9/29/2006

Things About Me!


- I hate stupidity. Not speech by the stupid, but speech that is so stupid that everyone knows fundamentally that the speaker could not possible believe what he is saying. The Phelps family comes to mind.
- People say they hate prejudice. I think they don't understand the word. I have a prejudice to McDonald's french fries, 57 chevys and DelMonte Catsup. It is when you let your prejudices get in the way of making an intelligent decision that it is wrong.
- Money is really easy to understand. Income must be greater than or equal to outgo. All forms of spending are in this equasion. Just because you don't have to pay the money back today doesn't mean that it won't be due tomorrow.
- I consider myself a conservative but mostly in the fiscal sense. I believe in change but I measure it in terms of outgo and income. If it costs more in the long run you better have a plan to pay for it.
- In this world there are people that cannot change. You must build a plan and bypass those that are frozen to the past.
- I believe there are many life skills worth having
Creativity This is the part of you that asks why and then thinks of a way to do it better/cheaper/different just to measure/or just different for the heck of it.
Listening If you spend as much time listening as speaking you will be a lot better off. I have a problem because I have a lot of good ideas and they come quick.
Speaking People that are successful can speak to one or a hundred thousand with equal ease. Just remember to listen now and then.
Reading I truly believe that my education started when my sisters taught me to read and will end when my eyesight no longer lets me read. I think that the sum total of classroom teaching is far short of half of my total learning.
Decision Making I can't impress you enough with letting children make decisions on their own now and then. Discuss what happened in an open way and truly help them understand that there are good ideas and bad ones and some really dumb one's out there that can kill you.

I have a chapter in my Franklin Planner (the Franklin part has long since ceased to exist in the daily part.) where I wrote down a lot of good ideas. On one page there is the note to not forget to bury the horses after you shoot them. I just wish I could remember where I read or heard that.

As a baby boomer (Born right after WWII) I went through schools that were crowded and all the classes were 30+. The High School (Wichita East) had almost 5,000 students and I graduated in a class of 1200. You can imagine that I hated school and the main thing I wanted out of school was me. I had a car, a girl friend and darn near a full time job. It is a wonder that I survived. I am thankful that I didn't marry my high school sweetheart. I probably would be living in Wichita and working in an aircraft plant.

Two major events happened that were for the good. First Donna's parents moved to Seattle and second she went with them. The best thing that ever happened to me was meeting my wife. She is by far the best thing that has ever happened in my life. Now all I have to do is live to the end of my life. Alls well that ends well. Be smart and have fun