Deposits

"Each day we make deposits in the memory banks of our children." - Charles Swindoll

Hour Game

I finished reading "Hour Game" by David Baldacci

ABOUT THE BOOK

A woman is found murdered in the woods with a very special watch on her wrist and what seemed a simple case soon escalates into a nightmare. The criminal methods of some of the most infamous killers of all time are being replicated by a new predator who stalks and strikes victims with a cunning brilliance. No one can understand the murderer's motives or who the next victim will be. Drawn into this violent affair are two Secret Service agents turned private investigators, Sean King and Michelle Maxwell. Both have been hired to prove a man's innocence in a domestic burglary involving an aristocratic, if dysfunctional, family. Soon stunning secrets will lead the partners into the middle of a frantic search for a killer unlike any they've confronted before.
As the Hour Game barrels forward, Sean and Michelle face a macabre puzzle and uncover one horrifying revelation after another. Nearing the truth, they will find that their own lives are in danger. And then they're hit with the biggest surprise of all.

A Nap

"No day is so bad it can't be fixed with a nap." - Carrie Snow

The Top 10 Ways to Overcome Procrastination

When a person is bored or uninterested, certain tasks and projects can seem like torture! This feeling usually leads to procrastination, and procrastination often leads to guilt. Here are some practical ways to avoid these situations and overcome procrastination:

1. Recharge Daily - Be sure to get enough sleep and rest each day so that you have the necessary energy you need to accomplish your tasks.

2. Get a Friend Involved - It's harder to procrastinate when another person is involved. If you have a task you aren't looking forward to, invite a friend over to help you out. If you have errands to run, find a buddy who you can run errands with.

3. Reward Yourself - You're much more likely to complete that boring task if there is a dinner out or a new CD waiting for you when (and only when) the task is complete.

4. Do Things in Pieces - Procrastination often comes from feelings of overwhelm. Break tasks, even small ones, into steps so that they are manageable and provide you with a sense of direction.

5. Use Music - Turn on some fun and upbeat music and let it pump you up! 80s music and showtunes are often great pick-me-ups that will give you needed energy to tackle your tasks.

6. Don't Be Afraid to do 2 Things at Once - Don't be afraid to balance routine or monotonous tasks with something that is more likely to hold your interest. You can pay bills while you watch TV, or talk on the phone while cleaning up the house.

7. Delegate - Do you find yourself procrastinating on chores at home like cleaning and laundry? Or maybe paperwork at the office? Delegate them! Kids, cleaning people, laundry services, administrative assistants and more are all available to take some of those boring tasks off your list and free up your time for the stuff you'd rather be doing.

8. Prioritize - Perhaps you're procrastinating on a task because it's really not that important. Maybe you'd love to re-organize your book shelves, but never get around to it. If it sounds like a good idea but in the end it's really not that important to you, don't let it hang over your head.

9. Get in Touch with the End Result - Before you begin a task or project that has high procrastination potential, get in touch with the outcome. When the task is finished, what will that mean to you? What will be better in life as a result?

10. Just Do It!! - Don't think about it too much, just jump in and get it done!

By Jennifer Koretsky http://www.selfgrowth.com/index.html

Destiny

"A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it." - Jean de La Fontaine

Younger

"You are younger today than you ever will be again. Make use of it for the sake of tomorrow." -Anonymous

Your Smile

"Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy." - Thich Nhat Hanh

Maturity

"Maturity is the ability to do a job whether or not you are supervised, to carry money without spending it, and to bear an injustice without wanting to get even." - Ann Landers

Communication

"The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said." - Peter F. Drucker

Be Not Afraid

"Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still." - Chinese Proverb

The Ringer

I watched the DVD "The Ringer."

Synopsis

When Steve Barker (Johnny Knoxville) finds himself running dead last in the corporate rat race, he sinks to an all time low... he attempts to rig the Special Olympics by pretending to be intellectually challenged. But, Barker is completely out-classed by his fellow Olympians, who are not only better athletes; they're just plain better people. And they're on to him. But rather than rat-out the rat, they join forces with him to once and for all beat Jimmy, the cocky reigning champion of the annual games. With a work-out regime uniquely their own, they train Barker to go for the gold and, in the process, show him what's at the heart of a true winner.

