Take my Advice

I wll be the first to admit it ~ I'm addicted to advice columns ~ Have been since I learned how to read the Newspapers, Family Circus, Hagar the Horrible, Garfield, Peanuts were read first then on to the good stuff The Ann Landers Column.... Being hit with a Wet Noodle was a common phrase in our household.  The advice given by Ann & the orignal Abby (not the daughter who writes it now) is very much missed by me. th enew one Dear Amy who took over most of Ann Landers Syndicated contracts when she passed away is to this day AWFUL in her advice giving. If i were to write in to her for advice I would do the complete opposite of what she says tro do.. 90% of the time her advice is AWFUL my 4 yr old nephew gives better advice..  Abby's daughter tries but it's not the same. Although tha tmaybe becuase today's world is not the same as it was when Ann & Abby appeared & the fact that it seems homespun common sense is dying in today's world....
 
Do I give advice yes I do I do so constantly of course to me it's only My Honest Opinion NOt really advice per say..... 
 
The best advice I've ever gotten ~ Not sure what that is but I'm more than positive it has to be something I've learned from the PE.      

The best advice I've ever received was from my father.  It is, in fact, the quote on my eyedentity:  If you would change the world, begin with yourself.

*sigh*
I have learned from fighting crime that with great power comes great responsibility...
 
But my favourite advice to GIVE relates to Mexican food or that bean and chili pepper-infused Ark-Mex that is common hereabouts as well (I think I may have addressed this before, but it is certainly worth repeating):
 
1. Never eat anything that looks the same going in as it will coming out. Refried beans-no.
2. Always have some ice cream after Mexican, or you might end up 'sittin' in the brainch', as my Uncle Bob liked to tell about the pup who ate the peppers. In his world, the brainch was the crick-same difference.
3. Never, NEVER eat anything bigger than your head.
 
Rules to live by, and prosper. 
 

Don't pee into the wind.

Life  is  complicated,  and  thoughtful  men  &  women  are  insecure.   Furthermore  we  live  in  times  when  overnight  everything  can  change.  Technology  brings  us  other  people's  insights,  but  it  also  shrinks  the  planet  to  the  extent  that  even  North  Korea  may  now  pose  a  nuclear  threat  to  the  United  States.  I  put  on  a  brave  face  as  I  have  over  the  years,  others  after  all  depend  upon  the  reassuring  demeanor  of  someone  in  authority  urging  them  to  enter  harm's  way.  But  inside  I  am  often  childlike,  perhaps  because  I  have  the  responsibility  of  raising  a  15  year  old  daughter  in  today's  world.  So  I  force  myself  to  keep  up  my  speedreading  skills,  I  network  with  those  with  expertise  in  any  relevant  area...and  I  have  reacquainted  myself  with  the  power  of  prayer.   It  has  never  been  easy  for  me  to  ask  anyone  for  help,  but  it  gets  easier  as  I  mature.  My  dear  virtual  friends  here  are  a  magnificent  resource,  since  I  am  a  quick  study  at  learning  from  the  experience  factors  of  those  whose  judgments  I  respect.  Perhaps  it  is  helpful  to  have  a  base  of  individuals  for  whom  I  can  rely  on  for  advice,  and  thus  for  the  courage  that  it  takes  to  cope.  Ironically  you  can  be  accurate  or  inaccurate,  the  critical  component  is  that  I  feel  in  my  heart  of  hearts  that  I  am  not  in  the  lifeboat  all  by  myself.

Sometimes God gives you a gift, when it doesn't look like a gift...

pick more daisees and wear purple.

Mine is also advise from my Father and my eyedenity quote.
 
Make your first shot a good one because it's going to be your last one.
 
 

I just have one thing to say, and Jennifer, I hope you're listening:
Move on, honey. MOVE ON. That rat Brad is not worth a single tear. You still look great in a bikini, so learn to love yourself for who you are. Somewhere out there is the right guy for you, and then you'll have your preggers pics on the covers of all the mags.
Chin up, dear...

