Heard through the grapevine that Jonathan, Randi, Kaitlyn and Dylan might stop in for a short visit on Saturday... what great news....
And also know that Grandson Austyn has his - I think it's called District - Pinewood Derby at the Fairgrounds on Saturday too so hope to get some photos from that also. Austyn not only won his local division but won with the fastest recorded time too if I remember right. So Austyn, I wish you lots of luck. Grandma and I will be cheering for you!!!
And I think that I am taking Andrew to his local Cub Scout meeting Thursday night to receive lots of his year end awards, patches, etc. So that will be an interesting time as well.
What a great week this is turning into.. and even nicer will be my accomplishment of FINALLY getting the PCL yearly Oklahoman Music Awards wrapped up and published..... HOPEFULLY!
Well, need to get busy... Looks like MSNBC is apologizing again for yet another mistake. seems that they showed a photo of osama while Chris Matthews talked about OBAMA... wow.. and they fired IMUS??? Perhaps they should just apologize for such sorrow programming.... ha ha..
Have a great day... It's the best gift we have.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
In election 2008, don’t forget Angry White Man from the Aspen Times Weekly
In election 2008, don’t forget Angry White Man
Aspen Times Weekly
Gary Hubbell
February 9, 2008
There is a great amount of interest in this year’s presidential elections, as everybody seems to recognize that our next president has to be a lot better than George Bush. The Democrats are riding high with two groundbreaking candidates — a woman and an African-American — while the conservative Republicans are in a quandary about their party’s nod to a quasi-liberal maverick, John McCain.
Each candidate is carefully pandering to a smorgasbord of special-interest groups, ranging from gay, lesbian and transgender people to children of illegal immigrants to working mothers to evangelical Christians.
There is one group no one has recognized, and it is the group that will decide the election: the Angry White Man. The Angry White Man comes from all economic backgrounds, from dirt-poor to filthy rich. He represents all geographic areas in America, from urban sophisticate to rural redneck, deep South to mountain West, left Coast to Eastern Seaboard.
His common traits are that he isn’t looking for anything from anyone — just the promise to be able to make his own way on a level playing field. In many cases, he is an independent businessman and employs several people. He pays more than his share of taxes and works hard.
The victimhood syndrome buzzwords — “disenfranchised,” “marginalized” and “voiceless” — don’t resonate with him. “Press ‘one’ for English” is a curse-word to him. He’s used to picking up the tab, whether it’s the company Christmas party, three sets of braces, three college educations or a beautiful wedding.
He believes the Constitution is to be interpreted literally, not as a “living document” open to the whims and vagaries of a panel of judges who have never worked an honest day in their lives.
The Angry White Man owns firearms, and he’s willing to pick up a gun to defend his home and his country. He is willing to lay down his life to defend the freedom and safety of others, and the thought of killing someone who needs killing really doesn’t bother him.
The Angry White Man is not a metrosexual, a homosexual or a victim. Nobody like him drowned in Hurricane Katrina — he got his people together and got the hell out, then went back in to rescue those too helpless and stupid to help themselves, often as a police officer, a National Guard soldier or a volunteer firefighter.
His last name and religion don’t matter. His background might be Italian, English, Polish, German, Slavic, Irish, or Russian, and he might have Cherokee, Mexican, or Puerto Rican mixed in, but he considers himself a white American.
He’s a man’s man, the kind of guy who likes to play poker, watch football, hunt white-tailed deer, call turkeys, play golf, spend a few bucks at a strip club once in a blue moon, change his own oil and build things. He coaches baseball, soccer and football teams and doesn’t ask for a penny. He’s the kind of guy who can put an addition on his house with a couple of friends, drill an oil well, weld a new bumper for his truck, design a factory and publish books. He can fill a train with 100,000 tons of coal and get it to the power plant on time so that you keep the lights on and never know what it took to flip that light switch.
Women either love him or hate him, but they know he’s a man, not a dishrag. If they’re looking for someone to walk all over, they’ve got the wrong guy. He stands up straight, opens doors for women and says “Yes, sir” and “No, ma’am.”
He might be a Republican and he might be a Democrat; he might be a Libertarian or a Green. He knows that his wife is more emotional than rational, and he guides the family in a rational manner.
He’s not a racist, but he is annoyed and disappointed when people of certain backgrounds exhibit behavior that typifies the worst stereotypes of their race. He’s willing to give everybody a fair chance if they work hard, play by the rules and learn English.
Most important, the Angry White Man is pissed off. When his job site becomes flooded with illegal workers who don’t pay taxes and his wages drop like a stone, he gets righteously angry. When his job gets shipped overseas, and he has to speak to some incomprehensible idiot in India for tech support, he simmers. When Al Sharpton comes on TV, leading some rally for reparations for slavery or some such nonsense, he bites his tongue and he remembers. When a child gets charged with carrying a concealed weapon for mistakenly bringing a penknife to school, he takes note of who the local idiots are in education and law enforcement.
He also votes, and the Angry White Man loathes Hillary Clinton. Her voice reminds him of a shovel scraping a rock. He recoils at the mere sight of her on television. Her very image disgusts him, and he cannot fathom why anyone would want her as their leader. It’s not that she is a woman. It’s that she is who she is. It’s the liberal victim groups she panders to, the “poor me” attitude that she represents, her inability to give a straight answer to an honest question, his tax dollars that she wants to give to people who refuse to do anything for themselves.
There are many millions of Angry White Men. Four million Angry White Men are members of the National Rifle Association, and all of them will vote against Hillary Clinton, just as the great majority of them voted for George Bush.
He hopes that she will be the Democratic nominee for president in 2008, and he will make sure that she gets beaten like a drum.
Aspen Times Weekly
Gary Hubbell
February 9, 2008
There is a great amount of interest in this year’s presidential elections, as everybody seems to recognize that our next president has to be a lot better than George Bush. The Democrats are riding high with two groundbreaking candidates — a woman and an African-American — while the conservative Republicans are in a quandary about their party’s nod to a quasi-liberal maverick, John McCain.
Each candidate is carefully pandering to a smorgasbord of special-interest groups, ranging from gay, lesbian and transgender people to children of illegal immigrants to working mothers to evangelical Christians.
There is one group no one has recognized, and it is the group that will decide the election: the Angry White Man. The Angry White Man comes from all economic backgrounds, from dirt-poor to filthy rich. He represents all geographic areas in America, from urban sophisticate to rural redneck, deep South to mountain West, left Coast to Eastern Seaboard.
His common traits are that he isn’t looking for anything from anyone — just the promise to be able to make his own way on a level playing field. In many cases, he is an independent businessman and employs several people. He pays more than his share of taxes and works hard.
The victimhood syndrome buzzwords — “disenfranchised,” “marginalized” and “voiceless” — don’t resonate with him. “Press ‘one’ for English” is a curse-word to him. He’s used to picking up the tab, whether it’s the company Christmas party, three sets of braces, three college educations or a beautiful wedding.
He believes the Constitution is to be interpreted literally, not as a “living document” open to the whims and vagaries of a panel of judges who have never worked an honest day in their lives.
The Angry White Man owns firearms, and he’s willing to pick up a gun to defend his home and his country. He is willing to lay down his life to defend the freedom and safety of others, and the thought of killing someone who needs killing really doesn’t bother him.
The Angry White Man is not a metrosexual, a homosexual or a victim. Nobody like him drowned in Hurricane Katrina — he got his people together and got the hell out, then went back in to rescue those too helpless and stupid to help themselves, often as a police officer, a National Guard soldier or a volunteer firefighter.
His last name and religion don’t matter. His background might be Italian, English, Polish, German, Slavic, Irish, or Russian, and he might have Cherokee, Mexican, or Puerto Rican mixed in, but he considers himself a white American.
He’s a man’s man, the kind of guy who likes to play poker, watch football, hunt white-tailed deer, call turkeys, play golf, spend a few bucks at a strip club once in a blue moon, change his own oil and build things. He coaches baseball, soccer and football teams and doesn’t ask for a penny. He’s the kind of guy who can put an addition on his house with a couple of friends, drill an oil well, weld a new bumper for his truck, design a factory and publish books. He can fill a train with 100,000 tons of coal and get it to the power plant on time so that you keep the lights on and never know what it took to flip that light switch.
Women either love him or hate him, but they know he’s a man, not a dishrag. If they’re looking for someone to walk all over, they’ve got the wrong guy. He stands up straight, opens doors for women and says “Yes, sir” and “No, ma’am.”
He might be a Republican and he might be a Democrat; he might be a Libertarian or a Green. He knows that his wife is more emotional than rational, and he guides the family in a rational manner.
He’s not a racist, but he is annoyed and disappointed when people of certain backgrounds exhibit behavior that typifies the worst stereotypes of their race. He’s willing to give everybody a fair chance if they work hard, play by the rules and learn English.
Most important, the Angry White Man is pissed off. When his job site becomes flooded with illegal workers who don’t pay taxes and his wages drop like a stone, he gets righteously angry. When his job gets shipped overseas, and he has to speak to some incomprehensible idiot in India for tech support, he simmers. When Al Sharpton comes on TV, leading some rally for reparations for slavery or some such nonsense, he bites his tongue and he remembers. When a child gets charged with carrying a concealed weapon for mistakenly bringing a penknife to school, he takes note of who the local idiots are in education and law enforcement.
He also votes, and the Angry White Man loathes Hillary Clinton. Her voice reminds him of a shovel scraping a rock. He recoils at the mere sight of her on television. Her very image disgusts him, and he cannot fathom why anyone would want her as their leader. It’s not that she is a woman. It’s that she is who she is. It’s the liberal victim groups she panders to, the “poor me” attitude that she represents, her inability to give a straight answer to an honest question, his tax dollars that she wants to give to people who refuse to do anything for themselves.
There are many millions of Angry White Men. Four million Angry White Men are members of the National Rifle Association, and all of them will vote against Hillary Clinton, just as the great majority of them voted for George Bush.
He hopes that she will be the Democratic nominee for president in 2008, and he will make sure that she gets beaten like a drum.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Why do men die first?
If you put a woman on a pedestal and try to protect her from the rat race ... you're a male chauvinist. If you stay home and do the housework ... you're a pansy. If you work too hard ... there's never any time for her. If you don't work enough ... you're a good-for-nothing bum. If she has a boring repetitive job with low pay ... this is exploitation. If you have a boring repetitive job with low pay ... you should get off your lazy behind and find something better. If you get a promotion ahead of her ... that is favouritism. If she gets a job ahead of you ... its equal opportunity.
