I was going to use this blog the way I heard that you were supposed to, keeping a sort of public diary, reflecting a side of you that you didn't mind sharing. Or perhaps just intending to put up all those nuggets of information and witty things that you have collected, written, or discovered. However, I find it is hard for me to do that kind of un-targeted posting. I am accustomed to knowing specifically who is listening, and tailoring my wit or lack of wit to the audience.

We all know people who will just keep on talking, even if it is not clear that anyone is listening. "I went to town yesterday", they might say, " and the traffic was terrible, and down there in the neighborhood where the Caseys used to live, you know, the Caseys that had the son Adam who went to Yale with our neighbor, and now lives in Arizona . . . .yadda yadda yadda" and your eyes glaze over, not knowing about or interested in Adam or the Caseys, but it doesn't seem to matter at all to the chatter. They will go on and on, until they are out of steam, it seems.


I think you have to have a little of that in you to blog properly, I guess. I always have been the type who immediately stops talking as soon as they stop listnenig. I have always sent a joke to a specific person, or responded to an e-mail with someone specific in mind, perhaps something you wouldn't want to send to someone else you know. I can see that your mentality definitely has to change for this kind of thing. You lay yourself bare for ANYONE to read, or maybe NOBODY to read. Sort of scary either way.
RGB

I always was fascinated by the repetitive, creative, interlocking images by M.C. Escher. I once read a scientific article on the computer analysis generation of such images. Here is an even more artistic and kind of unbelievable animated extension of this. RGB

tessellating animation

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RGB

Behold the duck
It does not cluck
The cluck it lacks
It quacks
It's specially fond of a puddle or pond
And when it sups
It bottoms ups

Ogden Nash


Get used to it, all posts don't have to meaningful RGB

I tried my hand at being in commissioned sales years ago. I came away from it realizing that most everyone has to be a salesman as part of living to some degree, having your ideas accepted, or "bought" by others, or other sales-like behaviors. However some people are more in phase with sales than I am. Some people actually get a pleasure out of the "winning" of a deal or coming out on top. I see the value in that, but never had it affect me that way. Any successes I did have, I perhaps found gratification in the money earned, and sometimes proud of the knowledge I brought to the table that made it happen, but not the actual sales rush that I have seen in some people.

However, I once met a man, Ira Hayes, who could have inspiration for anyone's doings in life, even though he considered himself a sales trainer, and champion of the sales types. He spoke to a conference I went to, and he is was a motivational speaker of national note, like Zig Ziggler, W. Clemant Stone, etc. Early in his career, he sold cash registers on the street for NCR, and he rose to management in that company. I won't go into the pitch, but I really loved his enthusiasm, and I still think about and use some his simple, no nonsense ideas. For instance, he said, when somebody asks you how you are, just say Great! That's all, Great! They don't REALLY want to know how you are. they have troubles of their own. It's better to be a listener than a complainer. It's hard for me to say something bad about someone without at least sandwiching it with good comments, even if a stretch. Although I do, and have done my share of grousing and whining, I truly am impressed by people who keep the positive attitude out in front, and I try to do the same. They're Great! I'm inserting here a scan of the Hayes dollar I have kept in my wallet for ?? years.

RGB

Here are some quotes I have saved:
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The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists. -Japanese
proverb

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The believer is happy; the doubter is wise. -Hungarian proverb

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Solitude, though it may be silent as light, is like light, the mightiest of
agencies; for solitude is essential to man. All men come into this world
alone; all leave it alone. -Thomas De Quincey, writer (1785-1859)

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In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.
-Robert Frost, poet (1874-1963)

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