It helps to look at things differently.
I tend to like organizing and planning things but I am not obsessive about it. I guess that is why the old Franklin Organizer didn't last very long with me. Of course Franklins didn't last very long with most people. A wave of popularity and then into the bottom drawer of the desk.
Now I am taking up accounting.
I have some columnar pads and I am going to use them as record keepers of my efforts.
In the back I have written down the subjects that I want and need to do something about. Some of these items are listed as daily, some weekly and some monthly. The pad will sit by itself on the tableto, after I do the de-clutter bit that is, and I will make entries everyday.
Of course there is more to it than just using it as some sort of diary. Assets and liabilities will need to be determined and I should come up with a balance sheet at the end of every month. Hey! If I do that maybe I can even graph stuff!
Well, maybe I don't need to do that.
My desires haven't changed much as the years roll by even though my focus may narrow. Daily work needs to be done on diet and exercise, writing and music, and of course finances. Weekly I have to work on the house and the vehicles while monthly projects should be found for photography and woodworking.
This is not a plan, this is a method.
Saturday
too busy
From Wednesday to Thursday at least three good ideas for posts came to me.
I stopped for a moment Thursday afternoon and thought about this, and then went about my duties at work. Consequently those three thoughts never returned.
Busy.
Being busy may be bad for my writing but it is something in and of itself. I think a lot of people would be happier if they just stayed busy. The most miserable people I know are the ones with the most time on their hands.
Without something to do a lot of us start thinking about ourselves. And a lot of us aren't happy with that!
Somewhere in there is an ingrediant in the prescription for happiness.
Find what you want to do and get busy doing it.
I stopped for a moment Thursday afternoon and thought about this, and then went about my duties at work. Consequently those three thoughts never returned.
Busy.
Being busy may be bad for my writing but it is something in and of itself. I think a lot of people would be happier if they just stayed busy. The most miserable people I know are the ones with the most time on their hands.
Without something to do a lot of us start thinking about ourselves. And a lot of us aren't happy with that!
Somewhere in there is an ingrediant in the prescription for happiness.
Find what you want to do and get busy doing it.
Monday
the secret
I just wrote about this on 1,151! and it belongs here too.
When I was writing everyday for Ordeal I was doing something that I am not doing now.
I was always thinking of something to write. In everything I read, every conversation I had, every thing I saw on TV or heard on the radio I was snatching ideas that I developed into articles.
I haven't been doing that of late.
It is time to carry a notebook and to pick up this good habit again. It is a habit that I think every good writer has, always writing down scraps of ideas for future use.
When I was writing everyday for Ordeal I was doing something that I am not doing now.
I was always thinking of something to write. In everything I read, every conversation I had, every thing I saw on TV or heard on the radio I was snatching ideas that I developed into articles.
I haven't been doing that of late.
It is time to carry a notebook and to pick up this good habit again. It is a habit that I think every good writer has, always writing down scraps of ideas for future use.
stop
More power to the willing.
Those of us that are willing to stop are the ones in control of our own lives.
You cannot do the things that you want to do if you continue to do things that are no longer important to you.
"To start anything new, you must stop doing something old. We say that "getting in means getting out." ", Brian Tracy
This is crucial.
Don't just stop using the things you have, sell them off.
Don't just grumble about being taken advantage of, put a stop to it.
Don't just accept your situation, change it.
I know from my own experience this is hard.
I have far too many things and need to get rid of a lot of them. This is a monumental challenge for me.
On the other hand, I have the opportunity to change my schedule completely around in the coming year and look forward to the chance.
Put yourself first and let go of the things that are holding you back. If you feel someone is taking advantage of you set a date when this must stop. And stick to it.
Those of us that are willing to stop are the ones in control of our own lives.
You cannot do the things that you want to do if you continue to do things that are no longer important to you.
"To start anything new, you must stop doing something old. We say that "getting in means getting out." ", Brian Tracy
This is crucial.
Don't just stop using the things you have, sell them off.
Don't just grumble about being taken advantage of, put a stop to it.
Don't just accept your situation, change it.
I know from my own experience this is hard.
I have far too many things and need to get rid of a lot of them. This is a monumental challenge for me.
On the other hand, I have the opportunity to change my schedule completely around in the coming year and look forward to the chance.
Put yourself first and let go of the things that are holding you back. If you feel someone is taking advantage of you set a date when this must stop. And stick to it.
order
I've spent the Thanksgiving weekend bringing a little bit of order to my house. I'm one of those semi-mad scientist types with rooms right out of a scene in a movie. You know, books and magazines piled high, black electronic things strewn about, a row of computers, tools and cameras and guitars everywhere and a little Dachshund scampering about.
Well now that I'm almost done it all looks a lot better, you can still describe it the same way but it all looks a lot better.
I also spent the whole four day weekend at home. Didn't go out once. In our modern world this is quite an accomplishment. I'll bet a lot of you would have a hard time doing this.
I first tried this a couple of years ago. I had some vacation time to use and no plans so I decided to just stay home. It wasn't easy. Oh, I had plenty to do, still do. There is just some sort of anxiety for most of us when we try this. That shouldn't be as the home is where we have just about everything we have spent our money on.
So there you have it, try staying home for days when you don't have to and put things in order while you're there.
Well now that I'm almost done it all looks a lot better, you can still describe it the same way but it all looks a lot better.
I also spent the whole four day weekend at home. Didn't go out once. In our modern world this is quite an accomplishment. I'll bet a lot of you would have a hard time doing this.
I first tried this a couple of years ago. I had some vacation time to use and no plans so I decided to just stay home. It wasn't easy. Oh, I had plenty to do, still do. There is just some sort of anxiety for most of us when we try this. That shouldn't be as the home is where we have just about everything we have spent our money on.
So there you have it, try staying home for days when you don't have to and put things in order while you're there.
Friday
phish
Some of these still get through and I have to admit I find the twisted English to be pretty funny.
Here is one for your enjoyment. Link deleted.
Sir/Madam,
Here is one for your enjoyment. Link deleted.
Sir/Madam,
Your specific position has been reviewed to the crucial commissions, and upon painstaking forethought, we are able to propose to you the subsequent opening offer.
Based upon painstaking forethought you make the grade to obtain a sizable benefit on your original property investment.
By completing the subsequent attached form in a timely manner we will be able to decide our estimation, and we feel assured you will obtain not only a lowered rate of interest, but also a cash return that will fulfill all your holiday needs and more!
Hoping on the best for you all.
Olin Chavez
excerpts from a letter
In closing a letter to a friend who doesn't much care for computers I wrote, "Now keep plugging away at the PC it's good for you."
He responded, "Good for me!!??? In what way??"
I replied,
He responded, "Good for me!!??? In what way??"
I replied,
"It's neuroscience man!
It's all about the synapses!
It is good for all of us to spend time learning new things, forms new synapses in our heads, makes our brains better.
Buy some old math books at the used book store and do some problems everyday.
Learn to play a musical instrument.
Try a foreign language.
Take up painting or drawing.
Learn to work on your car.
Tie flies. (For fishing.)
Start writing everyday.
Learn how to really use the computer or get around on the internet.
All of these things, and millions of others, challenge the mind, make it grow, and that is just plain good for all of us."
The idea expressed here is certainly part of my value system.
The idea expressed here is certainly part of my value system.
Thursday
glaze
The 'Beav' came into the shop early. He was grinding away at something when we came back from lunch so we went over to have a look.
There he was, disc grinding a lawn mower blade.
The other fellow said, "Be careful, you'll take the temper out of it."
Beav nodded in agreement and said he knew what he was doing.
The advice continued, "You know the best tool for that job is a file." (It is.)
Right then I saw it! A glaze came over Beav, his eyes fogged right in front of me.
There was no way he was even going to consider using an old fashioned hand tool when he had a perfectly good air drill in his hand with a supply of sanding discs.
That's the way most everyone in this country is. Very few of us will give a second thought to using old methods that proved themselves through the years.
Why I heard just this week about a school math test where the correct answer for a simple multiplication problem (7X9) was about 60!
So if you can stomach using old tried and true methods yourself when you do things just watch someone else when you suggest they give it a try. A real honest to goodness glaze will sweep over them and there is no way they will do it.
They can't even understand it.
There he was, disc grinding a lawn mower blade.
The other fellow said, "Be careful, you'll take the temper out of it."
Beav nodded in agreement and said he knew what he was doing.
The advice continued, "You know the best tool for that job is a file." (It is.)
Right then I saw it! A glaze came over Beav, his eyes fogged right in front of me.
There was no way he was even going to consider using an old fashioned hand tool when he had a perfectly good air drill in his hand with a supply of sanding discs.
That's the way most everyone in this country is. Very few of us will give a second thought to using old methods that proved themselves through the years.
Why I heard just this week about a school math test where the correct answer for a simple multiplication problem (7X9) was about 60!
So if you can stomach using old tried and true methods yourself when you do things just watch someone else when you suggest they give it a try. A real honest to goodness glaze will sweep over them and there is no way they will do it.
They can't even understand it.
Wednesday
fall
It's fall.
Fleas get on the dog and then mice come in the house.
I didn't have any trouble killing the little bloodsuckers that were biting my Snickers but the mice have given me pause.
The first one I trapped got caught by a hind leg and screamed its head off. He scurried under the piano when I reached for him; he crossed from there to my bedroom and came to a stop.
I picked up the trap and carried him outside. Released and dropped him into the inky blackness of the ravine next to the house. Injured yes, but given a chance, not killed just because he was inconvenient.
The second one escaped the trap too but sat there in a daze. I put on some gloves and picked him up by his tail. Carried him out to the same black hole in the night.
This reveals what a weenie I really am. Most guys would have had the sense to just smack the mouse in the head with a hammer.
Me?
I'll probably trap a three-legged mouse this weekend.
Thursday
take three
I'm writing this same story, more or less, for all three blogs.
I went to see this car, I was interested in buying it. I had talked myself into thinking that it was a good idea.
When I looked it over, I found out it wasn't for me.
I left, with issues.
What happened was that the owner,
It's a great car! It is the most desirable of the first generation Mazda RX7 sports cars. It is in great shape,
It just isn't for me and I should have known this before I ever contacted the seller.
What really bothers me is what happened after
His wife backed her SUV into it!
Oh man! If not for me! Then again, I didn't do it. I don't know. Shoot! Probably a big fight at
Seems somewhat funny too! No, it's not funny, you just can't help yourself when you laugh a little bit.
Oh cruel fate!
This little story illustrates how events are connected together even though one event may not actually influence another.
It just seems that way.
Monday
don't lose your way
"As it is better to lie squeezed in a narrow bed and be healthy than to be tossed with disease on a broad couch, so also it is better to contract yourself within a small competence and be happy than to have a great fortune and be miserable." Epictetus
Where is your competence? Although you might be good at many things you can never be in control of things that are beyond you. The best driver in the world is at risk when he crosses paths with the worse driver in the world.
Maintain a narrow focus on your goals and do not let them depend on things that you have no control over..
Where is your competence? Although you might be good at many things you can never be in control of things that are beyond you. The best driver in the world is at risk when he crosses paths with the worse driver in the world.
