This is one of the "LECTURE" Series. Being brought to you by ME... I am documenting this "LECTURE" so that my children will always have access to my "LECTURES" after I am gone, not that I am going anywhere...
When our children were little, we, as most parents do, took our children to McDonalds.
We would get the Happy Meal and then take them to the PLAY PLACE...
Here is the secret to life....
EAT FIRST THEN PLAY
This is what we told them...
So the kids would then eat their happy meal and then get to go into the play place to play. Once they were playing, it was a nice little break for us parents.
So as the children grew, I came to realize that this EAT FIRST THEN PLAY had a broader use and would relate to the larger world in general.... It became...
WORK FIRST THEN PLAY....
You can ask my kids... hey what is the secret of life?
They will say WORK FIRST THEN PLAY or they will say McDonalds...
This really relates to the world huh!.... LIVE LONG AND PROSPER!
CW
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Thursday, September 15, 2011
REALLY OLD PHOTOS
REALLY OLD PHOTOS are the best...
First off... I have to Thank my oldest sister Kathy for all of the hard work scanning and labeling almost all of the photos. She has told me that she feels bad that it has taken this long, but if you have ever had to first go through and sort and then scan photos, not to mention have a life, then you can understand. I totally understand.
So I met up with her and she gave me the thumb drive with all the photos she has scanned...
REALLY OLD PHOTOS are awesome...
My Father passed away in 1988. My Mother passed away in 2004... Since that time, I have not seen any of these photographs. Included in these photos were photos that belonged to my maternal Grandmother... After many years of listening to my mom talk about her Aunts and Uncles and cousins, I am able to now put a name with a face. Because I have been doing Ancestry.com, these photos have really helped as well.
REALLY OLD PHOTOS are even better with an APPLE computer with iphoto. One of the great things with this technology is FACES.
After you identify a face in a photo, it will predict with pretty good accuracy. When it "recognizes" a face again, it will ask you "is this (insert name here)?" with a check mark to say yes. The most interseting thing, though, is seeing the FAMILY RESEMBLENCES. This FACES part of iphoto has really given me a gift... or a TREASURE... like in my last blog... to be able to see even in my own children, the faces of past generations.
So... if you are have a ton of old photos... start scanning them... one at a time... label them with care... and then use an APPLE computer and iphoto and behold the TREASURES you will have.
First off... I have to Thank my oldest sister Kathy for all of the hard work scanning and labeling almost all of the photos. She has told me that she feels bad that it has taken this long, but if you have ever had to first go through and sort and then scan photos, not to mention have a life, then you can understand. I totally understand.
So I met up with her and she gave me the thumb drive with all the photos she has scanned...
REALLY OLD PHOTOS are awesome...
My Father passed away in 1988. My Mother passed away in 2004... Since that time, I have not seen any of these photographs. Included in these photos were photos that belonged to my maternal Grandmother... After many years of listening to my mom talk about her Aunts and Uncles and cousins, I am able to now put a name with a face. Because I have been doing Ancestry.com, these photos have really helped as well.
REALLY OLD PHOTOS are even better with an APPLE computer with iphoto. One of the great things with this technology is FACES.
After you identify a face in a photo, it will predict with pretty good accuracy. When it "recognizes" a face again, it will ask you "is this (insert name here)?" with a check mark to say yes. The most interseting thing, though, is seeing the FAMILY RESEMBLENCES. This FACES part of iphoto has really given me a gift... or a TREASURE... like in my last blog... to be able to see even in my own children, the faces of past generations.
So... if you are have a ton of old photos... start scanning them... one at a time... label them with care... and then use an APPLE computer and iphoto and behold the TREASURES you will have.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
TREASURES!
So yesterday was my first day off from any kind of work in a long time... I don't want you to think that I never have a day off, because sometimes it seems like that for me, but yesterday was a Monday and usually I work every Monday... but not yesterday!
So what did I do?
Those tables have been sitting out waiting for me to put back into the Garage... I know... put those tables back into the garage...
So... I lounged for a while, because I am NOT a procrastinator...
Especially when it comes to...
The Garage...
(notice I capitalized G in Garage... because it is like a real entity with a life of its own)
Lets just say the Garage is really a storage room full of stuff that I have not seen in years... at least 6 years we have been in the house... boxes of stuff from the time gone by...
So... in order to put the three tables back into the garage it actually requires a great deal of cleaning, moving that mattress, cleaning up that broken mirror that got smashed by something else "thrown" in the Garage, breaking down the ten million empty boxes, and throwing out things that will never be missed...
There was a small path from the utility room door to the trash BINS yes binS... we have two.... and then a path out the garage door... (so that on Fridays we can put them out in the street to be picked up).
