After years of working 70 hours a week at jobs I detested, I felt like the proverbial "hole in the donut" - solid on the outside, but empty on the inside. Searching for meaning in my life, I abandoned my successful but unsatisfying career and set out on a six-month solo backpacking trip around the world to pursue my true passions of travel, writing, and photography. My blog features stories about the destinations I visit, people I meet, the crazy things...Read more here.... 
My Aunt Laura sent this to my Dad, who forwarded it to me, so by now it’s probably traveling around Cyberspace at the speed of light, but I found it so fascinating that I just had to copy and paste it.
Here are some statistics for the Year 1908:
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Last week i was standing in line at the coffee shop, waiting for the woman in front of me to pay. She signed her credit card slip, slid it across the counter to the cashier, and turned to walk away. The surly young cashier called after her: “Thanks for taking care of us.”
Astonished, the woman turned back to the cashier. “What do you mean? I always take care of you guys.”
The cashier became defensive. “I didn’t mean it that way. I always say that to everybody.” She glanced at me and added, “I’ve said the same thing to her twice today, haven’t I?”
This young woman has never even bothered to smile at me and almost always makes me feel Continue reading
Master Taisen Deshimaru said:
“To think is to choose to observe and comprehend,
even if one is disturbed by oneself or others.
Ultimately, to think means to understand,
to understand primordial matter,
the first thing in history.“
Master Ok-Sung An-Baron said:
“Between he who has conquered a hundred thousand men in battle and he who has conquered himself, it is the latter who is the greater victor.”
I originally read these quotes on two consecutive days. On its own, the first quote was thought provoking, but when I read the second quote Continue reading
Posted in Inspirational | 
accountability, Buddhism, meaningful life, midlife crisis, Socrates, Thoughts, unexamined life, values | 
4 CommentsMaybe it’s my imagination, but I swear that the volume of TV commercials is louder than the programs. Each time a commercial comes on, I scramble for the remote and turn the volume down. When the program comes back on I have to pump it up again or I can’t hear what is being said. This is really beginning to aggravate me. I wondered if it might have something to do with the settings on the cable box and indeed, when I scrolled through the settings I discovered an option for the audio volume control that let me set it to ‘fixed’ or ‘variable.’ I tried both settings but there was no appreciable difference; later I learned (on Google) that this setting is only used to keep the volume constant on any auxiliary equipment hooked up to the TV, such as a DVD player. Hmmm. Back to the drawing board.
Next I Googled “TV commercial volume” and got another education. The Federal Communications Commission does not regulate the volume of TV programs or commercials, however broadcasters must limit the peak power they can use to send out their audio signals. That means the loudest TV commercial can never be louder than the highest volume of any TV program. With programs, the volume varies between soft and loud, depending upon Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized | advertisers, Advertising, audio, Dolby sound, FCC, Federal Communications Commission, mute, television, TV commercials, volume | 12 Comments
With Halloween fast approaching, I decided to search the Internet for pumpkin carving ideas. I discovered some really spectacular designs, which I’ve shown below. If you click on the individual photos, you will be taken to the website of the photographers who took the shots, which in many cases, contain additional pumpkin caving designs. Either there are a lot of very creative people out there, or people have way too much time on their hands, but in any event these radical pumpkins are fun to look at.
Jolly Fellow:
Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized | carving, Halloween, jack-o-lanterns, pumpkins, radical, scary, videos | 4 Comments
So.
I feel vindicated.
I thought it was me.
Or – perish the thought – my age.
It is true that I find it virtually impossible to open a child-proof cap these days. Fortunately, I take no medicines. As for the aspirin bottle, which I must access once in a blue moon, well I cheat; I leave the lid ajar.
But when it comes to opening those onerous, razor-edged, hard plastic packages that enclose most electronic equipment these days…..let’s just say it is an exercise in futility. I always have to resort to the scissors and even then I end up with sliced fingers. I am absolutely convinced that the packaging is designed this way so that you cannot return the item, since there is no way to open it without destroying the package.
But I digress. Back to the point of being vindicated. Continue reading
Posted in Humor | adult-proof packaging, childproof packaging, Humor, Macbook, plastic packaging, videos | 2 Comments
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