Maintain a narrow focus on your goals and do not let them depend on things that you have no control over..
15 minutes to spare
That's the time I have right now to write something.
Any time spent on writing is time well spent in my book.
I've been daydreaming a lot lately about buying another car, you know, something I don't need.
I have no particular car in mind just an idea about driving a gas saver about half the time.
It will pay for itself, provided it only costs about two thousand dollars, gets at least thirty miles per gallon and will go twenty-five or thirty thousand miles in the next two years without a break down.
There are a lot of numbers to crunch to work everything out. I have not yet considered a motorcycle even though I already have several. Must be the approach of winter.
A motorcycle is possible but you have to account for the tires, if you can get in a lot of miles you will be replacing the tires every year.
Anyway it all boils down to a simple distraction.
I am easily distracted. I can spend my time in completely useless ways. It just happens.
I guess I lack focus.
I should be focusing on the things that will make my life better. Instead I go off on a tangent and think and plan in great detail something that will never happen.
There are a lot of plans in my past.
That is when I need something or someone to bring me back. Too bad someone or something rarely shows up. I have no solution for this problem.
If you do then it is probably in your character set and you should thank God everyday.
Any time spent on writing is time well spent in my book.
I've been daydreaming a lot lately about buying another car, you know, something I don't need.
I have no particular car in mind just an idea about driving a gas saver about half the time.
It will pay for itself, provided it only costs about two thousand dollars, gets at least thirty miles per gallon and will go twenty-five or thirty thousand miles in the next two years without a break down.
There are a lot of numbers to crunch to work everything out. I have not yet considered a motorcycle even though I already have several. Must be the approach of winter.
A motorcycle is possible but you have to account for the tires, if you can get in a lot of miles you will be replacing the tires every year.
Anyway it all boils down to a simple distraction.
I am easily distracted. I can spend my time in completely useless ways. It just happens.
I guess I lack focus.
I should be focusing on the things that will make my life better. Instead I go off on a tangent and think and plan in great detail something that will never happen.
There are a lot of plans in my past.
That is when I need something or someone to bring me back. Too bad someone or something rarely shows up. I have no solution for this problem.
If you do then it is probably in your character set and you should thank God everyday.
Thursday
flu
I've been telling people about the flu.
I've painted a dark future in my rants.
I add that the worse may not happen at all, but...
Since I wrote about it here a few postings ago I won't say anything more about it.
The bad possibilities are endless though and you should look into it.
It hasn't crossed over to us yet so you have time to prepare.
Prepare you must because if the worse happens there will not be anyone to help.
I've painted a dark future in my rants.
I add that the worse may not happen at all, but...
Since I wrote about it here a few postings ago I won't say anything more about it.
The bad possibilities are endless though and you should look into it.
It hasn't crossed over to us yet so you have time to prepare.
Prepare you must because if the worse happens there will not be anyone to help.
Wednesday
almost
Last time I went to the grocer I almost got mad and walked out.
Almost.
I went through the self-serve checkout and for a moment I felt my blood boiling. Just for a moment.
You see I scanned my card and then I spun the carousel around and fluffed open a couple of bags. That caused a sensor to trip so I turned and looked at the attendant, took a minute, then he came over.
He said, "You have to remove the item you put in the bag."
I said, "I spun it around and opened a couple of bags. I didn't put anything there."
He started looking things over. He looked in the bags, he looked in the back, he leaned and peered.
"I didn't put anything there bud."
I'm thinking, "If this kid doesn't stop looking and turn the machine on I'm out of here. If he says anything about removing the item again, I'm out of here!"
Then I stopped.
I'm here all of the time and this kid is just doing his job. Don't worry about it.
My feelings subsided, I checked out and walked away. Right there I was thinking that I didn't want to be like that Aussie I wrote about below who got mad at me when I asked him to please not spam me.
Control yourself Chris, no one is out to get you.
A few nights later I saw a show called the 'Half Ton Man' about a fellow who weighed 1,072 pounds when they got a forklift and hauled him off to the hospital. What was amazing was his attitude later on after he had lost 4 or 5 hundred pounds. He said if anyone tried to tell him what to do that was it, he'd get them and he was going to do what he pleased.
I would say that this poor guy is a pretty good example of where a defensive attitude will get you.
This is a bit like the good attitude, bad attitude thing. People get along just as well in life no matter their attitude and I suppose the same is true for people who upset themselves over what other people say. They get along just as well as those of us who don't care much what other people say.
Well, that's where I hope I stand anyway. Don't let it bother you.
Almost.
I went through the self-serve checkout and for a moment I felt my blood boiling. Just for a moment.
You see I scanned my card and then I spun the carousel around and fluffed open a couple of bags. That caused a sensor to trip so I turned and looked at the attendant, took a minute, then he came over.
He said, "You have to remove the item you put in the bag."
I said, "I spun it around and opened a couple of bags. I didn't put anything there."
He started looking things over. He looked in the bags, he looked in the back, he leaned and peered.
"I didn't put anything there bud."
I'm thinking, "If this kid doesn't stop looking and turn the machine on I'm out of here. If he says anything about removing the item again, I'm out of here!"
Then I stopped.
I'm here all of the time and this kid is just doing his job. Don't worry about it.
My feelings subsided, I checked out and walked away. Right there I was thinking that I didn't want to be like that Aussie I wrote about below who got mad at me when I asked him to please not spam me.
Control yourself Chris, no one is out to get you.
A few nights later I saw a show called the 'Half Ton Man' about a fellow who weighed 1,072 pounds when they got a forklift and hauled him off to the hospital. What was amazing was his attitude later on after he had lost 4 or 5 hundred pounds. He said if anyone tried to tell him what to do that was it, he'd get them and he was going to do what he pleased.
I would say that this poor guy is a pretty good example of where a defensive attitude will get you.
This is a bit like the good attitude, bad attitude thing. People get along just as well in life no matter their attitude and I suppose the same is true for people who upset themselves over what other people say. They get along just as well as those of us who don't care much what other people say.
Well, that's where I hope I stand anyway. Don't let it bother you.
acceptance
"If there is a key to my progression, I think it is in the fact that I never accepted any sort of constraint but immediately moved out beyond it. For me 'can't' simply isn't acceptable, and I urge my students to get it out of their vocabulary. I want them to kick against any boundaries that are set up and to figure out how they can shift resources to move beyond them. It takes imagination and hard work because, as far as I'm concerned, there have been no good solutions to problems that haven't demanded a lot of hard work." Shirley Brice Heath, linguistic anthropologist, quoted from Uncommon Genius by
This woman grew up without access to most of the things that enrich our lives. This she found to be unacceptable.
A lot of us our poorer simply because we were not poor to begin with. We found what we were given, from cradle to grave, an acceptable life. We had things all of our live, never really went without, never really hungry, never too much apprehension about the course our life might take.
If everything were acceptable, why would you try to change it?
Tuesday
simple
"Life is basically pretty simple. You get up in the morning, you do the things you have to do and if you have time you do some things you want to do. You try not to hurt people and you help them if you can. Then you go to bed." Dean Sluyter, the zen commandments.
I like this.
All laid out for us, crisp clean and lean.
Pretty close to what I do.
Except it is a little late in the morning when I get up and I don't manage to do what I have to much less what I want to.
I really try not to hurt people, I say please because I try to play nice, I hold back the desire to tell people stuff in conversation, I don't use the really obscure words I know because people are already put off by the ones I do use, I don't call people names, I stand and listen.
Nevertheless I run into people all of the time who are acting hurt in some way by life.
Expectations can be blamed. People are upset because their expectations are not met.
Not that people expect a whole lot, they just expect everything in some particular order that they have imagined.
Let the world do something different and they rail against it.
Set your own expectations in general, not particular, terms.
Self Development
I like this.
All laid out for us, crisp clean and lean.
Pretty close to what I do.
Except it is a little late in the morning when I get up and I don't manage to do what I have to much less what I want to.
I really try not to hurt people, I say please because I try to play nice, I hold back the desire to tell people stuff in conversation, I don't use the really obscure words I know because people are already put off by the ones I do use, I don't call people names, I stand and listen.
Nevertheless I run into people all of the time who are acting hurt in some way by life.
Expectations can be blamed. People are upset because their expectations are not met.
Not that people expect a whole lot, they just expect everything in some particular order that they have imagined.
Let the world do something different and they rail against it.
Set your own expectations in general, not particular, terms.
Self Development
Thursday
back in the news
It's flu season!
Concern over the spreading bird flu in Asia is on the rise.
"Raising fears of a deadly flu pandemic, President Bush said Tuesday that he is considering the use of troops to impose a quarantine in the event of an outbreak." Knight Ridder
The President has recently read about the Spanish Flu and it scares him. If you read about it you might find reason to worry yourself.
Not only will a flu pandemic kill millions of people, it will also bring the world economy to it's knees. Enforced quarantine means you cannot go out of your house, you better be stocked with food. You will not be making any money so you will not be able to pay your bills. Hopefully the water works and the power plants will be kept up and running, at least for a while. If the supply lines for either one are damaged, there may not be anyone to repair them.
This is change in a big way.
The rest of this article is something I wrote on February 5th of this year.
I am always surprised by the number of people I know who won't get a flu shot. (Not counting this years vaccine issues.)
I had a friend who was in the army in 1918, he had some first hand experience with the Spanish Flu.
First of all you should know something about this flu. It picked the healthy adults not the weak elderly or the undeveloped children. It killed 200,000 Americans in October 1918 alone.
It killed 675,000 Americans altogether and up to 50,000,000 (50 millions) worldwide.
Here is an account of the illness by Isaac Starr, 3rd year medical student, University of Pennsylvania, 1918.
"As their lungs filled … the patients became short of breath and increasingly cyanotic. After gasping for several hours they became delirious and incontinent, and many died struggling to clear their airways of a blood-tinged froth that sometimes gushed from their nose and mouth. It was a dreadful business."
My friend, serving as a messenger rider in the Army, was given the grim assignment of tagging the dead bodies of fellow soldiers who had died of the Flu. He went to the building where the bodies were awaiting shipment back home for burial. There he found so many that they were actually stacked on top of each other. He began the grim task of trying to identify the poor boys but made little progress. After hours of work he had managed to tag just a few, many of the bodies were so disfigured by the disease that he could not identify them. He then decided to get the job done so he just tagged each body with a name on his list. Something like this probably happened in Army camps and in hospitals all around the country.
We often think of ourselves as being on top of the food chain. We aren't. Viruses are on top of the food chain and they have no instinct for survival, they reproduce, they mutate, and they don't worry about killing the host.
'Flu' comes every year but it isn't just the flu, it is a number of new variants of the flu, and they are different every year and someday it will be a monster like the Spanish Flu and it will kill millions of people.
And it will kill someone reading this now.
Concern over the spreading bird flu in Asia is on the rise.
"Raising fears of a deadly flu pandemic, President Bush said Tuesday that he is considering the use of troops to impose a quarantine in the event of an outbreak." Knight Ridder
The President has recently read about the Spanish Flu and it scares him. If you read about it you might find reason to worry yourself.
