Wise Words

“Misunderstandings and neglect create more confusion in this world than trickery and malice. At any rate, the last two are certainly much less frequent.”

– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “The Sorrows of Young Werther,” 1774

 

In any case, recent dealings with family have proven this statement true.  I hate it when a quote just nails one’s feelings like that.  Also because now I have to go read the whole bloody story about the sorrows of young Werther.  But who ever went wrong reading a little Goethe? 

Also this is a plug for Project Gutenberg.  If you want to get your hands on some out-of-copyright texts, this is a great source.  And it’s doubly cool when you can find an audio book of the same text and read along while listening.  It’s multimedia baby!

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Blog of Death

Of all the morbid things to write about… but I couldn’t resist… so here is the backstory and the three blasts from the past I got from the site…

So Mamma and I are scouring Google for an obscure guy from the old days of PBS Cooking shows.  We searched and searched and got on an interesting site, Chowhound, that discussed most of the old notable chefs on the network.  We eventually found our guy, Earl Peyroux.  He’s dead now as of a few years ago.  Along with Earl were mentions of Jeff Smith.  I didn’t know who he was, until I found that he was the Frugal Gourmet.  Whoa! Now there’s a blast from the past.  And so Mamma mentioned to me that he turned out to be a chi-mo, well, teenagers.  I was shocked so had to go do some digging on that.  Of course, it was true.  But as I searched, I found that he, too, is dead.  I found that on a morbidly, yet aptly, named site called Blog of Death.

So I did some poking around on the site and ran across two other interesting deaths…  Edith Shain passed away last year.  And so did Jack Horkheimer.  So who the heck are those people?

Turns out Edith was the iconic figure in The Kiss Seen Round the World.  And I had just been to San Diego about a year ago and recreated The Kiss Seen Nowhere But Here with Sealling.  I didn’t realize at the time that the monument was in homage to that amazing photo from WWII.  On Blog of Death, there is a nice little video about Edith, so you may be interested in that.  =]

 

And then there was another obituary on Jack Horkheimer of “Star Gazer” fame.  What’s strange about the timing of this one is that I had just TiVo’d an episode of Star Gazer the other day.  It was the first time I’d seen it in years, and I was surprised to see another host.  I thought maybe they had guest hosts now, but I was obviously wrong.  I found out that it used to be called “Star Hustler.”  Now that’s a name that could carry some weight today!  Anyway, when you click the link to the YouTube video, you’ll remember that whistling theme song right away…

So that’s that.  The Blog of Death.  I thought this site might weird me out when I first began reading, but I was very much mistaken.  It was really fascinating to learn about these people, some of whom I had had “recent” exposure to for the first itme. 

Hey!  All two of you readers out there!  Let me know in the comments if you go visit the site and what you think…  I’d like to think others found that site just as fascinating.

Got Goals?

Another year comes to a close… giving rise to a new year full of promise…

I’ve had a wonderful week of “vacation” and spent a LOT of time with my brother and his wife and kids. But after getting back from Charleston, I had no desire to go out to celebrate bringing in the New Year.  Instead, I chose to sit and reflect, as I am wont to do.

I have a lot to be thankful for… not in any specific order…

1. I worked all year long with Coca-Cola. Kind of a mini-dream.
2. I purchased many wonderful things…

 – nice work and casual clothes
 – new bed, wardrobe and bookshelves from IKEA
 – new shelving from The Container Store
 – several memorable trips: Yosemite to Las Vegas, LA for NRAA, and Charleston
 – my first cruise… Allure of the Seas
 – first computer purchase since 2006: 27″ iMac
 – my Jeep is good to go for a few more years (well, if Pep Boys can get their act together)

3. I saw my son rock out on the sax in his high school concert.

4. ScheduleWise is a viable business and we are definitely on the road to success!

For the new year, I’m not sure what to expect. I think I have many goals. But probably paramount are the following five goals…

1. 100 Centers with ScheduleWise
2. Trip to Italy with Mamma
3. Get under 200 pounds
4. Master Rhapsody in Blue
5. Pay off ALL my debt

If I can achieve these five things, then I have truly accomplished something this year.  Wish me luck!