If you mention how nice she looks ... its sexual harassment. If you keep quiet ... its male indifference. If you cry ... you're a wimp. If you don't ... you're an insensitive bastard. If you make a decision without consulting her ... you're a chauvinist.
If she makes a decision without consulting you, she's a liberated woman. If you ask her to do something she doesn't enjoy ... that's domination. If SHE asks you ... it's a favour. If you appreciate the female form and frilly underwear ... you're a pervert. If you don't ... you're gay.
If you like a woman to shave her legs and keep in shape ... you're sexist. If you don't ... you're unromantic. If you try to keep yourself in shape ... you're vain. If you don't ... you're a slob. If you buy her flowers ... you're after something. If you don't ... you're not thoughtful. If you're proud of your achievements ... you're full of yourself. If you don't ... you're not ambitious. If she has a headache ... she's tired. If you have a headache ... you don't love her anymore. If you want it too often ... you're oversexed. If you don't ... there must be someone else.
Why do men die first? Because they want to.
If you mention how nice she looks ... its sexual harassment. If you keep quiet ... its male indifference. If you cry ... you're a wimp. If you don't ... you're an insensitive bastard. If you make a decision without consulting her ... you're a chauvinist.
If she makes a decision without consulting you, she's a liberated woman. If you ask her to do something she doesn't enjoy ... that's domination. If SHE asks you ... it's a favour. If you appreciate the female form and frilly underwear ... you're a pervert. If you don't ... you're gay.
If you like a woman to shave her legs and keep in shape ... you're sexist. If you don't ... you're unromantic. If you try to keep yourself in shape ... you're vain. If you don't ... you're a slob. If you buy her flowers ... you're after something. If you don't ... you're not thoughtful. If you're proud of your achievements ... you're full of yourself. If you don't ... you're not ambitious. If she has a headache ... she's tired. If you have a headache ... you don't love her anymore. If you want it too often ... you're oversexed. If you don't ... there must be someone else.
Why do men die first? Because they want to.
Gasoline prices headed up...
Explosion Rocks West Texas Oil Refinery
BIG SPRING, Texas (AP) — A sheriff's dispatcher says an explosion rocked an oil refinery in western Texas.
It's unclear whether there are injuries or whether a fire is burning at the refinery owned by Dallas-based Alon USA, which employs about 170 people and produces about 70,000 barrels a day.
Howard County sheriff's dispatcher, who declined to give her name, said: "All I know is that it blew up."
John Moseley, managing editor of the Big Spring Herald, heard the Monday morning blast and said, "I thought it would knock the walls down."
Blake Lewis, a spokesman for Alon USA, said the company had an unconfirmed report of an incident but did not know any details. He said a plant manager was on the way to the site.
Big Spring is about halfway between Dallas and El Paso.
latest... only one is hurt... all are safe, workers and contractors... but the smoke cloud is HUGE!! foxnews is carrying it live of course...
Jake Moffat Music is now on Rhapsody.....
Oh my goodness....
I am one proud poppa..... sorry to bore everyone... but I personally know the very long and twisted road this one artist took to get to this point!!
Yes, Jake has 3 CD's and they are now on itunes.com, Rhapsody, etc... on Rhapsody just type in his name and stream away... one does not have to buy the tunes, and just by listening Jake get's some revenue... how bout them apples???
His music now is helping him with some income... haha...
Sorry to bore all, but I am one proud poppa!!!
Have a great day!
I am one proud poppa..... sorry to bore everyone... but I personally know the very long and twisted road this one artist took to get to this point!!
Yes, Jake has 3 CD's and they are now on itunes.com, Rhapsody, etc... on Rhapsody just type in his name and stream away... one does not have to buy the tunes, and just by listening Jake get's some revenue... how bout them apples???
His music now is helping him with some income... haha...
Sorry to bore all, but I am one proud poppa!!!
Have a great day!
This photo is another I found... and it is plain cute.. caption read... love hurts...
great black and white...
love hurts... right Dylan and Andrew??
Grandpa is smiling.. but soon it will be Kaitlyn and Andrew ... when Dylan gets bigger... haha...
Sunday, February 17, 2008
From one of my daughters comes this note.... "hint... She is a teacher!"
The Teacher Applicant
After being interviewed by the school administration, the teaching prospect said, "Let me see if I've got this right: "You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirt messages, and instill in them a love for learning. "You want me to check their backpacks for weapons, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, and raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride.
"You want me to teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, and how to register to vote, balance a checkbook, and apply for a job. "You want me to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of antisocial behavior, and make sure that they all pass the state exams.
"You want me to provide them with an equal education regardless of their handicaps, and communicate regularly with their parents by letter, telephone, email, newsletter, and report card.
"You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile, and a starting salary that qualifies me for food stamps.
"You want me to do all this and then you tell me... "I CAN'T PRAY?"
Ok... this came from Tammy... Thanks Tammy for sharing this..
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Dale Carnegie’s Top 10 Tips for Improving Your Social Skills
Dale Carnegie’s Top 10 Tips for Improving Your Social Skills
“The ideas I stand for are not mine. I borrowed them from Socrates. I swiped them from Chesterfield. I stole them from Jesus. And I put them in a book. If you don’t like their rules, whose would you use?”
“Who was Dale Carnegie?” you may wonder. Well, he was a guy that was born 110 years ago. He died in 1955. He was a rich man, a very successful man.
He wrote a little book called “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. It went on to sell over 30 million copies. It still sells today and is probably one of the best books on how to improve your social skills.
Carnegie then continued to write more books and to create courses on how to interact with people, on how to make friends and on how to gain influence.
Here are 10 of my favourite tips from Dale Carnegie. And as the opening quote says, these tips have been time-tested for the last few hundreds or thousands of years. They are pretty solid. :)
1. Create your own emotions.
“If you want to be enthusiastic, act enthusiastic.”
Emotions work backwards too. You can use that to your advantage. If you are stuck in a negative emotion then you can often shake it off. Change your body - how you move, sit and stand – and act as you would like to feel. Enthusiasm and other positive emotions are much more useful and pleasurable for everyone in an interaction. Because…
2. It’s not so much about the logical stuff.
“When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.”
This is so key. Logic is good but in the end, in interactions and in life, we are emotional creatures. We send and receive emotions from other people. That is one reason why body language and voice tonality is often said be up to 93% of communication. Now, those numbers were for some specific situations but I still believe that these two ways of communication are very, very important.
The body language and the voice tonality is a bit like the rest of the iceberg, the great mass below the tip of the words we use. Those two things communicate how we are feeling and give indication to what we are thinking. And that’s why it’s important to be able to change how you feel. To be in a positive mood while interacting. Because that will have a great impact on how you say something and how you use your body. And those two things will have a big impact on your results and relationships.
3. Three things you are better off avoiding.
“Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self control to be understanding and forgiving.”
Now these things may not be easy to avoid all together. Much of our interactions and perhaps even bonds are created and maintained through those three negative C’s. There is a sort of twisted pleasure in criticising, condemning and complaining. It might make you feel more important and like a better person as you see yourself as a victim or as you condemn other people’s behaviour.
But in the end these three C’s are negative and limiting to your life. Bringing up negative stuff and wallowing in it will lower your mood, motivation and general levels of wellbeing. And this can trap you in a negative spiral of complaining, complaining with other complainers and always finding faults in your reality.
You will also be broadcasting and receiving negative emotions. And people in general want to feel good. So this can really put an obstacle in the way for your interactions or relationships.
4. What is most important?
“The royal road to a man’s heart is to talk to him about the things he treasures most.”
Classic advice. Don’t talk too much about yourself and your life. Listen to other people instead. However, if they ramble on and on, if they don’t reciprocate and show and interest in your life then you don’t have to stay.
Some things people may treasure the most include ideas, children, a special hobby and the job. And…
5. Focus outward, not inward.
“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”
A lot of people use the second, far less effective way. It is appealing because it’s about instant gratification and about ME, ME, ME! The first way – to become interested in people – perhaps works better because it make you a pleasant exception and because the law of reciprocity is strong in people. As you treat people, they will treat you. Be interested in them and they will be interested in you.
I would like to add that one hard thing about this can be to be genuinely interested in the other guy/gal. Your genuine interest is projected though your body language and tonality. So, just waiting for the other person to stop talking so you can talk again isn’t really genuine interest. And that may shine through. And so your interactions will suffer.
6. Take control of your emotions.
“The person who seeks all their applause from outside has their happiness in another’s keeping.”
It wrote about this problem a few days ago in 9 Great Ways to Make Yourself Absolutely Miserable. And it basically consist of being too reliant or dependent on external validation from other people. External validation is something someone communicates to you that tells you that you are person of value. That you, for example, are pretty, smart or successful.
This leaves much of your emotions in the hands of other people. It becomes an emotional rollercoaster. One day you feel great. The next day you feel like just staying in bed.
But if you fill that inner cup of validation for yourself instead then you take over the wheel. Now you’re driving, now you control how you feel. You can still appreciate compliments of course, but you aren’t dependent on them.
This will make you more emotionally stable and enables you to cultivate and build your emotional muscles in a more controlled way. You can for instance help yourself to become more optimistic or enthusiastic more of the time. This stability and growth can be big help in your relationships.
7. No, they are not holding you back.
“Instead of worrying about what people say of you, why not spend time trying to accomplish something they will admire.”
Caring too much about what people think will create and feed imaginary monsters within your mind. You may for instance think that people will condemn you if you try something. Maybe they will. But most of the time people are thinking about their own challenges and ups and downs. They just don’t care that much about what you do.
This may feel disappointing. It can also be liberating. It helps you remove inner obstacles that are you holding yourself back.
As you, bit by bit or in one big swoop, release those inner brakes you become more of yourself. You become more confident, you have a better chance at success, and you will feel more positive feelings and less negative ones. All these things can give a big boost to your interactions and help you sharpen those social skills.
8. So, what’s in it for me?
“There is only one way… to get anybody to do anything. And that is by making the other person want to do it.”
If you want someone to do something then will they care about your motivation for getting this thing done? Perhaps. Often they will not have that great of an interest in what you want out of something.
They want to know what they will get out of it. So, for the both of you to get what you want out of something tell that person what’s in it for him/her. And try to be genuine and positive about it. A reason for them to do it delivered in a lame, half-assed manner may not be so persuasive. And so you both lose.
9. How to win an argument.
“The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.”
Getting two egos wrapped up in an argument, having two sides defending their positions desperately, will not improve relationships. You are more likely to feel negative feelings towards each other long after the argument is over. And so you both wallow in negativity and you both lose. When possible, just avoiding unnecessary arguments is a win-win situation.
