Month: February 2007

Benefit planned for Army Spc. Jason McCully

Jonathan Blundell
Staff writer

In support of one of their own, Ellis County residents are planning a benefit dinner, auction and dance to benefit Army Spc. Jason McCully and his family.
The St. Patrick’s Day Benefit will be held from 6:30 p.m. till midnight on Saturday, March 27 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Ennis.
A spaghetti dinner will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and an auction and raffle will be held from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a dance following.
McCully is a 1991 graduate of Waxahachie High School and was seriously injured while serving with the 2nd Infantry in Iraq.
After his second injury in June 2005, McCully was medically evacuated to Germany and then flown to the states for surgery.
Since his surgery he was stationed with his wife and four children at Fort Carson, Colo., before returning home to Waxahachie within the last few weeks.
But with his injury, life has changed for the McCullys, who were married just three years ago. McCully now has to live with seizures throughout the day and Marirose was forced to quit her job to care for him.
“Our car has been repossessed and we’re having difficulty making ends meet,” Marirose said in a January interview with the Waxahachie Daily Light. “I had to quit my job and stay home to take care of him because he has seizures. I haven’t been able to work and the only car we’ve had was the Mustang his mother bought him after graduation. With four kids it just doesn’t work.”
The McCully’s have four children, ranging in age from 5 to 15 years old.
While the family awaits paperwork from the Army for McCully to receive his medical discharge, they are faced with trying to support their family of six on an income of just $700 a month.
The 2006 federal poverty guideline for a family of six is an annual income of $26,800.
“We’re looking for everyone to get involved with this benefit,” event organizer Denise Smotek said. “We’re looking for businesses to get involved and really looking for the community to get involved.”
Smotek said she met with the family shortly after they returned home to Waxahachie and felt a real need to help the family.
“This is a man who has fought with great pride for our freedom and now has to figure out a way to support his family on $700 a month,” Smotek said. “They no longer have a car they can all fit in and go somewhere as a family because they lost theirs to repossession. Is this the way our Military personnel should be thanked for all their hard work and dedication to our country?”
The event will be done entirely with donations.
The Knights of Columbus in Ennis have donated the hall for the evening and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, Patriot Guard Riders and others have already pledged their support and involvement.
The Patriot Guard Riders are planning a ride from Waxahachie to Ennis the day of the benefit.
“We’re trying to put everything together now,” Smotek said. “We’ll hold planning meetings next week so we ask people to get involved now if they’d like to help.”
Smotek said they are accepting any type of donations and gifts to go in the auction and raffle that will be held that night.
Organizers will also sell 50/50 tickets, with half of the money going to the person holding the winning ticket and the other half going to the McCully family.
“All businesses or organizations making donations will be recognized the night of the benefit,” Smotek said. “We’re also looking for bands willing to give of their time during this event. If you are a band or know of a band please let them know we are in need.”
Donations may be dropped off the day of the event or picked up in advance.
For more information on the event or to make a donation for the auction and raffle, contact Smotek at (214) 287-2142 or neecee1966@msn.com.
Individuals interested in helping the family directly can contact Jason or Marirose McCully at (972) 937-8435.
A fund has also been set up for the McCullys at Vintage Bank in Waxahachie under Marirose McCully.

Ways to maintain a healthy level of insanity

I may have run this before but in case I haven’t, this is a fun read from Mark Batterson:
Got an email today, Ways to Maintain a Healthy Level of Insanity, that produced high levels of LOL. Thought I’d pass a few of my favorites:

1. At Lunch Time, sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point A Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.

2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don’t Disguise Your Voice.

3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask If They Want Fries with that.

4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It “In.”

5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks. Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.

6. Finish All Your sentences with “In Accordance With The Prophecy.”

7. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.

8. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.

9. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is “To Go.”

10. Sing Along At The Opera.

11. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can’t Attend Their Party Because You’re Not In The Mood.

12. Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, Rock Bottom.

13. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream “I Won!, I Won!”

State of the Christian blogosphere

The results of the recent Christian blogger survey have been released.
367 Christian bloggers responded with the bulk of their ages in their 30’s. 136 of the respondents, or 37% were between 31 and 40 years old.
Twentysomethings made up 24% of the bloggers.
One of the most impressive statistics in the survey was that 128 respondents were “senior pastors,” the largest group of the survey. Second was “associate pastor/minister” with 77. “Layperson/church member” with 67. Another 42 listed “church staff.”
I wonder if those results had anything to do with where the survey was advertised. The survey was sponsored by Church Communications Pro as well as Rick Warren’s Ministry Toolbox. If it had been advertised elsewhere I wonder if the results would have been different.
To see the complete results, click here.

Energy efficient web design

According to some smarter than me IT folks, using a white background on a website sucks up more wattage than using a black background. I would assume that that’s the same as using a word processor with a white page/background all day. Mark Ontkush suggests that if Google were to change their code and present their home page on a black background it could save $75,000 worldwide.
To alleviate the issue, Ontkush redesigned his website with an energy efficient color scheme. Not a bad idea. Maybe I should try the same thing with SSL 3.0.

Gates sets limits on his daughters computer use

Bill Gates told an audience in Ottawa that he and his wife have set computer use limits on their 10 year old daughter.

Gates said he and his wife Melinda decided to set a limit of 45 minutes a day of total screen time for games and an hour a day on weekends, plus what time she needs for homework.

Read more from Wired.