Olivia,  the  preface  to  your  comment  "I  have  learned  from  fighting  crime..."  intrigues  me,  since  it  strikes  close  to  home.  Some  day  could  you  elaborate?  My  regular  email  is  notguilty1969@hotmail.com  if  you are  not  comfortable  going  public.  Your  biographical  comments  did  not  address  this  issue,  but  I  did  lmao....   And  whoever  Jennifer  happens  2  B,   she  is  lucky  2  have  U  4  a  friend.  So  many  men  ARE  snakes.....But  life  is  about  daring  to  take  chances,  and  about  moving  on.  JunkyardDog

"Never play cards with any man named "Doc." ???

;-)

I'm sorely tempted to give advice here (I do it for a living for Pete's sake!).   For the umteenth time I want to send folks off to Nassim Nicholas Taleb's 'The Black Swan'.... and then I think, "Maybe you should follow Candide's final advice and simply 'cultivate your garden'..."  In any event, I like the graphic at the top of this column. It sums it all up:  Yes, No, Maybe....on a die.

"You don't tug on Superman's Cape. You don't spit into the wind.  You don't pull the mask off the ol Lone Ranger, And you don't mess around with Jim."   And Olivia, I didn't realize you were an Arkansawyer as well.  And here I was thinking I was the only one on here.  My identity has taken a huge hit.  I don't know what I am if I am not the only one...  If you have never been, you need to go to The Flying Saucer in the Rock and watch The Crumbs play.  It is my father-in-law's band, and they are incredibly fun.

Olivia ~ you forgot to give props to Spiderman for the quote.... I totally agree with you about Jennifer Aniston, & I still maintian MissIve's point of view that Angelina going to eat Brad..
Doc Nolan I happen to be more in love with the Magic 8 Ball's advice giving powers rather than a dice or in the case of scrubs the Invisible Magic 8 Balls advice giving powers....
By the way has anyone read the advice columns today?  
 
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/columnists/advice/chi-0708-ask-amyjul08,0,3078157.column
 
http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/abby/1655951,CST-FTR-abby0708.article
 

phony54, your not alone.

  sleroy2794,

"Sometimes God gives you a gift, when it doesn't look like a gift..."

That's just genius is what that is. I would have taken more words and been less clear to try and make the same point.

Too often when we, as the home of big egos, see our best laid plans fail, we spend time mourning or pouting and miss out on recognizing the better thing that has come our way instead.

Very well said and always timely.

 
 
"...with great power comes great responsibility..."
was originally in a speech to be given by Fdr, but he died the day before it was to be delivered.
 
 
http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2005_10_06.html
 
 
 
but nobody asked me so I will shut up.

miss blue, this little box we type in, never stops asking "what do you think?". 
 
always enjoy what you have to share, don't shut up, please.
 
as to the question of the day,~ i think ~ the advise is relative to the question.
 
question everything.
 

Olivia,  I  was  just  informed  by  my  friend,  coworker,  and  confidant  that  "Jennifer"  was  Ms. Aniston,  "Brad"  was  "Brad  Pitt,"  and  furthermore  that  I REALLY REALLY  NEED    GET  OUT  MORE...lol    Nevertheless  your  advice  stands...."move  on,  girl....mn  are  snakes!"   {memo  2  file:  store  this  response  under  "men  are  ALSO  stupid" ... lol}

It may surprise some here at the Eye that with my gentle, unassuming, loving, kind, patient, and accepting nature, I like to use the Sarcastic Magic 8 Ball for advice.  It's perfect for work.
 
Q: Will I get that raise?
A:  Yeah, and I'm the pope.
 
Q:  Will the meeting end on time?
A:  You've gotta be kidding me.
 
 

Advice?  One word - plastics!!

JD-I have some experience of men, especially GENTLEMEN (I only referred to BRAD as a rat-I know many lovely men, and am happy to include all the Eye Guys in that group.). I was waiting in demure and patient silence while your realization came to fruition, as I knew it would eventually. You are indeed a man among men, and I mean that in the best possible way.
 
phony, I live in North Little Rock. I'm a city mouse, while I believe our own cuukoo is the rural analogue. Together we have it about covered out here. I've been to the Saucer before, but the Crumbs weren't there-perhaps they were on the Bread Plate. Anyroad, I'd enjoy that experience greatly, and thanks.

JD-forgot to mention...as we older Eyes all know, I'm about as comfortable in public as one can get. I've posted my email address here several times, and received great benefit therefrom, so I'll do it again!
 
oyeringsl@comcast.net
 
Maybe I should just put it in my profile. Yeah-that's the ticket!

make sure your sprinkler is facing the right way when you turn it on.

