Critical

Are you a critical person? Are you a person that finds fault in a lot of things, or can't resist pointing out something that could be done better? I am, and I wonder if I am passing it along to my offspring. I was talking with one of my kids the other day about how they seem to "complain" a lot. I asked if they complain as much with other people, or just me. To their credit they said they do it the same with everyone. Of course, being critical myself, I probably noticed the complaining more than other people, but that's a side track. I read in some article in a magazine, or newspaper a long time ago, before the Internet that President Abraham Lincoln had a philosophy of not speaking or expressing criticism with those that worked for him, or with him. He would remain silent if he could not say something uplifting or positive. Of course, I am not sure if this is a truthful story, as I can't cite a source, but non-the-less it gave me an idea. I suggested to the younger Laughlin that they spend a 24 hour period of no criticism, negative comments or expressions. No rolling of the eyes, no put downs, no correcting another person, and no complaining. They accepted the challenge starting at 8AM the next day and going for 24 hours. Of course, I didn't take the challenge myself, because I am a parent, and as parents say "Do as I say, not as I do." :-) This of course is a way of justifying our hypocrisy! After the challenge period had been completed I decided to do a little followup and see how well they did. They said it was very, very hard, especially at school, but they thought they did a pretty good job. I asked if it made them smile more or if they enjoyed the day. The response was they spent most of the day quieter than normal, and attempted to be expressionless. Which of course was not what I wanted... I was hoping to remove the negative, and allow the positive to shine through... Instead I got no negative and no positive... So now it's my turn to take the challenge... Today is Friday the 3rd of March. To be fair, I am going to do it on a regular day of work, rather than a fun filled weekend. So starting this coming Monday the 6th for 24 hours starting at 8AM, I will not be critical, or at least not express it. Think I can do it? Think you can?

Web Host Changes

The web hosting provider I use, www.readyhosting.com, is updating their systems. In doing so it's caused a little disruption in our website, and our blogs, so I apologize for any problems. Hopefully these will be corrected by the end of the weekend. Thanks for your patience.

Fundraisers

Tonight I am going to a "Parent" meeting for my son's scout troop. The chairperson of the parent committee called last night to setup the meeting, and said that they wanted to put the final touches on a fundraiser they will be doing for the troop to raise money for summer camp. He explained that they were doing a hoagie (sub) sale, where the boys take orders, then the committee either buys the hoagies, or has the boys make the hoaiges, and then they are delivered to the customers. They usuaully have a couple different types of sandwiches such as Italian, Ham, Turkey and/or Roast Beef. In the past these hoagies have been a huge 18" in length, and sell for around $6.00. Where I work we have about 35-40 people who are in and out of the office throughout the day. Of these people a good portion of them have young people, so there is usually always some fundraiser form in the employee "kitchen" and of those fundraisers most of them are either candy or hoagies. To be honest, I am just a little tired of eating hoagies. Isn't there any other fundraisers any longer? Is that all groups can sell or do now a days is hoagies or candy? And why is it that the "kids" assume that the parents will take the order forms into work for their co-workers to buy... What ever happened to door to door in the neighborhood? Oh yeah, I forgot, we don't live in a safe society any longer... So I need a good idea for a fundraiser... Something other than selling something, or at least not selling the same old same old... Ideas?

Out of it...

To the few readers of this Blog, I must apologize for the lack of anything new since Feb. 22nd. I got a few new toys, and I was way too wrapped up in playing with them than just about anything else. As you know I got the new 30" Widescreen HDTV and the DVR to go with it. Well I also got a new DVD burner, and a new DVD player. I have been spending all my free time burning DVD's. I have already used just about 1/3 of the blanks I bought, and they came in a tube of 100 blanks! I am spending so much time creating the DVD's I don't have time to use them, so I decided I need to slow down a little bit. :-) Well believe it or not, but I did do a few other things this past week. My mom was in the hospital for a "near heart attack". She went in Saturday and got out on Thursday. She has had a kidney problem most of her life, so this heart thing was pretty serious. The good news is she appears to be doing much better. When she got out on Thursday I stopped over to her place, and helped her get her groceries. I haven't been shopping with my mom in years. I also visited my great-aunt Mary Thompson, who is in a local nursing home. She isn't doing as well as my mom, but she is keeping her spirits up. I was supposed to go see her again with my brother this past weekend, but I was out on a date with my girlfriend. I hope she is still hanging in there. My girlfriend took me out to see the show "Wicked". I don't get to go to the theater very often, so I was really looking forward to the show. We got there, and our seats were at the very back of the theater, but we could still see everything pretty good. The show was very, very good. I highly recommend it! It creates a whole new way to look at the classic movie "Wizard of Oz." Hopefully I brought you up to speed of the things going on in my world... Maybe the next post I will update you on the rest of western PA! :-)