Random Thoughts of an Open-Mind

I really just felt like writing because it has been a while since I had.  I really just wanted to write about the past month and a half or so of my life, but there really wasn't a suitable title for it.  I should probably start with the good and then move on to the bad and finish with the "paradigm shift" that is at the very least something that could define major aspects of my life (I'm kind of excited about it). First, the good, I have recently been hired by The Home Depot as a cashier.  Thats obviously good because amongst other things my father has been urging me to get a job for around two years now.  I make enough money I can support my sophisticated lifestyle of video games, hanging out with friends, and watching television. I've been on the job for about two weeks now and all is well, everyone is nice and rather humorous.  I got my first paycheck yesterday so things are moving along quite nicely.  So there is the good, honestly I really enjoy my ...

Something I've recently been noticing, for one reason or another, is quality service, or lack of it, whenever I am acting as the "customer"  in daily interactions.  I've noticed that what sticks with me after I leave a business, especially a restaurant, isn't the food or the stuff they had there, it's the service. I really thought about this recently after some friends and I went out to eat at a local bar and grill called Shiloh's .  I noticed that I couldn't, and still can't, remember exactly what I had to eat, but what I do remember is that my iced tea was never empty and our waitress, though busy and not overly talkative, was pleasant and always kept our drinks filled.  Though I'm sure my food there was good, that's not what will bring me back there.  What will bring me back is knowing that as a customer they took care of my friend's and I, even though it was a busy Friday night in a college town.  I was sure to reward the waitress...

I say that what says the most of a man is the woman he has at his side.  I don't mean that men without a good woman are nothing, though I'm sure some people would say thats the case.  The truth is though, it isn't just the woman he has at his side, it's the people he surrounds himself with in general (I do think the woman at his side is easily the most accurate indicator).  Mind you, this idea isn't gender specific, the people that a woman surrounds herself with tells you just as much about her character and personality. I was thinking about how this works in day to day life and I realized, I know some fantastic people that have surrounded themselves with people that don't really share the same values or similar character traits as themselves.  The problem is they are then subjected to these assumptions that are typically wrong and at the very least off-base.  In an ideal world no one would make assumptions about anyone, but lets face it, we're far from an...

Whether you noticed or not, the address for this page is introducingtheelephant.blogspot.com.  Now that I've brought that to your attention I'll tell you where I got it. Last night, I was using stumbleupon.com and "stumbling" around on the internet.  I came across a list from Psychology Today entitled "10 Life-Enhancing Things You Can Do in Ten Minutes or Less" .  The first thing on the list is "Watch 'The Last Lecture' by Randy Pausch ".  I was bored and it was late so I watched it (you should too).  The whole point is Randy Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and he found out he had 3-6 months of good health left so he wrote and gave his "Last Lecture".  Right off the bat he jumps in saying, "So, you know, in case there is anyone who wandered in and doesn't know the back story, my dad always taught me that when there's an elephant in the room, introduce them.", Prof. Pausch is referring to t...