Wednesday, September 30, 2009

A-Team

There was a TV program called the A-Team where they are ex-military vietnam veterans who were unjustly convicted of a crime & then escaped to become Soldiers of Fortune in L.A.. They usually help people who are being harassed by badies. Almost every episode they are captured by the badies who put them in a garage or other facility that has all sorts of welding equipment, & odds and ends that can be made into weapons. They then turn the tables on the badies & save their good guy clients.

This show is an example of the badies who always seem to put off killing the good guys when they have the drop on them. You would think that they would learn & just kill the good guys; but no they wait & the good guys win. Goldfinger has it right when 007 is strapped to a table with a laser cutting toward the private parts of 007; when 007 asks "Do you expect me to talk?" Goldfinger replies ,"No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!" Of course, he doesn't kill 007 but at least he had the right idea!

We have a channel "MeTV" which shows old time shows like the A-Team. They are enjoyable without the sex that seems to be required in modern shows. So if you need a good guy winning fix; turn on the A-Team & rest your rational mind!

I did not crash this plane! I simply landed it without the customary accompaniment of forward thrust or lift. Murdock


Use your imagination! Or you can borrow mine. Murdock


Aw, Hannibal, is this one of your plans supposed to go down 1, 2, 3? You always forget 4, 5, and 6. BA


Shut up, fool! BA


Don't ya love it! No matter how smart they think they are, they always screw up somehow! Hannibal


I love it when a plan comes together! Hannibal


I lie, I cheat, I steal and I just don't get any respect. Face


The Jazz is kinda like nature's way of sticking your finger in a light socket. Our problem is, Hannibal likes it. Face


adventure (n) an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity • daring and exciting activity calling for enterprise and enthusiasm
ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French aventure (noun), aventurer (verb), based on Latin adventurus ‘about to happen,’ from advenire ‘arrive.’

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Pay

The P.O. administration is going to limit the pay of various bank / financial employees. It is very obvious to me that they really don't understand what it means to be free. Free to make as much or as little as you want.

Why don't they look into the automatic pay raises for Congress? When many people are losing their jobs or at best losing pay; they feel that they "deserve" more pay. Federal employee also have built in pay raises; there are "steps" for most federal employees that take effect between 6 months (first steps) to 2 tears (for the higher steps).

Why do they (politicians) feel that we are working for them?

It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world. Thomas Jefferson

One way to make sure crime doesn't pay would be to let the government run it. Ronald Reagan


It's God's will for you to live in prosperity instead of poverty. It's God's will for you to pay your bills and not be in debt. Joel Osteen


MONEY, n. A blessing that is of no advantage to us excepting when we part with it. An evidence of culture and a passport to polite society. Supportable property. (DD)

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Sports 2009

Another year for my sport teams!

The Tigers are blowing a lead in the AL West; as of today (before the game) they are only 3 games ahead of Minnesota. The RedWings lost Hossa (to BlackHawks), Hudler (to Russians), Chelios (to old age), and a bunch of others; they haven't signed anyone of significance.

The Lions lost their 1st game by 30 some points (0-17 & counting). The Pistons lost R. Wallace & fortunately A. Iverson; they are getting older & signed my least favorite Bull Ben Gordon (a shoot first, shoot second, defense what's that player).

Well as the Cub fans say, "There's always next year!"

“Win as if you were used to it, lose as if you enjoyed it for a change.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“That's what learning is, after all; not whether we lose the game, but how we lose and how we've changed because of it and what we take away from it that we never had before, to apply to other games. Losing, in a curious way, is winning.” Richard Bach

“We lost because we told ourselves we lost” Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

LOSS, n.
Privation of that which we had, or had not. Thus, in the latter sense, it is said of a defeated candidate that he "lost his election"; and of that eminent man, the poet Gilder, that he has "lost his mind." It is in the former and more legitimate sense, that the word is used in the famous epitaph:
Here Huntington's ashes long have lain
Whose loss is our eternal gain,
For while he exercised all his powers
Whatever he gained, the loss was ours. (DD)

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Take charge & Biking

I was complaining to my Lovely Wife (I do that a lot, the poor woman!) about the Bible Study that the pastor is now leading. It has us go into little groups (usually 2 people) to discuss things & I was saying that I liked the way I led the morning study better. She remarked that that was because I am a "Take charge" kind of guy. I never thought of myself as a "Take charge" type person. I do like to do things the way I like to do them though.

