15 Clever, Witty Illustrations

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15 Clever, Witty Illustrations

Malaysian artist Chow Hon Lam makes us laugh with these clever, witty illustrations. Lam is a "modern legend" over at Threadless, where his prints can be found on countless t-shirts.



"I believe that everything should have a story behind it, no matter if they are an object, an animal or food," says Lam. "I always try to create a story for them. I guess they must have something to say, but they just can't speak. Trust me, I try to communicate with them!"



"Actually all the ideas don't come easy, I hope people can enjoy them and appreciate them. All criticisms are welcome. Thanks from deep in my heart."

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Kitchen Hack: One-Minute Bread

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Kitchen Hack: One-Minute Bread

Oven-fresh bread is one of life's simple joys. Ciabatta, a crisp-crusted Italian bread with hints of sourdough and loads of crannies longing for butter, is one of the easiest breads to make at home.

Why are we talking about baking bread on Lifehack? Because kitchen hacks aren't just impressive, they often have very tasty results! In this instance, I'm going to show you how to make ciabatta with less than one minute of prep time. How is that possible? Like many great hacks, this one uses simple ingredients and as few steps as possible to get the job done.

You may have heard of "no-knead" bread before. Mark Bittman and many others have promoted their versions of an artisan bread that doesn't require any heavy labor. While those recipes also create delicious results, they involve too many steps to be considered a real hack.

I wanted something very, very simple that delivered great results in 60 seconds of prep time or less. It may take you a few tries to get below the one-minute mark, but I think you'll enjoy the results every time!

For your ciabatta you'll need:

• 4 cups of all-purpose flour
• 2 cups of warm water
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of granulated yeast (or equivalent)

You'll also need a medium-size mixing bowl, a 10×15 cookie sheet or baking stone, a hand towel or plastic wrap, and whatever you'd like to keep your bread from sticking (if you're using a pan, I use flour and corn meal).

Have everything handy? Good. Let's do this!

1. Mix Water & Yeast

Pour the warm water into the medium-size mixing bowl and stir in the yeast with a spoon. No need to be particular, just dump and slosh.

2. Add Flour And Salt

Add flour and salt to your bowl of yeasty water. This, after measuring out the flour, presents another prime opportunity to get flour on your person. This will be regarded by many as a sign of your culinary determination. You'll need such signs because anybody who actually watches you make the bread will think you're one of the laziest bakers in existence.

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Carl Sagan on Genius

But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.

Carl Sagan US astronomer & popularizer of astronomy (1934 - 1996)

The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems to be vastly greater than that of any other animal

H. L. Mencken US editor (1880 - 1956)

Few things are more satisfying than seeing your own children have teenagers of their own.

Doug Larson

Dr. Seuss Went to War

 Those were different times.  Click link to see cartoons.

A Catalog of Political Cartoons

 

 

Three Men on a Hike

From my friend Beverly

Three men were hiking through a forest when they came upon a large raging, violent river. Needing to get to the other side, The first man prayed:

'God, please give me the strength to cross the river.'


Poof! .. God gave him big arms and strong legs And he was able to swim Across in about 2 hours, having almost drowned twice.



After witnessing that, the second man prayed: 'God, please give me Strength and the tools to cross the river'


Poof! .. God gave him a rowboat and strong arms And strong legs and he Was able to row across in about an hour After almost capsizing once.


Seeing what happened to the first two men, The third man prayed: 'God,please give me the strength, The tools and the intelligence To cross the river'


Poof! .. He was turned into a woman. She checked the map, Hiked one Hundred yards up stream And walked across the bridge.


'If at first you don't succeed, do it the way your wife told you!' 

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation

Oscar Wilde, De Profundis, 1905 Irish dramatist, novelist, & poet (1854 - 1900)

We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves - Francois de La Rochefoucauld

French author & moralist (1613 - 1680)

11 Little-Known Grammatical Errors That Will Shock and Horrify You

To my friends and relatives who care about such things.  You know who you are.  Click on the link to see all of them.

Example:

Try and. The correct phrase is "try to." It really does make sense logically -- the trying is part of the action. I don't try and say goodbye and I choke, I try to say goodbye and I choke. (I also try i walk away and I stumble.)