10. It’s about more than your words.
“There are four ways, and only four ways, in which we have contact with the world. We are evaluated and classified by these four contacts: what we do, how we look, what we say, and how we say it.”
I often feel that there is a bit too much emphasis on the third way of contact (what we say). Don’t forget about the rest. Most people stereotype people at their first meeting. They might not want to but it is a way for their – and perhaps your – mind to organize impressions and people. So think about how you look. Think about how you make first impressions. Think about your body language. And how you are saying your sentences.
Think about how you feel because that will be reflected out into the world. And the world will often reflect back something similar.
“The ideas I stand for are not mine. I borrowed them from Socrates. I swiped them from Chesterfield. I stole them from Jesus. And I put them in a book. If you don’t like their rules, whose would you use?”
“Who was Dale Carnegie?” you may wonder. Well, he was a guy that was born 110 years ago. He died in 1955. He was a rich man, a very successful man.
He wrote a little book called “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. It went on to sell over 30 million copies. It still sells today and is probably one of the best books on how to improve your social skills.
Carnegie then continued to write more books and to create courses on how to interact with people, on how to make friends and on how to gain influence.
Here are 10 of my favourite tips from Dale Carnegie. And as the opening quote says, these tips have been time-tested for the last few hundreds or thousands of years. They are pretty solid. :)
1. Create your own emotions.
“If you want to be enthusiastic, act enthusiastic.”
Emotions work backwards too. You can use that to your advantage. If you are stuck in a negative emotion then you can often shake it off. Change your body - how you move, sit and stand – and act as you would like to feel. Enthusiasm and other positive emotions are much more useful and pleasurable for everyone in an interaction. Because…
2. It’s not so much about the logical stuff.
“When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.”
This is so key. Logic is good but in the end, in interactions and in life, we are emotional creatures. We send and receive emotions from other people. That is one reason why body language and voice tonality is often said be up to 93% of communication. Now, those numbers were for some specific situations but I still believe that these two ways of communication are very, very important.
The body language and the voice tonality is a bit like the rest of the iceberg, the great mass below the tip of the words we use. Those two things communicate how we are feeling and give indication to what we are thinking. And that’s why it’s important to be able to change how you feel. To be in a positive mood while interacting. Because that will have a great impact on how you say something and how you use your body. And those two things will have a big impact on your results and relationships.
3. Three things you are better off avoiding.
“Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self control to be understanding and forgiving.”
Now these things may not be easy to avoid all together. Much of our interactions and perhaps even bonds are created and maintained through those three negative C’s. There is a sort of twisted pleasure in criticising, condemning and complaining. It might make you feel more important and like a better person as you see yourself as a victim or as you condemn other people’s behaviour.
But in the end these three C’s are negative and limiting to your life. Bringing up negative stuff and wallowing in it will lower your mood, motivation and general levels of wellbeing. And this can trap you in a negative spiral of complaining, complaining with other complainers and always finding faults in your reality.
You will also be broadcasting and receiving negative emotions. And people in general want to feel good. So this can really put an obstacle in the way for your interactions or relationships.
4. What is most important?
“The royal road to a man’s heart is to talk to him about the things he treasures most.”
Classic advice. Don’t talk too much about yourself and your life. Listen to other people instead. However, if they ramble on and on, if they don’t reciprocate and show and interest in your life then you don’t have to stay.
Some things people may treasure the most include ideas, children, a special hobby and the job. And…
5. Focus outward, not inward.
“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”
A lot of people use the second, far less effective way. It is appealing because it’s about instant gratification and about ME, ME, ME! The first way – to become interested in people – perhaps works better because it make you a pleasant exception and because the law of reciprocity is strong in people. As you treat people, they will treat you. Be interested in them and they will be interested in you.
I would like to add that one hard thing about this can be to be genuinely interested in the other guy/gal. Your genuine interest is projected though your body language and tonality. So, just waiting for the other person to stop talking so you can talk again isn’t really genuine interest. And that may shine through. And so your interactions will suffer.
6. Take control of your emotions.
“The person who seeks all their applause from outside has their happiness in another’s keeping.”
It wrote about this problem a few days ago in 9 Great Ways to Make Yourself Absolutely Miserable. And it basically consist of being too reliant or dependent on external validation from other people. External validation is something someone communicates to you that tells you that you are person of value. That you, for example, are pretty, smart or successful.
This leaves much of your emotions in the hands of other people. It becomes an emotional rollercoaster. One day you feel great. The next day you feel like just staying in bed.
But if you fill that inner cup of validation for yourself instead then you take over the wheel. Now you’re driving, now you control how you feel. You can still appreciate compliments of course, but you aren’t dependent on them.
This will make you more emotionally stable and enables you to cultivate and build your emotional muscles in a more controlled way. You can for instance help yourself to become more optimistic or enthusiastic more of the time. This stability and growth can be big help in your relationships.
7. No, they are not holding you back.
“Instead of worrying about what people say of you, why not spend time trying to accomplish something they will admire.”
Caring too much about what people think will create and feed imaginary monsters within your mind. You may for instance think that people will condemn you if you try something. Maybe they will. But most of the time people are thinking about their own challenges and ups and downs. They just don’t care that much about what you do.
This may feel disappointing. It can also be liberating. It helps you remove inner obstacles that are you holding yourself back.
As you, bit by bit or in one big swoop, release those inner brakes you become more of yourself. You become more confident, you have a better chance at success, and you will feel more positive feelings and less negative ones. All these things can give a big boost to your interactions and help you sharpen those social skills.
8. So, what’s in it for me?
“There is only one way… to get anybody to do anything. And that is by making the other person want to do it.”
If you want someone to do something then will they care about your motivation for getting this thing done? Perhaps. Often they will not have that great of an interest in what you want out of something.
They want to know what they will get out of it. So, for the both of you to get what you want out of something tell that person what’s in it for him/her. And try to be genuine and positive about it. A reason for them to do it delivered in a lame, half-assed manner may not be so persuasive. And so you both lose.
9. How to win an argument.
“The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.”
Getting two egos wrapped up in an argument, having two sides defending their positions desperately, will not improve relationships. You are more likely to feel negative feelings towards each other long after the argument is over. And so you both wallow in negativity and you both lose. When possible, just avoiding unnecessary arguments is a win-win situation.
10. It’s about more than your words.
“There are four ways, and only four ways, in which we have contact with the world. We are evaluated and classified by these four contacts: what we do, how we look, what we say, and how we say it.”
I often feel that there is a bit too much emphasis on the third way of contact (what we say). Don’t forget about the rest. Most people stereotype people at their first meeting. They might not want to but it is a way for their – and perhaps your – mind to organize impressions and people. So think about how you look. Think about how you make first impressions. Think about your body language. And how you are saying your sentences.
Think about how you feel because that will be reflected out into the world. And the world will often reflect back something similar.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
wow
It has warmed up 22 degrees in last 3 hours according to mesonet.org in stillwater, and it is FEB!
Oh my.... this and that... haha...
Trish came by this am and said at 10:30pm last evening there was a text message on her phone for her to answer the door as her hubby was there and it was cold outside.. haha.. what a deal. Seems Jake blew in for clothes and a bit of rest before heading back out to the rig they are working on near Elmore City. They hope to be done this am, and I think he is planning on stopping by Jon's for a visit before heading back. They left early am on Monday for the site and of course the weather did not cooperate, as a front moved thru Monday pm and dumped tons of rain on them and they were working in the lightning and rain... welding.. sigh.. safety safety... haha.. guess that is not an issue...
Anyway... Trish was by said she was doing ok and that Jake will be here tomorrow to make their Doctors visit... it's getting closer... and closer.. when little Isabella Ann will be here, and we are all getting very excited...
How bout the weather.. wow.... who knows... or better who knew.. haha..
have a great day.. Off to the office...
by the way.. my office phones are ... besides my cell... Tough Records 405 780 7590 and Flatland Entertainment 405 780 7377 in case you need me... We now have a recording studio, a record label, an artist management company, and are a provider of Entertainment throughout the southwest and through paynecountyline.com the southeast... and are working on putting together a music publishing company... it's kind of an exciting time, to see us grow.. and we are doing it the slow and right way I think. Our first signed artist Nick Gibson released his new CD No Other Way to radio this past week, and we are very high tech doing it all electronically, even our contracts are electronic. In addition to all this I have paynecountyline.com and Greg has the Rocking Horse and Planet Rock in Ponca City to take care of. So we are a bit busy. We have a new band in studio working on their first CD, are in negotiations with a regional artists about managing and booking them, have 15 bands we help book for, work with four other management companies, and we are working on completing a Music University of sorts to run artist through to teach them the business side of the music industry, and on the side we are putting together a deal that might have a considerable effect on the music business, in our spare time.
Greg lives in Ponca and has four kiddos... two in school and to still at home... His wife works with a company that owns four radio stations.
I am trying to finish up the yearly Oklahoma Music Awards for Payne County Line.. this is an annual event and our 5th one ... and have added three new websites since the first of the year, with one being a major builder and supplier of Truck Scales.
so as Great Grandma Moffat would say, "if you think I don't do much, just try to keep up!!" haha.. and by the way, don't ask anyone who knows me or you might find out I really "don't" do much.. haha...
Enjoy the day, you never know when the day you have might be your last...
Anyway... Trish was by said she was doing ok and that Jake will be here tomorrow to make their Doctors visit... it's getting closer... and closer.. when little Isabella Ann will be here, and we are all getting very excited...
How bout the weather.. wow.... who knows... or better who knew.. haha..
have a great day.. Off to the office...
by the way.. my office phones are ... besides my cell... Tough Records 405 780 7590 and Flatland Entertainment 405 780 7377 in case you need me... We now have a recording studio, a record label, an artist management company, and are a provider of Entertainment throughout the southwest and through paynecountyline.com the southeast... and are working on putting together a music publishing company... it's kind of an exciting time, to see us grow.. and we are doing it the slow and right way I think. Our first signed artist Nick Gibson released his new CD No Other Way to radio this past week, and we are very high tech doing it all electronically, even our contracts are electronic. In addition to all this I have paynecountyline.com and Greg has the Rocking Horse and Planet Rock in Ponca City to take care of. So we are a bit busy. We have a new band in studio working on their first CD, are in negotiations with a regional artists about managing and booking them, have 15 bands we help book for, work with four other management companies, and we are working on completing a Music University of sorts to run artist through to teach them the business side of the music industry, and on the side we are putting together a deal that might have a considerable effect on the music business, in our spare time.
