OK Wachel. You were wight. Anyway, I finally saw this movie for my mother-in-law's b-day. My father-in-law really wanted us to see it because of the music. I admit, the music was wonderful. However, the story kinda got to me... I mean, coming from a musical family and all. No wonder they were all telling me to go see this movie! The rock Dad and classical Mom, and virtuoso child, now, who does that remind me of??
Hope: You remember how you said Mozart was a musical prod?
Reverend James: Prodigy.
Hope: Exactly! Well, I've got one of those and he's living under my bed!
Heehee - Tommy probably was under my bed a few times, but I can't honestly say he lived there. What was it Tommy said about this movie? "(ominous tone) If you play it, they will come."
It was so hard to keep from crying - I wonder what makes me try so hard not to? Maybe the fact that I would've been the only one? Anyway, the ending stank. I mean, everybody knew how it would turn out, but the filming was so mediocre. First of all, the ending was way too short. There needed to be more follow-up. It was cool when the mother was pushing through the crowd toward the son, and the father was pushing through the crowd towards her, with an aerial shot. That should've continued. Also, there should've been more looks of astonishment, tears, hugs, etc - when they all finally got together, and exclamations like: "It's you?," "How!," "I knew it!," etc...
OK, some songs that really should've been in the soundtrack:
You've got the music in You - New Radicals
But when the night is falling
and you cannot find the light
If you feel your dream is dying
Hold tight
You've got the music in you
Don't let go
You've got the music in you
One dance left
This world is gonna pull through
Don't give up
You've got a reason to live
Can't forget you only get what you give
...and, of course, my FAVORITE Sixpence song:
The Lines of My Earth - Sixpence None the Richer
This is the last song that I write
'Til you tell me otherwise
And it's because I just don't feel it
This is the last song
'Til you tell me other wise
And it's because I just don't feel it anymore
...
And they in the habit of saying the same things all over again
About the money we shall make
With that last one I have this montage in mind, show Louis (This is the last song that I write), then Lyla (And it's because I just don't feel it), and finally August watching Robin Williams counting money ( And they in the habit of saying the same things all over again, About the money we shall make). *sniff* OK - I'll just go cry again now...
Oh, but one thing that made me mad, is that the movie sort of glorifies out-of-wedlock births. I'm not saying those kids aren't wonderful people, but, you know, if instead of just having a one-night-stand they would've simply exchanged info, then dated, then gotten married, THEN had the kid, they could've avoided all these problems. But, then, there wouldn't really be such a cool story. *sigh* Funny how life works like that. Wait, what am I saying? Who knows if life works like that, this was only a movie!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
Michael Jake’s Real Estate Investing Commandments
I got this in an email from our local real estate guru, and I just thought it was worth a re-posting, even for those not involved in real-estate investing. BTW - last week I just completed 21 (I'm not saying that I've completed the 20 previous), at least I've completed the first half of that commandment. We'll see if I ever go read it again. Anyway, it was a good book, with some good lessons. It was a surprisingly simple book, and I don't expect that historical accuracy was the focus, but the parables/fables were good. It is a compilation of various pamphlets written by George S. Clason for banks, insurance companies, etc. It was published in 1926, and according to Mike Jake, has not been out of print since. I'm wondering if the copyright will expire anytime soon, and I might be able to post a link from Guttenberg Project? Well, on with the commandments...
Michael Jake's Real Estate Investing Commandments
Michael Jake's Real Estate Investing Commandments
Over the years our business has adopted a few principles that we run our business by and live by. These are lessons we have adopted from mentors and experience. Here is a basic list we hope you will find very helpful in developing and growing your business:
1. You can get everything you want out of life is you just help enough other people get what they want- Zig Ziglar
2. Great Attitude= Great Results
3. Poor Attitude= Poor Results
4. Don't Wait- You will never have everything lined up or prepared enough to get started.
5. Cutting Costs is rarely the answer- Increasing revenue by increasing sales often is the answer.
6. Outsource as much as you can- do not waste time on doing the small or unpleasant things yourself. The Less You Do the More You Make. (Ron LeGrande told me that at dinner once and it has rang true)
7. Your Business should meet your Lifestyle Goals
8. Do Something! Be Somebody you are proud of.
9. Massive Action! You cannot expect great results by doing something halfway.
10. Take All You can Get. There is No Fair Share. There is Plenty for all willing to get in the game.
11. Income is Not Wealth- How much do you make vs How much do you keep?
12. 80/20 Rule Applies- 80% of your profits come from 20% of your effort. Put your efforts into the profitable activities.