It's a rough day for a journalism major when he learns he was grammatically bested by Macy Gray.

I remember when I learned the try and/try to disparity. I'd just gotten my first job writing professionally, in October of 2003, and I dropped a "try and" bomb in one of the first things I wrote. I was scolded, beat myself up about it for two weeks straight -- and never made the mistake again. 

Bureaucracy Chic

 

 

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Bureaucracy Chic

via Design Crisis by karly on 2/25/10

I know I have been threatening to post images of my new and improved office for a while now and still haven't gotten around to it.  It's just that I still have one empty wall and our resident photographer has her hands full with a 17 pound distractenator named Ike.  In the mean time, I bring you images from offices around the world in part of photographer Jan Banning's series, Bureaucratics

India

China

Liberia

Liberia

Yemen

Russia

Guess Where?  USA

Bolivia

Bolivia

Yemen

So, still no pictures of my office, but I promise these are a million times interesting.  See the complete series here

Related posts:

1. The Antithesis of Cheap Chic
2. Tastes Great, Less Filling
3. We're Not Out of the Woods Yet

 

 

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• Subscribe to Design Crisis using Google Reader
• Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites

 

 

Clients From Hell: Won't take more than an hour

I discovered this particular blog a few weeks ago, thank you Google News.


Most of the posts seems to come in from web designers, but hey, customers are customers. I spent more time than I should have with an overseas customer trying to recreate a problem they were having. They hadn't applied all of software fixes that were available, they were convinced that they had a unique problem that couldn't have been covered by a previous fix... As it turned out, an existing solution also fixed their problem.  Anyhow, a quote from the Clients From Hell blog.  The writer of this post was given a task that would 'only take an hour.'

“You realize, if I can do this, it’ll take about 12 hours, and no guarrantee I can make it look like a real photo,” I advised them.

“Yes, you can. You have Photoshop!” The art director screamed. Meanwhile, one of the account guys brought my boss over,who corroborated everything I said.

“Listen,” I said, “you have a finished illo, but if you really want me to do this I will, but I can’t have it done before tomorrow, and that’s if I stay all night. your illustration will still look better.”

The art director blew his stack “LOOK—THIS WON’T TAKE MORE THAN TWO HOURS!!” And then he added “I’D DO IT MYSELF IF I KNEW HOW TO USE PHOTOSHOP!!”

Best Tech Guy caller EVER with Leo Laporte

For pure Chutzpah, this is hard to beat.

Lady calls Leo Laporte's Tech Guy Show claiming her WI-FI access has "disappeared", come to find out that she doesn't even have a router!

Tom Brokaw Explains Canada To Americans

Tom Brokaw explains the relationship between Canada and The United States, in a pre-recorded short film that aired on NBC prior to the Opening Ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on Feb. 14th, 2010.

A N O N Y M O U S = Actions, Not Our Names, Yield Maintenance Of Unity and Service.

If I have seen this before, I didn't remember it.  

Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.

Charles Mackay

Teaching Grown-ups

That is why God gave us grandchildren.

Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery, "The Little Prince", 1943 French writer (1900 - 1944)

Word of the Day

Nice quote by Brenda Craig  that I heard from my friend Bronnie today at church.

Yes, I see the many things you do for Me and these are good, but don’t ever let yourself think—doing things for Me—is the same as being with Me. I don’t love you because you “do.” I love you because you are.

Open your heart. Let go of any unworthiness you might feel due to lack of personal time with Me and come close. I am here. Never let busyness rob your intimate moments with Me. Remember, doing is not the same as being—being births doing. I am always waiting with open arms. 

First Senior Morment

Ignore Expiration Dates

"Best by," "Sell by," and all those other labels mean very little.

Some interesting info about something I have always wondered about.  An excerpt from the article.

Not only are expiration dates misleading, but there's no uniformity in their inaccuracy. Some manufacturers prefer the elusive "Best if used by," others opt for the imperative "Use by," and then there are those who litter their goods with the most unhelpful "Sell by" stamps. (I'm happy my bodega owner is clear on when to dump, but what about me?) Such disparities are a consequence of the fact that, with the exception of infant formula and some baby foods, package dates are unregulated by the federal government. And while some states do exercise oversight, there's no standardization. A handful of states, including Massachusetts and West Virginia, and Washington, D.C., require dating of some form for perishable foods. Twenty states insist on dating for milk products, but each has distinct regulations. Milk heading for consumers in Connecticut must bear a "Sell by" date not more than 12 days from the day of pasteurization. Dairies serving Pennsylvania must conform to 14 days.

Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth -  Mary Schmich

Enduring Love

Warning - contains PG-13 language. Or, language a 13 year-old may use.

You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence - Charles Austin Beard

The only really good place to buy lumber is at a store where the lumber has already been cut and attached together in the form of furniture, finished, and put inside boxes - Dave Barry

When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to discover they are not it - Bernard Bailey

From Paper Tape to Data Sticks: The Evolution of Removable Storage

I have certainly been in the computer business long enough to remember all the different iterations for data storage.  I started off with punch cards in college and at my first job after graduating.  
Click on the link to read the article.

The Life, Times (and Death?) of Internet Explorer 6 (Comic Strip)

Everything you wanted to know about IE6 and more....

From my friend Peggy: Chutzpah

Chutzpah: A Yiddish word meaning gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, sheer guts plus arrogance.  As Leo Rosten writes, no other word, and no other language, can do it justice. This example is perfect...

A little old lady sold pretzels on a street corner for 25 cents each. Every day a young man would leave his office building at lunch time and as he passed the pretzel stand he would leave her a quarter, but never take a pretzel. 

This went on for more than 3 years. The two of them never spoke.

One day as the young man passed the old lady's stand and left his quarter as usual, the pretzel lady spoke to him.

Without blinking an eye she said "They're 35 cents now."

That’s Chutzpah!!

12 Reasons You Shouldn’t Freelance

Nothing I have ever wanted to do. Except for the sleep all day part.

 

 

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12 Reasons You Shouldn’t Freelance

via FreelanceFolder by Amber Weinberg on 1/27/10

Going into business for the wrong reasons can bring ruin into both your financial and professional life. While freelancing comes with many perks, it's important not to base your self-employment decision solely on those perks, as you may run yourself out of business.

What are some of these perks of freelancing?

• You can choose your own hours
• You can choose your own clients
• You can choose the type of work you do
• You can choose your rates

We've discussed great reasons to start freelancing, but we haven't really talked about why you shouldn't start freelancing. Let's take a look at some of the worst reasons to go into business for yourself.

Reason 1: To Sleep in All Day and Leave Work Early

It's true that as a freelancer, you can set the hours you work. However, if you think that means you can sleep in all day and get off early, you'll be sadly disappointed.

Clients still expect you to keep some normal business hours. While it's ok to shift your schedule to times where you're most productive, you'll still have clients who request to speak to you by phone during nine to five hours. Limiting your work hours to starting at midnight and ending at 3 a.m. will cause you to lose a lot of potential business.

Reason 2: Freelancing Will Make You Rich

If you want to start freelancing, you shouldn't do it solely for the money. While you're free to set your rates, chances are you'll have little or no money when starting out. Making tons of cash, even if you're a seasoned professional, is pretty unlikely.

Reason 3: You Hate Working with People

Sorry to burst your bubble, but even if you plan on working by yourself, you still have to work with people. You may have to work with clients, agencies or other freelancers.

Reason 4: To Spend the Day with Your Kids

Unless you're planning on only working part-time, expecting to be able to spend ample amounts of time with your kids is a huge potential pitfall. Once you get your business going, you'll rarely have time for lunch and bathroom breaks; much less to change diapers, have playtime and offer help with homework.

Plus, if you're not careful, staying at home with your kids can be a huge distraction and prevent you from getting any work done. Especially with younger kids, the temptation to spend time with them can often throw a productive day out the door.

This isn't to say freelancing isn't a good option for stay-at-home parents. You just have to be realistic in your goal settings and realize you're not going to be able to be as productive, busy or profitable as a regular freelancer.

Reason 5: You Can Charge Whatever You Want

Related to Reason 2 above, you can't simply charge any amount of money for your work and expect anyone to hire you. Your rates have to fall into what the market can bear and take into account your quality of work and experience you offer.

