WillThink4Wine

Like many Americans, I personally know and love a good many soldiers, men and women, serving our country. I support all our Troops.

Army
Navy
Air Force
Marines

America Supports You

Got this in an email today. I don’t know who wrote it, but I believe they may know a number of my family members…

• Schizophrenia — Do You Hear What I Hear?
• Multiple Personality Disorder — We Three Kings Disoriented Are
• Dementia — I Think I’ll be Home for Christmas
• Narcissistic — Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me
• Manic — Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees and…..
• Paranoid — Santa Claus is Coming to Town to Get Me
• Borderline Personality Disorder —Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire
• Personality Disorder — You Better Watch Out, I’m Gonna Cry, I’m Gonna Pout, Maybe I’ll Tell You Why
• Attention Deficit Disorder — Silent night, Holy oooh look at the Froggy - can I have a chocolate, why is France so far away?
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder — Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle,Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,

I got an email from some very dear friends this morning. What a lovely way to start my day, simply to know that someone has me in their prayers, every day.

I also got this from another friend which reminded me to keep my eye on what’s really important as we go about our busy lives. Let me share it with you:

Cups

A group of alumni, all highly established in their respective careers, got together for a visit with their old university professor. The conversation soon turned to complaints about the endless stress of work and life in general.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went into the kitchen and soon returned with a large pot of coffee and an eclectic assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal - some plain, some expensive, some quite exquisite. Quietly he told them to help themselves to some fresh coffee.

When each of his former students had a cup of coffee in hand, the old professor quietly cleared his throat and began to patiently address the small gathering… ”You may have noticed that all of the nicer looking cups were taken up first, leaving behind the plainer and cheaper ones. While it is only natural for you to want only the best for yourselves that is actually the source of much of your stress-related problems.”

He continued…”Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In fact, the cup merely disguises or dresses up what we drink. What each of you really wanted was coffee, not a cup, but you instinctively went for the best cups… Then you began eyeing each other’s cups.”

“Now consider this: Life is coffee. Jobs, money, and position in society are merely cups. They are just tools to shape and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not truly define nor change the quality of the Life we live. Often, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee that God has provided us… God brews the coffee, but he does not supply the cups. Enjoy your coffee!”

The happiest people don’t have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything they have. So please remember: Live simply. Love generously. Care Deeply. Speak Kindly. Leave The Rest To God.

Come, Monday.

It is not wealth one asks for, but just enough to preserve one’s dignity, to work unhampered, to be generous, frank and independent.

–W. Somerset Maugham, ‘Of Human Bondage’, 1915, English dramatist & novelist (1874 - 1965)

Amen, brother. I just looked at my P & L… Success had better find me soon.

A few bright spots:

• I have completed Phase I of the major overhaul to my business web site. Whew! I shall reward myself with an entire 24 hours abstinence from any web site-related work… before I begin Phase II.
• My mother called this morning to tell me not to stop for wine on my way home from the office as she has already done so. I love my mother.
• A nice check arrived in today’s mail. I love when that happens, don’t you?

Now if I could just get someone to run my other errands.

Cheers.

Well, another week ends. Another list of ‘did not do’, and another list of ‘did, but wasn’t expecting to do’. As I have so often said,

It is good to have a plan, just be prepared to modify it

This weekend I did not accomplish a single of my major goals. A few minor changes which I made to my business web site changed the course of the weekend entirely. What should have taken 15 minutes has, so far, taken 20 hours and I’m not done ‘undoing’. Good grief.

The upside is that my error has revealed a new avenue of income. I’m never ashamed to admit an error because there is always a lesson to be learned. One could argue that mistakes are the greatest teachers. A lesson learned the hard way is nonetheless learned.

So, at the end of the day I am weary, but wiser. A nice glass of Chianti is in order! Then I’m off to sleep. It was a good week.

Cheers.

It was 82 here today.. how the heck can you get in the mood to put ornaments on the tree in 82 degree weather? What happened to that nice cold front that we had all week when I couldn’t decorate because I had to work? It was 32 at night and only in the 50’s-60’s during the day. I was so looking forward to a nice cozy fire, Christmas music and wine. Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown.

My niece is on the warpath again; another manic phase coinciding with the end of the semester and the Christmas holidays. Now you know this can not be good. *sigh* And yet her mother, my sister the saint, is still in a festive, happy mood. I truly cannot imagine how she does it. God must have given her a double dose of patience and understanding. A mother’s love would not suffice.

My cats sat under the tree ALL day today while the squirrels collected pecans for the winter. They lay there just waiting. Never moving for hour after hour. Alas; not a single squirrel fell into their clever trap.

Well, tomorrow is another day.

Cheers.

Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live on in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

–Franklin D. Roosevelt, Address to Congress, Dec. 8, 1941, 32nd president of US (1882 - 1945)

Attack on Pearl Harbor

Pear Harbor Memorial