Why Men Date Dumb and Women Don't

Stay away from it anyway. Is that "dumb" woman going to take care of you, provide, and support you? Think about it!

A Bag of Prunes and a Box of High-fiber Breakfast Cereal Helped Complete Engagement

Man puts engagement ring in milkshake and she swallows it. For more on the engagement click here.

Mayonnaise jar and 2 beers

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 beers.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls . He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous 'yes.' The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things---your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else---the small stuff. 'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

'Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf ball first---the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer represented... The professor smiled and said, 'I'm glad you asked.' The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of Beers with a friend.'

Please share this with someone you care about... I JUST DID.

I am excited and hopeful and patient

So, Mr. Barack Obama is our president. I am feeling hopeful and excited. Both because Bush is out and because Barack Obama is in. Because he is an African-American man and because I look forward to the changes that come with a new chief executive. In one way or another - from high gas prices, to a favorite store or restaurant closing, to lost jobs close to home or by our extended friends and family - we have felt the tightening of the economic belt. This new president of ours brings hope for change. The news program I watched this morning noted that when President Obama began running for president, the centerpiece was about the war in Iraq but the main story quickly changed to economics at home.

There are so many challenges that we face as a country and are looking to Mr. Obama to lead us above. Today is excitement, tomorrow is work and patience.... Barack and his team need to get to work, and we have to be patient. As much as we'd like to have the administration come in and flip a switch that changes things for the better similarly to how flipping a light switch can change a room from darkness to light, we all know it's not that easy. Things didn't get this way like that and the change we are hopeful for will take some time too.

Let's be excited and hopeful and patient. Today is only day one, we have many days ahead. And, the firsts that took place cannot be erased.

New Year, New Challenges

Happy New Year! Many were glad to see 2008 go and hoping 2009 brings more prosperous times. I think we all hope for the best each new year. We hear about the banks an awful lot and those who are affected by the times - I live in Charlotte - home to Bank of America and formally Wachovia - Wells Fargo completed its purchase of Wachovia on Dec. 31. But there is definitely a trickle down effect. I have friends who are in a variety of industries who are laid off and looking for new employment - from senior executives to the recently graduated.

While some are just getting walking papers, some jobs are beginning to come around too. But many are forced to accept jobs paying significantly less than their previous jobs. Check out this CNN article on the topic - Life after a six figure salary. Even without living paycheck to paycheck, we all grow accustomed to our lifestyle, whatever it may be. It's difficult to imagine being able to take a significant pay cut - 30, 50 or even 80%. But in these times, even as we look forward to hopefully better times, I hope we'll all take notes and prepare for the unknown, because we really just don't know what will happen. Yes, enjoy yourself and what you are able to do. But be cautious of extravagance.

Church to Make Sins Public

A Jacksonville church has sent a letter to a former member threatening to make her sins public. The church is using the Bible to back what they're doing. To read more about this truly unbelievable story click here.

Don't cancel the party, just change the way you throw it

I went to a great holiday party over the weekend. The party was hosted by a new friend of mine who is recently unemployed. When I mentioned to the party to some other folks, they wondered how or why someone who is unemployed - laid off - would or could host a holiday party. The answer is simple and, when told to me by my hostess, made so much sense.

She said she always has a holiday party. After being laid off a few months ago, she thought about cancelling this year, but thought it may dampen her holiday spirit. So, instead of cancelling, this year was a potluck. Everyone shared in the cost and the Christmas spirit, and we truly had a ball.

Of course, everyone has to evaluate their own budgets and really decide where they want to pick and choose, but I had a blast at the party and I am thankful it was still on. So, even though times are hard. Get creative, have fun and spread the holiday spirit. Stay blessed and be thankful!

Creativity gets the job

A New Yorker who was laid off nearly a year ago resorted to standing on the street with a sandwich sign saying "MIT grad fr hire." He's landed a job as a senior manager at an accounting firm. Of course his resume backed up his creativity. Check out this video, taken several months ago.

From New York Post:
http://www.nypost.com/video?vxSiteId=a89dc16f-1771-485a-8c76-3ebbf3072361&vxChannel=NY%20Post&vxClipId=1458_339092&vxBitrate=300

By the way, his wife and kids did move to Nebraska (in with her parents), but will return to N.Y. with him at the end of the school year. Seems like a nice story.

The proper way to abandon a baby

Various news sources are reporting that a young couple in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, has been charged with child neglect after abandoning their child at a fire station. After reading the headlines and lead to the story, I was confused because I thought S.C. must have a safe law that allows people to abandon infants at the hospital or fire station. Well, they do, but because the parents did not ensure the child was safe before they left, they have been charged. Apparently they left the child in only a towel in 30 degree weather. When the baby was found, it's body temperature was only 88 degrees.

