Detachment

One day, my son brought a gerbil home to live with us. We put it in a cage. Some time later, the gerbil escaped. For the next six months, the animal ran frightened and wild through the house. So did we - chasing it.

"There it is. Get it!" we'd scream, each time someone spotted the gerbil. I, or my son, would throw down whatever we were working on, race across the house, and lunge at the animal hoping to catch it.

I worried about it, even when we didn't see it. "This isn't right," I'd think. "I can't have a gerbil running loose in the house. We've got to catch it. We've got to do something."

A small animal, the size of a mouse had the entire household in a tizzy.

One day, while sitting in the living room, I watched the animal scurry across the hallway. In frenzy, I started to lunge at it, as I usually did, then I stopped myself.

No, I said, I'm all done. If that animal wants to live in the nooks and crannies of this house, I'm going to let it. I'm done worrying about it. I'm done chasing it. It's an irregular circumstance, but that's just the way it's going to have to be.

I let the gerbil run past without reacting. I felt slightly uncomfortable with my new reaction - not reacting - but I stuck to it anyway.

I got more comfortable with my new reaction - not reacting. Before long, I became downright peaceful with the situation. I had stopped fighting the gerbil. One afternoon, only weeks after I started practicing my new attitude, the gerbil ran by me, as it had so many times, and I barely glanced at it. The animal stopped in its tracks, turned around, and looked at me. I started to lunge at it. It started to run away. I relaxed.

"Fine," I said. "Do what you want." And I meant it.

One hour later, the gerbil came and stood by me, and waited. I gently picked it up and placed it in its cage, where it has lived happily ever since. The moral of the story? Don't lunge at the gerbil. He's already frightened, and chasing him just scares him more and makes us crazy.

Detachment works.

Today, I will be comfortable with my new reaction - not reacting. I will feel at peace.

AIM Triton

I downloaded the latest version of AOL's instant messenger, AIM Triton, last night and was thrilled to see that it includes AOL Radio with XM. Now I can jam all day without having to use Microsoft's memory hog Media Player. Go check it out for yourself. There's a ton of new features included if the radio isn't enough to get your attention.

AIM.com

The Mouse

A Mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package. "What food might this contain?"

He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning. "There is a mousetrap in the house there is a mousetrap in the house!"

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said "Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the house." The pig sympathized but said, "I am so very sorry Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured that you are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow. She said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you. But it's no skin off my nose."

So the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone. That very night a sound was heard throughout the house like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.

The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness she did not see that it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught.

The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital and she returned home with a Fever.

Now everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient. But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock.

To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer's wife did not get well. She died; And so many people came for her funeral the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

So next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and think that it doesn't concern you, remember that when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

In the book of Genesis, Cain said about Able his brother to our God: "Am I my brother's keeper?"

We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and be willing to make that extra effort to encourage one another.

SEND THIS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS EVER HELPED YOU OUT AND LET THEM KNOW HOW IMPORTANT THEY ARE!

Nobody makes the journey alone.

Back to Life

I've been more/less dead for the past 2-3 weeks after a back injury of some sort that I'm still clueless about. After a couple trips to the ER and a few bottles of steroids, muscle relaxers and hydrocodones I am going back to work tomorrow as well as re-enter the world outside my humble abode out here in the middle of nowhere. I'm sure just driving back to civilization in the morning will seem foreign to me but God knows I'm ready after being attached to my heating pad for this length of time.

CFMX 7
I suppose it has brought about some good because I have almost finished reading through the latest ColdFusion WACK book (1440 pages) and I must admit that all the rave about how kick ass version 7 is - it's all true. It's convinced me to upgrade the whole site from version 5 for my employer because of all the increased efficiency and functionality in so many aspects. As a total geek it's sometimes hard to decide when to implement the latest, greatest technology - just because it's the new big thing - or because it will really add something worthwhile to the application. In this case I believe there is so much we are missing out on that taking advantage of that it will truly benefit everyone involved.

