Giving to receive

When I give, expecting something in return, my motives become clear when my generosity is not reciprocated. I feel disappointed or bitter that the other person didn't return the favor. In this state, our relationship cannot improve because I have no joy in giving and they sense my displeasure. When I truly give to serve, my love is obvious and our relationship improves. Ironically, when I give without desiring anything in return, the other person will often sense my true generosity and be more likely to show love and care for me and bless me in return. We shouldn't confuse the returned favor as the reason we give; it's just a side benefit. We give because God gave so much to us and we want to share that with others.

If it is, is id in it?

A question concerning existence using all five two letter words in the English language that begin with the letter 'i'.

Each word is a different part of speech: noun, pronoun, conjunction, verb, and preposition.

One example where all the words are used sequentially, but not in the same sentence -- and id is not really a word in this case.

Here's another instance of all the words being used in a single clause -- once again id is not really a word.

The common phrase "if it is in" uses 4 out of 5 of the two-letter 'i' words.

No Regrets

No regrets means a couple things to me: first, living in such a way that you have no reason to regret the choices you've made.

Secondly, it can mean not regretting the decisions we have already made. If we are perfect in the first, the second follows naturally. Both definitions can be good rules for life.

But if we fail in the first (as we all will), the second meaning can have several different implications. It might mean never regretting what we've done, even if we were in the wrong. It is a position of pride. Alternately, we can view it as a learning experience, substituting regret with repentance and moving forward with our lives, knowing we can't change the past. It is a position of acceptance, from which, we are able to grow.

Memories

My dad banning me from reading children's books as a pre-teen. He wanted my reading to stretch me. I didn't like it at the time, but it has stuck with me and it has helped me to (usually) not seek simple filler but meaningful, thought-provoking reading material.

Social/conformity anxiety so great that I always relied on cues from others to determine how to act. When I worked with my dad, on the way home, I wouldn't roll down my window unless he did so first (and roll it up as soon as he did); I would not open my beverage unless he did first. Just one example of a lifelong pattern.

Aphorisms

Under-value yourself; over-value others.

How to end sentences with two spaces in web forms

For those obsessed with double-spacing at the end of sentences, I created this bookmarklet that can be used to add two spaces that won't collapse into a single space when viewed on a web page. It finds text boxes on a web page and converts all double spaces in them to non-breaking spaces (unlike normal spaces on the web, multiple consecutive non-breaking spaces don't get reduced to a single space automatically). I'm not sure why you'd want to do this, though.

GTE Country and Western Commercials

My grandfather worked for GTE, so when I found these commercials on a magazine insert record, I was thrilled.
The commercials, each one minute long, are country western songs with a brief persuasion at the end to contact the General Telephone Business Office in order to find out how to get GTE Starlite and Extension phones.

Titles:

1. The Midnight Call
   
   



2. Lonesome Suitor
   
   



3. Party Line
   
   



4. Yodeling Cowboy
   
   

The record was manufactured by Eva-Tone in Deerfield, Illinois. I don't yet know the production date or publication the record appeared in. My searching has yielded nothing about this record on the internet, other than that Starlite phones appear to have been released in the '60s. If you're familiar with such information, please let me know.