Not only will a flu pandemic kill millions of people, it will also bring the world economy to it's knees. Enforced quarantine means you cannot go out of your house, you better be stocked with food. You will not be making any money so you will not be able to pay your bills. Hopefully the water works and the power plants will be kept up and running, at least for a while. If the supply lines for either one are damaged, there may not be anyone to repair them.
This is change in a big way.
The rest of this article is something I wrote on February 5th of this year.
I am always surprised by the number of people I know who won't get a flu shot. (Not counting this years vaccine issues.)
I had a friend who was in the army in 1918, he had some first hand experience with the Spanish Flu.
First of all you should know something about this flu. It picked the healthy adults not the weak elderly or the undeveloped children. It killed 200,000 Americans in October 1918 alone.
It killed 675,000 Americans altogether and up to 50,000,000 (50 millions) worldwide.
Here is an account of the illness by Isaac Starr, 3rd year medical student, University of Pennsylvania, 1918.
"As their lungs filled … the patients became short of breath and increasingly cyanotic. After gasping for several hours they became delirious and incontinent, and many died struggling to clear their airways of a blood-tinged froth that sometimes gushed from their nose and mouth. It was a dreadful business."
My friend, serving as a messenger rider in the Army, was given the grim assignment of tagging the dead bodies of fellow soldiers who had died of the Flu. He went to the building where the bodies were awaiting shipment back home for burial. There he found so many that they were actually stacked on top of each other. He began the grim task of trying to identify the poor boys but made little progress. After hours of work he had managed to tag just a few, many of the bodies were so disfigured by the disease that he could not identify them. He then decided to get the job done so he just tagged each body with a name on his list. Something like this probably happened in Army camps and in hospitals all around the country.
We often think of ourselves as being on top of the food chain. We aren't. Viruses are on top of the food chain and they have no instinct for survival, they reproduce, they mutate, and they don't worry about killing the host.
'Flu' comes every year but it isn't just the flu, it is a number of new variants of the flu, and they are different every year and someday it will be a monster like the Spanish Flu and it will kill millions of people.
And it will kill someone reading this now.
Wednesday
blog spam
Rex and I have noticed with complete disdain worthless comments made immediately after a posting on our blogs.
These comments all follow a pattern, "I like your blog!" "I've bookmarked it." "Please visit mine." "Here is where you can find it." I call it blog spam.
They never say anything about the posting. I don't think they even read the posting. This is just another form of spam.
Too bad.
There is an endless string of people using the internet for one purpose, they are trying to get something from you, usually your money.
Usually I just delete this tripe but a couple of days ago a blogger from Australia posted just such a useless comment. I looked him up, went to his blog and made a comment on his most recent post asking him to please not make such comments on my blogs.
You would think that I punched his mother in the nose.
He sends me a letter complaining that I am too sensitive, I don't know why, and that if I can't take it then I shouldn't be on the web. And of course, he finishes by calling me a name.
Well I don't know what he means when he says I can't take it since there was nothing personal in his comment at all. It was just blog spam. I like your blog, come look at my website. Yada yada yada.
I reply, look fellow, if you really looked at my blog that's fine, but your comment looked a lot like blog spam. I'm sorry if I offended you. Here is an example of what I mean. I did a cut and paste of some other blog spam so he could see. I said I was sorry if I was wrong, again.
He wrote back. Your this, your that, yada yada yada. That means he wrote back and called me a bunch of names. Charming, them Aussies. Some people can be very brave when they have thousands of miles in front of them.
If I comment on someone else's blog, it will be about their posting and they can look my blogs up by visiting my profile. I won't ignore their post just to say 'Look at me! Look at me!'
Thanks, but no thanks to blog spam.
These comments all follow a pattern, "I like your blog!" "I've bookmarked it." "Please visit mine." "Here is where you can find it." I call it blog spam.
They never say anything about the posting. I don't think they even read the posting. This is just another form of spam.
Too bad.
There is an endless string of people using the internet for one purpose, they are trying to get something from you, usually your money.
Usually I just delete this tripe but a couple of days ago a blogger from Australia posted just such a useless comment. I looked him up, went to his blog and made a comment on his most recent post asking him to please not make such comments on my blogs.
You would think that I punched his mother in the nose.
He sends me a letter complaining that I am too sensitive, I don't know why, and that if I can't take it then I shouldn't be on the web. And of course, he finishes by calling me a name.
Well I don't know what he means when he says I can't take it since there was nothing personal in his comment at all. It was just blog spam. I like your blog, come look at my website. Yada yada yada.
I reply, look fellow, if you really looked at my blog that's fine, but your comment looked a lot like blog spam. I'm sorry if I offended you. Here is an example of what I mean. I did a cut and paste of some other blog spam so he could see. I said I was sorry if I was wrong, again.
He wrote back. Your this, your that, yada yada yada. That means he wrote back and called me a bunch of names. Charming, them Aussies. Some people can be very brave when they have thousands of miles in front of them.
If I comment on someone else's blog, it will be about their posting and they can look my blogs up by visiting my profile. I won't ignore their post just to say 'Look at me! Look at me!'
Thanks, but no thanks to blog spam.
does matter
I was listening to a radio talk show on the way home last night. Which one? Doesn't matter.
Of course the host is on one particular side of the fence. Which side? Doesn't matter.
(Why can't the media find people who are reasonable and not automatically on one side or the other?)
For the second night in a row this fellow was talking about a current hot topic. Which topic? Doesn't matter.
I think he went two nights in a row on purpose so that people opposed to his opinion could rally against him on the second night. And rally they did.
What was most striking about the opposition was their perplexing inability to grasp the meaning of the words used in the debate. They simply did not understand what the language meant. They had no foundation to stand on and ended each call exasperated and throwing insults at the host because he did not agree with them.
And there is a lesson in all of this for the rest of us.
Without a solid foundation under us we are lost. We cannot advance, we cannot change as we want to. We have to keep up with a standard that is set by other people, and the bar is always being raised.
It does matter.
Of course the host is on one particular side of the fence. Which side? Doesn't matter.
(Why can't the media find people who are reasonable and not automatically on one side or the other?)
For the second night in a row this fellow was talking about a current hot topic. Which topic? Doesn't matter.
I think he went two nights in a row on purpose so that people opposed to his opinion could rally against him on the second night. And rally they did.
What was most striking about the opposition was their perplexing inability to grasp the meaning of the words used in the debate. They simply did not understand what the language meant. They had no foundation to stand on and ended each call exasperated and throwing insults at the host because he did not agree with them.
And there is a lesson in all of this for the rest of us.
Without a solid foundation under us we are lost. We cannot advance, we cannot change as we want to. We have to keep up with a standard that is set by other people, and the bar is always being raised.
It does matter.
this and that
I'm going to the races for the rest of the week so there won't be anything new here until Monday or there abouts.
I am taking along a notebook and some books so I hope to scribble something down before I get back.
I had my car serviced today and asked the mechanic who he recommended for an alignment. Of the two most likely candidates he pointed out that one always seemed to be upset and cranky, even first thing in the morning.
I must admit that I haven't a clue as to why some people act like this. If you can explain it then please let me know. I mean, what is the point? On the other hand I am old enough to think that they aren't anymore unhappy then everyone else, they just thrive on acting it out.
I am taking along a notebook and some books so I hope to scribble something down before I get back.
I had my car serviced today and asked the mechanic who he recommended for an alignment. Of the two most likely candidates he pointed out that one always seemed to be upset and cranky, even first thing in the morning.
I must admit that I haven't a clue as to why some people act like this. If you can explain it then please let me know. I mean, what is the point? On the other hand I am old enough to think that they aren't anymore unhappy then everyone else, they just thrive on acting it out.
Monday
porkbusters
I think I can safely link to this without breaking my rule regarding politics.
In light of money not spent on infrastructure in New Orleans that might have prevented the hurricane Katrina catastrophe the blogosphere has taken up the challenge of identifying pork barrel spending on a state by state basis.
This should be more reasonable than the so called watch dog group that does this now. That group thought that the levies in New Orleans were pork just as they thought that flood walls in Columbus Ohio were pork.
I had a friend who survived the flood in Columbus in 1913, I'll always remember what he had to say about it. It went something like this: " I asked my mom if I could bring my motorbike into the kitchen so it wouldn't get wet from the rising waters. Two hours later they were taking us out of a second story window in a boat."
Help the blogosphere cut the fat. Go here.
Articles/News
In light of money not spent on infrastructure in New Orleans that might have prevented the hurricane Katrina catastrophe the blogosphere has taken up the challenge of identifying pork barrel spending on a state by state basis.
This should be more reasonable than the so called watch dog group that does this now. That group thought that the levies in New Orleans were pork just as they thought that flood walls in Columbus Ohio were pork.
I had a friend who survived the flood in Columbus in 1913, I'll always remember what he had to say about it. It went something like this: " I asked my mom if I could bring my motorbike into the kitchen so it wouldn't get wet from the rising waters. Two hours later they were taking us out of a second story window in a boat."
Help the blogosphere cut the fat. Go here.
Articles/News
Friday
a gathering of humans
I went to a meeting.
A large space, four or five hundred chairs, two or three hundred in attendance.
They all sat as far away as possible from the speaker.
Genetic predisposition?
It wasn't a seminar. You invest something when you go to a seminar. You sit as close as you can at a seminar. You're paying for whatever the speaker has to say at a seminar.
It was a meeting for work. Everyone was being paid to be there. And they all sat as far away as possible from the speaker. They slouched and squirmed and looked away or closed their eyes, they muttered to each other during the proceedings and they had nothing to say when the presentation was done and they had a chance to ask questions.
They just want out.
Genetic? Yes.
Our ancestors who survived all the hard times in mans existence were the ones who got out of harms way. They knew there was no one to bail them out so when they saw danger they moved on.
People who go to meetings at work see the area near the speaker as a dangerous place. He might talk to them!
That is how you survive, you stay out of harms way. Not everyone can figure this out so they need to be told once in a while. Even then a lot of them don't get it, recent events show us that.
I sat in the front row, three places left of center, by myself.
A large space, four or five hundred chairs, two or three hundred in attendance.
They all sat as far away as possible from the speaker.
Genetic predisposition?
It wasn't a seminar. You invest something when you go to a seminar. You sit as close as you can at a seminar. You're paying for whatever the speaker has to say at a seminar.
It was a meeting for work. Everyone was being paid to be there. And they all sat as far away as possible from the speaker. They slouched and squirmed and looked away or closed their eyes, they muttered to each other during the proceedings and they had nothing to say when the presentation was done and they had a chance to ask questions.
They just want out.
Genetic? Yes.
Our ancestors who survived all the hard times in mans existence were the ones who got out of harms way. They knew there was no one to bail them out so when they saw danger they moved on.
People who go to meetings at work see the area near the speaker as a dangerous place. He might talk to them!
That is how you survive, you stay out of harms way. Not everyone can figure this out so they need to be told once in a while. Even then a lot of them don't get it, recent events show us that.
I sat in the front row, three places left of center, by myself.
Tuesday
cogito, ergo sum
Descates reached what he felt was the ultimate level of doubt. Everything he had been taught, everything he believed, he now questioned. He found one thing he could not question, his belief in his own existence. It is impossible to doubt that one exists.
