QOTD: Procrastination

Let me share a few thoughts I keep in reserve about writing, which transfers to procrastination in general: #1 - One time Jim Thorpe was competing for high jump, and his coach found him resting under a tree, eyes closed. To the coach's rebuke, he replied, "I am practicing my jump." IOW, whenever you have a project, make a habit of mapping it out in your mind during the odd hour, and well before you actually sit down to write it. #2 - Another time someone approached Goethe and asked him how me managed to write so much, to which he replied, "I just blow on my hands!" IOW, just start writing. You can worry about editing it later. Writing is just like speaking, albeit a bit more formal. So just start. It's only after you start that you can see what the problems are going to be. Then it's time for a nap, a la #1. #3 - Jacques Barzun used to say, write a brouillage, that is, a scrambled mess. You can figure it out later. The key is that most procrastination grows out of inactivity and inertia, both of which create anxiety and then performance anxiety and then failure. Start writing yesterday, and, also, write every day. As William James used to say, "Habit a second nature? Habit is ten times nature!" #4 - The last thing of course: be yourself. Don't be afraid of yourself, and don't be unhappy with yourself. Just write who you are. The good parts will show, eventually.

- "Edward Fortyhands. Original story: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/08/the-procrastination-loop-and-how-to-break-it/379142/2/#comments

10 Life Lessons from a Navy SEAL

Very condensed version of commencement speech at the Univ. of Texas by Adm. McRaven:

If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.

If you want to change the world, find someone to help you paddle.

If you want to change the world, find someone to help you paddle.

If you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers.

If you want to change the world get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.

But if you want to change the world, don’t be afraid of the circuses.

If you want to change the world sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head first.

So, If you want to change the world, don’t back down from the sharks.

If you want to change the world, you must be your very best in the darkest moment.

So, if you want to change the world, start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud.

If you want to change the world don’t ever, ever ring the bell.

Source reference URL:

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2014/05/ten-life.html

Scars and gold

QOTD

Limbaugh on 25 years of radio success (and failures) execerpted from CNS News:

“Love and passion for what you do” is the key to overcoming those who seek to bring you down, said Limbaugh.

“It’s easy to be seduced by failure. It’s much easier than you think,” he said.

Limbaugh said it was inevitable to slip up a few times on the way up--and to expect people to go after you when you get to the top.

“It’s perfectly fine to have a couple slips off the ladder. It’s perfectly fine to have a failure here or there. It’s perfectly fine,” he said.

“And when you’re on your way up, nobody’s gunning for you.

“But when you get to where you’re going and if others perceive where you are to be the pinnacle, then the whole focus changes and everybody’s after you,” Limbaugh said.

“That makes staying where you are harder than getting there ever was.”

-

See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/limbaugh-celebrates-25th-anniversary-pinnacle-talk-radio#sthash.kB5pqzZH.dpuf

Moments that define a man - How will you handle them?

From a good article I clipped by Mens' Health writer, Mike Zimmerman:

Choosing to Marry
- Will you want to be with her in 20 years?

Becoming a Father
-Kids' needs first, otherwise you suck at being a dad.

Receiving Your First Real Defeat
- Not losing a game, the adult defeats: loss of employment, divorces, estrangements cut deeply into the ego.

Becoming an Orphan
- No more training, no more adivce.  It's your turn to be the example.

Realizing You Don't Know Everything
- The younger you are when you figure this out, the better.

DIY: How to reinstall the pad for the Swiffer Sweeper Wet Jet mop

These things are great for bachelor-Americans: plastic and shiny out of the box, disposable and of limited use after gathering dust and forgetting the directions.  It's good they have some visible warnings - like "don't insert finger" in the robotic solution bottle impaler.  Reminds me of a blood-letting device from the Middle Ages, but still very tempting.

It looked easy enough to bring back out of retirement.  Purchased new bottle of cleaning juice, and found some pads in the garage from Mom's last visit (or possibly the ex's - but on second thought, what would she be doing around any cleaning supplies?) and Googled the instructional .pdf for precision lock and load.  Unfortunately, the fruitless search for any existing manual or planned obsolescence hampered my efforts and the sanitary napkin round would not lock into place, so I combined manly know-how with '80s sensibility and produced an easy 3-step guide, yours for free unlimited consumer distribution.

