CommenTerry

Classic Rants and Raves #45

A series of small missteps can be more lethal to success than a major blunder.       

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Exactly how many "trials of the century" occur in an average decade?    

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I hate to admit this, but the plot lines of most of today's movies and TV shows are way too sophisticated for me. I have great difficulty following along with them.

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Most charities will show their gratitude for your donation(s) by quickly asking for more. 

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If someone you've never heard of sends you information about an "investment opportunity" and first makes a point of telling you that he/she is a Christian, there are two things you can be sure of. First, the investment opportunity is bogus. Second, that person is not a Christian. Discard that letter quickly! 

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There is one downside to having good credit -- you are constantly being bombarded by credit card offers in the mail, even from companies with whom you already have several cards.

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Philip Morris is now distributing a booklet on how to quit smoking. Do you think Budweiser or Miller would ever distribute anything on how to quit drinking? Don't hold your breath.

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Just as ignorant notions seem silly to the intelligent, intelligent notions seem silly to the ignorant.

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Someone once asked me why the Pope is often referred to as the Pontiff. While (being a Baptist) I'm no expert in the area of Catholicism, I took a stab at answering the question anyway. I explained that part of the Pope's job is to pontificate; in order to legally pontificate, one must be a Pontiff!

Random Rants and Raves #128

When searching for a previously visited website in Internet Explorer's dropdown "address" window and are unable to find it, it can usually be found at or near the top.            

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Partial obedience will often be counted as disobedience.   

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To be a critical thinker, one must pass everything he or she hears, reads, or sees through the prism of common sense and avoid taking anything at face value.

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One who is willing to win any cost does not deserve to win.

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Why did President Bush recently attend the graduation ceremonies of an insignificant high school of only 18 students? Okay, so the high school is in Greensburg, Kansas -- the town that was devastated by a tornado last year. But what's the point?

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Hillary Clinton rails against the Bush Administration for being friendly to the "well off and well-connected." However, the fact that she's well off and well-connected makes her railings ring hollow.

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One way to maintain a smile (or perhaps a smirk) on your face is to always think of a funny joke, of just something silly.   

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I'm all for lowering the drinking age to 18. If some people want to ruin their lives with alcohol, beginning three years earlier, that's fine with me.

Is it I or Is it Me?

Here's a good way to determine whether to use 'I' or 'me' at the end of a sentence. I call it the "verb test." First, try the sentence using 'I' with the most logical verb possible, i.e., 'am', 'was', 'have', 'had', etc., behind it. Does the sentence make sense with that verb at the end? If so, use 'I'. If it doesn't, use 'me'. For example, "Billy is taller than I (am)." In this context, the 'am' makes sense, so use 'I'.  However, let's look at another example, "Do you want to go to the store with Billy and I (am)?" That sentence sounds silly with the 'am' (or any other verb) at the end, doesn't it? So, it should be, "Do you want to go to the store with Billy and me?" That concludes today's grammar lesson.

Classic Rants and Raves #43

People in many parts of the world hate the United States because they feel that we have "too much" freedom. That seems rather curious to me because, if anything, I don't think we have quite enough freedom.       

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It's funny how many atheists seem to have such a strong hatred for God, a being whom they supposedly believe does not exist.    

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If a person lacks knowledge about a given subject, it's usually because he or she has never had enough interest in that subject to have taken the time to learn something about it. For example, I've never been interested in auto racing. Therefore, I've never taken the time to learn anything about it.

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Any entrepreneur or investor who is unwilling to lose much money is unlikely to make very much money. 

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There is one major downside to microwave ovens: While you can cook food very quickly, the food cooked in them also gets cold very quickly. 

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It's a shame that a person can't buy himself/herself out of problems more often.

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Here are the newspaper sections I always read: national headlines, state headlines, editorials, obituaries, business news, and sports. Here are the sections I sometimes read: weather, weddings/engagements, advice columns, and movie reviews. Here are the sections I never read: horoscopes, home and garden, funnies, and TV reviews.

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It's funny how one mistake can often cancel out another. For example, this morning I sent out an email with the wrong subject line (I had copied and pasted the wrong one). Fortunately, I also typed the email address incorrectly, which caused the email to be bounced back as undeliverable. That second mistake saved me a little bit of embarrassment.

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I have little tolerance for silly mistakes, especially when I'm the one who's making them!

Classic Rants and Raves #42

Just when I think I have something figured out, it throws me a curve!    

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What's the difference between pro wrestling and a circus? Two rings!

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A recent study confirms something I've suspected for a long time: A person cannot be fat and healthy at the same time. According to the study, a person who is obese is unhealthy and is at serious risk of heart disease, even if his or her other factors, i.e., cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, and blood sugar are all good.

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Some people seem to be confused by what is meant by wind chill factor. Wind chill factor simply measures how the temperature feels to the skin of people and animals. However, water does not have feelings. It will not freeze into ice at temperatures above 32 degrees Fahrenheit, even if the wind chill factor is well below 32.   

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If you're not already sick before being admitted to a hospital, you will be before being discharged!

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One characteristic of almost any fanatic is that he has difficulty understanding why there are people in the world who aren't fanatical about what he's so fanatical about.

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Don't you just hate it when you pay cash for something at a checkout counter and the change comes to a penny or two? It's the proverbial no-win situation. If you wait for your change, you are thought to be a cheapskate; if you let the clerk keep the change, people will sarcastically say to themselves, "oh boy, big spender!"

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Discipline means to always be willing to step up to the plate -- even when there's no food in it!

