Stormbringer's Thunder

Buon giorno. Today's lesson on time wasters is when people and things are unreliable. F'rinstance: Cell phone service should be there when you need it Internet service should be consistent Cable TV service should be available on demand Your auto's battery should start it up The can opener should open cans every time, or Fido and Fluffy will start to get cranky and demanding The airplane should stay together from takeoff through landing "Big deal, Uncle Bob! We know all that stuff." I'm glad you're paying attention. Now, how about people? You should be reliable on the job. If the boss considers you unreliable, don't expect that promotion, raise or even continued employment Your boss should pay you for your work Your friend should be reliable and willing to share your burdens You should keep your appointments and be on time A pathological liar hammered you again, and he should be honest Your doctor should diagnose your condition accurately ...

Look, I can't make them put a quality product in the dispensers. If they want to take the cheap way out, people will just use more. Then, the cheapskates will actually wind up paying more. Oh, hi. Glad you're here. I was discussing cheapness with Nicky. I'm not going to talk about that with you. At least, not today. But I am going to talk about wasting money and time. "Is this going to be a GTD thing, Cowboy Bob"? I think it qualifies, yes. Thinking back on my past lives and how much I have changed, I realized how much I felt that I had to accumulate. Years ago, it was difficult to get a decent audio recording from a television broadcast. Technology was different, and I was poor. I had to rig up something, splicing into the TV's speaker wires and using an input on the cassette deck. I just had to have the sermons by certain TV preachers, and built up a sizable collection. This ran into money for tapes, stick-on labels, cassette storage albums (they...

We get the frequent message that perseverance is the highest virtue. "Never give up! Persist until you achieve your goal!" I disagree. Sometimes, we do have to quit. And I'm not talking about smoking or boozing, either. Let me over-simplify an illustration. Lucy never played fair, and Charlie Brown never kicked the football. Any sane person would have said, "This situation never changes. I'm tired of playing the fool. Instead, I'll prop up my football and kick it. You can watch." But it depends on your investment. Let me quote from Dee Lauderdale regarding your Return On Investment: "When you’re about to buy something, try to determine it’s potential ROI for your life. The return isn’t always financial but try to determine if this item or service will add value to your life. Will this purchase make your life easier, more fulfilled, or less stressful? Will it give you long-term happiness? Then only buy stuff that has a high ROI....

Buona sera. This will be an odd lesson in personal productivity, I guarantee it. Yours truly took a while to "come down" after some "discussions" in a forum with some arrogant atheists. (It wasn't even a forum that is set up for religious debates; they kept interjecting their snide remarks in the other discussions.) Flames were shooting out of my eyes when I was done. Readers of this Weblog know that I have written up my problems with their "logic" and their antagonistic attitudes. You should also remember that I really do not care what someone believes as long as they do not attempt to destroy the faith of others. These people who try to destroy the faith of others are the same ones who cry, "Stop cramming your religion down my throat!" A Christian is offering their message of hope because they are motivated out of concern for where the other person is going to spend eternity. By the way, do you know what the atheist offers? To strip away...