Of course, the busier and more well known you become the more you can charge to "fit" in those clients or schedule them in months ahead of time.

Reason 6: Freelancing Is An Easy Job

Freelancing is one of the hardest jobs out there. It's one of the few careers where you're truly alone, in the sense that you're responsible for everything. This includes finding the work, doing the work, billing for it, tracking down late payments and taking care of the books and taxes. That's a lot of work for one person!

Reason 7: To Keep Up with the Household Chores

It drives me nuts to wake up to a kitchen full of dishes or stuff where it shouldn't be. However, I often have to hold back this urge until lunchtime or after work. Just like kids, it can be tempting to take just a "few" minutes to pick up the house and promise yourself you'll get "right" back to work. Before you know it, half the day is gone and you haven't done any work…paid work that is.

Personally, I try to have the dishes from the night before finished that night so I don't wake up with them in the sink. I try to pick up as I go throughout the day so there isn't a mess, or I wait until my lunch break to clean up what's needed.

Reason 8: Work Will Just Come to You

It takes a lot of work to freelance before you even start "working". Just sitting at your computer everyday and staring at your screen won't get you clients.

Reason 9: No Boss!

Without having someone behind you to make sure you're staying productive, it can be tough to stay motivated and on target. You have to make sure you have enough drive to push yourself to make it through the boring everyday tasks of freelancing.

Reason 10: You'll Save Lots of Money

While it's true you'll no longer have to fight morning or evening traffic, that doesn't mean you can sell the car and save lots of money. It gets lonely in your own office so you'll want to work remotely a few times a week.

Often, you'll find yourself going to your local bookstore, cafe, or restaurant to work for a few hours and you'll probably end up spending some money there as well. After you factor in this spending money and gas, plus the extra money you'll spend on electricity and water now that you're home more often, freelancing can easily add up to be more expensive than a nine to five job.

I once spent a ton of money at Target when I had no money coming in because I was "bored" from being at home all the time. Don't make the same mistake!

Reason 11: You'll Have More Free Time

When you're a freelancer, you'll actually have a lot less free time than when you were working a regular nine to five job, even if you keep the same or less hours than before.

Why? The biggest reasons are overscheduling and procrastinating. It'll take some time to properly schedule your work, but even then it's impossible to predict if a client is going to have last minute changes or a rush project. You may even end up working nights and weekends.

Reason 12: Your Family Will Respect You More

Most non-web people don't understand what we do at all. They understand even less what we do as freelancers. You'll probably have some difficulty getting your family members to understand that you're really working, even if you're at home. They may not understand you're running a real business and trying to make some real money.

To this day, my mom still doesn't understand that I can't just drop everything I'm doing in the middle of the day to do something with her. Just because I set my own hours, doesn't mean I can make myself free whenever I want to, as I still have to take care of my clients.

If you're married, or living with a significant other, it's easier for them to see you're doing real work if bills are getting paid, but sometimes they forget and may try to talk to you or ask you to do things around the house. The best thing to do is to try and talk to them and explain that you need to be left alone, as if you're working at a regular job, during your office hours. You may need to close and/or lock the office door while you're working to prevent interruptions.

Freelancing Is the Best Job Ever

But, it's also the hardest and most demanding job ever. It can be frustrating because you have no one else to share the business duties with. People, including clients, misunderstand what you do and may not think you're a real business who charges real rates for real work.

That being said, I do believe it's the best job ever. Really, I wouldn't go back to a full-time job, even if they offered me a six figure salary. Like everything else, it has it's drawbacks but it also has lots of good perks.

The important thing is to make sure you really like working independently and you have the drive to do this all by yourself. The freedom and satisfaction from being able to control your own career is reward in itself.

What About You?

What were some of the reasons you started freelancing? Where they good or bad reasons? Did they work out? Please share you experiences!

Image by joeyparsons

Related posts:

1. Freelancing — A Career Choice or Lifestyle?
2. 5 Reasons Freelancers Can't Ignore Twitter
3. 10 Ways To Make Your Freelance Business Fail

 

 

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I wonder if they used this one on their Christmas card?

