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8/15/2010
Life's Simple Pleasure -- Lottery Tickets
Each week I buy a Mega Millions lottery ticket. I have a set series of numbers that I play for each of the five games
that I play. I know that the odds are exactly the same if I play the same numbers or if I use the 'quick pick' option. But,
as I suspect is the case with many others, I think (unrealistically, perhaps) that the day that I don't play my regular numbers
is the day that one of those sets will be the winning numbers. It's the constant battle that the logical part of my brain
goes through with the emotional part -- with the emotional part always winning. And, if there's a week that I don't get to
play my numbers, then I don't check which numbers won. I dont' want to find out -- on the far-off chance -- that my numbers
won.
Adhering to the 'if you don't play, you can't win' dictum, I do faithfully play my numbers. Then I check them and
find that they, once again, didn't win. (My usual 'win' is getting the MegaBall for a -- Whoopee!!! -- $3 payout.
But the greatest pleasure that I get -- and one that I suggest to you -- is allowing myself to feel like a millionaire
form the time I buy the ticket until the time I read the reality of the winning numbers. No, I don't run off and buy a Lear
jet or book a round-the-world cruise. After all, I'm just feeling the optimism of being a winner. I know that until I
read the numbers and see that I have won, that I have nothing to spend.
But it's that feeling in itself that is one of life's simple pleasures.
Life's Simple Pleasures -- Introduction
Whenever I'm out in public, in a meeting or even with family and friends, I'm often amazed at the content of the conversations
going on. All too often they are negative in content: co-workers complaining about the boss; friends complaining about another
friend, a family member or a neighbor; negative comments about anything of which someone has no control; people just complaining
or voicing a non-positive opinion.
It occurred to me that we should -- at least once a day -- adhere to the old adage, 'Stop and smell the roses'. If we
do, it's amazing at how easy it is to see the positive in something, even something that, at first, seems negative.
With this thought in mind, each week I will be offering my own insight to one of life's simple pleasures.
I hope you appreciate and enjoy them. And, if you have your own 'positive' to offer. Please share.
Thanks and find something to make yourself smile today. It will be worth it.
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2010.08.01
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Is it a very vivid dream or is this really happening? Natty
doesn't know. What he does know, though, is that he must get out of this strange, new world -- called The Land
-- and back home. But to do so he has to avoid The Great Darkness' teeth-gnashing half-man/half-monster creatures, called
Minions, and take the mysterious and powerful crystal, given to him by his grandfather, to Skull Mountain --
the very place where The Great Darkness resides, plotting it's plans to destroy The Land.
'Destiny Revealed' is the first book in the Natty Shortfellow
series, that chronicles Natty's adventures in The Land where his grandfather, called Nas, was born. 'Destiny Revealed'
takes Natty to The Land for the first time. There he learns who is grandfather really was and how, like Nas, he is
connected to The Land. The villagers of The Land call Natty 'Nasto, The Savior' and look for him to save them from The
Great Darkness and its evil creatures.
Joining him in this effort are a Yoelivan, two Guiders, a giant,
and a princess. During his time in The Land, Natty meets many good people, he learns the true meaning of evil and he
learns much about himself. He arrives in The Land as an average 16-year-old young man. But this adventure changes him
forever -- in ways that he recognizes and in ways that are yet to be revealed.
Buy at Amazon.com
A killer is loose in Philadelphia, attacking blond-haired, blue-eyed
young ladies. Lieutenant Harry Miski, a burned-out cop who probably should be retired, gets the cases, but with a twist.
Deputy Commissioner Stephens orders Harry to handle the cases as if they are unrelated; residents and visitors to The City
of Brotherly Love can't know.
Harry is dedicated to his job and the chain of command. Since
high school he has followed orders, first as a Marine and then as a cop. But after more young women die, Harry's conscience
and oath to keep the city safe are challenged.
He suspects that Stephens and the politicians that pull his strings
are putting their ambitions before the city's safety. Harry needs to find the killer before anybody else dies.
But can he do this, and at what price?
Buy at Amazon.com
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