Greg lives in Ponca and has four kiddos... two in school and to still at home... His wife works with a company that owns four radio stations.
I am trying to finish up the yearly Oklahoma Music Awards for Payne County Line.. this is an annual event and our 5th one ... and have added three new websites since the first of the year, with one being a major builder and supplier of Truck Scales.
so as Great Grandma Moffat would say, "if you think I don't do much, just try to keep up!!" haha.. and by the way, don't ask anyone who knows me or you might find out I really "don't" do much.. haha...
Enjoy the day, you never know when the day you have might be your last...
There are teachers.... and then there are educators.
According to a news report, a certain private school in Washington was recently faced with a unique problem.
A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom.
That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick,they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints.
Every night the maintenance man would remove them and the next day the girls would put them back.
Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man.
She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night.
To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required.
He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it.
Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.
There are teachers.... and then there are educators.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
for jon and randi.. since they live in Ada'r.....
You Gotta Laugh | |
Blake Shelton opens up about his high school escapades and good times with girlfriend Miranda Lambert. | |
| by | February 11, 2008 |
 | |
 CW recently talked with Blake about Clash of the Choirs, his gorgeous new single and karaoke singing. Here are some excerpts from that exclusive interview with the Oklahoma native. CW: Based on your experience directing your singers for Clash of the Choirs, do you think you might ever want to go into the studio and produce another artist at one point? BS: That would be interesting to do. At this point, if I was to drop everything, I think my strong suit would be helping somebody with their song selection and I know that some producers in Nashville, basically, that's all they do. To me, that's not enough, that's not good enough. I think you need more ideas than that and you need to be thinking more of out the box and arrangements and things like that. And I'm just not so sure, even though I have my ideas of what I like, that it would be the best for me to produce another artist just because I may produce an album that I thought would be good for me . . . and not necessarily be good for that artist and what would make the masses buy into what they are doing musically. I still don't think that at this point, even if I wanted to do it, that I would be very good at it. CW: I love your version of "Home". Tell me about the first time you heard it. A:It's funny I was making the Barn and Grill album and I walked into the President of Warner Brothers, his name is Bill Bennett, and I played him some of the cuts off the album and he said, "What about this song here?" And he played me "Home" by Michael Buble and I'd never heard the song before and I said, "You know what? I'm making my record. I don't need this from you." And I may have turned a deaf ear to it just because of that, just kind of being a punk. I didn't know who he was and I think the way it hit me is, here I am basically still a developing artist myself, I don't want to hear about this other artist that they are excited aout at Warner Brothers, even though he wasn't country, he was whatever genre of music he fits in. He definitely had nothing to do with country. And looking back on it, Bill was probably playing it for me for this reason here. He probably thought it would be a good thing for me to record and I probably took it as, "I don't care about any other artist's album right now, I'm trying to make mine." But, I remember that meeting distinctly because a year or so later—and Miranda is always putting music on my iPOD for me that she thinks I'll like—and I ended up with "Home&uqot; on my IPOD and listened to it and fell in love with it. Then the next thing I knew I was walking around singing it all the time and I ended up learning it and performing it a few times. And last November, I believe during CMA week, they did a fly away contest with some fans and had a private party at the Warner Brothers building and I performed "Home" and I remember as I was performing it, I looked up and I saw Bill Bennett standing there and he kind of had a smirk on his face. And it was like it hit me, wow, he was right. There's something about this song for me. After I performed it I said, "Well Bill, that's for you. I should have paid attention to you a while back. You know what you're talking about I guess." The bigger thing was, the entire staff at Warner Brothers got really excited about it and it's kind of a strange deal. What we've decided to do is we went in and recorded it just to see if the magic was really there and everybody's gotten excited about it now and they are relaunching the Pure BS album with "Home" as a cut on the album. For more on Blake Shelton, check out the Feb. 25 issue of Country Weekly. | |
The Second Annual Iron Thistle Scottish Games at the Kirkpatrick Park in Yukon, OK
The Second Annual Iron Thistle Scottish Games at the Kirkpatrick Park in Yukon, OK., 1015 S. Garth Brooks Blvd.
West on I-40, turn North on Hwy 92 (Garth Brooks Blvd.), go 1/2 mi., just north of Vandament Ave.
Friday - March 28th - Fire Ceremony & Introductions to to the clans(Open & Free to the public) starts at 6:00pm Saturday - March 29th - Scottish Heritage Festival and Highland Games
Gate will open to the public at 9am and will close at 6pm.
Non stop entertainment with On The Doss, Dustin Cooper, Jean Hill's Dancers. All About Irish, Flowers of Edinburgh, and Boru's Ghost on stage.
Open Session site available on the covered old time porch in the frontier town.
The big feature of Scottish Games is the fierce competitions with athletics, Highland dancers, and off site solo piping.
Join the Pipe bands, clans, vendors and food that make up the Scottish games!!!
For more info go to USCO web site at www.uscoscots.org
More information needed? contact Mr. Roger Graham <celticgraham@sbcglobal.net >
West on I-40, turn North on Hwy 92 (Garth Brooks Blvd.), go 1/2 mi., just north of Vandament Ave.
Friday - March 28th - Fire Ceremony & Introductions to to the clans(Open & Free to the public) starts at 6:00pm Saturday - March 29th - Scottish Heritage Festival and Highland Games
Gate will open to the public at 9am and will close at 6pm.
Non stop entertainment with On The Doss, Dustin Cooper, Jean Hill's Dancers. All About Irish, Flowers of Edinburgh, and Boru's Ghost on stage.
Open Session site available on the covered old time porch in the frontier town.
The big feature of Scottish Games is the fierce competitions with athletics, Highland dancers, and off site solo piping.
Join the Pipe bands, clans, vendors and food that make up the Scottish games!!!
For more info go to USCO web site at www.uscoscots.org
More information needed? contact Mr. Roger Graham <celticgraham@
Monday, February 11, 2008
so......
you like lemon in your water or tea??? Might want to watch this note regarding the ole' lemon wedge on the top of the glass....
Sunday, February 10, 2008
This might boggle your mind!!
HOW BIG IS WAL-MART?
1. At Wal-Mart, Americans spend $36,000,000 every hour of every day.
2. This works out to $20,928 profit every minute!
3. Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) than Target sells all year.
4. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target + Sears + Costco + K-Mart combined.
5. Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people and is the largest private employer.
6. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the World.
7. Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger and Safeway combined, and keep in mind they did this in only 15 years.
8. During this same period, 31 Supermarket chains sought bankruptcy (including Winn-Dixie).
9. Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the world.
10. Wal-Mart has approximately 3,900 stores in the USA of which 1,906 are SuperCenters; this is 1,000 more than it had 5 years ago.
11. This year, 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur at a Wal-Mart store. (Earth's population is approximately 6.5 billion).
12. 90% of all Americans live within 15 miles of a Wal-Mart.
and I can remember when there was NOT a wal mart... wow... and the world survived quite well, thank you.
1. At Wal-Mart, Americans spend $36,000,000 every hour of every day.
2. This works out to $20,928 profit every minute!
3. Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) than Target sells all year.
4. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target + Sears + Costco + K-Mart combined.
5. Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people and is the largest private employer.
6. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the World.
7. Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger and Safeway combined, and keep in mind they did this in only 15 years.
8. During this same period, 31 Supermarket chains sought bankruptcy (including Winn-Dixie).
9. Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the world.
10. Wal-Mart has approximately 3,900 stores in the USA of which 1,906 are SuperCenters; this is 1,000 more than it had 5 years ago.
11. This year, 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur at a Wal-Mart store. (Earth's population is approximately 6.5 billion).
12. 90% of all Americans live within 15 miles of a Wal-Mart.
and I can remember when there was NOT a wal mart... wow... and the world survived quite well, thank you.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
You are correct if you call this a bad photo.. Ann were here she'd say.. throw that one away...
but I love it... Austyn's Basketball Team all headed down court in the last game of the season... with ole number 5 in the lead...
Oklahoma's Country Artists Compete for 2008 Grammy Awards
| New and Veteran Country Artists Compete for 2008 Grammy Awards | |
| Washington 04 February 2008 |
Morningstar report - Listen (MP3)
The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences will hold its 50th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on February 10. VOA's Mary Morningstar has this report on the nominees in the Country categories.
 |
| Vince Gill |
Taylor Swift, 18, earned her first Grammy nomination this year. She'll compete against Feist, Ledisi, Paramore and Amy Winehouse for the all-genre Best New Artist award.
 |
| Carrie Underwood |
In addition to Carrie Underwood, the Best Female Country Vocal Performance category includes Alison Krauss, Miranda Lambert, LeAnn Rimes and Trisha Yearwood. This is Trisha's seventh consecutive nomination in that category. "Before He Cheats" also gave songwriters Josh Kear and Chris Tompkins nominations for Best Country Song and Song of the Year.
 |
| The Eagles |
Many were shocked that Country's most popular trio Rascal Flatts was overlooked this year. In addition to the Eagles, Grammy voters recognized Brooks and Dunn, Emerson Drive, Montgomery Gentry and The Time Jumpers.
Tim McGraw and Dierks Bentley are this year's leading nominees with four mentions apiece. Both will compete against Keith Urban, Alan Jackson and George Strait for the Best Male Country Vocal Performance Grammy. And, they'll also face each other in the Best Country Song and Best Country Album categories. Tim's mentions are for his album Let It Go and hit single "If You're Reading This." Dierks' are for his latest album and its title track "Long Trip Alone."
Oklahoma's Merle Haggard, still rockin' at 70...
Country music legend Merle Haggard brings his unique sound to the Golden State Theatre on Tuesday night
By BETH PEERLESS
Herald Correspondent
Article Launched: 02/07/2008 02:12:38 AM PST
Country music living legend Merle Haggard's story resembles a long and winding road filled with glorious ruts and bumps at numerous turns.
Each turn seems to contradict the last. He appears to have weathered the ups and downs in good enough spirits, his muse still intact and delivering new songs at a comfortable clip.
"I haven't changed much. I write. I have good periods, dry periods," Haggard said in his warm, inviting voice on the phone from his home outside of Redding in Northern California. "There really hasn't been anything happening up here the last month or two. I've been working on an album for about a year. I've got 11 songs that I'm calling in on it. I've got some good songs on it. Part of it may be used in a soundtrack in the movie they're doing based on my life."
The 70-year-old and his band, The Strangers, come to Monterey Tuesday evening for a show at the Golden State Theatre.
