I've waited for a Star Trek-worthy communication device for years and now I finally have one! I grew up watching Star Trek after school each day after school. By about age 16, it dawned on me that...perhaps...I would not actually work on a starship when I grew up. But the cool thing is that many of the technological devices featured on the show have come to be, in one way or another.

Last week, it was finally my turn to get a new phone. I had planned on a new Blackberry for months. I text or talk all the time, for work, friends and for much of my family. My little Motorola Razr's keys and track ball were worn off. I was ready! I waited in line for 20 minutes at my favorite T-Mobile shop (obviously the cell phone industry is NOT affected by the financial crisis). Once I looked at my choices, I chose the coolest phone I've ever seen: T-Mobile's new G1. Funny thing, it was my cheaper than the newest Blackberry. I love it! My favorite features are the calendar, the GPS, the maps, the internet and the FaceBook application. i find that I am on my computer less now. And oddly enough, the one thing I had intended to do more - texting - is more difficult to do now. I now text less, which is a good thing because I was texting while walking, sitting in a meeting, driving (yes, it was a bad, bad habit). The two-thumbs keyboard makes it much harder to text quickly now; I am now more purposeful and safer in my texting. Making phone calls is the same, but the handset is definitely heavier. I need to get an earpiece.

The funny thing is the reactions to the phone from a couple of people. My 16 year old son thinks its cool and likes to watch YouTube videos on it. My 18 year old nephew drools over the phone and is making plans to purchase one. My mom, a mere 19 years older than me,  just shook her head at me and mumbled something about younger generations and their addiction to technology. She then asked me if I could pull up my son's varsity hockey schedule on my phone. And I did.

I watched Annie Lennox Sunday night on the American Music Awards. She is so beautiful. Not the kind of beauty that necessarily turns heads, though she is also that. Annie Lennox has the kind of beauty that I want - she has kept moving forward seeking truth and honesty in her personal life, faith and in her art. She also has the coolest website ever invented! That she stood on that stage, at age 53, in a black sequined dress, looking radiant, healthy, toned (but not skinny), she gives me hope for growing older with beauty and grace. It is extremely difficult for people of my generation to accept the fact that they are, indeed, getting older. Take me, for example. This morning at our usual post-church McDonald's visit I ordered a coffee. Before they poured it, I changed my mind and asked if they could switch my order to one of those new mocha drinks. When the price was adjusted, I realized the cashier had rung me up with a SENIOR coffee. Inside I was indignant...I was furious! I wanted to run to the mirror to see if I really looked ten years older. I wanted to put my face up to the poor boy and ask, "Seriously? Do I really look 55?!?" But I contained myself. In hindsight, he was probably just trying to be nice or something...doing me a favor. But I am wounded. Even Annie Lennox, at age 53, wouldn't qualify for a senior coffee. Is this my future?

Cool Annie resources:

The House of Me
Rise Like a Phoenix

Annie Lennox's Channel on YouTube
Religion- interview by Cathleen Falsani

Wow, was I ever conflicted listening to Ian and Margery's guest this morning, Dagmar Herzog!   I found her thinking both refreshing and creative, yet she seemed to be terrribly bound by old resentments, restrictive thinking and gross generalizations of people in her past.  Yikes!

I've thought a lot about sex and abstinence in my life: of course, as a woman and wife, but especially as a mom of two teenagers (19 and 17).  When our family was younger, we were involved in churches where purity (in all matters) was held up as a must for salvation and completely attainable.  When my kids were pre-teens, we had transitioned to a church that teaches that humans are not capable of perfection here on this earth and are in need of the grace and love that has already been provided to us.  Abstinence no longer became a goal, but one of many desired end products of a life of grace, forgiveness and thankfulness.  As with any desired end product, the road needed to be paved with education, self-awareness, planning, prayer and grace.  Ten years ago, I thought that an act of sexual impurity would mean the end of my dreams for my teens; now I've removed myself from the center and feel much more prepared to help my kids cope with the inevitable mistakes in life, whatever they might be.  My confidence does not lie in my kids' ability to remain pure, for if they were capable there would be no need for love and grace in this world.  My confidence lies in the multi-faceted education (scriptural, biological, relational, etc)  they have been given. 

