Halloween Pumpkin Carving Champion

Our family favorite this year. Artist: mommy

You Can't Always WIn...

You can't always win, so don't lose.

It's no fun to always win. It just kind of loses it fun to always win. A good loss every now and then just makes the wins sweeter. So with that in mind, don't be a poor loser. If you get beat, tip your hat, consider what you can do better, and go prepare for next time.

Losing also makes for great comeback stories. Three years ago, the Detroit Tigers lost 119 of 162 games. They are now two games away form the World Series. Tell me these wins are not sweet for the players and especially the fans.

Likewise, if you're on a losing streak, don't let it get you down. Keep your cool, accept your bad fortunes and make your plan to make it all better. As one person told me once: "Don't let the bastards get you down."
Suck it up, keep your pride, and don't lose anything important!

Pirate Lesson

“Pirates of the Caribbean” has been a long Disneyland favorite of kids and adults alike. A number of years ago, Disney decided to make a movie based on the ride and it was an instant success.

One reason for its success was due to our life long love of the ride. A second reason was due to the fact that it was a great movie. One of my favorite lines from the movie was:

“Only two things matter in this world: what a man can do and what a man can’t do.”

Or in other words, there are things you have control of and others you do not. The lesson is to use what you can control, to influence, attain, or even control that which you cannot. This way you can concentrate your focus on what you can do something about and let the things that you have no control take care of themselves.

Or so says Captain Jack.

Sunday Scripture Choice

Proverbs 9:9

Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man and he will increase in learning.

Anonymous Quote

Poetry is living proof that rhyme doesn't pay.

If You Want To Be Perfect...

Sleeping is great isn't it? I mean really, is there anything more relaxing, non pressured, and more satisfying as going to sleep? That brief moment that consciousness is fading, nothing yet everything, makes sense and you feel yourself drifting off. I believe at the point of going to sleep, life is perfect. That is the only time.

I hate pseudo perfectionists, the people who think they must have everything perfect. I think it's just a cover-up for wanting to be nasty. True perfectionists just keep their place organized, try to do everything right, and go about their business. It's important for them to attempt to be perfect, but no one else needs to know because it wouldn't help them in their quest.

Pseudo-perfectionists are those who just want a license to be rude, who want to try to pretend that their goal is perfection and that since they want everything perfect, you must also comply. They then take liberty to inform you how many ways you are not perfect and how their lives would be better if you would just do it their way. And if you politely tell them to "blow it out their hole", perfection now is unattainable because of you and all the others who are not willing to comply. How convenient.

I like jobs well done. I like things that run smoothly. I like order and discipline as well. But I also know that perfection and one's desire for it are an impossibility. It doesn't exist.

If you want to be perfect, go back to bed.

William Goldman Said...

Life isn't fair. It's just fairer than death, that's all.

Baseball Quotes- To Start Off The Play-Offs

"Baseball is 90% mental, the other half is physical." Yogi Berra

"We're supposed to be perfect our first day on the job and then show constant improvement." Ed Vargo, major league baseball umpire

"If it weren't for baseball, many kids wouldn't know what a millionaire looked like." Phyllis Diller

Doesn't Matter What's Chasing You...

Things in school just have a life of their own and it starts clear back in Kindergarten for me.

Our play area was a covered blacktop area and a bark filled play area with all the things that are usually associated with school playgrounds. As Kindergarteners, we were isolated from the rest of the school. The playground was all ours!

Kindergarten was separated into two classes in Harvey Green Elementary. I don’t know how it started or what it was about, but a group of three boys from the other class began chasing me during our recess. They would chase me through and around the playground and even out across the blacktop area. I must have been fast because I cannot remember them ever catching me.

One day while the chase was in process, I decided to take the chase out of the bark and out onto the blacktop and to open it up. I was fast and the on the blacktop I was sure I could demonstrate my true speed.

The blacktop, as I mentioned, was covered. To support this covering, there were several I-beams that extended from the blacktop and up to the top of the roof. I did not account for these obstacles when I began my gallop. My head was turned as I was watching behind me, watching the boys fade into the background and feeling just a bit proud of my obvious speed.. I was all smiles when I casually glanced forward to map out my new direction and continuation of my demonstration of superiority over my pursuers.

The smile and my consciousness disappeared quickly as I spied and simultaneously collided with the column directly in my path. I am sure both arms and both legs extended out and around the I-beam and I came to an immediate stop. I don’t remember anything else that happen. I don’t remember ever again being chased by those boys. And I don’t remember ever learning this lesson any more clearly at any other time in my life…

It doesn’t matter what’s chasing you, it’s best to watch where you are going.

Sunday Scripture Choice

Proverbs 9:10

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.