Although he's lived his life and conducted his career outside the mainstream Nashville country establishment, his 2006 recording "The Bluegrass Sessions," utilizes some of Nashville's finest to create luscious renderings of four new songs and seven Haggard classics.
"So you have Merle Haggard music that maybe you've heard in the traditional manner that's rearranged for that package," he said. "The four new ones on there are doing real good. There's one on there called 'What Happened?' It's about what's gone on in the last eight years in America. It's pretty
Advertisement
factual and actual actually."
Inducted into the Country Hall of Fame in 1994, Haggard is one of the rare country artists who can't be pigeonholed into either camp of traditional country or country maverick.
Along with Buck Owens, he pioneered the Bakersfield sound, but he has always kept close ties to his love of country swing, a jazzier style identified with Bob Wills, and the honky-tonk style of Lefty Frizzell, two of his idols.
His long friendship with Willie Nelson (at the State two days prior to Haggard, and the two will appear together Feb. 9 in Reno) aligns him to the rebel outlaw gang. Plenty of music fans are left a little confused.
"Oh, there's a million stories," he replied to my interest in what goes on when he's hanging with the boys. "I don't know if I could tap into the right one for you. I've known Willie since 1964. We've made records together, we've worked together, and we've toured together. Last year we did a couple of tours called 'Last of the Breed,' where he and I and Ray Price toured together."
The breed he speaks of refers to artists from the old tradition. There he goes again, confounding what one might expect from him.
His history points to rebel, his music often points to old school, but one thing for sure, he does not buy into the Nashville star-making machinery of today.
"I don't like to talk bad about anybody. And Nashville's been awful good to me. But, like you call it squeaky clean," he said in response to my stab at describing what Nashville's putting out, "that brand of music they're making right now is really not up my alley."
Haggard was born in Bakersfield in 1937 to parents who were part of the Oklahoma exodus during the Dust Bowl years.
They lived in a converted boxcar, and his father worked as a railroad carpenter. His father died when he was 9, and his mother went to work as a bookkeeper.
Haggard began to run wild, riding the rails, roaming the Southwest doing petty crimes and finding himself locked into juvenile hall environments more than he liked.
He broke out and ran away numerous times, eventually blundering into time at San Quentin with a bungled burglary attempt while drunk.
He spent nearly three years in prison, and while there he experienced Johnny Cash in one of his prison appearances.
"Well, he certainly put a high mark on the wall," Haggard said about how he was inspired by that experience. "And he was something to admire . . .I thought, 'He knows more things than I know.' So I studied him and over the years, in 1963, I worked a show with him and met him. We became, as probably as close a friends you can become, and work in different directions. We didn't get to see a lot of each other a lot over the years."
Haggard, who plays both the guitar and violin, counts 41 No. 1 hits in his career, more than 70 albums to his name, and likely more than 150 recordings with his presence.
He is one of country music's most prolific songwriters, with classics like "Mama Tried," "Today I Started Loving You Again," "I Think I'll Just Sit Here and Drink," and the chestnut everyone has heard, "Okie From Muskogee."
For much of his life he's lived on his own terms, drinking and partying and paying the price.
Today, in his fifth marriage, he is living quieter and enjoying a healthy resurgence in his career that will bring him down another long and winding road to perform for us here in Monterey.
Beth Peerless can be reached at peerless@mbay.net. GO!
By BETH PEERLESS
Herald Correspondent
Article Launched: 02/07/2008 02:12:38 AM PST
The 70-year-old Merle Haggard has been working on a new album at his home in Redding.
Country music living legend Merle Haggard's story resembles a long and winding road filled with glorious ruts and bumps at numerous turns.
Each turn seems to contradict the last. He appears to have weathered the ups and downs in good enough spirits, his muse still intact and delivering new songs at a comfortable clip.
"I haven't changed much. I write. I have good periods, dry periods," Haggard said in his warm, inviting voice on the phone from his home outside of Redding in Northern California. "There really hasn't been anything happening up here the last month or two. I've been working on an album for about a year. I've got 11 songs that I'm calling in on it. I've got some good songs on it. Part of it may be used in a soundtrack in the movie they're doing based on my life."
The 70-year-old and his band, The Strangers, come to Monterey Tuesday evening for a show at the Golden State Theatre.
Although he's lived his life and conducted his career outside the mainstream Nashville country establishment, his 2006 recording "The Bluegrass Sessions," utilizes some of Nashville's finest to create luscious renderings of four new songs and seven Haggard classics.
"So you have Merle Haggard music that maybe you've heard in the traditional manner that's rearranged for that package," he said. "The four new ones on there are doing real good. There's one on there called 'What Happened?' It's about what's gone on in the last eight years in America. It's pretty
Advertisement
factual and actual actually."
Inducted into the Country Hall of Fame in 1994, Haggard is one of the rare country artists who can't be pigeonholed into either camp of traditional country or country maverick.
Along with Buck Owens, he pioneered the Bakersfield sound, but he has always kept close ties to his love of country swing, a jazzier style identified with Bob Wills, and the honky-tonk style of Lefty Frizzell, two of his idols.
His long friendship with Willie Nelson (at the State two days prior to Haggard, and the two will appear together Feb. 9 in Reno) aligns him to the rebel outlaw gang. Plenty of music fans are left a little confused.
"Oh, there's a million stories," he replied to my interest in what goes on when he's hanging with the boys. "I don't know if I could tap into the right one for you. I've known Willie since 1964. We've made records together, we've worked together, and we've toured together. Last year we did a couple of tours called 'Last of the Breed,' where he and I and Ray Price toured together."
The breed he speaks of refers to artists from the old tradition. There he goes again, confounding what one might expect from him.
His history points to rebel, his music often points to old school, but one thing for sure, he does not buy into the Nashville star-making machinery of today.
"I don't like to talk bad about anybody. And Nashville's been awful good to me. But, like you call it squeaky clean," he said in response to my stab at describing what Nashville's putting out, "that brand of music they're making right now is really not up my alley."
Haggard was born in Bakersfield in 1937 to parents who were part of the Oklahoma exodus during the Dust Bowl years.
They lived in a converted boxcar, and his father worked as a railroad carpenter. His father died when he was 9, and his mother went to work as a bookkeeper.
Haggard began to run wild, riding the rails, roaming the Southwest doing petty crimes and finding himself locked into juvenile hall environments more than he liked.
He broke out and ran away numerous times, eventually blundering into time at San Quentin with a bungled burglary attempt while drunk.
He spent nearly three years in prison, and while there he experienced Johnny Cash in one of his prison appearances.
"Well, he certainly put a high mark on the wall," Haggard said about how he was inspired by that experience. "And he was something to admire . . .I thought, 'He knows more things than I know.' So I studied him and over the years, in 1963, I worked a show with him and met him. We became, as probably as close a friends you can become, and work in different directions. We didn't get to see a lot of each other a lot over the years."
Haggard, who plays both the guitar and violin, counts 41 No. 1 hits in his career, more than 70 albums to his name, and likely more than 150 recordings with his presence.
He is one of country music's most prolific songwriters, with classics like "Mama Tried," "Today I Started Loving You Again," "I Think I'll Just Sit Here and Drink," and the chestnut everyone has heard, "Okie From Muskogee."
For much of his life he's lived on his own terms, drinking and partying and paying the price.
Today, in his fifth marriage, he is living quieter and enjoying a healthy resurgence in his career that will bring him down another long and winding road to perform for us here in Monterey.
Beth Peerless can be reached at peerless@mbay.net. GO!
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Went to celebrate my friend Craig Hannan's bday last evening...
t'was thinking the difference a day makes....
Monday.... 82 in Stillwater, clear sunny ... running around in short sleeves.... wonderful day... one of those rare..."we cheated Mother Nature out of a winter day" days....
And coming back home last evening... 24 hours ... or so... it was 32 and SNOWING.... whew... what a difference time makes especially in OK... Yesterday... on our weather map online...
Tornado watches... Tornado warnings... High wind warnings.. and Blowing snow warning... all at the very same time..
No wonder the National Weather Service chose Norman as home...
Had a great meal, good times, lots of laughs, good company... and of course almost too much to eat... We learned that Click's has sold out, but nothing will change.. so we were told.. but last night, the dinner rolls had.. so... ??? who knows.. but the STEAKS were AWESOME as usual... even saw some old clients there who are now helping their son get his band started... so was an interesting night... to say the least. One might have needed to be there to see how it ended .. as we walked out... sure made this old man's 'motor' speed up... ha ha.. It's been an interesting time, to say the least... ha ha..
Happy Birthday Mr. C... and many more...
Monday.... 82 in Stillwater, clear sunny ... running around in short sleeves.... wonderful day... one of those rare..."we cheated Mother Nature out of a winter day" days....
And coming back home last evening... 24 hours ... or so... it was 32 and SNOWING.... whew... what a difference time makes especially in OK... Yesterday... on our weather map online...
Tornado watches... Tornado warnings... High wind warnings.. and Blowing snow warning... all at the very same time..
No wonder the National Weather Service chose Norman as home...
Had a great meal, good times, lots of laughs, good company... and of course almost too much to eat... We learned that Click's has sold out, but nothing will change.. so we were told.. but last night, the dinner rolls had.. so... ??? who knows.. but the STEAKS were AWESOME as usual... even saw some old clients there who are now helping their son get his band started... so was an interesting night... to say the least. One might have needed to be there to see how it ended .. as we walked out... sure made this old man's 'motor' speed up... ha ha.. It's been an interesting time, to say the least... ha ha..
Happy Birthday Mr. C... and many more...
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Fire "water tanker" ........
I think it was the Stillwater Fire Dept. Rural 'water tanker' just roared by.. heading east at 7:55am... someone is having late start this am... and with an inch of rain this am... wonder if it was lightning or what... ??
Later..
This is the day our record label, Tough Records, releases the first single of of Nick Gibson's CD "No Other Way" to radio... entitled "No Other Way". We are kind'a fired up and it will be a long day, but by end of the day... hopefully it will be in the hands of each country radio station in a 6 state area. This is the first time a release has been handled totally by high tech.... to a region in the USA... We have two majors watching us to see how it goes I just learned... interesting what hillbilly's can do... (referring to article about Garth below!)
rock on...
UPDATE..... From my good friend and yesterday's birthday honoree... Craig Hannan who is among many things... a Captain in the Perkins Fire Department.... the following on the SFD run by our home...
"The fire truck was responding to the area of 80th and Union on a tank battery fire to assist Ripley fire. Ingall's fire was also dispatched to assist. " Thanks, Craig... you da man...
Later..
