38 Years Old. So what have I learned?

Today is the start of my 39th year on this planet. Yep. It is JP's birthday!! So I figured now would be a good time to do a top 10 list of the "important" things I've learned so far:

1. If you start something, you must finish it. From the smallest thing, to the most important thing you undertake, follow through. Complete what you initiate.



2. The pursuit of something is often much more exciting than the obtaining of something.



3. No matter how many advanced educational degrees you have or credentials you possess, nothing can take the place of good old common sense. Because the ultimate truth is what's really in your heart.





4. True happiness and contentment is not found in what others think of you. In fact it really is all about how you perceive or picture yourself.



5. A dog can teach you all you need to know about enjoying life and appreciating every day as it comes.







6. Heroes are important. Noble figures and icons inspire the heart and help you to strive to be more than what you are, to think of others more than yourself, to do what is morally right, and to do more than what you thought you could do.



7. If you know the rules and thoroughly understand how they work inside and out, you can break ALL of them!

8. Loving someone and having them love you back, is the greatest gift you can exchange between two people. No other thing even comes close.



9. There is no such thing as an impossible situation. There are always possibilities. You sometimes just need to gain some perspective and think about it from a different angle or position.



10. Faith. It really can move mountains.

Closest to the PIN!! WINNER!!

This past Saturday I played in a charity golf outing for the Susan G. Komen foundation to support breast cancer research:



It was a beautiful day and I had a blast. My team finished in 3rd place overall. But I scored a few things. I won the par 3 closest to the flag contest, so I received my first golf trophy:



And along with the trophy I received this little prize as well:



I like it!! I actually won this playing golf!?! UNREAL!! Who knew you can win this kind of stuff? OK, so I have to admit I'm hooked. Well part of it is that they gave me one of my most favorite of all things, A WATCH! I don't know what my fixation is with watches, or time in general, but I love them and pens come in a close second. Not sure, but this one is pretty special since I got it doing the sport I'm obsessed with and love. Also, since I can hit a golf ball almost 3 football fields I typically will have a shot at winning the longest drive contest too, but in this outing I slammed one down the fairway, but it rolled off to the rough so it didn't count. Oh well... So now I'm looking forward to the next tournament where I can get more shiny objects!

The Second Worst Day of My Life

Having read Soozieq's recent post on the crappy day she had, that got me thinking to what the equivalent day was for me. Well absolutely hands down the WORST day of my life was finding out Sharkey had breast cancer. But that event doesn't fit the bill of the kind of day Soozieq was describing. Her day was a series of one tragedy after another. Fortunately, ( well unfortunately for me)I have a similar tale to tell....

So this day happened oh about 6 years ago. Back then Sharkey and I had lived in PA just over a year. We still had the original Chlo-Dog too (Chloe. Sharkey called her Chlo-Dog). If you don't know, Chlo-Dog was the predecessor to Penny and our current cuddle dog Maggie. This is where our story begins.

See since Chlo-Dog was up in age, she didn't have the ability to hold her pee for more than 3-4 hours. So Sharkey and I took turns going home for lunch to let the dog out. So I'm zooming home at lunch and I get 1/2 way there and before I know it there's a township police man with his lights on in back of me. BAM!! Speeding ticket for $150. That wasn't the worst of it. Coworkers of mine were passing by while I was pulled over, so of course they honked, pointed, and laughed at me as they drove by.

So I go home at the speed limit, and I walk into the house and realize the dog isn't there wagging at me, happy I'm home. So I call the Chlo-dog and she comes sulking up to me with the "I'm sorry I did something really bad look" on her face. So I walk around and find there was a wonderful pile of puke on the carpet. WONDERFUL!! So I clean that up, grab a quick bite,then go back to work.

So I'm back to work and one of my wonderful coworkers decides to send me an e-mail on my minor infraction with the law to break my balls. So of course I try to laugh it off, even though I was pretty annoyed. So being the mature, sensible adult I am, I decide to use my knowledge of Information Technology for evil. I decide to send a LAN message to the person harassing me in e-mail. See the beautiful thing about doing that is the message pops up above all windows on the persons desktop, and they have to acknowledge the message by clicking "OK." You cannot ignore it and just get to it whenever you decide to like e-mail. It's annoying to a point and was perfect for this person. So I send a few messages, telling this person I'll get them, someday, when they least expect it, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday soon! I know, I'm such a menacing presence...

So later in the day I talk to that person to tell them I was just kidding and that I thought everything that happened was pretty funny when I sat back and thought about it. And I asked her, "Hey did you like the LAN messages I sent you?" She replied, "What messages, I didn't receive any LAN messages."

CCCCCCCCCRRRRRAAAAAAAPPPPPPP!!!!

WORST DAY OF JP'S LIFE CONTINUES TO DAY 2:

So the next day, I get into work and about 9AM I get a phone call from corporate security. It seems that the user ID I keyed for my LAN message went to the wrong person. So I ended up freaking out a woman in Southern California, who thought someone was out to get her; so much in fact that she had to go home early. That's just great... So I talked with corporate security, fessed up to what I did (what? I couldn't deny it, right?) and then the guy thankfully laughed and told me just to make sure to not do that again. I said "Sure no problem, no more LAN messages, got it..."

So what did we learn here kids? Well, bad things seem to happen in 3's like everyone thinks. If the dog pukes, it's not the end of the world it's just puke (yeah honey it's a ripoff of your strudel line I know..). Township police speed traps are totally avoidable when you know where to look for the speed timing lines. And the #1 lesson is don't send LAN messages with people who have a really common last name (i.e. Smith, Brown, Johnson, etc.)

Labor Day Ritual #1: Long's Park Art Fair

Sharkey and I have certain "Must Do" events throughout the year. Ever since we've known each other we've always sought out contemporary art fairs. If we are in the Twin Cities at the right time, we will wander around the Minneapolis Uptown Art Fair. And if we are home in Philly around Labor Day we will always attend the Long's Park Art Fair in Lancaster. We love it. It's a lot of fun to see what the different artisans from around the country showcase and sell. Some of the pieces we have in our house have come from the local art fairs we've gone to.

Today was a wonderful day to be outside as well. Gorgeous!! No humidity, sunny, and just blue skies everywhere! The art fair consists of various artists setup in tents around a lake in Lancaster, PA. We arrived at the park and the ducks were even having a great time on the lake.



There were many, many cool things, some of which I took pictures of and can share with you:

6' Metal sculptures:





Yes even dogs are subjects:



Funky Brooms! Not at all like the ones you buy at Target!



Mobile of frogs playing tennis. Pretty funny, but very cool...



Colored Glass. It's so much better than even this picture can show..



So there were also a lot more things showcased. There were very cool photos, very nice paintings, and some fantastic surreal art, which is my favorite, but of course those tents "requested" we not take pictures of their work for obvious copyright reasons. So we had a great day and we are looking forward to the fall art fair in November, which is the Philadelphia Museum Art & Craft Show in the Convention Center.