OK... so... first things first, I dragged the trash bins outside... Of course this requires the door to the Garage to be open and I see cars drive by and the people driving by gawk at the site of my garage... seeing the floor to ceiling mess... I just usually wave and smile... I bet they go home or to work and relate this visual trauma to their friends. They probably have night mares about it... I know that sometimes I do...
So then I work to get a bunch of "stuff" moved and thrown out (both bins are now overflowing), I create a pile of trash for next week, I put the two little kid bikes and 4 bags of clothes ready to go to Goodwill together and oh yeah, and the tables put back easily in a place to get them out and return them as needed.... (after all that was the goal)... Whew that was a lot of work!
But the best thing was my reward... Finding the TREASURE!
Yep... TREASURE...
I found a drawer that housed several LOST photo albums. I love photos... I think I take a million a year. Well that is an exaggeration, but I take lots for sure, especially since the invention of DIGITAL cameras...(my family thinks I take too many... but secretly I think they love it because I have caught memories they will look back on and cherish...)
These photo albums were the ones of when our kids were just babies, of when I had darker and more hair (and was skinny), the album of all our extra wedding photos from 20 years ago... and photos of family members we have lost... it was a true TREASURE to find this drawer...
It was a TREASURE looking through them with my wife and kids... We laughed and laughed... I can't wait to start scanning them so we don't lose them again...
It was a good thing to I didn't have to work yesterday! Because I found TREASURE...
The TREASURE of great memories from the past and a renewed resolutions to get rid of more junk.... (maybe you too will clean up your Garage and will find something else you forgot you were missing... TREASURE).
So what did I do?
Those tables have been sitting out waiting for me to put back into the Garage... I know... put those tables back into the garage...
So... I lounged for a while, because I am NOT a procrastinator...
Especially when it comes to...
The Garage...
(notice I capitalized G in Garage... because it is like a real entity with a life of its own)
Lets just say the Garage is really a storage room full of stuff that I have not seen in years... at least 6 years we have been in the house... boxes of stuff from the time gone by...
So... in order to put the three tables back into the garage it actually requires a great deal of cleaning, moving that mattress, cleaning up that broken mirror that got smashed by something else "thrown" in the Garage, breaking down the ten million empty boxes, and throwing out things that will never be missed...
There was a small path from the utility room door to the trash BINS yes binS... we have two.... and then a path out the garage door... (so that on Fridays we can put them out in the street to be picked up).
OK... so... first things first, I dragged the trash bins outside... Of course this requires the door to the Garage to be open and I see cars drive by and the people driving by gawk at the site of my garage... seeing the floor to ceiling mess... I just usually wave and smile... I bet they go home or to work and relate this visual trauma to their friends. They probably have night mares about it... I know that sometimes I do...
So then I work to get a bunch of "stuff" moved and thrown out (both bins are now overflowing), I create a pile of trash for next week, I put the two little kid bikes and 4 bags of clothes ready to go to Goodwill together and oh yeah, and the tables put back easily in a place to get them out and return them as needed.... (after all that was the goal)... Whew that was a lot of work!
But the best thing was my reward... Finding the TREASURE!
Yep... TREASURE...
I found a drawer that housed several LOST photo albums. I love photos... I think I take a million a year. Well that is an exaggeration, but I take lots for sure, especially since the invention of DIGITAL cameras...(my family thinks I take too many... but secretly I think they love it because I have caught memories they will look back on and cherish...)
These photo albums were the ones of when our kids were just babies, of when I had darker and more hair (and was skinny), the album of all our extra wedding photos from 20 years ago... and photos of family members we have lost... it was a true TREASURE to find this drawer...
It was a TREASURE looking through them with my wife and kids... We laughed and laughed... I can't wait to start scanning them so we don't lose them again...
It was a good thing to I didn't have to work yesterday! Because I found TREASURE...
The TREASURE of great memories from the past and a renewed resolutions to get rid of more junk.... (maybe you too will clean up your Garage and will find something else you forgot you were missing... TREASURE).
Monday, May 16, 2011
Thank God for Duct Tape
Duct Tape is the Bomb!
First a little history:
Adhesive tape was first invented in the 1920's but during World War 2, the created a green army colored version that the military used. Johnson and Johnson Permacel Division created it as a predecessor to medical tape. They found out that it was waterproof and used it to help keep moisture out of ammunition cases. Ducks are waterproof. Then people also called it Duck Tape because it had cotton "duck." This "duck" was used in cloth medical tape. Of course, with the ingenuity of our military, they soon discovered its many uses. Of course after the war, they found out that the tape was great for connecting heating and cooling duct work together and they changed the color to match the duct work and the rest is history.
So, today, my son broke his prosthetic foot again. What again? Yes again. This is nothing new. Well, this week, he has his senior awards assembly and actual graduation and a graduation party at our home... so this week is really not the best week to have a broken foot. But this is typical for us... Its ok... because this is how we roll... (get it... roll... a roll of duct tape...) (ok I never said I wasn't corny).
