The Google Earth blog posted about how you can turn your google earth experience into this special halloween edition.  Download this kmz file and open it up in Google Earth. You’ll see the earth in a whole new way.  Make sure to use the ShareThis button below to pass this around to others.

Read more about this here.

The House of Representatives is currently experiencing an extraordinarily high amount of email traffic. The Write Your Representative function is therefore intermittently available. While we realize communicating to your Members of Congress is critical, we suggest attempting to do so at a later time, when demand is not so high. System engineers are working to resolve this issue and we appreciate your patience.

Dave Ramsey suggests the following course of action.  From an email sent by his organization.  It makes a lot of sense to me.  Who do you trust more with your money, Dave Ramsey or congress?  I mean think about it.

—Start of Email—

We are at a crucial time in our country’s financial history. Congress defeated the $700 billion bailout plan on Monday. However, they are revising it and trying to push it through again. I’m supporting an alternative plan that will keep our nation from going even deeper in debt, and I’ve been on TV and radio all week telling people about it.

We need everyone’s help!

3 Steps to Change the Nation’s Future

Follow the instructions below. Together we can change history.

Pray For Your Leaders

Pray for them to resist a spirit of FEAR and to embrace WISDOM. Even if you don’t like them or agree with them, pray for them and tell them you are praying for them. There is a spirit over this problem that must be broken. Also, most of the media personalities are afraid as well and that is affecting their reporting. Pray for fear to be removed from them; they are making this worse.

Send the Common Sense Fix

Send The Common Sense Fix to your Representatives and Senators and tell them how you expect them to vote, and that if they put this nation in $700 billion of debt, that you will vote them out. It’s their job to listen to us! (Whichever presidential candidate or political party that champions this plan from their leadership down will likely become the next president. That is because this plan fixes the crisis while going along with the wishes of the vast majority of Americans.)

1. First, read this page (PDF)
2. Next, copy the info on this page (text file)
3. Send it to your Senators and Representatives by copying and pasting the text in the web form you’re sent to.

*Note: If their websites are down, that means we’re making a difference! Keep refreshing the page until you get through. You can also go through Congress.org, though we don’t endorse this site.

Tell Others

Forward this email to everyone in your address book and tell them to urgently follow these 3 steps TODAY. The more people we have supporting this and contacting their elected leaders, the more likely we can turn our economy around!

— end of email —

Well I sent it off to Sen Corker and Alexander.  The house website was down.  I’ll try that later.

Now Turnus leads his troops without delay,
Advancing to the margin of the sea.
The trumpets sound: Aeneas first assail’d
The clowns new-rais’d and raw, and soon prevail’d.
Great Theron fell, an omen of the fight;
Great Theron, large of limbs, of giant height.
He first in open field defied the prince:
But armor scal’d with gold was no defense
Against the fated sword, which open’d wide
His plated shield, and pierc’d his naked side.

So now I know the rest of the story.

For starters, my occupation provides a never ending source of manageable stress that I let get a little out of hand.  Not good.  Combine that with one of those nasty virus bugs going around and the old body got a little out of whack.  You know like when it just starts to shut down.

All is back on track now thanks to some specific and intentional changes with work and play.  I’m hopeful that what I enjoy doesn’t have to play second fiddle again to misguided perceptions of expectations.