“Never grow a wishbone, where your backbone ought to be.”
- Clementine Paddleford
“Nobody rises to low expectations.”
- Calvin Lloyd
“The horror of that moment’, the King went on, ‘I shall never forget.’
‘You will, though,’ the Queen said, ‘if you don't make a memorandum of it.”
- Lewis Carroll
“It is only reason that teaches silence; the heart teaches us to speak.”
- Jean Paul Richter
“After all the highways, and the trains, and the appointments, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive.”
- Arthur Miller (Death of a Salesman)
“Where the river is deepest it makes the least sound.”
- Italian Proverb
“Conceit is God's gift to little men.”
- Bruce Barton
“Conscience is, in most men, an anticipation of the opinions of others.”
- Sir Henry Taylor
“It's only when the tide goes out that you learn who's been swimming naked.”
- Warren Buffett
“How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.”
- Abraham Lincoln
“Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.”
- Proverbs 27:2
“Diseases of the soul are more dangerous than those of the body.”
- Cicero
“Where your will is ready, your feet are light.”
- George Herbert
“Perhaps nobody has changed the course of history as much as the historians.”
- Franklin P. Jones
“Pray devoutly, but hammer stoutly.”
- William G. Benham
“You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note.”
- Doug Floyd
“People do not lack strength; they lack will.”
- Victor Hugo
“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”
- John Wesley
Friday, August 31, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
I'm not quite sure what to think about this, but. . .
What book are you? Some people get nice fuzzy books like "The Hobbit" or "Watership Down". Noooooo! Not me!
Hat tip to The Tutor at Apollos Academy
You're Anarchy, State, and Utopia!
by Robert Nozick
If it were up to you, there would probably be no government at all.
But then you'd have to deal with there being no government, and nobody likes that. So
you've decided that hiring a few security guards is okay. Getting rid of that nasty
tax collector would sure be nice, though. He keeps getting in the way of you making
the money you so richly deserve! Everyone who believes in you happens to be fairly
well off.
Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.
Hat tip to The Tutor at Apollos Academy
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Quotes of the Week (v5)
People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
- John Maxwell
“Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure.”
- Don Wilder
“The hardest thing in the world to open is a closed mind.”
- Unknown
“Good timber does not grow with ease;
The stronger the wind, the stronger the trees.”
- J. Willard Marriot
“There are lots of people who mistake their imagination for their memory.”
- Josh Billings
“The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them. Even the most tedious chore will become endurable as you parade through each day convinced that every task, no matter how menial or boring, brings you closer to achieving your dreams.”
- Og Mandino
“Golf appeals to the idiot in us and the child. Just how childlike golf players become is proven by their frequent inability to count past five.”
- John Updike
“You can build a throne with bayonets, but you can't sit on it for long.”
- Boris Yeltsin
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
- Psalm 46:1
“The best kept secret in the global economy today is this: When your service is awesome you get so stinking rich you have to buy new bags to carry all the money home.”
- Tom Peters
“One of the strange phenomena of the last century is the spectacle of religion dropping the appeal of fear while other human interests have picked it up.”
- Harry Emerson Fosdick
“You don't just luck into things as much as you'd like to think you do. You build step by step, whether it's friendships or opportunities.”
- Barbara Bush
“Spectacular achievements are always preceded by unspectacular preparation.”
- Roger Staubach
“There is no better exercise for your heart than to bend down, extend a helping hand and lift up a friend in need.”
- Bernard Meltzer
“What is morality?" she asked. ‘Judgment to distinguish right and wrong, vision to see the truth, courage to act upon it, dedication to that which is good, integrity to stand by the good at any price’.”
- Ayn Rand
“If Darwin's theory of evolution was correct, cats would be able to operate a can opener by now.”
- Larry Wright
- John Maxwell
“Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure.”
- Don Wilder
“The hardest thing in the world to open is a closed mind.”
- Unknown
“Good timber does not grow with ease;
The stronger the wind, the stronger the trees.”
- J. Willard Marriot
“There are lots of people who mistake their imagination for their memory.”
- Josh Billings
“The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them. Even the most tedious chore will become endurable as you parade through each day convinced that every task, no matter how menial or boring, brings you closer to achieving your dreams.”
- Og Mandino
“Golf appeals to the idiot in us and the child. Just how childlike golf players become is proven by their frequent inability to count past five.”
- John Updike
“You can build a throne with bayonets, but you can't sit on it for long.”
- Boris Yeltsin
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
- Psalm 46:1
“The best kept secret in the global economy today is this: When your service is awesome you get so stinking rich you have to buy new bags to carry all the money home.”
