eye witness

Disclaimer--All blog characters are not human.  They are just imaginary folks.  Sooooo don't make any of them you.  Okay?  They are just fun names. 

Joesixpack said to me--erv, I had a good feeling about you but I then realized it was just gas!  Ouchy ouchy!  Joesixpack, you have lot bigger fish to fry than me!  I'm just a little perch in your world.  And that is ok!  Such is life.

I swear to tell the truth the whole truth soooo help me God (i.e. he said that with his hand on a Bible).  ItchieBitchie says--I was an eye witness and I saw the whole thing.  Are you sure you saw everything and remember everything ItchieBitchie--Yes I am.  I've heard that before only to find out that the eye witness was wrong!  In some cases, dead wrong!  Experiments have been done where a person will go into a meeting and hand the presenter a message and then leave.  The folks in attendance are given a quiz as to what they saw.  Everyone sees something different (i.e. like some saw a female and others a male).  Some saw a black person and others a while person.  Da!  That is why DNA and surveillance cameras are soooooo much more accurate than a eye witness.  Yes, ItchieBitchie did tell the truth, the whole truth sooooo help me God.  BUT it was the truth as he processed the information in his brain (i.e. and that isn't always the actual truth).  Such is life.

I am an eye witness to this guy and he's not just a "run of the mill" person.  He is a real guy with a good heart (i.e. my kind of person).  He's a friend and a golf buddy.  He sent me this email--

Erv Just read this morning 1Tim 6 "But godliness with contentment is great gain. Sometimes I feel the older I get the more frustrated I become, instead of being more contented and thankful. What's up with that?  ~  Relationships are not formed by talking about how much it rained or what the score of the game was or what is the price of corn or gossip.  Oh no!  A relationship is formed by being venerable (i.e. taking a risk in maybe getting hurt by sharing your heart--sometimes it feels like taking a bullet to the heart).  Being authentic.  Being real.  NOT being a DuaneTheWorm and always being phonyandshowyandself-centered (i.e. doing everything for one purpose--glorifying himself).     

Oblivious!  A golf buddy was telling me about his difficult family situation.  I asked him how he deals with that?  He said--I become oblivious to it.  Oblivious!  A couple of golf buddies in AZ told me about their difficult family situations.  I said to them, wow!  How do you  handle them--That's why I'm in AZ!  When I'm around it tooooo much, fur flies!  Out of site out of mind.  They become unconscious to the situations (i.e. temporally anyway).  Such is life.

My friend Bear WasAnEyeWitness--This week, we're up at our daughter's in Seattle. They just had daughter # 4. That's "4 under 4"! It's crazy up there. I wear ear plugs and have to take some "time-outs"! Gee whiz that's a lot of kids in four years.  Gee whiz folks!  That will go into my gee whiz file.  Gee whiz folks I can hardly believe that...!.  CrazyWilma said--I saw it with my own eyes.  Yabut those 12 beers might have affected your sight CrazyWilma.  I don't think there were really 4 elephants on the road which you had to swerve to miss which caused you to hit the tree.  CrazyWilma said--Okay maybe there were only 3!  Or maybe 6, they were rather fuzzy!  I know I missed them and then that tree just jumped into my way!  What could I do.  Gee whiz those suckers were big let me tell ya!

BridgeLadySally (i.e. she's nasty--her hooks have barbs on them) said after telling some juice gossip before playing her card--I saw it with my own eyes soooo I know it's right!  Do we see things like we want to see them sometimes do you think?  Do you think sometimes we see things like the way we have been programed in our past?  Do you think that our eyes sometimes embellish certain things?  Surely not BirdgeLadySally!  She saw it with her own eyes.  MissPerfect says--Most of BirdgeLadySally's chatter is just "white noise" to me!  Ouchy ouchy!

AverageJoe says to GerogeTheCrook--I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you. I have been an eye witness to that statement.  You can't lie to folks and then say -- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do it and I won't do it again.  Folks will just blow you off.  The trust has been broken and never will be the same.  Never!  If it happens the second time, it just validates the first message.  Ouchy ouchy!  Folks know who you are, you have shown that; you can't take it back.  You can try to restore the damage but the damage has been done (i.e. not an easy fix).  Aonesmartman sent me this--What Dr. Brown learned about authenticity through her research turned out to surprise even her. "I thought going into it that there were authentic people and inauthentic people. I did not find any evidence of that at all," she tells Oprah in the video. "What I found is authenticity is a practice and you choose it every day -- sometimes every hour of every day."  AverageJoe says--once  you loose your authenticity, it's hard to get it back.  Oh ya!

I was an eye witness.  Our little neighbor friends and their friends came over the other night to sell Arlene and I a little cups of GatorAid to raise money to buy the camper that is for sale outside of town.  They wanted 25 cents a cup.  The camper is a motor home probably worth about $80,000.  The kids said--We are raising the money to buy it and our parents said they would pay for the insurance.  Isn't this fun!  I love kids. 