When Life Is No Joke, Laugh Anyway

God made laughter to show us that things are seldom as bad as they seem. Laughter liberates and laughter uplifts. When laughter comes into a life, nothing is too difficult, nothing can defeat us. We can survive the noonday sun and the darkness of death and the grinding boredom of dailiness and still find life exhilarating. Other things in life change color like chameleons on plaid, but laughter is always ornament, always grace.

There are some things that must always be laughed at in life:

1. Laugh when people tell a joke. Otherwise you might make them feel bad.

2. Laugh when you look into a mirror. Otherwise you might feel bad.

3. Laugh when you make a mistake. If you don't, you're liable to forget how ultimately unimportant the whole thing really is, whatever it is.

4. Laugh with small childre. It will restore your delight in the fundamental things of life. It will also improve your sense of humor. Have you ever noticed what children laugh at? They laugh at mashed bananas on their faces; mud in their hair; a dog nuzzling their ears; the sight of their bottoms as bare as silk. It renews your perspective. Clearly, nothing is as bad as it could be.

5. Laugh at situations that are out of your control. When the best man comes to the altar without the wedding ring, laugh. When the dog jumps through the window screen at the dinner guests on your doorstep, sit down and laugh awhile. When you find yourself in public wearing mismatched shoes, laugh--as loudly as you can. Why collapse in mortal agony? There’s nothing you can do to change things now. Besides, it is funny. Ask me; I’ve done it.

6. Laugh at anything pompous, at anything that needs to puff its way through life in robes and titles. Because laughter is a social virtue, it will help the rest of us see the difference between what is authentic in life and what is not. Will Rogers laughed at all the public institutions of modern life. For instance, “You can’t say civilization isn’t advancing,” he wrote. “In every war they kill you in a new way.” And thanks to his laughter we began to see what was going on around us in fresh and shocking perspective.

7. Finally, laugh when all your carefully laid plans get changed: when the plane is late and the restaurant is closed and the last day’s screening of the movie of the year was yesterday. You’re free now to do something else, to be spontaneous for a change, to take a piece of life and treat it with outrageous abandon.

There are some things, of course, that do not qualify for laughter, that do not refresh the human heart, that set out to hurt whole classes of people, in fact, and that should never, under any conditions, be tolerated under the pretense of humor. Ethnic jokes and sexist sneers and racial slurs and jeering at physical limitations do not empty the human soul of debris. They simply fill it with a venom disguised as humor. The sign of laughter gone sour lies clearly in the charge, ‘What’s the matter with her? Can’t she take a joke?” Then the laughter goes hollow or guttural, weak or low. Though nothing at all may be said, everyone knows on the spot that kindness and clear vision have flown the place forever.

In the final analysis, we should laugh at anything that is not a matter of life and death. The trick is to remember that only life and death are life and death. Then the canvas is broad and the palette is deep. The whole world becomes a jester’s paradise in which we laugh at what we did not foresee.

Laughter is an antidote to dualism, a necessary foundation of mental health. To the one who laughs, life is good, the world is good, goodness is the ground on which we walk. No dualism here, no fear of body or soul, no rejection of the tattered truth of our existence. Just gentle, gentle wholeness tenderly handled, lovingly held. Finally, laughter enables us to live in a highly structured world without falling prey to the manacles of the mind that blind our eyes and cement our hearts. Laughter gives us the freedom of the Jesus who taught babies and poked fun at Pharisees and told winsome little stories, spiritual jokes, about women who would not let pretentious judges alone. Day after day he smiled his way from one theological absolute to another and left the world with enough to smile about until the end of time. Once we learn to laugh and play, we will have come closer to understanding our laughing, playing God. The God of ridiculous promises is a God who laughs, a God to be laughed at and laughed with, until that moment when all pain washes away and only the laughter of God is left to be heard in the
heavens.


Joan Chittister, OSB
Beliefnet Columnist www.beliefnet.com

Another Close Game

Our basketball team lost another close game 32 to 30 against St. Joseph's in Downer's Grove. The boys really made a push at the end and we really came from behind.

An Unfinished Life

We watched the DVD "An Unfinished Life."