LT Poopers says:

This eve

Finished another day of shameless networking and settling in to scarf down whatever and finish The Complete Guide to Small-Scale Farming by Melissa Nelson, and MBA in a Box by Joel Kurtzman, Glenn Rifkin and Victoria Griffith.

Trying to take a more active vice passive approach to soliciting geographic area of interest, not easy.  Switched back to my weekly calendar with several categories of notes, POCs, progress - on the side.  My organization is way convoluted.  Three recruitment efforts ongoing.

Life is speeding up... 

The Man in the Arena, by T.R. (I love mailing lists)

-by Mark Cenedella

A patriotic Monday, cagey,

With the 4th of July coming up on Wednesday [now past], it's a good time to reconsider this advice from a great American:

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.

That was Theodore Roosevelt speaking at the Sorbonne in 1910, but he could have just as easily been speaking to you.

Those critics, those naysayers, the nags and the negative people in our lives who want to tell us: "No. It can't be done. Don't try. Give up, cagey. Why do you have to stand out? Why won't you just be sensible and give in to the inevitable?"

They don't count. And you mustn't mistake their words for truth.

Don't buy into their message of settle-settle, underachievement, and muddle-along-now.

Because you've been blessed with talent, because you've had the fortunate happenstance to be born in this great country (or emigrate, or visit!), because you're one of the leading professionals in this land, you have a higher calling this Fourth of July.

Use the great gifts you have been given, find the forum where your talents will shine, discover that place where your spirit soars and the work smells like… victory in the morning.

Enjoy this week of the Fourth, and then go find your new arena.

Thomas Jefferson on: We ARE the problem

We are the problem, we like to blame x and y and z, the Trilateral Commission, or who knows what, but it’s not really that way. We Americans are so addicted to stuff, we are overweight, we have this well-fed consumer hog nation where you go to Wal-Mart or Costco, Sam’s Club or Best Buy, et. al., and these box stores are just chock full of stuff you can get for very favorable prices…
…You have breakfast as I did at a motel in Minnesota a few days ago and after a four minute breakfast you have a pile of trash of plastic cups, plastic spoons, plastic containers that have now been used for their one and only time in the history of the planet and they go into the landfill.
So we’ve got the people who drive to the food shop at the end of the block to buy a 96 oz. drink filled with sugar who get no exercise, who are just awash in stuff. We have garage sales not because we don’t want the stuff anymore, but we want to get rid of it so we can have more room to put more stuff in its place.
My point is: We are this people that have got this sort of transfusion of the fruits of life until it’s choking us, we’re dying. Our health is bad, we don’t get any exercise, we don’t have any civic engagement, we don’t read books, we don’t have - we’ve lost - the art of civility and the art of conversation, we’re watching American Idol or the Housewives of New Jersey and this nation that we’ve produced can’t be saved until each individual listening to this - and by the way, the Jeffersonians are the class act of American life - until the people that are the Americans shut off the t.v., stop feeding themselves 5, 6, 10,000 calories per day, start taking a stroll, start engaging in actual conversation, stop just spouting the talking points of Rush Limbaugh or Keith Olbermann and start actually retaking their lives from this thing that we’ve allowed to happen to us, and when we do that, corporate America will be less powerful than it is. I believe corporate America is working hard to keep us addicted, but we can break the addiction anytime we want by stepping away.
We as a people have to say no: We have higher values for our children; we don’t want to just be Wal-Mart Americans. We want to grow some of our own food. We want to read books and have actual converations, we’re not just going to spout talking points. This is liberation. And the liberation has to start with each individual and then your mate and your friends, and the people that you work with, and we have to learn to say no, (and I’m the worst of them!).
I’m trying to break my addictions to the world that I know is destroying the American way of life, so that’s not about Romney, Gingrich or Obama or Wall Street, that’s about habits of the heart. And until we change the habits of the heart, we cannot be a republic.
- Clay Jenkinson as President Jefferson, www.jeffersonhour.com

Endurance

Flotsam and jetsam

IDIOCRACY IN THE NEWS

Martin Luther King statue:

I was trying to explain to an acquaintance why it wasn’t proper for such a statue to be built outside of the U.S.  What kind of national greatness is that?!  She said, “But I heard the Chinese are great sculptors.” So I’m looking for some good granite around here to bang my head into.

