Shades of Reality

What to do if you've been declared dead.

2011-08-17T12:09:00.000-07:00

What to Do If You've Been Declared Dead

To avoid the financial hardship or risk of identity theft as a result of being named to the Social Security's death list, the Identity Theft Resource Center recommends that you do the following:
First, find out who reported you as dead.
Then, get a copy of your death certificate from the county clerk's or recorder's office where the death was reported, and fill out a form to amend the certificate. The death certificate will include the name of whoever reported your death. This person is typically contacted to sign the amendment as well.
To remove your name from the database, you need to make an appointment at your local Social Security office. Bring a photo ID and the certified copy of the amended death certificate, the ITRC said.
Once you correct the information with Social Security, you may need to contact your bank, credit bureaus and any other entities that are under the impression that you're deceased to let them know you've been born again.
Social Security's Hinkle said it's typically easier to fix than this.
"It normally involves seeing the person face-to-face and verifying some form of current ID," he said, adding that the administration occasionally writes letters that people can present to other entities to prove they are alive.
"We take these situations seriously and wish they didn't happen at all, but when we find out it has occurred, we help the person fix it," said Hinkle.

The Promises of Love

2011-02-12T12:55:00.000-08:00

The promises of love;
Are they too good to be true?
Can they be fulfilled forever?
Have I ever broken them to you?

Are we both gonna be able
To be by each other's side?
Will we be able to understand each other
Or will we just pretend we tried?

When we say "til death do us part",
Is that really a long time?
Not really, when you consider that
Life can end at the drop of a dime.

Do we have the courage and the patience
To withstand both "in sickness and in health"?
Or the dark side of despair and desolation
Compared to the happiness of wealth?

You see, love is a lot more than we all imagine.
We all experience it in different ways,
And possess different capabilities
To hopefully fulfill the rest of our days.

So for whatever reason you love someone,
Think about what you can and cannot do
In order to make that person happy
And hope your promises of love stay true.

The Lost Hope

2011-01-11T19:08:00.000-08:00

I feel so bad for someone today,
It never should've happened at all.
And knowing there's nothing I can offer,
No way I can help, nothing I can say,
It wouldn't do any good to even call.

Things have moved on as expected.
One of us is always going to feel left behind.
I don't know how either of us will end up,
It's just more than I can bear in my mind.

I can only pray and ask God to heal,
As I know he works in that way,
And hope that the love she has found this time
Will strengthen her day by day.

So Lord, give her your love
As she doesn't want mine
And let her know how much you care
Restore her faith and happiness
And give her more love to share.

2010-12-31T10:49:00.000-08:00

Greetings !!

With this being Dec.31st of 2010, obviously this will be the last writing of this year. Many of you are thinking of what your New Year's resolution will be, or have already decided prior to this year ending.
I know most people think about what the year has been about and how everything that has taken place has changed us and made us what we are and where we are today. Whether all that has made us stronger or defeated us will determine what we plan to do to change ourselves in whatever way would benefit us the most.
Some will strive to be healthier, if possible, some will further educate themselves to enrich their lives in one way or another. For others it might be to change who we stay connected with or mingle with; improve our circle of friends,
acquaintances, business connections,etc. Whatever resolution(s) you make, however you decide to change yourself or your life, make sure the desire to make that change, or reach that goal you strive for, is the constant light at the end of the tunnel, and is the brightness of each day you live.
Not one day is reclaimable and the future only comes one day at a time, but each one is worth making the most of it.
Make it better for yourself and everyone you care about. You won't regret it.
Happy New Year to everyone and God bless all my friends and family.

When Jesus Met Santa

2010-12-21T10:00:00.000-08:00

I found this poem on www.thewritingforum.net. It is written by Michael Mack.
Thought everyone might enjoy reading it.

“When Jesus Met Santa”

Jesus and his cousin John,
A man of trusted soul,
Traveled up to find that man
They'd heard of at the Pole.

Santa then was not the man
That we all know today,
Carting gifts around the world
On reindeer-driven sleigh.

He was just a man who cared,
A rather simple sort
Who gifted children in his town
Because of his huge heart..

So Jesus, John and Santa met.
As, outside, cold winds blew
And Jesus said, "My friend, I have
A job for you to do."

"The word has traveled all the way
From here to Galilee
Of how you share your love for all
With generosity."

"You put smiles on children's faces
With your merriment and mirth
And I want you to deliver gifts
To everyone on earth!"

"To everyone on Earth? You mad??!!
Said Santa, with a snort.
"There are lots of people,friend.
I'd not know where to start!"

"And, just in case you haven't seen
I've not the normal girth.
It's not a belly that's designed
For traveling the earth."

