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WITandWISDOM(tm) - December 18, 2003 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: It's a misnomer that our talents make us a success. They help, but it's not what we do well that enables us to achieve in the long run. It's what we do wrong and how we correct it that ensures our long-lasting success. - Bernie Marcus, Founder of Home Depot Cited in Bits & Pieces magazine, http://www2.ragan.com/html/main.isx?sub=226 Source: DailyInBox: Bits & Pieces, http://your.dailyinbox.com/bp/ ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: It was Christmas Eve 1972 in Bangkok, Thailand. My husband was working late that night as an assistant to the chaplain of Crown Bowling Chapel, a U.S. military chapel for all faiths in the heart of the old Siam. The day was hot and outside the little toys for tots had been passed out to the gathering orphans who had been smiling their way to "just one more gift from Santa." We felt good about giving to those dirty and semi naked smiling urchins who never missed an opportunity to celebrate our holidays when there was something good to receive. But us, the Americans, the support troops for those in Vietnam? We were homesick, so homesick for an American Christmas. Where was the snow? A better question was 'when was the next monsoon in mangoland -- you could set your watch by those! Where was the familiar sounds of "Jingle Bells," "White Christmas," and "O Tannenbaum"? Lots of glitter to buy at the floating markets but where was just one good mall to gather up presents for good ole Mom and Dad? My husband, Don, said he had a surprise for me, to not miss the last Christmas program of the day, so I walked the half block to the chapel in the dark feeling very alone and empty of any Christmas spirit. As I stepped inside the fragile dwelling, I noticed the place was already filling up. The Army chaplain was greeting the visitors warmly, I could see that ... but suddenly to one side of the chapel I took a double take. "Who was that?" The excitement grew inside me. There was a whole row of stunning girls but that's not what caught my eye. In the middle of the row of lovelies, sitting quietly, waiting for the midnight mass was Bob Hope. He looked kind of small next to big hairdos and spike heels and flashy crowns. Actually, he looked remarkably ordinary. "Bob Hope!" I said louder in my head - WOW! Out of his busy schedule, Bob Hope had come to our chapel, in the middle of the night, to share OUR silly Christmas. Suddenly everything Christmas descended on that small little Army chapel in the middle of busy, downtown Bangkok, and we ... ? Well, we had Hope! Written by Nancy (the Notetaker) Troyer, Copyright (c) 8/1/03, mailto:Nan7banner@aol.com ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: Elementary School Excuse Notes: 'Tommy was not in school yesterday because he thought it was Saturday.' 'Diane was late on Wednesday. She fell asleep on the bus and was taken back to the bus yard.' 'Scott didn't practice last night because he lost his tooth in the mouthpiece of his trumpet.' 'Eric hurt his knee in a karate tournament over the weekend. He won his age group, but was in too much pain to do his math assignment.' 'Jerry was at his grandmother's yesterday and she did not bring him to school because Jerry couldn't remember where the school was.' Source: Smile a Day Newsletter (c), http://www.net153.com/best.htm ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: Since my 16-year-old son recently received a prepaid cell phone as a gift, I've asked him to use it to call home if he's out past his curfew. One Saturday while waiting up for him, I dozed off in front of the TV. Later, I woke to realize that there was no sign of him and no call. Irate, I punched in his number. When he answered I demanded, "Where are you, and why haven't you bothered to phone?" "Dad," he sleepily replied, "I'm upstairs in bed. I've been home for an hour." By Don Jentleson, Dayton, Ohio Source: Reader's Digest, Copyright (c) November 2000, http://www.readersdigest.com/ ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Planetarium This site is a virtual clickable Flash planetarium. http://www.neave.com/lab/space/planetarium.html Arca Max New Sites, http://www.arcamax.com/cgi-bin/subconf |