This is the day our record label, Tough Records, releases the first single of of Nick Gibson's CD "No Other Way" to radio... entitled "No Other Way". We are kind'a fired up and it will be a long day, but by end of the day... hopefully it will be in the hands of each country radio station in a 6 state area. This is the first time a release has been handled totally by high tech.... to a region in the USA... We have two majors watching us to see how it goes I just learned... interesting what hillbilly's can do... (referring to article about Garth below!)
rock on...
UPDATE..... From my good friend and yesterday's birthday honoree... Craig Hannan who is among many things... a Captain in the Perkins Fire Department.... the following on the SFD run by our home...
"The fire truck was responding to the area of 80th and Union on a tank battery fire to assist Ripley fire. Ingall's fire was also dispatched to assist. " Thanks, Craig... you da man...
Vote today - please?
Please, vote today - why you ask?
Because, we can!
and one vote does matter, just check your history...
Enjoy the day...
go OSU Cowgirls.. they play Baylor bears this evening... could be equal to the OU game!
Because, we can!
and one vote does matter, just check your history...
Enjoy the day...
go OSU Cowgirls.. they play Baylor bears this evening... could be equal to the OU game!
Monday, February 04, 2008
Garth Brooks' latest marathon -- five concerts in three days in Los Angeles -- ran from unbelievable to incredible.
this is worth reading..... oklahoma's own...
Hot Dish(CMT Hot Dish is a weekly feature written by veteran columnist Hazel Smith. Author of the cookbook, Hazel's Hot Dish: Cookin' With Country Stars, she also hosts CMT's Southern Fried Flicks With Hazel Smith and shares her recipes at CMT.com.)
Reports from Garth Brooks' latest marathon -- five concerts in three days in Los Angeles -- ran from unbelievable to incredible.
I've been to L.A. a few times and never expected to read about pickup trucks and tailgating in the parking lot of the Staples Center. It's a parking lot where shiny limos are usually transporting women wearing $100,000 designer gowns draped with diamonds and jewels worth millions. Arriving at award shows, they walk the red carpet on the arm of their usually bored tuxedo-wearing escort. But it took one good-hearted hillbilly boy from Oklahoma to perform from his heart to generate $3.8 million benefiting FIRE (Fire Intervention Relief Effort) for those who lost all they had in the big fires in California. And the pickups came and fans tailgated with country music blaring to prove there are plenty of country music fans in Los Angeles. Praise the Lord for that.
In the media, reporters wrote, "He never let up," calling Garth "iron man" and "master performer." Recalling the Garth of yesteryear, they noted that while he no longer climbs ladders, swings above the crowd on an invisible rope, busts guitars or does acrobatics, they added, "But he creates the same enthusiasm."
Like he'd won the lottery, a fan with five ticket stubs waved them proudly over his head, laughing and smiling all the way out the door. He knew he was a winner. He'd seen five shows in two days, the likes he'd never seen before and doubtfully will ever see again. His kids and grandkids, no doubt, will hear the story over and over as long as he lives --five shows, all sellouts.
Through the years, stories surfaced of fans in Ireland who hero-worshipped Garth and would not cease the applause at his concerts. When he'd finally depart the building, fans would actually follow the buses they were traveling in. I ran into Mark Greenwood, Garth's bass player, this past week at the recording studio he manages on Music Row. Mark pointed out that Garth received the same sort of enthusiastic welcome and endless applause during his recent nine-night marathon in Kansas City and the five shows in Los Angeles.
Happy Birthday Craig.... and many more...
We had the delivery service all ready to surprise you, but at the last minute, she backed out.. so -
to Craig H.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY - some of us just wanted to stop by and wish you the best!! and some friends too....
We cut you a piece of your cake... and we know that 12 candles ... are not correct. It might take more than that, but ... to us...
that was enough! Didn't want to have to have the Fire Dept. here to guard things.. haha....
Happy Birthday Craig, and Many many more!!! Hope it's the best one yet... and you have many many more Happy Birthdays!
We had a party in your honor...
to Craig H.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY - some of us just wanted to stop by and wish you the best!! and some friends too....
We cut you a piece of your cake... and we know that 12 candles ... are not correct. It might take more than that, but ... to us...
that was enough! Didn't want to have to have the Fire Dept. here to guard things.. haha....
Happy Birthday Craig, and Many many more!!! Hope it's the best one yet... and you have many many more Happy Birthdays!
We had a party in your honor...
everyone was afraid to be in photo ...
should be at work you know...
so here is the only one who would posse for photo...
he was having a dog day anyway.... so... hehe...
Happy Birthday Craig! 
Eli Manning was creative in the Giants' upset victory
Unflappable Manning lets instincts take over
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By John Clayton; ESPN.com
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Had the Patriots tried to spy on the Giants -- specifically QB Eli Manning -- before Super Bowl XLII, it would have been pointless.
In the fourth quarter of the Giants' 17-14 upset victory over the Patriots, Manning made plays no photographer could have captured before the game. That's because they weren't in the playbook.
• Manning, not known as a scrambler, broke free of the Patriots' pass rush, scrambled to his right and made an incredible 32-yard completion to David Tyree with 59 seconds left in regulation. A Manning scrambling like Fran Tarkenton? Try finding video of that.
• His 45-yard completion to tight end Kevin Boss at the beginning of the fourth quarter wasn't in the game plan. Offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride made a sideline suggestion on that one. Manning executed it like a champ.
"Let me say this,'' Gilbride said of several of Manning's plays down the stretch. "They weren't all in the game plan. A bunch of them weren't in the plan.''
Manning might not be the master of improvisation, but his ability to be loose, cool and patient in the fourth quarter allowed him to follow his brother Peyton on the podium as a Super Bowl champion and Super Bowl MVP. The first pick in the 2004 draft, Eli fulfilled his potential by winning a championship for the Giants.
In addition to being poised and accurate, Eli Manning was creative in the Giants' upset victory.
He out Brady-ed Tom Brady on Sunday, engineering touchdown drives of 80 and 83 yards. His winning drive that ended with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds left put him in rare company. He's only the second quarterback in Super Bowl history to throw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes in a winning effort. Joe Montana was the only other (Super Bowl XXIII).
Manning showed an incredibly calm demeanor in producing two of the most dramatic touchdown drives in Super Bowl history. At times in his career, he looked scared or aloof in critical situations. Against the Patriots, he was sharp as a knife down the stretch, and his mentality was amazing.
He loved the fact he was trailing, 14-10, with 2:39 left.
"This is where you want to be, honestly,'' Manning said. "The situation you want to be in is down four where you have to score a touchdown. If you're down three, you might settle for a field goal. You'd rather be down four where you need to get a touchdown to win the game or win the Super Bowl. You couldn't write a better script.''
Brother Peyton Manning sat in a suite, vicariously living every moment and every play his brother made down the stretch.
"You sort of play the game as you are up there watching, but you are pulling so hard for Eli,'' Peyton said. "I guarantee you I am more involved in the game he is playing than any other NFL game. I was pumped, and I got a lot of messages telling me to calm down because I was excited and pumped after the big plays he was making.''
Eli isn't Peyton. Peyton is into control and execution. Eli is cool, which led to earlier criticisms that he wasn't a leader. To his credit, Eli didn't get pumped or excited after big plays. He also didn't get flustered after bad ones. When he missed a wide-open Burress after scrambling free of Richard Seymour with 8:32 left in the fourth quarter, Manning remained composed.
"The guy is incredible,'' Gilbride said of Manning. "I don't think everybody realizes the movement he has. On the play he scrambled and missed Plaxico Burress when he was wide open, most quarterbacks would be devastated. He came back and figured he'd make some plays in the next drive.''
In the fourth quarter, Manning completed nine of 14 passes for 152 yards and two touchdowns. Bill Belichick tried every defensive trick in the book to stop him. He couldn't.
Little might be made of the 45-yard catch to Boss in the fourth quarter, but it turned the game in the Giants' favor. They were trailing, 7-3, and the Patriots' defense was gaining confidence. Gilbride spotted a slight hole in the Pats' D, and Manning exploited it like a champion. The adjustment was never practiced.
"They were running a quarter, quarter, half coverage, but [safety] Rodney Harrison would come up on the play fake,'' Gilbride said. "I did make a change. I called for Boss to run a seam route on this one. We've never done that.''
Manning made the perfect read, the perfect throw and the perfect start to the quarter. Five plays later, he hit Tyree with a 5-yard touchdown pass to give the Giants a 10-7 lead. Brady eventually came back -- as he usually does -- with a fourth-quarter drive that culminated in a 6-yard touchdown pass to Randy Moss to put the Patriots ahead.
Now it was time for Manning to step into Super Bowl immortality. The winning drive started at New York's 17. With 1:15 left, Manning faced a third-and-5 at the Giants' 44. After taking the snap and rolling to his right, Manning was set to be sacked.
Somehow, he escaped the rush and made what looked like a Hail Mary throw to Tyree for 32 yards.
"It felt like I was being grabbed a little bit,'' Manning said. "I got out of it. I saw Tyree in the middle of the field. I tried to get the ball to him, and it just floated. He made an unbelievable catch, jumping up and holding the ball. Guys were hanging all over him.
The game-winner to Burress was a recognition play. Manning noticed that the Patriots were running a Cover Zero blitz. Everybody was coming. It was first-and-10 at the Patriots' 13 with 39 seconds left. The Patriots went for the throat. Manning ended up being the winner.
"It was just a fade route, and they came with an all-out blitz,'' Manning said. "They had been playing zone coverage. They came with an all-out blitz, and the corner sat because he thought we might run something short. Plaxico ran right by him and made a great catch to win the game.''
Manning brought back visions of Brady, Joe Montana, Steve Young and so many more of the great Super Bowl quarterbacks Sunday, but it was his unpredictability that was the key.
Manning went against convention Sunday. He improvised. He scrambled. He made great throws. Not even the greatest spy could have stopped him.
John Clayton, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame writers' wing, is a senior writer for ESPN.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By John Clayton; ESPN.com
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Had the Patriots tried to spy on the Giants -- specifically QB Eli Manning -- before Super Bowl XLII, it would have been pointless.
In the fourth quarter of the Giants' 17-14 upset victory over the Patriots, Manning made plays no photographer could have captured before the game. That's because they weren't in the playbook.
• Manning, not known as a scrambler, broke free of the Patriots' pass rush, scrambled to his right and made an incredible 32-yard completion to David Tyree with 59 seconds left in regulation. A Manning scrambling like Fran Tarkenton? Try finding video of that.
