So, how’re ya doing?

I was contacted by an acquaintance from my past yesterday.

A fellow I’d not heard from for 27 years sent me an email. In a brief exchange with him I realized that while he had experienced some change in his life, I had radically transformed. I knew his vocabulary but he didn’t know mine.

I experienced a sadness that surprised me. Once a rising star in his field, he was now a so-so and definitely not rising; yet, he was still chasing the illusion. He was completely unaware that his dream was, and had always been, an illusion, a falsity that masqueraded as a lofty goal.

Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about. So he tried again. “I’ll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep. All those others are up to no good—sheep stealers, every one of them. But the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of. — Jesus

Energized

I’ve just completed two weeks of hard core traveling. I’ve been through Atlanta so many times that I’m beginning to see it as “home.”

Traveling always wears you out. The going is fun and exciting, the return is less so. Together, they make you tired. Fighting traffic on the road or in the air (that sounds odd, doesn’t it? How do you “fight traffic” in the air… but you do!) causes your body to expend huge amounts of resources. Tack that on to going non-stop at the places you’ve gone and you have one tired puppy.

Getting in last night, though physically tired, I noticed that I was actually charged up. Instead of going to bed like a normal person who only had gotten 20 hours of sleep over the last six days, I was up to midnight.

I’ve still got lots of travel on my agenda for the rest of the year. Some very tiring travel. But I can hardly wait!

Why? This is driving me hard.

(more to come…)

Reality is stronger than fiction

Along the lines of IDK, this was a real phone conversation yesterday:

Hello! Thank you for calling The Green Pharmacy. May I help you?

Is this The Green Pharmacy?

Yes it is, may I help you?

Silence

Is this The Green Pharmacy?

Yes it is, may I help you?

Indignant,

I want to know if this is THE Green Pharmacy!

Hesitating,

Actually, it is. We often disguise ourselves as The Green Pharmacy just to fool people.

Questioningly,

So, I’m talking to The Green Pharmacy.

I’m beginning to wonder.

Huh?

Folks, don’t try this at home…

Tweet-le-dee

A younger friend of mine yesterday posted a tweet yesterday that described me to a tee. My response to him cajoled a chuckle.

I was serious.

First, a “tweet” is what you do in “Twitter.” Twitter is an online service where you have 140 characters to describe what you’re doing, thinking, etc. You can access it on your computer or on your phone. I’ve found it to be an amazing tool and quite entertaining.

That brings me to second: thanks @wes_rose! (That’s the way of addressing folks who’ve “tweeted” on “Twitter;” funny, huh?!

Now back to the tweet:

Is it bad that as a 23-year-old I still feel like a boy ready to take over the world?

My response:

Is it bad that a 50-something still feels like a boy ready to take over the world?

Does life really begin when your age equals the speed limit?

Acting like young folks

Me and the queen got a good thing going on (yes, I’m aware the grammar is incorrect).

Pushing on to twenty years hitched together, we’re finding that things are getting hotter, funner and better than twenty years ago. We hear young couples talking about “date nights;” we do date months, with a weekend off so we can catch our breath. 😀

Last night I decided to do something different, go somewhere new and not tell her til we got there.

Having heard so many of my buds tell me about the Surf House down at Carolina Beach, I decided to give ‘er a whirl.

What a fun night!

What would have been an hour or so turned into almost three. We ate (excellent), chatted with Brad (really nice guy), watched surfing films, shopped (ok, I held her sweater and she shopped) and I walked around admiring all the surf boards, acting like I knew what I was doing (throwing out surfing terms like “hang ten” and “surf and turf” to further convince the folks I was a real surfer dude!). We even had pumpkin spice cake, a mighty fine coffee, an organic black tea (exquisite!) and a cup of organic green tea.

Shucks! I got to feeling like all those youngsters talking about a date night. Shame they can’t act like young folks, like we did, but then enjoy the benefits of exotic middle age…

Didn’t it used to always be like this?

We have adopted a restaurant.

Typically you would adopt a child or a pet; a restaurant is a bit strange.

