Reality – expectations = ?

Reality – expectations = ?

If you simply change around a quote I guess it’s yours.

“Happiness equals reality minus expectations.” –Elon Musk
“Happiness is results minus expectations.” –Morgan House (The Psychology of Money book)
“Reality minus expectations equals happiness.” –Shelley Erwin

And just like that… I have my own quote. πŸ˜‰

Managing expectations is probably one of the hardest things to do in life. It’s part of the long-game journey, but no matter how hard we try to control what we expect (or want… or think we deserve), it simply doesn’t always turn out that way. Sadly, those struggles are also a part of the long-game journey.

It’s really only a fancier way to say we should be happy with what we have, isn’t it? It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive for greater things — or make an effort to change the things you want to be different. But you should appreciate and be happy with what you have and grateful even when your efforts aren’t as fruitful as you want them to be.

Honeysuckle woes…

I read someplace that you can start honeysuckle just by putting trimmings in water. That was my expectation — honeysuckle starts to replant along the ditch. Round two without a single root hair, I’m happy I have a place to cut wild honeysuckle and that I can smell its fragrance from a glass jar on my table.

β€œHappiness is not having what you want. It is appreciating what you have.” — Unknown

Today I Learned: The average man picks his nose around four times a day.


common sense has left the building

common sense has left the building

So much ado about the recent Supreme Court’s ruling — they’re calling it a blow to “LGBTQ rights” and say it will have far-reaching impact on minority groups that will chip away at civil rights protections in the US.

I say it’s basic common sense. πŸ™„

A Christian web designer refused to create websites to celebrate same-sex weddings. The justices ruled in her favor. First, there’s plenty of web designers out there… can’t you just go pick another?

There was a time (pre working with my favorite brother) that I developed corporate websites. I had some decent clients… MTV, Calvin Klein, etc. That drew other potential clients… like this big company that produced and distributed pornography and sex toys. Even though it was a corporate business — and I was in the business of creating corporate websites — I refused to do it. Wasn’t that my right??

When you provide “expressive” services that are customized, you should get to choose who you work for.

If I’m selling cars, or onions, or pickles in a jar, of course, anyone should be allowed to buy those commodities I offer for sale. No way should a business pick and choose their customers based upon anything other than if they can pay.

That’s not the same as being HIRED to provide a customized product or service. It’s my opinion that everyone should get to CHOOSE whom they work for. What does it say about our world when something like this has to be decided by the US Supreme Court??

If people aren’t happy with our constitution, maybe they’d like a constitutional monarchy.

Who should rule… a king or a queen? πŸ˜‰

Today I Learned: Khalid bin Mohsen Shaar lost a total of 1,195 pounds. His starting weight was 1,340 pounds and he lost down to150 pounds. He’s listed as the 2nd heaviest human ever at his heaviest, and has the record for the greatest weight loss to date.


why you shouldn’t use meth to treat cancer

why you shouldn’t use meth to treat cancer

Local sheriff’s departments share photos of new inmates on Facebook. I don’t know if other counties across the US do it, but Scott County shares arrests frequently… Jackson County not as often, but they still do it sometimes.

Of course, arrests with photos are available on law enforcement websites for every jurisdiction, but you have to actively go to each city/county’s URL to see them. Sharing on FB puts it out there on everyone’s feed and attracts a whole lot attention.

Not gonna’ lie, I struggle with how I feel about this.

First, if the arrest is of an addict, sharing the photo shames the family… not the one arrested. What good does that do, really? On the other hand, when arrests are shared, I always look to see if they are of someone I know. That’s human nature.

Is it good to have the suffering of others served to us when we’re scrolling through FB to read the things shared by friends and family? I don’t think so. But… if I see my contractor has a prior for murder — or that someone I was going to hire to do work in my home was charged with theft — then is it a good thing? Yah, probably.

There are always 2 sides.

I agree with both sides.

The world is saturated with information. Some good… but mostly bad. The media saying, “if it bleeds, it leads” is so true, isn’t it?

What’s your opinion?

Add 3-minutes every single day for 30 days.

