Riding

It is the unknown around the corner that turns my wheels.

~ Heinz Stucke

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One time I dreamt that I lived back in Ames, but for some reason decided to go to Huxley. Instead of driving, I rode an adult-sized Big Wheel to get there. I got to a house and there were two little girls playing in the yard. I talked to them. They loved my Big Wheel. Then the mom came out, and I realized I had met this family before. We chatted and then I pedaled off.

In that same dream I had lunch (without the Big Wheel) with a large group of people in a very crowded cafeteria of some sort. I was at work and ended up sitting at a table with two new students in my program. I wondered why all of my colleagues sat with each other leaving the students to sit with me (and someone else - I don't remember who) at the last table. I thought that wasn't very friendly of my colleagues (whom I don't know in real life, but they were co-workers in my dream, you know how that is sometimes). Anyway, I chatted with the students and they really got excited about some of the things I shared about the program. I realized it was for the best that I got to sit with them.

I share all of this to make two points. One, no one's dreams are really interesting to anyone else. Two, I'm way more social in my dreams than in real life.

Mediocrity

External signs of wealth and success are often cheap storefronts that hide internal mediocrity or even incompetence.

~ Real Live Preacher - Gordon Atkinson

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I have found that mediocrity tends to be loud to drown out critique. Excellence is quiet. In both cases the work speaks for itself. You don't have to tell me what you've done. I can see it.

I can also see what you haven't done. Like that list of things I left you to do. You are so mediocrity.

Window

They own the window,

You own the view.

~ Vaneet Raj Kapoor

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You might think that it is odd that when you are outside you are always trying to look in and when you are inside you are always trying to look out. You might think about the symbolism of windows in our lives. I think that is great and all except if you are thinking about it while sitting in the car in front of me and you are stopped at a green light.

Falls

Just let go - and fall like a little waterfall.

~ Bob Ross

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A word of warning if you fall like a little waterfall. Just be careful you don't hit your head or break a bone on a bunch of rocks when you do that. Remember, Bob Ross was a painter, not a neurologist or an orthopedic surgeon.

Ending

Every ending will meet its own end. For every ending is destined to be swallowed up by a beginning.

~ Craig Lounsbrough

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I like endings. I like them because then you can move on to something new. Like when a garden ends and you can move on to enjoying the leaves of the fall. Or when a book ends and you can find a new book to read. Or when you talking ends and I can finally get some peace and quiet. 

 

Shadows

When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.

~ Thomas Paine

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What really sucks is when they yield up the privilege of thinking to people who think stupid things. That is the worst. 

Jesus

Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.

~ Saint Augustine

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I went to a doctor's appointment one time and the woman at the patient check-in desk had 15 (I counted them three times) little Jesus figures on her computer monitor. They looked like this:

What I appreciated was that some were facing out toward the people at the counter and some were facing back at her. It seemed slightly less judgmental or proselytizingish than if they were just all facing out toward me. 

Laundry

I'm not one to air my dirty laundry for the whole world.

~ Jenna Fischer

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You don't want to live downwind from people airing their dirty laundry. 

 

Dog

To bond with a true dog is as lasting as the ties of this earth will ever be.

~ Konrad Lorenz

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Every night between 3:00 and 430 a.m., Lily does a body slam against me. I think she just wants to be as close as she can get. It's sweet when I think about it throughout the day. It seems slightly less sweet between 3:00 and 4:30 a.m.

 

Goggles

     

I saw a commercial for an above-ground pool, it was 30 seconds long. Because that's the maximum amount of time you can picture yourself having fun in an above-ground pool. If it was 31 seconds, the actor would say, "The water is only up to here? What do I do now? Throw the ball back to Jimmy? Or put some goggles on and look at his feet?

~ Mitch Hedberg

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Goggles change the way you see the world. 

(pause)

Not necessarily for the better every time. Sometimes change is just change.

Dogs

While there haven't yet been any studies done on whether dogs like being read to, anecdotal reports suggest they do.

~ Pet Expert Team, Purina

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Lily doesn't mind being read to if you don't mind her sleeping while you read to her. 

Gaze

It is beautiful to talk about beautiful things and even more beautiful to silently gaze at them.

~ Dejan Stojanovic

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How lucky am I to have a creature like this in my life?

June

Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June.

~ Al Bernstein

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I like June. June is the end of things that you may be ready to be done. June is also the start of new things that you may be ready to start. Additionally, June is not predictable, so whatever it is you're hoping for, June may surprise you.