Friday Five Locked Out

Songbird reported that the Revgals blog was lockdown and reported as spam! yesterday:
“We requested a blog review, and I posted a request at the Blogger Help group, where I found we were not alone. Many other perfectly nourishing and cromulent blogs got the same notice last night.This turned out to be a very small barricade in our blogging community life, but it seemed appropriate to explore locks and blocks and other barriers this week. Also, I liked the picture of the security team above! Could they be Blogger's Spam Prevention Robots, working overtime?”She asked these questions for this weeks FF:
“In honor of their efforts, I bring you the "Lock Me Out, Lock Me In" Friday Five.”

1) How do you amuse yourself when road construction blocks your travel?Well, since I usually travel by subway, I also usually have a book so that takes care of that. It’s rarely construction, but a sick passenger or blocked tracks or something that the garbled announcement tries to tell us, but as usual the passengers are only left guessing at ?-(

2) Have you ever locked yourself out of your house? (And do you keep an extra key somewhere, just in case?)
I once left my apartment with my partner. I had the day off and was going shopping for groceries, she was going to work in NJ. She locked the door and I went to Whole Foods, merrily packing my big shopping cart, only to discover…no keys. And of course, in a NY apartment, no place to hide them. So I went to Kinko’s the local copy place and rent a computer place- no cell phones yet, I rented a computer e-mailed her at work and waited for her to reply, hoping that the vegetables wouldn’t wilt. She actually called Kinko’s and came back home to let me in! I thought I was rather clever to find a computer and e-mail.

3) Have you ever cleared a hurdle? (And if you haven't flown over a material hurdle, feel free to take this one metaphorically.)
Yes, many mental hurdles which I won’t go into right now, but will say I hope to celebrate 21 years of sobriety on 8/5/08!

4) What's your approach to a mental block?
I usually stumble over it.

5) Suggest a caption for the picture above; there will be a prize for the funniest answer!
Macho, Macho Man. I Want to be a Macho Man!

"Joni and Friends" an Evangelical Ministry and Disability Center

I was paging through a magazine that passed through our office. I'd never seen this one before and it had a little article about this women, Joni, who had a diving accident a number of years ago and now had paraplegia and had started her own ministry, "Joni and Friends, International Disability Center. Hmmm. I thought what a strange name for a Church. So I went to the website and it sounded more like a church than a 'disability center' though the outreach seems to be to individuals with disabilities. There was a place for questions so I asked how their church felt about homosexuals. I waited for about 6 weeks. Actually I forgot all about it until tonight when I got a three page letter which I will quote in part:

"God doesn't love the homosexual any less that sic. He love anyone else. His love, compassion and forgiveness is toward all. Such behavior, however, is a departure from God's expressed order. No matter how we may rationalize the relationships, the reference in Romans chapter I makes it clearly the product of a reprobate mind. But dont's think I'm attaching the phrase "reprobate mind" just to homosexuals-the immoral heterosexuals or prejudiced , bigoted heterosexuals-are called upon to repent of sin and no longer practice the ungodly patterns of living they have enjoyed before.
The church needs to take a hard look at her attitudes and treatment of gays and lesbians in the past. The church cannot condone homosexual life style; however, the church should begin to bring victory to those who are willing to submit their sexual orientation to Him needs to be shared... and shared in a sensitive and caring manner."

Reprobate
 Pronunciation:
\ˈre-prə-ˌbāt\
Function:
transitive verb
Inflected Form(s):
rep·ro·bat·ed; rep·ro·bat·ing
Etymology:
Middle English, from Late Latin reprobatus, past participle of reprobare — more at reprove
Date:
15th century
1 : to condemn strongly as unworthy, unacceptable, or evil
2 : to foreordain to damnation
3 : to refuse to accept : reject
synonyms see criticize
— rep·ro·ba·tive \ˈre-prə-ˌbā-tiv\ adjective
— rep·ro·ba·to·ry \-bə-ˌtȯr-ē\ adjective

They then proceeded to refer me to Exodus international. I thought that a ministry that reached out to individuals with disabilities would be interesting, particularly one started with a woman with a severe disability. I think I'll skip that.