Today, too many people have no doubt about what they believe. They have been taught and they do not question what they have been taught. They carry with them a personal mythology just as uncompromising as a religion is to a true believer.
Do not let your personal mythology get in your way.
Look at Sean Penn, he went to New Orleans to help. He found a boat that no one else would use, put the operator, a personal photographer, one or two other people and himself in it. He found news people before he shoved off into the murky waters. Sean made some statements. The boat began to take on water because the plugs were out. Sean baled. They tried to start the boat after they plugged it. It sputtered. Sean and the boys had to paddle off. They found someone and paddled back. Sean made some more statements.
Most people would see this episode as ridiculous. Do you think Sean sees it that way? He probably sees himself as hero and messenger to millions of people who, he feels, need to hear him. He is befuddled by his vision of himself
Was this episode really needed? If you had his money and wanted to help why not just fly into Oklahoma and finance six boats with twelve volunteer EMT's and send them down to help?
The current American disaster has many examples of people letting their personal mythology get in their way. From people who wouldn't leave before the storm to people who won't leave after the storm. From people who are thinking government bale-out to people who are thinking law suit. From people who did not prepare for disaster to people who think someone else should have prepared for their disaster.
Descartes thought about everything he had been taught and decided that the only thing he could not doubt, was his own existence.
Examine your own set of beliefs, your own personal mythology, and think about how well they will serve you when you are facing a challenge.
your choice
"what can happen to somebody can happen to anybody." Publilius
"If a man locks this saying into his very marrow and remembers, when he looks at other people's troubles, of which there is a bountiful supply daily, that they have an open road to him also, he will equip himself long before he is attacked.
It is too late to outfit a man for confronting danger after the danger has arrived.
"I never imagined this could happen." one hears, or "Could you have believed such a thing could come about?"
And why not?
Know, then, that every station in life is subject to change, and whatever has befallen anybody can befall you as well." Seneca
Good or bad, things happen. We are either ready for them or we are not. That is our choice.
I spent the weekend watching the disaster in the south unfold. It will be in the news for quite sometime. I also watched some races, saw a so-so Robert Taylor movie, did the laundry, stayed indoors for three beautiful days even though I had things to do outdoors and kept my little dog, Snickers, by my side.
If I had to leave I couldn't leave Snickers behind. People are refusing help in New Orleans because that help is not also extended to their pets. I don't blame them.
Back to work on Tuesday, in more ways then one.
God bless you all.
This is my 300th post.
"If a man locks this saying into his very marrow and remembers, when he looks at other people's troubles, of which there is a bountiful supply daily, that they have an open road to him also, he will equip himself long before he is attacked.
It is too late to outfit a man for confronting danger after the danger has arrived.
"I never imagined this could happen." one hears, or "Could you have believed such a thing could come about?"
And why not?
Know, then, that every station in life is subject to change, and whatever has befallen anybody can befall you as well." Seneca
Good or bad, things happen. We are either ready for them or we are not. That is our choice.
I spent the weekend watching the disaster in the south unfold. It will be in the news for quite sometime. I also watched some races, saw a so-so Robert Taylor movie, did the laundry, stayed indoors for three beautiful days even though I had things to do outdoors and kept my little dog, Snickers, by my side.
If I had to leave I couldn't leave Snickers behind. People are refusing help in New Orleans because that help is not also extended to their pets. I don't blame them.
Back to work on Tuesday, in more ways then one.
God bless you all.
This is my 300th post.
Sunday
sybaris
Understand risk.
If you lack education or people skills you risk being left behind.
If you allow yourself to become unhealthy you risk being overpowered.
If you vow to improve and then don't you risk everything.
Insurance is a hedge against the risk in our lives. It comes in a number of forms, you can buy it or you can create it for yourself. I expect you are already aware of the kind you purchase so I will only write of the other.
" The larger lesson may be more humbling: after all the post-9/11 vows, are we still not well enough armed for the next big one? Humans are not very good at understanding risk, and in this country, they perform worst when it costs a lot to prevent or prepare for a disaster." Amanda Ripley, How Did This Happen? Time online.
That quote is from an article about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina but it could be about anyone of us as an individual. Sometimes we see that we are at risk and we vow to do something about it, then we don't.
It costs a lot to prepare, for disaster, for moving up the ladder, for just holding our own. Most of us don't want to do the work. I don't want to do the work.
Doesn't matter, the work must be done.
Like maintenance on your car, you either stay on top of things and fix it on your terms or you let it go until it breaks down, at night in the bad part of town when you are short on money, and then you fix it on the terms that fate deals you.
Prepare yourself for what life might throw at you and prepare yourself for what you want to take on, that is insurance.
Sybaris was a Greek city in Italy in the 6th century B.C. At that time no other Greek city could compare to Sybaris for its wealth and splendor. The word sybarite, meaning a person devoted to luxury and pleasure, comes from this city. They went to war with a smaller city called Crotona. The Crotoniats, with an inferior force beat the Sybarites, they raised the city to the ground and diverted the river to flow over its ruins. Water is just about the most destructive force on earth.
We live in a place and a time where it is easy to be a Sybarite, consider taking out some insurance against this.
If you lack education or people skills you risk being left behind.
If you allow yourself to become unhealthy you risk being overpowered.
If you vow to improve and then don't you risk everything.
Insurance is a hedge against the risk in our lives. It comes in a number of forms, you can buy it or you can create it for yourself. I expect you are already aware of the kind you purchase so I will only write of the other.
" The larger lesson may be more humbling: after all the post-9/11 vows, are we still not well enough armed for the next big one? Humans are not very good at understanding risk, and in this country, they perform worst when it costs a lot to prevent or prepare for a disaster." Amanda Ripley, How Did This Happen? Time online.
That quote is from an article about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina but it could be about anyone of us as an individual. Sometimes we see that we are at risk and we vow to do something about it, then we don't.
It costs a lot to prepare, for disaster, for moving up the ladder, for just holding our own. Most of us don't want to do the work. I don't want to do the work.
Doesn't matter, the work must be done.
Like maintenance on your car, you either stay on top of things and fix it on your terms or you let it go until it breaks down, at night in the bad part of town when you are short on money, and then you fix it on the terms that fate deals you.
Prepare yourself for what life might throw at you and prepare yourself for what you want to take on, that is insurance.
Sybaris was a Greek city in Italy in the 6th century B.C. At that time no other Greek city could compare to Sybaris for its wealth and splendor. The word sybarite, meaning a person devoted to luxury and pleasure, comes from this city. They went to war with a smaller city called Crotona. The Crotoniats, with an inferior force beat the Sybarites, they raised the city to the ground and diverted the river to flow over its ruins. Water is just about the most destructive force on earth.
We live in a place and a time where it is easy to be a Sybarite, consider taking out some insurance against this.
Wednesday
prepared for what?
No one wants to struggle, it is just part of life and struggle we must, sooner or later. It is too easy here to let ourselves go, we do not need the physical assets of our youth and we can do without the mental assets of someone with vast experience. We can fantasize about everything by watching TV, we can pretend that we are in the game by watching someone else play, we can tell ourselves that we are Tigers even when we are kittens.
We are woefully unprepared for what can happen to us.
What good is that?
There are a great many things that I would not want to go through, even as some may loom on my horizon. I don't want to have a stroke or a heart attack or become diabetic but all are possible. I don't want anyone in my family or any of my friends or my dog to pass on, but it happens, ready or not.
Why choose to be unprepared? Why do nothing? How can that be any better than the alternative?
The ideal is to be ready for almost anything. Get in shape, stay in shape, mentally, physically, financially.
The ideal is to be able to stand up to life's struggles. Sure you might still get beat sometimes but you will be able to get back up and keep going.
Are you prepared?
We are woefully unprepared for what can happen to us.
What good is that?
There are a great many things that I would not want to go through, even as some may loom on my horizon. I don't want to have a stroke or a heart attack or become diabetic but all are possible. I don't want anyone in my family or any of my friends or my dog to pass on, but it happens, ready or not.
Why choose to be unprepared? Why do nothing? How can that be any better than the alternative?
The ideal is to be ready for almost anything. Get in shape, stay in shape, mentally, physically, financially.
The ideal is to be able to stand up to life's struggles. Sure you might still get beat sometimes but you will be able to get back up and keep going.
Are you prepared?
inkblotter
Be sure to look in on inkblotter from time to time. You can find a link in my 'blogs worth a look' list.
The young lady lives in Jackson, Miss. She has family in New Orleans.
The young lady lives in Jackson, Miss. She has family in New Orleans.
testing
Millions of people are being tested by fate as I write.
The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in the south is awe inspiring.
If I was in New Orleans or Biloxi or one of those rural areas that we haven't even heard about yet, I would be ill prepared for this test. Would you be prepared?
I don't mean things like having supplies set aside, I am talking about being ready physically and mentally for the challenges set before you. Without help I think I would have a hard time surviving.
This is not an ideal situation to be in and it should serve as inspiration for all of us to make ourselves better.
The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in the south is awe inspiring.
If I was in New Orleans or Biloxi or one of those rural areas that we haven't even heard about yet, I would be ill prepared for this test. Would you be prepared?
I don't mean things like having supplies set aside, I am talking about being ready physically and mentally for the challenges set before you. Without help I think I would have a hard time surviving.
This is not an ideal situation to be in and it should serve as inspiration for all of us to make ourselves better.
test
I once read that Walt Bellamy would play poorly against lesser opponents and rise to the occasion when he played against Wilt Chamberlin or Bill Russell. Perhaps when he played against the stars he knew it was a test and he met the challenge.
We do not know what we can be if we don't test ourselves.
Ultimate Fighter 2 started last week on the cable network Spike TV. In every episode you see the participants testing themselves, first in their workouts and competitions and then against each other. In this weeks episode Melvin Guillard, with 36 wins in mixed martial arts fighting, loses his match. After the fight Melvin says he froze a little when entering the ring.
The young man put in a great effort and with all those wins you would have thought he was ready. He says he froze and I believe him. The fighting experience is one thing but none of those bouts ever held the opportunity that this one did.
You have to test yourself if you want to rise to the occasion. Every workout is a test, it isn't just practice or something that makes you stronger. Reading a book is a test, I know lots of people who can't do that. Applying for a job is a test, eating right is a test, the car breaking down is a test.
You have to choose to test yourself, if you let fate decide when to test you, you may not like the results.
Note: Melvin Guillard is from the New Orleans area, he is no doubt being tested again. I donated to the Red Cross Hurricane 2005 Relief, so can you. Go here.
We do not know what we can be if we don't test ourselves.
Ultimate Fighter 2 started last week on the cable network Spike TV. In every episode you see the participants testing themselves, first in their workouts and competitions and then against each other. In this weeks episode Melvin Guillard, with 36 wins in mixed martial arts fighting, loses his match. After the fight Melvin says he froze a little when entering the ring.
The young man put in a great effort and with all those wins you would have thought he was ready. He says he froze and I believe him. The fighting experience is one thing but none of those bouts ever held the opportunity that this one did.
You have to test yourself if you want to rise to the occasion. Every workout is a test, it isn't just practice or something that makes you stronger. Reading a book is a test, I know lots of people who can't do that. Applying for a job is a test, eating right is a test, the car breaking down is a test.
