How True!

Old Friends

It was a most unusual experience, losing one friend—or someone to whom I tried to be a friend—and finding another. The friend I lost didn’t understand that friendship is a two way street, and the entire burden of the friendship was placed on me. Everyone understands the stress of that situation.

A short time after the non-friend, friendship was over, I noticed a phone ID on my business phone, one of those easy to remember numbers that ends in 00. The name indicated was someone I knew a long time ago who had moved. We lost contact.
So I called the number yesterday, and it was the same person. He had dialed a number incorrectly, and got mine. Bizarre, huh?

What more bizarre than that? This old friend comes to Florida for business consulting at a location that is a few miles from where I currently live. We’ll have lunch on his next trip. That’s something to look forward to.

Life is interesting.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

The year 2008 ended with a roar. I became so busy there was little time to take a break. So I took an extended vacation for—the first in about ten years. It felt so good I decided to take a few vacations every year, and leave my old habits behind.

Frequent vacations help people recharge their batteries—so to speak. Human beings need a break from the daily grind to reduce the stress that builds up. Stress can impose chronic and acute illness on individuals.

Stress in the body produces an increase in the hormones adrenaline, noradrenalin and corticosteroids. These hormones generate tense muscles, queasiness as well as an increase in breathing and heart rates. Long-term stress may cause the following complications: allergies, digestive problems, heart disease (including hypertension), and panic attacks.

Fortunately, none of these became an issue for me. That’s because I exercise vigorously several times a week.

So, as you might have guessed, my New Year’s resolution includes frequent vacations—at least three per year.

Is Starbucks Safe To Visit?

Sounds like a dumb question. No? Yet I have good reason to ask. Lately, I’ve noticed some very loud and possibly violent people spending time there.
One morning, there were two obnoxious types in my usual Starbucks hangout. The first arrived as I finished reading my newspaper. He hooked up his computer and went online. Very soon, he was on his cell phone yelling at his stockbroker. Something I’m sure happens frequently these days.

I wasn’t eavesdropping, but this individual was yelling so loudly, the entire patronage of the store could hear his business. He was upset that he still had 150,000 shares of AIG. A quick calculation for that day indicates that’s more than $400,000.00 worth of a stock that’s going down the tube.
“You told me to buy them,” he argued. The stockbroker must have told him it would take a few days to sell that much stock, because he yelled again. “Then let it take a few days; just get rid of it. I’ll take a small loss.” After about fifteen minutes, he calmed down.

Then a friend of his walked in. They exchanged pleasantries.
Soon they were both speaking loudly into their cell phones. Customers were cringing at the tonal quality of their conversations. As if that was not annoying enough, another angry man walked in, sat down across from loudmouth number two, and the pair began their shouting match.

It seems that loudmouth number two owed the new loudmouth number three nearly $1000.00 for more than a year. It became so heated a conversation they nearly came to blows. Maybe they did after I left.

Isn’t it sad that one can no longer sit in a coffee shop to read in peace and quiet?

How do they do it?

Poor Bastard

By outward appearances, Mark was an ordinary man; some might consider him an extraordinary individual. He served on the Interstellar Media Commission, directed award winning films, and attended church services every week. Other than his compulsion to attack young and innocent girls, preferably under 12 years old, he was a perfect member of the community.

Too Funny for Words