Leadership

Anyone who claims to be a leader must speak like a leader. That means speaking with integrity and truth.

~ Kamala Harris

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One night I dreamt that President Biden wanted Leslie to be his Vice President. I'm not sure what VP Harris was doing. Anyway, as a part of the vetting process, the president wanted to meet me and I got a lot of feedback from people about what it would be like for me if Leslie became the Vice President.

I woke up earlier than I wanted, but didn't try to go back to sleep because Leslie becoming the Vice President was exhausting for me.

Past

 When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago.

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

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This quote is so very true for me. I find that when I'm tired I either look up nemeses from my past to see how they are doing OR I look at puppies for adoption. Neither of these things is smart to do when I am tired.

Cars

If everything is under control, you're not going fast enough.

~ Mario Andretti

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Quotes taken out of context can have different meanings. We see that all the time. The quote above is kind of funny, interesting, etc. However, I think it has a different meaning when I tell you that I found it on the Tampa Hillsborough Expressway web site. Why would they put that quote there? What it means when it is IN context is that someone else should be managing the quotes section of that website I think.

   

Mailbox

What a lot we lost when we stopped writing letters. 

You can't re-read a phone call.

~ Liz Carpenter

- - - - -

Liz has obviously never requested a transcript of a wire tapping from her home.

Creative

The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul.

~ Dieter F. Uchtdorf

- - - - -

You know, they say the human brain isn't fully developed until you're in your 20s or something. Usually I hear that comment used as a complaint about kids or young adults. Really though, what is also or differently true is that old people's brains are rigid. They are shaped by the constraints of society and then can't grow in new ways. They tend to have the same old ideas with slightly different names. Kids are the real creators.

I mean, I don't know this based on science - just decades of observation.

Green

A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green.

~ Francis Bacon

- - - - - 

Me: Are they green as in unhealed or green as in infected?

Francis Bacon: Does it matter?

Me: Great point.

Francis Bacon: That is why my work made such an important contribution to the scientific method and yours has not.

Me: Also because that was a long time ago and I was only born a little bit ago - in the scheme of things.

Francis Bacon: Whatever. I am not amused by your feeble excuses.

Me: Also, I was wondering... Did people used to tease you because your name is "BACON"?

Francis Bacon: NO. Because bacon is awesome and everyone loves it.

Me: Really?

Francis Bacon: (lip quivering) Yes, really!

Me: I would think they would would have taunted you a lot. Like doing that sing-songy thing... "Fran... cis...  Ba... con..." Or "Hey, Francis Bacon - where are your friends Tomato and Lettuce?" Or "What's that smell? Oh, it's you Francis Bacon. You smell like bacon."

Francis Bacon:  (tearing up) STOP IT! I'm not talking to you anymore! This conversation is OVER. For now. You just wait though...

Me: "A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green."

Francis Bacon: SHUT UP. I HATE YOU. 

Dogs

But humans drive the cars and decide when dogs eat and where dogs live and clearly this was something else in their power - the could find their dogs when they needed them.

~ W. Bruce Cameron

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Of the dogs I have had in my life, their happiest moments are when they are on an adventure. Could be learning something new, exploring something new, eating something new.

For Lily it is exploring and having an adventure. On a trip this fall Leslie was getting ready to go on a hike. Lily went over to her leash and harness twice and nudged them with her nose. She was telling Leslie, "I would like to go along if I may, Leslie."

Leslie got in the car and drove away. It was her way of saying, "No. You may not go."

 

Inside

One who looks outside dreams. One who looks inside awakens.

~ Carl Jung

- - - - -

Barns are like books. You can't judge them by the outside.

(pause)

Okay, well sure. You CAN judge them but --

(pause)

Fine. Do whatever you want. I'm not the boss of you.

(pause)

Why do you always have to be like that?!
 

Unexpected

Now and then in travel, something unexpected happens that transforms the whole nature of the trip and stays with the traveler.

~ Paul Theroux

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I love this quote. I have found it to be true on many occasions. Like the time we were at a cabin. Leslie was off on a hike and Lily and I were playing and then went back to the cabin to relax. I was taking in the sounds of the birds, the breeze through the trees, Lily's breathing, and the frogs down by the river. 