You have to choose to test yourself, if you let fate decide when to test you, you may not like the results.
Note: Melvin Guillard is from the New Orleans area, he is no doubt being tested again. I donated to the Red Cross Hurricane 2005 Relief, so can you. Go here.
Tuesday
conception of something in its absolute perfection
Do you have an ideal? Do you see a vision of yourself as you want to be? Do you have a vision of your life as you would like it to be? Why not?
This is the most important step to make for improvements in life.
It's not easy. I live right in the middle of America and I am inundated all the time with advertisements designed to convince me that I must buy the product. There will always be new and better product which certainly complicates things. It's nonsense. It's not satisfying either.
To listen to what appears to be the culture all around me is worthless. To pay attention to the life that marketing presents me is to be lost. Sure, lots of people do, most people do, and many are frustrated and angry at the same time.
"We don't recognize either what hurts us or what helps us. All through our lives we blunder along and never stop, or even watch our step, because of this. But surely you can see how crazy it is to rush ahead in the dark. We seem set on getting ourselves called back from a greater distance and, although we don't know our overall goal, we continue to move as fast as we can in the direction we are going." - Seneca
Life comes at you. If you only knew where you were going you could use what life sends your way. You cannot know where you are going unless you hold a concept of your ideal.
Seneca quote from 'The Stoic Art of Living" by Tom Morris
This is the most important step to make for improvements in life.
It's not easy. I live right in the middle of America and I am inundated all the time with advertisements designed to convince me that I must buy the product. There will always be new and better product which certainly complicates things. It's nonsense. It's not satisfying either.
To listen to what appears to be the culture all around me is worthless. To pay attention to the life that marketing presents me is to be lost. Sure, lots of people do, most people do, and many are frustrated and angry at the same time.
"We don't recognize either what hurts us or what helps us. All through our lives we blunder along and never stop, or even watch our step, because of this. But surely you can see how crazy it is to rush ahead in the dark. We seem set on getting ourselves called back from a greater distance and, although we don't know our overall goal, we continue to move as fast as we can in the direction we are going." - Seneca
Life comes at you. If you only knew where you were going you could use what life sends your way. You cannot know where you are going unless you hold a concept of your ideal.
Seneca quote from 'The Stoic Art of Living" by Tom Morris
Thursday
it's time!
"The problem is not that we have such a short space of time, but that we waste so much of it. Life is long enough, and it has been given in sufficiently generous measure, to allow the accomplishment of the very greatest things if the whole of it is well invested." Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 B.C. - 65 A.D.) - Roman lawyer, senator, philosopher and playwright.
I am going to Mid Ohio Sports Car Course this weekend.
When I am not watching the races or looking at all the people I will be reading the thoughts of some Romans who lived 2000 years ago. Human nature does not change.
Some of Seneca's best writings are from letters, exchanges of conversation between people, you can help me here by writing something in the comments, even anonymously, once in a while.
Spark a little conversation and we will all get back on track together.
I am going to Mid Ohio Sports Car Course this weekend.
When I am not watching the races or looking at all the people I will be reading the thoughts of some Romans who lived 2000 years ago. Human nature does not change.
Some of Seneca's best writings are from letters, exchanges of conversation between people, you can help me here by writing something in the comments, even anonymously, once in a while.
Spark a little conversation and we will all get back on track together.
Wednesday
hair spray and make up
They all look pretty good.
Yes, the talking heads on TV that read the news to us all look pretty darn good.
Then they open their mouths and if you listen you realize it is all hair spray and make up.
It is difficult to put your finger on authenticity. It is painfully difficult to put your finger on your own authenticity.
It's not about being relentlessly honest, that is an indulgence of the judgmental.
It's not about doing what has always worked, that is a common deception.
It's not about you or me at all, if we work only in our own self interest then we are not being authentic.
"Every man builds his world in his own image. He has the power to choose, but no power to escape the necessity of choice." - Ayn Rand, philosopher.
I don't know.
Being authentic is about not reacting to what we think the world is.
Being authentic is acting according to what the world really is.
Of course figuring out what the world really is, well, that's another posting.
Yes, the talking heads on TV that read the news to us all look pretty darn good.
Then they open their mouths and if you listen you realize it is all hair spray and make up.
It is difficult to put your finger on authenticity. It is painfully difficult to put your finger on your own authenticity.
It's not about being relentlessly honest, that is an indulgence of the judgmental.
It's not about doing what has always worked, that is a common deception.
It's not about you or me at all, if we work only in our own self interest then we are not being authentic.
"Every man builds his world in his own image. He has the power to choose, but no power to escape the necessity of choice." - Ayn Rand, philosopher.
I don't know.
Being authentic is about not reacting to what we think the world is.
Being authentic is acting according to what the world really is.
Of course figuring out what the world really is, well, that's another posting.
Monday
association
I noticed today as I drove away from home to go to work that I felt like going to work. Now if you had asked me an hour or so earlier if I felt like going to work the answer would have been no.
What happened in between?
I took a shower and got dressed in my work clothes that's all.
And therein lies a clue to success.
We associate things with each other, we do it naturally, don't even notice most of the time. We associate the words we use with certain things, we associate the clothes we wear with certain things and we associate the direction we drive with certain things.
Don't feel much like exercising? Put on your exercise clothes and you will find it easier to change your mind.
Don't feel like practicing the guitar, pick it up and tune it.
Don't feel like working on the car, open the hood anyway.
Pay attention to the things around the activities you want to do. When the day comes that you don't feel like doing something anymore then go through those preliminary steps that you had always done before and see what happens.
What happened in between?
I took a shower and got dressed in my work clothes that's all.
And therein lies a clue to success.
We associate things with each other, we do it naturally, don't even notice most of the time. We associate the words we use with certain things, we associate the clothes we wear with certain things and we associate the direction we drive with certain things.
Don't feel much like exercising? Put on your exercise clothes and you will find it easier to change your mind.
Don't feel like practicing the guitar, pick it up and tune it.
Don't feel like working on the car, open the hood anyway.
Pay attention to the things around the activities you want to do. When the day comes that you don't feel like doing something anymore then go through those preliminary steps that you had always done before and see what happens.
Tuesday
back to basics
I went to a hot rod show last year with my cousin Dave, his son and his grandson. They are real long time car nuts and hot rodders. I could learn a lot if I could spend more time with these guys. While walking through a building full of stuff for hot rodders to buy one of them remarked that he remembered when everybody had to make these parts for themselves. Hot rodding has grown over the last fifty years from the only way a young man could have an exciting car to some sort of monster that devours tons of money from the participants. It takes lots of time and therefore lots of money to have everything on a car shiny and perfect. It takes lots of money to have lots of horsepower and lots more money to have a great leather interior.
And it all started with guys chopping sheet metal off of used cars so they would go faster and handle better.
Well a backlash has started, there are now guys building cars again some what like the old hot rods. Take an old coupe body, leave the canvas off the top, no fenders no hood, slip in some old V8 and other old fashioned parts, don't worry about the interior once you get some seats in it and forget all about the paint it doesn't make you go fast anyway, and you've got a hot rod.
I like the whole idea.
Back to basics. Realize that you don't have to have everything you thought you wanted to have fun. Don't need all that stuff to get the job done.
Play some rockabilly in the background. Stand up bass instead of a Fender Precision, stand up drum kit and one guitar. GO!
For a lot of us that is what needs to be done to make improvements in our lives. Get back to basics. Let go of stuff all around us and concentrate on the basics.
There is so much clutter here I don't know if I can find the basics anymore. Might have to keep a basics diary, write it down everyday.
Keep the parts that repeat, discard the stuff that never even shows up and ponder on the stuff in the middle.
Basics.
And it all started with guys chopping sheet metal off of used cars so they would go faster and handle better.
Well a backlash has started, there are now guys building cars again some what like the old hot rods. Take an old coupe body, leave the canvas off the top, no fenders no hood, slip in some old V8 and other old fashioned parts, don't worry about the interior once you get some seats in it and forget all about the paint it doesn't make you go fast anyway, and you've got a hot rod.
I like the whole idea.
Back to basics. Realize that you don't have to have everything you thought you wanted to have fun. Don't need all that stuff to get the job done.
Play some rockabilly in the background. Stand up bass instead of a Fender Precision, stand up drum kit and one guitar. GO!
For a lot of us that is what needs to be done to make improvements in our lives. Get back to basics. Let go of stuff all around us and concentrate on the basics.
There is so much clutter here I don't know if I can find the basics anymore. Might have to keep a basics diary, write it down everyday.
Keep the parts that repeat, discard the stuff that never even shows up and ponder on the stuff in the middle.
Basics.
Monday
set a goal
I'm going to have to set a goal here.
I suppose I had this goal before but it has faded with time.
To write everyday for Ordeal.
Here goes.
I bought a tent, I'm going camping.
It's a practical decision. Cost too much in gas to go to the races from my current home. Wasn't a big deal before, lived closer and the car was smaller.
Now I have a big old S class Mercedes Benz that I prefer to drive and the round trips can add up. Might as well stay the night. The cost of one tank buys three nights at the track.
The only one who will suffer is Snickers.
Next subject.
I'm going to review magazines on my Gazette. Might be a good idea here too except there really aren't a lot of magazines that qualify. "What is Enlightenment" comes to mind but it really is too dense.
Well I snuck one in tonight and I will do it again tomorrow. Promise.
I suppose I had this goal before but it has faded with time.
To write everyday for Ordeal.
Here goes.
I bought a tent, I'm going camping.
It's a practical decision. Cost too much in gas to go to the races from my current home. Wasn't a big deal before, lived closer and the car was smaller.
Now I have a big old S class Mercedes Benz that I prefer to drive and the round trips can add up. Might as well stay the night. The cost of one tank buys three nights at the track.
The only one who will suffer is Snickers.
Next subject.
I'm going to review magazines on my Gazette. Might be a good idea here too except there really aren't a lot of magazines that qualify. "What is Enlightenment" comes to mind but it really is too dense.
Well I snuck one in tonight and I will do it again tomorrow. Promise.
Saturday
mine, mine, mine
In the spring my neighbor, a pleasant fellow, was at his house doing a little work. He said that his family was going to spend a lot more time at the lake this year than in years past and would I mind not parking on any of his property.
The space between the two houses is jointly owned but his is the lions share.
I don't really mind and haven't parked in that space since.
Neither has he.
Their coming out a little more often now than a few months ago but it is too late. The vegetation is two or three feet high in that space and the hill is overgrown. I've been cleaning it up for the last couple of years but have skipped it completely this year.
I don't mind at all. I always got a gift from The Ivy when I did work over there. One year I got it so bad I had to stop going to the gym because my arms were such a mess. Last year I got just a little but it was all on my face.
So what has my neighbor gained? I haven't a clue but it was important to him.
The space between the two houses is jointly owned but his is the lions share.
I don't really mind and haven't parked in that space since.
Neither has he.
Their coming out a little more often now than a few months ago but it is too late. The vegetation is two or three feet high in that space and the hill is overgrown. I've been cleaning it up for the last couple of years but have skipped it completely this year.