• His 45-yard completion to tight end Kevin Boss at the beginning of the fourth quarter wasn't in the game plan. Offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride made a sideline suggestion on that one. Manning executed it like a champ.
"Let me say this,'' Gilbride said of several of Manning's plays down the stretch. "They weren't all in the game plan. A bunch of them weren't in the plan.''
Manning might not be the master of improvisation, but his ability to be loose, cool and patient in the fourth quarter allowed him to follow his brother Peyton on the podium as a Super Bowl champion and Super Bowl MVP. The first pick in the 2004 draft, Eli fulfilled his potential by winning a championship for the Giants.
In addition to being poised and accurate, Eli Manning was creative in the Giants' upset victory.
He out Brady-ed Tom Brady on Sunday, engineering touchdown drives of 80 and 83 yards. His winning drive that ended with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds left put him in rare company. He's only the second quarterback in Super Bowl history to throw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes in a winning effort. Joe Montana was the only other (Super Bowl XXIII).
Manning showed an incredibly calm demeanor in producing two of the most dramatic touchdown drives in Super Bowl history. At times in his career, he looked scared or aloof in critical situations. Against the Patriots, he was sharp as a knife down the stretch, and his mentality was amazing.
He loved the fact he was trailing, 14-10, with 2:39 left.
"This is where you want to be, honestly,'' Manning said. "The situation you want to be in is down four where you have to score a touchdown. If you're down three, you might settle for a field goal. You'd rather be down four where you need to get a touchdown to win the game or win the Super Bowl. You couldn't write a better script.''
Brother Peyton Manning sat in a suite, vicariously living every moment and every play his brother made down the stretch.
"You sort of play the game as you are up there watching, but you are pulling so hard for Eli,'' Peyton said. "I guarantee you I am more involved in the game he is playing than any other NFL game. I was pumped, and I got a lot of messages telling me to calm down because I was excited and pumped after the big plays he was making.''
Eli isn't Peyton. Peyton is into control and execution. Eli is cool, which led to earlier criticisms that he wasn't a leader. To his credit, Eli didn't get pumped or excited after big plays. He also didn't get flustered after bad ones. When he missed a wide-open Burress after scrambling free of Richard Seymour with 8:32 left in the fourth quarter, Manning remained composed.
"The guy is incredible,'' Gilbride said of Manning. "I don't think everybody realizes the movement he has. On the play he scrambled and missed Plaxico Burress when he was wide open, most quarterbacks would be devastated. He came back and figured he'd make some plays in the next drive.''
In the fourth quarter, Manning completed nine of 14 passes for 152 yards and two touchdowns. Bill Belichick tried every defensive trick in the book to stop him. He couldn't.
Little might be made of the 45-yard catch to Boss in the fourth quarter, but it turned the game in the Giants' favor. They were trailing, 7-3, and the Patriots' defense was gaining confidence. Gilbride spotted a slight hole in the Pats' D, and Manning exploited it like a champion. The adjustment was never practiced.
"They were running a quarter, quarter, half coverage, but [safety] Rodney Harrison would come up on the play fake,'' Gilbride said. "I did make a change. I called for Boss to run a seam route on this one. We've never done that.''
Manning made the perfect read, the perfect throw and the perfect start to the quarter. Five plays later, he hit Tyree with a 5-yard touchdown pass to give the Giants a 10-7 lead. Brady eventually came back -- as he usually does -- with a fourth-quarter drive that culminated in a 6-yard touchdown pass to Randy Moss to put the Patriots ahead.
Now it was time for Manning to step into Super Bowl immortality. The winning drive started at New York's 17. With 1:15 left, Manning faced a third-and-5 at the Giants' 44. After taking the snap and rolling to his right, Manning was set to be sacked.
Somehow, he escaped the rush and made what looked like a Hail Mary throw to Tyree for 32 yards.
"It felt like I was being grabbed a little bit,'' Manning said. "I got out of it. I saw Tyree in the middle of the field. I tried to get the ball to him, and it just floated. He made an unbelievable catch, jumping up and holding the ball. Guys were hanging all over him.
The game-winner to Burress was a recognition play. Manning noticed that the Patriots were running a Cover Zero blitz. Everybody was coming. It was first-and-10 at the Patriots' 13 with 39 seconds left. The Patriots went for the throat. Manning ended up being the winner.
"It was just a fade route, and they came with an all-out blitz,'' Manning said. "They had been playing zone coverage. They came with an all-out blitz, and the corner sat because he thought we might run something short. Plaxico ran right by him and made a great catch to win the game.''
Manning brought back visions of Brady, Joe Montana, Steve Young and so many more of the great Super Bowl quarterbacks Sunday, but it was his unpredictability that was the key.
Manning went against convention Sunday. He improvised. He scrambled. He made great throws. Not even the greatest spy could have stopped him.
John Clayton, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame writers' wing, is a senior writer for ESPN.com.
Manning proves just about everyone wrong
Manning proves just about everyone wrong
February 4, 2008 12:31 AM
Posted by ESPN.com's Mike Sando
The Eli Manning who won Super Bowl XLII hardly resembled the Eli Manning who made scouts cringe as recently as midseason. His transformation has caught just about everyone by surprise. Here's the way an opposing secondary coach put it during an analysis about which young quarterbacks had the brightest futures:
"I think he's got good skills, but all the other stuff, the intangible stuff, I don't think he has it. He gets scared when you get after him in the pocket. All the things you hate a quarterback to have, he has. And he's not accurate."A pro scout put it this way:
"He missed throws in our game. There were throws you need to make if you are a front-line guy. He left yards on the field against us."
Even Manning's own general manager, Jerry Reese, used the word "skittish" to describe how his quarterback was playing at times this season.
The credit goes to Manning. He became a much better quarterback somewhat unexpectedly.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
LOST... the remaining titles...
4.1 “The Beginning of the End”: Hurley
4.2 “Confirmed Dead”: The “Rescuers”
4.3 “The Economist”: Sayid
4.4 “Eggtown”: Kate
4.5 “The Constant”: Desmond
4.6 “The Other Woman”: Juliet
4.7 “Ji Yeon”: SunJin
4.8 “Meet Kevin Johnson”: Michael
but then who knows with the writers strike and all...
mom and dad test
I was out walking with my 4-year-old daughter. She picked up something
off the ground and started to put it in her mouth. I took the item away
from her and I asked her not to do that.
"Why?" my daughter asked.
"Because it's been on the ground. It's dirty, and it probably has
germs," I replied.
At this point, my daughter looked at me with total admiration and asked,
"Momma, how do you know all this stuff? You are so smart."
I was thinking quickly. "All moms know this stuff. It's on the Mom Test.
You have to know it, or they don't let you be a Mom."
We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but she was evidently
pondering this new information. "Oh...I get it!" she beamed, "So if you
don't pass the test, you have to be the dad."
''Exactly," I replied back with a big smile on my face.
off the ground and started to put it in her mouth. I took the item away
from her and I asked her not to do that.
"Why?" my daughter asked.
"Because it's been on the ground. It's dirty, and it probably has
germs," I replied.
At this point, my daughter looked at me with total admiration and asked,
"Momma, how do you know all this stuff? You are so smart."
I was thinking quickly. "All moms know this stuff. It's on the Mom Test.
You have to know it, or they don't let you be a Mom."
We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but she was evidently
pondering this new information. "Oh...I get it!" she beamed, "So if you
don't pass the test, you have to be the dad."
''Exactly," I replied back with a big smile on my face.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Austyn's Team after their last game
Taken in front of the old Armory Building (North Entrance) built as a WPA project in 1936 in Stillwater near the Train Depot.
Austyn's last Basketball Game in Stillwater Little League for the season.
Look for the blonde headed young man in the Green Shirt..... ole number 5!
Jake's project in Ft. Worth... it is now 1:45pm on Sat. and he left home at 6am Friday... no sleep and lots of miles.. to get'er done...
he just called Trisha and is about 200 miles away..
big grasshopper lookin thing is what we put on...each piece is 45 feet long...so was 90 all togetherFriday, February 01, 2008
Jake in Ft. Worth on location... here is photo he sent
Fw: From Jake... this semi van is hanging off overpass in Denton... wow... they are on way to rig in Ft. Worth to do repairs at 1pm.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
DID YOU KNOW?
DID YOU KNOW?
Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little
"stringy things" off of it. That's how the primates do it.
Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave
them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.
Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh
much longer and not mold!
Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating.
Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.
Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the
grease away from the meat while cooking.
To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of
sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.
For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in
double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty
frosting.
Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and
at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.
Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simple
chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples.
Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the
apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice
cream.
1. Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat
to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro
pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.
2. Easy Deviled Eggs
Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all
broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing
thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just
throw bag away when done easy clean up.
3. Expanding Frosting
When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with
your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost
more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and
calories per serving.
4. Reheating Refrigerated Bread
To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them
in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the
food moist and help it reheat faster.
5. Newspaper Weeds Away
Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet
newspapers put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with
mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening
plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.
6. Broken Glass
Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you
can't see easily.
7. No More Mosquitoes
Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.
8. Squirrel Away!
To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with
cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the
squirrels won't come near it.
9. Flexible Vacuum
To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty
paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or
flattened to get in narrow openings.
10. Reducing Static Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a
clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when
wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and -- ta da! -- static
is gone.
11. Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot
water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your
ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right
out.
12. Foggy Windshield?
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove
box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better
than a cloth!
13. Reopening Envelope
If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something
inside , just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or
two. Viola! It unseals easily.
14. Conditioner
Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's a lot cheaper than
shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to
use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in
your hair...
15. Goodbye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2" with
Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid, mix well. You will
find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!
16. Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it
"home," can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so,
especially if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about pets
or small children being harmed!
17. INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS
The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things
around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he
went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I
always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He told
us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over
to the sink, ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh
material - I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like.
well,...the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it
at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's
what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there.
It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free
-- that nice fragrance too, you know how they can feel waxy when you take
them out of the box, well t his stuff builds up on your
clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to
catch fire & potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best
way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (& to keep your
electric bill lower) is to take that filter out & wash it with hot soapy
water & an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He
said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long!
How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know
dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I'd share!
Note: I went to my dryer & tested my screen by running water on it. The
water ran through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the
mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water & a nylon brush & I had it
done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it the water ran right thru the
screen! There wasn't any puddling at all! That repairman knew what he was
talking about!
Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little
"stringy things" off of it. That's how the primates do it.
Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave
them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.
Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh
much longer and not mold!
Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating.
Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.
Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the
grease away from the meat while cooking.
To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of
sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.
For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in
double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty
frosting.
Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and
at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.
Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simple
chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples.
Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the
apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice
cream.
1. Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat
to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro
pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.
2. Easy Deviled Eggs
Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all
broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing
thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just
throw bag away when done easy clean up.
3. Expanding Frosting
When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with
your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost
more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and
calories per serving.
4. Reheating Refrigerated Bread
To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them
in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the
food moist and help it reheat faster.
5. Newspaper Weeds Away
Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet
newspapers put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with
mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening
plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.
6. Broken Glass
Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you
can't see easily.
7. No More Mosquitoes
Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.
8. Squirrel Away!
To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with
cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the
squirrels won't come near it.
9. Flexible Vacuum
To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty
paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or
flattened to get in narrow openings.
10. Reducing Static Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a
clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when
wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and -- ta da! -- static
is gone.
11. Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot
water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your
ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right
out.
12. Foggy Windshield?
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove
box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better
than a cloth!
13. Reopening Envelope
If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something
inside , just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or
two. Viola! It unseals easily.
14. Conditioner
Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's a lot cheaper than
shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to
use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in
your hair...
15. Goodbye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2" with
Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid, mix well. You will
find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!
16. Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it
"home," can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so,
especially if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about pets
or small children being harmed!
17. INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS
The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things
around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he
went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I
always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He told
us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over
to the sink, ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh
material - I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like.
well,...the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it
at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's
what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there.
It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free
-- that nice fragrance too, you know how they can feel waxy when you take
them out of the box, well t his stuff builds up on your
clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to
catch fire & potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best
way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (& to keep your
electric bill lower) is to take that filter out & wash it with hot soapy
water & an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He
said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long!
How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know
dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I'd share!
Note: I went to my dryer & tested my screen by running water on it. The
water ran through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the
mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water & a nylon brush & I had it
done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it the water ran right thru the
screen! There wasn't any puddling at all! That repairman knew what he was
talking about!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Wow... with a good coach, what would they cost?
STILLWATER — A ticket for Bedlam football this season will cost $419.
Technically speaking.
And you thought a $100 face value ticket to watch Oklahoma State host Oklahoma two years ago was expensive.
OSU officials announced season ticket prices on Tuesday. The interesting twist is they will not sell individual tickets for the OU game.
Fans wanting to watch the Cowboys and Sooners play Nov. 29 at Boone Pickens Stadium must purchase a $419 season ticket or one of OSU's other season ticket options. OU will still be given an allotment of tickets, but no individual game tickets will be sold.
OSU athletic director Mike Holder said the decision was based on Iowa State implementing an identical plan last season for its rival game against Iowa. Iowa State's season ticket sales increased 30 percent, jumping from 30,000 to 36,000.
“Our decision to eliminate single game tickets for Bedlam is based upon our desire to grow our season ticket sales,” Holder said in a press statement. “Our ability to compete for championships, in all sports, is dependent upon our fans' commitment to buying season tickets in football and basketball on an annual basis.
“Frankly, this decision is all about the long-term success of OSU athletics. Based on solid results at Iowa State, we believe this decision can produce a positive result at OSU.”
Sometime this fall single game tickets will be sold for OSU's other six home games. Single game tickets will cost $60 for non-conference opponents (Houston, Missouri State and Tory), $85 for non-OU conference games (Texas A&M, Baylor and Iowa State).
The irony is the Bedlam game is all but assured of being OSU's lowest attendance of the season. Two years ago, OSU sold three-game packages for $160 that included tickets for Missouri State, Baylor and OU. This year there will be no packages.
The unique marketing strategy should give OSU a legitimate shot at selling 40,000 or more season tickets for the first time.
OSU's record for season tickets is 38,674 set in 2004, which included a record 11,500 student tickets. OSU sold 9,000 student tickets last year.
As expected, OSU did not raise season ticket or donor prices for the first time in three years. The $419 season ticket is higher than last year ($359) but the Cowboys have seven home games instead of six.
“The addition of 16,000 new seats in the west end zone, we believe the decision to hold prices for 2008 is the right one,” Holder said. “The new seats give us opportunities to expand our fan base though new promotions and generate new revenue to support the entire athletic program.”
With the return of the renovated west end zone, OSU gains 16,000 additional seats. Boone Pickens Stadium capacity increases to 60,000, the sixth largest venue in the Big 12.
More Family Fun Zone tickets will be available. For a price of $980 a family can purchase four season tickets (two adult, two youth), $245 a person.
Other season ticket prices include: a Discount Zone and O-Club options ($294) and new graduate rate of $245 for anyone within five years of their graduation date. Faculty and staff season tickets will be $336.
“We strive for balance between affordability, value and revenue considerations when it comes to setting ticket and donor seating prices,” said Craig Clemons, associate athletic director for external affairs and development.
To attract more students, All Sports Ticket prices are expected to be reduced but AST prices won't be announced until a later date. Last year an AST cost $150 which gets students into every OSU sporting event other than men's basketball.
Technically speaking.
And you thought a $100 face value ticket to watch Oklahoma State host Oklahoma two years ago was expensive.
OSU officials announced season ticket prices on Tuesday. The interesting twist is they will not sell individual tickets for the OU game.
Fans wanting to watch the Cowboys and Sooners play Nov. 29 at Boone Pickens Stadium must purchase a $419 season ticket or one of OSU's other season ticket options. OU will still be given an allotment of tickets, but no individual game tickets will be sold.
OSU athletic director Mike Holder said the decision was based on Iowa State implementing an identical plan last season for its rival game against Iowa. Iowa State's season ticket sales increased 30 percent, jumping from 30,000 to 36,000.
“Our decision to eliminate single game tickets for Bedlam is based upon our desire to grow our season ticket sales,” Holder said in a press statement. “Our ability to compete for championships, in all sports, is dependent upon our fans' commitment to buying season tickets in football and basketball on an annual basis.
“Frankly, this decision is all about the long-term success of OSU athletics. Based on solid results at Iowa State, we believe this decision can produce a positive result at OSU.”
Sometime this fall single game tickets will be sold for OSU's other six home games. Single game tickets will cost $60 for non-conference opponents (Houston, Missouri State and Tory), $85 for non-OU conference games (Texas A&M, Baylor and Iowa State).
The irony is the Bedlam game is all but assured of being OSU's lowest attendance of the season. Two years ago, OSU sold three-game packages for $160 that included tickets for Missouri State, Baylor and OU. This year there will be no packages.
The unique marketing strategy should give OSU a legitimate shot at selling 40,000 or more season tickets for the first time.
OSU's record for season tickets is 38,674 set in 2004, which included a record 11,500 student tickets. OSU sold 9,000 student tickets last year.
As expected, OSU did not raise season ticket or donor prices for the first time in three years. The $419 season ticket is higher than last year ($359) but the Cowboys have seven home games instead of six.
“The addition of 16,000 new seats in the west end zone, we believe the decision to hold prices for 2008 is the right one,” Holder said. “The new seats give us opportunities to expand our fan base though new promotions and generate new revenue to support the entire athletic program.”
With the return of the renovated west end zone, OSU gains 16,000 additional seats. Boone Pickens Stadium capacity increases to 60,000, the sixth largest venue in the Big 12.
More Family Fun Zone tickets will be available. For a price of $980 a family can purchase four season tickets (two adult, two youth), $245 a person.
Other season ticket prices include: a Discount Zone and O-Club options ($294) and new graduate rate of $245 for anyone within five years of their graduation date. Faculty and staff season tickets will be $336.
“We strive for balance between affordability, value and revenue considerations when it comes to setting ticket and donor seating prices,” said Craig Clemons, associate athletic director for external affairs and development.
To attract more students, All Sports Ticket prices are expected to be reduced but AST prices won't be announced until a later date. Last year an AST cost $150 which gets students into every OSU sporting event other than men's basketball.
On this day in history.... January 28, 1986 : Challenger explodes
January 28, 1986 : Challenger explodes
At 11:38 a.m. EST, on January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger
lifts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Christa McAuliffe is on
her way to becoming the first ordinary U.S. civilian to travel into
space. McAuliffe, a 37-year-old high school social studies teacher
from New Hampshire, won a competition that earned her a place among
the seven-member crew of the Challenger. She underwent months of
shuttle training but then, beginning January 23, was forced to wait
six long days as the Challenger's launch countdown was repeatedly
delayed because of weather and technical problems. Finally, on January
28, the shuttle lifted off.
Seventy-three seconds later, hundreds on the ground, including
Christa's family, stared in disbelief as the shuttle exploded in a
forking plume of smoke and fire. Millions more watched the wrenching
tragedy unfold on live television. There were no survivors.
In the aftermath of the explosion, President Ronald Reagan appointed a
special commission to determine what went wrong with Challenger and to
develop future corrective measures. The presidential commission was
headed by former secretary of state William Rogers, and included
former astronaut Neil Armstrong and former test pilot Chuck Yeager.
The investigation determined that the explosion was caused by the
failure of an "O-ring" seal in one of the two solid-fuel rockets. The
elastic O-ring did not respond as expected because of the cold
temperature at launch time, which began a chain of events that
resulted in the massive explosion. As a result of the explosion, NASA
did not send astronauts into space for more than two years as it
redesigned a number of features of the space shuttle.
At 11:38 a.m. EST, on January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger
lifts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Christa McAuliffe is on
her way to becoming the first ordinary U.S. civilian to travel into
space. McAuliffe, a 37-year-old high school social studies teacher
from New Hampshire, won a competition that earned her a place among
the seven-member crew of the Challenger. She underwent months of
shuttle training but then, beginning January 23, was forced to wait
six long days as the Challenger's launch countdown was repeatedly
delayed because of weather and technical problems. Finally, on January
28, the shuttle lifted off.
Seventy-three seconds later, hundreds on the ground, including
Christa's family, stared in disbelief as the shuttle exploded in a
forking plume of smoke and fire. Millions more watched the wrenching
tragedy unfold on live television. There were no survivors.
In the aftermath of the explosion, President Ronald Reagan appointed a
special commission to determine what went wrong with Challenger and to
develop future corrective measures. The presidential commission was
headed by former secretary of state William Rogers, and included
former astronaut Neil Armstrong and former test pilot Chuck Yeager.
The investigation determined that the explosion was caused by the
failure of an "O-ring" seal in one of the two solid-fuel rockets. The
elastic O-ring did not respond as expected because of the cold
temperature at launch time, which began a chain of events that
resulted in the massive explosion. As a result of the explosion, NASA
did not send astronauts into space for more than two years as it
redesigned a number of features of the space shuttle.
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