I read a commentary on a study released by Baylor's Institute for Studies of Religion (conducted by Gallup).  This statement intrigued me:  "It ...shows that the irreligious and the members of more liberal Protestant denominations, far from being resistant to superstition, tend to be much more likely to believe in the paranormal and in pseudoscience than evangelical Christians."  This morning, I also saw that Ian Punnett blogged about the study this weekend, though he spoke to the political aspect of the study (which I really didn't connect...I thought it was a study on religion, but the two are always connected, I suppose.)

The study commentary I read was Look Who's Irrational Now by Mollie Ziegler Hemingway, a regular writer in the Houses of Worship feature in the Wall Street Journal.  Here is the excerpt I am referring to:

"What Americans Really Believe," a comprehensive new study released by Baylor University yesterday, shows that traditional Christian religion greatly decreases belief in everything from the efficacy of palm readers to the usefulness of astrology. It also shows that the irreligious and the members of more liberal Protestant denominations, far from being resistant to superstition, tend to be much more likely to believe in the paranormal and in pseudoscience than evangelical Christians.

The Gallup Organization, under contract to Baylor's Institute for Studies of Religion, asked American adults a series of questions to gauge credulity. Do dreams foretell the future? Did ancient advanced civilizations such as Atlantis exist? Can places be haunted? Is it possible to communicate with the dead? Will creatures like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster someday be discovered by science?

The answers were added up to create an index of belief in occult and the paranormal. While 31% of people who never worship expressed strong belief in these things, only 8% of people who attend a house of worship more than once a week did.

Even among Christians, there were disparities. While 36% of those belonging to the United Church of Christ, Sen. Barack Obama's former denomination, expressed strong beliefs in the paranormal, only 14% of those belonging to the Assemblies of God, Sarah Palin's former denomination, did. In fact, the more traditional and evangelical the respondent, the less likely he was to believe in, for instance, the possibility of communicating with people who are dead.

Ms. Hemingway is a Christian, but is not an evangelical.  In my experience, she really tries to report on religion very accurately.  She also writes at a forum where journalists discuss how religion is reported in print.

I envy my daughter! She's 19, smart, talented, in college learning lots of good things - on top of what we already taught her- things that will carry her into the future. On top of that foundation, she has such great women role models that broaden her horizons. Many of today's women professionals have chosen to work and raise a family simultaneously. For example, there's a hockey mom we've known for years who, with her husband, have raised the happiest, kindest, most well-adjusted kids I've ever known (not problem-free, but well-grounded). They're active in church and are completely home-focused. Both the parents are active lawyers and have always worked full-time. With lots of patience, creativity and commitment, they successfully parented and worked. Of course, we know many well-functioning families with one parent at home full-time.  Today, I'm also happy that my daughter is learning Govenor Sarah Palin's story. She's an excellent role model for normal family relationships, strained a bit by such public scrutiny: mother of five, including a pregnant teenager and a nursing baby who will have special needs his entire life. Sounds a lot like people I know! If she feels called to help lead our country, and has a proven track record of the accoplishments, energy and commitment it takes to do that, then I'm willing to consider her.

When I was in my daughter's place in time, I was told there were two choices: you are either at home NOT working for pay or you choose the business world. If you want to attempt a halfway choice, you can become a teacher. So, I became a teacher. I even pursued my master's degree in education, falling just 9 credits short due to pregnancy. I finally left in 1996 because my mind and heart were needed at home. I've been working in business every since and have found that it is very possible to raise and nurture a family very well and still be employed. I only wish I had learned that much earlier in my life.  I love teaching, but my heart was always somewhere else.  Now nearing 50, I'm rethinking my next 50 years.  Govenor Palin inspires me, too.

I'd like to mention a really great article, In Wasilla, Pregnancy Was No Secret , by Time Magazine writer, Nathan Thornburgh. Here's an excerpt:

“So his name is Levi. That’s about the only thing that I didn’t know about Bristol Palin’s pregnancy. The rest of the details I picked up almost without trying, while talking about other things with townsfolk — some who know the governor and her family well, some who don’t. It was, more or less, an open secret. And everyone was saying the same thing: the governor’s 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, the father is her boyfriend, and it’s really nobody’s business beyond that…

Maybe that means Palin is a little too much Northern Exposure for America….People in Wasilla are Alaskan tough, so not only does a thing like teen pregnancy not seem like anyone’s damn business, but it’s also not seen as the calamity so many people in the lower 48 might think it is. This is dangerous country — it’s not just the roughneck jobs on cable reality shows. It’s real life here.”