An Act of Kindness to a Stranger

   I gave a man $10 today.  
   I was in Tulsa, and he approached me, asking if I had "anything against a brother from Stillwater."  
   I smiled and said, "Well, I'm from Stillwater and no, I don't have 'anything against a brother.'"
   He needed to pay off a bill in Tulsa before he could head back to Stillwater when he had just landed a fulltime job.  He showed me the bill and said he still had a ways to go.
I took a ten-dollar bill out of my billfold, handed it to him, and said, "Now you're $10 closer."
   He shook my hand and hugged me and said God must have sent me (actually, my wife had sent me to pick up some batteries on the way home from teaching in Tulsa, but he was so joyous I didn't mention that).
   I said, "I have confidence you'll get the rest of what you need."
   "Thank you for believing in me," he replied and hugged me again.


   Maybe I was played, but his troubles seemed genuine to me.  And who am I to judge?  I've had a bit of a struggle myself (massive understatement) for the past few years, so I'm probably more sympathetic to the plights of folks with misfortunes.  I'm all about good fortune, and if I can help it along, so much the better. 

Once Again...

I had a brilliant idea I wanted to share with you.
Unfortunately, I logged in wrong (note to self: Stop using so many different email accounts!).  By the time I figured out my correct login ID and credentials, I forgot what I was going to write about.
This isn't the first time it's happened to me.
Has it ever happened to you?  Do you find yourself in a comfortable routine, getting ready to do something, and then - BAM! - your thought process is disrupted, throwing you off the track, and then when you get back on the track you find that the train of thought has left the station?
Frustrating, isn't it?
But life goes on.  And maybe I'll remember what it was I wanted to say and then post it.  Or, which is sometimes the case, maybe I'll remember and then realize that it was something really dumb and not brilliant at all.  Then I'll laugh.
I think the world needs more laughter.  I hope you find something to laugh about today.
You can even laugh at me...

Not Too Shabby

My first day of teaching a new (for me) class went pretty well.  Had to improvise a bit at first because somebody had left the wireless mouse and keyboard on and the batteries ran down during the break.  However, I had a mouse in my backpack and I liberated a keyboard from one of the lab computers and I was ready to go.

Being new to the faculty (I don't even have an email address yet), I didn't know the admin password, but I found a workaround for that as well.  This is a computer repair class, after all, and as I told my students, there will probably be many times when they need to come up with ways of getting things done that don't necessarily follow "by the book" procedures.

All in all, I think things worked out fine today.

Let Me Take a Break

I was getting ready for my teaching assignment which begins tomorrow at Brown Mackie College in Tulsa, when I decided to take a short break.
I picked up my Kindle and turned it on.  I had downloaded a short story, "The Christmas Caper" by Christopher Bunn and decided to read it.  My 12-year-old was sitting at the other end of the sofa, playing his DS, when I decided to start reading out loud.
This is a very funny story, in which Santa (a skinny Santa, Jr., it turns out) gets knocked out at his last stop, finds himself in jail on suspicion of theft, escapes with the help the only elf left at the North Pole (the others had left for vacation), and goes on a wild ride (literally) to catch the bad guys who now have the sled and the Santa Bag.
As I read this out loud, I noticed my son had quit playing his game.
"Should I stop reading out loud?" I asked as innocently as I could.
"No!  Keep going," he replied.
And so we had a pleasant afternoon, laughing at Santa, Snix (an elf armed with a taser) and a couple of other elves pulled from a party in Hawaii, as they track down the Gambinis, and....
Wait, I've said too much.  Maybe you should get this delightful story and see for yourself how it turns out.

Happy New Year!

Whoa!
The last few months of 2011 were very busy and quite stressful at times.  But now it's 2012 and time to look forward to what I intend to be a better year for me.
I may write a book.  Since I got my Kindle (for free, I might add, thanks to saving up Swag Bucks), I've enjoyed it immensely.  I might write something and put it out on Amazon.  I might not make much, or any, money, but at least I can check "Writing a Book" off my bucket list.
I'll probably continue cobbling together part-time jobs in order to keep the electricity on and the water running.  I know that someone will eventually realize my worth and make me a full time offer.  But I really don't feel like holding my breath (unless I decide to go over to Lake Tenkiller and jump off the cliffs into the water - what a rush that was, even though it's been over 20 years).
I have feeling that this is going to be a great year, no matter what I do or where I end up.

Blessing of the Animals

   This afternoon at my church (St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church) in Stillwater, Father Ken performed the annual Blessing of the Animals, which is usually held on a Sunday close to the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi (October 4).  I put my cat, Captain Morgan, in the pet carrier for his annual pilgrimage into town for the ceremony.  He's a good car rider, and if I could ever get him used to a leash, I'd probably take him with me places more often.
   Anyway, when we got to the church we saw the usual cats and dogs.  Captain Morgan likes most other cats and is pretty tolerant of most dogs that are his size or smaller.  Today, though, somebody brought a horse.

   I love horses, so I took Captain over to meet it.  Other than people who ride their horses down our road occasionally, he's rarely seen horses except from a distance.  Up close and personal was another thing!  He tried to get as far back into the pet taxi as he could as he eyeballed the monster.  The horse, as horses tend to do, took a liking to me and started nudging my arm so I would pet it.  Captain Morgan did not like that one little bit.  He started hissing - I guess he thought the horse was going to eat me or something.
   We went back to where the smaller animals were and the ceremony began.
   Father Ken spoke a few words about biblical stories involving animals and how important animals, especially pets, are to people.  Then he began the blessing, which has parts where he speaks and the people respond. 
   Every time a response was called for, he raised his hand and we responded.  About the third time, the horse had apparently figured out that when Father Ken raised his hand, the people spoke (including the horse's owner).  At this point, the horse whinnied.  And he did it another time or two during the response.
   Animals truly are amazing, aren't they?  And they certainly are a blessing!

Am I Too Simple-Minded?

   Maybe I'm stupid, but it seems to me that if more people were employed (thus increasing revenue from income taxes without raising the rates), then more people would buy stuff (thus increasing revenues from sales taxes, excise taxes, property taxes, etc.).  And if more people bought stuff, there would be an increase in demand for stuff, which would result in hiring more people to make stuff and to transport stuff and to sell the stuff.

   Sounds almost too simple.