We like to eat light in the evenings; we like coffee and bagels in the morning. We found a place that allows us to do both; so, we tend to stop in often. This has allowed us to get to know several of the employees and managers on a first name basis.

They treat us like family and we return the compliment.

Last night we stopped in for a bowl of soup. Yolanda, Denise and Dave all came out to check on us and to chitchat a bit. We traded stories of how our day had gone, laughed at a joke and swapped genuine smiles.

They tell us that we’re a bright spot in their day.

Isn’t this supposed to be how we live?

It’s all about ice cream

My dad passed along an interesting post. I’ve tried to run down the original but have been unsuccessful. If you know the original author, please pass it along to me so I can give proper credit.

Lots of applications could be made from it. I decided to leave those to you!

The most eye-opening civics lesson I ever had was while teaching third grade.  The presidential election was heating up and some of the children showed an interest.  I decided we would have an election for a class president.  We would choose our nominees.  They would make a campaign speech and the class would vote.

To simplify the process,  candidates were nominated by other class members.  We discussed what kinds of characteristics these students should have. We got many nominations and from those, Jamie and Olivia were picked to run for the top spot.

The class had done a great job in their selections.  Both candidates were good kids.  I thought Jamie might have an advantage because he got lots of parental support.  I had never seen Olivia’s mother.

The day arrived when they were to make their speeches   Jamie went first.  He had specific ideas about how to make our class a better place.  He ended by promising to do his very best.  Every one applauded.

He sat down and Olivia came to the podium.  Her speech was concise.  She said, “If you will vote for me, I will give you ice cream.”  She sat down.  The class went wild.  “Yes! Yes! We want ice cream.”

She surely would say more.  She did not have to.  A discussion followed.  How did she plan to pay for the ice cream?  She wasn’t sure.  Would her parents buy it or would the class pay for it. She didn’t know.

The class really didn’t care.  All they were thinking about was ice cream.  Jamie was forgotten.  Olivia won by a land slide.

Contrasts

I was watching one of the recurrent themes on America’s Funniest Videos last night — cats doing stupid things.

There was a big, fat cat sitting on the kitchen floor; there was a loud noise that startled him and he instantly went from sitting to running. The problem was he couldn’t get any traction on the smooth floor. He was running as hard as he could but going nowhere.

He was going nowhere, very fast.

Talking with a mother whose daughter is sick yesterday I see the same thing. The day was full of the same — a pastor who realizes he’s never understood what he’s told his parishioners, a woman who feels trapped in her marriage, a man burnt out from a job that has accomplished nothing, the posturing of a Christian who thinks he knows it all… running hard, getting nowhere.

Hopeless, weak, without purpose.

Quite a contrast with words spoken by  a fellow who claims to be God: anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works…

Could it be…

Surprise!

A good thing about living in a townhome is I don’t have to do yard work.

A bad thing about living in a townhome is that someone else does and you don’t know when they will be doing it.

I wake up this morning, jump in the shower, and, because I’m running behind, don’t take the usual “precautions” when moving  buck naked from the bathroom to my closet.

As I exit the bathroom with my original birth clothing fully in place, imagine my surprise when I see a fellow trimming the hedges at my open bedroom window. Perhaps I should say, imagine HIS surprise (that couldn’t have been a pretty sight… he will probably be scarred for life).

[BTW, that is me in the photo. It is rather embarrassing.]

Yessir! That got my day off to an invigorating start…

To kill a computer

What is it with computers?

Is artificial intelligence so far advanced that it is being used nefariously by the manufacturers? How else can you account for the timing that always occurs when one of these electronic marvels decides to die on you? It never occurs at a convenient time, never.

My trusty steed bit the dust this week. He was only four years old, for crying out loud. Yes, I did have backups (that was a hard lesson learned multiple times). However, that still doesn’t account for all the work required to reload, reconfigure and prep the new beast for it’s new work load.

Why can’t they tell you, “Hey! I’m having a really rough time and am about to go memory chips up. You’d better get a replacement in here so you can prepare him over the weekend while you’ve got some free time. If not, I’m going to die at the worst possible moment.”

That would be a really nice feature.