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On Being A Grandparent

For all you Grandparents and those who will be.    I especially like the last one.  ENJOY




Grandmas are moms with lots of frosting. ~Author Unknown

What a bargain grandchildren are! I give them my loose change,
and they give me a million dollars' worth of pleasure. ~Gene Perret

Grandmothers are just 'antique' little girls. ~Author Unknown

Perfect love sometimes does not come until the first grandchild.
~  Welsh Proverb

 

A grandmother is a babysitter who watches the kids instead
of the television.. ~Author Unknown

Never have children, only grandchildren. ~Gore Vidal

Becoming a grandmother is wonderful. One moment you're just
a mother. The next you are all-wise and prehistoric. ~Pam Brown


Grandchildren don't stay young forever, which is good because
Grandfathers have only so many horsy rides in them. ~Gene Perret

When grandparents enter the door, discipline flies out the window.
~Ogden Nash

Grandma always made you feel she had been waiting to see just
you all day and now the day was complete. ~ Marcy DeMaree



Grandmas never run out of hugs or cookies. ~Author unknown

Grandmas hold our tiny hands for just a little while, but our
hearts forever. ~Author Unknown

If I had known how wonderful it would be to have grandchildren,
I'd have had them first. ~Lois Wyse

My grandkids believe I'm the oldest thing in the world. And after
two or three hours with them, I believe it, too. ~Gene Perret

If becoming a grandmother was only a matter of choice, I should
advise every one of you straight away to become one. There is
no fun for old people like it! ~Hannah Whithall Smith

It's such a grand thing to be a mother of a mother - that's why the
world calls her grandmother. ~Author Unknown 



Grandchildren are God's way of compensating us for growing
old. ~Mary H. Waldrip

You do not really understand something unless you can explain
it to your grandmother. ~Proverb

An hour with your grandchildren can make you feel young again.
Anything longer than that, and you start to age quickly. ~Gene Perret 



The best baby-sitters, of course, are the baby's grandparents. You
feel completely comfortable entrusting your baby to them for long
periods, which is why most grandparents flee to  Florida  . ~Dave Barry

I wish I had the energy that my grandchildren have - if only for
self-defense. ~Gene Perret

Grandmother-grandchild relationships are simple. Grandmas
are short on criticism and long on love. ~Author Unknown

Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do
Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of
little children. ~Alex Haley



Grandmother - a wonderful mother with lots of
practice. ~Author Unknown

A grandparent is old on the outside but young on
the inside. ~Author Unknown

One of the most powerful handclasps is that of a new
grandbaby around the finger of a grandfather. ~Joy Hargrove

It's amazing how grandparents seem so young once you
become one. ~Author Unknown

If your baby is 'beautiful and perfect, never cries or fusses,
sleeps on schedule and burps on demand, an angel all the
time,' you're the grandma. ~Teresa Bloomingdale

Grandparents are similar to a piece of string - handy to have
around and easily wrapped around the fingers of their
grandchildren. ~Author Unknown

What is it about grandparents that is so lovely? I'd like to say
that grandparents are God's gifts to children. And if they can
but see, hear and feel what these people have to give, they
can mature at a fast rate. ~Bill Cosby

Grandchildren don't make a man feel old; it's the knowledge
that he's married to a grandmother. ~G. Norman Collie

Dream On and Acceptance

I was riding in the car, amazed how well John was doing driving my car.  And I also noticed when he drove how well he was speaking.  I was just sitting there in my care, totally amazed, and happy.  And then of course I woke up and I remembered that John doesn't drive, and that he doesn't speak in complete sentences.

A few years ago a friend suggested that John needed to learn to drive in case of some emergency.  I replied that I couldn't think of any emergency that would involve having to drive to Popeye's at breakneck speed.  Or any emergency that would not be made worse with John driving.

And then I have to remember once again the principle of acceptance, something that I have heard numerous times in numerous 12 step meetings. 

And acceptance is the answer to all my problems
today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some
person, place, thing, or situation—some fact of my life
—unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until
I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being
exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in God’s world
by mistake.

PLEASE READ QUIETLY AND SEND IT BACK ON IT'S WAY

To realize
The value of a sister/brother
Ask someone
Who doesn't have one. 


To realize
The value of ten years:
Ask a newly
Divorced couple. 


To realize
The value of four years:
Ask a graduate. 