OpenOffice.org
I've also done some looking around at different open-source applications and found a possible replacement for Microsoft's Office that probably digs into a lot of people's pocketbook on a regular basis. If you're game for saving a few hundred bucks everytime M$ decides we need a new release to celebrate the new year - or whatever reason they come up with for releasing bug-ridden software every 6-8 months at minimum - take a look at: Open Office. Yeah, yeah...I know...I'm a nerd. But seriously folks, nerds around the globe are starting to realize that there is NO need to re-create the wheel just to show everyone we can. With that said, OpenOffice.org is a muli-platform and multi-lingual office suite project that is compatible with all other major office suites and it's FREE! Go check it out and let me know what you think.

CFEclipse
Okay, I know I'm probably starting to sound like a major tight-wad by now but you must admit that the cost of software is rediculous and if you're like me then each time a new version of widget is released you've just got to have it. Then after you come down from the high of spending a few hundred bucks on your latest greatest geek widget you realize that you've been had once again and could've kept using the old widget and got just as much work done. As a matter of fact, you probably could get more work done because now you've got to learn how to use the new widget to do all the things you've already mastered in the old widget.

With that said, here's another open-source IDE for those of you out there that do programming or development work. For me personally, I've found the CFEclipse for Eclipse to replace Macromedia Dreamweaver. Why the hell would you want to replace Dreamweaver? Well, number one in my book (for now) is because it's free and there are so many people around the globe working on the Eclipse & CFEclipse project at this point that Macromedia will be supporting the CFEclipse project. But don't take my word for it, read more here.

I'll shut up for now because if you know me you are pointing & laughing by now because I'm rambling helplessly after being stuck at home with Jeff & kids for so long. And if you don't know me - well hell - leave me a comment because I don't really think anyone reads this damn thing anyway...

Hang by Matchbox 20

"Hang"

She grabs her magazines
She packs her things and she goes
She leaves the pictures hanging on the wall, she burns all
Her notes and she knows, she's been here too few years
To feel this old

He smokes his cigarette, he stays outside 'till it's gone
If anybody ever had a heart, he wouldn't be alone
He knows, she's been here too few years, to be gone

And we always say, it would be good to go away, someday
But if there's nothing there to make things change
If it's the same for you I'll just hang

The trouble understand, is she got reasons he don't
Funny how he couldn't see at all, 'til she grabbed up her coat
And she goes, she's been here too few years to take it all in stride
But still it's much too long, to let hurt go (you let her go)
And we always say, it would be good to go away, someday
But if there's nothing there to make things change
If it's the same for you I'll just hang
The same for you
I'll always hang
Well I always say, it would be good to go away
But if things don't work out like we think
And there's nothing there to ease this ache
But if there's nothing there to make things change
If it's the same for you, I'll just hang

Instructions for Life

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

2. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.

3. Follow the three R's:
- Respect for self
- Respect for other's
- Responsiblity for all your actions

4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.

5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.

6. Don't let a little dispute injure a great relationship.

7. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

8. Spend some time alone every day.

9. Open arms to change, but don't let go of your values.

10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.

12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.

13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don't bring up the past.

14. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.

15. Be gentle with the earth.

16. Once a year, go someplace you've never been before.

17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

12 Steps of a Relapse

1. I decided I could handle any emotional problem if other people would just quit trying to run my life.

2. I firmly believe that there is no greater power than myself and anyone who says differently is insane.

3. I made a decision to remove my will and my life from God, who didn’t understand me anyway.

4. I made a searching and thorough moral inventory of everyone I know, so they couldn’t fool me and take advantage of my good nature.

5. I sought these people out and tried to get them to admit to me, by God, the exact nature of their wrongs.

6. I became willing to help these people to get rid of their defects of character.

7. I was humble enough to ask these people to remove their shortcomings.

8. I kept a list of all the people who had harmed me and waited patiently for a chance to get even with them.

9. I got even with these people whenever possible except when to do so would get me in trouble.

10. I continued to take everyone’s inventory and when they were wrong, which is most of the time, I promptly made them admit it.

11. Sought through the concentration of my will power to get God, who didn’t understand me anyway, to see that my ideas were best and he ought to give me the power to carry them out.

12. Having maintained my emotional problems, as a result of these steps, I recommend them to others who want to lose their hard earned status and wish to be left alone to practice neurosis in everything they do for the rest of their lives.

~Source Unknown