I was an eye witness to this discussion.  After golf the other day, a Catholic converted to Baptist, a Open Bible guy, and a retired Christian Reformed pastor and I were talking about reading the Bible. They tried to tell me that Catholics don't really read the Bible, just the Priests do (i.e. well, years ago it was in Latin--years ago most folks were illiterate--then came education and Luther and Calvin with the reformation and the printing press). I said, I can hardly believe that.  ~  Soooo I emailed my AZ golf buddies who are Catholic.  Here is one of the responses I got--CONFUSED ERV I DON,T READ READ THE BIBLE I JUST BELIEVE AND THAT IS THAT . I JUST GOLF AND HOPE I GET A GOOD SCORE. WITH GODS BLESSINGS . AND NO FOOT WEDGES  ~ 2 other of my golf buddies sent about the same message--Catholics are much like others in other Christian denominations; some read the Bible and some don't; some read it more than others.  Sounds pretty accurate to me (i.e. makes sense to me).  WildWilie says--Yabut fear and guilt are still big motivators in many religions of the world (i.e. raises a lot of money folks).  It's sometimes all about the money! 

It's hard to always evaluate stuff!  Some folks have visionary ability and some don't.  AverageJoe says--You either have it or you don't. Just look around and you can see that in folks (i.e. Vision - The ability to see what others do not see).  Some innate qualities you either have or you don't have (i.e. they can't be learned).  Some folks are creative and innovative and some aren't.  Some folks can connect with others and some can't.  Some can see a good investment and some can't.  Some are funny and some aren't (i.e. even though they think they are). Some can see trouble and some can't.  Some can see the direction that needs to be taken and some can't.  A business woman told me this example--She has two gals who work for here.  One is very good at displaying and the other is not.  She had the one who is good work with the one who isn't.  There was no improvement (i.e. she was still terrible).  Sooooo we need to decide if we have vision or not.  If we don't, we need to hire or get around someone who does have that quality (i.e. my opinion). 

I was an eye witness to what he said and did.  GeorgeTheThudwacker, not GeorgeTheCrook told me that he saw something on a billboard and acted on it.  It ended up being a good deal for his family.  Sooooo, many folks saw the billboard and  only a few acted on the opportunity.  It was a limited opportunity.  Why did some act fast and other didn't react at all?  Probably 'cause some don't take advantage of opportunities (i.e. don't have the vision of such things), some are not in a position to act, some times things just fall in a person's lap, and maybe some are not risk takers.  And there might be other reasons that we have no idea why.  BUT it was a good deal for him and his family.  MissPerfect says--Oh, when to act and when not to act, that is a hard decision sometimes.  Sometimes the window of opportunity is open just for a short period of time, and bingo, it's closed about as fast as it opens (e.g. mortgage interest rates or I should have bought farm ground). 

MissPerfect says--Judging on extrinsic and skill-based factors is a relatively objective and straightforward exercise. Gauging softer traits such as will or attitude is much, much harder, and takes one-on-one contact, attentive listening, and careful observations..You are right BrainSmartMissPerfect (i.e. my opinion).  But some folks have the vision to see that in folks and some don't and sometimes we get fooled.  Yes we do.  Once the honeymoon is over, the real person is revealed.  Such is life.

The constant internal debate!  SusieQ says--I was an eye witness to this--An overweight business associate of mine decided it was time to shed some excess pounds  He took his new diet seriously, even changing his driving route to avoid his favorite bakery.  One morning, however, he arrived at work carrying a gigantic coffeecake.  We all scolded him but his smile remained cherubic.  "This is a very special coffeecake," he explained.  "I accidentally drove by the bakery this morning and there in the window were a host of goodies.  I felt this was no accident, so I prayed, "Lord if you want me to have one of those delicious coffeecakes, let me have a parking place directly in front of the bakery."  "Sure enough," he continued, "the eighth time around the block. there it was!"  LittlePipsqueakKerri asks--What's the difference between "eating like a horse" or pigin' out? 

It's time for me to skedaddle folks.  I golfed with a group of golf buddies last Saturday.  Six of them for 10 years averaged 300  9-hole rounds a year (i.e. living in Iowa folks).  Wow!  ANYWAY Maverick (i.e. one of the golf buddies) calls me Malibu.  He reminded me of Harm at the Kesley grain elevator maybe 35 years ago.  Hank I feed some  hogs together for a couple of years.  Harm couldn't say my name soooo Harm called me Malibu.  Also a oldgolfbuddyJon (i.e. I miss him--he was sooooo fun to be around) of years ago use to call me Malibu tooooo.  Good memories.  Yabut how much golf is enough anyway a.k.a. the constant internal debate!  What is over the top?  What's over the top with anything?  Moderation my friends, moderation!

Have a FUN time my friends unless you have other plans. (-:

erv a.k.a. Malibu

MyFreindJeans says--Boys will be boys, and so will a lot of middle-aged men.

PS  I got this response from last week's "It's Saturday"--I just read a really good line in the new book by Khaled Hosseini, And the Mountain Echoed: "Time is like charm; you don't have as much as you think you do. " Good and true, huh?