Until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man,all human wisdom is summed up in these two words: wait and hope.                 -Alexander Dumas,pere,Le comte de Monte Cristo

  I think Lincoln's advice: "To destroy your enemy, make him your friend," has always been under appreciated.

Once, in a club car, of all places, some business men that I knew were heaping praise on a fellow for a series of moves that he had made to: first capture the market and second; gain control of his despised competitor's business.

In a break in the conversation, I suggested to the guy that to really complete a Machiavellian hat trick, he should now take that competitor on as a partner.

Snorting and scoffing ensued but it wasn't coming from him as he just stared.

Twenty-five or thirty years later, I smiled upon reading of the sale of their mutually owned business to a national firm for a lot of money.


A single friend, getting over a bit of heartbreak arising out of tossing a beautiful live-in, unfaithful girlfriend, spent a night here and like most guys, wondered how had I ever managed to win my quiet, pretty and sweet wife.

That being one of life's great and unanswerable mysteries, I suggested that he, instead of looking in not very nice bars, go to a laundromat or, even better, to school where the kind of woman he was looking for was more likely to be found.

He got into trade school, found the right woman, married her and went on to become a successful, well-to-do electrician with a nice family.

I have always taken a god-fatherly interest in them.  

"remember that the young think gardening is the passion of the middle-aged because they have grown too old for sex"
 
hah!

Too old for sex?!?        I have replaced sex in my life with food; now I can't even get in my OWN pants...(a stolen quote, I cannot lie) 

When I was a young gun at the  airlines I was sent to Long Beach to my first industry meeting on setting safety standards for the MD-11.  ( a long time ago)  I was being sent there to replace my boss.  Not really knowing what the purpose, protocal or the agenda was did not daunt me from my fist experience on the industry's stage.As the time to depart for Long Beach drew nearer and nearer I pursued my boss for advice.  Like tell me what this is all about, and what is my role.  I got nothing untill I was standing at his office door with bags in hand..."anything?!" I asK.  He says "well what ever you say stick to your guns, they are a tough crowd."Still young and not daunted.
 Turns out when I arrived, I discovered I was the newly elected chairman of the committee.  I followed my gut's advise and gracefully stepped down from that responsibility I was not prepared for. Turns out it was like the cartoons, all the knights stepped back and I followed my gut through that project and many more.
 Separetly, I find the best advice is that which comes from your heart.  It is there where the experience of "human-being" overrides the experience of "human-doing" and gives real purpose to the meaning we share with each other.    My advisors on living: 1.  Heart2.  Gut3.  Head4.  Others  There is a virtue in knowing what alreay is
 In business turn the list upside down ...there is good sense in accepting that you don't know everything

I never make stupid mstakes. Only very,very clever ones.      -John Peel, 1939-2004

also:     Fun is like life insurance; the older you get, the more it costs         Kin (Frank McKinney)Hubbard  -  1868-1930

Shandonista ~ A the Sarcastic Magic 8 Ball ? LUFF IT ~  Were do I get one?! (or about 6 so I can give them as gifts?)

He who tooteth not his own horn, the same shall not be tooted         Damon Runyon,1884-1946

from my daughter, "adapt".

Paul Murphy~ I loved your advice. I have found, over the years, that admitting what I don't know is not only liberating but also makes learning so much easier.  I suspect this is why many people don't wish to be young again.   At work, I take great pleasure at publicly admitting when I'm wrong - it takes people by such surprise! 
 
rings90~  A friend gave me the 8 ball when I started a new job.  Here's one website that has it:  http://www.officeplayground.com/sarcasticball.html
 
Stoney~ Your advice to the man on the train is a variation of what my mother once told me about how she managed to get along with people she didn't like:  Kill them with kindness.

And honestly, who better to be your partner than someone who knows all about the business?  Who needs an MBA?
 
 

Thanks for the triopod link, Stoney, and thanks for voicing my exact thoughts to Sleroy.  Still, I have to say it myself, THANKS SLEROY and welcome.
 
PaulMurphy, I hope you will forgive me. I am not sufficiently skilled as a typist to suggest editing your post above, but I think the appreciation I have for "[your] fist experience on the industry's stage" is not what you originally intended...
 