Carrier skipper will be retained in USN:

Meet Captain (CAPT) Owen Honors.  If you don't live in Awfulk, or don't follow the military, you may not have heard of CAPT Honors, the former executive officer (#2 guy) of the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier.  Running a naval unit or shore facility is a big deal, but the carrier guys are kind of a big deal.  That is a lot of steel to possibly run aground.  So the standards for the naval officer are to be "beyond reproach."  So the good captain made a series of humorous short videos to show on the ship CCTV to promote good hygiene, etc., poking fun at himself and others to drive home his points and connect with the modern audience.  So stuffy as we are, many people in and out of the military prejudged the captain, said it should end his career, that he must have zero defects and be sacrificed to the altar of political correctness.  And now today, we learned that a panel of admirals (men with God-like status in the Navy, tantamount to Generals in the Army, etc.) will spare him the ignominy of a forced "out."  We also heard of the danger of stifling thought.
“Misconduct?” said CAPT Honors' lawyer, Gittins. “That’s crap.” Speaking after the admirals’ decision, “The surface warfare community – they just don’t do that.”

Gittins said he thinks the real take-away from the case is that the Navy prefers safe, conservative leaders who don’t push the envelope or try out-of-the-box methods.

URL: http://hamptonroads.com/2011/08/navy-panel-officer-raunchy-video-case-should-stay-navy


Article:  Student ranks thinning for blogging Pa. teacher
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) — More than 200 parents have told a Pennsylvania school district they don't want their children taught by a teacher who called students "frightfully dim" and "disengaged, lazy whiners" on her personal blog.

Comments (like diamonds from coal, the gems are always buried at the bottom of the article):

Ever seen the movie "Idiocracy"? That is where we are headed... I have 4 of them.... all dumber than a post. Hate to say it, but it's true. I worked my #$%$ off to teach them better... they chose differently. I was "too strict" according to them. Now not one of them can hold a job. When they do work, it's for peanuts and mostly temporary work. Range in age from 18 to 26. Lazy, dumb as hell every one. `knuckleheadjim
I have said many, many times "Idiocracy" is not a movie, it is a preview.... What happens when government intervenes between parents and their children... Their interference works equally well in the financial field, equal lawsfield, immigration field, etc., etc....If I were a teacher, I am SURE I would feel the same way..

All you have to do is read Facebook posts and comments on Yahoo news articles to see the truth. More and more people are graduating from school with serious deficiencies in grammar, spelling, history and government, and critical thinking skills, but ask them about sports and entertainment and they can "skewl you". I believe that the fault for this is shared by both parents and teachers, but I also believe that the teachers would be better able to teach the kids if the government got the hell out of the education system. Teachers spend about 50% of their time with administrative issues, conforming to the #$%$ government regulations, another 25% socializing the kids (as ordered by the government), and only 25% of the time actually teaching the subjects needed to survive in the world. It's time to eliminate the unconstitutional U.S. Department of Education from the federal budget and return those powers and tax dollars to the individual school districts, teachers, and parents. Then, we need to return the disciplinary method to the schools and homes. Yes, this means corporal punishment. Better to bust their butts than to turn them over to the cops and the justice system, which is the current method. It's pathetic to see students graduating with a lifelong criminal record for schoolyard behavior. But that's another argument for another day..
URL: http://news.yahoo.com/student-ranks-thinning-blogging-pa-teacher-105622659.html


WEATHER

Poopa-cane 2011 preparations underway

Having sortied the entire Second Fleet for
hurricane avoidance,  LT Poopers takes
shelter some two days early from
the impending U.S. East Coast
atmospheric event "Irene".

I just finished a quick meteorology seminar, and feel I know a little bit more about how hurricanes work.  Well, the weather-guessers are saying this is gonna be the big one.  Have been stocking up on pork & beans and ammo.  The CDC recommends 3 days worth of clean water (1 gal./day), dry stores, etc.  I have checklist upon checklist.  I guess I won't joke about shooting looters since this the era of political correctness.  Twain would, however.

CIVICS

"THE PROGRAM"

On Thursday, September 11th, 2011, an American flag should be displayed outside every home, apartment, office, and store in the United States . Every individual should make it their duty to display an American flag on this tenth anniversary of one our country's worst tragedies. We do this honor of those who lost their lives on 9/11, their families, friends and loved ones who continue to endure the pain, and those who today are fighting at home and abroad to preserve our cherished freedoms.