If he had a broken his real flesh and bone foot, I could just take him to the Emergency Room and they would just fix it, cast it and send him home on crutches. With a prosthetic leg, it is a different story... and do we have stories. So anyway, I called to get an appointment. The soonest they had was on Wednesday. Wednesday....after his awards assembly. What to do, What to do!!!
Ok.... I yelled... "GET THE DUCT TAPE!"
So we pulled the foot out of his shoe. Found out that the insides of the foot were shattered into little pieces. Good thing there is a plastic foot cover that goes over the actual prosthetic parts. It could hold it all together. So we get the foot and tape it around and around with duct tape so nothing would fall out of the foot and then added a couple old socks as stuffing into the shoe to keep it as SOLID as possible. He tried it back on and...
VIOLA...
Almost Perfect Duct Taped MacGyver Foot!
We can make it to Wednesday.
Thank God for Duct Tape!
First a little history:
Adhesive tape was first invented in the 1920's but during World War 2, the created a green army colored version that the military used. Johnson and Johnson Permacel Division created it as a predecessor to medical tape. They found out that it was waterproof and used it to help keep moisture out of ammunition cases. Ducks are waterproof. Then people also called it Duck Tape because it had cotton "duck." This "duck" was used in cloth medical tape. Of course, with the ingenuity of our military, they soon discovered its many uses. Of course after the war, they found out that the tape was great for connecting heating and cooling duct work together and they changed the color to match the duct work and the rest is history.
So, today, my son broke his prosthetic foot again. What again? Yes again. This is nothing new. Well, this week, he has his senior awards assembly and actual graduation and a graduation party at our home... so this week is really not the best week to have a broken foot. But this is typical for us... Its ok... because this is how we roll... (get it... roll... a roll of duct tape...) (ok I never said I wasn't corny).
If he had a broken his real flesh and bone foot, I could just take him to the Emergency Room and they would just fix it, cast it and send him home on crutches. With a prosthetic leg, it is a different story... and do we have stories. So anyway, I called to get an appointment. The soonest they had was on Wednesday. Wednesday....after his awards assembly. What to do, What to do!!!
Ok.... I yelled... "GET THE DUCT TAPE!"
So we pulled the foot out of his shoe. Found out that the insides of the foot were shattered into little pieces. Good thing there is a plastic foot cover that goes over the actual prosthetic parts. It could hold it all together. So we get the foot and tape it around and around with duct tape so nothing would fall out of the foot and then added a couple old socks as stuffing into the shoe to keep it as SOLID as possible. He tried it back on and...
VIOLA...
Almost Perfect Duct Taped MacGyver Foot!
We can make it to Wednesday.
Thank God for Duct Tape!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Sweet Pickles
Growing up I was very lucky. Why? You ask?
Well, I got to eat home canned sweet pickles.
Sweet, cold, crunchy goodness.
Some people don't like sweet pickles... Not me! I love them... I actually hate dill pickles. To me a pickle should just be sweet.
It would take 11 days to make and can (jar) sweet pickles. My mom would make them... we would help. She learned from her Mom...
Growing up, I remember going to Wagner Farms in Corrales and filling up the large paper sacks with those little cucumbers. We brought them all home and scrubbed them all clean. There were a lot of them. Then we would CHUNK them and put them into the crocks. Chunking required that you make each cucumber into about a half inch piece. Then came all of the complicated stuff. It was like a science experiment. Alum, vinegar, sugar, pickling spices, boiling, stirring... once they were all done and "in the jar," then came the waiting.
You had to let them sit for a while.... after a while (really a couple of weeks seemed best), you could take a jar out of the store room and put it into the refrigerator.. the next day when they were nice and cold...
You open the jar and hear that POP of the lid. I would then reach in and take a pickle out... taste that sweet, cold, crunchy goodness... and eat another and another and another...
Growing up I was lucky. We used these pickles to make delicious tuna salad. We would eat them when we had home made potato soup! Always with grilled cheese sandwiches and Lays potato chips. Sometimes inside a Peanut Butter sandwich sliced very thin and layered on top of the peanut butter...YUM.
It has been 6 years since my mother died...and it has been more than 15 years since I last tasted a real home canned sweet pickle... I have to say that if I think hard enough, I can taste one now!
I think it is time to learn how to do this myself!
I'll let you know how it goes.
Well, I got to eat home canned sweet pickles.
Sweet, cold, crunchy goodness.
Some people don't like sweet pickles... Not me! I love them... I actually hate dill pickles. To me a pickle should just be sweet.
It would take 11 days to make and can (jar) sweet pickles. My mom would make them... we would help. She learned from her Mom...
