Improving the Past

Working to improve is something I think I’m pretty darn good at. I strive to improve my own life and the lives of people I know and love. In my 36 years as a teacher, many times, I literally and figuratively used light to communicate belief, support, and community. I have, and still do, try to be someone who spreads light in the world.

Even at age 60 I still try to take good care of myself. Exercising regularly, and eating healthy foods (well most of the time) add to my well being. Treating myself with respect, spending time with people who treat me with respect, and treating others with respect are fundamental to taking good care of myself. Yes, treating others with respect adds to my well being.

I work to live happily in the present and to build a positive future for myself and people in my life. As a real estate agent I am work to take good care of people through the process of buying or selling a home.

As I age I am adapting to things that I need to do to improve or at least maintain my quality of life. For example, monitoring blood pressure, watching my cholesterol, and stretching regularly,

I believe that I am unusual in terms of my willingness and ability to work at improvement in my life and the lives of others. A good deal of my time and energy is spent helping myself and others to live happily in the present and to build bright futures.

Even a cursory look at my personal use of time and energy shows that I also spend an incredible amount of time trying to improve the past. Yes, I work extremely hard to improve the past. I worry and fret. I hold on to resentments. Over and over and over I think, “If only I would have…” Or, “I should have…” An honest appraisal of myself shows that I spend time every day trying to improve the past. When I think about that it sounds kind of ridiculous to me. I fear that I am unusual in my consistent and persistent efforts at improving the past.

Once again I have had to realize that possibly one of the best things I can do to live happily in the present and to influence a positive future is to STOP trying to improve the past. After 60 years I have yet to be successful in any attempt to improve the past. Am I slow or something? It has never worked and I still keep trying.

Today, I am not going to try to improve the past.

It is the weekend. Please be good. Drive your cars carefully. Ride with people who drive carefully. Treat yourself with respect. Spend time with people who treat you with respect. Treat other people with respect. Talk nice to yourself; you deserve it. I look forward to hearing from you or seeing you. Keep yourself whole physically and emotionally. Enjoy your weekend.

Proud to be an American: Part III

This past week I voted. It doesn't matter who I voted for or how I voted on the various initiatives. I voted.

When I was 18 years old the law of the land was that you had to be 21 to vote. In 1970, when I was 20, the voting age was changed to 18. I voted in the next election and I have voted in every election since then.

I do not take this incredible freedom for granted. I cherish it.

I think more amazing than that we get to vote is that even when we have close races there is still a peaceful transition of power. Were you tired of all the political advertising? It could have been guns. It could still be guns. Even if there are recounts there are still no guns.

I know the country isn't perfect but it is nevertheless incredible. I voted; I'm proud to be an American.

It is the weekend. Please be good. Drive your cars carefully. Ride with people who drive carefully. Treat yourself with respect. Spend time with people who treat you with respect. Treat other people with respect. Talk nice to yourself; you deserve it. I look forward to hearing from you or seeing you. Keep yourself whole physically and emotionally. Enjoy your weekend.

Pork and Beans

The FDA requires all food manufacturers to list ingredients on the label in order according to volume. The ingredient that is most predominant in the food is listed first, with the rest of the ingredients listed in descending order. For example, the Cherry Mountain Bar I am holding right now says, “sugar, partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil (what the heck is that?) peanuts, cocoa powder, whey, cherries, natural flavors, invertase, dextrose, etc. Okay I can kind of picture what palm kernel oil is but really, what the heck is invertase? The Snickers bar I am holding has chocolate, peanuts, corn syrup, sugar, etc. If I cared that much about the ingredients in each of these candy bars at least I could read the label and know roughly what was in them. I could also see how many grams of fat, sugar, and sodium there is in each bar along with how many calories.

Sometimes I enjoy some “pork and beans”. The reason I call them pork and beans is because the can says “Pork and Beans”. See, it's right there on the front of the can.