 
;

Cuukoo, I wish my daughter would TAKE that advise!

The only thing I know about advice is that one should NEVER give parenting advice, especially when it is asked for. It is the quickest way to lose a friend.

"don't be a tool"

and "don't be bitter"

I love relevant quotes. I read a few every day on a website called QOTD, from a guy named Van Horn, on Widbey Island,Washington.             I am sure he would love all you eyesters to give him a look.                         I use them as teaching/learning tools; the art of being a raconteur, as I must be to excell in a business that has a one to one relationship with the public, is well served by a relevant quote.    And being able to fill in a little history on the quoter, shows the avuncular level attained by this quotee.   It lets me see the level to which you understand the words, word pictures I will use to help you understand the remedy for your IAQ issue.      (IAQ   indoor air quality)

moniker
 
the question is not what you look at, but what you see.~henry david thoreau

"Better to keep your mouth shut and have people think you are a fool than to open it and have them know" 
 
which is, after all, another way of saying "Always refuse the blood alcohol test."
 
Has anybody else noticed how we choose our advisors based on the advice we know they will give? 

Barney Fife: Well, today's eight-year-olds are tomorrow's teenagers. I say this calls for action and now. Nip it in the bud. First sign of youngsters going wrong, you've got to nip it in the bud.
Andy Taylor: I'm going to have a talk with them. What else do you want me to do?
Barney Fife: Well, don't just mollycoddle them.
Andy Taylor: I won't.
Barney Fife: Nip it. You go read any book you ant on the subject of child discipline and you'll find every one of them is in favor of bud-nipping.

And it is usually worth what it cost you. Except for the "Don't stick your tongue on any metal with frost"

Miss Blue this is for you and anyone else that needs "bodywork"

DRAT!! the link wasn't included. and I went to IE just for that task from Fiefox just to be able to do it

I will long hand it        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMGlbOGu8q0                     ; it has to do with healing; and as CSPAN is my bacground whitenoise,and they were just on healthcare.......

and even that didn't seem to work   DRAT     try going to youtube and searching Homeopathic A&E   I do not downplay the quality of Alternative treatments of any type, I had studied accupuncture and accupressure. I have that rare ability to"see with my fingers" and understand deep tissue.     But this clip is funny.

My two cents for the day:
 
Best advice compliments of my mother and mother-in-law.....both, now sadly gone from us:
 
"That and a nickel will get you a seat in the park."
 
"Keep moving....."
 
"Smile, darling."
 
"If you have to flaunt it, your imagination approves more than the public will."
 
"It's always the darkest before the dawn."
 
"Have a nice dish of peaches...." 
 
One that I have in my cookbook.....taken from the movie, "Clue":
"You cannot make an omelet without breaking some eggs.  Every cook will tell you that."
 
 
And, because I can't resist, one that's been around the e-mail circuit:  "If it has tires or testicles, it's gonna give you trouble."   
 
And my advice to anyone:  "Don't ask me for my advice, because I'll give it to you."

 ah......a lil' daily tarot...
 
"The Seven of Chalices card suggests that my power today lies in
possibility. Luck is relative -- still, I choose wisely and am not alone.
When I envision, expect and choose great things, I will identify, pursue, and
experience great things. I keep my options open and acknowledge emotional
clutter or unrealistic expectations. I am empowered by desire for meaning and my
gift is opportunity or epiphany."
 
allow yourself to live outside the "box".

The best advice I have ever got was to not listen to advice. Unless it's really good advice...

 
 
"To thine own self be true. And it must follow as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any one. "Shakespeare
 
 
"Watch out where the huskies go and don't you eat that yellow snow" Zappa
 
 
"Don't take the brown acid. " Woodstock Soundtrack

 
 
"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. " Sun-Tzu
 

 " Keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel."  Doors

I'll take any good advice I can find...finally old enough to have learned that one!

When I woke up this morning on day two of my sixth decade, I was somewhat relieved to see and feel that nothing of significance had changed, and that yesterday was merely a toll booth and not an exit ramp from thesepia highway I am traveling. One of the thoughts that I had as I did a quick and dirty inventory of life so far.... You know, doing an updated weighing and measuring to get a fix on how I'm doing thus far, and these words that I've heard and often used came to mind,....... I am what I am...... 