13. 1% Rule- You only have to be 1% better than your competition
14. Have many tools in your tool box- a hammer is not the only tool you will need. If you only had a hammer you would be looking at everything like it was a nail. Be able to solve many seller problems and situations- You always need to be creating Value.
15. Rule 1 in investing; Don't Lose money- Warren Buffet
16. Rule 2 in investing: Don't Forget Rule 1 – Warren Buffet
17. I am a Marketer- Houses are my widget. Reinforced at every Dan Kennedy seminar.
18. To Make Things Happen You need to Take Action. You do not just Think and Grow Rich (Napolean Hill) You Act and Grow Rich (Dan Kennedy & Bill Glazer)
19. Our Favorite Holding period is Warren Buffet's- forever! But we always go in with an open mind have have multiple exit strategies
20. Don't be Afraid of Money or Wealth
21. Read "The Richest Man in Babylon" by George S. Clason …then read it again.
22. Its not about "Timing "in the Market". It's " Time IN the Market"
23. Try=Fail, Commit= Success
May you find these principles helpful in your Quest for a Successful and Lucrative Business!
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Why I don’t care about the Civil War
Well, I probably do care about certain aspects of it, it was - afterall - a very important war. But, when people start asking if I'm a Yankee or a Confederate, I sorta draw a blank. On HSA, people seem to enjoy getting into this discussion. I finally enumerated all the details about why this question just doesn't apply to me.
1. I currently live in Colorado, which was a mere territory at the time of the Civil War.
2. I was born in raised in Oklahoma, which was in the same status.
3. I lived for about 1.5 yrs in Texas, which I believe was it's owm country at the time.
4. My dad's mom's parents were in Sweden at the time.
5. I'm not really sure about my dad's other ancestors, but my Dad thinks they were in England at the time.
6. My mom's parents own a farm which has been in the family since the land run. I don't know where her ancestors were before that. My brother claims that from her side, there were people who fought on both sides of the war.
7. My husband just got here from Romania this decade, and his ancestors are Romanian and Italian.
8. Last, but certainly not least, I was born over 100 years after the Civil War ended!
...so, based on all of that, how could I be a Yankee OR a Confederate??? I'm just immigrants and pioneers. People - the world is bigger than this!
OK - now that I'm getting into geneology, I might as well re-post this post from an HSA thread in 2005:
My maiden name is Giles (it's greek origin is either shield bearer, or possibly goat skin - I prefer the former), which of course is very English. Supposedly, we are the direct decendents of the brother of the Mr. Giles who tutored Charles Dickens, there are also supposed to be nearly 7 consecutive generations of ministers in that line, also someone who helped in the translation of the King James version of the Bible.
My great-great aunt (who passed away a few years ago, but not before I had the pleasure of meeting her - my family says I'm alot like her) went to her senior prom with one of Calvin Coolidge's sons. Her father (my great-great-great grandfather) was in his mayoral cabinet, and was asked to join the cabinet when Coolidge became governor. He declined because he didn't want to move his family. However, it is speculated that had he accepted, he may have gone on to become vice-president, and possibly even president
My great-great-aunt and her husband were on many TV gameshows. She also wrote a manuscript on the national highway project, which I would love to get my hands on.
My great-grandfather worked at Bell Labs at the time of the invention of the transistor, though he was not on that project.
My grandfather was a fire fighter involved in the first academization of fire safety, and wrote much of the fire safety codes/manuals that are in use today, and taught fire safety at the university. My grandmother was a secretary at the university. She started secretarial work by working at the Avon headquarters in New York. They came to Oklahoma from New Jersey b/c OSU was one of the only universities in the country that had a fire safety department at the time.