Then I heard "Low Rider" by War playing gently on the breeze. 

Mailbox

Mailboxes do more than just hold your mail for you.

~ Home Depot

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No. Really that is all they do for me.
 

Choices

You write your life story by the choices you make. You never know if you've made a mistake.

~ Helen Mirren

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 This post was tentatively titled "Cow BBQ." I most always use one word titles, but I wasn't sure if I would want this one to be about cows or BBQ - thus the tentative title. What is interesting is that the BBQ place seemed to focus more on pork BBQ than beef. 

(pause)

Maybe that's not actually that interesting after all.

?

I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.

~ Franklin Delano Roosevelt

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I know that "History's Mysteries" already exists, but I have some ideas for other types of mysteries:

Consistories Mysteries

Blistery Mysteries

Listerine Mysteries

Sister-y Mysteries

Contradictory Mysteries

Jittery Mysteries

Miss Turrie's Mysteries

Mister E's Mysteries

Ms. Stirry's Mysteries (this one is about a woman who makes a lot of 

                   soups and the show includes a recipe in each episode)

Misery Mysteries

Mystery Misery

Mister Mister

These could all be podcasts or TV shows, but I think they'd be best as books. I think if we got together and wrote them the book of love would open up and let us in.

(pause)

I know there are very few people in the world who will understand that, but they deserve to feel special sometimes, too, so shut up.

Traveling

I'm in love with cities I've never been to and people I've never met.

~ Melody Truong

- - - - -

I enjoy the simple things in life. Things like traveling around the world with a lot of money someone gave me to make my traveling more simple.

Simplicity really is beautiful.

 

Chairs

Sit here,

so I may write

you into a poem

and make you eternal.

~ Kamand Kojouri

- - - - - 

This sign is interesting to me. What does it mean? Rolling swivel chairs for sale? Rolling swivel chairs exist? Beware of rolling swivel chairs? Is it the name of a club? What would a "Rolling Swivel Chairs Club" do? Chair races? Chair design? Perhaps go bowling? 

Life is full of so many great, fun, and fascinating mysteries.

For many of you, this is not one of them.

Donkey

He would say that God had given him a tail to keep the flies off, but he would sooner have had no tail and no flies.

~ George Orwell

- - - - -

The donkey made its way slowly out of the fog. It had been quite an adventure. He knew he would likely never see the old tinkerer again unless his experiment of changing himself into a robot was a success. 

(pause)

The donkey knew he would never see the old tinkerer again.

Garden

There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments.

~ Janet Kilburn Phillips

- - - - -
 The contraction for "lettuce" is "let's".

Calf

Artists are two-headed calves.

~ Truman Capote

- - - - -

I bet there are some one-headed calves out there who could make some pretty good art, too. You see, two heads are NOT always better than one. Like if you're in a lettuce-eating contest and you have two heads of lettuce left and your competitor only has one head of lettuce left.
 

Plane

The century of airplanes has a right to its own music.

~ Claude Debussy

- - - - -

Sometimes when I get up really early in the morning, I go outside to look at the stars. Sometimes I see an airplane. It might be like 5:00 a.m. That's early. And I look at the plan flying in the sky and I think about the people on it. I wonder, "Are they having peanuts or pretzels?" I hope peanuts because that seems more breakfast-y to me, but I'm not the boss of them.

Then I go to see if we have any Lucky Charms left.

Paper

                              The wind is cold;

                                 through the torn paper screen

                                    the moon of October.

~ Sokan

- - - - -

I dreamt I was trapped in a home improvement store and decided to write a story about being trapped in a home improvement store but I couldn't find a pen or paper.

Photography

Don't shoot what it looks like. 

Shoot what it feels like.

~ David Alan Harvey

- - - - -

Me: Ezra. Hey, Ezra. Ezra. Look at me for just a minute so I can take your picture. Look right at me. With your face at me. Okay?

Ezra: (does above)

Me: *click!*

Sometimes you take a picture and sometimes a picture takes you.