I don't mind at all. I always got a gift from The Ivy when I did work over there. One year I got it so bad I had to stop going to the gym because my arms were such a mess. Last year I got just a little but it was all on my face.
So what has my neighbor gained? I haven't a clue but it was important to him.
Monday
principle in action
If you've been reading 1,151! you may notice a success principle taking shape.
Brian Tracy calls it the "Momentum Principle" and if you've been following Rex's writings and his weight chart you can see it happening. The Momentum Principle says that although it may take tremendous amounts of energy to overcome inertia and get going initially, it then takes far less energy to keep going. This is what is happening with Rex and his project!
The more you work on something the easier it becomes to work on it.
It may be hard to get started in the gym but do it for a week and it will be easier.
It may be hard to start writing but just start doing it and it will become a habit.
The part that is the hardest in most anything is the first step. Take the first step and it will be easy to just keep going.
Brian Tracy calls it the "Momentum Principle" and if you've been following Rex's writings and his weight chart you can see it happening. The Momentum Principle says that although it may take tremendous amounts of energy to overcome inertia and get going initially, it then takes far less energy to keep going. This is what is happening with Rex and his project!
The more you work on something the easier it becomes to work on it.
It may be hard to get started in the gym but do it for a week and it will be easier.
It may be hard to start writing but just start doing it and it will become a habit.
The part that is the hardest in most anything is the first step. Take the first step and it will be easy to just keep going.
Friday
I love doing that!
One in the morning.
Headed home from work.
The Nissan Frontier, 112,000 miles, is humming along. Needs a tune up, oil change and a bunch of other stuff. Still on the original belts and plugs. Just got its second set of tires.
A million people live around this outer belt but the road is empty just now. I drive for miles by myself.
Get near the east side and some cars are catching up to me. With a mile and a half to go to the exit, some guy gets right behind me. He has a lane on the left and two more on the right to get by but he just sits there. Must be a NASCAR fan, he's drafting.
I pick up the pace, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70.
Here comes another one. He swings out to the left to take both of us but I won't have it, we're too close to the exit. 71, 72, 73, 74, 75. He falls back into line.
The exit is one of those 270 degree round abouts going from one freeway to another. Over the bridge, down to the right, under the bridge.
I'm still at 75 half way across the bridge when I start haulin in the brakes. They're still drafting me at this point but I won't look back anymore.
Keep your eyes level with the horizon, don't lean your head into the turn.
I'm on the brakes right to my lowest speed, about a third of the way around then it's back on the gas. Decelerate, accelerate, there isn't anything else.
I don't pull too hard at first, I know I'm not very good, just better than most of the people on the street.
At two thirds through, I can really put the pedal to the metal and hit I-70 at 70.
I'm switching the cruise control back on when I check the mirror. There is one hundred yards or more between me and the guy that was on my bumper a minute ago.
I love doing that!
Tuesday
The races are over and I had a blast. I've got an honest to goodness farmers tan so I'm not the same old white guy in the picture.
My thoughts seemed to have moved on to a different set of tracks, I don't find myself thinking about my next post anymore.
It's 95 degrees here in Ohio and the plant is a pretty darn miserable place to be in the afternoon. We've got a couple of new guys working with us now. One is pretty sharp, good at math, ambitious and not afraid of work. The other is cautious, easily puzzled, and reluctant to ask for help and more concerned with his rate of pay than with the job he has to do.
He provides a good example for those of us who want to improve our lives.
While training for his job he never took notes. Is that a good idea? Doesn't look that way now, at least to the rest of us.
Taking good notes is a very helpful thing. I was talking to Rex about writing, he said "I get some good ideas but I can't remember what they were later in the day."
I said, "Those thoughts are like vapors. They drift away never to be seen again if you don't capture them on the spot. You have to write it down when you think of it, and you have to be detailed about that. If you try to write a good idea down in short hand you won't be able to figure it out later on."
Lots of good ideas come our way everyday, it's very helpful to write a few of them down for later use. If you don't you will be all puzzled when it is time to do something later on. Just like this new guy.
Thursday
a snippet here, a snippet there
I have a few minutes to spare so I popped in here to write a little bit.
My writing has suffered through the summer, no recent pieces have pleased me at all.
I am one of those sorry souls who knows a lot about what needs to be done and how to do it, but I do not manage to get much done.
It is important to practice a little bit everyday. Ten minutes of writing, ten minutes on the guitar and ten minutes exercising would be time well spent. I have far too many wasted half hours in my past and far too few available in my future. The trick is to just start doing something so it will become a habit.
A lot of this depends on things I have written about before. Make a list and read it everyday. Practice, practice, practice. Do something constructive first thing in the morning.
Those of you who are long time readers can fill in the ones I have forgotten.
It is time for me to go, I have an errand to run. Friday I am off to the races. I'll post some pictures next week of things I find interesting.
My writing has suffered through the summer, no recent pieces have pleased me at all.
I am one of those sorry souls who knows a lot about what needs to be done and how to do it, but I do not manage to get much done.
It is important to practice a little bit everyday. Ten minutes of writing, ten minutes on the guitar and ten minutes exercising would be time well spent. I have far too many wasted half hours in my past and far too few available in my future. The trick is to just start doing something so it will become a habit.
A lot of this depends on things I have written about before. Make a list and read it everyday. Practice, practice, practice. Do something constructive first thing in the morning.
Those of you who are long time readers can fill in the ones I have forgotten.
It is time for me to go, I have an errand to run. Friday I am off to the races. I'll post some pictures next week of things I find interesting.
Monday
intensity
I've managed to slip away from work on some weekends and spent my free time at the races.
On the occasions I have done this it was vintage racing. Now I am sure that if you are racing either an old MG or an old BSA you are doing it with a great deal of intensity. Nevertheless this coming weekend I will be watching professional motorcycle racing and intensity will be taken to an entirely different level.
I've been hinting at this to my friends and family that I've dragged to the races with me but I lack the words to really prepare them.
There is a shocking difference in the level of intensity.
All of this reminds me of my own lack of intensity in getting things done. I think they bottle the stuff and sell it but I know it is not legal! (Besides it burns you out.)
This intensity thing is one of those elusive characteristics of success. Cultivate your intensity so you can get things done.
Wednesday
misery
I work in a place that can get very busy in the summer. The building season is the buying season for our products. We all know this.
Anyone hired in the last 20 years is told this. They are asked if they have a problem with a lot of overtime in the summer. They say no and they get a job.
Then summer comes around and they have a problem. I know one guy who has had this problem for the 9 out of 10 years that he has been with us. He was gung ho and willing in the interview but now he has changed his mind. He has decided that he is miserable and he is determined to make everyone around him miserable too.
The overtime is a preoccupation with him, he cannot even say hello without taking a stab at the overtime.
I don't know how a person can work themselves up into such a state.
I do know that being preoccupied with your misery is a sure way to suck the joy and the energy out of your life and the lives of the people around you.
Anyone hired in the last 20 years is told this. They are asked if they have a problem with a lot of overtime in the summer. They say no and they get a job.
Then summer comes around and they have a problem. I know one guy who has had this problem for the 9 out of 10 years that he has been with us. He was gung ho and willing in the interview but now he has changed his mind. He has decided that he is miserable and he is determined to make everyone around him miserable too.
The overtime is a preoccupation with him, he cannot even say hello without taking a stab at the overtime.
I don't know how a person can work themselves up into such a state.
I do know that being preoccupied with your misery is a sure way to suck the joy and the energy out of your life and the lives of the people around you.
Thursday
I thought I was about to hear The International!
Took my bonus break last night, we get an extra one when we work 10 hours a shift. Joined some comrades outside, one of them was remarking on all the Latins and Asians who come over here and start businesses of their own.
"How is it they start businesses and we're still working for the man?" she said in a tone of complete disgust.
Someone replied that the people in question were more likely to do without while they worked to get ahead.
That's called delayed gratification. Work now for rewards later, something that is increasingly alien to most of us. We want what we want and we want it now.
Work for your goals and the rewards will be sweeter still.
"How is it they start businesses and we're still working for the man?" she said in a tone of complete disgust.
Someone replied that the people in question were more likely to do without while they worked to get ahead.
That's called delayed gratification. Work now for rewards later, something that is increasingly alien to most of us. We want what we want and we want it now.
Work for your goals and the rewards will be sweeter still.
Wednesday
empty headed
I can't explain it. I've gone from thinking all the time about what to write for Ordeal to not thinking about it at all.
Of course I am busier, what with work and everything. I'll be working straight through this weekend but will have the next two off.
All three weekends will feature motorcycles! There are BIG races at Laguna Seca this Sunday and I need to flex my schedule so that I can get to a TV in time to see them. The following two weekends I will be at Mid-Ohio for the events up there.
All of this is just an example of what happens in our lives.
We get busy with the business of life and things that we hold as important get forgotten.
A perfect little example of why it is so important to write down what is important and to review it everyday. Don't lose sight of what is important to you.
(Did I emphasize 'important' enough in that last paragraph?)
Of course I am busier, what with work and everything. I'll be working straight through this weekend but will have the next two off.
All three weekends will feature motorcycles! There are BIG races at Laguna Seca this Sunday and I need to flex my schedule so that I can get to a TV in time to see them. The following two weekends I will be at Mid-Ohio for the events up there.
All of this is just an example of what happens in our lives.
We get busy with the business of life and things that we hold as important get forgotten.
A perfect little example of why it is so important to write down what is important and to review it everyday. Don't lose sight of what is important to you.
(Did I emphasize 'important' enough in that last paragraph?)
Monday
it's quiet now
It's been a long week of too much noise culminating tonight in seemingly endless small arms fire.
Well actually, it was seemingly endless small fireworks but why worry about details?
I like quiet and find too much noise to be an energy-sucking vampire.
It started last Friday with a big blow up at work, people mad about what they thought other people were saying. This sort of thing happens about anywhere.
I went to the vintage car races last weekend where the noise is pleasant to my ears. Shot a number of pictures but have not posted them to my other blog yet. Noise was not the problem. Lots of sun and temperatures in the 90's was more the issue.
Back to work on Monday and my schedule was joggled a bit as I covered for someone who was off. The noise from the blow up continued, all through the week. I took Friday off.
Ran some errands, needed some fresh black and white film and I was looking for a good flash bracket. Camera stores have fallen on hard times. I never found the bracket, my favorite store was closed and a store that once always had a crowd was now empty of customers. I bought the film (Plus X and T Max) at the fifth store.
I gathered my camera bags, kill and overkill, and left Saturday morning for my nephew’s apartment. He was getting married and I was shooting black and whites for him. The plan was for me to go to his apartment and shoot some photos of him and his friends getting dressed in their tuxedos, after that I would drive him to the event. There was just one glitch when I got there; the streets all around were closed for a parade. I couldn't get in and no one there could get out!
He had gone out for a haircut and we hooked up at a nearby shopping center to wait out the parade. The noise ended and off we went. It was a long day. I shot 4 or 5 rolls of 35mm and another 4 or 5 of 120. I could have used an assistant.
Sunday at the lake, 4th of July weekend, an endless stream of parties, an endless succession of fireworks. It is particularly annoying at my house, the spillway next door is an attractive echo chamber and every little boy with a match and a firecracker has to test it a dozen times. Then there are the spectators coming out to enjoy the show over the water, problem is you can't see it from here but that doesn't prevent them from setting up camp. We tell them but they don't always believe us.