- Tom Peters
“One of the strange phenomena of the last century is the spectacle of religion dropping the appeal of fear while other human interests have picked it up.”
- Harry Emerson Fosdick
“You don't just luck into things as much as you'd like to think you do. You build step by step, whether it's friendships or opportunities.”
- Barbara Bush
“Spectacular achievements are always preceded by unspectacular preparation.”
- Roger Staubach
“There is no better exercise for your heart than to bend down, extend a helping hand and lift up a friend in need.”
- Bernard Meltzer
“What is morality?" she asked. ‘Judgment to distinguish right and wrong, vision to see the truth, courage to act upon it, dedication to that which is good, integrity to stand by the good at any price’.”
- Ayn Rand
“If Darwin's theory of evolution was correct, cats would be able to operate a can opener by now.”
- Larry Wright
Thursday, August 16, 2007
We did it!
We had some work done around the house this spring and summer. Most of it was outsourced, but DW and I did do one BIG project ourselves. I'm proud to say that not only did we complete it, but we were (and are) still talking to one another after completion!!
Recipe:
1) research outdoor playsets online; find best deal
2) order online with "guaranteed" delivery
3) find out that delivery wasn't guaranteed afterall and complain to all who will pretend to listen
4) find out that the playset will be delivered in two days on the very day you've decided to cancel your order (and thus cancel your cancel)
5) find out that the delivery is coming on an 18-wheel semi that can't get to all the way to your house because of the curves, hills and (most importantly) community covenants preventing such nonsense.
6) agree to meet said truck at the gate to the community to transfer the entire playset into the back of your minivan. Pray that it will all fit and that the delivery guy will actually be willing to help make the transfer. Take second car (small SUV) just in case.
7) meet truck; load thousands of pounds (or so it seems) into the back of your faithful minivan and put the slide in the SUV. Pray your way back up the mountain.
8) stand in the driveway and try to figure out how to unload the stuff!
Now you've assembled your ingredients; time to start assembly.
1) find the instruction manual (all 62 pages including diagrams). Thank the Lord that it appears to have been written by technical writers who actually speak English as their primary language and have actually seen what they're describing.
2) rough sort the parts and pieces to get a handle on the scope of project.
3) start putting parts together
4) get to step 5 (out of 112) and discover that you're missing 5 little metal brackets that are critical to moving forward beyond current step.
5) wait until Monday morning and call manufacturing company; request said brackets.
6) wait until brackets arrive
7) wait for your calendar to allow you to start assembling again.
8) laugh about the fact that the instruction manual says this should take" two moderately skilled people 16 hours" to complete
9) finish 6 days (spread out over 2 weeks) later.
And then you have the masterpiece pictured above!
Recipe:
1) research outdoor playsets online; find best deal
2) order online with "guaranteed" delivery
3) find out that delivery wasn't guaranteed afterall and complain to all who will pretend to listen
4) find out that the playset will be delivered in two days on the very day you've decided to cancel your order (and thus cancel your cancel)
5) find out that the delivery is coming on an 18-wheel semi that can't get to all the way to your house because of the curves, hills and (most importantly) community covenants preventing such nonsense.
6) agree to meet said truck at the gate to the community to transfer the entire playset into the back of your minivan. Pray that it will all fit and that the delivery guy will actually be willing to help make the transfer. Take second car (small SUV) just in case.
7) meet truck; load thousands of pounds (or so it seems) into the back of your faithful minivan and put the slide in the SUV. Pray your way back up the mountain.
8) stand in the driveway and try to figure out how to unload the stuff!
Now you've assembled your ingredients; time to start assembly.
1) find the instruction manual (all 62 pages including diagrams). Thank the Lord that it appears to have been written by technical writers who actually speak English as their primary language and have actually seen what they're describing.
2) rough sort the parts and pieces to get a handle on the scope of project.
3) start putting parts together
4) get to step 5 (out of 112) and discover that you're missing 5 little metal brackets that are critical to moving forward beyond current step.
5) wait until Monday morning and call manufacturing company; request said brackets.
6) wait until brackets arrive
7) wait for your calendar to allow you to start assembling again.
8) laugh about the fact that the instruction manual says this should take" two moderately skilled people 16 hours" to complete
9) finish 6 days (spread out over 2 weeks) later.
And then you have the masterpiece pictured above!
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Quotes of the Week (v4)
“Don't bargain for fish which are still in the water.”
- Indian Proverb
“There are two kinds of men who never amount to much: those who cannot do what they are told, and those who can do nothing else.”
- Curtis Cyrus
“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”
- Mark Twain
“The eagle doesn't hunt flies.”