"No matter", spoke up John, whose hands
Were starting to feel frozen.
"The Lord will give you all you need.
Be glad that you've been chosen."

But Santa said, "How can this work?"
Gift all in just one day?"
The Lord replied, "You'll do it
With a reindeer-driven sleigh."

"Reindeer??", Santa snorted, "They
Are such a worthless lot.
"I'd need some creatures built for speed.
Is that the best you've got?"

Jesus smiled and so did John,
With twinkles in their eye.
"Not ordinary reindeer, friend
But reindeer that can fly."

"Flying reindeer??" Santa laughed.
"I've heard it all this time.
You sure you haven't oversipped
The sacrificial wine??"

"And what about the presents, then?
Now where do I get those?
Millions of gifts for everyone..
Some magic, I suppose?"

"I'm sending you a group of elves",
Said Jesus, with a smile.
They'll spend the year preparing
Gifts for every living child."

"Some elves? You're sending me some elves?"
The smiling man replied.
"Some reindeer and a group of runts
To help me?!", Santa cried.

"And this costume I'm supposed to wear..
You're telling me it's red?!?
And a cap with some white tassel?
Give me something else instead!

People who wear red up here
Er, walk a little funny.
Don't want some six foot eskimo
Refer to me as honey!!!"

Jesus smiled and said, "Good friend,
The job has many perks.
Let me point them out to you
And how this whole thing works".

"Millions of kids will idolize
The person that you are.
They'll pray to you, write songs to you.
You'll be their biggest star."

"Kids will mind their manners and
Be courteous to all.
They want to be on Santa's list
Each Christmas when you call."

"They'll go to bed on Christmas Eve
Anticipatingly,
And, for their thanks for what you do.
Leave cookies by the tree."

"Well, now it's sounding better!
It could be a worthwhile trip!
They'll leave me cookies, did you say?
Could you make them chocolate chip??"

The trio talked all through the night
On details, I suppose.
Jesus agreed to a reindeer
With a headlight for a nose.

Santa agreed to wear the clothes,
Although he hated red
And everything was worked out
By the time they went to bed.

So that's the way it is, my friends.
Dear Santa roams the land
On sled propelled by reindeer
And Jesus's loving hand.

Leave out your milk and cookies
Pray before you go to bed
And know that Santa and Jesus
Are both watching, overhead.

© Michael Mack

My Unfulfilled Wish

2010-12-17T06:30:00.000-08:00

I wish I could've known how you were feeling
Before you said we were through.
You showed no indication you were hurting
And all this time I was the fool.
You said you wanted us to not see
Each other for awhile.
So I still don't know how you feel
But I don't like this trial.
The days are so uncertain
And the nights are worse yet.
We don't have much of a future
I'm willing to bet.
You'll drag this on and not even call,
You didn't even acknowledge the card
I sent at all.
I know this is all one-sided in what I say here
But all I want is to love you
And for you to be near.

How to Enhance your Identity or Personality

2010-12-12T14:02:00.000-08:00

All of us basically know what makes up our personality, what makes us who we are by what our likes and dislikes are, and how it determines what our life turns out to be. Who we make friends with, who we network with, how well we work with others, how we are perceived by everyone we come in contact with, is determined by what we are like as individuals and our interaction with everything we come in contact with. Some of the characteristics we describe ourselves with are: easy going, hard working, laid back, happy with our job, easy to get along with, patient, understanding,etc. Maybe we need to explore what other qualities or characteristics that would change not only our personality, but also enhance our own self esteem and self image by realizing just what other ingredients we actually unknowingly possess.
In acknowledging these we have to honestly and with self-scrutiny determine whether they reside within us or not.
How many of us are eager or creative? Or do we want to be funny or fun-loving?
Do any of us strive to be influential or capable, credible compliant or even conscientious for that matter? These and more adjectives for us to choose from would cause us to mold ourselves around and build ourselves upon. Whichever traits or qualities we decide we possess or would like to acquire, detailed examination of each quality would have to be done to determine what makes up that quality and how each of us would incorporate it into our own individual life in order to know that it was reflected in our actions, thoughts and every day lives. The more we develop in our personality, the brighter our daily existence could become. The more tolerant and even tempered we might turn out to be.
From A to Z(or thereabouts)here are several more qualities to pick from to see what we could possibly become:

Accountable,adaptable,aggressive,ambitious,
articulate,assertive,authentic,broadminded,
calm,caring,cheerful,clean,clever,committed,
compassionate,composed,daring,efficient,
ethical,experienced,flexible,forgiving,
friendly,generous,gracious,helpful,honest,
imaginative,independent,intuitive,just,
knowledgeable,levelheaded,logical,loving,
loyal,mature,meticulous,optimistic,
organized,persuasive,polite,positive,
productive,professional,quiet,reliable,
resourceful,respectful,savvy,sincere,
smart,tasteful,tough,upbeat,wise,witty

2009-12-24T23:38:00.000-08:00

To all my friends and family,

Christmas signifies many things to many people. For some, it's parties and gifts. For others, it's a way of helping the less fortunate, donating time, visiting those
who might be in hospitals or assisted living facilities, or just being with their families to exchange gifts, sharing a family dinner,singing Christmas carols and celebrating the birth of Jesus. There are also those who will mourn the loss of their loved ones and think back on happier times when they were here with them.