...... "cos everybody has gotta be something".

Sure it's only a flip way of stating the obvious..... but I think it qualifies for today's topic if you squint hard when you look at it.

If not, there is always the old plumbing adage ..... "left is for HOT, right is for COLD, and Shiite always runs down hill"

Peace out

" You've got to do, what you've got to do."  -Dad (never a man to mince his words.)

From my late mom, to me, in times of Great Despair (mine):

"Make yourself a scrambled egg."

"Put on your lipstick and your eyebrows."

"Don't call him."

 Peter (John) Lake!  HAPPY LX!     iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii< candles make a wish!

A demonstration in not knowing and hence seeking advice.  I guess I am a bit thick headed here and cannot appreciate what Willie Trask is not appreciating in my story on Long Beach.  IS it right in front of my nose???? I could ask for advise from the patrons of the Eye to help me appreciate the non appreciated, and march off in 360 different headings or....I can ask Willie...WHAAAAA did you syaaaaay?  I am currious as to how many directions you all could send me.  OK I was out coaching my daughter in tennis.  I was staning back against the fence watching her serve.  I said "C around the ball, toss it a little higher."  She gave me that look that 14 year olds are good at it. I said Claire, "I am not your dad, I am your talking mirror you should listen. " Still the look.  So I said stop "come here".  So with her now standing at the fence next to me I pointed to the servers spot on the base line.  I said "can you see yourself serving from here".  She said "of course not because I am staning here."  I said but when you are standing there serving and I am staning her watching do you think I might have a good view on what you are doing right and you are doing wrong."  Still the look.  She went back to the base line and drilled four aces in a row.As a dad you would like to think he was listening, or perhaps she just improved. I've been told my my advisors, that the truth will come out in about 10 years.   

for some reason the format feature is not working for me today

JYD, Olivia HANDLES snakes. She told us, and I believe anything she says.

DOCNOLAN, based on your Eye words I'd play cards with you; Our Host has space to fill and viewpoints to present. Pshaw.

PeterLake, bless you, I love it, I love it, it reminds me of my son's 'don't waste time pissing up a rope.' Stoney, as always, solid philosophy...in spades. I love You Men (but you knew that, just as you understand my caps).

I'm often sought for advice and for hearing words I must take to my grave, and don't know why...discreet I am, I make a stab at understanding human nature, which intrigues me, I'm not quick to judge; that's all I can reckon. But a load have I to carry to that grave (rather, to the Medical College, which gets me when The Time comes).

Best advice I ever heard or gave is "With privilege comes responsibility," which I constantly taught my children -- words whose origin, now, I can't recall, but they have the ring of JFK, who'd have surely read them, he being he -- and given credit if he indeed spoke them. Equally, "You do what you must, and put up a good front." Family, especially Daddy. Re Privilege et al., I research Bartlett's...

time passes...............

Bartlett's mentions something vaguely similar but nowhere nearly as crisp, as succinct, spoken by John D. Rockefeller in a speech in 1941 (who wrote his speeches?) I say don't give him credit.

Maybe I made it up out of whole cloth...I do that.

p.s. to Bikini Day: a favorite line from 'Seinfeld,' spoken by Jerry on two occasions: "There's some information I simply don't want."

oh, dear, can we say 'pissing'? if i disappear, somebody help me....

DZ      I will take that with me on my travels. Well said. Thank you

John, I'd enjoyed your earlier words, somehow missing your later ones, which are cogent and just right.

And Happy Sixtieth Birthday, dear friend!! Welcome to Sixth-Decade-ism (if it's not a word, it is now). Without you, sepiatrain, and all that implies, I'd be lost. I catch it, as you know, always, and welcome the catching, the knowing....

Its image remains as clear as the day of its appearance, and I'm grateful for all you add as we travel, amending and emending in the best possible senses.

ps I never thought about the sepiatrain's being just as easily a sepiahighway. But of course it can be. Is.

PL, are you in your sixth decade, meaning you are 50ish, or in your sixties ( which I believe is technicaly your seventh decade)?:
1st: birth to 10
2nd 10-20
3rd 20-30
4th 30-40
5th40-50
6th 50-60
And I recognize that a decade actually runs from birthday to birthday, so maybe only from, say age 10 to age 19 and 364 days, etc.
 