While I was biking home from the above mentioned Bible Study, I noticed that young people do not respond to my cheery "Good Morning" but either snarl at me or just look away. Whereas, older people tend to respond back.

Also I was approaching from behind a couple on the bike path today, I noticed that they were on the left side of the path so I said "Passing on the right," As soon as I was close to the woman (she was behind) she started to move over to the right & was startled to see me there. So I went into the grass on the right of the path to avoid her & in front the man was moving over to the right & remarked something like "I guess I mean the left" and passed him to the left.

It is interesting how people just do things the way it is normally done without listening.

“When placed in command take charge.” Norman Schwarzkopf

“We can let circumstances rule us, or we can take charge and rule our lives from within.” Earl Nightingale

“When you take charge of your life, there is no longer need to ask permission of other people or society at large. When you ask permission, you give someone veto power over your life.” Abert F. Geoffrey

take charge assume control or responsibility : the candidate must take charge of an actual flight.
ORIGIN Middle English (in the general senses [to load] and [a load] ): from Old French charger (verb), charge (noun), from late Latin carricare, carcare ‘to load,’ from Latin carrus ‘wheeled vehicle.’

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Mistake

I seem to be making more & more mistakes as I grow older. The latest was when my lovely wife decided to go to a Women of Faith thing in St.Paul, MN. Our son-in-law pointed out to our daughter who passed it on to the L.W. that it is cheap to fly between Milwaukee (our favorite airport in the region) to MSP (Minn-St.Paul) and they would be glad to pick her up.

So I promptly made reservations in the afternoon (since it was easiest for Scott to pick up my L.W. after work) for the flight there & evening for the flight back (so it was after the event). The flight was $108 with taxes & fees which was a reasonable price. I sent the reservation info to Tera, Scott & the L.W.. No one noticed that the flights were for the week before the event! Only when I was talking to the L.W. that there was plenty of time before something else she had to do & she said the thing we were talking about was the same weekend as the Women of Faith. I told her my interpretation of the date & she corrected me (we checked the web site for the WoF event but as usual the L.W. was right & needless to say I was wrong).

So then I tried to use the website of the airline where I had purchased the tickets to change the reservations for a week later but it told me I would have to call the airline 800 number. This should have warned me of dire consequences. I called the airline & was told the tickets were non-refundable/non-transferable/non-human. He told me that if I paid the small fee they would give me a credit for the tickets; this seemed like a reasonable idea since I had made the mistake. Turns out the small fee is $150 (remember above the price of the ticket : $108); so I could pay the $150 plus the $108 I was already out or a total of $258 or as I did today re-booked the flight as a new flight (with the L.W. checking to make sure I did it right this time) for another $108 for a total of $216.

So now we have a E-Ticket for 2 flights from MKE to MSP (one of which we can't even give to someone else to use) for one flight to St. Paul & back. It is best to not make mistakes!

Wise men profit more from fools than fools from wise men; for the wise men shun the mistakes of fools, but fools do not imitate the successes of the wise. Cato the Elder

Laughing at our mistakes can lengthen our own life. Laughing at someone else's can shorten it. Cullen Hightower

No one who cannot rejoice in the discovery of his own mistakes deserves to be called a scholar. Donald Foster

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. Napoleon Bonaparte

An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field. Niels Bohr

mistake (n) an action or judgment that is misguided or wrong • something, esp. a word, figure, or fact, that is not correct; an inaccuracy
ORIGIN late Middle English (as a verb): from Old Norse mistaka ‘take in error,’ probably influenced in sense by Old French mesprendre.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Kiss

As I was trying to awaken my sleeping beauty wife with a kiss; I was thinking about kissing. There is the Sleeping Beauty kiss; there is a "singing" group named "KISS"; there is the betrayal of our Savior with a kiss.