My wish for all of you is to be thankful for ALL the members of your family that are still with you in this life; to be able to not only make memories with, but to share what a family should share: Love, respect, and genuine caring. Someday you won't have that opportunity to do so anymore.

May you all have an enjoyable and Merry Christmas

Picking the Right Path

2009-11-19T22:14:00.000-08:00

What should I do and how should I do it?
Those are the perplexing decisions that
are keeping me from advancing to making
a noticeable change in my life right now.

I work in an $8.00/hr security job. The hours are both convenient and limited at the same time. The company I work for is a family saturated company, complete with daily issues, and complicated drama.

My goal has been and will continue to be finding one or more ways to supplement my financial well being online. So many opportunities and methods, but nothing is as easy as it appears.
One of the difficult tasks for me is to decide what type of niche website to create and what type of affiliate links would work and be rewarding (?).

I'm skeptical and cautious about jumping on and into every bandwagon just because everybody else says it works. Everyone else may just be making money
off of the eager,naive victims that are willing to take that chance that it will
work no matter how it works or what they spend for it.

I love to read forums and message boards and go the websites of the signatures
of different members' posts. I get a lot of novel ideas for creating a number of
profitable streams of income, and some seem like they would be easy or manageable to get started. Then there's the marketing issue. Oh there are numerous ways to market and advertise. It's just a matter of what works and
how well for how long. I know a lot more enters into the overall goal of something
being successful. The good thing is, it's not just a single way; lots of methods work. My uphill battle for now is to find out what works for the ideas I decide on.

That's my crossroads for now

Looking for and finding a career niche

2009-04-26T22:17:00.000-07:00

As bad as the economy seems right now,and as many people that are unemployed in this era of downturn, many people are unsure of what
will happen. Some people will continue to look for jobs they know they
are qualified for. Others will wonder what they will have to settle for in
a job. With so much competition for so few jobs available, maybe we as
the unemployed need to rethink our approach in evaluating how to prepare for what we may or may not find in the near future. I've outlined
just a few ideas to consider as we continue to struggle with re-entering
the job market.

1. Know what you're good at with respect to skills and abilities.

2. Know what you enjoy doing as far as hobbies,entertainment,
sports,etc.

3. Be open to being able to develop new skills, talents and abilities.

4. Experiment or try to learn new tasks, give yourself a second chance
to enlighten yourself about previous mental rejections of things
didn't interest you.

5. When you're not sure of what a new endeavor might include as to
requirements,education, physical abilities,dedication,etc, find
ways to investigate, find sources of expertise.

6. Give yourself the chance to do some internal soul searching regarding
ideas, expanding your horizons, or creative abilities.

7. Don't set your goals so high that you'll fear you won't reach them.
Give yourself a chance to see what level your ability you can start out
at. Don't be afraid of failure. Limit your failures to small ones, if any
at all seem to loom on the horizon. Small enough to not scare you
from trying anything else. One has to be able to branch out and uti-
lize whatever is effectively making us what we want to be in life.

8. Make use of whatever networking methods that you can implement
in your search for employment. Use your networking sources to
provide new avenues to explore when deciding what type of job
would appeal to you and what type you would excel at. Look for
networking support groups or events in your area to join and get
your name out in the open field. If they don't know you, they sure
can't find you.

9. Utilize as many job search engines as you can find to broaden your
search for whatever job that not only interests you, but that fit your
skills and abilities. Careerbuilder, hotjobs, indeed, linkedin, just
to name a few. Make as much available to your search as possible
and increase your probability of successfully finding your next
career.