As Stoney has already suggested, Sepia makes us all seem more, um...MATURE. 

   so PL   are you 50 or 60ish?....Happy Birthday anyway!

Thanks  so  much  for  the  electronic  address,  Olivia.   I  realize  disseminating  personal  contact  information  is  risky  in  today's  world,  but  sometimes  I  feel  the  need  to  respond  to  something  you  say,  but   I  don't  want  to  put  you  under  the  magnifying  glass,  if  the  subject  matter  is  personal.  You  are  my  Queen  of  Quality  Metaphors,  girl....quite  an  honor,  since  I  love  language,   especially  when  it  is  spoken  by  smart  &  funny  women.   There  is  this  complicated  side  of  you,  but  don't  "dumb  down"  anything  you  post  just  to  spoon  feed  me...mystery  is  a  good  thing.    It  is  challenging  to  think  that  I  have  to  try  to  remember  unraveling  socket  &  washer  encryption  technology  just  to  fully  "get"  the  nuancy  innuendos.   Hey,  is  that  thing  just  before  "comcast"  an  exclamation  point,  or  a  slash?  

*putting on her teacher glasses, stern look*
 
Neither a borrower nor a lender be...

  Paul Murphy,

What format feature?

Miss Blue,

Well, that was about as pleasant a half hour as I have ever spent. While
I wasn't looking she must have altered my pants because they were the same length coming out but had not been going in. Very cool. Thanks so much.

Willie Trask,

The beauty of the tripod is that you can just park the cam somewhere and let it work.
We ought to do drinks with sleroy-eh? 

Happy birthday, Peter Lake.......I've already begun enjoying your cake, as you can see.  There's enough for all of you.  :~) Mangia!

Since Pam's not here right now, I'll do this for her...
 
A little advice from Mister Louis Armstrong (and that's Loo-iss, not Loo-ee, thanks very much! Modulate...)
 
Grab your coat and get your hat
Leave your worries on the doorstep
Life can be so sweet
On the sunny side of the street

Cant you hear the pitter-pat
And that happy tune is your step
Life can be complete
On the sunny side of the street

I used to walk in the shade with my blues on parade
But Im not afraid...this rover's crossed over

If I never had a cent
I'd be rich as rockefeller
Gold dust at my feet
On the sunny side of the street

I used to walk in the shade with them blues on parade
Now Im not afraid... this rover has crossed over

Now if I never made one cent
I'll still be rich as Rockefeller
There will be gold dust at my feet
On the sunny
On the sunny, sunny side of the street

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMNDc-cyeAw
 
 
 
 

  The nicest thing that my late mother ever said to me: After watching me "operate" at a family picnic:

"You might be the only person I ever knew who treats old people like you knew them as kids and kids like you'll know them when they are old people."

I really didn't know what the hell she was talking about but I think, now, that it was meant to be complimentary.

Stoney, I am with you on those drinks.    I will have to set up the 'corder and let it roll on the table that way sometime.  MY real purpose is a series of stills backed up with music, but I suspect that may be more complicated to get right than a simple moving picture.  Plain is often harder to get right than complicated.
 
One of the surest signs of age is an affection for rain. ... Olivia, I apreciate Mr. Armstrong's advice, but here in the sunny southland, I am inclined to go with "Don't you know each cloud contains, pennies from heaven..." To my extreme delight, the bottom is about to drop out here.
 
Speaking (as I was) of choosing your advisor based on the desired advice ( usually "go ahead and do what you want to") I once knew a woman who would ask and ask and ask. Once she had the confirming advice, she ignored all of the rest, but steadfastly insisted she was acting on advice, not her own preference.  In an odd way, this is like calling a dictionary a novel- all of the words for a novel ( almost ANY novel) are in there. You only have to put them in the proper order.
 
When people  genuinely do not know their own minds, or can't solve a dilemma, I sometimes recommend a coin flip. I find most people are skeptical, but my point is not to let the quarter decide for you, but to let the quarter show you what (you don't recognize) you want.
 