ART

The Fixx and artist George Underwood

Discussion ongoing regarding album cover selection for The Fixx's upcoming album:  Here's a gallery of George Underwood's album art: http://www.georgeunderwood.com/pages/album-covers/93 - Underwood did 'Reach the Beach', 'Pharoahs' and 'Calm Animals'.  Not being an art guy, is it safe to say his work is Surrealist? Surprises me that I hadn't looked into the artwork before, given the amount of time I've spent peering into nooks and crannies on album art origins, especially a ton of contemplation on China Crisis pairing of art and music. Cover art, and the humble liner pages are aspects of the finished music 'product', which need to remain relevant and valued!

FEATURE


ADULT SITUATIONS, ADULT LANGUAGE

I'm not the LEAST bit hippie, but I like to think I can achieve peace of mind like a kid who can get lost in the azure sky from time to time, filtering out the world below.  From bills to no more snow days, check out this blog article about the unpleasant realities of adulthood.
URL: http://www.iheartchaos.com/post/9336308534/list-soup-11-things-that-suck-about-being-an-adult




Steps to expository writing, simplified

by Cagey

- What
- So what
- Therefore
Now pay me a million bucks and royalties in perpetuity.

Essay: "Focus the Fire Inside"

by CAPT Francis D. Bonnadonna, CHC

Tragedy is more than a terrible turn of events.
Classically, it refers to a gifted person who is ruined
by a flaw of character. Of all the situations I’ve
encountered as a parish priest and Navy chaplain,
tragedies are by far the saddest. It is troubling to see
gifted individuals destroy, by their own actions,
the respect their hard work and dedication has
built. Sometimes stellar individuals with potential
to live life really well bring all their potential to
nothing. Instead of the “good life,” their success
turns to ashes.

In every person there is a hunger—an emptiness. The
ancients spoke of a fire inside a person kindled by the gap
between desires and the inability to satisfy
them. What one does with that fire, that
hunger, is spirituality. It shapes actions
and choices. Spirituality is not something
optional and esoteric, but is an essential
part of what it is to be human. As fire can
destroy or enrich life depending on how
it is used, so can spirituality either be
destructive or enriching. It all depends on
what we do with the fire inside.

St. Augustine believed we fail to live well when we love the
wrong things. Wrong things tear a person apart and are
destructive. Loving the right things not only integrates a
person and helps them be successful, it enhances and builds
their community.

Central to the idea of living well is the way in which the virtues fit together. Greek philosophy speaks of happiness —eudaimonia: literally the good spirit—as the outcome of living well. The classical virtues are temperance, courage, fortitude and justice.
Different cultures and traditions have added to these basic four. For instance, the ancient Romans added things like honesty and frugality. What is key is in order to live well, these virtues must be embedded in our life by practice.

When we love the wrong things, our lives come apart. That
disintegration impacts more than the individual. It has a
corporate dimension because it impacts our shipmates, our
unit and even our community’s mission effectiveness. In
this way, personal failure to live well has a strategic, or long
term dimension. Ultimately, it degrades our ability to protect
our nation. Throughout the last year, there have been many
tragedies in our military. Talented, gifted leaders have been
lost, not only to combat, but to loving the
wrong things. What has been the impact to
Sailors whose lives have come apart because
of loving the wrong things? The military family
is poorer for their loss.
Chaplains and religious program specialists
bring the resources of faith to help people
live well by loving the right things; the things
that integrate instead of destroy a person.
They are an enabling asset to help focus the fire inside. They
help you harness that creative energy and potential inside so
that you are spiritually healthy and contribute positively to
your families and shipmates. When you are spiritually healthy,
you live well and that rising tide lifts the whole community.
Your command religious ministry team adds strategic power—
not for an hour, but for a well lived life. Use them.

Cagey news compendium - 'Best of the Web'

WORLD:
FEATURED ARTICLE
"After Japan quake, cherry blossoms are reminder of fragility of life - and its strength"
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5j2v8NTbEZtxvdbzopQqDwFPfgsiw?docId=6383234

Excerpt:

"Thinking about how these people living normal lives suddenly disappeared, you can't escape the feeling that humans, like the flowers, are transient things," Yoneta said. But consider this Japanese paradox: the delicate cherry blossom was also the symbol of the samurai, the epitome of Japanese valour.