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Don't talk about how special your late husband or wife was if you have since remarried.

Classic Rants and Raves #41

Never make important decisions while you are either bored or ill. I would estimate that over 90 percent of the stupid decisions I've ever made came during one of those times in my life.         

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If a law or ordinance seems stupid to you at first blush, it probably is - regardless of any convoluted explanation as to why it is not.    

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Just because something is competitive is no reason to shy away from it. I think of it this way: No matter how competitive something is, it has to produce some winners and one of them might as well be me!

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Anyone can start something. The thing that separates the men from boys and the contenders from the pretenders is the ability to stick with it to the end.

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Keith Olbermann and other bleeding-heart liberals seem to think that white heterosexual males should be so ashamed of their "privileged" status in life that they should never even consider complaining about anything. 

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No matter what kind of nifty solution you may come up with for a given problem, someone else always has a better one!

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"I can't" is often used as a euphemism for "I won't."

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Performance appraisal: A vehicle by which employers encourage their employees to lie about their goals and accomplishments.

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A common misconception is that most of those who aren't on any prescription drugs are healthier than most of those who are. While some of those who aren't on regular prescriptions are indeed healthy, the majority of them either don't have access to health care or choose to forgo it due to fear, financial reasons, religious beliefs, etc.

Do You Really Know What You Would Do?

I've often heard people say that, if they knew they only had a short time to live, they would go out and live it up during their remaining time on earth. However, I wonder how many people would actually do this. I bet many of them would become so paralyzed by fear and depression that they wouldn't be able to do anything, even the things that they had been doing.

Classic Rants and Raves #40

Local politics is the most political form of politics.       

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There's one major hazard to getting rid of something bad: something worse.    

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Don't follow the crowd. Instead, be yourself and some of the crowd might follow you!

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Some women seem to suffer from Scorned Woman Syndrome (SWS). Other women seem to suffer from Empowered Woman Syndrome (EWS). But I know of some who actually seem to suffer from both SWS and EWS! Naomi Judd is a prime example. I guess that makes her a real mother Judd! 

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On Super Sunday two years ago, I was asked if I was going to watch Grey's Anatomy after the Super Bowl. I responded by saying, "Only if Grey is an attractive female!" 

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The low fuel light has to be the most redundant item on an automobile's dashboard. Drivers who don't bother to check their fuel gage probably wouldn't pay any attention to the low fuel light either.

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Some things happen despite multiple layers of precautions in place to prevent them. Other things won't happen despite every effort to force them.

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I'd like to thank every one who has ever put me down or insulted me. Honestly! Put-downs and insults have been a great source of motivation for me. Without them, I would probably be living a shiftless life right now.

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Try to consolidate the trips you make in your car as much as possible, i.e., try to squeeze as many errands and stops as possible into one trip. However, use the opposite logic when it comes to walking. Do as few things as possible each time you get up off your backside - so you'll have to keep getting up!

Classic Rants and Raves #39

I've found that the folks who go around preaching about the evils of capitalism are some of those who have benefited from it the most.      

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I once met a lady who laughed almost all the time. One day I said to her husband, "Hey, your wife laughs more than any person I've ever met." He replied, "Yes, that's the good news. The bad news is that, 90 percent of the time, she's laughing at me!"    

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Recently, I've been watching reruns of the 1980s' series, Highway to Heaven. A show like that would be considered too maudlin to be made today.

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Fighting a war is often necessary, as was the case with the Revolutionary War, World Wat I, World War II, and the first Gulf War. However, we should view war as a necessary evil and stop romanticizing it.

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I guess a lot of people are like me -- scared to death of change, even though it could probably benefit them more than just about anything else. 

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The thing I hate the most about weekends is that, by Monday morning, I have difficulty rekindling my interest in whatever I was so fired up about on Friday afternoon.

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What doesn't kill me, causes me great pain and anxiety!

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At this point in my life, I don't really need good news in order to be happy; I'm perfectly satisfied with the absence of bad news.

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Ancient Chinese Proverb: Man who take out trash too early in day need to take it out again before day over.

Classic Rants and Raves #38

Not many things are more frustrating than scribbling something down in a hurry and then not being able to read your own writing later.       

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I hate shopping for any kind of potential major purchase such as home, a car, furniture, or large appliances. If forced to make a choice between this kind of shopping and a root canal, I'm not 100% certain that I wouldn't select the root canal!    

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I hate social events. No, I'm not antisocial. In fact, I like being around a lot of people. I just don't like being in a situation in which I feel pressured to socialize with anyone. Actually, I do a better a job of socializing at events where the primary focus is something other than socializing.

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As long as my health remained okay, I would want to continue to stick around indefinitely just to see what happens with all the new technological innovations, even if I had no other motivation for living.

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It is not my responsibility to prevent you from doing evil; it is your responsibility to refrain from doing evil. 

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While flipping through the radio stations in my car the other day, I came across "I Want It That Away" by the Backstreet Boys. Ironically, the next station I switched to was playing "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by the Rolling Stones!

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I'm a lot more mellow now than when I was in my 20's and 30's. I guess it has to do with the fact that I know, even if I live to be 100, I likely have less than 20 good years left. Therefore, I don't have time to waste getting upset and/or worrying about things that don't amount to a hill of beans.

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We all know that the companies that sponsor TV programs run their commercials during those programs. But what about the commercials that air after one program ends and before the next one begins? What exactly are the companies that run those commercials sponsoring?

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Any time there's a big winter storm, no matter where, members of the media will say it's the worst winter storm to hit that particular area in many years.