Here is an example provided by a recent conversation with Mrs. Trask.  I may not have all of the facts exactly right, as my mind was not entirely on the conversation:
 
She: Willie, Should I put on this dress or watch TV?
WT: I don't know, which did you want to do?
She: I can't decide.
WT: Then flip a coin. Heads you wear the dress, tails, you vote for the other guy...
She : Don't be ridonculous.
WT: Heads it is, put on your red dress, Mama
She: I really don't want to.
WT: OK, then don't.
 
As I recall, she did eventually put something on after all. The coin flip forced her to take sides, though, when she honestly believed she had no preference.  She is a stern Traskmistress, but she doesn't mind  ruling the  foredeck sometimes, too.
 
(confidential to Paul Murphy: You typed FIST when I believe you meant FIRST. Readers of some of the racier lit on the web these days would associate "fist experience" with something invasive.  It sounds like your fun in Long Beach was much cleaner than that...)
 

THAT, Stoney, is the best compliment I ever heard. In my life. And I believe it of you.

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may all your dreams and wishes come true
 

Here is what I learned today..Andy's last name is Taylor.  Put me on a game show, I'm ready now.   I too added two contacts of good people.   Olivia,  I have you in my book at O Peterman.  Always good to have an alias.  You could be Oscar.  Reading your post i was imagining that librarian with her finger to her lips looking over her glasses with a heavy shhhhhussssh.  But I have to say your new pic is one of a fast trackin woman.  Junkyarddog,  I have you as Junkyarddog.  If the Feds get my contact list, I'm going to jail.
 Stoney, All my content is bunching into run on paragrashs.  Off to make my trophy chili....stuff is coming outof the garden and we're livin off the land.  Tonight anways. cheers and gday.

   Willie,

A new guest to thesepia train club car, not realizing where he was, once complained about his unhappy night and rocky day.

His comments were answered by several of the ensconced regulars:

"God God, man, those were some of the most insightful, wise and useful words ever spoken by one man to another. Sit, drink, do not think and we will visit later."

Later, of course, never comes.

 

I sometimes think the best advice I give is advice I give to myself.... and the best advice may simply be 'Don't give advice!'  (I routinely violate this particular advice -- daily.)  BUT I think (based on precedent here), I can quote my Irish-American momma: 

Love many; trust few; and always paddle your own canoe.

To transpose Vonnegut an octave (and changing the key), perhaps it's true that nothing I say is true -- including this statement.  Then again, maybe it is.

the worst advice i've ever gotten, was not to seek any.....trust me!  yeah baby!

Best advice:  "It's all about balance.  You must be balanced spiritually, physically, mentally and socially." --William Danforth 

I thank you all for your grand wishes.... 

Penn, I thank you for the candles to blow out .........cuukoo1, you're a mighty fine candle maker yourself ‘cos that one is a beauty ............

Eve, I thank you for your fine wishes and for the wonderful new word "decadeism".... It sounds like my kind of religion....... Maybe a chapel on thesepia train.

Dzrtldy, the cake looks delicious.... And not a single calorie..... why it's a miracle

Stoney, thanks for making me a decade older than I had rationalized.... I still insist on using the fist digit of double digit numbers as my official decade counter

And to answer Miss Blue, I'm a square root baby so that makes me 60 plus a day.

Thank you all

Peterlake, there should be a blues song about your birthday- lots of howly John Fogarty juju stuff... I will think on that for a while. Mauri Mauri da hoodoo ow.
 Stoney, your post ( sound and thought provoking as always) reminds me of what friends used to call the soi-disant intellectuals'  bar I once hung out in ( it was a good bar, despite the Kerouac paperbacks and  very serious customers): The Drink and Think Off to have a little sepia supper. Seeya sometime.

PL--you are most welcome, and you're correct.  No calories!  My dad always said, "If you don't think about the calories, they don't really exist."  This from a man who in his younger days, would consume a pound of pasta solo.  It's amazing that none of us needed Jennie Craig.  I think for Italians, sitting at a dining table becomes an Olympic event..........and there were never less than 4 desserts on our holiday repast.  Enjoy your celebration.........7 more years, and I'll be sharing your decade.

  Peter Lake,

I've got you by a few years but tell ya what: I'll just wait around for you.

My heart is full and I would like to say I feel so welcomed by the group.
 
Thank you for such sweet and kind words, they meant more than I can express.
 