The warrior class liked the flowers because they didn't cling to life, but rather showed up for the briefest spell, and fell at the peak of their splendor. In this way, they embodied the spirit of "bushido" — the way of the warrior that combines stoicism, bravery, and self-sacrifice.

These days, people invoke bushido less often than the common man's down-to-earth version — "gaman." It means gritting your teeth and just getting on with life. When people refer to Japan's salarymen as modern-day samurai, it's taken not so much in a swashbuckling sense but for the way these men in suits endure crushing, monotonous toil, and display unwavering loyalty to a common cause.

And amid death, people of all stripes here are plowing ahead with life, in an orderly and co-operative way. Many are already starting to return to the sites of their devastated homes, and thinking cool-headedly about how to start over amid Japan's biggest catastrophe since World War II.

POLITICS

"Michigan Seizes Assets of Town" (Title edited for brevity, pomposity)
http://www.pensitoreview.com/2011/04/20/michigan-gop-fiscal-martial-law-czar-seizes-assets-of-predominantly-african-american-town/

The impoverished former industrial town of Benton Harbor has become a flashpoint in the controversy over the new law that allows the governor to appoint Emergency Managers with virtually unlimited authority over local governments.

On Thursday the state-appointed Emergency Manager Joe Harris used the expanded powers granted by the new law to issue an order banning the city commission from taking any action without his written permission.

“They are using Benton Harbor as a test case,“ Henry said. “If they have disenfranchised the people so badly they just don’t respond to anything, they can do this all over the country.”

   Editor note:  I'm not sure which side I take on this issue.  My first reaction was that this reeked of abuse of power by state officials.  However, there must be a lot more than meets the eye to this story.  People have such a lax attitude toward government today, it seems like it hardly matters "who's in charge", because the people have zero interest.  It is also incredibly difficult to affect political discourse at the individual level.  Running for local office can be compared to being in a rowboat without an oar in a sea of regs & red-tape.  Where do you go? 

   However, even though the party executing this is GOP, this is the kind of new tactic I think we got from the economic crash and the resultant TARP/'stimulus' ram-it-through ideology.  The question is:  Is it crucial?  How was that proven? Will it rescue the town from economic disaster?  How severe would the disaster have been?  Is this ethical?  Will the "emergency manager" be in place for a lengthy period of time?  Etc. Etc.

-          -           -          -

Notable quotes:
 

The beauty of passing so many laws that thwart business development is that when businesses raise their prices to compensate for the laws, the government can blame the businesses for raising prices and entact price controls, the final piece of control that will drive the U.S. into hyperinflation and empty store shelves. These laws may only be for CA, but the U.S. is working hard to catch up. ~Unknown

-           -          -          -

PERSONAL

"Don't Be That Guy in 20 Years"
http://www.askmen.com/dating/curtsmith_300/387_dont-be-that-guy-in-20-years.html

Excerpt:

You don't want to beat yourself up during this time. So many guys during this period of their life are hard on themselves because they feel like they should get everything right on the first try, or that they should be achieving certain milestones by a certain age. They will think -- about every part of their life -- "When am I going to get this?"

MILITARY

"Life After Iraq: 10 Lessons on Transitioning Out of the Military" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/don-gomez/life-after-iraq-10-lesson_b_848011.html

Excerpt:

1. Your military service will define you, whether you like it or not. With less than 1% of the population serving, you are part of a tiny minority who have shouldered incredible responsibility. If you served overseas, to many, you are exotic. People around you will find out you served (trust me) and will define you by your service. When you raise your hand in class, people will refer to you as the "military guy" or gal.

MUSIC

L.A. Times Duran Duran interview: 
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-duran-duran-20110413,0,4899157.story

"...offers Taylor, 50, reflecting back to the early days when he and his childhood friend Rhodes were first choosing to follow in the footsteps of the musicians that inspired them, artists such as David Bowie, Roxy Music, Kraftwerk and Chic. "We were an art school band; we became a pop group because of the way we looked."
"In a way, [our success] happened so quickly, we were quite ambitious. We were very ambitious. And we achieved our goals. I certainly achieved my goals. I didn't realize how limited the idea of wanting to play Madison Square Garden was, because we achieved it within four years, and then I didn't know what to do for years after that. What I thought what it was all about had to change, it had to not be so goal-oriented."

