Joey

I've made the comment a number of times, that I can drink a pot of coffee, lie down next to it and sleep.

Immediately. I can sleep on a concrete slab. When I was about 15 y/o, I once slept all night on a flight of stairs. I know it must be awful for those who need the rest sleep brings, but have difficulty falling asleep. An option I would suggest, if you have a television in your room, is to play one of the soothing, relaxing, long-running YouTube videos that feature such things as gentle rain storms, maybe with a little lightning and thunder in the background, or softly howling wintry winds. They basically create "good sleeping weather." There are many to choose from, some run up to about 10 hours. This (below) is one of my favorites because I love "cozy," but more importantly the sounds of this one are perfect. Some have cracks of lightning and thunder that are just too loud and I do have a problem in that this particular one only runs about 3 hours, and is subsequently (automatically) followed by another that IS too loud. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sL0omwElxw I also like this one, called "Rain At Cozy Attic" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mtsF_XjNec Others are "Black Screen" as the television screen will go completely dark, only the sounds will remain.

It seems that I have always spoken to my sons as through they were adults. I've often told people my eldest, Ryan, was born 43 years old.

I have no words. Actually that's not true. I have these words: DisgustingAppallingControllingPossessiveSexistMisogynisticPatheticAbsurdOutrageousCreepyDeplorableDomineeringRidiculousLudicrousIntrusiveViolatingReprehensibleJackassHe need not worry about drinking from this mug anytime soon...unless he buys it for himself. Or his son gives it to him.

This is who liked the chart (above)... ...sounds like an all-girl rock band!

Me too! I enjoy about an hour-long nap right after lunch. Unfortunately my employer doesn't agree with me.

This only goes through 2008, but it is a chart by country of the consumption of daily doses of methylphenidate - ADHD medication - per thousand inhabitants per day. Obviously a lot of conclusions - potentially right and wrong - can be drawn from this chart, but I believe it is interesting to see the dramatic rise in the prescriptions of these meds in all these different countries...and also how much is prescribed in countries like the USA compared to Japan... It all begs the question of "why," I believe...why such differences between the countries and also why the sharp rise. I believe the increase could be the result of better understanding of the conditions than in previous years, better treatment options. I'd never say there are not a number of people who need to be on some of these medications, but I am also of the opinion that sometimes there are cases of over-prescribing, when meds are used to mask an underlying cause that could be addressed without ingesting chemicals. Over my objections, my younger son's mom insisted Austin needed to be on Ritalin...he just had "strange behaviors" at times. He seemed like a zombie kid on the meds, we soon took him off. He later told me he felt dead inside, when he was on them. We made a mistake...Kathleen for pushing it, me for allowing it.

I used to be a "night owl" but I've completely changed my routine now. Now I'm up every day at 2:00am, at the gym by 2:30, back home by about 3:40, in the shower by 4:00, have about an hour of "leisure time" to go online before dressing and leaving for the office around 5:00. As a consequence, I cannot stay up very late at night anymore...which I do miss but something has to give, somewhere.

That's a great testament to your honestly! Ever heard the old saying "When you tell the truth, you don't have to have a good memory!" Yes, when new members join, that's when old threads get brought back to life...I did some resurrections myself when I first joined; still do, from time-to-time.

Sophie, I know exactly what you mean. I'm a fan of a lot of different varieties/genres of music...old, new, rock, pop, country, classical, hip hop, reggae, maybe some others. I pay for the upgrade Pandora at home, no commercials...it's continually playing throughout the house when I'm home. Some people at my office think I listen to music that isn't "age appropriate" for me, but I like what I like. As I'm writing this, I'm listening to Ke$ha's "We R Who We R." I also like RiRi, Avril Lavigne, Britney, Pink, Lorde, others...mostly female vocalists. I'm not trying to disguise my age, I grew up listening to The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Who, Styx, The Doors, others. My very first concert ever when I was a teenager, was Elvis. It's no different than some people y'all's age liking the older music, like Stones, Elvis...as some of you have said. We just like what we like. I'm well aware that some rap songs are full of explicit language, but more than that, some promote violence and are sexually explicit. So those don't "shock" me so much, but honestly I don't listen to them...but I'm fully aware of the very offensive language. I WAS shocked however when listening to Pandora - which edits nothing - when it was just playing random songs supposedly similar to the one song I start each session with...like, it's supposed to be intuitive. So this song comes on by Enrique Iglesias, "Tonight I'm F_ _ _ _ _g You." I was kind of in disbelief, demonstrated it for my sister when she was visiting, and a neighbor when he was over. We were all pretty shocked. But all that said, I think it's actually a great song, very catchy, very good rhythm. So I get what you mean...not looking for a song BECAUSE it has "inappropriate" language, but a song you like that just HAPPENS to have inappropriate language. And for me, I don't like edited versions of anything...not music, not movies. Give me the whole thing or nothing at all.