Now everyone is gone and quiet has returned. Just the way I like it.
Thursday
grace two
I'll take an incomplete for my last post.
A thunderstorm was headed my way while I was writing and I reckon I was only half done when I quit. My PC lives in fear of Ohio thunderstorms and so does Snickers. It was simply more important to stop writing and to comfort the little one.
The subject was about handling what comes our way with grace. It is easier to write about people who do not handle things with grace because examples are always at hand.
We are busy at work and we are doing ten hour days. There are people who don't want to be in there those extra two hours so they do what comes naturally to them, nothing. That is as long as they can get away with it. The idea that getting the work done will end the overtime does not enter their mind.
I would say they are not handling the issue with any sort of grace.
I will have to let this topic drift along this week. However much I may want to write this morning I have to get ready for work and be on my way. I've got my own ten hours to put in.
Comments on this subject very welcome.
A thunderstorm was headed my way while I was writing and I reckon I was only half done when I quit. My PC lives in fear of Ohio thunderstorms and so does Snickers. It was simply more important to stop writing and to comfort the little one.
The subject was about handling what comes our way with grace. It is easier to write about people who do not handle things with grace because examples are always at hand.
We are busy at work and we are doing ten hour days. There are people who don't want to be in there those extra two hours so they do what comes naturally to them, nothing. That is as long as they can get away with it. The idea that getting the work done will end the overtime does not enter their mind.
I would say they are not handling the issue with any sort of grace.
I will have to let this topic drift along this week. However much I may want to write this morning I have to get ready for work and be on my way. I've got my own ten hours to put in.
Comments on this subject very welcome.
Wednesday
grace
If you're interested in auto racing, not just NASCAR, but all forms of auto racing then you should have heard about the disaster in Indianapolis this past Sunday. F1 was in town for the US Grand Prix, a once a year event , and people came from all around to see the race. I use to travel over 400 miles to see this same once a year event when it was held at Watkins Glen, New York.
Well people spend thousands of dollars to see this race. They spend a weeks vacation for the event and look forward to it all year long.
People won't be doing that anymore.
You see there was a little problem this year at the USGP. Michelin supplies tires to 14 of the 20 cars in the series and by Saturday it was decided that these tires weren't safe to use. Well a lot of bargaining and negotiating went on about what to do and in the end nothing got sorted out so those cars didn't start the race! That left 6 cars in the race and 130,000 cheated fans in the stands.
I'm not going to go into all the different things that could have been done, I'm going to talk about one thing. The other tire manufacturer should have shown the grace to say "Let's do whatever we have to to have a race."
They didn't, it wasn't their problem, and that was a mistake.
When there is a crisis step forward and take charge if you can.
Well people spend thousands of dollars to see this race. They spend a weeks vacation for the event and look forward to it all year long.
People won't be doing that anymore.
You see there was a little problem this year at the USGP. Michelin supplies tires to 14 of the 20 cars in the series and by Saturday it was decided that these tires weren't safe to use. Well a lot of bargaining and negotiating went on about what to do and in the end nothing got sorted out so those cars didn't start the race! That left 6 cars in the race and 130,000 cheated fans in the stands.
I'm not going to go into all the different things that could have been done, I'm going to talk about one thing. The other tire manufacturer should have shown the grace to say "Let's do whatever we have to to have a race."
They didn't, it wasn't their problem, and that was a mistake.
When there is a crisis step forward and take charge if you can.
Tuesday
I really like this picture
Here is a picture posted on eBay. Click on the picture to see the full size version.
I'm going to write the seller and ask what camera he used.
These pictures are on eBay's server so I expect they will be gone in due time. When that happens I will delete this post.
The bike is a Honda CB750K, very low miles. It is really all most of us need (but not what we want) in a bike. The brakes could be better. Bikes stop much better today than they use to.
I really like this picture. It's not perfect but I would be very happy to have taken it. Remove four objects in the back ground and it really shines.
I'm going to write the seller and ask what camera he used.
These pictures are on eBay's server so I expect they will be gone in due time. When that happens I will delete this post.
The bike is a Honda CB750K, very low miles. It is really all most of us need (but not what we want) in a bike. The brakes could be better. Bikes stop much better today than they use to.
Sunday
having takes
Enthusiasm. Who has it? Do you? Did you? I'll bet you probably did at one time.
Enthusiasm is wasted on the young. Those who have less means are likely to be the most enthusiastic about something. Enthusiasm for things tends to evaporate as we get older. Why is this?
I have the time and money to be really creative about something but I am not enthusiastic about anything enough to get started. God knows that I have projects in great need of my enthusiasm.
The key word there is have. If you did a spread sheet on the subjects that I have some interest in, guided by the books and magazines that I own, the list would be too long for a lifetime. Add in the objects you will find in my house and the work to be done on the house and yard and the list swells again. Throw in the demands placed on my time by family and work and the list is fatter still.
Of course it has not always been that way. Once upon a time when I had little I could muster enthusiasm at will. I could devote myself to my physical condition to the point where I could run twenty miles all at once, clicking them off at an easy eight minutes each. I could ride my motorcycle across the country, putting in two hundred miles in a day or one thousand miles in a day. I could play basketball for a couple of hours almost every day, I could read a whole book in a day, I could just go away on weekends and see something.
I can't do any of this anymore and I think the reason is because now, unlike then, I have. Having takes away the quality in your life and it doesn't give anything back except for the desire to have more.
I have to figure out how to get enthusiastic about getting rid of a lot of my stuff so I can live a little life in the time I have left.
Be careful about having.
Enthusiasm is wasted on the young. Those who have less means are likely to be the most enthusiastic about something. Enthusiasm for things tends to evaporate as we get older. Why is this?
I have the time and money to be really creative about something but I am not enthusiastic about anything enough to get started. God knows that I have projects in great need of my enthusiasm.
The key word there is have. If you did a spread sheet on the subjects that I have some interest in, guided by the books and magazines that I own, the list would be too long for a lifetime. Add in the objects you will find in my house and the work to be done on the house and yard and the list swells again. Throw in the demands placed on my time by family and work and the list is fatter still.
Of course it has not always been that way. Once upon a time when I had little I could muster enthusiasm at will. I could devote myself to my physical condition to the point where I could run twenty miles all at once, clicking them off at an easy eight minutes each. I could ride my motorcycle across the country, putting in two hundred miles in a day or one thousand miles in a day. I could play basketball for a couple of hours almost every day, I could read a whole book in a day, I could just go away on weekends and see something.
I can't do any of this anymore and I think the reason is because now, unlike then, I have. Having takes away the quality in your life and it doesn't give anything back except for the desire to have more.
I have to figure out how to get enthusiastic about getting rid of a lot of my stuff so I can live a little life in the time I have left.
Be careful about having.
Friday
let go
One of our hardest chores is letting things go.
Ideas or objects, we just love to keep them forever. If we can add some more to the pile then it's even better.
I don't see how this is much use at all.
Stop and think about what is happening when you keep things. Are you keeping them or are they keeping you?
Ideas or objects, we just love to keep them forever. If we can add some more to the pile then it's even better.
I don't see how this is much use at all.
Stop and think about what is happening when you keep things. Are you keeping them or are they keeping you?
rant
What a silly pathetic lot we humans are! Most of us need to be motivated before we get to work and do what we need to do.
We keep on smoking even though we know it kills us. How much more motivation do you need when you already know that what you are doing will cause a painful and untimely death.
We keep on eating when our weight is already out of control. How much more motivation do you need when you can barely do simple tasks, things that you did without notice just a few short years ago.
We are satisfied with our jobs. Yes, that is something to complain about. There are many people working for someone who have the talent and abilities to work for themselves.
This whole sit on your but and let life happen trick that most people employ one way or the other is a primary reason of a lot of the misery in this country.
Get off your duff, make a plan and get moving. Life is passing you by.
Thursday
dogs
Dogs aren't like us, they want to be but they just can't. Sounds like a few people we all come across once in awhile, doesn't it?
I don't expect the same thing from my dog as I do from my nephew. I react accordingly.
After a few minutes she darted from one side of the bed to the other, "That was funny." I thought.
She peaked at me from behind the dresser. I thought the sheets looked a little odd, "Just the sun."
It took me a minute, but I got up and looked. She peed on the bed.
Now I know some people would beat their dog, I couldn't get mad at all. This was my fault.
Sop it up, head for the laundry, turn on a fan, take Snicks out.
No sense reacting with anger to things that you are in control of. No sense reacting at all to things that you are not in control of.
Take your time, accept the job handed to you and get it done.
I don't expect the same thing from my dog as I do from my nephew. I react accordingly.
Snicks and I had lunch today and we both drank the same thing, cold tap water. After lunch I headed to my desk and put Snicks up on the bed. She fussed some and I threw her a milkbone, she fussed some more so I threw her another one.
After a few minutes she darted from one side of the bed to the other, "That was funny." I thought.
She peaked at me from behind the dresser. I thought the sheets looked a little odd, "Just the sun."
It took me a minute, but I got up and looked. She peed on the bed.
Now I know some people would beat their dog, I couldn't get mad at all. This was my fault.
Sop it up, head for the laundry, turn on a fan, take Snicks out.
No sense reacting with anger to things that you are in control of. No sense reacting at all to things that you are not in control of.
Take your time, accept the job handed to you and get it done.
Tuesday
over at 1,151!
I just wrote a piece on short term goals over at 1,151!
It fits in well here. So if your a regular visitor just click this link and have a look.
It fits in well here. So if your a regular visitor just click this link and have a look.
Monday
life change
Why does it take something major to convince a person that their life could be better?
Living easily without having to deal with change is what comes naturally to us. We resist change, we like things the way they are even if we don't really like things the way they are. Do you know what I mean?
No matter where you work or live it is easy to find people who don't care for the situation but do nothing about it, except complain of course.
Even when a major event does spark change many people slip right back to their old habits with all due haste. People quit smoking when they get sick from it and pick up the cigarettes again in a few short months.
I have no answers. I struggle everyday with who I am versus who I want to be, with what I have versus what I want to have, with what I do versus what I want to do. With that thought I think I see part of the answer.
It is the known versus the unknown. Even if the path you are on leads you to disaster you know it step by step and perhaps, you think, you can fend off that disaster the next time it shows up. More likely than not that disaster will happen anyway, even if you see it coming.
Fear of the unknown then is an obstacle to change. You know, that is a pretty easy fix, just make the unknown into the known.
How do you do that?
Create a concise vision of who you want to be, what you want to have and what you want to do.
Then just do it.
Living easily without having to deal with change is what comes naturally to us. We resist change, we like things the way they are even if we don't really like things the way they are. Do you know what I mean?
No matter where you work or live it is easy to find people who don't care for the situation but do nothing about it, except complain of course.
Even when a major event does spark change many people slip right back to their old habits with all due haste. People quit smoking when they get sick from it and pick up the cigarettes again in a few short months.
I have no answers. I struggle everyday with who I am versus who I want to be, with what I have versus what I want to have, with what I do versus what I want to do. With that thought I think I see part of the answer.