So, I understand the concern and am thankful the baby was found alive. I wonder, though, about how much and how well the law about abandoning babies is communicated in terms of what is required of the persons leaving the child. (I doubt if people are using this route, that they want to stick around.) I mean they didn't put the baby in a bathroom at a gas station or in the trash somewhere. I am just saying, it seems they made an effort to do the right thing. They didn't do it right, but the effort was there. I just hope their arrests and charges do not deter people from "doing the right thing" in the event that some other young couple decides they don't want or can't take care of a baby appropriately. Just FYI, the father of the child is 21, I believe, and the mother is now 17, but was 16 at the time of the abandonment. I do believe in other outlets like adoption, but like adoption I'd guess this is a tough decision to make for the parents.

An update to: Charlotte, NC teachers reprimanded for web content...

...from the Charlotte Observer "Teachers and Facebook: Privacy vs. standards." What should we think? Are teachers held to a higher standard? Should they be? Are the sexual poses okay? What about the comments about the students?

Charlotte, NC teachers reprimanded for web content

Again - Social Networkers: Beware. Some Charlotte-Mecklenburg (N.C.) teachers reportedly (News 14 Carolina article here) had some images and content on their Facebook pages that some parents and school board members thought was inappropriate - stuff like "I hate my students" and "I work in the ghetto," and images of drinking or partying. Of course your opinion of what's appropriate and what's not is subjective, but some people are working the images and comments into a clause that allows teachers to be punished and/or terminated for unethical conduct. I'd be upset as a parent, but should these teachers' pages be irrelevant and untouchable by the school board? Do the teachers have an obligation to not post these things.... or just to make sure no parent, student or administrator sees them? Or should we just not care - it's just personal? Does the fact that because they work with children mean that we are not allowed to know that they party... or like some of the rest of us, don't like their jobs or the people they work with?

This isn't the first time we've talked about this kind of thing here - Social networkers, beware.

Tips for voting and for living

IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY VOTED FOR BARACK, YOU MAY HAVE TO WAIT IN LINE. JUST WAIT!

This is by no means a comparison, but you know you have to wait on Jesus. Just keep on waiting. RIGHT?

TAKE YOUR TIME. TAKE YOUR IPOD. TAKE A BOOK TO READ. TAKE A DAY OFF. TAKE ONE STEP AT A TIME. AND REMEMBER:

INCH BY INCH; LIFE'S A CINCH. YARD BY YARD; LIFE IS HARD. SO TAKE IT
SLOW AND EASY AND-- IT IS EASY!

BB

Technology advancements - a blessing or means to a curse?

To follow up on "Social networkers, beware", here's a tale of teenagers in separate incidences who are in trouble at school, and some with the law, for sending inappropriate images of themselves, by email and cell phone. The charges for one girl could include her having to register as a sexual offender - that's a lifetime stigma. And once you are on the a sex offender list, the reason why you had to initially register becomes lost. You are just a sex offender with the restrictions and discriminations associated with it. But, more in line with my earlier Beware post, you just don't know where these images may end up... once you send those things to other folks, you lose control of the images of yourself. The ABC news article discusses a boy who posted nude or nearly nude pictures of his ex-girlfriend online. I bet that wasn't what she had planned when she sent them to him - but that was before she broke up with him of course.

But I may be wrong, it may not be that these young people don't understand the possible repercussions, it might be that they just don't care. Should they care?

Means to a curse? Check out this article about how false and/or expunged convictions are making their way into background checks and spoiling people's chances at housing and employment. Database sharing and mining is causing information that has once been removed to pop up again, and it's ruining some people's lives.

Social networkers, beware

As if we all didn't already know, folks who want to learn about you are looking you up online, from Google searches to checking out your mySpace and Facebook profiles. Who cares about the girl or guy you just met checking you out? You may not, but what about a potential employer? According to a recent article a Reuters study shows that since 2006, the number of hiring managers who say they've used social networking sites to find out about potential employees has double to 22 percent. That may not sound like a lot, but as the article says -

"Here's the kicker: About one third of the applicants screened online were dropped from contention after inappropriate content was found on their profile. Yikes."

Some may argue that those things shouldn't matter, but the reality is that for many potential employers, they do. Also as the article states, the greatest danger may be for those transitioning from college students to job seekers. And remember, with these sites, it's not just what you post about yourself, but what others post about you and link to your profile. Again, some may say let folks be themselves and if what is depicted is true, who cares. But the reality is that for lots of companies, when bad press comes to an employee, the company name is often mentioned too and when the employer can chose between slutty alcoholic appearing Sue and clean cut Mary, all other things being equal, Mary probably wins.

Learning about love

A friend sent this article about love and relationships.... a few interesting facts. I think we've all heard that people in relationships are happier people, that's No. 25 on the list. But what about No. 20, that a man's beard grows fastest when he anticipates sex? Or No. 10, that women of the Tiwi tribe of the South Pacific are married at birth. Interesante.