My mom's parents own a farm in rural Oklahoma which has been in the family since the land run. My grandmother taught a one-room schoolhouse for a short time, as a child she lost her house in a tornado while she and her mother were in the basement. My grandfather taught agriculture at the university. Sometimes they talk about the dust bowl and the great depression.
Somehwere on her side is an ancestor who came from Bohemia (now the Czech Republic?). The rest, as far as I know, were English and Irish.
I also have a spattering of Welsh, and Scottish ancestries - but I don't know all the history there.
1. I currently live in Colorado, which was a mere territory at the time of the Civil War.
2. I was born in raised in Oklahoma, which was in the same status.
3. I lived for about 1.5 yrs in Texas, which I believe was it's owm country at the time.
4. My dad's mom's parents were in Sweden at the time.
5. I'm not really sure about my dad's other ancestors, but my Dad thinks they were in England at the time.
6. My mom's parents own a farm which has been in the family since the land run. I don't know where her ancestors were before that. My brother claims that from her side, there were people who fought on both sides of the war.
7. My husband just got here from Romania this decade, and his ancestors are Romanian and Italian.
8. Last, but certainly not least, I was born over 100 years after the Civil War ended!
...so, based on all of that, how could I be a Yankee OR a Confederate??? I'm just immigrants and pioneers. People - the world is bigger than this!
OK - now that I'm getting into geneology, I might as well re-post this post from an HSA thread in 2005:
My maiden name is Giles (it's greek origin is either shield bearer, or possibly goat skin - I prefer the former), which of course is very English. Supposedly, we are the direct decendents of the brother of the Mr. Giles who tutored Charles Dickens, there are also supposed to be nearly 7 consecutive generations of ministers in that line, also someone who helped in the translation of the King James version of the Bible.
My great-great aunt (who passed away a few years ago, but not before I had the pleasure of meeting her - my family says I'm alot like her) went to her senior prom with one of Calvin Coolidge's sons. Her father (my great-great-great grandfather) was in his mayoral cabinet, and was asked to join the cabinet when Coolidge became governor. He declined because he didn't want to move his family. However, it is speculated that had he accepted, he may have gone on to become vice-president, and possibly even president
My great-great-aunt and her husband were on many TV gameshows. She also wrote a manuscript on the national highway project, which I would love to get my hands on. My great-grandfather worked at Bell Labs at the time of the invention of the transistor, though he was not on that project.
My grandfather was a fire fighter involved in the first academization of fire safety, and wrote much of the fire safety codes/manuals that are in use today, and taught fire safety at the university. My grandmother was a secretary at the university. She started secretarial work by working at the Avon headquarters in New York. They came to Oklahoma from New Jersey b/c OSU was one of the only universities in the country that had a fire safety department at the time.
My mom's parents own a farm in rural Oklahoma which has been in the family since the land run. My grandmother taught a one-room schoolhouse for a short time, as a child she lost her house in a tornado while she and her mother were in the basement. My grandfather taught agriculture at the university. Sometimes they talk about the dust bowl and the great depression.
Somehwere on her side is an ancestor who came from Bohemia (now the Czech Republic?). The rest, as far as I know, were English and Irish.
I also have a spattering of Welsh, and Scottish ancestries - but I don't know all the history there.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Flowers and Fish... again, or just plain funny stuff?
I was going to write another blog about my garden and aquarium - but maybe you all are getting tired of that? Anyway, my crocuses finally did bloom! They were gorgeous! ...but, I didn’t take a picture, and Adrian went out to water the grass and pulled the hose over them 
My Hellebore is just starting to bloom, finally, but it’s pretty small and I don’t feel like going outside to take a picture. Probably because of my sore throat. Will I ever get well?