To realize
The value of one year:
Ask a student who
Has failed a final exam. 


To realize The value of nine months:
Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn. 


To realize
The value of one month:
Ask a mother
Who has given birth to
A premature baby.... 


  To realize
The value of one week:
Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize
The value of one minute:
Ask a person
Who has missed the train, bus or plane. 


To realize
The value of one-second:
Ask a person
Who has survived an accident. 


Time waits for no one. 


Treasure every moment you have. 


You will treasure it even more when
You can share it with someone special. 


To realize the value of a friend or family member: 

LOSE ONE. 




The origin of this letter is unknown,
But it brings blessings to everyone who passes it on. 
 
Remember... 
 
 Hold on tight to the ones you love! 


Do not keep this letter. 


Send it to 20 friends & family to whom you wish good luck 
And don't forget the one who sent it to you!

Peace, love and prosperity to all!

Abraham and Isaac

I have heard this passage explained away in various ways through the years. It still seems pretty darn odd to me. Then there are the crazies who use this as justification for their own brand of human sacrifice.

explorefaith.org - January 17: "After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, 'Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.'He said, 'Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt-offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.'
—Genesis 22: 1-2"

Making it through adversity

Good lesson today from Abraham.

explorefaith.org - January 13: "Help us, O God, in the midst of fear, to speak to you from our hearts, and then to look expectantly for a sign that all will be well. Amen."

explorefaith.org - January 12

explorefaith.org - January 12: "LORD, help me to listen carefully, to trust deeply, and to go forth without fear. Amen."

Jumping into the unknown is not something that I do willingly. Sometimes God has to give me an extra push.

Miss Manners on 'Happy Holidays'

I am in total agreement with Miss Manners on this!  As usual I may add.

Sunday Picture

John and myself at my work place, BMC Software, after church.  


John had a perfect Sunday so far, breakfast at IHOP, church, 7-11 and now time with me at the office.

Dear Abby: Word Is Out: Rudolph's Red Nose May Just Be Makeup

More than you ever wanted to know about reindeer.

DEAR ABBY: With the holidays here, songs about Santa and his reindeer are filling the air. I'm writing to talk about reindeer antlers. Reindeer are unique because they are the only members of the deer family in which both genders have antlers, which are made of bone and grown annually.
In the summer and fall, you cannot identify a reindeer as a "he" or a "she" without further investigation. In late December, however, only the females still have their antlers.
During the summer months, the males use their antlers to attract females and defend their harem (anywhere from five to 15 females) from other males. When they are no longer "looking for love," the males lose their antlers. The females, on the other hand, keep theirs through the winter and into the spring, and use them to compete for food and to protect their young.
The only reindeer with antlers at Christmastime are the GIRLS, Abby. So Rudolph would have been appropriately named "Rudolphia," and the other reindeer would have been laughing and calling HER names until the glow from HER nose guided Santa's sleigh that foggy Christmas eve. -- JOYCE CAMPBELL, PH.D.

DEAR DR. CAMPBELL: Fascinating. This clearly explains why Santa doesn't get lost at Christmas. Females are never reluctant to ask for directions ... ho, ho, ho.

What we want versus what we need

A good friend and a fellow 12-step traveler sends out a daily thought which often gives me something to think about. The thought for today is:

"We frequently aren't given what we want--But we are always given exactly what we need at the moment"

I probably get more out of the thoughts that I don't readily agree with than the ones that I do, and this thought certainly fits in that category.  I have no idea why my son James needs to have cancer right now, though I am sure there are lessons for James and his extended family to learn from the experience.  The price seems excessively high.  I will have to think about this for awhile.

Ice Fishing

Way too funny, way too cold.


EMBED-Insane Canadian Fisherman - Watch more free videos

Scrooged: 12 Xmas-themed Scams

Makes me wonder why I even bother to sign on sometimes.  Here is one that I am guilty of.  

Friend "requests"

If you are one of those people who will accept any friend request you get on Facebook, this is a particularly dangerous time of the year to be too friendly. Because of the information you disclose on social networking sites, they can be a goldmine for identity thieves.

"It's surprising to me how many people on Facebook put their birthday," said Cohn. "Not just the date, but the year."

