FourBux

Demotivational posters

I just came across these…I used to have to make my own. These are terrific!

And there’s a ton more here…check them out.

On September 11

Well, it’s September 11.

The day that doesn’t even need a name, because it is one.

No matter how many times I’ve been tempted to write down my thoughts on that day, I keep coming back to the fact that my experience is no different than that of any one else. No more poignant or sad or shocking. Just mine.

The day the planes hit the towers, I watched the second impact live on television, after waking up to news of the first crash. After watching it, I continued to get ready for my day, then headed downtown. We lived in uptown Phoenix at the time, and the gravity of what had happened didn’t sink in until I realized that mine was the only car on the road in the downtown area, and where I would normally see passenger planes making their decent into Sky Harbor Airport, all I saw were fighter jets, circling the city.

That’s when I turned around went home, and joined my wife in front of the television, just in time to watch the towers come down.

I was the Art Director at one of the largest churches in Phoenix at the time. My wife worked in the Communications Department with me, and we instinctually just went to the office.

We weren’t the only ones.

When we got there, the doors were open, and the chapel was beginning to fill with people. As more and more people just showed up, we were told that grief counselors were on their way.

That was a time for people to just come sit, to be around others, and to try to work through their shock. The place was packed. Denominations and affiliations aside, we were all just people. There were candles lit, and in the dimly-lit chapel, some just sat and cried, others stared straight ahead, alone in their minds. Aside from the very real impact on an individual level, the idea that we were untouchable was gone, and it shook us to the core.

Even though the news footage replayed over and over for what seemed like an eternity, for a brief moment, we were all just people, there for each other in one of our collective darkest hours.

You know it’s going to be one of those days when…

You know it’s going to be one of those days when you’re driving down the freeway and the rolled-up sunshade on the floor of the back springs open like a parachute and shoots out the top of the car like two huge square frisbees.

I wanted new ones anyway…sigh.

PS - And yet, once here at the office, after coffee, I was greeted by Bill Thomas and Josh Gratton of the Phoenix Coyotes, and handed some free tickets. Either today is looking up, or I’m in the middle of some very strange dream. With internet access!

Game over - I lose

Regardless of the culture from which we hail, there are a few things that tie us together as humans, common threads if you would, that bind us into the adaptable, creative species that we are:

A mother’s touch.

The taste of a good meal.

Money. (I’ll also say maybe beads that one can exchange for other goods and services.)

And that sinking feeling, deep in your gut, that you get when you’re trying to speed across multiple lanes of traffic, you stomp on the gas, only to have the engine stall. You know what I mean. That feeling is closely linked to the warm, wet feeling in your lap as you try to get the car started again before four lanes of oncoming traffic goes all Frogger on your ass.
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Maybe I can get my title changed on my business cards

Sometimes this seems like a more accurate job description than the one I have:

Ironically, this design also just ended up on Zazzle’s Today’s Best list. Funny thing is, I was only trying it out to see what I thought of the Zazzle interface. Check it out.

So, you’ve heard of this place, huh?

Today, for whatever reason, I woke up with one of those WTF-did-a-bookcase-fall-on-my-head-last-night headaches. Combined with the fact that I’m not a morning person anyway, I was particularly grouchy by the time left the house. Since I was, of course, late, I didn’t have time to swing by the new Starbucks near my house, although on the ride in it occurred to me that a little caffeine may be just what the doctor ordered. I decided to drive fast and make up a little time, whereby freeing me up to stop at the one near my office. You know the one.

By the time I got there, I could barely see, so the order of the day was coffee, black, stat! When I went inside, there were only two people in line in front of me, so I figured it would be quick. Today though, the karma police were about to throw me in jail.

The first person in line, the one at the register, was a little old lady, probably seventy-five years old, and on any other day, probably the sweetest little thing you would ever want to sit and chat with over coffee.Today, however, I wasn’t having any of it. She was speaking to the tattooed/pierced/goateed barista dude that “Well, you know, I’ve heard of this place. I thought I’d come in and try it. You’re never too old to try new things! Can you explain to me what those are?” She pointed to the menu.
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