calling a friend who has actually driven in Downtown Phoenix. 

When we arrived at Pizzeria Bianco, I went in and put our name on the list for a table.  The nice hostess informed me it would be a 1-2 hour wait.  I was excited because usually the wait is 4 hours for the best pizza in America. 

So what do we do, we wait.............................


Okay so we are starving by the time we get a table around 7pm.  We enjoy a nice salad.  They were good, but we are still unsure if it was because we were so hungry that it is good or if it was because it was good.

Then it was pizza time.  One Margherita Pizza and one Wiseguy please.  

They were so good.  We ate all but 3 slices.  YUMMY!!!

All in all, great time with friends, YUMMY food.  If you don't like waiting then you should probably try somewhere else.  But remember you missed out on the countries best pizza.

Today's Path: Life lived backwards?

Earlier this week a friend sent me an email entitled "A different perspective on life." It went like this:

I want to live my next life backwards...
You start out dead and get that out of the way...
Then you wake up in a nursing home feeling better every day...
Then you get kicked out for being too healthy...
Enjoy your retirement and collect your pension...
Then when you start work and you get a gold watch on your first day…

You work 40 years until you're too young to work....
You get ready for High School: party...
Then you go to primary school you become a kid, you play, and you have no responsibilities.
Then you become a baby, and then...
You spend your last 9 months floating peacefully in luxury, in Spa-like conditions - central heating, room service on tap...

I rest my case...

At first I was seeing how that could be an interesting concept, but then I realized something. For your entire life you would have the knowledge you did when you died. I don't want to be 5 and worrying if there are people in my community who don't have a job or money for food.

There is a saying that goes:

The more you know, the worse off you are.

When I was younger I didn't know a lot of things that I do now even though I wanted to. Looking back I'm glad I didn't. Recess was meant to have fun and not to contemplate the meaning of life or world peace.

What do you think? Do think life truly would be better lived backwards? Think about and share your thoughts below.

Rock on,
Lane J

Today's Path: Excellance vs. Perfection

"I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, i can reach for; perfection is God's business." ~Michael J. Fox

Many times, heck most of the things I do, I try to make to perfection. The only issue is it takes a lot more energy to do make things perfect. You end the day tired and not wanting to do anything but go to bed and sleep until your alarm goes off the next morning. Even if what you where working on isn't perfect, you still don't have the energy to do anything because you are worrying about why it wasn't perfect.

I am not saying that you shouldn't strive for perfection in any way shape or form. But maybe, just maybe, you can save some energy, excitement and thrill of life if you strive for excellence. Just a thought. Anyway isn't perfection overrated? How many people can do you know that are perfect in what they do? If you know anyone, they themselves probably don't believe they are perfect. Why? Because you are your own worst critic.

Some of the greatest monuments are not perfect. One example is the leaning tower of Piza. All of the time spent to make it great makes it lean more and more each year. Even if someone were to straighten it, it would no longer hold the magnificence that it does. What about Neil Armstrong? The first man to walk on the moon. He prepared for what to say when he stepped on the moon, and he messed up. Yet it is remembered by so many people.

Perfection is overrated! Strive for excellence and in the mean time, be yourself!

Rock on,
Lane J