Bore Not These Days

Happy Friday!

2012 is not over yet…

So stop being a bore and waiting for 2013…

Get off the internets and go do something today!

Yummy Land Mines

Land mines are all around me…

These are all over our house, remnants of the holiday feast still linger.

The Almond Joy, my fave, were a Christmas gift. I brought those to work today and set out for folks here to scarf up; so that land mine has been defused.

The rest remains and will be a danger to navigate until the kids finally eat it all. I give it another day, two tops.

How about you, what land mines are you having to tip-toe around as the year comes to a close?

Tasty Out, Grateful In

Hungry?

After the past few days of celebrating another season of gift giving and food feasting, I am extremely not-hungry.

That plate of meatballs and garlic bread, I put that leftover fare together last night from our feast the day before. It was dinner time, according to the clock, and so I put together this little  something to eat. Look at it, its HUGE… Over a dozen Italian meatballs framed in garlic bread  to ensure they don’t roll off the plate.

That picture is as close as that 2,000 calories of yum on a plate came to my mouth.

After I sat down I stared at it for a few long seconds wondering why I had made it? It was a rhetorical question as the obvious answer is that I wanted it. No reason not to want it, those are some mighty tasty meatballs and that garlic bread is beyond tasty.

For whatever reason that moment was when I realized I had enjoyed enough gluttony for this holiday, and another plate, another bite; nope I didn’t need it.

So I got up, put it away, and resumed my evening without another calorie.

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday!

We had a great time gathering with family, sharing laughter and celebrating another year for which we have much to be grateful for.

Ok, so the year is not quite over. I’m not impatient and not in a hurry for 2012 to end. Nope, just recognizing that everyday is a great day to be grateful and to share.

My Friday Wasn’t So Tough

Last Friday I had a tough day, a day which brought an end to a long legal matter. That day I was out of touch most from the media and the world until late afternoon. During the day I had heard there was a shooting, but our own situation at hand prevented me from taking time to understand the gravity of what had occurred in Connecticut.

Our Friday finally came to an end, and as it did not end well; I was in a foul, defeated, disbelieving mood. However as soon as I turned my attention to the media to see what was up, the bitterness of my disappointment was put into perspective quickly…

My day wasn’t so tough after all

How could I harbor anger or feel pain from my day, when all I lost was largely material in nature; stuff I can replace, feelings I can get over.

Those in Newtown, Connecticut; what they lost was real, and forever. How they get over their Friday, I can’t imagine they ever will.

Incredibly saddening the madness amongst us that takes to evil and takes the innocent away from us.

The picture above is in honor or the teachers & staff who were the first responders at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut; six of whom gave their lives defending the children placed in their protection. May they never be forgotten.

Thoughts and prayers for all affected as they try and heal from this tragedy.

Four A’s For Good

Finals are over for the Fall semester, finally!

My return to the education grinder is off to a good start; four classes down, four A’s to show for it!

Now a about six weeks off and then back at it. What oh what to do during those six weeks, hmmm….

Any ideas???

She Is Seventy

We celebrated my Mother’s 70th birthday this weekend. A good time was had in celebrating her achieving 70 years of living and wishing well as she embarks on the next 70 years…

Happy Birthday Mom!

Drink Coffee & Jesus Too

Do you drink coffee? I do on occasion, and even as an infrequent drinker of water filtered through crushed-dried beans, I’ve often wondered if it is good or bad for me. So, is it?

Enter this article…
The Case for Drinking as Much Coffee as You Like

Now before I touch on the articles message, did anyone else laugh at the fact that there is an “Institute for Coffee Studies” at this university? I did, darn near laughed coffee back up and through my nose – don’t pause to try and visualize that!

There is a reference that coffee appears to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes… hmmm, my Grandmothers on fathers side we coffee junkies and both battled of type 2 diabetes the last 20’ish years of ife and died from complications attributed to the disease. So forgive me for not accepting this claim at face value.

There is a reference that most concerns about caffeine’s negative effects on the heart have been dispelled… and that and coffee didn’t stop being beneficial until subjects had increased their daily consumption to beyond ten cups… hmmm, oh how I hope so re: heart risk. Make no mistake, or so I suggest, that caffeine is a drug and an addictive one. Thus my concern for caffeine has always been how one becomes a slave to getting more and more of it and in doing so becomes a cranky-azz-monster that needs a swift slap back to humanity – yes, do  pause to try and visualize that!

Ok, coffee – read and draw your own conclusions. My take, allot of words here to reaffirm common sense; moderate use has no health impact worth spilling a cup over.

Let’s lighten it up, and, use coffee to address something more important… how we handle the notion that the gluttony of commercialism which the holidays have become and the shift in meaning for the season away from what it ought to be about…

The Hard Life

Thanks to Alan (Pounds Off Playoff) for sharing this.

Excellent story of an NIU super-star working hard to realize his NFL dream… fave quote from the story, “My sweat was sweating”,…

The Hard Life of an N.F.L. Long Shot

Ok, I’m not going to sum this read up for you, read it; it is worth the 5 minutes… But I will say I got a reality check out of it.

I “think” I know what it is to work hard, to be tenacious and forge on for what I want.

Now I “know“, I need to re-think what I am willing to do to get where I’ve been saying I want to be.

Enjoy!

How About That!

My NIU Huskies have earned a trip to their first ever BCS Bowl game. To most of you, the wave of emotion that just washed over you is feeble compared to the wave that washed my family and I off our feet last night. In all we have 4 NIU graduates in our family, 3-undergrad and 1-grad diploma hang on walls in our homes. Myself, I am currently attending NIU in pursuit of my MBA. So this is a BIG deal in our clan. So much so, we had our trip for Miami booked within an hour of the news NIU was going to play in the Orange Bowl on new years day. Go Huskies!

On another “How About That!” note…

There you see the church my wife spent every Sunday and many other days of her entire childhood and young adult years. It is also where we were married. Sadly the church attendance in that town (not where we live today) waned so much over the past decade that it in effect went out of business. The village bought the land and will create a neighborhood park on that site. So that is the feel-good “How About That” news of this story. Too often such changes result in a gas station, or apartments in an area too congested already, or worse; an abandoned lot that fosters crime upon the neighborhood for years to come.

So while we are sad to see the building that holds so many memories for us disappear, we are at peace with the change in knowing good will come from it. As well, our memories will endure forever.

How about you??… Have any How About That news to share with the masses that read my blog?

Jacob Hughes Gets It

My gesture for you is to share this gesture so that we may all gesture better…
Jacob Hughes, he is the Difference