According to FDA labeling requirements the can would have mostly pork and then beans. One would think that means the can has pork in it. And of course beans too. Pork is listed first. That might even mean the can has mostly pork, with some beans. Now I like pork and beans, don’t get me wrong, it’s just that I have a concern about the labeling or the packaging or whatever. Even when I was little I remember asking my parents why the can said pork and beans but there wasn’t any pork.

The label says pork and beans but the ingredients in a can of pork and beans are prepared white beans, water, tomato puree and sugar. After that it says, “contains less than 2% of high fructose corn syrup, salt, distilled vinegar, pork, baking soda, onion powder…” Even though the darn things are called pork and beans on the front of the can there is less than 2% pork and that 2% has other stuff besides the pork.

But wait, if that’s not enough, what exactly does it mean to call something pork? The “pork” is two uniform cubes of pork fat. Come on. That’s the “pork”?




Are those two cubes cut from a big slab of pork fat? Do they cut thousands and thousands of pork fat cubes and then have a machine put two in each can? Is there an assembly line where someone plops two in every time a can rolls by? Do they melt fat, pour it into cube molds, let it solidify and then shoot them into the cans? Those two cubes of fat count as pork? Seriously? Okay, fine, they count as pork.

The thing is, is that I like pork and beans even though there isn’t any pork. The sugar and corn syrup probably aren’t good for me but eating the beans is better for me than the Cherry Mountain Bar or the Snickers bar. As a middle age person I have to be more aware of eating less fat, less cholesterol, and more fiber. Oh look, good news! Pork and beans are cholesterol free. AND they are low in fat. Plus they are high in fiber. That is such good news; I’m starting to think pork and beans might actually be health food.

I’m thinking that a can of pork and beans is kind of like life. I don’t always get what I think I’m going to get or what I’m picturing. Sometimes things just plain don’t go the way I want them to. Sometimes I’m picturing pork and I only get beans. Sometimes I feel subtly tricked by circumstances and people and sometimes I feel downright deceived. Okay, that’s life. The good news is that if I look carefully often there is more in the beans than there first appeared to be. In life, when I get past my frustrations and my disappointments there can still be joy in simple things. I probably need to take a lesson from the pork and beans and work harder on that.

It's the weekend. Please be good. Drive your car carefully. Ride with people who drive carefully. Treat yourself with respect. Spend time with people who treat you with respect. Treat other people with respect. Talk nice to yourself; you deserve it. I look forward to hearing from you or seeing you. Keep yourself whole physically and emotionally. Enjoy your weekend.

P

Goodbye 50's, Hello 60's!

Hmmm… So this is my last post on this blog as someone in my 50’s. Is that possible? Yikes, I will be 60 on Monday. Where did the time go? I just don’t know. By the time a person has lived for 60 years he should have at least a little insight about life and maybe be able to pass on a wise tidbit or two.

Part of me thinks I should post some good advice. I even know a small amount of good advice. Talk nice to yourself; you deserve it. That’s excellent advice. Manage the “phone call.” That’s also very good advice. The heart that loves is always young. So keep loving! That’s good advice too. I’m just full of good advice. Be thankful. Cherish your life. Yup, more good advice. Take out your head trash every week. Also good advice.

So what’s the best advice I can give after almost 60 years on this earth? Talk nice to yourself is way up there. Treat yourself with respect; that’s way up there too.

But you know, I think sometimes it’s just a very good idea to make homemade brownies. You know, from scratch. Now, there is good advice! But wait, if you eat the whole pan yourself, particularly in one evening, then that’s bad. If you share them, that’s good. I just made some last night. I shared with Katy.

It is the weekend. Please be good. Drive your car carefully. Ride with people who drive carefully. Treat yourself with respect. Spend time with people who treat you with respect. Treat other people with respect. Talk nice to yourself; you deserve it. I look forward to hearing from you or seeing you. Keep yourself whole physically and emotionally. Enjoy your weekend. (Make the brownies; you’ll be glad you did. It's good advice. I know because I'm almost 60.)