- Latin Proverb
“Nothing will content him who is not content with a little.”
- Greek Proverb
“The tragedy of life is not death but what dies inside a man while he lives.”
- Albert Schweitzer
“It is the province of knowledge to speak and the privilege of wisdom to listen.”
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
“It is such a secret place, the land of tears.”
- Antoine de St. Exupery
“Where pride is, there also shall be reproach: but where humility is, there also is wisdom.”
- Proverbs 11:2
“Liberalism regards all absolutes with profound skepticism, including both moral imperatives and final solutions. Insistence upon any particular solution is the mark of an ideologue.”
- Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
“Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants.”
- William Penn
“If you stay humble, you will not stumble.”
- Unknown
“I've looked at life from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all.”
- Joni Mitchell
“If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him.”
- Benjamin Franklin
- Indian Proverb
“There are two kinds of men who never amount to much: those who cannot do what they are told, and those who can do nothing else.”
- Curtis Cyrus
“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”
- Mark Twain
“The eagle doesn't hunt flies.”
- Latin Proverb
“Nothing will content him who is not content with a little.”
- Greek Proverb
“The tragedy of life is not death but what dies inside a man while he lives.”
- Albert Schweitzer
“It is the province of knowledge to speak and the privilege of wisdom to listen.”
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
“It is such a secret place, the land of tears.”
- Antoine de St. Exupery
“Where pride is, there also shall be reproach: but where humility is, there also is wisdom.”
- Proverbs 11:2
“Liberalism regards all absolutes with profound skepticism, including both moral imperatives and final solutions. Insistence upon any particular solution is the mark of an ideologue.”
- Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
“Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants.”
- William Penn
“If you stay humble, you will not stumble.”
- Unknown
“I've looked at life from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all.”
- Joni Mitchell
“If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him.”
- Benjamin Franklin
Monday, August 13, 2007
Wall Street moment in the mountains
Last week was certainly a "bear" market on Wall Street. In retrospect, I should have realized that I had a hint it was coming on Monday morning.
So there I was, sitting at my desk working diligently (both at my computer and on my third cup of coffee) when my phone rings. It was my wife, calling from upstairs. (that's not the punch line; happens all the time!).
"Look out your window!" she yells. "There's a bear coming."
Sure enough, a few seconds later an "adolescent"-sized bear (not full grown, but certainly no cub) wandered around the corner and strolled between the house and the kids play area. He paced back and forth a few times before climbing up on the railing around our lower deck (just outside my office) and jumped down. He smelled the dog-food I had given our dog that morning.
By this time, the whole family is in my office watching while dear wife snaps pictures with the camera. (yes, I brought the dog inside in time). Finally, it dawned on us that we might want to try to scare this guy away before he 1) makes himself at home and/or 2) starts to do some real damage to the house. DW heads upstairs to the upper deck (right above his head) and starts to jump up and down, yelling and making all kinds of noise. Meanwhile, I banged on the windows and door in my office and the kids yelled their heads off. Job done. The bear jumped over the railing and mozeyed off around the house (pausing to look in the front door before heading through the woods).
Cool!!!
As much as I'd like for the market to turn around, hopefully it won't be presaged by a bull wandering down my street!
So there I was, sitting at my desk working diligently (both at my computer and on my third cup of coffee) when my phone rings. It was my wife, calling from upstairs. (that's not the punch line; happens all the time!).
"Look out your window!" she yells. "There's a bear coming."
Sure enough, a few seconds later an "adolescent"-sized bear (not full grown, but certainly no cub) wandered around the corner and strolled between the house and the kids play area. He paced back and forth a few times before climbing up on the railing around our lower deck (just outside my office) and jumped down. He smelled the dog-food I had given our dog that morning.
By this time, the whole family is in my office watching while dear wife snaps pictures with the camera. (yes, I brought the dog inside in time). Finally, it dawned on us that we might want to try to scare this guy away before he 1) makes himself at home and/or 2) starts to do some real damage to the house. DW heads upstairs to the upper deck (right above his head) and starts to jump up and down, yelling and making all kinds of noise. Meanwhile, I banged on the windows and door in my office and the kids yelled their heads off. Job done. The bear jumped over the railing and mozeyed off around the house (pausing to look in the front door before heading through the woods).
Cool!!!
As much as I'd like for the market to turn around, hopefully it won't be presaged by a bull wandering down my street!
Oops!
OK, I didn't intend to take the summer off from blogging. But, you know how it goes. I certainly didn't take the summer off from work, or from parenting or being a husband, or household chores or etc etc etc! Oh well. Let's try this again and see if I can be a little more diligent.
Off we go. . . .
Off we go. . . .
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