Words of wisdom.

I will keep my political views to myself. :)

I don’t want to offend people with my overt religion, either, and I am genuinely sorry if I have.

Peace and joy and laughter to all of us. :grouphug:

^^^ I got no problem w/overt religiosity, faith, activism, belief or creed of any kind -- believe me, I adore believers!

I just don't really want to know what exactly someone believes. Like, tell me you prayed today, but not to which god :)

But as I said, my problem entirely. What I don't like, I can, should, and will leave alone.

Sorry Courage.

Two topics I always shy away from...politics & religion. I'm not a fan of any sort of dogma. We are divided enough as a species. We need to find things that bring us together, not tear us apart.

Works for me. Your mileage may vary. :)

Wet kiss warning:
https://s20.postimg.cc/9r7e2gihp/wet-kiss-smiley_1.gif

Well there I go clearing the room again!

SG & Glee, I don't envy you having to give warnings or fire people. Most of my "employees" are on on-call lines, so if they're not doing a good job, I just don't call them. Eventually after I never call them for a while, they pretty much understand it when I formally let them go.

Due to fringe benefits, it's much cheaper for me to hire part time or on-call, and with soft money, I have to stretch every dime. Most of my people start as my students, then work on-call or part-time. Two highly trusted ones are now full time. I like to give them something for their resume that will look serious, and -- especially -- with benefits. But I only have this kind of funding for another 1/2 year or so . Next year, with less funding, the economics will push me to hire a couple of part-time with no benefits instead of 1 really good full -time with. :(

I bet you’re a great employer. I’m sure the people you trust feel deeply proud that you trust them, so they give you their best.

I hope you can reward them with as much as you can for longer than you expect.

How is the book cranking along?

The Country Singles book came back from the printer yesterday. It really turned out nice. We've got about 500 orders to get out by next week. It's really satisfying to see the results of all the hard work.

My other two projects are moving along. Probably won't get much done next week, as my co-worker is taking a week's vacation and I'll be here all alone to hold down the fort. That means answering all the phones and processing the daily orders and doing the book work. It'll be a regular one man show!

Sorry that I offended.

You didn't. Stargazer, you neither. I just chose to speak my own mind, in response. :grouphug:

FBL, I'll hold your phones if you'll write my pages!

In the past year I feel as though I’ve had to make a million phonecalls. Setting this up, canceling that, haggling here and cajoling there.

I hate the phone!

I would rather write ten thousand emails than endure one phonecall!

But there are a lot of people who think email is really inconsiderate and cold.

I’ve got a friend for whom English is not the native language. She used to call me on the phone fairly often. After I found out about the cancer, I was honest and told her that I am not really fond of phonecalls, but much prefer emails.

And I haven’t heard from her since. I wonder if maybe she prefers not writing, because it’s harder for her to write in a foreign language.

I’ll text her to say hi to let her know that I wasn’t blowing her off.

I take great inspiration from your signature, Cour. :c014:

I'm glad. This is the complete poem, Gerard Manley Hopkins:

When will you ever, Peace, wild wooddove, shy wings shut,
Your round me roaming end, and under be my boughs?
When, when, Peace, will you, Peace? I’ll not play hypocrite
To own my heart: I yield you do come sometimes; but
That piecemeal peace is poor peace. What pure peace allows
Alarms of wars, the daunting wars, the death of it?

O surely, reaving Peace, my Lord should leave in lieu
Some good! And so he does leave Patience exquisite,
That plumes to Peace thereafter. And when Peace here does house
He comes with work to do, he does not come to coo,
He comes to brood and sit.

Wow, peace really does come with work to do. If you don’t put it to use, it goes away with the next distraction.

Am going to yet another card show later this morning.

Here's a photo of me at the show last month:

https://www.fatdaddyssports.com/uplo...006-1_orig.jpg

Have a great weekend, gang!

You make me want to get a hobby, FBL.

SG, I think you were looking for hobbies -- did you find one?

I get a sense of POST-ers various outlooks and beliefs. I’ve never felt forced into a corner and this has been a safe space for me to explore what I believe, too - to talk about it, to share my experiences, strength and hope. But there is a reason why I don’t veer too far from here. Here our discourse is respectful and our diversity is honored. I care about everyone here. We are some of my favorite people!

Gilmer, SG, Carlos - you’ve never crossed a line, in my opinion.

FBL - My dad spent a long time collecting cards when I was a kid. He’s pared down his collection to a few of his favorite finds. Hobbies are fun! There is something for everyone.

Courage - I hope the book is moving along well.

Gil - I pray for you daily.

These past couple of weeks at work have made me pause and reflect. Deciding to accept these uncomfortable experiences with performance management has made me feel like I’ve “matured” just a bit.

No drinking here! Just acceptance and peace!

Hey, I was out of line to snap out in response to Carlos. I apologize to you, Carlos, personally, and to everyone else to the extent that I spoiled our conversation. I didn't mean to be snappish *at* Carlos, just in response to something said. Probably I should have left it alone, but then we wouldn't all be enjoying my present mea culpa.

Stargazer, your post supporting activism had nothing to do with it. I <3 activism.

Carlos, you probably know already that if you & I were ever in a room together, as my old ma used to say, "somebody's gonna get hurt." That's nothing bad about you. I only snap with people I like. :)

No one stepped over my line, and I'm sorry that my vent was interpreted as a reprimand.

Moving right along, thanks for asking, glee, the book is going very badly indeed. Plus my career is jettisoning me into a world of such rank hypocrisy that my stomach churns. https://s20.postimg.cc/ygdudc87h/sun-smiley.gif

How's everyone else?

Today was good for me.

Tomorrow looks good, too, as far as I can see.

Hope you have a fun day with your son, Kathy!

Picked up a bunch more cards yesterday. I finished off my 1974 Topps baseball set (about 700 cards total). Those were the first cards I remember buying as an eight year-old. Of course, those cards got tossed at some point, thus my quest to rebuild the set at age 52! :) I'm just about finished with my 1975 set, so I started on 1973 at the show and am off to a pretty good start on that one. As with all collecting hobbies, the most fun is in the hunt.