What if we unplugged from social media and information saturation for 3 minutes today? And what if we added another 3 minutes tomorrow… and continued this for 30 days?

At the end of that 30 days, every day forward we’d be cutting out one hour and a half of mindless negativity that penetrates our brains. Even more important… every day, we could add 1.5 hours of doing something that adds joy to our lives.

Who’s with me on this? πŸ™‚

TIL (Today I Learned): Graying is a sign of active hair growth. Gray hair is also both thicker and faster growing than pigmented hair.


here we go again?

here we go again?

I got boosted for COVID on 11/8/21. Add 14-days to that. Right now, I should be walking around with all sorts of protection against the virus. Come to find out… I’m still vulnerable to the new strain? Maybe? They say they’ll know more about Omicron in about 2 weeks. That’s about the time I get home after being exposed to a bajillion people at Disney. More people I know personally — KNEW personally — are dead.

I know this sounds selfish, but just as meetings are coming back and I’m actually making money again… we have another scare. How dare science mess with my livelihood!! Right? But it’s not just me. The Dow was down 1,000 points — the biggest dip in a year. Zoom (more virtual meetings!!) and Peloton (exercise at home) are the two winners closing more than 5% up.

I predict… and I REALLY hate to even THINK this… but I’d bet calls for events not already confirmed will dry up until at least mid-January. Likely even longer if the variant shakes out more bad news. And if that’s not bad enough, Covid-19’s latest side effect is “restless anal syndrome” per the NY Post. Don’t know about you, but I sure don’t want a bad case of that!

I think my FedEx driver — the one that delivered a box to me weighing about 75 pounds or so — has that anal syndrome. Rather than deliver my box in front of the garage or at the door, they simply kicked it out in the middle of the driveway.

FedEx driver with anal syndrome

The only good thing going on right now is the sun is still shining. It’s motivating me to do housework I need to finish and do a little more Christmas decorating. Sure hope we don’t have another Zoom Christmas this year!

sun is shining in my living room

I haven’t told the Peskies yet, but I will probably stay away from them for 7-10 days after I get home. Still plenty of time to be ‘all clear’ before Christmas.

can you keep a secret?

can you keep a secret?

I have friends who would take a secret to the grave. (You know who you are.) I have other friends that can’t wait to hear something ‘gossipy’ so they can tell at least one other person — of course, they tell them not to tell. I have much respect for the friends I can trust.

I’m not talking about secrets because any of my friends divulged a secret of mine, but because I was recently told a secret. There was one other person the secret was shared with — and I wouldn’t trust that person with anything I wanted to be kept private. Time will tell… it always does.

Not gonna’ lie, you guys… I love juicy grit. “He has a girlfriend?” “Does his wife know?Yes, I listen to that. Not because I care… and sometimes not because I don’t care… I just like to know stuff. Admit it, you do too.

That’s not the same as a SECRET. For example, if a friend said, “He has a girlfriend,” it would be sharing grit if the person referenced was a classmate that doesn’t run in your circle anymore. If your friend says, “He has a girlfriend,” and she’s talking about her own husband, now that’s a secret. Not your story to tell. (And that’s NOT even close to the secret I was told — only an example.)

I know I can keep a secret. Can you? Do you always?

In the spirit of secrets, here’s a photo of a batch of cookies I made this week. Recipe not included… it’s a secret. πŸ˜‰

heath brickle cookies with peanut butter

What’s not a secret is Indiana COVID numbers are trending upward — and that’s before and March Madness, spring break or the upcoming removal of mask mandates. Indiana positive case numbers are up 29.38% in seven days and Jackson County numbers are up 45% over last week’s seven day tally.

And for interesting grit — also not a secret — Perry can cook a mean steak on his Blackstone Grill… but don’t tell anyone.

grilled ribeye meal

TIL (Today I Learned): In the original stories, Sherlock Holmes was addicted to cocaine. When the author, Conan Doyle, learned more about the dangers of cocaine, he wrote that Sherlock Holmes had quit cocaine by being gradually weaned off it by Watson.