Safety is Priority No. 1. Always. We used to have to have "Safety Moments" before beginning any meeting at the office. In one very large meeting conducted by our manager, Mike, he gave a terrific Safety Moment...up until a point. Mike was relating a situation involving his young 20-something y/o son who was involved in a horrific auto accident. His son wasn't badly injured, but the vehicle was a complete loss. Mike and his wife were on the scene shortly after being contacted by police (or someone), and Mike - right or wrong - COMPLETELY credited the fact his son was wearing his safety belt, with saving his life. One of the officers at the scene mentioned to Mike and his wife that he knows their son from somewhere, but he just can't place where from. And as he said, when the cops tell you they know one of your children, your interest is piqued! Shortly thereafter, the officer came back around to tell Mike and his wife that he now remembers...he said he gave their son a ticket about a year ago, for not wearing a safety belt. Up until then, it was a terrific Safety Moment; Mike should have stopped here. But he didn't. Mike went on to say that when their 3 kids were younger and they were driving a minivan, the vehicle wouldn't move until all three kids had their seat belts fastened. Mike said "Oh they'd argue about it...we've sat up to 20 minutes on the side of the road, arguing with them about putting on the safety belts!" A big guy I worked directly with - Ronnie - who raised two girls pretty much alone as a single dad, was sitting next to me. Ronnie leaned over and whispered, "20 minutes, hell! 20 seconds there'd be some red asses!" Yeah, some things - safety issues - are never open for debate.

All so very true, Al. Imagine this guy showing up for a job interview. He may be the best and brightest at what he does, but he's gonna have difficulty getting his foot in the door to begin with:

Thanks John. If you had not looked it up, I was...because I believed the whole "invite" thing was a myth, an urban legend. Still, you have to question why anyone thinks it's cool to emulate prison life. I think most of these are pretend "bad boys" they are pseudo-thugs...if really facing prison, I would imagine many of them would cry like babies.

You know what was funny Rick... Richard and Debbie live a really good distance from me. I actually used to own property - a BEAUTIFUL piece of land - adjacent to them, when I was married. Our plan was to build a home there, raise our kids there... But then divorce happened, we had to sell the property. Anyway, Richard fortunately is one of those people you don't have to constantly stay in touch with, to always be friends with...because I seldom see he and Debbie...and they now have a recently high school graduated son, a BIG kid they adopted as an infant, Zach. I had not actually seen Richard probably in close to 20 years when my home burned. He and Debbie and Zach showed up with a housewarming gift after it was rebuilt and I had moved back in. About a month ago, I was invited to their home for their son's graduation party. Again, over 20 years since I had been to their home. They have added on SO MUCH, including having a pool put in, the place is absolutely incredible! Anyway, it was funny that Richard and Debbie were taking a stroll down memory late so to speak, relating the story of how they met, how long they had now been married, etc., to all the party-goers. They made it sound like this great romantic gesture...and so of course I'm sitting there grinning to myself, thinking, "...you don't know the whole truth." And yes of course, as you said it's nothing I could or would EVER share with them! I'm very happy for them, they have a wonderful life together, Debbie is a great lady and a terrific wife to Richard. And Richard is the love of her life, treats her like a queen.

I guess SOMETIMES it works out. My sister played Cupid only one time, I believe. I had a close friend in middle and high school, Richard. Richard is a great guy, but always kind of socially awkward. My sister worked with this girl Debbie, who personality-wise was a whole lot like Richard. So she put them together...and they've now been married over 30 years. The part they DON'T know, is how my evil sister described it... She basically said, "So here were two people nobody else wanted, thought I'd see if I could put them together, see what happened." Guess they had the last laugh!