P

The Badometer: Part II

Sometimes I’m bad, like I mentioned last week. I do bad things like eat hot dogs. Sometimes I get bad readings on the badometer not because of what I do, but because of what I laugh at. I probably should know better but I just think some stuff is funny. I’m bad; what can I say?

My nephew, Steven, is currently a senior at Skyline High School. He plays goalkeeper for the soccer team. He has good grades and in the spring of 2009 he was invited to join the Honor Society. To gain admission into the Honor Society one of the things he was supposed to do was perform a certain number of hours of community service. He is a great kid but he just didn’t have the time to do the community service. I think that he really didn’t care at all about being in Honor Society, but let’s just say he didn’t have time for the community service. Yes, let’s just say that.

After he was sent the invitation letting him know that his grades qualified him for admission he was given an application packet and checklist of other items to complete like the community service. The deadline for submitting the application packet came and went. I don’t think Steven noticed or cared. Actually, I don’t think he cared one bit that the deadline passed.

Undeterred by Steven’s lack of interest in the Honor Society, the Faculty Selection Board sent him a form letter letting him know he had not been granted admission to the Honor Society because he had not applied. That alone makes me laugh. Oops, there goes the badometer. They encouraged him to reapply in the spring of 2010. I’m not sure how a person reapplies for something that he hasn’t already applied for. (Laughing again--the needle just moved a little more.)

Steven decided to respond to the faculty. He got out a Sharpie, and using his best penmanship, he wrote them a short note at the bottom of the letter the faculty had sent him. That would be the letter that let him know he could reapply for something he had never applied for. When his mom showed us the letter I asked for a copy because I thought it was so funny. Like I said, sometimes I am bad because of what I am doing. Sometimes I’m bad because of what I laugh at.


(Click on the letter to see a little larger version of it.)


It is the weekend. Please be good. Drive your car carefully. Ride with people who drive carefully. Treat yourself with respect. Spend time with people who treat you with respect. Treat other people with respect. Talk nice to yourself; you deserve it. I look forward to hearing from you or seeing you. Keep yourself whole physically and emotionally. Enjoy your weekend. (Try to laugh a little sometimes too.)

P

The Badometer: Part I

I try so hard to be good. I really do. I am a good person. Well mostly I am. Well, I think I am anyway. I try to do good things. You know I’m considerate and polite. I treat myself and others with respect. I’m professional and businesslike. Yeah, I’m a good person. I eat granola for breakfast. Well sometimes I do. Sometimes I eat cold pizza for breakfast but so what, that doesn’t make me bad; I’m still good. I think I am anyway. I eat fruit and I even like some vegetables. Sometimes I put blueberries in my granola. And yogurt too. Low fat. Dang, that’s so healthy. I must really be a good person. Yeah I like granola and blueberries and fruit and vegetables and skinless chicken, and low fat milk, and other good stuff. The trouble is that I like Cheetos too. I like Hershey bars with almonds and I like Nutty Buddies. I like bacon and breakfast sausage and I know they clog my veins. I like Snickers bars. I suppose that’s not such a bad thing and I suppose that they do at least one bad thing to me or possibly a plethora of bad things but the trouble is, sometimes I just don’t care. I just enjoy the Snickers bar. Clearly I’m not as good as I thought. Maybe I’m bad.

A particularly bad thing I do is eat hot dogs and enjoy them. Katy doesn’t like hot dogs so I try to only eat them when she is not home and I am feeling really rowdy. Recently we were talking about what to have for dinner and I said I wanted to have hot dogs and that I would go to the store and get her something else for dinner because I knew she didn’t like those darn vein clogging, heart stopping, cancer causing, tubes of death. She told me she wanted a mushroom.

A what?