"We've had a lot of time to ponder the question of what our job is, what we do in the world," Le Bon says. "I feel that we do something which brings people together, makes people feel good about themselves, makes people feel that they're not alone. Making people feel not alone, I feel we're providing a very useful service."

"Modern Indie College Aging Hipster Rock"  whoops, I mean 'Alternative Rock for Hipsters', "or MICAH for Short"
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/column/139554-modern-indie-college-alternative-rock-for-hipsters-micah-for-short/

Excerpt:

Because of its origins at under-the-radar college radio stations at the dawn of the ‘80s, this music first gathered under the “college rock” banner. Some of the genre’s earliest champions were U2, R.E.M., Duran Duran, INXS, Depeche Mode, and the Cure. In what became the MICAH music trend, these bands all forfeited their college-rock membership badges when they landed top-selling albums fueled by top ten hits. Fanatics who had supported these bands pre-MTV cried “sell out” and embraced the never-quite-prime-time rockers like the Replacements and Sonic Youth. By the late ‘80s, the term “college rock” was overhauled to “modern rock”, presumably because its 20-something listener base were now struggling to pony up cash for rent and car payments instead of textbook fees and pizza deliveries.

LITERATURE

"Usagi Yojimbo: Stan Sakai's Rabbit Samurai Makes the Mundane Seem Amazing"

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/04/11/usagi-yojimbo-stan-sakais-rabbit-samurai-makes-the-mundane-see/

Excerpt:

Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo, published by Dark Horse Comics, is the story of Miyamoto Usagi, a rabbit ronin (masterless samurai) who wanders the roads. He often takes odd jobs protecting villagers, hunting bandits, or briefly serving as a sword-for-hire for the feudal lords who dot the land. He's foiled assassination attempts, teamed up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, befriended gruff rhinos, and battled ninjas for more than 25 years now. Stan Sakai is one of the best (and most consistently good) cartoonists in the game, and I'm going to use his eight-page story "Jizo" to show you why.

The true beauty of Sakai's work in Usagi Yojimbo isn't just his cartooning (which is very good) or his writing (which is refreshingly to the point). It's how Sakai manages to take things we're used to, things that are considered rote or mundane, and make them compelling simply through the strength of his craft.

SELF-HELP

Locke's Goal-setting Theory
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_87.htm

Excerpt:

Goal setting theory is generally accepted as among the most valid and useful motivation theories in industrial and organizational psychology, human resource management, and organizational behavior.
Many of us have learned – from bosses, seminars, and business articles – to set SMART goals. It seems natural to assume that by setting a goal that's Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound, we will be well on our way to accomplishing it.
But is this really the best way of setting goals?

"How to Hack Your Brain"
http://minddump.posterous.com/how-to-hack-your-brain

Excerpt:

If any of those common words come up again later in the day, you'll immediately associate that word with the associative value of the group. Here's an example: drive do go make objective important create commitment purpose enthusiasm eager motivation This is a list of words synonymous with or related to ambition. It's designed to be read aloud to put you in a more ambitious mindset, focusing your thoughts and priming your brain to react ambitiously when these words, or portions of these words, come up later in your day.

"To Help Your Resume Rise to the Top of the Pile"
http://blog.simplyhired.com/2011/04/to-help-your-resume-rise-to-the-top-of-the-pile.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=apr19 

Excerpt:

Focus on what would make you better than your competitors for the desired position. Examples:

•Critical skills not held by your competitors. For example, I had a supply chain manager stress his expertise in sourcing not only from Beijing and Shanghai but also from even lower-cost suppliers: inland China, Viet Nam, and Thailand.

•Quotes from customers or from your latest performance review. For example, "Jane Jones has the rare combination of brains, great work ethic, and being fun to work with." (from my most recent performance review.)

•Evidence that you not only have experience critical in the target job but excel at it. Examples:
-- In each of my four past performances reviews, I received the top rating: "Exceeds Expectations.

FEATURE
 
"Starbuck:  Lost in Castration"
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dbenedict/2009/01/19/lt-starbuck-lost-in-castration/
 
Excerpt:

There was a time, I know I was there, when men were men, women were women and sometimes a cigar was just a good smoke. But 40 years of feminism have taken their toll. The war against masculinity has been won. Everything has turned into its opposite, so that what was once flirting and smoking is now sexual harassment and criminal. And everyone is more lonely and miserable as a result.