Growing up, I remember going to Wagner Farms in Corrales and filling up the large paper sacks with those little cucumbers. We brought them all home and scrubbed them all clean. There were a lot of them. Then we would CHUNK them and put them into the crocks. Chunking required that you make each cucumber into about a half inch piece. Then came all of the complicated stuff. It was like a science experiment. Alum, vinegar, sugar, pickling spices, boiling, stirring... once they were all done and "in the jar," then came the waiting.
You had to let them sit for a while.... after a while (really a couple of weeks seemed best), you could take a jar out of the store room and put it into the refrigerator.. the next day when they were nice and cold...
You open the jar and hear that POP of the lid. I would then reach in and take a pickle out... taste that sweet, cold, crunchy goodness... and eat another and another and another...
Growing up I was lucky. We used these pickles to make delicious tuna salad. We would eat them when we had home made potato soup! Always with grilled cheese sandwiches and Lays potato chips. Sometimes inside a Peanut Butter sandwich sliced very thin and layered on top of the peanut butter...YUM.
It has been 6 years since my mother died...and it has been more than 15 years since I last tasted a real home canned sweet pickle... I have to say that if I think hard enough, I can taste one now!
I think it is time to learn how to do this myself!
I'll let you know how it goes.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
~~~WIND~~~
I feel it differently than most
The cool, brisk wind.
Whenever it comes
Cooling me off
Rustling the leaves of the trees
and hearing the sound it makes
blowing through the evergreens
reminds me of when I could fly.
That feeling of weightlessness
as I jumped into the air
flew above the ground
faster and faster.
Turning quickly from left to right
simply standing would bring me back down to Earth
Where I would walk again
and when that feeling came upon me
I would take the running leap
up-into the wind I flew.
One with the wind.
Older now.
Standing.
Facing into the wind,
feeling that feeling I knew so well
now, too big to fly,
too much knowledge in my head
not innocent and young
cant make the leap into the sky.
Saddened to move on
from those amazing soaring flights
deciding what the wind means to me now
as I make a new wish
As the wind comes upon me,
it surrounds me from head to toe
taking the stresses of the moment, of the day,
of the week off of me
as it swirls up and off of me through the tips of my hair.
This is the new path I choose
the way in which I feel it
to breathe in new life
to revive and continue
and lose those stresses that hold me to the ground.
Others curse the wind
for messing up their hair or making them cold.
Such trivial things
I bless the wind.
and I am thankful for it.
This breath of fresh air
is exactly what I need.
~~~WIND~~~
CW
CW
Monday, April 25, 2011
It Could Always Be Worse...
I am an OPTIMIST. Always have been, probably always will be.
I don't know why I am this way... I was born that way... I like to think on the brighter side of things. I always try to find the positive result of things... I always think... "Wow, it could always be worse!"
Many times, I have looked back at my life and experiences and have thought to myself... "well, it could have been worse." I have learned complaining doesn't solve anything. It is better to find a solution instead.
Now, don't get me wrong, I do like to complain. Sometimes, I think I am an expert COMPLAINER.
Some like to think I am a "LECTURER..." not too sure I agree... I like to think I am an EXPLAINER.
Is that an OPTIMISTIC way of putting it? Hmmm... Food for thought huh!
So, maybe I need to think differently (not like an OPTIMIST).
If I was on the other side of being EXPLAINED to... I might not like it... I might think, "I heard this before, why is he telling me again... this is bad... I will not listen..."
But I guess it is all perspective...
This leads me to my point... I want to have others be more OPTIMISTIC.
If more people were OPTIMISTIC, then maybe instead of complaining or being negative, more things would actually get done... (this is not to say that I am not LAZY because... well... I am an expert there too... but then again who isn't).
So, I get grief sometimes because of my OPTIMISTISM.
But that is ok... It could always be worse...
I don't know why I am this way... I was born that way... I like to think on the brighter side of things. I always try to find the positive result of things... I always think... "Wow, it could always be worse!"
Many times, I have looked back at my life and experiences and have thought to myself... "well, it could have been worse." I have learned complaining doesn't solve anything. It is better to find a solution instead.
Now, don't get me wrong, I do like to complain. Sometimes, I think I am an expert COMPLAINER.
Some like to think I am a "LECTURER..." not too sure I agree... I like to think I am an EXPLAINER.
Is that an OPTIMISTIC way of putting it? Hmmm... Food for thought huh!
So, maybe I need to think differently (not like an OPTIMIST).
If I was on the other side of being EXPLAINED to... I might not like it... I might think, "I heard this before, why is he telling me again... this is bad... I will not listen..."
But I guess it is all perspective...
This leads me to my point... I want to have others be more OPTIMISTIC.
If more people were OPTIMISTIC, then maybe instead of complaining or being negative, more things would actually get done... (this is not to say that I am not LAZY because... well... I am an expert there too... but then again who isn't).
So, I get grief sometimes because of my OPTIMISTISM.
But that is ok... It could always be worse...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)