I like mushrooms. Mostly I do. It kind of depends on where they are. I like mushrooms on pizza. For dinner or breakfast; it’s all good. Sometimes I like a mushroom burger. The thing is that a mushroom burger is supposed to have one burger and a bunch of mushrooms. How hard is that to understand? Saying I like mushrooms means that I like mushrooms with an “s”. It doesn’t mean I like mushroom. As in one single mushroom. Katy wanted a mushroom burger without the burger and with only one mushroom. I thought, are you serious, one mushroom. You want one mushroom for dinner? She said she would put it in a bun and have a mushroom burger. Whoa, whoa, whoa! That’s not a mushroom burger. A mushroom burger has to have a burger and the mushroom part means mushrooms not mushroom. Whatever. She said I could eat my nutritionless hot dogs and she would have a mushroom. One of them. One huge mushroom. Big enough to fit in a hamburger bun all by itself. Are you serious? Is there such a thing? Are they grown or are they manufactured? Are they even real? I think a mushroom that is that big is a processed mushroom or something. They take a bunch of real mushrooms, grind them up, press them together, and cram them in a mushroom mold to make them look like one, giant mushroom. What holds it together? Surely whatever is in that processed mushroom is worse for you than a little hot dog. Or two. Or three. And you want me to barbecue a mushroom? Are you serious? One mushroom all by itself? Who ever heard of such a thing?



I love my wife and I will do a lot to help her be happy. Even make her a fake mushroom burger.

The trouble is, is that as weird as I think barbecuing one mushroom is, I look at that darn thing on the barbecue sitting there next to my hotdogs and I think I’m not good; I’m bad. Katy is eating a mushroom and I’m eating hotdogs. What is wrong with me?

I decided to hook myself up to the badometer (rhymes with speedometer) to check to see if I am good or bad. The badometer is a scientific device of course. It is available at Radio Shack, Amazon, and directly from the manufacturer at Badometer.com.

If the hotdogs next to the mushroom aren’t enough to tell me I’m bad, the badometer confirmed it.

Dang it! What could I do?

I hooked Katy up to the badometer and of course she got a good reading. She always does.







I made fruit salad.



It improved my reading on the badometer.



But I just know that I will never be as good as my wife. Still, I refuse to eat one monster shroom to improve my reading. Maybe I’m just hopeless.

It is the weekend. Please be good. Drive your car carefully. Ride with people who drive carefully. Treat yourself with respect. Spend time with people who treat you with respect. Treat other people with respect. Talk nice to yourself; you deserve it. I look forward to hearing from you or seeing you. Keep yourself whole physically and emotionally. Enjoy your weekend.

Oh, and smile too. Just that simple thing will improve your reading on the badometer.

Proud to Be an American: Part II

I fished in Montana for several days at the end of August. In the motel we stayed in there was a simple breakfast served each morning as part of the package. The TV in the dining room always had Fox news playing. It seemed to be comfortable for most everyone in the room. I'm not saying whether or not I prefer Fox news. It's clear that Fox presents a conservative or right wing perspective. CNN presents a more liberal or left wing perspective. I'm not saying whether I prefer CNN. Heck, maybe what I really prefer is the Outdoor Channel but that's not the point. Maybe you think one or the other of these news sources is the "truth" and the other is "all lies". Maybe you prefer the cooking channel. Still that's not the point. Maybe there is no such thing as unbiased news reporting anywhere in the world. To a certain extent maybe we are all biased in one way or another.

So here's something else I like about America. We don't have unbiased news be we do have opposingly biased news. How many countries on the planet have that? A few, but not many. Regardless of whether I prefer FOX or CNN or the Outdoor Channel, I live in a country where the news can be reported from different perspectives. I do not take that freedom for granted. It is something else that makes me proud to be an American. My country is not perfect but it is still pretty darn amazing.

It is the weekend. Please be good. Drive your car carefully. Ride with people who drive carefully. Treat yourself with respect. Spend time with people who treat you with respect. Treat other people with respect. Talk nice to yourself; you deserve it. I look forward to hearing from you or seeing you. Keep yourself whole physically and emotionally. Enjoy your weekend.

P