It is the known versus the unknown. Even if the path you are on leads you to disaster you know it step by step and perhaps, you think, you can fend off that disaster the next time it shows up. More likely than not that disaster will happen anyway, even if you see it coming.
Fear of the unknown then is an obstacle to change. You know, that is a pretty easy fix, just make the unknown into the known.
How do you do that?
Create a concise vision of who you want to be, what you want to have and what you want to do.
Then just do it.
I paid a visit to my friend Tony on Sunday. He had a heart attack this past week and is in the process of recovery. He was looking a bit banged up from the experience but otherwise doing alright.
In the emergency room he had faded to a shade of gray with blue ears. It wasn't the place for it but I wish someone had taken his picture.
Why? Simple, capture the moment when you have sunk lower than you want to go and keep it for inspiration.
You know, I should take his picture now, capture him as he is, banged and bruised, without tone, tired posture, love handles and all. Then I should work the picture over on the computer, put gray and blue into his skin, remove the twinkle from his eye. Then I could turn the picture over to an artist, "Here paint this on a six foot board."
While the artist does that I'll create another picture, Tony smiling, looking healthy and strong, chiseled and lean. Here artist, "Paint this one too."
When the pictures are done we hang them on the wall with a mirror in between them.
Tony look at this, "Where you've been on the left, where you're going on the right and where you are now in the middle."
This might come in handy sometime when he wants a cigarette or a hot dog.
In the emergency room he had faded to a shade of gray with blue ears. It wasn't the place for it but I wish someone had taken his picture.
Why? Simple, capture the moment when you have sunk lower than you want to go and keep it for inspiration.
You know, I should take his picture now, capture him as he is, banged and bruised, without tone, tired posture, love handles and all. Then I should work the picture over on the computer, put gray and blue into his skin, remove the twinkle from his eye. Then I could turn the picture over to an artist, "Here paint this on a six foot board."
While the artist does that I'll create another picture, Tony smiling, looking healthy and strong, chiseled and lean. Here artist, "Paint this one too."
When the pictures are done we hang them on the wall with a mirror in between them.
Tony look at this, "Where you've been on the left, where you're going on the right and where you are now in the middle."
This might come in handy sometime when he wants a cigarette or a hot dog.
Saturday
a list of books
A friend of mine recently had a heart attack. He will be taking it easy for six weeks so I am lending him some books off my shelves.
Here is my selection.
Here is my selection.
- Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, Robert Pirsig
- The sun also rises, Ernest Hemingway
- On the road, Jack Kerouac
- The secret power within, Chuck Norris
- A neautral corner, boxing essays, A.J. Liebling
- Roadster, Chris Goodrich
- Excuse me, your life is waiting, Lynn Grabhorn
- Finding a joyful life in the heart of pain, Darlene Cohen
- And some guitar and coffee table books to round things out
Thursday
what I want
I save searches on eBay.
I save a search for each of the 4 Japanese motorcycle brands and each one is sorted by the bikes nearest to where I live.
Now then I don't need another motorcycle, I am already blessed with my share, I just have to do some work on mine to get them out. It would, part of me thinks, be easier to just fork over a check and ride away on another one. When I find a bike nearby that I like I save it in my eBay, this gives me enough time to just forget about it.
That is just like writing down the things you want and thinking about it before you go out and spend the money.
I save a search for each of the 4 Japanese motorcycle brands and each one is sorted by the bikes nearest to where I live.
Now then I don't need another motorcycle, I am already blessed with my share, I just have to do some work on mine to get them out. It would, part of me thinks, be easier to just fork over a check and ride away on another one. When I find a bike nearby that I like I save it in my eBay, this gives me enough time to just forget about it.
That is just like writing down the things you want and thinking about it before you go out and spend the money.
don't jump into things
So I know this couple, about my age, kids all grown up, both of them working, not making a lot of money, middle class. They paid off their old house, a civil war era home but nothing charming about it, life should have been easy at last. It wasn’t good enough.
They decided they needed to do some home improvement. They called somebody up about rebuilding the roof. It was easy, all they had to do was sign some papers and everything would be taken care of. A new loan on the home and the job would be done plus they could pay off their credit cards, sign here.
Well they signed, $54,000 went to the contractor, and ten Mexicans showed up in one van and went to work, in a few weeks the job was mostly done, mostly, because their son had to finish a few things that the contractor had forgotten.
The son told me later, “You know, the guys I worked with in construction use to talk about side jobs all of the time. The work my mom and dad had done was a $10,000 job.”
“Yea, but they really wanted it.” I replied.
When you want something, write it down and look at it for a while, for quite a while, and ask yourself if you really need it.
Monday
less is more
An internal combustion engine thrives on more. Force as much gas and air into it as you can and it produces more horsepower.
We don't work that way.
The starving artist cliché has some truth to it. The hungry boxer who wins the match story line has a reason for its existence.
Once a level of success is reached, a desire for achievement dwindles.
Since your primary instinct is for survival, you will naturally kick back and take it easy when you are well fed.
Self-help and personal achievement may not start at the bookstore, they may start at the refrigerator. Thin out the pantry and eat just enough so that you remain hungry, you might just find the desire to achieve more.
Friday
I have faith
I have faith that I will think of something to write for Ordeal and I will do it soon.
I have a lot of material set aside for 1,151! and I expect to find a lot for Chris' Moto Gazette on Saturday, I just don't know what is in store for Ordeal at the moment.
But I do have faith.
Having faith is a result producing force that belongs on Ordeal anyway. You must have faith.
I often do not have enough faith but something comes along just the same. With more faith I could do even better.
So could you.
I have a lot of material set aside for 1,151! and I expect to find a lot for Chris' Moto Gazette on Saturday, I just don't know what is in store for Ordeal at the moment.
But I do have faith.
Having faith is a result producing force that belongs on Ordeal anyway. You must have faith.
I often do not have enough faith but something comes along just the same. With more faith I could do even better.
So could you.
Thursday
it's simple
I owe, it's simple. I owe Ordeal a visit everyday, I owe Ordeal a posting everyday, it's simple.
I am obligated. I need to write for Ordeal. It's worked for me and I work for it.
Choose your obligations wisely and then honor them. Don't take on more than you can handle. Handle whatever it is you take on.
Don't buy more than you need. It isn't about what we want it's about what we need. Take care of the needs first.
Let go of all that you don't need. Clear the decks. Get down to the basics. Eliminate want, thrive on need. Frustration will melt away. Just ask yourself, "Do I need this?"
I am obligated. I need to write for Ordeal. It's worked for me and I work for it.
Choose your obligations wisely and then honor them. Don't take on more than you can handle. Handle whatever it is you take on.
Don't buy more than you need. It isn't about what we want it's about what we need. Take care of the needs first.
Let go of all that you don't need. Clear the decks. Get down to the basics. Eliminate want, thrive on need. Frustration will melt away. Just ask yourself, "Do I need this?"
Tuesday
works for me
Start your blog today.
Pick up where I leave off.
I'm not quitting this blog but it sure is getting harder to keep it going. Maybe it is just a passing moment.
I'm writing on 2 other blogs now and generally doing a little bit more of everything than I was before.Ordeal is getting shortchanged as a result.
But hey, it's all worked out! I think writing about self development sure helps in the self development department. It's worked for me! Too bad negative people can't grasp this point. If you direct your thinking your thinking will follow. Thoughts are like water, they follow the path of least resistance. As you think the neural pathways conform to your thinking. Think you hate everyone and everyone hates you and your brain will hardwire itself to continue thinking that way. Think your a winner and everything works out for you and everyone wants to be with you and your brain will hardwire itself for that type of thinking.
This is why you write out your lifes purpose, this is why you write out lists of things to do, this is why you write plans and goals. It hardwires your brain.
I got ten minutes before I leave for work and I'm hardwired to wash up and brush my teeth before I go so this is all for today.
Bye bye.
Pick up where I leave off.
I'm not quitting this blog but it sure is getting harder to keep it going. Maybe it is just a passing moment.
I'm writing on 2 other blogs now and generally doing a little bit more of everything than I was before.Ordeal is getting shortchanged as a result.
But hey, it's all worked out! I think writing about self development sure helps in the self development department. It's worked for me! Too bad negative people can't grasp this point. If you direct your thinking your thinking will follow. Thoughts are like water, they follow the path of least resistance. As you think the neural pathways conform to your thinking. Think you hate everyone and everyone hates you and your brain will hardwire itself to continue thinking that way. Think your a winner and everything works out for you and everyone wants to be with you and your brain will hardwire itself for that type of thinking.
This is why you write out your lifes purpose, this is why you write out lists of things to do, this is why you write plans and goals. It hardwires your brain.
I got ten minutes before I leave for work and I'm hardwired to wash up and brush my teeth before I go so this is all for today.
Bye bye.
Sunday
acorns into oak trees
Acorns into oak trees, seems I've heard that somewhere before. I think it is a favorite phrase of a great many preachers, teachers and writers.
The symbolism is obvious, from a little acorn a mighty oak tree grows, from the seed of an idea a great change occurs.
If there is a project you want to work on don't wait for the right time to get started, get started now with your first step. No matter how small that step is, even if it is as small as an acorn.
I have to get up Monday morning, drink a big glass of water, walk the dog, exercise and cut the grass. There are a few other things I want to do also, Ill write them all down on my list just before I go to bed tonight.
The symbolism is obvious, from a little acorn a mighty oak tree grows, from the seed of an idea a great change occurs.
If there is a project you want to work on don't wait for the right time to get started, get started now with your first step. No matter how small that step is, even if it is as small as an acorn.
I have to get up Monday morning, drink a big glass of water, walk the dog, exercise and cut the grass. There are a few other things I want to do also, Ill write them all down on my list just before I go to bed tonight.
Saturday
this and that
- I had different working hours on Thursday and Friday and it's funny how that can put you off your game. My free time had to be virtually unchanged but it was also completely unutilized.
- My nephew has finally taken a big step, he's concluded that he won't have the money to pay someone to work on his motorcycle anytime soon so he is going to do it himself. Once you start doing things for yourself there can be no stopping you. DIY is popular nowadays with home improvements but I think it is out of favor with a lot of other things. I'm sort of a hobbyist workshop historian and the purpose for workshops has changed through the years. Today it seems to be all about carpentry but fifty years ago it was more about being able to repair everything you owned. Two other things have changed in those fifty years, one is that now everything has electronics built into it and the other is that we just own one hell of a lot more stuff today.
- Speaking of stuff I heard some interesting things on the subject yesterday. The self storage industry is a $120 billion industry and there is room in all those lockers out there for all of us to get in if we had to.
- I'm going to the races today and hope to get some material for my Moto Gazette blog. I find that once I set the gears in motion in my head something always results. As opposed to passively going through the day that is.
Wednesday
simple step
Every night just before you go to bed take a moment to make a list of the things you want to do the next day. You do this before going to sleep because it stays on your mind.
It is a really simple step that you will find helpful.
Here is my list for Wednesday, didn't get much of it done but I did work on some of it.
It is a really simple step that you will find helpful.
Here is my list for Wednesday, didn't get much of it done but I did work on some of it.
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