Synopsis

Still in shock from his only son's death a decade ago, Einar Gilkyson (Robert Redford), a tough-skinned, retired rancher has let his ranch fall into ruin along with his marriage. Now, Einar spends his days caring only for his hired hand, and last trusted friend, Mitch (Morgan Freeman), who was gravely injured in an encounter with a grizzly bear. Einar intends to live out his days in this heartbroken solitude.. until the very person he blames for his son's accident comes to town: his daughter-in-law Jean (Jennifer Lopez). Jean shows up broke, on the run and with a girl named Griff (Becca Gardner), who she swears is the granddaughter Einar never knew he had. Suddenly, Einar's quiet life is turned upside down as anger and accusations resurface. But slowly, miraculously, 11-year-old Griff's curiosity about Western life, and her longing for a family and father figure, begin to chip away at the stone that has become Einar's heart - opening up the way for unexpected connection, adventure, mercy and true reunion.

Courage

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear." - Ambrose Redmoon

In The Midst Of Living

"My ideas usually come not at my desk writing but in the midst of living." - Anais Nin

Love Is Not Leisure, It Is Work

"Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure, it is work." - Anna Quindlen

The Camel Club

I finished reading "The Camel Club" by David Baldacci.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Welcome to THE CAMEL CLUB. It exists at the fringes of Washington, D.C., has no power, and consists solely of four eccentric and downtrodden members whom society has forgotten. Their simple goal is to find the “truth” behind their country’s actions. One man leads this aging, ragtag crew. He has no known past and has taken on the name "Oliver Stone." Day and night, Stone and his friends study wild conspiracy theories, current events, and the machinations of government hoping to discover some truth that will hold America’s leaders accountable to its citizens. But never in Stone’s wildest nightmares could he imagine the conspiracy the Camel Club is about to uncover...After witnessing a shocking murder, the Club is slammed headfirst into a plot that threatens the very security of the nation, full of stunning twists, high-stakes intrigue and global gamesmanship rocketing to the Oval Office and beyond. Soon the Club must join forces with veteran Secret Service agent Alex Ford, who becomes an unwilling participant in one of the most chilling spectacles to ever take place on American soil. It’s an event that may well be the catalyst for the long-threatened Armageddon between two different worlds, and all that stands in the way of this apocalypse is five unexpected heroes.

Bear Down, Chicago Bears

The Bears play the Seahawks today at noon. The Bears fight song:

'Bear down, Chicago Bears,
make every play
clear the way to victory.

'Bear down, Chicago Bears,
put up a fight with a might
so fearlessly.

'We'll never forget the way
you thrilled the nation
with your T-formation.

'Bear down, Chicago Bears
and let them know why
you're wearing the crown.

'You're the pride and joy
of Illinois
Chicago Bears, bear down.

A Plan When You Reach Quarterlife

A plan to prevent you from facing a crisis when you reach quarterlife:

1. Have a Strong Faith Cling to something eternal — everything else is shifting sand.

2. Learn How to Choose with Consequences/Set Goals to Achieve Face difficult choices. Choose for yourself what to do after college. Think about it and what to do after.
Choose what you want and know what you need to do to get it.

3. Remain Optimistic The world can be a rough place. See the good in people. See the sunshine for the clouds. Know that because things change, they can also change for your good. Keep your chin up, baby!

4. Learn the Value of Money and How to Use It There is a big transition between school and work. The hours and pay are very different from what you’d expect. Do not rack up debt. Here’s a tip: read any contract before you sign it. And if you don’t know what something in the contract means — ask! Do your best to save money. Spend your own money on things you wants. Have a job while you are in high school, and certainly one while you are in college. Pay your own way to college (as The Millionaire Next Door points out, this is a common theme for the wealthy who care).

5. Don’t Count on Mom and Dad This may seem obvious, while leaning on your parents for emotional support is okay, coming home for financial support should be rare. As soon as you move you are on your own. “Good luck! Call anytime!”

6. Give Up Dating I know that sounds strange. Meeting “the one” is a concern. Apparently there is some pressure to be married by 30. My advice is: Don’t worry about it. The more you focus on the other important things in your life, the more likely you are to run into love. Here’s an even stranger tip: If you actually decide not to date, when word gets out, there will be a bevy of people who consider your decision a personal challenge. Be careful!