Stoney, you made my day, THANK YOU!!
Susan

O! John, that word I didn't even know I'd made up, much less written...typical. But we can use it, anyroad. Please swear you'll never leave sepiatrain, sepiahighway, or me. Name your favorite cake -- or other delicacy -- and I'll bake it. Anything for you. Of The New Word, it can be a chapel, as you say, or if you've a change of mind, who knows....

Many many many more marvelous birthdays; how fortunate your wife, children, grandson are to have someone who truly creates magic, and understands its relevance.

To new folk, Wolcome Yole if you're middle English; if you hail from where I do, welcome, y'all. You've come on a celebratory day, and we're pleased you found, in Stoney's inimitable term, The Village.

Each time I want to steal John's Peace Out, eventually y'all's siren call draws me back -- and I find yet more advice.

sleroy2794 and other new neighbors, we've had, in Olivia's phrase, The Eyester Wedding PLanning Service, as well as the Find Rings A Perfect-Job Concern, and that's just a beginning. We're alternately serious, silly, morose, intellectual, talented, dull, no-talent duds, brilliant, thoughtful, irreverent...and always caring. You'll be glad you came. I hope your travel was pleasant, and you'll love our Host's offerings -- of all sorts.

Back in my 20s, when I knew absolutely everything, I decided to give Wall Street my attention and I got a job with PaineWebber (RIP). There I was, being ridiculously compensated (take that either way, actually) for proffering my equally ridiculous opinions (at that age) regarding other people's money and what they should do with it.

It took me a little while, less than a year, to come to some hard and fast conclusions about The Street and its role in the lives of ordinary people. And having reached those conclusions, it took me less than another year to have thoughtfully moved my client list into positions where they didn't need me or any other stock sharp, and which they all promised me they would never liquidate until I told them to - no matter where I was in the world.

But now I'm almost twice as old as I was then, and I have continued to think about what that brief period of my life "meant". After all, my personal motto is "Cuique Sententia Mea", which is a rough translation of "Everybody is entitled to my opinion". Funny enough, I found a many-centuries old poem that more or less perfectly encapsulates in verse my feelings on the matter of doing for others what they should bloody well be doing for themselves:

I counsel thee, Stray-Singer, accept my counsels,
they will be thy boon if thou obey'st them,
they will work thy weal if thou win'st them:
be not a shoemaker nor yet a shaft maker
save for thyself alone:
let the shoe be misshapen, or crooked the shaft,
and a curse on thy head will be called.

So sayeth Odin.

The worst advice I got was not to marry him -- 47 1/2 years later:  thank God I didn't listen :)

and so to bed.... 

The best advice I ever got was, "Go Cautiously, and Always Keep Your Word ..." It has served me well all these years .......

And now for my favorite, slightly more pedestrian advice for the day:

Always drink upstream from the herd.
Never look straight up at a bird.
If you get bucked off, get back on.
And don't squat with your spurs on.

   Look before you leap.

Don't eat before you sleep.

Drop and roll.

Don't crack eggs on the bowl.

Don't eat and dash.

Pay whores with cash.

Jalopkin,

Great to hear from you. Thought about you a hundred times.

Paul-I hope I'm never mistaken for an Oscar...
Fast tracking woman? That's a new one, and here I thought I'd heard them all!
 
Susan-Cead mille failte (pronounced KIA MEEL FALSHA). A hundred thousand Celtic (Keltic-only in Boston is it Seltic) welcomes. Well that was awkward, Anyway, we're all glad you've come amongst us. Wait, that didn't sound right either...
 
YAYYY! Welcome back, my very favourite Texas Jewboy! Heeeeeeeeeere's IVAN!
 
And dear sweet John, a very happy birthday, and may you have many more! An Irish birthday wish to you:
 
May you always have a clean shirt, a clear conscience, and enough coins in your pocket to buy a pint!

WT, I blamed poor Stoney for increasing my decade count and it was you that deserves the credit.  My apologies to both. Thanks all and peace out.

Oh, and I forgot-to Jonathan:
 
Tak, godai...

Dear John, Happy belated birthday! I'm currently in New Zealand, both on vacation and settling my youngest son in for a semester of college in this fascinating part of the world, but I could not let your birthday pass without wishing you well. Hope you had a happy day and that you have many, many more happy and healthy birthdays to come! Pam