"All You Need Is Poopers" (Duran Duran homage to my dog)

It's all up to you now
Find yourself in the treat bag
Don't step in the doo-doo
Now the channel is tail wag
Lose your leash
Lose collar

You come on a bit stinky and fine
Like snuggling or playtime
And you howl at the moon
The way you did when you were younger
When we told the other puppy
All you need is LT Poopers

Every puppy's gunning
For the little dog section (ugh)
All you need, all you need is LT Poopers

Admin is sexy, cool

Administrative work, 'admin', is hot like it's going out of style, daddy-o. 

An old leader in my community used to say that we do not want to end up being perceived as "administrative warriors." My old boss used to call the crud that builds up on your desk "administrivia," trivial details for the pogues in the rear with the gear.  Not sexy, not cool.  But hell, even the Transformers had an admin officer.  Jazz!  (Jazz music was really cool in the '80s and the namesake character spoke Jive and used funk as a weapon.) He was the coolest one, and ended up compiling everyones' timesheets and directing operations. That stuff doesn't just complete itself!

If you don't stay on top of that mess, it'll drag you down, Slick. In the assumption of responsibility for so much of our own data now, and the disappearance of a lot of yeomen, we must tell ourselves that we love this stuff.  I'm an admin powerhouse.  I'm an admin assassin.  I'm no longer the bastion of motivation; I'm its foundry.

I'm trying to figure out the forms for college tuition, taxes, prioritizing them by urgence/importance, consulting organization manuals like Ron Gross' LPP, finding out what to complete first in order to enable me to complete other things, make schedules, make ticklers, set goals, keeping a log of positive advice, combining tasks, complete self-directed learning, establish goals, reap benefits, save the world, feel good.  Why do I make running my life so complicated?  The INFJ system of organization is a bit out of control, incomprehensible to others, and ultimately has made me wind up with a lot of procrastination.  K.I.S.S. does not apply when you have scraps of paper with ideas and to serve as memory joggers instead of writing things down orderly.  So I'm digging in and blasting my way out.

Stay on top of it!

"HEYYYY YOU GUYS!"

HEYYYYY YOU GUYS!
I mangled my fingers playing football, and typing is one now awkward pleasure I'mma do without for awhile.  On the positive side, I got to do something primal I don't do so often.  I thought my arm getting clotheslined between two ppl running in opposite directions was bad, but I guess this was worse.  In other words, drop in again sometime. See ya!

"You're almost better keeping to yourself..."

... was the advice given me.

Stories like these can ruin your day. 

ADF vs. civil rights oppresors:  The Alliance Defense Fund intends to support a Grand Rapids, MI woman who posted an ad seeking a Christian roommate in her church.  Nancy Haynes, of the private Fair Housing Center, filed a complaint with the Michigan Dept. of Civil Rights.  (For whatever the hell it is that they are funded to do.)

NC ACLU opposes NC Christian flag:  Petty tyrant-based organizations seek to prevent a town in NC from displaying a Christian flag.  Veterans come to the rescue.  ACLU:  "Oh, we applaud the city for letting the veterans have free speech."  Obviously a small town can't financially afford the costs involved with fighting a juggernaut like the ACLU, so small towns dotting the map yield on such issues, while deviants run amok.  This is why most of us hate lawyers, legal warfare, and why we are a watered-down, p.c. nation afraid to have opinions and responsibility.  And permissive ROE. 

Illegal democratic process subversives on the loose : An illegal alien canvasses in Washington state for people to vote democrat.  An ILLEGAL ALIEN.  Why can't some of that stimulus funding be diverted to take them out, instead of spent in San Fransickan art museums?

All I can say is:  Buy precious metals and don't check the news first thing in the morning, it can send you back to bed.

QOTD

"What is CLASS?" by Ann Landers

Class never runs scared. It is sure-footed and confident in the knowledge that you can meet life head on and handle whatever comes along.

Jacob had it. Esau didn't. Symbolically, we can look to Jacob's wrestling match with the angel. Those who have class have wrestled with their own personal angel and won a victory that marks them thereafter.

Class never makes excuses. It takes its lumps and learns from past mistakes.

Class is considerate of others. It knows that good manners are nothing more than a series of small sacrifices.

Class bespeaks an aristocracy that has nothing to do with ancestors or money. The most affluent blueblood can be totally without class while the descendant of a Welsh miner may ooze class from every pore.

