Change Jar

I keep a change jar on my desk at home and throw all my pocket change in it. It’s a 2 qt. (?) jar and it usually takes a year or so to fill it up, at which point I haul it over to Kroger’s Coinstar machine, pony up the 8.9% money laundering fee, and cash it out. A full jar nets around $200, give or take, and since I basically consider it found money (my just reward for adhering to the Penny Saved Rule), I usually treat myself to something fun with the bounty. The jar’s fiscal year ended last night.

Just before spitting out my Fun Money voucher to take to the cashier, Coinstar alerted me to the fact that it may have regurgitated some of my coinage and to check the change tray below, which I did. For whatever reason, it didn’t like the taste of $1.18 worth of quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies. Or perhaps, that was the machine’s little boost for me to start reinvesting immediately for a prosperous 2010 yield, which I did.

I noticed one of the pennies it refunded was minted in 1959. For 50 years this coin has been circling the globe. For more than 18,000 days it’s been traveling; probably passed through as many hands and nearly as many places.

I’ll bet if coins could talk, they could tell some amazing stories.

Buddha Turns Two

Thank you for your friendship.

Have a safe and happy Fourth. : )

Choose a New Meaning

I've had a Tony Robbins CD in my car for about three months now (selected disks from his Get The Edge series). I'm listening, everywhere I go, all the time. I have to say, it's served me well, and I want to share an important bit of it here with you.

Over the past 25 years, I've read most of the "classic" Self Help books at one time or another; Think and Grow Rich, How To Win Friends and Influence People, What To Say When You Talk to Yourself, etc., etc. But I'll be the first to admit that I'm a much better student of this stuff than I am a practitioner of it.

I can honestly say that there have been no great revelations in what I've listened to Robbins say over and over for the past hundred days or so. I haven't really learned anything I didn't already know. I have, however, been reminded of a lot that I needed to be reminded of. Thus the repetition. The second you stop remembering, you start forgetting. And I need to remember.

I'm pretty happy in most areas of my life. I'm not driven by money, "stuff," or work. Sure, I like money like everyone else. But it isn't Tony Robbins financial advice that I've been relentlessly driving into my brain. As far as money is concerned, I only want to be secure and comfortable, and I am.

Relationships are what make me tick. This is the thing that I am almost constantly preoccupied with. And they can be a bitch. But mostly, the "bitch" lies within ourselves. Enter Mr. Robbins.

Whenever we get absolutely certain that we know exactly what things mean (when we really don't; we play back a flawed representation of the event in our heads), we tend to create pain for ourselves. An ambiguous implication or comment, someone responds to us in a different manner than what we expected, somebody doesn't call when they said they would.

How do you usually interpret these things?

Most people, including myself, usually assume the worst. I sometimes feel disrespected, neglected, ignored, or some other emotion that I don't want, which leads to more circular thinking, more assuming, more frustration, more anger, more hurt, and more pain. The trouble with going down this path is that probably 4 out of 5 times, we're dead wrong. The event in question, more often than not, has nothing to do with me.

If you find yourself falling into this trap, remember this. — Nothing in life has any meaning except the meaning we give it. When something happens that makes you feel bad and you're not quite clear about it, choose a meaning that empowers you instead of assuming a meaning that disempowers you. Give people the benefit of the doubt.

When I proactively choose to do this (and I'm getting a lot better at it), I usually find whatever doubt I had is vindicated and I'm pleasantly surprised. All is well.

It was always my intention with this blog, at least every once in a while, to offer people something that actually does them some good. I hope this is one of those times.

Peace.

There Was A Time When Commercials Made Even Less Sense Than Usual

There was a time when men rode jackhammers. There was a time when men wore black. Or brown. Or pink. There was a time when men discovered stuff like the wheel, and got eaten by the T Rex. There was a time when men couldn't find their keys. There was a time when men were men and sheep were nervous. There was a time when some cataclysmic global event happened, involving men, and vodka.

That time was last night.

I didn't get the memo.

Brain to Penis: Can't We Just Get Along?

Last night, as I returned to my car from a couple of hours at my favorite local watering hole, I was met by two guys in the Lexis Nexis parking lot (where I parked) that were sort of meandering around my car. As I got closer, one of them spoke.

Helmut Head Eyewitness: "Is this your car?"

Me: "Yes."

HHE: "Some gorgeous blonde in a white pickup truck just backed across your hood. We were just kind of staring at her because she was so fucking hot. She just backed right up over your hood and then took off."

Me: (processing the damage, compute...compute...) "How long ago was this?"

HHE: "Two minutes ago. She went that way. You might be able to catch her."

Me: "I don't suppose you got her license plate?"

HHE: "Nah, man, sorry. She was really fucking hot. We were just sort of staring at her."

Me: (hangs head)


Hahahahahahaha.

It's all I can do. Like the Hatfields and the McCoys, the penis and the brain will apparently never be on speaking terms.

Plowed Under

Start on that dreaded opthalmology template • balance checkbook • wash bedding • buy FOOD • website maintenance • get haircut • work out • buy gifts • clean car • more website maintenance • check on friends • visit family • buy new area rug • call financial advisor • clean bathrooms • deal with boss • take pets to vet • buy new toaster • take trash out • meditate • work beer truck at Fridays After Five • still MORE website maintenance • this appointment, that appointment, the OTHER appointment • make blog rounds • write blog post • GET SLEEP! • *GASP*

Do I really have to do all those things?

NO.

I get to do them.

Life is a Get To, not a Have To.

Send Lawyers, Guns, and Money

Well, not really. These aren't the sort of people who sue. They get sued.

Well, not really. There was a Jim Jones Snow Cone machine. It's much easier to convince people to have a snow cone than to get shot in the face.

Well, not really. Our hosts were so enormously generous, you really couldn't pay for anything.

Thank you Kentucky. Thank you everybody. Thank you to the people I ripped off all these cool pics from. If I've infringed on copyrighted material, well, I just suck that way. Have a snow cone and chill.

And ESPECIALLY, THANK YOU, Liz & Brad.

: )