7. Volunteer There is a time in our lives when our world is the only world. What if I don’t get promoted? What if I never meet anyone in this new town? What if I end up staying in my hometown and all my college friends leave? Guess what? It really doesn’t matter much. Get out of your own head and into someone else’s. Want to meet new people? Visit shut-ins. Serve soup at a homeless shelter. Candy stripe. Tired of your tiny apartment? It’s not like sleeping in a bathroom stall, honey. Nothing changes perspective on the stress in your life like helping an elderly man check to see if he has enough oxygen in his tank to breathe through the night.

from http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/

Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby

We watched the DVD "Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby." There were some very funny scenes.

Synopsis

The story of NASCAR racing sensation Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell), whose "win at all costs" approach has made him a national hero. He and his loyal racing partner and childhood friend, Cal Naughton, Jr. (John C. Reilly), are a fearless duo who thrill their fans by finishing most races in the #1 and #2 positions - with Cal always in second place. When a flamboyant French Formula One driver, Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen), challenges him for the supremacy of NASCAR, Ricky Bobby must face his own demons and fight Girard for the right to be known as racing's top driver.

American Dreamz

I watched the DVD "American Dreamz."

Synopsis

On the morning of his re-election, the President (Dennis Quaid) decides to read the newspaper for the first time in four years. This starts him down a slippery slope. He begins reading obsessively, reexamining his black and white view of the world, holing up in his bedroom in his pajamas. Frightened by the President's apparent nervous breakdown, his Chief of Staff (William Dafoe) pushes him back into the spotlight, booking him as a guest judge on the television ratings juggernaut (and the President's personal fave), the weekly talent show American Dreamz. America can't seem to get enough of American Dreamz, hosted by self-aggrandizing, self-loathing Martin Tweed (Hugh Grant), ever on the lookout for the next insta-celebrity. His latest crop of hopefuls includes Sally(Mandy Moore), a conniving steel magnolia with a devoted, dopey veteran boyfriend, and Omer (Sam Golzari) , a recent Southern Californian immigrant (who just happens to be a bumbling, show tune singing, would-be terrorist awaiting activation). When both Sally and Omer make it to the final round of Dreamz - where the President will be judging along with Tweed - the stage is set for a show the nation will never forget.

A very good take-off of the T.V. Show "American Idol."

Close Game

Our basketball team lost a close game 29 to 25 against a very good team St. Petronille's #1 at home. We stayed even with them until the fourth quarter when we got into foul trouble. My youngest son was the team's high scorer with 8 points. The boys played a very good defensive game and almost everyone scored.

Those Who Do Most

"It may be that those who do most, dream most." - Stephen Leacock

Coincidence

"Coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous." - Unknown

What You Are

"Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly." - St. Francis de Sales

Hope

"Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come." - Anne Lamott

United 93

I watched the DVD "United 93"

Synopsis

The story of the passengers and crew, their families on the ground and the flight controllers who watched in dawning horror as United Airlines Flight 93 became the fourth hijacked plane on the day of the worst terrorist attacks on American soil: September 11, 2001. United 93 recreates the doomed trip in actual time, from takeoff to hijacking to the realization by those onboard that their plane was part of a coordinated attack unfolding on the ground beneath them. The film attempts to understand the abject fear and courageous decisions of those who -- over the course of just 90 minutes -- transformed from a random assembly of disconnected strangers into bonded allies who confronted an unthinkable situation.

Power Of Love

"We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace." - William Gladstone

Each Day

"Each day comes bearing its own gifts. Untie the ribbons." - Ruth Ann Schabacker

Sorry, Haters

I watched the DVD "Sorry, Haters."

Synopsis

Ashade (Abdellatif Keciche) is a Syrian chemist who drives a cab in New York City and looks after his French-speaking sister-in-law and her child while they seek the release of Ashade's brother, a Canadian citizen grabbed at JFK by US intelligence and rendered to Syria. One night, Ashade takes a fare to New Jersey and back, a high-strung woman (Robin Wright Penn) who says her name is Philly and that she's a producer of reality TV including "Sorry, Haters," an envy-stoking show about the wealth of the stars. Philly pushes into Ashade's life and promises help from a lawyer, but then simply takes Ashade's savings. His discovering who she really is and his attempts to get his life back take the rest of the film.

An Apology

"An apology is a good way to have the last word." - Anonymous

Your Conscience

"Don't cut your conscience to fit this year's fashions." - Lillian Hellman

Very Hard To Be Good

"No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good….Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is.” - C.S. Lewis.