Class never tries to build itself up by tearing others down. Class is already up and need not strive to look better by making others look worse.

Class can "walk with kings and keep its virtue and talk with crowds and keep the common touch." Everyone is comfortable with the person who has class because he is comfortable with himself.

If you have class you don't need much of anything else. If you don't have it, no matter what else you have, it doesn't make much difference.

---------------------

Excerpts from "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of cheap stuff," by Gary Hamel

At the beginning of the 21st Century, the essential conflict is not betwen totalitarianism and democracy, nor is it between marauding corporations and helpless employees, it is between our consuming, acquisitive and materialistic selves and our family-rearing, coummunity-building spiritual selves.

There's a palpable yearning for something deeper and more enduring than big screen TVs, Caribbean cruises and gourmet cookware.

------------------------------

A PENCIL MAKER TOLD THE PENCIL 5 IMPORTANT LESSONS JUST BEFORE PUTTING IT IN THE BOX :

1.) EVERYTHING YOU DO WILL ALWAYS LEAVE A MARK.

2.) YOU CAN ALWAYS CORRECT THE MISTAKES YOU MAKE.

3.) WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS WHAT IS INSIDE OF YOU.

4.) IN LIFE, YOU WILL UNDERGO PAINFUL SHARPENINGS,
WHICH WILL ONLY MAKE YOU BETTER.

5.) TO BE THE BEST PENCIL, YOU MUST ALLOW YOURSELF
TO BE HELD AND GUIDED BY THE HAND THAT HOLDS YOU.

We all need to be constantly sharpened. This parable may encourage you to know that you are a special person, with unique God-given talents and abilities. Only you can fulfill the purpose which you were born to accomplish. Never allow yourself to get discouraged and think that your life is insignificant and cannot be changed and, like the pencil, always remember that the most important part of who you are, is what's inside of you.

"He will once again fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy."
Job 8:21

Straight talk on rapid weight loss and body wraps

Cutting weight in short order (1-2 weeks through to a month) can be a nasty proposition. Athletes do it, the military does it (and making tighter specs). You can do it, but it won't be pretty.

The biggest competing factor: gain sneaks up on you - the so-called 'freshman 15', life changes, etc. Body types vary, and if you are on the heavy side, you may look just fine, but that doesn't matter to the scale fascist. Out comes the measuring tape, and that's a situation you don't want to be in: The "rope-and-choke," measuring your neck vs. your waist (right around your navel).

Obviously this topic is discussed in many nooks and crannies on the web, so there is much to filter out, ads and gimmicks, and people saying "long term is the only way." One important asset I have found is that for a ~200 lb. male, a body wrap can reduce ~two inches in one 60-90 min. session. That edge might be enough to get you make tape if you end up going the measurement route. At the end, the spa may give you a cumulative reduction figure overall, e.g. 10 inches, which will seem big, but what you care about is the part around the navel. The result is supposed to last "a month," I think that's more accurately stated as "a week or two."

The Atkins diet: They say one inch of 'fat' = about five lbs. On Atkins, you can lose up to 5 lbs. on the fifth day, and 1.5 lbs. every other day thereafter. The diet is discontinued for two days after the twelfth day. This works. As article 2 below states and I've read elsewhere, thinking can be muddled and it is important to work to quash and mental barriers, fears to achieving these feats. The worst part is muddled thinking, which I felt on days 3-5. Supposedly, this diet also boasts a great big "glycemic reset," hearkening back to our caveman roots.

Metabolism must be kept normal, that means starvation mode does not do so well for weight loss, and you should p.t. at least twice daily. I've cut up to 11 lbs. in one weekend by eating only salad, no dressing, and hitting the sauna in addition to some horrible Rite-Aid lemony drink (magnesium citrate) that did unspeakable things to my digestive system.

Additional reading:
1. "To crush your p.t. test, train like a powerlifter." http://www.navytimes.com/offduty/health/military_muscle_070723w/
2. "How to cut and make weight." http://www.grapplearts.com/How-to-Cut-Weight.html
3. "Losing inches fast (discussion thread)." http://www.airwarriors.com/forum/showthread.php/135486-losing-inches-fast

Oh no, what will happen to pro basketball's LeBron James?

Whether or not you love or could care less about LeBron James, I urge you to watch this video and engage in some critical thinking.