Philosophy of Life

I received this in an email today and it made me smile, so it's going on the blog. I don't know where it originated from, but I hope it makes you smile, too!

GREAT TRUTHS THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED:
1) No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats.
2) When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your hair.
3) If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the second person.
4) Never ask your 3 -year old brother to hold a tomato.
5) You can't trust dogs to watch your food.
6) Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.
7) Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time.
8) You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
9) Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.
10) The best place to be when you're sad is Grandpa's lap.

GREAT TRUTHS THAT ADULTS HAVE LEARNED:
1) Raising teenagers is like nailing Jell-O to a tree.
2) Wrinkles don't hurt.
3) Families are like fudge...mostly sweet, with a few nuts.
4) Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
5) Laughing is good exercise. It's like jogging on the inside.
6) Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the toy.

GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT GROWING OLD
1) Growing up is mandatory; growing old is optional.
2) Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.
3) When you fall down, you wonder what else you can do while you're down there.
4) You're getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking chair that you once got from a roller coaster.
5) It's frustrating when you know all the answers but nobody bothers to ask you the questions.
6) Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician.
7) Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone.

THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE:

1) You believe in Santa Claus.
2) You don't believe in Santa Claus.
3) You are Santa Claus.
4) You look like Santa Claus.

SUCCESS:

At age 4 success is . not peeing in your pants.
At age 12 success is . having friends.
At age 16 success is . . having a drivers license.
At age 35 success is . having money.
At age 50 success is . . . having money.
At age 70 success is . . . having a drivers license.
At age 75 success is . having friends.
At age 80 success is . not peeing in your pants.

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Old Friends, Drunkards and Angels

No, this is not a review of The Pirates of the Caribbean, but rather things I encountered while in Austin these past three days. I traveled to Austin, Texas late Sunday for a business meeting with The Company’s automation system vendor. At the Plant, we have automation systems that monitor and control the chemical manufacturing processes. We have a large installed base of these systems, and The Company has a team that meets with the vendor once a year. I was invited to the meeting late in game as a new member of the team, representing the arm of the business line I work in.

I haven’t been to Austin in over 10 years. The last company I worked with also uses this same automation system vendor, and in my previous job, I had installed several of these systems and attended numerous training classes here. But it has been 10 years and certainly, Austin has grown a lot.

And to be certain, this was a trip filled with all sorts of adventure and encounters. First, my flight into Austin was delayed an hour. Normally, I wouldn’t consider this to be an issue except that in this case, it meant that I arrived at 1am Monday morning. Uggh. Add into the equation Drunkard encounter number 1 - two drunk men I encountered in the rental car line. Note to self – just don’t talk to people while waiting in line. Kuddos to the rental car employees who did not permit these men to drive. The last I saw them, they were getting into a cab.

Drunkard encounter number 2 - our dinner group encountered a very drunk woman on Monday evening during our business dinner at Eddie V’s. This young woman had the voice of Fran Dresser (ala The Nanny) and the chest of Pamela Anderson. As I work mainly with men (including myself, there were two women in our group of 17 people), this young woman decided to join our group, essentially throwing herself and her chest at the group of middle aged men. Nice. The most senior guy at the table had to act as the bouncer and force her to leave.

Old Friends encounter – two of my good college friends live in Austin. I haven’t seen Derek and Tim in probably 12 years. We got together at the Iron Cactus off Sixth street Tuesday night. Tim is a Senior Design Engineer at a small electronics company and Derek is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at UT. 18 years post college, they look amazing the same. Wish I had my camera to take pictures.

Angel encounter number 1 – I am driving down I-35 to meet up with Tim and Derek when all of a sudden, the car starts making this incredible thumping noise. I thought a loud truck had pulled aside me, or that the highway pavement was causing the noise. I was at my exit, so I pulled off and immediately realized that there was an issue with the car. Flat Tire. Crap. I have NEVER had a flat tire in my 40 years and I have never changed a tire in those 40 years, either. A man watched me pull up with my flat tire and offered to help me. What an angel. He changed the tire and went along his way.

Angel number 2 - Derek who accompanied me back to the Airport to exchange my rental car for one without a bum tire. What a great friend.

All that adventure over 48 hours. I’m glad to be heading home to the flat cornfields of Illinois.

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It's Hot Don

When we lived in Indiana, the local car dealership coined and used the phrase, "It's Hot Don" in all of his summer commercials - such a simple, yet genius catch phrase. So, whenever it gets blasted hot, we all go around saying "It's Hot Don". Well, back in Indiana, people knew what you were talking about - now it's just an inside joke between Scott and me.

Well, it is blasted hot here (mid 90's since Thursday), and we are saying it - "It's Hot Don".

Oh yeah, the front page article in the local paper informed us that there is a water shortage and the local water company is requesting we all restrict water usage. The lawn was already looking crispy, so here's our excuse..... here's hoping for some rain.

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Hitting Double Digits

I can hardly fathom that my daughter has now hit double digits and is ten years old. Although it doesn't seem like yesterday that she was born, it doesn't seem like a full ten years.

Erica is now up to my chin in height and I cannot carry her around anymore (at least without hurting myself). Officially a "tween", she had five of her girl friends over last night for her birthday party / sleep-over. The main event - an opening night viewing of the Nancy Drew Movie.
Side note - the movie was enjoyable - the right mix of humor, creepiness and intrigue - somewhat predictable for this adult, but I know the girls really enjoyed it.

Gifts - a Nintendo DS and a couple of games, a couple of cute purses, several earrings, Nancy Drew mystery games, books and other nick nacks.

Here are all the girls - the obligatory group picture:


Each girl with Erica, as they were opening their gifts:

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School's out for Summer and other Random items

I think the title says it all...... today was the kids' last day of school. Can't hardly believe that Erica will be going into the Fifth grade in August - she is going to rule the school.

But already, I am hearing the inevitable "I'm bored" and "I wish school was still in session". Erica is saddened by the fact that two of her good friends will be entering Middle school in the fall and will not be around for After School care.

Other random items from today -

We had Tilapia for Dinner - Recipe # 238 - Salmon with Spicy Pineapple and Mango Chutney, from Rachel Ray's 365 - No Repeats Cookbook. The recipe calls for salmon, but the kids and Scott prefer tilapia. And the chutney was served on the side because Erica and Brian say "That's disgusting!". Well, I thought it was tasty and so did Scott, so another thumbs up for Rachel.

I also had to make meatballs for tomorrow's dinner - Scott and I will be attending a work related dinner - so, I need something quick for the kids and the sitter.

I guess that's all for now......

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