One Man War

2009-04-25T20:10:00.000-07:00

Hello all !!! This is something I decided to do after all the rounds of American Idol have arrived to this point of competition. I had been thinking of everyone who had made it to this point, then I started thinking about everyone who had not even been considered in the beginning for any of the following reasons: no talent whatsoever, silliness, outrageous off key performances, etc. So I came across this video from someone who, by the content of the song, pointed out the limitations of age having to do with creative ability. Anyone over a certain age...don't even consider wasting the judge's time or the performer's time. This guy still didn't make it to Hollywood, but he got his point across......I think. At least to me he did. And I'm one of those people who likes to sing,even though I'm not quite as marketable as a lot of performers,
and I AM too old to be on the show,but I just thought that for the benefit of us wannabe's, we might know by watching this that someone tried to stand up for us, however futile of an attempt it was. So here we go. Hope you like it.

The Turn in the Road

2008-09-07T16:21:00.000-07:00

I've been wrestling a long time with trying to decide what kind of web
presence I wanted to occupy. I could go with a formatted template supplied website, or I could experiment and write my own elementary html page, but then I'd have to upload it to a web host, or I suppose there's a variety of other options that i haven't explored yet. At least this blog site gives me kind of a "home", if you will. I know I don't add much on a very consistant or regular basis unless something new or different happens or comes along. So, the purpose of today's thoughts are to "toss out" to the world my newest project. I came across a people search engine, and when I go to a web site, I usually look to see what kind of affiliate program they have available.
Anyway, long story short, I now have a new people search engine website. It can be found here:

http://searchthatname.com

You're able to search by name, phone number, or SSN, which state they're in, AND conduct a background search on anyone.

Also, go to: freeadvertisingforum
It's a great way to get your site out into the web presence of others who are looking for your subject or anything related to it. Just be sure to use your website address as your signature when you post an entry in the forum. Additionally, www.theforumsite.com is a valuable forum source to gain exposure from by using your signature in your postings.
Hopefully I can spread it around in some of the forums and get some traffic, maybe post the info
in some other classified sites and see what happens. That's all for today.

A Gap In Time

2008-07-22T13:56:00.000-07:00

I am back with another chapter,new observations,maybe a little more patience than before.About two weeks after my 1st and last post here, I was burned in a fire at home while burning some leaves,twigs and trash in general. I happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time due to the fact that an aerosol can that wasn't completely empty exploded. I raised my right arm to shield my face and as a result burned it up to my wrist.Luckily, I had gloves on. I had a T-shirt on and a pair of jean shorts.As a result,in addition to my right arm being burned,the right side of my chest and my right side got burned up to my armpit. If I hadn't immediately ran to hit the ground and start rolling to smother the flames, it would've been worse. I spent 2 1/2 weeks in the hospital where they took skin grafts from my thighs in front to repair the damage to my torso and arm. I learned a great deal about patience during my stay and also realized how much everyone in the burn unit cares for their patients. I was able to be released on June 9, after the doctors realized I could now use my legs,although I knew, even at home,that I would encounter quite a bit more time in allowing my wounds to heal.Sometimes in being at home, I enjoy being online, still looking for some kind of work(hopefully something I can do at home,because I'm not sure if I'm completely ready or physically able to last all day, every day at a regular job).I don't know where all of this will take me career wise,but I guess I will wait and see what the future holds. That's it for right now.

Another Trail of Life

2008-05-08T13:07:00.000-07:00

When a new day dawns, or a new idea is implemented, the wheels of organizing start rolling,the scheme of things start to form,the big picture is envisioned. And within that framework evolves the secondary structures that are comprised of the many details and ideas that lead to fruition and completion of the project at hand.
Each individual's creative endeavors are what make up the many "shades of reality" of this life we all share.

With that being said, an attempt will be made as to the direction of this (my new endeavor), in hopes it can all come together with the mixture of input I may encounter along the way.

As thoughts of expression come to mind, so many more extensions of the original seem to escape,
and the ability to be recalled so as to be included in the whole scope of things is lost. This causes me to sometimes lose the whole concept of the overall thought or idea. However I will do my best to remember everything I want to include in order to make clear what I would like to offer here.

I've expressed my thoughts before in the form of poems, and (what I would like to consider) even a reasonable facsimile of lyrics. I really enjoy reading into the lyrics of songs what they're trying to convey and the way the whole idea of the song is expressed. How to create the idea behind what the lyrics say is easy to comprehend, but for the life of me, how the melody is formed is beyond the scope of understanding for me, considering how many different songs exist today. That doesn't discourage me from enjoying music as one of my greatest enjoyments of life. If I can't create songs, at least I can enjoy listening to what others sing and play.

As far as singing goes, well, I'm too old for American Idol, fall way short of the perfection that is expected by a lot of people, but I can still enjoy making my own singing videos and practice to achieve my own level of satisfaction in performing them. I just don't sing in front of a live discriminate public crowd.

In closing, I don't expect any of this to make any great impact on anything or anyone, but just to "throw it out there" for what it's worth allows me to create SOMETHING just for the sake of writing.