The Collectors

I finished reading "The Collectors" by David Baldacci.

ABOUT THE BOOK

The assassination of the U.S. Speaker of the House has shaken the nation. And the Camel Club has found a chilling connection with another death: the body of the director of the Library of Congress's rare books room has been found in a locked vault. The Camel Club's unofficial leader, a man who calls himself Oliver Stone, discovers that someone is selling America to its enemies one classified secret at a time. Then Annabelle Conroy, the greatest con artist of her generation, struts her way into the club and gives it a sexy new edge one it needs. Because the two murders are hurtling the Camel Club into a world of espionage that can bring America to its knees.

Money

“Money can’t buy love, but it improves your bargaining position.” - Christopher Marlowe

Alfie

I watched the DVD "Alfie."

Synopsis

Alfie Elkins (Jude Law) works as a limousine driver, chauffeuring the wealthy through the streets of Manhattan, and occasionally making love to his lonely female clients in the backseat. Though he has ambitions, he wants only enough to get by, his primary focus being the pleasures of life without any of the responsibilities. Yeah, it's true that Alfie epitomizes the swinging playboy archetype… But, underneath the charm, the bravado, the swagger, there's another side… "a man who won't let the love in."

Listen To The Whisper

"None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Goal Setting - Your Library

When thinking about goal setting it is easy to get bogged down in lists, charts, and graphs. The to-do list gets very long and soon the whole thing seems overwhelming. Your mind instantly rebels, thinking of ways to get out of the task at hand. Don’t eat that, get that paper off of your desk, get up and start exercising… the voice barks incessantly… All you want it to do is stop… and soon the whole set of resolutions and goals are put aside.

What does work?

Visualizing the outcome of the goal is a great first step. Having a picture in your mind of yourself accomplishing the goal will help you achieve it. The stronger this picture is, the more your subconscious mind will do to figure out a way to accomplish it.

This picture needs to be very compelling.

This picture needs to be bold, full color, and on the edge of reality.

One way to visualize this picture is to imagine a large gallery or library. This represents your life and the pictures on the wall are accomplishments or goals realized. I like to think really big here and imagine one of the presidential libraries with all the exhibits.

Each room is full of photographs, documents, and memorabilia. There are stories and pictures of people and places. Here is someones life displayed for all to see. The successes and the failures all in one place. Each room represents a different area or era of life.

Think for a minute about your library. What do you see?

Are there masterpieces on the wall, or just a lot of unfinished pictures.

Are the pictures all of you, or are there others included.

How many rooms are there?

Where is the library located?

Think about the furniture, is it ordinary, maybe rustic, or is it the finest available?

What quotations do you see in the frames?

Are there suits or gowns on display?

What songs are playing in the background.

An interesting exercise isn’t it?

from http://www.successbeginstoday.org/wordpress/

Syriana

I watched the DVD "Syriana."

Synopsis

As a career CIA operative (George Clooney) begins to uncover the disturbing truth about the work he has devoted his life to, an up-and-coming oil broker (Matt Damon) faces an unimaginable family tragedy and finds redemption in his partnership with an idealistic Gulf prince (Alexander Siddig). A corporate lawyer (Jeffrey Wright) faces a moral dilemma as he finesses the questionable merger of two powerful U.S. oil companies, while across the globe, a disenfranchised Pakistani teenager (Mazhar Munir) falls prey to the recruiting efforts of a charismatic cleric. Each plays their small part in the vast and complex system that powers the industry, unaware of the explosive impact their lives will have upon the world.

Love, Ludlow

I watched the DVD "Love, Ludlow." I really enjoyed it. One of the daughters (Alicia Goranson) from the Roseanne T.V. show was in it.

Synopsis

Myra Smuldanski (Alicia Goranson) has done the unthinkable. After years of shunning men she accepts a date with Reginald Baron (David Eigenberg), an account executive at the office where she temps. The only man in her life up to this point has been Ludlow (Brendan Sexton III), Myra's bi-polar younger brother who aspires to be the next Jackson Pollack. Lud is not to happy with the new man in Myra's life and tries his best to destroy any budding relationship between her and Reg. Myra finds herself torn between her role as her brother's caretaker and the possibility of finding someone who wants to take care of her. Film is based on Patersons's play Fingerpainting In a Murphybed.