Watching "MeTV"; there are old time comedies like Dick Van Dyke, Bob Newhart, Cosby and Lucy. In them there, is little more than kissing or hugging for the sex angle. They were funny & wholesome; nowadays, we have actual or simulated sex. How is this an improvement?

Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves. ~Albert Einstein


Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves. ~Albert Einstein


A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous. ~Ingrid Bergman


Kissing is a means of getting two people so close together that they can't see anything wrong with each other. ~Rene Yasenek


I am in favor of preserving the French habit of kissing ladies' hands - after all, one must start somewhere. ~Sacha Guitry


KISS, (n) A word invented by the poets as a rhyme for "bliss." It is supposed to signify, in a general way, some kind of rite or ceremony appertaining to a good understanding; but the manner of its performance is unknown to this lexicographer. (DD)

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Fog

The weather has been strange recently. Toward the end of August the last week or so the temperatures were 70 or less for the highs. Since we like to bicycle, these temperatures were great (it seems that 63-66 are the best temps for us) unlike the normal 85-90 we normally have.

For the last week we have had fog every morning. It is fun to walk in the fog (when there are no cars around); however, bicycling (since we have to cross very busy streets wherever we go) has not been as much fun.

I'm glad that Al Gore's dire predictions haven't been fulfilled!

“Living without faith is like driving in a fog.” Proverb

“Derive happiness in oneself from a good day's work, from illuminating the fog that surrounds us.” Henri Matisse

Fog and smog should not be confused and are easily separated by color. Chuck Jones

Truth is the torch that gleams through the fog without dispelling it. Claude Adrien Helvetius

fog (n) a thick cloud of tiny water droplets suspended in the atmosphere at or near the earth's surface that obscures or restricts visibility (to a greater extent than mist; strictly, reducing visibility to below 1 km) • an opaque mass of something in the atmosphere ; figurative something that obscures and confuses a situation or someone's thought processes
ORIGIN mid 16th cent.: perhaps a back-formation from foggy

Friday, September 11, 2009

You Lie!

A SC-R congressman couldn't hold it in any more & said "You Lie!" to P.O. the other night. The fact that P.O. was lying (e.g., health care as not adding to the deficit, etc.) has not been mentioned as much as the fact that someone who rude to the Prez. P.O. also talked about those lying others (R's) but that was not "relevant."

It is interesting about lies we don't let them bother us as much as we use to let them. We use to hold politicians accountable for their lies but now we say "well they are pols so how can we except them to be honest!"

Parents often lie to their kids "it won't hurt", "we have no money for X", "we never Y when we were kids". What do you answer to someone if they ask how they look when it looks like they were in a accident with a lot of food? (Fortunately I don't have to lie about my lovely wife, she always looks good to me!)

White lies, black lies, what is the difference?

“I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you” Friedrich Nietzsche

“I love you, and because I love you, I would sooner have you hate me for telling you the truth than adore me for telling you lies.” Pietro Aretino

“Sometimes I lie awake at night, and ask, 'Where have I gone wrong?' Then a voice says to me, 'This is going to take more than one night.'” Charles M. Schulz

Tell your friend a lie. If he keeps it secret, then tell him the truth.” Proverb

LIAR, (n) A lawyer with a roving commission (DD)

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Czars

It is interesting to me that we call various people Czars. P.O. has at least 30 some Czars for everything from Autos to Green Jobs. There is some concern that these Czars are not vetted by Congress.

As long as they act as advisors to P.O. I don't see any problem, but if they have powers to regulate us individuals; I'm Agin them! It is surprising to me that people are surprised that P.O. is so liberal (socialist, communistic); his voting record in Congress was (when he bothered to vote) the most liberal record.

Hope & Change are not always good!

“With my team I am an absolute czar. My men know it. I order plays and they obey. If the don't, I fine them.” John McGraw

“When the Czar has a cold all Russia coughs” Russian Proverb

There is no justice among men. Czar Nicholas II

czar (n) 1 variant spelling of tsar 2 a person with great authority or power in a particular area : America's new drug czar.
ORIGIN from Russian tsar′, representing Latin Caesar.