Which brings me back to funny stuff. I was feeding the fish a while back, when suddenly, one of the neon tetras was floating belly up at the top of the tank. I couldn’t understand what had happened, a few seconds ago he had been active and happy! Then I realized he wasn’t acting like any other fish that I’ve seen floating belly up - he was struggling pretty hard to swim down! Sometimes he would get a down just a little, but would then get pulled back up to the surface of the water! It was like there was a magnetic force. He kept floating under the filter output, and then the current would throw him ruthlessly down to the bottom, but he would just float up and do it again. This happened a few times and I started feeling sorry for him, but didn’t know what to do. After about 15 minutes or so, he was swimming normally again. It was the weirdest thing! I finally decided that he must’ve eaten a fairly big bubble, and then managed to burp it somehow. I can’t think of any other explanation! But that’s just so hilarious when I think that could happen to a fish, and I remember my neon struggling so hard to swim downwards, but somehow he kept ending up on the suraface! What a stupid fish!
At least he didn’t die. But, my guppy died. "Cutie died, everybody died..." OK - for those of you not related to me, that’s kinda an inside joke. The actual quote came from a time when my family decided to put on a skit and video tape it, I don’t even think I can remember the skit... but the actual story behind the quote comes from my sister’s pets. She had a parakeet, named Cutie, and a betta. The bird was always managing to get out of it’s cage, and often my sister would come into her room a find it flying all over! The betta tank was fairly small (1 gallon?), and had a small door on the top for feeding. One day, Cutie got out, and somehow managed to get inside the beta tank and drown himself. Cutie died, the beta died, and the rest of us of us just died laughing! How many other betta owners can truthfully claim that their betta was murdered by a kamikaze parakeet? It sounds like something from teen girl squad "Freak boating accident."
Oh yeah - and I’m not the only one who loves flowers.
Here was another great vid I got this week. According to the side notes, she only saw the movie once. When I was a kid I could remember that much detail from only seeing something once, too. We rarely watched movies at home, so I always paid attention when I did get to see one.
My Hellebore is just starting to bloom, finally, but it’s pretty small and I don’t feel like going outside to take a picture. Probably because of my sore throat. Will I ever get well?Which brings me back to funny stuff. I was feeding the fish a while back, when suddenly, one of the neon tetras was floating belly up at the top of the tank. I couldn’t understand what had happened, a few seconds ago he had been active and happy! Then I realized he wasn’t acting like any other fish that I’ve seen floating belly up - he was struggling pretty hard to swim down! Sometimes he would get a down just a little, but would then get pulled back up to the surface of the water! It was like there was a magnetic force. He kept floating under the filter output, and then the current would throw him ruthlessly down to the bottom, but he would just float up and do it again. This happened a few times and I started feeling sorry for him, but didn’t know what to do. After about 15 minutes or so, he was swimming normally again. It was the weirdest thing! I finally decided that he must’ve eaten a fairly big bubble, and then managed to burp it somehow. I can’t think of any other explanation! But that’s just so hilarious when I think that could happen to a fish, and I remember my neon struggling so hard to swim downwards, but somehow he kept ending up on the suraface! What a stupid fish!
At least he didn’t die. But, my guppy died. "Cutie died, everybody died..." OK - for those of you not related to me, that’s kinda an inside joke. The actual quote came from a time when my family decided to put on a skit and video tape it, I don’t even think I can remember the skit... but the actual story behind the quote comes from my sister’s pets. She had a parakeet, named Cutie, and a betta. The bird was always managing to get out of it’s cage, and often my sister would come into her room a find it flying all over! The betta tank was fairly small (1 gallon?), and had a small door on the top for feeding. One day, Cutie got out, and somehow managed to get inside the beta tank and drown himself. Cutie died, the beta died, and the rest of us of us just died laughing! How many other betta owners can truthfully claim that their betta was murdered by a kamikaze parakeet? It sounds like something from teen girl squad "Freak boating accident."
Oh yeah - and I’m not the only one who loves flowers.
Here was another great vid I got this week. According to the side notes, she only saw the movie once. When I was a kid I could remember that much detail from only seeing something once, too. We rarely watched movies at home, so I always paid attention when I did get to see one.
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