According to GetSafeOnline, one in four people using social networking sites have posted confidential or personal information such as phone number, address or email on their online profile. To avoid identity theft, never offer personal information to anyone over a social networking site, even if the request is from a friend or relative. Do not offer your birth date, birth town and home address on your user profile, and always make sure you apply the right privacy settings to protect yourself. Avoid posting photos of expensive belongings or dates when you are away from home over the holidays.

Spirit of Hope

The sermon yesterday at church was about hope, which came at a great time for me.  I am of course very concerned about the health of my son James.  He continues to point out that his prognosis is excellent once he gets past the chemo therapy, and I of course continue to worry.  Part of being a parent I suppose.  We chatted on the phone about how he feels bad for some of the other people who are receiving treatment the same time that he is because, in his words, they have real cancer.  He means of course that their chances are not as good as his, but again, as a parent, his form of cancer is all too real.

Today I took my youngest son John to the dentist for his usual six month cleaning and checkup.  He was very cooperative, and we were in and out in less than 30 minutes.  I wish that my checkups went so quickly and smoothly.  The first time I remember taking John to the dentist, I held him on my lap while he screamed.  He was so agitated that the dentist was able to look in his mouth and determine that John needed some work.  In order to do that, we had to take him to a surgical center so he could be put under general anesthetic.  It was my hope that someday John would cooperate at the dentists, but I had a hard time believing it would really happen.  But it has.

Senator Orrin Hatch, Chanukah and Barbra Streisand, by Margo Howard | wowOwow

I stand all amazed.

"You should know that Senator Hatch wears a golden mezuzah on a neck chain every day. This is interesting because the senator is not a house, or even a doorway, which is where mezuzahs are meant to be placed. He also keeps a fake Torah in his Senate office. (It can’t be a real one because he’s not a Temple, either.) I think the guy secretly wants to be Jewish"

This Christmas give the Holy Spirit everything that would hurt you.

I am a big fan of author Carol Lynn Pearson, and I am on her email announcement list.  She said in part:

That statement from A Course in Miracles.  "This Christmas give the Holy Spirit everything that would hurt you."  I can do that, and I've been making my list.  To the Holy Spirit I will give: 

            *this old resentment that I wrap around me out of habit

            *that ragged worry I still clutch in the middle of the night

            *the judgment I made just this morning with my quick, creative skills

            *the fear that really doesn't go with the outfit of hope I look best in

I'll make the list as long as I can.  All the things that hurt me--how great that the Holy Spirit can use them.  And without them--miraculously I become more.

Don't give DVD box sets as gifts

Great piece in Slate today.  Money quote:

Television should be a glorious time waster, but being given three seasons of Lost on DVD is like being given a prison sentence. You slog through the first season, and not only is the hefty second season waiting around the corner, but it has brought its friends: Seasons 3, 4, and 5. Boxed sets have transformed television from light entertainment into homework.

Of course, with the help of Netflix and Hulu, I have been watching episodes of Perry Mason that were broadcast when I was but a tyke.

 

Gearing up for the holidays

I need to start thinking about Christmas shopping.   I stumbled across this when I should have been working.

Faced with facts like this, one cannot help but recall the economic discipline's most famous "Bah, humbug!" result: Joel Waldfogel's discovery, in 1993, that the typical $50 Christmas gift is valued by the recipient at between $35 and $43. It is this sort of finding, presumably, that accounts for the popularity of gift cards, which, according to Offenberg, are now the most popular gift in America.

Personally, I like photographs of my kids and grandkids.  They are priceless.

No One is What They Look Like

The other day I posted a picture on Facebook that showed me when I was 19 years old, probably December 1970.  I was a new missionary in Japan at the time, and still had most of my hair.  One of my friends seemed totally astounded that was really me.  At age 58, I look a lot different than I was 39 years ago.

Which got me thinking of a Barry Manilow song from his album Here At the Mayflower called Not What You See.  (You can here a part of the song by clicking on the link above.)  I wonder who the person in the mirror is somedays.....

Here is a link to the lyrics http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/barry_manilow/not_what_you_see-lyrics-42314.html

Sonny, no one is what
they look like
everyone's so much more
Sonny, no one is what
they look like
and we're not what you see
that's for sure